Tsunade looked back at the both of them with a sincerely unimpressed expression. "Well, at least you're learning how to do this within the rules." She said, looking directly at Shikako, who shifted nervously in response. "Fuck it, go ahead. But do your best to make me not regret it."

Sasuke bowed slightly in an extremely rare display of high respect. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

The hokage waved her hand in a clear show of dismissal. "Your welcome, now get out of my office the both of you, before I change my mind."

"Well, that went well." Aoba commented as they closed the office door behind them. "We'll meet at the gates in thirty, we shouldn't be out more than a week at most. Oh, and bring some civvie clothes in your pack as well, nothing that will tip our people off, no clan or leaf symbols."

.

"What is the mission objective?" Shikako asked as they took the jump to the the trees.

"The Genin responsible for keeping discrete tabs in the town of Ranwara has requested a team to investigate her teammate's disappearance after she stated that she was going to scope out the goings on of an even smaller village further north east. The issue is that Ranwara is close to our border with the Land of Hot Springs, the oceanic side specifically, and as the former home of a now non-functional Shinobi village, it is crawling with missing nin of skill levels from high range Genin to Jounin. They're mostly harmless and know better than to piss a village like us off, but they are looking work and places to put down roots, and it wouldn't be too surprising if one got hired to kill off a nosy kid for a wannabe crime boss that just happened to be our contact there." Aoba explained, adjusting his glasses. "Of course, it also wouldn't be surprising if it was something completely mundane either, like a bout of food poisoning. Pufferfish is a commonly eaten food by the coast line, and a natural phenomenon known as red tide that sometimes occurs up and down the coast line in Lightning country can turn the surrounding ocean for a mile or two to poison for a few days afterward. Sometimes the residue can make it's way down a little farther and it can show in the shellfish that end up in fishermen's nets. Which is why we're sending a team that wouldn't qualify as overkill, but could still take care of business should a violent response be appropriate."

"Our contact is undercover?" Sasuke asked. "Why?"

"Because it's easier. Nobody is looking for a fisherman's kid. But on the border of a hidden village, and with Lightning country only ten miles from the town, everyone suspicious has their eyes out for a shinobi. It's better to have our early warning system be discrete, and it also allows for a better way of gathering information because no one is watching out for a shinobi. So when we get a mile or two from the place, we'll be changing into civvies, and adopting a cover story. We'll be cousins going to Yugakure to look for work. Do you two know how to cook?"

Shikako nodded. "I do. Sasuke?"

"I think I know enough to get by, and I can always Copy someone's skills if I need anything else."

"Good, then that's what we'll do for a living." Aoba glanced back at the wakizashi attached vertically to the back of Sasuke's Chuunin vest. "Civvies your age don't carry swords though, even if they are the short version, so I hope you have a way to hide that. You probably won't use it anyway. I'm not saying you shouldn't have brought it, because we might well be walking into some shit, but if we're not, it's important that we not give ourselves away.

"Shikako Nara is my teammate, I know how to make a storage seal." Sasuke reminded, quirking up the corner of his mouth and touching the hilt of the shorter of his mother's swords that protruded over his shoulder. Unfortunately, the pair of swords he had commissioned weren't ready yet, as the smith making them wanted to implement a new technique that supposedly would vastly improve the finished blade and in consequence, was being extra careful, on account of the chakra conductive metal he was taking from Kakashi's chakra saber. So he had opted to bring the wakizashi along instead of the katana, on account of not expecting combat to be a focus of the mission, and therefore, not worth the extra weight of the longer weapon.

Aoba nodded. "Alright then."

"Aoba, what is this listed as?" Shikako asked. "Don't get me wrong, we can handle it, but usually, missions for us aren't this straightforward about the risk. They usually start off as an average C-rank and go downhill fast from there."

"The Lucky Sevens Curse? Yeah,I've heard of it." Aoba confirmed. "Intelligence missions are usually Low risk B-rank and up. C-rank work is office work and report carrying, which is done by the hawks." Aoba adjusted his glasses. "If the situation requires personnel beyond a Genin Corps outpost, the situation is potentially dangerous or sensitive enough that it's above a Genin or low Chunin skill level, regardless of whether the mission is an infiltration or intel seizure or anything else."

.

"This is way too quiet." Sasuke commented warily as they drew within sight of the coast town. He wasn't comfortable with any of this if he was honest with himself. He felt all together too vunerable with only one kunai hidden in the ankle of his sandal and the collar-less shirt baring his neck and collarbone to the world. To add to it, the deafening silence as they grew within a hundred meters to the village was reminding him of another day and thriving town settled by silence and holy shit we need to get out of here why can't I fucking move!?

The stench of gallons of spilled blood and bodies only a few hours old hit them in the gut like a sucker punch. Sasuke fell to his knees and wretched. It smells exactly the same. Shikako, looking as though she as well was fighting back the urge to sacrifice the contents of her stomach to the earth, helped to haul him to his feet. "Thank you." he breathed. She nodded in return.

"We need to get back into the woods and gear up again." Aoba said, disturbed but not devastated. "Then we go in."

And normally, Sasuke in no way could ever reasonably be called a coward, but as Shikako placed him behind a tree so he could change, the only thing going through his head was "Holy fuck, what do you mean 'go in' we need to get the fuck out!" Then Shikako shook his shoulder gently, and his eyes snapped up to meet hers and the vision of his brother standing over the remains of scores of men, women, and children vanished.

"You've got to snap out of it, Sasuke. It'll be alright. We've been through worse."

He nodded, thinking of how Orochimaru's Killing Intent had brought him to his knees, yet Shikako had fought as though possessed. "I have to do better" He thought, suddenly furious at himself. "She shouldn't have to fight for me all the time because I can't break my own fear. She deserves a better teammate than that. A teammate that doesn't drag her down." He shook himself like a dog shaking off water. "Thanks Shikako, I'm better now." He choked out, giving her a half hearted grin. "You should go gear up if Aoba's moving us in soon."

"Are you sure you're alright." She asked, her hand warm on the back of his neck.

He steeled himself. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

She nodded and turned to leave. "Ok." She took a few steps and turned back. "We don't have the time now, but if you want, we'll talk about this when we get back."

Sasuke nodded, and Shikako left so he could change. Yanking the top of his bag open he quickly put his shinobi gear back on and wiped his mouth with the bleached white civvie shirt before moving to rejoin Aoba.

The Special Jounin gave him a glance over. "You alright?"

"I'm fine now." Sasuke stated firmly, as much to convince himself as his superior.

"Good, I've already sent a crow to inform Tsunade-sama of the situation. Once Shikako gets back, we will enter the village as stealthily as possible to determine the cause of why we can smell human blood and bodies so far out. If there are still people there, we will attempt to detain or delay them. Backup should be sent after us and will most likely arrive within a few hours."

"I'm ready." Shikako stated as she approached, Raijin no ken in hand.

"No need to wait then, let's get after it." he said, visibly steeling himself as they took the jump back into the trees and made their way towards the smell of death.

As they landed on the roof of the first of sixty or seventy buildings, they were treated to the predictable but still bone chilling sight of the corpses of over a hundred people massacred in the streets, some clutching farm tools or lying half in half out of doorways.

Sasuke froze as the memories began to intrude on him again at the sight before he clamped down on them and shoved them to the back of his mind. "From now on, Shikako will never have to take the fall because I am afraid."

"Summoning Style: Thousand Scattering Crows!"Aoba announced, biting his thumb and planting it into the thatched roof of a house, releasing a murder of crows into the air. "They'll find who did this." he stated, even as the birds began to circle a short ways away over the center of Ranwara, over a prone, muttering, dark haired person drenched in blood laying in the center of an upside down equilateral triangle inside a circle, clutching a bloody spear in one hand.


Omake 1: Kiba's first mission briefing as a mission leader

"Alright! As everyone knows this will be the first mission I lead as a Jounin!" Kiba announced unrolling the map of a large town out on a cork board and tacking the corners. "This town is known to have several of Orochimaru's informants living here, our task is to capture all of them for Ibiki's department to have some fun with. When we get to location, Me and Naruto will be conducting a security sweep under henges." Kiba turned around to face the other eight occupants of the room with a savage grin on his face that could best be described as 'shit-eating'. "Also, since we will be using radios, from here on out we will be using codenames for those radios."

"Oh this is not going to be good, not with that grin." Shino thought with growing apprehension from his seat beside Hinata..

You may address me as 'Dog one.' Akamaru is, 'Good Dog.'" From there he began to walk around the table, announcing his friend's codenames as he passed them. "Ino is, 'been there, done that.'"

Ino's jaw dropped. "Hey-!"

Kiba continued anyway. "Sakura, as medic for this mission, is 'currently doing that.'"

Sakura, grinning wildly, raised her open hand to give Kiba a high-five, which he accepted enthusiastically.

"Choji gets to keep his name, because he gave me chips yesterday."

Choji looked like he had just dodged a bullet by the narrowest of margins.

"Shikamaru is, 'insufferable smartass.'"

Shikamaru's bored expression became an annoyed glare. His opinion wasn't improved by the next announcement.

"Shikako is, 'it happened once in a dream.'"

Shikako, struggling not to laugh, placed her hands on Shikamaru and Sasuke, who looked positively murderous, to hold them in their seats. "and only ever in your dreams, Kiba."

"Sasuke is, 'complete jackass.'"

Sasuke continued to fix Kiba with a look that could have frozen molten metal. Naruto's amusement at Sasuke's codename was killed quickly by his own.

"Naruto is, 'if I had to pick a man.'"

"Oh thank the Shodaime, I thought that was going to be me." Shino slumped in his chair in relief.

"Hinata is, 'can't get it out of her mouth.' And Shino," Kiba paused, "is "Dog two'"

"Thank you so much."


AN: No I do not own "Parks and Recreation" nor do I own Burt Macklin, FBI (Macklin you son of a bitch) from which the inspiration for the first Omake was unashamedly taken. I also don't own Naruto or "Dreaming of Sunshine" which is owned by Silver Queen.

Thank you for all your reviews, and please continue so I may continue to do what I am doing right, and stop doing what I am doing wrong. I hope you enjoyed, and I will do my damnedest to get the next part up as soon as I can. (which should be within a week I'm good with writing violence, it's one of my strengths in writing, that and vivid description.)