Butterflies

"Me? I'm nobody. I'm not skilled like Uchiha-san. I am not passionate like Haruno-san. I am not smart like Nara-san. I'm not as strong as Chouji-san. I'm not as collected as Aburame-san. Or as pretty as Yamanaka-san. I'm not as confident as Inuzuka-san. If anything, I'm like Hyuuga-san, socially awkward. Oh wait, no, she's just shy. The socially awkward one is me." OC! Team 7 remix!

Chapter 70 – Hunting pack

8-8

"Listen up, and listen well! We've got less than an hour before we need to hit the road! Shika-nii, you're the Sand Trio's fourth member. Naruto-nii, I'm going to need you he-"

"Forget it, sis. If you're going, I'm going." He glares at me, daring me to argue with him.

"Fine." I shrug, seeing no point in getting into a fight when I should have seen this coming. "Sakikko, what do I need from you?" I look to my little sister, smiling.

"Keep Kin out of trouble and keep Yasu-nee safe." She saying, grinning proudly.

"Atta girl. Get Katsuo to help you when he's home, okay?" She promises she will. "Good. Taiju, I need you as well. We don't know the numbers we're up against. I need you to lead Yome, Sen and Shira while we're out there. Are you willing and able?"

"I am." He nods seriously.

"Good, I-"

"Oi! That's no good! Kakashi needs to get back out there as well! And we all know you're luck when it comes to missions. I'm coming." Mitarashi-san sounds annoyed.

"This isn't something that calls for the big guns. If we need back up, you'll know. Be ready to move out if it comes to that." I turn to Senju-san, to see if she agrees. She nods. "Alright, you have forty-five minutes to prepare for war. Hop to! Anyone that needs extra weapons, let me know now or don't complain when you get there unprepared!"

No one says anything.

"Tsu, you've got yours already?" She shakes her head, no. "Alright, you and Hitomi, with me. The rest of you pack for at least a week. If you're smart pack for two. No camping gear though."

Up in my room, I open my private cache. Tsu is quick to grab her chokutou and I grab an extra scoll I have prepared for missions with the rations bars, water bottles and chocolate we(I)'ll need. Let's just get going already! And I better make sure I pick up enough chocolate as backup!

At any rate, I change into my Anbu gear, but with my standard flak jacket. Strap my weapons and summoning scroll on, and I'm good to go. I just hope I don't regret telling my usual backup that we got this…

8-8

We're at the gate in forty-five minutes. Everyone looks ready. "For those wondering, I have tactical command during this mission. If you have a problem with this, you can stay here." I say, my tone serious. No one backs out. "Good. We head out now. Keep up, I'm in no mood for slackers."

We head through the gate. The Sand shinobi all get bugged for documents, but I saw that coming so I don't make a fuss. Once through, we head out. I make sure Taiju's in the lead with his team – seeing as he's been to Artisan Village before, and we REALLY don't want me getting us all lost.

We leave around one in the afternoon. Yome, Sen and Shira are already a bit worn out seeing as they arrived in Konoha around ten. No pushing them too hard. We'll need them well rested when we arrive.

We take a break around four, so everyone can see to their needs and get a drink. Then we head out again and continue until going on eight. The sun is long set, but we ran on the forest floor so we don't have any 'oops' moments. I hand out dinner, as I usually do, both to the Konoha and Sand shinobi.

"I'll take first watch. Hitomi, you'll take second. Naruto-nii, you've got third. Temari, you'll take last shift." All Konoha shinobi look like they want to argue with me, but I glare at them.

"Namiki, it's a Konoha tradition that the medic doesn't take watch. I'll take first watch." Taiju offers.

"Not you too! And how do you even know I'm the medic!" I complain. He points at the grinning Konoha idiots. "Fine! I can't win no matter what village I work with."

"Give it up, sis. You should know by now that you're just not allowed to take watch." I glare at him, but he just smiles. I roll my eyes, unsealing my chocolate and blocking out the idiots.

I wave him off. "Whatever. Make sure everyone gets some rest. I don't plan on having to put you idiots back together, so no one better mess up!"

8-8

The next morning, just after sunrise, we're ready to go. I'm especially grateful for my team, because I don't have to explain just how important a washdown is. At any rate, we break for lunch, but I'm starting to notice that Yome is lagging behind. Hmm, need to work on her stamina.

"… I… don't… get it…" Yome says, breathing hard.

"What, how I keep up?" I ask. She nods, and she's sweating pretty badly too. "Easy, I don't have a choice." She looks at me, shocked.

"Tell me, Yome, if you're tired and one of your teammates is dying… what do you do?" She flinches, almost jerking back as if I'd physically hit her. "As a medic, I need to make sure I'm the last one alive, but also the last one standing. Even if they're so worn out they can't stand, I need to still be able to keep going. And seeing as Naruto-nii is… impossible when it comes to that, I've had high standards to live up to."

She nods, not liking it but understanding where I'm coming from.

"Don't worry, when we get back to Konoha, we'll get you sorted out." I tell her, patting her shoulder before heading over to see how everyone's doing. "Shira, about Yome. She can't keep up and we'll need her as well rested as possible. Can you help her out?" The grey-haired boy eyes me, but as soon as he looks to his teammate, he nods. "Thanks." I nod to him, heading over to Shika-nii.

"You're here to bug me about figuring out a plan. But I need more information before I can come up with one. Ask me again when we get to the village." He doesn't wait on anything from my side. I nod, thanking him and ask if everyone's ready to go.

8-8

It's just after sunset when we arrive in Artisan Village. I can't say too much about it, really. It looks like your average sleepy little village, just with a lot more blacksmiths. There's an outer wall with two entrances from what I can see, but that wouldn't keep out genin. We make our way to –what Taiju claims is– the village leader's home.

Seeing as everyone's still alive, I'll just guess the rogues didn't attack yet. But we don't know if we're the only teams here.

"Hello, welcome. What can I do for you?" An elderly man, perhaps in his seventies, greets us.

"Hello. I'm Namiki Aya, leader of a joint battalion sent from Sand and Konoha. We understand there is a group hassling you?" The man looks close to tears. We're invited in immediately, and his daughter, I guess, offers us tea and something to eat if we're hungry.

I look to Taiju, who shrugs. "That would be lovely, ma'am." I say, smiling. She beams, heading into what I can only guess is the kitchen. "If you don't mind, mister…"

"Please, call me Hidetsugu."

"Hidestugu-sama, could you please explain the situation. I need to know if we have enough people or if we need back up." He seems even more excited by that.

"I… The others were unsure if anyone would come to our aid." He says, bowing his head and saying a silent prayer; of thanks, is my guess. "… Very well, Namiki-san. I will tell you everything I know. A week ago there was a group of shinobi that approached us, demanding weapons for their rebellion. I don't know if the whole group came, but I saw fifteen of them with my own eyes. No famous ones, and certainly no known clients of ours. Each wore a flak jacket, so I assume they were at least chuunin level, and none wore a weapon. They only had leg pouches. The demands were, among other things, a few thousand kunai, over fifty custom made weapons, and some things I'm not sure what they'd even have need of."

"I understand. Do you have a list of the weapons? Or were they offered to you verbally?" I ask.

"Oh no, they had three scrolls full of demands." He moves into another room, probably to go look for them.

"Hitomi?" I don't have to explain what I need.

She focuses for almost two minutes, going over the terrain. "No groups within two kilometres."

"It's a start. After dinner we're going to start rallying to local shinobi, if they have any. We're also going to need to coordinate everything. Taiju, you have the most experience among us, you're input will be greatly appreciated. Shika-nii, you're our brain, so I don't need to explain what I need from you. Naruto-nii, I need you to get busy with setting up a network of seals to alert us if someone is getting close and as great a radius as you can. The more time we have before they get here, the better. We can't rely on Hitomi's vision around the clock."

Everyone nods. Naruto-nii excuses himself, and there's the tell-tale sign of him spamming clones again.

Just as Naru-nii sits back down, the old man comes back with three smalls scrolls. He hands them to me, so I sniff them to get a try to isolate the scents on it. The old man's is the most prominent, but… there are three others. Chuunin level, like he said.

"Did anyone but you touch this scroll?" I ask. He assures me that he's the only one. I hand them to Naruto-nii so he can memorise their scents as well. "Good. Three scents, mid-chuunin level. Shika-nii, I want you to go over the lists, see if they hold any clues."

Naru-nii hands the scrolls to Shika-nii.

"Hidestugu-sama, are there any shinobi living in the village? Chuunin or higher, preferably?" I ask.

"Hmm? I can't tell you how they'd rank, but we have quite a few that are skilled with their weapons." He says.

"It's a start. I'm going to need you to call a meeting with them, so that we can start organizing and figuring out how we're going to do this. As well, I'm going to need to know what headbands those shinobi were wearing, because I smelled two different villages on those scrolls."

"Hmm…" He thinks about that. "You're right… Grass, Waterfall, and Valleys headbands were among them. All with a scar through the headband. You know, I'll never understand why they'd wear the headband like that? It's like being a rogue is something to be proud of, or something."

"You got me there." I snort, amused. "Anyway, introductions. From Sand we have Taiju, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Shira, Sen and Yome. From Konoha are Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Ryuuzetsu, Namiki Hitomi and myself."

"My, my. So many, and such big names as well. You three are Rasa's children. And a Nara, an Uzukami, a Hatake and two Namikis. I can't thank you all enough. Truly." Hidestugu says, obviously overwhelmed.

"Imouto-chan. We're facing at least fifty shinobi. No doubt about it." Shika-nii announces. "I can't tell what rank based on the weapon choices, but given that Hidestugu-sama recognizes most people on sight we can assume there are no big names to worry about. That still means we're hopelessly outnumbered."

"No, we're not. Not by a longshot." I tell him.

"Sis, that isn't combat ready. You know better." He warns.

"I don't plan on dying here, and I'm certainly not risking those that came with me. So if you've got a better plan, I'm all ears." He thinks about that, but doesn't seem to have answers yet. "I'll give you time, it's not something I want to use if I can avoid it. But what we need right now is intel. My team and I will head out to try to track these guys down. Taiju, I'll leave you and Shikamaru in charge to organize the village shinobi and get a workable defence plan up and running. Hidestugu-sama, do we know when they'll return?"

"I'm afraid not. They gave us two weeks, which is completely unrealistic seeing as most of those weapons would need at least a month to complete, let along the materials we'd need for them."

"So we might have another week, or they might come kicking down doors sooner to make sure you're all working as fast as you can." I muse. Shika-nii nods, agreeing with that estimation. "Shika-nii, while we're out I want you to bug Hidestugu-sama about every detail he remembers. Sorry, but every detail might be hold a clue. And if anyone else interacted with those people, or overheard anything, we'll need to talk to them too."

"My, my, such an industrious young lady." Hidestugu says, smiling warmly.

"There are lives at stake. We want to ensure that the only ones to fall are those that would try to harm your people and us." I tell him seriously. "We will, of course, have to discuss a payment. Regrettable though it may be."

"I see." He's not impressed.

"You don't like it, Hidestugu-sama. I understand. Luckily we've been given the leeway to make more agreeable trade arrangements between our villages, so the payment doesn't have to be written with Ryou signs." I soothe.

"… I see." He sounds far more thoughtful now. I can understand that. That means not just having more customers, but bigger orders as well. This is two Great Villages asking for trade with his village, not shinobi placing an order with the blacksmiths. "That would be most beneficial to all parties. Yes, I would gladly agree with those terms."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, if you'll excuse us. My team needs to-"

"Please, stay at least for dinner. My daughter loves it when we have the company."

"I'm afraid we cannot, though I wish we could. Too many unknowns, and I like knowing."

"I understand." He says, nodding solemnly.

"Be safe, all of you. That's an order."

8-8

Picking up their scent is ridiculously easy. But tracking them down… not so much. "Travelled by boat. A deep sea fishing boat, judging by the smell. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not, but it does show some level of planning." I say, wondering how that stacks up against the rest of it.

"Twenty different scents. They wanted to make a show of force, and seeing as no famous ones came forward, that means they don't have any one their side." Naruto-nii points out.

"Maybe, or they're just playing this group like puppets to get what they want. Hitomi, Tsu?"

"Both are possibilities. We won't know until we face them, and tracking them down just got a lot harder. They could be days up or down the river. And we may not have the time to root out all the possibilities." Hitomi offers her views.

"Maybe letting them come to us is easier? I mean, I'm no star with tracking, but if you three say tracking them will be hard and we know they'll be back?" Tsu offers.

"There's that. Well, this is more or less a dead end. Let's head back and update Shika-nii, see if he can come up with anything." I say, already jumping up to a low branch for a leg up.

8-8

We make it back to Artisan Village by ten PM. Shika-nii and Taiju are discussing something with unfamiliar faces, so I invite myself into their conversation.

"No, the others are skilled blacksmiths, but we are the best warriors of our village." A tallish man with shoulder-length brown hair says.

"We don't need only the most skilled, we need everyone good enough to help defend the village." I say, getting a good sniff of the four here. High chuunin. Hmm. If high chuunin is the best, then we might need that backup after all. "How about this, why not have everyone you would identify as warriors that are willing to help us defend the village line up. And you let us decide who we'd trust to watch our back in the coming battle." I purposely use the word 'battle', to let him know this is bigger than four people wanting to defend their home.

"… As you wish." The man caves, heading towards a gathering of people.

"Empty handed?" Shika-nii asks, eyeing me curiously.

"More or less. They took a funny route through the forest, probably trying to confuse trackers. And they got on a boat that had the area smelling like deep sea fishing. My team agrees that letting them come to us is more efficient, even though I don't like it." I explain, hoping he can make sense of what we discovered.

"Hmm. That might mean they either live on the boat, or far more likely, they live on an island in the open sea." He thinks about that. "Aoi Island is about three days away by boat."

"Maybe, but can you guarantee me that that's where they are?" I ask seriously.

"No, they could just as easily live along the coast. And even that's just a guess. Too little information." He thinks about that some more. "It's too far away for Naruto to send clones and we can't risk weakening our defences more by sending a full team there to investigate. You're right, letting them come to us is the safer bet. Although it plays into their hand."

"It does." I agree. I still get the feeling that working with what we have is a losing battle, but… it's a battle we have to fight.

-Asami. I need you to talk to Kashi-nii about our odds. Let me know when you have him somewhere private?-

-Hmm? We're having a meeting in your office. What are we looking at?- She answers quickly enough.

-Plausibly fifty shinobi. Only twenty shinobi confirmed. Chuunins.- There's silence for a while. They are obviously discussing that. Good.

-Chuunin by smell, or by rank?- I'm asked.

-Both as far as I can tell. No known monikers, no known faces.- Again there's silence.

-Zabuza and Kakashi agree that you should be able to handle that with the team you have if you plan right.- She explains seriously. -But Zabuza still demands I point out that he's pissed you didn't bring him along.-

-I'd have to agree, Aya. Just you and Naruto could handle that. We've dealt with worse odds.- Sasuke adds his two Ryou.

-Thanks. Will keep you posted.-

I nod, feeling a bit better about our odds of survival. "Discussed it with Kakashi-sensei?" Shika-nii asks.

"Nn. Better safe than sorry. Shika-nii, if you were to invade this village, where would you attack from given what we know?"

8-8

"Alright, updates people!" I demand.

"I've got a perimeter set up, we should have at least a five minute warning before anyone arrives." Naruto-nii says.

"We've got the warriors you selected running through setups so that they'll have the best chance of survival. Shikamaru's suggestion to have them mostly on long range support is working out quite well, and it helps that my team is working with them to make sure they're in top form as well." Taiju adds.

"I also have a general idea which direction they're most likely to attack from. Given that they're likely water users, they're likely to attack from the north, as that's closest to the river. If they have to fall back, they're back in their element." Shika-nii, you are amazing! Yes, that makes the most sense. That means they purposely came from the south last time just to throw us for a loop.

"Good. Good. This is good. Perfect." I say, going over a rudimentary plan in my head. "Alright. I don't want us to get caught with our pants down, so here's what I want us to do. We'll set up our four teams to the north, south, east and west of the village. Within the village walls, but you know what I mean. That way, if they come in fast, we already have a team there to intercept and buy the others time to back them up. Since they are most likely to come from the north, my team will stake out the north side. They came from the south last time, and they might be dumb enough to do it again. I want Temari's team on that side. From an earth release user's perspective, the east is the next most likely entry point, given the densely packed earth on that side. I want the four blacksmiths there. Taiju, I want you and your team to the west."

"… Hmm. Not a bad plan." Shika-nii says. That's as close to praise as you're likely to get from him. "I've got a suggestion though."

"I'm all ears." I coo, glad to have my brothers along on this mission.

"If they do attack from the north, our team should circle around them and investigate their boat, if it's in the river. We could take whatever they have on it, and sink their getaway before closing them in in a pincer attack?"

"Loving the first part. The second part however… Not a good idea. I'm not holding back, Shika-nii, and I don't want you guys in the crossfire." I point out.

"Maybe, but Gaara's with us. He could protect us from the worst of it." He counters.

"Yes, he could. But you misunderstand what I'm saying." I press. "I'm not holding back. It's all in for my team. That means that in all likelihood, it's going to be just Naru-nii and me doing the damage."

"… Ah." His eyes widen slightly as the weight of those words hit home. He's never even heard of me talk of going all out, but he'd heard the stories from the invasion. "Be careful."

"I promised Chouji we'd dance at my birthday, remember?" I tease.

"So… we're really going all out, huh?" Naru-nii thinks about that, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Nn. I plan on summoning Tsuren and her pups before I call it a night. You know, to give them the heads up." I give him a meaningful look. "I'd advise you do the same."

"Yokoshima and Yokoe are going to love hunting with your wolves." He says, his fist poised for a bump.

"Hnn. I think that goes both ways." We bump fists, grinning like the idiots we are.

"I would advise you two to hang back when the action starts. This could … get ugly, and fast." Naruto warns Tsu and Hitomi. The two swallow painfully, not used to hearing us talk like this.

8-8

The next day, I start bugging Yome about her training. I drag her into mine, not caring what she has to say about it. Four hours of training, and she passes out on her feet. I shake my head, annoyed. I'm still rearing to go! And frankly, I'm still considered the weakest on Team Seven, and likely Team Xi as well! Come on!

Still, can't change the past. I know what to work on with her in the future. So I switch to Sen and Shira, after tucking Yome into her futon, of course. Poor thing.

These two are much more my speed! Shira especially! This guy reminds me so much of Lee that I just have to introduce them! Still, that's a worry for another day. I run the two of them into the ground. Apparently, I can outlast them both, even after training all morning with Yome. Whatever.

This is the way we spend the next four days. Training. Then it comes closer to the expected arrival date, so I tell them to just keep up with katas to keep themselves ready. Naruto-nii and I still keep going all out in our spars though! We need to be sharp for when the enemy arrives. Tsu and Hitomi are sparring a lot too.

On the sixth day, just before noon, the perimeter is breached. To the north. My team quickly downs our rations bars and we drink our water. I send shadow crows to the other teams with the update, and we get ready. The battle is coming.

And we are not going to die here!

8-8

End Chapter 70

8-8

A/N: Just 500 words short of my quota, but this is where I want to end this. Next chapter... oh the next chapter... *grins evilly*