Weeds

by ToriMiu

She was an orphan. She lived on the streets, where her existence was less than welcomed. But she didn't care. She had her fellow orphans, her brothers and sisters, her family. That's all she ever needed. And then came Team Seven... OC

3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Kiba would take a bath ;PP

Third chappie up and running XDD I'm soooo sorry for those of you who had to wait forever. I just realized that if I wanted to continue writing those little paragraphs of different types of plants, then I would have to start researching on the many different species and then somehow tie them into Chiyo's perspective of them. Um… I'm making…. some headway…. Heheh…?

Thank you so much, Carly-chan and Draw4life and lovefatedestiny XD you guys rock!

And I want to thank ALL those who are reading XDD I know it's hard to stick with the longer fics, especially when they take so long to update…. But I'm doing better than some, right? o.o

Thank you for reading! I know a lot of it is probably not nearly as good a lot of the other stuff you read. I promise to try my best in improving my story and writing ability, 'nice guy pose'. Thanks again for reading! Reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated.

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Part 3

Darwin Tulips: They just crack me up. I mean, I've seen a few, on the window sides while I'm running by with someone's wallet under my arm, the guy screaming behind me, I'll see one and I'll just laugh. They've got to be the most awkward flowers ever. They've got big cup-shaped heads, full and heavy, on stiff tube like stems that, after a while, begin to bend under the weight of the flower… and it just makes me laugh. It's like seeing a scrawny guy with an overly large head, no offence to anyone with an overly large head. But they're pretty flowers… I think, if flowers had cliques, they'd be in the preppy group, what with their overly bright colors and the way they always hang out with other Darwin tulips. Darwin tulips sort of remind me of Ino and Sakura-chan, really, the way they're so bold and feminine. They're beautiful flowers, they'd make any place look cheerful and bright. Heheh, they still crack me up, though.

xixixixixixixixixixixixixixixixi

"Ojii-chan!" Chiyo called out, stepping into Sugo's home without ceremony. Kakashi followed lazily behind her.

"Oh, it's you two brats again," the old ex-shinobi grumbled, looking up from his whittling as he sat on a wooden chair by the table. "What do you want? I thought I told you not to bug me until tomorrow."

"You know we can't help it," Chiyo said, teasingly. "Annoying you seems to be the only point of my existence."

Sugo glared at the scrawny girl, who had taken it upon herself to make herself as comfortable as she could on his – initially – made bed.

"I wondered if you found anything yet," Kakashi said, sitting down across from Sugo. "And I wanted to tell you what we found so far. It might help you."

"Bah," Sugo grumbled. "Well, spit it out."

Chiyo grinned. "We found out that they're in town…"

"As have I," Sugo said, slightly defiant.

"And that they're looking for new weapons…"

"I already knew."

"And that they're probably going to stay for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks…"

"Any idiot would figure that out."

"And that they're staying with a man named Yoichi at a small house off of the main streets on the south-east part of town, near the old silk shop that used to sell nice slippers."

"… Nani?!!"

"Ha!"

Sugo scowled. "How the hll did you find that out?!"

Chiyo stuck her tongue out. "I have my ways," she said cheekily.

"Little snot nosed brat," Sugo scowled.

Kakashi chuckled. "And they say one gets wiser with age…"

"What are you implying?" Sugo asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously at the masked man.

"Nothing, nothing," Kakashi said, raising his arms up in mock defense.

Sugo scowled and settled back in his seat. "Well, here's something you don't know. The two missing nins are looking for weapons."

"But we do know that," Chiyo protested. "I just said it!"

"They're looking for a weapons supplier," Sugo said.

"Huh? Why?" Chiyo asked.

"For weapons, you noisy brat," Sugo said.

"No, I know that," she scowled. "But why are they looking for a weapons supplier? Why not just go to a, I don't know, a weapons shop or something?"

"Because they're looking for specific types of weapons," Kakashi answered. "In the Fire country, to make sure certain weapons aren't sold to just anyone, there's a law that prohibits the selling of certain weapons without identification. One cannot buy shinobi weapons without showing identity of being a certified shinobi. That way, licensed ninja can purchase their supplies while missing nins and uncertified shinobi cannot. The law includes other sections pertaining to the advertising of weapons to other fighters, like samurai, but we won't go into that."

"The point is, you can't buy a kunai unless you have identification," Sugo said. "Since Kayashima and Umeda are missing nins, they can't buy from any local weapons store. They have to be discreet and buy from a 'shady supplier'."

"So… what about it?"

"I've put my name on the list, under the alias Shotaro. I pulled a few strings and got myself placed at the top of the list. I'm expecting a visit from them any day now. It'll be soon," Sugo said.

"Already…?!" Kakashi said, impressed. "That was fast. It hasn't even been a full day yet…"

"Heheh," Sugo smirked. "You're getting help from the very best. What do you expect?"

Kakashi smiled. "Nothing less. That's great. Is there anything else?"

At this, Sugo frowned seriously. "Yes, I've found out a bit about Kayashima's new partner, Umeda."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. Sugo was certainly efficient.

"You have to hear this," Sugo said. "Umeda's a serious shinobi. I'm willing to bet he's stronger than Kayashima. He could be trouble."

Kakashi frowned. "Umeda… Stronger than Kayashima?"

Sugo nodded. "Here's what I've got. Umeda was born in the Grass country. He entered the Chuunin exams at the age of ten and passed. He became a regular jounin when he was 18, but some reckon he could have moved up sooner if he had applied sooner. He's built a fairly impressive reputation, especially after he killed his fellow jounin teammates and left the Grass country. He disappeared for a while and then joined Kayashima about a year ago. The two have been causing problems since. I'd have to guess that Kayashima's done most of the damage with Umeda playing on the sidelines, but I think that's just a cover. It may seem like Kayashima's the 'leader' of the two man team, but Umeda's the one you should look out for. You should be enough to handle each individually, easily. But if they both fight you at the same time, keep your guard up. I would suggest you get them separated. Get rid of Kayashima first, then battle Umeda. If they both attack at the same time, sic your genin on Kayashima and have them stall until you defeat Umeda and move on to Kayashima. I'm more worried about Umeda than Kayashima. I don't know if it's just easier to fight an enemy you know, but…just a heads up."

Umeda… Kakashi mused. I wonder if he was the 'presence' I felt earlier behind us, when we were on the roof…

(Nothing gets past Kakashi. Honestly, did you think the most amazing person in the world will have missed someone spying on his back? ;P luv Kakashi He's incredible. And he's MINE!)

Kakashi nodded. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Sugo nodded. "Where are you two off to now?"

"We're gonna go meet with Kakashi-san's students and my other… friends," Chiyo said.

"I'm going to try to set up a preliminary battle," Kakashi said. "Get a feel for Kayashima and Umeda's strength. If things go alright, I won't have to go back for a real match; I can just defeat them there and take them back to Konoha or something."

"Why don't you just kill them," Sugo grumbled. "It's easier. Less trouble."

Kakashi chuckled. "It might come to that, but the Hokage didn't specify. He might want to have a chance to question them."

Sugo grunted. "The Third's still going on strong, then? He's older than I am, he should retire."

"Heheh, if you still had your leg, would you be retired now?" Kakashi chuckled.

Sugo laughed ruefully. "No, I suppose not. If I hadn't lost my leg in the idiotic shinobi war against the idiotic Rock, I'd probably be dead by now, anyway. All the same. I don't suppose being dead's any better or worse than how I am now. And it's not like I'm not someone to be looking out for anymore." He grinned and flexed his arms. "Anyone who likes life should know to keep from crossing me!"

"Ha, what do you think you're talking about, you old geezer?" Chiyo teased, sticking out her tongue. "You're so soft; I once saw you trip over yourself just so you didn't hafta step on a bug and kill it!"

"Bah!" Sugo protested, turning slightly red. "You think that's the reason?! I just didn't want bug intestines all over the bottom of my shoe!"

"Then why'd you name it Bobbii?"

"Wha- I did no such thing!!"

"Liar, liar!"

"You little brat!"

'Crash' (as Sugo threw his wooden cane at the laughing girl, who quickly dodged and let the stick knock over his lamp)

"You're losing your touch Turnip-jiichan! I thought you were an ex-shinobi! One of the best! Your aim is so bad you couldn't hit a pole if you ran into it!"

"I'll skin your 'ss!"

XxX

"Oww…" Chiyo whined as she led Kakashi down an open alley away from Sugo's home, rubbing her backside tenderly. "That stupid geezer…"

"Heheh, you can't say you didn't ask for it…" Kakashi chuckled. "Where are we going to now?"

"Huh?" Chiyo glanced at Kakashi and grinned broadly. "Why, we're going back to my humble housing! It's where I told Taiki to tell the others to meet me in about an hour. Which has been… about an hour." She swung the carry out lunch from earlier back and forth slightly, her expression thoughtful. "I thought, since you know where the enemies' at now, that you'd want to attack them soon. That's what you said to Ojii-chan, right? A preliminary battle or something?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "I'm surprised you caught that. I only mentioned it."

Chiyo grinned teasingly. "Catching things is what I do best! Anyway, we'll be there soon. It's just right around… here!"

She ran around the corner, Kakashi following behind her slowly. When he turned the corner he was faced with a (humble, indeed) makeshift housing, built of discarded tin panes and the occasional and seemingly random placed board of cardboard and sheet of fabric.

"Tada!" Chiyo exclaimed. "Look at it! I built it myself. Isn't it great?"

Kakashi looked at the girl with shining brown eyes.

Yes… he thought. She really is proud of this…

He shrugged. "I suppose…" he said in a careless manner. He absent-mindedly scratched his chin with a finger. "Do you really expect me to go in it? I don't think I'll fit…"

Chiyo scowled. "Why yes," she said, lowering her voice to crudely imitate Kakashi. "I think it's an absolute piece of art. You should go into building design. This is some real potential. You could make great money doing stuff like this. You wanna rebuild my house?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I live in an apartment. And even if I did have a house… I wouldn't let you touch it."

Chiyo pouted. "I did what I could!" she said defensively.

Kakashi chuckled lowly and reached out to ruffle her hair. "It's fine. Where do I sit?"

Chiyo grinned. "There's a curb around the back, if you don't mind," she said.

Kakashi shrugged. "Wherever," he said, grinning lazily.

XxX

"Chiyo-chan!"

Five minutes later, Chiyo snapped her head up when she heard her name called.

"They're back," she exclaimed, jumping up from her part-nap/part-just-laying-around and ran around to the front of the makeshift home.

Kakashi got up and followed, as usual, at a slower pace.

He reached the front to see the young scrawny girl bombarded with young children. They all seemed to be happy to see her. She definitely seemed happy to see them. They all seemed to adore her. She most definitely seemed to love them.

Nearby stood his three students, watching the scene unfold with a raised eyebrow. Kakashi moved to stand next to them.

"So this is Chiyo," Sakura said, almost to herself.

"I guess so," Naruto said.

"You three know her?" Kakashi asked.

"Of her," Sakura corrected. "We know the other kids, the younger ones. What about you, sensei?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I know Chiyo. I've been going through the city with her. Found out some stuff about Kayashima and Umeda with her. First time I've seen the kids, though."

"This is our first time seeing Chiyo," Sakura said. She paused for a bit, then said, "I guess… we should have told you about the younger orphans…?"

Kakashi tilted his head thoughtfully. "I wonder if this is what she meant when she said we don't really communicate… I guess she's right," Kakashi said.

Team Seven looked over to the scrawny twelve year old and her fellow orphans, her adopted brothers and sisters.

"We came back like you told Taiki to tell us!" one brown haired girl said.

"And we brought back our ninja friends, just like you told Taiki to tell us!"

"Guess what we've been doing all day!"

"We had a scavenger hunt!"

"We went looking for a toothbrush–"

"–And a book–"

"–And a pair of–"

"Naruto-kun bought us all lunch!"

"We had ramen!"

"Taiki had, like, a million bowls!"

"I was hungry…"

"Yeah, he and Naruto-kun had a huge contest!"

"Of how many bowls they could eat!"

"It was amazing…"

"I was hungry…"

"Is that for us?" one of the young orphans asked, pointing to the carry out congee Chiyo had had for lunch.

"Yeah," she said, hugging Susa affectionately. "It's congee. I had Kakashi-san pay for it."

"Yay!!" the children cheered, and ran to the carry out bag.

Before they could rip it apart Chiyo stood up straight and tall and ordered, "Freeze!"

All the younger orphans froze, not moving another inch, except to turn their heads to her expectantly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Head count," Chiyo ordered.

They all stood up straight.

"Takako!"

"Hai!"

"Seki!"

"Hai!"

"Keiko!"

"Hai!

"Taiki!"

"Hai!

"Susa!"

"Hai!"

"Fuka!"

"Hai!"

"Nakao!"

"Hai!"

"Chiyo-chan!" all the kids called out.

"Hai!" she said, grinning. "Great. Now dig in, but don't spill it."

XxX

"Konnichiwa, I'm Chiyo," Chiyo said to the three ninja who were about her age.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the next Hokage!" declared Naruto.

"I'm Haruno Sakura."

"… Uchiha Sasuke."

"Kids," Chiyo said to the other orphans, who had just finished the congee, down to the last drop. "This is Kakashi-san. Say Konnichiwa!"

"Konnichiwa!" the kids chorused.

"This is Takako, Seki, Keiko, Taiki, Susa, Fuka, and Nakao."

Kakashi grinned lazily and raised up one hand. "Yo," he said.

"Yo!" the children yelled back, laughing.

"Alright," Chiyo said, getting down to business. "Kakashi-san? What is it, exactly, that you want to do?"

"Kakashi-sensei, what have you found out?" Sakura asked before Kakashi could say.

Kakashi smiled. "Well… We were able to find out, first of all, where Kayashima and Umeda are staying."

"Already?!" Naruto exclaimed. "But- but- we've only been here for, like, a day and a half!!"

"That- that was really fast sensei!" Sakura said.

"Well, what can I say?" Kakashi said with a lazy grin. "I'm very efficient. I'm an elite jounin, after all. What do you expect?"

"Yeah, you had absolutely no help, whatsoever, didn't cha?" Chiyo teased. She knew better. Half the credit belonged to at least Sugo, her, and the other orphans.

Kakashi scowled. "I'm basking in glory here," he mock scolded.

"Heehee, whatever," Chiyo said. "Just hurry up."

"We've found out where they're staying; at the house of a man by the name of Yoichi. We paid the house a secret visit earlier," Kakashi said. Though I wonder if it was quite as secret as I'd like to believe…I know there was someone behind us. If it was Umeda… "We've also found out what they're looking for, what their business is in Hidekatsu. They're looking for a weapons supplier. Someone I know has placed himself at the top of the list to supply them with the weapons they want. Under the alias Shotaro. He's going to try to make contact with Kayashima and Umeda. He'll get back to me soon."

"How do you know the source is reliable?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"Sugo-san is a former shinobi of Konoha," Kakashi said. "He's retired, but he still keeps connections. I know him personally. We had several missions together before he retired."

Missions… Chiyo glanced at Kakashi. So Ojii-chan… really was a shinobi… I wonder what sort of work he did…

"So… if they're looking for a weapons supplier… does that mean they need weapons? Are they… out of them or something?" Sakura asked.

"A shinobi always need to have a weapon handy," Kakashi said. "I'm sure they have plenty of other means to do battle, but they're probably just a bit short on kunai and shuriken. And since those are shinobi weapons, they can't very well walk into a weapons shop, now that you have to show identification before you can purchase a specified weapon."

"So? What are we going to do about it?" Naruto asked loudly.

"I was just about to say," Kakashi said. "We're going to launch a preliminary battle. Sugo's told me that Umeda might be stronger than expected, so I want to test him out. If he's not too much to handle, then I can take him and Kayashima out during the first battle. If something unexpected happens, I can wait until the next time."

"Hey, what about us?!" Naruto demanded. "I wanna kick some 'ss!"

Sasuke 'hmphed' his agreement. He wanted some of the action as well.

Kakashi frowned. "This won't be like any battle you've ever fought in, not even when you three went against me during the bell exercise. You're lives will be on the lines. It won't be like training. This will be a real battle. Any of you three could die."

Chiyo mentally smirked. Yeah right. Like you'd let any of your students die. That would be too much trouble for you. Too much paperwork or whatever. You're just trying to scare them…and egg them on…

But, what ever it was that Kakashi seemed to try to do, worked…

"No worries, sensei!" Naruto said confidently. "No lame 'ss excuse of a ninja is ever gonna touch me! I'm invincible!"

"No, you're not, you baka," Sakura said, hitting the blond on his head. "I bet that guy could beat you in a second," she scolded.

"Aww, Sakura-chan! Don't you trust me??"

"No. If any one is going to beat them, it would be Sasuke-kun, of course."

"Yeah right! That idiot can't hit a sitting duck!"

"If I can't hit a sitting duck, then you wouldn't be able to hit the ground you're stepping on. You'd miss it by a mile," Sasuke retorted.

"What?! I can to hit the ground!"

"Prove it."

"I will!"

'Crash'

"Oww, my toe!"

"… Baka…"

"Can we get back on topic?" Kakashi asked exasperatedly. "If you three think you can handle it, you can take on Kayashima while I deal with Umeda."

"Really?! Kayashima?!" Naruto asked. He was under the impression that Kayashima was the leader of the two missing nins and thus the stronger of the two.

"Sure," Kakashi said easily. "After all, I already know I can beat him. I'm just worried about Umeda. You three can take on the loser while I take on the stronger of the two."

The three genin anime sweat-dropped.

"Chiyo," Kakashi turned to the girl who was watching with slight amusement. "I'll need you and the younger orphans to lead Kayashima and Umeda out of the city. I don't want any civilians getting injured. They probably won't try anything that would bring attention to them while they're in the city, so you and the kids should be fairly safe. Once they're out of the city, my team and I will be waiting. You don't have any official shinobi training, but if you could stay near the genin's battle with Kayashima, it would be helpful. If anything goes wrong, I need you to send word to Sugo. He might be able to come and help us, or at least he'll be able to find some other retired shinobi and send help. It would be best if you kids could help Chiyo lead the bad men out of Hidekatsu and then stay in side the walls."

"Aw, but I wanna see the fight!" Takako protested.

"It's too dangerous," Chiyo said. "I need you to stay with the others so you can protect them."

Takako hesitated, tempted by his boyish desire to see the action, but his desire to please the older girl he respected and handle the responsibility of caring and protecting his adopted family outweighed his first.

He sat up straight and nodded. "Hai!" he said.

Chiyo nodded. "Good. Thanks, Takako," she said. Turning back to Kakashi, she said, "So all we have to do is lead them outside the city to you and then while the others stay inside the city, I'll watch and make sure nothing goes wrong and if something does run back to tell Ojii-chan. Right?"

Kakashi chuckled at her recitation but nodded. "Right."

Chiyo grinned "Sounds simple enough. Let's get to it!"

xixixixixixixixixixixixixixixixi

The afternoon was bright. The streets were crowded. Markets bustled around Kayashima, giving cover to him and Umeda as the two traveled around, hiding in the shades of the buildings, hugging their walls. So far, well, as far as Kayashima was aware, the shinobi sent from Konoha still hadn't found a lead on them. And, they had found a promising supplier, one at the top of the list of 'good suppliers', someone who went by the name Shotaro. Today was a good day.

At least, it was, until some bratty street kid had the nerve to try to steal his money.

Several, actually.

Kayashima and Umeda were walking down one of the main streets, using the crowd to cover their tracks. They were gathering supplies for the journey, rations and other little trek food. Kayashima supposed someone could call it 'shopping', but only if they wanted a kunai in their throats for the insult. Shinobi like Kayashima simply did not 'shop'. 'Shopping' was for those who could spare time for the leisurely gathering of desired wanton materials. Perhaps a pretty pair of slippers or a nice big fish for dinner. No, what Kayashima –and his partner – was doing was 'gathering supplies.' Supplies that they would depend on for survival. After all, how was one to survive without food during the long trek between villages and towns and cities? This was survival food. Kayashima was especially looking forward to the gathering of nice little seaweed crackers. He really did enjoy those. A yummy, almost sweet cracker taste, followed by the unique aftertaste of seaweed and a twinge of salt. That was what he called survival food. How could one live without them?

He and his partner were about to cross the crowded street when suddenly a young boy about six years old with black hair walked by in front of him and tripped. Reflexively (it truly was a pointless reflex) Kayashima reached out and caught the boy before he face planted on the floor, immediately cursing afterward. He had a good (in a bad way) reputation to keep, appearances to hold up. He was the big bad blond missing nin from the Grass country. Blond murderers simply did not reach out to catch boys that tripped over their own clumsy feet. Blond murderers let the boys fall, laugh loudly (if one laughed loud and evilly enough, there was also the good chance the boy would start crying), and then (though better done when there wasn't a crowd) kick the boy out of the way and continue on. Maybe even stick a kunai in the boy, just to make sure he didn't trip in front of such a high reputed murderer again.

He stopped his stream of profanities when he realized the boy was still in his arms –staring quite rudely- and people were starting to notice the string of curses, casting frowns and disapproving looks in his direction for using such 'vulgar' language with a young boy in his arms. Oh, that's right, he was still holding the clumsy brat. Kayashima immediately snapped his arms back, causing the boy to wobble a bit (was the brat unbalanced or what?) before finding his feet once again.

"I'm sorry," he said in a childlike voice. Kayashima supposed that was to be expected, seeing as the boy really was a child. "I didn't mean to trip! Thanks a lot for catching me!"

"Shut up, brat, and move on," Kayashima growled.

"Of course!" the boy said and made to keep walking when he hesitated. "But… I feel bad of making you hafta catch me! I think I should do something to say thanks! Like I really mean it!"

"Don't think, brat, you're not good at it," Kayashima said, making to continue on. He harshly pushed the street boy to the side, causing the boy to start falling again. Again (curse those reflexes. Was he an evil serial murderer or not?) he reached out and caught the boy by the arm before the clumsy kid could fall.

"Wow, you caught me again!" the boy exclaimed. "Now I really have to do something to say thanks!"

Before Kayashima could growl back, the boy turned to a nearby alley and called, "Hey, you guys, this guy just caught me from tripping twice! We gotta say thanks!"

Surprisingly, a number of heads popped out from the sides and shadows of the alley, all of them young.

"Yay!" they suddenly cheered, and before Kayashima knew it, he was hit with a crowd of annoyingly loud street kids, all hugging various parts of him, hanging off of his arms, legs, and waist. One three year old boy even dared to climb up to his head. The bright eyed boy stared into Kayashima's eyes before (loudly) saying, "Tanks a wot mister!"

Kayashima growled and moved to violently shake the kids off. But before he could move his arms (seriously, were these kids psychic or what?), all the brats jumped off of him and ran back into the alley, the six year old clumsy one yelling his thanks again over his shoulders before disappearing.

Kayashima growled. "I swear, another brat touch me and I'm going to shove a kunai up his–"

"Hey," Umeda suddenly interrupted.

Kayashima's face grew angrier. Where did Umeda get the nerve to interrupt him? "What?" Kayashima snarled.

"…Are you… missing something?" Umeda asked, though the expression on his face said he already knew the answer.

"What are you talking about?" Kayashima was getting irritated.

"… Why don't you check for your wallet…?" Umeda suggested quietly. His eyes were sneering.

Kayashima narrowed his eyes. "Why should I?" he countered.

"Perhaps because of the off chance that one of those street kids successfully pick pocketed you…" Umeda said casually.

"You think they could have even the slightly chance of doing that?" Kayashima snarled. "I'm a shinobi. Brats who live off of someone else's garbage have no chance!"

"I'm just saying you should check," Umeda shrugged. "It's not like it's my money."

Kayashima narrowed his eyes further. Without saying a word, he reached to his waist where he kept his ninja pouch. Slipping his hand in, he quickly rummaged trough his stuff. A couple kunai; a bingo book; a few scrolls…

No wallet.

Kayashima's eyes bulged.

"I'm gonna murder those insufferable-!"

The chase was on.

Without pause, Kayashima flashed to the alley the children had run into. He snapped his head back and forth, trying to decide which path to take when the alley split into several different back ways behind the tall buildings.

Suddenly, he heard a dull thump on the dirt ground and a muffled "Oof!"

In a flash, he located the sound and the boy who made it.

It was the same boy who had tripped earlier (was his clumsiness inherent?), half lying on the ground several meters away down the alley. The black haired six year old snapped his head up to see the two shinobi and quickly scrambled back to his feet. Faster than one could have expected, he ran down the alley and disappeared around the corner.

With a growl, Kayashima raced after the boy. He was confident. After all, he was a shinobi. The boy was a street brat. There was no contest.

When Kayashima rounded the corner, the boy had gone. He just caught sight of a disappearing dirty shoe before it ran behind another corner. He dashed to the corner to see a girl little older than the boy before, running down the alley with his wallet clutched in her hands. Kayashima dashed after her. Using his ninja honed speed, he caught up to her with little trouble. But before he could snatch her by her hair, the girl suddenly turned down a hidden path and slipped from his reach.

Muttering ever more profanities, Kayashima turned and continued after her.

This was not a good day.

XxX

Takako watched from the roof of a restaurant as his brothers and sisters ran from the blond bad guy, baiting him with his wallet. The black haired one followed as well, a small distance behind the blond. Takako had just finished his turn after Seki and now, Fuka had taken over. Making sure the shinobi really didn't have a chance to catch the brown haired girl, Takako raced down the stairs and ran to the nearby wall of the city. Finding a familiar hole in the wall, he crawled through to see the world outside of Hidekatsu.

A pair of ninja sandals came into his line of vision.

"Are they on their way?"

Takako looked up to see the ever cool Sasuke looking down at him, waiting for an answer. His hand was outstretched, offered to the boy to help him stand up from crawling in the hole.

Takako took the hand and hoisted himself up. "Yes sir!" he said, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Great. Good job," came a voice behind Sasuke.

The other ninjas and Chiyo walked up to the eight year old boy.

"It'll be soon, then," Kakashi said.

Chiyo went to Takako and hugged him tightly. The boy smiled, pleased, and snuggled against his source of admiration.

"Are you sure the others are ok?" she asked, letting go of Takako and holding him at arms length.

"Absolutely," he said. "Fuka's running now. Nakao's gonna be the one to hand it to you."

Chiyo nodded. "You go back and gather them together. Make sure to take care of them. Don't let anything happen to them, 'kay?" Takako nodded, determined. She turned to the shinobi. "I'm going to go meet him now," she said. "It won't take long."

Kakashi nodded and the orphaned girl disappeared, running towards the arranged meeting spot.

"Hey, is Chiyo-chan already gone?"

Team seven and Takako turned to see the group of children, missing the two who were currently running or on the ready line to run, running to the group.

Fuka and Susa ran to Sakura and hugged her.

"Will you guys be okay?" Fuka asked, hugging Sakura's leg as Sakura picked up the five-year old Susa.

"Yeah, will you?" the shy five year old asked. "The blond guy looked really mad…"

Sakura smiled reassuringly. "Don't you worry," she said, tweaking Fuka's four year old nose. "We've got it all under control."

"Yeah!" Naruto said. "You haven't seen just how strong we are! We'll kick those sorry excuses of shinobi's sorry a-"

"Naruto!"

"Ee, sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said.

"Hey, hey, Naruto-kun!" Fuka let go of Sakura's leg and ran up to Naruto, holding up a plucked daisy to his face. "It's for you!" she said, her eyes shining brightly. "Maybe it'll protect you! Chiyo-chan always liked flowers!"

"I don't need it! I'm invincible!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Take it, you baka," Sakura said.

Naruto took the flower from the girl and stared at it, frowning at the yellow daisy, wondering if it was alright with his male ego to accept a flower from a girl. Then his face brightened into a large grin. "I know! It'll be my lucky charm!" he declared, stuffing the flower roughly into his pocket. Sakura rolled her eyes. Fuka couldn't be more happy.

"Yay!" she cheered, and jumped to Naruto's waist, hugging it fiercely. Naruto blushed, but Kakashi caught sight of the soft expression that came from the boy who was ostracized from the villagers at home, deprived of true family affection and hungry for acceptance.

Naruto allowed the soft expression a while longer before he put on a mock scowl. "Oi, I've got a battle to fight! I don't need mushy stuff! I've got my good luck charm!"

Smiling largely, the four year old let go of the blond genin.

Seki went to Kakashi and stared at him for a short while.

"Can I see your face?" she asked directly. There was no beating around the bush for her.

Kakashi chuckled. "No," he said. The girl pouted.

Taiki ran up and jumped onto Kakashi's back. The jounin stood tolerantly as the six year old climbed up and sat himself on his shoulders.

"Wow…" he said. "I've never been on anyone's shoulders before…"

The other children immediately left the genin and crowded around the gray-haired man, raising their arms, begging for a ride, asking Taiki what it was like.

Kakashi chuckled apologetically and reached up to pluck the six year old from his shoulders.

"Sorry kids, but we've got to go meet Chiyo and the other shinobi. We'll be back soon enough," Kakashi said. He gently set Taiki on the ground and ruffled a few of the kids' hair. He turned to his genin team. "Let's go."

Nodding, the three genin went to Kakashi's side and started to set out to the battle area, a small clearing in a small bit of woodland near the city.

Before Sasuke got very far, though, he felt a tugging at his blue shirt. Stopping, he turned to see the eight year old holding on to the shirt. His gaze was down, as though he was embarrassed or ashamed, and seemed to be battling with himself. Then the boy raised his head and looked at Sasuke with wide determined eyes.

"Sasuke…san…" Takako started. "After your done beating the bad guys butt…"

He broke off and then quickly blurted, "Can you teach me to be strong like you? Can you teach me how to fight? I know you won't be staying here much longer, but could you teach me anyway? I wanna learn how to fight! I wanna… be able to help my brothers and sisters… like Chiyo-chan tells me to…"

The boy dropped his gaze again, staring at the ground.

Sasuke stared at the eight year old boy. He felt a slight blush coming on, embarrassed, but nonetheless very pleased, by the boy's request. Sasuke suddenly remembered the incident that had happened the day before, how Takako had tried to fend off the large offender back in the red district, how he had been easily tossed aside, and how the boy had seemed unusually quiet after the incident. Sasuke understood now.

Sasuke turned his gaze away from the boy in front of him, blushing a bit more. "I… guess so," he muttered, embarrassed and not quite sure how to handle the situation.

Takako snapped his gaze up and stared at Sasuke with bright eyes. "Really?? You mean it?? Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to bug you…"

"It's fine," Sasuke said.

Suddenly Takako threw his arms around Sasuke. "Thank you!"

Honestly, what is it with these kids and hugging?! Sasuke thought to himself, though he couldn't deny the tiny bubble of happiness that had before been destroyed by the murder of his family.

He 'hmphed' but ruffled the boy's hair as he pulled away.

Kakashi smiled, musing at how an eight year old orphan could have such an affect on the usually cool and aloof Uchiha genin.

XxX

Chiyo took the stolen wallet from the three year old and ruffled his hair.

"You go back to the others, now," she said to Nakao. "This will be over soon enough."

Nakao nodded and, after giving her a hug, disappeared back into the city.

Chiyo stood there, waiting for Kayashima to catch up. She didn't have to wait long.

As soon as Kayashima came into view, Chiyo broke into a run, using her chakra as Sugo had taught to build her speed.

She didn't dare look back, running as though her life was on the line. She knew it was. She didn't even try to fool herself that she was faster than the shinobi. She knew she wasn't. She knew that the only reason he hadn't killed her now was because she knew the best routes and kept turning corners fast enough to make him unable to draw a weapon, aim, and stick a kunai in her neck. She anime sweat-dropped as she picked up her speed, motivated by that vivid imagination.

XxX

Umeda sighed of impatience as he followed closely behind his 'partner'. He began to regret telling the blond about losing his wallet. But then, he considered, he would have had it even more bad, having to listen as Kayashima complained, whined, growled, and tantrumed about it until he found the thief and consequently slit his throat. Kid or not.

Actually, Umeda found this little chase a bit off. If he stopped to reason, he would have found it odd that street children had been able to evade them for this long. He would have also wondered if this was actually planned ahead of time, the children ahead passing off the wallet with ease and expectancy from one to the next like a practiced relay. He might even have suspected that he and his 'partner' were being purposely led in a certain direction.

As it was, he slowly noticed that the tall city walls were gradually getting bigger as the chase brought them closer and closer to the side of the city. And, as he stared at the back of the latest runner, a girl that was significantly older than all the children who had run before, with uneven black hair that reached her shoulder, he couldn't help but feel he had seen her before, somewhere some time ago. He frowned at her back, trying to place her.

A few minutes later, they were running along side the tall city walls, closing in on the girl ahead. Suddenly, she disappeared. Umeda and Kayashima ran up to where she had suddenly gone from their line of vision and found a hole just big enough to allow a twelve year old to run crouched through. Casting a glance at Kayashima, Umeda already knew that the blond wouldn't let the girl slip from his grasp.

Without wasting another moment, Kayashima reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out an explosive tag. He tossed the explosive tag into the hole and waited. A second later, as the smoke cleared from the blast, the two men ran into the hole that now allowed them to run upright. Umeda slightly scowled at Kayashima's line of action. No doubt, many will have heard the blast and later find the hole that was newly remodeled. That would cause suspicion and more people on their trail, trying to find the culprits of the blast and bring them to 'justice'. Umeda doubted anyone they sent would get close; they had managed to evade the Konoha nins thus far. Though he did wonder how long that would last, seeing as the famous Copy-cat nin was after them. Not that he was too worried.

The two men emerged from the hole into the world outside of the crowded city. The scenery was slightly surprising; one minute, the two were running through the back alley ways of one of the most throbbing cities, the next, they were chasing their quarry through the woods that bordered the outside walls of the city, shadowed and unpopulated.

By now, the girl had started to slow down. She had been running for far longer and much faster than the children before her. Even from where he was running, he could hear her panting breath. He vaguely wondered where she was running so desperately to, whether she had a special hidey hole somewhere. Perhaps the children hadn't expected their last pick-pocketing victim to follow them so far, for so long, so determinedly. Actually, he wondered why Kayashima was still chasing after his wallet. He knew that the blond had no real significant amount of money in it. Probably, he figured, the blond was just looking for some blood to spill.

Finally, the tiring girl tripped over a rogue tree root and stumbled. She recovered but Kayashima was already there, making a short burst of speed and grabbing the girl by her neck. He lifted the girl by her neck, tightening his grip and his arm went up. The girl's dark brown eyes widened slightly in wariness and fear. She grasped Kayashima's wrist with her two hands, wallet dropped and forgotten on the ground, and tried to pull Kayashima's iron grip from her neck. Umeda could hear her breath become more choked as she tried to gasp for air that was blocked from her lungs. She weakly struggled, feebly trying to kick Kayashima, her eyes now squinted in pain.

Kayashima, on the other hand, was enjoying this immensely. His face was twisted into an ugly sneer, his eyes sparking with maniac, sadistic glee.

"Didn't you know, girl?" he growled. "Pick-pocketing is bad! You ought to be punished for that!"

The girl only wheezed in reply. Umeda frowned at the girl. Now that she was close up, he could swear that he had seen her from somewhere. Her black uneven hair… her scrawny body frame… her brown eyes…

Then it clicked.

"Kayashima, get down!" Umeda shouted as he fell to the ground.

"Wha-!"

Kayashima fell to the ground when Umeda grabbed his ankle and pulled him down just in time to miss the sudden cluster of flying kunai and shuriken. The girl took that chance and off ran to the side.

"What's going on?!" Kayashima demanded.

"It's an ambush," Umeda said coolly. "The kids were sent to bait us into following them here. That girl is working with the Konohans. They're probably the ones who threw the attack. Hatake Kakashi is here."

Kayashima tensed visibly and quickly looked around.

"That's pretty good," came a voice from around the trees' branches. "I'll assume that was you who were watching behind us when we found out where you were staying…"

Umeda smirked, standing up and turning around to see Kakashi standing on a large branch and leaning casually against the trunk of a tree.

"That's right," he said sneered. "You knew?"

Kakashi smiled coolly. "I know a lot of things…"

"Heh, so you finally caught up?" Kayashima asked, standing up and getting into a loose fighting stance. "That's not so good for you, really. You can't take us on by yourself. Today's going to be your last day, Copy-cat nin Kakashi."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "Is it now? And I was so hoping to finish the new volume of Icha Icha…"

"Took you a while, you lazy b'stard," the girl reappeared under the tree Kakashi was on, rubbing her neck and glaring at the gray-haired shinobi.

XxX

Chiyo's neck was sore. It hurt a lot. And she was mad.

"You couldn't get here earlier?!" she scowled at Kakashi. "He nearly got me!"

Kakashi chuckled. "Gomen, gomen. The others were talking to your friends."

"Liar. You were probably just reading your book and waiting for a good place to stop before you decided to jump in," Chiyo retorted. She looked at the two shinobi in front. "Where are they?"

"Oh, you know, just waiting to make an entrance…"

"There's more than you?" Kayashima demanded.

"Well…" Kakashi said. "I suppose you could say that. They're really not much…"

Suddenly Kakashi whipped his arm out and caught a kunai that had been sent flying his way.

"We heard that!" Naruto's voice came. He and the other two genin appeared on the opposite side of the missing nin. Naruto was smirking confidently. Sakura had a determined look on her face. Sasuke was looking cool and aloof as ever.

"Prepare to get your 'sses whupped!" Naruto said. Sasuke smirked behind him.

"Pfft!"

The Konoha shinobi looked at Kayashima. He was snorting with mocking laughter. "Are you serious? You going to sic those little brats on us? What are they going to do? Annoy us to death?" he sneered. "If you value the lives of your next generation… you'll run away with your tails between your legs."

Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't got a tail, so I wouldn't be able to do that anyway. Besides…" he crouched on his branch, pulling out a few kunai "I can't let people like you run loose in the Fire Country. It would spoil my reputation. I've worked real hard to get it up to where it is."

Kayashima and Umeda tensed, pulling out their own kunai.

"Too bad it won't get any higher!" Kayashima sneered, and he let loose his handful of kunai, aimed at the genin. Umeda shot his at Kakashi.

Kakashi and his team jumped to the side, dodging the sharp missiles and landing near Chiyo.

"Chiyo, you make sure to stay out of the way," Kakashi said. "These are real shinobi. They won't hesitate to kill you. Let me and my team handle this, shinobi to shinobi."

"Don't worry," Chiyo scowled. "I'm not planning on jumping in anytime soon. Just watch your back!"

She suddenly shoved Naruto to the ground. Kakashi grabbed her by her waist and Sasuke and Sakura jumped away to dodge another cluster of kunai and shuriken sent their way.

"Give me a warning before you do that!" Chiyo complained as Kakashi dumped her unceremoniously on the ground behind a nearby tree.

"Stay behind the trees," he ordered and jumped back into the battle.

"Thanks, Chiyo! I owe you one!" Naruto shouted as he and his teammates also jumped in.

"You bet you do," Chiyo muttered, but she sobered quickly, watching the battle intensely, ready to run for Sugo if things started to look bad.

Naruto (as usual) attacked first, summoning ten clones and all at once jumping onto Kayashima. Kakashi threw another kunai at Umeda, trying to separate him from his partner. Umeda jumped to the side, away from Kayashima, but he didn't go far, keeping within reach of the blond missing nin.

Naruto's clones gave a shout of surprise as they were suddenly thrown off the missing nin when he was able to bring his hands together and form a hand sign, summoning a thick bushel of razor sharp grass to suddenly sprout in front of him, acting as a green wall. Naruto's clones disappeared in a small poof, leaving the real Naruto sitting on the ground, rubbing the new scratches the sharp grass had given him.

"Like it?" Kayashima mocked. "I call the injuries it gives grass-cuts!"

Chiyo –and very many of the people on the battle field– anime sweat dropped.

"That's lame!" Naruto shouted. He jumped back up, pointing his finger at the other blond. "A six year old can come up with something better than that!"

Kayashima scowled. "You smart-mouthed brat!"

He made a hand sign and sent his bushel of razor sharp grass at the genin, aiming to stab through them. He did so love the color of red blood on his green grass. It reminded him of Christmas.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted as he and his comrades jumped out of the way. Sasuke reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a hand full of shuriken. He sent them spinning towards Kayashima before jumping again to the side to dodge another group of pointy grass.

Kayashima's grass blocked most of the shuriken, his kunai knocking the rest aside.

"Do you honestly think you have a chance at beating me?!" Kayashima asked. "I'll have to teach you a lesson for having such a big head!"

"Speak for yourself!" Naruto yelled as Sakura threw a group of kunai at the blond while Sasuke let loose his clan's famous fireball jutsu.

Kayashima dodged both attacks, jumping from Sasuke and knocking away Sakura's kunai with his. Then he disappeared, using his ninja honed speed to suddenly reappear in front of Naruto. Before Naruto was able to react, Kayashima punched him ruthlessly in the gut, knocking the breath out of the younger blond. The punch sent Naruto flying into a nearby tree. Sasuke tensed and jumped at Kayashima.

The two began to spar.

Kakashi glanced over at his students from a short distance away. He grimaced when Kayashima landed a strong hit on Naruto, sending the Kyuubi holder crashing into the nearby trees. He sighed, then refocused on the man in front of him.

Umeda was sneering coldly.

"Watching your students get killed?" he asked mockingly. "I wouldn't worry too much about them. Their fate is inevitable. They're going to die. I would worry more about you at the moment. Maybe you'll be able to live a bit longer than them. But you'll die eventually as well."

Kakashi looked at Umeda with a bored look. He shrugged. "Of course I will. Everyone dies eventually," he said. He took out a few kunai and eased into a loose fighting stance. "Of course, there's no way it will be by your hands, though. What would that say about me? I happen to have a fairly good reputation to keep. Well, I suppose I have two, but let's forget my more mature one for the moment and focus on the one that talks of my incredible skill and genius talent, shall we?"

Cocky b'stard, Chiyo thought to herself with an anime sweat-drop. I'd like to see him get his butt kicked one of these days. Mature reputation… He has a perverted reputation…?! He's not even ashamed of it…

Umeda got a distasteful look to his face. "Don't speak of your 'incredible skill and genius talent' until you've beaten me," he said. "Not that that will happen. It would be more likely that Kayashima is beaten by your little brats. There's no possibility."

Kakashi smiled vaguely. "Perhaps…" was all he said. Then he used his kunai to block a flung shuriken.

The two men jumped towards each other, throwing hits and kicks. Both were able to block all the attacks, but Chiyo wondered if this was a real all out fight or if the two were merely testing the other's strength. She hoped Kakashi didn't fail, but it didn't seem likely he would. In fact, though it was a bit more serious, he had still kept his expression at a level of boredom. She wondered how seriously he was taking this. Then again, Umeda didn't seem too concerned either. She wondered if they both knew this was just a sort of preliminary battle. She wasn't quite sure how it was ninjas worked. Or, she also wondered, was it because they were both men with insufferably large egos?

Men.

After a few exchanged blows (though none of them hit) the two shinobi jumped back from each other. Umeda immediately brought his hands together and went through a sequence of hand signs. Finishing quickly, his arms suddenly began to glow green. No, they didn't glow green. They were green. The light green darkened as thorns began to appear tearing his sleeve. His fingers melded into a singly, large point. Chiyo decided it looked very sharp.

"I wouldn't normally bring out this jutsu so quickly, but I'm in need of a new katana," Umeda explained, mockingly casual. "I see I'll have to visit my supplier fairly soon. Not that you'll be around to see me use one."

"I suppose that should make me glad," Kakashi said lazily. "If your sword fighting skills are anything like your taijutsu, I'd be more worried if you weren't aiming for me…"

Umeda growled and jumped towards Kakashi.

But the Leaf jounin was faster. His hands blurred as he went through a series of hand signs. Before Umeda reached him, Kakashi finished, slammed his hand into the ground, and pulled up a wall of dirt.

Ojii-chan's dirt wall! Chiyo grinned with recognition.

Umeda's arm slammed into the dirt wall. The wall resisted him for a moment, and then collapsed, washing over him like a flood of earth. He quickly leaped through the wave, onto the other side and turned to confront Kakashi.

Though, it seemed the leaf shinobi had disappeared.

Warily, Umeda looked around him, even above, to see where Kakashi had gone. Nothing. Both the missing nin and Chiyo tensed in anticipation. Chiyo watched the battle with a new intensity, now that Kakashi had so suddenly disappeared.

Where'd that pervert go? He… better not be reading… no way, he wouldn't, not in the middle of a battle. Right? That lazy pervert.

Umeda stood still, using all his senses to try to find Kakashi. Everything seemed quiet for a moment. Then Umeda's eyes suddenly widened in shock and he jumped into the air.

Or at least he tried to. Before his feet left the ground, a hand shot up and grabbed Umeda's ankle, anchoring him down. Chiyo, not realizing it was Kakashi's, let out something that was between squeal and a yelp, tensing on her feet, ready to run before more of the 'undead' suddenly became more active. Ojii-chan certainly did not tell her about this.

The hand pulled Umeda down, trapping him into the ground. Kakashi popped up a small distance away.

"That wasn't so hard," he said, dusting the dirt off his hands.

"It wouldn't be, considering that's a Bunshin," came a voice behind him.

Chiyo gasped, realizing she had not even seen a second Umeda appear on the scene.

Before Kakashi could react, Umeda shoved a kunai into his neck from behind, pushing it so that the point pierced through the front.

Chiyo stared wide-eyed as 'Kakashi' poofed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Only if you're considering, though," Kakashi said, suddenly appearing behind him with a kunai at the missing nin's throat. "That was a Bunshin, too… though, I guess you've already figured it."

"What clued you in?" Umeda asked as he knocked the arm holding the kunai away, ducking under it, and tried to kick Kakashi in the stomach. Kakashi blocked it with his other arm and the two jumped away again. This time, though, Umeda doubled back, running at Kakashi with his green blade arm leading the way.

Kakashi knocked the stab aside with his kunai and managed to use the momentum to kick Umeda on the side. The missing nin slid back a distance and barely managed to block another onslaught of blows. Finally managing to regain his balance, Umeda blocked Kakashi's attacks, dishing out a few of his own, some that actually managed to hit the jounin.

Again, after a few more blows, the two ninjas jumped apart, their hands blurring as they began another jutsu.

Sasuke crashed into the nearby trees, almost sighing with exasperation when, as he was flying, he heard Sakura's predictable 'Sasuke-kun!' cry. When would that girl learn to stop obsessing about his 'wellbeing' like that? What was she, his over protective mother? Sasuke scowled as he sat up. He could take care of himself. He'd been doing that all while she was sitting with her family, worrying about her weight. She should be more worried about her hair color, if Sasuke had to say anything. Pink??? Was it from her mother or her father?

It had to be from the mother's side. He couldn't picture any respectable man with pink hair. He shuddered as an unwelcomed image of Itachi with pink hair randomly popped into his mind. It had to be from her mother's side.

Just in case, though, Sasuke made a note never to ask.

The Uchiha shook his head, scowling at himself. What in the world was he doing, thinking about the absurdity of his teammate's hair color when there was a fight going on?! Uchihas don't do that. Mentally scolding himself, he picked himself up and leaped back into the battle.

Naruto had summoned another crowd of Kage Bunshins and they were all lining up and poofing out of existence (seriously, did the blond ever learn? Was it because he was blond? Why couldn't everyone just have black hair? It was a sensible hair color. What was his problem with hair color today?).

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke was jolted out of his random thoughts when he heard Naruto's uniquely loud voice calling.

"You any good with these?"

Sasuke looked up in time to catch a large shuriken tossed at him. He caught it and shifted it to a more appropriate position.

"I'm good with anything," he said coolly. He quickly ran around the missing nin, trying to find a better location around the trees and branches.

As he ran past his female teammate, he hissed, "Set some traps."

Surprised, Sakura nodded and immediately disappeared.

Kayashima didn't notice. He had already marked the girl as insignificant and unthreatening. He was more worried about the boys. Especially the black haired one. That fireball jutsu he had used was not genin level. He'd have to keep an eye on the brat for any more tricks.

The blond was also a non-substantial threat. His attacks consisted mainly of Kage Bunshins and taijutsu attacks. Easily taken care of.

Kayashima eyed the black haired boy, who was now holding a large shuriken. He tensed, but, of course, he wasn't too worried. Those attacks didn't work on him, after all; he was simply too skilled for them to be effective.

Sasuke smirked confidently, pulled the shuriken back, and then let it fly. The large spinning ninja star made a beeline for Kayashima, its aim perfect and in control.

Before the shuriken hit Kayashima, though, the missing nin ducked, the shuriken missing him, flying obviously over his head by more than a few inches. He smirked when he felt the disturbed air above his head.

He looked up just in time to see the second shuriken whizzing towards him, barely managing to bring his arm up in time to save his head from being sliced in half.

The shuriken cut deeply into his arm, making Kayashima hiss in pain. Dodging quite belatedly, Kayashima leapt to the side, harshly pulling out the shuriken and angrily throwing it back towards the black haired boy.

"Now!" Sasuke shouted as he dodged the badly thrown weapon. The shuriken crashed harmlessly into the trees behind him.

He watched with satisfaction as their opponent's head shot up in surprise as a barrage of kunai and regular sized shuriken flew through the air out of nowhere, aiming straight at the blond missing nin.

Kayashima jumped to the side just to see another barrage of weapons sailing his way. This time, he was barely able to jump away, a few kunai managing to stab him in the arm and leg.

"Naruto!" Sasuke cued.

"Gotcha!" Naruto smirked and summoned up ten Kage Bunshins, each holding his own kunai.

"Attack!" they all yelled, and jumped the blond Grass nin.

Kayashima knocked a few of them out of existence and dodged the rest, jumping to the other side.

Right into Sasuke's fireball jutsu.

The two boys smirked victoriously as they watched the missing nin burn up.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's team work, baby!"

"You would think so," came a voice behind him.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried as she came running back to the battle scene.

But Naruto was already flying across the small clearing, kicked solidly from behind. The blond crashed into a thick tree with a resounding thud and sank to the ground, holding his chest and coughing up blood.

"No way," he choked out. "How…!"

The three genin looked back to the flames as Sasuke ended the jutsu. Burnt, crisp pieces of grass fluttered to the scorched ground.

"It's called…" Kayashima started to say. Then he disappeared, reappearing in a flash behind Sasuke. "Grass Bunshin: Grass nin style."

Kayashima cackled as Sasuke's body crashed (once again) into the nearby trees, joining Naruto's side.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried. "N-Naruto!"

Kayashima sneered at her. "What's wrong, girly? Feeling lonely? Then why don't you join them?!"

Sakura gasped, tensing as the blond missing nin charged at her.

Suddenly, before he could reach the pink haired girl, Kayashima saw something from the corner of his eye, washing up behind him.

"Sh't!!" he exclaimed, jumping away from Sakura and landing a few meters away.

He immediately began sucking in his breath, holding it.

What…Chiyo thought, tensed and wary, …is that…?!

A fog of dull yellow… something… now colored the air around everyone. A dull, lusty shimmer surrounded the area.

Sasuke glared suspiciously at the air in front of his face as he sat against the tree he had crashed into, he and Naruto having not yet gotten up. Naruto looked as confused as ever. It was a wonder that the hyperactive blond hadn't yet jumped up and demanded the identity of the substance that colored the air. It looked strangely like…

… pollen… or… some kind of spore… Kakashi frowned. He stood still, eyeing the dusty yellow substance. Then he turned his gaze back to Umeda.

The black haired Grass nin had now straightened out of his battle stance, a relaxed smirk playing his lips.

He turned to Kayashima, who had stalked angrily to his 'partner.'

"Warn me when you do that, d'mmit!" Kayashima growled.

Kakashi noticed the blond missing nin didn't retake his breath.

"Tap me!" Kayashima demanded, still not breathing in the air.

Umeda narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but he reached up and tapped a certain point at the front of Kayashima's throat, a small flash of chakra emitting from the tapped point.

At that, Kayashima took a deep breath, scowling.

"It took you long enough," he snarled. Umeda looked as unfazed as ever.

Kakashi frowned. He was filling with a sense of ominous dread. What was so wrong with the air (that he was currently breathing in) that the blond grass nin had held his breath to keep from inhaling? Kakashi felt a sense of trepidation as he wondered exactly what the effects of the yellow cloud had…

Kakashi turned his head to look at his genin.

Or at least he tried to.

Kakashi's eyes widened with realization. The pollen… It had paralyzed his muscles…!

So that's what it does…

Sh't… he thought. If he hadn't escaped the paralyzing, then his students…

I… can't move… Sasuke realized, his body tense in foreboding dread. From the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto and Sakura. Neither had moved either, though Naruto's right index finger was twitching. And… neither can they… This is bad…

"Heheh," Kayashima sneered. "Looks like the little Konohans are a little… stuck. We can easily pick them off, one by one, right now. Do you think they'll be able to scream? I've heard that Konoha shinobi value their… comrades… immensely…"

Umeda smirked.

"I say, we kill them all, right now," Kayashima said. "Starting… with this one!"

The blond Grass nin suddenly leapt into action, whipping out a kunai, and running straight at Sasuke.

"S-sa-sa-!!" Sakura tried to cry out. Naruto's hand gave a violent twitch, as though trying to reach out to stop the attack.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he tried in vain to fight the paralyzing spores that had been inhaled into his body.

Kayashima smiled gleefully as he raised his kunai.

Sasuke stared as the sharp point plunged. He couldn't even close his eyes.

Suddenly, a solid force tackled him to the side, knocking him out of the kunai's deadly path.

"What are you doing, just sitting there?!!" Chiyo screeched hysterically, standing tensely in front of Sasuke, her new kunai in hand. "Get up and kick his 'ss!!"

"What…?!" Kayashima stared at Chiyo with shock as he quickly jumped back to Umeda's side. "How is she…??!"

Chiyo…! Kakashi also stared in surprise.

Actually, everyone on the battle field stared at Chiyo in surprise.

How can she… move…? Umeda wondered. A darker look passed across his face as he considered a possible explanation. Could she be… one of them…?

"Hey, Umeda! What's wrong with your jutsu?!" Kayashima demanded.

"There's nothing wrong with my jutsu," Umeda scowled. "If I'm the one who's made a mistake, why don't you try to kill her…"

"I will," Kayashima growled. He quickly made a series of quick hand signs.

From the ground in front of his feet suddenly sprouted a thick cluster of dark green vines with thick bases that tapered into sharp points.

The vines shot into the air, twisted around each other like snakes, then turned back down to lunge towards Chiyo.

"Ah!" she yelped and quickly ran to the side.

The vines followed her as she jumped around.

She… can't take on these shinobi! Kakashi thought. She hasn't had any official shinobi training; she doesn't know how to handle ninja battles!

"Stop standing around," she yelled at the Konoha shinobi. "Come and DO something!! Aaiiee!!"

She yelped as tripped on a tree root and fell hard to the ground. She turned around and brought up her arms in an attempt to protect herself, squeezing her eyes shut.

And waited for the impact.

And waited.

And waited.

Slowly, Chiyo opened her eyes and peeked from behind her raised arms. And stared.

There in front of her, inches from her face, were the vines, stretched and quivering, seeming as though trying to reach for her, yet being held back by some unknown force.

…Or perhaps… forced to attack her and trying to hold back…

Kayashima stared at the scene with wide-eyed, and angry, bewilderment, his expression almost comical, had it not been for the situation.

"What is going on…?" Kayashima asked lowly. He pulled the vines back and then, with a surge of chakra, sent them at Chiyo again.

She closed her eyes, but then after another moment, opened them to see the same scene, the vines quivering a mere inches from her face.

Kayashima growled. "What are you?" he asked Chiyo in a low voice.

Chiyo looked at him and could only shake her head in mutual confusion.

"C-Ch-Chiyo!" Kakashi was finally able to move his mouth. Now if only the rest of his body would be so cooperative.

Surprised, Chiyo looked over the Konoha jounin.

"Chiyo, get out of here!" Kakashi said. "You're not ready to fight trained shinobi!"

"Well, I can't darn well just leave you idiots here!" Chiyo yelled back at him, shaking slightly in the fear of her situation. "How the h'll can you talk?? I thought you couldn't move!"

Kakashi glanced at the scowling missing nins. So, they understood…

"My mask filtered out most of the paralyzing pollen and I'm focusing my chakra to fight the pollen inside my body," Kakashi explained. "I'll be able to fully move in a few minutes. And when I do…"

Kayashima shifted uneasily and even Umeda looked slightly uncomfortable under the glare of the Copy-nin.

"…I won't get caught again…" Kakashi said. "Just go, I only need a few minutes. Get your grandfather."

"Sure," Chiyo scoffed. "I bet it only takes a few minutes to finish you four off. Besides, I can't." She grinned smartly. "I promised Ojii-chan I'd try my hardest to help you. I'll just buy you some time until you can move again, ne? Besides, they don't look too tough."

Kakashi frowned anxiously. He could easily see through her bluff of toughness. It was against all of his moral coding to allow a young, untrained, orphaned girl risk her life for him. There was no way he could allow that. But…

Kayashima growled before Kakashi could reply. "Don't let it get to your head, girl," he snapped. "Just because you can escape from a few jutsu doesn't mean you have a chance to survive. You're still going to die!"

"No!" Kakashi and Umeda said at the same time. The two men glanced at each other.

"Let it be," Umeda said to Kayashima. "Let's go; I'm done here."

"We're running away?" Kayashima growled.

Umeda smirked. "Running away? From what? They can't move; they won't chase us. We're not running from anything."

Kayashima hesitated. "Then why don't we just kill them? Why should we let them get behind our backs? I'm itching for some blood…" he sneered. "How about… just the girl? I don't have to use my jutsu to kill her, a simply kunai will do fine–"

"No," Umeda said. He started to walk away.

Kayashima frowned. Was he really going to 'obey' his 'sidekick'? Kayashima didn't obey anyone.

"Now," Umeda said, slightly turning back.

Kayashima shivered a bit from the dark gaze. He wouldn't be obeying anyone if he had made the decision himself. He decided he would go.

"This won't be the last time you see us, you hear?" Kayashima sneered at Chiyo and the Konoha ninja. "We'll be back… And I'm after your blood…"

The two Grass missing nin disappeared.

Everything was quiet.

"Uh… well…" Chiyo said awkwardly. "Well."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at her. "Hm."

"Yup," she said.

Everything was quiet again.

"So… are they gone?" Chiyo asked.

"Seems so," Kakashi said.

Quietness.

"What… now?" Chiyo asked.

"Hm? I dunno," Kakashi shrugged. "Oh, look, I can shrug…"

Chiyo anime sweat-dropped. "Oh, right… You guys can't move, can you…?"

"Nope," Kakashi said cheerfully. "Not very much, anyway."

"So…"

"Yup."

"…Seriously…?"

"You got it."

"But…"

"You can handle it."

"…"

'grin'

'anime sweat-drop'

What in the world?

It seemed that Chiyo and Kakashi had left the genin in the dark. The three anime sweat-dropped. There was a lot of sweat-dropping that day.

Chiyo sighed. "And I suppose I can't just leave you guys here, huh?"

There was silence.

"How in the world am I supposed to carry all four of you home?!" she demanded with an anime vein.

"You'll manage," Kakashi said. "Oh, and it'll be three. I think I'll be able to move in a few minutes. Just sit down and wait a bit. Then you can help me carry the other three back to the inn. Looks like Sasuke can talk now."

Chiyo looked at the black haired boy.

He scowled. "Whatever."

"Gaphmlerf!!"

"Naruto's getting there…" Kakashi said.

"Why don't we just wait until all three can move?" Chiyo asked.

"It'll take too long," Kakashi said. "Their chakra development isn't quite as honed and controlled. They'll only be able to fully move by tonight, or sometime in the middle of the night. I, of course, am a very skilled and powerful shinobi. I'll be able to completely control my body within a few more minutes."

"Humble much?" Chiyo asked. Kakashi grinned.

"K-Kakashi-sensei…?" Sakura asked. "Um… so, was Umeda… strong…?"

Kakashi looked thoughtful. "No… not too much. He's about as strong as a high chuunin, low jounin from Konoha. Kayashima's a bit less than that. But don't get it in your heads that you can easily take them on. One on one is good enough for me, but things could get rough if I take them both on at the same time. That would mean it'll be even harder for you three."

Chiyo glanced at Kakashi.

"But… Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura frowned. "If Umeda is stronger than Kayashima, why is Umeda letting Kayashima be the 'leader' of the group…?"

"A black widow hides behind poison ivy... you won't know the greater danger until it's too late…" Kakashi said. "Umeda is using Kayashima as a cover, so that enemies don't know his true strength until they face it. Umeda is technically the stronger of the two. The more dangerous."

"Ah, but the poison ivy is the one that kills the tree," Chiyo said, grinning smartly.

Kakashi smiled. "Not bad. That's true, too. Though Umeda is the stronger of the two, Kayashima is the one that's caused the most damage. He's the one who led the attack on all the small villages and towns, killed all those people for the fun of it. Umeda is just a strong tag-along. Though Umeda is stronger, Kayashima's done more damage. He's more reckless. Umeda won't hesitate to kill you all, but Kayashima will actually want to. Both need to be watched carefully. Ah, I'm able to move now." Kakashi straightened up, stretching his muscles. "Let's go back shall we? I'll take Sasuke and…"

Sakura glared at him. She looked deadly.

"…Naruto. You can take Sakura," Kakashi finished.

Chiyo gave him a weird look.

"Where are we going to go?" Chiyo asked.

"We're heading back to Sugo-san's place. I want to tell him about what's happened and see if he has any more information. Besides, he's going to want to know you're alive," Kakashi grinned.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, wait, but what about your… treasures? Your Icha Icha collector's items stuff?" Sakura asked.

"Hm? Oh those! Don't worry about them," Kakashi said dismissively.

"But- but- you were all serious about how important they were!" Sakura sputtered.

"Well, yeah," Kakashi said. "And since they're so important, you wouldn't actually think I'd let them out of my sight, do you?"

"Wait… so you…"

Kakashi curved his visible eye in a grin. "Of course," he said.

He reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a book, holding it to reveal an Icha Icha Paradise 2nd edition. He flipped the book to a certain page. Careful not to look at the vivid illustrations, the three genin leaned in to see the curvy author's signature on the inside cover of the book.

"And the toothbrush?"

Kakashi reached into his ninja pouch and extracted a toothbrush. On the shiny handle was a cover not unlike the ones on the cover of his books.

"Always good to have a toothbrush on hand," Kakashi said cheerfully. "You never know when you're going to unexpectedly stay the night an inn that doesn't supply a toothbrush!"

"So…" Sakura said slowly, her bangs covering her eyes ominously, "we spent all that time searching… for nothing…?"

"Well, it wouldn't be for nothing…" Kakashi said obliviously. Or maybe he knew. Maybe he just also realized that the dangerous girl was still stuck in the paralyzing gas… "At least you learned something, right?"

"Sure… that Kakashi-san has pink boxers," Chiyo muttered.

Naruto laughed loudly and even Sasuke managed a snicker.

Sakura sighed. "And… the pink boxers…?"

"I'm wearing them!" he said, still grinning cheerfully. "Do you want me to show you?"

"No!"

The three genin had now turned to look in different directions, their faces particularly red and glowing.

The one place they wouldn't look…

xixixixixixixixixixixixixixixixi

"Hey, Ojii-chan?" Chiyo asked.

"What?" Sugo grunted, not bothering to look up from the newspaper he was reading at the table.

"Did you ever go on missions with Kakashi-san? He said you did," she said, as she continued to look at the whittled models the old man had on his shelves.

"Hmm? Well, yeah," he said.

"What were they like?" she asked. "Was it… dangerous? Were you a powerful shinobi?"

"Heh, of course I was," Sugo said, smirking. "You're talking to one of the former elite jounins of Konoha. None except the Hokage, and maybe a few ANBU, come close to how strong the elite jounins are. Plus, I was the leader and head of the Intelligence corps of Konoha. I didn't get to be in charge of running the whole corps by being pretty."

"Of course not," Chiyo said, grinning. "Other wise a mutilated toad could have run it."

"Shut up, brat, I'm telling a story," he said. "The missions we took were of the highest rankings; A-rank missions, and S-rank missions. They were the ones where your life was in constant danger, where a breath taken in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean not only your life, but the lives of your comrades and those that you protect. I remember accepting a mission with Hatake to infiltrate a shinobi head quarters in the Waterfall Country. Hatake was a young brat then, mid to late teens, in the ANBU squad. I was a lot younger then, too. We had to steal one of their forbidden jutsu scrolls and collect intelligence or information on their activities and secret political plans. I went on several missions with the Hyuga household clan members – those are a bunch of stiff-neck b'stards, they can see everything around them except the problems in their clan; but you'll never want to get in a fight with them. Their Gentle Fist will knock you out until next month. I went on a few with the Inuzuka clan – they're a bunch of dogs; excellent trackers but they smell like, well, dogs. Got a h'll of a temper, too, they do. The Nara clan is a bunch of freakin' geniuses, but don't expect them to get off of their lazy 'sses to save your life unless the kunai is about a centimeter away."

"Wow," Chiyo said, eyes bright with awe. "Are they really all in Konoha?"

"Of course they are," he said proudly. "Konoha is the strongest shinobi village of them all. We have the strongest, the fastest, smartest, and bravest of them all. And that's not what makes us a great village."

"What is it, then?" Chiyo asked.

Sugo looked her in the eye before solidly saying, "Loyalty. That's what makes us the best in the continent. The will to protect our home, family, and friends; that is what makes us strong. The value we place in our comrades and our Hokage; that is what makes us powerful. The way everyone rallies together and fights as one force, whether the foe be weak or powerful, risking our lives to protect everything we care for; that is what makes us invincible. Loyalty."

The two were quiet as Chiyo felt the words sink in. Loyalty.

She smiled, returning back to look at the figurines on the shelf as Sugo returned to his paper.

From the corner of his eye, Sugo watched the girl as she continued to look at his wooden works.

His mind drifted back to earlier that afternoon, when Chiyo, along with Hatake, had come back to brief him on the incident and the battle. Hatake had left off the strange incident involving Chiyo, happening after he and his genin had been paralyzed, until Chiyo had left to check on her adopted siblings who had gone back to their own home.

The first thing that struck Sugo as odd was that as he listened to Hatake's retelling of what had happened, Sugo felt a growing sense of… worry. Worry for the girl's wellbeing. Was the great Kazuhiko Sugo, former elite jounin and head of the Intelligence Corps of Konoha, going soft for a no good pesky orphan brat? Unthinkable.

The other thing that had struck him as odd, was the fact that… he wasn't surprised when he had heard the paralyzing pollen had no affect on Chiyo, and that the jutsu controlled vines had left her… unharmed. Sure, that didn't happen every day, and it the fact that it had happened surprised him… but not quite the fact that it had happened to Chiyo.

Perhaps it was because he had been around the girl for too long, and that nothing that was connected to her could surprise him anymore. There had been signs, of course, subtly revealing her connection to plant-like organisms as… unique. Hadn't Sugo's plant, which had before refused to grow no matter what fertilizer, position in the sun, or bottled water it had been given, suddenly decide to bloom big and pretty enough to win the National Bee's Favorite Flower Contest once Chiyo had started showing up at his house? And hadn't his yard, which he had thought plant-proof due to all of the gravel, asphalt, and rock hard dirt, suddenly turn green with grass and the occasional bombardment of pesky weeds? And hadn't Chiyo always taken a special liking to plants? Everywhere around the girl, something seemed to be blooming, whether it was there before she arrived or after. The fact that pollen and vines, jutsu controlled or not, had left her unaffected and unharmed… that hadn't surprised Sugo in the least. He had been spending too much time with the girl.

Or maybe he was just getting old…

Before Hatake left to go back to the inn, Sugo had given the gray haired jounin some parting information. Not about the two missing nin from Grass. About the young orphan girl.

"It's none of my business," Sugo said, looking away from Kakashi, frowning at the wall. "I don't want to pry into her life. But… if you decide to find out for yourself… I have no qualms against it. She was an orphan most of her life, you know that, I told you before. During the first few times I had met her, before I decided not to poke around about her, I found out some things. Not very detailed, mostly vague, places she had been, people she had lived with before she lived on the streets. I found out where she was born. If you're curious about the girl's heritage, you should look into it. I'm sure you can find out a bit of Chiyo's mother there. I… never looked into it myself. I don't think Chiyo knows anything about her mother either. If you want to find out for yourself…"

Kakashi nodded. "I want to know why she wasn't affected."

Sugo nodded. "She was born in the Flower and Petals brothel. Her mother worked there. Under the name of Chrysanthemum. It's an alias name. All of the women there have aliases originating from a flower or plant. Ask for a woman called Lily."

Kakashi nodded. "Thanks. I… know you don't like people to pry… and since it's Chiyo…"

Sugo scowled. "I don't know what you're implying. That girl's nothing special. She's a pain!"

Kakashi smiled. "Of course she is."

"Hey Ojii-chan?"

"What?" Sugo returned from his thoughts.

"… Do you mind teaching me and… my siblings how to fight? So that we can… protect… each other?"

"…"

"…"

"…Fine."

'grin' "Good, because they're gonna come over later tonight to learn from you, oh great and powerful one."

"What?!" Sugo looked up from his newspaper in surprise. "I don't want to teach you brats anything tonight! Wait until everything's settled down and Hatake and his brats have gone!"

"Why?" Chiyo asked, curiously picking up one of Sugo's wooden whittled pieces.

"Hey don't mess with that!" Sugo exclaimed when Chiyo (purposely) dropped one of his whittled figures, the object hitting the floor with a muffled thump.

"Why not?" Chiyo asked teasingly. "It's not like it'll break; it's just a piece of wood. And even if it did, it's not like it was worth something."

"You brat," he grumbled. "I spent eight hours on that one!"

"Eight hours… whittling a… bumpy blob?"

"It's a flower, you insufferable pesk!" Sugo said, turning red.

"Ohhh, a flower," she said with a smooth grin. "Well, why didn't you just tell me? Instead of making me all confused…"

"It's supposed to be obvious!" he yelled, turning even redder.

"Whatever you say," she said. "You know, maybe you should stop whittling. It's giving you anger management issues."

"That's what you're doing," Sugo growled. "Stop messing–"

"Ooo, what's this?" Chiyo swiped another figurine off of his shelf and looked at it closely, trying to make out the shape.

Sugo blushed and jumped up from the table, rushing to her side, attempting to grab the object from her hands. "Give that back!" he demanded, blushing furiously.

Chiyo easily danced out of his reach, holding the figurine above her head and jumping on his bed. "What is it, what is it???" she asked, smiling broadly at his vain attempts to grab the carved piece of wood.

"It's nothing, give it back!"

"It's gotta be something! What is it??"

"Nothing!"

"Tell me!"

Sugo stopped and looked away, blushing and glaring off to the side. "D'mmit, it's you, alright!"

Chiyo stopped, surprised, and stared at the old man.

Sugo glanced at her and blushed deeper. "It doesn't mean a d'mn thing, you understand?! I was bored and there was nothing else to do! I couldn't think of anything else, you hear? That's all there is to it, don't you make anything of it, you little brat. You're not worth the thought!"

Chiyo was quiet, looking at the man with an unreadable expression for a moment.

It was quiet for a moment.

Sugo fidgeted, still looking off to the side, embarrassed.

Chiyo gave a small smile.

"What are you talking about, old man? That's not me! It's too ugly to be me! It must be you!"

"What?!" Sugo looked back at her, glaring, only to see her grinning face, her eyes glimmering with silent gratitude.

He looked away, blushing again. "Brat," he growled in mock anger, before renewing his 'attack' on the girl.

Chiyo squealed with laughter as she continued to dance out of his reach, watching as the old man's gruff scowl melted away into a truly grandfatherly smile.

And watched as the smile suddenly disappeared in a flash.

Sugo froze, his eyes wide and fearful, body tense and stiff.

"No," he whispered.

He suddenly grabbed Chiyo with speed she had never seen from the old man. Before she could protest, he firmly pressed a point on her neck. Chiyo's eyes widened with shock as she suddenly felt everything go limp, her muscles refusing to obey her. Her mouth refused to voice her protests.

The wooden model fell from her unfeeling fingers.

It cracked in half as it hit the floor.

Sugo caught Chiyo as she collapsed, her legs refusing to work for her.

But Sugo didn't stop, didn't hesitate for a moment. Discarding his cane, he held the girl, hobbling over to his closet and roughly stuffing her inside, slamming the door shut.

Chiyo was leaned against the door, the clutter in the closet keeping her from falling down. She peered through the slanted horizontal bars of the closet door, trying to see what had caused the sudden change in her Ojii-chan.

Sugo quickly hobbled back to his seat at the table, sitting down and watching the door. Chiyo saw his clenched fist slightly shake.

A moment later, she heard knocking at the door. Before Sugo answered, the door opened and two figures stepped in.

Chiyo felt her blood run cold.

Kayashima Senri and Umeda Inoue.

"Shotaro, I presume?" Kayashima asked, sneeringly.

"Hai, and you?" Sugo asked. He already knew.

"Kayashima Senri, and this is Umeda Inoue. We hear you supply… weapons…?"

"At the right price."

Kayashima smirked. "As expected. Let's see what you have, first."

Sugo nodded and got up.

Kayashima and Umeda watched with raised eyebrows as the old man limped over to a large chest by his bed, near the closet. Kayashima almost gleefully noted Sugo's missing leg.

Sugo reached in and pulled out several medium sized bags before closing the lid and going back to the table. He picked up his cane on the way.

Setting the bags on the table, he sat back down and proceeded to undo the ties on the bags, turning them over.

Hordes of kunai fell from one bag, shuriken from another, senbon and other weapons of the like. Umeda smirked approvingly.

"A katana?" he asked, reaching out to pick up a kunai, testing its sharpness with his finger.

"I've got one," Sugo said, standing up again and hobbling back to the chest. He pulled out a long sword, its blade safely in its sheath.

He went back to the two missing nin and reached out to hand it to Umeda.

Kayashima's hand shot out, grabbing Sugo's left arm. Sugo froze, glancing at his forearm, where under his sleeve was the scar Kayashima had left a remnant of their previous encounter, all the many years ago.

"You look familiar…" Kayashima said, squinting at the old man, trying to place him. "Have we… met?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sugo said, narrowing his eyes at Kayashima.

Kayashima frowned before letting go. Umeda wordlessly took the katana. He unsheathed it, running his eyes over the blade and designs.

"This is a good blade," he said.

"Only the best for my costumers. At the right price," Sugo said.

"Of course."

"Hey, old man, have you got any explosive tags? I think we used the last one blowing up that wall."

"Sure, right over here."

Sugo went over to the bookshelf and took out a box that he had kept separated from the other weapons.

"I keep them apart from the other weapons; don't want my house suddenly blowing up."

"No, you wouldn't," Kayashima sneered

"This should cover everything," Umeda said, dropping a bag of coins on the table.

Sugo reached out to take it.

Kayashima's hand shot out, once again gripping his left wrist. Sugo tensed.

Kayashima's eyes narrowed at Sugo and he slowly reached out with his other hand, placing it on top of Sugo's sleeve and slowly pushing the sleeve up…

He stared at the diagonal scar on Sugo's left forearm. He sneered. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere… Kazuhiko Sugo!"

Sugo growled and snapped his arm free from Kayashima's grasp. He whipped up a kunai from the table and got into a fighting stance, leaning on his cane.

Kayashima laughed. "Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me, Kazuhiko? You lost last time, there's no way you'll win this time. And now, you're missing a leg! What'd you do? Misplace it?"

"If you hadn't sent a land slid towards that small village I would have had you and you would have been dead!" Sugo growled.

"Well, it's your own fault for letting me go," Kayashima shrugged. "What was the point of saving that pathetic village? Nothing but old folks and annoying kids! They don't even have a shinobi organization! No guards! They were just asking to be destroyed."

"You b'stard," Sugo growled. "I won't let you escape this time."

"You won't let me escape?! What exactly are you going to do to stop me?! Hobble after me and shake that cane of yours?! You're an old man, Kazuhiko, and old men die fast!"

Kayashima suddenly lunged at Sugo, swiping up a few shuriken and throwing them at him. Faster than they expected, Sugo dodged the shuriken, skillfully maneuvering on his one foot and cane.

Umeda stood back, watching with an amused smirk.

Kayashima sneered as he grabbed a kunai and lunged again at the ex-shinobi. The two fought furiously, Sugo put up a fight that would have made the Hokage proud, managing to land a few hits on the blond and stab the missing nin's shoulders. He hadn't been a member of the elite shinobi for nothing.

But in the end, old age and a missing limb was old age and a missing limb.

Kayashima let out a bark of laughter when he got down and sweep-kicked Sugo off of his foot.

Sugo let out a grunt as he landed heavily on his back, his cane falling out of his grasp and sliding a few feet away. He made to get up and then froze when Kayashima pointed his kunai at his throat.

"You lose, old man," he sneered.

"Chiyo-chan!"

The three shinobi snapped their heads to the closed door. Young voices rang from the other side.

Chiyo's blood ran cold with suffocating dread.

No. no. no. no.

"Is this where Chiyo-chan is?"

"Yeah, she said her Ojii-chan was gonna teach us how to fight!"

"Yeah, like Naruto-kun–"

"And Sasuke-kun–"

"And Sakura-chan!"

"Are you sure this is where it is?"

"It's where she said it was…"

"Knock again!"

'Knock knock'

Go away, oh please, go away, go away…

"No one's answering…"

"Maybe no one's home…?"

"Or maybe their playing a game!"

No.

"Yeah, a ninja game!"

No.

"Where we hafta go in and look for them!"

No.

"Like hide and seek!"

No.

"Yeah, hide and seek!"

No.

"Ready or not, here we come!"

No.

……

Boom!

The old door burst open as the group of young orphans rammed into it together. The kids fell down from the momentum.

Coughing slightly, they looked up to the scene before them.

They stared.

No one moved.

Suddenly Sugo knocked away the kunai pointed at his throat. He jumped up and punched Kayashima, sending the blond to slam against a wall.

"Run!" he shouted, grabbing his cane and lunging at Umeda.

The kids snapped out of their daze and jumped up, making to run out the door.

A yellow fog of pollen filled the air.

The children froze, unable to move.

Sugo fell to the floor, unable to keep his balance, his muscles paralyzed.

"Umeda!" came a strangled voice.

Kayashima got up, holding his throat. He had barely been able to hold his breath, to keep from breathing in the pollen. But in his haste, he hadn't been able to draw a breath of before he stopped breathing.

Umeda went to the blond and tapped his throat.

"I told you to warn me before you did that!"

"There wasn't time," Umeda coolly replied. Kayashima growled at him before turning back to the paralyzed figures in the room.

He smirked.

"Hey, what do you know? It's the little snot nosed brats who stole my wallet! I suppose this saves me the trouble of having to hunt you all down myself."

Umeda smirked.

"So many to choose from, who to kill first?"

"Kill the old man. He'll be the first to be able to move. Then you can take your time… on the kids…"

"Ahh, but I wanted to play with him!" Kayashima mock pouted. "He's special!"

"You can play with the children. They'd be more amusing…"

Kayashima sneered. "That's true. Nothing cuts better than young flesh."

Kayashima picked up a kunai from the table, casually tossing it from hand to hand. He sneered at Sugo.

No.

"Let's see if this was worth my money, you old geezer."

No.

He bent down and slowly trailed the blade of the kunai along Sugo's cheek. His eyes went wide with glee when he saw the blood well up and spill from the long cut. Sugo couldn't move.

No.

"You should have stayed away, Kazuhiko. Then maybe you would have been spared. I'm going to make this as slow and painful as I can. Trust me; you'll be happiest when you die."

No.

Kayashima laid the blade across Sugo's neck.

No.

Chiyo's hand twitched.

No.

Behind Kayashima's back, Umeda turned to look at the closet where Chiyo was hidden. He sneered.

No.

Kayashima cut the old ninja's neck vertically, into the jugular vein, deep enough to bleed severely, but shallow enough for it to take long, torturous minutes, even hours to bleed out. Sugo wouldn't be able to draw on the strength that would leak out bit by bit.

No.

Blood.

No.