Well, it looks like even though we got like 2 votes, it turns out I was victorious once again! I would keep the contest going, but as we will be having another contest soon, I'm just gonna stop it here.
(Takes place after the time skip)
Shikamaru Nara walked lazily up the steps to the hokage tower. The sun was shining and scattered clouds caught the young man's eye. He paused for a few moments to look up at the vast blue sky and feel the slight breeze on his face. It was perfect weather for lying on some grass and doing some cloud gazing. As fate would have it, the Hokage had called him up for another mission. Sometimes that woman can be so troublesome. Sighing, he continued up the stairs to the Hokage's office. And why the hell are there so many steps? Frustration almost got the better of him before he finally reached the top and began to walk down the mahogany hallway.
He reached up with a calloused fist and knocked three times on the heavy wooden door.
"Come in!" The loud feminine voice sounded through the door. Shikamaru would have jumped if it didn't require extra energy.
Great, she sounds mad. What did Naruto do this time? He sighed again and pushed the door open. He was met with a glare from the Hokage and a worried look from Shizune. Ton Ton scurried past him and ran out into the hall away from the wrath of the amber-eyed woman before him. Shizune gasped slightly and ran after him, obviously wanting out of the office for a moment as well.
"Why the hell are you late?" Lady Tsunade yelled at the young man. She slammed her left hand down on the desk, nearly breaking it in half in the process, and Shikamaru cringed. He closed the door softly and made his way to the desk. It was at this time when he finally noticed a third person in the room. He cocked an eyebrow at the Jounin before him, but did not say anything.
He took his place in front of the desk and bowed deeply. "I apologize for my lateness, my Lady." He didn't bother coming up with an excuse, all extra words he said would fall on deaf ears. He apologized as was his duty and stood up straight to await his orders.
Tsunade grunted and placed her hands under her chin but said nothing for a few moments. Birds could be heard chirping outside, and again Shikamaru wished that he could be outside admiring the planets beauty.
"I have a very important mission for you two." The two young men in the room stood at attention and waited for the village leader to continue. "This one is an S rank, and both of your skills will need to be utilized to their full potential if you are going to succeed, or survive." The woman waited to see if the two before her would do anything that would betray their worthiness. Satisfied at their demeanor she continued. "One week ago, I sent out two Chuunin to deliver a message to the Kazekage. This morning, I received a message that the two never made it to Suna. It is my belief that they have either been captured or killed. Your mission is to find them or their bodies, recover the documents they were carrying and deliver them as per their orders. Normally I would send out two Jounin for a mission of this caliber, but seeing as every Jounin except Hyuuga here are out on missions, I am going to send you on this mission, Nara. Any questions?" The Hokage lowered her hands and stared into the eyes of the two young shinobi before her.
"Do we have any ideas as to who could have ambushed the two Chuunin?" Shikamaru asked uncertainly. The actual difficulty of the mission would depend on who exactly they were going after.
"We do not know for sure, but we highly suspect Stone nin to be behind this. They have been spotted several times within the Fire Country's borders. We are growing increasingly worried about our situation with them. Make sure you keep on the lookout for any stone shinobi, and if the circumstances arise, you have permission to question them." Tsunade spoke in a solemn tone as she said this. They had just barely finished recovering from the attack by Sound years ago, though they were still a bit short on upper level shinobi, and it would behoove the village to avoid any and all disputes until it was back up to full capacity. "If there are no more questions you to are to depart immediately." The two shinobi before her nodded and disappeared. The woman behind the desk sighed and placed her chin on her hands again for a second before standing up and turning around. The Hokage walked over to the window that over looked her proud village and got lost in thought about its future.
The two young men bounded through the increasingly thickening forest. Both of them were silent as their minds worked to concoct a plan. The thick leaves and branches whipping past their strong bodies were a mere annoyance as the thoughts and calculations clouded their mind to everything going on around them. They were merely moving by instinct now; their battle hardened bodies knowing how to react properly against the branches they were leaping from.
A small clearing made itself known and Neji signaled to his teammate that they would be stopping shortly. Shikamaru nodded and continued with his calculations. This mission was going to be tough. There were so many variables in it that could make or break his plan, or their lives. The trip to Suna was a long one, and even though there was only one commonly traveled path, the two Chuunin could have encountered trouble anywhere along there. Shikamaru sighed as his mind reeled with how much more difficult their mission would become if the two Chuunin had become lost, or if they encountered trouble with another enemy village other than the Stone. It was complicated, and Tsunade was not lying when she said that this mission was going to require both of their skills.
About five hundred meters from the clearing, Neji held up his fist to signal for a halt. The two stopped on a large branch as the Hyuuga prodigy activated his Byakugan. Shikamaru watched in minor fascination as the young man carefully scanned the area for any signs of danger. A minute passed and Shikamaru strained his senses to try to pick up on anything that might cause trouble for them. He listened to the wind whistle through the trees and inhaled the air deeply through his nose. He caught a brief whiff of something that wasn't natural to the forest and he turned to face upwind. The lazy Chuunin closed his eyes and sniffed again. It was faint, but it smelled of a campfire. Tapping Neji lightly on the shoulder, he pointed in the direction he smelled it coming from. Neji strained his eyes and examined everything in the general area that Shikamaru was pointing.
Neji spotted, at the very edge of his line of site, a small camp site. Due to its proximity to the village, it could have been left by some amateur leaf shinobi, but with Stone nin being spotted in the country, the two didn't want to take any chances. Neji turned to Shikamaru and the Chuunin nodded and took out a note pad to write down the location of the campsite. They couldn't afford at the moment to examine it, but if possible they would on their way back.
Finally having fully examined the entire area, he two shinobi kneeled down on the branch to discuss their plans.
"Well, first of all, we need to make sure that they didn't get lost along the way." Shikamaru started off with a drawl as he took out a scroll from one of his vest pockets. He began to carefully diagram out the path from Konoha to Suna and the surrounding terrain. He drew a long line across the scroll and pointed to it. "This is the border between the Fire and Wind countries. Assuming they didn't get lost along the way, the two would have had to cross the border at the patrol station. I think it's safe to assume that they ran into trouble in the Fire Country." He looked up at Neji and saw the confused look on the pale eyed man's face.
"What makes you say that? If they were far off track, they wouldn't have gone through the station."
"Well, Gaara's a good Kazekage, and he would have sent out someone to look for the shinobi he was expecting before sending the messenger hawk. It takes the hawk less time to make the trip than people. Gaara would only have assigned his shinobi to search his country. If he found them dead or injured there, that means that the Leaf's enemies entered Sand's territory, which would cause more trouble than we have. By this reasoning, we can expect that Gaara spent almost 2 days searching for the shinobi within Wind's borders before sending word to us." Shikamaru finished his explination and Neji nodded. The long haired Jounin had skipped over the problems that having Konoha enemy in Suna territory would start.
"Okay, so that means we need to search the area up to the border. If they did get lost, the most logical place would be in this area," Neji pointed to a dark area on Shikamaru's diagram, labeled as swampland. "The path that runs through the swamps becomes hidden this time of year, and it is possible they tried to go around and got disoriented."
"Hm, it makes sense, but I don't think that would be enough to get them going too far in the wrong direction." Shikamaru stared at his diagram as well. This was where Neji was going to be able to use his skill with the Byakugan to help them greatly. The Nara may have been a genius, but remembering every little terrain detail was still a challenge. Neji's eyes would be key to determining the most plausible locations for either an ambush, or where the terrain itself got them lost.
"It depends on where they crossed the swamp." Neji grabbed the pen from his teammate and added a few more terrain features onto the scroll. Shikamaru eyes went wide at what he saw. A canyon. "If they ended up crossing the swamp on the western side, they would have ended up in or near this canyon. Knowing Chuunin, they probably went through it because it goes almost parallel to the proper path. However, it's the perfect spot for an ambush." Neji put the pen down and looked at Shikamaru.
The Chuunin stayed still for a moment, listening to the sounds of the forest around him. That would make things difficult for us too though. Going through a canyon is dangerous for any shinobi. He brought the pen up to his face and hit his chin with it a couple of times. "What if they crossed on the eastern side?"
Neji crossed his arms and thought for a minute. He visualized the scenery in that area as he saw it through his Byakugan. He could see the steep mountains, the cliffs, the rough winds that picked up near the top, and he shook his head. "If they went to the east, the chances of them getting attacked are much less, but their chances of being injured by the land itself are overwhelming. It is rough travel over there."
Shikamaru sighed at these words. That's why we go strait north. The forest is thicker and slightly mountainous, but not deadly. "Okay, here's what we're gonna have to do. We're going to assume that they got disoriented at the swamps, but we don't know which way they went. When we get there, we will examine the surroundings for any clues that might tell us how they crossed the swamp."
"That sounds like the only acceptable action to take. I do think that they are injured or dead though, so we should hurry." Neji stood up and waited for Shikamaru to put the diagram away. He listened to the soft sound of the scroll rolling up and the sharp sound of the snap on the pocket clicking into place to secure the diagram. The Jounin leapt off of the large branch and continued on the path they were set on, Shikamaru right on his tail.
The pungent smell of the swamps filled their lungs as the team approached the swamps. The air became thick and the trees became weak and dead like. The branches had turned limp from the rancid humidity from the nearby muck, and the team was forced to make the remaining distance on foot. The closer they got, the worse the environment became. Their sandals began to sink into the ground, the maggot infested mud seeping its way in between their toes.
"Looks like the path is covered. That's good news for our mission then." Shikamaru ducked under some low branches and gazed at the flooded area. The peaceful sounds of the village and the forest had disappeared, and all he could hear now was the uncomfortable silence that the creatures of the swampland offered.
Neji had activated his Byakugan again and was carefully examining the swamp and the land beyond it. Shikamaru began to do the same. It was unlikely that any footprints would be left, so he searched for something that might give away that humans had recently been through here.
The minutes ticked by with nothing but the buzzing flies and the sly monsters of the swamp to keep them company. When the one hour mark approached Shikamaru began to consider the problematic situation of the two Chuunin trying to avoid the swamp all together and trying to go a completely different way. These swamplands weren't so large as to make that impossible, but the land around here was unpredictable and full of dangers, not to mention the fact that the forest became so thick and the mountains became more prominent that proper navigation would become impossible to amateurs. Not wanting to have to resort to leaving the swamps and searching the entire area around, the young Nara continued to search.
A short time later, Shikamaru jumped slightly and pulled out a kunai at a shout from his teammate. It took a short second for him to realize that the shout was more of a "call" and that there was nothing for the Chuunin to worry about. Damn swamp gas must be getting to my head. Shikamaru mumbled quietly as he shoved his kunai back into his pouch and began to make his way to the Hyuuga that had summoned him, his sandals making the nauseating squelching sound as he moved.
Neji had moved to the western side of the swamps and was gazing intently at something across the way.
"What'd you find?" Shikamaru stopped next to the Hyuuga who merely pointed. Shikamaru averted his gaze and tried to follow his finger, but he couldn't find what Neji was looking at.
"An exploding tag on that large rock." Neji smirked and glanced at Shikamaru who cocked an eyebrow.
"So, what makes you think it relates to our mission?" Shikamaru had a few ideas, but he was eager to hear what the Hyuuga could tell him that he couldn't see.
"Three things: it's new, it's been deactivated, and it is one from our village." Shikamaru thought about what he said and it all started to make sense. "Also," Neji interrupted the train of thought of the Chuunin, "there are a two more traps laid that lead into the canyon, all deactivated."
"They were being followed." The statement hit him harder when he said it out loud. They didn't get lost, they were trying to lose someone. "And it seems by someone of a much higher skill level. We should cross and try to at least find some remains. It is unlikely that they are alive." Shikamaru looked toward his teammate and saw Neji nod and began to run across the swamp, his chakra laced soles keeping him on top of the murky water. This all makes sense now, even if they did cross the swamp successfully in the right location, they wouldn't have, that would have gave their pursuers better chances of catching them. Shikamaru groaned inwardly and took off after his teammate.
The high canyon walls seemed to trap them in. The sun was beginning to set and the shadows it caused nearly put the two shinobi in darkness. It was a dangerous time to be where they were, but they were close. Neji had spotted a few more traps laid out, all deactivated.
Suddenly Neji looked back to Shikamaru and signaled him to pull out a kunai as he pulled one out of his leg pouch. Shikamaru grew stern-faced and followed the Jounin's example. He watched carefully as Neji jumped and placed his feet on the canyon wall to turn his self around before launching the kunai with pinpoint accuracy behind them. Shikamaru heard the sound of the blade ripping through flesh and a scream of pain before sensing a surge in chakra in the direction the scream came from. He turned around just in time to block two shuriken headed for his torso.
The two man team from Konoha stopped their travel and got into a defensive stance. They didn't have to wait long before several enemy Stone shinobi made themselves known. Looking at their clothes, the two from Konoha could see several fresh blood stains indicating partaking in a recent battle.
Shikamaru assessed the situation, but could not determine the exact level of the enemy without seeing any of their abilities. However, he assumed that they were stronger than him to make sure he kept his guard up. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Neji smirk. Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk himself, 2 against 10 were always fun odds. This should be fine if we can just locate and incapacitate the leader.
Three Stone nin left the formation and charged Neji while two others broke off and went for Shikamaru. The two looked at each other quickly and smiled sadistically and awaited contact. They're never gonna beat us if they don't all attack at once. This must be how they took out our other two shinobi.
Neji's opponents made contact first and the young Hyuuga wasted no time in jamming his chakra laced palms and fingers into their vital spots. The three coughed up blood and clutched their chests before collapsing to the ground dead. Shikamaru saw this out of the corner of his eye and pulled out several shuriken. He threw them at the two ninja charging him, forcing them to lose focus for a split second to block the lethal projectiles. That split second was all it took though for Neji to reach his teammates side and thrust his palms at the hearts of the enemy. He looked up and prepared for the remaining five ninja to attack, but was pleasantly surprised to find them paralyzed. Looking at the ground he spotted Shikamaru's shadow connecting with theirs, keeping them rooted to the spot.
"Well look how lucky you are, Shikamaru? This whole place is one giant shadow. Sounds like these guys are fucked." Neji smirked devilishly and began to advance on the quacking stone shinobi. An ominous wind blew through the canyon and seemed to whisper into the ears of the five trapped ninja that this would be their last day alive. "We're looking for two of our Shinobi. What did you do with them?" Neji addressed the whole group at first, but none of them said a word.
Neji sighed and walked up to the closest on and stared directly into his eyes. "Do you know where those two Leaf Chuunin are?" The ninja looked back at Neji, mesmerized by his strange eyes.
"No." Neji smirked again. His Byakugan was still activated, but even if it wasn't, he could read the ninja before him like a book.
"If you don't tell me the truth, you're going to end up like you're buddies over there, got it?" He pointed to the pile of dead shinobi that tried to take him on earlier. He watched as the ninja started to shake even more as he eyed his lifeless comrades.
"U-up the canyon more is where you'll find what you're looking for." The Stone nin behind him started to shout at the traitor before Neji lunged his palm into the body of the one he just questioned. The remaining four had no time to protest before the Hyuuga did the same to all of them.
Shikamaru glared at him angrily, "Why did you do that, they could have had more information!" Neji shook his head and began to travel in the direction the enemy had told him.
"There will be more. That pathetic excuse for a squad surely can't be the only ninja that are stationed her."
Shikamaru continued to glare at the back of the Hyuuga's head as he followed him.
A few more Stone ninja tried to attack as they made their trek deeper into the canyon, but none so much laid a scratch on the experienced team. About 600 meters in, Neji spotted something on the canyon wall. The two ran up to it as fast as they could.
Their eyes went wide at the site that was laid out before them. Up on the wall were the two shinobi they were looking for. Their hands and shoulders had been pierced with kunai, pinning them in place. It looked like they had been drawn and quartered almost, and their entrails were leaking from their body. The blood had left a large pool underneath their feet with bits of their innards floating around in it. The site was enough to make the two young men want to regurgitate, but they still had a mission to complete. Neji scanned the area one more time with his Byakugan before deactivating it and pulling out a temporary KIA form that he would hand in with his mission report.
Shikamaru took up the task of examining the bodies for the documents. He was feeling dizzy, and ended up losing his breakfast when he had to step in the blood to pull the bodies off the wall. Neji helped him carry them to a different area that wasn't drenched in blood and body parts before he went back to his report.
When Shikamaru had finished examining the first body, Neji had completed his report and went over to assist his teammate. Shikamaru took off the shredded vest and started looking through the blood stained pockets. The fabric cracked as he opened up one of the flaps from the covering of blood that made it stiff. Inside the pocket he spotted something with the familiar Hokage seal and he went to pull it out.
A resounding boom could be heard as the explosion tag attached to the document. The walls of the canyon quacked slightly and dust was thrown up, temporarily blinding the Hyuuga and throwing him back several meters. He coughed as the thick air filled his lungs and he struggled to breathe. Tears were streaming from his eyes and he could feel something wet dripping down his back.
What felt like an eternity later, the dirt settled and Neji struggled to stand up. He flushed his eyes out with water as best as he could, trying to spot Shikamaru. He looked around, his eyes squinted, and saw something several meters from him that was twitching slightly. He hobbled over to it and spotted Shikamaru a bloody mess.
He kneeled down and examined his teammate. The right side of his body was a mangled mess. His arm looked like it had been almost torn from its socket and his shoulder was bleeding profusely. He activated his Byakugan and saw that his subclavian artery was practically severed, and Neji gasped. If Shikamaru didn't get medical help very soon, he would bleed to death. Neji pulled off his shirt and winced at a pain in his shoulder blade. He had been pierced with some sort of shrapnel and his back was bloody. He would live though, the most important thing was to get Shikamaru to safety.
He wrapped his shirt around Shikamaru's mangled arm as tight as he could to stop the bleeding and lifted him into a fireman's carry. Neji ran out of the canyon at top speed, plowing through the few remaining stone nin that tried to attack him.
When he exited the canyon he made his way back to Konoha. It wasn't in his mission orders to do so, but the documents were destroyed, the missing Chuunin were found, and Shikamaru was in critical condition. He sprinted past the swamp and started traveling through the forest. It was risky to go through the trees, so Neji had to resort to running on the ground, requiring more energy and more time. There were still several hours to go until he made it to the village, and Shikamaru didn't have that much time.
"Did you get any more information out of the Stone ninja? Their mission or anything?" Chouji was looking at Neji sternly as he paced back and forth in the hospital.
"No, I'm sorry." Neji looked at the ground impatiently outside of Shikamaru's hospital room. It was like the Retrieve Sasuke mission all over again, except this time he wasn't the one fighting for his life. He sighed and stared at the door. He had made it back to the village within 3 hours, but it still might not be enough. Shikamaru had lost a lot of blood, and it was very unlikely he would keep his arm, even less unlikely he would survive.
The hospital room doors slammed open and both Neji and Chouji jumped. Tsunade popped out and looked at the two young men. Chouji was filled with worry, Neji with guilt. She waited a moment and shook her head slowly. Chouji started crying and Neji nearly collapsed. It was his fault, he should have looked at the bodies for traps before writing the report, he should have moved faster, he should have done everything he could have to save his comrade, and now…
Tsunade walked by and placed a bloody arm on Neji's shoulder, but it didn't help. Chouji went into the room to join Ino and Sakura at the body. The young Hyuuga wanted to go in, but what would he say? "Sorry I killed your friend?" There was nothing he could do. It was only a matter of time before they turned against him, he could already feel the depression setting in. He slowly turned around and began to walk towards the exit. The light shining behind the doors such a sick contrast to how his soul would feel for the rest of his life.