Chapter 21: Why dogs are clearly the superior species

Summary: In which we meet Pakkun and someone really should have warned Calla that ninken would know what she was on sight.

"Mission brief," came Inu's cool voice, his usual timbre distorted behind the mask, handing the brief to her.

Calla scanned it, nodded, and passed it onto Cat beside her. They were a few days short of the three months but apparently the Hokage needed Kakashi on this mission and thought she could prove useful.

"Twenty minutes and we're out," Inu ordered and all three members gave sharp nods, jumping away to assemble their gear and mission packs.

Well, except Calla. She was going to enjoy a quick shower and some of the scentless soap (urgh) but everything she could ever possibly need was in her bag. She'd recently added runes to the bag to make it unnoticeable to enemy eyes, just to prevent it from being targeted; while she was fairly certain of its invulnerability given all the protection runes sown onto it – there was no need to invite the danger of exploding all her belonging everywhere should they fail for whatever reason.

Her lips quirked up in a smile as she gazed at the mirror and saw a face she'd become used to over the last few months. It was amusing; she really shouldn't have done self-transfiguration when angry, but in the end it had turned lucky. While the frame of her body was undoubtedly based on Snape, it had become harder and harder to find his features in her face.

There was Sirius in the curls in her black hair and the high cheekbones and set of her eyebrows. There was Ron in the stubborn tilt to her chin and Snape was found in the long, slightly stained fingers she had watched over many a potion lesson and amused smirk she occasionally had now. There was Draco in the graceful slope of her neck and the nose. Bill in the broad shoulders, Seamus in the chest and pelvis (seriously, that man had no shame) and Ron's feet.

It was nice – like she carried a part of her friends with her wherever she went – albeit more literally than she was used to. She missed them all a little less, her heartache slightly soothed, when she could look at the man in the mirror.

The voice, though, that was all Snape. Calla still maintained her latest tendency for snark and sarcasm definitely came all from Draco (and maybe Snape too).

Dressing quickly, using magic to dry herself instantly, Calla recalled the mission and made sure she wore the invisibility cloak around her, willing it to allow her to remain visible for now, as she set out to meet the rest of her team.

A rescue operation – Kakashi was needed to track the informant who appeared to have been kidnapped by Iwa. The last team sent had not reported back in and was assumed to be either missing or dead – or kidnapped as well. Inu had asked her before whether she had any help to contribute in tracking but unless it was one of the kids under her protection (which had long since been tagged), all she could offer was a point-me spell. The issue with point me spells was there imprecision. Yes, it helped give you a direction – but the target could be 2 feet in front of you or 6,000 miles away across an ocean. There was no difference and no way to tell.

So Kakashi's method for tracking was much more efficient and helpful, but Calla would at least be able to assist in following the correct tracks if they tried to divert them by laying false trails. Her main part in this mission would be in quiet and invisible infiltration, Inu advised her in quick ANBU handsigns. The team had launched themselves away from Konoha the moment she joined their group.

Calla would happily admit that wrapping her mind around the ANBU handsigns had taken some time. Yes, she had learned Konoha sign language previously, at the Academy – but ANBU handsigns needed to be read, understood and responded to rapidly and could be used to convey vital information and changing circumstances almost instantly without alerting the enemy to your presence.

So, dead useful and definitely mandatory. Calla really missed not having access or being able to buy wit-sharpening potions as she had spent many an hour of her precious free time over the last three months trying to learn them.

Calla, Inu ordered, would infiltrate, gather layout of where he/they were being held, location of the target(s) and enemy numbers before reporting back. She was to not take any action, no matter what she encountered.

It was an A-rank mission with high possibility of becoming S-Rank should the enemy forces be sufficiently high or skilled enough.

The first hurdle came when they came to the location the informant had gone missing – half a day away from Konoha. The man ran his own inn – easy access to a variety of sources – in a small town.

The town had been razed to the ground – not burned or flooded, but buried under mountains of earth and rock, as if it had never been there.

The bodies of the inhabitant were left behind; the elderly and infirm, the adults and the youths, children and babies. There wasn't a sound, and the animals and birds were scavenging already. While they'd left the moment the shinobi arrived, the scurrying sounds were unmistakeable, as were the quickly receding bodies of animals trying to get away fast from what they recognised as superior predators.

Calla would have liked to say it was the worst she'd ever seen, but it wasn't not by a long shot, unfortunately. She wished she could have spared the younger members of her team the sight though. Cat and Weasel were young, clearly. Cat's voice was still breaking, and Weasel didn't even have his adam's apple yet. They were all too young, Calla thought faintly, watching as her team leader didn't even hesitate to make his way to the epicentre of what used to be a town.

Lifting his mask slightly, he bit his finger enough to bleed and used handsigns to summon… dogs.

Oh my god, cute and adorable dogs. And… Did that one have sunglasses? Although one of them reminded her faintly of Ripper, Calla reminded herself firmly that Snape would never in his life have kneeled down, opened his arms wide and cooed at the adorable little tail-wagging creatures gathering around her team leader.

Calla was tempted to do it anyway.

Unfortunately, that was also the moment the pug sniffed the air and the dog with the sunglasses looked her way.

"Boss?" The pug's voice was faint and his eyes didn't waver from her own. Inu was alarmed and had grabbed his own shuriken, electricity faintly crackling around his hand as he made to stand between her and his pack.

Weasel and Cat were both clearly uncertain as well but distanced themselves slightly from her, hands reaching for weapons – Weasel's eyes were slowly fading from black into red.

"You can't take him!" One of the dogs barked at her, some of them growling, hackles clearly raised, tails stiff and alert, while the largest of them had tucked his tail in and trembled slightly.

Well, that certainly complicated things, Calla thought faintly, she really should have sought out summons earlier if only to prevent or know how to handle this reaction.

"You know who I am?" Calla found herself asking, regretting it the moment she had done so. There was no way this wouldn't go wrong now.

"Yes," said the pug who had called Inu his boss, stepping past the silver-haired teen and standing protectively in front of him, "and you can't have him."

"Pakkun," Inu ordered sharply, "what's going on? Who is he?"

The aforementioned-dog glanced between her and his boss.

"They don't know?"

She shrugged, unwilling smirk pulling her lips up.

"Humans," she said wryly, "we never notice even when it's right in front of us."

Inu's eyes narrowed.

"What are you?" He questioned threateningly, lightning more clearly sparking around his weapon. Weasel and Cat had made their way to his side by this point, seeing her as a threat.

She ignored him, directing her words at the small pug and the other dogs who still eyed her warily.

"I'm not here for him or any of the rest of the team. I'm here as part of the team,"

The pug stared for a moment before huffing noisily, a bark sounding eerily like a laugh escaping him.

"You're in ANBU?" He questioned, standing upright again instead of his early lowered position ready to launch into an attack any moment.

"Yep," she affirmed, amused inspite of herself at having finally someone to share in her humour that they put the personification – or messenger of – Death into ANBU.

Inu growled, voice vibrating, as he looked between them.

"What's going on? Pakkun?"

The pug glanced at her and she shook her head – a motion Inu clearly noted and frowned when his dog obeyed.

"Sorry, boss. I can't tell you. This one's above your paygrade."

Cat sent an uncertain glance at Inu, uncertain of how to react, but Inu was just as much at a loss.

"What does that mean? Why and how did you recognise this man?"

"It's someone any summon – and any ninken – can recognise inherently. Humans have become more 'civilised'," Pakkun spat the word, clearly showing what he thought of the word – having seen, lived through and heard some of the tales told by the people she met in Konoha, she could understand his disdain, but still wondered what had happened to him – or Inu – to cause this. "and can no longer see what's in front of them."

Inu, Cat and Weasel stared at her, trying to see – or sense – what Pakkun clearly could. After a momentary staring contest, her team leader hissed in frustration and turned back to his ninken (not a summon apparently).

"So is she a danger to my team or any of you?" Inu was obviously reluctant to trust her but Calla still found it telling that he only asked of dangers to others, not himself.

"Well? Are you a danger to boss or any of us?" The pug demanded bravely, stepping forward, closer to her still – despite how much tenser Inu got at his ninken putting himself even closer to perceived danger.

Calla easily kneeled down, calmly extending a hand for him to sniff (never say Sirius didn't teach her anything – see Hermione, you never knew how important dog etiquette was until you landed in a world where dogs could speak. Calla was looking forward to when she could freak out once she was back in her room at ANBU headquarters – this was even better than a talking snake! A talking dog!)

"No. I am kind of offended you'd think I'd harm children who were indoctrinated since they were in diapers."

Pakkun laughed again and finally stepped forth the last few steps separating them and sniffed her hand.

"Alright then," he said to her, before turning back to Inu, "not a danger, boss."

Inu looked like he desperately wanted to face palm.

"You're just taking his word for it?" He questioned, watching as his dogs lined up in perfect order to sniff her hand. Even Bull had stopped trembling – Inu didn't know what his new teammate was and how he had scared his pack, but he didn't easily forgive slights to the last family he had left (Tenzo, a quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind, Gai, it added, and, finally, Naruto. But Inu was far too used to suppressing and ignoring that voice by now – it had gotten quieter as the years passed. Humans were just too fragile to attach yourself to – a lesson he should have learned when his mother passed – or at the latest when his father committed suicide. But Minato's death had, at long last, finally made the lesson stick).

Pakkun sat down in front of him.

"Frankly, what were you going to do anyway to oppose him?" He asked wryly, as if Inu's defeat was a foregone conclusion. Having battered his newest teammate around the training ring for the last three months, trying to hammer taijutsu into him, Inu faintly wondered just how weak his pack thought he was.

Or if it really was as they said – and they saw something he didn't – or couldn't.

He chanced another glance at the masked man, chatting in a soft voice to the dogs, ignoring the dead bodies, ruins, and smell of death and decay that surrounded them with an ease that spoke of familiarity (given that the man was clearly in his adulthood, not a surprise, as he would have lived through the Third War at the very least and most likely the Second as well – or at least part of it – depending on when he'd graduated). He easily patted, soothed and interacted with Inu's ninken, shoulders relaxed as if he had never feared what Inu could do him.

He… wasn't used to that. Even among ANBU, many still remembered he'd been called friend-killer, and were appropriately wary around him, even when they were on the same mission together.

With another barely withheld sigh, Inu gestured for Tenzo and Itachi to stand down. Hebi wasn't being aggressive at this point – and the mission therefore took precedence but this definitely bore investigating

"Pakkun," Inu called sharply and the pug stood at alert immediately, full focus on him, "we're looking for the man who ran the inn here."

The pug looked at the deep pile earth covering the inn and gave him a dead-pan stare. Yes, thank you, Inu was very aware of just how difficult it would be to find the inn, the scent of one man among many other smells, especially after its burial. He winced slightly behind the mask but nodded at his lead dog anyway.

Pakkun huffed but turned obediently to where the inn once was, preparing himself to make small holes for his nose to try and get a scent.

"My poor paws," he whinged quietly, looking mournfully at the soft pink pads on his right front paw.

The potential-spy stepped forward, and with a wave of her hand, the entire ground – earth, rocks, stones and worms included – lifted up into mid-air… and kind of just … floated there? He had the strangest urged to rub his eyes.

"Would that help?" came that smooth, male voice again, as if Inu hadn't been prepared to eviscerate him moments ago and Pakkun hadn't been all but ready to tear his throat out.

"Erm… yes, that would."

Inu watched quietly as his pack scurried around the ground, trying to track one scent among many.

"Got it," Akino finally declared with certainty and the rest of the pack gathered around him to imprint the smell onto everyone's nose for tracking.

"May I have two minutes if you're all finished?" Hebi asked and Inu hesitated momentarily – the mission really should take precedence, especially considering all the delays which had already occurred, but in the end this was too good an opportunity to learn more about them and two minutes would hopefully not make too much of a difference given the informant had been captured days ago.

He assented with a nod and acquiesced to standing back at the outskirts of the village at the other man's bidding, exchanging a quick glance with his other teammates. Even his pack watched on curiously – still refusing to tell him what they knew about the potential spy in their midst.

The earth that had been floating was piled up on the side and then all the bodies were floating, gathered and put aside as well. A moment later – no visible handsigns but Inu did observe some off handmotions – the ground broke apart and opened up into a deep pit.

Ah.

A burial.

He watched as the bodies floated neatly into the bid, severed limbs floating beside bodies and arms artificially arranged as if in mere repose on those where they still could. Animals had clearly scavenged on some of the bodies already.

The ground rose and covered the pit again.

Inu nearly gave the order to move out, before realising that Hebi still wasn't done.

Stone slabs materialised from the ground – gravestones, he realised after a moment of disbelief. With only a second of hesitation, Inu stepped closer, still refusing to believe his own eyes but… yes. Each of the gravestones had names on them – and dates of birth and death as well as epitath about them. Hell – one of the children appeared to have survived two additional days, according to the dates noted. How the hell did Hebi know this? Hebi had been with him the entire day that day. He definitely hadn't been here or participated in this.

And how did he know their names?

Inu watched mutely as a larger stone rose from the ground, two stories high. He already knew what this one would be – a memorial stone.

Here stood Aguni – the name of the village along with a description of it since its inception until now and a note of what had happened.

And a list of the dead.

…

HOW?! How did he know so much about this tiny, remote town – a history he doubted even the people living here had known. And how did he know the names of all the dead and when they were born?

Pakkun huffed next to him, the same sound he made whenever Inu claimed Gai wasn't his friend, and that ANBU was good for him or that he didn't miss Naruto and wanted nothing to do with him. It spoke clearer than anything he could have said.

Humans.

What did that make Hebi then?

Omake by QueenCarlton:

Time skip and Hiruzen allows her to go back to meet the Nara and spies on the meeting via his crystal ball.
Shikamaru: Kara-nee-chan? You're here as yourself? Didn't you say that you could only be here as Yuri-nee-chan thanks to Hokage's orders?
Kara: Yeah. Hokage-teme just lifted those orders.
Yoshino: Kara-chan!
Kara: Sorry! Kids, 'teme' is a BAD word and you should NEVER use it (where your parents can hear).
Kara: Nara-sama!
Shikaku: You practically adopted us after the Hokage pulled that shi-stunt. Call me Shikaku-oji. Shika already adopted you anyway - you've been 'nee-chan' for HOW long now?

Hokage finally realises he's done goofed up. (Cause I totally headcannon that she'd have found a way to let the kids know that she didn't abandon them.)

Author's Notes:

Happy 5th December Advent Calendar Day :)

You can still vote - either via the poll on my profile page or by leaving a review (you need to actually say something other than the pairing name though for it to be counted).

Current voting:
Itachi = 627
Kakashi = 616
Shisui = 250 votes.

The mission will continue in the next chapter - and don't worry, you can of course expect a FUBAR mission *lol* how could it be any other way with the curse on missions in Konoha and the usual Potter luck :)

Oh, and if you have any interesting or innovative suggestions for Hokage, I'm always open to ideas. Not that I'm suggesting the positions may open up soon or anything *whistles innocently*