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Author's Note: A "kunoichi" is a female ninja. "Dojutsu" refers to bloodline limit traits that allow grant special abilities to the eyes. Examples include the Uchiha Sharingan, or the Hyuuga Byakuugan.

o o o RED BLOSSOM o o o

o o Chapter 6: Arrest! The Heikou Web o o

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

The Water Country, Thirty Miles South of Mizutou

She awoke more gently this time, though the air was colder. The sea was lapping gently over her body, submerging her in salt water up to her neck before receding back down the sloping shore. Her clothes were sopping wet and very heavy. However, the tide didn't draw her out with it, because she was half-buried in sand. Carefully, she pushed herself into a sitting position, spitting grit out from between her lips. If she'd lain there unconscious any longer she might eventually have smothered.

Kakashi lay a little further up the bank from her now, still unmoving.

With a little cry of dismay, Sakura crept over to him on her hands and knees. The movement was difficult; she was exhausted. Her head ached terribly, so badly that she felt nauseous. This was, in its own way, a small mercy, for she didn't feel the ache in her empty belly because of it. However, her throat was parched, and she felt as if she could sleep for days.

Kakashi lay on his side, white hair plastered against his forehead. From what Sakura could see, he didn't appear grievously injured. There was dried blood on his back in places, and on his right side the vest he wore hung in shreds. But he might have internal injuries that she didn't know about, or he might be out of chakra. She could understand that. She was low on chakra herself.

She laid a hand on his back and tried shaking him.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said loudly. "Sensei!"

He didn't budge. However, she noticed as she laid a hand on him that his back was rising and falling, which meant he was definitely alive.

A cold wind swept over them, and the tide washed over them soon after.

Sakura rose into a kneeling position, pulling her sodden jacket more tightly around her thin shoulders. Fortunately, the plainclothes she'd selected to wear before boarding the ship in the Wave Country were designed for warm weather. She was wearing her jumper, but underneath it she wore long pants, and over it she wore a gray jacket she'd borrowed from her mother's closet. As the tide receded, she stared out across the horizon, wondering what to do. She had no way of knowing what time of day it was; the clouds rolling in from the south made gauging the sun's position nigh impossible.

Numbly, she tried to think back on Kakashi's teachings, and on the Academy's. Neither amounted to much. They taught you how to survive when your enemies were hurling bombs at you, and how to kill by hurling back jutsu of your own. What they didn't teach you was what to do when you washed up God-knows-where with no map and no fresh water, with your sensei half-dead beside you and you half-dead yourself.

"Ninjas need to think beyond the normal."

Well, right now the normal was vastly more important than what lay beyond it.

Sakura stopped bothering to try and reason her way out of this. Hooking her elbows underneath Kakashi's shoulders, she rose onto her knees and lifted him as she stood. Standing was veryhard. Her head reeled. Yet somehow, she managed to half-carry, half-drag him up the sloping sand-bank and deposit him on drier ground. She collapsed to her knees again on the grass, panting; Kakashi was heavier than he looked.

Once again, she found herself taking stock of the situation. Under other circumstances she might have panicked, like the time Sasuke was wounded in the Forest of Death. But right now she was simply too exhausted for hysteria.

Both she and Kakashi were still wearing their sandals, which would be fortunate indeed once they set off toward Mizutou again. However, neither had their packs, which meant they lacked dry clothes, weapons, and medical supplies as well as food and fresh water. Sakura no longer had any weapons on her, though by some miracle Kakashi's katana was still strapped firmly to his back. From the appearance of the sky, a storm was headed straight for them. They needed rest before they could move on, and they would need some sort of shelter in order to rest.

There was a good-sized boulder some ten feet inland. Drawing in a deep breath, Sakura lifted Kakashi again and dragged him across the grass. She laid him down behind the rock, which would hopefully provide shelter from the ocean winds. Above and around them stood a grove of palm trees; the ground was littered with fronds. She gathered these with one hand, piling them on top of Kakashi's body in the hopes of keeping the warmth in and the imminent rain out. Her other hand she kept clapped to her side; all this movement had caused the wound from the Mist kunoichi's spine to begin seeping blood again. It stung viciously; it was crusted with salt.

Sakura dragged more fronds behind the sheltering boulder for herself, and then she removed the katana from Kakashi's back. This she used to cut several long strips from the lower part of her jumper, which she used to form a crude compress over the wound. It was the best she could do, considering. She might have endured the pain of cauterization if she'd had a clean knife and a match to light a fire to heat the blade, but she had neither. Sakura flopped down onto her makeshift bed beside Kakashi, pulling the palm fronds over her shoulders. If she was lucky, the bleeding would stop on its own. If not, then she probably wouldn't wake up again.

At this point, exhaustion made the choice for her.

Despite the throbbing in her side, she slept.

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

Mizutou, Water Country

Naruto was all eyes as they started down the city streets, constantly rubbernecking, until finally Sasuke kicked him in the shin with the back of his heel.

"Be inconspicuous, idiot," he muttered under his breath. "We're supposed to try and fit in here."

Naruto squinted at his teammate with sudden shrewdness.

"Right. You're full of stab wounds, and I have no shoes and practically no shirt. We look like something's chewed us up and spit us out. But if I just stop looking around no one will notice."

Shikyo, too, was looking worse for wear. His bluish hair, bound up behind his head, was looking rather singed at the ends, as were his clothes. The circles beneath his eyes were very dark and deep.

"Quiet, both of you," he admonished. "We're almost there . . ."

"Almost where?" Naruto asked, but abruptly the Rain ninja took off at an even brisker pace, and the two of them hurried to keep up.

"Ah, here" Shikyo said, turning a corner and heading straight for what looked like some kind of barracks. "You will both remain silent. I will do the talking here. The Heikou may try to question you, but if they do you will recall the story I gave you en route from the southern cliffs." He paused, and then added as an afterthought, "They'll believe you; you're both utterly guileless, and you're quite obviously children . . ."

"Asshole," Naruto mouthed as the Rain ninja led them into the barracks. Sasuke's expression was utterly deadpan, but this time he neglected to kick Naruto for his remark.

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

When Sakura awoke this time, she felt as if she were floating. Her first awareness was of the cold wind brushing beneath her bare toes, and across the back of her neck. Then she became aware that the rest of her, by contrast, was quite warm. Her eyes drifted open, and she realized that the tickling sensation on her forehead was Kakashi's unruly hair, sticking out from beneath his hitae ate at the back of his head. He was carrying her piggy-back style; her cheek was pressed into his grey-clad shoulder. Her side throbbed dully.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she murmured, lifting her head to peer ahead of them. "How . . . ? Where are we?"

"Try not to move," he advised without looking back at her. "When we reach Mizutou, I'll take you straight to a hospital before anything else. You did well to do as much for both of us as you did; dragging us inland for shelter."

Sakura's face fell. She was embarrassed that he was now having to save her twice.

"None of this is your fault," Kakashi told her, as if reading her mind. "You did well. But this mission is . . ." His voice broke off, and he swiftly changed topics. "Are you hungry?"

"Mmm." Sakura nodded faintly.

The Jounin let go of one of her arms and reached into a pocket of his vest. He pulled out what appeared to be a white strip of meat, which he then offered to her over his shoulder. She stared at it.

"Crab," Kakashi explained. "Raw, and definitely fresh."

Sakura's mother rarely bought crab; it was expensive. She laughed a little; it seemed odd to be offered such a delicacy now.

Kakashi apparently misinterpreted her laughter for shock-induced hysteria.

"We'll reach a hospital soon," he promised, sounding concerned.

"S'alright, Sensei," she told him vaguely, and then took the crab from him with her teeth. "Itsh good."

But it was incredibly salty as well, and no sooner had she swallowed it than she realized she was parched. Her head ached with dehydration. Kakashi seemed to know instinctively that this would be the case. Presently he set her down for a rest, drawing a small canteen out of another pocket.

"Rainwater," he explained as he held it up to her lips. "We're lucky it rained; there wouldn't be any fresh water otherwise." A pause, and then he added, "And we're lucky the side of my vest with the canteen wasn't torn."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura murmured, when he'd settled back onto his heels with the canteen. "I heard something strange, I think. When we were lying on the beach."

He said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"Two men were there, talking," she went on. Kakashi's eye narrowed with concern at the words "two men." "They thought we were dead, so they left us alone. Or maybe they just didn't care, because they never checked?" This part confused her.

"Go on," Kakashi urged, leaning forward.

"They said that we were attacked by the Mist Ninja," Sakura murmured. "But they sounded as if the Mist were their enemies. I think . . . whoever they were . . . they know something about the assassins who're after the Water-lord. They seemed certain that the Mist didn't want us to reach Mizutou."

Kakashi lowered his head, scratching his neck.

"I see. And was anything else said?"

Sakura's brow creased with worry, though this made the headache worse.

"I don't think these men were on our side, either. I think they're dangerous. They want to use us. . .and they know about Naruto and Sasuke. They said it wasn't a problem if we were dead, because 'only one is needed to start a war.' Whatever that means . . ." She looked up at Kakashi, who was frowning down at his hands, which were resting on his knee. "There won't be a war . . . will there?" A horrible thought had suddenly occurred to her. "We haven't been sent here to start a war, have we?"

"No," Kakashi replied, a bit too sharply. Then he realized his sharpness, and repeated in softer tones, "No." Then he smiled reassuringly at her, and began to rise. "We should keep moving. I want to reach Mizutou quickly."

Sakura, despite her physical discomfort, was now beginning to worry that the Jounin might be keeping something from his Genin. But Kakashi picked her up as gently as he could, and didn't say another word on the matter. Before she could work up the nerve to question him further, she fell asleep on his shoulder.

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

Mizutou

As it turned out, the Heikou barracks into which Shikyo led his two young charges were all but empty. He led Sasuke and Naruto through a long series of rooms lined with tatami mats and various shelves full of stored weaponry.

"An armory," Sasuke observed quietly, studying them as he walked past.

Most of the weapons were swords; ordinary katana like the one Sasuke carried. Looking at them, Naruto felt the urge to steal one. He was the only one of the three who'd been disarmed in the battle by the sea. As if reading his mind, Shikyo shook his head.

"Not yet," he mouthed.

As it turned out, there was currently only one member of the Heikou stationed there; a man who was rather on the fat side, with gin blossoms and extra chins dangling from his jaw. Sasuke and Naruto stared. The Heikou, who carried two swords at his rather side, wore a blue haori hakama identical to Shikyo's, except for the considerable size. He had very watery blue eyes, and a very red, bulbous nose.

"Kneel," Shikyo bade the two Genin.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances, but obeyed without question. They were supposed to be ordinary apprentices in swordsmanship; Shikyo's apprentices, whom he'd taken with him on a mission to escort a noble of the Stone Country to conduct business with the Water-lord. Now they were returning, and were to stay in the palace so that Shikyo could return to his duties as Lord Garyu's bodyguard. They listened patiently as the Rain Ninja poured out this story to the Heikou warrior, who listened to Shikyo speak with an expression of unmistakable distaste.

Finally, he waved the matter of Shikyo's alibi aside with one thick-fingered hand.

"Our skeleton crew is watching the walls," he said. "Most of our numbers have gone to the palace. You're to go as well. There's been another attempt on Garyu-sama's life."

Shikyo, who had been crouching before the Heikou captain with one fist planted on the floor as he recounted his false story, now straightened, sitting on his knees. Something about the rigidity of his posture warned Naruto and Sasuke to remain as they were, heads bowed.

"Were any caught?" Shikyo asked sharply.

The captain grunted, shaking his massive head.

"If you want information, speak with Moritome-sama. But you've said your piece, and I've said mine. Get the hell out of my barracks."

This time both Naruto and Sasuke's heads snapped up. They stared at the captain in surprise. He wasn't joking; he was glaring down at Shikyo in distaste. He looked as if he wanted to kick him. Yet instead he turned away, stalking off down the hall with his thick hands clasped officiously behind his back. Shikyo rose to his feet in silence, and the two Genin scrambled to theirs. The Rain ninja turned to them with a face as calm and keen-eyed as ever.

"Come," he bade them. "We'll go to the palace."

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

It was a long walk through the city. The streets were old and winding, and narrow, as Kakashi had warned. Sasuke surveyed the mazelike network of stone walls and gated houses with cool appraisal. Meanwhile, Naruto's head was still reeling with shock at the reception they'd received from the Heikou captain. He had once been looked at like he was diseased, or cursed, because he bore the Kyuubi within him. The Heikou captain's hatred for them was just as apparent, but somehow worse. He had looked at them as if he thought they were less than human, simply by the fact of their existence.

As if their lives were only worth what use he could make of them.

Naruto's face must have registered his sourness, because Shikyo finally remarked on it.

"You've never seen that before, have you? You've been living in a Village built for our kind, cushioned in the acclaims your fellow shinobi give you . . . where you never learned that a mission can mean serving those who hate you. Well, this is not Konoha. This is the world."

Both Genin were staring at him in amazement by this time, but he only turned away and said, "The palace is there," pointing.

As he had indicated, they rounded a corner and came upon a large, ornately carved gate. It looked to be carved from good steel; there was no rust on it and it shone in the morning sun. Its spikes ended in blades, like spear-heads. The stone walls themselves were carved from marble with curious blue veins flowing through it. The place beyond these looked very rich indeed.

Two Heikou stood guard at the gate.

As Shikyo approached, they turned hostile stares his way. Both were men who looked to be in their mid-forties, but unlike the captain in the barracks these were lean and muscular. When it became clear that Shikyo intended to pass them by, their blades cleared their sheathes and flashed upward, forming a cross to bar the way. Naruto gasped, and Sasuke drew back, startled.

'These guys aren't slouches,' Naruto thought, blinking. 'They move their swords like shinobi.' Where the folds of their blue haori parted, he could see muscles knotted with tension.

Shikyo, in the meantime, held his ground unflinchingly, though they held their katana crossed inches in front of his nose.

"Let me pass," he said quietly. "Where are the Elite, who usually guard the palace gates?"

"Dispatched on a mission," one of the guards replied coldly. He kept his keen, blue eyes trained forward as he spoke. Neither man moved to lower the katana.

"Dispatched," Shikyo repeated slowly. "A mission. Dispatched to where?"

The two guards remained silent.

Impatiently, the Rain ninja shook his head.

"I will pass," he told them.

Still they kept their eyes trained forward and their blades crossed.

But one of them said, "In this most recent attempt on Garyu-dono's life, the shinobi technique you call 'Crimson Blossom' was used." He spoke coldly and mechanically, as if any form of personal interaction with Shikyo was disgraceful to him. "Two men are dead. One is the lord's double. The other was the assassin. But from blood work, my lord's researchers have determined that the man was not from the Mist. He possessed a particular bloodline limit held only by the Shirogane Clan."

This particular bit of news seemed to alarm Shikyo even more than the blades in front of his face. His quiet, stern demeanor fell away like a mask cut loose.

"What? What? You dare accuse the Rain of this attack? The Rain, whose village does not even lie on this continent?"

"He is not accusing your Clan, Arashi Shikyo; he is accusing you."

The three heads of the travelers' turned toward the newcomer, approaching the gate from the inside. The guards remained as they were. Naruto peered around Shikyo and saw a tall, rather dignified looking man approaching. His hair was black with streaks of gray at the temples, and he had very deep-set blue eyes and a strong, chiseled face. He wore the Heikou raiment, but also a braided cord across his chest that looked as if it had threads of silver interwoven with thicker strands of green silk.

"Step away from the gate, and lower your hands," he bade Shikyo, "or I will definitely arrest you."

"Moritome-sama," Shikyo acknowledged, inclining his head respectfully. "How recent was this attempt on the Water-lord's life? I have been in the Fire Country, escorting Konoha shinobi here on Garyu-sama's own orders. I could not possibly be suspect."

Both Genin standing behind the Rain ninja were completely floored. After all that stern lecturing about them keeping their identities a secret, here Shikyo was blowing their cover just to get in the palace's front gate. And now the Heikou officer was eyeing them speculatively.

"These are Konoha shinobi?" he asked. Naruto bristled, but then the officer went on to say, "The blond one has very blue eyes, which are common among the Rain and the Mist. I demand proof that these two are from Konoha." A pause, and then he added pointedly, "And even if they produce hitae ate with the Leaf insignia I will not consider it proof."

Naruto glanced to his right, trying to catch Sasuke's eye. In his mind, the only way to keep from starting a fight with the very people who had hired them was to let Shikyo take the fall while he and Sasuke pretended to be ordinary children. That way it would look like the Rain ninja had merely kidnapped them, to bring them along as props for his story. Shikyo would be arrested, and he and Sasuke would leave and try to find Kakashi. Kakashi would know what to do.

It wasn't the most sensible of plans, but then Naruto wasn't exactly the most sensible of ninjas.

Shikyo, on the other hand, soon arrived at a much more feasible conclusion.

"Well," he said, turning toward them. "Step forward, please . . . Uchiha Sasuke. I believe a demonstration is in order."

Wordlessly, Sasuke stepped forward and blinked, and a split-second later the Sharingan wheeled red in his eyes.

Shikyo turned back to face the Heikou again, wearing an unsmiling look of satisfaction.

"You will not find the Sharingan dojutsu in any other bloodline limit," he said quietly. "Certainly not among the Rain, or the Mist."

Sasuke was frowning; it was obvious he didn't like being used in this way, and Naruto didn't blame him. It was probably yet another reminder that Sasuke was the only one who survived the Uchiha massacre, as if he needed one.

But the demonstration had served its purpose. Slowly, the Heikou officer nodded. He motioned to the guards, and they stepped aside, pulling the gate open. Moritome also stepped aside as Shikyo and the two Genin filed past him. His gaze was still sharp, but it was no longer accusing. He seemed very worried about something.

"Regardless of your sound alibi, Shikyo-san, the fact remains that it was a member of your Clan that attacked our lord. This changes things significantly." He paused, glancing sidelong at Shikyo to make sure the Rain ninja had caught his meaning. "It may be that the Mist have actually formed an alliance with the Rain . . ."

"Improbable," Shikyo interrupted. "The Mist Village's power is formidable, and its numbers great. There would be no need to ally itself with a Village as small as the Rain. . .especially when the Rain's relations with Konoha are not favorable. The Mist hold a very uneasy truce with the Leaf as it is; it would be foolish to associate themselves with a Village of Konoha's enemies."

Again Moritome nodded.

"I thought so, too," he replied. "That was where I stopped drawing conclusions and started speculating. I believe . . . there is some conspiracy afoot here. Of all ten assassination attempts over the past month, only three assassins were actually caught . . . and those three were all dead. Two of those dead shinobi displayed obvious signs of death by the Crimson Blossom technique. The first one you know of; it happened when you were present. The first one of these was identified as a Mist ninja, by the Mist themselves. They sent a team of their policing force to aid in the investigation. The first assassin, as it turned out, was a missing-nin, gone from their Village for five years."

Naruto wracked his brains, trying to recall what he knew about missing-nin. He didn't know much. He knew that Orochimaru was one, and so were a lot of Orochimaru's henchmen. Then he thought of Zabuza, who had somehow gone from a sword group member in the Mist to a freelance assassin in the Wave Country. He hadn't failed to miss the fact that most missing-nin were bad eggs.

"The third assassin was also killed by the Crimson Blossom," Moritome went on. "We sent messenger-birds to the Rain immediately. The returned report is that Shirogane Kazuna was also a missing-nin, gone from your Village for three years."

"And the second?" Shikyo pressed. "The second assassin was not a missing-nin?"

Moritome's brow furrowed.

"The second killer was a missing-nin from the Mist. But he was not killed by the Shinkuhana. He died from a pressure point strike to the upper back."

Shikyo shook his head in disbelief.

"That is---"

"The assassin's lung burst from the inside out," Moritome told him grimly. "It was definitely the work of a shinobi; it was precise taijutsu. That man had accomplices with him. According to Garyu-sama, he had already killed the two Heikou guards, but when it came to the final jutsu, he lost his nerve. And his accomplices killed him. Yet this setback bought the Water-lord time to react, and the guards outside his door burst in. The two accomplices fled, leaving their dead comrade behind."

Slowly, Shikyo nodded.

"I see," he said. "But I don't want to remove the blame yet from where we originally believed it lay. Don't you think it odd that the Mist were so quick to respond in each case? Doesn't it look like, in declaring the killers 'missing-nin,' the Mist are trying too hard to deny connection between them?"

Moritome was silent for a bit. He lowered his head, pressing his lips together as if mulling over a very delicate subject.

"These weren't just any missing-nin," he finally said, speaking quietly in a way that was evidently meant to exclude the guards at the gate behind them. "We were forced to use blood work to identify them because they carried no hitae ate at all. Do you understand what that means, Arashi Shikyo?"

The eyes of both Genin were trained on Shikyo's back, awaiting his answer, but in the end the Rain ninja gave no explanation.

'He understands what this guy means, all right,' Naruto thought, frowning. 'But it looks like it's something he wants to keep from us.'

The Heikou officer clasped both hands behind his back, looking grim. As the two adults conferred, they had been crossing a long courtyard with Naruto and Sasuke following close behind. Now they crossed a small stone footbridge arching over a koi pond and ascended a series of wide stone steps. At the top of these stairs, they could see through a wide arch-way the main courtyard of the palace grounds, boxed in by the palace itself. Moritome paused at the top of these stairs, laying an authoritative hand against Shikyo's shoulder.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you near Garyu-sama unless you bring with you the shinobi with whom this contract was actually forged," he said. "Our lord told me personally that you were sent to Konoha, and I can see that you have returned with Konoha shinobi, but you must understand that we can't simply allow you to roam free without concrete verification . . ."

"Hatake Kakashi was separated from us," Shikyo interrupted impatiently, "along with the third member of his team. We came here hoping to reconvene with him; that was what we agreed upon if these circumstances arose. But you can't seriously expect me to abstain from reporting to our lord until he arrives! It could be days . . . days in which more attacks may follow, and Garyu-sama will have no shinobi to guard him."

Briefly, Moritome's conciliatory demeanor slipped, and he fixed Shikyo with a sudden glare.

"The Heikou will guard him," he said curtly.

There was a tense pause. Then, perhaps with a bit too much of a delay, Shikyo nodded.

"Of course."

Moritome's sharp expression remained.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to place the three of you under house arrest. To the best of our knowledge, the three of you are the only shinobi in Mizutou at this time, and we are trying to identify anyone in the city who possesses shinobi abilities. It would be best for the purposes of our investigation if you were kept under surveillance, where no one will be able to connect you to the events unfolding here . . . until your leader, who signed the contract, may verify formally that you are innocent."

Naruto stared at the Heikou officer standing atop the stair, struck by sudden realization.

'He's saying he thinks Shikyo-san killed Kakashi-sensei!'

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke kicked him again. He turned to glare at his teammate, but the dark-haired Genin merely shook his head quietly. Naruto shut his mouth; he knew that look in Sasuke's eye. It meant he had a plan.

Without further protest, the Rain ninja allowed Moritome to lead them into the courtyard and along yet another stone terrace. They entered the palace itself, turning down a long series of narrow halls, and then crossing a series of smaller courtyards until they came upon a new set of buildings. These were low and simple, like the barracks, but they were far more open and airy. Half the outer walls were made of simple screens and sliding wood panels, most of which were open. Squinting, Naruto saw that these rooms had wood floors, and were quite bare, but he couldn't be sure because he only caught a passing glimpse.

They crossed one final courtyard at the center of all this, mounted a wooden terrace, and slid aside the wooden panels leading into one of the rooms. There were already guards standing on either side of the doorway, bearing swords.

"Once Hatake Kakashi arrives, he will report directly to Garyu-sama, and you'll be released," Moritome told them as they filed inside.

Naruto immediately gave the room a once-over, inspecting it for traps. He didn't find anything, which didn't surprise him much. There wasn't much of anything in the room anyway, save for several shelves stacked with clothing, a lone cupboard mounted in the corner, and bedding folded neatly to one side. Sasuke merely stood in the middle of the room, surveying his surroundings with irritation. Like Naruto, he was worried about Kakashi.

Once inside, Shikyo turned to face the door with alacrity, as if a new thought had just occurred to him.

"Moritome-sama," he said sharply. "Have you contacted the Mist in light of the most recent attack? The Shirogane assassin?"

Moritome, who had been preparing to slide the doors shut from the outside, hesitated, remaining silent.

"Because I feel it would be best to withhold the information about this one," Shikyo pressed. "It would not be prudent to give the Mist reason to investigate the Rain . . . You know as well as I that relations between those two villages are strained at best . . ."

Moritome shook his head.

"It is necessary. The Mist will need to know how a technique forbidden among them came to be known by a member of the most powerful Clan in the Rain. They will want to find out how their secrets are being leaked, so that they can put a stop to it." He paused, eying the Rain ninja shrewdly. "We've sent the Heikou Elite to report directly to the Mizukage this time. If we don't maintain contact with the Mist, they will come to suspect that we've acquired assistance from shinobi of another village."

Shikyo was not reassured in the least. In fact, if anything he looked as close to afraid as Naruto had ever seen him.

"You've sent our representatives into the valley, into the forest to meet them?" he asked, wide-eyed. "Do you wish them to die? They are the Elite, but if the forest is where the assassins have their base . . ."

"If I could have, I would've sent you," Moritome interrupted him sharply. "I know your abilities, and I trust you. But right now, for you to stay under close guard is the best I can do to protect your reputation among the Heikou. I am doing what I can; you do what you must." Naruto thought that last bit was an odd thing to say, and his puzzlement only deepened as Moritome's eyes flickered toward him briefly. "I trust you," he repeated, as if there were some significance to this. Then he turned and slid the doors shut behind him with a smart clack.

And the three shinobi were left alone.

Shikyo turned toward the two Genin.

"And now we wait," he said, slipping his pack off his back and throwing it on the floor. "If we're lucky, Kakashi-san will make his way here shortly after us. The Water-lord will have told the Heikou what he looks like, so that he won't be arrested, and hopefully he's still carrying his copy of the contract itself."

"So you believe the assassins have their base somewhere outside the city?" Sasuke asked, seating himself cross-legged on the floor. "And you think the representatives the Heikou have sent---the 'Elite'---will be killed by the assassins on the way to the Mist Village?"

"Or the Mist will kill them," Shikyo replied, "if the Mist are indeed behind these attacks. But I have no further time to waste . . ."

At that moment, the jutsu dispelled. A torrent of water rained down on Sasuke, to whom Shikyo had been standing the closest. Sasuke drew in a sharp breath. Naruto, who had evaded being drenched by taking a quick step backward, gasped as well.

"He's . . ."

From outside, there came the sound of voices, and then sandaled feet tromping along the wooden terrace. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged alarmed glances. Then, thinking quickly, Naruto formed the fastest seal he'd ever made, and abruptly there was a Shikyo-clone standing between them. He had acted none too soon; the guards slid aside the door panels to see what the noise had been.

"What was that sound?" one of them asked, peering shrewdly at the three shinobi in the room.

Sasuke, who was the only one sitting on the floor, answered, "I tripped." Fortunately, Shikyo's discarded pack lay near his feet, and the Shikyo-clone was partially blocking the guard's view of him, so that neither of the two men peering through the door noticed the puddle on the floor, or that Sasuke's hair was dripping.

The guards frowned, sliding the door closed again.

Naruto and Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, eyeing the Kage Bunshin Shikyo standing between them and digesting what it was that had just happened.

"A water clone," Sasuke whispered, after a bit. "He left us with a water clone! That arrogant bastard allowed his clone to be arrested while he took off somewhere. He was planning to ditch us all along---even before he knew about the Elite being sent to the Mist!"

Scowling, Naruto plunked down on the floor as well, folding his arms.

"I knew I didn't like him for a reason," he said crossly. "What the hell was the point of him dragging us all this way and then getting us arrested? We can't be any help to him here!"

Sasuke was now wiping away the water dripping from his hair.

"Maybe . . . maybe he never wanted our help in the first place," he said darkly. "I'm thinking he only brought us to Mizutou because his lord requested it."

"Damnit!" Naruto grumbled. "And now we're stuck here without knowing what's going on."

They lapsed into thoughtful silence for a while. Outside, it had begun to rain softly. They could hear the droplets pattering gently on the roof. Sasuke pulled off his sodden shirt and began squeezing the water out of the sleeves.

"You know, we did manage to learn several things, though," he remarked. "Shikyo couldn't hide everything from us. The first thing is that Shikyo is a member of the Shirogane Clan. That means he has a bloodline limit of some kind, which I don't think we've seen yet. It's almost as if he deliberately avoided showing it to us . . ."

Naruto shook his head.

"But his name's Arashi Shikyo, not Shirogane Shikyo."

"Mm." Sasuke's eyes were on his shirt, which, unlike his normal clothes, bore no crest on the back. "Maybe he changed it. He seems to work closely with the Heikou . . . at least with the officers closest to the palace. Maybe he changed it because they hate shinobi."

Neither boy was pleased with this prospect. Both felt quite strongly that the Heikou's attitude was entirely unfair.

"And the other things?" Naruto asked, to distract himself from being irritated. "What else did you notice?"

Sasuke pulled off his undershirt and began wringing that out. Naruto squinted at him in suspicion.

"You're not going to get naked, are you?" he asked.

Sasuke gave him an equally squinty-eyed stare.

"Of course not, dumbass. The splash missed my pants."

"But . . . wait!" Naruto had just had a sudden epiphany. "That can't be right!"

"The splash did miss my pants," Sasuke repeated icily.

"No, no, not that." Naruto plunked down on the wood floor. The Shikyo-clone sat down as well. "What Moritome-san said . . . The assassins killed the second Mist assassin because he didn't have the guts to carry out the Shinkuhana jutsu. But they ran when Garyu-sama's guards busted in! Don't you think that's weird? If they're shinobi assassins, wouldn't they just kill the guards too? The Heikou seem quick with swords, but that wouldn't have saved them from killers that good. . ."

Slowly, Sasuke nodded.

"Unless . . . I can only think of two reasons why the killers would flee. One: they're trying to hide their identities to keep their Villages from being accused . . . Or two: they're not shinobi. They're civilians who hired the missing-nin to undertake the assassinations." He paused, pulling his undershirt back over his head. "But the problem with the second reason is that it doesn't seem like civilians would be able to kill a shinobi assassin from a Clan said to be the strongest among the Rain. And the second assassin was killed by precise taijutsu, according to the Heikou. And the first reason points to an alliance between the Mist and the Rain, which doesn't seem right because the Rain are currently disliked by both the Fire and Water countries . . ."

Naruto scratched his chin.

"Well, maybe the Mist are just pretending to hate the Rain," he suggested.

Sasuke snorted in disgust, folding his arms.

"Any Village putting up a false front to cover up an alliance with another wouldn't go so far as to attack it on a regular basis." In response to Naruto's quizzical expression, he added, "The Mist regularly attempt to invade the Rain, about every ten years. But of course you never paid attention in history lessons at the Academy."

Naruto grinned.

"Iruka-sensei always left the window open. Escape was easy."

Sasuke lost his condescending look and turned his head toward the door.

"Speaking of which . . ." he murmured. "I wonder if Kakashi's even coming. If he meets Shikyo outside the city walls, they may go after the Elite on their own. They may decide there's no time to waste coming back to get us."

"Nah." Naruto flopped down onto the floor, folding his arms under his head. "Kakashi-sensei seemed to want to reach the Water-lord first. I think he'll definitely come here."

But Sasuke still seemed intent on his own conjecture.

"Perhaps . . . we should go after Shikyo," he said softly.

Naruto cocked an eye toward him, frowning. But Sasuke didn't elaborate, and it seemed like he was talking to himself more than Naruto. He wore a rather dark look on his face, usually reserved for when he was thinking about the person he said he wanted to kill. Naruto, of course, was clueless as to what this might mean, but he knew he didn't like that look. It made him want to grab Sasuke and shake him until his teeth rattled.

"Oi," he said, in a low voice. "We should stay here. It's our mission. If Shikyo's left Mizutou, and if Kakashi-sensei's not here, that means you and me are the only two shinobi left here. If something goes down, the guards outside will probably be alerted, and we'll leave then. We have to be here to protect Garyu-sama, no matter what!"

Sasuke's face remained stony, as if he hadn't heard Naruto at all. Slowly, he rose to his feet.

At that instant, however, the door to their prison slid open. Naruto sat up in a hurry, and Sasuke went perfectly still.

Standing in the doorway was a mummy.

It stood in the gray light of the open doorway, framed by wood and water dripping from the eaves of the roof. It was swathed in gray cloth, in a long mantle that was woven loosely around the waist and chest and shoulders and neck, and finally draped over the head, which was covered in a hood. A second mantle---blue, this one---was woven around most of the face beneath the hood, forming a silken cowl of sorts.

"Th-th-the walking dead!" Naruto shouted, pointing at it.

Sasuke said nothing.

"Yo," the mummy said, raising one hand in amicable greeting. The one visible eye crinkled, indicating a smile beneath all that cloth.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, with even greater volume than the possible presence of the walking dead had warranted.

"Of course it is," Sasuke snapped, finally breaking out of his odd mood. "So you notice when he's substituted himself with a log, but not when he has some cloth draped over him . . . ?" He broke off, shaking his head in disgust.

"I see you two managed to get yourselves arrested quite nicely," Kakashi remarked cheerily, stepping into the room. The Heikou guards behind him were already leaving; heading across the grassy courtyard toward business elsewhere. "Good; that means you two have had a rest. You'll be taking the first watch, so Sakura and I can sleep. We've only just arrived---all we've had time to do was meet with the Water-lord before coming to meet you."

"Ehh?" Naruto exclaimed. "Sakura-chan's with you?"

"I'm right here." Sakura stepped out from behind Kakashi, whom she'd followed into the room.

Naruto's jaw dropped. He'd been expecting her to be swathed from head to foot in cloth, like Kakashi, but instead she was wearing a dark red kimono with a red mantle draped over her shoulders and some sort of silver chain netting resting atop her hair.

"Sakura-chan looks beautiful."

. . . was what he wanted to say, but there were too many emotions surging through him at the sight of her and the words stuck in his throat. He was young, and couldn't possibly have found the proper words to express his relief at seeing her again after they'd lost her at the sea cliffs. But because he was Naruto, he hadto say something . . .

"Ha! You've got mesh on your head," he told her, pointing and laughing.

Sakura, who'd been smiling shyly at Sasuke---who was staring at her as well, albeit sans adoration---now turned his way and frowned.

"It's not mesh," she informed him sharply. "It's real silver. In the Stone country they call them . . . uh . . ." She turned to Kakashi for help.

"Silver mesh," he prompted blithely. Then his tone turned more serious. "Sasuke, Naruto: as Sakura already knows, I've spoken to the Heikou leader, Moritome, and I know our cover's blown. Shikyo's blunder will make everything more difficult for us, so I've altered our plans for approaching this mission."

His two uninformed students just stared at him. Both felt Kakashi had an annoying habit of stating the obvious. They were hungry and they were tired. Sasuke was wounded, and Naruto was still feeling rather irritated that he had been wounded before the Nine-Tails' chakra did its work, and both of them were hoping Kakashi would suggest something on the order of sleep instead.

"No sleep for us tonight," Kakashi went on lightly, in a tone so calm they wanted to kill him. "Because tonight, you're going to be protecting me."

"Ehh?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake shut UP Naruto," Sakura snapped. "Just listen."

Naruto shut his gaping mouth. Sasuke he wouldn't have listened to, but something about Sakura had begun to worry him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was definitely a bad feeling . . .

Even Kakashi glanced at her briefly before launching into his explanation. It was obvious that her behavior was a little more waspish than usual.

"Sakura and I are ambassadors from the Thunder Country," the Jounin informed them. "Well, to put it more precisely . . ." He paused, scratching his head, which didn't work too well through the layers of cloth on his head. "Sakura is my 'daughter'. This was the alibi we'd originally planned on using, but now it doesn't include you two in my entourage. Now that we no longer have anything to hide from the Heikou, I can use you two directly as Konoha ninjas. However, I want to keep my own identity and Sakura's under wraps for the time being. Only the Water-Lord knows who I am, and who Sakura is. He was the one who sent word that you two were to be freed from arrest, not me. As far as the Heikou know, the other two members of your team are dead."

Sasuke shook his head.

"I don't like this," he muttered. "Secrecy that complete is just going to get in the way of the mission at this point. You're the one who knows the Crimson Blossom jutsu; you should be the one closest to Garyu-sama to protect him."

"Ne, Sasuke, don't question me," Kakashi said, in a tone so smooth it was blatantly a warning. "We won't be guarding Garyu-sama himself. I've already met with him and discussed this. Tonight you'll be protecting me, because even though I've infiltrated Mizutou's palace and fooled the Heikou with this disguise, I've decided to act as the Water-lord's new body-double."

"Ah!" Naruto finally understood. "So you WILL be closest to the assassins that way. And we'll be helping you pretend to be Garyu-sama by sticking close to you as your 'protectors'. That's really smart," he added happily, partially out of self-congratulation for figuring it out.

"Come on, then," Kakashi bade them, turning toward the door. "We shouldn't linger here in the Heikou dojo section of the palace."

"I think we shouldn't trust those guys," Naruto said, following close behind him. "The Heikou, I mean. That guy Moritome was acting weird."

Kakashi looked at him askance. "Who did you think these disguises were for? It's not the civilians in this city that worry me. The Heikou monitor everything here. Every street; every nobleman. They cover Mizutou like a web. Which is why . . . I think we must consider them suspects." He stepped outside onto the terrace. The place was empty now, and the rain had stopped. "But we should also take care not to give them reason to be more hostile to us than they already are. They could point to us as suspects, and then things would get . . . difficult."

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Naruto asked, drawing abreast of her and peering curiously at her face. "You look pale."

Before she could open her mouth to reply, Kakashi stopped abruptly on the edge of the terrace, nearly causing Naruto to bump into him.

"Sasuke, what is it?" he asked in a low voice.

Sasuke hadn't moved.

"You do know Shikyo's gone into the forest, don't you?" Sasuke pressed. "That he's abandoned us?"

"His blunder has created some minor problems for us," Kakashi replied without turning around. "But Shikyo-san doesn't concern me most right now. Our client's safety is where the mission's priorities lie." In his nonchalant way, the Jounin had just warned Sasuke that he'd noticed the Genin's seeming fixation on the Rain ninja. Sasuke wasn't stupid. He let it drop.

He stepped off the terrace and began crossing the courtyard. This time, Sasuke followed.

o---O---o o---O---o o---O---o

He stood in the wood, surrounded by corpses. Thick bamboo poles rose on all sides of him like pillars to a dark temple, canopied with leaves. The torch he carried flickered firelight over the dead.

They were strewn across the forest floor, twisted and contorted as if the very bones inside them had been bent and reshaped. Their fingers clawed at the air, and at the dirt, and at themselves, hooked into rictus and motionless now.

This was what remained of the Heikou Elite, whom Moritome had so rashly sent into the valley of the Mist.

Shikyo stood at the center of them all, like the hub of a wheel, surveying the remains. His gaze was calm and cold.

"How foolish," he said.

He blew the torch out with one full breath and tossed it carelessly on the ground. Then he turned and slipped off into the darkness. He was heading back up the slope toward Mizutou.

There was proof enough now of a direct attack. There would be no more talk of independent conspiracies; of assassins' rings. The wrath of the Heikou would swiftly burst the floodgates and sweep toward the ones with whom their greatest suspicions lay.

The fate of the Mist had been sealed.

END OF CHAPTER 6

Yamisui: Okay, I know those of you who don't like more . . . uh . . . cerebral stories are probably asleep by now. But believe me, this chapter's so full of clues you'd better have read it carefully. The next chapter will be "The Nightingale Floor"---not to be confused with Lian Hearn's book, which I haven't read even though I'm told it's good.