Naruto looked up and registered that the team was finally assembled. "I don't know if all of you have heard about what happened to Shineji's quad. It was nearly decimated by a force of unknown ninjas. Shineji survived but he has been gravely wounded. I need information from the scene of the battle. Shineji was in no mental condition to observe properly and you three are the only chunins I have available at this time. This is at least an A ranked mission. You are to use Shineji's mission report to find the battleground and collect anything that might give us a clue about these new enemies. Do not engage the enemy unless you are cornered. Shineji said he'd have the report for me this morning. Go prepare for your mission and meet back here by lunchtime. I want you on your way by sunset." His tone made it clear they were dismissed unless they had questions. Naruto wasn't one for drawn out briefings before a mission. Squads rarely ended up encountering what the briefings covered anyway.

Shino was startled out of his morning meditation by a furious buzzing. Instantly identifying the insects making the noise as some of those belonging to his son, it took him a few moments to make any sense out of the agitated kikaichu. 'Shinji must be in turmoil for his kikaichu to be so effected.' He thought to himself worriedly as he puzzled out what the bugs were trying to tell him. "Murder?! Attack!?" He was out of the house and following the small cloud of insects in the next moment. In just a few minutes he had reached the alley. He approached the fallen girl and his disturbingly still son cautiously. The only sign of life from the younger Aburame was his breathing and the insects escaping to swarm around him in reflection of his deeply hidden agitation. "Shinji." Shino called out quietly.

Shinji took a moment to process the call before turning his face away from Alex's lifeless body slowly. "Yes Father?"

"Go tell your sensei what has happened. The Hokage should hear this from her directly." Shino ordered the shell-shocked boy firmly. He knew the jonin would most likely be in the training grounds waiting for her team by now. He could tell that Shinji was very close to losing control of his emotions and it would be best if the boy was away from the village when that happened. Kikaichu were very sensitive to their living hives' moods. However, death was a part of every shinobi's life, Shinji was just experiencing it earlier than most.

"Yes Father." Shinji responded automatically, already moving and keeping his mind occupied with thoughts of where to look for his sensei if she hadn't yet reached the meeting point for the day's training. He dropped from a tree into the training area a few minutes later. His breathing ragged and some of his kikaichu buzzing around him despite his efforts to maintain his control. "Sensei!" He called loudly, not able to focus his vision properly with his emotions so out of whack. He hoped Kaori-sensei was there. He didn't really know if it would be safe for him to go back to the village with his swarm in such a state.

Kaze was out feeding the deer with her brother, pondering Shikaharu's girl problem. She had no idea that the problem had already been solved in a manner most gruesome.

Shinji nodded silently, his muscles stiff and unyielding in Kaori's comforting embrace. Her words didn't even really register but he wanted...needed her to go away. All he could hear was the incessant buzzing of the kikaichu, the usual comforting hum reaching an almost painful level in his chest as he began to let his emotions slip despite his best efforts to squash them. "Go." He managed the one syllable with some effort, desperate to have her leave him alone to grieve.

Kaze finished feeding the deer and looked at her brother thoughtfully. "I'll think about it and get back to you, okay Niichan?" She said slowly. "I have to go meet my squad now." She walked away without waiting for a response. What was the point in waiting? The question was rhetorical, he had no choice but to be okay with it. Knowing that, he probably wouldn't waste the energy to make much of a reply anyway. It was the way her family worked. She headed for the training area at a leisurely pace, knowing that for once she was early and not wanting to seem too eager. It wouldn't do to have everyone expecting such behavior from her.

OOC: People can feel free to discover the other bodies if you can think of a good reason for your character to be where ever they are. I just ask that Naruto get to hear from Kaori first, before the other deaths get reported.

Kaori nodded, breaking the embrace and giving his shoulder one last gentle squeeze before she almost disappeared in her haste. Her legs carried her at an unusually fast pace for her. To the untrained eye, she would appear as a blur when she passed by. She fought to organize her thoughts as the Hokage Tower came closer and closer. This would be one of the most difficult messages she'd ever have to deliver in her life. No parent should ever have to bury their child. Plus, she feared that Naruto would punish her inability to protect her squad, even from within the village borders. Her pace slowed to a brisk run as she entered the building and hurried up the stairs, following the winding hall to the Hokage's office.

The door to the office was already ajar so she simply pushed it open and walked right in. "Hokage-sama. Something horrible has happened." She said in an almost errie, forced monotone as she approached his desk, taking no notice of the others present in the room.

Satoshi was instantly struck by how void of emotion his bestfriend appeared. Her eyes were dull, and she was definitely masking her feelings from view. It was something he rarely saw from her. The last time was several years ago.

Shinji's control lasted only a few more seconds. As soon as he judged Kaori-sensei to be far enough away, he broke down, falling to his hands and knees. His swarm of kikaichu poured out him, lashing out at everything in echo of their human's frustration and pain. Within minutes, every bird and forest animal for a hundred yards around the clearing lay dead, drained of the meager life energy such creatures possessed. Shinji punched the ground below him, leaving fist-sized craters in the soft earth. He didn't cry, the tears would not come, but he cursed and yelled until his throat hurt. Ten minutes later, he had calmed enough to recall most of his kikaichu. His emotional release finished, he sat up and gradually steadied his breathing. He was ashamed of his outburst, but he recognized the need for it.

Kaze noticed the strange stillness of the forest when she got near the clearing. Her family was very in tune with the woods around Konoha, so the lack of birdsong or small animal movement caught her attention. She spotted the first carcass a moment later. A few kikaichu still clung to it, not yet ready to heed their wielder's call. "Shinji?" She mumbled. 'Why would he do this?' She had only seen her best friend's kikaichu go after animals once before and that was when they were much younger. For Shinji to lose control of the carnivorous insects like that meant something was very, very wrong. She took off running, noting more lifeless forest creatures as she got closer to the clearing where they were supposed to meet. The few kikaichu she saw seemed calm so she calculated that whatever had caused Shinji to lose control, it should be safe to approach him now. She ignored her less rational side as it snidely informed her she would have gone to him anyway. She entered the clearing cautiously but was at Shinji's side in a moment once she was certain there were no enemies lurking about. "Shinji, what happened?" She asked calmly, kneeling in front of the quiet boy and eying him closely. He seemed physically well.

Shinji startled slightly as he realized Kaze was there. He hung his head. "Alex is dead. I found her murdered in an alley on the way to pick you up this morning." He said quietly. It wasn't the flat emotionless tone he had used with his father and Kaori. He sounded like himself again, with signs of deep sorrow in his voice.

Kaze ceased to breathe for a moment. 'Alex is dead?' Her mind raced as she processed the possible responses she could make. Finally, she settled on the one that seemed most efficient. Crying and screaming would be a waste of effort, denial was waste of energy, more important was vengeance. "Who did this?"

Naruto's heart leap into his chest as he registered the identity of the speaker, his daughter's jonin sensei. "Is it Alex? Has she been hurt training?" He asked, rising from his chair and coming around to face Kaori directly. He too ignored the others in the room as he waited to hear the news Kaori brought. Ninja traing could be hazardous and Alex's enthusiasm sometimes got her in over her head. He recalled that they were practicing tree climbing the day before, Alex had told him about it. 'Maybe she broke something...' He thought almost hopefully. Broken bones were quick to mend, Kaori looked more grim than a broken arm would warrant.

"She's dead." Kaori replied slowly, her eyes pricked with tears that she would never let fall around such company. "Her teammate, Shinji, found her in an alley earlier. She'd been stabbed, and it was too late to save her. His father is guarding her body now." She added, her voice obviously struggling to remain even. "As her sensei, it was my duty to tell you. I-I'm sorry I..failed you and Alex." What could she possibly say to him? This was his only daughter. His child that was ripped away from him forever now. There was nothing she could ever do to bring Alex back.

Satoshi inhaled sharply, his eyes widened in shock. He looked over to Naruto and watched his face in disbelief. A child had been murdered so coldly from within the village? How? This was unheard of. "I..failed you and Alex." Kaori. She will blame herself for this, just like last time. Satoshi hung his head, his optimism replaced by guilt and pain. He wanted to stand up and hug her close. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault, but she wouldn't listen. Not right now. His chest tightened for the pain that Naruto-sama and his bestfriend must feel.

Naruto shook his head in denial. "No..." His own daughter killed within the village walls. 'Who could have done such a thing? How?' He closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself. He had a duty to the village and to Alex, grief would have to come later. He opened his eyes, the cheerful blue replaced by an unnerving red as his energy spiked. However, his voice remained steady as he turned to the three leaf chunin. "Nagi, Souji, alert the village. I want every ninja mobilized and the civilians moved to safety. Call it a drill so no one will panic. Search the village and the surrounding forest for any sign of intruders. Have the genins work in squads and keep them inside the village walls, we don't want to lose any more of them." He paused and took a deep breath. "Satoshi, get the Naras here. Immediately. We'll need our strategists....and Kaida too, Gaara will go ballistic if anything happens to her in this village." He closed his eyes and took another steadying breath before he turned back to Kaori, when he opened them again they were back to his normal blue and brimming with tears. "Now, take me to my daughter."

Back in the clearing, Shinji shrugged. "I don't know."

Kaze waved that off as unimportant to her calculations. "Are you okay to go back to the village now?" She asked him cautiously, knowing her friend wouldn't like the reminder of what had obviously been a horrible loss of control.

Shinji grimaced but nodded. "I should be fine now...at least for a while." He added the last part a bit hesitantly, but he never could lie very well to Kaze. He would probably have several more outbursts before he finished coming to terms with Alex's murder, but not now.

"Let's go. Has the Hokage been told yet?" She pulled him to his feet and continued asking questions as they headed for the village, adding the information to her mental files on the situation at hand. By the time they reached the village gate, she had a good grasp of everything Shinji knew about the murder and she was busily plotting how best to use that information to catch the assassin.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kaori nodded, her own eyes softened by looking at his. She led Naruto through the village to where Shinij told her his father was waiting in the alley with Alex. When they approached the alleyway, a new wave of goosebumps covered her skin. Her feet pulled her body forward when her mind wanted to run from what they were about to see. Her eyes fell on Shino first and then trailed down to the fallen girl close by. She took a step to the side, allowing Naruto passage to his child. Her eyes shut and she turned her face away from the sight. That poor child. She was far too young to die. The only comfort the jounin took from the scene was that with the wound to her chest, the genin died relatively quickly and didn't lay there suffering.

Satoshi was out of the office a split second after Naruto gave him his order. He took to the roofs as he headed off to the Nara compound. Just over a minute later he dropped down in front of the front door to the main family's house. He knocked impatiently. "Shikamaru-san! Are you home?!"

Naruto made it to his daughter's side on autopilot. He hadn't really believed it until he saw the body. He knelt at her side and gently brushed her blonde hair out of her face. "Oh Alex....I'm so sorry." He choked out. He closed his eyes and addressed Shino. "Hinata needs to be told right away. She'll need a friend to stay with her, I don't want her coming here and seeing Alex like this. I have work to do. Can you go to her, please?" He asked his wife's longtime teammate and friend, knowing she would be in good hands with Shino until he could get his obligations out of the way to comfort her himself.

Shino nodded and was gone in a blur of movement, off to deliver the grim news to Alex's mother. Sometimes being the stoic, silent type was a pain in the butt; people gave you the really unpleasant jobs and assumed you could handle them. Never mind that he could and would do it, it didn't mean it would be easy to see his friend in such pain. He grimaced, Hinata was going to be crushed but she was a stronger woman than most people gave her credit for.

Naruto sat there, stroking his daughter's hair as silent tears rolled down his face.

A few moments of knocking brought Yoshino to the door. She took one look at Satoshi's face and bowed him inside, shouting to her husband and son to get their lazy butts up immediately. Temari came in a few seconds later, dragging a weakly protesting Shikamaru, with Shikaku only a little behind them, yawning. All three stopped and grew serious when they saw the usually cheerful chunin looking very serious. "What's wrong?" Shikamaru asked, not bothering to waste time on pleasantries.

Konohamaru frowned, something felt off and he'd learned not to ignore his intuition. "Alright Sano, Lexi. You two have done well so far. It'll be a little while before Haru-kun and..er...Haru-chan..." He stumbled over the identical nicknames. "Will be here. I'll treat you both to breakfast back in the village so you'll have energy for the real training later today. Okay?" He smiled brightly, still trying to pinpoint exactly what was causing the nervous feeling in his guts.

Satoshi waited unusually patiently for the Nara clan to conjugate before him. His serious expression was almost foreign and bizarre on his face. When Shikamaru addressed him he didn't bother to look at anyone in particular, "The village is on high alert now. Hokage-sama's daughter was found dead in an alley this morning." His voice plain, a stark difference to his normal exaggerated tone. "Your presence with the strategists is required." His eyes flickered from Shikamaru then back to his father. "We need to make sense of this immediately. Also, Hokage-sama requested that Kaida be brought with you. She needs to be kept safe."

Kaori stepped out of the alley, leaving Naruto alone to grieve. She couldn't very well leave him alone though. It wasn't proper, especially since they didn't know what was going on or if Alex's killer was still inside the village somewhere. Her hazel eyes scanned the faces that passed by. Her face was void of all emotion, covered by a well-trained, stoic mask.

Shikaharu walked back from the forest after his conversation with his sister had ended and walked casually through the house, but paused once he heard voices. The conversation was extremely melancholy and when they mentioned the death of Alex, his heart sank a little. He'd known her from the times that he'd seen her around the academy and being the Hokage's daughter and all, but this was sad to hear that she died such a horrible death. He couldn't bare the wait any longer so he jumped out from behind the corner and shouted, "Alex is dead? How did this happen? And now my cousin could be a possible target, we have to protect Kaida."

Lexi's face broke into a huge grin as the team was just offered breakfast. "Aw, sensei that's the nicest thing you've done for us ... besides training us," she squealed as she jumped up and down with excitement. "I'm so hungry anyway, we should go now so we can bet all the other customers." A gleam in her eyes sparkled as she was thinking about the pranks that she, Sano and probably Haru could play on the people. She hadn't even given Haruto another thought since the little match they had before, but it was mainly because she believed she had competition when it came to trying to get Shikaharu's attention.

Aster falling on his face, Hiko grew tired and was ready to go home. As he was walking home he decided to take the short cut through the forest. “i wonder if those flower started to bloom yet", he thought to himself. Excited to see if the flower started to bloom he began to run. " I bet hana's already there", he thought to himself.

Once he reached the family garden hiko noticed alot of medical ninja walking around. Moving closer in they all seemed to stare at him."what's going on",he thought too himself. Seeing the bodybag next to the bloody flowers hiko's heart dropped causing him to fall on the ground. "this cant be hana,no!! I wont believe it!! HANA!!!"as someone came to comfort him hiko ran into the house and reached into his closet getting a bag full of ninja tools.[COLOR="Silver"]

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f ninja

Temari nodded and went to wake her niece. "Kaida, wake up. There's an emergency. We need to head into the village right away." She said firmly as she entered the room without knocking.

Shikaharu waited patiently for his wife to return with Kaida. He looked to his son. "Haru, where's Kaze?" He asked, she wasn't in her room the door had been open as they'd passed it.

Konohamaru grinned and shook his head. "This doesn't mean you two are out of trouble." He pointed out sternly. "I just don't want you passing out on me later today." He started walking towards the village, assuming the two genin would follow. About halfway back to the gates he spotted something that made his blood run cold. Haruto dangled lifelessly from a tree, blood dripping sluggishly from her throat where the wire that had been used to strangle her had cut deeply into the flesh. "Sano, Lexi." He called out, moving to try and shield them from the sight. "Go to the gate guards and get help, as fast as you can." His tone left no room for argument.

Shinji and Kaze walked into a hornets' nest. The village was crawling with leaf ninjas and confused civilians were being herded towards the caves behind the mountain faces. Almost immediately, Kotetsu and Izumo, the jonins in charge of village defense, caught sight of them and directed Kaze to the Hokage's tower. They informed her that her family was being collected there for a strategy meeting. Shinji went with her as the first one to have found a body. Kotetsu informed them quietly that Hana Hyuuga had also been found dead that morning, murdered in the garden of the Hyuuga clan's compound.

Izumi was making her rounds, checking patients earlier than usual because of the village-wide alert. She entered Shineji's room and her eyes widened when he wasn't in his bed. She hurried into the room and spotted him on the floor behind the bed. His arm was stretched towards the open window and in his hand he clutched a small feathered dart. The mednin new immediately that he was dead, likely from poison. She sealed off the room and sent the first orderly she could catch to report the murder to the hokage's office.

Naruto looked into his daughter's face, brushing her eyes closed and kissing her forehead gently. He didn't swear vengeance, it wouldn't bring her back. Instead he silently promised her that he was going to protect the village from attacks like this in the future and apologized for failing her. "You would have been a great older sister." He whispered into her ear. He and Hinata had been planning to tell her and the rest of the village about the new baby on the way, but had wanted her graduation to be hers alone, so they had waited.

Kaida rubbed her eyes slothfully as her body was still riddled with sleep, but the urgency in her aunt's voice snapped through her. She clutched her panda puppet close to her chest with one hand and grabbed for Temari's with the other. "W-what's happening?" There were events like these in Suna, but she knew it had to be serious if the whole village was being moved.

Haru had tears streaking across his face, his arms felt like lead and his legs were like jelly. He looked up at his father and said immediately, "She went off into the forest, but she went to the training area to prepare for training. He wiped his eyes on his forearm and cleared his throat before he could talk steadily, "So are we all needed at the Council or is it just the adults because no matter what, I'll find a way to protect the village." His eyes were bloodshot, but you could still see the determination in them.

Lexi nodded her head in agreement to what Konohamaru state, "No way Konohamaru-sensei we'll be wide awake when training begins. When she saw her teacher stop several feet in front of her and her cousin, she tilted her head. "What's the matter?" She couldn't see what he was blocking, but she obeyed him nonetheless. Lexi hopped from where they were as fast as she could to get to the gates.

Kaito was sprawled out on his bed, drooling heavily, his limbs hanging off of the edge, the usual for him. He was waken up by several melancholy howls from the dogs in the compound. He hopped out of bed and scrambled over to his closet to put on his ninja outfit. Tenshi barked sadly at him to let him know of the current situation. Kaito's face went pale and his hands were clammy and filled with sweat. "Tenshi, are you sure it was Hana? It couldn't have been her. Why would someone do something like this?" The Inuzuka boy took off running to his father to find out what was going on with Tenshi at his heels.

OOC: Thanks for babysitting Kaida and Kaito, Cass. Not certain where Aoi is but she told me she would post. I'll give her a chance to come back on. ^_^

Shikamaru laid a hand on his son's shoulder. "You're coming too." He assured Haru seriously. What the younger generation lacked in experience, they frequently made up for in creativity and Shika wasn't stupid enough to waste the resources available to them. "Kaze will be fine." He said with more confidence than he felt. "If she's not in the village when we get there, we'll send someone to get her."

Temari took Kaida's hand and grabbed a change of clothes for the younger girl. "The Hokage's daughter has been murdered." She explained quickly. "We're all moving into the village for safety." She didn't mention that Kaida's safety was of extreme importance, not wanting the girl to feel babied. She hurried the young Suna ninja out of the room and back to where the rest of the family was waiting. "Let's go." She said quickly, a wordless glance from her husband had informed her that her daughter had already left the house for the day. A knot of worry settled in Temari's chest but she shoved it down, Kaze was a capable young ninja. She would be fine.

Kaze arrived at the Hokage's tower and was directed to a conference room. She was surprised to find herself alone in the room. She had expected the Hokage or her father to be there at least. She settled in a chair to wait and to think over the information she had gathered so far.

Shinji silently took up a position against the wall behind Kaze. He wasn't a strategist and didn't want to appear presumptuos by sitting at the table. He figured Kaze was too lazy and too lost in thought to care whether she was supposed to be sitting there or not.

Naruto left the alley as medical ninjas appeared and began to comb the area for clues. He motioned for Kaori to follow him and headed back to his office. He arrived back at his office just as the news of Shineji's death arrived from the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he was informed of Hana's murder. He took the news stoically, numbed by the loss of his daughter and with a growing determination to ensure that no one would attack Konohagakure ever again. Even if that meant making an example out of these cowardly murderers. He entered the conference room and closed his eyes in pain as he recognized the two genins waiting inside as his daughter's teammates. He could practically see Alex bouncing around, telling him excitedly about her squad...was it really only the night before? He shook off the thoughts and turned his attention back to the present. First things first, it was always hard losing a teammate, and Shinji had apparently been the one to stumble across the body. "Are you two holding up okay?" He asked the two genins with genuine concern.

Kaze looked up, blinking at being distracted from her thoughts. "Yes, Sir." She said after a moment. Her tone was subdued even for her, with none of her usual sarcastic drawl to it. She didn't bother saying she was sorry for his loss or any other platitudes. She knew that nothing she could say was going to make him feel any better.

Shinji nodded when he felt Naruto's eyes shift to him. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if he could say he was alright, but he wasn't going to break down like a child...not again. He was a ninja, trained to handle almost any situation including the death of a teammate. It was just a shock to have it happen before they even had their first mission together. Twelve was much too young to die.

Kazuhiko reached into his closet and changed into his new set of noble clothes. Picking up his ninja bag kazu opened his window. As he climbed outside he was greeted by his father,Neji. "what do you think you doing", he asked folding his arms at kazu. "what does it look like, i'm gonna go ask uncle hokage to let me go after the pigs who did this to Hana". Neji's eyes sunk as he looked at Kazu,"you look just like her", he said as he took him and hugged him, letting his tears fall. "look, I know that you loved her and it is okay if you are up set, but I will not let you let your anger take over. Look, I wont stop you, so go to the hokage tower and talk to your uncle." Kazu looked up at his father with a huge smile. "are you serious" he asked and with a reply Neji answered "yes". With his new found encouragement Kazu leaped from building to building smiling with pride.

Konohamaru turned his attention back to Haruto as soon as the other two were gone. He carefully cut her down and lowered her gently to the ground. Upon closer examination, he realized it was much too late to save her. He pulled an emergency blanket out of his pouch and covered the body with it, not wanting Lexi and Sano to have to see it when they returned with help. He bowed his head in sorrow. He hadn't known Haruto for very long, but she had seemed like a good kid. He pushed his feelings aside and began checking the area for any traps that the attacker may have left behind. He didn't find any, but it gave him something to do.

Choji spotted Hiko flitting over the rooftops and flagged the boy down. He noted the boy's determined expression and frowned. He knew about Hana and Alex already. "Kazuhiko-kun, right? Where are you going?" He asked, a firm hand on the boy's shoulder to keep him from flitting off without answering.

OOC: Tyson, this is a literate RP. Please take a few extra minutes to correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. A few mistakes can be overlooked but your posts are sort of hard to read. Thanks.

Kaori followed Naruto back to his office silently. In her head she was trying to piece together what had happened. Her expression was one of preoccupation as she was mentally compiling a running tab of all the places in the village the murderer could still be lurking. She wasn't too shocked when news arrived about the discovery of more bodies. It wasn't too random of an incident if multiple people were targeted and killed in one day. But the targets themselves seemed rather random, except for Alex's. Maybe the killer knew that that murder would really stun the village over the rest and planned it out that way. Her eyes flickered to the window as Naruto departed for the conference room. She didn't follow him. She knew that Kaze and Shinji would be there and she couldn't bear to see either of their faces right now. Not only that, she was afraid. Afraid that she would allow her mask to slip and appear weak in front of them. "You would know what to do." She said to herself quietly. "I suppose the saying 'time repeats itself' holds true. I just..wish it hadn't."

"I am certain that Kaze is already in the conference room." Satoshi piped up, hoping to ease the family's nerves. The young Nara was a brilliant child, and he had no doubts that she was just fine. "I shall meet all of you at Hokage's Tower. Please be careful." By the time he left, Satoshi was a little more lively. It wasn't that he was over what had happened so quickly, he just wanted to try to get his normal attitude back and not worry anyone. He knew that the running joke in the village was that if he wasn't smiling, then there was definitely something to worry about. The chuunin arrived back at the tower in a few minutes and took a deep breath before entering. "Hokage-sama! The Nara clan is on their way, Kaida as well. They should be here shortly." He reported as he made his way into the conference room. He took note of Kaori's absence and his brows furrowed for a moment. "Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

Kaze was a bit relieved to hear her family was safe and on their way. She had been a bit concerned since she hadn't seen Kaida that morning and she'd left Haru out in the forest alone. That worry laid to rest, she continued to mull over the morning's events.

Shikamaru lead the small group of ninjas, with his father carrying his mother so the civilian woman wouldn't be left behind. A few of the other branches of the clan had been dispatched to guard the compound and round up the deer. It took the little group only a few minutes to arrive at the Hokage's tower. Shikamaru and Temari exchanged relieved looks upon finding their youngest child already waiting for them, but refrained from any display of affection in light of Naruto's loss. "Naruto, what do we know?" Shikamaru asked without preamble, settling into the chair beside his daughter as Temari and Shikaku found seats around the table and a few elders filtered in to join the strategy meeting. Yoshino ducked out to find the kitchen in the building. The strategists would need to be fed.