AYAKA

Ayaka Nara was quite sure she was dying. Her laboured breaths had only grown more intense with her sprinting and her initially pretty pink Kimono was stained with fresh red from a wound she dared not stop to tend to. Which was annoying, kimono's were not cheap. After running almost solidly without sleep for two days, knew she ought to stop soon or perish. She cursed herself for taking on the solo A-rank mission. Logically, the future branch family head knew that her death would have no significant impact to the leaf. After all despite her Jonin status and a supposed elevation to her political standing, ANBU frequently went missing and given her current mission, she was questioning Tsunade Sama's lack of foresight.

Ayaka was an eye catching girl and more importantly she knew how to utilize her assets to the best of her abilities. Unfortunately, a mission to seduce the warden of one of Orochimaru's hideouts, and locate said hideout had seemed to be a logical mission to assign the current protégé of the ANBU head of seduction. What Ayaka and the hokage hadn't foreseen was the fact that the warden was a mere teenage girl, without any interest in the fairer sex and even more worrying, a powerful sensor who easily could see through her henge.

Ayaka had found herself under attack a mere day into her pretence to be a high end escort at tea house said warden was rumoured to frequent when she'd been attacked. Luckily for her, she was not a pretty face, not that she could be both as ANBU and noting all of Ayaka's promotions had been in field. Still seven against one hadn't been the best odds and whilst she knew she'd confirmed at least three kills, unless said attackers could survive decapitation – one never really knew with Orochimaru's underlings, it meant that she potentially had a maximum of four pursuers on her trail.

It had been dumb luck on her pursuers part that she'd let her guard down enough to be injured. Honestly, how she'd forgotten she held an activated explosion tag whilst trying to break the genjustu placed upon her was beyond her. Still the rookie mistake had cost her, and she was bleeding heavily from the wound on her side and left with only one usable arm.

Her best hope of survival was to make it to the land of tea undetected. She distinctly remembered that the newbie Leaf Jonin that skipped straight to his rank from genin during the chunin exams at the sand, would be stationed there for at least a week guarding the daimyo some festival. Requesting aid from the Hyuuga branch family prodigy, whom often preached about fate, would be an annoyance she'd have to endure.

Tossing a pair of kunai behind her at the faintest hint of chakra she was unsurprised to see a body fall lifeless from a tree. Noting her kunai had both pierced the neck and forehead respectively, she kept her harsh pace. Her opponents were clearly not trained ninja, attacking her one by one was simply not good planning. Surely by now they could tell she was no mere chunin. Which meant they were likely using the pursuit of her as some kind of sport or competition. It was a pity really, if she truly were to die here due to blood loss against such feeble foe. Avoiding stopping completely, she used a fire jutsu on her abdomen wound cringing at the pain. True, it would stop the bleeding and reduce any potential for infection but she hoped it wouldn't scar. Seduction in the ANBU would be problematic if she came home littered with battle scars and she shuddered to think where they'd transfer her in such an event. Maybe she ought to pick up some basic medical jutsu when she got back to the Leaf.

Suddenly she paused, sensing the barest of chakra in front of her. Ayaka was not a sensory ninja, at least not one of merit. However, her two years of jonin experience had forced her to hone her skills in that department. It was simply bad practice for ANBU of her calibre to be snuck up on. Unsealing her trusted katana, she waited while sending chakra to her ears. Maybe she couldn't sense them, but she'd be damned if she was going to run in blindly towards her death.

Palming a kunai in her less dominant and injured hand, she tossed it with great effort towards the side, certain the sound of rustling she'd heard was against the wind. True to her suspicions, she heard cussing as two more chackra signatures appeared before her.

So they'd finally decided to work as a team? Ayaka smirked, while this would've been a great plan at the start when they'd had a seven to one ratio but against a jonin level ANBU, three chunin level targets against her would normally not be a problem. They really ought to have kept trying to run her to the point of exhaustion. Katana in hand and her chakra flaring with killing intent she charged at her towards her opponents. Since she didn't need to be stealthy any longer she'd fight all out.

NEJI

They all felt the flare of malicious chakra south of the Daimyo's mansion. He barely noted Ino's eyes widen in recognition and Akumaru's worried whine. Kiba stilled to his left tension radiating off him as they all glanced at the oblivious Daimyo enjoying a hot stone massage. Activating his Byakugan, Neji scanned the area spotting a fight, three to one approximately 500m from the mansion, close to the land of tea's border. He noted the brunette woman wore the leaf emblem on her arm.

"You two know this Chakra?" He asked coolly already noting his current team looked ready to bolt.

"Its Ayaka senpai's," Ino murmured her hands drifting towards her weapons pouch, "she's Shikamaru's older cousin. You'd know her as the future Nara branch family head." He nodded, eyes fixed on the fight, and glanced towards Kiba.

"She's Hana's friend," Kiba added tensely, "Not that it should matter, but we can't let a Leaf Jonin die."

Inwardly, Neji groaned at his words. Whilst the injured kunoichi looked familiar, he hadn't been planning to intervene due to their current mission. But he couldn't allow both the Yamanaka heir and an Inuzuka to run off on their own given it was his first Jonin mission, especially since it was unlikely the Daimyo would be attacked. Honestly, the mission was a farce to begin with, his dysfunctional team thrown together on the spot by a preoccupied Tsunade who simply wanted to get rid of some easy B-Ranks provided by a small Daimyo they often humoured by upping the mission rank due to his title.

"Can you and Akamaru handle being alone with the Daimyo? She's probably going to win this fight, but it looks like she's injured." At Akamaru's whine, Neji began sprinting, noting Ino following immediately.

"How bad is it?" Ino asked with concern as she matched his pace. Neji was surprised the Yamanaka heir could keep his harsh pace but realistically he knew that on team 10, the hard working one was Ino. He could not even begin to imagine Chougi, or kami forbid, Shikamaru, doing any form of endurance training.

"I can see a lot of blood on her. She's won though. Just heal her when we get there," Neji replied. Mentally he tried to place the girl they were tracking. She was tall, easily his height with dark hair barely hitting her shoulders and eyes glinting red. He supposed she was beautiful, her features were certainly interesting enough. He hadn't seen her use her clan jutsu, which was tactically smart given the nature of the fight.

She obviously knew her way around a sword, he'd just seen her decapitate all three opponents with carefully graceful moves, but her unusual attire of a full kimono stood out to him. Had there not been such a girl in his academy days? He did remember besting some clan kid whom had the audacity to wear a full kimono to a spar. Mentally, he noted that the fight hadn't exactly been one sided but he pushed the thought aside. Ayaka Nara had most likely been a class mate he'd not taken note off, due to their difference in skill. Even watching the fight now, the woman clearly favoured kenjustu in close range combat.

Not that there was much difference in the two. Both fighting styles were equally deadly on a battlefield. Kiba had mentioned her jonin status. He was aware that there had been others from his academy days already bestowed with his rank. But Ayaka Nara? Surely he'd have noticed the name on the jonin mission lists. Which only left one option, Ayaka was ANBU.

"You call an ANBU agent Senpai?" he asked Ino mildly surprised. The implications were obvious and Ino didn't deign him with a response, her silence confirming his suspicions. So it would seem that Ino was being sought after by ANBU. Definitely, not what he'd expected to discover on this mission.

Arriving at the already ended battle and watching the fatigued kunoichi who fell at the sight of comrades, or rather his blonde companion, he allowed Ino to fuss over her. Medical ninjutsu was not his forte so he allowed himself to survey the damage. Three bodies, all slightly singed and headless surrounded him. Kunai littered the forest floor and he noted signs of water jutsu use as well.

He really did not want to know which poor soul would be given the task of matching each severed head to its respective body. A katana lay nearby, the Nara girl had obviously dropped it post battle in her fatigue. Overall, there wasn't much damage. The fight had obviously been controlled and the outcome inevitable. He wondered if she was a head hunter given her flair for decapitation, but then dismissed the thought. Surely they would not wish to recruit Ino Yamanaka as a head hunter.

Once first aid was one he picked up the Nara girl delicately, ordering Ino to seal the bodies and follow him as they made their way back to the Daimyo's mansion, pace harsher and silence heavy. Ino seemed concerned about the wound on the girl's side and her blood loss. He told himself he didn't care, but in all honestly, after spying on that fight with his byakugan, it would be a pity if such a skilled kunoichi died on his first mission.