Chapter 10: Resting and Reminiscence

Hinata was currently leading Team 8 through the Forest of Death with Shino and Naruto following close behind, together the three formed a nearly perfect triangle. As soon as the Aburame had had recovered from the electrical discharge and was able to move completely self-sufficient again, they had switched to this setup, which could be called their standard formation. The main advantage was that with her bloodline limit the Hyuuga girl could survey their surroundings perfectly and quickly give a signal to her two teammates in case she detected something suspicious.

Until now they had stayed close to the outer perimeter in their search for a good location to set up their encampment for the night. A place near the fence seemed to be the most logical choice for a bivouac. First of all there were only three sides to defend instead of four and secondly most other teams probably had moved deeper into the jungle. Meaning contact with the enemy was much more likely there than it was in the periphery.

They had moved for quite some time now, as Hinata suddenly signaled an immediate halt.

"Animals, other contestants or a good place to set up our camp, what did you find?" Asked bug user with a hint of tiredness in his voice.

The young heiress turned around to face her comrades, her bloodline limit was still activated. "Team 10, not to far in front of us, they are injured and seem to have lost their scrolls to another squad."

"The logical thing to do now would be to support them and group together. The doubled number of genin should provide a better defense against adversaries." Shino suggest with his usual stoic tranquility.

The next one to raise his voice was the blond Uzumaki. "Are you sure this isn't some trick Hinata? Shikamaru is really smart and probably laid out a trap for unsuspecting teams." With the whole set up of the second test, currently the jinchuuriki held a good amount of mistrust towards everyone, only excluding the Hyuuga girl and the Aburame on his team.

"Choji's left underarm seems to be broken and most of Ino's appendages are wrapped with bandages. There is no need for suspicions towards our comrades this time Naruto-kun." The bluenette almost sounded like she was lecturing her teammate a bit.

The blond shinobi chuckled, scratched his neck playfully and then answered, "No need to go all sensei mode on me Hinata. After what happened with teme's team I am just overcautious."

After being called out like this by her crush the kunoichi averted her gaze in a hint of embarrassment. Meanwhile said boy was just confused what he did this time to produce this sort of reaction.

It was Shino who broke the silence between the small group. "If you two are finished with your discussion it probably would be beneficial if we moved towards Team 10 and informed them of our presence and intentions."

Minutes later a loud rustle shook the half dozed off Nara out of his daydreams. He had secured the perimeter with a good dozen of simple tripwires to ensure he would detect any kind of intruders before they could launch a surprise attack.

Behind the lazy boy his other two teammates were propped against a big tree and both were currently sleeping. Thought that would change soon, mainly because their comrade shouted into the woods. "Just stay away, we were already beaten and have no scrolls left" Then he steeled his grip on the kunai in his hand, the young ninja was ready to launch a counter attack if it was needed.

Three figures stepped out from the underbrush.

"Easy there Shikamaru, were aren't your enemies, dattebayo!"

The Nara's first response was a small groan. "Naruto, cheerful and loud as ever I see. At least nowadays you aren't a beacon of orange."

Before the blond could make an angry retort, Shino quickly spoke up to diffuse the whole situation. "After Hinata had seen you three we asked ourselves if you were interested to team up for the night. Why? Because together we would be a harder target for enemies, be it human or animal attackers."

Shikamaru cocked his head to the right, his lips thinned to a small line and it looked like he was analyzing the all circumstances, seconds later he returned completely back to normal. "Sure why not, will make the whole thing far less troublesome."

Meanwhile the other two members of Team 10 were fully awake and had silently listened to the Aburame's proposal and their teammate's answer. The young Yamanaka then butted in. "You are really a lazy ass, you even want help to protect your friends?" It was more a mock interjection than anything else though.

"Troublesome Blonds..." The Nara boy muttered under his breath, earning him an annoyed stare from both Ino and Naruto.

Lastly also Choji tuned into the conversation, his eyes were on the bruised Aburame. "So you three were also already in a fight?" He curiously asked towards the other squad.

"You betcha! We beat up teme's team pretty good and got our second scroll." The blond jinchuuriki answered with barely hidden pride in his voice. A cocky grin on his face and his right hand bailed to a fist.

"YOU want me to believe that you went up against Sasuke-kun, Forehead girl, Kiba and his dog and won?" The blond kunoichi shouted directly at Naruto. Surprised paired with disbelief was radiating off her.

"Believe what ever you want, gossip girl. I really don't care about your opinion." The whole demeanor of Naruto had changed in an instant, his eyes seemed to have shifted to an ice blue tone and stared directly at the Yamanaka. His posture and body language appeared now quite intimidating.

Hinata put her hand on her angry teammate's shoulder. "Naruto-kun, she was just surprised I am sure Yamanaka-san didn't want to offend you or anyone else."

"Whatever." The boy just shrugged it off, while he was tired that he and his team were often underestimated, he knew that this exam was their best chance to show everyone what they were made of.

The jinchuuriki propped himself down in front of Team 10 and then raised his voice again. "So what happened to you, you three all look like you were put through the wringer?"

Shikamaru, Choji and Ino were astonished at how fast Naruto's mood had shifted again, but after the threatening display they had only seen seconds ago they were quite happy that it looked like he was back to normal again.

Not much later all three subordinates of Asuma Sarutobi now were leaning their backs against the same tree as before. The lazy boy and the blond girl had closed their eyes, while Choji was telling their tale to the other team.

FLASHBACK

The three genin were carefully moving through the thick forest, after they had had their first run in with one of the certainly lethal animals that populate this location all of them were pretty tense.

"Never again, did you hear me SHIKAMARU, never again will I enter the mind of such a beast!" The young kunoichi complained quite loudly about what had happened a few minutes ago.

"Geez, calm down Ino. It was just a big cat." The genius retorted while a lazy and uninterested expression was on his face. The boy was sure that sooner or later the loud girl would drop the topic, he just had to endure it for now, there was no other way to stop her bickering.

"A big cat, just a big cat? It was a fucking tiger the size of a cow and it wanted to eat us to lunch!" The blond groaned and gritted her teeth. "Why I am even trying to to argue with you blockhead. Not like you could understand the things I had to endure while being in the beasts head."

Suddenly a confident and somewhat cold voice echoed through the treetops. "A overgrown animal will be the last of your problems, rookies. You should better have watched out were you go. Now your destiny was already decreed."

Two figures dropped down from above and landed right in front of the startled youngsters.

Almost instantly Shikamaru had grabbed something from his belt and threw it in the direction of their attackers. A big cloud of smoke started to spread out once the object hit the ground.

Team 10 tried to use their chance to retreat and regroup before the assault would continue. Though they weren't so lucky. A lone figure emerged from their side of the fume and rushed forward to strike.

"A miscalculation on your side Nara, a bit of reek won't stop a Hyuuga."

"Partial Expansion Jutsu"

Before their attacker could land a single hit he had to dodge the enormous arm, that was swung by one Choji Akimichi. Neji avoided the widespread blow through jumping back several meters and disappeared into the cloud of smoke again.

"Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee, both close combat. Their teammate Tenten is very versed in any kind of weapon, most attacks she use are ranged." Shikamaru quickly explained to his squad members. The boy had really done his homework this time and was well informed about all contestants from Konoha. Although it wasn't that hard to get all the information he needed, it really had it's benefits if your father was the local Jonin Commander.

A booming shout echoed through their surroundings. "Our most youthful opponent knows us quite well,now it would only be courteous for us to show them the fruits of Gai-sensei's training first hand!"

"Indoor voice Lee, this way you even the last genin team on the opposite side of the forest will know our location." A female voice reprimanded the first speaker.

Several smaller explosions occurred, all from more smoke grenades, the whole forest soon was hulled into a dense white cloud. The only thing that filled the misty scenery with some remembrance of life was a continuous metallic sounding clinking.

The voice of the Hyuuga pierced the almost tranquil atmosphere."Stay back Lee! The Akimichi is swinging a big spiked ball chain, which also seemed poisoned. It's a rather irregular pattern, I can't find an opening, so our only option for now is to wait."

Meanwhile the Yamanaka girl and the Nara stood closely huddled together, whispering to each other. The young shinobi unfolded a windmill shuriken, the blond teenager then made the same hand seal she used for her usual mind switch technique.

"Mind Puppeteer Jutsu"

Once her body slumped down, Shikamaru did a 360 degree turn and hurled the oversized throwing weapon into the direction from where they had heard Tenten's voice.

The weapon mistress in training was quite surprised as the four bladed shuriken came out of the smoke below her and only missed her by a few meters. That was a rather impress throw, if you took into account that the attacker couldn't see her.

But when she then heard a whizzing sound whose intensity only increased, the bun-haired girl was barely able to avoid the same weapon in the last second. The windmill shuriken embedded itself right in the place where the kunoichi was only moments ago. She didn't know how the three rookies had done this, although she had to hand it to them they came quite close to disable her this time. She would made sure they wouldn't get another chance.

Back on the ground the blond girl regained her consciousness and shook her head, indicating that their plan hadn't worked out the way they wanted.

The reek that obscured Team 10 from their attackers was slowly dissipating and now they were open for assaults again. All three genin steeled themselves for the next strike of their enemies. Choji was still swinging his big metal ball, which created a somewhat defensive shield around him and his companions. Ino had a kunai clutched into each hand and lastly Shikamaru held another smoke grenade tightly in his fingers.

As if one cue as the smoke rose from the ground and the three young genin were in full view again, both Lee and Neji rushed another attack, coming towards them from opposite sides.

The Nara threw his hand back and launched the fume grenade towards the advancing Hyuuga. This time although the taijutsu genius didn't even try to avoid the capsule, he knew quite well that the smoke wouldn't stop him and so he decided to just rush through it. His Byakugan would allow him to leave the cloud unscathed.

This was exactly what Shikamaru had hoped for. The last bomb he threw contained lung- and eye-irritant substances in addition to the normal blend of ingredients. His enemy was sure that this time he just had used the same attack as before, but now he would be in for a rude awakening.

The small explosion fully encased Neji in the rising gas, the pain he felt from trying to breath and in his sensitive eyes was almost too much and he collapsed onto the ground. Every breath of air was pure agony, right now he was fully incapacitated.

On the other side Lee masterfully dodged the poisoned, spiked ball of doom. Choji hastily jerked on the chain, but his enemy just ducked below the returning weapon. Then the taijutsu enthusiast launched himself off the ground and aimed a straight kick right at the Akimichi's upper body.

Before the hit could connect although he was suddenly stopped mid air.

"Shadow Possession Complete. Ino now! That is our only chance to finish this!" The Nara boy turned around to look for his female comrade, but what he saw wasn't what he had hoped for.

A few meters away from him the Yamanaka girl was trying her hardest to dodge an unending stream of metal. From high above Tenten had started an massive onslaught of weapons. And while the blond kunoichi fared pretty good against the overwhelming attack, she already had countless small scratches on her legs and arms from which small droplets of blood rained onto the ground.

Lee saw the outstretched black mass that originated from Shikamaru and was connected to himself. As they had observed their prey for quite some time, he knew quite well what the Nara's jutsu was capable off, although he still had a trump card up his sleeve. Hopefully it would be enough to break from the tight grip he was in right now.

"Gate of Opening, OPEN!"

"Gate of Healing, OPEN!"

A wave of power washed over the forest and before anyone of Team 10 knew what had happened Lee was moving again. The boost provided by two of the eight celestial gates was enough to completely overpower the hold the Nara had on him.

From one second to another he appeared right besides Choji and smashed his leg hard into the Akimichi. The chubby boy only just was able to block the quick attack with his left arm. The full power though that was brought onto him created a small crater and crashed him hard into the ground.

A single moment later the green clad ninja was right in front of Shikamaru and was ready to strike again. That was until a declaration from the boy stopped him.

"STOP! We are giving up."

FLASHBACK KAI

"Shikamaru saved us from an even worse beating, after he gave them our scroll they departed almost immediately." This way the Akimichi concluded his story about their defeat at the hands of Team 9.

"The whole exam was such a drag." A loud groan could be heard from the Nara. "And now we can endure another four days in this damned forest or get a tiresome punishment by the crazy instructor woman."

"You really fear the purple head, what is the worst she could do?" Asked Ino carelessly.

The next thing all three genin saw was a violent shudder that run through all members of Team 8.

"My advise for you is to listen to Shikamaru, you wouldn't want to know what Anko is capable off. This is an experience which you clearly should avoid." Shino stated in a matter of fact tone.

"So you know the crazy chick?" Now the blond kunoichi was intrigued she was always interested in information or as her teammates and sensei would call it, she was a gossip through and through.

"She is a friend of Kurenai-sensei and we had some pretty hard training sessions with her. Best let's leave it at that." Was Hinata's diplomatic answer and also meant as a closing statement.

The Yamanaka girl seemed to be a bit grumpy that she wouldn't get out more of them, but it looked like they wouldn't budge. Furthermore after being advised by both Shino and Hinata that going against Anko's wishes was not good for their health, she concluded that it probably was the best to heed their warnings.

"So how we are getting some food in here, I am quite hungry by now." Was the question Choji voiced with renewed vigor.

Naruto simply took out a scroll from his robe, unfurled it and unsealed a camping cooker and a good dozen instant ramen cups.

All present were quite surprised that the blond boy was prepared so well and even though it was only a simple precooked meal everybody was happy to have something without the trouble to go out hunting.

What his teammates and Team 10 didn't know though was that with his living arrangements in the old Uzumaki temple and since he was able to seal objects away in scrolls, he carried most of his belongings around with him all the time.

Currently Anko was sitting on top of the booth in which only hours before the Heaven and Earth Scrolls were given out to the chunin hopefuls. In front of the special jonin was a plate with dozen of fresh dango sticks, furthermore besides her beloved food was a bottle with juice. Just as the purple haired woman was ready to start her feast, a chunin appeared in a cloud of smoke near the stall.

"We got some trouble, Anko-sama!"

The Snake Mistress shot him an angry glare. "This better be important, Mozuku." She spoke in annoyance, then her gaze drifted towards her favorite meal and afterwards back to the young man. "You just disturbed my dango time and this doesn't fare well with me."

"We found bodies, three of them." You could hear the tension as the chunin spoke. "Please come with me, this is something you should see for yourself."

Anko jumped down from the booth and gave a small hand sign, indicating that he should lead the way, her subordinate complied immediately.

It didn't take the pair long to reach their destination, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane were guarding the place as both arrived.

All four now were standing right in front of the chain-linked fence, looking at the bodies of three unconscious genin that were propped against said fence. Although there was one thing that seemed out of place, on top of the head of one of the passed out ninjas was a folded note.

The kunoichi bent down, picked up the sheet of paper and opened it. Once she had read the contents , the purple haired woman started to laugh uncontrollable. It took her almost thirty seconds to stop this display, which seriously freaked out the three chunin.

"You three can go and continue your regular patrols, I will see to those genin here." A mischievous gleam was in her brown eyes as she gave her subordinates those instructions.

After the three young men had left, the special jonin took a second look on the note. It read "They are yours, have fun with 'em Anko-sensei!". The kunoichi couldn't help it as a smirk spread on her face. Then she took out some smelling salt out from one of her pouches and poured it all over the youngsters.

The intense smell woke all three rather rudely. It was particularly bad for Kiba and his faithful companion Akamaru. Both tried their hardest to rub those awful spices away from their noses, either with their hands or paws.

Sakura meanwhile looked around a bit drowsy, it took her a few seconds to take in her surroundings and once she knew where they were she asked unsure. "Why are we outside of the forest? Have we already finished the exam?"

"No... Sadly the dobe's team defeated us. And if I had to guess, then I would say the idiot had the courtesy to drop us here." Sasuke explained as calmly as he could. Well in fact he more or less seethed on the inside and so spoke only with gritted teeth.

Before there could be any retort from either the pink haired girl or the dog user, Anko raised her voice. "Now, now, Naruto is the least of your problems at the moment. Can remember what I told you about leaving my forest?"

The way the instructor of the second exam looked at them seriously freaked them out. The Uchiha boy wanted to speak up, though Anko stopped him and continued with her speech.

"Just you know, I don't care that you didn't leave Training Ground Forty-Four on your own account. You are outside and you will get punished, simple as that." It looked like all three genin now wanted to protest. "Shut up, I don't need your opinions on that. However the question remains, what I am doing with you?"

She tapped her finger several times against her chin, but then a dangerous smirk formed on her face. "Better start running, you surely don't want to know what happens once I catch you." Team 7 just looked with an uncertain expression at the purple haired woman in front of them. "Now maggots, move!" And as if it was meant as starting signal she threw several shuriken at them.

About three hours later, Anko was currently on top of a big brown snake, while said reptile was chasing Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru through one of the numerous training grounds of Konoha. The special jonin looked really relaxed and only intervened when one of the genin tried to steer away from the rest.

"Could you stop pestering my team, you know I need them alive?"

The kunoichi meet eyes with the lazy jonin, who was now standing right besides her on the serpents head. "Late as always Kakashi." She formed a quick hand seal and dismissed her summon, both seasoned shinobi easily landed on the ground as the snake below them vanished. "You can have them back, I had my fun with them." Then Anko gave him a quick wave and walked off, leaving behind three worn out genin and their team leader.

Darkness had fallen over the Forest of Death and most members of Team 8 and 10 were soundly asleep, though there was one who was broad awake. Naruto had volunteered to take the first night watch. Right now the blond was on top of one of the higher branches, leaning against the sturdy trunk of the giant tree he was on.

The jinchuuriki thought it was best if he did this duty, mainly because out of all of them he was the one who was recuperated the most. His nearly endless stamina and increased healing factor were really useful in such situations.

The blond had created 6 shadow clones to help him survey the surroundings. The copies were scattered in the vicinity, all of them positioned on different trees. From their vantage points it was easy to overlook the whole region and so right now Naruto wasn't to concerned about unnoticed intruders.

The full moon brightly shone through the canopy of leaves and hulled everything in an eerie soft glow. A sigh escaped the young shinobi's lips and his gaze drifted towards the biggest light source on the night sky. It was months ago in a similar setting when Naruto had learned about his explosive-loving mentor's past.

FLASHBACK

Both blond shinobi were sitting by their nearly burnt down campfire, the night had already fallen over the surrounding woodlands and the full moon was standing high in the sky. The older one of them was carelessly rummaging through his pouches. Silently cursing every now and then, because he couldn't find whatever he was searching.

Naruto watched his teacher intently before he raised his voice. "Need a helping hand sensei? What are you even looking for?"

"Something that will help you to improve your nonexistent chakra control, un." It almost looked like Deidara now had doubled his efforts, the sounds of rustling only increased further. "I know that I had them somewhere here. Come on where are those damned things, weren't they in this bag last week?" The missing nin muttered angrily, no longer paying much attention to his apprentice.

A small thump could be heard as something fell on the ground, but it seemed like the bomber hadn't even registered it.

The young genin bent down to pick up the object and return it to it's rightful owner. When his hands touched it, Naruto could feel cold metal that seemed to be mounted on some kind of fabric. His gaze wandered down and in the pale moonlight he could see it was a forehead protector. The symbol of Iwagakure was clearly visible on it and a thick horizontal scratch was going right through the identifying emblem.

The blond boy jumped instinctively a few meters back the headband still clutched between his fingers.

Deidara turned his head towards his trainee. Naruto looked straight at him, almost like he had seen a ghost. "What is all the commotion about, brat?" Then he saw the object that the young boy was still holding.

"You... You... You're a missing nin... And not just from anywhere... You are from Iwa." The jinchuuriki's voice was shaking during the whole accusation. A defected shinobi was bad enough, though someone from Iwagakure was even worse. Stone and Leaf had bad history between them, even he remembered that much from the academy.

The defendants only reply was a loud chuckle. "You are really funny Naruto. If I wanted you death I could have done the deed by now, don't you think so, un?" The genin gave a small nod, but didn't relax one bit. "Not all missing nins are bad guys and just because I was born in Iwagakure doesn't mean I kill every Konoha shinobi I see."

Memories of Haku and Zabuza flashed through the younger ninja's mind. The ice user wasn't a bad person and even the swordsman seemed to have some good sides. So it was only fair if he would hear Deidara's story first before he formed his final opinion on the situation. "So why did you leave Iwa, sensei?"

The older shinobi patted his hand on the ground next to him. "Come take a seat that could take a while to explain."

INNER FLASHBACK

A nervous fourteen year old shinobi was pacing back and forth in front of the boardroom. The Tsuchikage, his most trusted advisers and several other high ranking ninja were currently in debate. The reason was a request from said young man. Well in fact it was the third time he brought this in front of the council, although his last two attempts were turned down quite hard.

The double door flew open and the different parties left, not one of them looked directly at Deidara as they passed by. Once the commotion had died down, the teenager entered the council room. The only one left behind was Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure.

"They did deny me again, didn't they, un?" The blond shinobi spoke in a solemn and sad tone as he saw the downcast gaze of his leader.

The aged man raised his head and stared at his young pupil. "You idiot, I told you this would be the outcome. But no, you are just as stubborn as your father Gari when he defied the council and married your mother against their wish." The Sandaime Tsuchikage snorted before he continued speaking. "Were two times of failure not enough? Why did you think anything had changed?"

"Those senile old fools had the same arguments as always then?" The demolition expert crossed his arms and an annoyed look overtook his features. "They fear I will grow to powerful and uncontrollable or that I won't survive the implantation process?" Deidara spat back in anger as he glared at Onoki.

"And they are partially right, I am tired of your fruitless tries to acquire it!" The old leader said with finality. "You are one of the most accomplished chunin of Iwagakure, if you stop to waste time with your useless art, you could be jonin by the end of the year and lastly you will be the next leader of our famed Explosion Corps. Shouldn't that be more than enough?"

Now the teenager was in rage, even his mentor denied him what was his in the first place? "The Sozou Kuchi (Molding Mouth) is my birthright! It was my mothers and her father's before she inherited it and now it should be mine! You know only she and her ancestors were ever able to survive the insertion and control it's power!"

The Tsuchikage smashed his small fist hard onto the table and the sound of creaking wood filled the council room. "This discussion is over Deidara! You won't bring this up anymore, try again when I have retired. You can annoy my successor with this issue, but I am done. I won't tolerate any more hassle from you!"

Without further ado the blond shinobi turned around and stormed out of the room, after all there was no need for any reply or further discussion, this was a battle he had lost and there was no way he could win, at least for now.

The only thing the disgruntled Onoki could do now was watch in silence as one of his best students left in a hurry and the large double doors slammed shut behind the boy.

"Stupid teenagers, stupid council..." The aged leader muttered all the way back to his office.

Hours later the young blond ninja was still blowing off steam in one of the training grounds of Iwagakure. He slammed his palm with full force against against an enormous stone. "Katsu" A thundering explosion shook his surroundings and a cloud of dust rose from the center of the detonation.

Once the view was clear again you could see the explosion specialist still standing on the same spot though form the boulder wasn't much more left than small rubble. The teenager intently gazed at the pieces that were left after his attack, that was until a loud shout startled him.

"DEIDARA-NII!"

Brought out of his musings the chunin looked around. A black haired girl was running towards him, although before she had even reached him the blond man spoke up. "Shouldn't you be with your sensei and team, Kurotsuchi?"

The young kunoichi smiled at him. "We just finished our last mission for today, though I heard those idiots denied you again. Especially our esteemed Tsuchikage, the old, senile geezer."

He couldn't contain a small chuckle. "Is this your way to speak about our leader and your grandfather?"

"But.."

"No buts here Tsuchi-chan." Deidara ruffled the girls hair playfully. "Anything else you come here, except badmouthing Onoki again?"

The young females eyes looked hopefully at the chunin. "Well I thought... You may have time for another tour through your atelier. Show me your newest clay figurines and what you are up to in secrecy?"

"Sorry Kurotsuchi, but not today." The blond chunin shoved his right hand into one of his pouches and took out a small eagle, then he placed the miniature in the girls right hand. "Here something to always remind you of my art, so you don't have to come and pester me all the time, I hope you like it."

Before he could even counter he was embraced into a tight hug. "Thanks nii-san!" Then the female genin run off, nearly as fast as she came she was gone. What the kunoichi didn't see as she left was the short flash of a pained expression on his face and the single, lone tear that rolled down his cheek.

Once the night had fallen over the Stone Village it didn't take Deidara long to locate what he was looking for. He knew perfectly well where the scroll containing the Sozou Kuchi was located inside the Tsuchiage's vault. Nobody had found it strange when he entered the complex, he was the student of Onoki and so it wasn't out of place for him to come here, even at odd hours.

Carefully he unrolled the ancient text. Right in the middle of the scroll a single big mouth with razor sharp teeth and a long tongue was located, the parasite was kept at bay through several strong fuinjutsus.

The Sozou Kuchi was a unique chakra being that needed a living host to survive. It feeds of the bearers chakra and in exchange gives whoever hosts it the ability to knead their chakra directly into all kind of earth based materials.

The blond chunin exposed his chest and then placed the sealed mouth right above his bare skin. He knew the procedure quite well, after all this creature was passed down for generations through his mothers family line.

"Kai"

The black lines of the various sealing jutsus started to spread over his body and after they stopped a sharp almost unbearable pain shook through Deidara. The Sozou Kuchi had slammed it's teeth into his flesh, the process had started. It took him everything he had to stop him from screaming.

Almost five minutes later it was nearly complete, the being was now embedded in his chest and had created a direct link to his hearth. As long as he lived there was no way to remove it and should he die it would be bound again to the same ancient text it rested for the last thirteen years, ever since the death of his mother in the Third Shinobi War.

Deidara clenched his teeth, the final part of the procedure was due anytime and this was likely even more painful than what he had experienced till now. Right on cue he felt it, blood gushed from his outstretched palms as the two mouths ripped through his flesh and skin. And while he was able to contain almost all sounds, only a few whimpers escaped his lips, he crashed down onto the floor as his legs gave way through the immense strain his body was put through.

About fifteen to twenty minutes later he was up again, he had calmed down enough and was ready to leave this place. He had to abandon Iwagakure, he knew from the start that there would be no other way once he started this ritual. Still, he would be damned if the let those council fools deny him his families legacy.

As easily as he had entered the whole complex he left, afterwards he jumped through the night from building to building until he reached the cities outer perimeter. The blond soon to be missing nin was standing on top of one of the largest towers on the outskirt of Iwa. Now was the time to test his new gained skills.

What not many people knew was that his obsession with clay art was inspired by the Sozou Kuchi. It was a passed down tradition in his mother's family line. Mainly created to ready the next generation in the use of the Kinjutsu. The only real difference was that Deidara was the first one who would be able to combine the Bakuton with the Sozou Kuchi.

The blond shinobi had two pouches with his special clay strapped to his waist, he thrusted both hands into them and his new mouths immediately started their work with devouring great amounts of the earthen material.

Both openings in his hands spewed out different things. From his left palm a oversized bird emerged, the creature was big enough to ride it comfortable. The other mouth created about ten smaller flying objects. Deidara hoped onto the biggest of his clay creations and afterwards all beings took off.

With a kunai in his hand he slashed the forehead protector he still wore, then the missing nin turned around and watched the retreating city as his bird flew him farther and farther away. The young man formed a single hand sign, this would be his parting gift for them.

"Katsu"

Numerous explosion shook Iwagakure from deep slumber. The homesteads of several high ranking individuals were attacked that night and many were killed in the devastation that followed as various buildings collapsed after the bombing.

INNER FLASHBACK KAI

Naruto had been silent through the whole explanation, he could easily see that this was a very emotional story for his mentor. Anger, sadness, regret and several other feelings radiated of the blond bomber during the retelling of his very own treason.

Deidara heaved a loud sigh and looked expectant at his young pupil. He wasn't to sure what he could await from the genin. "So now you know almost everything, un."

The jinchuuriki was surprised, that certainly was an interesting tale. He cocked his head to the right and scratched his neck unsure with one hand. "Can't say I catch your whole motivation sensei, but I think I can somewhat understand why you did it. You only took what was your to begin with and those jerks didn't want you to have it. Also the old man Tsuchikage didn't help much, did he?"

The blond man stifled a laugh. "You are still pretty naive, kid. That's the way the world works, sometimes you have to deny someone his rights if it is the best for the majority."

Then the bomber turned around and crawled into his sleeping bag, that was the sign for Naruto that it was time to get some sleep too.

FLASHBACK KAI

The young jinchuuriki was still intently gazing at the bright full moon as his reminiscence stopped. It wasn't to hard for him to estimate by the state of the heavenly bodies that it was already past midnight by now. Naruto looked down towards the camp were Team 10 and his two friends were still sleeping and decided that it was best to let them have their well-deserved rest. He surely could easily take the whole night shift, his unbound stamina and fast healing would make sure that he was at almost hundredth percent tomorrow.

Jutsu Description

Name: Mind Puppeteer Jutsu

Rank: C-rank

Class: Supplementary

Hand seals: Yamanaka Seal

This Yamanaka technique allows the user to transfer his soul into an inanimate object and gives complete control over it. The connection can only be held for a short amount of time, due to the reason that lifeless things aren't suited to host a human mind for longer durations. The original body is in defenseless state during the jutsu is in use. Furthermore no injury inflicted to the object has any negative consequences on the user.

A/N: It has been quite a while since I updated my work, I hope this chapter still can live up to my former chapters.

Three flashbacks in one chapter, some of you will probably want to hit me now. And one of them was even a double flashback, well I hope you at least like Deidara's back story.

All chapters got revised and slightly adjusted, especially 2 and 8. People were generally unhappy with the toned down amount of clones so I introduced a more reasonable explanation for the whole problem. Furthermore Shikamaru's decision process was integrated to make the whole setting more believable and plausible.

Ino's new jutsu is a derivation from Fu's(the root agent) curse puppet technique. This showed that Yamanaka can stick their mind to inanimate objects and control them to a certain degree, so I created a new jutsu based on this principle.