Venatori

Summary: Kankuro was a few minutes too late, and Kiba died. Now, Shino and Hinata work to ensure that no more traitors get away alive. Divergence from chapter 212.

The Laughing Phoenix does not own Naruto and makes no profit from this work, other than her sense of accomplishment.

WARNING: Character death. Blood, gore, and questionable use of medical knowledge and techniques. Some OOC-ness. Language.

Shadow in the Night

"Very well done, Hinata!" Kurenai cheered the younger woman, hopping backwards and breaking eye contact. "I lost you completely there - if your chakra hadn't wavered towards the end I'd have missed you entirely."

Anko whistled appreciatively. The three women were spending time out at an isolated training ground, working on Genjutsu. At the moment, Hinata was trying to trap Kurenai while Anko ran interference, using minor attacks to disrupt Hinata's concentration.

"So, Sunny," the snake-summoner said, lobbing a water bottle at the younger woman's head, "anythin' else you wanted to work on today?"

Hinata shook her head, catching the bottle. "Not, not particularly," she took a long draw of the water.

"Fair enough," Anko said, leaning back and looking at the sky.

The three women sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the day, before Anko sat up again. "Well, if you two are willin', I'd like to work on somethin' for a little bit."

"Of course," Kurenai said, Hinata nodding along.

"Oh good," Anko's grin turned wicked. "Sunny, stop your sensei from getting away, we're going to ask her about her boytoy."

"Senpai, what?"

"Anko!"

"Just some minor interrogation! C'mon, 'Nai-chan, it'll be good for Sunny!" Anko's laughter echoed around the clearing, shortly joined by Kurenai's and Hinata's giggles as the women played like children.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Hey, Shino-san, what brings you to the hospital?" Turning, Shino spotted Kawaguchi Akai waving at him. He stopped to let the older boy catch up to him.

"I had a lesson with Utatane-san," Shino said once Akai had reached him. "He's been kind enough to offer me medical training."

Akai shot him a look. "I know it's been a while, but I didn't know you were interested in joining the medical corps."

Shino shook his head. "Field medicine only - so many of my missions are at a distance from the village that it seemed prudent to have some training. What brings you here, Akai-san?"

"Visiting Osamu, he's in with a concussion."

"Nothing serious, I hope?"

"I don't think so, though he's in for a few uncomfortable months."

"That's good."

The two lapsed into silence. When they reached the hospital lobby, Akai turned to regard Shino. "Listen, I have to run or I'll be late for my shift, but did you and Hinata-san want to meet up with us for lunch sometime?"

Shino was silent for so long that Akai began to stutter. "If, if you guys are busy, that's okay, you don't - "

"We would enjoy that," Shino interrupted. "Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere."

"No problem!" Akai waved his hands. "Tuesday, maybe? There's that place down by the market that does curries."

"That sounds good, Akai-san."

"You guys won't be busy?"

"We're staying near the village at the present. Shall we say noon?"

"Sure! See you Tuesday," Akai waved as he left the hospital and trotted down the road towards the mission office.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Hey, boss?" Jakkaru called, pushing open Ryouken's office door. Elbowing his way inside, hands occupied by bundles, he looked up to see the room empty. "Huh, must be out."

"Or standing right behind you," Ryouken said dryly.

"Right!" Jakkaru spun around. "That too."

"What brings you in?" Ryouken stepped around his second and made for his desk.

"The new masks came in. I was going to ask if we should call in the Inu."

"Ah. Right." Ryouken sat down slowly. He considered the matter for a minute, then waved at one of the filing cabinets along the wall. "Put the masks away for now, Jakkaru."

"Sir? The Fangs go into the Bingo Book next week."

"I've spoken with Ibiki and the folks who handle the book - it'll be line drawings of the masks, not photos."

"Are we not going to tell them beforehand?"

Ryouken sighed. "At the moment Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata are concentrating on their lives inside Konoha. Letters arrived from the Kazekage's family for them yesterday, inquiring about their welfare and making plans for the next time they're in Suna. They have lunch with the fellow they took the Chuunin Exam with and his team today. They're minding a pack of Inuzuka kids for the rest of the week. Let's give them that much."

"As you say, boss." Crossing to the indicated filing cabinet, Jakkaru shifted the handle of the second drawer from the top to the right, then up, and jerked it hard to the left. The door swung open, and he gently rested the masks in their protective wrappings on a shelf before closing it up again.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

While they were sticking close to Konoha until their captain (and by extension the Hokage) deemed it fit for them to return to the field masked, Shino and Hinata were still taking missions. For the most part these were C-ranks with one or two Bs - excepting a memorable morning when Anko bet them lunch at Yakiniku Q that they couldn't beat their previous record for the Tora mission and they lost by thirty seconds.

Standing in line in the mission office after a day spent assisting at the Academy, Shino and Hinata were perfectly placed to hear two jounin discussing the latest edits to the Bingo Book. "No new information on that Akatsuki crew, sadly. There's a fair chunk on a batch of Kiri-nin, but how often do you run into them in Hi no Kuni?"

"Anything closer to home?"

"Not much," the first jounin flipped a few pages, then turned the book around to show the other. "A short paragraph on these two, but they're ours, so."

The jounin kept chatting, but Hinata's gaze was caught by the picture on the page. Elbowing Shino in the side, she nodded shallowly at the image. Shino's breath caught, and she knew he'd seen them too.

Twin faces looked back at them and Hinata swallowed, considering absently that the only thing that saved the masks from slamming the Inuzuka influence in their faces was the fact that they were arranged with the fangs on the inside, back-to-back.

By the time they reached the desk in the mission office, they'd collected themselves enough to manage the minutia of reporting in and receiving their pay stubs. Walking as fast as they could without actually running, they hurried to the edge of Training Ground 42, knowing that its proximity to the infamous Training Ground 44 would allow them some privacy.

Once under a likely-looking tree Hinata sat down, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her forehead on them. A rustle told her that Shino had sat down nearby, perpendicular to her. "I…" he said, then trailed off.

Hinata could fill in the blanks easily enough: did not expect that. "Neither did I," she admitted, closing her eyes.

"I am not certain," Shino said slowly, "that I understand why." A soft hum picked up as his hive responded to his agitation.

"I," Hinata considered the matter for a moment, then shook her head. "I did not expect it to be this…" her vocabulary failed her, and she sighed in lieu of a word.

"Unsettling?" Shino asked, and she shrugged. Close enough. He hummed agreement and shifted closer.

"Do you think," she said finally, "that we should go…"

"See Taicho?" he thought about that for a minute, then nodded. "It would be wise, given the circumstances." Pushing himself to his feet, he offered her a hand up.

When they hit headquarters, in a stripped-down version of the uniform and their old masks, the Inu were met at the door by Mujina. "Heya Puppies," she waved them down. "I saw the page."

"We just saw it ourselves," Shiroi told her. "Do you know if Taicho is in? Or Jakkaru?"

"Taicho's wrapping up a meeting with Saru, I think - we're supposed to head out today, new intel came in on a couple of long-term marks. I haven't seen Jakkaru all week, not that that really means much." She studied them for a moment. "They re-masked you two."

"We… just learned that ourselves," Kuroi shrugged.

Mujina hummed. "Bit of a shock, I take it. It's been known to happen, rarely, but I'm told it can take getting used to."

"You might say that," Shiroi agreed.

"When do you go back out next?"

"We're not sure," the Inu shrugged in tandem.

"Pity, it looks like we've got some action starting up on the northern border, it'd be good to have you two along," she sighed. "Ahh, well, can't have everything. Saru!" Bouncing up onto her toes, Mujina waved the man over. "You just about ready?"

"Give me an hour to grab a few things and I'll be ready. If you two want to go see Taicho, he should be free."

"Thanks, Saru."

Ryouken seemed unsurprised to see them. "I take it you saw the Bingo Book."

"We did," Kuroi said, shutting the door behind him.

"You're due some more time out of the masks, but since you're here," their captain crossed to his filing cabinets and opened the drawer Jakkaru had stashed the new masks in. "We may as well make the exchange now."

Laying the bundles on his desk, he nudged them towards the Inu. Shiroi and Kuroi unwrapped them cautiously, nudging the fabric away until it puddled around the masks. The line drawings had been surprise enough, but the influence of the Inuzuka fang tattoos was even more apparent in person. The masks glowed dully under the lights, the thick black line around the eyes turning them into twin pits.

"It transpires there's a protocol for this," Ryouken said softly, breaking the moment. "You will change your masks here, now, and shatter the old ones. The shards will be burned in HQ's furnace - I can take care of that for you." He paused, then went on. "Would you like me to call Jakkaru here for this?"

The Inu exchanged a look, Shiroi tilting her head a fraction of an inch, Kuroi shrugging microscopically. "Please," they chorused.

Ryouken went to his office door to send the message, and it was a silent few minutes before Jakkaru knocked and entered. Ryouken may have murmured something to him, but the Inu were caught in a staring contest with the new masks and missed it entirely. Once they were all assembled around the desk, the Inu drew a breath in tandem before loosening the ties of their masks.

Hinata slipped her old mask off with a grace she didn't quite feel, setting it carefully on the desk before catching up the new one and putting it on, tightening the loops and ties on automatic. Shino tugged his off a beat behind, catching up the new mask in his other hand and bringing it quickly to his face. The old mask clattered a little on the desk as he discarded it, freeing up his hand to secure the new.

The Inu took a moment to consider the feel of the new masks, perhaps a little let-down by the way they felt no different to the old ones - logically, they were made by the same process and from the same molds, the only difference in the paint, but neither could shake the sense that these masks should feel...different, somehow. Heavier, maybe.

Shino was the one to shake it off first, drawing a heavy breath and reaching for a kunai. Spinning it once, he brought it down hard on his old mask, gouging a hole in the cheek. The second strike skittered across the surface with a sharp whine, but the third struck true and the ceramic composite cracked, then snapped into several pieces.

Hinata didn't bother to reach for a weapon. While her partner reduced the pieces of his mask to smaller bits, she summoned chakra to her fingers, took a moment to pick her target, then lashed out. The carefully controlled chakra snapped across the mask, which promptly shattered. A moments work took care of the few larger pieces.

The Inu, the Fangs, swept the shards of their first masks into piles, then carefully tipped those into the fabric that had held their new masks. Folding it up carefully, they set two identical packets down on their captain's desk.

Ryouken pulled them toward himself, stacking one on top of the other. Jakkaru rounded the desk and swept the younger hunter-nin into a tight hug. "I am so proud of you," he whispered. The Fangs froze at the hug, and he leaned back just far enough to look them in the face. "You have worked yourselves harder than anybody expected, have a mission record a hunter with twice your experience would be proud of, and have earned every single whisper of your reputation."

"Jakkaru - " Shiroi whispered, and he tugged them in again.

"If I had to pick one thing in my career, I will always be proudest of you." They jerked a little at that, then clung to him fiercely.

They stood there like that for a long moment, then slowly eased back, the Fangs looking a little embarrassed. Ryouken coughed softly and the younger shinobi stepped smartly back, turning to face him. "You two are still on reserve for the present," he told them, "so clear out and go play with the Inuzuka kids."

Shiroi 'eep-ed' a little, and Kuroi stiffened, but they bowed once and were gone, leaving Ryouken to turn his amusement on Jakkaru. "You," he told the other man, "are such a sap."

Jakkaru sniffed. "You're just jealous."

"I never said it was a bad thing," Ryouken laughed. "And those two are a lot to be proud of." Jakkaru postured a little more, imitating a prissy courtier, and Ryouken laughed again, shooing him out of his office.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"The process for becoming Jounin," Kurenai said, waving Shino and Hinata into seats at her kitchen table, "is comparable - if somewhat more complicated - to the process of becoming Chuunin."

"How so?" Shino asked, scooping the teacups off the counter and setting them out, Hinata laying down a pad to rest the teapot on.

"You must be nominated," Kurenai began, "by multiple peers - at a minimum three jounin or ANBU, five chuunin, seven genin, nine civilians or some combination thereof must put your name forward - there's some complicated metric to it that I suspect nobody beyond the office shinobi fully understand. Depending on your record, you can be promoted directly at that point."

"If you're not?"

Kurenai poured the tea. "There is a Jounin Exam. Unlike the Chuunin exam, this is a Konoha-only event. While the Chuunin exam is considered a mock war between the villages, the Jounin exam is where each village's potential war-leaders are selected, so it's conducted with more circumspection. Furthermore, these exams are invitation-only. You can petition for a slot, but if the examiners feel your record is insufficient they may not accept you." She shrugged, "In some years more candidates are entered, in some years, less. It depends on the pool of chuunin and tobuketsu jounin and the needs of the village."

"What does it involve?" Hinata asked softly.

Kurenai chuckled. "It's a long process. Three months is the shortest, from what I know." At the dumbstruck looks on her student's faces, she elaborated. "While you are technically engaged in the exam for the entire period, you aren't constantly being tested. The village must continue its usual business, after all. In my case, it was fourteen weeks, with about four days between each component. Some doubled as business as usual."

Shino and Hinata relaxed at that, familiar with the concept from their time as hunter-nin recruits.

"There is an evaluation of your combat skills - typically sparring with multiple ranking jounin over the course of the exam to evaluate your various taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu abilities. Other skills - cryptography, medical, and so on - may be evaluated separately. Since jounin are squad commanders, you will have to lead a mission. It's typically a team of other chuunin, although career genin are sometimes included. I can guarantee you two will not be sent on each other's missions, they very deliberately break up teams."

Shino and Hinata exchanged a resigned look, and Hinata nodded. "That makes sense," she admitted.

"I believe there is usually more than one evaluating mission. I had to lead a team, then perform a solo mission. Beyond that," Kurenai shrugged. "There are a few other tasks included, although I'm told they vary. In my exam, we were given trinkets to defend for a two-week period and then sent after trinkets in the possession of ranking jounin or tobuketsu jounin. I've heard that Asuma was required to transport a dummy dressed as a civilian through training ground 44 while dodging attempts to "assassinate" his charge."

Hinata giggled.

"As with the Chuunin exam, you do not need to be perfect to advance. If your performance is up to standard, that's usually sufficient. If you fall just short, you'll be promoted to tobuketsu jounin instead, and about half of all tobuketsu jounin are subsequently promoted to full jounin without having to go through the exam again." Kurenai hesitated, then went on, choosing her words carefully. "Unlike the Chuunin exam, there is a certain… political element to promotions to jounin. Your senpai has been tobuketsu jounin for over five years, despite her skills, and in the current climate that's unlikely to change. I do not need to tell you to keep this to yourselves."

Shino and Hinata shook their heads.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Arms folded on her desk, Tsunade regarded the room in front of her. Discounting Shizune and Ami at her shoulder and the ANBU lurking in the shadows, two dozen shinobi waited attentively. "Good morning," she said finally, "you are attending this meeting because you received sufficient nominations and have a good enough record to test for jounin rank. Ami," she nodded at the woman, "will be coordinating this round of examinations. She will provide schedules and assignments and be your liaison to the judges. If you do not wish to test for jounin at this time, speak with her later today."

Nobody moved, but Tsunade didn't really expect them to. By definition these were experienced shinobi, they'd listen to the briefing and get as much information as they could before making a final decision. One or two were likely to drop out immediately - Shizune'd heard a rumor that one of the kunoichi and her husband were planning to start a family - but a field of twenty or so wasn't bad.

"To become jounin is to become one of the village elite, and it is to take on greater responsibility. You will be entrusted with command on missions, with extensive duties in Konoha's defense, and, most importantly, with the care of the next generation. It's a lot, but you wouldn't be here if we didn't deem you ready for the challenge.

"Some of you will be promoted to jounin at the end of these examinations, while some will be made tobuketsu jounin. Some of you will remain at your current rank and may be invited to test again at a later date. So," Tsunade sat back in her chair, "let's get started. Ami?"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Ami stepped forward. "The exam will begin with the preliminary bouts - I have a schedule with your names and the locations and dates of your first sparring match with a current jounin. Team missions will begin next week, and those will be assigned by the missions desk. Due to the nature of the exam, you may not know for certain if you are being evaluated until after the mission is over. Solo missions will begin in a month and specialty assessments somewhere between three and four weeks after, depending on your place in the rotation. As a reminder, not every mission you take during the exam period will be evaluated, but it is best to assume they all are…"

Tsunade tuned Ami out - she'd heard this before, more than once, and could probably recite it herself by now. Instead she turned her attention to the candidates. A half-dozen tobuketsu jounin were scattered among the chuunin, some taking the exam for the second time. Only one of the chuunin had attempted the exam prior - Tsunade suspected he'd pass this time around. As opposed to the last jounin exam, where the candidates were all between 18 and 23, the age range was fairly broad, ranging from a 30-year old to a pair of fifteen-year olds.

Tsunade's gaze lingered on the youngest two candidates, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. If hard work and determination were enough, they stood a very good chance at being promoted. Unfortunately for them, their youth and relative inexperience would count against them.

A/N

My Naruto knowledge is manga-only - I've simply never had time to watch much in the way of anime, so my Jounin Exam is going to be different from the anime's.

I completely lost control of Anko and Jakkaru this chapter. They were in a mood to be contrary and it rather shows. I also appear to have lost control of this arc - I was planning on fifteen chapters, with ten for arc three for a grand total of forty. Going by where we are in my outline, we're looking at closer to twenty for arc two. I'm going to try to haul it back into line, we'll see how that goes.

My New Year's resolution was to post something each month, a chapter or a fic. More, if I could manage it. It won't always be Venatori, but it'll be something.

Next Chapter: Whispers on the Wind