Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto will never be mine
Chapter 5 – Listening and Talking
Hinata joined in with her teammates to greet their captain as he entered the chuunin lounge at the ninja administration building. Sitting at one of the long cafeteria-style tables that dotted the room she watched him slump onto the bench across from her. Wordlessly, Shikamaru laid his face down between his elbows on the cool faux-wood grain surface and his hands draped themselves over the back of his neck like drooping swans. He looked pretty pathetic.
The women exchanged concerned looks. Hinata reached over and placed the back of her hand against his temple. Her own heightened senses had been honed to an even finer skill after two years training as the team's medical ninja.
"No fever, no poison." she told them.
Tenten grabbed a clean teacup from the center of the table and quickly poured some of the tea she had saved for him. Placing the cup in front of his head, they all watched in mild amusement as he grasped blindly for the cup and resurrected himself to enjoy its lukewarm contents. With the clean bill of health from Hinata, Tenten immediately started to tease on him on her favorite topic, his love life.
"So did Ino kicked you out of the bed again? What did I tell you about that Shikamaru?"
"I don't think that's it all, " Sakura chimed in devilishly. "He usually looks like he ate something sour when that happens. This is definitely something else."
He found their relationship an odd one. Sakura and Ino were still best friends and with the changes in respective life goals their competition had mellowed into a solid bond. It also meant half of everything he said to Sakura got back to his girlfriend, but that had its uses too.
"Maybe the opposite happened?" said Hinata with a note of wonder in her naturally timid voice. "Did Ino-san's fiery passion wear you out last night, squad leader?"
The whole table erupted into laughter
As far as Shikamaru was concerned, one of the best changes in Hinata since their genin days was the unveiling of her wry sense of humor. He wiped a tear from his eye as he composed himself to respond. It was too hard to be in a bad mood around them.
After another small sip from his cup he replied, "No, I merely had a run-in with Sakura's boyfriend this morning."
Confusion crept onto the pink-haired girl' s face.
Tenten looked at her and immediately clarified. "He means Neji."
"Oh! What did he want?" she asked looking relieved.
"Damned if I can figure him out," he said dismissively. He was already annoyed with himself for mentioning it. He should of lied and said that it was Ino after all.
Tenten had morphed on cue into "older sister" mode and started her laundry list . "He's just jealous, "she lectured. "You have been very successful since your promotion almost two years before him. You are considered an invaluable asset by the Hokage. We've completed just as many missions as his band of trained gorillas..."
"Extremely powerful trained gorillas," he inserted.
"... we are a lot cuter than his team, and... we dress you better!"
He turned to look at her with slight puzzlement and as he emptied the contents of his teacup. "Tenten, you don't "dress" me."
"Not yet," she said sweetly "I have Sakura working on Ino to change that."
Sakura became wide-eyed. Throwing her hands up, she shook her head in a frantic wordless denial as her team leader was suddenly making a rather scary face.
"Ok Men!" he said slamming his fist on the table for emphasis. "It's almost 1300 hours and we are getting today's mission directly from the Hokage."
They all stood to leave and took no more than two steps towards the exit when he added,
"But first! I need to take a leak."
The women watched their fearless leader wander off to the men's room and sat back down at the table.
"Do you think he has a bladder problem?" Tenten asked.
"It's his love of tea drinking," Hinata replied as professional.
Sakura waved them off. "I'm used to this, Naruto used have to go every five minutes."
"Well something's don't change, Sakura-chan."
They all got silent as out of the same hallway Shikamaru had just gone down, emerged Sakura's old teammate, Uzumaki Naruto.
The blond ninja whom she had spent her genin days with had changed dramatically in the last couple of years. The short runty nin with the nasal voice was completely gone. In his place was this person about the same height as her genin sensei and was maybe even a little broader in the shoulders than Kakashi. He was muscular and kind of dangerous looking now with only the last shreds of lankiness that a boy on the verge of manhood had. The orange jacket had been discarded and in its place he wore a black leather trench from which he had cut off the sleeves. It was so he could display the leaf symbol tattoo he wore proudly on this left upper arm, which he could get away with because he had the arms for it now. Even his voice sounded unfamiliar as its whiny quality disappeared to make way for a light, pleasant sounding baritone.
"Hi, Naruto." she said suddenly unsure of herself.
As if Naruto could sense her discomfort he nodded politely to her two companions and with a purposeful stride headed towards the doors leading outside. Tenten shot an encouraging glance at Hinata who scooted off to catch him before he left. At least her feelings certainly hadn't changed with time.
"Wow, he really does look like the Fourth." Tenten said watching with satisfaction as an animated Hinata flirted with a seemingly receptive Naruto. "You turned that boy down almost everyday for five years straight, but chose to go out with Neji for couple months after he asked you once?"
Sakura's sighed. She really didn't want to rehash her own messed up personal life. "It's complicated Tenten. Let it go." Poking fun at Shikamaru who was well along the road to lifelong bliss with her best friend was one thing. Her own sordid tale did not need such scrutiny.
Tenten's voice softened as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I guess now that I'm nearly married, I live a little vicariously through you and Hinata, komen. I just want you to be happy."
Sakura gave her a smile of forgiveness as Hinata was practically bouncing back to them after her chance to see Naruto.
"Naruto's team is going out on another bandit cleanup mission, but he said he wants to see me when he gets back," Hinata told her teammates excitedly. Tenten, the eternal matchmaker, couldn't help, but break out in a self- satisfied smile.
Sakura was stilled amazed at the arrangement, even after all this time. Hinata and Naruto had been secretly dating for over a year. It had started right after Hinata got back from Sand Country where she passed her Chuunin with her and Choji.
She and Sakura had become close friends during the test and at Sakura's suggestion Hinata started practically living at Ichiraku ramen shop. It was the number one guaranteed method for holding Naruto's attention and secret rendezvous after dinner had soon followed for the couple.
The reason for the secret part had to do with the Hyuga clan's policy on "controlled" breeding, which still made Sakura a little ill to think about.
Hinata though still a member of the Souke was now completely shunned by her father and "brother". To make matters even stranger the main branch had conveniently adopted Neji from the Bunke as the heir-apparent after he made chuunin captain. It was now his job to approve of any man she married and it was also his right to adopt from her any of her children he wanted.
"Neji's got a good heart," Sakura thought, "but since Hiashi's adopted him, he's gotten so harsh with people again. I really hope he wakes up soon for his and her sake."
Sakura had actually enjoyed dating him for the brief period they were together. He could be sweet and very romantic. It was a release from her on- going "not" relationship with the member of another certain blood limit clan. She had a nasty breakup with Neji just recently however due to his absorption into the main branch. Neji had started to talk all the time about getting her "approved" by the clan.
Sakura shivered involuntarily again.
Shikamaru emerged from the same hallway Naruto had minutes earlier. He was all business and went straight out the door. They all followed him outside ready to scale the six stories to the Hokage's office on top of the building.
The working office for Tsunade-sama was different from the Hokage's official office and residence on the ground floor. With no stairs or ladders only ninja possessed the ability to even reach it. Tsunade enjoyed this fact even more when she was having a difference of opinion with the village elders who could no longer climb such heights easily. She was on bad terms with them on almost a constant basis so she seemed to live there most the time.
Shikamaru's team landed on the open porch in front of the door. He knocked and then politely entered the office with the women. The Hokage was at her desk piled high with papers, pens and kunai. She smiled brightly at the them. The room's other occupant leaning casually on the windowsill of the office' only natural light source made some room on his roost as Tenten walked over to join him.
Shikamaru nodded his head in greeting towards Lee as Tenten joined him.
Other than the natural effects of age, Rock Lee looked exactly like he did as a genin. Right down to those crazy weighted leg warmers. The couple had been serious for a while and it was almost a year since their official engagement had started.
"Tenten wants a fall wedding," Sakura remembered.
Rock Lee and Tenten exhibited a comfort with each other that few couples their age possessed and Sakura had to admit a small jealousy on some level. She had never returned Lee's feelings and seeing them together made her regret that slightly.
"I'm just feeling sorry for myself," she chided mentally.
Lee spoke quietly with Tenten then exited the room for them to have privacy. Tsunade got up and walked around the front of her desk and leaned back to sit against it before addressing them.
She teased, "Shikamaru you really don't appreciate what a cute team you have!"
Her warm smile taking them all in, you'd never know she was an old hag near sixty given her age-defying talents. She continued with her doting, which Shikamaru would have told her he could do without.
"So ladies are you taking good care of my top strategist?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," they replied in unison.
That annoyed Shikamaru too. They always behaved in front of her. It made him look argumentative and grouchy. He just had to put up with it, he guessed.
He understood that Tsunade favored his squad above many of the others and gave them missions that while often appearing standard or even easy from the outside were usually complicated with some reconnaissance or political significance. She had candidly explained her view to him once early in their work.
"If I want something blown up I give it Neji and Naruto. If I want something handled delicately then you're the team I call on."
Regardless, he had no use for taking up time with small talk. He had to keep them all on topic or they would start talk about him or something else he didn't care about.
"So what's up? Anko said you need to give us the mission personally," Shikamaru said crossing his arms.
Tsunade adjusted her tone. She obviously wanted to get down to business as well. "What do you know about the ruins the mining survey team recently found over in Nagayama near the western border?"
Shikamaru was about to say he didn't know much when Sakura responded first. She was still a teacher's pet in a lot of ways, but her book knowledge came in handy on quite a few occasions.
"They are from the late Kii dynasty, right? The fall of that empire was what led to the time of troubles and the emergence of the Five Countries as they appear now. It was said the daimyos of Kii declared themselves emperors near the end and took direct control of the military away from the clan leaders."
"Correct, Sakura. They controlled almost as much land as the Five Countries do now combined, but their greed is what history says drove them to collapse and civil war. The birth of the separation between the military under the Kages and the ruling class in each country came about from that tragedy."
Shikamaru was already tired from the history lesson, he was really hoping this mission wasn't an overnighter. He wanted to see Ino for dinner at least once this week.
"What exactly do you want us to do, again? " he asked.
His perturb was ignored as the Hokage asked her next question.
"What is the most powerful jutsu ninja have?"
This time Tenten answered. "That's an easy one, Hokage-sama. Summoning jutsu are the most powerful. Only a couple ninja in any village can perform them and the contracts with the different youma are closely guarded. The Sennin were famous for one reason because you each went out and gained a contract with different guardian."
"Thank you, Tenten. My point captain is this," she said addressing his rude question finally. "The Kii'shu were great priests and sorcerers and many of the summoning contracts that exist in the world were created through their ability."
She got up and walked back around to sit at her desk again. They all waited sensing she would continue her explanation.
"The destruction of the Kii capital was caused when they attempted to force an extremely powerful youma into a contract that it didn't want. This same youma is also the one who plagued the Leaf up until eighteen years ago."
A small pause let her words sink in.
"Kyuubi destroyed an empire, Tsunade-sama?" asked Hinata in slight awe. It made them all wonder again what exactly was that thing inside Naruto was and how safe it was for him and the village in general. They had only been told about his condition after they became chuunin and it still took some getting used too.
"Yes," she continued leaning forward on her desk, her smile had more of a predatory gleam to it. "The site in Nagayama is a royal cemetery and I believe that some dangerous summoning contracts could be buried out there. I need you to go search the place carefully. Bring me back anything and everything that looks suspicious."
The girls turned to leave when they realized Shikamaru stayed facing Tsunade and fixing her with a hard stare.
"Do you expect we will meet up with trouble?" he said, not waiting for an answer. "All this bandit activity in the west came out of nowhere and given some of the unrest we heard about in Lightning Country. I wound have to say this all just stinks of the Sound."
Tsunade beamed at him pleased he had caught on so quickly.
"That's why I expect you to get their first, Shikamaru-kun!"
Getting the answer he expected he turn to leave with his team.
"Sheesh, I hate pet names from obaasans, too."
TO BE CONTINUED