Chapter 6: Mission With A Party Pooper

Today I have my form kneeling on one knee in front of Lord Hokage Sarutobi, my face hidden by the falcon mask I was given as an Anbu member. My clothing is that of the usual leather attire. My hair has been braided loosely as to keep my wings from getting tangled in it. To my immediate right is none other than Itachi Uchiha, also known as Weasel when on duty. Like he does when not on duty, he wears a high collared, short sleeved shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back. Over that is the standard Anbu torso armor. On his arms are forearms guards, however unlike most Anbu, he merely wears an armband under the straps so that they don't chafe. The rest of his arms and hands are bare. He wears his hitai-ate around its name sake under his mask. As opposed to the casual shorts, he wears long black pants, the ends taped down so that they don't catch on anything such as branches or bushes. To my far right is my team's Captain, Kakashi Hatake, AKA Dog. His gravity defying silver hair is slightly less gravity defying due to the fact that there is no hitai-ate due to the fact that it would cause issues with revealing his Sharingan should he need it. I know that under his dog mask, his left eye is closed.

"Weasel, Dog, Falcon. I have a mission for you that must be done with speed and grace. You three are some of my best shinobi, and I know that I can count on you. Weasel will be the head of this team, as he needs experience as a fresh captain. In leading you and Falcon, Dog, I know that if he slips up you will be able to understand him and pick up what slack is had. It has been reported that there is a group of twenty rouge ninja traversing through our lands with information on Orochimaru himself. I want you to find the leader, dispose of the underlings, and get that information. Those with bounties will have their intact bodies brought to the village, where those at the morgue will confirm who they are and the bounty will be given to the one who took them down with a small portion going to the village's treasury. Any questions?"

"Who is the leader?" Weasel questions from his position next to me.

"All information we have on the group is in this scroll," Sarutobi tosses the bundle of paper to Weasel, who catches it and stores it away for later read. "The group is a day's traverse away from here. You have today to get on their tails, tomorrow to fully track and do as needed, and the third day to return here by midnight. Dog".

"Sir," Dog answers.

"This here is something our spy managed to get a hold of before having to leave lest he be caught. It is not the leader's but a permanent member's belonging. Follow this trail and you will find the others". Sarutobi tosses Dog the bundle of cloth he had in his hand, and it's caught and also stored. "If there are no further questions...Scatter!"

"Yes sir!" We intone as one, and leave at top speed. With the men jumping from roof top to roof top and myself flying feet above the roof tops and flanking Weasel on his left, we speed our way through the village, through its gates, and into the woods. After fifteen minute's travel, we stop, and Dog momentarily removes his mask to take a long whiff of the cloth he was given.

"They've covered their tracks rather well," Dog tells us as we stand on branches, Weasel at point, myself on a tree and perched like a bird, and Dog leaning against a tree with a single hand. "But...," he takes a long inhale of the air about us, "They went north east".

Weasel nods before taking off in the aforementioned direction, Dog and I flanking him on his left and right respectively. Unlike in the village, my wings are now furled, seeing as I've gotta jump from tree to tree. If Weasel had told me to look ahead, I'd be above the canopy tops and soaring. However, that's not how it is right now. Still, as said, we're completely silent and the pace is a constant fast one as to quickly get onto the enemy's tail. Seeing as we took off late morning, around eleven o' clock today, we travel until the sun is fully set. Though I can see perfectly fine as though it were day in this dark setting, Dog and Weasel don't have my eye sight, even if they both did use their Sharingan to see better. It'd still be dull compared to mine. Therefore, we stop in a clearing.

"Make camp here," Weasel orders simply. The clearing we land in isn't too big, maybe twenty feet in radius. We don't want a huge place anyways."I will start a small fire. Falcon. You have the best eyes, find us some food that we might cook efficiently. Dog, set a parameter for us".

"Sir," Dog and I answer as one.

I take off with a simple push of my legs, and set to the trees again. I don't go far, as is protocol when appointed the hunter of the team and the others are setting up camp. We're Anbu, so we're silent enough even when traveling at high speeds that we don't scare away most animals. For a moment I'm tempted to take down the deer that nibbles on grass not far from my perch. However, we don't need meat that will last us more than a day. We need something like- ah! Here we are, rabbit. Two should be enough for the lot of us. I watch with hungry eyes as the rabbits that were foolish enough to stay out this late hop their way this way and that nibbling on near by things that I don't bother to take note of. I wait like the good huntress I am, staring down at the first of my targets. Not now...No...No...No...No...Wait...Wait...Now! I launch myself at a slight angle to get to the little vermin, but before my feet or hands can touch the ground and tell the other one that I'm there, my wings snap open and with a strong push take me up to the next tree as a hand kills the rabbit swiftly, breaking its neck with ease. I falls silent as my wings furl tightly to my back again, and I look around for my second target. Again I play a waiting game when there's the sound of a twig snapping, and the rabbit's ears and head perk up with a startle. It begins to run and I growl to myself. Damn fox! That's my target! I launch myself down from the tree, my first kill in one hand and my other talons at the ready I bob and weave between trees as I race the small red furred fox to the weaving rabbit that tries to get away from its only known predator. With a final push, I beat the fox, and scoop the rabbit up, snapping its neck with a single squeeze and making a sharp turn around the nearest tree back towards my team mates. I've been out for about twenty minutes, and by the time I'm back, a parameter has already been set and I can see a fire made. I land silently, and then land in the clearing. The guys obviously knew it was me.

"I got to rabbits, Captain. I know that one and a half will sustain myself and Dog. What of yourself?" I question through my falcon mask.

Weasel looks up to me from the fire and his sitting position in the dirt. "That will be plenty. Thank you Falcon. If you will hand me one, I will help you skin and cook them while Dog is keeping watch".

I nod silently and toss him a dead animal, sitting across from him in front of the fire. While he sets to pulling out a kunai and skinning the rodent, I merely rely on my claws as per usual. I don't know what I'd do if they were suddenly taken from me. The same goes for any of my other unique features. It takes little to no time at all to pull off the pelt, which is placed into a storage scroll to give to a pelt trader within the village for a small fee. The bones are thrown into the fire, and soon enough multiple speared chunks of meat are set in front of the fire to be cooked. I catch the scroll tossed to me, recognizing it as the one Hokage-sama gave to Weasel hours ago. I open up the scroll and read. The leader's name is Sosuke, he is of average build and look with brown hair and eyes and glasses with black rims. He's about five foot six and is a former Jonin of Konoha, making him at the very least a low B rank target. Those who follow him are all nameless for the most part, with him and his second in command Gin- a man with white hair and a fox like look to him and a height of five foot five and a half, and another missing nin but him being from Suna- being the only ones with notable bounties. According to intel, they both work under Orochimaru but are low in ranking. I note that it's possible that neither Sosuke nor Gin know Orochimaru's plans for anything in general, this being a dead end. However, seeing as Sosuke was a Konoha nin and could easily give away weaknesses of the village, he needs to be caught and killed. Normally this would be a Hunter Nin's job. But seeing as the group is large, and a Hunter Nin is known for their skills on flying solo, they'd be swamped by the number of men we're currently going after- low ranked or not. All this I read and ponder to myself while I'm eating my share of the rabbit. When I'm done, I stand and walk to Dog's side, handing him the scroll and relieving him of his duty.

After about ten minutes, I hear Weasel speak up from behind and below my perch in a tree. If you haven't guessed yet, I like to be high up and off the ground. "Falcon, are thing clear?"

"Yes sir".

"Come, we need to plan ahead so that we can simply move into position once we find our intended targets," he tells me, and I do as told. "According to Dog, our targets have started to move directly east, towards the Hi-Kaze border. When they cross that border, they're no longer in our juristitction unless we get permission from Suna through Konoha to cross. Therefore, they cannot get even close to crossing. We will be doing a simple pincer movement, with Dog and I on their tails. You, Falcon, have the most advantage in terms of travel. You can fly ahead and cut the targets off when we drive them to you. When they are cornered, we will use whatever method needed to take the weaker ones down. However, we will be keeping Sosuke and Gin alive for interrogation. When we have what information we can get, then they will be killed. But not before then. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Dog and I answer as one.

"Good. Falcon, because it is getting towards the darkest time of night, you will take first watch. This will also allow you to rest before we head out again as you have the farthest distance to travel. I will take the second watch, and Dog will take third. Understood?" We nod. "Good. Dog, rest. Falcon, take to your position. I will douse the fire and then rest myself". Again, Dog and I nod, with me soon enough taking to a high branch to keep my look out from.

I watch like a guardian from above as the men of my team fall into a gentle sleep. Not light, as to wake up from even the wind, but not so hard as to not be woken up by even a tornado. It is a type of sleep that every Anbu must be able to do, lest they be a liability to their team members. Too light a sleeper and they get no sleep, therefore leaving them tired, weakened and sometimes even short tempered or reckless. Too heavy a sleeper and if the camp is ambushed and someone tries to wake them up, that person could get killed, or the sleeper could be killed without waking up in the first place. The men sleep with their masks on, something else required of Anbu when on a multi day long mission. Our masks are our identity during any mission large and small, long and short. If our true identities are found and it leads the enemy to our village, we are at fault for putting those we aimed to protect in danger. This is also why we go by code names via the masks we wear. However, so that we don't have to adapt too much- at least in Konoha- we are given masks that Hokage-sama thinks either fits our attributes as a shinobi or cleverly hints to our name. For example, my code name is Falcon, my mask being made with a sharp beak and markings like that of feathers along the cheeks and around the eyes. Kakashi is called Dog because of his keen sense of smell despite not being an Inuzuka, as well as due to his summoning contract with the dogs. Itachi's name translates to Weasel, simple as that. Other examples are the Tsu triplets: Saiai Tsu, Churitsu Tsu, and Nikun Tsu. Their names are given to them thanks to their attributes as shinobi. Saiai is a speed fighter. He relies on his stream line body and the power in his legs to give him strength when it comes to taijutsu. He relies in the speed in which he can move his hands and fingers from handsign to handsign when it comes to ninjutsu as well. He's a far range fighter. Therefore his code name is Cheetah. His little brother, the middle triplet of the three, Churitsu is an all around well balanced shinobi. Compared to his brothers, he's like a jack of all trades. Being both fast and strong, but not as fast as Saiai nor as strong as Nikun. He is a mid range fighter, making his title as an Anbu member Tiger. Nikun is a power fighter and over all brawler. He's very well built in the area of muscle, and is even considered bulky compared to his older brothers. He is a short range fighter and relies on taijutsu more than anything else. Hokage-sama gave him the title of Lion. There are no two 'animals' in the Anbu Corps, even if there is more than one short ranged fighter among us.

I sigh and look to the half moon above me before noting that my watch is over. Therefore, with a nimble jump and a crouch to cushion the landing, I come down from my perch and silently make my way to Weasel's spot for sleep. I'll be taking his spot, using the fact that it's already warm there to my advantage. Just as Weasel will take Dog's spot when it's his turn to sleep.

"Captain," I mutter lowly, my molten golden eyes glowing in the dark of night and from behind my mask. There's a slight movement and a faster in take of breath, to show me he's awoken, "It's your turn to take watch".

He sits up and stands from his spot, quickly stretching to rid him of any sleep that lingers on his mind, "Thank you Falcon. Rest; you've earned it".

I smile behind my mask. He makes a good leader. "Thank you sir".

My rest doesn't feel as long as it really was, and I soon find a silver haired man crouching in front of me and placing a hand lightly on my shoulder. My golden orbs look passed the mask and see an alert dark one, "Time to go, Falcon," he tells me.

"Right," I nod and sit up before stretching and pushing myself to my feet. I look to Weasel, whose gaze is on me. "I'll be taking off then, if I have the okay".

"Take this transmitter and once it's in your ear put it on channel three. It has a twenty mile radius, so you have a decent amount of area to travel. However, the border is thirty miles from here. Leave now and find them quickly report to us once you have a direction and stop ten miles off of the border".

"Yes sir," I state, taking the transmitter and putting it in my ear and putting it onto channel three as told. From there, I quickly stretch my wings twice by flapping them in a direction away from the men. Then I take off due east. The fly is a swift paced one, and do not fear to slide my mask to over my right ear- the one with the transmitter in it- for no one will see me from up here. Taking off the mask also helps me see better as it gives me my peripherals back. What I find about an hour after flying, two and a half hours by tree branch I figure, is the group of about twenty rogue shinobi traveling at low Jonin speeds due east as we figured they be. I estimate they're about twenty miles off of the border. It is now that I press myself for more speed, and soon enough I find myself right over the group. "This is Falcon to Weasel and Dog. I've found the targets. They are about five miles away from you, traveling at low Jonin speed by tree branch. As mentioned, there are approximately twenty of them. I will travel five miles ahead of them, and fall into position. Over".

"Roger that Falcon," Weasel responds moments later.

With that said, I nod to myself and take off at a faster pace, pushing for more distance coverage. This doesn't take long at all, and soon enough I find myself in position, reporting that to the men, and perched on a tree. It takes little to no time at all, in comparison to if we hadn't done this pincer attack, for me to catch sight of our targets. It seems that there are those who fell behind and fell victim to either Weasel or Dog therefore making the number smaller. When they get to me, I fall from my perch and stand before them. Sosuke leads them into a stop with wide eyes. Around his bicep is a Konoha hitai-ate with a scratch through the metal to show his missing status. His clothing is simple, being that of a red shirt and black pants, weapons pouches on his hips and thighs as needed. Clashing and taking care of those before us is the hard part. Pinning Sosuke and Gin in place for interrogation was the easiest part of the whole mission.

Weasel wastes no time in sliding his mask to the side, showing Sharingan eyes boring into Sosuke's orbs. Dog does the same, showing Gin his single Sharingan eye. "Where is Orochimaru? What are his plans?"

Sosuke squirms under Weasel's strong hold, eyes unable to look away from the toma-ed eyes. After what feels like forever, which was only about a few seconds, Sosuke breaks with a shutter. "I don't know! Really I don't! All I was told to do was gather as much men as possible and move over Hi no Kuni's eastern border then move south along the border! He said someone would meet with us, but he didn't say when, or who or what would happen after words!"

"I dun know anything either," Gin follows up. "We're just lowly followers of his Lord. That's all we have to give you. You might as well as kill us".

Weasel is silent for a moment before looking to me, "Very well," he speaks up, eyes still on my own, "Falcon. Take these men's lives".

"Yes sir," I tell him simply. I crouch between the heads of the men, seeing as they're pinned on the ground on their backs. I show them my face, simply because they won't be seeing another woman's ever again and simply because I can. I position my claws above their hearts, "Good night, gentlemen". That said, claws enter their chest cavities, spilling blood. As soon as my claws are removed, they are put into separate storage scrolls by the men while I wash my claws clean. The scrolls are then given to me, seeing as I was the one to murder them both and therefore I get their bounties.

The travel home takes a lot less time than the travel to our targets, seeing as we have no one to track or follow with stealth. We left no trace of the attack, meaning that all bodies were placed into a fire jutsu combined with a wind jutsu to burn away even their bones. Upon making it back home, we report to Sarutobi right away, each of us kneeling before him loyally as we did before we left in the first place.

The old man looks down at the three of us, "I trust your mission was a success?"

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Weasel speaks for the three of us. He pulls a scroll from his shuriken pouch and offers it to the old man, "I have a report here".

"Very good," the old man praises. "With this report and the bodies turned in by Falcon, I declare your mission over. You three may relax for a few days. Rise and be on your way, knowing you did your village proud".

I smile from behind my mask as we stand as one and remove our masks as one as well. We turn after short bows from each of us to our leader before exiting the room. "Well, that was fun," I smile out lightly".

"Fun?" Itachi looks at me as though questioning my sanity.

"Fun," I nod out. "Not the killing people. That was just necessary. The fun part was where I got to fly a bunch".

There's a chuckle from my far left as I walk on Itachi's right. "You would only care about that part," Kakashi chuckles out, hands in his pockets. "What do you two say to lunch? We'll split the bill?"

I grin a fang filled grin. I'm starved. "I'm game". My eyes slide to Itachi, "How about you, Mr. Captain?" I question with a light tease.

"I should go report to my father. I'm sure he knows by now that I'm home," Itachi states.

I sigh and shake my head, "Seriously? Come on! Eat with us! He can't blame you for eating can he?"

"No, but-"

"No 'buts' mister," I push my shoulder against his lightly, "No way is a friend of mine gonna miss out on a good lunch with his friends".

Itachi looks from me to Kakashi slowly, his anti-social young teen mind not seeming to comprehend such a word. "You're...My friends?"

"Yea!" I grin out to him. He's shorter than me, but I'm sure that in a few years he'll be taller than me. "I don't know about Kakashi, but I know for sure that you're my friend. And I'm yours".

Kakashi shrugs out, "A friend of Cross' is a friend of mine I suppose". Oh there he goes, using that cool guy tone that Guy hates so much. He acts lazy when he's actually quite alert. Show off.

Itachi is silent for a moment before going on to say, "...I should report to my father. I'm sorry". Before I can protest any more, he's gone with a poof.

I grunt, "Party pooper". My eyes slide to Kakashi, "We still on for going out to lunch?" I get a casual nod, "Awesome! It's a date then".

Kakashi's single eye slides over to me curiously, "A date huh?"

"Yup!" I grin, not really knowing what exactly those words imply. However, for the rest of the day, Kakashi seems visibly more happy. I wonder why?