Ghost Protocol

While Tsunade and Shizune settled into Konoha, Team 7 and I prepped for another A Rank mission, this time protecting the internationally famous Yukie Fujikaze. With the number of super powered whack jobs running around the major movie studios regularly produce high paying missions, and are some of the most sought after clients for each of the Big Five Villages.

The death of Kisame Hoshigaki earned me a jump to Special Jonin and put me in charge of a large team of Chunin consisting of my teammates Naruto and Sakura, Izumo and Kotetsu - the guys who usually spend their days guarding the gates (big score picking up those two on a bodyguard mission) - as well as Hayase and Okei - two of the Chunin plants during the first phase of the Chunin exams. With a seven man team I had enough people to run eight hour shifts guarding the actress and had three solid partnerships to do it with.

Hayase and Okei were without a doubt fodder from the files I had on them and my first analysis, but Izumo and Kotetsu were some crouching tiger hidden dragon bros. We could obviously augment security further with Naruto's clones, and Sakura can at least likely beat up Hayase or Okei in a straight fight. She'd likely lose no holds barred just based on experience though.

Fortunately they could all sit through a briefing without fighting each other, so we are already a step ahead of most anime armed forces. We covered the shooting location of the movie, expected environmental hazards, appropriate protective equipment, mandatory carry - including first aid kit, an emergency change of cold weather clothes for the client, and camping supplies all in case any member of the team should get separated from the group along with the client (something to always expect with Ninja Jesus on the team) - as well as client specific instructions for our conduct.

For fun I bought the pairs blue, green, and red coats. Handing the red coats to Hayase and Okei likely spelt their doom, but they were moved by the thoughtful gift, and I would laugh at their memeable deaths later. The chuckles will make up for the inconvenience of the highly likely kidnapping that will occur on their watch.

Samehada pulled back into stick mode the moment he found out that we were heading to the Land of Snow and demanded to be wrapped point to pommel in bear fur and only be disturbed for battles worthy of his incredible power. At least that is roughly what I picked up from it chirps and garbles communication.

As we left the Hokage Tower to perform our individual preparation Naruto pointed to the nearby academy field where hundreds of preteens worked, half on strength and conditioning and half on Bukijutsu, spear work specifically.

"Hey, those exercises look really familiar!" Naruto shouted, pulling the attention of the group before we dispersed.

"I'd hope they do." I commented, "You were doing them eight months ago."

"What?" Naruto barked, "Why are the academy kids doing our super secret workouts?"

"They've been doing a whole lot more than that since the new semester started." I told the young man, "Even with extended school days I still added two years of content to the program. I had to hire and train a bunch of new staff, rewrite all the textbooks, make all the new lesson plans, retrain the Chunin instructors, and completely rebuild the physical education courses from the ground up. Those kids are there from eight in the morning to five in the evening, and are fed three meals a day with two snack breaks all from meal plans I made. Nobody is ever coming out of the KNC Academy as lame as you two ever again."

"Hey, we're awesome!" Naruto pounded on his flak jacket, "We earned these!"

"Yeah, and the you of right now could wipe out a hundred of the you from back then without breaking a sweat. And that's all me, dude." I grinned, "And now every kid that graduates the Academy will be a fresh faced ass kicker ready to crush Konoha's enemies."

"Thank God we graduated long before you took power." Izumo chuckled, "I'd have hated doing all that back as a kid."

"I hate doing it now. I had to dip into the surplus to get this program going. It's burning money just like the Medic Core expansion is going to. Fortunately we caught one of the richest men in the world operating a criminal empire and seized all his assets, otherwise I'd be stuck with Sarutobi's plan of watching the flowers grow as they may."

"Dang. The consequences of that mission are super far reaching… like a continuity or something." Naruto mused, "You know what I'm talking about, Sakura? When one thing leads to another but like way more than some lip service, but like actual tangible outcomes?"

"You had it right with continuity." Sakura told him.

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned, "I was hanging out with Shikamaru and Choji earlier and they were like the exact same as they were back in the Academy, like they hadn't changed at all. It was freaky. I bet they were even wearing the same underwear from back then too. Like dudes frozen in time. Hey, why are you looking at me like that?" he shouted while pointing at me.

"Dude, you used tangible in a sentence correctly." I answered, "I can't tell if I need to check if you're an imposter or pat myself on the back for all the work I've done teaching you stuff."

"Screw you, Kiba. I know shit!" Naruto humphed and stomped off.

"He really did." Sakura grimaced as she too left.

I kept on watching those kids training. The new spine of Konoha.

____________________________________________________________________________

Our protection detail on Yukie Fujikaze was a cake walk as we transitioned from the lush and tropical Land of Fire into the cold and mountainous Land of Iron. The film shot a number of scenes here, mostly of the preparations undergone by Samurai on the eve of marching off to war.

I had to hand it to Sandayu - Yukie's middle aged manager - he'd done an excellent job hiding the military build up of refugees from the Land of Snow with this film, but any sensor shinobi would see through the ruse. The hundreds of well built 'extras' were all chakra capable, at least half with the reserves expected from journeymen ninja.

An expert would praise the authenticity of the props, completely unable to spot any difference from battle ready weapons. Because there was no difference. Sandayu armed and mobilized over three hundred warriors under the guise of filming a war movie. Brilliant.

Using Shadow Clones we briefly pulled the full team off of Yukie's detail each day, and on the eve of our departure for the Land of Snow I circled the wagons once more.

"Who here can smell the bullshit?" I asked, only getting a few confused faces as the rest had their hackles raised over the last few weeks.

"This mission is definitely suspect." Okei - a tall man with short dark hair hidden by his blue Konoha bandana and a pair of small glasses - agreed.

"Those extras are trained fighters." Kotetsu backed up the man's vague claim.

"They're Samurai." I nodded causing several of the men to hiss in discomfort, "Maybe not officially, but they are definitely Samurai trained. Half of them are journeymen."

"That explains the props." Hayase - a short man with his hair done up in dark wings like Choji Akamichi's minus the headband diaper - grunted, "I wanted to check them out earlier, but they were under guard and the guys were cagey. Wouldn't let me touch them. Said ninja were famous for stealing props as mementos and to sell on the black market."

"So this is some kind of insurrection or rebel force?" Izumo complained, "Just great. I finally pull a movie mission and it's more ninja shit."

"It's always like this with us." Sakura sighed, "We can't step out of the village without some huge shake up. So are we pulling out?"

"Come on guys, lets at least stick it out to find out what's going on. Maybe we have another Gato situation, but instead of building a bridge these guys are going to kill their problem with swords and such." Naruto played the Devil's advocate.

"Sticking around when things don't smell right is how people get killed." Okei countered the blondes plea.

"It's also how they make enormous piles of money!" Naruto insisted, "Last time a client pulled a fast one Kiba had us do the mission anyways. We racked up three additional A Rank missions and took down a criminal empire. We all came home with pockets so fat we could fit any more money!"

"If you think I'm going to risk my life so you can stack ryo…" Hayase shouted but I interrupted the man.

"We're not pulling out." I declared, "It's obvious that Sandayu is the ringleader here. He is Fujikaze's manager and the producer of the project, but he is not our client. That is the studio. And we were hired for an A Rank protection detail on Fujikaze only. It's a fine gatcha trap. We know something is wrong, but if we pull out now it's a he said she said situation that'll see Konoha's reputation tarnished with a lot of high level clients."

"Then what are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"We go ghost." I told them as I pulled out two sealing scrolls.

"Oh hell ya!" Kotetsu shouted much to the ire of the other men, "I've never been on a Ghost Protocol mission before.

"We can't afford any of Sandayu's bullshit tracking back to the village. Everything that can ID us for sure as Konoha Shinobi gets sealed up in this scroll which I will carry. I want headbands, IDs, flak jackets, and any unique weapons." my announcement caused Kotetsu to groan as he rubbed his oversized kunai, "In this other scroll I have gear that I purchased here in the Land of Iron."

As I worked through the scroll I unsealed tantos, katanas, a few spears, a heavy war bow and many long arrows, as well as the thick local winter suits, armored sleeves and vests, as well as oni masks and straw cloaks for everyone, and brown hair dye for Naruto and Sakura.

"Best team leader ever." Kotetsu grinned as he picked up a katana and a red oni mask with four tusk like fangs and a horn suspiciously shaped suspiciously like Isshiki's single head wrapping horn.