~sPy's~

I'm baaaack! Sorry for the long wait, but ya know, work, college, life. I promise I've been working every spare second (and even seconds that aren't spare) on this. Please enjoy and REVIEW!

Disclaimer: I love Naruto, but he (and his story) are not mine. Naruto loves Ichiraku's, but it (and ramen in general) is not his. Kishimoto owns both, so go enjoy those, too!

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

~George Washington

~Hokage's Office in the Village of the Leaf ~

"I have your shipment of antlers, Godaime-sama," Shikaku* reported the annual delivery for the hospital. The medical ninja made medicine from his deer antlers. As usual, his deer were in prime condition and didn't shed until late March into early April.

"Good," the Fifth Hokage bit out irritably. Though her hand started to reach for the drawer in which she hid her sake, she resisted. But, of course, Shikaku noticed.

"Abstaining, Lady Hokage? Has something happened?" The astute jonin questioned.

Tsunade groaned and held her hand to her head. "Yeah…the Akatsuki," she grumbled, her words instantly putting Shikaku, experienced clan head though he was, on edge.

"The group that's after Naruto? That Itachi's in?" Tsunade nodded to both counts. Shikaku's expression became puzzled. "Didn't Jiraiya-san say that they mobilized a couple months ago?"

"They cleaned out all the spies we had in place. Even the ones from the other nations. Jiraiya's source is the only one left. He figured that they were up to something big, but it seems like nothing happened. He did give me intel that there was a Sand ninja who has been compromised. A council member or someone very high up."

Shikaku puzzled over this. "That long-term S-rank you sent…" Tsunade held up her hand to halt his words and sighed.

"I knew you'd figure it out. With the Akatsuki moving and Orochimaru gone and the change of leadership in Sand, I felt that a compromised ninja threatened the Allied Nations. But I haven't heard anything from the Leaf team or Jiraiya. This is very…troublesome."

Shikaku rolled his eyes at her use of his favorite word. "So, you want to send a secondary team to back them up," he stated. "Shikamaru will be going to Sand to prepare for the Exams, right? You could … tell him to keep his eyes and ears open," Shikaku suggested.

Tsunade glanced questioningly over at the jonin. "Yes," she said slowly. "I could," she agreed. "But if he were caught investigating an allied nation … he would become a missing nin." She paused, knowing that Shikaku would have already thought through all possible scenarios and risks before offering, but still giving him time to let the gravity of the situation sink in. "Do you think he's prepared for this kind of mission?"

Yet despite Shikaku's reluctance to send his son into danger like this, he did believe in his son, and he knew that the boy's perceptive brain made the lazy teen a prime candidate for this mission. "He can do it, Ma'am; although . . . maybe send one of his teammates with him?"

"Choji wouldn't be a good candidate for this mission. His skill set is better suited for this mission." Tsunade lifted up a C-rank mission scroll from her mess of a desk.

"And Ino?" Shikaku pressed.

"Yamanaka Ino and Hyuga Neji have petitioned to take the Jonin Exams. The invasion almost three years ago decimated our forces, as you know, and we're still building back up. They may not pass, but if they do, the sooner the better," Tsunade reminded him.

Shikaku nodded. "What about a Hyuga?"

Tsuade sat back in her chair. "Hmm…just like having a Nara will be useful for the sneaking about…the Hyuga eyes would be extremely valuable …"

"Neji has already been ruled out; but I don't know what the Hyuga heiress has been up to," Shikaku added.

"I can't send the Hyuga heiress on an S-rank mission like this, where failure would mean a spot in the Bingo Book. Any Hyuga really, because their family was also severely decimated by the invasion three years ago.

"Although, hmm…" Tsunade touched her fingers to her lips in thought. "Tenten has been training for ANBU under me and Shizune. She's taken to it well; I think she would be a good teammate for Shikamaru…he knows her already, correct?" Shikaku nodded in affirmation. "Any personal problems I should be worried about?"

"Actually, I think she's the only kunoichi around his age that Shikamaru hasn't complained about." Shikaku allowed an amused smirk to show on his face.

"Very well. If you would send Shikamaru and Tenten to my office?"

Shikaku turned to walk out, but her voice stopped him. "Shikamaru was an ideal choice for this mission and I wanted your opinion on it first. But you knew that, didn't you?"

Shikaku turned back around to face the Hokage, pride in his son prompting a slight grin onto his face. "Shikamaru is ready, Godaime-sama. As long as he knows what's at stake…You can trust him to do this well."

~The border of the Land of rivers~

"I'm going off to conduct some research, okay, kid?" The Toad Sage musses Naruto's hair, while the orange knucklehead glared at him.

"Why don't you do something productive for once?" Naruto whined. "Teach me some new jutsu!"

"What's wrong with your rasengan?" The rasengan was the legacy his pupil, Naruto's father, had left behind for him; seemingly tailor-made for his son. Minato-kun had always had excellent foresight.

As Jiraiya reminds Naruto that he needs to improve the jutsu he already has, he's struck with how much Naruto has grown. Oh, he's still little more than a brat, but somewhere he learned to listen to his elders. He didn't necessarily treat them with respect, but he listened with rapt attention to Jiraiya's lecture on the Fourth's legacy. Jiraiya chuckled inwardly, Naruto's goal in life is to surpass the Hokages…his father included. How about that Minato-kun? I know you'd be proud of him.

"I can really make my own jutsu?!" Naruto's excitement shook Jiraiya out of his reverie.

"Gaki, you have the chakra stores of a small nation! Put in a little training and we can make it that of a large one. Prepare yourself, because your training is about to ramp up!"

"All right!" Naruto created about fifty clones and set to work. Jiraiya smiled at his enthusiasm and set off for the market place…hopefully the delay didn't make him miss his "date." His agent was good, even by Jiraiya's standards. Being the sole mastermind of one of the largest most pervasive spy networks in the world had made Jiraiya good at scouting out potential agents and this agent was definitely good - he was the only one who survived the spy purge in the Akatsuki. Paranoid, they may be, but their doubts were not unfounded. Right now, Jiraiya was hoping for some information on the leader, or at least some insight to the Akatsuki's plan with the biju.

~Teashop~

A cloaked figure in the dark corner of a teashop quietly sipped his green tea. He raised only one eyebrow when a silver-haired, scantily-clad barfly plopped down in the seat across from him. "Jiraiya-san." he greeted her amusedly.

The 'girl' winked and replied, "You can call me Misora."

"What on earth are you wearing?" Jiraiya's contact deadpanned, setting his tea down.

Chortling, 'Misora' answered mysteriously, "Oh, just picked up a few things from a student of mine." Misora chuckled again then got down to business. "Anything new?"

She leaned forward anxiously, fully aware of the view she was giving her stoic colleague. The man's demeanor remained unfazed, though, and he simply replied, "Leader-san has revealed the next step in his plan."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. He was definitely not expecting this news. "Is it about biju?" he questioned, holding his breath.

"To a degree," was the vague reply. "Leader-san wants to create a base in Suna and use Suna's spy network to relay intel about the jinchurikis."

Misora blinked. "How exactly does he expect to do that? Suna's spy network is the easily the greatest of the Five Nations – other than mine, of course – and necessarily so." With the cutbacks by their Daimyo, Suna needed an advantage and thus poured all their resources into sharper genin, more spies, and their one biju.

His partner answered, "Sasori-san apparently has an important figure in his pocket."

"How important?" Misora responded without missing a beat.

The man in the cloak paused. "I believe at least the Council."

"The Council?" Misora repeated dumbfoundedly. She slouched back in her seat (attempted pseudo-seduction forgotten). "The Kazekage Advisory Council?" she clarified. The man across from her nodded solemnly. "That would do it," Misora murmured.

Still trying to make sense of this piece of information, Jiraiya questioned his contact further. "Any other pertinent information?"

"Sasori-san hates to wait. I believe he may try something before the rest of the Akatsuki is ready to mobilize. If I understand correctly, he's already pulled strings concerning his spy."

Jiraiya hurriedly made mental plans to start warning Suna – if not of the internal threat, then at least the threat of the Akatsuki. The agent finished his tea and told Jiraiya that he had no more intel to share at the moment. Jiraiya nodded and immediately put on the act of a scorned lush. "Well, fine. Stay alone and grumpy," Misora slurred, then sauntered drunkenly out of the shop.

The cloaked man simply rose quietly and exited out the back. He was relatively used to Jiraiya's antics, although the 20-something girl disguise was a new one. Jiraiya was the reason they'd never been caught, though. The Toad Sage was the one who thought up all the disguises and meeting places, as his contact, he only ever needed to show up with whatever intel he could glean from his post.

Jiraiya the spymaster held a great deal of respect in the Five Nations; Jiraiya the barfly? Not so much.

Jiraiya walked quickly to the outskirts of the town to find Naruto at their makeshift training ground, still ruminating over the new intel. Caught up in struggling to determine how the Akatsuki could have an agent as high and prestigious as the council (and who it could be), he almost didn't notice the popsicle stand. After briefly pausing to buy his hardworking student a twinpop, he kept walking. His next task was to inform Tsunade so she could send in that Leaf team, then continue warning the other villages about the Akatsuki. Since they'll most likely go after Gaara first, Jiraiya will have to keep Naruto as far away from Suna as possible. The best village away from Suna was…Takigakure. When he had gone to Takigakure a few months ago to warn them about the Akatsuki, he hadn't brought Naruto. The boy had still been unconscious from entering the nine-tails state. Jiraiya absentmindedly patted his scar at the memory, before turning his thoughts back to Takigakure.

It would be good for Naruto to meet Takigakure's jinchuriki host. Maybe it'll be easier to convince Naruto to travel quickly if Jiraiya insists that there's a friend waiting in Waterfall.

~O.O~

Naruto was still hard at work building up his chakra reserves. His tattered clothing and his headband – just as shabby and worn – lay on the ground around him, which was itself devastated by craters. Next time, I'll take him with me and buy him a new set of clothing at the marketplace, Jiraiya noted. He hid the popsicle behind his back.

"Hey, gaki," Jiraiya called out. "Did you work hard enough for a break, yet?! I got something for ya!" All the Naruto's heads perked up at his announcement, then dispelled. The one left in the centre swayed a little, but then straightened with excitement.

"Hey, hey, Pervy Sage! I got it! I finally got it!" Naruto scurried over and pulled at Jiraiya's haori.*

He brought his hands up to form the familiar seal for his clones, but Jiraiya quickly caught his hand to stop him. "Kid, you're about to fall over! Sit down!" He smiled and pulled the popsicle out from behind his back. Cherishing Naruto's excitement, Jiraiya broke the twin-pop in half and held out one part to Naruto. "You did good. Take a seat, and recharge. We're going to be walking for a while."

Naruto happily bit into the orange popsicle. "Where're we going, Ero-sennin?" He asked, his voice garbled by the popsicle. The boy swallowed, then turned to Jiraiya expectantly.

"We're going to Takigakure. I think you'll find a friend there.*"

"Takigakure?"

"Suna? You're sending me to Suna?" The words tumbled out of Tenten's mouth before she could stop them. She wasn't usually one to question her superiors, but… "Why?!"

"Listen to the whole thing before you complain, Tenten," Tsunade reprimanded. Suitably contrite – though still shocked - Tenten bowed in apology.

"Sumimasen*, Shishou."

~Hokage's Office in the Village of the Leaf ~

Rubbing her temples, the Hokage accepted her apology and explained why she was cutting Tenten's training off. "I'm sending you and Shikamaru to Sand as a liaison. Shikamaru, you'll be helping them set up the Chunin Exams." Tsunade fixed her eyes on the lazy Nara, then directed her gaze to Tenten. "And you, Tenten, will be assessing and examining their training exercises and curriculum."

Glancing at Tenten's perplexed face, Shikamaru voiced his questions. "Why us? Certainly there are more qualified shinobi to set up the Exams and review curriculums." He suspected there was something going on behind this odd set-up.

"Yes, there are more qualified shinobi to complete these tasks." Tsunade agreed, her face revealing nothing.

"There's more, isn't there?" Tenten finally realized the implications of such an underhanded mission statement. Tsunade nodded, pleased that she had figured it out.

"We suspect that someone has been compromised, someone high up in the Suna council. We believe the spy is tied to the Akatsuki, and a trusted position high in the Suna command would threaten the tentative peace forged by the Five Great Nations, especially if the Akatsuki get their hands on Suna's intel on the location of the biju.

"Your m . . . your goal is to find the evidence we need to take this to the Kazekage and resolve this. This is not a mission. If you are caught, the Leaf cannot claim responsibility for you and you will declared a missing nin. Normally, I wouldn't send chunin on … tasks this confidential or nationally involved. There is a lot at stake.

"Once you have sufficient evidence to bring the traitor before the Kazekage and justify the subterfuge, do so. They will no doubt summon the Leaf to deal with the Akatsuki spy.

"Do you accept the mission?"

Shikamaru and Tenten glanced at each other. Were they ready … for an A-rank - maybe even S-rank - mission? If they messed up – if they were caught, they would be declared missing nin. They'd be out on their own - no village, no family, no purpose.

But…they were chosen. They were the best choice for the job, if only for convenience and subterfuge. Still, an important mission like this? The Allied Countries as a whole were at stake. And their friends - the village that they would have to leave behind - it would be in danger if they didn't step up for this.

Shikamaru certainly wasn't expecting such a high-risk mission. Despite Shikamaru's tendency to apathy, he truly did care about his friends. His dad, he had grown up admiring, watching his back and growing up to follow in his footsteps. And though he gripes constantly about his mom's bossiness, he didn't really want her to go away. His family was precious to him.

Eventually, he had added Team Ten to his list. Choji had been his buddy through most of his childhood, and as they grew up, he watched his big-boned friend grow up to become a great ninja with a great heart. And as much of a bother that Ino has always been, she's grown, too. She's become very dedicated to the village, and always puts it first. Over the years, she's become much more tolerable and kind, to the point Shikamaru considers as close as a sister. And although Shikamaru was 'smarter' than Asuma-sensei, he still looked up to his sensei, to his wisdom and experience. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose them.

When the first Chunin Exams had rolled around, all he felt was resentment that he had lost a few days of watching clouds (his mom had forced him into it). Instead, he watched Naruto, the blonde idiot from his Academy days, stand up to an exam proctor and declare that he would never back down or run away. He saw Sasuke wake up from a coma and become a freaky monster. He saw Ino reenter her rivalry with Sakura…even though they seemed to understand each other better after that, becoming frenemies, instead of just rivals. He saw a murderous redhead kid from Sand proclaim that his goal in life was to murder them all. He saw a reserved Hyuga lay his whole bleeding backstory bare, publicly in front of the most important people from all over the Countries. He saw a brilliant tactician with a fan stand up to him and almost win…before he gave up.

The common thread throughout the whole Exams was the orange-clad goofball who influenced every person he came across. Something about Naruto resonated with his every opponent and earned him bonds closer than brothers. It had been a long time since Shikamaru had seen the idiot, but he's not really someone you could forget. When you look past his knucklehead antics, you can see his smile. It's always a cheerful smile, one that promises a thousand things (and always, always pranks) despite his lonely past. He's worked past that, and built nearly-unseverable bonds with everyone in his year…and even those out of his year, Shikamaru ruminated, glancing at Tenten, also lost in thought. The Akatsuki were after Naruto, no doubt about that. He'd done his research. He knew Naruto was on their list. He also knew that the knucklehead would do absolutely anything to protect his precious people. And …

Shikamaru sighed. "That's what we have to do. I will help preserve the Allied Nations. I gave my life in service to this village, and I won't take it back. I accept the mission."

*Yes, look carefully that was Nara Shikaku in the first scene, as in the elite jonin and head of the Nara clan, as in Shikamaru's father. Just to make sure it's clear. ;)

*Gaki = brat

*Haori is the name of Jiraiya's red overcoat thing, I think

*Yes, there was a jinchuriki in that little Waterfall (Takigakure) village. Her name is Fu and she holds Chomei the Seven-tailed

*Sumimasen = sorry (to a superior or a stranger), Gomenasai = sorry, Gomen = sorry (informal )

~O.O~

Hope you enjoyed! I honestly wasn't planning on any Naruto the character in this fic (although his loyalty and bond has already affected Shikamaru). But, little attention-grabbing brat that he is, Naruto stole some limelight. ;D What can you do?

Please review!

God bless,

~Ying~