When they were outside of the Hokage tower, Kotarō said, "Okay, so now we know that sensei goes to the same armourer as the Hokage's son, so we'll just have to go there and ask them if they know where sensei is," and started to walk away from his teammates."
Hōshuko said, "Oh really? And where would that be, exactly?"
Kotarō stopped and turned around and said, "Well, I was just going to go and check every armourer in Konoha. There can't be that many, right?"
Hōshuko sighed and said, "I suppose that you are Danzō-sama's grandson after all."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, you pompous arse, that you probably get all of your weapons from The Vermillion Weapon Store, don't you?"
"What of it?"
"It's the best armourer in the city because they charge so much money for their products. There are tens of other armourers that cater to shinobi that cannot afford the best weapons and others that specialise in specific weapon types!"
Kotarō growled, "Why you, I oughta…!" as he reached for his kunai pouch.
Kotarō's hand stopped moving. He tried forcing his arm to move, but he couldn't move it an inch. He glanced at Shikawai and said, "What did you…"
Shikawai said, "Meiton: Kage Shinja, seikou."
"…do?!"
Shikawai sighed and said, "I know that Hōshuko was somewhat antagonistic in the way that she said it, but she is right. There are far too many armourers in Konoha to ask them all if they serve sensei, find her and retrieve a bell. Because, I assure you, as angry as she was, there's no way that this is ending without a fight."
"So, what's your plan then?"
"Unlike the armourers, there are only fifteen restaurants in the entire village that serve ramen. If sensei enjoys it as much as Hokage-sama claimed, then we should be limiting ourselves to the restaurants that specialise in it, reducing the number that we need to go to, to three."
"So, split up and then meet back here then?"
"What's the point in that? It'll be far more expedient if we all just go to them together."
"So, where are they?"
Hōshuko said, "There's Takayama Ramen, Red Leaf Ramen and Uchiwa Ramen that Shikawai is probably thinking of. But I'd say that, if sensei and the Yondaime's son are true ramen lovers, then Ichiraku's Ramen Stand is where we should go."
Kotarō said, "Why would the Hokage's son go to some ramshackle street stand? It's more likely one of the restaurants. After all, you get what you pay for."
Shikawai turned to face Hōshuko and said, "Look, it can't hurt to check the restaurants first, can it?"
"No. I'm just telling you that it's going to be a waste of time." It took them thirty minutes of jumping from rooftop to rooftop to discover that, yes, Hōshuko was right and none of the three restaurants, that were all on opposite sides of the village to each other, knew anything about the Hokage's son.
Hōshuko said, "I hate to say I told you so, but, well…"
Kotarō said, "Shut it."
Shikawai said, "So…uhh…where is this Ichikara Ramen?"
Hōshuko sharply said, "It's Ichiraku!"
"Alright! Jeez. You don't need to get so defensive."
"Ichiraku Ramen, makes the best ramen throughout the elemental nations!"
"How would you know? I mean you haven't ever left the village walls, right?"
"Yeah, but when my dad 'n' uncle go on missions outside of The Land of Fire, they make sure to get some for me and I've never found any better."
"Okay, so where is it then?"
Hōshuko said, "Follow me," and started to run up the outside wall of Red Leaf Ramen. It took less than a minute to get there, Shikawai and Kotarō struggling to keep up with her. When she got there, she hopped off of the rooftop of the building opposite the ramen stand and flipped on her way down. With an eager smile, she went into the stand and sat down on one of the stools and said, "Hey, Ayame-nee-chan. Can I get three miso-pork ramen?"
Ayame turned and blinked, asking, "Only three this time Hōshuko? Are you feeling sick today?"
"Nah. The other two are for my slowcoach teammates that are on their way."
"Teammates?" Ayame asked as she made the ramen.
Kotarō said, "Yeah. We were just put under some unreasonable jōnin that the Hokage thought that you might be able to help us locating."
"Oh? And why would Minato think something like that?"
"I've got no idea. All he said was that his son and Natsume-sensei liked to eat here and used the same armourer. So Shikawai figured that you'd know where to point us."
Ayame dropped her ladle and blinked as she said, "What…did you just say?" staring at the genin with a look that bordered between horrified and livid.
"Uhh…" Kotarō gulped.
Shikawai didn't have any idea what to do, having never seen such an expression before. Hōshuko asked, "What is it, Ayame-nee?"
"Natsu is dead!"
"She's…huh? What do you mean?"
"Natsu died on a mission twelve years ago! Naruto-kun could barely get himself up for a month! Even then, it was only for his sisters' sake!"
Hōshuko sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Ayame-nee. Sensei could just have the same name. It wouldn't be that much of a coincidence, right?"
Ayame sighed and said, "Maybe. Well, in any case, they used to drag me to The Golden Phoenix to consult whenever they were getting new clothes."
"Really? Why?"
"Well…I, and a lot of the other students in our age group kept on criticizing them for choosing garish clothes, at one point it was almost like they were competing to see who could choose the most outlandish outfit, so we all decided that it would be best for everyone if someone else went with them and they ended up choosing Hana-chan, Itachi-kun and I to do it."
"Anyway, here's your ramen."
"Thanks a bunch, Ayame-nee," Hōshuko said, taking the bowls, putting one in front of her and moving the other two in front of the seats either side of her. She said, "Come on, I'll prove it to you."
Kotarō asked, "Prove what?"
"That Ichiraku ramen is the food of the gods!"
"We don't have time for this!"
"Nonsense! Sensei said that we've got six hours and it's barely been thirty minutes so far.
"Yeah, but sensei could have gone anywhere in that amount of time!"
"Yeah, so another ten to twenty isn't going to make any difference now then, is it?"
XXXXX
Miwa asked, "Is…this it?"
Lee said, "That's right, Miwa. And that there, is the Curry Shop of Life!"
Miwa hesitantly said, "The Curry Shop…of Life?" a doubtful tone, assuming, that it was more for marketing purposes than an accurate description of what the ramshackle store's food was actually capable of."
Hearing the doubt in her voice, Lee said, "I speak only the truth! When Guy-sensei and I were training here, we almost died and one taste of the Curry of Life was enough to revive us completely!"
Miwa shook her head, still doubting what she was being told. As they were about to enter the store, Guy came rushing in with Shino slung over his shoulders. When Guy put him down, he said, "Lee. We cannot believe your words at this time. Why? The reason is that we would need some basis for believing what we are being told based solely upon your word. After all, it's not like we know either of you and your claims are truly beyond belief. How can curry save a life? It is just a mixture of various herbs and spices mixed in with some protein. While it is true that some herbs do have medicinal applications, that is only in conjunction with other materials, some of which are not able to be found naturally. On top of that, is that the taste that would result from the combination of those ingredients, would be unpalatable at best, which would lead to the closure of this restaurant. Why is that? It should be obvious. A restaurant that fails to make appetizing products for consumption is doomed to failure. Why? Because there would be no one that would visit the store, forcing it to close. Why? Because those that work in restaurants are people, and, like any other, they need to have money in order to buy that which is essential to sustain life."
Lee said, "Shino-kun…why do you know what Miwa-san and I was talking about?"
Before you two shot off from the gate, I placed two queens on you. They can transmit information across their hive mind and one of the queens that are within me informed me of what was being said, as it was being said."
Miwa said, "An-nywayy…" choosing to ignore that she'd basically been getting spied on since they'd left the town in favour of turning to Guy-sensei and asking, "…That's where we're staying, right?"
"That's right," Guy said as both his sand Lee's stomachs groaned.
Miwa just looked at them flatly and was about to say something, but she was cut off by her own stomach clenching. She sighed and said, "Well, I suppose that since we're here, we might as well at least try this famous curry of life, not that I'm expecting too much from it.
Twenty minutes later, Shino and Miwa were looking down at a bubbling, black, slop that had been thrown on top of the large pile of rice on their plate. Both had fearful looks on their faces. Neither Guy nor Lee had any such problems and, rather than wait for the other two to tuck in, they started shovelling it into their mouths as if it was some kind of sick and twisted race. Miwa looked at Shino and said, "Well, I…uhh…guess that we should probably just tuck in and go from there, right?" Shino nodded. The both took a shaky spoon to the concoction and brought it up to their mouths. Miwa hesitantly said, "Same time?" Shino nodded again. They put them into their mouths and closed their lips over the spoon before sliding it out. Almost immediately, their faces turned purple seconds before breathing fire out of their mouths. They were both panting as they reached for the glasses of water on the table. When they'd downed their /inks, Miwa said, "I guess…that this means…that we both have fire elemental natures." And chuckled as she grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. Shino couldn't muster the energy to respond.
When Miwa and Shino had recovered, Guy said, "Alright Miwa before we continue, I'd like you to recall those three from your scrolls."
Miwa said, "Hai, Guy-sensei!" and went outside as she withdrew the scroll from the pocket of her pack. She threw it into the air as she rushed through some handseals, which even guy was having difficulty deciphering. When she was done, she clapped her hands together and said, "Fuinjutsu: Fuin Kaiin. Suddenly, three bolts of lightning burst from the scroll, revealing the three men.
Lee turned to Guy and said, "Guy-sensei. How did she…shouldn't she need to be in contact with the seal to release it?"
Miwa cut Guy off before he could speak, explaining, "After I rejigged the effect of the seal, I found that the regular releasing method didn't work, so I had to reengineer that too. It was really annoying, since I'd sealed my favourite hair ribbon in it."
Guy said, "Miwa. If you were able to manipulate the effect of a seal, you should have been at a level where you can make use of the Fuja Hōin. Wouldn't that have worked?"
"Maybe, but if I wanted to be able to make use of it in place of a regular storage seal, then I was going to need a way to release it without eradicating the fūin tensho. The Fūinjutsu: Fūin Kaiin was the result of a couple of weeks of experimentation. Of course, I didn't use the real deal in my trials, , since I was using the standard release technique as a base, I had to further work on it to change the release effect from smoke to lightning, which added another week to it."
Guy asked, "So, uhh…exactly how long did it take you to do all this?"
Miwa shrugged and dismissively said, "About a month."
Guy and Lee exclaimed, "A MONTH!?" as Shino rose a silent eyebrow.
"Well yeah. It was towards the end of our second to last year."
"That was when your scores started to fluctuate, isn't it?"
"That's right."
Guy said, "Isn't there more to it than that though? When I saw your scores, your marks were dropping in shurikenjutsu too."
"Does…that really matter right now?"
"No. I was just curious. That's all. Okay, now, where is this mine?" guy said, turning to face the three that had hired them.
Rokusuke said, "You can look down on it from the top of the mountainside." He paused before almost begging, "Please don't make us go with you!"
Guy said, "Alright," before turning to Miwa and Shino. He said, "Have the two of you done the tree climbing training?" the both nodded. "Alright then, let's go!" and they proceeded to run up the face of the cliff. When they reached the top, they all croched down behind an outcropping to see what was going on down below. When they saw what must have been all of the workers standing around a box with someone clearly standing at the top of it, holding his hands clutched together, talking, Guy thought, 'A funeral? But I thought that they were basically slave labour. Guy grabbed Rokusuke by his collar. He pulled him up and said, "What the hell is happening down there?"
"They're…" Rokusuke sighed and looked down and to the right.
"Hurry it up and explain the situation, the entire situation, or we're out of here."
Rokusuke sighed and said, "Raiga…he holds funerals for those that fall behind in their workload and acts as if they're lifelong friends!"
Then, they all heard a scream. Miwa and Lee gasped, coming to a sick realisation. Shino frowned silently, no less horrified than either of his temporary teammates. Guy said, "Are they…alive?" Rokusuke nodded, visibly distressed.
Miwa and lee shot up and began to run towards the edge of the cliff before being forced to the ground by Guy. They both futilely struggled to push themselves up, but were helpless against the powerful grip of the taijutsu master. He said, "I know your angry about this Lee, Miwa. I am too. But we can't just rush in like that!"
Lee bordered on demanding, "Why not, Guy-sensei?"
Miwa angrily exclaimed, "But that guy's still alive!"
"I know! But it's not just Raiga down there! You see that guy dressed in olive green and brown?"
"That guy with the same flak-vest as Nii-chan?"
"That's him."
"What about him?"
"That's Kawara Nobuyuki, a jōnin from Yamagakure. It's been a while since I've looked at a bingo book, so I don't know if he's listed as a missing-nin or not. if he isn't, then Yamagakure is involved and it could turn into a disaster that draws both villages into conflict!"
Shino said, "You mean war, right?"
"Yes; and since yamagakure is allied with both Iwagakure and Kumogakure, t could very easily become a Fourth Great Ninja War!"
Miwa blew a lock of stray hair out of her eyes and complained, "I hate politics."
"Yes. Naruto was always the same, though he's not going ot have much choice when he gets back."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…that's…" Guy said, looking for a way to move the conversation away from Naruto and back to their mission.
Miwa said, "Look. You can answer me now, or I can pester you about it until you do."
Guy sighed and said, "Fine. Your brother was named as leader of the Military Police Force when the previous leader died."
"What? The Military Police Force? But I thought that Hinata's father was the leader."
"Technically he's a stand-in until the true leader returns. When the previous leader and his subordinates were…removed from office…the Hyūga were seen as the obvious replacement, but your father or Hana would be better placed to tell you about all that."
Miwa said, "Hey! I've got an idea!"
Guy asked, "What is it?" as he let both her and Lee up.
When she was standing, Miwa unsealed a scroll from a seal that she'd placed on the inner lining of her coat before taking it off and saying, "Here, hold this for me," as she handed her coat to Lee. When Lee had taken hold of it, Miwa placed the scroll on the ground and tapped it, saying, "Kai!" When the smoke cleared, two kunai pouches, a tool pouch and two strange kunai appeared, alongside a shinobi belt. She strapped the two kunai pouches to her legs and threaded the belt through her pants, attaching the one of the strange kunai to either of her hips and the tool pouch at the base of her spine. She grinned and said, "Later!" before backflipping off of the cliff, surprising Guy and Lee more than when she'd used what seemed to be the regular fūinjutsu release technique. Shino was more exasperated than surprised though, having half expected her to pull a reckless stunt at some point, but hadn't thought that it would be so soon into their mission.
As Miwa fell, she pushed herself off of various rocks and boulders, slowing her fall. When she reached the ground though, she was forced to a chouch before jump[ing up and loudly exclaiming, "That was more fun than I'd thought! I'm going to have to do that again!" She felt every eye turn on her, some pleading for her to run, others pitying her for her fate, joining them in servitude.
Raiga though, was furious. He demanded, "Just who do you think you are? We're holding a funeral for out dearly departed comrade that you've disturbed!"
"Oh! Really? That's too bad. Hey! You look like you're in charge here. Did you hear some screams before? I think that they came from around here."
"I asked you, who you are, girl!" Raiga pointedly demanded, punctuating each word with a stride towards her.
"Me? I'm Uzumaki Miwa and you are Kurosuki Raiga, right?" Miwa asked with a scary amount of hope in her voice.
Raiga demanded, "That's right. How did you know that?" his hands moving towards the hilts of his Kiba.
"Really?" Miwa asked, rushing forwards and to Raiga's side, peering at his swords as she said, "Then these must be the legendary Kiba, right? I've heard so much about them!" she looked up at Raiga and said, "They're said to be the embodiment of lightning, right? Why do you have them bandaged up like that? Wouldn't that affect the blade if it gets wet? I mean, hunter-nin from Kiri make heavy use of the Kirigakure no jutsu." She then rushed over to Nobuyuki and looked up at him and said, "Are you one of the Seven Swordman too? You must be since you're with the Raiga! Where's your blade? Which one is it? Is it the Donto, Kabutowari? IKt can't be the Nuibari or Kubakiri. Or the Kiba since Raiga's standing over there, or maybe it's the…no Kisame's got the Samehada and I can't see you beating the Tailess Tailed Beast. You look far too weak for that."
Nobuyuki frowned and grabbed Miwa by her collar and drew her up to his face and said, "I might not be as strong as Kisame, but, I'm still a missing-nin, girlie!" He then threw her away.
Miwa planted a hand on the ground and slid back as she grinned and said, "Really? I've always wanted to meet an honest to goodness missing-nin! We don't really get too many in my village."
Nobuyuki pointedly said, "You belong to a hidden village? Which one?" and started to look around for more people.
"A what village?"
"A Hidden Village…of shinobi."
"There's villages consisting of only warriors?" Miwa asked, stars in her eyes. "That sounds so awesome!"
Nobuyuki asked, "What makes you think that we're buying this act of yours, Miwa. If that even is your name."
"It is. And…uhh…what act?"
"Don't trey and act stupid with us. Those are kunai pouches and chakra blades that you've got there."
"Oh? Is that what they're called? Nii-chan and Tō-chan never told me what they were."
"Oh? And who are they?"
"Well…Dad's Dad and Nii-chan's Nii-chan."
"I mean their names!"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure if it's his name or not, but I've heard people calling Dad Minato, and Nii-chan's name is Kuroki."
"I see," Nobuyuki said, thinking, 'She's not lying, that much is certain. But I just can't shake the feeling that she's not exactly telling us the truth either. So what should we do? Kill her so that she can't tell anyone what we're doing, or…' He blinked, losing sight of the young blonde before seeing her in front of Raiga, holding something out in front of her.
Miwa asked, "Can I get your autograph?" showing him an accurate sketch of his Kiba.
Raiga blinked, scrutinising the page. He frowned and said, "That's a very accurate drawing that you've got there," his hands drifting back towards the hilts of his Kiba.
"I know, right? It took me like forever to get it right."
"Can I see that book," Raiga asked, holding his hand out.
"Sure thing, "Miwa said, handing it over to the missing-nin.
Raiga flipped through it until he got to the sketches of the other Seven Swordsman Blades. He looked up and said, "You've got Zabuza's signature here."
"Yeah. We were both in the same town a while back. He was kinda grouchy, but after pestering him about it for a while he gave it to me so that I'd stay away."
"I see," Raiga said, noting that she'd clearly paid little attention when she was sketching the Kubikiribōchō, the circular gap being far too far down the blade. There were errors in her drawings of the other blades, with the sole exception being the Nuibari. He said, "Have you got a pen or quill for me?"
Miwa's face lit up as she eagerly asked, "Then you will?" Raiga nodded. Miwa exclaimed, "Great!"
as she rifled through her tool pouch. When she'd found it, she handed it over to him and said, "Here you go."
Raiga quickly signed it and tossed it back to Miwa, less than a second before trying to cut her in two with one of his lightning charged swords.
Miwa slid back, exclaiming, "What the hell?! You just tried to kill me!?"
"Of course I did, Namikaze."
"Namik-!" Miwa sighed and said, "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh? How'd you know?"
"The drawings of the Seven Shinobi Blades."
"The drawings? What about them?"
"It probably would have gotten past anyone but one of the Seven Swordsmen themselves, but all but the Nuibari and my Kiba had problems with them. That means that those two blades held more significance to you. The Nuibari, is currently in the possession of Namikaze Naruto, an ANBU known to wear a black mask that has markings resembling the fox that it always with him. On top of that, you yourself said that your father was names Minato. That these Kiba were also drawn accurately means one thing, and one thing only."
Miwa scratched the back of her neck and said, "Ah-hah. And here I thought that I was hiding it pretty well too. Trust a hunter-nin from Kiri's famed Hunter Corp to be able to see through it. So, are we going to do this, or not?" as she drew two kunai from her pouches.
Miwa saw Raiga crack his neck before channelling raiton chakra through his Kiba, before thrusting them upwards, sending his lightning into the clouds above them. He grinned and said, "Say goodbye to your friends."
Miwa grunted and thought, 'Jiton:' and said, "Hiraishin no jutsu!" and threw the kunai in her right hand into the sky, towards where the rest of Team Guy were dragging Rokusuke with them as they charged down the mountainside.
A giant bolt of lightning shot down from the sky above them, but Raiga was surprised when rather than eradicating their very existence, the bolt hit the kunai that Miwa had thrown. Raiga demanded, "What did you do?"
Miwa said, "You know that the Hiraishin is one of the signature techniques of my family?" Raiga nodded. "Well, mine works a little differently to Dad's and Nii-chan's." 'Of course, it also happens to be a completely different technique anyway, but it might give them pause if they think that that's what it was.'
Nobuyuki thought, 'She can use that technique already!? This isn't good. I need to…" and started weaving hand signs.
As Nobuyuki started, Raiga thought, 'Hiraishin, huh? That's bulllshit. She may have called it that, but that's all. I don't know exactly what she did to that kunai, but at the very least, it's not the technique that her brother used against us when those three faced off against us back then. Well, that said, Nobuyuki seems to want to take her on himself, so I might as well let him. while he keeps her occupied, I'll take care of that bushy browed freak of a sensei that she's got coming to save her.' He said, "Alright you lot, take care of the kid in the jacket and their jōnin's mini-me."
The Kurosuki Gang all chorused, "Hai! Raiga-sama!" and ran at the remaining genin.
As they rushed forwards, Guy said, "Shino, you take on the grunts, Lee, go and help Miwa while I take on their Leader."
Miwa started rushing through handseals of her own, handseals that Raiga recognised. Nobuyuki thought, 'I don't know what those seals are for, but it's not like whatever jutsu she uses will do her any good against this.' And said, "Doton: Dosekiryū."
Miwa brought her right hand up to her face before going on to keep on forming hand seals. When she was done, she said, "Doton: Doryuheki no jutsu!" and slammed her hands on the ground in front of her, an earthen wall rising up under her. She then leapt forward as the earthen dragon slammed into her wall and ran along its back, charging directly at Nobuyuki, supressing her desire to fight Raiga in favour of taking care of the more immediate enemy.
As Miwa ran down the back of Nobuyuki's jutsu, Guy thought, 'Those movements! How can she be moving like that? Did she copy Lee's movements in that race? Is that why she put those conditions on it, so that she could copy Lee's movements and avoid a loss?'
Nobuyuki extended his right hand in a fist before opening it, saying, "Doton: Doryū Tongari no jutsu," spines from the back of his dragon rising up, trying to skewer Miwa, who slowed slightly as the first one rose up, shooting in front of her and leapt onto it to avoid the one coming straight at her and leapt onto the top of another one rushing towards her and using that to spring from the back of the dragon into the air. Nobuyuki said, "Doton: Ganchū Betsudōtai!" and a spike shot at her while she was in the air.
Miwa smirked, thinking, 'Got 'im!'
Miwa's eyes widened in shocked anger as she heard Lee's voice cry out, "Dainamikku Entorī!" and saw him crash into the oncoming spike, breaking it apart.
Miwa thought, 'Damn it!' as she yelled, "You fool!" and quickly drew one of her chakra blades from her belt, streamed her chakra into it, causing an orange-brown chakra spike to extend diagonally away from the handle and threw it at Nobuyuki as he was forming the handseals to send more spikes flying at them and said, "Doton: Chikaku Kunai Kage Bunshin!" splitting the kunai into thousands, forcing Nobuyuki to raise his own defensive wall, forcing him to let go of his dragon, causing it to collapse to the ground and break into boulders.
When they were both on the ground, Lee faced Miwa and said, "That language is hardly youthful, Miwa."
Miwa exclaimed, "I'd say that it's pretty justified given the circumstances!"
"Had I not destroyed it, that spike would have inflicted serious damage to you. So I hardly think that you should be complaining."
"You think I didn't know that that was coming?"
"Eh?" Lee asked, unsure what his young colleague was talking about.
"The Rock Pillar series of jutsu are the base requirement for learning the Dosekiryū. Given that he's a jōnin, there's no way that he wouldn't have been able to send them after me in the air. I was planning to use that spike as a basis for that jutsu that I just used. Since jutsu with the same chakra signature cancel each other out, it would have gone straight through any wall that he put up, unlike what just happened with my chakra blade!"
"But that's not…"
"Possible?" Nobuyuki asked as his wall lowered back into the ground. "Sorry kid, but she's right. Had she been able to pull that off, I would have been in trouble. Of course, that's not to say that there aren't ways to deal with something like that."
"True enough, but how you dealt with it would have told me what type of shinobi you are, and how to approach this battle."
Nobuyuki thought, 'This brat. She looks like she's just exited the academy but her attitude's like that of an experienced shino-!' He exhaled a pained "Ghahk!' as he doubled over around Miwa's elbow.
Nobuyuki gasped as the air was forced out of him by Miwa forcing her elbow, supported by her other hand, into Nobuyuki's stomach as she announced, "Konoha Kaishō!"
Nobuyuki backhanded Miwa away from him, thinking, 'Damn! I barely saw her move just now! It's a good thing that I channelled chakra to my gut and feet, or I'd have been sent flying just now. She must have used an application of the Shunshin no jutsu to increase the power of her strike, because as scrawny as she is, there's no way that she should have been capable of producing that much power, even if she did strengthen the blow with her other arm.'
Lee thought, 'That stance that she's in…Miwa-chan is using the same Gōken as Guy-sensei and I. But who could have taught her? I'd thought that only Guy-sensei used it before he taught me.'
Miwa grinned as she slid to a stop, thinking, 'Alright! It worked! It honest to goodness worked! I guess that Nii-chan must have copied Bushy Brow-sensei's moves in the past and developed this Shunken from it. There's no other explanation as to how I completed the style only after copying Bushy Brow's in that race.'
Guy thought, 'That wasn't Gōken. It was Shunken. Miwa-chan can use it? But I'd thought that Naruto was out of the village while she was undergoing training!' as he brought his arms up to protect against Raiga's two swords with his tonfa. He stepped to the side, spinning them in his hands to strike Raiga's chest, but was forced to jump back as a bolt of lightning struck where he'd been.
XXXXX
At the same time, in Konoha, Natsume's three genin had reached The Golden Phoenix. Kotarō hesitantly asked, "This…is it, right?" unsure if they should actually go inside, given the ramshackle state of the building's exterior.
Shikawai said, "It can't be that bad…right?" looking to Hōshuko for support.
Hōshuko rolled her eyes and didn't answer in favour of just entering the store. She blinked, surprise at the state of the interior as compared to it outer appearance. It was arranged neatly and, surprisingly, seemed to comply with all of the current building regulations. Even more surprising though, was that it seemed to be a lot bigger than she would have thought given the size of the place. Daichi nodded at the three as the other two filed in behind the first, thinking, 'So, these are the three that Natsume was telling me about before, huh? Well, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.' He said, "I don't think that I've ever seen you three swing by here before, so I'll give you a first-timers discount on whatever you purchase."
Kotarō started to say, "Forget that old ma-! Rgrrh!" before his mouth was covered by Hōshuko's hand.
Shikawai let out a relieved sigh and nodded at her teammate, silently thanking her for cutting their other teammate's insult short, getting the feeling that angering the store worker would result in nothing more than a swift escort from the store, preventing them from achieving their objective. She said, "Thank you," and started looking through the stores wares. When Kotarō stopped trying to struggle in her hold, Hōshuko let go of Kotarō and joined Shikawai as Kotarō went over to the tanto to see how much better the Vermillion Weapons Store was than this run-down joint. When Hōshuko was with her, in a quiet tone, she said, "Thanks for that."
"Yeah," Hōshuko said, "I kinda got the same feeling from that guy as I did from the Hokage earlier."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure…it was almost as if he was expecting us, but wanted an excuse to give us the boot."
Shikawai thought, 'If that's the case, then Natsumi-sensei must have informed him about this test that she's putting us through. But then why would he give us this one-off offer? Does he want us to pay him for the information that we need? If that's the case, then is this guy an information broker? And if so, does that make him a threat to the village? No wait. If the son of the Hokage uses this place to arm himself, then there shouldn't be any problems with it. I just hope that Kotarō doesn't…!" Shikawai's eyes opened wide as she saw Kotarō pick up one of the kunai and draw it back as if he were about to throw it. She looked to Hōshuko desperately, none of her techniques fast enough to do anything.
Hōshuko's eyes narrowed and drew her own hand back, generating a crystal senbon. She was only slightly less than half surprised when he threw it at the shop keeper's back as he was doing something on a desk at the rear of the register. She threw her crystal senbon at it as she formed seals and thought, 'Shoton: Dōka Tanren!' When she felt her chakra flow into it, she made more handseals and thought, 'Doton: Chōkajūgan no Jutsu' and the kunai turned black and cut its arc short, falling to the floor. Hōshuko wasn't done yet though and thought, 'Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu,' causing the kunai to lose all of its weight and fall to the floor without the damage that she knew from experience would have resulted from it falling with as much weight as she'd added to it.
As Hōshuko was preventing her teammate's action from doing something that they would all regret, Shikawai rushed over to him and pushed him, and shrugged, mouthing 'what were you thinking?!'
Kotarō said, "From what he said he clearly takes payment for any information that he can provide. That makes him a threat to be eliminated."
Daichi didn't turn around, but thought, 'Well, Natsumi's got her work cut out for her with this lot.'
Shikawai pointedly said, "Think about it! The Hokage's son uses this store! If this guy was a threat, then the Hokage would already know about it and have put an end to it long before three fresh out of the academy Genin would ever learn about it! Or do you seriously think that Danzō-sama tells you everything about what he does?"
Kotarō frowned and said, "Even if that's the case with my uncle 'n' me. There's three types of spy. Those that are there to find out information, those that provide disinformation and those that are designed to limit the enemies' available force. Given that we're in a weapons store, it could be that he is the third."
"That doesn't fly if the Hokage's family uses this store."
"It could be something as simple as taking longer than would be strictly necessary to fulfil orders, or providing less than astounding work that will degrade faster than other armouries in combination with customer loyalty. Whichever it is, the fact remains that if the possibility exists that he's a traiter, then we should take it as a certainty and act to eliminate the threat."
The shop keeper heaved a heavy sigh, gaining the attention of both Shikawai and Kotarō. He said "You've got no idea what you're on about, kid."
Kotarō angrily demanded, "What was that?"
"It is a requirement for every shinobi that wants to become a weaponsmith in Konoha to undergo and extensive background check by either the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department, or one of their direct subordinates. Do you really think that the head honchos would let some rando set up a business that supplies life saving tools to their troops?" he waited for a reply. Not getting one, he turned to the girl up that back of the store and said, "Now, thanks for saving my life, though I assure you, it was unnecessary."
"Well, maybe, but I didn't want to take that risk. After all, if sensei comes here there must be some reason, since most of what I'm seeing is also available at the White Tiger Armoury and the Red Gecko Gear Shop, for about half the price."
"That's fair. But, unlike them, we do customisations here, something that Natsumi appreciates."
"Wait. How did you know that…"
"She's your sensei? She was here earlier and told me to answer whatever questions you have."
"Then what's the deal with the discount?"
"We're a believer in mate's rates here. And any friends of friends of ours are our friends as well, as such deserve to be given the discount."
Hōshuko said, "Oh. Well…thanks…I guess?" unsure how to take the explanation.
Shikawai said, "Sooo…supposing that we don't end up on Sensei's team…would we still get the discount going forward?"
"You two girls, yes. The kid, not a chance. So, that aside, what do you want to know?"
"Hmm…alright…is Natsumi-sensei the daughter of the Hokage?"
"Would it matter if she was?"
"Of course it does!" Kotarō exclaimed.
"Why?"
"If we're not careful we could kill her and that would be considered as acting against the Hokage's family, thus a treasonable offence!"
"You're pretty arrogant, aren't you, kiddo?"
Kotarō exclaimed, "I'm not a child! We are shinobi, and you will treat us with the proper respect."
"Sure, whatever you reckon. Regardless, I'm going to give you one bit of advice."
Shikawai asked, "What's that?"
"If Natsumi is giving you a bell test, then you're going to have to go at her like you intend to kill her, or you won't get a bell."
"Didn't you hear what I just said old man? If we do that, we'd get a death sentence!"
"I'm sure that your friend over there would, but you're Danzō's nephew and she's from the Nara Clan, so I'm sure that you two at least would avoid that fate. Of course, that is if she's related to the Hokage."
Hōshuko said, "Hey, Ayame-nee said that Natsumi and some Naruto guy used to come here together a lot, is that right?"
"Yeah. They were in and out of here all the time back in the day. Why?"
"I don't suppose that you'd have any photos of them lying around here, would you?"
"My daughter was always close to them, so she might, yes. Why?"
"I'd just like to see it, if that's okay?"
Daichi shrugged and said, "I suppose," and went out the back to get the photo that Asami still wouldn't let him take down.
It didn't take long for him to get back with the photo and hand it over to Hōshuko, who looked at it and immediately said, "This…is going to be a problem," holding the photo out towards her teammates.
Shikawai asked, "Why's that?" as she took it from Hōshuko. She said, "Ah," seeing the identical grins that the two shared, alongside the three identical markings mirrored on each of their cheeks, and the pained expression on what must have been members from the Inuzuka and Uchiha clans standing next to the blonde and Ayame and who they were assuming was the mysterious Asami standing against Natsumi.
Kotarō said, "This is…" before glaring at Daichi and demanding, "Why didn't you cut the double talk from earlier and just admit that she is related to the Hokage, old man?!"
"Well, you keep on calling me old for one."
"And the rest?"
"I told you before, it's not going to change what you're going to have to do, so why concern yourself with irrelevant facts?"
"Like I said, it's not irrelevant!"
Shikawai sighed and said, "While it does change some of the parameters, Kotarō, Daichi-san is right when he says that our objective hasn't changed in the slightest." She turned to face Daichi and asked, "So, what techniques can she use?"
"Sorry, but to get here, you must have seen the Hokage at some point, so you've probably been told all that I would know about that."
"Alright, how about favoured weapons?"
"she uses custom kunai and shuriken and a custom chakra blade."
Shikawai thought, 'Great, so we're not going to be able to predict any strategies that she might come up with if she's using custom weapons, but, conversely, it will make it easier to identify her if she's changed her look!' She looked at Daichi and asked, "Did sensei buy anything while she was here earlier?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid that I can't tell you what."
"Why not?"
"She paid me not to."
"So…suppose I paid you more?"
"Well, I highly doubt that you've got the ability to do so, but even if you did, that would be double dipping and she'd see it as a betrayal and start buying from my competition, something I'm sure you can understand is not exactly ideal."
Shikawai mumbled her begrudging acceptance as she thought, 'Okay, that eliminates Kotarō's concerns about him posing a threat to the village. Hmm…' she said, "Hey, Kotarō…" and started whispering into his ear.
Hōshuko frowned at the picture, thinking, 'Hey, wait a second. That looks almost like…!' and tossed it into the air as she rushed from the store, sliding to a stop outside to see someone wearing a coat that had a design similar to the one that Natsumi had been wearing in the picture turn down the road at the end of the street. She frowned as she saw that the person was wearing a lower face mask, thinking, 'Damn it! I can't tell if that's her or not!' as her teammates joined her in the street.
Shikawai asked, "What is it," as the woman disappeared from Hōshuko's view.
Hōshuko said, "I don't know if it's her or not, but there's a lady that's been following us that is wearing a short-sleeved coat similar to that vest that sensei was wearing in that photo."
Shikawai said, "It's better than anything else we've got to go on," and started running in the direction that Hōshuko had been looking. Kotarō and Hōshuko ran after her.
XXXXXXX
A/N
Kawara Nobuyuki
Doton: Dosekiryū / Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon
The user creates a dragon made from the ground to attack the opponent.
Doton: Doryū Tongari no jutsu / Earth Release: Earth Dragon Sharp Point
Spikes shoot up, out of the back of a Doton: Dosekiryū.
Doton: Ganchū Betsudōtai / Earth Release: Rock Pillar Flying Column
An earthen spike shoots from the ground at the target.
Namikaze Miwa
Doton: Doryuheki no jutsu / Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
The user manipulates pre-existing earth into a defensive wall fortified with a coat of chakra, making it more resistant to fire and water than it would otherwise be.
Doton: Chikaku Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu/ Earth Release: Tectonic Kunai Clone Technique
A doton variant of the Raiton: Senjūden Kunai Raiu Bunshin no Jutsu.
Konoha Kaishō / Leaf Destroying Rise
A taijutsu technique where the user smashes their elbow into their opponent using the other arm as support.
Shunshin no jutsu /Body Flicker Technique
By using the Body Flicker Technique, a ninja can move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed. To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily vitalise the body and move at extreme speeds.
Fuzen Shunshin no jutsu / Partial Body Flicker Technique
The user applies the Shunshin no jutsu to one limb only, increasing the strength of their physical attacks.
Shunken / Flicker Fist
A style of taijutsu where the user makes up for the lack of physical might, with the increased speed gained through the use of the Shunshin no jutsu. Naruto developed this to compete against a taijutsu user in his chūnin exam, using what he'd observed of Gōken as a base. He had practiced with it in front of his sisters, with only Miwa focusing on what he was doing enough to later re-engineer it herself.
Hagoromo Hōshuko
Shoton: Dōka Tanren / Crystal Release: Assimilation Forging
The user generates a senbon with their crystal release chakra and throw it at an object. When it makes contact, rather than deflecting it, it melds with the object and the chakra that created it flows into the object, letting the user cast jutsu on it.
Doton: Chōkajūgan no Jutsu / Earth Release: Ultra-Added-Weight Rock Technique
The user drastically increases the weight of their target, but to a much greater extent than that of the original ability. Under certain circumstances, the technique can be used to increase the force behind attacks.
Doton: Chōkeijūgan no Jutsu / Earth Release: Ultralight-Weight Rock Technique
The user drastically decreases the weight of their target, but to a much greater extent than that of the original ability. The user can use this technique to lift enormous objects that they normally wouldn't be able to.