"So what do we do?" asked Sakura, eyeing the other two. "Go to the Hokage? 'Hey, I know we're twelve year old genin to you, but actually we're fourteen years older than you think we are.' I just don't think that's going to fly."
Shikamaru snorted at that.
"I died on a mission, killing Temari," said Sakura as she eyed Shikamaru.
Shikamaru cocked his head at that. "So there's a chance she 'reset' as well as we did?"
"Yeah," said Sakura, "whether she'll forgive us or not - that's another thing."
Shikamaru nodded. "You were listed as 'presumed dead' - your body never recovered. I died three months later. ANBU felt they had reason to suspect my loyalty."
"Did they?" asked Sakura.
Shikamaru just shrugged as a reply.
"We're loyal to the village," said Hinata softly. "While Danzo feels that loyalty to the village is loyalty to him - not everyone shares his opinion."
"Still keeping track of Naruto?" asked Sakura, suspecting that was why Hinata was as quiet as she was.
"Yes," said Hinata, shifting uncomfortably.
"Let her be," advised Shikamaru to Sakura. "She'd loved Naruto for years, and you didn't see her after his death."
"Actually, I did," said Sakura. Naruto might have been the one cut nearly in half, but it was nearly as bad for Hinata. It had been as if something had withered and died in the Hyuuga. She hadn't come out of it until after her father and sister had returned with news that she was engaged to marry. The Caged Bird Seal had been applied and she'd been thrown into courtesan training before any life had even begun to emerge from Hinata.
Sakura eyed the Hyuga in their midst. "So what are you going to do? I forget, are you even the heir at this point?"
"No," said Hinata. "It isn't official though until I join Team 8 under Kurenai-sensei."
"So, tomorrow then," said Sakura. "That's when they choose the teams. I'll end up with Sasuke and Naruto. You'll end up with Shino and Kiba."
"Yeah, I end up with Ino and Choji," said Shikamaru. "I don't have a problem with that. Our abilities work well together. My immobilization techniques assist Ino's possession technique, Choji rolls over the opposition."
"Which means we could try changing things with the team selection process," suggested Sakura. "I could go with Kiba and Shino, while Hinata could end up on Team 7."
Hinata shook her head. "Kurenai-sensei specifically wanted me on her team. She took a personal interest in me early on, and I got the feeling she disapproved of several things my father did over the years."
"So maybe if we got Naruto into Team 8? Shift Kiba to Team 7?" asked Sakura.
"We could just try and reach the Hokage and try to convince him of our situation," said Shikamaru. "The problem is that we don't know who in his offices may be supplying information to Orochimaru or Akatsuki. Just the way the invasion occurred indicated more than a passing familiarity with the village. As the Chuunin Exam invasion indicated - they weren't familiar with the location of the shelters, but they did know something of our defenses and how to get through the wards without being detected."
"We don't know that much about the state of the wards at that time as it WAS a time when we had a large number of visitors anyway," pointed out Sakura.
The discussion went on from there, each of them coming up with a different plan to use. Finally the decision was:
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(Posted Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:11)
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