"Speaking."
'Thinking'
Jutsus
Chapter 26 - Things Change
"Well done, everyone. We are off duty until called back, so take tomorrow off and we'll meet in the team's bunker at dawn the following day to hand in our written reports." Her team captain dismissed the other two team members before gesturing for her to follow him.
She followed silently behind him as they weaved through the hallways and up into the Hokage building. No sooner had they reached the door they were ushered inside.
"Report." The Hokage's stern voice called out once both kneeled in front of his desk.
"The mission went smoothly; the target has been eliminated and the court has no idea of Konoha's nor client's involvement." Shizuka glanced to her captain slightly as he reached for the scroll they retrieved from the target's office. "We also obtained these from the office, the information might prove useful."
Glancing up at the Hokage, she stood once the man gestured for them to do so, and her team leader handed over the scroll.
"And the new recruit?" The voice sounded from behind the Hokage's shoulder.
The ANBU commander's mask depicted a dog with pointed ears and a purple triangle on his forehead and each cheek. Even though simple, there was something about the white mask with the empty eyeholes and parted maw that made it an eerie sight.
'Of all the masks I had to get the least threatening looking…' Shizuka mentally sulked while her eyes stared straight at the two shinobi before her.
"… performed admirably throughout the mission. I believe the rookie will prove to be invaluable in future missions."
"Then I believe all is set for officialising your status as a Konoha ANBU." The Hokage reached behind to Jackal to pass on a red and black scroll and signed the document before handing it to Cat-Taichō and finally extending the pen towards her.
Quickly signing her name and closing the scroll she returned it to Jackal who tipped his head in acknowledgement.
"Welcome to the force. Cat will inform you of everything you need to know."
"You are dismissed." The Hokage nodded at the other two ANBU before him who quickly disappeared in puffs of smoke.
They reappeared back into the rooms under the Hokage building.
"Come, I'll show you the team's bunker." Cat-Taichō called as he started walking down the tunnels. "We all have beds in the bunker to crash after missions or between shifts, there is an attached bathroom and is kept stocked with standard provisions."
As they turned the last corner the man gestured to a small and pretty bare kitchen. It had a stove that looked entirely unused, a fridge, a microwave and cupboards. It also had some stools around the island counter.
"The cupboards are always pretty empty with the exception of ration bars, feel free to stock up from there." Cat's voice was deep and monotonic, but not cold or uncaring.
"Here it is, in here feel free to remove your mask, it's not uncommon for your base team to know your identity." He explained as he followed her into the small bunk room. "Base teams usually have six members, but ours only has five now that you've joined."
Shizuka hummed as she unclipped the mask from her face and attached it to her belt, rubbing her gloved hand across her face as she yawned. She easily looked over the three bunk beds and quickly claimed the top bunk closes to the door once confirming none of the others had done so.
She glanced over her captain now that he had removed his mask. The man had pale skin, short light brown hair and dark eyes.
"While out of missions and in here you may call me Tenzō. I'm sure the other three will introduce themselves when we meet up, so I'll leave that to them. You already know which training ground we usually meet and times. You will receive your personal rotation then too. You'll have to do some time in all positions before getting slotted to one, I'd assume you'll be getting patrols due to your specialisation, but do expect guard duty at Intel, T&I and outposts."
"Hai, thank you, Tenzō-Taichō. You may call me Shizuka too." Shizuka sent the man a smile, "What about missions with other teams?"
"For now, you shouldn't be pushed into those, at least until you've done a rotation in all positions. But as a sensor that could change, and you might be called if no other sensors are available." Tenzō then pulled out a trunk from under the bed under hers. "This trunk is also yours, I recommend leaving something to sleep in, extra weapons, a mission pack, training clothes and regular clothes. It makes it easier when you have to leave last minute or go home in intact clothes."
"Ah, I have a couple things in a scroll that I can already leave here, thank you." Jumping down from the top bunk, Shizuka unsealed said items and started organising them into the trunk.
"I believe that is all so I will leave you to settle in. Welcome to the team. Have a good day." With a nod to her, he clipped his mask back into place and left the room.
Shizuka quickly finished putting one of the extra sets of clothes she carried in the trunk. With the other extra set in hand, she moved into the attached bathroom and got a folded towel from the sink.
As her body went through the motions of cleaning up, she reflected on what her entry to ANBU would now mean.
After a year as a Tokujō, she felt like joining ANBU would be a good step in her career. Her father, uncle and sensei agreed that she had a solid base of experience to draw on if she were to join, and after some more intensive training, she agreed to be tested.
After a month-long 'mission' she was given a mask and uniform and introduced to Cat-Taichō and his team: Ape, Stag and Bear. After two months of intensive training with them in the village, they were given an easy infiltration and assassination of a lord in a small nearby country as a final test. And now she gets to keep her mask and get the tattoo on her right shoulder.
After drying herself and tossing the used towel into the laundry basket in the corner she dressed in her usual clothes.
She left the zips of her grey skirt opened to mid-thigh revealing her black shorts underneath, she leaned down to strap a weapons pouch to her left leg and then attached a pouch to the back of her waist. For her top, she wore a mesh undershirt with a grey shirt with a green Nara symbol on her right shoulder.
Moving to the mirror she pulled her hair into its usual braid down her back and tied her headband across her forehead before heading back out and towards her trunk.
She unsealed her vest and in the same scroll sealed up her uniform.
'I need to bring a set of sweatpants and a shirt to sleep, an extra pair of boots and a mission pack.' Glancing at her sole set of ANBU gear she sighed and added a trip to the equipment department to that list before she sealed up the dirty uniform to wash at home.
With an amused snort at her mask, she ran her finger across the small rounded ears and the brown lines leading from the outside of her eyes to her temples and the one line under each cheekbone that curled and stretched to end just below the other two.
"No one will ever take me seriously with this, the boys would be hysterical if they found out."
With everything in place, she pulled on the boots she had been wearing and her fingerless gloves. Finally, she attached the sheaths to her tantōs under the loose sleeves of her shirt.
'Now, where was the equipment department again?'
Once she finally left the dark hallways of the ANBU base she walked towards the Hokage tower in hopes of stealing her father's time for lunch. Taking two steps at a time, she quickly arrived at his office just as the door opened revealing her father and surrogate uncle.
"Tō-San, Inoichi-Oji-San!" Shizuka quickly gave her father a kiss on the cheek, and sent a smile at the Yamanaka, "Are you free for lunch, Tō-San? I just got back and I'm starving."
"I was just about to grab something quickly, but I can spare you some time." Shikaku smiled at his daughter, he hadn't seen her in almost two months, since she started training with her new team. "Dumping place?"
"Yes, please! Inoichi-Oji, will you be joining us?"
"Ah Sorry, Shizuka-Chan, I have a meeting to attend before I can go for lunch. But I do have a new task force for you, I'm just about to ask the Hokage for a preliminary report from the team sent out."
"Does it have anything to do with some interesting reports from politicians from the Southern borders?" Shizuka questioned her head tilting slightly to the side as she observed him carefully.
"Possibly, you'll just have to wait and find out." Inoichi shook his head, he wasn't exactly surprised she had been on the team that gathered the information. He knew from Shikaku's vague answers as to what she was up to recently that she was likely being tested for ANBU. "You don't happen to be signed up for any regular duties, do you?"
"Is that a way of implying I should spend my time in the village with a part-time rotation at Intel?" At her uncle's lips twitching into a smile, she shrugged, "No training outside of the new team so I suppose I might have some time for at least a part-time, I'll come in confirm tomorrow afternoon if you're free?"
"Perfect, I'll make some time to fill you in on the full task force as well. Hope you have space on the wall."
With a final wave at him, Shizuka linked her arm with her father's and all but dragged him to the dumpling restaurant.
"So, a successful mission?" Shikaku asked as he followed his daughter to her favourite dumpling place.
"Hai, my rotation should start sometime this week." She glanced up at her father with a teasing glint in her eyes, "Should I tell you my mask or do you want to figure it out on your own?"
"Not even a day in and already spilling your mask?"
"You'd probably tell it was me the moment you saw me, no point in delaying."
"Give me time, if you're doing your job right I might actually not see your mask anytime soon." Shikaku smirked at his daughter who just huffed and pinched the arm she was holding onto.
The next morning Shizuka woke up to the sun shining on her face, an odd feeling as she was usually required to wake up before dawn for training or because she was on a mission.
Heading downstairs she found her mother washing the dishes from breakfast, a small plate of food separated for her at her usual seat.
"Good morning, Ka-san." She grinned as Yoshino spun around swinging the spatula she was cleaning wildly and sending droplets of water everywhere. "Sorry, its second nature now to make no noise."
"Good morning, darling. That's alright, just remember to switch off those instincts at home, your father is bad enough."
"He still tries to do it when coming home late?"
"Especially after a night out drinking with Chōza and Inoichi." Her mother shook her head and returned to cleaning the dishes. "Do you have any dirty laundry from your mission? I was planning on doing the laundry this morning before heading to the Yamanaka's for tea."
"I'll be sure to put them in my basket before heading out, thank you." Shizuka sat down and started on her breakfast while also reading what she had already written for her report of the mission.
"So, will we be seeing you more now that the initiation process is out of the way?" Her mother's tone was light, but she knew her mom enough to know that she was the one who expressed the most concern about her joining ANBU.
"Hai, I should be slotted to regular rotations and while on standby for the squad. Once that is complete then I'll be taking more missions both with my team and others."
Her mother hummed in acknowledgement and turned the water tap off.
"I'll be in the garden, please wash the dishes when you're done and don't forget the laundry. Why don't you meet up with Shika after the academy? I'm sure he misses you too." She walked over and kissed her daughter's head. "Have a good day!"
"Sure! It'll be nice to see them all. Have a good day!"
For the next hour she focused on her report and once she finished adding the last notes to it she stood to wash the dishes.
'It's just past twelve, team four should be having their usual training session right about now.' Shizuka went back to her room and quickly put on her usual clothes and dropped off the dirty laundry in the basket of the bathroom she shared with Shikamaru.
Once leaving the compound she walked calmly towards the training ground team four usually trained at. It was still early, and they probably hadn't decided to head out for their customary weekly lunch.
As she approached she started sensing Masaru and Kaito's spar and the other chakra present was still and relaxed, easily identifying the signature as Kouta-sensei's Shizuka grinned and walked faster just in time to see a fireball dissipating and Masaru getting his legs knocked out from under him by Kaito's sweeping kick.
"Seems like I've missed quite a bit! Kaito you are learning genjutsu now too?" Shizuka called out as she Kaito helped Masaru up, the boys immediately grinning up at her appearance.
"Zuka! Where have you been!" Masaru grinned as he approached with Kaito. Judging by the way his clothes were covered in dirt and his general appearance she could tell they had just had an intense sparring session.
"Sorry boys, I've been on a long-term mission."
"Of course you noticed the genjutsu. Yeah, I've decided to learn more about it. Masa is a surprisingly deep fountain of knowledge in the area."
"Hey! Surprising?!" Masaru gave Kaito's shoulder a punch. "Seriously, Zuka, it's been what two months since we last saw you?"
"Give or take." Shizuka glanced at their Sensei who had kept quiet from his perch on the boulder they usually met at.
"A successful mission, I assume?" Kouta joined his former students on the ground.
"Hai." Shizuka grinned, they ignored the questioning looks from the other two, but they knew better than to ask, so the topic quickly changed.
"So, Sensei, now that you've seen my new tricks do you think I'm ready for the ANBU entrance test?"
"Maybe. We should probably polish the other non-combat related skills before making that decision."
"What does it entail exactly anyway?" Masaru piped up causing Shizuka to raise her eyebrows, "I'm not interested, but I'm curious to know."
"You'll go through several drills, sparring, protocol testing…" Kouta listed off as the group moved to the shade of the boulder. "You should be able to pass, but you need to be sure you're ready."
"What type of drills? Like the one you've been doing with us?" Kaito prodded as the team moved slowly to the shades of the nearby trees.
"Drills are broken into categories and then move on to grouped knowledge. Chase simulation, hunting simulation, battle, elimination…" Shizuka explained further, this time it was her teammates who raised their eyebrows in surprise. In response, Shizuka smirked and tilted her head, her tone taking on a teasing lilt. "I had to go through all that training too, remember?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Kaito's eyes widened and he nodded in understanding.
'And, Kaito has figured it out. Masa…" Shizuka watched her other teammate for a moment before smirking. 'Ah, there it is.'
Now that her team was aware of her newest position, she wouldn't have to worry about excusing her absence as much. She glanced around the clearing taking note of burnt patches of grass before she turned back to Kaito.
"Kaito, I learnt the water bullet! It's been a year since you showed it to me. And it takes so much concentration!" Shizuka pouted, "I was lucky there was a pond nearby, have I ever said how much I hate fireballs?"
"Only every time we've been on the receiving end of them. Which will increase now, because I have learnt it." Masaru teased reaching over to tug the end of Shizuka's braid.
"Two fire users? I'm doomed." Shizuka sighed dramatically.
"Forgetting your poor old Sensei already? Make that three."
"Ganging up on me, are you? Well, next time we spar be on the lookout for slightly overcharged lightning whips. I might or might not have the control over them perfected and thus the shock might hurt more than what I intend."
"Li-Lightning whips? Who the hell taught you that?" Masaru's eyes widened and Kaito subtly took a step away from their shortest member.
"I have new sparring partners." Shizuka grinned cheerfully.
"Are you joining us for lunch or are you needed elsewhere?" Kouta-sensei spoke up from where he observed his students, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"I can't sorry. I have a meeting with Inoichi-Oji! I should be free tomorrow, how about a late lunch?"
"Sure, the curry place?" Kaito suggested and received nods of confirmation from everyone.
"It's a plan then, see you all tomorrow." Shizuka offered her fists for their customary three-way fist bump before waving the group off and heading to the Intelligence building.
/AN\
Any guesses on what her mask and codename are? The answer will be revealed soon XD
Reply to guest comment:
Candice:
Hi again! Your comments always make me smile! I love hearing from the readers and it makes me happy to know you are enjoying the story!
Yeah, the time skips are mainly to show snapshots of her life before the show's timeline starts for real. I can't wait to start on that part, but there are a couple more chapters until that starts for real. Though I can officially say romance is coming. XD And we will be seeing how much characters improved as we go along as well as the changing relationships.
Thanks again for the comment!