The masks were uncomfortable, but necessary. The group of four silently walked through the village, each of them on edge, always a hand on their weapons.
"Hawk!" She was brought out of her thoughts by her leader's voice. Lion was looking at her with serious eyes.
"Focus. You are sure that this is him?" The black haired man asked, referring to the piece of paper he had in his hand.
"Yes, I am sure." They had seen the open contract in Sunagakure when they were delivering some scrolls to a wealthy merchant. She had immediately recognized the name and drawing. After the whole incident in Konoha, where Naruto's identity as Wolf as well as his heritage had been revealed to the public, they all knew about him and Fuu. She had been the only one in the group that knew about his real name before that, just like Naruto was the only one that knew about hers, but they all knew his real appearance, so they would have recognized the drawing rather quickly regardless. The others, especially Lion, were still mad that he had left them without a word. Hawk not having told them that she knew why he had left. She had told them that he left while she was asleep. It didn't feel right lying to her friends and partners, but she didn't want to admit to them that Naruto wanted to save that other girl more than stay with her. Maybe she also didn't want to admit it to herself.
"I have a contact in Janpugakure, he reached out to me, saying that he has seen a pair of rogue shinobi escorting a group of traders. One of them was wearing a wolf mask. He also seems to match the description of Wolf." Rhino stated skimming the scroll he had gotten from a small hawk.
"It's the first real lead since Konoha, let's go." Lion exclaimed.
"What's our plan?" Cat asked, as the group walked towards the gates.
"If he is still with that Fuu girl, we need to separate them. Then we can subdue them and get the reward. I don't think that either of them will be able to match two of us." The masked leader replied, as they walked out of the village.
"I don't know if that would be wise. We never really saw Wolf fight. If his extended use of shadow clones is anything to go by, he is extremely dangerous. Together with his heritage and his knowledge of the Hiraishin, he is not to be taken lightly. Also we don't know anything about the girl he is traveling with." Hawk reasoned, trying to get the other three to reconsider. She didn't bring up the fact that Naruto and Fuu both were Jinchuuriki, as far as she knew she was the only person to know that. It would persuade the others to make a huge curve around the two targeted shinobi, but she also wanted to see Naruto again. It wasn't rational, Hawk knew that, but the evening when he had left her wouldn't leave her mind. She was convinced that they didn't stand a chance against either of them, much less if they split up to deal with them separately. Her only hope was that Naruto and Fuu would show them mercy should they decide to really attack.
"That is why me and Rhino will take him, while you and Cat will keep the girl occupied. My speed and Rhino's raw strength should be enough to overpower Wolf. Honestly I think that he can't use the hiraishin in real combat, we would have heard if there was someone out there that managed to make the jutsu viable again." The leader explained, earning a confident nod from the other man in the group.
Hawk didn't push further, deciding to try and convince them after they had a bit of time to think about her words, although she feared that it would not do any good. Sighing, she jumped into the trees behind her friends, as they started their journey towards Janpugakure.
"They came here a few days ago. I am confident that they have not left yet, I asked the other guards to be on the lookout as well." The brown haired guard said after Rhino had asked him about the message he had sent him.
"That is good. Great work." Lion cut into the conversation, handing the man a small envelope.
"I hope we can continue to rely on you." The leader continued. Turning to his group, the black haired man sighed briefly.
"Alright, we know a bit about Wolf's abilities, but we don't know anything about the girl. Spread out, find them and shadow them. We meet at the east gate on sundown, if you have found out where they are staying, do not risk exposing yourself." He ordered, the first part of every mission being reconnaissance. Everyone nodded and they did a few hand signs, suppressing their chakra signatures before they walked into the village in different directions.
The day went by quickly as Hawk tried to find her ex boyfriend, or the girl he was with at the moment. The intel was a bit outdated, that she was aware of, but the guard also said, that they had not left the village and a small village like this one needed some good guards to keep the streets safe, so she was relatively sure that the pair was still in the village.
Keeping her eyes open, she watched as a few rogues crossed her path. They had clear masks on, no insignia, no markings, just completely white porcelain. It creeped her out, if she was completely honest with herself. She also felt like they had been following her, since this was the third time that she saw the group that day. She shook her head at that thought, the village was not big, so it wasn't too weird to run into the same group of people and their masks just made them stand out to her, she was likely just imagining things.
There was a surprising number of shinobi in the village, considering its size. Wandering around, she estimated that at least a tenth of the people walking the streets had some kind of training. Although there were only a handful of shinobi that were openly identifying as such, for example by wearing a mask or some kind of village insignia, she was sure that some of the people that were walking around as civilians were shinobi, the way they carried themselves just seemed a bit too on edge for someone without fighting experience.
There was a good vantage point, on top of a three story building, where you could overlook almost the whole village. Hawk made sure to make a mental note of that, maybe it could be useful for something. Other than that, she had nothing to report when she came back to the gate as the sky turned red.
Rhino was already there, along with Cat, the two standing on a corner, talking silently. They stopped when she came close, tensing a bit before realizing who she was and relaxing again.
"Anything?" The brunette girl asked, earning a happy nod from Cat.
"They are indeed still in the village. I found Wolf almost two hours ago, when he was walking through the market with some kind of food in his hand. He went into a hotel and hasn't come out since then, so I am certain that he is staying there, although I have not seen the girl he is supposedly with." She quickly relayed her gathered information. Before Hawk could reply, Lion appeared, asking the same question as she had. Cat gave him the rundown as well, going into a bit more detail, so that their leader would have all the information that he could need. She also pointed out the hotel on a quickly sketched map, so that everyone knew where it was located.
"Great, anything else that we can use?" The black haired man asked, looking around the group. Rhino had nothing to say, his sector consisting of mostly civilian houses. Hawk herself quickly relayed the information about the taller building she had inspected, other than that she too had nothing to do.
"Alright, since it doesn't seem that they want to leave the village in the near future, we will only place one observer to watch over them. Standard rotation, Hawk you start. The others will be awake and ready at sunrise, Hawk will stay on post until someone comes to replace you. I expect full combat readiness starting tomorrow morning, tomorrow at noon for you Hawk so you can rest a bit after the night." Lion ordered, his voice not leaving any room for arguments.
"I have found a small apartment for us to use as a base from now on, it is a bit away from the targets and not too crowded so we should be fine staying there." He continued, quickly pointing it out on the map from Cat.
"Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads, the orders had been precise and clear, so they all knew what they had to do. Sighing, Hawk checked her pockets and seals, nodding to herself as she found everything in its place and stocked up. Taking out a pair of food pills, she swallowed them while preparing her mind for the night ahead.
"Hawk, go. Rhino, Cat I will show you to the apartment." Lion's composure always impressed her, his voice showed absolutely no uncertainty or fear as if he already knew that they would win against anything. It gave her a bit of comfort that he was so sure of them, even though she knew that he didn't have all the information.
She made sure her chakra was concealed before walking towards the hotel, looking for a good position where she could set up her observation post. The hotel was almost exactly in the middle of the village, surrounded by a few two story buildings, itself being three stories tall. Hawk quickly went into a small alley, before applying a genjutsu to disguise herself against the roof tiles. Jumping up, she looked around, her body seeming to melt into the red roof she was standing on. Quickly scanning the windows of the hotel, the brunette found that she could see into all of the rooms, making her a bit suspicious since she could not find Naruto or Fuu in any of the rooms. Looking around she watched as a couple entered the main entrance of the hotel, however even after ten minutes she could not see them in any of the rooms. It took her a few minutes to figure out that the hotel had a genjutsu on it's whole exterior, the thing that finally convinced her was that the people she was watching were repeating their actions every half hour.
Hawk didn't know if they had chosen that hotel on purpose, but she was sure that they at the very least knew about the added privacy. She also suspected that the occupants of the rooms were still able to look outside, so it was basically working like a one way mirror. Sighing, she walked around on the roofs, looking for any other exits out of the building, before settling on top of the roof, focusing her attention on the only entrance she had found to the building.