Naruto Chapter 118

Hinata was dismayed with the state of the prisoners at the mine. While they weren't in danger of falling down dead, they definitely needed some serious medical treatment for a while before they could be called healthy again.

They had only got the needed food to be able to work each day, enough water, but no way to clean themselves, to treat small injuries and problems like flee were common.

She started to work on the worst cases, with Shikamaru and Sasuke performing first aid for the lesser ones, which was about the level of competency they had. They had been working for about five minutes when some of the better looking prisoners cried out that he had spotted lightning a short distance away.

Most feared what Raiga could do to them with his lightning jutsus, which was the reason why he had managed to take over as easily as he had done. The previous owner of the mine had been electrocuted to death and been the first to be buried on the grounds of the mine.

They knew that Naruto was probably the one Raiga was fighting against, but they all knew that the leader of their mission was more than a match for a lightning user. He was used to sparring against one, as both the Hokage and Sasuke were primary lightning element users as well. He knew how to deal with that element, and also had the wind element as his own primary element.

"Don't worry too much about the lightning. It's just the distraction working out," Shikamaru assured the prisoners, "Let's just get everybody that needs it treated and then leave this place to a safer location."

The prisoners could definitely agree with that plan and some of the stronger ones helped with first aid. After thirty minutes they were ready to leave.

"Alright, we will need you to help each other. Stay in groups of four and make sure that nobody of your group falls behind. We will guard you and keep any possible opposition at bay. Normally we should have got all the guards, which we sealed into prisoner scrolls, which are escape proof, but it's always better to err on the side of caution," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Sasuke will be taking the lead of the group, Hinata will be at the end with the ones that have the worst injuries and I will cover the middle part. Stay as calm and silent as possible while we move."

The prisoners nodded and soon they were out of the tunnel. Sasuke made sure that no enemy was close by and then started the track up the narrow path that was the only access to the valley in which the mine was located. They needed about ten minutes to have everybody up there, when a person landed silently next to Sasuke.

"I take it your part went well, Naruto?" Sasuke half asked, half stated.

"Definitely. I have Raiga and his little assistant Ranmaru sealed up in prisoner scrolls, both drugged with the sleeping variant of my poisons," Naruto answered.

"Good to know. Any guards we overlooked during the stake-out?" Sasuke asked.

"None that I noticed. As soon as we have the prisoners at the meeting point, which I already sent a shadow clone to Kakashi sensei to confirm that we managed to take out Raiga, the mission will be fulfilled successfully."

"Good. Though I wonder why nobody dealt with this before. I mean, if one team of three chunin and one special jonin could break up this operation as easily as we did, why wasn't it done before?" Sasuke wanted to know.

"A good question, one that I'm willing to bet Kakashi sensei also will have," Naruto nodded, "By the way, did your genjutsu work as we feared."

"Let's just say that they will have nightmares of fire demons for a while," Sasuke stated, grinning evilly.

"Even while using genjutsu you Uchihas can't deny your pyromaniac tendencies," Naruto shook his head, but didn't really mind. At least Sasuke got it out of his system with people that definitely deserved some torment for what they put the prisoners through.

...

The walk to the meeting spot that had been agreed upon beforehand, occasionally the restaurant of Sansho, was uneventful, but took them about two hours, as the civilians couldn't walk for long periods of time and only slowly. After half an hour the ninjas passed out water bottles and rice balls to give them back some strength.

They took a break of fifteen minutes before they continued. All the time Hinata made sure that the ones that were off the worst health-wise didn't have to exhaust themselves too much.

When they arrived, they already found a large group of tents being set up around the restaurant.

"Even Tsunade sensei came," Hinata commented, "Next to bringing all the more advanced members of my healing class."

"Good, then this should be going well and quickly," Shikamaru commented.

"Hello, everybody. Good work on freeing them all," Tsunade greeted them, "Now, Hinata, I want a full report on your findings, treatment you already gave them and what we can expect. Naruto, the Hokage asks that you report to Anko as soon as you arrive, she is the one in charge here.

And the prisoners can go and eat something once they were checked over at the restaurant. Sansho was very helpful and has cooked her famous Curry of Life for everybody. She promised me that it would bring them back onto their feet in no time at all."

The four Konoha nins blanched at the idea of all the poor prisoners having to eat that horribly hot curry.

"Tsunade sensei, I don't think that it would be a good idea," Hinata started.

"Nonsense, Hinata. A hearty curry is exactly the right thing for those that didn't get enough to eat for a while," Tsunade declared and nothing the team could say would sway her.

Thankfully, for the prisoners, it took a while for them all to be cleared and after Naruto discreetly told Anko about the effects of the curry, and she had had a small sample, she confiscated the whole cauldron.

Instead setting two of the Akimichis in the group to cooking something less hot for them to eat, telling Sansho that, as good as her 'Curry of Life' was, it was not suited for those that had just gone through a harsh ordeal and needed a bit of a light diet for a few days to let their stomachs recover.

She told her that the rice she served with the curry was perfect for their needs and that some meat, cooked in basic broth, would be all they were allowed for now.

Though the mad cackle she left off when she had Naruto seal the curry into a stasis scroll, with the comment that it would be served to the former guards of the mine and Raiga, made the four that had eaten the curry before be glad that they weren't on the other side of Anko's wrath.

...

Naruto grinned when he looked over the scheme he had worked out.

Thanks to teaching basic seals at the academy for about six months now, and he had got three months of that on end where he could actually hold classes all days of the week, as Kakashi sensei had finally managed to find enough competent team leaders to give Naruto some break from missions to concentrate on the teaching, his classes were now ready for an actual test of what they had learned.

Nothing worked as well as a real-life scenario to make students that took the academy too easy wake up without getting killed against a stronger opponent. Especially his subject required concentration and precision, which many children had trouble with.

Like his former classmates during the mission where the jonin senseis of their team pitted them all against him, the academy students would learn by all kinds of seal applications that they better took all their training serious, not just the parts that were considered cool.

He would do this for all age groups and none of the groups that had already done the test would be able to talk to those in other years until he was done with administering the test. He certainly would have a lot of fun with this.

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