Chapter 11

"Did you summon them all Shizune?"

"Yes Lady Tsunade, they are on their way."

Remind me to send a message to Jiraya to tell him to come back as soon as possible. It would be harder to protect them if they are outside the village."

"Yes ma'am!" Soon after, someone knocked three times on the door.

"Come in", the nine people she was waiting for entered the office, some of them already on on alert, others still chasing away sleep. She couldn't blame them, being summoned so early in the morning and just two days after a Chunin exam that turned out to be more improving than expected, it was clear they needed rest, but no one was more suited than them for this mission. Ironically, it was because they had participated at the Chunin exam. Laying her back on the chair back, she let out a deep breath.

"Thank you for coming this early. I understand you still need to recover, but there is an urgent matter that has to be dealt with and you are the only ones in Konoha I can send on this mission. It is S-ranked, it's coming from the leader of Takigakure. The Nanabi jinchuuriki, Fuu, escaped from the village teo nights ago after beign chased down by two members of the Akatsuki on the same day."

"So they are after the Tailed-Beasts once more, which means they will come here sooner or later for Naruto." Asuma was the first one to speak. Memories of his first encounter with the older Uchiha and his patner were playing down in his mind. They had been lucky that day. They were three Jonin and they could hardly take down the two of them.

"Yes, I am going to send a message to Jiraya as soon as we are done here to ask him to come back to the village. For now, we have to focus on finding the Jinchuuriki of Takigakure before Akatsuki does, if it's not already too late. From the report I read, Team 11 already know of her existence, right? You have been sworn to secrecy by the Kazekage itself?"

"Yes ma'am. She was with the Kazekage when they attempted to extract their Bijuu." Neji anwered for the rest of them.

"Oh, the green haired girl", Tenten said,"yes, I remember her too. But... Why did she leave..."

"There is no time to make comments about what happened, it is an urgent matter, we can't let Akatsuki have the jinchuurikis. You already met her and you have seen her on the battlefield. You wil have to patrol the northern and north eastern part of the Land of Fire. The shinobis sent by Takigakure have received just today the permission to cross the borders, but we are running out of time. The more you are, the better it is. NEVER mention that the person you're looking for is a Jinchuuriki. Did I make myself clear?!"

"Yes ma'am", they answered in chorus.

"Good. Shikamaru, I let you make plan the search but I want Asuma and Guy to approve it before."

"No worries" What a bother, we don't even know where to start... And on top of everything a Jinchuuriki... "From what I understand, she willingly left the village. What if she doesn't collaborate?"

"Use whatever means you have to capture her. But we want her alive so be careful."

Shikamaru inwardly groaned. If the jinchuuriki mastered the power of the Bijuu, it would be nothing like fighting just a freshly graduated Chunin. Moreover, they could come across the Akatsuki in their search. He would have to get prepared for every possibility and, unfortunately, the most simple issue had the least probability to realize.

Tsunade already dismissed them. Asuma gave the team 15 min to get all what they need for the mission then they would meet at the gate.

Shikamaru took a look at the file Tsunade had given him. She could be in any of the countries surrounding Takigakure, which included the Land of Earth. If she went there, then the mission would be for naught to them and a disaster for the Land of Waterfall. The last war between Konohagakure against Iwagakure was not even 20 years ago. If they ever discovered one of Konohagakure's allies had a missing-nin that turned out to be a Jinchuuriki, then the Fourth Shinobi War would be more than likely to happen any time soon.

"Run, run, run" was the only word that she kept repeating. But the faster she was trying to run, the slower she was getting, shortening that little distance between them that kept her safe. Everything from the trees to the road was getting tighter, until a stone wall appeared in front of her, leaving her without any way out. Then, the sound of shoes cracking on earth. They were already there, standing in behind her. No matter what she would do, she was cornered. The two men didn't move, they just observed her, but what was traspassing from their eyes were annoucing the end. The only thing left for her to escape them was throw herself on the floor to disappear beneath the earth...

Taking a deeep breath in, she shut her eyes open and quickly turned her head around to check her surroundings. She was still sitting in the corner of the carriage she had taken in Harago. The vehicle would shake tremendously on the uneven road, dwindeling the travelers in the process. With her, there were six more people, four men, a woman and a child. They were silently sitting on each side. Two of them were sleeping on big fabric bags, the woman was looking outside and the child was sleeping in the arms of the man sitting in front her. They were all wearing worn-out and soiled clothes. Back at the market, she had heard someone talking about migrant workers who had to travel from city to city to find temporary jobs. Some small countries had fallen into poverty after the previous war, leaving thousands of people without a home and without any mean of livelihood. So many had decided to cross the borders. Because they had no illegal workers, people would employ them for the most tedious jobs or they would give them a miserable pay because they couldn't turn to the police forces without risking to get expelled from the country. So they would travel from place to place, waiting for the moment where they were given the permission to reside legally and live a more decent life.

At first, she had thought to be a good idea to join them as they would surely know where to look for a job or where to sleep, but a sharp feeling of guilt made her quickly change her mind. She didn't deserve to ask them for help. They were living this miserable life because everything losing everything they had. They didn't choose it, it was impose on them unlike her. She had willingly given everything up. How could she ask them for help when they didn't have anything to give?

Fuu gave a glance outside from the large splits of the tarp that was covering the carriage. The driver told them thay would reach the city of Arane in the late afternoon. It was 32 miles away from Taiyo, an the city was one of the biggest in the Land of Earth. She felt a little sorry for lying to the receptionist but she couldn't risk to let clues about her movements. A green-haired kunoichi of Takigakure had indeed headed to Kuroishi, not her. She was just an orphan migrant with braided mahogany hair that answered to the name Miyu, and she was heading to Arane to start a new life.

The sun was low but Arane was nowhere to be seen, although it was to be expected. The never-ending shaking of the carriage sickened the most sensitive among them so they needed to do more stops than planned.

After some time, they shared some snacks and talked about previous journeys, sharing anectodes and discussing the situation of the Land of Earth. She took the opportunity to learn a little more about the country and where they were actually going.

Arane was a popular destination among migrants for two main reasons: the job opportunities and the important communities of foreigners – this point was particularly important. Many went there to join a family member or a friend, and the great advantage to have someone who knew the place was to have easy access to a job and a place to stay. Another good thing about Arane was that the city hosted many caritative organizations. They offered a place for the night and a meal for those most in need.

Fuu parted with them when they started talking about thier home countries. For the moment, she had all the information she needed to start. She unconsciously wanted to reach Chomei and talk to him about what was going to happen next, but the that void she was feeling inside reminded her that in this journey she was on her own. She would have to remember to learn more about Bijuu and seals to fix this horrible mess. Yes, reaching Chomei must be my priority number one.

Suddently, the carrige stopped causing all the passengers to be thrown forward. Fuu wanted to get out to see what was happening but she was halted by the woman sitting at the other end of the bench. She pointed with her finger the place Fuu had been sitting then put the finger on her lips. The man on whom was sleeping the child was covering the kid's mouth with his hand, although the child was sleeping soundly. The atmosphere inside the carrige was tense and what bothered Fuu the most was that she didn't know what was going on. Whispers could be heard from behind the panel that was separating the passengers and the drivers, Fuu tried to get some bits of the conversation it was was incomprehensible. After a couple of minutes, the carriage moved once more. She could see shoulders dropping and faces relaxing. The woman then turned to her and said: "In this part of the desert there are groups of rogue ninjas that live by taking money from travelers, sometimes even their belongings. They take advantage of the fact that we are civilians because they know we would be no match against them. They are very arrogant and dangerous. This people kill for fun. This is why I didn't want you to go out. I guess you didn't know about that..."

"No, I didn't. Thank you so much".

"No worries dear. Just remember for next time to be more careful."

"She's right" said the man sitting in front of the woman "even once you'll be in Arane, you must avoid shinobis. Those you'll meet in Arane are loyal to the Land of Earth and most work in the police force. They don't cause problems to people like us, but you never know... 'Might get into a twist-minded one so it's better to just avoid them all. Since they can use chakra, they think they are superior to us."

"Mh, well... Anyone can be dangerous, not just shinobis. It's in human nature. We can..." the man who spoke couldn't finish his sentence as the carriage stopped once more and a man appeared from the opening of the tarp covering the back of the vehicle. The man was in shinobi attire, a sharp stroke crossing out the symbol on the foreband protector the man was wearing on his front.

"He's right!Why jmhcvbnm,

we always have to be the bad guys, uh? Come on, get out there. NOW!"