Discovering his Heritage

Breaking through the Lock

After Naruto and Maris left the training grounds, they made their way back towards Naruto's apartment where Naruto planned on diving into the books that he checked out of the library but as he was setting the books down on his dresser; he sighted the strange lockbox that he had stolen from the last Grass camp they had infiltrated.

Since the lockbox has become his next objective, Naruto decides that it would be best if he has Maris help teach him the best method to pick a lock since the Anbu are the only Ninja within the village that are taught this skill.

Grabbing ahold of the lockbox, Naruto made his way towards Maris's room. Once reaching the room, Naruto gave the door a quick series of knocks that would allow Maris to know that he was outside his room. Seconds after Naruto finished knocking on the door, Maris's voice came echoing out. "You can enter Naruto."

Following the words, Naruto pushed his way through the door to see Maris standing by the window of the room once more though this time around the other male had a shirt covering the scars that crisscrossed his back. "Is there something that you need, Naruto?" Maris asked when he heard the creaking of the door.

"I was wondering if you would be able to teach me how to pick a lock." Naruto replied as he made his way across the floor of Maris's room, to stand next to his comrade.

Naruto's arrival caused Maris to divert his gaze that was previously staring at the village that was outside of his window. Before Maris was able to ask what Naruto was wanting to pick the lock on, Naruto held up the lockbox that was within his hand. "I will gladly show you how to pick a lock though once you learn this skill, I will hope that you don't spend your time breaking into places you shouldn't be going." Maris's voice fluttered out and as Naruto was gazing at the other boy's face; he saw a small smile forming on his lips.

"Trust me Maris, I don't plan on becoming a petty thief though I think the skill would allow me to become a much better Ninja and plus this lockbox could contain valuable information." Naruto retorted before setting the lockbox down on Maris's dresser.

As Naruto was readying to learn the skill that would allow him to break into this lockbox, Maris disappeared behind him for a moment and when he reappeared; he was carrying a small pouch in his hands. Placing the pouch down on the same dresser as the lockbox, Maris opened it and brought out two slender objects. Though Naruto had never used a lockpick before, he knew what they looked like and immediately recognized the items that Maris brought out from the pouch.

Maris handed over one of the lockpicks that he brought out to Naruto and once Naruto held the pick in his hand, Maris started speaking. "Insert the lockpick into the lock and feel for each of the tumblers that make up the lock." Maris explained though his voice was fluttering out once more. "When you come upon a tumbler, you will work the lockpick to push the tumbler up until you hear a click and then you will continue on to the next."

Once Maris finished the last of his words, Naruto knew that was all the explanation that he was going to receive at this point and with that; he followed the instructions that Maris had given him.

Naruto placed the pick inside of the lock that contained the intel that he hoped would lead him to the next camp and once the pick was firmly inside of the lock; Naruto started to move the lockpick towards the first tumbler.

Naruto gave the tumbler a couple of hits which allowed him to get the pick firmly underneath it and once this was done; he started to move the tumbler towards the top of the lock. A few seconds later, he heard the click that Maris was telling him to listen for. With one tumbler down, Naruto moved onto the next and once finding it; he followed the same plan that he used for the first one.

This tumbler just like the first was easy enough to get underneath and once again Naruto brought it towards the top of the lock which was then followed by the click. Once again, Naruto moved on to the next obstacle which he found a moment later. Though this time the tumbler was more difficult to get underneath. Naruto gathered as much of his strength as he could and was just about to ram the lockpick into the tumbler but before he could; Maris grabbed ahold of his wrist.

"Naruto, calm yourself. If you use that much force you will end up snapping the lockpick and if you snap it that far into the lock it will be difficult to retrieve. Just take your time and you will be able to completely pick this lock." Maris explained.

With Maris's word still rebounding inside of his ears, Naruto focused on his task and when he calmed himself enough to move forward; he once again assaulted the tumbler. This time around Naruto was able to get the lockpick underneath the tumbler and once he did, he slowly began to lift it towards the top of the lock and when he heard the click that he was waiting for he knew that he had successfully broken into the lockbox.

Before he was able to remove the lockpick from the lock, the voice of his bloodline went off in his ears. "New skill has been acquired."

Naruto was thankful that Maris had been able to teach him enough to learn a new skill and when his bloodline's words had finished, Naruto extracted the lockpick from the lock. Once this was done, Naruto handed the pick back to Maris who was quick in his movements to place it back within the pouch. Though Naruto was pleasantly surprised when Maris held out the pouch for Naruto to take.

"Since I have another set of lockpicks, you can have this set." Maris informed Naruto who took the lockpicks with a smile on his face.

As Naruto held the pouch of lockpicks in his hands, he felt a flutter in the pit of his stomach though he didn't quite know what it was. "Thank you." Naruto muttered out though he kept his gaze averted from Maris and instead focused his attention on the lockbox that he had just finished breaking into.

Placing the pouch back on the dresser, Naruto opened the lockbox which allowed him to find various papers and what looked to be a map of the Leaf Village and as he looked at the map, he saw a red circle was placed around one of the warehouses in the market district. "I wonder why they would have one of our warehouses circled. Also, where would they have even gotten a map of our village?" Naruto contemplated as he folded the map back up and moved on to one of the other papers within the pile.

This paper seemed to be a letter addressed to the camp leader that Naruto had recently captured.

Arazan Kinobe,

I am writing to inform you that myself and the team that you sent along with me have managed to infiltrate the Leaf. Just like you said, the Leaf wouldn't look twice if we entered their village dressed as merchants; they were practically salivating at the sight of the goods that we brought in with us. Enclosed with this letter is a map where we have set up camp, use it to send in reinforcements and when the time is right, we will strike from within the village. Once again, I wanted to thank you for having faith in me to run my own camp; I will not let you down.

Sincerely, Risho Aika

The moment that Naruto had finished reading the letter, a cold dread washed over him. "Maris! We have to warn Tsunade...the Grass has infiltrated us!" Naruto cried out as he grasped the letter within his hands, though before he ran out of the room; Naruto had snatched ahold of the map that he had sat on the dresser.

With that, Naruto used every ounce of his speed to sprint from the room and from his home to warn his Hokage of the threat that they were under.

Authors notes: Thank you to everyone who has read this chapter as well as all the other chapters of this story. Also, thank you to those users who have been commenting on the story; your support is what drives to write in the first place. As always, I will see you all next time!

Skills: Coder's Eyes: Genetic Code, Deception, Bartering, Interrogation.

Traits: One of the Guys.

Missions: Exposing Corruption, The Grass Invasion, The Yamoto's Past, Updating your Arsenal.