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Chapter Text

About a week of travel had the three Kumo genin and the Nibi Jinchuuriki standing in front of the gates of Konohagakure no Sato. Their first impressions were summed up quite nicely by Xiao:

“COULD THEY BUILD THIS WALL ANY FREAKIN’ HIGHER?!”

This random annoyed shout was likely brought on by their fatigue and general irritation at the higher temperature in the lowlands of the Land of Fire. It was hot, they were tired, and more than a bit cranky. At least it got a snort from the Raikage’s Daughter, chuckle from the badger tamer and a smirk from the Nibi container.

Yugito went to go handle their registration with the gate guards, leaving her genin to themselves staring at the massive wall.

Xiao continued to grumble, arms crossed, red eyes narrowed and glad she was wearing relatively the least of the three genin, “Why is it so hot!”

“Not to mention muggy,” Oku had even taken off his silly plated hat to wipe the sweat from his brow and Lior was hanging off his shoulder instead of bothering with the knapsack as it too was far too hot.

“Wave was worse,” was all Yorihi could add in complete deadpan as she tugged at her collar as well. Her comment of course garnering a groan from the other two.

Suddenly Oku sneezed, “I think I’m getting sick…” his badger snorting uncomfortably as well.

“Oh you better not!” quickly Xiao was in his face looking for signs of inflammation and coming sickness.

Yorihi couldn’t help but shake her head, in their week of travel she got to witness several other odd little instances of Oku complaining about something only for Xiao to overreact looking for some medical reason. It reminded her of their Academy days when it was the red eyed girl’s responsibility to take care of a whole class of students and not just her partner. Not that Yorihi had escaped the treatment either, Oku just seemed the dusky-pink haired girl’s primary target.

Suddenly the older girl was standing in front of the blind one running two fingers under her jaw checking for any inflammation.

Tattooed brows twitched as Yorihi rolled her eyes, “I’m fine Xiao-chan.”

“I’m the expert here Princess I’ll determine that,” her invasive hands moved down and forced the younger girl to hold her arms out, “Kami only knows what kind of insane diseases they have down here other than the natural irritants!!”

“Like you?” Yorihi flatly responded while lowering her arms causing the older girl to try her ‘mom’ glare on her yet again. This only resulted in the younger girl chuckling.

Oku was just shrugging his shoulders while smirking, far more used to Xiao’s prying than any of them.

“Well good to see we all have a clean bill of health,” their jounin instructor Yugito walked back to them calmly, amused by her student’s antics. When she had all their attention she held out three sheets of paper, one for each of them, “I’ve got you three registered with the gate guards for free movement around the village, you’ve got three days to yourselves before the exams start, try not to cause any trouble!” of course at the end of her statement she reached out and rubbed her niece’s head, causing the girl to growl and bring her shoulders up to her ears.

This got a chuckle from the two older genin.

When Yorihi finally removed her aunt’s hand from her head and straightened her hair she brow glared at the older woman, “Not going to watch us, Nee-chan?”

“Do I have to?” she raised a blonde brow as if challenging them to do something they knew they shouldn’t. When all three of them simply gulped and shook their heads she grinned widely again, “Good, now I’ve written the apartment we’re lodged in on the back of those forms, just talk to the person at the desk, show those, and I’m sure they’ll give you a key, or just pick the lock, either works for me,” with a wave of her hand the blonde twin-tailed container turned on her heel and started walking away, “I’m not putting you under a curfew so act properly and don’t get us kicked out!” after a few steps she was gone.

“I can’t tell if she’s trusting us or being irresponsible,” Xiao said in a huff as she crossed her arms.

Yorihi just shrugged, “That’s Nee-chan for you…”

Red eyes rolled as the medic-wannabe turned to the other two, “So what’s first Princess?”

“Me?” a tattooed brow rose as the other two seemed to smirk at her, “Why are you asking me? I don’t have any plans on how to waste time here…”

The older genin chuckled before Xiao swatted at her bangs, “You’re kind of our superior right?” the smirk she was giving the younger girl was challenging if amused, “So what are your orders, boss?”

Oku was just chuckling into his hand next to his partner.

The blind girl glared the best she could with her brows as she fiddled with her bangs, “How about go do what you want just don’t get in trouble like Nee-chan said,” after a minute she gave up on trying to fix her bangs and walked past the other two, “I need to walk around for a bit, get my bearings, being on the ground in a place like this is far too… still, its bugging me…”

Dark hands moved to the older girl’s hips as she chuckled, “Don’t get lost, just do what you normally do and we’ll find you!”

With a groan Yorihi turned around and pouted at the two, “If I did that we’d all get tossed out of here!!” she waved back turning around and through the gates, “I’ll just signal you like a proper shinobi!”

Xiao just laughed watching the girl go, “Like she knows how to do anything like a proper shinobi…”

Oku who’d been mostly quiet came up next to his partner, grabbing her bag off her shoulder and slinging it over his own, smiling lightly at her all the while, “Lets drop these off then we can have a look around, eh Xiao-chan?” his smile widened into a toothy grin as his free hand reached behind her, pressing along the back of her shoulder as they headed in as well, “Maybe we can try out their southern cooking? Get some ideas for recipes later?”

Red eyes just rolled as the girl shook her head but continuing on next to him nonetheless, “Shut up Oku…”

With that the boy just laughed quickly followed by her own light chuckle.

-----

Walking down the wide streets of Konoha was utterly nauseating. Yorihi didn’t know if it was due to her heightened sense or some buried memory but the grand road from the massive gate to the Hokage’s tower was too much for her to bear. Quickly she turned into a side street hoping to avoid the chaos and lose her teammates for a short while. Even being in Kiri hadn’t been this… disturbing and she hated the place the moment she set foot on the marshy soil.

In the comfort of the tighter back alleys and several blind turns she paused to catch her breath. She tried to avoid a full on break down and remain calm externally but in the perceived loneliness she couldn’t help but grit her teeth and reach out for the closest wall. She had become so used to the soaring heights of the spires of Kumo, the open vastness of the scenery, the clouds, the wind, the chill of rain in the air, the cramp corridors of the buildings with the vast panoramic windows and the sectioned off bridges and platforms.

Konoha was just too wide, too open, too still and flat on the ground, even Kiri had a ‘sway’ about it due to buildings being built on a marsh, everything hobbled together in tight towers on what little ‘land’ the people of the Mist had. Konoha was spread out, a real city with short buildings and wide roads, the only ‘limit’ being that massive wall that towered over everything making it surprisingly claustrophobic in contrast.

A familiar weight made itself known on her shoulder as the ghostly feline licked her cheek concerned by his master’s sudden distress.

With a few more deep breaths Yorihi managed to calm down enough to raise her hand, thankful for her partner’s concern and bringing her back from the overwhelming sensations. She stood a bit straighter as she pet back his long ears, “Thanks Bachi-chan…”

The pristine cat stood straight as if he’d done nothing, glancing off to the side and swishing his tails.

She smirked at him, taking a few slow steps forward, “You know you’re not supposed to come out here…”

He huffed, raising one paw to clean it.

Tattooed brows twitched as she rolled her eyes, her breathing and senses reigning themselves in. She could feel eyes on her, sense there were likely ANBU in the area keeping an eye on her and while she didn’t particularly like the intrusion she was somewhat glad someone in this village was competent at their job. Whoever this ANBU was they were good enough she couldn’t spot them in her direct vicinity, she wondered if it was a Hyuuga spying on her through several walls.

-Damnit…- that meant she’d have to watch her activities a bit more closely to throw the bastards off. She knew all too well what those eyes were capable of. –I may have to find Xiao and Oku-kun and warn them about that…- both she and her cat snorted a moment after the thought passed. Who was she kidding? They were actually here for the exams, she was the one here to spy! This line of thinking actually garnered a chuckle from the girl.

She felt her partner roll his eyes before disappearing as she’d come to an open end of the alley leading out into a park. The sun was so bright, the small patch of free land filled with green grass, trees and shrubbery. It reminded her of the oasis that traitor had taken such care of. –I wonder if anyone’s looking after it now…- it wasn’t the plants fault their caretaker was an asshole, maybe when she got back she’d check in on it or send a letter to Haku to have a look. The boy was practically a girl after all, he’d probably like tending to the flowers there…

Her ears perked at the sound of something rustling, coming towards her at a quick pace. It didn’t take longer than a second for her to recognize what it was and she could hear her own incorporeal feline snicker. –Shut up!- while she frowned on the outside she didn’t bother dodging the incoming target, instead opening her arms and letting the thing leap into them contently to hide.

It was a tiger stripped cat with a bow on its ear and the damn thing looked terrified.

“Neko…?” a tattooed brow rose as it looked up at her pleading.

Then she heard the familiar crackle of a radio, “Abort!! ABORT!! Damnit Naruto watch where you’re going!!”

“Hmm?” that brow rose higher as the cat in her arms quickly scurried up to hide behind her head as something big, blonde, and orange burst out of the bushes the cat had leaped out of and came barreling towards her hand outstretched as if to catch something.

Yorihi simply sidestepped the assailant, hands moving to her beat rods with practiced ease as she struck on the back of his neck with one, caught under his legs with the other and literally flipped the boy into the wall behind her.

The boy crashed into the wall and quickly slid down while groaning, “Ow-ow-ow-ow…” his feet fell to the ground garnered another moan.

That tattooed brow remained up as the Kumo ANBU slid out of her stance just enough to not be hostile and tilted her head up to where the cat was pleasantly perched, “Friend of yours?” the poor thing was shaking and lowering itself behind her head. She took that as a negative as she faced the boy on the ground, “Guess not…”

The boy finally managed to flip himself to crouching, one hand holding his face while the other was rubbing the spot behind his neck she hit, still complaining about how much it hurt.

Yorihi couldn’t help but roll her eyes…

… then leaned back expertly to dodge a poorly thrown Kunai.

“Give it back Hyuuga! That’s our mission target!” there was a dark voice from a familiar boy with spiky black hair and eyes.

His appearance, or that of the pale pink haired girl next to him, were not what aggravated Yorihi, not even the fact he openly attacked her without warning or cause. She turned around to face the two, glaring at them with the insignia of Kumo and kept her voice even while lacing it with enough killer intent to send the girl hiding behind the black haired boy, “Who you callin’ Hyuuga?”

She would not admit to the certain amount of gratification she got watching them both flinch.

The boy seemed to steel himself, clinching his fists and standing his ground even if his knees were shaking and about to give out.

The girl clung to his shirt, saying shakily, “I-I t-told you t-that wasn’t a H-Hyuuga, Sasuke-kun…” her voice ended in a squeak as Yorihi barely moved to fully face them, causing her to fully hide behind the boy.

“Hn,” Sasuke showed false bravado even if his skin was crawling from the sightless gaze of the Kumo konoichi in front of me, “Looked the same from behind,” he ignored as the pale girl scowled at him, “What’re you doing here Kumo and why are you interfering with our mission?”

“Mission?” one of her tattooed brows rose as her head tilted, “What mission am I interrupting?” she lessened her killing intent feeling if she held it any longer the two might collapse. –These have to be academy students? There’s no way they’re out here doing some ‘mission’ within the village…- the shining plate on the boy’s forehead and on top of the girl’s head told her otherwise. –You’ve got to be kidding me?!-

Somewhere in the back of her mind a certain evil cat was giggling, oddly this may have been causing the real one sitting on her shoulders around her head to hiss-giggle as well.

She turned her head to brow glare at the intrusive cat, “Really?”

Finally having the intimidating girl’s ‘gaze’ off of him Sasuke pointed to the cat on the girl’s shoulder, “We’re here to capture that thing so hand it over!”

That tattooed brow rose as she raised her hand to scratch the feline under its chin causing it to purr, “You’re serious?” slowly her plate covered eyes turned to face the two Konoha ‘shinobi’, “You, the three of you,” she made a gesture with her hand pointing to all of them including the boy standing up behind her, “are on a mission,” she could not help the incredulous sound that entered her voice as she pulled the word through her teeth, “to capture this… cat?” if they could see her eyes they would see her blinking at them in disbelief.

The boy named Sasuke whom she recalled was this village’s ‘last Uchiha’ just scowled at her with a pout and light reddening of her cheeks, “Just hand the damn thing over!”

“Or you’ll what?” now, now it was funny as Yorihi couldn’t help the chuckle rising in her throat, “Scare me off with poorly thrown kunai?” her chuckle grew into a laugh, “Beat me back with intense glares? Try to take me by surprise with poor attempts at stealth?” at this point she side stepped as the blonde tried to jump her and grab the cat from behind, only to land yet again flat on his face, resulting in her laughing more. She couldn’t help the laughter as she reached up and pet the purring amused cat, “You can’t be serious? There’s no way you’re actual ninja? This is a joke right?”

There was a growl below her as the boy on the ground spun trying to kick her legs out, at least he was trying!

She merely jumped over his kick landing a step back and amused as he did a little spin flip to land on his feet. Now, face to face, she got to ‘see’ who he finally was. Sure, she knew it had to be the Jinchuuriki after seeing his ‘teammates’ but this was the first time she go such a close look at the boy’s face. He had a light tan and round face with three whisker marks on his cheeks surrounded by bright blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She’d admit that his facial structure and light tanned skin remained her a bit of Uzushio-jiji, who was also an Uzumaki, right? And she’d seen blonde hair all her life with her Father and Uncle but nothing as bright as this boy’s… and his eyes… there was something strange about his eyes that seemed to draw her focus…

Why was he grinning like that?

He made a cross shaped hand seal and immediately two clones of him appeared on both sides of her, coming in for a punch, “Kagebushin no jutsu!!”

Back in sparing mode she dropped slightly widening her stance and merely elbowed the two clones in the chest causing them to burst. She’d give the boy some credit, she didn’t expect him to know a jounin level technique…

“Hehe!!” the original came flying at her as he tried to grab the cat off her shoulders from her maneuver, the boy had guts, more than his teammates.

She merely rolled to the side, grabbing the cat with one hand, planting her other on the ground for leverage and kicking off with both legs to catch the boy in the chest with her feet and send him flying at his two teammates.

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMNNNNNNNIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!!!” he shouted, flying into his female teammate as the Uchiha left them both to save himself, “Oof!”

“NARUTO!!” for some reason this caused the two on the ground to get into a fight.

Yorihi could only shake her head as she cradled the cat in one arm and righted herself into a crouch before standing up, “Is that all?”

Sasuke growled, pulling out several kunai and preparing to attack the Kumo girl to get the stupid cat…

Only for a firm arm to grab his elbow and cheery if lazy voice to speak, “Mah, mah, Sasuke-kun, is that how we treat guests in our village?”

“You tell him Kakashi-sensei!!” the orange clad boy yelled from his position on the ground, only to get clocked by the angry pink haired girl.

“Can it Naruto! Cha!!” Yorihi was now starting to associate pink hair with violent tempers, though in Xiao’s defense she was much more controlled.

Ignoring the quarreling children and the dark boy going ‘hn!’ and ripping his arm away from the jounin, the Kumo Konoichi faced the man, recognizing his appearance, “Your students I surmise?”

The man’s face was practically covered fully, as she remembered out in Wave though she was surprised he’d be wearing his battle gear in his home village while not on a mission, “These adorable little genin are mine, yes!” his sole visible eye curved like an upside down ‘U’ giving the impression he was smiling as he ruffled the dark haired boy’s head, “Just doing a few clean up missions,” he pointed at the cat still lounging in her arm, “Mind if I take that little friend of yours? I’m sure her owner misses her dearly!”

The way the tiger stripped tabby froze and huddled closer to her chest told Yorihi the feeling was not mutual. –Sorry- she pet the cat, giving it as much sympathy as she could before nodding, allowing the jounin to come close enough to try and take the cat.

It violently slashed out and scratched his face… resulting in one mask to be shredded and the one below it to be revealed.

It was silent for all of a moment before Yorihi couldn’t help but deadpan, “Really?”

“Hehe,” Kakashi scratched behind his head, standing up straight, “Pays to always be prepared, you’d be surprised how much damage this thing gets!”

A wry smirk came to the girl’s face, “You realize I’m blind right? It’s not like I could see your face anyway?”

Again with that eye smile, “And yet, you could tell I was wearing a mask and one underneath?”

The girl gave a light shrug, “I’m good a feeling things out,” this continued the ‘eye-smile’ from the man so she assumed he was just amused by her answer and would leave it at that for now. She tilted her head down, facing the cat that seemed violently reluctant to leave her grasp, “Suppose I’ll have to follow you to help ‘finish your mission’, hm?”

The… odd, silver haired jounin clapped his hands together under his chin, for a moment she thought she saw sparkles, “That would be excellent and quite the show of comradery…?” he left the end open, obviously asking for her name without being direct.

She shook her head, “Tenkyuu Yorihi,” the least she could do was nod to the man and be ‘polite’, she could practically hear Kemui-sama’s lessons on how well a little bit of politeness got even the most paranoid of shinobi to drop their guard, “And I take it you’re Hatake Kakashi, the copycat ninja?”

The man kept smiling, chuckling behind his mask as he waved his hand in she presumed the direction they had to go to turn in this ridiculous excuse for a mission, “Indeed, quite the pleasure to meet such a well-mannered Kumo-nin.”

She shrugged, following him, idly noticing the genin trailing behind mostly scowling, “My Teacher would be rather upset with me if it didn’t act my best in a foreign village.”

“A smart teacher indeed,” the man agreed with a bit of mirth. Yorihi decided she’d have to watch out for this man because while she may have seen him standing on par with the likes of Momochi Zabuza her Teacher had mentioned him by name and with some level of respect. Obviously the Copycat Ninja for all his pleasantry was probably just as wary of her as she was of him. She give the man some respect, he was smart enough to not completely dismiss her at first glance.

His students on the other hand…

“Tch, I could have taken her…”

“Yea right Teme, she may look small but did you see how fast she laid me out! Haha!!”

“That’s because you’re a moron Naruto!!”

… They were of little concern.

Except for Uzumaki Naruto, if there was one thing that made this little detour worthwhile, it was finding the Konoha Jinchuuriki. They may not have known it, but they just made her job that much easier…

-----

It had taken them three hours to pry the cat off of her and even then the poor thing kept trying to return. Part of her blamed Bachiko as while even in his corporeal form the female feline, named Tora apparently, could spot him and he kept flirting with her, or at least that’s what Yorihi thought they were doing, the weird signals she was getting from the blue-black tabby in the back of her mind were a strange jumble.

The grandfatherly Hokage had found the whole event amusing, that a foreign visitor had stumbled upon the odd mission and even stranger helped out, even if she hadn’t intended to. The man kept giving her strange looks and she couldn’t decide if it was because she was wearing the Kumo insignia or that she was wearing it over her eyes. Luckily she managed to stay still long enough that she hoped he was convinced of her lack of sight and when asked she showed him the paper Yugito had given her and her team. It did not escape her notice that the man flipped the thing over and likely memorized the apartment they were staying in for the Chuunin Exams, she decided she’d have to warn Xiao and Oku to be extra cautious of ANBU spying on them.

After some arguing, spitting, and fighting she honestly expected from back home a check was thrown into her hands along with the rest of the Konoha genin team and she couldn’t help be raise a confused brow and ask, “Why?”

“Hohoho,” the old Hokage chuckled, cleaning out his pipe, “You helped with the mission, you get a cut, it’s only fair.”

That tattooed brow remained up as a frown formed on her face, “The only reason I came was because they couldn’t remove the cat from my presence previously.” She ran her thumb over the lines on the paper and she understood the man was watching her, seeing how she’d react, “And this is far too much currency for such an idiotic mission…”

“Oh?” a fuzzy brow rose on the old man’s forehead, “You’re able to read that?”

The scowl deepened, she’d beat him at his own game, “I have the ability to feel the differences in color by heat, I can also feel the imprint of the pen, so yea, I can read it,” she set the check down on the table in front of the man, “And I still say that’s too much for such a ridiculous mission, not to mention I’m not part of the team that completed it or this village.”

Again with that grandfatherly chuckle, she was starting to think the people here laughed too much, “Well if you insist, I only wanted to thank you for your part.”

Yorihi had to force the snort back down her throat, keeping her face neutral and not completely annoyed, “I appreciate the gesture, but it is unnecessary, I’m only here to compete Hokage-sama.”

An honest smile passed the man’s face as he finally put the pipe to his lips, “Kakashi said you were rather polite, not to sound rude, but it’s quite uncommon to those of us experienced with ninja from Kumo…”

“I had an unconventional Teacher,” she put one hand in a fist and covered it with her other, bowing slightly to give the man the respect his title precluded, “If you will excuse me, Hokage-sama.”

He waved his hand with a smile, granting her leave.

Yorihi couldn’t help but think the old man was cleverer then he appeared as she turned to leave. He gave her the check to test how she’d react, how she did things to compensate for her ‘lost sight’ and how well she followed her own charade. –If there’s one person to be suspicious of me in this village, it would likely be him…- she decided to downplay her attempts at anything until she had a better lay out of the village and its security forces.

Despite this determination it seemed the universe was having none of that today…

The second she opened the door to exit the Hokage’s tower she easily felt the energetic blonde of ‘Team 7’ crouched on the side of the stairs. She couldn’t help the frown or the way her brows furrowed at his presence, true he was her target but this was just too tempting, it felt like a trap, “What are you doing here still?”

“Eheheh,” the boy popped up to his feet, hand behind his head and seeming embarrassed, “You an’ Kakashi-sensei were talking the whole way here than that whole thing with the Fire Daimyo’s cat so, uh, well…” he started pressing his index fingers and thumbs together, “We never got to introduce ourselves,” he held out his hand with a wide open grin, “Name’s Uzumaki Naruto, don’t forget it!”

Despite the loud cheer he only garnered a raised brow from the blind girl.

“Uh, er…” then the boy seemed to flush realizing something that was quite obviously staring him in the face, “Guess handshakes are out of the question, e-eh? Dattebayou?”

That tattooed brow rose higher, “Not really,” she continued down the steps, unsurprised when the boy continued to follow her, “I just didn’t understand why you bothered? I’d already introduced myself…” he was walking entirely too close to her and it was bugging her senses…

“Tch,” the blonde gained a thuggish pout, putting his hands behind his head, “Nah… you told Kakashi-sensei who you were, not really introducing yourself to us, so figured we should try it all proper since we kinda got off on the wrong foot…”

Her brow rose curiously, “Really?” despite herself an edge to her lip tried to rise, there was something amusing about the look on his face.

Naruto looked even more uncomfortable, “Just, ya know, dattebayou…” his face got increasingly redder as he seemed to get frustrated before stamping his feet and making a dash to stand in her way causing the Kumo girl to pause momentarily, “My Nee-chan would be upset with me if I didn’t do things right by her,” he pointed at the hitae-ate covering the girl’s eyes, “She was from the Land of Lightning too, don’t think she was from Kumo though, but she said you guys do things different, that it’s important to say things straight and do it right, dattebayou,” he held his hand out again, that defiant pout on his face as his determined blue eyes looked straight at the insignia of Kumo.

Yorihi was surprised. Honestly, truthfully, legitimately surprised. The boy wasn’t pestering her to be rude he was actually trying to be nice all because of someone he knew from the Land of Lightning said that was the right thing to do. Her head tilted down slightly, appearing to be in thought but she was actually looking at his offered hand. In Kumo if someone introduces themselves they do that, offer their hand honestly, openly, no tricks while they look you in the eye or the equivalent. It was not something she expected in a place like Konoha, let alone from their Jinchuuriki.

After a long pause her right hand rose and clasped his, “Tenkyuu Yorihi,” she nodded, “A pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki Naruto.”

The grin that spread on his face was so wide and bubbly the boy couldn’t help but let go, jumping up high, “YATTA!!” when he finally came back down he was obviously excited and grinning in her face despite her inability to see, “So hey, Yorihi, what’re you doing in the village anyway? You on some super-secret mission or something?! Are you like a badass from Kumo cause I saw this one fight with these Kumo ANBU and this scary dude from Kiri with no-brows and while really quick was really cool-”

Yorihi leaned back a bit suddenly feeling very uncomfortable and cursing herself for whatever she did to activate this…

Suddenly Naruto stopped talking, snapping his fingers as something came to mind, “Oh, hey, yea!! I bet Jiji’s in the village,” he grabbed the Kumo Konoichi by the upper arms, totally causing her to go ‘eep!’ as he got really close to her face, “You really gotta meet him! Katsu-chan loved his stories and I’m sure you would too!!”

“Naruto-kun, wa-!!” was about as far as she got before the boy started dragging her off in some random direction. She knew she could quickly overpower the boy and release his hold, she knew she could send Bachiko to scare him and cause him to retreat, she knew could just use her free hand to grab her beat rod and smack him in the back of the head and make him stop… SO WHY WASN’T SHE?!

–What the hell is wrong with me?!- Her mind screamed as she finally dug in her heels, the boy’s mad dash to wherever causing him to lurch back with the sudden immobility of his charge.

“Ack?!” he quickly righted himself and glanced back at her, head tilted as if confused, “Yorihi…?”

Quickly she removed her hand from his, “Why are you dragging me around,” she couldn’t help but rub her hand, the boy had a firm grip, “Such a thing could be considered an aggressive action that could constitute an act of war!” for all she knew he was taking her off to see some interrogation specialist, then what about her mission!!

Blue eyes blinked as the boy looked legitimately confused, “Huh?”

Her hands twitched as she tilted her head, “You have no idea what I just said, who I am, or what you were just doing, do you?”

“Pfft,” the blonde waved her off, “Something that sounded funny, you’re Yorihi, and I was taking you to go see Jiji!!” the boy bounced again obviously fighting his urge to just grab her and run off like he apparently thought was normal behavior.

-It just might be in this village- tattooed brows cocked cautiously as she walked normally towards him, “I’ll just follow you, at a relatively normal pace, but I’m not making any promises about this… person you want me to meet, fair?”

The boy seemed to groan, clinching his fists but nodding, “Sure, just c’mon!!” he took her hand again without her consent and didn’t seem to realize she was growling at him for it, “He’s normally this way in one of the training grounds, c’mon!!” at least this time it was a mild tug and not an ungodly yank.

Yorihi figured she may as well concede the compromise, at least they were walking at a normal pace and she could get her bearings of the village as they moved.

-----

It took them significantly longer than Naruto would have liked for them to get to wherever his ‘Jiji’ was but they finally made it to a clearing where a man in pale green sat on a stump playing a Biwa.

Yorihi raised her brow as Naruto let go of her hand, excitedly going over to the man, “I knew you’d be here Jiji! You always seem to show up when cool stuff happens!!”

“Ahh, Naruto-kun, it’s good to see you,” there was a bit of humor in his voice and Yorihi could see plainly why. As the man lifted his head, tilting up his sledge hat it was obvious for her to see on his tan weathered face the obvious scars around his eyes. Scars she may not have seen before but she knew all too well how he got them.

Unconsciously she took a step back, never did she think to see this man again…

“You always kid Jiji, you know you can’t see this handsome face…” Naruto bantered at the man, turning around to once again grab the foreign girl’s hand and pull her towards one of the few people Naruto had known most of his life, “Jiji, now I know you can’t see anything but I’d like you to meet this girl I met from Kumo!!”

There wasn’t a single slip as the man turned his scared face towards her, smile still in place under his scrappy mustache as he let Naruto drag their hands together.

A frown enveloped Yorihi’s face as she felt his rough hands, “It’s been a long time… Ji-san…”

For a moment recognition crossed his blind face, his brows rising in the center as his mouth slacked slightly. Then his other hand grabbed hers, both sets of rough worn fingers holding her own paler one as a smile spread across the man’s face, “It’s been too long, Yorihi-chan…”

This time it was her turn to nearly gasp. She hadn’t expected him to call her by her name, her right name. A pleasant smile reminiscent of her Teacher passed her lips as her captive hand gripped his own, “Kemui-sama will be happy to know you’re still alive…”

There was a rough worn chuckle from the man as he let her hand go, “I’m sure she will,” he picked up his instrument, strumming a bit as he faced her with his broken eyes, “After all its her job to make sure I stay alive, ne?”

Yorihi frowned at the man but couldn’t help but accept the humor in his words. That time, it was one of the oldest memories she had and at the time one of the scariest. It was the first time she had seen what her Teacher truly was, the first time she had seen what shinobi truly did… but it was also one of the first times she remembered her Father or Teacher being so kind to her, they did not shield her from the harshness of reality but tried to help her understand. It was the first time she felt strong, standing tall and in command as she told her Teacher not to take this man’s life. And despite how much she hated herself for it, she couldn’t let go what she called him… not completely, he deserved that much.

“Eh?” squinty eyes looked from one blind person to the next, Naruto rubbing his chin and tilting his head, “Fuwa-jiji you know Yorihi?”

“Show some respect Naruto-kun, hahaha,” the blind Biwa play chided the boy who reacted like he’d been physically slapped on the head, “This girl is the inspiration for my most famous song…”

“Eeeh?” the whisker faced boy’s head tilted even more, now looking solely at Yorihi.

Her only response was to raise a brow, confused by their dialogue.

“Naruto-kun,” Fuwa’s voice was calmer and much more serene then previously as he waved a hand towards the Kumo Konoichi, “Meet the Ogre King’s daughter!!”

“EEEH?!” suddenly the boy’s eyes were wide as he jumped back a foot and stared at her.

Yorihi’s tilted even further, not understanding the reference, “I’m sorry, the what?”

Fuwa chuckled openly, ignoring Naruto’s shell-shocked state, “Apologies, Yorihi-chan, ever since my time meeting your father I’ve traveled the world as a minstrel, going by the name Meshii Fuwa,” his ears perked as he heard the girl chuckle, obviously understanding the meaning behind the name, “In that time I’ve made a number of songs, but my most popular has to be the Tale of the Ogre King, a silly song depicting how I lost my eyes and now wander the land to make up for my grievous mistakes…”

“You’re kidding,” her tattooed brows lowered, chiding more than angry, “Fuwa-san, you haven’t been telling that to everyone around the world have you?” this was a horrible breach in security! Who knew how many people heard that song and realized it was true!!

Again the older man just laughed, “It’s just a song, pure fiction, after all there aren’t talking cats or bulls in the world right?” he didn’t hear a response but got a feeling she was staring at him incredulously, “Don’t worry, very little is the same, just the idea of the characters and this,” with his free hand he reached up and ran a line across his eyes, the same way Kemui’s blade had done a decade ago.

“Ah,” the young girl bit down on what she had to say. –It doesn’t matter, the damage is already done…- if anything perhaps his song became so common others started to believe it false by association and maybe that would give her certain opportunities later on…

“Hmm,” suddenly Naruto was leaning in close to her again, squinty eyes staring as if trying to find something, “Ne, Jiji, isn’t it part of your song that you see the Ogre King’s daughter, causing the wolf to attack you?” his head tilted slightly, “Don’t see why they’d do that?”

Yorihi’s brows were flat as she ‘stared’ at him for a good long minute, then knocked him out of her personal space.

Fuwa only laughed, “I did say she was only a base Naruto-kun,” a great sigh, “I’ve told you time and again you shouldn’t believe everything you hear…”

The boy rubbed his blonde head, pouting at the blind man and staying at least a foot from the Kumo girl though probably not on purpose, “But if I did that Jiji I wouldn’t have met Katsu-chan or Yorihi here!”

The Kumo girl could only shake her head at the boy’s ‘logic’ while the blind minstrel just kept laughing.

“Am I interrupting anything?” a cold voice called from behind them forcing Naruto to turn around but Yorihi and Fuwa didn’t bother. A boy taller and likely older than Naruto stepped out from the shadow of a tree wearing a cream collared shirt and brown shorts, his long brown hair tied behind his back and kept out of his face by his Konoha headband as he seemed to glare as the children standing with cold white eyes.

Without realizing it Yorihi gripped her top right sword hard, a cold look coming over her face no one else saw, but there was a significant spike in her killing intent.

“Calm down Yorihi-chan,” Fuwa’s calm voice was the only thing that stopped her from turning around and likely doing something that would have gotten her and her team thrown out of the village, or worse. The blind man might not have been able to see it conventionally but he heard her grip on her sword as well as the set of her jaw. She may not have been who she was born but some part of her obviously still remembered those buried things and wanted nothing to do with them.

“Hmp,” Neji scoffed, looking down his nose at the two standing before circling around to stand in front of Fuwa, scowl on his lips and annoyed the man couldn’t see it, “Still entertaining morons, Fuwa?”

A tight smile came to the man’s face, “You should be more kind to our guests, Neji-kun.”

“Hmp” it was at this point he bothered to turn around, noticing the insignia the girl wore over her eyes and a deadly snarl crossed his face, “What the hell is a Kumo-nin doing here?” the girl didn’t so much as move causing the older boy’s white eyes to find Naruto and glare at him “How dare you bring one of those filth here!” on instinct the boy’s hand started gathering chakra and he slid a bit lower, not quite a full Jyuuken stance but enough to be a threat.

Yorihi’s tattooed brows lowered enough to the point only the cyan marks were visible over her headband, “Is that how Hyuuga treat their guests…” the dark growl in her voice did not go unnoticed.

“Y-Yorihi…?” Naruto stared confused, unsure what was going on between the two of them.

Neji grit his teeth as the pulsing veins of his bloodline started coming to life around his eyes, “How dare you!” now he fully lowered himself into a Jyuuken stance, “You monsters are the ones that killed my father, my cousin our heiress, and crippled this man here!!” he tensed, ready to spring, “I’ll never forgive you scum!!”

The girl from Kumo was showing a full blown snarl as well at the boy, hands tight enough on her swords to nearly crack the lacquer. She didn’t care who he thought he was, right now she wanted nothing more than to cut his throat open for his insolence. But she knew she shouldn’t, knew it would do her no good to put him down…

The moment Neji tried attacking Fuwa disappeared, the blind man reappearing with his Biwa in one hand and lightly patting the boy on his chest with the other, sending him flying several feet, “You will not disrespect me in front of my guest, Neji.”

It was strange how fearsome a man without eyes could glare, lids shut, brows low, and those scars prominent around them. It was the beggar’s stance, his stature of for once looking down on Neji that kept the boy on the ground more than the pain in his chest. Neji didn’t know the scruffy man with his short brown hair and scraggily poor attempt at an unkempt beard but he had felt a duty to protect the man as the faded seal on his forehead marked him as one of their own, one of the caged Hyuuga, yet he had always wondered free and abandoned by the clan as a toll for having his eyes cut out in a fight. He had never once considered the man had any notable skill in their clan art, but the blow just now… it may have been ‘soft’ but it was quick and could have been far more deadly had he wanted.

The young genius just scoffed, standing up and glaring at the Kumo girl, “You’re here for the exams right,” she didn’t move and he didn’t expect a reply, “Hope you don’t have to face me in them… for if fate is willing, I will kill you and the rest of your team.”

“Just try it, Hyuuga,” with those last parting words Yorihi turned around. It was bad enough seeing her once-uncle, but to see Neji as well… she needed to leave this place, this had been a bad idea.

“W-wait, Yorihi?” Naruto held out his hand but she was quickly out of reach. “Damnit!” the younger boy turned fiercely on the Hyuuga genius, “Oi, Neji, why do you have to be such a prick all the time!!”

Fierce white eyes glared at the boy, he’d put up with his occasional presence around his kinsmen but that was as far as he cared to give the boy thought. Now, now he was not only bringing enemies to them but dared to defend them! “She is a member of Kumo and you have no right to speak to me, or anyone from my clan about the injustices we’ve suffered because of them!!” not caring the Hyuuga boy spit on the ground, turning the opposite way that girl had gone and left as quickly as possible. His uncle, no, Father, would want to hear about this!

Fuwa could only shake his head, grieved to hear what had become of his son.

“What a prick!” the blonde groaned, sticking his tongue out the way Neji went.

That at least got a chuckle from the minstrel as he sat down, readjusting his instrument, “You know he could see you do that?”

“Feh,” Naruto just shrugged, giving his biggest angry thug pout, “So, not like he ever does anything about it,” blonde brows were low as the boy took a moment to vent, “He’s worse than Sasuke-teme sometimes…”

“Only when it comes to things dealing with Kumo,” Fuwa said ruefully, knowing a great portion of the boy’s hatred was his own fault.

“Why?” the genuine way Naruto asked that caused the minstrel to face him with a cocked brow, “I mean, c’mon Jiji, you and her were talking nice, even laughing together,” he threw his hands up frustrated, “Then Neji comes in and screws everything up… we had a good thing going…”

“Is that what you think Naruto?” the blind man set his instrument down, still and calm as he waited for the boy’s answer.

“Well, yea?” blonde brows cocked as he tilted his head, “Wasn’t that how it was?”

The old man smiled, often amazed by the boy’s naiveté, “No, Naruto, it wasn’t,” he picked up his instrument again, preparing to play something long and sad, “Go find your friend Naruto, I need to practice alone for a while…”

The blonde scratched the back of his head, pouting as he looked at the old man with concern then glanced down the way that Kumo girl had gone. He spared the old blind minstrel one last glance, “If that’s what you want, Jiji,” he waved not caring if the man could register it or not, “See ya, I’ll try to catchya again sometime!” he gave a caring smile then disappeared.

For a moment Fuwa was alone, he sighed deeply afraid of what might happen and wondering on choices he had made long ago. With a shake of his head he pushed it aside, taking up his instrument and continuing to play.

-----

It had been a long day. A very long, very stressful day and Yorihi wanted nothing more than for it to end. –Less than twenty four hours and I already hate this place…- she felt a headache coming on. Her eyes hurt, it was relatively late, and already she could feel a headache coming on.

She managed to get back to Konoha easily enough, it had been harder tracking down the apartment complex that Yugito had registered as their temporary rooms but she found her way there eventually, perhaps with a little help from her feline friend and some local alley cats. The tiny old woman at the reception handed her a key with a gap toothed grin and not a single word once she showed the piece of paper that was her registration form. She kind of weirded Yorihi out for some reason but the blind girl quickly ascended the stairs and felt around for the room with the most chakra.

She found a room with an obscene amount of chakra behind it, too tired and with too much of a headache to care if it was right she put the key and tried to open it up. The door clicked and the key didn’t turn all the way. Glaring at it she jiggled the thing and tried again, it still didn’t work. In defeat she rested her head against the door whining, “Xiao, Oku, Nee-chan? Someone let me in…”

When the door open she finally realized this was not her room…

Standing in the doorway was a tall woman with teal green eyes and her dusty blonde hair up in four pigtails wearing a light pastel purple outfit with mesh underneath but most importantly had a Suna headband wrapped around her neck. Her thin dusty blonde brows were furrowed and she seemed quite agitated, “Whoever you are read the number on the door and leave us alone as clearly this is-”

The young woman abruptly stopped when Yorihi raised her head, revealing the Kumo headband covering her eyes.

It was quiet for several long moments before a deep voice called from inside, “Temari, who is it?”

That caused the young woman, Temari apparently, to become even more nervous as she turned enough to answer whoever it was, “N-nothing Gaara, just someone lost!!”

“Then tell them to leave before I feed them mother,” something moved further inside the room with a kind of grating course sound like tiny rocks. The voice was bad enough but the insinuation was worse…

Yorihi could only quirk a brow before taking a step back as the older young woman quickly closed the door behind her and sighed deeply leaning against it.

“I’m… sorry to disturb you,” was the blind girl’s confused response to the whole situation. How in the world did she get mixed up? She had been following the largest charka signature she felt in the building thinking it was Yugito-nee-chan… it obviously wasn’t this girl in front of her so maybe that other person in the room?

The older girl just waved her hand, both giving herself time to calm her nerves and wave off the Kumo girl’s likely insincere concern, “Forget about it,” teal green eyes locked onto the plate covering the girl’s eyes, “I take it you weren’t watching where you were going that had you wind up here?”

Yorihi couldn’t help the smirk that came to her lips at the woman’s words, “how’d you guess?”

Narrow teal green eyes glared minorly at the smaller girl but Temari quickly pushed it aside as she stood up straight, no use showing this girl more weakness even if she couldn’t exactly see it, “Gimme your key.”

A tattooed brow rose, “You’re not going to break it?”

The young woman from Suna rolled her eyes slowly reaching out to grab it from the girl anyway, trying not to be too forceful but wanting to be done with this quickly. She held the piece of bronze metal up to her eyes a moment and caught the key number and glanced around, “Looks like you’re not on this floor,” she handed it back to the blind girl, “Try one up but in the same spot.”

Yorihi couldn’t help but blink behind her headband, gripping the key, “Thank you,” this time she was sincere, she hadn’t expected someone from Suna to be courteous enough to help her find her room.

The Suna Konoichi just shrugged, opening her door and quickly disappearing inside, closing it behind her.

With a light sigh Yorihi found her way to the stairs and ascended this time bothering to follow her eyes instead of her chakra senses. –That was strange, someone in that room with that Temari girl had enough chakra to rival Nee-chan…- she’d definitely have to look into it later, for now was finding her room to get away from this already strange day. Quickly enough she found the door, checking with the number on the key to make sure it was the right one this time before putting it in the lock, this time it worked and she quickly opened the door.

“Wai-Shit!! Princess!! Don’t move!!” was the first thing she heard.

The blind girl froze, at least she recognized Xiao’s voice. A quick glance around the room revealed various bits of wires, weapons and seals all about the room, one in particular under her foot where she’d opened the door. Her hand twitched, “What the hell Xiao?!”

It seemed the medic-wannabe was in a similar situation, barricaded into the middle of the room as her partner flitted about messing with wires and tags. The dusky pinkette scratched the side of her cheek nervously, “Let’s just say Oku’s been… working on making the room… safe.”

A tattooed brow twitched, “Is that an explosive note on the window sill?”

A nervous laugh from the dark skinned girl stuck in the middle of the room, “Yes?”

“Xiao!!” Yorihi tried to glare as best she could, true a part of her was glad the two of them had considered setting up a ‘safe zone’ in their room but this was a bit ridiculous.

“Don’t brow glare at me Princess!!” Xiao had her hands up obviously frustrated and over this situation, “Ask Oku, he’s the one setting it all up!”

As if to respond there was a thumbs up from the pale boy in the corner as he seemed to be adjusting something with his badger.

“Oku-kun,” the blind girl started in a deceptively calm voice, “How many layers do you have up right now?”

The boy with the silly plate hat glanced at the girl stuck by the door over his shoulder, “Oh, just a moment, I’m finishing up on the fourth one, you should be able to close the door after that!”

Yorihi just sighed wanting to rub her head, “And how many more do you plan on putting up?”

“Oh, uh, hm… three?” the way his voice cracked in a higher squeal did not make either konoichi comfortable about this situation, “I figure seven layers should be enough to deter any would be trespassers, what do you think?”

“I think four would be enough to deter most ANBU unless they were really out to get us for some reason,” she heard a click and felt another run of chakra go through the seal under her foot and connect to something on the door. Quickly she jumped away from the two as the thing slammed shut and finished up the final ward.

The pale boy grinned, “Seven it is then,” and quickly went back to his work.

The blind girl picked herself up from her crouch on the floor and just shook her head, turning to face Xiao who also seemed finally able to move, “Does he do this every time?”

Xiao gave an exasperated sigh, crossing her arm and seeming perturbed even if there was a slight smirk on her lips, “Every single time.”

Yorihi couldn’t help but notice the grin on the older girl causing her to snort, “Well at least we know we’ll be safe when we sleep…”

A dark hand went up as Xiao made her way over to one of the beds, “Provided we don’t set one of the traps off in our sleep, sure…”

“That’s not very comforting,” Yorihi said flatly, taking a bed on the same back wall but on the other side of the window.

The red eyed girl sent the blind one a smirk as she sat with her knees up on the bed watching her partner and his badger work, “You get used to it, he’s actually only been at this for the past twenty minutes, I’m honestly always surprised how fast he can set up these traps, even his more convoluted ones…”

A tattooed brow rose as the tired dark haired girl leaned back against the wall, “That is impressive,” she had no idea Oku could set traps so fast, already on a fourth layer in twenty minutes? It’d probably take her that long just to rig up her first one, not to mention a second or third. A light chuckle left her lips as she couldn’t help but ask, “So if he’s only been at this for the past twenty minutes,” she turned to face her fellow Kumo konoichi, “What have you two been up to since we parted at the gates?”

It was barely perceptible in the dim light but for a moment it almost looked like the dark skinned girl blushed. Quickly she waved her hand, “Oh nothing really major, walked around, ate some of their food, Oku tried to out eat some fat kid with swirls on his cheeks…” this garnered a snort from both of them, “It didn’t go so well, I swear that kid was like a vacuum, could probably keep up with Karui-senpai’s appetite.”

Yorihi couldn’t help but laugh, she knew she ate a lot to keep up her chakra reserves after a fight, but Karui was a whole other level, “The only clan here I can imagine that could do that would be someone from the Akimichi, they’re known for being… hefty in order to burn body fat and convert it into pure chakra…”

“That can’t be healthy,” the physical problems alone dealing with all that extra weight then to rapidly burn it away ran through Xiao’s mind and none of the results spelled anything good.

The girl on the bed next to her just held up her hands in a mock shrug, who were they to argue with how some shinobi did their jobs?

“Ugh,” Xiao leaned her head back, hitting the wall and staring at the ceiling, “So what’d you do Princess?”

There was a distinct groan from the younger girl that meant a headache was coming on, “I hate this place,” she leaned her head back as well and hit her head against the wall a few times, “Just so much stupid…”

Her friend nearby couldn’t help but laugh in sympathy.

Yorihi continued on in a groan, “The only good part about today was finding their Jinchuuriki, but even then he’s so loud, and excitable, and so draining to be around…”

“What?” red eyes turned to the younger girl as she seemed to continue on without notice.

“I mean really?! Who just grabs someone like that and gets within an inch of their face and talks so loud and smiles so brightly and-” the young girl might not have noticed but as she was ranting her hand gestures were getting wilder and the tone of her voice higher. She only finally stopped when she heard her dusky pink haired friend start laughing for no reason, “Xiao?”

“N-nothing, nothing,” the dark skinned girl waved her free hand, the other trying terribly to hide her stream of giggles.

“Xiao!” the blind girl was back to brow glaring at her friend. How dare she just start laughing at her like that!! This was a legitimate issue!!

Of course the younger girl’s response just caused the older one to laugh even more.

“Oh, hey!! Yorihi, this must be the rest of your team!!”

At the sudden new voice all laughter stopped as the three Kumo genin froze, then as one turned to the window, which was now open, with a blonde boy in an orange track outfit crouched on the sill with a bright grin on his face.

There was suddenly a crackle coming from the bottom of the sill.

“Hey what’s that sound?” Naruto scratched the back of his head not understanding why Yorihi and the other two Kumo-nin were stock still, and why did it smell like something was burning?

“You idiot!! Get in here!!” suddenly the girl with dark skin and pink hair grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him inside on the bed next to her and turned away from the sill.

Simultaneously Yorihi had jumped forward and performed a heavily chakra-laced palm strike to the window sill Naruto had just occupied which had a slowly burning way explosive note on it, “GET DOWN!!”

A second later the note and dislodged window will exploded barely three feet from their room, causing a bright flash of light and loud noise.

After a long second of silence, “Ugh!! Now I have to start over again on that one!!” Oku was the first to move as he went to inspect the damage to the window sill and outside of the building. Luckily there was only a scorch mark and blunt force trauma where Yorihi had sent the thing flying but that was still one less explosive note he had and now he had to fix the damage, “Great, they don’t even have fix-it seals…” suddenly Lior popped out of the knapsack on the boy’s back, holding a large scroll and handing it to his master as the dirty blonde sat down, unsealing a few tools and plaster and got to work.

Naruto was currently blushing up a storm as he was literally smushed between the bed and the other Kumo konoichi, specifically her rather soft chest. There was a growl above him as the dark skinned girl pushed up and glared red eyes at him, all he could do was gulp and wave his hand meekly, “S-sorry? Dattebayou…”

“What do you think you were doing?” now Xiao was angry, she quickly stood up, grabbing the boy’s collar and dragging him up with her as she held him within a few inches of her face just so she could yell at him harder, “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to enter another shinobi’s space unannounced! The kinds of traps you could set off, especially if they’re in the process of being set up!! You could have gotten yourself killed!!”

“I-I-” Naruto stammered not sure how to deal with this foreign girl yelling at him. He was used to people yelling at him sure, but usually that accompanied some kind of beating and they generally just called him stupid. This girl whom he didn’t even know her name just saved his life apparently and was yelling at him for being irresponsible without hitting him yet.

“Xiao, put him down, he didn’t know what he was doing,” Yorihi put her hand on her friend’s shoulder trying to calm her down. Sure, she was pissed as well, pissed that the boy didn’t know what the hell an explosive note sounded like about to go off at his feet or that he entered a locked room without checking for traps. –Didn’t anyone teach him to be careful?!- She had already gotten a headache from this village for other reason but this kind of blatant incompetency? From people they’ve dubbed shinobi?

“Argh!!” Xiao tossed the vibrantly blonde boy on the bed she’d been sitting on, still glaring at him sternly with red eyes one hand on her hip and the other pointing right at him, “You ever do anything like this again I’m breaking your legs, fixing them, then breaking them again and making you walk like that for a week, understand!!”

“Y-yes ma’am!” Naruto had himself plastered to wall, still expecting a fist to come flying at any moment.

“Ugh,” Yorihi released a deep sigh, rubbing her head just above her hitae-ate, “Nice to see your bedside manner has improved…”

“Oh shut up Princess,” the dusky pink haired girl growled as she stormed to the other side of the room just needing the space to breathe a moment before turning around and spotting her partner fixing the wall, “How long do you think this’ll set you back Oku?”

The boy had a plaster shovel in one hand and a scraper in the other as he shrugged from his spot, “Maybe an hour? Have to wait for the plaster to dry before I can replace that explosive note.”

“Ugh, fine,” reaching up Xiao tried to rub out a kink in her neck, her quick burst of anger fizzled now that she was sure everyone was safe and in one piece. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Yorihi facing her way, “What?”

The younger girl just snickered, “Just amusing watching you go all ‘mom’ mode like that…”

This got a chuckle from the boy fixing the wall.

Xiao scowled at the both of them, first pointing at Yorihi, “You aren’t allowed to say anything about that, and you,” she turned to point at Oku, “Shut up, Oku.”

Of course her partner just continued to chuckle.

“So uh,” the two Kumo konoichi turned to the blonde on the bed raising his hand feebly, “does this mean I’m off the hook?”

Red eyes glared while Yorihi just shrugged.

“Cool!” suddenly Naruto hopped off the bed, landing in front of Xiao and holding out his hand, “Name’s Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha genin, future greatest ninja in the world!”

For a long second red eyes just flatly stared before she turned to her friend, “Please tell me he’s kidding…”

“Afraid not,” was Yorihi exasperated sigh.

Xiao turned back skeptically to the strange Konoha boy, looking him over and trying to decide if he was excellent at misdirection or truly an idiot. After another second she finally sighed and took his hand, “Utsurabon Xiao,” she nodded to her partner who was finishing up his work, “That’s my partner Shitemon Oku along with his pet badger Lior, and I get feeling you already know who this trouble maker is…” she elbowed the shorter girl next to her, grinning as the blind girl scowled back.

“Nice to meet ya, hehe,” the blonde boy scratched his head nodding, “And yea, I met Yorihi earlier, kinda lost track of her for a while till I saw her come to this place…”

“Wait, you managed to follow her?” red eyes blinked, not believing this boy was capable of such.

“Yea, why?” the blue eyed boy tilted his head confused, “Not a lot of Kumo-nins around here so it was easy, dattebayou…”

For a long minute Xiao just stared before putting two finger between her eyes and closing them, feeling a headache, “Oh, wow, I think I know what you were talking about Princess…”

“See…” the younger girl responded flatly.

“Welp,” Oku’s cheery voice managed to break through as Lior stashed away the scroll in his knapsack and the other blonde boy with the silly hat stood up wiping off his hands, “That should do for now, just have to wait for it to dry…” he noticed the state both his partner and teammate were in along with the weird Konoha genin, “What’s wrong, did I miss something?”

Xiao snapped at her partner, fiery red eyes glaring as she waved one hand at Naruto, “This guy managed to follow the Princess here!!”

A dirty blonde brow rose on the Kumo ninja’s face as he glanced between his partner and their guest, the other blonde boy just nervously waving, “Well that’s impressive!” all he did was smile, at least causing Yorihi to giggle behind her hand at his carefree attitude.

Xiao of course responded with her usual, “Oh shut up, Oku!” turning in an angry huff and stomping to a different corner of their room.

Oku just chuckled turning to their guest, “Sorry about her, this is actually her being quite nice, she’s just a little ruffled from the explosion.”

“Ya think!” the red eyed girl growled.

Naruto just rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d guys would’a set up such traps for a place like this, I don’t think anyone in the village would snoop on you or anything…”

“Sorry if we don’t share those sentiments Naruto-kun,” Yorihi said as she headed towards the door before throwing over her shoulder, “One hour, Oku-kun?”

“Yea,” the male Kumo-nin spoke up, “Shouldn’t be longer than that!”

“Fine,” she opened the door and held it there, turning back to the blonde jinchuuriki, “C’mon Naruto-kun, I think it’s best I took you home…”

“Aww, do I have to?” the boy had the most adorable pout as he whined.

It took all of Yorihi’s might to push down the heat on her cheeks from such a look, she would not fall for such a trick! Sutego-kun got away with it because he was so young and adorable, she would not falter to some Konoha genin she just met! “Yes, you do,” She turned to leave, forcing her gaze anywhere but his pouting face, “I’m sure you need to get home and prepare for whatever missions you have tomorrow…” she shuddered at the word, feeling what he would likely be doing was an insult to even consider it as such.

“Aww, guess you’re right,” he trotted towards the door, throwing over his shoulder a bright smile and wave to the other two Kumo genin, “It was nice meeting you guys, hope you don’t blow anything else up!!”

“That was your fault!!” Xiao roared from her corner, not caring that the door quickly closed behind the blonde interloper.

Yorihi could only shake her head as she continued down the hall, hoping tomorrow would be a lot less stressful.

-----

It was dark by the time Yorihi finally managed to lose the Konoha Jinchuuriki. Sure, she was all for the guy being friendly with her and trying to be friends with her, it made her job easier, but it also kept giving her this uneasy feeling like this was all set up, like the guy knew what she was really here for and basically baiting her into a trap. It aggravated her to no end.

She finally got him to go home, reminding him he still had his ‘missions’ tomorrow and she had her own work to do, as much fun as hanging out with the Jinchuuriki had totally been, she needed a break from the guy before something else exploded or something.

At this point she really did have a headache and was starving so she stumbled into what appeared to be the only food stand still open this late, “Ichiraku’s?”

“Yorihi-chan!!” a voice called her over and lo and behold sitting at the edge of the stand was none other than her absent aunt, the other pale blonde Jinchuuriki waving enthusiastically while quickly eating something that looked fried, “Come… come… sit, the food here is great!!”

Against what she felt was her better judgement she sat down next to the older woman, “So what do they serve here that’s edible?”

Yugito stuffed more of what she was eating in her mouth, “Dunno everything but they have some great shrimp tempura!!” apparently that was what she was eating.

Yorihi could only snort, grabbing a pair of chopsticks from the dispenser, “I take it you’ve been raiding all the seafood in the village?”

“You know it!” the feline jinchuuriki shamelessly licked her lips and almost seemed to purr, “Not going to lie, some of these southern tropical fishes are utterly delicious, Matatabi can’t get enough and neither can I!” she took another bite and seemed to squeal.

The blind girl could only shake her head, waving down the chef, “Excuse me, do you serve udon?”

“Sure!” the cheery older man spoke, “Our specialty is ramen but we serve other noodles here, what’ll you have miss?”

The girl couldn’t help but smile pleasantly, actually appreciating the man’s enthusiasm for his own cooking, “Anything you have ready right now would be fine…” she was so hungry she could feel her stomach growling.

“Haha, no problem,” in an instant the man had a bowl of vegetable ramen done and set in front of her, “Sorry it’s not udon, we always have ramen available but if that can tide you over for a while I can cook some up?”

“That would be most appreciated,” the girl quickly split her chopsticks right down the center and dug in, despite it not being her favorite kind of noodle she’d admit it was really good.

“Hey old man you won’t believe what happened today!!” a loud and gratingly familiar voice cut into the young Kumo konoichi’s pleasant eating.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she almost snapped the chopsticks in her hand as she felt the boy turn her way.

“Hey!!” at his loud excited shout Naruto got up from his usual spot and sat down next to his new friend, “I didn’t know you liked ramen!”

“Apparently today I do,” Yorihi all but sighed into what was left of her bowl. What was with today?!

For better or worse the other blonde on Yorihi’s other side leaned back, noticing the boy and gaining a Cheshire grin, “Helllooo~”

The girl between the two blondes tensed even more.

Naruto seemed to finally notice the other woman on the other side of Yorihi, noticing she also had a Kumo headband on her forehead and wore a rather distinct cloud print shirt. The woman was giving this wide grin, closing her eyes as her blonde twin pony tail say on her shoulder. He blushed lightly for staring at the woman, and remembering how he ‘met’ the last Kumo konoichi, “Uh, h-hi! Are you on Yorihi’s team too?”

Oh the cat grin persisted, “I’m actually her jounin instructor for this trip,” the pale woman reached over the blind girl, extending her hand to the boy, “I’m Nii Yugito, it’s always a pleasure to meet a friend of Yorihi-chan here!”

Of course the greeting caused the boy to brighten even more, taking the woman’s hand and shaking it firmly, “Uzumaki Naruto!” after their hands parted he couldn’t help but turn to the dark haired girl, “So I guess this means I’ve met your whole team, huh?”

“Pretty much,” Yorihi was swirling her ramen, not sure if she should flee now or wait for more food than flee.

Yugito of course was just grinning the whole while, “Oh, so you took him to meet Xiao-chan and Oku-kun? Already? I’m impressed,” snarkily the cat ate another bit of her shrimp tempura and purred with satisfaction.

“It was kind of an explosive meeting,” the blonde boy chuckled liking how the older woman smiled and laughed with him.

“Oh so that was you?” Yugito couldn’t help but laugh, she was on the other side of town, annoying some mutts when she heard something like an explosive note go off. She almost immediately assumed it was one of her students but since none of the ANBU had come to kick her out she figured they were in the clear and no one got hurt.

The blonde boy nervously chuckled, “Well it was kind of an accident…”

“He set off one of Oku’s traps while he was still setting up,” Yorihi added before draining her broth, no use running away, who knew what her aunt would get up to with the boy. –Two Jinchuuriki left to their own devices… that just spells a bad day…- a few times her aunt and uncle had gone off joyriding jinchuuriki style and how pissed her father got passed through her head.

“Ouch,” the blonde cat chuckled, “I’m surprised you’re still in one piece…”

“Xiao saved him,” was the deadpan response.

“Hey I could have saved myself… probably…” the boy embarrassedly chuckled.

This of course caused the older blonde to laugh out loud.

“Here’s your first order Naruto, and another for the lady,” the older chef set down two bowls in front of the genin pair, both significantly larger and with more in it than the vegetable one Yorihi just ate.

A tattooed brow rose, “You didn’t have to give me another?”

“ITADAKIMASU!!” the blonde boy next to her shouted and dug in quickly.

The old man just chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, if you’re a friend of Naruto’s then you’re a friend of ours, even if you’re from another village.”

A light bit of color spread over the pale girl’s cheeks as she nodded in appreciation of the man’s offer, “Thank you,” and she too quickly dug in, this one tasting even better than the first. –Maybe Uzushio-jiji was right about ramen…-

Yugito just smiled watching the two genin. It didn’t take her more than a glance to realize this was the boy the young girl had come to get, she could feel the Kyuubi’s chakra and Matatabi was angrily hissing inside her head. It was amusing enough that the boy was so openly accepting of anyone being his friend, even a foreigner like Yorihi and herself, and she wondered what had happened earlier. –Oh well, I’m sure she’ll tell me later, for now…- the cat just grinned at the chef, “Could I get some more tempura, maybe tuna if you have it?”

Now was as good as any time to eat, they only had a few days until the exams and Yugito was anxious to see what her genin could do.

-----

Gashi – Greetings

Chapter Text

Sleep was not easy for Yorihi, part of this was due to her eyes constantly being on and automatically seeing through the band around her face like it wasn’t even there, another reason was because she had such a high resting energy she had a tendency to just not be tired, physically, very often. Falling asleep required a measure of meditation and mental exhaustion, this was easy to attain back home as she’d just work out until she didn’t remember walking back to her bed and passing out. This was not a viable strategy in enemy territory obviously, so she’d fall back on meditation, the heightened awareness of a mission making her body do as ordered, resting when available while maintaining a level of awareness to keep herself alive and continue her mission.

In Konoha she lacked both states, as while a ‘mission’ it was not at the level of worry to force her body to comply to ‘sleep now!’ commands and there was no way she could go demolish a mountain and pass out as that would probably start a war. So she was restless, irritated and very much still annoyed by the previous day.

So while Xiao slept in the bed on the other side of the window from her, with Lior nestled in her arms and Oku for whatever reason asleep in his sleeping bag next to her bed instead of one of the other two available, she was forced to stare blankly at the ceiling, wanting nothing more than to be unconscious but too riled up to attain such a state.

Unconsciously she growled while glaring at the ceiling through the band she left over her eyes. Leaving her headband on while trying to sleep was irritating at best and this wasn’t her home where she could just remove everything and go to bed, so she raised the old bandana she wore around her neck now to cover her eyes. She had no idea who might be watching and she’d gotten to the point she couldn’t really tell if her eyes were open or not unless she touched them, so feeling the knot at the base of her skull while she slept was something she’d just have to deal with.

Unfortunately it was also one of those things keeping her mind active and awake.

Suddenly there was a weight on her chest and vibrant blue eyes narrowly staring down at her.

“What?” was her quiet response to his glaring.

Bachiko responded how he normally did, glaring, snorting and waving his tails like he didn’t care.

“Go find your mother or something,” she brow glared back at him. After the incident at the ramen stand Yugito had gone off to do… whatever she did while not paying attention to them, apparently that didn’t involve sleeping. She’d had to suffer Naruto’s continued presence until the front of the apartment complex they were staying at. In some sense she appreciated his presence, with his obvious interest in her and her team it would make her job that much easier, the down side was the possibility of interference from the locals, what few she’d seen while they were walking around seemed to glare at her so obviously these people didn’t like foreigners. Then there was the chance that her even speaking to him would be cause enough for them to be kicked out so as much as she wanted to further her plans she had to watch what she said as someone was always tailing him and watching. –At least they keep an eye on their assets…- it was the only thing Konoha had done right so far, watch the boy, even if they left him a complete moron otherwise.

The long eared blue-black cat just laid down on her chest, still glaring at her from atop her breasts.

This just garnered more of a growl from the girl, “If you’re going to just glare at me all night figure out a way to knock me out so I can sleep…”

His wispy twin-tails waved about and a cat smirk passed his eyes. Before Yorihi could comprehend the look the blue-black tabby reached out a paw and tapped her on the forehead while pushing some chakra back to her. She’d almost forgotten about that, as in a second she felt drained and was out. –Damn… cat…-

There may have been a hissing giggle as her consciousness faded.

-----

“I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff because of this girl, but I have to say this takes the cake…”

“Xiao-chan get off me…” was the first thing out of Yorihi’s mouth as she woke up enough to register a significant weight on her chest and the sound of her friend’s voice. Then what her eyes were registering caught up with her mind and she realized the dusky-pinkette medic was in fact not on top of her and instead leaning over her with questioning red eyes, “Ne?”

Red eyes narrowed, “You have no idea do you?”

For some reason Oku was standing next to his partner, hand covering his eyes and his other covering Lior’s as the badger was on his normal perch on the blonde’s shoulder.

“Ano…” still feeling that strange weight on her chest she reached down and felt what it was. Tactilely she registered smooth bare skin and what sounded like purring.

Sitting up quickly there was a squeak as she was staring forward through the bandanna she left on, the blanket slipping down her front revealing the minimum of her combat wear she felt comfortable sleeping in, primarily the dark blue stretchy shirt and shorts.

What she had flung off her in her rapid haste to try and make sense of the signals her brain was telling her was what appeared to be a naked body, one with familiar pale skin, dark blue hair, and as it pushed up from the sprawled position she definitely recognized that bust!

There may have been another squeak from the girl sitting up.

Xiao, leaning over so her head was near her friend had a flat look as she was looking at the ‘intruder’ just as prudently with arms crossed and a flat voice, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say this isn’t what I’m thinking, right Princess?”

The pale girl was stock still.

“Well it’s certainly not a genjutsu,” the sole boy commented.

“Oku I said keep your hand over your eyes!!” the medic yelled back before glaring at her other teammate, “Explain now, Princess, why there is a naked WOMAN in your bed!!” a dark hand pointed at said ‘woman’ who appeared to be correcting herself from being flung so suddenly as she appeared to be staring at her hand and thankfully not turned towards them.

Yorihi just twitched, “I-don’t-what?”

Xiao, being the ever caring and pleasantly disposed caregiver she was, grabbed Yorihi by her dark blue stretchy shirt and brought the girl’s bandanna within an inch of angry red eyes, “Explain. Now!”

“Nyaa…?” the naked offender expressed…

“Huh?” “What?”

The two konoichi turned in tandem as the ‘offender’ seemed to make a sound like a cat. Even stranger was she sat up straight, definitely strangely familiar developing curves poised as the woman seemed to be staring at her hands, flexing them repetitively and even weirder strange pointy protrusions perked up from the top of her head.

Something about the color, the cat noise and earlier purring made sense in Yorihi’s mind, “Oh you have got to be kidding me…”

Finally the mystery woman seemed to turn around towards them, grinning with a wide cat grin, fangs and all as familiar vibrant blue eyes smirked at the two Kumo konoichi.

“Buh?” was as far as Xiao got before she loosened her grip, letting go of her fellow konoichi.

Only for her to then be completely glomped by the mystery woman with a vibrant, “NYAA~!!” and effectively smothered into the pillow.

Now, while Xiao wasn’t particularly interested in watching an unknown naked woman smothering her teammate, her red eyes did pick up another peculiarity aside from the protrusions on the woman’s head, “Are those tails?!”

Indeed they were, as waving from a point at the base of the woman’s spine were two fluffy blue-black tails, completely separate other than their connection point, which waved about excitedly as the woman nuzzled and overall molested the younger girl.

“Eep!” was all Yorihi could get out from the attack.

“Can I open my eyes now?” the blonde boy complained, curious what was going on.

“Oku, don’t you dare!” Xiao pointed at him with a red eyed glare, even if he couldn’t see it before doing what was probably not a good idea but did it anyway, she grabbed one of the tails, “Are these real?”

This action only resulted in a serious growl to come from the ‘woman’ as the protrusions on her head tilted back, like cat ears, as she pushed up enough to glare feline fury at the dusky-pinkette with slit vibrant blue eyes.

Xiao froze under those piercing eyes but thankfully let the appendage go.

The tails quickly waved away but the blue eyed ‘woman’ continued to seriously glare and growl at the offending girl.

At least until a pair of pale hands grabbed her face and drew her attention back to the girl she had previously been molesting. Yorihi scrunched her brows in confusion as she felt around the woman’s face, a rather familiar face that if it weren’t for the vibrant blue cat eyes and lack of scars or tattoos she’d say she saw it in the mirror quite frequently, “Bachi-chan?”

This recognition caused the woman to make a cat grin again, perking up what were apparently familiar cat ears on top of her head and flop down to nuzzle under the young girl’s chin.

Yorihi could only blink behind her bandanna causing her brows to twitch very confused.

“What?” was all Xiao could muster as she stared at what was going on in front of her.

“I think this is my cat…” the pale girl turned down to the naked woman with the twin blue black tails and kitty ears and tried to stop her brain from exploding.

“That…” a dark hand pointed as wheels were turning slowly for once for the young medic wannabe, “THAT is your CAT?!”

Not sure what else to do, Yorihi pet… her? Resulting in a pleased familiar purr, “… Apparently?”

Xiao couldn’t help but stare, blink a few times, breath, and stare again, “I thought it was a guy?”

Curiously Yorihi’s hand dared to travel towards the cat tails, Bachi-chan apparently not as offended by her lingering hands as he was of Xiao’s, “It is a guy…?”

The ‘woman’s’ face turned enough to glare with those familiar vibrant blue eyes, almost like a pout, as he snorted at her for even questioning.

“Then… how…. Why?” finally losing all fathomable reason Xiao just waved her hands out, gesturing to the sight of her friend being nuzzled by what looked like a naked Neko-version of herself?

“I don’t know?!” the being nuzzled girl snapped at her friend, just as freaked out by this situation as them, “They don’t exactly come with manuals!!”

In the silence that followed only Oku snickered.

“Ugh!!” finding a new target for her venting, Xiao turned around, grabbed him by his collar, turned him around and pushed the blonde towards the door, “Out!!”

“But-but-!!” the boy tried to hold up a hand and point something out but failed miserably.

“NO!” the red eyed girl growled, somehow managing to open the door and throwing him and his badger out, “OUT!!”

“But Xiao-chan-!!” the blonde futilely whined from the floor.

“Shut up, Oku!!” and the door was unceremoniously shut in his face.

“That was harsh,” Yorihi quipped, Bachiko narrowly glaring at the girl in pink.

“Ugh,” Xiao rubbed a spot between her eyes, already feeling a headache, “I can’t have him just sitting there like a moron gawking,” she removed her hand and flatly stared at the sight of two nearly identical women in bed together, “Really wish I was old enough to drink…”

“You’re a shinobi Xiao-chan, technically you can,” Yorihi sat up now that Bachiko decided to sit instead of nuzzle all over her, scratching his top cat ears and making some annoyed comments she didn’t want to bother deciphering.

Red eyes just glared, “So seriously, that,” she pointed at the woman rubbing what appeared to be cat ears on her head, “Is supposed to be your cat,” the older Konoichi put one hand on her hip and waved the other unconvinced, “and you had nothing to do with this?”

Tattooed brows furrowed as the blind girl faced the older one, “Do you really think I’d want to wake up with a naked cat-girl version of myself, NOW!! When we’re in an enemy damn village days away from some stupid farce of a competition?!” Yorihi was almost seething, having no idea how to handle let alone understand what was happening right now.

“Oh my beautiful little kitten!!” suddenly there was a blonde blur that moved between the two arguing konoichi and glomped the naked cat-girl. Much purring was involved.

“What the-?!” “Nee-chan?!”

Indeed, it appeared Yugito had shown up at that moment from whatever corner she was hiding in to nuzzle-glomp the human-transformed cat demon. After another moment or two, and much purring, Yugito straightened up and pushed humanoid-Bachiko back to inspect him.

“Sensei?” Xiao warily questioned as she noticed her eyes weren’t their normal iron black, instead glowing in a copper color.

“Nibi-sama,” Yorihi ascertained, brows flattening as she stared at the woman, “It’s you, isn’t it, not Nee-chan?”

The smirking blonde looked back at the two momentarily with a cat grin and copper eyes, “So glad you could tell, little one,” she turned back to the cat-girl, petting her cheek and examining her transformation, “I knew your time was near, I didn’t think it’d be so soon my little kitten…”

Bachiko seemed to purr, lowering his ears as he nuzzled into the woman’s hand, mumbling a few things in cat-speak to his mother.

“What the hell is going on?” Xiao couldn’t help but point and twitch.

“The Nibi’s currently in control of Yugito-nee-chan’s body and is consoling my cat Bachiko who is her kitten, sort of,” at least Yorihi was there to answer her friend.

Red eyes glanced at the younger girl, still very, very confused, “And the naked cat-version of you?”

Pale hands went up, “I have no freakin’ idea!”

There was a chuckle as the blonde demon smirked at her kitten, though it may have been meant for the other two, “Bachiko, as you call him, has completed his transformation into a Nekomata,” the two touched foreheads for a moment and seemed to nuzzle before the demon possessed woman leaned back and smiled, “I’m surprised you chose human transformation as your first skill, I would have thought you’d want speech?”

Bachiko just snorted, shrugging as he looked away causing his mother to laugh.

“Um,” Yorihi gained both cats’ attention as she frowned, “What?”

Copper eyes matched vibrant blue ones for a moment before the Nibi turned back to the two konoichi, “After ten years a cat demon’s tail fully splits and they earn the right to be called Nekomata,” she glanced back at her kitten with a proud smirk, “Upon their transformation they learn a new skill, anything from speech, fire, to possession,” the Nibi in control of Yugito’s body seemed to turn back to the ‘blind’ girl with a wry smile, “It seems my little kitten has taken it upon himself to learn human transformation, a more advanced demon skill, and modeled his form after yours…”

Yorihi gulped, not sure what to make of the way the Nibi was looking at her.

The blonde only laughed harder, “No need to worry, he just needs some practice,” she grabbed the other cat demon’s pale hand with a kind smile, “I’ll stay here and train him some while I can, it’s a delicate art that can be very useful,” her eyes narrowed as she glanced back to the human, “Especially since he seems to have chosen it with you in mind…”

“Uh…” Yorihi’s mouth was slightly open as she couldn’t help but stare at the Neko-version of her. Bachiko seemed to grin, showing those cat fangs. She’d admit, aside from a few details like her tattoos, eyes and all the cat things he did a good job copying her form.

With a smirk and a wave of Yugito’s hand the two Konoichi froze, standing up straight, or in Yorihi’s case jumping off the bed and standing, while the Nibi smirked with her container’s grin, “If you don’t mind, Yugito has only given me so long and I’d prefer to train my kitten in relative peace…” with another wave of her hand she had the two marching towards the door.

“Wait! My stuff!!” both Yorihi and Xiao were fighting the demon puppetry but failing miserably, they walked right out the door only for their equipment to be thrown out after them and it shut in their face.

Xiao growled as the puppetry wore off and they both dropped to the floor like their strings were cut, quickly grabbing her things, “Of all the damn contrived-ARGH!!” gritting her teeth the older girl made to bang on the door.

Only to be stopped by her younger teammate grabbing her other hand, “Let them be,” Yorihi looked serious at her friend, “If Nee-chan is giving the Nibi this opportunity let it be, I have about as much of an idea as you do but even I know not to question or mess with demons…”

The older girl pursed her lips as she lowered her fist from the door, still angry but trusting the younger girl, “Fine.”

This garnered a smirk from the pale girl as she went about gathering her things and quickly putting on her equipment in the hall, “Besides,” her voice was oddly cheery as an idea came to mind, “What’s the worst that can happen?” she turned a wicked smirk to her older teammate, “They get loose and blow up the village?”

This actually garnered a snicker from the dusky-pinkette as she crossed her arms, waiting for the younger girl to affix her arsenal, “Suppose that’s true, good thing we’re not back home…”

Yorihi could only grin viciously as she snapped her swords into place. Today may have started out weird but already it was faring better than yesterday.

That’s when Xiao asked quite innocently, “Where’s Oku?”

-----

Currently the male member of Team Yugito was stuffing his face full of rice while complainingly loudly, “Stupid girls, kicking me out when strange things happen…”

He’d only wanted to help, was that too much to ask? To offer? Weird things happened to them all the time and he was always the one that had to patch things up while those two went crazy breaking it.

He sniffled, “Not like I was perving or anything, I mean I’ve seen Xiao-chan naked how many times?”

Lior, in the seat next to him, just growled, sniffled, and was just as annoyed. He knew that damn demon cat was trouble!! He just knew it!!

The blonde boy from Kumo finally set the bowl down, pouting all the while, “I just wanted to see what was going on… not like I’m really all that interested in Yorihi-hime like that, she’s like a sister to me…”

The badger snorted, nodding in agreement, damn females and their damn cats…

Another bowl was set in front of him and he went straight to work on it, “I was just concerned about that person, they seemed familiar if weird and smelled like a cat…”

At this point he was getting really weird looks from the chef and other customers. What were they supposed to think when some weird foreign ninja just sat down, ordered a bunch of rice and started chowing down while lamenting about women and cats, garnering odd replies from the creature sitting next to him. Shinobi were weird!

“Girls are so troublesome,” a voice called two seats down in a dry voice. It was a boy with black hair up in a ponytail and thin black eyes staring at his own food like it was too much effort to eat it.

“I know…” the blonde boy from Kumo seemed to almost cry into his rice, weirding out the other customers even more.

The badger just growled.

-----

Several hours later…

“I’m telling you he’s nuts, it’s like he has no concept of what an enemy is! How could a village release someone with that kind of potential power into the world and NOT have the slightest inkling that someone might-” Yorihi paused mid-rant when she realized her fellow Kumo konoichi was dragging her heels, “Xiao-chan?” They’d been wondering around the village all day, since they literally had nothing better to do and for some reason couldn’t find hide nor hair of their blonde compatriot, his silly hat or his badger. The longer without finding him the mopeier Xiao got. It was really bringing down the mood.

Currently the older girl was about a foot behind her, arms crossed and sighing.

Yorihi halted, turning around and put her hands on her hips frowning at the older girl, “Ahem?”

Xiao didn’t seem to notice until she nearly ran into the shorter girl, “Bah!” freezing up she took a deep breath and looked down at those low ‘glaring’ brows, “What the hell Princess?”

Those tattooed brows lowered even more as the girl’s plate covered eyes came closer giving her a rather thuggish pout that did not belong on her cute face, “Are you paying attention?”

It was Xiao’s turn to pout and glare back, throwing up one hand annoyed, “Something about bitching, like always with you Princess…” she huffed looking to the side.

A growl emanated from the shorter girl, “Usually you’re the one that keeps these conversations going…”

The older girl justsnorted and rolled her red eyes.

Yorihi ‘glared’ a moment longer, then sighed deeply, turning to the side and continuing on, if Xiao wanted to act like her who was she to complain? It wasn’t long before the young medic picked up her pace and quickly caught up to her teammate.

After a long bout of silence the red eyed girl finally looked around, noticing they must have been in some residential back streets as there were houses and high fences lining the road they were on, “Hey, where are we?”

The blind girl next to her just shrugged, “I’ve just been wondering around while you followed,” a smirk may or may not have rose on her pale face as she could see those red eyes glaring at the back of her head. Truth was she wasn’t just ‘wondering around’, she was getting the layout of this potentially hostile village, it paid to know where all the high end clan compounds were and which areas were simply well-off civilians. The area they were currently in seemed to be more the later, as none of the houses seemed to have the kind of security she’d expect from a clan, though a few had some traps, likely homes of individual ninja.

Xiao’s frown persisted until a strange feeling seemed to roll across her shoulders. Quickly shaking it off the older girl got a serious look about her dark face as she glanced around, closing the gap between her and her teammate, “Do you feel that?”

Yorihi gave a nearly imperceptible nod, “It’s almost like Nee-chan… only darker…” the demonic chakra was entirely too dense and bloody to be Naruto’s and the Nibi was currently back at their apartment. –Is there another Jinchuuriki in this village?- she recalled the strange feeling the evening before when she stumbled upon that Suna Konoichi, the gravelly voice from the room and tried recalling any information their bingo book mentioned on someone called ‘Gaara’.

Her frown tightened along with the grip on her sword.

“I really don’t like it when you get that look on your face,” the older girl frowned but prepared herself as discreetly as possible as well, concentrating chakra and preparing to use it at a moment’s notice.

They rounded the corner to a rather… ‘interesting’ sight; a boy in a black suit holding up some kid with a long blue scarf as that Suna Konoichi Yorihi met yesterday watched. Further behind them were Naruto, his female pink haired teammate, and at least two other kids.

Yorihi’s frown deepened as her tattooed brows lowered, “What the hell do they think they’re doing…”

Before Yorihi could do anything Xiao was marching down the road, a fixed angry look on her face as she performed three seals and lightning coated her hand. The Suna girl seemed to notice and tensed, taking a step back, but before she could say anything to her brother the dusky-pinkette was behind him, lightning coated hand scant inches from his neck and the crackle of electricity buzzing in his ears, “You’re going to put that kid down, now.”

Everyone else watching tensed, the look in Xiao’s red eyes was terrifying.

Kankurou on the other hand didn’t seem bothered, whoever it was threatening him was directly in front of Karasu, a very, very dangerous place to be, “Oh, and why should I do that?”

The dark skinned girl’s brows lowered ready to zap this guy if necessary.

Fortunately, Yorihi had calmly made her way down, coming up behind Xiao but in everyone’s line of sight, “Because if you don’t you’re going to start an international incident.” Her words seemed to register to the two Suna shinobi as they both tensed and turned towards her, causing the girl to frown, “Do you honestly mean to tell me you have no idea who that kid is? Let alone attack civilians in the host village for a Chuunin Exams for kicks?” her tattooed brows lowered as the two didn’t seem to respond, garnering her annoyance, “What kind of idiots are you?”

“Kankurou, put him down-” Temari tried to talk some sense into her brother. It was bad enough those would-be Konoha genin were there, it’d be fine to screw around with them, but for that Kumo girl to show up, and apparently another one… -This is bad…-

“And why should I?” the make-up wearing boy frowned, tightening his grip on the squealing brat, “Kid ran into me, it’s his own fault what happens to him…”

“You’re seriously going to blame a kid!” Xiao was gritting her teeth.

“Heh, just try it, Kumo-bitch…” the cocky boy from Suna was grinning back at the girl, just daring her to do whatever she had planned.

And she would have, had Yorihi not shown up between them, grabbing her arm and forcing her to let go of the chakra, the blind girl’s main focus still the older boy, “That’s the Third Hokage’s grandson, so unless you want this village to skin you and sack your own, I suggest you put him down gently…” It wasn’t that she recognized the kid or anything, it was a wild guess to be honest, after looking at the old man yesterday and remembering pictures of other Sarutobi clansmen that the boy’s features obviously resembled it was easy enough to put together… plus he’d been skulking around his grandfather and was terrible at hiding his chakra.

Whether they believed her or not the two Suna shinobi froze momentarily before the older boy set the annoying little twerp down, gently.

Xiao finally put her hand down, taking it out of her teammate’s grip, as the little boy ran and hid behind the dumb blonde boy from yesterday. She was still glaring at the make-up faced boy from Suna.

“Tch,” Kankurou just sneered, turning and walking further down the street. If it had just been the Konoha twerps, fine, yea, he’d pull out Karasu and make them pay… but those Kumo chicks? He got a bad feeling about them, like the kind he got from Gaara. The red eyed one kept glaring at him so he just glared back before continuing on his way.

“Talk about a jackass,” Xiao grumbled, crossing her arms but keeping her eyes on the black clad boy. He wasn’t the one giving off the creepy feeling but he sure as hell wasn’t someone she liked, “Who picks on some punk little kid like that?”

“Apparently Suna,” Yorihi quipped to her teammate, garnering a huff from the older girl.

Narrow teal-green eyes glared at the two Kumo Konoichi a moment, but before Temari could say anything a cloud of sand warped behind the shorter blind girl she saw last night. Seeing the redhead caused the older girl to tense significantly, “G-Gaara…!”

Xiao turned to the new intruder, tense and ready for a fight.

Yorihi didn’t bother turning around, keeping aware of her surroundings and surprised by the newcomer’s swiftness, seemingly appearing in a cloud of sand. It was a boy with short red hair and pale skin wearing a dark brown outfit with belts and a long white sash reminiscent of Suna. His hitae-ate was lazily hanging off one of the straps holding what looked like a large gourd to his back as his narrow light green eyes glared at her specifically. She didn’t know what it was about his face that seemed so disturbing but there were three things she definitely recognized from his Bingo Book profile: the black rings around his eyes, the tattoo for ‘love oneself’ on his forehead, and the unmistakable bloodlust rolling off him in droves. There was no doubt about it, there was only one person from Suna this boy could be, “Sabaku no Gaara, I presume?”

There was a gravelly hum from the boy, sounding almost like a bored growl, “And just who might you be?”

She turned half way to face him, hand on one of her swords and looking at him with her own hitae-ate proudly wrapped around her eyes, “Tenkyuu Yorihi,” she didn’t bother to hold her hand out in greeting as this wasn’t one.

The way he stared at her suggested he didn’t recognize her name and as far as she was concerned that was a good thing, “Tenkyuu Yorihi?” a smile spread on his face, just enough to be creepy, “You’ll be worth feeding to mother…” then his eyes shifted to the dusky-pinkette, “And you, you scared off my brother, you’ll be worth killing too…”

Xiao just frowned, crossing her arms and facing the obvious psycho directly, “Utsurabon Xiao, just so you know…”

Again with that small but entirely creepy smile as he looked between them, “Indeed…” then he turned around, barking over his shoulder, “Temari! Let’s go!” and with a whoosh! Of his sand he was gone.

“Y-yes, Gaara,” the older blonde girl gave the two Kumo Konoichi’s a sympathetic glance for all of a second before she too disappeared.

It was silent for all of a second before Xiao sighed loudly, lowering her hands to her hips, “Soooo, that was Suna’s Jinchuuriki, huh?”

“Yep,” Yorihi visibly relaxed as well, all the real threats having decided to leave. –Seems I have another target… so long as he doesn’t murder us in our sleep…- she was surprisingly okay with this, maybe now with that red headed psychopath around she’d be wired enough to sleep at night more normally. The shorter girl rolled her shoulder, frowning slightly, “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank god for Oku-kun and his obsessive traps.”

“Mmhmm,” the older girl next to her only nodded, the seriousness not leaving her eyes.

“Oh man!!” suddenly there was an irritatingly familiar voice that bounced up to the two Kumo Konoichi. Naruto was grinning brightly, “You guys scared them off like nothing!” his close proximity caused Yorihi to tense up, maybe even blush a bit if Xiao’s grin meant anything, but the boy’s attention quickly went from the shorter girl to the medic, “And you Xi-chan!! Bzzz!! Bam!!” he made some weird sound effects as he gestured to coating his hand, “What kind of technique was that!! Could you teach me?!”

“Xi-chan?” it was Xiao’s turn to feel uncomfortable and tense around the blonde’s seeming complete lack of an understanding for personal space.

“NARUTOOOO!!” this touching scene was ruined by the boy’s head meeting pavement courtesy of his teammate’s irate fist. From Sakura’s perspective Naruto was being a perv like he always was, getting in these girls’ faces and being weird, like he was yesterday to the blind girl even if she was hindering their mission and taunted Sasuke-kun. She straightened up from the punch, feeling satisfied for stomping pervs and that she should be praised, so she crossed her arms in her confidence as she smiled at the other two Konoichi, “Sorry about Naruto, he’s an uncultured idiot.”

Yorihi tried not to growl, it was an admirable effort really…

“Ow-ow-ow-ow… Sakura-chaaaaann…” the blonde boy whined from his position crouched and rubbing the back of his head.

Red eyes glared at the other pink haired girl before crouching to examine the boy’s head, “Hold still Naruto-kun, lemme see if there’s any damage,” the boy’s head popped up with wide watery eyes, it only further made Xiao think he might have a concussion. Quickly she lowered his head band and checked the front where she saw his head meet the ground, then felt around his scalp for any broken bones, there may have been stress fractures for all she knew and kinetic brain damage, the skull wasn’t exactly loose. After a few minutes she couldn’t find anything more than severe swelling which surprised her immensely. –His healing factor must be faster than sensei’s…- one last check in his eyes to make sure there wasn’t any internal bleeding and she nodded at him, “Looks like you’ll have a nasty bump for a while…”

Again with that irritatingly cheery grin, “Hehe,” the boy innocently rubbed the back of his neck, “Ah, its nothing Xi-chan, Sakura-chan does this to me all the time…” by his carefree laugh it was quite obvious he did not see the sharp look in the Kumo girl’s red eyes.

Xiao stood tensely before turning to the shorter girl with pale pink hair, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Using a full-powered hit like that to someone from your own village! You’re lucky this idiot has an enhanced healing factor as to anyone else an unguarded hit like that could break their skull!!”

Sakura was very stunned, this was not the kind of response she was expecting from another konoichi, even if she was a foreigner, “I-I-”

“Weren’t thinking obviously!!” the angry older girl pulled her fiery red eyes away from the cowering girl only to turn and hold her hand out to Naruto, “Here…”

The blonde boy didn’t know what to think, these Kumo shinobi were so strange. No one had ever yelled at Sakura for her doing that before, nor had anyone bothered to look him over like that before, he’d just thought they knew what he was, that he was fine and such wasn’t necessary. –Besides, Sakura-chan doesn’t hit THAT hard… right?- Without thinking he reached for the older girl’s dark hand and quickly stood with a slight rush. She was still looking him over and all he could do was smile, “C’mon, I’m fine Xi-chan!”

Xiao just huffed, crossing her arms, “This time…”

There was a snicker behind the older Kumo konoichi, Yorihi found the whole event amusing, “Really Xiao-chan? You hit Oku-kun like that all the time?”

This caused the dusky-pink haired girl to flush, tense and growl, “No I don’t!!” she turned on her ‘teammate’ with burning red eyes, “I never use full power, it’s never that serious, and I ALWAYS check him over afterwards,” with a quick turn she pouted angrily, “and It’s nothing, just how we act since we’ve known each other so long…”

“More like a love-tap,” The evil grin that spread on Yorihi’s face would have made her Grandmother proud.

The red eyed girl’s only valid response was to whip around, grab the shorter girl by her outer shirt and glare at her.

Yorihi just kept grinning, “You know you’re ‘Mom’ glare doesn’t work on me, for obviously reasons, Xiao-chan~”

“Hate you so much right now,” with that her hands quickly opened releasing the shorter girl who just kept annoyingly grinning.

“Man, Boss, didn’t know you had girls in other villages too!” a scratchy little kid’s voice broke up whatever was going on between the Kumo konoichi. Naruto and Sakura had been too stunned watching to know what to do or say so the Konohamaru Corps. had joined them and were observing as only little kids could. The two Kumo girls seemed older than their ‘Boss’ and were obviously powerful since they scared off the Suna trio, and to them it seemed the pink haired girl with exotic dark skin also had a thing for their boss too!! They didn’t know about the blind one as she just seemed scary, but hey, why not?! Konohamaru elbowed his ‘boss’ with that broken toothed grin of his, “Way to raise the bar, eh, Boss!!”

This little outburst caused Naruto to sputter and tense as the two Kumo Konoichi turned on the young children and their ‘boss’, “H-hey, he’s just a kid, no idea what h-he’s sayin’ Dattebayou,” the blonde boy was waving his hands around desperate to dissuade the red eyed glare and low tattooed brows before turning around and crouching to glare foxishly at Konohamaru, “The hell, man! You tryin’ to get me killed!”

“Eeeh?” the cocky little boy gave his ‘boss’ a squinty glare, tilting his helmeted head, “But Boss, she was all over you, and clearly you got a thing for pink haired girls,” absentmindedly he pointed to Sakura who was huffing with her arms crossed.

That statement happened to be loud enough for both fiery tempered pink haired girl’s to hear, “WHAT?!”

“Tch,” Yorihi just huffed in her own little corner, placing her hands on her hips and trying to now ignore the conversation. Let Xiao beat him up, it’d save her the time and make him easier to capture…

Apparently Konohamaru seemed to gain some sense, as in the dreaded fear of two young women with enough strength between them to level the place they were currently standing, more so if Xiao got seriously pissed off. As the little boy and his cohorts turned to see Sakura cracking her knuckles and one of Xiao’s hands dangerously coated in lightning they all appropriately ‘Eep!’ed and hid behind their ‘boss’.

“Hey, hey, c’mon they’re just kids, dunno what they’re talkin’ about, Dattebayou,” Naruto, being the nice guy he was tried to defend the devious little cretins. Girls officially scared the hell out of him and they seemed to only get worse as they got older if Xi-chan was teaching him anything. Part of him hoped Yorihi would help him out but the blind girl seemed content to ignore the scene was even happening. –why do you abandon me now!!- his mind cried, he could tell by the way they interacted that Yorihi somehow outranked Xiao, even if the dusky-pinkette was older, so the medic would listen if the blind girl told her to stop… and Sakura only listened to people in authority or Sasuke… seeing as both were either absent or not in the mood to help he felt he was quite screwed.

And when Naruto felt quite screwed his mouth tended to move trying to ‘help’ but not always in a good way, “Besides Xi-chan’s obviously got a thing for Oraka-bou and c’mon, Sakura-chan’s all over Sasuke-teme, and I’m sure Yorihi’s got someone she-”

“WHAT?!” fortunately, or unfortunately, his babbling was halted as Xiao turned several shades darker and twitched, “I don’t-how do-no! NO!”

Luckily Sakura was distracted by her fangirl mode activating as she fanaticized about her dark haired paramour.

Someone distinctly fell out of a tree behind them and Yorihi was stuck staring at the blonde moron confused by what the hell he was just saying. Where the hell was her cat to translate this stuff for her!!

Konohamaru had a very disgruntled look on his face, “You sure boss? That all sounds really lame…”

“Ehehehe…” Naruto was rubbing the back of his neck and looking nervous. He had no answers for the younger boy and was even more grateful when the troop of delinquent ninja-wannabes just scoffed that ‘adults are stupid’ and ran off. He gave a low sigh, feeling like he’d lost a lot of cool points even if he was telling the truth.

Suddenly there was a dark fist gripping his collar and he was an inch from angry red eyes, “What the hell do you mean I ‘obviously got a thing for Oraka-bou’, who the hell is that?!” Xiao’s left eye was twitching and with all the bullshit she’d been dealing with today someone accusing her of liking anyone was just enough to tip her over the edge if necessary!

“Ehehehe, ya know,” Naruto gave a nervous laugh, wondering if the older foreign girl would actually renege on her whole ‘not hurting him’ thing she’d been good at showing him so far, “That guy on your team, with that funny plated hat and the badger, dattebayou?” how could she not tell who he was talking about? It was obvious, even to him the two were close, and he’d just met them! What did people think he was that stupid or something?

Xiao seemed to tense a moment, her cheeks darkening and she just dropped the boy, grumbling under her breath and stomping past Yorihi, “That’s a stupid nickname!!” was the only thing she bothered to call over her shoulder once she felt she was far enough away to spare her dignity.

Behind the plate of Kumo white eyes were rolling, showing as her tattooed brows twitched and Yorihi turned to the idiot blonde, “It was fun meeting you again, Naruto-kun,” she rolled her shoulder as the boy gave her a grin, “We’ll be off then, apparently, try not to get into any more trouble with other foreign ninja, I’d hate to have to save you again…”

“Hehe,” the blonde boy just rubbed his head, slightly blushing, “Oi, maybe next time I can save you, dattebayou!”

The dark haired girl just shook her head, turning around to follow her grumbling teammate, throwing over her shoulder, “By the way, you might want to tell that Uchiha to stop spying on us, if I wasn’t so polite, I’d have shown him how Kumo treats such peeping-toms…”

There was a shout from the banshee shrieking pink haired girl on his team and she could feel the Uchiha boy’s chakra spike from the other side of the fence where he fell, but neither of their responses matter. Naruto just laughed, “Oi, I’ll tell ‘im, don’t worry about it!” while he was giving this bright wide smile.

Yorihi was thankful she wasn’t facing the moron anymore and heading towards Xiao as she could feel her cheeks burning and her senses become extremely agitated. Luckily she managed to walk in a straight line calmly and none of the Konoha shinobi noticed, but that didn’t save her from the look her own teammate was giving her when she got to the end of the road where the medic wannabe was sulking. Tattooed brows just rose as she faced the older girl, “What?”

Finally it seemed Xiao got over her own grumbling and snorted, giving a smirk that would make Reki proud and turning around down the way with her arms crossed, “Nothing…”

“Xiao…” the younger girl’s voice growled but she got no response besides a demeaning chuckle, “What?!”

That just caused the dusky-pinkette to laugh even harder.

-----

Eventually the Kumo girls found their way back to their room, having exhausted every manner either could think of to waste time let alone the various nooks and crannies they didn’t find their male teammate. Tired, annoyed and more than a bit cranky they both glared at the door to their room, it was either this or likely start a war as this village and its inhabitants were boring as hell and probably had had enough of them today.

Before either could so much as glare at the other to open the door it flung open wildly and something mostly green launched itself at the taller girl, “Xiao-chan!!”

Xiao was stuck frozen in the position of reaching for the doorknob with her wayward partner now latched onto her for dear life. The older girl just sighed, defeated, as she raised her hand and tapped her knuckles to the side of his head, mumbling, “Shut up, Oku…”

This garnered a chuckle from Yorihi, whom immediately received a red eyed glare, but quickly decided to leave the two partners to themselves in the hall while she entered their room hopping to get some sleep. They had one more day then the exams and tomorrow she wanted to get any details she missed of this city’s layout.

Immediately she was also accosted by what appeared to be an older version of herself with longer hair and larger breasts, at least the annoying bastard cat was wearing ‘clothes’ this time! She grunted, “Oh right, you…”

Bachiko, in some variation of her form, just nodded, nuzzling into her head and without thinking his tails came undone from around his waist and waved about happily to have his master back in his presence.

The youngest girl tried to remain annoyed as she scanned the rest of the room, spotting the no longer possessed version of her aunt sitting on her bed with a cheeky cat grin and waving, “Hello~”

Yorihi stepped closer to the older blonde, not really caring as the human-formed-Bachiko just moved around behind her, lowering his arms around her neck and setting his chin on her head, “I take it you’re back and his mother taught him all she could?”

“Ehehehehe, more or less,” Yugito nervously chuckled, scratching the side of her head, “He knows how to do the transformation and change it like adding details or making it older or younger, but he still hasn’t gotten everything down fully, like keeping his tails in check or his ears from popping up,” a slim pale hand pointed at the older looking woman with the perked cat ears, waving tails and slit vibrant blue eyes, an amused smirk coming over Yugito’s face, “It’s going to take him time and practice to get all the details right, but I’m sure you can help with that~”

Tattooed brows just lowered in a flat line, “I assume it was your idea for him to try an ‘older’ version of me…”

“Hehe,” that wide cat grin was annoying, “Maybe, it’s interesting to see how you’re going to turn out, eh?”

The younger girl growled, shaking her shoulders and removing herself from her cat’s human arms, and irritatedly headed towards her bed, ignoring her aunt and just flopped onto the end, “Great, something else to try out while we’re here…”

“Hehe,” amused Yugito looked down at the tired huffy kid, she reached out and shook the girl’s arm affectionately, “Well I doubt he could trick a real shinobi he’s you, but maybe a few kids, ne?” the only response was a groan from the younger girl making Yugito chuckle more. The older woman gave her arm another pat before standing up, black eyes inspecting the form her ‘son’ of sorts had taken, a pale woman with long blue-black hair in a dark kimono that did nothing to hide the obvious curves of this probably twenty-year-old version of his master. With a wide grin she just reached out and hugged him, mumbling something in cat speak into his flat cat ears before pulling away and looking directly into his eyes, black to blue, “You be good!” with a wink the blonde let go and headed towards the door…

Upon opening said door the three inside the room were privy to Xiao holding Oku by his collar with presumably angry red eyes, even if she was blushing fiercely.

A blonde brow rose, “Should I ask?”

The partners seemed to start then turn to their sensei, both blushing more this time as they responded in tandem, “No!”

Shrugging Yugito waved over her shoulder, both at the open door and her flustered students in the hall, “Night, then!” and headed out to do whatever she did while they slept.

With a groan Xiao let go of Oku’s collar, running a frustrated hand through her bangs needing a minute to get over all the idiocy of this day. When she finally sighed and opened her red eyes her partner was giving her a pleasant smile and waving towards their door without a word. She just rolled her eyes, huffed and walked in with her arms crossed. The first thing she noticed was that Yorihi was curled up in what must have been an uncomfortable ball, since she still had all her equipment on, at the foot of her own bed while that weird cat of hers, in her form, was petting her head. Xiao just shook her head, moving towards her own bed, “I am never getting used to this,” then rather unceremoniously fell face first on to her own bed, groaning.

Lior, who had been sleeping on his master’s pink haired partner’s bed, dislodged himself from the ball in the corner as far away from the demon cats as possible, glanced at the young woman face down on the pillow. His beady little eyes traveled across the way to the smirking cat in a woman’s body, the annoyed little girl, and finally onto his own innocently smiling master. The badger gave a huff, very deep and growly, before standing up, stamping around a bit and laying back down in a ball next to Xiao’s head.

The wishing she was unconscious medic aspirant just raised one hand to pet the angry badger, at least that was still normal about today.

-----

The next morning was spent in preparation for the Chuunin Exams. According to their passes the first test was in room 301 of the Konoha Academy building and they had until 1600 to turn in their papers. This meant the trio of Kumo genin were spending the first portion of their last free day checking over their equipment and prepping in any means they could think of.

Oku was on his side of the room with various scrolls open around him checking their contents and his inventory of trap making equipment with Lior sitting next to him growling when something was out of place. Xiao was on the opposite side from her partner, by her bed, checking all her kunai, knives, scalpels and any other bladed weapons she kept in her pack were stored properly and sufficiently sharp. There were also various pellets scattered around her and several tubes with different kinds, both medical ones and metal balls she would occasionally pick up and charge with her chakra.

Yorihi was on the opposite side of them both, hands together with her legs crossed in what looked like deep meditation. She told the other two that she was testing out her senses, sharpening them to get better accustomed to everything around them, now that she had an idea of the city’s layout from wondering around the previous two days. This was partially true, as they only thought she was using her chakra field and other senses, what she was really testing was how far her eyes could see and grasp of this city at once. It wasn’t often but before a serious mission that required every tool she had available she would push her eyes to their furthest capacity. Normally, even if they were always on and showed her what would be a ‘normal’ range of sight aside from seeing through her headband and skull, which had become her eyes relatively normal dormant ‘standby’ mode. She only really used their chakra sight to verify targets and their surroundings, rarely did she actually use the telescopic or see-through aspect unless she was on a hunt as more often than not it wasn’t necessary due to one of her other senses. Not today, right now she was pushing the limits of her sight and looking through every nook and cranny, pushing through every wall and scanning every person she could keep track of. It was an extremely difficult exercise within a village of this size and layout, it was rather unnerving and disorienting and it took everything she had just to keep her field of vision stable. –Concentrate-

Bachiko, back in his kitty form which had changed slightly to show his new status as a Nekomata, the blue and black of his normal flame-like body had flipped, the dark bits surrounding the outside of his mostly blue flaming fur, though most notable were his two fully split tails waving behind him, was monitoring her progress. His bright vibrant eyes stared at his master as he watched her concentrate and try to map out everything within this foreign place without raising suspicion. She was doing fairly well though on occasion he had to push her chakra back down else it would catch someone’s attention. He did it without her prompting and could feel her gratitude, it was like they were training again as she tried to push the limits of her abilities and he kept her in check.

By the afternoon the two partners had completed their inventory and Yorihi had mentally tagged anyone within the village that could pose a threat to them. She had noticed various Hyuuga placed throughout the village as spotters and several buildings with higher levels of seals making it difficult for her to see through. Obviously this village had safeties against their own weapons but those ‘blind spots’ just marked them for her as places with significance, likely ANBU headquarters or scroll banks, she’d have to give a better detailed analysis to someone from the admin department when they got back home.

“Ugh…” after sealing up her last canister, Xiao groaned, flopping back onto the ground behind her, arms out, eyes closed and waiting for this day to be over, “Is it tomorrow yet?”

Oku smiled next to her, finishing up marking off his scrolls with Lior snoozing on his shoulder, “Well we can either rest, eat, double check our equipment-”

There was a growl from the medic aspirant as she rolled over away from the boy, “No thanks, already did that four times,” blindly her top hand pointed at Yorihi who was still in her meditative position, “Is she done yet? There can’t be that much interesting in this place left, we checked yesterday…”

The dirty blonde boy just shrugged, putting away the scroll he’d been working on and swapping it out for another, just to be sure.

Vaguely Yorihi could hear her teammate’s complaints, even feel as Bachiko was giving her a narrow glance wondering if she was done. The blind girl snorted, attracting the other three’s attention, “I’m done, for now,” the dark haired girl stood up quickly and started stretching, the only down side to being still for so long was everything felt numb when you got up.

Not even bothering to get up or look, Xiao waved the younger girl off from the floor, “Go get us take out or something, I’m not in the mood to move…”

“Lazy,” tattooed brows glared at the older girl as pale hands went to her hips, “You think I really want to go out right now after feeling everything out in this village?”

“Meh,” a dark hand just waved, showing how little the older girl cared.

“Oh,” Oku perked up, grinning at the younger girl who was still standing there looking irritated, “If you do pick something up, mind grabbing some of that barbeque? Maybe a few dumplings?”

“Something spicy with chicken would be nice!” Xiao piped from her corner.

Yorihi huffed with both hands on her hips and ‘glared’ down at the two, even more annoyed when Bachiko hopped up on her shoulders and nuzzled her face as if trying to coax her, “Oh you all can go to hell…”

“Love you too~” a dark hand waved from the ground, the boy in his silly hat laughed, and the damn cat on her shoulder just grinned.

With a growl Yorihi roughly grabbed the doorknob and left, annoyed that the moment she closed the door she could hear her ‘team’ laugh and her damn cat disappeared. She could feel his presence wonder off to do whatever he wanted, likely cause trouble with her form as their bond seemed to have allowed for further range now that he was a higher level of cat demon. It didn’t exactly make sense to her and she was mostly angry at him and her team, just knowing she’d have to grab something with fish and shrimp as well for their sensei if she ever decided to come back from her gallivanting in a foreign village.

Upon reaching the street Yorihi just sighed deeply, resting her hands on her blades and kicked a rock. She was annoyed and she hoped the stupid ANBU following her knew it. –Try something I dare you!-

She didn’t feel any of the ones stationed around the foreign shinobi lodge move an inch, obviously on her own she wasn’t worth their time.

“Tch,” this just made her angrier as she hiked up her shoulders and skulked down the street.

-----

Naruto was sitting on the railing of a red bridge over a small stream near the outskirts of Konoha. About an hour ago Kakashi-sensei had given him, Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan pieces of paper stating they were to take the Chuunin Exams, they were to be filled out and turned in to room 301 at the Academy building before 4 pm tomorrow afternoon. As expected he had given his usual excited fanfare, hugging the scarecrow looking Jounin jubilantly around the neck much to the scoffs of Sasuke and Sakura’s complaining. He was… excited to be nominated, that was undeniable, and he was sure if he was still looking to become Hokage he’d be dreaming of how awesome he’d do, forcing the old man to admit he was a chump and hand over the hat to him…

But right now, by himself now that everyone was gone with their goodbyes, and words of meeting up tomorrow with a word of caution from Kakashi-sensei about joining the exams being their choice… now that he was alone, by himself, he couldn’t help feeling a bit… apprehensive. He’d already come into contact with two teams that were here to compete from other villages; Gaara from Suna and Yorihi from Kumo, they were the leaders of their teams and both of them seemed leagues ahead of him. Those two didn’t seem the types to be taking ‘cat finding’ missions, Yorihi herself had laughed not believing them when they said it was a mission, even up to the old man handing her a check. And Gaara, he’d only caught one look from the guy and while the other two Suna genin had seemed strong he’d thought he had a chance, but that guy, the look in his eyes, the way he felt, made his skin crawl, and the way he so openly threatened to kill the Kumo girls… and even then those two hadn’t seemed bothered, like such behavior was normal to them.

It wasn’t normal for him. The hardest mission he’d been on had been a C-rank upgraded to a B-rank because they’d run into heavier forces then perceived, and even then it hadn’t been everything. That fight with Zabuza had been… dauntless, insurmountable. Facing a real enemy Jounin had been scary, more so since Kakashi had seemed afraid as well, even Sasuke and Sakura had frozen up. Sure he’d been freaked by the demon brothers’ sudden attack but he’d managed to fend them off… against Zabuza it had been a whole different level. Then watching the guy get his head cut off by that Kumo ANBU like it was nothing was… astonishing! He hadn’t seen the little one do much besides catch that other hunter-nin but watching how that one with the white wolf mask just… bam! One second on one side of the lake, in the next cutting off the head of a guy that had Kakashi-sensei scared and looking so damn cool!!

It had inspired him to say the least, forcing him to ask Kakashi-sensei how they were walking on water, how to move fast like that, all kinds of things that had him training as much as he could while they were waiting for the bridge to be finished in Wave. Sure they had to help out, and catch a bunch of thugs, and that Kakashi-sensei dealt with that Gatou guy who was a jerk, but… not much happened after that. They had a few patrol missions, fight some bandits, but mostly it was back to D-ranks.

Looking at the sheet of paper in his hand and remembering what those foreign shinobi could do… were they really ready to do this? Biting his lower lip, Naruto looked up to the sky, wishing he had at least one person here to help him out, “Katsu-chan, what should I do?”

He missed her, he missed her a lot. As a kid with no one, Ryougi Katsuri had been the one person to try and guide him, teach him a few things from her own experience and offer him a comforting hand when he needed it, even if he didn’t openly admit he did. Fuwa had taught him stories, things about heroes and saving princesses, about people going beyond their own towns to go do great things, but the old man was blind, Naruto had never thought he could train him. Heck, before he had seen the old man lay Neji out flat two days ago he didn’t even know the old guy could get mad. Then there was Itachi… Naruto knew what was said about the man who was like a big brother to him, hell he had Sasuke to tell him all the gory details, but the blonde couldn’t forget the older teen who’d smiled at him and gave him a few pointers here and there while he hung out with Katsu-chan. Those two had given him a chance no one else did but were gone now, and Fuwa wasn’t really someone he went to beyond stories and hanging out…

He missed them, and really wished he had them here now to help him out with this…

“Oh great,” there was a voice at the end of the bridge, low and a bit hostile, but after a second of indecision it seemed the person had decided to pass as he could hear footsteps on the bridge.

Naruto lowered his eyes, expecting to find some villager trying to ignore his existed so had prepared himself to scowl grossly at them with a thuggish face…

Instead he came face to face with the plate of Kumo and a certain girl’s pale face and dark blue hair. Yorihi had her arms crossed, brows low as she walked over to him with a tight frown and just faced him for a good long second before sighing deeply, “I can’t seem to go a day in this place without running into you…”

“Ehehehe,” a well-practiced fox grin made itself at home on the blonde boy’s face as he scratched the back of his head, “Can’t blame me, Yorihi, I been sittin’ here awhile,” he leaned a bit forward towards her, wiggling his blonde brows even if she couldn’t see them, “Maybe you’re secretly looking for me, eh?”

With a flat look she raised one hand from her folded arms and reached out to put her finger on the direct center of the symbol of Konoha on his forehead. A confused, “Eh?” was all Naruto got out as the Kumo girl just smirked and pushed forward.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEHHH!!” with arms flapping uselessly the poor boy went careening over the edge of the bridge and made a big splash as he landed in the shallow stream.

The boy’s rising fury was abated by something he’d never heard…

Yorihi was laughing, softly, gently with a bit of a gruff mirth as she moved to leaning over the railing, smile lighting up her pale face as the plate of Kumo stared ahead, “You have no idea how much I needed that…”

Naruto just gave a grumpy pout, pushing himself up in the stream, “That wasn’t very nice!!”

“I never said I was nice?” she kept her smirk up, facing down as the boy got up grumbling. The smirk grew as a thought came to mind that Yorihi couldn’t push down, “You fail by the way!”

“Eeh?” blonde brows furrowed over Naruto’s thuggish look, now standing and squeezing the water out of his jacket, “What’cha mean by that?”

The evil smirk on the pale girl dwindled to something remotely pleasant, “In Kumo, our graduating test is catching yourself from high up, obviously you fail~”

“Tch,” the boy snorted, unzipping his orange jacket and taking it off, turning away from the blind girl to shake it off without getting water all over her, “I wasn’t ready!!”

Through her headband Yorihi could see the boy’s back, all he had under his jacket was a mesh shirt that did very little to hide anything. She was blushing but adamantly pushed it down, there was absolutely no reason for that, “That’s a flimsy excuse, besides,” she turned a bit to the side, propping her chin on one hand knowing the shift did absolutely nothing in changing her view, “We have to fall from a greater height with even less warning, so being unprepared means nothing…” his response was grumbling more to which she could only grin at. Pulling up her free hand she glanced at the sheet of paper he had been staring at intently, “So what’s this?”

“Eh?” a blonde brow rose as Naruto turned towards the girl, spying her head propped in one hand while the other ran her thumb along a piece of paper, a rather familiar piece of paper, “AH!!” the boy seemingly teleported next to the girl trying to grab the sheet, she easily dodged and he nearly went over the railing again, only this time catching himself last minute by catching the edge with his foot and applying some chakra.

Yorihi was now leaning against the railing with her back, running her fingers along the paper and smirking at the boy for learning so quickly.

Naruto quickly corrected himself, squinty glaring at her and holding out his hand as if asking without words for her to return it instead of trying to snatch it again.

A tattooed brow rose curiously but Yorihi saw no reason to deny the boy’s ‘request’, she held out the sheet to him, allowing him to take it without more of a fight, “So?” she’d already read the sheet but figured it wouldn’t hurt having him explain.

The boy was frowning now as he folded the paper up and put it in his back pocket, only realizing a second later that was a bad idea as he was wet all over. With a massive groan he pulled it back out, throwing his jacket over the railing to dry and using both hands to spread the thing out blowing on it trying to make sure the water didn’t damage the sheet too much. The girl next to him seemed to chuckle at his predicament but also seemed to be waiting patiently for his response, the attention caused his cheeks to burn a bit, “I-it’s a form Kakashi-sensei gave us, to join the Chuunin Exams tomorrow…”

“Hmm…” she didn’t seem surprised, just leaning back against the railing comfortably, “So do you think you can do it?”

Naruto halted his silly attempts at fixing his sheet, spreading it out absentmindedly with his hands as a pout spread between his whiskered cheeks, “Mmh… well, yea, course we can do it… dattebayou…”

Yorihi’s head tilted towards him, hearing the uncertainty in his voice, “You don’t sound very sure…”

Blue eyes glanced at the calm, cool Kumo Konoichi, “W-what do you think?”

Yorihi gave a light shrug, “I think your team is grossly outclassed to be participating in such an event,” an indignant snort, “Though considering Konoha is the host village I suppose they can offer up whoever they want to fluff out the competition…”

The blonde boy next to her slowly deflated, frowning.

The pale girl could see him slowly become disheartened with each word she said. It made her frustrated for some reason, he was such an annoyingly bubbly thing, it was weird seeing him get so depressed so easily, “It’s just the truth…”

A pout glanced at the girl, “So you think we’re completely worthless, that it’s not worth our time to even try?”

“Bwahahaha,” at his words she suddenly burst out laughing, finding his accusation hilarious, “You’re completely outclassed, sure, but it’s not like you have a choice?” she turned to face him with a smirk and raised brow that was more teasing then condescending, “A real shinobi doesn’t look at such a daunting situation and worry about whether they’re good enough or not, they think about how best they can stand up to the coming storm…”

Blonde brows furrowed as the boy looked at her, curious, unsure, but there was a spark in his eyes to take her words and fight, “Really?”

Her smirk widened, oddly charming despite how rough it was, “Really,” the smirk slipped, something sympathetic crossing her features, “We’re soldiers Naruto-kun, we don’t have a choice in what we do, we’re given an order, we do it, no matter how frightening or outmaneuvered we are, we figure out a way to do it or d-” her voice caught on the word, something crossing her face that Naruto couldn’t understand. Her face turned forward, away from him as her voice became low, “Or we die trying…”

Naruto’s head turned to her, eyes sympathetic as he watched her, seems there was something similar between them, “You sound like… like you’ve got experience in that…”

“Yea,” Yorihi bit her lip, not wanting to talk about this anymore.

Naruto leaned forward, slightly over the railing, holding out the piece of paper and looking at it in a new light, “So even though we’re outgunned by guys like you and that Gaara…” his hands tightened on the piece of paper a slight smile picking at his lips, “I wanna try.” Blue eyes glanced over his shoulder at the girl, she hadn’t moved but he knew she was listening. A serious look came over his face, “I wanna try, I wanna see how far we can go, even if… even if we’re nothing like you, we still gotta try right?”

A smirk picked at the girl’s lips as she pushed off the railing, turning away from him and taking a few steps, one hand trailing along the top of the rail, “I’m glad to hear that,” she paused, tapping her finger on the rail, wondering whether to say her next words or not, “You know…” she bit her lower lip, “You’re more like Sabaku no Gaara then you think…” a smirk over her shoulder as he looked confused, “Maybe if you make it through I’ll tell you about it…”

A wide smile spread on the cocky boy’s face as he turned to face her completely, giving a silly thumbs up, “You know it! Dattebayou!!”

Yorihi just smirked over her shoulder, finally letting go of the railing as she waved him goodbye before continued along her path. The boy really had no idea what he was getting into but… part of her was curious to see how he’d respond to this new situation.

Naruto just gave a wide grin as she left, smirking to himself as he turned to the piece of paper again. This was his means to get into the Chuunin Exams whether or not they were ready he now realized it didn’t matter. Kakashi-sensei had signed them up for some reason, it was worth it to at least give it his all. He glanced up at the sky again, remembering his big sis, “Thanks, Katsu-chan, seems your advice is still helping me out…” he smirked, “I’ll just have to do my best, give you something at least worth watching, dattebayou!”

-----

Oraka-bou- Foolish/Stupid Hat/Cap

Chapter Text

It was the night before the start of the Chuunin Exams and most of the village of Konoha was asleep, having spent the previous day preparing for the tests to come. Few were still awake, night watch ANBU, restless Genin, Jounin drinking and making bets on the coming results but none so important as a certain someone watching the dorm for the foreign ninja.

Their name was Toge and they had a mission.

Wearing a tattered black cloak with a hood and a featureless white mask covering their face, Toge silently crept through the shadows of the village, keeping their presence hidden as they lurked towards the back of the building. There were over 80 foreign shinobi, mostly from minor villages like Ame, Kusa, and Taki, with three from the new village of Oto and the majority from their ‘allies’ Suna.

But none of these foreigners were Toge’s targets, there were three last minute entries, from Kumo.

Toge felt nothing for these shinobi, just as they felt nothing for anything, but Danzo-sama had spoken of suspicion and treason, how likely these three were here to destroy the leaf in some manner, and if not they still shouldn’t be allowed to compete. To allow ‘enemies’ to participate in their exams was to allow dishonor to the Leaf. There was more to it, there always was, but Toge did not question Danzo-sama, if he willed it, it must be done, for the good of the Leaf, for the good of all.

Stepping out of the alley Toge looked up through their mask, scanning the windows for their target. There had been some commotion the day the Kumo-nin showed up that for some reason the other ANBU forces did nothing about, resulting in damage to their window making them easy to find. Swiftly and silently Toge raced up the wall, coming to the edge of the damaged sill, peaking inside. Due to the reflection of the moonlight they couldn’t see anything without casting a shadow and revealing themselves but they could feel an immense chakra signature inside, likely the Kumo Jounin Nii Yugito, the bearer of the Nibi Jinchuuriki and the prime target for capture and reintegration by Danzo-sama. It would benefit the Leaf immensely if they acquired the Kumo Jinchuuriki, manipulated the woman’s mind and made her work for them against her former village. It seemed rather foolish that they sent her so unarmed, guarded only by genin.

But that was neither here nor there, Toge’s primary target was the blind girl Tenyuu Yorihi, supposedly the daughter of the Yondaime Raikage but there was enough circumstantial evidence to link her to the kidnapping of the Hyuuga heiress ten years ago and it was Danzo-sama’s opinion she needed to be killed either way. If she was the Hyuuga heiress she was a traitor and it was better no one know of that folly, if she wasn’t then Kumo lost their next potential leader. Either way, Konoha won and rid itself of a prospective enemy in the future. The other two were worthless, considering they were Kumo-nin it was unlikely they could be converted, and if they were nothing useful would be left, so they needed to be killed as well. Nii Yugito needed to be capture because even if she couldn’t be reprogramed they could at least obtain the Nibi and simply reseal it in someone loyal.

Raising one hand Toge preformed several seals, causing it to glow slightly with chakra around the black glove and setting it against the glass of the window. Instantly the pane disappeared and disabled any traps. They slipped in silently, raising their tip-less tanto ready to slit the unwary genin’s throats.

“What are you doing here…?” a low gravelly voice addressed the intruder.

Toge only had a moment to realize they were looking into the sleepless eyes of Suna’s Jinchuuriki and that they must have somehow been tricked into entering the wrong room.

Gaara just gave a psychotic grin, raising his hand, “Doesn’t matter…”

Instantly the sand around the room zeroed in on Toge, wrapping them in a thick layer of sand and preventing any movement, to the point they couldn’t even scream.

“You’ll be feeding mother anyway,” with a sadistic grin Gaara of the sand gripped his open hand into a tight fist, enjoying the momentary sound of an attempt to scream before all that was left was bones breaking and muscles turning into mush.

He stepped closer to the window, inspecting his handy work before looking out into the moonlight, not even caring that someone tried to kill him tonight, it reminded him of home.

Glancing at the moon brought him both a sense of peace and excitement he couldn’t contain, mother loved it, howling and chackling in his head, but it was the only time she seemed ‘happy’ other than when he killed things. Staring out now gave him the same peace but mother was oddly silent, maybe it had to do with that figure on the roof across the way…

It had glowing copper eyes and the shadow of twin tails giving off a kind of killing intent only demons understood.

It made Gaara grin, waving at the figure, thanking them for bringing mother something to eat.

-----

Yugito watched Gaara of the sand wave at her from across the way, the little psychopath smiling before turning to do whatever he did with the bodies. He could be poking it with a stick or eating it for all she cared…

She let out a deep growl, still partially possessed by Matatabi, crouching on the ledge of the building across the way. In her silent fury she bared elongated canines and crushed the mortar underneath her hand, the human part of her mind telling her to suppress her anger unless she alert Konoha to her presence and current state of mind.

Not that she didn’t have every right to be angry. –They tried to KILL my kittens!- for once her and Matatabi’s thoughts were the same, it was why she didn’t mind letting the demon have her vengeance, slipping into the assailant’s mind and using her demon possession arts to trick them into going into the mouth of another demon and not their own room. Matatabi was grinning wickedly in the back of her mind, likely she and the Ichibi Gaara housed nodding a good game to one another, but that didn’t expunge her fury.

Konoha sent an assassin after her kids, one that may have done some damage had she not been watching. She hadn’t sensed the person meaning Yorihi probably wouldn’t have and they seemed to have a technique that would have dissolved Oku’s traps, true she didn’t doubt her kids would have woken up the moment they sensed a foreign presence, Bachiko at least, but it was better they didn’t know, and there was always a real monster right underneath them just waiting to be fed anyway.

As she was deciding the best way to vent her fury another presence showed up behind her, another one of those masked ANBU only this one didn’t have a cloak and was obviously male. She growled at his presence, “You best leave Konoha before I decide to get angry at you…”

The ANBU didn’t budge, “Were you the one that took out that ANBU?”

She didn’t move from her crouch and could feel along her spine Matatabi’s shadow tails waving about agitated, “As you saw Sabaku no Gaara was the one that dealt with the intruder…” her words ended with a scoff, already knowing he was here to try and deny Konoha’s involvement, as if that would abate her anger.

The tall masked man just seemed to cross his arms, tilting his head slightly, “I was watching and I know you led him to that boy’s room, he was simply the weapon, you were the one that did it…”

Copper eyes glared at the man over her shoulder, growling all the while, “Are you going to arrest me for preventing your village from killing my students?”

The ANBU held up his hands and gave her the impression he was smiling for some reason, “Not at all,” he took a step forward, testing if she would attack him, she didn’t, for now, “I was actually sent here to stop him, kill him if necessary…”

A blonde brow rose and cat scoffed, “Right, because I’m supposed to believe that…”

“It’s the truth,” the man was now only a foot from her, easily within striking range of any of her attacks, so either he was an idiot or was hoping this lack of defense would convince her of his validity, “We just managed to catch wind of this, we had no idea who the target was but noticed an unauthorized ANBU was heading here to attack one of our guests…”

Another scoff as the blonde woman turned to watch the building again, “Unauthorized, right,” she couldn’t help but snort at this man’s stupidity, “Don’t play me for a fool, we know about your ‘secondary ANBU’ forces, and I’ll bet anything that idiot was one of them, trying to take advantage of this prestigious opportunity while everyone’s trying to get their last minute rest before the Exams…”

The ANBU was silent for a good long while and out of the corner of her eye Yugito could easily tell he’d gone stiff when she mentioned the secondary ANBU. Seems he was either an idiot or thought she was one. He coughed behind his mask, glancing at the apartment complex and distinctly away from the blonde woman crouched on the ledge before asking quite seriously, “How much do you know?”

“Enough,” was her dark answer, “Listen well as I’m sure you’re going to be reporting back to whichever superior you actually follow, ANBU, but we know all about your ‘other’ organization as well as the fact they’re the ones responsible for nearly killing the Raikage AND his daughter, and don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten and don’t intend to forgive that just yet…”

This time the man visibly stiffened, his surprise so great he abandoned his ANBU aloofness to stare at her directly, “They did what…?!”

Narrow copper eyes turned to the masked man, wondering how much of his actions were true, “You must be one that works for the Hokage,” she turned away from him with a shrug, “Don’t worry, we know he had nothing to do with it, only they,” she nudged her chin towards the apartments, referring to the dead body in the Suna team’s room, “were the ones responsible…”

“How do you know?” there was more of a demand in the man’s voice now, obviously she’d told him something very interesting.

This caused the cat to raise a blonde brow, debating about how much she should really tell him. He obviously had no idea about this secondary organization, or if he did he had no idea what they were really doing, which again meant the Hokage had no idea. Obviously it would mean a lot to the village as a whole to know more about this shady network working through them but Yugito wasn’t entirely convinced they had no part, plus they didn’t deserve to know everything they did or how they knew it, hell she didn’t know exactly how the hell they knew it, just that Aneue did some deep cover stuff to get as much as they got. She decided to just scoff at the man, if they really wanted to know he could tell the Hokage and have the man send a formal request to the Raikage then maybe she’d feel inclined to share, they did just try to kill her students after all, “That’s none of your concern…”

“If it’s a threat to the Hokage or Konoha’s reputation then it is my concern.” The man was standing fiercely, boldly as a loyal member of his village hoping beyond reason she would just comply. She was a foreign dignitary and aside from what just happened moments ago had been a model guest, hell no one could tell she had anything to do with what just happened if they tried to tie her to it since Gaara wiped away all evidence and she hadn’t moved an inch from that spot. Not to mention to attack her would be suicide, he was no fool, he knew who and what she was, the Nibi Jinchuuriki, which only meant she was powerful, and with the level of control she just displayed even more deadly.

Yugito stared at the man a moment, long and hard, he was being genuine, enough to abandon his ANBU training and almost beg her for the information, she hoped this meant he really wasn’t with the ‘other’ ANBU forces, “Tell your Hokage and have him send a message to the Raikage,” she raised her hand with the index finger pointing up looking at him very seriously as she stressed the next part, “DON’T have him mention what happened here tonight.”

“Can I ask why not?” the mask tilted, obviously confusing the man why she wouldn’t want to inform her village leader about such an incident.

A mixture of worry and amusement passed Yugito’s features as she looked at the guy, “Trust me, if he knew those walls of yours wouldn’t be high enough to keep him out,” copper eyes turned back to look at the building where her students hopefully slept unaware of what happened, “if the Raikage responds to the Hokage’s message he’ll likely send another messenger or an immediate response stating he’ll come and discuss the matter himself, it’s likely he’ll be coming here anyway as at least one of my students should make it to the finals, he can speak with your leader then.” Yugito stood up, keeping her copper eyes on the man making sure he understood her words, “For now, I will deal with this, and that is all you can do…”

The man’s head tilted down slightly, either to nod or frown was anyone’s guess, “And what do you plan to do?”

“Keep my kids safe,” the blonde ended darkly, finally releasing the Nibi’s chakra and allowing the twin-tails to return to the recesses of her mind, she didn’t need the extra chakra setting her team off. She gave the ANBU one last look with black eyes before disappearing, hoping he wasn’t a traitor and would tell the Hokage everything. If not, she would simply have to be ready for more attacks in the future and find a way to tell the old man herself, either way she was forcing the enemy’s hand.

-----

The next morning for Team Yugito started with a bang… as in the door flying open and their sensei all but shouting, “GOOOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOOOOORNIIIIIIIIIIG~”

Resulting in all three students yelping in some manner of response and the two girls to go flying off their beds.

“Bah!” “AAAH!” “What the-?!”

Xiao was caught quite eloquently by Oku who had sat up in his sleeping bag, catching his partner bridal style and causing the not-quite-awake girl to blush and grab him around the neck. Lior, still on the bed, growled at the loss of heat and darkness he had been nuzzled against under the blanket.

Yorihi met face to floor as no one was there to catch her when she went flying from the sudden jolt of her over enthusiastic aunt, “Ugh!! Son of a bitch!!” the poor girl was rolling over and rubbing her nose that hurt significantly.

Xiao doing her duty, and finding an excuse to leave her partner’s grasp, went to go check on the younger girl, slightly snickering at her predicament. This resulted in a growl and a mild argument between the two young konoichi.

Oku just chuckled, finding this all relatively normal, before turning to his sensei who had just been standing there watching the ensuing battle while holding two extremely large brown paper bags that smelled utterly delicious, “Good morning sensei! What have you got there?”

The question halted the ‘war’ going on between the red and blue Kumo girls, who each had one hand holding the other’s shirt and their other hand cocked back in a fist about to hit each other.

“Khehehe,” the blonde cat just grinned, amused by her students, “Figured since today’s the big day for you three I’d get you something special for breakfast!” she reached into one bag and threw something round and smelling deliciously sweet at the three of them, waiting for them to take a bite before continuing, “So what do you think? Found this bakery yesterday that served these and found them to be quite delicious~”

“Tastes good!” Oku happily ate his finding the new flavor delicious, breaking off a few pieces so Lior could try, the badger not caring about flavor so long as it was food.

“Its… interesting,” Xiao had a disappointed look on her face as she looked at the roll, it was some kind of really sweet bread and she couldn’t say she was particularly a fan.

“Oh… my god…” all eyes turned to Yorihi who seemed to get strangely jittery before devouring the remains of her own and standing up to her aunt, “Tell me what these are and tell me we have more of them?!”

Suffice it to say everyone in the room sweat dropped, it was common knowledge the Daughter of the Raikage had something of a sweet tooth but even this was a bit ridiculous.

Yugito had to suppress her growing snickers before she handed one bag over to the girl, “I figured, hehe,” Yorihi quickly took the bag, grabbing a roll in each hand and started eating, barely hearing as her aunt continued, “They’re called cinnamon buns, kind of a specialty of that bakery I was talking about…”

The blind girl didn’t seem to care, only squealing and eating her new favorite food.

Red eyes rolled as Xiao handed what was left of hers off to Oku, he seemed to like them, before standing up and staring at their sensei, “Don’t suppose you got anything spicy?”

The blonde cat just gave that wide grin, handing her the other bag, “I figured they wouldn’t be to your liking, so I grabbed some curry bread, apparently it’s not as popular…”

Xiao just momentarily glared at the woman before taking out a bit of the curry bread and taking a bite. Immediately she was squealing like Yorihi and hugged her sensei, “You’re the best sensei ever!”

“Yes!!” Yorihi shouted between bites of devouring her cinnamon buns.

The moment Xiao let go of Yugito she was sitting next to Yorihi on her bed both of them just engrossed in their new food items.

Yugito just scratched the side of her cheek, “Yea…” she gave a nervous chuckle, she’d known the girls would like them just hadn’t figured it would be this much. She glanced over to Oku, the poor boy finishing off the last of what Xiao had given him and likely wasn’t going to be able to pry anymore from the girls, “S-sorry Oku-kun, they kinda… stole the rest? Ehehehe…”

The blonde boy just kept smiling, waving his hand as Lior took his proper spot on his shoulder, “Its fine Sensei, I’m good, chances are they’ll need it more than me since they burn so much more chakra then I do…”

“S-shut up, Oku!” Xiao was blushing but that didn’t stop her from tearing into another curry roll.

A cinnamon bun went flying, surprisingly as Yorihi shoved another in her mouth, quickly demolishing it and swallowing before smirking at the boy, “Sorry, but that’s all I’m giving you, you’re gonna have to ask Xiao-chan for some of hers…” if any of them didn’t know any better they’d say Yorihi was playfully glaring at her female teammate with the way her tattooed brows lowered and her smirk spread.

This of course only caused the older girl to yell at her, “SHUT UP!!”  and shove the younger girl, who only shoved back and before another ‘war’ broke out they decided eating was more demanding, still ‘glaring’ at one another over different versions of rolls.

Oku of course just chuckled, holding up the sequestered roll, “Thanks Yorihi-hime!” and quickly chowed down, seemingly ignoring the rest of his teammate’s statement or the ensuing chaos.

Yugito just pressed her fingers to her head, hoping this meant they were ready for the challenges ahead, “Well at least two of them won’t be starving…”

-----

By noon the Kumo trio were standing in front of the Academy building, taking in the sight of the other contestants that decided to come early. Yorihi scoffed, walking on through the place like she owned it, participants parted allowing her to pass without even realizing it as many of the more sensitive genin realized just by the feel of her chakra alone this was not someone to mess with. Xiao and Oku flanked her as proper adjuncts, the red eyed medic sneering while the dirty blonde boy just kept a pleasant smirk on his face showing none of them were a threat at all.

When they reached the doors to the entryway Xiao took an extra step to lean down next to their little leader, “So what’s the game plan, Princess?”

The younger girl groaned, “Why’s it always me that has to come up with the plans?” both her comrades grinned at her from either side with a chuckle causing her shoulders to shudder with mild rage, “Tch, fine,” straightening her back and walking with her head held high the blind girl from Kumo walked steadily along, ignoring anyone that got in their way like they were ants as she addressed her teammates, “We do this how we’re supposed to,” she raised one hand, smirking devilishly as she formed it into a first in front of her, “By not only passing each test but crushing, humiliating, and devastating our ‘competition’…”

The older girl to her right had a dark smirk as she straightened as well, “So, Princess, what’s that mean for the first test?”

Yorihi just grinned, lowering her hand to rest easily on her sword, “We observe,” there was a small chuckle from her lips, “Mei-chan said the first test was an intelligence test, so that means we should apply that and counter-intelligence, like we’ve been taught. Observe our surroundings, gather all the data we can, and disseminate false information or disrupt other shinobi’s means of gathering it themselves…”

Red eyes just crinkled at the sides as her gaze shifted to take in anyone nearby, “Sounds good to me…”

Yorihi paused when they were in the middle of the large open entryway, sensing and looking around, “So first things first, get to our designated mission start point and follow through with our intended parameters…” she nodded back to their male teammate, “Oku-kun, you got the lay out, where to?”

The pale boy nodded stepping forward, “Third floor, end of the hall, should be the largest room…”

The blind girl nodded turning to their medic, “There’s a large gathering of shinobi on the second floor, seems like a trap, options?”

Xiao rubbed a hand under her chin sensing out as well, zeroing in on what her teammate was targeting, “Seems to be a low level genjutsu, likely a visual trick to throw off newbs,” a red eye opened, winking at the blind girl with a smirk, “It’d be completely useless on you, not to mention anyone smart enough to count the floors,” her teammates smirked, confirming what Xiao was sensing. Putting her hand on her hips the eldest girl just pointed up with her free hand, “I say we just avoid the whole thing, anyone dumb enough to fall for that isn’t worth our time…”

Yorihi nodded, turning her attention to above them. There was an open cross over on the second floor, without effort she jumped up and landed up there, her team appearing behind her a moment later. She turned to Oku and he nodded down another hall leading to the third floor stairs. Within minutes they were up and heading towards room 301 where there was a group of three Konoha genin hanging around the door.

Two of the members were covered head-to-toe in purple outfits with white undershirts, including purple face masks and bandana style Konoha headbands. The only difference between them other than height was that the taller one had black small shades and the shorter one had regular glasses over small black eyes. The third member of the team wore matching clothing but didn’t have a face mask and instead a standard issue headband on his forehead holding his grey bangs out of his glasses and black eyes, topping it all off with the rest of his grey hair in a ponytail.

Upon their entrance the grey haired boy turned and smiled at them, holding his arms out as if welcoming them, “Oh, I see more participants, you guys are rather early aren’t you?”

“Out of the way Konoha,” Yorihi walked up to the man in the center, not caring for his presence.

“Come now, a moment to talk?” he held out his hand giving that disarming smile, “I’m something of an expert in these Exams and I’m curious to meet you, it’s the first time I’ve seen Kumo-nin…”

Tattooed brows lowered slightly, something about him felt irregular and Bachiko agreed with her feeling to not touch the man, “I said move…”

“Heh,” a dispirited look came over his face but he kept up the smile, reaching forward this time to grab her shoulder, “Come on, that’s no way to-” his hand was stopped before it could set on the pale girl’s shoulder by the taller dark skinned girl.

Red eyes were glaring at the man that dared to touch her friend, her hand tightening around the boy’s arm coverings, “I believe she said get the fuck out of our way, Konoha…”

The two masked members of the grey haired man’s team tensed, moving to a more offensive pose as if to attack from their teammate’s sides. Before anything could happen the boy held up his free hand, smiling now at the dark skinned girl glaring at him, “My name is Yakushi Kabuto and I was just trying to welcome you here…”

The way he looked at Xiao made her skin crawl and her desire to break his arm increased. She only let go when Oku stepped in front of his teammates, making a wall between the girls and these Konoha creeps.

It was rare for Oku to become aggressive and generally it was only because some guy was looking at his friends weird, so while rare it wasn’t completely strange when the pale blonde boy stood between Yorihi and Xiao and the three Konoha genin, glaring at them with thin sea foam green eyes, hands on his hips and his face scrunched up like a punk, “They said move,” his eyes and his low soft spoken voice laced with killing intent meant one thing and one thing only, if these guys didn’t move and stop bothering his friends he’d kill them himself.

Kabuto seemed to get nervous a moment before scratching the side of his neck and moving to the side, allowing the Kumo girls to move past. The guy with black glasses moved as if to grab Yorihi but a glare from the badger tamer sent his hand still. These guys were too handsy and none of the Kumo genin liked it, something was up. As the blind girl reached out to the door the grey haired boy spoke up, “It’s sealed, still too early to ent-”

His words were effectively stopped when Yorihi just open palmed the door, disabling whatever seal and busting it open, again walking in like she owned the place. Xiao turned around, walking backwards as she pulled on the bottom of her right eyelid with her middle finger and stuck her tongue out to them in a childish insult, while Oku looked down on the trio with a sneer, crossing his arms and following his teammates, “You were saying?”

Just before the door closed behind them the three caught a glimpse of the grey haired boy named Kabuto holding his hand in a tight fist and clinching his jaw, his teammates seeming just as angry by the one-upmanship of the Kumo-nin.

“Hehehe,” Xiao couldn’t help but chuckle, nearly skipping over to their pint-sized leader who had taken up a spot on the back left corner all the way against the wall and with no desks behind her. The red eyed medic knew this was a strategically advantageous point to ‘observe’ from as everyone coming in would be forced to walk by them but she also knew her little friend just liked to be as far away from people as possible in a classroom. Of course, this meant she took the seat right next to her, resting her head on one hand and grinning at her friend, “That was fun…”

“Tch,” Yorihi’s brows rolled as she set her head down on the desk on her folded arms, “Those guys were trying to set up some scanning seal on the door to get information on their competition and were pissed we interrupted them…”

Xiao just grinned wide, “You thought so too?” she idly waved over Oku with a grin as the boy had been glaring at the door, all of them still feeling the three Konoha genin behind the door, “Oku! Get over here, no point watching for them, others are going to come anyway…”

The boy grumbly complied, resulting in another giggle from his partner. As he reached out to pull out the chair next to Xiao he couldn’t help but comment, “Maybe I should set a few traps on the door, prevent them from coming in…”

“Hehe, don’t bother,” Xiao slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand, amused by how much he disliked the Konoha trio, “We won’t see them for long, and besides such tampering might get us thrown out…”

“But they’re tampering…” Yorihi mumbled from her position, ideas flowing through her head of counter maneuvers they could potentially employ against those three. They had weird chakra and everything about them somehow felt ‘false’, like it was too good to be true. In any case they weren’t to be trusted.

The dusky-pinkette just shrugged turning to her friend, “We could tell the proctors or set up some anti-scanning seals,” a smirk passed her dark features, “Hell, for all we know that’s part of the test…” this garnered a grin from their ‘leader’ and that was all the approval the medic needed. She turned to her partner with a sly grin and waved her hand, “Do your thing Oku~”

The boy with the silly plated hat just grinned widely, back to his usual self as he cracked his knuckles getting up, moving over to the door and pulling out a few tools and seals, setting about his work.

“We’re so getting thrown out for tampering,” despite her words Yorihi couldn’t help but grin. If the room wasn’t already sealed up it would be an extra special level of ‘safe’ by the time Oku was done with it, maybe that was enough to taunt some of the Konoha proctors.

Xiao just grinned, moving to sit in her chair sideways as she watched her partner work, leaning comfortably on the back rest, “Who cares, this’ll be totally worth it…”

Yorihi just chuckled already sensing confusion from the trio on the other side of the door.

-----

Three hours later and a majority of the participants were seated somewhere in room 301. Kabuto and his group were seated near the back on the right side of the room, the Suna genin were near the front though Gaara kept glancing back at the Kumo trio who hadn’t so much as moved. An hour ago a group from Oto showed up and Yorihi noticed her teammates kept wary eyes on them. Around the same time the first of the ‘Konoha Rookies’ showed up, the team consisting of this generations’ Ino-Shika-Chou trio who quickly moved to a back corner and kept to themselves. The only odd thing she noticed were the boys giving Oku a nod, the dirty blonde haired boy mentioning he’d seen them around the village.

Oku was sitting in his chair normally, head propped on one hand as he looked around. Xiao was sitting in her chair backwards, slumped over the back staring at the door extremely bored with Lior in her lap. And Yorihi, their fearless leader, was leaning precariously back in her chair, hands behind her head, feet up on the desk with the chair tilted and as far as anyone else was concerned had been asleep for the past hour or two. In reality Yorihi was using her eyes on a minimal setting and watching the lower floors.

-I wonder when he’ll show up…- there was less than an hour before the 1600 deadline and she still hadn’t seen the Konoha Jinchuuriki or his team. She’d watched as several teams entered and exited the Academy building, arguing, crying, even a few fighting with one another and far too many genin getting caught in that stupid trap on the second floor. It was a basic dumb genjutsu, not even high enough to trigger the seals in her tattoos as she could easily see through it without even trying. She noticed another of the other vaulted Rookie teams show up, walk right past the genjutsu without giving it a glance and head towards room 301.

The door opened with a loud bang and some arguing ensued, “Dude what smells like a dead cat in here?”

The blind girl couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she felt her ethereal feline scoff at the ludicrous insult.

The ‘leader’ of the new group of genin was a boy in a grey parka with thin feral looking eyes and red triangles on his cheeks pointing down like fangs, obviously a member of the Inuzuka clan as he also had a little white puppy sitting on his head. The boy seemed to sniff around like a dog for a moment as his teammates entered, finally zeroing in on the Kumo genin, specifically Xiao who was sitting in a rather… provocative position, causing the hormonal boy to give a wolfish grin, strutting over, “Well hey there, haven’t seen you around these parts?”

“Keep walking dog breath,” the dusky-pinkette just waved her hand, not even looking at the boy.

The immediate rejection caused the Inuzuka to growl, his eyes traveling down to the opening in the back of the chair not caring for the rude girl’s opinion. Instead of finding some perverted delight he saw something black and grey move, only to unravel to reveal an angry, vicious creature that was growling louder than him and almost seemed to be foaming at the mouth with its hair on end and giant claws gripping the chair. Without even thinking Kiba yelped jumping back as the thing barked at him, causing both him and Akamaru, the little puppy on his head, to shudder at its raging fury, “Th-the hell is that?” nervously a clawed hand pointed at the angry creature between the Kumo girl’s legs.

Xiao just smirked evilly, lowering one hand to pet Lior on the head as he kept scaring the piss out of these kids, “Nothing, just my partner’s badger…” red eyes danced as she looked back up into the boy’s freaked out feral eyes, “And he doesn’t like it when someone looks where they’re not supposed to…”

The dog boy yelped, feeling a sudden killing intent aimed his way. It wasn’t the girl sleeping to the dusky-pinkette’s right but the boy with the stupid looking hat to her right. There was a deadly look in his thin eyes and Kiba decided it was best to tuck his tail and run, plus he got a good look at the plate on the boy’s hat, marking them as the Kumo genin he’d heard about from that weird blonde woman that was hanging out with his mom and sister. She’d said they were her students and could crush him like a bug and with one look from the older boy even the most confident boisterous part of his mind didn’t doubt it. With his hands up in a defensive gesture Kiba made a hasty retreat back to his teammates.

Red eyes watched the younger boy retreat until he made it back to his two teammates, a boy covered up in a heavy high necked jacket with sunglasses and another with dark eyes and a nearly black jacket with a bandanna style head band. Then she started grinning wickedly at the trio of boys and laughed wholeheartedly when they all nervously looked away from her with a blush.

“That’s why I wear shorts under my skirt,” was the dry response from the medic’s right.

Xiao turned to her teammate, who again was leaning back on the chair so it was propped on its back legs with her feet on the desk, which would have been a ‘bad’ way of sitting for the girl if not for her mentioned shorts. The older girl just snickered, “Oh c’mon, you know it’s funny, c’mon~ badger~ hehehe,” she pointed down to Lior who was still glaring at anyone within visible range while sitting between his master’s partner’s legs.

Again Yorihi just shook her head, stretching her arms as if waking up, “You’re so immature…”

The dark skinned girl just continued chuckling, moving her position to sit in her chair sideways, causing an audible intake of air from a good portion of the room only for a certain amount of fear to enter said people’s minds as all they could see was the angry badger still blocking their view of anything, as she leaned back, using Yorihi as a head rest and Oku’s lap to prop up her feet, Lior still sitting on her lap to prevent any peeping. At the audible growl from her female teammate for using her stomach as a pillow and chuckle from her partner, Xiao opened one red eye to wink at the younger girl even if she couldn’t see it, “What, I’m bored~”

Yorihi just rolled her brows, not moving her position despite how precarious it had become, “Still have about an hour, take a nap or something…”

Pointedly red eyes glared ‘up’ at the younger girl, “Is that what you’ve been doing?”

A small smirk picked at the blind girl’s lips, “Sorta…”

With a chuckle Xiao pushed herself up into a sitting position putting one hand on the desk as the other pet Lior, not even caring that Oku was now holding her legs to keep her stable as she glanced over her shoulder at their little leader, “Find anything interesting?”

“Maybe,” just as the word left her lips she set her feet on the floor, sitting in the chair properly as a smile spread across her face. Naruto’s team had finally showed up and the blonde boy looked far more determined than his two other teammates did even if they hid it well, “seems our friend finally showed up…”

“Friend?” a dusky-pink brow rose momentarily before it finally hit Xiao who the younger girl was talking about, with a light push of her own chakra field she could feel the immense chakra of the other jinchuuriki, bringing a grin to her face, “And here I didn’t think his team would be allowed in?”

“I think his sensei is trying to kill him and his team or scare them into trying harder,” a pale hand propped her head up as she watched them make their way to the second floor, some commotion happening with that Hyuuga’s team. –Come on… don’t fall for that stupid trick…- She had some hope her target wasn’t a complete moron, Gaara hadn’t even bothered with the second floor like them, teleporting with his sand and making his way to the third floor before his teammates caught up. She hoped Naruto was the same otherwise she may have to rush her plans as obviously this place wasn’t doing a damn thing for the boy.

Moving to sit in her chair properly, Xiao crossed her arms under her developing chest and sighed deeply, using her own chakra field to sense out what was going on, “Damn, I can’t believe how many people are falling for that stupid trick!”

Oku shrugged next to her, giving a sympathetic grin as Lior finally moved back to the knapsack on his back, “At least they’re dropping out there, imagine if they continued?”

“Tch,” red eyes narrowed, “Such a waste of space, bastards shouldn’t even be allowed to be called shinobi if they fall so easily for that bullshit! Moe-sensei would be utterly pissed!”

There was a shudder from all three Kumo genin at the idea of the demented midget Master and her reaction to such an affront to her dubbed ‘art’, voiced eloquently by Yorihi, “God, she would mind rape them…” the older pair could only nod in agreement as all three shuddered again.

It was a second before they all shook their heads in unison and ignored the thought ever occurred, the ninja nearby were also giving them weird looks.

Xiao of course responded to this as she normally did, with a red eyed glare and waving her fist while standing abruptly, “WHAT?! Got something to say?!” many a glare was had, but one look at the red Kumo head band around her waist like a belt made the interlopers look forward. The dusky-pinkette just scowled and crossed her arms, “That’s what I thought…”

“Shino pinch me…” Kiba whined in the corner he and the rest of Team 8 were stalking, which happened to be behind the Kumo trio.

Aburame Shino did not pinch his teammate, why? Because he found his antics childish and didn’t want to draw attention to their team more than necessary, so he just pushed up his black shades instead.

Their third teammate on the other hand elbowed Kiba in the gut, causing the dog user to double over.

“F-fuck y-you Hito-teme, you pr-rick…” Kiba growled at the bandanna wearing boy.

Being the only one of the Kumo trio that could see behind them, Yorihi snickered at the dog user’s pain.

This garnered Xiao’s attention as she sat back down in a huff, crossing her legs and all but glaring at the younger girl, “What?”

The blind girl just waved her hand, “Nothing, nothing…” this response only garnered an angry eye roll and a chuckle from their male teammate.

The door opened and another Konoha team walked in, led by a girl wearing pink with buns in her hair and pulling a boy in a green spandex suit by his ear, “I can’t believe you did that Lee, we could have been thrown out…” the bun haired girl was growling under her breath at her teammate as they walked past to find a seat. Their final teammate turned out to be the Hyuuga who walked silently behind his teammates, sparing only a moment as he passed to glare at the Kumo trio.

Yorihi had to bite her tongue just to stop herself from responding to the boy’s unsubtle threat.

Sadly neither was subtle enough to escape the other Kumo genin. Oku was frowning at the boy and Xiao was openly glaring, “Got something to say white eyes?”

Neji visibly stiffened in repressed rage, taking a monumental effort to turn his gaze from the blind girl to the older one next to her, “I have nothing to say to you Kumo trash…”

Xiao scowled in response but it was Oku who stood up and looked down on the younger boy with deadly thin eyes, “Choose your words carefully Konoha, that’s my partner and teammate you’re glaring at…”

White eyes turned to the blonde boy in the stupid hat, “I’ll say what I want filth,” with barely contained rage and a pulse of chakra veins came to life around his eyes and his active eyes took in all three of them along with the rest, “I’m Hyuuga Neji and you’re not-”

In a blue blur no one in the room could catch Neji was cut off as Yorihi moved, now holding him by the throat and pinned to the desk on the other side of the aisle as she snarled down at him with the insignia of Kumo. The boisterous room was now completely silent, to the point a pin dropped and it seemed deafening as her fingers clinched just the slightest bit. Her voice was a guttural growl laced with killing intent as the only thing Neji could truly focus on were the cyan lines above her headband and the fear in his active eyes reflected in the plate steel covering her own, “Don’t you DARE look at us with those eyes.”

Nobody moved, nothing was said as the entire room was in absolute silence at the scene in front of them.

The door opened and no one dared to look, afraid they’d miss something if they took their eyes off the Kumo girl and the Hyuuga prodigy.

“W-what’s goin’ on?” Naruto couldn’t help but ask trying to make sense of what was going on in front of him. Team 7 had just walked in and already the place was silent as a grave, directly in front of them was Yorihi holding down Neji on a desk by his neck and what looked to be one hell of a stare down. Naruto knew Neji marginally from Fuwa, mostly that he was a hotshot prick and he’d just made some challenge to Sasuke down stairs, something about rookies of the year facing off… now he was laid out flat by a girl a foot shorter than him. He knew she was a badass by how easily she dealt with him but this, this was a whole different level, the killing intent she was producing felt almost like Zabuza’s; dangerous, oppressive and more than willing to kill.

The little distraction was enough to snap some people out of it, Yorihi kept her iron grip on Neji’s throat but now there were other Konoha shinobi rallying around them. This only caused Xiao and Oku to take up defensive positions around their leader, glaring with the same kind of killing intent as her at anyone that got too close. The other foreign shinobi just stayed out of the coming fight, the Kumo-nin were outnumbered nearly thirty to one but didn’t seem to care, Gaara gave a little smirk that scared his siblings thinking those were great odds.

“NEJI!!” Tenten tried to push forward only to be held back around the shoulder by Xiao. The bun haired girl glared at the older Kumo girl but didn’t seem to hold genuine malice, just a desire to save her bullheaded teammate as she looked between the Kumo konoichi, “Just let him go, an actual fight and we’re all disqualified!”

Xiao just stared at the girl, she could tell her hands were itching to draw some kind of weapon and she was holding back significantly, much better than her teammates seemed to be. The weirdo in all green was in a taijutsu stance ready to jump in and the prick with the white eyes still had them on. The medic really didn’t want to get thrown out this close to the first test, for something as stupid as strangling some upstart punk. Lowering her hand away from the Konoha girl Xiao looked over her shoulder at her dark haired teammate, speaking in a soft voice, “Yorihi…”

There was a long minute of nothing, obviously a battle of wills and reason as the younger Kumo girl held everyone’s attention, “Tch,” then she just scoffed, lowering her hand to the Hyuuga’s collar and standing him up, bringing his face within an inch of hers, “You better turn those off otherwise I’ll pluck them out myself,” not even waiting for the boy to respond she turned slightly and threw him at his teammates who easily caught him. Without another word she turned to walk back to her previous seat.

“Jeez, those guys again,” Sakura groaned under her breath, shuddering as the blind girl walked by, unconsciously moving closer behind Sasuke before frowning, “Does she even know how to not get in a fight?” then squeaked and hid completely behind the last Uchiha when Xiao and Oku turned to glare slightly at them for the comment.

“Ehehehe, c’mon guys,” Naruto held up his hands, mostly talking to Sakura and a scowling Sasuke, “They’re actually really nice when ya get to know ‘em, Xi-chan, Oraka-bou, even Yorihi, they’re all pretty cool…”

“Hn, if you like them so much loser, go sit with them…” Sasuke spoke darkly as he turned, hands in his pockets and walked over towards the other Rookies gathered by the opposite wall. He’d take Ino and Sakura’s fangirling combined over having to recognize those Kumo-nin’s existing, he’d just gotten back some of his rightful status by having Hyuuga Neji, last year’s Rookie of the Year, calling him out and even if he kissed the floor from that green spandex wearing bastard he knew if he had his Sharingan or the fight wasn’t interrupted he would have won. He didn’t want to think about or even register that that little girl from Kumo just had his next challenge down by the throat on a desk like it was nothing, his ego couldn’t handle it. –How the hell is she so strong?-

“Guys…” Naruto just frowned, watching his teammates walk away. He couldn’t help it he wasn’t a total prick like everyone else seemed to be and actually got to talk with the Kumo genin instead of just pissing them off. –Katsu-chan always said I should hear people out, what’s wrong with taking her advice and getting to know people beyond the insignias they wear?- blue eyes glanced back over his shoulder, seeing Yorihi had sat back down seeming aloof…

“S’up Na-chan!” out of nowhere a dark hand grabbed Naruto’s head and ruffled, rather roughly, his blonde locks. Xiao couldn’t help but smirk at the angry little scowl he tried to pull on her, it was kind of adorable.

“Xi-chan!!” the blonde boy threw off her hand, pout-scowling at the two older foreign genin smirking down at him, “What’re you guys doin’ anyway? What was all that about? I know Neji-teme can be a prick but…” blue eyes glanced at the blind girl sitting by herself. He recalled how she and Neji acted when they first met each other, it was hostile sure but… he didn’t think they’d go that far.

“No idea,” Xiao just shrugged holding her hands out, “Guy’s team was minding their own business, then suddenly he looks our way and goes nuts, kinda pissed me off the punk, then the Princess goes and flips and I’ve known that girl awhile and I’ve never seen anything like that…”

Oku rubbed the back of his neck with a mild frown on his face, glancing over his shoulder worried about their friend before looking back at his partner, “Well, remember how she was after-” he swiftly got an elbow in the rib, “oof!”

“Shut up, Oku!” red eyes glared at him sternly, that was not something they should be talking about in front of foreigners.

“R-right, s-sorry Xiao-chan,” the poor boy looked completely defeated and ashamed of his slip up, the Konoha Jinchuuriki just seemed like a nice guy and was worried about their friend.

A foxish look came over Naruto’s face as he looked from one older Kumo genin to the next, “Wait, what hap-”

“Already talking with the enemy dumbass?” only for Kiba and his team to come up behind him and the dog user to swap him upside the head.

“Shut up, Kiba you jerk!” was the blonde boy’s automatic response as they got into a thuggish glare off.

This only caused Xiao to frown, crossing her arms and narrowly staring at the group of boys, “We’re having a civilized conversation here if you don’t mind,” she reached out and pushed Kiba and Naruto apart, glaring more at Kiba, “Now piss off, dog breath, or did you not learn your lesson from earlier?” to accent her point Lior crawled out of the knapsack on Oku’s back and glared, hissed, and growled at the little white dog and his moronic owner.

“Tch,” the tattoo faceed Inuzuka swapped the girl’s dark hand away from his chest, walking behind Naruto, smacking him upside the head again and moving to join the other Rookies on the other side of the room, it looked like Sasuke needed to be saved from some fangirls anyway.

The boy in the black jacket just scoffed, walking passed but also flicking the class moron in the head.

This left Aburame Shino standing nearby, the tall boy simply pushing up his black glasses before turning to Naruto, “Excuse us, Naruto-san…” then nod to the foreigners and finally he left to follow his team as well.

Naruto was left with an unpleasant look on his face, scowling after the group of boys and rubbing his head.

Both Xiao and Oku couldn’t help but raise confused brows, the red eyed girl was the first to speak, “Is there anyone in this village that isn’t a complete asshole to you?” she looked at the younger blonde boy, she’d only met him twice before now and she hadn’t found anything about the way he acted that warranted such dickish behavior from his peers. Sure he was a little soft in the head and way too trusting but overall he probably had better manners then this whole village combined, at least he was sincere when he was trying to be nice unlike the rest of them.

“Ehehehe,” the blonde boy just scratched the back of his head, blushing slightly, “It’s cool, Xi-chan, they’re not really that bad! This is normal, dattebayou!” the older Kumo duo didn’t seem convinced and that just made Naruto slightly more nervous. He wasn’t used to people caring about him like this, the last people to worry about him were gone, and the way they were looking at him was just bringing up those memories, “I-I should go back to my team, take care!” the orange clad boy nearly fled, giving a wave over his shoulder.

“Watch yourself, Na-chan…” Xiao said under her breath watching the poor boy join the group of his peers, not one of them seeming to care he rejoined them. A hand came down on her shoulder causing the dusky-pinkette to look into the face of her partner, giving an encouraging smile. She just pouted at him, “What?”

“Nothing,” Oku smiled at her, “Just glad you’re still the kind, caring, big-sis to everyone, I know!”

His earnest words caused her to blush slightly as she scowled at him, turning back towards their grouchy leader and shrugging off his comforting hand, “S-shut up, Oku…”

-----

“Uh, hey guys, what’s going on?” Naruto asked after trotting over to the group of Rookies. They were crowded around another Konoha shinobi with grey hair and glasses that was swirling around a card on the ground. The blonde boy just made a pouting foxish face as he pointed at the stranger, “And who’s this guy, dattebayou?”

“Name’s Yakushi Kabuto, apparently he’s been to these exams a number of times,” Shikamaru commented, standing not far away from the blonde boy who questioned with his teammates. The black haired boy sounded bored but kept his eyes on the card Kabuto was spinning, “Apparently he’s got a lot of info on everyone here…”

“Everyone?” a blonde brow rose as Naruto glanced from the lazy boy to the new guy. With a poof! The card stopped spinning and showed a picture of Rock Lee and a bunch of stats, “Hey!” the boy pointed with a frown, “That’s Gejimayu!”

“No kidding dobe,” Sasuke frowned next to Kabuto, looking over the stats of the boy that beat him.

“This guy’s totally unbalanced,” Hitomaru, the boy in black from Team 8, spoke up, rubbing his chin in thought, “He’s nothing but pure taijutsu, how does a guy like that function as a ninja?”

Sasuke just growled, choosing to ignore the boy’s comment, turning black eyes to Kabuto, “Can you show anyone else, like foreigners?”

The older shinobi pushed up his glasses, giving a frustrated frown, “Y-yes, but typically I don’t have as much information on them…”

The last Uchiha didn’t care, glaring at the man, “Gaara of the Sand, and those three over there,” without care he pointed directly at the Kumo-nin. The other Rookies followed his finger and most of them shuddered, remembering what happened only moments ago, except Naruto.

Noticing they were being looked at, Xiao leaned back in her chair repeating the childish gesture she gave Kabuto earlier, Oku sighing next to her shaking his head and Yorihi didn’t even respond.

“Ugh, what’s with that girl,” Ino, of all people, complained, loudly. She was the female member of Team 10 along with Shikamaru and Chouji, sporting a purple top halter top and matching skirt with wrappings underneath, topped off with the signature Yamanaka long blonde hair in a ponytail and powder blue eyes.  She had her arms crossed in a haughty huff, “They obviously don’t teach girls over there feminine etiquette…”

There were a few snickers, as Ino was not quiet in the least, but the most obvious response was from the dusky-pinkette in question, standing up and stating quite loudly as her partner tried to get her to sit back down, “Hell no! I’m going to break her fucking legs!” the ensuing scuffle wasn’t worth mentioning as it mainly consisted of Oku pulling her down and her yelling at him to shut up, like normal…

Suffice it to say the Rookies shuddered.

“O-kay…” Kabuto just pushed up his glasses, ignoring the rest, shuffling his deck of info cards and drawing four, spinning each in their own turn and with a Poof! Something showed up on each, “Well… that’s… a thing…” the older genin was frowning as he scratched the back of his neck, not expecting those kinds of stats on any of them.

The Rookies’ surprised reactions were summed up quite nicely by Kiba, “The fuck’s with those mission numbers?”

Gaara’s card was practically blank. His stats were just question marks with his teammates being Temari and Kankurou with someone none of them had seen as their jounin instructor and that he’d completed and unknown number of D-ranks, 8 C-ranks, and 1 B-rank with a comment about how he completed all his missions without getting a single scratch.

Oku and Xiao’s cards were nearly identical, only their stats differing with Oku having an obvious proficiency in Ninja Tools and Xiao in Ninjutsu. It labeled them as ‘partners’ with their sensei being ‘Nii Yugito’, having completed 0 D-ranks, 26 C-ranks, 13 B-ranks, and 1 A-rank.

Yorihi’s was the strangest. Like Gaara’s her stats were nothing but question marks, with someone none of them had seen listed as her ‘partner’ and someone else as her ‘sensei’. Her mission record was 0 D-ranks, 24 C-ranks, 15 B-ranks, and 3 A-ranks.

“Why don’t they have any D-ranks listed?” Sakura couldn’t help but ask out loud.

“Because D-rank missions are for Academy students or civilians,” a harsh voice called out to them, causing all of the Rookies to freeze and back away since none of them had realized the blind girl of Kumo had walked up behind them. The group parted before her and Yorihi walked ahead without resistance, leaning down to grab her card and run her hand over it. She snorted, a somewhat snide smirk crossing her face, “This thing is at least 6 months out of date,” instead of returning the card she crushed it in her hand and burned it with chakra, “Those two are dead and you’re missing at least twelve A and B ranked missions…” she tossed the ash to the ground in front of her before turning as if to leave.

Unfortunately there was someone standing in her way by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. The last loyal Uchiha glared at the plate covering the girl’s eyes, spotting his own narrow and angry black ones in the reflection, “Don’t think you can look down on us just because of that card,” a smug sneer passed his face, “Obviously your village is just more willing to get rid of you…”

The area was quiet before Yorihi gave a long sigh, “Your village may be willing to baby you but we don’t have that luxury,” she stepped forward, one hand on her sword as she leaned close to the dark haired boy, “And obviously I can’t ‘look down on’ anyone. Judge you? Based on obvious data, yes I can and I will.” The girl tilted her chin over her shoulder, gesturing to the card she burned up and the others remaining, “Those missions I mentioned,” her plate returned to staring at Sasuke, “Those were all solo, completed successfully and in a fraction of the time allots, so yes, I will make the safe guess I’m better than you, all of you,” her voice lowered to a growl at the end but she took a moment to pause, considering her words carefully and let it sink in to them, “But the only real difference between us? Experience,” taking a step forward she walked past the supposed ‘Rookie of the Year’, hitting his shoulder with her own, smirking as he scowled, “So yea, my village may have been trying to kill me, but it just made me that much stronger…”

Sasuke could only grit his teeth at the girl’s calm words as she walked away. He turned, hands in tight fists and wanting more than anything to drop her down to the ground-

But then he and rest of the room were reminded just how far down they were from the Kumo-nin. In the time it took Yorihi to take three steps, standing in the middle of room with both columns of desks in front and behind her as she walked back to her seat and crowded divide next to her an attack came that none of them saw.

Even worse? It was blocked, countered and rendered useless faster than it came…

One second Yorihi was walking, the next she paused in the center of the room where Xiao was standing in front of her, smirk firmly in place on her dark features and standing in a pose with her left hand at her side holding two kunai and her right hand in a fist thrust to the sky… a boy from the Hidden Sound ricocheting off the ceiling from where he’d been uppercutted by the dusky-pinkette. As the boy with the wrapped head and strange fur cloak came down red eyes danced over a growing devil’s grin.

None of them had seen the attack coming yet the other Kumo girl had it taken care of before it could even occur.

… and somehow, judging by the ease with which she turned, Yorihi had sensed both without even trying.

The blind girl just frowned at the stunned crowd as Xiao moved to the side giving her full access, “Is that the best you can do?” she gave a dismissive snort, “Some no body from a minor village tries to attack me because what? I call a bunch of rookies weak? Because they called him weak?” her frown spread as she gripped one of her swords, “Come at me, all of you, I’m waiting…”

None of them moved. Had it been anyone else, had she not said the challenge so calmly, so apathetic… had she not mentioned her mission record…

“Tch, cowards,” the blind girl of Kumo simply moved, walking back to her seat. 

Only to swiftly turn around and grab a fist with her right palm. It didn’t take a second to recognize him, his movements were clumsy at best and didn’t have a shred of the kind of stealth or precision it should have, but if there was one thing she could say about Uzumaki Naruto that she’d learned in that moment, he had guts when it counted.

The blonde boy had a wide toothy grin and something about his eyes said he knew he couldn’t take her, yet he was doing it anyway. Why? Who knows, some people just can’t say ‘no’ to a challenge no matter how outmatched or outclassed they are they just have to take it anyway, not even to prove a point, just because they could. It was one of those moments he could and no one else would, so maybe that was enough…

The edge of her lips rose but Naruto was the only one in position to see it, widening his grin in response…

That all happened in an instant, as immediately Yorihi’s reflexes took over and she dragged his fist toward her, forcing him to over balance and hit him in the chest with her other fist. He surprised by rolling with the punch, his captive hand he couldn’t retrieve from her grip limited his range of motion so he took the brunt of the damage and just rolled to the side with it, gabbing her fist with his own and forcing them into what would normally be a deadlock. But Naruto, clueless as he could be, wasn’t foolish enough to think he had a chance of holding her in place, so immediately tried kneeing her in the chest while simultaneously rolling under her arm, getting into her guard. She locked his leg in at her chest with her freed hand and altered position to do the same with his initial fist. Being literally trapped in a position that could only result in a throw Naruto did the best thing he could think of…

He headbutted her, ironically as she did the exact same, for a short period of time both saw stars.

But Yorihi still had the advantage of experience and superior training, while the boy was stunned completely her body moved of its own accord. She didn’t need sight and pain didn’t faze her, so immediately after the blow she was turning, gaining momentum and literally threw Naruto bodily into the crowd of stunned genin.

The blonde boy managed to regain himself quick enough to scream like a girl as he went bodily into a crowd of hostiles that likely wanted to kill him as much as her, thankfully she seemed the bigger target and while hitting several other genin quickly met the ground, no one paying him any mind.

Yorihi on the other hand was grinning, smiling like a devil in such a way her Father would be proud as she faced the crowd, battle ready and hoping someone else took the bait.

“SETTLE DOWN YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!!”

With a loud booming POOF! The front stage of the room seemed to explode, as the smoke cleared it was filled with over twenty Konoha shinobi in grey outfits with a large bear of a man standing in the middle with a long black jacket and scars covering his face.

Most of the genin tensed, jumping away from the stage or going back to their seats, obvious fear written all over them. Naruto was left in the center of the aisle, picking himself up and rubbing his head confused by the sudden movement before turning around and seeing the imposing proctors, “Ehh!”

They didn’t seem to notice him, or care, as the leader in the black trench coat pulled out a black gloved hand and pointed directly at Yorihi, “Kumo shinobi, sit down and stop screwing around unless you want to fail right now!”

A frown spread across the blind girl’s face but she turned and went back to her seat.

The large man’s dark eyes remained on the girl until she sat down completely, her two comrades giving him and the rest of the proctors’ looks but didn’t seem anywhere near as intimidated as the rest. He just kept up the frown, moving his eyes over the other genin hopefuls, “I’m Morino Ibiki, and as far as any of you little shit-stains are concerned I’m your god so long as you are in this room. I’m the examiner for the first test and it will be my choice and mine alone whether you fail or not…”

There was a whistle from the back, “Sca-ry~” it was Xiao, blinking unimpressed as she propped her head on one hand, “Kinda reminds me of Ruri-sensei, huh?”

“I was thinking more like Kuri-sensei to be honest,” next to her Oku was rubbing his chin, staring at the large man in the front with squinty eyes.

“Tch,” Yorihi just snorted in her corner, crossing her arms, “My grandmother’s scarier than this guy…”

In the time it took everyone else in the room to realize what she’d said, the large man had disappeared from the stage. Frantically genin looked around trying to find where the big scary guy went, most of them freezing in place when a huge ominous black figure loomed over the blind Kumo girl.

“Is that so…” a dark voice called from behind the Yorihi.

Oku and Xiao turned immediately at the voice, more surprised and tense ready for a fight then afraid at his sudden appearance.

Ibiki ignored the other two, staring down at the blind girl from Kumo. The proctors had been watching the room as the prospective genin showed up and their ensuing squabbles, manipulating the clock so they didn’t show up until the right moment. All the genin were stressed and tense, thanks to the upcoming exam itself, which wasn’t good for a group of people trained to kill, hate each other, and access to chakra. Fights were going to break out, they were supposed to break out, but it became obvious to him that the Kumo genin weren’t stressed, weren’t scared, if anything they were bored. He didn’t know if this was false bravado like he’d seen in many Kumo shinobi before, overconfident in their abilities and just antagonizing everyone around them, but he couldn’t have that. He needed everyone to be scared out of their minds, unable to think straight and easy to manipulate, otherwise there could be problems.

But there was just something about this girl, the leader of the Kumo trio, that seemed completely unflappable. If he didn’t know any better or hadn’t seen all their transcripts he’d almost think she was a jounin plant meant to just pull her two genin subordinates along to victory. He wouldn’t put it past Kumo and it’s not like it hadn’t happened before, he just needed to know if she was going to play along at the very least or get rid of her now, “Tell me about her?”

The girl tilted her head back, obviously taking a moment to think over her answer before finally asking, “Ever heard of the Bloody Captain of Kumo or the Black Oni of Company 1?”

Ibiki would never admit it and certainly didn’t show it but that surprised him. He was Konoha’s lead T&I expert, he knew the names of all the experts the other villages had, especially the major five. There were few people in the world he never wanted to be on the opposite side of an interrogation with, even less he wanted to be so much as in the same room as, the true ‘professionals’ of their line of work were not people to screw with even if they were strapped down and drugged. So yes, he knew the name those titles belonged to, one of the most brutal torturers Kumo ever produced. He kept his entire body in check, the only sign of any distress in his person was an increase in blood flow as he calmly confirmed his suspicion, “Your grandmother?”

The blind girl gave a nod but lowered her hands to in front of her on the desk, her next words obviously aimed at him but far less antagonizing then previously, “If you know of her then you know your mind games won’t work on me or my teammates, though feel free to try, Morino-Taichou.”

The large man just crossed his arms, giving this wide grin and releasing his killing intent in a way that scared the piss out of anyone else nearby. The two other Kumo-nin tensed, obviously feeling it, but the blind girl didn’t budge still. Not that he was trying to intimidate her, if the girl had any idea what her ‘grandmother’ could do there really was nothing he could do to scare her, but the way she addressed him told him she wasn’t there to interfere. She would play along and that’s all he needed to know, “We’ll see,” he said cryptically before slowly walking back to the front, towering over the participants and giving them an extra dose of why he was not a man to fuck with.

As soon as the bear of a man was gone Xiao leaned over to her blind friend, speaking behind her hand in a whisper, “I take it back, that guy is freaky as fuck and way scarier than Ruri-sensei…”

The blind girl just shrugged with a minute smile, “Then pray you never have to deal with my Grandmother when she’s being serious…” unconsciously she shuddered. Dealing with creeps who specialized in terrorizing students was one thing, Moe-sensei definitely fell into that category and this guy was listed as a major sadist in the bingo book, so she could respect him at least that much, but even then, both those two were nothing compared to the torture illusion she had gone through with her Grandmother, that woman brought a whole new meaning to the words ‘creative’ and ‘sadist’ once she got going.

Ibiki almost sauntered up the stage, the remaining proctors breaking for him without word, as he grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing things ominously on the chalkboard. After several long grueling ticks, the sound of chalk hitting slate being the only grating noise in the silent room, the large bear of a man finally stopped, purposely setting down the chalk and turning slowly towards the room of genin with that same imposing dark look, “First things first, all of you maggots get in a line, you will be handed a number and that will be your designated seat for the remainder of this test. The faster you slackers get to your seats the sooner we can hand out the test and we can get started,” his open pale slammed on the chalk board causing the most nervous genin to jump, “These are the rules, read them, memorize them, commit them to memory as these are the only things that will save your worthless hides during this test…”

The silence that followed was deafening as no one move.

The large man growled ominously, smacking the board with his fist and glaring death at all them, “I SAID MOVE!”

The result was instantaneous, all the genin jumped and formed a line as quickly as possible, signing in and taking numbers to designated seats from the proctors.

The Kumo trio were some of the last genin to move, namely because they wanted to scout out the new set up as much as possible and maybe even manipulate things to their advantage. The only reason they weren’t ‘the last’ in line was because Ibiki glared at them directly, as if reading their minds and with a disappointed grunt Yorihi was the first one up followed quickly by Xiao and Oku.

As with all things the red eyed medic was the first to complain as they were half way through the line, “Know what, scratch that, this guy is seriously giving me a Moe-sensei vibe,” the dusky-pinkette rubbed her chin in serious thought, “Maybe if she were a guy, she’d be tall and burly like him? That’s the opposite of pure moe right? Being a bear?” her answer was only shrugs from the other two Kumo genin and strange looks from everyone else around them.

Soon enough they had their numbers and went to where directed to sit. Yorihi was mildly annoyed the proctor thought it necessarily to give her specific directions, “Three rows up, right of center, the seat next to the aisle.” If it weren’t for the charming smile the bandage wearing man gave her she may have just punched him for his presumption. Even without her eyes she could find the seat, and even then it probably just annoyed her more since the chuunin obviously thought less of her for her ‘lack of sight’, despite whatever she’d displayed, not to mention she could honestly not remember the last time someone did such for her. Back in Kumo despite the fact everyone accepted she was blind they did not act or openly think less of her for it, to be reminded of such was… annoying, at best.

She gripped the numbered tile in her hand, rubbed her thumb across it for show and walked without care to her new seat. Roughly she dropped into it, put her feet up on the desk like she had been previously and crossed her arms, marginally ‘upset’ by the turn of events. She hated being surrounded by people and she hated not having her team nearby, not to mention the idiots in front and behind her were nervously cowering in fear and her primary instinct to that was to hit them or something until they stopped. To be ruled by fear was a weakness Kumo did not abide.

Xiao was in the far back on the right side of her, two seats from the wall, one desk in from the back wall. Oku and Lior were on the opposite side towards the middle, next to the windows. She was in the proverbial front as close to center as possible. There was no doubt in Yorihi’s mind that any claims of ‘random’ of their seating arrangement was bullshit, the three of them were as separated as possible, more so then some of the other teams. This thought did bring a grin to her face, obviously they were considered the biggest targets and should be separated as much as possible, though they failed to realize Kumo-nin were actually more dangerous alone then in groups. –As Father always put it, you only have to think about yourself when you’re alone and just smash anything else that gets nearby…- crude but a tried and true method to the overwhelming numbers Kumo-nin tended to fight by themselves.

Thunk!

There was a round of genin jumping in their seats with a gasp. Yorihi barely moved, lowering her brows as if to glare in front of her. One of the proctors had thrown a kunai that stabbed right next to her leg, the message was obvious: ‘feet down’. With barely a sound and a scowl on her face she simply removed raised her legs, scrunching them close to her and setting them on the ground beneath the desk. When the front to feet of her chair hit the ground several genin jumped again, these guys were far too easy to freak out. Then as if to just be even more obstinate the blind girl leaned forward, grabbing the kunai and started twirling it around on her finger.

Ibiki had to push down the urge to grin. The kid was a natural at pissing everyone off around her, great at being a distraction and grabbing all the hate in a room, even from the chuunin under his command. Without a word she had everyone in the room trained on her, even adding to the tense atmosphere. –Hmp, there’s no doubt about it…- there really wasn’t, no one did stuff like that naturally, they learned it, and she certainly learned from one of the best.

But admiring another T&I master’s handiwork wasn’t why he was here…

Thin black eyes glanced at the proctors next to him, sending them the signal to start moving. Quickly the grey clad chuunin were going through the rows handing out papers. It was somewhat enjoyable to watch the various reactions of the genin, a good chunk starting to obviously freak out at the sight of a paper test.

One such was right next to Yorihi, “SERIOUSLY!! A PAPER TEST!!” Naruto had jumped up and was tugging on his blonde hair, shaking all over and freaking out.

“SIT DOWN!!” the large bear of a T&I captain’s voice boomed through the room, keeping anyone else on the verge of jumping up and screaming in their seat.

Tattooed brows moved in a manner suggesting she was rolling her eyes as the girl audible groaned, “Tch,” without a word her hand closest to the blonde reached out, grabbing his jacket and tugged him down forcing him into his seat with a yelp.

“Hmp,” the large scarred man put his gloved hands in his jacket pockets as his thin eyes roamed over the blind girl. She had this frown on her face that was obviously annoyed and impatient, and she kept twirling that kunai from earlier. He liked to think she understood his little grunt was a ‘thank you’ for dragging the loud boy back down, he didn’t need the outbursts or distractions to ruin his carefully crafted tension. His dark eyes scanned the room, already several of the genin were strung out and ready to run, this was going to be too damn easy, “What you have in front of you is the first test,” he slammed his hand on the chalk board enjoying as many of the squeaked, “As you can see, it’s got a few rules…”

There was a snort not far in front of him and it was obvious who did it.

The large man’s smirk turned a bit darker, knowing it wouldn’t affect the blind girl, but hey why waste the opportunity to scare those that could see it, “I’ll read them aloud for those of you unable to,” there was a snicker from the back right, likely the Kumo genin they sent over there, “Questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully! Rule number one: this is a ten question test, everyone here starts off with ten points total and lose one for each question answered incorrectly.”

He lowered his hand, putting them behind his back and glaring out at the students, watching their reactions, “Rule number two: this is a team test, meaning that passing is determined by the combined score of all three members of the team. All teams will compete to see who can hold onto their initial 30 points-”

“Wait!! Hold on a second!!” a girl yelled from a few tables behind Yorihi, it was that girl Sakura from Naruto’s team, “I don’t even understand the first part, but why is this a team test?!”

“SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!” Ibiki’s voice boomed through the room, vibrating through everyone and everything as his narrow glare zeroed in on the loud girl interrupting him, “Speak again and you and your team fails automatically, none of you have the right to question, so listen up!”

Taking out a piece of chalk he loudly, and deliberately slowly, circled the next two rules emphasizing their point, “If you had bothered to read this you may know why this is a team test,” setting the chalk down he turned back to the students, “Rule number three: anyone caught doing something illegal, such as cheating, by the proctors will be deducted two points for each offense…”

That caught the three Kumo genin’s attention.

Ibiki could only grin, watching as the blind girl’s tattooed brow rose, wondering if it was that easy for her to pick out the point of the rules, “… So there will be those who lose all their points during the test, they will be asked to leave.” Yep, it seemed several of the genin prospective were interested now, he just wondered how they would act, might as well push it just a bit further, maybe nail it into their heads for the denser ones. His continued grin and smug look terrified some of the students but he had their attention, “Realize that those pathetic enough to get caught cheating are only destroying themselves, those seeking to attain the rank of Chuunin should be proud ninja.”

A kind of devious smirk passed over the Kumo girl’s lips. Every proctor saw it and saw matching grins from her comrades. Of all genin present those three just relaxed, visibly, making all the chuunin watching curious about what was going on in their heads and knowing they would have to be watched most of all.

There may have been a plate covering her eyes but Morino Ibiki knew that grin, it was the kind any T&I expert worth their salt gave when they just found the lynch pin to an interrogation. –This is going to be interesting…- “And Finally,” his voice boomed, gaining the attention of genin and chuunin alike, “The final and most important rule of this test. Rule number four: Those that lose all their initial points or those that don’t answer any questions correctly fail along with their two teammates.”

“WHAT?!” there was a loud chorus of shocked cries and outrage, but mostly just many of them screaming that in confusion.

Next to her Yorihi could feel Naruto whimpering as she scrubbed his head, mumbling, “I sense two people wanting to kill me…”

“Tch,” the blind girl just snorted, still spinning the kunai from earlier as a dark smirk rose on her lips. –This is going to be fun…- she could feel Bachiko around her grinning like the demon cat he was, they loved torture and pranks and this test was shaping up to be one big one. The rules were simple and had a basic plan and structure to them, looking at them at face value they were confusing as hell, but together they painted an interesting picture. She could tell Oku and Xiao were giving her knowing looks, Bachiko confirmed it for her, they could see it just as plainly as she could. –Guess Kemui-sama’s classes weren’t completely wasted…- before the test even began the Kumo trio knew this test was a matter of intelligence gathering, but they’d learned something else just as important from the same person. –Wherever there’s Intelligence gathering there’s Counter-Intelligence, this is going to be fun…- rarely did they have the opportunity in such a closed environment to test out those abilities, so why would any of them pass on the opportunity?

A strange feeling passed over Ibiki’s shoulders, something he hadn’t felt in a long time and wasn’t sure how to interpret. Despite not being anywhere near one another the three Kumo genin got the same smug, eager, excited looks on their faces, as if they’d all come to the same conclusion and were somehow confirming it with one another despite being so far apart. –Are they simply that well trained?- it was something he’d have to indulge in finding out later, there had been enough stalling. Looking out over the genin, most nervous, those three eager for some reason, others even bored, it was time to get this show started.

“The test will last one hour,” his voice echoed in many genin’s heads as most tensed, “BEGIN!!”

While other genin rushed to flip over their papers starting to write, Yorihi the blind girl from Kumo just grinned. It was time to show them what Kumo could really do.

-----

Toge – Splinter, thorn, spine, biting words

Chapter Text

There was a long drawn out sigh, “It sure is boring just waiting around,” Hatake Kakashi scratched the top of his unruly grey hair.

There was a deep chuckle across from him and a click as the man with the dark burly beard lit the cigarette in his mouth, “Don’t worry, we’ll get a mission soon enough.” His name was Sarutobi Asuma and was often told he looked much like his father, the third Hokage, in his youth; dark Sarutobi hair, beard, kind brown eyes with a grin though his father had a pipe instead of a cigarette.

“I just hope our students are alright, they should have started the test by now,” about a foot away from Asuma sat Yuuhi Kurenai, now a jounin though instead of sporting the rank’s flak jacket she wore an odd wrap around her like a dress with one long red sleeve. Her red eyes glared at the two men who just seemed to share a look and shrug, causing her to frown, “What?”

“Oh, I’m sure they’re doing fine,” Kakashi’s annoying eye-smile faced the female jounin causing her wary frown to spread.

“I doubt it,” there was a deep chuckle from Asuma, taking out his cigarette and breathing out smoke, “They have that guy as the examiner,” a large hand waved dismissively, “I’ve got faith in my kids but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them come home after this…”

“Who is it?” a well-trimmed brow rose on the female jounin as her red eyes stared at the man next to her.

Asuma leaned forward, excited to answer her question-

“Morino Ibiki,” only for another voice to pop up across from the three. As one the three Konoha jounin turned to see a blonde woman with a large grin leaning over the back of the sofa in front of them, her head propped in her hands and giving the impression of a smirking cat, “From what I hear he’s a pretty good T&I captain, really able to get into your head and mess around…”

The three Konoha jounin tensed, all five of their visible eyes centering in on the black band around her head displaying the Kumo insignia.

When no one responded Yugito opened her iron black eyes and blinked at them childishly, “did I say something weird?” her head tilted innocently as she noticed how tense they all were, “Ne?”

“Ahahaha,” Kakashi seemed to be the first to break the awkward silence, seemingly nervously scratching the back of his head while eye-smiling at the young woman, “Sorry, sorry, I just don’t think we expected to see a foreign shinobi come this way and join our silly little conversation…”

The blonde woman seemed to give a truly adorable smirk before standing up momentarily then vaulting over the back of the sofa to sit down quite comfortably, arms out stretched on the back rest, legs crossed and smiling widely at the three Konoha Jounin, “Nah, nah, forget about it, we’re all friends here, fellow instructors discussing our kids and the hardships they must endure together!”

“That’s a little over-dramatic,” Asuma mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his forehead with the hand holding his cigarette. Next to him Kurenai just crossed her arms and seemed to stare intently at the ‘intruder’.

“Not at all,” despite the comment meant to be ‘not heard’ the blonde cheerily waved it off, “It’s been some time since our villages have participated in an Exams together, the least we can do is show support for one another…”

“There’s good reason for that,” red eyes glared at the flaky seeming woman. The last time Kurenai had to deal with Kumo shinobi within the village it was escorting a dear friend to see the Hokage after he’d been mutilated by them, not to mention the weird one that kept hitting on her or the tall one with red eyes like hers glaring the whole time. As far as she was concerned experiences with Kumo-nin were best not had.

Again Yugito seemed to stop grinning long enough to give a confused look, blinking as she stared at the woman, then literally pointing out, “Hey, you’ve got red eyes!” her only response from the woman across from her was deepening of her glare, which only caused the cat woman to grin that much wider, “So does my student, wonder if you guys are related?”

“Doubtful,” the Genjutsu Mistress could only close her eyes in a huff, wanting nothing more than for her to get on with whatever charade the blonde was playing at.

“Hmhm,” Kakashi chuckled in his throat gaining their attention, “Might I ask why you came over to join our little group, miss…?” again leaving the end open waiting for a name without asking.

Now a truly wicked cat grin passed the blonde woman’s face, “Oh please, Kakashi-kun, don’t pretend you don’t know who I am?” sly iron black eyes looked over the group of jounin, at least they didn’t bother pretending to be surprised, “We all know who each other is here, Sarutobi Asuma,” a pale hand pointed at the man with the cigarette, “Yuuhi Kurenai,” the woman with the red eyes, “And last but certainly not least, the Copy-cat Ninja himself, Hatake Kakashi,” and finally the man eye-smiling at her the whole time. Her smirk turned playful as she pointed back to herself, “And you all know I’m Nii Yugito, Kumo’s Nibi Jinchuuriki, so there’s no need to dance around any subjects, khehehe…”

The other two jounin seemed to tense slightly at confirmation of who she was, but Kakashi just kept up his aloof eyeball grinning, “Well, I was only trying to be polite…”

“Indeed,” the cat smirked at the cycloptic man before waving her hand, “Though I’ll admit I did just come over here because I heard you guys talking about your students and the test, even we know about Morino Ibiki, and if our T&I is interested in someone outside our village that means they have to be good right?”

The smoker just grinned at the jovial blonde, “Well when you put it that way,” he leaned back seemingly comfortable taking a long drag, “It’s said even without touching you he can get inside your head and get you to reveal any secrets, it’s all a kind of sadistic game he plays…”

The wide cat-who-ate-the-cannery grin on the blonde woman spread.

A dark brow rose over red eyes, “You’re not worried about your students dealing with such a man?”

What left Yugito’s mouth was a completely undignified snort, “I said our T&I was interested in him, though I doubt what he can really do would be allowed in a test like this,” that wicked cat grin spread, “But we’ve got our own psychopaths and sadists, one of which teaches at our Academy who loves to put the kids in their place,” Black eyes zeroed in on the woman with red ones, “In fact she’s one of our most proficient Genjutsu users, you might like her if you ever had the chance to meet her,” the minor stare off such a statement caused between the women quickly deflated as the blonde Jinchuuriki shuddered and scratched the back of her head nervously, “Ehehehe, not that any of us really enjoy her company…”

“Hoho?” the man in the mask waved his hand friendly at the shuddering blonde, “The Nibi container afraid of someone?”

A closed eyed cat glare met the cyclops, “You would be too if you knew the woman,” then she snorted, leaning back and waving it off as if no problem at all, “Though I hear the woman that trained her is even worse…” at the sudden decrease in temperature Yugito noticed the three jounin relatively just staring at her, “Er, I mean…” she coughed into her hand nonchalant then pulling out a winning grin, “I’m sure my students are doing just fine!”

-----

15 minutes in and the chaos finally started…

The first shot fired was the kunai the blind girl from Kumo had been twirling the whole time finally being let go, only to hit something in the ceiling resulting in a mirror apparatus falling on top of the girl with bun hair. The crash in the looming silence of the room along with the Tenten’s yelp was enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room…

Except the girl that had thrown the kunai. She was only smirking.

The next attack came from the girl in the back with red eyes and dusky-pink hair. Xiao was boredly twiddling her pen when a fly started buzzing around her paper. She watched it for a good long second before its buzzing apparently annoyed her to the point she charged a ridiculous amount of lightning in her hand and sent a charged pulse throughout most of the room. Flies in every part of room suddenly dropped from the skies, much to the squeak and internal twitching of Aburame Shino.

The next came in the form of rampant growling underneath several participants’ desks. More than one chuunin hopeful yelped and jumped up, holding their chest sweating and some even stood on top of their chairs to get away from the monster that was stalking near them. Lior was skulking about, swiping at several participants’ feet as he charged around seemingly looking for something to eat. He stopped at the chair of Inuzuka Kiba, sniffed his leg and seemed to just start growling immensely. Kiba himself tensed, remembering the look on the wicked badger’s face and tried not to move hoping that would get him to leave. Akamaru who had been sitting on his head glared fury down at the black, white and grey beast only to start barking at him. One look from Lior sent the puppy yelping in to his master’s hood. Once the puppy was outside Lior’s sight the growly badger seemed to wonder off allowing the Inuzuka to finally breathe.

There were some more subtle attacks as well. Bored out of her mind, Yorihi had grabbed her numbered tile and started tapping it on her desk. It wasn’t Morse code or anything, just annoying noise, though it seemed to get to some people as one of the Sound genin snapped his pencil in half. Xiao started stretching in the back, making a lot of provocative sounds, drawing the obvious attention of many of the hormonal boys and desperate men, even a few women. Oku started snapping his fingers, each one seeming to coincide with some snapping-pop near some of the participants but there was no chakra and no way to tie it to him other than coincidence.

Suffice it to say the participating genin were tense and stressed out of their minds, not just from people being called out but from the ‘interference’ from the Kumo trio.

It took everything the large terrifying T&I captain had to keep the dickish smirk off his face. In the years that Ibiki had proctored this test not once had he ever had students within the ranks not under his very own instruction wreak such havoc. The whole point of this test was seeing if the participating genin could gather information, clearly the Kumo-nin interpreted it differently, or they felt there was no need to do such and instead focused on counter-intelligence. They, along with the tense atmosphere, were making it exceptionally hard for many of the participants to gather information let alone even try. He’d notice more than once a genin think about cheating only for that badger to pop up and growl at their feet making them lose the thought, or they got distracted from the girl in the back, or even the noise the three were making just grated on several to the point they blundered epically. It was a beautiful, irritating chaos that the master interrogator was enjoying immensely.

Unfortunately it seemed he was the only one enjoying the show. Several of the proctors kept giving him looks, some even marking the antics against the Kumo kids. Well if he wanted the entertainment to continue it seems he’d have to intervene personally.

Stalking down the center aisle and causing more than one genin to squeak and stiffen in their seat, Ibiki made to stand next to the blind Kumo girl’s seat. She’d stopped her bored tapping once his presence was obvious, turning her head just enough to acknowledge him. For a second Ibiki looked over her desk, her paper was face up and entirely blank, the pencil provided nearby untouched and the girl herself seemed more bored than anything. A dark brow rose, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Taking a test,” she answered bluntly.

His glare intensified though he doubted she had any way of noticing, “Without answering a single question?”

She held up her hands, showing they were empty with a pouting frown on her face, “I can read well enough but I was never good at writing anything, it says there’s a tenth question available after 45 minutes, so I’m just waiting for that,” placing her hands down she crossed her arms and faced him more completely, “Unless you want me to tell you the answers, I’m good at figuring out this stuff in my head with a good memory for it, but I think that would just cause a lot of others to eavesdrop and lose points…”

Again Ibiki had to force back a smirk, either the girl was lying about her writing ability and waiting till the end or she was telling the truth and bored out of her mind. Either way she wasn’t ‘taking’ the test he wanted her to take, “And the disruptions?” he knew she knew what he was talking about, she was entirely too calm and too aware to not have noticed. Call him curious but he wanted to know her reasoning behind what she and her teammates were doing.

The blind girl simply shrugged, “there’s nothing in the rules you stated that says it’s against the rules to prevent others from cheating, only that cheating itself was punished,” the way she worded it made him convinced she knew exactly what she was saying and purposely saying it as such. Fishing was a technique people learned in his line of work that got easier with time, make a blunt statement see how people react and slowly whittle it down until you have exactly what you need. The flaw in it was that it was purely circumstantial but for those that weren’t quick to nitpick or point that out it was as good as the honest truth. She was picking the rules themselves apart, remembering his words exactly and using that they weren’t distinctly stated as a loop hole to do what she and her team pleased.

Technically, she wasn’t wrong. In front of him was ‘proof’ she wasn’t cheating, as far as he could tell or prove, as she hadn’t written anything down, so all her ‘interference’ was just that, interference and technically that wasn’t illegal.

It had been a long time since a genin had the balls to pull technicalities on him, “Hmp,” his hands went to his hips making his already imposing form even more so as several of the students nearby shuddered obviously, "that’s a big technicality, so what if you are not cheating, what about your teammates? They’re actions are just as disruptive, how do we know they’re not cheating?”

The girl snorted, settling lower in her chair, “Because neither of them have set their pen to paper in the past ten minutes, they answered what they could right off the bat and have since only been defending their answers…” another huff as she nodded towards the big man, “Someone like you should understand that sometimes it’s more important to prevent others from gaining information then gaining it yourself.”

This time Ibiki let the smirk slip, he could only assume the girl’s grandmother taught her well, “It’s still disrupting this test, tone it down or I’ll have to make an addendum to the rules…”

The girl had her own smirk below the insignia of Kumo, tenting her hands in front of her and facing the man, “Of course, Morino-Taichou…” at the end of her words she could feel Xiao and Oku turn over their papers, their fun was had, for now.

Not that that meant she was done quite yet.

As Ibiki turned around, stalking the aisle again and causing other students to piss themselves, the blind girl couldn’t help but smirk as her feline partner materialized himself on the large bear’s shoulders. He was likely not giving himself any weight, so he just appeared to be sitting there without giving the T&I captain himself reason to think he was there. Bachiko grinned a wide wicked Cheshire grin with vibrant blue eyes as several of the genin gasped.

“M-Morino-san!!” one boy from Suna jumped up, pointing at the man’s back only for the cat to disappear the moment any of the proctors bothered to look. “Ah-ah…” the genin’s words caught in his throat as he now had the intense gaze of the head proctor, with a whine he sat back down thinking he was crazy.

But he wasn’t, several of the genin had seen it as well…

In fact when Ibiki turned around again the cat reappeared, on his head. There were several more squeals and squirming genin, some even thinking they’d just finally snapped under the pressure and burying their heads in their tests. Others got called out by the proctors, who for some reason couldn’t see the demon cat.

The next time Bachiko disappeared everyone tensed, wondering, waiting, fearing where it would show up next…

Koumori Hitomaru figured it was a genjutsu, likely one of the proctors capitalizing on the mischief the Kumo genin had been causing to scare the genin some more. It was a fake cat and a terrible illusion, he would know, his sensei was the best Genjutsu specialist Konoha had! “Tch,” turning back to his test he listened now for the ultrasonic chirps from the bats he had hanging on the ceiling. They were little things, no more than 5cm in length and relatively the same color as the ceiling tiles. He had a few up there, each scouting with their small eyes for answers and sending them back to him via ultrasonic noise. All the commotion the Kumo genin had been making previously had made it difficult for him to accurately interpret the Intel, now that they’d stopped it should be easy-

At least he thought it would be until one of his bats dropped onto his desk, its wing bit off.

There was a squeak from the boy as he held out his hand to the bat, its ultrasonic cries heard only by him and its brethren before it quickly died from shock. Glancing up with severe dread Hitomaru could only gap at what he saw.

That cat, that fucking cat was up there, on the ceiling, upside down… and EATING HIS BATS!!

The noise that escaped his throat could not be properly interpreted by human ears, it was a squeal of rage and sorrow. His babies, that he’d spent time training and raising, where being slaughter on the ceiling while everyone else was taking a stupid test!!

As soon as the evil cat finished with the one it had been working on it looked down at him and he would swear to whatever god was out there it was grinning at him specifically.

-That’s IT!!- That bastard was dead! He grabbed a kunai and stood abruptly, glaring fury at the ceiling…

“Number 86, are you forfeiting?” a voice called by the window.

Knocked out of his furious rage Hitomaru stared at the man, then up at the ceiling and back a few times, “D-did you not see what that thing was doing?!”

The chuunin proctor just gave him a bored glance, looking where he was pointing and found nothing of interest before turning back to the boy, “Sit down or quit, your choice…”

The boy in black just ground his teeth, looking up at the ceiling and also finding nothing. He was pissed, pissed beyond all reason, but he would find whoever was responsible and make them pay!! For now he just sat back down, glaring at his desk and forgot anything about the test, he had enough answers, screw the rest!

If anyone bothered to look at the blind girl from Kumo they would find it strange she suddenly stuck out her tongue like she tasted something bad, “Bleh.”

Several other instances like this started happening. When Hyuuga Neji tried to activate his eyes his vision was surrounded by blue-black flames of chakra that nearly blinded him, somehow the proctors not even noticing. When Shikamaru tried to shadow bind someone to copy them writing their answers the cat showed up and started batting at his victim’s hand preventing him from getting any answers. When Sasuke took off his headband trying to use the metal as a mirror while ‘wiping the sweat off his brow’ that damn cat showed up and knocked it out of his hand. It was true and utter terror for the genin now to even try to cheat as bringing attention to themselves only got them points off and for some god-awful reason the damn cat wasn’t noticed by the proctors!!

Yorihi could only snicker to herself watching the chaos her feline friend was causing. Part of her thought the chuunin proctors were just playing along as even she doubted Bachiko in his corporeal form would go unnoticed this long, but that just begged the question why they would do that, let alone what they were thinking. As far as anyone was concerned this was a warped genjutsu they were all trapped in and they probably thought it was Ibiki himself just screwing with them.

So far no one had traced Bachiko to her or her teammates, after flipping her paper over Xiao just set her head down and took a nap, Oku too seemed to be nodding off though Lior was still stalking about scaring people as well. Perhaps the best proof they had nothing to do with him came when Bachiko popped up next to Lior and caused the badger to literally jump in fright, ironically getting in the way of Yamanaka Ino trying to possess her friend for the answers. This resulted in Lior running around making all kinds of havoc running up and down the aisle for a good five minutes before passing out in the middle of it as the technique wore off.

“OHMIGAWD!! EW-EW-EW-EW-EW-EWWWW!!” the pale blonde girl jumped up screaming after miraculously ‘waking up’ from her momentary ‘nap’. Her screeching lasted for another minute before a proctor yelled at her to sit down as well. The girl was visibly shivering and rocking slightly, apparently the mind of a badger did not suit her very well.

The test was winding down and Yorihi tried to keep the smirk off her face. As far as practice for counter-intelligence goes this wasn’t exactly grade A material to work with but it was certainly amusing, Bachiko at least was having his fun. A good number of teams had been eliminated, either from the Kumo-nin’s chaos or just giving up and running away, thinking the room was haunted thanks to Bachiko. The blind girl was happy for that, people so easily frightened didn’t have a place competing against her.

Speaking of people scared out of their minds…

“G-ghosts… t-there’s… g-ghosts he-he-here…” the blonde jinchuuriki next to her was a shivering mess. Apparently the boy was terrible at written tests as he couldn’t answer a single question on his own and while he seemed to enjoy the pranks she and her comrades were pulling off the second Bachiko showed up and started haunting the place he turned into a pile of useless mush.

-The boy has a goddamned demon in his gut, how the hell is he scared of a little haunting?- sure, the Kyuubi was a Kitsune and they weren’t as apt to haunt like a Nekomata was but damnit all, there was no reason for him to be so afraid!!

In her annoyed fury she kicked his chair…

“HEY!” he yelled back at her, fury easily dispelling his fear of ghosts.

Her brows rolled, “Quit your fidgeting and focus on your test, we’re almost done here…”

The boy gave her a pouting scowl but at least it got him to stop freaking out over Bachiko terrorizing everyone else. A quick glance told her he hadn’t answered a damn thing on the test and he didn’t seem to realize the point was to cheat. –Or maybe he’s just bad at it?- was it possible? Could he really be so bad at cheating or gathering information he couldn’t do it in a way that wasn’t bluntly obvious? –You’ve got to be kidding me…- what the hell kind of shinobi were they training in this place?! She wanted to scream, resulting in her growling loudly and stomping her feet in frustration. –Let’s just get to this damn last question already!!-

Unfortunately she had to suffer another ten minutes of proverbial silence. After her kicking Naruto Bachiko seemed to take that as a hint to quit fooling around. She didn’t know why and without the damn cat screwing other students over she had nothing to entertain herself with.

Sadly, Ibiki seemed to approve of this, he figured the mysterious haunting cat had something to do with the Kumo girl, he didn’t know how it did but he had a gut feeling. The other proctors under his command seemed to assume it was him, he’d have to teach them a lesson about assumptions later though he could see why. Many of his torture techniques took on the forms of mundane objects, or those of the like, such as the lucky cat. They probably thought a cat haunting a room full of genin was just a different way for him to mess with people. He’d hate to admit it wasn’t him, but he’d give the girl credit, having the cat that had been terrorizing the students suddenly stop seemed to only freak many of them out more. Two teams cracked under the perceived pressure after three minutes of nothing going on, it was fairly amusing.

But it seemed his fun had come to an end, everyone present was either crazy or on the edge of losing it. The Kumo genin of course fell into the former in his opinion along with various other special cases, such as the Suna Jinchuuriki. -The fruit has ripened to its fullest, time to pluck it…-

In the tense silence of the room Morino Ibiki’s voice carried with it the weight of god, “It’s time for the tenth question.”

As one the remaining crowd tensed and looked at the large scarred man. Many of them had dread in their eyes showing those who’d banked everything on this last question, several were tense with excitement wanting to get this last achievement, a few were even bored but looking his way obviously wanting only to get this done and over with. The ones that mattered, to Ibiki as he’d watched this whole process, looked determined. Red, green, blue, black, different eye colors from the students that were glaring at him, ready for this mission above all else. Some part of him was amused that his attention seemed to focus not on one student’s eyes but on the tattooed brows on the blind girl from Kumo. Her face was still, her posture alert but calm enough to show experience. This was a life or death situation to her but unlike the others she’d faced them enough times to be prepared for them, not ‘ready’ as no one was ever ready to face their own death, only prepared as well as possible then letting things play out as they could.

She looked like an ANBU waiting on suicide orders; calm, prepared, waiting to go… her teammates and the red head from Suna had similar looks about them but nothing quite like hers, it was unique amongst a sea of inexperience and in a strange way amused him. He was genuinely curious to see how she’d react to this next part…

“Before I give the last question, there are some rules that go along with it,” Murmurs and cocked heads spread among the genin, the blind girl from Kumo didn’t move, “First of all, that this question is optional, you can choose to not take it-”

“Why would we do that?!” a boy from Ame openly questioned.

Narrow dark eyes panned the room to meet the boy’s, “Let me finish and you will know why,” despite his voice being even and low the seriousness it held frightened many of the students. Ibiki held up his hand with the index finger raised, “First off this question is optional,” his middle finger rose, “Secondly if you opt out of this question you forfeit all of your points, meaning you and your team fails automatically and you will leave…”

There was a loud rabble from the genin, most notably one from a Konoha Konoichi, “Then why would anyone say no? Give us the question already!”

When Morino Ibiki raised his ring finger and smirked everyone quieted and shivered in their seat, “Thirdly, if you opt to take this question and answer it incorrectly…” he dragged out the pause, adding more tension to the silence as his smirk became a wide wicked grin showing the bear’s teeth, “You not only fail this portion of the Chuunin Exams but will never be allowed to participate in them again…”

“WHAT?!” “That’s Bullshit!!” “N-no, no way!!” “You can’t do that?!” several of the genin reacted in various ways, shock, despair, anger, annoyance…

In the center of all the chaos there was a calm, three points exactly. Not one of the Kumo genin changed their look, this mind game or rules not unexpected to them. Whatever they taught them in Kumo it seemed to enforce in their genin there were no second chances.

The sight of these points of calm in the raging storm around them gave Ibiki an interesting look of the world. This classroom, whatever people said, was a microcosm of the world they lived in. shinobi from different lands and ideals forced to sit shoulder to shoulder with one another in a cramped room under the unwavering authority of an outside power. The genin acted how they were trained, acted how well they were prepared and he was ashamed to see the overwhelming number of Konoha shinobi scared of what he just said. They were the ones hosting the test so they were allowed to throw in as many genin as they pleased, ready or not, but the sheer number and age of many of them with that look of dread and fear on their faces disappointed him. He knew there hadn’t been a serious war in a long time but to think they’d become this weak in his lifetime…

There were only a handful that didn’t see this as a problem. Ironically the Rookies and that team under Gai didn’t seem as phased; worried, frightened but at least they were thinking which was better than a lot of the ‘older, experienced’ Konoha genin cowering. The teams from Ame looked pissed, half the teams from Kusa were worried while the other was unreadable. Taki looked about to run. Most of the Suna shinobi were glaring, angry, but only the team with the red haired psychopath didn’t seem phased, likely a result from having to deal with the unstable boy. Finally, in some twisted way he supposed fate liked to be, the two most outnumbered and alone teams, the one from Oto and the one from Kumo, were fearless. Tell them if they fail they can’t participate in the exams, that they’d be stuck as genin, that they’d die and neither team batted an eye. The difference came in what they planned next. The Oto genin looked to already be planning his death but the Kumo genin… they looked to just be waiting for orders, it was the best way he could describe it.

In the back of his mind Ibiki was upset that the two perceived most warlike nations were the only ones ‘prepared’ for something like this… but the determined looks he got from some of his own Village’s Rookies restored some of his faith, not a lot but some…

“Then screw this!” a young man from Konoha stood up, frown on his face as he headed towards the door, “I’ll just take the test again next time…”

“Number 153 has forfeit, 32, 67, out!” one of the proctors called as two other Konoha genin left the room.

-Haven’t even finished and already they’re leaving…- the edges of the large scarred man’s lips wanted to tilt down in a frown. –Cowards…- his thin eyes looked out at the rest, hands in his coat pockets and looming over them to intensify the tension in the room, “As you can see, any of you bastards want to leave, there’s the door…”

Three more teams left instantly.

It was a long tense couple of minutes before another team bailed. The proctors staring at the genin as Ibiki looked from one genin to the next, predicting who was going to crack and leave minutes before they raised their hands. In the back of his mind he was shaking his head, irritated by the poor showing from shnobi sent to represent their villages and worse those from Konoha itself.

Yet despite how many people dropped out there were still those few sets of eyes that never wavered, or brows on the girl in the middle of the room that just sat back in her chair, arms crossed and facing forward. The calm center of a raging storm.

The boy next to her on the other hand was anything but…

“Oh man… oh man, oh man, oh man…” Naruto’s leg was going a mile a minute as he held his head nervously. Every time someone stood and left he shuddered, fidgeted and freaked out. He’d dealt with a lot of pressure in his life but this was ridiculous. If it was just him he had to worry about he wouldn’t care, he’d take the question no problem… but what about Sasuke and Sakura? They wanted to be something later right? Was failing the question a team thing as well? If he screwed up and got it wrong would he be dragging them down with him?! They already barely tolerated him, this would be so much worse if he screwed up their chance to get promoted EVER?! “Ugh!! Why’s this so hard?!” he yelled at himself in a harsh whisper banging his head on the table.

Two tables behind him Sakura was facing a similar dilemma. She knew she could answer anything correct, hell the test had been easy for her, but Naruto? –Knowing him this will be the only question he could possibly get right?!- would that mean they’d fail? Thanks to his low score? Would they be dragged down with him? This was a team test and she didn’t want to risk her future of promotion for something as unsure as this…

Several others were joined with the members of Team 7 on the borderline of quitting, their hands raising only to fall as they couldn’t decide if they were willing to truly risk their future.

“Don’t you dare!” only for Yorihi to growl and elbow the boy next to her, obvious frown marring the lower half of her face.

“Argh!!” angry blue eyes rounded on the dark haired girl looking calm but pissed. Naruto rubbed his likely bruised arm and almost shouted at her, completely forgetting what was going on around them, “What the hell was that for Yorihi?!”

“Tch,” she rolled her brows and pushed back in her char, “What the hell did I say to you before you even decided to take this stupid test?” her face tilted towards his, also seemingly oblivious to the fact the two of them were now the center of attention.

“Ah… y-you said… uhm…” that pouting thinking face came over Naruto as he wracked his brain for what the girl told him yesterday.

Obviously fed up Yorihi just growled, setting her feet flat on the ground with a loud snap forward and faced the boy, “What did I say about shinobi? About the orders we face?!”

Blue eyes snapped open and the boy turned to her, something surprised in his eyes as he looked at the plate that covered her face, “A real shinobi doesn’t look at such a daunting task and worry about whether or not they’re good enough,” a smile started to spread across his face, “They think about how best they can stand up to the coming storm!”

A light smile came to Yorihi’s face, “Exactly,” she leaned on the desk in front of her, facing the scarred man standing quietly at the head of the class, “A real shinobi doesn’t run from a task given, they get it done or die trying…”

Bolstered with new confidence from his friend’s reminder, Naruto faced Ibiki as well, “You heard that old man? Anyone still here ready to take this test is a real shinobi, so give us the damn question already!” he held up his fist, “Screw whether we fail or not!! If we’re still alive we can find a way to keep going!! I’ll still be the greatest shinobi ever, that’s a promise!! And Uzumaki Naruto doesn’t go back on his word!!” there was a devilish grin and fire in the boy’s eyes as he spoke those words, gone was the indecision in his mind, same with the others around them…

-Heh, just a little bit of encouragement huh?- Ibiki stared at the Kumo girl, facing him dead on with a stony face. “Pretty words, but they aren’t going to save you if you fail,” the man’s deep baritone filled the room, seeping back into the genin who had stayed, “Fail and you will be a genin for the rest of your short miserable lives…”

“Tch,” Naruto almost spit, glaring at the man with his foxish pout, “Then I’ll still get stronger, come back and kick your ass then you’ll be the jounin who got beat by the permanent genin, dattebayou!!” crossing his arms the boy nodded, countering Ibiki’s newly formed tension.

“I don’t honestly care about the posturing Morino-taichou,” Yorihi spoke calmly and evenly as she clasped her hands in front of her on the desk, “But face it, you’re not getting anything else out of these genin, whatever you say isn’t going to work anymore, not on me, not on my teammates, and not on the rest of these genin…”

Ibiki turned to glare at the blind girl, curious if she had some means of knowing, “Bold words from a genin.” A sinister smirk passed the large man’s lips frightening several of the genin still present, “what makes you so confident you’ll be able to answer this question?”

“Experience,” was the girl’s straight answer, “This is all a trick, all a mind game, and I already told you who my grandmother is, so unless you’re going to pull out a year’s long torture illusion nothing you do can phase me. At this point all your games Morino-Taichou are just boring.” Around her there were several gasps as several of the other genin stared, surprised by her words and more so by how easily they came out. “Tch,” Yorihi just grunted, frowning at the genin now, “I can’t believe any of you are scared by this? What are they teaching in your villages? In mine the Masters make sure we can handle something as trivial as this…”

“Oh yea!” a Kusa boy stood up, glaring at the cocky girl from Kumo, “What’s so harsh about your training that makes you so confident!” the boy was obviously scared but holding on by a thread, he was more determined to get through this test then scared of Ibiki but only just barely.

Before Yorihi could even answer a dark voice from the back spoke up, “Ever been stuck in a genjutsu that tortured you for weeks on end to the point you’re begging it to stop only to wake up and realize it’s only been a few seconds,” Xiao’s red eyes were harsh and merciless as she glared at the Kusa boy, “That was something we faced daily in our Academy, along with broken bones, torn ligaments and our chakra pushed so far as to burn our coils…” a disgusted look came over her face at how shocked several of the students were, “So excuse me, if I don’t find a stupid little threat to be a genin forever much to be afraid of,” propping her head up on one hand the older girl stared vaguely towards the windows and saying the last couple of words in a low voice, “There are far worse things out there, trust me…”

“Hmp,” Yorihi just grunted in her spot, pleased she didn’t have to say anything more though the way Xiao said the last part made her wonder. Something about it didn’t seem right but it wasn’t like she could ask about it now.

Still standing from shouting at Ibiki, Naruto glanced from Yorihi calmly sitting next to him and Xiao looking bored in the back to the boy from Kusa that had stood to ask his question. The Kusa boy blushed, embarrassed but glared determined eyes at the blonde before sitting down ready to take the last question. A blonde brow rose and Naruto looked around him, everyone was seated with an intense glare facing the scarred jounin. –Seems everyone’s determined now- his blue eyes darted to Yorihi at the end, still looking calm and aloof. –They may act tough and are harsh people but the three of them care somewhat, enough to not let losers like me fail- he gripped his fist and strengthened his resolve, opening his eyes to glare one final time at Morino Ibiki, “You heard them old man, we may just be kids compared to them but even I’m not afraid to face such things, so yea,” he snorted, dropping down in his seat and crossing his arms, giving the snottiest little kid pout he could muster, “Bring it on!”

Yorihi rolled her brows next to Naruto for his stupid display, not that it did anything to stop one side of her lips from curving up.

Ibiki looked from one side of the room to the next, scanning every face of the genin present. Not one of them was afraid anymore, not in a way he could use. All of them had steeled their resolve, meaning there was nothing left for him to taunt with. He let a smirk pass his lips, “Very well,” his voice became a deep resonating sound that filled the entire room, one last good scare as he spread his chakra throughout the room, “To the 66 of you left in this room I have only one thing left to say…”

Every genin in the room tensed, waiting for the final question… or a trap in some cases…

“CONGRADULATIONS!!” Ibiki’s wide booming voice stumped the genin as an honest cheery smile spread across the man’s face, “You all pass!!”

Silence reigned for all of a good second…

Then the louder members of certain teams, such as Xiao and Kiba, jumped to their feet and shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK!?!”

“Hahahaha!” the scarred jounin at the front of the class just gave a cheery bellowing laugh, “For having the courage to face the unknown, even risking your own lives, you pass the first test!”

At the previously so scary man’s jovial laughing many of the genin let out tense breathes they’d been holding, some even joining the man.

Yorihi just sat back in her seat and smirked.

“You knew,” the blonde next to the blind girl looked at her skeptically, holding his chest as his heart was running a mile a minute. At her continued silence he gave a wry smirk, “You knew he was going to say that, huh?”

Yorihi just shrugged, “I knew it was a bluff, that’s all,” she turned to face the boy, “Besides, like I said, a shinobi worth their breath shouldn’t be scared of such trivial things,” a pale hand waved nonchalant, “a little death threat shouldn’t be enough to shake anyone in our line of work…”

“Eheh,” the blonde nervously scratched the back of his head, “Guess I still got a ways to go to being the greatest shinobi ever, huh?”

“A bit,” her response wasn’t condescending like most people when he told them, only accented with an amused smirk.

“Wait!!” Sakura jumped up from a few seats back, “W-what about the tenth question?!”

“There never was one!” Ibiki gave a big wide grin, “Or if you really want to think about it, asking if you would take it or not was the tenth question!” ending with a big hearty laugh.

Yorihi smirked while shaking her head, Xiao facepalmed and Oku chuckled to himself.

Everyone else practically screamed in unison, “WHAT?!”

“So what was the point of the first nine questions?!” Temari from Suna rose up to ask glaring at the older jounin, “Was that all just a waste of time?!”

“Of course not!” Ibiki shouted momentarily going back into his terror mode, “Alright!! Sit down you little bastards and I’ll explain!!” he shouted bringing all the attention back to him and shutting up all the side conversations and exclamations, “The first part of the test was to test your individual abilities to gain information,” he raised one gloved hand with his index finger up, “Firstly this is a team test, so that puts pressure on all of you to do well,” raises his second finger, “Secondly it was far more difficult than any normal,” as he stressed that word he may have been looking at certain cloud insignia wearing genin, “Genin would be able to answer on their own so that brought us to the third aspect,” he raised his third finger, “To cheat!” he lowered his hand and spread both of them wide gesturing to the entire classroom, “all of you here had to eventually come to this conclusion, in order to get the most points I must cheat, as you did not have the information yourself you had to get it, but not lazily or pathetically,” a smirk rose on his face as he pointed to certain genin, “In order to get that information we had a team of plants, chuunin that knew the answers, so not only were we testing your ability to cheat without getting caught but whether or not you got the right information…”

There was a snort from the front middle of the room as Yorihi crossed her arms.

This caused Ibiki’s smirk to become deadly as he looked straight at the Kumo girl, “Though it seemed some of you understood this concept of information gathering and decided to go the other way, Counter-Intelligence,” the big bear gave a hearty laugh, “I have to admit, in all my years doing this test I’ve never had a group of Genin more interested in preventing cheating or as you put it ‘defending’ their own answers as you three, it made for quite an amusing display.”

The blind girl of Kumo just smirked and gave a quiet nod.

Her compatriots on the other hand weren’t as humble…

“Pfft, that thing was easy, and really I was just sooo bored…” Red eyes danced across the genin nearby who were giving her evil looks. Xiao didn’t care, she had fun.

“Was that what we were doing?” Oku scratched the side of his head looking lost, “I just answered what I could then got bored as well, and Lior’s never good sticking to one spot so I just figured he was wondering around getting to know people and making friends!” several genin glared at the chuckling boy and his evil beast who was most certainly not making friends!

Ibiki just chuckled along with a few of his chuunin proctors, though several of them along with most of the genin present were glaring at the Kumo trio, “And that brings us to the last point, the reason for the final question,” he looked at them all seriously, making sure he had all their attention, “You never know what you’re going to go up against, never know what opposition you’re going to face or what awaits you, information and knowledge are the key to alieving these unknowns, and in our line of work it is often valued more than human lives,” he reached up and pulled off his headband, revealing what he hid to a chorus of gasps, “This is the price we pay for information if you fail, if you get caught…”

“Let me see,” a quiet voice called out as all eyes turned to the blind girl from Kumo holding out her hand, “Let me see what you’ve been through Morino-Taichou.” Her words were swift and the question implied as she faced the man directly.

The impressed smirk just didn’t want to leave Ibiki’s face as he walked with his head held high towards the little girl. She climbed on the desk without instruction, coming barely level with him as she reached out with her hands and ‘saw’ the scars that covered his head.

“Deep lacerations, third degree burns, heavy cuts with jagged blades… it’s surprising they didn’t scalp you,” her hands moved to the unusual indents the dotted his head and her hands stilled, “Brain screws,” her face became pensive as she ‘stared’ at Ibiki directly, “Were they Iwa-nin?”

“hmp,” he leaned back, saying without words she was done, “And how would a genin know that?”

The pensive look did not leave the girl’s face as she lowered her hands and continued staring at the man with the insignia of her village, “My Grandmother taught me more than you may think,” her hand tightened at her side, “showed me the specific kinds of torture other villages were known for, Iwa has a penchant for brain screws and other such devices, same as Konoha has a penchant for genjutsu and paralytic poisons…”

“Your grandmother taught you well,” somberly Ibiki put on his headband, staring at the girl and realizing the look on her face wasn’t pensive, it was respect. She understood in some way what he had gone through and respected him for it, it was a strange thing to realize. He looked around the room, seeing the terrified and horror stricken faces of the other genin, especially the rookies from his own village. None of them knew, none of them could fully understand the way the chuunin lining the walls and apparently the Kumo genin could. –Perhaps there is a benefit to teaching such things in the Academy…- he turned back to the platform, hearing as the Kumo girl got down without a word as he stepped onto it, taking a moment of silent pause before turning and facing the classroom full of chuunin hopefuls, “in this world we live in information is the key to survival, we must acquire it, defend it at all costs, even sacrifice ourselves for it,” he reached up to tap his headband, “This is just a taste of what is out there and as shinobi you must be willing to face it…”

The silence that followed was somber and insightful as many of the genin seemed to consider his words.

Ibiki looked at the crowd a moment before smiling, “But let’s get back to the topic at hand,” his words had many of the genin looking up curious, “The first nine questions of this test were to test your ability to gather information, though some of you decided to test your ability to defend it instead,” a smirk rose on his face as he nodded to the Kumo girl in the center, “But the tenth question was the true purpose of the test, the ‘take it’ or ‘not take it’ question…”

The genin all sat up straight, paying attention to the jounin as his words became more serious.

“Both choices had their downsides, opting out was automatic failure, but…” a black gloved finger came up, “it held the promise that one could take it again, while the other option, taking the question had the chance of failure and never being able to do so again,” the imposing man put his hands back into his long jacket pockets, “It boils down to this, stay safe and live again another day or risk everything for a chance at victory,” dark narrow eyes looked at every chuunin potential in the room, “That was the real purpose of this test, to see whether or not any of you had the guts to take that leap of faith…”

Many of the genin had their heads down in thought, not realizing the depth of his words though some understood it completely.

Ibiki turned to face the board, back to the genin as he let their minds think things through and he himself considered a better way to drive home the point and why it mattered. Taking a piece of chalk he walked over to a clear side of the board and started drawing, crudely, a fortress and terrain with a scroll in the center and other little things all about, “Think about it this way,” he started speaking while still drawing, “If you’re a chuunin you will be in charge of other shinobi, a team for missions,” he drew a little stick figure with a bandana obviously meant to be a ninja, “you are given a mission to infiltrate a fortress to obtain a scroll,” he circled the big fortress, “You’re charged with doing this as quickly, and quietly as possible,” he turned to see that the genin were paying attention, the more serious ones like the Kumo-nin were seated as if this was a briefing while the less experienced ones like the rookies were staring at the board somewhat confused but listening. That was good, he drew a dotted line from the ninja to the fortress, “Unfortunately you aren’t given any information on lay out of fortress,” he filled in the fortress like it was fogged out, “You don’t know the strength of the enemy forces,” he drew a bunch of quick little stick men around to show enemies, “You don’t know if there are any traps,” he drew several ‘X’s around the area, including one that crossed the dotted line making him erase the rest of it and draw a stick figure with ‘X’s for its eyes, obviously dead because of the trap, “and you don’t know if they have any reinforcements or information on your own team,” he just filled out all around the diagram a big shaded in area showing potential reinforcements and the little ninja all by himself looked terribly outnumbered.

Several of the genin gulped audibly.

Ibiki put the chalk down finally and turned to them fully, “It sounds like a suicide mission, but does that mean you can just walk away?” already several of the more experienced genin were shaking their heads in the negative and the T&I captain was annoyed a few of the younger ones were starting to nod, “NO!” he banged his hand on the board, ironically erasing the poor ninja all by himself, “just because there’s a high probability you will die or your team will does not mean you can just give up the mission, have someone else do it while you sit at home safe,” he drew his hand back, forming a fist in front of him, “That is not what a Chuunin does,” narrow eyes looked out at the crowd, “those unable to risk their future are trash not worthy of the title,” a slight smirk came to his grisly face, proud that some of them were looking him dead on in agreement, “You will be a leader, and every mission given you is important to the village, no matter how dangerous, it must be done!” narrow dark eyes scanned the room, “Be proud, because every one of you here in this room now has shown that quality, and I sincerely hope each and every one of you continues on this path and manages to achieve that goal…”

The silence that precluded the large scary man’s praise was thoughtful as many of the genin took his words to heart and considered them thoroughly, trying to find how much they applied to them. Some were simply inspired by the man and thought themselves proud to have his approval. Others did not care, or acted like it… which it totally didn’t, it was just words from a really scary Konoha jounin after all…

Yorihi furrowed her brow as something caused her senses to twitch and reached for one of her special kunai…

Not even a minute after Ibiki’s thought provoking shpell did something like a large cloth made canon ball launch itself through the side window. The chuunin proctors next to that window ducked instinctively, the genin twitched not knowing what the hell was going on in front of them as the canon ball seemed to ‘flick’ and two kunai shot out of it attaching to the ceiling in opposite corners, revealing the cannonball covering was a large tarp reading ‘Second Examiner ANKO MITARASHI!!’, now hung up like a banner as someone perfectly landed dead center stage, hands up in the air in victory signs and a wide grin on her tan face.

… which immediately dropped as Anko Mitarashi quickly reached out and grabbed the kunai thrown at her.

Quirking a purple brow and pouting at not having impressed everyone into stunned ineptitude, she gripped the kunai thrown at her and angrily shouted at the class, “WHO THE HELL THREW THIS!?!”

A pale hand jerked back a wire on the kunai, which Anko allowed to be retrieved and followed as the blade returned to the waiting hand of a dark haired girl with a Kumo headband covering her eyes. Yorihi’s pale face was completely neutral as she responded to the woman, “apologies, just my first reaction to unknown flying objects…”

It felt as if the entire room sweatdropped in the following silence…

Chocolate eyes just blinked on the wearing-only-a-skirt-and-long-coat jounin before Anko’s pout dropped for a splitting grin, pointing at Yorihi, “Now THAT’S someone I can like!” she turned her disturbingly scary grin to the side as Ibiki peeked out, “I like this girl, where’s she come from?”

The scared bear just narrowly eyed his comrade as he slinked out from behind her curtain, “The Kumo insignia is literally in front of her eyes…”

“Oh right,” Anko just flippantly shrugged, as if ignoring Ibiki while still grinning as she turned back to the genin. The second she was looking group her eyes opened and they were sharp, deadly and threatening all sorts of pain, “WHAT THE HELL’S WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!!!” angrily a tan hand pointed at the genin as they all cumulatively jumped, “ONLY ONE OF YOU HAS THE BALLS TO TRY AND HIT ME!! C’MON!!”

The genin collectively shrunk further into their desks, many realizing they were trading someone scary for someone crazy. The Kumo trio had a similar thought of ‘just like home…’

“Tch,” after nearly spitting, chocolate eyes finally took a look around the room, counting. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance and light disappointment, “66?” narrow eyes turned to the large man still somewhat hiding behind the tarp, “Ibiki!” her voice almost sounded like a whine, “Why are there so many of them?! Your test sucked if this many passed!!”

Narrow eyes narrowed even further as the large man finally brought himself out from behind the tarp, “We had a good batch this time,” his eyes may have glanced over a select few as a small smirk picked at his lips, “even a few unexpected complications,” before he looked at his fellow special jounin in her narrow pouty eyes, “You’ll have some fun with this group…”

“Hmp,” the shorter woman snorted, “I better,” her grin turned sinister as she turned to eye the genin with frighteningly cold glare, “Cause my test is assured to cut these numbers right in half,” she held up one hand threateningly making a snipping motion as she smirked evilly at the genin.

“Why do I feel like my Grandmother just entered the room?” Yorihi wondered out loud as a certain feeling she’d come to associate with Reki’s grins came over her shoulders.

Naruto, being the only person to really hear the Kumo girl and only vaguely know anything about her mentioned grandmother due to the horrors already brought on by this test just looked at her, the evil female jounin grinning sinisterly at the front of the room, and back at his friend. The only proper response that came to his mind was to gulp.

“Hey lady!!” suddenly Inuzuka Kiba, who was not shaking, totally, stood up and was pointing at the weirdly grinning nearly naked woman, “What the hell you mean by ‘your test’ huh? Who do you think you are bargaining in here like that scaring the piss out of these wussies!!”

Anko’s evil ‘terror grin’ dropped as she just looked at the loud boy, blinked, looked behind her, looked back at him and blinked again, “Yea, I think the bigass banner behind me, totally awesome entrance, and everything else kinda answers your question there brat,” she blinked again for emphasis.

Again, that feeling of room full of sweatdropping…

“Buuuuuuuuuuuuut~” a singsong entered the devious woman’s voice as her evil grin returned, “If that’s not enough for you, as my totally awesome introduction was interrupted by someone,” she may or may not have smirked in Yorihi’s direction, who totally did not react as she totally couldn’t see it. Anko cleared her throat before spreading one hand wide and posing like a boss, “My name’s Mitarashi Anko, the examiner for the second test,” then she brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles while grinning madly for extra emphasis, “and like I said, my test is sure to cut your numbers down by half…”

-----

Several minutes and threatening the genin with immediate failure later, Anko popped up behind Ibiki in the now empty room the first exam had just taken place. After her quick introduction she told the kids to report to training ground 44 immediately, a place that was a good hour away, half that at a decent shinobi pace and took her all of five minutes skip to make it ahead of them if she really wanted to. She had circled back for several reasons, primarily that Ibiki was being oddly quiet, even for him. Where she had expected more gloating and mindgames instead she got this weirdly smug smirk from the sado-masochistic bastard; it set off all the wrong alarm bells in her head.

Sneakily slipping in through the new hole in the wall she managed to come up behind the big bear while he was looking over one of the tests he’d been picking up. Glancing around she noticed all the other proctors were gone, which wasn’t weird most people wanted to get away from either of the torture duo as quickly as possible if given the chance, even those that worked for them, this just meant he was the only one in the room and picking up the left over tests. Chocolate eyes looked the big man’s back up and down before calling out in a flat voice, “Hey.”

That smirk that was usually for just between the two co-workers picked at the edge of his mouth as he turned towards her, handing the paper he’d been looking at, “Hey.”

Quirking a purple brow Anko took the test and looked it over. The penmanship was neat, bit blocky with very little distinctive marks making her thing it was someone well versed in forgeries, with all the right answers including more information than she thought they’d bother with on a test like this. She gave the paper a weird look, something about it seeming wrong as she glanced at the other torture expert, “One of the plant tests?” she knew the answer before she saw the quiet man shake his head in the negative and that made her frown slightly, “Whose is it then?”

“Guess,” the wicked smirk that showed how much Ibiki liked mind games appeared on his face again.

“Ugh,” Anko groaned. She liked the guy, she really did, he was one of the few in T&I like her that could enjoy their work and were good at it, plus neither were squimish about it and could talk about it easily over lunch, and she knew he had other quirks like herself outside such things. In some universe she was sure she’d admit he was the closest thing she had to a decent guy friend, and that was saying a lot, but if there was one thing that could rub her the wrong way it was his penchant for making everything a little mind game. Part of her was convinced it was just to see her complain and ask him out of sheer laziness, “Not now Ibiki, I don’t have time for games, just spell it out to me…”

“And take away all the fun?” he quirked a smug scratched brow, mirth in his narrow eyes knowing he’d tell her soon enough anyway.

With another groan and adding an extra bit of childishness to it, Anko waved the test in front of her at him, “Yeeeeeesssss~”

“Hmhm,” the big bear chuckled in his throat as he took the test back, “Just for you,” he held up the sheet so she could see it plainly with its answers, “This is the paper from the blind girl from Kumo, who not once during or after the test did I see lift her pencil to write this and even told me she couldn’t…” smug smirk, “But she did say she had all the answers, and the ones on this test are from someone not getting them from our plants but someone with extensive field knowledge that understands and comprehends these theories and questions beyond what was asked or written…”

Anko looked contemplative as she looked over the test again, the highly detailed answers and non-descript handwriting, it was adding up to one thing in her mind, “Think she’s a plant?”

Ibiki’s shoulders rose the smallest bit, “If so why would she reveal herself like this? Furthermore, why would Kumo send a plant for a regular chuunin exams…”

Anko’s eyes narrowed on the big man, sharp as something deadly passed through her mind, “It begs the question why they even bothered to send anyone, we haven’t gone to a Kumo exam in decades and neither have they come to ours, so why all of a sudden now?”

The big man nodded, his face becoming neutral, “She’s not the only one, its obvious the other two on her team follow her lead, but they too showed too much skill for normal genin. The three of them weren’t even taking the test, instead toying with the others under the guise of counter-intelligence…”

Purple brow rose again, “Isn’t that something they should be doing? Not just the Kumo brats but our own as well, keeping information to ourselves and preventing others from getting it?”

A strange smirk rose on Ibiki’s face, “They were one of the few teams that left through the door,” he nodded his bandana-covered head towards the double doors, “On the way out the boy’s badger swiped at something by the door, I checked it out, it had removed some kind of information gathering seal…”

Anko’s brow rose higher, “How’d they manage to get that up? Wasn’t this place sealed and searched over before the test?”

A tight frown pulled at the scarred man’s face, “There’s a lapse of time, when someone was supposed to be looking over the door they weren’t, they’d managed to break in the door and sit before anyone else, this is likely when the seal was placed.”

“Tch,” purple brows furrowed as Anko looked angry, “The fuck are they doing? Gathering data on genin? What the hell’s that going to accomplish?”

Narrow eyes looked at her level and serious, “It might not have just been the genin, a good number of chuunin were in that room as well as us…”

Anko narrowly looked at her co-worker, gears running in her head for what any of this might mean, “You think they were getting data on us?” at Ibiki’s shrug her frown spread, “it’s a good way to test potential strength… what do they plan on invading us or something?” she had been wondering out loud but when she raised her head and caught the large man’s stern look she could tell he’d come to that same conclusion long ago, “Shit.”

“You’re going to want to watch them, we don’t have anything concrete,” his solemn face cracked a small grin, “Yet.”

Anko gave the scarred man a devilish grin, “When do we ever?” she headed towards the hole in the wall, waving back at him, “I’ll have a few of my friends in the forest keep a nice close eye on them…”

Watching her leave Ibiki gave Anko one last piece of information he thought she should know, “Her grandmother is the Bloody Captain…”

Anko’s cheerful wave stopped immediately and dropped, a sign she knew how serious this is, “I take it the bitch taught her well?”

“From what she claims,” Ibiki spoke flatly, “But from what I know the Bloody Captain doesn’t use genjutsu…”

“Tch, maybe not on her victims,” sharp brown eyes glanced back at the man, telling him she understood how serious this could turn out to be, “I’ll keep an eye out during my test, even if they are here just for this stupid test, I’m not going to just idly sit by as they scope out an invasion.”

At Ibiki’s last confirming nod the purple haired woman disappeared, leaving him alone again with the papers in the room. His narrow eyes turned back to the paper in front of him, he hadn’t once seen the girl mark the paper yet the answers were right there in front of him. All of them. In such detail only a highly experience chuunin or jounin would give. There was something strange about the blind girl from Kumo, that was a given, but she and the other two didn’t seem malicious, for now. He hoped it stayed that way.

As he moved to pick up the test from the blonde boy that had sat next to the blind girl with the perfect answers he couldn’t help the bark of a laugh that escaped him. Uzumaki Naruto’s test was completely blank when next to him Tenkyuu Yorihi’s had been completely filled out and then some.

He never thought he’d pass such complete opposites, let alone in the same test and sitting right next to each other.

“Definitely a strange bunch this year worth watching,” he chuckled, continuing on his task of picking up the remains of his test.

-----

Atesaki Machigai – mistaken destination/address – misdirection (closest equivalent)

Chikaramake – misdirection of one’s strength, losing by misusing one’s power

Hitomaru – Hito – human, person, man, Maru – add-on for a boy’s name

Chapter Text

“Soooooo~” a dark skinned arm draped roughly over Yorihi’s tense shoulders as the three Kumo genin settled in for the hour long wait before the next test. The weird female jounin that reminded her way too much of her Grandmother had told them to head to Training Ground 44, all the foreign shinobi had no idea where this was as Konoha, or any Village really, wasn’t likely to just put up signs designating specific training grounds. The Kumo Trio had tracked the woman as far as she went before looping around back to the classroom which didn’t surprise Yorihi in the least, if the woman was worth a damn she’d be getting as much information from Ibiki as possible before taunting them with this new test. Apparently Yorihi’s strangely up-and-down faith in this Village hidden in the Leaves wasn’t wasted on this Mitarashi woman, who had set up a bigass flare where Training Ground 44 was for any competent shinobi to find before backtracking to, hopefully, get more information.

This left Yorihi and her team in their current situation, waiting, and if there was one thing Kumo-nin did terribly, it was waiting.

Xiao poked the side of her quiet comrade’s head, “You going to explain that little show you did back there~?” the dusky-pink haired girl had a wicked grin Yorihi was starting to wonder if she’d learned from her Grandmother, not that she could remember a single instance of the two talking outside turning in mission folders, “It was awfully cute of you to bolster the resolve of all those cheap wannabe genin,” the sickly sweet sing-song voice wasn’t helped at all by the older girl dangling off of the younger from around her neck and poking her in the side of the face with that stupid grin.

So Yorihi did the first thing that came natural when dealing with her closest female ‘friend’, she shoved her, “Get off!”

Xiao let go quickly and gracefully dodged a follow-up swing as she continued chuckling and taunting the younger girl.

This, of course, only resulted in the Raikage’s Daughter growling.

“Xiao-chan’s right!” thankfully Oku’s bubbly, if slightly oblivious, voice cut into the brewing war between the girls, “That was awfully nice of you Yorihi-hime! I knew you cared about those around you from our test at the Academy but I didn’t think it extended to foreigners in a test like this too!” it should be noted that Lior was setting his head outside his knapsack-mobile-den on his master’s shoulder and just snorted an indignant growl at the dirty blonde’s obliviousness.

Yorihi had to bite her tongue not to groan, “It had nothing to do with that!” there was a force to her voice as she fought the natural urge to yell, they weren’t the only genin meandering about this place right now waiting for the test and she didn’t want them overhearing too much.

“Oh reeeeeeaaaallly~” The look on Xiao’s face as the dark skinned girl leaned in close and smugly accusing made the blind girl want to slap it off, “So what was all that about telling Na-chan some advice yesterday, huh? Or that lovely inspiring speech? It was quite beautiful, almost brought a tear to my eye~” just to be smug the older girl wiped a fake tear from her red eyes.

Yorihi shoved her again as she was too damn close and too damn smug, “None of your business but I ran into him moping over taking the test while getting food yesterday,” there was a light huff from the girl that was not a deep sigh, “I just figured if we’re going to have any decent competition in this stupid farce of a test it’d be with the jinchuuriki from here and Suna…”

All smugness wiped away from Xiao’s face at the mention of the demon containers, if her friend was bringing them up it was a serious matter, “Really?” sharp red eyes looked at the younger pale girl as Xiao put her hand authoritatively on her hips, slipping into ‘mom mode’ with ease, “So you were just trying to keep him in the competition to fight later?”

The younger girl had the decency to shrug, “Like I said, the only competition we have so far is the threat the jinchuuriki bring naturally, even if they’re untrained or insane, they’d at least be worth fighting,” a snort, “Unlike the rest of these punks…”

Some of the seriousness left Xiao’s ‘mom stance’ as a touch of a smirk picked at the edge of her lips, “So you didn’t think he’d stick around on his own?”

Ironically that caused the blind girl to pause. In all actuality she had no idea why she interfered, it would have been more advantageous for them to have as little competition as possible, but for her own mission purposes it would be better if she were allowed continued access to both jinchuuriki in her target sights. The easiest path seemed to have them both continue competing as that allowed her further observation without being suspicious, but… “Tch,” tattooed brows twitched in that way that suggested she was rolling her eyes as she too put her hands on her hips, just above her swords, indignantly, “Gaara seemed unfazed by those cheap mind games, but that idiot was scared out of his mind when Bachiko started haunting the place…” it still brought a bad taste to her mouth that that moron was afraid of a little haunting. Or maybe it was the after taste of freshly killed bat she unintentionally got from her finicky partner when he chowed down on those flying little bastards on the ceiling, “Bleh…”

A dusky-pink brow rose at that last bit but decided to ignore it for the former, “So wait, you’re telling me, he was scared of that?” it just did not make sense…

Again, brow rolling and a frustrated grunt from the Raikage’s Daughter, “Yes, the boy with the goddamn Kyuubi sealed in him, the most powerful demon known to exist, was scared out of his  mind by what is effectively a baby twin-tail…” this comment got wide boisterous laughter from her two comrades and an indignant snort from her invisible cat.

It also had the unfortunate side-effect of attracting attention towards them from the genin nearby.

“Twin-tail?” Inuzuka Kiba’s ear twitched at the word. He’d heard of them before, in fairy tales his mom liked to tell him when she was too drunk to tell them straight so they involved a lot of swearing, shenanigans and various types of cats getting chased or beat up by dogs. The kind of stories he liked to be fair, but that just made it all the stranger when he heard such a thing being nearly shouted by the little blind girl from the Kumo team. He hadn’t caught the first part but by the end of her sentence she was obviously pissed off and the rest of her team was laughing their asses off. It made him curious.

“What’d you say Kiba?” Hitomaru growled at his teammate, the other two had given the black wearing boy some needed space as he was still quite pissed off about what happened during the previous test. The other two members of Team 8 had been humiliated too but they hadn’t lost several of their partners to the actions of some strange ghostly feline… so space was given and insisted.

“Huh, oh nothin’ man,” the dog tamer just scratched the back of his head, leaning more towards the Kumo trio that were still talking about something unusual, much to the obvious chagrin of their leader and amusement of her subordinates. Idly he scratched one of his triangular tattoos, “Just heard sumthin’ weird from the Kumo guys,” he turned back to see both his teammates staring at him intently, or Hitomaru staring intently and Shino just looking in his general direction behind those pure black shades, “Something about a twin-tail and the last test freakin’ people out, I think?” it sounded by tone that the blind girl was being sarcastic but that was hard to convey to these guys and he could be wrong…

“You mean that fucking cat?” Blue eyes narrowed on his doggish teammate.

“A twin-tail is a kind of cat,” black shades were pushed up as Shino informed his team in that eerie monotone his clan was known for, “they are a kind of demon that take the shape of cats with two tails, named Nekomata and often associated with other kinds of demonic felines capable of possession, illusions, transformation and-”

“We get it Shino!” Hitomaru barked, glaring from one teammate to the other, obvious anger in the back of his eyes the others didn’t want to deal with, “So those Kumo bastards did have something to do with that… thing!”

“Whoa man,” Kiba held up his hands defensively, markedly stepping between him and the Kumo trio, “Chill, we don’t know that, she could’a just been making a bad joke, I only heard half of it-”

“Then figure out the other half before opening your damn mouth!” with that final snap the boy turned edgily to get as far from the Kumo bastards as possible. If those three had anything to do with the massacre of his babies he’d get revenge!

Kiba just groaned as Hitomaru walked off, “Dude, really?!” Akamaru barked from his master’s head though it was anyone’s guess if the puppy was agreeing or chiding.

Shino just pushed up his shades again, “I suggest you find out more, why? Otherwise we’ll have to deal with the consequences in the coming test…” without any further word the Aburame heir put his hands in his heavy jacket pockets and turned heel, heading after his teammate.

There was a loud frustrated growl from the Inuzuka, “Oh c’mon! You too Shino! Way to help me out man!” the feral boy kicked at the ground, frustrated that this had to happen just because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut from a wondering thought, “Tch, screw it…” small feral eyes glanced around the growing group of genin, the Kumo trio were still nearby but seemed to have hushed more to themselves and far less open then they’d been previously now with the larger crowd. This meant Kiba couldn’t get close without being suspicious or awkward, he’d have to find an ‘in’ to get anywhere near them…

“So, like that’s when I said ‘UZUMAKI NARUTO! BITCH!!’ yea! It was awesome!” a certain familiar scraggily voice came across to the desperate Inuzuka’s ears.

“Naruto shut up!! That’s not how it happened and we were there, we ALREADY know!! So stop lying!!” followed by the obviously still disgruntled sounds of the blonde’s teammates.

An idea came to the Inuzuka heir’s mind as he smirked a feral grin. In two seconds flat he was behind the shrimpy blonde, grabbing him from the back of his jacket collar like a scruff and halting his latest tirade, “Oi, Naruto! I need you for a sec!”

“Wait, what?!” was as far as the orange clad blonde got before he was unceremoniously dragged away by the loudest member of Team 8. Sasuke and Sakura didn’t seem to give any kind of sympathy, the pinkette even childishly sticking her tongue at him for being dragged away and the raven haired avenger looking anywhere else, “JERKS!!”

The sudden shouting of course got the attention of everyone within earshot…

Including the Kumo trio.

“Seriously?” hands on her hips and obviously in no mood for this bullshit, Xiao glared narrow red eyes across the expanse of genin to see that dog boy dragging the topic of their previous discussion around by his proverbial scruff, “How the hell can they just get away with that? The guy’s their damn jinchuuriki for crying out loud!!”

“I know,” even Oku looked upset, crossing his arms and pouting an unhappy face, “He should be respected for what he contains and the power he wields…”

“If they ever bothered to train him properly,” Yorihi deadpanned at the noise she was hearing. She could easily eavesdrop or send Bachiko in to spy but that seemed like a wasted effort at this point. She wasn’t here to fix the obviously broken social politics of this damn village and the blonde boy needed to learn to stand up for himself more effectively as everyone here just seemed to walk all over him. Plus it was even more insulting, in her mind, after such a display that he was even in the same category as her Aunt or Uncle, who could whip out tails at the drop of a hat and demolish mountains with ease. –This is just pathetic…-

“Hey you better watch your mouths, Kumo!” the mountain trio turned to see a group of much older Konoha genin glaring at them hatefully.

Yorihi’s response was to snort, “Or you’ll what?”

The trio tensed, but the man in the center, the one that had spoken spit on the ground while glaring darkly at them, “It’s against the law to speak of that trash in Konoha, so shut your mouths…”

Now brows furrowed and eyes narrowed on the Kumo trio as Yorihi stepped forward, one hand on her top left sword as the insignia of Kumo glared directly at the man, “Again, or you’ll what?” a deep threatening growl entered her voice, showing her words were no idle threat unlike the smoke these three were spewing. They looked twice if not three times her age, what right did they have to try ordering her around, “We’re not from Konoha so your stupid laws about Jinchuuriki don’t apply to us…” swifter than any of them could see she drew her sword, but not the one everyone thought, instead she drew the Ninjato on the opposite side in a reverse grip only to flick her wrist and the short sword enter her hand firmly, blade out and pointing at the man’s throat, “Go ahead, try it, tell me not to say Jinchuuriki again?” a wicked smirk appeared below her headband and anyone nearby was reminded why Kumo-nin were referred to as demons.

The older man in the center tensed at the blade at his throat, the look on his face said he wanted nothing more than to put her in her place but the fear in his eyes was too paralyzing to let him do so.

“C’mon, let it go,” his female teammate desperately put a hand around his chest, pulling him away with the help of their third teammate, “It’s not worth it…”

“Tch,” he spit on the ground, “You’ll see, stupid Kumo…” and the three left.

It wasn’t until the trio were a good twenty feet away and everyone else nearby left the Kumo-nin a wide berth that Yorihi finally lowered her Ninjato.

“Fucking idiots,” Surprisingly it was Xiao that spoke instead of her shorter comrade, arms crossed and glaring red eyes in the cowards’ direction, “They think not saying anything about it would make it just go away,” she threw up a frustrated hand, “Like that?!”

“Well…” Yorihi finally flicked her blade, returning it to its reverse grip and sheathing it with fluid ease, “Least we finally know why everyone here is a fucking moron…”

“They pass laws making it a requirement?” a devious smirk rose on the older konoichi’s dark face.

Her quip brought a smirk to Yorihi’s pale one, “Apparently…”

The boy in the silly plated hat next to them could only shake his head, “To show such disrespect, you’d think they’d have a good reason for it, but the look in that man’s eyes,” narrow seafoam green eyes glared the way the older genin had gone, “That was pure hate, and more than enough of them seem to have it in their eyes for something they should respect…”

“I’m starting to understand why Kemui-sama told me this place was insane before I left…” an exhausted sigh escaped the younger girl’s lips. The more she learned of this place the more infuriating it became.

Red eyes glanced at the younger girl tensely, “Sensei said that?”

Yorihi just nodded, noticing both were paying close attention to her now, “Mm, said the last time she was here everyone proved how insane this place was, I can tell why now…”

Xiao groaned, running a hand through her bangs roughly, obviously irritated, “To think they hadn’t changed in however many years, tch, that’s so stupid!”

“It’s alright Xiao-chan,” the softly grinning boy put out a hand to comfort her by placing it on her shoulder.

Which the dusky-pinkette immediately slapped away, but not as harshly as one would expect, “Shut up, Oku…” she could only pout red eyes at his cheery grin.

“See!!” an irritatingly familiar voice called out, “I told you they were cool!!”

“Naruto, dude, that blind chick just had a sword at that guy’s throat for nothing…” Kiba was blinking owlishly as the little blonde punk tried dragging him further towards the Kumo trio, marginally succeeding.

“Yea, and it was awesome!!” the cheery face-splitting grin wouldn’t leave the blonde boy’s face as he easily trotted up to the colorful Kumo group.

Kiba, a few feet away, looked at Naruto, at the Kumo group, at Naruto being an oblivious sap, at the Kumo trio looking like murderers out for blood, and back several times feeling a deep chill, “Dude, Naruto, I question the people you call friends…”

“Funny,” Xiao’s voice cut in deeply as she glared blood red eyes at the intruding boy, “We were thinking the same thing…” this garnered a demon smirk from the blind girl and an oblivious yet still oddly terrifying grin from the badger tamer.

Kiba just gulped, feeling very small and a need to tuck his tail and run. Akamaru rightfully hide inside his master’s jacket.

“Kiba quit being such a pussy!” the orange clad and obviously oblivious boy grabbed the Inuzuka heir by his wrist and dragged him into the group with the murderously grinning Kumo trio, “Kiba wanted to ask you guys sumthin’ but you got caught up with that jerk, so I figured we’d wait for that to blow over…”

“Figures,” a snort and red eye roll met the younger boy before Xiao rubbed his head, “And here I thought you just wanted to say ‘hi’ to us Na-chan~”

Unintentionally Kiba blushed at the cute voice and inflection, then immediately chilled as he felt terror nearby.

“Stop screwing with him Xiao-chan,” Yorihi barked, completely ignoring the glare coming from her male comrade towards the newcomer, “What’d you want Naruto-kun?”

After finally having the older girl’s dark hand removed and shaking out his blonde hair, Naruto glanced over to the blind girl with a foxish face, “Like I said, Kiba-teme wanted to ask you guys something, I just wanted to say ‘hi’ and… uh…” unconsciously he scratched the back of his head, a light blush coming to his cheeks, “Wanted to say, ‘thanks’ Yorihi, for earlier, and stuff… dattebayou.”

On the outside Yorihi just gave a shrug and quick, “Meh,” to the boy’s obviously not-used-to-this-thank-you. On the inside something felt extremely weird and squirming and she wanted to crush it, she was the Daughter of the Yondaime Raikage for kami’s sake!! Nothing made her squirm!!

If anyone else could see him, they would notice Bachiko rolling his vibrant blue eyes.

Thankfully what may have developed into awkward silence was aborted by the Inuzuka clearing his throat loudly, garnering the attention from the three Kumo genin present and Naruto, “Like Naruto said, I just wanted to ask you guys something,” his feral eyes were looking anywhere but at the Kumo genin and that was for a very good reason. They were scary as fuck. Only two of them could really glare at him, like the red eyed girl seemed to like to do, and the blind girl somehow still managed to trump her comrades in the intimidating department. Despite this he had a ‘mission’ to get done with and Naruto, squirt that he was, was vouching for him with these guys, “I overheard you saying something about a ‘twin-tail’ and my buddy Shino said it had something to do with that cat during the last test,” braving his nerves, feral eyes turned enough to look at the three foreigners, so far none of them moved, still giving him the cold looks or lack-there-of. He frowned, hoping to push a bit of his own intimidation in, “I just wanna know, did you guys have anything to do with what that thing did to my teammate’s familiars?”

Xiao was the first to scoff, crossing her arms, “Pfft, like we need to tell you anything…”

Kiba just frowned obviously, he hadn’t really expected them to say ‘yes’ flat out but the fiery dusky pinkette didn’t have to be so snappy about it.

“Who else was on your team?” glancing to the his left Kiba saw the badger tamer scratching his head, eyes closed like he was confused, “I remember the Aburame for being polite and you for being a jerk,” Oku had crossed his arms, rubbing under his chin and seemingly oblivious to the way he was getting under Kiba’s skin, “Hmm…” after another minute of ‘deep’ concentration his head made a sharp dip to the left before the older pale boy shrugged, “Nope, drawing a blank…”

“It was the guy with the bats,” the blind girl’s words were flat and sounded strictly bored and informative, but there was a strange edge to her flippancy that set Kiba on edge. Seeming to notice his presence again, Yorihi raised one hand to point directly at Kiba even if she wasn’t looking in his exact direct, “Listen well dog boy, I hate bats, not ‘dislike’ or ‘detest’, I hate bats…”

“It’s true,” Xiao seemed to take on a sagely stance, nodding her head with her eyes closed, “She really does…” the medic-wannabe’s head tilted to the side as if to let loose an exasperated sigh, “Not that she’s ever explained why…”

“Well, Koumori does sound an awful lot like-” and that was as far as the dirty blonde in the stupid hat got before his own equally ‘sagely’ look was disrupted by his partner’s abrupt elbow to his chest.

“Shut up, Oku…” Xiao all but yelled the words, ripping them out through grit teeth as she glared pointed fiery red eyes at her occasionally dimwitted partner.

There was a twitch of agitation on the blind girl’s face, aimed pointedly at her two comrades that didn’t quite escape the two Konoha boys. Yorihi ignored their suddenly cocked brows and continued without caring what was said, “… Point is, I don’t give a damn what happened to your comrade’s ‘familiars’ nor did I have anything to do with it,” aggressively she waved her hand dismissively at the Inuzuka heir, “if they were killed that’s his problem, not mine or my comrades’, if he wants to fight though,” that demon grin from earlier crept onto the young girl’s face, “Well, I have no problem with challengers, just make sure it’s interesting,” for a reason none but she and her cat would know she spit on the ground, “I don’t have time for anymore distasteful wastes of my time…” at the end she shooed the Konoha boy away again before turning to face the forest, signaling their ‘conversation’ was obviously done.

Kiba immediately growled, agitated by the shorter girl’s haughty attitude and flippancy.

A strong hand appeared on his chest, holding him back with the barest touch from doing anything. It took Kiba a second to blink and recognize the gesture, finding the dark hand on his chest and following it up the taller girl to find those stern red eyes. They weren’t full of mockery or hatred as he’d come to associate with the older Kumo girl, they were just hard, stern and holding him from charging at the infuriating dark blue haired blind girl more than the girl’s hand on his chest.

“Kiba!” it was Naruto’s voice that finally snapped him out of the daze those red eyes and strange look locked him into. The orange clad boy was giving him a pouty angry look and foxish face as if disappointed in him.

The passing thought that Naruto stood higher than him in the eyes of these peoples’ pack infuriated him but the powerful hand on his chest kept him grounded. Glancing with tiny feral eyes from the dusky pinkette, her comrades and Naruto, Kiba couldn’t help but growl, finally landing on the blind girl’s back, calmer then he thought he would be, “Tch, I’ll be sure to tell Hito-teme that,” roughly he turned around, not caring that the dark skinned girl’s hand left his chest and she didn’t seem incredibly offended by his turn.

-Why the hell is she the only one being… something to me?- ‘nice’ didn’t seem like a word he could associate with a Kumo-nin and the hard look in her eyes and tension in her body certainly didn’t say that. She was, ironically, the only one not goading him at the moment… so least hostile of the bunch. The badger guy didn’t like him obviously, the blind girl didn’t see him as a threat and Naruto was just being Naruto, an annoying punk like always.

But the dusky pink haired girl? He’d figured she’d jump at the chance to sneer down at him, like she had previously, always some comment making him sound like a complete jerk. Not this time though? Instead she was the one holding him from charging in blindly at the irritating little blind girl, maybe it was experience, maybe it was pity but thinking on it now he bet that girl had a lot of experience dealing with the dark blue haired girl’s taunts. Why she was preventing him from being goaded was anyone’s guess.

“Tch,” Kiba just scoffed, shaking his head and deciding to ignore that mess for later, it was time he got back to his teammates.

Xiao watched the feral boy go, red eyes oddly calmer then they had been previously.

“Xiao-chan?” the older Kumo konoichi’s name was as much a command as a question coming from the smaller blind girl.

Crossing her arms the dusky-pinkette turned around to stare at the back of her odd little leader, “You didn’t have to try and goad him…”

Yorihi gave an indignant snort, ruffling her shoulders in obvious agitation, “He shouldn’t have come over here asking something so stupid…”

Red eyes pointedly looked at the girl, “Really…”

Another snort from the blind girl.

With a deep sigh Xiao gave up, rolling her eyes and uncrossing her arms, one hand going to her hip while the other hung loose as she turned to spy their guest. For a moment she was surprised he was still there and nearly asked ‘shouldn’t you be with your own kind?’ but practically bit her tongue when he responded to her funny look with a wide cheery grin. He was a weirdo, that was for sure, but he seemed to be the only Konoha-nin that seemed to be able to stand them for more than a few minutes without freaking out or pissing them off.

Smirking at his grin Xiao couldn’t help but ask, “What’s with that grin Na-chan?”

If it were possible his grin got wider, “Nothing Xi-chan!” he made an odd little wave, “I’m just seeing what Oraka-bou was talkin’ about, you really are nice Xi-nee-chan!!”

If it were possible the older girl blushed the color of her hair, blinking surprised red eyes at the younger boy, “Um…” she was lost, not sure how to take his sudden name shift. It had been strange enough he called her by a shortening of her name immediately, and now being even more familiar? –What in the world is with this boy?-

As if answering her mental questioning a pale hand came down on her shoulder, when the red eyed medic wannabe looked she only found the closed eyed grin of her partner.

Immediately annoyed by his smugness, Xiao waved his hand off her shoulder, grunted and stalked away towards their annoyed little leader, throwing over her shoulder, “Shut up, Oku…”

As the older Kumo konoichi left to sulk with the other, Naruto could only blink in surprise, scratching the back of his head as he glanced at the older boy with the funny hat, “Ne, Oraka-bou, was it something I said?”

Oku just chuckled friendly, patting Naruto hard on the shoulder nearly causing the smaller boy to fall over, “Nah, that’s just how they are sometimes, it means they’re embarrassed…”

Blue eyes sparkled at this newfound knowledge, “Really?! Dattebayou?!”

“Yup!” another manly pat on the junior boy’s shoulder and Oku kept up his grin, raising a hand as if making a point, “Always remember young man, when a girl stomps off growling that can mean one of two things, either she’s pissed or embarrassed, if she’s blushing, she’s embarrassed, and more often than not that’s a good thing as it means you’ve bumbled your way under her skin and closer to her heart!”

Sparkling cerulean eyes blinked again, “What’s it mean if she’s not blushing Oraka-bou-sensei?”

Surprisingly Oku maintained his sagely look, never once showing any conceit towards the new title his junior gave him, “It means she’s legitimately pissed and you’re likely going to be ignored for the next week,” he brought the boy in close, holding up one hand as he whispered into his ear, “My advice, show up next time with her favorite food, it might not get you off the hook but it’ll definitely get her to not ignore you anymore…”

As soon as the sparkles in Naruto’s eyes faded enough he took one step to the side from the older boy, putting his hand together in a prayer and making a sincere bow, “I shall remember your wise words, Oraka-bou-sensei, dattebayou!”

Oku just chuckled again, scratching behind his head with his normal grin in place, “Well now my young student, since you’ve learned your lesson today,” he glanced over his shoulder, where Lior was grunting something to him, and noticed the girls had turned their way with quirked brows, “Looks like it’s time to end today’s lesson,” taking a page from his partner’s book, Oku turned back to the shorter blonde boy and affectionately rubbed his head, nowhere near as hard as he knew Xiao likely did, just a light ruffling of his bright blonde hair, “So you better get back to your team, looks to me like this test is about to start!”

“Right!” Naruto gave a big thumbs up with a shining grin to the older Kumo boy before turning to head back to his team.

He didn’t make it a single step before a kunai went flying past his face, nicking him and causing him to stiffen immediately.

“Fufufu,” there was a disturbing laugh from the shack next to the main entrance to Training Ground 44, “That’s right little rat, scurry back to your team as this thing’s about to start!!” with modified explosive notes Mitarashi Anko stood on top of the shack’s roof with two pillars of smoke and fire announcing her arrival.

All it garnered was a few blinks from the standing genin.

At the continued silence where in the distance crickets the size of goats inside Training Ground 44 could be heard, Anko growled, ending the pyrotechnics to glare at the crowd with her arms crossed and a seriously pissed off pout, “Really? NOTHING?!”

There was a snicker that may or may not have been from Naruto.

“I HEARD THAT BRAT!!” with a super angry face Anko pointed towards the blonde jinchuuriki, causing him to squeak, before a delightfully sadistic look came over her face, “You wanna laugh? I’ll give you something to laugh about!!” yanking an invisible wire attached to the kunai she’d thrown Anko just kept grinning as the boy didn’t seem to know to move.

There was a sudden sizzling sound behind Naruto, he sniffed the air around him, “Hey what’s that burning sound and why’s it familiar…”

The Kumo trio rightly facepalmed, or at least the girls, and took a step away from the blonde moron.

As Yorihi dryly counted down, “Three, two…”

“AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!” at the sudden explosion Naruto was launched, much to the chuckling of many of the genin present and a devilish smirk from the woman proctoring them, who rightly gave a thumbs up when he landed next to his own teammates.

“Bull’s-eye, hell yea!!” Anko gave a self-congratulatory evil laugh that garnered much more fear and shuddering from the gathered genin then her previous opening and pyrotechnics. The crazy maniac herself brought her evil laughter down to a mild evil chuckle, “Alright you brats, now that that’s out of the way,” again, she posed as cool as she could while giving them all an evil eye and licking her lips like a villain, “Just to remind you, I’m Mitarashi Anko, and I’m in charge of cutting your numbers down by half!!”

The genin just stared, either too scared to comment or too bored. Again, those giant crickets could be heard.

With a disgruntled cough Anko frowned at the lot of them, abandoning her pose and putting on her serious jounin face, “Alright, you little bastards, looks like its serious jounin time,” her hands reached into the purple inner lining of her long brown jacket and pulled out two scrolls, “Your mission, if you morons decide to take it, is to gather these two scrolls, The Heaven scroll,” she held up the white one in her right hand, “and The Earth scroll,” she held up the blue one in her left. After giving the genin a second to get a good look she tossed both scrolls in the air where they did a few flips before coming down and she caught both in one hand and swiftly tucking them away into the abyss that was the purple lining of her magic jacket, “Each team here will be given one at the start of the test,” she kicked one of her boots on the roof of the shack, releasing a mechanism that let tarps drop covering the open sides making it look like some kind of booth, “To prevent cheating,” she snickered more to herself at the word while eyeing the genin, “you will be given one of these scroll in here, but only if your whole team turns in one of these,” again magically pulling things out of her amazing jacket, Anko held up a white form, “Each of you will be given one of these, fill ‘em out, and hand in three with your team to get one of the scrolls…” she quickly hopped down from her platform and handed a stack of the forms to the closest genin eyeing them when they looked at her funny, “Pass them along…?”

“O-oh, u-uh, haha, r-right…” the guy was from Kusa, he could barely mumble an apology, blush, and skitter into the crowd, taking a sheet and passing it to whoever was next to him.

Anko just gave an indignant pout, “Sheesh they make ‘em weird in that village…” she scratched the side of her face before turning and noticing most of the genin were still looking at her, “What?”

“Isn’t there more to this test?” Ino yelled from the front center where Team 10 was lazily standing. This so called jounin infuriated her to no end, no class whatsoever and acting all weird…

Anko gave a completely disarming, and seemingly genuine non-threatening smile… before disappearing and reappearing in front of Ino, finger trailing under the young blonde’s chin forcing her to look up into the predatory smirk of the waaaay-too-close jounin, “Aren’t you just cute~”

The Yamanaka heiress had the right mind to freeze up and squeak, much to the evil jounin’s amusement.

“Oi, creepy-lady,” a certain indignant grunt caught everyone’s attention and brought it to the still smoking member of Team 7. Naruto was looking worse for wear but still giving the woman that blew him up an indignant fox face before holding up the sheet that had been passed out, “What’s with this thing about dying, dattebayou?”

Anko had the decency to pout back at the boy, giving a look that would make anyone who didn’t know them question if they were related, which was most everyone, “Hey, didn’t I blow you up?”

“You can try harder! Teme!!” Naruto went childish rage mode, being forced into a full-nelson by Sakura to hold him from charging at the woman.

The special jounin just rubbed her chin, still being creepily close to Ino and now using her as an arm rest, “Suppose the brat has a point,” clapping her hands she stood straight, oddly pushing Ino out of the way as she gave the crowd a winning smile and pulling out one of those sheets from whoknowswhere, “Well I’d hoped you’d all be smart enough to be able to read, but clearly that was overestimating the average intelligence level of those present,” glares where sent her way, easily deflected by her bullshit winning smile, “As blondie pointed out, these are consent forms releasing me of any liability of any of you dying during this test!”

Silence reigned… except for those giant crickets.

Anko glared behind her at Training Ground 44, “Suppose it is that time of year to clean out the place…”

The chirping mysteriously stopped.

Still, silence.

There was suddenly a snort, not surprisingly originating from the Kumo-nin, “Heh, never thought there’d be a Konoha-nin using legality against us…”

“It is cute isn’t it,” Xiao snickered at Yorihi’s flat comment but kept her eyes on the paper in front of her, already finding a few loopholes they could exploit if they really wanted to. Her smirk just got wider, “Man who wrote this? Did they even bother with considering contingencies or out-sourced damage? Any SAG could shred this thing with a fork and eat it for breakfast, heh.”

Suddenly there was a dark presence in their midst as a deadly tan finger pushed the sheet down in front of the dark skinned girl, “Oh really?”

Red eyes glanced up from the invading finger to see the unimpressed face of Mitarashi Anko. Being in the middle of her team Xiao tried very hard not to squirm under the torture expert’s full attention and cursing her partner and friend as they slowly slunk away. –Goddamn cowards!!- a dusky pink brow twitched as the woman kept staring disturbingly directly at her.

It seemed after enough time was given and Xiao was seriously considering zapping this creepy woman, that Yorihi decided to cut her some slack and stepped in, “Mitarashi-san,” the blind girl’s face didn’t move an inch as the woman kept staring at Xiao, making her friend sweat more. Personally Yorihi found it amusing the woman didn’t turn towards her, likely assuming she couldn’t see so it wouldn’t make a difference, “Is it safe to assume there are more parameters to this mission then simply ‘acquire’ those scrolls? Because if not…” Yorihi let her statement hang in the air as she lifted her hand… holding both scrolls.

That was enough to catch the torture expert’s attention as she turned to look at the blind girl then quickly pat down her jacket before finally busting out laughing, “That’s cute!” in one swift movement she ruffled Yorihi’s hair and somehow managed to steal back the scrolls, “Nice try kid, but no,” to add insult to injury she leaned down, grinning madly and tapped one of her finger’s on Yorihi’s nose before turning around and laughing, “I like your guts kid but you’ll have to compete with your team like everybody else!”

Behind the insignia of Kumo still white eyes promised death and mayhem on the special jounin, noted more visibly by her now empty hand clinching around one of her swords.

“Heh,” Xiao couldn’t help but snort, while Oku chuckled behind his hand next to her.

Anko walked back up to the front of the large group of genin, observing that most if not all of them had a liability waiver now, “Well, now that everyone’s got their I’m-not-liable-for-your-gruesome-deaths-forms and are hopefully signing them so we can keep this rolling, I’ll explain the meat of this mission,” after stashing her example Heaven and Earth scrolls into the abyss of her purple lined jacket, the special jounin pulled out another thinner scroll, unraveling it to show a map, “This is Training Ground 44, my personal home away from home and lovingly called by most others the ‘Forest of Death’,” a wide wicked grin spread on the woman’s face as several of the younger genin shuddered, “You’ll all be learning why it’s called that very soon. Now what you need to know is this Training Ground is a full circle with 44 entrances, after receiving your scrolls each team will be designate a number and enter via that gate,” she pointed at the center of the diagram showing a tower looking object with various numbered lines giving dimensions of the Training Ground, “This Training Ground has a 10Km radius spanning from the central point which is a tower,” her finger tapped the page emphasizing that point, “This Tower is your target…” with a flick of her wrist the scroll was rolled up and disappeared into her sleeve, which she then tucked her hands into the large pockets of her jacket, “The mission is simple, acquire your missing scroll and make it to the tower, easy right?”

At the wide grin on the woman’s face most of the genin were wise enough to know it was anything but…

Anko’s grin only turned into a smirk, amused that the genin learned this quickly, “Now for your parameters, as I said you need both scrolls to accomplish the mission, but there are a few rules to it,” pulling one of her hands out she held up her finger, “First off, do not open the scrolls, I will repeat this as I know how gung-ho genin are and how stupid they can be,” her chocolate colored eyes hardened into daggers showing she was indeed very serious about this point, “DO. NOT. OPEN. THE. SCROLLS. Are we clear?” hardened eyes passed over the crowd of genin one final time, noticing many of them nod unconsciously as her gaze fell on them, before continuing, “Secondly this is again a Team test, meaning if one of your idiot teammates gets offed in the forest, which is very likely, you’re all disqualified from moving on to the next round even if you have both scrolls and make it to the tower.” There were a few complaints but one look from the jounin had them silenced, “Thirdly, this is a no-holds-bar cage match, anything goes; kill, disable, bribe, do whatever you need to in order to survive, get your target, and make it to the tower…” she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, “Because whatever you think you can do something in there will dish it out that much harder and make you its lunch. The time limit for this mission is five days, meaning the second those gates open and you’re in…” that evil grin returned, “You better pray to whatever god you believe in because no one, not myself, not the ANBU, not your sensei are going to be getting in here to save you should something try to make you its breakfast, not to mention we’ll be standing on guard out here to throw you back in if any of you try to pussy out of this early, so you’re only option is to get to the tower and hope you find a scroll on the way else you’re one of my friends’ next meal…”

What followed was stunned silence while the genin tried to process what they were just told. No crickets dared to chirp this time.

“Alright! Everybody good?” Anko clapped her hands absurdly cheery causing several genin to jump, “Now that that’s all outta the way, we can start handing out scrolls,” she made another clap, “Chop-chop kids, I don’t have all damn day!!” that got some of the more frightened genin up and running, forming a line at the tarp covered booth and slowly but surely the twenty two teams were being processed and handed a scroll before being sent off to the gates.

The Kumo genin again tried to stay back and ‘watch’ as long as possible. Yorihi idly noticed most of the Konoha Rookies were doing the same, it made her snicker in the back of her mind. At first she tried ‘looking’ through the tarp to spy on who was getting what scroll but it seemed the crazy jounin woman had placed seal inside the tarp similar to the ones in buildings around the village likely to prevent Byakuugan wielders from looking inside. It was a mild set back, with a light mental nudge she had Bachiko sent into the building and watching who got what scrolls, she doubted most would be worth mentioning but it gave her an idea of who to go after.

After a few minutes of watching and waiting she noticed the Rookies start to move and Xiao was giving her that look like they’d waited long enough. With an irritate sigh she made her way to the building, her comrades just a step behind. They were given a Heaven scroll, along with a snicker about how ‘appropriate’ it was given her surname. She ignored the Konoha chuunin and their remarks, following the one that was to take them to their designated gate, number 8. Looking at the number above the fenced gateway her mind was already running through probabilities and scenarios, Xiao and Oku next to her looked bored but she knew they were doing the same thing.

After another couple of minutes, likely for the few remaining teams to get their scroll and move to their starting point, a crackling sound sprang up near the top of the gate, “Hellooo~ is this thing working?” it was Anko’s voice coming over a speaker. There was that annoying muffled sound as she likely tapped the mic she was using a few times, causing Yorihi, Oku and Lior to wince at the high pitched squeal it caused before finally continuing, “Alright then, whether you can hear me or not, this is your final warning, every is at their designated starting points and this will start when I say ‘go’,” a moment of silence and crackling buzz, “First though I want to say one last thing, the last piece of advice you all will get from me, so listen up…”

All around the Training Ground genin tensed waiting for this last bit of, hopefully, useful advice.

“DON’T DIE!!”

At those… ‘charming’ last words several new craters came into existence around Training Ground 44. Yorihi facepalmed while Xiao groaned and Oku just smiled like that was the best thing that could be said.

There was a small chuckle from the loud speaker, “alright, GO!!”

At the cue of the word the gate flew open and genin all around Training Ground 44 leapt into action.

The Kumo trio didn’t move.

“So,” Yorihi faced the open gate but her question was aimed at her comrades, “Stats?”

The dirty blonde boy in the silly plated hat gave his comrade a nod, “10Km radius, 62.8Km circumference, about 314Km area…”

Xiao crossed her arms, red eyes on the ominous woods in front of them, “Assuming they evenly spaced all 22 teams among the 44 gates, one team at every other one, we’re looking at close to 5Km to the closest gate with someone there if they stayed put…”

Yorihi nodded, gripping her sword and sending her senses out to find the largest sources, her targets, “Given there’s also a chance they put all of one scroll on one half of the gates and the rest on the other chances are those closest to us have the same scroll…”

The Chuunin that was sitting there watching them snickered, crossing his arms and adjusting his shades, “And what makes you think we did that?”

Yorihi smirked, turning slightly towards the guy, “Statistics…” he merely chuckled at her response. The Blind girl knew he was there to close the gate behind them but there was also a chance he was spying on them as well. She didn’t mind, it would do them good to have something to report about a competent team, maybe they could learn something. With a nod from her chin she went back to her teammates, “Options?”

“Bum-rush straight to the tower,” there was a grimace on Xiao’s face like there was something she didn’t like about this situation but Yorihi could tell she didn’t want to say anything with the Konoha-nin nearby, “Chances are at least half of the others are headed straight there and will try to ambush anyone that gets there, if not, we can do the same…”

“Agreed,” Yorihi gripped one of her swords and stepped towards the gate, “For now, that’s the plan, provided anyone attacks us on the way or something else comes up…” She made a point to say that deliberately, if the Konoha chuunin was listening and they tried something, fine, let them, she and her team would be ready, “Let’s go.”

In an instant they were gone, the Chuunin adjusting his black shades and whistling, surprised by their speed before he closed the gate, sealed it up and headed back to Mitarashi-san. She’d want to hear everything the Kumo-nin had to say…

-----

After running a good kilometer Yorihi veered off to the right, heading at an angle away from the straight path they were originally traveling towards the Tower. Without a word Oku and Xiao followed her, keeping up the relatively ‘light’ pace in order to maintain caution. Her senses and Bachiko were telling her a large, malevolent, Chakra signature was in this general direction, moving fast towards the Tower and at least three other minor teams within the area. –It must be Gaara, Naurto’s team wouldn’t be this efficient, damnit!- with a light grunt she pushed a bit faster, hoping to cut off the Suna Jinchuuriki and speak with him before the test concluded or he and his team entered the Tower.

Sadly their pursuit was cut off by a loud yell and whirring sound headed straight for them, “TSUUGA!!”

“Tch!” Yorihi growled, dropping from her position to the ground just as the whirling attack destroyed the branch she had just been on. Oku and Xiao dropped right behind her, taking up back-to-back positions, Xiao entering her boxing stance while Oku pulled out a small scroll holding the tethers at the end of it in his mouth and taking a low stance with Lior on his shoulder. Yorihi simply stood, waiting for their attackers to come out of the shadows, her hands itching to grab one of her weapons…

A low clapping was the first thing they heard, and in the shadows of a large tree a boy in black walked out wearing a Konoha bandana, “I didn’t expect Kiba to hit you, so glad you at least live up to that much…”

Tattooed brows lowered as pale hands grabbed the beat rods from her back pouch, flicking them out into their full form, “So Konoha’s Rookies think they stand a chance against us?”

The black wearing boy frowned, barely tempered anger in his eyes as he stared at the insignia of Kumo covering the girl’s eyes, “I know you had something to do with that damn cat that ate my babies,” he spread his hands wide as if presenting the darkness behind him. Slowly small points of light lit up in pairs of two all throughout the shadows, revealing the eyes of a whole colony of bats, “Just thought I’d let the rest of them have a chance before I sunk my own fangs into that pretty little neck of yours…”

Yorihi smirked devilishly, sensing Xiao giving her a weird look behind her but not moving from her position, “Oh this is going to be fun…” as the swarm of bats flew at them Yorihi crossed her arms, spreading her barrier around her comrades and creating a perfect dome of rampaging chakra, almost giggling as the bats either bounced off or got slashed by her chakra, “heh heh heh, please, you should know better than to come at me with such a weak colony!!” after the wave passed and using a burst of chakra she jumped out of the dissolving bubble into the air, flipping and coming down on Hitomaru with both beat rods on his shoulders, “You think a hundred could stop me?! I MADE THIS TECHNIQUE AGAINST A HUNDRED-THOUSAND!!” her evil grin was met with a frightened look for only a second before the boy burst into a small cloud of bats. She landed in a feral crouch, grinning at the familiar feeling of the ultrasonic rodents buzzing about her as she sought out their leader. Idly she threw over her shoulder, “You two handle the others, this one’s mine…” and thus she leapt into the darkness, the colony of bats following as she went. Finally, the hunt was on!

Red eyes rolled as the partners separated and dodged another spinning attack from the Inuzuka, her focus primarily on their insane little leader that just left, “Great, she’s in a freakishly happy mood…” in a flash she brought up a kunai and deflected a shot, tracing the throw back to a boy in a large coat with black shades, “Aburame, I presume?”

The quiet boy nodded his head slightly, “Indeed, Aburame Shino.”

A light smirk quirked at the edge of Xiao’s lips, “Utsurabon Xiao, the pleasure is all yours I take it,” she winked at him and added a bit of a flirtatious pose, whether or not it affected the boy was hard to tell but she could hear the sound of another Tsuuga veering off course and the Inuzuka boy hitting a tree, so it wasn’t a total waste. The follow up sounds of a dog yipping off into the woods and angry vengeful growling she knew came from Lior told her Oku had found his target clearly, “Well I guess that leaves you and me, Shino-kun~”

Again it was hard to tell if the Aburame reacted or not to her taunts, all he did was push up his black shades and mutter a quiet, “Indeed,” before tossing another kunai at her.

“Heh,” this one Xiao dodged fluidly, grinning at the boy with her eyes, “All business I see…” she spun as another kunai was flung before quickly charging at the boy, bringing her hand back covered in an electric charge, “You’ll have to do better than that!!”

“Indeed,” she could have sworn the boy smirked as he pulled his hands up into a few seals, “Hijutsu: Mushidama!” out of every space available around them black insects swarmed at their master’s call, heading towards the Kumo konoichi.

“Shit!!” halting her charge Xiao went through a quick run of seals before ending on a modified seal, “Tobihi-Toami!!” with a wave of her hand a net of electric chakra sprang to life and she spun until it created a dome around her. With the addition of two more seals and a release of chakra the net expanded before creating a charged pulse throughout the area.

Black bugs started falling out of the sky, but the Aburame didn’t seem fazed, “An impressive technique,” a pause as he pushed up his shades, “But I don’t think it was enough…”

Hearing a crinkling sound Xiao looked to the ground and saw more of the black bugs crawling over their knocked out comrades coming towards her. She could only smirk, hand reaching for the pack on her leg, “Heh, don’t think that’s all I’ve got, Aburame!!” she pulled out what appeared to be a small rod, only to shake it and bring it up to her mouth, ripping off a red tag and throwing it towards the swarm, leaping away as a concentrated spray mist came out. She landed in a crouch on a branch above the cloud, chuckling to herself before she heard that becoming familiar crinkling sound the bugs made…

A swift leg came over where her head once was as she leaned back, rolling onto her hands, binding them to the tree with chakra only to swing around the tree and come at the Aburame with an uppercut kick. The moment her foot hit his face the boy disintegrated into a mass of those bugs that swarmed towards her, without even thinking one hand went for another canister while the other let go, allowing her to drop into free fall with the bugs chasing her. She landed in the smoke below but not before tossing the canister into the tree nearby.

It landed right next to where Shino was hiding and he only had time to cross his arms over his face and take a deep breath before the thing started spewing that gas. He didn’t know what it was but it prevented him from contacting any of his insects. After a few seconds of the thing running out he dared to look. All the insects outside his body in the immediate area were knocked out, not dead, which was weird and caused him to quirk a questioning brow.

“Too slow!!” of course that was all the time the strange Kumo girl needed to ram a lightning coated fist through the tree he’d been hiding behind. The force, impact, and lightning chakra caused the tree to explode like it’d been struck by a thunderbolt, the loud careening of the big Konohan tree drowned out nearly every sound in the area as branches and boughs snapped from neighboring trees as the large trunk feel off to the side of their fighting area…

Shino had barely managed a replacement into another high top tree before the girl was on him again in a string of high end taijutsu moves with various high kicks and devastating punches, each one accented with a string of lightning chakra that trailed after making it difficult for him to dodge completely but thankfully his bugs, which were only stunned by the lightning, managed to suck up or absorb enough to prevent a truly fatal hit.

All the while Xiao was grinning like crazy, fighting this guy was fun! He wasn’t a master in taijutsu, that was obvious by his slower moves, but what he did know he put to effective use, such as coating his hands with those bugs to guard against her lightning but also using a more solid, if slower, stance to keep up his guard and his heavier weight to his advantage in keeping what little ground he had. She couldn’t get a direct hit on his head and that was impressive enough.

After a long string of hitting, dodging and him blocking, the younger boy managed to grab her extended leg, letting his bugs crawl onto her skin as he held out his other hand, gathering chakra in it to gather more insects and made to punch her straight in the gut.

Dropping low on one hand, Xiao used her other foot to break his hold, spinning on her back hoping to get most of the bugs off before rolling out of the way of his punch and firing off a breath of lightning before retreating down the bough, taking up her starting stance.

Both were breathing decently hard, the Aburame boy more noticeably from the strain and her more from the adrenaline she was feeling. Her red eyes sparkled as she looked him over, “You’re not bad Aburame…”

“Likewise,” he managed between a few breathes before taking a long one and asking what had been on his mind since she’d thrown them out, “What were in those canisters, if I may ask?”

She gained a cocky smirk, not lowering her guard in the least, “You may,” suddenly she reached down and pulled out another, bringing it up to her mouth, ripping off the tab and spraying it all around her as a bunch of Kikaichu tried coming up to her from behind, forcing them to stop and chitter angrily, “Heh, it’s a mild anesthetic, in high doses it could knock someone out if all of it was used directly, like for say field surgery, but its main combat use is to prevent smaller pests from getting near me, as you may have noticed…”

Shino glanced down at her feet where his bugs refused to get near her, simply skittering in to grab their unconscious brethren and skittering out, even the ones that he’d managed to get on her were knocked unconscious and left to fall, “I see…”

“Doubtful,” she flipped the empty canister in her hand before lowering her stance and pointing at the boy, “Both of us are now coated in it, so any of your little buddies you send out will be dosed with it and quickly made useless, same for if they try to bite me…”

Much to his chagrin Shino could see she was right. –That’s how she managed to fend them off from eating her chakra…- he’d wondered how she’d managed to keep spewing out chakra heavy moves even after he’d managed to get several of his bugs on her. It seems even if he managed to get past her electricity she had other methods of preventing such attacks. Black shades took in the girl as he falsely put his hands in his jacket as if calm, “I see, I had not anticipated such a defensive measure,” he pushed up his shades, “Though I must ask why you have such a thing, it seems oddly specific for fighting members of my clan?”

This only made her snort, “Pah-lease,” she waved him off, walking further down the bough, “You guys aren’t the only ones to use little critters,” she made a funny gesture of waving her dark fingers as if to mimic insect legs, “as your attack animals, hell if it wasn’t for the Gumo-idiots my family probably wouldn’t have made these damn things,” again she flipped the empty canister before looking at him wryly over her shoulder, “And unlike you I take it, I bothered to study the major clans in Konoha before coming here, the Aburame are famous sure but like most of the clans here pretty much one-trick ponies…”

A black brow rose of dark shades, “Explain?”

At what she swore was slight irritation in the boy’s demanding voice, Xiao could only openly laugh, “Oh c’mon? Aburame use bugs to fight, Nara use shadows, Uchiha use the Sharingan, Hyuuga use Jyuuken, Yamanaka are mind-walkers,” she flipped the canister again and turned towards him fully with that chiding smirk and a quirked dusky-pink brow, “Any foreigner worth their breathe should know at least that much and prepare accordingly,” a dark hand pointed at him, “You guys may be Rookies but you’re still heirs to these prominent clans, to think you wouldn’t use those techniques is downright foolish,” her wicked grin came back in full force, “Thus the downside to being a member of such a famous clan, ne?”

“I see…” Shino’s voice was low, contemplative. The Kumo konoichi had a point, most if not all his techniques were based around his clan’s insects and unique biology. It stood to reason enemies would and should use that knowledge to their advantage. He looked the girl over, trying to assess everything he knew about her and what he’d gained from their short fight. She was obviously intelligent, had some knowledge of chemicals, adept at lightning chakra and taijutsu, and extremely cocky or at least displayed immense confidence in her own abilities. Basically she was indeed a challenge for him if he couldn’t catch her in his clan techniques.

There was a number of explosions that rocked the ground below them and when Shino looked he noticed a grey drill bouncing from each one, either running into the explosions or being led by them. Kiba was obviously being toyed with by the Kumo ninja. A glance towards his own ‘opponent’ showed she had one hand over her eyes like a visor and smiling fondly at the destruction going on below. She didn’t seem surprised at all by what was going on…

A dark brow rose of black shades, “Do you enjoy the destruction?”

Her smile turned into a smirk as her red eyes found him again, a completely different look from the fond one a few seconds ago, “Funny you should ask that, especially after I went through all the trouble to not kill your little bugs.” The smirk, raised brow and hands on her hips were all wry and partially amused.

Despite himself Shino did blush, slightly, not that she could see thanks to his high collar, “Why would an enemy purposely try to avoid killing their opponent, even my insects?” it was not something he heard often, even he’d come to terms with the fact that in every battle he’d be losing hundreds of his hive.

The wryness left her look for something more sympathetic, “Alright bug-boy, here’s a freebie,” she held up her hand, seemingly pointing at her eyes, “See these red eyes,” she actually waited for him to nod in response, “They’re the only sign I’m an Utsurabon, if you ever visit someone in Kumo with red eyes, they’re part of my family, and the thing about my family is…” there was another huge explosion and the sound of howling and snarling off in the distance. Momentarily the cocky façade was gone and what looked to be calculated worry entered her eyes as she followed the last stream of explosions, her face dropping to something serious, “We’re healers, old school style, drugs, bandages, herbs, you name it we know how to do it…” suddenly those red eyes were on him and they were deadly, “Everyone in Kumo knows we’re the most dangerous healers around, able to kill as easily with our concoctions as we are able to save,” she pointed a serious finger at him, “but never assume we like it, first and foremost we heal, even if that means we have to break your legs to keep you immobile to do so we will, but unnecessary killing, even to our enemies, goes against everything we are…”

Shino could only stare at the girl. It was strange to hear such a statement, so readily delivered, from anyone in their village let alone a foreigner from a village taught to be full of nothing but brutes and enemies. But then he watched as she stepped away, careful to not step on any more of his Kikaichu as they buzzed away from her not wanting to be affected by the anesthetic. She had let her guard down, he should attack… but her words and actions almost made him not want to.

Almost.

Xiao leaned her head to the side, dodging a thrown kunai, she turned back to smirk at the boy, “Don’t know when to give up, huh?”

Shino stood in a battle ready stance, kunai in each hand, ready to take her on even if he was going to have to use hand-to-hand combat to do it, “It would be a shame to let you walk away while my teammates are still fighting,” for a moment he glanced down, gripping his kunai tighter, “Even if you are an… interesting specimen to combat.”

“Heh,” Xiao cracked her knuckles, sparks flying as she flexed her fingers, “Ah that Konoha pride I’ve heard so much about, seems even the logical Aburame can’t escape it…”

Despite himself a minor twitch wanting to form into a smirk came to the young Aburame heir’s lip, “Why? Of course, we Aburame are members of Konoha after all,” both he and his insects were mildly amused by her chuckle at his response, “Though I must admit to some desire to continue this fight, why? As I said, you are an interesting specimen.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” and with that Xiao charged, continuing their fight.

Xiao’s lightning coated fist came directly into contact with Shino’s face and again he dissolved into bugs. “Tch,” barely losing momentum she spun around with a high kick, taking out another bug-clone before leaning back and avoiding another swarm’s punch. Rolling on her side she caught on the edge of the branch, again attaching her hand with chakra as most of the bugs fallowed her down, it seemed now despite the anesthetic they were determined to get to her at the beckoning of their master. “Heh,” with a devilish grin she planted her feet on the bottom of the branch and began fighting the swarm upside down, partial mimics flitting in and out of the swarm barely having time to fully form before she swept them off or hit them in a critical point causing them to melt into bugs.

She knew what he was doing, he knew he couldn’t take her one in a full taijutsu match so he’s having his insects fight her into exhaustion so he can appear and take the win. She’d give the boy credit, he knew how to think on his feet against an unknown opponent. –Luckily all I have to do is find you to end this…- it was irritating but necessary for this fight, expanding her Chakra Field she searched him out while still handling his bugs. After finding his location she smirked, red eyes almost glowing as she grasped the newest bug-clone’s hand, “Toami-Kaichuu!!”

For a moment she wondered if that was surprise she saw on the clone’s face, realizing it was being used for one of her own techniques, as the second the words left her mouth lightning spread from it to the entire swarm in a chain reaction looking very much like a thin-spun net of electricity.

She spared the insects one final look as they fell into the dissolving mist below of her aerosol, knowing such a high drop would be fatal to their little bodies. –Can’t be helped…- immediately her eyes went to where their summoner lay in wait.

Shino hid on a short bough, trying to focus as much of his chakra as possible into helping to grow his colony and sending those still able to move to retrieve those still alive as quickly as possible. He was at a dilemma, either leave the Kikaichu affected to wait out the anesthetic or return them to his body where he could absorb it and relieve them of such affects. If the number was minimal this might have little to no effect on him but knowing how many of his Kikaichu were affected he’d likely knock himself out in the process, but after that last display he might not have a choice…

“WIDE OPEN!!” that is until he heard a thunderous voice coming from above and Shino could only watch in stunned horror as the girl was literally dropping on him, head first from above, only to at the last possible second grab him around the head, shock the living daylights out of him, then flip off the bough and in a dizzying tumble they hurdled towards the ground where in a loud impact they landed, Xiao crouched on Aburame Shino’s back, holding his head as the boy thoroughly had the wind knocked out of him and unconscious from the fall, shock and impact.

Finally removing her hands from the fuzzy haired boy she sat down on him a bit more comfortably, whistling as she shook out her numb hands, “I have to give you Aburame credit, you guys are made of some tough material,” she grimaced as she looked at her hands, frowning as she saw burns where her hands came in contact with the metal of his headband. Leaning over slightly she turned his head to get a better look at the head band and sucked in her teeth at the burn underneath, “Shhh, aw, that’s gonna probably leave a mark…” without even thinking she lowered his headband with one hand and pulled out an ointment with the other, rubbing it over the unconscious boy’s wounds.

That’s how Oku found her, hauling an equally knocked out, if much more visibly banged up and singed, Inuzuka Kiba over his shoulder with Lior hauling in the boy’s puppy who was whimpering and looked about to wet himself, “Heh,” the funny hat wearing boy couldn’t help but laugh in his throat, tossing the Inuzuka near his teammate and consequently near his partner before crossing his arms and tilting his head, “Already healing the enemies I see?”

Red eyes rolled as she finished up what she was doing, glancing over the Inuzuka at her feet and deciding his wounds were superficial and didn’t require her immediate attention, “What’s this, a present?”

With a laugh Oku gave a mock bow, “Only the best for you my lady…”

Again she rolled her eyes, putting away the ointment after applying it to her own hands and getting off the poor boy she’d beat up, “Shut up, Oku…” as she reached him she flicked him in the head, right on the plate on his hat then crouching next to Lior to see the little white puppy whimpering. She could see him wanting to growl and want to bite her as her hand came close to check him over but the second he so much as tried to make such a sound Lior was growling and biting his scruff that much harder. Xiao just gave the touchy badger a flat look at such chivalry, “You can put him down, Lior-kun.”

With an angry snort the badger complied, those continued growling even as the puppy huddled into a ball.

Xiao quickly looked the little white, trembling thing over, he had bites and scratches all over but nowhere near the kind of damage his master did. Either Oku was aiming specifically for the Inuzuka or he was protecting his dog from the worst of the damage she didn’t know, but other than being terrified more of badgers she was sure he looked like he’d survive. Feeling generous, as it was just a puppy, she pulled out one of her small soldier pills and held it out to the little guy, “Here this should help you heal a bit faster…”

The puppy made a grumpy whine but one growl from the badger had him coming up to her hand and eating the thing, immediately licking her hand and wagging his tail slightly.

“Hehe,” Xiao gave him a light pet before picking him up and setting him next to his unconscious master, “Now you stay here and watch over these two, okay?” when the pup gave her a cheery bark she patted his head and smiled at him, “Good boy!!” then immediately stood up and noticed the look on her partner’s face, “What?”

Oku was rubbing his chin while Lior climbed back into his knapsack-den, “Sometimes Xiao-chan, I think you’re too nice,” even though his eyes still seemed to be closed he looked to be scowling at the unconscious boys, “Even to guys like this…”

“Shut up, Oku,” she knocked her fist against his head as she walked by, “They’re just kids, they don’t know what they’ve really gotten themselves into yet…”

The dirty blonde haired boy just shrugged, the pout not leaving his face as he followed his partner, “If you say so,” momentarily he glanced back, “Still think we should do something about them while we can…”

“And spoil our fun later?” there was a funny laugh that came out of Xiao’s mouth as she looked up at the small clearing their destruction had made, “Nah, I think this is fine, this isn’t a real mission, just a game remember, no need to be serious…”

There was still a frown on the pale boy’s face but he let it go, if that’s how Xiao wanted to play this then he’d do it for her. Glancing around after a few minutes of silence he couldn’t help but wonder, “Hey, where’s Yorihi-hime?”

------

As it was Yorihi was several meters away from where her teammates had finished of the rest of Team 8, in a particularly dark part of the woods and surrounded by a ton of bats.

“That’s so cute,” with a push of her chakra she created another barrier, with another she shot it out in a way that pushed most of the bats near her out of the sky before it dissipated.

Only to have to bring up one of her rods to deflect a wave of shuriken from one side then needing to dodge a stream of bats and senbon from two other directions.

The guy was persistent she’d give him that, but primarily annoying. –His bats don’t even absorb chakra, or if they are I’m not noticing it…- that was one serious advantage in her book, that these bats were not only smaller than the ones she remembered from the caves but weren’t nearly as much of a drain, chakra-wise, as they were. If nothing else they were little more than kunai with wings to her at this point.

“Well c’mon!! Bring it out!! BRING OUT THAT DAMN CAT!!” the disembodied voice was also another irritant. The cast some ‘darkness’ ninjutsu, some variation of the hidden mist technique she was sure or having the same results to any normal shinobi, but for her it did literally nothing. Darkness didn’t hinder her at all and she wondered why the dumbass bothered, figuring it was for his bats’ benefit and not really to have any effect on her. Then he was doing the whole ‘creeping in the darkness’ disembodied voice then and just throwing things at her.

All-in-all a very slow, very boring fight. She wanted to hunt him down and kick his ass but the closer she got the more he ran away and already they were a decent distance from her comrades and she didn’t want to lose any more ground.

-Damnit- she mentally cursed –If this keeps up I will have to bring out Bachiko just to corner the bastard…- she didn’t want to bring out her more chakra-heavy techniques, as she may need them later if they managed to catch up to the Suna Jinchuuriki and he decided to be… well, him, so she’d tried to keep this fight as primarily a kenjutsu affair but the bastard was keeping his damn distance!

“FINE!!” being officially fed up, she slapped her hands together in a bullshit seal, “You want to see him? HERE HE IS!! NEKO-BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!” with added flair for naming the actual ‘technique’ Bachiko materialized above her in his normal spinning blue-flame pattern only to ‘poof!’ and drop down into a crouch in front of her… in his Neko-Yorihi form.

In the shadows Hitomaru had no idea what he was looking at, or how this was anything near what he wanted, as the girl seemed to summon some complex bushin though he didn’t feel her chakra change at all. –How is that possible?- then he noticed something even stranger, apart from the name of the technique, the doppelgänger lifted its head, only instead of wearing the Kumo HItae-ate around its eyes like she did it had the thing hanging around its neck and instead looking right at him with disturbingly brilliant vibrant blue slit eyes.

A cat indeed…

Bachiko just licked his lips at the boy ‘hiding’ in the darkness as he reached behind him and grabbed the two lower swords from his master, drawing them out in a cross in front of him and scraping the serrated blade of the Owakizashi against the reverse blade of the Katana resulting in strangely blue sparks to form as he yowled in a way that all animals knew meant a ravenous predator had found his prey.

Above him Yorihi just grinned wickedly, stashing her beat rods and instead holding the sheath of her Uchigatana, crossing over to grab the handle with her right as she spoke in a low voice, “Go get him, Bachi-chan…”

An eerie blue flame seemed to spread around the ‘Bushin’ as cat ears and tail became apparent and its eyes seemed to glow more before it sprinted out into the forest, eyes only on its ‘prey’.

“S-shit!!” Hitomaru couldn’t help but blanch as the thing was on him in two strides, quickly having to dodge the two blades in its hands and wild movements. The serrated blade in its right hand seemed to look like it was ON FIRE!! While the reverse blade in its left it was using to SMASH everything in sight or ignite the blue flames of the other sword. The thing was madness!! How the hell did a genin have techniques like this!!

Then there was a low chuckle emanating from behind him, realizing only now that the damn Neko-clone had routed him back towards the main one, “Time to cut them to pieces, Kirezentai!!” and in one swift motion Yorihi drew the Uchigatana and a devastating wave of chakra came out cutting everything in its path.

Hitomaru barely managed to escape the wave by jumping over it just in time… only to get to get slammed in the back with the reverse blade katana and sent straight to the ground at the girl’s feet.

The trees, branches, boughs and animals that had been cut by her blade barely had time to fall in the background as she swiftly drew the Ninjato and pointed it at the boy’s exposed throat, “Now are you going to give up, hand over your scroll and live to fight another day or do I have to make this defeat permanent?”

Having no other recourse, gritting his teeth as he was now stuck between the weird ‘cat’ clone and the original, Hitomaru reached into his back pouch and drew his team’s scroll, a Heaven one.

Yorihi just frowned, taking the thing, not caring that it was the same one they already had, this was one way of ensuring there’d be less competition later. She examined it, feeling all along it to make sure he hadn’t tampered with it and wasn’t trying to pull some last minute bullshit on her, she was almost disappointed to find out it was clean, “Very well,” she stuffed it into her pack then sheathed her sword and looked at the boy, “Oh and by the way…”

The reverse blade came down hard on the back of the boy’s skull, knocking him completely unconscious and causing his bats in the immediate area to scatter now that they had no orders and the darkness technique to fizzle out and disappear.

“That was for wasting my time…” Yorihi ended in a flat voice as she held out her hand for her other swords, Bachiko tossing them over one by one so she could sheath them properly before he disappeared.

Yorihi took only two steps away from the unconscious Konoha Rookie before coming across her teammates, both who were smirking at her, “What?”

“Nice finish there Princess,” Xiao was sitting on one of the stumps of a cut down tree, “Very dramatic, very serious, really pulling off that anti-hero vibe you’ve got going,” She dodged a rock thrown her way only to continue chuckling.

Oku had his arms crossed and one hand on his chin looking very serious, “It was a good finish, simple, clean, showing you mean business but showed mercy all the same to someone that didn’t seem to really deserve it…”

Tattooed brows quirked at the boy, “You honestly think that,” she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb referring to the unconscious bat-summoner, “Is worth sullying my blades with his life blood?”

“Hmm,” the dirty blonde seemed to give it another second of thought, “Suppose you do have a point, Yorihi-hime,” then he scratched behind his head looking confused, “It’s really weird not killing or at least maiming them, but I guess this is just a ‘play’ mission after all…”

Yorihi clapped him on the shoulder as she walked by even if she wasn’t looking straight at him, “Trust me Oku-kun, when we fight some serious enemies trying to kill us, we’ll finish them in kine, for now, let’s just get out of here,” she faced off in the distance, sensing the strong malevolent chakra wasn’t completely out of their range, “We’ve got bigger targets to worry about…”

Xiao got up, clapping her knees as she did so with a deep sigh, before looking at the girl and waving her hand, “After you Princess…”

And with a nod they were off, on to their next target.

------

Tsuuga – Passing/Tunneling Fang

Toami – a casting net, Tobihi-Toami – Flying Sparks Casting Net, Toami-Kaichuu- Casting Net - Recast

Hijutsu: Mushidama – Secret Technique: Bug Sphere

Chapter Text

As they got closer and closer to their target, Yorihi threw over her shoulder, “Oku-kun, what’s that seal you stole say about the sand trio with Gaara?”

Mid-jump Lior popped out of his knapsack-den and handed his master a certain scrolled, Oku bite his thump and spread his blood along the seal holding the thing shut before unraveling the scroll, “Hmm, sand trio, sand trio,” the boy rolled through several feet of the scroll, Lior seeming to navigate the boy’s autopilot body to avoid a few low-hanging branches. A grimace came over the boy’s face, “Seems your hunch about that guy and his seal on the door was right, there’s way more information here then what he showed on those info cards…”

“Really, like what?” Xiao leapt up next to her partner, looking over his free shoulder to glance at the information written on the scroll.

An angry brow twitched on Oku’s face as he stopped on a branch, seeming to glare at what was written, “This guy had way too much information, even on us…” he didn’t move or fight as his partner reached around him, grabbing the side of the scroll and reading what was on it, her own dark face shifting in slight shock.

Yorihi reluctantly stopped in front of them, she didn’t know what they were reading and while she cared that whatever that information was that a potential enemy had bothered them it wasn’t something they could do anything about now, “The sand trio, what’s it say?” her voice was a bit more demanding but she tried to keep it gentle.

“Uh, yea, right,” Oku frowned as he moved the scroll along.

Next to him Xiao had crossed her arms and looked away, visibly shaken and obviously upset, it made Yorihi want to turn around and ask but not only did she not have a way to explain it but there was a mission ahead of them, they didn’t have the time. –Not now, but later…-

“Hm, ah, here, found it,” the dirty blonde boy seemed to stop at a specific section, reading it carefully and quirking his brows, “Well that’s interesting, says here the only reason Gaara doesn’t have any A ranks listed is because he never completed them, not that he wasn’t assign any…”

“What?” that had Yorihi turning to face her teammates, “That doesn’t make any sense, he’s a jinchuuriki, with obvious access to his demon, he should have been able to handle an A rank or two?” she’d admit to herself at least it had seemed rather odd when their mission numbers were given and the bloodthirsty redhead hadn’t had any A ranks listed. Even the two in front of her had one A rank, in fact any shinobi team worth their breath entering this thing should have had at least one.

“Mm, that’s what it says Yorihi-hime,” Oku made a sour face, as if what he was reading he didn’t quite understand, “It says he ‘completed’ the missions but went outside the parameters and basically failed them,  either cause he couldn’t maintain stealth or all his team members wound up dead…”

“How much you want to bet he killed them,” Xiao’s voice sounded pointed and harsh, she was still rubbing her arms and there was something hard in her eyes.

Yorihi took in all her observations, both what was said and how the two acted and put them into the back of her mind before nodding, “That seems most likely, he’s obviously not stable but has easy access to his demon, what I want to know though is about the other two on his team, Temari and Kankurou, why hasn’t he killed them?”

“Proly cause they’re his older siblings,” Oku said matter-a-fact-ly, rolling up the scroll a bit to read more of the information on the sand squad, “Seems they’re the only ones that have survived a mission with him, in fact that’s why they were assigned him…”

That was information worth knowing. –Seems the bingo book needs an update- she couldn’t imagine why this information wasn’t common knowledge. How could anyone miss the Kazekage having multiple kids, let alone one being their jinchuuriki, but that they were all assigned on the same team? “Talk about putting all your kunai in one pouch…”

“Hmp,” Oku snorted, rolling up the scroll and handing it back to Lior to stash in his knapsack-den, “Says the girl is a long distance heavy wind user type and the boy is a puppet master,” the dirty blonde scratched his head, still seeming confused, “Don’t quite understand how that helps them keep their little brother at bay? The guy could crush them both without trying…”

“You don’t have any siblings Oku,” red eyes were staring off into the middle distance as Xiao likely remembered her brother, “No matter how much you hate them, how much you fight or argue…” her voice trailed a bit as she put her hands on her hips and gave a deep sigh, “You never really can hate them, not really…” for some reason when she looked up her red eyes found Yorihi and nailed the younger girl with a pointed look.

It took all of Yorihi’s willpower to keep the blush off her face. –What’s with that look?- she knew Xiao and Seichi-san’s relationship was… strained to say the least, but the way she just said that… the only response Yorihi could do was clinch her hand on one of her swords before nodding, “Alright, hopefully we can catch up to them, I’ll try to lure Gaara away, do you two think you can handle the other two?”

A dirty blonde and dusty pink brow went up, Xiao looked furious though as she was the first to respond, “Are you saying we’re seriously hunting down that psycho?”

“Xiao…” the younger girl held her ground, gripping her sword tighter.

“NO!!” Xiao waved her hands in front of her as if she were fed up, “Why are we doing that?!” a dark skinned hand pointed at the blind girl, not caring if she could see it or not, “Our goal is to get through this test and pass this damn exam, not chasing after psychopaths from other villages just because you need to get a thrill from a hard fight!!”

A tattooed brow twitched as the younger girl held her ground, “Come or not but all I can say is there’s a reason I need to face him, hopefully before he gets his remaining scroll and leaves this forest, understand!”

The older girl grit her teeth obviously, conflicted on what to say.

A pale hand came down on her shoulder, pulling her back from the brink of doing something reckless, “Xiao-chan…” the dirty blonde boy’s narrow eyes stared at her seriously, calm but stern, “You agreed to let her lead us, if she says she has to do this then we can only support her…”

His partner obviously frowned but lowered her aggression, for now, with a mumbled of her favorite phrase, “Shut up, Oku…”

Narrow looking-closed-eyes faced the younger girl, “You sure you know what you’re doing, Yorihi-hime?”

With a firm grip and a just as serious nod the blind girl answered her comrades, “Yes, we don’t have time for me to explain now…” she turned, lightly sighing, “And even then I’m not sure I’m allowed too…”

The boy nodded, letting go of his partner and stepping forward.

Xiao had her arms crossed and an angry frown on her face before bursting out at the two ready to go, “Its likely there’s one sibling that cares for him,” red eyes opened and looked at the other two seriously, “Likely that’s why they haven’t been killed, he recognizes, on some level, that one actually gives a damn about him, and the other is just near enough to not get whipped out…”

Oku smiled back at his partner while Yorihi nodded firmly, accepting the information.

With a serious battle ready face on Xiao jumped ahead of the two, heading towards where Yorihi was heading, the other two taking only a step to catch up. When their younger leader came up next to her intent to take the lead she let the last bit slip, “If I had to bet, it’s the sister, she’s the target to go after to get him to follow you…”

With a firm nod Yorihi took the lead, taking that information to heart. –Thank you, Xiao…-

------

“Sabaku Sousou…”

With his hand out stretched to the Ame-nin wrapped up in sand crying for his life Gaara crushed it into a fist, liquefying the scarred man that provided little validation for his existence. As an insult to his memory the redhead used the man’s own umbrella to ensure none of the blood got on him, officially scaring the hell out of the man’s flunkies.

“W-we’re s-sorry!!” one had fallen back onto the ground, inching away…

“H-h-here… t-take i-it, t-take the scroll!!” the other threw out their scroll, bowing on the ground, “JUST DON’T KILL US!!”

Gaara moved the umbrella to look at the two vermin directly, not even fazed by their pleas… only reaching out with his hand, “Sabaku Kyuu…”

In response to its summoner the sand seemed to gain a mind of its own, traveling towards the two Ame-nin as they screamed and pleaded for their lives…

“Is this what Gaara of the Desert has been reduced to?” a stern voice called out from behind the redhead, “Hunting down waterlogged vermin?”

It was vaguely familiar, and the confidence in it brokered someone stronger then these two, he deigned to turn and spy this new prey. He saw the Kumo girl who used her headband to cover her eyes, sitting in the branch of a tree rather relaxed with one knee up and the other dangling, “Tenkyuu Yorihi…”

There was a slight smirk on the lower half of the girl’s pale face, “Glad you remembered, Sabaku no Gaara…”

“Hey don’t forget about us,” when Gaara turned around he noticed the dusky pink haired girl that threatened his brother, flexing her hand and smirking at him with her blood colored eyes. Next to her was a boy with a stupid plated hat sitting on the ground.

“Utsurabon Xiao…” Gaara’s placid light teal eyes traveled from the dark skinned girl’s smirk to the unfamiliar boy, “I don’t know you…”

The pale boy sitting waved cheerily, “Shitemon Oku, Gaara-san, we haven’t officially met yet…”

Those dark rimmed eyes just stared at the two standing between him and his prey.

Xiao frowned, tensing, “Now that introductions are done,” she glared over her shoulder, “You guys might want to run!”

The two Ame-nin seemed to squeak, fidget and nod, “R-right!!” they both got up ready to run for their lives…

Gaara just held out his hand and crushed it into a fist, “Sabaku Sousou…”

The last sounds of the two Ame-nin’s abrupt screams ending with a gooey liquefaction caused Xiao to flinch, closing her eyes as a dark frown covered her face. Oku just opened his thin eyes slightly, glaring at the young boy with seafoam green eyes as his cheery disposition disappeared, “That wasn’t necessary…”

Gaara just lowered his hand, ignoring the new boy and turning to face the girl in the tree. Of the three Kumo-nin she seemed the least fazed, “Have you come to prove my existence?”

Without a word Yorihi stood up on the branch, gripping her top left sword and reaching over to grab its handle.

The two Kumo-nin behind him tensed as well, he could feel the girl enter a stern taijutsu stance as lighting crackled around her fists while the boy set down a scroll in front of him and prepared a few seals.

“Gaara!!” off to the side Temari and Kankurou were watching the exchange. They had the scroll from the Ame trio and she had hoped he’d sated his bloodlust, for now, there was no reason to get into another fight!

“Let him be Temari,” Kankurou just crossed his arms next to his sister, hoping this next fight would be more amusing then the last.

Gaara raised his hand, the sand slowly following his moves and making a threatening display around him…

A slight smirk picked at Yorihi’s lip, gripping her sword handle and held it, infusing a significant amount of chakra…

“Oku!” the dusky pinkette growled out her partner’s name and started to move, charging with a lightning coated hand.

The dirty blonde haired boy with the funny hat just smirked, “On it!!” finally finishing his last seal he slammed his hand on the scroll, “Nipou: Tensoku!!”

Suddenly out of the ground around Kankurou and Temari wires sprouted and shot out at them, grabbing their feet and pinning the two in place.

Gaara had enough time to quirk a non-existent brow before he turned to look at his siblings shouts of surprise, noticing the dusty-pink haired girl make a swift turn towards his brother.

“Tobihi Tsuribari!!” Xiao’s entire right hand was pulled back, coated in a thick layer of lightning making it resemble a hook as she swiped getting close to Kankurou.

“Time to cut them all to pieces, Kirezentai!!” simultaneously Yorihi released her Uchigatana, sending a shockwave of cutting chakra towards Temari.

The two sand siblings attempted to put up some defense in the short second they realized the attacks were after them instead of Gaara, only for a wall of thick sand and condensed chakra to cover the two and block both attacks.

“Shit!!” Xiao jumped out of the way of the sand, dodging quickly and out of the way back to Oku when the wall retaliated.

There was a deep guttural growl filling the area, stemming from the redhead standing with his arms crossed and glaring at the blind girl with his black rimmed eyes, “I’m your opponent…” it was delivered in that same deep gravelly monotone but everyone present could tell there was a new edge to it.

-Seems I got his attention…- Yorihi smirked, sheathing her blade, “Well then come get me, Sabaku no Gaara!!”

A non-existent brow twitched, “Sabaku Kyuu!!” and the sand was running after Yorihi, rampant cascades chasing the supposedly blind girl as she merely flipped off the tree and bounced between ever available surface. At Gaara’s obvious annoyance for not catching her immediately he ordered the sand to circle around and catch her in a pincer move as the girl fell towards another would-be ‘safe’ spot… he held his hand out in anticipation of catching her.

-Shit!- “BACHIKO!!” in an instant a blue-black flame burst onto the scene, picking the girl up and revealing itself to be a large horse-sized Nekomata that easily bounced out of the way, taking his master with him.

Gaara just stared, having no idea what that was or why it caused mother to laugh and tell him to ‘chase’ it.

The Nekomata stood in the large bough of a tree, its rider smirking down at him, “Is that all the speed a desert Tanuki has? Heh…”

Mother growled louder causing Gaara’s head to hurt, “You won’t get away…” sand started gathering at his feet, pushing him into the air as more attacked the girl.

She only continued that infuriating smirk, “Catch me if you can, you second rate raccoon!!” and with that she and her demon cat fled into the woods.

Mother ROARED!! Gaara couldn’t understand what she said but she wanted that thing’s blood, and badly. He only giggled to himself, holding his head, “Yes, Mother, I’ll get her…” and with that the sand jinchuuriki was after her, bringing all the sand with him to bear, willing to convert this forest into a desert to catch his prey!!

-----

“Gaara!!” Temari yelled again, yanking her feet out of the stupid trap and grabbing her fan ready to go after her little brother. It was obvious to her he was being lead into some kind of trap!

“Let him be Temari!!” Kankurou yelled next to her, freeing himself as well, “He can take care of himself, and that girl isn’t going anywhere he won’t find her,” the make-up wearing boy in the black cat looking suit narrowed his eyes at the other two that stayed in the clearing with them, “We’ve got them to deal with…”

“So glad you thought to notice us,” Xiao cracked her knuckles, sending sparks out of them, “We’ve got some unfinished business, right Kabuki-chan~” her smirk grew as the boy growled.

“You’re right,” he took the mummy looking thing off his back and slammed it on the ground, “We do have some unfinished business pinky…”

“Ooh, scathing~” the red eyed girl just continued smirking, jumping at the boy with lightning enhanced fists and going into a quick series of taijutsu moves, dancing around her opponent.

Temari just growled, gripping her fan tighter as she watched Kankurou play with the girl, she was more worried about what Gaara would do. –If he totally loses it here we’re screwed!!- she made to move an inch towards the direction Gaara went-

Only for a strange earth panel to pop up in her way with a design that looked like a badger saying ‘no’ on it.

The sandy blonde could only blink at the thing for a second before pulling out her closed fan and smashing the cheap deterrent, allowing her to take another step…

Only for another wall to pop up, having the same badger looking thing saying ‘no’ on it.

Teal green eyes blinked again, before she turned to see the boy with the silly plated hat still sitting on the ground, waving with one hand and having the other seemingly pointing with two fingers on the open scroll in front of him, “Hello!!”

The older sand konoichi blinked again, then smashed the stupid wall and glared at the seated boy, leaning on her weapon, “Is that all you have to offer?”

The dirty blonde boy just kept grinning that stupid grin, “Nope!”

Temari quirked a brow, ignoring the obscenities she could hear from her brother and giggling from the Kumo girl, “Are you just going to sit there this whole time?”

“Maybe,” the boy’s head tilted slightly, still grinning.

Narrowing her eyes further she stared at the boy, “Are you going to just keep answering in single word responses?”

His grin grew just a bit more mischievous, “Probably…”

“Heh,” Temari gave the boy a smirk before spinning her fan, opening it a third and waving it at him causing a huge gust of wind.

He braced himself by putting both hands on the ground knuckles-flat and bowing, making his body as small as possible and somehow keeping the scroll on the ground in front of him.

The wind mistress finished her opening stance with a grin, now holding her fan behind her with one moon showing, “You’ll have to do better than that once I start to really get serious…”

The Kumo boy only raised his head, still smiling.

It gave Temari the creeping suspicion he was planning some trick.

-----

“Damnit stop moving around so damn much!!” Kankurou growled, swinging his mummy-thing at the girl who simply dodged effortlessly. The girl was just toying with him and it was pissing him off, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Temari already pull out her big battle fan and start her routine. If she got really serious she’d take them both out and he’d have nothing left to play with!!

The red eyed witch just smirked, resuming her stance with her lightning crackling fists, “Why not stop this game, I already know that’s a puppet you’re swinging around, so why not bring it out instead of pretending it’s a club?”

One of Kankurou’s brows twitched in agitation but his war-paint covered it up as his narrow eyes glared at the girl, “Oh really, you know that much?”

She just seemed to smirk, “We know a lot of things…” again she lunged forward to punch him in the chest…

Only this time the black wearing boy from Suna didn’t dodge, in fact it seemed as if her punch was grabbed from within his chest.

It was Xiao’s turn for her brow to twitch in agitation as the mummy-thing exploded into the make-up wearing boy and the one she’d been fighting to devolved into what must have been his puppet; some weird clattering multi-armed monstrosity with three eyes.

“Bet you weren’t expecting that!” Kankurou landed in what would normally be considered a ‘cool’ stance, with his arms crossed over his chest in a crouch smirking back at his new prey while his fingers glowed with chakra threads leading to his puppet.

The dusky-pinkette gave an angry grimace as she tried to pull back her hand, “Can’t say that I did, you kabuki bastard…”

He could only grin as he spun around and took several steps back, “Meet Karasu,” one of his fingers flicked and the puppet’s head flung back revealing a long knife in its neck, “He wants to say hello~”

With a growl Xiao grabbed a kunai with her other hand and deflected the in-coming head, only to be further annoyed as the thing’s body seemed to squeeze her captive hand tighter and the head come back for more. –Well this is just damn annoying!!- without even looking she spun towards the thing, “OKU!!”

“On it!!” there was a shout from the boy still sitting as he moved his hand on the scroll, poking in a different spot.

Immediately behind Xiao, where Karasu’s head was flying another one of those silly planks shot out of the ground, the puppet’s knife getting caught in the earth barrier.

That wasn’t all though, Xiao jumped, using the badger board to plant her feet sideways as she brought her hand back with her kunai, channeling a significant amount of electrical chakra into it and slamming it into the center portion that had her hand captive, “Try this you bastard!! Tobihi Denpa!!” her kunai lodged into one of Karasu’s body joints and released a burst of electricity that was enough for it to let go of her hand. Now free and the puppet immobile for a second she used the earth board as a springboard and launched herself at the puppet’s master, “Now get back here!!”

Growling Kankurou wiggled his fingers, causing Karasu to break into a ton of pieces and send them directly after the Kumo girl, each with a various blade sticking out, “You first!!”

Hearing the clacking of the puppet parts Xiao spun mid-run and held up the kunai she’d used earlier to electrocute the puppet, “I don’t think so!!”

Bizarrely as the knifed pieces got close they seemed to jiggle, then repelled away from the kunai…

“What the hell?!” Kankurou growled, moving his hands to order his puppet pieces back at the girl, this time instead of all at once in segmented waves, forcing her to bounce around and dodge the blades, which she did, mostly, only occasionally holding up the kunai to repel one or more of the blades that got too close. Stomping his feet and growling louder he couldn’t help but complain, “What the hell did you do!!”

Xiao just smirked to herself, sliding on the ground and dodging low, causing two pieces to get stuck in the ground as she repelled a third, “Don’t you know anything about how magnets are formed?” she twirled around another group, “Charge any metal with enough electricity and it becomes polarized, becoming a magnet,” she stood, holding up the kunai again, repelling more of the knives, “And any magnet with the same charge that comes near one another repels each other, heh!”

“You damn witch!!” he spread his hands out wide hoping to go for another swarm against her, “I’ll get you this time!”

Xiao just smirked, pulling out another kunai and charging it in one hand, “I don’t think so,” and just as the puppet knives were getting close she threw the new kunai directly at Kankurou.

Surprisingly, as she ducked, all the puppet knives followed the new kunai, “Shit!!” the boy dropped, letting it and the rest of his weapons fly overhead and rolled out of the way into a crouch, glaring at the girl.

She just gave a devilish smirk, “I just made sure that one had a stronger opposing charge, attracting the rest…”

Flexing his fingers Kankurou yanked his puppet parts out of the holes they dug themselves in and reassembled Karasu, “I bet that cheap trick doesn’t last long,” his eyes only narrowed when the girl shrugged, “So let’s do this dance again,” he pointed at the infuriating Kumo konoichi, “Get her, Karasu!!”

-----

Back with Temari…

The Suna konoichi waved her partially opened fan as again the boy somehow set off some mechanism to hurl a bunch of kunai at her. It was getting rather tiresome. Occasionally he’d help his friend, or set up another one of those dumb earth boards in front of her screwing up a swing and then send more at her. What was weirder was he’d summoned up some little spinning instrument that looked like a spoke with cups on the end, spinning every time she swung her fan. She knew he was doing something with it as occasionally he’d write something down on the scroll in front of him.

After a while she started to think he wasn’t really focusing on her. She could literally stand there and he didn’t do anything, aside from the occasional kunai trap going off and forcing her to swing them away with her fan.

-What the hell is he doing?- she was getting worried about Gaara’s fight and how far he’d gone, both in insanity and distance as she didn’t hear the telltale screams of Shukaku yet but obviously the third Kumo-nin had dragged him decently far enough to really separate them.

Another kunai trap, she didn’t even have to pay attention now to bat them away.

Suddenly the boy clapped his hands together, “Well, now that that’s done with,” his cheery smile was really starting to weird her out. He held his hands like that, making her think he’d start making some seal and get serious. Instead he just shouted, “Xiao-chan!! 32!!”

“Rodger!!” and suddenly the Kumo konoichi that had been toying with her brother broke off from him, disappearing and reappearing behind the seated boy, running her hand across his shoulders, “You’re up then…”

The boy in the silly hat just smirked, “Oh I know, Xiao-chan!!”

Suddenly the girl standing behind him pulled out what looked to be a slingshot, pulled it taught and aimed straight at Temari, quipping at her partner, “Shut up, Oku…” then let go…

Now, Temari had been paying attention to this girl fighting her brother, marginally, and knew she was extremely proficient in Lightning chakra, which was weak to Wind chakra which was her proficiency. She had assumed they knew her to be a wind user from her weapon and that’s why the girl was fighting her brother as opposed to her…

So when the electric pellet shot from the girl’s slingshot came zooming at her she had thought a simple swing of her fan and some wind would deflect the thing, that’s how it generally worked…

Instead the pellet shot through her fan, making a small hole right through her weapon and stunning her speechless.

“Heh, seems your calculations were right,” again the dark skinned girl pat his shoulder, “Now, Showtime Lior-kun…”

The boy gave a feral grin, showing rows of sharp teeth.

The two sand-nin had only a moment to blink, confused by the two…

… Before the ground below them collapsed and there was a string of rampant explosions.

-----

In the distance Yorihi heard the explosion. –Seems Xiao-chan an Oku-kun are getting serious…-

She was forced to dodge another swipe of chakra infused sand. However her comrades were doing must have been better than her as right not she could only dodge out of the way of the cascading sand. So far attacking it was useless and Gaara was floating on his platform lazily in her direction, a strange smirk breaking his normally placid face, which was surprisingly creepier.

-I need him to stop… find a way to get him to at least listen to what I have to say…- she crossed her arms when a wave of sand came at her and Bachiko, erecting a barrier that kept the murderous sand at bay, for now, “Gaara I need you to listen to me!!”

His response was raising his hand and sending more sand her way.

With a growl Yorihi rolled off of Bachiko, letting the Nekomata leap away to distract the best he could. Reaching behind her Yorihi retrieved her beat rods and shot towards the psychotic boy. Her blunt, if chakra enhanced, strikes were easily halted by his on guard sand, “Damnit, just listen to me for one second!!”

For a moment it looked like his black rimmed eyes narrowed just a bit, before she was flung into another tree.

Bachiko roared, charging at the sand monster, clawing, biting and swiping with all of his limbs as he practically ripped through the sand barriers until the last one, where it was obvious the previous sand only loosened to surround him, capturing the young Nekomata and holding him in the air. He growled as he showed his fangs and glared with those wide vibrant blue eyes.

Gaara just smirked, before holding out his hand and crushing the specter.

With a yowl the giant twin-tail evaporated, slinking back into his incorporeal form and rematerializing on his master’s shoulder in his small form, still glaring at the obviously possessed boy.

Yorihi winced, even if the damn cat could deal with that kind of pressure just the shadow of it hurt. Rubbing her head she turned to face the crazy redhead, pointing one of her rods at him, “Listen Gaara, despite what happened I’m not here to fight you!!”

Another torrential wave of sand left that bough stripped, forcing the Kumo konoichi to retreat to another, landing in a crouch and effectively glaring at the boy with her tattooed brows, “I only wanted to get your attention, to separate you so we could talk!!”

Another wave.

Another leap to safety that seemed too close, but at least the boy was being marginally predictable. Yorihi tilted her head, lowering her voice to be more cordial, “I’m simply here with a message, that if you want to get stronger, get that demon in your head under control, you should come to Kumo…”

The wave this time was wider but slower, it gave Yorihi the impression he was listening.

She landed on the last tree nearby, cursing that he’d managed to destroy the easy to reach ones within its range. –Great- standing she faced the boy floating on his sand in front of her, “That thing in your head that whispers to you, it’s not your mother, it’s the demon Ichibi no Shukaku…” with the sudden ‘small’ wave she leaned over and slid down the bough. Considering the boy didn’t take out the whole tree she assumed that was progress.

Surprisingly his gravely monotone reached her ears, “So what… what does any of that matter…” he held out his hand, clinching it slowly and from his perspective tightening it around the girl’s body, crushing everything below her throat, “Mother’s a demon, she wants blood, I intend to give it to her… that’s all I can do to prove I exist…”

“It’s not,” Yorihi gripped her weapons tightly, a sympathetic fury roiling within her, “The jounin that came with me, she’s the container of the Nibi no Nekomata,” she nodded her head to Bachiko when she noticed something change about Gaara’s gaze, “This one’s mother and a thousand times stronger…” she ignored the indignant snort from the cat on her shoulder, holding out her hand and pointing one of her rods directly at the red haired boy, “She was where you are now, lost to her demon without knowing it…” with a swift wave of her hand she face the boy firmly, “Now she’s a master of it, in control and far stronger than she ever would have been on her own…”

Light teal eyes narrowed, the boy’s eyes caught between a glare and questioning, “What difference does it make, we’re just weapons, brought out to destroy and tossed aside when we’re no longer needed…”

Yorihi snarled, “WE’RE NOT LIKE SUNA!!” she couldn’t help but yell, ejecting a wave of chakra in her fury, “We don’t treat our demons or their containers like monsters, abandoned, avoided, hated like the rest of them,” her hands gripped further on her weapons, nearly bending the worn metal, “We’re not going to throw you out, try to eliminate you because you’ve grown too powerful because we’re not such lowly cowards!!”

A torrential wave of sand came up from the ground, catching the girl mid rant as Gaara zoomed closer, his eyes half-crazed as he glared ferally at his prey, “LIES!!” he held up his hand, crushing the girl slowly, “You can claim all you want, it won’t make a difference, we’re monsters, weapons, something to be feared…” then suddenly he was calm, face placid as he closed his eyes, “Your village will abandon them, even you eventually,” then the psycho grin was back, black rimmed eyes staring at her malevolently, “Then all this will be nothing but pretty words…”

The blind girl growled, forcing out as much of her chakra as she could to break the binding, “If they ever…” she was seething through grit teeth as her brows lowered far enough so only her tattoos were visible over her headband as she glared at the boy with the insignia of her home, blue rimmed black flames licking at the edge of her appearance, “if they ever did that, I would burn that place down myself, for that is NOT the Kumo I grew up in!!”

For a moment Gaara had no words, no response as he just stared at the girl.

In the next the sand cocoon holding her exploded in with a wave of the blue tipped black flames…

She landed on the ground, surrounded by immobile sand seething.

Suddenly a creepy chuckle burst from the boy, “Ehehehe-hahahaha!!” he seemed to shake, quivering in some primal ecstasy as the platform below him dissolved, dropping him to the ground in front of her. When Gaara raised his head there was a strange shine to his eyes as he seemed to almost smile gleefully, “That’s what I want to see, mother says that wasn’t your cat, that was you, all you… hehehehe….”

Yorihi entered a tight stance, trying to hide her heavy breathing. –What just happened…?- for a moment she was consumed by rage, just the thought… the idea that her home, her family would do something like that… it brought back that black burning from when… -Uenkai…- gritting her teeth the Kumo konoichi shook her head, that didn’t matter, not now, “Take my advice Gaara, speak with Yugito…”

Suddenly she had to leap back, bursting chakra to send herself further as the boy whipped his hand up and the sand responded, “Enough of your lies,” he raised one hand to grip his head, his face seeming to be caught between his psychotic giggling and the stoic neutral face he was known for. His free hand rose, clinching in her direction, “Its time you proved my existence!! SABAKU KYUU!!”

All the sand in the area rose to his demands, racing towards the girl out for her blood.

“Damnit!!” Yorihi bit out running, this wasn’t going any way like she’d wanted. –He’s farther gone then I would have imagined- using every stealth trick she could think of and occasionally throwing out her barrier to halt the torrent of sand she ran, hopefully away from her comrades, she didn’t want to get them caught up in this mess.

She may have barely remembered the event, and a lot of things were still sketchy, but she knew that feeling, it was like when the Nibi possessed Yugito. Gaara was losing it and Shukaku was clawing to get out and attack her…

“Damnit, damnit, damnit!!” it was all she could do to stay ahead of the sand and wild cackling, even Bachiko would be of little help. –Unless he miraculously learned how to fly!- her mental comment was responded with rampant growls from the twin-tail next to her ear.

-----

With the thundering crash of deforestation the Kumo duo looked towards where their comrade had gone.

Xiao had her eyes wide as something cold slid down her spine, on instinct trying to extend the range of her chakra field to find out what it was but it wouldn’t go far enough. She gripping her fists, clinching her teeth, “Goddamnit Princess!! What the hell did you do!?!”

Oku closed his eyes momentarily, trying to feel out through the ground what was going on, and Lior didn’t seem to have any idea just that it felt like a real predator was coming out. Opening and reaching into his pack to grab another scroll he set it out in front of him, scribbling a few things and prepping for what he might have to do, “Xiao-chan, you should go…”

If the sudden torrential noise and malevolent chakra were a surprise, this was worse. Red eyes shot back to the boy as Xiao stared at him, “Oku…”

With his eyes seeming closed and a cheery smile on his face the funny hat wearing boy continued his work, “Go, someone has to save Yorihi-hime and you’re the only one that can get there fast enough…”

“But…” her hand closest reached out, gripping his shoulder, causing the boy to pause only a moment as he faced her over his shoulder.

There was one phenomena Kumo R&D allowed to remain unexplainable when it came to their formation and insistence of partners. When two partners knew each other well enough, had a high enough synergy with one another, they developed the capacity to speak volumes with nothing more than a glance between them.

This was one of those moments, as after that one look the young medic just nodded firmly, squeezing her partner’s shoulder one last time before letting go, biting her lip, rushing out seals as she ran and slammed her hand on the ground, “Kuchiyose no jutsu!!” and out of the smoke Xiao burst out standing on top of her black and grey manta ray, throwing out, “DON’T DIE!!” over her shoulder as she raced off into the woods to save their annoying little leader.

Oku just chuckled to himself, noticing the two Suna shinobi finally deciding to leap out of the explosive trap he’d set under them, weapons drawn and ready to come at him at full force. The boy could only chuckle to himself, holding his seal, “And to think, she didn’t even tell me to shut up, heh heh…”

-----

A few minutes before in the hole…

“Damnit! How the hell did they do that?” Temari was reasonably fairly pissed, as she pulled out a sheet from her pack and slapped it over the hole that damn Kumo konoichi had put through her battle fan. The patch was only a temporary fix and likely wouldn’t last a battle but it was the best she could do right now. Still, it didn’t make sense, even at low power her wind should have been enough to knock out that damn electric pellet. Wind insolated lightning it’s why it was stronger!! It canceled it out, so what the hell happened!!

Kankurou was more pissed about having to use his puppet in multiple parts to cancel out that damn blast they fell into. Karasu was not designed to be a defensive puppet, it was the offensive one, so the both of them were a little singed and irritated but between his puppet and his sister’s natural wind they were more or less fine. –Aside from her bitching…- after a few minutes of waiting for something else to trip and explode on them she’d started complaining about that girl somehow putting a hole in her weapon. Sure, his sister technically didn’t need the damn thing but without it to focus and provide the base wind her combat efficiency was next to zero. –In a matter of minutes that Kumo bitch managed to make both of us useless and look like fools…- he gripped his hand tightly, wanting nothing more than to wring that red eyed bitch’s neck.

Then they heard the forest crashing into pieces and that dreaded feeling came over their shoulders…

Simultaneously they both looked up with wide eyes, “Gaara!” they both looked at each other with dread. It was their job to keep him contained until the finals, if he snapped now and went full Shukaku the plan would be ruined and he’d be killed, or worse, captured…

Before Temari could get a word out Kankurou flexed his hands and summoned Karasu, “Go stop him! I’ll distract them…”

It was the only chance they had. Temari could see it in her brother’s stout stance as he prepped his next attack. Even with her fan damaged she could still make it to Gaara, hopefully before he fully lost it, and somehow distract him enough to not lose himself to his demon completely, just yet at least. In general Kankurou and his puppet should be enough to at least ‘distract’ the other Kumo genin, and when she noticed he transformed Karasu to look like her she had a decent idea of what he had planned; fake them out long enough to think they were both attacking, giving her time to get done what needed and then they’d pull their retreat. This test was over for them, they needed to get out of here as quickly as possible with their little brother as marginally ‘sane’ as possible.

“Right,” with a nod she used a replacement with a branch not far off in a higher tree to get out undetected while Kankurou sprang out with his puppet, and flicking open her fan enough to use for flight without disrupting the broken part she took off towards the destruction. –Gaara… if you don’t get under control soon we’re all dead…-

-----

The first sign that the situation may have changed slightly in her favor was when a tendril of sand came at her…

Only to burst into dust as what looked to be an orb of pure lightning shot right through it, taking out a few trees ahead before fizzling into nothingness.

The next thing was something racing towards her at an unnaturally high speed, spun, grabbed her by the back of her shirt, yanked her up and spun again only to somehow land her standing behind Xiao who was leaning this way and that as she literally surfed the grey and black Minazuki she vaguely remembered was named Zishi to escape the oncoming sand.

As a reflex, Yorihi ‘eep!’ed and grabbed the older konoichi around her waist and held on for dear life, sticking with chakra and not caring that the damn flying manta ray was technically just eating whatever she poured into it.

That actually caused Zishi to momentarily ‘hiccup’ before zooming forward somewhat faster…

Resulting in Xiao crouching down, Yorihi still clinging to her for dear life as they performed several aerial maneuvers the red eyed teen was glad she could practically do them in her sleep.

Somewhere over the whistling of wind and chaotic sand destruction a voice distinctly yelled out, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!”

Ironically it was not Xiao who said that, as the smaller girl holding on to her waist for dear life as they pulled up in a vertical spin only to halt at the apex then literally drop back down screamed. Of all the crazy things Xiao had been put through with the younger girl, and all the bullshit she could pull off, never did she expect such a childish scream of pure terror as they dropped back faster than they’d gone up. –Geez, it’s like she actually thinks I’d drop her…- against what was probably her ‘better’ nature this caused the dusky pinkette to smirk devilishly as she leaned slightly and brought Zishi up from her nosedive into a corkscrew and took off zooming the way she’d come.

In her peripheries and using her Chakra Field she could sense the sand slowly, in comparison, attempt to keep up and mimic her maneuvers.

“Hehe, ya know I could ask you the same thing, Princess…” that distinct chiding ‘mom’ tone was obvious in Xiao’s voice despite the fact she was still primarily focused on avoiding the trees and following sand.

“Shut up!!” Yorihi yelled in her ear, tightening her grip as they went for another spin and a few more maneuvers that left her a bit dizzy. She was fine with Bachiko and his land speed motions, but in a situation like this not only did she not have any damn control of what the hell was going on but the sheer variety of the things Xiao was pulling off was mindboggling. If she weren’t hanging on for dear life and somewhat scared out of her mind that they were going to abruptly and horribly DIE!! From this experience she’d be more impressed.

Xiao leaned back as they partially went upside-down and spun around a thick tree before bolting in another direction as a wall of sand came up, Gaara obviously still giving chase, “What the hell did you do to piss this guy off?!” she crouched low and moved side to side to avoid the oncoming eddy. She vaguely knew what would happen if Zishi so much as skidded along those cascades of sand and didn’t want to tempt it…

“Less questions, more finding a way to get him to stop chasing us!!” Yorihi growled with her tattooed brows low. Gaara was boxing them in, she didn’t need to look or sense to feel it, the way Xiao was maneuvering, while disturbingly impressive was putting them in circles. The damn Tanuki was driving them like a cornered animal, leaving them few options for escape.

-Option 1, we go up…- but every time they did that the sand followed or beat them to it, and Zishi seemed to have some limit to pure vertical thrust, however the damn thing was flying to begin with, and would eventually come back down. Thankfully when that happened Xiao was skilled enough to set the dive into a corkscrew and they banked off whatever was nearby and skittered away barely ahead of the damn sand.

-Option 2… go down…- Yorihi just shook her head as that was impossible. Neither she nor Xiao were earth types, Oku maybe, so she doubted without him they’d be able to tunnel their way underground, and even then she doubted they’d escape. She was partially convinced the reason Gaara seemed to have an infinite amount of sand to chase them was because he was manipulating the ground beneath them to make more. –It’d explain the slightly slower sand compared to what he keeps around himself mostly…- either way, that option was a bust.

-Option 3… run… FASTER!!- this also seemed to be a moot point, as not only were there the trees to navigate but the sand and Zishi seemed to only have so much speed despite how impressive it was at the moment the sand seemed to almost come out of nowhere and catch up.

Growling in frustration, Yorihi focused her sight behind them, through several barriers of sand until she finally found the grinning psychopath. –He’s still following, probably enjoying the chase…- despite his slower movement’s Gaara’s platform of sand seemed to be relatively keeping up, and generally the focal point from which all his sand was attacking. –He’s got to have a range limit, somewhere we can get that his sand can’t follow-

Her thoughts were suddenly cut off as Xiao made a quick U-turn, setting her hand flat on Zishi’s back and pumping chakra into the thing.

“Xiao-chan, what the hell do you think you’re doing…?” This looked familiar, and the Raikage’s Daughter didn’t like it one bit.

The older Kumo konoichi had a wicked smirk as her summon opened its mouth, the ball of lightning forming quick enough as everything around them seemed to dim, “Oh, just distracting him for a-”

Her words were cut off as suddenly a gale of blades came at them, cutting Zishi to bits and causing the summon to poof! And disappear, all its gathered chakra going with it.

Yorihi was the first to react, grabbing one of her wired kunai and throwing it out to a tree and grabbing Xiao’s arm before the girl fell too far. The supposedly blind girl only had a second to notice cream and purple before another gale was on them, cutting the wire and they were falling again into the grasp of the sand.

“Damnit!!” Xiao growled out, letting go of her friend as she ran through seals as quickly as possible, “Kuchiyose no jutsu!!” there was barely enough time as the summon came to life, only for another gale to come in and cut it away.

But it had been enough, Xiao using her momentary summon of Daishi to springboard off, hitting/grabbing Yorihi by her shoulder and send them horizontal far enough away from the sand.

They both landed in a rough roll, gripping the soft ground at the edge of a river on all fours, tense and ready to spring.

“Damnit!!” Xiao growled to herself as she finally was stable enough to notice who had been throwing out the gales at them. Temari was standing on one of the higher boughs, using her fan with two of those purple moons showing, “She’s not using the side with the hole…”

Yorihi didn’t bother asking, standing up straight, drawing her Ninjato in one hand and several more kunai in the other. They were backed into a literal corner. –Bachiko, any ideas would be really appreciated right now…- sadly her finicky feline was silent, even he wasn’t sure any of his tricks could get them out of such a mess, with a real demon on their trail.

“SABAKU KYUU!!” Gaara’s voice came ringing out of the dark forest as they boy was now apparently on the ground, holding his hand out before crushing it into a fist, “SABAKU SOUSOU!!”

Yorihi was prepared to throw up a barrier as the torrential cascade of sand seemed to creep towards them. She was prepared to lay down her life and that of her demon’s if it mean she could protect Xiao and get the older girl out of this safe.

What she was not prepared for was being suddenly grabbed around the waist by said girl’s surprisingly strong arm and thrown into the river behind them.

-----

Gaara glared at the wall of sand in front of him.

It didn’t feel satisfying.

He pushed out his other hand, holding both parallel in front of him and holding his hands together as if he were crushing a ball. The sand responding by gathering, all of it and everything it picked up in the forest around them and crushed it all into a large, compact ball.

He smelled blood but not that of the one he wanted.

Something was missing.

He let his hands drop and the orb collapsed, dropping sand throughout the entire area making it look like a small desert patch in the middle of the forest. Quickly a line was cut through it as the river washed away a good chunk of his sand.

There was a slight twitch of anger in his brow as he slowly made his way to the edge.

He saw nothing.

Holding his hand out he mentally commanded the sand to pursue in the river.

It crumbled and became too sluggish to wield the second it touched the water, infuriating him.

“G-Gaara?” the sandy blonde Suna konoichi delicately approached the red head, unsure of his disposition despite no longer feeling that dread of Shukaku awakening.

Black rimmed eyes stared at the rushing water and his distorted reflection in the water, irritated, annoyed, frustrated… empty. His prey had escaped somehow.

He turned around, not even noticing or caring for the older girl that was technically his sister, “We’re leaving Temari…” and folding his arms he summoned his sand, lifting him up and heading towards the tower, not even caring if she followed or not.

“R-right…” flicking open her fan two-thirds so as not to aggravate the quick patch job she jumped on top of it and rose into the air, following her youngest brother, flaring her chakra as a signal for Kankurou to hopefully follow.

-----

About a kilometer downstream the previously calm river broke as two Kumo konoichi came up for air and dragged themselves onto the shore.

“What… the fuck… Princess!” Xiao panted as she rested her head on her arms, only pulling herself half way out of the water and not caring at the moment to do the rest.

Yorihi was similarly sprawled out next to her, on her back with her legs still mostly in the water catching her own breathe, “How did… how did you know… that’d work?” she had been prepared for a last stand, never thinking something as mundane as water could halt the raging jinchuuriki’s pursuit.

“D-didn’t…” there was a throaty chuckle from the medic wannabe, “Just… took a chance…”

“That was goddamn reckless,” if it weren’t for the gasping the younger girl’s voice would have sounded more harsh.

Suddenly a dark hand reached out and grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling until Yorihi was face to face with very angry red eyes, “None… none of that from you!” before being harshly shoved as Xiao finally pulled herself the rest of the way up out of the water.

Yorihi could only frown, laying where she landed. –I screwed up…- she’d messed up, she’d messed up royally. She knew how unstable Gaara was, knew he was a full-fledged jinchuuriki, yet she’d gone in thinking she could just talk to him and that’d be fine… her hands came up, pushing under her headband and rubbing her eyes, they stung from the water.

After pulling herself out of the water, Xiao stood for a moment, checking herself down to make sure she hadn’t lost any equipment in their impromptu swim. Most of her stuff was sealed and fastened in a way to compensate for her tendency to fly in whatever crazy manner demanded so it wasn’t necessarily easy for stuff to just ‘fall out’ of her pockets, but now everything was soaked and while most things were sealed that could be annoying in the long run. Red eyes glanced down at her younger comrade, noticing the girl covering her eyes. If Yorihi weren’t who she was Xiao would have almost thought the girl was trying to wipe her eyes to stop herself from crying. –Good- she couldn’t help thinking as she tugged at the lower part of her shirt, squeezing out some of the water. –It at least means she understands she’s done something wrong…- moving on from her cloths she reached up and pulled at the little braids she usually had separated from the rest of her hair and squeezed the water out of them, “I hope you understand how much you screwed up…”

“I know…” it sounded like a groan.

Reaching up higher Xiao pulled out her bun, letting her shoulder length dusky-pink hair out and shook it to help dry it before she put it back up, “I hope you understand what this means…”

“I know!” Yorihi’s hands shifted, one dropping to her stomach while the other slid along her eyes, covering them with her arm as her groaning became louder.

Before putting her hair back up Xiao turned enough to look down at the girl with hard red eyes that made her ‘mom glare’ look like child’s play, “You could have gotten yourself killed!” when the only response she got was the pale girl frowning she had to hold herself back from kicking her, “You could have gotten me killed!!” when no response came the older konoichi growled loudly, turning around and having to hold herself back from strangling the girl. Her hands clinched into fists, she frowned, her body tensed and her eyes shut barely holding back the rage that was palpable, “And if you got Oku killed I will never forgive you…”

That felt like a stab to the heart. Suddenly all the air left Yorihi’s body and she felt like everything just disappeared. –Oku-kun…- if she were a normal person she probably would have lowered her arm and stared into the sky, lost to everything. As it was she had enough wits to lower her headband, covering her precious eyes before proceeding to do that. She hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t considered it. She knew her friends were strong and trusted them to be able to handle themselves…

-But if I really got him killed…- her wondering focus traveled behind her, seeing Xiao’s shaking form. The older girl would never say it, hell she was a master at brushing the topic off to the side, but anything happened to Oku there would be hell to pay, friend or foe, everyone would suffer as Xiao suffered for such a loss. –And if I were responsible for him losing her…- That made Yorihi’s mind wonder. She had never really seen Oku angry. She knew the dirty blonde haired boy with his silly hat was protective of Xiao, unconditionally it seemed, it wasn’t something he even thought about just something he did. But if he lost her…

The blind girl winced, a physical aching in her chest she wanted to forget hit her hard. –Uenkai…- she knew what it felt like to lose a partner. She knew how volatile her emotions became and what she did because of his loss…

Unconsciously the girl on the ground gripped her chest, a phantom pain to a wound that still hadn’t quite healed.

“Oh, hey, was there something I missed?” a suddenly cheery voice brought both Kumo konoichi out of their dower mood. Oku was suddenly standing in front of them, scratching the back of his head with a dopey smile and a disgruntled Lior on his shoulder.

“O-Oku?!” red eyes blinked as the older girl just stared, “How did you-where did you-what?”

Yorihi was thinking the same thing. –How the hell did he show up here so fast and without my notice?-

Oku just laughed openly, “C’mon Xiao-chan! I always know where you are!” he scratched the bridge of his nose and Yorihi was wondering if that was a signal to his smelling her out or what. Then suddenly he seemed to ‘blink’, even if it looked like his eyes were closed, “Ne?” a tilt of both his and Lior’s head before a big smile spread across his face, “You look pretty cute with your hair down like that Xiao-chan!!”

Suddenly the older girl’s cheeks were the color of her hair, “S-shut up, Oku!!” before she roughly turned around, grumbling to herself and sloppily putting her hair back up.

Oku just laughed, not seeming to care or notice the tension.

Yorihi just breathed a sigh of relief, watching the two interact. She had to be careful next time, plan better, defend them better. –Because I don’t want to ever see that look in Xiao’s eyes again…- it had hurt, the reminder and the accusation from her closest female friend.

-But I still have my mission to do…- right now, Yorihi didn’t know how much longer she could hold off telling her teammates what she was really here for. This had been a close call and reminded her of her limitations. –If I’m going to trust them, I’m going to have to tell them at some point… and that means everything else…-

Suddenly there was a shadow obscuring the light over her. Oku had come over, crouched over and seemingly squinting down at her, “Hey, Yorihi-hime, you alright?”

His honest concern brought a tight smirk to the side of her lip, “I’ve been better,” when he held out his hand she didn’t hesitate to grab it and let him pull her up. Now that they all were standing she could take a fair assessment of her team. The worst of the damage seemed to be her and Xiao being soaked and tired, Oku likely as well having run from wherever he was to where they are now. Quirking a tattooed brow Yorihi faced the boy, “Any idea where we are?”

“Hmm,” he crossed his arms and took on a thinking stance, “I’d say about three clicks from where we started,” with a funny grin he scratched the side of his head, “It was a pretty hard run getting to you guys, ya know…”

Now having her hair back up and slightly shuddering at being damp, Xiao eyed her partner, “How did you manage to get away?” there was an angry snort, “Before Temari showed up screwing with us I thought she was fighting you with that puppet bastard?”

“Hehe,” Oku beamed at his partner, “Nah, the two that jumped out after you left were him and his puppet disguised as her, I knew something was up when she wasn’t throwing out wind at me,” he puffed his chest out seeming proud of himself, “When I heard things getting worse and you taking so long I figured I should come help, so I tied the guy up in one of my wire traps and ran as fast as I could,” he released his hand enough to wave it, “You wouldn’t believe my surprise, watching you guys jump in the river and that guy deciding to leave, I was lucky I was hiding good enough, then had to wait awhile to make sure he was gone before I could follow you…”

A tattooed brow quirked, “You could follow us despite being in the river?”

The silly hat wearing boy just beamed, “Something like that!”

“Shut up Oku,” Xiao huffed, turning to their little leader. It was obvious by the look in her eyes she wasn’t happy about their situation but despite it all she hadn’t fully given up on the girl, yet, “So what’s the plan now, fearless leader,” the way she said it made it obvious she hadn’t meant it as any kind of praise. If anything she was likely giving Yorihi one last chance…

One she hoped to not completely waste, “Its best if we avoid the direct path for now,” crossing her arms and thinking she tried to get a better feel of their bearings. She could sense a few teams at a relatively fair distance away, likely scared off by all the destruction they’d caused due to their fight with Gaara and his siblings. –If we’re lucky they’ll back off for awhile…- despite having ‘lost’ that fight they could say they’d gone up against probably the most bloodthirsty participant in this damn test and lived, soaked and tired but still completely intact. –If you’re alive, that’s a win in Kumo’s book, right Otou-sama?- she remembered her Father making a joke to her Uncle, about how so long as they were alive they still won as they could just come back and fight again. It was how Kumo worked, so long as you were alive you could keep fighting.

Turning around she assessed their surroundings. In some terms they were still close to the damage from the battlefield, and if Gaara was heading in the opposite direction towards the Tower it meant the other way they’d been washed down lead towards the gate, “We need to get as far from the battlefield as possible, others could come looking for easy pickings and we need to rest up before anyone else challenges us…”

“You make it sound like someone will…” Xiao had a frown on her face like she didn’t want to agree but did, arguing just for the sake of it.

Yorihi turned back to face her flatly, “They will, but if everyone’s headed towards the Tower or where we just fought we head back a bit towards the gate, circle around and come back from another angle…”

“Sounds like a good trip!” the dirty blonde boy was rubbing his hands together, smiling.

“Tch,” while his partner just rolled her red eyes, crossing her arms and started walking first, “Whatever you say Princess…”

Yorihi could only sigh, knowing she’d have to make it up to the older girl somehow but for now this would have to do. –Though knowing my luck we’re just going to run into something far worse…- she tried to shake the pessimistic thought from her head as she gripped her swords and started after the two.

After all, what could be worse than Gaara in this forest?

-----

“I swear by whatever unholy force is out there, you ARE CURSED!! Princess!!” Xiao growled through clinched teeth as she glared red fury at the girl hiding next to her behind the large tree trunk.

“I’m really started to think so too!!” Yorihi bit back just as harshly. They tried to keep their complaints as low as possible so as not to be noticed by the battle going on down below. Somehow, somehow they had wondered into a fight that was way over their heads. Yorihi didn’t know if her comrades knew who was down there toying with Uchiha Sasuke, but she had a sneaking suspicion after seeing several of his techniques and the way he spoke. –Creepy, snake-type techniques with unrelenting killing intent and an obsession with gaining all manner of techniques…- she focused her senses to take in the effeminate waaaay beyond genin shinobi with the peeling face. –if I had to guess, Orochimaru of the Konoha Legendary Sannin…- another ‘stray’ technique blew apart some of their cover. She wasn’t entirely convinced it was by accident either. –Though the better question is… WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE!?-

Several stray kunai their way had Xiao crouching to sit down next to her friend, obviously pissed but preferring to stay out of this fight if possible… which was becoming harder and harder with each ‘stray’ attack coming their way.

They had spent not even an hour trying to take a longer, ideally safer, route to avoid getting involved in any fights. They’d passed a few, pitiful ones really between some of the genin and the wildlife more than anything else, when suddenly they’d all been bombarded with this intense, malevolent killing intent. The worst part hadn’t even been the killing intent itself, it wasn’t as strong as Gaara’s but something about how controlled it was made it a touch more creepy. It didn’t seem to matter which way they moved to try and avoid it they ended up heading straight for it in such a way Yorihi was half convinced it was a part of this guy’s plan to lure them here as well. –And since it’s who it is… I wouldn’t put that past him…-

So far they’d been able to mask their prescience, but even Yorihi knew that would only last so long. Of the three of them she technically had the best stealth, but in an unknown situation like this it was impossible to gauge how effective they were being without simply owning up to the fact they were probably being toyed with without fully knowing it.

-So far he’s been playing with the Uchiha, for what reason I have no idea, separating him from his team and for some reason not letting us leave…- was he messing with them? Goading them? Curious if they’d get involved? She almost had a sneaking suspicion he wanted something from them, not that she could understand what the hell it would be? –What would an Ex-Konoha Sannin want with us? Other than to kill us?-

The fight below them escalated, somehow, more the Uchiha getting fed up and pulling out every trick he could think of. Vaguely she'd admit to herself he wasn't 'half-bad' for a genin, he knew his tools and knew how to utilize them, even combining the wires with his fire attacks to lead them. –I'll have to remember that trick…- it was a good idea to get fire where you wanted it to go, if she combined some oil soaked wires and Oku's spring-wire traps and the sparks from Suruyaku… it gave her an interesting idea, to say the least.

Not that she or Xiao could bask in it as the fight seemed to be heading their way. Without a word the two raced up the tree before the attack hit, blowing a hole through where they'd been and split up as they reached the higher boughs. –The damn snake is guiding the Uchiha's attacks toward us… but which one is he really after?- it was her job, without mincing words, to either capture or recruit other members of villages. She recognized the baiting tactic, Orochimaru was testing the Uchiha for some quality only the snake-sannin knew and his constant leading towards them meant he was either trying to get one of them killed or test them as well. –But which one…-

When another series of attacks sporadically were flung her way she figured she was the target as well. –Of course I am…- that explained why Oku was never picked, as she'd sent him to retrieve the pink haired girl who was stuck in a genjutsu while Bachiko scouted around for Naruto and she and Xiao went to 'have a look' at what was controlling the damn area. She almost wanted to laugh, splitting up like this just played into the sannin's hand, like usual, but like always separating Kumo-nin didn't mean they were outnumbered. –Just less likely to hit our comrades…- there was a dark chuckle as she slid into some foliage, keeping her senses open and active to what was going on below, knowing the Uchiha hadn't noticed them yet but she wasn't so blind as to not notice the now revealed face of the Legendary Sannin to glance her way every now and then with those golden snake eyes of his.

He was waiting for her to make her move, now just toying with the Uchiha to drag it out…

Yorihi debated about which sword to pull, what equipment to use, and idly scanning the area and back of her mind to find out where everyone was located. Xiao had ran the opposite side of her when they got up in the high branches of the tree but circled around and went lower, she was hiding behind another bough nearly all the way across the clearing near-level with the sannin and his plaything. Oku was to her left, much further down in thick foliage with the girl from Team 7 knocked out in his lap. Likely when she 'woke up' from the genjutsu she had struggled and he went for the simplest route, knocking her out to move as needed. And from the tug of her consciousness she could feel Bachiko making his way back from the right, angrily chasing… something… that was most likely Naruto, and if the demon chakra she was feeling approaching meant anything he was tapping into the Kyuubi and likely unreasonable right now.

-Great…- was the last mental groan she could afford, Bachiko agreeing, as the feral jinchuuriki burst into view, caught somewhere between her level and the sannin's growling and making his stand.

"What's wrong Teme… since when are you such a scaredy-cat…" Naruto growled out as red chakra leaked out of him, unrefined, without control and vaguely forming the silhouette of a fox.

Yorihi watched the boy surprised, she'd seen her Uncle Killer-Bee in his Hachibi form a few times, even his Version 2 as he liked to show off to her once, but it never felt like this. Her Uncle always had this level of control, this feel that despite the demonic power he knew every fraction of it, what it was doing, where it was going, and it answered to his beck and call.

Naruto was anything but, even in such a low powered state, comparatively, the demonic chakra around him was wild and chaotic, burning where he stood and would likely lash out at any random emotion he had.

It almost reminded her of her own chakra when she'd first left the cave and gotten upset, there was just too much to handle and control so it just came out…

Unconsciously her hand gripped the tree behind her, easily clawing it to tinder as she signaled her feline companion to watch the boy, knock him out of the fight if necessary should he try to do something stupid.

Like attack the Sannin head on as the slithery man smirked, gathering chakra in the five tips of his finger and obviously prepping something bad…

"Damnit!" she growled, sliding out of her hiding spot just in time as Bachiko, in her form, jumped the boy, pushing him out of the way of the attack and landing several feet to the side.

Neko-Yori-Bachiko landed on all fours, still mimicking his cat nature despite the borrowed human form, ears flat against his head, vibrant blue eyes narrowed on the snake, and tail unwound, puffed out and waving threateningly behind him, making sure the stupid fox-boy was between him and the snake at all times.

Yorihi decided this was the best time as any to speak up, "I don't take kindly to others interfering with my prey," she glared down at the sannin as best she could, hoping the distance make whatever fear she had of the man nonexistent in her countenance, "Even Legendary Sannin from this cursed village…"

"Kukuku…" the slithery man turned around disturbingly slow, lowering his hand and seeming to drop whatever technique he had tried, "So protective of your prey I see…" his gold eye faced her, it sent a chill down her spine that she hoped he didn't notice, "And here I was wondering what cloud vermin were doing here so unexpectedly, kukuku…"

His laugh was like something crawling under her skin, from her vantage point she could see Xiao shiver and Oku tense, neither liking it as well. –But I can't let him see a thing…- She was luck about two things facing the sannin, he couldn't see her eyes and she had Reki's training to help keep a level head despite who disturbing this encounter was, "Think what you want, we're here for a good fight," pompously she nudged her chin at him, both goading and looking down on him, "Unlike some who seem to just want to torment little children…"

That got a rise out of the Uchiha, who so far had been kneeling on the ground, having offered his team's scroll and only mildly reacted when Naruto taunted him and attacked. Had she not had Bachiko interfere, the blind girl was convinced he would have attacked upon Naruto's untimely defeat by whatever that technique was…

The snake sannin just continued to chuckle, seeming amused as he crossed one arm over his chest and ran a white finger along his chin, "Why its always so much fun to play with your food first after all… Kukuku, give them the thought they ever had a chance…" he was purposely ignoring and belittling the Uchiha.

Yorihi didn't know why, but it seemed the man's focus was still on the boy on the bough near him stunned with some kind of conflict. She didn't care about the Uchiha, he was worthless in her eyes, "Tch, such worthless prey, why bother?" she felt the boy's anger and chakra spike as he dipped his head.

Orochimaru's wicked grin spread, taking a step towards her, "He's an Uchiha, you know as well as I do what they're capable of… Kukuku…"

"Hey! Lemme go you damn cat thing!" momentarily the discussion was interrupted as Naruto, still having access to the Kyuubi's chakra if less than before was struggling to remove Neko-Bachiko from his person. It was obvious the boy wanted to help his teammate but the cat demon had orders to not let him get anywhere near the sannin so as to avoid that strange attack. Currently 'she' had him around the waist, pined to the tree bodily as the cat demon growled, puffed out tail waving furiously as the bastard kept using powerful elbow drops to his humanoid back to try and break the hold, "DAMNIT! I NEED TO HELP SASUKE! DATTEBAYOU!"

It was then Yorihi noticed the Uchiha clinch his hands on the bough. –This is all part of his plan…- her focus returned to the damn sannin, trying to figure out what the hell he was trying to do. She growled, feigning indifference to what was going on, "Feh, you should know that in Kumo the only good Uchiha is Itachi…"

A slim dark brow rose on the sannin's white face as both ignored how still the black haired boy became, "Oh-ho," Orochimaru mused with a sick smile, "He was a specimen, so young, so powerful, such a naturally gifted master of the Sharingan…" something glittered in the snake's golden eyes, "I didn't think you Kumo-nin would dare to be impressed by the power of someone outside your own?"

Another indifferent snort, "We're not," her voice growled as she carefully tensed, feeling something was about to happen at any moment, "He's the only good one because he killed the rest…"

The second those words left her mouth Sasuke's head popped up, rage written on his face but most notably he now had red eyes. Red, Sharingan eyes, "You'll pay for that! You Kumo-bitch!" and suddenly the rage driven Uchiha abandoned his initial opponent, charging blindly at the Kumo konoichi so high above him.

"Sasuke what the hell are you doing?!" Naruto yelled, his own red eyes confused as he watched his teammate charge at Yorihi, abandoning the creep that had been torturing him for the past however-long. Even the cat-girl holding him down seemed to growl, tense and glance at what was happening.

Sasuke started with his signature Grand Fireball, forcing Yorihi to either waste chakra with her barrier or draw Suruyaku and cut through the flames. She chose the latter, pulling out the serrated Owakizashi in one fluid moment, cutting the giant blaze in half resulting in it dissipating and the blade in her hand to glow a fiery red hot.

It was a distraction, as usual, the genin replacing himself with some tree branch to gain distance quickly and charged at her down the bough, kunai in both hand and throwing out shuriken. She dodged the shuriken easy, meeting his kunai with her red hot sword, making the metal sizzle and melt on the lower quality weapons. Red Sharingan eyes just twitched, pushing up before his weapons were cut through to deflect the larger sword and quickly channeling chakra to his mouth breathing out fire that raced along the wire he was holding there down to the shuriken that imbedded themselves on either side of the blind girl from Kumo.

If she hadn't already seen a similar trap from him while he was being toyed with by Orochimaru she may have been impressed. Instead she spun, kicking out behind her to hit the boy in the chest and send him flying while simultaneously cutting the wires around her, tossing the flames away relatively harmlessly while her sword absorbed any that got to close. She ended with her blade pointing down at the boy on the bough in front of her, "Stand down Uchiha…"

The black haired boy just grit his teeth… then tomoe in his eyes started spinning.

Now Yorihi's only experience with Sharingan was the torture illusion from her Grandmother, otherwise she only had a vague approximation of what they could do, and even then the boy's eyes didn't look the same as Reki's. Where the older Jounin had shown her red eyes with three tomoe and another version showing a complex pattern, Sasuke's appeared to only have one tomoe in one eye and two in the other. This lead her to believe his wasn't complete, but even then she wasn't sure what it could do…

Instead of heeding her warning the boy disappeared, replaced by a log as he came at her from behind. She had quickly spun, drawing her sword up to attack, only suddenly he seemed just a bit faster and managing to dodge her efforts. With another growl she leaped back, drawing her still glowing sword in a horizontal stance, more defensive as he came again baring down kunai. With a particular move she learned from Ruri she managed to block his arms and disarm him, swinging the blade around with lightning speed and brought it down on his forearms… only to discover those white wraps concealed forearm guards. Growling she pressed her advantage with brute strength, pushing him to one knee… only for him to deflect her blade and kick her in the chest in a manner she swore she just did to him a second ago.

Bracing herself she stood still, halting the slide back. –Is he copying me?- she brought her sword up in a defense as he leapt in the air, obviously going for another fireball of some kind.

"Yorihi!" Before the attack even got close she was tackled from the side, grabbed and swung by centrifugal force and perhaps a hand with chakra laced grabbing the bough only so that when the fireball hit neither were there and swung them back on top as Xiao released her friend and uppercut kicked the cocky little bastard in the face.

"Xiao!" This was bad, Yorihi would blame the protective girl for the 'save' but if the Uchiha was copying taijutsu and got Xiao's combat style they could be in real trouble quick.

"Come on you cheap knock-off red-eyed bastard!" the older girl growled as she rolled with her kick, spinning in the air as he went down making herself horizontal as she brought back her fist, lacing it with lightning and brought it down, "See how much you like this!"

It took Yorihi a moment to process Xiao's words and realize the girl was offended the Uchiha had suddenly 'clicked on' red eyes, the pride of her family. A small part of her mind could only twitch. –Really Xiao!-

It looked like the Uchiha had no means of escaping her attack or even noticing it… but again his Sharingan was spinning and with speed previously not used he brought his hands up and seemed to grab her lightning coated fist, grunting at the shocking pain only to spin and toss the girl as he made his way up as fluidly as possible.

Xiao simply rolled midair, sliding along the bough, spun, and landed back in her basic stance, fists up around her chin, feet close together ready to spring and red eyes glaring insulted fury at the younger boy.

What was more annoying, to Yorihi at least, was that the bastard took up a similar stance. –Conscious or not he is copying her… damnit!- This needed to end before she got serious and he really got more irritating. Holding her right hand out she swathed Suruyaku in her chakra, forcefully cooling the blade before sheathing it, reaching behind her and drawing her beat rods instead. It was annoying and exposing the bastard's premature Sharingan to more of her styles but she needed to subdue him quickly before he got anything else that might be useful.

She was lucky he was enamored with Xiao and her style didn't exactly suit people dependent on eye contact very well. What little he was picking up came from mostly getting hit in the face by her fist or in the ribs with her high kicks. The Uchiha wasn't as tall as her so had a disadvantage of reach and relied too much on his eyes to pick up the style so his reactions were slower than they should have been.

It gave her a perfect opportunity to come up behind him while Xiao gloated, a smirking glint in her own red eyes, "You rely too much on your sight Uchiha," only to catch him between a feint and a sucker punch.

Yorihi went in for an overhead blow, planning to hit his head before it could come back up, only for the boy to lean into the sucker punch, plant his hand on the bough try for a back kick on her, a variation of what Xiao had done earlier but nowhere near as refined or understanding of the strange physics the older girl seemed to run off of.

Abandoning the blow to his head, Yorihi grappled his leg that came at her, lifting the boy, "Xiao!"

"On it!" a lightning fist came down again on the Uchiha's chest, causing him to scream and lash out.

Xiao managed to avoid his arms while Yorihi got his foot directly in her face, abandoning safety to maintain her hold on his captured leg, "Damnit! Would you stop moving!"

Momentarily the boy seemed to do just that… then quickly poof!ed and Kumo konoichi found herself holding a log.

Growling she tossed the damn thing as she and Xiao turned on the bough, seeing the boy standing on a branch not far below, closer to his starting point where the sannin seemed amused watching their fight.

Xiao tensed, gripping her hands into fists, "Yorihi…"

"Yea, I know…" she tensed as well, gripping her rods tighter.

Neither konoichi cared about the fact the boy was obviously prepping for another attack, likely a fireball mixed with more wire and kunai tricks. No, what had them worried was the sudden grin on the snake sannin's face as they had basically positioned Sasuke with his back to the man and his focus on them already halfway through a series of seals.

They had worked right into whatever trap Orochimaru had planned for the boy…

Suddenly the sannin's laughter became audible, only for his neck to stretch and his fangs head straight for the defenseless boy in probably one of the most bizarre attacks either konoichi had ever seen.

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled from his position…

"UCHIHA!" Yorihi found herself yelling…

"RUN!" accompanied by Xiao standing next to her. They'd all been deceived, forced to ignore the real threat as Sasuke went on his little tantrum.

Though there was one benefit to the boy copying some of Xiao's style, the dusky-pink haired Kumo girl's style was primarily designed for dodging even if it had a decent offense. The moment his opponents shifted from on guard to worried for him he knew something was up, and hearing that moron of a teammate of his scream as well told him it was a legitimate threat. Taping into the girl's style he leaned quickly to the side as something white flew over his shoulder. He lost a precious second as he realized it was Orochimaru's head attached to a long white neck that he somehow managed to stretch to such impossible lengths.

"Kukuku… well done boy," the neck turned, showing a grinning sannin's head with sharp fangs, "Seems you truly are better than I had been lead to believe, activating those precious eyes of yours and standing up to opponents such as them…"

A sinking feeling entered Yorihi's gut as the snake literally coiled around his prey, "UCHIHA GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" she didn't care about the boy, not personally, not as a comrade, not as a friend, not even an ally, but she wasn't going to just stand there and watch as some twisted bastard got whatever the hell he wanted. –And if it's the Sharingan he wants and not Sasuke himself then its worse…- she knew from the grief in her Grandmother's voice those eyes were cursed, anyone who wanted their power was twisted and evil and not worth having in this world.

In a swift motion she stored her rods and grabbed Kirezentai, not even caring for her normal phrasing when drawing the thing, there wasn't time, simply pulling out the Uchigatana and hoping by some miracle it did something to the sannin.

Next to her Xiao had drawn her slingshot, prepping a heavy lightning charged pellet and letting it loose.

Bachiko gave up holding the Kyuubi boy, instead charging at the body of the snake, recognizing it was more important to remove that threat then protect the moron to his master at this time. Drawing his hands back he summoned blue-black flames, eyes aglow with his ethereal power as he charged at the snake's immobile body.

Naruto, now free raced towards Sasuke, hoping to get to his teammate before anything happened to him. He wasn't a complete fool like most people thought, if those Kumo girls were worried about what was going to happen to the arrogant prick he called a teammate then it was best it just not happen. He made his signature cross shaped seal, an idea already forming in his mind…

The blade of wind did nothing, the lightning pellet did nothing, and Bachiko was grabbed around the throat by one of the sannin's arms, shoved to the ground with an ungodly force causing the cat to yowl and force himself into an incorporeal state to escape.

Next to Xiao, Yorihi dropped to one knee, gripping her throat as she tried to repress the feel of being suffocated, feeling Bachiko's presence return to her but wary to reform.

A red eye glanced down, worry tinging her voice even if she didn't want it to, "Princess?"

"I'm…" a rough cough as she breathed deep, getting back to her feet, "… fine."

"Kukuku… how cute," Orochimaru's cruel voice filled the area, his golden snake eyes facing the girls momentarily before going back to his true prey, "But ultimately… Utterly futile…" with lightning speed he reached out, biting the Uchiha around the neck, "Now Sasuke-kun, you are mine!"

The boy screamed from the pain in his neck… for a moment, then even stranger he poof!ed and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

The Sannin only looked momentarily perturbed, turning to face his last challenger, "Naruto-kun…"

Said boy stood tall and pointed at the bastard, making sure he was between the sannin and his comrade, "THAT'S UZUMAKI NARUTO TO YOU BITCH!"

After a momentary silence, the sannin glaring flatly, did Orochimaru simply whip out one elongated arm and smack the loud blonde off the branch.

"NARUTO!" both Kumo girl's shouted, both tense and planning trying to figure out what to do.

Orochimaru drew closer to Sasuke, who was either paralyzed by fear or suddenly drained of all his chakra thanks to his eyes. Either way the boy couldn't move and was a virtual sitting duck.

"I SAID!" suddenly there was a shout from around the forest, as THOUSANDS of red-eyed blondes launched themselves at the snake sannin, arms cocked back to pummel the man to death as they shouted in unison, "U-ZU-MA-KI NA-RU-TO BITCH!"

And the pummeling began as a chaotic cloud of bursting and curses surrounded the sannin.

Sasuke, Yorihi and Xiao were momentarily stunned by what they were seeing. No form, no finesse, no apparent freakin' plan, just pure raw power and overwhelming numbers…

Yorihi's mind could only form one thought as her hidden eyes blinked, "Well… that's one way to do it…"

Xiao quickly tugged on her arm, pulling her along, it was time for them to retreat and regroup and she had no problem with that.

As for Sasuke, he was dumbfoundedly staring, not wanting to admit he was marginally impressed by the dobe's sheer tenacity and irritating nature, keeping Orochimaru at the very least occupied. He didn't even bat an eye as a boy, holding Sakura over his shoulder and a badger on the other came up behind him and tugged him up, "Time to go, Uchiha-san!" Sasuke just nodded, not having the energy or capacity to argue.

-----

It took Orochimaru a frustratingly long amount of time to be rid of all the shadow clones, primarily because they kept making more and using bizarre off the wall tactics that even made him pause. The Kyuubi boy was certainly the definition of 'chaotic' when it came to combat, strangely effective but impossible to follow.

He was more annoyed to find out the original was nowhere in sight, likely fled with the rest while his clones kept him at bay here.

No matter, he had seen what he wanted. Pushing Sasuke-kun to unlocking his eyes, as frustrating as it was to realize he hadn't beforehand, then luring the Kumo team that was miraculously nearby to test out his capabilities. It was amusing to see that even with an imperfect Sharingan it increased the boy's combat effectiveness exponentially, making him capable of standing, relatively, on his own against the two better trained and more effective Kumo konoichi.

-Though they were likely holding back…- he mused. At least the blind one was, she had only used two swords out of four, one against the Uchiha and one against himself, and if what he'd seen her do with those swords was something to go by he was beyond curious to see what she could do with the others. The other girl with the red eyes and dark skin common to Kumo was most definitely not holding back, nearly as much, as she took great amusement in beating the boy, inadvertently teaching him her interesting style. It had been enough for the boy to dodge him so obviously there was something to that strange style, and her free use of lightning was intriguing…

Perhaps the one that piqued his curiosity the most was the one that did nothing throughout the fight. The boy with the plated hat had sat in the shadows with his captive, not waiting for a sign to attack, instead for an opening to retreat… it seemed he was their backup plan, and the fact they even had one meant they were at least decent shinobi.

Though it was adorable that they thought they could actually get away from him. He had seen his prize and he would mark it, the others, while amusing were of no consequence to him, they could deal with Sasuke-kun when he woke up, if they stuck around. –Perhaps he'll kill them at first glance… won't that be amusing…-

"Kukuku…" the Legendary Sannin chuckled to himself as he melted into the wood he stood on. It wouldn't take him long to find them, find Sasuke and be done here.

-----

"Wh-what… w-why?" Sasuke panted as he ran next to the Kumo ninja.

Oku just gave him a grimace, "Less questions Sasuke-san, more running," the older boy had both the Uchiha's teammate over his shoulder and was throwing out sporadic trap seals behind them while Lior fed them to him and he was still keeping pace easily ahead of the boy.

With an angry grunt just nodded his head, gritting his teeth and not having the energy to do anything but try and keep pace with the boy. They were running flat out on the ground as it was easier, and safer, then jumping through the trees. He had no idea why the boy had Sakura slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes or why he was randomly throwing out seals every couple of paces…

Then he started hearing the explosions.

"Shit!" Oku spun around, tossing Sakura at the drained Uchiha, "Hold her for a second," not giving him any time to protest as his hands went through a surge of seals and he slammed both on the ground, black scrawling coming out and racing into the forest. Suddenly the various seals he'd thrown up strung out wires covered in what looked like black balls all across the forest, some in the farthest back going off, releasing red and purple mist, closer ones doing the same but they were close enough he could see them releasing something, like a shower of needles or other blades. Some exploded, forcing this slippery white thing to move, others it just ran right through.

Frowning Oku went through another set of seals, holding his hands back in what were probably half-seals, the pinky and ring fingers of both hands held to the palm while the fore and middle fingers were extended. The badger that popped in and out of his knapsack came out and handed him to black rods, grabbing them with his thumbs before completing the seals and banging them together. An irritatingly long ringing sound escaped the rods, vibrating and causing all strung up seals to vibrate…

In a second they all detonated as what must have been Orochimaru ploughed right through them.

Oku shoved the rods into the ground, causing it to break up from the vibrations… he literally only had seconds before he ran through another batch of seals and thrust his hand on the ground, bringing up a wall of dirt spanning the whole area with a big badger on it holding a sign that said 'NO!'.

It was all fundamentally futile as Orochimaru didn't even bother with the wall...

An elongated white hand burst from the ground in front of Oku, grabbing him by the neck and choked him.

"OKU!" suddenly there was something bright that impacted the wall from the other side, causing it to explode and Sasuke half wondered if that was the real purpose of the wall, shrapnel instead of defense. Whatever the thing was it was flying, black, grey and dark pink zoomed for the boy held aloft by the hand and he saw the girl with the lightning fists from earlier, riding something that looked like a flying manta ray, thrust her hand through the arm holding her comrade, forcing it to let go then grabbing him and zooming away.

Sasuke barely had time to register what the hell was really going on, the strain from unlocking his eyes was getting to him, and he was tired holding Sakura…

Orochimaru approached him, calmly pulling his hand out of the ground, shaking it out and frowning at the hold in his wrist.

Something dark blue and orange came at him from the shadows above, intent on distracting him if nothing else…

Instead Orochimaru merely batted the two aside, tying them to a tree, stuck together as he chuckled, "Not again, I've held your attention enough, Naruto-kun, Yorihi-kun…" the Kumo girl and fox boy struggled as what wrapped around them morphed from the man's creepy extended arm into a flurry of snakes holding them tight and constricting with every breath.

The snake man turned his gaze to his prey, golden eyes locking Sasuke into place…

That's when the last line of defense dropped in front of the sannin, beat rods at her sides and glaring at the man with the insignia of her village.

"Kukuku…" Orochimaru could only chuckle again, realizing the one he'd swatted earlier was her strange doppelgänger, this must have been the real one, "Why the resistance? Why guard him if you said yourself he's just worthless trash to you…"

Tattooed brows lowered as the girl tensed, "If someone like you is interested in him, even if its just for his cursed eyes, that can't be good for anyone, our hosts in particular…"

A sickeningly sly grin spread on the man's white face, "Oh, you think I have more planned, hmm?"

"I don't know what it is," her voice growled as she tried to reach for that anger, that rage from earlier, "But I can't let you get him without trying to stop you!" the flames licked and burned in the back of her mind but she couldn't quite grasp them. They were there but she couldn't reach…

A long arm came out and snatched her around the throat, despite her attempts to block or dodge he tore right through her defenses. With an easy lift she was off the ground several feet and choking, "You amuse me girl; that is a rare thing…" he tossed her effortlessly, right into her own comrades, dispersing the summon and sending the three falling to their own peril, "But not enough to dissuade me from this…"

"Now, Sasuke-kun," the white snake mused as he looked upon his now, really, defenseless prey, "Where were we?"

Sasuke could only gulp, collapse to his knees, trying with everything he had to at least stare down his enemy in death.

Like before Orochimaru's head shot out, mouth wide showing his fangs, "YOU'RE MINE!" as he sank his teeth into soft pale flesh…

At the last second Sasuke had flinched, closing his eyes, expecting pain… only there was none. There was a wince and deep intake of breath next to his ear and he realized someone else 'saved' him. Black eyes shot open to see Sakura, who he'd barely registered holding, had put herself between him and Orochimaru's attack, on one side of his face he could see the sannin's fangs sunk into her shoulder and surprise in his eyes, on the other the girl was clinching her teeth trying to repress the pain. Sasuke just twitched, "S-S-Sakura!"

"Heh," she tried to laugh through the pain, managing only to open one light green eye and smile at him, if it weren't for the situation he'd say she was winking at him.

Before she could even get a word out Orochimaru, in his fury, bit down even harder, picking her up and throwing her against a tree spitting out a chunk of flesh as he seethed. An innocent girl's blook covering his lips.

Sasuke was seeing red. In an instant his Sharingan was active, only this time both eyes had two tomoe and his chakra surged wanting nothing more then to rip the damn snake's head off!

He never got the chance, as in the instant it took for his eyes to activate Orochimaru was on him again, FINALLY finding his intended target, sinking his fangs in properly, and injecting the boy with the right seal! He was furious, glad to have ripped the skin off the girl's shoulder, hoping none of this poison got in her as she was worthless and didn't deserve his mark.

The boy screamed in agony and the others finally got up enough sense to try and attack him again.

Orochimaru just glared at them, his errand was done and he'd wasted enough time here. It was already turning dark and he could feel a special someone headed his way. With a last minute grin to the ones remaining standing he gave his final farewells, "Ta-ta, my adorable Kumo shinobi and Naruto-kun, take good care of Sasuke-kun for me~"

With a roar of fury both Naruto and Xiao charged at the bastard, fists coated in lightning and red chakra only for him to disappear last minute and they hit nothing but air.

Yorihi gripped her fists in fury, he had played them, played them hard. It was only her training kicking that had her moving, putting away her rods and addressing the others, "Xiao, tend to the wounded, Oku find us somewhere to hid and Naruto," her brows lowered as the boy's still red eyes looked at her, obviously wanting nothing more than to run off after the snake, "Calm the fuck down and defend your teammates!" her voice was harsh and forceful but it got the intended result.

Holding his fists tight enough to bleed Naruto closed his eyes, forcing back his rage and the burning chakra. The next time he looked at the girl with the insignia for Kumo over her eyes it was with blue steel. He didn't know if she knew what he meant by the look but he couldn't form the words. He was angry, furious, that bastard had threatened the people closest to him, left them both wounded and he could do nothing about it.

There was something about the look on her face, her eyebrows became visble above her headband and her mouth softened into a line instead of a frown, "Help them, Naruto-kun…" this time her voice was softer, still rough, still holding that steel of command but there was something sympathetic in it.

He nodded his head, "Alright," and turned back to look over Sasuke who was wincing and holding his shoulder. Xiao had gone to check on Sakura-chan first, prying her out of the tree that was coated in her blood. He didn't want to look, couldn't look or he'd lose it again. Instead he focused on his male teammate, crouching near him and reaching out to look at his wound.

"Get away from me!" Sasuke snarled, throwing Naruto's hand away from him, losing his support as he went face first into the dirt. It hurt… it hurt so much he couldn't bear it… his mind running with everything that happened, all of them having to defend him because he couldn't do it himself, proving just how worthless he was…. Now Naruto was treating him? Giving him sympathy? PITYING HIM?!

"Damnit Sasuke we don't have time for this!" the feral boy snarled, pushing the Uchiha up so he could hold him by his collar. What he saw knocked whatever anger he had right out of him. Uchiha Sasuke was crying, his eyes still in their Sharingan state and he was crying, still snarling at him like he expected but the sheer hopelessness that was in those red and two tomoed eyes spoke volumes to the blonde. He froze up, not knowing what to do.

After a minute Xiao came over, grabbing hold of the black haired boy's feathered head and glared down at him eyes that were equally red, "If you ever talk down to this boy again I will break both of your hands in such a way you will never be able to from a seal or hold a weapon again," angrily she pointed at the stunned Naruto, "If it weren't for him, you'd be dead, we'd be dead, she'd…" she pointed behind her, forcing the Uchiha to look what his hubris had brought about. An unconscious Konoha konoichi who risked her life to take a blow for him, likely having a concussion and several broken bones from being throw so hard against the tree that still sported her body print and covered in her blood, "… be dead!" after forcing him to look longer than necessary, the image of Sakura broken below the tree and being guarded by the blind Kumo konoichi burned into his mind, she pulled his hair back and forced him to look into her fiery red eyes again, "Be grateful for what you have, boy…" then threw his head down, not caring if it hit the ground or knocked him out. In a second she had his shirt open and was examining his wound, pulling out some quick-stick gauze and slapping it over the thing after cleaning it then heading back to her other, more pressing patient.

Uchiha Sasuke's world spun, and the last thing he registered was a boy with blonde hair reach out for him, yelling his name as everything became darkness…

-----

Nipou – ninja art, Tensoku – Foot-binding (as in the practice)

Tsuribari- fish hook

Denpa – Electro-magnetic wave

Sabaku – desert, Kyuu – coffin, Sousou – Funeral

Karasu - Crow

Suru - To Strike (a match), Yaku - To burn, Suruyaku - To strike to burn

Kire - to cut, Zentai - the entire force (of soldiers), Kirezentai - to cut the entire force

Chapter Text

Mitarashi Anko was many things; a sadist, a snake charmer, a sexy-sexy super-awesome-amazing special jounin, an elegant lady-master of the art of Tea Ceremonies, to name a few. What she was not, was easily surprised.

So it was saying something when she was watching the hidden cameras throughout the forest only to cue to several and they began cutting off in quick succession. A purple brow rose, assuming the kids were getting riled up or those damn oversized crickets thought the electronics were nommy again. –Really need to clean those things out…- clicking through the selection of cameras again she noticed a significant amount of them were out on the north side by the river… in what she quickly estimated to be at least a square kilometer if not more.

Dark purple brow rose higher.

“Well, fuck it, this isn’t telling me anything…” she stood up, tossed the remote amongst the TV sets and put down her popcorn, heading for the closest window and planning to get an aerial view from the top of the tower to see what was going on.

When she finally got to the top of the tower, scowered the forest line until it suddenly ‘dipped’ with a huge swath of missing/bulldozed trees and a sea of sand taking its place she couldn’t help but let her ‘surprise’ get the better of her, “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?!”

In about ten minutes she was standing on what remained of the trees in the area and just looked down into a patch of sand, cut in half by the river and stretching further into the woods, denoting more damage there. Her head could only tilt. –Was this one of the sand teams?- it made sense at least one of them would use techniques involving sand, Ibiki’s report mentioned something about it, but to this extent? –What the hell?-

Jumping further into the forest to investigate she found further traces of combat. Unusual scorching, cuts with no apparent weapons, a massive hole with remnants of wire left behind and residue from a large explosion… and of course, sand everywhere. –Someone was fighting the sand…- in one clearing in particular there were three large blood stains, indicating the remains of at least one team… but these guys obviously weren’t the ones that had done the rest of the fighting with the sand squad. Judging by the fact there was less sand here and the age of the bloodstains she figured these guys must have been killed before the big fight. –After seeing that, someone still had the balls to fight the guy?- she knew she had her crazy moments but she doubted she’d purposely go after a guy who could crush people with sand into pulp without a good damn reason, going for a scroll in a test like this sure as hell wasn’t enough.

Curiosity got the better of her and she followed the trail the challengers came from. The kids were good, didn’t leave much behind but she was an expert tracker and they obviously weren’t expecting someone like her to follow where they came from. She came across a few unusual sights, an area covered with random senbon, kunai and dead bats, more of those unusual burns and a circle in the ground that almost made her think of a Hyuuga using their ‘ultimate defense’… following the path further she found another downed tree, claw marks everywhere from what she recognized to be an Inuzuka attack and several dead beetles that looked like the Aburame’s kikaichu. Checking the area she found a spot where it looked like a deep pressure body print, from the height she’d guess it was the Aburame kid. Not far off was more scouring from the Inuzuka’s claw attacks along with more residue from explosions. In one of the branches she found a strange cylinder casing and a lot of dead or unconscious bugs nearby, she didn’t feel like checking the bugs but picked the thing up to look it over. It was pretty nondescript, about hand sized with the remains of a red pull at the end. She sniffed it and recognized it as some kind of anesthetic. –Who the hell uses this as a weapon? Some kind of medic-nin?- she didn’t know there were medic-nin out here, they usually weren’t trained until chuunin at least, the kids in the academy only got first aid far as she knew.

Twirling the canister in her hand she sat on one of the boughs and started to think, putting the pieces together of which team this must have been. –They attacked a Konoha team then attacked a Suna team, chances are they aren’t one of them…- she looked at the canister again, it was a strange thing, not a tool she recognized and stood out as not being from around here. Out of curiosity she tapped the thing along the side of the tree she was sitting on, surprised when it started spraying out more of the gas and on reflex she covered her mouth… only to be further confused when she realized a dose like this would never affect a human much. –But something the size of a bug?- she glanced around, remembering all the bugs. –Whoever used this knew how to defend against an Aburame…- chocolate eyes glanced down the swath of explosive burns on a line of trees accompanied by claw marks. –And another who knew how to lead an Inuzuka…- then she remembered the strange burns and dead bats. –And someone that knows well how to fight hordes with a lot of chakra…- then there was the sand fight and everything she’d seen there. –And the lot of them weren’t afraid of a bloody death and challenged probably the strongest guy here and got away…- she hadn’t found a body, not that she really expected too, nor more blood stains, leading her to believe they’d gotten away.

All the evidence pointed to a well-trained, cocky as fuck bunch of little bastards that didn’t know when to quit. –I’d bet anything it was the Kumo kids…- the idea brought a smirk to her face, knowing they got beat at least once, but intrigued how they beat one of their better genin teams, rookies sure, but the three boys under Kurenai weren’t something to snort at. Her friend wasted no time making sure they were ready for this thing. –And of all the rookies they should be the best equipped for this survival portion at least…-

Twirling the canister again she couldn’t help but have another, wary thought. –Why were they attacking the sand squad?- they’d seen another team get literally crushed, there’s no way they were ballsy enough to think they could win against that, and again such a risk wasn’t worth the scroll for this test. She tossed the canister, letting it spin for a second before catching it firmly. –It makes me wonder more if Ibiki was right, are they plants planning something or are they just too cocky for their own good?-

Her musings were interrupted as a feeling came over her shoulders she hadn’t felt in years… twelve years to be exact.

Clinching her teeth hard she stored the canister in her pouch, reaching her hand up as the damn mark on her neck started to burn. –Fuck him… what now?- quickly getting her bearings she felt out the direction he was. It may have been over a decade but she’d never forget the feel of that bastard’s vile chakra, even at this distance…

Once she had her lock she took off, intent to finish their ‘relationship’ once and for all…

-----

Yorihi ignored the twitch at the edge of her senses, something moving fast but stealthy through the woods, in a direction she would have sworn Orochimaru had left them. She had no idea who’d be foolhardy enough to challenge the bastard, excluding herself of course, and while a part of her wanted to spy on such a confrontation, to gather as much information as possible about the potential enemy, she kept herself rooted to the ground where she sat.

Arms and legs crossed as in front of her was a konoichi on the edge of death…

Most of her didn’t know why she came over without a word after Xiao pried her out of the tree. Part of her didn’t know why she sat down without a word, head tilted in her direction as Xiao rolled her on her side, keeping the wound up, exposed to the air without putting her on her face to suffocate in the dirt. She didn’t move as Xiao went to go add an extra bit of her own flare of bedside manner to the Uchiha who quickly passed out after being treated and left Naruto worried for his teammate. The boy never looked over here and part of her was grateful, not wanting to have to try and restrain another demon today, she’d tried it once already and failed spectacularly.

The girl in front of her winced in her lucid state and Yorihi could feel fractures slip in the bones of her spine. There were cracks all over her skeletal structure, she obviously hadn’t built up her muscles enough to withstand such forces or used enough chakra to dampen the hit. Nothing was broken, so far, but that could easily shift if she moved too hard one way before the fractures fully closed. It was likely her ribs would be the first to break, and that just from moving her.

Something about the pink haired girl irritated Yorihi to no end. She was weak, underdeveloped for their line of work, even compared to the other Rookies from this damn village. She should have just stayed unconscious, known such an action would be deadly to someone as frail as her. It made her want to growl, tightening her crossed arms and sending her hands into fists but managed to keep the frustration off her face.

It wasn’t right to be so hateful to someone that didn’t care for personal safety or the afterward just to defend a comrade. Kumo didn’t exactly extol a ‘save everyone’ philosophy since it was generally accepted whatever mission you went on could be your last, they were realists in that sense. So when someone was saved, was brought home, bleeding and broken but otherwise alive and could fight for another day… well, that was a win in their book after all. It was rare and unexpected so it was worthy of praise.

It must have irritated her because that kind of thinking, that everyone should be saved, was what Konoha was known for… and they’d slipped into that fantasy, but the only one that went all the way was the girl in front of her. She didn’t know if she wanted her to die or not.

Xiao finally trudged back over, the older girl practically falling to the ground in a seat as obviously all the adrenaline from the fights earlier was wearing off. She pulled a small scroll from her pouch, opened it up to the side featuring a sign, cut her thumb and spread blood all over it, resulting in a poof! And a set of surgical tools to appear. With a tired voice the older konoichi told her, “Hold her up…”

Raising a tattooed brow Yorihi wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

With her cut thumb Xiao ran it across her opposite palm, going through another series of seals, “Pick her up under her arms, facing you, I need to have better access to the wound on her shoulder, just hold her sitting up,” she explained without even looking at her, finishing her seals, taking a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh before slamming her bloodied hand on the ground, “Kuchiyose no jutsu!” in a cloud of smoke a tiny Minazuki appeared, a kind of light teal greenish on top with a cyan bottom. It looked up at its summoner, with its bulbous black eyes and Xiao looked down on it with one of the most resigned looks on her face Yorihi had ever seen, “Hey there little guy.” It chirped at her, wiggling its little skate body as she picked it up and rested her forehead on its top, causing its eyes to close, “I’m sorry little guy…” it hummed and seemed to understand as its mistress put it back down.

Just as Yorihi was picking up the Konoha konoichi as requested, leaning Sakura almost on one shoulder and trying to not further aggravate any of the stress fractures, she saw Xiao pull out a kunai and stab the little Minazuki in the head. Yorihi was shocked, “Xiao!?”

The dusky-pinkette didn’t move from her task. For some reason the Minazuki’s body didn’t disappear when struck, as far as Yorihi could tell the thing was legitimately dead. This was further confirmed when Xiao went about cutting off the top layer of its light teal-greenish skin, setting the strip with her tools on the other scroll and then removing something near the back of the thing connected to the stinger and taking that as well. With clinical ease Xiao turned towards Yorihi and her patient, her red eyes dull and her body seeming to work automatically as she raised the stinger in one hand, brought it to the Konoha konoichi’s neck and jabbed her. At Yorihi’s quirked tattooed brows she decided to elaborate, “It’s an anesthetic, it’ll keep her unconscious and still for a while, its most potent from the stinger so that gives us the most time, but I’ll later grind it up along with the poison sac to create a powder that can be converted into a gas or solution…” she turned around just as mechanically, wiping her hands on the bottom of her frock not caring before pulling out another small scroll and sealing the remains of her dead summon.

As much as she wanted to, Yorihi didn’t question. Just continued her duty of holding the now immobile girl.

Xiao turned back to them, sitting more comfortably as she pulled out a scalpel and cut along the back seam of the girl’s dress, “She’ll need another pair of clothes,” she said nonchalantly as she literally cut the top half of the dress off with precision ease. Yorihi didn’t question, just removed the pieces that fell around the girl. It was funny when Xiao gave an indignant snort and cut the girl’s bra right off, “Seriously, why the hell would a konoichi need this kind of thing? It’s a waste of money and so confining…”

Yorihi couldn’t help but snort, remembering her cousin Mei, “You may not need them,” a light teasing smirk may or may not have come to the younger girl’s face, “But some of us do,” sure she didn’t have the same ‘useless and for show’ version this girl did, hers were more practical and meant for minimal motion and extra support, “Plus they’re not a bad place to hide a knife…”

There was a snicker in the back of the older girl’s throat as she moved to grab a strong smelling solution and began spreading it around the girl’s back, more than just around the snake bite, “I’ll stick to my bindings…” Yorihi assumed she was cleaning the area with the strong smelling solution, it made her snort more than once. “It’s iodine, used to clean, sorry it smells,” Xiao clarified, even if her only response was another snort. A smirk rose on the dark skinned girl’s face as she returned back to the previous topic, finishing up her cleaning, “Besides, do you honestly think a girl like this needs something like that? Over padding and not a single place to hide a weapon,” an indecent snicker as she moved to rub the scalpel in her hand on the fleshy side of the Minazuki strip she’d removed.

There was a slight frown on the pale girl’s face as she watched her friend make the first cut, thoughts on what she’d said, “Does seem like its more for looks then function,” Xiao moved her scalpel expertly in long lines, cutting around the chunk removed from Orochimaru but not going as deep initially. Yorihi could tell, from her look on the wound earlier, the bastard had taken out a good chunk of muscle, that could be difficult for the girl to heal back and even then it’d be harder to retrain.

Xiao seemed focused on her task now, removing what she’d cut, leaving a small pile of flesh next to her as she went about her work. When she started removing torn bits of a darker flesh tone Yorihi couldn’t help but speak up, “Will she be able to recover?”

Still working primarily on her task Xiao answered in a somewhat textbook fashion, “It depends how well it heals. That bastard took a good chunk out of her trapezius, the muscle responsible for supporting the weight of the arm and moving the scapula, while its recovering she won’t be able to lift her arm or move it much…” she reached in and pulled out some more muscle, putting the scalpel in her mouth as she moved a bloody hand to her pouch. With expert ease she withdrew and held out a cylinder to Yorihi, “Put one of these in her mouth and get her to swallow, she’s bleeding more then she should…”

Without question Yorihi moved to hold the girl with one hand and put the cylinder to her mouth with the other, popping the top and forcing in a blood pill, then rubbing her neck to force it down.

Meanwhile Xiao swapped out her tools and grabbed the rectangle bit of flesh from the Minazuki she’d killed, “Normally it’d be difficult to regrow muscle let alone a wound like this, but the Minazuki’s flesh acts as bridge for healing as well as a cover, a second set of skin,” she put the rectangle of greenish flesh in the hole she’d cut out easily, “It should act as a graph and the enzymes in their skin make healing quicken and hopefully without scar tissue, otherwise she’ll have a chance to rip the muscle later if pushed too far…”

Yorihi leaned over with a raised cyan tattooed brow, “You’re sure?”

Xiao just shrugged, as she pulled out a needle and started suturing the wound, “This is the first time I’ve preformed this so we’ll see, chances are she may lose some feeling as I don’t think the nerves that were ripped out will regrow as well, and there was more blood then I figured, but this is honestly the best I can do right now…” there was a tight furrow in the girl’s brow as her eyes focused on her task, “None of my healing Minazuki are big enough or old enough to swallow people yet, and I just had to sacrifice the smallest one for this graph, it’s a stopgap measure for now until we can get out of this damn forest and someone else can handle it…” there was a deep, frustrated growl from the girl, still continuing her task but it was obvious to Yorihi she was angry at herself for her limitations, “That fucking bastard ripped and pulled a lot of muscles with his bite, not to mention some of the edges showed signs of this black necrosis looking thing, I had to cut deeper and around, causing more damage just to get rid of it and even then some may have gotten into her bloodstream, which would be terrible right now as a number of her bones are cracked and likely leaking erythroblasts and other proto-cells which if attach to the wrong cells would be further disastrous and-”

“XIAO!!” Yorihi couldn’t help but yell, not knowing half the things she was talking about but understanding part of her friend’s mind was panicking.

It stopped her long enough for the red eyed girl to look up at her friend over her patient’s shoulder. Now the worry was obvious in the older girl’s eyes, she was their medic, she didn’t like seeing anything die, and it was obvious her mind was well trained to see potential complications and future problems…

But right now she needed to focus on her task at hand, she was the only one that could do it and was doing a damn fine job with what she had, “Finish up, we’ll worry about any complications later, and when we’re out of here one of their medics can look her over, you’re doing fine…” Yorihi reassured her.

Xiao took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let it out. When those red eyes reopened they were firm, set to their task and she went right back, “Right, Princess…” the rest of the procedure ended in relative silence without any further complication. Once the Minazuki skin was graphed and sutured in place she pulled out healing wards and put those on, then wrapping over the girl’s shoulder and chest to keep the wound clean for now.

Yorihi reached behind her, pulling out a canteen and handing it to Xiao, the older girl giving her a look before accepting the gesture. She pulled out some pad from within her kit, dabbed it with the water and put on a spot of iodine, it was a quick way to clean her hands even if it smelled. Once done she took a sip of the canteen and returned it to the blind girl, breathing out deeply and looking at her patient who was topless and leaning on her friend.

An unwitting smirk picked at the edge of Xiao’s lips at the sight, “You and naked women Princess, I may have to start worrying…”

Those cyan tattooed brows lowered sharply, unamused, “See if she’s got a scroll or something with spare clothes, I’d like to not have her leaning on me more than necessary…” ending with a perturbed snort.

Red eyes rolled as she rifled through the Konoha girl’s pack, it had some medical supplies, canteen and a few kunai, not much and sure as hell not nearly enough to be mission ready. She made a noise of disapproval.

“I take it from the grunt of disapproval that’d be a ‘no’ on her having a spare clothes scroll?” Yorihi spoke flatly, irritated for obvious reasons.

“How could you tell?” Xiao had a pensive frown on her face, if she’d known the girl was so ill-prepared she may have taken the extra second to remove the dress properly, but seeing as that wasn’t the case she looked down at what they had to work with. She’d cut along the back seam and along the shoulders so the thing was still in one piece just effectively useless as a cover right now, it could be fixed but someone would have to sew it. She glanced over at the boys on the girl’s team, she knew the Uchiha only had his shirt as she’d tugged it down earlier to clean his wound, and she’d prefer he’d have the extra covering for his own wound so that left… “Hey Na-chan, give me your coat…”

“Eh?” the blonde boy perked his head up, still not turning around.

Tattooed brows quirked across from her, “Xiao-chan?”

The older girl just smirked, noticing the odd look on her friend’s face but keeping her eyes on the younger boy, “I need your jacket, so hand it over…”

There was the sound of a zipper being undone and the boy fidgeting, “Uh-is it really necessary?”

At the sight of her younger comrade turning a bit pink, Xiao couldn’t help but quirk a dusky-pink brow, “Yea, Na-chan, I had to cut up this girl’s dress off to work on her wound, she needs something to wear as a cover till one of you boys fixes her dress!”

If Yorihi hadn’t been holding Sakura she may have shot forward and choked on her own saliva. –What the hell Xiao?!- her face must have said it all as the older girl just gave her a quirked brow when she turned.

“What’s up with you Princess?” red eyes stared at her warily, “It’s not like I’m gonna do it, and I doubt you would either,” a dark hand pointed at the top naked girl still leaning on her comrade in the bandages, “She’s their teammate, they should handle it…”

Suddenly there was a shuffle next to the two Kumo girls and when Xiao looked over she was honestly quite surprised by what she saw, “Well hello there…”

Naruto had walked up to the girl’s with his orange jacket in one hand and the other covering his eyes. It was nice to think he cared for his teammate’s modesty but that meant he had no idea about the looks he was getting from Xiao and it was taking Yorihi everything in her willpower to not react… or linger too long, “What? What’s wrong Xi-nee-chan?” he didn’t seem to understand that only having a fishnet undershirt was likely to have an effect on those around him.

Red and hidden white eyes blinked as the two konoichi considered how to respond…

-I don’t get it!! I saw him yesterday without his jacket on!! Why does he looked so ripped right now?!- indeed, it seemed in the past twenty four hours Naruto had either suddenly gained more muscle definition or lost a significant amount of fat as she did not remember that six pack being there!! –It must have been the Kyuubi’s chakra burning his metabolism faster… yes, that must be it…- try as she might the focus of her permanently active Byakuugan kept straying to those newly formed muscles…

Xiao, having nothing to hide and no thoughts of shame, raised a brow, reaching up to take the boy’s offered jacket, “Well, call me impress Na-chan,” a shameless grin spread on her face as she turned to put the jacket on her patient, but not without continuing her comment, “Have to say I’ve not seen a boy that developed since that one time back at the Academy and Oku lost-”

“I don’t think that story is appropriate for little kids, Xiao-chan,” a slightly deeper voice cut in as Oku made his random appearance as usual, though Lior was noticeably missing.

A wider smirk spread on the medic-wannabe’s face as she finished up slipping the orange jacket around the injured girl and set her down on her side so as to no longer be leaning on her friend, “Shut up, Oku~” her voice was teasing as she sat back up, missing the disgruntled look on her friend’s face and looked at her partner over her shoulder, obviously relieved he was back and fine.

Yorihi wrenched her focus from the confused looking blonde boy in the fishnet shirt to the one wearing the plated hat, “I take it you found somewhere we can hide for the night?”

Oku had his arms crossed and that somewhat serious look on his face, even if it looked like his eyes were closed, “Yup, found a good defensible position, Lior’s setting up traps as we speak,” he glanced at the two that were down and the one covering his eyes, “Are we seriously taking them with us?”

Yorihi stood up with a serious look on her face, “Yes, for now at least,” she faced the dirty blonde boy, her plate covered eyes level with his own seemingly-closed ones, “Two of them are unconscious and injured, and it wouldn’t do well to leave Naruto-kun on his own…”

The bright blonde boy had a smile on his face after that, “Really?! You guys are awe-”

“I think we should leave them,” Oku’s flat voice spoke out, interrupting the bright boy’s joviality.

“Oku!” red eyes turned to her partner, she wasn’t exactly surprised he’d said it, just hoped he wouldn’t have…

He faced his partner with a slight frown, “Xiao-chan I know how you feel, but it’d be better for us to just leave these two,” several brows rose at the word but he kept going, “We don’t know what could happen thanks to that snake guy’s attack, she’s already got a foot in the grave,” he nodded to the girl in Naruto’s jacket, “And he’s the one the guy wanted to begin with,” with a tight frown he turned to Sasuke who while unconscious was still groaning on the forest floor.

“Why you-!!” Naruto looked like he was close to charging at the older boy, even Xiao stood and was staring at her partner conflicted.

Yorihi quickly stepped in, holding both hands out to prevent either from interfere, “That’s enough, let him speak!”

Naruto finally lowered his hand, glaring at the guy he thought was cool before turning to the girl that was standing between him and punching the guy in the face, “But Yorihi, he just-!!”

“I said that’s enough,” her voice was low and held strict command, “Be silent for a moment and let him finish Naruto-kun, remember we’re not like you…”

Oku nodded, keeping his arms crossed and facing them both more so then his partner, “You know it as well as I do Yorihi-hime that this is no longer a ‘game’ situation,” his voice lowered and his face gained a seriousness the blind girl had never seen in him before, “That guy was leagues above us, you yourself called him one of the Legendary Sannin from this village, that means this is a serious threat,” his eyes opened slightly, glaring at his friend while ignoring the boy behind her, “Whatever he hoped to achieved deals with the Uchiha, so we should kill him right now to stop it from happening…”

“YOU BASTARD!! HOW CAN I HAVE EVER THOU-!!” Naruto’s shouting was suddenly halted as the girl in front of him whipped around, put her hand on his mouth and pushed him to the ground. The boy was stunned, firstly that she did that, secondly that she could do that and amazed by how strong she was…thirdly he couldn’t understand why her face was still that same placid look as she half stood over him, holding his mouth and facing him, his angry eyes reflected in her hitae-ate.

“I told you to be quiet,” she applied more pressure when he made to squirm, “Listen to me Naruto, Listen!” she held his head looking at her when he tried to look away, ignored as he brought his hands up to push her arm off, crouched down and setting her leg across his to prevent him from kicking her. He wanted to fight, every instinct in him said to do so and she could see it in his angry eyes but he wasn’t doing as much as he could have. Her voice lowered as she leaned into him and he seemed to stiffen, “Oku has his points but right now I don’t intend to kill anyone I don’t have to, understand?”

Those bright blue eyes looked at her skeptically and for a moment he forgot she was blind.

“I said do you understand? Nod yes or no,” those tattooed brows lowered making her look a little angry.

He pouted under her hand and just to be a little snot licked her palm thinking that’d be enough to get her off. The Kumo konoichi didn’t move but the frown on her face increased. Rolling his eyes he finally nodded, though he wasn’t sure if he should trust her now. –I got to do what I can to keep Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan safe…-

As soon as he nodded Yorihi let go and stood up, not bothering to help him up.

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Yorihi-hime,” Oku’s voice was flat as he watched the entire display. His friend was babying this boy when she should just knock him out and be done with the other two, “Who knows what that snake did to the Uchiha, not to mention he wants him…”

“He wants his eyes,” Yorihi responded dryly, turning towards her comrade, “He doesn’t give a damn about the Uchiha, just so long as he can get the Sharingan from him…”

That caused Oku to frown and contemplate their options for a moment, “Then why don’t we just cut them out, he can survive then, just blind?”

“That won’t be enough,” Finally Xiao spoke up, walking towards the two with her arms crossed, sending Naruto a sympathetic look as he sat behind Yorihi in an angry pout, obviously trying his best not to get involved with their conversation. Her red eyes turned to her partner to answer him, “If this guy wants the Sharingan, his bloodline eyes, then all he’d have to do is breed him to get another pair, meaning he’d likely return to kidnap him if nothing else…”

“So again,” the dirty blonde nodded, turning back to their ‘leader’, “Why don’t we just kill him and save us all the trouble?” his brows were furrowed, and his stance was stern. He legitimately meant what he said.

Naruto had to bite his lip hard enough to cause blood and hold his hands on his knees in front of him just to prevent himself from jumping up and shouting at the damn bastard.

Yorihi could feel how tense he was, all his rage, enough of her sympathized with the blonde jinchuuriki wanting to protect his teammates but Oku had a valid point. It’d be easier on everyone to just eliminate the Uchiha now and dispose of the body in such a way no one would ever be able to get anything from it. –It’d stop Orochimaru, for now, from getting whatever he wanted with the Sharingan…- suddenly the image of Reki’s red and black eyes flashed in her head. –No… I can’t do that… not now, if that sonvabitch was ballsy enough to come here for the ‘LAST’ Uchiha that Konoha wanted to keep so desperately, there’s nothing to prevent him from finding out about Reki-baba and her kids… any one of them could be a target next…- the focus of her circular vision landed on the Uchiha and with a little push she saw past his shirt and bandages, taking in the mark that had formed from the snake’s poison. She didn’t know what the two Tomoe mark meant, if it was a sign of his eyes and meant to gain a third when his Sharingan fully formed, but there was something eerily familiar about the feel of it. For now, that wasn’t the issue. –I’d gladly hand that bastard over this worthless trash if it protected Reki-baba and her kids…- the Sharingan wasn’t something to mess with, but so long as Kumo had its own, and they were safe, she didn’t rightly care about the rest…

-I’ll have to figure out a way to send Reki-baba a coded message to be on the lookout for any of Orochimaru’s affiliates snooping around, likely in R&D if they could get in…- That would have to wait until after they got out of this test since Bachiko’s range wasn’t far enough to send a message. Then there was the priority of someone convincing Konoha to keep the Uchiha under lock and key. –If he goes nuts or Orochimaru can get him that’ll be bad, but if he’s in a situation where the snake sannin is ‘stuck’ from getting him that could buy us some time while his focus is drawn here…- while she was thinking her arms crossed and her hand rose to hold her chin, the other two Kumo-nin knowing this meant she was giving this deep consideration, though what they thought she was thinking about was nowhere near the level of planning she was doing.

Naruto, being worried by the silence and how eerie it was that the usually brash girl from Kumo was so quiet and still, stood up, looking her over and trying to avoid the looks the other two were giving him. He was mad at them for their suggestion but Yorihi had told him she wouldn’t let anything happen to them for now, or at least she wouldn’t kill anyone unnecessarily. It was that last word that had him worried, “Yorihi?”

Her head seemed to jolt up at the sound of her name, bringing her out of her planning. She turned her head slightly towards Naruto to acknowledge she heard him, but when she spoke her focus was on her teammates, “Do either of you know how much of a political mess this would cause if we just arbitrarily killed the Last loyal Uchiha in Konoha and burned his body with no justification?” her hands lowered to her hips, brows furrowing as she seemed to chidingly ‘glare’ at her two teammates, both who looked rather confused. She scoffed, “You may not have been trained to consider the ramification of our actions on a political scale but Kemui-sama’s been nailing that into my head since I was three!”

Xiao seemed to wince while Ok continued with his stern glance.

Seeing as the badger tamer would be the harder one to convince, Yorihi faced the boy in the silly plated hat, “Ever since we got here I’ve been trying to keep us from riling up too much trouble, because it’s not just this stupid test we’re doing, we’re also representing Kumo here, a village that hasn’t been here in over a decade and there’s enough bad-blood between us we cannot afford any reason for the whole damn village to come down on us!!” aggressively she pointed behind her at the downed Uchiha, “Like it or not these people value clan names, the Uchiha being one of the most prominent, and with him being the last in this village they’d skin us if he died at our hands,” there was an extra growl in her voice, hoping she could get Oku to understand why they couldn’t just kill him, as much as even she wanted to, “It doesn’t matter that it’s during a test where anything goes or that he signed that waiver, they’d blame us and start a war…” with a deep sigh she moved her hand from pointing to rubbing her forehead, “The only thing we can do right now is make sure he gets to the right authorities and we tell them what happened, Naruto can help corroborate our story, and hopefully they will deal with this as it should be,” putting her hands down, resting them on her swords firmly she faced Oku directly, one Kumo shinobi to another, “If they fail to lock him up and Orochimaru gets him or attempts to get him he’s fair game, I’ll not have whatever his plans are somehow endanger Kumo, you have my word on that.”

The dirty blonde boy seemed to think on her words for a bit, then firmly nodded, “I’ll hold you to that Yorihi-hime,” he crossed his arms when she gave him a small smile, “Though I still think we should just kill him and burn the body, would be a lot safer.”

There was a groan to his left as Xiao walked up to him and knocked her knuckles on his head, “Shut up, Oku…”

There was a growl from Naruto and he stopped when Yorihi’s arm rose and held him put, “Oi, teme!! How can you just say that about someone you tried to protect!!” he trusted Yorihi knew what she was doing, hoped she was just saying that about killing Sasuke to keep her teammate at bay, and he agreed to the whole telling the authorities thing, but…

Oku just turned to the other blonde with that seemingly oblivious look, “Hm? Easy, then was spur of the moment, we were retreating, I was trying to prevent our enemy from following, you guys just happened to be there as well. Now…” he nodded towards the downed Uchiha, “we know he’s the one that guy was after, he was dangerous, a sannin according to Yorihi-hime, and I trust her, but the simplest course of action to prevent any further mess would be to just eliminate the man’s target to prevent whatever his plans may be…”

The blonde jinchuuriki’s jaw just dropped, “H-how can you-that’s!? ARUGH!!” Naruto just pulled at his hair, he couldn’t understand the logic. –But maybe its cause it’s not someone from his village?- narrow blue eyes looked at the boy, pout obvious on his face, “So what if it was Yorihi here, huh? What if he was after her?”

He didn’t know it but the question caused the blind girl to roll her hidden white eyes.

Oku just looked at his comrade, tilted his head for a second then shrugged, “I’d hate it, but if it was her I’d kill her myself and she’d probably let me, understanding it was to protect Kumo?”

Yorihi gave a snort but nodded, “So long as you made sure there was nothing left for him to take back and experiment on…” –If it were to protect Kumo I’d gladly do it…-

“I promise I would,” the dirty blonde badger tamer gave a firm nod, meaning it with all the respect he had.

The short exchange had Naruto’s mouth widening even more. He didn’t get it, he really didn’t. His eyes lingered on the two Kumo-nin, facing each other with a solemn approval before his eyes drifted to Xiao, standing further by herself, arms crossed and lost in her own thoughts. The words were out before Naruto even realized it, “What if it was Xi-nee-chan?”

All three perked at the new suggestion, even Xiao who blinked surprised red eyes before facing her comrades. Oku seemed to look at her, the two sharing a conversation without words before the dusky-pinkette nodded and he did as well, turning back to the other blonde, “I’d kill her with my own hands, set a trap to destroy our bodies upon death, then commit seppuku right there…”

Yorihi, with her face down sincerely, gripped her top left sword, crossing her arms as if to draw the blade, “I’d help you if I were there…”

The older blonde smiled, grateful for his friend’s sincerity, “I know you would, Yorihi-hime.”

Naruto’s shoulders deflated, realizing his entire argument was futile against them. –They really do think differently, huh?- he’d heard of self-sacrifice, but usually it was in the context of giving a last glorious stand to let your teammates get away. These guys… they were willing to give their lives at any moment, peace or war, if it meant to keep their home safe, even doing it themselves if they had to. –He wasn’t hating on Sasuke when he suggested killing him cause that snake guy wanted him…- crystal clear blue eyes looked up into the stern face of the boy he realized he still respected. –To him, that was just how things are, that was the logical choice…- there was no malice or hatred in the Kumo-nin in front of him. They may have been annoyed, agitated and rough, but they did their duty. Xiao treated both Sakura and Sasuke without question, Oku found them a place to hide out, Yorihi kept a level head in mission mode and considered everything they didn’t. There was no hate or malice in them, not once towards them though he knew plenty of Konoha shinobi that would glare at the Kumo genin just for the insignia they wore. To them, it was a non-issue, they had work to do so that circumvented everything else.

He had no right to get angry when they spoke their mind, suggesting what, to them, sounded normal…

A hand suddenly came down on his shoulder and he startled to realize he’d gotten lost in his thoughts, glancing up to find the plate of Kumo covering the girl’s eyes, “We’re leaving…”

Naruto glanced around, Oku had Sasuke over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and Xiao was carrying Sakura across her shoulders with a grimace on her face. His eyes came back to Yorihi who was facing him intently and nodded.

“Good,” she turned, nudging her chin ahead, “You stick by Oku, make sure nothing gets in the way while he leads us back to the hideout,” her face turned back to him and lowered her brows seriously, “Make sure you do exactly as he says, Lior-kun’s already setting traps, we don’t want any to go off, understand?’

The blonde gave a tight nod, “What about you?”

There was a smirk before she drew her rods from her back pouch, “I’ll be in the back covering anything that might follow us…” she walked away, signaling to her team, “Alright, let’s go!”

-----

The trip was short and thankfully uneventful, meaning no one got accidently blown up and no other teams or animals attacked them. It was dark by the time they got to the ‘defensible spot’ Oku had picked, a large tree, even by the Konohan trees’ standards, with upturned roots that formed a natural hollow. Oku set the Uchiha down in the hollow before turning around and disappearing, to finish up the traps, while Xiao entered next setting down Sakura much gentler. The inside of the hollow was nearly pitch black apart from the entrance where moon and star light peaked through so she held out her hand, creating a small orb of lightning then releasing it, holding it aloft by the whim of her chakra. She could work well enough in the dark if necessary but at the moment she had two willing guards outside and other then that entrance the hollow didn’t seem to have any other natural holes for the light to give them away.

She checked the two Konoha genin over. The pink haired girl was still unconscious in her teammate’s jacket and those bike shorts of hers, at least two of her ribs broke from the transport but nothing else it seemed. She tossed another blood pill into the girl’s mouth, checked her bandages and made sure the healing seals were in place. –They should help with the ribs as well…- the red eyed medic made sure the girl was comfortable enough, on one side of the hollow and out of reach of the Uchiha incase his flailing broke something else. Once satisfied there was nothing left to be done with the girl other than to let her rest and sleep off the drugs she moved on to her other patient.

Even unconscious the Uchiha was flailing about, gritting his teeth and groaning, likely from the pain from the wound on his shoulder. Xiao swapped the bandages, cutting off his shirt feeling like it was ‘in the way’, and examined the wound again. –Its hot…- he was burning up, she expected as much, she wouldn’t be surprised if they all developed a fever since this was a strange place if not a stressful situation, it would make sense for it to screw with their immune system and they’d get some kind of immune response. But this was different. Pulling out the same scroll she had her surgical tools in she opened it to another seal, running blood across it and summoning. What emerged looked like a leather bit, which she quickly shoved into the Uchiha’s mouth and tied behind his head, turning him over to get a better look at this new mark that had formed. –That should keep him from biting his tongue… and lowering the noise…- the mark was hot, an angry red, and she could feel a strange buildup of dense malevolent chakra. Not only that the holes the snake’s fang had bit were sealed, leaving only a small divot impression and two black tomoe marks as a sign there was anything there. –What the hell is this thing doing?- she didn’t like it, if this thing was a seal that screwed with his chakra or added foreign chakra it could be really bad, not to mention likely fatal.

Reaching into her pack she pulled out a needled and injected the Uchiha with what was inside. Instantly his body tensed, gave a jerk, then completely relaxed. There was a strange shift in the feel of the mark but she couldn’t quite describe it, flipping him over on his back and making sure he could still breathe but kept the bit in ‘just in case’. –That should keep him out as long as the girl, hopefully allowing him to whether whatever that seal’s doing…-

Having nothing left to do, now all she could do was wait and hoped they healed properly.

-----

Outside Naruto was pacing.

He’d set up two clones to block the ‘door’ to the hollow, making sure as much as possible no light got out, Yorihi commenting how he should make sure of that since she couldn’t tell and others might cue off the foreign light as something to check out or attack. His clones were already bored but every time either slacked off he just gave them a look and they went back to being their psudo-human wall stiff as boards.

He didn’t want to go in… but he did… but he knew he shouldn’t… but he wanted to make sure they were okay and… -ugh!! This is driving me nuts!!- screwing up his hair and biting his tongue to not make any noise the boy just returned to pacing, all this restless energy he had pent up from the fight, and talk, and everyone getting injured and him being alone with the Kumo-nin and-

“Naruto-kun…” a low calm voice called him from above the hollow, the previous silence making it sound loud, almost like the girl was yelling at him.

Which is probably why Naruto jumped, spinning around and looking ashamed up into the bough of the tree where Yorihi sat. The blind girl was up a good twenty feet at least, lounging with her hands behind her head on one of the boughs of the windy tree, it was one of the lowest branches but still pretty high up. –She looks so calm up there…- part of him wondered why the first thing the girl did was jump up into the tree and practically laid down.

There was a long drawn out sigh from the girl, “Your pacing isn’t helping…”

An annoyed foxish face was her response, “That’s all you got to say?!” it took a lot of effort on Naruto’s part to not yell out right at the girl.

There was a motion like she shrugged, “Is there anything else to say?”

Frustrated the blonde boy clinched his teeth and hands near his head, trying not to scream and trying not to rip out his hair, “How can you be so calm?!” his voice was surprisingly low despite his temperament at the moment, knowing she’d hear him despite the distance.

For the longest time she was calm, laid back almost like she was watching the stars from her high perch. Then she gave a deep sigh, shifting to sit up with one leg crossed, the other hanging down and her arms folded under her developing chest, “I know you don’t have the kind of experience we do, so I’m trying to be as polite about this as I can be…” there was a deep frown on her face, whether he could see it or not didn’t really matter to her as she tried not to give the impression she was angry and glaring at him, which she completely was but that wasn’t the point, “When something like this happens you need to stop and think, sit back, hide, and plan… we’ve done this as much as we can, your agitated pacing isn’t helping the situation and the motion is likely to draw unwanted attention.” There may or may not have been a snort as she grumbled more to herself, “Not to mention its preventing me from getting any rest…”

Deciding to be bratty Naruto put his hands on his hips and wiggled around altering his voice to mock hers, “And by the way, I can’t get my beauty sleep because your sexiness is keeping me up-Ah!!” By the end of his mockery a kunai went flying past his cheek, barely nicking it but he got the point, “Er…” sort of.

A cyan tattooed brow twitched as Yorihi yanked back on the wire to retrieve the kunai, “Firstly, I can’t see so whatever sexiness you claim to have doesn’t affect me…” for some reason she could have sworn she heard a snort reminiscent of Bachiko’s when he knew she was lying, “Secondly we all need rest, beauty or otherwise, not that I need or care about such a thing…” again, that snorting, in fact it almost sounded like a snicker at this point. The ‘blind’ girl glanced to the side, sensing her finicky feline companion even if he wasn’t corporeal and strangely the sound stopped. With a huff of her own she turned back to the pouting blonde, “And Thirdly…” there was a great sigh as she rubbed the space between her eyebrows, “Get up here and get some rest…”

Naruto still had a bit of wry frown, hands on his hips and looked to be about to argue for the sake of arguing. Then he growled to himself, running a hand through his bright blonde hair and climbed up to join her. He stuck to about three feet away from her on the same branch, sitting with both legs and arms cross and being as pouty as ever.

Yorihi would never admit, not even to herself, that something about the way he looked was utterly adorable.

Instead she laid back down in her previous position and tried to meditate, feigning sleep and ordering her body to rest despite her own restlessness in such a dangerous and foreign place.

“Hey, Yorihi…” an oddly quiet voice called from down the bough.

Grunting with a slight frown she responded, “What, Naruto-kun?”

His knee was twitching and it was obvious he was trying to not fidget too much, “How come-I mean, why do you-uh,” nervously he scratched the back of his head, not sure how to say his question. So he decided to go with something a bit less personal, “How come you’re sleeping up here?”

A snort from the girl, “You think being on the ground is safer?” at his surprised look she elaborated, “Look, Naruto-kun, you have to stop thinking I’m like you, I’ve spent the last six months doing B and A ranked missions solo, you learn a few things doing such,” she wished she couldn’t see his face, he looked both angry and surprised. For a second she bit her lower lip and faced away from him, playing off like she was just trying to find a more comfortable spot, “Sleeping on the ground is just an easy way to get killed, if you’re on a mission always sleep up high or underground, people tend to not look up or down when searching, even jounin level shinobi.”

His blue eyes blinked momentarily, surprised but nodded accepting her words like they were the truth. After a minute of silence there was a slight smirk that picked up on his lips as he continued to look at the clearing below them, “Is that the only reason?”

Yorihi refused to acknowledge the heat the crept up on her cheeks, knowing he couldn’t see it in the darkness, “I’m from Kumo, I prefer to be in high places, the ground is too… still, safe…” she shifted roughly not finding anything about this bough nearly as comfortable as it was a few minutes ago, “… its distracting.”

The bough was silent again for a long time, which did nothing to lessen the tension between the two. Naruto was too focused on his own thoughts, leg twitching, and Yorihi was too focused on him. Neither were getting anywhere though the dark haired girl seemed to be the only one that noticed.

With a growl she turned on her side, facing away from the boy, “Go to sleep.”

“Can’t,” he was scratching his blonde head with one hand and looking rather apologetic, “Sorry, I just got too much energy after that fight…”

Yorihi bit her lower lip, only this time it was to try and stop herself from growling, what came out of her mouth was due in part to exhaustion and frustration at how this whole day had gone, “Just because you have the Kyuubi’s chakra keeping you energetic doesn’t mean you don’t need rest, now go to sleep!”

Suddenly there was a new kind of tension and after a second Yorihi noticed it, raising a tattooed brow.

Naruto was stunned, mouth dropping open and slowly, very slowly he turned to face the blind girl, “Y-you-H-how? What?!”

That tattooed brow rose higher as Yorihi just rolled enough to face the boy, so he could ‘see’ her questioning gesture.

That didn’t stop his flabbergasted stare at her, “You know?!” cerulean eyes blinked when all she did was tilt her head, seemingly not understanding, “Y-you know about t-the K-Kyuubi?!” his eyes could only blink again when all she continued to do was stare, “How? When? Why?”

When the girl finally responded it was just a snort as she seemed to try getting comfortable again, “It’s not that big a deal, I’ve known since the first time we met. I grew up with Kumo’s jinchuuriki as my close family, I know the feel of demonic chakra, it’s very distinct, even suppressed and unfamiliar to you as yours is, I could still sense it. Then it was only a matter of knowing what demon your village has, therefore easy to figure out you’re the container of the Kyuubi.” It wasn’t a lie, mostly, she could feel the demon at the edges of his chakra when she first saw him in Wave and Bachiko merely confirmed it as well as her Teacher.

“B-but-but-” his voice staggered as he turned towards her, a kind of fear and desperation in his eyes she couldn’t recognize, “You-you knew all this time? And-and didn’t…” suddenly he bit his lip, looking down and gripping one hand into a fist, “Aren’t you afraid?” came out in a small, fragile voice.

This time Yorihi did sit up, her tattooed brows furrowed in a look that seemed almost confused as she faced him directly, “Why would I be?” at his continued shell-shocked look she just tilted her head, “I just said I grew up with our Jinchuuriki as my family, why would I be afraid of anyone else like them?”

“F-family?” the blonde’s wide blue eyes blinked slowly and stared at her with that same desperation.

Her tattooed brow rose higher, “Naruto-kun, I don’t know how exactly you’re treated here or why,” –indirectly and I can fill in the rest- her mind added, giving her a slight pout, “But in Kumo, our Jinchuuriki, our demon containers, they’re my family, my Uncle and Aunt,” a smirk pulled at her lips when she almost said ‘Big Sister’ remembering how she used to think of Yugito when she was younger, “In fact you’ve met one of them…”

At that the boy looked surprised, “I-I have?”

There was something of a disbelieving smirk on the Kumo konoichi’s face, “Nii Yugito, she’s the container of the Nibi no Nekomata,” at the continued shell shocked look on the boy’s face she let out a slight laugh, sitting up straight as now she felt it was pointless to ‘try’ and feign sleep, “Heh, suppose since you passed the first test I can tell you about Gaara as well, he’s the container of the Ichibi no Shukaku.”

At the continued blank, wide eyed and slack jawed look on the boy’s face she was surprised he hadn’t fallen and hit his head yet.

It made her laugh, she didn’t want to but she did.

Naruto managed to shake his head, his head finally catching up to some of the things she was telling him, “Wait, why are you telling me this?” at her quirked tattooed brow he continued, scratching the back of his head confused, “When I found out I was told it was a village secret, that no one else my age knew and anyone older wasn’t’ allowed to talk about it,” momentarily his eyes darted to her, skittish and maybe with a bit of an embarrassed blush, “S-so how come you’re so… easy goin’ about this?”

That cyan tattooed brow remained up, “Flippant?” a small smirk picked at her lips when he gave her a funny look, it had sounded like he wanted to use that word just didn’t remember it, “Well, to be honest, we never had it a secret,” she pulled her knees up and rested her head on them, wrapping around her arms still feeling the tug of exhaustion, “Everyone in our village knows who our jinchuuriki are and don’t really care. My Uncle and Aunt have gone through intensive training to control their demons so they’re in full control,” her head tilted towards the enraptured boy, “If you wanted, you could come to Kumo and I’m sure my Uncle would be more than willing to teach you…” she doubted he’d take the bait so easily, so far he seemed fairly loyal to those around him despite their treatment of him. –But if the option is there… if it’s in the back of his mind… maybe not now but maybe someday- there were a few converts she’d managed to bring to Kumo just by the mere suggestion their life could be a tiny bit better, she doubted it’d work with Naruto but it was a start.

“Hmm…” Naruto gained that fox-face of his, squinting ahead at nothing with his eyes closed and lips pursed in a sort of pout. It was obvious he was thinking about her words though she had no idea how to interpret what might be going through his head.

With a shrug Yorihi faced forward, crossing her arms and legs and seeming to think herself, “Anyway, its not like I or my teammates are going to say anything to anyone else your age as they don’t seem to know,” a snort, “Plus we were rather aggressively informed it’s the law here or something,” a more disgruntled snort touched on by a frown, “So it’s not something to really think about…” at the boy’s continued silent ‘thinking’ Yorihi was getting nervous and fidgety. She did not shrug again because she was uncomfortable or something, “Anyway, get some sleep, demon energy or not your body needs rest after-”

“I don’t think Kakashi-sensei or the old man would really like me goin’ to a place like Kumo even if it was to learn how to control this thing…” seemingly oblivious to the words the girl next to him had previously said, Naruto just started thinking out loud.

Yorihi blinked, she legitimately blinked as she slowly turned to stare at the boy from behind her headband. There may or may not have been a twitch from one of her tattooed eyebrows. –After all the angst he pulled for me so much as mentioning it he doesn’t even notice when I’m trying to be sincere about his feelings!!- In the back of her mind a certain cat was snickering at her rather bristled internal monologue.

Seemingly completely oblivious to the ‘blind girl’ staring at him, Naruto continued thinking outloud, “Though it’d proly be good, I don’t even know how or what I did against that snake freak but it burned a lot,” Rubbing his chin the blonde boy tilted his head, “Maybe someone else I could talk to about this? Don’t think anyone here would wanna…” slowly, oh so slowly, his foxish face turned towards the girl staring at him with the plate of her homeland. After a minute of just looking at one another a brilliant idea seemed to pop into the blonde’s head, accented by him dropping one fist into his open hand and scooting next to the girl quick as a flash, “Ne, ne!! Yorihi!! You said that blonde lady teacher with you was one too right?!” when he only got a dumb nod from the girl a cheeky grin spread across his whiskered face, “Ne, think she can give me some tips while she’s here?!” suddenly he slapped his hands together in a prayer like symbol, “I promise, real hard, to not bug her as much as I can and bring lots of shrimp!!”

Again with that blinking and staring thing, if Yorihi didn’t know any better she totally didn’t have spherical 360 degree x-ray vision and hadn’t been trained her whole life to act blind and totally didn’t have her headband covering her eyes. –This boy is insane…- that seemed to be the only thought that popped into her head before a hissing laugh made itself known and something about shrimp was flying through her head. Without thinking a disgusted look came over the lower half of her face and she stuck out her tongue, “Please go with tuna instead…” it was a wondering thought, she hadn’t really meant to say it out loud…

“Yes, yes, of course, of course,” but the fox boy was just nodding his head up and down eagerly, hand still in that prayer position and his face back to its very foxish quality.

“Ugh,” rubbing her head the blind girl just turned to the side, laying back down and praying for sleep, “Just go to sleep…”

“Right!” in the next instance he was flopped over on the other side of the bough and if she didn’t know any better he was trying, rather enthusiastically to ‘power sleep’, if that were such a thing.

Rolling her brows she practically begged herself to sleep, it had been a ridiculously long day with a lot happening in the last few short hours, her body and mind needed the rest and time to process everything. She trusted her finicky feline to stand guard, not that she didn’t trust Oku’s traps it just never hurt to have an extra pair of demonic senses scanning the vicinity. As if summoned by the random thought, just as she was reaching for the edges of unconsciousness, she caught sight of the badger tamer come up to the hollow in the tree, stop momentarily likely to smirk at the two Narutos down below before tapping them both and walking right in.

There was a strangled noise from the blonde boy but when she glanced over she noticed he was knocked out cold. Whatever Oku had done to his clones was enough of a feedback to knock the boy right out.

Yorihi was almost tempted to go down there and thank the older funny hat wearing boy herself, but decided sleep was more important.

-----

At the distinct sound of poof!s behind her Xiao glanced behind her towards the entrance, only to feel a warm body slid up on her opposite side. Without prompt or warning a small smile spread on her features and without even looking at the boy to confirm who he was she simply leaned against him, closing her eyes, “Was wondering where you were…”

She could feel in the way he breathed and the slight hum in his chest as he smiled, crossing his arms stoutly, “Get some rest Xiao-chan,” he turned his head to the floating little ball of lightning, blowing at it as one would blow out a candle, it flickered and cracked a second before snuffing out entirely.

Xiao gave a small chuckle in her throat, “What about you?” her voice lowered to a whisper.

He wiggled a moment, trying to shuffle himself in a comfortable spot, more for her to lean on than anything else, “Just rest, I’ll watch them for now…”

A red eye cracked open momentarily, glancing up at his stern pale features in the darkness of the hollow. She could still hear her two patients breathing, could sense Yorihi and Naruto up in the boughs above them on the tree, even feel that light shimmer of dark chakra that was the shade of her friend’s cat likely watching them and somewhere in the distance she knew Lior was patrolling the edge of their ‘territory’ for tonight. She gave her partner a look with that one eye, serious for a moment as she knew what was likely going through his head, “You’re not going to do anything to my patients are you?”

There was a slight movement, just the smallest of his lip tilting up, “Come on Xiao-chan, I’d never go back on my word, especially to Yorihi-hime like that!” his voice was low with that jovial tone he used to say everything was alright.

But she knew him, she knew him better than anyone else alive. Behind that innocent smile and oblivious nature was a kind of monster that could easily make others run and hide in fear, it was no wonder he was kin to badgers after all, the little things had such a temper to them that when push came to shove they could be far more deadly than creatures five times their natural size. But more than anything she knew badgers protected their own, they may tolerate others for a while but their territorial nature would always rear its ugly head and their tunnels and dens could easily become a bloodbath where ‘intruders’ were involved. Xiao knew she never had anything to fear from the boy, but she also had the sense to fear for others when he was around, if they did something out of line or against his perceived territory, well nothing good would come of it.

Yorihi was one of the few ‘outsiders’ he let into his little territorial bubble, it was one of the reasons she found herself initially curious about the girl and perhaps slightly jealous. But Oku had acted the same around Uenkai, after his initial male-territory-threatening-thing the teal haired boy probably been the closest her partner had had to a male friend, which was why she knew Yorihi hadn’t been the only one affected by the younger girl’s loss.

They’d been through a lot, Xiao and her funny partner Oku, it was why she knew his little moods so well. Just leaning on him she could tell some part of him was still wrinkled about the whole ‘kill them’ thing, seeing her two patients as a threat to his territory. It was a simple logic but she also knew he was right, he’d never go back on something agreed upon so sincerely, especially to someone he included in that little ‘territory’ he had. Yorihi was their friend, he’d lost one, nearly lost her a few times, he wasn’t going to jeopardize anything now.

Despite all her thinking, Xiao’s sole red eye had only looked at the boy for a few seconds. Then she sighed, closing her eye and nuzzling further into his side, she was exhausted from all the ‘surprises’ of the day and having to do surgery. He was right, she needed rest.

Not that she wasn’t going to let him off without her signature line, “Shut up, Oku…”

Through his chest she could feel him chuckle and likely smile that idiot smile of his before drifting off feeling secure in their little hollow.

-----

Oyasuminasai – good night

Chapter Text

For the Hokage it was one thing to be woken before dawn and shuffled into his ceremonial robes and ushered into his office to sit neatly behind his desk during wartime or some imminent threat or a bigass freakin’ demon going on a rampage through downtown Konoha…

It was a completely different matter for the sole reason he was up in this uncomfortable clothing, behind his damn desk he swore he just left an hour ago at most and seriously needing a drink because a veritable horde of chuunin, Jounin, and some he swore angry housewives and househusbands rabbling in his office and out his door over… something which escaped him at the moment because it was too DAMN EARLY?!

Luckily the back of the door opened and with more swagger than most men, Inuzuka Tsume walked in like she owned the place, “OUTTA THE WAY YOU GRUMBLING MUTTS!!” it wasn’t quite like a sea parting for a ninjutsu technique but it quieted the rabble and the wild eyed woman could at least make her way in.

Being practically dragged in behind her was the very confused, flustered, and blinking Kumo Jounin.

The sound of the graceful Hokage’s forehead meeting the palm of his hand was drowned out by the rabbling of all those present.

Suddenly there was an obscenely loud whistling that had everyone clap hands over their ears and made the Kumo jounin visibly whimper. Standing at the door proudly tall and flanked by her three grey large wolf-dogs was Inuzuka Hana, her mother’s black wolf-dog trotting ahead of her wincing just as obviously as the rest. Just because Hana had a sweeter face and kinder eyes then her mother or brother gave people a false sense of security about the older Inuzuka heiress, underneath her slick hair and adorable face was a beast just as merciless and violent as any other dog from her clan. There was a reason she had those red triangles on her cheeks and was next in-line to be clan head.

The Hokage was half tempted to promote the girl on the spot, getting a room full of angry Chuunin, Jounin and housespouses to shut up that quickly was no easy task. –Maybe I should hire her as a body guard or assistant, keep that ability nearby for when needed…-

The Hokage’s plotting was ended as Tsume slammed her hand down on his desk, leaning over and grinning cheekily in a very Inuzuka-fashion, “You asked for a foreign dignitary, Hokage-sama?”

-Damn the woman and her cheeky nature…- The Third Hokage could only mildly glare at the younger woman before turning his gaze to her ‘captive’, “I apologize for any misconduct on Inuzuka-san’s part, Nii-san, but it was imperative we find you immediately…”

Iron black eyes blinked for all of a second before a strange grin passed the shorter blonde woman’s face. In an instant she had removed the clan head’s hand from her arm, crossed them and seemed to be giving the old man a strangely smug grin that reminded him all too well of a cat, “Not at all Hokage-same, it certainly makes sense that you’d send the dogs after me!”

Before the rabbling started up again the Third Hokage swore he heard Tsume snicker.

All it took was a glance from Hana and the rabble was quitted again.

–Definitely need to consider keeping her around- passed through the Hokage’s head again.

Politely, Hana approached from the foreign jounin’s side opposite her mother, giving the two a chiding glance before finally saying something, “It wasn’t that hard considering the two of you were out drinking again…”

Tsume laughed and Yugito just continued giving that Cheshire grin.

The Hokage wanted to bang his head on his desk, repeatedly. –What the hell does it say that one of our esteemed clan head’s is out drinking with a foreigner from the nation we had our last major war with!!- Not to mention all that other ugly mess from ten years ago. Oh Kami did he need a drink when this was all over. Coughing into his hand, the old Sarutobi completely ignored the future Inuzuka clan head’s comment, focusing instead on the only woman in this room he technically had no authority over, “Nii-san,” was that another snort? “I requested you here due to recent concerns that arose since last night, particularly about your students’ potential involvement in them…”

“Pfft,” Yugito waved her hand snorting, “You mean that whole thing going on in the forest? With both jinchuuriki participating going off?” she said it so nonchalant like it was no big deal.

Oh, but in Konoha, it sure as hell was…

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOUR STUDENTS DOING?!” “ARE THEY TRYING TO SPARK A WAR?!” “DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY LIVES ARE AT RISK?!” “WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE OF THOSE DEMONS GETS LOOSE!!” “THOSE MONSTERS THREATENING OUR CHILDREN!!” etc. etc. etc.

For the most part all the Hokage could see on the woman’s face was pure abject boredom. Then the insults started getting flung, first about the ‘demons’ and ‘monsters’. It was obvious to him being the only person sitting in front of her capable of seeing the woman’s eyes that the words specific to the demon containers itched under her skin. They weren’t enough to set her off but they were certainly enough to bother her.

Again he had to remind himself he had no technical authority over her thanks to the black band with the Kumo insignia on her forehead.

Then the insults about her students started. He didn’t know who started it but the second someone mentioned those ‘weird cloud kids’ or the ‘crazy red eyed freak’ or ‘the creepy one with the weird hat and beast’ or ‘that disturbing blind one with the swords’ he knew he’d have to step in.

Because suddenly her eyes were copper and no longer black.

In an instant suddenly everyone was crushed under an unfathomable weight, only the experienced jounin and Hokage able to withstand it, and even then it took him a moment to realize it was only killing intent. The next instant the foreign woman was surrounded by ten ANBU, all with some form of weapon netted around her neck and still she didn’t seem so much as fazed. Though it probably had something to do with the purplish, two tailed coat of chakra that momentarily burst from her, throwing their weapons, and the ANBU, away and hitting the walls, two actually going through the windows on both sides of the Hokage’s chair.

It seemed the only ones still standing were the twin-tails container and the Hokage seated patiently in his chair across from her.

With a single intake of breath, Yugito closed her eyes, held it a moment her killing intent fading, then releasing the breath in a long sigh and her entire demonic aura left her. When she opened her eyes they were that iron black again and she had that catlike grin on her face again, “I apologize Hokage-sama, it seems there was a fly buzzing around me, making all this noise I couldn’t quite get out of my ear…”

He knew exactly what she was doing, or he thought he did, Kumo-nin were always strange in their actions and ideologies, this woman seemed no different. –Only its worse since she has the might of a full demon behind her and with that one display showed just how in-control she is with it…- the old man gave a cough in the deafening silence, waving his hand like nothing just happened, “No matter, Nii-san, it’s good to no longer have the buzzing.” If he thought Inuzuka Hana could quiet a room, this short blonde woman from Kumo was even better. Against probably his saner nature he pulled out his pipe, stuffing it with a chuckle and lighting, eyes sparkling with mirth as he and the Kumo Jinchuuriki seemed to reach some manner of level ground.

As the rabble that dared to have woken him at such an ungodly hour started standing up, mouths open as if to start again, he was somewhat pleased that this time he only had to give them a single deadly look and those gaping mouths shut without a word.

After allowing the old man a few moments to puff on his pipe and gain some semblance of peace, Yugito’s Cheshire grin spread as she spoke in a sweet sing-song voice, “Hokage-sama, I’m sure you called me in here for more than the chance to watch you smoke!”

The old man gave a chuckle, Kumo-nin always had a funny way of addressing others, it was some manner of cordial, amused and talking down all at once. They gave respect titles earned but stopped there, it seemed with his minor ‘play along’ with her words and actions he’d garnered a bit more respect, at least from her, as while mocking and jovial her tone seemed a bit more earnest, “Indeed I have, Nii-san,” he enjoyed the moment to puff on his pipe a second more before removing it and speaking to her frankly, “As you may have heard there is some concern about your students proximity to several potentially village threatening fights that broke out in the Forest of Death, seeing as the exam only started last evening it has made several worry what today might bring,” He gave the blonde woman a grandfatherly smile and she seemed to return it with a conspirator’s grin, “Would you like to clarify anything?”

“Of course,” she gave a little nod, almost a mock bow but the Hokage chose to believe it was a sincere gesture and not an insult like many of his shinobi present seemed to immediately think, “From what little I was paying attention to the fights going on there, it seemed to me my students were simply doing as instructed; getting into fights and testing themselves out in the forest for this test!”

The Hokage sent the crowd a stern look before he responded to her with that same grandfatherly smile, “You aren’t concerned they may have set off Suna’s Jinchuuriki?”

This got a bark of a laugh from the woman, “Oh my no,” Yugito was snorting and wiping tears from her eyes as she came down, “If my kids were really trying to fight that little crazy Tanuki, trust me, that forest wouldn’t be nearly big enough to contain that fight… HAHA!!”

This response got more than one fearful look from the group of Konoha shinobi, even Tsume was looking at her apparent drinking buddy strangely.

The Hokage sighed deeply. –If there’s one thing that you can always bet on from a Kumo-nin, it’s that they will never let you be comfortable around them… ever…- the woman’s flippancy and seeming blasé fair attitude was not helping in the least in alleviating the tension of the crowd behind her.

What was more disturbing was he didn’t know if she was bluffing.

For better or worse, once she stopped laughing she continued talking, “Besides, if either junior demon container got out and went berserk, you’d have nothing to worry about Hokage-sama!!” oh, dear sweet merciful Kami, did she just pull a ping! Smile that would make Gai proud? “For I’m here!! And no matter what those two kids could pull out they’re nothing compared to me and my demon!!”

It took the Hokage a second to realize that last bit, while said just as jovial and flippant, was a threat. He’d spent over fifty years of his life combating Kumo-nin, both on the field and politically behind this same desk. Nothing that ever came out of a Kumo-nin’s mouth was an accident, and with a smile she’d just stated her mere presence was holding his village hostage. –She’s right, two adolescent jinchuuriki with no real control of their demons would never be a match for her, an experienced jounin in full control, and with that display earlier her killing intent was potent enough to render most of our forces useless…- with stern brown eyes the head of the Sarutobi clan and Third Hokage of Konoha glared at the woman holding a demon at her beck and call. He may have been well past his prime but he was still enough of a match to show this girl why he was called the ‘God of Shinobi’.

Something sparkled in her iron black eyes as the smile she gave him, while nowhere near as big as her pervious Cheshire ones, spoke volumes of the reality of their true situation. She was powerful enough to wipe out half his village if needed, but even then it seemed the only thing that would prompt such was if anyone threatened her students. He didn’t know if she had any other business here in this village but for now it was as if by her grace nothing did. Yugito again nodded deference to the Hokage, smaller and much shallower this time, but all the while those stern iron black eyes never left his.

For now he had her cooperation and some manner of respect, she did not hold such for anyone else in the room, even the dogs she’d been out drinking with. But if things were to change, in an instant they’d all be reminded why even a single Kumo-nin was not to be messed with, not to mention four.

Sarutobi closed his eyes, replacing his pipe and let out a deep breath.

The silence between the village leader and foreigner sparked another round of rabble from the crowd, now too angry and insulted to keep quiet.

They were lucky neither contender was paying them any mind.

After a few minutes of the buzzing, without looking up or opening his eyes, the Hokage made several hand seals and sent a pulse throughout the room. It was suddenly quiet despite the fact everyone was still moving their mouths.

Yugito waited to comment until the fools finally realized they could no longer speak, “My, my, Hokage-sama, it seems that buzzing came up again?” again she looked at him with that harmless Cheshire grin, “You think the fly is back?”

There was a rough chuckle in the old man’s throat, “I don’t know what you mean, Nii-san, I don’t hear anything?”

He could hear the cat-woman’s hissing chuckle.

It made him smile. –Peace and quiet at last…-

… Until the doors to his office banged loudly open against the walls and someone haggardly rushed in, “H-Hokage-sama…”

“Oh what now?” the old man grumbled under his breath only to become serious the moment his eyes opened and he caught sight of the woman that just barged in, “Anko? What the hell happened to you?”

Breathing hard, sweating and bleeding from a few choice cuts all around her Anko just hobbled up to the old man, completely ignoring the blonde giving her a weird look, and smiled at the man in the big hat, “L-long st-tory…” leaning on his desk with one hand the special jounin took a second to catch her breath, and probably hold her ribs together with her other arm, “Mostly… involving… big cats… and crickets…”

Several brows went up but between the two that could respond they weren’t going to bother asking.

“But that’s not important!!” that’s when Anko slammed her other hand on the old man’s desk, taking a deep breath and staring the Hokage in the eye fiercely, “We’ve got bigger problems!!”

This time the Hokage bothered to respond, “What kind of problems, Anko?” his voice was stern and serious. He’d never known Mitarashi Anko to go to anyone over petty issues, and certainly not him, the woman was loyal to the village and despite her attitude and history had proven herself more to him than most others in this room right now.

And he knew there was only one thing she took this seriously.

The second her eyes were level with his he knew what was coming, “That bastard is here…”

Silence, not that anyone really in the room could do anything about it, but the Hokage noticed several sets of eyes on clan heads and jounin alike harden, even the Kumo woman appeared deadly serious.

He needed to get a head of this before anyone got any ideas, “Anko, are you sure about this…”

“Yes, I’m goddamn SURE!!” Her hands on his desk clinched into white-knuckled fists as she practically snarled at him. He could tell by her awkward stance, how hunched her shoulders were and continuous sweat rolling down her neck that she was feeling pain in her mark and confirmed what she was saying.

Orochimaru was here.

–As if the Kumo-nin suddenly showing up wasn’t bad enough… now this…- the old man sunk further into his chair, wishing he never woke up this morning and wondering if he had nearly enough booze to deal with this. With a deep groan, hand over his face he couldn’t help but worry about the worst case scenario, “We need to end the Exams now, send all the foreign shinobi back to their villages and fortify out defenses…”

“Hokage-sama!” Yugito, of course as the only person aside from Anko and himself that could speak, stepped forward and glared at the old man, “Your village agreed to hold these Exams for the mutual benefit of us all, you can’t go back on that agreement now!”

Lowering his hand enough to glare at the blonde woman it took everything in the old man not to shout at her, “I can and I will, I am the one in charge of this village, no matter what you have to say Nii-san,” quickly he looked away, tenting his hands and starting to think, not caring for her response, “If you had any idea who she was speaking of then you’d know this was not a matter up for debate…”

Suddenly there was another hand slamming on his poor abused desk as black iron eyes glared down at the old man just as fiercely, “To hell with whoever this man is! The only way my students are failing this test is in a body bag!”

The Hokage looked at the blonde woman sternly and said the only thing that just might get through to her, “If they stay, they just might…”

As her eyes widened just a fraction he knew she understood. This was not a game, not some controlled environment, if Orochimaru was going to trample through this village it wasn’t going to matter what headband anyone was wearing, he’d kill them all just the same. Or worse.

Watching the display Anko stood back up as straight as she could, one arm still wrapped around her chest to support her ribs. Once she knew the two were done she gave a deep sigh and looked at the old man, “You can’t do that,” immediately both sets of dark eyes and likely everyone else in the room was back on her, “If you end the exams now, he said he’d destroy the village…”

The blonde foreigner scoffed while the old man simply leaned on his desk, trying to think of how to deal with this situation.

It was in this silence that the strange itching on the back of Anko’s neck got strong enough to really bug her. She turned around, finding a crowd of as many people as possible stuffed inside the Hokage’s cramped office. Upon barging in she had noticed some people, mostly green vests signifying shinobi, and was fueled too much on adrenaline to really care about them before, but now… just standing there, all of them staring at her with mouths open in the eerie silence…

Anko couldn’t help the first words out of her mouth, “WHY THE FUCK ARE ALL OF YOU SO DAMN FUCKING QUIET?!”

This got another deep sigh from the Hokage. That was something else he’d have to deal with wasn’t it? –A long day… such a long, long, long painful day…-

And it had only just begun.

-----

When the first few inches of light crept into the hollow, red eyes immediately snapped open.

One of the benefits of growing up in a mountain range that generally didn’t see true sunlight until around noon was the people of Kumo became exceptionally sensitive to the earliest rays of morning. At a time when the world was simply a hazy blue twilight, the sun a distant memory below the horizon and the only reason light even existed was because it was coming up slowly and the first bits of frost shifted into early morning dew, this was the ‘normal’ wake up time for anyone from the lofty heights of the mountains of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. This kind of ‘daytime’ to a Kumo-nin was morning where to anyone from the lowlands used to seeing the sun for extended periods of the day was ‘too goddamn early’, it was one advantage that made the cloud barbarians quite fierce.

With a slight nudge the badger tamer shifted, allowing his partner to sit up. Without a word she moved to check her patients, noting the girl was still out but still and healing while the boy was starting to groan again. By her estimates she hadn’t slept that long, maybe four hours, five would be stretching it, the land of fire tended to have long days and bizarrely short nights. Once she was finished looking over the two and making sure they didn’t need anything changed she glanced back at her partner.

It was apparent Oku had been awake all night, being their sentry despite looking none the worse for wear. If anything he could likely still go for some time yet without really needing the kind of sleep she and Yorihi did to recoup their large amounts of chakra. He just gave her that simple smile, not leaving his post.

Wordlessly Xiao wiggled her finger, signaling they head outside. He simply gave a nod, turning in his seated position and left first, the medic quick to follow.

The forest in the morning was cold and damp, about the nicest weather either partner could attribute to the land of fire since they’d set foot in it nearly two weeks ago.

With a smirk Xiao held her hand out, easily crackling her lightning chakra off the moisture in the damp air, “Of course it takes waking up in the Forest of Death for me to mildly start to like this place…”

“It is quite pleasant isn’t it?” Oku responded with his hands on his hips, chest puffed wide and proud as he gave his partner his silly little smile. She gave a light laugh in response, but Oku knew that appreciating the forest morning wasn’t why she’d called him out, “So, heading out?”

A tinge tugged a smirk on the girl’s dark lips, “How’d ya guess?”

Oku faced her fully, smile still present and nodded towards the still mostly dark forest, “I know you can’t resist…”

“Shut up, Oku,” There was a light sparkle in the medic’s red eyes as she took a step towards the edge of their camp, “I’m likely the first Utsurabon to be here ever, if not at least in decades,” the dusky-pinkette glanced cheekily over her shoulder at her partner, “My family would never forgive me if I didn’t bring them back samples of the plants here to try out for new medicinal purposes!”

The dirty blonde boy in his silly plated hat gave her an exasperated smile, leaning more on one side as if he knew he couldn’t win the argument so didn’t even try, “Take Lior at least with you, there’re some real big creatures out there, wouldn’t be surprised if a few teams got eaten by them last night…”

With a curt nod she threw a wave over her shoulder, “I faced off against a sand monster and legendary snake yesterday, giant critters? Don’t think they could kill me at this point…” and walked off into the underbrush of the dark woods.

Oku just crossed his arms and shook his head, part of him telling him to follow but knowing that herbalist in her loved to wonder the wilds alone to find all the strange plants that made her concoctions work. It was a family thing, not something he was privy to right now, he’d come if she asked but he knew she wouldn’t. But he was glad she at least had some sense this time, she didn’t tell him ‘no’ when he suggested Lior go with her, at least that way someone was with her while she was out there. –And if anything happened to her she couldn’t handle… I’d know immediately and come running…- he stood a moment longer, watching where she’d gone and stayed that way until he couldn’t immediately sense her anymore, then turned back and took up his post inside the hollow. If she was out, he’d keep an eye on her patients.

-----

Yorihi was up an hour later, not because she wanted to be but because for some reason she was hanging off the side of the bough holding something mildly heavy, “Hm?”

It took her a second to process, sleep in such a foreign environment required deep meditation, shutting her mind off but leaving her body in a kind of auto-pilot state. It helped in case she was blown out of a branch or an enemy ninja got too close. Her normal ‘danger sense’ wasn’t particularly ringing and so far no one was immediately trying to kill her, so checking those off her normal ‘reasons’ for getting up early on a mission day set her back a few more minutes of processing.

“Uh-Uh…” a scratchy voice called from below her, “Y-Yorihi?!”

Letting more feeling slip into her heavy body and a bit of chakra to boost her blood circulation to speed up the ‘waking process’, as a lack of immediate danger of harm on her part made her body a tad slower in the morning. It took her another minute to finally register her position and why her arm felt heavy. She was somewhere between a crouch and standing horizontally to the bough, one hand wrapped in wire that was attached to one of her wired-kunai at least half the blade into the bough anchoring her, while her other hand was holding what appeared to be an ankle. A very specific, orange-loving, loud-mouthed blonde boy’s ankle who still didn’t have anything covering his chest except that poor excuse for a ‘shirt’ of mesh and his clear blue eyes were wide and looking at her scared and confused.

Her tattooed brows may have twitched as the girl’s primary response was to tilt her head somewhat confused. –Why am I here? Am I saving him?- it appeared either Naruto nearly fell off the high tree branch in his sleep and her body acted on reflex to catch him or for whatever reason she was threatening to let go of him over the side of the bough, for whatever reason. Her more awake mind decided to go with the first and ignored the hissing-snicker in the back of her head.

By the time she pulled Naruto up level with the branch they’d slept on the boy had his hands together and seemed to be chanting some strange prayer she swore she heard from Ruri-sensei once. Groggily she tossed him back on the branch, slumped down sitting next to her kunai and yawned, “It’s too early to be saving you already…”

“Ehehehe…” Naruto at least had the decency to scratch the back of his neck embarrassed, “I may have slipped waking up,” throwing off his nervousness momentarily the boy gave a wide grin to the blind girl, who for all he knew couldn’t see it one bit, “Thanks though, for catchin’ me, bit slow in the morning, never really slept in a tree before, dattebayou…”

With another yawn reminiscent of her cat, Yorihi tried to get her mind back up to speed, adrenaline withdrawal from all the ‘excitement’ yesterday was apparently kicking her ass this morning, “Honestly I was asleep,” another yawn she tried futilely to cover with her hand, “Came too holding your ankle, not the strangest way I’ve woken up before…”

“Eheh, well still than-WAIT?!” suddenly the bright blonde boy was up, blue eyes wide and pointing at her, “A-are y-you s-saying you CAUGHT ME, fifty feet up in a tree you’ve never been in before, and were still ASLEEP?!”

Yorihi’s only decent response was to shrug.

Naruto raced up to her, crouching to foxishly glare at her level with her plate and gave her the meanest pout he could muster, “I could have died!!”

The dark haired girl yawned again, seeming to not care for his proximity, “Your own fault…”

His pout grew deeper, “You’re the one that said I sleep up in a tree!!”

Her head tilted further, “And I’m a foreigner, you have no reason to trust a single word that comes out of my mouth…”

His bottom lip was practically quivering, in anger of course, or annoyance, and due to how close he was ‘foxish thug glaring’ at her it was nearly touching her nose…

After a beat Naruto backed off, seemingly completely unaware of his previous position, “Wait, this ISN’T the weirdest way you’ve woken up, dattebayou?!” now he was confused.

Which was lucky for Yorihi as she was trying to remember what it meant to breathe… NORMALLY! –What is wrong with this boy and his complete disregard for personal space!!- While her mind was momentarily fuming, her body was luckily trained well enough to ignore the momentary mental lapse and continue as normal; groggily scratch the side of her face and nod slightly to the other side, “Yes.”

A blonde brow rose and suddenly he was even closer, somehow, without actually touching her and blinking with those curious bright blue eyes of his, “Really? Like what?”

-Brain!! Work!! Say something that’ll make him stop!!- Yorihi momentarily froze, ignoring that strangely familiar hissing-giggle in the back of her mind, as her body continued to cover for her by acting ‘sleepy’. Yawn to stall for time, amused while the boy wriggled his nose and had to lean back from her to yawn as well showing oddly large canines –I wonder if all Jinchuuriki have those?- pushing aside that question to ask her Aunt or Uncle another day, and finally having the space to reboot properly and answer appropriately, “Classified.”

That one word completely shot down any line of inquiry Naruto would have had. Whether or not he was a ‘good’ shinobi didn’t matter, they were all conditioned very well in knowing that that one word was the end all-be all of any conversation shot to hell.

So of course he acted very mature by turning to the side, flopping down on the bough, crossing both legs and arms and looking his best like a sulking child, pouty face and all, “Classified… yea right… dattebayou…”

His grumpy verbal tick for some reason made Yorihi smile. She didn’t know why, but his little pout and that one word just did for some ridiculously stupid reason.

While the blonde grumbled to himself Yorihi took the opportunity to take in their situation. They’d slept a few hours and while she was oddly groggy she could feel herself back to mission ready. From her position she didn’t feel or see anything particularly out of place, the forest was quiet for the most part and from what she could tell up here their patients were still out and being guarded. Without any effort she slid from the bough and dropped, landing gracefully on her feet in front of the hollow entrance.

“HEY!! WAIT FOR ME!! DATTEBAYOU!!” Naruto’s landing wasn’t nearly as ‘graceful’ as the boy fell into a roll and somehow ended up landing on his butt. He hadn’t broken anything from what she could tell so that was an improvement.

With a light snort of derision, Yorihi walked into the hollow, finding Oku seated guarding their charges instead of Xiao like she expected. Quirking a tattooed brow the Kumo leader turned towards the back of the boy’s silly hat, “Where’s Xiao-chan?”

Oku seemed to nod slightly a moment before jerking up, making Yorihi wonder if he’d been asleep, “Oh, Xiao-chan?” turning to glance at his comrade with those oddly closed eyes the boy scratched his hair under his hat, “Went out to grab some herbs, don’t worry, she actually took Lior with her this time, so she should be fine!”

That tattooed brow remained up, “I take it she does this often on missions?”

A wide grin spread on the pale boy, “When she goes somewhere new, sure,” he shrugged like it was no big deal, “You never know what kinda plants could be good for something, I sure don’t!”

Yorihi tried not to roll her eyes at the comment when Naruto finally stuck his head into the hollow. Yorihi could tell by the slight frown on his face he wasn’t happy to see his teammates still out, and it seemed he was still miffed by the older dirty blonde boy’s comment yesterday, “Ne, Oraka-bou-teme, how they doin’?”

With that same placid smile Oku turned to Naruto, “Fine, far as I can tell, the Uchiha whined a bit but I think that’s just cause he doesn’t like the bit Xiao-chan put in his mouth!”

All three awake in the hollow turned to look at Uchiha Sasuke as he grunted in his drug induced sleep, drool coming out the side of his mouth where the leather bit was still in place.

Yorihi tried really hard not to snort, she really did.

Naruto just looked confused, “Why’d she do that? And what happened to his shirt?” which he pointed at since neither of the Kumo-nin seemed to notice.

Both Oku and Yorihi spared the top naked boy a glance then shrugged, but Oku did answer the orange wearing boy’s question, “Dunno, if Xiao-chan did it, there’s a medical reason! I know the bit is so he doesn’t bite his tongue and swallow it, since he was flailing quite a bit, and as for the shirt…?” he openly shrugged, “She may have just gotten tired of taking it off?”

“You realize this means she’s officially stripped his entire team right?” Yorihi said flatly to which Oku did little more than chuckle that oblivious laugh of his. Behind her she could see Naruto’s confused face tilt slightly, either not getting what she was saying or not believing her. –Not my problem- with that thought in mind the blind girl patted her comrade on the shoulder and turned back towards the entrance of the hollow, “Tell me if anything changes, I’ll be heading out too,” as she moved past a confused looking blonde jinchuuriki, Yorihi grabbed his upper bicep and dragged the boy out kicking and screaming, “Taking him with me!”

“Kay!! Bring back something to eat!!” Oku just waved over his shoulder, not even bothering to turn around to watch his comrade leave.

“Hey what the hell d’you think your doin’? Dattebayou!” Naruto did little more than flail about angrily in the Kumo konoichi’s grip.

This only really got a snort and eyebrow-rolling from the dark haired girl as she continued to drag the boy off into the underbrush, “Must you do everything so loudly?”

Finally the flailing stopped, only so he could grumpily glare at her with his foxish face, “Why’ya always gotta be complain’ huh? Making orders and dragging people off everywhere? Dattebayou?”

This required Yorihi to stop and just glare at him through her headband. He held up his counter pouty-glare rather well but when faced with a literal mirror for eyes whatever bravado broke down rather quickly. It took only a few seconds for his pout to look away and the blind girl to seal her victory, not that she was gloating or anything! “You’re one to talk, dragging me off after we met to meet someone that could have been T&I ANBU for all I knew…” she wasn’t being cynical at all! Both just snorting in their own way as she continued to drag him into the woods, “We need to gather provisions and intel on the area around us if we’re going to be here longer than a few hours. I trust Oku to watch the camp, it’s you I don’t trust to not set one of his traps off accidentally out of boredom…”

Naruto’s pout grew as he continued to get dragged along, “S’not like I’d do it on purpose… dattebayou…”

She tried to ignore his grumbling, she really did, but some part of her brain wouldn’t let the pout slip from her conscious recognition. She swore she could hear hissing-giggles, somewhere along the trees undoubtedly, “Better have you come with me and remain in one piece then picking you up from all around this damn forest…”

“So what’re we doin’?” the boy kept his grumbling pout on but at least now he was coming more willingly.

“Honestly, I want to be out of this forest and hand your teammates over to your authorities to be looked after as soon as possible,” a huff, “The issue comes in that we need to find another team with an Earth scroll to leave, your team wouldn’t happen to have one would you?” her brows furrowed over her headband, knowing he couldn’t see it as he was somewhat behind her but couldn’t help the gesture. If they had a scroll that’d be convenient… if not… well…

The blonde quickly shoot his head, picking up his pace to walk with her more comfortably, head turning this way and that being on alert for what was going on around them, “Mm-mm,” he shook his head to indicate the negative before going back to scanning, “We had a Heaven scroll, but Teme offered it up to that snake-bastard before everything went to hell, dunno what happened to it…”

“Tch,” a frown made its way on the pale girl’s face, “Figures, they must have put everyone with one scroll on one side and the others on the opposite, insuring the longest distance required to travel to get out of this damn place,” to her side she could see the whiskered boy quirking a blonde brow at her confused. She just grunted, annoyed, “Nothing, it just means we’ll likely have to travel further to find someone with a suitable scroll…”

“Mmhhh,” the boy nodded sagely, rubbing his chin with his free hand, “How long do’ya think it’d take to get one? Let alone three?”

“Three?” a tattooed brow quirked as she stopped to face the boy.

“Eh?” Naruto jerked when his arm was tugged back, he apparently hadn’t noticed she’d been holding it the whole time, “Er, what?” quickly that free hand of his pulled a kunai from seemingly nowhere.

Yorihi quirked a brow, that was actually a decent maneuver, he must have had a hidden sheath in his sleeve. Shaking her head quickly she faced him dead on, ignoring her momentary lapse, “What I meant was what do you mean by three?”

Her voice was flat and her brows low, it made Naruto somewhat nervous, “Ehehehe,” so like normal he scratched the back of his head, “Well, ya said ya wanted to get outta here quick as possible right? So you guys have a heaven scroll, and we got nothing, means we gotta get three scrolls right?”

There was a twitch in her brow that suggested she was blinking at him, “Who said anything about getting your team anything? As far as I’m concerned you’ve been eliminated from this test, my priority is getting another Earth scroll so my teammates can advance while simultaneously taking your team with us to ensure nothing happens thanks to Orochimaru’s interference.”

An angry pout spread on the boy’s face, “Hey, just cause we lost our scroll doesn’t mean we’re eliminated, dattebayou!!”

“Tch,” tattooed brows rolled, “According to the rules maybe, but far as I’m concerned your team’s passing isn’t a priority for this mission…”

“Then make it one!” Naruto jerked his arm, the one she was still holding.

With a mild frown Yorihi turned back to him but let go, “And why should I?” she leaned into him, something inside her telling her to challenge him, like how most of the guys in Kumo did, thuggishly by leaning in close and glaring him right in the eyes. She’d already proven she could out ‘glare’ him, the added invasion of his personal space and blatant challenge should force him to back down.

He didn’t. If anything, Uzumaki Naruto did not back down from a challenge, either the boy was incapable of doing so or was just too stupid to realize a stronger opponent in front of him.

There was a clink! As the bottom metal of his headband hit the top of hers, that small space the only thing separating their faces.

It annoyed Yorihi to no end. Here was a boy she was actually slightly taller then and she still couldn’t force him to back down because of her size. The two just ‘glared’ at one another, thuggishly snarling at one another trying to force the other to change their mind while pushing their headbands close enough the metal groaned.

“Help us out!!”

“Why the hell should I?!”

The two growled at each other, not caring for the non-existent space between them as they kept their voices relatively even in order to not draw attention by shouting, which surprised Yorihi the boy had the forethought to do so. Not that it mattered as the whole area became quickly saturated with their chakra and killing intent as their wills battled over the issue.

Naruto growled, pushing his head forward, “Cause we ain’t leaving this forest until my team has their scrolls too!!”

Yorihi pushed right back, pressing on the boy’s nose with the plate covering her eyes, “Then we’ll just knock you out and drag you back, the other two members of your team are already incapacitated! Face it your team failed this part of the test!”

With a flare of chakra the boy pushed forward and for a moment the Kumo konoichi thought his eyes were red, “It ain’t over yet! You wanna make sure we get out of here so whatever’s up with Sasuke doesn’t affect your village then you’re gonna be here as long as it takes for us to get our scrolls!! Dattebayou!”

“That’s stupid and a waste of time!” Yorihi pushed back just as hard, feeling black fire in the back of her mind, abhorring the idea of having to sit around in this forest waiting for his pathetic team to try getting anything on their own!

That smug cocky grin of his showed just below the eye line of her focus, “Then help us, and we’ll leave faster!”

“It’d be better to just drag you with us!” she growled back, “Takes less time, then I don’t have to deal with your insubordination…”

Childishly Naruto stuck out his tongue… which touched her nose and finally forced Yorihi to give up the normal Kumo approach of force to wipe her nose offended, “Khehehehehe!!” the fox bastard chuckled to himself smugly, “Waass wrong? Can’t handle it? Thought you were the big bad Kumo genin!!” and just to be a dick further, stuck his tongue out and wiggled it at her.

Yorihi’s hand became a fist and half of her mind couldn’t believe how childish he was being!! The other half was swearing unholy vengeance in the most childish way she could think of. Again, there was that hissing giggle from up in the trees! –Shut up!!- Momentarily she sent a pulse of chakra back at her blue-black tabby who skittered off hiss-giggling to himself at his master’s lapse of civility. Having that moment to clear her thoughts, Yorihi turned back to the blonde boy with low brows, only the cyan tattoos showing, “You’re exactly the kind of child that shouldn’t be passing a test like this…” she said grimly, “You wouldn’t even be fit to pass our Academy test, let alone one to choose upcoming chuunin!”

“So what if I am?” oddly his voice wasn’t smug like she expected, as he crossed his arms and looked at her with an almost serious fox-face, “Ninja are supposed to be all about surprises right? So let’s surprise them!” he rolled his shoulder back in reference to some vague distance, “That scary jounin lady said we could bribe other teams right? So that’s what I’m doin’, I, Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato, am asking you, Tenkyuu Yorihi of Kumogakure no Sato, to help my team through this test?” a wide smirk passed his face as hers became blank, “You wanna show my village you mean no harm to keep your teammates safe and get through this test? Then help me out! Dattebayou!”

The tenseness in Yorihi’s shoulders slowly waned. –I hate to admit it… but he does have a point…- it was unexpected, impractical, and foolhardy… but it was an option, one they were bluntly told by the proctor. Her fist released, only to set her hand on one of her swords as she considered the proposal. She did want to show the Konoha authority her team meant no harm, and she was using that pleasantry as an excuse to let the Uchiha be Orochimaru’s target… -Would it make sense to help him?- she wanted the Konoha forces to not be so wary around them so she could explore and form connections to those that could be potential targets for her while keeping her team safe and away from any real danger. Naruto was one of her prime targets, he was a priority, not his teammates, but ensuring his trust and the Uchiha being alive to be bait for the snake was paramount to their current situation for her mission. A tiny voice in her head was telling her it’d be advantageous to help out, as not-to would only create a rift between herself and her target, while ‘helping’ would forge it stronger. –The only downside would be taking more time and pissing off Xiao…- unconsciously she snorted at the thought of her closest female friend yelling at her further for deciding to ‘help’ this Konoha Rookie team.

“So how about it?” the golden haired boy with the foxish grin held out his hand, “Just three more scrolls, dattebayou?”

Just to be a dick, Yorihi huffed and ignored his outstretched hand. She needed him to realize he wasn’t manipulating her into anything, she was the one in control here, not him!! “Two, we have two Heaven scrolls, and I’m only agreeing to this to move along quickly,” then she decided to take his hand and shake it, the agreement set.

“Sweet!” Naruto enthusiastically shook her hand until the Kumo girl removed it, “So, what’re we doing first! Scouting out a team? Looking for tracks?”

Yorihi’s shoulders slumped, wondering what happened to the almost-serious shinobi from a minute ago, “First we’re getting something to eat…” then she felt an uncomfortable tug below her stomach, “On second thought, I’m going to go somewhere you’re not and go to the bathroom…” she did just wake up after all, saving this idiot and having to drag him around… bodily functions just slipped her mind.

Naruto had the decency to blush before his hands went to the front of his pants, “Oh man! You’re right, be right back!!” and darted off behind a few trees.

Yorihi could only shake her head, “What’s he have to worry about, it’s not like I can see anything…” –Or would want to…- She completely ignored the hiss-giggle above her, mentally threatening to cut off his two favorite things if he didn’t shut up, and no not his ‘tails’.

-----

Back in the hollow Oku sat breathing calmly while he meditated.

He may not have been a chakra powerhouse like his partner and friend and he certainly didn’t know Xiao’s chakra field for sensing things out at long distance but that didn’t mean he had to. He was a trap master, his ways of detecting enemies and locating his team members was a bit more basic. The simplest and most effective for him was simply feeling things through the ground, as an earth-type shinobi he had an automatic sense for the earth and due to training with Lior and other badgers he knew well how to navigate underground, dig tunnels, and set up all manner of traps that way. It was a great way to trick people, since as his comrade liked to say ‘no one ever really looks up or down’.

It was a truer statement than even veteran shinobi would care to admit.

If one had access to the skies or underground, it was an automatic advantage. This was one reason he and Xiao were a formidable duo, she had the skies, he had the underground, and between them their enemies had nowhere to run.

But that was getting away from the point…

Right now he was meditating, trying to recoup as much energy as he could from the lack of sleep and staving off hunger. He didn’t regret letting the girls gorge on the spoils Yugito-sensei brought them for breakfast yesterday, he’d snagged a few things here and there from the forest Xiao had said was safe to eat, and with their battles yesterday and huge displays of power it was a tactical decision the girls had as much chakra as possible. Rest could only restore so much so quickly, the rest was food and emotional stability. It was up to him to ensure they had nothing to worry about.

Feeling through the earth and lines of his wires he knew everything that was going around their little hollow for a good kilometer if not more. Lior had set 4^th and 5^th tiered traps on the edges, meant primarily to block escape. They allowed enemies to come within the territory but prevented them from leaving, trapping any trespassers between his tertiary defenses and walls of wire and pain. They were designed to be moderately easy to spot, at least the feints, that’s why they were only 4^th and 5^th tier traps, meant to be missed 2 to 3 times over but caught that final time. Anyone that couldn’t even do that wasn’t worth their time, not the girls and not his.

Next were the tertiary defenses, meant to scorch, burn the opponents to think they’d found the real traps and simple enough to charge further in. The next ones were more subtle but what was noticed was more complicated, meant to enrage and entice. And the primary defenses, just outside the hollow… those were meant to kill.

When the enemy had nowhere else to run but blindly forward… that’s when he’d blow the apart.

There was a grunt from just outside his conscious self, drawing himself back to the awareness of his body he slightly opened his eyes. The pink haired girl was moving. –Has the anesthetic worn off already?- lowering his outward tension Oku opened his eyes wider, taking in the girl as she moved more consciously.

She was waking up. He knew Xiao had introduced a drug to her system to keep her mostly out, since generally cutting away at a person’s wounds to get rid of what could kill them was painful and the absence of feeling of certain parts of the body could be very nauseating. Any anesthetics she used were for ease of the operation and handling a patient that could be unstable. He had a few scars to prove it.

When he noticed the girl grip her good hand and crack open her light green eyes he knew it was wearing off and time to put on his much more comforting face.

With a disarming smile the dirty blonde boy with the funny plated hat closed his eyes and addressed his partner’s patient, “I see you’re waking up! You been out for a while!”

Those hazy green eyes glanced towards the voice, it was loud and cheery but more subdued then she expected. Drearily her eyes passed over the dark space they were in, catching the sight of something pale with dark hair across from her and something orange at her lower peripheries. Groggily bringing her left hand up she felt the end of the sleeve in her hand, it was orange and seemed familiar. Her right hand twitched but something felt numb on that side, like she couldn’t or shouldn’t move it, “Naruto…?”

“Eheh, not quite!” the person sitting in front of the light coming from the entrance made a gesture to scratch the back of his head like Naruto would but there was something wrong with it. For starters there was something on his head blocking his usual blonde hair. And his clothes looked green?

Sakura shifted as much as she could, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the dark place they were in with the bright light in front of her, behind this person watching over her. –Where am I? Who is this?- why did her right side seem… empty, heavy, numb... like it wasn’t quite there, yet she could see her right arm right there? And this guy… he was almost familiar but from where, “Who…? What…?” her head tilted back to looking at the pale person across from her with the black hair, was that Sasuke?

Still scratching his head Oku glanced from the girl to the object of her focus, the shirtless Uchiha, “Oh, yea, guess you don’t really remember much from last night,” shifting the Kumo genin took on a thinking pose, holding his chin with a crossed arm, “Well, short story is we saved you guys, sorta, from this big bad crazy, you almost died and my partner fixed you the best she could and now we’re waiting here for you guys to recover or my team gets another scroll, I think?”

At his words Sakura forced herself to wake up a bit more, what was it that was dragging her mind down? Usually her thoughts were going a mile a minute, not to mention her having to shove Inner-Sakura to the side just so that part of her logical consciousness would shut up! Now everything was slow and groggy and there was this guy who wasn’t Naruto but she was wearing something orange and- “Who… are… you?” despite the bright light behind him she narrowed her green eyes on this young man, figuring out who he was should help her figure out what the hell was going on.

“Ehehe,” he chuckled while rubbing his head again, “Sorry, guess we didn’t really get a chance to introduce ourselves!” he held out his hand, “I’m Shitemon Oku, part of the Kumo genin team, we’re friends with your teammate Naruto and kinda helped you guys out against Orochimaru last night!” after a second of his hand just hanging there in the empty space between them he seemed to realize it was a futile effort, “Oops, sorry, forgot, your shoulder got pretty banged up, but Xiao-chan fixed it, so while you won’t be able to move that arm for a while quite right, it should heal up fine in a few months!!”

-My shoulder?- everything was fuzzy for the Konoha girl, it was like being wrapped up in something fuzzy, probably the effect of whatever drugs were in her system. Other than fuzz and feeling numb in certain areas she barely felt a thing, but it was drowsy and difficult to move, “Was-was I that hurt?” why were the Kumo genin here, let alone helping her team? Weren’t they the jerks that messed with the first test? And the girls were scary from what she’d seen before… green eyes tried to focus, getting a better look of the boy with the carefree grin and plated hat. –So this is their third member?-

Oku just gave a swift nod, “Yup, that snake guy took a big chunk outta ya, then threw you into a tree, Xiao-chan was afraid you’d die from the shock alone, but she did what she could to fix you up! And kept you out so you wouldn’t feel all the pain,” suddenly he leaned in uncomfortably close, eyes seemingly closed as he had a curious look about his oddly pale face, “Ne, how you feelin’? I don’t really think you should be up yet…”

-Shouldn’t be up?- was her waking up messing up some plan of theirs? Was she just being paranoid? These guys, for all she knew, helped them out right? –Wait… wasn’t he the guy that knocked me out in the first place yesterday?- a few flashes of memory came back, forcing Sakura to close her eyes as she grunted from the strain. She remembered seeing her death, something forceful, then waking up with this grinning guy in green and a plated hat poking her on the shoulder… only to strike her knocking her out, then… she struggled to open her eyes, finding his concerned face closer with a weird frown. –What the hell is he doing?!- her survival instincts kicked in and she wanted to punch him and scream, but all she got out of her drugged body was a useless flail and scooting back with a whine, “St-stay away from me!”

“Eh?” he tilted his head, looking more confused, “You okay? Sumthin’ hurt?” he didn’t reach for her nor did he move quickly as he sat back up straight, looking her over, “Proly best you try to get some rest…”

Narrowly Sakura glared ahead of her, spotting Sasuke unconscious in front of her on the other side of… wherever this was, “I’ve slept enough…”

“Mm-mm,” the Kumo genin firmly shook his head, “No you haven’t, Xiao-chan always tells me that even if you just woke up from a coma your body still needs rest to heal, best way to do that is to legitimately sleep, as in the kind without drugs…”

Sakura wanted to scoff. –What do Kumo barbarians know about medicine?- it was Konoha that invented medical ninjutsu, they were the forefront of medical techniques and treatments, what would some backwater girl from the mountains know? “You seem to think highly of this girl?” she kept her vision forward, focusing on Sasuke who was still unconscious. She needed time and to be awake to figure out what was going on and how to get out of this situation… and if she remembered correctly this ‘Xiao’ the boy kept talking about was that rough loud girl with the dark skin, red eyes and tendency to shock things. –There’s no way someone like that knows anything about healing!-

A frown spread on Oku’s face as he crossed his arms, “Well, course I do! She’s my partner! And the best medic we got right now! If anyone here knows anything about healing properly, it’s her!”

“Tch…” green eyes faced the ground. She couldn’t very well argue with this boy, he seemed simple for the most part so it wasn’t worth saying anything that would upset him. –And for now he’s just watching over Sasuke and I… his teammates must have left him here to keep us trapped while they looked for another scroll or…- that’s when something seemed to click in her mind. Looking down she noticed she was wearing something orange… and familiar… “Kheee!!!!” again she tried rather futilely to move, not to mention scream, “W-what a-am I-I w-wearing?! T-this i-is… is…!!” that’s when she realized something crucial was missing, “N-Naruto!! Where’s Naruto?!”

Oku watched passively as the girl’s thoughts practically wrote themselves all over her face… and part of him was annoyed it took her this long to realize one of her comrades was missing. Tilting his head he kept his more volatile thoughts to himself, “He’s out with Yorihi-hime, think they’re hunting for food?”

“Eh!” the light pink haired girl pushed herself up with her good arm, trying to sit properly but it was obvious the effort was taking everything she had, either because of the drugs or her body being so wrecked, “W-what-but-he-?!”

A pale hand came up as a scowl crossed the pale boy’s face, she really was loud wasn’t she? “He’s fine, for the most part, he was the only one on your team not knocked out by that snake’s attacks, so he helped us treat you guys and set up…” a little stretch of the truth wouldn’t hurt too much, right? Oku figured the blonde boy did help out, more than them, but he had quite a mouth on him too with no real experience to claim or reason to complain. –But he sincerely cared about his teammates, and I suppose that’s how Konoha-nin are supposed to be? Hmm…- that and if this girl thought they were working together she’d be less likely to do something stupid… like run, “He was worried about you guys, so Yorihi-hime’s taken him out to clear his head…” a little bend of the truth.

Sakura had two options: believe him or don’t believe him. If she believed him then she was relatively safe but there was really no reason for her to do such. The second option was much more likely, and her mind was more inclined to believe it. He was a Kumo-nin, they had shown themselves to be arrogant and domineering, but as far as she could tell justifiably. The two girls, on their own, had the Suna-nin shaking in their boots, and as a team, separated, they had run havoc through the first test. –And if I remember correctly, he’s the one who knocked me out after…- she couldn’t quite remember what happened before, it was a genjutsu right? And the numbness on her right side… and Sasuke was unconscious over there. Looking at her teammate she tried to decide how to handle this situation. –If we’re prisoners there’s nothing we really can do… not until Sasuke-kun wakes up and that means Naruto’s probably out there trying to figure out how to get us back while avoiding those Kumo girls…- Light green eyes glanced back at the smiling boy, wondering how much she could get away with. –For now it’s safer to run under the assumption they’re still enemies…-

Oku just smiled wider, letting her think. He didn’t have to tell her every little thought of hers was all over her face, “Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head out for a second, try not to move too much, Xiao-chan would be mad if you got more hurt!” then moved to push himself up slowly, curious to see how she’d react.

-Eh?! He’s leaving?- She watched the cloud boy get up, pat off his pants and head out the entrance, “W-wait?!” those closed eyes and silly hat leaned back with a funny look on his face, “A-aren’t you going to-to…?” she honestly didn’t know what she was saying, if he was leaving that was a good thing, right?

Oku just tilted his head, “To what?” he scratched his cheek, “Sorry, but I kinda need to handle some business, and I don’t think it’d be appropriate to do in front of you,” another harmless smile, “Now just sit back and rest, don’t want those injuries getting worse!” and disappeared from the door.

Sakura just looked at the entrance confused. If her captor thought she was too immobile to run off she’d show him!! –Leave me will he!! I’ll show him!! Cha!!- bellowed Inner-Sakura. Light green eyes rolled as she pushed herself up with her good arm, avoiding using the right as it was unreliable, and groggily making it to her feet. Everything was heavy and sluggish, but this was a golden opportunity! The second she was on her feet she had to brace herself on the wall, her body too heavy to reliably hold itself up. –Great plan! Can’t even stand up on my own!!- her legs shook as she glanced over at Sasuke, it’d be a miracle if she could walk out of this room let alone pick him up. Her options were slim and neither looked any good. –M-maybe… maybe I can just… look outside? See how that works?- was her reasoning as she looked away from the shirtless Uchiha and slowly inched towards the entrance.

She didn’t know how long it took her to get to the edge of the sunlight opening just that it was entirely too long and her legs gave out immediately, “D-damnit…” she bit her lower lip as her legs crumbled, landing numbly on her knees at the edge of the entrance. –All I can do from here is look outside?- it was worth a shot, it’d give her better bearings to go by. Leaning as much as she could Sakura looked out of the hollow… all she saw was an open patch of dirt in front of her and even more trees, obviously they were still in the Forest of Death. –This place is so creepy…- mentally she squirmed, it seemed this was an entirely futile effort.

Then she noticed Oku, who was standing out in the field, hands on his hips, throw something and a massive explosion go off that made her jump.

Oku just scratched the side of his head, “Huh, didn’t know squirrels here exploded if you killed them? That’s pretty messed up…”

Sakura could only stare at the boy. That was a massive explosion that according to his words he didn’t cause and he didn’t seem fazed at all. –I think it’ll be best if I just stay here and don’t do anything…- gripping the edge of the hollow entrance hard she just kept staring. –Surely Naruto will show up any minute and this will all start to make sense again?!-

At the sound of a small gasp the silly hat wearing boy turned around, dirty blonde brows up and looking surprised despite the fact his eyes still appeared closed, “Oh hey! Sorry about that, was trying to deter the little fella but apparently the squirrels here explode when hit!” he casually walked back, hands in his shorts pockets, and whistling slightly, “Gotta hand it to you, didn’t think you’d be able to move! Call me impressed!”

Sakura wanted to believe him, at this point it didn’t really matter did it? She was exhausted, injured, and just failed spectacularly at getting away from her captor. –Naruto hurry…- was all she could think as the boy approached, disarming smile wide on his face and cursing her luck for having to rely on the class clown.

-----

“Tch, do you think he noticed the explosive note?” a gruff voice spoke in the underbrush not far off from the hollow.

“Honestly, I can’t tell, his voice is too calm to tell if he’s bluffing or not,” an angry woman harshly whispered next to him.

“Quiet, both of you…” a much deeper raspy voice spoke between the two rowdy ones. Dosu watched as the Kumo boy walked back to the hollow, something catching his attention. They’d only been watching the hollow a short while, Orochimaru-sama’s orders crystal clear ringing in their heads as they hunted down the team with the Uchiha. They’d been surprised to catch glimpses of his unconscious body being hauled off by another team, the Kumo genin no less, along with that annoying blonde boy. Following the had been difficult as they had to wait for the to leave and track their footsteps instead of just following closely, the blind girl at the back had seemed far too ‘aware’ of her surroundings for them to sneak up on her easily. Then they spent the entire night painstakingly inching their way in further into the nest of traps that lined the area, some were obvious, others weren’t and it was only their heightened training and senses that kept them from failing right there. They’d managed to get close enough to watch, barely, just as the two up in the tree left the opposite way. Everything had been silent and still for a long time then the boy in the plated hat decided to come out.

… and Zaku thought it was a hilarious idea to strap an explosive note to a squirrel and have Kin use her genjutsu to make the stupid thing dart at the boy.

Part of Dosu was grateful he’d killed the stupid thing, even if it exploded, that had to have gotten rid of some of the traps right? Giving them a window of opportunity to strike while he was relatively alone, only the cripples and maybe the red eyed girl. Unconsciously Dosu rubbed his chin at the thought of the pink haired girl that uppercutted him into the ceiling before the first test. It hadn’t hurt, not really, but she was fast. He gripped his metal hand with a smirk picking up under his bandages. –But not as fast as sound…- she’d caught him unprepared then, aiming for another target and charging, not this time.

“Hey is that that pink haired girl that decked you?” Zaku dumbly spoke behind the, pointing at the hollow as the hat-wearing boy seemed to move, picking someone up with pink hair and moving her to sit outside, “She looks injured!”

Dosu just stared. She didn’t look right… but maybe he was wrong, he had basically ignored them the rest of the first test, more focused on trying to hear out answers while that blind girl kept tapping away annoyingly and screwing him up! “Doesn’t matter, if we give them time to reset those traps that just blew up we’ll lose this opportunity…” he held up his metal covered arm, rolling down his sleeve, “We’re here for one purpose, kill Uchiha Sasuke…” he couldn’t help the grin that slipped under his bandages, “The rest can die with him…”

Behind him, Kin and Zaku grinned as well, finally it was time for them to play.

-----

Sometime earlier out in the woods…

“Well this is certainly freaky,” a dark hand rolled over a dark green patch on the root of a large tree that was nearly black as red eyes narrowed observing it very carefully. As Xiao’s hand passed over the prickly thing one of the needles poke her finger hard enough to bleed, and stranger still the second her blood touched the weird patch it was absorbed, “Spikey blood-sucking moss… can’t say I’ve seen that before?” quickly taking out her tools she removed a good sample of the thing and sealed it away. It was a generally held belief in her family the more something tried to kill you the more likely they’d find something within it that can help save lives; for all she knew this strange moss had interesting enzymes that helped filter blood down to only its viable proteins as on its own it wouldn’t necessarily help something that wasn’t whatever creature it came from. She was sure one of her aunts or uncles would find a use for it, and if nothing else it’d make an excellent defensive measure if they could cultivate it properly.

There was a snort on her shoulder as she stood up, Lior obviously was not impressed so far by this nature walk.

Reaching a dark hand up Xiao scratched him between the eyes, chuckling lightly, “Just a little more and I’ll head back, this place has such strange flora, most of it overgrown and designed in some way to be lethal…” it truly was no wonder this place was called the ‘Forest of Death’, everything was designed to kill you, even the most basic things like the moss. So far she’d come across various carnivorous plants, large enough to obviously not be limited to insects, not to mention overgrown insects, slugs that leached chakra, butterflies and moths with razor wings, grass that was sticky and coated in what she could only assume was a digestive fluid, “I suppose with the lack of sunlight near the bottom floor and the abundance of chakra in this area the plants and insects had to figure out a way to survive against the large creatures and that just created a cycle of evolving bigger and deadlier.” She tapped her chin as she started walking in a random direct, “Suppose it’s more curious that it’s limited to just this area? Hmm…” a 10Km radius meant relatively a 314 square kilometer area, by most standpoints that was a pretty small biome to have such a uniquely evolved ecosystem. Part of her now wanted to stick around and study it more in-depth, curious how such a forest came about, but she knew that’d be impossible. Technically they were supposed to have gotten done with the place yesterday, but ‘side missions’ from their leader. Xiao just sighed, “I guess if this goes well we could negotiate a scientific research into the area along with Konoha support…” she frowned, knowing that’d never happen.

Lior just snorted again from her shoulder.

“Heh,” she scratched him again, picking up the pace in the direction she was headed, scanning around for anything else interesting, “Yea I know, you don’t care~” she kissed his nose when he made that annoyed growl, knowing he’d never harm her despite his frustration, “Alright, just one more interesting thing and something to eat before we head back? That sound fair?”

The badger gave another snort, slightly less annoyed. He got another scratch for it so it didn’t matter what it meant.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” and suddenly there was a scream that broke through the air not far away.

Shoulders slumping Xiao sighed, “Of course there’s a team nearby…” if it weren’t for the way the badger on her shoulder perked up she may have just left and avoided the whole thing. Instead red eyes looked at that badger that was now standing on her shoulder, hair up and staring in the direction the scream came from, “You want to go check it out don’t you?” a snort was her response, her eyes narrowed, “To see if they have the scroll we need to leave, right?” another snort as he positioned himself to pounce. This time Xiao just sighed, “Fine, I won’t let the opportunity go, but I’m just knocking these kids out alright?” the badger nodded quickly before leaping off her shoulder and darting off into the underbrush. Xiao just sighed, booking it after him.

She had expected to find a team, sure. She’d expected them to be fighting, why not? What she didn’t expect was to find a lone little girl crying and screaming huddled in a ball at the base of a tree while a GIANT MOTHERFUCKING BEAR!! MAULED AND ATE HER TEAMMATES!!

A dusky pink brow rose as all she could do was blink her red eyes and go, “Huh…”

Luckily, for the screaming/crying girl, Lior jumped out and was growling, hissing and hopping around and scrapping the ground, the traditional way badgers called out enemies various times their size.

Xiao just rolled her red eyes at Lior’s display. The little guy wouldn’t be bigger than the bear’s toe and he thought he could take it out? –Well, to be fair I think he would, it’d just be a pain dealing with him injured afterwards…- she knew from firsthand experience badgers were dirty fighters that went straight for the eyes and genitals, soft spots that would take anything down no matter the size, and with their claws there was no way anything that challenged them was leaving without losing something.

But this thing was big enough to eat him in one go and while she knew he wouldn’t get swallowed without clawing his way to the things heart and eating it, she didn’t really want to have to deal with explaining to Oku why Lior had various broken bones and covered in blood. So she did the most sensible thing in this situation.

“Tobihi Mori!!” she created a giant fuckoff harpoon of lightning around her arm and shoved it right between the bear’s eyes while it was distracted by her little friend. The thing sparked, flailed and jerked as she literally fried its brain and down its spine, disrupting its entire nervous system and locking it up tight. This thing wouldn’t be getting another hit in its death throes.

The bear released a final dying growl before it collapsed under its own weight, taking Xiao with it as her hand was still inside its skull.

It looked epic from where the little crying girl was, a red avenger coming out of nowhere, saving her and killing the big monster with her pet sidekick.

Thankfully this image wasn’t completely ruined by the thing falling and taking Xiao with it, voiced eloquently by said girl screaming, “Gah-Fuck-letgo of my arm you dead bastard!!” there was another growl as Lior helped her pull her arm out of the bear’s thick skull only for the Kumo konoichi to grimace at the brain goo on her hand, “Ew…” shaking her hand out she got most of it off and Lior licked off the rest.

Now that that was settled Xiao looked her massive kill over, “How the hell did something like this get so huge?” a dusky pink brow rose as she looked the thing over, other than the hole in its skull there didn’t appear to be any other external damage, though she was sure she’d fired a bit of its insides. Case in point: brain goo. She scratched the side of her head that wasn’t being ‘cleaned’ by Lior, “At least the brain doesn’t have particular properties that’ll be missed, I think Uncle Liu could use its organs though for vitality powders,” she leaned to the side looking it over, “And it being this size means it’s got a lot of vitality right?” part of her snickered, knowing that ‘vitality powered’ wasn’t exactly what Uncle Liu meant, but she wasn’t supposed to know about ‘male enhancement’ potions either. “Oh well, best to get started before it rots any more, all else I’ve got a new blanket and lots of bear meat!” both Kumo konoichi and badger nearly started salivating at the idea of bear meat for breakfast for the foreseeable future.

With a quick flip of her hand she pulled out a scroll, twirled it open and pulled out a set of hunting knives to help skin and prep the thing. The skin would be used later, the pelt was huge and worth a lot, the muscles would be meat, and the bones and organs would be sent to various relatives to use in their own concoctions and to study. So quickly she prepped the thing and rolled out the scroll to empty slots sealing as she went to keep it as fresh as possible.

She was thankful Lior was there, with the badgers help she could cut away bits quicker and he’d move them to the scroll for her to seal up. Occasionally she’d cut off a strip of meat, hold it between her hands and send her lightning chakra through it, it wasn’t as good as say someone using fire or fire chakra but when necessary lightning chakra could cook when needed. She threw the cooked meat at Lior who happily didn’t care but enjoyed the treat anyway. Doing the same for a piece for herself she put it in her mouth and chewed, “Hrm… need… to figure out… how to jerky this…”shocking it cooked it too fast to properly dehydrate it, maybe if she pulled the lightning away with small currents or just gave up and learned that one skill Karui knew…

“A-ah ex-excuse m-me?!” a voice squeaked out behind the Kumo duo.

Red eyes and beady black ones turned back to spot the girl from earlier, still shaking and looking at them with wide red eyes behind glasses. It was at this point Xiao bothered to look the girl over properly. Her eyes were red, but not the kind of deep blood color from her family, they were a bit light, like mixed with a rosy pink or something, it was also the same color as her hair which was in a strange half-spike-half-straight style, being spiky on one side and straight on the other. Her hair nearly covered up the Hitae-ate on her forehead, which from what Xiao could tell held a Kusagakure symbol, and the rest she wore was a generic olive green over shirt with dark brown under clothing and no discernable weapons. –Is this girl really unarmed for a test like this?-

Setting down her tools, Xiao nodded to Lior to keep working, as she got up and moved over to the girl, crouching in front of her and holding out her hand, “I suggest you hand over your scroll, your team is dead and keeping it will only make you a target, so hand it over and head towards one of the gates, stay there, hide, and wait for this to be over…” Xiao tried to look at her as seriously and calmly as possible, the girl was obviously spooked and she didn’t want to have to do anything more to her if possible.

For some odd reason the girl blushed, looked at her hand then the Kumo konoichi’s face several times and it only seemed to get worse as she curled in on herself, “S-sorry!” abruptly she bowed, “I-I’m sorry!!”

A dusky-pink brow rose as Xiao lowered her hand and pouted, “What’re you apologizing for? You’re not dead, be grateful?” this only prompted more apologizing and if there wasn’t bear blood and guts on her hands may have scratched her head in confusion, “Look, stop apologizing! There’s nothing to apologize for!” when raising her voice only seemed to make the girl squeak and squirm Xiao couldn’t help but groan, “Look, just point to where your scroll is and I’ll leave you be, alright?”

Still not looking at the Kumo konoichi directly the Kusa girl did as told… and pointed at the blood stains on the ground that were all that was left of her teammates…

Xiao’s crimson eyes followed the girl’s arm, saw the blood stains, and traveled to the partially broke down bear corpse and sighed, “Of course it is…” with more of a groan the older Kumo girl stood up, walked towards the corpse, grabbed one of her larger hunting knives, and went to the creature’s chest. By now they’d gotten the skin off and were working to get the muscle off and which left the organs needing to be pulled out. With a groan, as she didn’t like doing things out of order, Xiao cut along the middle ‘seam’ of the abdominal muscles, searching around the large insides of the carcass until she found what looked to be the stomach, feeling around and not finding anything that felt remotely like a scroll she traveled up the esophagus and found what used to be the Kusa girl’s teammates. They hadn’t even reached the stomach by the time she killed the thing, part of her was thankful for that as she could salvage some things but at the same time was mostly disgusted. With a deep sigh she cut out the corpses and shuffled around the mashed bits until finding what looked remotely like a cylinder and tossed it to the side where Lior grabbed it and set it neatly next to her things. With a deep enough sigh, closing her eyes Xiao wiped her head on her upper arm, “Screw it, I think I’m done here,” there was no way she could finish taking apart the bear without revealing the remains of the girl’s teammates, and frankly she didn’t want to deal with the obviously traumatized girl more than necessary, “Lior get me the scroll…”

Quickly the badger came over with the storage scroll, setting it down at his master’s partner’s feet, open to a large empty space.

Xiao kneeled down, made several hand signs then placed her hand on the scroll. Immediately black scrawl came out, wrapped around the bear remains and everything else before seemingly dragging it into the scroll and disappearing in a poof!

With the area now clear apart from a few scrolls, tools and blood stains, Xiao slumped with a deep sigh, “I need a bath… a long, hot, steamy non-bear scented bath…” Lior snorted beside her in agreement, licking her hands and any other spots that had blood on it. Xiao couldn’t help the snort that escaped her, “Not exactly what I asked for but not like I’m in a position to complain…” she sat there for a few minutes letting the badger ‘clean’ her before she was suitable and he started working on himself. With that she got up, grabbing her tools, resealing them and the storage scroll and putting it all away in her pack, then she grabbed the retrieved scroll and after wiping away some blood other enzymes was thankful to realize it was an Earth scroll, “Well that was worth it I guess?” she glanced back to the nearly catatonic Kusa girl, who was still giving her that weird look with the embarrassed blush, “Thank, sorry about your teammates, but you should seriously get out of here, head towards the gate, it’s safer there…” and with that the Kumo duo left.

-----

Karin sat there for a long while, staring at what was left in front of her; an empty field with bloodstains. Her teammates were gone, that bear was gone, and the only person to show her any semblance of kindness in the past several years since her mom died just left telling her to head to the gate for her safety. –If I go back there… then I go back to Kusa…- behind her glasses her eyes trailed the way the older Kumo konoichi went with her badger. –If I go that way…- concentrating, she bit her lip and sought out the Kumo girl’s chakra signature. It tasted like lightning; pure, unafraid, straight and direct, nothing hidden in the blinding light and power held behind it. There was something kind about the lightning despite its nature, it wasn’t purposely destructive like fire, but not as chaotic as wind, it was short, direct and piercing, but mostly bright, really bright. There was no way she couldn’t find that girl if she wanted to.

Standing up Karin followed it, tracing her steps as best she could. That girl had saved her, whether she meant to or not, making her the safest place in this damn forest. –I want out of this place, I don’t care how, I just want to leave this dark place!- she ran faster, keeping her chakra hidden from anything else in this place. She had to find the girl that tasted like lightning, then she’d be safe.

-----

Xiao was making her way back to their hideout, almost tempted to back track to that river just to get clean. –Ugh, I still smell like that damn bear, but now with this scroll we can head to the tower, get the hell out of here and I can get a proper fucking bath!- there was only so much iodine she carried and the smell was honestly worse than the bear’s but it at least with that she knew it was clean, but she knew she didn’t want to waste such a thing in case she needed to sterilize something else.

Lior grunted on her shoulder. In reality she had no idea what he was saying but she’d been around him and Oku enough to pick up the badger’s mannerisms and some of his grunts. He was looking around, tense on her shoulder and hair mildly up, from that she could tell he was warning her about something nearby.

Activating her chakra field Xiao felt around. –I don’t sense anything… but… what?- she stopped momentarily near a bush, feeling around. –Why does it feel like… a dip? An empty spot? Huh?- she’d come across a lot of things using her chakra field before, animals, people, things that tried to eat it like the Minazuki, even people repressing their chakra, normally she still felt something from it. Whatever this was… it was like it was making a hole in her chakra field and if she weren’t already on edge looking probably wouldn’t have even noticed the anomaly.

Taking a step forward she couldn’t help but tense, “What the hell is-?!”

“SENPAI!!” only for something dark green, brown and off-red to glomp her and grab her around the waist and nuzzle her chest.

It was through Xiao’s indomitable training that she managed to stay standing, it was due to her upbringing in Kumo that her response was, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

That’s when nuzzling got involved and Lior started growling. Those were HIS to nuzzle!! No one else’s!!

Gaining the composure to look down, and completely ignoring the heat on her cheeks, Xiao saw familiar red hair, and repeated her previous question, “What the fuck?”

That’s when Karin looked up, sniffling as she saw her ‘senpai’s’ crimson eyes on her, “I-I’m s-sorry s-senpai, don’t l-leave me alone here!”

-Senpai?- darker red eyes could only blink at the quivering Kusa girl latched onto her, again repeating, “What… the… fuck?”

Lior’s growling got worse and the badger stood on his master’s partner’s should, showing fangs and very large claws.

The Kusa girl squeaked, but only moved to be on the opposite side of Xiao then the badger, hiding under the taller girl’s arm and pushing herself into her side, “Please, I’m scared, don’t leave me here in this forest Senpai! I’ll do whatever you ask?”

Now not having her chest nuzzled and that god-awful moe look in sight, Xiao’s brain reseted to ‘functioning’ and she glanced at the girl under her arm, “I told you to go to the gate! It’s safer there!” –And that way I don’t have to deal with your weirdness!-

Again with that adorably weird look from the blushing Kusa girl, quivering lip and almost tears and all, “I-I know you said that, b-but… but…” she latched on tighter and held her new ‘Senpai’, nuzzling may have been involved, “There’s so many scary things out there and your chakra is so easy to find and its so bright and calling me and feels warm and safe and please just let me come!!”

The only proper response Xiao had was to twitch, ignoring the rising blush she felt on her cheeks and push the girl off holding her out at arm’s length. She stared at her for a good long second, weirded out by the overly pushy adorableness and ramped up moe suddenly before noticing the girl’s eyes. She was legitimately afraid to leave her side. –DAMNIT!! Should have just left her alone to get eaten by that bear! Now she’s got no one else… is all alone… and I’m probably the only thing recognizable here and… wait what did she say about chakra?- in the second it took to process that thought Xiao’s darker crimson eyes narrowed and focused on the girl’s glasses covered ones, “What did you say about chakra?”

“Yours is easy to find and really bright?” the girl blinked behind her glasses.

A dusky pink brow rose, “I’ve never heard a sensor type describe chakra like that?” she looked the girl over, as far as she could tell she wasn’t using her chakra right now, “Are you sensing me right now?” there was a dumb nod, Xiao’s brow rose higher, “Without activating any ability to do so?”

“Like you do with that field of yours?” the girl asked back with the blush on her face growing, “It’s so warm and fuzzy…”

“Stop that,” Xiao narrowed her eyes on her with her signature ‘Mom’ glare, “Explain.”

Karin blinked again, shaking herself out of the comforting feel of the older girl’s abundant chakra, “I-I don’t really know… it’s just something my mom and I could do without thinking… we just feel chakra differently than others she said…”

-If her mom could do it too, does that mean it’s a bloodline?- that’s when Xiao noticed the girl start to slump, getting creepily adorably sad, “Your mom, she’s not…?” the girl just bit her lip and nodded, making Xiao want to curse. “Well what about your dad, is he…” the girl’s shoulders slumped more and Xiao started raving in her head. –GODDAMNIT!!- taking one hand off the girl’s shoulder the Kumo konoichi rubbed her eyes, “And now your teammates, no wonder you want to follow around a stranger…”

Being basically released the girl quickly wrapped her arms around the older konoichi, not caring where she was from, just that she’d saved her life, “Karin…”

“Huh?” Xiao glanced down at her between her fingers, ignoring the weirdness of her grabbing her in weird hug, “What’d you say?”

“K-Karin… my name…” the girl’s voice trembled as she buried her face in the older girl’s side.

Xiao tried really hard not to groan, “Oh fine,” she dislodged Karin and held her out at arm’s lenth again, looking at her seriously, “I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking, and I’m sure my team will just love having more people to babysit but…” another sigh, “I guess I’m responsible for saving you, so til this test is over stick close to me,” for whatever reason Xiao patted her head like a small child, “Thanks to your scroll we can leave, so it shouldn’t be long before you’re out, and by the way,” a wide cocky grin worthy of a Kumo-nin as the dusky-pink haired girl leaned in, “My name’s Utsurabon Xiao, nice to meet you~”

The girl’s lip seemed to quiver for all of a second before she yet again launched herself at Xiao and nuzzled her chest, “Xiao-senpai, please take good care of me!”

-Oh goddamnit!- placing her head in her hand Xiao just sighed deeply. She didn’t know what the hell this girl was going on about ‘senpai’ shenanigans and all the nuzzling was weird, but she’d said she’d take care of her, “Just… let go and we can start-”

That’s when they heard a large explosion not far off.

Immediately all openness left the Kumo konoichi’s face as she turned the way the explosion came, eyes hard as she extended her chakra field, “Oku.” Explosions typically meant battle, and her partner used those more often they any other shinobi she knew and that sounded close to their camp. She needed to go, now!

“Senpai?” the Kusa girl’s voice cut in, feeling the shift in her senpai’s chakra, the warmth of the lightning gone, replaced with a need to strike immediately. Karin closed her eyes for a second, finding the different chakra signatures nearby, the one closest to the explosion wasn’t nearly as large as her senpai’s but felt like dirt. It was course, rough and rubbing, friction, chaotic despite the normal rigidity of earth, it attracted the lightning! And had a link to the creature on the girl’s shoulder. Karin’s eyes snapped open, pointing in the direction her senpai was looking, “I sense six that way, the strongest being one feeling like earth, two that are muted, one being dulled the other… black? Changing… and three approaching, they plan to attack the earth one!”

Nearly glowing red eyes turned to the glasses wearing girl. –She could sense all that… from this distance...- looking back Xiao glared, “That’s my partner, he’s in trouble then…” with care or concern for the girl Xiao bit her thumb, forming the hand signs and slamming her hand on the ground, “Kuchiyose no jutsu!!” underneath them formed Zishi, the black and grey manta-ray Minazuki, “Move!!” with a quick rise above the trees, Xiao positioned herself to have on hand on Zishi’s back as they moved quickly.

Karin tried to push down the blush on her face, feeling her senpai summon something was fantastic! She hadn’t seen anyone do something like that before! And this creature… while slimy and slippery like it belonged in the ocean felt the same as her senpai, full of lightning and drawing it in, quick and able to fly! This was great!

As they flew something massive caught in her senses. It burned. No, two of them, they both did. One had red and bright flames with a mix of something else, hidden… the other… it moved, swayed like water, but what was this fire? This black fire? “Senpai! There’re two more… huge… like fire? But not fire?” she pointed down, where she felt it, wondering if they’d see them.

“Probably Na-chan and the Princess nearby… they’re heading towards the explosion right?” Xiao didn’t bother to sense out herself, she had one goal right now.

Karin closed her eyes, feeling the other two moving as well towards the explosion and nodded against her senpai’s back, “Mmhmm, they’re headed that way… a-are y-you s-sure th-they’re friendly Xiao-senpai?”

“Yes,” that was all she had to say. Right now she had to prepare, figure out what they were heading into.

-----

“This is boring, Dattebayou…” Naruto grumbled as they’d been walking around for a while running into nothing.

Yorihi tried very hard not to roll her eyes…

This only resulted in an obvious grunt of disappointment. They’d been searching around the forest for a while, few hours at least, and hadn’t found any sign of another team let alone big game they could eat. Naruto had picked a few berries earlier and turned blue after eating them and she assumed he was only alive now because of the Kyuubi inside him helped filter out the poison. They’d been wary to try anything else that look marginally edible since.

Now it just felt like they were milling about wasting time, and neither was very good at dealing with such idleness.

“Ne, Yorihi?” Naruto turned his fox face supported by his arms behind his head towards the blind girl in front of him, “You know a lotta really cool techniques right?”

Another indignant snort, “Of a sort.”

A cheesy grin passed his face and he quickly trotted up to stand in front of the girl, who stopped just before hitting him, “Ne, ne, so can ya teach me any?!”

A tattooed brow rose, “Why would I teach you any of my techniques?”

That pout she would not admit was adorable crossed his face as he took up an almost begging position, “C’mon, we’re out here, there’s no one, its boring, and not like your teammates could get in the way of you doing it, dattebayou?”

Yorihi could only stare flatly at his logic, “You think just because my comrades aren’t here I’ll willingly teach you one of my techniques?”

“Uh-huh!” the utterly hopeless way he nodded his head with that big smile was almost nauseating.

With another deep sigh Yorihi just rubbed a spot on her head, “No.” he immediately deflated, but before he could start complain she held up her hand, “Look, we may have truce right now, but we’re from different villages… it’d be… strange for either of us to teach each other anything…”

The fox face was back, curious as he tilted his head, “Each other? What could I teach you? I dunno anything cause no one wants to teach me anything, dattebayou!”

That caused the Kumo girl’s tattooed brow to rise, “No one teaches you anything?” her head tilted confused as he nodded his confirmation, “That doesn’t make sense, who taught you the Kagebushin no jutsu?”

“I did,” immediately Naruto pointed at himself, “Well technically I stole this bigass scroll of sealing and it had a buncha techniques in it and I read it and learned it, dattebayou…”

For a good long second Yorihi just silently stared at Naruto. –He didn’t just tell me… no… no, that’s… no…- another moment while she swallowed, “Are you telling me, you not only stole a sealed scroll of I’m assuming forbidden techniques, but you also taught yourself, with just that scroll a Jounin level technique… with no side effects?” he nodded, her head tilted more, “How long did it take?”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Naruto grabbed his chin, doing a long thinking pose, “Few hours?” he could have sworn he heard something heavy fall to the ground but that was just silly, “Well I didn’t have all that long to learn something, and old man Hokage was kinda pissed since I knocked him out to take the scroll and-”

“You knocked out the Hokage?” okay, forget it, she could feel herself blink under her headband. How the hell did this child not only knock out the supposedly strongest shinobi in his village but stole a forbidden scroll AND learned a jounin level technique that killed most people the first time they used it in less than one night? –I wouldn’t believe him if I hadn’t been in this village, saw how they ignored him and he actually knew how to use the technique better than anyone I’d ever heard of…- this all boiled down to one simple question, “How?”

“Eh?” Naruto perked up, making a funny embarrassed smile as he scratched the back of his head, “Oh that was easy! I just used my Oiroke no jutsu on him and he was out cold!! Dattebayou!!” now he was flexing, obviously he must be impressing this Kumo girl if she kept asking him questions about this right?

Yorihi’s head tilted some more. –Oiroke no jutsu? Sexy technique? What the hell is that?- “What in the world is Oiroke no jutsu? I’ve never heard of such a technique?” and she wanted to know more about it if it was truly capable of knocking out Kage level shinobi.

“Hehe,” Naruto had a prankster’s grin, “Then prepare yourself! Oiroke no jutsu!!” there was a poof! And suddenly the boy in the fishnet shirt and orange pants disappeared… only to be replaced by a taller, slim, busty naked girl with blonde hair, those captivating blue eyes, his whisker marks and posed appropriately in the dissipating mist to be considered alluring. Only for the construct to lean seductively, and hold a hand under her chin as she blew a kiss and winked.

Yorihi swore there was a heart coming out of her mouth and sparkles all around her…

“Neee, Yorihi-chaaaaaaan~ what do you think, dattebayou?” great sweet kami, even the voice was the high pitch squeal that just grabbed your attention and made all your defenses drop.

-Moe-sensei would be very impressed by this form of transformation…- her mind idly thought before she shoved it to the side and hoped she looked as indignant as possible, “You realize I can’t see anything right? So if this is some sort of visual technique it will have no effect on me…”

There was a poof! And the blonde pinup girl disappeared to be replaced with a grumpy looking blonde boy in his fishnet shirt, “Oh yea, sorry about that, dattebayou,” he scratched the back of his head looking upset, “Guess it wouldn’t work on you, hrm…” he seemed to think for a second but before she could even ask he grin and jumped up and down, “Guess I’ll just have to tell you!”

“Uh…” was as far as Yorihi got before he was invading her personal space again.

“See the thing’s pretty simple, I got bored of always failing the regular Henge so I made my own, based off of all the things I saw other shinobi being into,” there was maybe a mumble of ‘and hot girls, dattebayou’ but he breezed right passed it before she could question, “So I took all these notes about older Konoichi, what made older guys drool all over them like idiots,” another mumble of ‘and a couple magazines I stole, dattebayou’ before continuing on at normal volume, “So I made this super-sexy-irresistible-totally-awesome girl version of myself!!” a cough, “To use as a distraction technique!” he leaped back, holding out his hand with one finger raised, “It’s got a one hundred percent success rate for knocking out any opponent no matter their rank! Dattebayou!”

While still processing what he said Yorihi couldn’t help but state the obvious, “Can’t be one hundred percent since I’m still stand?” she did not smirk triumphantly, not at all.

That pouty fox face returned as he growled, “You don’t count!! You’re a girl and you’re blind!!”

A tattooed brow quirked, “Are you saying this technique would only work on male shinobi? Then it must only have a fifty percent success rate…” okay, she may have started to enjoy messing with him.

The blonde boy stomped his feet, “No, no, no!! Dattebayou!!” he raised his hands, “It works on girls!! They get angry and punch me!!”

A smirk picked at the Kumo konoichi’s lips, “But it stuns them doesn’t it?” he calmed down some, looking at her confused, “Before they punch you, they’re usually stunned by what they see, right?”

Slowly Naruto gave her a nod, “Well… yea,” he rubbed the back of his head, “Suppose I wouldn’t get punched if I didn’t stick around laughing at the looks on their faces, and even if I do run they end up chasing me…”

The smirk on Yorihi’s face got a little wider, “Well sounds to me it works well as a distraction technique,” she could admit a number of people in Kumo would be thrown off by such an… unconventional technique. They’d still beat him to death but they’d definitely pause, “I’m surprised something so simple could be so effective…”

Naruto perked up, “You-you really think so?”

Idly Yorihi gave a nod, “Sex appeal is often a konoichi’s greatest weapon, a momentary distraction with their physical aspects could save their life, we actually have a Company based around that philosophy,” a blush suddenly crossed her face as she realized what she was talking about… and how innocently he was looking at her, “T-to be honest, I’m not very g-good at it myself… which is why I just use my own strength but…” then thoughts of waking up with Bachiko using her form the other day… that damn bastard wasn’t even trying but he could probably seduce anyone he wanted, worse yet with her form!

“I think you’re pretty, dattebayou…” Naruto said quite bluntly. He’d noticed since the first time they met she was pretty, with her pale skin and long dark hair in a braid, even the little ones that framed her cute face and the rest of her hair left rough and wild. Then there was her outfit, it was tight, didn’t hide anything, it didn’t exactly enhance anything either, it was more functional for quick movement and carrying as much equipment as possible. But despite all that it was easy to see she was pretty developed, slim waist, wide hips, big chest… she had to be older then him, just short for her age, probably the same age as Xi-nee-chan and Oraka-bou, she was just still filling out her body. She was going to be a bombshell when she was an adult and didn’t seem to mind the way she looked, which made sense since she couldn’t really see it and- crap! His mind was wondering!

“Thank… you…?” Yorihi replied stiffly, the only times she got comments about her physical appearance was from her family or friends, mostly her female family or friends comment about her chest, or in Mei’s case, lamenting it. It was strange hearing a boy, a Konoha boy no less, saying she was pretty. A heat passed along her cheeks that she tried to murder without prejudice…

Naruto seemed to take up a thinking pose, “Though I think your outfit could use a little work, the skin tight helps but I think you could make a few changes here or there that would enhance your looks and make you totally sexy!!” with a wide grin the boy pumped his fists, excited by the idea of such a project.

“Uh… no,” Yorihi firmly shook her head with a light sigh, “As interesting as your comments are, I’d like to get back to talking about your technique.”

“Aw, uh, okay?” he scratched the back of his head, still mildly thinking about how best to adjust her outfit without ruining the overall style, “What… else? Do ya wanna know about it? Dattebayou?”

Yorihi’s brows moved like she was rolling her eyes, sensing his attention wasn’t completely back on point… and he kept looking at her chest, not that she could comment without him wondering how she knew. So indignantly she crossed her arms and turned slightly away, “Have you ever considered enhancing it? Other versions? Combinations with your shadow clones?” as annoying as the technique was it had a certain value in being distracting, grabbing the attention of anything and sending them after him. Combining it with shadow clones would make for an excellent means of escape.

“Oh yea!! Hehe!!” he giggled perversely, “Yea, I combined them, its called my Harem no jutsu!!” and with a multitude of loud poof!s the immediate area around them was full of naked blondes in various poses and levels of seductiveness.

Yorihi tried very hard to ignore it, all of it, even the sounds… luckily she had her own impenetrable defense against this damnable technique, “Still blind.” She deadpanned.

As one all the… sexy-naked-blondes dropped their acts, pouted, whined, and complained before poof!ing out of existence where only Naruto was standing there, pouty angry fox-face on and his arms crossed, “You are no fun at all, dattebayou…”

In the back of her mind, Yorihi could have sworn she felt her demonic cat fall out of a tree… unconscious. It made her brow twitch, “I’m just going to assume you multiplied that sex version of you…” his pout persisted and she could only sigh, “Well despite its oddity, I have to say it’s rather impressive you’re this skilled, considering no one taught you your best techniques…”

“Eh?” Naruto scratched the back of his head confused, “Huh, guess now that you say it, yea, no one’s really taught me any techniques, I just found ‘em myself or made ‘em up…”

An twitch picked at the side of her mouth, trying not to smirk, “Making your own techniques is far more impressive then having someone teach them to you, and with your skills and unique abilities I’d imagine it’d be even easier for you to learn any skill you wanted…” maybe this was a good idea, if she bolstered his ideas of independence maybe he’d be more inclined to leave this wretched place.

“Unique abilities and skills? What d’you mean by that? Dattebayou?” the blonde boy couldn’t help but question. No one had ever said his techniques were ‘useful’ before, it was strange hearing it, usually they just said it was a perverted trick and to never do it again.

A tattooed brow rose curiously at the boy, “Well the Kagebushin for one thing,” she held out her hand gesturing to him, “From what I know of it it’s a dangerous, jounin level technique meant to spy, since it uses half the users chakra to create a solid clone that when destroyed returns all its memories and experience back to the caster…”

“IT DOES THAT?!” Naruto shouted and blinked, “Wait, that doesn’t make sense… what do you mean by returns experiences to the caster?”

Yorihi just brow glared him, “Summon a clone,” quickly the boy did so, and almost just as quickly she punched it in the face, causing it to disappear and the boy to grab his nose and yelp like it was broken, “See, you feel and remember what the clone felt,” she crossed her arms as he finally stopped, realizing there was no pain in his face just a shadowed memory, “I suppose in battle you’re too focused on your task at hand to really recall or remember every instance of your clones being killed, or the Kyuubi likely blocks it out to preserve your sanity…”

Instantly a gloomy face came over the blonde as he looked away, “Don’t… don’t mention that thing…”

A frown formed on the Kumo konoichi’s face, “I will, as its what gives you the unique ability to create so many Kagebushin, allowing you to effectively use the in combat for a number of situations…” despite her praise he was still glaring at her with a pout. She sighed, “Imagine you’re trying to learn a technique, instead of just learning it normally on your own, you can have a hundred of you trying to learn it at once, pop them all and all that experience comes back to you and after that you can try again better…”

Naruto was quiet for a few seconds, thinking her words over and despite the fact he still had that sour look on his face as smile started to break through as the idea started to sink in, “That’s… that’s actually a pretty cool idea, dattebayou,” clear blue eyes turned to the blind girl, sparkling with a kind of appreciation she wasn’t used to as he grin widely at her, “Hehe, so much for not teaching me anything, ne? Yorihi-sensei~”

She blushed again and futilely tried to squash it. –DAMNIT! DAMN HIM!! I’m not trying to help him just be friendly and convince him to join us, slowly, and I was only stating the obvious!!- mentally she was yelling at herself for probably giving Konoha a more effective jinchuuriki, but hopefully the gamble would pay off in the end and she could convince him to join them… and where the hell was her damn cat to stop her from stupid stuff like this!! –BACHIKO!!- her only response was what felt like a twitch.

Growling, Yorihi turned on Naruto to say something-

Before a large explosion nearby caught both their attention.

For a second the two looked the way it came from, then at each other, and without a word they both seemed to realize where it was coming from and what it might.

“Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme, Oraka-bou-teme…” Naruto muttered as he faced the Kumo girl next to him.

Yorihi just gave him a stern nod, pushing everything aside and going into a battle ready mode, “Let’s go!”

Quickly the two took off, hoping to find their comrades okay.

-----

Oku turned around slowly as he felt three shinobi jump through the supposed hole in his trap defenses. He’d felt them milling about for a while now, knew they’d been snagged from proceeding by his more obvious and denser traps and had been waiting for them to figure out a way through. As he turned around and saw the headbands they all wore he couldn’t help the wide obvious smile on his face, waving at them politely, “Hello, how are you today?!”

“Tch,” the tall one with the spikey hair and yellow shirt covered in kanji spit, “What is this guy, a moron or something?”

“I dunno,” the girl next to him with her long hair and black eyes spoke in a slithering voice, licking her lips as she looked Oku over, “I think he’s kinda cute, could I keep him, even if he’s dumb?”

“Quiet, both of you,” the gravely voice of their wrapped third member, hunched over with his big furry coat and one eyes showing, “We’ve come for the Uchiha, bring him out here and we’ll spare your lives…”

The Konoha girl on the ground leaning against the hollow gasped.

Oku mostly ignored her as he kept up his disarming smile, “Oh? You want the Uchiha huh? Not my scroll? Or theirs?”

There was a grunt and a snicker from the tall man and woman, but the slumped mummy just narrowed his eye, “We don’t care about the scrolls, just give us the Uchiha…”

Oku made a play of rubbing his chin, looking like he was thinking about it, “What scroll do you guys got?”

The two sound shinobi behind Dosu made to comment but he held out his hand, “Earth scroll…” he pulled it out from under his tunic to show the Kumo boy. He had an idea what the boy was thinking about, but had no intention of letting him go.

Oku leaned in, still holding his chin and seemed to be inspecting the scroll despite the distance and his eyes looked closed, “Oh, that’s good, we need one of those!”

Dosu set the scroll down on the ground, “How about we make this easy, you want this scroll, we want the Uchiha, he’s not a member of your team so you don’t care about him,” his head tilted at an odd angle and the way his voice shifted suggested he was smiling, “We’ll made a trade?”

“N-no, you can’t-!!” Sakura yelled from her position, trying desperately to push herself up. She couldn’t trust the Kumo boy to protect her, let alone Sasuke, and if that was the scroll his team needed he had even less of a reason to keep them alive!

“Hmm… that does sound like a fair trade,” he could feel the girl behind him stiffen and the see the Sound genin smirk. His smile became something wicked as his voice took on a deeper dark tone, “Too bad I’m more interested in watching you suffer…” and the badger tamer’s eyes were opened, showing narrow unforgiving seafoam green eyes.

By the time Dosu realized what was happening razor wire shot up out of the ground at their feet. He had been facing the guy so managed to catch the shift and jump away.

Zaku was not, the taller genin screamed as the wire wrapped around his legs, cutting the off roughly and painfully just below the knees, “AAARGGHH!! FUCK!! FUCK!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!!!” in a desperate move the spikey haired boy tried to aim his hands at the Kumo boy, a strange hissing sound coming from a hole in his hand, “FUCK YOU!!” only for whatever power up of chakra in arms to amount for nothing. Razor wire had shot out, wrapped around his arms and cut them right off at the elbows. The boy continued screaming.

The whole time Oku was just staring at the boy being ripped to pieces by his traps.

Kin had managed to jump away as well, right after Dosu so the damn wire nicked her shoes, cutting them off. She landed somewhat away from her teammate, pulling out her senbon and ready to start-

Only for Oku, without even looking her way, to raise his hand in a gesture, pointer and middle finger extended, the rest in a fist, and go from pointing down to point up in a swift motion.

Immediately underneath her spikes show up all around, impaling one foot and her entire other leg. The scream she released was just as pitiful. In her pain-mad craze she tried to throw her senbon, the bells jingling and giving her away.

Oku’s hand merely gestured sideways… and a metal spear shot from and unknown source, skewering her through the torso.

Dosu just stared. He didn’t particularly like his teammates but even he felt that was overkill on both of them, and far too quickly they had died. He pulled up his sleeve, uncovering his amplifier stereo and when the multitude of traps came he blew them up or away with the sound, sheltering himself form the debris the same way.

Oku just kept his eyes on him, raising his other hand in a similar gesture and moving his fingers. Spikes, pitfalls, gas, arrows, kunai, anything possible started coming out at random intervals pursuing Dosu as he just used his sound to negate most of them.

The hairy mummy growled, charging at the trap master, realizing it was unlikely he’d set anything too close to the hollow otherwise it would endanger their comrades. Avoiding what seemed to be a large bear trap, Dosu jumped at the boy, sending his soundwaves at him, expecting him to lose all balance and sense and throw up like he’d seen tons of victims do before.

Instead Oku she reached out and grabbed the mummified freak by his throat, not even caring that his ears were bleeding, “You think just because you can distort someone’s balance they’re incapable of fighting?” with a jerk and far too much power in a body as small as his, Oku punched the sound genin rapidly in the chest several time before lifting him up by his throat only the slam him done hard enough on the ground to feel his hyoid bone give way, his eyes to bulge out and blood to splatter on the inside of his bandages. Oku just stared at him with those deadly eyes, squeezing his throat even more to the point the sound genin was trying to punch, kick and strangle him back, “Here’s some advice, I’m an explosives expert, I’ve blown out my eardrums more times than I can count, so I’ve had plenty of time to learn how to function without any proper sense of balance…” a smirk as the flailing started to lose most of its power, “Oh and by the way,” he let go, stood up and kept smiling at the broken genin in front of him, “Thanks for stopping by…”

The second the words left his mouth the explosive not he’d strapped to the boy’s throat went off, leaving nothing but a headless corpse.

Oku stared for a moment, cracking his knuckles then spiting on the headless corpse, then headed to where the scroll was and went to retrieve it.

Sakura was stunned into complete and utter silence.

Naruto looked like he was about to puke.

Karin was burying her head in her Senpai’s side, tired of seeing so much death today.

Yorihi turned to her comrade, seeing a blank look on the medic wannabe’s face as she couldn’t help but walk over to her and grab her shirt, forcing the older girl to look at her with those dead red eyes as she spoke with a low growl in her voice, “What the hell was that?”

Xiao just looked at her comrade with those empty eyes, then faced away, catching her partner as he smiled, reaching down to pick up Lior, “Don’t ask me Yorihi, not now…” and she disentangled herself from both her comrade and the Kusa girl she was stuck with, walking over to her blood covered partner.

Oku felt her approach easily, looking up at her as she stood next to him, crossing her arms as her eyes showed him everything she couldn’t show the others. He frowned, gaining a serious look on his face before standing up and enveloping him in a protective hug, “They’re dead Xiao-chan, they won’t touch you ever again…”

She simply gripped his shirt, “Shut up, Oku… just shut up…”

-----

Mori – Harpoon

Damare! – Shut up!

Chapter Text

Yorihi stared.

There was something wrong with having senses heightened to compensate for a sense that isn’t missing. There was something wrong with having eyes that were constantly active and able to see everything that was going on around her despite the headband meant to hinder and hide them. There was something wrong with a mind adapted to process all these things at lightning speed, comprehend them, and trained to react.

It meant she heard the exchange between her comrades, and already her mind was running scenarios on what it meant based on tone, position, pressure, body temperature, facial expressions, anything and every bit of data her enhanced senses were feeding her.

There was something her mind kept running into as the conclusion… but she couldn’t accept it, couldn’t comprehend it and couldn’t believe it. There was no way such a thing happened, not to her friend, not someone she cared about, it was impossible.

Gripping her hand into a fist her senses finally registered what was going on around her besides her comrades.

The Konoha girl was outside the hollow, the boy next to her had thrown up at his feet, and some stranger was nearby, looking away from the carnage of three bodies created by the gentlest person she had ever known.

Biting her lip to bring herself back into the real world Yorihi spun around, grabbing the top mesh of Naruto’s shirt and standing him up, dazed blue eyes level with her headband, “Snap out of it!” a shake, “Go take care of your teammate then clean yourself up,” focus seemed to return to his eyes momentarily before she all but threw him towards his teammate, “Go!”

She didn’t bother to pay attention to him after that, feeling he’d stared at her a moment more before turning towards his teammate, likely saying something and only getting a catatonic response. Yorihi didn’t care, it wasn’t her problem. She turned on the redhead next her, “You!”

The red haired glasses wearing girl jumped, finally looking up from the ground to stare with wide off-red eyes behind thick brown rimmed glasses at the girl with the headband over her eyes, squeaking, “S-sorry!”

Yorihi just frowned, grabbing the front of her shirt, “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

Karin squeaked again, nearly crying as she clinched her eyes expecting something, “N-nothing!! K-Karin! I-I-I j-just-” her eyes opened long enough to look at her senpai. She could taste it, the lightning was dim, something was off, something was wrong and she couldn’t do anything again and something was going to happen and she was-

Suddenly a pale hand went across the Kusa-girl’s face, forcing her to abruptly end her obviously catatonic thoughts and look at the blind girl again, “I’ll ask again, what the hell are you doing here?” Yorihi practically growled, she needed to handle this girl quickly, she didn’t have time to be babysitting these other genin, she needed to know now what the hell was going on with her comrades!

“S-Sorry!!” Karin squeaked again, closing her eyes, “Xiao-senpai just saved me and I asked she bring me along!! I’m sorry!! I’m sorry!! I didn’t do anything!!”

Yorihi just growled, tossing the girl towards the Konoha genin, “Help them out if you can, otherwise sit still and don’t get in the way…” when she let go of her Karin paused, staring at the stern blind girl. She looked confused, about to say something but having no idea what to do or say, Yorihi just growled over her shoulder in response, sending out a pulse of angry chakra, “You heard me!!”

Karin dropped to the ground as if physically struck, quickly taking a bowing position, “S-sorry!! Y-yes!! I’ll do as told!!! I’m sorry!!” and practically crawled over to the Konoha genin who were looking at the Kumo girl surprised.

Yorihi didn’t care, she had other business to attend to…

Stalking up to the pair still embracing, Yorihi halted only a few feet away, gripping one of her swords tightly and facing the two as seriously as she could, “Tell me what happened.” It was an order.

Oku just glared at the younger girl, it was the first time Yorihi had seen such a thing aimed at her and had she not been so riled up from her own thoughts probably would have balked under that gaze. The dusky-pink haired girl wrapped protectively in the boy’s grasp simply shook her head, not even looking at their superior.

This caused a low growl in the dark haired girl’s chest and she felt chakra brush along her shoulders, “Xiao,” she spoke low, addressing her friend, the young woman she cared about, “Tell me what happened,” her voice nearly cracked at the end before she waved her hand out, referencing the bodies Oku had strewn about the field, “Tell me something that will make this make sense!”

Dark hands tightened around her partner’s shirt as Xiao slowly opened her eyes, “Don’t make me tell you, Yorihi…” she could practically hear her friend’s hand and jaw clinch, she knew the younger girl cared but this wasn’t the time or the place to explain anything. With a deep sigh Xiao took one last moment to savor the comfort of her partner’s arms before pushing back, staring at his chest, then his eyes, and finally turning to her younger friend, “Just please, believe me when I say I’m fine…”

“You call this fine?!” Yorihi waved her other hand, now both hands out clearly referencing what had just happened, “Oku-kun doesn’t just do something like this because you’re fine!!” tattooed brows lowered, angry that her friend wouldn’t tell her.

A fire rose in those crimson eyes as Xiao stepped away from her partner, “Leave it alone, Princess!!”

The outburst only caused the blind girl to grit her teeth harder, “Why the hell should I?” she stepped forward, threateningly, challengingly, she didn’t know she just needed to, “One friend just executed a foreign team without care or mercy,” angrily she pointed at the older pink clad girl, “And the other practically breaks down in his arms at the end? What the fuck do you expect me to think? To act?!”

Xiao stepped forward, fists tight enough to shake as those red eyes glared down into the plate the girl wore over her eyes. So many things ran across Xiao’s eyes that she wished her friend could see, anger, rage, shame, guilt, loss, sadness, but none of it she could convey properly to the blind girl. Momentarily her red eyes glanced past Yorihi, spotting the three foreign genin watching them, the two Konoha genin terrified by the display obviously, but Karin was staring at her, not quite terrified but with a look almost like even from this distance she could see it, see everything and understood. Xiao growled before releasing her hands, the tension leaving her body as she closed her eyes, taking a breath and releasing it, “Not now,” red eyes cracked open, staring at the blind girl almost serenely, “But later, when we’re alone…” the blind girl seemed to visibly calm down, giving a shallow nod. A smirk picked at dark lips and Xiao couldn’t help throwing in, “But you’re explaining a few things as well…”

A snort as the blind girl moved pasted her friend, “Very well…”

Xiao watched her walk past, something comforting as she watched the girl’s braid swish this way and that as she moved to seemingly inspect one of the bodies. Red eyes shifted to her partner, and Oku obviously had his eyes closed again, looking far calmer than he had been. He only shrugged, accepting her decision.

A dark hand moved through dusky-pink hair, trying to decide if this was a good thing or not…

Yorihi stepped towards the body of the Oto-nin that had his limbs removed, keeping her senses on her comrades to make sure they were ‘fine’ enough to finish this mission. Xiao looked angry and tired, as far as she could tell, and while Oku watched his partner an extra second he turned towards Yorihi to see what she was doing. Crouching, pale hands reached out and took one of the dismembered hands, she’d felt a buildup of chakra before he’d been cut apart and she was curious what it was about. Examining the severed arm she felt around, feeling something unnatural about the weight. Flipping it over so it was palm up Yorihi found what looked to be a metal hole, tilting her head she felt it over, there was definitely a reason for this apparatus. Putting it down she reached out and pulled up the severed elbow, finding another tube near the bone. It was a crude insertion but it was tied into the chakra network, “This must be some kind of weapon…”

“Find anything interesting?” Oku had walked up behind her, glancing at his kill with no emotion, only curious what his comrade was doing.

Yorihi snorted, holding up the severed forearm to the boy, “There’s some device installed in his palm, I’d say you’re lucky you cut through it before he could get a shot off…”

“Hrm,” the dirty blonde boy just shrugged, putting the hand down with the rest. He would have tossed it without care but the way Yorihi was examining the thing told him she wouldn’t approve of such carelessness, “So what are you doing?”

“Examining the body,” she spoke flatly, trailing two fingers along the severed arm towards the torso, “It seems he had some extensive modifications for this weapon, crudely done though…” it was strange, the internal structure looked to have been shoved inside, as if the operator didn’t care whether it was effective or not. –It’s almost like someone just seeing if they could do it… not caring for the subject or the effects…- pulling out a scroll she set it beside the body.

A dirty blonde brow rose under the boy’s silly, “What’re you doing?”

After several signs and a poof! Yorihi sealed up the corpse, standing and facing her friend, “My job, R&D will want to see these modifications, see if there’s any use to them…” she frowned as the boy next to her just snorted, “Did any of the other ones have modifications like this?”

Oku shrugged, stepping aside and nodding towards the one with the amplifier, “Dunno if that one had any mods, but he had this weird stereo on his arm…” then nodded to the girl that was impaled, “Also, she tried to pull something, if you’re collecting corpses, might be worth taking…”

Yorihi nodded, moving to look over the headless corpse first.

Oku glanced around with narrow eyes, Xiao was trying to look at the Konoha girl with help from that red head and the blonde boy, they were being difficult, as usual. The blonde boy momentarily looked at him, stiffened and looked away, and the red head wouldn’t look his way. Oku didn’t care what they thought, they were just children if they thought this was something worth balking at. Yorihi seemed upset at him, though he could tell it was more that she didn’t know what was going on, not so much that he’d killed the Oto-nin. If she knew, she’d have done the same with every one of them she came across.

 “Cockroaches,” he said under his breath with a frown, turning to the female Oto-nin, figuring he could remove the spikes and make it easier for Yorihi to retrieve the body.

-----

Dark fingers snapped in front of dull green eyes.

“I’m telling you Xi-nee-chan, Sakura-chan’s out cold,” Naruto frowned next to the older Kumo girl, “Even-even if her eyes are still open…”

“Hrm,” the dusky-pinkette grunted, reaching out and grabbing the pale pink haired girl by her chin and moving her head this way and that to get the appropriate amount of sunlight in them to test their reaction, “She’s not completely unconscious, in shock probably, catatonic…” satisfied that her pupils still reacted and she didn’t see any extensive internal damage she lowered her hand to the girl’s throat, her heartbeat was surprisingly low, likely a result of her catatonic state. Xiao sighed, “Well suppose it’s a good thing she’s quiet, can’t damage herself any more than necessary…”

“Mmhh…” next to her Naruto scratched his head, both he and Karin were leaning over her shoulders uncomfortably close, giving the medic next to no room to really move. All she could do was sigh and roll her red eyes, literally feeling on her neck the younger Konoha boy turn her way and seeming to have difficulty getting his words out, “Ne… Xi-nee-chan… ‘bout Oraka-bou-”

“Na-chan,” her voice was crisp and calm as those vibrant red eyes met his scared blue ones, “Don’t ask,” She turned back to her patient, reaching out to unzip the boy’s orange jacket around his teammate, wanting to give the girl’s wound another look, “If I’m not going to tell Yorihi, I’m not telling you, I’m sorry…”

Naruto backed off by standing up, scratching the back of his head with a sad pout, “R-right… s-sorry… village stuff, right…”

There was a huff from the medic as she continued her work.

“Ah, Senpai! Let me help!” Karin quickly maneuvered around the older girl, pushing the blonde Konoha boy out of the way to help hold her senpai’s patient. Between the two of them they got off the frail girl’s jacket and bandages, Xiao letting her lean against Karin as she checked to make sure none of the sutures ripped with her movement nor any other developments.

Naruto had turned around again, frown still on his face and obviously not liking the situation he found himself in. Idly his eyes moved from the blind girl moving about, having sealed the… headless corpse and moving over to where Oraka-bou was waiting with the last one. The pouting frown on Naruto’s face may have deepened when he noticed how despite what happened, Yorihi wasn’t fazed, still close with the sick bastard, even comfortable enough around him as she… did whatever she was doing with the bodies…

“You’re really not used to dead bodies are you, Konoha?” a light voice asked from behind, causing the boy to turn enough to see the weird Kusa girl with the red hair and eyes gazing at him from behind her glasses.

A foxish pout spread on the boy’s face, “What of it?”

Those off-red eyes rolled behind her glasses before Karin turned back to watching what her senpai was doing over the patient’s shoulder, “Nothing, just seems strange for someone like you, given your chakra and the fact you’re in a test like this…”

There was an angry spike from the boy but oddly it was Xiao that responded to the Kusa girl’s words, “You can sense it through his chakra can’t you?” there was only a momentary glance as serious crimson eyes faced the pale girl, causing Karin to blush and nod to her senpai. Xiao went back to her work, “Don’t mention it out loud, the Konoha-nin are very weird about it and never mention it…”

“Eeh?!” Karin blinked several times before glancing between the pouting boy and her senpai several times before giving the blonde boy a good once-over before turning to her senpai with a frown, “Why? He’s got a LOT more raw power then even that other girl’s black fire? Why would they limit such-”

Sharp red eyes cut her off causing the girl to squeak, “Don’t mention Yorihi’s either,” she nodded over to where her two teammates were standing, “Her cat’s weird but imagine how they’d act if the really knew what it was…”

Blushing further, Karin pressed her lips together and nodded vigorously, agreeing to keep all the things she felt about the two secret.

Too bad this just left the floor open for Naruto to crouch next to them, specifically looking directly at Karin with his suspicious fox face, “What’s she talkin’ about? What about Yorihi and a cat? Huh?”

This did not result in anything Naruto would have expected, at least from someone other than Sakura, “BAKA!!” Karin reached over and punched him to the ground, “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!! THERE’S A HALF-NAKED GIRL HERE!! TURN AROUND YOU PERV!! HENTAI!! HENTAI!!” accented quite nicely with various kicks and punches yet Karin still managed to hold Sakura up with one arm.

“EEEaaah!!” Naruto quickly rolled away from the furious onslaught, ducking around in a crouch and covering his head, “AAAAHHHH!!! I’M SORRY!! I’M SORRY!! I SWEAR I DIDN’T SEE NOTHING!!!”

Karin continued to fume, kicking the air next to her, “DOUBLE NEGATIVE JACKASS!! THAT MEANS YOU DID SEE SOMETHING!! HENTAI!! HENTAI!!” Just for effort she threw her shoe at him, hitting him square in the back of the head causing the boy to meet face to ground.

Xiao had to bit her lip and physically keep her attention on her re-bandaging the wound, having seen no further damage, to keep herself from breaking down into serious laughter. With all the stress of the day so far, she really needed the laugh.

This was the scene Yorihi and Oku walked over too, Yorihi holding the scroll Oku got from the sound team in one hand and cocking her head at the sight before her, “What the hell is going on?”

“N-nothing Princess,” Xiao pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to laugh, her eyes only on her work, “Just a… uh, heh, minor difference of opinion…”

Karin was visibly growling at the blonde boy, glaring murder his way, while Naruto was huddled in a ball, facing away, and muttering how he wasn’t a pervert.

Yorihi just rolled her brows while Oku chuckled behind her, “Tch, whatever,” she reached behind her and pulled out the Heaven scroll she’d been carrying, “Here, Naruto-kun, as promised, a scroll set for your team…”

“Eh?” that got Naruto’s attention. Bright blue eyes opened to see a pair of scrolls at his feet. Shakily he lowered his hands and reached out to touch them, only pulling back last second before turning to stare at the blind girl and her murderous companion, “Y-you mean it? W-we c-can use these?”

A dismissive snort from the Kumo leader as she waved her hand nonchalant, “It’ll be easy to find another on our own, its best we get you three out of here and into custody,” she nodded to the pale boy in the silly hat smiling like everything was normal behind her, “Oku-kun suggested it,” she shrugged her shoulder behind her, referencing the blood stains and traps, “As you can see, it’s easy enough for us to get another on our own…”

For a moment Naruto’s eyes trailed the expanse around them, noticing the myriad of activated traps the Kumo boy had used… even the bloodstains, the only remains of his kills on the field. He swallowed hard. –She wasn’t kidding when she said it wouldn’t be hard for them to handle another team…- clear blue eyes trailed to the badger tamer, still smiling like his normal self, as if he hadn’t just executed a team of highly trained genin moments ago. ­–If Oraka-bou-teme could do THAT in a matter of minutes…- his eyes trailed to the blind girl next to the silly hat wearing boy. –What could she do… she is their leader after all…- he gulped again for good measure, turning to the scrolls and quickly picking them up and putting them in his pouch before standing up and nodding to the two Kumo-nin, embarrassed for everything, “T-thank you… seriously,” his eyes raised, looking directly at the blind girl’s headband, “Thank you.”

Yorihi just snorted, facing away from him, “Consider it a debt, I expect to be repaid one day, understand.” The boy just gave a nervous laugh but nodded anyway, sealing the deal. Having that done with Yorihi turned towards her other teammate, “How’s she looking Xiao-chan?”

The medic didn’t even bother looking up at the question, “The sutures are holding, I’m hesitant to give her another dose of sedatives, seeing as the last batch didn’t work as well as I’d hoped…” red eyes glanced to her comrades, “She’s stable enough to travel, so we can leave at any time…” pointing a thumb behind her the dark skinned girl grinned, “The Uchiha hasn’t moved this whole time, so I’m sure he’s fine~”

“Heh,” crossing her arms smugly, Yorihi smirked, “Guess that means we only need to pick up another scroll and we’re out of here-” the girl cut herself off when she noticed the wide grin on her friend’s face, “Why do you suddenly feel so happy?”

“Hehehe,” Xiao finished up Sakura, pulling up the orange jacket and leaning her against Karin without care before turning to her comrades and pulling out the Earth scroll she’d acquired from the bear, “Oh, let’s just say I already handled that little issue~” at the continued frown on the blind girl’s face, Xiao couldn’t help but chuckle, “I know you can’t see it Princess, but I’m holding the Earth scroll we need!”

Yorihi continued frowning, “I figured as much…” then a smirk picked up on her lips as she turned slightly towards the blonde Konoha boy, “Hey, Naruto-kun,” when the boy looked her way she pointed at her friend holding the needed Earth scroll, “That’s how long it takes to get two scrolls.”

An angry foxish pout spread on the boy’s face as he grumbled to himself, namely things about ‘cocky Kumo-nin’ and ‘blind girls’ and other such things, causing the three Kumo genin to laugh at his grumpiness.

As soon as the laughing ended Yorihi shook her head, still having a smug grin under her headband, “Alright, get those two prepped for transport, we’re getting the hell out of this forest…”

Xiao just smirked, tucking the Earth scroll away in her pack along with their original Heaven scroll. When she turned she noticed Karin looking at her with a pensive face and fidgeting, “What’s wrong?”

“Ah… Uhm…” the pale red head bit her lip a moment, her eyes flitting from the girl she was holding to her senpai in front of her, “I-ah… I c-can he-help… h-heal… um-this-girl… eep!” she all but mumbled the last part, squeaking when a dark hand came down on her shoulder causing the girl to clinch her eyes shut. When nothing came she slowly cracked open her own eyes and saw Xiao looking at her seriously.

“What can you do?” the question was short, concise and commanding.

Karin fidgeted a moment before biting her lip, “M-my chakra…” she swallowed, “I-I can feed her m-my chakra… it speeds up healing…” off-red eyes went down, not wanting to see the intense way her senpai was looking at her, “I-it’s not the same as the mystic palm healing, b-but its… it’s what my mother did in Kusa before she died… and…” she clinched her eyes tightly, she needed to get this out, her senpai needed to know she was good for something and worth keeping around!! Red eyes behind brown glasses shot up and looked similar colored eyes right in the eye, “And that responsibility was left to me, I’m the closest thing Kusa had to a proper medic because of my ability!!”

A tattooed and dirty blonde brow went up, both Kumo-nin noticing the intense confession from the Kusa girl.

Xiao looked at her in shock, then quickly closed her mouth and looked at the girl seriously, “This deals with your chakra manipulation and detection from earlier doesn’t it?” a nod from the Kusa girl, “It’s not the same as the mystic hands? How? Is it a chakra transfer?” another nod, shallower this time as the girl was obviously getting nervous under the medic’s intense gaze, “It’ll only enhance her natural healing factor correct? No lasting damage or age alteration?”

“I-no?” Karin blinked at her, she’d never heard of such a thing, “All I do is offer my chakra, their body uses it, speeds up natural healing, nothing more…”

For a long moment harsh red eyes just stared at the younger Kusa girl, before closing her eyes and sighing deeply, “No point saying no…” intense red eyes opened, staring at the younger girl, “Do it quickly, and if you can we try it on the Uchiha, see if it can stabilize his chakra, alright?”

Karin numbly nodded, pulling off her wrist cover, showing a distinct human shaped bite mark, “I-um,” she blushed and looked away, “I… need her to… bite me…” instead of the responses she expected all she noticed was a short exchange between the Kumo-nin; Xiao raising a brow looking at her comrades, the boy poking the blind girl, who only seemed to snort and shrug, then her senpai stared back at her and gave a sharp nod, reaching around to move the catatonic girl’s jaw, and Karin placed her wrist in the girl’s mouth. Xiao moved Sakura’s jaw, forcing the konoichi to bite down and Karin simply winced, a blush rushing across her cheeks for some reason, “Nngh!”

Both medics felt the distinct transfer of chakra, causing Xiao to blink surprised, she’d never seen or felt anything like it. Then she noticed Karin started to sweat and removed her wrist from Sakura’s mouth and put the Konoha girl down. Xiao reached over her to stabilize the Kusa girl and inspect her wrist, “Are you alright?” when the only response she got was deep labored breathing, Xiao shook her, “Karin!”

Hearing her name snapped the redhead out of the mild euphoria and rush from transferring her chakra. Dazed red eyes blinked and tried to focus past her glasses at the bright lightning in front of her, showing off a blushing dopy smile, “S-Senpai… said my… name…!”

Xiao shook her again, concerned by the girl’s sudden change, “Karin, snap out of it!” she had to snap her fingers in front of the girl to get her attention, this was certainly a strange technique, “Do you… do you think you can do that again?”

The dopy grin spread and the girl’s face was little more than a shameless blush, “Anything… for you… Senpai!” and latched herself around the older Kumo girl’s neck, “Just… take me… where you… need me!! Karin will do her best!!”

Slightly panicked from the new hanger-on, Xiao glanced from the girl to her partner and friend, “Uh…?”

Mercilessly Yorihi just waved her hand, “Well go on, get her to do that with the Uchiha, it might be more beneficial to have those two up, even if that one’s incapacitated,” a devious smirk, “You might just have to carry her all the way to the tower, Xiao-senpai~”

Red eyes narrowed on the blind girl, “Oh fuck off, Princess!” and with a huff turned into the hollow, hanger-on and all, and tried to untangle the girl to work on the shirtless Uchiha. There was some ominous squeal moments later.

Yorihi couldn’t help but snicker.

Next to her Oku just sighed, shaking his head, “That was mean Yorihi-hime…”

The evil cat smirk didn’t leave the blind girl’s face, “She deserved it…” –For all the times she insinuated something pervy with me… payback is sweet…-

Ignoring the Kumo-nin, Naruto crouched next to his teammate, checking her over, “Ne, Sakura-chan?”

“Nnngh…” there was a grunt from the girl, at least she wasn’t non-responsive anymore.

Naruto shook her shoulder, then remembered one was injured and let go, squeaking, “Sorry!!” he flitted about not sure what to do but wanting to ‘wake her up’, “C’mon, Sakura-chan~ time to get up!!” then he heard a groan inside the hollow, taking a glance inside and saw the weird red-haired girl pass out as Xiao seemed to be removing Sasuke’s jaw from her wrist. With a frown Naruto got an idea that would likely wake up his teammate, and get him punched. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered directly to her ear, “Ne, there’s some foreign girl with Sasuke-teme and he’s got his shirt off, it looks like-”

“WHERE’S THAT HUSSY I’LL KILL HER!! CHA!!” it was amazing really just how fast Sakura could move when properly motivated. Even if only one of her arms was fully responsive, she’d still kill any bitches trying to move in on her man!!

Naruto got thrown a good distance and was groaning, rubbing his head and pouting at his teammate, “Sakura-chan~”

The Kumo-nin looked less than impressed. Oku and Yorihi were, for the lack of a better word, staring flatly at the girl, and from inside the hollow Xiao was giving the other pink haired girl an incredulous look as she moved Karin, who was unconscious and moaning, to a more comfortable position to carry. Once finished the Kumo medic looked over the Uchiha, lightly kicking him in the side to see he reacted even if he didn’t seem fully conscious, before turning to exit the hollow, Karin unconscious on her back, and stepped out past the Konoha girl with a straight face, “He’s all yours…”

There was a squeal of, “SASUKE-KUN!!” and more grunting but the rest mostly ignored it.

When Xiao made it to her team she stared at them flatly, “What?”

Oku had a frown on his face, scratching under his hat, “See Xiao-chan, this is why I say we should just let things die or kill them ourselves, then there’s none of this babysitting…” they all winced at the high pitched squealing coming from the hollow.

“Shut up, Oku,” Xiao frowned, adjusting her now drooling charge, “At least mine’s actually useful…”

Yorihi just gave a snort, her tattooed brows giving that motion like she was rolling her eyes. She momentarily glanced at the now-relatively-upright Konoha genin along with her own team, nodding her head towards the central tower, “Let’s just go…”

-----

“I can’t believe these guys tried to attack us…” Xiao kicked one of the masked Ame-nin that had tried, and failed miserably, to stop them and steal their scrolls. They’d been traveling for relatively an hour and only now ran into any kind of opposition, weak at best and only a few feet from the tower entrance.

“Pfft,” Yorihi was wiping her hands, looking more annoyed then the rest of them as she was the one that had knocked the three pathetic attempts at shinobi out before anyone else could get serious, “it was just a bad match…” they’d attempted to trap them in genjutsu along with a vapor poison, she had no idea if either affected anyone else in their motley crew but neither of those things affected her at all. The second her seals activated and she tasted something funny she was off tracking the bastards from their chakra and heartbeats, knocking them out of the trees with her rods before any of the others could so much as question.

Noted best by the pink haired Konoha girl shaking next to her teammates and now looking at her scared.

On the other hand, Naruto, who was holding a surprisingly still unconscious Uchiha on his back, just grinned at her, “That was pretty sweet, Yorihi, but I could’a taken ‘em!! Dattebayou!!”

Against her will the boy’s comment caused the blind girl to smirk in his direction before turning towards the tower, “Sure you could have, Naruto-kun…”

“Hehe,” the fox boy just chuckled, carrying his teammate and leading the other towards them.

Oku took up the rear with Lior on his shoulder, both looking unimpressed, “Ne, Yorihi-hime, should we take their scroll?”

While this caused the others to quirk a brow at the boy, Yorihi just shrugged, “Nah, they may be weak, but I’d honestly like someone better to beat them, giving us more of a challenge in the coming test…” really she just wanted to leave this place, get this done with, hand over the Uchiha, get her message out back home, a hot bath then maybe coming back and burning this place to the ground. –Though, I bet it’d just grow back fire proof…- she snorted and walked towards the tower, the others mostly following.

The badger tamer just held out his hands nonchalant, “Whatever you say, Yorihi-hime.” Stepping over one of the Ame-nin the boy didn’t do anything. The Konoha-nin had been giving him a wide berth since the incident with the Oto-nin and personally Oku didn’t mind, their opinion didn’t matter, and so long as Yorihi didn’t reject him before hearing him out he didn’t quite care. One look at his partner and her slight smile was all he needed.

Xiao just shook her head, heading towards the tower with the unconscious Kusa girl still on her back, “Shut up, Oku…”

The silly hat wearing boy just gave a wide grin, following the rest while Lior snorted his disinterest.

-----

Upon entering the tower all present chuunin hopefuls found themselves staring at some large scroll hanging from the ceiling.

“Man, what now?!” of course, Naruto was the first to complain.

With a snort, Yorihi tilted her head, “Either that’s the most oddly placed wall hanging I’ve ever felt or its some bullshit clue to opening this door,” she nodded her chin towards her female teammate, “Xiao-chan, what’s it say?”

After gently placing Karin on the ground, Xiao rolled her eyes and looked at the scroll hanging, “Something about combining mind and body,” she pulled out the Heaven and Earth scroll and stared at them for a good second, “If I had to guess, it means to open the scrolls together now…” maneuvering her hand to pull the lip of the scrolls open simultaneously, “Move back!!” she yelled, mostly at the Konoha genin, before flinging both scrolls, opening them at once and setting them on the ground.

At the sudden explosive poof! Of white smoke all three Kumo genin jumped back with weapons drawn, Yorihi with her rods, Xiao standing in front of Karin with a kunai, and Oku in front of the Konoha genin holding a scroll in each hand.

There was sudden coughing from within the smoke, “Goddamnit! Who the hell set this thing up!!” with a wide wave a short figure made their way out of the smoke. The second she was clear Yugito cracked open one iron black eye to see her students alive and well her face split into a wide Cheshire grin, “Hey guys!! About time you showed up!! I was getting antsy waiting!!”

The Konoha genin stared having never seen a person summoned before.

The Kumo genin just raised their respective brows, until Oku chuckled and Xiao sighed heavily.

Yorihi was the one to actually comment flatly, “We ran into some complications along the way…”

Off to the side Sakura snuck closer to Sasuke, who happened to be on Naruto’s back, hiding partially behind the blonde boy, “W-who is that?” the headband obviously meant this blonde woman was another Kumo-nin, but what did that mean?! Why would scrolls from her village summon a foreigner!!

Naruto just tilted his head, “Yu… Yugi… oh I know I know this!!” he grumbled to himself practically ignoring Sakura’s whining.

“Yugito!!” the blonde woman called out, causing all to look at the awkwardly standing Konoha-nin. She gave a wide smile and waved at the blonde boy, “It’s good to you see you again Naruto-chan!!”

“Eheh,” the boy tried to do his normal I’m-embarrassed-scratch behind his head, but realized he couldn’t while holding the teme, “Er, sorry about that, Yugito-nee-chan…”

“Fufufu,” a conspirator cat grin crossed the pale woman’s face, as she looked between the shirtless team and her own, “Want to explain something, Yori-chan~”

There was a grunt matching the frown on the blind girl’s face, “Like I said, complications…”

Yugito tapped her chin while glancing back at the Konoha team, almost innocently, “Actually I was wondering why no one on Naruto-chan’s team is wearing a shirt, fufufufu…”

There may have been a snicker from the badger tamer…

“Medical necessity,” Xiao said flatly, waving her hand nonchalant, “I had to perform surgery and repeatedly care to their bandages,” a snort made its way through the veneer, “As a medical professional I can’t be held responsible for others being ill prepared in such situations…” that was her line and she was sticking to it. Also fighting to keep the snickers away from her straight face.

Thin iron black eye turned to the young medic-wannabe, “Medical professional, huh?” an evil cat grin rose, “I’ll be sure to tell Anago-taichou all about that~”

The dark skinned girl visibly paled.

Not that Yugito was paying her student any mind, turning back to Yorihi with a mild grin, “So, complications?”

Professionally the blind girl nodded her head, giving her report, “After challenging Gaara of the sand and escaping, we retreated and came across this Konoha team being attacked by a high level missing-nin,” cyan tattooed brows lowered seriously, “After observing, it was easy to tell he was after the Uchiha, when we tried to leave unnoticed he attacked us subtly, provoking us into a situation where we had to get involved…”

Xiao lowered her head, remembering how they got split up and the bastard went after Yorihi, forcing her out of hiding, “He wanted us there for a reason Sensei…”

Momentarily those iron black eyes were serious and glanced at the red eyed girl, nodding that she heard her.

Yorihi simply continued, “He was taunting us, and the Uchiha, provoking the boy to attack us after failing to bribe his way out…”

“You did kinda push all his buttons at once, dattebayou…” Naruto threw in from his corner. He knew it wasn’t his place to interrupt their briefing a superior, but he wanted the record straight. That snake bastard did a lot to mess with Sasuke-teme’s head, but Yorihi had been the one to put the final nail in the coffin.

There was no verbal response to his statement but Yorihi had turned slightly his way, almost making the blonde think she was telling him to shut up.

“As I was saying,” Yorihi turned back to her superior, “The Uchiha attacked us. He had activated his Sharingan…”

“You sure?” blonde brows on the Kumo jounin lowered, that wasn’t good.

There was a nod from the blind girl but Xiao was the one to answer, “I saw it Sensei, the bastard’s cheap changing red eyes, but not only that he was moving differently than before, and if I could sense the sudden surge of chakra to his eyes then the Princess could as she was the first one he went after…”

A pensive look came over Yugito’s face as she held her chin, “How much did he get?”

“A little bit of Xiao’s style, enough to dodge an attack from the missing-nin, and perhaps some of my right handed style, but it was obvious his body wasn’t used to it. The moment his eyes turned off he was drained and practically dead weight,” there was a grunt of disapproval but at the same time Yorihi couldn’t argue the value of such a bloodline. In a single battle the boy grabbed portions of a unique fist fighting style and probably some of her own swordsmanship, if he ever learned to use such a thing outside using his eyes and for more than just evasion he could be quite formidable. –If he survives that thing on his shoulder, that is…- She gave her Aunt a moment to process that information before continuing, “That’s not even the worst of it, after displaying such improvement, the missing-nin pursued the Uchiha, apparently intent to put some seal on him, and after various bouts of interference, both from us and the remaining Konoha team, he succeeded… sort of...”

There was a frown on the cat woman’s face, not liking such ambiguity, “Sort of? How?”

Yorihi frowned, “Despite our retreat, and knocking the rest of us aside, he attempted to seal him… only ‘bit’ the pink haired Konoha girl,” she nudged her head towards Sakura who jumped at the mention of her, “He seemed quite agitated by this, wounding her severely to try and undo the procedure then threw her at a tree full force,” she faced her Aunt again, “And just to say, he had been previously just toying with us, only using a fraction of his real strength…”

Yugito nodded, she trusted her weird little niece to not be lying about such a thing, though it sparked its own bout of questions. Snapping up quickly, iron black eyes narrowed on Sakura, “Konoha girl, do you have any idea how you survived such an attack?”

Sakura squeaked, not used to being addressed so seriously, let alone by a foreign jounin, “N-no m-ma’am…”

There was a momentary soft smile on the older woman’s face before she turned seriously towards her female student, “Xiao?”

The dusky-pink haired girl nodded firmly, “I had to perform surgery on her shoulder, removing a lot of tissue, some that even looked necrotized as it was black from the puncture wound, something was definitely injected into her, but not nearly as much as the Uchiha who was the intended target,” there was a defeated sigh from the medic, “I tried what I could Sensei, but I doubt I got it all,” red eyes flared, “Hell, she wouldn’t even be standing there if it weren’t for Karin’s strange chakra transfer technique!”

Blonde brow quirked higher as Yugito’s head tilted a bit, “Karin?”

A slight blush may or may not have passed over Xiao’s face, as she crossed her arms and nodded towards the red head drooling on the floor, “A Kusa girl I found in the woods being attacked by a bear…” shoulders slumped, “That… ate… her entire… team…”

“Is that where you got that bear meat you fed us?” a tattooed brow rose as Yorihi couldn’t help but question. It tasted good, who was she to argue with bear meat, zap-heated and handed to her when she was starving in the Forest of Death? –Does this mean I’ve technically eaten people?- it was a strange thought, and her finicky feline had no answers for her.

Yugito’s brow remained up, “Ooookay?” iron black eyes turned back to the red eyed medic, “Why is she here? Let alone them?” she pointed at the Konoha genin with her thumb, “As technically without a set of scrolls they’re all supposed to still be in the forest…?”

Yorihi just snorted, turning towards the Konoha genin, “Naruto-kun, you might want to summon your instructor as well…” when she felt her Aunt’s questioning gaze on her the blind girl simply shrugged, “We had a deal…”

A wry smirk came over Yugito’s face, “Hope it was worth it…” then dropped with a long sigh when she realized none of her students got the added subtext.

“Ah-uh, r-right! Dattebayou…” the boy grumbled a moment before setting down Sasuke-teme, then reaching behind him and pulling out their scrolls.

Yorihi turned back, ignoring as there was a Poof! And various shouts of joy and excitement next to them, noticing the flat look on her Aunt’s face, “What?”

Yugito’s face soured, “You didn’t think it would have been better to have had them summon whoever was chosen as their representative, from Konoha, before you gave me your report, then neither of us have to repeat this?”

A frown, not a pout, passed the blind girl’s face as she turned succinctly towards the Konoha group, Naruto apparently hugging a very confused man with dark skin and a scar across his nose, “Your team was attacked by a Sannin level Missing-nin, most likely Orochimaru, both Sakura and the Uchiha were wounded, Sakura severely, treated by our medic, and now the Uchiha has a seal on his shoulder you all should do something about…” ignoring the dumb looking faces on the three standing she turned back to her superior, “Happy?”

Iron black eyes rolled, “I’ll have more to deal with because I’m your superior now you realize,” the pout on the girl’s face morphed into a small smirk and Yugito couldn’t help but be proud of her. So her justified response was giving her a noogie, “I hope you’re proud!”

“NEE-CHAN!!” it was probably the first instance this entire trip Yorihi reverted back to her childish nature. She’d been so professional this whole time they’d almost forgotten she was the youngest one of their group.

Xiao tried not to snort as the girl managed to get her Aunt’s hand off and was now meticulously trying to fix her rough hair. Red eyes turned to her jounin instructor, “Sensei, what about her?” she nodded back to Karin, “She helped us, and I promised to protect her and that once we’re out of the forest she would be too…”

A pale hand scratched behind blonde locks, “Hrm, that is tricky, I’m sure she signed the legality waiver like the rest of you, meaning as a shinobi she shouldn’t be able to leave the forest…”

“Ah-uhm, sorry, Miss, but… what’s going on?” the scared Konoha shinobi that had been summoned was now approaching them, obviously about to ask questions.

Yugito ignored him along with the rest of her team, thinking long and hard over something before holding out her hand, “Give me her headband…”

“Sensei?” Oku was the one to ask with similar confusion written on the girls’ faces though Xiao quickly did as told.

Once Yugito had Karin’s headband in her hand she crushed it, balling it up into a fine powder then incinerating it with burning chakra, opening her hands to reveal only ash and specks of metal, “There, now she’s not a shinobi and no longer bound by that contract!” a cat who ate the cannery grin spread on the woman’s face as she turned to the stunned looking scarred Konoha shinobi, “Am I right?”

“Ah-uh… well, that’s…” Umino Iruka frantically looked from the foreign girl on the ground to the ones standing in front of him. He had just been summoned by his former students in Team 7, having taken their sensei’s place as Kakashi likely wouldn’t have shown up for another three hours and after getting through the Forest of Death at an impressive time, only spending one night in, he wanted to congratulate Naruto and his team.  Now he was faced with a situation he was completely unprepared for. Naruto had of course completely glomped him immediately upon arrival and then he noticed the Kumo team… whom Naruto said were okay, and caught their discussion about someone not theirs or from Konoha. Then the display from their jounin instructor. He would never say it out loud, nor even think it, because he liked having positive karma, but what in the world was this woman doing?! Thinking that just destroying a headband could negate a legally binding document!! “Uhh…”

Yugito simply patted the man on the shoulder, her grin unchanging, “Good! So glad we understand one another!! By the way…” something vicious entered that grin as she leaned in uncomfortably close, “You’re not a Jounin, you’re not from my village, and you pale in comparison to the things I could do, so my advice to you is to simply nod and look pretty, okay?”

Iruka just gulped, doing just that.

“Good!” the scary Kumo-jounin patted his shoulder again, grabbing it this time, “I’ll be taking this guy with me and informing him and his superiors of what happened, you…” she pointed at all of them, quickly counting, “Seven, get a room in the tower, prep and relax, you’re going to be stuck here for the next…” quick calculations, “three and a half days, so you might as well get comfy, kay?”

The Konoha team looked shocked, Sasuke and Karin drooled on the floor, and the Kumo genin just sighed.

“More waiting?” Oku scratched the back of his head.

“Well that gives us time to discuss a few things,” Xiao’s sharp red eyes turned to their leader.

Who was approaching the Kumo jounin before she left, “Nee-chan, before you leave,” she pulled out a scroll and handed it to her, “Send this to my father, he’ll want to know how our progress has been…”

Momentarily iron black eyes looked from the girl’s face to the scroll in her hand. From his position Iruka could have sworn the two were having some other conversation before the jounin finally took the scroll, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do, in the meantime take care of that girl, she’s your responsibility until I can come back and fetch her, understand.”

“Understood,” with a clipped nod Yorihi watched as her Aunt and the Konoha shinobi disappeared with Shunshin, hopefully to report as necessary the details they knew so proper actions could be taken. –Now that just leaves us until more orders are sent…- she turned around, not that it was necessary, and observed those she was in charge of. Yugito may have only mentioned Karin as their charge, but Yorihi knew it was also the Konoha genin she was responsible for. –I have to keep an eye on them until something is done about the Uchiha and that seal…- the longer he had it the more it seemed to give off a familiar dark chakra, one she hadn’t witnessed in almost a year. Whoever came to fetch him and hopefully seal it off would need to know what she did. –It wouldn’t do well to hand them over someone with such abilities, if this is the same seal…-

Stepping forward Yorihi approached the Konoha genin, her own comrades eyeing her oddly, “Naruto-kun, which way to the medical facilities?”

“Eh?” the boy gave a confused foxish look, “Why ya askin’ Yorihi?” despite his question he looked around the room they were in as if that’d answer the question, “Hrm, I dunno myself, was gonna walk around with Sakura-chan to find it and drop the Teme off, dattebayou!”

“Very well,” her voice cut deeply, “I’ll be joining you as well-”

“Now hold on a damn minute, Princess,” a dark hand came down on the shorter girl’s shoulder. Xiao was frowning down at her friend, “You’re not trying to get out of our talk are you?”

Tattooed brows lowered, annoyed, “I would never be so presumptuous,” she flicked Xiao’s hand off her shoulder, stepping forward, intent to take the lead and continue on, “I merely want to ensure nothing happens to the Uchiha while he’s being handed off from our care,” tilting her head over her shoulder slightly, not that she was eyeing her female comrade, “Besides, wouldn’t you want to make sure your patients got handed over properly?”

There was a deep huff as the dusky-pink haired girl strode up confidently to where she was standing next to her ‘friend’, glaring at her with red eyes, “I was going to do that anyway once Sensei dismissed us, just wanted to make sure you hadn’t forgotten…”

An annoyed snort from the blind girl, who may have been glaring at her female friend, before turning slightly to address their final member, “Oku-kun?”

“I’m good!” he waved his hand cheerily, adjusting Karin on his back who seemed to start drooling making Lior happy he was on the other side, “I’ll find us someone where safe to spend the night and watch over this one like Sensei said! You guys be safe!”

Despite herself Yorihi couldn’t help the smirk at the unusual boy in the silly hat’s enthusiasm, despite what had already happened that day, “Alright, we’ll find you when we’re done,” the pale boy just gave a clipped nod and turned to the opposite exit from the room. Once he was out Yorihi turned to face Xiao, who as usual had followed her partner out with her eyes, “So, we ready to go?”

It was Xiao’s turn to snort, turning and walking past the two stunned Konoha-nin, “Yea, whatever,” she sniffed around, “This way, I can smell the antiseptic…”

“Hey Sakura-chan,” Naruto leaned over to his teammate, trying to whisper, “What’s antiseptic?”

The light pink haired girl just rolled her eyes, ignoring the boy’s question and following the way the older girl went, holding her right arm and hoping they found the real medics soon.

Naruto just made a face at being ignored.

“It’s a medical chemical used for sterilizing,” Yorihi spoke dryly as she came up to the blonde, she could feel his mouth open to ask further and cut him off, “It’s used to clean…” and walked pasted him like the rest.

“Oh…” taking a moment to think and give a foxish pout, Naruto took off after the girls, “Why didn’t ya just say that!! Dattebayou!!”

There was a slight groan on the blonde’s shoulder followed by drooling from the mostly unconscious Uchiha.

-----

The group of Kumo girls and Team 7 final found the medical wing after passing through a wide open room with an ostentacious statute of the Ram seal.

Yorihi and Xiao too a second to take the thing in, voiced best by Xiao, “What the hell is with this village and bigass versions of mundane things?” Yorihi’s only response was to shrug.

Taking the side door the mobile quartet found a wing with various rooms, all looking rather medical in nature.

Xiao sniffed again, “This definitely smells like a hospital,” confidently the young medic walked forward with the others following her

Naruto sniffed not far behind the older girl, “Really? I never really been to the hospital so I dunno what it smells like,” after another sniff he decided he didn’t like it, sticking out his tongue, “Bleh…”

“You get used to it,” Yorihi mumbled, crossing her arms. Hospitals were never a good sign, even the private on in the ANBU quarters was sterile, white, cold and gave no impression of being a nice place to be. If this place was a medical wing for this building it was strangely… humane. The walls weren’t stark white, just the regular stone of the rest of the building, and while the obvious smell of medical chemicals were all over the place it didn’t seem overpowering, like they were rarely used. Even the rooms had windows in them showing two or three beds with drawn curtains. If this was a medical wing, it wasn’t in use right now. –But prepped in case? They’re expecting to use it soon…-

With a light growl Xiao took off down the dark corridor.

“Ah! Xi-nee-chan!!” Naruto shouted after her, about to sprint.

Until Yorihi grabbed his arm, “She’s just going to try to find someone, no need to panic.”

“Uh-oh… okay,” the boy grumbled, shifting the weight of his teammate again wanting to scratch his head like normal, “Ne, Yorihi?” a whisker marked face turned to the blind girl, “How long you think this’ll take?”

A tattooed brow rose slightly, “For us? It shouldn’t be too long, enough time to inform your superiors and medics what happened and the details of your teammate’s injuries, then we’ll likely be requested to leave…”

“Oh,” with a foxish pout the boy’s face lowered, “Was actually wondering how much longer I have to carry Sasuke-teme, cause he sure ain’t as light as he looks, dattebayou…”

“Narutoooo!!” Sakura futilely tried to shake her fist but her arm was too weak to really rise.

Yorihi just rolled her brows, choosing the step forward instead of getting involved with their team squabbles.

“Hey, wait Yorihi!!” of course Naruto ignored the upcoming fight to follow her.

The growl behind him told the Kumo konoichi that Sakura was following as well. They moved along in relative silence as Yorihi followed what was most likely Xiao yelling down the hall.

“I’m sorry, Miss, without the patient here-”

A crackling slam, “I’m telling you what’s wrong! Deep thoracic lacerations! A sutured skin graph! Torn trapezius! An entire skeletal structure full of hairline fractures, likely to evolve into greenstick or spiral if continued pressure-”

They finally came into view as the trio rounded a corner, the nondescript Konoha med-nin clad in all sterile white jumpsuit, goggles, holding up a gloved hand as Xiao was angrily leaning over the counter, “Look kid, I get you read a book but leave this to professionals and don’t waste our time with-”

“SHE’S RIGHT THERE YOU MORON!!” without even looking a dark hand pointed behind her, directly at Sakura who jumped at being mentioned, “Now if you’ll let me finish giving a full briefing of her injuries and treatment I can-”

“Save it kid,” again that dismissive hand came up as the med-nin stood up from behind the desk, going over to Sakura and calling over another one, “We’ll handle it from here and fix whatever first aid was administered by her team…”

Another crackling slam as Xiao hit the counter, that being the only sign of her true discomfort, “I was the one to administer treatment, therefore it is I you want to speak with!”

While Sakura was being placed in a wheel chair by the other med-nin the one Xiao had been speaking with turned around with only a visible frown, “Kid, that’s enough, leave it to professionals, now go about your business…”

Xiao clinched both her hands into fists and walked up to the man, her red eyes nearly glowing with her held rage, “I am a professional,” she didn’t touch the man, didn’t poke or prod or any other show of anger, simply stood glaring at him with her hands tight, “If you gave any kind of damn about treating that girl properly you’d have me in there with you to oversee the procedure.”

The man’s face was mostly covered, but even from her position Yorihi could feel the contempt, “Move, Kumo, or I’ll have you removed from this facility by force and that means out of this building and out of this exam…”

It was the only threat that could keep Xiao rooted long enough for the man to pass. She snarled at him as he went, bearing her teeth.

“Xi-nee-chan?” Naruto called out to her, but the red eyed girl didn’t respond, simply staring at the door the med-nin and Sakura disappeared behind.

“Xiao.” Yorihi’s voice was crisp and clean, garnering the older girl’s attention, “If they plan to do anything they still need time to dose her,” she nudged her head towards Naruto, “We need to get him to someone first, understand.”

There was a growl as the older girl simply crossed her arms and faced the door, “You’ve got fifteen minutes. I’m staying here, and if you’re not back by then I’m going in.”

Yorihi simply gave a courteous nod before reaching out and grabbing Naruto’s arm, “Let’s go.”

“Wait-what?!” Naruto and his charge were dragged down another hall, leaving the boy very confused by this turn of events.

-----

They returned to the room with the ostentatious statue…

“Hey, what’re we doing back here?” Naruto gripped, tugging his arm, looking around. He was worried Sakura. He knew he shouldn’t be, she was with medics so she was alright, right? But the way Xiao had acted made him nervous.

After a long silent moment Yorihi finally let him go, walking a few steps forward so she was in the center of the room. Then without warning she gathered a large amount of chakra and concentrated it on her hand, forming small dense sphere.

“Y-Yorihi?” Naruto could feel the energy. He knew he wasn’t the best when it came to sensing chakra or understanding the finer points of how it worked, so he knew if he could feel it that was some pretty powerful stuff in the girl’s hand.

Instead of answering him she simply crushed it, causing a pulse that shot through the building and likely further out.

“W-Wha-wha?! What was that for!?” the blonde couldn’t help but shout. That thing shot through him and it set all of his hairs on end!

The blind girl tilted her head up, quietly answering the boy even if she didn’t seem to be paying him any attention, “Just a request for an audience,” her head lowered and tilted enough over her shoulder for Naruto to think she was talking to him, “Hatake Kakashi is your jounin instructor, correct?”

A confused fox face passed over the boy, “Uh, yea? You met him and he said so, dattebayou?”

“Hmp,” the girl dismissively turned ahead, “just making sure, this would have been much simpler if he had shown up when summoned instead of that other Konoha shinobi…”

“Iruka-sensei,” the boy automatically corrected, though frowning, “And yea, he said he came cause Kakashi-sensei is always late…”

“Now, now, Naruto-kun,” a hand came down on the blonde boy’s head, patting lightly, “I’m not always late~”

With a growling pout Naruto didn’t even bother trying to remove the hand, “You’re late, Kakashi-sensei…” ending with a punkish snort.

Yorihi just turned on the tall grey haired man, “I would have expected more to come for a distress signal.”

The man’s insufferable upside-down ‘U’ eye smile was her immediate response, “Oh but there’s no trouble I can’t handle here~” he patted Naruto again, “Unless there’s something to be said about a girl taking my team’s shirts, but I’m not sure that counts as trouble~”

Tattooed brows lowered in a glare, “Are you actually capable of doing something about the seal placed on the Uchiha?”

“Possibly,” finally the smug jounin’s eye opened as he leaned over his students, tugging the edge of the bandage around Sasuke’s shoulder down to get a look at this thing, “Hmm…”

“Hmm… what? Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto shifted Sasuke again, being annoyed he was little more than a pack mule at this point.

“Hmm… as in this seal is incomplete,” rubbing his masked chin Kakashi moved around his students to get a better angle, “I’ve seen this seal, or one like it, before, and it had a triple design, this one is missing a piece…”

A tattooed brow rose, “Xiao mentioned there was this black substance in Sakura’s wound, considering the delivery method was like a poison, could she have been affected? Had a portion of the seal put into her?”

Kakashi finally stood straight and looked at the Kumo girl, his eye appearing a bit more serious than a moment ago before smiling again, “Thank you for your help, Tenkyuu-chan, I’ll handle it from here.”

Yorihi gripped her sword, “I don’t think so Hatake-san, I’ll join you to ensure this thing is dealt with properly…”

The masked man’s awkwardly charming smile never falter, though he picked up his unconscious student effortlessly, putting him on his own shoulder, “Are you sure, Tenkyuu-chan~ it’ll be dangerous, and I’m not sure my superiors would be pleased of a foreign shinobi, especially only a genin, risking themselves in such a manner~”

There was a soft scoff, “Trust me, Hatake-san, it’ll be no issue, I can’t see what you do directly nor am I an average genin,” she nudged her head away, signaling they move, “Besides, I’ve come across this seal as well, or something like it, so I know what its affects are.” Cyan tattooed brows lowered seriously, “There’s no reason for you to try to hide anything from me…”

He gave that irritating ‘U’ eye smile and tapped the plate covering her eyes as he passed, “Oh, I think there’s one good reason…” as he passed with a light chuckle he threw over his shoulder, “Oh, by the way, you might want to check on that comrade of yours, I fear she’ll do something that’ll get her kicked out soon…”

“Even if it’s in defense of your student,” Yorihi bit out bitterly, gripping her sword tightly before reigning herself in enough to address Naruto who had so far been unusually quiet, “Naruto-kun, please check on Xiao-chan, I fear your sensei may be right…”

“Uh-y-yea, sure, Yorihi,” now finally free of the burden of his teammate he scratched the back of his head, “But… uh, what about you?” blue eyes traveled from the blind girl to his own sensei, wondering if it was a good idea to leave the two alone.

Yorihi gave the barest of smirks, hoping he could see it, “Don’t worry, I’m trusting Xiao-chan with you, trust me to not do anything… adverse to your team.” She turned facing the masked man who seemed to watch blankly, “If this is what I think it is, you’ll want my presence just in case… Kakashi-san.”

The veteran jounin’s sole black eye stared at the girl a moment flatly. She was proving more stubborn then he’d initially assumed, and there was something eerily familiar about her stance and form, something he used to see in the mirror when he was her age. He blinked, before nodding his head at Naruto, “Go on, Naruto-kun, I’m sure Sakura-chan will enjoy your familiar company!”

The boy blushed a moment before pouting foxishly, “You sure, Kakashi-sensei? I mean…” he looked between the two, feeling he was missing something huge, like a gulf had spread between him and the other two who were facing off on the other side. He couldn’t do anything, not that he didn’t want to…

Yorihi just made a huffing noise, stepping ahead towards Kakashi while the older man just gave his trademark eye-smile. The next second had the two disappearing.

Naruto’s jaw dropped, surprised Yorihi could pull off Shunshin like Kakashi-sensei… before his anger showed its, “AW THAT’S NOT FAIR!! DATTEBAYOU!!”

Despite his raving and grumbling the boy did turn around and do as he was told, worried what his other Kumo friend was getting up to and how Sakura-chan was doing.

-----

When Naruto made it back to where he and Yorihi had left Xiao, the girl was nowhere in sight. In fact NO ONE was anywhere in sight.

“… dattebayou?” confused the boy tilted his head and looked around… noticing the doors Sakura had been previously taken were blown open with obvious scorch marks on the metal handles of the door, “Er, guess Xi-nee-chan didn’t feel like waiting?” quickly he ran down the hall.

Only to hear some shouting and Xiao get thrown out a set of double doors.

“XI-NEE-CHAN!!” Naruto picked up his pace and knelt by the older girl intent to help her up.

Xiao simply pushed his hands out of the way, growling as her red eyes were focused on the swinging doors in front of her and wiping the blood from her lip, “Those fucking idiots!” growling she got up and stomped towards the doors.

Naruto quickly jumped in front of her, not so much trying to stop her as get what the hell was going on, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Xi-nee-chan! You just got tossed outta there like nothing, take a second and check yourself over, and tell me what’s going on-”

“Get out of my way Naruto…” lightly she put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him aside, her voice eerily low as she kept her sight forward, “Though to put it simply they’re trying to kill your teammate…”

“WHAT?!” Now it was Naruto’s chance to growl and get pumped up ready for a fight, “They try anything I’ll kick their asses!! Dattebayou!!”

Xiao pushed the door opened to reveal a half prepped operating room, Sakura on the table already unconscious from some anesthetic with one med-nin holding scissors snipping at the sutures Xiao had put on the girl and quickly working to remove them.

The red eyed girl growled, fists clinched as sparks of lightning chakra formed around her, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

The second med-nin moved quickly to stand in front of the foreign girl, intent to remove her, “We told you before, we have this handled, now get out of here! Security has already been called and you’ll be removed from the Tower, failing this exam!”

“Fuck your exam!!” the dusky-pink haired girl headbutt the med-nin trying to remove her, throwing him off towards Naruto where he reflexively grabbed the guy, and headed towards the table, pointing threateningly, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!!” when she finally got to the man she grabbed him over the table and around the collar nearly strangling him, “it hasn’t finished healing yet! To remove it now could result in more damage!! You fucking idiot!!”

The med-nin quickly swiped at the Kumo girl’s arm with a scalpel, forcing her to relent, “We’re undoing the butchery you caused!” he stood up glaring at the girl, “I don’t know what barbarian forms of medicine your village practices but we heal here!”

“Heal my ass!!” Xiao yelled back, holding the cut on her wrist with one hand while the other quickly reached into her pack pulling out a pad and began wrapping the wound without even looking at it, “All you bastards do its throw chakra at it! Like that’ll fucking fix everything!!” bringing her arm up she ripped the bandage and quickly tied it off, red eyes never leaving the bastard’s in front of her, “Do you have ANY IDEA what that cheap version of the mystic hands you employ do in the long run? How many shinobi you’re ‘healing’ into an early grave with rampant growths and compounding issues such as muscular dystrophy, bone spurs, arthritis, all these a result from over-healing certain areas? Not to mention the deteriorating effects of using the wrong type of chakra on someone?!” her eyes were burning as she leaned in, nearly pressing her forehead to this so-called-med-nin’s face as she pressed further, “You bastards don’t even realize there’s chakra typing like blood! The effects this has on the cells!! The shear LEVEL of control required to fully remove the activating energy to PREVENT overgrowths and cells going out of control!!” she took a deep breath, “NO!! YOU ONLY CARE THAT IT HEALS THEM NOW!! FUCK HOW MUCH DAMAGE IT DOES TO THEM LATER!!”

“XIAO!!”

The building tension in the room dropped as Xiao stilled, hearing that commanding voice. Slowly the Kumo konoichi dropped to her heels to the ground, not realizing she’d gotten on the balls of her feet to yell further at this med-nin nor how much she was squeezing her fists, causing the new cut in her arm to bleed through the quick bandage she’d put on it. Slowly, the red eyed girl turned around, looking somewhere between admonished and wanting to press further, knowing she couldn’t, “But, sensei…”

Hard iron black eyes stared down at the girl, stern more than anything, perhaps a bit disappointed but not disapproving, “Stand down, we’re guests here remember,” with her hands on her hips and no Cheshire smile in sight, Nii Yugito was an intimidating woman, “You did your part to save that girl’s life in the forest, she’s now in the hands of her village’s medics, we can’t argue with their practices…”

Xiao clinched her teeth and looked down.

“Ohoh,” a grizzled voice popped up behind the Kumo Jinchuuriki, “I didn’t expect to come across this when called down here,” the old man rubbed his beard with a grandfatherly smile, “It reminds me of my student...”

There was a flash of anger as red eyes flicked to the old man but one glance from Yugito put an end to that, “Hokage-sama, I apologize for the conduct of one of my students,” a pale hand waved to Xiao as she turned, allowing the old village leader a clearer view, “This is Utsurabon Xiao, her family has been a driving force in our village’s medical practices since before the founding,” a slight smirk rose on Yugito’s lips as she gave her red eyed student a sympathetic look, “so she may come off a little rough, but trust me when I say she knows more about medicine at this age then most jounin.”

Xiao seemed to bulk under the praise, looking away and trying to get her fists to unclench, “I know a thing or two about healing, that’s all Hokage-sama…”

“My, quite humble I see,” again with that odd grandfatherly smile as he walked further into the operating room, taking a quick glance over the work done on one of his subordinates, “This stitching is quite confident, well-practiced, though I am unfamiliar with this… procedure,” he ran a finger over the strange green skin sewn into the girl’s shoulder. He could tell the sides were cut cleanly, obviously by someone skilled with a scalpel and designed to fit this strange piece of skin for whatever reason.

“It’s a graph, Hokage-sama,” Xiao ignored the look her sensei gave her, still looking hard at the old man, “I had no other means to fix such a wound right now, so I used that to bridge the wound, removed all broken pieces and anything affected by the attack and covered it with that,” she pointed, stepping closer and getting slightly more comfortable, “I know it’s… unusual outside of my village, but given time, this graph will encourage the muscle growth underneath, theoretically even neural regeneration, if not it replaces it, allowing for full recovery and range of motion for the muscle,” nervously she rubbed the back of her neck, “e-eventually the body will ‘out-heal’ it, replacing the skin naturally, or it can be removed at a later date once the muscle underneath is healed properly…”

She tried to ignore the way the med-nin rolled his eyes, “Hokage-sama, such barbaric work may work in her village, but we can simply heal the wound like normal with the mystic palm technique Tsunade-sama perfected…”

“Perfected but never taught anyone,” those red eyes were glaring back at the jackass, “If she were here I’d have no qualms, but we’ve seen the work you pass off as her technique; it’s cheap, broken, and incomplete compared to hers… resulting in more scar tissue and overgrowths than anything else! it’s dangerous!”

“Xiao,” there was a low growl in Yugito’s voice as she grabbed her student’s shoulder and lightly pulled her back.

The girl just bit her lip and stepped back. She didn’t want to but it seemed she had no choice.

“Xi-nee-chan,” Naruto mumbled to himself, watching as this girl he looked up to getting put down by every adult in the room. He recalled how she looked him over when they first met; she didn’t care who or what he was, just that he might be hurt so she helped him, even yelled at Sakura for hurting him. And in the forest she made no qualms about healing his team, just did it… she was nice, in her own way, and obviously cared about getting people better. He’d never had much experience with hospitals, they usually ignored him and really scared him, Katsu-chan had tried to take him to a clinic once and the second they pulled out needles he ran for the hills, the place was creepy and the people more so.

But not Xiao-nee-chan, she’d never seemed that way to him.

“Ne, old man,” the blonde boy spoke up, “Anything you can do?” blue eyes glanced from the elderly Hokage to Xiao’s red ones, “If Xi-nee-chan says there’s something up then I believe her! She helped out Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan in the forest, even that weird girl with red hair and glasses!! She knows what she’s doing!!”

The Hokage seemed to give a sympathetic smile to the boy, but noticed the disapproving looks from the two med-nin, “I’m sorry Naruto, medical affairs are handled by the professionals, these two are qualified medical specialists, I’ll trust their judgement in this matter,” completely ignoring the boy’s gaping he turned to the Kumo girl, “Now I’m sorry they don’t feel your methods are going to work, but I’m sure they’ll take the utmost care with Haruno-san here, I thank you for your concern and patience in this matter…”

Xiao pressed her lips into a tight frown, nodding to the old man without looking him in the eye, “I understand, Hokage-sama…” and quickly wrenched her shoulder out of her sensei’s grip and exited the room without another word.

“W-wait! Xi-nee…” Naruto tried going after her only to stop at the door, watching her sternly walk down the hall. –This… this doesn’t seem right…-

There was a deep sigh next to him as the Hokage had apparently given the med-nin’s the go-ahead to continue their work and went to the boy’s side, “It’ll be alright Naruto, you’ll see, Sakura will be fine and you’ll be able to see her before the next test.”

The blonde boy’s shoulders slumped, glancing to the side as Yugito stepped forward, closing the doors behind her, “Ne, will she be alright? Xi-nee-chan, I mean?”

Iron black eyes glanced from the boy to the old man momentarily before returning to Naruto, “She’ll be fine, she just gets very protective of her patients…” a small grin from the Kumo Jinchuuriki, “I’d call it a family trait.”

That didn’t really answer Naruto’s question but he felt he had nothing else to say.

The Third Hokage put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, trying to cheer him up, while turning to the foreign jounin, “I thank you for the information earlier, even if our meeting was interrupted, another time perhaps?”

A strange Cheshire grin passed Yugito’s face as she began walking backwards the way Xiao went, waving with a wink, “No problem, Hokage-sama, I have a few errands to run anyway; family letters to deliver, reports to send, that kind of thing,” she turned with a skip, “I’ll be back later to finish that meeting~”

The Hokage just gave a curt nod, pulling Naruto along as they went the opposite way, “Very well, come Naruto, let’s find you somewhere you can comfortably wait for your teammates…”

“U-uh… y-yea, right, old man,” despite his agreement, Naruto kept glancing over his shoulder, watching the blonde woman going down the opposite hall.

-----

While Xiao was getting into an argument with the medical staff Yorihi was instructed to wait patiently on the floor as Kakashi prepped Sasuke’s body for the sealing. The unconscious boy was lying face down in the center of several intricate circles as Kakashi moved about writing seals.

Yorihi was a good distance away from the seal and seated with her back to them, more for her companies’ sake then any way of actually hindering her ability to watch. She sat in a meditative position, knuckles on the ground near her swords in case they were needed and slowly watched and waited.

Kakashi had been silent the rest of the way to this room, seemingly in his own thoughts, probably considering how best to seal Sasuke. She had wanted to tell him what she had seen nearly a year ago, with the Kusa girl and… but that would require saying too much right now. So they had walked in silence.

From her observations of the man on the way here and now as he diligently wrote the seals he was far different from the man with the smiling eye and double mask she’d first met with his team. –He must hide who he truly is…- in some ways she supposed it made sense. According to her Bingo Book Hatake Kakashi was an A level jounin, former ANBU Black Ops. Captain, and had the potential to go far beyond his current abilities but was held back either by psychological issues or lack of drive. He was the sole remaining member of a team trained under the 4^th Hokage, the only person alive that may know the man’s signature techniques that decimated Iwa forces during the Third Great Shinobi War and the only known person to possess a Sharingan that was functional outside of an Uchiha, officially, and capable enough with it to gain the title of ‘Copycat-nin’ or the ‘Man without over a thousand Techniques’. Just his background alone made him out to be a fearsome opponent… yet nothing save for the past few minutes that she’d been near him showed any of that.

The man had many masks, and she wasn’t sure which was the true one.

There was a swishing behind her and she noticed him moving her way, not bothering to move until the man nudged her, “Sorry, Yorihi-chan~ mind moving?”

She didn’t give him a response, simply standing up and moving further away into the darkness. The room was vast, underneath the stone tower and the only light were the candles near the sealing circle. If anything those candles were more of a hindrance to her perception, but she kept up her Chakra Field and all of her senses. The Fool side of Kakashi may have found it useless, but she couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right here.

Behind her Kakashi sighed a moment, stepping to the center and repositioning Sasuke, “Hmm…” he looked his pupil over, and while the boy squirmed and grunted in his lucid state he’d yet to fully awaken and with Xiao’s drugs wearing off it was obvious he was in a new form of pain. But the problem was he wouldn’t remain sitting long enough to seal the curse on his neck. Tapping his chin Kakashi eye-smiled at nothing before addressing the darkness around him, “Oh, Yorihi-chan, seems I do need you a moment,” the girl seemed to teleport to his side, not a word as he pointed at Sasuke, “Mind holding him still, I need to finish on his front before the seal can be complete.”

She gave that dismissive snort of hers that reminded him of a cat –I wonder if she got it from that sensei of hers?- to which he only gave his charming smile and continued his work.

After a moment the girl seemed to finally speak, keeping still, holding Sasuke more by his head as that was the only place the seal wasn’t written, “What does this seal do exactly?”

He gave an eye-smile to the work in front of him, not bothering to look her way as it was somewhat useless, “Wouldn’t you like to know~?”

“Tch,” that gesture like she was rolling her eyes that a normal person would make, “I wouldn’t ask otherwise…” she was silent a moment, facing away, as if thinking of her next words, “As I said, I’ve come across a seal like this before… the recipient was violent and crazed…”

His eye-smile slipped a little, becoming more genuine, “That seems to happen when it goes wild,” he made a few more marks, “Tell me, did this person transform at all?”

Some dismissive snort from the girl, “She didn’t have the chance… but I saw the massacre she caused, right before we got there…”

“You saw? Ooh?” finishing the last mark on Sasuke’s chest he moved to another line on his shoulder, “I thought you were blind, Yorihi-chan~”

“Tch,” now it seemed she growled, “I am blind, though I have a… friend that can send me images… it was brutal, the amount of bodies and torn to so many pieces…”

Kakashi stopped. Her words triggering an image from years ago… of a young girl fighting herself to not lose it and lashing out at everyone nearby, “It’s a terrible sight, the monsters this seal makes of people…”

“We’re already monsters,” the young girl spoke bitterly, “It’s just the difference of how much of that we accept…”

Silence filled the space between them for a long time.

As Kakashi finished that last bit on the shoulder and moved to the last line he needed to complete, for some reason he heard his voice speak, “You’re a lot like me at your age…” he heard her stiffen and looked up enough to eye-smile at the girl, “You’ve been training to lead since you were very young, got used to the things we do as shinobi very early, it makes you hard to get close to and now at this age where you’re thinking things through more and more, where everything starts to seem so different and nothings as clear cut as it was before… you’re kind of lost, aren’t you?”

Cyan tattooed brows lowered over the insignia of Kumo.

Her silence made Kakashi’s smile widen a little bit, but it was much sadder then before, not that anyone could see it, “Konoha had the excuse of a war going on with me,” he turned back to Sasuke, working on the next chain, “What’s Kumo’s excuse for you? As far as I’m concerned there hasn’t been a big war in about ten years…”

“Hmp,” the girl snorted, not facing his way again, letting nothing of her continence show how right he was, “No excuses needed, so long as you’re prepared for the next one…”

Idly Kakashi nodded, finishing the rest of the seal in silence.

With the writing complete he moved to switch places with Yorihi, instructing her to the edge of the circle as he held Sasuke at mark. Quickly running through a few seals he pushed his palm on the mark, causing the writing to light up and seemingly crawl up to the mark and under his hand. The process was over in moments, one where Sasuke seemed almost conscious enough to scream before passing out again and dropping to the ground face first.

Kakashi panted, his hand burning from the seal but let it go. He looked up to see the Kumo girl standing at the edge of the circles, tense with both hands on a sword as if ready to jump at any moment. He gave her a smile and waved his hand, not sure why, “Don’t worry, we caught it before it could fully manifest, he should be fine now, so long as his will holds out!”

Still tense, Yorihi slowly rose from her lower position, keeping her hands on her swords, “So long as his will holds out?”

Lowering his hands to his hips Kakashi just took a deep breath, “It’s a seal the Hokage came up with, and seeing as its worked so well with one person who has this thing, I figured it would work on Sasuke too,” he looked down at his unconscious and drooling student, “So long as he has the will to fight, this thing will never have a chance to overcome him…”

“Feh,” it almost sounded like the Kumo girl spit, disgusted, “What a foolish notion,” the frown on her face grew, “Did it ever occur to you that he might want the power this thing offers? No matter the price?” her head lowered, as if looking at the boy, “Nothing about him suggests he would give that up for the sake of his ‘will’ or someone telling him such…” she shook her head turning, “This was such a waste of time…”

“Oh-hohohoho, you agree, Yorihi-kun~” a slithery voice called out from the darkness.

In an instant the girl turned around, teeth bared and tense, ready for a fight.

Kakashi moved much slower, turning to spot the slim form of a man with a white face, purple marks around his eyes and long black hair dressed like a jounin from Oto, “Oh, Orochimaru, it’s been a long time…”

“Kukukuku,” the man raised his white hand to chuckle behind as his golden snake eyes looked directly at the masked jounin, “Indeed it has, Kakashi-kun~ it seems you’ve learned to seal since the last time we met…”

“Hmp, a little,” the grey haired man gave a lazy shrug. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the Kumo girl moving.

Yorihi moved, reaching her right hand over to her left shoulder, a poof! And something appeared that actually surprised Kakashi in her hand. As the girl moved the white mask over with an elegant ease she set it properly in place while drawing the Ninjato in her left hand, “It seems we have not been properly introduce, Orochimaru-sama,” moving her hands out wide, never releasing her Ninjato from its reverse grip, the now masked girl bowed her head, “Tenkyuu Yorihi, or ‘Fukurou’ if it pleases you…” then took up an odd stance with the Ninjato blade out and if Kakashi wasn’t seeing things a spark danced along the blade as the girl’s killing intent and chakra spiked through the roof.

“Kukukuku,” the white snake smirked behind his hand, “Quite the display, so polite and how appropriate, a silent hunter for my secondary target compared to the brimming hawk fledgling I am currently after~” there was a pleased hiss from the man, but he made no move to take up a stance to fight the girl.

Kakashi could only stare. He knew that mask, he had seen it before… in Wave… the one that summoned some black monster to subdue the Kiri-Hunter-nin that was with Zabuza… -But if she’s… then… what is she doing here?!- He knew the ANBU at the time had been small but he never assumed it was a girl this young? –And that other one… who was she…- the blonde Jinchuuriki acting as the girl’s sensei couldn’t have been it, she didn’t move the same… but…

“Kakashi,” even her voice was different, holding a sharper edge, “Get Sasuke out of here,” she lowered in her stance, “You’re in the way…”

Orochimaru just grinned.

Kakashi slid between the girl and his student and the monster after them both apparently, “Not on your life, you’re no match for him and he’s not here to actually take anyone, are you, Orochimaru?”

The white snake’s smile became more smug, enjoying the show, “Kukuku, no, you’re right Kakashi-kun, I was just curious what you were doing down here in the dark with such precious gems…” those gold snake eyes zeroed in on the cyclopic man, though he knew it was more his eye than anything else, “You’ve already tasted it, that power that comes with the Uchiha blood, kukuku,” his eyes shifted to the girl in the white mask, “And you,” his grin widened, “You know all about it too don’t you, though not quite the same, hm?”

The white owl mask lowered, ready to strike given the chance…

Gold eyes shifted again, back to the cyclopse, “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be leaving now, I hope to enjoy the next rounds after all,” licking his lips to freak them both out, “Even if my team was already killed, I’m intrigued to see more from the one that wiped them out… Kukuku…”

There was a deep growl and something truly monsterous formed behind the small girl in the ANBU mask, “You stay the hell away from MY team!!” large flaming bright blue slitted eyes formed behind the girl along with a row of threateningly sharp teeth, as if the shadows themselves became a monster at her beck and call.

Orochimaru didn’t seem fazed, only more amused by the display, chucking to himself  and idly waving his fingers at the Konoha jounin present, “Ta ta for now, Kakashi-kun, Yorihi-kun~”

… and the bastard just disappeared.

There was a deep growl behind Kakashi as he watched the girl sheath her sword, the creature behind her seeming to disappear… or shrink as a blue-black cat appeared on her shoulders glaring with those same vibrant blue slit eyes. Slowly the girl reached up and removed the mask, her face as placid as it was before the snake showed up.

Kakashi just stared flatly as he watched her put the mask away in a hidden seal, “So, you were one of the ANBU back in Wave, the other killing Zabuza while you captured the target I assume…”

“My missions are no concern of yours, Hatake,” the shift was more scathing then either realized.

Behind his mask the man frowned, looking down at his student, “You know I’ll have to report this…”

“Doesn’t matter,” the girl turned, heading into the darkness, “Everyone will find out eventually…”

With that last cryptic message Kakashi let her go. She knew more than she was letting on. Worse, she was an ANBU, a Kumo ANBU. She had no place in this exam but was here for something. He knew about as much about Kumo’s ‘Bloodhunters’ as anyone, they showed up took who and what they wanted and left, no one the wiser, if you weren’t on their list they didn’t care because they weren’t afraid of being caught, charged or followed. They operated with impunity and always, always got what they wanted. –But what does she want is the question?- there were two options he could think of and both were on his team.

-The better question…- Kakashi leaned down to pick up Sasuke, intent to put him to bed in a secure medical wing and give him 24hr watch until this thing was over. –Why did she reveal herself to me…- part of him wanted to assume it was because she had some agenda, wanting to rile both him and Orochimaru up for one reason or another to get them overthinking things to such an extreme they don’t realize what she’s really doing.

Another part of him, one that was still part of a little grey haired boy long ago with a dog mask of his own… told him she had just been scared of an overwhelming enemy and wanted to show how big she really was before dying.

Like he always had.

Unconsciously Kakashi reached up and pushed the top of his mask up just a little bit more up his nose, making sure it was in its proper place.

------

When Yorihi found her way to the room her team had claimed, on the fourth floor and mostly with Bachiko’s help, she opened the door to find an… unusual… sight.

The room was sparse, small for four people, with only two beds. Oku was sitting on the one to her left, Karin nowhere in sight, and Lior bundled up next to him. Xiao was sitting on the floor directly across from the door, one leg up supporting one hand twirling a scalpel while the other was out and stretched on the ground. the look on her face was anything but pleasant and neither reacted when the blind girl closed the door behind her, reactivating the traps Oku had in place.

“So,” Yorihi started slow, sensing the dower mood of her teammates, “First things first, Oku-kun,” she turned to him, leaning on the door, “Where’s Karin?”

The boy gave a pleasant smile like normal, “Sensei stopped by, wondering where you were by the way, and took her off our hands. Said she wanted to watch over her to make sure Konoha didn’t try anything.”

“Tch,” came from across the room.

Yorihi ignored it, for now, “She say anything else?”

The blonde boy in the silly hat just shook his head, “Not really, mentioned she’d send that scroll soon as she could.”

“Good,” the blind girl finally kicked off the door, heading towards the bed opposite Oku, and dropping unceremoniously on it, “The sooner that stuff is sent off the better,” adjusting her seat for her swords her head lifted, her plate covered eyes facing Oku with a nudge, “We secure?”

The boy gave a curt nod, “Traps, bugs removed, Xiao-chan even sent a pulse to fry anything Lior or I didn’t catch…”

“Shut up, Oku…” it was a halfhearted attempt and all three of them knew it.

Yorihi’s lips tugged downward, facing towards her female teammate momentarily before returning forward, “I take it this has been an as ‘successful’ day for you as it was for me?” a disgruntled huff and shrug were her only responses. With a deep sigh the blind girl deflated, “Still up for that talk?” she was facing Oku but it was obvious to all of them it was directed more towards Xiao.

The older girl gave a halfhearted shrug, leaning her head back and staring at the blank concrete ceiling, “Why not, best way to end this miserable day,” she hit her head on the wall, “Talking about things none of us want to…”

“I don’t mind,” Oku piped in, though Yorihi could tell he wasn’t nearly as cheery as he normally was, tense, pensive and tapping his fingertips together, “I just never want to say anything for your sake, Xiao-chan…”

“Shut up, Oku…” accented by her hitting her head on the wall again.

Yorihi just frowned, deflating and accepting her fate, “Fine, I’ll start,” she raised her head enough to look at the boy across from her, “What do you want to know?”

“Is this going to be quid pro quo?” unsurprisingly Xiao was the first to ask.

It brought an edge up to Yorihi’s lips, “If you want.” She nodded her head to the boy in the silly hat, “Oku-kun?”

Sitting up straight the boy crossed his arms, staring at his friend with closed eyes and seemed to tilt his head, “Where’d you get those scars?”

Yorihi froze and Xiao quirked a brow, giving them both a strange look, “What scars?”

Releasing one hand, Oku pointed at the girl across from him, “When I gave Yorihi-hime her headband after the test, she was so excited she swapped it right there with that bandana she used to wear,” he put his arm back and shrugged, “I saw these lines under closed eyes, and the second she realized she got nervous, and when I asked then you said you’d tell me later, so I’m asking now.”

“Heh,” Yorihi’s shoulders slumped, “That feels like so long ago…” watching the two she noticed a nostalgic look on both of them. It’d been a year and a half since they graduated and it felt so long because of everything that had happened since. So many missions, so many places… so much pain… -And its only been a year and a half…- at the thought she looked up, wondering if she could handle it, before bringing her focus back down to the boy across from her, giving him a slight smile, “The truth is I don’t really remember…” reaching up she slid her headband up enough to show the purple scars under her eyes, feeling to make sure her eyes were closed as she showed enough to get a response out of Xiao, telling her she’d seen before putting it back, “But it’s the same with most of my memories as a child, most of it hurts and is tinged with… regrets, for things I don’t really remember… things I lost…”

“What’d you lose,” the question was out before Xiao even realized it was her voice speaking.

Yorihi’s head tilted down, taking a moment to consider her words carefully, “My sight for one, my memories for another,” she gripped her hand tightly, the fist shaking, “My mother…”

To the side Yorihi could see the look that came over Xiao’s face; something mixed with sympathy, sorrow, and a kind of pain she couldn’t recognize.

“That’s how you lost your sight, isn’t it?” the voice across from her was stern and surprising to come from Oku, “You were attacked, she died, either a wound or the trauma forcing you to lose your sight and its how you got those scars, right?”

Yorihi just faced him, mouth slightly open as if she were staring at him before she regained enough of herself to nod, “I’m told it was Konoha, along with what they did after I was brought to my Father…” as far as she cared to remember, that wasn’t a lie.

“What do you mean ‘what they did after’…” something like fire entered Xiao’s eyes as the older girl’s brows lowered, “What did they do?”

There was a gruff laugh, not really funny but escaped her nonetheless, “I heard you question why I attacked that Hyuuga,” her smirk spread, “Let’s just say I… detest… them most out of Konoha.” Unconsciously she gripped one of her swords beside her on the bed, “Konoha may have taken my mother and my sight, but they tried to take me from the only family I had left…” by the end she was seething; the idea, the memory haunting her since she came to this damn place. Everything she was, everything she gained, how easily it could have been taken away… -How easily I could have been one of them…-

It was silent for a moment, Xiao tapping her finger on the floor being the only thing for a long while before she finally spoke, “You want to know what happened?”

Yorihi turned to face her with a serious look, while Oku turned with a kind of stoney sympathy.

Xiao tapped her finger again, swallowing hard before starting, “it was about a year ago, we were given a mission, contracted to Kusa as they had been having problems with this new village showing up in the nearby country…” she had to close her eyes and take a breath, anger rising quicker then she anticipated, likely influenced from the events of the day, “We were meant to blow open the gates of a Oto base so Kusa forces could invade, they don’t have demolition specialists like Oku and I’ve always just been there to provide backup and keep him in one piece…”

“Xiao-chan-” the boy started indignantly, stopping only because she raised a hand.

“Shut up, Oku,” when she raised her head her eyes were a burning bloody crimson, “I don’t care what happened, it happened, and it’s the truth, I’ve always just been a diversion so you could set your bombs,” a kind of broken smile turned to the blind girl, partly glad she couldn’t see it, “This is also why he got so good at setting traps in record time, so I’d never have to do this again…”

“This…?” Yorihi questioned lowly, her mind already knowing the answer.

Xiao took another deep breath, closing her eyes and letting it out, “While he set the bombs I ran around causing as much chaos and destruction as I could,” a smirk suddenly appeared, “Heh, I wasn’t nearly as good as I am now, I wasted so much energy then…” her eyes opened and they were dull, “I ran out of chakra and I got caught, these Oto-nin weren’t like anything we’d face before, anything we knew… they were, some kind of monsters…” when she shook neither of her teammates made any motion like they saw it, “They were going to torture me, not for information, for the fun of it,” those red eyes glanced at Yorihi, something in them the blind girl couldn’t decipher, “They started by tying me down, cutting in places, expecting me to fight back…” now her eyes grew hard, “I didn’t.”

There was a growl from the boy and the badger.

While tattooed brows just lowered, confused, “You didn’t? Why?” the way Oku and Lior reacted told her they didn’t approve and the story was only riling them up.

That’s when Xiao looked at her friend directly, not with fear, not with shame, just a kind of sternness the blind girl had come to expect from her friend, “Because it wasn’t worth it,” she spoke flatly, “They were going to rape me either way then torture me and finally kill me, in that order if I was lucky, and my job wasn’t to fight back, but to distract them, and if… if…” her voice caught in her throat and it took her a second to calm down, clinching one of her fists, “If they fucked me then they’d be worn out and I’d have an opportunity to kill them.”

The red eyes that stared at the blind girl were deadly, meaning every word.

It took Yorihi a moment to realize the implication of that sentence, “But… Xiao-chan, you never… you don’t…” those merciless eyes didn’t relent and Yorihi understood, dropping her question and nodding her head, “I understand.”

Nobody said anything as Oku slammed his fist behind him, cracking the concrete wall and causing his hand to bleed.

“Oku,” Xiao said softly, her demeanor changing as she got to her feet and crossed the distance to sit next to her partner, quickly treating his hand, “I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s not your fault and that I’m fine…”

“How far did they get?”

In the echoing silence, as Xiao wrapped his hand, Oku raised his head to look at Yorihi, his eyes opened enough to show her his deadly gaze, “Far enough.”

That was all that needed to be said. Yorihi nodded, accepting that answer.

Once she was finished Xiao didn’t move, instead holding her partner’s hand in her lap and looking at the ground.

“What happened afterwards…” she could guess, but part of Yorihi wanted to hear it from one of them.

The pale boy gripped his uninjured hand, “I cut them to pieces, and destroyed that base,” his fist shook and already they could see blood dripping from the cracks. Quickly Xiao moved to tend to that hand as well, frowning slightly but not seeming nearly as upset as she normally was.

A curt nod was Yorihi’s response, “Good.” She didn’t care if that meant they failed that mission, hell she didn’t care if that incident had started a war, if she ever came across something like that… willingly, planned or not, she would burn the place to the ground that condoned such to anyone she cared about.

In the tense silence that followed Xiao just sighed, “Both of you, I swear,” she glared from one then the other, even Lior, “I’m fine and such tactics are used all the time, what do you think Company S does?” when the only response she got was simultaneous growls she could only roll her eyes, “Shut up, all of you!”

That brought about a whole new kind of silence.

“Wait,” Yorihi turned to her friend, pointing at herself confused, “Did I just get drawn into your harem?”

Xiao’s only response was to pout, close her eyes and not respond.

Oku on the other hand chuckled, “Well, it is her way of showing she cares,” a fist suddenly went into his shoulder, “Ah, ow, Xiao-chan~”

“Shut up, Oku!” abruptly she stood up and faced the door, tired of the two of them and their childishness.

“I think she’s blushing,” a smirk started to pick on the pale girl’s lips, “I can feel it from here~”

Oku’s chuckle grew.

And after a few minutes, growling to herself and turning on the blind girl the words were out of her mouth before Xiao even realized it, “Shut up, Yorihi!!”

The blind girl actually ‘eep’ed and jumped back, grabbing a pillow to hide behind, “Damnit!! I am now part of your harem aren’t I?!”

“It’s okay,” Oku’s cheery placid voice caused both girls to look at him, “More girls is never a problem!” he got two pillows in the face for that. Lior simply rolled his beady little eyes at his master.

Still standing, Xiao huffed, putting one hand on her hip and frowning down at her partner. She loved the guy, there was no two ways about it having gone through the things she had with him… and what he did for her… but he could be a real dumbass at times.

Yorihi just sat up with a smile, feeling as if the tense atmosphere they’d all felt since they got her suddenly vanished, “Ne, Xiao-chan,” she turned to her friend, hoping to show as much appreciation as she could to the older girl, “Is there anything else you wanna know?” a light shrug and smile, “Otherwise I say we spend the next few days just relaxing as much as possible…”

Despite the frown still on the red eyed medic’s face she didn’t seem truly upset, “Yea, just a little thing,” she turned to stand in front of Yorihi with both hands on her hips and level her red glare with the girl’s plate covered eyes, “What was with you can attacking Gaara? And what’ve you been doing for the past six months,” she tapped the girl’s cute button nose, smirk rising as she pouted, “I know they’re related…”

With a frown Yorihi deflated but relented, reaching over to her left shoulder and activating the seal there, pulling out her mask and Bingo Book. Without saying a word she knew they recognized the mask and the book, but she felt she should tell them anyway, “I’ve been training in Company 5 since… since Uenkai died…” the looks they gave her held sympathy, not pity and she was grateful, “I actually just got my official rank, right after you asked me to join you for the exams…”

Xiao smirked, proud of her friend as she took the mask to examine it more closely, passing the book on to Oku. It was a simple thing, all white with accented eyes and feathered horns, “Suits you,” she handed it back as her smirk grew, remembering something from long ago, “See, told you, you’d be snatched up by ANBU in no time.”

Yorihi actually laughed at that, having forgotten that conversation long ago.

“Oh, he’s a target of yours,” Oku spoke up, flipping through the little black book his partner handed him. When Xiao gave him a funny look he handed it to her, flipped to a certain page, “She’s a hunter, and Gaara’s a Jinchuuriki, that makes him a prime target!”

With a shrug Yorihi accepted the book as Xiao handed it back to her, “Pretty much,” at the skeptically raised brow the dusky-pinkette was still sending her, the blind girl couldn’t help but grin, “I try to convince my targets to come willingly before capturing,” a shrug, “besides, he’s a Jinchuuriki, I doubt I could capture him on my own if I tired…”

“What if we helped!” suddenly the boy in the silly hat was pumped! Fists raised and everything as ideas for traps and explosions went off in his head.

Of course he was halted as Xiao simply reached out and pushed the center of the plate on his hat, forcing him to lay down, “Not today, and not right now…”

The boy’s only response was to give an innocent smile.

Xiao just shook her head, crossing her arms as she took a seat next to him on the bed, giving her female comrade a look, “That everything?”

Yorihi just smirked, resealing her Bingo Book and mask, “For now.”

A smirk rose on the dark skinned girl, “Good,” and she laid down, pushing Oku further towards the wall, “Then I’m going to sleep, today’s been stressful enough…”

Yorihi didn’t say anything as she watched the older girl reach around Oku and pull him close. They may have been smiling now and known more about one another that they were more comfortable, more of a team, but their pains still haunted them… still hurt them. Yorihi remained awake a while longer, watching her comrades, making sure everything was safe for them.

It may have been her mission to come here and capture a demon, but first and foremost she would protect these two people, perhaps the most precious friends she ever had. She’d already missed once, she wasn’t going to let it happen ever again.

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Anko barged into the Hokage’s office, not caring that it was late or that he was busy or any of that other bullshit… she was angry, and Anko being angry was never a good thing.

“Anko, what’s the meaning of thi-” was as far as the old man got before a scroll was thrown in front of him.

“Tell me it isn’t true,” her voice was low and harsh, glaring at him directly.

Confused the Hokage grabbed the scroll, opening it up and reading it. He recognized it as one of those scroll her information gathering snakes created, to translate what they heard from however it was they gathered information. He could tell very little from the wording until certain phrases popped up, describing a certain blind girl and experiences she and her team had gone through.

The grandfatherly mask dropped and the old man rolled up the scroll and looked at his subordinate with steely eyes, “what part do you want me do deny?”

Her fists tightened and it seemed she was holding back seething, “We don’t do this,” she pointed at the scroll, furious, “We’re Konoha, we don’t do this! We don’t kill a girl’s mother in front of her and leave her blind!! Only to try kidnapping her a short time later!!”

Hiruzen’s frown spread. He had a good idea who this girl was but even he couldn’t admit that, not now, “How do you even know she was telling the truth?”

“Because I could feel it!!” she slammed her hands on the desk, looking the old man in the eye, “Her heart rate was even, her blood was pumping, everything about the reaction was genuine, this is real to her!”

The frown grew. Maybe he was wrong, this could be another girl, and this could be true… the old man tented his hands, considering his words carefully, “What do you want me to say, Anko?” his eyes were hard when they opened and faced the woman, “If the timing is correct, this happened near the end of the last war… after Minato died and we were left barely standing after the Kyuubi’s attack… after Orochimaru left with you…” he kept his voice eerily calm as he looked the young woman in the eye, “We were down all the Sannin, half our forces gone and our walls destroyed and the Third Raikage attacked us while we were weak!” now it was his turn to slam his fist on the desk.

He’d never admit to how satisfying it was watching the woman jump away with fright.

A snarl almost picked at the old monkey’s face, “I had thought we were lucky when the man was killed by his son, only he turned out to be a better tactician then his father,” while he spoke Hiruzen pulled out his pipe, stuffing it, lighting it with a snap and put it in his mouth, needed then moment to calm himself, “We were losing a war with a village half our size to begin with…” his dark eyes pinned the child in front of him, “I did what I had to, to force that man to sue for peace, even if that was only another ploy to weaken us further…”

That girl had to be… just had to…

He took a long drag then sighed, breathing out smoke, “It doesn’t matter,” he removed his pipe and leaned back in his chair, “I warned Hiashi to not retaliate until we were strong enough, but he didn’t listen and lost three of his best for no damn reason, and all the Raikage did was laugh at us.” When he opened his eyes there were sharp and deadly as obsidian, “So ask me again, to deny any of that…”

Anko just stood there for a long time staring at the man she had believed to be good, better than the one that left her. Now…

“I always wondered how a bastard like him could have ever been your student,” chocolate eyes rose, empty, “Now I know,” her hands clinched and she wanted nothing more than to snarl but she held it back, staring him directly in the eye, “You’re just like him…”

And she left, leaving Hiruzen with something significant to think about.

Despite whatever happened in the past, he had enjoyed these last few years of peace. Enjoyed being able to smile at his grandson without having to worry about spies targeting him. Enjoyed being able to walk down the street without wearing his full battle regalia. Enjoyed not having to look over his shoulder this whole time.

Spinning around in his chair the old man stood up, looking out the window to the darkened city below.

“Seems it’s time for that idyllic peace to end,” he replaced his pipe and sighed. Whoever that girl used to be no longer existed, he’d have to end his plans to try and bring her back, instead focusing on garnering as much information as he could out of her team about her village and their defenses. Whatever Kumo’s reason for coming, whether to side with Orochimaru or not didn’t matter. They were scoping out for another war.

And this time he’d be the one to crush them and laugh.

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Fuseii – insincere, fraudulent, dishonest (two-faced)

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