The Third Hokage was too old and kind to be in power. Once again Kakuzu counted himself lucky for this being the leader of the Hidden Leaf and not someone much sharper and cold hearted.
"So you broke one of our pre-agreed to terms... all so you could speak with Kiba Inuzuka?"
With a sigh and a nod, he informed, "He needed to speak with someone. If he knew that he was being overheard, he would never have told me what he needed to say."
The ancient Kage's lips turned into a heavy frown. His eyes narrowed in clear thought, darkening as he undoubtedly contemplated on what he could do now that their contract had been, essentially, breached.
"You broke the contract."
Kakuzu continued to stare at him with an emotionless façade, keeping any of his worries and doubts locked up within him; unable to be caught and used against him.
"You believe you did it to aid young Kiba Inuzuka."
Once again, Kakuzu remained silent. He had already said what he had needed to say, there was nothing more he wanted to clarify to the aged soul sat before him.
"What am I to do now?" the aged Kage questioned as a spark of recognition appeared within his dark eyes. Kakuzu immediately knew he would not like the repercussions of such a spark appearing. "We could go ahead with the punishment we agreed upon for breaking a term set out for you."
The punishment for this would be even stronger security imposed on his life. Kakuzu had made sure that the only actions that would wind up with him jailed or otherwise apprehended would be the kind he would never have to take- he had made sure that actions like these; ones he may have to take at least once; would have lesser punishments.
"Or," the Third Hokage continued after a suspended silence, allowing a small, struggling to appear kind smile come onto his lips. "Maybe we could allow me and my Village to add a lesser stipulation into the contract now that you have broken one of your own."
That was not part of the contract.
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed just as the aged Kage brought his pipe up to his thin lips.
This man may just be a bit sharper than he had suspected.
"Hey, Kuzu, can I ask you something?"
The Old Man didn't bother to look at him after he had asked this. Instead he continued going about preparing his kitchen for eventual use, leaving Kiba seated on the counter and facing his broad back.
It was... odd to see this man dressed in Konoha shinobi uniform. And he still wasn't sure what he felt about such a development.
After a few seconds of silence, he pressed on to ask the question that had been bothering him since he had managed to track down Kuzu's new apartment in the shinobi sector of the Village.
"What changed?"
The noncommittal grunt was immediate and Kuzu said nothing to try and give him any kind of answer. Kiba frowned at the man obviously attempting to avoid his question; he placed both of his hands on the counter beside both of his thighs and leaned forward with his upper body, "C'mon! I wanna know why our biggest kept secret is now all buddy-buddy with the Village!"
The refrigerator door opened and a carton bag that had been filled way too much was pulled out. There was the normal rustling that kind of material always elicited when it was bothered in any way, then he heard Kuzu grunt softly.
"That kind of information is privileged."
Kiba frowned at the answer, even though he wasn't terribly surprised by it. Kuzu enjoyed being cryptic and mysterious.
"I've got a whole bunch of money stored up. Name a price."
Kuzu's movements stilled when he heard this for a fraction of a second, then he began to shake his head as he set the bag down onto the kitchen counter. "Cute." was his only answer as he began to pull out various items from the bag.
Kiba's frown became a bothered pout at the way Kuzu had so easily brushed his offer off. Usually, if money was mentioned, no matter how stubborn he may seem about an issue, Kuzu would cave. His nature was one of greed and Kiba had taken advantage of this reality before- this would be the first time he would deny Kiba a chance to give him money in exchange for something he had previously denied.
"You're early." was Kuzu's only comment.
They fell into silence afterwards.
Kiba wanted to growl- but he knew that Kuzu wouldn't really react to that action. If anything, it would only make the guy more annoyed at him. And if Kuzu got annoyed with him, it would probably end up with Kiba getting kicked out of his new apartment.
With a sigh, Kiba turned his gaze away from the old man that was beginning to prepare some kind of meal. Instead of looking at the Old Man, he looked over the small kitchen in the pretty mundane unit in the shinobi sector of the Village. The colors were gray and brown, the paint smelled like it bordered on being cheap and mass produced for quantity instead of quality, and there was no interesting design to it.
The rest of Kuzu's apartment was small, colored in a similar palette with little to no furniture, and Kiba wouldn't be surprised if nothing about this changed in the near future. Kuzu had always struck him as the kind of guy that would pinch ryo wherever possible- so he probably wouldn't go around spending money to liven up his living space.
"You haven't had breakfast."
"How'd you know?"
He was kind of hungry, sure. But it wasn't like his stomach was giving him away. And he hadn't even alluded to anything about food during the time they had been in here.
Kuzu pulled out a pan from one of the cabinets above him, placing it on the stovetop before he turned on the gas that would light the thing up. "It's eight in the morning and I told you to arrive alone. You haven't been around the Akimichi, so he hasn't fed you. And you're an idiot."
He wanted to be able to tell the Old Man he was absolutely wrong and he wasn't such an idiot... but he'd be lying if he tried to do that. And he knew that Kuzu had some kind of sixth sense for his lies, so it wouldn't be of any use to attempt to try and convince him.
Sniffing, Kiba cringed a little. Then he sighed and offered, "I ain't all that hungry."
Breakfast at his house was also incredibly dangerous to have; if he stayed to eat, he'd probably run into either his mother or his sister. And if he did that, there was no telling what they'd try to make him do... or what they'd try to make him talk about. He wasn't about to tell them anything he didn't want them to know, so it was best if he just avoided them altogether. And he wasn't about to let them ruin his day so early in the morning. So he did his best to get home once they were already asleep and leave before they woke up.
Things worked out the best this way.
Kuzu stayed quiet for a moment; the sound of running gas began to fill up the silence, then that was accompanied by the sound of something beginning to sizzle.
In no time the apartment began to smell of delicious, mouthwatering bacon.
"The first meal's fry. Seconds will cost you."
"Akamaru's having a hard time finding Kiba's scent."
There wasn't a real need for Fū to tell them this. Both he and Sakura knew that Akamaru wasn't able to follow his human's scent easily; Chouji had figured it out by the time they had rounded the same restaurant a second time.
The white furred pup growled in annoyance at his own nose, pawed at it in confusion, then whined as he sat down.
Fū knelt beside him and began to pat at his head, trying to console him, all the while she looked up at her and Chouji. Sakura frowned down at her for a second, then look over at Chouji, only to find him with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest- he seemed to be deep in thought.
"If Kuzu wanted to find out how well we can survive without Kiba, he probably told him to muddle his scent and make it difficult for Akamaru to track him." Sakura eventually offered, which Chouji nodded to.
That would definitely make sense. It would explain why Kiba had left Akamaru behind for them to use, instead of waiting for them so they could follow him to the apartment. And it would definitely fit Kuzu's no-nonsense type of education that was constantly seeking to make sure they were learning.
"But why?" Fū asked, still petting Akamaru's head. "He already told us the address of his new apartment. He would have known we would be able to get to him with just that."
Now Sakura sighed regretfully, "He probably knew we were going to rely on Kiba to lead us there, instead of memorizing the actual address... He's probably going to make us build earth mounds until our chakra is completely depleted as punishment for this."
Chouji breathed in heavily before sighing out; he could already feel his muscles cramping up at just the possibility.
"It wouldn't have killed Kiba to have made this tracking thing easier on us. Like, at the very least, he could have let us get close to wherever granduncle lives now."
It would have been nice. But if Kuzu had specifically asked for Kiba to make their search difficult, Kiba wouldn't have done anything of the like. Just like Kuzu was looking to make sure they were learning, Kiba was hyper-focused on making them stronger.
"With those two working together..." Chouji murmured, drifting off.
From the way all three of his packmates nodded solemnly, he knew that he did not need to finish his statement for them to know what he meant.
They stood in the middle of the street for a few more minutes, attempting to gain their bearings and think of some sort of game plan to be able to find Kuzu's apartment before they reached the time limit the Old Man had given them. The best they were able to come up with was the name of the area that Sakura thought had been what Kuzu had told them when he had told them his address.
At this rate, they weren't going to make it before the time limit...
"You guys know what our problem is?"
"What is it, Sakura?" Fū asked, Akamaru growling softly to voice his own question.
The pink haired civilian sighed softly now, placing her hands on her hips. "We're not thinking like regular shinobi."
Chouji... was confused by such a statement.
The fact that both Fū and Akamaru let out soft keens of bewilderment let him know that he was not alone in this fact.
Sakura groaned, "We've gotten so used to having Kiba with us that we've become totally dependent on the Inuzuka nose. If the Old Man hadn't wanted us to use Akamaru in any way, he would have had Kiba bring him along. That means that he wanted us to use Akamaru... And it's pretty possible that he wanted us to have him so that we would fail."
"Why would granduncle want us to fail?" Fū gasped, "That sounds pretty mean- and he's not that mean!"
The statement was absolutely inaccurate and Chouji and Sakura both looked at her with similar looks of 'you're delusional' to let her know this. But soon enough Sakura continued to speak, speed slow and tone leading, as she tended to speak whenever she was thinking out loud.
"If Akamaru can't track Kiba, that means we have to either give up or find a new way to find Kuzu's apartment... and considering how the Old Man never sets us up just for failure... he wants us to find him without using the Inuzuka nose."
Chouji thought about the possibility of these words... and decided that they made sense.
"Yeah. That sounds like something the Old Man would do."
He had always been very insistent on their education, after all. A trial like this would be right up his ally.
"So... if we can't use the Inuzuka nose... what are we supposed to do?" Fū groaned, herself back so she ended up laying against the dirt street they were standing on... earning curious and somewhat disdainful stares from some of the people that began to pass them by. "What about the strays?" she suddenly gasped after a few seconds of thought. "They're a full network- there's no way granduncle got to them all!"
Chouji contemplated the possibility, then shrugged. "It's not like we have any other leads."
Luckily for them, Kuzu had not been able to get to the network of strays. By hunting them down, they were able to find Alpha, who was then able to direct them to Gaki, who then eventually- after a bribe of prime rib- told them where they would be able to find Kiba's scent in the shinobi sector of the Village. Once they reached there, Akamaru was able to find Kiba's somewhat muddled scent and track it down to an apartment building that had recently finished being constructed.
Kuzu's apartment was at the very bottom of the structure, in the first door to the left once someone entered- right beside the staircase that led upwards to the rest of the units.
When Kuzu opened the door, he didn't greet them with any standard greeting. Instead he let them know that they were one minute away from earning a failure so they should hurry up and enter.
All four of them rushed inside without a second's hesitation, just about tripping over each other.
Eventually they were seated on the ground of what Sakura assumed to be the living room area of the apartment, even though there were no chairs or sofas around for them to sit on. There was one cushion, but Kuzu grabbed that and knelt on it before anybody could ask about is existence.
Kiba... was missing.
"Uh, Kuzu?" she coughed to get his attention. The man opened one of the eyes he had closed for some reason, grunting as his only reply. "Where's Kiba?"
Kuzu closed his eye yet again before he answered, "Scouting to see how terribly you did in shaking off your followers."
"What?" they all gasped.
Sakura turned to look at her packmates, finding that their widened eyes and agape mouths reflected her own almost perfectly. They had been followed? Seriously?
When she looked at Akamaru, she found that the puppy was shaking his head and growling- it seemed as if he was trying to say that he hadn't registered anybody following him.
"Who knows? You may have done a good job with Akamaru in your numbers. But your reactions allow me to know that you hadn't even contemplated the possibility of having someone tracking you as you tracked Inuzuka down." now Kuzu opened both of his eyes- and Sakura immediately they were in trouble when she noticed they were harsh and unforgiving. "You are not safe; not even within this Village. You all need to start being suspicious of your surroundings- or do you think the attack on Fū is going to remain an isolated event?"
The guilt that washed over her was immediate- it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over her.
Turning her head down to not have to look at Kuzu's scathing glare, Sakura began to truly think about what he had said.
Would it be bad... if she admitted that she had hoped that the attack wouldn't be repeated? It wasn't very ninja-like of her, she knew, to think in such a manner... but she was only still ten years old. She was still a civilian. There were dangers in the world that she hadn't really given much thought before... just like she hadn't thought about death until...
She frowned.
"Your pursuers would have, in this case, been ANBU sent by the Hokage to make sure that you were able to reach my home. Once here, they would stay near, sensing for any spikes or noticeable changes in the chakra within this space. And once you began to leave, they would follow to make sure that there was nothing suspicious about your actions or activities." Kuzu continued, opening Sakura's eyes to things she had never even thought of as possible in her life. "There might even be some of them within the other units in this building, utilizing technology to listen in on our conversation."
Even as the shame of having been so childish began to wash over her... Sakura couldn't help but notice something that didn't really click in her mind about what the Old Man had said.
"Why would the ANBU be following just us? Why not Kiba?"
"Why not Inuzuka?" Kuzu challenged, making her wince at the frigidity of his tone. "You have spent more time with him than I. What things has he done while around you; what has he told you about- taught you; that would make it that Konoha-born pursuers would believe it inefficient to try and follow him like they would you?"
As soon as he had finished speaking, Sakura knew the answer. And... wow. She really was just a dumb civilian sometimes, wasn't she?
"He's been avoiding being tracked for years." she gasped, turning her gaze up to seek confirmation from Kuzu; he offered her one, small, stiff nod. "And that's why you sent him to see how we had done. He's trained almost all his life to track trackers so he can avoid them."
"Wow... that's pretty cool."
"Mm-hmm."
Sakura agreed with both of her friends.
Kiba could avoid ANBU? That was... kind of scary, actually.
"But... granduncle..." Fū called out after a few seconds, her voice uncertain. "Why would these ANBU people want to track us down? Why would they be so interested in us?"
"You'll need to earn those answers." Kuzu grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now, today's training will encompass the art of tracking and avoiding being tracked. Once Inuzuka gets back, we'll leave. The success you have in being able to follow everything he does without any verbal explanations will determine if we are tracked down to the training area. If we fail, no further training will occur on this day. If we succeed, we will continue until dinnertime."
"So... what's ANBU?"
They were currently heading outside of the Village, following Kiba's every single move to make sure that they didn't mess up and didn't incite her granduncle's ire.
Fū had no idea what ANBU was, but from the way that everyone around her reacted to the name, she guessed it had to be a group of really powerful shinobi or something. They had something kind of like that in Takigakure, but she wasn't really sure of their name. Shibuki had only told her that there was always one of them watching over her to make sure that no one could come out of nowhere to hurt her.
Huh... now that she thought about it... she should ask granduncle what he did with whoever was watching over her on the night he had come to adopt her. She hadn't really thought about those people at all because she had never seen any of them. But! She really should have paid a bit more attention to them, now that she thought about. It seemed that they were really important- even more important than Shibuki had made them sound in the first place.
Or maybe that was yet another difference between Konohagakure and Takigakure?
"They're a covert-ops group that's made up of only the best of the best shinobi in Konoha." Chouji informed her after a few seconds of silence. His voice was somewhat muted, but not quite a whisper, and she guessed that he was trying to be somewhat secretive because they still weren't sure if Kakuzu's mood had improved in any way.
"Oh..." she gasped softly, stopping when Kiba suddenly stopped.
"We're going through the river. Water on your clothes helps dampen your natural scent." he explained, motioning for them to jump into the rather wide body of water. "After that, it'd be wise to roll around on the grass for a bit- that way you'll muddle up your scent with nature's."
Unlike all the other times Kiba had led them around Konoha, he was actually explaining to them the why behind the actions they were taking. This was the first time she was getting a proper lesson on how to obscure her scent and make it harder for trackers to find her; all of the other times, Kiba had just told them what to do without really explaining anything to them.
"One of the most effective things to do when you want someone to lose you is to take a piece of clothes you don't really need- like a jacket or shirt- and rub it against a bunch of different areas, then leave it slightly hidden beneath something that obscures it, but not the scent coming from it- like leaves." as he informed them of this, Kiba crossed his arms over his chest.
"I kind of need a shirt..." Sakura murmured as she stepped forward towards the riverbed, and Fū followed with, "It's stupid. Why can Kiba walk around shirtless but I can't?"
Kakuzu grunted, "You can ponder about the injustices of society when we're not being followed." he growled at them, then pointed for them to jump into the water. "You heard Inuzuka."
Hearing her granduncle's no-nonsense tone made all of them jump into the river without a further second of waiting. Fū took the time to luxuriate a little bit because she enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness that always accompanied a swim in nature. But she soon followed after her friends and pulled herself up on the other side of the river, immediately throwing herself against the ground there with a gleeful smile.
Akamaru yipped from somewhere towards her right, clearly happy about having been instructed to get dirty when it was much more customary for people to scold him against such a thing. Fū laughed along with him, the tickling of blades of grass and clumps of dirty against her skin something she had always enjoyed and never really been against feeling.
Chouji didn't say much and Sakura's own sounds were a bit less happy and a lot more disgusted but, eh, she could understand that this kind of thing wasn't for everyone.
"Alright. That should be enough." Kiba called after a few seconds of rolling around, prompting Fū to sit up immediately and look over at him.
He looked just as dirty as she felt and there was no doubt that he had rolled around with them, even if he hadn't made much noise. She narrowed her eyes, though, when she noticed she couldn't find Kakuzu.
"Hey, where's the Old Man?" Sakura questioned.
Kiba pointed behind him, "Using the trees. I guess he's too much of an adult to get down and dirty like us kids."
When her granduncle appeared before them, she was able to see the very clear stains and smudges of having just about smashed leaves against his body. There were even a few tears in his flak jacket- probably from having pressed up against too tightly against the bark of a tree trunk.
"How far are they?" he asked Kiba, never dropping the stern persona of a mission leader.
In all honestly, she wasn't sure what to think of her granduncle when he got like this. She kind of liked how serious he was because it felt like she was really with a team leader, rather than just a family member; it was an experience she had thought she wouldn't really get for a long time. But it was also kind of unenjoyable because she preferred it when he was permissive and kind.
Kiba took a moment to turn around and sniff at the air, clicked his tongue a couple of times, and looked back up at Kakuzu. "A couple of clicks south. My guess is that going through the hornet's nest in the Forest of Death slowed them down. Hell, maybe one of them even got poisoned."
"If they did, they earned it because of their incompetence." was Kakuzu's only answer. "Let's continue."
They weren't actually being followed by a squad of ANBU. There were only two ANBU agents with the group that was pursuing them, actually. Kiba recognized the Hatake's scent within a mile- and maybe that was the reason why he had decided to go through the hornet's nest, rather than by the fire ant territory; he'd never say. The other ANBU agent was one he recognized from around the Village, even if he didn't know the person's face or name.
Kuzu had explained to him that as part of the contract with the Village, he would need to conduct tests on some of the shinobi population. Today they had specifically been tasked with becoming the targets of a group of genin that were a group of trackers in training. Their mission was to become undetectable and give the group a run for their money. If they were successful, Kuzu had been given permission to keep their pack out of Konoha's perimeter for a few hours for training with only one ANBU looking over them.
Kiba wasn't sure why they had to do this... but he guessed it had something to do with the reason why Kuzu had even been allowed to step foot inside of the Village in the first place. It was not a big secret that this guy wasn't a Konoha native and had done nothing to make his visits to their Village legal, after all. And there had clearly been some kind of huge shift to have him suddenly wearing Konoha's regular uniform.
"Yeah, no, I agree, boy. They lost us."
Akamaru barked in a clear cheer at this and Kiba couldn't help but howl along with him. After a few seconds, Sakura, Chouji, and Fū began to jump around in their own iterations of a celebration; the Old Man merely stood behind them with his arms crossed over his chest, as stoic as ever.
His heart was pounding pretty loudly in his chest- and it had been a long while since such a sensation was accompanied with happiness, rather than worry. So if he let out a few more yips and howls than he meant to in celebration, he really couldn't be blamed.
This was... the first time in a very long time he had been able to just... not care.
"We've still got half a kilometer to go before we reach our destination. We haven't completed our mission just yet." Kuzu informed them after their cheering died down a little, causing a small groan to leave just about all of them.
Akamaru keened at this, but soon growled and jumped ahead of them- clearly signaling for them to follow him.
"Then let's go and finish this!" the man's grandniece lunged after the pup with a second, "I can't wait to take this stupid wig off!"
Chouji and Sakura jumped after them after a few more seconds, then Kiba followed them. Kuzu brought up their rear in a formation that was a bit more relaxed than the one they had previously utilized- but still logical.
"Can you believe that?" he heard Sakura whisper in excitement at Chouji, "We lost a squad of ANBU!"
The squeal in her voice was kind of bordering on irritating, but Kiba allowed it to pass because he knew she was just incredibly excited.
He wasn't precisely sure as to why Kuzu had lied so clearly to the pack- but he was beginning to think he had maybe found the reason why. The truth was kind of underwhelming for him; he had only managed to take this absolutely seriously because he had wanted to make Hatake's life as miserable as possible. It was very likely Kuzu had lied to the rest of them to make sure that they took this as seriously as if this were an actual mission, rather than simple training.
If that had been the reason behind the lie, then Kiba could say that he had been correct to do such a thing. Not only had they followed his every word to the final letter, their morale was now clearly boosted by the knowledge of having outsmarted a bunch of elite ninja.
When they returned to the Village, Chouji was able to see one of the members of the ANBU squad they had managed to lose.
And wasn't that something exciting? They had just managed to beat out a group of elite shinobi! With Kiba's teachings, they had been able to elude them and get away and he couldn't wait to tell his parents because this was something absolutely amazing and he was sure no other Akimichi could ever claim such a thing!
Once this thought had crossed through his brain one final time, Chouji couldn't help but cock his head to the side just slightly. Why could he see this operative?
As they reached the gate that marked one of the many entrances from Konoha into the Forest of Death, Chouji heard a slight shift in a tree branch- when he looked up, it was to find yet another person clad in the dark armor customary for ANBU agents. They were sat on the branch with one leg pulled up to their chest and the only things that truly struck out about them was the fact that their white mask had four red strips below the eyes along with two ears protruding from the top and their hair seemed to be a dark gray sort of color.
The ANBU that stood waiting for them at the gate was a muscular person with short black hair- his strong arms were crossed over a clearly broad chest. This person's white mask had two bright orange strokes right below the eyes, along with six different curved black lines all along the design. The ears on this mask were a bit more spaced out to the side than the previous mask he had seen, and they were a lot more pointy. There was a thick line below its protruding snout- it looked like a heavy frown.
Kuzu stepped in front of them so that they were slightly covered by his large body. But he stopped walking while they were around a meter or so away from the ANBU on the ground; they all stopped walking in response to this.
The tension between the ANBU member standing before them and Kuzu was just about palpable.
After a few seconds of a tense silence that had him and Sakura shifting from one foot to another, someone finally spoke up to shatter the tension. It was the person before them- his voice was heavy, thick, and particularly monotone.
"Not bad." the dark slits where eyes were supposed to be didn't allow Chouji to look at the stranger's eyes. But he could swear that the ANBU operative wasn't looking at Kuzu- instead he was looking behind the man and at them.
Akamaru shifted on top of his head, letting loose a small, barely heard, growl.
"They're allies, boy." Kiba whispered from Chouji's right, attempting to calm the pup down a little. "At least... they're supposed to be."
Well that wasn't very reassuring, Chouji noted. If even Kiba wasn't sure... and Kiba had a knack for knowing how to read people... then...
"The hornets were a nice touch." the person grunted and from the lack of amusement in his voice Chouji could tell that the hornets had not, in fact, been a nice touch. "Did you think of that? Or was it the Inuzuka?" the accusation and disdain was clear and the Akimich did not like hearing that.
Akamaru's growling became just a bit louder and Chouji could see from the periphery of his vision how Kiba's body tensed.
Kuzu's body language remained stiff, yet unconcerned. "I was given a task- I completed it as I saw fit. I was not told to hold back, so I did not."
The ANBU's shoulders rolled back and the hand that Chouji could see was balled up in a tight fist. "No. You were not."
Silence fell over them after this.
No one moved.
All that could be heard were Akamaru's soft growls.
And, then, from the tree-tops, he heard the other ANBU member speak in a stern tone; his voice was somewhat familiar to Chouji. It struck a chord of memory within him... even if he wasn't sure exactly who the voice could have belonged to. "Brats, time to head home. Your precious criminal has to come with us now."
Chouji frowned at this- this was the second person to talk about Kuzu being a criminal. Shikaku had been the first a few days ago, talking about supposed crimes and stuff... what were they talking about?
"Shaddup! You don't know what you're talking about, asshole!"
Chouji stopped himself just short from groaning.
Of course Kiba would speak up to a member of an elite covert-ops unit if one of their pack members was insulted... why wouldn't he? He was Kiba, after all. And it seemed that whatever had scared the soul out of him had left- he was slowly coming back to his fiery ways.
In part, Chouji was happy to see this. In part he was terrified of the possible repercussions of the Inuzuka talking like this to a member of ANBU.
"Down boy." the ANBU from the tree taunted and now Akamaru began barking at him.
"Inuzuka. Akamaru." Kuzu didn't shout- but his growl was so fierce that it immediately quelled any anger either member of the Inuzuka clan held within them. "Go home. I'll see you next week. Keep up with your studies."
No one tried to argue against Kuzu.
Life had seriously gotten weird... and dangerous.
While Sakura was grateful for the fact that she had Kuzu's amazing teaching in her life, she couldn't help but wonder if she was prepared for what such a reality entailed...
First one of their packmates was attacked; now they were being followed by members of Konohagakure's secretive ANBU. Not only were they being followed by them, but they had actually been informed as to their existence! Regular Academy students only knew about ANBU from the small section of shinobi careers they were educated about in the Academy... barely any of them even knew that ANBU was still operating within the Village's walls.
Why did they know about them? Why were they being allowed to even see these supposedly clandestine people? Shouldn't they not know about any of this?
Sakura frowned as she racked her brain for a possible explanation.
Unless they were being prepared for some pretty big role within shinobi society- which she doubted, considering how she was still just a regular civilian and they were all renown for being loose cannons because of Kiba's tutelage- there was no reason for them to be allowed to even know about these people.
Maybe it was all because of Kuzu? Maybe he had managed to strike some kind of deal with the Hokage and the ANBU and it encompassed them too?
No... Kuzu didn't answer to anyone. He played by his own rules and he didn't care about what others may think about him. He would never allow anyone to control him... right?
Unfortunately, the mostly carefree and elated atmosphere they had acquired after they had lost their ANBU tails and kept during the harsh training drills Kuzu ran them through was now just about gone. Kiba was in a bad mood- and Sakura couldn't blame him, she kind of was too. Who did that stupid ANBU think he was calling Kuzu a criminal? She bet that guy didn't even know anything about their precious Old Man- he just built an imaginary idea of what Kuzu was and stuck with it instead of trying to get to know him!
Fū grunted from beside her, huffing as she kicked at the ground. "Stupid masked jerks. I wanted to spend more time with granduncle!"
Sakura huffed along and nodded in agreement. "Today was amazing until they interrupted."
"Man, adults just really suck." Kiba growled, "Morino and Kuzu are the only ones worth anything."
"Yeah! Ibiki's great, ain't he?"
At least hearing her current guardian helped rouse the Taki native's mood.
Sakura smiled softly as their foreign friend began to talk about going back to her house and convince Ibiki to let them have a sleepover- she was sure there were leftovers and, if not, Chouji could always cooking something up real fast.
As they walked in the direction of their friend's house- the fact of the matter was that they didn't even really have to hear her say such a thing, they were probably already heading that way in the first place-, Sakura couldn't help but notice that Chouji was quiet... quieter than usual.
When she turned to look at her Akimichi friend, she found him frowning down at the ground.
It was clear he was deep in thought... and Sakura sighed softly as she placed her hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little at the sudden contact, but quickly looked up at her.
She smiled at him, hoping that it would be reassuring even if she said nothing.
It took a bit, but he eventually smiled back at her.
They returned to her house for dinner. They were all hungry and there were leftovers there- besides, if they were all grouped up together, they stood a better chance at convincing Ibiki to let them stay over to sleep than they did apart.
Predictably, Ibiki was nowhere to be found.
"Freedom!" she shouted as she was finally able to throw away the wig and sunglasses she was forced to wear to maintain the illusion that she was Ibiki Morino's actual biological daughter. "I really don't like wearing any of that."
As she shook her real hair free from the confines of the hairnet and allowed it to fall back in her usual style, her friends made themselves comfortable within Ibiki's apartment. Chouji and Sakura made a bee-line in the direction of the kitchen, immediately taking over food duty. Kiba made his way towards the living room to throw himself on one of the couches. Akamaru went over to his human for a bit, sniffed at his hand, and then jumped onto his back.
Fū had to stop herself from cooing over how cute the dog looked curled up on Kiba's back.
No matter how much Akamaru growled at her that he was a deadly warrior that could rip someone's throat apart, he could not convince her that he wasn't one of the cutest creatures she had ever come across. And he looked absolutely darling whenever she called him her little killer and he tried to sneer and glower in an attempt to scare her.
"We found some deer- is everyone okay with that for dinner? It'll take a while to cook." Sakura informed as she popped out of the kitchen for a little bit, all the while Fū walked over towards the living room to bother Kiba.
"Aren't there any leftovers?" she asked back, cocking her head to the side- she could have sworn there was something left from last night.
Sakura's smile was kind and patient, "There's only enough for one person. We're four humans and a dog."
"Ah."
Huh. She wasn't really accustomed for needing food for more than just herself. She was still learning how to gage amounts for more than just one person.
"Deer'd be great." Kiba answered finally, "Akamaru and I want two large servings!"
"You'll get what you get." Sakura stuck her tongue out before quickly darting back into the kitchen.
Fū smiled at the action and threw herself on the ground below where Kiba laid. A few seconds later, she was smacked on the back of the head by a cushion, which she immediately thanked Kiba for and placed beneath her chin.
"Today was pretty good for the most part." she commented; Kiba groaned.
"Why can't adults just disappear? All they do is ruin stuff."
"They can be pretty okay." she defended, mind going back to Shibuki and other adult figures she had met that had treated her kindly, "I've met bad and good people alike. Age isn't the problem, I think." there had been kids that had ignored her, after all.
Kiba grunted, Akamaru yawned, and there was a knock on her front door.
Fū opened her eyes as soon as she heard such a thing. From beside her, she heard Kiba groan loudly, almost dramatically. And then, from within the kitchen, Chouji asked, "Is anyone going to get that?"
"Do I have to?" she asked back.
"Yes!" came the muffled reply from the outside.
Fū narrowed her eyes. That wasn't a voice she recognized.
"There's traps everywhere. Try and break in and you'll die!" she called to the person outside, then smiled to herself. "It's alright, Kiba. I won't let any adult but Ibiki or Kuzu come in here."
The subsequent, rather hurried, knocks that came from the door were promptly ignored by them all.
"The hornets were a bit much."
Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow. Just as with the ANBU that had attempted to call him out for Kiba's decision, he merely reminded the Hokage that he had been given a task. He had not been given any limits to accomplish said task.
These were genin were the words that whined within the Hokage's eyes. But the man seemed to decide that attempting to use such an argument with him would result in absolutely nothing. Instead he sighed and said, "I am sure that utilizing your team to train our up and coming tracking teams is going to help cultivate quite a unique point of view for hunting and tracking."
His team.
Yes. That's exactly what they were. And the Hokage had signed off on this- no one and nothing could change this fact. The contract that had been signed between them had been just about iron-clad- not even a new Hokage would be able to break off their agreement. If they tried such a thing, the repercussions would be grand.
The Akatsuki was still not aware of the betrayal. Kakuzu could still utilize them against anybody that betrayed him. Hidan currently being so indisposed assured that their status within the Akatsuki would be endangered a little... but he knew he'd be able to come up with a good way to defuse any kind of suspicion thrown on them before they were able to do anything against them.
"Do you think the pack will be up for the continuation of this?" the aged man questioned and Kuzu leveled him with an unimpressed look.
He had no right to be asking this question now, after he had made such a point of needing this to happen only a few hours ago. He had pushed for this to be the final stipulation added into their contract; he had been the one to force Kakuzu to agree to becoming a teacher for more than just his team.
It didn't matter that he wasn't technically a teacher at this moment... it was only a matter of time, he was sure. What with the way that Konohagakure was churning out more and more half-witted ninja by the year, it was clear that they needed someone to help them change. The Hokage had seen something in him that Kakuzu had not contemplated before- that had been his mistake and he wouldn't allow it to happen again.
"You don't have to worry about them." was all Kakuzu deemed necessary to say.
The Hokage's barely existent smile made him even warier than he had previously been. "They are in good hands- have been for some time, it seems." he followed this with a sight before informing him, "You will be paid for every time your team manages to evade your pursuers. You will be given a quarter of the pay if you are captured. If there is nothing more you wish to discuss, you can leave."
Kakuzu frowned- having to listen to this man... being dismissed... it made his blood boil.
With a sneer hidden by his mask, Kakuzu began to make his way out of the Hokage's office. As he opened the door, a thought struck him. So he cleared his throat, "That ANBU with the silver hair- Inuzuka knows him." he didn't turn to make sure the Hokage registered what had been said. "Give the kid an actual challenge."
He strode off instead of waiting around for an answer- he didn't really have to hear anything else the other man tried to say. Either he listened to him and made sure Kiba didn't know the identity of one of their pursuers or he didn't. Kakuzu could work with both possibilities.
~..~..~
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