A/N Story should pick up a bit here. If you have any requests of comments feel free to leave them in reviews, or email. Thanks.
Chapter 3 : ANBU
"It's been two days since the incident with Kakashi, d'you think he's still likely to try anything?" Kotetsu asked. He and his friend had been assigned the task of checking up on Neji every so often, just to be safe. Every time they'd visited him he was fine, either training with Hiashi, or eating with the rest of his team.
"Nope, I think Guy-san may have brought him back to his senses. If anything else the thought of Guy following him is put off enough." Izumo retorted, chuckling at the thought.
As usual the Hyuga estate was well guarded. The two Chunin were stopped at the gate and asked why they were here after dark. Satisfied with their answer, the gates opened and they were allowed to enter the complex. The place never ceased to amaze.
So well built and maintained. The route to Neji's room took them off to the right following the line of the perimeter wall. A couple of minutes of walking along a cobbled path among foliage granted them a brief glimpse of life as a Hyuga. Every window they passed was open and afforded some form of glimpse into the house.
"How long do you think she'll make us keep this up?" Izumo enquired, fixing his chinstrap. They reached the door to Neji's quarters just before Kotetsu answered.
"Till they get back?" he shrugged, knocked on the door and waited.
Too long. Kotetsu knocked again, glancing from the door to his friend. Dread seeped its way into both of their minds. There was no way he'd have disobeyed Tsunade and Kakashi, was there? Surely he wasn't that hot headed. The lock on the door gave way as Kotetsu kicked it; as soon as it opened Izumo was in the room.
"Shit!" he called, "he's gone." The bandaged Chunin appeared in the doorway holding a Honoha headband. Instantly they were racing towards the gates. They called to the guards in advance, Hiashi had to be notified, Neji had gone. Tsunade wasn't going to be very happy.
The two guards passed them, fear in their eyes. They'd obviously been informed of what would happen to Neji if he left, would Hiashi blame them? Both ninja's hurried to their boss's office. Neji Hyuga, what have you done?
Hiashi arrived at the Hokage office as soon as he could. Perhaps ignorantly he burst into the room and stumbled upon a meeting. Tsunade-sama stood on the opposite side of her table from two masked ANBU.
"Are we clear?" she asked one of them. "Don't let him get out of the fire country"
"Hai!" they replied in unison and then were gone.
"Tsunade-sama..." The Hyuga head started. Tsunade cut him off, raising her voice.
"Hiashi! I asked you to keep him here!" she screamed. "He's gone! He disobeyed a direct order from his Hokage!" she looked about the room desperately seeking something to settle her focus on.
"But, Tsunade-sama, ANBU?" Hiashi asked, the pleading in his voice not remotely concealed. The atmosphere in the room was suffocating. He knew, Neji had been ordered to stay, or face being in the Bingo Book. A missing-nin. A defector. "Why ANBU?"
The Hokage tossed herself into her chair and swivelled it to face the window. The silence only lasted for a few moments before she spoke, "The situation is very delicate. The original B mission was a miss match. The feud went deeper than we knew about. It was only mid mission that Hinata-kun found out the extent of the attacks."
Hearing Hinata's name Hiashi winced.
"The real reason for the attacks is an ongoing dispute between several villages, one of which is The Sand who are currently close to warring with the Cloud. We sent team 14 covertly, suspecting some form of feud and not wanting to get involved. But it seems it was far bigger than we expected. The attacks got fiercer, less like discouraging skirmishes, and more like assignations. Hinata-kun relayed some of this to us before we lost contact, so I updated the mission profile."
"We can't allow any of the villages to know of our presence. If they have captured Team 14 I can only hope they've held out. But if they didn't give up the village, then they are probably dead. I'd like to think they aren't. Hiashi I'm going with the worst case, that The Cloud and Water know that we interfered."
The head of the Hyuga clan was stunned for a moment. The situation was bad indeed. Kakashi hadn't been sent just to recover Team14, if he was too late this was to be an assassination mission as well. He couldn't let the enemy return to the Lightening or Water villages to alert them to our attempt interference. Could Kakashi Hatake actually take them out? Without revealing himself as a leaf ninja? Surely if the Situation was so bad, the lightening would have used Jonin.
"Neji has no idea..."Hiashi said, "He'll run right into the middle of it and have no idea what's happened. Hokage-sama? Hinata, Hanabi, Neji. I can't lose them all. Tsunade..." Hiashi was on the verge of begging her when she cut him off once again.
"That's why ANBU, Hiashi. They've been ordered to bring him back alive. Before he gets out of the Fire country." She paused for a moment more, the hesitation only upsetting Hiashi more. "But if he breaks our borders, they'll kill him. I'm sorry. But we can't let this get out of control. The fire country can't go to war again, not now. We aren't ready."