Chapter 21: Missing in Action: Kurenai's Decision
"And then Lee and I did some awesome Taijutsu together knocking the dude in his place!" Reno said enthusiastically pumping his fist while Hayner replied, "It wasn't that impressive… Lee did most of the work."
"At least your mission had more action than my last one did, Shikamaru, Choji and I were sent to a village to compete in a cooking competition. Though Choji only ate food not cooked it." I said sighing defeated making Reno laugh but stop short looking to my side.
Turning my head, I saw Ren and Kurenai talking to one another and they both seemed to be in distress making us walk towards them.
"I made up my mind little brother now leave it be." she said walking off as I looked at Ren saying, "What was that about?"
"She's decided to stop being the leader of squad eight..." Ren said looking towards her sadly as I turned towards the others saying, "We should check on Kiba, Hinata and Shino."
They both nodded as we jumped off seeing them standing near a fence landing beside them clearly noticing the grim look on their faces as I said, "Let me guess, you heard?"
"Yes… Kurenai-sensei just told us… I can't believe it." Hinata said sadly while Kiba tightened his fist saying, "We should try and talk her out of this, there has to be a logical reason as to why she's doing this."
"It's pointless." Shino said seeing Kiba glare at him saying, "Say that one more time, I dare you."
"Kiba calm down..." Hinata said fearfully while Shino replied, "It is pointless she's made up her mind and we shouldn't push her."
"I can't believe you would say something like that." Kiba said with a frown while Akamaru barked at him making me step between them saying, "Cool it guys this isn't the time to fight."
"Hey what the heck is going on?" I heard seeing Naruto run over to us causing Reno to reply, "Kurenai left squad eight… we just saw her talking to Ren-sensei about it."
"No way she wouldn't do that..." Naruto said surprised while Hinata looked towards him saying, "It's true she got done telling us not long after you all got here."
"Did she even give you a reason why?" Hayner asked seeing her shake her head saying, "No… she just told us she can't be our teacher anymore and then just walked away."
"Are you guys just not going to do anything about it?" Naruto asked as Kiba replied, "No we aren't going to scatter and hide like some little insect."
My eyes turned to Shino seeing his eyebrows narrow while Kiba said, "We are going to march into the Hokage office and demand to know why she's doing this."
"And I say it's still pointless, she said so herself the Hokage hadn't removed her. She's the one who made the decision to step down." Shino said making Kiba shake his fist at him saying, "Yea well I don't buy it for a second, what about you Hinata?"
"Um well I don't want to see Kurenai go but maybe she has her own reasons for leaving." Hinata said unsure making Kiba frown saying, "So you're on Shino's side then?"
Shaking my head I replied, "She's not on anyone's side so lighten up on her, look you both have good points but arguing about it isn't going to make things any easier."
"She's right you both need to stop fighting." Naruto said seeing Reno and Hayner nod knowingly.
Turning towards the others I said, "What we need to figure out is why she left, if we know why maybe we can help or at least understand her situation a little better."
"You can leave that one to me." Naruto said confidently making Reno look excited saying, "Do you have a plan?"
"Nope but trust me she'll be back on squad eight in no time." Naruto said smiling towards all of us before jumping off.
"He's annoying but I admire his determination." Hayner said while I turned to team eight seeing their sad faces.
"Come on let's all get something to eat." I suggested as Kiba and Hinata agreed with Shino deciding to tag along.
We all sat in the BBQ restaurant, my team was across from theirs, but no one was really engaging in conversation making me tap my finger saying, "So have any of you gone on any interesting missions lately?"
"Hinata and I went with Naruto to a haunted mansion… it was pretty cool." Kiba said seeing Akamaru hide in his hood as Hinata said, "It was actually really scary but turns out it was just a giant chameleon."
"Hayner, Lee and I went on a mission to take down rouge brothers who formed a bandit group. We ended up fighting them for control of the bandits which was cool." Reno said excited.
"What about you Shino… I heard you and Naruto went on a mission together recentl-" I was cut off seeing him shoot me a glare saying, "I don't wish to discuss it."
"Jeeze bug boy lighten up she was just trying to ask a simple question." Kiba said seeing him turn towards Kiba replying, "And I have the right to not answer her meaningless questions."
I grumbled looking away from him, he could be such a jerk sometimes…
"Thank you for trying to take our minds off this..." Hinata said as I turned towards her saying, "I just wish we could figure out why this is happening."
"Did Ren-sensei say anything about it?" Kiba asked hopefully as I shook my head saying, "No at least he didn't act like he did, he seemed just as surprised by it all."
"Perhaps tomorrow we will talk to him and see if he can shed some more light, I doubt Naruto will be able to do much." Hayner said while I laughed saying, "Perhaps."
After we all got done eating, we began walking together each of us breaking off as our home came into view until it was Shino and I. He was quiet beside me as I saw my apartment coming into view sighing in relief to be away from his constant cold stare.
I began walking towards the door without saying another word when I heard, "I want to accompany your team in meeting with Ren-sensei."
"Do you not trust us to talk to him?" I said crossing my arms while he stuffed his hands in his pockets saying, "I trust them, but I'd like to hear myself what he has to say."
Rolling my eyes I said, "Whatever, just meet me here in the morning and you can come."
"Good." he said walking off while I mumbled, "Goodbye back ya jerk."
"Why is he here with us?" Reno said pointing towards Shino as I replied, "He wanted to come with us to talk to Ren-sensei."
Reno made a face but walked with us none the less seeing Shino stay behind the three of us as we approached Ren's apartment.
I knocked on the door hearing shuffling from the inside before the door opened revealing a hopeful Ren but when he saw us, he frowned, "Oh it's you guys… sorry was expecting someone else."
"Kurenai?" "Anko?" Hayner and Reno said at the same time seeing him shake his head replying, "Never mind that what are you guys doing here… and Shino you too?"
I looked over at him for a moment before saying, "We wanted to talk to you about Kurenai."
He opened the door more letting us in as we all bunched up on the couch except for Shino who stood awkwardly in the corner.
"What do you want to know about my lovely big sister?" he asked as Shino jumped right into it saying, "Do you know why she would want to quit being our squad leader?"
"Straight to the point… you really are how Kurenai described." Ren said trying to laugh but stopped seeing Shino didn't find it funny clearing his throat replying, "I don't know the whole story, but my sister feels responsible for a student she used to have. I can only assume something recent happened that made her feel she's unable to teach."
"Who was her old student?" Hayner asked seeing Ren shrug saying, "She wasn't allowed to say, I guess the Hokage wanted to keep it a secret for whatever reason. All I know is it didn't end well, and she's been carrying guilt about it ever since."
"Will you help us try and figure out more?" Reno asked hopefully seeing him rub the back of his head saying, "Look I want to you guys, but I also know that if Kurenai doesn't want to talk about something she will go to any length to make sure it stays that way."
"Genjutsu?" Shino said seeing Ren nod replying, "It made our childhood quite rough… for me anyway."
"No problem I can handle that." Reno said hearing Shino say, "Kurenai-sensei is one of the best Genjutsu users in our village I doubt anything you can do will be enough."
Reno gave him the stink eye, but I spoke before he could argue, "None the less we should at least talk to her, they deserve some sort of explanation."
"Well, I wish you all luck on that, but if you find out she's in any danger you must promise to come to me first." Ren said in a serious tone as we all nodded in agreement, was he expecting something bad to happen?