/AN\
Hey!
Sorry for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks. I'm officially back and on vacation, therefore I'm hoping to get my updates to a more regular schedule.
Someone asked for me to go over the OCs and ANBU masks:
Shizuka's summons:
Kei (her main summon), Jun, Gin, Seto, Toka
ANBU Masks:
Shizuka - Chipmunk
Shun - Mantis
Kaito - Hyena
If there are any characters you want a recap on, I can post a proper list at the start of the next chapter. I shouldn't be introducing any new big characters for a while after this.
On another note, another reader mentioned how I skipped over the Kyūbi attack in the first chapter and that was because I didn't know exactly how I wanted to write that just yet. It will come up eventually, maybe even an entire chapter just for those events, but we will see how it goes.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy!
xx
SC
"Speaking."
'Thinking'
Jutsus
Chapter 36 - Snake in the Forest
"We have a problem." Chipmunk whispered to Ape as they made their way deeper into the forest.
"It's been one hour!" Ape grumbled as he stopped next to the crouched kunoichi. "What could possibly have gone wrong in one hour?"
"The Grass team has been going straight to Kakashi-Senpai's team, also there's only one of them."
"Let me guess, the creepy definitely not a Genin one?" Ape answered drily, groaning when Chipmunk just tilted her head in agreement. "They were in Cat-Taichō's area, what's going on with them?"
"Anko-San is heading towards them, I'll signal them now. What's your call?"
"Intercept the intruder and stall for the rest to get here on time. Warn Bear and Stag, they should stay on the original task but stay on standby for backup."
Chipmunk nodded and they changed their direction towards where the fake Grass nin was coming from. Shizuka darted ahead and flared her chakra to reach for the other two sensors to get their attention. Meanwhile, Ape started murmuring the details they found into the radio they had but didn't activate the emergency buzzer.
Tuning out of her teammate's messages, Shizuka did a quick sweep of the forest, wincing as she noticed the chakra from the Sand Jinchūriki flare along with the fading out of a Genin team he had encountered.
It didn't take them much time to intercept the fake Genin. The shinobi they encountered was so far beyond the Genin level Shizuka could actually strangle whoever allowed this person into the forest. But seeing as she had to fight for survival, she would settle for just ensuring they had a fun evening complaining to their superiors.
Taking a sharp turn to her left, Chipmunk grasped onto Ape's vest and tugged him along, giving his shoulder a squeeze as they watched the branches they had been heading towards were completely destroyed by a massive wind jutsu.
Ape gave her a nod and moved to engage with a fire jutsu in hopes of forcing the enemy to dodge into Shizuka's range, but it was in vain as the man simply jumped over the stream of fire to attack him.
With a quick draw of his katana Ape parried the man's kunai. Shizuka jumped in from behind the enemy and slashed at his back only to be countered and kicked back.
'Damn, he's fast. Who's the idiot that didn't notice a Jōnin level person into a Genin exam?' Shizuka groaned mentally as she twisted in mid-air to land on a tree trunk before launching back at the pair.
Ape gave her space for her to attack and they worked together to keep the man on the defensive, knowing that Cat and Mantis should be on their way to back them up after Shizuka had signalled for them.
The situation just got worse after that since the man not only put them on the defensive but had them jumping back to regroup and the two ANBU were unable to land a single blow to their opponent.
The Konoha ANBU pair shared a glance and with a single motion of Ape's hand, they set a new plan into place. Jumping back to the enemy's side they pushed for riskier moves that left their guard open the slightest bit more. While they got more scratches to their bodies than their usual combinations, it also allowed them to find more holes in their opponent's guard.
Their backup was late, and they really couldn't keep this up for too long. Shizuka mentally cursed as Ape stumbled back after a brutal blow from the man which left her side open for attack. The Grass nin took that gap as soon as it opened and Shizuka could either block and probably fail as she was not nearly as strong physically or she could use her shadows.
In a split-second decision, Shizuka dropped her tantō to fly through the handsigns to capture the shinobi who froze in place just before his kunai could drive too deep into Shizuka's side.
Shizuka stumbled back with the ninja following her movements, gritting her teeth to keep the possession in place as one hand flew to her side to stem the bleeding from the slash at her ribcage and the other to cushion her fall.
In the next few moments, Shizuka could only gasp as the man started chuckling darkly his long strands of hair covering his face, a dark familiar feeling chakra emanating from him as he licked his lips with a creepy long tongue.
"Pesky Nara." The man rasped, his eyes flashing a golden yellow before he disappeared in a puff of smoke before either ANBU had time to react to the reveal of the Snake Sannin.
Shizuka gasped as out of seemingly nowhere a giant snake summon launched at her, but her muscles seemed to freeze up and for a moment she couldn't move. Just as the snake's head descended on her a wall of wood appeared in front of her just as Cat-Taichō appeared to pick her up and jump away the moment the snake broke through the wooden shell.
Cat placed her next to Ape who was seemingly unconscious while Mantis knelt by his side, his kikaichū crawling around the cuts Ape had received during their fight with the Sannin.
"Shit." Shizuka gasped as her mind finally caught up with what had happened. "Is Ape alright?"
"Hai, my kikaichū are removing the poison." Mantis reached his hand towards her and she reached back allowing some of the beetles to crawl onto her hand and move towards her wounds. "Considering how long you two lasted its likely only a paralytic with mild chakra blockage."
"Chipmunk, report." Cat landed back on the branch the other three members of his team were settled after dealing with the massive snake. He immediately knelt down and helped her remove her vest and wrapping a bandage around her abdomen before helping her put the vest back on.
"Orochimaru disguised himself as a Grass nin and is currently in search of Kakashi-Senpai's team."
"Can you take us to them?"
"Hai, but…" Shizuka glanced back at Ape's sweating and shivering form. "Ape needs to be taken to the hospital, this isn't a typical response to the paralytic. I've built some resistance to similar toxins from my earlier training with Anko-Senpai."
"He's having an adverse reaction." Mantis nodded his head turning towards the direction of the tower just moments before Shizuka herself noticed what was happening.
"Anko-Senpai!" Shizuka sighed as the purple haired proctor appeared with two other ANBU in tow. "We've got a problem."
Mantis helped Shizuka stand, while Cat passed Ape off to the medic that had arrived with Anko.
"I can see that. Orochimaru-"
"Shit. He's already reached team seven." Shizuka groaned as she felt the waves of chakra emanating from the Genin and their opponent. "We need to move."
"Damnit." Anko swore, her eyes darting to the unconscious ANBU to Shizuka's injured side to the two ANBU with her. "You two, warn the Hokage and take that one to the Hospital. Chip, can you guide?"
"Hai. I'll stay back for support." Chipmunk gave Cat a nod as she sensed his near protest. "We need to hurry, we might have a furry problem."
Cat and Anko gave her an alarmed look having caught on to the reference while Mantis just tilted his head in confusion, but like any truly experienced shinobi, the comment didn't freeze them for more than a second before they launched into the trees right after her.
Chipmunk gave them a signal to stop as they noticed Naruto's form hanging from a tree. Once they were satisfied that he was alive and his guest wasn't a threat, not that Mantis needed to know that part, they moved closer to the rest of team seven only to see Sasuke collapse and Sakura jumping to inspect him.
Once Shizuka confirmed that the Uchiha was alive and simply unconscious, Cat gave the signal to continue pursuit of the Sannin and told Anko to stay and handle the results of the exam.
"Anko-Senpai, a team has already finished, the Sand team. You are needed at the tower." Chipmunk gave the proctor a look waiting for the woman to agree before launching back into the trees. "He's good at hiding, but I've got a lock on his chakra."
The trio proceeded running at full speed in pursuit of the Sannin which led them out of the village and into the forest surrounding Konoha.
"Dammit! There is an ANBU team returning from patrol they are about to cross paths." Chipmunk grunted as she pushed more chakra into her legs.
"Signal them off, do not engage." Cat-Taichō called back as he and Mantis pushed to match her increased pace. "Chipmunk, you are injured, stay back and play the support, Mantis you'll have to put those kenjutsu skills to the test."
Shizuka did as she was told and located the sensor of the team and gave a warning shove, to which the sensor replied with a question of her reason. Using standard code, three shoves at a sensor's range, signifying danger, the ANBU team took her warning and abruptly changed their course.
It wasn't enough.
Shizuka cursed and relayed the information that the ANBU team had clashed with the Sannin, drawing a mumbled string of curses from her usually composed captain.
They arrived at the scene what felt like hours later but in truth, it had been mere minutes after Shizuka's warning. In just a few minutes Orochimaru had gone through four of the six returning ANBU. She pushed the horror at the man's power aside to focus on the rapidly worsening situation.
Shizuka could sense them spread across a small area, two dead and two fatally injured, their blood covering the floor below them. The two remaining ANBU were covered in scrapes, one was stumbling out of the way, an injury on his left leg while the other launched increasingly high ranked jutsu at the Sannin to keep him away.
Cat-taichō gave the signal for Shizuka to stay back and play support while going to help the two ANBU still fighting, leaving Mantis to check on the two that had fallen, to check if there was anything they could do.
There wasn't, and the two soon died from their injuries, leaving Mantis to seal their bodies away in black scroll marked for allies to bring back home. Shizuka made sure to keep an eye on the newest member of the squad so that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire while also launching her shadows to try catching the Sannin off guard.
She spread her senses to ensure that no one else would interfere and cursed at what she had found.
'Damnit, more unknowns, I must have missed them in the rush to catch up to the Snake bastard.' With an eye on the fight around her, she counted the number of enemies lying in wait. 'How are they so close? Oh… Genjutsu and an underground lair? You've got to be kidding me.'
Shizuka knelt next to Mantis as he finished sealing the last body, her eyes still observing the fight happening up in the branches above them. For a moment she wondered what miracle had kept them safe from the various ninjutsu being exchanged, but decided that it was better than the alternative.
"We're outnumbered, we can't go further and we won't last in this fight." Shizuka whispered, taking note of the nervous buzz from Mantis' kikaichū. "I'll try to hold Orochimaru down for Albatross and Taichō to retreat, you'll have to dash in to help Moose."
Mantis didn't make a sound as he put the scroll in his pocket and stood his hands clenched into a fist by his side. Shizuka observed him for a moment before she clasped her hands in the rat seal, her shadow swirling around her for a moment before she seemingly disappeared.
For less than a second Shizuka was gone from the area, only a trace of her chakra on the floor before she reappeared at the base of the tree that Orochimaru was standing on.
He barely glanced her way, merely launching a fireball down at her, before he launched a destructive wind jutsu towards the ANBU.
He could get out of the Nara's shadow possession without much of an effort. There were very few Nara that had the control and power to hold him for longer than a minute. What he didn't expect is to fall into the girl's shadow, his body up to his thighs seemingly disappearing into the tree branch he hadn't bothered to move from.
"Go! Get out! This won't hold for long." Chipmunk called from the base of the tree.
Albatross, having been exhausted from fighting retreated to Mantis who had one of Moose's arms slung over his shoulder. Cat launched towards the captured opponent, but the Sannin opened his mouth and another one of him came out.
"Shit." Shizuka gasped as Orochimaru shed his own skin and broke free of her shadow pit, for the second time that day she relied on Cat's reflexes to get out of the way of the man's attack.
"Chipmunk, focus." Cat hissed next to her ear as they leapt away from the tree with their enemy and landed closer to the other tree that had waited to see the outcome. "Retreat, we can't win this."
Shizuka made eye contact with the Sannin who simply tilted his head as he watched the five ANBU retreat. She lost sight of him moments later when Cat let go of her waist and started the run back to the village.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Shizuka bit her thumb and slammed her hand on the ground, revealing her main summon, Kei. "Kei, see that pile of skin? I need you to follow him, do not engage or even let yourself be seen, reverse summon if you are in danger and come find me once you're done."
The dark grey racoon nodded her head and dashed to the tree where the rogue ninja had been caught by Shizuka's shadows. Once she was satisfied that Kei had found the trail she launched after the team, sensing them just up ahead.
Pushing herself to her full speed it didn't take her long to catch up to them since they had two injured in their party.
"I've sent a summon on the trail, hopefully, to find a hideout, maybe just figure out some points of contact. No one is pursuing us." She called as she drew up next to Cat, who glanced over his shoulder to look at her.
"Good work." Cat nodded at her and she fell back to run alongside Albatross, at the rear of their group.
"Your chakra is unstable." She pointed out as they fell into step. "Hasn't Mantis tried to extract it?"
"No time and Mantis is already working on Moose, other than my senses being murky, and my chakra being sluggish, I can make it to the village." Albatross fell into silence. Shizuka didn't have to see his face to know he was looking at Moose's form just ahead of them, an arm slung over Mantis' shoulder. "Moose isn't doing so well, pretty sure he has several broken ribs and a concussion."
Albatross sighed before turning his head to watch the youngest member of their little group.
"When you signalled me to move off, Orochimaru had already located us." His tone was dry as he stated the fact. "We tried to move away but he pursued, probably to get you off his trail."
"I should've been able to warn you sooner, but I'm not at full capacity." Shizuka said slowly, watching the older man from the corner of her eye.
"It would have been worse, the minutes you gave us allowed us to form a line and form a plan." Albatross paused releasing a quiet sigh. "Even now, it is better than the alternative."
"Small comforts."
"We lost Antelope… The sector division for sensors will have to shift around, do you know who bordered his area?"
Shizuka sighed as she tried to remember the division of areas for the sensors. It was normal for the sensors of the village to have a sector to monitor during large events and when there was a war. With the looming threat and Chūnin exams, the sensors had been notified of starting to patrol their sectors.
Albatross is one of the most experienced and talented sensors of the village and is in charge of the Hokage building and surrounding blocks. Shizuka was given the commercial district since the area was in the middle of the village it allowed her to cover the entirety of the village from there. The sectors were assigned to each sensor based on size to match their ranges, concentration of people and finally importance.
"Antelope had a southern residential, I believe. It borders Aoba-Senpai's sector from the east, and mine from the south-east. I'll warn Jackal and the Jōnin commander that they need to rethink the division."
Albatross nodded and the pair fell into silence for the rest of their journey back into the village. During that time Shizuka allowed her thoughts to wander on everything that had happened that day and what the consequences were going to be.
Before she could finish running through possible scenarios of what would happen, the group pushed through the gates, immediately drawing the attention of the Chūnin on duty.
"Chipmunk, Albatross and Moose, to the hospital. Mantis with me for an emergency debrief." Cat-taichō ordered as he flew through the check-in process for them, the poor Chūnin on duty barely following Cat's movements, merely nodding blankly once they checked everything was in order. "Albatross and Moose I expect Jackal will ask for a verbal report later. Chipmunk, you'll also need to debrief the task force."
Cat and Mantis left right after Cat had finished giving the orders and Mantis helped Albatross take over the task of helping Moose walk.
"You're ditching the hospital, aren't you, Chip?" Albatross sighed, reaching under his mask to scrub his eyes.
"Ah, you know me so well, Alba?" Shizuka chirped happily as she ran her hand over her bandaged side. "Deep enough for stitches but not worth the hassle of medical ninjutsu."
"Just, get out of here before anyone figures it out. I'm not covering your ass if Cat asks." Albatross shook his head but proceeded to adjust Moose's arm over his shoulder. "And stop calling me Alba."
"Bye Alba! Bye Moose!" Chipmunk waved cheerily before she jumped up to a nearby roof, though she did hear Alba's complaints and Moose's chuckle before she made her way home.
After the day she had, she could practically hear the warm shower calling her name.
Sneaking into her house was easy as her mother wasn't home and thus the house was empty. She jumped into the shower slowly peeling of the bandages and wincing at the sight.
'Definitely going to need stitches.' Shizuka sighed as she went through the motions while taking extra care with her injury. Stepping out of the shower she made sure there wasn't any blood in the shower as to not freak out her mother and then packed her bloodied clothes to wash at headquarters.
After quickly wrapping her torso with new bandaged and throwing on one of the looser black turtlenecks shirts she had and the ANBU vest over that. After making sure there wasn't any evidence for her mother to get worried about, she left the bathroom and stopped in her room to get her emergency first aid kit and put it in her bag.
Heading straight to the mind map room she was glad when no one tried to talk to her on the way but she waved slightly at the receptionist who greeted her as she walked into the building. She didn't bother turning on the main light and opted to turn on the desk light instead, collapsing into the chair before letting her vest fall to the floor so that she could patch herself up. As she rolled her shirt up to her ribs for better access.
"Shizuka." Shizuka jumped as her father's voice sounded from the door, his eyes focused on her scanning her form, stopping a moment longer at her side. He flicked on the switch of the lights and in a few long strides he knelt at her side. "Let me see that."
She sighed and leaned back, allowing her father to gently prod at the slash that ran from her lower ribcage to her bellybutton. He reached for the first aid kit in her bag and with steady fingers, he stitched her side.
The next people to arrive were Inoichi and Ibiki, who paused at the door momentarily to see Shikaku tying the last few stitches on his daughter's side. The Yamanaka clan head then moved over to the chair.
"You should have gone to the hospital." Inoichi chided, his eyes glancing down at the stitch job and inspecting it from Shikaku's side, his tone turning dry with an underlying hint of amusement. "You've gotten better at that."
Shikaku glanced up at his teammate's comment before shrugging and helping Shizuka stand so that he could wrap her stomach up with clean bandages.
"Your head okay, Shizuka-chan?"
"Yeah, I'm just tired." She yawned as her father continued the job. "Remind me to avoid confronting a Sannin again."
"Gladly." Inoichi gave her head a pat before he moved back to the wall where Ibiki had busied himself with reading her scattered notes. "What happened to back up?"
"All the teams had something to worry about, got them delayed from helping my unit out sooner, but made it in time before any permanent damage was dealt." Shizuka winced as her father tied the bandages and gave her another once over.
"Shizuka-chan, good evening, I would like a verbal report of what happened." The Hokage called as he entered the room with Jackal in tow.
"Hai, but shouldn't Kakashi-Senpai hear it as well? It is his team at the centre of this, after all." Shizuka glanced around the room taking note of their raised eyebrows and expectant looks. "He's also already on his way here."
Her father sighed and turned to her bag fishing out the mask from between the bloody uniform shirt and vest. He paused as he took in the mask for the first time, his fingers traced over the markings and ears, his lips twitching into an amused smile for a moment before he passed it over.
As soon as she clipped the mask into place the Team Seven Sensei knocked on the door and came in once the Hokage called him in. She snickered as Kakashi paused at the door of her mind map room, his eyes moved across the room a few times before it settled on the Hokage. He bowed and greeted the people in the room with a small bow and stepped further into the room, closing the door behind him.
From the little part of his face that was visible, Shizuka could tell he was somewhat surprised by the state of the room. She couldn't really blame him. Kakashi hadn't been on any missions with her where she had made a map, therefore he's never actually seen one in person.
The room currently had pretty much all the walls covered in information, some strings were trailing down the walls and across the room to the wall opposite as her cases had unexpected connections. To be honest, she had simply been too lazy to try moving things around so that it could all fit on a single wall.
"If this is a physical manifestation of your head, tiny, I truly wonder how you're still somewhat sane."
Shizuka rolled her eyes, the action is hidden by her mask and turned to the Hokage who stood to the side of the room.
"Should have expected putting it on would be useless." Shizuka deadpanned as she removed the mask from her face glancing at the Hokage whose lips twitched into a small smile for a moment before turning back to the silver-haired ninja. "And what do you mean somewhat sane?"
She didn't get an answer as her father called for her attention as he flips over a page on the wall to reveal a small set of notes she had made.
"What do these notes mean?"
"Oh! One of my CIs only sends me information in codes, that one there is just a note with names of people working for one of Orochimaru's suppliers. I have people with their eyes out for them, but nothing has come through yet."
"That's the green string then?" The silver-haired Jōnin picked at said string leading from the wall across the room to cluster of info on Orochimaru.
"Hai. Green means direct and confirmed links. Red is unsolved links. Black is to link on the map. White is for connecting things to different areas once I ran out of space." Shizuka shrugged at the raised eyebrows, "Saves me time instead of reorganizing the entire wall."
"Do I even want to know how you put this in a report?" Kakashi walked forward and started following along the strings to try to make sense of the entire case.
"Documents get sealed, and a guide book on everything gets written down using codes for each set of paper, it's troublesome to write, but it makes reconstructing them easier."
"Huh, not as complicated as I expected." He commented drily. "Now, who wants to tell me what the hell happened in that forest?"
"Well, after meeting my squad Cat-Taichō sent my unit to check the contestants and get the list of gates. Each of the units was given a sector to keep an eye on, but as soon as the exam started things fell out of place." Shizuka shuffled around her drawer and pulled up a map of the Forest of Death and placed small pins at the relevant places. "An hour into the exam, Orochimaru disguised as the Grass Genin started heading straight towards Kakashi-Senpai's team."
As she explained she pointed to the relevant pins, her eyes moving from each person around the table and back to the map, checking to see if they had any questions.
"Ape and I moved to intercept and the Sannin was caught by surprise with my shadow, but he broke free before we could act. We were left suffering under a mild paralytic and chakra blocker and with a giant snake attacking us, that's when backup arrived."
"Who decided to pursue?" Jackal questioned as he moved closer to inspect the map, trailing a finger through the paths they had taken from each location and calculating distances.
"Cat-Taichō and Anko-Senpai sent two ANBU with Ape to the hospital, and taichō told Anko-Senpai to stay and deal with the rest of the exam while we pursued. Orochimaru had reached team seven by then, Naruto was unconscious his chakra slightly unstable, Sasuke was also out, but Sakura was up and already moving to get her teammates to a defensive camp."
"Naruto's chakra, what about it was unstable?" The Hokage cut into her report, his eyes focused on her, his tone and posture letting her know the severity of the question and its implications.
"The seal seemed off, but didn't seem to be in danger of breaking, I'd still recommend a seal master have a look." Shizuka raised her hand as she sensed the protest. "I know for a fact Jiraiya isn't far from here, he should be able to arrive a day or so into the month-long break."
"Can you get a message to him? It will also be a good opportunity for you two to finally meet officially." The Hokage tilted his head in agreement to her assessment and she confirmed with a nod. "Continue with the events."
Shizuka sent a sharp look to Kakashi who tilted his head in acknowledgement before she continued.
"Sasuke also showed a slightly unstable chakra, one I've come to associate with a cursed seal." Shizuka paused to look around the room before she continued with her report. "From what I understand from having fought people with those, there is more than one stage, his seal is likely in the initial phase as Orochimaru didn't have a long time, but it's powerful. I can easily identify an underlying chakra that isn't Sasuke's. What you do with that information is beyond me, perhaps Jiraiya might know something we don't."
"We will discuss it at a later time." The Hokage conceded before gesturing at the map. "Where was team seven when you saw them?"
"Around this area, I can check, if you wish as it's within my range." Shizuka offered as she circled an area on the map with her fingers. "Sakura wouldn't have gone too far, not with two unconscious teammates. The area has a lot of thick root dens, it would allow them to have some cover and hide while they recover."
She glanced at Kakashi for a moment who was staring at her, his chakra more agitated than usual. Without waiting for the Hokage she closed her eyes and pushed her senses out, barely taking note that her father had moved back to her side.
It took only a few moments for her to narrow in on the forest and just over a minute to pinpoint the familiar signatures of Naruto and Sasuke. Once she had them located she used the reference markers across the village the sensors have to memorise to be able to draw a grid and locate anything within the walls.
"They moved towards the river, but are still in the densely packed forested area." Shizuka opened her eyes after a few minutes, wrinkling her nose as a wave of tiredness passed through her, before making eye contact with Kakashi again giving him a small nod. "There aren't any immediate threats, I'm sure they'll be back on track soon. Too stubborn not to."
"Move on to the pursuit."
"We followed him out of the forest, Albatross and his team were returning from a patrol when they were ambushed. I signalled them off and they changed course, but Orochimaru had already spotted them." Shizuka took a deep breath and pointed to the last location on the map. "Four ANBU were killed before my team arrived, Moose was injured and Albatross was losing ground. It was a losing battle and we retreated."
"Just like that." Ibiki cut in, his eyes narrowed on her with his arms crossed. "Your exhausted team escaped the Sannin."
"I caught him with another shadow." Shizuka glanced at her father shrugging slightly at him. "That thing we were practising? It worked, but he escaped by shedding his skin."
"He had to do it a couple of times, against Ape and I and I think against team seven if the charred trees and the pile of mush I noticed were anything to go by. The technique probably has a limit." Shizuka shook her head before turning to look at the Hokage again. "Point is, he was caught off guard again and didn't see the point of coming after us so we escaped without any further incident. That was likely his intention anyway."
"Hm, knowing how our teams work he would have expected your team to retreat thus allowing him to retreat without further conflict."
"Well, I sent a summon after him, at least in hopes of finding the underground lair I found." Shizuka huffed and moved to the larger map showing some of the areas beyond the walls of the village. "A heavily trapped, genjutsu layered hideout here. Caught quite a few signatures, around fifty or so, but I doubt that's the only one."
"It wouldn't be enough to break through the walls." Jackal pointed out as the others silently thought over the information. "We'll have to rethink the plans and make adjustments to this new information."
"Which reminds me, Antelope died, we are missing a sensor for the Southern residential sector, Aoba-Senpai and I are the two closest with largest ranges to capable of covering it, we'd be able to split it if we can't find anyone else for the task." Shizuka pitched in her fingers trailing down towards the area she referenced.
"We'll discuss it and let you know the final decision. Is there anything else of note from your confrontation with the Sannin?"
"Not really, Anko-Senpai and I have worked on similar toxins while we were developing my current toxins, so we both have some immunity but it still muddled everything a bit. Mantis' has samples to analyse and for the hospital to work on."
Jackal nodded in acknowledgement and turned to the Hokage to speak but was interrupted by the door to the room opening.
"Shizuka-chan!" Kei, Shizuka's main summon called, as she stretched her body upwards while standing on her hind paws to reach the doorknob. "Oh, you have important company here… Sorry!"
"Kei, that's alright, come in." Shizuka smiled at the racoon who fell back onto all four paws, shuffling into the room and nudging the door closed with a paw before scurrying over to Shizuka. "Did you go after the snake?"
"Hai. Stayed out of sight but he met up with a group of cloaked shinobi who had a dark aura, like that guy from the other mission with team seven." Kei replied stretching to climb up Shizuka's side, hesitating slightly as she let out a pained breath when she passed over her injured side. "Sorry."
"It alright." Shizuka helped the dark grey racoon move to her uninjured side and settle on her shoulder. "Think you could lead us back and help with tracking?"
Shizuka reached into the pouch on her thigh and pulled out a handful of walnuts and dried berries, offering them to Kei who nudged her cheek fondly in appreciation. The summon replied to the question with an enthusiastic nod as she chewed on the snacks.
"I'll have Cat lead Mantis, Tiger and Viper on the trail. Chipmunk, what's your status?" Jackal stepped up once again scanning over the young Nara.
"I can play support still, won't have full range but still more than anyone in the ranks." Shizuka shrugged giving a gentle pat on Kei's head before helping her back to the floor. "Since the mission is to gather intel and not combat I believe I should go."
Jackal observed her for a moment but nodded, his head turned to the Hokage who also nodded in agreement. He tilted his head to the Jōnin commander, but this was technically out of his area, although he would take the tactician's advice as easily as the Hokage often did.
"It's settled then, Kei please fetch Tiger and Viper, they should be at the headquarters on standby. I'll get taichō and Mantis who are probably at the hospital checking up on Ape, we'll meet at the gates as soon as possible." Shizuka glanced up at the Hokage and ANBU commander who nodded back at her.
She gave the people in the room a bow and moved to exit once the Hokage waved her off. As she left she made eye contact with her father, her head tilted in farewell as she slipped into a blank expression, already falling into her mission mentality, but Shikaku could see the creeping exhaustion in her eyes. He wished he could supply another plan, but he also knew that even tired as she was she would be the squad's best chance at avoiding conflict.
Shikaku was the last one to leave the room, shuffling over to his daughter's bag to close it and hoist it over his shoulder before turning the lights of the room off and heading home.
He then made sure to stash away the bloodied clothes somewhere Yoshino wouldn't come across them. She didn't need to be worrying over both her kids. He would be doing enough of that over the next few days for both of them.
/AN\
Replying to comments!
xXSakuraBlossomsXx
Hello again! I'm happy to be back writing! Bloodstone will be around… We'll meet him soon! Thank you again! Always happy to hear what you think of the update.
Whitney1995
And I did a legit happy dance when I got an email about your comment! We'll just have to see what will happens! Shizuka will not be amused ;P
Thanks for the comment! Always happy to hear from you :D
Candice
Thank you for reading! I enjoy writing their interactions :D Chūnin exams are surprisingly hard to write since I have to break it down into pieces and see how I'm changing the events because of Shizuka… But its fun to write all the same. Thanks for the comment!
Arkytior's Song
Thank you! The exam went very well! It's good to be free of uni for the summer :D
Hope you enjoy the Exams Arc then! I'll try to squeeze in family moments between the canon events. Thanks for the comment!
Guest #1
Thank you! He sure does! And I'll happily provide that XD More fluff coming soon, I promise!
Leannn
Aw! I'm actually rewatching it too, but just as I write so that I can get some scenes right and so on. Yeah! I love Genma and I wish he had appeared more in the series :D And since he's Shizuka's love interest he gets some more scenes :) Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy the coming chapters!
sukondis
Hello! He does, I've mentioned the event in later chapters. There is a flashback where I will show what happened that day. :D As I mentioned in the AN at the top, I wasn't too sure how to show the event when I started writing but it will come up soon. Thanks for the question!
Guest #2
Hello! Thank you! There will be fluff soon, I promise! Next chapter is the month of training and we'll definitely get to see some cute moments between them. :D The exam was great, thank you!
Thanks for the comments!
xx