Shinobi Isekai!

Of Mice and Men

The group came to a stop as they finally caught up with the Oto shinobi, staggering themselves throughout the trees. Shikamaru came to stand in front, looking past the kidnappers to Hanako, who raised her one hand at him, her weight resting on one leg in a perfect replica of her father.

"Yo."

Shikamaru sighed, slouching dramatically. "Can you at least pretend to be a victim?"

She shrugged, impossibly dark eyes half closed in the patented Hatake fake smile. "Mah, but that would be a lie."

Tch. How troublesome.

"Woah," he heard Naruto saw under his breath. "They really do have the same eye thingies."

Shikamaru turned his gaze to the sickly pale Kaguya standing behind Hanako, one of his hands placed threateningly on her shoulder. Indeed, their family ties were written on their faces, red markings perfect mirrors of each other. Kimimaro didn't react to their scrutiny, green eyes looking the Konoha group over before dismissing them with a sniff.

His voice was surprisingly deep as he spoke. "What an unexpected turnout. I would have thought the Hokage would send more than just genin to rescue his daughter."

Shikamaru didn't respond, though the insinuation rankled. In the wake of an invasion, high ranking shinobi could not be spared. Kumo was no longer an enemy, but they weren't the only ones who might seek to benefit from Konoha's recent misfortune. It was why genin were sent after Sasuke in the original timeline, too. Genin could be spared. Jounin could not.

Of course, Gaara and Naruto were technically natural disasters waiting to happen, the former more so than the latter, if he understood the seal technicalities correctly. That was Hanako's specialty, and she hadn't explained much. He hadn't asked her, either, though. An oversight, but not one that had much bearing on their present situation.

"I don't know," Hanako said to her cousin. "It looks like a pretty good line up to me. Definitely enough to deal with all of you."

Tension he didn't realize he was carrying left Shikamaru's body. When he and Sakura first started planning for the retrieval mission, Hanako asked to be left out of it as she had plans of her own regarding Kimimaro that required 'plausible deniability'. Knowing she approved of his choices, even if she didn't fully understand why he made them, was a relief.

Kidomaru crossed his many arms and huffed indignantly. "Oh, really? Care to explain?"

"Not particularly, no."

Shikamaru chuckled at Hanako's deadpan response, meeting and holding her cousin's unimpressed gaze. "I don't suppose I can convince you to surrender?"

The older boy's handsome face somehow managed to express disdain without moving. "Jirobo, handle them."

Ah, so he was following the script, then. That was a relief.

Closely followed by his underlings, Kimimaro dragged Hanako off. Jirobo, the largest of the Oto nin, stayed behind, cracking his knuckles and smiling cruelly.

"Group One," Shikamaru commanded, cutting their enemy off before he could fire off whatever one liner he had primed. "This is your enemy."

Chouji and Shino acknowledged his order, leaping forward to take their place opposite Jirobo. The tall red head looked a little surprised to be confronted so quickly, but he brushed it off easily and settled into a fighting stance.

"Other groups, retreat!"

Leaving his best friend behind lit a burning coal in his gut, but he couldn't risk getting them all caught inside Jirobo's chakra siphoning jutsu. One of the reasons the original team had such a hard time fighting their opponents was their low chakra stores after the first set back. Chouji had already defeated Jirobo once, and now, with Shino's kikaichu countering the chakra theft, he had the chance to do it again, hopefully without hospitalizing himself. At the very least, Tsunade was in the village. If she wasn't, Shikamaru might not have brought Chouji with him.