Kuroyama was a ghost town. The buildings were rusting, the blood red filth slowly overtaking the minor holes that come with disrepair. The roads were crumbling and the sky was black from the smoke of the few remaining factories.

There were people there, but they moved like the dead, floating across the walkways with emotionless faces that carried the marks of despair as black bags under their eyes. They didn't notice the trio that had just entered the front gate. No one stopped them as they made their way through town and up the stairs of the deteriorating building. No one came out to see who was opening the door of apartment fifteen. It was abundantly clear that no one here cared.

The team put their bags on the ground and a second later the largest of the group flopped onto the nearest bed. The furniture creaked under the weight.

"Eh, Chouji…"

Before the sentiment could be finished though, the legs broke off and the mattress and its occupant were flung to the ground rather unceremoniously. Shikamaru let out a long sigh which was promptly lost in the laughter of their female companion. He turned towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's just…"

Chouji pushed himself off the ground and started laughing himself. "Should've seen it coming what with the rest of this place looking like it's about to collapse."

"Sorry about this," Shikamaru muttered, helping Chouji steady himself. "When they said we'd have a safe house for the mission, I just assumed they meant a house, not a hole in the wall. No offense, though, I'm glad you're here and not Ino. She would have killed me if she had to spend a month here."

"Thanks, I think."

He didn't acknowledge the response. It was hard enough not seeing Ino in the third spot on their team, but the kunoichi that replaced her was missing her trademark buns, making it like a stranger was with them. She caught him staring at her hair and ran a hand through it.

"It looks odd, right?" she asked.

"Different," he settled on.

She shrugged. "Well, Matsumoto Ichiro just doesn't know what he's missing when he goes for girls with short brown hair and not long." She put her bag on one of the remaining beds.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. Another reason it was better to have her than Ino on this mission. Asking Ino to change her hair color would have resulted in bodily harm, he was sure of it.

He took the final bed and started to unpack, pulling out radio equipment and assorted wiring. Chouji removed the generator from his backpack and put it next to where he was setting things up. They worked together in tandem until a low hiss emitted from the radio. Shikamaru smiled and Chouji gave him a strong pat on the back.

Leaving his friend as he fiddled with the radio, Chouji returned to the mess that was once a bed and began to unpack his things. It was quiet work broken only by Shikamaru's tapping as he tried to make contact with Konoha. Clothes reorganized and mattress pulled free of the debris, Chouji was as settled as possible and Shikamaru was relaying their first report to Konoha through a series of long and short taps.

Chouji turned his attention to their female partner and frowned a bit. She had stopped unpacking and was simply staring out their grime covered window to the street below. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder, watching as it disappeared under the massive girth of his hand.

"Hey, it'll be okay," he said with a smile.

She looked at him and did her best to smile back. "Yeah, I know. It's just… this is the first S-rank mission without my team," she sighed. Her face fell suddenly. "Not that I don't trust you and Shikamaru to…"

"I understand," he interrupted. "It's like when Ino went away for her first solo mission. Shika and I didn't sleep… well, I didn't sleep. Shika couldn't win a game of go against sensei though."

From his corner, Shikamaru snorted in disgust. "He was just lucky that day."

"Your gennin cell, that's for life. Even as jounin, being away from it can be hard," Chouji continued, ignoring his friend's initial response. "Or do I have to tell her about the first time you went on a solo mission?"

She looked over with interest but Shikamaru just mumbled something. "Mission information has been updated," he said, turning off the radio and standing up. He walked to the door and lined himself up, taking three steps forward and then one to the right. He knelt down and pried the floor board loose.

It took Chouji's help to get it free and Shikamaru was left muttering about the over-
ambitious chuunin that prepared the place. He retrieved the manila folder and let the three identity cards slip out.

"You are Makimoto Fuji, twenty-two year old factory worker from Takayama," Shikamaru stated, handing Chouji the card. "You are Makimoto Amaya, his wife of five years, trained mechanic. You have an appointment with Matsumoto-san in three hours to seek employment at his factory. I'll be posing as Hitohiri Kaori, government employee from the Daimyo's office, here to conduct part of a census. Joy."

Chouji turned a bit red and looked at her almost sheepishly, receiving a laugh in turn. "Well, husband, shall we see about getting some food before we try to find some work?" He relaxed and nodded happily.

"Rendezvous back here at 2200 then," Shikamaru added before they could leave. "I'll be at the library trying to get some background information on the factory." With that final bit of business completed, she latched onto Chouji's arm, walking out the door with him.


The door opens and Neji walks inside, grim look on his face. Behind him, the two other members of his team are waiting for him to proceed. He sweeps the room, all-seeing eyes taking in each detail of the abandoned safe house. One of the beds is broken, there is a radio on the ground by the window. He can see the remains of the three previous occupants scattered around, forgotten and under a thin layer of dust.

"Secure," he states, walking inside the room and letting the two behind him inside. They are silent for a moment as they look around the quiet room.

"The radio should still work," Sakura says suddenly, walking towards it. "I'll try to contact Konoha to let them know we arrived."

"That's a good idea, Sakura-san," Lee says walking towards the distinctively feminine pile of clothes. He reaches down and pulls a senbon from under the pile. For moment, he looks like he's about to cry but instead, his hand clenches around it and he stands straight again.

He looks over at his teammate, wondering for a moment what is going through the other man's head. But as Lee moves towards him to ask, the floor under him creaks. They both share a glance and Lee kneels down.

Lee is about to pry the board up when Neji catches his hand. Silently, his hands move and he whispers the Dispel jutsu. The board glows for a moment signaling that the trap is unset. Lee returns to forcing it open.

Underneath, there is a pile of handwritten notes, the distinctive sharpness of each stroke making its owner clear. Lee reads each sheet and hands it up to his partner as he's done.

"Does it make any sense to you?" Lee asks.

Neji shakes his head. "No. He obviously encoded it. Haruno, you should be able to break this, correct?"

The kunoichi has her hand stuck in her black hair, dyed to hide the pink that would otherwise stand out. "Huh?" she asks, distracted by the radio.

"The notes are in code," he repeats. But he does not say more. His eyes are locked on the radio.

"Oh, yeah sure. I'm just having trouble getting the radio to…"

Neji doesn't say anything. Instead, like a blur, he grabs her and pulls her away. Lee doesn't need an explanation. He has known his teammate long enough to know that his actions indicate they are in immediate danger.

With no time to open it, Neji jumps for the window and crashes through. Sakura drops to the ground first and rolls away, hand on her kunai pouch as she watches him land next to her. Lee appears next to them just in time.

The room explodes and rains brick and burning wood onto them. They make a run for it, dashing for safety as the building burns. Lee starts to ask what happened but he stumbles backwards unexpectedly. Sakura shifts towards him instantly, palm flaring with chakra as she closes the wound on his arm.

Neji's eyes activate, veins protruding from the skin but his head doesn't move. He can see them without looking around. An arrow is heading for him and he catches it in his hand before it hits.

"Five men," he states, tossing the broken arrow to the ground. He points, two men to their right and Lee disappears to take care of them. One to the front and Sakura nods in acknowledgement. He takes the two on the left.

They are dressed in uniforms and hiding armor under the cloth. One is reloading the crossbow while the other draws his sword. Even though Neji is unarmed, the two men are clearly outmatched.

The sword wielder attacks, hoping to give his partner enough time to reload. It's a clumsy strike, betraying a lack of training. They're young, Neji realizes, but it doesn't stop him from catching the boy's arm and breaking it at the elbow.

The boy screams in his pain and his partner bring up his crossbow only to see that his target has disappeared. The weapon is ripped from his hands and he barely gets to look over his shoulder before he is knocked unconscious. A second later, the other boy is silent, his scream quelled by an expert strike to his temple that crumples him to the ground.

Neji looks again, finding his two teammates. Each has managed to take down their targets but he can see in the distance the approach of more men. He lets loose a high whistle and the trio regroups, heading down the streets, looking for a place to hide.

It's Sakura who sees the slightly ajar sewer cover and makes a run for it. They drop down into the darkness and Neji watches the road above him, tracking the movement of their pursuers. It's almost half an hour before he's satisfied they've lost them.

"What happened?" Sakura demands the second the all clear was given.

"They were expecting us," Lee states grimly. "That means…"

"The team's cover was blown long before they staged their final assault," Neji continues.

Sakura is silent, having nothing to add. After all, it makes sense. The safe house would never have been compromised if Shikamaru's team had maintained their cover. She watches Neji, marveling at how he can use terms like 'final assault' without flinching. She can't say things like that yet. Every time she tries to accept the fact that the team they're tracking is really dead, she just sees Ino, shell shocked and in disbelief over the loss of her husband and friend.

Lee puts a hand on her shoulder and she realizes she's not the only one who's having trouble accepting it. She smiles slightly in reassurance to him and looks back at their team leader. He's looking at her but the look in his eyes is almost like he was expecting someone else.

"What now?" she asks softly.

"We have to assume that they have our images photographed," Neji states, back to his normal stoic self. "There's no chance to establish a second safe house, let alone communicate with Konoha. We were given two weeks to discover what we could so they won't send any rescue squad after us until then."

Sakura knows what that means. If they are captured, no one will look for them for at least two weeks. For a moment, she can see the team that is sent for them. The same grim looks on their faces. Maybe it will be Naruto who leads that team. Would he view it with the same detached outlook Neji does?

"We should not stay in one place for too long," Lee notes. "Sakura-san, perhaps you can decode the messages as we move?"

She nods, mind fully back on the task at hand. It is not difficult to see a pattern and she realizes why. Always five steps ahead, Shikamaru must have realized that a rescue team would have her on it. After all, she is one of the few people in the village who can keep up with him intellectually.

"They started at the factory and library," she whispers, following her companions without missing a step. She pauses at the next part of the code and frowns. It has switched from characters to numbers and she has to force her train of thought to another code system.

"Sakura-san?" Lee calls as she bobbles a bit and almost loses her footing.

She shakes her head. "Sorry, trying to follow Shikamaru's train of thought can be… well troublesome." He smiles for the first time since they arrived.

"What's the problem," Neji asks from his position in the front.

"His code is about eighty percent letters but there are occasionally these batches of numbers that make no sense. They aren't coordinates or times, just integers and decimals without meaning."

The team says nothing for a few minutes, the silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the wet stones.

"You said they were discussing a factory and a library before, correct?" Neji finally asks.

Sakura doesn't answer him right away. Instead her mind fires ahead and follows his train of thought before he can finish it himself.

"I see it, the first set are library codes. Three books from the looks of it."

Neji barely inclines his head in agreement as he corrects their path to move towards the library. Sakura is thoroughly lost by now, even having memorized the map. Lee however looks unconcerned as Neji winds them through the sewers. She wonders if he knows where they are but comes to the conclusion that this must be part of being on Gai-sensei's team.

Five minutes later, they stop at a ladder and wait for Neji to scan the area. As soon as he's convinced no one is around, he climbs up to street level. The sewer has led them to a side alley next to the library. Unlike the other buildings in the area, the tall brick structure is untouched by time. It is pristine and by the looks of the lock on the side door, heavily guarded.

Neji walks forward and puts his hands on the wall, eyes active and straining as he peels the layers of brick and mortar away. He finds the guards and watches their patterns for a while until he is confident he knows how to avoid them.

Taking some of the papers from Sakura, he draws on the back, making a map and planning a route. He's so engrossed in his work that he doesn't hear the door next to them open until it's too late.

Lee's speed saves them and the guard about to exit is on the ground before he even realizes he is hit. Searching through his pockets, Lee holds out a key card and a radio. It is almost too easy but Neji takes the risk and they go inside.

There is no surprise attack, no secret guards waiting for them. Instead they walk through the library, steering clear of the guards and making their way to the main stacks. Why the place is so heavily guarded is still in question by the time they reach the card catalog. But the radio crackles to life as the captain of the guard demands to know where one of his guards has disappeared to. There is not enough time to explore anymore.

It takes Sakura a few seconds to orient herself and then she plunges into the stacks, pulling one book, then the second and finally the third. Footsteps echo outside the main room and they're running again, barely avoiding patrols as they dash through the library and exit out the same door as before.

Down in the sewers they run again, waiting for Neji to give the all clear. It comes, again, after thirty minutes. Sakura stops running immediately, her arms heavy from having to carry the books the entire time. Shikamaru had chosen large volumes of useless knowledge, knowing they were less likely to be picked up by a random patron. She divides them up and they begin searching.

Within each tome are scraps of paper, Shikamaru's distinct scrawl clearly present even before they have finished putting it together.

"It looks like the factory," Sakura remarks, remembering the map from the mission briefing. "Only…"

"There are added rooms," Neji observes.

"Then that is our next stop," Lee adds. He stands up and looks at Neji, waiting for him to proceed.

Neji doesn't move right away. Like Lee, he is anxious to get to the next place, to follow the trail, to find every last clue until the mystery is solved. Until he can say with certainty that he knows what has happened. Because that is all he can do now. Finish what she started.

He looks over at Sakura, knowing she is the most tired of the group. But she is standing up stretching her arms. "It can't be much farther from here," she says confidently, a smile on her face at his expression. "I'm learning to keep up with you."

He smirks briefly before standing up himself. "It's late enough that none of the workers should be there. It is the best time to go." And then they're off again.

Sakura soon realizes that she is not as good at tracking as Neji is. She only thought she knew where they were so it's a surprise, to say the least, when he stops moving after only five minutes of travel. He doesn't have to give her a bemused look but she knows he's thinking it as she takes a few extra steps beyond him.

She does grant him an annoyed glare to let him know that she is not going to take being made fun of. Lee, oblivious to the wordless interaction, quickly climbs the stairs after Neji gives the all clear.

He gets to the top and stops moving immediately. It wouldn't have mattered what time they arrived here, the entire factory has been cleared out. He takes a tentative step up and it echoes in the empty expanses, reaching up to the ceiling almost fifty feet above them before tapering off.

"What happened?" Sakura asks as soon as she sees the factory.

Lee is about to speculate when Neji holds up his hand to call for silence. Something is wrong. Something in his gut tells him something is wrong, just like it did the night his uncle was killed. His eyes see nothing but he feels them there. It's dizzying and he almost loses his balance as his mind tries to come to terms with what his eyes are seeing – or not seeing in this case.

Lee takes a step towards him to ask what is wrong and suddenly the world pauses as all his instincts and intuition crash together in alarm. He can't get the warning out of his mouth. The only warning his teammates will have is his body, hurtling backward from the force of two dozen arrows.