It hadn't taken long for the two teenage girls to get comfortable around each other, regardless of Sakura's earlier misgivings. Before long the two were amiably pursuing several lines of light conversation in the hot springs.

Their talk took a different course, however, when Sakura sighed and started on a new topic.

"Kai Lynn is really beginning to worry me…"

"Hm?" Sushi questioned. "Who's Kai Lynn?"

Gesturing easily towards the dark skinned girl that was currently reclining on the cool rocks some distance away from the water, Sakura replied, "The girl you just helped save."

"Oh."

"Lynn has some serious issues…" Sakura continued. "Whenever she feels uncomfortable, her parents told her to take some kind of drug that puts her out of touch with reality…" With a quick tilt of her hand above her hand, she imitated a quick swig of a drink. "She was really hammering it down when she was sitting with me in here."

"Really? Is she not comfortable around you?"

"I…guess not."

Taking a good look at the sleeping girl, Sushi began to climb over the edge of the hot springs and made her way over the rocky surface. Her wet feet left a trail of dark wet prints to Kai Lynn, until the blonde pigtailed girl stood over the foreign girl and squinted.

Lynn began to twitch slightly as a few loose droplets of water fell from Sushi's outstretched arm onto her face.

"What are you doing?" Sakura questioned the blond girl curiously.

"Solving the problem."

With a single deft movement, Sushi snatched the small vial that contained the foreign girl's medicine.

Startled, Sakura began to stand up. "Should you really be messing with that?"

"Possibly not."

"Then why are you? Just put it back!"

"And leave the poor girl to continue struggling through a life like you described?" Sushi smiled, uncorking the vial, upsetting the contents inside and splattering a few droplets on the ground, which then quickly evaporated. "Not likely."

Sakura found herself quickly heaving her dripping body out of the steaming water to stop the smiling blonde. "Think before you act, that stuff could be important!"

"You're right," Sushi grinned even wider, watching the pink haired girl quickly approach, allowing her within arm reach before tipping the contents of the vial onto the ground beside the sleeping Lynn. "Oops."

"Hey! What were you thinking! She's going to notice that stuff is gone, and then who do you think she's going to blame?"

"You," Sushi looked directly into Sakura's eyes, "if she notices it's gone at all."

"Of course she's going to notice!" Sakura whispered furiously as Sushi moved back towards the hot springs, "She practically lives off the stuff."

Kneeling beside the spring, Sushi filled the vial with the steaming water. Re-corking the bottle, she then returned to the prone form of Kai Lynn, placing the bottle beside her and walking back to Sakura.

"Time to go."

"Hey!" Sakura protested as Sushi moved behind her and placed a calloused hand on her bare shoulder. "I'm staying here until she wakes up and I'm going to tell her what you did. She deserves to know."

"Sakura," Sushi whispered slowly, quietly, pushing the startled pink haired girl out of the hot springs area, "We have to go."

"What? Huh?" For a civilian, Sushi's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Get dressed, tell Kakashi-sensei we have an intruder in our midst." Looking Sakura in the eye, Sushi began to change. Her once feminine face began to fill out, her body following suit and her hair seemed to fade away, shortened to spiked blonde locks. "I've got a feeling I've been found out, and I've learned to trust those feelings. We have to get to the girl before she reports back."

Sakura found herself tearing up as she stared back into a now familiar face. "N-naruto?"

"Sorry, I can't stick around any longer. I have an imposter to take care of." The boy's face grew into a once comfortable smirk, eyes darkening as he turned and seemed to change clothes almost instantly. "Hurry up and tell Kakashi. He'll know what to do."

With that, Naruto reached to door and stepped through, vanishing with the speed born from living as a ninja. Sakura found she could no longer stand on her shaking legs. They collapsed beneath her.

"Naruto…you're back…"

"Sa-Sasuke!"

Glancing towards the sprinting Sakura, Sasuke allowed himself to slow down in his run around the inn. Earlier Kakashi had told him that movement would help him get used to the weights that he had tying him down.

"Sasuke, where's Kakashi-sensei?"

Now slowed down to a slow walk, the dark haired boy looked up at Sakura and took in her appearance. Damp hair and clothes, along with the way she was panting, told him whatever it was, it was urgent. But he still couldn't help asking.

"Why?"

Her reply was quick. "We have an imposter in the inn! A spy!"

Sasuke now stopped, eyes narrowing. "Sushi?" Turning back to the inn, he only stopped when he heard Sakura shout something else out.

Whatever it was, only one thing important registered.

Naruto was here. He had been right next to them all.

It all made sense in an instant, the make up to cover those strange scars across the boy's face, the less than feminine actions, the disgust shown at having been saved…

Shuddering slightly, he turned back to Sakura, "Who's the imposter then?"

"He…didn't say. Only that Kakashi would know what to do…"

"Then come on, let's get Kakashi. He should be back at the room."

Turning back to the inn, Sasuke brushed his hair out of his eyes as he began to think. The situation must have changed somehow. With Naruto back, they should have been able to leave, but Naruto had left before clearing up that cryptic imposter notion in Sakura's head.

"Sakura," he turned and glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye, "did Naruto tell you anything else?"

"All he said about the imposter is that Kakashi would know what to do…"

"No," Sasuke stopped her, "If you're right, Kakashi will clear up this imposter thing, so that's not important."

"Then what do you want to know about Sasuke? We didn't really talk much…"

Sasuke stopped, turning to look back at Sakura. "How did you find out that Sushi was Naruto in disguise?"

"How did I…? Oh…" blushing slightly, the pink haired girl quietly mumbled as much about her morning as she could remember.

"So, you did spend some time talking to him, as Sushi?"

"Ye-yeah," Sakura found her face getting redder and redder at the thought of having spent such an absurd amount of time talking to a boy in the nude.

"He didn't seem rushed at all while you two were talking?"

"No, not at all. We really just…talked for a while."

"About anything in particular? Did any peculiar topics come up at all?"

"Just Kay Lynn's medicinal issues…and I told you about that."

"I see…" Sasuke furrowed his brow in thought as he began to walk again, treading up the stairs to the second floor in a puzzled silence. There had to be something he was missing.

"Oh!" Sakura squeaked suddenly, startling Sasuke, causing him to spin around and stare at his female teammate half way up the stairs.

"What do you remember?"

"Well…it's probably nothing, but…Naruto did mention having been found out right after he revealed himself, then he kind of seemed in a hurry…"

"He did…"

"Um…yeah. That's all I remember…"

Sasuke stood for a moment before he began to make his way up the stairs, brow once again furrowed in thought. What did he know about Naruto, and how could this all fit together? Something inside him told him he had the answers.

He felt as though it was right there; so close…pieces of the puzzle sitting in front of him, just waiting to be placed together to form the big picture.

However, it was only when he finally stepped on the final stair and onto the second floor that he could almost hear the click as everything made sense.

Sakura stumbled slightly as Sasuke simply halted at the top of the stairs, bowing his head and allowing his raven colored bangs to overshadow his eyes.

"That bastard," Sasuke whispered, a small smirk threatening to break cover. "That bastard always had to do things his way…"

Sakura stepped back at the sound of Sasuke's voice to get a better look at him, just as Sasuke himself spun around and drew himself up to full height, a full grown taunting grin grown upon his face.

"Hey, Sakura. Wasn't 'look underneath the underneath' Kakashi-sensei's overused saying while we were training together?" Pausing for a moment to see if Sakura had understood his meaning, he turned back around with only a murmur.

"To think such a cliché phrase…"

Time does not stand still for us when we need it to. Events set in motion stay in motion. No rest for the weary.

While Sushi and Sakura sat chatting in the hot springs, disappearances began once again in the Weed Country capital, at a rapidly increasing pace.

Those already abducted in a previous raid remained untouched by the strange daytime culling, flowing through their daily habits in a way most natural, unfazed by news or sightings of the dark shapes that pulled people into the shadows.

When Sushi unmasked herself and sent Sakura off to find Kakashi, a dark and humid room was filled with a white smoke, billowing out only to rapidly dissipate through the small underground cellar, leaving only a tall lanky man holding what should not have been an untarnished kunai.

Lean but filled with carefully controlled lust; his dark eyes scanned the dark room, as penetratingly as a stalking tiger in the dead of night. At seeing nothing, the man swung his kunai, cleanly slicing the twin manacles dangling from the wall and allowing them to fall with a loud, staccato clash.

Tossing the ruined kunai to the side, the man then turned, his long black hair wildly tame, as his unfulfilled lust grew less carefully monitored.

And it was the moment that Sasuke turned from the top stair into the hallway that led to their room, that a young girl calmly exited Kakashi's room and silently shut the door. She then managed to look fairly naturally surprised at the sighting of the two gennin at the end of the hallway.

This was indeed fairly remarkable considering two things; one, that she was currently covered up to her elbows in what suspiciously looked like blood, and two, being…

She was expecting them.

"Oh, hullo," Himoko slurred demurely, "I don't believe you should see Kakashi-san at the moment. He is rather…tired. I would have told you to come back later, but I think he may not be waking up anytime soon. He has had a loong day…"

Sometimes, in his quieter, more peaceful moments, Kakashi spent time relaxing in activities that he enjoyed. These times in themselves were very rare, but when such a time came around, he devoted much of his time to reading.

Most people believe that to know what the future holds, to see into the great beyond and anticipate incoming events is a skill that is either impossible, or achieved through divine intervention.

And to a great extent, these people would be right. However, this is not to say that some poor, untalented mortals won't find some way to cheat.

And Kakashi was nowhere near untalented. Therefore, he had more of a chance at cheating than the normal human being did.

And he did everything in his power to take advantage of this.

To begin with, the jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village taught himself many things that he figured may come in handy, little things, habits, that he forced himself to pick up for the betterment of his shinobi career.

He taught himself how to perform adequately in most daily activities equally with both arms, and then he practiced doing so without using his hands. He even wore a watch for a time, in order to teach himself the benefits of learning to read time quickly and precisely when your watch is upside down.

He challenged himself each day, to make things just a bit harder than they needed to be.

But only a little bit…

And one of the things he had taught himself was a strange habit, one that had taken a while for him to develop, even though it seemed pointless. In fact, it was a motion in life that rather ruined the story.

One may not logically be able to see into the future in everyday situations, but knowing how things would turn out in the end was simple in other matters. It merely made the journey traveled when reading a story a lot less…fulfilling.

It was, however, this very habit that saved the elite jounin a few severe burns, and one irritating skin graft, for it was through opening the book from the back to read the last page, that he was able to quickly perceive and disarm the rather dangerous explosive tag triggered when he picked up his new book for a first time reading.

He was, however, loath to notice that the burning of the tag had left a discolored dark patch on the last page, preventing him from easily distinguishing much of the text.

"Damn," Kakashi swore to himself, as he began to calculate the effort it would take to restore the page back to readability. The story didn't quite fill out as well anymore if he was unaware of the ending of the book; so starting from the beginning was out of the question.

…Still, he had been presented with a unique opportunity…

And taking advantage of all available opportunities to get ahead is what made a great shinobi even greater. At least that was what he believed. And as of yet, no opportunity he had seized had come back to bite him, so after a little thought, and a lot of quick preparations, the quick witted jounin made his way to the door, into the hallway and promptly entered the next door bedroom.

It didn't take much more follow through than this.

Feeling secure in his set up, Kakashi quickly went about finding himself a comfortable, unseen, corner to sit in, and fell into a light slumber.

After all, tonight would probably be a long night, especially if he had anything to say about it. This farce had been going on for far too long.

"Hey…Sasuke…" Sakura whispered. "I'm pretty sure whatever it is that's covering Himoko's arm, it isn't blood. It's way too thick."

"Idiot. Of course it isn't blood. I can smell it from all the way over here. That's ketchup. She's probably under some kind of genjustu…"

"What gave you that idea, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in a sweet, but not-so-quiet voice. "Could it be that she's still rambling on about killing us as well as our 'idiot sensei'?"

Moving closer to the self-proclaimed psychopath, it became far more obvious of her current condition. Her eyes, now a sickening shade of yellow, were glazed and the irises in both of her eyes had enlarged so much, that they now all but forced the color in her eyes to disappear.

"She looks sick…" Sakura observed, reaching her hand out to feel the other girl's forehead.

"Stop it Sakura," the dark haired boy commanded. "We don't know what kind of illusion she is in. If it was placed by our stupid teacher, who knows how powerful it is. Physical contact could break the illusion, or worse, trap you as well."

"R-right…"

"He's right you know."

Whirling around, Sakura backed into a wall only to come face to face with their 'stupid teacher'. Kakashi, his single eye lazily peeking out from beneath his headband, spoke without hurry.

"I placed a genjutsu on the doorknob to my room. The illusion enters the mind though the nervous system in your skin. Direct contact with the knob would result in a similar illusion…but it's a one-way street. The illusion only enters though the skin. It can't be transmitted back by the victim."

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?"

With little movement at all, the jounin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves gestured towards Himoko. "We had a traitor in our midst. A spy, I would assume, of a certain dangerous leader of the Country of Weed." With a dryly-amused voice, Kakashi spoke plainly. "I believe he sees us as a…hindrance to whatever he is planning to accomplish with his abduction game."

"Wait…" Sakura interjected, "the man who hired us was the one who is behind the disappearances?"

"Hey!" The sudden utterance lifted Team 7's concentration from the unraveling of one mystery to the more immediate danger posed by the auburn haired man standing at the top of the stair. Keigo stood rigid, one hand firmly grasping a mallet held readily at his side. "What's going on? Himoko, what's on your hands?" Something seemed to pass quickly behind his gaze before he managed a tentative answer to his questions. "Is it…blood?"

Startled by Keigo's sudden appearance, Sakura blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

The truth.

"Don't be an idiot. It's ketchup!"

Of course, in the case in which the truth is a bit ridiculous, lying is often the better option.

"Oh my…it is blood! And you're covering up for her. What did you four do?" Keigo exclaimed in horror.

Getting agitated, Sakura moved to prove her point. "It is ketchup, and I'll prove it." With a quick movement, she made to wipe some of the red liquid from the blunette's arms. However, in an instant, her hand was stayed by Kakashi's firm grasp.

"Not smart. She may be in a daze from the illusion, but she is still capable of injuring you if you get too close." With his warning, Kakashi turned to look at the nervous resident. His gaze was cool and collected, but not all together assuring to the man. Indeed, from Kakashi's stare he could only read the danger that the jounin posed if he were to be heckled in any way. With a nervous swallow, Keigo gently placed the mallet on the floor and put his hands behind his head.

The nervous perspiration that he felt soaked in caused his thick, heavyset glasses to slide down the bridge of his nose. He felt like throwing up, the sense of danger, his mind was screaming in panic, but something told him he would be safer if he didn't move. Not that his legs would let him if he tried.

"Calm down. Nothing has happened. This is all a misunderstanding."

Keigo wanted to believe the finally assuasive voice that came from the largest of the Leaf Villagers, but something was definitely wrong.

"You…you said something about the person behind the disappearances…and your kind never goes anywhere without a reason…has Himoko…?"

"Perhaps, but not in the way that you think."

"Oh god…" Keigo muttered in panic once again.

Calmly, Kakashi revealed, "She has been lying to us all…"

"That sweet girl…what am I going to find in her room when I clean it? I won't. I won't go near it."

Seeing the man's increasing anxiety, the jounin spoke softly, so as not to panic him any further. Indeed, all he wanted was for the man to calm down, but knew it would be unlikely. He was probably babbling out of shock. "She isn't who you think she is, but calm down. Everything is going to be fine."

A sudden crash from the hallway behind the shinobi forced them to relinquish their concentration once again, and the brown haired villager took no time in fleeing down the steps from his projected terror.

Just down the hallway, a small hole had opened up in one of the walls of a neighboring bedroom. The debris that lay scattered outside the wall played testimony to a force inside the room causing the hole, but no other sounds escaped from the room.

When Sasuke made a move to pursue the resident handyman, Kakashi quickly stilled him without taking his carefully trained eye from the impromptu window in the hallway.

"Leave him, we can't stay here any longer anyways. Gather your supplies and meet me outside as soon as you can.

Don't dawdle, I'm not sure what we're up against, but this mission has just jumped to at least a Rank B spec."

The raven-haired gennin turned away quickly to hide a growing smirk. "Finally, some action…" was all he muttered as he briskly down the hall to his and his sensei's room.

Sakura stayed a moment longer to observe the silently staring Himoko before giving a curt nod and following after her male teammate. Since she had shared a room with Himoko, Sakura knew that whatever she had brought might be compromised.

Finally alone in the hall, Kakashi made his way to the hole in the wall. From a distance, he peered inside. Although he couldn't see anybody, they could be hiding against the opposite side of the wall the hole had been made in.

This side of the hallway is on the outside of the inn, so there should be a window in that room…Kakashi thought to himself. I can enter from the window or the door…

With a quick assessment of the situation, the silver haired jounin placed his hand on the surprisingly warm metal of the door handle.

It wasn't locked.

"Door it is then." With a solid push, Kakashi threw the door wide open.

Sakura peered around her shared room. To think, last night she shared a bedroom with a psychopath. The image of Himoko's glowing yellow eyes watching her at night as she had slept though exhaustion made her shudder in cold realization.

She had been so vulnerable, and it frightened her how naïve she had been to share a room with a stranger in a hostile village.

Quickly, Sakura moved to gather her things together in her travel pack once more. A methodical assessment of her belongings showed that nothing had been outwardly tampered with, and everything was accounted for.

Still, as she turned to leave, something pressed at her mind as strange. Whatever it was bugged her enough that she felt obligated to give one last look around the room.

And when she looked at it, it slightly surprised her. The room of the sociopath seemed so…normal. It may have been a bit barren looking at first, but the character of the room seemed to stand out immediately upon inspection.

Himoko's belongings were so orderly; everything packed away neatly and systematically. What had seemed sparse was actually compact. Her bed was pressed all the way against the far left wall of the room, and pushed into the upper corner. The girl's belongings were almost all packed underneath the bed in a large suitcase that was barely visible under the draping sheets on the mattress. The closet was carefully arranged with knickknacks of various sorts, including toiletries and the futon Sakura had slept on the previous night. She had obviously been here at the inn for a while, but it seemed she had never truly settled in.

But still, out of everything in the room, the single trunk stood out the most. Not in orderliness, but simply because it was the least orderly of the room. The trunk was large and shoved haphazardly into the corner across from the bed. It was darkly colored, but still obviously stained. The lock seemed to be broken, and essentially useless, so instead it had been held shut with two long black leather belts.

With a slight pause, Sakura considered opening the trunk. The girl was obviously their enemy, and if the trunk was the only place she had not inspected, perhaps there might be something worthwhile to inspect inside.

It only took the kunoichi a few moments to undo the straps binding the trunk closed, and she quickly took a breath, peering inside.

The contents disappointed her. Books, documents, letters, and personal effects were all that the pink haired ninja could find.

The trunk was a waste of time. She was going to be late in meeting the others.

Closing the trunk, she shoved it in the corner that it had once been sitting haphazardly in. The hollow sound it made alerted her to something being amiss.

Opening the trunk once again, she realized that it was not as deep as it seemed from the outside. Lifting the literature and paperwork from the chest, it became obvious that the bottom was a hastily constructed false.

Levering it out, Sakura once again peered inside to see two books; what seemed to be an encyclopedia covered in sticky notes and a small black journal. Beside the two books was an opened envelope, but no letter.

Quickly gathering the two books in her arms, Sakura wasted no more time in meeting her team outside.

From the Desk of Tyr'll

Welcome back, one and all. I know that it has once again been quite some time since I last updated this story, but, forgive me, I didn't know what was going to happen until just recently.

A case of writer's block that I allowed to sit until, a few weeks ago, everything just popped into place and I began to write once more. I apologize for the wait, but I am a terrible procrastinator without any drive to really sit down and write, so the next chapter may be another while.

But at least I have a better idea where it is going. I do not intend to drop this story any time in the foreseeable future…

Lemme know if you got questions.

Oh, and I meant to have the next few chapters written before posting this one, but I'm kinda hoping that some reader response will give me a primer, so…

Thanks for the support of anybody willing to continue waiting.