Sleep was hard to come by and like clockwork, all of us woke just before sunrise. The effects of our training mission with Kakashi sensei seemed long lasting in that we might never get to sleep in past sunrise again.
All of us quickly got ready- I could hear Shikamaru in his room also preparing, although for a different reason. I wanted to give Shika a heads up- to warn him that his biggest trial today might not be this stupid test, especially considering if I was right about an attack he would be in the center of it all. And I was worried about my brother; I hadn't seen him properly in weeks and I now I was going to miss his chunin exams without even giving him a heads up about a potential invading army. I was sure that dad would've managed to give him some kind of heads up if he were able.
That didn't help the guilty pit that was in my stomach.
Once we were all prepared, we slipped downstairs and grabbed some breakfast. Shika didn't speak at all and he seemed remarkably pale considering our families darker complexion. I made sure to give him a solid hug and a whisper of encouragement. When he pulled away, to go hug mom, I pulled him back for another hug. Sasuke and Naruto both gave him claps on the back and their own well wishes.
And then we were moving in a loose formation towards the academy. Time seemed to have no meaning. Breakfast had dragged on, with all of us anxiously watching the clock, but suddenly it was time for us to take out patrol shifts. It was early still, but sensei had told us yesterday that it was better to be early then to be late- no reason to have overly tired sentries or—even worse—a gap in our patrols. When we arrived, we nodded at the old patrol and took our place opposite them for now, waiting for them to clear out before we spread our own team out.
The morning passed quickly. Dawn broke and the children showed up for the academy mostly on time as the morning bells rang. There were a few stragglers running in late and we watched them as they ran up the road only to hesitate at the doors of the academy, not wanting to be yelled at. Even Sasuke wore a stiff smile watching them, memories of just a few short months ago catching up to him. Eventually the wayward students found the strength to head inside and take the scolding.
By now, the other patrol had gratefully headed out; a few minutes early, I mentally noted. We spread out, like Kakashi sensei had described yesterday, also watching the radius of buildings near the academy, as instructed. It was ridiculously boring watching the same thing for hours on end.
It was also exhausting being tense all the time. And I was still anxiously nervous that I was wrong about an attack; although I would rather be completely wrong about an invasion on the village then right in this instance. Still, in the back of my head I couldn't help but feel I'd be a forever genin if I caused a panic over nothing.
Sasuke and Naruto were equally tense and we took turns trying to break the serious atmosphere with some levity while still maintaining our professional attitudes. Not surprisingly, Naruto was best at it. He was in the middle of recounting a story of a prank on one of the academy teachers that was in the yard, directing the younger students on their katas.
"See, the way he keeps swinging at that kicking post?" Naruto pointed out. The teacher had a habit of hitting one of the 12 posts that lined the yard as he walked up and down the line of students. "So, I hollowed one out—only in the middle anyway—and added a pouch full of feathers—so when he hit it, POOF! Feathers everywhere."
Even this excited, he managed to keep his voice down for the mission. I smiled both because of the story and because of Naruto's growing restraint.
"What was your punishment?" I hadn't been there for this, Naruto had entered the academy before Sasuke or I, although he'd been held back a couple times so he could graduate with his age group.
Before Naruto could answer, he doubled over as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Alarmed, I reached over to see if he was okay before I felt my own reaction hit. Rather than my gut, it was my insides that felt wrong. Down to my very core- my chakra core I realized.
"Guys?" I heard Sasuke's slightly alarmed voice, which pulled me away from the nauseous feeling. I quickly pulled myself away from my chakra, doing my best to hide myself and not listen out for nearby ninja.
Once I'd stopped focusing on any nearby chakra, I felt markedly better. Naruto was standing up straighter. "That was….gross." Naruto said. He looked ill and little unsteady on his feet. I nodded in agreement. I'd already began moving towards the academy students, who hadn't seemed to notice a thing; the academy teachers looked just as clueless. Then again, we were listening and watching for this, for enemies, while these ninja thought they were safe at home. I couldn't completely fault them.
"What was?" Sasuke still seemed worried and slightly exasperated with us. He hopped down from our most recent tree perch and into the academy yard with us as I quickly signed to the academy instructor to evacuate his students.
'B-I-J-O-U' I signed at the end, letting him know which evacuation drill to follow. The teacher's alarm raised and he gave a fearful look at Naruto. I rolled my eyes. "NOW!" I snapped annoyed. Naruto hadn't noticed as he was already making his way inside to start alerting the other teachers. Pausing at the entrance to academy, he made a group of clones then had them all shift into Sasuke. I agreed with the choice sadly—Sasuke had more clout and Naruto had pulled a few too many pranks to be trusted.
"Smart." I said to him, then turned to the real Sasuke. "I felt some chakra, same as Naruto I bet. It was…"
"Gross." Naruto said again, uncharacteristically serious as he rejoined us, his clones still forcing the teachers out of the classrooms and into evacuation mode. It felt like time was in slow motion. I was trying to keep count in my head. All day, I had felt like time was slipping around me and in a fight it would get even worse but this was important. I needed to focus damnit. Two minutes since the first feeling of that chakra? Three?
"Gross." I agreed. "Oppressive. Large. Maleficent. Dirty. Need I go on?"
Sasuke frowned. "That's not good. But you think…"
I looked at Naruto then back at Sasuke. "I don't know if it was an actual Bijou, but we felt that from all the way over here. Don't you think that must be a large source of chakra. Regardless, if we look stupid for evacuating the students, fine. But in this case, I'd rather be safe than sorry."
Both my teammates nodded in agreement. Leaving Naruto's clones to it, we moved to the streets we were monitoring. Without causing any alarm, we gestured for all civilians in the street to move towards the nearest shelter. They weren't entitled to the same shelter space as the academy students-which in this case had the most fortified protection in the village. The academy students, and by default the teachers, ended up in sealed tunnels behind the stone mountain face of the villages backdrop. No, the regular civilians were shepherded to often overlooked tunnel entrances in the street. They swiftly climbed down into the sewer like entrances, moving fearfully but quickly. The village practiced these drills fairly often and the villagers knew something was off now, but they were too conditioned to question it.
As I closed one tunnel and moved to the next street to join Sasuke, I glanced down the hole: they were highly fortified and reminded me of the bomb shelters from my past life. Once closed, they were hard to notice, whether by design or by sealing, I knew not. Naruto had clones moving in the blocks around us and I nodded at passing one.
It had only been a few minutes since I'd felt the energy and I was on edge. We were moving swiftly, efficiently, just like we'd been trained in the academy and by sensei to respond to such things. The only thing was…as a team we should more aware of our surroundings in case enemies were lurking. However, I didn't want to open my senses up again to see what was going on, but I wondered if I would have to. Seeming to guess my thought process, Sasuke grabbed my arm.
"Don't. At least not yet. It effectively cripples you. And it's only been a few minutes." I nodded in agreement, but Naruto frowned.
"A lot can happen in a few minutes." He said, gesturing his hands around us. Sure enough, the streets were cleared of any one, every civilian and passing ninja having calmly, if more than a bit nervously, followed procedure and cooperated with our orders. There had only been one other set of ninja, a pair that looked to be patrolling the section of buildings near ours and they had looked as us curiously before moving to the next block over to facilitate evacuations there. Better to copy us then to realize they'd missed a signal to evacuate the village.
Now the streets were quiet, although I could still hear people a few streets over. We stood, tense and nervous, waiting for something, although I wasn't sure what. About to suggest we moved over to the nearest occupied street to start evacuating there, Sasuke spoke up.
"Maybe we over reacted?" He said hesitantly, looking around him.
I frowned, rubbing the back of my head nervously. It was a bad habit I'd picked up from Shisui when I was nervous but I couldn't focus while standing still right now. "I don't think so… I think that was a bijou." I nearly whispered it. I motioned for my teammates to join me on the roof of on of the nearby houses.
Naruto was quiet and I couldn't get a good read with his face turned in the direction of the stadium-and that dark energy- but Sasuke just looking mildly panicked. "Here? In our village?"
I didn't have an answer to that considering Naruto was standing right next to him so I stayed quiet, mentally panicking and outwardly trying to portray a calm demeanor.
"Maybe it's already been handled." Naruto supposed out loud.
It was like he triggered something by asking that question aloud.
Even from as far off as we were, I could hear the explosion in the stadium. I turned my gaze to the distant structure seeing the plumes of smoke rise. I could even see some kind of barrier erupt over one of the seating areas, where a roof could have been. Just seconds after, one of the walls to the village burst open. The stadium was south east of us. I could see ninja pouring out of the structure.
The breach to the walls was to the west. I hopped from the roof I was on up to the one of the higher roofs of the academy, trying to gain a higher vantage point to see better. The breach to the walls was significant—enough for two giant snakes to come through along with a host of ninja.
"Giant snakes. Maybe a summons." I reported, feeling clinically detached from the situation. "They breached the walls so definelty a different chakra than that one from before. A whole host of ninja coming through the west wall with the snales. Also, ninja are now breaking out of the stadium, already in the village."
"What do we do?" Naruto sounded the same kind of panicked yet detached that I felt. Sasuke was quiet but wide eyed surveying the clouds of smoke around the village. I distantly heard screams begun to rise up in a cacophony form the rest of the village. Not all of the villagers had been evacuated than.
I watched as the ninja streamed out of the stadium and in the walls. It seemed strange to me but they stuck to the streets, running through them with a purpose. None seemed inclined to launch themselves over the rooftops like so many Konoha ninja did. They were still far enough away that this blind assessment felt vaguely useful- attack from above, unexpected, home field advantage.
I glanced up at the sky. It was a strange thing to notice at a time like this but the weather was beautiful. Just like yesterday, the sun was shining with hardly a cloud in the sky. The weather felt nice, a warm day with a slight breeze to cool you off. I couldn't imagine a better day for a tournament to take place, I thought distantly. I could feel Naruto vibrating with energy and Sasuke becoming more and more stuff as the explosions and screams from the outer portion of the village grew louder.
"Nothing yet. We have our orders." I said it quietly but firmly. I could feel rather than hear Sasuke's disapproval; he looked like he was aching to jump towards the invaders. I quickly jumped down to the tree overlooking the yard entrance for the academy, signing for them to follow me. We took our posts by the now empty academy. I thought about how and why I wanted to stay here in case anything happened today. Although I could feel both of their eagerness to help living civilians rather than stay and defend and empty building, I knew, I understood the strategic importance of this locaiton. At the very least, we needed to live and give a report on how many attacked here, what type of fighters were they, what kind of information did they have. ALl of this was valuable for T&I even though it was 'just an empty building'.
"We'll defend here." I ordered aloud, trying not to sound defensive. I tried to gain my bearings but I still felt like I was floating just outside of my body as I went through the motions.
I tightened my hi'ate around my arm, making sure it wouldn't fall off in battle. I shifted my stance and pulled out my wakizashi, drawing comfort from the dangerously wicked look of the blade. I held it loosely in front of me, waiting.
I kept my eyes towards the village, wondering where our first enemy would come from—the stadium or the breach in the wall? "Strike to kill. We don't have time or room for prisoners today." I continued thoughtfully, trying to make sure the litany of commands that I was giving Sasuke and Naruto made sense. I tried to keep all my lessons at the forefront of my mind as I repeated our orders- from Dad growing up in strategy, from Kakashi in teamwork and murder, from Shisui in survival and defense. "Always fall back into our combat formations. Use our codewords and trust what our lessons have been all about. It's going to get messy, but we can handle this. When you need backup call for it. Naruto, don't spam too many clones and become too much of a threat. Sasuke, always have an out. If we need to retreat, let me know and I'll call it. This point is supposed to be one of the safest in the village, but I have a feeling that we will be seeing lots of action today. That needs to be reported."
I felt my face grow blank at the thought—traitor. There were already ninja coming in this direction, I could see them. Purposefully aiming for the academy, not the hokage tower which meant that someone had guided them here. Garbage that Ibiki-san and Inochi-san would find and destroy.
I paused thinking of what else to say. The sounds of screams were getting closer. I swallowed my feelings, anger, fear, sadness, as I listened to my fellow villagers—helpless civilians!—get slaughtered. It had only been a few minutes still from when Naruto and I had first felt the massive spike in chakra. 10 minutes since then-no more than 15 I was sure. I slowed my breathing, still trying to keep track of time.
Naruto took advantage of the lull to add his own words. "We're gonna defend the village no matter what. We'll stop these bastards. Believe it!"
"WE will stop these bastards." Sasuke repeated, stressing the we. "Team 7, this is our chance to prove why we fight." He took on almost maniacal look to his face, the red gleam of his sharingan gaining an almost demonic look. "For Konoha!"
I held back an inappropriate giggle as I watched the first group of invaders- from the west wall then-launch themselves towards us. I tracked their movement with my eyes, noting how swiftly and matter of factly they moved in our direction, navigating the windy streets as they grew closer to the academy. The streets were intentionally more confusing here as you got closer to the tower, which meant not only did they know the general direction of the academy but the specific streets to get here.
"Do you ever realize how brainwashed we are?" I asked conversationally, gripping my sword tighter and loosening my stance further. "We might die and yet I agree with you completely. Anything for the village. Even our lives?"
Sasuke leapt back and up onto a higher branch were he could see more of the court yard and still have a good opening to attack if we needed him.
Naruto warily created a few clones. "NO dying allowed. Everything up and to our lives. But so help me god, if one of you die I'm gonna be pissed."
"You're right." I agreed carelessly. "Can you imagine how many laps Kakashi sensei would have us doing if we just went and died in our first real fight."
"Take your own advice," Sasuke mumbled. He launched a few kunai at the men as they landed in the yard in front of us. The enemy ninja didn't stop for small talk, splitting into two groups, one running towards the academy doors and to other launching at us. Sasuke yanked his kunai back, twisting his fingers like a puppet master and tangling all the the invaders with the now taut ninja wire. Their plan to break off had been swiftly ended by Sasuke's competence.
Naruto and I neatly moved in, killing the men. "Take your own advice today." Sasuke said again, gesturing to the 4 dead ninja on the ground in front of us. "I don't kill anyone, just incapacitate them. But I also don't almost die, unlike you on every other major fight."
I flipped off Sasuke, my eyes already on the next group of approaching ninja. Again, they didn't hesitate in the movement towards us—they came in a straight line, seeming to know exactly the direction to go in. We had waves of them approaching—I could see the different groups. "They must have known about the location of the academy. Look how many are coming directly here." I pointed out to my teammates, stressing the point. Dad had made to sure to note strategic points of interest in the village but i was sure that Naruto and Sasuke had never had it spelled out for them. Naruto nodded in agreement, pulling out a fresh kunai and preparing to launch himself into the fray.
"Just clones Naruto, I want to know that I'm not going to hit you when I go in for the kill." I waved carelessly back to Sasuke. "And fine, I won't die or pass out from chakra exhaustion. Happy?"
"You shouldn't have to promise that much! That's called being a good ninja!" Sasuke cried out annoyed, following Naruto and I in our leap to meet the incoming ninja. He threw a shuriken neatly at one of the men's throats, stopping him in his tracks, Presumably the leader because he was in pointe. A dangerous smile grew on my face.
"Besides" Naruto pointed out quite unreasonably, "You never agreed to not almost die and thats been a pretty big issue. What with the Zabuza thing, than the tower incident."
"Fine! I won't die, almost die, or become too injured during an invasion on our fucking village. NOW are you fucking happy?" I said exasperated. I bared my teeth at group of men who'd stopped at their leader's death. They looked slightly alarmed at our (my) language. "Let's get rid of this group then before the rest of the fuckers join them. Then we can sort out wording on your promises. I want someone to buy me lunch after all this is said and done."
"Oh no! I never warned Teuchi-san! Do you think the ramen stand will be okay?!"
It was bloody and exhausting work. It also felt a bit fantastical and like a horror story all at once. Unreal was probably the word for it. We tried out best to keep the levity to keep from going insane- with the amount of death, murder, and fire around us, it would have been too easy to fall of the cliffs of sanity. A giant snake was thrashing over the market section of Konoha and homes that I had grown up around were being destroyed in the blink of an eye. In the slight pauses we had, team 7 took advantage by drinking water or forcing down ration bars. We continued our conversation desperately, forcing a sense of normality that was nearly comical.
The sheer amount of men we'd killed was alarming. The grand total of team 7's kills was 27- an astronomical amount for a green genin team. And not all of them had been easy fights. Most took time as the better ninja were arriving later and we were more and more drained as we faced them. True to sensei's analysis, they were mostly lower and mid ranked chunin that had no sense of teamwork so we could handle them, but the higher ranked chunin were wearing us down, injuring us, and just generally making this shit show of a job more difficult than it needed to be. The day dragged on, the sun inching across the sky. The only thing that remained constant was the smell of smoke and fire all around us. Somewhere, the village was burning and there was no one trying to stop it.
I lost track of time, only numbly aware that it was passing as men tried to get by our team and into the academy. We'd made every pretense that it was occupied so that the men continued their assault on us rather than search for the evacuation areas where the children really were. They seemed to believe it, thinking we had no reason to preemptively evacuate the children.
Sasuke hissed in pain to my left and without thinking, I formed the seals and threw out a shadow to catch the ninja who had struck my teammate. All the practices together gave me a vague idea of where Sasuke and Naruto were at all times, even neither of them were wearing their normal outfits. In many ways it was different then the training we'd received. I pivoted, keeping on hand formed in a loose seal to maintain my shadow tendrils hold on the kunoichi. My other hand dipped to swipe up at the exposed stomach. I sliced at her and jumped away breaking my hold. She tried to move to attack us again, but my strike had just about eviscerated her. Sasuke quickly stepped forward and stabbed her through the ear. He left the kunai there as she dropped to the floor.
"Great job!" Naruto called excitedly from where he was enthusiastically beating the shit out a sound ninja. "You managed that one hand, didn't you?" Another ninja jumped in and Naruto quickly broke into two clones. I leapt up and engaged the sound nin, leaving the intruding sand to be dealt with by three Naruto's—an original and two clones.
Even for being one handed, my reacting shadow had been sluggish; I needed another chakra pill but I had already had one. For my body size, it was highly recommended that I stuck to one a day to limit damage to chakra coils.
"Yea, I guess I did." I was kind of amazed. "Practice makes perfect I guess."
"You stupid bitch-"The ninja was shouting something derogatory about my skills and practicing but I ignored him, wiping spittle off my face. He'd be dead soon.
"Let's try and go two for two?" I asked my teammates rhetorically, focusing on the ninja in front of me. I tried to form the seals in one hand and simultaneously block the taijutsu user from punching me in the face. He was a good target; if he'd been trying to hit me with a bunch of ninjutsu I wouldn't have had so much time to try and form the seals again.
After a minute of struggle, I stopped floundering with the seals and focused on the kenjutsu. After a helpful assist from Sasuke, I struck the man down.
"That's 31" Naruto cried out, as he finally cut the sand nin down.
"And I couldn't do it again." I said glumly. I wiped my forehead and was disgusted to see brown dirt and blood come off in clumps. I curled my lip in disgust. "I wasn't even thinking about it the first time, so I wonder why it was so easy."
"Maybe you're over thinking it." Naruto said watching the streets, and eve roof tops just in case, for more enemies. We'd migrated on rooftop over from the academy to maintain the higher ground as well as keep visibility and lack of damage to the academy. We wanted to limit property damage and were trying to drag all the fights to the attached training yard of the academy.
"On another note, I think the next psych visit is gonna be much smoother then the first one." Naruto added.
I snorted at him. "Ya think? Hey there kiddo. Do you have any impulsive urges to kill? Only to invading and hostile ninja? Well have fun then!" I mimed the evaluators.
Naruto burst out laughing and Sasuke frowned at us. "There is definitely something wrong with us for making so many jokes right now. More so you guys then me though."
I stared at my dark haired teammate incredulously. "Sasuke you made a pun about someone being gassy after you blew them up with a fire jutsu. If we have problems, so do you. I think its just easier to crack a few joke then stay serious the whole time. Also, side note, that fire attack smelled disgusting. Think you can toss in some incense or something next time?"
Both my teammates were quiet for a long moment taking in my words and request then Sasuke spoke up, disregarding my second point completely. "I think we should just never mention the jokes unless they explicitly ask. I mean we all seem a little too casual about this…"
I nodded. Naruto called out, "Agreed! I mean, I know it's our jobs and all but I don't think we're supposed to be so okay with it." as he into his pack for another exploding note.
"Besides, they're just going to think we're lying. Everyone always acts like they're witty as fuck when they tell their battle stories but holy shit we are actually funny." I added. Neither one of them said anything, but they also didn't disagree so I like to think they were silently agreeing. Besides, it wasn't like we actually liked killing anyone. I didn't anyway—but I liked defending my village. I liked how smooth my wakizashi felt sliding through bone and sinew. I liked how strained my muscles felt right now; a painful sore that felt so good as I pushed myself to my limits. I liked all of that. Not the whole wanton murder thing.
We'd reached 35 kills before we could all agree that the rushes of desperate ninja had finally stopped. I eyed my teammates critically. Sasuke was injured, a deep slash to his arm. My limited first aid skills had merely allowed me to wrap it in a clean bandage. Naruto, although covered in blood, a good amount I knew was his own, didn't have a single bruise or cut on him. I was bone tired and freezing cold from near chakra exhaustion but had mostly bumps and bruises on me with a few light scratches here and there. Nothing deep or debilitating. I was neither dead, near dead, or fully chakra exhausted, as I'd promised my teammates earlier.
The sun was no longer high in the sky, instead it was drooping lower and lower into the horizon, signaling it was soon to be nightfall. Even when it grew suspiciously quiet all around us, we stayed on high alert, standing in a loose triangle formation and twitching at the wind. When a team finally landed in front of us, we nearly attacked them from habit. As it was, we instead jumped back from the ANBU team.
They eyed the carnage all around us silently, as they were want to do. There was a dead body hanging limply from a slightly moving swing on the tree, which I found morbidly amusing but most of the bodies were laid out on the ground, splayed out, usually with weapons still in hand. There was also children's practice kunai and shrunken littering the ground among bloody real weapons that were scattered throughout the yard. And perhaps even gorier than the bodies were the random dismembered limbs decorating the area; fingers and hands separated from the ninja by my own wakizashi were interspersed with the real and practice kunai on the floor.
Sasuke relaxed at the sight of reinforcements but I stayed tense. I didn't recognize any of these chakra signatures, which meant nothing because I knew very few ANBU members. But I did know from the wave mission that it was fairly easy to impersonate them. Add mask and hope no one questioned you.
'REPORT' one of the ANBU signed. They stood in a loose diamond formation, the four of them still looking more tense than either Naruto or I. I raised my sword slightly higher and shifted my stance.
Mirroing my attitude, Naruto called out. "Oy! How do we know you're actually on our side?"
I nodded slowly. We'd been a targeted and focused area of attack today- the academy wasn't a closely guarded secret but it also wasn't a startlingly obvious attack. This was MUCH more action than the academy should have seen. Someone had wanted to kill our academy students and uproot the next generation of Konoha. Someone had pointed the groups of men in this direction, possibly a potential traitor.
One of the ANBU flashed a quick sign, then another and another. I recognized the parts of the sequence as one I'd seen Shisui and dad preform on different occasions but I didn't know enough to recognize what they were saying. Still, just because I didn't know what it meant didn't make it any less proof of legitimacy for now. Especially because the academy was currently empty.
I felt all my fatigue hit as I lowered my wakizashi from it's ready stance. Naruto also loosened his posture.
Giving simple hand signs in the code that we understood rather then the ANBU specific one, one of the ANBU, the fish with the green hair, ordered us to go to the hospital and await orders.
"We're not injured." Sasuke claimed instantly.
I shook my head wearily feeling the bone deep chill settle further in my bones. The order hadn't been to get treated, it had been 'GET ORDERS'. This long day wasn't over yet. "We're not going for treatment. We arnt injured enough for treatment. Its probably where command has been set up. One or more of the command chain has been injured enough to be in the hospital. And the hospital is far enough away from both attack points." I pointed out helpfully to Sasuke. He loosened his newly tense posture and let out a quiet 'Oh."
One of the ANBU inclined their head and the fish again signed to us. 'GO. NOW.'
We nodded, then began the trek to the hospital. It was hardly a smooth journey. We encountered one enemy on the way; more dangerously, we encountered fellow leaf ninja, most of whom took a second before realizing we were on their side. There was a phrase that could be said to fellow leaf ninja but it changed nearly every month and considering we'd been out fo the village team 7 was delayed on this. Giving out an old password was even more dangerous because it seemed like we had an in to village intel. I was happier to see sand and sound ninja than leaf which was saying something.
The closer we got to the hospital, the more groups we encountered. Finally, we were greeted by a perimeter guard who asked us to declare ourselves and state our business. I could sense some dangerous presence hiding in the trees above. I wondered if there were more I couldn't sense or if people were just too tired to hide their chakra at this point.
"Team 7- Kageko Nara, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. We were relieved from guarding the Academy by an ANBU team and sent to the hospital to await new orders." I said dully, my voice coming out monotone from the exhaustion.
He glanced us over, then waved us by. "Straight ahead. Go to the hospital lobby. You'll find a command desk with orders on where to go and what to do next." He looked sympathetic. "You'll want to eat on the way; you're probably going to be assigned something the moment you report."
I nodded in assent and pulled out yet another ration bar. This was my third of the day and I was still hungry. The amount of exercise and chakra we'd burned today was ridiculous. I was still cold and I could feel the ache in my bones with every step I took. I was more chakra drained than I wanted to admit.
I led the way into the hospital. Now that we'd past the perimeter, there were ninja everywhere, all running around with a clear purpose. I didn't bother looking around to see anyone. I just noted Konoha headbands and continued onwards, too tired to do and more than that.
The hospital doors were propped open with yet another set of guards around them. I distantly recognized one of them- he had a bandana around his head and every time I'd seen him around the village he'd always had a senbon in his teeth. The other guard I didn't recognize, a tall blonde man, who almost put Uncle Inoichi's hair to shame. But he didn't have the look of a Yamanaka.
They both nodded us in and we stepped into the quiet flurry of people indoors. The amount of people surrounding us had me tensing up and feeling claustrophobic. I glanced around, looking at people filling out paper work, leaning over tables and discussing things before finding the command table in the back left corner, nearly opposite where we'd come in. Our group made our way thought the crush of people and joined the line of people to report. I mentally jumped-having just been thinking of him, here was Inochi-san, one of the three people at the table.
The group in front of us reported and team 7 listened in seamlessly so we knew what to do.
"No significant injuries. We were on the street defending the area near the market. It got attacked during out patrol." The red head boy holding up his concussion-ed looking teammate announced. I didn't know that I agreed with his assessment but couldn't honestly say I would have done any differently. How could I say that anyone on my team was injured when I could hear the screams of my fellow ninja in the upper floors of the hospital as this very report was being given?
"Rank?" A stern faced and elderly looking ninja asked, not bothering to look up at the group.
"Chunin."
"Corp or track?" He asked finally looking up impatiently. He looked dispassionately on the group.
"Chunin Corp." The red head answered proudly.
"Your assigned to the residential district near the west wall. Report there to Nara Shikanai for help reinforcing the wall." Nodding in assent the leader grabbed the hastily written scroll being proffered to him.
As they moved aside, I stepped forward. Not wanting to be the cause of further delay, I announced. "Genin track, team 7. Relieved from guarding the academy and awaiting further orders. No significant injuries."
Inochi-sans eyes popped up at my voice and he took a quick glance at us before giving me a slight approving nod.
The third person at the table looked us over carefully before he shoved the older man. "Uchiha heir. Can't have him on body cleanup."
The older man looked at the younger ninja, my cousin Nara Shikano, in annoyance, before glaring at us like this was somehow out fault. I nodded in acknowledgement to my cousin, and he returned my greeting tiredly.
"Go get treated." He announced gruffly to Sasuke.
I frowned. "Sir, with all respect, we're not injured. We can and want to continue helping the village." I saw Sasuke nod emphatically out of the corner of my eye. Naruto nodding just as vigorously.
The older man frowned at us, then wrote out a new set of orders. "Go report to Harui-san, on the other side of the room. You'll be running messages."
I nodded, thankful that we had been given another mission—it would be shameful to do nothing when so many of our fellow ninja were out here still suffering to regain control of our village.
Harui-san was leading a discussion over a table that had a map of the village and seemed to be in charge of all the people surrounding him. He also looked vaguely familiar but it took me a moment to place him. When he held out a hand and demanded "Scroll!" from the approaching genin, I felt an out of place grin on my face. "Sakura-chan's sensei." I mumbled to my team as we approached him.
When he barked "Scroll!" at me, I felt a tinge of amusement that I actually had a scroll to offer him this time, unlike the last time I had seen the man.
He quickly read through our new orders scroll and then grabbed two new scrolls from the table.
"Bring those to Hokage-san on the second floor of this building." He ordered. "Bring this one" he handed me a purple scroll to go along with the two white ones, "to Morino Ibiki, in the T&I cells."
I winced. The cells were all the way by Hokage tower, or right next to the Academy. Still I nodded and handed the scrolls off to Naruto. We headed towards the staircase; this one was guarded by ANBU. They looked over the two scrolls carefully before allowing us upstairs.
I glanced outside one of the windows as we walked up the stairs. It had been a long day and there seemed to be no end in sight. I sighed and picked up the pace; this was no time to be lazy.
Next chapter all this goody feels good Yay we did it team! stuff goes away! so enjoy it for now! :)