SAND


The Top Class Failures - Revised - 11/15

For the Sake of Truth


~ Forenote ~

I have revised this and the last chapter a few times already and most recently in November, 2015

There have been Questions, whose answers, I believe are quite important to the story: Please read the Second Note when finished with this chapter.


Sakura trudged towards the cabin team ten trained at. Her anguish had slowly dissipated but it left her with an empty depression. It had happened again. They should have passed this mission; even if Kiba had carried him most of the way, but Sasuke had broken the opponent's leg. To add salt on the disqualification, once the race was over, someone assassinated the ones that set it up. Finally they got to come home, as failures. Again! Worse though, was the way Sasuke was acting. She knew how hard it must be for him. After having to do ... that. She had told him not to use the weird mark again, but he had. And yet, he just seemed more arrogant. As if they were just there to slow him down.

And Kiba just wouldn't let it go. He kept telling Sasuke that he would have beaten the guy on his own, or that Sasuke needed to stop being such an arrogant jerk, or something like that. Sasuke only replied after several rude comments and told him he was too weak. He said that next time Kiba gets in the way he would kick his ass. This only made Kiba worse. For once, she just let them fight. Kiba was right, and even though she wished he wouldn't, she wasn't about to stop him from antagonizing The Almighty Uchiha. Kiba even saved her from drowning when they were attacked in the boats. While Sasuke, barely made it out of the water on his own.

And the mission before that failed even worse. It was one they had gotten during the reconstruction due to the meager amount of missions they were taking. They had done way less missions than any other team. This one though, was an A-rank, they had to protect an actress. The one Kiba had a crush on. After she burnt down the boat, they gave up. Kiba had, again, saved Sakura from burning down with it and Sasuke had been lead on a wild chase.

Then there was the disaster at waterfall, they had let the leader of the village die, as well a-a little girl. She had died right there in Sakura's arms. Sasuke was hurt badly there and never even got to fight. She still didn't know how it happened. The enemy must have ambushed him.

Sakura, was so lost in her depressed thoughts that Ino had to punch her a second time before she woke up. "Oh! Ino you ready?" It had been a while since they last spoke, almost since the invasion. That was why they decided to catch up after she returned from her mission. That and Kakashi-sensei had ordered her to take the day off.

"Lets go," Ino replied and turned her head back, "See you tomorrow Hinata."

Sakura hadn't even noticed the quiet Hyuuga meditating on the porch. As they walked away she asked about it. "So why is Hinata training with you guys all of a sudden."

"Its not sudden. She has been training with us for a whole week now. And why? Because her teammates are on a B-rank escort mission and she's still too injured to go."

"Oh. So when did they leave?"

"7 days ago, and they won't be back for a few weeks."

"And they just left Hinata with you guys?"

"No, their sensei stayed to continue her recovery training. But, she has other duties to perform during the month, and I think Asuma-sensei thought helping would get him ––."

"Wait! So it was just Shino and the baka?" Seeing the glare Ino shot at her, Sakura stop walking.

Continuing her glare, the blond scolded her friend. "That baka was promoted to chuunin the day before yesterday. And he happens to be the one who saved all our asses from the giant sand monster that Gaara kid summoned up."

As pink adorned the pink haired girl's face as well, Ino silently thanked Hinata for not wanting to come. She could only imagine how Sakura would look when Hinata got done with her. To think even after he beat Sasuke, Sakura still thought he was trash. She seemed to just pass it off as a fluke and tell Sasuke that he'd get him next time.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, they still hadn't decided where they were going to eat, but instead Sakura just followed Ino to the first place they saw.

"So what's with you today, or since then for that matter?" The yamanaka selected a booth.

Blinking at her the pinkette realized they were talking again. "What do you mean?"

"Sakura, you haven't said more than a hello to me since the invasion. You didn't even say Hi, when you got back from that first mission after the prelims. And ever since then, it's like you're just trying to brush me off. I thought we were going to be best friends again, right?"

"Sorry, Ino, it's just that I've been busy. We failed the last few missions we got and… and." Whatever she was about to say died in her throat.

"Want to talk about it? Go ahead, just gab or even bitch if you want. I'll listen to whatever you need to say. That's what being friends is all about, I'm here for you!" Ino exclaimed grasping her friend's hand and leaning in in case she needed to wisper.

Sakura stared at her for a moment before her face scrunched up in a dam of emotions "It's all Sasuke's fault."

Now, that came out of nowhere! Ino looked at her re-best friend with her mouth agape. "Ok. Start from the beginning…."

And the floodgates broke,

"I don't want to blame him, but it is! He was the one who messed up all our missions. At the-the waterfall he-he was supposed to escape wi-with the leader, but the guy still died. And he was on guard duty when Y-Yukie-san got out, he didn't even put-put out the fire she lit and I was nearly burned to death, and he's the one who broke our opponent's leg. We were disqualified from the race. He-he even killed an unarmed man. He didn't know Kiba had disarmed him, he didn't, but he could have at least cared that he just killed someone. But no! All he does is act as if we don't exist or are getting in the way."

As Sakura babbled on about how mean Sasuke had been to them during the past month, Ino found herself starting to feel numb. Sakura had never admitted Sasuke could even do wrong, even she could see some things he messed up. But Sakura never, not once, accepted it. Sasuke could not lose in her eyes. He was a god to her. And here she was – If she was saying it, then he must have done something horrible… Or maybe, it wasn't just him she was blaming.

Swallowing Ino interrupted the flow of blame. "Sakura, have… have you made your first kill yet?"

There it was. She was quiet, her face pale and sick. But she shook her head. "I.. Bua." she choked back a sob.

Ino was by her side in an instant and slowly pulled her to her feet. Dropping a wad of cash on the counter she led her friend away. They needed to go somewhere Sakura could allow herself to let go and cry.

0o0o0

Kakashi let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. It felt like he'd been holding it ever since he found her in the waterfall village. It was supposed to be a simple riverside clean up. But he still should have stayed. Because he hadn't, one of his students paid with their innocence. He had tried telling himself that it would have happened eventually. But when she snapped at Sasuke… out of any of them he had expected her to be the first to forgive him for making a kill.

He had tried to find out what he had missed but Kiba was the only one to talk. And he had been knocked out before the little girl died. Was it Sasuke who killed the girl? It would fit the wounds. Or did Sakura make her first kill? Sakura was the only one who had anything to tell and she hadn't said a word about what happened, to anybody.

He followed as Ino brought them to a secluded area in the park and asked her again what happened.

And so Sakura wept of how she had been taken hostage and Kiba was beaten until he passed out from pain. Then of how the attackers had told Shibuki to come out. How they had beaten the little girl Sakura met. How when beating her didn't get him to come out, one of them used a jutsu to electrocute her and giggled – Giggled!—as the girl screamed and begged them to stop. When it was over, the girl's flesh had been so burned she didn't survive. She had died weeping in pain as Sakura tried to help.

Sakura had told herself, Sasuke would put a stop to it. He would save her and free his team, then he would kill the bastards who did this to her. But he never came. Sakura had fought and struggled but she had known Sasuke would come to save the girl. And then, Shibuki, in a massive burst of power and fury, tore them all apart. Sakura grabbed the girl, still believing Sasuke would at least come and heal her or something. But only when the girl was dead and cold in her arms did he come out. He was bloody and hurt. And he wouldn't even tell her where he had been.

When she stopped talking she continued to cry into Ino's lap

Kakashi silently left her in Ino's care. When he agreed to let her begin medical training, he thought she had wanted to atone for something. He felt better knowing she just didn't want to rely on Sasuke any more. Still though, the jonin began heading for the one person he would trust to help him alleviate his students misery. The retired T&I expert had fought well in the invasion, and was even now covering the losses in that department. Inoichi was the best option for this kind of advice.

0o0o0

As Iruka walked to Kurenai's house he went over in his head about what all he had to tell her. Over the last couple days he had taken to henge as Naruto and visiting the ninja shops throughout the village. After the first day he realized just how badly Naruto had been cheated. If he only he'd known this much back in the academy, he would have been able to save Naruto a lot of trouble.

After he realized this he decided to take his henge up a notch and visit all the shops and stores in the village. He had found out exactly which shops would accept his patronage and which would try to cause trouble. He also now knew how many people felt bad for past crimes. Several of them had apologized to him when he was henged as Naruto. However, he wasn't entirely sure if he should relay their words back to Naruto. During the days when he wore that orange jumpsuit, he had never even seemed to notice he had been wronged at all. If he didn't already know and Iruka told him, it might only cause him more pain.

Kurenai had been busy with her new assistant yesterday or he would have told her about it then, added to that she seemed to have also taken a sick day today. He had asked for another instructor to cover his shift and waited all morning and she never showed up. Finally, he decided to just stop off at her home.

When he arrived there he was greeted by Hinata who was returning from her training with team ten. After a quick greeting she invited him in. What awaited inside was a shock to both of them. There were broken dishes, with shards sticking out of the walls, and up turned furniture, some piled on top of others. Numerous items had been strewn across the floor including papers. He did take note of the fact that all the valuable items such as her team photos were nowhere to be seen.

"Oooh," Hinata exclaimed, "W-what happened, Kurenai-sensei, sensei!" Hinata activated her Byakugan and headed to her sensei's bedroom, which had even more papers covering her floor. She was on her bed, it was on the floor at an angle while the rest of the room was as badly trashed as the main room. Picking up a page as he entered, he noticed that most of it was covered in black marks. From what he read off the page it sounded like a debriefing. But who, when, and about what were marked out. The only thing he could make out from it was that, whoever it was, they were being accused of something.

At the sight of the house and her sensei's distraught form, Hinata was livid. Who had done this? Whoever it was would find themselves unable to move for a week and in a very dry and very well hidden place.

"Sensei, are you alright? What happened? Who did this?"

Kurenai looked up to see them, her face was red and puffy, and she had obviously been crying "It... It's nothing. I-I just got a little upset, don't worry about it. I'll take care of the mess, and the furniture isn't going to be damaged by only that much." She assured them that she was fine and that no one had broken in.

From the way she spoke it sounded as if she'd done this before. "Are you going to need any help?"

"No, Iruka-san, I'm fine and I'll take care of this..." she gestured to the room, "myself."

"Why would you do this any way sensei" Hinata still wasn't convinced it was her.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, just -"

"Yes, it is!" Iruka firmly informed her. "You're supposed to be the psychology expert here, and yet, it looks like you were trying to murder your house."

He let that sit and for a moment they just looked at one another.

"It isn't your problem! Just go back to the academy lessens." Her eyes flicked to the floor, and then to Hinata. Giving a heavy sigh she looked back at him. "Iruka, would you take Hinata with you... and maybe give her some sort of training to work on for the afternoon?"

"Fine but we will talk about this. Besides that, I had something else to discuss with you as well. You'll need to hear it before Naruto gets back."

"I will, just ... later." With that he withdrew, Hinata spared a last glance at her sensei and followed.

Looking around the house on his way out he saw on desk that, although splintered by a kunai, hadn't been moved. It looked like a workstation made to remove those black marks. A tedious job, one that could take hours for each page depending on the content. She could have only gotten through four or five of them for today. "Hinata," he whispered, "The desk with the knife in it must be meant for reading, right?" Taking the hint she re-activated her Byakugan and they were out the door.

0o0o0

Tenten felt sick, they had been running like this all day. And by they, she was referring to Gai and Lee. From her perch on Lee's back she caught all the wind in her face, one of her hair buns had fallen out and streamed behind her. They had decided to make the trip to a village on the border of the land of stone before nightfall, of the day they left! Knowing she couldn't keep up they had her seal Lee's weights and had him carry her. They had passed the border almost an hour ago. Now they were coming up to the light of a village.

They passed over the sturdy wall in a leap and landed, finally still. Or at least Gai was!

"Leeeee! sto ooo ppopp jujummpiieeng"

"Sorry my beautiful comrade!" He shouted as he stooped to let her climb down. She stayed on her feet long enough to wobble backwards then dropped on her butt too dizzy to stand up any more.

"See my wonderful students!" Gai added his loud voice to Lee's "I was correct when I told you our youth could get us there in only one day!"

Lee jumped up to Gai and shouted back "Yes and with my weights sealed away by our most beautiful Tenten-chan, it has become true!"

Then there was silence... quiet... as one they looked at her. And Gai spoke, "Well my youthful student, we should have Tenten unseal them, so you don't use up all of your..." the left weight hit him in the face and she sent the other at Lee who almost dogged it. But, it still smacked him on the top of the head.

"If you two keep shouting like that!..." She stopped and squeezed her legs together "ohhh.. noo... I need to find a toilet!" With that she took off into the village leaving the green clad morons in the dirt.

0o0o0

The next day brought the team of three to a compound in the village they had stopped at. Lee of course, was already there, when Tenten was woken up by her sensei. As Gai and Tenten walked up to the compound, He explained that the two living here, were the last of their clan and for some reason the village they were in had decided that they were too dangerous to remain. The villagers wanted them gone, one way or another.

"And that is why Konoha is getting paid to remove them, without the villagers having to fight. And to top it off, the Hokage has decided that they would make a most youthful addition to our very own village. So we are here to extend an invitation for them to join the leaf."

What the hell? How did that senile old man think these two would help? "Why did he send us to do it?"

"Well, firstly, because we were able to get here so soon. The villagers are feeling unsafe and are likely to panic if we don't handle it as fast as we can. But the main reason is because I and my youthful green protégé are the greatest tai-jutsu specialists in the village. The base of their clan style relies on tai-jutsu. They possess a bloodline of extreme chakra levels far greater than even Naruto's. hmf! If his hair and eyes were green then he might actually fit in with their clan. Anyway, they have incorporated their chakra into their tai-jutsu in a way that rivals even the Sannin Tsunade. It is also said that when the four tailed monkey beast were to attack Iwagakure, this is the clan that would face it."

As they walked up to the entrance Lee greeted them and introduced them to a very tall teenager, Mondaimaru, and a smaller child, Gakimaru. By the way they looked at Lee you could tell that those weren't their real names. Lee just went with what they told him.

The older one stood almost as tall as Gai-sensei, and as Gai said his hair was green. Not the horrid green of their jumpsuits but a yellow green that was almost golden. He wore only loose fitting pants and a red belt. His broad chest and shoulders rippled as he moved his younger sibling to the door of the building. "Go inside now gaki." Once the door was shut he turned back. "We aren't going anywhere. You might as well leave."

"If you don't mind, we will stay, for our youth shall get through to you. I have no doubts" Exclaimed Lee.

"Stay if you wish, but we won't leave."

"In the meantime Lee, let us exercise the stiffness from our youthful bodies, as we wait for your faith in youth to prevail!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Tenten looked up at her target in a sad way. At the sight of her green counterparts hugging, he sighed and opened the door, inviting her in.

She followed him through the entry room to a dining area, where he offered to get her a drink.

"Hai, that would be welcome."

Looking over to the little boy she realized he had been staring at her since she was invited in. "so Gakimaru, wasn't it?- ?"

"It's Tsu-ga-ku-maru, hey if we did go… would you marry my broth—owww!" the little boy glared at the older sibling and clutched his head.

"Nobody is leaving Gaki! This is our home, mom left it to us! Just because some of the villagers are still mad doesn't mean we have to go anywhere."

"Anno… if it's not too personal, what happened anyway? Why do the villagers want you to leave?"

"Hn! Didn't they teach you about the battles of your own slug sennin? Or of whom she took the title of strongest kunoichi from?"

"Well they don't exactly teach it… they did go over the Sannin a bit, but hardly ever have any specifics. Most of what I know about them is only what we look up or hear about from our elders."

"It happened to be my grandmother. After that, she was taken away by another village. The problem is that she kept our dad in check. With her gone he let his temper lose a few times too many and just before gaki was born they sent a man named Roshi to kill him." She was a little stunned to hear how uncaring he sounded. The stoicism was just too much like him.

"Mom was well trusted by the villagers, so when she swore to remain loyal anyway, they left us alone. But she died over a week ago, and now the villagers think that we can't behave if she's not there to keep us in line."

Ohh.. she hadn't heard of their grandmother but she could understand how it happened. And to lose the last of his family only to be told to get out of the village. It wasn't right, not that that meant anything at the time.

After some time they had discussed several minor things like the village before working up to more meaningful things. Such as what his mother was like and how the leaf-nin also didn't have a mother.

Eventually he decided they had spoken long enough and asked her to make herself welcome to whatever she needed….. and to keep the creeps out.

With those slightly funny tidings he left her in the care of Tsugaki-chan.

"Mom always said that he should pay more attention to girls and less to those clan scrolls. If this keeps up, I'll have to be the one to expand the clan. But if that's the case, then you'll be one of my first choices." The brat said with a foxy little grin. She blushed at that and heard the boy's elder brother groan at the line from down the hall.

0o0o0

With team Gai gone Hinata had been pacing herself as close to Gai's suggestions as she could. She still arrived at the same grounds and still did the exercises he had been having her do. But instead of increasing the amount of exercise based on how her body reacted she remained in the routine he had set for her before leaving.

As she flowed through the stretches she was also replaying her talk with Iruka sensei.

From what those papers said, her old sensei had decided that they we about Kurenai-sensei's old team, maybe even the mission that had killed them. This was upsetting; however, it must have been something horrible if her best role model had broken down like that.

She also wanted to know what it was he had to tell sensei about Naruto. "Oh. It's just a little looking around I've been doing. I thought she would like to know what I have found out." She didn't accept the way he brushed off her question and told him so with her best glare. One she and Kurenai-sensei had been working on for the last week.

Iruka, however, didn't seem to know what to tell her. In the end there was little she could do.

Once she came home that evening the house looked just fine. True to her word, Kurenai-sensei had everything back to its original state.

As Hinata shifted from stretching to her forms and strikes she realized that Kurenai had been holding her anger back all the time they had been a team. She wondered to herself how many times the elder kunoichi would have to do that to be able to repair it all in only a couple hours.

Would the woman still be upset today? Today was the Kiku no Sekku Festival. A small part of Hinata had hoped that she would get to spend it with her sensei. An even deeper part was disappointed she wouldn't get to spend it with Naruto.

0o0o0

She felt so useless. After her cry in Ino's lap, Sakura had talked to her rival and best friend for what seemed like hours. And they examined almost every aspect of her life. The total sum; she was useless. Starting all the way back from when they had the bell test her skills were non-existent and her general training methods pathetic.

Even now, with her training at the hospital and the new determination their sensei had found she was still so far behind the other two, that she literally brought nothing to the team. Her taijutsu was only good when Kiba did something stupid and made her angry. Her chakra was so low that she only lasted a few minutes in ninjutsu while the other two could go for over an hour without needing a break. It seemed the only good thing about her was her control. Already she had mastered two genjutsu; which Sasuke could see through, and Kiba could smell through.

All that time she had just let them take the brunt of the work. And after deciding to get stronger, she realized she couldn't! Without Kiba saving her on the last two missions, she would have died. And although Sasuke's actions had been heartless, if she had been serious from the beginning she wouldn't have needed Kiba's help in the first place.

Once that was established, Ino decided to help her out. First by suggesting she should seek training from Caterpillar brow's Sensei. According to Ino, Hinata had let slip that she and Naruto had been training with him, and when pressed, how much her chakra reserves had developed since. That would help all around. It would give her better endurance and let her use more powerful jutsu.

After the failure at the exam Kakashi-sensei had made them train a lot. They spent two hours on taijutsu and then went on a mission. Then they would train in ninjutsu and genjutsu. Kiba was the only one who didn't learn to cast a genjutsu, but dispelling them was something the Cyclops had made sure they learned. And despite her control, she had taken the longest to get out of his illusion.

Then they began learning ninjutsu. She was able to make a pillar of earth, which could be used for several things. To jump off of or launch at the enemy. Once she mastered it she would be able to make it into a wall. But for now a two meter cylinder was the extent of her jutsu.

After what happen on that mission, Kakashi had allowed Sakura train in medical jutsu, and moved the tai-jutsu to after their missions. So she trained at the hospital in the mornings while the others were training in their personal ninjutsu arsenals.

She got bruises and scrape level in a week. Apparently her chakra control was perfect. She was worked to the bone there. And it wasn't jutsu very often. Oh, she healed a thumb that had been hit with a hammer and a foot that had a nail thought it but mostly it was just changing bandages and maintaining the wounds from battle.

And if what she had just gone through wasn't enough, she began hearing how much work team 8 had been doing. She admitted to feeling a vain envy of them. Kakashi had waited until then to start training them at anything and now they had to catch up. It was no wonder Sasuke was caught by surprise in the preliminary match. Naruto, the bastard, was talked about like some kind of hero by several of the teens and some of the adults too. Just because Sasuke wasn't given the training he should have had. If he hadn't been taught by one of the Sannin! Of all people! Then he never would have beat Sasuke.

But she had small satisfaction that just as many people, who she had helped in the hospital, had been angry with the Idiot as well. And now he was a chuunin! It only convinced her more that she needed to train with Gai. She needed to help Sasuke, if she didn't, then he would continue on this downward spiral into despair. A path that Naruto put him on.

Looking at the training ground she had been told to find, the pinkette only saw Hinata. She had heard that those two would often run laps around Konoha's wall. Maybe they would be back soon.

"Ohio! Hinata-san," she called out cheerfully. Making her way over, she got to the point. "When do you think Gai-sensei will be back?"

The injured girl didn't even stop working on her katas. "Ano.. H-He's on a-a mission r-right now. He w-won't be b-back for a c-couple d-days."

'Oh well' Sakura thought to herself. 'Since you're already here you might as well get in some stretching.'

"You mind if I join you for a bit, I'm already here and I don't really want to waste time going back to the training ground my team uses."

Sakura had expected Hinata to comply. The shy little girl never complained about anything un-baka related. As such, she had already begun her first stretch and was a little embarrassed, not to mention quite surprised, when Hinata objected, as polite as it was.

"G-gomen, b-but I do m-mind. Tha-that is, I w-would rather you n-not join me."

Maybe she was still mad at her over that argument the baka started. It was months ago but hey she had held a grudge much longer than that.

"Look Hinata, I know I have said and done some things that were uncalled for. I would really like to just move past that. And –"

"It's n-not that S-Sakura-san, I-I would just prefer to-to train by myself."

Sakura blinked at Hinata's interruption, then actually looked at the diminutive Hyuuga. She was flushed with a red face. While not uncommon, the blonde who usually garnered that reaction was off on a mission. She was also sweating profusely. And what Sakura had taken for her natural stuttering had actually been panting, heavy panting.

Sakura realized it must embarrass her to train with the injuries. Unsure whether or not to apologize, Sakura decided that drawing attention to Hinata's state would only make it worse. So she hastily excused herself from the grounds, telling herself she would come back to see if Gai had returned in two or three days.

0o0o0

"Step right in Anbu-san"

The Anbu shinobi had been called off duty for the morning so he could answer a summons by the Hokage's acting representative.

And he met her in one of the unused debriefing rooms, in the Hokage tower. It was small, meant for only two or three people at the most.

Kurenai Yuuhi sat behind a desk in said room, and pushed a chair out from under it with her foot.

"If you would please verify your rank and identification we can get started"

"Hai. Voice-sama"

Voice-sama? That title referred to the fact that as the Sandaime's personal assistant and caregiver, she represented his authority and could essentially voice his opinions. At least in all but the major issues.

But to actually be titled by it was gratifying.

She gave a slight smirk as the Anbu finished his 'identification' by removing his mask.

Too bad she was about to abuse it.

0o0o0

Tenten was terrified, swathed in feelings of betrayal and anger. The villagers had formed a mob. Intent on driving out the so called monsters, they attacked. Even after her team had taken this mission they still wanted blood. Gai-sensei and Lee both tried to turn them back spouting that youth crap and it did nothing. Now they were all dead.

She stared at the burnt bodies, left in the wake of the explosion. He had just lifted his hand… and in a flash of light the villagers were dead. That was all it took. A flick of his wrist. And they were all gone.

Looking over she saw her team in battle. Gai-sensei landed one of his best kicks on the teen, only to bounce off and get kicked back. He blocked the twin Konoha Senpuu and flung both of her green teammates to the ground. She could feel it. They had opened the gates. Mondaimaru could feel it too. He attacked. He was winning through sheer brute strength.

Slowly she stood and prepared to end this. Taking her scroll out, she unsealed the extreme giant shuriken. Each of the four blades were a meter long and the center ring was half a meter wide with a cross bar inside it. Holding it up over her head she began to spin it. As it picked up speed the dirt and dust around her began to lift and spin with it.

Gai saw it. And with Lee, they managed to position Mondaimaru for the strike. The shuriken had reached its top velocity, Gai and lee had the enemy pinned, now was the time to attack!

She bent her body back and down, before flowing forward, flinging her arms towards him, sling-shooting the shuriken.

At the last moment, as the blade moved just past her reach, she saw the movement. But it was too late to catch the shuriken.

0o0o0

"Ok Anbu-san, Just sign here and you may go"

The Anbu looked up at her in shock. "But I only told you my name –"

"Don't worry about it." She interjected. "This meeting was more for a formality. I have it all on paper; this was just to make it official."

She slid him the release form so he could sign it. Standing he picked up his mask and put it back on. 'That's odd, when did I even take it off?' The Anbu pondered this as he walked back to the base. Since he was only in there for a few minutes he might be able to go back on duty today.

Before he even got there, he recognized two of his fellows making their way towards him. "Hey, how did it go?" "Yeah, what could you and Voice-sama talk about for so long?"

0o0o0

Hinata arrived at the cabin early today. She hadn't even gone to the Festival. She had flatly rejected Ino's invitation to go with them. Her sensei hadn't gone either. Instead the two of them turned in early, both upset for one reason or another.

After the cold shoulder she'd been sporting toward team ten yesterday, her attitude was looked worn and sore. As if she was still hurting from her injuries. She had done this once already so Ino knew the drill. They would chat and 'meditate' and do minor non-exerting chakra control exercises. Basically, they would just pull a team wide Nara.

Hinata used her perfect control to look hurt. She controlled her breathing to be shallower and her movements to be more constrained. The Hyuuga could manipulate her chakra to break out in a sweat. And Ino suppressed a giggle when she entertained the idea of what Hinata had to think about for her face to turn that red. Then there was the fact that she could throw it on at any moment. And recover from it like it hadn't even been there.

Shikamaru was playing shogi with Asuma-sensei and not even looking at the board. He was turned to face Ino and Choji as they sparred reaching behind him and a little to his right to pick up a piece seemingly blindly and move it into position.

"So" Ino began, wrapping her arm and shoulder over the girl, it was time to confirm what she thought. "Did you continue your work out on your way over here or did they reroute the path to go around the entire village"

Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan. "The tree sixteen meters to the south east of the stump Shikamaru made. Four meters up." The stump had been the only real damage he had ever made to a tree. Granted they had to threaten to tell his mom he wasn't training.

"Wow Hinata that's pretty far." Getting out a small telescope Asuma tossed it to Choji. He immediately drained his canteen as he took a glance at the spy. He looked like a Hyuuga, he was dressed like one had the same heir and face, but his eyes were normal. He didn't have the Hyuuga dojutsu.

Turning back around to set his canteen down he made a note of it. "Hey Hinata? I got a good look, but his eyes are strange"

Glaring at the chubby moron Ino snapped back at him "Umm… duh? Its their dojutsu, if you haven't noticed she has it too!"

"No, I mean they're normal, er… I mean he doesn't have the Byakugan." Choji corrected, inciting a quick apologetic look from his teammate.

"What? Who do you think he is, How long has he been there?"

Hinata immediately understood the implications. "It is one of the far branch retainers. They don't have the full bloodline."

"So do you think he knows he's been caught?" Inquired their sensei.

Hinata shook her head "He's been staying out of my old range of vision. The distance I had before… before the exam."

All of the chakra control exercises she'd been doing with team ten had drastically improved her control. She had actually replicated the Kaiten yesterday. And after only three months of living with her sensei! However, Hinata wanted to use a different technique, one that didn't require so much chakra output and would utilize her flexibility more.

"So how does the far branch fit into the Hyuuga clan?" Ino asked after the three of them sat down on the grass in a meditation pose.

"There are several branch families in the clan," Hinata explained "Not all of the Hyuuga are born baring our bloodline limit. Though, even if they don't have it, they can still pass it onto their children. Because of this all children who descend from a Hyuuga are considered to be a member of the clan. Should one marry out of the clan, instead of becoming a part of another clan, the member of that clan is to be considered a Hyuuga as also. This preserves the safety of our bloodline."

It was a textbook lecture taught to all the children of the Hyuuga clan.

"These are the members of the Far Branch. And in order to keep the bloodline strong without incestual relationships it is necessary to promote the population of the far branch. Inter-clan marriages usually involve a member of the far branch. That way the bloodline remains strong. Most of the far branch serves the clan as retainers, or as the clan's personal guards. A few have become shinobi; most of those join the Anbu."

Hinata thought for a moment, and realized that she had their full attention, even Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei had stopped their game to listen.

"So if they don't have the Hyuuga dojutsu then how do they perform the jyuuken?" Asuma inquired.

"They developed a long range jyuuken form, essentially jyuuken archery. Their eyes, even without the Byakugan, perform much better than normal, some of them even had fluctuating traits of pure sight. Add to that the Hyuuga chakra control, taught to them from infancy. They were able to create the chakra bow. It is a chakra based bow that shoots direct bolts of chakra into the enemy, causing damage as a real arrow would, without breaking the skin unless it is a very concentrated shot."

It was a very good skill, one that most Hyuuga could perform if they wanted to. But the main family and most of the cadet branch believed it was too rudimentary. So it was only taught to the far branch who had become the clan guards.

Yet the theory behind it… Yes! To shoot an arrow of chakra in long range… or a needle. If she could make it dense enough, Concentrate the chakra needle enough, she could use it in her new technique!

After answering a few more questions about the Hyuuga clan, Hinata got up and stretched. As she did this she checked the tree's again with her Byakugan. There was no trace of him in the area. Still, she would be 'injured' for the rest of the day. Just to make sure.

"So Ino-san how was your lunch the day before last? I forgot to ask you about it after I had a visitor at the training field yesterday."

Ino knew instantly who she meant. "Please Hinata! Please, don't object, Sakura just… she really needs this. She's in a bad way right now." The blond pleaded.

"It isn't my decision if she trains with Gai-sensei or not. But how will I get stronger if I have to hide during my most intense training session everyday?"

"Hinata, maybe you could just let her in. I'll vouch for her. She won't blab about your injuries to anyone, I swear." Looking at Hinata debating this, Ino knew she had just screwed up, badly, if she couldn't come through. If Sakura did say something then everything they had done would blow up. And she would be the one who got Hinata sent back there.

It didn't take a Nara to figure out why Hinata acted so different from a few months ago, After some pressure the Yamanaka had even gotten the shyer gennin to join her in the hot springs, where any suspicions she had were proven under-suspected. Ino had learned as much from her dad she had from her sensei, including how to differentiate scar tissue.

"Sakura isn't doing so well; she really just wants to help her team. So I thought that if she got better at taijutsu and worked on her endurance, she would improve more."

"That is going to be such a drag." Shikamaru said as he reached almost behind him again to move a shogi piece without his gaze on them wavering. "The only way she would be able to learn taijutsu in any quality even from Gai – especially with the way he looks - would be if he wrote a book about it."

Asuma made his move and instantly Shikamaru moved his piece and said "checkmate".

"What the hell Shikamaru, you didn't even pay attention! If you're not going to at least look like you're watching the game then maybe you ought to wear your chuunin vest so it doesn't look like I was just beaten so badly by a genin."

Conceding his defeat, the Nara turned back to face his sensei with a mumbled troublesome.

0o0o0

When Hinata got home she saw that Kurenai-sensei was out. But as prearranged she had left a note with instructions on what she was to do. The note told her, that she had gone to visit an old friend who was feeling a little ill and would be gone for awhile.

Hinata was to practice her writing of seals and study the scroll her sensei had given her several days ago. It explained how sealing scrolls worked and how they were related to explosive tags. She was going to become proficient at sealing scrolls before she would learn how to make any other seals. The first seal was a chakra storage seal. She was already gotten that one down. Her next one was a water storage seal.

Grabbing her sealing and bathing supplies, Hinata headed to the bath house. This was going to be a relaxing training session.

0o0o0

The sky was just showing a dimple of light as the sun began to rise. Iruka walked up a path to one of the many hills the provided a decent view of the village.

Blinking in surprise he walked over to Kurenai. She sat on a tree stump bench just staring at a painting, a painting of her with a stake going through her back and out one of her breasts. Who would paint such a thing?

The painting was rolled up and Kurenai was on her feet in a blink. "Do you need something?"

"Well, actually I was just going to watch the sunrise…"

"I'll be going then—"

"Wait, I do need to talk to you still. I have a request petition I'd like to go over with you. Also I thought you might be interested in some of the information I gathered in the process."

She sat back down and the chuunin began telling her about his shop, and the practice missions. He told her where all he looked and what shops she could now take Naruto to. She told him that she wouldn't rest until he was welcome in all the shops. She agreed with him on incorporating the missions into the lessons, and said that if it pulled through Iruka might be in for a promotion in the ranks at the academy.

When they were done the sun had risen and Kurenai felt her drive restored. The chuunin however, was suddenly overcome by thoughts about other promotions in his shinobi career.

0o0o0

Neji was wondering how Hinata hid from her observer yesterday. The retainer who had been sent knew how far her Byakugan could see. And his sight, even without the Byakugan was much farther, as long as there was nothing to block his view. Without Lee running his morning runs Neji had no way of contacting her.

He sat, enjoying the cool of the evening, gazing past the village gate out into the forest beyond it. He would just have to look again when he began his morning lap around the village. He still ran it even when Lee was gone. Not just to keep up appearances, but because it helped to get away and focus.

He sighed in disappointment; the young Hyuuga would be expected back soon. He had just gotten out of view of the gate when he heard them approach. Activating his doujutsu, he was welcomed to the sight of his team returning. But not too pleased at their condition.

Lee's leg had been snapped just below the knee. And Gai was carrying him. Tenten walked a few meters back from the two of them. And she looked very distressed. She was displaying the same ticks as she had after her first kill. The way she kept rubbing the first two knuckles on her left hand together was a sign that she was trying not to think about something. Pressing her middle two fingers into her palm as she did it meant she felt guilty; she was also wearing makeup meaning she had been crying! That was the only reason he had ever seen her wear make up on a mission.

0o0o0

Lee sat in his team's training field with his legs crossed and his leg brace on top. He ran his fingers over it gently. Because of this he had missed his morning run, but the medic had said his leg was a clean break and would be healed in a couple weeks. In the meantime they had given him this brace so he could move around. As long as he didn't do any training that would stress his leg.

Therefore, he had decided that tomorrow he would make his run on his hands.

For now though, he sat. He sat and he watched Hinata's youth blazing in redemption. She had mastered one of Neji's most prized techniques. The Kaiten. Next, she had begun developing her own technique, one that would surpass the Kaiten. She would work on the chakra part of it during her sessions with team ten. But here, she was developing an intricate interweaving of motions.

Sighing as his youth dimmed, he reflected once more that Tenten wasn't here. Both his teammates had forever lost their youth it would seem.

Hinata-chan had asked why she wasn't here and his Ever-Youthful Sensei had said she needed time. Lee agreed with him stating that even after Gai told him the way to cheer up a girl was to give her lots of compliments she wouldn't smile. She hated the entire trip up there. Then there was a glorious battle… that had a rather un-youthful ending. Swallowing Lee returned his focus to his brace. Now was not the time to think about such things. To dwell was most un-youthful.

"Ohio" looking up Lee glimpsed the fairest view in the village, A pink haired girl whom gave his stomach a youthful flutter.

Did he hear her correctly? Haruno Sakura was asking to train with them! Is it possible she saw the light of youth at last?

"Lee, come over her and observe Sakura's taijutsu skills."

"Hai sensei! Er… Am I allowed to correct her if she isn't moving in the most youthful way?"

"Yes Lee! I want you to instruct her for the day. That means correcting her mistakes. If we are to evaluate her level of taijutsu we must know what she can do and how fast she can improve!"

"Hai Gai-sensei! I am honored that you have faith in my teaching abilities!"

"This is also to train those abilities. It is training to pass on the legacy of youth by teaching it to others!"

So Lee first had her perform the taijutsu she knew, as he remembered Gai-sensei doing for Naruto when he first joined their training sessions. He watched as she moved through the motions. Making a suggestion here and there, and each time he corrected her he asked that she repeat the corrected form a few times so it would be natural.

"Well my student, you have outshined your own youth today! Sakura-san I am glad you came to learn the ways of youth from us."

At this, she turned deathly pale and a little green in her cheeks. That mixed in with her pink splendor, she had become even more beautiful.

"However as much as you need the help, I cannot teach the ways of youth to the student of my eternal rival! It is against the rules!"

"Yosh! I Was not aware of this rule pertaining to eternal rivals!"

"No, no Lee, it's against the rules to teach another jonin's student without their permission. That is whether they are your rival or not. But do not despair! While sakura must learn it on her own it does not mean she can't seek out a youthful spar!"

"Yeoossshh! If I have not sparred with Sakura-chan by the end of the week I shall find and spar with my most un-youthful teammate instead! And if he is too un-youthful to spar with then I shall—"

"Leeee! I haven't gotten to the best part yet!"

"You mean that would not be breaking the rules!?"

"Hai Lee-kun, Sakura-chan how interested would you be, in purchasing the first ever youthful taijutsu instruction manual!" As Gai shouted this, he brought out a massive volume, and clasped it between both of his hands, above his head for all to see. Lee had no idea where Gai-sensei had hidden it all morning. It was huge. The same youthful green as his jumpsuit and the pages were connected by heavy iron rings, so that you would be training just by reading it!

"It is the basics of taijutsu of youth on paper! And only eight thousand ryo!"

Sakura's eyes had become large shimmering pools of youth, and then, she wilted. Turning and heading off into the sunset she shouted back "I only carry four thousand with me. I'll be back tomorrow to get it." As soon as she was gone the sunset faded from his eyes. And tears sprung up in its place.

"Gai-sensei! We sold our first copy!"

"Hai Lee-Kun!" His eyes were also flowing with tears.

And so they ran. "Gai-sensei!" They ran towards one another in a glorious sunset of youth! "Leee!" They ran… and tripped... tumbling into each other in the dirt when they heard it!

Looking over at Hinata they hear what had began as a giggle. But grew and erupted into a full and blazing laughter. With thoughts of a certain Nara's intellect, the Hyuuga had fallen to her knees and clutched her sides as she gave a most youthful roar of joyousness. This was the first time they had ever heard her laugh, and to their knowledge the first time she had ever laughed with such youth. It was a sound so pure and joyous they couldn't help but join – Even though they had no idea what was so funny. They were just glad Hinata had finally embraced youth.


~ Note ~

I know I just skipped the explanation of the mentioned missions. I will go deeper on the missions as I go through the other's POV on what had happened. Keep in mind that it is just how that person see's it and the others may have a valid reason for their actions.

Sasuke is not being cold-hearted, he will explain this in the next chapter.

Sakura's really shaken up, you would be too if you had to watch a little girl, like, 6-8, getting tortured and screaming and begging it to stop. And Sakura probably would have cheered at Sasuke killing someone if not for it. She had her eyes opened that he's not so powerful.

This is not Sakura bashing! This is in fact a key point in the plot of how her personality develops later on in the story.

In total Sasuke let the girl die, almost got her burned alive, and killed an unarmed and defeated enemy without caring. Sakura hasn't given up on him but is more or less angry at him for not being the god she believed him to be. She had her dream boy taken away. And her fantasy's shattered. Also note that she doesn't think of him as Sasuke-kun anymore just Sasuke. She realizes that he is week and now feels like she needs to step up to support him.

(remember this is from her POV some things will be far different than how she perceived them!)

Also she is starting to realize that Naruto is better than Sasuke and resents him for it, even blames him for it. And so she feels as though he is wronging Sasuke and her by extension simply by being promoted before him.

Sakura's assumption that Naruto trained with a Sannin before beating Sasuke is from rumor that he was training with one and her own conclusion that he had to have been taught before the exam.

Ino is still after Sasuke, she heard the bad things about him and rationalized that most shinobi would have been in the same place. Ino had jumped to the first kill conclusion thinking that if Sasuke had left her in a spot where she had been forced to kill, then maybe Sakura would have broken her ideals of him. Explaining how she could blame him now when she couldn't before.

What was in the papers, well duh, it was a hint that she had been right! And it was put there to make her overstep herself, Danzo is trying to take over, if he can use her to depose the third then he will, besides he had been beaten by her in the coup, so he wanted to do something appropriate. You're just going to have to use your imagination for the interview.

The OC Clan of Chakra tanks I mentioned have the same level of chakra as Naruto... Without the Kyuubi. And that is only the fully trained ones. The two I wrote about are mostly untrained kids.

As for Tenten, this event will reshape her outlook a little. And provide just a tiny detail required for the future of this story.

The far branch; yeah… let's just ignore the fact that I made it up. In the anime we saw that there are dozens of branch Hyuuga what are the chances that some are not born with out the bloodline. And I am going on a bases that there are as many Hyuuga as there were Uchiha, and that not all their children had the bloodline. To prevent interbreeding complications they would have to breed it out. And in order to keep the bloodline clean many of the Hyuuga without the Byakugan would be bread back in.

It also provides a little more detail into the background plot.

I converted 1 ryou to be flexibly from ¾'s to 1-1/2 cents so the manual is $80. And it has detailed description of muscle, tendon and nerve movements as well as how it should feel and images depicting the movements, not to mention that he put all of his basic taijutsu moves into it. So it could have cost way more. But I'll show her using the book later.


While T8: Retroversion will be my main Fic, Five others are on my list to work on at the moment: LATE Naruto: Life After the Ends; Uzumaki: A Lone Fox; The Thousand Ninja; Village Hidden in Plain Sight; and Wisdom of Chance. Descriptions on profile.


~ Second Note ~

I have received some feed back that Hinata has been recovering from her shyness too fast. and would like to point out a few things;

One: she has had almost three months in a more than encouraging environment.

Two: she is not over her shyness, she is just better when it comes to training and those she trusts. Like team 10 and Lee.

Three: she was laughing because Shikamaru had said Gai would have to write a book on taijutsu for Sakura to learn it. and he did.

And I would also like to point out a few spots that encourage this growth.

From S'tarkan's original team 8 it began with her being forced to see her life has value.

"And now Naruto will face Neji in his first match of the finals, and I'm fairly sure he intends to kill him – no matter if it disqualifies him. Shino doesn't care so much about his foes as the chance that he might face Neji as well… to avenge you. These are the people you forgot about when you faced your cousin. These are the people that you thought wouldn't care if you got yourself killed."

Hinata felt something snap within her. Suddenly the bedclothes were too tight as she levered herself up on her elbows, ignoring the spasms of pain in her chest. "Why do they care?" she heard herself asking in a rasping growl that made her want to cough. "Why should anyone care if a failure like me dies? I'm useless! I'm worthless!

From my first chapter

She was done in a matter of seconds. She was getting better. Her body had regained its normal speed and she no longer had trouble breathing. Kurenai didn't know how much longer the charade could continue. But she wasn't just getting better physically. The isolated, depressed, doormat of a girl was gone. It was stunning how much Hinata had changed. She was still timid, but her chin was strait and her stride had a purpose to it. And after the dilemma she had gone through in the hospital, she had finally found value for her life. Hinata had begun smiling almost regularly during the last month. This increased with her continuing stay.

And later on

Shino considered telling Naruto his findings over the weeks of the reconstruction. But he sustained his previous conclusion. To mention it would only cause Naruto unwarranted distress. He must have noticed how Hinata had changed, and there was the possibility that he already knew. Shino didn't know what she had told Naruto when she was in the hospital, but it had saved the Hyuuga bastard from a well deserved death. Shino had seen how conflicted Naruto had been over it, during the month before the tournament. And after she began living with Kurenai-sensei, their Hyuuga teammate had changed. It was gradual, and Naruto seemed to keep up with it. But she had changed deeplyin that time. Shino had detected something very wrong with her. Deep in her subconscious was something he could only get a glimpse of. Something dark. Something dangerous. That may have been what she had told Naruto. Still, he hadn't had an inkling of it before her apology.

He knew how bad it must have been for her in the Hyuuga compound. Aside from what he and Naruto had discovered, he had determined the emotional abuse she went through, by the knowledge of what little was needed to improve her mental state. Simple things like knowing they considered her worth the effort, had altered the very way she spoke. The way she walked and how she trained. Shino wondered how much she will change while they are gone. Naruto had changed so much after his life was reformed.

So she has been fixed it would seem. But I will not just make her a sunny side up. She will still have plenty to work on.