Huge Content Warning: The Beginning of this chapter details torture methods, speaks of bodily harm, and explores psychological torture. If this is not for you, please skip or turn away now. I will post a summary at the end of the chapter of what happened so that those that don't want details can know what happened but not have to visualize it. In my opinion (as someone who can't stomach much violence) this scene can be a bit hard to read. It's not bad because it's not graphic. But if you're not in the right headspace or prepared, it can be jarring and might even affect you. Especially considering how lightly I've touched upon violent themes for most of the story.

~..~..~

Ibiki Morino had been deciphering Hidan of Yuugakure's supposed madness for quite some time now. It had been a long and draining journey; on many occasions, he had wanted to give up and just throw the supposed madman into a padded cell where chakra draining seals made up the bulk of the padding and then throw away the key.

But he hadn't allowed himself to take the easy way out.

Hidan wasn't insane. Disturbed? Horribly. A dangerous fanatic rather intensely far-gone into believing a violent religion's brutal doctrine? Without a doubt. But certifiably insane to a degree that he could not be hold accountable for his own actions and, by extent, unable to give a trustworthy retelling of past actions he had made and events he had witnessed? Not by a long shot.

The man was also no fool. He knew exactly what sort of things to include in his ramblings to make him sound as if he were detached from reality; much too intent on committing violent acts to truly understand the error of his ways.

But it was all an act.

It had taken much too long to pin down this truth to a degree that had enough evidence for the Hokage to agree; he had hypothesized from the moment they had captured him that Hidan wasn't insane. But now he had been given the go-ahead by Lord Third to offer one final ultimatum for Hidan to give them the information they needed on the Akatsuki; if Hidan didn't take it, he would never see the light of day again.

Ibiki couldn't help but wonder if Hidan would speak because he wouldn't be able to handle the imprisonment he would be subjected to or because he couldn't allow himself to never offer a sacrifice to his god ever again.

This level of religious fanaticism... there was no doubt that Hidan was a Zealot and this truth influenced many of the horrible things he did. But it didn't free him from the consequences of his actions.

When Ibiki entered the cell he was being kept in, Hidan turned an immediate smile in his direction. He made a point of slamming the book he had previously been reading from to close it and threw it with much more force than necessary towards the corner of the gray cell. The chains keeping his shackles trapped to the ground rattled loudly due to this motion.

"Have you decided to finally let Lord Jashin's greatness wash over you?"

The main reason why Ibiki's investigation on Hidan's sanity had been so very difficult had been this. For some reason beyond him, the jashinist was particularly insistent on attempting to convert him to his religion.

This was ludicrous to Ibiki for many reasons; in part, he was a firm believer of natural forces and not supernatural ones; but he was mostly against this because Jashinism was an incredibly violent, sadistic, and cruel religion. Ibiki was none of these things.

Probably, Hidan believed that all interrogators were monstrous beings that rejoiced in the torture they imparted on others; that's what most people believed, after all. So it would only make sense for him to think that Ibiki already had a previous sadistic streak to him that would intrigued by Jashin's violent scriptures.

After all, that's all Hidan had attempted to tell him about Jashinism. 'Lord Jashin makes us all equal when we feel pain; evil and violence is the natural compulsion of humans- it is childish to try and deny our own nature. Hurting others, destroying what they are, humbles everyone and prepares them for the salvation Lord Jashin will gift them in death. You understand the power of pain.'

If all Jashinism could promise was supposed salvation after death, but only after consistently working to earn it through violence and destruction... then it certainly was not a religion Ibiki wanted to learn about.

"I've finally decided that if you don't answer my questions, you'll never utter your lord's name for the rest of your immortal life."

A blaze of intrigue sparked up in Hidan's purple eyes and he cocked his head to the side ever so slightly, a proud smirk snaking onto his lips.

Ibiki wasted no time in explaining what would happen to him if he didn't speak now- and, admittedly, he took some pleasure in seeing the look of self-assurance slowly become one of actual fear.

"There are two ways that Konoha will be capable of keeping you unable to be a danger to anyone- not even yourself- that do not require the continual loss of money. The first is simple, crude, and bloody but easy to achieve- and I believe a fitting end to you. We will simply cut you in half, and in two different locations, explode both pieces of your body along with granite- quite a tough stone, unmoving too- and move the rubble into a hole we will seal. Chakra draining tags will be placed along this burial and your body will never be able to remake itself."

Hidan was sane; so sane, even, that he understood what this would mean for him. From the data they had managed to gather and what Kakuzu had given them, Hidan could not regrow lost body parts. He needed to reattach anything that was severed to be able to heal it. This would mean that being blown up and then sealed in a coffin of granite, he would never be able to remake himself. That added to the fact that half of his body would be buried far from him would ensure that even if by some miracle his body was able to come back together, he would never be capable of completely remaking himself.

Purple eyes, once filled with mischief and presumption, were now wide in horror.

After months of having to spend time confined to a small cell to be able to better understand this bastard, Ibiki believed it was only right he found some semblance of amusement in seeing this.

Hidan could take a big game, but the reality was that he was a coward. His zeal for his religion was so blinding that just the idea of being unable to properly practice would strike the fear of, well, Jashin into his heart.

"The second is much more elegant, if you were to ask me, but much more painful in the long run. With a simple construction of metal elaborated into an iron maiden to fit your body- infused with chakra draining seals, of course- you would be imprisoned in an underwater tomb. Considering how you are immortal, you would feel every second of agony that would be having your lungs perpetually filled with water for the rest of your existence. Naturally, you would be drowned in a large body of water within Konoha to make sure that if you somehow managed to escape, we can utilize the first method on you to ensure your continued imprisonment."

Pain was a language very few understood; it was easily misunderstood even by those that believed they understood how to communicate through it. And the promise of pain was a beautiful thing in an interrogator's life.

What Ibiki was promising Hidan wasn't the type of torture he had prepared himself for- there were no broken bones, yanked teeth, or severed fingers to be had in what he was proposing. This wasn't the type of torture that most shinobi prepared themselves for. The physical pain was an important factor in the pallor Hidan's face had acquired, yes. But the most important factor was the fact that these types of tombs would render him unable to worship his god. For someone that thrived on religion like Hidan, this was a fate worse than death.

Silence hung over them; blanketed them thickly.

Hidan wasn't insane. He was just an overconfident fool.

Ibiki allowed Hidan to see him smile for the first time as he said, "Personally, I would go with option number two first. But there is merit to condemning you to a tomb of rubble from the very beginning." he punctuated his lighthearted sigh by crossing his arms over his chest and cocking his head to the side, mocking Hidan's earlier actions. "Speak now or forever be unable to pray to your god."

The tears that began to well within Hidan's eyes were as amusing as they were pitiful.

Kiba was aware that Shino was friends with Fū- because of this friendship, it wouldn't be that hard to convince the Aburame to lend her one of his high-collared jackets... but...

The Inuzuka groaned in frustration as he threw himself back onto the sleeping bag he had rolled out on the floor of Fū's room.

All of their friends were currently outside in Ibiki's apartment, finishing up schoolwork and probably starting up on cooking their dinner. He was supposed to leave his moment of solitude in an hour or so to help preparing the finishing touches for tomorrow's party and he wasn't eager to do such a thing.

Kuzu had trusted him.

He couldn't believe it... but he couldn't help but wish this was real.

For a while now, he had begun to wonder if Kuzu didn't hate him- mostly because of the man's attitude becoming much less prickly when it pertained to him... but this was proof that Kuzu believed in him.

He began to feel like a sentimental idiot when tears began to burn at his eyes- so he threw his hands up to his face and pressed the base of his palms to his eyes to stop any kind of waterworks.

Ever since Kuzu had taken them on the fieldtrip to a nearby town and belittled him for not having gone in with a plan... Kiba frowned and kicked his legs out from underneath him to rest against the floor.

That day had been one that had never left him. Kuzu had been so cold and uncaring... he'd even taken away the one thing Kiba had nicked! Because of it, Kiba had always assumed that Kuzu enjoyed Chouji and Sakura's company, but just tolerated his... just like every other adult in his life... granted, he had begun to hope that there was more to the Old Man as more time had passed... but now Kiba was sure.

When Kuzu had shielded his tears from being seen by Shikaku Nara, he should have known... but... well... Kiba knew he wasn't very smart. And he hadn't really thought much about his and Kuzu's relationship in a while...

But now Kiba knew.

And because he knew, he couldn't disappoint Kuzu.

Because he couldn't disappoint Kuzu, he needed to come up with foolproof plan that would ensure he would be able to get the communication he had been left with to the post office in Midori no Mori and see it sent to the correct address.

But...

The pressure in his eyes mounted and it didn't exclusively belong to the palms pushing into them.

He wasn't bordering on genius in his intellect, like Sakura. And he wasn't even normal smart, like Chouji. He was dumb and simple and he had never really been too bothered by this because the easiest path was usually the best... but even he understood that the easiest path wasn't always the best.

Completing this mission for Kuzu counted as one of those moments where being smart was necessary.

Kuzu had made it incredibly clear that it'd be for the best to utilize some sort of disguise so that he couldn't be tracked down if any of the people that Kuzu was writing became curious about who had delivered the message. Because of the bright red fangs on his face, he couldn't really go through with the regular sort of disguises he guessed most people would choose... he'd even need something to cover the lower half of his face.

Shino's jackets were perfect for such a thing... hell, if he wore some sunglasses, he might even be confused for an Aburame- which would be great because that'd make him incredibly hard to track down.

But it wasn't like he could just ask the guy if he could borrow his jacket. They weren't friends.

Fū and him, though, were. So, maybe, if she asked for his jacket, Kiba would get his paws on it without any real complications.

But... if he told Fū that he needed one of Shino's jackets, she might ask him why he needed one. And he still wasn't very sure if he wanted to tell the rest of the pack about what he was going to try and do on Monday.

Technically, he still had quite a bit of time to plan what he needed to do... and, yeah, asking for the pack to help him out would certainly make things easier; especially because he would have to do this during a school day... but Kuzu hadn't told him to get their help... and maybe this was some sort of test?

Kiba's frown deepened as he rolled onto his side and curled his legs up to his stomach. He moved his hands away from his eyes, opting to leave them closed, and sighed as his arms fell against his chest.

He wasn't very smart and there were easy and hard ways to do certain things he needed to do...

An Inuzuka's strength was their pack. There was no way that Kuzu didn't know that at this point.

He'd tell his friends about this whole mission once they were alone.

"That sounds dangerous, Kiba."

Kiba cocked his head to the side, "Seriously?"

Sakura's short pink hair bounced as she nodded quickly, then she mentioned, "Odds are that the person Kuzu's trying to send that communication to is dangerous- that's why he mentioned disguises to not be tracked down by them. And considering how strong the Old Man is, it wouldn't really be all that surprising that he had dangerous contacts, right?"

Raising his hand to his head, Kiba scratched his scalp softly, "Well, I guess. But I was more worried about the sneaking out than the disguise itself... if Shino can't lend me anything, then I'm sure-"

"No need!" Fū interrupted as she jumped off of the counter of Ibiki's kitchen to grab him by his left arm, yanking him into a side-hug. "Shino's a sweetheart. I'll just tell him you want to try the style out during the weekend- if anything, I'm sure he'll be real happy you think he looks cool."

Kiba deadpanned, "I don't think that."

"Subterfuge is just one weapon in the abstract arsenal a shinobi wields." she mocked Kuzu's tone of voice by attempting to deepen her own, even though she only managed to sound as if she was struggling with a cold. "I've just got to tell him something to get a jacket off him- easy."

With a sigh, Kiba allowed the green haired girl to continue hugging his arm, even though it was somewhat odd for her to be doing such a thing. None of them were very insistent on touching one another, after all.

When Kiba turned his eyes back onto Sakura, he found her frowning softly as she held her chin in her right hand. Her eyebrows were furrowed and there was a far-off look to her eyes, as if deep in thought.

Probably overthinking a plan- just like he had been doing for the past few hours before giving up and asking his pack for help.

When he looked over at Chouji, he found the Akimichi with his arms crossed over his chest and a worried look clear on his face. Kiba pursed his lips at this, but allowed the silence to remain among them for a few more seconds.

Sakura and Chouji were a lot more predisposed to worrying and overthinking than him; so if he had been stuck for much too long on thinking and contemplating and worrying, it wasn't a surprise to find them in such a state only a few minutes after hearing about Kiba's newest mission.

"Kiba... have you..." Sakura piped up before cutting herself off quickly, causing Kiba to quirk an eyebrow at her. Her face was now indescribably passionate... the way it only got when something really mattered to her. "You're not going alone."

Akamaru popped out of Chouji's pant pocket at that point, barking to catch her attention.

Sakura didn't even bother looking at the pup.

"Akamaru doesn't count. I mean that you're not leaving this village without any backup."

"Sakura, you're just worrying-"

Sakura shook her head quickly, eyes harsh and determined. "You and Fū almost died when you got attacked by enemies we still don't know anything about."

Any sort of ease Kiba may have had in his body was immediately chased at the reminder of that...

Fū pressed a comforting hand on his stiffened arm before she turned to Sakura, "Those guys were captured, Sakura. They can't hurt us anymore."

That was the arm that sported some gnarly scars due to the tiger attack he had saved Fū from... he didn't really like looking at it and he was more than happy to continue wearing long-sleeved garments for the rest of his life if they covered up the physical reminder of that horrible night.

"We don't know why they attacked you; so we don't know if there are others like them." Sakura's hands balled up into tights fists at her sides, voice tight and strained. "I'm not letting anyone get the chance to hurt you again, Kiba."

Kiba didn't answer immediately.

He didn't know how to... didn't know what to say... didn't know if his mouth would even work...

Chouji spoke up and saved him from having to rush to come up with something.

"I... I agree with Sakura, you guys. We don't know enough about what happened to not take precautions." with this said, he looked Kiba in the eyes and offered a small smile that felt marginally comforting to Kiba.

If his hands began to shake, neither him nor Fū bothered to mention it.

"I think that we've all earned a sick-day from the Academy." he continued, then shrugged, "And maybe it'd be a good idea to take Fū out on an excursion. She's never been outside of the village with us."

Fū's grip on him loosened ever so slightly as she contemplated Chouji's words, then she nodded and hugged him tight once again. "Then it's decided. Excursion time!"

Akamaru jumped out of Chouji's pocket and began to yip in excitement, causing the tension in the room to loosen ever so slightly.

Kiba smiled awkwardly as slowly but surely they regained normalcy to them and began to plan out what they were going to do to prepare for Monday and what might be the best way to go about reaching the town and post office.

He couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable warmth on his previously injured forearm as they continued to talk about what they'd need to do.

Shino Aburame was a good Aburame... well, as good as an Aburame could get. His scent had hints of honey to it that made him a familiar if scent; even if it wasn't a comforting scent.

The rest of the Aburame compound smelled staggeringly of Aburame he didn't know.

He had fully intended to be part of the first party Fū ever attended; especially because it was going to be the first party he ever went to that wasn't just a clan thing.

But when he and the rest of his pack had gotten close to the patch of tamed forest that was the Aburame compound, a rush of wind had plowed into his nose and inundated it with the smell of danger.

He hadn't known the scent of the Aburame that had used his insects to brutalize the tiger that had injured him. And... he had immediately become overwhelmed by all of the scents.

The accompanying buzzing of millions of weapons had frozen him in place; he had not been able to get his feet to move forward.

Sakura had been the one to notice his sudden terror... and she had smiled encouragingly at him and told him that he didn't have to come with them to the party; they'd get one of Shino's coats and then meet up with him once the party was over to give it to him.

Kiba had stared at her with wide eyes, his chest feeling tight as his breath refused to work normally.

Sakura... her scent began to waft of reassurance, kindness, and understanding. Kiba couldn't smell pity anywhere in her scent. There was a slight tang of worry, but it was buried beneath all of the other, much sweeter, much nicer smells.

With another smile and a nod, she had promised to let the others know that he wasn't able to make it because his mother had called on him for clan-related chores and no one needed to know that he had been on the way but turned away.

Even though it had been difficult to move, Kiba found that it was just a tad bit easier to nod in gratitude at his pack member than it had been to try and attempt to move towards the Aburame compound.

Sakura offered one final, bright and kind smile, before she ran up to meet with the rest of the pack, who had continued moving forward and didn't bother looking back at him... but their scents were filled with worry and hope and Kiba felt his heart tug in the best way possible.

His pack understood him.

Akamaru barked at him that it might be a good idea to find out if the strays had any news on possible meat sellers they could tonight, seeing how they finally had some time free to them and it had been quite some time since they had last eaten premium cuts... and Kiba's feet started to move before his brain had truly processed what the pup had offered.

~/~

Shibi Aburame's honey cookies were pretty delicious. The only reason Kiba was able to witness such a marvel was because his pack had brought some for him along with Shino's jacket.

They didn't ask why he hadn't wanted to go into the Aburame compound. They hadn't even asked him what he had done during the few hours he had been left by himself without his pack. Instead, they had told him about all of the fun things they had gotten up to and promised that they'd throw another party soon at Ibiki's apartment because after the success of this party, there was no reason why Morino wouldn't allow them.

He truly had the best friends in the world.

On Saturday, Kuzu drilled them on their teamwork. He paid particular attention to Fū and grouched at her the most for her blatantly stupid mistakes- but there was a sort of softness to a lot of the scoldings that made them read as patient, rather than exasperated.

The Old Man didn't ask anything about Kiba's plans for the communication he was supposed to deliver; everything was business as usual. Kiba didn't say anything either, just like the rest of the pack.

Just like the existence of the Old Man and Fū's had once been their secret, this new mission they were to embark on was a new secret that only the pack needed to know about. There was no need to talk about it out loud with Kuzu; especially not when he was under constant surveillance; because he trusted them. And the pack didn't feel the need to ask questions because they had a plan.

Fū's taijutsu was integrated into an attack formation the Old Man taught them- which mostly relied on Kiba and Akamaru's Inuzuka ninjutsu as a frontal attack and then wound up with a flurry of taijutsu from Chouji and Fū. Sakura's position in the formation was in the backlines, seeing how she was supposed to be stunning their target with genjutsu.

By the time they had finished their time training together, Kuzu mentioned that he would attempt to have live targets for them to practice on the next week so they could properly practice this formation and get it battle ready.

None of the pack was foolish, though. With the harsh way that Kuzu had drilled them, the formation, while unpolished, was simple enough to be utilized in a real battle should there be a need for it. Sakura's part could be easily switched out and she could take an offensive role with her poisoned kunai.

Kuzu had given them a way to protect themselves in case something went wrong during their mission.

The Old Man... he was kind of a genius.

It was kind of scary, really.

Maybe it was a good thing he was now working with Konoha.

The first part of Sunday was spent hammering out any kinks in their plan; the second was spent relaxing and halfheartedly comparing notes on the fuinjutsu lessons Kuzu wanted them to learn from.

When night fell, they prepared their individual packs for the trip they would be embarking on and snuck into Sakura's room to be able to sleep together. They had decided on the Haruno home because it was, of all of their homes, the one that would be the easiest to escape from. Sakura's parents, unlike the rest, were regular civilians. They weren't shinobi trained to listen for the subtlest squeak of a floorboard.

That night, laying on the wooden floor of Sakura's room with Akamaru curled up on his chest, Sakura's hand hanging beside his face, Fū's foot much too close to his face, and Chouji snoring a few feet away from him, Kiba felt the safest he had in a while... and all because he had most of his pack with him.

They left for Midori no Mori before the sun had even risen.

Akamaru and the strays insisted that they smelled a huge deluge of rain- Kiba could smell the telling scent of incoming water too, but he wasn't as good at telling climactic events as dogs- and so they had left a note in Sakura's room that stated that they were going to skip school in an attempt to see if the rain aided them in finding Hashirama Senju's treasure.

The rain was a great ally for multiple reasons; the main one being that once it began to rain, their physical tracks and any remnants of their scents would be washed away, so almost no one would be able to track them. The people most fit to track in such horrible conditions were fellow clan members and they didn't really bother attempting to track him down- once he figured out they were onto him, he did everything possible to make himself untrackable and it was a headache for them.

If it rained all day, then not even Kiba would be able to track any prey- which was great.

Quite frankly, today was the best day to go ahead and do this. Not only was the climate great, but they also had just finished up recent chapters in most of their classes, so Sakura and Chouji wouldn't be missing out on any important lessons.

A light drizzle began exactly as they crossed through the boundary of the Forest of Death. They continued walking in the direction of where Shikamaru and Sakura had last pinpointed as a good place to search for Hashirama's treasure, though, in case someone began to follow them before the rain started.

Kiba wasn't a big fan of rain because it stamped down a lot of scents while enhancing certain others- like that of nature. He enjoyed the smell of nature, granted, but he didn't like it enough to have it augmented. So he wasn't incredibly happy as they pulled raincoat hoods over their heads and continued on their way under mounting rainfall.

The only drawback to having so much rain was that Kiba himself wouldn't be able to tell if they were being followed. For that, they would have to rely on Fū- who insisted she knew how to utilize her chakra in a way similar to what sensor-type shinobi did.

Kiba didn't know if she was actually capable of such a feat. She'd never mentioned such a skill before and she didn't really talk much about ninja skills she had learned back in Taki. But she had been pretty insistent in being able to feel if people other than the pack where near them, so he guessed that having such a skill was better than nothing when the rain made it impossible for him to find anyone.

It began to rain pretty hard when they were jumping clear of the large roots of the final trees of the Forest of Death in the spot that melded into the regular forest of the Land of Fire.

Sakura asked if now would be a good time to inform them about the particular effects of some of the poisons she had brought along, breaking through the mostly tense silence they had maintained during most of the walk.

Akamaru joined in on their quick agreement to such a thing.

The list of poisons and effects Sakura began to rattle off was much longer than Kiba had expected; but, really, he should have expected it to be long, considering how smart Sakura was.

Torune and Fū had failed- their failure was now the biggest threat to ROOT's existence Yōji had ever witnessed.

They had been foolish, impulsive, and weak. Their inability to dispose of two children had proven how truly useless they were to Lord Shimura; if anything, ROOT was stronger now that they were gone.

That being said, their failure now meant that they needed to maneuver over broken glass to be able to get to the container of the Seven Tails and eliminate the youngest of the Inuzuka Clan Head's children.

Kiba Inuzuka was incredibly knowledgeable in the way of tracking and avoiding being tracked, but he was no prodigy. The fact the now ex-members of ROOT had been incapable of stopping him proved that they had underestimated him; Yōji, though, understood very well what needed to be done to get rid of the uncivilized menace.

What these four children were doing leaving Konohagakure on a school day was only mildly interesting to him. What truly interested him was the fact that they had chosen a rainy day to do this, allowing him to track them without getting found out by the Inuzuka's nose or that of his mutt's.

He followed them all the way to the town of Midori no Mori, where he remained in the relative safety of the dense foliage surrounding the town to avoid being detected by sight.

He had not worn appropriate clothes to mix in with civilians and he wasn't keen on expending any chakra if he had other options to choose from. For now, he would retain distance and continue observing.

Where Torune and Fū had failed via impulses and lack of forethought, he would succeed via prudence and observation.

The only downside to the rain that was impending the Inuzuka members from sniffing him out was that he could not send his kochū out to swiftly deal with the children he knew Lord Danzou needed eliminated. Even though they were strong, this kind of pelting rain would pelt them and render incapable of flight.

No, for now he would have to bide his time and wait for the perfect opening to deal with his targets.

With these four outside of Konohagakure, there was no doubt in his mind that this was the perfect day for those two to die. That was the reason why he had been lucky enough to catch sight of their little party entering the Forest of Death and then begin to follow them.

He would just need to be patient and find an opening.

They reached Midori no Mori within a few hours of continued walking, accompanied by the harsh torrent that had joined them around an hour ago.

The town seemed just about the same as it had when they had visited years ago with Kuzu; the only truly noticeable difference was that today was a rainy day and, because of this, there weren't as many people on the streets as there had been in the past.

Midori no Mori was a quaint town of civilians that thrived off of trade- mostly of weapons and fish- and wasn't really all that well-known to most of the world. Most ninja of Konoha knew about it because it was nearby and sold good enough weapons- but it was better to buy weapons made by shinobi for shinobi, rather than those created by civilians for civilians, as these were.

There was a post office here, small as it was, that connected its people to both Konoha and other small towns. From what Kuzu had let him know, once he handed in the communication, it would be taken by horse to another post office in a small town, then to another, and another, and eventually would wind up in a larger center that would probably send it directly to the address- this would take quite some time to occur, though.

"Do you know where the post office is?" Sakura turned to him to ask over the rain, which made him shake his head slowly.

"Usually, I could sniff it out... but... well..." he pointed at the sky without bothering to say anything else, which elicited a small sigh from Sakura.

Akamaru barked at them from his place safe and warm within Kiba's jacket, telling them that they would never find it if they never started searching for it. Kiba chose to ignore him and waited for his friends to say anything else.

Chouji pointed towards their right and offered a small shrug, "Maybe it's this way?"

Kiba smiled softly at this and offered his own shrug, "Maybe it is." before he began to walk in the direction, ignoring the huff of annoyance that came from Sakura.

This mission was important, yes, but until now, they hadn't run into any kind of danger. Fū hadn't said anything about any enemies and Midori no Mori was a town filled with witnesses- if someone really wanted to attack them, they wouldn't do it here. They would have done in back in the forest or they would be waiting to meet with him on the return trip... he really hoped that second thing wouldn't happen.

They began to walk around the dirt roads of Midori no Mori, wandering just about aimlessly as the rain continued to pelt them relentlessly. After around ten or so minutes, Sakura became frustrated, demanded them to stop, and made her way towards an elderly man to ask for the directions to the post office. Chouji followed after her, leaving him and Akamaru with a rather quiet Fū.

As they waited around for her to come back with the information, Kiba felt the back of his raincoat tugged. He turned around to find Fū smiling broadly at him, bouncing from one foot onto another, with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

"What's up?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically characteristic show of energy.

During most of the trip, Fū had remained quiet and sedate. Probably, she had taken her job as sensor incredibly seriously, so she had restrained herself from a lot of questions and cheers.

"We're being followed." she smiled, causing Kiba's eyes to widen immediately. "Smile! They're watching us right now!"

Kiba frowned softly at that, but quickly attempted to smile back before asking, "Where?"

Rocking from left to right, "Behind me; in the treeline. They're kilometers away, so I don't think you'll be able to see them."

With another nod, Kiba stepped towards the side, pressed his shoulder to Fū's, and quickly asked, "Do you know anything about who this is? How long have they been following us?"

The girl continued bouncing around, doing her best to keep up a show of energy and eagerness, "I don't know who they are- I'm not all that good with this. I just know they've been following us for a while. At first I confused them for a big cat, but noticed it was a human when we left the Forest of Death." she made a show of shrugging her shoulders animatedly, then murmured, "I didn't know if they were following us until right now, though. It could have just been a ninja on a mission or something, y'know."

Kiba frowned deeply, nodded, and rolled his shoulders.

"They haven't made a move on us yet. Let's hope we're able to deliver the Old Man's things before they try anything."

Fū hummed, nodded quickly, and stepped to the side to begin dancing in the rain. Kiba stared at her for a bit, beginning to feel like she was taking 'acting normally' to a ridiculous extent, and then found Sakura and Chouji returning to them with smiles on their faces.

"Come on guys, it's this way." Sakura pointed them in the direction they had just come from and Chouji offered an apologetic smile. "Chouji guessed wrong."

Kiba nodded, motioned for her to lead the way, and then began to follow when they were walking.

Sakura was already on edge and they had very little knowledge about what type of person was following them. He'd keep this information to himself for now; hopefully, this was just some creep that liked following kids rather than someone that wanted to hurt any of them.

Once they reached the post office, Kiba quickly shrugged off his raincoat and pulled on Shino's borrowed jacket- luckily, it smelled like the fabric softener Ibiki preferred and not its actual owner-, covered his eyes with sunglasses, and pulled up the hoodie over his head and zipped the collar up to cover the lower half of his face.

Standing beneath the awning that bordered a few inches off of the exterior wall of the office, Chouji whistled. "I can't recognize you."

Kiba huffed, "Well, I've got most of my body covered."

"Move fast, Kiba." Sakura pressed the scroll he had to deliver into his hands, "We've got a mission to complete."

And a creep observing us.

Kiba nodded, grabbed a sturdy hold of the scroll, and then ran into the post office... only to be met with a line of five other people waiting for their turn.

Awesome.

Admittedly, he was somewhat curious as to why this group of kids would go through the hassle of leaving Konoha, crossing through the Forest of Death, and then trekking to Midori no Mori of all places just to reach a post office. There was a post office in Konoha, after all. They could have utilized it... hmm... unless whatever they were sending was something they wished to remain classified.

With the Inuzuka within the office, he could get close to the building, send some insects out, and dispose of the boy- that would certainly get rid of one of the biggest headaches Lord Shimura had. But if he did that, then it could send the Seven Tails' container into a frenzy- the last thing he needed was for her to begin rampaging in a civilian town. Collateral damage was expected in their profession, but he was sure that even Lord Shimura couldn't sign off on the obliteration of a town for just two lives.

After the exuberant energy she had demonstrated by just talking to the Inuzuka and the dancing she had then resorted to, it was obvious that the jinchuuriki was not quite right in the head. She was volatile; a danger.

No, it would be for the best to wait for them to be together so he could end them together.

The reports of the the failed attempt on their lives had made it very clear that there was a strong connection between the jinchuuriki and the Inuzuka runt- he was sure that it would be for the best to kill them at the same time.

A lightning bolt appeared in the far distance, mostly obscured by the thick greenery surrounding the town, and a few seconds later thunder boomed.

Hmm... it seemed that the rain was not about to let up.

If anything, it was likely that it would only get stronger.

He knew for a fact that the civilian was expendable- all civilians were, to a certain extent, even the ones that were training to become shinobi. But the Akimichi heir was one that was best avoided if necessary- Torune and Fū's great mistake had assured that now ROOT couldn't take unnecessary risks if they wanted to remain in the shadows.

Closing his eyes, Yōji allowed himself to sigh softly as he rolled his shoulders and heard a series of soft pops from the stiff joints.

If these children believed it absolutely necessary to send mail from this office, then it wouldn't really be necessary to force himself to deal with them today. There would be other, sunny days for them to come visit. And those days would be perfect for him to assassinate them without having to worry about too many risky variables.

He would just have to bide his time.

After a lifetime of waiting, he was able to finally pay for everything he needed to pay for- the money used was Sakura's, naturally- and then he was finally free to return to his friends.

He wasted no time in ushering them to move so they could begin running back to Konoha. Sakura didn't question him, Chouji whined softly about not stopping for lunch, and Fū cheered that they should have a race back to see who was the fastest.

Kiba flashed a proud smirk at the suggestion because it was genius. A race would get them all back to Konoha faster and there wouldn't be a need to tell Chouji or Sakura about the danger they may or may not be in.

With hunger beginning to gnaw at his stomach, Kiba commented about how he doubted that any of them would be able to beat him, Fū scoffed at him and said she was faster than him, and then they were off. Sakura and Chouji shouted for them to stop, but soon began to run after them when they noticed that neither of them was about to slow or back down.

It was as the children ran that he noticed that the children knew of his presence.

He frowned at this because there was no way for the Inuzuka to have smelled him out- the very rain that stopped him from sending out his kochū was rendering his sense of smell moot.

Could... was it possible for any of the kids with him to be sensors?

He had minimized his chakra to a certain extent as was customary for all assassination missions, even though it hadn't been necessary... but because he hadn't bothered with minimizing it further, it could, probably, still be felt by someone that was actively looking for chakra signatures that stood out.

Well then... which one of the children could it be? The Inuzuka relied too much on his sense of smell to bother; so that would leave the jinchuuriki, the civilian, and the Akimichi heir.

He hadn't felt any flares of chakra, as would normally be felt when a sensor was reaching out with their own senses...

And these children were still Academy students?

An Inuzuka that could evade almost, if not all, trackers that tracked by scents; a group that could take on a group of genin that were trained to fight and complete actual missions; a group that was renown throughout Konoha for how skillful they were proving to be within the Academy... even their skills in taijutsu was talked about every now and again by members of different clans because it was striking just how good they all proved to be.

Maybe...

Yōji stood up from his perch on a long tree branch as he continued to watch the children run off at incredibly fast speeds. These children were already climbing up trees with chakra control that belonged to genin, running on water- albeit the Inuzuka and Akimichi shook a little.

These children should already be genin.

The Hokage was, once again, proving how inept he truly was.

He would have to speak to Lord Danzou about a possibility that didn't wind up with the Inuzuka dead. Maybe it would be for the best to kill off the jinchuuriki to be able to move the Seven Tails to a more appropriate host. But the other three weren't completely useless.

Kiba didn't stop running when they reached the Forest of Death. Instead, he continued running to Kuzu's apartment, leading his friends to the number one place he knew they would be safe.

Chouji at one point yelled that he was starving, please stop running! Kiba shouted back that they could eat something once they reached Kuzu's apartment.

When he was only a few kilometers away from Kuzu's home, he could already see the Old Man standing on the balcony of one of the apartment units, arms crossed over his chest and a comforting serenity to him.

Kuzu was near. No matter if they were being followed or not, they'd finally be safe.

..~..~..

Summary of what happened at the beginning of the chapter: Ibiki threw an ultimatum at Hidan: either he starts speaking and faking his insanity or he'll be imprisoned in a way similar to what happened in cannon- rendering him incapable of ever worshipping his violent god. Hidan was immediately affected by this and became very fearful- a world without worshipping Jashin is a life he can't live.

I decided to go ahead and make this chapter mostly in Kiba's point of view because I thought it might be a nice change of pace to not constantly be jumping from point of view to another. Next chapter we'll be back to our regular programming, but I'm definitely contemplating 'star moments' like these for the rest of the pack for later chapters.

Hope y'all liked the chapter! Please review and let me know your thoughts!