Leaves and Grass

The Return of an Enemy

Prologue

Konoha village had been at peace for nearly two years now, ever since Naruto, a lowly Genin, had left to further his training at the hands of the legendary toad sage and search for his rival Uchiha Sasuke. Of the few ninja that had remained in the village the importance of continuous vigilance had all but gone and most were content to believe that life had at last returned to normal. But for the young ninja who had witnessed the terrible battle, the memory of that fight was one that haunted each and every day. No longer could they walk down a street without expecting enemies to emerge from the shadows, or hone their skills with the same innocent passion that had greeted them during the first days of being a true shinobi.

For the medical apprentice Sakura, formerly of team Kakashi, life was now completely strange. Since the disappearance of her childhood crush Sasuke and the training that the annoying Naruto was undertaking she had become insular and almost a stranger to her former friends and comrades.

As for the other teams, they had been split ever since they obtained at the rank of Chunin. Some, Such as Hyuuga Neji had risen to the rank of Jounin, one of the village elites and had a team of young Genin that he trained and led on missions himself. Shikamaru had been heavily relied upon for his strategic mind and was mostly involved with re-establishing and maintaining the defence of Konoha. Rock Lee and Tenten had been largely occupied with the training of new and old shinobi in the use of hand to hand and weapons training, going on missions whenever they were offered.

The one team that had remained together however was team Kurenai whose three shinobi had all been blessed with excellent spying capabilities such as Kiba and Akamaru's sensitive sense of smell, Shino's limitless personal bug army and Hinata's Byakugan. Even though together they were mainly used for keeping a watch out for potential enemy attacks. However there is still only so much that three ninja can do in such a large village.

Chapter 1

Even though it was on the opposite side of the village, Shino felt the explosion, not so much in himself but rather through his insect network. Even though he could not see it he turned instinctively towards the exact point of origin and brought his hand up to the microphone attached to his headset. "Hinata! Above the Hokage faces!"

From her sentry position near the main gate Hinata could just make out the muffled sound of an explosion, not long after the familiar, unflustered voice of Shino came through her headset. "Hinata! Above the Hokage faces!"

"Right! BYAKUGAN!" Her clans famous eyesight sent her flying through the leaf village at a supersonic pace until her gaze rested upon the stone faces of the previous Hokage. "Shino! There is extensive damage to the main peak of the cliff face. There's a lot of loose rubble headed for the Hokage Mansion and, wait, it looks like there are at least three separate types of chakra concealed within the rubble."

Being nearest to the Hokage Mansion, Kiba riding astride his trusty hound Akamaru went speeding in that direction. "Good work Hinata! Shino! Make your way there. Akamaru and I will stall them for as long as we can."

FLASHBACK

Far away in the village hidden the grass three students had just become Genin and were about to meet their new Sensei. All three sixteen year olds had stayed on longer at the academy as an experiment to see if extra theory would improve the survival rate of the fresh Genin.

The first was a quiet kunoichi dressed in a skin-tight deep red body suit starting from just below her nose going all the way down to her ankles with white bandage surrounding her middle, she was wearing her dark green, shoulder length hair loosely around her face. The kunoichi wore her newly acquired headband over her eyes, as the members of her clan were all born blind. Her name is Nakayama Akira.

Second was a brilliantly contrasting kunoichi called Oyama Ayane, and she too favoured wearing a skin-tight body suit from neck to ankles, however the bright yellow colour of this suit meant she stood out in a crowd. She also wore a bright purple cloak, which is held up by a neck and shoulder protector in a deep purple. Her long spiky hair however remains a dull brown tied simply at the nape of her neck. The headband is worn around her waist like a belt, and cuddled lovingly around her feet sleeps Usagi, her pet rabbit.

Finally there is Kanazawa Kagemaru, he has long straight brown hair worn loose, a high, hard collared black leather jacket he wears open over a fishnet t-shirt and black baggy trousers. Unlike the others however he has chosen no to wear shuriken but instead uses a katana strapped diagonally over his back. His headband covers his forehead in the traditional ninja way.

All three Genin sat facing the clock in the empty classroom waiting quietly for their Sensei to arrive. Akira began tapping her foot in agitation. Even though blind she could see the clock from at least seven different directions and was also keeping watch in both directions in the outside corridor. "I do not see him, he's going to be late."

"Relax Akira. It's not that big a deal, besides, Usagi could use a good sleep."

"Give it a rest you two, he's still got another seventeen seconds yet."

And right on cue the Sensei materialised in a puff of smoke standing just in front of the blackboard. "Greetings students! Haven't kept you waiting I hope." He seemed disappointed that only the rabbit Usagi reacted to his sudden appearance. He stood six feet tall wearing the typical navy blue shirt and trousers common to most ninja, the armoured green jacket awarded to one who has reached Chunin level and a wide straw cone hat with the plate from the headband attached to the front. His face was hard and cruel with distinctive blue face paint on his cheeks and chin.

"Well time's a wasting so let's get to the point. We've been ordered to head to each hidden village and to acquire secret scrolls detailing maps and a list of each village's clans and abilities. I'd love to stand here and give you all a proper introduction, actually that's a lie, I really hate you green kids so only speak up if it something relevant, understood?" He waited for all of them to nod in agreement before continuing. "Right, let's move out, and you there boy! Try not to die before we leave the classroom!" He paused in the doorway staring intently at Usagi. "You bringing that pathetic little bunny along?"

"Y-yes Sensei! He's my-"

"Good! At least we can eat something when it's time to make camp!" With that he rushed out the door with the three ninja hot on his heels.

END FLASHBACK

After being abruptly awoken by two heavy-handed ANBU, Shikamaru found himself being escorted to the Hokage Mansion in his pyjamas. He'd barely had time to put on his slippers before the two men had grabbed him by the sleeves and hauled him away at a breakneck pace all the while saying "emergency" and "no time to mess around." Not too long later he found himself being rushed passed what looked to be several boulders and a lot of still settling dust just shy of the Mansion itself. He thought he saw Kiba with his team searching the rubble but he was blustered away so quickly that he couldn't be sure.

"Lady Tsunade! He's here." Shikamaru was dumped like a prisoner on the floor in front of the fifth Hokage. "That was certainly fast but I think you could have at least let him get dressed first."

"Your pardon Lady Tsunade, but if it is Orochimaru we have no time to loose!"

Shikamaru, now standing, spoke up. "I doubt it's Orochimaru. If it were him we'd be a lot worse off than the Hokage Mansion's garden being re-arranged."

"How can you take that attitude?"

"Hey, you were the guys who broke into my house and dragged me hear, it's far more troublesome than I can cope with so early in the morning."

"Shikamaru! I agree with your assessment." The two ANBU turned in astonishment. "Lady Tsunade you think this is something to be ignored?"

"Not the troublesome morning idiots, that it is not Orochimaru's handy work! Anyway you had better get back to helping with the investigation." They left in a cloud of smoke. Shikamaru, one hand grasping the back of his neck resigned himself to a hard day's work with a sigh.

Shino, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru stood together facing each other, although each was searching the rubble in their own way. Shino's bugs were all over and in the settling dust searching for any signs of the enemy whilst Kiba and Akamaru were scenting the air, identifying each and every smell no matter how feint. Hinata was using still using her Byakugan searching unsuccessfully for the three chakra types she had earlier detected. "You sure that they just vanished Hinata?"

"Mmm, the chakra seemed to dissipate like steam. Could it be a water-type jutsu?"

"The beetles would have found some trace of moisture within the dust by now if it had been. No, something else is happening here."

"Whoever they are they've masked their scents, not even Akamaru can detect anything out of the ordinary, the sent wouldn't have gone that fast."

"Could it have been a Genjutsu?" Kurenai appeared in a cloud of smoke, she looked like she'd just got out of bed yet there were dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. "Sensei! You ok? Had a bad night?"

"No. I had quite a good night actually Kiba. But this is hardly the time." Sensei Azuma appeared besides Kurenai and he too shared the appearance of lack of sleep.