Shikamaru's POV

The situation was delicate. Shikamaru was commanding a team whose objective was to investigate a suspected case of possible political corruption in the nearby town of Shikouza. It was one of the closest towns to Konoha. Only a few kilometers separated them. And although it was much smaller and quiet, it was believed that some of its leaders were having secret dialogues with enemy cities. At least that was Tsunade's justification when she ordered Shikamaru to gather a team and go out to see if that was indeed the case. The Nara summoned his most trusted shinobis, that is, those who had been his academy companions, and whom he knew would most probably do as he commanded without question. Being a very young captain, many older shinobis didn't feel comfortable taking orders from him.

His team was made up of his best friends Choji and Ino, he also included Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Naruto, Tenten and Neji. It was a lot of people for a mission of espionage, but Shikamaru needed all of them for the plan he had carefully plotted in his head. The suspects were numerous as well and they could save time by investigating them simultaneously. Knowing that the primary objective of the mission was not to be discovered, he had filled his backpack with protective gear and camouflage seals, which he himself had prepared, after learning about them in Konoha's library.

With Shikamaru's plan in place the team managed to collect a lot of useful information. He separated them into small groups and guided them through wireless microphones. This enabled them to identify several of the suspects. After a couple of observations confirmed the place and time the enemies were meeting that night Shikamaru gave the order to return to the clearing where they were camping to prepare the next step. He would have preferred them to settle inside the town where they could have continued making inquiries by talking to the villagers, but with so many team members, they would have attracted too much attention.

Shikamaru distributed personal seals that were placed on the chest among the members of his team. When activated, the chakra signature of those who wore them was diminished. He knew that there was a high probability that they had sensory ninjas distributed around the meeting place, so he needed to keep that covered.

Once prepared and each knowing their role, they left.

The meeting would take place in an old training center that was currently used as a bureaucratic building. It was assumed that was where the finances were carried out, and land was assigned to the citizens that work in the village. As a loan, of course, because the land always belonged to the feudal lord. Shikamaru didn't like politics at all, because he found them unfair and stupid. That was why he had rejected so many proposals of big landowners to join their team of consultants. But that was the world in which he lived so he had to endure it.

Shikamaru had found a map of the old place sniffing around in the village library. It would have been suspicious to start making a copy by hand in front of other users, but he didn't need to. Shikamaru's memory reached an incredible level of detail, so much that sometimes it was overwhelming. He needed only to look once at any graphic or text to remember it exactly. In fact, he considered that probably 85% of his intelligence came from his eidetic memory. Most people didn't know about this ability though, and he preferred it that way. People tended to uplift some mechanisms of his mind too much, and he didn't like it at all.

They entered the compound through a crack in the ground dug by Kiba. Akamaru needed to stay and wait in the forest since his scent could have given them away. Once inside, they found themselves, as Shikamaru predicted, in an old gutter through which waterways used to flow. Now the rivers had been diverted, and the distribution of water was through another circuit. But this had left a very useful tunnel that surrounded much of the halls of the old construction.

The team began to walk, trusting the eyes of the two Byakugan users to know where there were people. When they found someone, they stopped and put small amplifying microphones on the walls that transmitted to the microphones in their ears. The sound quality wasn't great and there was a lot of interference, but they could hear most of the dialogue.

Shikamaru was concentrating on analyzing the conversation of two sullen adult men when a muffled expression of surprise came from behind him. He turned to see who had made the sound.

Hinata was staring at a point behind the wall with wide eyes and an expression of surprise.

He approached her and questioned her by moving his lips as if he were talking, but not doing so. -What?-, he modulated.

Hinata used the lowest voice her body allowed her to emit.

"A member of my clan has just arrived."

He certainly didn't expect that. At first Shikamaru thought she was confused, but a quick glance at the other Hyuga confirmed. Neji was glaring at the same place his cousin was looking, visibly clenching his fists at his side.

"Who?" Shikamaru asked again without sound.

"His name is Hisao, he's a very important Main House member," Hinata whispered.

This was weird. Really weird. Not only because he was from Konoha. He was someone from one of the oldest and most prestigious clans in the city. That a Hyūga was involved in a case of corruption could be complicated. Even if there was evidence against him they had so much power in the village that it would be extremely difficult to thoroughly investigate one of them. Shikamaru decided not to draw conclusions in advance. But that wasn't the only reason why the Hyūga's presence in that place didn't please him. Luckily, he had taken the precaution of decreasing their chakra emissions, but if the man decided for some reason to activate his Byakugan they were lost. This put them in an extremely vulnerable position. He shook the thoughts off and concentrated on the conversation that had just begun.

"Very punctual, Hisao. Did you bring the documents?"

Shikamaru listened as someone waved a bunch of papers.

"Of course, I have them. Can we start now?"

"The ambassador has not yet arrived, but let's move to a more comfortable place to wait for him."

Ambassador? This meeting was filling up with interesting characters. Shikamaru didn't know what the guy would be ambassador of, but what he had no doubt was that a person with that type of position should not frequent secret suspicious meetings.

"They're moving," Neji whispered, beginning to walk slowly, following the men. The rest of the team moved with him, following the same path as the suspects.

After about 50 meters, the Hyuga cousins stopped.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked Neji.

"They entered a room and have sat down. They appear to be waiting."

In the gloom of the tunnel, illuminated only by a lantern light held by Tenten, Shikamaru could see the features of the Hyūga boy. His frown was still puckered, and there was a certain air of threat in his stare which remained nailed to the wall. The Nara had no doubt that his eyes were fixed on the other Hyūga. His face was calm, however, demonstrating Neji's ability to control his emotions.

Shikamaru lowered his head to listen more intently to the shallow, halting conversation that the men on the other side of the wall were holding while they waited. As he did so, he caught sight of Neji's tight, clenched fists in the shadows. He evidently hated the guy.

Suddenly they heard a door opening, and someone else entered the room. Shikamaru moved closer to the wall and narrowed his eyes to concentrate on the conversation that was finally beginning. As far as he could tell from the words, it was the ambassador, although they had not yet clarified who he represented. Apparently, the man in question had managed to remove some important documents about the distribution of land in the province, and had the intention of replacing them with an altered version, to be able to introduce changes in the distribution. Apparently, Hisao's role had been to use his Byakugan to identify a random document in Konoha that possessed the signature of the feudal lord, and to steal it in order to copy the personal mark. In addition, he managed to get someone to create a false stamp identical to the one on the paper. Thus, allowing them to falsify official documents.

The situation was undoubtedly shady. From the coming and going of the talk, Shikamaru understood that the objective of the operation was to allocate more land to some villages considered allies under surveillance due to previous situations where they showed their disloyalty to the union of districts to which Konoha belonged. In exchange for this modification behind the fief back, the Ambassador and the Hyuga involved would receive financial incentives. Shikamaru considered the situation for a moment. It was probably an individual action from Hisao, since he had no evidence that the rest of his clan was involved. That was good, but it was still very likely that his family would use their influence to shield him from any consequences. No doubt going back to Konoha with this information would end up being very troublesome for him.

Shikamaru concluded that they had sufficient data, and that staying in the area would only increase the chances of being discovered by Hisao. He gestured to his team to have the microphones removed and turned off, and to go back the way they had come. Neji took a few seconds to follow them. He seemed to be trying to kill his superior with his eyes, but finally gave up and walked back to the group.

When they reached the clearing where they had camped, the debate began.

"Well, it looks like we have them!" Naruto spoke with confidence.

"Not so fast. We have no actual evidence of anything." Shikamaru replied.

"What? We just heard all their plan!"

"So what? Recording them was impossible because of the interference. Even if we go back to Konoha and relay all this to the Hokage, she will need us to confirm it in some way."

"That's ridiculous. She trusts our word."

"It's not a matter of trust, Naruto. It is a matter of procedure. In front of the council, no testimony is unbeatable if it can't be proven."

"But we know what we saw, right?" Tenten interjected. "We know the truth, we just have to find a way to prove it."

"Of course!" Kiba added. "Let's go back to Konoha and accuse that idiot Hyūga. It'll be easy to show that he is involved."

"Do not count on it." It was the voice of Neji, who came calm as always, but a little dry and resentful.

"And why not, your highness? It's very simple. We just follow him around a little 'till he does something incriminatory." Kiba replied with a mocking tone.

"You do not know the Hyuga clan. They will do the impossible to protect any member of the Main House. It does not matter how dirty the accusation is. Hisao is among the cruelest of them, and he aspires to be named to the central Hyūga council. They have covered him before, and they will do it again"

"But this doesn't make sense. If we get evidence, regardless of how powerful they are they can't prevent us from exposing them, right?" Ino said.

"I'm sorry, but I do not think any of you really understand what levels the influence of the Hyūga clan reaches."

Shikamaru did. He sure as hell did. He had read several books in the library about the formation of the city, and about the arrival of the first allied clans. The Hyuga were among the first, and in their eagerness to protect their prized ocular jutsu, they had committed many atrocities. One of the worst being the creation of the secondary branch and the cursed seal which, in Shikamaru's opinion, was one of the most twisted things he had ever heard about in his life.

While the discussion continued, Shikamaru stood in silence, his gaze fixed on an invisible point, analyzing the information he had. He would cling to the idea that these acts were the individual will of Hisao. He had no concrete indications to confirm any more of the clan was involved, and the scenario that this would imply would be much more troublesome. On the way back, he would ask Neji and Hinata if they thought Hiashi was aware of the situation. If they said no, he would inform the Hokage of the events and propose that he be summoned to a private meeting to discuss it with him. If Tsunade-sama didn't order him to investigate further, she would take the matter into her hands and the problem would be over for him.

"What should we do, Shikamaru?" Choji's reassuring and appeasing voice came between the discussion. Everyone was silent and looked at him Waiting for his guidance.

He opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by Neji.

"Stop. Someone is approaching."

"What?!" Sakura asked.

"I feel multiple chakra signatures approaching us." He said this while activating his Byakugan. Seconds later his already light skin got even more paler.

"It's Hisao and two other men. One was in the meeting, the other has his face covered by a hood."

"They are going to pass directly in front of us." Hinata had activated her Kekkei Genkai too.

"How far are they?" Shikamaru asked as his mind jumped into action.

"About seventy meters." Neji answered.

"If we try to run away now they can hear us. And if we stay, they will see us." Ino panicked.

It was true. The vegetation was not very thick in the area, and there were too many of them. They still had the seals that decreased their chakra emissions, but that wouldn't work if the enemy saw them directly.

Shikamaru took out his backpack, opened it and pulled out a roll of paper, a brush and an ink jar. He walked a few steps and place the roll on the ground unwrapping about 90 centimeters. He hastened to write some words with the brush, and when he finished he put his hands together and spoke a few words.

The air around them seemed to tremble as if it were a gelatinous mass.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked.

"It will keep us invisible in a range of 4 meters for 20 minutes, as long as no one crosses the seal. So stay behind it and keep silent until they pass."

But they didn't pass. They reached the clearing where the group was concentrated at one end, and they stopped.

"Let's stop here for a moment." Hisao said.

They didn't seem to have noticed their presence. A space of approximately three meters separated them. They could see and hear them perfectly. If everything went well, they would leave in less than 20 minutes without discovering them. Maybe they would even get a little more information. But they could not make any sound.

"Why have you brought this kid, Hisao?" asked the man who was at the meeting.

"I needed help to bring the money. You know that an operation like this presupposes convincing many supervisors. And a lot of money means a lot of weight."

"So it cost you a lot of money?

"It's an investment. In short time it will return multiplied."

Both men smiled with satisfaction.

"And why did we stop to rest? You aren't carrying anything now."

Hisao laughed at the thought that he might be tired.

"We are not going to rest. Come here, boy."

He gestured to the hooded person to come closer. The figure hesitated long before taking the first fearful steps towards the man.

"Make haste! We don't have all day."

When the stranger reached him, Hisao pulled out his hood, revealing the terrified face of another Hyūga. He couldn't have been more than 20 years old.

Shikamaru turned his face slightly to look at Neji and Hinata. By their expressions they seemed to know him. They both watched the scene with their eyes wide open.

"Take off your Hitai-ate."

"Master, please. I will not say anything."

"Come on, Hiro, let's not make a scene."

"No, sir, I beg of you! I will not tell it. I swear." The young man began to cry. He started to tremble as if the temperature had turned polar.

A chill ran down Shikamaru's spine and his stomach contracted. That boy surely had the cursed seal. And Hisao was going to use it to kill him.

Some of his teammates had not arrived at this conclusion, but Shikamaru's mind was already analyzing his possibilities. If they tried to save the boy, they would have to face the two men. They could probably win, but if this guy was willing to kill a Branch House member, nothing would stop him from trying to kill Neji too. And since the weapon to do it was graven directly on the boy's forehead, the chances of the older Hyūga activating it were too high. They let one person die, or two probably would.

Hisao had taken off the young man's Hitai-tie and thrown it unceremoniously aside. Then he put one of his hands on the kid's forehead.

"Shhh," he whispered. "You did well."

"No, please, don't!" Hiro cried inconsolably. Shikamaru didn't ask himself why he wasn't running, because he knew that many seals could be activated at certain distances. The boy knew he had no chance against the seal inscribed on his forehead.

The Nara noticed a movement to his left, and saw the startled face of Naruto, who had just understood the situation, and Shikamaru knew that he would try to intervene. He couldn't allow it, he couldn't put Neji's life in danger too.

With no need to use his hands, he extended two shadows tentacles and grabbed Naruto before he could move. The blond boy was about to throw an insult to him, but when he looked at Shikamaru to do so, the Nara shook his head vehemently and pointed at Neji, who was a few steps behind him. When Naruto looked at him, he seemed to understand. He relaxed his body and closed his eyes, still unable to believe that they were going to let an innocent man die. But he would have felt worse if he had to bear the guilt over the death of a friend.

A cry of panic caught Shikamaru's attention, and he turned his head to the scene in front of them. Hisao had begun to utter the words that would activate the cursed seal.

Shikamaru turned his face again, this time to look at Neji. What he saw filled him with grief, and at the same, it time put him on alert. The young Hyuga's eyes were fixed on Hiro's forehead, more open than ever. He was shaking from head to toe, already totally unaware that his teammates could see him. There was no way someone could hide a fear like the one he would be feeling at this moment.

When the cries of pain began to fill the clearing, Neji closed his eyes and lowered his head. His fists were clenched on the sides of his body. Shikamaru could still see his face, and it looked like he was about to scream too.

He had to do something or Neji would reveal them, digging his own grave. He started walking towards the boy, as slow as he could to make no sound on the grass. He stopped right in front of Neji, covering his vision. He placed himself only a few centimeters away.

Neji slowly raised his head and looked at him, perhaps hoping he would offer some solution. Shikamaru didn't have one, but he had to try so that despite the terrible situation, Neji wouldn't lose sense of where they were and understand that he had to keep silent.

The Nara raised a hand and placed his index finger on his lips. Neji nodded, but when a new round of screaming broke the silence of the forest, tears began to flow from his eyes, and he seemed about to sob. Shikamaru quickly turned his hand and covered Neji's mouth with his palm. But the poor boy still seemed about to collapse.

Around them, their friends looked at each other with anguish and impotence. No one was watching the scene anymore, it was too strong. Hinata started crying silently and covered her ears. Many of them closed their eyes. They couldn't not hear, but least they weren't going to watch.

Shikamaru felt Neji shaking violently, and put his other hand on his back to bring them closer together. He placed his lips over the boy's ear and whispered:

"Shhh…"

He felt Neji's tears wetting the palm of his hand. Never in his life had he seen him cry. In fact, he was sure that none of those present had. And it was quite disturbing.

A longer, heartbreaking scream erupted, and Neji's fingers dug into the sides of Shikamaru's thighs. The Nara clenched his teeth to contain the sudden pain. Now he would also have to worry about not shouting himself. Hoping it would cushion the sound a little, Shikamaru turned Neji's head to placed one of his ears against his chest, while still covering his mouth. With the other hand he covered his other ear.

Neji dug his fingers deeper and pressed hard against Shikamaru's chest. He was probably thinking that this young man, who was dying ahead of him, could easily be him. And that probably made him feel like he was.

The screams ceased slowly. Shikamaru turned his head a little to see. He saw Hiro's body lying on the ground with a hole in his empty head, spread over a pool of blood. Shikamaru knew how the cursed seal worked. To protect the Byakugan, the seal not only melted the eyes, but also most of the brain so that its remains could not be studied.

"Ok, let's go." Hisao said when finishing his task.

"Won't you have problems if we leave the body here?"

"Nobody will recognize it. It's another of the advantages of the seal. Not only does it protect the Byakugan, it also prevents the corpse from being identified with the naked eye. Besides, today it will rain and this whole area will flood, as it always does. The water will take the body and no one will never find it. Trust me."

Hearing him speak like that about the cursed seal, as if it were the best invention of mankind instead of an unjust and sadistic weapon, made Shikamaru's blood boil in his veins. On his chest, Neji still shivered and held back his crying as much as he could.

After Hisao changed his coat for another one, since the one he was wearing had been spattered with blood, the two men left. When he was sure they had gotten far enough away, Shikamaru pulled his hands from Neji's head and placed them immediately on the fingers digging into his thighs. He separated the Hyūga's hands from his legs and held them for a moment, stepping back a little to see his face. His eyes were still closed and he was crying silently.

"Oh, Kami. That was horrible." Sakura exclaimed, drying the tears she had also shed.

As soon as those words broke the silence, Neji fell to his knees on the grass. He closed his fists tightly on the lawn and lowered his head, breathing hard. Obviously still quite shaken.

"Neji!" Tenten shouted, as she ran to his side. She put an arm around him and tried to comfort him.

Hinata approached them and knelt too, crying with her hands joined.

Shikamaru turned once more and looked at the body again. There were different things on his mind: a feeling of hatred for the older Hyuga, frustration for not being able to intervene, a heartbreaking guilt for letting the boy die, uncertainty about how to handle things next. And the salty smell of Neji's tears on his hand.

Well, this is my first Fic. Sorry if it's not very well written. English is not my first language. I accept any correction! You will also see that I use the metric system, I hope it's not too confusing. I already wrote 13 chapters of this Story. If you like the first one, I will happily upload the others.

All the characters belong to the Naruto series.

I'm reposting this chapter thanks to the great help of a kind reader who offered to smooth my english from its many mistakes to make reading more pleasant for all of you! Thanks to the incredible collaboration of MirandaZ