Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Thirty-Three

About two weeks after the trio left the village hidden in the leaves, a hawk was sent out for them with a message tied to its leg.

Shingami was the first to see it and held out her arm so it could perch there.

Genma and Anko looked at her weird because they thought she was just standing still with her arm up, it wasn't until the hawk landed on her digging its claws into the flesh of her arm did they understand.

Shingami unrolled the message and read it out loud for the other two to hear.

Lady Tsunade is officially the leader of the village, you three can come back now, but the word of warning- she's gonna work you guys like slaves when you get back.

-Ibiki

"He acts like he doesn't work us like slaves." Anko huffed.

"Yeah, but I hear lady Tsunade is a real hardass," Genma said as he looked at the note over Shingami's shoulder sticking a brand new senbon into the side of his mouth.

The girl was quietly thinking about how she was gonna introduce herself to the new Hokage.

When nothing came to mind she sighed and wrote under the note with a pencil that they'd be back soon before letting the bird fly away.

"Let's go, I want strawberries."

"Strawberries." Anko scoffed. "Is that all that's on your mind? Are you sure you don't miss Ibiki and... Shikamaru?" She teased.

"Shut up." The girl said while glaring holes into them, making the two adults laugh.

"Yeah Shingami, He seems like a good kid. Maybe you could ask him on a date?" Genma said only to have to jump out of the way of her fist aimed at her face.

"Shut up."

"Yeah, he is! Maybe we can invite him to Ibiki's office for the day!" Anko just barely missed the girl's foot that was about to hit her in the stomach.

"Shut. up."

"Aw, Are you getting embarrassed?"

"Shut up!"

Both Anko and Genma ran as fast as they could while laughing when Shingami set off the stack of the paper bombs that she stole from Anko in her hand.

Guess that's one way to make them stop talking.

___________

Ibiki had just finished up a meeting with Tsunade and got all his papers together and waited for everyone to leave the room before he walked up to her.

"What do you need, Morino?" The blonde woman said not looking up from her papers in her hands.

"I wanted to talk to you about someone you haven't met yet."

"I don't care for biased opinions." The woman said as she turned over a page to read the back of the sheet.

"I understand that-" The Hokage cut him off.

"Clearly you don't." She looked up as she set the papers down on the desk and rested her chin on her hands.

Ibiki shut his mouth.

"I've heard some things about you over the years but you are loyal to this village. That alone is why I'll listen to you." She picked up the cup of tea sitting on the edge of her desk and took a sip. "So who do have dirt on?"

Even though nobody could see it, Ibiki was genuinely surprised that the woman was willing to listen to him.

"It's not dirt."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it?"

He looked down for a moment as if to find the right words he was trying to say before re-establishing eye contact. "I want you to give someone a chance before you turn her away."

'Her?' Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she spoke. "Is this woman a criminal of some sort?"

Before Ibiki could answer there was a knock on the door behind Ibiki.

"Enter."

A man in the T&I uniform opened the door. "Sorry to interrupt lady Tsunade but, we need Ibiki, we're swamped with cases without our three best interrogators."

"Where are the missing shinobi?"

"On a mission outside the village, I sent them out before you arrived," Ibiki said.

"I see. Well, you best get going. Will we talk later?"

Ibiki let out a breath and shook his head. "I won't have the time, But Lord Third had an extensive file on her. Maybe in the archive? Just look for the name Shingami. Everything we know should be in there, if not, she'll come to see you herself anyway and she'll fill in the blanks."

He walked to the door to leave. "But as I said before, I want you to give her a chance."

With that, he left leaving Tsunade to her thoughts.

The blonde woman turned to Shizune who was holding Tonton. "Shingami? Why does that sound familiar?"

"I'm not sure, maybe we've come across her before?" Shizune said before Tonton oinked to get their attention.

"That's right. In Yugakure, they were telling stories at the bar but once that name was brought up they acted like it was taboo to talk about." Shizune clarified.

Tsunade frowned. "I remember." She took another sip of her tea. "They said that she was a demon that murdered hundreds including both her parents. And Naruto was telling me about a Shingami when we were walking back to the village."

"Do you want me to find her file, lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked.

The Hokage was quiet for a moment before answering. "...No. I want to meet her first."

"Are you sure? You might want to know who exactly you're dealing with."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Naruto was talking about her like she was the greatest person in the world." Tsunade remembered how Naruto was talking about all his friends that were in the village mainly the Uchiha, someone he referred to as 'bushy brows' named Rock Lee, a 'Sakura-chan' and a 'Shingami-Chan'.

"So she's his friend?"

The woman's eyes glassed over. She momentarily forgot about Ibiki and thought only about Naruto. "He said she was. For his sake, I'll at least give her a chance." Her eyes darkened. "But if I find her to be too much of a risk, she can kiss that chance goodbye."