/AN\

Hey!

Happy New Year everyone!

*** JUST A REMINDER THE SURVEY LINK IS AS FOLLOWS ***

Go to Surveymonkey, and add at the end of the link /r/ T3GFXQ3

It's only for chapter 39 so it will be open for a while.

Hope you enjoy it!

xx

SC

"Speaking."

'Thinking'

Jutsus

Chapter 43 - Doodles and Writing

Day 4

Shizuka arrived at the town of Asadaka at two in the afternoon. It had been chosen as Shizuka's base because it was the closest town to Amegakure, which is where most of the leads on the Akatsuki were leading.

The first three days of travel had been running at a fast pace, and she had luckily had a clear path towards her destination. On the fourth day, she had walked at a civilian pace through the morning and early afternoon as she approached the town, not wanting to raise suspicions.

The civilians in the town were surprisingly friendly despite the grim weather they had and they took pity on Shizuka's drenched figure. An old couple allowed her into their modest home once she explained her 'story'.

The plan was that she would become a barmaid at a local tavern that was often frequented by shinobi of the Rain. Her backstory was that she was an orphan that had recently reached her majority and decided to leave her hometown near the border with Earth Country.

The old couple had been a lucky shot and as they didn't have kids of their own despite trying they happily accepted the girl running from her past in search of a new life into their home.

The woman, Asa, was a sweet old lady, with greying hair and warm brown eyes. She was shorter than average and even Shizuka stood slightly above her. She always wore soft worn cotton yukatas which were still clearly of good quality.

The man, Genjiro, had wrinkles of someone who had laughed a lot in life. He was a cheerful man, providing friendly conversation to anyone who approached and it was him that initially approached her as he saw her dirty and drenched form walk through the street.

She felt bad for lying to them as they were honestly trying to help her but having their support would make her mission that much easier.

'Now, to get that job.' With a sigh, Shizuka settled into her warm bed for the night, repeating to herself the same words she had said to her precious people not long ago. 'I'll see them when I get back.'

Day 6

"When can you start?" Seiichi the owner of the tavern asked her as he gave her an appraising glance as he watched her fidget with the cloth he'd given her to test her skills.

Seiichi had brassy hair and dull brown eyes with a thick beard and moustache to complete the look. He was a retired shinobi from the rain, short and stocky he was a close-range specialist and had lost his leg in a confrontation on a mission and returned to his hometown to take over his father's business.

He had been suspicious of Shizuka at first, shinobi retired or not, shinobi were a paranoid sort. She had made an extra effort to knock into some tables, and seem generally less graceful and a good deal clumsier than any half-decent kunoichi.

Shizuka was eternally grateful the Nara didn't have anything striking to them. As preparation for the mission, she cut her hair to have bangs framing her face and now the back reached just past her shoulder blades as opposed to the middle of her back. Removing all her shinobi gear in favour of baggier clothes chosen specifically for being the wrong size and in plainer materials, she looked and felt like another person.

"Uh, whenever you wish, sir," Shizuka replied, ducking her head down and allowing her recently cut bangs to fall over her eyes.

"You'll have to grow a spine in here," The man sighed at her meek posture but shook his head. "But perhaps staying out of the way will help you in the long run, little mouse."

Shizuka held in a snort at the nickname he had given her when she had first arrived in the establishment to seek the position of a barmaid.

"We open in a few hours, why don't you get changed into the uniform and then come back out to help get everything ready. Rei, please help the little mouse find a suitable uniform."

Rei was a tall and tan woman, with short greenish hair kept half up half down to keep it from bothering her while she worked. She was the most experienced waitress in the bar and her grey eyes twinkled with mischief as she observed Shizuka, or 'Haya' as she was known to these people.

"Come, Haya-chan." Rei waved her on towards the back, past the door to the storage room and into the small room where the workers could leave their things while they worked.

Once she had given Shizuka a little stack of clothes for her to change into she returned to the bar.

Changing quickly, she put on the loose black pants, sniffing as they were large on her hips forcing her to use a belt to keep it in place and a soft cotton grey kimono style shirt that the other workers wore and closed it with the provided sash.

Moving downstairs she settled back into her shy persona and followed the orders quietly, keeping an ear out for any valuable gossip.

Day 21

"They are impossible! The city rocks with the explosions of the loud-mouthed one and you can hear the immortal dual approaching by the cursing! Never a moment of peace!"

Shizuka wiped the tables but kept her focus on the pair of shinobi that had arrived an hour earlier and had proved to be an endless source of information, even if it wasn't stats on the actual members, anything to help recognise them was welcomed.

She had to admit the inner workings of the criminal group were interesting. An immortal dual that got on each others' nerves, the artist duo that argued about the best form of art and Itachi and Kisame who seemed to have the most standard and efficient partnership.

Another useful information is what they were doing and where they were heading. From previous reports, she knew they were after jinchūriki so that narrowed the search by an enormous amount.

From that list, the One-Tails, in Suna would be occupied with the Chūnin Exams Suna was hosting alongside Konoha, which would be starting one of these days. That would provide some safety to him and Naruto was safe with Jiraiya.

The eight-tails was in Kumo, doing whatever it is that he did, and from the reports she had of him, he was strong enough to caution an approach.

That left six potential targets for them to chase. After the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura died, no one had information on the Sanbi. Two tails was in Kumo sealed into some girl if Shizuka's sources were to be believed, as long as she stayed within their borders the Akatsuki wouldn't go after her immediately. And the four tails was kept in Iwa and was reported to have a pretty decent control over his bijuu.

Leaving the five tails in Iwa, six tails in a rogue Kiri nin, and seven tails in reportedly Takigakure. Considering the number of Akatsuki members and how they operated in pairs, Shizuka was willing to bet those would be their first targets.

And it wasn't like they were in a hurry and the group had stayed out of the spotlight for quite some time. Konoha's interest was initially due to Orochimaru's participation, then to keep an eye on Itachi and also to ensure Naruto would be safe.

With that in mind, Shizuka kept some extra attention on anything related to those three nations hoping that a more concrete timeline of their plans could be developed.

'Hope something interesting comes in… Otherwise, Jackal will only have a report full of drunk shinobi gossip.' Shizuka held in a snicker at the reaction she imagined Jackal would have. 'Maybe I should add in a few doodles to at least keep him entertained.'

Day 30

Shizuka watched from the window as a family of four walked down the street. Each parent holding the hand of a child as they walked together towards the market at the centre of the town.

As the family disappeared around the corner she closed her eyes as she felt a pang of sadness deep in her heart.

There was always a part of her longing to be with her family back in Konoha, but one month into her mission is when she felt the first real wave of homesickness.

As she watched the quiet town go about their morning she thought of how her own family would spend the time.

Lazy mornings with her father watching and feeding the deer, later they were joined by Shikamaru on those quiet days. Going to the market with her mother, occasionally tugging a reluctant Shikamaru with them.

Every day there was one thing or another that would remind her of home. From groups of friends at the bar teasing each other to families going about their days, to a drifting smell in the breeze.

The mission was running smoothly enough that she was confident she'd be able to report back to Konoha with minimal effort. And whilst delivering her first report she was hoping to receive messages from her loved ones.

At least that was the goal. She would start putting into motion the plans to send the reports within the next month which would only be sent to Konoha at the halfway mark of three months.

Until then Shizuka would have to hold on to the memories playing in her mind until she could see them once again.

'One month down, five more to go.'

Day 41

Shizuka opened the door to the house and glanced at the sky as it poured down rain on the little town. With a sigh, she considered the path she should take to the bar.

'Long way less mud, shortcut and I'll be covered…' As she glanced up and down the street considering her options she caught sight of the old man on his balcony in the building in front of hers. 'He has a perfect view of my room, the front door and part of the living room.'

She hadn't seen him there before, hence it easily caught her eye. His eyes were fixed on her house, at the moment she reasoned it was only because she was the only person out and about braving the rain.

With a mental shrug and a reminder to keep an eye out she took the long with less mud, she had just given her shoes a clean a few days ago and she would have time to dry off before her shift.

After that encounter, Shizuka spent the entire day second-guessing everything she saw.

Was that bird staring at her window? No, it was just resting on the post.

Was that shinobi following or did he just happen to move into the building next door? It had been on sale before and she vaguely remembers people moving furniture up the stairs.

Why has the dumpster moved to the other side of the alley? It now provides better cover if someone wanted to watch the house she lived in.

At every occasion, she shrugged it off, although she decided to stay alert for a few days just in case. Shinobi were paranoid people, and with good reason. Things like this could save you and your mission, and Shizuka wasn't about to just ignore her instincts.

'Hope I'm imagining things… It's too early to be figured out.'

Day 60

Shizuka held in a grin as she approached the market stalls selling all sorts of art supplies. Her eyes dancing around the familiar items of paints, brushes, canvases and more.

"Hello, has anything caught your eye, miss?"

"Canvas, and an Akarui collection, please." With a smile, she exchanged the items for a coin purse. "Will you be in the market again, just so that I know how much I should stock."

"Oh, I'd say I'll return in a month." With a sleight of hand, he slipped her a note as they shook hands. "I also buy artwork, show me something good enough and I'll buy it off you."

"Wonderful." With another smile, Shizuka placed the canvas under her arm and the paints in the woven basket before continuing down the street, occasionally buying some items to cook dinner with.

For the rest of the day, she kept sending the basket glances as she flitted about the town handling everything she needed and the small errands her hosts had asked of her. The large market had coincided with her one day free from work, after much planning on her side. With her tasks for the day complete, she retreated to her room after dinner to start on her first report.

The first thing she would do on the canvas was ink the basic single-use storage seal she was taught once she joined ANBU, specific for situations such as this. It would later be covered in a protective layer and then coated with paint to hide it from view.

The scroll she would seal into it had several layers of protection, specifically created for Konoha ANBU and with the Spectrum, she didn't worry about it's safe delivery to the village. She also knew that whoever received the painting, likely Jackal, would also get a packet of information straight from the Spectrum since she wouldn't be there to mediate.

Using the seal as the starting point she started her painting, a small herd of deer resting under a broad tree to escape the pouring rain around them. It was a little on the nose, but the image brought a small smile to her lips whenever she saw it in the corner of her room.

Day 81

With the deadline for her first report to the village approaching, Shizuka was in a relative hurry to build up the profiles on the members of the Akatsuki. It was a rather tedious job and despite their infamy in the area she struggled to get any concrete information on their abilities.

But useful information wasn't limited to abilities, but rather spanned to other areas such as appearances, relationships and their character.

She even managed to pickpocket an updated bingo book from Amegakure and added that to her report. Foreign bingo books were not often easy to find, especially of a village like the hidden Rain that often evaded the other nations.

There were two scrolls, five members in each, some lacking more information than others, but Shizuka wasn't too discouraged as it was only her first report back and it would most likely only help to guide the rest of her investigation and help the people back in the village to sort through the information they had.

Every night, she would write in the scroll, keeping it hidden under a floorboard until she could seal it into the drawing once it was ready. With a little over a week to go until the market, she focused on getting every piece of information into the report.

Hopefully her father, Inoichi or Ibiki would be kind enough to keep her wall updated, she didn't want to imagine the pile of reports she'd have to add to the wall otherwise.

Day 90 - Halfway Mark

Much like the last time she was at the big market, she carried a little basket to put the items she purchased. She couldn't hide the skip in her step despite her attempts to tone it down. And like last time one of her first stops was the stand selling art products.

"Ah! You've returned! Are you planning on selling your work?"

"Hai! Here it is." Shizuka took the little painting and passed it on to the vendor who appraised the painting carefully before turning to her with raised eyebrows. "What do you think?"

"A lady of many talents, Haya-chan." The vendor gave her a wink and gestured to the products up for sale. "Pick what you'd like and we'll exchange your work for more supplies. I recommend the newest pallet there, it's been a popular choice in my previous stop."

Shizuka's heart fluttered as she recognised the code and eagerly accepted, adding some different items to throw out any suspicion of a pattern. Once the payment was settled she moved on to the other stalls.

She later returned to the house to drop off her purchases and help the old woman, XXX, to make lunch. Even though she tried to make conversation as she usually did, her mind kept drifting to the packet she received from home and what it could possibly contain.

That night, she spent hours reading the letters from her family as well as the information packets from the task force in the village and the Spectrum. Surprisingly even Jiraiya had sent a note with advice on what to keep an eye out for.

The next day and all that followed, Shizuka felt all the much lighter, comforted in knowing that everything was well at home and that they were looking forward to their reunion as much as she was.

Day 109

Twenty days after receiving the small letters from home Shizuka would still find herself reaching for the little notes in the middle of the night to read. Sometimes she would pull her parents' letter, or her brother's or Genma's, but this one night she had pulled all three.

She should technically be sealing them away or destroying them to avoid the risk of them being found, but she couldn't bare doing it to the physical reminder she had of them.

Lying in bed, under the light of the moon, she ran her thumb over their words.

Chūnin Exams are starting soon. I didn't expect this to be one of my first tasks as a Chūnin. You'd enjoy coming up with a task for the Genin, it's right up your alley.

Shikamaru's message gave him some general information on what was happening with the Rookies and even Team 4 had a mention, saying Kouta was tasked with getting some info on her status and that they sent their well wishes.

The house has been too quiet and the boys complain about their extra chores, but I think it's more because they miss you rather than the extra effort.

Her mother's note spoke of the clan and how they were dealing with everything. No doubt Shikamaru had been attending more clan meetings and had to be more involved with those as she wasn't around. Though she also relayed some other comments on how they found a little raccoon den in the forest and built a little shelter for the creatures who enjoyed using their backyard as a place to nap.

You're about to enter a critical stage. Everything on our end is ready, no red flags have come up. Stay focused. We are eagerly looking forward to your return.

Her father's note contained some information and advice as well as some reassurances to settle any doubts she had. She put the notes in the little hidden compartment under the paint palette she had bought at the market.

With the three notes from her family secured, she took out the last and shortest note.

Genma's note was a simple statement saying he was well and that their colleagues missed having me around to tease. But it was the last two sentences that stuck with Shizuka and that she kept at the front of her mind as something to look forward to.

Don't forget your promise. Come back to me.

Day 122

Shizuka's daily routine had become rather boring as she crossed the four-month mark.

She would wake up early and do some quick writing and doodling for her reports before checking they would be securely sealed for the day to make sure no one would find them. The rest of her morning would be having breakfast with Asa and Genjiro before they each went off to their daily activities.

She would eventually join Rei and they would get anything they needed to stock up on for the shift later, running any errands Seiichi passed on to them and in Shizuka's case, buy groceries for the house.

During this time she would use Rei as a funnel for the gossip as the woman seemed to be in the know of who would be in town and would cheerfully answer any of Shizuka's questions about their clients.

Once all of that was done, Shizuka would drop the groceries for Asa at the house, have a quick shower and then help cook lunch. Genjiro would always join them as he worked in a factory nearby. She would help with the dishes before heading to the bar where her routine had the most changes each day.

Occasionally she would assist in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, or stirring broth or whatever the head cook needed. Under the pretence of her cover story, she had to be extra careful with the knives and allowed the knife to slip a few times earning her a cut or two on her fingers.

Some days she would stay behind the bar, others she would walk around the floor serving each table. But what never changed was that she would help both set up before having a bento that Asa would prepare for her and after the last client left she would help with the cleanup.

Her days in the kitchen were the ones she collected the least amount of information, but there wasn't much she could do about it, and she tried to listen in whenever she had a break. It was at the very least, a good way of maintaining her cover as no spy would want to be there as they would miss the opportunity for collecting information.

When everything was cleaned she would return to the house to have a quick shower to wash away the smell of sweat, booze and food before making notes for the reports and sleeping.

The next day, everything repeated.

Day 134

'Is that a black cloak with red clouds?' Shizuka moved around the stalls of the market, putting Rei between her and the figure she had spotted at the far end of the market street. 'Is it too much to hope it's a black cloak with red dots?'

She caught sight of the straw hat and all her hopes collapsed in her mind.

'Of course.' With a string of curses, Shizuka really tried to pay attention to what Rei was saying, but between making sure she was out of sight while trying to get a view of who it was and paying attention to what the tall woman was saying, Shizuka was failing.

"Are you alright, Haya-chan?" Rei put a hand on her arm, drawing Shizuka's eyes to hers.

"Hai, Rei-San. I- I just felt the homesickness hit." Shizuka ducked her head, frowning and hoping she looked as miserable as she would be feeling for the rest of the day. "I'll be alright, come, let's finish these errands."

Rei watched her carefully but she gave Shizuka's arm a soft squeeze and a kind smile before tugging her away from the stall and towards their next destination.

The afternoon was a blur, Shizuka was vaguely aware that the bar was fuller than usual with a lot more shinobi present, which meant increased patrols, much to her despair. She felt like for the rest of the day her brain simply wouldn't cooperate with what she needed to do.

'Wait, if they are always in pairs and I only saw one… Where is the other?' Shizuka was startled as she let her mind drift. 'Fuck.'

Jumping, she looked down at her bleeding finger.

'Double fuck.' With a sigh, she reached for a clean towel and waved at the head cook gesturing vaguely to the bathroom where they kept a stock of band-aids and bandages for such events. 'Maybe I should stay focused when chopping food.'

Day 141

The following week was hell as she observed more and more patrols within the village and its surrounding area.

Not being able to use her chakra and keeping it at a compressed level to make it more compatible with that of a civilian was grating, especially to a sensor. Whenever she released it there would be a rubber band effect and it would snap back at her, guaranteeing a pounding headache and probably a harder time controlling it.

Every day, she would double-check her sealed reports and notes, and had to remind herself that civilians don't check every room in a house because that was the behaviour of a paranoid veteran shinobi.

It took ten days or her to notice the patrols decreasing again, not quite to the frequency it had been when she arrived but a lot less frequent than when the Akatsuki member had been in town.

After two days of steadily decreasing patrols, Shizuka allowed herself to relax a bit more in her downtime, only keeping alert when in public. As each day passed, she would allow herself to relax a bit, while keeping the suspicion of whatever happened somewhat close just in case.

'I just need to hold on a little longer.' Shizuka would muse to herself as she settled in bed after a long tiring day at the bar, forgoing completely the part of her routine to write things down. 'Maybe it had nothing to do with me.'

Day 143

She hadn't escaped suspicion. Of course she hadn't. It would be too much of her to ask.

A couple of days after she had settled back into a more comfortable routine Seiichi, her boss, had invited her to help him serve at an event in Amegakure, for some merchant that had hired the bar to provide the drink and food.

Why would they ask the rookie waitress?

Easy. They wouldn't.

And that was how she found herself walking into the Village Hidden in the Rain, along with a small group of cooks, Seiichi and Rei. The journey between the town they were in and the hidden village was rather short and they had a team of shinobi escort them to the building the event would be hosted in.

Outside the establishment, they were greeted by a soft blue-haired woman. She wore her hair in a high bun with a paper rose stuck to the side and her orange-amber eyes watched their approach calmly.

"That is God's Angel," Rei whispered to her as they approached, her eyes wide in excitement at being so close to the legendary woman. "She's done so much for the people here!"

Shizuka hummed and once they stopped in front of her she introduced herself and the merchant that had hired them, who Shizuka just noticed stood to the side of the woman.

She spared the man a short glance, but he was clearly civilian and the woman was a much more interesting subject. When their eyes met, Shizuka gave her bow and the sweetest and most innocent smile she could pull, looking at the commanding woman through her lashes.

The introductions didn't take long and the attention didn't seem to linger on her any longer than the others.

But it was as she walked through the doors to the event hall that she felt the hairs at the base of her neck stand. Turning around under the pretence of asking Rei a random question she caught the faintest glimpse of a black and red up on a high balcony overlooking the main street of the village.

'Ah, what better place to get information than straight from the source in the enemy's home court?' She could just imagine Ibiki and her father's dry looks once she told them of this part.

'At least I can get some proper sketches into my report.' Shizuka drily mused as she was led into the room where she would change for what was likely to be the longest shift of her life.

Day 147

Returning to the town at the border was anticlimactic.

Patrols were again raised, but Shizuka had accepted that she would have no more peace for the rest of her time there. Ideally, she would have enough information to leave in a month, and in her opinion, she was reaching the point that continuing the mission was more dangerous than leaving with bits of information missing.

The two days she spent since her return were normal, as they had been before even if she felt more eyes on her than before.

It was the night of the second day that Shizuka realised just how precarious her situation was.

There at the end of the bar, in the very corner against the back wall where they could see the rest of the room, were two figures she had never seen before.

Two men in black cloaks with red clouds.

And it was her shift behind the bar.

Obviously.

'For fuck's sake. Can't I catch a break?!' Taking a deep breath, Shizuka collected herself before cautiously approaching the two of them.

"Good evening, shinobi-San. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Are you even fucking old enough to work here?" The thinner, grey-haired man asked her as he eyes her up in down, his eyes catching on her breasts and hips. "You're fucking tiny!"

"Shut up, idiot." The bulkier, masked man growled. "Whatever drink is cheapest, we're not here to spend much."

With a quick head bow, she scuttled away, making sure to bump into the bar and the cup cabinet, causing the glasses to clink and shake. Bringing back two cups she poured them the drinks and spilt some for an added layer of clumsiness.

"You're new here." Kakuzu stated as he pulled his drink closer, sniffing it before drinking. "Where are you from?"

'He's from Takigakure. Wish I could just prod at their chakra, but that would not end well…' With a mental grimace, she gave the man a shy shrug.

"I'm an orphan from a town near the border with Earth country." She answered with a wrinkle of her nose. "There wasn't a future for me there."

They continued staring at her, waiting for her to continue, clearly not satisfied with her bland answer. She shrunk into herself and fiddled with the bandages on her forearm where she had burnt herself on a hot pan the previous day.

"You're running then." Kakuzu narrowed his eyes on her, his tone prodding as he tried to get more information out of her. "What are you running from, I wonder. And why here, of all places?"

"This is fucking stupid." Hidan rolled his eyes, slamming down his drink after downing it. "The bitch is a nobody trying to run from a meaningless life. So she gets a pathetic job as a maid."

"Hidan!" Kakuzu growled, turning his head to glare at the other male. "You shouldn't have come here, girl."

She blinked at him, deciphering if it was a simple comment or a threat, but to be on the safe side she gave him a wide-eyed stare and after a quick bow she moved to serve the rest of the people sitting around the bar.

For the rest of the night, she felt their gazes on her back and she had to consciously remind herself of her character: clumsy civilian barmaid. With shy giggles at the drunks flirting with her and meekness as she approached any client, she wasn't approached by the two Akatsuki members for anything else.

The night couldn't end soon enough.

Day 150

What was it that she told Genma: 'I probably won't have to interact with them at all.'

She was well past that point now.

'Well, fuck.' She thought as she watched the market stall where her Spectrum contact was talking to two members of the Akatsuki. 'This is taking a turn for the worse.'

She thumbed the canvas she had made with her newest reports nervously before she decided to not sell it. Instead, she hid it behind the stall selling candles and approached the Spectrum stall hesitantly.

The vendor quickly glanced her way and after ensuring the Akatsuki members were satisfied browsing he approached her.

"Good morning, is there anything I can get you?"

"What is the smallest palette you have? I don't need much as I have some remaining paints from last time."

The vendor offered her a palette which she swiftly exchanged for the money before putting the product in the woven basket she carried. As she stepped back to move as far away from the market as possible one of the Akatsuki members called back at her.

"You seem like a regular at this market. How well do these paints work on wood?" There was something unsettling about the hunched man.

'This must be the puppeteer Sasori of the Red Sand.' Shizuka thought as she shuffled her feet nervously. 'This isn't looking too good for me.'

"I've never tried painting wood, only canvas."

"That's boring." The blonde companion scoffed his eyes drifting over the art products before settling on her. "Art should be explosive, it's the best kind of art, un. But plain paintings are dull compared to even the stupid puppets."

"To each their own." Shizuka strained a smile before turning around, making sure to bump her hip on the stall making the small table shake slightly, the glass tubs of paint tinkling softly together at the jostle. "Sorry."

Ducking her head she moved back in the direction she came, absently pulling the canvas she had hidden back under her arm as she walked to the other side of the market.

'I still have a cover to try to maintain. Can't leave without getting more food but need to avoid those two.' With a sigh, Shizuka continued through her day, her eyes darting in every direction whenever she noticed someone moving her way or whenever she heard a loud sound. 'This month will be hell.'

Despite nothing happening for the rest of the day, she couldn't deny that the hairs at the back of her neck stood and at the back of her mind she knew she was being watched carefully now.

Who it was and what their intentions were would only be revealed in due time. And for now, Shizuka just had to live with it.

It was later that night, as she exited through the backdoor of the bar to throw out the trash after her shift at the bar that she felt someone watching her again. But throughout the day she had felt eyes on her but knew they would have to think before they acted, now in the dark of the alley they had an opportunity to attack, yet they didn't.

This was enough to allow Shizuka to at least think rationally on her instincts that were yelling at her to get the hell out of there. Taking a deep breath to try to calm her racing heartbeat, she waited patiently to see if whoever was watching would make the first move.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a cloaked figure step forward so that their shadow was cast on the wall beside the dumpster she stood by.

The pair stood in silence for a minute before

"I didn't expect to meet you here, Bloodstone."

Day 155

The days after her encounter with Bloodstone left her troubled. Asa and Genjiro tried to cheer her up, they made her favourite food, they spent hours playing cards and talking with her but her mind was stuck in the warning her informant had given her.

You're being watched and your cover is hanging by a thread. Get out while you can.

He hadn't given her much information other than that and she was conflicted on what she should do.

She hadn't completed the six month time for the mission and she knew she could get a lot of information in one month, however, the cost of that could be her life if she were to believe her informant. She could risk the information she had to maybe get more by entering unscripted territory or she could cut the losses and return safely to the village.

There would be one more market before the six months were over and it would happen almost a week before she was to leave and with that, she was supposed to send the third information packet and an idea of when to expect her return.

She had already missed the information drop because she couldn't go through the exchange with the Akatsuki members watching and that alone would send the people in the village a message that things weren't looking good. But if she missed the last check-in completely then the situation would be dire.

If she decided to leave early, she had the chance of being followed which meant going straight to Konoha a bad idea. She'd have to do some running around, hopefully giving the impression she was from some other village. This meant that the chances of her arriving in Konoha before the date of the third information drop was extremely unlikely.

The crunch of gravel behind her startled her out of her thoughts and she spun around clutching her chest as her eyes scanned the empty street.

She should have known better than to get distracted so late at night. She shouldn't have let her guard down so low, no matter how many times she had walked this path from the bar to the old couple's house. Mistakes like that got you killed.

Luckily the telltale whistle of a soaring kunai set her instincts off and her body launched into action. With a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a senbon that had been sewn into her sleeve. Admittedly it wasn't the best weapon to use to protect herself with, and she was sure she'd get a nick or two from the projectiles being launched at her.

But for the moment it was enough and other than a small cut on her knuckles she went unscathed. Bending down she grasped the hilt from a fallen kunai just in time to block a tantō aiming at her side.

'They are going for the kill, so these guys don't want to capture me.' Gritting her teeth she parried another blow and spun out of the way of more incoming kunai. 'I can't lose my grip on my chakra either. These aren't guards and the last thing I need is rain shinobi on my tail as well.'

With a grunt, she made a jab towards the man's leg and used her shoulder to shove him into the path of another enemy that had tried to approach her from behind. The sound of a tantō embedding itself into the abdomen of her original opponent was disgustingly satisfying and Shizuka used their surprise to slit the throat of the second opponent.

As the two fell to the ground still tangled together, Shizuka was already scanning the roofs for the third opponent. Catching him running through the roofs, Shizuka decided to return to her hosts' home.

'I need to secure the information first. Once that is done I need to get the hell away from here.' She thought as she ran the rest of the way, barely taking a moment to take off her muddy shoes before dashing up into her room.

She took a moment to clear the room, scrambling to get everything sealed into the emergency exit kit she had been preparing since the Akatsuki members had shown up.

She had acquired a small canvas backpack and filled it with some basic rations, some dummy scrolls and a few other things she had scavenged around for. She gives a last check and leaves the cosy warm room for the last time.

She left a scribbled note apologizing to the couple for her last-minute departure and thanking them for everything they'd done for her. Biting her lip she slid the note under their door and left a small notebook full of sketches she had made of them over the last few months.

Back on the streets, she ran through alleys and the darker streets avoiding the patrolled areas and attempted to keep her steps quiet as possible without the use of chakra.

'Fuck the backlash of keeping it compressed for so long will be awful.' Gritting her teeth she hovered around the corner of a building at the very outer layer of the town. 'Just a while longer… Once I'm out of bounds I'll start letting it go in portions.'

Taking a deep breath she waited until the next patrol cleared the street, the doubled patrols setting off alarm bells in her mind.

'Of course, they've been alerted.' With a last check of the street, she ran forwards. 'Well here goes nothing.'

As she dashed around the building and launched herself up the wall surrounding the town she thanked her lucky stars her training often involved running without chakra. The moment she touched the ground on the other side she was off again, starting to slowly release her chakra from where she had been compressing it.

It didn't take her too long to reach a forested area and as soon as she did she released more of her chakra to jump to the top and between branches.

It also didn't take long for her to detect that there was a team of six shinobi following her.

'Fuck.' She wasn't able to travel at her top speed because of her self-imposed chakra restriction and so it took a pathetic amount of time for them to reach her.

She wasn't arrogant enough that she couldn't admit she had her ass handed to her.

She took out one of the pursuers easily enough, an overpowered shock jab straight to his chest, which she only managed to land because she was small and managed to sneak below his guard to land her palm straight above where his heart was.

Then she used one of the man's kunai to block a katana and was therefore engaged in a kenjutsu battle for several minutes where she had absolutely not had the opportunity to attack a single time and was instead being kept on the defence. In addition to a stab wound to her thigh and a slash across her back, she also ended up suffering several small cuts and bruises as her opponent danced around her weak and short strikes.

It all ended when she got punched in the face, sending her crashing into a tree trunk before she slid to the ground gasping for air.

At that moment she heard her opponent took a step towards her, while his three remaining teammates watched carefully.

"You're the one that has people all worried?"

"That was pathetic?"

"How did you even become a kunoichi?"

The voices called from around her, but at this point, she was fairly certain she had a concussion from the punch because it felt like she was underwater with the blurry vision and muffled sounds.

She was vaguely aware of someone grasping her hair to make her look up, but all she could make out was a vague shape of a face hovering above hers as a voice asked her who she was working for.

She couldn't decipher if they were male or female or even which direction they came from as she was too focused on keeping her breathing steady and staying conscious.

What she could tell, is that in one moment there were four people ready to take her out and the next there were four muffled thumps and the sounds of garbled breathing as four people choked on their blood.

Whoever had appeared had just saved her life, so she took a moment to focus herself. She had no idea how long it took or when she had decided lying down in enemy territory while close to a potentially hostile force was a good idea, but when she regained most of her senses that was the situation she found herself in.

She panted as she rolled from her fallen position so that she could crouch, one hand putting pressure on the cut on her leg while the other reached for her pack and for the roll of bandages she had the foresight to pack.

"There are more on the way."

"Bloodstone." Surprise coloured her tone as her head snapped towards the form of her informant as he stood calmly next to one of the fallen shinobi.

"Go. You're out of time."

Shizuka gave him a stiff nod as she got back to her feet, hastily tying a bandage over her leg before launching back into the trees without casting a single look back at her informant.

Day 171

Part of the mission was to ensure it couldn't be linked back to Konoha. From her last encounter, she assumed that connection hadn't been made just yet, but she had to throw them off her trail before returning home.

'Iwa won't mind if I blamed them, right?' Shizuka mentally shrugged and decided to go with that plan. 'Even Iwa shinobi wouldn't head straight for their territory, so I'll have to do some travelling,'

She planned to run towards Grass, change to go into the Wind Country, change back into Earth, move South towards Grass then Fire then deviate to Lightning and hopefully lose them by then. If not she would do a couple more turns, lead them to Iwa and maybe pick the pursuers off little by little until she was sure no one was following before officially making her way back to Konoha.

At least that was the original plan when she set off sixteen days before.

She was now at the stage of running towards Lightning while dodging Konoha ANBU, Lightning border patrols and the odd Sound ninja crossing her path.

And she had about ten days left to either kill off her pursuers or shake them off. After that, she's technically gone past the six-month prediction and she risks being declared MIA. Which was technically already a risk she was running as she didn't send off the second report and was missing her final check-in.

So in addition to the nausea of having her chakra completely unrestricted for the first time in almost six months, she still had nine persistent pursuers and had a threat of being declared MIA.

Which was by far the worst part of her little adventure because she was absolutely sure her family and friends would not be amused. Especially those who would eventually manage to get their hands on her report to hear about her slightly questionable choices.

Like the fact that she's faked a run-in with Grass and Iwa shinobi, to steal their weapons and just create a distraction for her personal pack of stalkers. Who, she had to admit were talented shinobi as they managed to more or less keep pace with her and defeated the teams of Grass and Iwa shinobi she orchestrated to intercept them.

She couldn't help but be slightly disappointed she couldn't just track the nearest ANBU squad and link up with them to take the pursuers down since that would make it slightly too obvious who she worked for.

In any case, the more she ran, the more she was certain that she would be flipping the table on them so that she could end this who thing.

And so, as she led her pursuers towards a nearby Kumo team she took a moment to centre herself.

It was time for the prey to become the predator.

Day 180

It took her some time and considerable effort, but she managed to pick apart the team tracking her until there were only two left.

She had to sacrifice quite a few Sound, Iwa and rogue ninjas in the process, but even though she had ultimately been responsible for their deaths her main priority was returning home.

With only two shinobi left, one of which was clearly exhausted she orchestrated a final takedown.

She was a little too close to Iwa for her comfort, probably under two days run from the hidden village, but she was reasonably confident in her plan to escape before any patrols reached her.

Then she would run straight home, making her just under a week late of the original deadline, so not too bad considering she'd just spent the last month running for her life.

She had been considering sending a summons for a while, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't get intercepted and then it would have been just wasted chakra. 'With only two pursuers left, I could probably sneak a summon pass them to warn the Hokage of my delay.'

Shaking her head she decided to wait at least until they reached a more covered area. Her raccoons would have more chances of success if they had trees to hide amongst rather than the open rocky fields of the Earth country.

Her strategy wasn't particularly fancy. She found a reasonably sheltered location in a valley, set up a few traps and waited for her opponents to walk into her setup.

She was technically not supposed to use any family jutsu, but her patience had worn thin over the last month of running across the countries and she reasoned with herself that it would be fine as long as neither opponent survived and no witnesses were present.

As her opponents dodged the first few traps they became overconfident, throw in a broken trap that was calculated to land a minor cut on her own body, it leads her opponents straight into her range.

With a single handsign and two well-placed kunai, her opponents crumple to the ground.

'Finally, I can head home.' She checked over the bodies of the two rain shinobi and found the body scrolls most shinobi carried on missions. 'Ah, thank Kami for protocols.'

Sealing them up she stuffed the scrolls carelessly into her bag, which at the start of her adventure had only necessities and now had extra medical supplies, body scrolls, missives she'd intercepted, and a few other random items.

She then proceeded to make a straight line towards Grass and just beyond it the comforting familiar forests of the Fire country.

But of course, nothing could be that simple on a mission. With her senses spread she quickly identified a squad of what was likely an Iwa patrol heading her way.

'I can't risk killing them and having them complain that Konoha was attacking them. So, I need to be utterly unremarkable, leave them in the dust and take another detour before heading home.' Pulling her hood to hide her features she prepared herself for the conflict, her hands grasping at the stolen weapons she had acquired. 'I'm so done with this mission.'

The open gates of Konoha would be a welcome sight.

/AN\

Replying to comments:

Made from broken hearts

Awww! Sorry (not sorry) ;P It makes me happy to hear you're enjoying it so much! Happy New Year for you too!

micaylah

Aaaw! I get that as I often do the same :) It means a lot to me that you have commented as it always makes my day to hear people say it. Hope you continue to enjoy the story! :D