I'll be honest, I'm not very fond of this chapter re-reading it (I wrote it several weeks ago). Unfortunately, there's no way for me to re-work it without changing the other several chapters I've written.

Suzume looked at the clock, 4 a.m. and I still can't sleep! Bored, with nothing else to do, she got up and started walking around until she saw her sensei sleeping on the couch. There was only one bed, so Hayabusa decided to give it to Suzume. Sensei, we've come a long way since that day...

Yami Camp, 5 years before...

Two shinobi stood facing each other inside a fairly large tent. Both of them were in their mid-teens, one was Hayabusa only without his scarf or sunglasses. The other shinobi was slightly shorter than Hayabusa and was completely bald. Both wore skin-tight black training suits, wielding a katana. They sparred for several minutes, nearly equally matched until Hayabusa pulled several skillful parries and then knocked his opponent down, putting his sword to his opponents throat.

"You're a tough bastard at sparring Hayabusa-san, you know that?" the other shinobi said to Hayabusa.

"Of course, I did train with Mifune and the samurai, remember?" Hayabusa said as he changed back into his casual shirt and pants, putting his flack jacket back on finally.

"Yeah well, how 'bout giving me some of that training somet-" The other shinobi was interrupted by a scream from outside the tent.

"The hell?" Hayabusa rushed out of the tent and saw a large crowd gathered down the path. He and the other shinobi went down and pushed their way through the crowd, with almost everyone moving away instantly when they saw it was Hayabusa, "What's going on here?"

In the center of the circle was a middle-age man and a young girl. The man had his hand around the girl's wrist, clearly grasping it hard. Hayabusa looked at her, there were bruises all over her arms and she had a black eye that was clearly fresh.

"I'm taking this girl back home! She's my daughter and she ran away."

"I see, and why did she run away?"

"Cause he-" She started to speak but her father slapped her across the cheek and interrupted her.

"Cause she doesn't know when she's got it good. We're fine, just let us go."

"How did she get those bruises?"

"Huh?" The man started acting nervous, sweating and shifting, "Uh, the ones on her arms are from farm work... the black eye must be from one of you bastards."

Hayabusa stared at the man for a moment, before slashing him across his chest with the katana. The man let go of the girl and fell down on the ground. Hayabusa motioned for the girl to walk over towards him.

"I'm not stupid, I can recognize bruises from hitting and abuse. You clearly don't know how to treat a child right. Give me one good reason I should let you live." The man just stuttered in response and shielded his face, "Luckily for you, I don't like killing uselessly. Go back to your farm."

"NO!" Suddenly the girl grabbed Hayabusa's katana and started running over to her father, screaming, "I'm tired of you hurting me and making my life a living hell!"

"Shit!" Hayabusa ran and managed to stop her before she did anything, "Killing him isn't worth it little girl, trust me."

The girl dropped the katana to the ground and started tearing up. After a moment she dropped to her knees and started crying. Hayabusa picked her up and started walking away, turning his head back to look at her father.

"I recommend you leave before I get back."

"Right." The man stood up to leave, but the other shinobi wouldn't let him, "You heard the man! Let me leave!"

"Hayabusa-san might not like killing, but we sure do." One shinobi stepped forward brandishing a kunai.

Hayabusa carried the girl through the large campsite to a gray tent with a sign that said "Emi" on it outside the tent. The two went in and Hayabusa set the girl down on a medical examination table.

"If your father abused you I think you should get a physical examination. One of my closest friends will be doing it, don't worry, she's nice." Hayabusa sat down in a nearby chair, waiting for his friend to arrive.

"Are you a shinobi mister?"

"Yes, I am. I have been since I was about 6 years old. How old are you?"

"I'm 11. Is that too late to be a shinobi?"

"Not at all, I could even be your sensei." Hayabusa said which led to the girl giving a small smile in response.

"Why did I know this would be the first place you came to?" A woman, about Hayabusa's age, walked into the tent.

"Well, I figured you should look at her and see what we can do for her." Hayabusa motioned towards the girl, "After all, you're an expert at medicinal-ninjutsu Emi-chan."

Emi laughed, "I appreciate the flattery, but expert? Hardly. I'll see what I can do though. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the tent."

"Why is that?"

Emi walked over to Hayabusa and whispered to him, "Well, during a full examination of a girl she'll have to get naked. Considering the last man to see her naked may have abused her, it's a good bet to assume she won't want one around now."

"Right, I'll leave." Hayabusa started walking towards the tent-flap.

"No! Don't leave me alone, please." The little girl hopped off the table and ran over to hug Hayabusa's legs.

Hmm, she seems to have taken a liking to her savior. What have you gotten yourself into Hayabusa-kun?

"Emi-chan?."

"If it makes her more comfortable, I'm fine with it."

Hayabusa and the girl walked over towards the table, with him putting her back up on the table. Emi walked over and helped the girl undress, leaving only her underwear on initially. She looked closely at the bruises and several cuts the girl had all over her body. Emi made a few marks on a paper nearby then examined the girl's mouth, ears, and eyes for any irregularities. Lastly, Emi checked the girl's personal areas and made a few more notes. After she was done, Emi told the girl she could get dressed while she and Hayabusa talked. Emi and Hayabusa then walked over to the other side and spoke in a whisper.

"Well?"

"Her father really did a number on her. Most of those bruises are recent, within a few weeks I'd say. Plus, there were several lacerations that healed up poorly or looked infected. Also..." Emi paused.

"What?"

"I think her father raped her."

Hayabusa didn't know what to say to that. Not wanting to say nothing, he said, "Well, all that's over for her now."

"Hayabusa-kun, where's she going to go?"

"She said she wants to be a shinobi, so I'm going to train her."

"You? You're just as much a sadist as her father was! I won't let you."

"Emi-chan, when I look at that girl I see a face that has both fear and hope: fear for the past and going back to it, and hope for a future that's better. When I look at her, I see a younger version of myself. I was once like that, fearful of the past and unsure of what to do until my sensei trained me. She needs this, I can feel it."

"Where's she going to live?"

"I guess with me, I don't mind."

"You hate children though."

"I'll learn to live with it."

"This is ridiculously unlike you, I can't believe it."

Hayabusa grabbed Emi's shoulder and turned her towards him, "Emi-chan, remember how I told you I don't know why I'm here? I felt like I had no specific goal or purpose? Well I think that maybe training this girl and being her father-figure is my purpose. Don't rob this from me... from her."

Emi sighed, "Alright, but I'm keeping a close eye on both of you, okay?"

"Thank you Emi-chan. I-" Hayabusa paused, hesitant to continue, "I love you."

"I know that." Emi kissed Hayabusa's cheek and walked over to the girl, "So what's your name? I just realized I don't know."

"My name is..."

"Wait! To be a shinobi in a wanderer camp you have to abandon your old name and your old home. You need a new name." Hayabusa stepped closer as he spoke.

"Do I have to?" The girl looked at Emi.

Emi frowned then sighed, "I'm afraid so. Do you have any ideas?"

"No, why don't you give me a new name?" the girl pointed at Hayabusa.

"Me?" Hayabusa paused a moment to think before saying, "Do like the name Suzume? It means sparrow, since you're going to be my student."

"Hayabusa-kun's name means falcon."

"Don't falcons eat sparrows?" the girl asked.

"Some do, but not all. Some sparrows will even build their nests by a falcon's nest because other predators won't approach the falcon's nest. In a round-about way, the falcon protects the sparrow."

"Will you protect me then?"

"Of course my little sparrow. From now on you'll be known as Suzume of Yami."

Konohagakure, Modern Day...

Suzume looked at a picure of her, Hayabusa, and Emi as she reminisced. Emi-senpai's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. It's still hard to believe she's dead. Suzume started to cry. I swear Emi-senpai, I'm going to find a jutsu to bring you back and things will go back to how they used to be... Hayabusa-sensei, you, and I will be like a family.

"Suzume? What are you doing up this early?" Hayato said groggily as he sat up on the couch.

"I couldn't sleep sensei, so I just came out here."

"Well go back and try to sleep, we have to meet the genin in 2 hours."

"Right, sorry sensei." Suzume started walking back to her room, but paused at the door, "Sensei? You know that it's ospreys right?"

"What?"

"Sparrows build their nests under osprey's nests, not falcons. You lied to me." Suzume said the last part in a sing-song tone so her sensei wouldn't think she was mad.

"I know that. Emi-chan told me after you went to sleep that night... go to sleep now, we can talk in the morning."

Suzume went back to her room, realizing that bringing up the past with Hayabusa was a mistake. Suzume loved Emi as a mother-figure but Hayabusa loved Emi as his soul-mate.

The Next Morning, at the training grounds...

"Hmm, it's 7:15 and neither Saki nor Haruko are here yet." Hayabusa said to Suzume.

"I'm sure they'll be here sensei, even if Saki doesn't want to be after all that training." Suzume looked at Takuma, "Why do you always wear that bandana?" Takuma just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"What are we doing today sensei?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out once your teammates get here."

The three of them waited for about 10 more minutes before they saw Saki, Haruko, Sasuke, and Kenta approaching. 'Bout damn time they show up. Hmm, this should be interesting if they're coming too. Hayabusa thought as he saw them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing coming this late? Sensei's time is precious?" Suzume yelled at Haruko and Saki.

"Sorry, we had to wait for Saki to wake up."

"And you say you want to be the best. The best is always on time!"

"That's enough Suzume, I'll punish them later." Hayabusa walked towards Sasuke and Kenta, "The Uchiha's I assume."

"That's right. I'm honored to meet the Blind Wanderer." Kenta then looked at Suzume and said, "My sister didn't say anything about a beautiful assistant-sensei though, Suzume was it?"

Suzume blushed in response and tried to hid her face, embarrassed. Kenta laughed and then looked back towards Hayabusa, who had ignored the comment about Suzume.

"I don't like nicknames, call me Hayabusa." He reached out to shake Kenta's hand, "And you, Sasuke right? I remember you from long ago."

"You do? I don't remember ever meeting you."

"I was just a child, you probably forgot. I'll remind you later. So what brings you two here with your daughter?"

"Well, I wanted to meet you, and also..." Kenta drew his katana, "I want to see how strong you really are."

"Hmm, I suppose we have time. I'll accept your challenge."

Hayabusa motioned for Suzume to step over with the students and Sasuke while he and Kenta prepared to spar. Hayabusa stretched, took another pill, and drew his katana out from under his trench coat. Kenta studied ever motion his opponent made, trying to get a handle on his movements and his gait as they got ready.

"Are you two ready?" Suzume asked. When both nodded their heads, she said, "Then start!"

The two of them shuffled and side-stepped, each waiting for the other to make a move. When it was clear neither would, Hayabusa charged at Kenta full speed. Kenta barely managed to notice in time to block the attack.

He's fast! Must be partially because of that soldier pill he took.

Kenta was on the defensive as Hayabusa tried making several more strikes, barely managing to block any of them. After his third strike Hayabusa jumped back to make space between them. Kenta decided to use this opportunity to his advantage.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" Kenta said as he made the appropriate hand-signs.

A large flame engulfed the clearing, even singing some of the trees and getting close to the genin, Suzume, and Sasuke. When the flames cleared there was a black, hunched-over figure where Hayabusa had stood. Hayabusa stood up, completely unharmed.

"A few years ago Yami Camp had a war with Kaji Camp. I had my coat fire-proofed to fight their katon techniques. I'm surprised it lasted this long." Hayabusa started sprinting towards Kenta again, who readied himself against the attacks.

Hayabusa slashed at Kenta and managed to slice his arm barely. Kenta was surprised, as was Sasuke. Kenta then tried an offensive of his own to attack Hayabusa, but it was no use; he blocked every attempted strike. Determining that this was going nowhere Kenta jumped back and tried another fireball attack. Hayabusa draped himself in his trench coat again, coming out unscathed.

"Clever." Hayabusa said as he drew a kunai and threw it behind him, "But not clever enough!"

The kunai seemingly hit the tree initially, which then morphed to be Kenta. The Kenta from the tree made a hand-sign and other Kenta disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"You're good."

"You knew that the fireball wouldn't do anything, so it was obviously just a distraction. You also know that I use chakra detection to sense my opponents. You must have known that any sort of nature release jutsu disrupts chakra detection, so you thought it was the perfect chance to make a shadow clone to surprise attack me."

"How did you know that was a clone?"

"To be honest... I guessed. There's no way to tell the difference between a clone or the real thing with chakra detection. I got lucky."

"Even so, they say skill is half-luck itself. You're good Hayabusa, I don't think I can handle you with my skills right now." Kenta pulled the kunai out and continued, "I trust you to train my sister well. Don't disappoint me."

"I won't. You have my word."

"As for you," Kenta walked over to Suzume and took his mask off, "Maybe we could meet up later tonight?"

Suzume just blushed again and managed to stutter out a 'maybe'. Kenta and Sasuke started walking away. Once they were far enough that Hayabusa couldn't hear, Sasuke looked at his son with confusion.

"You have a lot more in you. You could take him I'm sure."

"That might be, but he didn't even use one jutsu father, remember? I'm not sure if I could defeat him."

"The katon rasengan could get him easily."

"If I could hit. Besides, there's no reason to reveal all my secrets on our first encounter."

"Another thing son..."

"Yes?"

"Don't flirt with the girl... she'll be gone once the Hokage dismisses them. It's pointless."

"Come on father, she's cute. Getting to know one of Haruko's senseis better couldn't hurt, right?"

"Alright, today we're going to train your chakra control by walking up trees. Suzume, if you'd demonstrate please." Hayabusa said to his students as Sasuke and Kenta left.

Suzume nodded her head and began to focus chakra to her feet. She then walked up the tree with ease and hung upside down from one of the higher branches. "Basically," she said to the students, "you focus chakra in your feet and walk up. Too much and you'll force yourself off, too little and you don't have a grip. Got it?"

The students nodded and started trying themselves. They tried for nearly half an hour before they started to get a good grip on how to do it. Once he felt they could continue training themselves, Hayabusa looked at Suzume and said, "I still need to train you, right? You three keep doing that and come to us once you've gotten to the top of the tree."

Hayabusa and Suzume walked towards the middle of the clearing. Suzume focused her chakra and placed her hand to the ground. "Summoning technique: Avian Summon!" A cloud of smoke appeared and once the cloud had clear a small sparrow stood where her hand had been. "Still just Kosuzume. Damnit sensei, I've been doing this for nearly a year and all I can summon is a sparrow!"

"Do it again." Hayabusa said to Suzume. He then turned to Kosuzume, the sparrow, and said something unintelligible. The bird disappeared in another cloud of smoke. "Now try, focus your chakra. You're an expert at chakra control, this shouldn't be hard for you."

Suzume took a calming breath before trying again. "Summoning technique: Avian Summon!" Another cloud of smoke; the same sparrow. "Damnit sensei! Maybe if I see you do it again I can get a better feel for it."

"Hmm, alright, maybe." Hayabusa said before, once again, saying something unintelligible to the sparrow. Hayabusa prepared to do the jutsu, but interrupted himself mid-motion to point behind Suzume. "Did you reach the top already Haruko?"

"Yes sensei. What is Suzume learning?"

"Summoning techniques. They're much too advanced for you three to perform I'm afraid. You can watch while I do it, however." Hayabusa once again prepared the jutsu and completed the motion, saying "Summoning technique: Avian Summon!" as his hand hit the ground. A large cloud of smoke appeared, and once it had cleared Hayabusa was standing on top of a large falcon, at least twice as large as a man. "Ookiihayabusa-sama, I've haven't summoned you in a while."

"Unfortunately it seems I won't get to do anything fun this time. Try not to summon me unless necessary Hayabusa-san."

"My deepest apologies." Hayabusa said as he jumped from the falcon. As Hayabusa landed the falcon disappeared in another cloud of smoke. "Now try again Suzume."

Once more Suzume tried her hand at summoning. She prepared her chakra, placed her hand to the ground, said "Summoning technique: Avian Summon!" and waited for the smoke to clear. Once it had cleared there was a normal sized falcon with brilliant golden feathers and a black beak. "That's an improvement, right sensei?"

Hayabusa let out a hardy laugh before saying, "It is a slight improvement, but I doubt that baka would be any help in combat though!"

"Who you calling baka, Hayabusa?" The falcon flew over and perched on his shoulder, "I've done plenty of scouting for strong shinobi. Saved a few of their lives at least."

"Akira-san, you haven't been summoned on purpose for nearly a century from what the elders tell me. Even still, it does take more for Suzume to summon you than it does for her to summon Kosuzume." Hayabusa ran his hand down the bird's back, ruffling its feathers.

"I still remember when you summoned me your first time, Hayabusa. You've grown so much."

"As will she. As for now, Akira-san, go home. With any luck we won't see you again for awhile." Akira nodded at Hayabusa in response and vanished.

The rest of the day Suzume spent trying to summon bigger birds, while the three students practiced chakra control. It was nearly night when Hayabusa decided to stop training. Before he sent them home, he treated them to ramen at Ichiraku first.

That evening, at the Hokage's office...

"This is an outrage Hokage-sama! You let these mercenaries in charge of our greatest rookies?" A member of the village council said, shortly followed by several murmurs of approval from other members.

"I did what was necessary. The day will come where we might have to fight these mercenaries, and it's best if we have insight into their world. Genin were the best choice for this. To understand the wanderers you have to forget everything you know about the shinobi world, something that chunin or jounin cannot do. I stand by my decision and am willing to take the blame if something happens."

"That won't change the fact that something happened! What if they're just inside men, waiting to take the village out?"

"We'll fight them then!" Naruto said, "But for now there's no proof for these accusations."

"Naruto-san, your child is in their care. You should be the most worried!"

"But I'm not, which means that you shouldn't be worried at all."

"You haven't even met them!"

"Neither have you." Sasuke said from the back of the room. He preferred not to get involved during these meeting usually, but felt an obligation to at the time, "But I have. I trust him with my daughter's safety. That should be enough for the rest of you."

"And why should we trust you? You left the village for three years!"

"That is enough!" Kakashi stood up as he yelled. "The decision is final, we'll keep an eye on them but its too late to find another jounin to take their place."

A shinobi from the table stood up, frustrated, "You're a fool Kakashi. You're going to destroy this entire village with your risky behavior! You let terrorists teach our genin!"

"They are not terrorists! They are mercenaries who have a perfect track record of completing their missions. No mercenary would jeopardize their perfect record just to attack a village. They have standards." Another shinobi in the back said.

The argument went on for hours. Both sides refused to step down from their positions. The shinobi for the wanders and the shinobi against the wanderers. Kakashi listened to both sides carefully, even though his mind was already set on keeping them. Eventually the side against the wanderers gave up and started to leave. Kakashi wasn't happy with the result of the argument even though his position won. The Hokage just hoped for the best and contemplated on the future of Konoha. He hoped that night would be the end of the argument.

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to review and let me know what you think and what I could do better.