Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: Revised and corrected in preparation for actually finishing this story at last. Also, if you want to see what I've been doing in the last year check out Fimbulwinter, my original novel now available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon (just got to www_amazon_com/dp/B00KZ41LHM , or go to the main page and search books for "Fimbulwinter, by E. William Brown").

Hiashi set down the last of the purloined documents, and allowed the barest hint of a frown to reach his face. The details of his wayward daughter's new assignment were not at all what he'd been led to expect. Apparently the Hokage was starting another of her hare-brained schemes, and the council would no doubt be called on to reign her in again for the good of Konoha.

But of more immediate concern was the fact that he'd heard nothing about this from the girl herself. The Hyuuga were supremely effective spies, and it was customary for clan members to ferret out the details of their assignments in advance and report them to the clan. Even if she'd been lax in that duty, there were two clan members working in the Hokage's tower where she'd met her contact. The clan had long since devised a secret form of sign language that was invisible to anyone who lacked the byakugan's high-definition chakra perception, so it would have been child's play for her to report in without being caught at it. Their special methods of marking a trail were equally subtle, so even if she'd been told nothing it should have been a simple matter to send an agent to observe her new team.

Instead, she had vanished without so much as an extended mission notice. It had taken a week to learn from other sources that she was assigned to a new ANBU team along with the Hokage's apprentice, and was not expected back for several months. He'd actually had to assign one of the clan's jounin to the case to find out why.

His frown deepened. The Kyuubi container was leading a special team to fight Akatsuki? Obviously the boy had used his influence with the Hokage to arrange this, and Hinata had gone along with it eagerly. Apparently she thought his own instructions to stay away from the volatile demon container could be safely ignored.

This was unacceptable.

A certain amount of willfulness was tolerable, even desirable, in an heir. But not a branch house member. It was time to bring the girl to heel, before she brought any more embarrassment to the clan. He summoned his secretary.

"Anzi, please bring me the marriage prospect files," he directed the younger man. "Then prepare a notice of recall from active duty for Hinata. Once that's done, I need you to arrange a private meeting with Danzo and Homura…"

-oOoOo-

A few blocks away the Hokage was contemplating her own delivery of unpleasant news. She frowned at Naruto and suppressed the urge to break into her sake stash early today.

"So the only information you have on this thing with Moryo comes from the Kyuubi? That's not the most credible source, you know."

"I know, I know," Naruto sighed. "Look, I know he's not exactly an ally, but I don't think he'd make up something like this just to mess with us. We'd find out the truth pretty quick, and then I'd never believe him about anything else. He's still trying to convince me to set up this big reverse-summoning technique he says will send him home, so it would be really stupid to get caught lying about something else."

"Does he really think you're going to fall for that?" Tsunade asked. "You'd have to let him out first, and you'd have to be an idiot to even consider risking that."

"Actually, we wouldn't," Naruto replied. "See, the seal is only four-dimensional, so it's open to summoning space. If we do it right we could banish him back to his own world without ever affecting the seal, and then I'd just have an empty demon prison on my belly. But we'd need some stupidly huge amount of chakra, a lot more than even I can pull off, and I'm not sure if I'd actually survive the whole thing."

Tsunade snorted. "Let's not test that anytime soon. Ok, so he's got a good reason not to get caught lying to us unless it's actually going to get him released. That means this is probably for real, but most of the other villages aren't going to believe that without proof. We're going to have to handle this ourselves for now, and carefully. I assume you've got a way to find this priestess?"

"Sure," Naruto nodded.

"Good. Take Team Orange and extract her from this mess she's gotten into. By the time you've done that we should have a better idea what's going on, and I'll let you know where we need her. I'll send Gai's team up to Swamp Country to guard the other prison, but I want you to get some flyers up there right away in case Moryo gets there first."

"Got it. What about the situation up in Lightning?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Those guys are almost as paranoid as Stone, Naruto, and we can't afford to antagonize them. Especially now. You can watch, but you're not to do anything else unless their jinchuuriki actually gets caught."

"Aw, man. But granny-"

"Don't 'but granny' me, brat!" Tsunade growled. "No intervening unless they capture her, and that's an order! Now get going. If you've got enough spare clones to worry about someone else's jinchuuriki you can send yourself some reinforcements. For right now containing Moryo is our first priority."

-oOoOo-

A hundred miles to the northwest Team Orange was already breaking camp. All four members of the team were reasonably skilled with storage seals, and the various supplies and gear they'd been making use of vanished rapidly into their scrolls. Naruto cancelled the seals on the underground shelters and collapsed them while a party of clones filled in the fire pit and policed the area for lost items. In a matter of minutes there was no sign that the team had ever been there.

Of course, the surrounding forest still bore the scars of two weeks of high-intensity ninja training. But Naruto's clones had been collecting lost missile weapons and sanitizing battle sites all along, and it didn't seem worthwhile to torch the whole area just to hide the patches of destruction left by their jutsu.

"Ok, ladies, listen up," he announced as the three kunoichi completed their preparations. "Here's what we know right now. Someone sneaky is trying to free the demon lord Moryo. If the name doesn't sound familiar, he's that guy with the army of statues that was split up and sealed into two different prisons back before the Third War. We've got intel that some group of idiots has already opened one prison, and they're going for the other one right now. The only person with the power to seal Moryo again is the High Priestess of Demon Country, and she's apparently been kidnapped."

"Well, crap," Anko commented dryly. "Someone really screwed the pooch on this one, didn't they?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but all we can do right now is pick up the pieces. Anko, I want you to take a clone team and fly out to the other prison. The Hokage is sending Team Gai to reinforce you, but you'll have to hold out for a day or two until they get there."

Anko grinned eagerly. "No sweat, boss. They won't get past me."

"Good. The rest of us are going to track down this priestess and extract her. We don't know who's holding her or why she's still alive, so we'll have to be discreet about looking for her."

"Ah, so that's why Anko's on the other team," Sakura commented archly. "Good call. Their daimyo wouldn't be happy if she turned his country into a giant smoking crater."

"Hah! You're just jealous you can't keep up with me, little girl," Anko shot back.

Naruto cleared his throat, and they both turned their attention back to him. "Right." He said. "Anyway, I want you all to be careful out there. This Moryo guy is supposed to be as tough as a bijuu, and we've got no idea who's trying to free him. I wouldn't be surprised if Akatsuki was involved in this somehow, so don't forget that anyone you tangle with could be one of them."

He paused to study his fledgling team. All three wore form-fitting black chakra armor and a black cloak trimmed with orange flames at the bottom, just like his own. But after two weeks of customizing certain differences were starting to emerge.

The storage crystal on Anko's chest was red now, thanks to her copious use of fire-natured chakra, and her boots and gloves had turned a dark red as well. Sheathed weapons and equipment pouches filled with various nasty surprises were secreted all about her person, and she wore her cloak thrown back from her shoulders to show off her figure. She stood with her hands on her hips, impatient with waiting and eager for action.

In contrast, Hinata had attached only a pair of snug shuriken pouches and a small scroll case to her armor. She was still a bit shy about being seen in the tight-fitting suit, and had developed the habit of hiding herself in her cloak when not actually in combat. Her storage crystal was a pale blue, darkening slowly as it took on her water nature, but between her stealth and mist techniques it would be a rare enemy who actually saw it. She waited patiently, but he thought he detected a hint of nervousness beneath her serene façade.

Oddly, Sakura's crystal was the green of medical chakra rather than the red of her fire nature. Her suit was also the most heavily modified, from the armored gloves and bracers to the sculpted steel chest-plate he'd added just the day before. She carried as many pouches as Anko, although most contained medical supplies or other gear rather than weapons. At first she'd been nearly as shy about being seen in just her armor as Hinata, but somewhere along the way she'd stopped worrying about it. Her cloak blew freely in the breeze now, revealing glimpses of lithe curves and grey steel as she double-checked her equipment.

They were a good team, if one with a few rough edges. But were they good enough to face what was coming?

Yeah, I think they are, he decided. Besides, I'm not going to let anything happen to them.

"This is our first official Team Orange mission, so don't forget that we're supposed to be anonymous. Hinata, Sakura, you've both done great in training. It's time for you to get your masks and code names."

Hinata smiled quietly as Anko donned the demon mask she'd worn before, and Naruto retrieved another pair of the porcelain masks from an equipment pouch. She'd been waiting for this since she'd spotted a clone discreetly delivering them a week ago.

"The tradition in ANBU has always been to assign masks and code names based on animals, but they've already taken all the ones that aren't embarrassing. Besides, the reason the Hokage had to form a special anti-Akatsuki force in the first place was because the regular ANBU isn't up to the job. So I decided there aren't going to be any pets or farm animals or shy little forest critters on this team. Anko here is Oni. Hinata," he said as he handed her a mask, "you're Ghost. Sakura," he handed over the second mask, "you're Tanuki. And I'm Dragon."

"What do the stripes mean, Naruto?" Hinata asked as she slipped her mask on. Anko's mask sported a single orange slash on the right cheek, as did Naruto's, but she'd noted that her own and Sakura's were plain.

"You get one for every fight we win against S-rank opponents," he explained.

Sakura put her mask on, and gasped. "Hey! It's transparent from the inside! So that's how ANBU fights in these things."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, cutting off your peripheral vision with a regular mask would be stupid. There's also a seal that's supposed to keep Byakugan users from seeing through it from the outside, though apparently it doesn't work.

"No, it does," Hinata corrected. "It's just that a Hyuuga can stand behind you and look through your head to see your face, so it doesn't make much difference. But I have trouble seeing through someone else's chakra armor, so it may actually work for us."

"Huh. Good to know. Ok, we're burning daylight here. Anko, I'll stay in touch. Let's move out."

Even ninja would normally have needed days to cover the distance to the capital of Demon Country, but most ninja can't fly. Naruto's team went airborne a few miles from the camp site, at which point their speed nearly tripled. They stayed just above the tree tops, weaving their way through the wooded hills of northern Fire Country and over the deep ravines that scarred the landscape with increasing frequency as they approached the border. They made several detours to avoid settlements, but even so they were well into Demon Country by noon. There the landscape gradually became more rugged, the forest broken up by large stretches of blasted barrens and not-so-ancient lava flows.

At that point Naruto ducked into one of the massive craters that dotted the landscape, and set down among a tumble of boulders beside a small spring. Hinata and Sakura followed him down, switching to stealth mode as they landed. In a few seconds there was no visible sign of the team's presence, and only the most skilled hunter nin could have detected them at any distance.

"Alright team, we'll have to go sneaky from here on in," Naruto declared. "We don't have any idea who we're up against or why they didn't just kill the priestess as soon as they got her, so we can't afford to be spotted until we find her."

"Right," Sakura agreed. "We don't want them to panic and kill her before we can pull off a rescue. How are we going to do this, anyway? Did our source know where they're holding her?"

"Not a clue," Naruto grimaced. "Well, somewhere in central Demon Country, but that doesn't narrow it down much. I've got a summon that says he can tell what direction she's in, but he's not exactly subtle. I figure I'll call him up here and take a bearing, then we find another hiding spot twenty or thirty miles west of here and do it again. Triangulating from that should get us within a few miles of the right spot. Hinata, I'm counting on you to take it from there."

"No problem," the Hyuuga girl answered. "But, um, I've never heard of a summon that could point out a particular person from so far away. What kind of sense could do that?"

Naruto suddenly looked nervous. "Um, fuzz-butt says he's got the scent of her soul, whatever that means. I don't really get it, but he's probably telling the truth. Anyway, don't freak out, okay? This is just a summon form, so I can dismiss him whenever I want."

He started a series of seals, and Sakura's eyes suddenly went wide in alarm. "Wait, are you saying you've got a summoning contract with-"

"Summoning Technique: Little Red Furball!" Naruto slapped one hand against the ground as he completed the technique, and a puff of smoke momentarily obscured the area. It blew away to reveal a fox the size of a large dog, with burning eyes and nine tails made of flame.

"-the Kyuubi!" Sakura gasped, automatically shifting her suit to combat mode as she fell back into a defensive stance.

Hinata activated her Byakugan, but otherwise failed to react. The demon fox ignored them both in favor of taking a look around and sniffing the breeze.

"My god, Naruto, have you lost your mind?!" Sakura shrieked. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

The fox turned to look at her, and she nervously took another step back.

"Hey, brat, I think the loud one's about to piss itself," the demon observed with a chuckle. "Wait, it has pink fur. Don't tell me that's the female you've been sniffing after all this time?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Will you just get on with it? Don't worry, Sakura, we've got a deal. Not that he's got enough chakra free to do much anyway."

Sakura gaped at him. "Naruto, it has more chakra than most jounin! God only knows what it can do if it gets a chance, and you can't possibly mean you trust a demon to keep its word-"

The Kyuubi snarled at her, unleashing wave of killing intent so strong she nearly fainted. "Cease your ignorant yapping, monkey! No demon has broken a bargain since before your kind discovered language. You humans are the ones who make an art of faithlessness."

"Sakura, stop it." Naruto interrupted her indignant reply. "I know what I'm doing. Besides, if you're that worried the last thing you should be doing is pissing him off."

"Indeed." The Kyuubi huffed, and turned its attention to the north. After a moment it pointed. "The holy chakra is that way. At least fifty miles, but probably less than a hundred."

"Ok, got it," Naruto nodded as he pulled out a map and carefully marked the direction. "I'll call you again in about a half hour for a second reading."

"Very well. But I warn you, if that screeching monkey insults me again I'm going to eat its soul. And as for the other one…" The Kyuubi stopped, and cocked his head curiously as he paused to examine Hinata. He sniffed the air, and his eyes narrowed.

"Why is there no stink of fear about you?" He asked menacingly. "Do you think you can stand against the devourer of gods?"

"Of course not," Hinata replied quietly. "But I trust Naruto."

The fox blinked, and settled back on its haunches. After a moment it gave a sharp bark of laughter. "You didn't tell me you had a worshipper, brat. What's it's name?"

"Her name is Hinata," Naruto answered. "And she's not my worshipper, she's my teammate."

"Tell it to someone who can't smell faith, brat. Oh, and she's from that line with the dragon eyes, too." The fox chuckled again, and shook its head. "Well, you'll learn. Now send me back before the monkey decides to start throwing crap at me or something."

Sakura fumed all the way to the second stop.

"I can't believe you're letting that monster out like that," she ranted. "Does the Hokage know about this? Because I can't believe Tsunade-sensei would authorize something so dangerous. You do realize that thing will kill us all if it gets half a chance!"

"So would any of our opponents, Sakura," Naruto replied evenly.

"Our opponents can't level a city with one attack!" She hissed.

"Want to bet? It isn't that hard to do if you've got enough chakra. Look, just give it a rest, will you? I can handle fuzz-butt."

"Oh, really? If you've got it so under control, why did you let it insult me like that? It called me a monkey! Do I look anything like a monkey? Hmpf! Fling pooh indeed…"

"Perhaps Danzo is right, that peace is making Konoha soft," Hinata murmured.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded hotly.

"An article nine in the middle of an S-rank mission to save the world, Sakura?" The other girl replied.

Sakura flushed. Article nine of the Konoha charter dealt with disciple among ninja on field missions. It was one of those draconian regulations left over from the village's more authoritarian past, and pretty much required perfect respect and instant obedience at all times. In the old days you could be executed on the spot for questioning an order, let alone actually criticizing the superior who gave it. No one took it quite that seriously these days, of course, but maybe an extended rant while they were supposed to be sneaking around was a little over the top.

"Whatever," Sakura shot back. "Fine, I'll wait until we get back. But Tsunade-sensei's going to have a fit when she hears about this one."

Finally they found a concealed hollow at the base of a cratered bluff, and Naruto prepared to repeat the summoning. "Sakura, just don't say anything to him, ok? Now that he's warned me he really will attack you if you say anything he takes as an insult, and I might need to use him like this again."

"Fine," she grumbled. "Take the demon's side over your teammate, see if I care. I'm going to keep watch from up there." She waved vaguely at the top of the bluff, and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto shook his head with a sigh. "Why does everything have to be so hard with her? Oh, well. Let's get this done."

-oOoOo-

The sun was just beginning to set as Team Orange settled onto a rooftop overlooking the palace where the daimyo of Demon Country resided. The city streets below were still filled with traffic, producing more than enough background noise to mask a quiet conversation.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this," Naruto commented as he eyed the fortified complex. The daimyo's palace was a cluster of large stone buildings surrounded by several acres of perfectly manicured lawn. The wall separating the grounds from the surrounding city was only twelve feet high, barely enough to be considered an obstacle, but the prospect of crossing the wide expanse of open ground in broad daylight wasn't terribly appealing. The sentry towers and roving patrols with guard dogs would be hard enough to slip past, and there were bound to be some local ninja around as well.

"Any chance they're just hiding her in the city?" He asked hopefully.

"It's possible," Hinata admitted. "It would take a few hours to search every nook and cranny. But holy chakra should stand out like a beacon, and this is the only complex in the area with shielding. Either she's in there, or they've got a seal master hiding her."

"Hmm. I guess it might be an inside job," he mused. "But searching in there without getting caught is going to be a pain."

"There's an awful lot of activity," Sakura pointed out. "And some of those guards are wearing the temple's colors. They obviously know she's been kidnapped. If we can find their leader I bet he could help us narrow down where to look."

"Unless he's in on it," Hinata pointed out.

Sakura shrugged. "If he is, that gives us someone to question. It's not like we're going to let some ordinary soldier sound an alarm."

Naruto frowned. "Hinata, can you check the palace from out here?"

The Hyuuga looked away. "Not really. Their wards aren't very tight, but there are a lot of them. I'd need to get inside the building, and even then I won't be able to see through more than two or three walls at a time."

"Which is why we need local help," Sakura insisted. "There's no way we'd get away with searching the whole place ourselves like that. Their ninja might not be first-string, but they can't be that inept."

"If we had more time I think we could pull it off," Naruto claimed. "But you're right, it would take too long to do anything that sneaky. Ok, here's the plan. Hinata, go ahead and start checking the city just in case. She'll probably turn out to be in the palace, but I'd feel really stupid if we just assumed that and she turned out to be hidden in a basement somewhere. Sakura, while she's doing that I want you to work out a disguise and infiltrate the palace. I'll send a clone in with you so we can keep in touch."

"Where are you going to be?" The pinkette asked suspiciously. Naruto nonchalantly pointed at the sky.

"I want to scout around a bit, and see what other forces are lurking around the city," he explained. "If I go bird no one will notice, and I can drop in pretty quick if you need me. Hinata, meet me back here when you finish your search. If Sakura can find a good contact we'll link up with her and see what they can tell us."

-oOoOo-

Hours later, a weary Hinata was nearly back to the rendezvous point when a sudden explosion split the night. She frowned minutely, and increased her pace.

"Tanuki, what the hell, over?" Came Naruto's voice on the headset radios they all wore.

"Ambush!" Sakura answered. "The blast got your clone. Don't worry, I'm... crash… thud… puppet users… crunch… help!"

"Crap. Ghost, where are you?"

She gathered her chakra and leaped, flaring her suit's flight system for an instant to get a bit of extra distance, and settled to the rooftop next to Naruto as softly as falling snow. "Here," she whispered unnecessarily.

"Great. Follow me." Naruto slipped into stealth mode as he jumped the perimeter wall and started across the palace grounds, moving as quickly as he could without making himself blindingly obvious. The blending effect of their cloaks helped, but fast motion tended to ruin it and there wasn't a speck of cover. "I guess letting her go in ahead of us wasn't such a great idea. Damn it," he muttered, "what part of 'we need to do this quietly' was so hard to understand?"

He caught a "…not my fault!" over the radio, amid shrieks of tortured metal and what sounded like someone being thrown through a window. Then there was another explosion, and a column of smoke began to rise from one of the larger buildings of the complex.

"Riiight. And you call Oni violent. Next time someone needs to do the diplomatic thing I'm sending Ghost."

Somehow Hinata suppressed the urge to do a victory dance right there on the lawn, but it wasn't easy. Fortunately the mask hid her smirk.

Another series of thumps and crashes came over the radio. "No, really, it's not my fault!" Sakura insisted plaintively. "They thought she was still here, and we were coming to kidnap her. Only what they thought was the priestess was some kind of stupid puppet under a genjutsu..."

"…which Ghost would have spotted right off, and aren't you supposed to be some kind of genjutsu genius?" Naruto teased. "Don't worry, we're almost… ah, crap!"

A small horde of palace guards came boiling out of the side door he'd been aiming for, their long spears filling the narrow opening with a hedge of pointy metal. A moment later crossbow bolts began hissing out of the upper windows to pepper the lawn in their general vicinity. Apparently someone in there was good enough to see through their camouflage, at least when they were running across an open field. He could blast a path through their defenses easily enough, of course, but he really didn't want to have to kill a whole platoon of guardsmen.

"Ghost?" He began.

"I've got it," she replied. Alright, Hinata, she thought to herself. Here's your chance to show Naruto he can rely on you. Don't blow it.

"Intruders!" Shouted a guard. "Halt in the name of the daimyo!"

Hinata slipped between the bristling spear-points of the guards' hedgehog defense with casual ease. An instant later she was among them, flowing effortlessly through their ranks as her hands flashed out to send hair-thin spikes of chakra lancing through armor and into the vital points beneath. In seconds the floor was choked with unconscious guardsmen, and she spun to a stop before a heavy iron-bound door that apparently led deeper into the palace.

"Nice moves, Ghost!" Naruto commented approvingly as he joined her. He smashed the door with a Rasengan, just for old times' sake.

"T-t-thank you," she stuttered in reply, thankful that he couldn't see the blush she could feel heating her face. This mask really is proving useful, she thought.

Another explosion shook the palace. "A little help here would be nice, lovebirds!" Sakura complained. "Jeez, how many puppets do these guys have? That makes thirty so far, along with a genin squad and a couple dozen soldiers. Uh oh, this guy's wearing an Akatsuki robe."

Naruto frowned worriedly. "Damn, it is a trap. Stay alive, Tanuki. We're inbound from the south, be there in under a minute."

"What about the priestess?" Hinata asked.

"Can you see her?" He shot back.

"Not yet," she admitted. "This place has deep dungeons."

"Damn. You're right, we can't take a chance on them killing her while I'm busy. Time to reveal another trick, I guess."

He slid to a stop while biting his thumb, and slammed his suddenly blood-smeared hand against the floor. "Summoning Technique: Little Red Furball!"

The mini-Kyuubi looked around and snickered. "Now this looks like fun."

"I'm sure. I need you to help 'Ghost' here find the priestess, preferably without killing too many people."

"Spoilsport," the fox complained. "Alright, but I won't take orders from her."

"That's fine, I'm sending a clone team with you. You want your usual, Ghost?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, for this I'd like a type two close combat team, please."

"You got it." The blonde jinchuuriki formed a single seal, and a trio of identical kunoichi clones appeared around them. "There, now hurry. Get the target and get out of here. Kyuubi, if they get clear of the palace while we're still fighting this Akatsuki guy you're welcome to come help us kill him."

The fox chuckled. "We'd better hurry, then. Come along, girl."

-oOoOo-

A few hundred miles to the northeast another battle was playing out. Most of the village where Hidan and Kakuzu had set their ambush was already a smoking ruin, and the rest wasn't going to last much longer. Not that the villagers would care, since they'd apparently been turned into some kind of weird thread-infested zombie horde at some point during Kakuzu's preparations. Naruto was pretty sure Yugito's first hint of danger was when one of her teammates got possessed and turned on them.

Not that he could get close enough to see details. Between the monstrous killing intent rolling off Yugito's Nibi form and those huge elemental attacks Kakuzu kept throwing around there wasn't a living thing for miles that wasn't hiding in its burrow or fleeing in terror. As long as he had to stay covert the best he could do was hide in the rocks on one of the steep hills overlooking the area and watch the pretty fireworks.

But it sure looked like the giant cat-monster was slowing down, and the other two were still going strong.

-oOoOo-

Without Hinata's eyes Naruto was a little concerned about his ability to find Sakura in time, but he needn't have worried. Not a minute after they separated he came around a corner only to see her blown through a stone wall right in front of him. She bounced off the opposite wall of the corridor and tumbled back to her feet as a multi-ton metal monstrosity covered with spikes and blades clambered through the hole after her. She ducked the sweep of a massive blade, wove through a barrage of flying spikes and planted a punch in its midsection that sent it flying back through the hole in a shower of broken parts.

"It's about time you got here," she panted. "I was running out of chakra. Watch out for poison gas. This guy's got hundreds of puppets stuffed with dirty tricks, and I can't figure out where he's controlling them from. I thought I had him a minute ago but it was just another puppet."

"Got it. Don't worry, I'll find him." Naruto called up a squad of wind clones and sent them into the dining hall on the other side of the hole to search.

An instant later the clones were engulfed in a fireball.

"Oh, yeah, and he's got seal traps everywhere," Sakura added.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for the warning. Good thing I'm using the expensive clones."

The smoke cleared to reveal that all four clones had survived, since their chakra armor worked just as well as the original's. They closed with the small crowd of puppets at the far end of the hall and began merrily tearing them to bits with Rasengan strikes and wind blades.

"Stay here and recover while I smoke this guy out," Naruto advised as he called up a squad of assistants for his teammate. "Once I pin him down you can help take him out if you want."

"Such casual arrogance," said a grating voice that seemed to come from all around them. "I am Sasori of the Red Sand, whelp, and I was a kage-level ninja when you were still flunking out of the academy. Do you really think you can walk into a trap I've been building for weeks and come out alive?"

Naruto chuckled. "I think I can make clones a lot easier than you can make puppets, and what makes you think I'm even here? Besides, I'm not going to lose to some dork who plays with dolls."

The violence escalated rapidly after that.

-oOoOo-

In a cave near Suna that hadn't existed a week earlier, Deidara started awake with a snort. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned, then cocked his head as if listening to an unseen voice.

"They took the bait already?" He said with a nasty smirk. "Okay, I'm moving. Just keep them busy for a while, yeah?"

He paused to stretch at the tiny cave's entrance, then stepped outside with another yawn. "How inconsiderate of them, attacking while I was asleep," he muttered to himself. "Well, let's see how the orange wonder handles two battles at once."

He'd added a new piece of gear to his attire in recent weeks – a bandoleer stuffed with dozens of small storage scrolls. Now he extracted one and activated it with a single practiced motion, releasing its contents in a puff of smoke. An instant later a forty-foot dragon made of explosive clay sat on the sands before him, with a clone of himself mounted on its back.

"You're the obvious attack," he called to his clone. "We start in ten minutes. Get moving."

The fake ninja nodded, and the dragon leaped into the air with a thunderous growl. A moment later it was winging its way towards Suna. Deidara watched it go, and was almost tempted to take the next slot personally.

Then he reminded himself what he was facing. "Only an idiot fights a wind master in the air, yeah?"

A second clone was sent after the first, this one riding a clay bird. Much less conspicuous than the dragon, it would hang back at high altitude until it found a good opening. Then came the burrowers, and the insect swarms, and the explosive fog. Oh, things were going to get hot in Suna tonight.

Finally all the pieces were in motion, and he began to make his own way towards the ninja village on foot.

"It's a good piece," he told himself as he walked. "A little more complicated than my usual taste, but that couldn't be helped, yeah? As long as it ends with a big enough bang, it'll still be a work of art worthy of my name."

He contemplated the contents of the scrolls he still carried, and chuckled. "Yeah, I think the bang will be big enough."

-oOoOo-

The puppet-man had been strapping Shion to an operating table for real when the first explosion shook the palace. The creature paused with an air of annoyance, then shrugged and carefully finished securing her.

"It looks like your conversion will have to wait a bit, girl," it growled as it finished. "Our visitors are here early." It paused to glance at the knives carefully laid out on a tray by the table, and shook its head. "I'm tempted to kill you now, but what if your power really is the only thing that can seal Moryo again? No sense taking chances."

It checked her bonds again and left.

She lay on the cold metal table for what seemed like hours, alone and naked under the bright operating lights. Occasionally there was another explosion, and twice large groups of men rushed by somewhere beyond the door. At first she struggled to free herself, but it quickly became apparent that the heavy leather straps enclosing her wrists, ankles and throat were too tight to escape and too strong to break. She couldn't even cry out, thanks to the rather foul-tasting gag in her mouth.

Has that jinchuuriki come for me? She wondered to herself. Or is it Moryo's servants, come to kill me? Will they win, or will that thing come back and finish the job? She shivered. Please, not that. Anything but that.

There was a shout from outside, followed by a roar and the crash of steel on steel. She stared at the door. Were those wisps of mist curling under the slab of riveted steel, or was it smoke?

The sounds died away almost as quickly as they'd begun, and for a moment all she could hear was the pounding of her own heart. Then there was a metallic click, and the door swung open.

"Hey, I didn't know you could pick locks like that, Ghost," came a cheerful female voice from the corridor beyond.

"It's easy when you can see the pins," came a soft response. "We're here. Guard the door while I check the target, please."

Target? Shion's stomach lurched as a barely-visible figure glided into the room. Its colors shifted as it moved to blend into the sterile surroundings, but it looked like… a masked ninja, wearing a cloak? She hoped it was a mask, and not another puppet.

The intruder stopped beside the table and studied her for a second. Then the cloak turned black, with a fringe of orange flame, and slender hands emerged to work at the fastenings of her restraints.

"She isn't dressed, so don't come in. I'll have her free in a moment, and she can borrow some of my clothes."

It was the same soft voice as before, and the buxom girl under the cloak was definitely no puppet. Shion spotted the Konoha forehead protector, and sighed in relief. They must be rescuers.

Then the vision struck.

They stood on a dirt road in some nameless village, confronting a stern-faced old man with the pale eyes of the Hyuuga. Around them the villagers exchanged nervous glances and backed away, trying as best they could to avoid attracting attention.

"Hinata Hyuuga, you are hereby recalled from active duty. You will immediately return with me to Konoha, where you will relinquish your forehead protector and other equipment to the clan and submit yourself to the judgment of the clan head."

"We are already returning to Konoha," the kunoichi replied softly. "But I must escort High Priestess Shion to the Hokage personally before I may return home, Kanzai-san. Also, the armor I wear is the property of the government of Snow Country, and may not be surrendered to any other party."

Shion started, and looked at the girl in surprise. She'd met the Snow Queen herself on two occasions, but she'd had no idea Yuki was involved with this strange little band of elite ninja.

Kanzai frowned minutely. "I did not ask your opinion, Hinata. Need I remind you that you are now a branch house member?"

Hinata stepped smoothly between Shion and the older man, and this time her reply was firmer. "Team Orange takes orders from the Hokage personally-"

"You are a Hyuuga first, Hinata," the older man interrupted. "You will cease this unseemly display and obey my instructions at once, or you will be declared a rebel against the clan and dealt with accordingly."

"You will do as you must, Kanzai-san," Hinata replied coolly. "As will I. Now stand aside. I will return to face father's judgment when the Hokage gives me leave to do so, but for now I have a mission to complete."

"You think you can put this off?" Kanzai sniffed. "No, girl, your father has already authorized me to take all necessary steps. You are a rebel and a disgrace to the clan, and we are well rid of you."

Hinata froze in shock as the man formed a curious seal with one hand. Then her head exploded.

Shion gasped, and clutched at her head with her newly-freed hands as her thoughts swirled in confusion. She saw visions of death with depressing regularity, but she'd never become used to it. It was bad enough seeing her own men die protecting her from assassins, but this was worse. At least their deaths meant something.

"Are you all right?" The kunoichi asked gently. "I don't see any injuries. Did they drug you?"

"No, I…" She hesitated, unwilling to spill too many of her secrets so suddenly. "It can wait. Give me something to wear, and let us leave this awful place."