••••••••••

Naruto

••••••••••

Hinata and I raced down the hall after the guard and I made a flying tackle through the hatch way. Hinata ran past me and was on the radio operator before he could turn around to see what was happening. Quickly tapping several spots on his body, he fell slack out of the chair, the headphones falling off his head, dangling on a wire. I shoved the guard's head into the floor, and he stopped straining, going slack into unconsciousness.

"That was awesome! Gentle fist is really cool!"

Hinata blushed prettily, and I suddenly had an epiphany. I really was as stupid as everyone always said. I had thought she was sick! She was blushing over me!

"Ah, you did well-" Hinata was cut off by the radio.

"This is Mei. What's going on in there? I was supposed to talk to Gato ten minutes ago! Come in, over," a woman's voice, slightly distorted by static.

I blinked at the radio. Sensei hadn't given us any directions on what to do if someone called in. I looked at Hinata, but she seemed frozen, wide eyed.

I stepped up to the machinery and pressed the biggest button. I hoped it worked like in the shows. "Uh, everything is under control. Situation normal, uh, over," I said. You're supposed to let go of the button now, right?

"What happened?"

I took a deep breath. It seemed to be working.

"Uh, had a slight weapons malfunction, one of the cannons went off. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you?"

"Wha- cannon? Look, I need to talk to Gato about -sshs- deal. Put him on, or I'll come over there and shoot you out of your cannon, head first."

Hinata had grabbed me by the shoulder and was waving her other hand. I shrugged.

"Uh, uh, negative, negative. We had a steam engine leak here. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak... very dangerous."

"What? I can't get there now! … Who are -ssskkk- anyway? You sound too young to be the operator."

I looked over at Hinata. She was shaking her head frantically. I looked over back at the radio. I grimaced, took a deep breath...

"Okay. There's a change of plans. See, Gato isn't actually going to sell you weapons next trip. He's selling… you. I mean, your location. To the Mizukage."

There was silence on the other end. "I see. And why -hhkkk- you telling me this?"

I paused. Why was I telling her this? She ought to know, sure, but we were going to take care of it right?

"Well, I thought you should know. He's not a nice guy you yeah?. He's selling arms to you and Mist. Er, was."

"Was?"

Hinata seemed to be praying, but I couldn't really stop now.

"Yep. We took over his ship so he'd stop badgering our client, and his bridge would be safe. Sensei says you'd be much better in charge of Mist than the current guy."

"... Your sensei said -ssshhh-at hmm? Who is he?"

Hinata actually covered my mouth and pushed me back. "What, I wasn't going to tell her that. I'm not stupid."

"Are you still there, young man?"

"What are you doing? Just because we helped her incidentally, she could still be an enemy!" Hinata hissed.

"I'm diplo-mating her," I explained.

Hinata blinked, and put her hands over her face.

I moved back to the button. "Sorry, I was talking with, um, an associate. I probably shouldn't tell you who sensei is."

"Could you tell me mo-hisssck- about this bridge?"

"Uh, I guess. A local is trying to build a bridge in order to make trade easier here, since Gato has mo-nop-o-lized the shipping for the area." I smiled, Sakura had taught me that word. "Gato hired a fancy ninja called Zabuza, but we dropped a spider on him by accident. Anyway, we don't really want to fight a Mist Swordsman, so we decided to take out Gato. And then we found out you were going to be sold out."

I let go of the button, and Hinata butted in, "This is a bad idea!"

I smiled. "It'll all work out! We saved her. We're practically friends!"

"Did you say Zabuza? As in one of the ex-Seven Swordsman of the Mist Zabuza?"

"I think so. He certainly had a big sword. I didn't see him for very long, what with the spider falling on him."

"What -ssshk- a spider falling on him good for?"

"Well, it was a re-eally big spider. We all rode home on his back."

Another pause. "I think it's about time -skkkshh- fetched your sensei, and the two of us talk."

"Um, I'll do that. I can't promise he'll want too, but I'll ask!"

"You do that please."

Hinata looked faint. And probably not because she was near me. "You are going to get in so much trouble," she said, fidgeting. "You aren't supposed to be talking to ninja from other villages!"

I smiled. "Like I said, we're all practically friends here! We all want this evil kage gone, even Kurenai-sensei said so! I'm sure we can all talk about it. Let's go find Tsume-sensei."

••••••••••

Sakura

••••••••••

Sensei looked up from a stack of papers and frowned. "Taking care of that issue shouldn't have taken so long. I'm going to check the radio room and make sure there aren't any problems. The three of you stay here and watch Gato."

Which is how I found myself on guard duty. With Ringumo, which was fine. And Babukun. Just glancing at him sent a shiver up my spine. He… seemed nice. And maybe a bit dim. But good lord, nothing should look like that.

Gato was tied up in the corner, and still testing the ropes. I suppose he was the opposite of Babukun. Sure, he looked slightly greasy, but he was a monster on the inside rather than the outside. I had read a few of the papers Sensei had collected. I had planned on reading more… but I couldn't. I wasn't sure if we were planning on killing him or throwing him in prison, but I don't think either were truly adequate punishments. I doubted sensei was actually going to let him go. He was a man who profited off of misery, and promoted it wherever he could.

I fidgeted a bit. I was still perturbed over the revelation that Naruto somehow had the Kyuubi-no Kitsune sealed inside of him. On the one hand, Hinata was right. It didn't change anything. He was Naruto before I learned about it, and he was Naruto now that I knew.

On the other hand, it changed everything.

I understood about information control and 'need to know', but how could I trust what I learned if the instructors were fine with covering up fairly important bits of history?

Not to mention he burst into flaming red chakra! That was not normal!

"I hope Naruto and Hinata are all right," Ringumo said, breaking both the silence and my train of thought.

I turned to her and managed a weak grin. "I'm sure Hinata can keep them out of trouble. There can't be too many more people on the boat. And unless they end up in the engine room somehow, I doubt they can cause any problems."

I saw Babukun start moving his… spider jaws menacingly out of the corner of my eye. Pedipalps? He didn't look like a normal spider, I didn't know if the word applied. And I didn't really want to look too hard at him either.

"Hey. What you doing? You're tied up, yeah? Don't move around so much."

BLAM

My attention jerked back to Gato as the loud noise reverberated around the room. I saw a few bits of Babukun flying across the room, and felt a bit of chitin smack wetly against my cheek before it all disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"It's not the first time I've been tied up, actually," Gato said, pushing the ropes free and reaching into his jacket for something. "I learned a few tricks. Not as good as you ninja have, but you'll die just the same."

It took me the whole time he spoke to realize what had happened. Time seemed to slow down as I realized the small thing in his hand was a gun. It looked odd, like a single fire, large caliber type. Holdout pistol, if memory served. He started pulling out another bullet from his jacket, and I reacted instinctively against the threat.

I flung a hissing kunai into his shoulder, and his scream was interrupted by another loud bang, painting the filing cabinets near him in blood.

He fell against the floor, and I blinked a few times, scanning the room, expecting the replacement technique to turn the body back into a piece of furniture any moment.

Ringumo slowly moved closer. "Sakura. He's down. He's not a ninja, remember?"

I swallowed, and lowered my trio of shuriken. When had they gotten into my hand?

My whole body was... thrumming? "He killed Babukun."

Ringumo got closer. "It's fine. He's back on the spider plane. We can't really die here. Well… maybe with seals? It hurts a bit, but he went quick. Calm down, it's over."

I took a few more deep breaths. "Ah, we need him for intelligence." I ran over to Gato.

"Oh." I had been going to use a healing jutsu. But there wasn't much point. The kunai I had used had one of my exploding tags wrapped around the haft. It had literally blown his arm off at the shoulder. His face was damaged as well.

"Sakura." Ringumo took my hand and started pulling me out of the room. "Let's get out of here for now."

••••••••••

Andoryuu

••••••••••

I found them coming back down the hall. One brief explanation later and-

"You did what?!"

"I answered the radio. That Mei woman you were talking about, the one getting betrayed called. Said she needed to talk to Gato. And well, Gato wasn't going to answer, so I told her we had a steam engine leak."

I sighed. "Why?"

"Well, first I said there was a cannon misfire, but she said she was going to come over and fire me out of the cannon, so I didn't want her comin-"

"I get the picture," I said, already feeling another headache coming on. "What did you tell her?"

Hinata spoke up. "He explained about the bridge, and Zabuza, and that she was going to be betrayed, and that we have the ship and Gato," she took a breath after it all came out at once. "Please don't be mad."

I paused. Took a deep breath. Pushed my glasses up and pinched my brow. Counted to ten. And finally, I spoke. "Let's talk to her then. It would be rude to leave a lady waiting on the radio."

Naruto grinned widely at Hinata. "See? I told you he'd be fine with it!"

"If this turns out badly, Naruto, you don't get ramen for a month after we get back."

Naruto's eyes shot open, as did his mouth. Finally he rebooted. "That's… you can't do that! There are rules! Even prisoners get ramen!"

I snorted. "We can have a debate on the ethics of ramen, which you will lose, or we go and talk to the hopefully understanding ninja lady and try to resolve things. Your choice!"

Naruto scowled. "Fine! Come on!"

I needed to teach Naruto a lesson, but this was working fine for the plan. Trust Naruto's luck for Mei to call us. I hadn't been certain how I'd reach out to her in the first place, and now she wanted to talk to me.

The three of us made it to the radio. I hoped the rest of the genin weren't getting up to as much mischief.

I pushed the transmit button and called out: "This is Andoryu Tsume. Do I have the pleasure of speaking to Mei Terumi?"

"You do. I have a few questions."

"I thought you might. By all means, I'll answer what I can."

"What is going on?"

I chuckled a bit before transmitting again. It did sound unlikely. "It sounds as if my genin has filled you in on most of it. Next time we do something like this, I'll make it clear for them not to answer any communications."

"So you're a Konaha jonin, hmm?"

"Was it that obvious?"

"The only villages that would realistically do work -sskhs- Wave country are Konoha and Suna, and you don't have the accent for hidden sand."

"I'll take that as a compliment, shall I?"

"If you like. Now, I can appreciate your inadvertent help in removing my double crossing arms supplier, but do you mind telling me what you plan on doing with that boat?"

"I hadn't planned on doing anything with it really. Although I assume if I go through the real manifest I'll find some interesting items?"

There was another pause. "I'd really appreciate it if you left those on the boat. You could just anchor it off shore, and no one will ever need to know this took place… Unless we win."

"One moment," I let out a sigh. This was good, she was amenable to negotiations. Her promise of favors in the future held no real weight, but she seemed fairly noble through my memories of canon. I did need a bit of time to think how I'd frame my idea. I let a little more time go by before finally answering.

"I'm personally okay with that idea. But I'm not so sure how that aligns with official foreign policy… Actually, I have a problem too. I'm pretty sure Zabuza is alive and resting his bruised body after our encounter. I could probably manage to leave a copy of all Gato's financial papers here for you to take over, if you could convince Zabuza to join your rebellion and leave us alone. He is on the run for trying to start a coup, right?"

Their side connected, then dropped off after a moment. I blinked, hoping there wasn't a technical issue. It connected again. "When you say papers, -hskssk- exactly do you mean?"

Her interest was definitely peaked. "We've barely started to go through it. But whatever's here. I imagine a group of talented ninja could take a transport empire, get rid of the drug smuggling and slave trade and focus on honest work like arms running to revolutionaries. It looks like he's got enough in his account to fund a war, if one didn't mind collapsing the business afterwards. The bank account numbers must be in here somewhere, a man like that wouldn't remember them all."

More silence on their end.

"I see. I think we can convince Zabuza -sksshs- you alone... One way or another. Would you mind if we spoke in person?"

"That seems doable. I hope you don't bring too many, Wave doesn't have the amenities at the moment to put up a whole crowd of hungry freedom fighters."

"Ah. Perhaps just myself and an assistant or two?"

"That seems reasonable."

"It will take me a few days. We had -shsks- expecting… alternate appointments."

"Understandable. Zabuza should be under the weather for another day or so, but try to hurry. I don't have the resources to easily guard my client, his bridge and the boat at once. Frankly, the boat will be on the bottom of my list."

"I see. We'll try to get there quickly then."

"Wonderful. If that's all then?"

"I think anything else can wait until we're -shkkhs- to face."

"In that case, flagship out."

I took a deep breath and stretched. Surprise diplomacy is nerve-wracking, even if I had been expecting this at some point.

Hinata was chewing her lip, and Naruto looked like he was awaiting sentence in court.

"Is my ramen safe?"

"If she doesn't try to kill us when she gets here. I should probably ban you for a week just on principle."

Naruto whimpered.

I suddenly felt Babukun leave this plane. Forcibly.

"Something happened. Get back where we came from. I'm going ahead, drag them with you." I indicated to the two sleeping bodies as I raced off.

••••••••••

Ringumo

••••••••••

I led Sakura out of the room. This was probably her first kill. We should both have been paying more attention to Gato, but I don't think any of us had expected him to have been able to free himself.

We were out in one of the cramped hallways now, and I went up against the wall and sat down, pulling Sakura down with me.

"Wha-?!"

"Shh." I could tell she was still shaken. Either by Babukun, or Gato. Probably both. I've gotten forced back before. It hurts. Not as much as she probably thought, but it wasn't something you wanted to happen.

I manhandled her so we were both sitting down, leaning back. Me into the wall, and her into me.

"You did the right thing. He was a threat, and you removed it."

"He wasn't a fighter. I could have walked up and smacked the gun out of his hand. I could have beaten him with both hands tied behind my back."

"True, but he surprised us both, and just shot Babukun. This just means you have good instincts."

"I still shouldn't have used an exploding kunai."

I wrapped my arms around her. "Perhaps. He was going to kill us. Have you ever seen a gun before? It was my first time." Sakura started to relax a bit. I could feel tension slowly leaving her body.

"Me too. I've seen pictures. They told us about them in class."

We sat there for a bit in silence.

"Have you killed anyone before, Ringumo?"

"I eat things I catch regularly. At least we kill them first. Some of the clans…"

"Eurgh. Not what I meant though."

"I know. Yeah. I had to defend myself in the clan war Tsume finished. I've also killed a few humans helping Tsume."

"Oh."

...

"In the war, the Mizugumo clan once tricked Tsume. Once. Well, maybe more than that, but I remember this one. They had him lead an offensive against what we thought was a very important target pretty far from home. Most of the clan had left. I was too young to go, and most of the others with me were younger, or too old to fight. While the force was out, the Mizugumo attacked. I had to activate the Golden Silk defense, since I was nearly the only direct descendant of Jorougumo still at home."

"What's the Golden Silk defense?"

"It's a massive web that surrounds our tree. You probably couldn't have seen it where we were, and it's hard to see unless you look for it specifically. If you activate it, it becomes harder than diamond, and we have it set up so that when the wind makes the branches move even slightly, it all dances about. Hmmm, I've heard your 4th Hokage was famous for taking out a whole bunch of ninja at once, right?"

"The Golden Flash. Yeah, during the last war he took out an entire flank of ninja. No one really knows how it worked."

"The Golden Silk is our ultimate defense. Mom can use it offensively, because she's awesome, but it's normally only used to protect the tree. I was barely able to activate it. I won't be able to make one for… decades probably. The Mizugomu retreated. But not before hundreds died."

Sakura gasped.

"I did it to save our home and everyone in it."

Sakura nodded weakly.

…

"Does it get easier? The jonin seem to just do it without any thought."

I thought about my answer. "I'm an obligate carnivore. It may be different for me. It becomes trivial, to be honest. I'm not sure if that's good though."

…

"How did you get so wise?"

"I'm older than you, silly."

Sakura tensed up, and I hugged her again.

"Seriously?" Sakura asked, incredulously.

"In spider years? Yeah."

"Oh."

I grinned. "I've found the secret to wisdom is playing fetch."

Sakura snorted, then started chuckling. A few seconds later she was laughing, and I joined in.

...

"Ringumo? Thanks."

I smiled, and hugged her a bit tighter. "Of course."

"... I'm getting up now."

"Why?"

"You're still naked, and your nipples are poking me in my back."

"Oh. Sorry."

"I'll overlook it this time. When we get back to civilization, we're going shopping. You need a few things. Like a bra."

••••••••••

Sasuke

••••••••••

We returned victorious, if slightly limping and with a ringing in our ears.

I overheard conversation as we approached the room Gato was being held in. "... going shopping. You need a few things. Like a bra."

I shuddered. Clothes shopping. I turned the corner to find Sakura standing up and Ringumo on the floor.

I blinked.

Kiba bumped into my back, and Shino slid out of the way, then stopped, probably having heard at least as much as I had.

Ringumo hopped up as well. "I don't know, clothing is awfully restrictive."

Sakura shook her head. "I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing thing until you get some clothes. It's awkward."

I reminded myself this was probably completely innocuous.

That didn't mean I couldn't imagine.

"I assume Babukun is watching Gato?"

Sakura jerked, and had her hand in her weapon pouch before she stopped suddenly. She swallowed and flushed.

Ringumo put a hand on her shoulder. "Not exactly. There was an incident… Uh, you guys don't look so great yourself."

"They put up more resistance than expected," Shino said in his typical dry manner.

Akamaru suddenly barked and ran into the room.

Kiba followed, with Shino and I following. The girls stayed outside.

"Oh. I had thought all that blood stench was coming from us," Kiba muttered.

Gato was on the ground, with his right arm several yards away.

Sakura and Ringumo entered the room as well, and I looked back at them.

"Incident?" I managed without too much inflection.

Sakura frowned and looked away.

"I distracted Sakura, and Gato got free from his ropes somehow. He had a gun and shot Babukun, sending him back to the spider plane. Sakura disabled him before he could reload."

I looked back at the scene. On the one hand, I was tempted to call this pathetic. After our run in with firearms, though, I couldn't really throw stones. We resorted to fireballs and explosives pretty quickly.

Shino broke my thoughts. "Well, at least you acted decisively. Babukun isn't permanently injured, correct?"

Ringumo shook her head. "No, it's quite unpleasant, but we know what can happen before we come over here."

Shino nodded. I figured I had better say something. "Well, at least you're both all right."

Sakura nodded slightly. She still wasn't looking at us. Or Gato.

Kiba tapped Akamaru with the tip of his sandal, and the dog looked up at him, before trotting over and jumping up against Sakura's leg.

Sakura bent over and picked him up.

"Thanks Kiba," she said, petting Akamaru.

Kiba looked discouraged by being so easily seen through, but shrugged.

"Would you mind healing my chest, Sakura? I'm still bleeding a little from a wooden crate exploding into it."

Sakura became alert. "Of course! Um, I'm not great with lacerations yet, but I can close them up and dress it."

"Thank you." Shino started taking off his jacket, before pausing. "Actually, if you would just treat and dress it, that would probably be for the better," he said, resuming to strip.

"What, why?"

"Since you are new to healing techniques, there are… nuances with Aburame physiology."

Shino pulled off his shirt, and revealed several shallow, angry red wounds, as well as many small holes networking across his skin.

Sakura blinked, momentarily taken aback, then nodded. "Oh, right. I can use the standard ointments right?"

Shino nodded, and looked away.

"Sasuke, I'm feeling hungry. You want to see if Akamaru and I can find something to eat in the mess?"

I shrugged. There wasn't anything left to guard here. "Hn. Why not. We should still remain in pairs anyway."

Ringumo bounced to her feet. "I'll come! Snacks!"

"Stay safe," Sakura called over her shoulder, a small kit of bandages and ointments open in her lap.

••••••••••

Sakura

••••••••••

I held up a bottle. "Can I use alcohol as a disinfectant?"

"Yes. Try to limit the total area you cover to just around the wounds though," Shino cautioned.

I poured it into my cupped hand, the scent already making my eyes water. That at least meant a high alcohol content. "This will sting."

"I know. This is not my first time getting hurt." He sounded slightly amused, and was still looking straight ahead.

I bit my lip. "Sorry. It's my first time doing this for real."

He looked back at me. "Oh. Right. Sorr- hgn."

He bit off a hiss as I gently rubbed it into the area. With my clean hand, I ran over his back and sides. "Just checking for any more splinters."

"Right," he answered with a nod.

"Here, lift your arm. I need better access." I grabbed his hand and draped it over my shoulder to keep his arm high and out of the way.

I will not blush. I will not blush.

I ran through the seals for the breeze campfire jutsu sensei taught us. The alcohol evaporated almost immediately.

Shino shivered. "Cold."

"Sorry. Ointment now."

I rubbed the ointment into Shino's side, over the wounds. Thankfully they weren't deep, but they still needed treatment to prevent infection.

Behind his ever present sunglasses, he studied me. I flushed under the scrutiny.

"What?" I asked, a little bit annoyed. His own cheeks colored, very slightly.

"Forgive me. I have not had a girl see me this… exposed before," he admitted with a slight pause. For anyone else it would have been a stutter. I flushed harder, and scowled.

"I-" a sudden thought struck me. "We don't have to get married now, do we?" I asked on impulse. He raised an eyebrow. I shook my head. "I-I mean, I know how some clans can be a bit, um, old fashioned and well…"

"More than likely Hinata would not have been placed on our team had our clans possessed such archaic laws," Shino said calmly. I nodded. "Also, I would have told you beforehand."

"O-0kay… Right. Of course. Sorry. Um, no offense," I said quickly, eyes averted.

He was silent for a moment. "Would marriage to me be that unpleasant?"

"What? No! I-I mean, that's not what I meant!" I insisted quickly.

"Good. I did not wish to bug you," he stated.

I gaped in disbelief as I saw the corner of his mouth tilt up. "Wha- was that a joke?"

"... Was it funny?" Shino asked, with another pause. I smiled at him, and chuckled despite the surreal nature of the situation.

"Well… Now, yes," I said. Shino nodded. "You don't seem the type. To make jokes, I mean."

He just barely shrugged, and I felt his wrist slide slightly across my shoulder as my fingers continued bandaging his wounds. "Humor is the only sane way to deal with an insane world," he said philosophically.

I blinked. "I guess I try and figure out why it's insane."

"Oh?"

"You can't change something if you don't understand it," I explained. Shino nodded.

"Is that why you pursue Uchiha, then?" He asked. "To understand and change him?"

I would have stumbled, were we standing. I gaped at how direct Shino was being, but he simply stared back, impassively.

"I… you think he's crazy?"

"... Not particularly, especially for a ninja. It was a bit of a segue, I admit." He stared at me as I wrapped bandages around his arm. "Do you think he's crazy?"

I shook my head, "He's a lot less mysterious now, having been on a team with him."

"So you have understanding. Now you can change him?"

"I don't want to- look, you started this weird analogy. Anyway, I don't think anything can really change him."

"So… Why pursue him?" Shino asked.

I opened my mouth. I didn't really know what to say. Thankfully I didn't need to. "Look at that. All done."

Shino just nodded.

••••••••••

Andoryuu

••••••••••

I rushed down the halls back to where I had left Babukun. There shouldn't have been anyone left who could take him out. While he wasn't a particularly good fighter, even most genin would be wary of taking him on, if only from the appearance.

With the tight corridors, hatchways, and tight corners, I couldn't move as quickly as I wanted, and it took me several minutes to get up a deck and across the ship.

I found Sakura applying bandages to a topless Shino out in the hall.

I blinked. It was not the situation I expected to find.

"Look at that. All done," Sakura declared. Shino nodded.

"Um. Situation report?"

Sakura jerked slightly, she must have been focused on the bandaging job. "Well. Uh, we had… an issue. Everyone's safe."

"Babukun got sent back," I disagreed.

"Well, yes." She sighed. "Ringumo and I were chatting for a moment, and suddenly Babukun exploded, and Gato freed himself and was reloading a pistol. So I kind of panicked and blew his arm off with an exploding kunai."

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out for a moment. "... Oh." I looked at Shino. "And what's the story with your group?"

"We met heavier resistance than expected. There were thirteen men armed with guns, some of which are not types we've been told about in class. One was a genin or possibly chunin, and our ambush was not completely effective. The survivors are all tied up and unconscious now. I received some wooden shrapnel from a crate that got blown up. Kiba, Sasuke, and Ringumo went to look for snacks, while I was treated. I suspect we'll all need some healing for hearing loss. The ninja had some sort of rapid fire gun, and we're all experiencing tinnitus. The smoke and explosions killed much of my kikaichu swarm, but I should be recovered within a few days."

Well, no wonder Mei wanted this shipment. If someone had managed to make a man portable fully automatic gun, that would be a game changer. Technically the material science was available to make something like the AK-47, or possibly some kind of primitive machine-pistol style smg. If that was true, I definitely needed to confirm and report this. Perhaps even destroy them before they got to Mei.

"Alright, we can save the full debrief until we get back, I'm sure Kurenai will want to hear it as well. I'm going to check on Gato, then I need to see these new weapons. I can probably help with your ears as well when I get back."

"Thank you."

I went in. Huh. She really did blow his arm off.

I sighed. He was doomed already, but I had hoped to get more information out of him first.

I crossed the room and examined Gato. Apparently his shoulder caught one of Sakura's exploding tag wrapped kunai. Nice work, in a sense. It was definitely overkill, but it was better to over do it than under do it. I could work with this. I couldn't work with dead students.

I moseyed back outside ( I can do a mean mosey on occasion), "Nice throw, but next time try to save the exploding kunai for ninja."

"Yes sir," Sakura responded, blushing slightly.

I shrugged. "No big loss. I kind of doubt he was the type to micro manage everything. He probably paid just enough attention to make sure no one was cheating him out of his cash."

Naruto and Hinata appeared, dragging their two captives behind. Kiba, Sasuke and Ringumo entered through the other end of the hallway with snacks and some bottles.

"Good timing. You all stay here, I need to look at those weapons, but I think this is basically all wrapped up. We're going to dock, incapacitate anyone left at the docks, and throw all these bums on land."

"I thought we were going to anchor the boat out in the water, so Mei could collect it?" Naruto asked.

"No, that's what I said so she'd have a sense of urgency. The plan was to leave them alone, but now we're going to have enough variables in play. I want all the minions corralled, which means we're going to spend the night making a jail."

A collective groan went through the halls as the kids realized they were in for lots of manual labor.

"It's that or we kill them all. There's no practical way to keep this many people tied up without them dehydrating or getting loose."

Thankfully no one seemed to take the killing them option too seriously.

"Hang on a moment," Kiba finished swallowing an onigiri and asked with a frown, "Wasn't Mei the woman from mist? When did you talk with her?"

"Naruto decided to answer the radio. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it when he explains to Kurenai how we got wrapped up in international politics."

Naruto's eyes grew wide.

I smiled. "By the way, I decided that if you do a good job with that, your ramen is safe."

He swallowed. "Thanks?"

Author's Note: This is the end of weekly updates. The story is still being written, but IRL stuff is slowing the pace down. AJT and I have a bit of ch 16 done, but it's going to take a while probably. We're both still excited to work on the project, but real life takes precedence. Thanks for understanding, and hopefully things will get back to normal and we can speed back up some more, although I doubt we'll be putting them out every single week again.