Chapter 29: A New Mission

Life had gotten back to normal a little. While the village was being rebuilt, somehow Yuri managed to find time to train. And to fix her relationship with Sasuke. He was taking assignments close to her and would bring her lunch. It was pretty nice, Yuri was working hard to help the village. It was her home and she had friends here.

Yuri had been sparring with Shikamaru, Sasuke and Hinata. Well… mostly Sasuke. Shikamaru refused to talk to her about the exams, or really anything. She didn't know why he was so upset, she knew why she was. He ignored her and it bothered her.

They heard that Izumi was in the hospital. From what Neji and Tenten told Hinata, Izumi had come back on Guy's back. It was strange to Yuri, and she had gone to see Izumi with Sasuke, mostly because Izumi made it well known she didn't like Sasuke. But Izumi hadn't woken up yet, and they hadn't seen Kakashi either.

Sasuke had been teaching her the Chidori and Hinata was sitting to the side with Shikamaru. She was still having problems with her heart, but she was still healing. Hinata was on light training and could do some easy missions. Not that they had any.

The Chidori was hard though, and really draining. She was getting it, but it was draining her, since she was having to use the Sharingan, she was finding out she can't use it long, and she had two dots like Sasuke. He learned something new and she was learning it.

Asami Sensi would be upset if she wasn't still training.

"This is mostly used with the sharigan, which you can only use for a short time. It might have to be your last effort at surviving." Sasuke puts his hands on his knees.

Yuri can only nod her head. She would have to keep that in mind. No using it for something small and she needed to make sure she had enough chakra for it. She might not be able to ever pull it off in battle, and she has too many things she can do.

"What a drag." Shikamaru comments.

Hinata looks at Yuri and Sasuke. "It… it doesn't seem like a good thing to do."

"I agree… it might be something I do if we are going to get seriously injured." Yuri comments.

Sasuke looks at her and nods his head. He had recovered from their training but Yuri hadn't yet. He comes over to her and puts a hand on her back, lightly rubbing it as she glances at Shikamaru. He had been looking at them but looked away once he noticed Yuri looking at him.

"Using the Sharingan is taxing on you though… I know that from the forest of death." Sasuke comments.

She tastes Asuma sensi though. Deactivating the Sharingan, she sits down. Asuma knew she could do weird things, but he hadn't seen her with the Sharingan, only her team and the people around her knew about her sharingan and byakugan. Yuri was tired, even with only using Chidori once.

It had been about a week since the leaf was attacked, and she didn't know how they were going to survive. No one had been sent on a mission yet.

"Ah I finally found you two." Asuma jumps down.

Yuri lays down and looks at Asuma sensi. She was panting hard, and could only look at Asuma. She can only wonder who he is looking for. She just hopes it's not her, she was tired and wanted to take a nap.

"Found who?" Sasuke asks.

Asuma puts his hands in his pocket. "Why Yuri and Shikamaru. We have a mission. Come on you two!"

Yuri lets out a groan. Sasuke taps her and offers a small smile. She doesn't move for a moment, she doesn't want to get up. Sasuke even crouches down next to her, and she can only stare at him.

"Go on. One of us needs a mission."

Sasuke helps Yuri up and she goes off with Asuma and Shikamaru. Though, Shikamaru doesn't look at her as they move. She wonders where they are even going though. And she has a bag packed if she needs it… but it seems like they won't? With Naruto out of the village, things were quiet. They make it to the gate where Isamu tosses Yuri a bag.

She looks between her back and Isamu, seeing Ino is also there and handing Shikamaru a bag as well. Meaning he had been searching for Yuri and Shikamaru for a while now.

"I packed it for you. My mom put in steam dumplings for lunch. And yes, I even packed the sword Doki gave you." Isamu explains.

Yuri shakes her head, digging through. It isn't the bag she had packed, but she loves that there are dumplings. It makes her so happy about it. She looks at Isamu.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Yuri offers a smile as Asuma coughs.

All their attention goes to Asuma, they all wait. Yuri has no idea what this mission is going to be.

"Alright, now that I have you all, this is a large team and only one of me so I'm only going to say this once. Our mission is probably less than what you all want, but there has been word of a strong pack of wolves in the area. They are attacking small towns, we were asked to capture them and see what is going on. The reason there are so many is because it's a pack of 6 wolves."

Yuri and Shikamaru exchange a look. A pack of wolves, that is what they are doing? She knows she has questions… and Shikamaru probably has the same questions.

"Sensi… why not Kurenai's team? They might be better at pinning them down." Yuri says.

Asuma crosses his arms and seems to think for a moment. Kurenai's team is better at trapping people and they have Kiba on their team. It would be an easier mission. Shikamaru being here makes sense. Maybe even Ino, but Yuri and Isamu? Doesn't make any sense.

"Well, Kurenai and her team have a different mission, due to Hinata still being injured, a mission like this wouldn't be good for her. Team Guy is absorbing Choji for a different mission as well. Your sensi has her own mission with Sasuke, Kenji and Sakura or she would be here. I need all of you due to the fact that Shikamaru and Yuri can trap one and Ino can go into its mind. Ismau is here for healing and support."

Yuri lets out a sigh. So she was here instead of with her team?

"That's great sensi… but we could have done this with our normal team." Shikamaru points out.

Sadly… Yuri has to agree. And she knows Isamu would as well. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation is something that works really well together… it even makes it weirder. But Yuri can step in for any of them.

Asuma sighs. "I see having you both together is going to cause a problem. While yes it could have, the other missions require a special type of person. I doubt you guys want to teach kids or babysit. Guys team is doing something different and helping with a natural disaster, and they need Choji for it."

Yuri shakes her head and sees it now. Kurenai's team is babysitting or teaching kids. And she knows Sasuke is going to be pissed once he discovers his mission. It's hysterical to her. Making her feel a little better about her mission. They weren't doing a D-Ranked mission, and they might end up fighting.

And they head out. Yuri and Shikamaru stay by each other. She knows he heard about her kicking Sasuke's butt. She knows the whole of the genin heard about it since Kiba had seen Sasuke laying on the ground.

But, she hears Isamu and Ino talking, and she would rather listen to them. Looking forward to watching them, she can't help but notice Isamu was starting to become taller than Ino. She didn't realize how all the guys were becoming taller than her and the other girls.

"Come on Isamu! You never want to train with me any more." Ino says.

Isamu pats her head. "Sorry Ino. I was healing for one and I've been trying to learn more about medical ninjustu."

Yuri smiles softly, she didn't realize Isamu and Ino had been training together. She thinks it's cute that they are working together and having a good time. Training is important, and the fact Ino was willingly training with Isamu was a good thing. They might have a chance with this mission after all.

"I know. Maybe we can train a little. I need to get better at hand to hand."

"Of course. I would be more than happy to help you with that." Isamu removes his hand.

Ino looks at him and Yuri notices a small little blush on her cheeks. One she had only seen Ino have around Sasuke. Was Ino finally growing and branching out? While Yuri was happy, she just wanted to push Ino and Isamu together as she felt it would be adorable.

She turns to talk to Shikamaru but thinks better of it. Turning back forward she presses her lips together and shakes her head. She would need to talk to Shikamaru after their mission, so she didn't go crazy with the thoughts in her head.

They have to stop for the night and Yuri and Isamu instantly begin setting up a camp, leaving Asuma confused. Though… Yuri doesn't care too much. Asami sensi was hard on her team and making sure they could set up a campsite.

It helped them.

Plus, it was a fun little challenge that Asami sensi would do. It helped to prepare her team for anything.

"How many times have you two been camping?" Asuma asks.

Yuri and Isamu look at eachother. She had lost track and shrugged her shoulders.

"Um… Asami sensi does overnight training with us… Seeing how fast we can set up and take down before she gets bored and attacks us." Isamu explains.

Yuri nods. "With three of us it takes 10 minutes and than we stand guard and wait to see if Asami sensi attacks us."

Asuma burst out laughing and Yuri and Isamu exchange a glance. Yuri was just glad that someone else could laugh about how crazy her sensi was. While Asami sensi had become less cold to her team and helped to guide them a little better, Asami sensi was still crazy.

"That is funny." Asuma looks back at the four. "We will do it that way. Set up and I'll take mid-watch. Yuri, Shikamaru, take first and Ino and Isamu take last."

Yuri internally groans. She and Shikamaru would be alone for a few hours before waking up Asuma Sensi. And she knows why he is having them paired up like they are. And the split. It makes sense to her. She just would prefer Isamu or Ino to have a watch with.

"Giving the kids a longer time to rest?" Yuri asks.

Asuma smiles. "Correct. I am fine taking a middle shift so your guys have a better chance at being well rested."

The genin got back to making camp and settling down. Yuri sits next to Isamu, pulling out some food for herself as Isamu pulls out his own food. They sit in silence for a moment. But Yuri needs to tease her teammate.

"I didn't realize you and Ino had been training together." Yuri comments.

Taking a bite of her food. She glances at Isamu and notices his little red cheeks. Yuri chuckes lightly and smiles.

Him getting embarrassed is so funny to Yuri. Isamu and Kenji had teased Yuri about Sasuke, and they learned really quickly that they shouldn't. Especially when Sasuke vanished and Yuri was upset.

"Um… ya. She wanted to learn some more hand to hand. I haven't been able to help and I am playing support this mission, so I don't know how much help I will be today."

Yuri mods slowly. "I know. I just think it's cute."

Isamu begins to cough. It was amusing to her that Isamu was developing a crush so badly on Ino. She had known about it for a while now, and Yuri was going to tease him as much as she could.

With the sun setting, Asuma rolls out his sleeping bag and lays down. Ino and Isamu follow his lead and lay down next to each other. Yuri smirks at Isamu. But he ignores her.

With Ino, Isamu and Asuma going to sleep, Yuri and Shikamaru go a little ways away to the shadows to watch the team. As she was taught, seeing everything but being a sensory type, they should be fine sitting anywhere.

This might be the perfect time to talk to Shikamaru about the thing… but she wants to be sure the others are asleep. She doesn't want to make this bigger than it should be and she just wants to talk to Sikamaru.

"You know." Yuri says after a moment of silence. "We have to talk about things eventually."

"What a drag."

That annoys her as she puffs her cheeks out. He has been thinking everything is a drag recently.

Yuri looks at Shikamaru. "Come on. You ignored me at the exams so you and Naruto could play heroes. I knew what I was talking about."

Shikamaru looks her dead in the eyes. "You really want to know what I think?"

"Yes." Yuri doesn't even hesitate.

Shikamaru sits up a little more and looks right at Yuri. She would rather hear it from Shikamaru right away, she was tired of it affecting their friendship.

"It's annoying you have to be right all the time. I saw how calm and collected you were in your fight and when Sasuke showed up I saw a small crack in that. You bottled up your emotions Yuri. I thought they were bubbling over in the exams."

With a frown she shakes her head. "How many times have I allowed emotions to get the better of me when I taste strong chakra?"

This causes Shikamaru to pause and think for a while. Making Yuri think as well. Was she wrong about it? She knows she gets emotional with stronger taste, especially the ones that taste awful to her.

A prime example would be Orochimaru, she hated the taste, it was always so bad. And the taste was so strong that it caused her to panic at the moment. She wanted to get away from the taste. She was learning she wasn't always going to be able to get away from those things that cause her to panic, and she needed to be stronger.

Doki taught her she needed to think everything through, and she was going to. She was working on it. When she first tasted Orochimaru she held onto Shikamaru and remained close to people she trusted. She had nearly forgotten about him, and Orochimaru was still out there.

"I'll admit… you haven't." Shikamaru finally says.

She looks at him and doesn't say anything. There are a lot of things she could say to Shikamaru, but she can't even think about what to say. She knows she was right and there was something else going on about this whole thing.

"Why would I…" Yuri doesn't finish her thought.

She was upset all over again. She has too many thoughts going on in her head and she can't seem to keep them straight. She leans her head against the tree and takes in a few deep breaths.

"What's going on Shika? Why are you being so… mad at me?" Yuri curls up in a ball and looks forward.

Shikamaru sighs. "I don't understand it myself. I'll try to keep it in check. But… I am right, you are a know it all."

Yuri shakes her head and looks at Shikamaru. He has a smirk on his face and seems to be holding back a chuckle. Yuri shoves him slightly and they begin to chuckle.

"I know… but I kind of needed to be with Naruto and Sasuke around." Yuri laughs.

Notes: So sorry! I got busy and haven't been able to post! Here is another chapter! I hope you enjoy it and look forward to the mission. Please follow and leave a comment!