The Path Of a Hunternin

Kage Summit

It has been two days since Naruto left the Hidden Village in the Leaves and things went back to normal once more. He enjoyed being out of the village. It brought a sense of freedom, while at the same time maintained the level of loyalty that was expected of its shinobi. True, he loved his girlfriend and the time he spent with her family was more than anything Naruto could ever ask for, but…being out here looking for missing-nins was different. The thrill of the hunt was exhilarating. Add to the fact that he now had one of Konoha's best noses; no one could escape his grasp now.

His next target, according to the bingo book, was last seen in Tanzaku Gai.

Mangetsu managed to find traces of her scent lingering close by. The bingo book had enough detail on the target that a ninja dog, with enough training, could sense and triangulate their position. That being said, Naruto simply resumed to walk towards the gambling village of Fire Country. It wouldn't bode well for him if the woman spotted him coming a mile away and prepared beforehand. After all, it was the hunter's job to sneak attack someone, not the other way around. Not to mention that Tatsuko could very well flee and Naruto would have to chase the woman once more. Within half an hour, he reached the small gates of the gambling city and went inside for a quick scout, before finding a hotel to stay. One of the traits of a hunter-nin was that he didn't need to worry about time. If he wanted to take a week to capture a missing-nin, he was free to do so.

Not that he ever had to wait that long, but it only made the feeling of freedom that much more enjoyable.

As Naruto passed through the city, he could hear varied emotions coming from the civilians and even some of the samurais/rounins. Some screamed to the heavens asking how they could have lost their savings to gambling, while others just savored their winnings. It was always like this, in the end. In gambling, either you win or you lose…just like a shinobi, he supposed. The only difference was that by gambling, you could lose all your money, but as a shinobi, you could lose your life, instead. Naruto could see Mangetsu sniffing around a bit and he knew it wouldn't take long for her to locate the Hyuuga missing-nin. However, if the woman was as smart as he assumed, Naruto liked to always overestimate his enemies, she would be aware of their presence, the minute she spotted the nin-dog. He couldn't allow it to happen.

"Mangetsu-chan, let's find a hotel nearby…there is no sense scouting the entire village in one day, right?"

"But…"

"If our target realizes we're here, she will have two choices. One, try to flee, which is not advisable since we would have to chase her or two, she decides to fight in the middle of the city. I don't want either of these choices, so let's continue the hunt some other time. You've already located her scent in the village. Just focus your nose and memorize it" After seeing the dog nod briefly, Naruto turned to see a nice little inn just on top of a sushi stand. It didn't take ten minutes to get a room, as the hotel wasn't so popular amongst the tourists. To Naruto, it suited just fine. It wasn't overpriced like some of the hotels he had to stay before and the hotel's location provided him a nice view of the entire village without having to look around for his target.

A couple meters far from the inn, a purple haired woman was trying her luck at the poker tables, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was being hunted.

Being a missing-nin, she didn't have a steady income, so whatever money she managed by protecting some merchant or being a shylock for one of the small banks in Tanzaku Gai, she tried her luck in gambling. With her Byakugan, she could spot deception a mile away and, thus, she managed to win every time. It wasn't glorious, sure. But, her entire life wasn't glorious, after what her family did to her back in Konohagakure. The woman swore revenge against the man who used the caged bird seal technique on her. To this day, she could remember the unbearable pain. Suddenly, a lone tear escaped her left eye. It was a feeling she loathed, but still she couldn't get rid of it.