Three things never trust in:
The maiden sworn as pure;
The vows a king has given;
And the ambush that is sure ~ Threes; Mercedes Lackey
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It was fairly amazing how fast a mission could be put together when there was no other choice. We put together a list, had it approved by the Hokage and then darted all over Konoha finding those people, while stopping home to grab our gear and deliver a half-garbled explanation to a worried mum.
Shino was, most unfortunately, on a mission with his father and Lee was still in the hospital. That left Team 10, Team 7, Kiba and Neji. We'd considered both Tenten and Hinata, but neither were that extraordinary, and taking an unsealed Byakugan up against Orochimaru's people might have been just asking for trouble. He hadn't expressed any interest in it, but his minions could probably come up with a clever idea like that on their own.
"This is a classified A-rank mission," Ibiki started, once we were all together in one of the briefing rooms. "In better circumstances, this mission team would be compromised of Jounin and high level Chunin. However, by necessity, you are here." His eyes swept over us. "In order for this mission to succeed, you will need to commit fully. There can be no hesitation. If you have doubts, this is the only chance you will get to withdraw."
Kiba smirked. "I think you've asked us this question before. Same answer. We're in."
Cocky bastard, I thought, mildly irritated. He really had no idea what we were about to come up against. But I didn't think any of them would have pulled out, regardless. There was a reason Ibiki had made that the final question.
"Damn right we are," Naruto agreed loudly. "So what are we doing?"
Ibiki had a great poker face, but the lift of his lips was definitely amused. "This afternoon, four shinobi from Hidden Sound made contact with Sasuke Uchiha, with the express purpose of taking him to Orochimaru. These four are known to be high ranking members of his organisation, and would therefore possess highly sensitive information. Our mission is to capture them and return them to Konoha for interrogation."
There was momentary silence as they absorbed this.
"They came to get Sasuke?" Chouji asked.
"Indeed." Ibiki nodded. "That fact is crucial to our plan."
"You're going to use him as bait," Ino said, eyes darting to Sasuke. "Is that safe?" It wasn't really a surprise that Ino had picked up on it, or that she was the one to worry about it. Information gathering was where the Yamanaka speciality came in handy, and sometimes that meant dangling bait.
I couldn't say I really liked the idea, either, considering we were basically going to hand them exactly what they wanted then hope that we could take it back. Still, the Sound Four would probably have a fair amount of insight into where Orochimaru was, what he was up to and so forth. Failing that, it would also be possible to study their curse marks, which might help with Sasuke.
"There are many missions you will be asked to complete that are not 'safe'," Ibiki said. "This is one of them. However, we will take all possible precautions to ensure nothing happens to him."
Sasuke looked mostly indifferent to this statement, but his arms were folded a tad too tightly across his chest to be completely casual.
Ibiki proceeded to lay out the plan and a surprising amount of information about the four, some of which had to have come from Sasuke's brief encounter. Aside from their basic body types - Sakon's two heads and Kidomaru's six arms merited more than one mention - and a brief taijutsu encounter, Kidomaru had utilised his webs and at least one of them had revealed a curse mark with the implication that the others had them too. It was certainly better than no information.
We would leave Konoha at about two in the morning, travelling north to hopefully get ahead of the Sound Four. Unfortunately for us, there were no chokepoints or pathways that they had to take, so we needed to spread out to cover all possible paths of travel.
Sasuke would slip out of the village at four, the time of night when people were least alert. Given that there had been no directed meeting place, he'd head north in an attempt to find the Sound Four. That was one of the weaker parts of the plan. We couldn't just look for them and attack, because if they were camping out close to Konoha, then they'd have the entire area around them trapped and would notice us coming a mile out. If we could even find them in the first place. The fact that the patrols and guards hadn't spotted them didn't look good for us. That was why we actually had to risk sending Sasuke out to them.
Sasuke would be wearing an Intelligence Division hidden radio transmitter, that was similar but different to the radios we sometimes used. For one, it was one way, and would only send from Sasuke to us. For another, it had a sensitive microphone and could pick up nearby conversations. Once he met up with them, Sasuke would attempt to get a verbal confirmation of their direction, and if that failed, Ibiki had placed a tracking seal on him.
We'd then move to intercept, and ambush them just after dawn, giving us light to work with.
"With four of them and eight of us," Ibiki continued. "It would be best for us to work in pairs, rather than squads. If the ambush fails, the first priority will be in separating them and taking them down individually. Orochimaru maintains enough Konoha teachings to structure teams so that each member covers the weaknesses of the rest. The full squad was able to compete with ANBU as they left Konoha during the invasion. All attempts will be made to prevent you from having to face them, but be aware that they are dangerous."
Establishing team pairs would be awkward. We had more close combat fighters than ranged. Added to that… "Chouji and Ino need to be teamed with Shikamaru and I for best effect," I said, thinking out loud. "Chouji with Shikamaru, and Ino with me, probably, since I have more close quarters abilities. Neji's Byakugan is probably most useful to the team leader, but that leaves Naruto and Kiba…" Who were both too hot headed. Naruto was better but he was still rash. Additionally, they were both close fighters, but had some range with Naruto's Shadow Clones and Kiba's Tunnelling Fang. "So Naruto and Neji together… and that'd leave Kiba with Ibiki." Which put Kiba with the strongest, most experienced person, since he was arguably weaker than the other two. And his ability to track made him just as valuable as Neji.
I blinked, noticing everyone staring at me. "Or whatever you suggest," I added, sinking low in my chair.
His lips quirked. "Valid suggestions," he noted. "Second in command will be Shikamaru Nara -" He ignored my brother's muttered 'troublesome' "- and the teams will be as follows. Team one, myself and Kiba Inuzuka. Team two, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi. Team three, Shikako Nara and Ino Yamanaka. Team four, Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki."
I wasn't sure whether he'd listened to me, or whether he'd already decided on the same teams. It wasn't, really, that hard of a conclusion to come to.
"For now, I suggest you prepare and rest."
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"So this is where you are, right on top of the Hokage Mountain. I'm surprised you got so close to the village."
"Hmph. Your pathetic little village has miserable security."
"We would teach them a lesson, but that's not why we're here. Orochimaru-sama is waiting for you."
"I see. So how are we going? Straight north, or do you plan on evasion trails?"
I held my breath as Sasuke's voice crackled over my earpiece, exchanging looks with Ino. We were all staggered through the forest, and our next move would depend on their answer. Hopefully it would be a place that all four teams could get to in time.
"There's no need to lay false trails. Hidden Leaf is so weak they couldn't send a pursuit squad even if they wanted to."
Not a pursuit squad, I thought, but your arrogance will be your undoing.
I hoped.
"All teams move to position three," Ibiki's voice crackled over the radio. "Repeat. All teams to position three."
"Team two copies."
"Team three, acknowledged," I added.
"Uh, yeah, this is team four. We're on it."
"Let's go," I said to Ino, hopping down off the perch where I'd spent that last half an hour or so. I took a second to reorient myself and headed off.
"Right," Ino said, exhaling. She looked a little nervous, but not too nervous. I didn't blame her, I was feeling a little jittery myself.
We were supposed to keep comm. chatter to a minimum, which was pretty standard practice, and Sasuke's line was mostly silent. I was a little surprised that they'd asked him no questions at all, but I guess that was another mark of their arrogance. They assumed he was with them willingly, that even if he'd been spotted leaving there weren't enough forces in Konoha to challenge them.
"Do you think it'll be alright?" Ino asked.
I contemplated a variety of responses including 'no', 'probably not', and 'it's unlikely', but discarded them as being ultimately unhelpful and thoroughly pessimistic. "It'll be tricky," I said. "But if we give it our best, we'll pull through."
Better planned, better prepared, better outfitted… we had more people and more information… We even had an actual Special Jounin with us.
And given what his speciality was, I was willing to be he knew dozens of ways of detaining people for transport. It was harder to stop someone without killing them, yes, but even if we only got one of them it would still be worthwhile.
We were almost at the regrouping point when one of the Sound ninja spoke again.
"Let's stop here for a second."
"We're barely away from the village," Sasuke's incredulous voice came over the radio. He was actually holding up pretty well; this had to be nerve wracking for him.
"This won't take long. Before we go any further, you need to die."
For a second, I didn't even comprehend the words. The sounds were there, but the meaning…
"What?" Naruto shouted through the comm.
"Hold your course," Ibiki said, voice calm. "Continue on to position three."
"Are you kidding? We have to get to him!"
Ino cast me a worried look. I knew, without a seconds doubt, that if I ignored Ibiki and went after Sasuke she would follow me.
My mind started racing over the possibilities. Sasuke was no use to them dead, no use at all. Orochimaru wanted to use him as a body, and for that he needed to be alive. I thumbed the switch on my radio. "Naruto. Listen to Ibiki. It could be a feint to draw out observers. They're not going to kill him."
My palms were surprisingly damp. I really hoped I was right. But Sasuke had code words and he knew enough to run if things looked bad.
"Stop being so dramatic, Sakon," an irritated female voice said. Tayuya, then, the only female of the group. "It's like we said before, that curse mark you have is only in the first state. It's consuming you. Progressing the mark to Level 2 will help stabilise it and increase its strength. Who knows, you might even be as strong as us." There was a faint, mocking lit to the words.
"The problem is, strengthening the curse mark also increases its effects on the body. Such a rapid change would kill you. So instead, we will suspend you in a state of half death, while you adapt to the change."
"And I'm just supposed to trust that this 'half death' doesn't end up being the real thing?"
"Don't forget who we are; Orochimaru's hand picked bodyguards. If there's anybody that knows about barrier ninjutsu, curse marks and all the rest, it'd be us."
That wasn't really the question that Sasuke had been asking, but it was an answer in its own right. They were good enough to prevent an accidental death, and didn't want to risk Orochimaru's wrath with a purposeful one.
"And you want to do this now?" Sasuke asked dubiously. There was no real win for him here - the curse mark was bad and, even if they used words like 'stabilise', strengthening it couldn't be good and he'd also be completely out of it for the rest of the trip. But there was very little chance to refuse. That was the danger of undercover assignments; you had to play the role.
"You're no use to Orochimaru-sama as weak as you are. If we start now, the process should be over by the time we return."
"And if there's fighting?"
"There's no one that can get past us. Just take the pill already!"
I was so focused on listening to the conversation, that I nearly overshot the meeting point. A quick application of chakra helped slow me down, but it was a less than graceful landing.
Team one was already there, having had the central point so they could move in any direction, and team two wasn't far away.
"Four Black Fog Formation!"
"Sasuke Uchiha is currently incapacitated," Ibiki said once we were all there. His face was serious but he didn't look overly worried. "He will not be able to participate in, or escape from, the ambush. Therefore, when teams two and three are trapping the enemy, team four will be removing Sasuke from the group to stop him from being caught in the crossfire."
Naruto and Neji nodded. Naruto didn't look too happy about the way things were going - clenching and unclenching his fists - but he wasn't saying anything and he hadn't broke cover to go attack.
I wasn't exactly too happy with having Sasuke in their grasp either, but I'd much prefer to have as many advantages as possible when we did fight.
It didn't take long - we weren't that far ahead - but it felt like it. Apprehension was a killer, drawing the seconds out as we stayed tense and alert.
I could feel the chakra signals moving, and Neji gave the alert when he spotted them coming with his Byakugan. We all adjusted our positions and exchanged nervous glances.
This is it. It was hardly the first fight I'd been in, and not even the most dangerous really. That didn't mean I wasn't edgy.
"Wait!" Kidomaru said, sounding weirdly doubled as I heard it through both the radio and air. The group was close, not quite in the middle of our formation but nearly. "There's something-"
Ibiki dropped his hand. That was the signal.
Kiba and Akamaru spun into action, leaping out of the treetops. "Fang Over Fang!" They didn't head straight for the group and attempt to hit them, for fear of hitting Sasuke, but the high speed drills careenered around the ground, circling them randomly and carefully keeping them together in a group.
At the height of his third arc, he threw down a smoke bomb that billowed thick purple smoke everywhere, completely covering the four shinobi.
"That's not going to help you, trash!" Tayuya shouted.
Shikamaru and I dropped down to the ground on opposite sides of the group. Funnily enough, smoke in no way impedes our shadows. I made four connections, and felt Shikamaru do the same, the weird echo of chakra connecting me to him. Three of the possessions were solid, but the last…
It was tugging, pulling…
I'd felt that before, against Kisame. He was using the connection to drain the jutsu of chakra. It was much slower than the rapid consuming of Samehada, but still worrying. Against him, Shadow Possession would be weaker at best… and dangerous at worst.
I could feel the sudden blip of Naruto's chakra as he moved Sasuke out of the way. The smoke was already starting to clear, but it's job was done. Then Ibiki was there, hands slapping down on the ground, ink blooming out around them.
"Summoning; Torture Chamber!"
Usually, summons are creatures with whom you've signed a contract but it isn't impossible to summon other things. Inanimate objects. It isn't storage like sealing scrolls, and the objects usually have some special abilities or uses. Orochimaru's Rashamon Gates are a prime example. What they actually are, where they come from, how you get them… that's something I don't actually know. Maybe you have to make them, through seals, or building them then sealing them, or maybe they do exist somewhere and they are being called, just like creature summons. You can do practically anything with seals, so it wouldn't surprise me.
This technique was one of those.
The area around them blacked out, twisted into some self-contained chakra-space, as wires whipped out of nowhere and encircled the four prisoners. It pulled them harshly into a square, one on each wall, leaving Ibiki in the centre, and glowing with chakra, the walls of the cage unfolded and surrounded them.
It was fast and impressive. A complete prison out of nowhere. The thing was still there-but-not, in that black chakra-space, but I had no doubt that Ibiki could send it away and call it back once he was somewhere more… useful.
My eyes narrowed as I contemplated the scene. We had Sasuke. They were all caught. "Too easy," I said pessimistically.
It couldn't be so easy.
Regretfully, I was pretty much right. They started thrashing heavily in the chains. It didn't get them anywhere; the place looked like it was built to withstand that. But then the black smudges of the curse marks started spreading across their skin.
"You are going to regret this," Sakon snarled, yanking his arms. The wire was probably cutting into them good, but the pain just seemed to enrage them more than it deterred them.
Ibiki ran through a set of hand seals and started slowly sinking into the floor. I guessed that was his exit strategy.
The blotches spread right across their faces, blurring until there was more ink than skin.
Then they started to glow.
They mutated. The surge in chakra was sickening. It felt polluted, like smog or dirty water. But there was so much of it.
"What the hell is that?" Kiba yelped.
In Level 2 state, they looked formidable, and as much as their chakra had increased so had their strength and speed. Now, the thrashing about was actually working. The wires started snapping with a sound that echoed like a thunderclap through the clearing.
As Kidomaru pulled himself free of the wires, a flaw in Ibiki's jutsu became clear.
He was still in there with them.
Kidomaru lurched forward, fisting one hand in Ibiki's jacket and hauling him back inside. He spat web but Ibiki curled around the arm holding him, bracing himself on it and kicking out towards the curse mark bearers face.
"I can't believe we're forced to use this against trash like you," Sakon said derisively. Three of them attacked Ibiki, boxing him in and using the small space to their advantage, but I was more worried that Jiroubou didn't.
I frowned, then realised what he was doing. "The big one is draining the chakra from the jutsu! He's going to make it collapse."
Shikamaru muttered something under his breath that might have been a curse. With Ibiki … occupied, he was in charge. His hands flexed and formed a circle.
"Naruto! Can you get Ibiki out of there?" I asked, the thought suddenly occurring to me. In the cage, Sakon landed a solid kick that threw Ibiki flat on the barred ceiling. The wires snapped out, clearly under his control and trying to catch the prisoners again, or at least prevent them from touching him.
Naruto's eyes widened, and he formed a hand seal. There was a seconds pause, and a burst of chakra smoke beside him, but nothing happened. "Not while that cage is there," he said, crestfallen.
It wasn't unexpected. The point of caging things was to make sure that they couldn't get out, after all.
"Whatever that transformation is, there's no doubt that it's made them stronger," Shikamaru said. "The fact that they've broken Ibiki's jutsu means that our chances of restraining them like this are incredibly low. That means our objective has changed. The most important thing now is to keep Sasuke away from them." His eyes were serious as he looked over us. "Kiba, you've got the best speed and stamina out of all of us. Take the barrel, and head back to Konoha. Sasuke is helpless and probably needs medical attention. Of course, if you can rustle up some back up, that'd be good too."
Kiba didn't exactly look too happy to be the one running off, but he couldn't exactly argue with that reasoning. I might have been faster, in the short term, and Naruto might have had more stamina, but Kiba had the best of both and was the undeniable best choice to carry something as bulky as the barrel.
"You got it," he said. "Just leave it to me. I'll be back before you know it." He moved Akamaru to the sentry position on his head, and awkwardly secured his arms around the barrel.
"That leaves us a team down," Shikamaru said, watching him go. "Naruto, Neji… are you alright to be split up?"
"Of course!" Naruto beamed even as Neji replied in the affirmative.
"Good. You two are our strongest solo fighters. We need to split them up, stall them and prevent them from going after Sasuke and Kiba. If it's possible to capture them, do it… but this is more than we expected. We need some way to scatter them. Shikako?"
"I can blow the clearing," I confirmed. "Once Naruto gets Ibiki out of the way."
I could set the seal right now, actually.
"Timer?" Shikamaru asked briskly.
"No. Manual activation." It was handier, sometimes, to be able to control what went off when. It got tricky when you had multiple seals about, but it was worth it.
"Alright. Naruto, flood the place with clones, and when the summoning drops, get Ibiki out of there. Shikako will blow them up and hopefully injure them and scatter them. The we separate. The big guy drains chakra, so our shadow techniques aren't going to work on him and probably not Naruto's clones either. That leaves him to Neji." He paused very briefly as though waiting for protest, but there was none. "Sakon seems to be close range, so he's yours Naruto. The web shooter isn't good for Chouji's manoeuvrability -"
"We've got him," I said quickly. Pinning Chouji down would limit him drastically, where as it wasn't nearly so bad a thought for Ino and I.
"Right. That leaves us with the unknown girl. Great."
The cage was starting to flicker now, becoming insubstantial as it lost chakra. It was almost impressive that it had lasted so long. Either that or his ability to drain chakra didn't work that quickly.
We leapt up into the trees, putting distance between us and them.
"Look at that, trash," Tayuya mocked. "Your comrades have abandoned you. Guess you weren't much of a leader."
We waited. Then the assembled Naruto clones sent up a battle cry, and Ibiki was suddenly among us, slung over Naruto's shoulder, bloody and injured.
I slammed my hands together in a seal and pulsed my chakra. "Explode!"
I hadn't skimped on the power and though the blast didn't reach us, the gust of wind it caused still plastered my bangs flat.
It wasn't enough to kill them, unfortunately, and I could still feel their chakra pulsing, though they had been thrown around by it.
Neji had his Byakugan active and rapidly gave us their new locations.
"Right. Let's go," Shikamaru said.
We moved out.