I know it's been a long time since I last posted anything, but here is the sequel to Against All Odds.

As always, I hope to be able to update on a weekly basis. At the beginning that shouldn't be a problem, but I can't promise the same for the later chapters, but I'll try my best. That said, I hope you'll enjoy reading this. Comments and feedback are much appreciated and thank you for your patience.

A Perfect Circle

Tonight's rain had left the world a desolate place. The ground was littered with puddles and the air tingled with the sickly sweet smell of ozone. It quickly got to your head and left it feel funny, almost light, defying the gravity of their predicament.

Trapped beneath a brooding sky, billowing with massive black clouds, hanging so low that you could almost touch them, the two shinobi were trying to find their way to an unknown destination. It was pure despair that kept them going. They both knew that it was hopeless, but weren't ready yet to say that out loud-

- not in front of the other.

Without a plan, without any clues, without anything, how were they ever going to find him? It was hard enough to evade any potential enemy, but they had fought too many battles already and although it was war, they had another priority. They couldn't afford to fight now, not even when nothing short of the world was at stake. Did that make them cowards?

Traitors?

It wouldn't be the first time that they were given that title…

There were enough people fighting to save the world, but only the two of them were there to save their world.

If anything that made them selfish and hadn't Sasuke taught her all these years ago that being selfish was not a bad thing? She'd like to ask him to repeat that. She'd like him to tell her anything to comfort her and take away her fear. She'd like him to say anything at all. But the day had gnawed at his spirits. It changed him and she was afraid to find out how much. She has seen enough already to justify her anxious state of mind.

Almost stealthily, she stole a brief side-glance at the dark-haired man walking a step ahead of her-always a step ahead of her, though it felt much farther than that. Right now even the clouds with their orange-shaded bellies seemed closer than he did.

A weary sigh passed her lips, but was drowned out by the sound of the water splashing under their feet. The dirty puddles reflected inverted, sallow images of them, like misshapen giants set against the darkness of the sombre sky.

Some were dyed red.

The stark landscape gave only little indication of all the atrocities it witnessed. It were the details that revealed that the deadly wheels of war had already rolled over this barren wasteland. Maybe it was the war that turned it into such.

There were only rocks and boulders everywhere, but not a single tree or any grasses, except for three neatly trimmed cypresses, growing on a shallow hill in the distance, like a black trident. Wasn't there even a fence around? And a low wall?

She quickly turned her attention elsewhere, before she could think these thoughts to an end. They had seen enough already and she didn't think she could take much more. This war proved even crueller than she had imagined, which, if you thought about it, was saying quite something.

Then at length, the terrain changed and they came across an actual road, lined by actual trees with autumn-coloured leaves and in the distance she could see a pale orange strip of skyline, just below the massive clouds.

She exhaled in a sense of untenable relief, but nearly choked on her breath as Sasuke stopped abruptly and in the same movement drew his katana and pushed her to the side of the road none too gently. She didn't ask what this was all about. Instead, she sought cover behind a tree from where she watched Sasuke assume a fighting stance, when she was sure he was in no condition to fight yet. Then she let her eyes wander farther up the road, until they came to rest on a dark silhouette. Only the pallor of his skin distinguished the man from the shady background. That and the bright red clouds, scattered all across his cloak.

Akatsuki!

She nearly bit off her tongue in shock, but at least she didn't scream.

They were a dying breed, the Akatsuki, and yet that didn't keep them from dominating this war; it didn't change anything about the fact that Sasuke was not up to them. They had to run!

"Sas-"

"Stay quiet and suppress your chakra," he hissed and glared at her from the corner of his eye. The bad eye, the sight of which made her heart sink down into troubled waters. Could he even see his opponent?

"But-"

He only narrowed his eyes, making them as sharp as kunai - she could literally feel them cut through her vocal chords and she could no longer speak. Then he turned his face away and marched on, walking straight towards the enemy who was already waiting for him. As there were only a few metres left between them he stopped a little too suddenly. His katana slowly sank down, until its gleaming tip hung just above one of the dark brown puddles. A moment later it grazed the smooth surface, sending concentric ripples over the murky water, clashing against his shoes. She had no idea what was going on there until she heard the other person speak.

"It's been a long time, little brother."

1. An ordinary day

It was a calm day, as could be expected of a place that was inhabited by nothing but animals. The sounds of nature, the singing of birds, the rustling of leaves and the babbling of the numerous small brooks did not belie the impression of perfect silence. There was a slight disturbing factor, though; the constant hissing and buzzing of headphones, carrying ghost voices across the vast terrain.

"This is Sakura, arrived at point A."

"Sasuke, I'm at point B."

"…"

"Here is Sai, I have the airspace covered."

"…"

"Naruto?"

"… Here is Naruto, found point C."

Found?

"Alright. Any traces of the target?"

"Nothing here."

"No."

"Here neither."

"I couldn't find a trace of-"

"-okay. (Hey! I wasn't finished!) We'll move north to the fishing village and question people there."

"Understood."

"…err… yeah. Understood."

And with that the buzzing died out, leaving the soundscape to nature again.

It has been a more than fruitless and not to forget annoying mission for Team 7 up to now. Since four days they were combing through the Land of Tea, without any lead but some unverified rumours, claiming that a person of similar characteristics to their target has been spotted near the coast in the south of the country. They've been there, but no one remembered having seen her and had she really passed that place they would have remembered. She wasn't the kind of person who went by unnoticed… In the course of the past three months, they had gone on several missions with the intention of retrieving her, but until now they had all ended the same way: she was gone without a trace.

Sighing, Sasuke commenced his way to their meeting point, holding back his complaints and storing them somewhere in the back of his mind where no one could hear them. He fully trusted in Naruto's big mouth to do the job for him, but Sasuke would remain quiet and keep his annoyance invisible from the outside, which didn't make it any less feasible to him. But he had come to be a dutiful shinobi. He was given a mission and so he did it. He had messed up enough in the past, so he was really in no position to voice any of the complaints that were seething just below his skin.

It's been about four months since they returned to Konoha and against expectation he didn't regret this decision as much as he had thought he would. The advantages clearly outweighed the disadvantages, or at least he tried to tell himself they did. There were all these stupid missions and duties and he couldn't help feeling an odd pang of discomfort whenever he walked up and down Konoha's streets. But it kept his family safe (hopefully) and so it was a rather small price to pay, although it refrained him from spending as much time with them as he would like to. That was probably what bothered him the most.

Especially because what they were doing here was a complete waste of time. So far all the missions they had done had been pretty much of a joke. They were anything but a tracking squad and yet here they were, scouring the woods in search for a person that didn't want to be found. All they did were simple C and at times also B-rank missions (but he had a hunch Tsunade only called them that to keep them relatively placated), pretty much the same things they had also done right after becoming Genin, but then that's what they were. At least he and Naruto were still Genin, whereas Sakura was a Chunin and Sai even an ANBU. He had thought about becoming a Jounin. Actually he didn't care about something as trivial as ranks, but if it meant he could go on somewhat more exciting missions that didn't leave him thinking why am I doing this?, then he would have done it. However before becoming a Jounin he would first have to take the Chunin exam again and he really didn't feel like beating up a bunch of kids.

Naruto, however, didn't seem to have any problems with that. The blonde tried his best to convince him to take the Chunin exam, so they could do it together and then their whole squad would be levelled up, so they couldn't put them off with lame missions any longer. He had a feeling though that their ranks wouldn't change anything about that; what it all came down to was that they were a team with a Jinchuuriki. In the past they had acted the same way; only giving them missions to keep them content and not because they really needed them of all people to do them. When Tsunade had tried to convince him to stay in the village, she had said they needed his abilities. Up to now he hasn't seen much of it though. They regarded him as a card they kept up their sleeves until it came to a case of emergency and even now people would like to believe it would never come to it.

An unrealistic wish.

Even without any proof, no one really doubted that Uchiha Madara was still alive. Same as no one doubted the impact his plan would have on the whole ninja world. Nobody really knew just what he had in mind, not even Sasuke, in spite of his brief alliance with his ancestor, but it was undeniably something horrendous. Something that would bring a great change to the world – needless to say that it wouldn't be a change for the better.

"Sasuke! Over here!" Naruto hollered once he caught sight of his team-mate. It had taken Sasuke about half an hour to reach the small village from the point he had been stationed and Naruto, Sakura and Sai had already assembled here. So now only Kakashi was missing.

Who'd have thought?

"Don't scream in my ear!" Sakura pushed his shoulder, not exactly lightly, but then Naruto wasn't made of glass, he had survived worse treatment than this and a lot of it at her hand.

"I take it you didn't find a trace of the target either," Sai remarked and detached his eyes from the wailing Uzumaki, receiving a nod in response.

Just as always when he was among people there was a smile on Sai's face, but even so his voice was blank and there was just something about his expression that made you assume he was hiding a dagger behind his back and just waited for a moment of inattention to put it to use. There was no relaxed atmosphere with him around. None of the three original members of Team 7 regarded him as a full-fledged part of their squad and Naruto made a point of letting him know that. Not that Sai took any interest in the more or less subtle displays of hostility…

"This is soo boring…" Naruto drawled and crossed his arms behind his head, his azure blue eyes drawn to the equally coloured sky. "It's all your fault teme."

"Naruto," Sakura chided with a warning note in her voice. She often felt like a kindergartener when she was with the Uzumaki, especially now with Sai in their team, but also Sasuke. In spite of how hard Naruto had tried to make sure he'd stay in Konoha and how thrilled he had been as they had decided that the Uchiha would be of greatest use to the village when he resumed acting as a ninja; in his old team under Kakashi's tutelage and of course with his old team-mates to make sure he'd stay on the right track- in spite of all the excitement, now that they were in the same team again, they fell back into old patterns and regarded each other as rivals. Naruto pretty openly, Sasuke rather not, but then that's how it's always been and at first Sakura had been really glad to see her team glued back together as though nothing ever happened, except for them growing up. Now however it was beginning to wear on her nerves and Sai contributed a considerable part to that.

"But it's true," Naruto chose to ignore the warning in Sakura's voice and glared at the Uchiha instead. "If it wasn't for your… your… your what do I know with her, they would have sent someone else."

He did have a point there, but what Naruto failed to see was that whatever other mission they would have been given instead, would have been no more exciting than this one and that was solely Naruto's fault. Although that was a rather harsh sentiment; after all Naruto had not chosen to have the Kyuubi sealed inside of him and he had not chosen either to have a criminal organisation hunt for him in their quest for power. That was the reason why the Uzumaki, and accordingly his team as well, were not given any missions that might entail dangers.

Everyone in their team knew about it, except for Naruto that is. It would have been easy to tell him about it. It would have surely shut him up for the time being, but afterwards… Naruto wasn't exactly known for his reserved attitude and he wasn't one to just swallow injustice and so it would definitely lead to trouble sooner or later and who knew what Konoha's higher-ups would then do to keep him at bay? If it wasn't for Tsunade, they would have most likely locked him in some sort of underground dungeon the second they had gotten to know about Akatsuki's aims. They had enough trouble as it was; no need to add fuel to the flame.

"And what is this, what do I know?" Sai asked, "Has there been something between you and Karin?"

"Sai!" Sakura cut in, her cheeks slightly flushed, but Sai paid her no heed and kept his slitted eyes focused on the Uchiha.

"I don't see how this is any of your business," Sasuke said coolly.

"Evading a clear answer usually equals admission. But I thought you were with Sayuri… so Karin, too, huh?" Sai smiled, which made him appear even sneakier. "How about you Naruto-kun? How many women did you have again?"

"Wha-WHAT? What has that to do with anything now?" Naruto stammered, his face flashing red like an alarm bell, as he inevitably remembered his first kiss - a not so special moment between him and one of the present people. Unfortunately he wasn't talking about Sakura.

"So none, I see." Sai nodded knowingly, while Naruto was too stunned still to know how to react, but you could almost hear the gears working in his skull, slowly clicking a line of action together for him, but Sai decided not to wait for him to do anything. "How about you, Sakura-san? Have you ever met someone who wasn't scared off by your temper? How are you oriented anyway? I mean the signals you are giving are not exactly clear and-"

-at this point Sai was forced to interrupt his speech by Sakura's clenched fist.

Even after the at least twentieth time, he still hadn't learned his lesson, concerning how to interact with his fellow human beings, especially if one of them was a rather quick tempered young lady, who reacted to any form of insult, especially concerning her looks, in about the same way as Chôji reacted when hearing the bad f-word.

"Serves you right, Sai!" Naruto gloated and watched the dark-haired man struggle back to his feet, before he patted the dirt off his clothes.

"This is exactly what I was talking about." He ran the back of his hand across his jaw, flinching slightly as he brushed the spot Sakura had hit. "You punch like a guy, you-"

"SAI!" Sakura barked, her face contorted into a frightening grimace. Sai had to be weary of life; he neither flinched nor did he at least raise his hands to cover his face from Sakura's fist, which was again approaching him at a rapid speed, charged with chakra most likely. There wasn't even a trace of fear in his eyes.

"Sakura-chan, stop!" Naruto held her back, Regardless of how little friendly feelings he harboured for the new guy, he wouldn't just stand by and watch Sakura kill a member of their team – and from the look on her face she really was out to kill. Sai has really had a point there, but Naruto would never admit that – he certainly wasn't suicidal. "He isn't worth it!"

"Naruto! Back off!"

"What is going on here?" Kakashi finally decided to show up and planted himself right between the stoic Sai and the seething Sakura, who was still held in place by her team-mate. "Don't you think it's rather counterproductive for our mission when you make a scene here? People are already watching you."

"Huh?" Sakura stopped struggling in Naruto's grip, but her body was still rigid as she turned her head to take in the faces of the people surrounding them. Many were whispering to each other and most of them looked clearly scandalised, others merely amused but what they all had in common was that they turned their heads away whenever Sakura's emerald green eyes came upon them. In her frenzy, she had almost forgotten that there were people around them and she had behaved like a fury-–no, that's too feminine – a berserk! Embarrassing…

"Hmpf," the pink-haired kunoichi freed herself out of Naruto's arms and turned her back on the three men to hide her flushed face in an attempt at keeping what little dignity she had left, but thanks to her previous outburst it didn't feel like there was much to hold on to.

"Phew…" Kakashi sighed. It had taken long enough to bring some sort of harmony into his team and get them to work together, but now with Sai taking Sayuri's place they were back to zero and it was almost as bad now as it had been right after they had become Genin. The old team has been like this: Sasuke has been conceited, Sakura has been lovestruck, Naruto has been hyper and Sayuri has been quiet. Now however Sasuke was quiet, Sakura switched between being an ice-block and a volcano, Naruto was still hyper and Sai was provoking. A fatal mixture. At times Kakashi wondered if he had changed, too. He didn't think he had; by now he was probably too old for that.

"It'll probably be best if we take a short break to let the situation settle again, before we start questioning the people here."

"We're not gonna find her anyway," Sasuke said. There has been a reason why he had wanted Karin of all people in his team. She was an excellent sensor and intelligent as well. When she didn't want to be found, which she clearly didn't, then she wouldn't be found. They thought it was clever to send him on this mission, because they used to be in a team and Karin's interest in him hasn't exactly been a secret either, but Sasuke was of a completely different opinion. After what happened between them, he was probably the last person she wanted to see and whenever she only sensed him from a distance she probably took off at once.

They had nothing that carried her scent, so Kakashi couldn't even ask his dogs to track her and she was able to suppress her chakra, so there was basically no way to find her, other than walking from country to country and asking people if they had seen her. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack and all of this only because Tsunade hoped that Karin might be able to use her abilities in order to tell for sure if Madara was alive still or not and at best locate him even. Karin was good maybe, but Sasuke was sure that this exceeded her abilities. Same as Karin, Madara surely wouldn't be found when he didn't want it.

"Probably not," Kakashi agreed, "but a mission is a mission and we'll perform it as best as we can."

Right, shinobi are mere tools; they carry out whatever mission they are given to the satisfaction of their client, no matter how senseless it was, not to speak of ethically wrong. It was this very realisation that had often caused their childish and not to forget idealised image of a ninja to waver and turn into a mirage, abandoning them in the bleak reality.

It was a good thing, probably that they had long abandoned their fantasies.

Today would be perfect. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, considering that it was a simple training day, but even so it felt that way.

Ever since the birth of her son, Sayuri had been forced to put her ninja career on hold and although she couldn't complain about boredom or having nothing to do, she was still really excited about something that used to be routine in her pre-mother life. It's not like she had only sat around idly in all that time; she had tried to get as much exercise as she could, but running a household which happened to be half a building site still, didn't leave much time for herself or basically anything that didn't include her home or her son.

Not even sleep had much of a chance, when her son decided to wake up with the first rays of the sun and it was summer, so that was really early. Since something around five o'clock (she had been too drowsy still to decipher the exact time) she was awake now. She had entertained Mikan until he had dozed off again, then she had taken a shower and afterwards she had fed him, which had led to her having to take another shower. He really wasn't fond of anything containing vegetables.

By eight o'clock she had been ready to go to bed again, solely the prospect of her first training session in nearly a year managed to keep her on her feet and the closer the hour crept the more adrenaline was fired through her inert synapses. The excitement was far better than a whole pot of coffee, which didn't keep her from drinking the energising beverage.

Sitting at the table in their neat but pretty empty kitchen, Sayuri indulged her coffee addiction, while Mikan was eager to have a sip of the bitter drink his mother was enjoying so much. He definitely took after his parents. Apart from his apparent liking for coffee and his stubborn nature, he also bore a striking resemblance to them. He had Sasuke's dark hair and it was just as dishevelled, too, and in the rare moments he wasn't smiling or laughing, he could also glower like his father did. He had her eyes, however, or almost, they were a shade darker, like the deepest spot of the ocean, and he had her small nose. The rest was rather hard to pinpoint; she couldn't say exactly he had her cheekbones or Sasuke's jaw line, but he still looked like them. It would be strange if he didn't…

As she was about in the middle of her liquid breakfast, the doorbell rang and she wasn't really surprised about the identity of her early visitor.

"Good-morning," she smiled at Neji and stepped to the side to let him enter.

"Morning," he nodded, "are you ready?"

"Almost. Just need to get my bag. Can you hold him a second?"

Without waiting for an answer, she passed Mikan to the Hyûga, who obviously wasn't keen on his task. He just wasn't good with babies and saw no need to do anything about that. Before he had a chance to protest however, Sayuri had already vanished next door, leaving him alone with the small boy. He held him like you'd hold a sack of potatoes to guess its weight and watched him blow bubbles with his mouth, smiling every time they burst. Well, at least he wouldn't have to act as an entertainer…

"Is Gai strict with his training?" He heard Sayuri call from the other room.

"How should I know?" Neji sighed. "He usually focuses his energy on Lee. Who knows what he'll be like with Lee on the sideline…"

It was always like this: Gai trained Lee, almost exclusively, while he and Tenten trained together; she used her weapons to attack him and school her aim and he used his Byakugan and clan-typical jutsu to either dodge or parry them. So what would Gai do when there was no Lee he could focus on? He had a feeling his sensei would be in a graveyard mood.

"Poor Lee…"

During the attack on Konoha he had broken his leg, but ambitious as he was, he hadn't waited the full time for it to heal and had started training almost as soon as he had been able to stand on his feet without wincing from the pain. This way the healing process had been slowed down and during their last mission he had overexerted himself, which ended with his old fracture breaking again. This meant he would again have to wait for his injury to heal, without being able to do much of anything in the meantime. About the worst possible thing that could happen to him, but his misfortune was her luck, because they had asked her to fill in for Lee during their training sessions. Wow, she felt terrible for even thinking that thought …

"Okay, I'm ready."

Sayuri returned to the corridor and couldn't help smirking as she saw that Neji still stood the same way she had left him, holding Mikan at a good distance to him. A distance he then even increased, while a disgusted look appeared on his face.

"I think he needs a diaper change," Neji grimaced and was glad as Sayuri finally took back her stinky son.

"Again?" Sayuri, too, grimaced and Neji turned positively green as he watched her sniff at his diapers, when he could still smell it from the doorway, where he had fled to, the second he had seen an opening.

"Phew, that was just a fart. He's clean," Sayuri sighed, before she started swaying a finger in front of Mikan's face. "You be glad that we're among ourselves. That would have been quite embarrassing if there had been other people around, you little stinker." She grinned, but that grin soon crumbled as he again proved that he deserved that name.

"God what are you feeding him? Mashed beans?" Neji asked, already halfway out of the door.

"That isn't necessary. But imagine I had…"

"I'd rather not." Neji fought to maintain a neutral expression, but it was really hard. He had seen many things already: the aftermaths of battles, mutilated bodies and who knows what else – but fact is none of these things had managed to make his hair stand on end like this. Maybe because he was prepared then, whereas this sensory assault had definitely caught him off guard. He could only think of one thing that was worse and that was the smell of the curry of life, because it at once brought back memories of its taste and he'd rather not remember that, for fear that his taste buds would spontaneously combust.

"At least we're outdoors," Sayuri shrugged and put Mikan into his buggy, before they headed for the northern part of the village which was even now, nearly a year after Pain's attack entirely devoid of any buildings, which made it the perfect area for training, which is why it was often pretty full here, but there was enough space for the single squads not to get into each other's way.

It was still early as they reached their meeting point, but of course Gai and Lee were already there and they could also see some other people in the distance, but except for them it was empty. It sort of felt weird to come marching to the training grounds with a buggy in front of her; a clash of her old and her new life, ninja vs. mommy.

Suddenly she felt completely out of place.

"Neji! Sayuri-san!" Lee waved one of his crutches in the air, as though there was only the faintest possibility they could miss him if he didn't. Although he didn't take part in the training, he was still here to watch and he had proposed to look after Mikan while Sayuri took his place, which was why she was able to join them in the first place.

"Hey Lee, how are you doing?" Sayuri asked as she came to stand beside the dark-haired man, who was sitting in the dry grass, his plastered leg spread out in front of him, like a drift of snow in the summery scenery.

"Everyday better, thanks for your concern," Lee smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, never short of optimism, even in a situation such as this… "So little fella. The two of us are gonna enjoy ourselves here?"

"Thank you so much for looking after him."

Sayuri picked her son out of his buggy and passed him to Lee, before she spread out a small blanket on the ground right next to him.

"Never mind," he shrugged her off, before he focused his full attention on his protégé, holding him under his arms, so his feet were touching the ground. "By the time my leg has recovered I will have taught you to walk and then we'll take a walk through the village together."

Lee's teeth sparkled in the brightest toothpaste-advertisement smile and he would have probably put up his thumb again if he hadn't had his hands full with holding the little boy, who wasn't yet able to stand on his own.

"Watch out, he smells," Neji warned his team-mate and received a cool glare by Sayuri.

"Hey, stop saying my baby smells."

"You called him a stinker yourself."

"Yeah, but I'm his mother."

"Hm."

"Oh, the blossoms of youth." Gai appeared next to them and beamed at his students. "What a noble move of yours, Lee-kun, to use your time of recovery to attend to the future generation of Konoha shinobi. You truly are my student."

"Gai-sensei!" Lee sniffed with tears in his eyes, but he pulled himself together as Gai put a hand on his head and winked at him. "So everyone, let us begin today's training session! Let us all light the flame of youth especially bright on Lee's behalf!"

"What about Tenten?" Neji asked in a level voice, entirely immune to his sensei's vigour.

"Oh, right. Where is she?" Gai scanned the area with his eyes, while Neji wondered whether he had even noticed that the only female member of their team was missing. Had he seen Sayuri and thought it was Tenten? After all they were both girls… Did he even know who was in his team, except for Lee? He couldn't really imagine it, but then Gai had never yet ceased to surprise him and not necessarily in a positive way.

"I'm sorry for being late!" Tenten panted as she reached her team. "We've had some trouble at home…"

Her team just nodded quietly, obviously knowing what she was talking about, when Sayuri had no idea. She knew Tenten since nearly six years now, about as long as she knew Neji, and yet she didn't seem to know a thing about her. She had no idea where Tenten lived – neither in the old nor the new Konoha – she didn't know anything about her family; did she have brothers and sisters? Were her parents alive? Did she live alone? She only had a pretty shallow picture of her as a light-hearted girl with a passion for weapons – the very image she had, since the first time she had seen her.

"I take it we are complete now." Was there a question in his utterance? "Let us show this former student of my rival Kakashi our youthful ways."

Translation: Come over to the dark side, but actually it was the former that bothered her the most.

"Yes," they agreed and while Tenten and Neji already strutted after their sensei, Sayuri staid behind to give Lee some instructions.

"There is something to eat and drink for him here in the bag. And there are some toys, too." She pulled out a small ball and gave it a shake to let it rattle, almost like a cat toy. "Help yourself to anything you want. I've brought along more than enough food."

"That is truly kind of you," Lee nodded politely.

"If something's the matter just call me, okay?"

"There won't be any need to. If I won't manage to look after him properly, I will read a dozen baby books while standing on my hands."

Lee and his self-motivation…

"Good…" Sayuri rose to her feet and took a deep breath, as she watched Lee fidget around with her son. At the beginning she has been a bit wary of leaving him in Lee's care, but his ambition turned him into a really good babysitter. But then why was it so hard for her to turn her back on her son and do what she had wanted to do for what felt like ages? She missed the training, missed being a ninja, now that she was a mother and yet it almost felt as though she would betray her son, if she just took that step back into her old life—

-a life he has been no part of.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asked anxiously, almost hoping for Lee to say no, but he wouldn't be Lee if he declined a challenge.

"Absolutely," he nodded, without any signs of doubt in his face. "There is nothing for you to worry about. I'll give my all to look after him."

Now how was she supposed to carry on wavering? Mikan was in good hands and they were waiting for her to finally start with their training. She would just pass her role as mother to Lee and enjoy this day as a ninja. It was only natural for her to want to flee the routine from time to time. No need to feel bad about it, she told herself, but couldn't really keep herself from feeling that way.

"Kiba-kun…?" Ino drawled in the very kind of tone that always filled the Inuzuka with a sense of foreboding. Whenever she said his name in this way, it was usually followed by a Can you? Will you? and on rare occasions even combined with a Please.

"No," he said resolutely, before Ino had a chance to voice her request and he already had a fairly good idea what it would be.

"You don't even know what I wanted to say." Ino narrowed her eyes and every bit of the former sweetness had left her voice.

"Well, let's see… could it, by any chance, be related to the fact that we just passed a baby store?"

"That might well be," she replied in crisp tones, trying to cover up her little defeat. "So?"

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"We won't go there."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't have a baby and we meant to go eating, remember?"

"Yeah and the second we set foot in the store, all restaurants in the village will shut their doors and call it a day." The blonde rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in front of her chest to show that she would not give in. Kiba however was fairly stubborn himself and he would not oblige to the wish of his rather domineering girlfriend without at least putting up a fight.

"Who knows? Better not tempt fate."

"You're such an idiot. I'm only talking about five minutes."

"Tze – your perception of five minutes and everyone else's go far apart."

"Whatever. C'mon now."

She tugged at his elbow, but Kiba reached for her hand to hold her back.

"I'm hungry, no – we are hungry, right Akamaru?"

The huge white dog barked in response, while Ino merely rolled her eyes. Of course he turned to his dog when he felt like he was losing a debate.

"Kiba, what is your problem?" The Yamanaka snapped at him, not minding to keep her volume down, although they were in the middle of the street.

"If someone has a problem then it's you. You are obsessed, no- possessed by the idea of being a mother. Ever since you saw Sayuri with her son you talk about nothing but babies."

"So what? We are a couple since two years and we live together, so why not take the next step?" Ino asked and nodded her head towards the baby store. "Don't you love me?"

"Of course I do," Kiba sighed and he already knew what came next.

"Then why don't you want a baby with me?" She wailed and looked with big eyes at her boyfriend, whose features softened ever so slightly. She just knew how to make use of her looks and her female charm in order to get what she wanted.

"That's not it. It's just nuts. We-"

"-Great. I want to have a family with you and you call me nuts," Ino pouted, without having to feign the hurt.

"Ino, we had that already…" Kiba exhaled wearily and looked up and down the street hoping for any kind of distraction, anything to ease the tense mood.

They've talked about this over and over and over again. He loved her, but she was just so annoying at the moment. Since months now she talked about nothing but babies. They were arguing almost every day and his nerves were beginning to wear thin. He loved her maybe, but at times he wondered if it was worth it.

"I'm not saying never… we're just too young. I'm not ready for a baby and, let's face it, neither are you-"

"-Excuse me? Who do you think you are to tell me if I'm ready or not?"

Damn. Judging from the look on her face and the tone in her voice he had only just dug his own grave.

"I'm just… well… you know… as long as we are still having these arguments… well-"

"-Kiba-kun!"

The Inuzuka turned around quickly to see who had called him and escape Ino's deadly glare and a monstrous flood of relief washed over him as he saw Hinata run his way.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." She bowed down politely, once she had reached them, but her breath still came in short rasps from having run so fast, which made Kiba hope she had come for something important.

"Hinata, what is it?" he asked, still with his back to his girlfriend.

"We are summoned to the Hokage immediately. I think we are given a new mission."

"I see." He tried to keep his excitement from creeping into his voice and more importantly he tried to keep the relief from showing on his face as he turned around to Ino again. "I fear I gotta go. Bye."

He leaned closer to kiss her goodbye, but Ino turned her face away and snorted.

The situation wasn't ideal, but at least it hadn't gotten nasty. And all thanks to his team-mate. Just now Hinata really appeared like a saviour to him.

It didn't feel comfortable to come home and find the house empty. Knowing that it would stay that way made it even worse.

It nourished the fear of the dark hours.

It was a typical picture. Tsunade was sitting at her desk; a desk which was full of all sorts of documents, arranged in the standard disorder, which sure enough didn't facilitate the workload the Sannin had to cope with each and every day. Apart from all the paperwork there were the distributions of missions of course, something she much rather dealt with, seeing as it entailed at least a tinsy bit more of distraction and interpersonal contact than the mute and rather monotonous files.

Even so she couldn't get the grave look off her face that had slowly taken over in the course of this already far too long and unexciting day, as she looked at the four persons she had summoned here.

"Took you long enough," she said after a prolonged moment of silence, in which she had done nothing but stare at the assembled team.

"But now we're here," Shiranui Genma, the new leader of Team 8, said casually. "So what is it you summoned us for?"

"I have a mission for you," Tsunade explained and folded her hands under her chin, scrutinising her opposites closely over her tangled fingers. "An S-rank mission."

"S-rank?" Kiba asked excitedly, while Hinata seemed rather uncomfortable about hearing this piece of information. Shino and Genma didn't let anything show, neither excitement, nor discomfort or basically anything that might imply that they had heard the Godaime at all.

"Yes," Tsunade nodded with a stern expression, "it's a secret mission, shared by several countries. In this scroll you'll find the location – that's all you need to know for the moment. Once you are there you'll be instructed by the present team."

"Why the secrecy?" Genma asked and shoved his senbon around in his mouth. He really seemed entirely unfazed by the situation, but then that's how they had gotten to know him, ever since he took over Kurenai's place. It has been called a temporary arrangement at first, but now they were with him since more than a year and it still didn't seem like there would be any changes. Kurenai was a single mother and her daughter was her top priority, but it's not like Genma was such a bad pick – he just wasn't Kurenai.

"Because this mission exceeds Konoha's affairs – it is a collaboration of many different villages – keep that in mind. Even once you're back you are not allowed to talk about it to no one – and leave your headbands here, this scroll is all you need as identification and once you're there, put on these masks." Tsunade opened a drawer and pulled out four entirely identical masks, which resembled those of ANBU, only that they were entirely white. "Keep in mind that you represent Konoha Gakure in front of all the other nations – failure is not an option."

"Yes," they agreed all at once, in the confident tone that was expected at this point, but secretly they all wondered what kind of a mission they were about to do. It didn't happen often that they were dismissed without knowing anything about their task. Tsunade usually made a point of having them well-prepared before sending them out. All the secretiveness was definitely unsettling.

…

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