The forest was a ruin. Shattered trees, their trunks split and blackened, stood over a smoking landscape. Dozens of Naruto's shadow clones stood in a wide, loose circle, their hands held in a release seal. Between them, several massive, unfurled scrolls lay on the churned earth, their intricate ink still steaming faintly in the humid air. In the center of it all, the real Naruto stood, his chakra blazing around him like a controlled fire, his eyes a burning orange. He had just heard Shizune's report over the comms. Everyone was safe. The child was safe. A wave of relief washed over him, and his focus returned to the broken figure before him.
Crystal user was on the forest floor, propped up on one elbow, her breaths coming in ragged, painful gasps. Her clothes were shredded, her body bruised and battered, but a fierce, unbroken defiance still burned in her eyes.
"It's over," Naruto said, his voice calm, the usual boisterous energy gone, replaced by a heavy authority. "My team has the boy."
He saw her breath hitch, a flicker of something, panic or relief, in her exhausted eyes. So there was something more there.
"We'll take good care of him," Naruto continued, his voice softening slightly. "Now, you're coming with me. You're going to tell us everything. About Orochimaru. About Sasuke."
He saw the fight finally drain from her, the defiance replaced by a bone-deep weariness, the look of a soldier who knew the war was lost.
Then, her body jerked, a violent, unnatural spasm. Her eyes went wide with an uncomprehending shock.
"Ghk—Ah…!" A strangled gasp tore from her throat, followed by a gout of crimson that erupted from her mouth, staining the forest floor.
Naruto's calm shattered. He was in front of her in a blur of motion, his hands gripping her shoulders. "Hey! What's wrong?!"
Her chest convulsed again, and a black, chitinous blade, slick with her blood, erupted from her sternum. She had been pierced from behind. Naruto's eyes, saw it instantly. He whipped her around and there it was. A grotesque thing, like a spider carved from obsidian and bone, was clinging to her back. It pulled its bladed limb free with a wet, sickening SHLICK. It was made of pure chakra.
He lunged for it, his hand closing on empty air as the creature collapsed, melting into a puddle of thick, black ink that was instantly absorbed by the damp earth.
He spun back to Guren, his face a filled with desperation. "Hold on! Just hold on!" he yelled, his voice cracking. To his clones, he roared, "MEDICAL KIT! NOW!"
He looked back at her face. The light was already fading from her eyes. Her lips moved, a faint whisper.
"Keep… Yūkimaru… safe."
Her body went rigid. Dead.
For a long, silent moment, Naruto just knelt there, holding her. Then, he gently laid her down. He stood up, his fists clenched, and a raw, guttural roar of fury ripped from his throat, echoing through the shattered forest.
"DAMMIT!"
His orange-pigmented eyes flickered, for a barest instant, to a burning, slitted red, the Kyuubi's rage boiling to the surface before he wrestled it back down, his own cold fury taking its place. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath. The air around him shimmered as he drew in more of the world's natural energy, sharpening his senses, focusing his mind. The ink creature. It was chakra, but it was controlled. Remotely.
He concentrated, his perception expanding, pushing past the immediate chaos, searching for the puppeteer.
There. A flicker. A tiny, distant disturbance to the north. A single signature, already moving away.
He had to get that asshole.
He crouched, sheathes of wind erupting around his legs. With a sound like a small BOOM, he launched himself into the trees, a blur of orange.
"Naruto, what's happening?!" Shizune's voice crackled in his ear. "Hinata saw you moving at high speed!"
"Crystal user is dead," he bit out, his voice a dangerous growl as he bounded from treetop to treetop. "Assassinated. I'm pursuing the killer now."
He pushed harder, using short, controlled blasts of wind to correct his trajectory and increase his speed. How did I miss it? he raged internally, his mind replaying the last few minutes. It wasn't just hidden. It was cloaked, perfectly, its signature completely masked by Crystal user's own chaotic, flickering chakra. She never even knew it was there.
The wind screamed past his ears. Naruto was a blur of orange tearing through the dense forest. He was closing the distance. Up ahead, his nature-enhanced vision saw the assassin's chakra flicker, a sign of an impending jutsu. In the next instant, two more blots of chakra detached themselves from the fleeing figure, arcing high into the air, their trajectory aimed directly at him.
Trying to slow me down, Naruto thought, his expression hardening. He didn't break stride. With a soft POOF, two shadow clones appeared, running alongside him. Without a word, they leaped high into the canopy.
"GO!" Naruto roared, slamming his palms together. "Fūton: Atsugai no Jutsu! (Wind Release: Pressure Damage!)"
Two massive, compressed blasts of wind erupted from his hands as propulsion. They slammed into the backs of his airborne clones, launching them forward like cannonballs. The clones, wreathed in wind, formed Rasengans in their hands and met the two ink constructs head-on. There was a wet, tearing sound, SHLICK, followed by a silent implosion of energy and spattering ink. The clones dispelled, their memories flooding back to him. Black and white… like drawings ripped from a scroll.
He was on him now. The assassin, a young man with short black hair and an unnervingly pale, almost artificial-looking complexion, was forced to land as Naruto's sheer speed closed the gap. Naruto didn't hesitate. He unleashed another, wider cone of destructive wind.
FWOOOOOOSH!
The attack tore a massive swathe through the forest, pulverizing trees and churning the earth. The assassin moved with a fluid grace, leaping to the left, but the sheer width of the attack still clipped him, the gale sending him stumbling for a moment. He landed lightly, drawing a short, black tanto from his back just as Naruto's oversized kanabo came crashing down.
WHOOSH-CRUNCH!
The assassin dodged, the massive club shattering the earth where he had been a split second before. He darted in, his tanto a flicker of steel aimed at Naruto's throat. To Naruto's heightened senses, the assassin's movements, while fast, were happening in slow motion. He brought the massive kanabo around in a blur of wood and iron, the sheer size of the weapon acting as a moving wall that the assassin's blade bounced off with a series of sharp CLANGS.
Naruto pressed the attack, his own speed now a terrifying force, the kanabo a whirlwind of brutal, crushing blows. The assassin was forced onto the defensive, dodging and weaving. Naruto feinted a downward smash, and as the assassin brought his tanto up to block, Naruto's swing changed direction, the flat of the club slamming into the blade.
CLANG!
The moment their weapons connected, Naruto released a pulse of high-pressure wind from the point of impact. WHUMP! The contained explosion sent the assassin flying backwards, tumbling through the air.
He was resourceful. In mid-air, he unfurled a long scroll, a brush already in his hand, his chakra flowing into the parchment. But Naruto didn't give him the chance. He and a dozen newly-formed clones unleashed another wide-area wind assault, a chaotic storm of cutting gales that shredded the air.
The assassin's form dissolved in a spatter of black ink just as the attack hit. A substitute.
Naruto's senses screamed a warning. He spun, his wind-enhanced kanabo already swinging as the real assassin appeared from the shadows of a nearby tree. The assassin brought his tanto up, a desperate, last-ditch block.
CRACK!
The tanto held for a fraction of a second before the sheer, unstoppable force behind the blow transferred through, shattering the bones in the assassin's arm. In that same instant, another clone appeared on the assassin's left, its own kanabo swinging in a brutal, horizontal arc.
THUD!
The sound was dull and sickening as the club connected with the side of the assassin's head. He was sent sprawling, landing in a heap on the forest floor, his tanto clattering from his numb fingers.
Naruto stood over him, the orange pigment around his eyes blazing. "Who the hell are you?" he growled. "Another one of Orochimaru's freaks?"
The assassin didn't answer. His good hand moved with a flicker of speed, snatching a kunai from a leg pouch and bringing it up towards his own heart. A suicide attempt.
PFFT!
A tiny, compressed bullet of wind shot from Naruto's pointed finger, striking the assassin's wrist with a painful crack. The kunai was blasted from his hand, sent spinning into the trees with a sharp CLANG! Before the assassin could even register the pain, Naruto was on him, a precise chop to the back of the neck sending him into unconsciousness.
"You're not getting away that easily," Naruto muttered. He unslung a scroll from his own back, unfurling it to reveal a complex, pre-drawn paralyzing seal. He slammed it onto the assassin's chest, the ink blazing to life.
Then, the clones descended. With a surprising efficiency, they began to wrap the unconscious assassin in dozens of sealing scrolls, their movements quick and practiced. In a matter of seconds, the assassin was completely mummified in parchment and ink, only his pale, unconscious face left exposed.
Naruto took a deep breath, the orange pigment around his eyes slowly receding. He did a final, thorough scan of the area. The last thing he needed was for this assassin to have his own assassin. The forest was silent. He was alone. Satisfied, he reached up, his fingers finding the small comms unit in his ear.
The five kunoichi moved through the forest. Hinata was in the lead. Ino followed, the small form of Yūkimaru held securely on her back.
They found the battlefield easily. The lingering scent of scorched earth was around them. The scene was one of devastation. Shards of glittering purple crystal were embedded in the splintered trunks of trees. The ground was gouged with deep craters, and the scorched, steaming remains of several massive scrolls lay in tatters.
And in the center of it all, they found her.
Crystal user's body lay near the base of a shattered oak. Ino gently set Yūkimaru down, a few feet away, before she, Sakura, and Shizune knelt beside the corpse. The boy's expression was a blank, unreadable mask as he stared at the still form.
"The fatal wound is here," Shizune murmured, her glowing green hands hovering over Crystal user's chest. "A single, precise puncture wound to the thoracic cavity. It pierced the pericardium and the heart directly."
"But there's no exit wound," Sakura added, her own brow furrowed in concentration. "And no weapon. The entry point is… clean. Almost cauterized."
"Her name was Guren," Yūkimaru's voice was a soft whisper that made them all look up.
Ino turned to him, her expression softening. "Yūkimaru… when did you meet her? Was she… was she good to you?"
"She kept me away from the others," the boy said, his gaze still fixed on the body. "She said they were dangerous… that she would protect me."
While they spoke, something caught Hinata's eye. A glint of dark leather, half-buried in a clump of tall grass and mud a few meters from the body, something everyone else had missed. She moved towards it. It was a pouch, the same one she had seen on Guren's hip when they first saw her at the camp. With a careful, practiced motion, she checked it for traps before lifting it from the mud. It was surprisingly heavy.
She opened the flap. The inside was perfectly dry. And nestled within, protected by a waterproof lining, was a large, thick folder filled with papers. She pulled it out, the rustle of the paper loud in the quiet clearing. She opened the first page.
Her breath hitched, a sharp gasp that was instantly muffled by her helmet's internal systems. Her eyes, glowing with the faint light of her Byakugan, widened in pure shock. She began to skim, her gauntleted fingers flipping through the pages, her concern deepening with every page she read.
"Shizune-san," her voice was a low and urgent. "You need to see this."
Shizune stood, leaving Sakura and Karin to begin the grim task of wrapping Guren's body for transport. She approached Hinata's towering form, looking up. "What is it?"
Hinata handed her the folder. Shizune took it, her gaze dropping to the first page. She flipped to the next, and then the next, her eyes growing wider with each turn.
"Is this…" she breathed, her voice a shocked whisper. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
"It answers a lot of questions," Hinata confirmed, her own voice a low rumble.
A sudden crackle of static in their earpieces made them both jump.
"—got him!" Naruto's voice, clear, burst through. "Assassin is captured! I'm heading back to your position now!"
Hinata's stoic expression didn't change, but a wave of relief washed through her.
"Acknowledged, Naruto," Shizune replied, her voice still shaky from what she'd just read. "We are at the crystal user's location."
"Got it," he replied, his own voice losing some of its triumphant edge.
Another crackle, this one from Kakashi. "All hostile mutants have been neutralized. My squad is en route to your position."
"We'll be waiting," Shizune confirmed, her gaze dropping back to the horrifying documents in her hand.
Half an hour later, the clearing was crowded. Guren's body, now wrapped and sealed, lay respectfully to one side. The entire squad stood in a loose circle around the unconscious, scroll-mummified form of the assassin.
Kakashi held the folder, the rustle of paper, in the tense silence as he slowly turned each page, allowing everyone to see. Each page was a new, cold shock.
"These are… dossiers," Neji's voice was a sharp whisper, his Byakugan still active as he stared at the page Kakashi was holding. It was his own. A stark, black-and-white portrait, followed by a detailed, clinically precise breakdown of his abilities, his mission history, his psychological profile. They saw their own faces, their own secrets, laid bare on the paper.
"How the hell did some Orochimaru freak get his hands on this?" Kiba growled, his hand tightening into a fist.
Every eye in the circle, almost by instinct, flickered towards the smallest, most vulnerable person there. Yūkimaru flinched, shrinking back behind Ino's legs.
Naruto immediately broke from the circle, kneeling down to put himself at the boy's eye level. He offered a small, gentle smile. "Hey. Yūkimaru, right? My name's Naruto Uzumaki. You're safe now." The boy's terrified expression softened, just a fraction. Naruto gestured with his thumb over his shoulder at the bound assassin. "Did you ever see that guy before?"
Yūkimaru stared at the wrapped figure for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "He came… a few days ago. I don't know how many. Guren-san… she talked to him for a long time." His brow furrowed. "I don't know what they said. But after he left, everything changed. That's when… that's when she made everyone leave the caves." He looked back at the assassin. "I never saw him again. Until now."
"So we've found our second 'officer'," Yamato concluded, his voice a low rumble.
"But how did he get this?" Anko demanded, jabbing a finger at the folder in Kakashi's hand. "This is a major security breach. Information this detailed has to come from someone with high-level access inside Konoha."
"It explains Guren's behavior," Kakashi mused, his single eye narrowed in thought. "She was warned we were coming. She knew our capabilities. She split the mutants into two groups, sending the larger one on a wild goose chase to draw our attention." He glanced at the bound assassin. "It seems this one led the group Hinata detected. He must have had accomplices to herd them so far into the Land of Water, beyond the range of our initial scans."
"But why bother?" Tenten asked, her practical mind finding the flaw in the logic. "If she was warned we were coming, why not just throw all hundred-plus of them at us at once? Overwhelm us with sheer numbers?"
"Her primary objective wasn't us," Hinata's filtered voice cut in, drawing all eyes to her. "It was the Three-Tails. She was using Yūkimaru's overloaded chakra to influence it."
The focus snapped back to the boy. "Why was she hurting you?" Naruto asked gently. "If she was trying to keep you safe?"
Yūkimaru reached into a small pocket in his tattered clothes and pulled out a small, leather pouch. "She said… she said I was the key to Lord Orochimaru's success. She made me eat these." He held out the pouch. "They made my head hurt."
Shizune took the pouch, her expression grim as she opened it to reveal a handful of small, chalky, grey pills.
"It still doesn't make any sense," Anko grumbled, echoing Tenten's point. "The plan was a mess."
"Maybe…" Naruto said, and everyone turned to him. "Maybe she had this big, long plan, y'know? To control the Tailed Beast with Yūkimaru. And then this freak," he nodded at the assassin, "shows up, throws this folder at her, and tells her we're coming. So she panics! She has to deal with us and try to stick to her original plan at the same time, and it all just… went that way."
A brief silence fell over the group as they processed Naruto's surprisingly simple, and disturbingly logical, theory. It fit. It fit all the messy, contradictory pieces.
Anko cracked her knuckles, a cruel smile returning to her face as she stared down at the bound assassin. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out for sure." She looked at Naruto.
"Naruto. Wake him up."
Naruto knelt beside the unconscious assassin. He formed a simple hand seal, and a controlled pulse of chakra emanated from his fingertips as he tapped the man's forehead.
POP.
The assassin's body jerked, a single spasm, and his eyes snapped open. They were black, flat pools of ink that held zero emotion, zero fear, zero anything. He stared blankly at the canopy above.
Anko stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. "Well, look who's awake," she said, her voice a low and dangerous. "Had a good nap? We have a few questions for you."
A slow, deliberate motion, and the assassin's head turned to look at her. The corners of his mouth pulled back in a smile that didn't reach his eyes. It was a mechanical facsimile of an expression, unsettling and hollow. "My name is Sai," he said, his voice a friendly, even tone.
"What a creepy smile," Karin whispered to Ino.
"You have no idea," Ino whispered back.
"And I have nothing to say to any of you," Sai finished, his smile never wavering.
The casual, emotionless defiance was more disturbing than any threat. Anko, who had been about to launch into her interrogation, actually paused, her own aggressive momentum momentarily broken by the sheer wrongness of his demeanor. Hinata's enhanced senses were a screaming alarm. She could hear his heartbeat, a slow, steady rhythm that was completely at odds with his situation. His breaths were deep and even. The muscles in his face moved with an almost imperceptible, mechanical precision. She had seen this before. She glanced at Kakashi, Yamato, and Anko. Their expressions were grim. They saw it, too.
Her Byakugan flared to life, Neji's activating in the same instant. She began a deep scan of Sai's body, his chakra network, his physiology. Then she pushed deeper, searching for a spiritual trace, an anomaly, anything. And she found it.
"There's something in his mouth," her filtered voice cut through the tense silence.
"Poison capsule?" Anko asked instantly.
"Negative," Hinata replied. "It's a seal."
Shizune was already moving, pulling on a pair of sterile medical gloves. She forced Sai's mouth open with a practiced, clinical motion that he didn't resist. And there, on the surface of his tongue, was a complex, swirling pattern of black ink.
"Is that… drawn on his tongue?" Sakura asked, her voice a shocked whisper.
"That must have been painful," Karin added, wincing.
"Naruto, get over here," Anko commanded.
Naruto knelt, his expression serious as he leaned in, his own knowledge of seals coming to the forefront. The scene was absurd: a circle of Konoha's most powerful shinobi staring intently into the open mouth of their captive as if he was a fascinating piece of art. After a few long, silent minutes, Naruto stood up.
"It's tied directly to his vocal cords," he said, his voice low. "And I think it's connected to his spine, too. If he tries to say anything you don't want him to, or anything he's not supposed to, this thing'll probably fry his brain or stop his heart."
Sai's creepy smile widened a fraction. "Correct."
Anko let out a short, sharp curse. "Shit."
"Can I try my Mind Transfer?" Ino suggested.
"Too risky," Naruto shot back immediately. "This thing is way too intricate. I've never seen anything like it. Entering his mind would probably activate it."
While they debated, Hinata's own analysis continued.
His physiological state is remarkably stable, Venom observed, its voice in her mind suddenly shedding its usual bestial hunger for a cold, Klyntar-like intelligence. Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration… all within baseline parameters for a non-stressed subject. However, the synaptic impulses in his motor cortex are… rigid. The neural pathways are unnaturally streamlined. Traces of systematic mental conditioning.
Hinata found herself momentarily distracted by the shift in Venom's tone. It was a rare but welcome reminder that the beast within her was not just a creature of hunger, but a part of a vast, ancient, and intelligent collective.
She saw Kakashi, Yamato, and Anko exchange a look, a silent conversation passing between them. They knew something.
"Kakashi-sensei," she said, her voice drawing all eyes back to her. "Do you have any idea who he is?"
Kakashi's gaze shifted from the captive to the folder he still held. "Anko was right. The information in these dossiers is too detailed, too current. This isn't the work of a foreign infiltrator. This is an internal leak." His single eye swept over them, a silent warning. "We can surmise that someone with high-level clearance in Konoha has attempted to make contact with Orochimaru, using these documents as a show of good faith."
His words were carefully chosen, but the implication was clear, a cold stone dropped into a still pond. There was a traitor. A powerful one. And they had their own suspicions, suspicions that were too dangerous to voice here and now. Hinata saw Naruto's expression harden. He understood, too.
"Questioning him further is a waste of time," Kakashi concluded, his voice final. He looked at Naruto. "Put him back to sleep."
Naruto nodded. He knelt once more, formed the same simple seal, and tapped Sai's forehead. The assassin's eyes rolled back in his head, and his body went limp, slumping back into unconsciousness.
The assembled shinobi moved to the northwestern shore, the ground a churned-up mess of mud and stone. Lee, with a surprising gentleness, set the unconscious Sai down, his duty as a guard unwavering. They stood in a line, staring out at the monster. The Three-Tails floated on the surface of the lake, its three massive tails swaying slowly, in the dark water.
"It hasn't gone back down," Sakura stated. "It doesn't look like it's going dormant anytime soon."
"I think our little sealing attempt completely pissed it off," Ino added, gently holding the Yūkimaru in her arms.
Shizune's expression was grim. "That's the real problem. The sealing array was shattered. We have no way to contain it now."
"I can recreate it," Naruto said immediately, his voice firm. "It'll take time, but I can redraw the arrays."
"Even if you could, Naruto," Yamato countered, his voice a low and steady, "it's doubtful the beast will sit still and let us try again. We're on a timer. The Akatsuki, or someone else, could already be on their way."
"I can help," Yūkimaru's small voice piped up from Ino's arms, his eyes wide.
"No," Shizune said instantly, her voice firm but kind. "Absolutely not. Your body can't take any more strain."
While they debated, Hinata's gaze never left the beast. Her helmet's visor was a blank slate, but behind it, her mind was a running the analysis. She replayed their last encounter, the impact of her lightning and plasma attacks. It had felt pain. It had reacted. Despite its colossal size and chakra, it was still a living creature. Her Byakugan pushed, trying to pierce its dense chakra shroud. It was difficult, like trying to see through a blizzard, but she could make out the faint outlines of internal structures, of biomass.
She turned to the group. "We capsize it," she said, her filtered voice cutting through their discussion.
Every head snapped in her direction.
"And then we knock it out."
"Overturn it?" Kiba repeated, incredulous. "Hinata, that thing is the size of a mountain! What are we gonna do, push it?"
"Explosions," she stated simply. "From beneath. A synchronized detonation deep in the lake could create enough upward force to flip it, exposing its softer underbelly."
"We don't have any jutsu that powerful," Kiba argued. "Nothing that could move that much mass."
"I do," Naruto said, a familiar grin spreading across his face. He had unsealed a large scroll, presenting to everyone. "I've got plenty of these. We can turn them into the biggest damn bombs this world has ever seen."
"Even if we could build them," Neji's voice was point of logic, "someone would have to get down there, past the beast, and plant them. It's a suicide mission."
A brief, heavy silence fell over the group.
"I can do it," Hinata said.
The silence that followed was even heavier. She could see the worry clouding Naruto's face, the sharp intake of breath from Karin. Before Naruto could protest, Kakashi spoke.
"Are you sure, Hinata?"
"Yes," she answered, her voice an unwavering note of pure confidence. "I have the means for deep diving."
Kakashi stared at her for a long, calculating moment, then gave a single, sharp nod. "Alright. Then that's the plan. Let's get to work."
The shoreline transformed into a frantic workshop. Naruto created a hundred shadow clones. He unsealed a dozen massive, blank scrolls, each one the size of a man. The clones immediately descended upon them, brushes and pots of ink appearing in their hands as they began to meticulously paint explosive tags. Surprisingly, Tenten joined them, her own expertise with explosive tools proving invaluable as she pointed out flaws in their array placement, increasing the potential yield of each bomb.
Meanwhile, the real Naruto knelt apart from the others, a fresh scroll spread before him, his expression one of deep concentration as he began the painstaking process of recreating the complex sealing array from memory.
And around them all, the rest of the squad gathered, their voices a low as they began to plan the second, and far more brutal, phase of the attack.
A couple of hours later, the shoreline was filled with activity. The sun was beginning its slow descent, casting long shadows across the ravaged landscape. Hinata stood at the water's edge, the massive bundle of scroll bombs tied with thick rope slung over her armored shoulder. Across the lake, she could see the faint, distant figures of her teammates taking up their positions on the eastern and northern shores. Naruto stood near her, the last one to see her off, his expression filled with a worry.
"I made the outer casings waterproof and added an extra layer to the seals," he said, his voice low. "They'll hold. And they'll go off." He paused, his gaze fixed on her helmet. "You got everything you need?"
"Yes," she answered calmly.
He took a step closer, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. "Hey… Hinata. If it gets bad down there… you bail. You hear me? Screw the mission. You just get out."
A warmth spread through her chest. She gave a single, sharp nod. "I will."
A crackle in her ear. It was Kakashi. "All units are in position. Hinata, you are clear to move out."
She took a deep breath, and with a powerful push from her legs, she leaped high into the air. She hit the water in a clean dive, the dark surface swallowing her whole.
The moment she was submerged, her body adapted. The black biomass of the symbiote flowed from the seams of her armor, forming long, sleek fins on her legs, back, and the backs of her gauntlets. Along her ribcage, the glowing Klyntar markings split open, revealing a series of pulsating, gill-like spiracles that began to draw oxygen directly from the water. The change was instantaneous, a shift from land predator to something perfectly suited for the crushing depths. She began to swim, her powerful, fin-assisted kicks propelling her through the black water at an incredible speed.
It took several minutes to reach her target. The beast's colossal form blotted out the faint light from above, a living mountain casting a shadow. She was directly beneath it.
Working with a practiced efficiency, she untied the bundle. She took the first of the large scrolls, channeled a small, precise pulse of chakra into its activation seal, priming it. The seals on its casing flared to life, and the air trapped within was released, turning the heavy scroll into a buoyant torpedo. It began to ascend rapidly, a pale shape rising towards the beast's dark underbelly. One by one, she released four more, sending them up in a wide, calculated pattern.
With the leftover bundle still on her shoulder, she swam, positioning herself under the beast's left flank. Again, she began the process, priming and releasing the remaining scroll bombs, sending them rocketing upwards. As the last one left her hands, she looked up. The first bomb she had released was just about to make contact.
On the surface, the Three-Tails floated, its rage having subsided into a low rumblings. Suddenly, a powerful, muffled THUD resonated through its massive body, a tremor from deep below. It lifted its head, its single eye scanning the water, trying to find the source of the disturbance.
THUD-BOOM!
A second, more powerful explosion detonated directly beneath it, the concussive force lifting its colossal body a few feet, shaking it violently.
FWOOM-BOOM!
Another, and another, and then a final, massive explosion from directly beneath its center. KRA-KA-BOOOOM! The sound was a deafening roar as the surface of the lake erupted, and the Three-Tails was lifted almost entirely out of the water, its massive form hovering for a split second on a mountain of churning white water.
Then, the second volley hit. A chain reaction of explosions detonated along its left flank, a series of brutal, sequential punches of pure force that slammed into its side, tipping its immense weight past the point of no return. With a groan that sounded like a dying world, the Three-Tails capsized, crashing back down onto the lake's surface on its armored back, its pale, vulnerable belly now facing the sky. It thrashed, confused and disoriented, its tails and limbs sending up massive plumes of water, trying desperately to right itself.
"THE BEAST IS DOWN!" Kakashi's command roared over the comms. "DO IT NOW!"
From the east, a green blur shot into the sky. Lee, holding a massive explosive scroll, spun, his leg a blur as he kicked the primed bomb, sending it hurtling towards the beast's exposed head. From the north, Sakura launched herself into the air, her own scroll held ready. With a primal roar, she punched it, the force of her chakra-infused blow sending it flying like a cannonball. And from the west, Naruto leaped, his own punch wreathed in a sheath of howling wind as he sent the final, massive explosive scroll on its way.
The three projectiles converged, striking the beast's exposed lower jaw in a single, perfectly synchronized impact.
KRA-KA-THOOOOOOOOOM!
The sound was absolute, a loud explosion that shook the entire forest, sending a shockwave rippling out for miles. When the smoke finally cleared, the thrashing had stopped. The beast's massive limbs and tails, which had been flailing wildly, now hung limp, slumping down into the water. It was floating, belly-up. Unconscious.
A beat of stunned silence, then the comms erupted in a chorus of triumphant, disbelieving cheers.
"Hinata!" Naruto's voice cut through the celebration, sharp with worry. "Hinata, are you okay?!"
Another pause, then her calm, filtered voice came through, a comforting presence in the aftermath. "I am operational. Southern shore."
"YOU DID IT, HINATA!"
"THAT WAS MAGNIFICENT!"
"TOTALLY YOUTHFUL AND EFFECTIVE!"
The voices of Sakura, Lee, Kiba, Karin, and Ino all burst through in a wave of praise.
On the western shore, Naruto let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, a wide, relieved grin spreading across his face.
"Alright, people, settle down," Kakashi's voice cut in, all business once more. "Sealing team, you're up. Let's finish this."
"We're moving in," Shizune's voice confirmed.
Hinata stood on the water's surface, watching the unconscious beast from a safe distance. She saw the four kunoichi, their forms small against the backdrop of the monster, activate the new sealing array. A great, glowing net of light descended from the sky, beginning to settle over the beast's massive, overturned form. Around the lake, the other squads were taking up new patrol positions.
So much energy, Venom's voice was a wistful hum in her mind. So much potential. Wasted on a creature of pure, chaotic instinct. It could have used this power to create a world of perfect, ordered ecosystems. It paused. We could have had a piece. Its biomass is incredibly energy-dense. It would have been… most useful.
We are not eating the Tailed Beast, Hinata thought back, a faint smile playing on her lips beneath the helmet.
The rest of the operation went without a hitch. The sealing array settled, its light glowing brighter and brighter until, with a implosive flash, the colossal form of the Three-Tails simply… vanished. It wouldn't be a problem for several years.
As evening fell, their mission was finally, truly, complete. The assembled shinobi of Konoha, weary but victorious, turned their backs on the dark lake and began the long journey home, taking with them a small, frightened boy, the body of a woman named Guren, and the unconscious, scroll-wrapped form of an assassin named Sai.
It was deep into the night by the time the debriefing began. The village outside was quiet, a stark contrast to the tension filling the Hokage's office. The room was crowded, filled with every participant of the mission, along with Ibiki Morino and Shikaku Nara, the Jounin Commander.
On Tsunade's desk, lay the folder Hinata had recovered from the forest floor.
Tsunade leaned back in her chair, her fingers interlaced. She looked exhausted but focused. "Let's summarize," she began, her voice steady. "Orochimaru's forward operating base has been destroyed. The prisoner population, which had been mutated and weaponized, has been eliminated. We have secured the child, Yūkimaru, who possesses the unique ability to influence the Tailed Beast." She glanced at Shizune. "He is currently under guard at the hospital."
She continued, her gaze sweeping the room. "The Three-Tails has been successfully sealed and removed from the board. The agent orchestrating the operation, Guren, has been confirmed killed. And the assassin who killed her is in custody."
"Yes mam," Kakashi said from the side of the room.
Tsunade nodded once. "Given the scope of the threat and the intelligence recovered, this mission is retroactively classified as S-rank. Mission complete. Excellent work, all of you."
The tension in the room eased slightly.
"Most of you are dismissed," Tsunade said. "Go get some rest. Shizune, Hinata, Yamato, Kakashi, Anko... and Naruto. You stay."
There was a rustle of movement as the others filed out. Participants that were dismissed, bowed and left, closing the door behind them.
Once the latch clicked shut, Tsunade performed a quick sequence of hand seals. The intricate privacy seals etched into the walls and floor flared with a brief violet light before fading, locking the room in a cone of silence.
Hinata stood silently next to Yamato, her eyes narrowing slightly. She understood why the Jounin commanders were kept. But Naruto was a Chuunin. Neji, a Jounin and the Hyuuga prodigy, had been dismissed. This made her feel curious.
Shikaku Nara stepped forward, picking up the folder from the desk. He flipped it open, staring at the dossiers with a lazy, yet sharp intensity. "The contents of these documents are... problematic. To put it mildly. Even if Orochimaru had no immediate tactical use for this intel, he could have traded it to Iwa or Kumo for a fortune or a favor. It's a comprehensive breakdown of our current operational capacity."
He tossed the folder back onto the desk with a heavy thud. "Someone from our own ranks attempted to use this information to open a direct line to Orochimaru. The assassin you captured, Sai, was the emissary."
"The timing lines up," Anko added, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Based on the boy's testimony and the movements of the crystal user, she met with this Sai days ago. That means while we were still drafting the mission parameters and selecting the teams, Sai was already handing this intel over to Guren."
"Troublesome," Shikaku muttered. "But it tracks. He was already in place."
"We had a Yamanaka scan the child's memories," Ibiki rumbled, his voice rough. "Guren was expecting him. This wasn't a cold call. Someone from the village had already established contact with Orochimaru prior to this meeting."
Kakashi nodded. "Guren was likely supposed to escort Sai directly to Orochimaru along with these documents. But she had her own agenda regarding the child and the Three-Tails. She delayed, and it cost her her life."
Naruto shifted his weight, frowning. "So... you guys already know who the traitor is, don't you?"
Hinata looked at the assembled leadership. "I suspect Naruto is right. You have a name."
Tsunade looked at Kakashi. "Tell them."
Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his silver hair. "It started with the seal on Sai's tongue. When Yamato and I saw that... it brought back memories." He looked at his fellow Jounin. "After the Third Great Ninja War, Yamato and I were part of a special branch of the ANBU Black Ops. It was called 'Root'. It was an ultra-secretive division that operated deep behind enemy lines, often doing the village's darkest work."
Yamato's face was grim. "The training was brutal. It involved heavy mental conditioning to strip away emotion and self. The members behaved exactly like that boy, Sai. Efficient. Hollow. Tools."
"But the Third Hokage disbanded that branch a long time ago," Yamato added.
"Sai is young," Anko pointed out sharply. "He's Naruto's and Hinata's age. If he's a product of Root, then Root didn't die when the Third signed the paper. It just went underground. It's still active."
Tsunade's eyes hardened. "The founder and leader of Root was Danzo Shimura." She looked directly at the two younger shinobi. "Naruto, Hinata. Have you heard of him?"
"I know the name," Hinata answered smoothly. "He is one of the village elders. I have seen his official portraits in the archives, but I have never seen him in person." Her enhanced senses picked up the spike in Tsunade's heart rate, a flicker of intense irritation at the mere mention of the man's name.
"You haven't seen him because he stays in the shadows," Tsunade spat. "Shikaku, Ibiki, and I... we've been piecing this together."
Naruto frowned deeper. "So... this elder guy. Is he working for Orochimaru?"
"Danzo is a recluse," Tsunade said, leaning forward. "But in the last few months, he's been... proactive. He's been petitioning to be included as an advisor for specific operations. Specifically, operations near the borders of the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Grass. Places where we know Orochimaru operates."
"We cannot accuse an elder based on this," Hinata stated, her voice analytical. "With the current information, it is circumstantial. He will claim Sai is a rogue element, a remnant of the old system acting alone. Or he will blame Shikaku-san's department for an intelligence leak. He has plausible deniability."
"Exactly," Shikaku sighed. "He's a slippery old ghost."
Hinata looked at the Hokage. "If this is a political deadlock regarding the elders, why are Naruto and I here? This seems like a matter for the Jounin Commander and the ANBU heads."
"Good question," Tsunade said, a faint smile touching her lips. "You're here because the situation with the Akatsuki is escalating, and now we have a rot on the inside. I need operators who can handle the S-rank threats on the outside, but who I also trust implicitly with the internal reality."
She looked from Naruto to Hinata. "I need your expertise for the next phase. In the coming days, I will be summoning you for specific tasks. We aren't done with the Akatsuki, and we certainly aren't done with Danzo. I need you ready."
"Got it," Naruto said, his face serious.
"Understood, Hokage-sama," Hinata bowed.
"Dismissed."
Hinata walked out of the tower, the cool night air doing little to settle her mind. She felt a spike of annoyance. As if the looming, existential threat of the Akatsuki and their Tailed Beast hunt wasn't enough, now they had to deal with a senile relic from the previous wars who refused to stay retired.
But there was something else bothering her. The talk. Why bother involving them in the politics? Tsunade could have simply debriefed Kakashi and Yamato about the assassin and sent Hinata and Naruto on their next mission like soldiers. Keeping them in the room, exposing them to the internal rot of the village leadership... it wasn't just a briefing. It felt like preparation. Tsunade wasn't just treating them as assets, she was bringing them into the inner circle.
"Hey, Hinata-chan!"
Naruto's voice broke through her thoughts. He was jogging to catch up to her, his hands behind his head, though his eyes were still serious from the meeting.
"I... uh... I was thinking," he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's late. Do you... want me to walk you to your compound?"
Hinata looked at him, the weight of the conspiracy fading for a moment. "I would like that, Naruto-kun."
They began to walk together down the quiet streets of Konoha.
The village lights were warm against the cool night air as they walked. Konoha was winding down, the streets mostly empty save for the occasional late-night patrol or groups leaving the bars.
"The outcome of this hunt was… lacking," Venom's voice grumbled in the back of Hinata's mind with a dissatisfied hum. "Endless talking. Political posturing. Boring. Make the blonde one perform the mating ritual. We require… stimulation."
We are exhausted, Hinata thought back firmly, suppressing a tired smile. And so is he. Maybe tomorrow.
"Hmph. Acceptable. But only barely."
"Hey, Hinata," Naruto's voice broke through her internal dialogue. He had his hands clasped behind his head, looking up at the stars. "I just realized I forgot to ask Kakashi-sensei something. He said he and Captain Yamato used to be in that weird secret ANBU, right?"
"Root," Hinata supplied.
"Yeah, that," Naruto snorted. "It's kinda crazy when you think about it. Like, the ANBU are already the secret black ops guys, right? But then they have their own secret black ops guys inside the secret black ops? It's like… secret-ception or something."
He kicked a loose pebble on the road. "I should've asked him if he has one of those creepy seals on his tongue, too. Like that Sai guy."
Hinata shook her head slightly. "I doubt it, Naruto-kun. If a Jounin of Kakashi-sensei's standing had a suppression seal like that, the Hokage would have noticed a long time ago. Besides," she tapped the side of her face near her eye, "I would have seen the chakra disruption in his network. It's very distinct."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Naruto grinned, looking sideways at her. "But it would've been a great excuse to try and get him to take that mask off. 'Hey Sensei, gotta check your tongue for cursed ink, open up!'" He chuckled. "Have you ever wondered what's under there? Like, what his actual face looks like?"
Hinata blinked, considering it. "Honestly? No. We have all seen him with the mask for so long… it has simply become his face. It would be strange to see him without it."
"Tell me about it," Naruto laughed. "A long time ago, me, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke tried everything to see it. We bought him food, we tried to spy on him at the onsen… he tricked us every time. It was super embarrassing."
His smile faded a fraction as he said the name. "Sasuke…"
He walked in silence for a few steps. "You know… back at the lake, when I was fighting that crystal lady, Guren… I mentioned him. Just dropped his name to see what would happen."
"Did she react?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah," Naruto nodded, his expression growing serious. "She got really irritated. Like, personally offended. It wasn't just that he's a traitor or whatever. It felt like… like he took the spot she really wanted. Like she was jealous Orochimaru picked him over her."
"It sounds like Orochimaru discards people easily once he finds a new favorite," Hinata mused.
"Yeah," Naruto sighed, looking forward again. "And now we've got another headache right here at home. It's not enough we gotta deal with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru's freaks… now we have to worry about some grumpy old man who doesn't know how to retire properly."
"I was thinking the same thing," Hinata admitted. "It is… an unnecessary complication."
"Why do you think he's doing it?" Naruto asked, glancing at her. "Is he working with the snake-face? I mean, he was a big shot in the village back in the day, right? Maybe they were buddies."
"It is possible," Hinata said. "Power often seeks power."
"Or maybe," Naruto said, tilting his head, "he's just bored. You know? He's sitting all day, drinking tea, and he just misses the action. Wants to play super-secret-spy one last time before his back gives out."
Hinata let out a short, genuine laugh. "That… is also a possibility."
Naruto grinned at her laugh, his mood brightening again. "But hey, forget the old guys for a second. That mission? Everyone was awesome. The teamwork was perfect. And you!" He gestured wildly with his hands. "Diving way down into the dark like that? Carrying all those massive bombs? That was insane, Hinata! You flipped a Tailed Beast like it was a turtle in a soup bowl!"
"I could not have done it without the explosives you prepared," Hinata countered gently. "Or the sealing array you reconstructed. We all played our part."
"Yeah, I guess," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, beaming. "Man, fighting crystal dragons, giant turtles, horde of mutants… this is definitely going into the next volume of the novel. I just gotta figure out how to write the explosion sound effects properly."
They continued down the street, the conversation flowing easily between them as they recounted the chaos of the last few days, their voices low and comfortable in the quiet village night.