They arrived at the hospital and Aceso had to change into her doctor gear, while the girls waited. 

"Are you sure about this?" Hosho asked as they walked to the doors.

"Yes," Aceso answered. "We need to look at the body for clueless after we resemble it."

"Right," He nodded as he opened the doors to Sakura and Ino. "This way, please." The two led the other girls into the room.

"Doctor Matsuba," the medics acknowledged her as she walked into the room. It took a while for Aceso to adjust to people always acknowledging her in the hospital when she first became a ninja, but she knows it was just a sign of respect. She was no longer called kid, or the random child that lives here, it was Doctor Matsuba. Aceso put on her gloves and joined the others putting her hands under the blanket.

"What are they doing to him?" Ino asked.

" We are putting his body back together," Hosho answered.

"Do they really have to do that?" Ino asked.

"He was in very bad shape," Hosho answered. "From what I understand he had Paper Bombs from head to toe." He turned to the other girls. " Miss, would you like to wait outside till we're done?"

"Yes, I think I would" Ino answered. 

"I'll stay, thank you," Sakura answered.

"You will?" Ino asked in surprise. Aceso was really happy with Sakura's answer. Ino then stepped out as Sakura stayed and watched. 

"Something's off," Kito whispered.

"I agree," Aceso agreed. "Can we be sure this is even Genno's body?"

"Then whose body is it?" Hosho asked.

"That's another mystery," Aceso said. They soon finished, and Sakura opened the doors to let the Ino back in. Aceso saw the Hinata enter as well as get fellow medic-team left. 

"What do you mean to take a look?" Ino asked as Sakura, Ino, and Aceso stood along the body. " I'm not a medical ninja. How am I supposed to know what I'm looking for? I wouldn't even know where to begin." She looked down and let out a gasp. "Sakura...Aceso...Our suspect here, he was undercover working as a carpenter in the village, right?

"Yeah, that's right. Why? Did you notice something?" Sakura asked.

" It's his hand," Ino answered. "It's way too clean."

"Too clean?" Aceso asked.

"My family owns a flower shop, and I've been serving people there since I was little," Ino explained. "When I see someone's hand, I can tell what kind of work they do. Carpenter's hands are much rougher than this. With scrapes and cuts. And a trap ninja's hand would never be that squeaky clean."

"And what does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"Well, we were suspecting this may not even be Genno at all," Aceso admitted.

"Huh?" the two girls asked.

"May I take a look?" Hinata asked as she walked over to the table.

"Of course," Aceso nodded.

"Byakygan!" Hinata activated, she looked at the body carefully. " I thought so. There's no trace of a developed Chakra Network. This man has never infused his Chakra."

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"As Aceso mentioned...And I overhead the other medics talking outside. Even they have doubts about his identity," Hinata explained. "This person is not a ninja."

"Sakura, you report to Lady Tsunade, Ino your report to Shikmamru's team. Hinata can you gather the medic team again and have them come back. We need to reassess the body." Not too long after that Aceso was back looking at the body with the medic team as Hinata stood at the door. Soon Aceso had to leave the medics and go to the academy to look for more clues. Aceso rarely came to the academy. She enrolled in the school, but she did all her work and studied at home. She mainly showed up for only test days. Aceso stood outside at a certain section of the building with Hinata and Sakura.

"Byakugan!" Hinata said.

"Well?" Sakura asked after the Byakugan stopped.

"Uh-hu," Hinata shook her head. " I see nothing unusual about this part of the building."

"Oh, well then, we'll move on to the next," Aceso said. They went to all the spots that needed to be checked out before Naruto came running up to them.

"There she is, thank goodness," Naruto breathed. "Hey, Hinata!"

"Huh?" they asked looking over at him.

" What is it?" Aceso asked.

"What's going on?" Hinata asked.

"Hinata, you're the one I want," Naruto announced. They all gasped as Hinata blushed.

"What the heck's wrong with you?" Sakura demanded. "You idiot. Saying stuff like that right now?

"Uh..."Naruto trailed blankly. 

 " I never knew," Hinata blushed more as she twiddled her fingers. " I don't know what to say."

" I need you, Hinata," Naruto insisted

" Oh, Naruto, I never you could be so impetuous," Hinata said. He groaned, then looked up. 

"Oh," Naruto breathed. "Never mind. I'll ask Neji. See you!" He then took off.

"Huh?" Hinata gasped. They went into the building to check things out when they heard an explosion.

"What was that?" Sakura gasped.

"Oh, did I scare you, guys?" Tenten asked as she poked her head inside the classroom. "My bad." She held up a ball with spikes on the end. "I dropped one of my ninja tools. Sorry." She laughed. Moments after that they all met in the training hall, gathering around a wooden pole.

" A triggering device hidden inside it, huh?" Shikamaru repeated.

"Cleverly set to be activated by a direct hit on the target," Neji said. 

"We were just lucky that none of those little snots was good enough to hit it before we got here," Kiba said.

"It's a good thing they hadn't had any more training," Tenten added.

" We got lucky, that's for sure," Shikamaru said.

"Hey, you guys" Aceso greeted as she turned to the boys.

"Yes, Doctor Matsuba?" they all repeated.

"Can you please tell us, who was it that told you to do your kunai training in here?" Aceso asked. "You remember?"

"Who was it again?" the spikey hair kid asked. "Hey, do you remember?"

"No, but somebody told us we should do our training in secret and impress our teacher," the boy in orange said.

"Training in secret, huh?" Ino repeated. 

"Whoever it was must have used some kind of genjutsu to put that thought in the kid's minds," Neji suspected. 

 " It was Genno, no doubt," Sakura suspected. Hinata let out a whimper.

"Hinata, what is it?" Shino asked as he turned to her.

" I don't know what it means, but I was looking at the explosive device and there's more than one fuse leading to it," Hinata answered.

"What?" Naruto demanded. "Are you sure, Hinata?"

"Yes," She breathed.

"Byakugan!" Neji activated and looked at the device. "She's right. There's more than one. There's two. No, three."

"But where do they all lead?" Aceso asked. Neji turned to follow the fuses.

"Somewhere outside the academy," Neji answered. " Aah. I can't see clearly from in here." He started to head outside.

"Wait, I'll come too," Hinata said as she followed. They ran outside and looked up to see Hinata and Neji scanning the area on the roof.

"Well, where does it lead?" Shikamaru asked as they waited for an answer. The two looked in total shock.

"Hey!" Naruto called. "Did you find anything?

"There are Paper Bombs all over the village, and they're all connected!" Hinata answered.

"Not just 10 or 20 Paper Bombs either, but dozen of them, hundreds of them," Neji added. "Too many to count." They all gasped. "The entire Leaf Village is a giant nest of Paper Bombs." Back inside the academy, they gathered back around the pole, removed the wooden post and Tenten defused the device.

"There. That's one paper bomb that won't be going off," Tenten announced to the squad.

" Well done, Tenten," Lee congratulated her.

" We can breathe easier now," Choji added.

" I'm afraid not," Shino denied. "Our problems are just beginning."

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed. " If Genno ever finds out that we discovered this one and deactivated it, he might find a way to set off all those other paper bombs before we can do anything about them.

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto agreed. There was a loud pop of Choji popping his chip bag. "Choji, you jerk! You almost gave me a heart attack.

"Sorry," Choji apologized as he scratched the back of his head.

"Okay, so now we put everything back the way it was," Shikamaru said.

"Right, got it," Sakura confirmed.

"And you kids..."Aceso said looking back at the boys, she walked over to them. " Go back to your Kunai Knife target practice like nothing happened. Just don't hit the bulls-eye."

"Yes, ma'am," they all nodded.

"Right, understood," messy hair agreed.

" Man, it's lucky we're no good," the orange shirt said. "What if one of us had hit it before?"

"Hey, you weren't there yesterday," the Earmuff guy brought up. " I did hit the target."

"No, you only came close, remember?" the orange shirt said.

" What do you mean?" Earmuff asked. " I hit it. I totally hit it." Aceso went to go report back to Lady Tsunade as the others searched for the paper bombs. 

" A bomb on almost every corner?" Tsunade asked as they looked at the marked map.

" Lady Tsunade, we must evacuate everyone as quickly as possible," Shizune urged. 

"Whoa, you're joking, right?" Shikamaru asked.

"What do you mean, joking?" Shizune demanded.

" When we start the evacuation, he'd know that we're onto him," Aceso explained.

"Genno might just go ahead and blow up the whole village right then and there," Tsunade added.

" I see," Shizune breathed.

"Naruto and the others are searching for the paper bombs," Aceso explained. "Let's wait and see how they do." Tsunade let out a sigh. They left the office and quickly returned back with Choji and Ino. 

"We'll need more manpower," Shikamaru requested. " It'll take forever finding them all this way."

"Yes, but there are no other shinobi left in the village," Shizune said.

"Wait, there might be one or two," Tsunade admitted.  

"Who?" Aceso asked.

"They have nothing else to do but sit around and complain all day," Tsunade explained. Aceso understood who Tsunade was going to ask.

"You don't mean?" Aceso began.

"Why don't put them to work, even if they're not in the best shape?" Tsunade countered.

"Wait, you're not talking about--" Ino began.

"Who sits around and complains all day?" Kohrau demanded as she whipped open the door. Homura was right behind here, they sulked up to the desk. "It's our duty as village elders to give advice to those who are less experienced. Not that you're wise enough to listen."

"So you can still sense trouble's brewing despite your age and infirmities," Tsunade said.

"Watch it," Kohrau snapped as she put her hands on the desk. "You're not as young as you look yourself you know."

"What? How dare you. Listen here, you old bag of bones!" Tsunade growled as she got up.

"I suggest up watch your temper and your mouth, heh, Hokage?" Kohrau warned as she pushed Tsunade back in her seat.

" We have a general idea of the situation," Homura said. "Where do you want us to search?"

" I have the perfect place for you to start," Tsunade answered.

"Heh. I can't wait," Kohrau countered.

" The Hokage has met her match," Shikamaru stated in fear. "That old lady is good."

"No kidding," Ino agreed as she shivered. 

 "Yeah, good and scary," Choji said,

"Mhmm," Aceso nodded in agreement. Tsunade sent those two out.

"I really appreciate their help, but those two really get only get on my nerves," Tsunade admitted.

"Well, we'll be able to find those bombs in no time once Gai-sensei and the others get back from that wild horse chase we sent them on," Shizune said.

"Yeah, I only wish it was as simple as that," Shikamaru said.

"Shikamaru, what are you thinking?" Aceso asked.

"Something about this bothers me," Shikamaru admitted. "How could one guy have planted them all? And when? There are so many paper bombs out there. It doesn't seem possible."

"Yes, you're right," Shizune agreed as Tsunade sat back in her chair. 

"There's gotta be more to this than meets the eye," Shikamaru admitted. Shikamaru pulled Aceso to the side.

"What is it?" Aceso asked.

"We're overlooking something," Shikamaru admitted. "I'm not sure what it is."

"I got that feeling when you started to ask those questions," Aceso agreed. "Somebody had to notice that he was planting those bombs, and in the school building."

"There are a few things I want to know more about Genno," Shikamaru said.

"Where did he come from?" Aceso asked.

"According to his fake recommendation letter the sand village," Shikamaru said.

"No, Gaara, Temari, or Kankuro would have told me if they were sending from the sand village here," Aceso denied.

"Then where is he from?" Shikamaru asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Aceso said. Soon Homura and Kohrau returned with one of the defused paper bombs.

"Take a look at this," Tsunade ordered as she held up the slip.

"What about it?" Shikamaru asked. Tsunade handed it to Aceso, and they all gathered around her to look at it. " The Jutsu has been written in a slightly different way on this one."

"You're right," Ino noticed. "The writings not even the same."

"It doesn't look that much different to me," Choji said.

" What do you mean? Are you blind?" Ino asked.

"So it's a weird one. And?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's not weird to us," Homura said. " In fact, it's very familiar."

"That's how the Jutsu was written back in our day," Kohrau added.

"You're saying that this is a paper bomb from way back then?" Ino asked.

"Surprisingly enough, most of the paper bombs we're finding are the old kind. Like that one," Tsunade said."

"And look, this map shows how all the hidden bombs are distributed throughout the village," Shizune said.

 "Hardly any of them have been planted in the most densely populated residential areas," Tsunade said as she pointed at the map. "At the same time, these empty outlying areas where no one lives are absolutely crawling with them."

"Why? What's out there?" Choji asked.

"Nothing now, but at one time there was going to be a bustling shopping district there," Kohrau answered.

"But what could it all mean?" Ino asked.

"Putting all the facts together, the antique paper bombs, their location and the fact that they were all hidden without us being aware," Tsunade began, she slammed her hand on the table. "It can only mean this trap was set 30 years ago."

"A 30-year-old trap," Aceso repeated as she stared at the antique paper bomb.

" It's ridiculous when you think about it," Tsunade said. "That in all that time, not a single person in the whole village ever noticed they were there."

"Ridiculous? No," Homura denied. "It's easy to miss something you're not looking for. And who would be expected the village to be riddled with explosives?"

" And hidden as well as they were, they'd never be found unless someones was using the Byakugan," Kohrau added.

"So you think Genno found out about these bombs someones set 30 years ago and decided to make them part of his trap?" Ino asked.

"But if we never found them, how did he?" Choji asked.

"Thirty years ago?" Shikamaru repeated. " Hang on." He grabbed Aceso's arm and bolted out of the room.

"Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed. "Where are you going?" She followed.

"Wait for me," Choji urged as he followed. They ran back to the construction man's house.

"Thirty years ago?" Kanna repeated. "That would've been when my father was master carpenter. I remember he had to hire a lot of outsiders just as we're doing now. I'm not sure how complete our records are for that period."

"Anything might be of help. Plans, ledgers, anything," Shikamaru listed.

"What is this about, Shikamaru?" Ino asked. " Fill us in."

"The recommendation. What happened to it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Which recommendation?" Ino asked. "The first letter of recommendation that disappeared? The one that led us to suspect Genno?"

"There's one thing that's been bugging me this whole time," Shikamaru admitted. "You see I think it was Genno, who made that recommendation disappear. But then why would he feel he had to do that? And the only explanation that I can come up with is that the first recommendation was phony too."

"What are you getting at?" Ino asked.

"But that letter's just been sitting here all these years," Kanna pointed out. "So how he would even know about it?"

" Because I think Genno himself is the one who used that letter 30 years ago when he first came to work here" Shikamaru answered.

"Huh?" Kanna asked.

"At least I think so," Shikamaru said. "The first one was a good forgery. Indistinguishable from the real thing. The second referral was much clumsier almost like he wanted it to look like a fake compared to the first one."

"But why?" Choji asked.

"He wasn't concerned about whether we found out he was an imposter this time, but he didn't want us to start getting suspicious about that referral letter from 30 years ago," Shikamaru explained. "That's why he got rid of it. To conceal the fact that he was here then too. It was him. It was Genno who went around planting all those paper bombs here 30 years ago." Kana gave them a book to read about the relationship between Head Devil Village and the Village Hidden in the leaves. Aceso read the passages out loud.

" Thirty years ago, Heat Devil Village and the Village Hidden in the Leaves were at war with each other. An endless war. Neither side would give an inch and we were locked in a bloody stalemate. One night, knowing their main force was away, we launched a sneak attack against their village. With one strike, we turned the tide of the war in our favor. The history books will tell you that three months later an armistice was signed over and the war was over. But those three months are the mystery. Everyone expected Heat Devil Village to counterattack or strike back in some way for what we'd done," Aceso read

"Here it is," Kanna announced as he pulled out another book. " My father's diary from that period."

"Really?" Shikamaru asked in surprise.

" Yes," Kanna confirmed. " He kept it faithfully. Never missed a day. " He handed it to Shikamaru. " Here."

"Ah, thanks," Shikamaru said gratefully. He opened the book and flipped a few pages. " I had a man from the Sand Village show up at the site today with a referral from a master carpenter. His skills aren't all that great, but I hired as I need the manpower. Look at the date."

" A week after the attack on the Heat Devil Village," Aceso noted.

" So you think that man..."Ino began.

" Was Genno," Shikamaru confirmed. "I'd bet my life on it." Shikamaru read more into the diary. "Right about then Genno stopped coming to work. I wonder why."

" He had finished setting the bombs and disappeared," Ino said. 

"No sign of Genno, it's been two months now," Shikamaru read. " I wonder what's happened to him." He closed the diary. They then got up and left.

"Red Rose!" Lee called out the minute they closed the door.

"What is it, Lee?" Aceso asked as they looked to see him running up to them.

" The Academy students," Lee answered as he skidded to a stop. "They are getting tired. What now?"

"What Academy students?" Shikamaru asked.

"The ones in the training hall," Aceso answered.

"They were throwing kunai" Choji added.

"Oh them," Shikamaru recalled. " Are those guys still at it?"

"They are at it 'cause Aceso told them to stay at it, you idiot!" Ino snapped as she grabbed Shikamaru grabbed his collar.

" Oh, yeah. I guess she did," Shikamaru groaned.

" Well, tell them they've done enough and they can quit," Aceso answered Lee's question. "Thank them for their help."

"It's probably best, we don't want them hitting the target by accident," Shikamaru agreed. He then let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Ino asked.

"Now I get it. So that's it," Shikamaru said. "It never made sense that such a careful, thorough guy would leave the detonation of his device to pure chance."

" What do you mean?" Lee asked.

" A shinobi as smart as Genno would make sure the paper bombs were timed to go off for maximum effect," Shikamaru explained. " That is if it really matters to him whether they go off at all, which I'm starting to think it doesn't. It's just a diversion. He's really after something else." They gathered all the paper bombs, and Ino and Aceso went to Lady Tsunade's office.

"You think all these paper bombs are just a diversion?" Tsunade asked.

"That's right," Ino nodded.

"It can't be," Shizune denied.

" It could" Tsunade corrected. " Genno is the man who would go even further. After all, he is the trap master." There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Tsunade called. The door opened revealing Shikamaru and the others.

" I need Ino and Aceso," Shikamaru ordered.

"Very well," Tsunade said. The two girls left and followed them up to the mountainside faces, as Shikamaru explained everything. They had Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino go in and rescue Naruto from inside, while they diffused the rest of the bombs. Then Choji and Shikamaru faced off with Genno, they watched him throw a kunai at a paper bomb.

"But why? Why didn't it explode?" Genno asked. 

"Yeah. Tough luck," Tenten said as she walked up with Neji, Kiba, Shino, and Naruto. "We already disarmed that paper bomb."

"And all the devices you set up in the Mountainside Images," Neji added. "We disarmed those as well."

"Just give it up, old man," Naruto advised. "It's over."

"That's right," Sakura declared as she, Ino, and Aceso appeared at the edge of the lower roof. As Hinata and Lee appeared on the other side. "End of the line."

"Fleeing is useless!" Lee announced. 

"No matter how incredible a trap master you think you might be, our teamwork is gonna beat you every time, old man," Naruto said. "Just face it."

" I could no more give up than I could stop breathing," Genno said with his eyes closed.

"Ah, get real, will you?" Naruto demanded. "No matter what you may have set, you know we're gonna get it!"

"How could I show my face to my son?" Genno asked.

"What?" Naruto asked. Genno raised his arm to the sky, he pulled on a string, and something shot into the air.

"Hm? Where'd he go?" Shino demanded as he glanced around them.

"He's over there," Ino said as she pointed. He was standing at one of the other faces.

"It seems you haven't disarmed all of my explosives," Genno pointed out. " So at last I win!" He jabbed his kunai in the paper bomb. They all gasped. The explosions went everywhere, and the ground below them started to break.

"The village!  It's gonna be crushed," Naruto panicked. 

" Calm down. Don't be fooled," Sakura barked. "It's just a Genjutsu." She put her fingers together. " Release!" The genjutsu was released, but Naruto was still kicking.

"Naruto," Kiba groaned, Naruto stopped what he was doing and became confused. Genno bit his thumb, placing it on the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Genno called. Hinata gasped.

"He's getting away," Sakura pointed out, they saw a giant bird appear with a scarf.

"Leave it to me," Ino said as Genno grabbed hold of the bird's foot. "Mind Transfer Jutsu." Genno dropped from the bird. Genno then dropped to his knees as if he was in pain. Ino soon did the same.

"Ino!" Sakura and Aceso exclaimed as they knelt beside her.

"Hey, why'd you break the Jutsu?" Naruto asked as he appeared by them.

"What's the matter, Ino?" Aceso asked. 

" The pain was just too much," Ino answered. "The old man's body is..."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"He's putting himself through all this fighting while his body's in agony," Ino explained. Genno ran forward, then Lee jumped up and stopped him.

"You will not escape," Lee warned. Lee delivered many attacks that got dodged, then he too got blasted in the gas. Nobody could see what was happening, only hearing the sounds of grunts. Naruto went and jumped over as the smoke cleared, he sat on the ground panting as Genno laid flat on his back.

"Naruto," Lee panted.

"Alas I am no match for such a strong master of the Taijutsu form," Genno smiled.

 "Oh, I cannot agree with you there, sir," Lee panted. " On the contrary. You are quite an accomplished practitioner of Taijutsu."

"That was amazing," Naruto complimented. "I can't believe it's over."

" I am afraid it's not," Genno declined. 

"What do you mean?" Lee asked. "What do you mean it is not over?"

"Where's that big bird he summoned earlier?" Shikamaru asked. They all gasped and looked at the sky.

"Look!" Hinata cried as she pointed at the sky. The bird flew down towards them. " A paper bomb's on its foot!"

"What?" Aceso asked squinting her eyes at the bird.

"The image of the Third Hokage," Genno said. " I concentrate on the crack running through it. The device I used on it was different from the others. The rock there is even more unstable than the other areas. So I set up an explosive device targeting that vulnerability. If there is an explosion there, the other paper bombs will go off at once because of the shock wave generated by the first one."

"He set a paper bomb up there?" Tenten asked.

" And we overlooked it," Neji said.

"So that's why you summoned that big bird," Shikamaru said. "It's the trigger that's gonna set off a string of explosions."

" At long last, my wish is finally coming true," Genno said.

"It is here!" Lee shouted.

"Okay," Tenten said as she opened a scroll, revealing a giant crossbow with multiple arrows. Each arrow missed the bird.

"It dodged them," Ino noted.

"Clearly, we'll never bring it down by attacking from long-range," Neji said.

"I'm gonna defend the Leaf Village, no matter what!" Naruto declared. He jumped over to Lord Third's face. "I'll just have to blow him away with my Rasengan before he lands." He held up his hands. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Another clone appeared and it lost balance falling over, but Naruto caught the hit clone. He started to fall.

"Partial Expansion Jutsu! Both Arms!" Choji yelled He caught them. " Gotcha. No worries, Naruto."

"Thanks a bunch, Choji!" Naruto thanked him. Tons of arrows from Aceso and Tenten were shot along with kunai, Hinata then went and joined Naruto down below.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Uh, well. Shikamaru suggested I read the bird's movements with my Byakugan and gives you directions," Hinata explained.

"Huh?" The Narutos asked as he looked up.

"The rest is up to you," Shikamaru said. 

"Okay, ready when you are," Naruto said as he looked at Hinata.

"Right," Hinata smiled. "Byakugan. Not yet. Let it come a little closer. Naruto, now."

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he leaped forward and the bird's foot. But the bird flew up at the last second. "Hey, where'd it go? Huh?"

"Above you!" Hinata yelled.

"Hold still!" Naruto yelled as his hands barely passed by the paper bomb.

"He's not getting away!" Sakura yelled as she picked up a giant rock. She threw it, the bird dodged, Naruto landed the Rasengan in the bird's foot, and it spun away and disappeared.

"All right!" they all cheered.

"Rope captive Jutsu!" Aceso exclaimed. The ropes around her body, combined together, making a long lone, and wrapped around Naruto from falling any further, Aceso held on to the end as Naruto dangled in the air. She then started to pull him up.

"Ah, yeah! We did it, Hinata!" Naruto cheered. "We did it!" She blushed and happily nodded.

"Yup, we sure did," Hinata agreed. They got Hinata and Naruto back up, and Genno. They all gathered around as Aceso performed medical Jutsu on the man.

"He's all beat up inside," Aceso reported. "Incredible. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did.

"Old man," Naruto breathed. Genno slowly turned to face Naruto, opening his eyes.

"Such a shame," Genno said. " I wasn't able to leave my mark on history. But I did have fun." Naruto gasped softly as the old man looked back up at the sky, closing his eyes.

"What do you mean you had fun?" Naruto asked. He shook the old man. " Come on, wake up, old man! What did you mean by that? Please, stay with me!" As Naruto shook him, a picture fell out of the Genno's hands. Shikamaru picked it up.

" Did anyone notice?" Shino asked.

"Huh?" they asked as he looked at them.

"Throughout this whole thing, there hasn't been one casualty in the Leaf Village, "Shino pointed out. They all gasped.

"Old man Genno!" Naruto cried. " Come on. Hey, come on. Open your eyes!"

"Naruto," Aceso breathed as she softly touched his shoulder. He looked at her. Aceso silently shook her head.

"Old Man Genno!" Naruto cried. He then embraced Aceso and cried on her shoulder.

****
The next morning, Aceso and Shikamaru were in the Hokage's office.

"I figured it out Aceso and Shikamaru," Tsunade said as she put the picture on the desk. "The boy in this picture is Genno's son."

"Genno's son?" Aceso repeated. "He followed in his father's footsteps and became a Shinobi, but lost his life when the Leaf invaded Heat Devil Village."

"Apparently Genno was seeking vengeance for the death of his son," Shizune explained. "That's why he did this to the Leaf Village."

"To begin with maybe," Shikamaru agreed. " Revenge might've been his first motive for coming here. But then..."

"Hm? But then what?" Tsunade asked.

"Something was kind of bugging me, so I checked out the explosive device that had been set in the Academy one more time," Shikamaru explained. "The circuit was broken. So it wouldn't have gone off even if the trigger had been hit."

"You don't think he might've just made a mistake?" Shizune asked.

"Genno was a master at setting traps," Aceso recalled. "It's unlikely he'd make a simple mistake like that."

"You two have a point," Tsunade agreed.

"Same with the traps in the Mountainside Images," Shikamaru said. " A number of defective devices were purposely mixed in with the paper bombs. Even if the whole darn thing had gone off, the damage would probably only have been a few cracks to the carvings."

"So then he never seriously intended to destroy the Leaf Village?" Tsunade asked.

"Then what he was doing?" Shizune asked. Shikamaru picked up the picture and flipped to the back.

"He was on a treasure hunt," Shikamaru answered. After the Hokage's office, they met with Sakura, Ino, Naruto, and Choji at the ramen shop.

"Huh? The whole thing was a treasure hunt?" Choji asked.

"Yeah. It makes a lot more sense if you look at it in that light," Aceso answered. 

"He started off planning to destroy the village but he changed his mind after meeting Naruto, who was the spitting image of his son," Shikamaru explained. "I'm sure the old man probably knew he wasn't going to be living much longer. So he decided that whatever time he had left he was going to have some fun with it."

" He probably wanted to re-capture the feeling of treasure-hunting with his son," Aceso said. "Having us search for all the traps he had set."

"So that's what it was?" Sakura asked.

" Well, of course, it's all just theory," Shikamaru said.

" So that old man wasn't necessarily a bad guy," Ino said.

" I knew it all the time," Choji said. " It's like I've always said. Anybody who likes Ichiraku ramen can't be all bad."

"Huh?" Ino asked. " I remember the guy saying he didn't like eating ramen all the time."

" Well, Ichiraku ramen is different," Choji backed up his argument. 

"Mm. Mm-hmm," Teuchi nodded in agreement. 

"There's no way you can go through life with something you hate being on the menu every day," Shikamaru said.

"You are so right," Choji agreed.

"Old man," Naruto teared up looking at his bowl.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. He picked up his bowl, slurping down the soup.

"When enemies come to the Hidden Leaf Village, it's not always gonna be as easy as it was this time," Naruto said. "Someone like Orochimaru will always be waiting in the wings for us to attack us for real."

"That just means we gotta make sure we're always ready for anything," Ino said.

"Right," Aceso nodded in agreement. 

"Heh. But it's such a drag," Shikamaru complained. 

"We've gotta keep our strength up," Choji said.

"This is our duty," Naruto declared. "To protect the Hidden Leaf Village. All of us working together."