Smoke and Lightning (A Naruto Fanfiction) [Complete]

Chapter One: The Girl

The Third's fingers brushed the top of the mission file, his eyes focusing on the young ANBU shinobi knelt before him. The two older ANBU in the room weren't as concerning as that boy. It wasn't that he was doubtful of the boy's abilities to complete the mission- no one in the entire village would doubt the boy's abilities- it was a matter of whether or not he was the right choice for something like this.

"There have been repeated sightings of two missing-nin suspected to have been working with Orochimaru before he abandoned the village. Ishida Ryou and Ishida Sora, two very skilled shinobi around the same age as Orochimaru himself. As you have been told, their skills lay more in the direction of locating their enemies while avoiding being detected themselves. The actual combat skills of the Ishida couple were highly limited during their time in the village- but that could have changed in the year since they left.

"Your mission is to capture them before they reach the country's border. We need them alive if we are going to learn what they know."

The young ANBU he'd been keeping his eyes on didn't outwardly react to the Third's words. Some part of him felt relieved at this. The shinobi hadn't become known during his time in the ANBU as someone who simply let traitors to the village go.

"There is one more part to the mission," he added instead of dismissing the group. "The reports filed about the sightings of the couple have one disturbing detail. The Ishida's seem to have a child with them."

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"I swear there's something wrong with that kid. She doesn't even seem human."

"Well, what did you expect, Ryou? Honestly, when you promised to take care of something like that for him..."

The older man scowled in response as he ran one, tanned hand through his neck-length black hair. His eyes never moved from where the girl sat, knees to chest, in the corner of the small cabin they'd settled in. Even from where he stood he could see the sweat beading the girl's brow.

"I dunno," he snapped. "Just something different! What sort of kid won't even let us check her temperature?"

The blonde woman next to him simply shrugged, her eyes settled on the girl as well. Instead of replying to his irritated question, she considered attempting to get close to the girl again. As soon as she'd taken one step forward, however, familiar black smoke began curling around the girl's body. Clicking her tongue against her teeth, the woman gave in by moving back to her original position.

"See!" Ryou shouted, throwing the hand that had been in his hair into the air. "Look at this! How are we supposed to take care of the kid for him if she won't even let us do this one simple thing?"

"Will you stop yelling?!" the woman demanded in return. "How the hell are we supposed to get it to trust us if you yell all the time?"

Ryou hesitated, his angry expression faltering for a moment as he dropped his hand. Within a second he'd shoved his opposite hand in his pocket and started for the door.

"Fine," he grumbled. "I'll leave it to you, Sora, just make sure the thing doesn't die before we get it back to him."

She nodded, her eyes still focused on the kid. The girl's red hair fell in wild, tangled strands over her shoulders and even further. It was as if her hair had never even seen a pair of scissors or a brush. The idea wasn't surprising considering that they hadn't even been able to touch the girl once since she'd been handed over to them. The girl's aversion to contact hadn't been a problem until earlier that morning when both of the shinobi had realized that the girl's face was flushed and her entire body had broke out in a sweat.