Dark Phoenix of Konoha by White Angel of Auralon

Part 39 - A Dangerous Situation

A Dangerous Situation

Kakashi listened closely to the report that Gai gave on the successful mission. He was glad about his face mask, as it hid his urge to grin hearing how his student had played a large part in the success of the mission. Not to mention that Naruto getting some well-deserved acknowledgement and probably causing a new alliance for Fire Country and Konoha to be created would look very good on his mission record. Few ninjas could say this about their missions. Now Naruto had already saved two countries. Indeed impressive.

"I'm glad that the mission turned out like that and that you managed to get the rightful ruler of the newly dubbed Spring Country back onto her rightful throne. Very good work, team," Kakashi commented once Gai was done, "I'm looking forward to seeing the offer of an alliance that you mentioned coming in. It would also benefit the village greatly if we could set up constant trading agreements with Spring Country. I am sure that the Daimyo will also compliment you for the results. Now, I would like to speak with Naruto about the blueprints that he got for our research department, all others are free to go. You can take a week off from duty before you have to take the next mission."

Haku, Tenten, Neji, Lee and Gai bowed and left the office while Naruto remained. Kakashi dismissed his ANBU guards and activated the privacy seals.

"How much did you manage to take with you, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Everything they had in their high security safe, sensei," Naruto answered after taking a seat. He knew that this would take longer, "I think besides the chakra armour, we could also get a lot of use out of the plans for the train system. Not only for military purposes, but also for simple transport of goods. It would cut the time of getting things to the village down a lot and that could be useful for both our military supplies as well as civilian products. We could also ask for a nice fee for letting civilians use our train system. Alone a connection between Konoha and the capitol would be immensely valuable."

"Not a bad idea, Naruto. I will certainly discuss this with the daimyo during our next meeting. From the report I managed to gather that some of your new seal designs passed the test successfully?" Kakashi half asked half stated.

"Yes, the net seals are very useful in a battle when you want to detain your opponent and not kill him. The seal that was created with the Hyuga clan in mind was also a success. Neji used it to great effect. It takes one of the Hyuga's main weaknesses away. I have some more ideas from the mission for new seals as well. I will use the next week to work some of them out and then present them to you," Naruto told his sensei.

"That sounds promising. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Did you have any trouble with Haku? This was the first mission he went on with somebody that was directly involved in the mission that got him captured and Zabuza killed," Kakashi wanted to know.

"No, Haku worked well with me when we infiltrated the fortress and never showed any kind of animosity against me, even if I was the one to defeat and capture him back then," Naruto answered, "He did his part of the mission perfectly."

"That's good to know. While we were already quite sure of the three really having changed sides, there were some concerns left over Haku's feelings towards those directly involved in the Wave Country mission. Good to see that we can lay them to rest. While they will still be watched, we can reduce the number of watchers now with that report," Kakashi stated satisfied.

Naruto just nodded. Then he was surprised to have a scroll thrown at him.

"What is this, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"A sealing matrix that one of our teams came across when they were on a mission. We don't know yet what it truly means, which is why I want you to have a look at it, Naruto. I would give you the same full week of free time as the others, but this is urgent. The scroll arrived yesterday and the team is waiting for our response on how to proceed with their mission," Kakashi stated.