Naruto : A Fool's Errand.

'There's no chance of our deaths since there are too many skilled jonin on our side.'

'....but none of them are making a move…'

Tachibana scanned around and noticed that Tsunade looked the coolest of them all. She was carefully watching all the battles that were happening everywhere.

'Analyzing our strengths and weaknesses?'

'She's also noticed that I'm hanging around and killing people silently.'

Tachibana observed the Jonin for a few moments before he redirected his efforts to the ROOT shinobi mixed in with the shinobi from Kumo.

'Those three using varying lightning jutsus look like Jonin on their teams…'

'Can I catch them off guard?'

'....possible if I distract them in some way.'

'But then if I want to catch them off guard I can't reveal myself by helping Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura…'

'Hmm…well I could go in for the kill as soon as the Jonin let their guards down and try to finish them off once they collapse in shock due to the attack?'

Not having more time to think about the issue, Tachibana was forced to stick to his new plan. He winced slightly when he saw all three of his friends collapse in shock after colliding with the lightning panthers.

Of course, they didn't stand stupidly and let the panthers attack them, Naruto used clones to kick himself away but the panthers were faster and much more agile.

Sasuke launched a hurried Great fireball to buy himself enough time to slice through the electric panther but he was too hurried which led to the panther simply breaking through his fireball.

Sakura on the other hand launched several explosive shuriken which destroyed her panther's back legs, but before she could fully extricate herself from the situation, the panther jumped onto her and sunk its electric fangs right into her shoulder, delivering her a shock more devastating than her other two teammates.

With the three genin knocked out for the next few seconds, Tachibana turned tense as he waited for the Jonin to come to finish his friends off.

Except to his shock and utmost horror, they didn't even move from their spots immediately.

They each made silent conversation as one of them split off to go finish the trio of genin while the other two remained in their spot.

It was glaringly obvious to Tachibana that the three Jonin had already noticed his presence on the battlefield. Either from judging the bodies of the shinobi that he'd assassinated or simply from noticing something else that Tachibana had missed.

But it was a fact that they had noticed him.

'So they sent one of them while keeping watch with the other two?' Tachibana thought in confusion.

'Why would they do that?'

'If they knew that I existed they could've simply walked to them while pretending like they hadn't noticed me and then simply countered when I did attack.'

'.....Ah-!'

Tachibana realised what had happened belatedly.

But it was too late for him.

Before he could blink again, two three stakes had already pierced the two Jonin held behind while Shizune had struck out the one that had moved to kill the unconscious genin.

"Seems like you realised where you went wrong.", Tsunade said from beside Tachibana, he had absolutely no clue when she'd gotten beside him, but Tachibana nodded.

"I wanted to use them as bait, but they already knew I existed. But when I realised that they knew I should've pressed for advantage because they didn't know if I was a genin or Jonin. But since I didn't attack immediately they figured out that I lacked experience and hence couldn't be a Jonin. So they figured out that I was a chunin at most."

Tsunade said nothing else, her brows furrowed as if she was thinking deeply about something but then she *sighed*, "You're a good shionbi…just not a good teammate. Maybe you just lack experience being either."

Tachibana felt annoyed at being given what he felt was an unfair evaluation but he didn't argue further.

Tsunade already knocked out the rest of the shinobi and so he was tasked with tying them all up for Inoichi to interrogate.

The process was slow since Inoichi couldn't gain any important information from the genin who he could easily read through, but reading the Jonins was difficult and so it took time since he had to weaken them through torture first.

Tachibana looked at the first round of torture and walked away after it made him a little queasy.

There was no blood.

It didn't even look like there was pain.

But by the time Inoichi was done the shinobi looked more like meat bags without a soul than anything else.

"So?" Tsunade asked.

"....I don't think I can become a Yamanaka." Tachibana answered truthfully.

".....I'm asking you about our earlier conversation…"

"Huh?" Tachibana looked confused.

Tsunade gave him an annoyed look before spelling it out clearly.

"How do you contact that god of yours?"

"Oh!"

A smile immediately returned to Tachibana's face as he quickly explained-

Tsunade knelt on the forest floor in front of a makeshift altar that Yamato had created. He'd also created special candles for her to use.

Shizune stood on the side looking a little worried while Yamato looked at Tsunade with admiration.

"Tsunade-sama, what if something goes wrong?" Shizune asked softly.

"Don't worry about it. If it does…well you'll just have to save me with all that medical knowledge I stuffed into you all this time."

Shizune nodded with a firm gaze as both she and Yamato stepped away, moving to Loki who was keeping watch over the shinobi they'd captured with Inoichi.

Shizune wanted to ask Tachibana a question but Yamato stopped her with his eyes and shook his head.

"When will they wake up Inoichi-san?" Tachibana asked.

"You should've saved them if you were so worried.", Inoichi said with a deadpan expression as he watched Tachibana stick a random branch into Sasuke's nostrils and widen it to make him seem like a pig.

"Don't tell me you don't like this! Your daughter loses her mind when she sees him!"

Inoichi's eyes suddenly narrowed as he whispered after leaning in closer-

"Should I go in there and torture him a little?"

Tachibana gave him a confused glance before speaking-

"Why would you do that? Wouldn't it be better to use this opportunity to change his personality and make him love boys instead of girls? I mean I heard that he even kissed Naruto before! So it won't be that unbelievable…"

"Is that soo…." Inoichi looked at Sasuke and Naruto with a scheming glare.

Naruto looked like he shivered instinctively.

"We're right here you know…" Yamato said faintly as he spotted Inoichi inching closer to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Tsk."

Silence settled in for a while before Tachibana broke it once again.

"What will we do now that we have the enemy plans?"

"It's Shikaku's turn to respond.", Inoichi said with confidence.

"But can we really do anything else? I'm sure the enemy probably knows that we have their plans once they fail to establish a connection with this team…and didn't you say that we were going to be surrounded eventually by seven more teams? That Kumo is also sending Killer B? That guy has the same bounty as Tsunade-sama in the Bingo Book you know? Isn't running away the best option?"

Even though Tachibana had just suggested desertion no one complained about it.

But they were silent because they too wondered if Tsunade could win against a perfect Jinchuriki…of the eight-tailed beast no less.

The Nine Tails was a fresh experience in Inoichi's mind while Yamato could easily sense exactly how terrible the chakra of the nine tails leaking out of Naruto was.

Shizune wondered if Katsuyu would be able to help even a little in case such a fight did happen.

Soon, however, Tachibana heard ravings and whispers in his mind-

'The Fool that does not belong to this World;'

'The Mysterious Ruler Of The Forgotten Lands;'

'The Researcher Who Aims To Deliver Salvation;'

Tachibana couldn't hear the contents of the prayer beyond his honorific name but because he didn't have the privacy to enter the Sefirah Castle he decided a reply to Tsunade would have to wait.

He couldn't seem too desperate anyway.

'Wait..why does it seem like I'm trying to woo Tsunade…'

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A/N : Been a long time since I wrote this....I don't even remember half the plot lines I had planned...the characters might feel inconsistent...I hope you still enjoy reading though! Let me know if you spot any discrepancies.