Chapter Text
Shikako took Hoshigaki Kisame's presence as a clue-by-four that they were early enough in the timeline for a trip to Kamino to be helpful. She wasn't sure who should go with him, though.
She was only sending Deidara that way if destroying the facilities was the goal, and she couldn't quite bring herself to go there.
Also, while they'd both agreed to a truce with the rest of the team until they could return home, Deidara and Kisame, if sent out together, were likely to break that agreement by attacking each other because they couldn't stop sniping at each other.
Shikako didn't try too hard to stop them bickering because she was picking up a lot about Akatsuki from it. She also wasn't the only one paying attention when Deidara ranted about the unsuitability of Rain Country for fine art and when he and Kisame agreed that it had been funny when Sasori started growing mildew and didn't notice for four days.
If Shikako did a team up mission with Deidara-- just one-- that included serious transit time, anyone-- including Madara-- would believe that Deidara had told her-- Well, no one would be able to prove he hadn't told her about Pein or about Madara's plans or... anything at all.
Assuming it was something he actually might know.
____
For recon and research on Alderaan, Shikako assigned teams mostly based on short term compatibility.
Anko and Kisame. Neji and Deidara. Shizune and Maboroshi Kisuke. Hana, her three ninken, and Choujuurou. Temari and Sai.
For now. They'd reshuffle as needed once they knew more. Kamino could wait until Shikako was more sure that Deidara and Kisame weren't going to kill people just to kill people.
Or betray the team just because it would be funny.
Anko could take care of herself, and Neji had experience working with people with... loud obsessions. Art! probably wasn't going to be worse than Youth! Just slightly more lethal for bystanders.
Shikako briefly wondered what Deidara might have ended up like if he'd been trained by Gai-Sensi.
Whatever. Those team ups weren't permanent. Shikako would probably shuffle people around several times in the first few weeks just to make sure she knew who worked together for what.
That left Shikako with Shino and Shiho. She was tempted to change the team-ups just to avoid having a trio of sound alike names, but Shino understood the choices she was making, and Shiho--
Shiho wasn't a field nin, wouldn't ever be, but she was game to learn slicing. Shikako thought Shiho was the only one of them likely to learn fast enough and well enough to make a difference.
Which might mean that Shiho had to go to Kamino. Eventually.
Shikako was almost certain that Order 66 was a programming thing. Something about chips? Or maybe just conditioning? She hoped for chips because those could be more subtly sabotaged. Breaking deep conditioning for thousands, probably millions, of clones would require a lot of time and a lot of Yamanaka.
Neither of which they had.
At any rate, Shiho was going to need some hardening before she could deal with that sort of mission. Well, mostly, Shiho needed some experience in not panicking when little things went wrong.
Little things like getting kidnapped to an alien universe.
Shikako would rather not make the problem worse; Padme Amidala wasn't yet serving in the Senate, so they had time. Probably.
Out of all of them, Shiho was the only one who genuinely required Inuzuka help upon arrival. Hana and her ninken, Paws, Claws, and Ears, were generous about providing reassurance for allies who appreciated big dogs.
Neither Deidara nor Kisame even looked tempted, but everyone else spent some time getting acquainted with Silent Paws Over Leaves, Tufted Ears That Track Crickets, and Sharp Claws Open Everything. Part of that was scent sharing, but a lot of it was that they were furry, large, and solid.
They felt like safety, and Inuzuka ninken knew perfectly well that boosting morale was something they could contribute to a team in moments like this.
As far as Maboroshi went, Shikako spun a story about how this universe had ghosts and how, of people she'd worked with before, he was apparently the only one at exactly the right stage of not-quite-dead for the client to be able to pull him in. "Probably right on the brink of death," she said seriously. "I'm so sorry, Maboroshi-senpai. I should have researched that mission better." She gave him a formal bow of apology. "I don't know what will happen when we go home. I think you'll still be dead. At least we can turn in your last report."
Neither Maboroshi nor Shizune blinked at the lies. Shizune nodded, and Maboroshi said, "I remember a fight, but--" and then shook his head as if the memories were slippery. The best lies were mostly truth.
The client had chosen well with Maboroshi and Shizune. Neither of them had challenged Shikako's status as mission leader, and as long as Shizune didn't, Anko and Hana wouldn't.
Kisame and Deidara might still fuck off and abandon the rest of them, but they both knew the rest of the team wouldn't follow their lead if they challenged Shikako.
At the first briefing, Temari told Choujuurou, very solemnly, that they were still bound by the friendship handshake at the Chunin Exams in Grass, and he nodded agreement. It emphasized a more personal bond between them and Shikako and Shino and Neji than citing the alliance between their villages and their kages would have. That political alliance was still a factor, but the ridiculous and unrepeatable public ceremony was somehow more important.
Temari was probably making a point about being willing to follow Shikako without arguing precedence but not being willing to follow any of the older Leaf nin the same way. Temari and Choujuurou were in identical awkward situations that way, so they really had to back each other up.
They'd gotten a lot of mileage out of that friendship handshake; Shikako hoped Ino was proud.
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Shikako mostly stayed at their temporary camp in the trees and worked on seals. Shino and Shiho stayed with her. Shino could guard them while Shikako was distracted, and Shiho's talents weren't going to be useful for surveying and exploration.
Instead, Shikako told Shiho to think about the new languages that the client had given them and to find the concepts in those languages that weren't in their native language. "Those are the areas where our assumptions will be furthest off," Shikako told her, "and we really need the warning."
Shikako wasn't entirely sure that what she was asking for was feasible, but she figured that, if any of them could do it, Shiho could.
And Shiho was more likely to succeed if she started off assuming it was possible.
____
It took three days, but Hana found them a new, better campsite. Well, actually, Paws and Claws found them a better campsite. They'd also killed the large, reptilian looking predator that had been lairing in the cave system.
"It could spit acid," Hana said. "I'm still doing toxicology checks for human edibility, but the boys assure me that it's fine for ninken to eat." She shrugged. "They're better about that than ordinary dogs are, but I'll watch them the next couple of days, and they know better than to puke inside."
Shikako blinked at that. "Well, I suppose you're the expert."
Hana's smile was very like Kiba's.