Somewhere within a green lush forest, stood upon the land with so many high grounds, crickets hummed an out loud tune, rose a meek hotness in the chilly dimness.

A boy stared up to the sky, mesmerized by the large pearl that lit on the entire welkin.

"Naruto, come over here."

A mild yet lazy tone pulled the boy's attention, unwavering eyes set to the bushes ahead, blue modeled shoes trod on the grass below.

The boy pushed through the bunch of leaves, exposing the view for his cerulean eyes to see.

Three figure high and low gathered on the narrow clearing, starting from the left; a middle-aged man, maybe on his thirty, grey slacked up hair, one visible half-lidded eye, wearing a green vest and blue jumpsuit.

Next to him was a boy around the same age as Naruto. He had a black and short shaggy hair, pair of glowing red eyes with three black tomoe on them, he clad in a black shirt with wide neck and a fan shape trademark on the back.

The last person on the very right was a girl, shared the same age as the two boys. Her brown hair tied into two buns and placed diagonally on her respective side. She wore a pink colored sleeveless shirt.

As for himself, his head filled with a blonde strand of hairs, modeled in a spiky style. Three thin line marked his both cheek, unknown whether it was a hair or just a tattoo. His body covered in a one-piece dark green suit, from the top of his neck, down to the base of his ankle.

Naruto strolled carefully, knelt behind the three line of people.

"OK, let's brief the mission again..." The grey-haired man spoke through his half-mask.

Three pairs of different eyes fixed toward him.

There had been occasional missing children from the village and hamlets in the land of fire, mostly involved kinless toddlers and poor families' child. Albeit the request to handle the problem had been submitted for many times, but the mission management somehow didn't publicize the task openly, instead, it buried underneath a stack of paper that belongs to a mission 'find my cat' or 'help me grow vegs'.

Truth to be told, they almost picked up a mission 'babysit my son' if not for this blonde to yawn and accidentally knocked out the papers. One of the paper flew from the desk and grabbed by the red-eyes boy, it contained the current mission detail.

The missing case had been going for the past five months, 10 children who usually could be seen on the street somehow no longer appear, 5 kids from various orphanages also gone while playing outside, and 3 families suffered the loss of their little member.

After collecting information and tracking clues all day, they finally arrived at the sizable rundown house.

Naruto knitted his forehead, both of his eyes tightly shut. He felt large negative emotions collected in the house; despair, wretchedness, sorrow, hatred, and so many others.

After a while, he slowly rose his eyelids, glanced at the people around him, he nodded, "The missing children inside, I can't approximately point out how many, perhaps a dozen."

"And the hostiles?" The grey-haired man squinted his eye.

"Six maybe seven..." Naruto frowned, he rubbed his own chin, "there is something strange about this though."

"What's wrong?" The twin-bun girl titled her head.

"He's right..." The red-eyes boy stared at the wood-based house, his iris sparkled, "I see no active chakra."

"Well, isn't that supposed to be great? At least we don't have to face shinobi," the girl remarked somehow attract a weird stare from the boys, her eyebrows tensed, "w-what?"

"What they wanted to say is... we have to carefully proceed onward, prepare for not falling into enemies trap, remember that some shinobi capable to camouflage their presence or hideaway their chakra pathway system," the grey-haired man slowly said, scoring a blush of shame on the girl's face.

"So, what's the plan, sensei?" Naruto slid his eyeballs to the left.

"We absolutely couldn't take the fight inside, one for avoid the trap while another for not affecting the children, so let's split into two teams; Distraction and Rescue," the grey-haired man fished out a note and drew on it with a pen.

Distraction team's job was to attract the enemies attention and bait them to the outside of the house, commenced a battle with them until the very last of the wave.

Rescue team's job was to infiltrate the house after the distraction team launched their operation, preferably went in from the back door or other entrance, then they would secure the children to outside.

"Is there any objection?" His only eye observed his students' face.

"Sensei, if I may..." Naruto raised his hand, the grey-haired man nodded, "how about if we split into 4 people job instead?"

"And that would be...?" The teacher gazed at him with interest.

Naruto raised his hand and opened his fingers, "Distraction, infiltration, rescuer, and ambusher."

"How you would assign them?"

"Tenten was noisy and annoying, she'll be perfect for creating a distraction."

"Hey!" The girl puffed her cheek.

"I'll be on infiltration since I could break several array formations, my job would be just wandered around the house, unveiling every trap or ambush they prepared.

Sensei would be the rescuer, well, I don't have to explain it, right?

Shisui act as the ambusher, hiding in the shadow while helping Tenten clear up the enemy, he also can act as a surprise attack in case the enemy's boss shows up."

The grey-haired man crossed his arm for several minutes, his face delayed for a moment, "Why not me acting as ambusher instead?"

Naruto shook his head, "No offense Sensei but I think Shisui's body flicker technique was more effective as ambusher."

"Kakashi-sensei, I also agree with Naruto, besides, this is not your first time rescuing people, I believe you can handle this better than me," Shisui nodded his head while letting out a faint smile.

Kakashi pondered a bit, deep inside he actually grateful to receive students with mature temperament, making the hell out of his job turned easier but on the other hand, he felt uncomfortable by the speed of their maturation.

Oh whatever, at least they not angry whenever he came late.

"Alright, we follow Naruto's plan, Tenten, you up for this?" He glanced at the twin-bun girl.

"I am angry but I don't have trouble with the plan, count me in," Tenten frowned but nodded her head nevertheless.

"You're angry because I'm right," Naruto faced her with a deadpanned expression.

"Don't push your luck, Uzumaki..." She clenched her jaws.

Naruto wrinkled his eyebrow before decided to ignore the mad girl. Shisui chuckled at their interaction.

Kakashi stared at them with his lazy eye, 'Forget it, who says they're already mature.'

Tenten checked on her items and tools, she glimpsed at her teammate, "Wish me luck!"

"Be careful!" Shisui smiled.

"Don't overdo it!" Kakashi gave out a thumb.

"Don't die sooner," Naruto crossed his arms and nodded.

The last comment trigged her annoyance again, vein marked her temple and shiver reigned her body, she approached the house with heavy steps, her face painted in red, she took a deep breath, "DIE YOU BASTARD, DIE!"

Her roar pierced through the three-person ears and blew some explosion inside their mind, birds escaped from the area and squirrels jumped out of range. Naruto turned his face toward his comrades, his stiff expression smeared with a hint of pride. "See? Best distraction ever."

The two people nodded, then set their face straight at the house.

A few moments later, the old house's door banged open, several people in brown plain cloth ran out, anger and gloominess disguised their appearance. They all share the same feature which was a sturdy body, twice Tenten's height and fierce visage. Axes and machetes readied in the hands.

"I thought who's so brave to curse at us, turn out it just a fucking little shit brat!" The man in the middle slanted his lips, but the anger still reflected within his boorish eyes.

"Hey boss, she's not bad looking, a tad bit underdeveloped but so does the other!" One of them threw a mocking gaze.

Tenten twitched her eyes after hearing the word 'underdeveloped'.

"You're right! Hey, little girl, you better be obedient and come with us, we may forgive you for what you say!" The middle-man laughed in contempt.

"It may be hard for you to please us with that skinny body, but we'll manage!"

Tenten declined her head, her expression blocked by the shadow from the moon.

"So, what will it be little shit? Followed us in your own accord, or we force you?"

There were seven men stood in front of her, in a normal situation, one person alone supposed to be enough to scare the heck out someone like her; delicate, small, and thin figure.

"You..."

She reached out to her back purse.

"All..."

A piece of white scroll fished out from inside of it.

"Can..."

She hurled the scroll into the air as it stretched open.

"Go to hell!"

*Poof!*

A giant ball completed with spikes on its entire surface jumped out from the scroll, accompanied by a collection of smokes and a tail made of steel chain. In a swift, Tenten jumped into the air, grabbed the chain, rotated it in the air and swept the line of burly men ahead with the giant spike ball.

*Bang!*

"Aaah!"

Like a Tenpin smacked by a bawling ball, these crowd scattered flying immediately. Their huge body didn't even stand a chance against the rotating spike ball, some thrashed to the ground, crashed against the wooden house, and few still hover in the sky. But the terror yet to finish, Tenten still twisting the ball, the moment it reached her twelve o'clock, she restrained her power and pulled upward the spike ball.

Two burly men laid on the ground, without giving enough time to recover, the spike ball already looming over them, aimed to paste them into the ground.

*Boom!*

Bone and meat no longer exist, blood and skin as flat as the soil. Perspiration dripped from her forehead, she felt sore on her upper muscle and little bit numbed on her hands. She gasped for breath while gazing on the rest of her onslaught.

The arrogant people, who had watched how she's wrecked their group, lost their previous cruel face. frightened appearance with pale skin and concussion on the head.

"S-Shi-Shinobi!" The middleman pointed his big finger toward Tenten, the rest of grunts dropped down their jaw as fast as flying bird.

Who didn't know the reputation of shinobi? The fiercest forces that contributed a lot back in the third world war. They struck like a bee, killed akin to a leopard, and disappeared mimicking a ghost. They could breathe anything from their mouth, from a blazing of flame to a torrent of water. Giant toad and gigantic snake spewed out from their hand, destroying the ground and inflated an army without a second.

"Yes, I'm a... shinobi, you better... run or I'll do... I'll do..." Tenten chest heaved quite strong, she pushed out a finger, gesturing for them to wait in silence, she regained her bearing, "I'll do worst than this."

She grabbed another scroll from her purse, tossed it up to the sky, in a puff of smoke, hundreds if not thousands shuriken appeared, filling the night ceiling like a hundred of bats, readied to assault them.

"Hiiiii!" In horror, these people forget their own pain, stood up like a champ but ran like a rabbit. They quickly entered the lush forest behind them, didn't even hesitate to look back.

"Hehe..." Tenten giggled while the bunch of shurikens above her started to become blurry and one by one left without a trace at all. She curled her lips and proud at her own petty trick to scare them away.

"I'm sorry for their cowardice behavior, what can you expect from a bunch of hooligans..."

At this moment, a rather hoarse sound entered her hearing, almost jumped out her own heart from their rightful place. She leaped forward while somersaulting in the air, she stared at the house as she landed her feet.

Three men wore black cloth complete with a head cap and a mask replaced the previous burly people. Bandage tied up each of their waist and part of their arms. The extended part of their head cap swayed in accordance to the west wind.

Tenten instinct flared up a danger sign, she took a step back and dread rose inside her guts, she realized the men in front of her was actually out of her league.

Cold sweat trailed down her cheek, her thin lips trembled as she swallowed her throat.

"Now, little girl, how about we continue your dance? You definitely like to play with your own size," the voice that belonged to a man in a middle rose up the back of her hair.

The man brought up his hand and formed seals out of his finger, "Dark Release: Cobra Crushing Fang." He stretched out his hand and a dark shadowy figure sprung out from his palm, directly headed toward Tenten who got stunned in the brain. Only after it had arrived pretty close to her that she finally sobered but she still unable to react on time.

*Shuaa!*

In the brink of two fangs from the dark snake form almost bit her, a silhouette appeared behind her, grasped her waist and disappeared together from her spot.

The snake munched on thin air and soon faded in the air, the three black suit shinobi surprised by her sudden vanished action, they exchanged glances.

"A clone?"

"No, it's her real body, my fear miasma impossible to effect a clone."

"Body replacing technique?"

"Nothing replaced her spot."

They frowned before finally reached up to the conclusion, their eyes glistened with cold light, without hesitation, they plunged toward the dark forest.

Several seconds after they left, Naruto jumped out from the bushes, he swept his surrounding before dashed into the house. He halted his movement, checking the front door with a few knocks, he ran to his right and started circling the house perimeter.

This place wasn't exactly an empty clearing, there were a shed on its right, broken fence on the back, and haystack barn within the fence. Naruto hopped onto its roof and wandered around. His feet constantly tapped on the surface, strong enough to feel the concrete but not loud enough to cause a commotion.

After a few minutes later, he stopped at the certain side of the roof, he fished out a kunai and made seals with his finger, "Wind Release: Vacuum Blade."

He exhaled a long trail of wind and covered the kunai's edge with it, the effect of this technique was to enchant the sharpness of a sharp tool and extended their range of attack as long as the user desire.

His kunai's length now resembled a short sword, Naruto turned the handle and aimed the end point toward the surface beneath his feet, he brought down the kunai and stabbed the roof.

He stabbed quite deep before rotating the kunai, making an in-complete diameter as wide as his own size. Naruto took the kunai back without canceling the enchantment, he grabbed the edge of the marked part and pulled it up.

Naruto jumped inside the house and landed safely on the ground.

He arrived at the wooden floor with white paint on the wall, the place quite spacious and perhaps it's a glorious building, back in its past days.

Naruto closed his eyes but twitched them not a long later.

'What? Having some trouble, kid?'

From within his body, a deep and thick voice reverberated into his mind.

'I only detect a few sealing traps here, but with this a lot of room to move, it makes me uncomfortable to think they only placed these trap only this much."

The entire layout of this building resembled a mid-sized motel in the quiet secluded area, even the wide of the hallway enough to fit ten people cramped and stood in line.

'Do you know the reason?' The creature grinned in a mocking manner.

'Yeah, possibly my detection skill is still not enough,' Naruto sighed in gloominess.

'You can borrow my power to break through any of these traps and barriers you know? I doubt they have planted an S-rank barrier.'

'Yeah? And increase the body list of our deal? uh-uh, not a chance, buddy!' Naruto rolled his eyes.

'Well, after you kill the leader of this band of misfit, then the limit count will just return to the previous one, right?' The creature licked his lips.

'You are right, except what I want, is to decrease the count of your hit list, not to make it even,' Naruto shook his head, 'enough, I have my own way.'

Naruto tugged his right hand, inside his sleeve, a sheet of white paper wrapped his wrist, his middle finger reached out under the wrist, in the midst of smoke, Naruto pulled a kunai with strange charm. He threw the kunai into the middle of the hall, he raised his fingers, "explode!"

*Bang!*

A deafening sound rumbled on the wide hall, a heat aura flared within the grey puffy smoke.

'Are you stupid, kid? Explosive Charm won't be enough to destroy the traps and the barriers.'

'Shut up,' Naruto closed his eyes once again, after a while, a smirk pulled the corner of his lips, 'they placed additional 3 C-rank trap and 1 B-rank barrier formation.'

'What?! How do you know?!' There was a genuine surprise inside the creature tone.

'Eh, furball, that's the benefit of you no longer interfering with my business, you had no idea how awesome my growth!' Naruto sneered.

'Tch, quite bragging kid, tell me how you do it!'

'It's simple, with the use of explosive charm, I shook the foundation of the formations thus letting them created a wave that will affect the atmosphere around them, the higher the rank of formations, the less they sparked a wave, unfortunately, I only managed to detect B rank so far, thus I hope that's the highest formation they set.'

'Impressive kid, no one ever thought it like this,' the creature murmured.

'Well, that's the result of a week full of a headache and sleep depravations...' Naruto bitterly sighed.

'Alright, shut up for a while, I need to work now,'

The creature shut their connection.

Naruto walked toward the C-rank formations and below, he looked for their critical spot and solved them one by one, he didn't dare to wander randomly, fear for any A-rank and above formations. He stopped before the B-rank barrier, took out a piece of paper and stuck it on its invisible wall.

'Release!'

The paper let out electric charges and disturbed the barrier harmony, Naruto focused his eyes, searching for the barrier weak spot, sadly, this method can't be done in one shot and only last for a few seconds, Naruto had to put another and repeated the process.

After the third trial, Naruto finally spotted on something, he quickly cast a technique, 'Water release: Bubbles technique!'

From various surface of his body, dozens of water bubble spewed out, they lingered around him for a while before launched forward at certain spot on the barrier formation, then created a series of explosion the moment they hit the target, the sound might not as loud as the explosive charm, but the damage certainly bigger since the entire house seemed trembling, as if a small scale earthquake had occurred.

The result of this feat was a crack appeared on the weak spot, slowly but surely, the crack spread throughout the surface then crumbled the whole barrier like fragments of glasses.

Naruto nodded and walked forward, pushing a wooden gate that blocked his view.

"Dark Release: Hellfire Blast!"

"Dark Release: Shadow Pulse!"

"Dark Release: torrential Spitfire!"

'Oh, boy, I couldn't get a break at all!' Naruto jumped on his feet as soon as he arrived at the room with pentagon layout, there were several wooden pillars on the room and lot of crates along with other stuff. A humongous black fireball, three-layer of black energy like a fountain, and several black fires like bullets stormed his initial spot which caused devastation on the wall and everything around it, black fires lingered on the rubble.

Naruto placed his feet on the ceiling and quickly made seals, "Wind Release: Tranquil Feet!" His sole covered in a green colored energy, then he disappeared from his spot, moving around the area so fast that the enemies unable to follow his movement. He arrived beside an enemy who hid behind a crate, swinging his wind enchanted kunai and cut his enemy throat before he moved to another spot.

There was five total of enemies inside the area, three already met their maker, courtesy of that blondie. Two enemies hid behind sacks of grain that quite far from the previous three, thus Naruto unable to reach them sooner. They stared at their fallen comrades with indifferent.

Realizing that their life quickly in peril, the two black clothes shinobi joined their right and left hand together while their respective other handmade seals, "Duo-Dark Release: Chimera Calamity!"

They sent out a large and strong dark energy wave, sweeping all the vicinity area. Naruto tried to back away from the wave, he already leaped very far from them yet he still felt the impact smacked against his body.

*Bang!*

Naruto got thrown from his current position and crashed to the wall ahead, he let out a painful groan while feeling a negative energy crawled inside his body, his wounds reeked with a dark trail. He stood from the crash and noticed the wound he possessed had yet to heal!

'What's happening? My healing factor is not working?' He furrowed his eyebrows.

'It's the darkness, kid, they corrupted your ability to heal,' the creature's deep voice resounded again.

'What do you mean by corrupted?' Naruto startled.

'They simply prevent any healing technique beside light element.'

'The heck?! Is it dangerous? Like poison or something?' Worry started filling his face.

'No, so long it's not a fatal wound, there's nothing to worry about...'

'Huff...' Naruto breathed out a relief, 'how to get away from this?'

'Purified!' The creature answered simply, 'I'll explain to you later, here comes the enemy!'

Naruto eyebrows jumped as he refocused his attention and realized that couple black clothes shinobi had arrived several meters from him.

"Duo-Dark Release: Chimera Calamity!"

Another dark wave flaring from their body, rupturing the entire space around them.

"Wind Release: Zephyr Shield!"

Naruto swiped his hand and a protective barrier made of wind appeared before him, 'let's make you taste your own technique.' this technique was used to repel an incoming attack and sent them back toward their use with the same or greater power.

The dark waves hit the wind barrier, it successfully stopped the dark wave's movement, but...

*Prang!*

Naruto's wind technique crumbled in the spot, the dark wave marched forward and smacked Naruto who unable to act in time, onto the wall behind him and pushed him through to the previous room.

'What the fuck?!' Naruto twitched his eyes while he winced because of the pain within his body.

'Kid, the dark element triumph against other elements, aside from the light...'

'What the fuck, Kyuubi?! Don't you think such a detail is important to tell me soon?!'

'Yeah, I kinda forgot, sorry, bahaha!' Kyuubi laughed in a relaxed manner.

Naruto's face darkened while hearing the stupid giant furball laughter wrecking his guts. He witnessed the enemies approaching again. Naruto didn't dare to delay, he rolled back and ran toward the entrance, he halted right before the exit and turned around facing them again. His eyebrows wrinkled as he pondered how to defeat them.

"..." Naruto calmed himself and focused all of his attention toward his enemies and the area around them. He recalled his enemies movement and their technique pattern.

'They definitely could decimate me with their attack, but why take time strolling here while holding hand?'

'Wait, stroll and hold hand?'

Naruto eyes lightened up, he cast another Tranquil Feet then his fingers reached out under his both wrists. Naruto waited until both shinobi entered his range.

*Swoosh!*

In a flash, Naruto threw three explosive kunai and three wind enchanted shuriken, at the same time, he dashed forward and leaped into the air.

The enemies roared their technique and cast another dark wave into their surrounding, slowing the movement of the three kunai while the shuriken still sustained their speed before followed the kunai's fate. Naruto used another Zephyr Shield but instead utilized it into the dark wave direction, he reversed the direction of the wind barrier while setting them on his right side, Naruto punched the barrier, strong enough to propel him to his left but not injured himself in the process. Naruto rolled in the air until several inches before reaching the ground, he grabbed the three shurikens, then let his body got hit by the dark wave.

*Bang!*

Naruto stomped his left feet on the ground and resisted the incoming attack. After several seconds flagged by the annoying black energy, the current started to become weaker, Naruto took this chance and lashed out his hand toward the couple, releasing three enchanted shurikens he previously grabbed. The shurikens twirled with green colored energy around their edge, it launched toward the enemies in the fastest speed, their target was the joined hand of the two enemies.

Realizing if they're not separate the hands, they would lose a limb, thus the united shinobies decided to release their partner. One to the right while another to the left, Naruto eyes glinted in a cold light, he raised his hand and loudly shouted, "exploded!"

*Bang!*

An explosion banged from the position at the enemy who fled to his right, engulfing his body with series of explosion, at the same time, Naruto's hand flashed out another seal, "Wind Release: Blade of Wind!" the tips of his finger emitted a whirling wind and he slashed it toward the enemy on his left, it traveled through the space in a form of blade shape with incredible speed and behead the enemies head.

The victim of the explosion still alive even though his body covered in a burned wound, several limbs also no longer attached.

Naruto walked forward, he halted before the barely alive man, his eyes coldly stared at him.

"Please... kill... me..."

His hoarse voice whispered in the room, desperately communicated to the boy who was his enemy. Naruto tilted his head, gazing at the man without a single sympathy. Naruto strolled to his left.

"No... come... back... please..."

Naruto picked his shurikens and put it inside his pouch. He took a deep breath and strolled toward the second room.

Back in the forest, the three black clothes shinobi wandered among the tall trees, the bushes and the lack of bright made them hard to detect any entity besides their own people. Using the lonely light reflected by the moon, they squinted and narrowed their eyes many times just for the sake of catching any figure.

Unknown to them, a pair of red eyes with three tomoes observed their movement like a hunter tailing its prey, in a midst of dread and fear lurked within the heart of this people, a single blade flew from the bushes, aimed for the man in the center.

He startled a bit but sneered in contempt afterward, obviously didn't take seriously the incoming attack since it coming from his front and gave him a lot of times to avoid it, the shinobi leaned to his left and avoid the blade, let it passed above his shoulder, at the same time, he cast another technique and let out another dark snake, aimed it toward the bushes.

Didn't know whether he realized or not, the blade which just slightly distances from him, it had its sharp part pointed at his back, he and his comrades were looking at the direction of the bushes when a figure blinked and appeared right at their back. He grabbed the blade by its handle which was a ninjato and plunged the blade into the back neck of the man, in the same time, he threw a kunai toward the man on his right and killed him as the kunai stabbed the enemy's head.

Far from over, the figure lashed out his left leg and kicked the man on his left's back. propelled him forward where another figure dashed out from the bushes with a metal rod in her hands, she smacked her opponent cheek, tackled both of his feet before pummeled the top of his head, knocking him out in the instant.

Both assaults were fast and swift, no more than 3 seconds, the three black clothes shinobi already fell into the ground, without a single chance to retaliate.

Tenten let out a sigh as she strolled toward Shisui who sheathed his ninjato.

"You think Uzumaki can handle the rest of them?" She frowned, a trace of concern filled her eyes, albeit her dislike toward the blonde shinobi, he still her teammate.

"You doubting the ability one of the genius genin ever born in the history?" Shisui laughed.

"What genius, he slept in the class for entire session!" Tenten snorted.

"Maybe because he thought the lesson no longer interest him..."

"I still don't believe he's a genius!" Tenten shook her head, "I believe the title match you better than him or the Hyuga at least."

"Will you believe that he and she once have a fight and ended up in a tie?" Shisui narrowed his eyes, his lips curled to his right side.

"You're kidding! When?! Where?! How come I don't know?!" Tenten eyebrows jumped.

"Aw crap, I just spill a secret, forget what I'm saying..." Shisui held his mouth.

"No tell me now, tell me now, you have to tell now!" She stomped her foot and threw a tantrum.

"You want to know? Asked both of them!" Shisui flicked his body and disappeared from his spot.

"Hateful!" Tenten scratched her head, messing her own hair.

"Urgh..." the man who just passed out voiced out his groan.

*Pa!*

"Shut up!" Tenten fished out her metal rod and smacked the poor man head, knocking him out once again. She bent down, brought out a rope and tied the man's body. She snorted as she finished and strolled toward the forest.