Chapter 068

"She can handle her," Naruto thought before turning back towards his apartment and quickly walking towards the kitchen. "My best friend trained by me and a psychotic snake-lady up against a Chunin with Genin-level skills two years out of practice. Sounds like a fair fight."

He hurried back into the living room where he then proceeded to tie up Shuko, after which he hopped across the road, collected the unconscious Kureha, and brought her back to his place for the same treatment. Dusting his hands down like it were your everyday chore to tie up two kunoichi and have them propped up against your living room wall, he then knelt beside the one with the short brown hair and tossed a glass of water over her.

The woman was woken from her slumber with a startled yelp and, upon shaking off the shock of ice cold water dripping down her face, looked around wildly.

"W-W-What happened?" Shuko's answer came to her in the form of her hair being grabbed at the top and her head being forcibly turned towards the jinchuriki, who glared down at her.

"Talk! I want straight answers from you!" Naruto said in a surprisingly commanding voice, quite the opposite of his character. Being the most unpredictable knuckle-headed shinobi of the village however, he could make it work for him. He damn well pulled off the best close to dying act anyone had ever seen just several minutes ago so a tough guy act? Piece of cake. "Who broke you three out of jail? Who's after the Scroll of Seals?"

"W-Wha…"

He silenced her with a hard glare. "Answer me! Who told you where I lived? Who wanted you three to kill me?"

Finally realizing her situation and remembering where she was, the kunoichi with the short hair glared back at the boy firmly. "I'm not telling you jack all!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto's head suddenly shot up when he heard a loud explosion and felt his entire building shake. Looking around, he quickly figured out that that was the signal the team's leader was instructed to set off to begin the theft operation and escape. With Tayuya hot on the perpetrator's trail he knew the signal-woman would be cut off soon enough, but he still needed to find out the identity of the mastermind behind this entire thing. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back Shuko.

"TALK!" He banged her head against the wall, not enough to knock her out but enough to rattle her brain. "You're captured! You're done! You failed! There's no need to keep anything from me anymore. The interrogators are bound to find out everything sooner or later, so spill it!" He banged her head again. "Who set you free?"

"Hmph," Shuko smirked. "You won't get anything out of me, brat. I've gone through shit worse than anything a nose-wiping little kid like you can think up for the past two years! I may be beaten but I still have my pride as a kunoichi. Do your worst."

Staring at her blankly for a moment, the blonde than gave her his most devious smirk. This devilish smile was then multiplied several times over by a shadow crossing over his eyes which became incredibly fox-like from how he was now leering at her. This had the kunoichi start sweating bullets instantly as his teeth slowly started to show fangs.

"You know, I can put you through even more humiliating stuff than what I did to you guys two years ago. Believe it. I can do way worse than just slap you around, pull down your pants and unbuckle your chastity. While you three were stewing away in a cell doing nothing but slacking off, I've been training and working hard on perfecting my craft as a master prankster and a public nuisance," Naruto grinned before wagging his eyebrows suggestively. "Now… I wonder what kind of underwear you're wearing this time. Care to show and tell?"

Paling at the prospects of having her undergarments stolen from right out under her… again, the woman began excreting waterfall's worth of sweat with a brief but defiant shake of her head… before eventually caving in to the pressure…

"ALRIGHT! FINE!" she screamed with a red face, before glaring up at the still grinning blonde. "I'll talk. Just don't steal my underwear."

"I won't. Now sing for me. Who gave you all the information you know and sent you to kill me?"

"A Chunin with white, short hair and wearing a bandanna with your village's headband," Shuko answered firmly. "He said his name was Mizuki."

Recoiling a little at the identity of the brain, Naruto's gaze tightened. "Why did he want you three to kill me?"

"He said it was personal and nothing else. He knew that you were the one that put us away, so he threw us a bone."

"And the Scroll of Seals?"

"A scroll sealed away by the First Hokage said to contain all of the village's most dangerous kinjutsu. It's one of the most valuable items in Konohagakure and that Mizuki guy said he wanted it all for himself."

"Alright and where's your rendezvous point?" Naruto asked with a stone hard glare. "Where were you three going to meet him after you dealt with me?"

"An old shack in the west woods," Shuko replied quickly with a nod in the direction of. "After that huge explosion we set, odds are he's already got the scroll and is heading straight there. He'll be outside the Land of Fire by sunrise."

"Unless somebody stops him," Naruto said with a smile appearing on his face. Seeing the surprised and doubtful look on the woman's face, he smirked even wider. "I know every forest in this village like the back of my hand. No one can outrun me on my turf."

"You know he's a Konohagakure Chunin," Shuko pointed with a frown. "He'll kill you…"

"Please," Naruto rolled his eyes, "Whenever Chunin were sent after me after I painted the Hokage Monument or lined their uniforms with itching powder, I ran circles around them." He then nodded politely to the woman scowling at him from the floor. "Thanks for all that, by the way. I owe you."

"Untie me," the kunoichi snapped.

Naruto grinned cheekily at her. "No can do. After what you did to me back there, you're going back to jail." He then stuck his finger in his mouth, "Wet Willy," and then stuck it in her ear, getting the kunoichi to squirm and snap at him.

"I hate you."

"I know," Naruto chuckled before bringing his other hand around and flashing the girl a pair of black panties and a bra right in her startled face. "You did one hell of a wardrobe change too. Good job." He then quickly ran for it just as the woman turned a bright scarlet and shrieked after his retreating shadow.

"YOU PERVERT! YOU SAID TO ME THAT YOU WOULDN'T! HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EVEN DO THAT?!"

"Magician's secret!" Naruto yelled back, his voice echoing into the room from the window he just jumped out of, leaving one flustered kunoichi and another unconscious one…

OOO

Elsewhere…

Minutes earlier…

Noriko was pissed.

Not only was her team's side-mission completely ruined thanks to the quick-wittedness and sly actions of the most troublesome opponent they'd ever come across, but her cover was also blown and she was running for the hills. She was sure if Kureha couldn't deal with the brat and was somehow taken out again, she had no doubt in her mind that the kid would immediately head off to alert the home forces of the real game playing out in the shadows, which was why she was moving as fast as she was now.

If there was a chance that that brat was still alive after facing off against her teammate, then she needed to catch Mizuki before he got out. There was no way in hell he was cheating them out on their deal.

"On that note," the kunoichi thought, stopping on the rooftop of a building over a dozen blocks out from the jinchuriki's apartment and turning around. Flipping through several hand seals, she then finished in the sheep seal and grinned. "Katsu!"

The moment she gave the command, a pillar of fire and smoke suddenly rocketed into the sky on the horizon and bathed the village in an orange glow. The shockwave that came with it reached her several seconds later.

The affected area was in the vicinity of Konohagakure's main entrance, one of the most likely places an invading force would try to take first when mounting an assault on a fortified community. Think about it. What enemy army would be stupid enough to attack a several-story high wall in an attempt to invade a hidden village when there was a perfectly good gate out the front?

Since that was where the main highway from the village started, it would definitely be at the top of the list of targets you needed to take out first. The explosion was big enough to fill the sky and cause the earth to tremble even where the kunoichi was standing a few kilometers out. Watching the fire begin to below black smog and embers into the atmosphere, right on schedule Noriko was able to see countless Konoha shinobi left and right begin making their way to the disaster zone in force.

She could see their silhouettes bounding across rooftops. This was definitely the reserve guard being called up to repel the 'attack' on the village.

"Well… that certainly got their attention," Noriko chuckled before turning heel and beginning to make her way to the rendezvous point, "Time to seek the nearest exit."

Just as she was about to take off however, the sound of kunai flying through the air stopped her in her tracks, three knives cutting right past where she would have been a second earlier before her path was cut off by Tayuya skidding to a stop directly in front of her. The red haired musician glared straight at the kunoichi with her fingers balled and her holster unclasped, ready for a fight. Noriko paused at the sight of her and glared back in mild surprise.

"Aren't you? Yeah, I figured it was you," Noriko chuckled harshly. "You're that little shit's roommate. Tayuya, right?"

"I'm not letting you move one step further," Tayuya stated, yanking her flute out of her holster and holding it up in her usual grip. "I'm taking you down right here and now."

Noriko stared incredulously at the girl for a moment before giving off a raucous laugh. "You want to fight me, girl?"

"You bet I do," the red head exclaimed with a smirk. "Bring it."

The silver haired kunoichi was quick to frown before spreading her feet apart in a solid fighting stance. She made a draw for her sword, at the exact same time Tayuya raised her flute to her lips. "You're out of your league, twerp. I'll cut you down before you even get the chance to blow a single note from that instrument of yours."

"We'll see," Tayuya shot back before breathing in.

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