"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." Sun Tzu The Art of War

The distance from Kusagakure and the Festival village back to Konoha was too far to make in a single day, even at the pace Tsunade drove them, and when they finally stopped for the night, I made a bee-line for Shikako, who was in the process of extricating herself from the overbearing presence of Gai-sensei. "Thanks for looking after her, Gai-sensei." I said, snagging Shikako's bag from where it sat next to the two and slipping my arm around a groggy looking Shikako's waist.

"I don't-" She yawned,"need looking after, Sasuke. I'm fine, I swear." Shikako protested.

I disagreed. "Shikako, you're not even at one fifth your normal Chakra capacity, please take your own advice and let us take your weight for once."

"YOSH! It is not shameful to require the assistance of a teammate when not at full strength!"

She yawned again. and gave a sleepy smile before throwing her arm over my shoulder. "Fine, you're clingy when you're protective, Sasuke."

"I am not clingy, Shikako." I protested, reflexively checking over my shoulder for the rampaging monster known as the common fangirl. "Thank Kami Ino wasn't here to hear that." I set her down with her back to the trunk of an oak. The rest of the rookie nine approached soon after.

Ino immediately began to discuss something about earrings with Shikako, I wasn't interested, so I approached when Kiba, who was standing alongside the others, gestured for me to come over. "We're going hunting, Akamaru and I caught the scent of deer a mile or two back, and we thought we'd bring one back to celebrate these." He explained, plucking at the thick collar of the Chunnin soft body armor he was proudly wearing over his hoodie. "You want in?"

"Sure," I answered, looking back at 'Kako. "Who's going? We passing out jobs for those who aren't?"

The Hyuuga answered. "We've talked about it on our way here. Choji, Ino, Lee, and Hinata-sama will stay with Shikako and get everything set up. Choji and Kiba will cook whatever we bring back. You, myself, Tenten and Kiba will split into two teams and act as an ambush team and a find and chase team. Hinata-sama is informing Tsunade-sama and our sensei of the plan as we speak."

"One tracker per team? That's efficient. I assume Tenten will be performing the kill?" I asked.

Tenten nodded, "Yep, no better job for a girl with one hundred percent accuracy. Makes things simple. You, Kiba, and Neji will chase 'em right into me."

"We'll be back in two hours." Kiba boasted.

"Hold up, we need to talk." Kiba announced, after we had set Tenten up and we were almost in position.

The Hyuuga sighed. "I figured this was about something more than celebratory venison."

"If this about what happened to 'Kako, speak up. I'm listening. I want Kusa to burn." I agreed.

"It's about more than just Shikako-chan. This has been on my mind since Naruto got attacked by by your psycho brother, Sasuke." Kiba started.

"You're not the only one." I balled my fists at the reminder.

"The kidnapping attempt was just the final straw for me." Kiba continued. "This has gone on too long. First you get attacked by Orochimaru and he puts a freaky looking hickey of evil on your fucking neck, and he sends a squad out to kill you, which would have succeeded if Shikako hadn't turned your campsite into a death trap. Then I find out that shitty weasel and the Walking Death Sushi want Naruto dead. They want Gaara dead too don't they, for that thing he's got inside him. "

I nodded, "Yeah, they do."

Kiba was pacing in rage "That figures, it's probably why they want Naruto. Anyway, after that Orochimaru decides that giving you that thing of his, it's not enough, he wants to possess you. Now it's Shikako." Kiba pointed at Neji, "And don't think that Kumo trying to snag Hinata-chan when we were younger doesn't piss me off too."

"This is the most pissed off I've ever seen him."

"What's worse is that you know what's common in all of this? We lose, or we barely come out even. Capturing those Sound freaks was nice, but now you can't even leave the village. Why? Because some narcissistic, mad scientist with a kick for possessing other people wants your body."

I shuddered, "Thanks Kiba, now I get to have nightmares about Orochimaru leading the Fangirl charge in the race to claim me as 'theirs'."

"I want payback, I'm tired of my people getting hunted like rabbits, and not being able to do a Kami-be-damned thing about it!"

Neji gave Kiba a cautious look "You're talking about a non-sanctioned strike against a foreign country, I understand where you're coming from Kiba, and I agree with it. But I like not being a missing-nin and a traitor a lot more. Whatever you're suggesting can't go that far."

Kiba shook his head. "No nothing that drastic, and we don't want a war with a nation like Kumo, but if I'm on a mission and a Kusa nin crosses my path, he's dead, no excuses. It's too late with Kumo, but I'm with Sasuke, Kusa will bleed for this. And we'll train, and in three years when Jiraiya brings Naruto back and Itachi and his friends come for him, we'll be ready. They'll never know what hit them."

"Yes." "I'm with you Kiba, and Shikamaru will agree with you, I couldn't get him to stop hounding me after he put 'Kako-chan in the hospital, but Itachi is mine."