Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I pretend to own any of the characters or settings etc. from the manga/anime known as Naruto. Anything you find in the following pages that can't be seen therein have been created by me, for the purposes of this fic, or in some cases shamelessly based on other pop-culture figures I'm sure you're familiar with. Any similarities between this fic and any other are purely coincidental, as I started planning this long before I ever read anybody else's fanfiction and I'm not about to change my ideas because somebody else thought of it too. Odds are, if there are any such similarities, I'm not even aware of it.

Illjwamh's Hello: Hiya, all! How ya been? Today marks the beginning of one of the longest experiences of your life – waiting for me to finish a story that's easily three times the length of Koorikage. How long this will take, I have no idea. I'm in a groove right now, but I never know how long those'll last, or how much time will pass between them. I might write four and a half chapters in the next six days and not get another word down for the next three months. But let's not talk about that.

Man, I'm so excited for this thing. There's some awesome stuff happening in this story, and I can't wait to get to it. Odds are more things'll emerge through the process as well. I sincerely hope you have as much fun with this as I plan to, no matter how long it takes. Let's get started, then.

NOTE: If you haven't read Koorikage, there will be events and characters included and referenced throughout this fic that you will not be familiar with. You could probably get by anyway, but I recommend hitting it first. It won't take you long, and you'll get this story a lot better. Besides, I like to think it's a pretty good read in itself, though I may be biased.

THE FOURTH SECRET WORLD WAR

Prologue – "Jounin"

Ino couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her father had just returned from the administration tower after a meeting that had lasted all night to inform her that Konoha was at war, and that three of the other Kage-level villages were against them. He was now telling her that Shikamaru and Sakura's team had barely managed to escape the initial assault on Yukigakure no Sato, and somehow prevent – or at least postpone – an attack on Konoha itself. He kept going, presumably about what the preliminary plans already being laid out were going to be, but she had stopped listening, dropping into a chair to try processing what he'd just told her. War. They were at war. Again. And outnumbered by enemies they couldn't hope to defeat, even with the help of the Sand, which she could only pray they would receive.

"Ino? Ino?" Her father was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Huh? Oh, sorry," she said absently. What was going to happen? What were they going to do?

"If you'll pay attention to me for a minute, I'll tell you what we're going to do," her father said, crossing his arms. That got her attention.

"Daddy! How dare you use that jutsu on me!" she yelled at him indignantly. It didn't really do her any harm, but she didn't like the idea of anyone looking at her thoughts, even her own father.

"Will you listen, then?" he said. "I was telling you how the council has already sent two hawks to Sunagakure, and that messages are being drawn up as we speak to send to every shinobi village that is friendly or neutral toward us and not allied to our enemies, explaining this situation and petitioning for help. As soon as the Hokage returns, plans will be put in motion to send emissaries to the villages who will receive them. With luck, now that their initial strike has been parried, the enemy won't attack for a while. They'll need time to reconvene and reorganize as well."

That made Ino feel a little better, but her stomach was still jumping up and down and she still felt like passing out or vomiting – she wasn't sure which. At least she could think again.

"You said 'When the Hokage returns'," she said, repeating her father's words. "Does that mean there's already a plan in motion to get her and the others out?"

"Two chuunin, whom I believe you know, have already left for the Hidden Snow Village. Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino," her father said. That didn't really make much sense.

"Kiba and Shino? Why them?" she asked, perplexed. "I mean, they're not bad or anything, but I can think of better ninja to send in. And like you said, they're only chuunin. And there's only two of them."

"At this point, two ninja probably have a better chance of infiltrating the siege than a larger number anyway," her father said sagely. "As for why them, they left of their own volition. Shikamaru and his team encountered them before even returning to the village. When they heard what had happened, they left without hesitation." Of course. It made perfect sense now.

"Hinata," Ino said, as soon as it dawned on her. "They're going because Hinata is still there." She couldn't help but smile. "Those two really do look out for her." An admirable trait, even if they possessed no others.

"Well, that may be," her father replied, frowning slightly. "But if they manage to make it in, the Hokage will know that Shikamaru's team made it back safely and the attack has been averted for the time being. She will be able to plan accordingly."

"Are we relying on just them, then?" Ino asked, not believing it for a second.

"No, we're not," her father answered. "A rather sizable force is being sent at first light tomorrow, with everything we can spare and still be prepared for a possible attack here. Shikamaru will be leading them, as he has commanded two missions to the Snow Village before, and is most familiar with the terrain and the current situation."

Ino's eyes shot wide open. "Shikamaru?" She shrieked. "You've got to be kidding me! He just barely got back from that place! And they're sending him out again?" She didn't know who she wanted to strangle – the council, for sending him, her father, just for telling her about it, or Shikamaru himself for going along with it. Did the idiot have a death wish in the Snow, or something?

"He's the only one capable of it. Hyuuga Neji and Haruno Sakura expended more chakura than their bodies could handle and are in no condition to be going anywhere. They nearly collapsed upon reaching the village as soon as the adrenaline wore off. Uzumaki Naruto, while a capable ninja in his own right, is not the type to be trusted leading a mission like this." Well, he was right about that, anyway. Naruto was a great ninja, but a leader he wasn't. "The only other two ninja to have been to the Hidden Snow," her father continued, "Rock Lee and Tenten, are not familiar with the current situation, the layout of the enemy camp, and other such important factors. Shikamaru is the only choice. I assure you, I'm no happier about it than you are, and Shikaku and Yoshino are fairly upset as well." He finished by giving her a gesture that said there was nothing they could do about it.

Ino stood abruptly out of her chair, arms held rigid at her sides. "Upset?" She shrieked. "They're upset? Their son is being sent into one of the most dangerous situations imaginable, after just barely escaping from it, and they're UPSET?"

"Ino," her father began in a lecturing tone, "they aren't happy about it, obviously. But Shikamaru is a shinobi. They are too. They know what that means, and so does he. You should, too."

She couldn't believe her father would throw that in her face. Of course she knew what it meant to be a shinobi. But there was a difference between doing your duty, and being made to shoulder more than you should have to. Shikamaru had already done more than could ever have been expected. Did they really think it was fair to make him do it again? She had to…she had to talk to him. Right away. Without saying another word to her father or even waving goodbye, she bolted from her family's home and ran across the village as fast as she could. There had to be something she could do. Something.

-

Naruto sat in the hospital room where Sakura was still sleeping. In the thirty-six hours they'd been home, she hadn't woken up for more than three minutes at a time. She and Neji had collapsed from chakura exhaustion almost immediately after they'd made their report the previous day. He probably should have seen it coming. Neji, what with that constant use of his Byakugan for five days straight, not to mention going toe to toe with Kurowaza Tourou – and putting up a pretty good fight from what Shikamaru had said. And of course there was Sakura. He'd noticed she'd been getting tired. He should have put the pieces together. He was furious with himself that he hadn't, but at least she was okay, and there was that thing she'd said to him before…he couldn't bring himself to believe he was remembering it correctly. He had to talk to her about it.

"If I'm not willing to put my life on the line for those people who are precious to me, then I don't deserve to call myself a ninja any more than you would if you didn't. And…my most important person…is you."

She had said that. Her most important person was him, Uzumaki Naruto. Never in his wildest dreams did he allow himself to hope she would ever say that to him. The most he'd hoped for was that she would be his friend and care about him even half as much as she'd cared about Sasuke. He'd even been content with those hopes, because with Sakura-chan, it would be enough. And he'd had that, too, and been happy with it. But now…what did this mean for them now? Would things be different than before? How long had she felt that way? Did she really even mean it, or was it just something she said in the heat of the moment to try and talk him into letting her stay? It was eating him up inside, and even though there were a hundred things going on at that very moment that he knew were more important, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Naruto?" he heard her voice all of a sudden and was jerked out of his thoughts to look down at where she was blinking awkwardly, trying to adjust her vision. "Naruto?" she called again. "Where are you?" He'd been there the first time she'd woken up – for only thirty seconds – and when she woke again a few hours later and he'd been in the bathroom, she'd become fairly distraught. He made sure to leave a shadow clone in the room at all times now if he had to leave for any reason.

"I'm right here, Sakura-chan," he said, reaching out and taking her hand. He'd never had to wait on her in the hospital before, and had been completely unprepared for how nerve-racking it would be.

"I think," she started to say, having to pause to take a deep breath before continuing, "I think I'm doing better now," she said. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes fully this time, focusing on him. She definitely seemed more lucid than any of the other times she'd woken up. Still, he didn't want to take any chances.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Maybe I should get one of those medical ninja in here."

She laughed softly and smiled at him. Well, that was a good sign, anyway. "Naruto, I am a medical ninja," she said. "I haven't finished my training yet of course, but I know enough to recognize when the effects of chakura exhaustion have worn off."

"If you say so, Sakura-chan," he said, still doubtful. Sure, she'd managed some pretty amazing stuff back in the Snow village – stuff he never would have thought she'd be capable of after only a couple of months of training – but it wasn't anything every ordinary medical trainee wasn't expected to do in their first year. And he couldn't help wanting a more…experienced practitioner to tell him she was all right. But he'd take her word for the time being.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked him.

"Since yesterday," he said. "I'm not sure how long it's been exactly, but it was before noon when we got here then and it's after noon now." He could see her processing that information in her head, and then she nodded.

"Well, that's not too bad," she said. "It could have been a lot worse. And we all made it back okay." Then she suddenly sat bolt upright, as if just realizing something. "Naruto! The village! Was it attacked? Did the enemy-"

"No, we're all right for now," he cut her off and she relaxed visibly. "Kakashi-sensei came by earlier and said that an expedition is being sent first thing in the morning, and that scouts are already out to see if there are any enemy in the area. We messed up their plans good, I think." He grinned broadly, and she smiled back at him. He loved that smile.

"So they're going to get Tsunade-shishou and the others out, are they?" she asked. "That's good. Hopefully they can do some damage to the enemy ranks at the same time."

"Yeah," he nodded in agreement. Then he remembered something. "Hey, Sakura-chan! You'll never guess who's leading the expedition!"

"Eh? Who?"

"Shikamaru!" he said excitedly. "He's going to be bossing jounin around!"

"What? Shikamaru?" She sounded genuinely shocked. "I can't believe they're sending him right back there after all that's happened! Oh, Ino won't like this at all."

"Shikamaru isn't very happy about it either," Naruto replied, snickering. "He was in here earlier grumbling about it."

"I don't blame him!" Sakura said firmly. "He deserves a rest after what we just went through, and to make that trip again? He'll be exhausted! And that will make it more likely for him to be killed!"

"He'll be all right," Naruto assured her. "Kakashi-sensei said Asuma was one of the jounin going along. You know he'll look after Shikamaru."

"Well, you might be right about that," she conceded. "Still, I'm worried. And I'm worried about what Ino will do, too. She can get kind of protective sometimes."

"Hmm…" Naruto pondered. "I haven't heard about her doing or saying anything, but that's because I've been in here. All of what I know came from Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei and Fuzzy Eyebrows."

"Lee-san was here?" Sakura asked, brightening. Naruto felt a twinge of something, but answered her question.

"Yeah, he was here. He was wailing about how he'd failed to protect you or something, even though he wasn't even there, and me and that Tenten girl had to wrestle with him to calm him down. He said he's going along on the mission, though. And Tenten. They know the Snow village pretty well, so that's probably good. And then they left to go see Neji, and Fuzzy Eyebrows got all upset again before they even walked out the door."

Sakura was still smiling. "That sounds like Lee-san," she said. Then she got serious again and asked him something he hadn't even thought about yet. "What about you, Naruto? You're going too, right?"

"Huh?" he said quizzically. "I don't know. Nobody came and told me I was, and I haven't asked. I didn't want to leave here until you were awake." He got to see that smile again, and it made his insides warm. He didn't know what it was about that particular expression, but it always made him feel like something special was going on.

"Arigatou, Naruto," she said. "But I'm fine now, and if you want to go, then you should. I know you're worried about Tsunade-shishou too."

"Haha!" he laughed. "The old hag can take care of herself! But I am worried about her a little, I guess, and Shizune-san, and Hinata-chan. And it would be an exciting mission. Maybe I'll go see if I can go along…if you're sure you're okay?"

"Of course I am, you idiot!" she said, shoving him. "I said I was, didn't I? Now go, already! I'll be here when you get back." She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow in a way that brooked no argument. Forced to give in to her as always, he sighed and nodded.

"Okay, I'll go," he said. "And we'll be back before you know it! Fastest trip to the Snow ever!" He raised a fist in the air to emphasize his boast. She smiled at him one more time, but it seemed…strained. She probably needed more sleep.

"Be careful," she said, "and make sure everyone gets out safely."

"Right!" And so he left, and therefore didn't see the tearful look in Sakura's eyes as he walked out the door, or the way she wrapped her arms around herself once she was sure he wasn't coming back.

-

Asuma stared in wonder at one of the most bizarre spectacles he'd seen in some time. The village council was being railed at by a sixteen year-old chuunin, and no one was saying anything. The Uzumaki boy had approached them earlier, saying he wanted to be sent along on the mission to rescue the Hokage and the others. The council, who'd never trusted the boy as much as the Hokage for reasons he could understand even if he no longer agreed with, had refused. And so the yelling started. For ten minutes now Naruto had been making his case with the council – making several good points – and for ten minutes they'd rebuked him every time with arguments of how they'd already made their decision and mere chuunin were not to question the discretion of the council. The strangest part was that the purportedly wise council members were coming off as much more immature than the adolescent chuunin they were rebuking for just that.

Finally, the head councilman apparently reached the end of his patience. "ENOUGH!" he shouted, banging his hand down on the table he was seated behind. "Uzumaki Naruto, if you persist in arguing with this council in this manner, you will be incarcerated until such time as the Hokage returns and you can be dealt with accordingly. Furthermore, you have delayed the briefing of this mission's commanders, for which you will be further punished regardless. Now, if that's dealt with, we can move on to more important-"

"If Naruto doesn't go, I won't go," came a voice to Asuma's left, which shocked even him…but not very much. He looked to see Shikamaru standing casually with his hands in his pockets and addressing the council as if a class of academy students.

"What did you say?" the council head demanded dangerously.

"If Uzumaki Naruto is not allowed to come on this mission, then I refuse to go, either. You'll have to find somebody else to lead it for you." Asuma allowed himself a tiny smirk. Shikamaru could be fiercely loyal to those he considered close friends, and he knew his student respected Naruto's skills a great deal as well. This would be interesting.

"Young man, you are in no position to make such demands," the council head said. "You are a chuunin, and therefore you will go where we tell you, when we tell you."

"Except if I refuse, there's really nothing you can do," Shikamaru said coolly. "You can't make me go, and if you hold me for insubordination, you're still without a leader for the mission who's familiar with the terrain and current scenario. Except for Naruto himself, of course. He and I have worked together many times, and I know I can trust him. Furthermore, he's more than capable of handling himself on a mission like this, and we could definitely use his help. I don't know why he wasn't assigned to it in the first place, but the fact remains that if he doesn't go, I don't go either."

The council sat dumbstruck, and Asuma decided he might as well help his student out.

"And if Shikamaru doesn't go, I don't go," he said.

"And if Asuma doesn't go, I don't go," added Kurenai from his right. He knew that much was probably a lie. All three members of her team were either in Yukigakure or on their way there, and she would have volunteered for this mission whether they'd asked her to go or not. But he appreciated the gesture. And he knew they wouldn't want to sacrifice him, either – the leader they'd placed over Shikamaru in all aspects but tactics. They were stuck. And from the looks on their faces, they knew it. Short of announcing their real reason for holding Naruto back from this mission – something which they were forbidden by law to do – there was nothing they could do.

"Very well," said the council head at last. "But all four of you will face an inquiry for insubordination upon your return. Now that that's finally settled, would Uzumaki Naruto please leave the room so we can complete this command briefing?" Naruto flashed a cheeky grin at the council, and turned to leave. He made sure to walk by Shikamaru and whisper his thanks on his way out. Shikamaru didn't say anything. Asuma smirked again. The boy would be glad to know the loyalty he'd just exhibited had been shown toward him not an hour before. He'd never say anything about it either way, of course.

-

Kiba and Shino forged their way through the snowy forests of the Ice Country as they made their approach on Yukigakure. Traveling at a maddening pace, they'd made the journey in just over four days. Shino had voiced concern that there weren't any bugs in this environment for him to use as eyes and ears, but to Kiba this was only a minor concern. He knew Shino could handle himself well enough. He himself was working under a handicap as well; smells traveled less and were fainter in the cold.

Despite this, he had no doubts that they would succeed. Kurenai-sensei had always taught them that what had to be done could be done so long as you possessed the will. And they had the will. They were going to get Hinata out of there. And the Hokage, and the others.

"The entrance to the tunnel that Nara Shikamaru told us about should be about a kilometer ahead," Shino said suddenly. So they were there at last.

"The enemy probably knows it's there by now," Kiba said. "But we can still use it. If we can get close enough, Akamaru and I can dig into it from the side."

"Will that save us any time?" Shino asked skeptically.

"As long as we can get to within a hundred meters of it," Kiba said. "And it's safer than trying to get into the village directly."

"You might be right," Shino conceded. "Let's veer off here, then." He pointed slightly to the left of where they were headed, and turned to continue on in that direction. A few minutes later he stopped and marked out a spot on the ground.

"I have not detected any enemy ninja, but that does not mean none have detected us. We must hurry. Dig here"

"I didn't notice anything either, and neither did Akamaru," Kiba agreed. "They're probably monitoring the entrance, but they shouldn't notice if we join it part way on. Just make sure to disguise the entrance to the hole we're digging once you get in."
"I will do my part. You do yours."

"All right! Ready, Akamaru?" Akamaru barked softly, and Kiba pulled up his sleeves and started digging next to his partner. They were fast, and in only a few minutes they'd dug enough to conceal both themselves and Shino underground.

"The entrance is concealed," Shino announced from behind them. "How long until you reach the tunnel?"

"At this pace, if it's a hundred meters like you said, we should be there in about twenty minutes. I'd use ninjutsu, but it's too risky with so many enemies around."

"Indeed."

And so he and Akamaru dug on in silence, until at last he detected a hollowness in the ground ahead of him. His canine partner was now bigger than he was, so the digging had not taken very long.

"We're about there," he told Shino. "Are you able to send through any bugs to make sure it's clear?"

"Yes, I can." He did so, and after another minute declared it safe to continue. Kiba broke through the few centimeters of earth remaining and stuck his head into a long, dark passageway.

"I can't really see anything," he said, "but this is definitely what we're looking for. Left, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," said Shino. And so they traveled in silence once more, until Akamaru growled softly from ahead of them that they were nearing the exit, and he smelled sweat and chakura.

"There's no way to know if they're friendly or not," Kiba said, stopping to think.

"I will investigate again," replied Shino, reaching out to send bugs through the exit. Several minutes passed.

"What's taking so long?" Kiba demanded. "Are they friendly or not?"

"I cannot say with certainty," Shino said. "We would be best to assume them hostile and proceed accordingly." Which of course meant subdue them immediately, and kill them only upon confirmation of hostility.

"On three then," Kiba said. "There's two of them, so I'll break left and you break right." He waited for Shino to nod before he began the count. "One. Two. Three." They burst from the hole as swiftly and as silently as all their years of training had enabled them. Shooting straight for the shinobi on the left, whose back had been facing him when he left the tunnel and had spun to face him by the time he took his first steps outside of it, he saw the four wisps representing mist on his target's hitae-ate, and the need for subduing was gone. Kunai drawn, he let fly right as the Mist ninja was opening his mouth to call for help. His opponent blocked easily, just as he'd planned, and so was completely unprepared for the second kunai hidden in the shadow of the first that struck him in his now-open mouth. That's what they got for letting low-level chuunin stand guard.

He turned to see how Shino had fared, and saw what he'd come to expect from his teammate over the years: one dead enemy ninja, and the Aburame heir standing there calmly as if nothing had happened at all.

"Where to from here?" Kiba asked. "If everyone's in hiding like Shikamaru said, there's probably more of them all around the village."

"That works to our advantage," Shino said. "They will be in small groups that we will be able to deal with if necessary, and we will be decreasing the number of enemies at the same time. As for where to go, instructions have all been written on the map Nara Shikamaru provided. The tower in the center of the village is our goal, and he's shown us the fastest, most concealed way to it."

Kiba grinned. Trust Shikamaru to make every aspect of your mission as easy as possible. "Let's get going, then," he said.

It was slow going, as there were indeed enemy patrols from all four enemy nations spread all throughout the village. Twice they'd encountered a patrol they couldn't avoid and had to attack. Luckily, both of those had been two-man squads, and chuunin to boot. Unluckily, it would not be long before those patrols were missed, and their enemies became aware that someone was causing trouble.

"How much farther?" Kiba asked after the third patrol of five they'd come upon in three minutes passed by without incident.

"We're nearly there," Shino said, consulting the map. "We cannot see it from where we are, but once we round the building across from the one we're in, we will be across the street from the tower."

"All right, let's move. Another one of those patrols could come by any second and I don't want to push our luck any further."

Shino said nothing, but he followed Kiba out of the building to press against the one across the street. Scanning around for enemies, Kiba shot along the wall and stopped just short of the corner, where he and Akamaru both sniffed and Akamaru peered around slowly. Clear. He signaled to Kiba, who followed, and then they found themselves looking at the entrance to the central tower. One quick break would get them there, but he wasn't about to lower his guard because the finish line was in sight. That was the sort of rookie mistake he'd stopped making years ago.

Sending Akamaru across first to scout – few people ever suspected a stray dog, more the fools they were for it – he waited for the all-clear bark before dashing across himself. Shino was a half-step behind. He made the sign for "enter," and they performed the maneuver simultaneously. Still no sign of anyone.

"We need to go to the basement," Shino said, and they looked for a door. An alarmed bark from Akamaru was all the warning they had before three shinobi with snowflakes on their hitae-ate dropped out of nowhere, stopping a hair short of killing them.

"We're Leaf ninja!" Kiba announced as quickly as he could. No time for formalities here. These three were in a whole other class altogether. One wore a long coat and had a straight-looking sword drawn from the sheath on his left side. He had spiky hair and a nose like a hawk's beak. The second was a ridiculously large-muscled man wearing a vest and no weapons at all aside form spiked knuckle-braces, and the third was a stunning woman with a white kimono cut off at the waist and patterned with lotus and sakura blossoms, wielding the largest scythe he'd ever seen. Had he still been a rookie, he would have lost control of his bodily functions.

"We know you are," said the woman in a very melodious voice. "Or at least that you claim to be. We saw your hitae-ate as we were descending on you. Otherwise you'd be dead."

"Prove you are leaf ninja," the burly man said, standing up straight and letting the other two hold them where they were. The hawk-nosed fellow had his sword on Shino, and something that looked like an ice pick, too, while that monstrous scythe was trained on his own neck.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Kiba growled. He hated not being in control of a situation.

"You have some companions here, do you not?" the big guy said. "Can you name them?"

"If no more than Yamashiro Aoba have perished, then Shiranui Genma, Shizune, and our teammate Hyuuga Hinata are here. And the Hokage, of course," Shino said as calmly as ever.

"You're Hinata's teammates?" the woman asked. She sounded genuinely interested. "She'd a lovely girl. So that must mean the two of you are-"

"Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino," Kiba finished for her. No better way to prove who you were than saying it before someone told you.

"Yes, that's right," she said. "And you must know Naruto-kun as well. He's a very polite young man."

Kiba snorted. He thought he even heard Shino make some kind of sound. Even considering their situation, that was just too ridiculous and he couldn't help himself. "Oh, please, that loudmouthed idiot?" He cried. "If he's been polite to anyone a day in his life, I'll eat that scythe of yours." Surprisingly, she smiled and pulled said scythe away form his neck, replacing it in its holster on her back. The hawk-nosed guy had taken his weapons off of Shino too, and he and the big guy were also smiling.

"You're Leaf ninja, all right," the woman said, nearly laughing. Kiba almost choked.

"You're kidding!" he shouted indignantly. "If that's all it took, why didn't you just compliment Naruto to begin with?"

"Oh, I have nothing but compliments for Naruto-kun," the woman said seriously. "It just so happens that politeness is not among them."

"Well, I guess that sounds about right," Kiba admitted sourly. Annoying as he could be sometimes, Naruto was still a pretty good guy, and a good friend.

"Now that we know who you are, please allow us to introduce ourselves," the woman continued. "I am Sabu Sora, and this is my older brother Daiichi, and my younger brother Kenji." She pointed to the big guy and the hawk-nose guy respectively. Their names seemed to fit them, in any case. "As you no doubt have surmised, we have been assigned to guard the entrance to the Hole, which no doubt is your destination. Kenji will take you there."

"The Hole?" Kiba asked, confused.

"It's what we call our last resort refuge," Kenji explained. "There's only one way in and one way out." Kiba knew that was a lie – there was always another way out – but understood why they wouldn't want to talk about it. It was a secret. "The whole village has been down there for a week, and it's starting to get rough. Your comrades are down there as well, along with the Kazekage and his delegation from the Sand."

"Do you have a message for your Hokage?" Daiichi asked. "Is that why you have come?"

"Actually, we came because of our teammate," Kiba said. "A stronger force is on its way to help break the siege and secure the Hokage, but Hinata is what's important to us."

Sora smiled at them warmly. She had a great smile. "Then you shouldn't keep her waiting," she said. Agreeing wholeheartedly, Kiba followed Kenji through a door they hadn't noticed, with Shino close behind.

"You guys are really devoted to your teammate," Kenji said over his shoulder after they'd gone a ways down a dark, sloping staircase.

"What's so unusual about that?" Kiba asked.

"Nothing, I guess," the taller man said, "It's just nice to see is all. So you guys are friends of Naruto-kun? Or do you just know him?"

Naruto-kun again. That guy really did seem to leave a mark on people. "I guess you could say we're his friends. He'd definitely say that, anyway." Naruto generally considered anyone who spoke normally to him on a semi-regular basis a friend. But Kiba was pretty sure he himself really did qualify, and probably Shino, too. And he of course considered Naruto to be his friend, which was something he would have thought absurd only four years ago.

"That's good to know," Kenji replied, stopping at a large stone slab leaning against a wall. He turned to face them and planted a wide grin on his face. "Any friend of Naruto-kun's is a friend of mine," he said, and pushed the slab aside to reveal the largest cave Kiba had ever seen.

Large enough to hold half of Konoha, and tall enough to contain the Hokage's tower with room to spare, the cavern was lined with a combination of torches and electric lights along its walls, which were also spattered with glacial blue icicles. Massive stalactites hung from the ceiling, but any stalagmites that may once have been there had been removed, and the floor was smooth and clean. To his right, he heard a humming generator, which made sense – they wouldn't want electric wires leading out to reveal their hiding spot; the place was totally self-contained. And there were people everywhere.

"How long did you say you've been in here?" Kiba asked, wrinkling his nose. He'd heard the first time, but the smell of people was so strong, he wanted to double-check.

"A week," Kenji repeated. "And if you can tell right away, it really is getting bad. We've been attacked three times since the initial assault, and now we've lost so much ground that we can't even go above into the village at all anymore."

"You haven't tried to break the siege?" Kiba asked, surprised.

"We tried once, two days ago, but were repelled quickly and suffered too many losses to try again soon," Kenji said, his expression slipping. "To be honest, the news that an expedition from the Leaf is on its way is the best news we've had since this whole thing started."

"Kiba-kun?" asked a familiar voice from not far off. Immense feelings relief and elation washed over Kiba at hearing that soft, sweet voice. He looked around, and at first had trouble spotting her amidst the huge crowd of people. When he finally saw her, she was waving excitedly at him from where she was sitting on her knees with Shizune and the Hokage around someone lying on their back. She had a grin on her face that – in Kiba's opinion – she didn't wear enough. When Hinata smiled – really smiled – she could light up a room.

"Hinata!" he called to her in greeting. Shino had obviously heard the exchange and had joined him as they made their way over to their teammate.

"Kiba-kun! Shino-kun! What are you doing here?" she asked eagerly when they reached her. She stood up and hugged him tightly. He knew he always got the brunt of her affection because Shino wasn't really a hugging type of person, and it was perfectly all right with him.

"We came looking for you," he explained as he hugged her back as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He didn't want to let go. "What did you think we came for?"

"We were concerned for your well-being," Shino said stoically. The girl really did have a gift to get that guy to care about anything so much. She released him from her hug, and he buried his disappointment like always.

"You really were?" she asked, sounding like she was shocked that they may have been worried about her. "Thank you both so much!" It was a mark of how close she felt to the two of them that she didn't bow when she said that.

"So are you two all that's here or what?" the Hokage suddenly broke in. He'd forgotten she was even there.

"We left early," Shino said simply. The Hokage did not look amused.

"Early, you say," she said dryly. "And was this the decision of the council, or did you decide on your own?"

"We left upon encountering Nara Shikamaru's team outside the village and learning what had happened here," Shino said. "We do not know what the current situation is yet in the village, or when the reinforcements they will inevitably send along will arrive, but our primary priority is to extract you all from here as quickly as possible. From the little we observed outside before coming in, the enemy is preparing for another strike any day now. And both the Leaf and the Sand are currently leaderless."

"We can't leave yet," the Hokage's assistant, Shizune, said. "This boy hasn't stabilized." For the first time since he arrived, Kiba looked down at the patient the three of them had been treating and gasped in shock. The kid on the floor couldn't be more than ten or eleven years old – an academy student, most likely. His shirt was gone and he was ghostly pale, and raw scars were visible on both sides of his body at the base of his arms.

"What happened to him?" Kiba asked. Had the attack been so fast that even the children of the village had been affected?

"He was helping Shikamaru's team to escape and they were ambushed," the Hokage explained. "He lost his arms making sure they knew the way out. Sakura was able to save him from bleeding to death on the spot, but she's not yet skilled enough to have been able to do anything else. The three of us have been working on him ever since."

"We're hoping he'll wake up in the next couple of days," Hinata said. "I've learned so much from helping him; I hope it all works out."

"He'll be all right, Hinata," the Hokage said, smiling at her. "As long as one of us is around to monitor his condition until he wakes up and we can make sure his arms work." That didn't sound quite as promising as the Hokage's expression made it out to be, but it seemed to put Hinata at ease.

"Perhaps we should begin with extracting the Suna nin first then, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked. She looked at him funny for a moment, and then nodded. "I'll send for the Kazekage and we'll discuss it. You have a way to get them out?" She jerked her head slightly at Shizune, who then left, presumably in search of the Kazekage.

"Well, we hadn't really planned that far ahead…" Kiba said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. He heard Hinata giggle, but his attention was focused on the vein that was now throbbing on the Hokage's forehead.

"You're kidding, right?" she said coldly. "This is some rescue. You came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

"Like I said, we were really just worried about making sure everyone was okay…"

"Our entry point should be sufficient," Shino broke in. "We managed to circumvent any entrances outside that the enemy is aware of, so leaving the same way should be possible. Although we would have to do it one person at a time."

"I see," the Hokage replied. "Then that is what we will do. How long do you estimate it will take to evacuate all eight of us using this method?"

"We should be able to bring out two people per day," Shino answered.

"We could probably push it to three if we don't have any trouble avoiding the enemy," Kiba added, wanting to be involved in the process. It was then that Shizune returned, bringing with her the last people Kiba would have expected.

"You guys!" he exclaimed, pointing his finger at them. "You're here, too?"

"We came with my brother," the girl, Temari, said.

"Well I meant him, too," Kiba said, not sure which brother she was talking about, though it was probably Gaara. The other two always seemed to be a partnership of their own with him on the side.

"He's the Kazekage, idiot," Kankurou said derisively. Kiba would forever owe the guy for saving his life, but he sure did have an annoying way of talking.

"The Kazekage?" he exclaimed. "You're kidding. Well, I guess it makes sense. He's insanely strong, after all." Kiba just shrugged, sitting down after too many shocks to his system in one day.

"These two here claim to be able to smuggle us out of the village," the Hokage said to the Sand nin. "Though we'd have to go one at a time."

"Really?" Temari asked, shocked. Why should she be shocked? Did she think they couldn't do it? He was about to say as much, and Hinata must have sensed it because she put a hand on his arm to calm him down. She knew he didn't like it when people undercut his abilities. It turned out that wasn't what the Sand kunoichi had meant at all. She was just excited at the possibility of escape.

"Thank you," she said to him and Shino. "We'd just about run out of optimism in here." Kiba just grinned.

"One at a time, though?" Kankurou said, not sounding like he liked that part of the plan at all.

"It's how it must be," said the fourth Sand ninja, whom Kiba recognized as the siblings' old jounin sensei. "If too many people go at once, the risk of being spotted by the enemy is too great. This way is best. One escapee and one guide."

"I will go first," Gaara spoke up, causing both his siblings to jerk their heads in his direction.

"Gaara, what if the enemy finds the exit point?" Temari asked almost frantically. "You'd be by yourself out there for almost half a day until anyone else arrived."

"Let one of us go to make sure it's safe," Kankurou added.

"No," Gaara said simply. "I will not risk your lives to protect my own. As Kazekage, it is my duty to protect all the shinobi of the Sand. How then can I maintain that title if I cannot protect the two of you? Besides, I among us stand the best chance of survival if I am discovered alone by the enemy. So I will be the first to leave."

His siblings stammered a few more protests, but they were token only. It had already been decided that Gaara would go first, and they knew it.

"We can leave as soon as you are ready," Shino said. Kiba would have demanded to know why Shino was taking control and going first, but he wanted to stay behind and talk to Hinata before he started taking people out anyway.

"We should go now, then," Gaara said, already turning to leave. Shino followed him without a word.

"I hope they'll be all right," Temari said, looking after them worriedly.

"They'll be fine," the Hokage said smoothly. "I, however, need to inform the Koorikage of what's going on. He'll want to know." She stood up, and Kiba blinked, not sure if he'd heard correctly. Koorikage? "Shizune, stay here and watch over the boy. You two should come with me," she said, gesturing to the two remaining Sand siblings. Then she was off, without even waiting for them to acknowledge her direction. They followed after her, though.

Kiba heard a delighted giggle to his right, and when he turned to see what it was, a smile grew wide on his face. Hinata was back on her knees, but Akamaru had come over to her and was licking her face, while she pet him and scratched behind his ears.

"Akamaru was worried about you too," Kiba said, grinning down at her. His partner cared for Hinata almost as much as he himself did.

"You made sure they were safe coming in, didn't you, Akamaru?" she asked the dog cheerfully. He barked happily in reply. She hugged him around his neck and he barked again.

"You've been growing your hair out," Kiba said, sitting down next to her and reaching out with his right hand to pick up some of the hair he was talking about. It now reached all the way to her shoulders.

"Aa," she said, blushing a tiny bit. "I've been working in the hospital with Shizune-san so much that I never thought to cut it, and by the time I noticed how long it was, I'd started to like it."

"Don't get me wrong, I think it looks good," he told her, letting the hair he'd grasped fall back down.

"A-arigatou, Kiba-kun," she stammered and smiled at him in that nervous way she did whenever anybody paid her a compliment. It was almost too cute. Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted somewhat abruptly at that point.

"Who are you?" Sneered a young voice from above him. Kiba looked up to see a young Snow ninja with a blue cloth mask across his lower face leering down at him. He was soon joined by a pretty girl with a cheerful grin and a boy dressed in the same clothes as the girl with a completely unreadable face. He was torn between demanding to know who this kid was in return or just punching him in the jaw.

"Don't be rude, Shiro," the girl said. "He's a Leaf ninja obviously, and he clearly knows Hinata-san."

"Oh!" Hinata suddenly said. "Kiba-kun, these are some of the Snow ninja we've met here. This is Sabu Yukiko-san," she said, indicating the girl, "and her brother Saburo-san. And this is their younger brother Shiro-san." The last one was the little brat who'd sneered at him. "Their younger brother is the boy we've been taking care of here."

"Kiba-kun?" the girl named Yukiko inquired. "Your teammate?" Hinata smiled and nodded.

"Wait a minute…" Kiba said, remembering something. "Your surname is Sabu? So you must be related to the three guards we met on our way in."

Yukiko nodded. "Our older siblings are guarding the entrance to the Hole, yes," she said. "You've met them?"

"Well, how do you think we got in?" Kiba asked. "They dropped down on us almost as soon as we entered the building and we had to convince them of who we were before they'd even let us move."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense," she said. "It must not have been long ago then, if we haven't heard about it yet."

"You said 'we'," said the one named Saburo. "Who else came here with you?"

"My other teammate," Kiba said. "But he's not here right now."

"Where is he?" asked Shiro, who sounded like he didn't trust a word he was hearing. Kiba had a strong feeling he wasn't going to like this kid.

"I can't tell you that," Kiba said. "Your leader is being told about it right now, and then if it's decided you should know, you'll know." That reminded Kiba of another question he wanted to ask. "By the way, the Hokage called your leader 'Koorikage'. What did she mean by that?" The three siblings looked at each other, sharing what was probably a knowing look.

"That's what our leader is called now," Yukiko said proudly. "It's the reason all the other kage were asked to come here in the first place. Yukigakure is now recognized as a kage-level power." That was definitely something Kiba had not been expecting, but he figured it could only be a good thing so long as the Snow was their ally.

"Yeah, yeah," Shiro griped. "I didn't come here to talk to this guy. I want to know how Goro's doing."

"He's doing very well, Shiro-san," Hinata said pleasantly. "He should wake up in a couple of days and he can begin rehabilitating his arms."

"Well that's good," Shiro said, still sounding angry about something.

"Thank you again for looking after him, Hinata-san," Saburo said, bowing. "Shizune-san." He bowed to her too even though she hadn't been a part of the conversation. The woman looked up from the kid on the ground to smile at him briefly, then just as quickly went back to what she'd been doing.

"We'll come talk to you later, Hinata-san," Yukiko said brightly. "We'll give you some time alone with your teammate for now." She flashed her widest grin yet and then began ushering her two siblings away. Kiba couldn't see the back of Shiro fast enough and was glad they were gone. He wanted to spend some time with Hinata before risking his life again.

-

"We should be there in another day," Shikamaru announced to the ninja around him. The message began filtering back through the ranks – about forty chuunin and jounin had been sent along on this mission, and while his official role was merely to serve in an advisory capacity, he was more or less leading them all. To his left was Asuma, who was technically the commander of the operation, and to his right…to his right was Ino. After three and a half days Shikamaru still wasn't sure how he felt about her coming along.

She'd come to him the day before the mission was scheduled to leave, demanding to know why he'd accepted such a ridiculous assignment and that he should've refused, and basically yelled at him for a solid ten minutes about things he had no control over. Once she'd used up all her steam and he could get a word in, he spent the next five minutes explaining to her that while it wasn't something he'd ask for, this was a mission that had to be undertaken and if they thought it was him who should do it then…well, he'd do it. He didn't like it any more than she did, he said, but a shinobi has a duty, and he wasn't about to shirk his at a crucial point like this. Besides, by all rights he should still be trapped in Yukigakure with the others; it wouldn't be right if he escaped and then just abandoned them to their own devices.

By the time he reached that point, she'd been silent for a long time, and when he finished, she threw her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as he could ever remember her doing. Then she ran off without a word. The next morning, when they were set to leave, she was there, and Asuma explained she'd come to him the previous evening and insisted on coming along. Shikamaru was glad to have her there, in a way. He always worked best with her and Chouji and Asuma, and she was a comforting, familiar presence besides. And at the same time he was incredibly concerned for her safety. She'd never been on a mission this dangerous before – the highest she'd ever had were B rank, and only a handful of those – and the only reason this mission was A rank instead of S was because so many ninja were involved.

When he'd voiced his concerns to her the first night – in a roundabout way so she wouldn't suspect how worried he really was – she'd laughed and said it served him right; that it was his turn to worry for a change. Then she smiled and kissed him on the cheek, and went off to talk to Asuma about something. He'd never understand women.

So now, a day out from the besieged Snow village, he was working hard to keep his concern in check. Watching out for her too much would be a disservice to her as well as every other ninja in the group…and to himself. He told himself that he had to trust her ability – as he had before, many times – and worry about his own job. He told himself that, but it didn't seem to sink in.

"What are you frowning about, Shikamaru?" she asked from his right. "You're not rethinking your entry strategy, are you? I thought you and Asuma-sensei decided that would be the best way. Naruto and Lee and Tenten all agreed with you too."

"It's not that," Shikamaru answered. "I can't help but think we might be too late." It wasn't totally a lie; the thought had crossed his mind. "We left there a week and a half ago. The whole village could be destroyed by now."

"Not if what I know about the Snow ninja and what you told me about them is accurate," she said. "And besides, Hokage-sama is there, and the Kazekage. They can hold out." She smiled at him in a way that always seemed to boost his confidence, even on occasions when he wasn't aware he was lacking it. Someday he'd have to figure out how she did that.

"Everyone stop," Asuma ordered suddenly. They'd come upon the end of the forest, as Shikamaru knew they would. From this spot was almost exactly a day's journey to the Snow. "How long until we're back in wooded lands again?" his former sensei asked.

"A couple of hours, at our current pace," he answered. Asuma looked at the sky; the sun had gone down below their view over the trees some time ago, and now they were bathed only in twilight.

"And you say it's about a day to Yukigakure from here?" he asked. Shikamaru nodded. "Then we'll break across these plains and stop for the night once we hit the trees again," Asuma said. "That way, we can be assured of arriving by sunset tomorrow even if there are delays." He gave the signal to move out, and soon all forty-something shinobi were dashing across the rolling plains of the Hill Country in the swiftly waning light. It always put Shikamaru at a sense of unease to move across such open land in anything but complete darkness, and he imagined many other shinobi felt the same way. But there was no other way to reach their destination without taking a detour that would send them days out of their way.

"So this Koorikage, what's he like?" Ino asked, making conversation as they ran. He'd told her a little of what had gone on in the Snow village, but hadn't really gone over any details except what their enemies had fought like.

"He's pretty on top of things," Shikamaru answered after a moment of thinking about it. "He doesn't really have to exert any effort to get people to do what he says."

"A natural leader," Asuma said approvingly from his other side. Even though he was within hearing distance so it wasn't really eavesdropping, Shikamaru didn't like people just barging in on conversations. But he didn't say anything.

"Godaime-sama says he lives up to his new title, too. He was out there fighting the enemy kage on even ground with her and Gaara."

"Gaara?" Ino asked, confused. "Why was he there?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Shikamaru asked. "Gaara's the new Kazekage for the Sand. It was him who first recognized the legitimacy of the Shodai Koorikage."

"So…if he's there," Ino started, "then that means his siblings are there too, right?"

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"No reason," she said, though her suddenly hard expression didn't match her words at all. "I was just curious."

"If you say so," he said, not really understanding what she might be upset about and not really wanting to get into it with her. Geez. Women are so troublesome.

-

Kiba was making sure to keep an extra careful watch as he and Hinata began sneaking their way out of the village. On the Hokage's orders, she was the last one being smuggled out, due to the high risk of her capture. Knowing she would be a priority target – especially for the Cloud – was making him almost insane with worry. He and Shino had both known it would be like this, but it was still difficult.

Between the two of them, they'd managed to smuggle everyone out through the side tunnel that he and Akamaru had dug in just over three days. That was something to be proud of, but the feeling of an impending attack had increased from "any day" to "any moment". The Snow were confident that they could repel the invaders for a short time, but unless the promised reinforcements from Konoha showed up soon, they'd be in a lot of trouble.

"Do you see anything?" he asked Hinata, who shook her head. Her Byakugan was activated and was probably doing a better job of scanning for threats than even his nose was. They were currently about halfway to the tunnel entrance by the ice rink – the one the enemy knew existed. They had to hide their side-tunnel every time they went through to make sure it wasn't discovered, but the highest risk was always getting to the tunnel to begin with, since the enemy would be expecting them to go there. Twice already Shino had reported having to lure away and kill an enemy before proceeding with the escape, and on Kiba's last time out he and Shizune had had to wait for almost an hour for a group of three Rock ninja to move away a sufficient amount for them to make a break.

"Akamaru hasn't announced anything either, so we should be okay," he whispered. His canine partner was scouting the area ahead of them, and would have made some sort of sound if anything were out of the ordinary. It seemed like smooth sailing…which was exactly why Kiba was on edge. It was never that easy.

"Wait…something's happening," Hinata suddenly said. She paused for a moment to focus, and then her eyes shot open wide and her jaw dropped. "Kiba-kun, run!" she yelled, grabbing his hand and dashing toward the ice rink.

"What is it?" he yelled back, sprinting along with her. Though he thought he could guess, and the very idea made him sick.

"It's the invasion!" Hinata shouted. "They're all coming into the village at once!"

"Shit!" he cursed. A second later he heard Akamaru howl, and from the Doppler effect it sounded as if the ninja dog were running back toward the two of them. "We need to get out of here now!" he hollered at his teammate. "Forget the tunnel! Make for the wall! Find the place with the fewest number of enemies and we'll make a break for it!" They were too far out to be able to go back and join up with the Snow defenders in time, and with so many enemies swarming the village it would be almost impossible to hide. Their only hope was to make it out and join up with Shino and the others outside.

"This way, Kiba-kun!" Hinata said, pointing to the right and pulling him along in one motion. After she was sure he was following she let go of his hand to ensure they both had a full range of movement. And then they ran.

"What's over there?" he asked, just as Akamaru rejoined them.

"There are only four enemies in this direction," she answered, already gathering chakura to her hands to prepare for an immediate strike.

"We'll have to drive right through them," he said, forming the seals that would allow him to use the shikyaku no jutsu as soon as was necessary. "With luck, they won't be expecting us this far from the center of the village, and we can use momentum and surprise to take them out. We'll have to be fast, though."

"Un," Hinata nodded. This was going to be close.

A mere three seconds before they would be clearly apparent to their enemies, they sprang into action. Hinata leapt to one side of the street and ran along the buildings in the shadows, while he leapt to the other side and made his way along the wall just underneath the overhangs as Akamaru dashed along under him on the street. They wouldn't even be able to take out all four enemies; one quick strike would be all they would have time for.

Running as fast as he could, Kiba leapt up onto the rooftops to come directly into the path of one of the enemies – a Cloud ninja. Appearing from below the roof mere feet from his opponent's face, he lashed out with his now-clawed hands and tore the young man's throat out. He heard Akamaru growl as he jumped on another down on the street and mauled his face in one swift move, continuing on without even finishing the Kumo nin off. Across the street he saw Hinata assail a man with three consecutive palm strikes while she ran past him, and the man doubled over in pain. The fourth member of the team, whom Kiba hadn't even been able to locate, would no doubt try and counterattack any moment, so he moved across the street with Akamaru as quickly as he could to join up with Hinata and they kept on running.

"He's getting back up," Hinata said, presumably of the man she'd hit. "He'll be in a lot of pain, but is still dangerous. The fourth team member is helping up the one that Akamaru attacked."

"That means that if we leave and rendezvous with the others, we'll lead the enemy straight to them," Kiba answered back. He cursed under his breath. That meant they'd have to escape on their own.

They were coming up to the village wall now, and one jump onto it and Kiba knew they were in trouble.

"It's too slick to climb with chakura alone," he said, coming to a stop at its base. It was the first time they'd stopped running since the attack began. "We don't have any climbing tools with us, either. I could probably climb it using my claws from the shikyaku no jutsu, but there's no way you or Akamaru could make it. And there aren't any buildings around here high enough to rebound off of, either." This was definitely a problem. He remembered Naruto saying something after his first mission here about the walls being hard to climb, but he'd implied that it was still possible. Now, though…

"Kiba-kun, they're coming," Hinata said, nearly panicking. There was only on option left.

"Stand back, Hinata," he said. He took several steps back himself, so as to allow a decent running start, and then, "Tsuuga!" With the spinning taijutsu technique he'd learned from his mother while still in the academy, he bored a hole straight through the village wall. A quick look to make sure Hinata and Akamaru were following him through, and they were off again, in a direction entirely different from where Shino and the others were hiding.

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata shouted desperately. "In the trees! It's-"

Kiba didn't even have time to raise a defense when a half-dozen shinobi came pouring out of the forest and onto the fresh snow surrounding the village. Only…these shinobi he recognized.

"Kurenai-sensei?" he questioned disbelievingly. He even stopped running in amazement as his old jounin sensei came surging toward him with five other ninja in tow, including two ANBU.

"Hurry and join up with Hokage-sama and the others!" Kurenai shouted as she came within range. "You all need to get out of here, especially Hinata!" She and her team ran by them then, and he heard her yell over her shoulder, "We have more than enough to handle this. Go, now!"

He didn't need to be told twice. One look shared with Hinata said she felt the same, so off they went, this time in the direction of the rendezvous point.

"It looks like the reinforcements made it in time!" Kiba yelled as they ran. He felt like laughing. Talk about leaving it to the last second!

Just as they made it to the tree line, three Rock ninja popped out of the ground ahead of them. Evidently they'd somehow managed to hide themselves even from Hinata's Byakugan. Kiba heard Hinata shriek, and was about to leap into action when he heard a familiar voice bellowing a battle cry.

"HAAA!" Naruto came barreling out of the trees and collided with the nearest Rock nin. A moment later, two more of him converged on the same man and buried kunai in his back.

"Let's go, Geji Mayu!" one of the Narutos called. From inside the darkness of the trees another familiar voice rang out.

"Konoha senpuu!" Rock Lee came spinning into view, his foot connecting with another Rock nin's skull and shattering it.

"Naruto-kun, behind you!" Hinata yelled out, just as the sole remaining Rock ninja fired off some sort of Doton projectile jutsu. It connected directly, but Naruto only grunted in pain before falling forward and vanishing in a cloud of smoke. Kiba took the opportunity to perform the hand seals for a jutsu he'd just recently mastered.

Chihaba no jutsu! He made a slashing motion with his right hand – the hand that was still covered in the blood from the ninja whose throat he'd ripped out – and the blood went flying forward and sliced the Rock ninja to ribbons. The technique worked better if he used his own blood, but this was more than sufficient.

"Thanks for the help, Kiba," Naruto sad, dispersing his clones.

"We should be saying that to you," Kiba replied. "How many came?"

"About forty, I think," the blond said. "But we need to keep going. You guys should get out of here. The old hag wants to get moving."

"Right." Just as they were leaving, Kiba remembered something. "Naruto!" he called after them. "They did something to the walls! You can't climb them with chakura!" Naruto didn't answer, but waved to show he'd heard. Kiba then turned to Hinata. "Let's go," he said. She nodded. They leapt up into the trees and began moving, feeling slightly more at ease. This was a much more familiar method of traveling.

After a few minutes they met up with the Hokage's group. Everyone seemed relieved to see them.

"I am glad to see you both managed to escape safely," Shino said to them.

"Yes, well, now that we're here, we need to get going," the Hokage said.

"Don't you think we should stay and help?" Temari asked. "After all, they came here to rescue us, and we shouldn't abandon the Snow, either."

"If they came to rescue us, how exactly is going back into the thick of battle going to be repaying them?" the Hokage countered. "They are here both to provide us with a means to escape, and to repay the Snow for harboring us. Our villages have already been leaderless too long at a time like this; we can't afford to stay here anymore."

"She is correct, Temari," Gaara said. "As much as we may be able to help here, we do more good by taking the opportunity to flee. Do not forget, our own villages are in danger of being attacked as well."

That was apparently good enough reason for the kunoichi, for she put up no further protest. They began the long trip back south, leaving the sounds of battle fading behind them.

-

Temari followed her brothers away from the battle and out of the Ice Country as fast as her legs could carry her. Hesitant as she might have been at first, now she'd had some time to think on it she couldn't be away fast enough. Being confined to that cave for a week with limited rations and space to move around in had taken the edge off of her combat prowess a bit, and she wasn't sure she'd have fared as well in a fight as she normally would. Add to that the extreme weather conditions – this far north it was an average of thirty-five degrees colder than what she was used to – and she was completely out of her element.

The relief from the Leaf had come just barely in time, and she was only a tiny bit surprised by who was at their head. That boy would never cease to amaze her. If only he were a few years older…

She chuckled ruefully to herself at that. Even if she was interested, for the short amount of time she'd spoken to him outside the snow village, she'd felt something just a hair short of killing intent directed at her from the blonde kunoichi she knew was the boy's teammate. She wasn't about to get into a dispute of that magnitude over something so trivial. Besides, she thought, looking behind her disdainfully at the Leaf ninja who were following, she didn't want to end up like those two.

The two in question were skilled enough, she supposed, and keeping up just fine, and were they civilians there wouldn't really seem to be anything unusual about their behavior, but for shinobi, they were practically acting like newlyweds out for a stroll. And this was supposed to be a flight for their lives. It was disgraceful.

Many hours later, they reached the break in the forest inside the Hill Country, and Gaara and the Hokage declared it was safe to rest for a short time. The two Leaf chuunin who'd come to get them out, Kiba and that bug guy, stood watch while everyone else was told to get some sleep. Wary of enemies or not, Temari was so exhausted she fell asleep as soon as she put her head down.

-

"It appears to be over, sir," said a chuunin Shikamaru didn't know who had come up to give Asuma a report on the battle. "The enemy have all been routed or killed, and their remaining forces are fleeing the area."

"What are our casualties?" Asuma asked.

"We count sixteen dead from our forces, and twelve wounded. Only two of the wounds are serious. Among the Snow, the casualties are still being tabulated."

Shikamaru winced at the man's words. It was far too much. Death was always a possibility for a shinobi, but he couldn't help but feel that the whole battle was senseless. Why had the other villages suddenly decided to attack them? Didn't they understand they'd lose a lot of ninja, too? Didn't they care? He turned his head, and thanked every kami and spirit he could think of that the kunoichi on his right was not counted among those casualties. The three-inch cut on her left upper arm hardly qualified as a "wound". At the moment, she was doing what he was pretending to be doing: surveying their surroundings in the aftermath of the largest battle either of them had seen in over nearly four years. Come to think of it, she'd been unconscious for the last one.

He couldn't help but be impressed with her. He knew her skills were best attuned to situations of surveillance and infiltration, but he'd been unaware of just how far her combat abilities had come. She must have trained very hard for a long time since the last time he'd seen her really fight. A pang of shame shot through him, and he chastised himself for not being around enough for her. She was his teammate and he didn't even know what she was capable of. And she was very capable. It wasn't right.

Either she sensed he was watching her, or she just happened to glance his way, but for whatever reason their eyes met. She lingered for only a second, and then determinedly looked away with a scowl. He could only imagine what that was about, though he knew when it began. When the large force of Konoha shinobi had arrived on the outskirts of the Hidden Snow Village with he and Asuma at the head, they had met up with the team of Leaf and Sand escapees. As predicted, Gaara and his siblings were there. While Asuma spoke with the Hokage and Naruto went to talk to Gaara, Temari had come over to speak to him. He had great respect for the Sand kunoichi, both for her intelligence and her abilities. Through their many encounters in the past, he knew the respect was mutual and always enjoyed her company. He'd wanted her opinion on conditions inside the village and his entry strategy just as she'd wanted his opinion on the situation as a whole and what could be done about it from here. But throughout the entire conversation, he could feel a suppressed rage radiating from Ino's direction, and more than once he saw her glaring at them out of the corner of his eye. He knew Temari sensed it too, which annoyed him. He wasn't stupid; he may understand little about women but he knew why Ino was upset, and he was irritated because there was no reason for it. If she'd stepped back and calmly assessed things she would have seen that.

Normally, Shikamaru would just let Ino have her moods and temper tantrums, but this one in particular really got under his skin. He was feeling very complimentary toward her after her performance in the battle, and he didn't like being annoyed with someone he was feeling complimentary toward. It didn't fit right. It annoyed him even more that he would now have to exert effort to fix this, which only served to make that feeling worse.

He decided to approach as if there were nothing wrong. Playing dumb always seemed to work for Naruto in situations like these.

"That cut on your arm isn't bad, but you should probably have it patched up soon," he said, walking over to her. Asuma was still talking with that chuunin and wasn't paying attention to either of them.

"I'm fine," she said curtly. "Anyway, what do you care?" That was too much, even for him. His eyebrows lowered as he replied, in a much harsher tone than he usually would use.

"What kind of idiotic question is that? Of course I care." The obvious anger in his response took her aback. She stammered for a moment before speaking again. When she did, it was in a much less aggressive fashion than her previous dialogue.

"You're right, I'm sorry," she said, though it was clear she was still unhappy with him. "I know you do, but sometimes…"

"Sometimes what, Ino?" So much for the subtle approach; might as well get this all out in the open at once.

"Sometimes I think you forget how much I care about you!" she nearly shouted. She panted a few breaths, and then took on a look that plainly said she wished she'd kept her mouth shut. It wasn't what he'd expected her to say, but it wasn't a total shock, either. He would have to proceed very delicately.

"That's not something I could ever forget about," he said, much softer now.

"I came here for you, you know," she said. She was fighting back a sob; that wasn't like Ino at all.

"I know."

"To make sure you didn't get hurt."

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Why what?" He was starting to lose track of where this conversation was going.

"If you knew that, why did you let me come?" Boy, was that a loaded question.

"Ino, you know as well as I do that I would never have been able to talk you out of it, and it wasn't my call to make anyway. If you wanted to come and Asuma allowed it, there was nothing I could have done."

"But you wanted to, didn't you? You didn't want me to come. I'd just get in the way." Where did all these insecurities come from? How could someone as competent and intelligent as Ino feel this inadequate? On top of that, it didn't seem to fit her personality at all. For the first time in quite a while, Nara Shikamaru had absolutely no idea what was going on, and he didn't like it.

"How could you say that?" He very nearly railed at her. He was getting angry again and it was hard to hold it back. "How could you even think that I would see you as just in the way? Haven't I always relied on you? Trusted you? Haven't I always worked best with you and Chouji alongside me?" He was vastly approaching a rant, and he couldn't seem to stop himself. Throughout all of his demands, Ino had only nodded, not making a sound.

"And on top of that, what's with this lack of confidence all of a sudden? That's not the Ino I know at all. The only two people I know with more self-esteem than you are Kiba and Naruto. Or is it just a bluff? Don't you know what a great ninja you are? Doesn't everybody say how skilled you are for your age?"

"You don't."

And just as he couldn't stop himself before, Shikamaru now could not make himself speak a word. That was it. Her feelings of inadequacy stemmed from one source: him. For whatever reason, his approval was the one validation she wanted, and she felt that she didn't have it. But why? It had never been a problem before. He'd never had to say anything because she always just understood what he was thinking, but not anymore. What had changed?

Then, like a strike to the face by the Hokage, it hit him. Temari. He knew Ino was jealous of her, but he'd assumed it was jealousy of a romantic nature. He couldn't help but laugh at himself for letting his ego get in the way of seeing the true problem. Ino wasn't romantically jealous of Temari at all. She wasn't stupid; she could see that there wasn't any attraction between them. What she was jealous of was the obvious respect Shikamaru had for the older kunoichi. Respect she coveted and desired more than Shikamaru had ever imagined.

"Ino…" he began uncertainly. "I don't really know…"

"Don't." She bit out. "Just…forget I said anything." She turned on her heel to walk away, but Shikamaru was quicker and grabbed her uninjured arm to spin her back around to face him.

"I don't say it enough, but you're an amazing shinobi, Ino," he said. "Sometimes I forget just how talented you are, and it's not right. I shouldn't forget. You're the most important person in my life, and I shouldn't ever take you for granted. I'm sorry."

The fact that he didn't say she was "one of" the most important people in his life was not lost on Ino. Still, she had to make sure.

"What about Chouji?" she asked, not bothering to explain what she meant. She knew he'd understand.

His mouth cocked to one side in a smirk that used to be unbearably irritating, but somehow now seemed charming. "Don't get me wrong; Chouji's great. And Asuma, and my parents, and even Naruto. I have a lot of people who are important to me. But only one of them thinks I'm worth more what I already am, or remembers I don't like crabmeat, and that I can't stand any game that involves chance. Even Chouji complains when I want to talk about strategies from missions we've already finished. Asuma never wants to spend time doing anything except training or playing shogi or go, and my parents forgot my birthday twice. Naruto probably wishes I were more like him. And not one of them smiles at me like you do."

Ino gaped at him, utterly at a loss for how to respond to his revelation. Finally, in lieu of saying anything, she just leaned in and hugged him. She clung to him tighter than she'd hung on to her father as a little girl when something frightened her, and she didn't let go.

And as cathartic as the moment was, it was unfortunate that they forgot for just a moment that everyone they knew was a shinobi, for it only looked like no one was paying any attention to them.

-

Tsunade was on alert. Well, she always was, but at the moment it was heightened considerably. After pushing harder than most of the group ever had before, they were now less than a day away from Konoha. That alone should have put her in a good mood, but there was something she couldn't quite place that was causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end. After so many years of experience as a shinobi, she knew by now not to ignore such instincts. She was just about to stop the party and confer with Gaara when he did it for her.

"There are enemies near," he said in his usual deep monotone. Tsunade was impressed in spite of herself. To have instincts like that at his age…this kid was definitely going to make a great Kazekage.

"How many, Gaara?" his older brother asked, already easing from their pouches on his back the scrolls which contained his combat puppets.

"It is impossible to say," Gaara answered. "But enemies this near to Konohagakure at a time such as this can only mean scouts, or a secondary invasion force."

"To invade two kage-level villages at once would tax their manpower too much," Aburame Shino observed. "Therefore, it is most likely forward scouts that you sense."

"A reasonable assumption," Tsunade said, breaking into the conversation. "However, no matter how educated a guess is, it's still a guess. We can't afford to make any mistakes now."

"Akamaru and I can scout ahead," Kiba volunteered, casting a pointed stare at Hinata, who nodded. She formed the brief seal that activated her family ability and took a moment to take in everything that she saw.

"I can't be sure exactly of the number," she whispered, "but there are at least two squads. The path least likely to give us trouble is there," she said, pointing to her right toward the west side of the village. "Though there are ways to conceal oneself from the Byakugan, it is unlikely any enemies are employing them at this time, unless they already know we are here."

"It is of course possible that they do," Shino said. He turned to Kiba. "I will follow after you at in ten minutes." Kiba didn't argue, which was his way of agreeing with the stoic Aburame.

-

"If you're discovered, don't come back here," Tsunade instructed. "Break for the village."

"Understood," Kiba answered, though he took a long look at the teammate he'd be leaving behind, first. He'd played it out in his head and reasoned he could protect her better this way, but he still didn't like leaving her behind, even if it was with two kage. He signaled Akamaru and took off into the night.

For a while everything seemed fine. He'd made it more than two-thirds of the way to the village and hadn't detected any signs of an ambush or anything. He figured he'd go for another minute or so and head back to give the all-clear. A small whine from Akamaru was the only warning he got.

He leapt backward into the air and flipped over to stick to the trunk of a tree. A shuriken the size of his torso went whizzing past where he'd just been. He didn't see Akamaru, but knew his partner had dived into the bushes to his right. Experienced enough to know he hadn't escaped anything yet, he leapt to another tree just as four kunai came flying at him from a different direction as the initial attack and embedded themselves in the tree trunk. He let fly with two of his own in the direction they'd come from, knowing it was merely a token gesture to keep the enemy from pressing their attack. At least for the next few seconds.

Quickly, he formed the hand seals for his shikyaku no jutsu, giving him heightened speed and reflexes. He was going to need them, especially if there were more than the two enemies he was already aware of.

He focused his chakura-enhanced senses, trying to locate his attackers. The one who'd thrown the kunai was on the move, probably repositioning for another attack. The one who'd thrown the shuriken, however…

"Tsuuga!" Kiba roared, whirling around and drilling into the enemy shinobi who'd just been coming out of the foliage behind him. The Mist ninja was caught off-guard and took the attack directly in the chest, breaking nearly all of his ribs. He would die if not treated very quickly. Kiba dropped to the ground to avoid more kunai, and only his powerful hearing alerted him to the displaced air from another attack, allowing him to duck just in time as a very large sword swung over his head and sunk into the tree. He rolled away immediately and sprung to his feet facing his new assailant.

The man he now faced was one who commanded attention immediately. He was a fairly tall man who wore an open kimono with sparse geometric patterns, joined only at his belt line. He wore blue-grey hakama in lieu of pants, a necklace of all kinds of sharp animal teeth hung from his neck and draped across his bare chest. He had a wild appearance, with grayish-blond hair even more untamed than his own or even Naruto's, and his eyes were different colors. One was a vivid green and the other a deep purplish blue. A scar ran up the left side of his face alongside his oddly misshapen nose, and half of his right ear was gone. But it was his manic grin, along with the excited gleam in his mismatched eyes that sent the shiver up Kiba's spine. Had he been a jounin with access to the Bingo Book, he would have known this man was Akumazaki Noko, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and more commonly known as the Madman of the Hidden Mist. As it was, all Kiba knew was that this was not a man he wanted to fight under any circumstances.

Noko gave a hard tug, pulling his sword free of the tree and swinging it around to rest over his shoulder. Kiba analyzed the weapon. It was as long as its wielder was tall, a foot and a half of that taken up by the abnormally thick hilt. The blade itself was about two hands wide, and razor-sharp teeth, over two inches in length themselves, curved back toward the hilt for the entire length of the weapon on both sides. The tip of the sword had no point; the last two teeth were simply connected in one long arc. It was a frightening weapon, made to tear through the flesh of its victims rather than merely cutting or slicing them.

"Nice dodge, kid," Noko said. "You've got good reflexes."

Kiba was unsettled, to say the least. The manic quality of the Mist ninja's grin and the bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes were still present, but the way he spoke, it felt like a senpai appraising the skills of his kohai in a sparring match.

Noko was walking slowly toward him now, and Kiba was desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation. His greatest strength was in close-range taijutsu, but with that sword he'd never get in close enough. Even facing a lesser opponent he'd be wary of that. Akamaru was his one ace in the hole, provided the swordsman was not aware of him, which was too good to hope for anyway, but he faced the same problem of getting past the damn sword.

In an instant, he no longer had a choice, because his opponent tossed his sword into the air and charged. Kiba couldn't imagine why he would dispose of his weapon, but the purpose became clear a moment later when his attacker formed a few quick hand seals and attacked with the least likely of weapons.

"Kiba Dangan no Jutsu!" Noko called out, and all the animal fangs on his necklace shot forward with inconceivable speed. Kiba doubted if even Rock Lee could have dodged them, but he did his best. He managed to avoid a good number of them, but got grazed by several more and struck directly by three. One went through his right shoulder just under his collarbone, one pierced his lower left gut, and the third shot through his upper right thigh. All three of them passed right on through him and kept going, embedding in trees far behind him. Before he even had time to move again the sword was coming down on him, caught by Noko and using the momentum of its fall to add to the strike. Kiba winced and an image of a dark-haired girl passed through his head as his death descended.

CLANG.

Kiba opened his eyes and looked up. Standing over him, right arm outstretched and holding the oversized sword at bay with his metal wrist guard, was his insufferable teammate of whom he would never speak another disparaging word.

"You weren't supposed to engage the enemy," Shino said as coolly as ever. Okay, so maybe he could go back to being irritated with the guy when they got home.

"Has it been ten minutes already?" Kiba asked. "Time flies, huh?"

"Your other two squad mates are dead," Shino said, ignoring Kiba and addressing the Mist ninja, "and that one will be in minutes if you don't take him to a medic now." He inclined his head only slightly toward the enemy Kiba had dispatched early as a way of indicating who he meant.

"Heh," Noko replied, pulling his sword back and resting it on his shoulder again. "Awfully confident, aren't you? Well, I suppose I should go. I don't fancy the idea of having to fight two kage at once." So he did know the rest of them were here. That probably meant any other enemies in the area did, too. Kiba hissed an intake of breath as he shifted to grip his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

"Release Akamaru first," Shino said. Noko's grin widened.

"You are a sharp one, aren't you?" he said, but not in the same way he'd spoken to Kiba. This time it was the way one speaks to an enemy who might prove interesting, which only irritated Kiba further. All the same, they did hear a splash and moments later Akamaru came bounding out of the bushes where he'd apparently been held captive by some sort of water jutsu.

"Until next time, then," Noko said, then vanished. He reappeared an instant later on the tree limb where his wounded comrade still lay, picked him up, and then disappeared again. At that, Kiba finally collapsed to the ground.

"The others are on their way," Shino told him. "I sent an exploding wasp to signal them. Hinata and the Hokage should be able to heal your wounds quickly enough."

"Yeah, they will," Kiba agreed. "But we need to get inside the village first. There's still enemies out here and I'm not about to die or anything; my wounds can wait."

They waited for a few minutes, and Shino helped Kiba prop himself up against a tree and apply some rudimentary first aid to his injuries so he wouldn't bleed to death. When the rest of their group did arrive, Hinata was nearly in hysterics. Her Byakugan was activated; clearly she'd seen Kiba's injuries from far off and, being a medical ninja, was aware how serious they were.

"Kiba-kun!" she exclaimed as soon as they arrived, and rushed over to him. She began examining him immediately, and though he reveled in her touch, especially after thinking he was going to die, he knew they didn't have time for her to do this right away.

"I'm all right for now, Hinata," he said, taking her hands in his to stop her ministrations. "We need to get inside the village. I'll still be injured when we get there, and you can look at me then." It was a rather tactless way of saying it, but she nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Can you walk?" the Hokage asked him.

"I'll carry him," Genma said before he even had a chance to answer. And so the next thing he knew, he was draped over Genma's shoulder like a rag doll headed toward the village, with Hinata practically stepping on the man's heels the whole way back to make sure his wounds didn't tear. When they arrived, the Hokage went to inform the council of their return as well as brief them on the overall situation and begin drawing up a plan of action. Genma took him straight to the hospital with Hinata and Shizune close behind. Shino came along as well, for whatever reasons he had, and he didn't get a chance to see where the Sand ninja went, though he didn't particularly care anyway. He took small comfort in knowing that the Hokage didn't feel his injuries were serious enough to require her personal attention.

-

It was another two weeks before the force that had been sent to Yukigakure returned, and even though Sakura had resumed her training with Tsunade and was consequentially kept busy, the waiting drove her mad. The entire village was in complete upheaval; with their initial strike halted, their enemies had evidently pulled back to re-strategize, so there was essentially a lull in hostilities. This meant that a lot of time was being spent in planning phases, working out what to do next. All sorts of affluent Konoha shinobi attended these meetings, from ANBU captains to jounin specialists like Kakashi to the heads of the various clans. Even as the Hokage's apprentice, she herself was only privy to one of these meetings, and so had plenty of spare time to train, and to brood over when the ninja sent to the Snow would return, and how many of them would return.

When they finally did arrive, Naruto sought her out immediately. She hadn't even known they were back when he showed up at the training ground she used behind the Hokage's tower, and she embarrassed herself completely by missing a step in the gauntlet Tsunade had set up to sharpen her dodging ability and getting steamrolled by a giant swinging log.

"Are you all right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, helping her up and surreptitiously checking to see if she'd taken any serious damage.

"Ha-hai, I'm fine, Naruto," she said, brushing herself off. It was mostly a ruse so he wouldn't notice her blushing; how clumsy could she get? "I didn't know you were back."

"I figured that out already, Sakura-chan," he said with a teasing smirk.

"Did everyone make it back okay?" she asked, knowing it was impossible, but it was the implied question she was really curious about.

"Not everybody," he said sadly, "but everyone we know. Shikamaru and Ino…well, I'll tell you about that later," he said with a devilish grin. "I just came by to see you before I have to go see the old lady."

"Tsunade-shishou wants to talk to you?" Sakura asked, putting aside her curiosity about her best friend for a minute. "She didn't say anything to me about it. What for?"

"I don't know, but it sounded important. Shikamaru was really mad about it; she wants to see him, too."

"I don't believe this! You both just got back and she needs to see you already? You haven't even had a chance to go home!"

"That's what Ino said," Naruto replied cheerfully. "I think she was more upset about it than Shikamaru was."

Now Sakura really wanted to know what was going on with those two, though she could hazard a guess, and that guess only made her want to know even more.

"Well, you'd better get going, I guess," she finally said. "I just hope she's not sending you both away again. You need some rest or you'll burn yourselves out."

"I don't know about Shikamaru, but I'll be fine," Naruto said. Sakura couldn't argue with that; he probably would be fine. The boy had stamina coming out the wazoo. "If we are going on another mission, I'll try and come see you before I go, though." She barely had time to say goodbye before he vanished in a puff of smoke.

She turned and looked back at the gauntlet, the obstacles in which were still in motion. "I need to keep training," she said quietly to herself. "Naruto, I can't keep letting you leave me behind."

-

"I'm glad you four made it on time," the Hokage said, looking in particular at Naruto and Shikamaru. "The mission I have for you now is of the utmost importance, and cannot be delayed any longer than necessary." Neji wondered why, if it was so important, had they waited for the mission from the Snow to return? Surely they could have found two other shinobi to come along. But he said nothing.

"What is the mission?" Aburame Shino asked. Neji silently sized up the fourth member of their squad. He'd never really worked with the Aburame before, though what he'd seen over the years always impressed him. Shino was one of the few shinobi in Konoha of his age group that made Hyuuga Neji uneasy. In a mission like this, he would surely be a strong asset.

"The open hostilities may have stopped for the time being, but our village is still being watched," the Hokage said. "Only the most elite are chosen for this task, as the need to not be captured is so great and the risk of capture is so high. We are most likely under surveillance from some of the highest ranked jounin from the Rock, the Cloud, the Mist and the Sound. ANBU squads are on the lookout, but at present are over encumbered with other tasks and are not sufficiently effective. The mission being given to the four of you is this: capture at least one of these scouts and bring him or her back to the village unharmed for interrogation. You and the other two teams assigned to this mission will be reporting directly to Morino Ibiki. I will let him complete this briefing." The aforementioned heavily scarred man stepped forward from where he'd been waiting behind the Hokage's desk.

"While it is only necessary to capture a single enemy, any further captures you are able to make will of course be helpful," Ibiki said. "Since there are four distinct enemies, higher priority will be assigned to enemy villages not yet represented in our interrogation rooms. Since no enemies have yet been apprehended, all have equal priority at this time. The other two teams have already been briefed and are already in the field. Here is the information on each of them." The interrogator handed each of the chuunin two folders, each one containing the information on of one of the other two squads and their members. Nobody Neji knew was in either of them, though their files were impressive. He noticed something else about them too, which made him suspicious, but he didn't say anything. Likely the others had noticed it as well anyway…well, maybe not Naruto.

"When do we start?" said blond asked, looking up from the files he'd been given.

"Your mission starts the moment you leave this room," Ibiki said. "You are to ask any questions you have now, and then leave the files on the other teams here before exiting. You are not to speak to anyone regarding this mission who is not directly involved while the mission is in progress. That means yourselves, the Hokage, the two other squads, and myself. The mission is over when at least one enemy scout from each village has been brought in for questioning. Understood?"

There was a chorus of "Understood," and then Ibiki asked if they had questions. When they didn't, he bade them good hunting and sent them away.

"Which way should we go?" Naruto asked as they left the Hokage's office. Not until he asked this had Neji considered the fact that no one had been assigned the leader of their squad.

"Our enemies all come from the north or the east," Shikamaru said, "so the best place to look for them would be in the west and the south."

"How does that work?" Naruto asked, clearly confused.

"Because it is the least obvious place to look," Shino said.

"Huh?"

"Think about it, Naruto," Shikamaru said. "If you were spying on a village, and they knew you lived to the south, where would you go to spy on them?" The blond thought about it for a moment before a look of dawning comprehension came over his face.

"I'd circle around to the north, since they'd be expecting me to come from the other way!"

"Right," Shikamaru replied. "So we anticipate that move in our enemy, and catch them where they're trying to throw us off the track."

"Okay, I think I get it," Naruto said. But then his face scrunched up in thought again. "But if that's what I would do, why would they be doing it?"

"What?" Shikamaru asked. Neji was a bit perplexed himself.

"Well, think about it," Naruto said, confident in his reasoning now. "That's what I would do, because that's what we're taught to do, right? It's a basic maneuver. But the old hag said these guys are supposed to be the best there is at this kind of thing. So why would they do such a basic maneuver that we could so easily predict? Wouldn't they do the opposite, and just come straight at us?" Neji felt himself smiling despite himself. It made perfect sense.

"They would throw us off the trail by doing what we would never expect them to do," he said.

"Looks like we're headed northeast," Shikamaru said. He was smiling too. Shino said nothing, but followed along with them.

-

Shikamaru huddled in the leaves of his tree, watching the enemy scout they'd selected as their target. He found himself really wishing Ino were there; her skill in surveillance was far greater than his.

"If this guy really is a Rock ninja like his hitai-ate says, then he's the last one we need," came Naruto's whisper from the right. They'd caught a Sound ninja their first night out, and then when they captured a Cloud ninja two nights later they'd discovered one of the other teams had captured a Mist ninja as well. They'd spent the next two nights trying to locate an Iwa nin, and now as the sun prepared to rise on their sixth day out, they were finally in position to nab one.

"If the enemy scouts are in contact at all, which they almost certainly are, then this guy's going to be on his guard," Shikamaru whispered back. "In addition to that, he probably knows he's a high-priority target since we haven't caught anyone from his village yet."

"We'd better make this fast, then," Naruto said. "Do you think Neji and Shino are in position yet?"

"They said three minutes, and it's been four," Shikamaru said, looking at his watch. "We should be safe to start."

Despite the fact that no leader had been assigned in their squad, Shikamaru found that Neji and Naruto had begun looking to him for direction almost immediately. He supposed it was because they were used to being under his command and they trusted him, which was all right. But even Shino, whom he'd never really worked with before, had started following his lead. Things weren't looking good in the future as far as his responsibilities were concerned.

"Right," the blond nodded, and formed a familiar hand sign. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Several clones appeared behind them and quickly dispersed. The assault was underway.

-

Togashi Gekitouji observed silently from his hiding place in the hollow of an ancient tree as the four Leaf ninja who'd been tracking him began to move in on his decoy. The tsuchi bunshin he'd placed in his old hiding spot was leading them right into the trap he'd set when he'd first noticed them a few hours ago. They were good at tracking, he had to give them that. Even on guard as he was, knowing five others had been caught, they must've been tailing him for a while before he picked them up. Even after that, there were a couple of times where he'd been afraid he lost them, only to find them again a few minutes later. As fun as it was to finally outwit a group of clever opponents, he'd be glad when it was over. He was getting older and stuff like this wasn't good for his blood pressure.

His clone moved slightly, seemingly making a fatal mistake, and the four of them moved in. He quickly got up to spring his trap, but suddenly found that he couldn't move.

"What! How? There's no way!" He shouted, all the while struggling with the invisible bonds that held him. The four ninja whom he'd assumed were still fighting his clone suddenly dropped down in front of him.

"It's no use struggling," said the skinniest one, who had a short ponytail and an infuriatingly smug grin on his face. "Stronger ninja than you have been caught by my kagemane no jutsu."

"Man, that was too easy," said the blond one. "I barely even had to do anything."

"Do you have his clone?" Asked the one with flowing robes and really long hair.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," said the blond one. A moment later, his clone was dragged over, escorted by the same people who were standing in front of him. They held it up strait, and then the long-haired guy struck it in the chest with his palm, and dirt went flying everywhere as his clone was dispersed. Seconds later, the ones who'd been holding his clone disappeared with puffs of smoke.

"Shadow clones," Gekitouji growled. "So you knew where I was the whole time"

"Of course we did," the ponytail guy said. "Neji here found you last night and Shino put a tracker on you. Then we let you notice us so you'd think you had the drop on us. Once Naruto sprung your trap with a fake copy of our team, it was simple enough for me to trap you with my shadow the second you emerged from your hiding place."

"Heh. Are you so confident in your victory that you can share your strategy with me?" Gekitouji spat derisively.

"I think it's a courtesy to let someone know how they were defeated," Ponytail said. "I know it would drive me crazy wondering, anyway." Then he made a series of hand signs and Gekitouji felt, rather than saw, darkness enveloping him from the ground up, and then he knew nothing.

-

"Very well done, all of you," the Hokage said at the end of their debriefing. "You exceeded our expectations both in the results of this mission as well as in the time it took to complete."

"Between you and the other two squads, we now have three Sound ninja, two Mist ninja, and one each form the Rock and the Cloud. The information we get from these prisoners should prove invaluable in the coming conflict."

"I'm giving each of you two weeks off as a bonus for completing this mission so effectively. You've all certainly earned it in the turmoil of the recent events."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Neji said, bowing. The others muttered their thanks as well.

"You're all free to go now," she said. "And congratulations."

"Huh? 'Congratulations?'" Naruto asked. "For what?"

The Hokage allowed herself a wide grin before answering.

"You have all now passed the jounin exam."

- - - - - -

Good Lord, did that take a long time to complete. Funnily enough, I got about the first half done in the three days directly following the completion of Koorikage. Over the next several months, I kind of picked away at it here and there, and in the last couple of days, I really hit my stride and got all the way from Shikamaru and Ino's conversation to the end. That conversation wasn't originally in the outline, by the way. I got struck by inspiration and put it in at the last minute, utilizing plot elements I had originally planned to touch on later.

So now we're in for a long ride. I don't expect each chapter to be as long as this beast, though some inevitably will, but I expect the average length to be longer than that of KK. The number of chapters will also be much bigger. Fun times.

One last note here, I seem to have lost my prereader, so if anyone out there is interested, please let me know (in an email rather than a review, please). Among other things, you get to read each chapter before everyone else, and you get to point out all my mistakes. If this is something that interests you, please send me a sample of something you've done, so I know you have the credentials to be of assistance. No offense, but I don't want someone in eight grade with a sixth grader's grasp of the English language to be checking my work for grammar errors. I take pride in my linguistic competence, and would like someone at least on par with me if not better. Some ability with storytelling and characterization would be nice, too. If you only have one of these specialties but are still interested, go for it. I've nothing against having a few specialized prereaders. Again, please email me rather than offering to help in a review. My email is illjwamh at yahoo dot com.

That's enough yammering from me. Please review if you liked it (or if you didn't), and as always, translations are available below.

Temperatures mentioned are all Celsius.

Chihaba no jutsu – blood blades technique

Noko(giri) – saw

Senpai – senior, often translated as "upperclassman", but it can refer to a senior employee or an artist of

some kind with greater experience, etc..

Kohai – the counterpart relationship to senpai

Kiba Dangan no Jutsu – fang bullet technique