Updated on: 1/14/19
Kotetsu POV
I was with Izumo bringing reports that Lady Fifth forgot. As we were heading to Hokage Tower I saw Haruno-san on the bench knocked out. I stopped walking and Izumo asked "What's wrong?" I didn't answer him but I made my way to where she was. "Hey, wake up. If you sleep here. you'll catch a cold." I said and she opened her eyes slowly. Out of no where she snapped her eyes wide open and yelled "Sasuke-kun!" Izumo and I looked at her weird as she started shaking and tearing up. She cried and after a while she told us what happened. Izumo and I went to Lady Fifth in a hurry to tell. Once there I knocked on the door and went in. "Thank you" she said smiling but I noticed the saliva and ink stuck to her face. "Fifth! You were sleeping just now, weren't you?!" I yelled at her "While making us get these documents, you were sleeping, weren't you?!" she awkwardly laughed and then Izumo spoke up. "More Importantly, Lady Hokage, there's something we need to report." he said and we told her of what Haruno-san told us.
Tsunade POV
I was shocked hen Kotetsu and Izumo told me about Sasuke leaving the village to join Orochimaru. "What did you say?! Is this true?" I yelled still not believing it. "Yes" Kotetsu answered and then Izumo "According to Sakura Haruno, there's no mistake." he said and I gritted my teeth. I bit my lip still angry at Orochimaru "Izumo. Kotetsu. There's someone I want you to go get for me." After a while Shikamaru was finally in my office "Late last night, Sasuke Uchiha left the village. And there's no mistake that he is heading for the Sound Village." I told him and he was shocked "Left? Why?" I was once again angry "Orochimaru lured him." he was even more shocked to her this. "Wait a second. What does a dangerous guy like him was Sasuke?" he asked me. "That's not important. We don't have any time to lose. For now, I'm assigning you your first mission as a chunin." I said and he got serious "Is it to bring Sasuke back?" he asked me "Yeah. However this mission must be completed quickly, and there could be some trouble." "What?" "There is a high possibility that Orochimaru's subordinates are guiding Sasuke."
~Time skip to after the meeting~
Shikamaru POV
I went to Naruto first but that was a mistake. He yelled so loud I'm pretty sure the whole village heard him. "You're so loud in the morning." I said while glaring at him. He got ready and we went to get Choji. Then we saw Kiba and Akamaru since Akamaru came because he smelled the chips. I explained to them what happened as we ran around to look for more people. We headed towards the village gates looking around for people as we past the hospital. We spotted Neji and Lee at the stairs and stopped there waiting for them to come down. When they spotted us they came down and we explained everything to them. "I see." Neji said "It's troublesome, but there is nothing bad about having more people." I said and we looked at Lee as he had his head down. I knew he wanted to help "Lee, you do what you need to do." Neji said and in a swift movement Lee was walking back up by himself leaving us at shock. He stopped before the stairs "Stating tomorrow, I will climb up these stairs on my own." We all stared at him "Don't worry. Please go." he said and we nodded at him while smiling. We all headed for the gates as they opened for us. "Okay! Everyone follow me!" Naruto yelled at we looked at him annoyed. "Hey. Listen, Naruto. I'm squad leader, you know. It is troublesome, though." I said with a bored look on my face. He glared at me "Will it really be alright to let you lead us?" he asked. "You don't seem very reliable." he finished and Kiba answered him "So why are you acting like you're the boss, Naruto?" he said and Naruto looked annoyed. "Still, I can't say I'm satisfied being ordered around by Shikamaru." He said and an argument continued on. After the argument I started explaining how we will be moving and in what order.
After everything Sakura came and so did Hinata along with Kimi. I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw her but I ignored it and continued to listen to Sakura. "Hey guys, we h-heard from T-tsunade. G-good luck." Hinata said. and Kimi nodded. "How about I go with you guys as an extra measure?" Kimi asked but then an Anbu member showed up behind her "Lady Kimi. Lady Tsunade said that you can't go with them because she needs you for a mission right now." Kimi tsked and nodded "Alright. I'll be there when these guys leave" she said and the Anbu nodded and left. "Shika, I want you to take Hinata and Neko with you with you" as she finished her sentence Neko showed up as well. "Why?" Neji asked "Well this will be a good exercise for them both and you need the extra help." she said and I nodded "We are going to need it Neji." I said and he nodded. As we were about to leave Kimi hugged us one by one. "Neji I want you to make sure you come back alive. Hinata and Neko know how to defend themselves and they know medical ninjutsu so they won't hold you guys back." we all nodded and she turned to Neko and Hinata "Neko remember that you are following Shika's orders this time and not the other way around. Hinata don't let emotions cloud your judgement. I will see how far you've gotten in training by the amount of damage you took." Hinata nodded and I told them where they will stand in the line. Hinata will be i the back with Neji and Neko will be next to me. Then Kimi came up to me and hugged me "If this mission fails, I hope you know that I won't blame you. I know you would have done your best to bring him back." she said and I hugged her back. "Good luck guys" she said as we left and she stayed with a crying Sakura along with Lee.
Hinata POV
I was going with the rescue team like Kimi-nee asked me too along with Neko. "I smell blood" Kiba said and Neji and I activated out byakugans as saw a few people lying around. What we saw was a disaster. Shizune was trying to help the injured comrades. I looked at Neko and she already knew. She nodded her head and I knew she already sent out a clone to report to Lady Tsunade. We avoided that area and kept going in the way to the Sound. Naruto got into an argument with Kiba about the other people that collided with the other five. "If we go there, we may find out some things...But we can't go in carelessly, so we will change the scouting position and close in by walking slowly." Shikamaru said. I was about to tell him what Neko did so that wouldn't be necessary but Neji beat me to it "If we go there, Sasuke will cross the border and be out of Fire territory." Neji said and I looked at Naruto "What are we going to do Shikamaru?" he yelled. Shikamaru seemed to think about this for a while as I summoned my griffin. "Summoning Jutsu" I mumbled and slammed my hand on the ground. And in a cloud of smoke my griffin, Athena, appears. "How can I help you today mistress?" she asked and I saw everyone looking at us. "Well Athena, up ahead I'm sure you can smell blood. Well I need to check it out and if there are any others there that have the same headband and I do then please help them." I asked her and she nodded. "Very well mistress." she said and took off flying. Shikamaru was shocked before he answered Naruto's question. "Ok, let's go after Sasuke." Naruto smiled and we went to forward. After a while Kiba suddenly yelled "Hey! The enemy's scent is all over this place!" "Everyone, stop!" Shikamaru yelled right after. All the boys stopped on a branch right under where Neko and I stopped. "Look up" Shikamaru instructed and we did as told. We saw five explosive bombs around us in barrier formation. Neji ended up voicing my thoughts "Barrier Seal?" Choji asked "Its a form of trap ninjutsu." Shikamaru and I say at the same time "Seal traps are activated when the enemy is inside the surrounded area." Shikamaru continued and I finished the thought "Its a high class ninjutsu. It was in a book I read at the library when I was bored." I said and he nodded. "We'll have to go around it." Kiba scoffed and we continued. We had went through a different area and it also had traps "Hey, hey, Naruto. There are wires at your feet. Don't get caught by them." Kiba said "I know." Naruto responded. Suddenly I noticed that there was a thinner string in the mix and Naruto was about to step on it "Naruto, watch out!" I yelled as Shikamaru used his shadow possession to stop Naruto. "Made it just in time." he said and I sighed in relief. I summoned my hawk, Kiken. He cawed at me and I placed my arm so he could land "Kiken, can you pick up Naruto and take him out of the trap that he is close to activating?" he cawed again and went for Naruto. Kiken might not be huge but he is strong. He can pick things up that are five times his weight. He is still a growing hawk so he'll get bigger with the years. Kiken did as told and brought Naruto to where Shikamaru was and then came back to me "Very good Kiken. Here you go." I said as I gave him a dead rat to eat. It was weird at first but after some time I got used to it. He cawed happily and ate the rat. After that he went home. I saw everyone starring at me "What?" then Kiba spoke up after a while of silence "You have two summonings?" I nodded "Yes. I got my griffin 2 months ago and my hawk from my trainer. Kimi-nee but him to train me because she was training the new Anbu recruits." "And your trainer was...?" "I can't tell you. It's meant to be kept a secret." I said and they nodded, satisfied with response. Shikamaru and Neji inspected the wires closely "One of the wires is easy to see because of the sunlight, but the other one is camouflaged in green." Shikamaru said "It's difficult to see with the naked eye. It's a double trap." Neji-nii said "It seems like their in a hurry, but it's a rather well-made trap" Shikamaru continued. "Meaning..." Shikamaru stopped as Neji-nii finished the sentence "They're resting. They must be injured. Or is it a trap?" Neji-nii finished with a frown on his face. Neji and I activated our byakugan and searched for them. We found them laying on the ground "Found them." we both said as Naruto and Kiba got excited. "All right, all right! We will bring Sasuke back for sure!" Naruto yelled excitedly. "Naruto. Sorry, but I'll be showing my new move this time." Kiba said smugly to Naruto. I don't think they noticed that we are all a bit tired and hungry. "Me, too" Choji added. I really don't think they noticed at all. "Don't rush it. Once my strategy is prepared, we will make contact with our target!" Shikamaru said and the rest of us nodded. I quickly took out a scroll and got the food I made earlier. I gave a bento to each person as Shikamaru strategized. After that we started planning as I secretly sent a clone to watch them. I knew we weren't going to be able to bring Sasuke back but I had to go along with this. There might be a chance he comes back but even if he doesn't I know he'll come back when he's done. Like he promised me he would.
I saw that they were all pretty tired from their fight with the last team that was sent to intercept them. There was a coffin type barrel in the middle of the clearing that I was pretty sure Sasuke was in. I don't know what that is doing to him but since Orochimaru needs him alive, I'm sure it isn't to hurt him. "We're in a hurry, but we have to rest." the guy with two heads scoffed. "It couldn't be helped" the girl responded. "If we fight in stage two, we consume a lot of energy." she continued. "What's bad is that we can't use our bodies for a while" the big on added. "It couldn't be helped, fighting against two jounins. If we held back, we would've lost." the guy with extra limbs said as he responded to the big guy's statement. My clone sent me her memories since she was sure they weren't going to move anytime soon. Shikamaru was telling us our part of his plan. I was to stand back and help out any of us that end up injured. He said I could interfere if I had to but he would prefer if I saved up my energy to use medical ninjutsu when I needed to. Neko was able to fight since she was also needed and I;m sure it's also because Neji-nii didn't want me to get hurt. After he explained the plan we all got up and I passed out the wireless earplugs for communication. After that we split up and moved in on our target. We new about the spiderwebs that were placed around but we ignored them. I knew Shikamaru was wondering about Sasuke so I answered his unspoken question "Sasuke is in that barrel. I know because while we were planning I sent a clone to check it out. Don't worry my clone wasn't caught." I said and Shikamaru hmed. Suddenly the guy with two heads shot two kunais at Shikamaru and Neji. My clone that was near by deflected those kunais as the guy with two heads sent another kunai after but it was too late. As soon as my clone threw the kunai she released herself and the guy's kunai hit the tree she was standing on. The kunais soon exploded since they had explosive tags attached to it but since they were away from anyone the explosion didn't hurt anybody but the explosion was huge so it looked like someone got hurt. The after wave of the explosion sent them flying toward the enemy as they landed on the ground in front of the enemy's feet. "What's this? I just tried throwing the knife, and found two bugs instead of a snake." the guy who threw the kunais said. "Hold on. Wait." Shikamaru said s he got up quickly. "We're not here to fight. We just came to negotiate." he continued and the guy with extra limbs talked "Then what are these?!" he yelled as he pulled up his hands and then slammed then down on. This quick movement made Naruto, Kiba, Neko and Choji fly out of their hiding spots. I was left alone since I didn't touch any of the webs. Kiba smirked and threw the smoke bomb marking the beginning of the plan. The guy with extra limbs laughed "And what is the meaning of this smoke bomb? There's no way you can get away from me. These strings are thinner, yet stronger than wires, so you can barely see them. My strings are laid all around the area." he said as the smoke cleared to reveal all four of them on the ground. "The two wire traps were set like that on purpose...So it was a triple trap" Shikamaru said as realization hit him. "You got me. I didn't know you have someone with such technique" Shikamaru said as I got ready to cut the strings. His strings might be strong but they can't beat my chakra strings As I got ready Shikamaru trapped them all in his shadow possession. I cut the strings without them noticing but Shikamaru knew what I was doing and so did Neji-nii. "What the? My body..." the guy with extra limbs finally realized what happened and looked very angry. "Nicely done, Kiba, Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled "Shadow possession jutsu...complete" Naruto said Shikamaru's line. "But I have this technique." Shikamaru said with an evil smile on his face. "Thanks for letting everything go according to my plan" he said. And suddenly the guy with two heads spoke the same words Shikamaru did and three shuriken made its way to him. I deflected two of them but the last one hit him making him let go of the shadow possession. "Earth barrier" the big guy says and slams his hands on the ground as rocks started to surround them and trap them in. I stayed in my spot but I was still able to communicate with them "Shikamaru, what do you want me to do?" I asked him "Nothing Hinata. Don't do anything until we are out of this barrier." he told me "But what about if they move, do I follow them?" I asked him and he seemed to think about it. Neji-nii responded me instead "Follow them but don't get caught. If you even think that they noticed you then stop following them and wait for us to catch up to you" he said and I nodded "Alright." I said and watch the enemy closely.
Shikamaru POV
I was scared of leaving Hinata on her own but I knew she can handle herself. I just hope they don't find her because I'm sure Kimi will kill if anything happened to Hinata. "Shikamaru, the big is staying but the others are moving on. I'll follow them but I'll leave my hawk so you guys can follow me and he will also have a small bottle with my chakra in it for who ever needs to stay behind." she told me "Alright but be careful." I said "Alright good luck" she said and by her breathing I could tell she was already following the others. "Damn it! Let us out! God damn it!" Naruto yelled. I'm sure he's also frustrated that Hinata was left alone. If only he knew that she loves him. He really is dense. "Shut up, Naruto." Kiba said clearly annoyed that Hinata is alone with the enemy. "From observation alone, it's a wall made of soil." Neji said "Its one of their techniques. There's most likely some kind of trick to it." I added "I don't know what it is, but ll we have to do is break through the wall, right?" Kiba asked but Neko stopped him "Don't do it. This place is sucking our chakra out of us. Any jutsu here will be wasted energy." she said annoyed. Neji activated his byakugn to check out if she's right. "This is..." he said when he found something "What is it?" I asked him "She's right. Our chakra is being sucked out" we were all shocked "I didn't think they would just leave us trapped inside the barrier, but I didn't think they'd be sucking out our chakra." Kiba said. "Oh, hell no! Hurry up and let us out!" "Naruto if you scream one more time I'll kill you before this barrier can. Now everyone get around me" Neko said and we did as told. She ten took out four kunais and put them in a square formation around us. She made a tiger hand sign and then clapped her hand together "Four Violet Flames Formation" she said and purple walls surrounded us. "This barrier will keep him from taking our chakra so he will be taking the chakra on my clones that are right outside the barrier" she said and six clones came out of hiding. "Once they disappear and the big guy opens up his barrier I will take down mine and we will pretend that we are knocked out and out of chakra. After that I need Shikamaru to come up with a plan." I nodded and started planning everything that would happen after the barrier goes down. After a while I came to one conclusion. Hinata was right. One of us will have to stay behind so the rest can catch up to her and get to Sasuke on time. "One of us will have to stay behind to get to Sasuke on time and to Hinata before she gets in trouble if she isn't on one already." I said and they nodded. "The question is who?" Kiba asked. "We'll figure it out later, my clones are about to give out and the barrier will come down." Neko said and we all pretended to be passed out as her barrier came down at the same time as the other guy's. I heard him smirk as he came closer to us to finish us off. Suddenly Neko moved and threw kunais at him with explosive tags attached to them sending him back a few feet. We all got up smirking at him. "Thank's Neko and Choji I hope you got your chakra up because you need it." I said and he nodded. He started clapping "Well done, everyone...for trash, that is" he said smirking and I got angry.
Neko POV
I was getting angrier by the second at this guy. Who the hell does he think he is "Who are you calling trash?!" Kiba yelled and he and Naruto ran up to him. "Now that we're out, he's ours!" Kiba said and I yelled at them "Idiots, get back here" I said but they ignored me. "Both of you, wait!" Neji yelled and they stopped. They are so getting it later for this. "Fighting him here would be dangerous." he said "We got out of the barrier! We can take him!" Kiba yelled back and did his fang over fang attack only to be pushed back. "Dumbass" I said loud enough for him to hear me. Naruto jumped over Kiba and yelled "Shadow clone jutsu!" The big guy destroyed his clone and buttheaded Naruto, making him fly back to us "Useless." I said making sure he heard me. I knew they heard me when they glared at me. "I don't see you doing anything!" Naruto yelled at me "Because I'm not an idiot, dumbass. He absorbed most of our chakra, meaning he can fight back now unlike when we got and he was tired. We have to do this carefully or we will all die and Hinata will be in even more danger than she is now. Got it, genius?" he got mad at me but he also knew I was right. "You're all my meal!" the big guy said, interrupting what I was going to ask Shika. He attacked Kiba and knocked him back with his shoulder. He kicked Naruto in the gut as Naruto was about to attack him again even after all I said. As they were thrown back to us I summoned my bat and hit them towards the tree. I started hitting them constantly while yelling "I. told. you. that. we. had. to. think. this. through. I. can. be. worse. than. Sakura. and. your. mother. if. I. want. to. Listen. to. me. when. I'm. fucking. talking. to. you. dumbasses." I said after every hit. By the time I finished they were beaten up and with bruises all over. I made two clones and they started healing them as I turned around to face the others that had a shocked look with a mix of fear on their faces. "I'm sorry you had to see that. So where were we?" I asked with an innocent smile on my face. The guy scoffed at us and said "You guys aren't even good enough to be appetizers." he said as he slammed his hands on the ground and yelled "Earth barrier mud dome" and then Choji moved. "Multi-size Technique" Choji yelled and expanded his body. He spun around fast giving us time to hide from the guy.
We were sitting in a circle under a tree "We're running out of time. We have to split up into two groups." Shika said and we all looked at him "Why?" Naruto asked. "Even if it's against one, he's not an enemy we can defeat quickly after we've lost so much chakra. The more time wasted here, the more likely Sasuke will cross the border. If that happens, then there's nothing we can do." Neji answered. "So you're saying to split up into two groups; one group to stop him and one group to pursue Sasuke, right?" I asked. Shika nodded "Yeah. You will be the second in command, Neji." He said and I knew he was planning to stay. "No, I'll stay Shika. I have more chakra than an of you, besides Naruto, and I have a more likely chance of catching up to you guys." Suddenly Hinata's hawk comes to us quietly. She handed me the small bottle with her chakra in it "Remember to use that as soon as the fight is done." I read out loud the note that Hinata left with the bottle. Suddenly a tree almost falls on us so we move quickly as Hinata's hawk goes to hide "Found you." the big guy said as Shikamaru turned to us "Neji, take Kiba, Choji and Neko and pursue Sasuke." he ordered "I said I'll stay. You guys go..." "No because we might need you to fight a different enemy." he said and looked at Neji. Neji nodded and I sighed in frustration. "Naruto and I will do something about him." Shika said and the guy smirked "Are you going to use that Shadow possession thing again? What a worthless technique." he said amused. "Its easy to know how to deal with it after I see it once." he finished "And who fell for that street performance earlier?" Shika asked as he tried to capture the big guy. He saw it coming and slammed his hand on the ground. Neji activated his byakugan but I knew he wasn't there. "Behind!" Kiba and I yelled at the same time. I put up a barrier as the ground rose up around the guy "Earth style: mud ball." he said and threw it at us. The barrier kept up protected but not for long "I'm going to take down the barrier and when I do, I want all of you to jump" They nodded and I took it down. Once they jumped away I rose my arms to the sky and caught the huge ball. I held it up with one hand as I sent chakra to my fist and punched the mud ball, turning it into smaller rocks. By the time I reached the guys, Shika was being held up by his feet. The guy said "You're the squad leader, right? Must be hard in the underlings to have such a stupid leader" and I went in front of everyone "You're wrong. I'm the squad leader. If you wanna fight someone worthy of your strength then fight me but let him go." I knew Choji caught onto what I was doing and quietly told the others. Shika also caught on but he didn't like it. "And how can you be worth my time?" he asked with a smirk on his face "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't fight you. I am an Anbu after all." I said with a smirk. He seemed satisfied and flung Shika at me. "Come up with a plan with the others quickly" I said into his ear as I set him on the ground. I then attacked the guy first. I sent a punch at his face as he dodged and tried to hit my stomach but I grabbed his hand Lightning style: Earth flash I thought and sent electric shocks through his arm. He hissed in pain as the electricity was too much for his body. He threw me towards a tree and Choji stepped in to catch me. "Thanks Choji." I said and look at the guy "If the leader is stupid, then the subordinates are trash, huh?" he said and I smirked "Are you including Orochimaru in that statement too? After all he did kill his only daughter" I said and that angered him. He said something that I ignored but I noticed that it pissed Naruto off. "..I'll be the one to.." I heard Naruto say before he was interrupted by Choji "Fight you!" we all looked at him "I will fight him!" he said with an angry look on his face we all looked at him with shocked faces. Choji has never willingly fought anyone so why now? I asked myself "What are you talking about?!" Naruto asked "He's not someone you can take on alone" Naruto continued. "I will fight him!" he repeated the guy smirked as Choji took a small bag out of his ninja pouch and gave it to Shika "Shikamaru, give these soldier pills to everyone." "Choji..Don't tell me you're going to.." Shikamaru looked at him with concern "Yes. I have that ready to use." he aid smiling and he handed the bag to Shika and walked forward "Damn trash. I won't let you do what you want!" the big guy said while laughing. He came at us but Choji got in front of us "Go, everyone. Hinata is still alone and we wasted too much time here." he said and I nodded "Shika lets go. He'll make it." I said as I handed Choji the small bottle with Hinata's clone in it. He put it in his ninja pouch and took out three different colored pills. He took the green one first and as the guy came running toward us Choji punched him in the gut making him stop in his tracks. "Shikamaru, take everyone and go now!" Choji said and they argued about this for a bit. Shika decided to listen to Choji and we left to find Sasuke and Hinata.