Konoha's campaign into the Land of Lightning ended almost as soon as it started. Our initial attack went as planned, allowing us to take several of Kumo's border posts to give us a foothold in their territory as well as an avenue to secure our supply lines for a prolonged campaign, but things took a turn the moment the posts were ours.

Kunai, Fist, Sickle and Senbon made it the furthest into the Land of Lightning of any team from Konoha, and most of that distance was us following Fox on his glory-hound suicide mission that got most of his team killed, not to mention Senbon and Kunai's losses.

I don't know what exactly he was thinking, but apparently he realized how badly he fucked up. Word around ANBU headquarters was the guy spends his nights in various ditches after getting black-out drunk.

Kumo had been preparing for Konoha to breach its borders for a while, potentially since the start of the war. They never intended to be pulled into a drawn out conflict, they just wanted to do as much damage to us as possible while minimizing their own losses.

The same day we took the border posts, we were forced to withdraw. Kumo had amassed a massive counterattack to flush Konoha nin from the Land of Lightning led by its two jinchuriki. The numbers they sent to push us out eclipsed those they'd sent into the Land of Fire for probing strikes. Konoha didn't have much that could contend against one jinchuriki, let alone two leading a charge full of their regular and ANBU forces. The only reason Konoha was able to withdraw with only minimal losses was due to two giant samurai made of energy that slowed the jinchuriki's advance before they were forced to flee themselves, overwhelmed by the nin supporting the jinchuriki.

Of course, this was all second-hand information. I wasn't there myself. Fist was sent back to a post in Hot Water with Sickle, Senbon and Kunai after our encounter with Yugito. Officially, we were covering the smaller teams after they'd lost teammates. Unofficially, we were all too exhausted to be of any help after our fight. I would have passed out from chakra exhaustion half-way through the run back if Owl hadn't ran at my side with my arm over her shoulder. We were lucky to get out of there alive. We were only still alive because support arrived before Yugito decided to whip out her two-tails form.

I was still having trouble coming to terms with what happened. Moments from certain death, a young man I'd completely forgotten even existed arrived to save my ass.

Shisui Uchiha.

After covering my team's escape, Shisui and the Konoha nin who'd come with him to back us up withdrew. They were present when the Eight Tails and the Two Tails charged towards the captured border posts. His presence and that of one other were the only reason Konoha's forces hadn't been decimated.

I didn't know why, but apparently the Uchiha Clan Head had joined the invasion force under a henge. Fugaku Uchiha's golden susanoo joined Shisui's emerald armor in stalling the jinchuriki long enough for everyone else to flee. They weren't able to eliminate either of the jinchuriki, but I was hardly condemning them for that. Yugito faced nearly two full ANBU teams on her own and tanked several point-blank explosions without seeming the slightest bit fazed. The fact Shisui and Fugaku could even hold their own against her and Killer B was astounding.

Typically, I'd say something about bullshit cheating hax eyes right now, but I was just glad those cheating hax eyes were on our side. If they hadn't been, I would very likely be dead. Honestly, I kind of wanted more cheating hax eyes around now. If Konoha had access to more susanoo, we might have been able to stop Killer B and Yugito Nii. I knew Mangekyou Sharingan were incredibly rare and hard to awaken, but there had to be more than just Fugaku and Shisui, right?

Whether there were or not, it was something of a moot point now. After we were forced to retreat, we began planning for another push into the Land of Lightning when messengers reached out to every Konoha-aligned post. Kumo had asked for a cease fire and was willing to discuss terms for a treaty.

It made sense. Sure, they'd pushed us out of the Land of Lightning, but they'd also been handedly defeated in The Land of Fire. We knew they were viciously guarding their borders now and could plan around that knowledge. We'd shown that, while we maybe couldn't beat their jinchuriki, we were able to draw against them. Additionally, they didn't want things to drag on any longer.

The war was no longer confined to the Land of Fire. We'd attacked them at home, and that would cause serious problems for them sooner rather than later. They'd succeeded in hurting our peace time progress and were now in a position to suffer significant losses if things dragged on, so they were offering us peace now that they were shouldering significant risks themselves.

I wish I could say that I was raring to go put Kumo in its place and that I was adamantly against Konoha agreeing to the treaty, but that would be a blatant lie. Had Shisui arrived any later than he had, I'd very likely be dead. Had Shisui and Fugako not been on the front lines, Konoha would have suffered catastrophic losses when Killer B and Yugito led the counterattack against our forces. I did not want to be put in a position where I was fighting someone on Yugito's level again any time soon. I just wanted to take a break and figure out something I could do to contend with nin at her level in the future. My suicide bombers worked, but they weren't effective enough to even noticeably damage her through her jinchuriki cloak. They were also too expensive chakra-wise to overly rely on. I needed something else that would let me punch at her level without exhausting myself after only a few minutes.

Aside from making it out of there alive, the only silver-lining to that mess in the Land of Lightning was that the war felt like it was coming to an end. Kumo didn't have the resources for a sustained conflict with Konoha. Even before we'd mustered to invade their territory, they'd been rapidly backpedaling for a while, withdrawing and doing everything they could to fortify their border while still projecting an image of strength. Now that they'd pushed us back out of their land, they had a semblance of a picture of strength. By offering peace talks after their victory like they had, they could pretend that the war wasn't a one-sided stomp in Konoha's favor prior to this single battle, at least to those with short memories. I was also pretty spot on about their timetable when this whole thing kicked off. We'd been fighting this war for just over a year all told, but it already looked like things were winding down.

Over a year. I had been going on ANBU missions for a full year plus a handful of months now. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was only fifteen years old physically. Mentally, I was older than my entire team, and physically, chakra made me feel like I was in my twenties. Super energy will do that to you I guess.

"Good work, everyone." Chiaki said, setting a tall, dark bottle down on the table in front of us. "Drinks are on Konoha."

Touji chuckled. "You can't just write off every drink you buy as a mission expense."

Chiaki shrugged, already pouring herself a glass. "Until they stop me, I'm gonna write off whatever I can."

"Hear hear!" Ko agreed, hefting his cup high before taking a drink.

"We're on leave now, right?" Sogo asked, lazing back in his chair.

Chikai frowned, an irritated grunt escaping her as she set her glass down. "No such luck. I just got word we're all going to be on guard duty for the next several weeks."

Ko raised an eyebrow at her. "They want us on guard duty? After the shitshow we just made it out of? What prompted that?"

Chiaki took another drink then sighed, laying her head against the table. "Fucking Kumo delegation or something. They're coming to sign meaningless treaties that both sides will break within a week while pretending they're still in place. But the war will officially be over. So hey, we got something to toast at least. No more war! …For a while at least. We all know how it goes."

Misaki frowned when she heard the possibility of further wars mentioned, but she didn't comment.

I, however, had gone pale.

Now, up to this point in my life, I had made several incorrect guesses about where I was in the timeline. I used to think Itachi was older than I was and was minutes away from slaughtering his entire clan. Given Mita Uchiha was still meeting Misaki and I every time we were all in town for lunch and Shisui Uchiha seemed roughly my age if not younger, I was clearly wrong on that account. I also didn't remember this war ever happening in canon. Maybe it had, maybe it hadn't, but the point was that I wasn't the greatest when it came to the timeline of canon Naruto.

However, I distinctly remembered a major plot point in Naruto was a Kumo delegation attempting to kidnap either Hinata or Hanabi and Kumo somehow turning it around on the Hyuga clan when the kidnapper was rightfully killed, leading to a lot of nasty aftermath.

Maybe I was mistaken on my point in the timeline again? In the time I'd lived in Konoha, the Hokage had left on occasion to speak with foreign powers, but I'd never heard of anyone coming here.

"Shinto? What's wrong?"

I looked up to see Chiaki staring at me deadly seriously. Her off-duty demeanor was gone. She was in Eagle mode right now.

"Baseless suspicions." I said, realizing the entire table had noticed my distress.

"I'll decide whether or not they're baseless." Chiaki said. "Speak."

I took a deep breath to buy myself some time to figure out a way to spin this story without saying, 'Oh, yeah! I totally know the future! Well, kinda. I forgot a lot of it too, but I'm really certain this time! Trust!' That wouldn't go over very well.

As I puzzled everything over, my frown deepened as I recalled my first mission as an ANBU. This was definitely the Kumo delegation that tried something.

"When Misaki and I went through the Chunin Exams," I began, noting I had the rapt attention of my entire team. "We were singled out and targeted by four separate Kumo teams during the survival portion. All four teams were working together and tracking us specifically."

"They wanted my eyes." Misaki interjected, fury lacing her tone as she recalled the encounter that resulted in Kenji's death.

Chiaki's eyes swiveled between the two of us, her expression unchanging. "It's no secret that villages want the kekkei genkai other villages hold. That isn't enough to suspect foul play from a peace delegation."

"The first mission Misaki and I went on as members of this team had us taking out a Kumo base they'd set up for some unknown purpose. It looked like a fallback point, right? That base we took out was clearly a staging area for the war, but that place was too small. Have the R&D guys figured out what any of the coded documents we transcribed said?"

Chiaki sat back in her seat, holding my gaze. "You think they might try something against the Hyuga while they're here?"

I nodded. "I can't be certain of anything, but I'd appreciate it if we could focus our patrols around the Hyuga Compound while we're on duty. Failing that, just making sure someone else is keeping a close eye on them will put me at ease."

Chiaki was silent as she pondered my words. The rest of the team was frozen in place, unmoving as we all waited for Chiaki's word.

"Masks on." Chiaki announced, setting her drink aside and donning her Eagle mask.

Wordlessly, the rest of us complied with her order, standing up from the table and retrieving our masks from the clips on our belts to don them.

Eagle led the way out of the hideout we'd been resting in through a set of tunnels. We emerged from the ground through the ANBU entrance to the Hokage Tower. Within a minute, the six of us were kneeling in front of the Hokage's desk.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked exhausted. There were three stacks of papers on his desk, each piled higher than the top of his head. He looked up as we all appeared before him and frowned, the lethargy leaving his eyes as steel took its place.'

"Eagle," The Hokage greeted. "What do you have to report?"

"Hokage-sama," Eagle said, head bowed. "I respectfully request access to the translated documents my team recovered approximately fifteen months ago from a Kumo ANBU post in Kusa. I have a reasonable suspicion that the base was intended to be used as a fallback point for the coming Kumo delegation."

Hiruzen had a deep frown on his face. "This is a serious accusation, Eagle. If we invite foreign dignitaries into Konoha and accuse them of nefarious intentions, the village will be shamed."

Eagle hadn't moved, stock still as she bowed her head. "I am not suggesting turning them away. My suspicions lead me to believe the delegation will attempt some operation against the Hyuga Clan. I request only any information we were able to gleen from the Kumo post and to have my team assigned to watch the Hyuga Compound during the duration of the Kumo delegation's stay."

Hiruzen steepled his hands in front of him, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "Who brought these suspicions to you, Eagle?"

"I did, Hokage-sama." I spoke up from where I knelt next to Tiger. My head was bowed.

"And what do you base these suspicions on, Badger?" Hiruzen asked, his tone of voice betraying nothing of his thoughts on my accusations.

I was silent for a moment. It would be easier to discuss this with him if I could speak in the first person.

"Permission to remove my mask, Hokage-sama?" I requested.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed minutely. "Granted."

I slid my badger mask up to my forehead and looked up to face the Hokage. "I reported to you long ago that during the second stage of the Chunin Exams my team took part in, four Kumo teams banded together to track my team. You may remember that we suspected they were after my teammate's eyes."

The Hokage didn't move, but there was a shift in the air. His presence had gone from patient and thoughtful to dangerous in the span of a breath. "What leads you to suspect that there is a correlation between your encounter in the Chunin Exams and this peace delegation?"

I bowed my head low, cowering under the might of his gaze. "I believe that Kumo may desire to try to take the byakugan again. I have no proof of this beyond what Eagle has already said. All I ask is that we have ANBU guarding the Hyuga Compound for the duration of the delegation's visit."

Hiruzen was silent for a moment. "If Kumogakure ordered its genin to seek out a single participant in the Chunin Exams prior to this war and now seek entrance to our village… Eagle, you will have everything you requested. I will station your team and two others near the Hyuga Compound for the duration of Kumo's visit. If you detect any enemy nin moving against the Clan, you are to capture them alive at all costs."

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Thank you, Hokage-sama." Eagle said. She still hadn't moved from the initial kneeling position she'd entered when we arrived in the Hokage's office.

"Dismissed." Hiruzen said, abandoning the paperwork in front of him as he stood from his desk. Wherever he was going or whatever he planned to do, I would not know as I quickly pulled my mask back down and retreated with the rest of my team.

We wove through the ANBU tunnels until we reached the room we'd left a short while ago. Eagle cleared off the table, throwing the bottles and glasses aside to make space.

No sooner had the table been cleared than an ANBU in a Lion mask appeared. He didn't say anything, just deposited a folder filled with papers on the table before leaving.

"Masks off." Chiaki ordered as she took off her Eagle mask and clipped it to her belt.

The rest of us followed her lead, doffing our masks and sitting around the table.

Chiaki had already opened the folder, her eyes zipping across the top page as she slid the folder around. "Call out any relevancies."

"Here." Misaki said immediately after Chiaki was finished speaking. The veins around her eyes were bulging. Her byakugan was letting her look through all the papers simultaneously. She took the folder and brushed the top seven pages aside, retrieving a nearly blank page with lots of question marks and crossed out words. It seemed the R&D people hadn't cracked the code yet.

Misaki laid the paper flat in the center of the table and pointed to a strange looking kanji in the bottom right corner. "I did not recognize it before in my haste to copy everything, but now that I am looking for details specifically related to my clan, this symbol shows directions from the Hyuga Compound to Konoha's main gate."

Chiaki's lips were pulled into a thin line as she picked up the paper. "Sogo, mask on. Take this to the Hokage." she ordered, holding the paper out to him.

Sogo donned his mask and took the paper, flickering away a moment later.

"Shinto, Misaki, good work." Chiaki said, giving us both a sharp nod. "Touji, I want you working on barrier seals we can place around the Hyuga Compound to protect from lightning jutsu as well as any countermeasures you can make for combat purposes."

"On it." Touji said, standing and walking into a small sideroom. The room was covered wall-to-wall with paper and ink. It was where Touji did most of his fuinjutsu work. He shut the door behind him to work in peace.

"Miaski, you'll be our eyes. None of us will be sleeping while the Kumo delegation is here, so I want to go over positions." Chiaki said, producing a map of the Hygua Compound from one of the shelves behind her. ANBU resources gave us practically unlimited acces to anything we might need to safeguard the village.

Chiaki started laying out the outline of a plan to defend the Hyuga Compound while Ko, Misaki and I listened intently, offering our input as she went. We'd fill in Touji and Sogo once they were both done with their respective tasks.

I was very glad I remembered the Hyuga incident.