"Begin!" Eagle ordered.

Tiger leapt towards me, his arms swelling to twenty times their original size as he struck towards me.

My shadow leapt off the ground, swinging up to coat my body as I summoned my Shadow Armor.

Tiger leapt back when my armor formed around me, wary of it trapping him. He knew that the moment he touched my armor, I'd be able to take control of his body. It was one of the many great perks about the technique I was using. It didn't even drain my chakra obscenely like it used to. I'd gotten more efficient with it. I still felt it sapping at my chakra, but the sink was manageable.

I drew the sword sheathed over my shoulder and charged, a dark wraith streaking through the forest towards my target.

Tiger leapt up into the trees, tearing off thick branches with his oversized limbs to throw them at me.

As the first thrown branch grew closer to me, I slipped into its shadow. I used Transport Via Shadows to travel between the branches until I was above Tiger. I tapped him on the head with the flat of my blade.

"Cease!" Eagle ordered. "Tiger is dead."

Tiger and I fell back to the ground.

Tiger grumbled as his limbs shrunk back to their normal size. "How am I supposed to fight you, Badger? You're the best with your shadows of any shadow jutsu user I've ever seen. If I hit your armor, I'm stuck. If I stay in one place too long, I'm stuck. If I leave you alone too long, I'm stuck."

"It isn't due to your lack of skill, Tiger." I said, attempting to placate my teammate. "I am very effective against close range fighters. Bear would have an easier time fighting me because he can engage me at range."

Owl reached up to pat the big man on the back. "Do not be discouraged, Tiger. I have been trying to defeat Badger at close range for years to no avail."

"Badger!" Eagle barked, interrupting our conversation.

"Hai, Eagle." I said, appearing in front of her.

"You will now fight Bear. You are not permitted to use your shadows during this fight." Eagle ordered, no trace of emotion in her voice.

"Hai." I said, bowing my head. There would be times where we went on missions that required us to be unknown agents. The Nara's ability to use shadow jutsu was well-documented among all of our enemies. If I used shadow jutsu on one such mission, I would blow our cover and let our targets know we came from Konoha. Due to the fact that I possessed the Boil Release, I could also be used to fool an enemy into thinking I was actually a Kiri ANBU for the same reason.

I returned to the center of the training field Eagle had reserved for us today. This was the third month Owl and I had been on this ANBU team. So far, we had not gone on a mission. Eagle hadn't determined we could work effectively together yet, and refused to take us out into the field while we were uncoordinated. That was how ANBU died.

Bear flickered into being in front of me and pulled out a spool of ninja wire. "Good luck, Badger." he called.

"Begin!" Eagle yelled.

Bear immediately leapt backwards, hopping up into the trees he'd just emerged from.

I frowned, stopping half-way through the hand signs for Fire Dragon Bullet. Bear was extremely gifted with traps. Following him while he was obviously leading me to a specific area was foolish. Normally, I would slink across the forest floor and stealthily investigate the area in my shadows, but I couldn't use shadow jutsu for this fight. That was irritating.

A storage seal on the inside of my ANBU jacket popped, spewing dozens of kunai into the air. There were explosive tags attached to each of the kauai by ninja wire.

I snatched each of the kunai out of the air with chakra strings and began spinning in a circle, hurling the explosive kunai into the forest Bear had just fled to. I didn't expect to hit him, but I was hoping I would be able to take out whatever trap he had set for me and disorient him a little. Then I'd move in on him.

Explosions sounded all through the trees as my tags detonated one after the other, erupting into bubbles of orange flame that lit up the shaded forest like dozens of miniature suns.

I was about to leap into the wake of the explosions when the ground gave way beneath me. Bear could use Earth and Fire jutsu. He'd tricked me into thinking he was trying to lure me into the forest when really he'd moved through the ground to trap the area underneath me.

I used the Substitution Technique to swap places with a log, leaving one of the explosive kunai I'd thrown earlier behind just as a pit opened where I'd been standing. The pit exploded as the explosive tag attached to my kunai detonated. When the dust settled, Bear was nowhere to be seen.

"Cease!" Eagle yelled. "Badger is dead."

What?

I slowly looked around. There was a metallic sheen in the space between the trees around me. Bear's mask grinned mockingly down at me from the trees. His fingers were wrapped in ninja wire, strung between the trees and all around me. If I tried to flee, he would be able to cut me to ribbons with the wire all around me.

I grunted. "What caused the pit to form?"

"Timed explosive tag." Bear answered. I could hear the smirk in his voice. "I set it up while you were fighting Tiger." He flexed his fingers and the ninja wire around me unraveled, spooling back into his hands.

"Nice." I said, genuinely impressed, if a little sore from the loss.

"Bear, you will fight Owl." Eagle ordered.

I vacated the field while Owl and Bear squared off against each other.

"Good showing, Badger." Ox said, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Thanks. I should have expected he'd set stuff up beforehand though."

"Always assume everything is trying to kill you. You'll stay alive that way." Ox said sagely.

"And always be ready to punch everything." Tiger added his two cents. He held an open bag of nuts towards me. "Cashew?"

I shrugged. "Sure." I grabbed a handful of nuts, then quickly cast a genjutsu over my face to make it appear like my mask was still where it should be. I lifted my real mask up just enough to toss the nuts into my mouth then put it back in place, dismissing the genjutsu. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Tiger said, the crunching sound of chewing coming through from behind his mask.

"Begin!" Eagle shouted.

Owl leapt towards Bear, her hand illuminating with a brilliant blue glow as a sound like birds singing rang through the forest. Before she could reach him, Bear fled into the trees.

"You think he'll try a trap again?" Tiger asked in between chews.

I shook my head. "Owl would see any trap he put in place before she got close enough for Bear to use it. He'll have to rely on ninjutsu."

Tiger huffed. "Another bad matchup."

"Indeed." Ox agreed.

"Doton: Flying Thrown Stones!" Bear shouted, slamming his hand into the ground. At his command, a storm of compressed, spherical rocks flew into the air towards Owl.

Owl wasn't hit by a single one of the rocks, dancing through and around them with ease as she closed the distance to Bear. Her hand reared back and–

"Cease!" Eagle roared. She knew Owl was miming using a chidori without actually activating one lest a terrible training accident happen. "Bear is dead. All of you return."

Owl withdrew her hand as she and Bear flickered in front of Eagle, the rest of us joining them after a moment.

"You've all done well." Eagle said. "Your individual skills and teamwork have improved considerably. I requested a mission from the Hokage and he has given us our first task as a mission."

We all stood a little straighter upon hearing this. We'd been training for a while, and while we knew how important training was, we'd been itching to get out and do what we'd been training to do.

"Everyone rest for the evening and prepare yourselves for a three week mission. We'll be leaving for Grass in the morning." Eagle ordered.

"Mission objective?" Ox asked.

"Search and destroy." Eagle answered. "Our intelligence suggests there are Kumo nin setting up a forward operating base for a clandestine operation against the Land of Fire. Our mission is to find the base and turn it to ash."

"Expected resistance?" Tiger asked.

"At least two jonin-level opponents with two squads of chunin to support. Potential enemy ANBU presence as well."

"Will we have friendlies to support?" Ox spoke again.

"Team Kunai and Team Senbon will be standing by at the Land of Fire's western border to provide relief if we need it."

"Is this time-sensitive?" I asked. "Do we know when they plan to use the base?" I wanted to know if Eagle's three-week mission was just an estimate so we'd pack enough food or if we knew for sure an attack was coming in three weeks and we needed to have dealt with the base by then. This would be my first time really experiencing war, and I wanted to be prepared.

"We don't know what they're planning or when they intend to strike. We need to find the base and destroy it as soon as we know where it is." Eagle answered. After a moment where no more questions were asked, she said. "Dismissed. We'll reconvene beneath the main gate tomorrow at 05:00. Get some rest."

We all scattered, flickering off in different directions. We would take off our ANBU gear at various hideouts and head home for the night. If large groups of nin always emerged from the same location, people would get suspicious, and the safehouse would be burned, so we split our numbers to draw less attention.

After I changed out of my ANBU gear and showered in the barracks I'd changed in, I walked back to the Nara Compound, ready to eat something and go to bed.

"Hey, troublesome." the guards at the gate of the Nara Compound greeted me, lazing back on a pair of lawn chairs. Since when did they have those?

"Hey, you two. I don't think those are authorized guard implements."

One of them grunted at me. "It's a genjutsu designed to make intruders think we're easy targets. It's a strategy."

I chuckled as I walked past them. "You should add a drink with an umbrella next time to make it more authentic."

"Thanks for the tip, troublesome. I'll do that." One of them called after me.

I shook my head at them and continued on to my house.

When I got home, the first thing I did was pack for a three-week mission. I made a bunch of new storage seals and filled them to the brim with everything I thought I might need. Kunai, senbon, poisons, antidotes, explosive tags, extra clothes, a pair of extra swords, food – I might have overpacked, but with storage seals, you could afford to. A ninja could stand the weight of carrying an extra strip of paper to bring their home armory with them.

Once that was done, I cooked myself some dinner, made some delicious tea and headed up to bed. This would be my first mission as an ANBU, and I wanted to make sure I was well rested for it.

X

I was silent, crouched low in the tall grass around us as Eagle and Owl communicated with Telepathy, my ears, eyes and shadows primed to detect anyone approaching us. I wasn't a sensor, but I could pass for one with my shadows. I was aware of everyone within them, so provided they were spread far enough, like they were now in the dark of the night, I could feel people approaching us.

I wanted to know what Eagle and Owl were discussing with Telepathy, but I knew Eagle would inform me soon, so I focused on my task. While Telepathy could send a message to multiple people simultaneously, it was a more efficient use of chakra to only converse with one person at a time. If I needed to know something, Eagle would tell us all via the technique.

'Owl hasn't spotted anything. We continue south along the border. Tiger is on point.' Eagle's voice spoke to me.

Quickly and silently, the six of us ran south in our standard formation. Owl, as our sensor, traveled in the center of the group, flanked by Ox and I. Tiger was at the head with Eagle and Bear at the rear.

We ran in silence, the only sound the rustling of the gentle breeze through the grass around us.

We'd crossed into Kusa three days ago at the most northern point of its border with the Land of Fire. Since then, we'd been combing back and forth, letting Owl use her byakugan to find anything she thought might lead us to the Kumo nin we were sent to eliminate. So far, we hadn't encountered anything other than a number of farms that we skirted, passing by undetected.

'Two masked nin two-hundred meters south-west.' Owl's voice suddenly spoke inside my head as she used Telepathy.

Tiger made a signal with his hand and we all came to a stop, spreading out to cover more area. We were still for a moment while Owl inspected the nin more closely.

Owl started using sign language to speak. The messages were more simple, but still decipherable.

No village markings. 1 Sensor. Moving towards us. Do not use Telepathy.

Evidently, the sensor could pick up such minor chakra use that they felt a weak genjutsu like Telepathy. That meant no using jutsu until they were right on top of us.

Eagle flashed through sign language directed towards Owl.

Position compromised? Still moving towards us?

Owl didn't move for a moment. Suddenly, she started waving her hands in rapid sign.

Position compromised. Enemy fleeing south-west.

Eagle gave a simple command through sign.

Eliminate.

Tiger charged off towards the enemy nin, the others following behind him.

Just like we practiced hundreds of times now, I fell into my shadow and used Transport Via Shadows to flow under the grass, overtaking Tiger. While the sun was high in the sky, the grass was tall and dense enough to create enough shadows for me to keep moving. It wasn't long before I felt the enemy nin rushing over the grass through the shadows. I reached out with the Shadow Imitation Technique and trapped them both in my shadow. The moment their bodies locked up, they began thrashing against the technique, trying to break free.

Tiger was on them before they could escape. He punched a kunai into each of their throats and dragged their bodies down into the grass. Our team gathered around him to cover him as he pierced their hearts to ensure death and stored their bodies in scrolls. The R&D teams liked having bodies of enemy nin because you could learn a lot from their bodies. A lot of the water, lightning and earth jutsu available to Konoha were all learned by studying enemy bodies.

'No others in my range.' Owl reported with Telepathy.

'We move south-west. Tiger, take point and move slowly. Owl, watch for traps.' Eagle's voice spoke up a moment later.

We entered formation again, though now we were moving half the speed we were previously. Tiger was silent and careful with his steps. Owl's eyes were peeled for traps or enemy nin.

'Wire trap. Two-hundred meters. Move in an arc to the right.' Owl said in our heads. We all fell in behind Tiger as he followed her instructions.

Owl spoke up several more times to report more traps – a row of explosive tags, a pit trap, blades mixed with the grass. The terrain around us was heavily fortified. That was a pretty good indicator we were in the right place. Who would set up so many deadly traps if they weren't guarding something?

It wasn't long before we found what we came for.

'Target ahead. Small hut with trapdoor leading to underground base two-hundred-twenty meters ahead. Underground section is two stories deep. Thirteen enemy nin. Two in the hut. Rest underground. Four underground wearing masks.' Owl reported, giving a detailed description of what she saw.

By Owl's report, the two nin we'd just killed were likely ANBU. The rest of their team was in the underground section with another team of nin, either six chunin or a smattering of jonin and chunin. I doubted there'd be any genin here if Kumo had dedicated ANBU to this base.

'How do you reach the second subterranean story? Can Badger mist the entire underground?' Eagle asked, including only Owl and I in her Telepathy casting.

'Stairwell. There are paper documents underground. Would be lost if Badger used his mist.' Owl warned.

'Can you read the documents from here?' I asked Owl, including Eagle in my Telepathy casting.

'I can see them. They are in code.' Owl reported.

Eagle silently popped a storage seal, pulling out paper and ink that she laid in front of Owl.

'Copy every document exactly, Owl. Be swift. They will look for dead patrol soon. Badger, you are on lookout.' Eagle ordered.

I moved to the front of our group and used Hiding in Shadows to meld twitch the shadows in the grass, feeling through the shadows connected to them for anyone in the vicinity.

Tense minutes slowly ticked by as Owl copied the documents in the subterranean section. I felt no movement with my shadows, but was primed to move at the slightest provocation.

'Documents copied. Activity among ANBU. Moving to surface.' Owl reported in clipped words to all of us.

'Badger, assault trapdoor and flood basement with mist. Do not stop. Bear, Tiger, eliminate nin on surface. Owl, Ox, cover Badger.' Eagle ordered quickly.

I didn't need to be told twice.

Trusting my teammates to cover me, I used Transport Via Shadows to zip across the ground through the shadows of the grass. When I reached the end of the grass at the hut, I exploded out of the ground, completely bypassing the obviously henge of the ninja lounging on a wooden rocking chair. No elderly woman was that quick to react to an enemy nin appearing.

Despite knowing the false projection was an enemy, I ignored it, diving through the window of the hut, shattering the glass and rolling to my feet. I saw the trapdoor Owl had mentioned and flashed through hand signs as I stomped it in.

"Futton: Scalding Mist!" I announced, opening my mouth and spewing superheated vapor down into the trapdoor, flooding the entire subterranean passage. Another nin under a henge appeared around the corner, whipping a kunai towards me, but I didn't let up on my mist, sending more and more of it through the trapdoor.

Ox appeared between me and the kunai moments before it would have struck me in the chest, knocking it away and tossing a tag at the enemy nin. The enemy nin leapt backwards, landing on the wall and throwing more kunai towards us. Ox batted them all aside, seemingly waiting for something.

A sword pierced through the wall of the hut, stabbing through into the enemy nin's leg. He howled in pain as the sword was twisted.

Ox used the opportunity to catch a kunai and throw it into the enemy's neck.

The enemy nin gurgled around the kunai, weakly fumbling through hand seals. Ox charged towards the nin, trying to stop him, but Ox was too late.

The Kumo nin's body erupted into blue flame as he completed the Body Elimination Technique, burning himself down to nothing. After a moment of intense chakra, there was nothing left of the Kumo nin's body.

Throughout all of this, I hadn't left my position by the trapdoor. I was still spewing Scalding Mist into the subterranean section, seeking to flood it all and eliminate the nin within without need for a drawn out fight.

'Four enemy nin approaching from the north. Four-hundred meters and closing! Nin underground are all dead.' Owl reported through Telepathy.

I cut off my jutsu after hearing I'd killed all of my targets and summoned my shadow over my body, calling up my Shadow Armor as I prepared to fight the incoming nin.

'Tiger, Badger, engage with me at close range. Bear, support from range. Ox, begin destruction of enemy base. Owl, stand by to assist us. Watch for more reinforcements.' Eagle ordered.

I ran out of the hut, joining Tiger as he took up a position in front of the hut. Bear was throwing down wire and tag traps in the area the enemy would have to move through to get us. Owl was in the hut with Ox as he burned everything, searching for other enemies.

Four nin in masks emerged from the grass, throwing shuriken and kunai at us as they closed towards us.

I stepped in front of Tiger as his muscles and limbs began to grow, batting aside the projectiles with shadow tendrils and leaving the few I missed to harmlessly ping off my shadow armor.

Wire exploded upwards as one of Bear's traps was activated, scattering the enemy nin.

Tiger and I charged into the chaos Bear had created. I drew my sword and parried a strike from one of the nin while trapping him in my shadow.

At the same time, Tiger moved past me to lash out with his fists, acting like a tank as he bowled into the enemy.

"Mind Body Switch!" Eagle cried from behind us. The moment I saw her body go slack and Ox catch her, I released the nin I'd trapped in my shadow and moved on to duel another.

Suddenly, the Kumo nin who'd been trapped in my shadow spun on his allies, drawing his sword and cutting the throat of the nin to his left.

As another nin moved to strike me, the nin Eagle was controlling stepped into their path, causing them to hesitate for a brief moment.

Tiger took advantage of the hesitation to crush their skull with his large fists, splattering the enemy nin into the ground.

The last nin was engaged with me. She tried to bat my sword away to create an opening to flee, but the moment her sword made contact with mine, she froze. She'd connected her blade's shadow to my blade's shadow, letting me trap her.

'Prisoners?' I asked Eagle with Telepathy.

'None.' She answered simply.

I forced the nin trapped in my shadow to cut her own throat as Eagle did the same with the nin she was controlling.

Both nin fell, and Tiger crouched over them to store them in seals.

Ox, Owl and Bear stood around Eagle as she slowly stood back up, once more in her own body. Tiger and I joined them once we'd sealed all the bodies. The hut was alight behind us – Ox's work.

'We–' Eagle cut off her Telepathy as Tiger screamed, clutching at his chest. He collapsed, unconscious from the shock and pain of the wound.

'Enemy coated in a mist technique I can't see through. Emerging from tunnel in ground Potentially more coming!' Owl shouted through her Telepathy.

'Ox, Bear, blow the area! Owl, watch for others. Badger, with me on Tiger!' Eagle ordered quickly. She and I moved together, each scooping one of Tiger's arms over our shoulders and fleeing the hut. Tiger's jacket had been cut to ribbons, his chest was leaking blood.

Owl followed close behind us, covering our retreat and watching for any more hidden combatants.

A series of echoing explosions sounded behind us as Ox and Bear littered the area with explosive tags.

"Katon: Flame Bullet!" Bear announced, spitting a great orb of fire behind us as he and Ox joined us to cover our retreat.

We ran until we were back at Kusa's border with the Land of Fire. We didn't dare risk leaving Tiger untreated any longer.

We laid him down on his back and I immediately got to work, pressing glowing green hands into his bleeding chest as I used the Mystic Palm technique on him. His cuts were deep, but he hadn't bled out yet. So long as nothing interrupted my healing him, he would pull through,

Bear and Ox trapped the area around us while Owl and Eagle stood guard over me while I healed Tiger.

"Ox, retreat to the fallback point and rouse our reinforcements." Eagle ordered aloud, though quietly.

Ox nodded and flickered away, already speeding towards the two ANBU teams standing by a few kilometers away to extract us. At the speed an ANBU could move, they would be here soon.

"How is he?" Eagle asked me, her eyes focused on our surroundings.

"He'll have a nasty scar, but he'll live." I said.

"Good. Don't stop." Eagle ordered. She and Owl crouched on either side of Tiger and I.

I continued healing Tiger, keeping my head low while we waited for our extraction team.

Five bodies flickered in around us, clicking out a Konoha ANBU code with their tongues. Ox was with them.

A nin in a wolf mask walked up beside me. "Injuries?" she asked.

"Several lacerations in his chest. His ribcage took the worst of it, but his left lung is punctured." I reported.

"Understood. I will take over from here." she knelt down next to me and took over. I stood up to get out of her way.

"Can he be moved?" a man in a falcon mask asked.

"One minute." the wolf-masked med-nin reported.

"Understood."

Our team and our extraction team formed a perimeter around Tiger and Wolf, watching for any enemies that had followed us. There was at least one hostile nin in the area, so we needed to be careful.

"Ready." Wolf announced.

Falcon and Eagle scooped Tiger up, each taking one of his arms over their shoulders, and we ran back into the Land of Fire, meeting up with another ANBU team that escorted us back.

We had injured, but Tiger would live and be able to go on missions again in a month or so. The base was destroyed and the majority of the enemy nin had been eliminated. We even managed to recover several of the enemy's bodies.

Overall, my first mission as an ANBU had been a success.

X

Despite our first mission being finished three weeks ago, we were only now celebrating its success. Tiger wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until the med nin cleared him, and we didn't want to celebrate without him. We couldn't exactly go out to a bar with the whole ANBU secrecy thing, but ANBU had plenty of locations in the city where we could have some time to ourselves and enjoy each other's company.

"Cheers!" Chiaki loudly proclaimed, hoisting her drink high. "To our first successful mission. May there be many more!" She threw her drink back, chugging the whole thing in one go.

Misaki and I just watched her with tilted heads as she slammed her glass on the table.

Chiaki frowned at us. "What? Not gonna get drunk?"

"I…appreciate the offer, but I will stick to this delicious juice box you provided." I said carefully. Misaki nodded silently at my side, sipping at the straw of her juice box.

Chiaki shrugged, refilling her glass. "Suit yourself. Man, what the hell is wrong with kids these days? When I was their age, I was stealing my mom's wine out of the cupboard."

"Not all children are as unhinged as you are, Chiaki." Touji said, lightly sipping at his cup.

Chiaki slammed her cup down and glared at him. "I'll have you know I was a perfectly well adjusted child! I practiced throwing kunai at fluffy bunnies and everything!"

Sogo chuckled. "Chiaki, I believe torturing small animals is a sign of mental instability."

"It is?" Ko asked with a frown on his face. "My first memory is of snapping a squirrel's neck."

Touji hung his head, setting his cup down on the table. "Of course it is, Ko."

"Hey! I was preparing to be a ninja!" Ko shouted, affronted.

"See!" Chiaki called, gesticulating wildly towards Ko. "This guy gets it!"

Touji sighed. "There is something very wrong with you two."

Sogo chuckled. "Touji, we're ANBU. Insanity is practically a requirement to do what we do."

Ko scowled at him. "Did you just call the kids insane?"

"One of those kids burned a bunch of people alive with chakra water during our mission." I added, my hand raised. When everyone turned to look at me I just shrugged. "Just saying I'm not exactly going to argue Sogo's point."

"Shinto may be a separate matter, but I am perfectly sane." Misaki said, sounding a touch offended by the whole thing.

"Didn't you rip your opponent's throat out during your Chunin Exams?" Chiaki asked with a raised eyebrow.

Misaki scoffed. "He threatened to kill me on multiple occasions. It was justified."

Touji's head was tilted to the side as he stared at Misaki, as if he was trying to discern some universal secret. "You might be onto something, Sogo. We're all cracked."

We traded barbs and jabs well into the night, enjoying the feeling of a job well done, and thankful the worst we'd gotten was a scare over Ko. Things could have been a lot worse.