After Aceso and Lee returned to the village, they both received an ear full of anger. Lady Hokage wasn't very happy about why they split up, and she wasn't very happy that it was a setup to get the young doctor. Nonetheless, everything else she was happy about, as, for Aceso and Lee, their relationship has gotten stronger, less serious arguing. 

At the moment Aceso was walking with Naruto and Sakura through a construction site.

"Whoa" Naruto breathed at the sight of all the buildings being put up. " I can't believe all the new buildings they're putting up around here!"

" I heard a lot of construction sites are short-handed," Sakura brought up. "There aren't enough carpenters to get the work done so they've had to hire people from outside the village.

"Even I know about that," Naruto chuckled. They stopped at the sight of an older man hammering away. " It's Old Man Genno!

"Oh, Naruto," Genno greeted.

"You know him?" Aceso asked.

"Yeah, he's from The Land of Sand he's into ramen," Naruto answered. "Sometimes we run to each other at Ichiraku."

" How about it? Wanna grab some later?" Genno asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto cheerfully agreed. 

"Uh," both the girls sighed. That night they were at Ichiraku's for so,e grub.

"Here you go!" Teuchii announced as he put a bowl down.

"Thanks, it looks great!" Naruto complimented. 

 "Enjoy!" Teuchi encouraged them, they happily slurped down their ramen.

"Ah!" Naruto smiled. " No doubt about it, Ichiraku has the best ramen in town!" 

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Teuchi said as Ayame laughed. 

"Could I have some more water, please?" Genno requested.

"Sure!" Ayame happily agreed.

"Ahh, that hit the spot!" Naruto smiled as he set down the empty bowl.

"You're done?" Aceso asked.

"That one bowl was enough to fill you up?" Genno asked.

"Not really. I can always eat more ramen!" Naruto answered as he scratched the back of his head.

"Here then, you can finish mine..."Genno offered as he pushed his bowl over to Naruto.

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, he grabbed his chopsticks, happily sucking down more ramen.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded.4

"Don't worry, they're always like this," Ayame said.

"The way they act, you'd think Naruto was his grandson," Teuchi added.

"You need to loosen up a little bit, Sakura," Naruto advised. "You've been hanging around too many crabby people...Grandma Tsunade, Shino, Ino, Kiba, and Kakashi Sensei--You're all crabs!"

" We wouldn't be so crabby towards you if you weren't such a jerk!" Sakura shot.

" See, you're doing it again," Naruto pointed out. "That's just what I'm talking about!" Sakura punched him. " Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

"Not compared to what the others are going to do to you when I tell what you said!" Sakura warned.

"You should really watch what you say around girls, Naruto," Aceso advised. " And other people in general." Genno happily laughed. Aceso got home and opened the door to find Lee fast asleep on her bed. He was under the covers and cuddling a 20-pound weight, plus he was drooling a little. She shook her head and grabbed a basket of sheets that was next to her room before going up to the roof. As she was folding the third set of clothes, a state of emergency alert went off. A smoke screen flooded the village of the leaf, moments later a hawk flew over her head, sounding off the alarm and she appeared in the Hokage's office along with other Jonin. Lady Tsunade nodded her head after the explanation was given out.

" So then, you think someone's planning an attack against the Hidden lead Village, right?" Gai-sensei asked. 

" For now, that's all we've got," Shizune said. "It's the only possible explanation. Why else would they want those plans? Besides Genno's last words would support that theory.

"Even with the blueprints is should take time to plan their assault! But we can't gamble our lives on that!" Tsunade declared.  "We must assume the enemy must attack us at any time. I'm going to authorize an S-Level Emergency Security Alert! Leave only those necessary to guard the village and send every available man to secure the borders! Us what every force necessary! Attack anyone who attempts to cross the border! They must not be allowed to reach the village!" Aceso had to stay back and help out there. She was now in the Hokage's office with the lazy king himself.

"This assignment sounds like a drag..."Shikamaru groaned.

"It doesn't sound so bad," Aceso disagreed. 

"Nonetheless, I'll be counting on you two to handle it," Tsunade said. "That's why I'm asking the two of you to remain stationed in the village.

"But in order to get this job, we are going to need more men than you've given us," Shikamaru said.

"We haven't got one man to spare, so you'll just have to make do with what you've got," Shizune said.

"Under the circumstances, they're the best I can do," Tsunade added.

"The best huh..."Shikamaru groaned as he scratched the top of his head. Tsunade had them stand to the side as they waited for a few others to show up. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Tsunade called, and the door opened revealing Sakura and Naruto.

"Thank you, ma'am," Sakura said. " I brought Naruto liked you asked."

"Hey, Shikamaru! Hey little sister!" Naruto greeted them. He started laughing. "Looks like I'm not the only one left out."

"Left out?" Aceso repeated.

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked.

" Aw, never mind," Naruto denied as he looked away from them. "But what did you think about all that fog last night? Pretty weird, huh?"

" Cut it out!" Sakura urged. " I told you, you were dreaming!"

"There wasn't any fog last night," Aceso denied as Shikamaru put his arms behind his head.

"You see? I told you," Sakura said.

"What you saw was a smokescreen," Shikamaru corrected.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

" We'll explain once everybody gets here," Shikamaru answered.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, Sakura, the reason we took the two of you off the as Level Emergency Security Unit is because we wanted you to work under Doctor Matsuba and Shikamaru on a special mission," Tsunade explained.

"What?" Naruto demanded.

"That's right, we're working together," Shikamaru confirmed. "First thing you need to do is gather a few more people."

"Hm?" the remaining of team 7 asked. Not too long Aceso was at the memorial stone along with the rest of the people added to the mission. Tenten sat on a rock sharpening her tools, Lee did push-ups on his thumbs as Naruto paced back and forth impatiently. 

"Would you quit pacing around like that? " Sakura demanded. " Calm down."

" It's already past the time we were supposed to meet!" Naruto argued.

" Not quite," Shino denied. " To be accurate, it's still 20 seconds till."

"Guess he made it," Neji said as they looked to see Choji showing up, he munched on chips as usual.

"What's up? You guys waiting for anyone else?" Choji asked.

"Can you tell me why you're always the last to arrive?" Ino asked.

"I'm glad we're all here," Shikamaru said. "We can finally get started. "As I'm sure you're all aware by now, the village has been placed under an S-Level Emergency Security alert. You're probably wondering why."

"Lasy night's smoke-screen, right"?" Kiba asked. 

"You guys knew that was a smokescreen?" Naruto asked. 

"Of course," Neji answered.

"My insects made quite the fuss over it," Shino answered.

" Really?" Choji asked. " That's funny, I didn't notice anything!"

"Maybe you should stop eating and open your eyes!" Ino shouted.

  "Lee, do you have any idea what caused this?" Tenten asked.

 " I know it had something to do with Anbu-Black Ops, so I did not get involved," Lee answered.

"Hm," Aceso nodded. " You're right. The Anbu were at the scene." 

"Just as I thought," Hinata said.

"This is as much as we know...The Anbu have had a man under constant surveillance for the past two weeks," Aceso reported to the group.

"Once inside, he found the chest containing the blueprints for all the important structures in the village and stole them," Shikamaru added. 

"Blueprints?" Tenten asked.

"So what's the big deal?" Naruto asked. "What can this guy do with a bunch of stolen blueprints?"

 "What can he do with them?" Ino repeated annoyed. " Give me a break!"

"Oh, Naruto," Hinata sighed.

"In the wrong hands, the blueprints for the fort around the village could prove disastrous," Neji explained.

"How?" Naruto asked.

"Once the enemy has a detailed analysis of the structure it would a simple matter for them to find the most efficient way to break into the village." Naruto let out a gasp. "What if they have the blueprint to Lady Tsunade's mansion? With that as their guide, it would be child's play to devise an attack on Lady Tsunade's room. 

"And if they were to fall into the hands of an assassin," Kiba added.

"You're right," Naruto breathed as he looked down. " I never knew how dangerous this could be!"

"That smoke screen last night was something the suspect used to cover his getaway," Aceso explained.

" I see," Shino breathed.

"Despite all the smoke, the Black Ops were able to corner him in the Eastern Forest," Aceso explained.

"But before they could get him to say anything," Shikamaru added. "He put in the thought of a suicide bomb." 

"Hm," they all sounded. 

"Anbu searched the blast sight. They concluded that he had not been in possession of the blueprint when the explosion occurred," Shikamaru explained. "We have to hope they're not already in the hands of the enemy or the Hidden Leaf Village could be history. You can see why Lady Tsunade ordered the S-Level Emergency Security Alert.

"So what's our mission, what do we have to do?" Kiba asked.

"Since he didn't have them when he died, our mission is to find out where the thief hid those blueprints and recover them," Aceso explained. 

"It's like finding a needle in a haystack," Neji said.

"If we want to find where the thief hid something, maybe we should start out by retracing his steps," Tenten suggested.

"The thing is, this guy had a reputation for setting some pretty nasty booby traps," Shikamaru brought up. "And chances are, we'll run into some of them when we're looking for those blueprints."

"I'd say it's highly probable," Shino agreed.

" We understand," Ino said. "Just give the order and we'll get started."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked.

"You'll need some background information," Aceso brought up as Shikamaru looked at his cards. "We checked around some and found out that this guy snuck into the village a few months back posing as a carpenter." Shikamaru threw out the cards to each individual person.

" Wait, this guy is..."Sakura gasped and so did Naruto.

"That's right," Aceso nodded. " It's the guy we had ramen with last night...to the rest of you, this man's name was Genno."

"No..."Naruto denied softly. "No way..." They set off into the village to begin their mission, Naruto was in the lead. " It's impossible! Old Man Genno didn't have a mean bone in his body. "He's just a sweet old man, who loved the ramen at Ichiraku! He's not the kind of person who would do that! He wouldn't destroy the Hidden Leaf Village."

"C'mon on Naruto," Shikamaru said. " You thought he was a nice guy but was all an act. He wanted us to let our guard down, so when he got here, he played the part of the harmless old carpenter to avoid suspicion."

"You can't love ramen that much and be bad!" Naruto argued as he faced the group.

" No. Bad guys like ramen, they love it," Choji argued.

" Choji...Maybe if you try and talk some sense into him, he'll listen?" Shikamaru suggested.

"Though I've gotta admit, I've never seen a bad person eating at Ichiraku's! Ever!" Choji said.

"Told ya!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That's great!" Shikamaru groaned as he rubbed his head. " Thanks for helping me out, Choji." 

"Let's keep going," Aceso ordered as she walked past Naruto.

"Right," Shikamaru agreed as the rest followed. They reached the carpenter's house, where he reported information. Everyone sat on the sides as Acseo and Shikamaru sat in the middle.

"Here's a list of all the blueprints that were stolen," Kanna offered. "I can't tell you how ashamed I am for not guarding these plans properly. I can never face Lady Tsunade again.

"Which construction jobs were Genno involved with?" Aceso asked as Shikamaru flipped a page.

"None," Kanna answered. "He didn't work on any of those."

"But I thought...Didn't you say that Genno worked for you?" Sakura brought up.

"The structures on that list involve the safety of the village. Outsiders aren't allowed to work on them," Kanna explained. " I always make sure that outside contractors are only allowed to work on residential construction."

"So then, you don't think there's any chance he could have slipped in and set traps on these sites," Shino brought up.

" We have excellent security," Kanna informed.

"Right," Neji breathed as he stood up. " But we should check them, just in case." Neji walked over to the middle.

"Here, Neji," Shikamaru offered as he handed the book to him. 

"I think you're best qualified to handle this, Hinata," Neji admitted.

"Mm...Of course," Hinata nodded as she stood up.

" I would like to volunteer to help!" Lee offered as he stood up.  

"Me too," Tenten agreed as she stood up. Those four went off to complete their task.

" I know I mentioned this, but there's still a chance the enemy hasn't gotten those plans yet," Shikamaru said. "He evaded the ANBU Black Ops for a while during his escape, so he could have hidden them."

"You want us to think like thieves and figure out where right?" Kiba asked as he stood up with Shino.

"Leave it to us," Shino assured. Those two then left to go complete their tasks. 

  "Aceso, Ino, and Sakura, I want you three to go over what's left of the old man's body," Shikamaru announced. " I know it's a long shot, but you might be able to find a clue."

"Oh please...Why do we have to do it?" Ino asked. 

"On it," Aceso agreed as she stood up.

"Got it," Sakura backed her up as she stood up.

" Aw, fine!" Ino gave in as she stood up. " If you think it'll do any good." Those three then left the place. " Aceso, Sakura, you really think you two can handle this?"

" All that the medical ninja training will finally come in handy," Sakura answered. " I can't be scared of something like this."

"It's nothing new to me," Aceso answered as she and Sakura walked ahead. "Coming Ino?"

"You two may be fine, but it gives me the creeps," Ino said as she crossed her arms. She quickly caught up with the other two.