Chapter 1 - Snared In Water

In the woods outside Konohagakure.
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"Shino are you sure we're headed the right way?" asked Kiba as he jumped from one tree to the next. "Neither Akumaru or I can smell any intruders in this or any direction. Are you even sure Lady Hokage gave us this mission?" He stopped and waited in a small clearing. Akumaru stopped with him, as did Shino and Hinata.

"I told you, Kiba, the Hokage was told that Akatsuki agents could be here in the forest, spying on the village. She doesn't want word of our activities to be passed along so she assigned us to track the agents down and dispatch them if there are any." Shino was getting annoyed, two hours of fruitless searching had caused Kiba to all but disbeleive him. To be honest, he was also beginning to worry that this was a wild goose chase.

"But that's my point," Kiba growled, "she's not even certain if there are any agents out here."

"Let's wait for Kurenai-sensei to get here, then," Hinata suggested, "if she has'nt found anything, then we can head back to the village." When both Shino and Kiba nodded at the idea, they all went over to a dry spot on the ground near a tree and sat down to wait. They didn't have to wait long.

"Any luck?" their teacher asked when she arrived a few minutes later. The three chunin stood when they noticed their teacher.

"None," responded Shino, stepping forward and kicking a puddle as he did so. "It's all the rain we've had recently. The water is slowing my bugs and hampering Kiba and Akumaru's sense of smell, even Hinata is having trouble seeing with all the water on the ground and in the trees."

"Yes," Kurenai said, nodding, "it seems our best bet will be to wait until some of this rain has--, what the?" As she had been speaking, the water near their feet had suddenly begun expanding, and as it reached each shinobi's feet had begun to freeze. Already even Kiba could not move his feet as they were frozen to the ground.

"What is this?" cried Kiba as he tried harder to move his feet. The ice just kept building as water from all over the clearing and the surrounding woods began adding to it. It was now up to everyone's knees. "Hold on," shouted Kiba, "I'll use a jutsu to break us out." He then made a few hand signs and tried to move again. He still could not move. "What the?"

"That won't work," called an icy voice from across the clearing. Squad 8 all turned to see a shadowy, robed figure standing there. The robe pictured red clouds but the man's hands were clearly visible and he wore no ring. "The ice is draining your chakra, you won't be able to escape it."

"Who are you?" called Kurenai, now imprisoned up to her waist like the others, "why are you doing this?"

"My name is not important," the figure replied as he drew a single kunai from a pouch on his belt, "just know that I am an agent of the Akatsuki, assigned to kill as many leaf shinobi as I can." He waved his empty hand and the ice stopped growing. "Now I must bid you farewell."

With that he jumped backwards into the shadow of the trees and simultaneously threw his one kunai at the imprisoned team. That icy, echoing voice cried out from the darkness, naming a single jutsu that would be the end of Squad 8.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu."

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Hope you liked this first chapter, and don't worry, the next one is coming soon.

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