Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, InFamous, or Fringe...in this universe, anyway...

**starts plotting ways to cross over and impersonate counterpart**

Chapter 13: Departure

It didn't take long for the villagers of Wave to find out that Gato had met a violent fate at the hands of the Konoha Shinobi, but didn't celebrate right away due to a somewhat decent size of ronin still patrolling the village. Strangely enough, the ronin didn't learn of this until it was too late – which was the next day.

Team 7 immediately launched operation "clean sweep", which involved simultaneous attacks on all of the crooked ronin across the village, thanks to Naruto's shadow clones, Sakura's knowledge of their locations and village layout, and Ino's coordination of the operation. Simply put, the ronins never had any real chance of victory. Kakashi oversaw the operation, but he never had to step in at any point. As far as he was concerned, his students have been ready for the chunin exams and this mission more than proved it. He knew some solid chunin that didn't execute operations this well.

The copycat nin wasn't the only one who thought this way, either. Zabuza was highly impressed with team 7 and commented that they would've made very good Mist shinobi. He even wondered why Konoha didn't just secretly promote them to chunin like Kiri did on occasion when talent like this showed up. When Kakashi brought up the chunin exams, Zabuza lightly scoffed and said that the exams where for teams that had potential, but hadn't been thoroughly tested. Even though Kiri regularly sent their genin on C and B ranked missions, no village knowingly sent a genin team on an A-rank or higher. The few times it does happen, the genin teams weren't anywhere near being ready and the mission usually ended in failure, either due to not being able to fulfill the mission objective or the entire team was wiped out.

The twins were also quite impressed with the young genin team and noted that Iwa didn't have any genin team on this level. In fact, had they'd been Iwa nin during Onoki's reign, it was likely that they would've been promoted to jonin in less than a year. That said, they were also thankful that they weren't Iwa nin since it was also likely that they would have been forced into the CORE program under threat of death to their family and friends under the current Tsuchikage.

Team 11, minus Kiba, wasn't very happy with how things had turned out. While their orders consisted of guarding Tazuna during team 7's assault on Gato's base and the village-wide clean up operation, they saw it as babysitting a civilian family, nothing more.

The Tsuchi Twins told the team that in order for them to remain hidden from their village until they could 'remove all of the weeds', they requested that they be listed as casualties. Under most circumstances, a jonin would likely not agree to this, but because Naruto now had vast knowledge of what went on in Iwa, as well as the identity of the current tsuchikage, Kakashi not only agreed to this, but also instructed Naruto to pass on what he knows to the Tsuchi twins so that they could put together a plan to help find their grandfather and eventually take back their village from a dangerous and cruel tyrant. In return, the twins promised that when they succeeded, they would immediately send an envoy to offer not only a peace treaty, but an alliance as well. The twins left early, but not before saying 'goodbye' to the Tazuna and his family, as well as their new allies.

Two days later, Teams 7 and 11, along with Team Zabuza, were ready to leave for Konoha. Nearly the entire village was present to see off their new heroes. While team 7 plus Kiba and team Zabuza waved their goodbyes, team 11 remained mostly emotionless. To them, it was nothing more than a job. Once the ninjas left, one of the villagers asked what they were going to name the bridge. After hearing about what a certain blond shinobi had done to save their village, Tazuna pretty much had an idea of what he was going to name the bridge that would be the village's biggest landmark for many centuries to come.

- KRF -

Tsuchikage Tower, Iwagakure

Genba walked slowly down the hallway towards the office of his Tsuchikage, a visit he was not looking forward to. While you would think that getting reprimanded by your leader wasn't the end of the world, the Tsuchikage wasn't like most leaders.

Of the people who get called into his office, half of them are arrested and taken to "The Facility". The Facility was suppose to be a rehabilitation center for ninja who break the laws of the village and are sent there to learn their lesson. However, ever since the current Tsuchikage took power, it was turned into a torture camp. Nowadays, The Facility held innocent people who are related to shinobi or kunoichi who fail their missions or betray the village.

To insure that the prisoners don't escape or revolt, CORE ninja are its guards. The current warden himself is the lieutenant-commander of CORE, Aizen Ryokuski. That name sent shivers down his spine. The man was an absolute terror, his cruelty towards civilians in the village being common knowledge. He was know to randomly beat civilians bad enough to send them to the ER when he was in a particularly foul mood. Even children weren't exempt from his attacks. Genba remembered one incident when Aizen had ordered a chunin to kill a child for accidentally hitting his leg with a football. When the chunin refused, Aizen killed the child himself – and then ordered a CORE operative to arrest the chunin for insubordination. When a few civilians complained about the incident, they were also arrested and sent to The Facility.

He hoped to Kami that he wasn't going to the Facility. Even though there are a lot of innocent people locked away in that awful place, the Tsuchikage saw no reason to separate them from actual harden criminals. In fact, Genba suspected that some of these criminals were promised reduced sentences if they regularly tortured the non-violent population.

As Genba walked further down the hall, he noticed that he was getting looks of pity from ninja and civilians alike.

This wasn't good.

Something really bad must have happened on an important mission – and it put the Tsuchikage in a really bad mood. It didn't matter that he had done nothing wrong. The Tsuchikage was known to kill the messenger, so to speak. It didn't help that a few of the people were whispering as he walked by.

When he finally got to the huge double doors that lead to the Tsuchikage's office, he hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. Just as he was about to knock...

"Enter." came a calm, but cold voice.

Genba swallowed hard and did as the voice commanded, pushing open the doors of the office and walked inside. Sitting at a large granite desk was the Tsuchikage himself. While most of his features were covered by his Kage hat, Genba could still see a little of his lower face.

"Genba..." the kage beckoned. The Iwa chunin unconsciously stepped forward, too scared to hesitate too much.

"I'm assuming that you have some news for me regarding the mission in Wave..." the kage spoke.

"Y-yes, Tsuchikage-sama..." Genba stuttered out.

"...well?" the leader of Iwa replied in a cool tone. "I don't have all day, chunin. State your report...or I'll find someone else to inform me of the situation."

Genba gulped. In a normal work place, that was usually your boss threatening to fire you and replace you with someone better. However, this wasn't a normal work place. This was a ninja village – one ruled by a cruel and ruthless leader. Getting fired was the least of your worries.

"...There has been a complication, Milord."

"What kind of complication, Genba?"

"...It has been reported that Ishigaki is missing, sir." Genba reported. That got the Tsuchikage's attention. After a few seconds of silence, the Tsuchikage responded.

"Hmm...I see. So the twins have finally betrayed me. Oh well – I was planning to kill them anyway. This just gives me a better excuse to behead them. I want CORE agents sent out after them immediately. Tell them to retrieve their swords if possible." the kage ordered. When Genba wouldn't immediately move, he was about to threaten the chunin when said chunin spoke again.

"I...don't believe that is necessary, my lord."

This caused the Iwa leader to lazily raise an eyebrow at that statement. "And why not?"

"My lord...we have retrieved some DNA from 2 large pools of blood found in the ruined mansion that belong to Gato. The the DNA from the two blood pools match that of Kurotsuchi and Kamatsuchi. We also retrieved their swords...unfortunately, they've been destroyed beyond repair."

The room went dead quiet for several minutes. While the Tsuchikage hadn't moved, Genba was starting to sweat bullets. When the kage was this quiet, it usually meant one thing: he was pissed. After several minutes, the leader finally spoke, but his tone was anything but pleasant.

"Let me see that report." He ordered coldly. Genba slowly walked towards the desk and put the scroll he had in his hand carefully on the kage's desk. He was unaware of a small white spider that crawled up his arm and into a pocket on his chunin vest. After that, the Iwa leader pointed towards a corner with a golem statue and ordered the chunin to wait until he was finished reading the report. The chunin did as he commanded and went over to the large stone statue. The room had 4 golem statues in each corner.

'Kami, these things are creepy...' Genba mentally shivered. The Tsuchikage was a bit of an art fanatic, but these things could hardly be considered art. They looked more like something from those Dracula movies he saw as a genin.

As the Tsuchikage continued to read the scroll, Genba noticed that his facial expression didn't change much...but when it did, it never changed to a smile or even a smirk. It was a look that was boarder-line rage. After reading the scroll, the kage slowly put the scroll down.

"Genba..." he spoke in a freezing tone. The chunin froze in fear. He could sense some KI seeping out of his leader. "... you failed to mention anything about Zabuza Momochi being hired by Gato in an earlier report."

"P-please forgive me, my lord. I-I didn't think it was imp-" Genba tried to explain, but was cut off.

"Shut up." the Tsuchikage responded in an icy tone. "Because of your failure to report this, I lost one my best ninja as well as two decent tools."

Genba started shaking uncontrollably in fear. He knew that there was no way for him to find out that information seeing as Gato was so paranoid that he kept certain hires off records. Zabuza Momochi was just one of those cases, yet his leader blamed him anyway for the death of Iwa's Stone Wall of Silence, as well as the death of the previous Tsuchikage's granddaughters. He then did the only thing that he could think of that could get him out of this mess.

He begged for his freedom.

"P-please understand that even with our surveillance of Gato, he kept a lot of his hires off record. Also, at the time of the report, Zabuza Momochi hadn't been hired. P-please...don't send me to The Facility! I promise you...this won't happen again!"

The Tsuchikage didn't say anything for several minutes, making Genba freak out even more. He wasn't a particularly brave person, but he knew that if he was sent to The Facility, the rest of his family would also be rounded up and sent with him. If anyone resisted, they were killed on the spot. He feared for his life, but he feared for the lives of his family even more.

"Relax, Genba...I'm not sending you to The Facility." the Tsuchikage spoke in a calmer tone. Genba breathed a sigh of relief at that news. He would be a free man for another day.

Then it went to hell.

The golem standing next to the chunin suddenly came to life and grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side. The giant golem then proceeded to walk towards the large open window that was several feet behind the Tsuchikage's desk. Before he could ask what was going on, he heard the Tsuchikage speak.

"I think the people of Iwa need to be reminded once more of its art."

Genba's eye's widen in absolute terror upon realizing what was going to happen to him. "NO! KAMI NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! PLEEEEEEASE!", he screamed. However, it did no good as the the kage made a motion to the golem, which then threw him out the window, high into the sky. His screams could be heard for blocks.

Just as the chunin's accent began to slow, the Tsuchikage formed a one-handed tiger seal. A half second later, a large explosion appeared where the chunin used to be. The Tsuchikage's lips formed a small smirk. The explosion could be seen for miles.

"Art...is an explosion."

End Chapter

It has been awhile, hasn't it? Having to go to the ER for Hypertension (my blood pressure was 230/110 – yikes, I know) can cause you to put a lot of things in life on hold. Turns out high blood pressure runs on my mom's side of the family. Granted, I'm no longer in immediate danger, the doctors are still trying to find out which meds will work with my body best without messing with my kidneys or any other organ.

All that said, I've been told to find something that will help keep my blood pressure low (besides the meds, of course). Hopefully, getting back to writing some chapters will help some.

Sorry if the Chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but I just wanted to get this one out to let people know that I'm still doing the fic. While I can't promise you when the next chapter will be up, I can say that this fic will go on as planned – one way or another.