Thanks for all the Faves, Follows and Reviews!
Lisa-francis.96780: I figured he'd be a surprise lol and since the massacre never happened, they wouldn't need Kakashi to train Sasuke and I feel that Shikaku could handle Natsu if things went sideways.
Outofthisworldgal: Yup, our boy is alive and kicking :)
Guest: Lee is still in his original team, Sakura just replaced Neji.
A note on Kaida: He has close to a photographic memory and is still very young. He don't need no dementors.
Hope you all enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter Thirteen
"Shisui-sensei...like Itachi's Shisui?" Kaida asked, scanning the mans face for signs of familiarity, something to link him too the Uchiha he knew.
Shisui laughed "yeah, Itachi's Shisui." his grin was bright and childish in his young face "he mentioned me?"
Kaida smiled back, always happy to talk about the shy Itachi, one of the few people that had the patience to deal with Kaida's questions "of course! You're his Aniki. He compares everyone to you."
"he's so cute." Shisui said, closing his eyes "I remember when he was your age." he looked at kaida "he's was insatiably curious, just like I've heard you are. Anyway-" he crossed his legs "I'm sure you've all heard about the test?"
he got three blank stares, even from Kaida.
"didn't we...just pass the test?" Hina asked, tapping her hitae-ate and Shisui's smile was playful and devious at the same time.
"oh, silly me. No, the other test, the real one." he smiled wider at the looks on their faces, various degrees of horrified.
"This test determines whether or not I take you on as my team. Pass, you're officially a Genin, fail and you go back to the academy. Fun, right?"
Ino shook her head slowly and Kaida couldn't agree more.
Kakashi never told him there was a second test!
Shisui laughed "don't look so worried, all you gotta do is find me before sunrise tomorrow." with the words, he flickered out of sight in the fastest shunshin Kaida had ever seen.
Ah, Shunshin no Shisui.
He'd almost forgotten.
Ino dropped her head on the desk with a solid thunk "why do shinobi have to be so weird." she help up a finger "once, just once, I'd like a nice teacher who wont throw us in a forest."
"Shisui-sensei hasn't thrown us in a forest." Hina said.
"yet." Ino said before taking a deep breathe and sitting up, eyes sharpening and landing on Kaida and then to Hina "how should we go about this?"
Kaida hummed "well, the most obvious would be Adzuki tracking him down but I have a feeling it wont be that easy. Can you use any of your clans techniques yet?"
Ino frowned a bit, thoughtful "I can hold the mind swap for maybe three minutes right now, and I can skim some light thoughts but I'm still working on control for both."
Kaida nodded at her "that'll work. Okay, I think I have a plan but feel free to correct me." he laid his hands down on the desk and laid out his plan "One of us-" he gestured to him and Hina "will ask a question, that should bring the thought to the fore-front, where you might catch it." he gently booped Adzuki's nose "while we question, Adzuki can keep his nose to the ground while Niko-Niko watches his back. If any of us catch a trail, we can re-work the plan for phase two."
Niko barked and gave Adzuki a long lick that made his short fur stand up.
Ino spoke up "I think it should be me and Hina who do the questioning, you can go dog and eavesdrop on the other Shinobi while we keep watch on the nin-ken."
Hina nodded "especially since there are plenty of Inuzuka around and not many know about your Henge."
"how will we communicate?" Kaida asked.
It would be hard to track each-other down with all the wandering this would require but Ino smiled and said simply "Telepathy."
"huh?" she got twin responses.
"one of the lesser known Yamanaka techniques and one I'm quite proficient at is speaking telepathically. Not the mind delving, but the speaking." she added "I'll occasionally check in with Kaida to see if he's found anything and to update him on our progress."
Kaida grinned "sounds like a plan. I'll start at that bar Tsume likes and work my way towards the administrative building and its lounge."
"Right." Hina said and Ino nodded, standing up and announcing "lets go get him."
Kaida hugged Niko-Niko and watched him reluctantly follow the pair before leaving by window in the opposite direction, using a convenient bush to hide to puff of smoke that announced his transformation before trotting out on four paws.
The bar was slightly smoky and dimly lit with its one obvious entrance propped open for a breeze. It was one of the few Shinobi only bars in Konoha and it showed.
Projectiles littered the walls and the tables were dented and scratched by people much too fond of pointy things.
It was not terribly full, probably due to the fact it was midday, but there were enough people to cause a small chatter as Kaida trotted in, noticed but not bothered, his Hitae-ate, still tied around his neck, adding to the image of a nin-ken.
His pointed ears swiveled around the room, sitting in the shadows under a low table. He heard some fairly amusing tidbits he'd be sure to tuck away for some friendly blackmail but only a voice ghosted on the breeze about the 'speedy devil' being back in town.
Kaida felt someone step into his chakra net and looked to his left, trying to scamper away as a hand loomed but his puppy paws betrayed him and he fell to the mercy of the reaching hand.
"Never seen this pup before." the owner of the hand was big and burly with tightly curled black hair and squinty brown eyes "one of yours, Inuzuka?"
Kaida recognized the laugh and his tail curled up under his belly.
Uh oh.
"yeah, he's ours. That's Kuromaru's pup." Tsume said, taking Kaida out of the mans hands and grinning at him, ignoring the offended huff from Kuromaru as the big dog crawled out from under the table to glare at Kaida.
Kaida lolled his head at the wolfish nin-ken.
They did look rather alike if you put color and size aside and one could do worse then have the fierce dog masquerade as your daddy dog.
"he's our Hina's and I'm sure she's missing him." Tsume jostled Kaida on her lap and he let his tongue loll.
"The one who hangs around with the Hatake brat?" Kaida growled softly at the man and Kuromaru humored him, growling along.
Didn't the man know it was rude to talk about someone like that?
"now, now, Yumaru, our dogs are very fond of that brat and it doesn't do well to anger a nin-ken." Tsume said lightly and the man shifted uncomfortably, going back to his drink and ignoring them altogether.
Tsume got up and walked to the entrance, her words holding a smile "If I was looking for a certain man, I would definitely track down his best friends or maybe even his little brother."
Kaida yipped an agreement and licked her hand in thanks as she set him back down on the street, galloping off when she gently booted him along.
Kaida knew exactly who to find and where to look.
"Ino, everything's good, meet me outside the forest, Hina know which one." he mentally yelled it, hoping she would catch it and a disgruntled voice came back "we're your backup if something goes wrong, aren't we."
"for sure." he said, trotting along the streets happily, working his way to a familiar forest Kakashi had tricked him and Hina away from "just be ready, and stay sharp. yay teamwork."
she broadcast a vague feeling of disgruntled agreement.
At least if this went sour, only he'd be meeting Ibiki.
He doubted the man would do anything too horrible to him.
Probably.
Kaida sucked in his Chakra until it was the amount a normal animal might have, closer to a nin-ken and trotted into the ominous building deep in the Forest of Death.
Silly name, none of the bears even tried to eat him and the poisonous plants were way too obvious.
The entrance he used was technically only know by Anbu, since this was their 'secret' headquarters but Kaida had been raised around some of the best of their operatives.
He wasn't sure if they knew he knew, though.
Kakashi probably did, Kakashi knew everything.
It was dim, as was usual for buildings Shinobi frequented, and if you didn't pay attention, it would be easy to get lost in its purposefully winding corridors of doorways.
Kaida followed his nose, the scent strong and familiar as he struggled up the almost too tall steps, pausing on the landing to pant and look around.
He didn't dare cast his chakra net.
Anbu was the sort to throw now and ask later and he'd rather not be an opposite hedgehog.
He could hear murmured words behind closed doors, this being the main work floor. Desks were pushed against walls while the whole left side of the room was a mat used for flying practice.
He knew there were at least five different training rooms within the building and a meeting room for each team and a big one for really importants meetings and briefings. He was also sure there were plenty of holding cells and other things of that sort and he could smell the faint iron trace of old blood and cleaner.
He sniffed the air, nose up as he unpicked the thread of scents, snuffling his way over to the mat.
His scent was really strong there, as if he'd only just left.
Kaida blew the air out of his nose and sniffed again, trying to pick up a direction and a frustrated whine, almost sub-vocal, broke free.
He felt half-blind after getting used to his chakra net and he knew it would be a terrible idea to open his senses up enough to catch anything.
Anbu also had the annoying habit of hiding their chakra and scent when on the prowl.
Kaida's shoulders slumped and he sat on the mat, staring at the wall as he thought.
He cocked his head, his sharp eyes picking up an odd discrepancy in the black wallpaper, ears flopping sideways with the motion.
He distinctly remembered 'Kashi complaining about the ugly yellow color that burned his eyes and how he was pretty sure it was put up just to spite him.
Kaida backed up a step, then another, the fur on his neck prickling up into hackles.
It wasn't right.
His paws took him a second step back, head low and tail rigid, looking for the empty feeling of the staircase landing.
The walls melted towards him and Kaida automatically snarled, fight and flight jumbling up in his mind.
They were comrades, right?
But they might not know that, right?
He half bit the hand that grabbed him, his teeth clacking harmlessly against the gloves metal plated back and he froze, looking at the mask that loomed.
A flash of green on white masks, a high, cold laugh.
Kaida dropped his doggy form, kicking off the chest of his captor into a flip, landing on his feet with a kunai already in his hand, an unfamiliar shiver running down his spine as he stared, wide eyed, at the group surrounding him.
His eyes flicked left, right, and he darted forward, an odd adrenaline flooding his brain as he spun into a kick, nothing and everything shouting in his mind.
A hand caught his foot and forced him to the floor, pinning him thoroughly and it was only then that he could hear the voice shouting at him.
"Kaida-kun, what wrong! Kaida!" The mask was pulled off with the opposite hand and Itachi's worried face made the air rush back into Kaida's lungs.
"I-Itachi, the-the green-" Kaida grabbed the wrist of the hand pinning him, panting hard, fingers trembling.
What was wrong with him?
He'd never been bothered by the Anbu masks before, not even as a baby.
Kaida looked into Itachi's eyes and forced a laugh "you don't happen to know where Shisui is, do you?"
"no." Itachi's voice was flat.
"darn."