“...thank you for showing such faith in me. I have a rough plan worked out, and I would be willing to take point, but not over the objections of other members of the group. For the most part you guys haven't known me for long, so I understand if there are reservations, and I don't have any interest in brushing those off. This is going to be a pretty high-trust operation, after all," Hazou concluded.

Everyone was silent a moment or two before Hyuuga spoke up. "Fine, I'll say it if none of you will. Nara should lead. Gōketsu Hazou is occasionally clever and occasionally an idiot. Nara is consistently a genius. I would be much more comfortable taking orders from him."

"Neji!" Lee exclaimed from right behind Hyuuga, making the other boy jump. "Your lack of faith is most unyouthful!"

"Yes!" Akane chimed in. "Besides, Hazou is only very rarely an idiot, and almost never if he gets to talk through things first!"

"I am forced to agree with Hyuuga," Yamamoto said softly. "We don't need a plan from nowhere so crazy that it just might actually work, we need something that's as close to a guarantee as possible, and we have the time to really think through things."

"I'm sticking to my guns here," Yamanaka said. "Sorry, Gōketsu. It's not that I don't trust you, but it's not every day I can get Shika to actually do... well, anything at all, really."

Haruno nodded in agreement before appearing to catch herself and then glaring at Yamanaka. Idly, Hazou wondered what that was about.

Nara had by now begun massaging his temples. "Troublesome..." he muttered. "Fine. Six hours," he stated emphatically, pointing at Hazou.

"Six-- ah. Deal." Hazou couldn't see any way that being hooked into the Nara's internal economy could go poorly. Nope, none at all.

"Superb." Nara stood up. "My first order of business as your new commanding officer is to begin calling that time in. Tell everyone the plan, if you would. I'm going to go make tea."

Yamanaka made a choking sound before practically yelling, "You lazy bastard!"

-o-​

"Hazou, Panashe reported back. We're go for evac," Noburi called into the sealing mouse-hole. Hazou stood up, rolled his shoulders for a moment, and grabbed the last of the Party Trick seals to distribute.

It may have been his imagination, but Hazou thought the dripping earth of the tunnel walls was starting to sag inward even as he brought up the rear. Their group raced forward, the tunnel filled with squelching footfalls, heavy breathing, and the warm light of one of the nightlights they'd been traded, its shimmering patterns slowing down as it neared the end of its life.

Eventually the ground firmed up, and the party began trudging up the incline Panashe had previously dug before stopping at a signal from the pangolin. "A moment, Summoner," she said. "If your party could keep still, that would be immensely helpful. Pantokrator's Ears Technique!"

Taking his cue, Neji formed his bloodline's single handseal. "Byakugan!" Then, after a moment, he reported, "We're clear."

"Clear confirmed," Panashe said. "Breaching in 3, 2, 1...." She ran at the end of the tunnel and dug her claws into the soil, practically shoving it open like two sides of some earthen gate.

The group emerged into a wide meadow. The sun had peeked over the horizon, illuminating the cliffs on which the team was meant to be rallying soon.

"Right then. Gōketsu Keiko, please look over enemies' likely trajectories. Gōketsu Hazou and Noburi, distribute camouflage supplies. Everyone else, grab a suit and familiarize yourself with spots for cover and Silence Mine placement," Nara ordered. "Specialist Panashe, if you could possibly assist your Summoner and identify a good spot to secure defeated enemy combatants?"

"Certainly," the pangolin answered, scampering off after Keiko.

...​

Hazou wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or pleased that the first team to approach the meadow was fleeing. On the one hand, it meant the enemy figured they would lose, which meant the Leaf nin would probably win. On the other hand, it meant their cover probably wasn't good enough.

Hazou and Yamamoto were already almost on the trio, Yamamoto's face set grimly as he accelerated in a jagged, predatory sprint toward the slowest enemy.

"Yue, duck!" one of the other fleeing nin yelled, leaping over a bush and spinning in midair to fling a pair of shuriken at Yamamoto. She completed her spin and continued sprinting as Yamamoto casually dodged the attack and leapt at the aforementioned Yue, driving an elbow strike into the back of her head to attempt a quick knock-out. She managed to duck just enough that it merely clipped her, then tried to turn that momentum into a spinning kick, which Yamamoto grabbed and used to lever her into a vicious throw, slamming her into the ground on her back.

Hazou wasn't going to pass up a chance like that, and aimed a kick at Yue's head as he passed by, doing his best to keep up with the enemies. He recognized the sign on Yue's forehead protector as her head snapped to the side - Hot Springs. He felt an icy lance of guilt run through his gut, but he forced it down before he could be dragged into visions of collapsing inns and forests of fire.

The third enemy, a boy, glanced over his shoulder to see Hazou and Yamamoto advancing over Yue's limp form and spun on his heel. "You bastards!" he shouted, cutting handseals. "Flame Spears Technique!" Sparks flew from his fingers, engulfing his hands and forearms before flowing forward as he performed something like a a two-fisted punch toward the Leaf nin.

Hazou dove to one side, and Yamamoto to the other, but the other boy wasn't quite quick enough to avoid getting singed - Hazou could see (and smell) that parts of his camo suit had been burned away. Suddenly there was a flash of light and heat - Hazou pulled his eyes away from his comrade to see the enemy grinning at him wickedly, a bright orb of fiery light speeding upward. "Fuck your ambush!" the Hot Spring nin spat.

"Kyo! Stand down!" shouted the girl who'd thrown the shuriken earlier. By now Akane, Lee, and Hyuuga had caught up to the group, with Tenten and Noburi providing ranged cover. "We surrender! We'll hand you our glowing seals, let us take our teammate for medical assistance."

"We'll need all your other seals and word-halves as well," Yamamoto stated flatly. "And our Wakahisa comrade will be taking your chakra."

Hazou cursed inwardly. He'd suggested that part of the plan, sure, but that had been under the assumption that they enemy wouldn't surrender! Why couldn't they just let this end peacefully?

He watched as, inevitably, the Hot Springs ninja shifted back into combat stances. A kunai flew over his shoulder from behind, trailing a tag that erupted into a mass of atrociously sticky glue. Both enemies reacted faster than he was expecting, but it wasn't nearly enough. They were covered instantly.

Almost as quickly as the kunai, Hyuuga moved forward to hook around behind the enemy, water-walking along the sticky pool that now surrounded the pair and delivering a series of pinpoint strikes to the girl who seemed to be in charge, catching her head as she fell to the ground and turning it so that her mouth and nose didn't fall into the goop. Yamamoto and Hazou charged Kyo, who utterly failed to defend against either the crushing knee strike to his gut or the fist that met his temple.

"Noburi!" Hazou called out as Kyo finally collapsed.

"Way ahead of you bro!" Noburi said, already kneeling next to the unconscious Yue, running a hand of medical chakra over her even as he stuck her finger in a canteen to begin draining her. Beside him, Tenten began rapidly relieving the patient of her possessions.

"Fifty-two seals between these two," Neji reported after a few moments.

"Seventy-eight total, then?" Hazou surmised. "Damn. We might have a lot more of this ahead of us today."