Yuina passively studied the blue sky as she leaned against the tree, her mind blissfully blank after eight weeks of straight fighting. The wind picked up her curly burgundy stands, tickling her nose. For the first time in what felt like forever, she let herself smile. She closed her eyes and meditated, concentrating on the gentle thrum of her chakra.
It felt so good to be off the battlefield, even if it was for a mission.
The scout dropped from the trees in front of their team captain not a minute later. Yuina reluctantly refocused on the world around her, but left her eyes closed.
"This was defiantly one of the decoy hide-outs," the scout began, "there was however evidence that the place had been used within the last two months, fresh traps included." Yuina listened carefully to way he said his words, picking up a slight drag and wheeze, as if…
Yuina opened her eyes, and asked him point blank, "Were you struck in the chest?" His curt nod was all she needed, and she immediately sent the healing chakra to her hands. "You don't need to, I'm fine," the embarrassed scout began, but Koichi, the captain, cut him off, "She's right to heal you."
Yuina sent him a nod of appreciation out of respect but knew he would side with her anyway. They had been on too many missions together for him to doubt her judgment. She smiled softly as she repaired the young man's collapsed lung. We're like a pair of old shoes, she thought,worn but comfortable.
After the scout was out of danger, she cut off the flow of chakra and regained her feet. Now all they had to do was wait for the last scout to return.
Yuina's faint smile was quickly replaced by a deep frown as she thought of their mission. They were out to recover Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura and find Madara's current base of operations. The boy was considered a dangerous wild card, which if not compliant, was to be treated and eliminated as a threat to the Shinobi alliance. He was their top priority.
The girl, Sakura, had served under her during the Battle of the Waterfall literally a few days ago. She was a quick-thinking talented girl, and one heck of a medical ninja. Yuina smiled at the memory of their first meeting those few days earlier, when the young girl had healed so many critically wounded easily and quickly. Well,Yuina reflected,sheis the apprentice of Tsunade.
Her smile faded once more. Sakura was only the third priority of their mission, despite the pleading of Tsunade to have the recovery of her apprentice higher on the list. Yuina rubbed her aching shoulder and sighed heavily. Koichi surprised her by appearing at her side. "Yuina," he whispered, trying to keep their conversation private, "When we get to wherever it is we're going, you will oversee Haruno Sakura. You two will be the only available medics until we return to the command center. You two will be the only help we'll get to survive."
Yuina chaffed slightly at the insinuation she didn't already know that., but she also knew the hidden message he was relaying, "You be careful too, Ko."
They shared a private smile, something a little more than friends, but none the less impossible.
The last scout returned then, with nothing more than a scratch on his shoulder, but he was visible shaken. "What," Koichi said simply, waiting for the scout to pull himself together and report.
"It was recently used, within the last week. I found a faint chakra trail, like something massive was moved," the young man said.
Yuina studied him a moment longer before asking, "What else was there?"
The scout jerked slightly but promptly answered her, "There was…someone I knew, waiting for me. It was from a summoning jutsu, but I think it was imbedded with some kind of a genjutsu or mind jutsu that reads the individuals memories, in order to summon a specific person."
"At least we have a trail, let's go. You two trackers go ahead," Koichi ordered, the faint vestiges of his softer side fully masked by his commanding side.
Yuina followed her team, bringing up the left rear guard in their bent-wing formation. They tree-hopped in silence, each left to his own thoughts, or lack thereof, in some cases. Yuina personally was blessed with the ability to think and tree-hop without any loss of attention to her surroundings.
A gift she chose to use now.
'I wish there was another way,' she thought, 'this war…it seems so…wrong in a moral way. War has been essentially the same for years, but this war, it reaches a whole new bottom.' Yuina allowed the sadness that permeated her heart to surface in her eyes, 'It's going to end soon; I can feel it. All this hatred, all this loss of life in order to preserve the world as it is by a rocky alliance of former enemies…'
Yuina easily flipped over and landed on her feet with the rest of her team, the trackers having called a halt. They gathered around the trackers, Koichi standing directly in front of them, waiting for their report.
"Madara's chakra and the massive chakra are present ahead in large amounts, but the young Uchiha's chakra is now headed in a different direction."
Yuina creased her brow before asking, "What of Sakura's?"
The first scout turned to their commander and then to back to her with permission before answering, "At first I didn't even sense it, but it's there in a very faint amount in both places." Yuina rocked back ever so slightly on her heels at the news.
"So we have no way of knowing where she is until we find her present or missing when we arrive," Yuina concluded for the scout. Koichi nodded to the scout, bidding him to finish.
"Madara's chakra and that of the other thingis stationary at the point described. The Uchiha however is headed in the opposite direction we came from, on a path parallel to us. As of now, I don't believe he knows we are here. According to the mission priorities, I believe the best course of action is to confront Sasuke now and confirm Madara's base later if there is time."
Koichi nodded his head as he thought before speaking, "Lead the way then, and everyone mask their chakra. When we get there, surround the boy, but do not attack unless he attacks first with the intent to kill, or declares himself our enemy." The team was then off to intercept the Uchiha.
Yuina pondered the Uchiha's possible reactions. She frowned slightly as she compared the compatibility of her bloodline jutsu with the, somewhat limited, knowledge of her companions' jutsu. Regardless, when it came to the Uchiha, her boil-style jutsus were going to be important, considering that the Mizukage's technique was able to injure him even with the protection of his Susanoo.
She happened to be somewhat distantly related to her Mizukage, both women sharing boil-style kekkei genkai, or bloodline trait.
Yuina mentally prepared herself for the possible upcoming battle; this kid was good; they could afford no mistakes. She briefly wondered if he had the girl to use as his hostage but put it aside to worry about after they determined if she was even with him in the first place.
Yuina had to admit as she took her place in the circle to surround their target that she felt a twinge of fear for the girl when they arrived where the Uchiha waited for them, Sakura passively standing behind him.