Selfish Desire [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 04: Mixed Scents

Ayuda's P.O.V

"Your mission is to go to the Orochimaru's hideout that had been invaded by Team 7 yesterday and collect all of the valuable stuff you could find there!"

There was a complete silence spreading throughout the room. The absence of sound was utterly deep you could hear a thin needle plummeting to the floor. All of us were as still as a rock, taking our times registering her words into our brains. But it's as though we refused to believe it that we processed her words over and over again. My team and I suddenly lost the capability to move and Tsunade looked amused at our reactions.

"What?!" exclaimed Kaito. His booming voice snapped us out of our shocks. The brunet began to shake his head repeatedly, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

"Is there a problem?" questioned the Fifth Hokage.

Kazuki said in response, "Yes, there is! Ayuda here was a close friend to Sasuke! Is it really okay for her to go there?!"

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow, "You guys must have thought that Orochimaru, Sasuke Uchiha, and his henchmen are still there. Fret not, you three. Since the hideout has been invaded and exposed by Team 7 yesterday, they have definitely evacuated the area. If you find some men in there, they must be the lower henchmen that Orochimaru has ordered to collect his precious data in that place. I bet you guys can take care of them, yes?"

"How can you be so certain about that, Hokage-sama?" queried Kaito with doubt dancing in his green eyes, "What if it's Sasuke that Orochimaru's ordered to go there? There is a huge chance that Sasuke will appear there."

Tsunade closed her eyes, "I understand why you three are so worried about seeing him there. So I am giving you the permission to escape as soon as you see him. According to what I heard from Team 7, Sasuke has gotten strong to the point that he could communicate with the Nine-Tailed Fox within Naruto. All I want you three to do in there is to be as stealthy as you can and gather as many valuable data you can find in that hideout. Those data will come in handy in our upcoming mission to track down Sasuke Uchiha. You three do not have to fight in this mission, unless if someone tries to attack you, that is."

The three of us said nothing afterward. It is a good thing that Tsunade allows us to flee if we see Sasuke, but is it really going to be that easy? And Sasuke is that strong now? He can communicate with the Nine-Tailed Fox inside Naruto? I recalled that time when Reina told me everything about the demon within Naruto one year ago.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," asked Kaito, "it's not that we are refusing to take this mission, but I just want to ask you one thing. Why can't you hand over this mission to another team?"

The Fifth Hokage opened her eyes and answered without delay as if she knew we were going to ask this kind of question, "Because you three are the perfect ones to take this. Your team has the entire package. Kaito, you can use your animal communication skills to locate all the data. Kazuki, even though your teleportation ability is not in a good shape, I know that that skill will be very useful for this mission. Ayuda, you are the brawler of this team, right? The fact that you can attack your enemy while distancing yourself from them is what makes you invulnerable. And your skills are not only for that. If there are enemies attacking you, Ayuda will defeat all of them with only a few devastating arrows. If someone is attempting to ambush you, Kaito will be the first one to notice him due to his animal communication skills. If you guys are in danger, Kazuki will teleport you all to a safe area. These are the reasons why I am giving this mission to you."

Our eyes widened a fraction upon listening to her convincing words. Our uncertainty to accept this mission lessened considerably. Those reasons were what gave us confidence. That's right. We can do this. The only thing we have to be careful about is to not get separated from each other. We need all three of us. If one of us is missing, the others will be at risk. We do not have to fight. All we need to do is collect Orochimaru's data.