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.


Whispers on the Wind

Standing quietly under a tree, Hinata regarded the open clearing ahead of her. This particular training ground - mostly open space ringed by a stand of large trees, a handful of large stones and logs scattered around - could have been any one of a dozen around Konoha, notable only for its distance from the village center. Perfect for a bout one didn't necessarily want observed. Sensing the approach of another shinobi, Hinata looked up.

"Hinata-san, good afternoon." Hinata turned to see Uzuki Yuugao stepping into the clearing.

"Good afternoon, Uzuki-san," Hinata murmured, bowing.

"Today is your first match of the Jounin exams. I will be your opponent. You remember the rules?"

"I do," Hinata nodded.

"Then whenever you're ready, we'll begin."

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A proper whisper campaign, Jakkaru felt, required imagination and just enough organization to make sure it didn't eat you alive. Rumor fed on itself, growing exponentially at more or less the speed of thought. All they had to do was pick the right seeds, sow them carefully, and let human nature take care of the rest.

With that in mind, Jakkaru generated a short list of ideas and had quiet one-on-one conversations with a few other hunter-nin. When he was done, he had a half-dozen co-conspirators and a longer list of ideas. They'd seed out one or two, let them take root, and then add a few more. With any luck they'd get halfway down the list before the rumor mill took over.

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Crouched at the base of a tree, Shino panted for air, a wary eye on his opponent. Yamashiro Aoba, ruffled and dusty, stood at relative ease fifteen feet away, but Shino wasn't letting his guard down. He'd lost sight of Yamashiro once early in their match, and had promptly regretted it.

"Well," Yamashiro said, "I think I've seen what I needed to see. We're done here, Shino-san."

Shino pushed himself upright and into a polite bow. "Thank you, Yamashiro-san, for your time and instruction."

"Thank you," the older man said, bowing back. "We should do this again sometime."

Shino nodded, the thought not for a while, thanks, running through his head. He was decidedly sore.

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The Fangs were under the impression that they weren't being sent out again for some time, so the summons to the Hokage's office came as a surprise. When they arrived, it was to find Ryouken and Jakkaru waiting and the Hokage herself absent.

"We don't have any targets for you," Ryouken reassured the Fangs. "This is about Jakkaru's little misinformation campaign."

Jakkaru gave a mock-offended huff. "What Taicho means is that, even if we're not deploying you now, we want people to think the Fangs are active. For the next couple of months we'll coordinate times for you to be spotted leaving the Hokage's office. You'll slip in covertly, like you've been taught, and then you'll leave via the door or window and let yourselves be seen for a few blocks before dropping out of sight."

Shiroi and Kuroi nodded slowly. "I think I understand," Kuroi said.

"Excellent. Off you go then."

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"Ah, Hinata-san, right on time," Shizune said, smiling. "This way, please."

Murmuring a polite 'ohayo', Hinata followed Shizune into the Hokage's office. Izumo and Kotetsu were already inside, leading to a polite exchange of 'good morning's. Further conversation or awkward silences were forestalled by the Hokage's entrance. Tsunade swept into the office with all the subtlety of a flood, a bespectacled man in his mid-twenties following in her wake.

"Tanaka-san, I'd like you to meet Hyuuga Hinata, Izumo Kamizuki, and Kotetsu Hagane, the team your patron is hiring. Hinata-san, Izumo, Kotetsu, the three of you will be escorting Lord Murasaki, Tanaka-san's boss, from the capitol to his home in Kaze no Kuni. Once he has arrived home, you will report to Sunagakure to collect certain documents before returning to Konoha. The Kazekage'll have them prepared for you." She regarded the three of them over crossed hands. "Hinata will have command of this mission."

"Tsunade-sama," Tanaka said, "I do not mean to question your judgement, but is Hyuuga-san the best option? Surely one of the gentlemen - "

Tsunade was apparently in no mood for anyone's prevarication. "Hyuuga Hinata is a talented shinobi and a credit to this village, she is more than capable of coordinating this mission."

Hinata worked very hard not to blush. When she was sure she had the impulse under control, she bowed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, I will work hard to justify your faith in me."

Tsunade waved it off, not unkindly. "Tanaka-san, please repeat the details of Lord Murasaki's schedule."

"Ah, yes," Tanaka wrinkled his nose a little, nudging his glasses up. "Murasaki-sama plans to depart the capitol the morning of the day after tomorrow. We expect to finish the journey eight days later, arriving around midday."

Hinata raised a mental eyebrow. That was a fast pace for a civilian, if she correctly remembered the location of Murasaki's lands. In her experience nobility traveled with entourages, and often slowly. She glanced at Tsunade, who raised an eyebrow back. Taking that as permission, she addressed Tanaka. "How many in Lord Murasaki's party?"

"Six. His lordship, myself, two guards, two servants."

Hinata nodded and quietly thanked Tanaka for the information. "If you are refreshed then, Tanaka-san, I think we should plan to leave for the capitol in two hours time. We will then arrive tomorrow, allowing a day for you to finalize any last preparations for the journey to Kaze no Kuni."

Tanaka grimaced but apparently saw the wisdom in Hinata's plan, for he nodded. Kotetsu was nodding as well, and Izumo flashed Hinata a quick grin while Tanaka wasn't looking. "Main gate in two hours?"

"Please. I will meet Tanaka-san here in an hour and a half and we will join you at the gate." Hinata bowed once to Tsunade, then more shallowly to Tanaka. "If you would please be so good as to wait for a little while, Tanaka-san, I will return shortly."

Tanaka nodded, turning to make the appropriate polite noises in Tsunade's direction. Hinata took off, managing to pick up her pack, deliver her apartment keys to Kurenai so the older woman could get in to water her plants, and say goodbye to Shino in short order. As it was, she was ten minutes early to collect Tanaka. They collected Izumo and Kotetsu at the gates and were away in short order.

The trip to the capitol went smoothly enough, although Tanaka kept his gaze on Hinata much of the time, assessing her. It wasn't the first time a client persisted in watching her, but it was the first time without Shino to buffer her and by the time they reached the capitol Hinata was hoping Tanaka would be too distracted by his lord to keep it up.

Lord Murasaki was, for a wonder, almost completely packed when they arrived, two large trunks closed by the door to his apartments, a third, smaller case waiting to be filled. "Tanaka," he greeted his man, "you're on time, good." Pushing away from his desk, he strode to the door. "These are the shinobi?"

Hinata studied Murasaki while Tanaka made the introductions. He was younger than she had expected, in his early twenties, and dressed relatively simply for his rank. Like most noblemen he carried a tanto on his person, but the way he moved suggested that he knew how to use it. A sheathed tachi rested against the trunks, richly decorated but clearly well-used. A military man, then.

"You made excellent time," Murasaki told the shinobi. "I've heard a lot about Konoha's shinobi, most of it good. From what I've seen so far, it is a well-deserved reputation."

Hinata bowed politely, Kotetsu and Izumo following behind her. "It is kind of you to say so, Murasaki-sama. We will do our best to ensure your return home is uneventful."

"I don't doubt it." He studied Hinata for a moment longer, then went on. "I admit I have heard of the beauty of Konoha's kunoichi, Hyuuga-san. Clearly the tales were an understatement. Dinner is being delivered shortly, I'd appreciate it if you joined me." He looked past her shoulder at Kotetsu and Izumo. "Tanaka will show you where you can place your things and introduce you to my men."

"If you will give me a moment, Murasaki-san, I'll return shortly." Hinata bowed her head, then followed the men out of the room. Tanaka led them into an antechamber and introduced them to the guards and servants, all serious-looking, clearly athletic men. Hinata mentally revised her estimated travel time down - if the appearances of the party were any indication, the schedule Tanaka had given might be accurate after all. Tanaka then showed the shinobi to a small room, where Hinata left her pack leaning against Kotetsu's. Quickly splashing some water on her face, she returned to Murasaki's chamber.

"Ah, Hyuuga-san, right on time." Murasaki said cheerfully, waving to a tray loaded with dishes. "Please, join me."

"Thank you, Murasaki-sama." Hinata knelt neatly, returning to the muscle memory created by a lifetime of table manners.

Most of the meal passed with polite conversation, Murasaki asking if Hinata had ever been to Kaze no Kuni, then offering his opinions on the differences in climate and terrain. That led into a brief description of his lands, and with them Murasaki's family. "My father passed away nearly two years ago, regrettably. It's just my mother, my sister and I now." Murasaki smiled. "Hahaue would like me to marry, of course, but I have yet to meet the right woman." He glanced sideways at Hinata. "What about you, Hinata-san? Is there a special man in your life?"

The question caught Hinata so flat-footed, she didn't even blush. "A-ah, no, Murasaki-sama. There isn't."

"Would you like there to be?"

At that, the blush came, "That-that's a rather personal question, Murasaki-sama."

"I meant no offense. I only asked because it seems, well, a pity." Murasaki pushed aside his tray, turning to regard Hinata straight on. "If a woman as beautiful as you doesn't have the admiration of the men who know her, then they must be blind."

Hinata finally realized where Murasaki was going with this line of conversation, and her thoughts stalled. The truth of the matter was that Hinata had never been flirted with like this before. Her Inuzuka 'cousins' went in for gentle, friendly teasing, and while Kankuro had once or twice made silly romantic gestures in her general direction to make her or his siblings laugh they all knew he'd never meant anything by them. Anyone who might have flirted with her on a mission had been put off by Shino's presence.

"Hinata-san?" Murasaki asked, reaching a hand across the table towards hers. Before he reached her, Hinata set her chopsticks down with a deliberate 'click' and replaced the lids on her bowls.

"Thank you for dinner, Murasaki-sama," she said, straightening her spine and borrowing every move from her father at his coldest. "I will see you in the morning. I believe we are leaving at 10.00." Bowing, she turned and left, face impassive. Once she was sure she was beyond Murasaki's range, she sped up.

Kotetsu looked up at Hinata's hurried entrance to their room. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, fine." Hinata flipped open her bedroll, laying it out behind the folding screen the other shinobi had set up to partition off space for her. "We sh-should be on schedule for tomorrow."

The next morning Hinata rose and packed more calmly than she had fallen asleep the night before. She had a job to do, she was in command of a mission and she was going to see it through. Murasaki's entourage seemed to be of the same mind, as they ate quickly and loaded their luggage into a single horse-drawn cart, leaving the capitol precisely on time. They set a brisk pace, and to Hinata's pleasure managed to maintain it over the course of the day, breaking only briefly for lunch.

Unfortunately, if Hinata believed herself to have imagined her conversation with Murasaki the night before, she was swiftly disabused of that notion. Murasaki prevailed on her to walk with him, and repeatedly complimented her on her dedication, her appearance, and her skills. At one point Hinata activated her Byakugan more dramatically than she would have, hoping that the distended chakra veins would confound him enough to make the commentary stop, but after a brief pause Murasaki was complimenting her on that too.

Hinata eventually managed to extricate herself by snagging Kotetsu to aid her in finding a campsite for the night, and held herself at a distance as well as she could by setting a perimeter with traps and sorting out watches.

The next day went much the same, Izumo waving her aside as they set up camp that evening. "Look," he said softly, glancing back at the clients, "if you want us to run interference with Murasaki, we'd be happy to. We've done it before."

Hinata drew a slow breath, weighing the thought. Her first instinct was to say yes, but even if Kotetsu and Izumo weren't aware of the fact, this was a test. She needed to be able to handle difficult clients without causing incident. "I appreciate the offer," she said finally, "but I'm handling it so far. I, I may take you up on it later, if the offer's still open?"

Izumo smiled reassuringly. "Of course, Hinata-san, you just say the word."

Hinata held out three more days, getting progressively more formal with Murasaki by the hour. Mid-afternoon on the fifth day she excused herself from Murasaki's side to check in with Izumo, who was monitoring their rear. "If your offer from a few days ago is still open," she murmured, "I would appreciate the assistance."

Izumo nodded, then spoke up, pitching his voice deliberately to carry to the front of the group. "Ne, Hinata-san, have you heard from Kazekage-sama lately?"

Hinata blinked at the non-sequitur, but answered the question. "Not from Gaara-sama, no, but Temari-san and Kankuro-san sent letters last month. How…?"

Kotetsu laughed, "Village gossip, I'm afraid, Hinata-san. The letters you and Shino-san get from Kazekage-sama's family are a popular topic."

"You are familiar with the Kazekage, Hinata-san?" Murasaki asked, having dropped back to join Hinata and Izumo.

"Ah, I am, Murasaki-sama. My teammate and I have corresponded with Gaara-sama and his siblings for nearly two years now."

"I see. Tell me, are the stories they tell about the Kazekage true?"

"I don't understand, Murasaki-sama," Hinata said, deliberately playing obtuse. "I know Gaara-sama to be a good leader who cares for his village, and a kind person besides."

Murasaki gave Hinata a long look. "With such a champion as yourself, I must believe you. The Kazekage's a lucky man." Much to Hinata's relief, Murasaki dropped the subject.

The last few days were less stressful for Hinata, as Murasaki eased up on his attentions and Kotetsu and Izumo took it upon themselves to play buffer. Still, she was profoundly relieved when they arrived at Murasaki's home.

"If you would like to stay the night and set out for Sunagakure in the morning, you are most welcome," Murasaki told her.

Hinata considered the offer a moment. On the one hand, she was perfectly ready to put space between herself and Murasaki. On the other, it was already midday, if they left now they'd wind up having to camp for the night anyway. She glanced back at Kotetsu and Izumo, who shrugged. "You are most gracious, Murasaki-sama, but we will press on. We are due in Sunagakure."

"A pity. Thank you for your care and dedication, Hinata-san. I hope we may meet again someday."

The Konoha shinobi bowed, made polite farewells, and were gone, leaving behind the springs that fed Murasaki's holding for the dunes surrounding Suna proper. "Well, he was one of the more obnoxious clients I've had," Kotetsu finally commented.

Izumo made a noise of agreement. "Sorry for waving your friendship with the Kazekage around, Hinata-san, but we figured it was the easiest way to make him back off short of pretending that you were in a relationship."

"I-I figured. Thank you for your help."

"Our pleasure."

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It was Saru's unmasked identity that got the first chance to stoke the rumor mill. Returning home with his grocery shopping, he ran into his next-door neighbor and got into a discussion about a shinobi in the Bingo Book. Leading the conversation around to the Fangs was simplicity itself.

"Have you heard anything about them? The intel's pretty slim, even for the Bingo Book."

His neighbor leaned in, clearly proud of a pet theory. "I think they've got to be sibs, at least. Twins, maybe."

"Really? I heard it was one person. The other's a bunshin."

"Nope," the chuunin shook his head. "They're both real people, have to be. There's only one person who can maintain any kind of clone for that long, and he's not here." Left unsaid was that Uzumaki Naruto did not fit anyone's idea of covert.

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Shino let himself into his house and gratefully shrugged off his pack, settling it on the floor with a little sigh. While not technically demanding, his latest mission - the solo escort of a civilian across northern Hi no Kuni - had taxed his patience dearly. His client had been neurotic, believing every shape in the shadows a threat, and was vocally unimpressed by Shino himself, considering a single teenaged boy to be insufficient protection. On multiple occasions he informed Shino that he would have hired a jounin, but that it was far too expensive, then followed up by telling Shino that if he got the slightest scratch, he'd report him to the Hokage.

By the end of day two, Shino was biting his tongue every time the client opened his mouth, and when he finally delivered the man to his destination three days later, he was eminently relieved to see the back of him.

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"Four targets removed silently from four separate camps in a single night? No way."

"I've seen the report - they must have split up, but they did it."

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Tsunade regarded the assortment of shinobi standing in front of her desk. "Good morning. Today you will be briefed on the next task of the Jounin Exams. This task will take exactly two weeks, ending with a debriefing in this office at 13.00. Ami?"

Ami took over, passing envelopes through the group. "Inside this envelope is the number of and combination to a locker somewhere in the village, along with a single clue to help you identify its location. Your task is to determine which locker is yours, remove the item contained inside, and keep it with you until the end of the task. There will be attempts to retrieve your item from you." She checked to make sure everybody had an envelope. "One more thing - don't wait too long to retrieve your item: after a week, we will begin to empty the lockers at random."

Once they were dismissed, Shino and Hinata returned to Hinata's apartment in mutually agreed-upon silence. Hinata let them in, then reactivated the traps and seal wards behind them, muffling the outside world.

"It occurs," Shino mused, "that there were no restrictions placed on the methods we might use to find our lockers."

"Nor on how to keep our mystery items secure," Hinata agreed, pulling mugs from the cupboard. She held one up towards Shino, an eyebrow raised. Tea?

Please. Shino cleared the table while Hinata brewed the tea. They drank in silence for a few minutes, then Shino pulled his envelope from an interior pocket of his coat. "Shall we?"

Hinata nodded, retrieving her own envelope. The pair opened them in tandem, spilling out a slip of paper with two sets of numbers and a small item - in Shino's case, a broken button, in Hinata's a leaf.

Shino turned the button over in his hands. "This is horn. It snapped sharply, and," he tugged on the broken edge, freeing a thread caught on the edge. "It may have taken part of whatever it was sewn on to with it."

Hinata ran a finger along the leaf. "It's fresh, picked no earlier than today. Oak."

They considered their clues a moment longer, then exchanged glances. "This will be difficult," Shino muttered.

"Mmmm," Hinata nodded. "Horn could be a reference to the Nara herds, there's a small bathhouse not far from their pastures. It could also refer to the shopping district."

"And there are at least three buildings within a mile of the area that contain lockers. As for the leaf," Shino shook his head. "Oak in Konoha?"

"Too many possibilities." Hinata sighed. "What, what about the numbers and combinations?"

Shino laid his down next to hers. "The combinations are remarkably different. Three two-digit numbers on mine, two three-digit numbers and a one-digit number on yours."

"Different kinds of locks. That will help, once we narrow it down."

"As for the locker numbers," Shino shrugged.

Hinata bit her lip. "How much of a coincidence do you think it is that they're identical?"

Having got what information preliminary analysis could give them, Shino and Hinata were stuck doing their investigating the hard way. Shino turned his hive loose on the clues, though his insects turned up remarkably little information - wherever their items had come from, they'd been well-handled before being added to the envelope, and whatever pheromone trail they once had was muddled. The Byakugan told Hinata even less.

Shino spent much of the next four days lurking in the areas they'd tentatively identified. He managed to rule out two of the buildings in fairly short order - the bathhouse lockers were secured by a single three-digit combination, while the bank used both combination and key on their lockers.

Hinata, by contrast, wandered, eyes on the trees. There were plenty of oaks in Konoha, but they weren't utterly ubiquitous, so a couple of days' work managed to give her pockets of the village where oak trees appeared in abundance. That done, she covertly used her Byakugan to identify those buildings with lockers, managing to rule out a few of those by virtue of their using keys instead of a combination lock.

By day five, both were nervous. While Shino was fairly certain his locker was in one of two buildings, he didn't know which it was, and was approaching the point of going into each building to find the locker and try it. Hinata had ruled out a few more buildings, but with too many options, she felt she was no closer than she had been.

In the end, while Shino slipped into the buildings to try the lockers in them, Hinata went to Anko. Armed with dango and the locker number ripped off her scrap of paper, she presented the combination to her senpai. "I, I was wondering if you could help me," Hinata whispered. "I have never seen a combination like this before."

"An' you need t'find out what kind of lock it goes to?" Anko considered it for a long moment, and Hinata fidgeted, trying to figure out her next plan of attack if Anko couldn't help her.

In the end, Anko had an answer for her. "It's probably a two-dial system," she said, snagging a skewer of dango and biting into one. "Shee, th' firs' two're on th' one dial, an' the las' is on t'other," she went on through a mouthful of sweet, then swallowed. "Mos' single dials only go up through th' two-digits."

That narrowed it down. Hinata thanked her senpai, then went off to find her locker.

In the end, Shino found his first, in the basement of a building with a clothing store on the ground level. Accessing the locker, he found a little messenger tube of the kind used for pigeons, sealed with wax. Slipping it into an internal pocket of his coat, he left the way he'd come.

Hinata's nerves drew tighter as the countdown to the end of the first week went from days, to hours. She was steadily scratching buildings off her list - too few lockers, the wrong kind of lock - but it was still too long for her comfort. The locker turned out to be in her third cluster of potential buildings, on the top floor of an office complex, across the street from the park and the stand of oaks planted along its edge. It held a little figurine, which Hinata wrapped in a spare cloth and tucked into her clothing.

The two remained on-edge all the following week, waiting for the ambush or attack as someone tried to take their item from them. When it finally came, the day before they were due to report back in for the end of the exercise, it was almost a relief. Ambushed while walking to their usual training ground, Shino and Hinata split up, bouncing at high speed through the trees. Their pursuers chased them for a quarter-hour, then dropped away.

Shino and Hinata rendezvoused at a different training ground. "Did we lose them," Hinata asked, "or did they give up?"

"I don't know."

The rest of the exercise passed without further incident, but when they reported in to hand in their items at the end of the two weeks, they were both happy for it to be over. The paranoia had been starting to get to them.

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"Someone said they're mind-linked - like the Yamanaka jutsu."

"Huh. Actually, that one makes sense."

"You're kidding."

"No, seriously, I saw them report in once. They move like a single person, it's really weird."

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"Ohayo, Shino-san," Shizune said, pushing open the workroom door and gesturing the boy in ahead of her. While she thoroughly approved of more shinobi training in field medicine, she rather wished she wasn't handling Shino's assessment today - there was already too much to do on her schedule.

"Ohayo, Shizune-san," Shino bowed.

"As you know, today I am assessing your skills in field medicine. We'll begin with cuts, bruises and contusions, moving to broken bones, concussions, and more serious injuries. Any questions before we begin?" At Shino's negative reply, Shizune went on. "Let's begin with a shallow cut, then."

To Shizune's pleasant surprise, it went fairly quickly. Shino was well-versed in basic care for the most common wounds received in the field, and they'd made it as far down Shizune's list as complex fractures and injuries to the internal organs before he started to hesitate.

"Please demonstrate on the mannequin and describe a basic care plan for an injury to the lumbar vertebrae."

For the first time, Shino paused. "While I know how to immobilize the patient," he said slowly, removing the necessary wraps and braces from the provided pile, "My next step would be to seek professional medical help. I believe I could transport a wounded patient a short distance if necessary, but I hesitate to take them far for fear of aggravating the injury."

Shizune smiled. "That's a good answer, Shino-san. As it happens, there's a seal array you can use in tandem with physical braces that will help immobilize your patient and make transporting them safer."

"I see," Shino considered that while he worked, and Shizune nodded approvingly at the brace taking shape under his hands. "I realize that this is out of the remit of today's session, Shizune-san, but would you consider teaching it to me?"

Glancing at her watch, Shizune went over her schedule in her head. She felt she'd probably seen enough of Shino's skills to accurately judge his competence, and she didn't have to be anywhere for the next half-hour. It would mean hurrying a little, but that was alright. "I'd be happy to teach you, Shino-san."

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"I heard they're young. Prodigies."

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Three days after Shino's medical skills assessment, Shizune was in a different workroom in the Hospital, waiting on Hyuuga Hinata. While the skills on display today were a different breed - poisons, rather than medicine - Shizune rather hoped it went the same way. Shino had been a good student, polite and attentive. If his teammate was anything like him, this wouldn't be onerous at all.

Right on schedule, Hinata knocked on the door. Shizune smiled at the younger woman. "Hello Hinata-san. Shall we jump right in?"

"That sounds good, Shizune-san."

An hour later, Shizune found herself impressed. Hinata's strengths were clearly plant-based and usually came in liquid form, suitable for coating weapons or slipping into food, but she'd worked out a couple of topicals as well. Unlike Shizune herself, Hinata used no gases or aerosols, but otherwise her skills were nearly on par with Shizune's.

Interestingly, Hinata presented or identified an antidote to the majority of the poisons in her repertoire. That was unusual in shinobi - most of those who used poisons on their weapons were minimally concerned with countering them, an attitude Shizune found foolish. What happened when you were injured by your own weapon, either by accident or in battle?

She complimented Hinata on her foresight, and the younger woman blushed. "Anko-senpai insisted - both in case of accident and in the event that one is used against me."

"Huh. That's excellent advice." Shizune and Anko's relationship was best described as 'strained', but Shizune could respect good mentoring when she saw it. "Now, Hinata-san, tell me about those scorpion venoms. I believe they're Sunan?" Shizune grinned internally at Hinata's sudden flush.

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"They stopped to banter with an Ame patrol and still got their target."

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Straightening the pins in her hair, Hinata went over her plan for the dozenth time. Intellectually, she knew she was being silly. On the other hand, while she'd done similar missions before, she'd always had Shino for backup. This time she was on her own.

The mission parameters were simple enough - a merchant had illicitly obtained a schedule for the military patrols of the Kawa no Kuni/Hi no Kuni border, presumably so he could more easily smuggle goods across and avoid paying the attendant fees. Hinata's job was to get the schedule back without attracting attention. To that end, she was dressed as a maid for a minor noble house that did business with the merchant in question.

Shrugging into her character like a coat, Hinata entered the merchant's shop. "Good afternoon," she bowed. "My mistress, Honda-sama, wishes to know the status of the order she placed last week,"

"Honda-sama?" The shop assistant frowned. "I don't believe we've had an order from her in a month."

"With respect," Hinata said, "My mistress was quite certain that she placed an order last week."

"Far be it from me to disappoint Honda-sama. Give me a moment to review the books."

As the young man turned away, Hinata quietly activated her Byakugan, watching as he tapped on the door of the merchant's office and the merchant shoved a sheaf of papers into a particular drawer in his desk. There was a short exchange, and the assistant came back. "I'm afraid I could find no record of an order placed by Honda-sama in the past fortnight," he said apologetically. "We are always happy to supply her, if you would like to place an order now?"

Hinata shook her head and bowed. "I, I must report to my mistress first. Thank you for your kindness."

"Not at all, please come again."

That night Hinata, back in shinobi gear, slipped quietly into the merchant's office. A short search found the schedule, stuffed in the back of the drawer she'd seen him shove papers into earlier in the day. Further investigation suggested it was the only copy, so, returning everything else to its prior locations, Hinata ghosted out of the town, making straight for Konoha.

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"I've heard they can smell their targets from three kilometers away."

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"Ohayo, Shino." Standing outside Tsunade's office, Shino turned to see Shikamaru walking up to join him. "You on this mission too?"

"I suspect so," Shino said. Further conversation was forestalled by the opening of the office door, and the two filed inside. Hurried footsteps behind them had Shino turning to look back, and he raised an eyebrow at the shinobi sliding through the door behind them. "Osamu-san, how are you?"

"Well, yourself?"

"Polite nothings later, gentlemen," Tsunade said, smiling. "The three of you are heading to southeastern Hi no Kuni, going undercover as civilians to investigate what may be a smuggling ring. Shino, as you have an established civilian identity in the region in the form of Aki, you'll be leading this mission."

Shino bowed. "Thank you for your faith in me, Hokage-sama."

"Don't thank me yet. I leave exactly how you do this to your discretion, but your mission is to determine if a smuggling ring by the name of the Black Wave has reached that far inland. Current intelligence has them running cargo up and down the coast, but some goods with their marks on them have turned up further inland." She held out a stack of papers, and Shino took it. "Sketches of the marks Black Wave uses on their cargo and dossiers on a couple of major players we've tentatively identified."

"How extensive do you wish our investigation to be?" Shino asked.

"Preliminary investigation only. Get in, see if there's anything that warrants a closer look, and get out. I've got teams who specialize in dealing with this sort of thing, but they're occupied and I'm not redirecting them on rumor. Best case scenario, some of their cargo was brought inland by a third party without the marks scraped off."

The team nodded, and Tsunade dismissed them. Once they'd left the office, Shino turned to the other two. "I believe we should briefly discuss the mission before we leave."

"Not a bad idea," Shikamaru muttered.

"What did you have in mind?" Osamu asked.

"Aki is a seventeen-year-old orphan who two years ago briefly worked in a store in a town along the primary road to Cha no Kuni. It's primarily a stop for travelers along the road, boasting a ryokan that does a brisk business catering to the wealthy - Aki's cousin Hana worked there at the same time."

"Hana being Hinata-san," Osamu said.

Shino nodded. "Aki and Hana moved to live with Aki's aunt, who lives near the Great Naruto Bridge. Since then," he shrugged. "There's been a career working for merchants in the economic boom following the destruction of Gatou's monopoly."

"Any suggestions for characters?" Shikamaru asked.

"This is a town accustomed to travelers, typically merchants, traders and the odd noble. The caravans to and from Cha no Kuni pass through semi-regularly. There isn't much in the way of a military presence - it's a peaceful place."

"Employees of a merchant house, then?" Osamu looked thoughtful.

"Junior ones," Shikamaru agreed. "Ones tired of getting the grunt work and willing to cut corners or bend the law in order to make a good deal."

Shino nodded. "Collect any supplies you may need, we'll meet at the main gate in an hour."

The journey to their destination passed quickly, the team hashing out the final details of their cover. Two days out, Shino applied the scars necessary to the Aki persona, recruiting Osamo to help with the ones he had difficulty reaching.

"Clever," Shikamaru said, watching them work. "Memorable, but clever."

"What's the story behind these, if we need to know them?" Osamu asked.

"Hana's father is an abusive bastard," Shino said shortly.

"Noted."

The last day, disguises firmly in place, they stepped out on to the road and made the rest of the trip civilian-style. Booking a room at the ryokan, they returned to the town to get a sense of the area's business.

"No way, Aki? Is that you?"

Shino turned around to see two young men behind him. "Kazuhiro? Norio?"

Kazuhiro laughed, smacking Norio on the shoulder. "I told you that was him! It's been a while, Aki."

"It has. It's good to see you both."

"Are you going to introduce us, Aki?" Osamu asked.

"Of course, sir. May I present Kazuhiro and Norio, they were very kind to me when I briefly lived here two years ago. Kazuhiro, Norio, this is my employer, Nobu Takashi, and Isshin, my coworker." There was a round of polite nods and "a pleasure to meet you"s.

"If you're not too busy, Aki, we should catch up while you're in town."

"Oh, go ahead Aki, Isshin and I can manage for an afternoon." Osamu told him.

Shino did as told, joining Norio and Kazuhiro for dinner and a round of catching up. They exchanged news, Shino remaining just on the edge of vague about Aki's past, before coming to his reason for being back in town. "The Nobu family are all merchants, three brothers. Takashi-san's the eldest brother's only son, so he's being groomed to take over the business. They're considering expanding into goods from Cha no Kuni, but since it's the busy season they sent Takashi to take a first look. If he finds anything worth the bother, his father or uncles will come down to handle the important negotiations." Shino leaned forward conspiratorially. "Between you and me, Takashi's really looking to impress Nobu-san, show he can handle more responsibility."

"I bet," Kazuhiro snorted. "I'll tell you this, though, if he's looking for goods out of Cha no Kuni, he'd better be prepared to make a deal upfront. Rumor has it there's another merchant house that's gotten the same idea, one of their shipments came through last week. Remember them?"

"Unfriendly lot," Norio agreed. "Didn't talk much, didn't let anybody get too close. They came in to town, spent the night, resupplied and set out again. The tarp blew off one of their carts just before they left, and I thought the boss was going to have a stroke he went so red."

"Really?" Shino asked. It couldn't be this easy.

"Mmmm. I don't remember what they were called. Wave something or something Wave."

"Could be one of a couple groups," Shino said. "There's a lot of them that use 'Wave' in their name out by Nami no Kuni - they're an unimaginative lot."

He ran that little bit of information by Osamu and Shikamaru that evening. "I did some poking around back alleys," Shikamaru said. "No sign of the Black Wave's symbol anywhere."

"One of the other guests at the ryokan was bragging about some sake he got a bargain on," Osamu said, "but that could be a legitimate deal. I didn't have a chance to ask him who his supplier was."

Shino considered for a moment. "We can stay at least two more nights before our presence starts to raise questions," he said finally. "We keep looking. Osamu-san, please stick with the ryokan guests and the merchants - see if you can get them to talk shop. Shikamaru, if memory serves, some of the older men play shogi in the afternoons at one of the teahouses, I'll point it out to you. The shopkeepers have been here long enough to have noticed a change."

"And you'll stick with the younger crowd." Shino nodded.

The next two days netted the team very little information, none of it solid. There were more complaints about rude travelers, another ryokan guest who crowed about his new supplier, and a broken crate with a burn mark that almost completely obscured the Black Wave insignia - suggestive, certainly, but nothing that could say for certain that the smugglers were actively operating in the area.

The third evening, Shino sat up late thinking. They'd failed to confirm the presence or absence of the Black Wave, and as team leader it was his responsibility to decide what to do next. Did they stay until they discovered something conclusive, or would that be too suspicious and drive their targets deeper into hiding? If there truly was nothing to find, how long would they be stuck trying to find it, as proving a negative was exponentially more difficult than proving a positive?

In the end, Shino elected to stay another two nights, faking a broken piece of equipment as an excuse. The extra days were only so helpful, however, and the further evidence they collected was no more conclusive than what they'd already found.

Reporting back in Konoha, Shino admitted as much. "It is possible that the Black Wave has reached inland, but we were unable to determine if this was the case. What evidence of their presence we have could be explained by the presence of a third party who obtained goods from the Black Wave."

Tsunade listened carefully, then dismissed the team, thanking them for their work. Shino, frustrated, went to the Memorial Stone and meditated for a while to clear his head.

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"They can sense fear."

"Wait, how?"

"Dunno. But that's how they end the hunts, they can sense their target's fear. Like sharks when there's blood in the water."

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Shino and Hinata's second sparring matches with current jounin took place some two months after their first. Shino found himself facing off against Sarutobi Asuma, who seemed to take pleasure in pushing his significant other's student as far as he could. By the end of it both were breathing heavily, although Asuma looked only a little disheveled while Shino was desperate to sit down.

Much to Hinata's dismay, her opponent was Maito Gai. She gave it her all, but she was hopelessly outclassed and she knew it. Gai treated the entire thing like a training exercise, shouting encouragement even as he did his best to send her flying. Once he'd had enough chasing her around, Gai called the spar to a halt and offered what Hinata considered useful advice, once the exclamations about "Youth" and the springtime thereof had been edited out.

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"They can be anybody they like - the face behind the mask is a blank slate."

"I heard they're basically unstoppable, they'll take a wound and just keep going."

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Fifteen weeks after they began, the Konoha Jounin Exams were called to a close. The candidates were called to the Hokage's office, and Tsunade read off the list of promotions. "Promoted to jounin," she began, and read off five names. None Shino's or Hinata's.

"Promoted to tokubetsu jounin," Tsunade went on, "Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata…"

The list went on to name a further five shinobi, for a total of seven. Tsunade put the list down and eyed the group in front of her. "If I didn't read your name, the decision was made to not promote you at this time. Ami has envelopes for each of you, they contain a summary of your assessment, including areas to work on. Please give these the attention they deserve."

Shino and Hinata collected their envelopes, bowed to Tsunade and Ami when they congratulated them on their promotion, and by mutual agreement returned to Hinata's apartment. Sitting at the kitchen table, they read their assessments in silence.

Hinata finished first, returning her assessment to the envelope. "My skills as squad leader could use some practice," she said softly. "As could my ninjutsu."

"I was told much the same," Shino shrugged.

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"I've heard their henge is so good, they can become animals so convincing you'd never tell the difference."

"Their formal name is the Inu. Hoshiko told me she's seen a pair of dogs, one white, one black, by the Hokage's office in the evening a couple of times."

"Think that's them?"

The shorter man shrugged. "Doesn't seem entirely unlikely."

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Three days after Shino and Hinata were promoted, the Fangs were back in uniform and in their captain's office. "Jakkaru's been busy," Ryouken told them, "so now it's your turn to get directly involved again. Ready for a mission?"

"Yes, taicho," the Fangs chorused.

"Excellent."

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"They're basically shadows."

"How so?"

"One, they never leave traces behind," a second finger went up to join the first. "Two, they're always right behind you."


A/N:

I'm right down at the wire this month, aren't I? Hobbits give presents on their birthdays, so in that vein, my lovely readers, this is my gift to you. I hit the quarter-century mark mid-month, and I'm still finding it surreal.

Murasaki was absolutely being a creep. At this point in our tale, Hinata is 15. That is underage by shinobi standards and the jurisdiction I live in, the age of consent for both being 16. Unfortunately, since he was the client Hinata didn't feel comfortable telling him to get lost and he either didn't understand or was ignoring her attempts to evade his attentions. Kotetsu and Izumo basically used Gaara as a boogeyman to warn Murasaki off.

"Aki" first showed up in chapter 13. He and his cousin Hana had left behind an abusive home, and were last seen moving to near Nami no Kuni to live with Aki's aunt. Osamu first appeared in chapter 3 by reputation and chapter 4 in person - he was on the same genin team as Kawaguchi Akai, who Shino and Hinata took the Chuunin Exams with.

I'll be attending Anime Boston this year as Fem!Phil Coulson. If you're in the area come say 'hi', I'd love to meet you.

Next Chapter: The Art of Being a Legend