Hebikura was getting impatient. The ninja he had hired should have contacted him by now. Orochimaru had told him he had sent the best for the job and it should have been simple. All they had to do was eliminate one troublesome princess. The report of Yukiko's untimely demise should have reached him by now. He stood at the northern entrance to the capital city. The guards actually thought he was there to inspect them. The officers in charge thought he even might be taking more interest in affairs of the state starting with the defense of the city.
It wasn't that the Officer was wrong, he was more interested in affairs of state, but he just needed to remove one tiny person in his way. If he did that then his uncle would have little choice but to make him the Heir to the Daiymo. It was just Yukiko's bad luck to be in his way. He was about to give up for the evening, only merchants seemed to be on the road when he noticed a brief series of red flashes from the woods not that far from the city. It got the attention of the guards beside him but they wouldn't understand its meaning. One of the sound ninja should be arriving soon with good news. That would mean he needed to get into position.
He left the guard post to head into the city, from the time he saw the symbol he would have a little time to change into something more formal and be in position for when the ninja delivered the bad news. This would finally be his time to shine.
For some strange reason his personal assistant was missing, so it took him a little longer than he had hoped to prepare for his inevitable promotion. He would simply have to replace that one once he became the heir. He might even have the personal assistant killed given the fact that there was a needle left in his outfit, what kind of servant is so careless? The assistant should have at least put the needle away after repairing the outfit. When he arrived in the audience chamber it looked like the ninja had not been announced yet, but that wouldn't take much longer. He slithered over to the side where he would have a decent view.
He watched as a few petitioners gave reports and asked for one thing or another. His mind honestly wasn't on what the peasants were doing but how he could benefit. It took almost a half an hour before the ninja appeared in the chamber, some guards pushing him ahead of the other people and with good reason.
The ninja was injured, even a novice like Hebikura could see that much. The ninja wore a symbol of the fire ninja, Konohagakure. He would have preferred to not have involved them, but it was too late to change that. Orochimaru had sworn there wouldn't be a problem, and with the amount of money, he had been paid that had better be true. Even if they did become a problem once he was in charge he would work to replace them with Orochimaru's ninja, part of him wondered why he trusted Orochimaru so much, but the thought quickly went away. He never noticed a small mark written in the snake language flaring on his wrist.
Ino had woken up from her long sleep ever since passing out back in Hanabira. Creating those traps had used up every bit of chakra she had even with getting help from Purin, it was simply too much. The others must have gotten another carriage along the way. She sat up trying to rub the sleep from her eyes to find herself looking at Aoi in her maid's outfit again.
"They thought it would be better for the rest of the trip. Purin is pretty talented at doing that, even if he sounds like a Samurai and not at all what I expected a rabbit to sound."
Ino was sure she would get a lecture from both Purin and Asuma, both of them were concerned about the amount of chakra she had been using. He did promote training and a healthy meal in order to raise her chakra but it seemed to both that she was pushing a little too hard and it might cause even more damage.
"They are right you know."
Ino looked towards Aoi puzzled and then she understood. She had a sister to look after, it was her job as a big sister. Part of her for a moment wondered what life would have been like if Miku hadn't been there, would she still be pining after Sasuke? She summoned all her will and buried the traitorous thoughts.
"When I first started working for the princess. Something like this happened. Not with Chakra, we can't use that but with regular work. A number of us go into surface thinking we can do anything by ourselves. It is too much, taking in too much responsibility too soon. Once we get past that point our full training starts and we learn to rely on each other to accomplish larger tasks until we can handle more. If we go too much too fast we would just burn out. I think that is why they are worried."
Ino knew that Aoi was right, but it was a little hard. She knew all about teamwork from being on Team Asuma, and her time before that with Miku and Hinata. There was a commotion coming from outside the carriage and she could hear a guard talking about a disaster and that the city was closed. Were they already at the capital? How long had she been asleep? That is what really hit him to Ino. She was pushing herself too much. She wasn't looking forward to changing her diet but that would help as well.
"I really should thank them, but let's not let it get to their heads okay?" She could sense Purin at the driver's seat with Asuma, and Choji, she wasn't sure where Shikamaru was but he wouldn't be too far away. If she was in the disguise of the princess again than perhaps she could help get them into the city. "is there a problem?" she leaned out the window of the carriage giving her best smile towards the guards and the officer next to them, she didn't get the response she expected.
Shocked looks on the guard's faces told her something was up and she had a sinking feeling that Shikamaru was up to something. It wasn't long before they had a full escort to take her to the palace, they had to tell the Fire Daimyo as soon as they could.
Shikamaru knew there had to have been someone high up in the court. He had run ahead of the others to set himself up in a position to smoke them out but never imagined that it might be so easy. There was something else going on. This reminded him of the strategy games that his father and Asuma tried to get him to play. In his disguise, he observed one particular person who seemed a bit too elated and a little too aware of the situation and then it struck him. He might have been the one who originally ordered the attack, something still bothered him about the whole situation and it left him feeling he was still looking at a minor piece of the puzzle and not a major one.
He couldn't get a read on the ninja that had brought the news, but gauging what he could tell it would be trouble. The ninja reminded him of a few Anbu ninja, in the way they moved which could be troublesome. Whoever the ninja was he pretended injury perfectly to the point where only an expert could tell he was faking it. Being an expert in laziness did come in handy from time to time. The timing was interesting. Asuma should have the group here by now.
He was watching a sacrifice play. It came to him suddenly and he realized that the nephew of the Daiymo was nothing more than a pawn. It seemed strange. What could be the final play? If the prince wanted to be wasn't really the head of this affair then what would be a larger target?
Nine-Tails, they were looking for nine tails. This was the kind of situation where Konohagakure would send their best ninja, their strongest. This would be for multiple reasons and the biggest reason was to keep the Fire Daiymo on their side. They trusted Asuma with the job not just for family connections but the fact that Asuma was one of the twelve guardian ninja. The person behind this wasn't interested in that, but a larger target. They think that Asuma was the host of nine-tails.
A commotion from the entrance to the audience room told him that another act was about to begin. The princess, in this case, Ino in disguise, entered the room, her maid trailing behind her with both Choji and Asuma on both sides.
The ninja who had delivered the message suddenly found himself in a bad position. He leapt forward quickly running towards the Daiymo, surely he knew he had no chance. He easily slipped past guards along the way. The Samurai who made up the Daiymo's private guard was already in front of their lord and prepared for the blow. They couldn't afford for that idiot to get himself killed, luckily Asuma had caught up with him pinning the ninja to the ground. Something flew from the ninja and Shikamaru could have sworn it came from the ninja's back not his hand but he knew they had made a critical error, the princess was unguarded. The attack was nothing more than an elaborate distraction.
For Ino everything was moving in slow motion. Her arms felt so heavy and she knew she would not get her hidden Kunai up in time to block whatever had been thrown at her. She knew that not only was Purin exhausted but he wouldn't be able to return from the Rabbit Warren so soon. Something flashed before her eyes and she heard a cry of pain, Aoi had moved in front of her. Ino still moving slowly was moving fast enough to catch the maid as she fell holding her close. She was lucky, the Kunai struck her in the side and while it would be painful it wasn't fatal. The Capital guards were around her now providing a barrier but that Ninja wouldn't get another attempt, Asuma had him completely pinned.
The Daiymo was angry. He wasn't usually so forceful but seeing his daughter attacked in front of him had set him off. The Ninja that attacked her was brought before the Daiymo, he would be made to answer. She really doubted that a professional would give away any information so quickly, that just wasn't in their nature.
"He ordered it, Hebikura told me that if we killed the princess and he became the new heir he would find a place for us."
Ino looked at the ninja in shock. What was going on here? Hebikura looked like he was about to die on the spot, she noticed that Shikamaru was nearby. She could see Shikamaru's shadow stretching towards the man even as Samurai surrounded him. He was coughing tho, and she could see a mist of blood spray from his mouth. With the Ninja they were questioning under restraints, Asuma rushed forward towards Hebikura, you could have heard a pin drop.
"He poisoned himself."
She watched as Asuma held up something tiny, a needle dripping with purple and red liquid. She had a sinking feeling they weren't out of danger yet.