Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fuinjutsu ❯ Charades ( Chapter 9 )

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

Chapter 9.

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Village of Stone; Near the Main Administration; Approximately six months after infiltrating Iwa; 19:50 local time.

Naruto fidgeted slightly with the standard, armoured Iwa vest he was wearing. It was both slimmer and lighter than the vests issued in Konoha and it lacked any armour to protect the neck. Naruto very much doubted the Iwa vests would be able to withstand the same kind of force as Konoha's vests.

He could understand Iwa's logic in focusing on mobility with the armour they issued. Iwa specialized with earth jutsu - techniques nearly completely developed for defence - and they were generally better off relying on their own techniques when it came to deflecting blunt force trauma. Iwa's vests were therefore developed in the interest of deflecting the minor force behind bladed weapons in close combat.

The light weight of the vest was unnerving to Naruto. In the few instances he'd worn Konoha's vests he'd grown used to the reassuring weight and bulk of the armoured garment. Besides, it wasn't as if Naruto had the ability or even the knowledge on how to pull off Iwa's infamous defensive techniques.

Naruto mentally prayed that the vest wouldn't be put to the test on the mission he was currently undertaking.

As he approached the building where the Tsuchikage kept office Naruto constantly had to force himself to remain relaxed. Any tensing of his muscles would seem suspicious to the shinobi he passed.

He'd spent the last two months preparing and planning for the latest mission he'd received from the Sandaime. It had taken patience Naruto didn't even know he possessed before he deemed himself as prepared as he could possibly be before he instigated the mission.

In the last two months he'd spent most of that time observing the higher ranked shinobi in the village - with special focus on jounin. He'd taken to eating lunch at restaurants that provided a good view to the streets most used by Iwa-nin. All of the time he'd spent on stakeout had been in order to find a jounin he could impersonate when he ventured out on his mission.

The jounin would have to have a build very similar to Naruto's own seeing as Naruto wasn't yet capable of changing much else but his face and his hair. He'd certainly be caught if he picked a target that was too fat, too tall, too muscular or too thin. Shinobi were above all observant and they were bound to notice if one of their colleagues suddenly changed height or body-girth overnight.

When he'd finally found a suitable target after a week of observation, he'd continued on to basically stalking the jounin day in and day out until he could figure out all of the nin's habits and manners. It was the most difficult task he'd ever attempted to do before and he'd praised himself lucky for his messed up coils, seeing as he'd had no chance at all to hide from the nin's senses if his chakra hadn't been screwed up and bound to the limits of his body.

Getting to know his target inside out had been where the testing of his patience had begun to matter. He could never have imagined how boring it would be to follow an elite shinobi around all day long.

Luckily for Naruto - or unluckily if you wanted to save yourself from boredom - the shinobi he'd picked as a target was one of the few elite shinobi that dealt with paperwork - normally paperwork was reserved for the Kage, the Council and the chuunin. In effect this meant that Naruto didn't have to worry about his target up and leaving on a sudden mission. That was the positive side. The negative side was that Naruto bored himself to death while stalking the guy.

The targeted jounin were one of the higher-ranked shinobi that had been tasked with messenger duty by the Kage. The messages he transported from the Kage's office to who-knows-where were only of the most classified sort - which explained why only a highly ranked shinobi was allowed to handle them.

Naruto couldn't believe his luck when he'd figured that out. The answer to his highly dangerous and nigh impossible mission had basically landed in his lap by chance.

While getting to know the nin's habits inside out, Naruto had also had to devote time to figuring out the military procedures of the Iwa-nin. This included possible pass-phrases and the ways they saluted. It also included where shinobi normally ventured in the village and how the normally travelled. They didn't use the roofs like the shinobi in Konoha when they needed to get somewhere fast. Rather, they used underground passages that stretched through the entire village. Naruto presumed they'd been made over time by some sort of earth jutsu and he'd been quick to let Jiraiya know of that particularity when they finally met up again.

Mentally he shivered. The possible repercussions of the underground network of tunnels were endless. On one hand, it could be advantageous for Konoha if they ever needed a way to sneak into the village - provided that the tunnels weren't trapped of course. It would be very easy for the Iwa-nin to purposely collapse part of the tunnel-system if they ever discovered intruders there. For Konoha, using the tunnels to infiltrate the village in force would be a double-edged blade.

On the other hand, the tunnels provided the Iwa-nin with a great tactical advantage if enemies ever tried to attack the village above ground. It would result in slaughter for Iwa's enemies. The tunnel-system was built like a maze and it provided access to any given part of the village. This would enable the Iwa-nin to use the tunnels to sneak up on enemies in the village and take them out before the opposing force had even realised that they'd been discovered.

Naruto couldn't express how happy he'd been to discover the well-kept secret of the tunnel-system. Now he'd been able to warn the Hokage and possibly averted a massacre if the Sandaime had ever decided to attack Iwa's village head on.

“Good morning Daichi-san,” the receptionist greeted when she saw Naruto entering the administration building.

Naruto grunted noncommittally as he accepted the form that was handed to him. All visitors to the tower had to sign off on the form if they wanted to access further levels than the reception-area.

He'd studied his target's signature intently for this purpose and he signed the form perfectly, if perhaps a bit slower than what `Daichi-san' would've done.

“The Tsuchikage is expecting you,” the woman smiled a fake smile as he accepted the form back. She let her eyes scan briefly over the new signature before she pointed absently in the direction of a door. “You know the way,” she said.

Naruto didn't even bother with a reply as he turned briskly from the desk to head in the direction of the door she'd indicated. From his observation of `Daichi-san', the guy was a frigid arrogant ass. Naruto hadn't exactly taken pleasure from eventually assassinating the man with some well-placed seals he'd constructed, but neither had he bothered to mourn his death.

He began to meditate lightly to calm his nerves. No matter how much he'd studied the targeted jounin's habits, there had been places he'd been barred from entering. The administration building - where the Tsuchikage's office was located - had been one of them.

When he opened the door that had been indicated to him, he had to force himself not to show any changes in his expression or his stance. He'd been expecting stairs that led to the next floor - like they had in Konoha - but he encountered stairs that led below ground. He stepped across the threshold of the door as he closed the door behind him. The administration building did have more than a single level above ground, but apparently it had levels below the ground too.

Naruto continued to focus lightly on his meditation as he descended the stair. There wasn't a lot of light in the narrow staircase and the hallway beyond, so he trailed his hands along the wall in order to better feel where he was going.

He was suddenly blinded by light when a previously unnoticed door was flung open inches from hitting him in the face.

He barely managed to repress the squeak that strangled his throat as he stared unaffectedly straight ahead at the masked shinobi that held the door for him.

Neither of them made a sound as Naruto bowed minimally before he edged past the ANBU.

“Tsuchikage-sama,” Naruto saluted the Kage as he stopped a respectful distance from the leader's desk.

Iwa's kage was built like a bull. He had bulging muscles that could be discerned clearly despite the traditional kage-robes he wore. His eyes were as grey as his daughter's, but where Hari's eyes reminded Naruto of oncoming storm-clouds, his' were more likened to the deadly colour of sharpened steel.

This was obviously not a man to suffer fools gladly. Rather, Naruto got the impression that the Tsuchikage would probably be in his best mood if he was the one to make the previously mentioned fools suffer.

Sweat trickled down Naruto's neck from tension and nervousness and he hoped anyone noticing would chalk it up to the hot humidity of the enclosed, underground air.

The ANBU wasn't leaving the room and stayed within sight at all times. This made Naruto even more nervous since it was such a contrast to the procedures of Konoha's ANBU who mostly kept themselves hidden unless they were needed. They rarely even ventured into the Hokage's office unless specifically called.

The Tsuchikage scrutinised Naruto for barely a second, not even bothering to return Naruto's greeting. Then he decisively plucked up one of the two scrolls positioned on his desk and threw the scroll towards Naruto.

Naruto caught it expertly. Calmly.

“Deliver that to your colleague,” the Tsuchikage ordered. “He should be waiting for it at the gate.”

Naruto bowed once, shortly and as professional as he could manage even as his nerves felt like they were about to snap under all the tension that suddenly left him. He'd only have to make it out the door and he was home-free.

“Hai, Tsuchikage-sama.”

With his respects given, Naruto turned and made his way towards the door. He opened it, stepped through and closed it carefully behind himself as a soundless sigh of relief escaped him.

Behind him, in the room he'd just left, the Kage and the ANBU exchanged covert glances. A blink of the eye later the ANBU was gone.

Oblivious to the sudden disappearance of the ANBU that had been in the Tsuchikage's office, Naruto made his way carefully back through the narrow and dark corridor, up the stairs and out the door of the building.

The sunshine that hit him in the face the moment he stepped outside had never felt more heavenly or freeing to Naruto.

The hardest part was done as far as Naruto was concerned. Now he only had to figure out a way to open the sealed scroll, copy it, seal it again so that no-one could tell it had been opened, and then he had to deliver it to his `colleague' at the entrance gate.

Piece of cake, he thought as he began to manoeuvre his way through the crowded street. He slipped behind a popular bakery unnoticed as he began to look for a trace of the entrance to the underground tunnels that he knew was there.

Both before and after his assassination of the jounin whose body he currently imitated, Naruto had ventured down into the tunnels on a number of occasions in an effort to get to know the maze-like structure at least partly.

He'd always changed his appearance for each trip so he didn't worry about getting recognised as a person who shouldn't be there, or a person who seemed to have too much interest in the tunnels.

Mentally Naruto praised whoever had invented the transformation technique he was using. Not only couldn't it be dispelled like a simple Henge, but it also incorporated some sort of genetic memory into the user. This memory made it possible for Naruto to change back and forth between old and new appearances without worrying about forgetting some of the details of the transformations he previously used.

With the genetic memory it was easy - but still awfully painful - for Naruto to change back to his own original appearance, his appearance as a mercenary, his appearance as `Inu' and now, his appearance as `Daichi-san'. All he had to do was mentally focus on the times he'd been in the different personas and the technique would automatically change him to the exact image of what he'd used before.

Naruto liked to think of the genetic memory as a path of least resistance.

It was a documented fact in physics that every kind of energy travelled the road of the least resistance. Apparently this also applied to Naruto's advanced transformations. His cells `remembered' the different shapes they'd been in before and it was easier for them to change themselves into a shape they'd held before than a completely new one.

Naruto couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but he still thought that it hurt marginally less to transform into a form he'd held before than to think of - and then transform himself - into a completely new form.

Eventually locating the concealed entrance to the underground tunnels, Naruto opened a hidden hatch in the dusty ground. He peered down into the dark hole under the hatch before he threw caution to the wind and jumped down.

After a short fall, he landed on light and soundless feet.

The hatch above him closed with a barely soundless `click' as Naruto waited for his night vision to kick in. When it finally did, he could perceive the dark, jagged edges of the tunnel walls that prevented people from resting - or casually touching - them. He glanced upwards and barely managed to make out the sharpened stalactites that artificially made up the `roof'.

…Yeah, he thought to himself, using the tunnels to infiltrate Iwa would be a bad idea.

He started to walk in the direction he thought he ought to be going. The flickering light from very sparsely positioned torches gave the effect of darkness dancing amongst the shadows of the corridors. He knew very minor parts of the tunnels, but he'd never claim to know every twist and turn. Regardless, he'd travelled this particular section of the system before and he was nearly certain that he was heading in the direction he intended.

If he was correct, there should be a well concealed dead-end somewhere to the right close to his position where he could safely work on the scroll and its seal without risking being interrupted or seen by the nin travelling the tunnels.

He had been walking for five minutes when he spotted the entrance to the dead-end. It was nearly invisible in the darkness of the underground corridor. The entrance was a thin gap in the wall that Naruto would barely be able to squeeze himself through. The gap didn't even look like an entrance, but simply seemed to be a regular shadow along the jagged wall of the tunnel.

Naruto was careful to check for possible watchers or spies as before he made his way towards the gap. Once there he carefully wriggled his way through the narrow crack in the wall. He scraped himself on the jagged edges of the rock, but the small wounds were healed before they even started to bleed so he wasn't particularly worried of leaving visible evidence of his trespass.

The dead-end he'd now entered was a single open space that didn't lead anywhere. He'd checked it out on the occasion that he'd been here before and he hadn't found any secret entrances or exits. It seemed to be a naturally formed pocket in the earth and stone that the tunnel-makers had accidentally opened up an entrance to.

Naruto didn't doubt that the Iwa-nin were aware of the `room', but he very much doubted that they were using it for anything. In any case, it would soon be a moot point. He was certainly not going to let chance have any say in the succession of his mission.

Pulling a small scroll from the single pocket in his vest, Naruto dispelled the seal on it to release the objects he'd enclosed within it.

Rudimentary seal-grafting equipment and a pre-grafted scroll were revealed.

Picking up the small knife, Naruto nicked himself on the finger as he concentrated on keeping chakra from healing the shallow wound's edge. Once he was certain he could keep the wound from healing itself, he got to work on grafting a temporary seal to surround the small gap that was the entrance into the room.

The work was done quickly and the seal was activated with a bright flash of chakra.

Nodding in satisfaction, Naruto pulled out the scroll he'd received from the Tsuchikage. The dead-end he was in was now protected from unwanted entries. It was a basic level of genjutsu, only made by written seals instead of hand-seals. The technique would subtly redirect any unwanted attention away from the entrance to the dead-end. In effect, it would reinforce the impression that the entrance was simply a shadow created by the jagged wall.

Naruto had never really gotten the hang of genjutsu when he had to use hand-seals. It wasn't that he didn't have to imagination or the willpower to bring illusions into reality, but rather the never-ending interference he experienced with his chakra from the process of fusing the fox's energies to his own. In any event, he was thankful for all the opportunities seal-grafting provided in making up for his own shortcomings.

The seal on the scroll was easily overcome. It was only a basic seal to ensure that the scroll hadn't been opened by anyone before it reached its destination. It was rather similar to the purpose of a wax seal, very basic and easily no concern for verified genius in sealing.

Breaking the rudimentary seal, Naruto opened the scroll. He didn't have any time to read through it at the moment. It was expected at the gate and he was already running short on time. Instead of immediately reading it, Naruto picked up the pre-grafted scroll he'd brought with him.

The scroll was designed to copy any written ink that came in contact with its paper. Naruto simply opened the scroll and pressed the scroll from the Tsuchikage against it. The ink from the Tsuchikage's scroll seemed to transmit onto the parchment of Naruto's scroll as if it was wet paint. When Naruto pulled the scrolls apart again, the Tsuchikage's scroll seemed un-tampered with while his own contained writing that had to be read by the use of a mirror.

Grinning at his own brilliance Naruto closed both of the scrolls. He replaced the rudimentary seal he'd removed from the Tsuchikage's scroll, making sure that it was identical to the old seal. After that he resealed his own scroll and his sealing equipment back into the scroll he'd pulled from his vest-pocket.

So far, so good.

He deactivated the genjutsu-seal on the entrance and left the dead-end.

Once at the gate he located his colleague and handed the scroll from the Tsuchikage over to him. He knew the man from his two months of observing Daichi-san's movements.

The jounin grunted a small complaint that he'd expected him sooner, but seemed to leave it at that.

With everything over and done with Naruto sighed in relief as he began to make his way home. `Home' being the apartment that `Daichi-san' lived in. He'd stolen the jounin's life and now he had to live it out convincingly.

Curfew was approaching fast when Naruto locked himself into Daichi-san's home so he didn't pay too much attention to the flickering shadow of a passing ANBU. The special-unit shinobi was probably just checking the streets for people who thought it would be a good idea to violate curfew.

Naruto locked the door and made sure that all windows were closed and covered from possible spies - in accordance to Daichi's habits - before he sat down to read and memorise the new scroll he'd appropriated.

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In the next week Naruto continued his charade as the jounin Daichi.

His growing familiarity with the routines of his `missions' didn't keep his nervousness from increasing with each trip.

When Jiraiya came to check up on him at the sixth month of his stay in Iwa, Naruto had omitted to tell his future mentor about his success at infiltrating the Tsuchikage's office. He'd done this for one reason and one reason only.

Something was not right.

After reading the first scroll he'd copied from Iwa's Kage, Naruto had found it necessary to question the scroll's information.

The scroll clearly held information relevant to the war and Iwa's plans to defeat Konoha. The problem was that the scroll clearly contained information that was wrong as well. Information that Naruto knew couldn't possibly be right.

In parts of the first scroll, the entire Hyuga- and Uchiha-clan had been implicated as spies for Iwa. If that wasn't enough, Jiraiya himself was working with Orochimaru in order to bring the downfall of Konoha. Iwa's forces were ordered to advance on Wind.

In other scrolls Naruto had copied; Fire-Country's Daimyo had been named a trusted advisor to the Tsuchikage. Tsunade-hime was named as a contact-person for Iwa-nin in the event that they infiltrated Konoha. Iwa's forces were ordered to advance on Fire.

Other scrolls again revealed plans of kidnapping the Daimyo and his son and attacking Uzu to prevent the country's alliance with Konoha. Konoha's Council was written to be traitors of the Hokage and Namikaze Minato was the brains of the entire operation. Apparently, Minato wanted the position for himself and was conspiring with the Council to get the Sandaime removed.

Iwa's forces were ordered to advance on Mist.

Iwa's forces were ordered to stand down.

Iwa's forces were ordered to advance on Whirlpool.

Orochimaru was working with the government in Wind, Whirlpool, Stone and Mist to overthrow the governments in all the lesser countries. Cloud was apparently the neutral country according to Iwa's Intel.

It only got worse from there.

Iwa's forces were ordered to give up and surrender…

Information in the scrolls was jumbled and mostly self-contradicting. Everyone and no-one from the Hokage himself to the weakest genin in Konoha were basically revealed to be traitors.

Fire and its village weren't the only ones mentioned in the scrolls. Sand and Whirlpool were also `revealed' to have countless traitor and spies within their borders.

Naruto knew this could only mean one thing.

He - or rather Daichi - was under suspicion from the Tsuchikage.

As such, Naruto couldn't really use any of the information in the scrolls unless he knew what was true and what was false. It was aggravating to the extreme. He knew that there was some truth in the scrolls; he just couldn't know which of all the plans mentioned were real and which were merely written to throw him off.

Naruto figured that the only reason he - or Daichi - hadn't been apprehended for questioning - or execution - yet, was that the Tsuchikage still didn't know which village Naruto worked for or even if Naruto truly was a spy. The fact that Leaf - or Sand or Whirlpool - hadn't shown any reaction to having received the false information from the scrolls indicated that `Daichi' hadn't yet given the information away - or even that he'd read the scrolls at all.

The scrolls were so obviously filled with false information that any spy reading them would realise they'd been caught immediately and probably attempt to escape. The fact that `Daichi' was still in the village - acting normally - and coming to work everyday as if nothing was out of the ordinary was a point in favour of Naruto.

Naruto found himself at an impasse with the Tsuchikage and secretly he admired the man and his tactics.

As long as Naruto continued to play the part as Daichi without rousing further suspicion, the Tsuchikage wouldn't do anything.

Naruto's only hope was that the Tsuchikage would eventually give up on the thought that Daichi was a spy and finally start to give the jounin the correct scrolls.

In his most defeated moments - when the tension and the hopelessness of the situation really got to him - Naruto would wonder about what had first given him away in his role as Daichi.

He got his answer two weeks into living his life out as Daichi.

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Village of Stone; the Main Administration; the Tsuchikage's Office;Six months and two weeks after infiltrating Iwa; 20:00 local time.

Naruto stood at attention in front of the Kage of Iwa.

Two weeks of entering and exiting the office unharmed had done nothing to reassure Naruto's frazzled nerves. He couldn't remember ever being as high-strung and out of his depth as he felt here in this office with the cold, hard eyes of the Kage weighing and judging him from the front while the ever-present, silent ANBU emotionlessly considered his worth from behind.

Still, habit had at least conditioned him to be better able to conceal his rising tension.

Naruto had never had to rely so much on his abilities to meditate as he'd done in the last two weeks.

The small underground office was saturated with stifling silence. It had been so since Naruto had entered and uttered his usual polite greeting to the Kage.

He'd expected this day to play out like all the other days he'd been here, but today was decidedly different from any other time. The Kage hadn't tossed him one of the two scrolls lying on the desk like he normally did. This day, he'd simply stared levelly at Naruto with unblinking and unreadable eyes.

Minutes ticked by in the clogging silence and still nothing happened.

Naruto was so deeply entrenched in his meditation in an effort to control his pulse and his breathing that he hardly noticed it when the Tsuchikage suddenly started to speak.

“I know you are a spy.”

Caught completely off guard by the sudden and unexpected words, Naruto's eyes widened imperceptibly as he otherwise struggled to keep his cool.

The standstill had finally been broken then, he supposed.

“Tsuchikage-sama?” He uttered the man's rank with a lilt, indicating his bewilderment with his supposed leader's sudden words. Better not to give too much away at first. If he was lucky he could perhaps convince the Kage that he was mistaken. Maybe the wily leader didn't know anything for sure and was only doing this in an attempt to spook Naruto into revealing himself. There were too many possibilities at the moment, too many variables and uncertainties.

Ninja were supposed to thrive in conditions such as these, but Naruto didn't really feel like thriving at all at the moment. He wanted to be back home, behind the secure and familiar walls of Konoha…

He missed Jiraiya.

…And Tsunade, Sakura and Kakashi. Iruka too. Heck, he even missed Sai and his awkward - and often loud and public - questions about sex.

“You're good, I'll give you that,” the Tsuchikage continued talking apparently without noticing Naruto's utterance.

The silent presence of the ANBU behind Naruto made him think that apparently he wasn't good enough.

If a shinobi got caught it doing something he shouldn't be caught doing, it only meant that the nin would die, or that he would spend an inordinate amount of time in getting better at the soonest opportunity.

Getting caught was never good.

Getting caught mostly translated to death in the world of ninja.

Naruto kept his silence this time, hoping and waiting for the Kage to say something more. Anything at all. Information was important. Information could save lives or - alternatively - condemn people to their deaths.

The Tsuchikage regarded Naruto with shrewd eyes as he gathered his thoughts. “I wonder…” the Kage mused aloud as continued to keep his gaze on Naruto, “Who do you work for?”

Naruto kept his eyes straight forwards, still not willing to say anything that might incriminate him in the event that the fierce Iwa leader was calling his bluff. “Tsuchikage-sama,” he said instead, “I don't-“

“Still not willing to admit defeat?” the muscled leader cut him off, “Perhaps you need more convincing? Perhaps you believe that I'm bluffing? Perhaps you take me for a fool?” His voice rose steadily as he talked and when he'd finished, he was standing behind his desk, both hand firmly planted on the table, palms down.

Naruto got the sudden inexplicable urge to turn on his heels and run for his life. Not only was the Tsuchikage well-built and muscled, he was also incredibly tall. Naruto practically had to crane his neck to meet the man's eyes. He looks kind of like what I'd imagine a Minotaur to look like… without the bull-head and the hairy legs, that is.

Naruto fought the urge to take a step back even as the rustling of soft cloth reminded him of the ANBU standing behind him, causing him to freeze in place. Keep him talking Naruto, he encouraged himself. You need all the information you can get.

Breathing heavily now and quite obviously angry, the Tsuchikage walked around his desk to come to a stop right in front of Naruto.

Naruto craned his neck further in discomfort as he attempted to keep the man's face in his sight.

“I'll tell you where you failed, spy,” the angry Kage hissed as he leaned down to Naruto's level. “I'll reveal to you where you went wrong, and then you can think about your failure in the afterlife.”

Spittle flew from the incensed Kage's mouth and Naruto couldn't keep himself from moving away any longer. He took a step back, but was immediately halted by the sound of quickly drawn steel. In the blink of an eye the ANBU behind him had moved forwards in order to rest his sword at the front of Naruto's neck.

Naruto swallowed and felt the cold steel graze, but not quite cut his neck.

“The first of your mistakes was that you touched the wall on your way down the stairs on the first day - I believe - that you attempted to infiltrate the office. The wall has been coated with my chakra and it allows me to know when anyone touches it. All my regular visitors know not to touch the wall and this way I am able to discern loyal nin from possible traitors or infiltrators.

“The second mistake you made,” the Tsuchikage continued more calmly now as he pulled back a couple of steps to regard Naruto's trapped position before him, “…was to walk into this building with your chakra utterly concealed.

“I do not know who you are or who you work for, but you are certainly not the jounin who goes by the name of Daichi. He is - or maybe I should say `was'? - an excellent fighter, but he never did manage to hide his energy as well as you do.

“And your ability to conceal your chakra is truly impressive, I must admit. I've even wondered if perhaps you've never trained in the arts of the shinobi and learned to develop and use your chakra. Are you perhaps a civilian so to speak?”

Naruto realised that he really had been caught and he sent the imposing figure in front of him a defiant glare. Unexpectedly the Tsuchikage began to chuckle, “Such an out of place expression to see on Daichi-san's features” he said. “And on that note, let me commend you on a flawless disguise. You really do look like Daichi. I've wondered, would you perhaps be willing to reveal the mechanics of the technique you're using in return for... shall we say… a lighter punishment?”

“What?” Naruto nearly spat out as he furrowed his brows in a fierce glare, “You only want information about my concealment, not of my allegiances or anything pertaining to the war? And for what?” he added in both disgust and anger, “A quicker death?”

The Tsuchikage chuckled again. This time it came off as far more ominous a sound.

“You underestimate me, Spy,” he said with a merciless glint in his eyes, “I could get any information about the war or your allegiances out of you with the use of torture.

“…But exact information like the teachings of a technique apparently as advanced as yours, could not possibly be gleaned through such barbaric measures. Your broken mind wouldn't be able to provide me with the crucial and necessary details I'd undoubtedly need to get the technique to work properly.”

Naruto didn't deem that worthy of an answer as he continued to give the Kage of Iwa a fierce glare.

A sudden idea sprung into Naruto's mind as he tried his best to work with the situation he found himself in. He still needed information and since the latest mission he'd received from the Hokage seemed to be a complete failure, he should attempt to complete at least parts of the original mission he'd been sent to complete.

The idea he'd gotten was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing and probably totally insane, but those kinds of ideas usually worked wonders for him so he decided to try it out.

It was time to see if he would be able to glean some information about what Iwa considered to be Konoha's greatest strengths and perhaps he could even trick the Kage into naming the Leaf-spies he had in Konoha.

“My concealment technique wouldn't work at all against Konoha's greatest strengths,” Naruto said spitefully as he continued to glare daggers into the Tsuchikage. “That's what you want to use it for, right? To take down Konoha's strengths? Well,” he bluffed bravely, “It won't work.”

Instinct said that he'd hit the proverbial nail on the head when the Tsuchikage's eyes sharpened and Naruto's free hands were seized and squeezed sharply together by the ANBU's free hand. It was obvious that he'd caught both their attentions.

“So, you work for Konoha,” the Tsuchikage smirked triumphantly even as he attempted to hide how fast his mind was spinning while working on Naruto's newly revealed words.

Naruto didn't much care that the Tsuchikage knew that he was tied to Konoha. He wouldn't be able to track him down in the village anyway, because of his transformed appearance, and Iwa was already at war with Konoha. The Tsuchikage was already hostile towards Naruto's home-village so it wasn't like Naruto was starting a political catastrophe by revealing the fact that Konoha had sent infiltrators across Iwa's borders. Besides, Iwa had apparently done it first. So there.

No, the cost of revealing his allegiance was a small price to pay in the attempt to glean some information that he dearly needed to know.

After a short silence of contemplation the Tsuchikage - who had been pacing around - turned to face Naruto again. The leader of Iwa seemed both hostile and envious as he fixed fierce eyes on Naruto again.

“Konoha and its blasted blood-limits,” the Tsuchikage eventually spat out as he glared hatefully at Naruto before he continued more calmly. “No, I don't suppose the vaunted eyes of the Uchiha or even the Hyuga would be fooled by a technique such as yours. High genjutsu though it may be, it is still a genjutsu…”

Naruto chose to keep his silence on the true capabilities of his advanced transformation technique as his mind blanked at the information he'd just received.

The Sharingan and the Byakugan…

Of course! Cloud and Stone had always had an unhealthy interest in the blood-limits of Konoha's two most prominent clans.

The Tsuchikage continued his self-righteous rant, completely ignorant of Naruto's inattentiveness. “The Hokage will rue the day he declared Konoha to be the greatest shinobi village in the world. Once this war is over and done with, Konoha's Council - provided Konoha and its Council still exist - will personally hand over the powers of the Sharingan and the Byakugan.

“…And then,” he continued as his voice rose, snapping Naruto back to the present. “And then Iwa will be the greatest, the most prominent of the villages once again. As it was before, so shall Iwa return to its infamy of yore, and Konoha and its weak ideals will be crushed beneath those who understand and follow the true code of the ninja.”

Naruto blinked in part disbelief as he watched the enraptured Kage in front of him. It seemed like the respected and feared leader of Stone harboured delusions of grandeur. True, Stone had been the greatest of the villages before and shortly after Konoha was founded. That had changed however when the civilians in the different countries discovered that Konoha was both easier to find, easier to approach and cheaper than the other great shinobi villages. (The cheap prices of Konoha's services were mainly because of Fire Country's many resources and also because of the high percentage of child-births in the country. Konoha lacked neither goods and food nor children available and willing to join the military ranks.)

Suddenly, Naruto's subconscious picked up on the other information the Tsuchikage had mistakenly revealed.

“The Council?” he blurted out in surprise, “What does Konoha's Counsil have to do with any plans you have?”

The Tsuchikage's eyes widened as Iwa's leader suddenly seemed to realize that he'd said far more than he'd intended. In the blink of an eye he'd turned his back to Naruto and the ANBU as he made his way towards his desk. “Kill him,” he ordered.

The ANBU didn't even hesitate a second before cold steel bit into Naruto's neck, severing arteries and tendons easily.

The Seal-Clone poofed out of existence.

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Village of Stone; Shopping district; The Incredible and Amazing Inu's Seal-shop; Six months and two weeks after infiltrating Iwa; 21:17 local time.

Naruto sat up suddenly in his workroom with a choked scream of pain as weeks of memories suddenly forced themselves upon his psyche.

Memories jumbled together. His time spent in the company of Hari in his own shop and time spent acting and living as Daichi clashed violently and painfully as he suddenly had the memories of living two lives at once in the span of a little over two weeks time.

Clenching his teeth in an attempt to stave off the scream lodged in his throat, Naruto did his best to ride out the pain.

When the pain in his head lowered from a blinding migraine to a constant throb of a headache, Naruto carefully unclenched his jaw as he let out a relieved sigh.

In order to fulfil all the parts of the mission he'd been charged with Naruto had eventually had to resort to the use of Seal-Clones to split his time so to speak.

The two months spent constantly surveying the jounin Daichi had been done by Seal-Clones under various transformations.

To achieve a transformed Seal-Clone, Naruto first had to transform himself before he activated the Clone-seal with a drop of his own blood. It worked like it had when he'd infiltrated Konoha's border-post before he travelled to Iwa. Because of the genetic memory granted by the technique, Naruto didn't have any problems with transforming himself back to his appearance as the Seal-grafter `Inu'.

With his copious use of Seal-Clones during the last two months and a half, Naruto had quickly been reminded of the very good reason of why the original Shadow-Clone had been labelled a forbidden technique and been sealed away.

He'd known - or at least suspected - the dangers with the technique ever since he'd first learned the technique back when he wasn't even yet a genin. Although the high amount of chakra needed to create Shadow-Clones could drain the user, its enormous chakra usage wasn't the main reason of why the technique had become forbidden. No, the main reason Shadow-Clones - and now Seal-Clones - were dangerous, was because of the very high risk to the user's sanity.

When a fully corporeal clone - like the Shadow- and Seal-Clone - was dispelled, its memories and impressions would be filtered back to its creator. These memories had to be placed and catalogued within the user's mind. The user of the Cloning technique was identical to the clone the person created, thought-patterns and all. This meant that the clone's memories of existence would be filed in the exact same `space' as the memories of the original's life in the time the clone existed. It was within this paradox that the true danger of using fully corporeal clones existed. When the natural `space' for the clone's memories was already occupied by the original's memories, a collision was unavoidable.

Minds were brittle things to be messing around with. The brain had to work overtime to fully accept and incorporate the sudden - and conflicting - influx of information resulting from the dispelling of a clone. Depending on the mass of information, the mind could very well overexert itself and break, leading to insanity.

The safest way to use the Shadow-Clone technique was to use it very sparingly. This meant that it was wise to keep from dispelling too many clones in short succession. In addition, it was a bad idea to let a clone `live' for too long. A memory-input from a clone spanning over more than a day was harder for the user's mind to accept and incorporate.

Naruto had always been an exception to the rule when it came to the use of Shadow-Clones -which was why he was the only sane, living individual that could claim to have fully Mastered the technique. Sure, he still suffered debilitating effects from very excessive use of the technique - a migraine here and a headache there - but no matter how irresponsibly he'd used the technique, he'd never actually gone insane from it.

All his teachers up through the years had pondered Naruto's ability to handle the massive information input he was often accosted with. The Shadow-Clone Technique had been Naruto's favourite technique. He often deployed more than a dozen - sometimes even up to a thousand - clones in battle, but he'd never seemed to reach a limit for how long he could maintain the clones or how many clones he could dispel simultaneously without suffering from the broken mind he should be sporting.

In the end, Naruto's teachers had concluded that Kyubi had something to do with protecting their idiot's sanity and they'd left it at that.

Naruto didn't much care either way.

Rising gingerly from his workbench, Naruto hobbled over to the sink to pour himself a glass of cold water. The cool liquid helped to relieve the lasting headache that was throbbing through his head.

Glancing around the workroom, Naruto decided to call it a night. The absorption of the week-long memories had exhausted him and he had a lot to think about tomorrow. He might have partially failed his mission to infiltrate and appropriate information about the war from the Tsuchikage's office, but in the end, he'd partially succeeded too.

New clues had been discovered in the convoluting shadow-plays in the shinobi-world. He was one step closer to understanding Iwa's goal and apprehending the spies stationed in Konoha.

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