Chapter 12 – Caught Unawares (p1)

The bird of prey navigated the torrents of the canyon's winds with expert grace, keen eye on a constant lookout for prey and threats alike.

Recent times have been lean. Hunger was ever on what little a mind the creature had, but of late that limited space was filled with more and more desperation. There used to be plenty of small animals and fish to snatch, and the passing of the featherless giants usually left behind a veritable feast.
That changed, and venturing even this close was a danger in and of itself.

These new ones were different. More of them had hard, shiny skin, threw rocks at the majestic, true masters of the cliffs. They did less hunting and fishing, so they left behind much fewer remains, but they watched the river and forests with a hunger similar to the avians, depriving them of their hunt.

The giants had always burrowed, their stone nest a known presence for untold generations, but after all the noise and the banging, the fires and the fight it became all different. Far less people on the odd, orderly rows of plants they used to favour, more in their flocks and pouncing on their own kind.
The bird did not comprehend much of this, merely the hunger, the danger, and the desperation pushing it to daring.

The hunter flew, water rushing below it, when it spotted the signs. Flashes, quick movements, signs of the giants battling again, on those branch-stuff floating nests going up and down the river. Instinct told the creature to wait it out, circle patiently. But hunger sharpened even the best eyes, and it spotted the key detail: fish! Laid out, forgotten in the scuffle!

A lifetime of experience drew the bird's plummet, at just the right angle, just the right speed, faster, faster, talons rea-

It was then that a stray kunai caught the poor thing in a puff of feathers and a surprised squawk.

The thing about natural selection, however cruel, was that if you approached a battle of shinobi carelessly, it inevitably happened to you.

Catch the enemy blade just the right way. Unlike a kunai, the tanto has a guard, so don't spare it!
Metal slides on metal, the sensation of a quick halt numbs the fingers.

Practice makes perfect, they say. It certainly burns responses into the muscle memory, if done right. Naruto's technique was far from perfect, as such things don't come quickly, but as with hand to hand fighting, the bad habits were slowly weeded out. Actual life and death use of the new weapon was a better teacher than anything from the Academy, or even Kakashi-sensei himself. Just like before with Hinata, lessons learned but never truly felt clicked into place as fuzzy theory was replaced by rock solid experience.

It was important not to yield to the temptations to flourish or make big plays with the blade while you had no true mastery, so keep it simple, keep it smart. Bladed weapons have a noble air around them, but don't let that get to your head. You are not a swordsman, but a shinobi, no matter the weapon at hand.
The bandit shifted stance for a big struggle of blades, thus making ample room for an effective knee to the stomach. A balance thus disturbed was distraction enough to get some chakra in one's arms, smack the dull edge of the enemy's sword into his face, and deliver a kick that sent him tumbling off deck.

Naruto knew he'd have to come up with some stellar way of thanking Kakashi-sensei all the instructions, but still he felt like he was missing something. Fighting Sensei's way was effective and quick, but even as the mission pushed him to the bare necessities of fighting, on some level he still longed to make it all be a bit more than that. This was the cool and effective stuff he'd dreamt of learning, yet now it just didn't seem to sit right with him.

He wished he had the luxury of switching it up a bit, but there seemed to be less and less room for that sort of thing. Already he was losing count of the bandits he personally fought to chase off, and that was without the clones. Besides the occasional better trained opponent, most bandits were simply tough and by the looks of it a bit crazy, relatively easily to fend off, but they added up - if most people felt that way about having to fight his clones, he could understand why they tended to get annoyed with him.

As he trained he'd gained a sense of what he lacked before, how far he's come and what laid yet ahead, but it was now that he was truly feeling it.
Missions were more than the brief battles everyone ended up hearing about, and if you were in charge of them especially, they taxed you well beyond the physical as well. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if not for the extensive training - and whereas gaining power and knowledge has made him happy and proud before, the extent to which he now had to rely on his new skills just to keep it all together, well, it was getting a bit intimidating.

The familiar sound of a horn signalling retreat, he'd have to admit, was a relief to him...

"Watch out! Archers on the cliffs!" The otherwise gentle and soft female voice sounding the warning was hoarse with fatigue and the tension, the very same sort burdening him.

...and now that he listened, the horn did sound different, sounding retreat for one, but with a new flourish, similar to the previous advance.

He didn't have to puzzle out its meaning: figures appeared from the outcroppings, cave exits and crannies of the stone walls surrounding them, and began raining arrows down.

"Drat!" Naruto grunted. Even his reserves were getting pushed, so he could hardly begin to imagine how everyone else was still standing upright. "Get to cover!" His orders ended in an undignified leap away from the exposed position and an arrow coming dangerously close. He had to catch his breath again, try to keep his head down and make sure everyone else was safe as well.

His own voice too was something he barely recognised, desperate, tired. The mission had given him odd, comforting little moments he wouldn't trade away for the world, yet he had just about enough of the dangers all around, the worries, the damn canyon.

He didn't even need to be in an ambush to feel the stone walls close in on him, constantly get chills as if he was surrounded and watched.

Familiar hand signs, a new effort to spend his reserves just right, and a dozen copies of himself popped into existence. They took expert, if likewise careful positions and matched arrows with upward shuriken, buying the team and him a moment to think.

This was no more a C-ranker than he was a bookworm, that one was for sure.
The third attack in a week, not counting the initial breakthrough and the patrols they did avoid? The other merchant ship they've seen attacked, guards disabled and vessel looted before they could so much as get there to help?
Someone had big plans for this glorified bunch of rocks, enough that they amassed resources enough that none of their neighbours have taken them down yet, in a time short enough for the Leaf not to notice either.

Oh, how easy it would be to quit the mission now, keeping his people safe - technically. He'd gladly take on Granny yelling his head off in case he was wrong.
But here and now in this watery maze the Barge was the sole known, safe point, almost a floating base. Braving a way back home without a guide, however shady, was likewise a worse option than bracing the riskier and riskier waters, desperately searching for a way around.

So for now, they were stuck with the mission. They were on unknown terrain, had a dangerous ex-samurai leading a band of outlaws for an enemy, who had the gall to never even show his face after their fight, preferring to harass them with troops, deny them rest and the direct routes, no doubt planning some big impressive ambush to finish them off.

Conditions like this, having to crack the enemy's plan, not his head, was probably just the type of stuff that would make Shikamaru drool.
Without him around, Naruto was left with a handful of lessons at planning, what little experience he had, and an ever-growing headache from trying to think his way out of the situation. How...

"...troublesome." Naruto groaned. "Oh, for crying out loud, I even started talking like that guy!"
He knew he wasn't as stupid as everyone told him, even figured out most of the direct problems, but a real counter-strategy? Not his speciality, to say the least.

How was he supposed to get the mission done, when it was something you'd need a Jounin for, while also keeping his people safe?
Why didn't they cover situations like this with Sensei more?
Was he really cut out to be a chuunin, if the answers weren't evident?

He barely had time to begin process the question when that familiar voice sounded again, barely understandable, yelling out directions they were being attacked from.
It wasn't even directed at him, but hearing it had the oddest of effects on him, something he couldn't really name. Hope, worry, encouragement and a sense of direction and dedication flooded his mind.

The sudden sensation was like being brought up from underwater. What the hell was he doing? He'd sworn never to be afraid again! The battle still raged on, and he just sat there thinking and feeling sorry for himself? Some defence of his people that was!

He shook his head, got himself a clearer picture of the fight.

Sasuke was showing off as usual; a familiar, copied move with launching shuriken directly from the scroll matching many an arrow.
Kiba tried keeping up the old fashioned way next to Shino who, probably out of range for his insects, contended himself with supplying his friend with armaments to throw.
And for once none of these nor Naruto himself were the most notable presences on the battlefield.

"COME ON, YOU BASTARDS! HA! YOU COULDN'T HIT THE MONUMENTS WITH AIM LIKE THAT, BLIND SONS OF-"
Sakura seemed to enjoy letting her hair and usual mannerisms down. While she was at it, she also let off a hell of a lot of projectiles with gusto, zeal, and Hinata acting as her spotter.

Watching all that, Naruto felt the grin find its way back to his face. He's yelled at so many people not to underestimate him, he had no right to do the same of those he was to protect. Yeah, so maybe he wouldn't always get to have fun storming someone else's defences, sometimes he'd be the one having to worry. He was already getting some ideas about that. But more importantly, he was wrong to let it get to him, deprive him of fun, of cheer and spirit. He was to lead, not orde people around, nowhere as well as the smartass type.

This mission was much too dangerous for them, and they were stuck with it for now.
But that did not mean he couldn't enjoy himself, couldn't try and spark it up in the team too.

Getting out of cover, charging right to the top of the control cabin while yelling encouragements at the top of his lungs, all the while hurling weaponry at the archers; it all was certainly a dumb, if bold move.
Sending wind blasts at the weaker-looking sections of the cliffs was dangerous if the small shower of pebbles was indication, but it did a hell of a job at scaring the enemy.
Finally, smacking his bottom in a silly attempt to mock and goad the archers was downright childish.

But damn, did he need to do something stupid for his health!
He was cooped up, not just on the ship in perpetual defence but in a mental rut, and he knew only one way of alleviating that. Fun! He was being ridiculous and he knew it, but unlike his pranks back home that mostly just annoyed people, here they seemed to bring a breath of fresh air to the defending crew.

Kiba shook his head, but even as he did so desperation was replaced with the fires of competitiveness against Naruto and Sasuke. The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes but seemed more energetic, and even though probably embarrassed at some of his antics, Hinata gave him a proud look that made him feel like it was all worth it.

For the first time since they entered the canyons, Naruto was feeling like he knew what he was doing, even if that was going against all reason. He was used to that, at least.

That little bit of spirit and the small comfort under attack was more than anyone inexperienced would give it credit. It was enough that the mind wandered to the endless drilling by Kakashi-sensei, and before Naruto knew it, he was yelling out actual orders, without feeling like an out of place bore.

"Good! Cover each other's angles, I want that cliff to look like a pincushion! We're not fighting one on one but as a shooting match, so act like it!" He roared at the team, the advice and ideas finally coming to him, his teacher's tireless seeding finally beginning to sprout.

One needed only to consider Team Seven to realise shinobi tended to fight individually, they were not soldiery. But against an organised unit in a fight like this, they needed someone with the guts and the lungs to yell at them, herd all those cats right at the enemy.
Perhaps it sounded silly, but it made a world of difference.

"Kiba, aim higher, this isn't the range! You can do more than that! Sasuke, ya bastard, you too! I bet if Tenten used that move she'd be better at it! Yeah? Well, prove it, they're right there!" Trying to keep everyone focused, and maybe annoy them just a bit to spur them on. He could do this! "Hinata! Sakura-chan! Uh, actually you're doing great, keep at it!"
Maybe throw in a good note like that every now and again, partly because someone that accurate (did she just get someone on the cliff right in the- ow, yes she did) was not someone you'd want to annoy too much.

Maybe his leadership style and all that stuff the Jounin were nailing into his head would come to him on their own. Certainly he was having more fun right now than he has in any of the fights over the last week. He'd have to believe in them, try his best, and drive the others to do so too. Speaking of which, he turned to the only member of the team still in cover.
"Shino! I know about your bugs and all, but could you..."

"With all due respect, chuunin, instructions are not necessary." The familiar monotone was not as downcast as he'd feared it would be, the genin even stood up and casually walked out from cover. He was still paler than usual, but his shades flashed with confidence. "Why? Because I have made my move several minutes ago. Observe."

The Aburame pointed towards one of the largest, most dangerous outcroppings, brimming with archers.

At just the right moment, under the right circumstances even the quietest, most easily overlooked of people can grab your attention and command it. This was one of those.
Naruto and the rest of the team couldn't help but follow where he pointed.

The first to spot it was Sasuke, and a fireball he's been nursing, searing and huge, collapsed in his mouth, leading to watery eyes and a very smokey cough full of surprise.
"When did you-?" He asked amidst coughing up soot and small black clouds.

"Are those what I think?" Naruto too finally spotted them, unsure if he should believe his eyes.

"Shino, how many have you let out?" Kiba sounded more worried than anything.

"Enough." Shino readjusted his glasses, and peered upwards. Stoic or not, he has expended much too much of himself not to enjoy the sight of his technique bearing fruit.

Hundreds, thousands of tiny creatures marched upward on the stones, unrelenting in their goal. Like an army they coordinated themselves, changed formations. By the time anyone above had any idea of what was going on, too many made it up to the plateau for anyone to dare stop them.
And like an army, the insects charged ahead with a terrifying unity.

The erupting screams marked for all intents and purposes the end of the battle. Even soldiers, bandits brave enough to fight shinobi didn't have it in them to face the swarm, not after seeing what happened to the first poor sod not to keep his distance.
Blasts of wind or fire were one thing, but a swarm spoke to something much older in humans, spelling out severe Bad News.

Anyone on the cliff with any brains legged it as fast as they could.

"Ha! Good going, Shino!" The battle seemingly over and with enemies now truly routing, Naruto allowed himself the luxury of impulsiveness, jumping back down to the main deck, and giving a good smack in the back to the man of the hour. Said man nearly fell over, but skillfully turned it into a passable slumping down on the deck.

"Just sit down, and make sure to call all your bugs back, okay?" Naruto continued, and Shino wondered if the chuunin noticed what the maneuver took out of him. These days the blond shinobi was getting less and less blatantly obvious. As he turned around and waved the team over, there was the same energy, and he seemed to have recovered his enthusiasm as well, the insect user observed. "Have something to eat, all of you. After that, Kiba, I want you to check for any damage, Sakura should take stock of the weapons we have and Sasuke, I'll need you to-"

"Tch! The fight is over, no need for you to keep up the act." The Uchiha has, with some difficulty, adjusted to taking orders from his would-be rival but that had its limits. The rest of the team had been focused on the difficulties of the mission, but for him it was full of new, fruitful discoveries.

He had forgotten how much a difference the mark made, how much he instinctively refrained from using his own chakra lest it be a step too far. Back in Konoha, even the worst of training was just that, but here in these numbers, even bandits could push you. Naruto had demanded he set fire to some ridiculous things, and he'd done each without much difficulty.

Time after time a task came that demanded his chakra, needed him to stretch his resources, and he was astonished to find them where they have been before the Exam.
It was liberating the same way one realises he can stretch and breathe easy again after a broken rib finally heals. The meditations to ward off the blasted thing had worked!
Once more he felt real strength, one his own!

Aburame of all people cost him the opportunity to test it, and he wasn't so drunk on it as to forget the diligence it demanded of him with the rituals. But his work and dedication to it, however silly it seemed, was paying off, and the last thing he wanted to do with that was let some basic grunt work consume it.
Strange as it was, right now all he wished for was more than the occasional flash of the old Naruto, one who didn't spend a month with Kakashi, having his head unscrewed. Sasuke had dreaded how his leadership would be, but their masked teacher left even Naruto a bit more methodical, sensible - annoyingly less likely to produce orders that would test Sasuke's skills and re-established limits in reckless battle.

"I have better things to do than play around until the next fight starts." He dismissed whatever task would fall on him, and walked off towards their cabin.

"Oh? Ya tired? Wanna brood someone upstaged ya?" Naruto clearly put a lot of effort into producing the most insufferable grin he's shown yet. Which, in its own way, was a good sign. "That sort of thing never worked out for me."

Sasuke hesitated. If the chuunin was finally finding his legs again, becoming comfortable enough to bicker like when they were genin, it was worth listening to him for a few seconds more.
"If you ever get anywhere near a point, Dead Last, I suggest you make it."

"Want my point? Well, here it is: I got responsibilities now, and that includes hopin' you're not really as much an asshole as I think you are."
There seemed to be an odd weight behind the chuunin's words. Far less experience, and nowhere near as bitter, but for once he wasn't emulating Kakashi and calling it leadership, but exercising his own, with his teacher having rubbed off on him a little.

"And if one thing you're not, it's lazy." He continued. "So I'm thinking you want a fight, get better, steal people's techniques with that Sharingan of yours. Tough luck, this is a mission to keep this ship safe. Thing is, I actually agree with you, even if for different reasons than you uppity bastard cooked up."

"Don't pretend you can understand Sasuke-kun!" Their pink-haired teammate tried to get between the rivals, cutting off their glare, but couldn't resist turning to chide the chuunin. "But you have an idea, I take it?"

"Nope! Well, sort of."Naruto's awkward laugh dispelled much of the tension, thankfully. "What I'm gonna have is a chat with the captain, and by the end I should have something hammered out to make your day, if you're looking for a fight."
He turned back to Sasuke. "So, if you want something more than to brood, get yourself ready. The wise, considerate and thoughtful a leader I am, I might just take you along!"

Sasuke shrugged, but had a hard time hiding a faint grin of his own. After the last week, it was good to see his old teammate surface again, insufferable as Dead Last was, happy to act up and order him around as if it was not completely ridiculous. And ridiculous was something he'd almost missed.
So for now, he decided to indulge the damn idiot.

"Oh no you don't, not like that!" The authoritative demand was eerily familiar, even if it came from a different source than back at the hospital. "You two want to go off for some big, stupid idea? Good! But you are not leaving me behind, you hear me?!"

And if it meant also tolerating Sakura tagging along, well, he could live with that too.
Naruto seemed to reach the same conclusion, stroking his chin.

"Well, I guess we could make it like the old missions. Except, uh, without Sensei. And Hinata and the rest watching over the ship…" he seemed strangely deflated for a moment, as if he was caught off guard somehow, but bounced back quickly " … oh well. Now then, I am off to see a man about a plan!"

He raced off downstairs, with the rest of the team preparing for whatever was to come.

The heart of the Barge was far more complicated a contraption than anything else on the ship. Genius went into hooking up shafts and gears to the thing in just the right way, but what made everything else tick – and hiss, groan, occasionally screech – was unparalleled.

Such an extraordinary thing had extraordinary demands, especially when it was pushed like this: instead of the even, fast output the Kettle was tortured in the slow, stealthy approach forcing its power to pull the heavy vessel without momentum. As such it needed looking after.

And what a work that was! All captains insisted their ships all had personalities, perhaps a soul, even, but with the fuss this thing was making, the care it needed, most would concede this captain before all else could make the claim.
The creaks and noises all over the ship wasn't an infestation of rats or other creatures, but of steel and gears, the unexplainable not due to boredom and spirits of the liquid kind but driving the ship better than any winds or arms could.

Tending to a thing that complicated, then, was indeed not just maintenance but intimate reconciliation, soothing the misused machine.
Consequently when the kids' leader barged in with the briefest knock on the door, a visible cringe was a rather kind reaction, all things considered.

"Bah! What do you want?" The captain barked at the intruder.

"Becoming Hokage would be nice" the kid answered happily, evidently unaware of his offence "but I came to have a conversation. An honest one for a change."

There was the simple honesty of someone so young, but something broke the camel's back: the captain watched the inexperienced chuunin begin to crumble under pressure over the last week, but now, he seemed to have come out stronger at the other end.

Strong enough for an honest conversation, perhaps.

"Well, in my experience officers in any group tend to get their way. So be it. But honesty is a two way street, my young friend." He rose from his ministrations of the engine. "And you are the one asking, so you begin the rounds of honesty here. You can begin by telling me why the white-eyed little chit and you have been digging through my cargo."

"You saw us?" Poker was clearly not the young one's game.
One could read the surprise, maybe a bit of guilt of sorts, then following right after the confusion and embarrassment of having confirmed the suspicion by the answer.

"'Saw' ain't the right word. You ninja folk are pretty damned good, but then so are we captains. And stop sweating, I know about the Uchiha too. First the girl, then you two, and then you and the uppity little fireball-spitter. My guess is she spotted something, showed ya, then he confirmed it."
The captain settled down on a bench, beckoned Naruto to do the same.

"Now, you don't seem like the thieving sort, and besides, you passed by some real pricey stuff without the same excitement." He continued. "You are from the Village Hidden Up Your Own Righteous Backsides, though, so I thought it'd be something to do with smuggling, but it ain't that neither. An' I saw you stare real intently at the wreck the bastards robbed."

A large hand disappeared in a vest pocket, to return with a flask. A small swig and the man went on.
"So, I'm gonna make it real simple. You've no obligation to tell me. We can both keep quiet until we reach port – somehow – and part ways." Another swig. The boy was intimidated, of course, but there was this feeling of fellowship the captain hadn't felt in ages. "Or we can keep talkin'. Honestly, like ya said. Besides, I've a right to know, and you know that."

The chuunin sighed, nervously righted his vest. There was a moment of silence, but then…
"Oh, to hell with it. Granny's gonna kill me, but it's not like you haven't picked it up anyway." The kid grinned – and unusually for people who smiled at the captain, it was with his eyes too, like he wasn't some gigantic, frightening freak show. "Yeah, she sent us to protect ya, but not just from bandits and the like. Someone's been using smugglers to get shady stuff across borders, without even their knowing. Most of that's need to know, though, and even I don't. So that actually covers most of what I can tell you, y'know."

"Bloody Lady's hellfire." The captain commented, wishing he was somewhere he could spit. "Shady shinobi bullshit, just what my life needed. One side coulda just hired me, the other coulda been honest, but noooo. So the stuff you've been buzzing about…"

"All have some nasty liquid metal hidden in, or through them. Everything from hollow gold bricks to complicated summons I've no idea how Hinata managed to spot – but then she's really amazing, y'know." The kid brightened up for a moment, but shook his head and trained a bright pair of azure eyes at the ship's master. "But you said we'd be honest, and it's my turn. Do you really see a way we could get around that damned place, the patrols and the watchtowers?"

Ah, there it was, the dreaded question. The maps, the knowledge, even some scouting from the twerps, and it was down to it.

"If there'd been more rains, the waters were higher… or if we were a lot lighter, maybe I'd know a few more routes, yeah. As is, we're in trouble." The answer came finally, as much to the merchant himself as the chuunin. "'Specially because if I have it right, you're about to do something really dumb, aren't you?"

The kid's laugh was a reminder of far more fun times. He was playing it tough, pressured as hell, but underneath it, one could still see the kid practically shaking to just be outside the walls.

"Hehehe, maybe. If Granny's gonna yell at me anyway, might as well give her a lot to go on, y'know?" The light, cheery expression didn't fade, exactly, but suddenly seemed to take back-stage to the considerations of command. Quieter, the kid continued. "But here's the thing. It really is stupid. Or risky anyway. So if you know any other routes on the river…"

The captain just shook his head.

"… then I gotta make a decision. It's about taking a risk to reduce another and so on, straight out of my lessons. And ya know what? It's plain not worth it, beyond what we're actually supposed to do." The height and age difference seemed to disappear for a moment, differences set aside; right now, fleeting, the engine room had just two men discussing a hard truth. "To order everyone else into danger, I gotta make sure there's a proper reason for that, and a mission like this isn't enough."

The awkward silence deepened as the captain took another swig, the chuunin inspected a tool to give himself something else to do.

"Now that being said" the chuunin continued "if there was reason, if we became safer because of that risk, that would make all the difference. And say what you will about obligations, there was a whole bunch of stuff you could have warned us about but didn't, for who knows what reason. So you gotta make up for that, there's gonna be a pricetag."

"Greed, then? That's a language I can speak." The captain made a face. And hoped the kid really just wanted money.

"Oh, I don't want money, know better. Like I said, it's to make sure my people are safer than they were before I put their skin on the line."

" What do you want, then?" Eyes well used to haggling for coin scanned the young face for telltale signs far too late.

"An honest answer to a question when we get back." The blue eyes were alive with a fire, the sort the captain remembered once having.

The captain thought for a second, then relented.
"Done. But I better not regret this, brat!"

They shook hands on that.
There was much left to work out.

Vertigo grips even the best trained of shinobi, but the trick is to keep moving too fast for it to catch up to you. Or so the Academy always insisted. Then again they had also given some clear expectations of the ninja life ahead, and the last few months have taught Sakura that most of them didn't actually apply.

It really was supposed to be so much simpler! She couldn't help but tell herself. Do a few years as a genin, learn the ropes, get better and advance, hopefully before most of the so called elites.

The door slid open noiselessly, a small payoff for the days she had to spend getting the basic, introductory noise-muffling technique just right. In less time than it took to blink the two shinobi scanned the contents of the room, and before the occupant had time enough to react, she was already vaulting over the table while Sasuke secured the exit behind them.
If they were too quick for the average non-chakra-using bandit, hardened by years of hard fighting to properly react to, this poor fellow hardly stood a chance. But the training of the past month was quick to remind her to scrub out that stray thought. It was best not to think of their victim in those terms.

So where was she? Oh right, ruminations on the way things ought to have happened.
Yeah, like making sure those 'oh I'm soo special' clan elites would get a nice serving of humble pie! And in doing so impressing and getting together with Sasuke, then rubbing it in Ino's dumb, pig-like, blonde pretty girl face!

Her target barely began scurrying, picking up a knife, and if not for her twisting it out of sausage-like fingers, he would have cut himself badly as he slipped on a stray scroll.

And there was still room to do all that. It's better to look at all the things that have gone well! She reminded herself in what she could only think of as the more sober mental tone, quickly righting the fall of an adult by the looks of it six times her weight and four times her age. I've been slotted on the same team as Sasuke, we had some real bonding together, adventures and experience well beyond what most genin get! And look at it! Here we are now, just the two of us…

She propped up the chair with her foot, and used chakra to counteract the sheer difference in size and basic body strength to shove the guy into it.
Sasuke approached calmly and fixed one richly decorated robe sleeve to the chair's arm with a kunai, she held another arm behind a massive, sweaty back and held their victim's own knife against the soft series of chins he'd call his throat.

Damn right! I bet Sasuke liked that! Self-satisfaction came back at the successful manoeuvre. Screw the expectations or the mission ranking, I can do this! Of course, no thanks to that lazy deadbeat of a sensei whose only help since the tree climbing was to fetch me someone who would actually teach me something! Or that dumbass who got made chuunin, trusted us with half of the job and went off to have all the fun fighting!

"Greetings." Sasuke's neutral tone was the first real noise made in the room over the last few seconds. "You have some information that you will surrender to us. How that will be done is your choice."

Relieved that Sasuke showed the simple, professional method of interrogation straight out of the Academy, with no sign of the darker aura that sometime still showed up in a nightmare, Sakura was relaxed enough to continue her earlier train of thought.

Well, I want to be fair to my sensei, don't I? She felt like chiding herself for the earlier thought. He had no more an idea things would go this way than anyone else, and we barely began operating a team as is. I'm sure in time he would help me, him getting Kurenai-sensei's help was the single most interesting thing I experienced so far, and against that monster with the sand ability, of course he would prioritise Sasuke-kun's training. And even Naruto did that for our and the mission's benefit.

She let the unravelling interrogation become a background noise, looked over all the papers, letters and scrolls scattered about. Soon enough it'd be her job to skim them over.

I do wonder why doesn't Sasuke-kun just use his Sharingan to induce hypnosis. She allowed herself the small doubt and wonder, but a new thought, smelling opportunity came barging in. But never mind that! He probably just doesn't want to let the enemy know what they are up against, if the fights hadn't yet given it away. More importantly it means it's down to little ol' Sakura to make the difference, use the damn jutsu from the scroll on something more than that frightened animal at port!

"Come on, you little shit, is that all you got?" Their captive half-groaned, half replied with grit teeth, voice boiling with indignant anger, volume only tempered by the knife.

"If I were you, I wouldn't anger my teammate." She whispered in some waxy ears. "He is so very kind, and cool and cute and…. the point is, you better do as he asks, before we get really started." Producing a gleeful, just slightly crazy voice like that was her first foray into the theatrical aspects of genjutsu. Not exactly to her taste, but Kurenai-sensei demonstrated how well it could work.

"What, the little boy will strike me again? I dare you to look at the lashing marks on my back, you little bitch!" Almost a pride in that tone, Sakura noted. "I guarantee your imagination isn't sufficient to get anything out of me!"

"You underestimate my imagination." Sasue said simply.

"And you have such tunnel vision. Pain is just one, simple tool to use." Sakura added. A little more glee, almost to the point of sadism – she made use of the image of that crazy woman snatching away her Sasuke-kun to work herself up, imagine the things she'd loved to have done, and the delivery came alive. "I have so many tools and tricks to try out! Smoke bombs that have you taste the sound of the colour green until your mind shuts down out of self-defence, ones that make you want to vomit out of your ears, and oh so many little wonders to render you quite, quite mad! And those are some of the most mundane ones."

She carried on, noting the gear Kurenai-sensei had given her and Ino sounded rather shady with the right embellishments.

"What would happen if we made you swallow one, have it go off inside your stomach? I don't know, but if you don't work with S- with my dear teammate, you might just give me the opportunity to learn! Maybe I could make you share the last sensations from the toxins, if nothing else?"

Their captive spat out with pride, muttered that they wouldn't dare risk whatever they were trying to learn from him die with such an act, but the idea got to him, Sakura was sure of it.
Okay, half of her wanted to take a long bath after the threats, but another liked actually working with Sasuke, loved sharing in the task, however nasty.

It also gave her the direction to go to, the very same she'd been entertaining earlier. True, they wouldn't risk coming through with the smoke bombs, but something else to a similar effect, well, that would be just the thing!

It certainly seemed like a little genjutsu would make a world's difference here. Her training hadn't come with the showy skills she had been hoping for despite the warning, but a situation like this, she could make it work.

She just needed to get together the puzzle pieces, find a creative enough use for a technique invented for a fundamentally much more base purpose… and use it to break down the mental defences of a civilian.
That wish for a bath came back again.

Well, the shinobi business isn't always pretty. She repeated the platitude, gathering her thoughts and discipline. She breathed deeply and found focus in the frustration of it all.
Damn right it isn't! The Academy or Kakashi-sensei never prepared me for this! Naruto just trusted us to get our job done, spared nary a thought of what that would involve! And this guy just spat at my Sasuke-kun! What a damn jerk! Bastards, the lot of them!

…

What are the chances of Sasuke-kun agreeing, ditching the whole shinobi nonsense and escaping together for a romantic life somewhere remote?

Negligible.

Then let's get on with the jutsu.

Mind finally at ease she sighed, shrugged and concentrated on trying to get the technique right, the back of her mind still calming the cavalcade of memories of the last few hours, preparing herself for what she was about to do.

The fight at the deck was exhilarating!

She finally had a chance to shine, show what she's mastered! Their enemies panned the attack well, the rock formations were just the right kind, and clearly they thought in high enough numbers, at range, not even shinobi could withstand a barrage.
Chakra or the best of reflexes are only so much defence, and a successful hit got you just the same as a normal person.

Well, they hadn't counted on someone dedicating themselves to being able to hit some very well-hidden, dangerous targets even at great distances. For once it was her in the limelight, saving everyone else's backsides!

After having to play nice at being saved by Kiba of all people, after those damn melees where she could do little but the basics, after Naruto's cheerful mention that Shikamaru had thought of her idea of floating traps being sent downriver already AND the humiliation of failing to get them to work on this messy a river, it was her time!

Of course Shino went and made a big show at the very end, wrong as that sounded, but she still had a moment of blissful, weapon-throwing fun and excellence, and no one could take that away.
Adrenaline ruled those moments, and she was damned if she wasn't going to seek it out again, enough that she was willing to forgive being almost left out as the rival teammates would go off without her, on the condition that she was, in fact, coming along.

What she ended up coming along for first, though, was a briefing on need to know information… administrated by the orange buffoon himself.

Admittedly Naruto's presentation of ideas has gotten better under Kakashi-senei's care (and he's gotten a bit more patient due to time spent with that Hinata girl, if Sakura's instincts were correct), but neither influence really possessed nor passed on an aptitude for actually making sure the team understood them.
Kakashi-sensei was usually brief enough that he'd trust his shorthand given out over his little book sufficed, whereas the other was, well, Hinata.

"So the thing is, ya really, really can't mention this to anyone." Naruto's explanation rang out in the memory. "'Sides Sasuke and Hinata who were looking around the ship for a while."

"The Captain himself seems relatively clean, but some of his smuggled cargo contains what we were looking for." Sasuke explained. "We have confirmation of the materials, but not the scope of their presence on the trading route. With the amount of ships being looted, we might get a larger sample. And since an attack on their base is in order in any case, we will make use of it."

"I was gonna grab a bunch of stuff myself while we were fighting, and have you two help me figure it all out later, but since it's this way, let's split it properly." Like before, Naruto was too energetic to just stand still, he was practically vibrating with eagerness in a way neither of his teammates have seen since the beginning of the mission.

"And it just so happens that your part has all the overt action." Sasuke observed dryly. "Make my day indeed."

"Hey, I can attest that Itachi guy liked his sneaking about, 'cause not even Ero-Sennin spotted him coming. Besides his whole distraction thing I mean." Naruto shrugged in reply. "The way I see it not since the bell test did ya smugly show off how good you are at that, star pupil, yadda yadda. So off you go. Look out for any papers, maps of their territory, letters, y'know, and grab those too. Granny wouldn't have sent us here if she knew what was going on around here, so she's going to yell at the people responsible for gathering info who screwed up. I'd, uh, like not to be among them."
He finished, awkwardly scratching his temple.

Later on, preparations done, ship left behind and target approaching in the distance; she was unsure how to feel about it all.
Be offended she wasn't in the know? Ashamed she didn't put the present signs together? She preferred being relieved that she knew the reason why Sasuke had been avoiding her advances all mission; clearly he was burdened by duty.

She'd have to smack Naruto about the head for that at some point, but for now, they had a target and a plan. Surprisingly un-overcomplicated from Naruto too, so she ought not to hit him too hard, lest she undo whatever has been sorting that mess out.

A simple distraction within a distraction, something like that was actually feasible. Have the enemy on the defence and off-balance, make use of that very same move not just to further the overall mission but to slip in and do a subtler job as well.
Compared to some other plans of the guy, yeah, feasible really was the right word.

She knew about the location, the story of the place and the castle built here.
When the senses of Team Eight slowly but surely charted the patrols of their enemy, it was surprisingly Shino who suggested the fortress as the logical base of operations. She was used to being the voice of reason to hold the horses of someone like Naruto or Kiba, but with someone who made her look rushed, she had to actually entertain the idea. Even then, it wasn't until a small expedition by an insect, followed by the covert venture of a clone to confirm the theory that she gave in.

However they did it, the bandits had captured one of the more notable buildings in the region, giving some credence to Naruto more and more treating them like a rouge army, not just highly organised thugs.

Still she shuddered to think how that capture must have gone. This entire area was said to be the product of a grand battle of a Senju of old wielding water like the Second would generations later, hashing it out against an ancestor of one of the clans that was the backbone of the Hidden Stone to this day.

The tale went that it was their mastery of jutsu that turned the hills leading up the mountains up north into, well, the rocky jungle they've been traversing.
Running, jumping, leaping across the tortured landscape at this heart of struggling stone and water with the team, she could certainly imagine that fight of old.

It took but your mind knowing the legend to stop seeing arms of the river carving out stone islands as just that, and see them as aftermaths of the fight: masses of water bent to will, restlessly eroding the stone pillars until their eventual collapse, the rocks piling up and welling up the waters, stopping their flow in an effort to tame them, all resulting in a shifting balance of victories and losses, with a small ravine carved or an arm of the river forced into underground submission.

Those who knew the history of the place found their eyes spotting details and filling the story of the battle: a rising stab with a stone fang avoided this way, a lake's worth of water used to undermine a glorious earth structure that way.

Each little wonder of geography came to play a part, and here at the epicentre of it all, where one could all but see a legendary figure make his stand to wage war with the very earth, on the largest of the enormous pillars was a castle built.

Shinobi had their own perspectives of danger and regular folks theirs, but even with that difference, the place commanded respect and seemed all but impenetrable by mundane means.

True, a sharp eye could spot signs of damage and recent repair, charred sections of the wall marring the artistic and military wonder. But it still wore the air of a noble building, an achievement that wasn't just built on a historic place, but itself a part and shaper of it.

Thus their assault felt like a rude slap in the face of all that.
More so was the fact that said assault was done by an army dressed in a ridiculous shade of orange, popped into existence past most natural and artificial defences and easily leapt over the rest, right onto the walls, generally making a mockery of a proud castle that crushed generals and halted victorious campaigns – except those led by people wise enough to be willing to cough up the money needed for shinobi to do a job that crazy.

Up until then things were working perfectly fine.

Well, depending on how she looked at things they were still fine, of course, although every bit as much outside her degree of experience as the entire rest of the mission.
But hey! Three years or so, maybe four, and this sort of thing might even seem routine!

"Urgh! You've no idea what enemies you've made!" Another series of furious curses followed, and Sakura had quite enough. She had the jutsu almost sorted, and just had enough of this to not mind the crude way into the man's mind she had to make at her skill level.

Predictably he strained with rage and Sakura was quick to react. Her grip tight on the wrist, she pulled, turned and twisted quick as she could, clasping her other hand on their prisoner's mouth to muffle the scream further and yanked him back to his chair.
Trying to shake the memories of tortured ligaments under her hands, she followed Sasuke's example and fixed the other arm too to the chair's arm with a kunai through the robe's sleeve.

Hands free for a sign and the victim's mind busy processing the pain, she knew it was the right time.

"Genjutsu: Strings of the Heart!" The technique's name came out as more a thought than a whisper, her mind struggled to keep up with the sensations from something far more complex than the beast at the port, but she made the connection.

Now would come the hard part. An illusion not visual, aural or any of the rest; this was pure, simple, terrifying and directly emotional. It needed control skills pushing even her knack, and chakra in dizzying measure, a remarkable if rarely seen technique.

Enough power behind it can overwhelm the mind and make someone collapse merely of fear, but have control enough, be creative enough with it, and for a short time it can manipulate on a profound level.
Enhance some emotions, muffle others, provoke intense rage, fear or any of the myriad feelings in a person – and if her fight against Kiba has shown anything, it's that even simple knowledge of character and emotions is weapon enough.

She knew if she used it right, this technique would loosen the tongue of their captive, let them proceed with their part of the mission, she just needed to get it right

And no, I am not even going to consider using it on Sasuke-kun to make him like me. She added, more or less just to quell her own wandering thoughts. I've got better ways of going about that, thank you ever so much.
She huffed and quietly bit down on a soldier pill to prepare before fully turning her attention to the technique.

The sensation was new: when she tried it previously, the mind was an animal's flat, blunt, instinctive thing. This on the other hand was a realm expansive and colourful, with emotions as new as the pain in the arm or as old as half-forgotten, spiteful grudges from childhood.
The surface stirred at the moment with thoughts zapping across its horizons and bringing a new mix, but go deeper, and an interconnected web lay: the emotional dressing of the thoughts and memories she had no access to.

Already she was feeling how brute force could shut down this intricate a system. A bit less than that, with a bit tighter control and she could make him foam at the mouth with rage or have him laugh like a lunatic, a crude and direct effect, if only for a short time. But neither really summed up what she needed, what would make this unknown person malleable.

The surface was easy enough to manipulate. Feel out and pang the chords of emotion, observe the sweat drops forming with fear; she just had to be careful in her victim's mind or risk worsening the situation. Direct use in combat was one thing, but a finer instrument was needed here.

She burrowed below the current fear, anger pain and what must have been hurt pride, tried to get at the real thing of motivation, figure out the twisted swirling nets and connections.
Like the exercises, she needed but one small thread to start working on, to follow and make use of.

The harsh and violent feelings were in the forefront, a danger to mess with – but what was the mood before Sasuke-kun and she barged in?
If only she could establish a ground state to work from, the root of it all and the single, key thread of consciousness, she'd crack the defences easily.

Not that she didn't already have her inklings. 'Underneath the underneath', a month's awareness training via genjutsu, or simple intuition, it all added up.

Reverence, loyalty and dedication.
She knew all of them in one form or another, but the show inside the fortress was an overstatement of all three.

At the time, her own emotions at the time took preference, of course.
The satisfaction in excellence as she and Sasuke shadowed one of the early returning patrols to a back entry, giddiness when he nodded with approval as instead of braving the chasm with a leap, she fashioned a tightrope from a well-aimed kunai and some wire.
There was even some fleeting worry for their teammate as the bells tolled their warnings and bright red fireworks signalled emergency far and wide – they expected it, hoped for it even, but knew the battle would be difficult on Naruto.

Still, when did it get to be so that they could rely on him, worried or not?
It wasn't so long ago that he couldn't make the transformations he now relied on to make th attack seem like it was the whole team, after all. But things changed quickly, ad Sakura wouldn't let herself fall behind.

Once inside, they were a picture of professionalism and teamwork that would have made Kakashi-sensei shed a tear: they both clung to the ceilings and the shadows, looking out for one another.
They put to use all lessons of infiltration on the work of shadows and stepping just right, she picked a lock while he kept watch and he pulled her into a locker when she was too slow to react to someone turning around the corner and almost surprising her – and inside that tight, dark place, even all tangled together, she refrained herself from doing anything untoward. Talk about the control of a future mistress of genjutsu, eh?

But in retrospect, trying to distinguish the feeling of the place with what she later on saw in mind, it all rearranged itself.

The smell in the barracks wasn't quite right, for instance.
Something strange was on the air, not at all the stench of cheap booze she expected – her own father's only vice were terrible puns that made you cringe, but the expectation went naturally with any dwelling of soldiers. At the time she just moved on, but now, that stood out like a sore thumb.

She concentrated, recalled, set aside the unimportant and focused on the little signs all over the memories. They'd observed aplenty, and it was now time to put it all to use.

The insides of the castle felt like a disturbed anthill, but wasn't in as bad a shape as a bandit takeover would have you expect.

The hallways were well-swept and clean if, well, re-decorated, and leaving the barracks behind, they found the servant wing populated, with poor worried souls milling about and ordered around, not sure where to go for safety in the attack.

They seemed to come from all walks of life, old and young, mostly women, but a few men too, and however they ended up serving this lot, just a few marks showed signs of what they were before: merchants clearly used to more comforts, wiry labourers, people almost comfortable, as if little changed in their personal world of cleaning the halls of the powerful.
They all did share just one innocuous little sign always on their person, however.

At the time, trying to find their way she couldn't give a damn about it. They had to include it on their transformations to try to blend in, but she'd have forgotten beyond assuming the form if not for its presence all over the place, not just the garments.
It was badly painted over exquisite paintings, masterful metalworks were badly bent into its rough shape, she even saw someone's attempt to chisel fine masonry in its form.

But what did it mean? The shinobi villages certainly had their own symbols, as did the clans. It could be something derived from someone's name, some grand cause, it could mean anything from refined and deep expressions to just the simple need to put something on a flag. It could be a new ideology of some sort, a religious call, someone's rich bastard trying to eke out a domain or coming back to claim some title, the banner of a mercenary group or that of the one bandit group that united all the smaller ones into a real fighting force.

With a shrug, she started to understand why, despite the immense power differences, shinobi never really bothered with trying to secure a direct hold over the elemental nations: it was best to stay out of all this political nonsense unless someone was paying you to get involved, and at that point, likely in a fun way.
Whichever was the case, the bloody thing's importance was beyond dispute.

So what else was there?

Beyond the barracks, now in the servant wing they disguised themselves as brother and sister. At the time it was to explore the castle, but as they did so, made sure they behaved like they fitted in, they noticed exactly the kinds of things she was now after.

The servants' gestures and movements did reveal their own sad little tales. Black eyes and bruises, the odd limp here and there were commonplace, and in some she still observed the reflexive cringe when a bandit-turned soldier barked something at them. Yet, in their expressions there was no sign of fear, or of hatred, merely a cowed reverence that made her shudder.

She went over all the bits of odd behaviour they'd seen in their initial observations, all bearing all too similar faces. That was a start, but she needed more to go on.

She remembered the troops running through the corridor, the quick and efficient herding that swept her and Sasuke along, out of the way into a side room.
For a moment the only nearby soldiers were just those rushing by too quickly to look at them, and the people were too worried to filter their behaviour. The meek and fearful subjects became regular people again, if only for a moment.

"Watch where you step, you oaf!" One voice in the crowd protested with the weight and authority of many a year. "I'll have you know my feet have plenty of feeling in 'em still!"

"Don't push me, I say! These ointments are for the wounded and it will be my hide if I break them!" A fussy female voice shot back.

"Mommy, when will the bad people go away?" A small voice made itself heard, noticed only by Sakura and a mother hushing and calming it with a worried expression.

"What is even happening? I was just done mopping up the floor!"

"I told you all the Feudal Lord wouldn't stand for this!" A voice, carefully undetectable in the crowd said to some murmur. "Now they're here again and kill us all, burn everything down and…"

Sakura made her own move too, letting trails of tears run down her face, and in a comfort-seeking hug managed to exchange a few words without anyone being suspicious.

"Sasuke-kun, I have an idea." She whispered while he awkwardly patted her chestnut hair as if to calm her down. "Naruto said the ronin was insistent he served a master still. That does seem to fit…"

"…even if it is nothing like what we would call normal in the Land of Fire." He finished for her while she began softly sobbing into his chest, covering up their exchange. "And if this master has a military commander like that, servants with clear and organised duties…"

"..there would be others, serving just as they would a legitimate lord. People who would have precisely the knowledge we are after." Her tightening hug, she had to admit, wasn't expressly for her acting the frightened little sister, but she did make sure to add the series of soft, ragged gasps for breath that come with a good sob. "And if the castle is built anything like they are back home, I have an idea where we need to go. I've seen the messenger birds' nests from the outside, and we know where the servants' quarters and the kitchen is. And right in the sweet spot between those…"

"You will find the clerks. Very well, let's see if this works." Sasuke stood up and helped her get up as well, wiping the tears off her face in a move that almost made her forget it was part of their act.

And this, right there, was the crucial moment, the one Sakura had been trying to recall, the one that made the blood in her veins feel like ice water, that showed her what she was dealing with – and also the reappearance of the ronin Naruto mentioned so often.

From the descriptions and glimpses of the enemy commander she caught at their first fight from afar, she could recognise the man, but not from much more. His armour was a heavy new one, painted matte black and radiating chakra that made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on edge.
His twin cleavers gone, he seemed to have replaced them with a polearm of some sort, like a stockier, shorter naginata, which he balanced on his shoulders, stopping for a step to take a look at the crowded subjects.

His appearance was threatening, but far more so was his effect on the crowd. As one of the boarders he seemed little more than one of his men, but here, fulfilling a function of command and oversight, he was terrifying.
Bickering and chatter ceased as if the very concept was stripped away from those he watched, a number of the servants touched the symbol on their person and averted their gaze.

It was different from the sudden silence of authority showing up. It was different than the few sharp words Sensei had used on them back in the hospital. It was different than the tense silence back at the bridge.

This was filled with guilt, the simple show of humanity revealed as not a thing of normalcy, trying to relieve stress and find a semblance of security while your home is attacked – instead it was, it seemed and felt like a crushing failure, a slip back to an old, half-forgotten life.

That moment passed with the last of the soldiers, the crowd dispersed around them, and the duo slipped back into the shadows at the first opportunity.
Sakura had her confirmation.

Emotions on the surface and suppressed, old and new alike stretched out before her.
She knew what she was looking for, trying to match up what felt right the right mixture of feelings.

There may have been conviction here, but it was expected of all, on a deep level. Dedication beyond servitude, loyalty to something represented in an odd symbol, reverence for its enforcers conquering the heart, not just the mind.

She knew nothing of ideologies beyond the Land of Fire, the Will of Fire and the beliefs of the occasional monastery, and she was making a leap in her conclusion, but she was dead sure that all of this added up to something of that sort, and a weird one at that.

More importantly she'd sooner eat her headband than to believe that most of these people didn't join up recently. Further articles of clothing would be digested if it was all voluntary and peaceful too.

So what would it all add up to?
Guilt was obvious, fear, maybe a reward of one kind of another… for her purposes, she spotted the right impulse to manipulate: right after a great deal of pain, worry and anger not too long ago left their mark, something new evolved.
A carefully balanced loathing of the self and someone else, whoever broke her captive the first time.

It was frightening how simple it was to take the fear and pain she and Sasuke caused and disrupt that balance, weighing it against that tormentor.
One little change in balance easily leads to another, and soon a whole fabric unweaed itself before her. Connect the current troubles to that one act of trauma and conversion, and all the little hurts, annoyances and wants shift in direction.

She knew genjutsu was powerful and that she was talented, but she was smart enough to know it couldn't all just be her doing. She disturbed an artificial stillness and peace of spirit, uncorked the wrong, or possibly the right thing. Rage, joy, pity and sadness danced about wildly in that skull with her control over the system failing, a long forgotten lost love surfaced and was suppressed again, grudges let go, obligations flailed around, hostility and vindictiveness renewed, joviality and the vaults of pleasures let loose.

With a gasp she surfaced back in reality, the link of the jutsu unable to comprehend the vortex she kicked off, her mind still buzzing with the leaked over sensations. Subtle action while manipulating someone else's mind was indeed preferable, just like sensei said, if for no other reason than that the damn things could kick right back.

"All right, all right you damned little bastard!" Her victim finally spoke after the long-seeming few moments she spent in his mind. "If it helps hurt this congregation of manic, traitorous crazymen, I'll tell you everything you need to know. But you have to get me out of here too. I'll not suffer the wrath of the Acolyte."

"You have a deal. But I will not have you slowing us down." Sasuke crossed his arms and stared down the clerk with impressive authority from someone his age. "The one way I can offer you to come with us will likely be unpleasant."

"Ha! Unpleasant, he says! I'll take it, just let my arms free. Now, what were you after?"

Genjutsu was bizarre, difficult and immensely rewarding to study, Sakura thought.
But looking at the shift the jutsu did on the man, she did understand the nervous exchange of looks her parents tried to hide from her when she told them what she would be specialising in.

Who knew poking around in people's mental faculties could get creepy, eh?

A short time earlier

Another predator navigated the winds, with a grace all its own and eye fixed on its target.

It perched on the proud spot, a sign of either woeful arrogance or a proud statement of victory.

One could almost believe the defences, walls and all was truly its own, but a discerning eye spotted the artistic handiwork of the help to accomplish such a feat.
Anyone could break in, like the predator was about to do, anyone could get at the treats under the shells of this beast.

The real question was the 'why' for any of the capable, and the 'how' for those inclined.
The predator's lips cracked into a tight, small grin, knowing that it would get a step closer to its true target tonight, have another piece of the puzzle.

But for now a moment of observation was in order, taking in the marred and charred, but still beautiful sight of the fortress at the Turtle, the valiant rock formations of a noble struggle against a villain, and the efforts of what occupied the fort to control its surroundings.

Patrols, ships and fortifications sprung up since the last time it had laid eyes on the area. Like tentacles ever searching for food, armed parties scoured the river and forests even at this hour.

But before it made its plummet, this predator decided to be cautious. Something was amiss, something not quite – ah.

It wasn't the only one after the target tonight.

The trio was valiant, but inexperienced in their approach, and their method so simple it was charming. A large attack with clones at the front, albeit in impressive numbers, while the other two slipped in by the back.

And as if the beast was crying out in pain, the alarm, the fireworks drew the patrols back to fend off the attacker – enough to let an ugly ship pass by undetected.

The predator watched, considering options while watching the flashes and movements of the battle below. Caution was needed, and some more assurances, but in this hunt, it was the more, the merrier.

"Interesting." It said simply.

A small adjustment of plans was perhaps in order.