Disclaimer reminders: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 10
Shikamaru felt the wind whip around his face and down his back in the mid-morning sunshine. He'd woken up this morning feeling strangely refreshed –more so than he had been in days, since the first time he'd gone under the Sharingan's influence- and he was mildly surprised to find that his appetite was no longer avoiding him. Kakashi's hypnosis wasn't exactly like flipping a switch, because the young genius found that he could still recall everything that had happened in the simulation, but where the stomach-churning images had constantly plagued him before, he could now push them aside for long enough to focus on something else- like eating, or the mission. The sleep had probably helped too -Kakashi had covered his watch for him.
The mission. Something was bothering him about the details of this no-threat, super-simple, B-level delivery. He could see Sakura leading the way up ahead, and Kakashi was bringing up the rear with him and Chouji in the middle. The assignment was simple, as Sakura had said: An unmarked package, fairly lightweight and small enough to fit into a backpack, was to be hand-delivered to a mid-rank official of Fire Country at his office, which was near the border and a day and a half's moderate run from Konoha, before noon on the second day. A single messenger would have been more discreet, if he's that worried about security. Why should he pay twice the price for a whole team when a single jonin could have done it more simply, easily, and securely?
Shikamaru slowed his pace slightly until he was even with Kakashi, who gave him a questioning glance as they continued to run.
"Do we have any idea what we're delivering?" Shikamaru asked.
"The mission scroll said geo samples."
"I know what the scroll said. Do you believe it?"
Kakashi glanced at him again, this time with an amused glint in his eye. "No."
"But we took the mission anyway."
Kakashi shrugged. "Some people are paranoid, some are stupid, and some just want to feel like they're getting away with something. Most of the time it's a harmless lie for the sake of simpler paperwork or a lower price."
"And the few that aren't harmless lies?"
"Those are why we keep our guard up."
"I don't like it."
"That's life."
"That's troublesome, is what it is," Shikamaru muttered, and Kakashi smirked under his mask.
Shikamaru wasn't satisfied, but he couldn't think of anything else to ask or say that might ease his concerns about the package and the mission, so he sped back up to resume his position next to Chouji.
A couple of hours later, the team arrived at their destination with half an hour to spare on the delivery deadline. Kakashi stopped them in the treetops on a hill overlooking a three-story rectangular concrete building on the outskirts of a tiny little village. The four of them crouched on large branches around a map.
"This is where we'll meet the contact. Then we escort him up to the office in the southwestern corner of the building."
"Why is the meeting point all the way at the back?" Shikamaru asked.
"And the building doesn't exactly look like the one on the map," Sakura added.
Kakashi nodded. "Because it's probably a trap."
All three of Kakshi's team members tensed at the word. Shikamaru had been thinking it, but thinking it was not the same as confirming it out loud.
"Then why are we still here?" Chouji asked. Kakashi didn't answer immediately, so Shikamaru spoke up.
"We need to know who set it, and why."
Kakashi finally nodded. "They set a strict deadline. They didn't expect us to make such good time, which means that they didn't want us to have time to sweep the area. That town over there is probably mostly deserted, and the building itself looks like a bunker, at least from out here."
"So what's the plan?"
"We finish the mission." When two shocked stares and a smirk were the only response he got, Kakashi explained. "I'm going to make a shadow clone, and it's going to go in alone with the package. When they ask about my team, I'm going to tell them that the mission was only approved for one jonin, not a whole team."
"And the reaction will tell us why they wanted a whole team!"
Kakashi nodded at Sakura. "Exactly." He looked at Shikamaru. "Set us some objectives here."
Shikamaru swallowed, then sighed to himself. I guess this is where we start applying my training. That's why he picked me and Chouji for this mission. He thought for a couple of seconds, then glanced in turn at Sakura and Chouji. "We should take at least 2 captives, alive. Preferably high ranking, young if possible… assistants of the leaders would be ideal. If there's nobody fitting that description, we should take whoever we can get. Assume everyone inside is shinobi, because civilians would have left footprints outside." He looked back to Kakashi. "I'm guessing your clone will get whatever information you can from the contact himself just by chatting. We should stay out of sight until your clone releases, then decide what to do based on the intel you gathered that way."
Kakashi nodded. "Good. Now, Sakura, Chouji, check out the village. Shikamaru, you and I are going to scout around the building here. Everybody stay out of sight and meet back here. Meet back here in 15 minutes."
. . .
30 minutes later
The team watched from their individual hiding places as Kakashi's clone strolled toward the meeting point with the package tucked under his arm. They had confirmed that the mission was indeed a setup—Chouji and Sakura had visited the town and found it completely empty, but in a state of disarray as if the townspeople had left in a hurry, and nobody seemed to have touched anything in the past few days.
Kakashi and Shikamaru had searched the perimeter of the building searching for clues or booby traps, but had found neither. In fact, there weren't even the normal relaxed footprints that would be expected around an office building; instead there were only very regimented tracks, and mostly old.
They'd all agreed that the building had most likely been used for drills or for housing soldiers. If it was the former, then they should expect some kind of physical traps on the inside, and if it was the latter, well, they should probably still expect traps, but of a less predictable variety. If it looked more like an office on the inside than it did on the outside, then that would mean a lot of preparation had gone into this particular trap.
Kakashi's clone approached the courtyard in front of the building cautiously, looking for any sign of the contact they were to meet. After he had stood there for a moment looking around, a short, slightly overweight man in a suit trotted out of the trees opposite the building. He nodded a quick greeting, then bent over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. The clone waited patiently, and when the man's panting eased after a few seconds, he stood up and strolled over to Kakashi, smiling a warm welcome.
"Forgive me for being late. I'm Suko Shogo."
Kakashi's eye creased up in a friendly return grin. "No problem, Suko-san. I've only just arrived."
The man's smile lessened slightly and he glanced around. "By yourself? I had hoped…" He trailed off, then looked at Kakashi with a question in his expression.
Still safely hidden, Shikamaru noted Shogo's choice of words. He hadn't said "I thought" or "I was informed." So he's actually the person who put in the request for the mission, Shikamaru thought. Or he wants us to think he is, at least.
Kakashi's clone seemed to note the same thing, because he didn't miss a beat adding it into his reply. "Ah, right. You requested a larger team. Our Hokage decided that the mission would actually be more effective as a one-man mission, given the secrecy and discretion you requested."
Shogo nodded absently, his eyes drifting to the building as he absorbed the explanation. "I see," he said, then finally snapped back to reality. "Well, no matter, as long as everything still goes smoothly." His gaze landed on the package Kakashi was holding, and his smile returned. "I see you've brought what I requested. Was there any trouble along the way?"
The clone offered it to him, also smiling. "None at all."
Shogo accepted it, barely glancing at the box in his hands. "That's good news."
After a brief pause where each waited for the other to speak, Kakashi nodded toward the building. "Well, shall we go inside?"
"Yes, of course. Please, lead the way." The clone dipped his head graciously, then they started toward the front door. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Shogo said as they approached the building's front steps.
"Ah, forgive me. Hatake Kakashi, at your service." They mounted the steps with Shogo a half step behind Kakashi. "If I may ask, Suko-san, if you requested this mission, why not bring the package yourself?"
Shogo blinked. "I was concerned about the contents, and didn't want to risk it being stolen from me on my way here. I knew that shinobi could do a much better job of guaranteeing its safe arrival."
"I see," Kakashi's clone said.
From his hiding place, Shikamaru's frown deepened. If he was so concerned about the contents, why didn't he check the box for tampering just now when the clone gave it back to him? And if the transport was his biggest concern, why does he want Kakashi to go first into the building?
The two men were at the door now, and Kakashi's clone let Shogo see him glance around the door for any possible traps before opening it and stepping through. Shogo's gaze remained fixed on Kakashi even as he followed the jonin through into the building.
An innocent client would have been looking where Kakashi was looking. Shogo must know there are no traps right there.
Once inside, a pretty young woman at a reception desk looked up at them. "Good afternoon. How can I help you?" she asked.
Kakashi looked to Shogo, who took the cue. "I have an appointment with Mase Katsuhiko. My name is Suko Shogo."
The receptionist scanned a clipboard with a list of names on it, then her eyes landed on the name she'd just heard. "Here you are. Do you have some kind of ID with you?"
Shogo smiled graciously. "Of course." He handed the package back to Kakashi's clone with a polite "would you mind?" and the clone accepted it cheerily. Shogo then dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Kakashi couldn't see what was written on it, but the receptionist looked at it just long enough to confirm the name and then smiled.
"Thank you, sir. He's expecting you. You'll find the elevator just around that corner." She gestured to one side of the wall behind her desk.
"Thank you," Shogo said, then reclaimed the package from Kakashi's clone, who then started toward the elevator with Shogo just a step behind him.
"Which floor?" Kakashi asked him.
"The third." Kakashi nodded and pushed the button, and after a moment the elevator door began to slowly grind closed.
"If I may ask, Suko-san, why is it that you needed an escort once you're inside the building?"
Shogo shifted on his feet as the elevator started to move, and he started picking at one edge of the box. "Well, you see…I've never met this man before, but I've heard very intimidating things about him. It's more for the appearance than for any actual need…at least I hope that's the case."
Kakashi's clone smiled again. "In that case, I'm happy to be able to assist."
The box popped open in Shogo's hands just as the elevator squeaked to a halt, and his eyes widened with a soft "oops!" The doors didn't open right away, and Kakashi discretely tried to see what was inside, but Shogo was trying to close the box again. He nodded toward the buttons on the wall. "Maybe try the door open button?" he suggested as he fiddled with the box a little more.
Kakashi's clone hesitated, then pushed the button. As soon as he did, a white gas began spraying out of every corner of the elevator. "Shit!" he muttered, and almost immediately Shogo had dropped the empty box and was holding a gas mask over his own face. Just as the edges of the clone's vision began to blur, he formed a hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
. . .
Back in the trees, Kakashi's eyes widened as the flood of information from the clone's perspective rushed over him. "It's a capture mission," he murmured, "and there's something below the building. The elevator felt like it was going down, not up. The package was a gas mask for Shogo. They tried to gas me in the elevator- the buttons must have been rewired."
"How many?" Shikamaru asked.
Kakashi shook his head, eye still locked on the building. "No idea. At least Shogo and the receptionist; probably more in the basement." Kakashi used the time it took to inhale and exhale once to think, then addressed his team. "We go in from each side. Sakura, shake the ground up for us from the North and make some cracks we can use to get into the basement; Chouji, roll in from the South. Shikamaru, take the West. It would be better if we could disguise our numbers, but with no way to know how many of them there are, we're better off going in full force. Get in, then assess before destroying anything inside."
Three voices chimed a quiet "hai!" before zipping off to surround the building, and the next instant, the ground became unstable under the force of Sakura's earth-shattering punch and Chouji's Meat Tank Jutsu.
Not quite the shortest chapter I've posted, but definitely the longest truly "new" chapter in coming. ;) I had some serious writer's block on this one. Let me know what you think!