Chapter 48

Guren's eyes were stuck firmly on the form of one Uchiha Itachi, even as her warden of sorts remained frozen in a statuesque manner right in front of him. Knowing what he had done to freeze him in place, she shut her eyes tightly so that she wouldn't fall victim to whatever torturous illusion he would try to ensnare her in next, "What is Akatsuki doing here?" Guren said. Damn it those Konoha bastards could have put a flaw into her restraints so that she could do something about things like this, "You've got no business in Otogakure affairs."

"Don't be so foolish." Itachi said, moving past the unaware Naruto that he had ensnared in an illusionary world inside of his own head, "Otogakure affairs are Akatsuki affairs due to the fact that your leader used to be one of us. We still require his ring back by the way. Did he keep that hand I took from him?"

The struggling kunoichi eventually stopped and laughed, bitterly resigning herself to her fate, "So it's either me or the kid jinchuuriki over there that you want. I would have figured that he would be your priority what with your almighty goal to capture all of the world's biju." She spat venomously, "How's that going by the way?"

"It is of no concern to you." Itachi walked closer to Guren and pointed back at the still frozen Naruto, "And that one is merely a stand-in by the way. Even if I were here to capture the Kyuubi jinchuuriki all I would be getting would be a substitute for the real thing." Why would the real Naruto be on a ship by himself? That was not how any Konoha ninja acted, it would be leaving someone alone and vulnerable.

If that Naruto hadn't been a clone, neither he nor Guren would have been on that ship. They would have risked taking her out into the open and moving her through potentially hostile territory before leaving only one of their ninja alone with her on a ship with just one person watching over her. The Naruto in the room being a clone was the only thing that made sense, especially since Naruto was kind of famous for using the Kage Bunshin technique.

Damn it. Guren hoped that she could swerve Itachi out of possibly doing something to her by taking his potential attention away from her. And that meant it was her he had been interested in. Having Itachi interested in you was not supposed to be a good thing.

"How did you know I was here?"

"We didn't. It was mere chance."

Another bark of nasty laughter came from Guren as it would have been just her misfortune to be caught by not one but two of her enemies in short order, "Sheer dumb luck. You don't say? I would have figured that the almightily fearsome Uchiha Itachi would have used his all-seeing eyes to get my trail all the way from back when I was a little girl to now and followed me across the sea just to interrogate me."

"That… or you could always be coincidentally trapped aboard an out of place vessel of our target enemies that we were going to take down regardless." Itachi seemed to tower over her, of course that could have just been the stockade she was trapped in, "People often overlook luck as a deciding factor in the lifespan of a ninja."

"Right… because when I think of Uchiha Itachi I think 'lucky'." Guren witnessed Itachi kneel down and look her in the eyes, and that was that it. The next thing she knew she found herself bound in a shifting ethereal realm of black, "Oh great. I still have dregs of Yamanaka girl's homemade truth serum in me, and you're in my head so that already gets past any mental defenses I have to keep me from talking. So what the fuck do you want?"

Coarse language aside, Itachi was still in firm control of the situation, "My question is simple. Where is the Sanbi?" A twitch of Guren's eye let him know that she was fighting his request to answer him, "Please answer or else."

"Heh… I've had my mind cavity searched and violated by some mouthy blonde girl and now I've got to deal with you." Guren said, looking to physically struggle to hold back from talking, "Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned physical tortures huh? People just don't have the stomach for it anymore do they?"

A sigh came from Itachi before Guren began to feel hot around her feet. Like a slow-burning strip of paper, her feet caught on fire and began to burn. Sadistic bastard, "Apparently you didn't have enough of whatever serum is inside of you to answer that question so I will attempt to ask you again. The location of the Sanbi please." He asked while Guren fought the urge to scream out in pain.

Guren's pained and struggling grunts persisted as she looked at the genjutsu avatar of Itachi that was just standing over her staring at her as she suffered the effects of his attempt to interrogate her.

XxX

(Inside of the Naruto-clone's Genjutsu)

Naruto-clone stood in another ship setting like the one that he had been in prior to looking into the eyes of the person dressed in a black cloak with red clouds. He refrained from trying to power through the genjutsu because if this fool was really going to take him away, all that would do would be to show the original Naruto where an Akatsuki hideout was.

It would actually be more beneficial to be taken than to actually try to fight it, so the Kage Bunshin merely tried to get a handle on just what the situation was, "Well, you guys. I wondered when you would find me."

"Hello Naruto-kun." Genjutsu-Itachi said calmly, waiting for this Naruto to try and struggle and fight him to drive himself deeper into the illusion. But it never came, "I assume you know who I represent." Naruto-clone just nodded stiffly, "I am not here for you yet. I merely stumbled across you at the wrong time. You are still free… for now."

"Why so generous?" Naruto-clone asked with a joking grin, but the tone behind the words were serious, "I didn't peg Akatsuki for the type to let someone like me go."

If genjutsu-Itachi let on to the fact that he knew that this Naruto was a clone, the clone could have merely dispelled itself right then and there and the effort of it all would have been useless, "Do not consider it generosity. Consider it merely inconvenience. Your time will of course come, but as long as you are being civil I would like to ask you a question."

"I don't feel very talkative, but ask away." Naruto-clone said tensely, "You might get an answer, but you might get my fist in your mouth and my foot in your ass. Just because you're willing to wait doesn't mean I am. If it's gonna happen let's just get it over with."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do. I only know one person with Sharingan in two eyes so if you're not Sasuke that would make you Uchiha Itachi."

Well good for him, he knew the actual identity of his attacker. That was something, "How is my little brother by the way?"

Naruto-clone frowned at his Akatsuki adversary, "I haven't seen the guy in three years but last I saw he was dealing with a nasty seal on his neck. Other than that he was good though. I haven't seen him since I've been back, but I can only imagine though."

Genjutsu-Itachi nodded as if he were satisfied by that, "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make Orochimaru suffer for branding my younger brother with his disgusting cursed seal. I truly doubt he is in this country so ruining whatever he has planned with the Sanbi will have to do. Until the next time we meet Naruto-kun."

XxX

Naruto-clone found himself instantly snapped out of Itachi's genjutsu and cursed mentally when he found himself still in the hold. Itachi wasn't there for him, and Itachi had to know that he had been a clone, otherwise he would have just captured him either way as the Akatsuki member that he was. It wasn't like if they had caught Naruto right then they couldn't simply keep him imprisoned until they needed him.

No, his identity as a clone had been known from the moment Itachi, the real Itachi, had seen him. And he looked over at Guren to find her forehead beaded with sweat and her breath coming out heavily, "Way to play prison guard brat-clone." Guren said, as the fact that it didn't feel like her body was on fire anymore was a magnificent sensation of relief, "Sucker for a genjutsu are you?"

"Oh shut up." Naruto-clone said as he walked over to make sure that Itachi hadn't harmed his prisoner past the mental trauma that he had inflicted, "I didn't break it because I thought he was there for me and I had a plan. I could have just dispelled too you know. Then you'd be here by yourself."

Guren wished she could get free just so she could hit the clone, "Yes, because you're such fantastic company. I'd rather be Itachi's prisoner. Then at least I'd have something handsome to look at or he could at least trap me in a pleasant genjutsu for being good."

Still, it was weird though. Itachi killed his entire clan in one night with the exception of Sasuke. Naruto-clone understood why Itachi didn't kill him because he might have known about the Kage Bunshin memory secret, but he didn't get why he didn't kill Guren. He had gotten what he had wanted from her. Getting rid of her should have been as easy as flicking out his wrist at that point.

She had to have given him something pretty damn good if it came to letting her go. A clan slaughterer didn't seem like the merciful type just for the sake of morality.

"What did Itachi do to you?" Naruto-clone asked Guren as he wiped the sweat from her face, "You had to have told him something while I was under. What did he want to know? He said something about the Sanbi. What the hell did you know about it?" That had to have been what Itachi was there to take. Akatsuki was all about taking the biju after all.

Guren just growled at Naruto and glared at him. Did he really think he was going to get any help from her just because they had shared a similar predicament? Hers was far worse, "Oh, well while your little Yamanaka girlfriend was diving through my head you should have had her check in on that." The Oto kunoichi bitterly taunted.

There was nothing she could do from her position to stop Itachi, so in the instance that she couldn't get away and give ample warning to those that she needed to warn about the coming Akatsuki storm, she could at least make it so that the situation didn't get worse for Otogakure's base in Mizu no Kuni by keeping Konoha's nose out of it as much as she could.

They didn't need to know anything more than they already did, especially when it came to a question that they had never asked. Hopefully Kimimaro and his people could handle it.

Admittedly, Naruto had no personal stake in anything that happened to the Sanbi outside of the loose affiliation fact that he was a jinchuuriki with the Kyuubi within him. Sticking it to Akatsuki by keeping them from getting their hands on a biju, while keeping them from their overall goal in the grand scheme of things, didn't apply to him as a Konoha ninja at all.

Still though, the enemy of your enemy could be your friend… or just another enemy depending on how things worked. Especially if things moved in a triangle the way that it did in this scenario.

Konoha was in Kiri for Otogakure, but Oto had problems with Akatsuki for when Orochimaru was kicked out for whatever he did, and in turn Akatsuki was never going to be on Konoha's friendly side for their marked and alarming goal of trying to amass all of the biju in the Elemental Nations and the fact that they had formerly had two of the most infamous missing-nin that the village had ever produced in Itachi and Orochimaru.

Nothing good could ever come of that.

Before Naruto-clone could really get in on trying to yank some impromptu information out of Guren somehow, The ship began to quake terribly before a grand groan came from the vessel and a hole was punched into the hull as water began cascading in.

Well there went that whole atypical mercy idea about Itachi, straight out the window.

XxX

(Outside of the Ship)

Kisame chuckled to himself as he observed the damage that he had just wrought upon the ship after Itachi told him that they were done there. He stopped laughing though when he saw Itachi simply staring at him. Was he mad? Kisame couldn't tell, "What?"

"We are trying to keep a low profile." Itachi said in a monotone fashion as he stared his partner down.

"I know." Kisame contended with a shrug, "That was why I didn't blow it up. Look." He said, pointing at the steadily sinking ship, "That thing's heading to the bottom of the river. No one that didn't know it beforehand would even know it was there, and also by default us." He finished with a shark-toothed grin.

In his defense he didn't know what had been onboard. Since Itachi told him that he had gotten what they needed he figured that it was just some expendable Oto body… or several.

Itachi just stared at him for another moment before turning and moving along, "Come. We have work to do." Apparently, Itachi had been truly indifferent to it, because he simply let it slide, "Our destination is south."

XxX

(Meanwhile – Kirigakure no Sato – Mizukage's Office)

The Konoha party stood calmly in front of the desk of the first female Kage in the lands, flanked by Haku, Suigetsu, Choujuurou, and Ao for security purposes as they waited on the Mizukage to return to the office.

As they waited, Shikamaru found himself standing closest to Suigetsu, and as troublesome as it was his curiosity was getting the best of him, "Hey." He said, getting the silver-haired swordsman's attention, "How did you end up with Haku? You two don't seem… compatible I guess."

Suigetsu just chuckled and scratched his nose, "She says I remind her of Zabuza-senpai somehow. That pisses me off by the way." He intentionally said loud enough for Haku to clearly hear, only to get a wave back to show that she didn't care, "But I'm into her too. I owed her at first because she saved my ass from Otogakure in a raid on a small lab, but what can I say? The ladies in this country love the strong swordsmen. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are like rock stars in some places, right Choujuurou?"

Choujuurou muttered bashfully that he wouldn't know, but Shikamaru was more interested in something else, "Wait, they caught you before?"

Suigetsu angrily thought back to what had happened two years before, "Damn right they did. The fuckers put me in a sealed off tank so I couldn't escape and experimented on my body to try and break down my clan's jutsu. That's what they do to everyone. Everyone else isn't as lucky to have a body like mine though…" He barely felt anything.

He had seen some things done to others in that hellhole with some of the sick-ass scientists though, especially from that prick in purple with the glasses that showed up once every blue moon.

"There's a special spot reserved in hell for people like them." Ao said as he had borne witness to some of Otogakure's scientist's human experiments in small facilities on the mainland that they had discovered, "Our Seven Swordsmen are usually like Suigetsu here, pretty brutal in battle. But those people don't have any excuse other than trying to play God for an egomaniac."

"Which is precisely why we need to put a stop to this here and now."

Turning around, the entire gaggle of shinobi parted as Terumi Mei, the Mizukage, walked coolly through the office and sat down at her desk with a beautiful smile on her face, "It is wonderful to meet you all." She greeted with her hands folded underneath her chin, "As you have probably guessed I am the Godaime Mizukage."

Taking the initiative as team leader, Yamato bowed to her and took the head in regards to speaking, "We're ready to do what we can to help rid you of Otogakure's influence on your lands."

"I'm certain you are all up for the task." Mei stated, gesturing to the lot of them, "You all have reputations and are famous for your own reasons. Sarutobi Asuma, son of the Sandaime Hokage and a man that boasts a 35 million ryo bounty placed on his head. Mitarashi Anko, Orochimaru's only apprentice that broke away from her master's dark influence. Yamato-san, better known by the previous codename of Tenzo, the holder of the Mokuton kekkei genkai and a genius ANBU ninja."

"Well when she puts it that way…" Ino thought to Naruto, and he was able to hear her due to the telepathic link that the two had established to chat in silence while waiting for the meeting to begin, "I'm feeling kind of inadequate right now. Why aren't we famous?"

"I'm actually kind of famous…" Naruto mentally admitted through the link, much to Ino's shock which showed on her face, "Yeah… I found that out while I worked with the Guardian Ninja group. Some people knew who me and Shika were before we even did anything for them. You too actually."

"What in the world are we famous for?"

The question was answered by Mei who caught on to the little bit of psychic play going on between the two kids, "And I know about you three as well Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto. Don't think that people have forgotten about your victory in the largest chunin exam in the history of the unified system. It was only three and a half years ago."

"That's why." Naruto thought to his blonde teammate as Mei confirmed what he had been saying. Apparently it had been just as big of a deal as it had felt like it had been at the time if people were able to identify them solely off of that. It did open some doors though, "Heh, it's kind of weird that the Mizukage knows my name… kind of cool." Naruto admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck at being put on the spot.

"It's kind of troublesome really." Shikamaru said in return, "I don't want people to know who I am. Who wants to be a big illustrious target for some wannabe to try and take out for name recognition? Not me."

"Peh. You're nobody until somebody tries to kill you kid." Ao said matter-of-factly, "Every strong shinobi has enemies. You can't say you're a good ninja if no one wants you dead."

'No one wants you?' Was how the Mizukage misheard and perceived Ao's words to the youngsters in the room. She simply looked at him with a brightly pleasant smile and addressed him accordingly with what she thought he said, "Ao, shut up or I'll kill you."

Ao scratched his temple confusedly, but did as requested. He didn't want to be melted in the middle of the floor. Suigetsu just snickered while Choujuurou and Haku simply acted as if she hadn't threatened one of her own shinobi with extreme physical violence.

Carrying on with the meeting as planned, Mei got things back in line once more, "We can't commit a decent strike force to the southern island territories to try and take on Otogakure's main facility." She said with a frown on her face, "It will be seen as an act of aggression with some of the neighboring countries and they'll use it as an excuse to move forward and try to take some of Mizu no Kuni's islands as recompense."

"…I hate politics." Asuma mumbled to himself, wishing he could smoke inside at the moment. He hated briefings and meetings like this, "Fucking backstabbing, under-the-table, sleight of hand crap…"

"Indeed Sarutobi-san." Mei returned, letting out a bit of an airy giggle when she saw Asuma rightfully embarrassed at being heard, "I don't have a taste for politics either, but my village needed me and it had to be done. There was no one else suitable for the position of Mizukage after Yagura reign and the war both ended. But enough about me, we can speak more personally later when there is time." She finished cryptically with a smile.

Both Naruto and Shikamaru just turned to stare at Asuma who was trying to act like he didn't pick up on the underlying point that Mei had just made, 'Did she just hit on Asuma-sensei?'

'Why didn't something like this happen years ago?' Asuma thought to himself as he tried to ignore the looks from his male students. Damn it he was in a committed if not semi-secret relationship and had a kid on the way. This was no time for infidelity, even if it would have possibly the most beautiful woman he would ever have a shot with, "Ahem… of course. Business first."

Taking pity on Asuma and willing to save him from further scrutiny, Shikamaru spoke up, "So, if you can't send anyone in why do you think it would be any easier for us? It can't just be because everyone thinks that Konoha is strong."

"Logistically none of these countries can afford hostilities with Konoha." Haku chimed in helpfully, "Even if they felt the need to press against Kiri and Mizu no Kuni, if we appear to be allied with Konoha that would be a major deterrent. Not that we don't wish for an alliance of sorts, because we do. But if you refused to officially sign a treaty with us, the mere appearance of a small group such as yourselves it would seem diplomatic. And that would force them to back off in theory to keep from involving Konoha in the affairs of the region."

Because no one wanted to fight Konoha.

Actually that wasn't true. Tons of people wanted to fight Konoha, it was just that no one thought it was smart to fight a war with Konoha, and no one felt that it was worthwhile to go to war with Konoha. Not by themselves, and no one powerful enough got along well enough to coordinate any ill intent towards the village. Especially since it was also loosely allied with Takigakure and Sunagakure… even if the treaties that bound them weren't even worth the paper they were printed on.

Mei gestured toward Haku to state that what she had said was exactly the point, "Of course there is a reason why we sought out Konoha as well. Sarutobi Hiruzen is not an imperialistic warlike Hokage, so letting Konoha know of Kiri's current weakened state of affairs has a low risk of your village trying to take advantage of ours. Couple that with the geographic deterrents keeping your village from offensively pressing ours, as well as your village's ever-standing grievance with Oto's leader and this is why you were asked to assist us."

Because there was no reason to mess with Kiri, because trying to fight Kiri on their turf was way more trouble than it was worth for a village like Konoha, and because of the responsibility they had for unleashing Orochimaru on the world. Those were the reasons that Konoha was selected to request assistance from.

That was good enough for Anko, who was doing a decent job at hiding the fact that she was chomping at the bit to get that party started, "Well, let's work out how this is going to be run. Our kids here caught an Oto prisoner and extracted the information on the general area where the island is located toward the south."

Yamato as team leader picked up from there, "Now I know you can't commit a strike force Mizukage-sama, but we're willing to go and see how bad the situation is ourselves if you'll send us someone that can guide us."

"You're willing to do this yourselves?" Mei said in a slightly skeptical tone of voice. It was just six of them from Konoha and they were willing to undertake something so dangerous? All they wanted was a guide to assist them, "You're certain of this?"

A unanimous series of nods came from the guest squad. Yamato gestured to his team surrounding him, "We're a specially structured infiltration and reconnaissance party. Uzumaki-san is our sensor, Mitarashi-san is a skilled tracker, Yamanaka-san is here to extract information as needed, Nara-san is capable of planning our approach for observation in case we locate our target, and in case battle is necessary Sarutobi-san and myself specialize in direct combat."

Konoha had just as much interest in getting information reports on any Otogakure strongholds as Kiri did.

Naruto was about to raise his hand and interject that he specialized in direct combat as well, but Shikamaru elbowed him in the stomach to shut him up and got a glare that could melt steel in return that he ignored.

As the reigning Mizukage, Mei wasn't certain if sending out a ninja good enough to guide the Konoha contingent to their target safely was worth the potential loss. She wasn't going to draft anyone to partake in this mission. She had too many important shinobi out and about around the countryside protecting villages near hotspots where civilians had been kidnapped by the enemy.

Aside from that, the southern islands were numerous and infamous for housing all sorts of nasty folks. Pirates, raiders, and there was even hearsay of a community of missing-nin but that had always been thought of as a legend that got passed around the hunter-nin rookie ranks for kicks.

"I'll volunteer for the task." Haku stated with a bow to her village leader, "Please allow me to do this Mizukage-sama. I swear I won't let you down. I know of the southern islands well. During Zabuza-sama and my own escape after his failed coup that was the route we selected to flee the country and elude the hunter-nin. I know how someone hiding in that area would conceal themselves."

Suigetsu raised a lazy hand as well, "I'm in too. Those pricks poked and prodded at me like a guinea pig and humiliated me for too long. And besides…" He said with a roguish grin showing his sharpened teeth, "I can't let my lady go out island hopping by herself. That's dangerous."

So the party seemed to be set. Six from Konoha, two from Kiri, eight in all. Not a bad small squad for something this big. More would be better, but the known lack of manpower was half the reason that the mission was ranked S-rank to begin with.

As everything looked to be falling into place, Naruto's eyes widened and he ground his teeth for a second before he held his head in a bit of pain, "Ugh… we're going to need a new ride too. The boat we hid on the inlet got sunk."

"Oto?" Ino asked, putting a worried hand on Naruto's arm only to get him to shake his head no, "Well who then?"

"Uchiha Itachi… Akatsuki…"

The room grew silent and everyone just stared at Naruto as if he were insane, waiting for him to retract that last statement. When it never came a loud smack noise attracted everyone's attention to Shikamaru who was palming his forehead, "Of course it is."

(Flashback – Onboard the Sinking Ship)

There was a horrible grinding noise and then water started pouring into the room from the doorway, 'Crap, they hit the ship hard enough to sink it?' Naruto-clone thought in a panic. What was the point of that other than to just ensure that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had one less way to leave the country that they knew he was in?

He couldn't save the vessel and he knew it. There was nothing he could do for it.

"Damn it, I'm really going to drown here?" Guren said to herself in disbelief as she tried to struggle in vain to free herself, "This is bullshit!" That's right! He had been trying to pry a bit more information out of her before the ship started to sink.

How much time was left? One minute the clone wagered and then they'd be underwater. He wasn't any kind of interrogator, but there was something important that he needed to know, "What did Itachi ask you about the Sanbi for?" Guren glared up at him and remained quiet, "He already knows so you might as well tell me too! Do it and I'll let you escape!"

"You're full of crap you liar!" Guren shouted back at him as the water was rising up to the standing Naruto-clone's knees and getting higher rapidly, "No matter what I do you're just going to leave me here to drown, so kiss my ass!"

In response, Naruto-clone drew his machete and held it to Guren's stockade as a show that he was serious, "Listen stupid, I'm being dead serious. Akatsuki wants the Sanbi and that's something we can't let happen, whether I'm from Konoha or not because they want all of the biju and that's bad. So if Oto is going after it tell me where it is so we can do something to try and stop them!"

Guren just glared up at him and bit her lip as she thought, 'Uchiha Itachi and whoever his partner is are S-ranked badasses. Yukimaru… he'll die if they get to him. But I can't betray Oto by letting a Konoha ninja find out what we did with the Sanbi even if there are bigger fish to fry!'

"If you don't do it Itachi and whoever he has with him are still going to tear apart whoever they find to get to the Sanbi. At least if you tell me there's a chance we can stop them. You've got ten seconds."

She wasn't banking on six random Konoha ninjas to do a damn thing to stop a man that destroyed the most famous clan in the ninja world on his own. But if Naruto did indeed let her go once she told him as he claimed that he would, she would have a chance to get there before Akatsuki did and warn everyone that Orochimaru's sworn enemies were on their way.

There was a chance to salvage this. And if he lied it wouldn't matter anymore anyway because she would be left to drown and die. It wouldn't be her problem.

"Fine!" Guren shouted loudly as she tried to lift her neck to keep water from getting into her mouth before she was done speaking, "We don't just know where the Sanbi is, we have the Sanbi in our possession, inside of a jinchuuriki that we made! That's who they're going for, now let me go!" Guren said just as the water rose high enough to cover her mouth and begin getting into her nose.

All of a sudden she was able to flail her arms and legs around and stand up as the wooden stockade that held her was sliced clean through. She stood up in the now waist-deep water only to see a puff of smoke as a sign that Naruto's clone was gone.

(End Flashback)

"You let her go?" Ino asked with a twitching eye after Naruto had recanted to the lot of them what his clone had done, "Are you insane? After all the work we did to capture her you let her go!"

Naruto backed away from the angry Yamanaka with his hands held up defensively, "Ino chill out! It was either let her go and find out what Akatsuki are here planning or leave her to die and find out nothing! My clone made a judgment call!" That did little to soothe the savage beast behind Ino's eyes though, "I had a good reason!"

"I like it actually…" Ao said with a thoughtful look on his experienced face, "Yeah… if he hadn't let her go, Akatsuki would have gotten the full drop on the Oto base once they found the correct southern island. But now, even if they find it I can almost be sure that this Guren will beat them back and she'll warn them of the Akatsuki approach. That's the more pressing threat."

Asuma put a hand on Ino's shoulder to stop her advance on Naruto who had his hands up prepared to defend himself, "I see good reasons too. If it was an ambush, Akatsuki would flatten them in short order and leave with a biju to further their plans. That would just get them to turn their attention on trying to catch Naruto that much sooner. But this way if Guren gets back and warns them they'll have to fight a full-on battle against an entire base and a pissed off jinchuuriki to boot."

Shikamaru nodded and finished his sensei's thought for him, "And since we have to find this place anyway we can not only use the battle as a way to find the base easier, we can use the confusion from the battle to get closer without a fuss." For as long as the battle lasted anyway. It depended on just how strong Akatsuki members were and if they could live up to the hype, "This is actually really good if we do it right."

Looking into Ino's eyes to check for mounting danger, Naruto calmed down when he found nothing of the sort any longer. Thank goodness, "See? Judgment call." Not bad for a decision made by a chakra entity in the span of under a minute as far as he was concerned.

Without saying anything else, Ao looked over at the Mizukage and noted the gleam in her eye as she nodded almost unnoticeably. This was a better situation than they had ever expected. It was by far the best opening they had to get at Oto since they gained their foothold in Mizu no Kuni for several reasons.

The rest of the mission specifics were hammered out in short order now that all of this had been presented. Yamato's squad would gather reconnaissance with Haku as a guide and Suigetsu as good faith support. Kiri would provide transport to the southern islands of the Mizu no Kuni border area, and once the location of the enemy was found they would mark the coordinates and send immediate word to Kiri who would have ANBU at the ready to send in under the radar of the other countries in case that was still an issue.

Of course there was something else important that had been dictated to both Haku and Suigetsu. Both of them had a secondary mission if the opportunity presented itself that they were to keep to themselves; to capture the Sanbi jinchuuriki that had been made by Oto and bring him/her to the village. The ANBU sent out after the position was confirmed would provide assistance if there was a need.

At a time when Kiri was building its strength back up from the damage incurred from the civil war it was a possible deterrent and wartime resource that they had been forced to cover up losing after Yagura's disappearance. A military asset of that sort could not be overlooked as important to the village.

XxX

(Ocean South of Mizu no Kuni Mainland Island)

'I can beat them there!' Guren screamed to herself in her mind. After making tons of ground on land, when she finally reached the sea she sped up her travel time by surrounding herself in a ring of crystal that she moved like a wheel, 'If I can just make it back first…'

Itachi had managed to get the location out of her verbally via his genjutsu, complete with landmarks to help him find it but without someone that knew the country like the back of their hand it would take him a long time to traverse the multiple islands and find the right one. None of them were named, and all of the maps of that portion of the region were generalized and not exact due to the difficulty in doing so.

Even with someone that did know the area… without someone that could lead him straight to the island, and that could only be someone that knew of the location of the Oto base by heart, it would still take a fair amount of time to find it.

She knew exactly where to go, not just a general area, 'Yukimaru is going to be Orochimaru-sama's future body, and I can't let him be lost to those bastards!' They only had a five minute head-start on her at best. It would take her another day to get there, but since she had practice in getting to the rather complex location conventional logic would say that she would make it first.

Guren threw even more effort behind her speed transport and pushed herself along faster than before as she cut a path through the water. This wasn't over yet. Her master's ambitions were worth her life.

XxX

(Konohagakure no Sato – Team 7 Training Ground)

"An S-rank mission." Sakura said to herself in a somewhat worried manner as she sat by the training posts that marked the site of her squad's final exam under their jounin leader years ago, "…Ino-pig really doesn't know how to ease back into active duty does she?" And all the way to Kirigakure to boot. That was much too far to request any kind of backup from Konoha.

Sitting on the ground in front of her was a slightly scuffed up Chouji, allowing Sakura to practice her medical techniques on him and simultaneously patch him up before their monthly exercise against their old sensei. It had been something that Team 7 set up after all of them were finally promoted to chunin; they would meet up at least once a month if nothing else than to take on Kakashi and measure their growth.

He was late as usual, thus Chouji had gotten in a bit of training beforehand and wished to be in top form when the time came.

Chouji was now much more robust physique-wise than he had been when he was younger. His hair was now longer and spikier down his back, he wore his headband normally around his forehead, and he wore a red suit with armor plating on his torso, arms, and legs with the kanji for food emblazoned right across his chest and stomach, "Oh come on, you know how much she hated working T&I. She probably jumped at it. And with Naruto there too I don't think Shika had a chance to turn it down. It wasn't like he'd fight too hard to do it anyway."

"Hey, how much stronger is Shikamaru these days anyway?" Sakura asked her large teammate, "I know you two kept in contact with letters sometimes while he and Naruto were gone, and you hung out all day the day after he got back." Yes she was curious. Who wouldn't be? He had been a Guardian Ninja, and his lazy attitude hadn't gotten him or the daimyo killed. That had to mean major strides were made.

"He's alright I guess." That wasn't the answer she was looking for. Luckily the green chakra surrounding her hands didn't slip after hearing it, "We didn't talk too much about that stuff. I don't have to ask him about it to know that he's stronger. Shikamaru might be lazy, but he's not that kind of guy."

"Who's on an S-rank mission? Is Kakashi on one?"

Sakura looked ahead and her face lit up at the person that strolled into the field, "Sasuke-kun!" Some old habits died hard, but her voice wasn't that loud when she saw him. Chouji didn't even cringe which meant that it wasn't so grating, "Oh, no one here. Ino-chan got sent on one with Asuma-sensei and her team. I think Anko-sensei went too, but no one can say what mission it was."

As time passed, Sasuke was now adorned in a grey high-collared t-shirt with his clan crest on the back and dark blue pants with a blue cloth wrapped around his waist like a belt. On his back he carried a steel gunbai war fan half his size, "I'm assuming that when you say 'her team' you mean Shikamaru and the dumbass." A small smile placed itself onto his face, "They'll be fine. The Guardian Ninja group is supposed to be a team of outright killers, and if they're back to even take an S-rank mission that means something by itself."

"You just want to fight Naruto again." Chouji interjected if only to get a rise out of Sasuke as he stood up with a grunt, "You two are weird like that. It's like you're the measuring stick for each other or something. You've never had a finish since we graduated."

With Chouji mended to the point where he was once again fighting fit, Sakura placed her hands on her hips and looked around with a scowl, "Where is Kakashi-sensei? He'd better not be ducking out again after we beat him up so bad last time."

Sasuke just rolled his eyes at his teacher's perennial tardiness and Chouji's previous comment. Of course he wanted to fight Naruto again. It was a magnificent way to see how strong he was. So what? Having a rival was the best way to mark his progress as he continued to prepare for his eventual day of reckoning against Itachi.

And speaking of marking his progress, "I want to fight Kakashi by myself today. You two sit back since I know you don't like fighting anyway." To beat a master of the Sharingan one needed to practice against one, and since there were no other Uchiha Clan members around Kakashi was the best he'd have in that regard.

"Not a chance Sasuke."

"We're supposed to fight as a team Sasuke-kun. There's no reason to do that."

That was the expected answer. Oh well, he'd have to somehow corner Kakashi later and set up a one-on-one match sometime later. He had to be ready anytime now. For all he knew Itachi could be just about anywhere.

As he thought about this, from the corner of his eye he caught a small black field mouse scurrying away getting him to narrow his eyes.

XxX

(Southern Island Border of Mizu no Kuni)

"You're so lucky you're with someone that knows these waters like the back of his hand Itachi-san." Kisame said as the two of them walked on an island that could be crudely described by Kisame as a big-ass rock with trees on it, "You'd be searching these islands for days before you found anything."

He seemed proud of that fact, or something like that. Itachi wasn't going to comment on it though. There was a time and a place for everything and it wasn't the time to one-up his partner with a snarky comment.

No, he was paying attention to their surroundings. They were in the belly of the enemy now and he knew it. Both of them did, but they both had different ways of doing things. In situations like this, Kisame would get more excited and expectant for the battle to begin. Itachi would be hypersensitive to everything around him and would clam up, even more so than usual.

Without warning they both came to a stop in the stillness of the forest. Kisame slung his bandaged sword down from his back and slammed it on the ground, "Go on ahead Itachi-san. I've got this." He said with a wide grin, "Something like this won't tire me out."

Itachi didn't even turn to look Kisame's way, still looking straight ahead in the path that they were travelling, "If you're certain Kisame then you can take him on alone." He was as cool as a cucumber while Kisame seemed to be getting even more riled up once Itachi seemed to be clearing him for action, "I will locate the Sanbi jinchuuriki in the meantime."

At that utterance, a single indistinguishable projectile flew into the air overhead and exploded before dropping down countless tiny white daggers from the sky that fell quickly and with accuracy enough to avoid the trees and hit nothing but visible ground. Mutliple blades impaled Itachi, seemingly annihilating him before he broke up into multiple crows that flew away, distinguishing himself as a clone.

Kisame was real though. He held up his sword that covered his entire body and blocked the ambush before lowering it with a grin on his face, "You're a vicious one aren't you?" He asked in an excited tone of voice, "Got to try harder than that though."

That Itachi was a sly one. If he hadn't known the man he might not have noticed the moment when he switched himself out with a clone. Smooth.

Out from the forest walked Kimimaro with his shirt already set down and ready for battle, sharp bones already extending out of his torso, "I'm aware of both of you, and I hope that you don't think I should fear you because of that. If that is your hope I'm afraid that you are to be sorely disappointed."

"No. It's better this way." The blue-skinned man admitted openly as some of the bandages on his sword fell away to reveal the scales beneath it, "When they're scared they don't really fight. But with the fact that Orochimaru has you so turned around you're going to throw your life away against me, and the fact that Itachi's going off to do something that might cause him to work a bit I've got all the quality time I need to enjoy this battle all the way through."

"You're mistaken." Kimimaro said as long sharp bones extended from his palms, elbows, shoulders, feet, and knees, "Your reputation has you so turned around you're going to throw your life away against me 'Monster of the Mist'. Yanagi no Mai (Dance of the Willow)."

A close range opponent? This really was Kisame's day, he could almost laugh at his good fortune. And against one of Kirigakure's ultimate clan of war during its previously embattled past to boot. The Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya Clan.

Kimimaro dashed at Kisame suddenly, and without missing a beat Kisame shifted his sword to block him before he could get close. In a blindingly surprising show of agility even for a ninja, Kimimaro stepped one foot on the blade of Kisame's sword and propelled himself into a backflip, the bone extending from his foot being used to cut or stab through his face.

Kisame leaned back out of the way of the attack, barely keeping his nose from being torn from his face as he simultaneously lifted his sword for an upward swing, but that missed the nimble Kimimaro in return who landed on the ground and spun away like a spiky top before coming to a stop in a strange ready stance prepared for round two.

"Feh. Nice taijutsu. It's a little busy though isn't it?" Kisame said as he stripped the rest of the bandages away from his powerful sword, "Sure it's *technically* magnificent. I mean you know how to not trip over your own feet and all, but I doubt you can keep that up for as long as you need to. Eventually I am going to land something and then you'll be like wounded prey in the water." In response, Kimimaro just extended his visible bones even farther.

Kisame was going to find it quite difficult to wound someone like Kimimaro in the conventional manner.

XxX

"Foolish." Itachi said to himself as he left dozens of Otogakure ninjas littering the branches and the ground all around him. He looked like he hadn't broken a sweat to handle them, but then again he never seemed to, "But then again Orochimaru has a penchant for attracting that sort to his cause."

They had broken off from Kimimaro's command to try and prevent him from reaching their base. The enemy had admittedly been better prepared for his genjutsu approach this time around, probably due to his letting the last batch live, but in the end it hadn't taken too much actual effort to defeat them.

He swore that Kisame's Samehada had sensed a more powerful presence amongst the group that had broken off to fight him, but if he whoever it was wasn't going to double team Kisame along with Kimimaro it wasn't important. And that didn't seem to be the case.

He had more than ample amounts of chakra left to subdue Yukimaru when he came across him. A new jinchuuriki was raw and unpredictable, but that was what genjutsu was for; to neutralize the brute force of an adversary.

Since the entire island's location was subtle and discreet, Itachi felt that he could understand why the entrance to the base itself was a gigantic stone snake's mouth.

Knowing Kisame, he was probably going to take his time with Kimimaro since he had been given the green light to fight an enemy like that to a finish for the first time in quite a while. It was fine though. Itachi didn't need his help for something like this anyway.

If history was anything to go by, he was going to be there for a while. That was good. Time was exactly what he needed to get what he wanted out of this mission.

He was going to take his sweet time and wait for everything to line up in his favor. No rush whatsoever as he slowly walked inside of the base without fear. As he did so, from underneath one of the bushes and trees concealing everything from view on the island, a small toad hopped out and back underneath cover elsewhere outside.

XxX

(Elsewhere on the Island)

A successful enemy stronghold infiltration from this end.

Even though Ino seemed to be boring a hole in the back of Anko's head with a glare that could probably weather solid rock, the higher ranking ninja didn't seem to care too much, "Alright, we're in. Hopefully everyone else made it on as well and we're getting some good dirt." She said quietly and in good spirits.

Ino on the other hand was not. Successful infiltration or not, "…You put my body in a snake's belly while I was off in a bird making sure that this island was safe… without my consent. Do you have any idea how gross that was to wake up to?"

"Yes princess I realize that. It's why I didn't get your consent before I did it. It was the easiest way on. We weren't seen, and even if we had been who's going to think a snake is suspicious on an Oto held island?"

"Not the point."

Anko just rolled her eyes as the two continued to move through a stony-cliffed area of the island. There was a steep waterfall nearby that dropped directly into the rocky ocean and they had been checking around there because a waterfall was a good place to hide an entrance or emergency exit. As they gathered intel they needed to make sure all bases were covered for the eventual attack that they were compounding info for.

"Don't be so sensitive." Anko continued with a grin mounting on her face, "You work in the T&I department. I'm sure you've done nastier things than ride in a snake's mouth. And I'm sure you want to do nastier things with-."

"I swear if you finish that sentence with what I think you're going to say I'll take over your body and make you walk through Konoha naked." Ino threatened. And even though it silenced Anko for the time being it didn't pull the grin from her face, "Honestly. You people. And whose business is it anyway-?" A hand held up by Anko as she froze in place stopped Ino completely, "What's the matter?"

Instead of answering at first, Anko grabbed at the Cursed Seal on her neck and turned toward the forest that was near them, "Something that feels familiar is coming this way." She didn't know how she figured that. She wasn't a sensor, and no noise was being made, she just knew, "Not the good kind of familiar either. Hide now."

Both did just that, and it only took another minute or so until a very large young man with wild orange hair strode out of the forest with a small bird on his finger.

He walked around aimlessly as if he was searching for something before holding the bird up to his face to speak to it as it chirped to him, "The people around when you lost control of your body are somewhere here aren't they?" Juugo's eyes looked around until he seemed satisfied despite the fact that there was nothing in sight, "Yes, I can feel the presence of one of my copies nearby, a strong design. My influence is suppressed though."

The bird flew off of Juugo's finger and in the next second his expression turned murderous. His right arm transformed into an ugly, bulky, and grey form with a piston at the elbow that he punched into the ground hard enough to shatter the rock. His piston snapped down simultaneously and drove a crack that trailed straight to the edge of the cliff.

Before it made it there and broke the cliff edge off, both Anko and Ino made it back over. Having chosen over the edge of the cliff as their hiding place, they found having to fight a far better alternative than getting dashed against the rocks in the ocean via a rockslide.

Upon making it over, Anko stopped and stared at Juugo. His body looked a bit like those afflicted with the Cursed Seal, only more stable and natural, "…What the hell is this?" She heard him call her his copy. What did that mean though? And why did he look so pissed off?

"This isn't good is it?" Ino asked aloud, holding up her hands in position to fire her consciousness at the first opportunity it presented itself.

Omake: Guardian Days 4

(Eight Months after Naruto and Shikamaru's Acceptance)

"Kid I like drinking in the dark as much as the next person…" Jiraiya started to say before he did just as he had been talking about and downed some of his adult beverage as he sat next to Naruto from their place in the corner of a dimly lit bar, "But if you're going to spend your two weeks off drinking you should do it in a gentleman's establishment so we can hang out around some women."

Naruto sat at the table with his head down in his arms as he scrutinized the entrance of the bar with a snort, "Drinking? I'm fourteen." This was said with a lit cigarette hanging idly out of his mouth, "I'm here for training."

Jiraiya looked around at their surroundings and shrugged. A dingy bar at the northwestern border of Hi no Kuni where organized gaming and the acts of the debaucherous reigned supreme. In all actuality it was his kind of place… but some training, "You're going to have to stop getting your ideas for vacation spots from Tsunade-hime. What are you here to train, your tolerance for alcohol? Really… because we can do that if you want."

Anything else that could or would be said was prevented when Naruto saw his target person come through the door of the bar, looking around for something, "Not that kind of training Ero-sensei." With that he got up and Jiraiya's head almost popped out of his head when he saw Naruto get up and go toward this new person.

His fourteen year old brat of an apprentice was walking up to the cutest damn thing in that bar, which admittedly wasn't saying much considering who was in there, but in this case it was. Tanned skin, mint green hair, and a lithe built little body that fit with the somewhat revealing white clothes she wore. And she was at least three or four years older than him.

Shoot for the stars!

"Go brat go!" Jiraiya loudly hissed under his breath as he watched Naruto walk on over to the girl across the bar, "This is the kind of training he was talking about and he didn't even ask me for pointers? I don't know whether to feel proud or slighted that he didn't ask me for advice." The two seemingly talked for a bit before Naruto grinned widely and wrapped the girl up in a hug. Jiraiya then cringed when Naruto got flung by the girl hard enough to fly into the bartender's counter, "Ooh, too forward."

The rest of the bar cared for about five seconds and went back to drinking the afternoon away. Jiraiya figured that at least the girl didn't punch him hard enough to nearly rip his head off of his shoulders like Tsunade. Goodness, were all kunoichi getting stronger like that or what? Jiraiya unconsciously cracked his neck just thinking about it.

Laying upside down, all sorts of askew, Naruto saw an inverted view of Fuu walking toward him.

"You got one of those for helping me earlier this year." Fuu said, hands on her hips as she walked over to the stunned Naruto, "One does not mean hug me once every time you see me. It means once in a lifetime or you get flung to the moon."

Naruto coughed and stood up with a rubber-legged effect to his stance before he got his feet back under him, "Nice to see you too Fuu. Did you make it here alright?"

"Just fine." She said, dusting him off as he got his awareness back under him, "It's a way easier trip for me than it is for you Mr. Guardian Ninja." Getting a letter like that from him was certainly a surprise, "So how much time do you have to train?"

"A week and a half left. It was supposed to be two weeks but it took a few days to get here." Naruto said as he shook any possible dirt off of his guardian sash and adjusted his goggles on his forehead, "How's that work for you? Think you can teach me some jinchuuriki tricks?"

A frown was evident on Fuu's face, but she just waved it off. It was basically supposed to be a crash course with her throwing as much at him as she thought would stick in short order, "That's not enough time for you to get anything concrete down, but I guess we can get started and you can have some exercises down to do on your own." She gestured toward the door and started leaving, "Come on Naruto, let's go make a serviceable jinchuuriki out of you."

Over where he was sitting, Jiraiya heard the girl say that she was 'going to make a _ out of' Naruto, but didn't hear quite what she said from his eavesdropping. When Naruto left with her and turned back to him to give him a thumbs-up, the universal sign for don't wait up, Jiraiya fell out in the floor and almost had a heart attack on the spot, "N-No way!" He wheezed out, "Impossible! I haven't been surpassed yet!"