Strolling Amongst Stalactites

By the Balls

Last Time:

The second ninja in the back scowled as he took out a needle, "Damn prick causes so much trouble. Not going to let him take out any more of us." He smirked and stabbed the needle into the arm of a pale teen with white hair making the green eyes close as the drugs took effect ...

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Barb smiled from her hiding spot in the alley as her three students came through the village gate just before the suspected wagon filled with their targets appeared, (Very good ... keep it in sight ... Brilliant!) The sensei thought as she saw Haru slip just before the carriage passed and Naruto took the chance to place a seal on the wheel of the carriage as she and Sana helped their teammate out of the way. Something, however, caught her attention and it wasn't a good thing in her opinion ...

"Naru-mm!" The person was cut off by Barb's hand covering his mouth as she dragged him away.

"Now is not the time, Jiraiya." Barb hissed in the shocked toad sage's ear who hadn't quite recovered from being pulled into an alley at a surprising speed by someone he didn't even sense. "We handle first missions very seriously so you better have a good reason for meeting ahead of schedule." She stated calmly but with a deadly tone in her voice that promised pain if he didn't cooperate.

Jiraiya nodded quickly mostly because he wanted to stay on the good side of the person he figured was Naruko's sensei, "This is serious. Orochimaru is headed for an auction in-"

"We know. I'm too busy for this." Barb said not wanting to lose sight of her students for a moment. Jiraiya just blinked in confusion, but he didn't get a chance to ask how she knew before a woman jumped down from the trees and walked up to them.

"I'll talk with him, Barb. You go after them." The green eyed woman said and Barb practically vanished.

"What did that mean?" Jiraiya asked as he followed the woman back into the trees.

The green eyed woman raised an eyebrow, "Did you think you were the only one with spies?"

To his credit Jiraiya did look sheepish, "Sorry, I was so concerned I forgot who was in charge. Perhaps you could help me then. Why this auction? ... Oh, and what's your name?" The sage asked slightly embarrassed that he forgot to ask.

"Jade." She introduced herself, "I can't give all the details obviously."

"I understand. I simply want to know why Ororchimaru would have any interest in this specific auction, not your village's involvement." Jiraiya assured.

Jade chuckled, "You don't know?" She asked clearly amused.

"Errr... no ... I know Mist provided the items, but my network doesn't extend deep enough to know more than that. I wanted to make moves to learn more, but my village has no interest in getting involved." Jiraiya scoffed in annoyance at getting a curious look from Jade and decided to explain, "Our village has a number of bloodlines as you know, but that's why this situation is something to be concerned about. If Mist wins the war their borders will be completely cut off from anyone who values bloodlines or they'll be trying to expand the war into other villages. I believe we should get involved before we become targets."

"You have more sense than the rest of your village ... well save for showing up here without finding us first. There's no reason for Orochimaru to suspect a random blue eyed blonde as being her, especially when her whiskers are covered and she calls herself by a different name when in the field. Though he may connect some dots if you were seen protecting her." Jade said shooting the sage a smirk, "We know what we're doing. Now as for your question we believe your former teammate is searching for a new body. This village is vulnerable so it's the best spot to remove the 'items' without paying a single yen."