10 True Yin-Yang Body and Soul Tempering

Meanwhile, Team Seven left the Hokage Mansion and made their way towards the Cryptanalysis Team. Kakashi had told them it wasn't relatively far away. "Kakashi-sensei, what actually does the Cryptanalysis Team do?" Sakura asked slightly confused and just what they were going to be doing. Kakashi had lowered his book upon hearing Sakura's question. Truth be told, a lot of what they did he didn't particularly understand either, but he supposed he could give a solid answer as best he could. "Well Sakura, the Cryptanalysis Team deals in deciphering secret coded messages. They take their orders directly from the Hokage. Their building is located a bit away from the Intelligence Division. They work rather closely with our Aviary team since we have messages sent via messenger hawks.

Imagine if you were behind enemy lines and you had to pass on information. Assuming that the information made it past enemy lines and into Konoha then it would be the job of the Cryptanalysis Team to decipher those messages. It's mainly a lot of reading and translation of codes." Kakashi said. Sakura nodded. It sounded like something right up her alley. Sasuke didn't really care what they did, but it was much better than the alternatives. Naruto didn't precisely have an opinion mainly because he had his mind occupied in his own thoughts. It was currently February 8th, it will be Valentines day soon... I should get something for Hinata-chan. .....Maybe some chocolate for Ashe and Annie too, they did help me out a lot after all.

After about ten minutes, Team Seven finally reached the office building for the Cryptanalysis Team. Kakashi quickly opened the sliding door and met with the receptionist. Naruto ignored the hesitant stare that was sent his way while Kakashi held up a scroll. The receptionist merely nodded before pointing down a corridor. The team walked forward. "Mitoku-sensei where are you going?! We still need your help here!" a sharp female voice came through the hallway. Naruto turned an eye in the direction of the noise.

"We're not going to get anything done like this I'll just finish this at home." another voice was heard, obviously male. Sakura blinked while Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Kakashi sighed. Sounds like it wasn't going to be as quiet as he had hoped. The team turned to the door just in time for a heavy crash to come through the room. Kakashi hand had just been on the doorknob as he sweatdropped. Sasuke glared forward. Just what kind of mission was this?

"They sound…interesting." Sakura said nearly voicing the thoughts of the entire group before Kakashi opened the door. A wave of dust exploded into the hallway as multiple coughs were heard. Once the dust settled, Team Seven was greeted to the sight of a young light blonde haired female. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail with occasional strands sticking out. Naruto frowned at her glasses. She also wore a white lab coat over her red dress and had on her forehead protector backwards, and a sash around her waist.

"Man, Yurika-san's gonna be soooo pissed," she said before realizing that she was not alone. She looked up and noticed the expressions of Team Seven. They looked majorly unimpressed. She quickly released one more cough before cursing. She straightened herself. "Erm…sorry about the mess. My name is Shiho. Can I help you?" She asked. Kakashi took a look around as piles upon piles of scrolls littered the ground along with piles of notebooks. Computers and printers blinked and sounded as a window was opened. No, it looked more like Team Seven should have been asking that question. "We're Team Seven. We're responding to your D-rank mission. Mission 8T532-AD6." Kakashi said with narrowed eyes. Now Naruto knew something was really up when the woman named Shiho stiffened. Her colleagues were all in the same boat as they looked from Sasuke to Sakura before resting on Naruto. Naruto resisted the urge to sigh. He was going to have a headache at the end of this, wasn't he?

Shiho paned over the faces of Team Seven. "D-rank Mission 8T532-AD6? Did I hear that right?" Shiho asked just on the off chance that her mind was messing with her. She was looking through the group of genin. Forgive her as they were more or less her age group, but she doubted any of them was a Nara. While Shiho didn't know a whole great deal on the procedures of the special D-rank missions, she still knew that they required a person with an abnormal amount of skill or intellect to fully comprehend or even attempt. Actually Shiho was one of the few…non-Nara shinobi to take the special D-rank missions.

The person she identified as Uchiha Sasuke, while a remarkable genin, she didn't see him as someone who had the aptitude for these. It took more than being proclaimed 'Rookie of the Year' to handle these missions. It's not that Shiho was looking down on the Uchiha heir. She was sure that he was a very capable individual, but…personally she didn't think he was for these types of tasks.

She turned her eyes to Haruno Sakura. Shiho wouldn't lie. She had felt that out of all of them, Sakura had the…most aptitude from her grades more or less. While not better than Sasuke in the shinobi department, it held weight that she excelled at theory in shinobi classes. Shiho had actually been one of the assistant teachers who graded Sakura's papers. She had been intrigued by some of Sakura's deductions and calculations which is why she believed Sakura to be the most…capable of all of them.

She turned to finally rest on Uzumaki Naruto. What…was she supposed to say? There was no way Uzumaki Naruto could do these. Someone with the worst grades in the academy would never be able handle these missions. It's not like Shiho was trying to be mean, but she was a definite realist. How Uzumaki Naruto even graduated was beyond her, but the fact that their sensei, Hatake Kakashi, a famous shinobi no less, recommended them for this obviously told her that she was missing something here. Plus, the way Naruto's blue eyes seemed to pulsate and glare into her form nearly made her shiver. They were nice in a…creepy sort of way.

"Yep, we'll be taking this mission." Kakashi said with a small grin behind his mask. Shiho just nodded before turning over to her supervisor. "Looks like you won't be able to go home early Mitoku-sensei. Team Seven is reporting for Mission Number 8T532-AD6." Shiho said. The man, Mitoku, frowned before he took the mission scroll from Shiho and looked it over. Yup, this was the mission that they had, by obligation, put into the mission system. Mitoku wasn't actually expecting anyone short of a Nara to do these. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What a drag..." Mitoku said before he stood up from his chair. He walked past the genin team. "Shiho, gather the papers, we're heading to the CDR room." Mitoku said. Shiho nodded and quickly moved grab some scrolls of the shelves. "Please, follow us." Shiho said. The group turned around and walked after them. As they walked, Naruto couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was off here. Never mind the fact that his sensei had a grin on his face the entire time, but also the way the entire Cryptanalysis team had looked at them when the mission was stated. Naruto didn't like it. Something was going on here and he was sure he would hate Kakashi for it.

"Tell me, Shiho-san, you guys at the Cryptanalysis Team encrypt and decrypt messages. Does that mean your team can decipher any message?" Sakura asked. Shiho withheld the smirk at her lips. "No, no, Sakura-san. That would be rather impossible. There are even texts from the Shodaime's era that we have trouble deciphering. We make out bits and pieces thus allowing us to get a rather hazy view of the message. Most of the encrypted messages are by others who want to get select information. We most deal in the work of undercover operatives in the other nations. We need their messages to help keep tabs on the other nations." Shiho replied. Sakura slowly nodded.

"Given that tactic of yours. Does that mean you believe they wouldn't do the same to us?" Naruto asked. Mitoku and Kakashi nearly lost their stride for a brief moment. Undercover operatives…while common were sometimes some of the best shinobi. Not only did they have to blend into the village, but they had to interact in such a way that raised suspicion from no one. No village liked undercover operatives and getting discovered easily warranted execution, but the idea that their village could even have some based on Shiho's explanation and Naruto's question, Kakashi and Mitoku suddenly felt a need to go see Hokage.

Not even Shiho could deny that Naruto's question disrupted her thoughts a little bit. She hadn't expected such a question out of him of all people. She never thought he would turn her own explanation right back at her like that in form of a question. "Well I would hope that wouldn't happen to Konoha. It would be bad if it did, but we do have some of the best detection forces out of the Five Great Nations." Shiho replied. Naruto would have made a comment flooded with sarcasm, but he decided not to.

Kakashi could see that Naruto wasn't entirely satisfied, but he was glad that the blond decided to not pursue that line of questioning anymore. Kakashi knew that if Shiho kept answering then she would have found herself going around in circles with her arguments against what Naruto was saying. It was probably in Kakashi's mind, but he was sure that Naruto almost liked doing this to some people. "Here we are!" Mitoku said as he opened a door to a much larger room. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto could see and hear a computer beeping, a glass room with a platform and the door leading to the platform.

"You still haven't told us what we're doing..." Sasuke said a little irritated at getting nothing done. He leaned against the wall as the others filed into the room. Everyone began to spread out over the entire room as Mitoku walked over to the lone computer in front of the glass room. He placed the files down. "Impatient, aren't you? You should learn to take things easily when you can Sasuke-kun. Now then, since we're all eager to get started, I will tell you that we will be running a training simulation. This is to not only help create new combat sequences that we can put into books in the library, but it will also help us in creating new fitness books for shinobi your age. This is a D-rank mission after all." Mitoku said as Shiho placed some more scrolls and papers on the computer. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

They actually needed genin for this? That was odd. Usually you didn't have genin doing exercises like other genin or even other civilians. That was what the academy taijutsu was for, to give everyone a starting point. This 'mission' just essentially made the Academy Taijutsu a useless endeavor. "Is there something wrong with the Academy's taijutsu that you would need something like this?" Naruto asked. Mitoku sent Naruto a small look, a little intrigued before moving back to his computer.

"Did you think that all students not coming from a clan favored the Academy's taijutsu? For those who are looking for something more personal, or to set themselves apart from the standard then that is what we are doing. Now since I won't ask Uchiha Sasuke to showcase his Uchiha taijutsu for just anyone to copy I had Shiho give us some scrolls we had on some old taijutsu forms. What we're going to do is have two spar while the third helps Shiho with the adjusting. It will help us discover any flaws or weaknesses." Mitoku said. Naruto didn't truly believe him, but he didn't comment.

"Hn, then the dobe and I will fight. Sakura can run the simulation numbers. Let' get this over with." Sasuke said, sounding in Naruto's ears, a little more eager than just a few seconds ago. It seemed like Sasuke was looking forward to being able to look at more taijutsu. Naruto wasn't going to hide it. He was too. He had recognized in his fight with Kakashi that he still had holes he needed to cover though some of those holes were only ones that time could fulfill such as him not having enough experience or him not having the same strength as Kakashi who was a grown human being. That said, Naruto did find it interesting that they could look.

"Now, now, Sasuke, I know you're eager, but everyone's going to fight. It will get some good taijutsu practice for all of you while I observe. Besides, you don't even know which ones you'll get so keep calm." Kakashi said with an eyesmile. Naruto and Sasuke glanced to each other before they noticed Shiho open a box. A box full of sticky suckers. Shiho quickly applied a bit of glue and wire to them.

"Naruto-san, Sasuke-san, I'm going to apply these to your clothes. With them, we will be able to record the data as you practice. This mission might go over a week or even a week and a half. I'm sure we'll have a productive session." Shiho said as she applied the stickers to Sasuke's face and his clothes before doing the same to Naruto and his clothes.

"Pick a scroll and read it. You'll have half an hour to read as much as you can while Shiho explains the equipment to Sakura-san." Mitoku said. Sasuke and Naruto glanced to each other before moving to the scrolls in the pile. Naruto didn't bother looking at what Sasuke was picking as he was too busy thinking while searching. A D-rank mission that lasted that long? From how Iruka had taught them in the Academy, one's typical D-rank mission lasted at least one hour, a max of a day or two. What type of D-rank needed a week? Naruto frowned. Something was really wrong here. There was something here he wasn't getting. That said, he still needed to participate even if he didn't really want to.

Naruto rummaged through some of the scrolls present. He didn't know how many they were intent on doing. He had done some reading, but none of the styles that he read on any subject seemed to suit him. Naruto pushed each scroll to the side. His taijutsu, he admitted, was lacking. He didn't have the most amazing hand-to-hand combat techniques, he hadn't really practiced outside of using shadow clones.

As he rummaged, Naruto felt his hand scrape through something wooden. He narrowed his eyes before he moved to grab the wooden square. A wooden book to be exact. Naruto picked it up and unfurled it. He looked at the name. "True Yin-Yang Body and Soul Tempering" Naruto read the scroll. He gazed down through the stances in front of him. There were graphical images of the chakra points along with a depiction of a human outline with a blue smoke inside the lines. It was telling how even the chakra points were susceptible to feeling different temperatures such as cold and heat and that through repeated exposure to extremes his body could be tempered, eventually to the strength of steel. There was also a part that mentioned that the will needed to undergo the painful training would increase the strength of one's soul or will. It also included some basic stances and some taijutsu stances and moves as well, it seemed this was an all-around skill.

"Naruto-san, do you have your scroll? We'll be beginning soon," Shiho called jerking from his thoughts. He turned back to see Sasuke already in the glass room and on the platform.

He just settled for a nod before he moved into the room as well. Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side. A sound from the microphone behind the glass came into their ears. "We'll spend the first two or three days going through the routine exercises and then we'll proceed to forms and then to application of them." Mitoku said. Naruto and Sasuke nodded while Sakura was currently at the computer with Shiho. Kakashi seemed content to just watch.

"Alright Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, you may begin!" Mitoku said. Naruto and Sasuke saw the white lights on the ceiling suddenly turn red. "Do not worry about the lights. They are merely sensing your chakra and relaying it back to our computer. It will copy the movements and allow us to make a better analysis," Mikotu replied. Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for a moment before Sasuke began his own exercises. Naruto opened his scroll and stared at one of the exercises to the technique. The scroll did say that a study of the chakra points was needed so Naruto would go to that when he went home.

Naruto dropped to the ground and fell to a meditative posture. The scroll said to mediate, to attempt to send chakra to all points of the body simultaneously. This was proving impossible for him at first since he couldn't feel his chakra and never really had been able to, but without words, the chakra from Kurama slowly began to enter his system and he gladly took control of it as he sent a mental thank you to the fox. for some, this step was impossible because when thinking or fighting chakra cycled through the body, but never stayed in parts of the body at the same time. It was concentrated into specific areas. If you were fighting then you concentrated your chakra into your hands or feet since those were where the pressure was hardest. Emitting chakra was more than one part of the body was…difficult.

Naruto continued to mediate, attempting to do as the scroll indicated. Naruto didn't expect any real results in the first fifteen minutes or even half an hour, but nearly an hour later. "Naruto-san, can you stop for a moment?" Naruto opened his eyes hearing the speakers. Sasuke, who had been doing his exercises, stopped as well. On the outside of the glass, Mitoku stood up. "Did you find something?" Mitoku asked as Shiho and Sakura looked over the computer. Kakashi leaned from over the wall and gave the screen a look as well. The representation of Naruto was sitting on some kind of floor as well, but everyone could see the beginnings of an orange hue in the far left shoulder of Naruto's chakra points.

"Three of his chakra points suddenly turned orange. They've been changing from orange to blue and back for about 45 minutes now," Sakura said, looking at the computer screen. What this meant…she had no freakin' clue. They didn't go over this when she was in the academy.

"It might be a product of him and the exercise from the scrolls, but he's only been meditating. Sasuke-san has been the most…physical in his exercises from his scroll. I've also be watching his other…body functions. It's odd, the temperature in the left side of his body steadily rose for a moment then dropped to lower than room temp" Shiho said. Mitoku placed a finger to his chin.

"Let's continue to observe for now. When two hours passes then we'll have Sakura-san do hers. But keep a closer eye on Naruto-kun." Mitoku said. Shiho and Sakura nodded before Mitoku spoke into the mic. "No worries Naruto-san. You may continue!" The head of the Cryptanalysis Team said. Naruto blinked before he closed his eyes. He knew there was something they weren't telling him, but he would figure it out later.

It was another two hours before Naruto and Sasuke stopped their exercises. Sakura had the amazing sight of Sasuke rubbing his face with a towel from his sweat while Naruto looked over to see Shiho and Mitoku discussing something that he couldn't hear. The scroll did say that when the meditation was finished then the user should have been a bit warmer in some places than before and cooler than others. Naruto felt…warmer on his left side and cooler on his right, but that feeling soon passed as a comfortable warmth took precedence.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Mitoku, and Shiho continued to observe Sakura's own exercises from one of the scrolls she picked. Naruto looked at the scroll. Its premise wasn't bad in his eyes, though Sakura stuck a little too much to form in Naruto's eyes. "Sasuke, do you remember what Sakura was like in taijutsu class?" Naruto suddenly asked as he watched his female teammates work. Sasuke raised an eyebrow before he snorted.

"You and I both know she struggled with her taijutsu. Even Shikamaru was better than her and he was about as low as you were on the grading system." Sasuke said with a fold of his arms. Naruto stared at the glass. He then turned to Shiho. Out of the corner of Mitoku's eyes, he watched Naruto's action. Naruto moved over to the computer. Shiho turned and noticed Naruto looking at the numbers.

"Something wrong Naruto-san?" Shiho asked as Naruto looked at the images on the computer as they translated into numbers while Sakura worked. Naruto turned back to see Sakura breathing. He then looked back at the computer. Her heart rate was increasing which wasn't so far out of the ordinary. Naruto closed his eyes. "Sasuke, did you feel any…weight in the glass room?" Naruto asked. Sasuke turned to himself once again. Everyone saw Sasuke give a nod and at this Mitoku gave Naruto a look. He hadn't told them, but to get some better results, those stickers were embedded with seals that increased weight over the body, but it shouldn't have been so big that a genin would notice. "Nothing more than usual. What are you getting at?" Sasuke asked. Naruto turned a stare to Mitoku. The man looked into Naruto's eyes before he turned to Kakashi. The jonin looked at the head of the Cryptanalysis Team. He gave an unseen nod. Mitoku turned back to Naruto and gave him the nod to do what he wanted. Naruto excused himself and knelt next to Shiho. She widened her eyes as he took the keyboard and pulled up his and Sasuke's files.

"If this is because of her lack of training or even her lack of muscle strength I don't know, but Sakura's going to wear herself out before she gets her two hours finished," Naruto said. Mitoku and Shiho widened their eyes as they turned and noticed Sakura perform a sidekick. Kakashi, Sasuke, Mitoku, and Shiho looked at Sakura and then at Naruto.

"How do you know that? I mean sure she doesn't train as often as I'm sure you guys do, but that shouldn't hinder her that she couldn't get to her training," Shiho said in slight amazement. Naruto leaned up and turned back to the glass. He watched Sakura perform more exercises.

"Rather than call it a tactic of know how Sakura does things, it would be better to call it…a heavily-based intuition." Naruto said. Shiho looked back at the screen and then turned around to look at Sakura. She then turned her eyes to look at Naruto. Somehow, Shiho couldn't help some form of anxiety surfacing. She wasn't sure why. Had Naruto always been this attentive?

Everyone watched as Haruno Sakura continued with her exercises. She seemed to be keeping well in stride as her heart rate continued to increase. As it stood, Sakura was approaching 1 hour and 45 minutes. Shiho didn't see it. Sakura still looked to be fine. Shiho had suppressed a laugh. It looked like Naruto wasn't able to trust in his teammate's abilities. Course then again he probably assumed that as physically women were weaker than men then Sakura wouldn't be able to hold her own, but obviously that wasn't the case. Either he had looked at the numbers on the screen wrong or he was just boasting about their training. With his grades, Shiho didn't necessarily believe it to be the former. "Then again I would have been impressed if Naruto-san was right. That would have took a lot of prediction and calculation to achieve." Shiho said to herself.

"Shiho, give Haruno Sakura new stickers in five minutes," Mitoku said as Shiho looked up from her thoughts. "Huh? Erm…why?" Shiho asked as Mitoku glared through the glass. Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto continued to look on though Shiho could tell that they were a little surprised.

"Tell me Shiho, when training, how long does it take you to work up a sweat?" Mitoku asked. Shiho blinked. She blushed at the question in embarrassment. She hadn't trained as much as she probably should have given her time with the team, but Shiho always managed to get her times in when she could. That didn't mean that she didn't stop thinking about the question.

"I guess a good sweat is two hours in depending on what I'm doing. Maybe by four hours I would be drenched I guess." Shiho replied before she widened her eyes. She stared back at the glass and noticed Sakura's pink outfit completely soaked from her sweat as Sakura performed a set of punches. Shiho stiffened. Had Sakura been moving too hard? How was that much sweat accumulated in only 1 hour and 50 minutes?

"I think either Sakura will have to change her scroll to fit something more to her style or she might have to have another method. If what Naruto said is true then there is some weight, while unnoticeable at first, accumulates over time. I think she's worked enough," Kakashi said with a narrowed eye. Mitoku quickly nodded and leaned forward. "Sakura-san, you can stop there. We will leave everything for tomorrow!" Mitoku said as Sakura threw out a punch. She gasped as she, surprisingly, fell to her knees and panted. She watched as the drops of water fell from her forehead and to the ground. She didn't realize she had been working that hard. Sakura just nodded. Her arms and legs were killing her. With Kakashi's help, Sakura was able to get to a chair and rest. Sakura panted as she had a towel draped over her head.

"Alright I think we can stop there. We will pick this up tomorrow. There is water in the receptionist area. We will see you back here at noon." Mitoku said as he and Shiho left. Naruto noticed Shiho give him a look before she followed after her supervisor. This left Team Seven alone.

"Kakashi-sensei…what are we doing here?" Naruto suddenly asked. Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi glanced at Naruto. Kakashi had a mirthful smile. "We're doing a D-rank mission Naruto. Did you forget that? It's just a little special is all" Kakashi said. Naruto folded his arms. This was no D-rank mission.

Naruto had thought about it when explaining Sakura's predicament to the others, but he was hella sure that he had seen her taijutsu form before from that scroll. Maybe it wasn't from THAT scroll in particular, but he remembered that form from somewhere. Maybe one of the episodes from Naruto? But…which one? Plus the style Sasuke had used. Naruto had been able to read it just a bit. That one was recognizable also! They didn't look like Konoha taijutsu techniques. The one Sasuke picked was called Botsuraku( Downfall) and Sakura's was called Tenkōka( Heavenly Descent). Naruto had seen the list of every taijutsu form recorded in Konoha you have to memorize in the academy, chunin-level and above. Neither of these was in what he had seen from the scrolls.

"Right. Sure it is." Naruto answered before Kakashi had them all file out of the room. They were allowed to take the scrolls home if they so desired so Naruto took his taijutsu scroll home. He figured he would need it. So Team Seven had gone their separate ways for the day.

Naruto came through his door and turned on his lights. A quick shower and dinner followed soon after. Once those were finished, Naruto immediately made his way to his backpack. He took out the taijutsu scroll and got to work. "Warning, this exercise will hurt. First aid is required to complete this exercise. Have ice nearby and heating pads nearby" Naruto read from the scroll. He took out a tray of ice and his first aid pouch along with a small heat pad. Looking over what he had, Naruto gave a nod before going back to the scroll.

"If you have prepared yourself…take a candle or other flame and move it over your body for one minute." Naruto frowned. Perhaps it would have been a good time to switch taijutsu scrolls. Yet, Naruto found himself lighting a candle and staring at it for a time. He then looked at his right arm. He gave a small sigh. Naruto closed his eyes and….

Moments passed as Ashe, the frost archer, found herself in her summoner's home supplying him with a multitude of ice arrows as Naruto continued to wrap his hand, while Annie was in the background letting a small fire go over and under his left hand. "I…do not understand this process you are trying to make," Ashe said as she watched Naruto take one of the arrows and hold it in his hands. He gave a small groan of relief. He looked at some of the burned parts of his skin. He then registered Ashe's response.

"Sorry for calling you all the way out here. It's training." Naruto said. Ashe blinked. She looked at the flame in Annie's hand before looking back at Naruto. An odd training method, but Ashe could relate…somewhat. A rite of passage for all warriors of the Freljord was to be able to survive in the harshness of the frozen wasteland with suboptimal gear and food. Ashe remembered when she had done it. When she returned she had a cold spanning weeks. Not her best time that she could remember.

"I see. Well we all do things to strengthen our bodies I suppose. Though I don't know a lot of training that requires the user to burn and then hold ice to the burns till it cracks open." Ashe remarked. Naruto gave a snort at her remark which earned a smile from the archer and a giggle from Annie. Naruto took another pained sigh as he applied some burn ointment to his hand.

"So this training is a part of your…'taijutsu' arts. Am I correct on that assumption?" Ashe asked. Naruto gave a nod to her question. "That's right. It's a training exercise. The scroll said that the exercise would hurt. I was supposed to feel a warmth in the chakra points on my burned hand then a coolness when I help the ice to it." Naruto answered her. Ashe placed a finger to her chin.

"Would you consider this…chakra to be like mana?" Ashe asked. Naruto looked up at her in relative surprise. "I suppose it's something similar in the term that you're thinking about, but we have vastly different aspects I imagine." Naruto replied to her. Ashe nodded as Naruto took another arrow and held it in his hands.

"How long will you be doing this?" Ashe asked. Naruto glanced at Ashe, then the flame in Annie's hand, and then back to his hand. "Until I get it right." Naruto said to her. Ashe just stared at her summoner, still much confused by the person whose home she was in. Such an unusual young man she had decided to help. Though given that he was only perhaps 4 years younger than her, but she had to admit he had spirit if not much else. She was certain he had a lot of other things too. He was smart, though her extension of smart men were labeled to a very…very select group of men in her life.

"So will I be summoned again to take care of more burns?" Ashe asked, rather good-naturedly. Naruto turned his eyes toward her and she watched him give a light grin of his own. "Well, I would imagine this to be the only thing those ice arrows are good for," Naruto said jokingly. Ashe twitched at the jab before she folded her arms.

"Very funny." Ashe drawled out. The smile on Naruto's face didn't leave as he closed his eyes and wrapped his hands. "I'll try not to be so cold next time." Naruto responded with another. Ashe looked at him, her eyes unmoving from his form for the very poor joke. Still Ashe couldn't hold her stern look as she offered a light smile and giggle. Not that she would ever tell her tribe about this, but despite paperwork, a war, and being a champion in one life, Ashe was looking forward to the coming days.

And look forward to the days she did as Ashe had been summoned each days for four days in a row along with Annie who was surprisingly quiet, by Naruto to provide him with ice arrows. Ashe was happy to oblige him. It actually benefited her as well. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't easy for Ashe to create ice arrows. They actually took a good portion of her Mana, which she explained to Naruto was like Chakra, to create. Naruto's continued injuries had been great practice for her in making arrows for dire situations. However, there was always one thing Ashe couldn't understand and that was Naruto's ability to heal. Just by his burns, his hands should have had at least second-degree burns by this time which how much he had placed his hands in that candle, but each and every day his hands had healed like nothing had happened. Ashe couldn't understand it. She had asked Naruto about it on the fourth day. The way he stared at her had told her that he had a nine-tailed demon fox that killed his father and mother sealed inside of him that helped heal him along with the fact his mother side of his family had crazy Vitality. Well, Ashe was gobsmacked nonetheless and decided to just forget what she heard, lest she go crazy thinking about how crazy this 12 year olds life is. This was, however, an interesting time. No war meetings, no politics, just a bit of story time between her and her summoner.

The fourth day passed as Ashe gave Naruto another arrow. Naruto squeezed it tightly, it's cooling aura surrounding his burn. "Any progress?" Ashe decided to make small conversation. Naruto sighed. "I have made a bit. Shiho-san said that I should be careful because my temperature was getting high on my left side and cold on my right side. I don't feel sick so I believe it to be the results slowing coming." Naruto said to her. Ashe merely gave a nod. "I will admit, from this distance you do feel…warmer though I can't tell if you are cooler or not since I'm used to the cold. However, I have noticed that while you…heal your burn wounds you always ask me to bring you a book to read. You seem to be looking for something rather than just reading." Ashe said to him. Naruto nodded before he looked back at the scroll.

"I have a feeling there is more to this mission than my sensei is saying. He tells us that it's a D-rank mission and yet what we're doing…doesn't feel like a D-rank mission. D-rank missions generally start and finish in a day or two. There can't have been any records of D-rank missions that have taken over 4 to finish. Add that this is the Cryptanalysis Team, they encode and decode messages…, classified messages. They work directly with the Hokage. I have trouble believing that they would need a group of genin for help." Naruto said. Ashe watched as Naruto used his right hand to grab the scroll.

"And then there are these scrolls. I've read on every taijutsu style in this village. Why don't I know these? Then they have us learning these styles, showing the data to not only us, but claiming to make…it…a training manual!" Naruto said as he widened his eyes. Ashe raised an eyebrow. Obviously her summoner had just had some type of epiphany. She watched Naruto jump to his feet. Ashe watched him run from the main room and into a dark room which left the Frost Archer alone.

It was only about two minutes later that Naruto returned with a book in his good hand. "Ashe-san, turn these pages for me please. Go to page 65." Naruto said. Ashe took the book from him and looked at the title. "Shinobi Taijutsu: A True Guide?" Ashe thought to herself. She placed the book on a table and flipped through to page 65. Ashe couldn't help, but shiver as Naruto had a hand on her shoulder as he looked at the page. She was sure he wasn't aware of it, but she was actually lost in how his blue eyes seemed to get even darker.

"Page 32!" Naruto called which made Ashe jump for a second. She turned back and landed on the page that Naruto wanted. Naruto skimmed over the words that were written on the pages. "Page 107, 120, and 130 please Ashe-san!" Naruto said. Ashe turned to each page for Naruto and the blond read down each list. Naruto's hair shadowed his eyes for a second. Ashe's ears picked up on chuckling. She turned back and noticed Naruto's body twitching. She blinked her blue eyes as Naruto's chucking turned to a light laughter. Naruto then proceeded to clap his hands.

"Not bad. Not bad at all Cryptanalysis team! So that's how it works, dattebayo!" Naruto said before he covered his mouth. Ashe gave a small smile and giggled at his tick. "I will take my leave now!" Ashe said as she vanished in smoke. Naruto watched her go before he cursed underneath his lips. That was definitely going to come back and haunt him somehow. However, Naruto was willing to let that go for now as he couldn't stop the grin on his face. As he clutched an ice arrow, he moved over and picked up the scroll.

"Just a little special Kakashi-sensei? Very well, I'll play your tactic for now. Yours and Mitoku-san's." Naruto thought to himself. He gave one last chuckle as he turned out the lights to his apartment room and closed the door to his bedroom. As Naruto climbed into his bed, he looked at the moon. It's natural beauty made him smile before he drifted off to sleep.

[{(Getting close to the point where it gets good in my opinion.)}]