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Late afternoon, two days later, north of Jiiya's capitol, approaching the border with Rain Country and the disputed lands...

"No!" Muttered Ino as she looked up at the sky. "No, no, no, no, no..."

"At least it waited," Shikamaru said half-heartedly. "It'll be dark in three hours anyway..."

"Shikamaru, are you sure we haven't crossed the Rain border?" Asked Choji as a few raindrops began sprinkling down. "I mean, really, really sure?"

Since leaving Jiiya's capitol, the ninjas of team 10 had spent two days of uneventful patrolling. They started off heading north over the highlands, but had since veered westward as they zigzagged their course around the highland peaks. Though their search had been as thorough as the terrain allowed, all they had found were unwatched cattle herds and the occasional clan farm.

"I'm sure," Shikamaru wearily answered. "We're just seeing thunderstorms. The afternoon heat lifts up the air, and then whatever water it didn't drop in Rain Country, it drops on us."

"So then we can blame Rain Country for this?"

Shikamaru chuckled.

"Damnit, I just took a bath two days ago! I can't get muddy again!"

"Relax Ino," Shikamaru chided. "We can call it quits for the night. We weren't going to see much else anyway..."

Ino perked up in the abrupt manner only she could pull off. "Oh! So you've given up on reaching Taruji Valley tonight?"

"I gave up on that about noon. We lost too much time trying to look through those gullies this morning. I can't believe we thought cattle might have actually wandered into anything that overgrown..."

Ino and Choji exchanged surprised glances.

"Then why didn't you say that earlier?" Demanded Choji.

"That the cattle wouldn't have wandered in?"

"That we weren't rushing to Taruji Valley!"

"Oh." Shikamaru shrugged. "I figured it was obvious. Didn't feel it was worth mentioning."

Choji gave his friend a long, withering look.

"So then," Ino said in wry tone. Stretching out her arms, she looked around the surrounding landscape. "I guess that means we should look for a place to camp before the rain really comes down. I remember we had passed a ridge with this nice overhang in it. If we just backtrack a few..." Ino abruptly trailed off and ceased stretching.

Choji and Shikamaru instantly took notice of the change in Ino.

"What is it?" Shikamaru gravely asked.

Ino slowly raised her arm and pointed to the south. "Do you two see that?" She asked.

Shikamaru squinted and followed her gaze.

Choji, meanwhile, had the presence of mind to pull a spyglass out of his travel pack. Putting his to his eye, he carefully surveyed the sky.

"What are we looking for?" Asked Shikamaru, not seeing anything immediately out of place.

"I thought I saw something waver. Something in the air..."

Shikamaru glanced at Ino. "It could have been the rain. All those falling drops could have caused a shimmer."

"It's smoke," Choji broke in, causing both his teammates to glance his way. Still looking through the spyglass, he nodded imperceptibly. "I see a thin wisp of smoke."

Shikamaru scowled. "How thin?"

"Very thin," Choji replied. "Its barely there at all."

Ino gave Shikamaru a meaningful look. "Minimal smoke. They're using dry wood. And with the way its been raining..."

Shikamaru grimly nodded. "They would have made a conscious effort to find dry wood. Which means they didn't want to be noticed."

Choji swallowed nervously as he lowered his spyglass. "I barely saw any smoke. They found some really dry wood..."

"Meaning they know what they're doing, and they're good at it," Ino concluded. "These may be our guys."

"We don't know that yet," Shikamaru argued. "We've jumped to conclusions too many times already on this mission."

"But they are in Steppe Country," Choji countered. "In land we just crossed today."

"And people acting this way, in this land is suspicious in and of itself. I know. I was getting there."

Ino nodded. "Okay then, fearless leader. What's our move?"

With the rain coming down around him, Shikamaru stood motionless in contemplation. "Stow your packs. We go in quiet. Operation Eagle Eye."

Ino and Choji both nodded in understanding.

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Nearby, twenty minutes later...

With her cloak drawn tightly around her, Ino crept to the crest of the hill. Kneeling beside some brush, she glanced around. Spotting Shikamaru a few meters down the ridge, she instantly caught his eye. The Chuunin silently put down his spyglass, and made several gestures with his hands. Ino responded with a gesture of her own, indicating she understood the coordinates. As she did, Choiji finished coming up the hill and knelt beside her.

Ino glanced at Choiji, who nodded in affirmation.

She then glanced back at Shikamaru, who did likewise.

Ino nodded back, and then faced forward. For a long moment, she peered across the landscape. In the gray-blue of the storm, she could begin to pick out the ridges, but not even the faintest hint of the campfire they had spotted earlier. Steeling herself nonetheless, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Team Shika-Ino-Chou," she mouthed, not making a sound, "Operation Eagle Eye... Commencing..." Ino formed a quick series of seals with her hands, and then fell limp.

Choiji effortlessly caught his teammate, causing less noise than the gently falling rain. Looking over at Shikamaru, he gave a single nod of his head.

The Chuunin again nodded in acknowledgement, and resumed his watch.

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Nowhere...

As she always did when she used her mind transfer techniques, Ino felt a stinging cold. It was sharp, penetrating, and it didn't dull with time. It was also, she assured herself, completely psychosomatic. In truth, she felt nothing, her mind being devoid of any sensory input. But that didn't stop her subconscious from trying to interpret what her senses weren't telling her.

Ino blocked out the sensations as best she could. According to the coordinates Shikamaru had signaled to her, the encampment was nearly a klick away. The mind transfer technique was normally slow. Even longer in her head than in reality. But this time, farther than she had ever tried before and without a clear line of sight to her target, Ino expected it to feel like an eternity.

If it would work at all.

But Ino trusted her commander. Shikamaru wouldn't have given her coordinates unless he was sure they were accurate. And she remembered the look in his eye when he gave his orders. There wasn't any doubt in his mind that Ino could do what was asked of her. She trusted that faith.

For all the ribbing that went on between them, for all the jokes and snide comments and self-depreciation, neither Ino nor Shikamaru nor Choji had ever failed when the team was at stake...

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The lee of a ridge, not long after...

Ino felt sensation ebbing back to her, but it was a far cry from the jolt she usually felt when she entered a body. Ino instantly realized that she was in trouble. She couldn't control her new body unless she could feel it. Both her father and her sensei had drilled her in the art of adapting to whatever situation she jumped into, but she would be much less believable if there was a lag time when the body was unresponsive.

Ino desperately reached out to assert her control over the body. As she did, she felt the consciousness of her host try to push back. Reacting with everything she had, Ino swarmed the consciousness. Obviously inexperienced in psychic combat, the conscious quickly drew back into the recesses, leaving Ino in sole possession of the body.

But access to senses was still slow in coming.

Ino belatedly realized that she was sitting down and slumped forward. There was a hand on her shoulder, obviously placed out of concern for her wellbeing. Her vision was still murky.

"I'm alright," she mumbled, trying to brush the hand away. "I just... Drifted off for a moment." Barely understanding her own voice, Ino tried to continue. "I'm just tired, is all."

"What's wrong with her?" The voice wasn't from next to Ino. It was quiet, and to Ino it sounded like it was coming through an echo chamber. But she could hear a note of concern in it. And fear. And anger.

"Its gotta be them," another voice replied. This one was closer, from whomever had their arm on Ino's shoulder. "I don't know how or when, but... Aw, damn, her forehead's cold. Get some water!" The voice barked.

Ino swayed, still feeling vertigo. There was an odd sound that she knew she had heard before, but couldn't place. Ino tried to pull back, realizing that the plan was falling apart.

"C'mon," said the second voice, as Ino felt someone tapping her cheek. The contact helped reorient her, and Ino began to make out a face in front of her. "Don't do this, Temari," the voice continued. "Come back to us."

Ino's eyes abruptly widened, and the center of her vision cleared just enough for her to make out the I-insignia of the Sand.

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The same, moments later...

"She's coming back," Gaara observed.

Kneeling next to his sister, Kankurou laid his hand on Temari's shoulder. "Don't move too fast, sis. We're still not sure what hit ya..."

"Whaaa..."

Kankurou smirked. "Articulate, ain't she?"

Lying flat on her back, Temari blinked and tried to reorient herself. Both her brothers were looking down on her, Kankurou from her side, and Gaara from a few meters away. Their small campfire was still lit off to her side, and a sand shell was still arching over them to block the rain. The only thing out of place was her lying on the ground.

"What happened?" Temari asked.

"You blacked out," Kankarou said in reply. "You just lurched forward, mumbled a bit, and then fell back."

Temari slowly sat up, putting her hand to her head. "Was it her?"

"If it was, we haven't seen any other sign of them," Kankurou replied. Leaning back on his haunches, he glanced idly around the campsite. "And thinking about it, that really doesn't seem like her style. Everything else we've seen has been an outright kill. Why try some covert poison attempt? It's not like she'd gain from it."

"I haven't been bitten," Temari mumbled. "Or stung or anything else..."

Kankarou scowled. "Did you feel anything before blacked out?"

Temari sat still for a moment. "No. I just, suddenly... Found myself on the ground." The kunoichi's expression hardened as she abruptly stood up. "Come on. We're scouting the area."

"It wasn't her," Garra quietly insisted.

After a moment's hesitation, Kankurou decided to back up his sister. "But it may have been someone else. There's gotta be some reason Temari passed out, unless you think she just ate some spoiled rations..." Kankurou's last comment was made in jest, but he wasn't interested in seeing his brother's reaction to it. Even as he spoke, he picked up Karasu and leapt away.

Temari shook her head. After rolling her shoulders to get rid of any lingering stiffness, she walked to the side of the sand shell and retrieved her fan. "Douse the fire, Gaara," she said. "Then help us scout."

As Temari walked past him, Gaara abruptly grabbed her arm. "Temari," he began. "You are all right?"

Startled, and surprised at seeing what could pass for concern in her brother's eyes, Temeari remained silent for a moment. "Yeah, Gaara," she reassured as best she could. "I'll be fine."

Gaara kept his gaze on Temari, but reluctantly released her. Temari lingered a moment longer, then abruptly whirled her fan around and disappeared. After another moment, Gaara turned and walked out into the rain. As he did, the sand shell fell away, snuffing out the fire.

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A nearby ridge, ten minutes later.

Hiding between a rock outcropping and some withered brush, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji all breathed a sigh of relief. None of them, however, made any move to break cover.

"That was close," Choji whispered. "That fan girl almost saw us."

Shikamaru slumped against a rock. "I can't believe how troublesome this mission is becoming..."

Ino leaned against another rock with equal exhaustion. "What idiot ever came up with Operation Eagle Eye?" She muttered.

Shikamaru and Choji glanced her way.

"Fine, I'm an idiot," she conceded. "Lets just scratch it from the plan-book and move on."

"Move on to what?" Choji asked. "There's no way we can get away from them. Not all three of them."

Ino leaned forward. "Maybe we can get away in the rain."

"Ino," Shikamaru muttered in irritation. "The rain is stopping."

Somewhat surprised, Ino glanced up. Though the brush and rocks were still dripping, the rain had mostly stopped and the clouds had broken in a few places. "Oh..."

Shikamaru sighed wearily. Closing his eyes, he sat into a crouch, and put his fingertips together.

"So running is out, and so is a straight fight..." Choji took a deep breath. "We... Could try Operation Tail--"

"No," Shikamaru interrupted.

"Operation Firefly?" Ino suggested.

"Now really isn't the time for another half-assed scheme that we've never tried, Ino."

Ino scowled at the rebuttal.

"Operation Head Games?"

"No."

"The Barrel Down Maneuver?"

"No."

"Well if we have to fight, I do have the red--"

"No!" Shikamaru said again, more forcefully.

Ino and Choji went quiet for a moment.

"Okay then," declared Ino. "I guess that means it's time for Plan B!

Choji buried his face in his hands. "Oh, no, not Plan B..."

With his eyes still closed, Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. "Actually..."

Ino and Choji both stared at their commander with quizzical expressions on their faces.

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