NEW DAWN

Sword in Hand

For the Sake of A Familiar Voice

~ Forenote ~

Sorry for the AN Update last time. And also for the hiatus. I know this chapter is a little short, and lower quality than usual, but I have barely had three hours each week to work on any of them, and I had to re-write all of them nearly from scratch.

His focus was drawn downwards as she stretched her arms and back. A soft mewl escaped her lips as her back arched. When she had extended herself as far as she could, she relaxed, letting her arms fall back to the bed, the Kunoichi opened her eyes and zeroed in on his stare.

He didn't avert his eyes as he would have the day before… There was little point to being shy now. As he held her gaze her smile turned into a savage grin. "Enjoying the view?"

"It is quite pleasing to look at." His admission seemed to satisfy her as she threw herself back into the bedding with a giggle, squeezing a pillow to her chest.

"So how do you think the gaki's mission is going?" Her words immediately cut through his mood. His mind was pulled towards his elder student's training.

"I'm certain the wait was worth it. They may not be there as soon as the man had hoped, but I am glad the Hokage agreed he should master those three before they left." It was his own insistence that they wait until Naruto had successfully finished the three wind jutsu he received from the Uchiha heir that swayed the Hokage to put the man up in a hotel for the week he had waited.

His mission seemed to hold some combat potential, however the Sandaime had other reservations about it. Though the old shinobi kept them to himself, Ebisu clearly recognised the suspicion in his browline.

Anko gave a contented yawn and replied. "It wasn't that odd for them to be requested, from the description of the mission it sounds perfect for them."

Her voice held a note of reassurance as if she knew what he was considering. "Besides, Kashi-kun is with them and I seriously doubt a village like the island of Wave would have anyone that guy couldn't handle."

"Yes, you're right. But I can't help but worry. And I'm sure I'll be just as worried when Konohamaru-chan goes on his first real C-rank mission… Much less his first B-rank."

Sitting up, Ebisu turned out of the covers and set his feet on the hotel floor. "I suppose I should thank you."

"Yeah, but it's fine, I had fun too." She curled back into the blankets even farther.

"I meant for the bingo book… I haven't seen one that well made in years." Leaning back Ebisu thought fondly of the boy's reaction when he gave it to him. "He's grown so much in the last three months, you almost wouldn't recognize him in his mission outfit. Even his speech patterns have changed."

"Un, well he seems to be benefiting from it." The woman suppressed a mischievous giggle, only barely losing to the snort that resonated through the room.

Raising an eyebrow, Ebisu turned to look her in the eyes. "Do tell me what that is supposed to mean."

And so Anko launched into an explanation of her breakfast with the gaki after Ebisu had left, and how she noticed the yamanaka princess spying on them. Once she saw the girl she couldn't help but get a little carried away making the girl jealous. The kid's reactions almost made it worth it. But the girl rushed away in quite a hurry.

While Ebisu didn't approve, he didn't see any adverse effects in the time since, so it was easy to simply laugh at his student's expense.

0o0o0

The fact Naruto had emptied his stomach after killing the demon brothers didn't deter their theory.

Sakura easily rationalized how it was possible he had done it on purpose, or it was also possible that while his rank was higher, he had simply been in the academy that long and had actually never seen that level of bloodshed. The fact that they both clearly remembered him as a child seemed to point to the later.

A brief exchange of words between her and Sasuke confirmed their agreement. Turning back to the road, she thanked Sasuke for once again holding her hair. By the time she had finished sicking up, Naruto had recovered enough to set some more clones to the task of cleaning up the damaged road.

With the silent promise to discuss the bingo book and scroll details later, the two real genin separated and began helping the clones dispel any trace of the explosion.

Once they had finished clearing the road of any remains and filling in the crater, the three genin gathered around their sensei.

It looked like the masked jonin was pouting. At the same time Tazuna was cradling and rubbing one of his arms. A frightened look on his face.

"Since we have no actual evidence that those two were after our client…" he let that hang for a moment as he gave a pointed look at the man in question. "We should continue the mission. However, from this point onwards we are on high alert. Tazuna has admitted that it is possible they were hired to target him, however he claims the shipping magnate has only used civilian thugs up til now."

Tazuna shunk under the glares of Sasuke and Sakura as they re-evaluated his character. If either of them caught the look of relief Naruto tried to hide, they didn't share their usual look. Kakashi on the other hand, had seen Naruto relax his stance. It was obvious the boy would have argued the point that he had taken them down on his own and as such they weren't a big enough threat for the team to turn back now.

"If they were hired by Gatou, it is possible that will be the end of it, but it's more likely that they were working with someone else." His tone changed from the firm but calm voice he had been using since his conflict with Naruto, and became a hard and commanding whisper that unnerved all three of them.

"Chances are that if we continue this mission we will be facing a high caliber shinobi, and should that happen I want you three to focus solely on getting Tazuna out of the area. I will handle the enemy! Am I understood?"

He waited until all three of them had confirmed, before turning back to the client and jerking his head. "Lets go"

And so they began walking once more. Only two of Naruto's newly formed clones remained to carry the packs.

0o0o0

Gatou strode into the room he had provided for these so called shinobi demons.

His men had reported that Tazuna had made it to a waiting boat and was currently crossing the waters over to the island. The man had shinobi protecting him. As they had expected. And the best way to counter shinobi was with your own shinobi. And so he had payed quite a hefty fee to get the ones he had now.

And they had failed...

The door slamming open didn't even bother the murderous swordsman as he lounged on a couch eating from a tray held by his servant. The man took another bite shoving his whole hand over his mouth as he dropped the food inside.

When his hand lowered his mouth was entirely covered by bandages.

"You're little boys failed!" He accused loudly as he stormed into the center of the room. "My men reported not even a single scratch was on any of the shinobi protecting him. And worse, there was only one adult in the group! The other five were just a bunch of children! Brats fresh out of diapers dammit! I paid you a lot of money for his head, and your supposed chunin lost to one guy and five litt—"

"Five?" The shinobi cut him off with a tone of voice that sent shivers down his spine. The man's eyes still lingered on the food tray as if debating whether he wanted to eat more or not.

"Y-Yeah why?" He was able to get out as he felt his lungs clamp shut from fear.

"Konoha teams usually only have three genin." Without looking at him, the demon's voice had returned to a human tone but Gatou remained silent regardless. "The adult is likely going to be a jonin. A shinobi of my caliber and at least one or two of the five kids is going to be a chunin, the same caliber as the demon brothers. The jonin alone would have been able to handle them, so they would have taken him out first, but with at least one chunin there as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were defeated."

Standing from the couch, the rogue finally looked at him. "It would appear he managed to acquire a higher ranked mission than previously thought. I would guess he managed to acquire a b-ranked mission with the little money this island has left!"

Gato began babbling at the killing intent directed towards him. He swore he had no idea they could afford it and vowed to find out how, he also promised to have his contacts find out exactly who was hired. But the Shinobi towering above him simply picked up his sword and dismissed him with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't bother, I'll know who they are soon enough. I'm leaving now. Haku remember the plan."

0o0o0

Naruto had a bad feeling about what was going to happen here. They all sat on benches of a small boat as it crossed over the dark waters towards the island of wave.

As they passed through the eerie mist Naruto couldn't help but feel an unease settling over him. It was as if he had been on the boat before…. So yeah, something bad was about to happen.

He had first felt the unease when he saw the boat. He immediately thought it was the boat that had him on edge and suggested that they could simply water walk to the island. That ended up being a minor argument between him and their sensei.

Or rather, he had tried to argue and sensei had dismissed his arguments as he always had. Telling him that while the two of them might make the trip to the island, his teammates didn't have enough chakra to go even half way! Besides that, if they met hostile forces on the water or the other side they needed to be rested and ready. Exhausting themselves before a fight could get them killed! So Naruto had relented.

Now though, the unease was beginning to get to him and he had no choice but to summon his calm and focus for another session of memory retrieval.

It wasn't the boat, that didn't bring any more memories than passing under the bridge, which he had remembered when his clones first met Tazuna. So it must have been something else that made him nervous. Slowing his breathing as he began to meditate Naruto realized his breath misted in front of him, even in the dense fog it stood out.

The fog….

In his mind Naruto could see the mist thickening, becoming so dense he couldn't see his hands in front of him, then from out of the mist he saw a massive sword spinning like a shuriken heading directly for him. Before it struck the memory dissolved into a man standing on the water.

The man had bandages covering most of his face and his forehead protector angled off to one side of his head. The assassin's name was instantly in Naruto's mind.

Zabuza.

Demon of the bloody mist.

He could almost feel his sensei begging them to run, as the jonin was held in a ball of water at the swordsman's hand. Sasuke threw a fuma shuriken at him and yet, Naruto somehow knew he was the shuriken.

Then that face appeared once more.

A girl.

Long black hair, soft pink lips, and a gentle smile. She was far cuter than any other girl Naruto could remember. The pain in his chest that told him she would die returned with the memory of her sitting over him as he woke.

With a deep intake of breath, Naruto returned to the boat. One thought was in his mind.

Who was behind the mask? Who was it that had killed that girl?

He didn't know what it meant, but looking at his two clones, Naruto had an idea. He knew someone wearing a mask would be there. And while he wasn't certain how it would help, he felt that wearing his own mask would at least make things even.

Creating a new clone, startled his other boat mates, however he had been as careful as he could and so it didn't make much smoke or noise as it simply whooshed into existence. And at the same time had the clone henge into a mask of his own. To the others it would have looked like he had simply create the mask directly. Putting the mask on, he henged himself to change his hair color from blonde to red making it about twice as long as it usually was. And while none of the others could see it, he had also given his eyes the same red slit he saw his eyes having in the mirrors he remembered smashing.

Both his teammates were looking at him weird as he secured the mask of a fox over his face.

His sensei even raised his sole visible eyebrow. "Any particular reason for the choice in animal?"

"Not really, it's just that I don't think I've ever seen anyone in this mask before."

"Yeah, they usually only give that mask to loose canons that cause massive amounts of collateral damage." While his voice was cheery and nonchalant, inside Kakashi was livid.

Was it possible that the Hokage had even given him permission to wear the anbu mask? The boy had the bingo book and the scrolls already, and from Anko, and the Hokage's hidden messages Kakashi was quite certain bringing it up would only result in yet another warning to leave his student be.

It was as if the Hokage had only put Naruto on this team as a place holder. Clearly the old man had personally force fed information, training, and possibly even those jutsu through the shadow clone feedback. But how far was the village leader going to push the boundaries?

On the other hand, when he added that mask to his outfit, the black vest actually seemed to blend in so well, he could easily pass himself off as a hunter-nin if not a full on anbu. Kakashi himself had a little trouble not expecting the illusion to become real and have Naruto begin reporting to him as his subordinates did when he was an anbu captain.

Both of the other genin's eyes had opened comically wide as they gaped at the anbu-esque boy. His comment about the mask seemed to have struck some kind of cord between the two.

Sasuke easily recognized the appearance that Naruto had now gained. It was an intimidating look to be sure. With the red hair and outfit he looked nothing like he once had.

Sakura however was now convinced that the reason the village hadn't had a fox masked anbu since the Uchiha massacre, was because Naruto simply hadn't been wearing his mask. It was a capital offence to impersonate an anbu!

And why the red hair? Asking about it, Sakura brought an end to the stunned silence.

"Simple," Naruto explained. "This way no one realizes that I'm the one making those clones. If they see me they'll think that I'm a different person altogether."

It was actually a good idea. The two clones sitting in the rear of the boat still wore Naruto usual Orange getup. And with the real Naruto in his mock anbu uniform with red hair and a mask, they looked completely different.

Sharing another silent look, the two real genin, almost transmitted the same thoughts between each other. The reason they couldn't figure out his real identity, was that he's actually a redhead! Then Sakura realized that the Uzumaki clan were all read heads too! She had thought the name had been fake when she looked into his parents and couldn't find anything, but this meant he might actually be a real Uzumaki!

0o0o0

As they came ashore, Naruto put his hand on Tazuna with a warning clear in his grip. What ever was going to happen, would be happening soon.

Once the boat left, the group began its trek inland.

The engine wasn't even out of hearing range when the blade passed over them. Fortunately Naruto had already remembered the blade. Even before Kakashi gave a shout of warning, the real Naruto had pulled Tazuna to the ground.

When Naruto saw Zabuza standing on the handle of his blade which stuck out of a nearby tree, Naruto remembered clearly how the fight went the last time around. Sensei would be caught and he would free him. Then… So that was who wore the mask!

It seemed Zabuza had his own hunter-nin accomplice. Was that who would kill the girl Naruto kept remembering? It didn't matter. They would win this time. They were much stronger than before. And if he managed to bring down this masked enemy then he might even save the mystery girl.

As they stood, the mist thickened into a soup of chakra laced clouds. A voice called out with mild amusement, listing the various points he could strike. Sasuke could feel the killing intent, It was far worse than what Naruto had shown in the few times he felt the boy's wrath. It was almost too much to take, he couldn't breath!

Then one of Naruto's clones giggled!

"Oi freak-chan! You got no idea how badly you just screwed up!" The other one giggled from the Uchiha's other side.

They quickly grouped around Tazuna, Kakashi took point, Sasuke and a clone took left and Sakura and a clone took right, while the masked original Naruto took the rear.

In response to the clone's comment the listing stopped. And Zabuza spoke plainly. "It's no wonder the demon brothers failed. This team is quite a gathering. So tell me hunter-nin, was it you or the Jonin who killed them?

Naruto didn't speak because he didn't know if he would be recognized, instead his clone spoke. "Ha, as if kitsune-sama would need to fight against a pair of chunin when we're here. Those two didn't even make it out of their puddle before we barbecued them!"

The killing intent around them flared to a height even Naruto didn't remember.

Pulling his hitai-ate up, the jonin revealed his sharingan. This time Zabuza didn't come at them from inside as Naruto expected, instead he dropped in from above. Cutting down at Tazuna, who vanished in a burst of smoke.

The blade had sliced through the clone before any of them could react.

"What!?" Zabuza's surprise was clear. Even as kakashi and the fox impaled the water clone who had spoken.

"This mist that rose up as we approached was created with chakra," Sasuke coolly explained, "The sharingan can clearly see that. So we decided to leave him behind." In fact, that had been Naruto's plan. He suggested letting Tazuna stay on the boat and meet them farther up stream. This way they could be certain no one was going to attack.

What they could only assume was the real Zabuza appeared behind the fox masked boy, his blade swung across, stopping as it met a chakra coated hand.

"You caught my sword?"

The masked Naruto turned ever so slightly to look over his shoulder at the man, allowing his red slitted eyes to be seen as well. He focused all the killing intent he had.

Which as it turned out, was a lot more than it used to be. He could remember the tale of this guy killing all of his classmates. A bunch of children got slaughtered by him and he laughed about it as if it had been fun. This man was evil. And his accomplice was probably the one who murdered her. Naruto wouldn't let that happen again.

Sasuke put his kunai into the new assassin's clone's gut and both water clones burst.

Kakashi watched silently, as Sasuke calmed and realized he could tell which were clones and which was the real one.

"So, are you going to fight us, or are you gonna stay out on the water?" The Uchiha asked. His eyes bright red as his second stage sharingan flared. It wasn't fully evolved yet, but he didn't even have it last time. Naruto knew that made all the difference here.

Stepping in front of them all Kakashi reminded them of the order he gave them after they met the demon brothers. Their job was to stay back and make sure nothing threatened Tazuna, while he took care of the rogue jonin.

The two jonin fought head on in a series of barely visible combinations, their blades clashing as often as their fists, feet and other parts. Naruto was almost certain he'd seen Kakashi headbutt the guy's elbow when he pulled up for a downward slash.

With the rogue off balance, their sensei pressed him harder and eventually they both wound up in the water.

Then the water exploded around them both as a pair of water clones came at kakashi from below either side. They were dispatched almost thoughtlessly before the water that composed them latched onto the leaf-nin. He tried to move but this chakra laced water was too thick and heavy to be normal and soon he was ensnared in a water prison jutsu.

The moment sensei got caught in the ball of spiraling water, Naruto put that plan in motion. He remembered exactly how it happened last time. And while this time was slightly different and his aim was certainly better… he still needed Sasuke to pull it off. He had never even tried throwing two fuma shuriken at the same time.

Kakashi told them to run, If they gathered Tazuna and fled deeper inland, he could meet them at the end point. But Naruto stood defiantly. So Kakashi began telling them of Zabuza's history. A tale Naruto clearly remembered from last time.

The joy Zabuza expressed at the deaths of his classmates. Naruto couldn't forgive such an evil person. With his killing intent racing ever higher, the original Naruto laughed!

Since he didn't have any other voice practiced as well as he did for his sexy jutsu, He had to rely on that one. But it seemed the lusty voice of his female henge fit well with his outfit. His clones grinned menacingly when they heard it.

"Oh! He killed a bunch of kids? So what!" The feminine voice sang out "A few brats who weren't even genin yet couldn't have been that big a deal! He's just some eyebrowless freak no matter what his village calls him."

"Oh and you think you're something else?" Zabuza replied darkly.

"Our graduations are quite similar Buzee-chan." The assassin's eye visibly twitched at the name. And then narrowed at the implications of that statement.

"However… My examiners were well known Chunin." The lusty voice almost sounded carefree as he said it. Even the two jonin flinched as the thought of Mizuki's betrayal managed to boost the foxmasked boy's killing intent.

The pain he felt knowing the man had intended to kill him and Iruka welled in his gut. The feelings of betrayal compounded by his two separate memories of it. Adding to the intent he already felt towards this man.

On top of that, the clone that was henged as his mask also began to produce an equal killing intent. Both of them emanating from the same person seemed to mix and increase the intent even further.

While their combined killing intent wasn't enough to equal or even anywhere close to, that of the Jonin, when leveled at them with the cheerful voice of the sexy henge… the effect was enough to unnerve even Zabuza as the man took half a step back, ensuring his arm remained attached to the sphere of water.

The Mist-nin fully believed that this young anbu had slaughtered several chunin for his rank. It was clear the boy was at least as ruthless as he was.

Creating a water clone, Zabuza sent it to attack the brat in the anbu mask. It might not be enough to defeat him, but it should be enough to buy him time as he finished off the jonin.

The clone was almost to the redhead, when the blonde twin genin came in from the sides. Both of them were moving as fast as the demon brothers had ever been able to. The two of them managed to force the water clone to abandon his assault in order to remain intact.

Only for the jutsu to be finished off by the Uchiha. The water that formed the clone sprayed outwards as the Uchiha's kunai passed through it. The boy looked almost effortless and bored from the clash.

"Ha! Did you really think you could beat us with a simple clone!" One of the blondes retorted.

"You're not just facing kitsune-sama! You're facing team seven as well!" The other declared, pointing at his teammates, "The Uchiha princess and rookie of our year! Haruno Sakura, of the legendary perfect chakra control, and also us!"

The other continued where he left off, by creating a bunch of shadow clones, all of whom spoke at the same time, "We are the Autumn Leaf Army! The Genin who will become Hokage! Uzumaki Naruto! So put that name in your bingo book and remember it!"

Then pulling a massive fuma shuriken out of his pack the first one tossed it to the Uchiha, "Sasuke! Your aim is double mine!"

Sasuke got the idea immediately after catching the blade. With a quick spin the Uchiha was in the air launching the fuma shuriken towards the two jonin. As it neared, Zabuza simply reached out and plucked it from the air, it's momentum pulling his arm out to the side. That was when he saw the second blade that had been in the shadow of the first. He had little time to consider his options and simply jumped over the spinning blade allowing it to pass safely beneath him.

It was exactly as Naruto remembered it would be, and so the blade burst in a cloud of smoke behind the jonin. Transforming into another orange clone, who used his newly merged clone and henge combo to create a great oma shuriken, shaped like a regular throwing star, yet at least as large as the windmill blade had been.

He coated this blade with wind chakra just as Ebisu had instructed him, Yet by having his clone henged into the blade, also producing the wind chakra, it's raw power and range were both increased as the brightly colored genin launched the spinning blade at his sensei's captor.

The shuriken sped far faster than his kunai had last time and as Zabuza pulled his arm away, it's invisible reach of slicing winds passed through the man's forearm just below his elbow. The jonin gave a small shout of pain as his wrist and hand fell into the water.

And when the blade passing by him also exploded back into one of the orange brats, he flinched backwards swinging the fuma shuriken he'd caught at the boy. Too late, as that clone had already created a new clone behind the wounded swordsman and burst as the fuma shuriken passed through him. The new clone quickly snatched the massive sword off Zabuza's back and sent it flying towards the first clone still standing out on the water.

He caught it and wrapped a shadow clone henged as a paper tag around the handle and threw it up as high as he could. When it peaked it's drive skyward, the tag henged back into a clone and sent the blade to shore from far above the jonin's reach.

By this time Zabuza had dispatched the clone from behind him and shifted his eyes between Kakashi and the clone out on the water.

His bleeding arm curled into his chest as he raised the fuma blade towards Hatake. He was backed into a corner. Wounded and clearly out matched. Even uninjured, Kakashi of the sharingan would have been difficult to match, but with that Hunter-nin and the clear skill of those four genin, there would be little chance of victory without the jonin even stepping in.

There was no denying the fact that a simple genin with an extraordinary cloning skill had managed to take his hand and his blade in one combination strikes. He couldn't even attempt to retrieve the lost hand without inviting Kakashi to take him out.

The blood loss was already beginning to affect him.

As if sensing his thoughts the copy cat spoke. "It seems you have bean beaten by a mere genin."

"Yeah, I'll admit that was quite a trick." Zabuza spoke wearily, waiting for one of them to act. "Perhaps he should go ahead and be promoted here and now."

"I'm certainly considering it." The other jonin chuckled. Then he came. His kunai slammed into the Fuma shuriken just barely in time to be parried. They clashed several times before the rogue managed to make a break for the open waters. As he turned away to retreat, he sent the fuma blade back toward the pinkette, who had yet to move even once since her sensei had been captured. It passed easily by the other three genin, only to be intercepted by the many bunshin around coast, all of them throwing themselves in front of the blade, not even hindering its path. Then, just before the blade would reach the girl, the fox hunter brat stepped in line with it and simply plucked it from the air, much as he had.

That moment of Kakashi's distraction was enough for him to dive into the water to escape.

Unfortunately the copy ninja used a lightning jutsu which required him to leap from the water to avoid it. He was mid air when the senbon hit him. His body flew sideway parallel to the water as his momentum carried him forward until he crashed on the water's surface tumbling to a stop where he began to sink.

0o0o0

Sakura could only barely feel anything other than her heart pounding in her chest as she looked with startled gratitude at the masked redhead who held Sasuke's windmill shuriken only a meter or so from her chest.

Naruto had somehow caught the blade the same way the jonin had, except this time it had been thrown by said jonin! That was impossible!

She wasn't even sure it was real, she almost knew she had died, but for the boy standing in front of her clearly proving she hadn't.

Sasuke however had seen exactly how Naruto had done it. It didn't appear as if the clones had even slowed the blade as it passed through them, but they had. Each one forced chakra out one side of their bodies, resisting the spin of the blade as it cut through them all. By using them, not to stop it, but to slow it, Naruto had decreased its spin to the point that all he had to deal with was the forward momentum of the ring itself.

The sheer amount of chakra flowing through naruto's arm when he caught it was nearly blinding. And it was even less than the amount anchoring the boy to the ground.

Looking back into the water, they all saw Zabuza fall as two needles struck his neck. A young boy appeared on the water beside the fallen rogue. The man's severed hand gripped tightly in the boy's fingers.

The masked boy laughed as he took the body and hand in his arms, and addressed their sensei. Then turning toward the Naruto who still held the sword, "If you would kindly return that sword as well, I will be leaving. It is one of the Mist village's treasured weapons after all. I can't leave without it."

All of the Naruto's were frozen at the sound of that voice. The masked one was the only one to step forward. "Just take that guy and go before we have to kill you too."

Sakura however seemed to have heard something else as she motioned to him; two enemies!

0o0o0

At the sound of that voice every clone he had created felt their chests tighten. That was Haku! Naruto had even remembered the girl's name! He knew she had spoken to him before. He could clearly remember them gathering plants. But another image flooded his sight. Haku stood in front of him, her mask broken and falling from her face as mirrors crashed around him. Had he been the one to kill her!?

He knew Zabuza was alive, but, he couldn't attack Haku. And so he tried to do the one thing that made sense. "Just take that guy and go before we have to kill you two."

Haku understood the meaning in his words, though he was sure his teammates would have heard it differently. The boy simply held up two fingers and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

0o0o0

He wasn't sure why the boss wanted info on the demon brat, but then again... he didn't know why the boy was called the demon brat either…

Still his boss probably wouldn't know the reason either. Most of the time they smuggled information out it was for another village or a merchant group. This time it seemed the request was from some corporate type. What they would want with specifics about a bunch of genin, only kami could know.

Pushing his curiosity aside, the youth shook his head, his job wasn't to ask questions… Or… well, it was. But not about the boss and their clients.

He could already tell his boss everything he wanted to know about the other two genin. They were easily researched. One would think it would be the Uchiha who would have the most security, but it wasn't.

And everything on the jonin was basically public record already.

But outside of hearsay, it seemed much less was known about the brat than he could have imagined. He had trouble finding hard evidence of even the most basic information on the boy, such as who were his parents? When was his last medical check up?

As he discreetly gathered what intel he could, he began to feel more uneasy than any other forage had ever made him. This one was out of his pay grade, he decided. He would simply drop what he had already and call it good.

Depositing his gathered intel at one of his more hidden drop points, he headed back home. He didn't need to gather very much, there were dozens of informants in every village. Surely one of the others would find out more. Tomorrow he would dig into the anbu looking kid.

Oddly, as much as he thought about it, he couldn't remember ever seeing an anbu with a fox mask. But then, as long as he didn't have to keep looking into the demon brat, he didn't mind the challenge of an elusive black ops shinobi.

As he opened the door to his apartment, he felt the snake bite into his ankle.

Its poisons began affecting him immediately.

~ Note ~

Sorry again for the AN Update. For more frequent progress reports and in depth discussion, Please Friend or follow me on FB. ~ Jordan Tesla Painsake.

While T8: Retroversion will be my main Fic, Five others are on my list to work on at the moment: LATE Naruto: Life After the Ends; Uzumaki: A Lone Fox; The Thousand Ninja; Village Hidden in Plain Sight; and Wisdom of Chance. Also take a look at my newest Naruto Fic, Shrodingher's Fox!

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