Yukino stood on stage singing. All eyes of the audience were on her. She looked as if she knew what she was doing. Until the interface deactivated. She stopped singing and looked down at her attire. She was completely confused. She looked around and had to come up with an excuse quickly.
"I must stop for this evening. I am not well."
Yukino stepped off stage, walking past Tsunade and Commander Ichi.
"Well, if the entertainment is over then I'll be leaving."
"Stay right there." Tsunade said putting a hand across the table onto his arm. "I'm sure she's fine. I'll talk to her."
Tsunade got up and went to talk to Yukino who was standing at the bar.
"What's wrong?"
"I need a drink of water."
"Make it a quick one. I promised the commander you'd be singing till midnight."
"I am not feeling well." Yukino said.
"Look, I don't care if you're dying. Get up there."
"No." Yukino said before walking away.
Tsunade looked to Rikku who was behind the bar.
"Maybe you're right about her."
"It seems more and more likely. She was there today when our courier was shot down in the street and she came out with no injuries. She then becomes uncooperative on the night before our liberation.
"Leave this to me." Tsunade said.
Shuji sat in a tent that was lit up by only two lanterns. Boxes lay a strewn across the floor of the tent and acted as furniture. He looked at a map of the town they were about to invade to fight the North. At that moment Junshin walked in.
"Captain." He said.
"What's the word?"
"There is no word. At least not from the resistance in the town."
"Then we'll get no support from inside the town." Shuji said.
"You may be underestimating the citizens. I spent a summer there when I was eighteen."
"Let me guess. You ate some of the food; you fell in love with a local girl and became an expert on the town." Shuji said.
"Uh…well…yeah that's pretty much it."
"I see."
"Don't count the townspeople out yet. They love their town They'll fight and die for it."
"All right, but I won't count them in either." Shuji said getting up. He walked to the back of the tent. We continued as planned. We go in at first light." He poured some coffee into a cup and handed it to Junshin. "So who was the girl?"
"Her name was Tenten. One hell of a woman. Had a temper to her though."
"Sounds like your type of girl."
"The last time I saw her was when I left the town. We wrote to each other for three years and then the war broke out and I never heard from her again."
"The town isn't that big. She shouldn't be hard to find." Shuji said.
"I'm counting on it."
Tsunade stood with Rikku, Tenten and Yukino with a map sprawled out on a table.
"You position yourself here about twenty meters from the front doors. Arm yourself with a submachine gun and keep an eye out for trouble." Tsunade said.
"Got it." Rikku said.
"We've discovered a thirty second break in the guard rotation. That should give you and me enough time to get through the window on the eastern wall." She said pointing to Yukino.
"The command post is on the second floor at the end of the hall." Tenten said.
"You'll remain here if something goes wrong and we're caught. If that happens then I want you to destroy every piece of evidence on the underground."
Tenten nodded.
"We'll leave in one hour."
Yukino stood in a room full of weapons. She looked at one of the handheld explosive weapons. Tsunade walked up beside her. She looked at the explosive that Yukino had rigged together.
"This won't do much. You forgot to install the detonator."
"Sorry. I'll fix it." Yukino said.
"It's lucky I found it. Are you having second thoughts?"
"No."
"Good. I don't want anymore mistakes."
"There won't be."
"Let's hope not." Tsunade said grabbing her pistol and walking off.
Satori sat in the middle of the street completely exhausted. He also had more wounds on him. He kept wiping his bloody forehead with his sleeve. Apparently, he was the center of attention by three of the hunters and they decided to beat the hell out of him. He was trying so hard to use so little of the chakra of the villagers so that he could stall for time. He pulled out the scroll from his boot and tossed it on the ground. Suddenly, Ino appeared again.
"We need to stop meeting like this. What happened to you?" Ino said.
"Don't worry about me. I managed to check on Yukino's chakra and it appears she's on the move. Are you ready?"
"My taskmaster will be gone for another twenty minutes."
"That'll give me enough time to set things up."
At that moment, Satori heard footsteps. Ino quickly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Just as she disappeared two hunters came into view. They spotted Satori standing in the alley.
"What are you doing there?"
"I'm sorry, was it a bad thing to take a small break from the sun? Killing my friends is exhausting work." Satori snapped.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the Hokage Building."
Satori attempted to move but was cut off by one of the hunters.
"I don't like your attitude." One of them said.
"I don't like you either. So I guess it's mutual."
The other hunter hit Satori in the face with his rifle, knocking him onto his back.
"I should kill you right now."
"Go ahead. I'll finally be able to rest for once and then you can die at the hands of your superior because you killed one of the few guys that are able to do this."
The hunter thought about it for a few seconds. "Fine. But don't let me catch you resting again or I will kill you."
Satori grinned at his small victory. "Thanks." He said sarcastically pushing one of the hunters out of his way.
