Inheritance

CHAPTER 23

This meant that ninja used to such surroundings would be able to move easily, comfortably, and most importantly unseen; and ambushes and defending locations would as a result become significantly easier. However, in this situation as the offensive party, the conditions were beneficial to the blond Genin. He was able to move quietly and unseen; and whilst normally the guards' formation would have been okay, the lack of visibility meant that each pair was isolated from the rest, and communication would be difficult. In addition to that, there wasn't a mercenary on the planet that could fight in a forest as effectively as a Konoha shinobi.

Naruto dropped to the forest floor, keeping the tree he had been on between him and the two mercenaries' line of sight the entire time. Almost totally silently, he darted to the tree slightly ahead of him and to the right. This was the tricky part, to knock out both of these guards silently, and using as little chakra as possible. His hand instinctively reached for his kunai pouch in anticipation of him making his move, and had to bite back a curse as he realised it wasn't actually there, as he wasn't wearing his usual shinobi gear. He had eschewed in favour of a lighter outfit he had bought at Jiraiya's behest when they were replacing his jumpsuit. It consisted of black combat trousers, that whilst looking like the standard Konoha version, were actually much thinner and lighter, and also created much less noise whilst moving. He wore a black long sleeve shirt of the same material, along with a face mask not dissimilar to Kakashi's and a black bandana to cover his bright blond hair. He had instead hidden some select equipment within the seams of his clothes, meaning he had weapons if they were needed.

Briefly, he thought to himself that he must look pretty stupid, for a ninja - in compared to him in his orange jumpsuit (that, by that way, he still couldn't find fault in). But the thought was gone almost as quick as it came, as Naruto spotted his opportunity to act. One of the guards had slumped to the floor, sitting down with his back to the blonde, clearly fed up with what could well have been a shift of several hours on his feet. The other guard had been practicing what Naruto thought were incredibly basic katana strikes, and was sufficiently distracted to give Naruto time.

He darted out from behind the tree, speeding towards the seated guard with a kunai he had kept within the seam of his sleeve in his hand in a reverse grip; and it was the ring end of that kunai that he brought crashing down on the unsuspecting guard's head, who only had time to grunt sharply, before he entered the realm of unconsciousness. Naruto was on the move before the body hit the ground, and Naruto was a step away from striking distance before the second man had noticed his companion's fall.

It was too little, too late. The mercenary only had time to let loose a surprised 'What the-' before Naruto had gotten inside his guard, and delivered a crushing strike, again with the kunai's ring end, to the man's temple, leaving him joining his friend on the floor.

Naruto breathed out through his mask deeply, and set about moving the bodies into a fairly concealed place back behind the treeline. He didn't think he'd be in there for very long, and they definitely wouldn't be coming to for at least a few hours, but the unconscious guards being discovered while he was inside would be a disaster.

Returning back to where the guards had been, he approached the wall to the East Wig, where he knew the entrance to the attic was. It was only three stories high, and was built in what looked to Naruto to be a foreign style, though he was nowhere near sure enough to be able to tell for sure. It was made of brick, but painted white, with black wooden planks sectioning of parts of the wall into squares. From below, the roof appeared thatched, but Naruto knew from the plans this was for aesthetics only, and potentially to disguise the roof access. The slanted flat thatched section only ran upwards for a few feet before reaching the end, and a drop onto the real roof of the structure.

Immediately, Naruto could see that while climbing the building's wall without chakra would be a cinch because of the wooden planks on the side, but that on the other hand, the overhang of the thatched roof would cause a problem without chakra. Naturally, the Genin put that to the back of his mind, and started his climb anyway, using the wood and the more damaged bricks as hand and foot holds, and had quickly scaled almost the entire wall, before coming across the apparent impasse that was the start of the roof.

Apparently, a some kind of higher power was on his side, because as he scanned above for a way up, he spotted the gutter, black to blend in with the shadow created by the overhang. Reaching up, he gripped the gutter and tested it, making sure it would take his weight, before pulling himself up on it and grabbing one of the timber beams within the fake roof itself. What Naruto didn't realise, is that the only reason the guttering had come even slightly close to taking his weight, was the combination of the fact that he had his Naibu Shōten active, and he had grasped either side of where the pipework was bolted to the building itself.

It didn't matter either way, because within moments the young shinobi had clambered over the thatch work and onto the roof, and darted towards the only trapdoor on the whole surface. It was unlocked, much to the blond's surprise, and Naruto, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, climbed down into the building.

He was inside, and now he could get on with the hard part.

Jiraiya took another sip of his sake, waiting for his second appointment of the evening to arrive. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what this person could want. His first meeting in this dank tavern in a slum district of Wave had just been a standard update from one from one of his regular contacts. Nothing special, some pretty large, although not altogether unusual troop movements for Iwa, and more surprisingly Suna. No, it was definitely his second guest that had him so much more on edge.

Which was why he tensed quite so much as he did when a figure sat down across from him, placing his straw hat on the table as he did so.

"So..." Jiraiya began carefully, his eyes hardened as he stared into the beady black pupils of the man opposite him, who despite the tension of situation, sported a grin.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Hoshigaki Kisame?"

Somehow, the mans grin grew, showing off a set of razor sharp teeth.