Disclaimer: The usual. I own nothing but the disc this file was saved on.
Many thanks for all the reviews! I've decided, despite popular demand (sorry sorry sorry!), not to go for the filler, because – as one reviewer remarked – it really is time for a change of scenery. I don't even have anything new they could do in the town, after all. I will, however, throw in some waff-ish-stuff for this chapter, and there's fluff on the horizon, so all is not lost!
The team's day of rest had passed, and their day training together had passed too. Naruto and Hinata had taken time to specifically work on their 'UzuHyu Rendan', as they had named it, and all four were satisfied that they were now fighting together much more effectively. While, when they'd first fought Soin, each had tried to work to their own personal strengths, they had now learnt how to 'roll off' each other and allow their abilities to contrast, rather than clash. Shikamaru's tactical style now comfortably complimented Hinata's quick-finishing Jyuuken techniques, which in turn were supported by Naruto's brawling methods. With Sakura's more rounded approach to battle situations and healing jutsu added to all this, the team had a member to back them up no matter what they were planning.
With that knowledge now safely nestled in the backs of their minds, there was an air of added confidence about the team as they purposefully made their way along the western path. They had already walked for almost the entire day, and the track through the forest ahead of them seemed to lead almost right into the heart of the setting evening sun.
The fact they were journeying west didn't rest quite so easily with one member of the team, though. While Shikamaru's expression was as blank as ever as he gazed into the distance, his mind was brooding over thoughts and memories far more unpleasant than the picturesque scene around him would usually inspire in a person.
In many cultures, both present and ancient, it was believed that your soul journeyed west after you died. This thought had struck Shikamaru a while ago, and had brought with it memories of the last time he'd led a team on a mission – the ill-fated attempt to prevent Sasuke from joining Orochimaru's Sound village.
Usually, Shikamaru wasn't one to believe in omens or superstitions. On this particular occasion, though, it niggled at him. After all, if Naruto hadn't been able to convince Tsunade to rejoin the village, his best friend and another of the team he was supposed to have led safely through the mission would be dead right now – and he'd consider their blood to be on his hands. On this mission, there weren't going to be any last-minute reinforcements, and they'd travelled too far from the village to get people back in time for treatment. Granted, they had Sakura with them, but there was only so much she could do…
The Chuunin sighed almost inaudibly as the memory of seeing Chouji in hospital, withered away almost to a husk, came back to him. The emotions that he'd gone through, knowing two of his team were in critical condition, were still fresh in his mind – not as raw as they had been, but no less present – and that was something he'd give anything to not have to go through again.
Yes, he had confidence in his team, and yes, he knew he was capable of leading them… but no, he didn't know what he was leading them into. Would the mission be a success, or would this only be the start of a much longer journey west?
The Nara boy sighed again, this time in annoyance. He'd been right way back when he'd first earned his Chuunin title – being a leader really was more troublesome than it was worth, even if it did bring extra money in.
Shikamaru wasn't the only member of the group entertaining his own thoughts at that moment in time. While the two girls spoke to each other in hushed voices, Naruto walked along in silence a little ahead of them, staring vacantly down at the dirt track under his feet.
Naruto wasn't stupid. Despite all his academic shortcomings and obliviousness to certain things, he had a good head on his shoulders when he encountered the right situations. In battle, he was frequently able to produce a trump card seemingly from nothing, and it took a lot of hard work to achieve and keep hold of the title of the village's number one prankster. When something was explained to him in a way he could follow, and where his ninja instincts were involved, his brain could work just as quickly as almost anyone else's, if not faster.
The last couple of days had provided him ample opportunity to exercise these latent talents. Spending those few hours alone with Hinata, and their time training together, had given him lots of time to think and gain an insight on her. While he could hardly claim to now be an expert on all things Hyuuga-related, he had a better idea of who he was dealing with. Now that Sakura had pointed it out, he supposed it was blindingly obvious that she liked him. The subtle glances when she thought he wasn't looking, the way she became nervous whenever he spoke to her, the small-but-genuine smiles whenever he paid her an off-the-cuff compliment, and many other things besides, had set in stone in his mind the fact that Hyuuga Hinata truly had a crush on him.
At the same time, he'd learned a few other things – like that she wasn't comfortable whenever her family was mentioned, that she tended to prefer more delicate foods, and that her smile was almost as infectious as his, when she really meant it. She was undoubtedly shy, as he had already established, but there were certain things that brought a more bold side out of her. Things like her refusal to be beaten by any games they played at the market stalls, her wish to become accepted by her family (while this resolve was more muted on the surface, Naruto could definitely feel an underlying defiance), and her desire to follow her Ninja Way. The fire with which she spoke of this last point surprised him, so much so that he found himself staring at her with wide eyes once she'd finished.
On reflection, he realised, she was no different to him in that respect.
The boy allowed himself a small smile, though it was more wistful than in humour. She wasn't so bad, he decided. They certainly matched together well, at least in fighting, and she was fun to be around – his loud antics seemed to delight her, rather than annoying her, and on the couple of occasions she'd plucked up the courage to make a joke at his expense, he'd found himself laughing too – and laughing genuinely, not just out of politeness. She had what he was sure Iruka-sensei, with all his mother-hen mannerisms, would call a 'positive, calming effect' on him – he physically felt more relaxed around her, and the silences that had been awkward and a little uncomfortable in previous instances had begun to be broken a little more easily, where the need to break them was felt. Sometimes, he'd been happy just enjoying that calmness without saying anything at all.
How many other people had he felt like that around? He was sure he could count them on one hand, if he bothered recalling their names. They had all shared one thing in common, though – he'd viewed each of them as friends, rather than companions. With Hinata, what he felt now was certainly a strong companionship, and he had a strong gut feeling that it would grow further, but…
'What will it grow into?' he wondered briefly.
Naruto sighed inwardly. If Hinata were to become one of his truly precious people – one way or another – he'd have to trust her with his secret eventually. He was sure that she wouldn't scream and run away babbling to all and sundry about 'that demon child', but as for how she would react…
The boy sighed again. If she really liked him that much, it was only fair that she knew what she might be getting herself in for, right?
Unknown to Shikamaru's team, they weren't the only ninja on that path. Unknown to Shikamaru's team, they hadn't been the only ninja in Shinko Town either. Unknown to Shikamaru's team, three other ninja sat in the trees not even two hundred yards behind them.
Unknown to Shikamaru's team, those three ninja had been behind them ever since they'd first met on their way to Shinko Town.
"Your tracking jutsu is apparently successful," one of the three remarked in an unsurprised voice - excellence was what they had come to expect of each other, after all. "As was your tagging method."
"Yes," came the equally unsurprised reply. This second ninja presently sat with his eyes closed, hands pressed together as though he were in prayer, following Shikamaru's every step through his jutsu. In his mind's eye, a luminous red spot shone in an otherwise blackened surrounding – and this dot showed him the direction he could find Shikamaru in. The Chuunin's presence couldn't have been more obvious if he'd launched a flare into the sky.
"They tried to deceive us," the third ninja growled, his voice betraying irritation, rather than the calmness the other two showed. "We told them we'd kill them if they did."
"Not yet," the second ninja replied in that same tone of voice – not monotonous, but entirely without any emotional inflection.
"I agree," the first ninja stated, his voice changing to one of reasoned explanation. "They might be useful to us – these clues that they've found, as suspicious as they are, could lead to exactly what we've been looking for. They do point in the same direction, after all."
The third ninja's voice took on a sharper tone, and he hissed angrily between his teeth, "Then we can follow on from their clues by ourselves! We don't need them!"
The second ninja finally released his jutsu and stood up on the branch he had been sat on, his voice still plain. "Even they realised they may be walking straight into a trap. While I agree we don't need them, if they spring the trap for us, all we need to do is clean up afterwards."
"And besides," the first ninja added, before his more irate teammate could object. "If further investigation is required, people would be more willing to give them answers than us. We may be given the wrong information, or incomplete information, not to mention we'd be leaving a trail by which we could be followed."
The third ninja's voice grew sullen, almost sulky. While he couldn't deny that what his two companions were saying made sense, he still didn't like it. "And if they're on the wrong path?"
The second ninja, who had been staring off in the direction their quarry had been travelling, shrugged nonchalantly at this question before turning to face his team. "We'll see."
Without signal, the three leapt as one deeper into the trees.
"Ne, Shikamaru," Sakura called out, breaking the Chuunin out of his rather morbid train of thought. "What are we going to do later? I mean with finding the lair and all… we don't even know where it could be."
"I was just thinking that over," the boy replied airily. He knew he was lying through his teeth – that he was about to make the plan up on the spot – but sharing what he'd really been thinking wouldn't have done any good to anyone. "The mission was to locate Orochimaru's hideout, and to bring back anything that could be of the slightest use to Tsunade-sama, correct?"
The Chuunin didn't need to ask this, but did so anyway to remind the team exactly what they were aiming to do, as well as to start himself down the right line of thought. When the other three nodded their agreement, he continued, "Obviously, then, the first thing we need to do is to find the lair. All that we know so far is that it might be west of Shinko Town, assuming Soin is related to the lair in any way, so we're going to have to follow that clue for now."
The others nodded acknowledgement of this once more, and the Chuunin pulled a map he'd purchased in Shinko Town out of his pocket, unrolling the scroll and gesturing to areas on it with one hand as he held it up with the other, still walking down the path. "For now, we're going to focus on this area," he explained, tracing a large circle on the map with one finger. "I'll break it down into eighteen regions, and we'll search each in pairs over the next nine days. After each day, we'll meet up again in the evening and report any findings, before camping together."
Again, the three ninja behind Shikamaru nodded, before a question came to Sakura's mind. "What if we don't find anything?" she enquired, sounding a little concerned. "Will we just keep on looking?"
The Chuunin shook his head. "We can only be away on this mission for so long – if, after those nine days, we've not found the lair or anything that might tell us where it is, we'll have to return to Konoha and report what we have found – that at least one Sound-nin is in the fire country, and that a second possibly is too. If necessary, Tsunade-sama can send us on this mission again, but it's more likely that a more important assignment will have come up by then."
Sakura nodded at this, agreeing entirely with Shikamaru's reasoning, and a softer voice piped up from beside her. "Ano… Shikamaru-kun…" Hinata called quietly. "Wh… what are the teams going to be?" she asked, daring to risk a hopeful glance toward Naruto while the boy wasn't looking.
"I haven't decided yet," he answered honestly. "We can work that out tomorrow morning, before we head off."
Now that he paid thought to it, choosing the teams wouldn't be too easy. Each combination had its bonuses, after all – it made sense to keep Hinata and Sakura apart, as they were the most adept among the group at detecting sources of chakra, and Naruto and Hinata were the best fighters, so it made sense to split them up too, to protect the others. By that logic, Naruto would be best teamed with Sakura, and the added bonus of that was that they had experience together. On the other hand, that left him with Hinata, and they had the least experience together out of any pair. He was also aware of Hinata's affection for Naruto, and of developments between them recently – while he hadn't commented, he'd noticed it easily enough – and separating her from him could be extremely damaging to her morale, which would affect her performance on the mission.
One boy and one girl on each team. Practicality versus mentality.
The Chuunin sighed. If he got these teams wrong, there was no doubt that he'd hold himself personally responsible for any ill that might befall them. He had a feeling he'd be awake for quite a while tonight, trying to work out which way to go.
"Anyway," he eventually murmured with a soft puff. "We'd better get on and find somewhere in the forest to set up camp. The sun's nearly set, and I don't particularly want to put up the tents up by night."
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