"You're never going to get anywhere with that strategy."
Genma Shiranui quirked an eyebrow at his statement, straightened up in his chair, and clinked at the senbon trapped between his teeth.
The adult's eyes narrowed as he began to scrutinize the paper before him with more caution, as if he was attempting to find the flaw the Inuzuka had seen, but Kiba soon sighed and hopped off of his chair and began to leave the dining room table.
If the guy called for him or not, he wasn't particularly sure; and it's not like he really cared all that much, either.
When he entered Kuzu's small kitchen, he found the tall man leaning against the stovetop with his arms crossed over his chest. Kiba narrowed his eyes a little to scrutinize him- he still looked so weird in Konoha shinobi uniform, even after quite some time had passed since he was first seen not wearing the usual dark cloak.
The Inuzuka soon sighed and made his way over to the refrigerator, opening it up before Kuzu scolded him for not taking his newest assignment seriously.
Silence reigned over them for a few seconds, only truly broken by the sound of him opening up a can of soda and the sound of the sizzling liquid. Soon enough, though, Kuzu broke the next bout of silence.
Kiba was surprised to find that his words weren't to chastise him.
"Having trouble teaching Inuzuka style tracking to regular shinobi?"
The very question was preposterous and Kiba found himself scoffing softly at it before taking a sip of the carbonized soda. It tickled his mouth, burned his throat ever so slightly, and landed heavy in his empty stomach.
"There's no way to teach Inuzuka techniques to civilians." with a shake of his head, the young boy looked up at Kuzu with a scowl clearly on his face. "I have no idea why the Hokage thought this'd be a good idea. The way I track can't be taught to non-Inuzuka."
Kuzu's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at this, his body tightened up, and he breathed in deeply. Then he sighed heavily, "Haruno and Akimichi learned. They're proof."
Kiba's scowl screwed into a disbelieving frown, "They don't count. They've got me and Akamaru. There's no reason for them to need to learn how to track..." then he lowered his eyes to the ground, his right foot tapping lightly against the wood beneath him. "Besides, I doubt they could track all that well. There's been no need for them to have to."
Kuzu's scent filled up with slight irritation, then the man grunted, and in the span of only a few seconds, growled, "Shiranui, follow me."
The order directed at Kiba was not necessary to be stated out loud; it was very much clear even in its unspoken state.
With a sigh, Kiba made to pick Akamaru up from one of the chairs by the dining room table, ignored Shiranui's curious gaze, and followed after the Old Man.
~/~
"What did the civilians do?"
Kuzu was incredibly smart.
Kiba didn't know if he should chalk up his ability to learn to his age or his outright intelligence. But, no matter the true reason behind it, Kuzu was able to pick things up at lightning speed. Unlike other civilians, he had not needed clarification to the Inuzuka's use of the term civilian. He heard Kiba mention it once and just... seemed to have understood that Chouji and Sakura fell into the category, no matter their shinobi-in-training status.
His incredible intelligence was also, probably, the reason why he was able to see what Kiba had been to blind to.
Pursing his lips, Kiba focused on the spot in the entrance to the Forest of Death that both Shiranui and his friends had disappeared through.
Shiranui had taken Akamaru with him as a guide- he wasn't accustomed to the dangers and neither Pork Chop nor Pinkie would let him go alone. Neither Kuzu nor Kiba had cared about him going alone, but Akamaru had seemed more than happy to play guide for the civilian, so Kiba hadn't vetoed his friends' plea.
A few minutes after the civilian had gone, Chouji and Sakura had followed after him. It had taken them a few minutes, but they had eventually managed to find the guy's trail and started up after him.
"They... looked?"
Kuzu grunted softly, motioned for him to follow, and jumped onto the very tree the others had perched on previously.
With his sense of smell, the Inuzuka could follow the other four without any issues. But, seeing how Kuzu hadn't moved away yet, Kiba guessed that they weren't supposed to follow just yet.
Curiosity picking at him, the young boy jumped to a branch nearby and waited for Kuzu to continue. The man motioned towards the branch he was standing on with his right hand and Kiba... frowned softly.
What was he supposed to be looking at?
Eyes narrowed in concentration, it took him a few seconds but he eventually noticed.
There was a crack in the junction between the branch and the trunk of the tree- probably, it was caused by Shiranui's abrupt landing on it. And there was missing bark on the branch; further forward, there were leaves that had been pushed through by a rather large body.
"Inuzuka smell; civilians see."
With these simple words, the old man jutted his head in the direction of the others and began to follow after them. But every so often, he would stop, ask Kiba what the others had seen to follow this path, and Kiba would be stumped for a bit of time because he was so accustomed to following the trail of scents that he had never stopped to question what was out of place as he followed.
By that afternoon, he had a much clearer idea as to how Shiranui should go about introducing tracking skills to non-Inuzuka shinobi.
Genjutsu was not his strong-suit.
Considering how Kiba and Fū were currently in the middle of completing one hundred push-ups for being unable to even sit still long enough to begin attempting to decipher how to make the Old Man see a tree where there was none, Chouji knew it was only a matter of time before he too was treated to some corporal punishment.
Sakura, on the other hand, was sitting smugly with her head in a book. She was happy to read up on the integration of poisons and weaponry because within a few minutes of Kuzu having assigned them the simple task, she had successfully completed it.
Chouji frowned deeply as Kuzu's sharp eyes turned on him, dark and irritated.
"I haven't seen a tree yet." his voice rumbled, the threat of punishment left hanging in the air.
It may not have been stated, but it was enough to make Chouji close his eyes, look down, and sigh softly as his shoulders slumped.
"I just can't, Kuzu."
The Old Man huffed in annoyance once, made a sound reminiscent of a tongue being clicked, and growled, "Then you know what you have to do."
Chouji whined in regret; he heard Akamaru chuckle in absolute mirth at the pain he would be subjected to; and then got into the proper stance to begin the one hundred grueling push-ups that were his punishment for not having cast a genjutsu on the Old Man.
He set an easy rhythm that hopefully wouldn't cause his arms to give out on him before he reached the halfway mark, and set to work on completing the task on-hand.
By the tenth repetition, he heard the rustling of some clothes and he glanced up from the grass beneath him to see Kuzu making his way towards Sakura. Once he was before her, he knelt and seemed to say something to catch her attention. Chouji wasn't able to catch it and he was suddenly pulled away from his observation by Akamaru biting at his left calf.
"Hey!" he shouted at the pup, only for Kiba to chuckle mirth and breathlessly.
"He says to get to work, Pork Chop." the Inuzuka managed through his pants, then set back to work.
Chouji frowned down at the puppy but did as told.
~/~
The rest of the afternoon had been spent with Kuzu focused on Sakura and her genjutsu affinity and the rest of them running teamwork drills with Fū to make up for years' worth of her Village neglecting this part of her ninja training.
It... wasn't nearly as easy as Chouji had deluded himself into believing.
"Watch out!"
Chouji had to throw his body out of the way of Fū's ill timed dive, barely making it out of the vicinity of the attack with only a scratch at his right calf.
"This isn't working!" Kiba shouted in clear frustration, stopping his movements to turn a stern glare onto the young girl. "You're a danger to yourself and others on the battlefield! What the hell did that stupid village of yours teach you?!"
Chouji had landed on the grass after avoiding getting his head cleanly kicked by Fū's powerful legs. Now he was panting heavily, splayed out like some rag-doll, and didn't want to get up and deal with any of his friends. He was tired, hungry, and incredibly frustrated. Nothing had gone well for them today- the only person that had thrived had been Sakura.
And now it was clear that Kiba was frustrated as well and they had reached the point in time when Kiba lashed out because he couldn't keep himself silent any longer.
"I'm sorry!" Fū yelled in frustration from somewhere behind Chouji; the Akimichi couldn't see her, he was too busy attempting to calm down while he kept his eyes closed. "I'm really trying!"
"I know you are!"
There was a beat of surprised silence at Kiba's shouted admission... this was new.
Kiba wasn't really the understanding sort... and yet, his scream didn't sound like he was admonishing Fū for her constant mistakes... if anything, it sounded as if he was trying to show off compassion, even with his raised tone of voice.
After a few seconds of nothing, Kiba sighed, "It's not your fault your Village was filled with idiots. And... don't worry. We'll figure out how to teach you to work with others."
No one really said anything after this.
At least for Chouji, he could excuse his silence with the surprise he felt.
Kiba had always been a good friend, but he'd never been a particularly patient individual. Whenever he had taught him or Sakura some new skill or trick, it was usually with very limited opportunities at success- that was one of the reasons both of them were such quick studies now. Well, at least, that's what Chouji believed.
"Chouji, can you fix us up with those medical jutsu you've learned?"
When Chouji opened his eyes, all frustration and annoyance had left his body. He was left only with surprise and something warm blooming within his chest... he wasn't quite sure what it was, but he knew it felt nice.
He saw the green and brown of the ground first. Then, when he picked himself up and turned to face his friends, he found Kiba sitting cross-legged on the ground. Akamaru, with blood staining his fur because of one of Fū's ill-timed attacks, was laying on his lap. Fū was kneeling some way's away from them, her brows knitted together and a look of concern on her face.
He nodded stiffly as he forced himself to get up.
Now that he thought about it... this was the first time Kiba hadn't pushed them into getting better...
Sakura couldn't believe that she had been chosen to lead the first mission that was set to dodge an Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuga team-up.
"You have a week, Haruno."
Kuzu's harsh tone of voice was both stern and final- there would be no chance to try and convince him to let Kiba lead this expedition.
Sakura stared at him through terrified eyes- how in the world was she supposed to plan for a trio of dedicated trackers chasing after them?! This was exactly the kind of thing that she wasn't prepared to face! And, if anything, this mission was precisely in Kiba's wheelhouse!
After a whole life of avoiding detection, Kiba wouldn't be perturbed by the Inuzuka nose that would be chasing after them. And while the Aburame shinobi wouldn't be easy to deal with, they certainly wouldn't be as tough at avoiding as the Hyuga clan member!
Oh... they had a Hyuga with them...
"Instead of training, take today to begin planning next week's evasion tactics. This will be your first real challenge."
Were her hands shaking?
Sakura frowned down at the hands that were trembling ever so slightly; there was a burning at the back of her eyes that was trying hard to ignore.
"I've brought some information for you to aid you in the process of preparing your plan." as he said this, Kuzu pulled out a scroll from the pocket of his flak jacket. He knelt onto the ground, unfurled it, and set about unsealing the books of information he had brought for them. "You have an upper hand against the Inuzuka and Aburame shinobi. Focus on finding a way to deal with the Hyuga."
What?
They didn't have the upper-hand against the Aburame ninja! She didn't even know how far their relationship with their bugs went! For all she knew, the bugs were in control of the human and... she was panicking.
Breathe, you have to breathe.
The burning at her eyes began to fill up her upper eyelids.
"Haruno, remember to use your pack's greatest strengths."
With these final words, Kuzu moved away from them. Instead of remaining at the center of the clearing with the dozens of books he had brought, the man made his way towards one of the nearby trees. Picking out one with a sturdy trunk, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his back against it as he closed his eyes. He didn't open them again.
Sakura couldn't believe this was her life.
A few seconds passed by in tense silence; no one moved to grab at the books.
She was too focused on the daunting task at hand... a task she knew she would fail... to properly pay attention to her pack.
Kiba was the first to move.
Plopping down on the ground with little grace, the Inuzuka boy grabbed at one of the books- a small one with very few pages, Sakura noted.
"Alright, let's put our heads together and compare notes."
"Inuzuka, Haruno's in charge." Kuzu's growl left no room for argument and Sakura's breath hitched.
How was she supposed to lead something like this? She wasn't a leader! She was a follower!
With a small scoff, Kiba murmured, "Alright, fine, Old Man." he cleared his throat, turned to look up at her, and offered her a warm smile that helped some of the burning in her eyes subside ever so slightly. "Pinkie, do you think we should compare notes on the clans?"
Dumbly, she nodded and scurried to sit beside him.
His smile was soft and patient and he asked for Akamaru to bring them anything that dealt with the Hyuga, Sakura needed to put all her focus on their insane kekkei genkai.
~/~
She hadn't slept well in days.
Luckily, none of the members of her pack pointed out how horrible she looked.
With dozens of notes tucked safely into her backpack, she led the way away from the playground area of the Academy and deep into the empty classrooms. She hadn't asked any teacher if it was alright to do this, but it's not like she was breaking any major rules by doing this.
In two days' time, they would be tracked by Hana Inuzuka, Chimako Hyuga, and Atsukuni Aburame. The three genin had been at the top of their class and were renown for their apparent skill as hunters in the field. Even though they were only sixteen years old, they were supposed to already be tracking at chunin levels.
If not for the fact that Kiba was her age and was already at chunin level, she would probably much more afraid than she actually was. But, considering how Kiba had been avoiding Inuzuka for years and they had managed to acquire some very good intel over the past week, Sakura felt like they would give these genin a run for their money.
She still wasn't sure about their chances for victory; but she at least knew that they would put up one hell of a fight before they lost.
If they think they're strong enough to take you on, prove them wrong. Prove everyone wrong.
The Old Man had told Chouji these words; all those years ago. Her words had been all about not allowing any enemy to see how out of her depth and afraid she truly was.
The words he had told Kiba had convinced him that breaking someone's arm was a perfectly viable tactic in battle.
Sakura didn't know if the Old Man even remembered the valuable advice he had given them so long ago; she couldn't even begin to wonder if he so much as fathomed how much those words had meant to her.
When she had first been assigned the leadership role in this mission, she had been terrified. She still was. But she knew for a fact that Team 6, filled with highly skilled genin, was a thousand percent sure of how easy it would be to defeat a bunch of kids. Kiba had relayed this important information two days ago, all the while he sported a brand new black eye he didn't want to admit to having acquired.
Sakura didn't understand how the Inuzuka clan worked and, quite frankly, at this point: she didn't care.
No one messed with her teammates. No one would ever get away with hurting her pack.
Once they were safely within the walls of a small classroom that usually housed six year olds, Sakura asked for Kiba and Akamaru to make sure they weren't being observed. After a quick search, the Inuzuka members informed her they were safe.
The first thing she pulled out was the map of the Forest of Death she had marked up with the most dangerous routes Akamaru had informed her of on yesterday's survey. Afterwards, she pulled out the informational notes she had on the different clans; the most important information on these notes were the weaknesses they had managed to scrounge up for the clans.
Admittedly, the individual with the least amount of weaknesses was the Hyuga medic.
Kiba let out an amazed whistle; Chouji asked Sakura if she had eaten anything since the past day.
Sakura ignored them both and finished up by pulling out the schematics of a prototype Ino had snagged from her family's library.
She would have to eventually explain to the blonde why she had asked for such a particular thing. But, for now, the Yamanaka heiress had just been happy to aid her friend in something that had clearly been bothering her.
"How's the black eye?"
As the medic; and fully understanding the severity in her voice; Chouji was the person to answer her. "It's healing up really good. He should be back to one hundred percent by Saturday."
"Good." she nodded stiffly, rolled her shoulders, and pointed at the map. "We have homefield advantage, but intel has found out that Team 6 has been surveying the Forest of Death for the past few days. We're not sure how much they know about our favored routes, but without a doubt, Hana will have been able to pinpoint the safest routes."
Kiba frowned softly, but remained silent.
What kind of sister would give her ten year old brother a black eye?
Sakura wasn't much of a leader or a fighter... well, at least, she wasn't one until her pack was brought into the mix.
When you messed with one of them, you messed with all of them.
"Atsukuni Aburame is very fond of indulging in Shibi Aburame's honey cookies on Friday afternoons, after the work week has wrapped up." Fū nodded at her; and she had been invaluable in acquiring information on Shino's cousin. Without her, she knew that they would not have been able to get so much. "Our attack will begin then. Fū, is Shino on board?"
Fū had never seen any of the members of her pack so serious... that was a lie.
She sighed softly before she nodded, "He isn't necessarily eager to see his cousin hurt, but he is rather pragmatic." now she shrugged, still confused by her friend's reasoning. "He isn't going to help too much because he won't help me poison the cookies- I've still got to sneak past Shibi to do that. But he won't warn Atsukuni either."
"Aburame culture," Sakura had deep bags under her incensed eyes. If not for how alert she looked, Fū would believe she hadn't gotten any sleep in the past week. "if you let your guard down, then only you are to blame. As long as we don't actively do anything to harm their clan members, they won't demand any kind of retribution."
"Unlike the Hyuga."
There was so much information about the clans... it was all rather draining, really.
"Exactly." Sakura nodded at Chouji's murmur, "Which is precisely why we can't deal with Chimako outside of the allotted time and place for our mission. We'd all get in trouble and their clan would not rest until they believed due restitution has been given."
"Chimako's our biggest threat." Kiba huffed, "I really hate those eyes. They cheat."
Under any other circumstances, Fū knew that any one of them would rag on Kiba for being just as much a cheater when it came to tracking- only his clan could sniff them out, after all. But this was a very serious mission they had been given and nobody was feeling particularly inclined towards joking.
Not after Kiba had come to school with a black eye and a damp mood.
"We'll get to that. First, I want to finish with Atsukuni. Fū, you're clear on what you have to do?"
She nodded quickly, "Shino's going to distract his father for a few seconds while he makes the cookies. Because Naruto and I'll be there for homework, I'll be able to sneak in, tamper with the batch, and sneak back out."
Sakura nodded, "It's imperative you complete this successfully. Poisoning the Aburame will give us a much needed legs up."
Fū had never been this close to the makings of a real shinobi mission.
Now that she was a part of it, though... she couldn't help but wonder how people were able to do this every single day of a week.
This much severity... this much planning... it had taken them days to get the information they needed; and they all knew that, if they had been given more time, they would have been able to get even more useful information.
Being a ninja was hard.
"With the Aburame taken care of, we'll deal with Hana." now Sakura moved her pale fingers over the map once more, winding up pointing at a spot she had circled in bright red marker. "We'll have to go through this patch of flora. We'll ambush them here."
Kiba groaned loudly, yet again letting them know how little he liked this. "I'm going to be just as handicapped as Hana."
Supposedly, the thick aroma that came from this specific patch of flowers was so overwhelming that no Inuzuka, no matter how well-versed and trained in self-restraint, could smell anything outside of it.
"No, you won't."
Everyone but Sakura was surprised to hear this.
Her smile was tired, but, somehow, still feral. She moved to grab hold of one of the many papers she had pulled out of her bag, then presented a drawing of something that looked like a mask to them.
"This is a prototype of a smell restricting mask- similar to what's used in Amegakure because of the never-ending rain." she smiled triumphantly at their surprise, closing her eyes as the smile took up most of her face. "With this on, you won't have to worry about being overwhelmed and unable to fight."
Wow... Sakura had really taken the leadership role seriously.
Kiba scratched at the top of his head, "Well... I can't wear a drawing."
Sakura opened her eyes, glared softly at him, and smirked. "No, you can't. But you've never shied away from a score."
Beside herself, Fū's eyes widened.
Was Sakura really thinking about stealing from the Yamanaka clan?!
~/~
"Wow, you guys are insane."
Fū smiled at Naruto's amazed gasp as she shrugged softly. "The Yamanaka clan left themselves wide open. If they didn't want that mask stolen, then they shouldn't have left it so easy to grab."
It had been Shino's idea to talk about this while in his house. Talking about something so crass within their compound would rattle his father somewhat- it would definitely make Shibi begin to think about communicating with the Yamanaka clan to let them know about the theft the pack had subjected them to. Heck, maybe, if they got lucky, the man would even stop in the process of making the honey cookies to quickly move and alert his allied clan.
She didn't feel comfortable doing this, but her mission was clear.
Ino had aided them in creating a concoction that would, in essence, get Aburame insects drunk. Honestly speaking, she didn't know how the poison worked. But she didn't need to know how it worked to know that it certainly did... poor Shino had felt off for a full day after he had tried just a millimeter of the thing.
After all of this insanity, she owed Shino big time.
She had such a great friend!
"I had no idea that you guys would ever steal from a big name." Naruto was well and truly amazed; Shino was only displaying a detached curiosity that was only natural for an Aburame heir like himself. "I thought that Kiba asshole was only focused on stealing meat."
She didn't know why Naruto and Kiba didn't get along; especially now that she could safely say there were terrifyingly similar. Both were loud, proud, somewhat abrasive, and fiercely loyal. The only clear difference she could see between them was that Kiba was much more mature and in control of his feelings; which was something to say about Naruto, because Kiba was still prone to emotional outbursts.
"I am assuming that you will return the mask eventually."
She nodded quickly, "Yup-yup!" she offered a small smile but felt herself jump when she heard Shibi make his way into the kitchen. The only reason she knew such a thing happened was due to the buzzing now coming from the insects; he did not really make a noise when he walked. "We're not jerks. But we're looking for some of Hashirama Senju's treasure and we think it's in a spot that Kiba can't really smell in."
Shino nodded stiffly at her- the signal that Shibi had begun the experiment.
She nodded back and Naruto pursed his lips; he was worried about making sure she was able to complete the mission she couldn't tell him about.
Both of her friends backed her up in the poisoning of Atsukuni and were willing to aid her in any way they could.
They continued chattering softly about nothings and somethings until eventually Shino nodded at her once again and he stood up. She nodded back at him and began to creep her way towards the open window- through the outside, she would be able to access the kitchen without running into Shibi or Shino.
She prepared herself, asked Chōmei once again for her aid, and steeled herself to steal into the night and accomplish her mission.
A few seconds passed; Naruto drummed his fingers and continued talking to himself at a rapid pace to simulate talking to her without stopping.
She had such great friends.
Kakuzu knew that he would have to contact the Akatsuki sooner rather than later. Hidan's capture had not gone as he had expected and the subsequent escape had not been able to take place. This was the ultimate wrench in his meticulous preparations for the future.
If he wanted for his plan to remain viable, he would need to successfully pull the wool over the eyes of the organization. But he wouldn't be able to do that if he remained uncontactable while in Konoha.
He would have to communicate with them soon if he wanted to make them believe he was still aiding them with their plans... it wouldn't be easy, but he was sure he would be able to convince the fools that he was still willing to aid them in the capture of the chakra monster's vessels.
He just needed a way to communicate with them without the Hokage immediately thinking that he was still working with them.
... He really didn't like meeting with the old coot... the manipulative games he played were on par with his own.
With a frown, Kakuzu watched the pack prepare for today's mission.
There was an uncharacteristic silence reigning over them that allowed him to know just how seriously they were taking the day.
Currently, Kiba was stretching out his legs, a breathing apparatus covering the lower-half of his face. It was dark in color, with a purple design on the left edge of the front facing side that looked very much like a clan symbol- Yamanaka, if his recollection of Konohagakure history wasn't faulty. There was a pipe attached to right side of it which ran into his uncharacteristically bulky looking jacket.
The mongrels hadn't explained to him where they had gotten such a contraption from. He wasn't about to ask them about it, either. Feigning ignorance was much easier this way.
Sakura finished counting up her poisoned senbon before she moved to flexing her fingers, probably testing out the limits of the protective gear she was wearing.
All of them were clad in clothes that were uncharacteristic for them. He wasn't sure if they had done this because they expected it to aid them in countering the Hyuga's clan abilities- or if they wanted their opponents to believe they thought such a thing.
Chouji finished a set of breathing exercises before he moved onto Akamaru and attached a small backpack to his small form. It was too small to properly fit anything of too much explosive power within- odds were that they had some kind of scroll hidden within that, in turn, had something sealed within.
Finally, his grandniece was jumping up and down with her eyes closed, a look of heavy concentration painted on her uncharacteristically stern face. Every now and again, her lips moved barely perceptibly- as if she were talking to herself.
Akamaru released a howl just as the timer hit zero.
The four children immediately turned to look at him, faces stern and eyes determined.
The spark of pride that appeared in his chest at this fact was bittersweet.
On one hand, he was proud of these mongrels. They weren't genin yet and they were capable of understanding how dangerous real life could be. On the other... the shinobi life was a dangerous one.
With a stiff nod, he grunted, "Don't disappoint me."
There were no jokes, confident quips, or even worried questions. All five members of the pack nodded back at him just as stiffly then set about going through with their meticulously plotted out plan to beat Team 6.
They were were precisely on schedule.
"Phase one?"
Kiba turned to Akamaru, who sniffed at the air for a few seconds before barking at him.
"Complete. Atsukuni is sick and his bugs are frazzled."
"Good." Sakura moved her left hand to the north, directing Fū towards her position. "We're counting on you, Fū. Take the Aburame out on your own terms."
There was a quick nod from the girl with the silver wig and a small smile was allowed to grace her lips, "I won't let you down!"
With this said, she split off from their group, running off in the direction of the largest hornets nest they knew of.
The rest of the pack continued running down Sakura's plotted path, careful to not spring any of the dummy traps they had set up. Even though Hana and Chimako could find them with ease, they weren't hoping for the traps to be sprung. If anything, they wanted the kunoichi to be lulled into a fall sense of confidence at successfully dodging these things.
"Phase two?" Sakura asked after a few minutes of tense silence, and Kiba allowed Akamaru to sniff at the air once again before answering.
The pup wasn't very happy to be cradled in his arms rather than traveling comfortably within his jacket, but they couldn't afford the breathing apparatus they had taken from the Yamanaka clan to be damaged in any way. So the pup was stuck roughing it while they were still together.
With a quick growl, Akamaru confirmed that Team 6 had allowed Atsukuni to break off from their formation to seek Fumiko Morino out. Odds were that they thought she was the weakest link in the pack- considering how she had not been part of the Academy for more than this semester and was renown for mediocre grades. They didn't know if the Aburame had allowed his teammates to know the disadvantage he was under- odds were he wouldn't have to save face for having been tricked by a bunch of pre-genin brats.
"Set in motion."
Sakura nodded, short pink hair bobbing as she ran at the front of their pyramid formation.
"We're nearing our destination."
Akamaru growled- he wasn't looking forward to having to hide within the Unvisitable Area in the Forest of Death; he didn't have a breathing apparatus to protect his sensitive nose. But he understood the need to fool Hana for as long as was possible, so he was willing to rough it before he was allowed to leave and find backup.
There were no limits to these missions. Kuzu had made that more than clear with each use of the leeches, killer hornets, and other natural dangers found within the Forest. That meant that there were no limits as to how far they could go to ensure they would not be captured by their opponents.
This would be the first time they relied on strays, though.
Kiba's heart was pounding within his ears and he couldn't help but want to fiddle with the breathing apparatus over his face. He didn't like the clean air he was able to breathe; it felt like he was swimming through life without the ability to smell what was around him. But it was imperative he keep it on so as to not be caught by surprise without it on before they reached the Unvisitable Area. If he didn't have it on by the time the smells reached them... he would be just as incapacitated as he would have been if he did not have it on.
"Are you ready, Chouji?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Good."
He had never seen Sakura so serious.
It was... humbling, really.
All his life, he had led his friends. He had been the one to shoulder the brunt of leadership and take care of those he cared about. Because of this, he had not allowed himself to see just how capable his friends were with the right support.
Sakura's mind was a wicked thing.
It's a good thing she liked him enough to hopefully never set it against him.
Akamaru whined softly as they entered the clearing filled with giant and colorful plants. Even without Inuzuka smell, Chouji could say he understood very well why he made such a pained nose. The whole clearing was dusted in a perpetual cloud of pink, yellow, and orange; undoubtedly, the particles that caused this large area to be filled with cloying smells that devastated the Inuzuka nose.
Kiba patted his partner's head in reassurance, trying to offer him some semblance of comfort, and Chouji couldn't help but feel bad for the little guy. His own nose was tickling now and his eyes were beginning to water- the denseness of the flower's smell was no joke.
"You know, if we had been fast, I'm pretty sure we would have been able to avoid Team 6 and reach the end." he commented offhandedly, his hands flexing in preparation for the ensuing battle.
His whole body was taught- he felt like he was ready to spring any second and unleash hell.
They had all seen the black eye Kiba had sported. It was obvious to any and all of them why Sakura had been insistent on forming her plan around confrontation, rather than evasion.
"They're too fast for us."
Chouji nodded softly, even though he knew he wasn't seen by either of his teammates. He stood behind the both of them, as Sakura had requested of him.
All three of them were great at taijutsu. But they needed him to stick back and disrupt the flow of battle whenever it seemed either of their opponents were getting the upper-hand and to run quick medical assistance if necessary. Sakura was dead-set on taking on Hana and Kiba was the only one of them that stood a chance against Chimako; it was only kind of natural for him to hang back.
"They're going to be here any second."
Kiba's voice was muffled by the contraption on his face, but the edge was clear even with this fact. They were all tense, prepared for a fight they knew they needed to have.
This wasn't a matter of just evading some tracking teams that needed to perfect their craft. This was personal.
He closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and allowed his chest to swell, then opened them up to find Chimako Hyuga entering the dense and colorful cloud they were within.
Even through the colors somewhat bothering their view, Chouji could tell that this was a very serious Hyuga kunoichi. Her long hair was tightly bound in a bun at the top of her head, but twin strands hung at either side of her face with beads at the top and bottom. Her eyes were pale, with veins popping out somewhat grotesquely around them, and a serious frown was on her thin lips. Her hitai-ite was placed proudly on her forehead, both strands of hair laying over it.
"What are you runts playing at?" her eyes were narrowed, body poised in a protective stance; if any of them were to get close, Chouji knew they would be struck down immediately.
Sakura's voice was tinged with the smirk she was probably wearing; the cockiness was uncharacteristic in her, but, somehow... it felt right.
"A three-on-one seems like the odds are in our favor, don't you think?"
Chimako winced, frown becoming a sneer. She didn't move forward.
"That being said, I was hoping Hana wouldn't be such a coward and would face us to even out your odds."
Chimako's legs widened ever so slightly- probably moving into a more battle-ready pose- and the bottom front of her slitted dress fell between them. From the way she dressed, Chouji would guess that she had taken the role of medic very seriously; she wasn't dressed in pants and a shirt as was common for active fighters. The length of her dress had been one of the weaknesses Kiba had been told to exploit.
"You brats think you can take us on?"
Hana's voice was one they all knew- even if they did not know it well.
From the way Chimako's glare intensified, Chouji guessed that Hana was not supposed to have barged in at that moment. But Kiba's sister made her way inside of the clearing, even though she did not have ninken with her.
That could be a problem for Akamaru.
"Cute."
Now Kiba chuckled, a dark and slow sound Chouji had never heard from his friend, and he offered, "What's cute is how impatient you are, sis."
Hana Inuzuka was highly proficient in taijutsu, chakra control, and Inuzuka clan abilities. Her greatest weakness was impatience while her greatest strength was an analytic mind. If not for how consistently she insulted her younger brother, Sakura would look up to her as a role model; she was a strong kunoichi that was hailed as a great of her class, after all.
Ever since she had met Hana, in fact, Sakura had found it hard to believe she was a bad person... until she had seen the black eye Kiba had sported earlier in the week.
After seeing such a thing, she knew that Hana was just another clueless adult that didn't understand her best friend's greatness. And those kinds of adults were, in Kiba's own words, stupid.
"Are we going to keep flapping our lips or are we going to get to fighting?" Hana snarled, eyes focused on her brother.
Sakura shrugged softly, but motioned to herself, "You're dancing with me, princess."
Admittedly, Hana was faster than she had expected.
In the span of a blink of an eye, she had crossed the clearing and thrown a violent right hook at her face; luckily, Sakura was able to jump out of the way and avoid the blow.
The silent truce broken by this, Kiba was quick to move at the Hyuga powerhouse, closing up the distance between them as Sakura began to weave out of all of Hana's attacks.
She was good; if not for the handicap of not having her nose, Sakura was sure many of those hits would have connected and left her wheezing.
But seeing how they had used the Inuzuka's temper against her; which they had incensed in the past few days by getting Inuzuka dogs to chatter about how unlikely it was for Hana to lose this clash and paying off some non-shinobi Inuzuka to chatter about how silly it would be for Kiba to ever defeat his older sister in anything; and she had impulses to match Kiba's own, Hana was not at the top of her game.
Were all genin this impulsive? If so, she could see why becoming a chunin hadn't been possible for them just yet.
The Aburame had been poisoned by a handful of ten year olds and the Inuzuka had been handicapped by leading them into this clearing. Only the Hyuga had been left untouched, but dealing with her wouldn't be too hard once the other teammates were dispatched of.
For now, this was a battle of attrition. Sakura's only objective was to avoid as many of Hana's blows as were possible. By doing this, the Inuzuka would tire herself out and make herself that much more susceptible to the cloying smell around them. Once all her nose could properly smell was this thick cloud, she would be totally off her game. And it was then that Sakura would stab her with the senbon she had prepared with a paralyzing agent.
After this, she would owe Ino big time.
Their fight was truly more of a dance. Hana swiped and attempted to tear at her, but Sakura would jump or twirl out of the way before she could do any damage. Admittedly, Hana would have been a dangerous adversary in perfect conditions- the scratches now adorning her clothes were a testament to this fact. But she had the upper-hand and Hana had delivered them this reality on a silver platter.
As she jumped over one of Hana's swipes and placed her left foot on her shoulder, Sakura noted that Kiba was taking on Chimako with Chouji's aid. She frowned at this- that meant that the Hyuga was a tougher opponent than they had previously thought of.
Utilizing Hana as a springboard, Sakura pushed off of her shoulder and distanced herself from her enemy for long enough to scan the clearing; Akamaru was nowhere to be seen. If everything went according to plan, he would be able to find the strays for backup. But the fact that the Haimaru Brothers had yet to appear definitely complicated that.
"Why don't you stay still?!"
Sakura smiled, heart beating fast; essentially pounding in her chest. Her breathing was quick and shallow. Her sternum felt tight. And yet... she felt calm; it was as if she was in control.
Maybe Kuzu had a point to say she enjoyed a good fight.
"I don't know. Why can't you hit me?"
Hana roared; Sakura saw her opening.
The Inuzuka barreled at her so quickly all Sakura could properly do was grab one of the senbon within the pouch attached to her thigh. Dodging would have meant getting caught by one of the outstretched hands and she wasn't looking to get swiped at by the Inuzuka.
All breath was knocked out of her when her back crashed into a sturdy tree trunk. For a moment, she could see stars.
Hana was panting heavily.
"Got you."
Sakura coughed, quickly stabbing the senbon in her hand into the thigh closest to it. Hana hissed, slapped at her hand, and raised an incensed glare at her.
It was at this point that Sakura began to wonder if there was more to her angered state than she knew.
Hana had always been cold and distant; she had never seemed particularly passionate about her disdain for her brother.
What had happened recently to get her to act like this?
Sakura forced those thoughts away and glared back; remembering all of the Old Man's harsh lessons.
"Got you." she growled back, pride blooming in her when Hana's snarl twisted with confusion.
The paralytic agent took a few minutes, but eventually Sakura was able to push Hana and she topped bonelessly to the ground.
She coughed once again, ribs rattling and she could tell that she would probably bruise where Hana's shoulder had rammed into her stomach. But she quickly turned her sights onto their final enemy- she hadn't been lying when she had said that Chimako against all three of them allowed them a better chance at victory.
"Hi!"
She waved over in the direction of the clearly sluggish looking Aburame, feet kicking freely from her seat on a high branch of a rather sturdy tree.
His insects buzzed angrily as he forced them out of their homes, a cloud of angry Aburame bugs forming over his head. His arms stretched out before him, grand sleeves gaping below them.
She still smiled at him, lowering her hand to rest on her side.
"You're not feeling all that great, huh?"
He was on the ground, she was high up in the tree. This area was precariously close to a nest of killer hornets she had been careful to not upset- but were very much a hazard she would be able to utilize against him.
Did he know how delicious chakra-eating insects were to this brand of hornets?
He didn't say anything; just kept his bugs forcefully outside of his body in a show of what she assumed to be preparation for the ensuing battle.
Her smile faltered a little at this and she cocked her head to the side, "Are you sure you want to fight me in the state you're in? Your bugs aren't feeling very happy."
He grit his teeth and he allowed himself to take one step away from her. His heavy trench coat swooshed with the movement and she was able to see a few bugs retreat back into their host.
"Look at that- your cloud's swaying."
He frowned visibly now and she shrugged softly. "Listen, we don't have to fight, y'know. Well, I mean, my orders were to fight you..." she blinked as she brought her right pointer finger to her chin as the memory of Sakura's orders resurfaced. "I'm supposed to wipe the floor with you and take advantage of you having been poisoned."
"You know what happened to me?"
Oh, he had a nice voice! It was somewhat breathless- was that his usual tone or was that because he had been poisoned?
She nodded once, and offered an apologetic smile as she returned her hand to rest beside her, "Sorry about that, but we really needed to mess with you guys if we wanted to stand a chance against you. No hard feelings, right?"
"Lord Shibi's cookies- that's how you did it."
"Was that a question?" she prodded at him as she cocked her head to the other side. He didn't answer her; she shrugged once again. "Yeah. Routine can really kill you when your opponent catches wind of it."
More and more of his insects began to return into his body and his hands were visibly trembling.
With a heavy sigh, Fū jumped up onto the branch she had been seated on and stood firmly on it. Once that was done, she pointed a severe finger at him, "Listen up, I'm giving you the chance to avoid getting your butt wiped by a ten year old kunoichi-in-training! We can leave here and say that we didn't fight because we just didn't feel like it and you can save some face with your clan and not have to admit to having been outsmarted by your cousin's newest friend!"
His dark eyebrows narrowed and his sunglasses shined with an intensity that made little sense in an inanimate object; his insects buzzing became severely frazzled and loud.
She bit her bottom lip, fearing having to actually fight him.
But he soon sighed heavily and the cloud of insects was allowed to return to their homes and rest up; his hands were raised halfheartedly in surrender.
"An integral part of a shinobi's education is acknowledging when you have been bested by your opponent." his voice was deep, breathy, and slow- it was as if he was reciting some important text or something.
She smiled once again and began to hop down the tree so she could wind up on ground level. "No wonder Shino likes you- you're funny!"
"They're budding killers."
Kakuzu ignored the dog-masked ANBU.
"What happened to Hana? She's normally much more composed." the rabbit-masked ANBU coughed softly, only to receive a scoff from his companion.
Kakuzu continued to watch the battle going on beneath them- the Hyuga had managed to make a few limbs of the children useless, but it was really only a matter of time before Sakura was able to find a necessary opening to end her in the same manner she had ended Kiba's brother.
"Inuzuka pride." the dog-masked man shrugged his shoulders, moving his eyes back onto the orange book he had brought along with him. "Odds are Tsume pit the pups against each other- winner gets the right to call the loser a runt; the winner gets valued training time with her; that sort of deal."
"Huh."
Kakuzu ignored their chatter and watched on with mounting pride.
Kiba utilized Chouji's back to spring at the Hyuga all the while Sakura swept at her legs. Torn between these two differing attacks, the kunoichi was forced to jump awkwardly to the side to avoid them both; Chouji was quick to slam his fist into the ground beside her and knock her further off balance.
"Why haven't they been promoted to genin yet?" another cough wracked through the ANBU and he followed up with, "They could make it to ANBU in no time."
He wouldn't be allowing that to happen.
These kids were his. Not Konoha's.
"Hokage's orders."
"Huh."
Kiba's sister's dogs had managed to intercept Akamaru before he had been able to send word for reinforcements. But, really, that had been a backup plan that had been thought of in case they had not been able to deal with the kunoichi as they had managed; a contingency for the worst case scenario.
He had picked well when he had decided Haruno to be the one to leader this mission.
The Hyuga threw herself backwards to avoid Chouji's fist and found herself unable to avoid the conjoined flurry of fists thrown at her by Kiba and Sakura; all she could do was parry their fists away. She wasn't able to properly utilize her clan technique even with Kiba's useless right arm and Sakura's stunted left own.
Chouji's left leg had given out some time ago and his left arm was just as ineffective; but he was still hopping around and pressuring the Hyuga.
"They should hurry and wrap this up." the Hyuga was able to throw herself away from the two pressing attackers; only to find herself caught in the middle of a triangle formed by her three opponents.
"You've gotta admit the Hyuga's putting up a good fight." Sakura tossed some senbon over at Kiba and both of them crouched, preparing themselves for the finishing attack.
The Hyuga's hair had come undone from its bun, her dress and leggings were torn, and she was bleeding from some of Kiba's swipes. She was going to lose unless she was able to bring out some miraculous move that decimated the three's tight offense.
"She has to if she doesn't want her reputation absolutely tarnished in her clan." Inu commented cynically as Kakuzu heard him pass a page. "How can she face her clan when she lost to children?"
Chouji charged first and the Hyuga attempted to disable him completely by obstructing the tenketsu in his chest and back; Kiba jumped at her and swiped at her legs at the same time Sakura dove for her neck.
She wasn't able to dodge them both.
Sakura's senbon plunged into her right shoulder as she attempted to swivel out of Kiba's reach.
The three kids backed off from her as her pale eyes widened in recognition, hands scrabbling for the senbon attached to her. Sakura and Kiba moved over to Chouji and aided him in getting up; the Hyuga's mouth opened in a voiceless scream.
She fell just like the Inuzuka kunoichi had minutes prior.
"This pack is kind of terrifying."
Kakuzu allowed himself to feel proud at hearing this from the rabbit-masked man.
Yes.
His pack was terrifying.
~..~..~
I know it's been a good long while, but here's the newest chapter~! The next one will deal a bit more with building up the truth of the Inuzuka clan, showing off how Kakuzu's going to deal with the Akatsuki, and some more friendship building from the pack.
I hope y'all enjoyed this!
