Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the awesome Characters!.... "I love you gai sensei!"

Sorry that action does not partake in this chapter, but he promised to show up in chapter two!

'What a drag...' Shikamaru Nara thought to himself, grumbling over the mission just recently assigned to him. 'Tsunade and her ways of torture... giving me a B ranked mission with possibly the two most annoying people in all of konoha. The nerve.' He complained inwardly again.

"A small village near the border of konoha have asked for our isistance in guarding the main gates. There has been suspicious people in the area, and we are getting complaints of them harassing inoccent bystanders. I want you, Naruto, and Ino to make sure everything is secure, and then report back imediatly. If what they say is true, bring the brats back here. Shikamaru, you'll be squad leader for this mission." Lady tsunade finished, her harsh demeaner challenging them to say something back, as she glowered at the number-one-knuckle-headed-ninja, who at the time looked ready to explode.

"Granny Tsunade!" He complained.

"No complaints Naruto! You leave at nine tomorrow morning, understood?"

"But this mission is so-"

"Shut up Naruto!" Ino whispered harshly, whacking the fellow blonde upside the head, giggling nervously, still not over her fear of Tsunade. The Nara just sighed softly, hoping to get the simple, meaningless mission over and done with fast.

"Dismissed!" We all turned to leave but her words stopped me. "Except you, Shikamaru." He sighed and hung his head down in irritation before composing himself and turning to face her. Once the door clicked closed, she spoke.

"If anything goes wrong, don't let Naruto do anything stupid. I didn't tell them the whole mission, or Naruto would have kept me here all night complaining. This is a B ranked mission. There haven't just been complaints of mysterious people, but also of ghost. They claim a ghost is reigning terror on there village and that every night, at the gates, a guard is killed by the ghost. They believe the ghost to be the villages leader from over a century ago, named Hiroshi Ryu. They say because he died at a young age fighting for the village, he's taking the lives of the young shinobi as revenge because the village did not protect him. I refuse to believe this hog-wash and want you and your team to investigate."

"How Troublesome .Do you think maybe the Shinobi are just pulling a cruel prank? I don't believe it's a ghost either, maybe a rival is kidnapping them. Have they found any bodies?" He asked, his eye brows arched together deepening the barely visable creases on his forhead. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, waiting patiently for the answer, glad that Tsnuade is to the point.

"Sadly, yes. All of them have been recovered, save for two." She replied gravely. "Eight have been killed so far, but two dissapeared, and we do not know if they are dead or not. Shiro and Jiro Rinshan," She continued, passing him two photos. The first photo was of a man, mid twenties, brown hair, blue eyes, dark skin, and a big white toothed grin. He looked to have a strong build, and was/is? probably a considerable shinobi.

"That is Jiro, the oldest of the twins. He is a jonin and dissapeared two days ago. Master of Gen jutsu, he is almost as good as kurenai." He nodded his head silently, making sure to retain the information. He looked at the next picture, and his jaw dropped considerably in shock. The man looked nothing like Jiro. He had pale blonde hair, pure black eyes, and his skin was shockingly white. His mouth was set in a firm, straight line, and his eyes dipicted anything but friendly. If anything, he'd say this guy made Gaara look like a stuffed animal.

Shikamaru heard Tsunade chuckle deeply.

"Shocked?"

"They look nothing alike! And this man makes Gaara look friendly!" Shikamaru said in complete shock, not daring to look down at the picture again for fear of being shocked into a coma.

"That is Shiro. And your right, when it comes to his enemy's, they are usually dead before they can even touch him. He strikes fear into his enemy's eyes, paralizing them, and then swiftly takes their life. He is an ex-ANBU, retired so that he could complete 'simple' missions with his brother. Although he has the eyes of death and judgment, he would do anything to protect the people he cares for, including the village. It disturbes me that he's missing, he's not so easily beaten by enemy's..." 'Unless he's the one conspiring against the village...' Shikamaru thought to himself.

Shikamaru let out a long sigh at the memory of the discussion he had with the Hokage. 'Hm, almost time to meet at the gate. 'What a drag.' he thought to himself as he past the Yamanaka flower shop. He could hear shuffling around inside the store as he decided to wait for Ino. As he was procrastinating, so he wouldn't have to see Naruto and tell him of the "Ghost" this early in the morning, Ino came rushing out of the flower shop, looking towards the ground instead of infront of her and ran straight into Shikamaru's back.

"Hey, watch where your going." He said turning around in surprise, with an almost bored expression on his face. Almost.

Ino was a mess. Her pony tail was lop-sided, she only had one shoe on, and was trying desperatly to keep her balance so she could slip the other one on.

"Why in such a rush?" He asked, trying despretly to contain his laughter. Did she think she was going to be late? She still had almost 45 minutes before they all have to meet at the gate!

"Were going to be late!" She said, dragging her backpack behind her.

"Calm down Ino, it's only 8:15." He stated.

"No, my clock said-" he pointed to the clock on the street corner.

"NA--RU--TO!" She roared at his prank, before charging back inside the flower shop. She came out minutes later looking normal again, but something was off. She was smiling. 'uh oh... this looks troublesome...." Shikamaru thought, warily glancing at her.

(A/N: I promise to make the next chapter longer! I would have made this chapter longer, but sadly, I have homework that has yet to be completed :( I cannot wait to get the next chapter posted, and will try to do so by the end of the week. This is my first real FanFic, and constructive criticism is welcome! Please review, and if you have any ideas for the upcoming chapters (if you enjoyed the story, that is) i welcome them also.

Happy Random Day!