Starting over

#79 Ishigakure

Temari POV

I saw Naruto’s team blurring away into the desert, keeping their distance to me and my team. I nodded to my team and we took off, running through the desert, towards Ishigakure. 

Running through the desert, we eventually reached the border between the land of wind and the land of stone. We saw the treeline and decided to stop for a quick break, and to discuss how we would go on from there. 

“So, you all know, we are about to head into non friendly territory. Even though, we are theoretically an ally of Ishigakure, we still could encounter enemy forces, especially those from Iwa, since we all know, they don't like the agreement that our two villages are going to make.”, I said, while we sat down in a circle. Everyone nodded with serious looks in their eyes. I thought about our upcoming task and decided on what kind of formation we would employ. "Alright, we will use a triangle formation. Shiji you are up front, Joaba and Korun, you can choose your sides, I will stay in the shadows as the first safety. Of course, team Daiku will be there too as a second failsafe.", I ordered, receiving nods from my team. We stood up again and disappeared in a blur of speed. The three Anbu jumped through the branches in a loose triangle, while I jumped along on their right, keeping my distance and concealing my chakra.

We reached Ishigakure like that just as the sun reached its highest point. "Stop, state your business.", one of the two guards, that stood on each side of the small gate to the village, said stopping my team. "We are here to escort the council to Sunagakure.", Shiji said, taking up the leader position of the small squad of three. The guard looked at the papers, that Shiji had given him, along with the scroll, where the mission is described. "Yeah alright. You can go in.", he said, giving the papers back and stepping out of the way. "The council will be waiting for you in the big building with the statue in front.", the second guard said, pointing roughly in the direction of the village's center. Shiji nodded and they went in. I went ahead, staying hidden, scouting for any potential danger. 

As the three entered the office of the council, I secretly went to the roof of the building and listened through the open headlight. 

"I thought that the Kazekage would send more than just three people to escort us." , one of the councilmen said disappointed. "I ensure you, we are more than capable enough to get you to our village securely.", Shiji tried to assure the council, who all looked a little bit worried. "You and your Kage do know, that we have already received threats from Iwagakure, right?", the only woman on the council asked, fear evident in her voice. 

"We do know that and we have taken the necessary steps to protect you against everything.", Shiji again said, reassuring the people in front of him. The older people were still unsure, but they decided to trust the team of three, and went to get their stuff. 

After another hour, in which Shiji, Joaba and Korun had just waited next to the gates, the council finally appeared. They were quietly chatting among themselves, until they saw the Anbu waiting for them. They scowled and went up to the Anbu team, while I watched from the top of the gate. I was concealed and no one knew that I was even there, except my team of course. Without any further talking they started the journey. The three Anbu walked in their triangle formation around the council, while the older people tried to ease the tension with a bit of small talk. 

Two hours later, I was getting a bit annoyed, because the members of the council were travelling so slow, that we would take almost three days to get back to Suna. I sighed, as they requested to take another break, the third on this short trip. I stopped on a tree and sat down, watching as the group settled down in a small clearing, with the council members sitting down in the shadows. As they took out something to eat from their backpacks my team kept their guard up, watching for anything that could be a danger. 

Suddenly I felt some chakra signatures approaching the clearing. There were only three of them and they were not very large, showing me, that they were only around chunin level. 

I readied myself to jump in, if need be, but saw that my team already had sensed them. As soon as the first kunai came flying at the group of council members Shiji jumped in front of them and blocked the wave of kunai with his sword. The second wave of kunai were too fast for him, but Korun jumped in front of him, going through handsings, slamming her hands on the ground, letting a giant earth wall rise from the ground. Meanwhile Joaba was going through a long series of handsings, before putting his hands on the ground. From his hands spread sealing symbols, going all the way around the council members. As the formula connected, the seal began to glow and a barrier rose around the civilians, who looked around with fear in their eyes. 

The attackers jumped into the clearing, seeing that their initial ambush had failed and stared my team down. The three of them all wore black clothes and had white masks on. This confused me, since their clothes identified them as a group from the Black Tengu, Iwa’s elite assassination unit, which were directly drafted from their Anbu, but they had only chunin level chakra reserves. 

“Well, it looks like Suna has sent some of their Anbu to guard the council. I guess, we can't go easy on you.”, the leader of the group of three spoke, as all of them simultaneously raised their hands into a single hand seal. I watched closely as they did this and felt that their chakra levels suddenly jumped up to normal Anbu level. Apparently they had some kind of seal placed on them, that suppressed their chakra. 

I saw my team’s eyes widen and decided that it was time, that I intervened.