*AN: I actually don't really have much to say. Enjoy!*
"Thank you once again for delivering the treaty." Hinshui, the village elder, said, bowing. "It is good to know that the Leaf Village honors its agreements."
Tenten bowed back. "Of course we do. The Hot Water Village is well within its rights to be protected. When will we need to return to collect the Leaf's copy of the treaty?"
"Tomorrow morning should be a sufficient amount of time."
"Understood."
She walked back to her team, where Kiba was getting...impatient.
"Alright, the stupid treaty is delivered. Let's go after Ibukai now." Kiba said with a growl as soon as they got out of earshot of the elder.
"He probably is already on his way." Sai said. "We should wait here for him."
"He shouldn't have taken this long. Maybe I shouldn't have left him behind." Tenten said worriedly.
"Hey, you were able to get the bastards that had pinned us down. Ibukai knew what he was doing." Kiba argued. "Still, we need to find him in case he ran into more than he could handle."
"Are you unsure about your comrade's abilities, Mutt?" Sai asked, his false smile plastered on his face.
"SAY THAT AGAIN!"
"Holy shit, guys, I get captured one time, and you guys start calling each other names? Jeez."
The trio turned to see Ibukai striding up to them, looking worse for the wear.
"What happened to you- CAPTURED?!" Tenten yelled, just realizing what Ibukai had said.
He winced. "Damn, relax! Naruto's team was assigned to shadow us. They captured the trio that had snatched me and headed back to the Leaf to drop those guys off at T&I. I see you dealt with your attackers easily enough."
Sai gave Ibukai a calculating look. "You had a shadow clone following us, according to our teammate."
Ibukai smirked. "I needed to know if you and Kiba got away safely. It never hurts to have a little extra insurance."
"Indeed not." Sai agreed, false smile back in place, but his eyes still held that calculating look.
Ibukai just gave him a lazy grin.
Meanwhile, in T&I…
"This is gonna be fun." Anko purred.
Ibuki's sadistic smirk matched Anko's. "Indeed it will be."
"Can I, Dad? Please please please pleassseeee?!"
Inoichi sighed. "I'm losing my position in T&I to my own daughter. Anko, I blame you."
"I did train her well."
Inoichi sighed as he watched Sepi bounce up and down, fairly bursting at the seams. "Fine. If anyone needs me, I'll be at the bar."
Tsunade straight-up pouted. "Drink some sake for me."
He waved casually as he headed towards the stairs that would lead him back to the surface. "Will do."
Tsunade turned back towards T&I's newest acquisitions. "I never thought that Orochimaru would be this bold. Having a spy to provide the details on the missions that our Jounin hopefuls are participating in…"
Sepi smirked. "Told you."
Ibuki grinned. "That's a good student you've trained, Anko. Smart as hell with that necessary sadistic streak."
Anko and Sepi gave him matching psychopathic smiles, and he turned towards Tsunade. "Lady Hokage, we'll confirm the suspected link soon enough. I should be able to provide an update by the time the Jounin hopefuls get back to the village."
"Get it done." Tsunade replied. "Get anything out of Tayuya?"
At the mention of the name, the Sound kunoichi's head snapped up, a gesture not unnoticed by the other occupants of the room. Ibuki, for his part, simply smirked.
"Indeed. I'll present that information, along with what we get out of these three, when I deliver my report."
"Now if you'll excuse us, Lady Hokage," Sepi said with a bow, "it's torturreeee timeeeee."
"If you weren't my student and young enough to be my daughter I'd marry you." Anko said instantly.
... ... ...
"Where is Sensei?!" Konohamaru demanded. "We've been here for a half of an hour already!"
"Maybe she's doing something important." Strawhead- I mean Moegi- said.
"Oh, she is." A voice from above their heads said, and the trio looked up to see a slightly less pineapple-haired Nara on a roof, looking down at them.
"Who are you?!" Konohamaru yelled. "Where's our sensei?!"
"Currently mind-raping people." Was the reply, which instantly shut Konohamaru up. "My name is Miko Nara. Sensei asked me to watch after her team while they do a D-rank mission until she's through with her little extracurricular activity."
"Another D-rank mission?!"
Miko yawned. "Yep. Catching some cat named Tora, I believe."
The trio paled before taking off, only to stop dead. They looked down to see their shadows attached to Miko's, and he jumped off the roof with another yawn.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu, complete. Let's go, kids."
People for a half mile radius looked up in bewilderment when they heard a very loud cry of despair.
... ... ...
My team stood in Tsunade's office, awaiting a response after Tenten finished delivering our report. Naruto had successfully delivered the three captured shinobi two days before, and the rest of my team's mission, collecting the now-signed treaty and delivering it, was now officially finished.
Tsunade was deep in though, her hands under her chin as she looked into space.
"The shadow clones and earth clone were from the Leaf, a test of your combat abilities and how you would react when your team needed to be split. The three actual nin who attacked you are being...debriefed now."
"Hopefully with poisoned senbon." I muttered.
She smirked. "We'll get to the bottom of the attack. Ibukai, stay. The rest of you are dismissed." She turned to an Anbu. "Go get Naruto. Make sure that it's the real Naruto this time. No more of his shadow clone bullshit!"
I laughed outright.
Sai's eyes glinted with suspicion when he left, and if I hadn't been looking for it, I would have missed it completely.
Interesting…
It wasn't long before an Anbu led Naruto into the room, followed by Ibuki and Anko.
"Did one too many briefings with the Hokage as a shadow clone, did we?" I asked with a smirk.
"It's not my fault, ya know! It's just...ramen…"
Tsunade glared.
"Boys." Sepi said with a sigh behind her fox Anbu mask.
I flipped her off.
"Can we move on?" Tsunade asked, rubbing her forehead.
"Sure." Sepi said happily, activating the seals in the room with a simple hand seal. At Tsunade's angry glance, she shrugged. "What? They're pretty simple seals, and you did do the hand seal in front of me."
"Definitely my student." Anko said with pride.
I rolled my eyes.
"Ibuki." Tsunade said tiredly.
"The Grass and Sound have a temporary treaty." Ibuki started. "The ninja that was captured didn't know the details, but my suspicion is that Orochimaru has promised them power of some sort. They are sending ninja to aid the Sound, preparing for something big."
"Another invasion?" I asked.
"That would be my guess." He said, nodding at me. "The kunoichi captured before, Tayuya, was part of Orochimaru's elite guard. We discovered Orochimaru is desperately seeking to capture a jinchuriki. To what end, we aren't sure. The new captured Sound nin, Kin, didn't provide much by way of intel, but we learned that the Silence Village is supposedly a very close ally of the Sound, and is located in the north, near the Land of Iron."
"Let me go after them." I immediately said. "I'll discover where they are. The Sand will be as anxious as we are to wipe the Sound and Silence villages off the map."
"Ibukai. Enough." Tsunade said in a warning tone.
"We leave them, they'll attack us again!" I protested.
"Shut up and leave the decisions to me!" She said, exasperated. I crossed my arms, and she turned to Sepi and Anko. "Anything to add?"
"I think the Silence Village may be an offshoot of the Sound." Sepi said. "It's a village that cropped up about the same time, or so we believe, and the irony of the names is something Orochimaru would do."
"That's my theory as well." Anko said.
Tsunade considered the information, and all the while I was drumming my fingers on my arm impatiently.
"Also, one more thing." Anko said. "Apparently the attack was focused on capturing my student."
"Great." I said with a sigh. "Pedosnake is still interested."
Tsunade sighed. "Orochimaru...just what are you up to now?..."
"He's a pedosnake. What do you think he's up to?" I said.
"Could you knock it off?" She snapped at me.
"I could, yes." Was my reply.
She promptly threw me out the window.
... ... ...
"I wonder why she kept him behind?" Sai asked, seemingly to no one as the trio wandered the village.
Tenten and Kiba glanced at each other.
"Dunno." Kiba said, lacing his fingers behind his neck. "Maybe he's gonna be captain during the next mission."
They heard a crash in the distance, turning just in time to see Ibukai go flying out the window of the Hokage's tower.
"Again?" Tenten asked, wincing.
"This happens often?" Sai asked, confused.
"Often enough." Tenten replied with a sigh. "Now some hapless Genin is gonna have to pick up the glass pieces and Izumo and Kotetsu are gonna have to repair the window."
Kiba chuckled. "Glad I don't have to. Come on, Akamaru, race you back home!"
The large ninja hound barked in agreement as he and his master took off, leaving Tenten coughing on their dust and attempting to curse them out.
"I doubt he's going to be captain, then." Sai said pleasantly.
"You'd be surprised." Tenten said, unsealing a canteen to wash her mouth out.
"What makes you say that?"
She took a long drink. "Well, he's pretty smart, actually. He just prefers to act instead of talking all day."
"He does disobey orders."
Tenten considered that. "True. However, sometimes there are things more important than orders."
This caught Sai's attention.
"And that is?"
She flashed him a smile. "Friends."
"...Friends?"
"Anyways, I gotta run. See ya!"
She waved before heading off, leaving Sai staring after her.
...All my life, I was taught to obey orders, to never question those who hold authority, yet these shinobi disregard the rules, regulations, and even violate direct orders...for...friends?
I...do not understand. Maybe, next mission, they can explain that to me.
... ... ...
"Congratulations on forcing Danzo to play his first card, by the way." Tsunade said when the privacy and security seals, deactivated on account of the broken window, were back in place.
Sepi smirked. "I knew sending Mi and Chi in was a good idea." She replied, referencing her summons. Mi and Chi were smaller than regular cats, and expert thieves. One trip into ROOT HQ, discovered via tracking Danzo, was all they needed to copy multiple mission scrolls and all the ROOT operative folders, as well as a ledger containing Danzo's multiple transactions with…less than savory characters.
"Risky, but it payed more than we bargained for." Tsunade answered with a return smirk. "You raised quite the kunoichi, Anko."
"'Course I did." Was the smug reply. "We taking this Danzo bastard down or what? We've had all the proof we need for awhile now."
Tsunade nodded. "Yes, but we are waiting on one thing to happen. Danzo is getting desperate, true, but I want our ace in the hole before I call him out. For now, we will continue undermining the ROOT's operations. I trust the T&I department can handle any needed...debriefs?" She asked, directing the question at Ibuki.
"I'm almost insulted, Lady Hokage." The scarred interrogator replied.
"Can I help?" Sepi asked in a pleading voice.
"No." Was Tsunade's reply. "We need you to head to the Sand Village. The Akatsuki are starting to mobilize, and we know who their target is."
Sepi stiffened. "By your order, Lady Hokage."
"Gather a response team and head to the Sand. You leave in two days." Tsunade ordered. "Remember, they can only be activated if the Akatsuki succeed in capturing the Kazekage."
Sepi ground her teeth together. Stupid elders and their stupid rules.
"Understood." She growled. "I'll need Sakura and an advanced lightning-style user."
"Done." Was the instant reply. "Meanwhile, Ibukai's final test will be investigating this Hidden Silence village. Any objections?"
After a few moments of silence, (no pun intended) she nodded. "Good. I'll send the rest of the Jounin hopefuls on some more missions in the meantime."
"Send Sai with Ibukai."
Tsunade, Anko, and Ibuki looked at Sepi like she was crazy.
"What?" Tsunade asked.
"You heard me." Sepi said, crossing her arms. "Sai always follows the rules. He's never been exposed to a situation where disobeying them was called for. You've seen the ROOT handbook. Every single possible situation has at least three different responses, and that's just simple incidents. Ibukai, however, will ignore the rules and do what's right. He's done that since the Academy. It'll be good for Sai to be exposed to that kind of attitude."
"And if he tries to fulfill that mission?" Anko stressed.
Sepi waved it aside. "Ibukai will tear him apart. Come on, Lady Hokage. Sure, the ROOT operatives are mostly hardened killers without an ounce of mercy, but Sai still has a chance."
"I wish I knew where you got your information from." The Hokage said mildly.
Sepi waved it aside, leaning over Tsunade's desk for emphasis. "My gut. Come on, Lady Hokage. Sure, this could go south, but here's a chance to save a life. You gonna take it or what?"
... ... ...
I hobbled into my compound, exhausted. After the trip out the window, I went and found Neji and sparred with him for awhile. We were excellent with our respective Doujutsus, and it sparked many a friendly debate on whether or not the Sharingan or the Byakugan was stronger.
"The Byakugan can see through anything, making it far superior. Also, if you have no plans for tomorrow, the Winter Solstice Festival is in the evening."
I ducked around several more attacks. "True, but the Sharingan can read movements. Seeing in all directions at once is only advantageous if you are against opponents who are less skilled than you and suck at using long-range Ninjutsu. It's the Solstice already? Damn, time flies when you're having fun and/or being beaten to death."
"The Sharingan can be taken off-guard, though, and our Byakugan allowed us to create a fighting style that can damage an opponent's chakra system, or even kill them. Maybe you should avoid being thrown out the Hokage's Tower via the window then, hmm?"
"You guys are sure proud of your special technique. It's too bad that most Hyuuga neglect other skills like Genjutsu and Ninjutsu in favor of it. Fuck you it's fun to antagonize her."
He and I sprang apart, both breathing heavily. He straightened up, grimacing. "It would seem that neither the Byakugan nor the Sharingan has proven itself superior today."
"Meh. I can still continue." I said, wheezing.
He simply shook his head, amused. "So?"
"So what?"
"So who will you be bringing to the Festival?"
I chuckled. "Dude, I'll bring someone when Naruto finally asks Hinata out."
"Fair enough."
As I turned away, he made a thoughtful "hm" noise.
I paused. "What?"
"I should probably mention that Naruto has requested Lady Hinata to accompany him to the Festival, shouldn't I?"
"...FUCK!"
... ... ...
I shook my head. "Yellow-haired bastard." I muttered. "I shoulda used a different comeback."
I'm too tired for this shit. I thought, heading to my room. Once there, I stripped off my weapons and fell onto the bed, still fully clothed. My last thought was: Why does my pillow smell like the forest?