'Thoughts/Signing/Written Words'

"Speaking"

"Seal Symbols/Words"

Flashbacks

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Masashi Kishimoto. Enjoy!

Chapter 16

Bear watched Sora as she exited the guest room with trepidation. Hearing Minato's voice, Bear turned to focus on his Hokage.

"Resume your mission," Minato said, addressing Team Ro. They nodded and preceded to get ready for the day. Giving Ibiki a nod to dismiss him, Minato gave his full attention to Bear. "Go," he ordered, knowing full well what Bear was thinking of because he was thinking of it too.

Bear poofed away, but instead of going towards Anbu HQ, he jumped to the rooftops toward the opposite direction. 'There's only one place where Anbu receive their tattoos ,' he thought as he picked up his pace.

Reaching a small hut on the outskirts of the village, Bear dropped down. He frowned to see the door slightly ajar. Tensing, he spread out his chakra but sensed no one inside. Cautiously, he peeked through the corner of a window. His eyes widened by how everything was in disarray. The familiar workstation tucked into the corner was broken into wooden pieces. In the center of the room were scorch marks that marred the entire floor. Ceramic shards that used to be hand painted cherry blossom cups were strewn across the room. Seeing no traps, Bear entered the hut. Walking towards the center of the room, his combat slippers stepped on something with a soft clang. He crouched down to pick up the familiar tattoo needle. What was once straight was now bent and covered in soot.

'What happened here?' he thought. 'Why were we not notified? And where-.'

From the corner of his eye, something stopped his train of thought. A glimmer of light underneath the broken pieces of wood and ash attracted his attention. Walking closer, he realized that the shattered pieces of wood had belonged to a sleeping cot.

Spreading out his chakra again to ensure no one was near, Bear crouched down to push through the debris to reveal a metal handle. 'It must've been placed underneath the cot,' he thought.

With a gloved hand, he pulled at the handle to reveal a suitcase with a seal he had not seen in eighteen years.

Without hesitation, Bear inserted his chakra into the seal. His Anbu tattoo warmed just as the suitcase unlocked itself and swung opened. Sitting inside the velvet case were two recognizable black masks. One had white swirls, and the other golden. There was an empty slot in the middle of both masks. Nestled inside was a picture of a tiny newborn infant in someone's arms.

He went to reach out towards the photo, only to pause to watch the golden swirls glow and shift. They connected to form the words: 'Ku-chan, please find her before they do.'

Bear heard more than saw the sound of a kunai whizzing at him. He quickly reached out to grab the photo just as it landed inside the empty mask slot. Hearing an explosion tag being activated, he jumped out of the window. Still in midair, he watched has the small hut exploded in front of him. Silently cursing he landed on a tree branch only to feel someone behind him. He quickly jumped to another branch to dodge the oncoming swipes of a kunai. When his feet touched the surface of a tree, he took out his own kunai to block the other nin's attack. Bear narrowed his eyes at the unpainted white porcelain masked nin. Short black hair were confined by a Konoha forehead protector, while an Anbu tattoo was displayed on his left shoulder.

"Who are you?" Bear demanded.

The unknown nin responded by pushing Bear towards the tree line as he reached out for the photo in Bear's other hand. Bear's eyes widened and bent his right leg up to deliver a kick to the side of the nin's ribs, making him fly into some trees. Seeing a glint, Bear flipped over the branch to dodge the barrage of kunai from below the tree line.

'Two?' he thought.

As Bear landed on solid ground, a brown haired nin appeared from behind holding a katana. The first nin got off the ground and was running towards Bear with another kunai. Both lunged forward to dig their weapons into Bear's body only for it to poof into a smoke. Not waiting for the smoke to clear, they quickstepped to Bear's location before he could safely put the photo away.

'Sensors?,' Bear thought as he sidestepped both of their attacks, eyeing the Anbu tattoo on the right shoulder of the second nin. Like the first, the second nin was wearing the same unpainted white porcelain mask.

Jumping towards the tree line, his foot landed on a branch. Medal wire coated in chakra wrapped around the branch causing it to explode, forcing Bear to find a different branch. Feeling his Anbu tattoo warm up, he noticed that the tattoos of the two nins in front of him did not respond to the call. Grey eyes widened in surprise as the black haired nin popped in front of him and threw a punch. Bear evaded the incoming jab but felt a hand wrap around the arm holding onto the photo. Bear followed the arm to see that the brown haired nin had extended her arms six feet away. One hand was holding onto the bottom of the photo, while the other was trying to force his fist open by twisting his wrist. Seeing the black haired nin coming at him again, Bear tightened his hold on the photo and brought his kunai down to severe one of the hands. Feeling the heat of a fireball, Bear was forced to pull at the photo. A rip was heard making Bear curse as he jumped towards the ground with the two nins following closely behind.

When they all touched the ground, they felt the ground crumble underneath them. Instinctively the two nin jumped away giving Bear a chance to safely secure his half of the photo into his pack as the ground swallowed him whole. As soon as the two nin landed a few yards away, each one was met with an opponent each.

A woman with midnight blue hair tied in a short spiky ponytail had engaged the black haired nin. Tied underneath her ponytail was her own painted brown and tan porcelain mask. Her hand twisted the wrist of the black haired nin holding the kunai, forcing him to drop it. "I haven't seen our Commander struggle to land a blow on someone in a long time," she mused. "So imagine my surprise when I had just come back from a mission to see this," she continued as she twisted the nin's head, breaking his neck.

Beside her, Bear did not respond as he brought his kunai down into the chest cavity of the brown haired nin, ignoring the blood that sprayed across his Anbu uniform. He frowned when he could not find the bottom half of the photo in the nin's hands. Hearing an exploding tag being thrown towards them from above, they both jumped out of the way.

As the midnight blue haired woman flipped towards a branch. She whistled in part curiosity and part dread at the view she had a glimpse of. "What happened to The Keeper's hut?" she asked as she landed next to her commander.

Bear muttered, "Wolf."

Wolf straightened at Bear's serious tone. Light brown, pupil-less eyes looked down at three unfamiliar Anbu that just made themselves known. All of them had unpainted white masks and were sporting Konoha's forehead protector. Two donned on a black cloak while one had a white one. None of them looked friendly, if Bear's tone gave any indication. Eyeing the trio warily she watched Bear closely for a command.

Blue chakra wrapped themselves around his closed fists as Bear stated, "First strike."

In a blink, the duo flash stepped towards the three unknown nin before they could make a move. Wolf drew her tanto and encased it in chakra. Swinging it down, she made contact with one of the nin wearing a black cloak, effectively slicing through the nin's chest. However, the nin's palm had managed to jab into her side. She internally winced when she felt one of her lower ribs crack.

Not far behind, Bear slammed his fist into the other black clothed nin's chest. Blue claw like blades protruded out from the nin's back. Bear twisted his wrist and the chakra claws tore a gaping whole in the nin's body. He internally cursed when he felt pain and looked down to see a kunai shaped chakra sticking out from his abdomen before it disappeared.

As the two bodies crumbled to the ground, clapping was heard. Bear and Wolf turned to look at the remaining nin. Gray hair was protruding from the unpainted porcelain mask. Wolf narrowed her eyes at the regular Anbu uniform displayed underneath the white cloak. Black gloves hands made contact with another for one last clap. "As expected from members of the infamous Team Ry," a fake cheerful voice stated from behind the mask.

Bear narrowed his eyes at him as a familiar half of a photo appeared in between the nin's forefinger and middle finger. "Were you looking for this, Commander?"

Bear did not react to the condescending tone, instead he flash stepped toward the nin with Wolf hot at his heels. Each time they made a swipe with a tanto or chakra claws, the nin easily dodged. Wolf sent a kick and the nin flipped back and landed on his feet a few yards away from him, "Is this all Team Ry can do?" the nin clicked his tongue. "How…underwhelming." Bear and Wolf tensed at the change of tone. It was devoid of any emotion.

"My turn," was the only thing the duo heard before the air around them changed. A chill wrapped around them, making the hairs on their back stood on end. They heard something glide past them. A few seconds later, Bear and Wolf doubled down in pain as deep gashes appeared on their back. They look up to see that the nin was still standing in the same spot but this time holding a serrated sword. Blood was running down the sides of the blade.

Bear checked in on Wolf to make sure she was okay. He cursed at what he saw. "Plan Z."

Wolf growled. "I was just thinking of the same damn thing."

Hearing something glide again, the duo disappeared before his blade could make contact. Standing alone in the clearing, the nin flicked his sword, ridding it of excess blood. "Plan Z is running away," he muttered in slight anger. "Disappointing," he sneered.

He took a step forward just as the ground broke underneath him. Snakes exploded from the holes to wrap around his legs as they bit into him. He let out an incredulous laugh. "Who knew that hiding inside the big bad wolf was a disgusting conniving cobra."

He blocked their attacks with his sword as Bear and Wolf kept attacking him. After a few minutes, they noticed that the nin's movements were becoming more sluggish as the venom coursed through his blood stream. Blood splattered from his mouth as Bear's chakra claws rammed into his chest, while Wolf's chakra infused tanto sliced off his arm.

Bear and Wolf were breathing harshly as they watched the nin's body fell backwards. His serrated sword falling beside him with a dull clang. "Who do you work for?" Bear demanded.

The nin sputtered as he chuckled. "For the good of the village," he recited emotionlessly. A pool of blood began to gather underneath his body, "All hail the Hokage."

Bear's eyes widened when he saw the nin reach out towards his mask. Bear grabbed Wolf's arm just as the nin slipped his fingers underneath his mask. Bear dragged Wolf towards the tree line as quickly as he could. As soon as the mask came off, a loud bang rang out. The explosion created a blast of wind that sent Bear and Wolf flying above the canopy. They grunted and hissed as pieces of debris slammed into them as they were hurled back down by gravity. Both Bear and Wolf gathered chakra around their hands and feet to try and grasp onto any surface to slow down their descent to the bottom. Managing to grab onto the tips of a tall Hashirama tree, they whipped back and forth with the tree as the pressurized wind subsided.

Wolf surveyed the damage the explosion caused. Everything within half a quarter mile from where the nin's head was turned to ash. This was not normal self-disposal protocol. Wolf glanced a Bear wanting answers but saw her Commander analyzing the area instead. 'It's not over,' she thought, on guard.

'There's no way they would sacrifice themselves so easily for information as huge as this,' Bear thought as he searched for any signs of movement. 'Unless he was used as a decoy and they had already passed the information to another teammate.' His eyes widened when he saw movement right underneath them.

"We need to move-!" Bear called out but was too late.

Wolf's eyes widened at the recognizable sizzling sound of exploding tags coming from all directions. She tensed knowing that they wouldn't make it out in time without major injuries. The next thing she felt was Bear grabbing her. Then a cry of surprise made her react on instinct.

A soft oof and someone falling was all she heard as her vision was blocked by soft deep ruby colored hair. Her fingers twitched as she felt a soft hand firmly but gently squeeze her own hand,which was full of senbon. It was directed away from a blurry silhouette on the ground behind the person. Most of the person's body weight was pushed up against hers to prevent her from going through with her attack.

A familiar voice softly said in her ear, "Easy, Wolf-san. Easy."

Wolf blinked to clear her vision as she came down from her instinctive survival mode. After a few long seconds, she sagged into the person and muttered into the person's hair. "Since when did you learn how to redirect someone's attack, kid?"

She felt the person shrug against her, "You pick up on things with the company you choose to keep, I suppose."

Wolf let out a weak chuckle at the person's response. As she straightened up, she looked around to see that she was in the Aviary Department. On the floor was a Chunin staff who was quite pale and looking at her with fear. Standing in front of the staff member was Sora. Wolf then noticed that Team Ro were within arms reach of Sora as they were looking at her tensely.

Keeping her gaze still on Wolf, Sora asked behind her, "Are you okay Natori-san?"

Natori quickly got off the floor and nodded. "Of course, Daimyo-sama."

Wolf couldn't help it but grin behind her mask. She sent a look at Bear, but amusement disappeared when she saw Bear looking intensely at Sora.

Sora took in the appearance of both Bear and Wolf. Both looked like they were tossed around in a tornado and barely made it out alive. Not to mention the still bleeding gashes along their backs. "Should I get a medic?" she asked as she slowly stepped away from Wolf. They both looked like they could fall over at any minute.

At her question, Wolf stiffened as Bear answered, "Nothing for you to worry about, Daimyo-sama."

Sora gave him a glance. "If you're sure," she said, unconvinced. "Might I suggest visiting the hospital before we begin the tour then." Ignoring Bear's surprised look and Wolf's confused one, she continued as she walked passed them, "Anbu Headquarters is up first."

Bear watched Sora as she left. While word of her wanting a tour had reached his ears, he was never notified. 'Probably because neither Hokage-sama and I had expected Anbu HQ to be on her list,' he thought.

Grabbing onto Wolf's arm again he stated, "I'll explain later."

Wolf stiffly nodded as she felt her Anbu tattoo warm again. They were suddenly surrounded by blank white walls of a hospital room. The medic on duty forced herself not to withdraw a weapon when she saw the two injured Anbu. Realizing who those Anbu were, she called out for another medic as they both began operating on Wolf and Bear.

As the last opened wound sealed close, the two medics exited, allowing Minato to enter the room with his guard platoons. Bear looked at him in surprise. In Minato's hands was a very familiar small pastry display box. As the door closed with a click, Minato activated his privacy seal. "Daimyo-sama told me where to possibly find you." Minato handed the pastry box to Bear, "She asked that I send a message. 'I used up my chance.'"

Bear straightened upright as he stiffly accepted the box. Sure enough, inside were small fried mocha balls forming into a ring. There were two of all the flavors that he personally like.

Seeing his reaction, Minato asked, "I do not want to pry, Bear-san. It's obvious that you and the others have built some type of friendship with Fujiwara-san over the years." Minato's gaze softened before he maintained his facial expressions, "But given the situation, I need to know what she meant."

Bear pulled himself together and looked at his Hokage. "Did Kakashi tell you what happened in the bathroom?"

Minato nodded his head, surprised that Bear knew what had happened. "That's happened before," he stated.

Bear nodded. "When we first met. Sora couldn't go into details of the summoning contract, but as we gained her trust, she said that there's a caveat to summoning the Water Healers." Wolf straightened at this as she looked at him in shock. "Sora could only summon them once a month," Bear continued.

Minato nodded in understanding. "Which was why she probably knew you were at the hospital." Curious, he asked "What does she do if she needs a healer in an emergency?"

Bear frowned. "I'm not sure. I've never seen her do anything else."

Minato nodded putting that information for later. "What did you find at The Keeper's hut?" he asked.

Everyone in the room watched Bear pull out a ripped photo. They all froze at seeing who was in the picture. An older deep ruby haired woman was dressed in a golden maternity gown made of silk. She looked tired and strands of her hair were sticking to her face bound by moisture. Looking proudly at the camera, she was holding a sleeping infant with a softer shade of ruby colored hair. Everyone's eyes widened at the red markings along the cheeks and chin of the infant.

In her shock, Wolf broke code and croaked , "Sora?"

Bear could only stiffly nod. "If you take away the markings and darken the hair a bit, the child looks exactly how Sora would look as a baby."

Minato stiffly took the photo and paused. Looking at Bear, Minato asked, "What happened to the other half of the photo?"

Bear and Wolf froze. At their reaction, Minato frowned, "What happened?"

As he listened to their reports, Minato thought about who would go to such great lengths. 'Unfortunately, many people would if this photo is true.'

"Bear-san," Minato said. "I need a team of four formed to provide Team Ro back up just in case. Choose those who are well versed with both Team Ro and Daimyo-sama." Bear nodded, understanding what was left unsaid: choose those that can be trusted. Minato continued, "You should return to Anbu HQ soon. I assume she already told you."

"Yes," Bear stated.

Minato nodded, "Good. Choose ten agents, and of those ten she'll choose who to give her the tour. Team Ro will be accompanying her."

With a nod, Minato dismissed Bear and Wolf. Securing the photo into his robes, he thought as he left the hospital, 'I really need to talk to the Third.'