Chapter 12

---

SAT-9 walked at a sedate pace in a wedge formation behind Team 7 who walked in a diamond formation around their client. Ken had tried to explain to Kakashi that Team 7's formation wasn't as effective as it seemed, but the copy ninja had merely waved his worries away saying, "it has always worked before. No reason it won't now." And that's when Ken had gotten that itch in the back of his brain.

"Man, this is so boring!" Naruto yelled out loud from his position to the left of the client. Ken sighed at his energetic little brother and called out to him.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?" the blond replied, hoping for something to keep him occupied on this long boring journey. Did he mention that it was boring? Because it was. Very, very, boring.

"Law number nine," Ken prompted and said nothing else.

It took a second for his little brother to figure out what Ken was trying to say. Naruto scrunched his face in thought as he remembered. "Ah! If everything is going according to plan, you've walked into an ambush," he recited flawlessly.

"Exactly. Keep your eyes and ears open," Ken lectured.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at Ken questioningly while Kakashi merely gazed at Ken with an appraising look.

Intrigued by the pessimistic, but definitely wise advice, Sakura asked Ken, "What's law number one?"

"Naruto! Pop quiz. Law one?" Ken called out.

"Friendly fire – isn't," Naruto said, and everyone's eyes widened a bit.

"Ken," Kakashi said with a serious tone as his brain replayed the memory of his Raikiri going through a certain someone's chest. "Mind explaining?"

"Sure!" Ken said happily, going into his lecture mode. "I mean it's pretty self-explanatory, but it basically means that if you get hurt by friendly fire, it's most likely not so friendly."

"I… see," Kakashi said slowly. "Any particular reason for you thinking that?" he asked.

"Nope," Ken answered but didn't elaborate. A subtle sign for Kakashi to drop the matter.

Sasuke glared into the trees as he thought about Itachi, while Sakura looked down, no doubt mulling over different possibilities in war.

"Kakashi, you should probably tell Sakura to keep her eyes up," Ken said quietly so that she wouldn't hear.

"Sakura, eyes up," Kakashi said commandingly as he nodded thanks to Ken.

A 'genin' ordering another genin who was a subordinate of a jonin that was standing right beside them would surely look bad on Kakashi.

All members of the SAT-9 kept walking quietly, unaffected by the conversation. They already had these laws drilled into their heads since Ken had basically become the unofficial leader of the squad. Officially, the captain was still Tsubaki, but after her last fuckup she had unofficially handed over the title to Ken, seeing as how he was obviously so much more experienced than anyone else – though she didn't know how that was possible, she also didn't dig deeper. Some matters were just naturally above your paygrade.

Silence blanketed them once more as the squad continued their march. A puddle caught Ken's attention and his eyes narrowed immediately. His hand subtly moved towards the storage seal on his pants where the locked and loaded P-90 was stored. It stilled as his eye caught the coded message from Kakashi's hand. 'Stand by. Evaluating the target. Testing skills.'

He nodded imperceptibly and continued without a change of pace. As they passed, two chains shot out of the puddle and wrapped around Kakashi. Instantly, the three froze at seeing their sensei torn up. Hinoko jumped into action from her position, only for Ken to wrap his arms around her from the back and keep her in place. "Hold up, hold up," he whispered quietly into her ear to make sure the enemies can't hear them. "Kakashi wants to test his genin."

Hinoko was surprised but calmed down as she watched Naruto and Sasuke jump into action trying to take down the demon brothers.

A chain shot at Naruto and he quickly deflected it using a kunai he had pulled out. His hand twirled the same kunai and threw it at one of the brothers. Gozu lifted his arm to block the incoming projectile and bat it away using his metal gauntlet. He swung his arm, but instead of the kunai flying away, his gauntlet gained a deep cut and the sharp object dug into his hand. "Ah!" he screamed as he looked down at how the kunai could possibly be that sharp. Confusion clouded his head as he saw nothing unique about it. He looked up, expecting to see his target smirking or taunting him, but Naruto had had it drilled into his head by Ken. Kill first, look cool later. Naruto was less than five feet away from the missing-nin when he finished his last hand sign.

"Doton: Doryuusou!" Naruto called out. He still had to say most of his techniques out loud since he didn't have enough control to do them wordlessly. Immediately, a spike of hardened dirt rose from the ground and shot towards Gozu.

"Shit!" Gozu cursed and leaned backwards. He shot out his other arm and another chain flew from his gauntlet, embedding itself into a tree. He pulled on the chain and the support allowed him to lean out of the way of the rising dirt spear. His feet positioned themselves into the perfect place, coming from years of practice, and he launched himself back towards Naruto with his claw extended.

Dammit! Naruto thought as he tried to dodge. The blond mostly ducked away from the blow, but it still cut his arm fairly deep. Naruto quickly realized his mistake. He hadn't planned for what would happen if his target evaded the Jutsu.

Luckily, it was at that exact moment that Kakashi came out of the trees and incapacitated the two missing-nin in less than a second. Naruto looked at his sensei with wide eyes, coming a bit closer to understanding just how skilled Kakashi was. His eyes automatically panned over to his other teammates, instinctually wanting to make sure they were okay. Sakura looked fine, if not a bit worried and tense. Sasuke, on the other hand, was breathing heavily, but still uninjured. He was glaring a hole into the bodies of the unconscious missing-nin while shooting envious looks at the spike of dirt that Naruto had produced.

Ken had watched the fight and analyzed it, judging his brother to be at the exact level he predicted, and Sasuke a slight bit higher than what he had calculated. He mentally nodded as a plan to make their training more efficient grew in his head.

Eventually, Ken tuned out Team 7 as he turned his attention to Hinoko who was still in his arms. He smirked mentally.

"Hmm," Ken hummed as he rested his head on her shoulder beside her face. "You're so warm, Hinoko," he said in a husky voice.

The warm breath on Hinoko's ear immediately made her aware of their position. "K-Ken!" she scolded with a massive blush on her face, suddenly realizing the position that they were in and had been for quite some time now. "Not here!"

"Oh? So later then? Maybe in my tent at night?" Hinoko could practically hear the smirk in his voice as her face became redder at the insinuations. Emi and Tsubaki watched Ken tease Hinoko with mirthful expressions while Team 7 paid no attention, too caught up with deciding whether to continue the mission.

"We have to continue this mission, sensei!" Naruto's loud voice came.

"We'll continue this later," Ken whispered in Hinoko's ear as he let her go and walked to where the bridge builder's interrogation was taking place.

"I also think we should continue, Kakashi," said Tsubaki as the team leader of SAT-9. "After all, we do have… quite a bit of experienced shinobi here."

"Yeah," Sakura also spoke up. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Instantly, everyone found their hands slapping their forehead, save for Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinoko. "Sakura, you fucking idiot…" Ken drawled.

"W-What!?" Sakura said indignantly.

"Sakura-chaaaan," Naruto said, almost whining her name. "You just jinxed us!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked confusedly. Sasuke and Hinoko also looked on in keen interest, Hinoko more so while Sasuke tried to look like he couldn't care less.

"You seethe Sakura," Kakashi began. "Many shinobi – including myself – believe that if you say optimistic things, the situation will always go FUBAR."

"FUBAR?"

"Fucked up beyond all repair," Ken answers immediately, pleasantly surprised that this phrase was a universal concept. "Uzumaki's First Law: What can go wrong, will go wrong," Ken said. Sorry, Murphy, he mentally apologized.

"O-Oh," Sakura said as she looked downtrodden.

As everyone was deciding on how to proceed, Naruto spoke up.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to you!"

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment as the warmth and protectiveness in Naruto's voice surrounded her like a palpable blanket of security. Her beautiful face morphed into a small smile as she looked at him. "Thank you, Naruto."

Ken watched this play out with a small smirk on his face. A devious smile bloomed on his face as he couldn't resist it. "Get a room, you two!" he said, making both preteens instantly blush a brilliant shade of red, almost rivalling Ken's own hair.

"N-Nii-san!" Naruto called out indignantly while Sakura stayed quiet.

"By the way, Sakura," Ken said, masterfully ignoring his brother's incensed cries and getting Sakura's attention. "You might want to heal my bro's hand," he gestured to Naruto's bloody hand which he was clearly trying to hide from everyone.

Kakashi and SAT-9 walked a bit farther to discuss their future course of action, as Sakura started to fuss over Naruto.

Sakura's eyebrows shot up as she looked at it. Instantly, her "mother hen mode" – as the Uzumaki bros liked to call it – activated. "Naruto!" she exclaimed, glaring at the blond. "Why didn't you show me?"

"Ehehe," the blond chuckled nervously. "I just didn't want to worry you, Sakura-chan."

"Baka," she said without much force behind her words. She softly took his hands into her own and quickly went through some hand seals. Her hands lit up with a soft green glow as she hovered them over Naruto's hands. "It's my job to worry about you. I mean," she averted her eyes a little bit as she said the last part. "Y-You're important to me." Her face was lit up with a massive blush that was mirrored by Naruto himself also.

"R-Really?" Naruto asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Of course! You're my friend!" Once again, her face heated up but this time she stared directly into his eyes. "Besides, you owe me another date."

"R-Right," Naruto said. Sakura finished healing his hand silently. Once it was done, she was surprised when Naruto held onto her. With a brilliant smile, he said, "thank you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat as she looked into his sky-blue pools. They were like ice, yet they held a warm undercurrent. She wondered for a moment if this was what the Hokage meant every time he talked about 'The Will of Fire'. A moment later, his grin was reflected on her face as she squeezed his hand. "Anytime, Naruto," she replied, truly meaning it.

...

The group of eight shinobi and one client continued their trek towards Wave country, this time, making sure to remain more vigilant than usual. Ken had interrogated and killed the Demon Brothers and had gotten more or less of an idea of the situation they were in. Only Kakashi, Tsubaki, and Ken knew, as to not scare the genin. Ken had also sent a message back to Konoha using the new seal he had invented, requesting – read: ordering – for J-squad's backup. Well, more like two seals.

Two storage seals were connected to the same tiny dimension. Just big enough to fit a backpack. When anything entered the dimension through one seal, the other seal would let off a small electric charge, no bigger than a static shock. That way, the other person would know that a message has arrived. One seal was on Ken's chest and the other was on Yurika's stomach. Obviously, Ken also made them so that they could only be accessed by either him or Yurika.

As they made camp for the day, Kakashi decided how the watch duty should be. Ken and Naruto made a few shadow clones and sent them out just in case. Night fell and after dinner, everyone entered their group tents. Hinoko and Sakura, Kakashi and Sasuke, Tsubaki and Emi, and Naruto and Ken.

Ken was staring at the roof of his tent, unable to sleep, when Naruto called out to him. "Nii-san?"

"Hmm?" Ken answered without looking over.

"You know how… uh… how we're shinobi, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Do shinobi… you know… have to kill people?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

Ken looked at Naruto and saw his cerulean eyes staring into his own. Ken didn't know why he never noticed it before, but his eyes were seriously blue. Almost sickeningly blue… full-on Prince Charming, field of cornflower, perfect, cloudless sky blue. Someone should name a crayon after the guy. Hah, that'd be funny. He thought about the question for a while before he answered.

"No, Naruto. We don't have to kill people. In fact, you could probably go your whole life without it. But… remember what I've told you before?" Ken lectured.

"Uh…" Naruto made a face as he tried to remember. "Was it, 'Blonds are troublesome'?"

"No," Ken said as he facepalmed. "That was probably Shikamaru."

"Oh, uh… 'Pee on something to mark your territory'?"

"No, that was Kiba. And no, don't do that. It's gross," Ken said as he brought his other hand to his face.

"Hmm… Oh, I remember! 'When life closes a door, breach the wall,' right?"

"No, you idiot," Ken said as he bonked him on the head. Getting serious, he repeated what he wanted to tell Naruto. "This world is either kill or be killed. In the end, you just gotta figure out your priorities."

"Oh…" Naruto spoke, downtrodden.

"Would you rather let a loved one get killed or kill the person trying to hurt them?" Ken asked him.

Naruto thought for a second before replying, "I… I would talk to the person to try to understand them and make them not do bad stuff anymore."

"What if that's their last resort?" Ken challenged.

"Huh?"

"Let's say… let's say someone is holding Sakura-chan hostage and tells you to kill someone else who is unrelated and innocent. What would you do?"

"What!? I would defeat them and save her!"

"What if the person holding them hostage was too strong to beat. Someone like Kakashi."

"I'd talk to them-,"

"Naruto!" Ken said strongly. "Talking to someone only works when that person is doing something that they don't like or when they at least subconsciously know that they're doing something wrong. There are people out there who want nothing more than to just see the world burn, and who will do anything as long as they believe that it's for a good cause." 'Like I used to be,' he added mentally. "What would you do then?"

"I… I…" Naruto tried to reply but couldn't find the words. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, he asked, "have you killed anyone? Like… y'know… in this world?"

"More people than I can count," Ken replied, thinking back to his ANBU missions.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Killing someone. What did you feel?"

Ken thought for a second before answering. "Mostly the recoil."

"No! I mean… your feelings," Naruto said, wanting a real answer.

"I felt proud knowing that what I was doing was to keep Konoha safe."

"And what about before?"

"Before?"

"Your 'before' world?"

Ken flicked Naruto on the forehead as he reprimanded him. "Not 'before world', 'previous world'. And at that time, I was mostly just thinking about how everything I'm doing is to keep my country and it's citizens safe and prevent more bad things from happening."

"But…" Naruto hesitated. "Weren't you also doing bad things?"

"Of course. Lots of bad things. Things you can't even imagine. Things that if you found out, you'd definitely agree that I didn't deserve to live," Ken said as he took a deep breath. "But sometimes, Naruto, the good guys have to do bad things to make the bad guys pay. Here a quote from a fictional character in my world: 'When you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world stays the same'." He paused. "But do you know what I say to that? My answer is: 'That's why you kill a hundred killers. Then the number of killers in the world becomes ninety-nine.' And think about it this way. You're doing this, not for yourself, but so that the people in Konoha, the people you love and protect don't have to do this stuff. We're shinobi. We endure. Each and every one of us is a living sacrifice. That goes double for you," Ken said, finishing his speech.

Naruto merely nodded as he contemplated Ken's words. Before he could say anything though, a knock on the tent signified it was time for Ken's watch.

"Good night, Naruto. Don't think too much about it," he said, ruffling Naruto's hair as he always used to. "As long as I'm here, I don't mind doing the dirty work."

Naruto smiled. "Hai, nii-san," he replied as he drifted off into a deep slumber. A small whisper escaped him as the sweet arms of unconsciousness took him. "Thank you."

...

Dawn arrived quickly and the group of shinobi were found walking in the same formation as the day before. They had just arrived at the shore from where they'd take the boat from when Ken suddenly stopped everyone. "I'll be back," he said. "Won't take me more than five minutes." He walked away and disappeared into the foliage.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Tsubaki who merely shrugged with an uncaring look on her face. She had gotten used to Ken's antics. Not because she couldn't control him, but because she knew that whatever he was doing was none of her damn business. And in this world, when you put your nose into things that don't concern you, you get silenced. No other way about it.

...

Ken came to a halt as he jumped into a clearing in the woods. Only some minor rustling from the bushes was any warning that someone or something was approaching. A couple of seconds later, six soldiers burst out from the forestry beside him and came to stand at attention in front of Ken. "J-Squad, reporting, sir! Backup has arrived!" The woman in the front spoke. They were all dressed just like ANBU, except that they had no masks, helmets on their heads, and boots instead of sandals. Also, their armour was painted to camouflage with the trees and the leaves.

"I don't have a lot of time; we'll do this quick. Sitrep," Ken commanded as he saw minor drops of blood on their uniform.

"Only one encounter with bandits 20 klicks from the base. 16 out of 16 tangos eliminated," she reported promptly.

"Hmm," Ken said as he rubbed his chin. "How's your squad?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Yurika asked.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"We're all dead-fucking-tired. We ran for 47 hours straight with no breaks and minimum food," she reported.

Ken nodded as he made some calculations. "Take an eight-hour break here. Sleep, eat, rest up. What's the situation in Wave Country?"

"According to Danzo's intel, a businessman named Gato has established his dominance there. Officially, he runs a shipping company."

"Unofficially?"

"Weapons trafficking, human trafficking, drug trafficking, extortion… you name it, he does it."

"Damn…" Ken sighed. Even here… Well, not too surprising considering human nature. "Continue."

"He has a significant number of men under him. Mostly thugs and mercenaries, but a few missing-nin too. His mansion is one klick west of what used to be the Daimyo's compound, but his base of operations is mainly the dockyard. He owns small buildings all through the place which his men use as safehouses."

"Interesting… what of the socio-economic situation?"

"It's all gone to shit."

Ken rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought of a solution. "Alright. You will make your way into the country and find yourself a safe house. When that is done, contact me. I'll rendezvous with you and we will begin our assault. One by one, we will take control of this country. Whatever you do, make sure you aren't seen."

"Yes, sir!" They all said, snapping to attention.

...

Ken walked back with a perfectly indifferent look on his face.

"Done?" asked Tsubaki.

"Yeah."

She nodded. "Let's go."

"Ken?" Kakashi called out.

"Hmm?" the redhead replied nonchalantly.

"Any plans of sharing where you went just now?" the jonin asked with an eye-smile.

Ken immediately pulled out a small notebook from one of his pockets and started flipping through it comically. A few seconds later, he shut it with a snap and smiled back at Kakashi. "Nope! Doesn't seem like it."

"Ah," Kakashi said, not put off in the least. "Too bad then."

"Truly a shame," Ken nodded in agreement, the smile still plastered on his face, half wanting to annoy Kakashi and half out of amusement at the expressions on the Team 7's face.

A shape that was merely a speck in the distance became clearer and the now identifiable boat parked itself on the shore. A few prompt – and frankly unpleasant – introductions later, Team 7 and Tazuna boarded the boat while SAT-9 decided to walk on water beside them since there wasn't enough space. The squad set off once more, keeping their eyes peeled while Kakashi explained to Sakura and Sasuke what water walking was and making a promise to teach them later.

...

Ken yawned as he kept up pace with everyone. He thought this would've been hard, but they were almost halfway through and he hadn't even broken a sweat. Abruptly, the engine of the boat cut off and all his senses were immediately on high alert. His eyes shot to all sides of the boat and then finally landed on the naval vessel itself as he also came to a stop with it. A kunai was in his hand, ready to fly at a moment's notice.

"Why did you shut off the engine?" Kakashi asked with just as much readiness as Ken and the rest of the SAT-9.

"We can't be making too much noise," the helmsman said cautiously. "Or else they'll hear us."

"Hmm," Kakashi grunted as he nodded for him to continue the journey, but Ken still stayed skeptical.

They were in the middle of the sea right now. There was no way in hell that a motorboat sound would reach like twenty kilometres away. Ken knew that most experienced shinobi had amazing hearing, but this was actual bullshit. And the helmsman said he had been doing to for years, so he should definitely know better than that. The journey continued in silence, much slower than before.

The only warning that anyone got was Ken's shout, and even that wasn't enough. "CONTACT LEFT!" he screamed as a massive blade came flying out of the water and sliced part of the helmsman's head off before being stopped just an inch short of Tazuna's neck by Kakashi's kunai.

SAT-9 jumped into action trying to lunge at the boat but were unable to even move their feet. Ken looked down and confusion marred his face. Was that… ice!? It was warm as hell here. How the fuck was there ice here!?

Only extremely trained and honed senses allowed him to dodge the incredibly sharp projectiles that came flying at his face. He bent his back and leaned away as adrenaline pumped through his body. Instantly, the Uzu was in his hand and two loud bangs rang out over the endless sea. The ice on his feet shattered from the force of bullets shot at point-blank range and he dashed back to dodge another wave of ice needles. Once more, the ice started to slowly build up on his feet. Ken started running and the ice shattered. Guess I can't stop, Ken thought, realizing that he had to keep moving or he'd be restricted by the phantom ice again. "Once you break the ice, keep moving or it'll build up again!" he shouted out the warning to his comrades.

Ken kept moving for a few seconds until Emi's voice broke through the seemingly silent battlefield. "KAI!" he heard and immediately the sounds of battle were much clearer, not to mention the masked figure standing off to the side was also visible now. Ken raised his arm to aim at the enemy shinobi, but they must've learned from watching what it did to the ice because the ice user promptly disappeared under the water.

Ken wasn't stupid enough to stop moving though. Tsubaki was also finally free and kept on moving while Emi was helping Hinoko with the last of the ice build-up. He looked over to where their client was and saw Kakashi in an intense battle with a shinobi that was using a massive cleaver and had the lower half of his face covered, just like the copy ninja, except he was using bandages. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were only standing around Tazuna who looked to be scared shitless. Not much they could do here though. At least, he couldn't see the dead body of the helmsman. Naruto must've thrown it overboard, just like how Ken had taught him. My team can handle the other guy. I need to help out Kakashi, Ken thought as he heard Emi finally get Hinoko free.

The Uzu 19 flashed back into its holster and with barely a poof of smoke from the storage seal, the P-90 was in Ken's hands. The stock slid into his shoulder with the confidence of weeks of practice with hundreds of clones. He looked down the sights and started moving towards Kakashi's battle. To a shinobi, the speed he was moving at would be comparable to a snail's pace. But one phrase rang through Ken's mind. The same one that had been one of the first ones to be drilled into him.

Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

His sights stayed trained on the ongoing fight, looking for even the smallest opportunity of a clean shot. He sensed the other enemy shinobi rushing towards him to attack.

Ken's sights stayed on the battle.

He sensed Tsubaki and Emi moving to intercept.

Ken's sights stayed on the battle.

Sparks flew near him as Hinoko and the enemy shinobi locked kunai and senbon needles.

Ken's sights stayed on the battle.

Then finally, for a split second, the golden moment shone, and Ken seized the opportunity. Kakashi and the sword wielder separated from each other because of a particularly nasty blow, courtesy of Konoha's own Copy Ninja. A few squeezes of the trigger and a short burst of bangs rang out from the masterfully made automatic weapon. Out of seven shots that were fired, one was dodged, three were accidentally deflected by the blade and the rest hit true in the enemy shinobi's arm and torso.

A bloodcurdling scream through the battlefield. It was so intense that even the side fight that was going on with the younger masked shinobi and Ken's own team had paused to look at the scene of horror in front of them.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!" shrieked a feminine voice and the shinobi SAT-9 was fighting sped off towards her master with nary a regard for her own safety. Ken smiled as more pieces just fell into place.

He took advantage of this amazing opportunity that arose and fired off more shots, all of which hit the now identified Zabuza in the torso and a few others hit the other shinobi in the back.

Zabuza fell limply into the water just as he stretched out an arm towards his companion. "Haku," came the soft but clear whisper from him as his eyes slowly closed.

Haku also fell similarly but she was promptly caught by Ken. He quickly pulled out a seal from his pack and slapped it onto the exposed back of her neck. "NARUTO! Stasis seal!" Ken shouted out in the most commanding voice anyone had ever heard and Naruto jumped into action, doing the same to Zabuza.

Everyone on the water stilled for a while before Kakashi also fell lifelessly into the water. Tsubaki was by his side in a second, carrying him and putting him onto the boat.

"Nii-san?" called out Naruto, awaiting more orders.

"Yeah, Naruto. Just hold on a sec, alright?" Ken said, still holding onto the enemy shinobi with one hand and massaging his temples with his other hand. After a few seconds, he finally spoke. "I have a suggestion, Tsubaki-sensei," Ken said as he looked at his official team leader. "Let's get everyone to safety first and treat their wounds, at least until they're not in critical condition anymore. Then, we'll interrogate our two guests here and plan our course of action from there." Everyone other than Sakura and Sasuke knew it wasn't a suggestion.

Tsubaki nodded, placing her full trust into Ken. "We'll do that."

Tazuna stayed silently on the boat, as now it was Sasuke, Sakura, the two injured shinobi, and himself. Naruto was walking on water with SAT-9 and the unconscious Kakashi was on Ken's back temporarily. As they continued their journey, Tsubaki struck up a conversation with Ken. "Ken?" she said.

"Yeah?" he replied seemingly still in thought.

"That seal; what is it?" That seemed to pull him out of his head.

"It's called a stasis seal," he explained. "It's something that Naruto and I invented together. It took almost four months of continuous work. Basically, what it does is that it freezes the state that a person's body is in for a certain period of time. So, for the person it's attached to, it's almost like time-travel into the future."

Tsubaki was gobsmacked. "Wha… Ken, this is a revolutionary sealing technique-," before she could speak further, Ken raised his hand and cut her off.

"I know," he said with a sigh. "But the chakra cost is honestly not worth it. One seal has as much chakra as about five hundred of my shadow clones. And even that can only put a wild boar into stasis for about five days. For a human, it would be less than three days."

"Regardless, Ken. This is something Konoha should know about," Tsubaki argued.

"And they will. When I have perfected it," Ken finished, signifying the end of the conversation. The SAT-9 team leader only nodded and went back to scanning the surroundings.

...

SAT-9 had taken up position a few feet away from the old bridge builder as he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, rapid footsteps were heard inside the quaint house and the door opened just a creak. A dark eye peeked from inside and widened as it fell on Tazuna.

"Father!" the woman cried and opened up the door fully to let him in. The shinobi slightly relaxed, seeing no traps around.

"Tsunami, these are the shinobi that escorted me," Tazuna said, gesturing to everyone around.

Tsunami's eyebrow shot up, seeing the many people around her. Naruto was carrying Kakashi, Sakura was carrying Haku, and Sasuke was carrying Zabuza. All the others were in strategic positions to jump into action at the first sign of trouble.

"Oh!" the civilian woman said. "Please, come in! Make yourself at home. I'll get some water and food for all of you."

Tsubaki nodded and stepped up. "I'm Tsubaki. Acting leader of the squad for now. We do not have much time, so I'll get straight to the point. We have two heavily injured enemy shinobi with us, and one extremely exhausted comrade. We'll need at least three rooms for all of us. Will you be able to accommodate?"

Tsunami blinked at the overload of the information. "Y-yes, of course!" she stammered out, knowing that she could at least provide three rooms for them. "But we have a shortage of food at the moment, so-," she was abruptly cut off by Ken.

"Don't worry about that. I believe we have enough rations to last a month," he said with a smile, waving away her concerns. "Alright, now, can you please lead us to the rooms? We need to administer immediate medical care to everyone right now."

"H-hai," Tsunami said, speeding off into the house with Team 7 and Tazuna on her heels, leaving SAT-9 alone.

A few seconds passed before Emi spoke up. "Plan of action?"

"We're nearly black on medical supplies," Tsubaki said, and Ken nodded in agreement.

"We'll R&R here for a couple of days. I'll send Team 7 out on patrols for recon in the town. Then, when we have enough info, we'll begin our assault," Ken ordered, getting compliant nods from everyone. "Alright, start healing our captives as soon as possible. I want intel before they die."

...

Hinoko's eyes shot open as she heard the clicks. Her eyes scanned the surroundings and she observed how Tsubaki was already sitting up, leaning against the wall, and Emi was also just waking up. Her sky-blue orbs immediately sought out Ken and found him loading the new weapon that he had brought with him on this mission.

"Do we have a situation?" she asked, getting up and moving to get ready before a familiar, warm hand fell on her shoulder, halting her.

"No, we don't," Ken said. "I have a situation. I'll be back before dawn."

"Oh, right…" Hinoko said sadly. It was that type of situation again. He was conducting his own secret mission. At least, that's what the Hokage had told SAT-9 when she had brought the issue of Ken going off on his own.

Ken looked at her downtrodden expression and sighed. He could've sworn she was learning the Puppy Eyes Jutsu from Naruto. "I… I promise to tell you what it's about when I'm back, Hinoko," Ken said exasperatedly.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Yeah, I promise," Ken replied with a smile and left.

She might be a prodigy, a professional killer, and trained to end your life before you could even blink… but regardless, she was still a teenager. She still had feelings.

...

"Sitrep," came the command as J-Squad almost jumped at Ken's silent arrival.

"Fifteen enemy bases located; four are heavily guarded and quite large. The rest are safe houses. Tangos are mostly mercenaries and bandits; very few missing-nin. More intel points to enemy-occupied warehouses on and around the shore and dockyard," Yurika reported smoothly as always.

"Shit," Ken cursed. "We really have our work cut out for us, huh?"

"Commander?" Okyou asked.

"Hmm?" Ken looked at her.

"Are you planning on taking them all out tonight?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to do but I severely underestimated the size of the opposition," Ken said as he rubbed his chin. They stayed silent for an entire minute, letting their commander make a decision. Finally, Ken spoke. "This is what we'll do…" Ken started explaining his plan.

...

It was four in the morning when J-Squad plus Ken commenced the assault on Gato's mansion. Suppressors (which were really just tubes of metal with multiple silencing seals on them) on all their weapons made them not only deadly silent in the darkness but also hid the muzzle flashes also making them practically invisible. Ken sent a short pulse of chakra over his own version of the ANBU tattoo and as a single organism, the seven killing machines breached.

'POOF!' the door blew off its hinges relatively quietly with the help of temporary silencing seals. The rifles fired as each and every bullet found its way to the targets' heads before they could even make a peep.

"Clear," a whisper came, signifying all tangos in the room were dead. Ken smiled slightly as he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. This was almost like he was back in the JTF-2. Almost.

The squad moved into the hallway and cleared out room after room, while one of them stayed in the main room, keeping an eye on the door and the staircase. The floor was cleared out and half the squad moved outside, scaling the wall to get to the second floor while the rest used the stairs. The second floor met the same fate. Weapons fired and the bodies dropped.

As J-Squad was assaulting the mansion, another squad of Ken's shadow clones were assaulting another base using extra weapons that were in the storage scrolls.

Once the main bases were mostly clear, J-Squad made their way to what used to be the Daimyo's mansion, while Ken's shadow clone squad moved to another safe house to commence a new assault. The unit moved fluidly and came to a halt just two hundred meters away from the assault target: Gato's main base of operations and his residence.

"Spread out and report back in three minutes," Yurika commanded.

Before they left, Ken spoke up. "Listen up." All eyes and ears were on him. "Moscow rules. Safety off. Fingers on the trigger." They nodded. "Go."

The operatives instantly flickered away, leaving the captain and commander alone to their thoughts.

"Yurika," Ken called out after a while.

"Yes, commander?" she replied.

"What is your evaluation of J-Squad?" he asked.

"You have trained us very well sir—" she started but was stopped by Ken.

"No," he interrupted. "I mean compared to your experience with ANBU. Which branch is more efficient? ANBU or our SOF?"

"Oh," she said, a little taken aback that Ken would ask her of something like this. "I'd say our special operations force is definitely at least fifty times more efficient than the ANBU. ANBU worked similar to our force but still, all the changes that you've made, big or small, has made huge improvements to how much more effective the team can be. For example, the communications using our SOF tattoos, breach tactics… not to mention, our gear. All missions feel much more fluid now," she finished, eyes never leaving the target for one nanosecond.

Ken nodded his thanks with a small smile on his face. "Good."

The captain and commander waited in silence until the reports finally came in. Their tattoos pulsed in morse code and Ken decoded in this head.

OSCAR 5H N SIDE: Okyou reporting: five hostiles - north side.
TANGO 5H S SIDE: Taji reporting: five hostiles - south side.
ALPHA 4H E SIDE: Ashi reporting: four hostiles - east side.
HOTEL 4H W SIDE: Hayase reporting: four hostiles - west side.
INDIA 6H ROOF: Inaho reporting: six hostiles - top side.

Yurika sent out her own pulse in reply. Copy, stand by.

"Sir?" she said.

"On your mark, Okyou, Taji, Ashi, and Hayase will execute. Inaho, and you will take the roof. I'll make shadow clones to catch the bodies that fall from there," Ken replied, short and concise.

Yurika nodded and conveyed the info to the squad. Roger, the replies came.

Ken made six shadow clones and sent three to the opposite sides of the building so that they'd be ready to catch the falling bodies. Once he was ready, he gave the signal to Yurika. "Fill the gaps."

"Stay liquid," Yurika replied and sent out the signal.

At once, J-squad squeezed their triggers. The assault rifles coughed as one after another bandit and mercenary fell, not more than one bullet in their heads. Ken saw the guards on the roof get hit and signalled his clones. The shadow clones moved swiftly and came to a stop directly under the roof, catching the bodies one after another as they fell.

Clear, came five different chakra pulses and Yurika sent out another one for the team to regroup at her position.

Once the squad was back together, she turned to the commander for instructions.

Ken pondered over how to go through with the breach. "Ashi and I will breach from the front. Yurika and Hayase will breach from the back. The rest of you will guard the perimeter. No one in or out. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," came the reply immediately.

The squad moved to their positions and once again, at Ken's command they breached. The front door was thankfully open so they didn't have to blow it off this time. Ken entered and went right as Ashi entered right behind him and went left. The two operatives maneuvered around all the objects, leaving not a single corner unchecked.

"Left side, clear," whispered Ashi.

"Right side, clear," replied Ken as he waited at the doorway to another room. "Give me two." Ashi came up behind him and tapped him twice on his back.

Once again, they repeated the process, finding four men sleeping in makeshift beds this time. Promptly, they were put to sleep forever, courtesy of Ken Uzumaki.

"Left side, clear," whispered Ashi again.

"Right side, clear," replied Ken. He peeked into the next room and saw that Yurika had taken care of it and was waiting there. "First floor clear?" he asked as Ashi entered the room with him.

"Yeah," she answered and pointed at Hayase with her thumb who was at the stairs with his gun pointed up in case anyone was coming.

"Right. Let's go," he said. Ken lined up behind Hayase with Ashi behind him and Yurika to guard their backs. He felt a double tap on his back and in turn, tapped Hayase twice on his back.

As one, they moved up to the second floor. Once up, Hayase went right, killing enemies as he walked, and Ken immediately went to the left. He squeezed the trigger three times, and three bodies fell on the floor with a soft 'thud'. Hayase, Ashi, and Yurika breached and entered the first room on the right while Ken waited outside, watching their backs. Room after room was cleared swiftly until they finally all gathered outside the final one which had a golden doorknob and the door itself looked like it cost millions.

"Let's get this son of a bitch," Ashi whispered and Hayase nodded.

Once again they breached the door and moved in. There was one bed in which Gato was sleeping in and two guards on the opposite sides of the room. Hayase went first and eliminated one who was sleeping on his chair. The other one was awake but was killed by Ken before he could make a sound. They all entered the room and Ashi and Yurika immediately went to check the closets while Hayase checked under the bed and Ken kept an eye on Gato.

"Clear," came three replies.

Ken nodded. "Now who wants to wake this bastard up?" he asked.

"Please," said Ashi. "Let me do the honours?"

"Go ahead," smiled Ken.

Ashi smiled deviously as she whipped off the blanket. Gato stirred and was about to wake up when Ashi's foot descended on his precious jewels.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" his scream rang through the house.

"Rise and shine, asshole!" Hayase said as he used a simple trick and dislocated Gato's elbow.

This time the scream was even louder. "Ha… Who are you people!?" he asked.

Ken smiled as he spoke. "Well, that depends, Gato," he said. "I can either be your business partner, or I can be your executioner. It's all up to you."

Gato looked stupefied. "What… What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oh, I think you know what I mean. Comply with my demands and I'll let you live. Don't, and I'll put a knife through your brain."

"What do you want from me?" Gato asked, now openly crying.

"First of all, I want you to stop crying. It's getting annoying," Ken said with a scowl.

Gato immediately shut his mouth.

Ken smiled. "Good. You can follow instructions. Now, I want all the details of all your operations in Wave Country and abroad."

Gato stared at Ken with his mouth open, not believing that this was really happening to him.

"Now," Ken said in a more serious tone.

"B-But—" Gato tried to say.

"Yes?" Ken asked as he took out a kunai and twirled it.

"Ahh! No! Nothing! I'll give you everything!" Gato said as he clutched his blanket. "I-It's in the next room in a safe!"

Ken nodded and Gato exited the bed and walked to the other room. He bit back another scream as he saw the hallway littered with bodies of his thugs. When he entered the next room, Gato visibly shed a few tears of fear. The four men in that room were all at least B-class missing-nin that he had hired to guard the safe and they were all taken out without a sound.

"T-There's the safe with everything in it," he said, pointing to a corner.

Ken stood motionless and stared at Gato. The fat businessman awkwardly looked around, confused why no one was doing anything. Finally, Yurika walked up to him and slapped Gato across the face.

"Open it, you fucking dumbass," she said.

"Ah! I- I'm sorry!" Gato exclaimed, jumping into action. He turned the knobs until the safe clicked open and opened the door, showing hundreds of stacks of money, gold bars, and papers.

"Thanks, bud!" Ken exclaimed happily and shot Gato in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord and instantly killing him. "Store the money and the gold in scrolls. Yurika and I will start going through the papers," he commanded.

The three members of J-Squad nodded numbly, surprised at the ruthless efficiency of their commander.

...

It was afternoon when Ken finally returned from his mission. In his left hand was a scroll that had all the money and gold from Gato's mansion, and in his right hand was a sack of something that was suspiciously red. As he neared the house, Hinoko appeared in front of him in a flicker.

"Ken!" she exclaimed as she started checking him over for injuries. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is that your blood?" she asked in rapid-fire.

The redhead smiled softly, loving the way his teammate fussed over and cared about him. "I'm alright, Hinoko," he said and continued walking towards the house. "Just need some sleep. That's all."

Hinoko paused for a second and nodded as she silently fell into step beside him. "So…" she spoke up. "Where were you?"

"Just around the town… cleaning up," he replied vaguely.

"Hmm," Hinoko hummed as she pouted. "Fine."

Ken sighed. "You'll find out later, Hinoko," he said exasperatedly.

The ANBU duo slowly walked back to the front door when it suddenly burst open and a small kid with dark hair ran out. Instantly, the scroll was dropped and even before it hit the ground, the Uzu-19 was in Ken's hand, aimed dead center at the boy's head.

Hinoko also reacted, only slightly slower than Ken and pulled his arm down. "STOP! He's a friendly!" she yelled out before he could pull the trigger.

The boy in question seemed to be completely unaware of the two ninjas as he turned back around and shouted. "He's too strong! You can't win! NO ONE CAN WIN AGAINST GATO!"

Ken's eye twitched. He didn't know what exactly was going on, but… what did this little brat say?

What the fuck!? Who did this little shit think he was? The fuck did he mean by 'no one can win against Gato'? Stupid-ass, hat-wearing-ass, little-human-ass, leg-having-ass little bitch.

"Hey, kid!" Ken almost shouted out with barely restrained hostility and the little boy whirled around, finally noticing the two people behind him. The Uzumaki holstered his sidearm and reached inside the potato sack with his free arm. "Gato's dead," Ken said emotionlessly as he pulled out and dropped something on the ground, kicking it towards the little boy.

The round object rolled and finally came to a stop in front of the door. "Ha…?" the boy asked curiously before finally realizing what the object was. "AAAHH!" Inari screamed and ran off to the side as he instantly started throwing up in the bushes. Hinoko who was standing beside Ken also held her hand over her mouth as she stared at the object on the ground that was slowly spreading a deep red stain on the ground. This type of gore wasn't new to her as she had seen more than enough on the ANBU missions, but still, the fact that Ken could do something like this… Who was he?

The people inside the house also came out to investigate the ruckus outside and froze. On the ground was Gato's fat severed head. Its eyes were wide open as if to allow the soul to escape and its mouth was clenched tight, probably due to post-mortem reflex.

Before anyone else could start puking their guts out, Hinoko immediately covered the offending piece of human meat with the sack that Ken had still been holding onto.

"N-Nii-san?" a shaky voice called out.

Ken looked up with eyes that spoke volumes of what he'd just been through. Hours of tens of clones mindlessly assaulting base after base, killing one after the other. Checking the bodies they killed for intel. Burning the corpses using a lightning technique... Never since being reincarnated had he felt this way. "Hey bro," he said as his lips curled slightly upwards… yet his soft serene smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked with even more urgency as he saw just how strained his brother's expression was.

"Couldn't be better," Ken lied through his teeth. "But putting that aside," he continued, turning to Hinoko. "How are our prisoners?"

Hinoko put her concern for him in the back of her mind and answered like the soldier that she was. "The younger one has woken up and is being restrained. Her wounds weren't too critical as there were only three or four bullets in her back. The older one on the other hand…" Hinoko trailed off, not knowing how to describe the situation as she still wasn't too experienced as a med-nin.

"Still in a life-threatening situation with multiple bullet wounds on the torso and arm – some extremely close to arteries. Expected time of recovery would be about three months and we don't know if he'll even walk at all," Emi spoke as she appeared in the doorway.

Ken nodded. "And Kakashi?" he asked.

"Yo!" came a jolly voice from above. Ken looked up and found Kakashi crouching on the roof with the orange book in his hand and a placating eye-smile.

"Awesome," Ken said without any cheerfulness in his voice. "We're back at full capacity. That's good."

"Yeah, right! Not even close!" Hinoko said forcefully from beside Ken.

Ken looked at her, only to find her glaring back at him. "Huh?" he asked.

"Don't 'huh?' me! 'Huh' yourself!" Hinoko exclaimed. "Just take a look at yourself! You look like you ran around the world in one night! You're nowhere near full capacity. You need to rest!" she finished.

"Hinoko…" Ken said, rubbing his head. "I'm fine, trust me. I can still go for about four days."

"Bullshit," came the immediate reply. Surprisingly, it was Sakura who said that. "Your eyes are literally red. That's a clear sign of either uveitis, or acute glaucoma!" She exclaimed.

"Smart girl," Emi said, nodding with a 'not bad' expression on her face.

"See!?" Hinoko said. "Acute guacamole! Do you get that Ken!?"

"I am surrounded by idiots…" Ken said with a hand to his temple.

...

"Mmmph! HNGH! FFNGGHFF!" came the muffled noises from the bounded struggling kunoichi in front of Ken. She was laid haphazardly on a chair with Ken sitting on his own right in front of her.

He smiled slightly at her pathetic attempts to get free. "Thank heavens for chakra draining seals, eh?" he said in a mockingly humorous tone before reaching over and taking off the rag on Haku's mouth.

"Let me go!" the brunette immediately said in an icy tone, her eyes burning into Ken's.

All the shinobi behind Ken tensed and gripped their weapons a little bit tighter with the exception of Kakashi. He merely continued watching silently. Sakura and Hinoko started breathing a little heavier from the sheer amount of killing intent the enemy was releasing. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"What a dumbass…" Ken said in an almost comically bewildered voice. "You could've said literally anything, and you choose 'let me go'!? Like… seriously, you could've said an amazing line like, 'I'll take my secrets to the grave,' or maybe even something like, 'I'll fuck you up even after death,' but noooo. You had to choose to say the one thing that we both know isn't going to happen," he finished and sighed. "What a disappointment."

"Huh?" was all the Haku could say in reply.

"Well, whatever," Ken said, shaking his head. "Let's just get to the interrogation, shall we?"

That seemed to bring the ice user out of her stupor. "I'll never talk," she said with a scowl.

"See, that's what you should've said when I took off the rag," Ken answered. "Also," he added, "stop scowling. Wrinkles don't look good on a pretty face like yours."

"Wha-," Haku's cheeks reddened before she spoke up again. "I'm a boy!"

Ken raised an eyebrow and looked back towards Emi. "Nope," the medic said. "Didn't see no dick down there."

Ken looked back. "Nice try. Now, getting back on track. Let's start with the questions. What's your name?" he asked.

"Fuck you."

"What is your name?"

"Fuck you!"

"I'll ask once more. What is your name?"

"Nunya!"

"Hah…" Ken sighed. "I'm going to ask you for your last name, and if it ends with 'business', OH HELP ME LORD because ON MY LIFE, I will smack the ever living shit out of you. You get that?"

Behind Ken, Hinoko and Naruto were rolling on the floor laughing their guts out while Sakura, and the rest of SAT-9 were also trying – and subsequently failing – to hide their giggling.

Ken took a deep breath before finally asking, "what is your last name?"

"Motherfucking business!" Haku snarled out with a wide grin.

Ken pinched the bridge of his nose to keep some semblance of his sanity. "Alright," he said. "Enough games. Kakashi-san, can you please bring the other prisoner down here?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed, not sure why Ken wanted Zabuza down with them.

"Here," Ken said, holding a couple of slips of paper. "These are chakra draining seals. That way it'll be safer for you to get him."

Kakashi's eye moved from the slips of paper to Ken. "Sure," he said after a moment and accepted the papers.

As the copy ninja vanished into the stairwell, Ken turned back to Haku. "So… according to what I saw during our little skirmish on the sea, I'd say that guy that's with you is pretty important to you, right?"

Haku didn't let out a single word but she glared with all her might at him.

"Right. Not sure what I was even expecting," said Ken and patiently waited. Eventually, Kakashi came down the stairs with a man on his back. "Awesome!" Ken exclaimed in an overly chipper way. "Can you please put him here?" he asked, pulling up a chair.

Kakashi didn't say anything and set Zabuza down slowly on the chair. Ken moved swiftly and bound the Kiri nin's arms and legs with some extra rope. It wasn't needed, but you could never be too careful.

Ken reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai. "Still don't wanna talk?" he asked, looking dead into Haku's eyes with not a hint of humour in his voice. Haku grit her teeth as her face morphed into a conflicted look. Ken smiled a bit and put his kunai away. "Alright, how about this: tell me exactly what you want."

Haku kept glaring but her cheeks twitched slightly; a sign that she might just say something. A full minute of tense silence passed before she finally spoke. "Let my master and me go free."

"Hmm," Ken said, nodding as he rubbed his chin. "That's probably not gonna happen…" Behind him, Kakashi was twirling and fidgeting with shuriken as he leaned against the wall. "Emi, how well would you say you patched Zabuza up?"

"He's not critical, but he still needs professional help," Emi answered promptly.

"I see," Ken said as he smiled. "Thank you very much. Now," he turned back to the tied-up prisoner. "This is the very last time I'll ask you to cooperate with us. Will you?" he asked.

Haku glared. Ken waited for a few seconds before exhaling solemnly. "Don't say I didn't give you any chances," he said as he moved Zabuza's chair so that he was directly facing the girl. He grabbed a water bag that was laying nearby and emptied it onto the swordsman's head. Immediately, the shark-toothed ninja sputtered and gasped and looked around.

"Haku?" Zabuza said as his eyes fell upon his 'tool'.

"Ah, so that's your name. 'Haku'," Ken said as he nodded.

Zabuza's head instantly whipped around with a look that could kill. "Who the fuck are you?" he growled out.

"Your judge, jury, and executioner," Ken answered without missing a beat. He pulled out a kunai from his pouch and rammed it into Zabuza's forearm.

An ear-piercing scream of agony rang through the modest home, followed by a heartbreaking "ZABUZA-SAMA!" from Haku.

Ken unwrapped the bandages on his right arm while simultaneously applying an incredibly subtle genjutsu over it – that everyone other than Kakashi missed – making it look like Ken's arm was completely normal. He then took the bandages and wrapped them over Zabuza's mouth multiples times, tightly enough so that he couldn't speak anymore.

"Now, second question: what is your goal in the Land of Waves?" Ken asked.

"MMM! MMM!" Zabuza tried to shout while frantically shaking his head, trying to tell Haku not to say anything.

Haku clenched her teeth as tears spilled from her eyes.

Ken's patience was wearing thin. He wanted to sleep, dammit! "Haku," he said, getting the ice-user's attention. He pointed the kunai at Zabuza's hand and spoke, "one question, one finger."

Haku's eyes widened at that." N-No! Please don't!" she begged.

Ken didn't pay her any mind and moved to pry one of Zabuza's finger out from his clenched fist.

"W-WAIT! I'll tell you!" she screamed but Ken continued on. "We were working for Gato!" she yelled again, and Ken paused.

"I'm gonna need more details than that," he said and let the tip of the kunai cut into the finger, just enough to let a few drops of blood out.

"We- we were working for him to get some money so that we could support the Kiri resistance!" Haku said.

"Hmm… interesting. And what was your plan after this?" Ken asked while Zabuza was shaking his head frantically.

"We… we would look for more work elsewhere," Haku answered.

"Lie," Kakashi immediately said from the back. In a fluid motion, one finger cleanly cut off from Zabuza's hand and landed on the floor in front of the ice-user.

"MMMMMM!" Zubuza's muffled scream rang out while all Haku could do was gasp and mumble incoherently.

"I'll ask again: what was your plan after this?" Ken repeated.

"We were going to head back to Kiri to team up with the resistance and support them in their fight," Haku said, much more cooperative now that she had witnessed Ken's wasn't just making idle threats.

"Who is the leader of the resistance?"

"Mei Terumi."

"Describe her."

"I haven't seen her personally. According to Zabuza-sama, she is tall, has long burnt orange hair, and can use two kekkei genkai."

"Which ones?"

"Lava release and boil release."

"What is the point of Kiri's civil war? What is your goal?"

Haku whipped her head at Ken and glared at him as if he'd just announced that he killed her parents. "What is the point? The fucking point is that we would be stopping a mass murderer!" she screamed.

Ah, yeah… Ken thought. I did hear about the bloodline purges. It seems it wasn't all just rumors.

Slowly, with more coercing, Haku finally relegated her tale of woe. About how her mother was killed. How she was abandoned and homeless. And finally, how Zabuza found her and trained her. The whole time, Zabuza remained silent and kept glaring at the Konoha shinobi.

"Damn… you've certainly had a tough life," Ken said solemnly.

"Don't pity me," Haku said with a venomous voice.

"I'm not," Ken answered. "I'm just showing my respect. Yes, you're still an enemy, but that doesn't make your story of survival any less amazing. I truly do respect your strength. That being said, Gato is dead now."

"Huh?" was all Haku could say to that.

"Gato is dead," Ken repeated. "We eliminated him last night. Most of the safehouses in the country are cleared and the only place remaining is the dockyard."

"But… what about our payment?" Haku asked with wide eyes.

"Mmph!" Zabuza tried to say.

Ken made a space in the bandages around the Kiri nin's face. "What?"

"I was saying, I don't give a shit about the payment. If Gato is dead, our job is done here. Let us go."

Ken replaced the bandages. "It's not that simple. What's to say you won't come back for our heads? Not to mention, you're a missing-nin. Your bounty is worth quite a bit," he said and stayed silent for a minute. "Anyway," he finally continued. "This is it for now. Sleep." Ken grabbed Zabuza by the back of the neck and jolted him with a heavy dose of lightning chakra. The sword wielder's head immediately fell limp. "You on the other hand," he pointed to Haku and walk towards her. "Aren't really worth too much. You do, however, have a rare kekkei genkai which makes you valuable to us. You'll probably be coming back to Konoha with us," he finished and before she could say anything, he did the same with her and put her to sleep.

The others watched silently as Ken picked up Zabuza's finger. "Re-attach that, please?" he said, handing it to Emi who nodded silently and go to work.

"So," Tsubaki finally spoke up. "What's the plan now?"

"Clean up the dockyard. Then head back to Konoha," Kakashi answered as he pushed off the wall and stood up straight. "Also, Ken, can I talk to you please?" he added with a smile.

"Sure," Ken said and looked at the jonin with a smile.

"Alone?" Kakashi asked, pointing up the stairs with his thumb.

"Hah…" he sighed, smile dropping off his face. "Sure…" Ken answered, dragging himself to the floor above. He really just wanted to sleep. Was that too much to ask for?

...

The Uzumaki sat with his arms resting on his knees and his head leaning against the wall. "So, what's the matter, bossman?" he asked, his eyes lazily focusing on Kakashi.

Kakashi leaned against the wall again as he started. "Who are you?"

The answer came without a moment of delay. "My name is Ken Uzumaki. Genin, Konoha Armed Forces. Serial number: 4242022634," Ken replied smoothly.

"I'm not interrogating you, Ken."

"I know. I just answered your question."

The two shinobi stared at each other. Both their eyelids were drooping but it didn't betray the sharpness of the cold, calculating stares. Finally, Ken's need to sleep won over.

"Why don't you just say what you want, Kakashi?" Ken said as he closed his eyes. "That way we can get this drama over with, eh?"

Kakashi exhaled. "Who is the leader of your squad?"

"Tsubaki, codename Tsuru is the official leader of the Special Assault Team - 9 of the Konoha ANBU."

"And who is the unofficial leader?"

Ken stayed silent.

"Ken—" Kakashi started but was immediately interrupted.

"Ken Uzumaki, codename Neo," came Tsubaki's voice as she opened the door and stepped in, "is the unofficial leader of SAT-9," she said as she closed the door behind her. "I needed to take a break because of my fuckup with Mizuki. Ken stepped up and he is easily qualified for this role. Is that enough, Kakashi?" she asked with a glare that could kill. No one other than Hokage or herself was allowed to question the competency of her team or its members. How dare Kakashi? No matter how great of a ninja he was, he had to know his limits.

Neither Ken nor Kakashi looked surprised by Tsubaki's entrance.

"Hmm," the Copy Ninja nodded. "I'll ask more questions later," he said as he flickered out of the room.

Tsubaki stayed silent for a while before she sighed and she sat down beside Ken. "Sorry for intruding," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Ken replied with his eyes still closed. "I'm happy you did. At least this way I can get some uninterrupted sleep," he said and smiled. Before Tsubaki could ask what he meant Ken leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder, immediately dozing off.

...

It was an entire day later in the evening when Ken finally woke up. The massive amount of stress and memories from the shadow clones had really taken a toll on him. He quickly brushed his teeth and showered before getting dressed in something casual. Ken walked downstairs while rubbing his eyes blearily. "Mmm," he hummed as the delicious smell of food hit him. "I smell something amazing."

"Oh!" Tsunami said she spotted Ken. "Uzumaki-san! I was just preparing some food to bring to your room. How are you feeling?" she asked with a beautiful smile.

Ken grinned widely, remembering how his own mother used to fuss over him in his past life when he was younger. "I feel okay, Tsunami-san. Leaving that aside, whatever you're making smells amazing!"

Tsunami giggled at the praise. "Well, you just wait right here and I'll bring some food out for you," she said and went to the kitchen.

As Tsunami came out with a pot in her hands, Ken got seated at the table and asked, "So, where's the rest of the people?"

"I think Kakashi-san has taken his squad into the forest for some training and Tsubaki-san, Emi-san, and Hinoko-san have gone to the bridge to guard my father, leaving you here to… guard me," she answered as she took a seat across from Ken.

"Ah, I see. By the way, this soup is super delicious! I wish I could have food like this every day!" Ken said, taking another sip of the spicy chicken noodle soup that Tsunami had made. Tsunami smiled once more at the compliment.

Ken and Tsunami made some small talk as he continued eating. Finally, as Ken finished, Sakura burst through the door. "KEN!" she shouted and immediately dropped to one knee.

Ken was by her side in an instant. "Sakura! What happened?" he asked, seeing the numerous cuts and bruises over her body.

"Bandits… attacked," she spoke as she tried to catch her breath. "Sensei was training us in the forest when fifty of them came at us suddenly. We defeated them, but there are probably more on the bridge," she finished.

"Shit!" Ken cursed and carried Sakura bridal style up to her room. "Stay here. I'll go now," he said and left her to rest.

Ken entered his own room and geared up while simultaneously sending out chakra pulses over to J-Squad, telling them to rendezvous at a certain location. Suddenly, a loud crash from below caught the young ANBU's attention and he ran down the stairs with his sidearm unholstered, only to find two men holding down Tsunami, trying to kidnap her. Ken instantly fired two shots into their heads, killing them without them even knowing. "Sorry for the mess, Tsunami-san!" he yelled as he exited the house.

He moved as fast as his legs could take him and mentally berated himself for not working hard enough to make the car functional.

As he arrived, Ken stayed far away and observed the situation. On the far, unfinished side, were his and his brother's teams with Tazuna while directly across them were hundreds, if not a couple of thousand thugs, bandits, mercenaries, and even missing-nin that were battling with the Konoha ninja. Sasuke and Kakashi kept spouting fire jutsu to keep the lot of them at bay and Naruto kept making shadow clones to fight them while Hinoko fired off her chakra needles. But even with that, he could clearly see how outnumbered they were. His comrades might've been stronger, but with this many people, they had a slim chance of coming out unscathed.

"Fucking hell," Ken cursed silently, realizing what he had to do. He wasn't planning on bringing this out so early. More testing still needed to be done but… Desperate times, desperate measures.

Ken created three shadow clones and handed each of them an assault rifle. "You guys know what to do?"

Of course, they did. They were him. "Pick off the ones that escape," one answered.

With a nod, Ken was off. He went away from the bridge a little bit and jumped onto the water where J-Squad was waiting for him. "Three on each side of the bridge! Pick off anyone who jumps and tries to escape!" he shouted his orders and took off running without him even waiting to hear their reply.

Ken ran faster than ever before and made it to the unfinished end of the bridge at the exact moment Hinoko was blown off the bridge by a strong wind style jutsu, courtesy of one of the missing-nin that was hired by Gato.

Hinoko closed her eyes and held her breath as she fell… but the cold water she was expecting never touched her. Instead, she opened her eyes, only to see two striking violet orbs staring into her own. "Wha…?" she said.

"Beautiful girls falling from the sky? Looks like the weather forecast was wrong," he said with a chuckle.

"KEN!" Hinoko exclaimed happily.

"Hey, Hinoko. Let's get back up there, shall we?" Ken asked and put her down on her feet.

"Yeah, we need the help," she replied and they both climbed up the side of the pillar.

"Nii-san!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Naruto! Catch!" Ken said as he climbed onto the bridge properly.

Naruto looked back only to see a huge-ass LMG come flying at him. "WHA! What the hell!? You serious bro?"

"You know how to use it! Get to work!" Ken yelled out with a grin.

Naruto's face mirrored his brother as he laid down and loaded up the gun. "Take this!" he shouted. Naruto pulled the trigger and opened fire. The hot rubber bullets moved like a wall against the enemies. Although it wasn't enough to cause fatalities, it was more than enough to break bones.

"SHIT!" the bandits and mercenaries shouted. "Get behind cover!" They ran backwards, trying to hide behind the huge concrete blocks that were yet to be placed under the bridge. "What the hell is that thing!?" one guy yelled out. "No idea! It's like a death machine!" another one answered.

Naruto shouted back, "And STAY behind cover!"

Ken grinned as he unravelled a scroll and took out his first test model of the M134 minigun.

"Oh shit…" Tsubaki and Kakashi spoke at the same time as they saw the huge weapon. Even though they had no idea about its capabilities, they had a pretty good hunch.

"Fuck you, and your cover," Ken spoke calmly and squeezed.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRT the gun sounded and mowed down the resistance. Heads flew off bodies. Blood decorated the road. bodies were split in half. Limbs were strewn apart. Ken let go of the trigger for a couple of seconds to let the minigun cool off before squeezing again. BRRRRRRRRRRRRT it sounded once more.

Even Naruto had stopped firing at this point, opting to only look at the absolute slaughter the bridge had become. Somewhere in the background, he could hear Tazuna, Sasuke, and Hinoko empty their bellies. Hell, he himself had some bile rising to his throat. "Oh…" he covered his mouth. "Oh god…" That's was correct. What sort of ungodly power was this?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRT it began again, tearing apart even the concrete blocks this time. The bandits started to flee, only to be cut down by Ken's shadow clones from the back and J-Squad from the sides. BRRRRRRRRRRRRT hot lead rained again. BRRRRRRRRRRRRT and again. BRRRRRRRRRRRRT and again… until it finally came to an end. Tsubaki and Emi covered their mouths while Kakashi regretted having his Sharingan eye open during the battle.

"No," Kakashi said to himself, but still loud enough to be heard by everyone else. "This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre, plain and simple."