12 True Yin-Yang Body and Soul Tempering (1/2)

Meanwhile, Team Seven left the Hokage Mansion and made their way towards the Cryptanalysis Team. Kakashi had told them it wasn't relatively far away. ”Kakashi-sensei, what actually does the Cryptanalysis Team do?” Sakura asked slightly confused and just what they were going to be doing. Kakashi had lowered his book upon hearing Sakura's question. Truth be told, a lot of what they did he didn't particularly understand either, but he supposed he could give a solid answer as best he could. ”Well Sakura, the Cryptanalysis Team deals in deciphering secret coded messages. They take their orders directly from the Hokage. Their building is located a bit away from the Intelligence Division. They work rather closely with our Aviary team since we have messages sent via messenger hawks.

Imagine if you were behind enemy lines and you had to pass on information. Assuming that the information made it past enemy lines and into Konoha then it would be the job of the Cryptanalysis Team to decipher those messages. It's mainly a lot of reading and translation of codes.” Kakashi said. Sakura nodded. It sounded like something right up her alley. Sasuke didn't really care what they did, but it was much better than the alternatives. Naruto didn't precisely have an opinion mainly because he had his mind occupied in his own thoughts. It was currently February 8th, it will be Valentines day soon... I should get something for Hinata-chan. .....Maybe some chocolate for Ashe and Annie too, they did help me out a lot after all.

After about ten minutes, Team Seven finally reached the office building for the Cryptanalysis Team. Kakashi quickly opened the sliding door and met with the receptionist. Naruto ignored the hesitant stare that was sent his way while Kakashi held up a scroll. The receptionist merely nodded before pointing down a corridor. The team walked forward. ”Mitoku-sensei where are you going?! We still need your help here!” a sharp female voice came through the hallway. Naruto turned an eye in the direction of the noise.

”We're not going to get anything done like this I'll just finish this at home.” another voice was heard, obviously male. Sakura blinked while Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Kakashi sighed. Sounds like it wasn't going to be as quiet as he had hoped. The team turned to the door just in time for a heavy crash to come through the room. Kakashi hand had just been on the doorknob as he sweatdropped. Sasuke glared forward. Just what kind of mission was this?

”They sound…interesting.” Sakura said nearly voicing the thoughts of the entire group before Kakashi opened the door. A wave of dust exploded into the hallway as multiple coughs were heard. Once the dust settled, Team Seven was greeted to the sight of a young light blonde haired female. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail with occasional strands sticking out. Naruto frowned at her glasses. She also wore a white lab coat over her red dress and had on her forehead protector backwards, and a sash around her waist.

”Man, Yurika-san's gonna be soooo pissed,” she said before realizing that she was not alone. She looked up and noticed the expressions of Team Seven. They looked majorly unimpressed. She quickly released one more cough before cursing. She straightened herself. ”Erm…sorry about the mess. My name is Shiho. Can I help you?” She asked. Kakashi took a look around as piles upon piles of scrolls littered the ground along with piles of notebooks. Computers and printers blinked and sounded as a window was opened. No, it looked more like Team Seven should have been asking that question. ”We're Team Seven. We're responding to your D-rank mission. Mission 8T532-AD6.” Kakashi said with narrowed eyes. Now Naruto knew something was really up when the woman named Shiho stiffened. Her colleagues were all in the same boat as they looked from Sasuke to Sakura before resting on Naruto. Naruto resisted the urge to sigh. He was going to have a headache at the end of this, wasn't he?

Shiho paned over the faces of Team Seven. ”D-rank Mission 8T532-AD6? Did I hear that right?” Shiho asked just on the off chance that her mind was messing with her. She was looking through the group of genin. Forgive her as they were more or less her age group, but she doubted any of them was a Nara. While Shiho didn't know a whole great deal on the procedures of the special D-rank missions, she still knew that they required a person with an abnormal amount of skill or intellect to fully comprehend or even attempt. Actually Shiho was one of the few…non-Nara shinobi to take the special D-rank missions.

The person she identified as Uchiha Sasuke, while a remarkable genin, she didn't see him as someone who had the aptitude for these. It took more than being proclaimed 'Rookie of the Year' to handle these missions. It's not that Shiho was looking down on the Uchiha heir. She was sure that he was a very capable individual, but…personally she didn't think he was for these types of tasks.

She turned her eyes to Haruno Sakura. Shiho wouldn't lie. She had felt that out of all of them, Sakura had the…most aptitude from her grades more or less. While not better than Sasuke in the shinobi department, it held weight that she excelled at theory in shinobi classes. Shiho had actually been one of the assistant teachers who graded Sakura's papers. She had been intrigued by some of Sakura's deductions and calculations which is why she believed Sakura to be the most…capable of all of them.

She turned to finally rest on Uzumaki Naruto. What…was she supposed to say? There was no way Uzumaki Naruto could do these. Someone with the worst grades in the academy would never be able handle these missions. It's not like Shiho was trying to be mean, but she was a definite realist. How Uzumaki Naruto even graduated was beyond her, but the fact that their sensei, Hatake Kakashi, a famous shinobi no less, recommended them for this obviously told her that she was missing something here. Plus, the way Naruto's blue eyes seemed to pulsate and glare into her form nearly made her shiver. They were nice in a…creepy sort of way.

”Yep, we'll be taking this mission.” Kakashi said with a small grin behind his mask. Shiho just nodded before turning over to her supervisor. ”Looks like you won't be able to go home early Mitoku-sensei. Team Seven is reporting for Mission Number 8T532-AD6.” Shiho said. The man, Mitoku, frowned before he took the mission scroll from Shiho and looked it over. Yup, this was the mission that they had, by obligation, put into the mission system. Mitoku wasn't actually expecting anyone short of a Nara to do these. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

”What a drag...” Mitoku said before he stood up from his chair. He walked past the genin team. ”Shiho, gather the papers, we're heading to the CDR room.” Mitoku said. Shiho nodded and quickly moved grab some scrolls of the shelves. ”Please, follow us.” Shiho said. The group turned around and walked after them. As they walked, Naruto couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was off here. Never mind the fact that his sensei had a grin on his face the entire time, but also the way the entire Cryptanalysis team had looked at them when the mission was stated. Naruto didn't like it. Something was going on here and he was sure he would hate Kakashi for it.

”Tell me, Shiho-san, you guys at the Cryptanalysis Team encrypt and decrypt messages. Does that mean your team can decipher any message?” Sakura asked. Shiho withheld the smirk at her lips. ”No, no, Sakura-san. That would be rather impossible. There are even texts from the Shodaime's era that we have trouble deciphering. We make out bits and pieces thus allowing us to get a rather hazy view of the message. Most of the encrypted messages are by others who want to get select information. We most deal in the work of undercover operatives in the other nations. We need their messages to help keep tabs on the other nations.” Shiho replied. Sakura slowly nodded.

”Given that tactic of yours. Does that mean you believe they wouldn't do the same to us?” Naruto asked. Mitoku and Kakashi nearly lost their stride for a brief moment. Undercover operatives…while common were sometimes some of the best shinobi. Not only did they have to blend into the village, but they had to interact in such a way that raised suspicion from no one. No village liked undercover operatives and getting discovered easily warranted execution, but the idea that their village could even have some based on Shiho's explanation and Naruto's question, Kakashi and Mitoku suddenly felt a need to go see Hokage.

Not even Shiho could deny that Naruto's question disrupted her thoughts a little bit. She hadn't expected such a question out of him of all people. She never thought he would turn her own explanation right back at her like that in form of a question. ”Well I would hope that wouldn't happen to Konoha. It would be bad if it did, but we do have some of the best detection forces out of the Five Great Nations.” Shiho replied. Naruto would have made a comment flooded with sarcasm, but he decided not to.

Kakashi could see that Naruto wasn't entirely satisfied, but he was glad that the blond decided to not pursue that line of questioning anymore. Kakashi knew that if Shiho kept answering then she would have found herself going around in circles with her arguments against what Naruto was saying. It was probably in Kakashi's mind, but he was sure that Naruto almost liked doing this to some people. ”Here we are!” Mitoku said as he opened a door to a much larger room. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto could see and hear a computer beeping, a glass room with a platform and the door leading to the platform.

”You still haven't told us what we're doing...” Sasuke said a little irritated at getting nothing done. He leaned against the wall as the others filed into the room. Everyone began to spread out over the entire room as Mitoku walked over to the lone computer in front of the glass room. He placed the files down. ”Impatient, aren't you? You should learn to take things easily when you can Sasuke-kun. Now then, since we're all eager to get started, I will tell you that we will be running a training simulation. This is to not only help create new combat sequences that we can put into books in the library, but it will also help us in creating new fitness books for shinobi your age. This is a D-rank mission after all.” Mitoku said as Shiho placed some more scrolls and papers on the computer. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

They actually needed genin for this? That was odd. Usually you didn't have genin doing exercises like other genin or even other civilians. That was what the academy taijutsu was for, to give everyone a starting point. This 'mission' just essentially made the Academy Taijutsu a useless endeavor. ”Is there something wrong with the Academy's taijutsu that you would need something like this?” Naruto asked. Mitoku sent Naruto a small look, a little intrigued before moving back to his computer.

”Did you think that all students not coming from a clan favored the Academy's taijutsu? For those who are looking for something more personal, or to set themselves apart from the standard then that is what we are doing. Now since I won't ask Uchiha Sasuke to showcase his Uchiha taijutsu for just anyone to copy I had Shiho give us some scrolls we had on some old taijutsu forms. What we're going to do is have two spar while the third helps Shiho with the adjusting. It will help us discover any flaws or weaknesses.” Mitoku said. Naruto didn't truly believe him, but he didn't comment.

”Hn, then the dobe and I will fight. Sakura can run the simulation numbers. Let' get this over with.” Sasuke said, sounding in Naruto's ears, a little more eager than just a few seconds ago. It seemed like Sasuke was looking forward to being able to look at more taijutsu. Naruto wasn't going to hide it. He was too. He had recognized in his fight with Kakashi that he still had holes he needed to cover though some of those holes were only ones that time could fulfill such as him not having enough experience or him not having the same strength as Kakashi who was a grown human being. That said, Naruto did find it interesting that they could look.

”Now, now, Sasuke, I know you're eager, but everyone's going to fight. It will get some good taijutsu practice for all of you while I observe. Besides, you don't even know which ones you'll get so keep calm.” Kakashi said with an eyesmile. Naruto and Sasuke glanced to each other before they noticed Shiho open a box. A box full of sticky suckers. Shiho quickly applied a bit of glue and wire to them.

”Naruto-san, Sasuke-san, I'm going to apply these to your clothes. With them, we will be able to record the data as you practice. This mission might go over a week or even a week and a half. I'm sure we'll have a productive session.” Shiho said as she applied the stickers to Sasuke's face and his clothes before doing the same to Naruto and his clothes.

”Pick a scroll and read it. You'll have half an hour to read as much as you can while Shiho explains the equipment to Sakura-san.” Mitoku said. Sasuke and Naruto glanced to each other before moving to the scrolls in the pile. Naruto didn't bother looking at what Sasuke was picking as he was too busy thinking while searching. A D-rank mission that lasted that long? From how Iruka had taught them in the Academy, one's typical D-rank mission lasted at least one hour, a max of a day or two. What type of D-rank needed a week? Naruto frowned. Something was really wrong here. There was something here he wasn't getting. That said, he still needed to participate even if he didn't really want to.

Naruto rummaged through some of the scrolls present. He didn't know how many they were intent on doing. He had done some reading, but none of the styles that he read on any subject seemed to suit him. Naruto pushed each scroll to the side. His taijutsu, he admitted, was lacking. He didn't have the most amazing hand-to-hand combat techniques, he hadn't really practiced outside of using shadow clones.

As he rummaged, Naruto felt his hand scrape through something wooden. He narrowed his eyes before he moved to grab the wooden square. A wooden book to be exact. Naruto picked it up and unfurled it. He looked at the name. ”True Yin-Yang Body and Soul Tempering” Naruto read the scroll. He gazed down through the stances in front of him. There were graphical images of the chakra points along with a depiction of a human outline with a blue smoke inside the lines. It was telling how even the chakra points were susceptible to feeling different temperatures such as cold and heat and that through repeated exposure to extremes his body could be tempered, eventually to the strength of steel. There was also a part that mentioned that the will needed to undergo the painful training would increase the strength of one's soul or will. It also included some basic stances and some taijutsu stances and moves as well, it seemed this was an all-around skill.

”Naruto-san, do you have your scroll? We'll be beginning soon,” Shiho called jerking from his thoughts. He turned back to see Sasuke already in the glass room and on the platform.

He just settled for a nod before he moved into the room as well. Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side. A sound from the microphone behind the glass came into their ears. ”We'll spend the first two or three days going through the routine exercises and then we'll proceed to forms and then to application of them.” Mitoku said. Naruto and Sasuke nodded while Sakura was currently at the computer with Shiho. Kakashi seemed content to just watch.

”Alright Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, you may begin!” Mitoku said. Naruto and Sasuke saw the white lights on the ceiling suddenly turn red. ”Do not worry about the lights. They are merely sensing your chakra and relaying it back to our computer. It will copy the movements and allow us to make a better analysis,” Mikotu replied. Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for a moment before Sasuke began his own exercises. Naruto opened his scroll and stared at one of the exercises to the technique. The scroll did say that a study of the chakra points was needed so Naruto would go to that when he went home.

Naruto dropped to the ground and fell to a meditative posture. The scroll said to mediate, to attempt to send chakra to all points of the body simultaneously. This was proving impossible for him at first since he couldn't feel his chakra and never really had been able to, but without words, the chakra from Kurama slowly began to enter his system and he gladly took control of it as he sent a mental thank you to the fox. for some, this step was impossible because when thinking or fighting chakra cycled through the body, but never stayed in parts of the body at the same time. It was concentrated into specific areas. If you were fighting then you concentrated your chakra into your hands or feet since those were where the pressure was hardest. Emitting chakra was more than one part of the body was…difficult.

Naruto continued to mediate, attempting to do as the scroll indicated. Naruto didn't expect any real results in the first fifteen minutes or even half an hour, but nearly an hour later. ”Naruto-san, can you stop for a moment?” Naruto opened his eyes hearing the speakers. Sasuke, who had been doing his exercises, stopped as well. On the outside of the glass, Mitoku stood up. ”Did you find something?” Mitoku asked as Shiho and Sakura looked over the computer. Kakashi leaned from over the wall and gave the screen a look as well. The representation of Naruto was sitting on some kind of floor as well, but everyone could see the beginnings of an orange hue in the far left shoulder of Naruto's chakra points.

”Three of his chakra points suddenly turned orange. They've been changing from orange to blue and back for about 45 minutes now,” Sakura said, looking at the computer screen. What this meant…she had no freakin' clue. They didn't go over this when she was in the academy.

”It might be a product of him and the exercise from the scrolls, but he's only been meditating. Sasuke-san has been the most…physical in his exercises from his scroll. I've also be watching his other…body functions. It's odd, the temperature in the left side of his body steadily rose for a moment then dropped to lower than room temp” Shiho said. Mitoku placed a finger to his chin.

”Let's continue to observe for now. When two hours passes then we'll have Sakura-san do hers. But keep a closer eye on Naruto-kun.” Mitoku said. Shiho and Sakura nodded before Mitoku spoke into the mic. ”No worries Naruto-san. You may continue!” The head of the Cryptanalysis Team said. Naruto blinked before he closed his eyes. He knew there was something they weren't telling him, but he would figure it out later.

It was another two hours before Naruto and Sasuke stopped their exercises. Sakura had the amazing sight of Sasuke rubbing his face with a towel from his sweat while Naruto looked over to see Shiho and Mitoku discussing something that he couldn't hear. The scroll did say that when the meditation was finished then the user should have been a bit warmer in some places than before and cooler than others. Naruto felt…warmer on his left side and cooler on his right, but that feeling soon passed as a comfortable warmth took precedence.