Team 7 May Need A Little Counselling

Having seen Sasuke move in, I take his original post to see the situation better and to keep watch over the guards. Soon as I get into position, Sasuke leaps back into the foliage, his hand covering his right eye. I wait for him to approach me, and as he does, I notice he's actually winded.

"What-" I start to ask, but before I finish though, he manages to wheeze out a reply in-between his panting.

"Sharingan."

I set my lips into a grim line, not bothering with the fact that he can't see my expression. I just hope my eye shows him how serious the matter is. Especially since he's hiding something, and I know exactly what it is.

"We're going to have a talk about that once we get back."

"Hn."

He finally starts to get control over his breathing, but he still continues to cover his eye. I move to make a report to Shikamaru, but before my hand can reach the button that allows me to speak into my microphone, Sasuke stops me.

"I'll do it. Just let me catch my breath and watch over them."

I seriously can't believe what he's doing. To think that even in a situation like this, he lets his pride take over.

"Something to the extent of 'I'm the one who made the move, I'll be the one to report', eh?"

He looks at me through the corner of his left eye and I just shrug and give him a nod. What else was I supposed to do?

"I can't believe he even tried that! It was my accomplishment, and he wasn't even going to let me report it in!"

I try not to grind my teeth at the infuriating thought.

"It's like he's still treating me like a child."

After getting my breath under control, I test my right eye to see how much damage had been done. Blinking a few times, my eyesight returns to normal, though I had a little hard time focusing. After clearing that up, I radio Shikamaru.

"A little commotion with one of the escorts provided me the chance I needed. Moving in, I got them under one of my genjutsus."

"No need to inform them about Tsukuyomi."

"Good job. What did you find out?"

"This base is under the Akatsuki's control. It's one of Kakuzu's side projects. Kakuzu's having some of his 'colleagues' round up valuable weapons and items that they can auction off to the black market, or to any of the other villages. I'm not sure but there was something else that Kakuzu was doing here, that only a select few are aware of, and those two were not one of them."

"That's quite a lot of information you managed to collect within the timeframe you got."

"Hn." I know for a fact that Itachi would've been able to do more within that small timeframe, and even extend the timeframe greatly, but like with the Tsukuyomi, there's no need to tell him that.

"I also have them under my control somewhat, as long as the illusion holds. I'm having them escort the convoy to get it moving faster."

"Good work. Notify me of anything that comes up."

I look towards Kakashi and note how much more alert he is around me. I remember his words earlier, and I can't help but feel a little suspicious.

"He knows something about the Mangekyo."

I had never felt boredom when on a mission before, but ever since my time with Naruto, I've learned more and more about how boredom is. I've always been able to prevent boredom from appearing when in missions, but I've found that I have difficulty keeping it locked away when Naruto is also with the mission. And since Naruto is with us this time, I've been bored all the time I've been waiting. I don't use my scrolls or ink to relieve my boredom as I use them for my jutsus as well, so I decided to relieve some of the boredom in another way. For all the time I've been waiting, I've been going around painting a few of my traps around the perimeter of the small town annex with the colored paint I had sealed away.

"I guess I should give a report about it."

"This is Sai. I've covered the place around the town annex with traps of my own design. They're designed to be triggered by only enemy ninjas. I could go into explanation as to how they work if you want."

"Uhh, that's okay. Anyway, good work. Are the traps enough to cover for you?"

I get what he's trying to say, and I'm relieved that I no longer have to fight with boredom. Especially since Naruto seems to have made an interesting situation that I missed.

"They're tricky and specially designed so they can handle any enemy, even if they are of a high level. I've also scattered some traps that will support Shino-san's bugs should he need it."

"Roger. Move up towards the other's location and be prepared to help them out then."

I don't bother to confirm his orders. I'm already moving before he even finishes giving them out anyway.

"Okay, so Sasuke has two of the enemies under his genjutsu and thus under his control, somewhat. Lee is going to go in with Naruto, and Sai has laid out traps to cover his original post and is moving up to help us out. What are the chances of another opportunity to make it easier for us to come up?"

At that point, the enemy nins under Sasuke's control stops at the edge of the forest. I look towards Sasuke and notice his brows furrowed. He must've noticed me staring because he shakes his head. When I look back, I find them moving again after the guards wave them in.

"Don't tell me…"

I lift up my headband and open my Sharingan eye just a bit, squinting as much as I can to prevent from being blinded again. I fight to keep my eye closed as I almost open it wide due to shock.

"There's an opening in the barrier, along the path of the carts. From what I can see here, the barrier only covers outside of the walls, not inside."

"Think you can get inside safely then?"

"Even if they have strong sensors in there, it'll be too late once we get inside the walls."

"Take the chance then. Get under the carts and do your best to cover any of your traces. Once inside, it'll be like the original plan: Naruto gets the scroll, Neji'll scope out the place, Lee'll work on securing the hostages. Only difference is Sai'll be taking down the jutsu while you and Sasuke try and find the leader and see if you can extract more information from them. I'll be moving up to watch the gates. Let's just hope we take all of them by surprise and no one escapes."

Soon as he finishes his instructions, Sai arrives. I acknowledge his arrival with a nod.

"I have a suggestion."

I turn to Sai and urge him to keep speaking.

"I can seal all of you inside a scroll, that way it'll be a lot easier for all of us to sneak in as the stealth will be left up to me."

"You can do that?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you suggest it earlier? Same goes with your traps?"

"Earlier when we were planning everything out, all the intel we discussed came from Naruto. I didn't know the territory or the extent of the enemy's fortifications."

I just nod to him. No time for lengthy lectures.

"We're going to need to talk after this."

I watch him closely but he's using his Root training to his advantage: no emotion whatsoever. I radio the others, and soon as we're all together, we prepare to get sealed.

"First Naruto, then Sasuke, now even Sai. I've got a feeling I'm going to need to deal with Sakura later as well. Hopefully, I don't need to have a little lecture with Tenzou, because that would just be messed up."