More things to do

"Please continue, Sensei..." His mouth twitched as he was saying that, Shikamaru couldn't hold his Sensei's smugness.

'One day, I'll pour that beard with some chili powder, let's see how you continue to act smug...'

"It's like this-" As Asuma almost went on with his explanation, another puff of smoke appeared and the earlier little chimp jumped out from the smoke while holding a different scroll.

'That was fast...' The trio was surprised by the speed they were able to communicate from a long distance with a summoned creature.

Asuma took the scroll and unfurled it, then became a bit serious. He then burned the entire scroll after he finished reading the entire content of the scroll.

"It seems we have to hold our little talk; we have a new task at hand..." Asuma inhaled the fresh air from the window before he continued with his words.

"Chouji, for the main mission, you and Ino will continue our main task and scout the village surroundings and the perimeter tomorrow. Shikamaru, you keep an eye out for this Shinno guy; keep your distance. I'll scout the entire village and its periphery for another clue regarding this Kyuubi chakra and the real identity of this Shinno guy. I'll be back in the morning. Tomorrow at noon at the latest, there will be other jounins that will arrive here to help us." Asuma gave a series of commands to his students before he vanished with a flickering shadow.

'The heck...' The trio was shocked, it seemed that this was more urgent than they thought.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru formed a hand seal to use the shadow clones technique, in which his clone immediately departed before he himself seated and closed his eyes.

"I'll stand guard; you guys just rest." Chouji stood and used the multiple shadow clone technique and summoned two clones that immediately used the transformation technique and transformed into a dove and a cat. His 'dove' and 'cat' immediately went out; the 'dove' went to the roof, and the 'cat' found a secluded corner near the stairs with a clear view of their room door.

Chouji took a book from his storage seal, a bag of chips, and a bottle of water as he sat on a chair beside the door.

'It's a convenient technique, alright...' Chouji thought as he munched his chips.

---

Somewhere inside the forest near the Oka Village stood a fair-skinned little man with straight, dark brown hair and long bangs that covered half of his left eye.

He wore a purple shade of lipstick and had dark markings around his eyes, giving him an androgynous appearance. His attire was a black shirt under brown tunics with long sleeves. He bore the symbol of the Sound village on his hem and black skin-tight shorts. He wore black arm warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waists.

"Onee-san, just wait a little longer. With this scroll, Orochimaru-sama will be able to complete his technique, and he will save our clan!"

The little man clenched his fist and excitedly held the scroll in his hand; he caressed it gently like he was caressing a fragile baby.

"How long has it been, Onee-san? The time for our clan to be able to live our life normally is near!" The little man grinned happily; he recalled the distant memory of the cheerful smile of his older sister and the merry laugh of his caring parents.

"'You're my son, alright?!' is what he will say; I'm sure if I'm able to finish all of this, hehe; I wonder how Yukimi onee-san will react?" He was giddy and rather impatient to give the scroll to Orochimaru so that the technique to stabilize his clan's ability would be able to completed and used soon.

"Our clan will soon be able to face the sun and wind normally; we will be able to run on the open field without worrying that our Body will disperse with the wind." He keeps mumbling lowly to cheer himself up; his clan's salvation is the only thing that keeps him from spiraling down into insanity.

The little man then bit his own hand to draw blood; he formed a hand seal and slapped his hand to the ground. Not long after, a humongous snake that easily towered over buildings, trees, and large rock formations with its sheer size was summoned. It was purple-colored with black rings running down intervals on his body, coupled with four horn-like protrusions on his head.

"Manda-sama, please enjoy your feast! I'm sure that you will like the taste of the beasts here!"

Although he was itching to get back as soon as possible, he was also tasked to feed Manda to fulfill Orochimaru's contract with Manda.

---

The next day at noon, the whole team 10 was assembled near the Oka village gate. With them, there were two other Jonins from Konoha. One of them has featureless white eyes and a well-defined, broad nose. He wore the standard Konoha uniform, inclusive of a flak jacket and a forehead protector that he wore like a bandanna. In comparison, the other one has black eyes and spiky, black hair that he keeps held in a classic Nara ponytail. He wears the standard attire of a Konoha shinobi, inclusive of a flak jacket and a forehead protector.

"Thank you for coming, Ko-San, Daen-San. Let me fill you in about what's going on..."

Asuma thanked the two new jounin while he gave them a brief summary of the little information they currently had after briefly exchanging greetings. He let out a sigh of relief that the two Jounin were doing a mission not far from their location. One was Ko, a Hyuga that will help identify and locate the Kyuubi's Chakra. The other was Daen, a Nara and a veteran with rich experience of various events on his missions.

While the Jounins were discussing the details of the new mission, the trio genins were currently drafting their plans to finish their main mission. With their sensei focused on a new task at hand, they need to adjust their previous plan.

"The beasts are restless, though they're not forming a stampede; they're occasionally going into the village's edge and harassing the villagers." Chouji crossed his arms in front of his chest as he held his chin; the beasts' attack was inflicting more damage to the Oka village than they initially thought. He and Ino had already gone into the Village chief's place to confirm their objective and asked for some details.

"Based on the details, the possibility of something forced them to hunt outside of their turf. It could be because of their lack of prey, or there's another predator that stole their turf. If it's the latter, then it must be a very aggressive one." Shikamaru added he was done with his surveillance. Though to be sure, he still left a shadow clone to watch Shinno's movement.

Ino was still performing her clan's [Mind-Body Switch] technique, and she was a bit pale; she gulped her saliva and urgently said.

"Um, everyone... Sensei, you have to see this..."