7

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It looked like a bird's head, Shikamaru decided, as he kept on watching the large, pure clouds pass by. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and savored the moment - one of the rare quiet ones these days.

Although he'd hoped that his schedule would clear up once he'd returned from the Land of Earth, he'd actually known that life would continue staying busy for a while. After all, Naruto Uzumaki hadn't been retrieved yet; the mission hadn't been completed.

He'd been proven right.

Just a few days after he had been made a permanent fixture in this project, he had been called to the Hokage's office once again. Without further ado, she'd told him that she'd decided to install him as the leader in the upcoming mission to find Konoha's jinchuuriki in the Land of Wind.

Shikamaru had been shocked. He'd tried to argue that he didn't have enough experience in handling such an important task but Tsunade hadn't let herself be swayed. She'd curtly explained that they needed a gifted strategist to organize and lead a relatively big team of ninjas.
Since strategizing was his specialty, he'd already been in the pool of shinobi to choose from. The fact that he was familiar with Naruto's status as the jinchuuriki and lacked emotional involvement had sealed the deal.

He really started to hate Naruto Uzumaki. The boy only brought on work.

Even this little moment that he believed to have for himself wasn't meant to last. The shadow that fell over his face obscured his view of the clouds.

When he looked up, he was met with the familiar faces of Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.

When Kiba sat down on the soft grass, Akamaru quickly rushed by to lay his furry head on the boy's thigh. But the dog remained alert which meant that he, like Shikamaru, felt the tension hanging in the air. These two weren't just paying him a visit for the hell of it. When Shino sat down next to his teammate, Shikamaru shifted and looked up to the clouds again.

He should talk with them so whatever problem they had could be solved. But being the lazy ass that he was, he preferred to procrastinate. Unsurprisingly, Kiba was the first one to break the silence. No one, much less an Inuzuka, was patient enough to exhaust Shikamaru's bottomless well of laziness.

"You have to put Hinata on the team," the boy blurted out.

Shikamaru merely raised one thin eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Kiba snorted and Akamaru imitated him not long after. But before he could respond, Shino said, "You don't have to play dumb any longer, Nara. That might've worked during our Academy days but we know you far better now."

Shikamaru frowned. It was rare that Shino decided to voice his opinion. So this must be some important matter to them. "Well, you sure know more than I do right now. I've got no idea what you're talking about."

Kiba rolled his eyes and Akamaru, feeling the boy's agitation, growled uneasily. "There's some big mission coming up, right?"

"A search-and-retrieve kind of mission," Shino added.

Shikamaru put on a mask of ignorance. "I'm just a regular chunin. If you want to have access to that sort of information, you'll have to ask the Hokage."

"Except you're a chunin on the cusp of being promoted to jonin," Shino countered calmly.

"Yeah," Kiba hissed, "we know that you're part of some big mission that'll bring you the promotion soon. The word's been going around since some time. Don't think we didn't notice how you keep on going in and out of Tsunade's office like it's your second home. Something's coming up, I can feel it!"

Shino, having noticed that Kiba was once again getting too passionate, carried on, "Many of us who are specialized on search and retrieval aren't getting any work right now. It very much seems like the Hokage is saving us up for a mission that is yet to come."

Finally, the much desired silence caved in and left Shikamaru to his thoughts. Their observations were spot on – not that he was surprised. Although he wasn't very close with either of them, it had always been obvious that Shino was intelligent and Kiba had a good gut instinct. Besides, ninjas were paid to be observant. It helped that they all hung around in the same circles; news travelled fast.

Remaining on his back, Shikamaru asked, "Hypothetically speaking, let's say what you've just told me is actually true. What has Hinata got to do with that?"

"We know that Hinata's number of successfully terminated missions isn't making for a pretty balance sheet," Shino answered.

"Hey," Kiba interrupted his friend, "you don't have to put it like that!"

Shino shook his head. "No. It won't help Hinata in any way if we sugarcoat this situation."

His teammate looked like he wanted to object but he bit on his lower lip and begrudgingly let Shino continue.

"She just barely scraped by in the Chunin Exams. Her success rate isn't working in her favor, either. It seems like the Hokage is losing trust in her abilities as she is getting charged with less and less missions. Because of that, she's under even more pressure from her family which only serves to diminish the little self-confidence that she has. As a result, her performance suffers even further. If now she was one of the few ninjas who weren't included in a mission that required the traits that she is supposed to specialize in, it will only bust the little sense of self-worth that she possesses."

Shikamaru had never heard Shino Aburame talk this much in one go. He must be serious about this. Finally, he brought himself to sit up and to turn towards the two boys.

"What has that to do with me? Even if I was, hypothetically speaking of course, part of this alleged mission, how would I have any influence in who makes it on the team?"

"Please do not insult our intelligence like that, Nara," Shino retorted coolly. "We might not be you but we're perceptive enough to notice when someone is the Hokage's most frequent visitor."

"Yeah! Don't take us for a fool!" Kiba growled. "You've got some sort of influence in what's going on."

"It only makes sense to put you in this position since it is your leadership qualities that have to be tested in order for you to be promoted to jonin," Shino added.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. They were good, he had to give it to them. "Let me get this right: You want me to put in a good word for Hinata so she gets to be part of a mission that she is not fit to be part of?"

Kiba stiffened. "That's not true! Hinata has the Byakugan. She's got a natural talent for tracking!"

"So has every other Hyuuga. Only can they use their kekkei genkai much better than Hinata can."

Kiba punched his fist into the earthy ground where it left a slight imprint of his knuckles. "Hinata can handle her Byakugan just well! But that asshole clan of hers is constantly pulling her self-confidence down. That's why she's barely able to function when they're near!"

Shikamaru was pretty sure that Kiba was close to jumping at his throat. He contemplated binding the boy's shadow because he knew that the Inuzuka was too fast and too close to be blocked once he attacked. But then he would to have to deal with Akamaru, Shino and the bugs.
Still, he wasn't about to let Hinata be forced on him. No doubt had the girl potential, but that was of no use when she was too reluctant to fulfill it.

"Did you ever consider that she might just not be ninja material?" he asked calmly.

"Nara-" Shino interjected only for Shikamaru to cut him off.

"No, Aburame. You said it yourself that sugarcoating wouldn't help this situation. The unveiled truth is that Hinata doesn't have the mindset to be a shinobi – maybe she's too much of a good person for that to happen. But ninjas can't always be good people. Sometimes we have to do bad things to achieve what is best for our village. Some people can't do that and I'm not looking down on that. Not everyone has to be a ninja."

"Except Hinata has to be a ninja and you know that!" Kiba hissed. "We clan kids don't have the option to be anything else. Even you Nara – you, whose clan is known to be just about the laziest and most easy-going one in Konoha – could not choose to not be a shinobi. No one cares whether we have the right mindset."

For a moment, Shikamaru was reminded of that day he had met Naruto.

The smithy. Hot, stuffy air and dirty, coal-smeared surfaces. Naruto holding Asuma-sensei's blades into the fire; the flames' orange warmth radiating and covering his bronzed face in its glow. The blue eyes trained on the task ahead while asking him whether he liked being a ninja.
'No, I hate it,' Shikamaru had answered him.
Naruto had laughed and had asked why he had become a shinobi then. Shikamaru remembered his response even more clearly than the rest of that scene:
'I was born into a ninja family. I have to do it; I've got no choice.'

Shikamaru did have the mindset to be a shinobi. But if he had been free of his loyalty towards his family and his village, he wouldn't have wanted to become one.

Shino must've noticed that Kiba's words had resonated with him. "Hinata's got no other choice. But because she's so sensitive, other people's assumptions influence her greatly. She has to think that people still believe in her."

Shikamaru contemplated it. He did have the power to put Hinata on the team. Tsunade had given him the option to assemble the shinobis that he needed since he was the one who would eventually lead and organize them in the actual course of the mission. Of course, everything had to be approved by her but convincing the Hokage that Hinata would be a beneficial addition wouldn't be that hard.
He let the hypothetical situation run through his head. Where he would install her, whom he would team her up with, how she would react if she was ever faced with Naruto.

"No," he decided, "I can't do that. This mission could be very dangerous."

Kiba cursed. "Damn it, Nara, you don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand it, Kiba," Shikamaru interrupted, feeling his serenity quickly slipping away. The pressure to perform had been weighing on him for some time now. It only kept on getting worse as he kept on rising in rank. Everyone tried to fulfill their interests through him while he, damned be his ability to assess a situation through different perspectives, was caught in-between the webs. "I have to lead this mission."

"Don't act like you're a stranger to that position," Kiba huffed.

"No, I'm not," Shikamaru retorted coldly. "And I hate it because everything that happens in the course of a mission is in my responsibility. I'm the one who's making the decisions. If someone dies, their blood will be on my hands because I send them into a fight which I should've known they couldn't win."

Finally, there was silence. Yet Shikamaru wished the discussion would continue so he could ignore that he'd just spilled what was one of his biggest fears. He usually didn't get emotional on other people, especially not on old Academy comrades he barely had anything to do with. But Shino and Kiba had accidently hit a few of his insecurities and he hadn't been able to control himself.

"You're right," Shino finally broke the silence.

"But Shino," Kiba protested weakly.

His teammate shook his head. "No, it wasn't fair of us to come to you with these expectations. Maybe that's why you're being considered for jonin, Nara. You aren't shortsighted like the rest of us. There is only one piece of information that you lack that tampers with your perception. Hinata isn't weak."

Kiba nodded determinedly. "She could beat my ass up, I swear. You know that I wouldn't just say that about anyone. She can not only use her Byakugan for scouting but it also makes her awesome at taijutsu."

Shikamaru sighed. "Are you trying to sell Hinata as a combat specialist to me?"

"It's true," Shino claimed. "She has a very hard training behind her. She was once considered the Hyuuga heiress, after all."

Shikamaru sighed again. There was probably some truth to that but the fact remained that he had never seen Hinata even incapacitate someone.

"Tell you what?" Kiba suggested. "Join one of our training sessions and fight with her. She will be reluctant to hurt you at first but once she gets used to the situation, she'll beat your ass up."

Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. "Beating me at a taijutsu battle isn't a feat. I suck."

"Regardless," Shino argued, "you will be able to assess her abilities. Take part in only one training session. After that, decide how you want, we won't bother you anymore."

Shikamaru groaned and lay back on the ground, wishing the earth would suck him up so he wouldn't have to deal with anything anymore

.

Fourteen. Never before had Shikamaru led this many people. It would be hard to organize all of them but it was the minimal number of shinobi that he needed for his plan to work out.

The plan had been formed even before the Kazekage's expected scroll with the approval to operate in the Land of Wind had arrived. Earlier this evening, Shikamaru had sat down with his father and the Hokage to clear up last details of the mission they had been discussing frequently in the last week.

Afterwards, the Hokage had called in those shinobis that would have to set out first. Neji, Lee, Aoba, Raidou, Muta Aburame and Hana Inuzuka were all people Shikamaru worked well with. Not only were many of them excellent trackers, each of them was an extremely skilled fighter, as well. They had already left an hour ago.

Now Shikamaru was preparing to deliver the speech that he had already given to the departed ninjas. He was one of the nine shinobi that would form the second part of the group which consisted of Kakashi, Asuma-sensei, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Kurenai, Gai and Genma.

After the conversation he'd had with Kiba and Shino, he'd grudgingly joined Team Eight in a training session under the pretense of trying to improve his own skills. Kurenai and Hinata had reacted with confusion, which meant that the two boys had come to Shikamaru without the women's knowledge. He was convinced that Kurenai had caught on, though.
In the course of the training he'd found out that Hinata wasn't as incapable as he'd believed her to be. Although she'd needed some time to warm up, she'd actually worked really well in combination with her team.

Shikamaru had determined that Team Eight could be a valuable asset if they didn't come into contact with Neji. No matter how much the Hokage would order him to behave, his mere presence would bring their moral down. However, Neji's skills were needed on this mission. But since the team had to be split up, anyway, no one had to know about the other's involvement.

As Group One had to travel a longer way, they had already been sent off. Group Two was awaiting the Hokage's instructions.

When Tsunade was sure that she held everyone's attention, she spoke up. "I've assembled the nine of you to assign you a mission in the Land of Wind."

"If this is gonna become the norm, you're gonna need a bigger office," Kiba muttered. It was a little crowded in the messy room. But when both Kurenai and Tsunade fixed him with a strict glare, he wisely refrained from complaining any further.

"We not only need this many ninjas because we're going to cover a lot of ground," Tsunade responded briskly, "but also because this is a mission of great importance. Actually, your group is only one part of a team. The first group has already left the village."

Genma raised his brows. "Even bigger of a deal than I thought it'd be," he murmured. Just like Kiba and Shino had told Shikamaru before, the rumors about this project must've been widely spread.

Tsunade's expression hardened. "This is a mission we've been planning for some time and part of an endeavor that's been going on for ten years. I have decided to install Shikamaru Nara as the one who'll be leading you in the process of this operation."

Shikamaru could feel the confused eyes of Hinata, Kurenai, Gai and Genma shift towards him. Although it had been commonly suspected that he would be a big part of an upcoming mission, not many seemed to have expected him to be appointed with such an important position.
But that was the reason why he'd only included people he knew to participate in this mission. After all, he had to give orders to shinobi that were higher in rank and he couldn't use people who'd question his instructions.

When Tsunade gave him a meaningful nod, he walked towards her desk to pick up a folder of files. Swiftly, he opened it and picked out a picture to hold it up and show it to his fellow shinobis.

"Our objective is to find and retrieve Naruto Uzumaki."

He gave the picture that they had managed to produce through Shikamaru's detailed descriptions to Genma. "So that's what he looks like nowadays," he murmured before passing the drawing over to Kurenai who was standing next to him.

The woman stared at it interestedly. "That's the first time I'm seeing his face," she commented.

Kiba broke out of the neat line and hurried towards his teacher to peek over her shoulder. "Huh? Do you know this guy?"

"He's a former citizen of Konoha," Asuma-sensei cleared up. Hinata and Shino visibly perked up but unlike their impatient teammate, they waited for the picture to be passed on.

Shikamaru discreetly looked towards Gai. He was surprised that the man hadn't shouted out anything about the power of youth yet. Usually, it was a near impossible to get the man to shut up. But at the moment, Gai was only watching his eternal rival from the corner of his eyes.

Kakashi hadn't spoken up yet. What was visible of his face was completely unreadable. Shikamaru knew that the man had had enough time to perfect that expression since he had been kept updated while Shikamaru, Shikaku and Tsunade had developed the plan.

Again, it was Kiba's passionate voice that managed to interrupt his musings. "Does that mean this guy is a nukenin?" he asked, his face mirroring the disgust that he felt. Behind him, Akamaru started to growl nervously when he sensed the boy's agitation.

Shikamaru suppressed the urge to snort. The mention of a nukenin never failed to drive a loyal shinobi up the wall.

"No," Tsunade responded. "Like I've already told you, we've been searching for this boy for ten years. He disappeared from Konoha before he even entered the Academy. That's why some of you might not be familiar with him."

"We're confident that he's currently residing in the northeast of the Wind Country," Shikamaru carried on. "We're not aware of his exact location. Asuma-sensei, Kakashi and I are going to research on his whereabouts once we arrive at the border between Wind and Rain. That way, we'll not only narrow his location down. Once he realizes that he is being tracked down, he will try to leave Wind. But by that time, we'll be awaiting him at the borders."

"What? All the borders?" Kiba wondered. "How big is the other part of the team? We're going to need a lot of people to keep track of that much ground."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Like I've already told you, our calculations suggest that he's residing in the northeast of Wind."

"But the directions he could flee towards are almost endless," Shino supported his teammate.

"I've studied the target's behavior through previous mission reports," Shikamaru countered. "I'm confident that he'll try to leave the country as soon as he finds out about our arrival. Each time he's been detected before, he ran off as fast as he could. He seems to be too impatient to wait for the threat to pass. Our presence will make him too antsy to continue staying in Wind. We'll be guarding the fastest routes that lead out of the country. He will eventually pass one of them."

Shino nodded, seeming to be satisfied with the answer he'd received.

"Um-"

Shikamaru turned to Hinata who started to stutter nervously when people's attention focused on her.

"What is it Hinata? Don't be afraid to ask any questions! They're testament of your will to improve and speak volumes about your flames of youth!" Gai exclaimed passionately. It was the usual Gai-talk but it had caught them off-guard since the man had been silent until now.

All that yelling only served to intimidate Hinata even further but she eventually managed to get her question out. "How strong is our target? Since we're not only tracking specialists, I figured…" she trailed off.

Shikamaru nodded. "Good question. We don't have any detailed knowledge of Uzumaki's abilities." Which was half of the truth. While they knew that Naruto was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, they had no idea whether he was trained in any form of combat. But most of the people, who were involved in this mission, were old enough to be aware of Naruto's special status. "However, we have to be prepared for the worst-case-scenario. Do not underestimate him but keep in mind that it isn't our goal to kill him. We have to return him to Konoha without any lasting injuries."

"No worries!" Gai shouted ardently, "The boy's still Leaf's citizen, after all! Nothing will be able to extinguish the flames of youth that are bound to burn in such a young soul!"

Everyone in the room collectively rolled their eyes. Shikamaru quickly returned to his speech before the man could grasp the opportunity to hold another cheesy, annoying monologue.

"Finding the target will be the hardest part of the mission. He is a survival specialist. After all, he has managed to live for ten years in many different climates on his own. From previous failed attempts to retrieve him, we have learnt that he is an extremely well-versed actor, as well. Although I've just showed you a picture of what he looks like, it is unlikely that we'll encounter him that way. He is a master of disguise and once he finds out that we're closing in on him, he will refrain from showing his face."

"You don't have to be a genjutsu specialist to see through a henge, though," Kurenai argued.

"You don't," Shikamaru confirmed. "And there aren't any reports of him ever using a henge before. He's using real, physical forms of disguise. Costumes, wigs, make-up."

"That doesn't matter," Kiba boasted. "All we need is his smell, right Akamaru?" The dog barked and wagged its tail. "Uh, we do have his smell, right?" his companion asked.

"Yes," Shikamaru responded. "We have managed to gather some of his belongings that he left behind over the course of the years. Since our last trail is little over a month old, we even have a fresh scent." Kiba grinned in satisfaction.

"Anyway, keep in mind that Uzumaki is extremely cunning and well-experienced in evading Konoha's ninjas. Any further questions?"

When no one answered, Shikamaru turned to the Hokage who had watched the ordeal in silence. She nodded.

"You are scheduled to leave in thirty minutes for the eighth attempt to retrieve Naruto Uzumaki. The kid's been playing with us for too long." She pulled out a bottle of sake that had been hidden between a couple of folders and filled her glass until the liquor threatened to spill over. Her tone was bitter when she said, "Brat's gonna learn that Konoha's far too clingy to allow any of her people to leave her."

.

A/N: Thanks for reading, you guys! Sorry for the late update but I was visiting a friend in Brighton (awesome city!) and didn't have time to write.

Anyway, I've really thought that I'd come to the actual hunt in this chapter but it felt rushed not to explain the exact plan first (hope it didn't get too confusing). Further details of the plan will be revealed in the next chapter. I also wanted to elaborate how some of the characters would be like without Naruto's influence.

If you've noticed, the teams aren't very close to each other. I felt like in canon, Naruto was the one who has brought many of them together. With him out of the equation, the teams are rather sticking to themselves.

I didn't show the training session between Team 8 and Shikamaru because Hinata is not an extremely important character in this story (although she will have a purpose in the actual mission).

Anyway, tell me how you liked this chapter! Your reviews make me want to update much faster:)