Author's Note: Thank you to all who have reviewed, followed my story, or favorited my story. I also want to thank Varmint because you are the best! I don't own Naruto or really anything but the plotline of this story.

Also, if you don't like my story; don't read it. If you don't like a part of my story; let me know. But do not flame my story; and do not tell me to go kill myself.

'…' Thought

"…" Speaking

Mind transfer/reading

Location

Miura

Genma felt a bleak sense of dread settle in his gut. He had just lost one of his little minions. And from what he had gathered of the munchkins, they weren't the kind to carelessly wander off. Especially not Ino. She most probably would have announced finding any new clue and forced her team to follow after her in whatever search she deemed necessary.

Spinning quickly on his heel, the man ran back outside to get the other two members of his team. He grabbed Shikamaru first, and pulled the genin behind him with a death grip on his wrist. Once he reached Shino, he grabbed him with his other hand just as tightly.

He moved the group through the crowds and back to the room that Ino had been staying in. "Ino is missing." He told the two boys quickly, not allowing them to even think about whining over being manhandled. His mind was already planning their next move, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried. If anything, it cemented the fact that he was almost terrified for the kid in his mind.

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sighed, even though Genma could see the concern that began to pull his eyebrows in.

"What shall we do next?" Shino questioned, any concern he may have expressed hidden extremely well because of the layers he wore.

"You're about to learn the next lesson. We never leave a teammate behind…. Or in the hands of a murderous psychopath. Nara, what way would they most likely take to get out of this town?"

Shikamaru thought of all the ways out, and quickly concluded the most likely route. "To the east. Where there is the forest and river."

"Dammit, that's still a large area to cover." Genma growled, his hands clenching into fist at what could possibly happen to the girl.

"I can help with that part. How? I placed female bugs on each of you, in the event of someone being captured. The males can follow her pheromone trail and lead us directly to Ino." Shino explained to the group, leaving Genma somewhat annoyed at the idea of being able to be tracked by bugs, but thankful they were able to chase after the girl that had been taken.

"We leave now."

The three ninjas departed from the house quickly. Once they were outside and pointed in the right direction; Genma bit his finger and flew through a pattern of hand signs. Slamming his hand to the ground, he watched as a raven flew in the direction towards Konoha.

"Back up." He told the boys, answering the unasked question. He would explain it to them in more detail later. But, right now, they needed to find the final member of their team.

Once the team was jumping through the tree to the east, Shino released his kikaichū. Following the direction of the bugs, the three-man cell hoped to make up for whatever time they had unknowingly lost.

-*()*-

Ino could barely discern where she was, or who she was with. Groggily, the young girl opened her eyes. Black spots danced across her vision, and her brain felt as if it was being pierced by a burning knife. Choking back the bile that rose in her throat, the blonde slowly began to put the pieces together of what had happened.

... What had happened?

The Yamanaka strained herself to remember what had happened. Then, when she finally did, she couldn't help the wave of revulsion and panic that struck.

That's right! She had been drugged! And by Daichi, no less!

Feeling the beginnings of a panic attack happening, she viciously shook her head. Now was not the time to freak out. She needed to take stock of her injuries, just like Genma-sensei had taught her.

She could feel her shoulders being pulled back, and her elbows both hyper-extended. The ropes were cutting into her wrists and ankles. And they were so tight she knew she couldn't slip out of them. And of course, the drug. It was probably some variation of a sleeping medication, if she had to guess from the symptoms.

Her head was still too heavy to lift, and the black spots were still dancing across her vision. Wait, those weren't black spots; it was...

Her eyes widened in surprise and amazement, a wave of happiness washing over her. It was Shino's kikaichū! The girl knew she needed to act fast if she wanted to give her team a chance to catch up.

In one quick movement, she slammed her right knee into the throat of the guy carrying her. Unfortunately, it resulted in her dislocated left shoulder and the effect was immediate. Without any warning, she suddenly found herself submerged in freezing water. And that, mixed with the pain and the drugs, defeated her will to fight without any problem. The darkness began to surround her and she could do nothing about it.

"Sempai, umm I kind of dropped the girl." The man in the swirly mask whispered, voice tinted with worry. Though the lack of volume was for nothing, for the other man had heard clearly.

"What? Why did you do that?" The leader spoke with a hiss. "Never mind, we are being chased. Three Konoha nin. Let's go."

"Tobi is sorry. Tobi did not mean to drop the girl. The girl hurt Tobi."

-*()*-

"God dammit, one of you go get her!" Genma growled out, immediately damning Ino's impulsivity. Of all the stupid things she could have done, it had to be have been that.

Shino immediately leapt into action and dove head first into the river. Swimming as fast as he could, he reached out and caught the bottom of her kimono. Then, using the fabric, he pulled back to bring the girl towards him. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he kicked up and broke through the surface of the water.

The bug nin felt his heart drop when he surfaced and no sound came from Ino. But, after a second, she began to cough up water. And although it wasn't pretty, it was a most welcomed sound.

Grabbing a shuriken with ninja wire attached to it, the Aburame threw it into the trunk of a tree. Then, he wrapped his free hand around the wire and began to pull them to safety.

Once he reached land, Shino set the girl on the ground, quickly producing a kunai to cut the ropes that were binding her. "Ino, can you hear me?" He enquired worriedly as he checked his teammate over for any more injuries, other than the very obvious dislocated shoulder.

"Owww, remind me not to do that again..." the girl retorted groggily, trying to sit up. Although it was in vain. Her body was in too much pain to listen to her.

The sounds of a booming explosion rang out, immediately catching their attention. They weren't fools. Explosions in such a desolate place could only mean one thing. Danger for their team.

Shino cursed under his breath, he weighed the options of either going to help Genma-sensei and Shikamaru, or staying with Ino. However, the tempestuous girl made the decision for the pair.

Gritting her teeth, the blonde spitfire clambered to her feet. "C'mon, we aren't leaving them to die."

Both genin ran as fast as they could through the forest and into a clearing where all the found was complete and utter chaos.

The senbon user was engaged in a two on one fight. A few feet behind him stood Shikamaru in a defensive position, eyebrows narrowed in concentration.

The shadow user let loose two kunai were set loose from the shadow user with clear effort. But these were easily dodged by the enemy.

As Ino and Shino joined ranks with their comrade, the enemy wearing a mask sent a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it right at the children.

Genma realized he needed to act quickly if he wanted to save his team. Spinning around as quickly as he could, the man ran towards his team. And when he reached them, without any hesitation whatsoever,he wrapped his arms around all of them and jumped as the kunai landed in the ground where they had just been.

The explosion slammed Genma into a tree harshly after he had used his body to shield his minions. The four tumbled into a pile at the base of this tree. Then, the three underneath him could feel his blood dripping down onto their heads.

Moving as fast as they could, the kids scrambled out from under their sensei. Without any communication among them, Shikamaru ran off to the right to hide behind a tree, all the while his teammates ran to the left and hid behind their own trees. With a wince and much difficulty, Ino flew her hands through a set of seals, and reached out with her chakra to her two teammates to create their first mind link.

'Can you hear me?'

She was tired and in much pain which made her voice come out as a whisper. But from the way Shino perked up to look at her with a slight quirk of his eyebrow, she could tell it had worked and the communication had been made.

'So, we have two nins that are more than likely S-Ranked and want us dead. As if that weren't troublesome enough, Genma-Sensei is unconscious and bleeding from his head and there's no way of knowing how long it will take for any backup to arrive.'

Really, it was surprising how calm yet annoyed the boy sounded through the link. Was his lazy attitude really that much a part of him?

'What are we going to do?' Shino questioned with a glance in the direction they had just come from, analyzing all of their choices.

"Oh, little children, won't you come out and play?" Shit... That voice... Her father had warned against a snake like voice before. The hissing... Could it possibly be one of Konoha's greatest traitors?

With a sneer of pain and irritation, Ino screwed her eyes shut in thought. Luckily for them, the man that had started all of this didn't seem too keen on moving from his position in the clearing.

'I have an idea.'

The girl hissed through the connection, breathing in to try and keep herself composed. Although it wasn't as if she were being irrational in her worry. If the man truly was who she thought it was... Well, she had more than a right to be freaking out!

'Is it a good idea?'

At this, Ino let out a humorless chuckle.

'It's an idea.' The blonde then opened her eyes to look at the Aburame near her, immediately catching his attention. 'Shino, use your kikaichū to move them more towards Shika. Shika, use your Shadow possession to hold them both still. I only need a few seconds.'

'I don't know how to hold two people still, and even then, it's a risk because they can break it easily.' Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head softly. 'Not to mention, my chakra levels are paltry at this point.'

'I know that!' Ino hissed back, 'But what choice do we have? They just knocked our sensei out! We are talking about a Sannin and some weird guy with a mask. I'm not going down without a fight.'

She was grateful that Shino didn't question why she thought it was a Sannin and instead actually backed her up. She knew it was a crazy idea, but it was the only thing she could come up. And it wasn't as if the two boys were trying to think of anything!

'She's right. It's a crazy idea, but if it will give us a fighting chance, what choice is there.'

'...Troublesome...'

Shino quickly let loose his kikaichū in a wide arc to the left. He knew that in the direction the bugs went, the men would avoid if they were smart. If not, they would get their chakra eaten by those bugs.

The snake nin was amused by the swarm of bugs. Did these children really think they could win? He could beat them in his sleep. Oh, how much fun they would be when he experimented on them! The very thought of such capable bodies at his disposable... It was so great the man licked his lips in anticipation.

But the man's thoughts of using those bodies in amazing new ways were cut off when he suddenly couldn't find himself able to move. Still, his amusement never ended. If anything, it increased.

The shadow user. So, the bug nin had been a distraction for the shadow nin.

How adorable.

This was fine, though. He knew how to reverse the flow of his chakra to get out of this fickle little trap. It would only take a few seconds and minimal effort on his part. Although he knew the Nara was undoubtedly already running on fumes.

Except in the few seconds that he and his partner would need to reverse their chakra, two senbons came flying at them. Both hit their marks... But Orochimaru began to be truly be amused by the genin he found himself facing.

One senbon embedded itself into the shoulder of the Sannin, while the second one had only pierced the sleeve of the cloak his partner wore.

Orochimaru knew immediately that senbon had been poisoned. "Oh, little girl did you really think using a poison against me was a good idea? I am a poison master," he cackled at the group of genin darkly, for he knew they knew how horribly they had messed up. Had they truly thought it would have been so simple to defeat him?

With a small burst of chakra, he freed himself and Tobi from the shadow possession. And with a feral grin, the snake nin began to advance to where the girl was hiding at, while Tobi went for the shadow user.

Shikamaru collapsed after the jutsu was broken. It had drained most of what was left of his chakra. Shino created a screen of kikaichū in front of his teammates and himself. And this tactic of diversion work for all of two seconds before the snake user unleashed a fireball that killed the majority of his swarm. And this caused the Aburame to let out an anguished cry, pain crashing through his sense as he recalled what was left of his swarm back to him.

Now, there were only two genin left standing. There was no doubt about it. They were going to die.

Ino grabbed the kunai hidden beneath the folds of her kimono sleeves all the while Shino grabbed one from his weapons pouch. Both nodded at each other and ran towards their fallen teammates. They didn't need to communicate without any words to know what they were to do. Ino took up a defensive stance in front of Shikamaru, leaving Shino to stand before their fallen teacher.

No matter how hopeless the situation might look, they were shinobi. And they weren't about to allow their teammate or sensei to get harmed any further.

Ino had been prepared to defend Shikamaru with her life. But she hadn't been prepared for the snake like man to move so quickly.

She hadn't even seen him move. One second he had been standing at the other side of the clearing and the next he was right in front of her, a sick smirk on his pale face.

Because of years of honing her reactions, Ino was able to lash out with her kunai, trying to stab the man without a thought. But he only knocked the weapon away without barely a bat of his eye. Then, with his smile turning even more deranged, he grabbed the blonde by the throat and hauled her up to look at her at eye level.

"Oh, you and I will have so much fun little girl. I can't wait to experiment with you," He hissed as he licked his lips.

He was a freak. And Ino was hurt and she could feel her oxygen slowly leaving her. This situation was hopeless! There was nothing she could do! She had tried her best and failed. Tears stung at her eyes, slipping out even as she tried to maintain some kind of silence.

As if being carried like some kind of rag doll hadn't been humiliating enough, Ino suddenly found a slick and wet thing running across her cheek, catching one tear and licking all the way up to the corner of her eye.

She couldn't help the almost violent shivers of revulsion that passed through her.

And while this happened to the blonde, Shino tried his own best to keep the second attacker away from their teacher.

Tobi easily dodged to the right as the bug nin slashed at him with his kunai. And with a quick and painful kick, Tobi sent the younger shinobi into a tree a few feet back; effectively knocking him out.

Turning towards Orochimaru, he told the man; "Sempai, I sense others near-by."

Orochimaru let the girl fall to the ground. "I'll be seeing you around." He hissed at her before taking off with Tobi.

He had been having his fun. But that wouldn't be worth the headache of taking on more Konoha shinobi. Besides, he needed to keep Konoha in the dark about what he was doing for the moment. It brought him an endless amount of joy to see them floundering about in unease.

They were gone before the Konoha nin ever appeared.

-*()*-

The four-man cell arrived in the clearing shortly after the two had hastily retreated.

"It's clear, the only ones here are our own." Dove observed with her Byakugen activated, scanning their surroundings once more to make sure she was correct.

Nodding to her, the man in a dog mask barked out orders to the rest of the team; "Dove, get the Nara. Cat, take care of Shiranui. Rabbit, get the Aburame. I'll talk to the girl."

Ino couldn't move, she was terrified; the adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins had finally left her. If it wasn't for the team in front of her, she shuddered to think of what would have happened to her team.

Glancing to her right, she saw both Genma sensei and Shino unconscious and being checked over by two ANBU members. Her eyes lazily moved back in front of her when a hand was waved in front of her face.

"Girl, can you hear me?" The man in the dog mask asked as he knelt in front of her.

Finding that she couldn't form the words properly, the blonde simply nodded her head at the man. Her head was buzzing again, her body still hadn't processed the drug in her system. Aside from that, her left arm limply hung at her side and her soaking wet clothes stuck uncomfortably to her body.

"Who did this to your team?" The masked man asked softly, quickly realizing she was going through shock, even as he eyed her critically for any injuries.

She looked at him, floundering for the words; mouth opening and closing like a fish. Realizing she wasn't going to be any help in this condition, he shook his head. "It's alright. I need to put your shoulder back in place though. It will hurt, and you will pass out from it." He informed her, slowly raising his arms to not startle her.

Placing one hand on her shoulder and wrapping his other hand around her upper arm, he wrenched her shoulder back into place as fast as he dared. The blonde couldn't find the strength to scream from the pain, but she did allow the blessed darkness to carry her off into dream-world.

"Dove, get into contact with the tracking team. I want them out here within the next 4 hours, and hunting down whoever did this." Dog demanded of his subordinate, who nodded without needing any further explanations.

Grabbing a piece of paper, the woman hastily wrote out the coded message and placed it on the falcon that had found them, sending it back to Konoha.

"Alright, Cat and Dove get one of them each, Rabbit go into town and get their bags. We head back for Konoha." Dog told his team as he picked up the shadow user and the mind walker, one over each shoulder.

Rabbit helped Cat get Shiranui on his back, so he was carrying him piggyback style. Dove threw the Aburame over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The purple haired woman in the rabbit mask left quickly to go into the town and retrieve their belongings.

"We'll meet her at the entrance to the town." The captain told the group, then they took off with the unconscious team.

Hospital in Konoha

Shikamaru could feel his head pounding, like a weight was pressing against his frontal lobe. He could hear voices, but couldn't distinguish what was being said. Cracking an eye open, he blearily tried to see who was in the room. But it didn't do him any good, as he couldn't make out who was in the room.

Letting his eyes fall back shut, he only hoped this migraine would go away soon. It was being so troublesome.

-*()*-

"Honestly the kids are lucky. They got away with a few lacerations, a dislocated shoulder, bruising, concussions, and chakra exhaustion." The doctor explained to the Clan Heads of the Aburame, Nara, and Yamanaka clans.

"Thank you doctor." Shibi Aburame nodded to the man, finality clear in his tone of voice.

After the doctor left, the three fathers looked at their children. A dozen thoughts passed through all of their minds, but the one they all shared was the same: 'Who the hell could have done this to their kids?'

All of their individual injuries spoke of a rather worrisome story they had yet to decipher.

Shikamaru's chakra exhaustion allowed his father to know that his boy had done something completely uncharacteristic of him. He had given his all.

Shino's concussion worried Shibi for the simple reason that they were not taijutsu enthusiasts. Whoever had done this had gotten much too close to Shino for comfort.

And Ino's dislocated shoulder, coupled with the bruising around her throat, had Inoichi about an inch from seeing red.

"Inoichi, do you think you could go through their memories and found out what happened?" Shikaku looked at his old friend with worry swimming in his eyes, hope clear in his words.

He knew the Yamanaka would, on normal occasions, refuse the petition. After a rather stressful mission, it wasn't wise to begin riffling through memories. But Shikaku knew that it was different when it came to a fellow mind manipulator. Especially if said manipulator was one's own father.

Nodding his head, the blonde-haired man walked over the bed his daughter was on. It would be easier to go through her memories since she would know it was him and knew how to keep her psyche in order.

Lifting his hand, he placed it over her forehead and, with a small push of chakra, he was taken into her memories. Sifting through her memories was easy, as they had done this on one more occasion before this. He let himself be pulled into her memories from the time they reached Miura.

Leaving her head after he had gotten all the information, the older blonde's face was pale. Sinking down into the chair by her bed, he felt anger at the fact that his precious baby girl had been forced to take on a damn Sannin.

What the hell had the Hokage been thinking?!

Taking a breath to calm down, he told the other two men what he had learned; "Daichi had drugged my daughter. Apparently, he was kidnapping kids and selling them. But the part that we didn't know... He was smelling them to Orochimaru. The team got into a fight with him when he tried to kidnap Ino. Genma took an explosion and concussion to protect the kids from some unknown partner that was working with the god damn Sannin. Then the kids decided to fight back. Anbu arrived, and Orochimaru left."

Shikaku and Shibi both sank down into the chairs next the beds that housed their respective children. This was a complication of the highest degree. What was Orochimaru doing so close to Konoha and in Fire Country no less?

"Shibi how do you feel about teaming up with the original Ino-Shika-Cho formation?" Shikaku asked the other man suddenly, looking up at the Aburame.

"Will the Hokage allow it?" The bug nin asked back, looking back at the man without a change to his facial expression.

"He damn well better. He sent our kids out there and they end up being attacked by his wayward psychopathic student." Inoichi growled, still fuming over what he had seen the snake nin do to his daughter.

"I believe it would be good for me to stretch my legs, so to speak." Shibi voiced to them, by way of an answer.

"Good, I'll put in the paperwork and get us out of here as soon as the kids wake up." Shikaku expressed to them, ready to go put a snake nin out of his misery.

The three men fell into silence as they waited for their children to wake up. Each one coming up with their own ways to end the lives of those who thought to harm their children.

-*()*-

The next time one of them awoke, it was Shino. Blinking his eyes open, he glanced around the room and saw his father sitting beside his bed, with the rest of his team on beds in the room. He was in a bed next to Ino, with Genma sensei and Shikamaru on beds across from them.

When he moved to sit up, he had awoken the three fathers. "What happened?" He asked his father, still fuzzy about how they weren't still in the forest or... The thought of death had him paling and looking at his father, trying to reassure himself that he was alive.

"You all were attacked by one of the Sannin and another man. They knocked you all unconscious before the Anbu team showed up." Shibi explained to his son, voice laced with relief.

Nodding his head, the boy rested back against the pillow on the bed, and asked his next question; "How is everyone else?"

"Shikamaru has chakra exhaustion, Genma has a concussion and some mild burns from the explosion, Ino has a dislocated shoulder with some bruising on her neck, her toxicology report also showed a significant amount of a sedative in her system." Shibi explained to his son, watching the emotions flicker across his face.

He knew his son was blaming himself for what had happened. But he wasn't quite sure as to what to say, since words had never been his strong suit. Thankfully he was saved by Inoichi.

"Shino it's not your fault. What happened out there is not on any of you. The team did the best they could given the situation. You all managed to hold off a Sannin and an unknown accomplice until back up arrived. You did good, and if it wasn't for you..." At this, the blonde choked up and looked away. "My daughter would be dead."

"Thank you, Yamanaka-sama;" Shino responded, grateful for the older man.

-*()*-

When Ino woke up both Shikamaru and Shino were awake and sitting up in their beds. "What the hell happened?" She asked the two boys.

"Well you got drugged and kidnapped. We came after you, found out it was Orochimaru that was trying to kidnap you. Got into a fight, sensei got knocked unconscious by an exploding tag, Shikamaru ended up with chakra exhaustion by trying to hold two people in place, you tried poisoning them, they killed a lot of my hive, and then the Anbu team showed up and took us home." Shino explained to the girl, counting on his fingers the things that had happened.

"Oh," was her only reply. She remembered the crazy plan she thought up the night before. "Wait, where is sensei?" She asked looking around the room and only seeing her and the two boys in there.

"He got released earlier. Said he would be back in a few hours to get us out, something about needing to file the mission report. Our parents were here earlier, but they left saying something about how they needed to talk to Hokage-sama." Shikamaru drawled, wishing he could already be outside and looking at the clouds.

Suddenly the door to their room slammed into the wall and three heads swiveled to the doorway, only to find a broadly smiling Anko Mitarashi.

"Sup kiddies! How do you feel about an early release?" She offered jovially, excited for the plan she had for these little minions.

"What's the catch?" Shino asked, eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

"Oh, we are going to fuck with your sensei a bit." She answered, surprised when none of the kids were looking her in her eyes. She thought she could have fun with that, at least.

"Wait, what are we going to do?" Ino asked, curiosity piqued. This might be worth the early release from the hospital.

... Wait a minute... Was she really thinking about going with the crazed Anko? And were Shikamaru and Shino actually not fighting with her about it? ... Maybe they had all suffered from concussions the doctors hadn't noticed. But Genma sensei had left them... So... Well, they could fuck a bit with him. It wouldn't be all that bad, right? Besides, she hated hospitals.

"I'm going to take you all to the forest of death. We'll wait out there until he finds us. Easy enough for you little rascals?" The older woman told them, hands on her hips. Geez, what was with these kids and asking questions while not looking her in the eyes?

... Could Genma have told them something about looking at her? That little bastard! These kids better agree to messing with him!

"I'm in." The blonde answered, wanting to mess with her sensei for once instead of it being the other way around.

Oh yes. Even after everything that had happened, she remember the things Genma had made them go through. And it seemed only fair to get a bit of revenge.

"Fine. So long as I can watch the clouds." Shikamaru answered, secretly in the same boat as Ino.

Three heads turned to look at the last one who hadn't answered yet. "Alright."

Clapping her hands together, she gathered up the genins and used a simple teleport jutsu to bring them to just outside of the Forest of Death.

Outskirts of the Forest of Death

"Now stay with me at all times. There are a bunch of things in here that can kill you if you get to close to them." The woman explained to the group.

The three genin nodded their heads, and followed the purple haired woman into the Forest. Anko kept them clear of most of the problems they would face. She wanted to fuck with Genma, not hurt the kids, after all.

They reached the center of the Forest in a little under an hour, and went into the tower situated there. Once they were on one of the balconies overlooking the forest, Shikamaru laid down to cloud watch. Ino started talking to Anko and Shino was left looking out into the forest, searching for any sign of their sensei.

"So, blondie, I hear you almost got kidnapped by Orochimaru." Anko said, venom in her voice as she hissed the name.

"Yeah, and apparently trying to poison him doesn't work as well as with our sensei." Ino answered, still freaked out about the entire situation. A shudder ran through her body when she thought of how he licked her cheek.

That man... Couldn't have been a man... He couldn't have been human!

"Yeah, that's the thing; he's not entirely human anymore. And he's had so much exposure to poisons that it would take more than what's on your weapons to even faze him."

The information had Ino thanking her lucky stars for having survived the encounter. Then, with a shake of her head, the blonde decided to change the topic of the conversation. She didn't like talking about that monster. It made her feel dirty.

"So Anko-sensei, what cool things can you do?" The blue-eyed girl inquired, wondering if all the stories her sensei had told them about the woman were true or not.

"Well I can summon a giant snake!" Anko responded, proud of herself. Though it wasn't nearly as big as Orochimaru's, she still hadn't figured out how to get the king of the snakes on her side yet.

"Can you show us?" Ino begged excitedly, finally something really cool to see.

Hospital

"God dammit, where could those kids be?" Genma wondered aloud. He had come back from his briefing with the Hokage and was going to get his little minions out of the hospital. Only he couldn't find them anywhere.

Stopping a nurse, he politely asked, "Excuse me miss, have you seen the three kids that were in room 1204?"

"Um no, but I did see Mitarashi-san in the room a while ago." The nurse answered before scampering off to check on the rest of her patients.

Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of nose and kept repeating the same mantra over in his head, 'Must not kill fellow shinobi, must not kill fellow shinobi'

Grumbling to himself, he left the hospital and went to the T & I woman was unpredictable. But if he were lucky, then she would have taken them somewhere easy to access.

Once he reached the building, he began his search for that annoyance of a woman, and his three wayward minions. While he was searching through the office space, he ran into Ibiki Morino.

"What brings you here Shiranui?" The scarred man asked, curious as to why the senbon user was in his building.

"Anko kidnapped my team and I'm trying to find them." Was the answer growled out by the newly appointed Jōnin.

"Have you tried the Forest of Death? She tends to hide there when she wants to avoid her work." Ibiki replied, knowing fully well where her hiding spots were. He wasn't in charge of T & I for no reason. And while the woman might seem unpredictable to most, she was actually rather easy to read. It just took a lot of patience and time to find the pattern that was almost imperceptible to those that didn't pay attention.

"Why the fuck would she take 3 genin there?! I'm going to kill that woman!" Exclaimed the senbon enthusiast as he turned on his heel and began stomping out of the building.

The head of T & I decided to follow him, just to make sure he didn't actually kill her. She was still one of his best interrogators. She may be a headache, but it would take too much paperwork to even begin to explain just why Genma shouldn't be imprisoned for murdering a fellow shinobi.

Forest of Death

The sound of an explosion going off with some very loud cussing put a stop to the show and tell that Anko had put on for the kids. But the woman was smiling broadly, proud at the shocked and amazed faces the kids wore.

It was nice to have others appreciate her abilities.

"Umm Anko-sensei, are you sure that Genma-sensei will be alright?" Ino asked thoughtfully, head tilted to the side.

"Yeah, that's nothing. You guys have to pass this place to become Chunin." Anko answered, waving off their concern as another explosion reached their ears.

The three genin shared the same look of horror at the fact that they would have to come back through here again, except without a guide to help them along.

"God dammit Mitarashi, I told you that they were my minions." Genma shouted as he and an oddly amused Ibiki reached the center of the forest.

The scarred man was clearly amused. But it looked odd on his scarred face. It almost actually scared the genin around. Why would a man that terrifying possibly be the amused?!

Genma was covered in dirt, and who knows what else from her traps from hell. Although Ibiki was looking as pristine as ever. Not even a speck of dust on him.

The two men put chakra into their feet and quickly climbed up the side of the building. "Anko, you know better than to take another's team." Ibiki chastised, then glared at the woman, all traces of amusement leaving. "And you still have paperwork sitting on your desk." He crossed his arms over his chest with this, which made the woman let out a long suffered, dramatic burst of air, before she turned around and walked off. Ibiki followed after her without a further word to Genma or his team.

"What did you learn today?" Genma growled at his team, honestly curious about what they would answer.

"That you aren't nearly as cool as Anko-sensei." Shikamaru sighed from his position laying down.

"Sensei, you have to teach us to summon animals!" Ino demanded, foot stomping on the ground.

Pinching the bridge of his nose again, Genma could feel a migraine coming on. Of course, she had to show them that part of her skill set. Why couldn't she just keep to mind games?

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"So is there any particular reason you three are hiding under blankets in my living room?" Genma asked, with an eyebrow arched as he lifted his coffee cup to his lips.

A tuft of blonde hair, followed by a single blue eye peaked out over a mass of blankets. The girl mumbled out, "Our parents wanted to give us the talk." She disappeared back under the mass of blankets.