note: uploading chapters suck. this site has been eating up my fic and i keep on uploading them until i get it right.oh well.. anyway, this isan attempt to channel my imagination at the intricate world of Naruto; warfare will be based from the anime's PS2 game version so don't blame me for any misuse of their abilities. This is drama everyone, please don't flame me from its slow-paced storyline. I do not own Naruto, too.

OF BUZZING AND CHIRPING

"Splitting Inner's"

They were platinum beauties.

Almost; as the air tasted of rancid silence on both ends of Sound localities, starry-eyed fascination wrapped with glorious anticipation as metals – like the embellishments of night firmaments – flew straight in direction, knowing all of this motion too well. Sounds of victory are heard but they were only whispers, like dandelion smelling ambience in fields of barren soil that had purported moldy existence; fairies of mushroom promenaded near them and aged dewdrops are starting to appear beyond their environment. It was supposedly a precautionary measure, with two hundred meters that distanced them from the varied doorways towards the Hidden Village of Sound. Chuunin Hinata's byakugan served its purpose right, Tenten's shuriken's slitting those threads of traps that lay on such dry land like desert. Inner Sakura's trying to break loose while Shino, the deadpan slab of existence of the group, hushed inward just in time to discover...

"Are you all right, Shino-san?" Hinata finally asked; there were no more spaces of introversion with the girl's way of speaking. Two years wasn't enough to compensate all those cryptically buried potentialities that ran on her blood but being a main family member it was as easy as a pinch in the cheek.

Pinch in the cheek. The thought snapped back Shino. "I'm fine," he said. By the rocks then, their espionage.

"I've cut the threads, Hinata-san; I think we can stroll around more freely this time," Tenten said almost like she won the chuunin exam – never was she successful doing her way anyway.

And in the middle of cold dusk they strolled away.

The mattress croaked but Hatake Kakashi was sure he was the only one who heard it; he never fancied caffeine cocktails so he never drink one – funny, he cannot sleep. As his psyche researched answers why neurons in one's brain misfire only to lead one thinking silly things, especially during slumber, his sight sparkled long on the portrait that lay on the wooden breakfront – those inane smiles, those rough faces of snorts. He was the only one who wore a mask and quite regrettably was such; who knew of his joy whenever people got around life's fullest possibilities anyway? It's regretting, but not quite.

He was inner Kakashi this time around. Afraid of light and darkness in the tribulations of life, craven of truth and what it meant; the platinum-haired is also a stoic not because of emotional safety but from his dread of emotions. They were two different things – the former was investing yourself consolation while the latter a phobia in any emotion at all. He realized it, again, frightened that the world will never have happiness again. Raindrops are starting to fall.

It was colder now, visible puffed exhales testifying the wintriness of the night. How was his genin team by the way? Remembering yesteryears, he constantly blamed himself at the sour situation. Naruto's angry, Sasuke's ran away, and Sakura's sad. Was he a good teacher?

Picking up Come Come Violence he sat by the bed, read the words loud enough for his ears to hear to distract those melancholic thoughts that are painting his emotions void.

Those eternal byakugan veins in her temples has shrouded her beauty, Shino thought. It was almost a reunion without Kiba; he nearly spoke those thoughts but chose not to. How was Kiba anyway? This was the thought of the chuunin Hinata as she probed fifty meters milieu of Sound Village. "There are three entrances; one straight ahead and two others on each ends. Two guards each, must be jounin's from their stances,"

"We should split."

Tenten and Sakura were surprised. "Split? They're jounin's you know, even four of us could not handle three jounin's. We should come our forces together."

"Shino-san's right; our goal is to work undercover. We need not to fight."

Hesitant, Sakura let her inner self dominate. "Okay, let's get this over with,"

"Shino and I will stroll alone while both of you tag along. Take this direction straight," chuunin Hinata has said as she bowed down to bid the undercover team luck. "We meet at the entrance you'd take," Shino has said.

"We must have a password; I mean, like a code or something to know who's who. Many ninja's are capable of bunshin no jutsu, y'know,"

Sakura wandered her mind, consulting her inner one. "Inner Sakura."

Three others dropped sweats at their foreheads. "Did that self of yours told you that?"

"What! Any problem with that!"

"Inner Sakura then; we meet north." Words were uttered and Aburame Shino was gone, Hinata assuring them that everything will go as planned. "As planned? We haven't formulated any..." Tenten whispered, running along with Inner Sakura as they fulfill their mission.

Uchiha Sasuke ran like madman in an end towards losing Shikamaru's team again. He had noticed several bugs flying and he already knew then he is being watched by that Aburame genius; with this he plotted to find him, following those bugs. Their translucent wings and feather-like weight made the Uchiha genius stalling, afraid that he might lose sight of those bugs. Why was he following those bugs anyway? Wasn't it the other way around? – but he felt like the bugs are ordered to come back to its master.

He needed help. Again.

Stopping momentarily, his closed eyes opened to reveal sharingan eyes, bloody in its hues like unforgotten wars that shed death and sadness. Several beats of the heart and four other Sasuke appeared in puffs and traversed again. Is it the Sound Village, he thought.

Blood has slightly dropped on Sakura's lips by the time they were already five meters away from the entrance; Tenten has shrouded her chakra to hole up from two Sound shinobi's at their front. "Genjutsu!" Sakura said after a seal, her feet vanishing as slender airstreams bounce off of her, completely invisible. Tenten, with her damp shuriken, readied herself as Sakura's aura left her side. Blinking her left eye, her shuriken soared straight. Even in the middle of rain, the poison at the shooting star will never fade – it was a ninjutsu after all.

It was like platinum beauty indeed.

Polished shale rocks that molded an entrance testified to the undeveloped age of Sound Village; full of more structures to build and eeriness quite was imaginable at the pale soil. Two men stood as one yawned, waiting for the shift. They were never aware of shinobi tricks played on them; a smidgen of blood surged outside one guard's skin and he stared at it, his vision blurry, getting lethargic suddenly. Taking out the shuriken on his right shoulder, he fell onto the drenched ground.

"Hey!" the other had shouted but the noise of precipitation has overwhelmed his voice. Stout but lithe branches – flexible at the slightest touch – wrapped on his arms and legs and there Inner Sakura was, fist mightily swinging like toxin of alcohol, fast and furious those swings were. Tenten ran quickly as she escape the velocity of rain, Sakura waiting.

"Inner Sakura," both has said, Haruno Sakura coming normal again.

Chuunin Souke no Chi ni Mesametta Hyuuga Hinata was quite unsure but she ran through the starkness of the rain, sound almost escaping its pace. She grew much stronger now, her skills dazzling at the slightest touch of her fingertips; her potentialities opened up actualities, giving details of volitional determination, inspiration, and even mockery. She's formidable and she knows it now – gratitude on team eight, on her sensei, her father... and Naruto... how was the blond youngster doing?

Muttering low sounds of ninjutsu, two Hinata's appeared in front of two shinobi's guarding the entrance; both Sound ninja's arched in surprise as they held their kunai, smokes coming loose on edges of illusion as the chuunin Hinata ran, rapid amidst the rain, jumping gymnastically as she pirouette on the air, her feet resting on the same ground of dryness. Composed, her chakra seeped outside her dainty fingers – yellowish in shades – and loud thuds were heard after then but still overwhelmed by the downpour. "Kaiten!"

Both Sound Village guards were knocked down.

Aburame Shino never wanted confrontation; his nonchalance was due to sentimental rationales, missing every point of logical altercation when it comes to warfare. He proves his worth when essential inevitability crops up, when violence was a better choice. His destruction bugs are by nature masters of the art of wars – etymologically, his father had said – but his deportment and philosophy of existence was otherwise. He believed that the order of the universe stood dependent on free volitions and he opted to choose silence, revelry of some kind. But as his green-eyed companions percolated outside his pale skin, sculpting defensive barriers at the sight in front of him – his choices are open wide for whatever's worth but in the sanctity of ego he was sure of a battle, an exchange of blows that might cause his own life.

"I am from Konoha's Aburame clan and I will fight with everything I have,"

Yakushi Kabuto stood in the corner of the Sound's entry as his index finger patched his glasses right; his chakra – red in tinge, signifying strength – is becoming visible, impish smile escaping from his mouth. "I thought you were that shadow ninja. Where are your colleagues? Sasuke's not in here," Reserved difficulties stretched on Shino's thoughts; why would Kabuto be guarding the Sound Village access? How does he know of Shikamaru and others? Why is Sasuke involved? Two men lay asleep beside the medic ninja; heartbeats are racing and the Aburame genius could only curse at himself at the acidity of the situation.

"Well then, you must be anticipating a fight. It's a waste of my effort save for my chakra, but okay – give me your best shot."

This has pissed the psyche and ego of the Aburame genius.

a/n: are there any contradictions with the manga/anime (except the timeline of course)? If there were, my factual errors may be due on my heavy dependence/reliance with the PS2 game. Reviews/flames are appreciated. The plot is slow-paced, I know.