"Hound-taicho, you're late," the tallest ANBU in the room states, clearly unamused as I walk in. I shrug.
"What'd I miss?" I ask, nonchalant. Missions are far from straightforward. There's really no point to briefings anyway. Scrolls contain the necessity of factual information, everything else gets skewed or changed day to day, so briefings are generally doing the opposite of helping you prepare.
"Nothing we can't fill you in on later, Senpai." My eyes are drawn to that ANBU with the cat mask who spoke. He's my favorite, with his crazy wide expressive eyes, long brown hair, and intense scent of fresh dirt and pine. I give the barest nod of acknowledgement to his offer.
"As I was saying," Sandaime continues, as though I hadn't walked in. He's used to my antics by now. "I expect this mission to take 2 weeks, a day longer and I will send out a recon team, assuming that you have been injured and are unable to continue. If something unexpected arises, Hound, contact me. As usual, I expect nothing but the best from you, Team Ro. Leave before dawn tomorrow." He dismisses us with a puff of his pipe. We bow and disappear, seemingly sinking into the floor.
"I don't know if we should be reading this, Sakura-chan. This guy is ANBU. There might be top secret info in here." Naruto sounded oddly worried for someone who generally poked his nose way too far into other people's business.
"Hai, Naruto-kun, is—" Hinata had begun to mumble agreement with Naruto but was quickly cut off.
"How do you know it's a guy?" Tenten challenged. "It could be an ANBU kunoichi!"
"Maa, this person sounds troublesome enough to be a girl," Shikamaru grumbled. "But there aren't many female ANBU captains who have held position for at least 4 years."
"Oi! You guys are all treating this as if it's true! Maybe it's just someone writing for the sake of writing!" Kiba felt as though he had to argue with someone, might as well be all of them. Chouji just opened a bag of chips and started munching away, ready to watch the show of his fellow shinobi fighting about the journal.
Sakura and Ino shared a glance as Naruto, Kiba, and Lee (who was starting to feel left out of his rival's fight) started arguing loudly about whether the events in the journal had really happened or not. Shikamaru reached in to share Chouji's chips while Neji looked like he was contemplating just stealing the journal to read by himself. The two kunoichi turned a glare towards their teammates and quickly the chatter died down.
"If anybody does NOT want to read the journal, leave." Sakura growled slightly, preparing to use her fist if she had to.
"Otherwise, we're going to keep reading. He or She uses code names, so we're going to have to use personality traits to figure out whose this is and who the characters are. Speak up whenever you think you recognize someone."
Shino sighed, "This is such an invasion of privacy." They all looked effectively cowed for a moment before Naruto spoke again.
"Well, as long as no top secret information is talked about… We really are only trying to return it!" He sounded more indignant with the second part of his thought. Sakura tentatively opened the journal again.
"We'll stop if it gets too personal," she decided. "If it's making anyone uncomfortable, they can go." No one left. After a moment, they crowded again around her, the intention of figuring out the author much more determined in their faces.
"So, what was it this time, Hound?" Weasel pounces on me as soon as we appeared in Team Ro's meeting room. "Helping old ladies or rescuing stray kittens?"
"Maa, got lost on the road of life," I say, brushing it off and leaning forward to pluck the senbon that had jumped to Weasel's lips as soon as he'd lifted his mask out of his mouth.
"HEY," he shouts. I snicker quietly enough that no one can hear and twirl it carelessly around my fingers.
"Hound-taicho," Owl raises his voice a bit and grips Weasel's shoulder tightly, presumably to keep him from lunging at me. "Do you have any insights on the mission to help us prepare?"
"Stealth will be of utmost importance," I say, picking up my authoritative tone. I think for a minute and flick the senbon back towards Weasel. "Showers for all tonight, scentless soaps and shampoos, no sex, you know the drill."
"No sex?!" Weasel pouts even though he has his senbon back. I sigh, we go through this every time we have an intel gathering mission. For me, it's standard procedure. Weasel fights me with each one.
"The scent is too heady, Weasel, way too strong. Do you want to be killed because you couldn't stand just one pre-mission night without sex?" I recite.
"If it was with the hottest, kinkiest chick, then hell yeah! That's worth dying for!" He receives several chuckles of agreement with that one.
"Is it worth your whole team being discovered though?" Cat jumps in to my defense, of course. His eyes are amused by Weasel and my repetitive fight though, so he's not entirely serious. Which is proven when he adds on "Especially since the rest of us don't get that one last night of the hottest, kinkiest chick." That lightens the mood in the whole room. Even I have to chuckle at my kohai's joke.
"Fine, fine," Weasel sighs. "No sex equals no super-noses finding us. Got it, Taicho."
"Are we all set to go, then?" Loon speaks out from the back of the room, her voice soft but strong as always. She appears a moment later by Owl's side in front of me.
"It is, again, a stealth mission, so I will only ask for part of the team. Cat, Owl, Fox, and I will be the main team. Weasel, Panda, Loon, and Rat, you will remain at the halfway mark between Konoha and our target. Provide back up if, and only if, necessary." Everyone nods without argument. They trust me. Cat, Fox, and I are the best at stealth tracking. Owl provides subdued protection that will not hint at who we are if we happen to be caught. Rat is new, I'm not quite confident in his skill set yet, but he'll have another chance to prove his worth as ANBU. Weasel, Panda, and Loon are all excellent shinobi and are perfectly aware that their duty is just as important as the main team's. I could probably have put Loon on the main team as well, but I like to keep my team equally in 4 and 4, plus I try my best to keep Loon and Owl separated on missions which are less than a month, as per their request. Relationships among shinobi, especially ANBU can get quite messy and traumatic. I would hate to lose either Owl or Loon on my team though, so when they told me about their involvement, we made rules that were quite clear and agreeable.
The room clears within minutes and I sigh loudly, crossing my arms on the table, resting my forehead on my arms. I have an hour or two max before I should gather my things for the mission. I clear my head slowly. With each breath in, I think only the number 1, letting each breath out I think only the number 2. After a while, it works like it always does. I am calm, I have a plan.