Takes place at the beginning of Naruto Shippuden, right after Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya.
Naruto & Hinata managed to form a close friendship prior to Naruto's absence. Now that he's returned, there is more than one reason to take...
Lady Tsunade sat at her desk, examining the crystallized insect brought back by Pakkun, Kakashi's ninken. She whispered to herself, "A crystal style user..."
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"Wow. What kind of strange jutsu did that, milady?!"
The hokage looked up at the team that Shizune ushered into the room. The three younger members of team Guy... Lee, Tenten, and Ikko stood in front of her looking expectantly. Lee looked like his usual overly optimistic spandex green clad self. Tenten stood extra straight and tall, as she tugged at the collar of her long white shirt, eager to be in the presence of the legendary sannin, Tsunade Senju. Ikko adjusted his glasses, his light blue eyes looked timidly up from their usual resting place... his feet. He wore his hair long and shaggy like most of the other male members of the Yamanaka clan, and in appearance, he could have been the male twin of his cousin, Ino. But the reserved young shinobi was her complete opposite in almost every other way.
All three of the chunin were taijutsu or bukijutsu experts, along with Ikko's medical ninjutsu and ability to connect multiple minds telepathically, this was the perfect team to support Shizune's next mission.
"Kakashi sent it back for us to analyze." Tsunade replied, thoughtfully. Like everyone else, she thought there were no more ninja in the world, who could use the crystal type ninjutsu. It had always been a rare and coveted skill. But this crystal style shinobi was definitely very real and very powerful. For the ninja to be able to crystalize even the inside of a living creature required immense skill. This had Orochimaru written all over it. "His team is in pursuit of a crystal style user and a group of Orochimaru's altered shinobi. According to Pakkun, the trackers aren't quite clear on the group's intentions yet, but they are definitely headed west with a purpose."
Tsunade paused, still considering whether she should continue with this plan. She could only trust her assistant Shizune with something so delicate. Early this morning... before even dawn, the hokage woke to find a scroll containing vital information sitting on top of all of the undone paperwork on her desk. Tsunade had spent the entire night locked alone in her office. None of her guards saw anyone enter her office or knew how it got there, and the scroll contained no identifying markers.
This should have been the type of dilemma that she discussed with her council, Homara, Danzo, and Koharu, but they had been over stepping their bounds and questioning all of her decisions lately. Particularly Danzo who apparently thought he was hokage. And the other two old fools were becoming his puppets. No. Tsunade could trust them about as far as she could throw them. On second thought... she could throw them pretty far, so not even that.
Tsunade began to address the group again. "By chance, some intel has come to me from an unknown source, which may explain what the group is up to. According to the source, Orochimaru, Kabuto, and his collection... along with a group of Akatsuki are looking to capture the three tailed beast, Isobu. The tailed beast has been roaming free since his jinchuuriki was killed by Itachi Uchiha and his dead partner, Juzo of the mist some years ago. Isobu likes wet places and was last seen in a lake that lies west of Orochimaru's hideout. This intel is of course... suspect, since the source didn't reveal themselves, but Kakashi's latest report concurs that at least one of these groups is traveling west towards this lake. I've sent team seven to back up the trackers, I want the three of you... led by Shizune to check out the lake where the tailed beast was last spotted."
