The Flight - 10.5

Shizune turned to teammate Iwashi, a worried look gracing her face, "Genma and Raido are late…we should go check on them."

He nodded to her, having thought of it himself, "Let's go!"

The two jounin left the cover of the glade they had been taking shelter in and moved west, as the missing half of their team had earlier. They had been gone too long after they had went ahead to confront the nearby Sound ninja. Something was wrong.

Iwashi spotted them first, "Shizune, over there!" They descended upon a monstrous scene, kunai and shuriken dotting the surrounding ground and trees and blood pooling beside Raido and on the front of Genma's vest as he sat propped up against a tree.

"Raido! Genma!" Shizune rushed to them, frantic. She didn't understand. Her team was entirely comprised of jounin, taking on only three Oto nin. It should have been no contest.

"How could this have happened?" She asked softly, immediately tending to Genma's wounds while Iwashi saw to Raido close by, "There's no way it should've ended like this!"

"Should I go after them?" Iwashi inquired, not wanting to decide too late if they were still in the vicinity.

Genma turned to him, his expression grim, "Don't. The power they displayed…it definitely has something to do with Orochimaru. We didn't have a chance."

Shizune kept her thoughts private, 'But then…the team of genin that Tsunade-sama sent out to retrieve Haku and Sasuke…they will have to contend with this!'

*

"Shikamaru! The air is thick with the scent of blood here!" Kiba reported, halting and the rest of the line behind him quickly did the same.

Observing with her Byakugan, Hinata confirmed it, "He's right…it appears there was a battle several yards east of here. There are some wounded Leaf jounin regrouping."

Kiba watched the chunin steadily, "What do you want us to do?"

Shikamaru was silent for a long moment as he thought it over, "If there was a battle they may be able to give us some information…"

"But we can't waste any more time! While we sit around here and chat who knows what they're doing to Sasuke and Haku-kun?" Naruto protested, still terrified of what was to become of his dear friends.

Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look, "If they battled Sound ninja and they were jounin…and they were defeated…" Naruto understood his reasoning, "This is going to be a very troublesome time for us, Naruto."

"Shikamaru, we do have a larger team. Naruto is right; if we don't do something Sasuke and Haku might be in trouble!" Chouji was in agreement that, despite the peril, action had to be taken.

Shikamaru would always acknowledge his best friend's words, "Fine! It'd be best to keep moving. It's just as likely those Leaf ninja can't tell us what happened to them. Everyone stay on your guard! Keep moving: Kiba! Hinata!"

Kiba and Hinata darted ahead and Shikamaru followed, hoping he didn't just pass up an opportunity to gather consequential information.

'Gaara-kun…I sure hope you found them,' Naruto thought to himself as he moved ahead, 'And if Haku-kun really did decide to run away then…he'll have me to answer to!