Now that the mission was over, I could easily say that it had been a success. I know a ninja is always supposed to be on his guard until he is safely back at his village reporting to his Hokage, but I gave it one last look around and decided for myself that we were all set.

I became an ANBU only a few weeks earlier and this was my first real mission as a member of the team. My teammates didn't look me in the eye and avoided speaking to me whenever possible. I didn't know if this was ANBU tendencies or if it was because I was an Aburame.

Either way, this new five-man team of mine was not like the team I had been put on when I was twelve years old, and quickly departed from a year later. I didn't even know these other four's names.

At the rate my team was going at, I didn't expect we'd make it back to the village by the time I promised Kiba, Hinata and Kurenai. Today was our sixteenth anniversary not mandatory team meeting and, although I wouldn't normally be eager for such a thing, (or eager at all) after a month and a half long mission, one usually does just want to get back into the swing of things. And if that meant dealing with Kiba then I guess that's the way it worked.

"Shino, if my calculations are correct, you're going to be gone for a month and a half." Said Kiba.

"Oh no…" Hinata said as she braided her daughter's hair. "Are you going to miss the sixteen year team meeting?"

I sighed. "Do we even have to do that?" I said. "We see each other enough."

"I guess…" Hinata said, looking dejected.

Kiba shrugged, but he appeared just as dejected as his young wife.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure I'll be back in time." I said.

Immediately, their eyes lit up.

"I'm holding you to your word, Shino!" Kiba announced.

And I always keep my word.

Suddenly, the team leader, who is probably the most powerful ninja in the village since he is leader of the ANBU team, put up his hand to signal for us to stop.

We were already going at a slow pace already and now we had to stop? I was definitely not going to make it back in time for the reunion.

But, because our leader told us to, we all came to a stop as he scouted the area. The rest of us instinctively began to scout as well.

I assumed we were scouting for rogue ninjas who had planned to catch us off guard, but I couldn't be sure since our leader would not utter a word. He raised one hand and pointed in a grove of trees.

Two of the other members threw shuriken into the trees and pursued them. After a moment of rustling, they emerged, throwing a ninja on the ground in front of them.

"Who are you?" our leader asked.

The man remained in his pitiful state sprawled out on the ground. He looked up at the leader, but didn't answer.

So the leader bent down and grabbed the man's collar. "Are you alone? Are there other's with you?"

The man just smiled.

"Shino, Tansei, scout the area." Said our leader.

I nodded, as did another member of the team as we both departed to have a look around.

Tansei, I guess his name was, was also a newer member of the team. He had been on the team for almost a year and he was much younger than I. I do not believe that he was much of a better ninja just because he joined ANBU before I did, but he did train under Kakashi.

"Nothing to report so far…" Tansei said to me.

I could have easily seen that for myself.

He stopped and started looking around.

I sent out a bug to check a suspicious area.

The bug returned. "How many?" I asked.

"What?" said Tansei.

I glared at Tansei and ignored him as the bug began to fly in an eight shape. "Eight?" I said quietly.

But the bug continued to fly in the shape.

"Infinity." I said finally.

The bug stopped flying.

"What are you doing?" said Tansei.

"There are many men waiting for us to walk into an ambush on the other side of this forest." I replied. "An army."

Tansei didn't answer at first.

"I think that is something to report." I said finally.

We both returned back to our leader who had our captive tied to a tree.

"Sir, we discovered a large army of men waiting on the other side of the forest!" said Tansei.

WE found an army of men? I found the army.

"Let's take them out!" said one of the men, but the leader put his hand up.

"No." he said. "We must avoid this army at all costs and return to Konoha for reinforcements."

"We can take them out!" said the same foolhardy member from before.

"I have given the order and, as leader of this team, you must follow it." said the leader, looking cross.

The team member drew his sword and pointed it directly at our leader. "I will follow what order I wish." He said.

The leader closed his eyes and paused. Then he dropped to the ground and swept his leg right under the man's two legs, knocking him off balance, causing him to fall to the ground. The sword flew up into the air and, as our leader stood back up, he caught it without giving it a second thought.

"Don't ever point your weapon at me." Said our leader, throwing it aside. I thought it was kind of ridiculous thing for our teammate to react so strongly like that. "That is like treason, and if you even consider doing it again then I will kill you."

A smirk glazed over his expression as a shuriken from the trees launched forward towards our leader. The leader didn't even turn or flinch, just grabbed the shuriken before it made contact.

Then came the ninjas.

They dropped from the trees, came from the bushes and even popped right up out of the ground. There must have been twenty of them.

I always considered ambushes to be the most dishonorable style of attack. But now was not the time to think or be offended by the actions of my enemies, it was time to defend against them.

I blocked an attack and then flipped backwards as another one tried to attack me from behind. I landed, and noticed that the sword our leader had thrown was now at my feet. I looked up to see the foolhardy and over reactive teammate looking down at me.

"Hand it over, newbie." He said, putting out his hand. Something about him definitely wasn't right.

"Take this one!" said one of the enemy ninjas as he dropped a sword in our so-called teammate's hand. It was then I realized that this teammate had done more treason than just point a weapon at our team leader. This was a spy who had infiltrated himself into our ranks.

There were ninjas all around me, seemingly no way to escape. He raised his sword to cut me down, but I grabbed his old sword and raised it to block. He only smiled at my efforts. He was standing and I was crouched on the ground, and new knew that that gave him a weight advantage over me. I held back the sword the best I could, but I knew it would only be so long before he overpowered me or one of the other ninjas standing idly by decided that he'd just jump in and end this now.

The traitor raised his foot and kicked my sword up into the air and pushed me onto my back. I rolled over and got to my feet just as he took another swipe at me.

That's when I suddenly felt an unbearable piercing pain in the back of my head.

"Shino, do you have any ideas for a secret handshake?" Kiba asked as he grabbed my hand and started contorting it into different positions.

I figured that if I just stood there and watched he'd eventually realize that I was not going to make a secret handshake with him.

But it certainly wasn't processing fast enough for my liking.

"We don't NEED a secret handshake." I said since he obviously didn't understand.

"Yes we do." Said Kiba, looking completely serious.

The next thing I knew, I was lying down and my head was throbbing at the rate of my heartbeat.

Something touched my hand so I tried to draw away, being weary of my attackers.

"Shino…!" I heard a voice.

"Shino?" I heard another voice. Both female, which was strange because there had been no females on my team.

I tried to move, but my body felt kind of numb.

"Shino, I TOLD you joining ANBU was a bad idea! I'll hate you forever for this, you know!"

Tsuma?

I opened my eyes to see her standing over me. I was inside. When did I get here and…how?

I suddenly felt something on my neck so, I quickly drew away from that as well. There was no reason for anyone to be touching me.

"This is…incredible!" I heard someone exclaim. "He wasn't expected to recover…"

What? Was I dying?

"Shino?" came a very painfully familiar voice. I looked up to see as Kiba came running over with his daughter following close behind him. "Shino! You're all right!"

"Please, sir, keep your voice down." Said an unfamiliar voice.

"Is Shino okay?" Kiba's daughter asked.

"I'll be right back." Said the unfamiliar voice as he left the room.

I didn't know how I had gotten into this situation. But I did know one thing. I was going to blame it on my team's lack of teamwork. Everyone wanted to do everything for themselves. Of course, it couldn't possibly be any fault of MINE, after all.

I looked up to see Tsuma, Hinata, Kiba and their daughter all looming over me with wide eyes. Before I could say anything, a whole lot of medical ninjas came running into the room and pushed all of my significant others out of the room.

"How long was I unconscious?" I said, but my voice was hardly above a whisper.

"Don't speak, try to rest." A medical ninja urged me.

"How long was I unconscious?" I repeated, more loudly this time.

"Just a few hours." A different ninja assured me.

So…I was back in time for the reunion.

I always keep my word.