A/N: Um, okay. So help me I just can't seem to make the kids come out as powerful as they should be by now. Maybe because I can really only get an understanding of the weapons and taijutsu... I seem to have this tendency to completely forget about attack jutsu when I write battle scenes. Forgive me? Anyway, thank you to my reviewers: Rangerfan58, x-smith, alana chantelune, liliki, AZ89, iNsAnE nO bAkA, Julieanna333 and Auphora66.
Code Names/Words: Akai (Itachi) means red. Shiro (Hana) means white. Kin (guess) means golden. Chairo (Chouji) means brown. Tetsu (Tenten) means iron. Aoi (Neji) means blue. Kuro (Shikamaru) means black. Momoiro (Sakura) means pink. Shinkirou means mirage, and Shinzui means core or essentials.
: Something woke her in the middle of the night. Not a sound or scent, nothing as tangible as that. It was a subtle thing, the slightest feeling of wrongness in the air. But a tracking specialist – and a Jounin at that – was accustomed to picking up subtle traces.
Tsume slipped out of bed, gesturing Kuromaru to silence as she picked up the weapons brace on her nightstand. She moved on light feet, her first stop to check on her children.
Little Kiba was sleeping peacefully, his face still in the faint glow of his nightlight. Like most four year olds, her son was afraid of the dark. Only for a while longer, though – once his little nose became sensitive in a year or so, he would be able to know for sure that there was nothing under his bed except his socks.
Down the hall, a light shone under the door, but Hana was not using it, the girl having fallen asleep with her textbook across her chest. Satisfied that her babies were safe, she signaled for Kuromaru to stay in the hallway between the two doors. The large nin-dog wagged his tail once in acknowledgement of the silent signal. 'Stay. Guard.'
Three minutes – and four signals exchanged with other clan members – later, and they found it. A young Chunin girl had signaled her, unsure if she had seen something or not. Tsume watched carefully, and after a moment discerned movement in the woods around her Clan's walls.
And then she spotted one of the figures at the base of the wall – on the inside. The figure stepped aside, clearly waiting for another. 'Not ANBU, then' she thought. 'ANBU would have used such secrecy, but would have come straight here. And they wouldn't have come in numbers.'
With a snarl, Tsume threw back her head and howled, the wild sound splitting the night. Within seconds, the entire Inuzuka Clan answered her, wide awake and fully armed. :
-0-
Gai tensed, readying himself to spring as he heard the quiet thump outside of his cell door. A heartbeat later and he paused in confusion. The voice speaking quietly from outside the door was unusually young, but more importantly, gentle.
"I'm opening the door, please don't attack." The door opened slowly, the young girl outside peering cautiously into the cell. "Um, Jounin-san… it's time to go. We're here to get you out."
Gai stared blankly for an instant, his mind unable to process the girl's words after so many years of captivity. The young one glanced back behind her, distinctive Hyuuga eyes searching carefully before she slipped into the room. She moved slowly, allowing the man crouched on the floor to see that her hands were empty.
She knelt before him, small hands pulling a familiar sliver of steel from a thigh pouch. Gai's eyes lit up as he recognized the slim shape of a lock pick. The girl went to work on the chakra-suppression shackles first, probably assuming – rightly so – that the man could deal with the chains once he was free to use his chakra.
Gai barely suppressed a whoop as the shackles finally, for the first time in years, came off with a deafening click. The girl gave him a small, shy grin as she stood. "You can come with us, or leave on your own, Jounin-san. We're trying to fight ROOT, bring down Danzo, but if you've suffered enough –"
The girl's words were cut off as Gai reached out and ruffled her hair. "Please, little miss!" His rough voice was a poor imitation of its once booming tones, but there was a life in his words that he had thought lost. "As if I could turn my back on the village that needs me!"
And the girl left him to work on escaping his chains as she slipped out and moved on to the next cell. Gai reached out and quickly knocked on the cell wall, letting Tsume know to stand down before the little girl found herself face to face with the wild Inuzuka woman. But he couldn't stop chuckling as he broke his chains one by one.
He was just stepping out of his cell when he heard it. A short, sharp whistle pierced the air. He stopped, every sense going on alert. A few moments later he saw the Hyuuga girl bolt out of the nearby cell, small hands releasing the shackles binding Tsume's wrists. The Inuzuka woman stumbled slightly on her chains, hurrying to keep up with the girl rather than stopping to break the bindings.
Gai paused, taking a quick moment to break the chains hampering the woman's movements. She flashed him a wide grin as the pair sped up to match pace with their rather unorthodox savior.
-0-
Iruka fought to control his breathing, glancing back to make sure that his team – and the wounded Jounin they had found in one of the cells – was still together. Between Lee and Shikamaru holding the woman upright, Kiba guarding their backs and Iruka himself taking point, the little group moved faster than he would have thought possible with the Jounin's injuries.
But the air practically screamed with sirens and shouts, each new sound pushing the fleeing group to greater speed. The flashing lights cast wildly jumping shadows, the erratic movement only serving to spike adrenalin even higher. More than one kunai was flung at what turned out to be nothing more than their own fear. So when actual operatives came at them, it took a heartbeat to register. Almost too long.
The group split apart, Shikamaru quickly setting the wounded woman safely to the side and bracing himself in a guard position. With these narrow spaces and wildly shifting lights, his Shadow Bind technique would be as much of a risk to his comrades as to his enemies.
The other three circled around to trap the ROOT agents between them. This time, the wild light worked in their favor, making their distinctive weaving attacks appear even more chaotic and confusing.
But Iruka realized quickly that he was in trouble. His boys had outpaced him, growing stronger and faster than he was. Iruka was just a half of a step behind, just a fraction of a second slower. The two ROOT operatives saw it, focused on it. Iruka found himself the target of the majority of the pair's attacks, a fact that confused and upset Lee and Kiba.
As the boys tried to help their first teacher defend himself and still help Shikamaru cover the wounded woman, it threw off their rhythm, leaving each of the three open where they would not have been normally. Iruka shifted directions suddenly, slamming a shoulder into Kiba, knocking the teen to the left even as Iruka himself dropped to the ground.
The shuriken caught the end of his ponytail, snapping the tie. Kiba snarled. The woman – 'pretty lady' Iruka found himself randomly thinking 'striking eyes' – cursed heatedly, red eyes following the three males' movement.
And then pale, bloodied hands rose in a series of graceful movements. And both ROOT agents stumbled, eyes widening as they leapt back – to avoid a blow that wasn't coming.
All four males sent the woman a fast smile, one grateful and three impressed, even as three of them moved to finish off the now-distracted operatives. The lady smiled in return – and her eyes rolled back, body slumping in unconsciousness. Lee yelped slightly, and Iruka quickly picked the woman up. "Let's go, boys. Before those two's backup gets here."
The group made it the rest of the way out without trouble, Iruka giving quick orders. "Kiba, take her and go. Lee, Shika, come with me. Let's find the others." Kiba frowned, but he neither argued nor even hesitated as he let out one sharp whistle. Akamaru bounded up, and Iruka handed the Jounin up after Kiba had climbed up on the now-enormous dog.
The teen grinned down at his teammates. "Don't have too much fun without me, kay?" And then he leaned down, holding the lady tightly with one arm wrapped around her waist – the other hand was buried in white fur. "Akamaru, let's go!"
-0-
The man knelt, motionless save for the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. There was no sound to betray the presence of any waking creature on the street – until the faintest of buzzing reached his ears. The man moved then, fluidly raising one arm and allowing a small mass of insects to land on his gloved hand.
His dark head tilted slightly, as if he was listening as the small creatures buzzed and shifted. And then the creatures moved, crawling under his sleeve and out of sight.
Aburame Shibi stood, turning to the smaller figure standing in the shadows of the wall behind him. "They are moving. Their intentions can no longer be doubted - they have taken a definitive stand against ROOT with this mission. The next move is ours. You know what to do."
The other person bowed his head slightly. "Yes, father."
-0-
Sasuke cursed viciously under his breath as he ducked under yet another strike from that damn sword. Dark eyes flicking quickly around the corridor, he grit his teeth. Asuma-sensei was held up fighting his own enemy, as was Naruto.
He was on his own, with an enemy that he couldn't close in on because of the blade and couldn't use his long-range jutsu on for fear of accidentally collapsing the hallway. This was, frankly, the worst possible scenario for the young Uchiha.
'Hurry up, Hinata' he thought, mentally willing the stealth specialist to get out of the cell corridor so that they could stop defending this position. The battle would be a lot easier if he didn't have to worry about keeping his enemy away from that door.
He blocked another strike with his kunai, and then had to twist out of the way as his enemy brought up a stomp kick towards his chest. Sasuke dropped into a hurried backwards roll as the slender man twisted his sword, twirling it back and thrusting forward. The teenager hissed as he felt a line of sudden fire along his ribs, proving that he hadn't moved quite fast enough. Sharingan or no, this bastard was fast!
Naruto must have seen the hit, because the blond shouted Sasuke's name even as the darker teen twisted away, bringing his leg around in a modified foot sweep. He followed up with pushing into a familiar handstand, using both feet to lash out and knock his opponent back. And this time, probably crack a few ribs, since he wasn't holding back.
But the sudden fear in his teammate's voice drew Sasuke's immediate attention, leaving both boys distracted. The Uchiha's eyes widened as he realized that, for Naruto, that was going to cost him. He shouted, gathering himself up to sprint and try to help his teammate. But before he could, a dark blur shot out from the doorway the group had been guarding, clipping Naruto and slamming into the ROOT operative coming up behind the boy.
Sasuke grinned, immediately turning back to his own opponent as he saw Hinata and another strange adult charge through that same door. The tides had turned; now the ROOT fighters were the ones scrambling to defend.
-0-
Kakashi reached out, taking a page out of Lee's handbook by grabbing a nearby lamppost, using it as a counterbalance to swing himself around and lash out with both feet at the closest of his pursuers. A twitch of his lips underneath his mask betrayed his pleasure as the man let out a grunt, stumbling back a few steps from the force of the blow.
Kakashi reflected briefly that he made a rather effective distraction, forcing ROOT to chase him for the last fifteen minutes. As he teleported himself to yet another rooftop – making sure that he was close enough to 'find', of course – he caught sight of a large form bounding away from the target building, an unclear shape huddled on top.
A sharp whistle, a quick check – 'status?' – and Kiba whistled back. 'Status green. Transporting target, condition damaged. Team to follow.' Kakashi nodded, mentally translating the code. 'They're all okay so far. They found the prisoners, and sent Kiba ahead with the wounded, as planned. Almost time to ditch the entourage.'
-0-
Gai couldn't stop smiling. Even as he rushed after Asuma and the three teenagers with him, he and Tsume kept sending each other wide, wild grins. The odd team raced through the corridors, dodging ROOT and fighting when necessary.
Gai dropped into a fighting stance as yet another man turned the corner before them, until the Hyuuga girl's quiet but happy cry of "Sensei!" stopped his attack before it began. The scarred man's eyes quickly scanned the children, lingering for an instant on the Uchiha boy's injury before moving on to Asuma, and then the other two Jounin.
The two boys behind him gave the other teens quick grins. Then the Hyuuga girl spoke up. "Where's-"
The adult answered her in mid-sentence, even as the group turned and ran again. "Gone ahead with a wounded prisoner." They all fell silent then, saving their breath for running. And mere moments later, Gai breathed fresh air for the first time in ten years.