Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fuinjutsu ❯ Complications ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 8.

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Village of Stone; Shopping district; The Incredible and Amazing Inu's Seal-shop; One month and three weeks after infiltrating Iwa; 18:00 GMT.

“So…” the young female ninja now fully introduced as Maruishi Hari wheedled as she leaned over the counter in Naruto's shop. “What exactly are you doing?”

Naruto tried very hard to ignore the fact that he now had a very good angle to look down Hari's impressive cleavage. Having known the girl for approximately one whole week now, he knew far too well that any form of lecherous behaviour would be rewarded with bodily harm.

“I've already told you,” he said in light exasperation as he shuffled through a huge mound of papers that he'd never gotten around to organize. “I'm looking for the sheet of paper where I wrote down all the information you provided me with.”

He absently stretched his right hand out to make a grab for the bottle of liquor that had been left on the edge of the counter, but she quickly slapped the hand away.

“I've told you Ogre; no drinking when I'm within a hundred feet of you.”

Naruto sighed mournfully as he gave her a begging look with soulful eyes. “But-!“

“No!” she said again, this time with a lot more force. “I'll not have you getting drunk in my presence. You're bad enough sober.”

“But-“ Naruto tried again.

“No.” She interrupted him.

“If-“

“No.”

“Only a sip?”

“No.”

“Aww…” Naruto finally whined as he gave up.

At his childish display, Hari quirked her lips in mild amusement.

“You're looking for the paper where you wrote down my personality traits?” she asked, both to clarify his earlier answer and to get them back to the matter at hand.

“Yes,” he said dejectedly as he cradled his head in his hands, acting as if a headache was starting up.

“Then why the hell are you looking for the paper? Just ask the stupid questions again.” She said as she straightened and folded her hands under her impressive breasts.

Naruto raised his head in a painful display of confusion. “I can do that?”

She snorted, “Of course you can you numbskull.”

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

After their second encounter on the Main Street a week ago, Hari had been visiting Naruto's shop regularly. The seal she'd demanded as payment for the bottle of liquor she'd broken was a personal summoning contract.

It was an outrageous request and they both knew it. Naruto didn't mind at all though, since all the time they had to spend together to fulfil her request played nicely into his own plans.

The creation of a personal summoning contract was divided into three different levels of progress.

At the first level, the grafter and the receiver had to spend a lot of time together in order for the grafter to get to know the receiver's personality inside-out. This was needed for the grafter to be able to find the perfect animal for the receiver to summon.

Personalized summoning contracts were different from the summoning contracts used by for example the three legendary sannin. The contracts of the sannin could be passed down to other people and more than one person could hold the summoning contract at the same time. In addition to that, the Grand Summons - which were what the sannin possessed - essentially help more brute power than Personalized Summons. They had a great variation of summons to pick from and could be adapted to many different styles of fighting.

Personalized contracts, while not exactly weak, were specialized for only one person's use. Naruto had long suspected that Kakashi's contract with the summoned nin-dogs was a personalized contract. The fact that Personalized Summons were personalized was the actual strength and ingenuity of the contracts. They were made especially for one person's use and for one person's fighting style. With enough use and training with the summoned animals, a holder of such a contract could become as good as unbeatable.

The weakness of the Grand Summons was the fact that the summoners rarely mastered their contract. They didn't have the time to get to know all of their summons and distrust and personality-clashes between the summoner and the summons could very well prove just as dangerous as the enemies they would be fighting together against.

Personalized contracts lacked this problem and with enough time and training invested, the summoner and the summons would essentially become one well-trained and deadly entity. There even existed rumours of people who had achieved telepathic bonds with their chosen animals.

The second level of creating the contract involved making the actual design of the contract and the grafting of the summoning-seal. This part of the process wasn't nearly as time-demanding as the first part, but it too needed to be paced. It was important that Naruto didn't make any mistakes while designing and grafting the contract, or it could very well be the death of the both of them. Summoning contracts were some of the most volatile seals to be grafted since they essentially dealt with creating bonds across dimensions and opening stable temporary tears in the fabric of reality.

The third and the last level of the process was the easiest as far as Naruto was concerned. It dealt with the first activation of the contract and the creation and stabilization of the bond between summoner and the summons. It should be as easy as melting snow in hell.

At this point in time, Hari had been dropping by Naruto's shop as often as her work allowed in the interest of letting Naruto get to know her properly. Already the first day Naruto had managed to get her to write down the personality-traits that she identified herself with. This was only the first step in the time-consuming task of peeling back the imaginary layers what made a person tick.

Having Hari write down how she saw herself opened up for the opportunity for Naruto to see how her own view differed from his own. After that, he'd begin to ask her about hypothetical situations that she might encounter in her daily life, be they personal or work-related. This would give him further insight into her personality that she might not even be aware of herself. It all depended upon which answers she gave to each situation.

Naruto's goal was build up first a casual rapport with the girl in the hopes of getting her to trust him enough to maybe tell him even more about the actual situations and experiences she went through in life.

Getting the Tsuchikage's daughter to trust him enough to reveal military and restricted information to him would be invaluable for Naruto's mission. He knew from his experience with Sarutobi, Tsunade and Gaara that the leaders of the hidden villages often confided in trusted friends and blood-relatives even if it was strictly against regulations - and rules.

If everything worked out according to plan, he'd have a spy planted in the Tsuchikage's office and the spy wouldn't even know about it.

“Great!” Naruto enthused as he found a blank paper that he could use to write down the questions and answers he'd get from interviewing the young kunoichi again.

“So…what's your favourite colour?” he asked while giving the young woman an intense stare.

The kunoichi sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes in exasperation. “…Brown,” she answered eventually.

Naruto nodded energetically as he began to write down the question and the answer with precise and careful strokes. The tongue sticking out of his mouth was a testament to all the concentration he was using to complete the simple task.

Hari sighed again.

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Village of Stone; Shopping district; The Incredible and Amazing Inu's Seal-shop; Two months after infiltrating Iwa; 22:07 GMT.

“So, how are you holding up?”

Naruto looked up from the seal he was designing to meet the dark eyes of his future mentor.

He wasn't too surprised at the sudden intrusion in his workroom this time - a month had gone by since the last time after all, but he was still grateful that he hadn't been doing anything more volatile than essentially doodling some weird characters on a piece of paper.

Straightening from his position, Naruto cracked his neck to get some of the built up tension in his muscles to disperse. After that he eyed the white-haired sannin with calculating eyes. He was relatively sure that the person in front of him was Jiraiya, but in times like these you could never be too sure.

“How's my pet doing?” he asked instead of answering the question.

Jiraiya smirked, “The Daimyo's wife kidnapped it and is now keeping it at ransom.”

Naruto smiled an easy greeting as the identity of his visitor was confirmed. They had agreed to change the pass-phrase for each visit.

“I've been better,” he said in answer to the original question. “…But then again, I've been worse too so I can't really complain.”

Jiraiya chuckled as he took a seat on the table, “Yeah, I know the feeling. Count your blessings, right?”

“Right.” Naruto confirmed as he rolled up the piece of paper he'd been doodling on. “I think the worst is over for now seeing as I've been here two months now. I've kind of gotten used to the situation and the new environment.”

The toad summoner nodded, “Yes, the first two months have always been reported to be the worst by the people that have been assigned undercover missions. It's a transition…” he trailed off.

“Yeah,” Naruto sighed noncommittally as he rubbed the back of his neck. “How are things back home?”

“Bad, but not as bad as it will develop to become if this conflict isn't cleared up soon,” Jiraiya said as he picked up the nearly full bottle of liquor that Naruto had left out on the table from what was now a well ingrained habit. “Do you mind?” he asked as he waved the bottle around a bit.

“No, go ahead,” Naruto answered immediately, too surprised by the fact that Jiraiya actually asked permission for once to drink anybody's booze.

Jiraiya smiled crookedly in thanks as he pulled the cork free with his teeth. After taking a quick swig he continued, “The unrest is escalating by the borders of the lesser countries. They're basically being forced into the war on account of being caught between the proverbial rock and anvil. As I said last time most of them are predisposed to siding with Iwa and Kumo seeing as the countries have traded together for years now.

“Konoha only has a trade-agreement with Suna though, seeing as we pretty much produce what we need ourselves. What we don't produce - weapons and minerals and stuff like that - we get from Suna.”

“I thought Suna were still bitter at Konoha from the last war?” Naruto broke into the conversation.

Jiraiya stopped as he rubbed his head in thought. “Well…yeah, I guess. Still, they won't break their alliance with Konoha now. They need the trade and the man-power we can contribute with in the war. Suna gets nearly all its food from Konoha and they've been rivals with Iwa since the village was founded.

“Iwa and Suna produce the same materials for sale and trade you see. They're economic rivals of the worst sort.” Jiraiya explained for Naruto's benefit.

Naruto nodded in contemplation as he stared vacantly at a point beyond the closed door. “Anything else?” he finally asked.

Jiraiya rubbed his yaw in thought. “Well, it doesn't really pertain to your situation or anything, but since it's good news I think you deserve to know.”

Naruto turned his full attention on Jiraiya. He'd do anything for some good news in all the bad that was happening now.

“You may not know this-,” Jiraiya started as he took another swig of alcohol, “-but Namikaze Minato's fiancÃ© is originally from the Land of Whirlpool. She was sent to Konoha a couple of years ago in an attempt to strengthen the bonds between Uzu and Ho. Originally she was sent to live with the Daimyo of Fire Country, but she was as stubborn as they come and she insisted on joining the shinobi forces in Konoha.

“If I remember correctly it caused something of a scandal. She's related to the Daimyo in Whirlpool you see - however distant - and the plan was to marry her off to some random noble's son in Fire Country.” Jiraiya started to laugh loudly, “She didn't like that at all.

“Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the effort of tying the two lands closer together seems to have worked in the end. Uzu are willing to side with Ho in the war and they will be providing us with the money for food and other wares if we run out during the war. In return, Konoha will return the favour by sending shinobi off to help in defending the country if Mizu ever decides to join the war-effort on Iwa's and Kumo's side.”

Naruto nodded in thought once again as he took in everything he'd heard. He was somewhat surprised to learn of a country named Whirlpool seeing as he'd never heard of it before, but then he shrugged it off. He hadn't known about the Land of the Waves before his first C-rank mission either. Maybe Uzu was just really small.

He decided to ask just to be on the safe side.

“Uzu's not a big country is it?” He prodded the white-haired sannin.

Jiraiya blinked in bewilderment before he finally answered. “Oh, Heavens no,” he said, “it's really small, but it produces a lot of pearls so it's really wealthy …which is why it's dependent on help in defending itself. It doesn't have the manpower or the expertise to fight in a war, but it does have a natural resource that other countries would be willing to kill for.

“It wouldn't surprise me if Iwa and Kumo decide to attack the country even without the alliance of Mizu. During a war, the countries need as much money as they can get their hands on and Uzu would really help in filling up the coffers of the attacking countries.”

Naruto sighed heavily, his thoughts spinning.

From what he knew of the future, there was a really big chance that Uzu would be destroyed in the war. At the thought of Kushina's fiery spirit and unexpected friendship, he really didn't want her to suffer through the loss of her country.

On the other hand, there wasn't a lot he could do about it, stuck as he was in hostile territory. Still, though…

“The Hokage hasn't dispatched shinobi to the Land of Whirlpool yet?” he enquired.

Jiraiya shook his head. “No, he's aware of the risks in letting the country sit undefended, but at the moment his hands are tied in the matter. The majority of the Council is holding him back. Uzu is located in the direction of Mizu, you see. They're afraid that sending forces to the country now will result in Mizu interpreting it as a hostile action against them. In the end it would only serve to seal the alliance between Iwa, Kumo and Mizu.

“As long as Mizu stays neutral, Konoha can't afford to send any forces in their direction in the event that it may be interpreted as hostile.”

Naruto nodded again as he saw the logic and the helplessness of the situation. He pitied Uzu then…it seemed the country was a lost cause no matter what happened.

“Here, you look like you could use a little pick-me-up,” Jiraiya said as he waved the bottle underneath Naruto's nose. “Jeeze, and I was trying to give you some good news…seems like nothing's good about a war once you get down to it.”

Naruto let a small smile cross his face as he accepted the bottle, “Thanks,” he said silently before he took a sip.

Jiraiya watched him pensively for a moment before he decided to get back to the reason he was there, “So, anything to report on your front?”

Swallowing quickly, Naruto shook his head, “No, not much. I've managed to establish somewhat regular contact with the daughter of the Tsuchikage. She's ordered a personalized summoning and has been spending time here in order for me to get to know her.”

Jiraiya gave Naruto a scrutinizing look, “And how is that working out?”

Laughing somewhat nervously, Naruto shrugged as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Well… as well as can be expected considering it's my first attempt at grafting a summoning contract.”

Jiraiya's eyebrow rose, “You've never done it before?”

Shaking his head, Naruto answered, “No, but my old teacher went over the theory with me and I was reading up on it before I left for my mission.”

Sighing in exasperation, Jiraiya snatched back the bottle and took a swig. “Just be careful when you venture into the astral-realm…” he muttered as a warning.

Chuckling nervously again, Naruto only nodded, “Hai hai, I'll be careful.”

It was part of the first task in developing the contract. When he'd gotten to know Hari as much as possible he'd have to venture into the astral-realm - the space separating and connecting all of the existing dimensions - where he'd search for the summoning Naruto believed to fit the girl best. The summons would then - hopefully - agree to a contract with the girl.

Fixing Naruto with a sudden scrutinizing look, Jiraiya finally asked, “You do know how to enter into the astral-realm, right?”

Naruto nodded, “Yeah, because of certain circumstances in my childhood I had to learn deep meditation early on,” he answered as he thought of being a jinchuuriki.

In addition to learning how to check up on Yondaime's seal, it had been imperative for him to learn how to meditate when they'd realized how quickly he could loose control while using the Kyubi's tails. Meditation had been an attempt to gain better control of his own emotions while in a battle. It had worked to an extent. He'd become more level-headed when he fought without using the Kyubi's chakra, but it hadn't done anything for those instances when he did - which was why he'd ultimately decided to graft the secondary seal to instantly stabilize and convert any of the demon's excess chakra.

“As I understand it,” Naruto continued, “It's only a matter of breaking through the barriers of the mindscape and then enter into the astral-plane.”

Jiraiya scoffed. “That's a gross simplification of the process. You'll also have to keep yourself linked to this realm and your own dreamscape at the same time while you're wandering the astral-realm. In addition to that, you may very well need some sort of spiritual protection while traversing the astral-plane. There may be dangers there greater than what you can find in your worst nightmares.”

Naruto had to force himself not to scoff or laugh out loud at that as he thought of the great demon fox sealed in his abdomen. “You know… I very much doubt that.” He settled for saying.

Sensing that Yuurei had some bad memories connected to the topic of the conversation, Jiraiya decided to let the matter rest for now. If the - seemingly - young spy was so certain about his own capabilities, Jiraiya really didn't wish to dispel any of his illusions. He'd warned him. As a ninja, that should be enough.

“I am a bit wary though of how you plan to use the Tsuchikage's daughter.” Jiraiya confessed as he changed the subject.

“Oh?”

“Don't get me wrong Yuurei-san,” he quickly rushed to explain. “It's a brilliant plan. I'll give you that. It's just…” he trailed off as he tried to find the correct words to explain his wariness of Naruto's plan.

“It's just?” Naruto prodded.

“You realize the great risk you are taking?” the white-haired sannin finally asked. “I'm not talking about the risk of being found out either,” he quickly clarified. “It's just… when you are as isolated as you are on this mission; it's easy for a guy to…”

Naruto frowned lightly as he began to catch on to what his future mentor was trying to warn him about. “You are afraid that I'll grow attached to the girl?” Naruto asked.

Jiraiya nodded. “I've seen it happen a dozen times with shinobi on long-term infiltration and spying missions. Cut off from all that they find familiar and safe, it's easy to form new bonds with the people that are conveniently around. After some time, they even seem to forget that they're essentially consorting with the enemy. Some have ended up deserters because they couldn't bear to betray the new life they'd made.”

Naruto's frown deepened, “We are shinobi and we have been trained for situations and missions such as these.”

Jiraiya nodded again, “Oh, I know that. It's just that training and the real-life experience are quite different.”

Seeing that he wouldn't be able to reassure his future mentor on this subject, Naruto sighed quietly in resignation. “I'll keep your warning in mind.” It was the only concession he could allow himself to give considering the fact that he knew that Jiraiya had a very valid point.

He was perfectly aware of his own tendency to grow attached to everything and everyone that were willing to give him the time of the day. He'd gotten better over the years in seeing underneath the underneath in situations and he'd lost some of his naivety after his dealings with Orochimaru, Sasuke and the Akatsuki, but he was still desperate for some form of kind and positive acknowledgement.

Jiraiya's eyes sharpened as they figuratively pierced through him, “You have to do more than keep it in mind. If necessary, start and end your day by warning yourself of the danger you're in. In your situation, people wanting to kill you are a less valid concern than those that shower you with kindness and compliments. The fact that you're actually trying to get to know this girl only makes it worse. Quite frankly it would have been better for yourself if you hadn't met her at all, but I can see how getting close to her will be helpful to your mission, so I can't order you to do otherwise. Just… just be careful.”

Naruto nodded seriously, “I promise.”

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Village of Stone; Shopping district; The Incredible and Amazing Inu's Seal-shop; Approximately three months after infiltrating Iwa; 10:34 GMT.

Hari stared pensively at the bottle of liquor positioned innocently in front of her on the counter in Naruto's shop.

“Ne, Inu?”

“Hmm?” Naruto responded with a vague hum as he looked over the sealing scroll in his hands. His tongue was sticking out of his mouth in what could be called a cute fashion as he scrutinized the characters on the scroll for any mistakes.

“How come you can manage to work with seals when you're as sloshed as you often are?” she asked, never taking her eyes off the half-empty bottle.

Naruto chuckled light-heartedly as he stretched over to pick up the bottle and take a hearty swig out of it. Contrary to what she'd done in the past, she did nothing to stop him now, having learnt through trial and error that ultimately nothing would be able to keep Naruto from drinking while he worked.

“'S a secret,” he slurred happily as he felt the fire from the liquid burn down his throat.

“Aw… c'mon! I've told you plenty of my secrets in the month we've known each other,” she complained loudly as she suddenly snagged the bottle away from Naruto's mouth in a fit of childish frustration.

At the unexpected loss of his alcohol, Naruto began to cough violently when he swallowed the liquid he'd had in his mouth wrong.

When he finally caught his breath again, Naruto glared blearily up at the kunoichi before he deftly rolled the scroll closed with a sharp snap.

He staggered to his feet and turned around to place the scroll in a shelf behind him that was reserved for scrolls he had for sale. He'd added a whole lot of shelves in the actual shop that contained all the seals he'd finished and that were up for sale to the public. The scrolls kept in the shop-proper were the less dangerous ones and even the worst seal-grafters knew how to make them so he wouldn't loose any of his secrets if they were stolen.

Not that anyone would dare stealing from him. He was far too popular in the shinobi-circles to be stolen from. The shinobi treasured his cervices and did their best to make sure that he had everything he could ask for, both when it came to supplies and when it concerned security.

The more dangerous seals were still locked up in the workroom just in case though.

“Secrets?” Naruto taunted as he turned back to regard the grey-haired kunoichi with a lopsided smirk. “Those weren't secrets. They were only titbits about your personality that I need to know in order to graft a seal you ordered,” he said.

Hari pouted cutely, but she didn't give up. “So? It's still valid information about me that an enemy might misuse against me.”

Naruto snorted as he walked unsteadily towards her. When he deemed himself close enough, he flung himself over the desk in order to attempt to capture his bottle again. Unfortunately, he seemingly misjudged the distance and as a result he fell completely over the desk and landed in the lap of a now brightly blushing kunoichi. The stool she was perched on began to tip over and Naruto cried out in dismay when he saw that his bottle was about to meet the very hard and unforgiving floor. He flung himself towards the bottle again and barely managed to catch it. His sudden movement had only worsened the precarious balance of the stool though and the both of them crashed to the floor, Naruto cushioned with his face between Hari's legs.

“Now this seems familiar,” he crowed out in delight.

Hari's blush worsened, but Naruto wasn't yet certain if it was out of anger or out of embarrassment.

“You-!”

The rising voice of the beauty underneath him, quickly tipped him off to anger being the concern he had to deal with at the moment. Quickly too, preferably… if he wanted to keep his balls.

The woman took things like this far too seriously according to Naruto's opinion and sensibility and he'd made it his mission to loosen her up before he had to leave the village in an unknown amount of time.

“Just wait a second!” he cut her off before she could really get going.

In surprise at his audacity, she actually stilled as he took his time to tip the bottle and drain the rest of the contents.

“Now,” he said as he saw that she was about to explode in anger. He burped right after just because he could and then he continued with the conversation they'd had before his little flight across the counter. “I don't really think the enemy will be able to use the fact that you love telling old legends against you in a battle.”

Hari's brows furrowed as her thoughts were derailed at the sudden change in subject. She was so flummoxed that she even forgot the scandalous position they found themselves in.

“No, but they will exploit the fact that I'm aggressive and quick to anger.” She argued reasonably.

Naruto lifted one of the hands he'd had on her hips to negligently flip it in disregard. “Pish-posh! You are aware of that weakness and so you're unlikely to fall for any attempts to rile you up in a serious battle”

Hari sighed, “And what about the fact that I have an affinity for the earth element? My enemies would love to know that.”

“Nearly all the nin in Iwa have an affinity for earth,” Naruto argued right back.

Hari's brows furrowed further as she tried to think of another argument. She had just opened her mouth to retaliate when the bell to the door jingled, signalling that someone were entering the store.

The young daughter of the Tsuchikage suddenly remembered the position she was in with the notorious lecherous seal-grafter and as a result she froze.

Naruto - possessing no shame at all - craned his face up from its position in between the girl's crotch to wave merrily at the new arrival.

“Hi, can I help you with anything?”

Hari began to tremble in anger underneath Naruto's form and the newly arrived jounin immediately picked up on the building killing-intent in the air. He wisely decided to retreat and come back later, provided the shop-owner was still alive when he returned. “Uh… no that's fine,” he excused himself as he began to back out the door. “I must have taken a wrong turn…” he trailed off with a high-pitched squeak and hightailed it out the door when the killer-intent began to manifest visually.

Naruto pouted as the doorbell jingled when the door shut.

“Do you have to scare away all of my customers?” he asked in a childish voice as he complained at her hostile behaviour.

The shop began to tremble.

“It's not only your ability to graft seals under the influence,” Hari started when the commotion they'd been causing had finally died down - with a lot of painful squeals from Naruto.

“Oh?” Naruto prodded nonchalantly as he rubbed a fading bruise on the back of his head. In a really detached way - totally not apprehensive, really - Naruto wondered where she was headed with the current conversation.

“No,” Hari continued, completely oblivious to Naruto's rising tension and worry. “It's the way you don't even seem affected by the killer-intent I throw out too. There're so many things about you that I just can't explain…” she trailed off as she pondered the man that had been on her mind far too often lately.

“Oh, that!” Naruto tried to seem totally carefree and unaffected as he rummaged around in the drawer of his counter for a new bottle of booze. “It's because of my bastard of a father,” he started to explain energetically as he opened his new prize with a small pop of displaced air. “Well… he wasn't really my father, but my sister's uncle's mother's son, who lived with us for a period of time when I liked to go out fishing with my-“

He cut off abruptly as Hari grabbed his chin in a firm grip. She turned his head to face her and when she had his complete attention, she spoke levelly, “Quit shitting me! Can't you just tell me the truth for once?”

Naruto blinked in apprehension and no little amount of fear at being found out as he stuttered a reply, “I-“

She cut him off before he could really get started. “Look, I know you're only acting carefree most of the time and I don't really care about that, but I worry about you.”

Naruto blinked, completely bewildered at the turn of events.

“Huh?”

She ignored him completely as she continued to forge on. “All this drinking... and you not being affected by my killer-intent… something terrible obviously happened to you when you were younger and I… I just… It's the only explanation for how reckless and fearless you are.

“You've obviously experienced something so terrible that you're running from it even now. What with the drinking and all…

“And you don't care about my killing intent because you're challenging death everyday with the stunts you pull. I mean honestly! Grafting seals under the influence? You've got to have a death-wish! You-“

Naruto's thoughts were racing as he kept her from talking anymore with the hand he'd placed over her mouth. She'd stopped rambling, but she was still looking intently at him, attempting to peel back all the layers and all the shields he'd placed around his identity and heart.

“You're worried about me?” it seemed as good a question to ask as anything else when he finally got his mouth to work correctly.

She kept his gaze as she nodded severely at him.

Fuck! Naruto's thoughts screamed. Ero-sennin warned you. He warned you something like this would happen. Though, to be completely honest, the old man had probably thought Naruto would be the one to grow attached, not Hari.

Fuck!

Naruto tore himself out of the kunoichi's grip as he stumbled backwards frantically. He could not let this happen. He could not let her grow too attached, because if she did, it would be doubly as hard for him to continue deceiving and using her. He'd never liked the betraying part of the shinobi-occupation and if she cared about him… If she started to genuinely care then there was no way he could stay unaffected.

He should break all connections to her right now. He should tell her something awful that would make her hate him. He should…

…But he couldn't.

There was a war going on and all that he loved about and in Konoha was at risk. He was shinobi, a jounin of Konohagakure - though he was currently the only one who knew that - and he had a responsibility to his nation.

Complete the mission.

That was what they'd learned. It was what had been drilled into him since his academy days.

Protect your comrades and complete the mission. All else was secondary.

“Inu?” Hari's questioning voice broke through his muddled and panicked thoughts and he focused agitated eyes on her.

The young kunoichi raised her hands in a universally known sign of showing that she was unarmed and bore no ill intensions. “Inu, listen! I-“

When she took a step towards him, he scrambled backwards until he was stopped by the solidity of the wall. She stopped advancing.

Hari dropped her hands to her side with a sad expression flittering over her face as she regarded his posture and his body language. It was obvious that he didn't want her anywhere near her at the moment as Naruto had decided to play on her previous misconceptions concerning his past in an attempt to buy time to get his own thought straightened out.

Sighing in defeat, Hari turned towards the door. “I shouldn't have brought it up,” she said, “It was too soon and I don't know you well enough yet. I'll just…” she gestured weakly to the door and when Naruto didn't say anything, she sighed heavily again.

“I'm leaving for a mission along the border,” she said as she stopped with her hand on the door handle. “I don't know how long it'll last, but I'll probably be gone for at least a week.”

She turned to give him a lasting once over. “I just wanted you to know… I'll come back when I've completed the mission and I won't mention anything about your past again so don't worry. I hope… I hope that's okay with you?”

Not one to miss such an obvious need for some reassurance, Naruto gave a slight nod as he forced himself to smile a grimace at her. “That's fine. I overreacted and I still have to graft that contract you commissioned from me.”

Relieved at his positive reply, she smiled brightly before she let herself out the door.

Naruto sank to the floor with a tired sigh when she'd finally left. He kept his eyes pensively on the door until the jounin from earlier finally returned to do some business. He took one look at Naruto before he attempted to break the stillness in the shop with some humour, “She really let you have it this time, huh?”

Naruto chuckled weakly as he pushed himself to his feet with the smallest of staggers.

“Yeah,” he said with a wider grin, “she really dislikes it when I drink at work.”

The jounin nodded sagely, far too aware of how uncomfortable all the shinobi were of the seal-grafter's drink- and work-ethics. He couldn't quite hide the wince that escaped when the enigmatic seal-grafter immediately went for the bottle of liquor that lay discarded on the floor of the shop.

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Village of Stone; Shopping district; The Incredible and Amazing Inu's Seal-shop;Four months after infiltrating Iwa; 23:00 GMT.

“And does she suspect anything?”

Naruto shook his head negatively to Jiraiya's question.

He'd been in Iwa for four months now and it had been one month since the disastrous scene with the Tsuchikage's daughter.

They're dealings had been strained after she'd returned from her mission by the border, but they'd slowly managed to get back to a somewhat carefree friendship again. Ultimately, Naruto had resolved that he would stick to fulfilling his mission, but he'd do his best to make sure that the relationship he had with the young Iwa-nin didn't develop into anything more than what was considered platonic.

“No, she hasn't mentioned anything after she came back, but from what I gathered she only thought I'd had a bad experience in my youth. She doesn't suspect me of being unaffected by her killer-intent as a result of being a trained shinobi.”

Jiraiya nodded as he gruffly answered, “Well, that's something I guess. Do you believe others may see through your cover?”

Naruto shook his head, “No, she's the only one I've been spending a significant amount of time with. As such, she's the only one close enough to suspect anything and what she suspects is completely off so…”

Jiraiya nodded in relief, “Nothing to worry about.”

Silence settled over the workroom as they both took their time to gather their thoughts.

“The Hokage has a new objective to add to your mission,” the white-haired sannin finally said, obviously reluctantly to bring up the subject.

Naruto's eyebrows rose incredulously as he mentally began to doubt the Sandaime's remaining sanity. He already had enough on his agenda to worry about, he really didn't need more.

“Oh? And what might that order be?” he asked in a carefully nonchalant voice as he gave the toad summoner a sidelong look.

“He wants you to infiltrate the Tsuchikage's office and search for any pertinent information concerning the war. The work you're doing with his daughter is much appreciated and he wants you to continue, but it's also taking too long. We're in desperate need of new information about the enemy's plans.”

Naruto choked in shock.

It was official: the Sandaime had gone off the deep end.

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