"In any case, Eien," Shikamaru continued, "We can't know that this guy won't become a threat." He was alluding to the fact that the white Zetsu were rather easily manipulated. Yutaro had signalled one of the other teams to approach, while the others continued their conversation.

"Even if the Union-" she cut him off, "But this also represents an opportunity for you," to which the white one looked at her, a mix of shock and stifled anger. "He did live during that time, and I think that, now that so many other powers are out of play..." Shikamaru understood what she was saying. That he might remember information about their past, the shinobi world's history that had been lost to them. "You really are selfish," the man caught in Nara clan's shadow jutsu cut at her. "There's no guarantee I'll remember anything, and you-" "If you want to hate me and be angry at me, and your situation, then fine," she cut right back at him, "But don't let it destroy who you are."

The guy would have stood if he were not being bound, "You have no right, no idea-" "I do know!" Eien raised her voice at him, "I know precisely what I, what we were forced to do. And I hated it! I hated every moment of it..." She turned her face away, recollecting herself.

Gaara had returned his attention to the group, he and Shikamaru just observing the drama unfold. There were no words, not because they didn't feel anything, but because they didn't know what to say.

The other team, the one led by another Union member, now approached.

"What is that thing doing here?" One of the subordinates, Kristin, asked with her weapon drawn. "Stand down," Shikamaru told the relatively young shinobi, "We need to seal him." That latter part he directed to the other teams two fuinjutsu specialists, the pair gave each other a look and nodded. The white Zetsu clicked his tongue, annoyed, "Honestly, you could just let me go-" his words were cut short as their jutsu began, wrapping him in cloths covered with sigils which the pair projected from their scrolls. A few moments later, and the white Zetsu was sealed within one.

"Alright, we're changing composition," Shikamaru announced, and after that they called Temari's team over, mixing the members once again. It was decided that this was as good a time as any for Yutaro to head back, along with some Suna nin that had been accompanying Temari's group. She bid her brother farewell, along with the rest, and Eien mentioned, "Be careful," alluding to the fact that the black Zetsu that may still be out there. He nodded, and made his way back. The guise was still up, but every Suna nin with him knew now what was going on. They had been selected to accompany this mission specifically due to their level of loyalty and trust, should the Kazekage return without revealing to the rest of Sunagakure that he'd been missing, these shinobi were allied to him. They wouldn't cause any unecessary problems.

Now with enough members for only about two and a half normally sized teams, the groups instead split into two differently sized groups: one of seven, led by the Union leader Iare from Iwagakure, along with Temari, Eien, and four other Union members; the second team led by Shikamaru, Iare's subordinate Kristin, and another four members, one of them carrying the scroll housing the white Zetsu.

Their journey into the land of Lightning passed relatively uneventful for the rest of the day. They made camp later that night, after resupplying themselves in a village bordering wind nation, and came back together under the trees as a group. There were rounds of night watch, but certain members were kept off that duty. It was an unannounced precaution, but a necessary one.

The foliage and atmosphere of the area put everyone in a calmer mood, that is those who had been present when the thing first appeared. The rest of the teams' members weren't aware enough to really be phased by it. They only considered protecting the scroll and the knowledge of it, as well as reaching their final destination safely.

"Eien," someone had made their way over to where she was resting, half covered in the sleeping bag. It wasn't anywhere near time to sleep, though night had fallen and they'd already had their meals. "Yeah?" She said while turning, it was Shikamaru. "You said you can sense souls, but..." his voice was lowered, to prevent other team members that didn't know from overhearing.

She listened for him to continue, and at first when Shikamaru didn't, she realized what he might be asking. "If you're wondering if I can sense just about anyone, the answer is no." He perked up a little at that, and Eien continued, "I can't sense people who aren't here." She wasn't facing him as she spoke, just focusing on the fire that had died out. Or rather, they had put it out a while ago, before night truly fell into it's deeper color, when having a fire going would just be stupid. There was no smoke coming off from it, just the embers still managing to cool themselves.

He didn't say anything, just got up and moved away.

"You can't really..." she was trying not to be angry at him. Shikamaru had told Temari, in a nutshell, what had happened. And that he'd indirectly asked Eien about something. "Shika, that's a really stupid thing to ask her." The woman had a knack for being blunt, but she'd usually allowed him to be the exception. Only, this was something Temari knew could become a vulnerability for him all too easily. She was being hard on him with good reason.

"I know, but... I just..." He was a smart man. And an accomplished one.

She approached him, "We all lost so much during that time," and closed the distance, placing a hand on him, "Why continue to focus on it?" He placed a hand around her, holding his wife close, to which Temari smiled. "Besides, you've gained something more too, haven't you?" He laughed, "Yeah, something worth dying for." They shared a moment there, far away from the drama of that time. And away from the drama of their present situation, as well.

Morning came with a fury. They rushed like mad to close the distance to Kumogakure, not because anything had happened, but because they were avoiding something from happening.

The night's watch had noticed, just before the sun came up, that they'd been being observed. And probably for a while now. Without breaking the routine, the watch woke the next round, and spoke into their ear. That person went to their post, and the relieved to their bed. Before falling asleep, Iare who was positioned facing that person's bedspot had her eyes open. They spoke while moving their lips, but without words.

The camp was awoken and put into the paces without much of any warning. They moved on, trying to get away from whatever or whomever may be following them.

Everyone was accounted for, so far nobody was following the first team. They'd changed composition again and sprang from the camp in smaller, clustered teams, each at first going in it's own direction. They regrouped and changed several more times, changing routes as well. It took a good bit of time before more than two clusters regrouped at once, and they paused - a team of five and a team of eight, separated less than 100 yards from each other.

"Anything?" Iare called back, not loud enough to attract anyone to their position in the trees, however. "Ie," someone called back, "but..." Their leader turned, controlled alarm written on her face, "What is it?"

It took another moment or two for the fuinjutsu specialist, one of the twins, to come back to her. "I can't sense Mamori." That was the name of her sister, and though these two could be separated by hundreds, if not thousands, of feet; they shared an ability of pinpointing each other. Iare cursed and grabbed her radio, "Shika, Temari; are your members accounted for?"

"...No," the answer crackled back over the radio, "Eien's missing as well." That could only mean Eien and an important subordinate were missing. They ran through the trees back to the other team's position. "What happened?" Everyone was there except for Mamori and Eien. Temari seemed winded. "Someone came at us from out of nowhere," one of Iwagakure's Union members spoke up, "Temari-sama tried to repel them, but," The golden-haired woman spoke up, having caught her breath, "They curved through my wind release and sent it back like nothing." Whoever this was, was a powerful person indeed. To cut through Temari's war-fan attacks, there were very few skilled shinobi in the world who could do that. And it meant this person knew wind-release too, and some very high levelled ones, plus that they had amazing control over their chakra.

"Teia, give me a list of everyone who could do that. Temari, you didn't get a look at them?" She shook her head, "They whipped by too quickly, all I caught was a black blur." That would be a bit embarrassing for her, for any shinobi, to admit. But the facts had to come first.

"Chouri Ikameru of the White Waters, Water country's missing nin; Itsetsu no Kiba, unknown affiliation; and Uchiha Sasuke, of Konohogakure," Teia was a walking encycolpedia, she'd memorized all of the bingo book's information, every single one of them, as well as any other document she'd ever read about persons in the shinobi world. She'd been found outside of Iwagakure at a very young age, and since had been quite frail - though she excelled in detecting and escaping genjutsu as well as information retention, for obvious reasons.

"Sasuke!?" Temari repeated his name with a half-moment's disbelief, then caught herself. He'd been framed before, and he'd been making amends for a long time now, too. He must have had good reason, if he were involved here at all. She shot a look over to Shikamaru, who nodded and closed his eyes in understanding, "Alright, well whoever it is, we know what we're up against. Clear?" He asked the question to their group, and everyone resounded, "Clear!" They dashed backwards along the routes they had taken to get there, keeping watch and sensing for anyone or anything that may signal a clue.

"Can't you do something?" He asked rather bluntly, those eyes still holding their crimson-and-black color, to which Eien focused upon his feet. It wasn't that she feared this doujutsu, just that she hadn't even so much as been around the man since her surgery.

"Not really..." Mamori was clutching her wound, she hadn't had time to grab any of the healing poultices or potions they normally carried. Her sister, Katori, had grabbed them.

There was a motion ahead of them, the ivory shape flexed out into a circular one, convexed to their positon. It was a defensive posture, one that could deflect physical as well as energy-based attacks. Or so it must have thought. Sasuke simply sent his chidori as a lance through the center of the thing, killing the white Zetsu behind it. It tried to grab hold of his chakra with the rest of it's shape, but the electricity coursing through it's body made that kind of controlled motion impossible. It fell away and dissipated like ash once the thing died.

Mamori set herself down, still holding her side where the white Zetsu had scathed her. It had used a type of fire-release, too; so that by coming into contact with her, some fierce burns were left on her skin. It was chewing through her organs as they tried to figure out what to do. "There's no substance, no residue; so it is energy based." Eien was stating this fact to help Mamori calm down too, and to help her continue focusing on her own chakra. By using her internal energies against those that this attack used, she could hinder the effect it had on her.

"I can't..." she didn't excel in focusing on internal energies, however. And Eien couldn't heal her directly, lacking the chakra to do so. Worse still, Sasuke never had learned to practice his refined chakra control in this way. He wasn't skilled enough, at all really, in healing others. And his remedies that had been carried for his own missions were all used up, right now. He only had some energy pills remaining, and those wouldn't do anything for her situation.

Her eyes widened suddenly, "Ka...!"

"There!" The twin reached the range where they could find each other, for some reason Mamori's range had lessened. Meaning she was likely injured, or in a state that limited her awareness. Rushing forward, much to her team's dismay, Katori reached their position to find Eien and the Uchiha. The rest of their team landed a moment later.

"Seems you were right again, Teia," Katori spoke with her eyes firmly fixed on the Uchiha's feet. His sharingan dissipated, "Who's the medic-nin?" His experience meant there had to be at least one, if not two or three, with them all. She came forward, a bit carefully, and tended to Mamori's wound. Shikamaru approached as well, "You're all fine then?" He asked his old 'friend' and Eien, to which one nodded and one verbally confirmed. "Alright... then how about what happened?" This question, he asked Eien. But it was Sasuke who answered.

"I've been tracking a group of thirteen white Zetsu, but they changed their activities last night." The Nara allowed the interupption, "They were watching your camp before you made your move, though the target was only ever one of you." At that, he looked at Eien.

"I see," Shikamaru responded. Their medic-nin helped Mamori up, much to Katori's relief as she came over to her twin-sister. "She'll be alright, maybe an energy pill or a bit of rest," the shinobi supporting her stated. They went off towards a tree not too far off, so she could do just that.

Iare came forward after dealing with her Union members. "...and that's why I didn't detect him," Eien was explaining that the Uchiha were an exception to her abilities, usually, which Iare was unaware of and did not overhear their entire conversation. They paused the discussion there. "So you took care of our problem," the Iwagakure-jounin directed it at Sasuke, whom nodded. "It would be prudent for me to accompany you," he budged himself him, not surprisingly. Shikamaru spoke over Iare's mouth, "You know we're not supposed to do that," the Uchiha turned toward him, "According to a statute from several years ago." He wasn't going to let them force him on his way. Besides, chances were that Sasuke's mission would be covering the area they were traveling in. He'd have much more intel about the safest route to take, and the best way to avoid and other complications. "If this comes back to me, it's going over your head, not mine," was all Shikamaru said as he turned away, letting it go. "C-Commander!" Iare called after him, getting no response. She gritted her teeth, but resisted doing so in Sasuke's direction. Instead, also choosing to let it go, Iare followed him back to the rest of the group. "You should go on ahead, too," he spoke to Eien without looking at her. "Mm," she agreed before leaving his presence.

It was useful information, but irrelevant.