Naruto waited patiently by the Naka river bridge for the others to show up – or rather, patiently for his standards, meaning that he was doing his best not to fidget and shuffle around too visibly in order to avoid attracting unwanted attention. He had very purposefully not asked anyone, but he knew perfectly well that what he was about to do had the potential to make him all kinds of powerful enemies.

But then, nothing of importance had ever been done without that being the case. It had certainly never stopped his father from trying to change Konoha for the better. Well, not for a few years at least.

And isn’t that a reassuring thought…

He was shaken from his reverie by the sound of approaching footsteps – the kind that moved with deliberate purpose in his direction. For a moment he panicked, thinking that someone had talked to the Anbu or that the Hyūga had managed to penetrate the seals in Jiraiya’s bedroom after all, but it was only Sakura. She had taken Ino’s team along with her.

“Sakura,” he said in relief. She looked different clad in her white medical robes and with short hair, but she was still a very welcome sight to see. “And Shikamaru, and Ino, and Chōji! It’s great to see you guys.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Shikamaru, whose posture was designed to convey with maximum efficiency that he had not, in fact, planned on coming out of bed this morning. “Would you mind explaining why we’re here? Your message was a bit, uh, cryptic.”

“Right,” Naruto said hastily. He had been restricted in his communications since anything that could be conveyed to his fellow classmates could also be understood by potential enemies. Of course, it was entirely possible that Shikamaru had understood his message perfectly and was now putting up an act, which did not exactly make matters simpler. “Like I said, I think I’ve figured out a way to make all of us a lot stronger. But since it involves secret techniques, we’re gonna need some privacy.”

“We could use my clan’s underground training area,” said Chōji, who looked as carefree as ever. If anything he seemed a bit apologetic about the air his team was projecting – or was that just his usual hungry look? “My dad won’t mind: There’s plenty of space and it’s not like anyone’s using it right now.”

“Thanks Chōji.” The Akamichi seemed like a decent bunch, at least.

Ino exchanged a meaningful look with Sakura. “Secret techniques? Do you mean our clans’ special ninjutsu? You’re not planning some sort of jutsu-sharing scheme, are you?”

“Uhm.”

Sakura let out a loud groan. “Naruto, do you really think that you’re the first person in Konoha to come up with that idea? The whole reason the noble clans agreed to join up with the Senju and the Uchiha was because they were promised they could hold on to their ancestral knowledge. Have you never heard the saying your secrets are your life? There is no way you can discuss a technique without revealing its weaknesses, and the moment its weaknesses are revealed it becomes a liability. Nobody in their right mind would agree to just give you a knife to hold to their throats like that.”

“She’s right,” said Ino, who at least managed to sound a touch more contrite about it. “Besides, it’s not like you could learn the Mind Body Switch technique even if I told you about it. These techniques were designed to perfectly suit our clans’ individual talents, and we’ve practiced them from birth.” She shot a glance at Sakura. “Well, forehead girl here could probably learn them because she is a cheating cheatster with perfect chakra control, but no normal person could.”

Sakura quirked her lips, but said nothing.

“It’s not about wanting to learn your techniques,” Naruto protested. “It’s about seeing if there’s ways to improve on them or combine them, or to use them in clever ways you might not have thought of.” He could not actually offer any examples while they were still out in the open, which made the whole conversation ridiculously unfair. “Look, if we could just go someplace private for a moment…”

“Forget it,” said Shikamaru. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s just not gonna happen. Specializing in a single technique is simply more efficient than learning a bunch of them halfway and trying to use them together. You might be able to use shadow clones to make that work, but for the rest of us it’s just easier to achieve the same thing with teamwork the way we do now.” He shrugged. “Besides, if I actually told you any of our clan secrets my dad would kill me, and then my mum would have to kill him, so there’s that.”

“Seriously? That’s your excuse?” Naruto clenched his fists. “Shikamaru, you’re too smart not to realize what’s at stake here. This fake peace isn’t gonna last forever, and we need to be prepared for when it ends. You’re just pretending not to understand because you don’t wanna put in the extra effort.”

“Yeah, you figured me out.” He turned to Ino. “Are we about done here? We still have our own team training to attend to, plus whatever it is you guys do together. Dissecting frogs or whatever.”

“We’re actually taking kunoichi classes tonight,” said Ino. “You should come along, Shika: You could stand to learn a thing or two about how to treat women.” She smiled playfully at him, and got exactly the pained grunt she must have been hoping for in reply.

Chōji gave Naruto an apologetic look as he followed after the retreating pair, but Naruto waved him off. He knew how to recognize a lost battle by now. He turned his hopes to the last remaining member of the four, and the only one who he actually stood a chance of convincing.

“What about you, Sakura-chan? Are you gonna leave too?”

Sakura seemed to hesitate, looking first to the disappearing trio, then back at Naruto. “If you actually have a plan of some sort, and we’re not just going to be standing around all day?”

“Oh no, I have some great ideas,” he said, too relieved to even think twice about it. “I just need to, you know, have some people show up first.”

Which might take a while. He had no idea how many people had actually read his message, or who was planning on coming for that matter. He should have just gone house-to-house to convince people in person, but then they would probably just have gotten annoyed at him for bothering them during dinner or something. That always seemed to happen, somehow.

He scratched the back of his head. “So uh, how is the apprenticeship going? You know, at the hospital and stuff.”

“It’s been interesting,” Sakura said, tugging a stray hair behind her ear. “I’m being trained by Tsunade of the Sannin now. She made me her personal apprentice – the first she’s had in decades, apparently.”

Naruto blinked. “Tsunade? You mean Jiraiya’s old teammate? How the heck did you manage that?”

Her lips quirked into a smile. “Oh, you know, crazy things tend to happen when you’re in Team Seven. I can honestly say that I couldn’t have managed it if I hadn’t spent so much time around you and Kakashi-sensei.”

“Eh? Hey, that’s an insult, isn’t it? I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure you’re insulting me right now.”

Sakura smiled, but said nothing. She seemed to be in a funny mood, somehow.

Naruto looked around awkwardly, trying to spot any sign of others approaching. Sakura’s funny mood was bound to turn less fun if someone did not show up soon. A minute later he saw movement on the other side of the river, and he did a double take as he recognized the figures. Hinata was there, dressed in white Hyūga training robes, alongside her cousin Neji who was dressed in matching attire. They almost looked like siblings now, weirdly enough. As for the third figure, however…

Aside from his forest green chūnin jacket he was clad all in black, his chakra blade slung over his shoulder as he sauntered towards them with both hands in his pockets. On his right shoulder the Uchiha crest was displayed in the centre of a blue shuriken, reminiscent of the Uchiha police force of old, if indeed it was not literally an old uniform from the station. If he was trying to send a message with that, its meaning was not too hard to guess.

“Hey Sakura.” Sasuke took a hand from his pocket to wave at her, then turned to Naruto. “Hey dropout.”

Naruto gritted his teeth as he looked to Hinata, who wore an expression that very much said don’t talk about it: And Naruto told himself that he would hold off for her sake, even though he knew perfectly well that if he postponed it now he would not be able to manage the same anger later, and by then the whole thing would be considered old news and everyone would call him childish for even bringing it up.

And in the end Sasuke would get away with it all, just like he always got away with everything.

Sakura looked from one to the other, the smile falling from her face. “Oh Sage. Please tell me you two are not fighting over something again.”

“I’m not,” said Sasuke, “and since you need at least two people to have a fight, I guess that means we can’t be fighting.”

Bile shot up in Naruto’s throat, a burning fury that reacted more to the ease of Sasuke’s dismissal than to the offense itself: To the confidence, the ironclad certainty, the sheer knowledge that he would get away with it. That everyone would just treat it as a joke. His fists balled up ever harder.

“Enough,” said Hyūga Neji, stepping between them. “I have no time for your petty squabbles. I came here for one reason and one reason only: Lady Hinata told me that you would be able to help me become stronger. Did she speak truly?”

“Yeah,” said Naruto, not taking his eyes off Sasuke. The Uchiha seemed as disinterested as ever, which could not have made Naruto angrier if he had tried. “Probably. But we gotta go someplace private first.”

“Our clan has sealed chambers for jutsu research,” Hinata said, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “I don’t think my father would agree to let outsiders use it, though…”

“No need,” said Sasuke. “We can use mine.”

Naruto choked. “Yours-”

“That’s a great idea,” said Sakura. “The Uchiha compound should give us plenty of space. Is that really all right, though, Sasuke-kun? We don’t want to impose…”

“It’s fine,” said Sasuke. “It’s not like anyone is using it right now. I’d rather it see some purpose than just leave it to gather dust.”

“Thank you sensei,” Hinata said, relieved. “That’s very kind of you.”

Naruto’s blood was exploding in his ears. It was as if everyone was conspiring to try and get him to attack Sasuke right there in the street, but the sheer knowledge that they were not doing it on purpose made it a thousand times more effective. Or perhaps you used the Sharingan on them too, Sasuke? Is there anyone you have not manipulated already?

“What about the others?” Hyūga Neji managed to make it sound like he did not care about the answer in the slightest. “Do they not still believe that we are meeting up here?”

“I have a solution for that,” said Sasuke. He formed the hand signs for the summoning technique, and a small hawk appeared on his shoulder. Its talons dug into the fabric of his armoured chūnin jacket as it examined each of them, seeming to look right through them in that way birds of prey always did.

“A messenger bird,” Sakura said, letting out a soft whistle in appreciation of the deadly animal. “Did Kakashi-sensei teach you that technique?”

“Yeah, he’s been spending a lot of time teaching me lately. Plus I already had my family’s summoning contract so I figured I might as well.” He tied a small scroll around the bird’s neck and placed it on the bridge post, his Sharingan briefly flaring into life as he looked it in the eye. “I’ve instructed it to inform any of the others to follow after us if they show up. Assuming that’s all right with you, Naruto?”

Naruto looked up. “What?”

“If you’re all right with me taking initiative here?” He looked at Naruto with an expression of perfect innocence. “After all, this whole thing was your idea, and I wouldn’t want to steal your thunder or anything.”

Naruto half opened his mouth and stared at him wordlessly. Was Sasuke trying to get him to murder him in the street? Was it part of some ploy to get Naruto arrested by the Anbu or something? Was that why Sasuke was wearing that old police uniform? To highlight the contrast between them?

Everyone was staring at him now, he realized.

“No,” he ground out. “That sounds like a good idea, Sasuke.”

“Great. Let’s go then.” They all set off in the direction of the Uchiha district, tantalizing dreams of homicide bouncing around in the back of Naruto’s skull. There was still a possibility that he was imagining the whole thing; that was the maddening part. Because if Sasuke was messing with Naruto intentionally, then he had certainly intended to do it in such a way that Naruto would start to question his own sanity, which made it all the more effective.

They followed the Naka river to the old Uchiha district, which lay on the outskirts of the Village close to the cliff on which the Hokage’s faces were carved. It was how strange to think how little changed as they passed through the open gate leading into the compound. The buildings became a little more traditional and a fair bit more expensive, but the people living in them looked no different. Trading, talking, going happily about their way. It really did not look like a ghost town at all.

That is, until they arrived at the part that was still owned by Uchiha Sasuke.

“Here,” said Sasuke, leading them underneath a red tori gate marking the entrance to a sacred site. An old religious building rose up before them, with a two-tiered main hall with a grand gabled roof followed by a broader single-tier structure extending behind it to either side. “This should suit our purposes.”

“The Naka shrine?” Sakura gave him a concerned look. “Is it really all right for us to be training in there, Sasuke?”

He shrugged. “It’s fine. My family used to hold clan meetings in there so they could talk in private, so it’s not as if it was only used for religious reasons. Just try not to use anything too explosive in there.”

Several glances were shot in Naruto’s direction, which he ignored.

Sasuke went up the stone steps and led them towards the ornate front gate, where he placed his hand upon the otherwise featureless door. A clicking sound could be heard as a mechanism turned, and before their eyes the door revolved and opened up on its own accord.

“Let’s go,” said Sasuke.

An old, musky smell met them as they entered. It was too dark to make anything out at first, but Sasuke searched out the torches on the wall with his Sharingan and ignited each of them with a simple fire technique. One by one the flames went up until they were surrounded by a circle of light.

“It’s emptier than I imagined,” said Neji. His Byakugan was activated, and so he had not actually bothered to look around before saying this. “Where are all your religious artefacts?”

“Confiscated, mostly.” Sasuke lit up the last of the torches and turned to indicate the small collection of relics which still stood displayed on an unassuming alter in the corner. “I took the remainder to my house, where it would be easier to protect them. Though I suppose that was mostly an illusion.”

The walls of the shrine were painted with what appeared to be artistic depictions of strange, elemental spirits. At the centre of it all was a growling, monstrous creature with four eyes, the Sharingan emblazoned in every one of them. The Uchiha guardian spirit, Naruto supposed.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “We already live in a world with real monsters and spirits. What is the point in coming up with new ones to believe in?” Kurama was as real as could be, but it was not as if Naruto was about to fall on his knees and worship him. Though he did talk to him in search of answers and had sought solace with him when he lay dying, now that he thought about it.

I’d better not mention that to the old Fox, Naruto thought. He might start to grow an ego.

“I don’t think it’s about that,” Hinata whispered. Her voice had taken on a hushed tone upon entering the shrine, making her sound a bit more like her old self. “I think it’s about recognizing that there are things which are greater than any of us; that no matter how powerful a ninja you are, you’re still helpless before the inner mysteries of the world itself.”

“Hm. Sounds like the Uchiha lacked ambition,” said Naruto.

Sakura scowled in his direction, but Sasuke only smirked. “I used to know one or two of them who would have agreed with you,” he said. Then his smile disappeared, and he suddenly went very still indeed.

“Sasuke?” Sakura had that worried expression again, though this time Naruto had to wonder as well.

“Never mind,” he said, still clearly shaken. He touched a seal upon the wall (disguised as yet another Sharingan) and the door closed behind them with an eerie creak. “We came here for a reason. Naruto?”

“Uh, right.” Everyone was looking at him, and he was struck by a sudden fear that he would forget everything he had planned and that they would all accuse him of wasting their time. “I came you all here because, uh…” He shook his head. “I mean, I asked you to come here so I could explain to you how ninjutsu really works at a fundamental level, so we could share our knowledge and become stronger by combining, uhm…”

“Give them an example,” said Sasuke.

“Right.” Naruto fumbled with his hands, trying to decide which seals to form first. “I guess I should start by saying that what the academy teaches us about ninjutsu is all wrong. It’s not actually the case that abilities exist as distinct phenomena, but instead, there are common underlying patterns which-”

“What are you going on about?” Neji gestured impatiently. “I thought you were going to reveal to us your secret training methods. During the chūnin exams, you managed to master both light release and explosion release within the span of a single month. Tell us how you managed that.”

“That’s what I was gonna explain,” Naruto protested. “The thing is, there are underlying principles behind these techniques, which if you learn them can be used to-”

“Hold on,” said Sasuke, “my animal summon has returned.” He touched a different seal on the wall, and this time when the door opened three new figures stood in the entrance. There was a hawk perched upon the head of the first figure, seeming quite at ease there. Perhaps it thought her giant round buns made for an excellent nest.

“Hello? Can we enter?”

“Tenten,” said Naruto, disbelieving. “And Lee! You guys came?”

“Clearly,” the third figure said as he dusted himself off. “How can you tell? Because we have arrived.”

Naruto blinked. “Shino? Huh, I didn’t think I even remembered to send an invitation to you.”

The hooded figure remained impassive. “You did not.”

Before Naruto could reply, Rock Lee shoved his way into the room. There was desperation in his eyes, and his bushy brow was set in an uncharacteristic grimace. “Naruto-san, is it true?” He was holding Sasuke’s crumpled letter in his hand. “Is it really true that you can teach me your youthful power?”

“Uh,” said Naruto. “I’m not sure I’d phrase it exactly like that…”

“Lee!” Tenten grabbed her teammate by the shoulder and roughly pulled him back. “Grab a hold of yourself: We’re in a place of worship right now!” She looked at the others, who were all staring at her. “By which I mean, uh, that we should be… we should all try to be quiet. Is what I’m saying.”

“Enough, Tenten,” said Neji. “Everyone is here now. We should begin.”

“Right,” said Naruto. He cast an uncertain glance around. “Should I just start over, or…”

Sasuke let out a sigh, activated the seal that closed the door again, and moved up to a small dais in the back of the shrine which must have been used for religious sermons. He turned to face them, the painting of the Uchiha guardian spirit rearing up behind him as he addressed the group.

“How did the First Hokage die?”

The question rang throughout the hollow, empty room. “The First Hokage was heralded as the god of shinobi,” Sasuke continued. “He single-handedly united the warring clans in the Land of Fire to found Konoha, tamed the tailed beasts and brought peace to the world – for a time, at least. But nowhere in the history books does it say what happened to him after that. So how did he die?”

Rock Lee furrowed his thick black eyebrows. “An amazing ninja like that… he must have fallen in battle! He must have died in a heroic duel facing an even greater, stronger ninja.”

“The last great duel Hashirama fought was with my ancestor, Uchiha Madara,” Sasuke said. “Madara had tamed the nine-tailed beast to his will and used it to harness unimagined destructive power. Hashirama had no choice but to use his wood style ninjutsu to slowly drain the Kyūbi’s chakra over time and turn it into a battle of attrition. They say their battle lasted seven days and seven nights, which is almost certainly a lie. However, the fact that the Valley of the End was carved into the earth during that fight is not. There has never been a greater ninja than either of them since.”

A quiet fell across the room. The flickering torchlight cast long shadows across the chamber, and for a moment it almost seemed to Naruto as if the painted figures on the walls were moving. The creature behind Sasuke had been painted stylistically, with countless red lines turning and twisting together to create the impression of a monster, almost as if it were made of fiery strings. It actually looked a bit like Kurama, Naruto realized in surprise, though he had never heard of the Fox taking on a form like that.

“Any shinobi can be defeated with superior numbers,” Neji said doubtfully. “He must have sacrificed his life to hold off a far superior force of enemy ninjas.”

“It could have been a disease,” Hinata whispered. “Anyone can die to something like that, no matter how strong they are.”

“Unlikely,” Shino said. “Why? Because the records of the First Hokage end too suddenly for that to be the case, and there was no mention of him being ill.”

“Maybe he made a mistake while infusing an explosive tag?” Tenten raised her hands in a warding gesture. “Hey, I’m just saying, it can happen to the best of us.”

“Close,” said Sasuke. He gestured at Sakura. “Tell them.”

Sakura looked surprised, but quickly rallied and adopted a lecturing stance as she addressed the group. “Most documentation on the First Hokage is restricted, and what little I could get access to was either vague or contradictory. However, I finally managed to find the answer by asking his granddaughter, Tsunade of the Sannin.” She paused for a moment as she looked each of them in the eye. “The First Hokage died when a stray kunai hit him in the eye during a sparring match, killing him instantly.”

There was an intake of air as several people sucked in breaths. Naruto could tell that even if the others did not understand why this fact was important, they still realized on a gut level that it was. The First Hokage was the founder of the Village. If even his legacy had been obscured, then…

“You have been lied to,” said Sasuke. “All your lives you have been taught to venerate your ancestors: To believe that they were unbeatable legends, the closest thing to being gods. However, the reality of it is that they were ordinary humans, no different from the rest of us. And the consequence of this lie, intentional or not, was to prevent anyone else from following in their footsteps.” He turned to face Naruto. “Tell me: If you had declared an intention to become Hokage back during our academy days, what would have happened?”

“I would’ve been laughed at,” Naruto said. Did the fact that Sasuke was asking him that question mean that he had already figured out his true parentage? But then, he supposed that was the part of his secret that people were supposed to figure out, so they would be satisfied with regards to his strength and stop looking. “You’re supposed to admire the Hokage, not to rival them, let alone surpass them.”

Neji fixed his eyes on Sasuke, which given that his Byakugan was active had to be purely for show. “How does this relate to us learning new techniques? Are you telling us that there are pathways to power which are being deliberately kept from us?”

“Precisely.” The room seemed to darken around Sasuke, even though the torchlight remained just the same. “The Konoha Council would do anything to prevent another Uchiha Itachi – to prevent too much knowledge and power from falling into the hands of someone they cannot control.” His Sharingan blazed into life, and Naruto averted his gaze instinctively. “This meeting is not to be spoken of to anyone. If somebody does leak even a small part of what we discuss today, that person will be treated exactly as if they had spilled any other secret that pertains to our lives and deaths. Is that clear?”

There were some hurried nods and murmurs of assent.

“Good. In that case, Naruto, show them what you can do.” Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan.

“Right,” Naruto said again. Somehow, he knew that this time he would get the message right.

“We all learned in the academy that there’s a mental and a physical component to every technique,” he began. He took up the same spot on the dais which Sasuke had left, and waited until Sakura, Hinata, Lee, Tenten and the others all had their eyes on him. “What they didn’t say is that that’s all there is to it.”

He focussed his chakra through the tattoo on his left palm until a beam of pure light flashed out, bathing the hall of the temple in a sudden light that made the two Hyūga take a step back and shield their eyes. “Whether it’s a hand sign or a written seal, the basic idea is the same: You force your chakra into a certain physical shape that for whatever reason is associated with a given change in chakra nature. After that, it’s just a question of making it do what you want.”



He formed the hand signs for the transformation technique, directing the light to flow around him in a radiant aura until it filled up the entire room, basking them all in a gentle golden glow. “Light release is supposed to be some kind of inherited ability, but I can achieve the same thing using only a seal from a flash-tag and an academy level technique. That’s not because I’m using some kind of trick: It’s because that’s literally all light release is.” Naruto looked at each of his friends in turn, willing them to understand. “The clans all pretend like their techniques are the result of some special bloodline because they don’t want them to be stolen, but the fact is that there really is no such thing as inherited techniques at all. The ability to control your chakra and make it do what you want is all there is.”

Almost as an afterthought, he decided to break the light into its full visible spectrum, and a brilliant rainbow burst into life, the colours dancing from his fingertips as he willed them to chase each other through the temple like a parade of laughing spirits, pushing and bouncing against the walls as they filled the once-empty shrine with life once more. With a little imagination one could almost imagine them as the lost souls of the fallen Uchiha children, though of course that was only make-believe.

Naruto lowered his hand, and one by one the lights died out. He imagined the last of them chasing each other through the exit, laughing as they vanished into the night.

“This technique,” Neji said, his Byakugan whiter than Naruto had ever seen it before. “Could I learn it?”

“Probably not,” said Naruto. Was that a tear in the corner of Hinata’s eye, or was that just his imagination? “Like I said, every technique has a mental as well as a physical component. It’s a bit hard to explain, but basically, unless you can create a flash tag from scratch it wouldn’t work for you. Even then, it’d come out differently depending on the kind of mindset you have.” He glanced towards Sasuke, who looked just as impassive as ever. No points for guessing why it creates pure blackness when he uses it.

“I know how to create flash tags,” Tenten said helpfully.

“Yeah, it should work for you,” Naruto said. “Though explosion release might be a better fit. I was actually gonna teach light release to Shikamaru since it’d combine perfectly with his shadow techniques, but I guess we’d have to convince him to join us first.” Though now that he thought about it, it was entirely possible that Shikamaru’s shadow binding was already based on light release and he had simply not wanted to share his knowledge. In fact, the more Naruto considered the possibility, the more likely it seemed.

“We can decide that later,” said Sasuke. He walked up to the dais again, and Naruto reluctantly stood aside. “Like Naruto said earlier, this period of fake peace is not going to last forever. Whether it’s the Sand or some different enemy, Konoha will find itself at war once more. When that happens, our lives will depend on our ability to defend ourselves and our willingness to defend each other.” He cast his gaze across the room, a faint shimmer in his unyielding black eyes. “There may be those among you who think that going behind the backs of the Council makes us trash. However, the kind of person who-”

“Wait,” said Neji, his Byakugan flaring up. “There is somebody at the door. I can see the fluctuations in the chakra flowing along the walls as they attempt to interfere with your seals.”

A distinct silence fell over the group. They all turned to look at the featureless stone door, but of course there was nothing to be seen. The whole point of covering the building in seals was to prevent others from spying on them. However, that also meant that even the Byakugan was utterly blind with regards to what was happening outside. The whole Village could be under siege for all they knew.

“Maybe it’s Kiba-kun?” Hinata sounded as doubtful as she looked. “He said that this is all a waste of time, but maybe he changed his mind.”

Nobody responded to this.

“Get ready,” said Sasuke. He unsheathed his sword, and Naruto did the same. Insects began to flow from Shino’s robes as Tenten unsealed a giant siege crossbow and aimed it at the entrance. Lee took up position beside the door, his back pressed against the wall in preparation for an ambush, while Sakura hid in the back and prepared her genjutsu technique. If it was the Anbu they were up against then all their efforts would be in vain, but perhaps they could dissuade them from attempting to immediately knock out the group and wiping their memories at least.

Sasuke edged towards the seal on the wall which opened the door, one hand still holding his blade at the ready. He gave a single nod towards Naruto.

Naruto gave a nod back.

Sasuke pressed his hand to the seal, and the door swung open. Behind it stood two shadowy figures, one of which seemed to step back in surprise. The other, however, merely looked up and strode into the room without a moment’s hesitation. Her black kimono flowed behind her as she walked, the red obi around her waist flapping in tandem with her strides, a giant folding fan resting easily upon her back.

“Well how about that,” said Temari, as she surveyed the room with a cold expression in her eyes. “All of Konoha’s most talented little killers, holding a secret meeting behind their council’s back.” She slammed her metal fan upon the ground, and a hollow clang reverberated throughout the room. “I want in.”