FicWad

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Also, this story is a lemon fiction therefore is intended for people of a legal age from wherever they come from. So, if these types of stories offend then stop reading now. Thanks.

Chapter 107: The Chunin Exams Part Deux: The Mad Rush Backwards! Part 1

“Oh…oh fuck…,” a pale woman with long violet hair moaned as she was sandwiched between two naked men that were busy ramming their cocks into both of her holes.

An equally naked dark-skinned man with red-hair watched on from a chair all while a naked blonde woman with ponytails which protruded from the sides of her head sucked his cock clean of the moaning women’s pussy juices after having just finished cumming inside her. The blonde stared up at him with teal eyes which shown with lust and excitement as she listened to her teammates ravage the Suna kunoichi that she had drugged. She let his cock slip free of her lips with an exaggerated pop, before sticking a sucker which she had been palming while she had pleasured him back into her mouth.

She giggled as he pulled her into his lap prompting her to ask, “What’s the matter, the sandy bitch not enough for you?”

The golden eyed man chuckled as he said, “Not after that clean up job, Wayoko.” He caused her to moan as he lifted her up so that he could begin sliding his cock along her slit. While looking to where two of his fellow members of the Thudercloud Unit were currently fucking the Suna kunoichi that Wayoko had pretended to befriend in the hotel’s bar before she had drugged her and then guided her up to a spare room that they had rented so that they could lure a few of the other exam participants to it in order to pilfer their coins. A sound plan, but one that hadn’t netted them a lot of success as most of the other shinobi they had encountered had been rather resistant to the Blonde kunoichi’s charms having refused to drop their guards. At least until she had managed to charm the violet haired kunoichi currently entertaining them due to the aphrodisiac that Wayoko had slipped into her drink which upon fully activating had excited her to the point where she had practically begged to be fucked. Focusing on the woman whose name he thought had started with an S, it quickly shifted to where two more of the team’s members were waiting for a go at her while fisting their cocks. Causing him to add, “Besides, Rikiya and Hideotora are still waiting for a go at her.”

Sending a snide look towards the heavy-set man sitting in the chair with his dick buried in the Sand Kunoichi ass, where it had been ever since they had stripped her naked to see if she was carrying her coin, Wayoko said, “Well maybe that fatty should just bust his nut in her ass already.”

The Sandy-brown haired man to whom she was speaking glared at her even as he fondled the Suna-nin’s tits, before stating, “Don’t expect me to rush just because Yukai is so used to your worn-out snatch that anything with a little tightness caused him to blow so quickly.”

Wayoko glared at the team’s heavy who was called Montaro as he released one of the kunoichi’s tits to adjust his glasses while the man standing in front of him and the kunoichi whose pussy he was currently ploughing, leaned forward to suck the nipple of her just released breast. The Suna kunoichi moaned as the dark-skinned man sucked her tit until he released it so that he could push her legs up against her shoulders in order to fuck her all the harder. The grey-haired man whose name was Hikosaburo groaned as the kunoichi’s snatch squeezed down on him causing him to state, “Don’t take it too personally Wayoko. This is one fine piece of pussy that you scored for us to enjoy. I mean fuck, she’s squeezing down on me so hard right now, I’ll end up cumming any second myself.”

Montaro couldn’t help but moan out an agreement as he could feel the grey-haired man’s movement within the kunoichi, even as it caused her to tighten her ass around his cock in response. Nearly in unison the two men groaned as they fired their loads into her, setting the woman off as well as she reached forward to grip the back of Hikosaburo’s head to pull him into a kiss.

Pulling away from the woman, Hikosaburo sighed in contentment as he withdrew from the kunoichi’s freshly creamed snatch, and made his way towards Wayoko, who was now bouncing wildly on Yukai’s cock, while Montaro stood with the panting kunoichi whose ass he had just filled with his man batter. He then carried her to the bed, where he collapsed forward, planting her face first into it. He attempted to stand, but was surprised as the woman reached back grabbing him by the back of the head, as if to keep him buried in her ass. However, he easily escaped her grip, although he left a hair or two behind, before standing and withdrawing his cock from her ass. He then called back to the two other members of the team that had yet to have a chance to enjoy her, before stating, “She’s all yours.” He then began to walk towards the chair containing their squad leader, and shortest member of their team who was busy fucking herself on his cock.

Wayoko seeing the two men approaching her, and having an excellent idea of what they wanted, pulled her sucker from her mouth before addressing Montaro, “Don’t you dare think for a second that I’m going to suck on that nasty thing after it’s been in that bitch’s ass. Since your such an ass man, why don’t you see if you can remove the stick from Yumeji’s and have her clean it off for you.”

She then leaned forwarded to begin sucking on Hikosaburo’s cock, which prompted Yukai to raise up from his chair as he began roughly slamming into her, which resulted in forcing the cock she was sucking on deeper down her throat. Hikosaburo groaned as his cock entered her throat, and quickly joined in as he grabbed the blonde by her ponytails to begin fucking her mouth with much the same ferocity.

Montaro sent a look towards the still dressed kunoichi that the blonde had mentioned, but a quick look from her was all it took to recognize that any chances he had of getting his dick sucked by her resided in the range of slim to none. So, with a shrug he decided that much like he had gotten the first crack at the Suna kunoichi’s ass, he would similarly enjoy the shower first as well so headed to the bathroom.

********************************************
Yumeji was glad for it, as she directed her attention back out the window of the Hotel room. She took a moment to study her reflection, more specifically her teal eyes which were a similar shade as her fellow kunoichi’s. She did so in order to see if the disdain that she was feeling for the rest of her teammates was visible, but at present, she could only see annoyance. As while a part of her knew that she should be disgusted at how her teammates were using the kunoichi. In all honesty she felt the woman deserved it. As while she wasn’t sure what lessons Suna taught their kunoichi, but in Kumo they made it readily apparent that any kunoichi that fell into the enemies’ hands could expect such rough treatment. Although, from the almost giddy personality that the woman had exhibited when Wayoko had first approached her, she took the Suna-nin for some idiot that had actually bought fully into the ideas that the alliance had tried to instill. Particularly as she had just finished arguing with her own teammate about their decision to abandon their teammate during the previous round.

Checking her reflection, she pushed some of the short black hair which framed her face back behind her ear to once more reveal the orgy going on behind her. She felt the desire to begin rubbing herself as she watched, but steeled her resolve not to give in, but she felt it weaken as her gaze traveled over the naked physique of the Thundercloud Unit’s number two, Rikiya, who was currently kneeling at the center of the bed as he fucked the Suna-nin’s mouth while Hideotora was standing at the side of it slamming his cock into her pussy. She tore her eyes away, as it pained her a bit to see Rikiya enjoying himself with a woman that wasn’t her. Not that they had ever actually dated. But, she had developed a crush on him shortly after joining the unit several years earlier, and although she had been psychical with him, it had only been in similar settings as the one currently taking place.

She focused her gaze on the yellow headband with the Kumo symbol printed on it in green which was tied around her left arm and was what marked her as a member of the Thundercloud unit. A symbol which she originally had put so much pride in, since only the best of the best genin were permitted to become members. Their role was to serve as a stop gap in times of war to keep units assigned to the front supplied, so that chunin could be freed up to perform combat-oriented missions. It had first been created during the closing days of the First Shinobi World War when Konoha, furious at the death of their Second Hokage had driven deep into the Land of Lightning, forcing them to put every jounin and chunin in the front line to stop them from reaching Kumo. They had just barely succeeded, but primarily because of a well timed offensive from Suna, with Kiri also having made landfall to cause havoc in the Land of Fire. It had forced Konoha to pull back its forces thus allowing Kumo to dig in. By the time the Cloud Village had recovered enough to press its own offensive, Konoha had stabilized the situation enough that it had pushed the other shinobi villages out of the Land of Fire, and into the surrounding minor countries where the rest of the fighting had taken place. At which point, the Thundercloud units had been well established.

However, recently she felt some of the prestige associated with the unit had faded, partially due to the fact that its membership had ballooned over the last few years. An unfortunate result of Kumo’s flirting with the idea of making peace with its longtime enemy Konoha as rather than holding their own exams, they had spent years organizing the one currently taking place. Which had forced many a shinobi’s career to stagnate over the years as with no new influx of chunin to fill the ranks, the villages had only promoted the truly exceptional to the rank of Jounin. Still, it wasn’t like difficult jobs had stopped coming in, so most of the villages had begun to relax their rules on allowing genin to participate in higher ranked missions. But, for the members of the Thundercloud Unit, this just meant there were now dozens of exceptionally trained Genin taking on jobs that they otherwise wouldn’t have seen, thus diminishing the prestige that had once been readily heaped upon them. Particularly, as being assigned to the unit had once meant that you were usually on the fast track to promotion.

Refocusing on her rutting teammates’ reflections, she understood that what was truly bothering her about their actions was that it reflected the malaise that had settled within the unit. After all, when they had first set out to lure shinobi up to the room, they had agreed that the point had been to both increase their chances of success by eliminating rivals, although by the Raikage’s decree those rivals had to be exclusively from the other villages. But furthermore, by stealing their coins, it would make it harder for them to all be eliminated since if each of them carried more than one coin, unless the unit as a whole was wiped, they could retreat and redistribute the coins they had managed to hold onto. However, instead of focusing on that goal, here the rest of her teammates were fucking some Suna whore like they had just achieved a great victory, but they hadn’t even managed to divest her of the coin as after stripping her naked they had found out that she already didn’t have one. With it having already been stolen, or more likely than not, it was with the blue-haired kunoichi that she had been arguing with in the bar about their having cut their partner loose.

A part of Yumeji suspected that the argument between the two had been staged, perhaps to facility the very activity that was currently taking place in an effort to get them to drop their guard. However, turning her gaze to blatantly watch as the Suna-nin moaned around the cock that she was suckling on while her pussy was stuffed with another, she couldn’t imagine why. Admittedly, she imagined that if she hadn’t recused herself from the orgy taking place, a single kunoichi that managed to get the drop on them may have succeeded in taking them out. But, she would have to be quite exceptional in order to eliminate all six of them before they could react or at the very least take her teammate as a hostage. Although, considering the argument in the bar had been related to their having cut loose the third member of their team during the first round of the exams, it did demonstrate that perhaps the other Suna kunoichi probably didn’t hold all that much intrinsic value in her teammates. Or, it was possible that was also a ruse, as they had not been among the teams that she had taken the first exam with so she couldn’t be sure that third teammate had actually been cut.

Regardless, it annoyed her that when it became apparent the Suna-nin did not have a coin for them to take, rather than killing her, or at the very least binding her before tossing her in a closet, the bitch under the effect of the drugs that she had been given had begun fingering herself in the chair that she had been set in while asking the others present why they weren’t joining her. At which point, rather than taking the two sensible options as Yumeji saw them in order to reset the trap, and lure up another group of shinobi or kunoichi to rob, the squad’s leader Yukai had simply whipped his admittedly impressive cock out and with little preamble, slammed it into her soaking wet cunt. The other male members of the team had obviously been pleased by the change of plans as they began to play rock, paper, scissors to determine who took what orifice and after that what order they would go in, while Wayoko also decided to join in as she first began stripping Yukai of his clothes before removing her own. Yumeji instead had simply moved to her current position, to keep watch, while also wondering why her teammates refused to keep their eyes on the prize.

After all, the writing was all but on the wall that Kumo would be exiting the Alliance at the conclusion of the exam as evident by the instructions the Raikage had personally delivered to the participants through several assemblies. Although it was rumored that some assemblies had received different instructions, the orders that had been handed out at the one that she had attended had been basically to do all that they could to advance, but not at the expense of each other. To her at least it was clear that the Raikage wanted to give a big massive, “fuck you,” to the other members of the Alliance by basically preventing any of their participants from reaching the final round. To that end, she felt it led credence to the idea that the other assemblies had received different instructions, since she knew some rather talented individuals from the other villages were also participating. Primarily, the host of the nine-tails, who, if rumors were to be believed had bested and killed the leader of Akatsuki singlehandedly. With that being the case, she imagined that one or two of the assemblies had been filled with genin whose instructions had been to eliminate the jinchuriki at all costs. Such an orchestrated move against an exam taker of another village would be a massive violation, not just of the spirit behind the exams, but the actual rules to boot. However, considering Yumeji believed that by the end of them her village would once more be at war with its rivals, she imagined the Raikage really didn’t give a shit since there would be Alliance to which Konoha could file a claim with afterwards. Which is what infuriated her so much about her comrades’ caviler attitudes, as she didn’t want to miss the boat to glory because her teammates couldn’t keep their sexual urges under control.

That and, she wanted to part ways with the skank that she felt had betrayed her. Focusing on Wayoko just as she was roughly pulled by the hair onto Hisaburo’s cock as he exploded into her mouth. The dark-skinned man shivered as he filled the blonde’s mouth with his jizz, and once he had fished let her pony-tails go. Yukai then pulled the kunoichi up so that he could kiss her, even as he began to fill her cunt with his own seed. Wayoko moaned into his mouth, as she began to climax as well.

Yumeji looked away, as seeing Wayoko looking satisfied annoyed her, which was quite the change from when they had both joined the unit nearly three years earlier, just before Konoha had been attacked by Pain. Back when Wayoko had been the most underdeveloped member of the squad before she had really begun to blossom into the big titted whore that she currently was. Back then due to her being the only other kunoichi, the two of them could often be found in each other’s company, even when not on duty. It was during this time, that she had confided in Wayoko that she had a crush on Rikiya, and the blonde in turn had told her that she felt much the same about Yukai. However, that all had changed about a year after joining the squad, when they had been tasked with resupplying an infiltration unit of Anbu that had snuck into the Land of Waterfalls. The Anbu’s mission had been two-fold with the first part being to find the village, as its location was still unknown to all but its own shinobi, and possibly the team that the Leaf’s jinchuriki had been a part of. But, the second was to determine the validity of the rumors that Iwa was using Waterfall as a staging ground for its own infiltrations into both the Land of Fire and Land of Lightning. Due in part to the cooperation between Waterfall and Iwa which was a byproduct of Konoha refusing to return the jinchuriki of the former of the two when they had rescued her from being abducted by Akatsuki. Which the Leaf claimed was because the elders of the village had supposedly sold her out to them in the first place to save their own necks.

Unfortunately, while recently it was beginning to look as if Waterfall was beginning to regret turning to Iwa after ending their longstanding alliance with Konoha, at the time of the ThunderCloud Units mission ,that hadn’t been the case, as a joint unit of Iwa and Waterfall shinobi had apparently discovered and killed the Anbu team. The survivors of that engagement, who had not needed medical attention had then laid in wait to see if any other shinobi would turn up, and had pounced upon them when they had arrived. Luckily, seeing they were just genin, the Waterfall commander had offered them the chance to surrender much to the next highest-ranking Iwa-nin’s chagrin, before assaulting the encampment the Anbu had created within a cave. Thus, as they had not just been burdened with supplying the Anbu’s with food, they had managed to make use of the abundant supplies that they carried, such as smoke bombs and exploding tags, to create enough chaos that they had managed to slip out of the perimeter that the Iwa and Waterfall shinobi had created.

That wasn’t to say after escaping that they were home free, as the shinobi had given chase. But, as it was apparent that most of the jounin whom had originally been assigned to the group, had either been killed in the confrontation with the Anbu or needed more medical attention then could be provided in the field, they had managed to eventually lose them after entering the unclaimed territory that had once been the Land of Woods.

It was in the former Land of Woods where she had first begun to despise Wayoko, although they had never really had a proper falling out. Partially due to their being a part of the same unit, but mostly because of what had taken place. As after losing their pursers, they had taken refuge in an old stone fortification. Deciding to bed down there for the night, Yukai had given Wayoko and Rikiya the task of checking out a staircase that led underground that they had uncovered in what appeared to have once been the fort’s temple. He then ordered the rest of them to spread out to make sure the ruined fort was truly empty, but also to setup traps along the perimeter to give them advance notice if their pursers had caught up, and to delay them as much as possible.

By the time she and the others were finished, and returned to the temple that she figured they had planned to use for shelter for the night, due to it being one of the few intact buildings remaining, she was surprised to find that Wayoko and Rikiya had not returned. Moreover, while the rest of them had been away, someone had apparently found some candles which they had used to illuminate the temple and seemed to give off a pleasantly sweet scent. At the time, she had figured that perhaps it had just been Wayoko or Rikiya, after having discovered that the staircase just led down to some cellar where the temple’s former worshippers had stored their supplies. However, she would soon learn that wasn’t quite the case, as concern for their missing comrades had them all heading down the stairs. With her following after Yukai, who had first suggested that they go look for them. So they had proceeded down the stairs case, which she remembered having thought were far longer than any one for a cellar had any business being.

It was about halfway down them that Yumeji recalled beginning to feel somewhat aroused, a feeling that at the time she had attributed to coming down from the adrenaline she had experienced during their escape, as she noticed a few lit torches lining the walls. She also began to notice that they gave off the same sweet scent as had been coming from the candles upstairs. She also began to hear sounds which at the time she had been unfamiliar with. But, quickly realized what they were as she and the others reached the end of the staircase, to find what appeared to be another temple although this one was still seemingly maintained, and standing at the center of it surrounded by more lit candles lining the walls was her crush Rikiya, with his pants around his ankles with a naked Wayiko being carried in his arms as he furiously fucked her.

Rikiya seemed to be in a frenzy as he used the, at the time, still diminutive teen to satisfy his lusts as she moaned wildly from his efforts. A task he appeared to be entirely engrossed, in while Wayoko seemed to still have her wits about her. Noticing the gathering of her other teammates, she gave them a smile, which to Yumeji seemed to contain a hint of wickedness, as she at least to her mind seemed to enjoy the act she was taking part in regardless of the trust that she was betraying. So, deciding that turnabout was fair play, and despite the sense of betrayal that she felt at having her heart broken, while also being far hornier than she had ever been previously she turned to Yukai and pulled him into a kiss. Whatever it was that she was feeling, she imagined that he was as well as he didn’t even seemed surprised by her reaction as he pulled her closely to him and began fondling her still budding breasts through her shirt. Wayoko despite her claims of having set her sights on the Thundercloud unit’s leader, didn’t seemed at all perturbed by the sight of Yukai and her making out as she just said, “That’s it…Yumeji and Yukai have the right idea. Come on everyone, we survived an encounter that the Anbu themselves didn’t. I don’t know about you all, but that just reminds me I don’t want to die a virgin so let’s celebrate right.”

The rest of the team didn’t need to be told twice, as Yumeji soon found herself kneeling at the center of a circle surrounded by several of her teammates as she sucked and stroked their cocks. While Montaro had quickly moved to stand opposite of Rikiya as he pushed his cock into Wayoko ass, whose moans took on a slightly pained sound as her virgin ass was claimed for the first time. A situation which Yumeji soon found herself in as well, as Yukai slipped beneath her to experience the pleasure of deflowering her pussy, a feeling she got to enjoy for a few moments before finding herself pushed forward so that Hikosaburo could claim her anal virginity moments later, which luckily for her his cock had been lubricated with her spit rather well. Something which despite the craziness of the night, still made her smile, as she imagined one of the reasons for the venom Wayoko sent Montaro’s way was his having gone in raw so for the rest of the journey to Kumo she had complained about how much her ass had still hurt.

When morning had come, they had found themselves naked huddled among each other, with the candles that had been burning the night before all melted to nothingness. Naturally, things had been rather awkward between them at least until they had returned home to give their report, naturally leaving the part with the orgy out. They had clung to the reason that Yukai had given them the morning of, that it had just been a natural release of the tension they had shared from their near-death experience. Which coupled with the fact that Kumo-nin had always been rather promiscuous when it came to sex, as most kunoichi often found themselves having to drop out of the shinobi program due to getting knocked up, did seem somewhat believable an excuse. Moreover, Yukai had tried to make the best of it, by stating that they had all shared something rather special as he was sure that they had given each other their first times.

A feeling that Yumeji tried to cling to in order to fill the disappointment that she hadn’t been able to give any of her firsts to someone that she had actually desired. She guessed that was also why, whenever the rest of the squad would begin to get sexual since that night, she would allow herself to get swept up in it as well, believing that it was a result of their tightness as a unit. But, as time went by and with each subsequent encounter lacking the passion that she had felt unleashed during the first, even after some rather harrowing missions, she began to feel less and less like this was the case. Her less than stellar opinion of Wayoko being but one reason, while her now quite apparent dissatisfaction with remaining a member of the unit being the other. After all, if she was right there would soon be a war to win, and to be honest she was rather keen to begin writing this new chapter of her exploits on her own.

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Yumeji’s attention was pulled from her reflections of the past as the Suna kunoichi pulled her lips from around Rikiya’s dick as she began to climax while crying, “Oh…gods… hot stuff…its coming inside.” She then collapsed on the bed, seemingly passing out as she reached her limit, although her mouth was quickly reoccupied by Rikiya’s cock as he began fucking it in order to reach his own climax.

While the brown-haired Kumo-nin who had already reached his end, and whose cock was currently the one firing his swimmers into her pussy shouted, “Oh fuck…I’m cumming you bitch. Now take it all and get pregnant with my kid.”

The red-headed young man who had first shot his load into her chucked as he said, “Good luck with that Hideotora. But if anyone knocked her up, it would be me.”

While the second man who was also dark skinned, but had grey hair said, “Well, it’ll be easy enough to tell if Hideotora’s swimmers reached the goal first, it might be a little harder if it was yours or mine Yukai.”

“I guess only time will tell,” Yukai said as he walked towards the bathroom with one armed around Wayoko’s waist and his hand firmly gripping her ass.

Montaro emerged from the bathroom prompting the blonde kunoichi to say, “You better not have used up all the hot water fatass.”

“Relax,” the bespectacled man said as he moved towards one of the piles of discarded clothes, “It’s a fucking hotel. There’s plenty of hot water to go around.”

Directing his gaze to the bed, just as the short brown-haired man began to groan and fill her mouth with his cum, he asked, “Assuming she doesn’t drown on Rikiya cum, what should we do with her?”

The man named Rikiya pulled his cock from her mouth as he slid off the bed stating, “Leave her be. She’s either lost her coin already, or learned a valuable lesson about how meaningless this alliance is. Either way, there is not point in finishing her off now, not when we can catch up with her during the next round of the exams. I think I’d like to get a crack at one of her other holes.”

“You wouldn’t need to wait if you’d just get over your hangups about enjoying someone’s sloppy seconds,” Hideotaro stated as he followed behind Wayoko and Yukai into the bathroom. “I mean at least with Montaro it makes sense, since he’s an ass man. So he’s also shooting to claim that first. But, after all the times we’ve partied together, you’d think it wouldn’t bother you any longer.”

Rikiya chuckled as he also moved to the large bathroom the room had come with along with the others as he said, “What can I say? I just feel there’s no point in ploughing the same field especially after it has been tilled two or three times beforehand.”

“You hear that Yumeji,” Hideotaro called, “Sounds like you got a chance now. Why don’t you hook our boy up? You can plan it cool all you want, but I know you’re probably dying for his cock.”

Yumeji glared at him, before giving him the finger after which she returned her attention back out the window while Rikiya seemed keen to ignore the exchange. After the two disappeared in the bathroom, she allowed some of the sadness she felt to show through for a moment, but cursed and immediately hid it behind a mask of anger as while pulling his pants back on, Montaro said, “You wouldn’t be subjected to their teasing if you just get over your hangups.”

“Mind your own fucking business,” she fired back heatedly.

“I am,” Montaro stated calmly as he continued to dress, “Your jealousy and anger over Wayoko seducing Rikiya has only grown more and more pronounced since she and Yukai have officially started dating.”

“He’s only dating her because she lets him step out on her,” Yumeji countered knowing that her tone was definitely colored by the green-eyed monster.

“Well, he lets her fuck around on him too,” Montaro replied with a chuckle. But adjusting his glasses, he grew serious as he stated, “Normally, I wouldn’t say anything, but seeing as how you’re messing up the unity within the squad…”

“What!?” Yumeji shouted incredulously. But mindful of their teammates who were currently taking advantage of the rooms giant walk-in shower, she lowered her voicce as she began responding heatedly while gesturing to the Suna kunoichi who currently seemed dead to the world, “How the fuck am I messing with it? What I’m doing is keeping my eyes on the prize, and not being some cheap lay by spreading my legs for the others to keep them entertained while they were waiting for a chance to fuck some Suna bitch.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Montaro replied dismissively, “But, you’ve spread them plenty of times in the past. You’re just mad because you thought that when Wayoko had seduced Rikiya, you had evened the score right then and there by fucking Yukai. However, now that they seem to be a real thing, and Rikiya still just sees you as a fuck buddy, you’re pissed because whatever balance you thought you had achieved has gone right out the window.”

“Fuck off,” Yumeji responded angrily while turning away, despite being well aware that the bespectacled man was more or less on point, she stated, “Just because the rest of you let your genitals do your thinking for you, doesn’t mean I have to follow suit. I’m just not willing to let this chance at advancement slip through my fingers because I was too busy fucking around.”

Montaro gave her a knowing smile, but shrugged before turning away to say, “Sure, sure. If that’s the line you want to stick with, then so be it. But, if I were you I wouldn’t worry so much about advancement. With the way things stand between us and Konoha, I’m sure the higher ups back home are going to need all the Chunin they can get.”

“I hope you’re right,” Yumeji stated before adding, “We’ve wasted enough time on this ridiculous notion of peace between villages. It’s held us back too long already.”

“On that we can at least agree,” Montaro stated before turning away as the others began to leave the bathroom to collect their clothes.

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Sana continued to play possum as she laid on the bed, while the Kumo-nin that had tried to drug her continued to get dressed. A task that she found difficult as she tried not to swallow, as doing so would likely lead to her getting scolded by her sister. As such, she was tempted to spit it out onto the bedsheets, but considering her current situation, imagined that it would be best for her if she attracted as little attention to herself as possible. A concern which seemed valid as the spikey brown-haired man after dressing, produced a kunai and began to approach the bed prompting the red-headed leader of the group to ask, “What are you doing Hideotora?”

“What do you think,” the man replied turning to his squad’s golden-eyed leader, “Tidying up. Just because Rikiya wants to be soft, and she didn’t have a coin on her, doesn’t mean that she’s been eliminated yet. Let’s just take her out now, and be sure of it.”

“Don’t be fucking stupid,” the black haired kunoichi who had kept to herself while her teammates had their way with her. “What kind of shitstorm are you trying to call down on us? You want to kill her, and leave a fucking corpse behind that is filled to the brim with all of you guys’ DNA. Did it escape your fucking notice that this hotel has several other teams staying in it…”

“Get off your rag, you fucking cunt,” Hideotaro said, “During the exams, it’s always been anything goes between teams. Besides, you’re acting like it’s the first time that we’ve had to make some body disappear. Let’s not forget that ambassador’s son that you seduced, and fucked before slitting his throat.”

“That piece of shit was…”

“Forget it,” Yukai stated in a stern tone of command, while Sana could practically feel his eyes studying her naked and splayed out form, obviously considering the possibility that she may be faking and that they may have to kill her after all. She was sure that his hesitance wasn’t due to some moral concern regarding the act itself, but because it could open them up to the opportunity of being attacked while they tried to dispose of the evidence. Which if it attracted the attention of a proctor, would see them eliminated from the exams, while the team which attacked them could claim that they were trying to avenge or stop them from covering it up. However, she guessed that as things stood that he had decided that even if she was faking being unconscious, it would essentially be her word against theirs that they had drugged and taken advantage of her so said with a crooked smile, “Besides, think of the poor cleaning staff that will be tidying up in the morning. That bedspread is probably already going to need to be burned, no sense in ruining the mattress as well.”

Hideotaro chuckled as he tucked his kunai away, which grew into a laugh as Hikosaburo slapped him on the back stating, “You can be honest with us man. This isn’t about you tidying up. You’re just trying to get out of future child support payments, aren’t you?”

Most of the team laughed at the joke, before collecting their things and taking their leave with Yukai being the last out the door as he shut off the light. Sana though remained still, while keeping her chakra suppressed as if she was just sleeping, just in case one of the Kumo-nin was a sensor. She let her mind go blank, at least until she heard the lock of the hotel room being defeated, and someone else quietly entering the room.

The new arrival didn’t turn the light back on, but she relaxed some as her sister Saya said, “Oh my, they certainly had their fun with you.”

The amusement that her sister’s tone contained caused Sana to feel a spark of anger, but she quickly quelled it less Saya notice, so settled for meekly sitting up. Her sister handed her a glass vile, which she used to catch the semen that she had by holding in her mouth. Her sister wrinkled her nose at the sight, and setting down a pouch containing more glass tubes said, “Can you do that someplace else?”

Sana kept her emotions contained as she stood wordless and proceeded to the bathroom, where she spent a moment studying her reflection. Seeing her disheveled state, she suddenly felt cheap and used. So quickly turned away as she opened the pouch that Saya had given her, and removing one of the glass tubes pulled the stopper from it, and dropped in the hairs that she had collected from between her fingers. She allowed herself a small smirk of satisfaction at having snagged some of the blonde kunoichi’s hair as they had made their way up to the hotel room, by acting as if drug she had slipped her had taken effect early, and so had begun to lean on her. Placing that hair in a stopper of its own, she allowed a sinister smile to appear as she looked forward to the next time their paths would cross.

It faded some as she knew that despite the woman’s attempt at drugging her, a futile attempt as she had already built up a tolerance to most known poisons. The true reason that she had been forced to endure such a humiliating night was because of her own sister. A sister who she knew wouldn’t have hesitated for a second, despite their familial connection, to kick her from the team, much as had been the case for their teammate Mamushi during the first round, if she felt that it would have benefitted her more. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, after having just experienced the reason her sister had decided that she would be more beneficial to her in the exams, Sana had been allowed to move on. She did feel somewhat bad for their teammate, as he had often followed Saya around like a loyal, if slightly deranged puppy. But she knew that if when the proctor of the first-round exam had asked which teammate should be jettisoned to advance, and Saya had decided it should be her, then Mamushi would have immediately backed her decision. Much as she had.

Pulling a petri dish and pick from the pouch, she began to clean underneath her finger nails for the various skin samples that she had collected while the Kumo-nin had used her for their pleasure. As she cleaned her nails into the dish, she reflected on the argument that she had with her sister earlier in the bar. Although, it had mostly been a ruse in order to convince some of the shinobi that had been present to make a move on her by acting as if they had a falling out. Some of the things she had brought up regarding their dismissal of their teammate had been her true feelings on the matter. Namely, related to how Saya hadn’t even hesitated for a second before saying, that they would be voting Mamushi off the team. Which while admittedly she had been all for, just glad that her sister had apparently placed a greater value on her skills and abilities. Upon learning that they hadn’t needed to eliminate anyone, and hearing the disdain in the Nara’s voice for those who had chosen to cut loose one of their teammates, had caused Sana to question their actions. Something which had only grown since learning the only thing her sister had valued about her, was that she was a woman in a field where most teams were typically heavily tilted towards having men.

Thus, when it became time to start their argument, she had decided to get some of her questions answered by making it the topic. She had started the ruse with Saya by stating that they shouldn’t have kicked Mamushi from the team. A topic which had caught her sister off-guard, especially as she had accused her of failing as their team’s leader for not even considering the possibility that the final question had been a ruse. As she laid into her sister, she had noticed that some of the teams who had decided to take the longer, and assumedly safer path, as it went through several towns so any open conflicts that erupted would likely result in immediate failure of the those who started them, had seemed particularly interested in the subject. She supposed that some of them were because they had made a similar choice, and so were perhaps also struggling with the decision as Sana tried to make it appear that she was.

Yet if Saya had felt any remorse over her actions, she didn’t show it, as her sister had cooly pointed out that she had been quick to second the decision. Before she could respond, her sister had continued that ultimately it didn’t matter. As it had been a test which had rested its final question on a decision which had been made months in advance, to try to align with whatever philosophy the villages were currently trying to espouse. With the preferred one of no one ending up getting sacrificed being more high-minded than she believed would ever actually be practiced in the field.

She had defended her position by stating that if the three of them had been placed on a mission, with a stated objective, and one member was a possible hindrance to its completion, or if sacrificing that person would lead to its completion then she doubted any of the villages would be too broken up over it costing one of the members their life, so long as it was done so successfully. A trend which history had shown time and time again, as teams that failed a mission that they could otherwise have completed by making a sacrifice would often face, if not outright punishment, then social ostracization. Too further back up her belief, she had pointed out that the Kazekage had even allowed his own sensei to be arrested and sentenced to serving time in Grass’s infamous Blood Prison, all for the pitiful crime of killing some Leaf-nin that had stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong, and all to protect the secrecy of the joint Operation with Sound. An outcome that the Kazekage had allowed in order to pacify Konoha upon it having learned of Baki’s role in one of its shinobi’s deaths.

Saya had wrapped up her defense regarding her decision to cut Mamushi from the team by stating that despite the final question of the first round having been formulated months if not years in advance back when faith in the alliance had been at an all-time high, those responsible hadn’t all been quite so high-minded as the Leaf proctor that had announced the parameters for the second round apparently had been. Otherwise, the final question would have been a true pass/fail event, rather than allowing teams or individuals that had supposedly given or been affected by the supposedly wrong answer the chance to continue. Saya had conceded that those who hadn’t given what she suspected had been the Leaf’s preferred answer were now at a disadvantage. But, was quick to point out that their Kazekage’s own actions made it clear that a true Suna-nin would sacrifice even those close to them so long as the benefits it provided them for doing so were great enough.

Although, Sana shared a similar opinion as her sister regarding their Kazekage’s actions even as she struggled with the idea that her sister would easily do the same to her, she continued to play the role as she asked, “So, what did the Kazekage gain that was worth sacrificing his own sensei to years of imprisonment?”

“Oh silly Sana,” her sister had stated giving her a dismissive grin, “He denied the Leaf their big showy trial in which they would dredge up the past grievances that they were previously forced to accept because of how weak they were. By sacrificing his sensei, Lord Gaara preserved the status quo and keeps the benefits which the alliance currently affords us without needing to weaken his position or make further concessions.”

Sana had tried to push back some, by attempting to state, “Still, we didn’t gain anything for the…”

But ruse or not, her sister had quickly tired of having her decision questioned so cut her off as she abruptly stood while stating with a tone of finality, “Stop whining over spilt milk. The final question could have just as easily gone the other way, with the proctors claiming a chunin needs to be able to make hard decisions in the field. I made that decision, and you backed me up because you didn’t want to be the one cut. Just be glad that I feel you possessed qualities that I believe will be of more use going forward.” Saya then left with a huff, while Sana made a show of quickly downing several drinks while ranting about her heartless teammate, with only about half of what she complained about not being true. It was shortly thereafter when she was approached by the Blonde Kunoichi who had spiked her drink with some drug, but having been raised since birth to be a food taster and bodyguard for her sister, who due to her mastery of puppet jutsu and the Kekkei Genaki that she was the first to bear, so was considered indispensable to their family, it hadn’t really had any effect on her.

Back in the present, Sana wished that if was for her loyal service to her sister that she could take some small amount of pride in the knowledge that she was valued by her over their teammate if only marginally. But, picking up a fresh tube, and removing the stopper she placed the lip of it against the entrance for one of the qualities that her sister had actually valued her for, as she began to squeeze out some of the seed that had been deposited inside her. A process that she repeated for what had been poured into her rear. Feeling used, she placed the various containers back into the case that she had been given, and left them on the counter by the door as she stepped into the shower to try and clean herself of the shame that she felt.

However, even after scrubbing her skin until it was nearly red with irritation, she still felt dirty. Accepting that it was a feeling that she would be living with for the foreseeable future and would only grow more pronounced with time as she continued to perform her role in Saya’s scheme, she turned the shower off. Although the streaks of water running down her cheeks continued unabated for a few moments more. Stepping out of the shower, she noticed the case with the samples she had collected was gone, so turned her attention to the fogged-up mirror and ran her hand across it to make sure her face didn’t show any of the emotions that had escaped during the shower. Not that she imagined Saya would care about her emotional state in either case, as to her people were just dolls for her to use. But, having just handed her the means to make several more, the last thing she wanted was for her sister to think she wasn’t of any use to her any further, at least not until after having been made chunin. As she hoped then she might finally be able to cut herself free of her sister’s puppet strings in order to make a name for herself.

********************************************
With the sun having risen some thirty minutes earlier, Konohamaru stood nearby as a medic from the squad of proctors that he had been assigned to was checking over a wounded shinobi that they had come across. They had been assigned to patrolling the area in the hopes of catching teams violating the no fighting policy. A somewhat pointless task considering the limited number of teams assigned to cover the vast area between Suna and Konoha. But, then again any team foolish enough act when a squad of proctors was nearby, probably didn’t deserve to pass the round to begin with. As such, their true task was generally to clean up in the aftermath of a fight having broken out. Fortunately, though it seemed most of the teams which had decided on taking the most direct route to Konoha were prioritizing reaching the Leaf village, rather than combating one another. With the scene that they had come across now being relatively rare.

Konohamaru kept a watchful eye on the surrounding area, as he was tasked with watching over the medic while the remaining two members of their squad scouted the surrounding area. Noticing the medic cutting the flow of chakra to his hand, he asked, “So, how is he?”

“About as well as can be expected,” the medic-nin replied as he stood to survey their surroundings, “Truth be told, it looks like he was already tended too. Otherwise, he’d be a corpse by now.”

Konohamaru nodded having suspected as much since most of the man’s abdomen had already been bandaged. He noticed the two remaining members of their squad approaching from the tree line, so busied himself with studying the surrounding area to try and piece together what had happened.

The team’s lead Chunin was a man named Kabure Tokisuki, who had short brown hair which he styled upwards to a point. He was also the oldest of the gathered shinobi as he appeared to be around forty years old. He also had a son who apparently idolized Naruto which had become Konohamaru’s problem as the man aware of his friendship with the Uzumaki had asked if he could get him an autograph.

Although a competent shinobi, it was clear to Konohamaru that he wasn’t exactly the most ambitious. A trait he highlighted as he asked, “So, what the hell do you think happened here?”

Despite having formulated a theory, there were a few details he was curious about so decided to keep his thoughts to himself for a moment in favor of asking, “I take it the tracks that you followed are making straight for Konoha?”

Receiving a nod from the team’s sensor, another Chunin who was named Zaji, “Yeah, but strangely enough they seem to be the only tracks leaving the camp.” Shaking his head, causing the two long brown bangs that hung over the Konoha the headband tied around his forehead to shake along with him, he continued, “It’s easy enough to see where the attacking force originated from, although even then it seems a set of footprints just suddenly appear out of nowhere.”

Nodding in agreement, Konohamaru pointed to the large crater suggesting, “I think that may help explain the confusion regarding the tracks. My guess is that one of them may have some jutsu that either allows them to fly, or can summon a creature which can. I believe one of them literally dropped into the defending team’s camp probably setting things off, and I’m guessing as this guy was also a part of the attacking force, the remaining members took to the sky after he got taken out.”

The medic, a shinobi nearing his thirties let out an impressed sounding whistle as he asked, “How did you figure all that out?”

Konohamaru found himself growing a little nervous, not especially used to hearing such praise related to his skills of observation. But, fairly confident in his theory he stated, “I think the attack probably happened several hours ago. So, the chakra Zaji sensed probably belonged to whoever patched this guy up.” Pointing to the crater once more, but this time to a burnt log that laid near its edge he continued, “It was probably still dark when things kicked off, likely when someone literally dropped in on them, and their camp fire in particular. Despite the confusion, I do not think they were caught unaware, so put up much stiffer resistance then the attackers were expecting, leaving this guy wounded which is when his teammates abandoned him.”

“Not necessarily as cold blooded as it sounds,” the medic said scratching at the birthmark which covered his nose, “Chances are he would have bled out quickly if whoever patched him up didn’t get to work on him immediately. Their turning tail and running probably ended up saving his life.”

Frowning, Zaji asked, “What makes you two so sure this guy was a part of the aggressors though? If I had just been ambushed by a bunch of assholes, the last thing I’d want to do is waste time healing one them.”

“Which is why even if you had the amplitude for it, you’d be a pretty lousy medic,” the one assigned to the squad stated with an amused grin. “But, if there’s one thing that I learned from my adoptive mother it was, if you have the means to help someone then you should.”

“Speaking of,” Kabure said suddenly, having been busy flipping through the book of exam participants which he had been given. Having used the headband, the man wore to help narrow his search he stated, “We can’t just leave our new friend Mr. Kazami out here in the middle of nowhere. Can we move him Urushi?”

“He’s stable enough to move in a pinch if we needed to,” Urushi answered. “However, I’d like to observe him a bit longer to see if the treatment that he’s already been given takes, and then, if necessary, give a follow up one before taking him back. In either case, we’re probably done proctoring this exam. We will not be setting any speed records getting this guy back.”

Kabure didn’t seem too heartbroken by that, so ordered, “Take whatever time you need.” Directing his attention towards the team’s sensor he said, “Keep checking our surroundings for any additional chakra presences. I imagine most of the participants taking the most direct routes are already ahead of us. But, we’ll intercede should you detect anything.”

Zaji nodded in reply, so found a spot to kneel before closing his eyes to expand his chakra sensing range to its limit, while Urushi moved back to the wounded Grass-nin, and pulled out a medical journal to begin recording his findings. With Zaji taking over monitoring their surroundings, Konohamaru moved towards a log which was still peppered with kunai, and found an empty spot to sit down on.

With no real task requiring his talents, he allowed himself to daydream a bit regarding his intentions to drop in on Naho, whom he hadn’t had a real face to face with since rescuing her from her Family’s summer home years ago. However, before he had even truly begun Kabure approached him seemingly with the intentions of making some small talk, as he asked, “So, what task do they have scheduled for you during the next round of the exam?”

Fighting back a sigh that he felt his fellow, albeit, much older chunin was starting up the conversation as a means to pester him about getting Naruto’s autograph, he nevertheless replied in a friendly manner, “Nowhere actually. I’m taking some time off to visit someone in the capital as soon as this round is over.”

“Really,” Kabure said sounding generally interested, although his tone was clearly joking as he added “Planning to visit some Fire Country Noble that you previously saved, and struck up a relationship with.” Konohamaru couldn’t keep the surprise from his face that Kabure had hit the nail squarely on the head, causing the Chunin to laugh as he had just been joking so stated, “No shit!”

“Yeah,” Konohamaru nodded, somewhat motivated at seeing Kabure’s estimate of him raising some more. Although somewhat annoyed at his doing so, since he figured his doing so was being motivated by his rivalry with Naruto, and the high esteem his fellow Chunin held him in due to his son’s infatuation with the Hero of the Leaf. He also figured that seeing as the man had a son, which if his logic tracked meant he probably had a wife, he hoped that the older man might be able provide some insight into what might be happening with his, so explained, “I had originally met her on a standard mission where my team and I were providing security to her, and while we struck up a friendship, the infatuation ran deeper on my side. We kept in touch, and later she got herself into some trouble which I rescued her from, at which point we began dating. Sadly, though we’ve only been able to keep in touch via letters since then, and that was a little over two years ago.”

Kabure studied him for a moment before asking, “That incident you rescued her from wouldn’t happen to have been the time Naruto fought Sasuke at the Daimyo’s Summer Home.” Konohamaru felt a surge of panic, mainly because he had been vague to help protect Naho’s identity. But, admittedly he had also wanted to be the hero of the story, which while he had participated even he admitted facing down Sasuke probably was the big takeaway most would have gotten from the story. Not killing a pair of White Zetsu while their backs were turned, while then escaping with the princess. Although, he had hoped that he had masked his reaction better, the Chunin seemed to picked up on his sudden concern as he said, “Hey, remember I’m the one with the Uzumaki fanatic back home. There probably isn’t a tale of his which I haven’t heard about at least a dozen times at this point.” Smiling good naturedly, Kabure suggested, “Or, perhaps you were aware, and didn’t want to mention his being there to avoid overshadowing your own contributions.” Konohamaru was about to retort that he didn’t feel that Naruto’s contributions were particularly relevant to the topic that he had been about to discuss, but was beaten to the punch as the older man continued with a shrug, “It was probably for the best. If you listen to my son tell the story, Naruto stormed the island residence all by himself, faced down what remained of Akatsuki, and that Uchiha traitor’s followers before finally crippling him as well. Not to mention rescued the princess.” Kabure chuckled at the memory, before saying, “Maybe I should ask you to swing by to set him straight.” Konohamaru’s eyes widened a bit at what the man suggested prompting him to explain, “It is all well and good to have heroes. But, it isn’t good to build them up too much. I often had to remind him that while many of his exploits are incredible, he usually had a good team surrounding him during his mission. It’s a lesson that he’s seem to understand a bit better following Naruto’s defeat at Sasuke’s hands during the Battle of Ame. But, anyway we were talking about your lady troubles.”

“I don’t recall stating that I was having trouble,” Konohamaru replied sounding rather defensive.

This prompted Kabure to laugh heartily before replying, “You just told me that you haven’t seen her in over two years, and that you suddenly plan to drop in on her. Likely having picked the exams to do so because while security is going to be at an all-time high due to the number of envoys and other travelers hitting up the capital for its duration. It will also make it somewhat easier to slip through to see your little princess. Since although they’ll call up additional guards to handle the influx, which tends to solve issues of man power, but as it also results in many guards not being familiar with the proper procedures. It tends to make infiltrations by professionals a tad easier. Which tells me that you fear something has changed in the status quo.”

Konohamaru was rather shocked at how easily the man had pieced together his intentions. Which served to remind him that a lack of ambition didn’t necessarily translate to a lack of talent. Deciding to be honest he explained, “Yes, for a while everything has been going well. Despite the distance, I felt our letters were connecting us. But, recently… I feel as if she is holding something back.”

Kabure leaned in studying Konohamaru for a moment, making him feel like the older man was scrutinizing him in a manner he would his son who he suspected was being less than forthcoming, “She probably isn’t the only one though.” Although Konohamaru hadn’t meant to place the entire reason for his desire to visit the capital on the doubts that he was harboring regarding Naho. He had to admit that he hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about his other reason for doing so. Before he could explain himself though, Kabure again demonstrated his keen understanding of what was going through his mind as he sat back saying, “It understandable really. You’re at that age, and probably find yourself tempted to try some of the…shall we say, local produce. Confronted with these temptations, you fear that she too may be feeling these desires. Perhaps coloring how you are reading her letters.”

“So you’re saying my concerns may very well be all in my head?” Konohamaru asked a part of him wishing it was just that simple.

Kabure shrugged, before saying in a lighthearted manner, “How should I know? Truth be told, I’m amazed that I’ve been so accurate up to this point. But, believe it or not I was young once too. So, I have some idea of what is probably occupying a good portion of that mind of yours. A desire to prove one’s self in the eyes of others, and getting laid. More often than not, the two tend to coincide with one another.”

Konohamaru chuckled in amusement, thinking to himself, “If you only knew,” as he pictured the various women that Naruto had proven himself to and subsequently taken on as lovers.

Taking the younger man’s chuckle as a sign that he agreed, Kabure said, “Tell you what. Why don’t you report our situation back to the village? It’ll save us from having to divert to one of the outposts to send a message back, and should let you get a head start on figuring out where things stand between you and that noble of yours.”

“Thank you. sir,” Konohamaru said standing with a sense of excitement, although as he quickly took off heading towards the village, he felt it begin to be replaced by a sense of nervousness that he might not like what he learned.

*********************************************
The Council woman moaned loudly as she sank down on the cock of the young man who had reminded her of what it was to have hope for the future once more. Beginning to ride him, she stared into his eyes and began to lose herself in them until she felt her release nearing. She began to try to stave off the long sought after release, partially to prolong the moment, but also out of a fear that giving in would bind her completely to the man who had shown her that it was okay to live in the present. Yet her fear wasn’t in the giving, but only in that she would once more have something to lose, and the world had seemed to take a perverse sense of enjoyment out of ensuring that she did.

“Mmmm, fuck,” the woman reading the scene moaned as she pressed the bulbous head of the wand she was using to massage her pussy firmer against her drenched lips, followed by her squeezing her thighs tightly around it as she climaxed.

Dropping the book that had led her to such a state, a nearly naked Hanare rolled over to her side as she pushed the wand firmer against her spasming pussy to prolong the pleasure that she was feeling.

Once her climax subsided, she rolled onto her back once more, and sent a sidelong glance towards the book that she had been reading. Before thinking to herself, “Damn you Kakashi, you better hurry back so you can take responsibility for this.” Which by this, she meant the general level of horniness that she had experienced since having begun to read the first volume of Naruko’s book series that he had left behind before leaving for Suna. Although she didn’t voice it directly, she also wanted him to return soon, as he was carrying the advanced copy of the book’s sequel, so she wished to see where things went.

Switching off her toy, she quickly cleaned it before returning it to her drawer. She paused after setting the massager into its spot as she continued to look in the drawer at an advertisement for another toy, which the tattooed woman who had been working the counter of the Promised Paradise had stuck into the bag when she had bought her current one. She bit her lip as she felt a temptation to buy at least one of the two dildos being advertised, particularly since it was named the Hero of the Leaf and colored orange, which made her suspect that it was based on the same man that she knew the Protagonist of Naruko’s book was.

However, she once more refrained from giving into the temptation of actually purchasing it, as she instead closed the drawer and rolled out of bed. She stretched languidly to work out any remaining stiffness, before holding her arms back behind her to allow the opened night shirt which she wore to slip free of her figure. She made her way to her apartment’s shower, and after giving the water a few moments to warm up stepped underneath the flow. She sighed pleasantly as she allowed the warmness to cover her, before lathering up and while she did so began thinking about less pleasant matters, namely where things stood with the Joint Alliance Intelligence Network that she was the head of.

Sadly, she imagined that within the coming months she would be out of a job, as it was clear to her at least that the Alliance was on its last legs. The reason that she reached this conclusion was primarily due to Kumogakure as the amount of intelligence that their agents passed on to her had dwindled too nearly nothing. With the only real times that they were cooperating lately being when they passed on information whenever they felt they had uncovered some plot another member Village was responsible for. Fortunately, none of Kumo’s concerns had panned out, but she had noticed that those same reports from Kumo’s intelligence officers had seemed to go out of their way to make it clear that they did not suspect Grass of being involved in anything nefarious.

Kumo’s habit of suspecting that their fellow Alliance members must be running some kind of Black ops against them, tended to make Hanare believe that they were the ones actually doing so. Which in conjunction with their trying not to cast any suspicions onto Kusagakure, the one village that she unironically suspected of being perhaps one of the worst perpetrators of such, led her to believe that both villages had something in the works together.

She hadn’t yet brought her concerns to either the Hokage or Kazekage, since even using contacts that she had outside the J.A.I.N. she hadn’t truly uncovered anything to prove her theory. But also, because she had begun to suspect that the Leaf to was in the middle of some sort of intelligence operation. Although, she didn’t think that it was aimed at one of the Alliance members. Yet, considering that she was aware of how much of the damage that had been done to the Alliance was due to Naruto’s actions in helping Yugito defect to join Akatsuki, she couldn’t rule out the possibility either.

She sighed as the more recent actions regarding Baki had further negatively impacted her position as many within Suna’s intelligence community were also now withholding information due to a belief it would benefit Konoha. Luckily though, Naruto had made inroads there as Sen aware of what many of her colleagues were doing was stepping up to ensure that most of the reports still reached her. But, seeing as she was still relatively new to the department, she likely did not have access to certain classified information that her superiors did.

Granted, it had been a weakness that the J.A.I.N. had needed to deal with since its inception that the heads of each villages’ Intelligence Department would cherry pick what information was okay to pass on. But, surprisingly due in part to Ibiki’s support, it was one that she had been able to deal with. After all, as he seemed to have completely bought into the goal that The Family professed to be working towards, he tended to let her have free reign of his department. That being one of the primary reasons, outside of her relationship with Kakashi, that she had settled in Konoha. However, recently she had found her access to the department curtailed somewhat, which led her to believe that it was likely that he was planning some Intelligence operation. Although, she couldn’t say if the reason he had refrained from making her aware of his plans was because the target was one of the other Alliance members, and thus he didn’t want to put her in a compromising position. Or, if he just felt in was necessary due to the secrecy that he felt the operation would require.

She didn’t linger on the reason for long, feeling that she would likely know soon enough. Although, she certainly hoped it was the latter of the two, since she felt another such case where one Alliance member acted against another would not only end with the death of the Alliance, but possibly even devolve into another Shinobi World War.

Yet despite her concerns about the Alliance’s long term viability, she still made regular visits to the other villages, most recently to Kumo to voice her displeasure with the Cloud Village’s lack of cooperation with the Raikage. Which had unfortunately gone about as well as she had expected, as Ay had basically told her she was receiving all the support that she could expect from Kumo’s intelligence network. Still, she couldn’t exactly fault him, seeing as his pride must still be stinging, not just from the defeat he had experienced at Yugito’s hands in Ame. But, from the defection itself seeing as if the truth behind it ever became known to all, then it would probably go down as one of the most successful intelligence operations of all time. Not so much in it being a case of a shinobi defecting from a village, but the fact that the Kunoichi in question was a Jinchuriki.

In truth, Naruto’s entire method of trying to bring peace to the shinobi world could be said to be an intelligence operative’s wet dream. Not so much due to the sex, but the dedication that those that he had brought over to his side had, and not even entirely to his professed goal, but to him.

Having finished with the cleaning of her skin, she turned away from the showerhead in order to allow it to drench her hair which she then began to shampoo. While she did so, she began to wonder if perhaps her faith in the Alliance’s sustainability wouldn’t be higher if rather than becoming Kakashi’s girlfriend, she had joined the ranks of his student’s harem. That wasn’t to say that his lovers were blind to the current issues facing it, but whenever she was around them, she saw a shared belief within them, that no matter how dark things appeared to be getting, that there was a light before them which would get them through. Which to be honest, she found a little bit annoying, not so much in the sense that she was missing out as she was truly happy to have her relationship with Kakashi. Even now, despite how she felt it was the lessen that her lover had imparted into Naruto about those who abandoned their friends, or in this case lover, even for a mission were trash, which had ultimately prompted Naruto to act as he did on Yugito’s behalf. But, nevertheless, her annoyance stemmed from it appearing to her that Naruto currently was stumbling from one screw up directly into another, and yet those bound to him seemed to still feel that he was the one that would lead them to the future that they all desired.

As she finished washing her hair, she shut off the water and stepped out after grabbing a nearby towel to dry her skin that she then wrapped around her hair. She then donned a fluffy robe as she left the bathroom to reenter her bedroom. Looking at her nightstand, she saw on her alarm clock that she still had an hour or so before she needed to get ready to head into the office that she had within the Torture and Interrogation Department Building. Although tempted to pick up Naruko’s book and begin to read it from the start again, she feared doing so would just have her repeat the actions which had required her to shower in the first place, so decided on getting her morning coffee.

However, as she left her room to head towards the kitchen, she heard a knock at the door. For a moment, her heart jumped into her throat as she feared it was the one all those in a relationship with a shinobi feared. Particularly due to the early hour, but when it sounded again, she didn’t really detect the type of hesitance behind it that she would hope a person set to deliver such news would exhibit. Still, she knew something, was if not necessarily wrong yet, could be shortly, so with some hesitance of her own made her way to the door to open it. She only cracked it open partially, and felt a slight blush rush to her cheeks, as standing on the opposite side was the woman who she had just pictured as being on the receiving end of a ploughing by her lover which had led to her pleasuring herself.

“Lady Tsunade,” she said surprised that the Hokage was there personally to see her so early in the morning, briefly reigniting her fears that something may have happened to Kakashi.

“Hello Hanare, may I come it,” she responded kindly enough, although she could see that she also bore some concerns on her shoulders. She also noted that the Hokage had seemed to want to refrain from stating it was a good morning, perhaps indicating that she knew it wasn’t perhaps going to be for long.

With the Hokage deciding not to meet her in an official capacity, and so early in the morning to boot, she felt a concern that she was about to learn the Naruto and his Family were about to make her job all the more difficult so asked, “That depends, are you going to be ruining my day.”

She felt her concerns that would be the immediate case wane, as the Hokage smiled at her, although her eyes reflected that there was definitely something which was weighing heavily upon her. She then said in a manner that it almost sounded like a prayer, “Gods, I hope not. But I’m here to let you in on why lately you may have felt frozen out by Ibiki.”

Hanare’s curiosity was peaked, so she undid the chain latch and opened the door so that Hokage could enter. Turning away as Tsunade closed the door behind her, she said, “I was about to make some coffee. Would you like some?”

“No, thank you,” Tsunade said moving to sit at the woman’s table while she began fiddling with an expensive looking machine, that began percolating.

As she waited, Hanare said, “So, you were saying?”

Tsunade nodded she began to explain, “Before I begin, I just want you to know that I was just as much in the dark as you.” Hanare wasn’t entirely sure that she liked how things were starting off, since she suspected that the Hokage was concerned what she was about to reveal would upset her. But Tsunade pressed on stating, “The reason Ibiki has been limiting your access to the departments resources was because he’s been preparing for an operation. One which if he sticks to the timetable that he gave me will be kicking off tonight.”

Hanare frowned as the machine finished filling her mug, and so after savoring the aroma for a moment she finally said, “Why would he not include you? You’ve run off the book operations before.”

Tsunade inclined her head, figuring the woman was also referring to activities that the Family had performed. Suspecting that the reason Hanare didn’t outright come out and say as much was because the woman suspected even her home could be bugged, she decided to respond in a similar fashion, “True, but while you could say the inciting incident for this operation might have first come about due to information that we discovered from previous off book work. We didn’t want to pull from those resources this time around. Hence, the need for secrecy.” Tsunade dropped the semi-coded language as she explained the chain of events for how the Torture and Interrogation Department followed a lead which they felt may have led them to a facility tied to either the Shadow Cabal or more likely The Organization.

Hanare having joined Tsunade at the table listened silently while occasionally sipping her coffee. Once the Hokage finished her explanation, she asked, “Is the reason behind your visit then to ask me to misdirect the other villages if the aftermath of this operation reaches them. There could be quite the negative fallout if it is learned that you ran a black op mission in a country without its permission.”

Tsunade held back a frown at Hanare’s response, since if the woman did believe that her apartment was potentially bugged, her just coming out and asking if she expected her to misdirect the other villages would inevitably make it back to them. Fortunately, that had not been the case, but she did wonder if it reflected some resentment the woman had about basically being informed of Naruto’s aiding Yugito in her defection after the fact. Hoping to put her mind at ease, Tsunade said, “No, I fully intend to give a full report to the Alliance once the operation wraps up. The only reason that we didn’t bring them in already, was because considering how well these organizations have hidden themselves, since even now they are more rumor than fact. We have no idea as to how extensive their own intelligence organzations are, so Ibiki kept the circle as small as possible for as long as possible. He only informed me just before leaving for Suna as he needed my permission for how he intended to recruit more personnel.”

Hanare inclined her head in satisfaction at the Hokage’s reply but said, “Still, there could be a considerable amount of fallout for this, even if you uncover direct evidence. I cannot imagine the Fire Daimyo will be happy upon finding out you kept not only him in the dark, but the rulers of the Land of Secrets.”

“Probably not,” Tsunade admitted, “But, that’s a concern for another day. If the Shadow Cabal has been responsible for facilitating the rise of threats like Orochimaru and Sasuke. Then it is clear that their goal is to foment chaos with the shinobi world. That makes them a threat to all of us. For the time being they might settle for raising up proxies like Sasuke, but if the Organization is tied to them, then whatever it was that escaped makes it clear they might eventually take a swing at us directly. If they do, it is in everyone’s best interest to know they are out there.”

Hanare agreed but asked, “But, what if they don’t find anything?”

Tsunade face twisted into something between a smile as a grimace before stating, “Then I imagine that I’m going to be burning up a lot of political capital with very little to show for it. But honestly that isn’t my greatest concern at the moment.”

Somewhat perplexed by the response she asked, “Then what is?”

“That they do,” Tsunade stated not bothering to hide the concern that she felt at putting her shinobi at risk with almost no idea of what it was they stood to face.

********************************************

Stepping out of the hotel that they had stayed in for the night, Naruto stretched his arms over his head before then adjusting his pack one last time as he and his teammates resumed their return to Konoha. Accompanying them was Toka, who despite having been kicked from her team had decided to continue on with the exams.

With it nearing eight o’clock in the morning, they were getting a rather late start by shinobi standards something which Moegi questioned as she moved up beside him to ask, “Boss, why are we traveling at such a leisurely pace? Wouldn’t it be best for you if we pushed ourselves to reach Konoha as soon as possible?”

Naruto smiled as while he didn’t doubt the sincerity behind Moegi’s question. He did suspect that there may have been a slightly selfish reason for the desire to get back to Konoha as quickly as possible. Primarily, that if they reached the village with several days remaining for the second round, it would likely end the temporary ban they were currently under for more carnal pursuits.

Although he was as eager as anyone to see it ended, he responded, “Possibly.” He could tell Moegi wasn’t exactly thrilled by his noncommittal response after checking to make sure that only his companions were within earshot he added, “The real answer is that it really depends on how things go for Ibiki and the others. Hopefully, they don’t end up calling on me. In which case then we can all be bummed out at the missed opportunity. But even if we had pushed ourselves as hard as possible after leaving Suna yesterday. The best we could expect, even with us taking the quickest route, would be reaching the village by tonight. That’s also without stopping to rest, eat, or sleep. So, I doubt any of us would be in the mood for anything other than catching up on those three things.” Although, he felt his luck definitely tended to be on the good side, he feared this could be one of the times where he came up the loser so added, “Plus, I would hate to push everyone just to get within sight of the village, only for me to be called away. Especially, since you and Yakumo wouldn’t be able to enter the village until I managed to get back.”

“I don’t know,” Yakumo stated playfully, “Moegi and I would probably be considered the heroes of the exams if we managed to take you out simply by using our coins while you were away and getting you eliminated.”

Although quite aware that his lover was joking, he gave her a look which conveyed his shock at what she was suggesting causing Moegi to giggle.

However, Toka didn’t exactly join in on the playful moment as she stated in her usual serious demeanor, “If you did decide to go down the path of betrayal, then I’d make sure every team with a coin has already used it.” Seeing all three of the others turning to look back at her in confusion, she clarified, “There is nothing in the rules that said that you had to use the coins that you started with. Only that if you weren’t present when the picture is taken, you would be unable to use the coin that your team had been assigned.”

Moegi shook her head clearly bemused by the time displaced kunoichi as she said, “She was obviously joking.”

“Joking or not,” Toka replied maintaining her seriousness, “Her premise was based on unsound logic. In point of fact, I do not believe that many understand the true purpose of this test.”

“Oh, and you do,” Moegi replied with a hint of challenge.

“I believe so,” Toka stated, “I’m sure if your mind wasn’t currently focused on getting back to Konoha as quickly as possible so you could get a certain itch scratched you might see it as well.”

“I wouldn’t be quite so quick to cast that particular castigation in our direction,” Yakumo said coming to her teammate’s defense. “Don’t think we didn’t notice just how long you were taking in the shower this morning.”

“I…I just decided to take advantage of the leisurely start time that we agreed to,” Toka replied as her cheeks began to color.

To which Moegi quickly replied with, “So, was the moaning just you enjoying the warm water.”

“Oh be quiet,” Toka said growing annoyed, “As if you two have any right to judge considering the showers you’ve taken together.”

Naruto shook his head in bemusement before looking over his shoulder to see Toka was quite uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had turned. Something which stood out particularly strongly considering that she was wearing the armor that she had worn back before her trip forward in time. Deciding to get the conversation back onto a topic that she would feel comfortable with he asked, “Are you suggesting that the true objective of this test is to try to grow the size of your team?”

Toka’s eyes widened in surprise, while Moegi looked at him in confusion asking, “What do you mean boss?”

Although he had found himself considering the possibility, he hadn’t been quite sure if he was on the right track until Toka’s statement. So, wanting to hear her thoughts on the matter, and to see if they mirrored his own, he said, “I’ll let Toka explain.”

Toka felt a little put on the spot, as while she had considered that there was some trick behind the test, she hadn’t been quite as confident in the answer that she had arrived at, as her pronouncement had made it sound. But, seeing that Naruto was also considering the possibility, she began, “Well, the trick of the first test was to see which teams would weaken themselves in order to advance. To be honest, it was one I found myself all too willing to fall into. Before my own expulsion I was weighing which of my teammates to cut. Fortunately for them, Ibiki met with me afterwards to explain that my being cut was a ruse to trick the other teams into believing it to be the correct answer.”

Naruto felt a sympathetic shiver run up his spin, and imagined that her teammates must have as well as he knew that after partnering up with Toka and the first time the two teams had trained together, she had put the two men through a rather intensive training course, which they had described as hell. However, Naruto had noticed a distinct improvement in the two men’s skills the last time that they had met up for a combined training session just before the exams had begun.

“That’s probably because for you and Naruto, these exams really are just a formality,” Yakumo stated, “Hasn’t Yuugao already stated that she plans to add you to her Anbu squad.”

Toka nodded before stating, “Ibiki said as much.” A small smile graced her lips as she pointedly looked at Naruto before adding, “You know back when he explained the reason for my humiliating elimination was your fault as well.” Naruto tried to apologize again, but she shook her head indicating that she didn’t require it before her tone grew introspective as she continued, “But, I wouldn’t say my passing is such a sure thing either. I could have easily fallen for the trap that question contained. I do come from a time when making such decisions was an all too common an occurrence.” Her tone did become a little playful as she said, “However, my exceptional skill and experience notwithstanding, it does seem rather strange that they would feel so free to put me at a disadvantage at least numerically.”

“Unless they figured that they knew you wouldn’t really be at a disadvantage going forward,” Yakumo said beginning to catch on.

Moegi not quite seeing the bigger picture said, “Okay sure. So, Ibiki knew that you could always just travel with us because of outside circumstances. But I’m not seeing how you think that contributes to this round as a whole.”

“The cameras,” Yakumo said having an epiphany, “They just said if a team activated them without a member present, then that member would be excluded. They didn’t say anything about if two teams used their coins to take a picture.”

Nodding in agreement, Toka said, “Exactly, so theoretically say a team fell for the trick of the previous round. But the two teams that were created because of this decided to carry on into the next round. Theoretically, if they all used their coins to have their picture taken, then essentially, they could mend the team back together.”

Moegi frowned as she wasn’t quite seeing that as being the case as she stated, “Are you sure? That seems like kind of a stretch. I mean they didn’t even hint at this being a possibility.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Naruto replied, “Do you remember the picture that they showed when they were explaining the rules? At the time I just thought that maybe it was a picture taken when they were testing the cameras since it showed Temari and Karui. Which while that might have been the case. Why wouldn’t they just take another one to show the three proctors that introduced the test?”

Still not convinced, Moegi said, “Yeah, but don’t you think it is kind of strange that they would want us to group up into even bigger teams? It would stand to reason that whoever gains the most allies wins.”

“Which as these particular exams were born from the formation of an Alliance between shinobi villages might have been the theme they were initially going for,” Yakumo said having come to believe in the theory being expressed. She noticed that Naruto’s mood dropped slightly, which she assumed was due to recent events having strained the relationship between the villages. But she continued stating, “Also, if the point of this round was to eliminate people, wouldn’t they just make it a race, and say there are only a select number of slots available for the next round and whoever reaches Konoha first gets them. Just from what I have seen it seems that a lot of the people who are taking the less direct route are made up of the teams who cut people or were cut. This stands to reason because it goes through so many populated areas, so it is teeming with proctors to discourage fighting.”

Nodding in agreement Naruto added, “Plus, even though we stayed at a relatively small inn last night. When we went out to get food, there were several other teams out and about. If they come to the same conclusion, then these weaker teams can decide to link up and negate the disadvantage that they entered this round with.”

“I don’t know,” Moegi said, “I still find it hard to believe. I mean you have to figure it would be an uphill battle from the start for people to see that underneath the underneath. Everyone here is expecting to be at each other throat at some point in these exams.”

Naruto just gave her a sad accepting smile in reply as he said, “I think you’ll find that is what a lot of those who were and still are against the alliance in the first place believe as well.”

Moegi hearing the dejection in her lover’s voice decided to embrace the theory, so said, “Fine, we don’t have anything to lose. Let’s go recruiting then.”

Seeing her sudden exuberance caused Naruto’s mood to brighten. But he nevertheless ended up saying, “Sadly, while I love the passion, outside of Toka, I don’t think we’ll be able to expand our circle any further.” But, trying to keep the mood up, he added, “At least until a few more days have passed.”

Moegi was about to ask why, but quickly realized that due to the expectation that he might be called away for some secret mission, it wouldn’t do for them to recruit a bunch of teams only for them to suddenly need to explain Naruto’s abrupt disappearance. Hoping such an event wouldn’t occur, she didn’t want to abandon her new goal as it helped take her mind off her original one of getting home quickly to get laid, so suggested, “Maybe we should try catching up to Quistis’s team then. She seems to be taking this route as well, so maybe she has some idea that building a stronger team is the goal as well. At the very least, we know she would be on board with teaming up.”

Although Toka didn’t doubt that would be the case for the Suna Instructor. She wasn’t quite so certain that her teammates would be considering the role Naruto had in one of Suna’s most prominent Shinobi being sent to Hozuki Castle, or as it was colloquially known The Blood Prison. However, noticing that the idea had seemed to brighten Naruto’s mood, and the promise of a more immediate goal had seemed to take his mind from his concerns regarding the mission taking place in the Land of Secrets, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself opting to just go with the flow as Moegi and Yakumo began pulling on Naruto’s arms to urge him to increase their pace.

********************************************
As the time was quickly approaching noon, Mikoto Uchiha sat on a ruined girder overlooking a section of Ame which still bore the scars from her son’s attack. However, her purpose for doing so wasn’t to berate herself for past mistakes, but instead was to ensure that any future devastation remained contained within the immediate vicinity. A necessary task as it turned out as suddenly a similarly ruined building across the street suffered from a large explosion that erupted from its middle floors. Focusing on the expanding dust cloud, she saw the blonde wannabe kunoichi that she and Kushina were supposed to be training scramble from it, while she ran for all she was worth.

Quickly finding herself on the opposite side of the building in an office area, the blonde suddenly stopped when she ducked behind the remains of a desk, and tried to catch her breath while barely peeking over the top of it in the direction that she had fled from trying to catch sight of her pursuer. Mikoto considered stepping in, but before she decided on a course of action found her attention shifting behind her as another figure landed on the girder.

Konan watched for a moment as Hotaru continued to scan the immediate area for signs of her opponent, she felt a pain of sympathy for her as she could almost imagine the terror that she felt. Particularly as she caught sight of Kushina, glowing as her body was covered in red chakra and was currently climbing like an angry beast along the ceiling on the floor beneath her. Frowning, she said, “This wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I asked you to take over her training for me.”

Mikoto shrugged without looking back, as she replied, “Well to be fair, it wasn’t quite what we had planned for her either. But, when we introduced ourselves, upon hearing what clan Kushina hailed from she made the mistake of saying, ‘So you hail from the same clan as the bastard who forced himself on me.” Konan sighed, and then winced sympathetically as Kushina having taken up position beneath Hotaru punched up through the floor with a chakra claw which she wrapped the woman up in her fist before pulling her through it. The Chakra claw did serve to protect her from much of the damaged of being pulled through the floor, but the protection ended as she let her go to hit the one below her. Hotaru looked up with a terrified gaze as Kushina glared at her with red eyes and six chakra tails waving behind her, before letting go of the ceiling intent on crushing her. Hotaru recovered enough sense to roll out of the way, which caused Kushina to go crashing through the floor, while the blonde woman scrambled back to her feet to try and escape the hellish training she was being subjected to. Mikoto commenting on the obvious stated, “As you can see, Kushina was not exactly pleased to hear what she thought of her son. Especially considering how he injured himself saving her.”

Rubbing her eyes tiredly Konan said, “Perhaps you could try explaining that to her.”

Looking back with some amusement, Mikoto countered, “Oh because that’s worked out so much better for you.” Turning back towards the carnage as Kushina exploded up through the floor just before the retreating Hotaru causing the blonde to attempt to skid to a halt but instead resulted in her falling on her ass, the Uchiha continued, “And here I thought the reason you asked us to take over training her for a while was because you were tired of her constant attempts to kill you.”

Although mildly annoyed that many of her training sessions with the blonde often ended with such an attempt, Konan replied, “No. The morning after our last gathering, Shiho reached out to me looking for some training. She finds herself drawn to my techniques and would like to see if she could master them herself.”

“Not too surprising considering how much time she spends surrounded by books,” Mikoto stated, before teasingly adding, “So you decided to pawn your problem student onto us then. While working with her then.”

“Not exactly,” Konan answered wearing a soft smile from the gentle ribbing, “My hope was that Hotaru might benefit more from a teacher she wasn’t constantly looking for an opening to slip a kunai through.” Taking a small measure of satisfaction in seeing the shoe being on the other foot, she said, “While not exactly what I was expecting, perhaps now she will more greatly appreciate my instruction methods.”

Mikoto winced as Hotaru was caught by a swing from one of Kushina’s tails, which had originally possessed enough force to shatter several girders before reaching her. Still despite weakening greatly by the time it reached her, it easily lifted the woman from her feet, and through a previously shattered window. Seeing the blow had also caused the entire building to shake, Mikoto said as it began collapsing in upon itself, “Plus, it looks like you’ll be saving some money on hiring construction crews to tear down these buildings.” She then leapt from the girder to catch the tumbling blonde, who otherwise would have met a messy end as she failed to recover from the tumble that she took out of the third story window.

Landing gracefully with the woman in her amrs, Mikoto then unceremoniously dropped her the rest of the way to the ground causing the kunoichi in training to glare daggers up at her before shouting, “You call this training. That monster is just trying to kill me.”

“Which tends to be the case during our own training sessions,” Konan stated as she floated down to the ground beside Mikoto. She could see that Hotaru was about to retort about how she deserved it, but she turned in horror as parts of the ruined building began shifting before Kushina pushed her way out while still cloaked in red chakra, but now walking on two legs. Another slightly amused smile appeared as Hotaru almost reflectively moved behind her for protection, causing her to say, “I think that is quite enough for today Kushina. I’m sure Hotaru is sorry for insulting your son.”

Kushina paused for a moment, but looked about ready to pounce again when Hotaru said, “That bastard forced himself on me.”

But, she calmed as Konan countered, “And in doing so, extracted the chakra that would otherwise have resulted in you detonating. Something that he didn’t exactly escape from without cost as he was laid up for months recovering.” The glare Hotaru wore softened somewhat as she couldn’t deny the truth of Konan’s words despite wanting to. But before she could try to defend her position and likely dig herself deeper with two of the women present, the Akatsuki’s leader said, “Please return to your quarters. There is another matter that I need to discuss with these two.”

Although, not exactly pleased at being given orders by a woman that she despised, after a morning of near-death experiences decided to do what she was told this time without comment. After she had left, Kushina allowed her own glare to disappear as she gleefully said, “Sorry, I kind of lost my cool back there.”

“It is understandable as to why,” Konan said feeling a little guilty at how much satisfaction she had gotten out of witnessing Hotaru being battered around. “She tends to still try to see herself as solely the victim, and as such has to color everything else in terms of how she has been wronged.”

Mikoto nodded in agreement, but stated, “I’m guessing you aren’t here to ask us to keep watching after her then.”

Sending a pointed look towards the collapsed building, she said, “No, I don’t think the rest of the city could withstand too many such training sessions.” Kushina gave a nervous smile as she rubbed the back of her head, in a manner which reminded her of the red-head’s son when he was feeling nervous or uncomfortable. Although she found the gesture endearing, she began to consider an alternative course of action, stating, “Actually, you may not be the proper party for this task as it will require a degree of subtlety.”

“Hey,” Kushina said sounding offended, “I can be subtle.” Even Mikoto gave her an incredulous look, before sharing one with Konan and then in unison both looked past her to the remains of the building that she had finished off prompting the red-head to say, “When the occasion calls for it.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Mikoto said causing the Uzumaki to let out an indignant huff of annoyance.

“I don’t know,” Konan replied appearing to give the matter some thought, “The way you sat back and let her run amuck, you might be the one I should worry about most.”

“Hey,” Mikoto replied as it was her turn to sound offended while Kushina giggled with amusement, “Fine be that way. We don’t even care what your assignment is. Right, K?”

“Well,” Kushina said her tone making it clear that she was curious.

Rolling her eyes, Mikoto sighed before saying, “Fine. Can you at least tell us what the job is?”

Konan smiled at the two women’s behavior, and despite some reservations said, “I was hoping that you would consider infiltrating the Land of Bears. Recently the One King Movement has really ramped up their activities there with a rather aggressive bombing campaign. Rumor has it that the palace may have even been attacked directly.”

Mikoto frowned at the news, but said, “Still, the reasons that you gave Toki for not getting involved were and are valid. Why the change of heart? Did the Mikado change his mind?”

“No and I haven’t really,” Konan replied causing Mikoto’s eyebrows to furrow in confusion. “You wouldn’t be going in with any authority hence why the need for subtlety. However, the bombing campaign seems to be far too coordinated as several of the bombings prior to the attack on the palace happened within moments of each other at entirely different points of the country.”

“Sounds like they were trying to spread out the Star Village’s forces,” Kushina said while wearing a thoughtful look, “Likely to open the palace up to a direct attack.”

“Agreed,” Konan said with a nod, “Unfortunately, they’ve done an excellent job of keeping it under wraps so I do not know if the Mikado is even alive or dead.”

Kushina frowned before saying, “Strange, you would think that they would want to assure their people that he was alive and well.”

“Stranger still…” Mikoto said not too surprised that her friend may have missed the larger point, “…would be that a movement supposedly fixated on seeing the Daimyo elevated over what they consider shinobi usurpers would target one directly.”

“Agreed,” Konan stated with a nod. “This act may be part of a larger shift in strategy. One meant to send a message to the other Daimyo across the continent.”

“Yeah. Get with the program or we’ll take you out as well,” Kushina said while crossing her arms. Yet before she got too far ahead of herself with the current train of thought, she grew pensive before suggesting, “Although, maybe it could be different players entirely.”

“That thought crossed my mind as well,” Konan stated feeling somewhat more comfortable with her decision to bring her concerns to them.

Mikoto nodded as well, before stating, “Yeah, it could be Iwa stirring up trouble to destabilize the country before making a play for it. Depending how in step they are with their Daimyo, they probably wouldn’t mind causing the other Countries’ Daimyo to begin doubting their allegiance to the Shinobi villages within their borders.”

“Yes, the complexity of the bombing campaign does tend to make one suspect that they may have a hand in it,” Konan said not entirely able to hide the disdain that she held for Iwagakure considering their many transgressions against her home. But, she recovered her balance quickly as she continued, “However, their potentially being responsible may be why Bear is keeping quiet about the Mikado’s condition.”

Kushina wasn’t quite sure what Konan was alluding to, but Mikoto quickly understood what the Daimyo of the Land of Rain was suggesting, prompting her to say, “You think they are keeping it under wraps in hopes of determining who their true enemy is?”

Konan nodded, stating, “Yes, for starters it already seems rather strange that the One King Movement hasn’t claimed credit for the bombing. Now there are several reasons for this, for starters perhaps the attack at the palace was a failure.”

“Which if that was the case, and you are the One King Movement, do you really want to announce your change in philosophy with a failure,” Mikoto added to strength the blue-haired kunoichi’s point. “Sure, you get the message across but it kind of lacks in the punch department if you miss the target.”

“This brings us to option two,” Konan continued, “They succeeded in killing him, but have been unable to confirm it. If this were the case, they would hold off claiming credit for much the same reasons. They wouldn’t want to go to the press with their new Manifesto proclaiming no Daimyo that cooperates with a shinobi village is safe, only for Bear to produce the Mikado afterwards. This might also explain the silence even if it is an Iwa plot. They can’t exactly pick a path until they are sure which one is the better one.”

“Sure,” Kushina said, “But, what does Bear country get out of their silence outside of maybe lessening the impact of some news headlines by making them wait. Hell, if their Daimyo is dead, it likely means announcing it to the world probably solves most of their problems.”

“What do you mean?” Mikoto said finding it her turn to be lost.

“Well it seems to me, that if the One King Movement succeeded, then letting them know that they did would mean they pack up and head somewhere else,” Kushina stated. “They have no interest in installing themselves as rulers, and considering that the Mikado has like three wives as well as kids with each, unless they got really lucky then Bear will probably just install the next in line. Now, whether they come back or not will probably depend on how he interacts with the Star Village, but if you’re the One King Movement do you really gain anything by taking out a Daimyo you already proved you could get to once. If Iwa is behind the plot, and they were using the One King’s Movement as cover then taking out the Daimyo is probably the worst thing they could do.”

“I see your point,” Konan said having to adjust her theory some thanks in part to Kushina’s insight, “You’re saying that even if a new Mikado decides to work with the Star Village, then the One King’s Movement almost has to aim higher to really hammer home the point.”

Nodding, the Uzumaki stated bluntly, “I hate to say it like this, but minor Daimyo get knocked off all the time. Your own elevation being but one of many examples I could give. It might serve as a good opening statement for the One King Movement if they are changing up how they operate, but a repeat performance would be rather underwhelming as a follow up.”

“I’m afraid that I have to agree,” Mikoto said sounding close to apologetic, likely aware of how offensive Kushina’s statement would appear to someone who’s home country had been routinely destabilized due to the machinations and wars of the larger Shinobi Nations.

However, Konan gave her a slight smile of gratitude as she was grateful for the insight the red-head had provided as she was forced to admit that her view point had been too colored by her past experiences. “Thank you both, your insights have given me much to consider and while I suppose we could stand her and theory craft all day. I find that it instead brings me back to what I originally was going to ask, can the two of you please investigate just what is going on in the Land of Bears? During the Chunin Exam Finals, Toki is going to once again push for the minor countries to band together, and depending on what you two can uncover it may be just the thing that she needs to make it work this time.”

“You can count on us,” Kushina said happily, pleased that she wouldn’t need to see the ungrateful blonde bitch who refused to recognize how much her son had nearly sacrificed for her. Eager to be off, she quickly darted off towards the Akatsuki’s headquarters to begin gathering her things.

Konan although pleased to see the Uzumaki’s exuberance was also a little concerned that she was setting a bull loose in a dish shop. But, Mikoto placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, letting her know that she would keep an eye on the Uzumaki, although she gave a grateful nod, she found her nerves if anything grew worse. But, deciding the die had been cast, she turned to follow the pair, while her own thoughts returned to the unanswered question that Kushina had raised. What did Bear Country hope to gain by keeping silent about the Mikado’s status? As she walked, she began to consider that perhaps the silence wasn’t due to anything related to the Mikado, but instead another vulnerability that had been exposed and which they hoped their silence would delay their enemies’ actions long enough that it could be corrected. Although, what or who that vulnerability was she couldn’t say, and only hoped that she wasn’t making an already volatile situation worse by her decision.

*********************************************
“I thought this was supposed to be the safer route,” Hoshi Hyuuga shouted as he hit a shinobi dressed in the gear of the defunct Sound Village in the stomach. He cursed as his hand felt as if it collided with solid wood, to little apparent effect as the man brought his knee up into the Hyuuga’s stomach. The masked man raised his fists above his head intending to bring them down on the crouched over genin’s back, but was instead knocked back a few steps from a vacuum punch that Hanabi sent into him. Her eyes widened in surprise, as the man easily shock off the attack, although it gave Hoshi enough time to recover as he leapt back when the shinobi tried to kick his feet out from under him.

Hanabi was forced to turn her attention to her own opponent as another apparent Sound-nin, this one apparently a woman charged towards her. She managed to dodge the woman’s punch, and retaliated with several strikes to her arm that cut off the chakra to the limb, but having scored several such strikes already she wasn’t surprised when her opponent almost immediately regained use of the arm. A hidden blade appeared from the Sound Kunochi’s sleeve, which caused Hanabi to bend backwards to avoid it as she swiped it over her. Standing straight as the woman moved behind her, Hanabi leapt up spinning to kick her opponent in the chest, and sent her flying backwards into the wagon that was apparently the Sound-nin target, as she and her teammates had stumbled upon their attempt to rob it.

The wagon’s apparent elderly driver remained perched in the driver’s seat no doubt looking for a chance to drive his oxen forward should an opportunity present itself. While the Wagon Master, a young brown-haired woman wearing worn leather pants, and a red vest stood atop it almost definitely trying to protect the cargo she carried, she brought the hammer she carried down where the kunoichi Hanabi had hit was, but the woman managed to move her head at the last second. The kunoichi spun to swipe at her, but luckily the old man wisely was already grabbing at the brown-haired woman, and gripping her by the pants pulled her back away from the attack.

Hanabi reminded the Sound-nin that she was her opponent, as she charged forward coming beside her. She then dropped into a crouch as she spun to kick the front of her opponent’s legs, knocking them out from beneath her. The woman crashed forward into the wagon, and dropped to her knees, so Hanabi rising back up to her feet positioned herself directly behind her opponent and jumped up to kick the small of the kunoichi’s back. With a sickening crunch, the woman’s body folded nearly in half backwards. Landing on her back as she put everything she had into the kick, Hanabi sat up quickly but paused as she noticed that beneath the mask, the woman’s eyes now seemed doll-like.

She quickly rolled to her feet, just as another of the apparent Sound-nin which had surrounded the wagon charged forward, this one wielding a hammer, which it brought down where her legs had just been smashing the woman’s head which shattered into wood. “They’re puppets,” she shouted to inform her party members of her discovery.

Naturally, Hoshi felt the need to question her as he shouted from the rear of the wagon, “Are you daft? They have chakra networks. I’ve never heard of a puppet with one of those.”

Mieko although somewhat doubtful of Hanabi’s discover, due to her being on the opposite side of the wagon nevertheless gave her the benefit of the doubt as she said, “That may appear to have a chakra networks; however, they do not appear to have any chakra points. Hence, why are attempts to disable them continue to fail.” Deciding to put theory into practice, she spun beneath the sword blow of the shinobi she faced, and slammed both of her hands up into his abdomen before unleashing a full force vacuum palm. The effects were immediate as it blew a huge gaping hole into the shinobi, and sent the spirit orb which powered it flying off into the distance. As the remains of the puppet began to topple over, Mieko said matter of factly, “They do indeed appear to be puppets.”

However, with the ruse exposed, the remaining shinobi or in actuality puppets that had encircled the wagon after the Hyuuga had moved in to deal with the ones that had initially been harassing the wagon now moved to overwhelm the Hyuuga with numbers. Seeing their odds falling drastically, Hoshi said, “Well, what’s the plan. I say we cut our losses, and take off. For all we know, those two are puppets as well and we walked right into a Suna-nin’s trap.”

“Hey,” the wagon master shouted, “I’m not some creepy puppet, you coward.”

Hanabi hesitated, as unlike with the puppets, she could see that the two on the wagon possessed chakra points which suggested to her that they were likely human. Although, she did take note that the man’s left leg appeared to be a prosthetic of some kind. Yet, despite being confident that they were not puppets, she knew that in truth they didn’t really owe them anything since they had stumbled on them in the midst of being attacked by a handful of puppets. Which after they had moved in to help them was when the rest of the puppets had popped up from the ground to surround the wagon completely. However, while they could likely easily escape the trap, leaving the woman and her driver to their fate. The idea of doing so left a bad taste in her mouth. She considering perhaps ordering Mieko and Hoshi to grab them and leave the wagon to the puppets. But, much as Hoshi had suggested there was no guarantee that they were not the actual targets, and the wagon’s occupants had just had the poor luck of being used as bait to lure in some shinobi, which explained why the initial attack had only consisted of three puppets. She also considered the possibility, that the entire scenario may have been a test as well, and by abandoning the wagon or its occupants she would possibly fail the exams. Of course, she quickly reasoned that the opposite could just as easily be expected of her.

Due to the numerous scenarios that she found herself considering, she nearly ended up having her head smashed by the hammer wielding puppet as it swung at her intending to crush her head into the side of the wagon. However, a kunai suddenly embedded itself into its forehead, which caused it to topple back as it stumbled and was followed by a sudden flash of red as a Konoha shinobi that she had never interacted with, but recognized due to his reputation, appeared. He gripped the handle of his kunai, trying to yank it free, and appeared shocked as the entire man’s head came loose causing him to send a quick double take to it in confusion for a moment. However, upon looking towards the man whose head he was holding and seemed to be functioning quite fine without it. His eyes grew wide in understanding as he said, “Puppet Walkers! What the hell are these things doing here? I thought we had wiped out the last three members of that clan years ago.”

The headless puppet raised its hammer over where its head had once been, so Naruto simply charged forward and delivered a Rasengan straight to its chest blowing out its innards and destroying the spirit orb which powered it. Turning towards Hanabi, unaware the she had already arrived to the same conclusion he shouted, “Don’t bother holding back. These things are just basically automatons. Although, there usually is a puppeteer nearby who is coordinating their actions.”

Although it was unlikely the case, it almost appeared that whoever was controlling them had heard the blond Uzumaki’s statement so with their secret out in the open decided to cut their losses since while the puppets continued fighting, the coordination that they had been showing moments before appeared to vanish making them easy pickings for the gathered shinobi. This lack of coordination wasn’t the case for Naruto as he created enough clones to outnumber the remaining puppet walkers, which then proceeded to smash them to pieces before dispelling.

Hanabi was nevertheless quite shocked by how quickly the puppet threat was dealt with considering how much her team had struggled with them, particularly as he had dealt with them even before his remaining teammates had been able to join the fray. Something an orange-haired kunoichi commented on as she stated, “Come on Boss! You shouldn’t hog all the action.”

Naruto chuckled, before stating, “Sorry, but it looked like…”

Naruto paused as he noticed the two civilians on top of the wagon, and he looked both confused and surprised, leaving Hanabi to believe he was familiar with them. Something which seemed to be the case, as the woman dropped down to sit cross-legged atop of one of the larger crates on the wagon saying, “Long time no see Naruto.”

Hanabi was surprised by Naruto’s reaction since his face showed that he was confused by the woman’s familiarity with him. However, it last only a few seconds as he said, “Momiji!”

The woman held her arms out from her sitting position as she said, “Surprise.”

“What are you doing here?” the Uzumaki asked as the brown-haired woman dropped down from atop of the wagon.

Naruto spent a moment studying her, barely having recognized the lanky teen that he had met nearly seven years prior back when he had been a genin, having met her on the same mission that he had first met Haruna. Now though her brown hair was shorter as it framed her face, and she wore a red corset over a greyish low-cut t-shirt. Her pants were of a brown leather, which were slightly lighter shade then the brown knee-high boots that she wore. She bent forward slightly giving her an ample view of the cleavage formed from her impressive bust.

Momiji smiled happily at Naruto remembering her, and answering him stated, “I’m a wagon master now. I typically arrange trade caravans that collect goods to be traded in various markets along our route. Not to mention overseeing the gathering and distribution of provisions such food and water to the other caravanners”

Naruto grew a little confused, seeing as at present her caravan consisted of on;y a single wagon so asked, “Were you just setting out?”

Shaking her head in the negative she answered, “No, actually we set out from Suna about a week ago. I was hired by the Great Tree Shipping Company to help transport this wagon to Konoha.”

“I see,” Naruto said as he felt things becoming a little clearer, “then…”

Hanabi noted though that his confusion quickly returned though, as the wagon’s driver nimbly dropped down from the wagon’s front, as he extended his hand while interrupting the Uzumaki, “I’m Miss Momiji’s driver, Kosuke. I’m sure glad that you Leaf-nin showed up when you did. Otherwise, those puppets probably would have torn us to ribbons.”

Again, to Hanabi it appeared that Naruto’s confusion seemed to worsen as he shook hands with the elderly man who wore a wok on his back, but it lasted only for a moment as perhaps deciding to simply bask in the praise that he received, so allowed a smile to grace his features. Although, he proved her reading of him partially incorrect as he stated, “Thank you. Mr. Kosuke. But I think most of the credit belongs to Lady Hanabi and her teammates.”

It was Hanabi’s turn to be surprised as she asked, “You know of me?”

“Yes,” Naruto stated giving her a disarming grin, “Mainly through your sister though. Hinata is a dear friend of mine.”

“That’s Lady Hinata to you,” Hoshi Hyuuga said heatedly, not liking how familiar or freely the Uzumaki had used the current leader of the Branch Family’s name.

While Hanabi felt a hint of annoyance at his insisting the Uzumaki speak of Hinata in such a formal manner. Particularly as he refused to address her in any such fashion, their fellow teammate earned some of his ire as Mieko stated, “Would it not be up to Lady Hinata to decide if such formality is required?”

Naruto chuckled as Hoshi glared towards Mieko, but changed the subject as he focused again on Momiji to ask, “Do you have any idea as to what those puppets could have been after?”

“I’m afraid not,” Momiji said, “Although that isn’t to say, I don’t have some idea as to what crate that they were after.” She moved to the back of the wagon, and used a step to pull herself up into it. The gathered shinobi moved to the back of it, and while the wagon appeared to be quite full, it was also well organized. Momiji slid a few crates from the back out of the way to reveal a large chest, which she then opened to pull out a smaller ornate wooden box. The box looked harmless enough, except it was covered in seals making it clear that it was not to be opened.

Toka frowned at the sight of it, as she said, “You have no idea as to what is inside?”

Momiji shook her head, before replying, “No, the shipping manifest just describes them as orbs of some kind. I asked Seramu about it before we left, but she said that Suna wouldn’t discuss it. Just that certain parties within Konoha were expecting it.”

Looking towards the Uzumaki, Toka began to suspect that he had more information than he was letting on. Particularly as he hesitated when Yakumo asked, “Do you think that these orbs are what the puppets were after Naruto?”

He hesitated for a moment, before finally saying, “It’s possible. Back when I fought against the survivors of the clan which created these puppet walkers, they were searching for these items called spirit orbs. They needed them to power their ultimate weapon, what they called the Master Puppet. I had thought them destroyed when Shikamaru, Neji, and I destroyed the Master Puppet”

Hanabi frowned as she moved the puppet that she had cracked in half near the wagon, and pulling up the orb which had seemed to power it stated, “I don’t understand. Assuming this Master Puppet survived somehow, why not create just new orbs? Whoever was behind this attack seems to have plenty to spare.”

“Although they do use orbs to power their puppet walkers,” Naruto replied, “The ones used by the Master Puppet were special. As it was actually sentient. In fact, it was the Shirogane clan themselves who first sealed it away by separating its consciousness into five Spirit orbs because they grew to fear it turning against them. So, theoretically if somebody were to rebuild the Master Puppet, and the spirit orbs themselves still exist, then it is possible that the Master Puppet could be resurrected.”

“It seems that we’ve stumbled into quite the conundrum,” Toka stated crossing her arms. “As I see it, we have quite the decision to make.”

“How do you figure?” Hoshi replied dismissively, “If Suna couldn’t spring to properly protect their shipment. I do not see how that is our issue.”

Hanabi noticed that Naruto seemed disappointed by his response, but she countered, “It could become everyone’s problem if the orb sealed inside that box is one which powered the Shirogane’s Master Puppet.” Hoshi scuffed which she ignored in favor of stating, “Much as has been suggested, we now have several avenues laying before us. However, before dismissing one out of hand, we should consider which is the true scenario we now find ourselves in.”

“What do you mean?” Moegi asked with a frown since she felt the best choice would be act as guards for the wagon for the rest of the journey.

Toka guessing as much stated, “She means that even the supposedly moral choice of remaining on hand until they reach Konoha, might not be the correct one considering that we are in the middle of the exams. As there is a very real possibility that this attack was orchestrated so that we would act as guards, and as a result miss the deadline for reaching Konoha.” She looked towards the late afternoon sun as it approached the horizon before stating, “We’ve left Suna roughly two days ago, and although we ran for most of today, we’re only about halfway to Konoha. They left about a week ago, to reach this same point. Odds are that if we stick with them, we will not make it in time.”

Although Hanabi agreed with the older woman’s assessment, and felt that it was perhaps the most likely scenario, she felt it best to raise all the possibilities so countered, “Then again, there is also the chance that the attack was real. Perhaps, the shipment of the orb was arranged in such a manner that the lack of security was to help it escape notice. It may have been one of any number of shipments meant to confuse those interested in collecting the Spirit Orb. Or, this shipment may very well also be a decoy.” She noted that Naruto although appearing to be considering the theories being put forth seemed bemused by their mentioning the lack of security, so asked him, “Do you disagree? Has something I said amused you?”

Naruto seemed surprised by her query at first as his eyes met hers, but then perhaps realizing how perceptive she was so gave her a disarming grin. Hanabi felt her cheeks heat up, so broke eye contact first as the Uzumaki responded, “No. But, I find that I have prior experiences which are coloring my thoughts on the matter. There is also another matter which I may find myself being called on to deal with. So, I think it best if I stay out of it. But, I’ll abide by whatever decision you all come to, at least for as long as I can.”

Hanabi wondered what other matter he could be called on to deal with during the exams, but doubted that he would elaborate further on it. Focusing on the Wagon Master and her driver, she asked, “What do the two of you have to say?”

Momiji shrugged nonchalantly from within the wagon as she responded, “Not much to say really. All I can say on the matter is that we were both hired by the Great Tree Shipping Company to get this cargo to Konoha.”

Mieko sounding suspicious said, “You do not seem particularly perturbed about having been attacked.”

Momiji bent to pick up the box, and turned to put it back into the chest that she had pulled it from. As she began to move the other items back in place to conceal it, she said, “Sadly, it is just a hazard of the profession.” Finishing the task, she began swiping her hands against each other to clear away any dirt clinging to them as she continued, “Besides, the way I see it, it doesn’t matter much what I say. We’re either a part of some scenario that these exams you’ve mentioned has cooked up for you to deal with. In which case, if we are a knowing a part of it, then you can’t really trust anything we say. But, if we are an unknowing party to it, then nothing we say will be of any value to you either. There is also the possibility that this attack had nothing to do with the exams and you just happened to stumble upon it because Suna tried to keep the transportation of the orb a secret. But, if you ask me these exams have you all asking the wrong questions of yourselves.”

“Oh yeah,” Hoishi asked somewhat challengingly, “And what is the proper one we should be asking?”

Momiji dropped down from the back of the wagon, causing her breasts to bounce noticeably as she landed which caused Hanabi to feel somewhat inadequate. Particularly as she straightened and thrust out her chest as she said, “Why whether or not you’re the type of shinobi who can leave people to fend for themselves knowing they might be in danger?” She sent a sidelong glance towards Naruto which Hanabi suspected contained a fair amount of desire as the brown-haired woman said, “I know for a fact that one of you isn’t.”

Although, she could see the woman’s words had caused her two teammates to look introspectively, for Hanabi they had the opposite effect as she became positive that the scenario was indeed something the exams had cooked up for them. She based this belief on the fact that despite Momiji’s declaration that Naruto wasn’t the type to abandon them to their fate, he had already stated that he was willing to let the majority make the decision. However, looking towards the women that he had arrived with, she quickly realized that he had likely always known what the outcome of any such decision would be. Especially, as his team had more members than hers. Turning her attention to the women that he had arrived with, she could see the oldest of the three also appeared to have arrived to the conclusion that they had stumbled onto some sort of scenario that had been crafted to test their character. While the two younger women still seemed unsure of this fact, but having been reminded of the character of the man that they had arrived with would no doubt vote to remain on as guards for the wagon.

Her gaze shifted to Naruto, who seemed to be trying to control his body language, having been reminded at just how adept Hyuuga were at reading it. She suspected that this was because his arrival on the scene was not something the those who crafted the exams had planned for, and so he perhaps had possessed information that had allowed him almost immediately see through the ruse. Recalling the details of his arrival, and the immediate aftermath she knew that he had actually been surprised by Momiji’s presence which meant that he had likely recognized the driver Kosuke. She smiled to herself as she began to understand why Naruto had seemed to find the idea of the wagon being undefended so amusing.

Mieko upon noticing the amusement her teammate was exhibiting questioningly said, “Lady Hanabi?”

“It’s nothing,” she said having a bit more understanding of the situation the Uzumaki had found himself in, “What do you think we should do, Mieko?”

Although Mieko seemed pleased to have her opinion sought after, Hoshi let out a derisive snort as he said, “Aren’t you the one who’s trying to wrest control of the clan from Lady Hinata? Why bother asking our opinion on it? We’ll have to do whatever you say anyway.”

Hanabi glared at Hoshi, but Mieko softened the hostility that had welled up in her as she said, “I think we should help them reach the village. The worst-case scenario is that this was a legitimate attack, and as we do not know the status of the remaining orbs. Then it behooves us to make certain that they do not get their hands on this one.”

“Agreed,” Hanabi stated with a quick nod, before sending a look towards Naruto, who seemed pleased by their decision, but she nevertheless asked, “I trust you would concur?”

Naruto nodded in agreement while his teammates also voiced their support of the decision which caused Momiji to happily clap her hands together as she said, “Excellent. Then let’s get moving, as we’re wasting daylight.” Quickly gathering their discarded packs, the shinobi once more resumed their trek to Konoha.

*********************************************

“What a waste.”

Kankuro scowled at the back of the kunoichi that had spoken while they ran from the ambush that they had perpetrated on the wagon due to Naruto’s surprise appearance. While he normally tried not to let it show, in truth he found everything about the woman distasteful. Particularly, the puppet jutsu that her clan was famous for, the ability to create the Puppet Walkers..

Although it had been a while ago, it had come as quite the shock when he had discovered that the woman, Meno Shirogane, had survived their last battle during her clan’s attempt to resurrect their ultimate weapon the Master Puppet. Although she had managed to succeed in getting the Spirit Orb to her comrades, her success had seemingly come at the cost of her own life when she had apparently detonated herself in a vain attempt to take him along with Naruto and Gaara with her. Although they had escaped the initial blast, it had resulted in the castle in which battle had taken place to come crashing down. However, it appeared that she had managed to also escape from it, although she hadn’t managed to get very far as agents of Joseki had been nearby in hopes of getting their own hands on the Spirit Orb.

However, rather than turning her into a puppet agent, the deceased Suna Councilor had ended up recruiting her for his research project into how to negate the drawbacks of creating the Armored Soldiers that Haido and his Knights had used during the Gelel Stone Incident which had taken place shortly after the second Master Puppet Uprising. The reason for this was that Joseki had felt that it was likely that the creation of both the Puppet Walkers, and Haido’s Armored Warriors worked on similar principles. Thus, because the Children Haido had used to power his Armored Warriors could be returned to their original bodies provided they were well maintained, and the armored forms their spirits occupied were not destroyed, he felt it may be possible to severe the connection between the two which seemed to transfer damage from one form to the other. As while the Armored Warriors had been capable of taking incredible amounts of damage, there existed some teether to the original human form which would cause the human body to die at some point rendering the armor lifeless.

However, since the Puppet Walkers continued to function despite the termination of the person whose soul and chakra were used in the creation of the Spirit Orbs which powered them. Joseki had hoped that by combining the technology used to create Haido’s Armored Warriors, and the techniques the Shirogane used to create their Puppet Walkers, he could create some hybrid between the two, one in which even should the Armored Puppet be destroyed, it wouldn’t negatively affect the Suna-nin whose soul had powered it allowing them to just create another so long as their chakra held out.

However, before the project could truly get rolling, Gaara had become Kazekage and quickly put a stop to it. As a result, Meno, whose survival Joseki had not revealed, no doubt hoping to be able to report to the council after a positive development in the project, so that they would not ask too many questions regarding how she had survived, had instead quickly and quietly been sent off to Grass’s Blood Prison. In order to keep her imprisonment from showing up in Suna’s records, since Grass charged a rather exuberant fee to the other Shinobi Villages for the privilege of using their prison, Joseki had apparently provided the corpse of the Haido Knight which Gaara had killed during the Gelel Incident, along with DNA samples of the other two which had been obtained from sites where they had been encountered. As despite their bodies having been lost due to the jutsu which had destroyed the vein of the Gelel Stone, Suna had searched the various battle sites in which they had been encountered in hopes of using their DNA to develop techniques to mimic their abilities. With one such sample of DNA coming from the woman that he had killed had which had been obtained from the hidden blades located within his puppet Kuroari.

This project had ultimately also been cut by Gaara, who had also ordered the samples to be destroyed. But, instead Joseki had decided to use them to secure the funds necessary to stash Meno away in the Blood Prison. All of which eventually came to light in the aftermath of Joseki’s death, as his records were combed through as well as his various remaining puppet agents were found and healed of their false personas.

As far as Kankuro was concerned they should have just left Meno there to rot. Sadly though, following the Battle of Amegakure Gaara had decided to restart Joseki’s Armored Puppet Project. The reasoning that he had given to the council was that Amegakure had been a lesson to him that those seeking to destroy the peace that the Shinobi villages which were a part of the Alliance were working towards, were not just sitting around waiting for another opportunity to attack. Instead, they were working on technologies and jutsu which would help them overcome their supposed weakness in terms of numbers. Although, the existence of the White Zetsu, as well as the Purple Variant that Sasuke had fielded in Ame, called into question the idea that the Alliance would still have a numerical advantage should open conflict breakout again in the near future. To this end, not only had Gaara restarted some of Joseki’s old programs, but had green lite dozens more, all for the express purpose of supposedly being ready to deal with any future hostility from the Village Hidden in Darkness. Among the newer ones was funding an expedition in the Land of Ruins, hoping to discover powerful artifacts or weapons, as well as sending research teams to Amegakure to comb over the wreckage of the flying transports which Darkness had used in order to reverse engineer them.

However, despite the stated goal of the projects being to strengthen Suna, Kankuro had some reservations in regards to supporting them. The biggest reason being that Temari was so vehemently opposed to many of them, primarily the ones which had once been the brain child of Joseki. Something which had fueled much of his own hesitance in supporting the projects, although ultimately, he had, feeling that despite his disdain for both Meno and Joseki, if the project was successful, it would allow Suna to field a powerful army without actually endangering any of its Shinobi. A point that he had raised when the matter of restarting the project had come to a vote.

Temari had countered however, that putting their lives at risk was in many ways the point. That while she understood why Suna would find such an army appealing, her concern was that by removing any potential for their shinobi to face danger it would also remove the potential backlash that the village’s leadership would face for disastrous choices which led to war. Thus, it would embolden them to use force at nearly every minor provocation.

Kankuro was nearly swayed by his sister’s argument, particularly as he found the compromise of working with a member of the Shirogane Clan was already nearly a bridge too far for him. Especially when considering how he viewed their techniques to be a stain on the puppetry art that he had dedicated his life to. But ultimately, he had ended up agreeing to support Gaara’s initiatives, due to his feeling it was his duty to give the shinobi of Suna every edge that they could get in a conflict. Temari had been disappointed by his support for Gaara’s projects, but had in the end accepted his reasoning.

However, he was beginning to have serious doubts regarding his support for his younger brother’s supposed defensive minded projects. His pairing with Meno being but the latest reason, as he was certain if the shinobi that had been hired to protect the Wagon Master should actual bandits have attacked, not acted so quickly during the ruse that they had been a part of to test the Hyuuga that had happened on the scene, then the woman Momiji may have been harmed when one of the Puppet Walkers had lashed out at her. Something, he had suspected to have been a controlled reprisal to the hammer strike the wagon master had tried to deliver. Granted, Meno had been ordered to try and make the attack look as authentic as possible, but he it was clear that she valued her puppets more than her fellow human beings, he believed she had taken Momiji own means of trying to make the attack look real as a personal affront. But, if there was one thing that she clearly valued over her Puppet Walkers, it was herself, which was why she had agreed to aid in their use during the exams, since Gaara was using her cooperation as a publicity measure to convince some of the holdouts such as him that she was turning over a new leaf.

Having been assigned to watch over her, Kankuro was quite sure that wasn’t the case. Rather, he was all the more so certain that she was entirely self-serving, and would turn on them at the first opportunity. Fortunately, his brother wasn’t entirely blind to this fact, as he had a Chakra Suppression Seal placed on the back of her neck which could be activated by a one-handed sign. But, his willingness to work with Meno, had caused Kankuro to begin questioning whether or not his brother’s initiatives were truly meant to counter Sasuke and his village, or perhaps a certain Uzumaki and his growing influence.

A concern that he knew Temari harbored regarding their brother’s recent choices and was a belief which Kankuro was forced to admit that he was all but certain of now as well. With the imprisonment of their sensei Baki being what had fully opened his eyes to this truth. Kankuro having been present during more than one blowout between his siblings over Gaara’s recent choices, although the anger displayed was decidedly one sided, he was quite aware of the rift which had opened between Naruto and his brother following the Uzumaki deciding to aid one of his lovers in defecting to Amegakure to join Akatsuki. As such, with it being Gaara’s position that Yugito should have remained in Kumo for the benefit of the Alliance, it was easy enough to see that his brother was using Baki’s imprisonment as a means of showing Naruto how he believed that he should have acted for the sake of their shared goal of peace. An action which left a sour taste in Kankuro’s mouth, and one he had shared in private, with Gaara only succeeding in calming his ire by alluding to there being some greater purpose behind his decision which he would reveal in time. Opting to believe his brother that there was a goal beyond just displaying his own willingness to sacrifice those close to him for the sake of peace, Kankuro couldn’t entirely shake the feeling that the secondary goal was also likely tied to the current tensions between Gaara and Naruto.

However, to both his siblings shared credit, they had at least refrained from trying to force him to choose a side between them. Which truthfully, was probably of a greater benefit to Gaara, since if push came to shove on the matter, he would likely end up backing Temari. Perhaps, not too surprising of an outcome considering that she had served as much the same parental figure to him as their Uncle had to Gaara, minus the attempted assassination attempts. As such, there was a loyalty and closeness that he possessed to her which he didn’t exactly share with Gaara, which also probably wasn’t too surprising since for a good portion of his life he had feared being crushed by his brother’s sand just because he looked at him in a manner that he didn’t approve of. Thus, knowing that at the core of the disagreement between Naruto and his brother was the Uzumaki refused to view the happiness of his lovers as something to be sacrificed for the sake of his ambition, kind of put Kankuro squarely in the Uzumaki’s camp. After all, he had once threatened him that he would go after him should he ever hurt his sister, and now that his mother was also involved with the blond, he was all the more pleased to see him acting in such a manner.

However, while he had at first been rather upset when he found out Naruto had also taken his mother as a lover, it was an anger that he hadn’t really been able to hold onto. As while his memories of her were hazy seeing as she had died when he was between the age of two and three. What he did recall was a woman who could be stern, but warmed in the presence of her family. When she had been resurrected, he had seen that her sternness was a more dominant trait then he had thought as she was clearly displeased by Suna’s alliance with Konoha. She had naturally made a one hundred and eighty degree turn on the matter after joining the Uzumaki’s family, which pleased him not so much because of her view on the alliance, but it was clear that she just had a more positive outlook in general now.

Yet, it was in the manner that his mother Karura had joined, which raised some deep concerns in him regarding his brother’s current actions. This was due to the fact that for Kankuro, it displayed that despite Gaara having seemed to have gained an emotional stability which stopped him from lashing out in a more immediate and destructive manner, he was still a man of extremes. Perhaps not too surprising a development considering he imagined that along with the emotional stability that he had gained following his fateful encounter with Naruto, there also must have been a considerable amount of guilt for all the people he had harmed. Which had in turn drove him to work so hard to make amends by serving the village so dutifully, which in turn had seen him quickly elevated to the position of Kazekage as recognition for his efforts. After having come to believe that the peace Naruto had stated that he was working towards was how he could now best serve the village, Gaara was willing to sacrifice just about everything to achieve it. As evident by his willingness to position their mother into the Uzumaki’s orbit due to the Hardliner beliefs that she had clearly harbored being a threat to that goal. Which while admittedly seemed to have made their mother a happier woman, still troubled Kankuro as he feared that Gaara after perhaps coming to see Naruto as a threat to the peace he was dedicating himself to creating, may decide to remove him as an obstacle in a less than pleasing manner. After all, any weapon that was developed which would be effective against Sasuke, would no doubt be just as effective against the man who had lost to him in their last clash.

A chilling thought, particularly as Kankuro had little doubt Temari and their mother would be particularly displeased if this turned out to be the case. Which could spark a civil war within his own family, with such an event perhaps being even closer to becoming a reality as he was reminded that his brother was already traversing a similar path as Joskei as Meno having grown tired of their mad dash asked, “How much longer are we going to run?”

Kankuro looked back, and seeing no sign of pursuit slowed his pace before coming to a stop, at which point he stated, “I suppose we can rest for a bit. It looks like they are going to stick with the wagon.”

With a fair amount of derision Meno asked, “So what’s the plan now oh fearless leader? I though the original idea make it appear as if we were after the wagon’s secret cargo. Why’d you force me to abandon my puppets because some blond bastard showed up?”

Scowling Kankuro stated, “First, those puppets weren’t yours. They were remnants that we had in storage from the last time your clan caused trouble, and as far as I’m concerned, they should have been smashed to pieces years ago.” Meno glared at him in response, which turned to outright fury as with a pleased grin, he added, “As to why we cut bait, well that Blonde was the same one who helped Gaara and me kick your ass, and who ultimately destroyed your precious Master Puppet. Odds are he’s already seen through the scenario that we had prepared, so we’ll leave it to the others to improvise. Therefore, we’ll head back to the closest Proctor staging area to see what other tasks those running the show want us to perform.”

“Oh joy,” Meno said sarcastically as she turned away to begin heading towards the camp. “Are you sure we can’t just go back and kill that bastard and his fellow Leaf-nin?”

Kankuro felt a sudden urge to let the woman go off and do as she please, confident Naruto would easily handle her, in more ways than one. But, feeling that she didn’t deserve the same happiness that his mother and sister had found with the blond said, “Just shut up and do what you’ve already been told.”

Sounding pleased that she was getting under his skin, Meno said, “Careful now, is that any way to talk to someone your precious brother is putting so much effort into showing has been reformed. I can’t imagine how happy he’ll be upon hearing how rude you’ve been to his lead researcher.”

“Perhaps not,” Kankuro admitted even as he thought, “Bitch, if you do succeed in your research, you better pray Gaara doesn’t plan to use it in any manner other than he has publicly stated. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself wishing we never pulled your ass out of that prison. As you may have survived an explosion that brought down a castle before, but Temari’s wrath has leveled entire forests.”

Kankuro chuckled to himself upon picturing the Blonde Kunoichi being blown away, prompting the woman to ask, “What’s so funny?”

However, his levity didn’t last as he imagined such an event occurring would likely mean his sister was on the warpath due to some harm coming to her lover, and seeing as he was finding himself increasingly concerned that harm may be due to his brother’s machinations decided it was best that he determine just what they were. Starting with whatever it was about the Blood Prison that had interested Gaara enough to see their sensei sentenced there in place of a woman who he felt actually deserved to still be there.

Next Chapter: The Chunin Exams Part Deux: The Mad Rush Backwards! Part 2

Author’s note: Hello Everyone, to begin let me thank those who take the time to leave a review. I greatly appreciate your comments and words of encouragement. I hope this one is found to be enjoyable, and that nobody is too disappointed that we haven’t really delved into the mission that has been teased. But, as you can probably tell, setting up and introducing some of the new characters and their backstories kind of took precedence with this chapter.

As to what is next, well I’m going to work on the second part of this chapter before releasing the Antithesis one tied to it. Primarily, because I feel getting the Eroninja side of things first, will better have the stronger impact. After that chapter is ready, I’ll wait about a week or so before releasing Antithesis, and then I’ll begin working on the next Limelight chapter. There was a tiny hint and callout in this chapter as to who it will feature.

So, until my next release please take care. If you don’t see anything from me before Christas, let me take the time to wish you all a very Merry one, or a Happy Holidays if you prefer. So, until next time, take care. Sincerely, The Lemon Sage.