So... there's a mix of POVs here and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I kinda feel like Itachi and his team deserve separate focus, but I haven't found who I want to be the Team Ten POV character yet.

Content-wise though, I'm happy with and so I figured I'd put another chapter up and get some feedback that way. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed.

Training, as it turned out, was exactly what each Genin in Team Ten believed torture was.

"At least you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, then wait three hours for your sensei to decide to turn up," Naruto whined, head in his hands on the counter. The blonde had persuaded Shikamaru and Choji to join him at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand since Sakura and Sasuke didn't want to hang out with him and Ino had been more interested on getting a shower than any form of food.

"Yeah, but you guys are doing missions right? Itachi-sensei won't even let us look at mission requests," Choji pointed out. "It's been like a month already, this is brutal."

Shikamaru lifted his head from the counter as a bowl of steaming ramen was placed beside him, adding, "I asked Iruka-sensei the other week why we were paired together. He says our three teamwork skills were the highest, and also that since our Dads worked so well together, it was kind of assumed we would."

"Well that's even more of a reason for Itachi-sensei to give us a mission instead of drills!" Choji argued.

"I dunno, the missions we've been on so far are pretty crap," Naruto noted. "We've done the same stupid D-Ranks over and over. Literally with that stupid missing cat."

Choji laughed, "Yeah, I heard about that. Some rich woman who loves her cat. Cat doesn't feel the same. Poor thing."

Naruto mumbled something unintelligible around a mouthful of ramen.

"Try that again with an empty mouth, Naruto," Shikamaru chided, eating at a far more sedate pace.

"I said, maybe Itachi-sensei is keeping you off missions 'cause his teamwork scores aren't high," Naruto repeated with a frown.

"Huh?" Choji's eyebrows drew together and Shikamaru eyed Naruto warily.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?"

Naruto elaborated, "Itachi left the academy at seven. So he's probably been working either alone or with much older ninja. So maybe he's trying to get a feel for you guys?"

"Huh. I didn't know that," Choji blinked.

Shikamaru still looked doubtful. "Me neither. Naruto, how'd you know?"

"Me and him hang out sometimes, I asked him about his time in the academy after I failed a bunch of tests last year," Naruto answered easily. "He had no idea about them because he took final year exams like six months into his first year. Pretty impressive huh?"

"You sure? That's… completely unheard of," said Shikamaru.

"Yeah, totally, believe it!"

"I still find it weird you hang out with Sensei," said Choji. "He doesn't really hang out with us outside of training."

"Yeah," nodded Shikamaru, "He seems the type to stick to himself, you know?"

"I guess," Naruto shrugged. "He is pretty weird. Reads a lot and tries to make me eat more vegetables. He taught me how to throw a kunai better though," he noted happily. "Remember that day I hit all the targets in shuriken practise? Hehe, Itachi had me throwing them at a target on the walls of our apartment block for hours all week."

Choji and Shikamaru stared at Naruto blankly for a moment, jaws hanging. Eventually Choji spoke up. "But… you didn't hit the inner ring. Except like maybe once. Itachi-sensei hits dead centre. Every time."

"Yeah, it's a drag. Especially when he makes us run around his training area hitting targets he obviously knows the placements of like the back of his hands." Shikamaru huffed and pushed his half-finished ramen to Naruto who grinned and started on it once his own bowl was empty, a neat stack of them slowly piling up beside him on the counter.

"It sucks even more that he keeps wanting us to do it faster," Choji said then waved to Teuchi for another bowl, his own pile just slightly ahead of Naruto's. "They're in really weird positions so it takes about five minutes."

"And he did that thing where he jumped in the air and span around like a circus performer," Shikamaru said, pointing with his finger.

Choji jabbed his finger back, "Yeah, a crazy, deadly performer who hit all the targets in like one move."

It was Naruto's turn to stare. "Seriously? Wow, Itachi's so cool!"

Choji raised an eyebow, "Dude, we'll swap."

"Nah, ending up with Sasuke or Sakura would be a total drag," argued Shikamaru. "Does she still kiss the ground Sasuke walks on?" he added to Naruto who deflated.

"Yeah," he said, hanging his head. "She won't even look at me and Sasuke doesn't pay attention to her at all. He's always trying way too hard to look cool and be the best."

Choji snorted. "I think Ino's switched to liking Itachi-sensei. She's like super-motivated to train."

"Yeah, it's a total drag, though I can see the connection," hummed Shikamaru, "She and Sakura both like Sasuke and Itachi's his brother. They kinda have the same face."

"That's weird. And… isn't it illegal or something?" Naruto frowned. "Also, I had no idea he was Sasuke's brother, but yeah, now you mention it, the resemblance is there."

"Nah, he's seventeen. He just looks older," Shikamaru shrugged. "But I don't think he cares about girls."

"Still kinda weird wanting to kiss our Sensei," said Choji.

Silence fell on them a moment allowing them to go back to their meals before Naruto startled, snapping his head and shouting "Guys!" causing Choji to choke on his ramen noodles.

"Itachi's got a picture of a girl next to his bed! I bet he's not interested in Ino because he already has a girlfriend!" Naruto declared around Choji's coughing.

"S-seriously? You scared the shit out of me for that?" croaked Choji glaring, "I nearly spilled my ramen."

"I forgot okay?" Naruto pouted. "But it's a cute girl. Brown hair, and she's smiling. Itachi's in the photo too, but he's younger in it. His hair isn't as long."

Shikamaru and Choji shared a look, wondering if it was from before Itachi had been disowned. Either way, maybe sneaking into their sensei's apartment and having a look around could give them some idea about Itachi as a person, or at least push him to give them a mission. From the sounds of it, they were legitimately the only team not performing them.

"I kinda want to see it," Choji admitted.

"Yeah, but getting caught would be a drag," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Well, we could go have a look on Wednesday when he's training with Ino?" Choji suggested.

"I'll help!" Naruto offered, "I can take you up to his apartment!"

That seemed to settle it. Paying for their food and each heading home, the three agreed to meet at 2:45, at the entrance to Naruto's apartment complex. Unlike Naruto's own sensei, Itachi was punctual though Shikamaru didn't want to risk him seeing them heading towards his home as he went to meet Ino, who they all agreed was better off kept in the dark about their plan.

"Are you sure you wanna use the front door?" Naruto asked as he lead the other two ninja up the stairs of his complex, hands clasped lazily behind his head.

"Yeah, if he's expecting a break in, it'll be from a ninja at the window. Doors are for civilians and people with a right to be there," explained Shikamaru. "It's totally the safer option."

"Think we'll get lucky and he's got a key under the welcome mat?" Choji asked around munching on a bag of crisps.

"I don't think so," said Naruto, "He doesn't have a welcome mat. Here we are."

He stopped at a door and turned to the other two with a curious frown. "So how're you getting in?"

"Are you sure it's his?" Shikamaru frowned. All the doors looked the same.

"Yeah. Some ass carved a dick on his door a few years back, see?" Naruto explained, pointing to the vulgar graffiti. "I asked about it, apparently after replacing the wood a few times and another dick ending up there, he gave up. Kinda shitty though, what he do to them? Probably nothing."

Shikamaru crouched before the keyhole and put a hand into the tie of his ponytail, withdrawing a thin bobby pin. It took longer than the boy was comfortable with to work the lock, but soon they all heard the satisfying clack of the lock sliding free. Naruto smacked him on the back.

"Awesome, Shikamaru."

"Yeah, well done," Choji praised as Shikamaru grabbed and twisted the door handle.

The door swung open to reveal a small one-roomed apartment that at first glance was incredibly bare. A bed sat against the wall covered in light grey sheets. It was impeccably made and Shikamaru briefly wondered if Itachi even used it or just fell asleep standing up like some creepy statue. Beside the bed was a nightstand upon which sat the photo Naruto had told them about and a leather-bound book that appeared to be on legendary weapons. Probably complete nonsense so why such a serious guy like Itachi had it was beyond Shikamaru.

A chair and desk was next to that, but was currently empty except for a lamp and that morning's newspaper, the puzzles' page open and half completed. Turning to the right hand wall was a standing fridge-freezer and a small kitchen area, which again was spotless, not even anything in the sink or draining board. The only other things of note were a dresser on the back wall by the door and a calendar hanging from a pin in the door itself with the previous days crossed off and no appointments that Shikamaru could see. He took a step over to the calendar and flipped through it, trying to see if there was any dates at all Itachi felt were significant. "It's blank," he told his companions, placing the calendar back on the door.

"At least there's food in his fridge. Maybe we'll learn something there?" suggested Choji.

"Hey, get out of the fridge, if you eat something, Itachi'll know. Believe it!" growled Naruto. Choji rolled his eyes and slammed the fridge shut and drew a pack of crisps from his bag, opening them and starting to munch on them instead.

"What a drag. Sensei's so boring. There is literally nothing here," Shikamaru frowned, opening Itachi's drawers. "He doesn't even wear interesting underpants."

"Boxers or briefs?" Naruto asked.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't, but you were looking."

"That makes no sense, Naruto."

Naruto glared and was about to say something else, only to be cut off by Choji. "Hey guys. I found something."

"Huh?"

Coming over, Shikamaru and Naruto joined Choji by Itachi's bed where Choji seemed to have found a hidden panel and pulled it aside to reveal a neatly folded pile of clothes, atop which lay a mask.

"What's this? A mask?" Naruto asked, reaching into the compartment without fear and taking the mask out, turning it in the light. Shikamaru felt the blood drain out of him as Naruto turned the porcelain mask this way and that. It was of some kind of animal with a painted red triangle on the top. "I think it's a weasel?"

Shikamaru stood up and took several steps back. "It doesn't matter what it is, put it back right now, Naruto. We gotta get out of here."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's an ANBU mask, Naruto," Choji said quietly.

"Wait what?" Naruto looked down at the mask. "So then… Itachi's in ANBU?"

"Probably. Maybe," Choji shrugged, also looking quite pale. "Shikamaru's right though. There's no way Itachi-sensei will be happy we found that. The ANBU are like Lord Hokage's personal assassins. We're so skrewed."

At 'assassins' Naruto startled and fumbled with the mask, trying to put it back in a hurry, Choji shoving the panel back just as sharply. "Oh fuck!" Like the frightened children they were, they scarpered, retreating out of the door and getting out of there as fast as possible once they had checked Itachi's door was once again locked.

They didn't talk about what they had found with Ino, unsure how to bring the topic up, nor did Choji or Shikamaru say anything at their solo practise. Fleetingly, they started to convince themselves Itachi had no idea they'd snuck into his home and found his uniform. Naruto had even made the suggestion it was fake, and while Shikamaru didn't totally believe it, the temptation was there.

Until Sunday, where Shikamaru and Choji were almost certain Itachi was trying to kill them.

They had turned up to team training at the regular time to find Itachi waiting under the same tree as usual, the older boy greeting them with a smile and a half wave.

"Hey, Sensei," Ino greeted tiredly, still sore from training the previous day. She had a couple of bandages on her arms, which wasn't unusual. Solo sessions usually meant sparing sessions, and Itachi often landed shallow cuts or weak blows on them, leaving small bruises.

Shikamaru grunted a greeting and Choji managed one around his morning snack, their excursion earlier in the week mostly forgotten as they now believed they were going to get away with it.

However, as Itachi pushed off from the tree and started to explain today's training, that fell into doubt.

"Good afternoon. I'd like to do things a little differently today. Choji, you'll be using your Human Boulder jutsu to try to catch me, Shikamaru, you'll be using your Shadow Paralysis jutsu on Ino and be negotiating a series of weapons thrown at you both by my Shadow Clone. Ideally, I'd like for Choji to catch me, causing the clone to cancel, but failing that, we'll stop when you both run out of chakra," Itachi explained, forming the hand sign for the Shadow Clone justu. A second Itachi appeared with a puff of smoke and was handed the weapons pouch of the original.

"Ino, Shikamaru, let's go," it ordered, walking away to the far end of the Training Ground.

The original turned to his final student. "Whenever you're ready, Choji,"

"Uh… o-okay," Choji fumbled, storing his crisps away before performing his own jutsu. "Expansion jutsu: Human Boulder!" He rolled towards his sensei who dodged to the side and did his best to keep up with him, as he often did in their team sessions. Usually though, Shikamaru was encouraged to catch Itachi as well with his Shadow Paralysis where Ino would use her Mind Transfer or move in to knock him out, something that rarely succeeded before they were out of chakra, and even then, Ino sometimes missed her mark and was 'killed' by a Shadow Clone. Personally, Choji just reckoned Itachi didn't want brain damage from being forcefully knocked out every week.

He was getting faster at turning and striking again, something his father Chozu had noticed, but it still didn't seem to be helping. No matter what Choji did, he couldn't catch Itachi. It was annoying, especially because Itachi would ask the same tasks of them over and over, regardless of whether they succeeded or failed. And as Naruto noted, they were the only graduating team this year not doing missions.

Turning to strike again, Choji realised he'd gone wide only by Ino shrieking, "Not over here! Shikamaru, move before he kills me!"

"Sorry, Ino!" Choji apologized.

"Kinda hard to move with all these kunai!" Shikamaru griped, still busy deflecting the projectiles while trying to side step around Choji's trajectory.

They weren't doing particularly well either, Shikamaru sweating as he struggled to maintain the jutsu and focus on keeping Ino and himself out of danger. He could probably manage against a normal person, Shikamaru figured, but Itachi was particularly gifted at shuriken jutsu and often projectiles Shikamaru would deflect found their way back to him for round two.

"This is such a drag!" he growled, flicking another throwing star away with a kunai.

"You're telling me! I'm a fucking ragdoll!" Ino yelled back. "Shuriken to my left!"

"Damn it!" Turning his head, he spotted the danger and raised Ino's hand, kunai held tight, to block the attack. "How has he not run out yet?"

"I have two packs," the Shadow Clone shrugged. "Also, some are on wires, though I assume you've not noticed?"

"They are? Ahhhh!" Ino shrieked and Shikamaru barely rolled them out of the way in time. "Sensei, seriously, stop trying to kill us! I'm too young and pretty to die!"

Shikamaru slumped. "Maybe try saying that without all the grass stains, cuts and bruises?"

"Shikamaru," Ino warned, her voice radiating danger. "When you run out of chakra, I'm going to throttle you."

Swallowing thickly, Shikamaru considered maybe it was safer to not talk until training was over.

They managed a whole hour before Choji was dizzy, nauseous and the rumbling of his stomach was starting to sound dangerous, and Shikamaru was a panting puddle of sweat, falling to the ground as his shadow returned to him. Ino didn't look much better, with so many near misses and no control over her body; she'd spent most of the time terrified out of her wits.

"Well done. I'm very impressed with you all today," Itachi praised, barely looking out of breath. The three gave him weary looks and watched as he closed the difference to loom over them, looking each in the eye. "Now tell me. Did you find what you were looking for in my home?"

"What?" Ino said, her face contorting in confusion. She saw both Choji and Shikamaru pale though. "Oh for pity's sake. What did you two do?!"

"H-how'd you know it was us?" Shikamaru asked.

"Besides the obvious admission just now? Crumbs. My floor was coated in crisp crumbs," Itachi said, looking from Shikamaru to Choji. "What were you looking for anyway?" he added with a tone that was somewhere between suspicious and curious.

"Not your ANBU mask, totally not that!"

"Choji!" Shikamaru berated. The larger boy hunched his shoulders.

Ino frowned. "ANBU mask? Why would Itachi-sensei have one of those?"

Itachi shrugged, not willing to answer one way or the other.

"We wanted to figure out why you don't let us go on missions. All the other graduating teams do," Shikamaru said. "But not us, we train and that's it. It's boring and we're getting sick of it."

"You mean you'd rather sit around and chase escaping cats or ward bears out of farmland?" Itachi asked, sounding genuinely curious. "D-Ranked missions are essentially anything a civilian could do but doesn't want to do because it would take too long and a ninja could do it in at least half the time. I would have thought you'd prefer training, that way you get to do what you want for most of the week."

"I mean, yeah, that's nice, but since I graduated, my parents have shrunk my allowance. They were gonna cancel it after my first mission," Choji admitted. Ino and Shikamaru made noises toward the same.

"When are we going to do a mission if we can't do D-Ranks?" Ino asked.

"I never said you couldn't. I just didn't realise you were so eager to," Itachi admitted, hand on his hip. "I was going to take you on a C-Rank in a couple of weeks. Until you snuck into my home. Now I don't know that I trust you enough to take you out of the village on a mission."

Shikamaru and Choji's faces darkened in shame and Ino looked livid. "Seriously, why did you think that was a good idea?" she demanded.

"We're sorry, sensei," Choji mumbled. Shikamaru looked intently at the floor, lips pursed.

Sighing, Itachi scratched the side of his head. "Look. I'm sorry that I didn't notice how upset just training was making you, but I'm not committing to potentially putting us all in danger because we aren't on the same page. We'll do some D-Ranks next week. If, over the next few weeks, you can show me you're willing to trust my instructions even if you don't know the end goal, and show great teamwork amongst yourselves, we can still get a C-Ranked in before your peers."

Ino stared up at Itachi for a long moment before breaking into a smile and jumping to her feet, "Seriously? Awesome!" She punched the air. "I'll rock these missions and become an awesome kunoichi all the hot boys want to date!" All three boys stared at her with varying degrees of concern.

"Yes… You're all dismissed." It was earlier than usual, but no one was complaining. Choji and Shikamaru took off towards their homes faster than usual, while Ino soon found her sensei following her into the village proper.

"Sensei?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

"I apologise. I wasn't sure if you were involved in their plan, but assumed so," said Itachi, though he didn't suddenly leave after as Ino expected him to.

"Okay, but, did you have to follow me home to say that?"

Itachi's eyebrows drew closer together. "No?" He pointed to her family's flower shop. "I wanted some flowers."

"Oh." Ino blushed in embarrassment. Itachi either didn't care or didn't notice, sidestepping around her and heading inside. Darting in after her sensei, Ino found him beside some alstroemeria. "Uhm, Itachi-sensei, do you want some help?" she asked. "I'm very knowledgeable about flowers."

"I expect so," Itachi noted dully, looking over after a moment. "Very well. I'm looking for something not too expensive and only a few flowers per stem."

"What's the occasion? If you don't mind me asking," Ino added hurriedly.

Itachi was quiet for a moment, and Ino wondered if perhaps she had offended him. "They're for someone I haven't seen in a long time. A small well wish."

Ino's eyes widened for a moment as she processed that Itachi had answered her question and then what the actual content of that answer had been. "Uhm, okay. Well. There's this stock," she said, leading him over to a small lilac flower. "It symbolises bonds and a happy life." She tried to get a read on his opinion of that before deciding it might just be better to show him a selection of options and hope Itachi would find something he like within that.

"There's also statice, which stands for remembrance, sympathy and success. It also comes in a few different colours, so if that person has a colour they're fond of, that could be a good one. Next are these green roses, they're a little unusual, but can mean best wishes for a new life and good health. Peony's mean good health as well. And gladiolus also symbolise remembrance as well as faithfulness and honour."

Itachi nodded each time she lead him around to a flower and spoke about it. "Out of the gladiolus and statice, which would last longer?"

"Cut? Well, the gladiolus is more robust," Ino admitted. "But we cut all flowers fresh from gardens and bring them here daily. So it doesn't really matter. You'd probably get a week out of both."

"Could they work together as a bunch?"

"Uhm, yeah, they both can come in different colours, rather than shades, so I'd be inclined to have the gladiolus as the central flowers and the statice frame them," Ino noted. "Do you want me to show you?" He nodded and they spent several minutes discussing colour combinations as Ino took a few flowers and grouped them together for Itachi to see and assess.

Eventually, he had a bouquet he was satisfied with and Ino priced it up as her father was cutting flowers on the other side of the shop.

Once Itachi had paid for his flowers and left, Inoichi came over. "What did he want flowers for?"

"I dunno, Dad. Someone he hasn't seen in a while. Maybe an old friend or girlfriend?" she guessed.

"He's not dating anyone so far as I know," Inoichi revealed. As captain of the Intelligence Division and owner of the flower shop, Inoichi was a pretty solid stop on the gossip train, knowing much of the goings on of Konoha's population but generally not being interested enough to use that information for ill-gain.

Ino shrugged. "What do you know about my sensei?" she asked. "You and Mum didn't seem too pleased when I told you who he was."

"He's a brilliant ninja, just weird is all. I'd been under the impression you were going to have someone else as your sensei," her father admitted.

"Who?"

"Well, my team was under a member of the Sarutobi clan. We figured your team would have a similar layout," Inoichi said with a shrug. "Uchiha usually go into the Police Force when they hit Chūnin, I don't think any of them became Jonin sensei."

"Maybe because Itachi-sensei is disowned?" Ino suggested.

Inoichi startled slightly, "He told you about that?"

"Yeah, but not the reason or anything. It came up because Sasuke seems to hate his guts."

"Ah, well. It isn't the sort of thing that comes up in polite conversation."

"Still," Ino frowned. "He must have done something really bad to have that reaction from his own brother. I didn't even know Sasuke had a brother."

"It's not my story to tell, Ino," her father said firmly. "But I know there's never really been people Itachi has been close to. Nor is he particularly sociable."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that," Ino sighed. "Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it true Itachi-sensei was in ANBU?"

Inoichi frowned. "How did you come across that idea?"

"Choji and Shikamaru said they found an ANBU mask in his apartment."

Her father was quiet a moment, considering the information and Ino wondered if he was going to reprimand her teammates. "He was," Inoichi confirmed. "He joined at age eleven. Though I would imagine your sensei would appreciate you not telling anyone. ANBU is a very secretive organisation and if that mask wasn't hidden away properly or destroyed, I think he was either using it as a deterrent or he's still active within ANBU ranks."

"Would you know either way?"

Inoichi shrugged, "It depends on his mission, but it's been a few years since we've crossed paths, so I can't be sure."

She nodded. "Well, he seems in an okay mood about us possibly knowing anyway. We're going on a mission next week."

"Aw, so does that mean I'll lose my favourite helper?" Inoichi asked in mock hurt.

Ino laughed. "Nah, Dad. They're just D-Ranks for now. Apparently he wanted us to go on a C-Rank but he's changed his mind. So I still need my shifts to make up for shopping sprees."

Inoichi shared a chuckle and gestured with his thumb to the aprons hanging up. "Well, since you're home early why don't you stay a couple of hours and I'll give you some spending money before the market closes?"

"Sweet!"