Sai decided – using the 'winner' prize from this morning at much prodding from the rest of us – that we were camping out tonight. Given that there was a town right there it was a little bit of an odd choice, but then, I wasn't entirely confident the hotels would be bed-bug free either.
"Are you worried that we have not found a lead yet?" Sai asked as we set out camp.
"Nah," Naruto said, shrugging. "There's plenty more places to look. Besides, Sazanami seemed pretty certain that he was in the area."
He hadn't said as much, but he'd admitted to be looking for the guy. And if he was as good at what he did as he seemed to be, then that was a big hint in and of itself.
"Even if he's not in this town," I said. "There are a few more we can check out before we start to worry. Unless he heads north into Land of Rock…" I shrugged.
Whether or not we followed him then would depend on the circumstances. Unless we had a strong lead, it probably wouldn't be worth risking running into Rock shinobi on their own turf.
"I see." Sai looked pensive, then smiled. It was even more forced than his normal look. And that was saying something. "You would not be concerned if he headed south. The Land of Wind is familiar to you."
"Sure," Naruto said. "We were there a little while ago."
I leant back, hands flat on the ground, and watched. What is it, Sai?
"I have heard about that mission."
Naruto chuckled. "Ehe, well, I guess it was a big thing," he said awkwardly.
"An S-rank mission is very impressive," Sai prompted. "Can you tell me about it?"
Is that what you're after?
Sure, Danzo had been interested in the Gelel – had mistakenly called it a 'weapon'. But he didn't think that Naruto would spill classified information, did he? If that meeting in the Hokage's office had truly gone through then maybe but not here, not in the field, to someone who shouldn't know.
"Well, some of it is classified," Naruto demurred. "But when we were in Land of Rivers…" he started to spin the non-classified parts into a story, seeming gratified at the way Sai was drinking it in.
I kept a careful ear on just how much detail was being shared. But there was no point that I felt the need to step in and silence him.
Or is the story a bonus? Are you after Naruto?
Not wholly, or completely. Naruto couldn't vanish without a lot of questions being raised. But if he was wondering if Naruto could be controlled…
Too much speculation. I didn't know.
"And now there's a forest there, and stuff," Naruto finished, scratching his neck. "It's not a desert anymore."
That part didn't make any sense if you didn't know about the Gelel or the natural energy, but those parts of the tale were classified.
"A forest?" Sai asked. "It was created? Like… Wood Release?"
"The First Hokage's ability?" Naruto frowned. "A little bit, I guess? I don't really know. They weren't Hashirama trees, though, if that's what you're asking."
That… was an excellent assumption, even if it was completely and utterly wrong. "It would be interesting if there were people out there with the First Hokage's bloodlimit, wouldn't it?" I mused out loud.
If Sai really was reporting in to Danzo about this, then a little misdirect like this wouldn't hurt. The further from the truth he was, the better. And it wasn't like there were any mysterious Senju-like figures for him to find, even if he did start searching.
"Yeah!" Naruto grinned. "That would be pretty cool. I bet they'd be really strong."
"I see," Sai said, almost pensively. "That is very interesting."
We set a watch, but I slept lightly anyway. I didn't entirely trust Sai to take his without incident. Oh, I didn't think he would let us be attacked – but he could get up to a lot of things while the rest of us were unaware.
Therefore, I was awake when Naruto surged out of bed. "Sazanami found him!" Naruto blurted out, getting his legs tangled in his sleeping roll and nearly falling over. He hopped, impatiently, and shook them away.
I slid out of bed with a little more grace. "Where?"
"Not far," Naruto said, squinting into the night. "There's a valley to the west of the town…"
I rolled my sleeping roll up, quickly and efficiently, and sealed it away. Sai was moving too, packing up his gear, and we dismantled the campfire and buried the ashes.
"Here, take these," I said, pulling three square tags out of my pouch. "They LED's – lights. Channel chakra into them and they'll work."
They were stronger than the version that I'd used in my other seal, but not much more than a good light bulb. The need to constantly channel chakra was both an upside and downside – you'd have to keep concentrating on it, but we could stop and start it easily at will, which could come in really handy in some situations. Like if we needed to sneak up on a fight in progress.
"A torch." Naruto nodded. He held it uncertainly for a minute before grinning and tucking it into the front of his headband. He had to concentrate, but after a second, the light blinked on.
I turned my eyes away. "Jeeze, ruin my night vision, why don't you?" But it wasn't a bad idea – it kept his hands free and provided good light – as long as he could keep it going. Maybe I could affix the seal to his actual headband, in future.
We followed his lead to the fight, but it was well over by the time we got there. The 'valley' was a narrow channel, maybe a dried out river bed, with high walls on either side. It was almost a perfect spot for an ambush. I wondered who had ambushed who, because it was clear there had been a fight. There were senbon – no, nails, so that was where the nickname came from – scattered over the ground, and Sazanami's sword lay forlornly discarded. Sai knelt to examine the footprints in the ground, but Naruto beckoned me to the side.
"Spider used a replacement jutsu to get him out of the way," he said. "But he still got pretty hurt."
"Show me," I ordered, taking mental stock of what was in my medical kit. I slapped my LED to my forehead and used chakra to both stick it there and light it up.
Naruto scaled the wall easily, taking me to an outcropping that had been hidden from view from below. Sazanami was flat on his back, breathing shakily and in obvious pain, but it wasn't as bad as it first looked. He'd obviously managed to block or deflect whatever was aimed at vital points, and I was confident that I could treat the rest.
I'd had practice. Nails weren't too different from senbon, even if Haku hadn't aimed his with intent to kill.
"I didn't give Spider a lot of chakra," Naruto said, sounding almost upset. "It sent the memories, but then it didn't have enough to fight."
"You got him out," I said, as calmly and confidently as I could. "He's fine. I can heal him, and then we'll go after Gosunkugi."
"That man…" Naruto clenched his fist. "He's a real nasty piece of work."
"We'll go after him," I repeated. I laid a glowing green hand on Sazanami's forehead, sending my chakra to measure the damage and numb the pain. "Go help Sai, okay? See if there are any clues down below."
I didn't exactly want Sai and Naruto off alone together, but Naruto was upset, and this wasn't exactly going to be pretty.
Grimly, I took hold of the first nail and pulled it out.
It squelched.
.
.
"There is a group of five travelling west," Sai remarked, landing on the ledge behind me. It wasn't a big space, and with four of us there it was getting crowded. "They're undoubtedly heading to Station Two. We can catch them before they arrive." He looked unconcerned with everything that had happened tonight. I didn't really expect anything else from him.
Naruto nodded, almost absently. "Is Sazanami awake?" he asked me, peering over my shoulder. "Oh, hey! Are you okay?"
Sazanami stopped staring at my glowing hands – finally – and gave him a shaky nod. "I am. How… how did you get here?"
Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Well, uhm," he dragged out. "You see…"
"You were our best lead on Gosunkugi," I said softly, which was the truth but not the whole truth. 'How' was a little tidbit I wanted to keep under wraps.
"He kicked your ass pretty bad," Naruto said with utter bluntness. I nearly cringed. "Why's it so important for you to catch him?"
Sazanami took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I owe you an explanation," he said, reluctantly.
I finished healing the last of his injuries and sat back. Medical jutsu weren't incredibly chakra intensive by nature, but there had been a lot of small injuries and it had taken me a long time, so it had used a fair portion. I could still fight, but I'd have to watch it.
"Years ago," Sazanami started. "I was a swordsmith." He touched the handled of the sword that Naruto had retrieved for him. "I lived in a small village, but people would travel fair distances so that I would forge a weapon for them. I think some of them were even ninja, but they rarely said anything about it. It was… a good life." He sighed. "It was the day of the festival. I was delivering a sword to a customer when I walked past a house that had its doors left wide open. I thought it was a little unusual, so I stopped to see what was happening. I fought him," he said. "But it was already too late. The family was dead. And I was no match for him. He escaped."
"Gosunkugi," Naruto confirmed.
Sazanami nodded. "I told everyone what had happened, but they didn't believe me. They said I was the only person not at the festival and… I was carrying a weapon. They wouldn't listen to reason. I ran," he admitted. "Became a fugitive. I swore that I would bring Gosunkugi to justice, so that they would know the truth."
Running might not have helped him much, I thought, in appearing innocent. But that would depend on which country he had been in, and what the justice process was like there. I couldn't make that judgement.
"So you became a bounty hunter to clear your name," Naruto concluded. "That's why it's so important to you."
"This is irrelevant to our mission," Sai interrupted. "We should begin our pursuit of the criminal. It will become more difficult if he reaches the next station."
Naruto nodded firmly. "Right. We should go." He raced through a set of hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu; Gamanori!"
"Naruto!" I protested, leaping up to stand on the wall. "Careful!"
Gamanori was only small when you compared him to the other summons of the toad contract. He was big enough to ride, and the toad that Naruto frequently summoned when he wanted to do so.
"Hey," the toad said, not seeming at all to mind that he was being summoned in an awkward locale. "You need a ride?"
"Not me, but Sazanami does," Naruto explained, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "He got kinda beat up, but we need to move fast, okay?"
The toad shrugged, which looked … odd on an amphibian. "You're the boss," he deferred.
Sazanami appeared to decide he had been shocked enough for one night, and gamely raised one hand to lift his hat. "Pleasure to meet you."
Sai was almost frowning. "Why did you do that?"
Naruto blinked. "Well, if we have to move fast, then he's not going to be able to keep up with us," he said logically. "But Gamanori can."
"We don't have to bring him with us. We know where Gosunkugi is," Sai pointed out. I wouldn't quite have called it 'arguing' but there was some definite tension there.
"We have to clear his name," Naruto said, as though it had already been decided. In his mind, it probably had. "So of course he has to be there with us."
"That wasn't our mission," Sai said. He glanced at me, frustrated. Clearly hoping I would intervene.
"The two are not entirely mutually exclusive," I said calmly. True, it would be much more difficult, but… not impossible.
Sazanami's reasoning was not a bad one. And, okay, I really wanted to see how Sai reacted to something off script like this.
"It's pointless," he said. "We should focus on our mission."
"This is our mission," Naruto argued, crossing his arms. "It's all the same in the end – we just have to catch Gosunkugi!"
"You can't… change the mission." Poor Sai. He sounded so bewildered. In a flat, monotone way.
"I'm not changing the mission," Naruto denied. "I'm, uh, I'm making a field command decision, based on new information to, uhm, to-"
"Update our objectives?" I supplied. "To ensure that all loose ends are appropriately dealt with and will cause no future issues?"
"That," Naruto agreed with a nod.
"The- The Hokage won't like it," Sai said, and now I knew his arguments were becoming desperate. I wondered what he'd been about to say first, before he'd changed it.
"Why not?" Naruto asked, honestly puzzled. To be fair, he had brought home at least two borderline enemy ninja to the village and had them folded in. This wouldn't even rate on the list of things he thought Tsunade would be upset about.
"I don't think she'll mind as much as you suspect," I said dryly. "And anyway, she's too far away to ask – that's why shinobi are authorised to make field decisions. You're a Chunin; surely you've had a mission where you had to make a judgement call?"
Sai withdrew. There was no other word for it.
Maybe the last question had been going too far. I doubted he ever had been able to make a judgement call in the field, not truly. Not without it being exactly what Danzo would have wanted anyway.
Poor kid.
"Let's go," Naruto said impatiently, when Sai didn't argue anymore. "We need to catch this guy."
We headed out, running down the wall and following the curve of the pathway towards the next town. Gamanori kept pace with us easily, landing in surprisingly quiet thumps for such a large creature.
Honestly, some part of me expected Gosunkugi to lose us, or to reach the next town. It just seemed like a thing that would happen. But he was a man travelling on foot, who expected to have a whole night to get where he was going.
And we were ninja on a mission.
"I sense him," I breathed.
We slid to a halt.
"There's five men," I said, concentrating. "One of them has moderate chakra levels, the others are no higher than civilians." I'd pick that the one with chakra was Gosunkugi, and that his rapid firing nails were some kind of jutsu. We'd have to watch out for that.
"Okay, Shikako, you go right. Sai, you go left. I'll jump down and get him."
It was a very simple plan. Basic pincer movement, with Naruto providing a head on attack and distraction. But simple wasn't bad.
Sazanami slid down off the toad. "Wait. I can help."
Naruto grinned, a little feral. "Nah, don't worry. We got this."
I nodded to him, then split off to circle around, sensing Sai do the same in the other direction. The sun wasn't up yet, but if I could get into position and get some light going, then they still wouldn't be able to evade my shadows.
"Hey, Gosunkugi!" Naruto shouted, voice breaking the dark stillness of the air like a glass shattering on the ground. "I've got something to say to you!"
I rolled my eyes. He couldn't have waited another minute, could he?
I cut my wide circle short, instead aiming for a rocky outcropping closer to the group.
I was close enough to hear the low mutter of 'so who is this brat' and I crouched down, pressing my hand to the rock and setting a seal, just in case.
"You're under arrest!" Naruto shouted down at the group. "For being a thief! And for hurting my friend!" He was standing out in full view, silhouetted against the moon. He couldn't have made himself a better target if he tried.
Ah. Of course.
"I don't have time to waste on the likes of you," Gosunkugi said, utterly dismissive. He took a single nail out of his pocket, and flicked it to the ground. "Torpedo Nails!"
It seemed to be a derivative of the Shadow Clone Kunai jutsu, multiplying one into a storm of many.
I wondered if Gosunkugi had had ninja training, but that wasn't the sort of thing that would be left out of our mission briefing. If he had, then it was well buried. He wasn't a missing nin. Chakra and related skills weren't entirely the province of ninja, no matter what we might have liked to think – Jako hadn't been a ninja either, and he'd still got us into trouble with that sticky chakra of his.
The nails soared towards Naruto, a lethal net of spikes.
He burst into smoke.
The real Naruto dropped down from above – just like he said he would – and landed feet first on Gosunkugi's face.
"Lighting Release: Radiating Shockwave," I called, because it was a good area of effect jutsu. It struck the four accomplices, arching along the metal swords they carried, and making them drop. Then Sai's ink beasts were on them, and they were out of the fight.
All in all… it had taken about a second. It was probably the easiest fight I'd ever been in.
I waited for another beat, just to make sure that there was no last minute save and retaliation, and they weren't faking us out, and then scuffed a foot over my seal and cancelled it.
Naruto was frowning down at the criminals. He looked up at me and scratched his neck. "Was that it?" he asked, sounding honestly a little puzzled. He nudged the unconscious body with his foot.
I shrugged. "I guess so."
Sai faded into sight. "Targets nullified, taicho," he said stiffly.
Naruto looked around once more, still seeming disappointed. "Right, well okay. Let's get these guys to the sheriff."