Sorry for the long delay for this chapter. This arc is really tricky to write and I was busy with other stuff. Here's the new chapter. Sakura and co are around 15 at the time of this arc. It takes place a month or two after the previous chapter.


She'd been reading the fuinjutsu book Kakashi had lent her when the message arrived. Kakashi has said that her base skills were at a high enough level to begin learning, and that since it was an intellectual activity, it suited her. She'd gotten excited since she knew that the Yellow Flash himself had been a fuinjutsu master. But when she started learning, she'd been strangely disappointed and excited. Fuinjutsu was one of the most misunderstood fields. When it came down to it, all seals could do were, well, seal. Nothing more, nothing less. It could be incredibly useful in certain situations, and almost useless in other situations. Moreover, a lot of high-level jutsu that used seals didn't depend entirely on said seals. As she was thinking about a particularly complex seal, the messengers who she'd recognized as Izumo and Kotetsu arrived. She'd been called to the Hokage's office.

When she arrived, Shikamaru, Lee and Aoba were already present. As soon as she arrived, Tsunade said "Good, you've come on time. I'll begin the mission briefing. Members of the organization known as Chishiki no hoji-sha have been attacked and killed. Their storehouses have been burned to the ground. It seems as though someone is out to destroy them. They're one of the most valuable information sources available, and getting them to owe us for catching the culprit/culprits will be massive for us. You should expect to see other villages to interfere with the same aim. I expect this team to be the one to succeed at all costs. This is a S-rank mission. Aoba will be the mission leader, and he'll brief the rest of you on the details. You'll be heading out in 3 days. That's all, you're dismissed."

'Chishiki no hoji-sha', the holders of knowledge. She knew of their reputation. They held the largest information network in the world, though their headquarters were in Kusagakure. Whoever was responsible must be good. This group had stood strong for decades without any major issues.

When Kakashi heard about the mission, he paled for a moment, and then slowly muttered, "I see, the Chishiki no hoji-sha. And what's your team ?"

Her sensei, shook his head after she answered and said in a low voice, "So you have a tokubetsu jonin and 3 chunin. I suppose that might be enough, but it'll still be tough."

He then turned to her and said in a cherry voice that seemed forced, "All right then. It's time to get you ready. We're going to have some fun in the next couple days."


Ma, this mission was such a drag. Why couldn't they send someone who actually wanted to go on these high-level missions ? Well, at least he wasn't the team leader. His teammates were competent enough, so if he was lucky he wouldn't have to do anything.

They arrived at the entrance of the headquarters of the Chishiki no hoji-sha, which was located underground. A team from Suna was already present. He recognized two of them as Temari and Kankuro from the Chunin Exams, but didn't know the third, who seemed to be a female jonin. The representative of the Chishiki no hoji-sha who was waiting said "Ah, the Konoha team is here. We're waiting for one more team from Iwa, and then I'll take you in for the briefing." A couple of minutes later the Iwa team stomped onto the scene. This time, he recognized one of them as Kurotsuchi from the Chunin Exams. Huh, what were the odds of seeing so many familiar faces.

The representative nodded at the newcomers and said "You're all here. Great. I'm Shita and I'll be your guide and caretaker for as long as you're assisting us. The teams can enter one by one after each member shows their IDs."

Shita then slammed his hand against the hill they were in front of, and it opened up to reveal a platform.

When it was their turn, they showed their IDs and entered, after which Shita slammed his hand onto the platform, and it slowly descended.


After they'd been shown around for a bit and the structure of the organization was clear to them, Shita begin briefing them on the details of the mission.

"Over the past 2-3 days, we've been getting attacked by the Akatsuki. The root of this is the fact that one of our Shinobi had betrayed us. We hired the Akatsuki to get rid of her, but it seems she's somehow convinced them to join her side. Their initial assault took us by surprise and they broke past the first section and almost entered the second, but we were able to rally our defenses and push them back. After we raised the level of our defenses, they haven't broken through, but then a different kind of attack started taking place. For whatever reason, on the second day one of our Shinobi who'd been standing guard lost his mind and started attacking everyone around him. A few seconds after he'd been restrained, his body suddenly burned to a crisp. This incident took place again yesterday. They've also been attacking some of the smaller hideouts located around the area. We've cleared out the remaining hideouts and have brought back everything we could while destroying the rest. And so that is what we're dealing with. The attacks from the outside have mostly been handled, but we still don't have a solution for whatever caused the attacks from inside."

Shita paused there to let everyone present process the information, and then continued speaking, "So, with that in mind, where would each of the 3 teams present like to begin ?"

Kurotsuchi said "We'll look around outside and see if we can find any traces of the Akatsuki. Get some people to take our stuff."

The older man next to her looked a little annoyed, but didn't say anything and just nodded as his team headed out.

Aoba straightened up and said "We'd like to first settle into our rooms, and after a brief discussion we'll make our move."

Temari said "We'll do the same as the Konoha team."

Shita accepted their requests as he called for some helpers to carry the luggage the Iwa nin had left behind.

Once they got settled into their rooms and he was comfortably lying down on one of the beds provided, which he had to admit were very nice, Aoba called for some silence and then asked "So, what do we do now ? We can either choose to try the same method as the Iwa team and look for the Akatsuki members, or we can choose to investigate from inside here."

After he noticed Aoba looking at him, he slowly got up and said "I think we should try to get some idea of how they pulled off their attacks from the inside. Even if we don't figure it out completely, we can get some idea of what their abilities are."

After seeing nobody raise any objections, Aoba nodded and said "All right then. Well split up and gather as much information as possible. We'll meet back here in an hour and compile the information we get. Not just about the incidents themselves, but also about the structure of the organization. That's all for now. Get to work."


A/N

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I actually hadn't originally planned on having Sakura in this arc, but given the last couple chapters, I thought it would be a good idea to include her. But this arc is generally going to focus on Shikamaru.

Aoba Yamashiro

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 2 5

Genjutsu: 3

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 2

Speed: 2.5

Stamina: 3

Hand Seals: 3

Total: 23

Lee

Ninjutsu: 0.5

Taijutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 0.5

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 3.5

Speed: 4.5

Stamina: 3.5

Hand Seals: 1

Total: 19.5

Shikamaru Nara

Ninjutsu: 3

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 2.5

Intelligence: 6

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 2.5

Total: 21