The Ultimate Weapon (Naruto Fanfic)

24-Unusual Circumstances

Quiet murmurs filled the room of chunin as they waited for the reason the Hokage had called them in. Most of the group was no older than twenty, a vast majority of them being around Aoi's age. Eventually Shikamaru entered the room, and when he spotted his old classmate, he made his way over.

"It's rather odd to see you in a regular chunin uniform," Shikamaru said as a greeting. Aoi was indeed in a traditional leaf uniform, with black sweat-like clothing underneath his forest green vest. Not bothering to reply, Aoi simply nodded. There was a faint bird song from Aoi's shoulder, and Shikamaru leaned slightly off the wall the two were standing on. His eyes widened at the full grown bird on Aoi's shoulder.

When Aoi simply reached into his pouch and grabbed a piece of pocky, and eyebrow rose. With a quick snap, he fed the plain biscuit end to the bird, eating the chocolate covered portion himself. "When did you get a bird?"

Aoi looked out of the corner of his eye at the spiky mess of hair that sat on Shikamaru's head. "Three weeks ago. It was supposed to be able to leave last week, but it has stuck around."

Leaning back, Shikamaru chuckled a little. "Maybe it thinks of you as its nest." Aoi simply shrugged, and the two fell into a silence. The entire room soon followed suit as Tsunade stepped up to the front of the room.

"Thank you all for coming on this rather short notice." Every eye fell on her, not wanting to anger their quick tempered hokage. "We have recieved a mission notice today that is of rather high importance. One of the feudal lords, that lives to the north, has a bit of a problem. His daughter is nowhere to be found, and her marriage is taking place two weeks from today." At this murmurs spread throughout the room, but after a glare from Tsunade, they were quickly quieted.

"You can imagine how much trouble this must be causing at the palace. The man who she is to marry is from a small country to the east of the Land of Fire, and this marriage is to secure the treaty between our two countries." An even larger number of voices joined this time at the information being told to them. They had no idea why this concerned them, it was clearly a mission for jonin at the least. When Tsunade coughed in a rather irritated manner, the noise ceased once more. "As I would hope you are aware, due to the recent fight with the sound, we don't have many shinobi to spare. Due to this fac-"

Just then, the doors slammed open, and a man looking to be in his late twenties fell flat on his face upon entering. Laughter rang out at this, and the noise rose to a new level. Aoi looked at the man plainly, as did Shikamaru. Though dirt covered his clothing, the rich weave of the fabric, as well as the colors, were unmistakably that of a royal. The man quickly picked himself up, dusting off the dirt from his legs, though it was a small improvement to his dirty figure.

A snap was heard from the front of the room, and the silence that enused was thick enough that you could hear individual breaths being taken. That was, if anyone was breathing. The fear that caused the silence made the atmosphere heavier, and the only ones that seemed unaffected were Shikamaru and Aoi.

Tsunade had a vein on her forehead, and when everyone slowly turned to face her, her smile was obviously strained. The man who had entered the room quickly made his way to stand near Tsunade, but made sure he wasn't within striking distance. His eyes scanned the room, showing brief lights of interest here and there, until they landed on Aoi.

"Allow me to introduce Mamoru. He works for our client and is here to approve the person that will be impersonating the princess. Due to the nature of the situation, it is unwise to let people know that the princess is missing, so one of you will take her place while another team of shinobi will be tasked to finding her." Tsunade looked down at the man beside her, who was wide eyed and staring intently at Aoi. "Is there anyone here who bears a resemblance to her?"