Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
"Hey Shikaku! Sandaime has a new mission, he's requesting our appearance at the Hokage's office…" Inoichi shouted to his friend laying on the rooftop viewing clouds. He received no response.
A relatively full figure appeared next to Shikaku, "Now," Choza deadpanned.
"Sigh. Alright, let's go." Shikaku dragged himself up off the bench he oh so comfortable lay upon; already, he missed the warmth of the bench and the view it granted him.
The trio walked into the Hokage's office and greeted their leader, "Hokage-sama," they said in unison.
"Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, you three are the only ones who made chunin this exam," immediately, the three grinned at their Hokage, "Normally I would have you guys split up and lead teams of genins on simply tasks, however our village is currently in dire need of manpower." Their grins disappeared. "I understand you guys work best together and I have formulated a special task for you three to complete. Of course, we operate on a four-man squad to acquire the best results. I have chosen a fourth member for you guys." The Ino-Shika-Cho trio looked at each other in anticipation. "Your fourth member will be a medic-nin from Suna."
"Hokage-sama with all due respect sir why are we partnering with a Suna scum?" Inoichi impulsively shouted. Shikaku and Choza kept silent but were mentally taking notes.
"The medic is a citizen of our village," the information caught the trio off guard. "18 years ago, in an attempt to create a peace treaty, the two villages traded 'hostages'. Two infants were exchanged and raised in the opposing village. They were both taught in the medical field of ninja arts and now, 18 years later, we are to exchange 'hostages' and with them they will carry the secrets of each respective village's medical knowledge." The trio wore dumbfounded faces and none had a word to utter. "The existence of this treaty is unknown to most people of the village. Two days ago, the 'hostages' were sent, under the protection of a three-man squad, to return to their respective village. Unfortunately, our hostage has not yet returned. Your mission is to trace the steps of the dispatched team and recover the medic-nin of Sunagakure and any other fellow shinobi that needs aid. After you have recovered the medic-nin you four will work as a team to complete your next task."
"Understood Hokage-sama," the three said.
"Normally, I would send out an actual tracking team, but as I have said, we are short on man power. We do not have any trackers left in the village to spare. You guys will have to find a way around this." Sandaime handed them a file and Shikaku opened it, "Here is your target's file. Your team's leader will be Nara Shikaku. This is a B-rank mission; take extra precautions and head out tonight."
"Yes sir," and the three left the room.
"Good luck, my new chunins…" the Hokage whispered to an empty room.
"Great, first mission as chunin's already short on manpower," Inoichi complained. "And we have to help save a Suna scum!"
"The hostage is a Konoha citizen Inoichi. You shouldn't dismiss them just yet." Choza stated.
"Yeah will being raised in Suna itself is enough to corrupt a person, I don't trust this Suna medic…" Inoichi pouted.
"At least we didn't have to split up, this mission will be like the good old days right Shikaku?" Choza turned to the man's direction. Shikaku stayed silent, he was lost in thought. "Hey, is something the matter?" Choza nudged the chunin in the side.
"I'm just thinking what exactly could've gone wrong during the exchange," Shikaku started, "According to the Hokage, not many people if any at all knew of the 'hostage' exchange, and if they did, these people would have to be shinobis of the two villages. So unless they intercepted a random group of ninja from another village, which is unlikely, there must be a traitor."
"You're right," Inoichi agreed.
"We best be on our guard," Shikaku said.
The three gathered at the village gates by nightfall and started off to the location of tradeoff between the two villages. They were to make it there by sunrise at a fast set pace.
As expected, they arrived to a battleground. There were signs of six dead bodies that were still warm from a self-destruct jutsu; shinobi's bodies were critical to uncovering secrets of their respective village, if you are to be killed, it is critical to keep the enemies from acquiring your bodies.
"Great, six dead bodies and we don't even know if the hostage is one of them." Inoichi sarcastically stated.
"Shhhh, Shikaku's thinking…" Choza held up his finger to Inoichi and they both stared at their captain who is submerged in intense thought.
"Inoichi," Shikaku suddenly voiced, "fly to the south, get as far as you can until you get a clue of the medic whereabouts, if you still don't see anything within 100 miles come back immediately."
With understanding, Inoichi weaved a few hand signs and shouted, "Mind takeover jutsu," he emerged from a nearby tree in the body of a crow and took flight straight for the south. He flew with amazing speed and within 15 minutes he released the jutsu and returned to his own body. "80 miles!"
The team took off to the trees and started dashing, "Group of two Suna scums and one Iwa idiot carrying two unconscious shinobis: unidentified; believed to be the targets." Inoichi filled them in.
"How did you get the way Shikaku," Choza inquired while still running.
"As we have said before, there may be a traitor in the groups dispatched," Shikaku started to explain but did not lose speed nor focus on running, "Konoha obviously is not the traitorous side considering our Hokage has personally dispatched us to retrieve the hostages, Suna is a strong candidate for the betrayal, however it is foolish to so blatantly defy the two villages' arranged treaty attempt. Process of elimination, the most viable village to have the manpower to infiltrate either village and the biggest threat to either village would be Iwagakure."
Inoichi let out a low whistle, "Every time you explain something you make it sound like anybody could've figured it out."
"Heh, that's Shikaku for you." Choza chimed in.
Shikaku continued, "By the bodies' temperature, they had put up a long fight, it was drawn out until just a few hours ago. If correct, the shinobi's they fought could not have gone further than 100 miles of the battle radius. If they were indeed Iwagakure ninja they would head south and bring the hostages back to their village there for stealing both the villages' secrets, if you," he paused and nodded to Inoichi, "could not find any traces of these shinobis within 100 miles of the south then we would be heading to Suna right now."
"Well now that we're on their track, what's the plan cap?" Inoichi asked.
"Speed up, stay out of chakra sensing radius and stop at sunset. Iwa is still two days away; they'll stop and rest. Inoichi you'll fly over to them and see if you can pick up any information. They have three men and so do we, three on three we can take them by surprise, however do not underestimate the enemy's power. If the two medic-nins regain consciousness then we'll have an even bigger advantage. We attack before dawn."
A/N: I'm doing my best to write this. It is my first official Naruto Fanfic and I'm also not very good with fight scenes so I hope I don't do too horrible.