"God, I hope we never have another mission to the Swamplands. I'll never get the smell out of my jacket, and it's going to take forever to get the bugs out of Akamaru's fur."Kiba gave miserable vocalization to what everyone on the team felt or thought to some degree. The mission was likely to be their team's last mission together in awhile, since they all had become jounins, Hinata being that last had completed the exam the last month, meaning that they would not be going on many missions as a team anymore. They were nearly to the village, returning from the swamp country area, where they had delivered a message to the local lord, and had been told to watch for enemy ninja, who had never appeared. They walked down the dirt road, the village finally back in their sight, when Hinata perked up.
"Isn't that Hana?"
Kiba raised his head to look at the gate, finally noticing the lone figure leaning against the massive gate, flanked by her three canine companions.
"Oh, yeah that is, wonder why she came. Probable to welcome us back to the village." He said, then raising his voice to a shout, "YO! Nee-san! Why are you here?"
"Subtle, Kiba." Shino sarcastically stated, earning a half-hearted glare from the Inuzaka.
"I came here to welcome you back, little bro," She replied pushing herself off the gate lightly, her fang tattoos lifting in response to her grin. The Haimaru triplets barked a greeting to Akamaru, who responded likewise. "Hey Hinata, Shino, welcome back." Nodding to each of them in turn, Hinata quietly thanked her, while Shino, nodding, said simply "Hana-chan."
Hana turned to him with a playful glare, walking to him, "Oh come on shino, like I'm gonna let you go with that."
Then with a feral grin, grabbed his collar and dragged him down to her level, kissing him while her brother made heavily exaggerated gagging noises, despite he had already known about their relationship for years. Breaking away she moved to his left side and lightly held (crushed) his hand in hers. As the group walked down the busy city lane, Kiba keeping up a constant train of complaints about the mission, they slowly made their way to the Hokage tower. As they turned a corner, they were forced to dodge to the side as Naruto came speeding through, yelling over his shoulder without even slowing "Old lady Tsunade has a message, everybody get to the tower NOW!" They watched as he speed down the road, before darting down a side street, disappearing from view.
"No rest for the weary." Quoted Shino, and all of his companions sighed in agreement.
They took to the roofs, leaping from house to house, until coming upon the tower, came to a stop on the roof, joining the group of leaf ninja already there. There was a quiet buzz of conversation, until Tsunade appeared, standing on a platform in the front, for once not completely smashed, and deadly serious.
"ALRIGHT, I know you're wondering why you were called here, and I'm going to tell you now. We have received a message from Suna, telling us some very problematic news." Her loud voice cut straight through the morning air, a touch of anger in it, and, strangely enough, something shino could swear was almost… Dread. "All of the other villages have entered a state of war, with the exception of ourselves and Suna, against each other. It began with several raids, and is escalating into a full-out war. We will be enacting several security measures, and will also begin patrolling the borders to make sure that we are not caught by surprise. Patrols shall begin tomorrow, and otherwise you are dismissed, except for Shino, Izumo, and Kotetsu." All the others immediately leaped of the tower, Shino's teammates, and Hana, nodding to him before. Shino made his way to stand before the Hokage, taking a place beside the other two who had been called. Tsunade sighed, and turned to look at the village, before speaking up.
"We have heard growing reports of activity on Suna's borders, and they have asked for assistance from us, so you will be carrying a message that will inform them of how many we are sending to help, how much supply, and so on." She turned and looked all of them in the eye before continuing. "This message is massively important, if the other villages get a hold of this, they could use it to intercept the caravan, or raid the village itself. You will leave right away, and take this flare." She said, indicating a small tube resting against the railing of the tower. "There are sentries set up along the way so if you get ambushed, send it up and there will be reinforcements on the way in minutes. Normally we would send a much bigger group, but speed and stealth is the most important thing for this." She pulled out a small bottle, sake inevitably, and popped the top off, taking a swig. She then pulled out a small message tube and handed it to shino. "If you are caught, burn it. Do you understand? Good. Now go." They all saluted and kotetsu grabbed the flare, then immediately began heading out.
Three hours had passed, and they were slowly leaving the forest, the trees slowly thinning out as they moved. They landed on the ground, meaning to take a quick break, and then, all hell broke loss. The ground beneath them exploded, and Kotetsu and Izumo were blown back into the trees, each latching onto a branch as they flew. Shino had leapt straight away, resting on a branch on the opposite side of the small clearing. The smoke cleared, and the attackers were revealed. There were five of them, and none had any insignias on them, and their black clothes were stained by the dirt under which they had been hiding. One a massive man with a bald head and scars covering his skull stepped out and leveled his eyes on shino, ignoring the other two completely. "Hey it's an Aburame. Haven't seen one of you bug people in a long time." His voice sounded like an avalanche, deep and gravelly, and extremely aggravating to the ears. "Now, I don't expect you to, but will ya hand over that scroll, or we gonna have to take it from ya?"
His companions, two blonds that were obviously twins snickered, and the other two, two brown haired and red haired women, waited silently. The brown haired one stood impassively, but the red-haired stared at Shin with something bordering on obsession. Before Shino Could respond, Izumo took the initiative, "WATER RELEASE: SYRUP CAPTURE FIELD!" and a torrent of fluid poured out towards the ambushers. Before it could reach them though, the two blonds leaped forward and the one on the left, who was slightly shorter, formed a stream of signs and roared back "EARTH RELEASE: EARTH STYLE WALL" And a massive wall of mud sprung from the ground, holding back the capture field, and the taller twin drew a sword and met kotetsu in the air fighting sword against mace. Shino had no time to watch though, dodging away as the man sent a massive fireball into the tree he had been standing on. "SPINDLE FORMATION" he sent a swarm of kikaichu in a spiraling pattern towards the man, but they were dissipated by a smoke bomb, shot from the left, followed by a clacking noise. He turned and barely had time to doge the blade as the puppet attempted to impale him. He landed on the far side of a tree, catching his breath. He could hear his teammates fighting the twins, and saw the puppet launch from tree to tree searching for him, and could hear the man cursing rather colorfully off to the other side. "FIND HIM! WE NEED THAT SCROLL!"
It was then shino realized he had lost track of the red-head, the brown haired girl controlling the puppet. He looked over his shoulder… and hurled himself backwards when he saw the eyes inches from his own. She followed after him not attacking and merely dodging the kikaichu as they swarmed at her. Then she was behind him, her chakra completely untraceable, and he heard the crack of a bomb, braced for the impact, and fell into a green mist. He inhaled barely a trace of it, and launched himself out of the cloud… and into the man who slammed him in the face with his fist, sending him plummeting to the ground fifty feet below. His kikaichu barely managed to cushion the fall, but the gas, along with the fall, was sending him spiraling into unconsciousness. He hurled the scroll into the kikaichu, and they shredded it instantly. His last sight was the flare spiraling into the air, and a pair of heavy boots landing beside his head.