"That was close," Kankuro said as he sat down beside Kiba and Akamaru.
"Thanks. I owe you one," Kiba replied, catching his breath.
"Are you guys all right?" Shikamaru asked as he and Temari appeared.
"Yeah, we're alright," Kiba said.
"I hate to be rude and interrupt your little love fest, but would someone mind explaining to me what's going on?" a new voice asked. They turned to see a girl leaning against a tree, looking at them. She stepped out from the shadows. The headband on her head had a moon on it with a line going through it.
"And who are you?" Temari asked, pulling her fan back out.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to get into a fight sweetheart," the girl replied, laughing. "I was on my way to visit Lady Tsunade and was curious to why all the fighting was happening."
"Saskue Uchiha left the village to join Orochimaru. We were the recovery team," Shikamaru told her, shocking the rest of his team. He knew he wasn't supposed to give away mission details to an outsider, but he wanted to know what she wanted with their Hokage.
"Uchiha, there aren't many of those left are there? Shame, seems like you didn't succeed," the girl sighed as she ran a hand through her bangs. Her hair was a few different shades of blue and curled down to about the middle of her back. "There's a saying in my village: if they want to leave, let them. But if they're valuable or know something, kill them."
The four didn't say anything in reply. Kiba, Kankuro and Temari glared at her, but Shikamaru eyed her curiously. From looking at her headband, he figured she had to be a runaway ninja from the village hidden under the moon. Not much was known about that place, but he knew it was pretty far away from here. Why would she want to speak to Lady Hokage?
"If that's true, then why did your village let you leave?" Shikamaru questioned, a smirk on his face. "Not valuable enough to kill?"
"Oh they've tried babe, they haven't been able to catch me," she shot back, laughing. She observed him, the boy with the pony tail. She could tell he was smart; she liked that. She was interested, but not enough to stick around. "Well, I should get going. It seems Tsunade is a little too busy to see me at the moment." She raised a hand up and then disappeared.
"I don't like her, she's suspicious," Temari said as soon as the girl was gone.
"It doesn't matter now. We've got to find the others," Shikamaru reminded her. "I'll tell Tsunade about her at another time." But that girl didn't leave his mind for a while.
"Ah, sounds like you ran into Zelena," Lady Tsunade told Shikamaru a few days later, laughing. "I haven't run into that brat in years."
"So you know her?" Shikamaru asked, shocked.
"She's a rogue ninja who left her village after becoming a chunin at age twelve. That had to have been three years ago, she's probably fifteen like you are," Lady Tsunade answered. "We met once by accident and the damn brat tricked me out of my money and a lesson on how to get a summoning contract."
"What has she been doing for three years?" Shikamaru questioned, now more interested. If she had been able to trick Lady Tsunade at such a young age then she must be pretty intelligent.
"She left her village because she felt like there was never anything happening there. For the past three years she's been gaining knowledge on everything. She's the person anyone should go to if they wanted intellect on anything, though she's hard to find," Tsunade explained. "From the last time I saw her about half a year before I became Hokage, she has perfected her water and fire natures and has a summoning contract with a few ninneko."
Shikamaru smirked, he was impressed. "So why do you think she's trying to find you now after all this time?"
"She has information she thinks I would want to hear," Tsunade guessed with a shrug. "Or she needs something."
Shikamaru sighed as he watched Naruto fight. The sand girl that had been kidnapped was successfully brought back to the group, but no one here had the strength to help Naruto free Gaara. All they could do is watch him get beat up over and over again.
"Someone needs to help him!" Sakura cried out eventually.
Shikamaru bit his lip, thinking. He was team leader, he had to do something. What could he do?
"Water style, Water wall justu," a familiar voice yelled. A wall of water formed between Naruto and the enemy. A figure ran past the group and Shikamaru instantly recognized the blue hair flashing by him. The wall of water was broken right as she arrived at Naruto's side.
"You okay?" Zelena asked him. He nodded and stood up. "Alright, then let's do this."
Between the two of them, they were able to get Gaara out of the metal that was trapping him. The three of them defeated the enemy before collapsing to the ground. The sand siblings ran to Gaara and most of the leaf ninja ran to Naruto.
Shikamaru walked up to Zelena, reaching a hand down to her. She smirked as she took it and he helped her stand up. "Why did you help us?" he asked as she began to dust herself off.
"Happened to be passing by. Recognized you and saw your team needed some help," she answered with a shrug. "Or maybe I wanted to see the fighting styles of two jinchuriki up close."
"Hey," Naruto called out. Zelena and Shikamaru turned around. "I don't know who you are, but thank you."
"The sand village thanks you as well," Gaara added as he and his siblings walked up.
"No need to thank me. I was just in the right place at the right time," Zelena replied, running her hand through her hair and looking away. She looked uncomfortable with the attention.
"Mission completed everyone!" Shikamaru called out, drawing the attention back to him. "Let's head back to the village and have a meal to celebrate!"
Everyone, especially Choji, cheered and began to head back. Luckily Sakura had healed up everyone who was hurt so the journey back would be easy.
"Coming Shikamaru?" Temari asked since he was one of the only ones left a few seconds later.
"I'll catch up," he told her. She looked disappointed, but went ahead with her brothers.
"You shouldn't keep your girlfriend waiting," Zelena said as she walked up to him. She was a few inches shorter than him, so she couldn't rest her arm on his shoulder, which was slightly frustrating to her.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Shikamaru shot back.
"Defensive, you sure about that?" she asked, looking up at him with a smirk.
"I'm sure. I mean, she probably likes me. And she's a nice girl. But for one, I never see her. And two, I'm not attracted to her," Shikamaru explained with a sigh. "Girls are such a pain anyways."
Zelena, satisfied with his answer, turned to head the other way. "I should take my leave. See you around."
"Wait, don't you want to come back and speak with Lady Tsunade?" Shikamaru asked.
She turned back and looked at him, silently observing. Shikamaru wasn't sure what to do, so he looked back at her. Her ninja outfit was unlike any he had seen before, suited for water type battles. She was oddly pale for one coming from an island. "Alright, you can guide me to her."
"Okay," Shikamaru replied, smiling. She smiled too, and then the two took off after the others.