Mr. Shensou and Shikamaru had finished cooking the food, and everyone was eating their share sitting around the fire.
"Well, Mr. Shensou." I said, looking at Mr. Shensou, "When we reach Kuriki, this task will most likely get re-assigned to an actual ninja after we send the message to Konoha." He looked at Shikamaru and Aelira.
"As for us, most likely a jōnin or higher will be sent to escort us back to Konoha. Someone like Might Guy or Kakashi Hatake probably." I said, looking at Aelira, saying both those names with emphasis.
Still can't trust a walking natural chakra bomb whose village got bombed by Pain.
Come to think of it, Jiraiya should probably know about the Akatsuki, since Itachi joined them right around the time that he slaughtered the Uchiha, maybe not much information, but Itachi must've atleast given him some.
If this information about Pain massacring the Velkyn clan for no reason gets to Konoha, investigation about him will probably speed up. And Jiraiya will know about the Rinnegan this early.
Why did Pain slaughter them though? Surely he wouldn't do such a massive thing on a whim when he already has such grand plans set?
"Yeah." Shikamaru said, "No way the village lets two kids who haven't even graduated the academy escort someone like her."
Mr. Shenshou nodded his head, "Yeah, that much I figured." He chuckled, "Well boys, it was fun with you, but I'd still rather have some elite ninja breathing down mine than this."
I looked at Aelira, "Although you may not believe it, me and Shikamaru are still more trusting with you than most ninjas in the Hidden Leaf would be, although that's mainly because I was able to sense your natural chakra and intentions through the connection formed by the divine dogs, regardless, don't attempt anything when one comes, stay quiet, and only speak up when asked questions." I said and then looked at the ground and chuckled, remembering that one encounter I had with the undoubtedly strongest shinobi in the world currently IF he used his full power, althought the costs were deadly.
"Unless, it's Mr. Guy of course, he will be serious, but he will test your strength more than he will test your honesty."
Aelira simply nodded and continued eating the food.
Shikamaru didn't speak up, quietly eating.
I looked around and seeing that almost everyone had enough food, threw the uncooked remaining deer to the dogs.
I finished eating my food and got into the sleeping bag, "I am going to sleep, the divine dogs will stay watch the night, they still have enough chakra from her to be sustained for another 3 days, they'll keep an eye on her."
Mr. Shenshou yawned and walked towards his own sleeping bag after finishing his food, "Well as long as one of your wolves doesn't find my tasty in the middle of the night, I'll be back up in morning." He said.
Hearing him, one of the divine dogs looked at him and stopped moving.
Mr. Shensou felt it's gaze and stared at it too.
Suddenly, as if understanding his words, the wolf let it's tongue out and started salivating, huffing, as if looking at the biggest and most delicious piece of meat it had ever seen.
I was controlling it, of course.
Mr. Shenshou gasped and looked at me, "Hey-! That thing finds me tasty! Do something!" He said, pointing at the wolf.
I snorted, "Go to sleep, Mr. Shensou, i assure you, they may find you tasty, but they definitely won't eat you."
The wolf held the stare for a few more seconds.
Then—
It slowly turned its head away.
As if… disappointed.
Mr. Shensou didn't look convinced.
"…I'm sleeping with one eye open," he muttered, wrapping himself tighter in his sleeping bag.
Shikamaru sighed.
"…Troublesome."
And then, he too went to sleep in his sleeping bag, not before fixing Aelira with a suspicious and scrutinizing stare.
Aelira decided to stay awake and keep watch alongside the wolves.
And I slowly drifted to sleep too....
---------------------------------------------------------
The Next Morning
Mr. Shenshou had woken up first, only to find Aelira asleep against a tree, and the two dogs still keeping guard.
Feeling that he had to go and relieve himself, he took one of the divine dogs with himself, the one who didn't find him tasty, even the though the other was seemingly ecstatic to go with him.
Finally, Shikamaru woke up.
Only to find Mr. Shenshou gone.
"Oh my god, is that old man retarded?!" He exclaimed, and then his eyes landed on the letter Mr. Shenshou had left behind in his sleeping bag.
He immediately moved and opened it and started reading it.
It read-
Dear Kids,
I have gone to empty my bowels, do not fret, I have taken one of the wolves with me. The one who didn't find me tasty, the other white one is a total demon, he is heinous, he would've eaten me if I had taken him with me, he was even jumping to go with him, so he could devour me in the forests and never let anyone know! Anyways, I'll be back shortly.
- Best Weaponsmith in the whole wide world, Shensou Zenara.
"No way he is one of the wisest men my dad has seen.... He sure is one of the widest though..." Shikamaru said, scoffing.
He then looked around and spotted me sleeping in my sleeping bag and then the white divine dog, sitting and watching over us.
He then looked at the sleeping Aelira.
- 3rd Person POV -
Shikamaru looked at Aelira and at first thought of waking up Kai before waking her up.
But then he decided to wake her up first anyway since he decided that Kai needed more rest.
So, he walked towards Aelira, slowly.
And stopped a few steps away from her.
And picked up a wooden stick.
And held it infront of her face.
And pushed it against her cheek, "Hey, wake up!" He said to her.
Instantly, Aelira's eyes went open, glaring at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru was frozen in place.
There was a sudden spike in chakra, and the stick in Shikamaru's hands disintegrated.
"Do you take me for some animal, kid?" Aelira said, a slight annoyance in her eyes.
"No, now get up." Shikamaru said, regaining his composure and snark and turning around.
Aelira snorted and stood up.
And then come the vibrant voice of Mr. Shenshou, "Oh! Excellent! You two are awake!" He said, returning with the black wolf.
He looked at Kai, "Let's wake him up and get going!" He said.
Shikamaru looked at Kai and nodded, "Yeah, let's get going." And he walked over to Kai.
And kicked him in his butt, "Wake up, sleepy ass!" He yelled.
Kai groaned and held his backside, his eyes fluttered open and moved to look at Shikamaru, "You know God has given you a mouth for a god damn reason, Shikamaru!" He said.
----------------------------------------------------------
Around 60 kilometres away from our group, a tall man with spiky white hair was jumping from branch to branch, covering a great distant in each jump, even while holding back significantly.
The white-haired man had one visible eye and the other was covered by his ninja headband with a leaf in it, symbolising his allegiance to the village of Konoha.
"Damn it...." The man said to himself, "Couldn't Shikaku have just sent Guy or Genma or Yamato?.. Why do I have to go and babysit his kids.. Tch, tch, if he was so worried about them he shouldn't have sent his eight year old kids on a mission to the Land of Iron anyway..."
The man sighed, "And this early in the morning?" He groaned and continued moving, having covered around 10 kilometres already.
Finally, he could sense their chakra signals that were around 50 kilometres away, the Nara heir, the adopted son of Shikaku, the civilian they were with, and....
"Natural energy?" The man said, shock and surprise in his voice, his one eye visible eye widened. "You've got to be kidding me."
With that, he instantly started moving towards the signal, his speed many times greater than what it was before.
"It's not Jiraiya... Who could it be?!"
----------------------------------------------------------
Kai stretched his arms as he walked, letting out a small groan.
"…I swear, if you kick me again, I'm feeding you to the dogs."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"…Troublesome. You'd miss me too much."
"…In your dreams."
Mr. Shensou laughed loudly.
"You two bicker like an old married couple!"
"…Shut up," both of them said at the same time.
But Aelira was quite.
She had sensed the man coming towards them long before he had sensed them.
One of the benefits of being able to use natural chakra.
She looked at Shikamaru and Kai and said, "Someone, someone very strong, far stronger than even me is heading towards us. And they are moving far too fast for us to escape." She said in a grim voice, looking at the direction of the signal and then back at Kai, narrowing her eyes.
"Did you call him? Did you call that man? Was I still unable to gain your trust?" She asked, a slight tone of betrayal and anger in her voice.
Kai raised his eyebrows and looked at her, "What are you talk-" he immediately snapped his head.
Kakashi's chakra signal had just come into his sensory range.
But why?
Kai's eyes went wide, "What the hell is Kakashi doing here?"
Hearing Kai's words, Shikamaru stopped and looked at him, "Huh? Kakashi is here?"
Before anyone could say anything or even move, a figure dropped onto the clearing.
A tall man, atleast 6 foot, with spiky white hair and one visible lazy eye.
A man all of them knew, and two who had already met him.
The son of Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang, said to be even stronger than the legendary Sannin.
The most famous ninja across the 5 great nations.
The most notorious shinobi.
Mr. Worldwide.
The future sixth Hokage.
Kakashi Hatake.
Known with the title of 'Kakashi of the Sharingan.'
"Well, hello there." Kakashi said, eye smiling at Kai and Shikamaru, and then looked at Aelira.
"Who are you?" He asked, his serious and threatening.
Aelira glared at Kai, believing he had triggered the seal so Kakashi could come and dispose of her, and prepared to flee.
Just as she had turned around, before she could even move, she was slammed down on the ground.
Kakashi stood on up of her, bent down, his knee on her spine, his hand holding her.
Aelira grunted and started channeling natural chakra, preparing to blast Kakashi with it.
Kakashi immediately sensed it and placed his other hand on her neck, threatening to crush it and her spine in an instant, "Don't." He said.
Shikamaru walked forward towards Kakashi, "Hey, you can leave her I guess, she is with us."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked at Aelira's glaring face before standing up, but his hand didn't leave her wrist, he looked at Shikamaru, "Explain."
And so, Shikamaru started talking.
From how they encountered her and that rogue shinobi, to how she told them about her situation and her clan's, all the way to how they ended up here.
"That's..." Kakashi said, loosening his grip on Aelira's wrist but not releasing it, "Quite hard to believe."
"I know," Kai said, "but its the truth."
Shenshou and Shikamaru nodded at the same time, and Shikamaru finally asked the question he had been wanting since Kakashi arrived, "Anyway, what are you doing here? I am sure Kai didn't trigger the seal."
Kakashi sighed, "Your father, and mother, they got worried." He pointed at himself, "So of course, they sent me to babysit you two." But then he looked at Aelira. "But I guess that was the right call afterall."
"You made the right call by deciding to send a message when arriving at Kuriki." He said looking at Kai and Shikamaru.
He then looked at Shenshou, "Well, Mr. Shenshou, sorry but this is where you and the kid's part ways. My shadow clown will take you to Kuriki, after that, I will send a chunin or higher when we get to the village to do your task."
Shenshou nodded and looked at Kai and Shikamaru, walking over and patting Shikamaru's head roughly, "Well, I guess we part here boys!"
Shikamaru grimaced, swatting his hand away.
"…I'm not a kid."
Mr. Shensou laughed.
"Could've fooled me."
Then he turned to Kai.
"…You too."
Kai snorted.
"…Yeah yeah, go before the other one changes his mind and eats you."
As if on cue—
The white divine dog lifted its head.
Eyes locked onto Mr. Shensou.
"…I knew it!" he yelped, immediately stepping back.
Kakashi glanced at the dog for a brief moment.
His eye lingered.
Just a second longer than normal.
"…That must be your technique, Hmm." He said casually before doing the shadow clone handsign and forming a shadow clan who walked over to Mr. Shenshou.
Mr. Shenshou looked at Aelira, "You too, young lady... I hope you can find the peace and home you are looking for in Konoha, no one should go through what you had to endure."
Aelira in her disheveled stats nodded at Shensou, before continuing glaring holes into Kakashi.
"Oh, what a emotional seperation." Kakashi said as his shadow clone through Mr. Shenshou over his shoulder and started zooming towards Kuriki, "Let's get going, no funny moves now young lady."
Kakashi got behind Aelira and took out a chakra suppressing handcuff from his pocket, one that jonins were to carry with them at all times, and handcuffed Aelira.
Kakashi looked at Kai and Shikamaru, "Well," he looked at the divine dogs, "those things must be faster than you two, yes?" He asked.
Kai nodded, "Yeah, why?"
Kakashi eye-smiled, "So, get on the wolves, and follow me."
Kak and Shikamaru both fell silent for a minute and then Kai said, "Alright... Her leftover chakra should be enough for the wolves i guess."
And then, Kai went and hopped onto the white wolf and looked at Shikamaru, "Go on, get on the other one."
Shikamaru looked at Kai and Kakashi like they were insane, but knowing that there was no room for argument with the two, he sighed and got onto the black wolf.
"Such obedient children!" Kakashi said in a dramatic voice, wiping non existent tears from his face.
"Well, you follow my shadow clone, I'll get her to Konoha as soon as possible and then come back for you." Kakashi said right before a shadow clone formed beside him and he picked up Aelira and disappeared.
"He is fast..." Shikamaru muttered in awe.
"Let's go, kids." Kakashi's shadow clone said before jumping in the same direction as the real Kakashi had disappeared into.