Thank you to everyone who has been reading! Sorry about this taking so long, I just needed to update my other stories on Wattpad. But I hope you enjoy this and I hope to update again soon. Also thank you Sagemode101 for all the reviews, I really appreciate them.
As they raced after Sasuke, Pakkun had them stop and retrace their steps to throw off the ninjas that were following them to try and stop them. But why would they want to stop them from getting their friend back was something that was worrying Meng Ka as she followed the group in silence, Tinktink flying next to her. Looking over her shoulder she watched Tinktink as she seemed to be lost in thought as well. Tinktink must have sensed that something wasn't right, that's why she had been acting so strange all day but what was it that she wasn't telling her.
"Meng Ka! Don't fall behind, kid." Pakkun yelled back at her as she had slowed down a bit, having gotten lost in thought. Looking up, she sped up faster as she caught back up to them and sighed. She didn't know why she had to go with them but Kakashi had his reasons, most likely thinking she was safer away from the fight that the Hokage was in.
"This is not good. They're catching up with us." Pakkun said as they raced through the trees.
"What?! Why don't we just ambush them?" Naruto said, getting angry with each passing minute.
"They must all be Chunin or higher." Shikamaru said as he looked at the three of them and Meng Ka bit down on her lip slightly as she thought about what they could do.
"Yes, an ambush would be to our advantage even though we are outnumbered." Sakura said as she agreed with Naruto about the ambush.
"No, an ambush wouldn't work. From their tracking skills they must be at the shinobi level by now." Meng Ka said as she shook her head,
"They're former leaf shinobi, Orochimaru's henchmen." Pakkun said, confirming what Meng Ka said. "In worst case scenario, they might be jonin."
"I thought it'd work but I guess not." Shikamaru said frustrated now since he had to do more work.
"But why?" Sakura asked. "The skill level of a ninja doesn't matter much in an ambush."
Naruto nodded his head, "What do you guys mean?"
"You guys don't get it." Shikamaru said, annoyed with them now. "An ambush is a very fundamental tactic. But two conditions are necessary. Number one. The ones on the run must act without making noise and find the enemy first. Number two. One must be able to catch the pursuers off guard, capture a point and position to be able to inflict certain damage, and conceal oneself quickly. An ambush only becomes effective when these two conditions are ensured."
Meng Ka nodded her head, "The first one wouldn't be too hard since we have Pakkun who can guide us to them. And the second one seems advantageous at a glance since we know the geography of our village. But Orochimaru has spent time in the Leaf before so that approach won't work on his henchmen." Meng Ka finished explaining for Shikamaru but Naruto was still confused.
"What do you really mean then?" Naruto asked looking between the two of them.
"Our pursuers must have been instructed in the terrain of this village, and have gone through simulated practice for this fight. And on top of that they must all be ninja's who have mastered the pursuit arts." Shikamaru answered.
"So they know what cards we have, huh." Sakura said, with a frustrated look as she finally understood what Meng Ka and Shikamaru were saying.
"Well, even so, the fact remains that an ambush is advantageous." Shikamaru added as he looked ahead of them.
"But there are too many elements of uncertainty." Meng Ka said, looking over at the three as Tinktink chirped in agreement. "In the first place, the group is a special unit, trained just for this mission. And well, our group…" Meng Ka trialed off trying to think of a way to say what was in her head.
"But we have a fool." Shikamaru picked up for her, knowing where she was going with things. "A Kunoichi who's nothing special, one dog and a kid with a phoenix. And me, with the number-one cold feet. A tactic is grasping the conditions that are there without fail and formulation a good plan."
Meng Ka nodded, "So there's only one thing we can do now," She said as she looked forward, "A diversion in the guise of an ambush. One person will remain, pretend to ambush, and delay the pursuers."
"In other words bait." Sakura said shocked as she looked at the two of them. Meng Ka only nodded her head as she remained looking forward, not liking their situation at all.
"Right. If we delay them, they won't be able to follow the others. If we do that, we'll be able to shake them off but the one who is bait most likely die." Shikamaru said as they all stopped in the trees.
Meng Ka landed next to Pakkun and watched the three of them as they all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts about the information that they just took in. When you're life was on the line and things weren't in your favor, it was a fairly hard decision to make. Meng Ka looked down at Pakkun, who shook his head and they looked back at the three of them. Being the higher level ninja in the group, Meng Ka was the one in charge of them but she was also the one who was responsible to bring them back home safely as well as complete the mission.
"So, who's going to do it?" Shikamaru asked bring everyone out of their thoughts as Meng Ka sighed and crossed her arms, looking over at Tinktink who landed on her shoulder. "We need the dog to follow Sasuke."
"I'll do it." Meng Ka said as she looked at the three of them, she was the most likely person to make it back safely plus she wouldn't be alone with Tinktink by her side.
"What?!" Sakura said as she looked sharply at her.
"No, you aren't!" Naruto said, "Kakashi would end up killing all of us, so what good would that do in the end."
"Naruto's right, you need to stay in the group to lead them, Meng Ka." Shikamaru said, "Even if you're a kid, you're also the only one here with the brains and skills to take on Gaara's group when we catch up to them." He shook his head and sighed, "I guess I'll have to do it then. It's better than being wiped out, right? Shadow jutsu is a delay tactic anyway. Well, you best get going."
Meng Ka nodded her head, understanding where he was coming from. "Good luck, Shikamaru. I'll see you later." She said as he nodded his head back to her and then took off. Pakkun watched him go and then turned and headed back on the trail with the others close beside him.
They had been running for nearly all day as the sun started to set and still they hadn't caught up with Sasuke. Meng Ka was getting frustrated herself as they kept going to try and catch up with him, Tinktink flying ahead every now and then to let them know if they were on the right track, helping Pakkun. They suddenly stopped as they heard an explosion in the distance. The four of them looked at each other but then kept going even faster, hoping that Sasuke was alright.
By mid-day the next day we stopped as Pakkun sniffed at the air, "Sasuke's on the move again, he's going after two people while one has stayed behind. There's a new scent as well, that person is going to fight the one that stayed behind. We'll need to go around them." He said to the three of them.
"What?! Let's just speed on through, it'll take too long if we go around!" Naruto argued as he held onto the tree that he was on.
"Our missoni to is bring Sasuke back so that's what we're doing by avoiding as much fighting as possible." Meng Ka said before jumping off her branch and following Pakkun, the other two following close behind her.
Finally though later in the day, they were able to catch up to Sasuke since he had stopped running and got caught up in a fight. As they came out of the trees, Naruto raced forward as he blocked an attack from Gaara that was meant for Sasuke. Meng Ka and Sakura landed next to them as Pakkun landed on Meng Ka's head.
Meng Ka looked him over and healed a few things here and there but he would be fine with rest. They had luckily made it just in time or else Gaara would have killed him for sure. He was already starting to let his one tail out as he was half way through turning into the monster. Looking back over at him she watched as he stood there glaring at them. Pakkun then suddenly disappeared as his job was done now and it was up to them to get Sasuke back. Gaara suddenly ran past Naruto to attack Sasuke but Sakura jumped out in front of him. Quickly Meng Ka ran out in front of her to try and block the attack but the blow was so strong that even with her wind block she was slammed into the wall with Sakura, darkness soon consuming her.
Meng Ka rubbed a tear away as she curled up closer to her pillow, pulling the covers tighter around her. Kakashi quietly walked in and looked at her from the door way. His eye softened as he saw her still in bed and he sighed as he lay down next to her and looked up at the ceiling. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"No!" Meng Ka said as she shot up and looked at Kakashi, "I have to go, that would just be disrespectful." She mumbled as she looked down at her hands. She had woken up in the hospital after Naruto and defeated Gaara but once she had woken up she had been told that the third hokage had passed away. Now today was his funeral and the sky was dark with clouds as Meng Ka finally got out of bed, Tinktink chirping softly from her window as she went to her closet to get her black dress out. Kakashi slipping out to go take care of something as Asume came and got her.
Meng Ka held onto Asume's hand as she kept whipping away stray tears as they walked to the funeral. She knew that ninja's weren't supposed to cry but she didn't care, she never wanted to be a ninja anyways. So as the funeral started, tears came down her cheeks silently at first but then she couldn't hold it back as she hugged Asume and cried into his waist as he hugged her close remaining silent. He walked her up to the stand and with a sniffle she placed a flower among the rest of them. The tears still falling no matter how much she tried to hold them back.
As the funeral ended the sun started to shine as Meng Ka's crying turned into hiccups as she finally caught up with Kakashi and he gave her a hug before they started to head off. Still hiccupping she suddenly felt a wet tongue lick at her cheek. Looking over she saw Kiba walking next to her with his mother and sister. He smiled softly down at her as she hiccupped again.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked concerned for her. He was one of the ones that visited her while she was in the hospital.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Meng Ka said softly, not really in the talking mood at the moment as another hiccup forced its way through her lips.
Akamaru whimpered and placed his paw on her shoulder and Meng Ka looked up from the ground and petted him on the head but remained quiet. From the corner of her eye she noticed Kakashi and Kiba's mom exchange looks but didn't think much about it as she hiccupped again.
"Mom said that the three of you are welcome to come over and eat dinner with us." Kiba said as he smiled at Meng Ka as Akamarau barked his agreement.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the two and Meng Ka looked up at him then back at Kiba, "Yeah, we'd like that." She said give Kiba a small smile as she hiccupped again.
"Great!" Kiba said as his smile widen, "You'll fit right in, no worries." Kiba said excitedly as he walked beside Meng Ka and the five of them walked back to his house as they all helped cook dinner and chatted, helping to get Meng Ka's mind off of the funeral as she slowly became back to her usual self as the night went on.