Venatori

Summary: Kankuro was a few minutes too late, and Kiba died. Now, Shino and Hinata work to ensure that no more traitors get away alive. Divergence from chapter 212.

The Laughing Phoenix does not own Naruto and makes no profit from this work, other than her sense of accomplishment.

WARNING: Character death. Blood, gore, and questionable use of medical knowledge and techniques. Some OOC-ness. Language.


Pitfall

Kato Shinji, formerly chuunin of Konoha, tore through the trees as fast as he could go. As a trained courier he prided himself on his speed as a general rule, but today he was pouring everything he had into his run - this time, his life depended on it. A whisper of something, a scuffing noise so soft he was half sure he'd imagined it, sent him zigzagging down a slope, desperate to lose the hunters on his trail.

A storm-torn tree provided a cleft, and he ducked through it, slowing a little to catch his breath and listen for pursuers. When he couldn't hear any, he drew another long breath, then struck out again, aiming for Ame and the only one of his patrons likely to shield him.

As careers went, that of a courier-nin was a reliable one - he'd never been out of work. Despite that, his salary had been...less impressive than he might have liked, with his penchant for fine steel and pricey alcohol. So Shinji had begun looking for ways to supplement his income, only to find one in the pouches he carried. Perhaps half his load was correspondence between merchants and traders, only useful to their competition and thus useless for his purposes, but the rest? Letters between nobles, often with the potential for scandal in the pages. Dispatches between shinobi, including mission orders from and reports to Konoha. Rarest and most valuable were the dispatches between the villages, once he figured out how to bypass the seals holding them closed.

There were always information brokers and people interested in the private details of other people's lives. Shinji had laid out a few feelers and eventually, after lengthy negotiations, wound up with a small handful of patrons who would reliably purchase copies of the messages he carried. One was even in Konoha, which made the exchange easy. He'd done quite well for himself, he thought, bringing in nearly as much selling messages as he did carrying them.

A bird broke through the leaves, and Shinji flinched and took off. He'd dawdled too long. Three more hours would see the sun setting - he could slow down and find a water source then.

That evening, canteen refilled and hunger temporarily assuaged, Shinji picked his way along the stream, cursing his ex-coworkers to the deepest pits of hell. If only the dispatch desk had given him more time to complete his routes, he wouldn't have had to use a storeroom to sort through the contents of his pouch. If Umi hadn't wandered in at exactly the wrong time and seen the missive to the daimyo's court open in his hands, he'd be at the capitol by now, having dinner at a nice restaurant, his own copies of various letters tucked inside his vest.

Instead he was running for his life, hoping that Akasuna no Sasori would be willing to spirit him out of Konoha's vengeful way.

Even accustomed to running for days as he was, Shinji was flagging, and the more tired he got the less sanguine he became about his plan. For all he knew, he was running to a dead end. If Sasori didn't kill him himself - and goodness knew the notorious missing-nin would think nothing of doing so - at best he'd allow Konoha to catch Shinji. At the same time, Shinji knew he didn't really have any other options. His Konohan patron wouldn't protect him, that had been made abundantly clear by their stunningly blank-faced go-between, and the probably-Iwa-nin he'd sold information to a dozen times wouldn't be any better.

A twig snapped in the gloom behind and to the right of Shinji, and he froze. It could have been any of the small animals that lived in this neck of the forest, but he was certain that if he turned his head it would be to see a pale face looking back at him through the trees. He was still deciding whether or not to run for it when the Ame-nin dropped to the ground in front of him.

"What have we here?"

"Konoha-nin," another Ame-nin snarled, crouched on a branch. Looking up, Shinji could see three in the trees, clearly posed to strike. They made a stark contrast to their leader, leaning as she was on her umbrella.

"No, no," Shinji gasped. "I'm carrying information for Akasuna no Sasori."

"So that's who you were selling to, Kato-san," twin voices chimed.

Shinji twitched, hard, then turned his head, following the Ame-nin's line of sight to the slope of the riverbank and the two masked figures perched above the water.

"I take it this one's one of yours?" the Ame captain asked, shifting her weight back on to her feet.

"That would be correct," one of the hunter-nin said. Shinji absently noted that the voice was male.

"We'll get him out of your way for you," the other chirped.

The Ame captain apparently had other ideas. "I appreciate the sentiment," she said, "but if this man's got information on Konoha then I'm afraid he comes with us. Orders from above."

"A pity," the hunter-nin chorused. "Are you sure we can't persuade you otherwise?"

"I'm afraid so. Besides, I don't believe he wants to go with you."

The hunter-nin shrugged, then vanished. Shinji looked around wildly, straining to find them.

The Ame-nin wasted no time. Grabbing Shinji by the arm, she hustled him forward. "Let's go!" she barked at her team. "Formation six, we make for the nearest outpost." Before Shinji had time to think he was in the middle of a shifting wedge, the shinobi at his flanks periodically switching sides.

Eventually the adrenaline burst wore off and the hours of flight crashed back down on Shinji. He skidded, stumbled, and only narrowly avoided crashing into trees or the Ame-nin. Forced to juke sideways to avoid tripping on him, the shinobi on his right moved out of position. When the kunai and senbon came whistling through the air, he didn't have time to react. The kunai caught Shinji full in the chest, the senbon in the neck and face, and he crumpled to the ground.

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Balanced on a narrow branch, Shiroi drew fresh senbon, her eyes on the Ame-nin stumbling to a halt a few yards beyond Kato's body. Below her Kuroi lept down to the body, having stowed all but one kunai in favor of having a free hand. Rolling the corpse over, he slashed at the straps holding pack and weapons pouches to the body.

Hurry, Shiroi urged her partner on mentally.

Either Kuroi believed her capable of keeping a patrol squad off his back or himself able to get back into the trees quickly, for he kept his focus on Kato, hissing when he discovered a second set of straps securing the pack to the dead man's back - apparently a safeguard against shinobi attempting to cut it off by force. Giving the straps up as a bad job, he pulled Kato's pack towards himself and slashed upwards along the far side, slicing both sets off at the base. Pack freed, he snatched up the weapons pouches.

His delay cost him - the Ame shinobi, recovering from their shock, turned and charged. Shiroi flung a few handful of senbon, then drew two kunai and dropped between her partner and the oncoming team. By the time Kuroi had finished with the body she was locked in combat with the senior Ame-nin, unable to stop others from bypassing her.

Kuroi launched himself to his feet, coming up fighting. His first strike sent the closest Ame chuunin stumbling past him, but the second caught the blade on his own and engaged. Bashing him in the face with Kato's pack, Kuroi twisted away, sending his kunai into the arm of his first attacker.

It was a scrum in minutes, the Inu separated by the attacking Ame-nin. Shiroi darted between her opponents to launch a katon jutsu at the body, and was immediately forced to duck or lose her head. Kuroi drove one of the Ame chuunin into another and broke free, looping sideways to fling kunai at those battling his teammate. The Ame-nin were on him in minutes, taking advantage of his distraction, and Kuroi took a nasty blow to the shoulder.

Shiroi, hearing her partner's gasp, drew a tag and, with a high-pitched whistle, detonated it in the Ame captain's face. Thick, choking smoke filled the clearing. When it finally cleared, two of the Ame-nin were on the ground wounded, gazing into the distance with drugged expressions. The hunter-nin were nowhere to be seen, and nor was Kato's pack.

"Shit!" the captain snarled. "They can't have gone far. Spread out, we want that pack!"

"Yes captain!" the other two barked, one dashing south, the other east.

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This was, Shiroi rather felt, a reversal of the usual procedure. While the Inu had concealed themselves from other shinobi before, they were usually the ones doing the hunting, not the ones being hunted. Tucked under a bush and a Notice-Me-Not, she watched as the Ame-nin ran by less than ten feet away. Once she was sure he'd gone, she eased upright, gently stretching out her arms. One of the Ame-nin had landed a blow on her upper arm - that was going to be sore later.

More to the point, she'd temporarily lost track of Kuroi. Normally this would not be an issue, a quick look around with the Byakugan enough to locate anyone in her range. If she knew Kuroi, however, he'd be using his colony and a genjutsu to disrupt his chakra signature, and she didn't want to take the time necessary to pick him out of the background noise. Not with three angry Ame-nin in the immediate vicinity.

The smart thing to do would be retreat, gain some breathing room and use the time to search out Kuroi, assuming he didn't find her first. A shout and a scuffling noise put that plan on hold, as she quickly pulled a pair of bottles from a pocket and loosened the stoppers. Following the sound of struggling, she caught sight of a shinobi hanging upside-down from the tree. Evidently Kuroi had managed to rig a hurried trap.

It wasn't a sturdy trap - even without his teammates cutting him down as they were, it wouldn't have taken the trapped shinobi long to wriggle himself free. Deciding to slow down further pursuit, Shiroi opened the larger bottle and dumped the contents of the smaller into it. Stoppering the larger bottle and giving it a good shake, she threw it to the ground at the Ame-nin's feet.

The bottle smashed with a satisfying sort of noise and gas boiled upwards, the Ame-nin yelling as they scrambled away. Kuroi dropped next to Shiroi, and with a shared look they bolted for the border.

Two days later they were reporting in, Kato's pack resting on Ryouken's desk. "Other than the brief encounter with the Ame patrol, we met no other shinobi," Kuroi finished.

"Mmmmm." Ryouken poked at the pack with a senbon. "I can't say that I like you getting up close and personal with another village's shinobi, but given that we had no idea how much damage Kato could do to Konoha, I can see where the decision came from." He sat back, sighing. "It's a pity you couldn't take him alive; if he was half as smart as he should have been he won't have written down anything about his purchasers."

The Inu shifted, but before either could respond Ryouken's door clicked open, the large form of Morino Ibiki filling the space. "Gentlemen, lady," he nodded at Shiroi, "we have a problem." Stepping inside and letting the door fall shut behind him, he dropped a folder on Ryouken's desk. "Or rather, you do."

Ryouken flipped open the folder and scanned the contents. A minute later he slammed them shut, then stalked to his door. "Somebody get me Jakkaru," he called to the ANBU standing in the hall.

"Taicho?" Shiroi asked, but was silenced by a brusque wave of Ryouken's hand.

When Jakkaru popped his head in a few minutes later, Ryouken gestured him inside and passed him the folder. "A Konohan outpost on the border picked up a lost little Ame-nin," Ryouken told the Inu, leaning on his desk. "From what they got from him, you two made a far bigger impression on that patrol than they apparently made on you."

"We won't know more until my people are done," Ibiki said, "but going by the preliminary report," he nodded at the folder, "that team has very clear memories of the Konohan hunter-nin they tangled with. Moreover, it seems that the rest of the survivors were running in the correct direction - they're likely back in Ame already, reporting everything they know."

"Inu, for now consider yourselves off rotation," Ryouken pushed himself upright and rounded his desk. "Avoid leaving the village if at all possible until we get this sorted out." Sitting at his desk, he shuffled everything on it together before shifting it to the side and holding out a hand to Jakkaru for the report. "Dismissed."

Obedient to their commander, the Inu bowed and left.

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Turning away from the Memorial, Kakashi paused at the sound of another shinobi's approach. The appropriate thing to do would be to take his leave, leaving the other shinobi to their thoughts. Failing that, he politely slid between the trees, keeping the stone just within his range of vision.

Aburame Shino knelt beside the stone, facing his teammate's name, and Kakashi wished he could be surprised. Scuttlebut had the boy and his Hyuuga teammate out of the village on missions as often as not, but Kakashi had seen him at the stone often enough to know the boy made regular visits. Drawing a sigh, the jounin turned away - the least he could do was allow Aburame his solitude.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"I got final confirmation from my people today, Hokage-sama," Ibiki said. "The Inu had sufficiently extensive contact with the Ame patrol to leave them with a disturbingly accurate guess at their skills and tactical bent. There's no way the survivors haven't reported to Ame by now." The big man shrugged. "Under other circumstances, this would be less of an issue. However, given the joint mission with Suna last month and the number of shinobi in Suna and Konoha who have seen the reports, the Inu have become far more exposed than any member of the hunter-nin in Konoha's history."

Jakkaru shifted against the wall, but subsided at Ryouken's glance.

"Regulations," Ryouken admitted, "would have us deactivate them. Return them to the general pool, maybe reassign them to duties that would keep them in the village for the foreseeable future."

"At a minimum," Ibiki turned to the hunter-nin. "I need those two in my offices immediately for work on resisting interrogation before some bright spark decides that one codependent male-female team looks a lot like another - as if their unmasked identities weren't already potential security nightmares."

Tsunade rubbed her temples, desperately wishing for a glass of something alcoholic. "All right, all right. Firstly," she turned her gaze on the two senior hunter-nin, "there is no way we can afford to give these two up. They're too damn good at what they do and we're too damn short on manpower."

Ryouken and Jakkaru nodded in agreement.

"If we're going to keep them, we've still got a few options. Reassign them with new codenames and give them a hell of a lot of reprogramming, or…" the Hokage leaned back in her seat, fingers lacing in front of her mouth as she looked off into the distance, eyes calculating. "Ryouken, remember Ookami in Black-Ops? About six, seven years back?" Jakkaru cocked his head to the side, confused, and Tsunade continued. "I may have wanted nothing to do with the business of the village, but that doesn't mean I wasn't keeping an ear out for news."

"You mean to make them a Face, Hokage-sama?" Ryouken was startled.

Tsunade shrugged. "I like the option. Get them in here, run it past them, and get back to me."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata and Shino were summoned to Ryouken's office early the next morning. When the Inu arrived, they were met at the door by Jakkaru, who waved them inside and erected privacy measures. At Ryouken's gesture, they removed their masks.

Ryouken didn't bother with the pleasantries. "We spoke with Morino yesterday," he told the Inu. "It is the opinion of T&I that the Ame patrol you tangled with brought a fairly accurate summation of your skills back to Ame with them. Thanks to that joint mission with Suna we were pushed into sending you on, they've likely matched your codename to that assessment already."

He stared at them for a long moment, making sure that had sunk in. "As a direct result of the last two months, allied and antagonistic villages know more about the Inu than they have ever known about any Konohan hunter-nin."

Shino and Hinata stood very still, following that through to its logical conclusion. Shinobi with reputations were challenges for the reputation-hungry and targets for enemies and information brokers. Instant trouble magnets.

"We cannot leave this situation as it stands," Ryouken said, grimly. "Make no mistake, it will see you killed, and quite possibly a large number of your comrades with you. As a result, Hokage-sama is considering making you the first Face the hunter-nin have ever had."

"A…face, Taicho?" Hinata asked, confused.

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it," Jakkaru interjected, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "They're really, really rare, I looked it up and there have only been about eight or nine in all of Konoha's history."

"A Face," Ryouken went on, ignoring his underling, "is an ANBU who for whatever reason has made a name for themselves in the open. Most of the time, an ANBU who exposes too much of themselves is reassigned, but if they've got the skills to back a reputation up, they may be kept in their position. They then become a public representative of their division – which may even leak small bits of their mission record. At the moment, only T&I has a Face: Morino-san. Black-ops had one when you were in the Academy, but he was decommissioned a while ago and sent back to the general pool. His codename was Ookami, but he was listed in the Bingo books as Konoha's Lone Wolf."

"And you mean to do this with us?" Shino asked.

"Damn straight." Ryouken's voice was grim. "According to the rule book, we should decommission you and send you back to the general pool, or at least split you up and give you some heavy reprogramming before putting you back in the field. As it stands, we've got manpower troubles and you're too valuable as a pair. Come on, Hokage-sama wanted to see you."

Up in Tsunade's office, the younger hunter-nin were confused by the cheerful look on their Hokage's face. "That was quite a mess you two got into, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shino and Hinata chorused.

"Consider yourselves very lucky," she told them. "If you were any less skilled or any less valuable to the hunter-nin, you would be back in the general pool already, codename reassigned. Do you understand?"

They nodded.

"Good! Now, creating a Face out of you two actually won't be all that difficult. You were in over your heads on your last mission, but somehow still managed to pull off a success – and enough of Konoha's neighbors will know about it by now to give you the beginnings of a reputation. Suna actually also gave us a hand: I don't know if you heard," The Hokage grinned, "but Baki and Kankuro of Suna gave you a nickname on that mission you took with them: Konoha's Fangs. From what Gaara said, you're listed in Suna's mission records under that name. So," she rubbed her hands together, "we're going to take advantage of their creativity. It's going to be your job to be the more visible members of the hunter-nin. Your reports will take place during general hours, your successes will be more widely known, and if we're really lucky Konoha's traitors will live in fear of hearing that Konoha's Fangs are on their trail."

Shino and Hinata shifted slightly. Jakkaru cocked his head to the side, piping up before either had a chance to speak. "Does this mean I get to redesign their masks?" He was still bouncing gently.

Tsunade shrugged. "Hell, if we're going to Face these two, might as well go all the way. Run your designs by Ryouken first, though." She turned back to the chuunin. "That being said, this puts some extra pressure on you. You will be seen as the best Konoha's hunter-nin have to offer. That means you have to be the best. We can't send you back out until the furor over your last mission dies down some, so I want you to spend every spare moment training. I know you're tobuketsu jounin-class in all but name." She held up her hand to stop Hinata's automatic protest. "You stopped being mere chuunin nearly a year ago, Hinata, make no mistake. It'll probably be another three to four months before we can put you back in the field, at a minimum – take that time and see if you can't work up to jounin-class."

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"Taicho, do you have a minute?"

Ryouken looked up from his papers to see Jakkaru standing in front of him, clutching a half-dozen sheets of paper. "I can spare a few minutes. What is it?"

Jakkaru took that as invitation to lay the papers in the middle of Ryouken's desk, on top of his work. "I finished the possible designs for Inu's masks. I put together a couple of ideas, just in case…"

Ryouken picked up the stack and sorted through them. One or two had potential, but a few would have to be discarded as too similar to active masks. When he got to the last drawing in the stack, he stopped and stared at the picture. "Jakkaru…"

"That was my favorite," Jakkaru cut in quickly. "But I thought I should run it by you first."

"Run it by me first? Hell, Jakkaru, we may have to run this one by Hokage-sama." Ryouken fought down the urge to rub his temples. Most of the time he appreciated Jakkaru's artistic streak, as his own drawing skills were limited to the most basic of maps, but sometimes he wanted to smack the man upside the head and ask what he was thinking. This was one of those times. "Come on, let's go see the boss."

Fifteen minutes later, the two were standing in the Hokage's office as Tsunade looked over the drawings, a slight frown on her pretty face. "This one," she said finally, tapping on Jakkaru's favorite with a manicured nail. "Definitely this one." Passing the papers back to Ryouken, she turned in her chair to look out her office window. The hunter-nin took the drawings, and the implied dismissal, and left.

Later that afternoon, Ryouken filled out a requisition order for two new masks. The drawings lay on his desk, staring up at him. Two masks lay side-by-side on the page. Both were bone-white, with Konoha's leaf on the forehead, and the eyes tipped at a slight angle and lined in black. From there, the masks differed. The one labeled 'Kuroi' had a stylized, blood-red fang marking on the right cheek. Shiroi's had a mirror image of the same symbol on the left.


A/N:

Next Chapter: Shadow in the Night

This has been coming since Venatori's first words, a rock-solid reference point among my frequent edits- some of these scenes date back three or four years.

Subtle I'm frequently not.

This is also where I really take the concepts of ANBU and hunter-nin off the rails and let them run a bit wild. Some of you may be uncomfortable with this move - suspend disbelief for a bit for me, you might enjoy the direction this is going.