Hello! I finally( finally finally...) have an update. Yay! I hope it is a good one. I feel so terrible about not updating for so long. Hopefully, you all enjoy it. I will do my best to get back to a more regular schedule, but I can't make promises. Sorry! (Disclaimer, I do not own Naruto.)
It was calm, almost too calm after the nightmare in the hallway. Naruto found a desk, near the Yamanaka and settled under the chair. He was shaking, but he felt almost distant now, a bit numb. This- this plan, his trip to ANBU, it was all a debacle. He didn't know what had possessed the three of them. To come up with such a plan and the expect it to work… No. He'd be getting out as soon as possible. Shino's bugs hadn't come to alert him of any change in the plan, but he'd find one or other of them easily enough. His senses would take care of that for him. You want to get out? Then move. The dangerous ones are coming back. The thought ran through his head, echoing slightly.
He still felt numb, but the words made him shiver. What was going on with him? This kept happening. The weird voices his thoughts could take on was new, and he didn't like it. Ibiki had them reading about psychology and he was sure that voices in one's head were not a good sign. Right now it was too much to handle. He shut out the thoughts. A whistle, shrill in his sensitive ears, was his only warning to move. He curled backwards farther under the chair just as a senbon tinged off the floor, embedded halfway in.
"Ha! You missed the mouse! I win the bet." A loud voice, or was it just Naruto's hearing, sounded in the otherwise quiet office space. Inoichi coughed and stood up.
"Lizard, Tanuki, you're both late. I need your debriefs now. It can't wait."
"Ma… If you say so. I think we made it back in good time…" Naruto could hardly believe his narrow scrape there. It was definitely past time to get the hell out.
He looked around and spotted a door that didn't go back the way he'd come. It wasn't a sure way out, but he'd risk it at this point. The boy-turned-mouse was lucky. Out in the hallway he found another open door that lead up a flight of tiled stairs. After he went up the steps, he found a low air vent that lead to a disguised grate on the surface. It was a challenge to get up to the vent as it was set more than a few inches off the ground, but he made it after a couple of tries. He was less familiar with where this one went, but he'd take being lost outside to being stuck in the underground building any longer.
Naruto made sure to take his time, despite being shaken and developing a nasty headache. He wasn't going to be caught this close to making it a clean getaway. He stretched out his senses and felt for any chakra, spending five or six minutes at a time checking for any patrols or other movements. There was nothing. He made his way through the pipe vent and scrambled up to the vent. It was metal, connected to an old statue of the head of civilian council. The thing was rusty and weighed a ton. Naruto distantly wondered if anyone had ever tried to move it. He hung around the grass and weeds that clung to the base of the statue, even picking up some of the fallen seeds and nibbling them. The first bite almost made him sick, strung tight as he was. After enough time doing this, he scurried off to some bushes and changed his henge quickly into a rabbit. He then hopped quickly away. He took a random path around the woods before finding a quiet enough spot to regain his human shape. The henge stung his skin and joints slightly as he disengaged it completely. He sat still in his disguised human form for longer than he should have, shaking and holding back dry heaves and nausea from the stress struck.
What the hell, He'd winched to himself. This has never happened before. None of my pranks caused this kind of reaction. Those screams were… bad, but this seems over the top.
You just aren't used to such high stress. This was a mission, something you could be truly punished for doing, not just a child's game. Had someone discovered you, it might have been seen as treason. There was that other thought, the voice that didn't sound quite right. The boy shuddered and pushed himself upright. It was time to get this over with. He was more than done with it. He'd talk with the other two, but this was not something to repeat. There were better ways to get the upper hand on their sensei. He leapt to the treetops and headed for the shopping plaza where Shino was to be waiting. He would have to watch out for Ibiki along the way though.
Shikamaru was back up and around after a good rest. He'd even meditated- the best he could do in lue of sleep- for a good half hour. He'd rested a total of two hours. He could feel his chakra reserves building back up. They weren't 100% yet, but it was a useable level. He had smiled politely as he'd paid for his food and then went on his way. He would work on finding Shino and discreetly head for their rendezvous spot. Then he would start exchanging information with him and working up a more precise plan.
The Nara boy still wasn't sure that had really been a good idea. He was feeling no small amount of paranoia on the heels of his breaking and entering. And to top that off, he had doubts to how effective this was all going to be. Sure they'd be able to catch Ibiki somewhat off guard if they came at his out of the village, but the man was a jonin, and Shikamaru had had a nice long look at records. Now that he really thought about it, it didn't seem to make much sense for three genin, advanced though they be, would be able to best someone of his caliber. The genin supposed that it was a good thing they tested this in a more controlled situation.
He was wandering through the market, slowly examining goods here and there, still in his Hyuuga-esque disguise. He was keeping an eye out for Shino's disguise, while maintaining a normal pace and excluding ticks that would give him away to an observer. He hadn't noted any kikaichu yet, but if he could find one, he could send it back to his teammate. The central area of the market was busy, with people rushing through. There was a drone of voices, mixing the shouts of vendors and the hum of customers. Then as Shikamaru was leaning over a stall with framed sketches and paintings, he felt the sudden drop in air pressure. He did his best not to freeze.
The cold, buzzing energy that crept in was a new, and wholly unappreciated experience. The boy jerked when it got closer and he was able to identified it as chakra. More precisely it was concentrated anger mixing with chakra. And unfortunately he recognized the chakra. The boy slowly edged around the corner of the stall before turning to look around. The rest of the street had also sensed the drop in pressure. There was a tense hush. Shikamaru found Ibiki stalking through the street, a blank look on his face. He was walking slowly, not turing from his path. Shikamaru felt a chill run up his spine. This is bad. I've never seen him like this. We miscalculated this. There's no way this will work out in our favor. We can't do this. The boy couldn't help the cringe that came out when the jonin's gaze swept over him. It might not have been a bad thing though. The civilians near him also flinched. I need to find the others, and fast. The boy quickly moved away and down a side street. He still kept to a normal pace, but he was more focused on finding his team.
Stalking through the center of the market area was a pain. The people stared and shied away from Ibiki. He supposed the aura he was projecting at this point was closer to killer intent than was strictly professional of him. Four and a half hours, the genin had evaded him. Four and a half hours was four hours and twenty minutes longer than he had expected them to hide from him. The more the jonin had thought, the more frustrated he became.
In more ways than one, this should never have happened. Three twelve year olds should never have had the skill to avoid a jonin. The planning and practiced execution of the evasion techniques was far more advanced than the material he had been teaching them. There were aspects of his instruction in what they had done, but there was much more there. Clearly Ibiki needed to take more of an interest in the three boys. He had thought that after the incident when Naruto was attacked, they were becoming more of a team unit. It appeared now that they genin had splintered off on their own.
From what he had gathered so far, it seemed that they had studied evasion and dispersal techniques. They had advanced chakra control to be able to get around leaving minimal traces behind. They had also worked on unit maneuvers, as there was no way any one of them had done all of this on their own. He could read aspects of both Shikamaru and Naruto in the plan.
Naruto would be the unpredictable one to come up with the idea. Shikamaru would then have analyzed each possible step and the outcomes of each action. Shino would have been the one to temper and connect the two. The Aburame had developed a close loyalty with Naruto, likely due to the outcast nature they both shared. He no clue as to why they would have taken off for so long though. He would have thought that they would wait an hour or two at most to set up and ambush him. He had found little to no trace of them throughout the village so far, which lead him to his current combing of the market, as well as his current mood.
The civilians were shrinking away from him. The street which had been lively was now tense and quiet. Shoppers as well as merchants were hushed and some even cowering. One Hyuuga standing by a photo booth seemed to freeze before turning away. The jonin scoffed. It wasn't an unusual reaction to his presence, but it still irked him.
He took another quick glance around before moving on. He hated to do it, but he might just have to talk to Shikaku and Inoichi about this. Both men had profiled the genin, and the Nara clan head should know about his own offspring. They might both tease him relentlessly for a while, but he couldn't exactly give up his specialized team now. No, he would find them, and then they would all be having a nice long talk afterwards.
Naruto was hurtling through the trees, an aching head and a sick feeling in his gut. He had honed in on Shikamaru, who was closer. Shino was in the center of town, and would be harder to get to. Shikamaru was in a quieter market area, where lots of side streets connected with pockets of wide markets. He could sneak in and get the Nara and then find Shino. He was emotionally exhausted, and he had a bad feeling about the voice he kept hearing. He had purposely not focused thought on it right now, but the nagging feeling that something wasn't right kept coming back. He huffed and moved faster. He didn't want to death with this right now.
As the blond neared town, he slowed to an almost agonizingly slow pace. He walked through the streets, keeping his senses strained. It almost hurt to keep them open in such a crowded place, but he'd felt Ibiki near Shikamaru earlier, and he couldn't risk being found now. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for too long, as with his wide range sensing. But, he could find his teammates and get back to a safe area.
Shikamaru had moved on to a shop selling cloth. He had picked up and examined about ten different bolts of cotton weave when he felt a touch against his back. Resisting all his instincts to lash out was hard, especially after seeing Ibiki. A quiet voice, sounding nothing like his teammate, muttered a short phrase.
"Geeze, Mom didn't say which one she wanted… Aw man." Shikamaru turned and glanced at the small boy behind him. The boy had red-brown hair in rumpled spikes, shorts and a hooded jacket. Shikamaru kept his face neutral.
"Excuse me young man." He included a slight sniff to his tone and turned away with a distinct upwards tile to his nose. Naruto would follow him from a short distance. Depending on which way they went, they might have to split up to keep from being noticed.
They ended up at a quiet street with multiple alleys. Naruto ducked down one ahead of Shikamaru to quickly alter his disguise. He flattened his hair and switched shirts, making his appearance more proper. Shikamaru snuck to his position after a few minutes, using slight shadow jutsu to remain undetected. Shikamaru sighed when they faced each other.
"This is a bit of a mess." He muttered. Naruto nodded.
"I know. We made a mistake with this." He rubbed at his head to ease the slow throb. "I just want this done right now. I think we need to get back out of the village." Shikamaru closed his eyes, rapidly running through the possibilities.
"That… could be a good option. I don't want to try this in the streets. We also need to be able to think and re-calculate for a while. That part could go to plan, but I think the rest may change." Naruto nodded.
"'Kay. I'll get Shino, you head to the meeting place. We'll be there in…" He paused to check distances. His senses were getting tenuous after the hours of use and stress. "... twenty minutes tops." The Nara reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Be careful." Naruto smiled wanly.
"Yeah, you too." He slipped to the mouth of the alley. "See you in a bit."