---

“They're entering through the forest now, commander,” a solemn voice said, coming from the center of a small room covered in darkness. “There are about eight of them. Moving rapidly, more or less confirming them as shinobi. There are... five adults, two teenagers. One of the adults is carrying a small child.” The man that was speaking had a mask covering his eyes on as he held on to the tiger seal, allowing him to

“Alright. False alarm then,” the man in the doorway said, his figure blocking out the light that was attempting to creep in to the room now that the door had been opened. “Carry on.” The commander was about to turn around and leave, beginning to close the door, when he was halted by the man inside speaking up again.

“Wait. They are being followed by four new people. They are catching up to the first eight. They're... they're using ninjutsu to target them now. I can see it in the chakra.”

“Can you confirm they are attacking?”

“.. it seems that way, yes.”

“Alright. I'll prepare a welcoming team - when will those damn foreigners learn not to trespass on Amegakure's territory.” The door slammed shut behind him, and the sound of his voice rambling on echoed out slowly as he moved further away from the door. Inside the room, the man continued his work, observing calmly what was happening so that he could relay the information if needed.

The commander would find himself sending a message to the only two jonin that were currently available on such short notice - sadly for them, calling them out of a day off - by summoning a set of two small birds. After a carefully, but quickly scrabbled note that instructed them to his office, he attached the note to the birds legs and instructed them on where to go. One flew off to the western district, the other to the east - but both were headed for housing areas.

Jonin,

---

The respective two jonin, Sakana Uragiri and Souma Uzuki, would gather their respective teams. Although it was the first time meeting his team for Sakana, it seemed that introductions would have to wait. Living in Amegakure, that was not a rare thing - the low amount of shinobi available comparatively to other villages meant that the forces could be scrambled at any time, which happened occasionally for reasons related to show of force mostly. Once their teams had gathered, the two jonin would naturally move their teams to the office of the jonin commander, Yousho Nazami. Upon arrival, they would receive their mission statement - to hastily investigate the refugees, and more over, decide on what to do with the situation.

“Thank you both for arriving on such short notice,” the commander began, looking at Sakana and Souma, before looking over their teams. “And you all, too. I know today was a day off for both of you, but when duty calls... you best answer.” Without realizing it, Sakana found himself nodding along to this statement. “Our sensory team discovered a fast moving team of about eight individuals moving across the border at a rapid pace, a pace that only shinobi could hold for the time they held it. Nothing to be concerned about, as we've seen a trickling stream of refugees coming from Konohagakure. More interestingly, they were followed by a team of four shinobi that were using ninjutsu to attack them,” the commander said as he pointed at a map hanging on the wall. Besides showing the lay of the land and the existing borders, there were some markers that were drawn on that mostly indicated positions that Kirigakure and Konohagakure currently held in the ongoing war deep in the Land of Fire.

“If you look here,” he said, while pointing at the border between Konoha- and Amegakure, “you'll see that this is where they entered from. Since arriving, it is estimated that they have advanced about halfway to the village itself. But the shinobi behind them are catching up. Occasionally one of the eight refugees breaks off to engage the pursuant shinobi, then returns to their group. But we know that this won't last.”

He lowered his hand from the map and stepped to his desk, moving his hand over some folders shoving them aside. If one were to pay close attention, they would be able to tell that the folders had been marked:



As the commander glanced over them, he suddenly nodded, reaffirming his own thoughts to himself before looking up at the two teams that had gathered in the room.

“Normally I would give the new jonin his folders and send them out on a introductory mission. Today that is impossible. Therefore I am also issuing the order that the jonin act with extreme discretion. You are allowed to decide, over life and death, for yourself today, Sakana, Souma. But as the genin have had some years of experience now... do not forgo their opinions on the matter. The truth is we are not aware of what the situation is out there - and so we will rely on these two teams to decide on the matter. That will be all.”

---

With no time for introductions, the two teams had no choice to move out rapidly. Sakana and Souma would be at the front, with the team falling behind rapidly, lest they wished to anger Sakana, who was well known throughout the village - both as a genius and as a man with little tolerance for failure. The same could be said of Souma, at least in his renown, though he seemed like someone that would not get annoyed or angry unless it brought him in immediate trouble. But given that he'd spent more time with his team already, they were probably well aware of that already.

“So, for our approach, I reckon taking control of the refugees first is the first priority. We need to ascertain who they are and why they are here first, before we can decide on what to do with the shinobi following them.” Sakana was clearly talking primarily to Souma, but he made sure to talk loud enough so that the two teams of genin behind him could hear too - and they could interrupt, if they so desired. But it wasn't like he was saying anything controversial so far. “Depending on who they are and why they are being chased, it might be better to hand them over. If they turn out to be missing nin and not refugees, it might be wise to hand them over and remind the foreigners not to trespass. We wouldn't want to impede on justice,” he then added, seemingly uncaring that Souma had effectively been a wandering vagrant and missing nin for some time of his life. Not that Souma seemed the type to get offended...

Sakana himself would glance back at his team over his shoulder once he'd gone over his ideas on the plan, his dark black and yellow eyes scanning them. His eyes lingered briefly on each of them, and merely passingly glanced over the other team, observing the differences between the two keenly. “We'll make shinobi out of these genin yet,” he mumbled to himself, before looking front again. “Lest they die right here right now.”

Once they were close to the team, they slowed down a lot and landed in a large clearing full of tall grass. The day had been rainy so far but, whether it was a sign or not, the rain started to calm down once they arrived, stooping to little more than a faint dribble. Sakana's shoes touched down in the mud, catching himself on one hand before he raised up above the grass again, that reached to about his knees. “They will pass through here,” he blankly stated, looking into the distance. Beyond an old burned down remnant of a farmstead, there was little in the field beyond more grass - this extended all the way to the far end of the field, where trees once again popped up. They would be coming from there, soon.

---

The team had about five minutes to prepare - though, Sakana himself didn't order any explicit orders, expecting the genin to just stand by and do their thing. Once that time was up, the set of seven shinobi plus the child that was being carried burst through the foliage of the trees, taking with them a few of the leaves. They landed in the field with no trouble, though it was clear right from the start that at least two of them were wounded. One of the shinobi was gripping their side, which was dripping of blood, while the other one that was wounded could barely hold on to their weapon, their grip slipping whether it was from a lack of power or the blood causing them to fumble their weapon.

It seemed like the shinobi were unsure what to make of their welcoming partner - the numbers were equal, but the two wounded made it hard to judge the power balance well enough to make a call for them. On the other hand, turning around and running from the Amegakure nin was hardly an option.

The group ahead of them consisted of three men and two women. One of the men, and one of the women, had snowy white eyes - byakugan, for anyone that was versed enough in the clans of Konohagakure. The only thing setting them apart beyond their sex was the seal placed on the man's forehead, a swastika of which the purpose was unknown to Sakana. The female Hyuga was holding on to a child, no older than 7, who had similar eyes, though she hid them as she pushed her face into the womans shoulder.

The rest of the group seemed to be regular shinobi - the two teens among them seemed to be genin, while the older ones were apparently chunin or jonin. It seemed to matter little as Sakana stepped forward, looking over the group when they came to a halt, standing still in the middle of the field. Before he could speak, the four shinobi that were after these refugees also jumped out from the foliage, landing at the edge of the forest and immediately taking note of the Amegakure nin that were ahead of them.

These pursuants were dressed in hunter-nin garb, with masks covering their face, though the forehead protectors that were meant to indicate their allegiance had been removed and were not visible anywhere - not on their wrists, body or belt loops. It seems they were performing spec ops, or were trying to hide it for a reason.

“You're trespassing...” Sakana said, looking at the hunternin as well as the Konoha refugees. “All of you. Turn back,” he then added, very loudly. Though his words were threatening, his posture was calm, relaxed, everything about him seemed confident. Yet, from behind, his team and the other team could probably tell the tension in his arms - he was ready. They should be ready too.

When Sakana spoke, the two teenagers among the Konoha refugees took up position in front of the group, taking out their kunai and getting ready to defend against the Amegakure nin, while the chunin and jonin among them took position at the back, guarding against the hunter nin. The Hyuga woman carrying the child merely stood there, looking at both Sakana and Souma, not interested in the Amegakure genin. “We are merely looking for refuge in Amegakure,” she spoke, her voice calm and soothing, though her group seemed slightly less calm. “We want to ask the Amekage to take us in, as refugees, to avoid the bloodshed currently happening in Konohagakure.”

“It's useless,” the Hyuga man said to her afterwards, perhaps loud enough to hear for the two teams. “They're from Amegakure. They have specialized borderguard teams to stop intruders. I told you we were being followed by people other than the hunters, I told you before we left Konoha.”

“Shut up..” the woman whispered. “They may not like us, but they like the hunter-nin even less.”

If there was a moment of doubt in Sakana's eyes, the hunter nin saw it, as they quickly spoke up from across the field, shouting loud enough for all to hear. “These are deserters from Konohagakure,” it sounded, “they were not given permission to leave Konohagakure. There are only two among them that are not active-duty shinobi, and those are free to pass into Amegakure. The Hyuga child and woman. We are here to incapacitate the rest and return them to Konohagakure to resume their duties.”

The Hyuga woman gritted her teeth as she adjusted the child on her arm, who began to cry now, softly, but audible. “They're not from Konoha. Not all of them. They won't be returning anyone to Konohagakure. We've already deserted and proven that we are unwilling to fight their war, why would they bring us back? They're here to kill us.”

Sakana seemed unimpressed with the stories, from both sides, and looked back at his comrades. He had been instructed by the commander to exercise extreme discretion, but also to take into account not only Souma's take on the story, as equals, but also that of the genin. “Like it or not, they're deserters. Amegakure can take them in - but when we enter a war, they will just do the same. Run and forsake their duty to their country. They have a right to take the deserters - and kill them, if they want to. Imagine if it was you fighting in the trenches, and your comrades decide to abandon you, fleeing because they are too cowardly to fulfill the duty to the Amekage and the village... we can hand them over and take the woman and girl.” His eyes were serious, and it was clear he wasn't fooling around. It was clear that Sakana knew what being a shinobi entailed, and to him, that meant taking choices that weren't always popular - but that were the right choices.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but stones dimpled by the rain, rotting oak and dead grass. The light rain did nothing to abate the odor of decomposition, the sound of mud below their feet, under the dead ferns. A sense of paralysis seeped into her brain as she trailed the jounin, who made way through the trees overhead. At one point, she found her eyes meet those of Uragiri ahead her, and for a second she felt a bolt of adrenaline run up her spine as he took in the panic of her eyes - or perhaps it was deadness. He talked ahead of him, his voice mangled among the thudding of footfalls and pattering of rain.

There was a great hunger in her eyes as she took in the boy next to her, as if she could somehow communicate the sense of dread that had settled in her chest should she somehow meet his gaze. Not that she held any particularly fondness for Motoke, but recent events had endeared her to his existence, past her own feelings of disdain. Eiji. Little time had passed since the departure of their old teammate before they had unceremoniously been reassigned. The details eluded her mind in that moment, lost in a cold haze that had stiffened her shoulders and back for the preceding week. There was a familiar cycle of questions that her mind continually returned to as she tried to make sense of things - though the entire procedure at this point felt more a self-effacing condemnation than anything of productive value.

Yayoi had mentally fled Amegakure, the familiar village emptied of its peace, offering only a mangled sense of guilt. In the dimly lit shops where she roosted in the nighttime, she read her own fear and shame in the faces of her family and the wide pool of shinobi she had come to know. So young, such a shame. Or perhaps, Again, another one. Paranoia had begun to root itself in her mind. In the familiar glow of Amegakure’s lanterns she felt her guilt magnified in their expressions. The dead eyes of her father. You knew it would be like this. Where would he be buried? In the clan’s complex there was a small room with the name of their ancestors carved out in wood among the wall, sets of bowls studded with ripe plums set out as offering. When Amegakure was founded, the warring shinobi left many to die of famine. Yayoi wondered if the shinobi clans - the orphanage, no less - cared to memorialize their dead. Her mind persisted in wandering, very well knowing the ultimate direction of her thoughts, what she was waiting for. There were fringes of imagery of him at the edges of her eyes which she tried, and tried not to read as the teams made their way through the trees.

One foot darted in front of the other as she followed Uragiri, the other jounin in sight. There was a clearing ahead, and the rain slowed with their arrival. Head ducked down as if to hide from the streams of light, Yayoi gazed ahead into the empty field. His face made its way to her in dreams, the image of him fresh in her eyes when she woke, as if it had been left on her pillow as a gift. It was disorienting, and Yayoi looking pleadingly into the sky as if to will the sun to blind her. In the years she spent in the Academy, she didn’t know this feeling of guilt, or of shame and fear. She knew it now and felt she could not live with it, overwhelmed suddenly as inexperienced and ignorant people are - when every hurt is the most intense hurt imaginable. Someone like Uragiri would never care so much, having been washed over and over with the weight of death time and time again. The same with Mizushima with her stolen eye, Motoke who seemed to revel in death.

The sound of Uragiri’s voice jolted Murakami back into reality as she took in the group of shinobi in front of her. Indistinguishable hunter-nin rimmed the edge of the clearing, and the small group of ahead of them - some with pale-white eyes. The testimonies of both groups somehow enraged Yayoi, now feeling alert and on-edge. Some story about being refugees when they were clearly shinobi who had the power and responsibility to care for their own. Abandoners and cowards - what of the actual civilians in Konohagakure who were actually suffering during the war, or the teammates they had left behind? At least the hunter-nin - imposing or not - were honest with their intentions, while the group before them pranced around in their sheep’s clothing. The exchanges Yayoi could make out between them were entirely insulting. She felt a swell of pride with Sakana’s words.

“Deserters deserve to be punished, deserve to be accountable for the consequences of their own actions. What a waste of time,” she stated, acid creeping into her voice. As if it was a matter of pride, she stared around their group with steel in her eyes, gazing testily at Sakana. Instinct spoke clearly in her attitude - the tenseness of her shoulders, the hand on her yumi. There was clear, unrestrained anger in her voice, and she turned to her teammates, as if waiting for a response.

If there was a need to name the thing that Souma specially hated in his life, it undoubtedly had to be rain. If he had to name a thing more unpleasant than the cold dampness that he could feel spreading through his skin, numbing his sense of touch, it would undoubtedly be the way that the overwhelming sound made by the dropping rain constantly tickled his mind, nonchalantly menacing to deprive him of his focus due to its sheer immutable constancy - there was undoubtedly nothing unbearable to the point of being comparable to the omnipresent sound that passed to haunt him even in his dreams since coming to this village... That is, excluding the way that the Shinobi of this cursed place felt in the right to wake him up during his day off for the sake of taking care of a few refuges - something that they absolutely could handle by themselves.

In despite of his easygoing personality, Souma couldn't hide that he felt some serious annoyance when faced by the cold - and considerably moist - reality, nonchalantly ignoring both, his team and Sakana's, as he walked besides Sakana while trying to ignore the overwhelming urge to ignore the situation and go back to his bed. "Mhm?" He couldn't help but mumble in an indistinct way when faced by Sakana's question, nodding as if accepting his words yet completely oblivious about what the younger Jounin was trying to say, as his previous delusions has long managed to steal his attention away from the subject brought up by the conversation.

"I suppose that you're correct. There is no point in showing mercy for criminals, their life wouldn't be worth damaging our relationship with other villages." It took a while for him to sort his drowsy thoughts to the point of formulating an acceptable reply to the other Shinobi's statement, and they were already nearing their destination when he finally did so, recognizing the logic behind his fellow jounin's thoughts as they reached the clearing that would serve as a temporary shelter until the so called refuges arrived. "Still... I'd rather not abandon my fellow villagers of the hidden leaf to their own fate. It would huet my nationalist self." The sarcasm in his voice was evident as he turned his face towards the six gennin that accompanied him and Sakana, stopping for a second to face Sachi - the sole other native of Konoha in the team - before he signaled to his team, conveying a simple order - that could be interpreted either as "Get Ready" or "Don't die" - through his gestures before once more turning his gaze towards the side from where the refuges would arrive.

---

It didn't take long for the targeted group to show themselves, leaping away from the forest while looking absolutely wasted, showing clear signs of exhaustion and even some wounds as they approached the center of the clearing, clearly in guard and unsure about what should they do next. Meanwhile, Souma immediately approached Sakana as soon as he got a clear view of the other group, whispering a few sentences to the other jounin while making sure that they couldn't be heard. "Check it out, Black-Eyes, can you see the mark in the Hyuuga guy forehead? It's a brand. He's from the branch family." He tried - and probably succeeded - to sound confident when passing the small piece of info, hoping that his fellow jounin wouldn't make too many inquires about this fact, as it was merely a piece of info that he managed to acquire due to the fact that he had a Main Family Hyuuga as teammate during his period as a genin and once asked the girl why some Hyuuga were so obsessed with covering their foreheads. He never managed, though, to make her tell the reason behind marking their branch members - even after they got pretty... Intimate - and had even promised not to divulge the meager amount of information he got - what he already kind of did in the previous moment... Well, not like he was one to keep promises for long anyway.

He passed the next moments curiously watching the situation that unfolded in front of his eyes, boldly winking to the female Hyuuga as she turned to face him in the middle of her attempt of convincing them - a small act that was almost instinctive for the mischievous jounin - before he moved his gaze away from her, licking his lips as he watched the now visible group of hunter-nin mom that offered their side of the story.

He waited for quite the while before talking again, listening for the end of the explanations and waiting for Sakana's - and one of his inpatient genin's - opinion before he finally felt like talking, cutting the female genin in the middle of her harsh reply. "Listen to the adults before talking, Sweety. Relying in emotion over reason in a battlefield is asking to die." He somehow managed to maintain his carefree tone even when scolding the girl, quickly turning to Sakana as soon as he finished telling her off, purposefully lowering his voice and blocking the view of his mouth so the other group couldn't infer what was he talking about. "I agree with you, Black Eyes. Hyuuga would be an important acquisition for our military force. Still... You should be careful with the woman and child. While they aren't exactly suspicious we still can't discard the possibility of the woman being a spy." While he seemed to be serious when suggesting the possibility of the situation being a ploy, the effect that was immediately broken by his next phrase - that was said in such a mischievous way that even made it hard to infer what he really thought about the situation... That is, if he thought something about it at all. "In fact, we should put her under my personal watch. She can even live in my home during her stay with us."