Me: Bam! We are back, and boy are we changing things!

Abbeh: Yup! This is where the timeline changes and will continue to change from here on in.

Me: So, here's a little mini sage we like to call:

Both: The Imposter Saga

Me: I know the chuunin exams should be next, because many are wanting to see how we do the fight between Kakashi and Iruka-

Abbeh: And honestly, you guys will both love and hate us for that particular plot point.

Me: *grinning* But alas, we have our own little plot device

Abbeh: So, we'll start the chapter and see you guys at the bottom.

Disclaimer: Yeah…no. We don't own Naruto.


Chapter 7: And You Are?

Things were tense between everyone. That wasn't good. They hadn't even made it halfway back yet and tensions were already high between the two teams, and if you asked someone what was up, opinions and answers would vary. In hindsight, Kakashi kinda felt like it was his fault, but he hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, he thought he had every right to say what he felt and address the issues present. It was supposed to make them feel a bit better since he was just trying to help them become better genin. Maybe he had been harsh and overstepped his boundaries, but he had some pretty valid points, and that was that at the end of the day.

~Flashback~

"Phoenix," Kakashi said as they stopped for a brief rest. "A word please."

Phoenix looked up. "Hmm? Yes Kakashi-sensei?"

"What was the meaning of what you did back there?"

Phoenix blinked. "What? Oh, that. Well, if boys can do it, girls can do it too. And if I gotta pee, I'm gonna pee while we're taking a break since-"

"Not that," Kakashi rolled his eyes. Please, he had been on missions with kunoichi who hated doing that, and then some who had no shame. If Phoenix was one that didn't care, then fine, but that wasn't the point right now. "I mean, what did you think you were doing back at the bridge?"

"I thought that Inari should keep Bunny. It would at least keep some of his loneliness at bay. I guess something I said to him before must have-"

"What made you think that Sasuke needed your help back at the ice prison? I ordered you and your team to stay back," Kakashi said, cutting off her ramblings.

Phoenix looked confused. "Huh?"

"You were told by the Third, and the order was confirmed by the Fourth, that you and your team were only supporters in that mission. Had your help been needed, Sasuke would have said something, and I would have sent someone to help him. But what you did was reckless and dangerous. You drew Zabuza's attention not only to yourself, but to Iruka as well, and Zabuza would have gone after not only your team, but your sensei, Sakura, and Tazuna. You would have compromised the mission if Zabuza had done that," he stated.

Phoenix was looking at him with wide, scared eyes. Obviously, she didn't think like that. Unlike Kakashi, who thought out every move before he made it, she didn't think of the consequences of her actions.

"I thought that Sasuke needed help," Phoenix mumbled finally. "I could track Haku, and I-"

"Again, you were only there for support. Sasuke didn't need you. In fact, the mission would have been fine without you or your team meddling around and almost ruining things!"

"Now wait just a minute," Iruka hissed, grabbing Kakashi's shoulder. "Kakashi, she was only-"

"I don't even want to begin with what you did Iruka," Kakashi said to him without turning. "But we will be talking about this when we get home."

"Excuse me?!" Iruka couldn't believe it. Kakashi was treating him like he was a child! "Kakashi, you cannot boss me around like that! If I have something to say regarding how you think you can treat me genin team-"

"Your genin team needs to learn boundaries and when they're needed, as do you. I told you, we'll talk about this at home. Stay out of it."

"But-"

"If I have to tell you again tokubetsu to stay out of this, you will not like what I say to you in front of a genin team you obviously can't handle," Kakashi stated, ending the conversation then and there. He turned back to Phoenix, ignoring Iruka's shocked and hurt look. "Whatever happens during the rest of this trip, it's still our mission, and won't be done until we return. And in that time, you are still supporters. And you will stay support. Am I clear?"

"Hey!" Kas growled. "You can't talk to her like that!"

"Kas," Phoenix said worriedly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't."

"No. He can't talk to you like that. What, would we be blamed if Sasuke did get killed then? If we didn't jump in to help him, would we have been blamed for that? Because to me, it seemed like the 'top rookie'," Kas sneered. "Wasn't faring too well back there until his precious Sharingan kicked in, and he still needed assistance then too!"

"Naruto is actually on my team," Kakashi pointed out. "If anything, it was his fight along with Sasuke's. And that is acceptable. But as you're demonstrating now, and as Phoenix demonstrated before, Team 13 was only support and lacks the knowledge of when they're not needed."

"Bastard!" Arielle hissed. "What if –"

"That is not a way to address you superiors." Was she not taught respect? "Especially not against a high-ranked jounin like myself."

"Kakashi!" Iruka hissed. "How dare you pull rank on them?! You are out of line in that regard and I will not let you do that to them, do you hear me?"

"Iruka." Kakashi's tone left no room for argument. "We'll talk at home. I will not repeat myself. Your little stunt was dangerous enough as it is, and I'm disappointed in you for what you did when I didn't need help either."

"Why you-"

"We're very sorry Hatake-san," Phoenix mumbled, head bowed. It was in her most timid voice as she nervously twiddled her thumbs. "We did not mean to disrespect you, or your team in the manner that we did." She was shocking everyone. Although sweet, Phoenix could stand up for herself and her friends when needed. But why was she being so timid now? If anything, Phoenix should have been defending herself! "For this mission, and any other mission we may have jointly, Team 13 will stay out of Team 7's way if Team 7 is assigned as the primary shinobi of the mission, and we will not speak out against our superiors. We're all very sorry." She glanced at Kas and Arielle, both fuming with barely concealed anger.

"We're sorry," Kas hissed through gritted teeth.

"Sorry." Arielle bit out, glaring daggers at him. If Kakashi was scared of a genin, the look would have been scathing. However, it seemed more petty than anything, so he brushed it off and they continued their trip.

~Later *Team 13*~

"Phoenix, why-"

"You heard what Hatake-san said," Phoenix said absently, filling her canteen and cutting Kas off. "We won't interfere."

"But Phoenix!" Arielle protested. "Are you really gonna let him get away with saying something like that to you?"

"As. I. Said: we won't interfere."

"You aren't making sense," Kas said.

"Look, the mission isn't over until we're home, right? Anything could happen. And if it just so happens that we get ambushed again and something happens to Team 7 that incapacitates them, we cannot help unless we're called. So, we'll stay completely out of it." Phoenix shrugged, taking a sip out of her canteen. "It was the word of a high-ranked jounin wasn't it?"

Arielle smirked. "I knew your little brain wasn't taking that lying down."

Kas was smirking as well. "How anyone thinks you're such a sweetheart, I will never know."

Phoenix shrugged, evil smile on her face. "But Sebby-kun," Phoenix said in her sweetest voice. "Why would you ever think I wasn't sweet? I'm very nice. That's mean," she pouted, but the effect was lost by the evil glint in her eyes.

~Flashback End~

That had been a while ago, and now, everyone was tense. Iruka was pissed at him, Sakura was a little wary of the atmosphere, Sasuke acted like he didn't care, Naruto was totally oblivious to everything, he could feel Kas shooting dirty looks at him, Arielle was muttering curses, and Phoenix was the only one quiet during the trip, which Kakashi figured was because of what had happened earlier. But he didn't see where he was wrong. He had pointed out exactly what the mission entailed and proper ways to carry it out. It wasn't supposed to make them feel bad, but it probably did by the way they were acting.

Maybe he should have been a bit more considerate…

"So," Naruto finally said, breaking the tense atmosphere (even if he didn't realize it himself). "Where'd you get that cool staff from Phoenix?"

"Hmm?" She smiled a tiny bit. "It was a gift from my older brother. It's not really a traditional weapon," she shrugged. "But I like it."

Naruto scratched his head. "How did you get it to extend so far?"

"It responds to chakra. The more you feed, the more it'll extend, but only to about 15 feet."

"Can I see it?" He asked with growing excitement.

"Well, you can try," she said, tossing it over to him. "But be careful. It-"

"OWW!" Naruto nearly dropped it, but switched it to his other hand, shaking the first one out. "It bit me!"

"No, it just burned you. I was trying to tell you that it only responds to certain chakra signatures," she replied. "Yours isn't one of them. It'll only respond to mine, my brother's, and my dad's chakra. It'll burn everyone else."

Naruto tossed it back to her. "I still think it's cool though, even if it bit me."

Phoenix rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. "Thank my dad. It was originally his. He gave it to me when I was younger, and I trained with it ever since."

After that, the trip was mostly silent again as they traveled back. The only noises were the animals going about their day and the trees swaying in the gentle breeze. They were also getting closer to home, which was a relief. Kakashi wanted to get everyone home soon so that they could go to the hospital and the kids could get psych evaluations. He wasn't too concerned with their state of minds since everyone had handled things so well, but Kakashi knew what it was like to suppress an emotion or a memory in order to push it to the back of their mind, only to break down later when it became too much. Kakashi didn't want the genin to go through that after their first mission, especially since there would always be another like it in the future, and breakdowns were never a fun experience.


Just as they were getting to familiar territory, Kas gasped quietly. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, he whipped out a kunai and lobbed into a clump of bushes, startling everyone.

"Wha-Kas, what are you doing?" Sakura asked. "Imitating Naruto isn't funny!"

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "I-"

"There was something there," Kas murmured, holding up a hand and stopping. "I felt something."

"You felt something?" Arielle asked. "We're in the trees, and you hit the ground. How could you feel something all the way down there?"

"Hang on," Phoenix murmured. "There's a faint glo-light there. It looks like a residual trail, meaning that someone actually was there. They're gone now, but they are in the tree line."

That made the whole group tense, getting back to back in a circle type formation to scan the trees. Kakashi mentally berated himself. How could he have missed that? Maybe he was more tired than he thought if a genin spotted something he missed. Well, it was good someone noticed it, or they might have gotten ambushed.

"Where did you go?" Phoenix was murmuring to herself as she scanned the trees. "The trail ends-"

"There!" Arielle shouted, throwing four shuriken. There was a quick flash of light, and then they came flying back. Kas, reacting faster, pulled out a kunai and was able to deflect all the shuriken that bounced back. Then, a surge of lightning came from seemingly nowhere, which made them all duck. It soared right over their heads, crashing into a tree and setting it ablaze.

"Look!" Arielle yelled, pointing.

Advancing from the ground and the trees were figures. They were human in shape, just lacking facial features. Their bodies were thin, and kind of lanky, but the shocking thing was the fact that they were made of pure lightning.

"Team 13," Iruka started, since his team was facing the advancing figures. "I have a plan. Kas, you get on the ground and-"

"No." Kakashi cut him off immediately. "My team can handle this."

Iruka looked like he was torn between protesting that statement or sending his team out to fight anyways. "Kakashi-"

"Iruka, we already had this talk." Kakashi pulled out a kunai. "We're the main shinobi on this assignment. When I call for assistance, then you help, understood?"

"…Understood," Iruka growled out, folding his arms and turning his head away.

Kakashi turned to his team. "We can't let them advance. It looks like they were waiting to ambush us or follow us back to the village. Keep the line back. Go!"

Arielle leaned back against the tree and sighed as Team 7 sprang at the clones and began attacking. "Man, the first excitement we see on the way back and we have to stay back," she grumbled.

"Hatake-san is a jounin, a full-fledged and powerful one at that," Phoenix reminded, sheathing the kunai she had grabbed. "And he's basically training the perfect team, remember? Top rookie, smartest, and most surprising? They can handle this by themselves." She casually leaned back against a tree, sliding down the trunk.

"And if they can't?" Kas asked, leaning against a tree as well.

"He'll ask for help when we're needed," Phoenix answered. "For now, we basically sit back and wait."

"Sensei," Arielle said. "What if they get hurt?"

Iruka, though he didn't mean to, rolled his eyes. "Like Kakashi-sensei said, he'll call us when we're needed. For now, we stay back."

There were too many. Kakashi could see that as soon as they jumped into the fray. The ones in the trees jumped to the ground and advanced on them, and shot lightning from their fingertips. And for some reason, they regenerated. Any time a 'limb' was cut off, no matter by what kind of attack, it came back without warning, and they kept advancing. There was little they could do, except for Naruto making clones and Sasuke using his fireballs to keep them at bay. But still, even more came at them, surrounding them in a field of blue sparks. 'This isn't good. At this rate, they'll make it past us and have a shot to the village.'

"Sensei," Kas said worriedly. "They don't look too good."

"This isn't our fight," Iruka reminded. "We're only support."

"So, what if they get killed?" Phoenix asked. "Do we help then?"

"Essentially, we should help before they look like they're going to die, because if we do it after, we'll be in trouble since we're being disobedient," he answered. "It would be called treason for not helping when it was crucial to their survival."

"Uh-huh," Arielle said finally. "So, for now, we just chill?"

"Essentially, yes," Iruka nodded.


'There are too many, and even more advancing! At this rate, we'll be dead before we even make a dent in them!' Kakashi wasn't used to so many clones, who could regenerate for that matter, coming at him so fast. The genin were already beginning to tire out, and the clones were coming faster and faster. There were wounds on almost everyone, and the clones were beginning to get bolder in their attacks, as if they knew they had the advantage. Limbs were elongated and slashed with more force, and rushes were timed with more efficiency than before. Kakashi was pressed. While his team was strong, strength didn't always help when it came to numbers. Sasuke was close to getting electrocuted, Sakura was already bleeding, and Naruto had exhausted his clones to the point where he was running low on chakra. Had this had happened while they were alone, he and his team would have died. Though he wanted his own team to handle things, he knew that he was outnumbered and that he could risk his team's life.

He looked over his shoulder quickly, only for his eyes to widen. 'What are they-'

"Got any threes?" Phoenix asked, looking over the top of her cards at Arielle.

"Damn it!" Arielle growled, slapping down the cards. "How do you do that?!"

Phoenix shrugged, taking the submitted cards. "It's a gift I guess."

Arielle rolled her eyes. "You probably cheated, but whatever. Kas, got any sevens?"

"Go fish," Kas smirked.

"Damn it!" Arielle growled. "Why am I losing so much? Let's play gin!"

"Hey!" Kakashi shouted, startling them all. He bent to avoid a lightning strike, but half his attention stayed behind him, the other half on the battle. "Why are you playing cards in the middle of a battle?!"

"Well, you told us that we're support, and since we weren't needed, we decided to play gin," Arielle answered.

"But, we're playing Go Fish," Kas pointed out.

"Gin," Arielle said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

"Get down here!" Kakashi commanded. "We need your help."

"Finally," Kas muttered, jumping down. His hands flashed through hand seals all too familiar to him. "Earth Style: Rock Pellets!"

Mounds of earth rose from the ground and launched themselves at a mound of lightning clones. Amazingly, when the clones were hit, they didn't regrow the limbs they lost. They stayed lost. Kas smirked. "Usually, you ground out electricity. I figured clones wouldn't be so different from normal logic."

Kakashi wanted to smack himself. How the hell did he forget something as simple as that? He flashed through his own hand seals. "Earth Style: Trapping Skill Jutsu!"

A large mound of earth opened beneath many of the clones, making them fall into the hole. And then, they quickly fell in, and Kakashi covered the hole. That decreased the numbers substantially, and there weren't many left.

Iruka winced. 'I shouldn't use this since it'll potentially drain me, but there's so many clones. I have to take them out, and fast.' He gathered his chakra and flashed through seals. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon God Blast!" And he slapped his hands onto the ground.

It was a powerful move, really powerful, and as he slammed his hands down, he felt more than ¾ of his reserves being drained. As his hands went down, the ground began to shake. A large, bronze dragon head peaked out of the ground and roared to reveal its lengthy stone body. Then, in a snake-like move, it dove back under the ground, and began traveling to the mass of clones through the ground. When it finally reached the clones, it shot up in full dragon form and smashed into them with an enormous force, exploding on contact. The explosion caused the dragon's bronze body to move outward with immense power.

That took out almost all of the clones. There were about three left, all of which were looking around confused. Iruka fell onto one knee, panting. Good. He was able to get rid of most of them. He had just enough chakra to take the last three out, if Kakashi wasn't going to say something about it.

"Cool," Arielle breathed. "How did he-AHHH!"

Phoenix turned, and her eyes widened in horror. "Arielle!" she shouted.

No one knew how, but a clone snuck past them and had Arielle in a full-nelson, and looked like it was about shock her. Phoenix growled. She knew movement would have made the clone attack, but she wanted to help her friend somehow.

"Let go!" Arielle shouted, trying to break free from the hold. "Let go!" But the clone held steady, tightening his grip even. Arielle wriggled and jerked, but to no avail. Her struggles were making it worse.

And then it happened.

The clone's body glowed blue. It light up brightly, so bright it was hard to see, and then let its energy loose. And the only person there to take it was Arielle.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Arielle screamed as her body lit up in a bright blue hue.

"ARIELLE!" Kas shouted.

"ARIELLE!" Phoenix shouted, covering her mouth.

Arielle screamed in pain, wriggling around and jerking her body at all angles. Her hand shout out, momentarily loose form the grip, and then the clone began to change, before everyone's eyes. It's body was absorbed into Arielle's, and then shout out of her fingers. Somehow, when she thrust her hand out, she pointed her fingers at a nearby tree and the glow completely left her body, traveled down her arm, and flew straight towards the tree. Her chakra flared, and then it was still. The clone was gone, destroyed or something, and Arielle collapsed to her knees, though there was no smoke rising from her body, no wounds, no sign the clone had ever really been there.

It was like nothing had even happened to her.

"Arielle," Phoenix breathed in relief, running over to her friend. "Are you okay?"

"Surprisingly," Arielle grunted. "I feel alright. Just a bit hot, but then again, I'm always hot."

Kas rolled his eyes, helping her to stand. "You're fine. The worrying thing would have been if you went totally silent or started spouting off some hypothetical nonsense."

Kakashi was watching the scene, trying not to let his surprise show. Arielle should have been dead, that much was clear. Kakashi felt the shock and the chakra from it and knew that no one would be able to survive that if they were caught off guard, but Arielle was completely fine, other than probably a minor shock, or something not as big either. And it really shocked him (no pun intended of course). Her chakra had flared, and for a moment, it was different. Redirecting electricity like that was only capable by certain people, lightning users only (or those with superb chakra control, which he doubted she had at this point) could do with such efficiency. And here was Arielle, who did it out of nowhere. Could she be a lightning user? And even more, how did she survive without sustaining injuries from it? There was nothing, no burn or scorch, no scratch or bruise, or anything. What the heck was up with her?

"Can you walk?" Iruka panted, stumbling over to his team.

Arielle nodded shakily. "I can, but I'm a bit off balance."

Iruka bit his lip. "I think it'd be better if someone carried you, just to make sure nothing is seriously wrong."

Kas shrugged. "I can carry her."

Phoenix's eyes widened. "Wait!" She quickly whipped around, pulling out a kunai and thrusting it into the ground. One of the remaining clones had dropped from the tree line, and a vertical split kick from her, and the clone was launched into the air. A huge chunk of dirt soared at it, and both exploded on impact. Kas wiped dirt off his cheek, no doubt the one having chucked the dirt at the clone. "As I said, I'll carry Arielle if I need to."

Iruka nodded. "Okay, do that."

"I could've done that," Naruto muttered, crossing his arms. "It wasn't that impressive."

Phoenix smirked. "Jealous?"

"No!" Naruto shouted. "You just hogged all of the spotlight! Let the rest of us have some!"

Arielle, from her place in Kas's arms, just smirked. "Hey, you had your fifteen minutes of fame, we can have ours."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Kakashi still couldn't shake it. Arielle was fine, even without his Sharingan he could tell nothing was wrong. But how? The fact that she was a lightning user was a possibility, but survival from that was almost impossible. Just what had she done?

"Let's go," Kakashi murmured. "We still have to get back. How do you guys feel? Should we stop for a rest?"

"I think we're alright," Sakura said.

"Same here," Phoenix agreed. "I'm worried or Arielle, but she says she's fine."

Kakashi was relieved. "Alright, let's get going. We need to get you guys back."

The group started off again, their thoughts scattered. In their hurry to get home, no one noticed the clone dispersing, nor the figure who smirked at their retreating backs.

~Konoha~

"We'll head for the hospital first," Kakashi was saying as they ambled through town. "We can't be sure of the extent of your injuries, nor can we ignore that you all need a psych evaluation."

"Team 13, come with me real fast," Iruka said, ignoring Kakashi completely. "There's something we need to talk about."

"Yes sensei," the group chorused.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest as Iruka walked away, not even dignifying him with a response. This did not bode well for him, he just knew it.

~Team 13~

"What did you need to talk about sensei?" Phoenix asked.

Iruka smiled slightly. "Nothing. I just wanted to get you guys away from Kakashi before he started bossing you guys around again." It was meant as a joke, but the whole team could see the tension when that was said, especially since he did use any honorific to his name. Iruka's smile faded. "We're still going to the hospital, but I think your psych evaluation is the most important thing right now. I at least want to get there before Team 7 does so I don't have to face him."

The three genin exchanged looks. "Alright," Kas murmured finally. Even they knew not to mess with sensei when he was pissed. Their days at the Academy taught them much better after getting yelled at (Arielle for being ridiculous or getting into trouble with Naruto and Phoenix for those times when she and Kiba used to have little fights) by their sensei to not to provoke him. It was like poking an angry bear. Once it snapped, it was hard to calm it down, and a bit fatal.


The trip to the hospital was uneventful and quiet. As soon as they passed through the doors, the three genin felt uncomfortable. "I hate hospitals," Arielle muttered as they were shown to a room. "Always smelling like plastic and medical stuff. And the food is terrible."

Iruka laughed. "It's supposed to be a bit better for you though."

Kas had to laugh as well. "I mean, the rumor is that hospitals feed you horrible food to keep you there so you have to pay them more for the stomach virus they give you."

The group burst into laughter at that, believing the statement.

A medic was in a few minutes later, and the blonde man was quick to check them all over, giving them the order to just rest for a few days, and that there was someone available if they wanted a psych evaluation, which Iruka replied that they would be grateful to do so as soon as possible. The person doing the evaluation, Ishimura-san, was someone Iruka was well acquainted with, since after his jounin promotion he apparently needed an evaluation almost every two weeks, and he was happy to let the kids talk to him as he waited in the waiting room for them, idly flipping through a magazine. It took some time for each of them to come through, but Iruka was assured that all three were perfectly fine.

"Thank you," Iruka bowed with a smile. "And they're alright for more missions?"

"Yes," Ishimura-san assured. "They're just as well off as they were when they did their first higher ranked mission. The only concern really is that electrocution I was told about for one of them. While she seems fine now, I want her to come back later, in case some other signs show up that there was unseen damage done to her that no one picked up on."

Iruka nodded. "Just tell me when, and I'll make sure she makes it."

There was a quick appointment made, and in a week's time, Arielle was supposed to come back for another check-up. So, dismissing them for the day, Iruka made the trek home. Kakashi was in the lead, so he could turn in the mission report. And Iruka was not writing it for him.

~Later~

Kakashi sighed, seeing a blanket and a pillow set on the couch, obviously for him. The bedroom door was shut, and probably locked, and there was no dinner on the table. Since Kakashi couldn't cook to save his life and he hated sleeping on the couch since his back would always kill him when he got up, this was a double punishment from his lover. Damn it.

"Iruka?" Kakashi called through the bedroom door. "Iruka, please come out love. Can we talk?"

There was no answer. Kakashi sighed. "Ruka, please. Let's just talk about it."

"About what? A genin team a tokubetsu can't even handle?!" Was the hissed reply from the other side of the door.

Kakashi winced. Maybe he was a bit harsh. "Iruka, listen love. I'm sorry about what I said. Can't we talk about it?"

"Talk about what?! My insubordination?! My disrespectful genin team?! Or what about my dangerous stunt?!"

"Iruka…I was just worried about you."

There was an irritated sigh. "You act like I can't handle myself. You pushed me to go somewhere in my rank, and I did. I could have gone full time, but I decided to stay half-way. You're happy for me that I get my first genin team, but then you scold one of my students and tell me that I can't handle them. Kakashi, that wasn't only embarrassing, but you undermined me in front of them as well and treated me like a child! That's low, and it hurts that you think that as a tokubetsu, I can't handle a genin team, nor take care of myself. I don't need you taking care of me all the time!"

"Iruka…"

"Just give me some time to cool off, okay?"

"But-"

"I need to be alone right now Kakashi."

Kakashi sighed, knowing he wasn't wanted, at least for a few days. This wasn't good. He'd have to go back to his jounin apartment, and he hated being there. It was so cold and lonely there, and it held bad memories…With another mournful sigh, Kakashi gave the door one last glance before he teleported back to his apartment.

Once the chakra signature was gone, Iruka let out a sigh. Kakashi was so irritating, but then again, this was as foreign to Kakashi as it almost was to him. He knew Kakashi wasn't the best with genin or children, but still, to underestimate him like that…Iruka put his face in his hands. He was just so confused and so hurt right now that-

"I'm surprised the infamous Copy-ninja didn't even notice that I was here," A voice to his right said. "An elite my ass."

Iruka snapped his head up, whipping out a kunai. "Who are you? What're you-"

There was a deep chuckle. "I'm you," the voice said. "And you're me."

And then, hands closed over his mouth, muffling his struggle. But then again, who would have heard him? He tried to fight the attacker off, but he felt the strangest feeling. He was getting weaker and even weaker by the minute. His chakra…it was leaving him. This guy was draining his chakra!

He made one last desperate attempt to buck the man off, but in vain. He had only managed to knock over the lamp on his bedside dressed, which crashed to the floor. His vision went black, and he was gone.

~The Next Day~

"I don't like this," Phoenix said once again. "Iruka-sensei is never late. We were told to meet here, we're here, and he isn't, and I'm worried. Where the heck is he?!"

Arielle held up her hands. "Phoenix, hakuna your tatas! He's fine. Look, it's only been an hour! Chill!"

"I think she's right to worry. Iruka-sensei is never late for anything, even if he's dead tired. We should go check on him," Kas said.

Arielle sighed. "Relax. If anything, we should-"

A sudden poof of smoke made them all cough, covering their mouths. "Hey guys!" Genma said cheerfully, waving.

"Hello Genma-san," Phoenix choked out, still coughing. "What are you doing here?"

"And why are you trying to kill us?!" Arielle hissed, coughing harshly.

"Eh. Whatever. But look, I was sent to tell you that Iruka's in the hospital," Genma said, smiling fading.

"What?!" The three chorused.

"How?" Kas asked.

"Well, someone broke into his apartment and tried to kill him. Iruka fought him as hard as he could, but the man put this complicated seal on his chakra, so he's sealed up for now until we figure out how to remove it," Genma explained.

"What happened to the enemy?" Phoenix asked this time.

"Well, he had some important documents with him, and he had medical records, but we don't know where he's from. So, he's at T&I for now. As for your sensei, he's at the hospital, room 513 if you want to see him."

"Okay," Arielle nodded. "I think that's what we should do. We should at least check on him."

Genma nodded as well. "Alright then. And I was supposed to tell you that until he's better, you three won't have to do any missions until he's recovered, but to keep up your training."

"We will," Kas agreed. He turned to his two teammates. "Let's go see Sensei."

~Hospital, Room 513~

"Here he is," the medic said softly. "He's awake. He should be released later today since his injuries weren't as severe as we thought when he was first brought in."

"Thank you," Kas bowed to her.

The door shut behind them as their walked to their sensei's bedside. "How are you Sensei?" Phoenix asked softly.

He smiled a bit, rubbing his nose. "I feel…alright. A bit tired, but I was told I really exhausted my chakra."

Phoenix giggled, though it felt strained. Something wasn't right with her sensei, and she knew it. Maybe in his exhausted state, he came off as a bit weird, but then again, most people did. But why did she have the strangest feeling there was something more? A quick look with her chakra vision would help her figure it out…just a quick peek…

"But I should be fine. However, I was given orders for a day of rest," Iruka continued. "Meaning you'll be free of training the rest of today and tomorrow."

"So exactly what happened?" Kas asked politely, pulling up a chair by his bedside. "We heard you were attacked."

"Yeah," Iruka nodded. "He took me completely by surprise. After I was left alone, there was a presence in my room that I couldn't figure out why it was there. Before I could register anything, he attacked me, nearly killed me. I was lucky to hit him with a wind jutsu, but it took nearly all my chakra. Then some neighbors heard the commotion and rushed to see what was wrong. A few of them were shinobi, so they restrained him and took him to T&I while I was escorted here. Which, I wish I wasn't. I really don't like hospitals."

The three laughed, but again, Phoenix felt a bit odd doing so. Something was off about sensei. She couldn't see anything wrong with his chakra, just a slight trace of chakra that was hard to identify, but Phoenix couldn't be wrong; something was up. And she would get to the bottom of exactly what it was.

~Later~

"I hope sensei gets better," Kas was saying as the left the hospital. "It's amazing that he held off such-"

"That wasn't sensei!" Phoenix blurted out, getting surprised looks from her two teammates. "Wait! Before you say anything, think: sensei can't use wind jutsu, he goes to hospitals regardless of how he feels and he likes them, and since he's so good at traps, then someone breaking in would have tripped one! And if there was a fight, how did he end up in the hospital after one wind jutsu?! That wasn't sensei!"

Arielle placed a hand on Phoenix's head. "Phoenix, while it is plausible, it doesn't make sense. Maybe you're the one whose tired."

"I'm not!" Phoenix insisted. "I know what I saw, and what I heard, and that wasn't our sensei. I swear it on my ANBU dream. That wasn't my sensei."

"How can you be sure?" Arielle asked.

"Feel his chakra," Phoenix stated. "You'll see what I mean!"

Kas sighed. "Look, maybe we should go home, and just-"

"There you guys are."

The three turned, seeing Iruka…but he was holding hands with Kakashi?

"Sensei," Phoenix said curtly. He was masking it, but she could feel it. There was a hitch in his chakra, a foreign hitch that didn't feel like just a seal.

"They let you out early?" Arielle asked, none-too-gently elbowing Phoenix in the ribs. Phoenix wasn't sure if it meant that Arielle believed her or if it meant Arielle wanted her to calm down, but the look Arielle was giving her said that Arielle was going to be as cautious around him as Phoenix was. A quick look to Kas's narrowed eyes showed that he felt the same way. Something was wrong, and now all three of them knew it.

"Yes," Iruka nodded. "Kakashi signed off for it lucky for me. And again," he rolled his eyes. "I was told to get some rest."

Phoenix gave Arielle and Kas a pointed look, which the two returned. For a moment, their sensei's chakra was weird…foreign. Phoenix was right. Something was up, and that wasn't their sensei. Whoever this guy was, he wasn't the right person. Not even after such a short time would he have made up with Kakashi like he had. This wasn't Umino Iruka. They had to prove it.

Growling, Arielle whipped out a kunai and threw it at Iruka. Of course, Kakashi blocked it, but she didn't expect it to hit. Kakashi however, looked livid. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Get away from him!" Kas hissed. "That isn't Iruka-sensei!"

Kakashi stood protectively in front of Iruka. He was wrong earlier. The psych ward didn't pick it up, but these genin were insane after their last mission. "What're you-"

Kas flashed through hand seals. "Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Jutsu!"

Quickly, Kas dove underneath the earth, disappearing from sight. Kakashi thought he was going for Iruka, but got the shock of his life when his own body was pulled underground. He was in up to his neck, almost making it a struggle to breathe, but he managed. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Kas popped up from the ground in front of him, hands still clasped in a seal and pumping chakra into a ground, to hold him in Kakashi realized. "Phoenix! Arielle! I've got Kakashi-sensei! Get him!"

"Right!" Arielle nodded to Phoenix, who nodded back. Arielle broke open her water canteen and let the water spill before flashing through hand seals. "Water Style: Water Shuriken Jutsu!"

Phoenix palmed some shuriken. "Fire Style: Flame Spread!" The shuriken in her hand lit up in a blaze. She and Arielle launched them at Iruka, who crossed his arms in front of his chest to protect himself. Unfortunately, for Phoenix and Arielle, someone easily blocked the two techniques, making them both growl.

"G-Genma-san," Kas stuttered to the honey-haired man who was glaring at each of them in turn.

His hesitation gave Kakashi the edge to break out of his prison and kneel next to Iruka. "Are you alright?"

Iruka nodded shakily, slowly getting to his feet. "Y-Yes," he mumbled. "I think so."

Kakashi turned, glaring at the three genin. "What the hell is the matter with all of you?! Why did you deliberately attack not only me, but your own teacher?!"

"Oh relax," Arielle rolled her eyes. "We didn't even attack you. We just made sure that you couldn't stop us from-Hey!" She yelled when she was suddenly pinned by a shinobi. "What're you doing?!"

"Ow!" Phoenix yelped when she was also restrained.

"Get off of me!" Kas growled when he was roughly picked up and restrained by Genma.

"Someone go get the Hokage!" A shinobi was ordering.

Phoenix looked around and realized what was happening. The hospital was visited by almost all of Iruka's friends, probably because they were worried about him. And, Iruka was a respected Academy teacher, and loved by all his students, who would also probably visit him too. And the hospital was in a public place, where almost all shinobi had to pass by. Meaning that almost anyone and everyone could have seen what they did. Harsh whispers floated around the large crowd, evil glares thrown at them from every angle. And why wouldn't they glare? A respected and well-known, not to mention friendly and always there to lend a helping hand, shinobi had just been attacked for no apparent reason. It just a few short seconds, Team 13 became the most hated genin team in Konoha. They had done something dangerous, somewhere where anyone could see what they did.

And looking at the crowd they accumulated, it was possible that almost everyone did see what they did.

"Damn it," Arielle hissed as people began to glare and the shinobi holding her tightened his hold.

Soon, the Hokage had his arms crossed, observing the three of them. "Can you please explain to me exactly why I have to deal with a case of three genin would can possibly be traitors to Konoha? What was going through your heads when you decided to attack your sensei?"

"That isn't our sensei!" Arielle hissed. "His chakra is so weird!"

"He's been subjected to a very complicated seal on his chakra, of course it would feel slightly foreign. Until we can figure out how to take it off, we won't be able to fix it. The only we'll be able to is if the man we captured takes it off himself," Minato answered.

Phoenix gasped quietly. That was how they would prove it! She just had to play her cards just right… "Well, where is the man who did that to him?" She asked.

"For now, we're keeping him at T&I until he talks," he replied cautiously. "But still, that gave you no right to attack your sensei. You should have at least asked someone about it."

Kas sighed. "You're right Hokage-sama. I guess the last mission made us paranoid."

Phoenix knew that was a lie. The psych evaluation said that they were fine, but no one knew that. Kas either knew she had a plan, or had one of his own.

"He's right," Phoenix found herself saying. "We're supposed to go in for another appointment. When was our appointment supposed to be?"

"…We need to see a new doctor," Arielle lied as well. "Tomorrow I think. I just can't remember where exactly we were supposed to meet him."

Minato sighed, rubbing his head. "I'm not surprised. Many genin who suffer like that are usually referred to the one in T&I, which is scary for them. A lot don't end up going. But I think it would be best if you did."

Phoenix smiled, nodding. "Yes. Thank you Hokage-sama."

Minato didn't smile, just sighed again. "This time, I was a bit too lenient with you since you're suffering from mental trauma, but I won't be able to excuse this next time. If this happens again, I can only assume you three are traitors to the Village and send you to T&I for…different reasons. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," the three chorused.

~Phoenix and Arielle's House~

"Okay, we only have a few hours to figure out exactly how we'll be able to get to the guy in T&I for attacking sensei, and to figure out how to get a message to him. Then, we have to figure out how to prove to everyone that the guy in T&I is our real sensei and confront this imposter. What do you think we should do?" Phoenix said as soon as the door closed.

"We first need to find a way to break into the cell he's in," Kas pointed out, sitting at the kitchen table. "Which won't be easy."

"But didn't you say that you had a brother who worked in T&I?" Arielle asked, plopping down beside him.

"Yeah, how did you-never mind," Kas waved a hand. "All I know is that my brother is a part of that, and he has worked with the head of T&I before on interrogating. I can try and ask him tonight about where this imposter is at, but there's a chance that he won't know anything."

"We can worry about that later. I know for a fact that we won't be able to get a normal message to him in T&I, since they're trained to pick up on that. We have to find a way that isn't too practical, but isn't too noticeable," Phoenix explained, sitting at the last chair.

"Flowers!" Arielle shouted suddenly. "We need flowers!"

"Arielle, if this is another attempt for you to try and get me to ask you out-" Kas started.

"No, I get what she means," Phoenix realized. "If you put certain flowers together in a bouquet, you can relay a message to someone. It could work."

"But we'd have to find a way to get them into T&I unnoticed so no one figures anything out," Kas pointed out.

"I get that, but-"

Harsh knocking on the door made them all freeze. Did someone figure them out?

"I'll get it," Arielle said slowly, grabbing a butcher knife from the kitchen. Kas and Phoenix shared a look as she walked towards the door, knife ready. With a swift move, she yanked the door opened, and raised her knife.

"Naruto," she breathed in relief at seeing the familiar blonde. "What're you doing here?"

"…That isn't my brother," Naruto mumbled, head down.

"W-What?"

Naruto sighed. "We saw everything. Sasuke and Sakura both think that you guys are traitors, and so does a lot of other people. They all think you guys deserve more than another psych evaluation. But…"

Arielle moved to the side. "Come in," she said, ushering the blonde inside. It was obvious that he wasn't in the mood to talk.

The two walked back to the kitchen, where Arielle made Naruto sit in her seat while she sat on the counter. "Okay Naruto. Finish what you were saying."

Naruto sighed. "That…that wasn't Iruka-nii. That wasn't my brother. I went to see him, and he looked at me like everyone else used to. Like I was a monster. And Iruka never looks at me like that. Never. I know that whoever that person is, he isn't my old sensei. He isn't my brother." His eyes became determined. "That's why I believe you. That really isn't sensei, no matter how much everyone is forcing it." He grinned. "So what's the plan? I'm ready for anything!"

Phoenix smirked. "I'm glad you're here Naruto, because we have a job for you. Whoever this new guy is, he might be after Kakashi-sensei. Think. If you take out an elite-nin, no one else would be able to challenge you. I think that's one of the reasons he chose to impersonate Iruka-sensei; so that he can get close to Kakashi-sensei and take him out. Naruto, your job is do anything in your power to help us get around without letting anyone ask unnecessary questions. Do anything you can. And I mean anything."

Naruto nodded. "Roger!"

"Tomorrow," Phoenix continued, "We're going to T&I to talk to the guy who was arrested. Do you think you can make three shadow clones and then make them look exactly like us and have them run around the village tomorrow?"

"Easy," Naruto agreed. "Clones are my specialty."

"Good. If you do that, no one will expect us to be at T&I and we'll have the time we need to get our information. Then, we can plan on how to show everyone," Phoenix finished. "So first thing tomorrow, we go get the flowers, and we go to T&I."

~The Next Day~

"No." Arielle said firmly.

"Arielle-" Phoenix tried.

"No," Arielle said again, crossing her arms. "Let's try a different flower shop or something, but I'm not going in there."

Kas sighed, looking at the sign in front of the Yamanaka Flower Shop. It was the biggest one in Konoha and the best place to get all of the flowers they needed. It was their best bet, and they were wasting precious time the more Arielle complained about it. "Arielle, it doesn't matter if you don't like Ino, but we need to get the flowers before we go."

"Go in without me," Arielle said. "But I'm not going in there."

Naruto stomped his foot impatiently. "C'mon Arielle! We need to get going!"

"No-"

Kas sighed, hefting her over his shoulder even though she began to whine and protest. "Let's go."

"Thank you Kas," Phoenix smiled, opening the door.

As soon as the door opened, the bell above the door jingled, making Ino look up. However, when she saw exactly who it was, her smile faded and she scowled. "Get out," she hissed.

"Don't test me today blondie!" Arielle yelled, wiggling out of Kas's arms. "We just came for flowers damn it!"

"I don't have to sell flowers to you," she sneered, closing her magazine. "Now get out."

"Ino," Phoenix pleaded. "C'mon. We want to give them to Iruka-sensei as an apology. Please?"

"No!" Ino hissed.

Kas, who was reading a flower translation chart, nodded to Naruto, who quickly snuck out the flower shop. Luckily, not many people were out, so almost no one saw him make clones, and then henge those clones into copies of Team 13. With a nod to Kas and a goofy smile, Naruto took off. That part of the plan done, Kas nodded to Phoenix. Phoenix gave a single nod to Arielle, who proceeded to keep Ino busy by yelling at her.

Phoenix just shrugged and walked around, observing the flowers as Kas started to whistle. What Ino didn't know was that as Phoenix was walking by flowers, Kas would whistle in a higher pitch, alerting her that the flowers she was by were the ones she was supposed to get for the message.

"What are you doing?!" She shouted at Phoenix, who had a large bunch of flowers in her hand. "I told you to get out!"

"Ino," Phoenix said calmly. "We just want to buy some flowers to make an apology to our sensei. Can we please just buy these?"

"No. Get out before I get my dad in here. He hasn't left for work yet."

Arielle sighed. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

"What?" Ino tensed. "Are you thinking about stealing?! That's it! I'm gonna-"

"Arielle, now!" Kas shouted.

Arielle grinned. "Bye Blondie!" She threw down a smoke bomb, flooding the flower shop with thick smoke. Ino choked, trying to see through the haze. "Hey!" She coughed. "Get back here!"

Arielle laughed loudly as she, Kas, and Phoenix fled the shop.

~T&I~

"We're here," Kas said as they looked up at the looming structure of T&I. "Getting in won't be too hard, though it'll be weird seeing a team of genin walking into this place. Now, finding sensei will be hard. Getting him the flowers will be harder, and getting out undetected is gonna be the hardest. What's the plan Phoenix?"

Phoenix clenched the flowers tightly. "That's gonna be significantly easy. I'll use my special jutsu to look inside, as long as you carry me around. The story for it will just be that we were in to see the psych doctor short notice. Then, just wander around and if you come across anyone, tell them you're lost. Once I'm back in my body, I'll lead you to where sensei is. Are we clear?"

She received two nods. "Good," she said. Her hands went through hand seals that were becoming a favorite of hers. "Secret Flame Art: Astral Detachment Spirit Projection!"

She felt herself leave her body, though she could see her body still standing in front of T&I, her grip on the flowers loose. But she couldn't dwell on that. Flexing her fingers in spirit form, she began to explore the depths of T&I.

~20 Minutes Later~

"I found him!" Phoenix announced as she returned to her body. "Where are we?" She looked around. She thought they would be in a lobby when she was gone, but now…well, she didn't know where they were now.

Kas rolled his eyes, or Phoenix thought he did in the darkness of the room they were in. "Arielle pissed off someone working here, so we had to run away from him. We found this weird supply closet, and here we are."

"Okay," Phoenix nodded slowly. "Well, we aren't too far from where sensei is. The only problem is that there are cameras in that room, so we'll have to get in, get out, and leave before anything happens."

"What if something does happen?" Arielle asked.

"Well…I haven't planned if that were to happen," Phoenix admitted. "So let's try to make sure it won't."

Kas cautiously opened the door. "We're clear," he whispered. "Lead the way Phoenix."

"Right." Quickly, she peered out the door again before darting down the hall, Kas and Arielle hot on her heels. She ducked to the right, taking a moment to peer around the corner before she kept running, making another right. Before she made the next turn however, she halted, holding up a hand. She heard voices.

"…get anything out of him," someone was saying. "He keeps insisting he isn't who we think he is, but he won't talk. Someone must have taught him to endure pain because I've never seen anything like that before."

"If this keeps up, we might have to call in Inoichi or get Morino-san to deal with him," the other voice agreed. "Let's get back to the surveillance."

Phoenix held her breath as footsteps retreated from where they were waiting. After another minute of silence, she darted to her left, making sure Kas and Arielle were behind her. Another run down the hall, and then they were at the cell.

"Psst!" Arielle hissed quietly. "How do we get in?"

Phoenix smirked. "I found out if I extend my projection, I can influence someone to do what I want if I whisper in their ear or put my hands over theirs; I can control them. I told the last guy who left to leave the door unlocked, and he did." She pushed the door open. "Let's go."

As if hearing the door open, there was a scuffle in the room. "Leave me alone! I told you already, I'm not an enemy!"

"It's alright," Kas murmured. "We aren't here to hurt you."

Unfamiliar red eyes observed them carefully. "T-Team 13?"

Without answering, Phoenix laid the flowers at his feet. "From us," she whispered.

"Wait-" he called, but they had already retreated.

~Hall~

"Alright, we got him the message. Now we have to get out," Kas hissed as they ran. "They probably saw us and they're sending ninja after us. What now?"

"I told you," Phoenix hissed back. "I didn't think that far ahead."

"Way to go Phee," Arielle rolled her eyes. "What do we do if we don't get out?"

"You won't have a chance to find out," a voice ahead of them said.

Phoenix grunted, having slammed into someone. She hissed when Kas and Arielle slammed into her back as well, hurting her. Whoever they slammed into picked them up in his hands and began to carry them away, grip strong. Phoenix struggled, but it was in vain. Whoever this was, they weren't going to let go anytime soon, and they had the strength to keep them in place. She always thought ahead, always. Why this time was different, she didn't know. But if something happened, she hoped Kas and Arielle would forgive her.

~Interrogation Room 4~

Morino Ibiki wasn't amused.

The day brought a lack of black coffee, his desk piled high with paper work, and a case of someone who was pretending to have a personality disorder so that he could try and escape. Now, Ibiki had dealt with cases like that before, in which the person was lying, but still, this one was persistent. And now, he was getting called to one of the interrogating rooms because a team of genin had broken in, conversed with an enemy, and tried to escape. And now, because they (the genin he meant) were being stubborn and had already made three men cry (they were jounin for fuck's sake, how did genin make them cry?!), he was called in to deal with them.

If his men were getting sloppy, he obviously needed new ones.

"Who are they?" He said as soon as he was at the surveillance room, watching the three genin.

"W-Well, Morino-san, we have Sebasuchan Kasutieru. Apparently, he's related to Sebasuchan Kain, as his younger brother. Like his brother, he can use genjutsu proficiently. He also uses earth-based ninjutsu. He's on Team 13, led by Umino Iruka, with Yukiokami Arielle, who is originally from Yukigakure. Her report says that she is very proficient in hand-to-hand combat, and very good in ninjutsu, though she mainly is a powerhouse from her Academy reports. And lastly, Kurimuzon Phoenix from Yugakure. Her father was an ANBU before it became a tourist location. And from her report, they're saying she's a young prodigy, even if she doesn't realize it herself. Her intellect is on par with some of the older shinobi and they say her IQ is reportedly higher than that of other genin kunoichi." The shinobi looked down at the report again. "It's actual said that this team is just about a match for any rookie genin team, and some of the older, more experienced genin teams as well."

Ibiki grunted. "Fine. I know what I'm dealing with." He snatched the file from the frightened worker. "Keep an eye on the prisoner while I go talk to them."

"W-Wait Morino-san! Before you go, you may need to know that they dropped off a bundle of flowers to the prisoner."

Ibiki gave a single nod. Flowers…whatever for, he wasn't sure right now. But there was something he needed to know about those flowers, he just needed to see exactly what flowers the prisoner was given. "Got it."

Ibiki walked down the halls to the room the genin were in and yanked open the door. The three genin jumped, turning slightly bored eyes to him. Ibiki raised a brow. That was new. Most genin trembled in fear when they saw him. These were different. Good. He like different.

"Alright you three," Ibiki said, throwing the file onto the table. "Listen up. I'm not here to be your friend, nor am I here to even try to get along with you. My job is to find out exactly why you attacked your sensei, because I don't even think that it was because of your last mission as I hear, and why you decided to break into T&I to converse with an enemy shinobi. Are we clear?"

Arielle raised her hand.

"What?"

"Can I feel your Adam's Apple?"

Ibiki sighed. It would be a long day. "Alright. Let's start from the return from your mission. Tell me, what happened after you got back?"

"We took a psych evaluation."

"We went home."

"We got a late lunch."

Okay, three different answers. The best was the psych evaluation though, so he was going with that one. "Yes. I know about your psych evaluation. So, after you took it, I understand that nothing of significance happened until yesterday when the alleged attack happened. What was it that made you attack him?"

"His chakra was strange," one answered, who he understood was Kasutieru. "It was…I dunno, just a bit off to all of us. It just screamed imposter."

Ibiki nodded slowly. "So you took it upon yourselves to do something about it instead of alerting someone else?"

"Well…who would have believed us?" The girl, the one that was called Phoenix asked. "Genin aren't as crazy as the upper ranked shinobi, but we're still kids in a way. Our word isn't always taken seriously."

Ibiki could understand that. A lot of time, genin didn't get the respect nor the recognition they deserved for finding something no one else noticed, but that wasn't the case here. The case here was the fact that they assaulted someone without any tangible reasoning. And that was the main problem here.

"Now, why exactly did you think that if Hatake Kakashi didn't see anything wrong with Umino Iruka, you could see something that he didn't notice?"

The last genin, Arielle he noted, rolled her eyes. "Well, according to sensei, Kakashi-sensei can sometimes be blinded by their relationship. If he was so absorbed in sensei, he may not have noticed at first."

Ah. Shinobi often did that when blinded by their 'true love'. Ibiki swore it was some sort of disease or a syndrome, but then again, he dealt with affairs of the mind, not of the heart. So, the whole 'love' thing was a strange concept to him.

"Alright, then we can try one last thing: why were you giving flowers to the enemy?"

"…Couldn't we be pleasant?" Arielle asked.

Ibiki rubbed his temple. "So, you broke into T&I just to give an enemy shinobi who could have killed you flowers?"

"Yes," Arielle said seriously, nodding. "Has anyone ever given you flowers? Is that why you're especially grouchy? You look like a sunflower man to me, or maybe a daisy man. What do you think?"

Ibiki growled. Alright, it was time for one-on-one chats with each of them. "I'm going to take a different method for this." Standing, he pressed the button for the intercom. "I need two of you to escort Yukiokami Arielle and Kurimuzon Phoenix to Rooms 1 & 2."

"What about the last one?" The voice over the speaker asked.

"I'll be keeping Kasutieru with me for further interrogation," Ibiki finished.

"Um, shinobi-san? Or, Morino-san? I don't think it would be a good idea to separate Kas and Arielle. You see, Arielle is addicted to Kas like a drug, and if she's away from him for more than two minutes, she'll start whining and complaining, and she'll become destructive."

Ibiki rolled his eyes. Never had he been tested so much by genin before, and he wasn't about to start now. "I doubt that would happen."

"You don't know her," Phoenix warned. "I swear it to you, if you separate them, things may break."

"I'll take that chance," Ibiki mocked, rolling his eyes.

Two shinobi quickly came in, and though their grip was firm, they none too kindly led Phoenix and Arielle to their assigned rooms.

"B-But…Sebby?" Arielle whimpered, getting basically dragged away.

Ibiki raised another brow, shooting Kas a strange look. "How do you do that?" Kas asked. "You know, raise your eyebrow when you don't…exactly have eyebrows."

"I'm the one asking questions here," Ibiki growled. "Now Kasutieru-"

"Call me Kas please. I don't like my full name."

Ibiki took a small breath. "Kas," he began. "I want you to tell me everything about the events leading up to your team's attack on Umino Iruka."

"Well," Kas started. "It all started on the way back from Wave Country. We were taken for a psych evaluation. When we were done was the last time we-"

"Sebby!"

Kas blinked. "What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything," Ibiki replied. "That sounded like it came from-"

"I want my Sebby!"

Kas smirked at him. "Phoenix did tell you that Arielle couldn't be away from me for too long."

"Continue," Ibiki growled out.

Kas shrugged. "Anyways, after the psych evaluation was the last time we saw him, until a shinobi…Genma-san, came and told us that sensei was in the hospital. And then we went to see him, and that's when Phoenix got all weird. She said something was up with sensei and that we should feel his chakra to see for ourselves."

"And…that's when you attacked?"

Kas nodded. "Unfortunately, Kakashi-sensei was there too, so I retrained him while Phoenix and Arielle did the attacking. But then, Genma-san cancelled their attack, we got restrained, and then things happened, and well…here we are." He shrugged.

Ibiki wrote down a quick note. "Alright Kasutieru-"

"Kas," he reminded.

"Kas. I'm going to go talk with your teammates. You stay here and be good."

"I'm not a dog," Kas grumbled as Ibiki walked out of the room.

~Room 2~

"So," Ibiki looked at his charts. "Arielle, can you tell me-"

"Where's Sebby?"

"…Sebby?" Ibiki repeated slowly.

"Sebby," Arielle nodded. "Y'know, the cute, tall one from our team? Where's my Sebby?"

"If you mean Kasutieru," Ibiki said. "He's in the other room."

"I want my Sebby."

"Not until you answer my questions," Ibiki stated firmly. "I just need you to tell me exactly what happened when you attacked Umino Iruka.

Arielle gave a heavy sigh. "Returned to the Village, went for psych evaluation, have to go for another one since I was electrocuted, went home, nearly burned dinner so Phoenix had to make something, went to sleep, had a dream about muffins, then I woke up, got dressed for training, then went to training, but found out teach was in the hospital. So, went to hospital, saw sensei, teammate freaked out, calmed teammate, felt sensei's chakra, realized something was wrong, attacked, got restrained, stuck here answering questions…oh wait! I also picked some flowers," Arielle listed.

"Uh-huh," Ibiki nodded. This genin must have been the slightly crazy one from the team, the one who took no bullshit. A good trait, but not the best for the situation at hand. "Alright. Anything else?"

"Can I get something to eat?"

"…Yes."

"Come on! I just-wait really?"

"Yes."

"Wow…thank you."

Ibiki grunted. This why was he only dealt with genin every once in a while.

~Room 1~

"And you must be Phoenix, a supposed child prodigy and just about genius level. I am to assume that you were the mastermind behind this brilliant plan?" Ibiki said once he walked into the room.

"You know," Phoenix said, looking up. "If you're being sarcastic, I might not cooperate. And what do you mean child prodigy?"

He held up his file. "This," he stated. "Says that you are, along with being a genius. So if I want answers, the best bet would be you."

Phoenix narrowed her eyes. "How exactly are you going to get me to talk?"

"I may not deal with genin on a daily basis, but I do know how to make people talk," Ibiki answered, sitting down. "And I'm just trying to figure out why this all happened."

"Morino-san, I understand you're just trying to do your job, but you have to understand that while I am a genin, I am also called a genius. That also means that mind games don't work on me." She held up her coloring book. "Neither will it work on Marco the Monkey."

"Marco?"

"Polo!"

Ibiki pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where did you get the coloring book?"

Phoenix looked down. "I found it."

"How did you find it?"

"…I asked someone to get it for me, and then I found Marco."

Ibiki really hated genin sometimes. That made no sense whatsoever. Maybe this was the crazy genin. Every team had one.


"You know, in a few minutes, we're gonna escape from here," Phoenix said after a few minutes of silence and a heated staring contest (Ibiki won, but Phoenix swore he cheated).

Ibiki raised a brow. "Come again?"

"How do you do that?" Phoenix asked in awe, leaning across the table to poke at his brow. Ibiki slapped her hand away after she poked him too many times. "Seriously, you have like, no eyebrows. How do you raise them?"

"What was this about escape?"

"Huh?" Phoenix blinked. "Oh, yeah. That. See, we've got things to do, so we're busting out of here. See, we're actually thinking about trying a full-frontal assault on that guy, see if we can get the truth out of him that way. It's easier than all this crap." She gestured to the dimly lit room.

Ibiki gave her a strange look. "And exactly how do you think you can get out of my sight, and the numerous other jounin's sight that easily?"

"Well…Kas's brother work here, and blood is thicker than rank…well, blood's not thicker than maple syrup, so maybe pancakes are more important than family…never mind. But we might be able to count on him for an escape route out of here so that we can plan this frontal assault. And then, once we prove that 'sensei' isn't sensei, I expect apology cookies on my doorstep and apology bananas for Marco," Phoenix explained with a shrug. "In fact, right about now, Arielle is breaking out of her room and going to get Kas out of his."

"How do you-"

CLANK!

Ibiki stood. "What the hell was that?!"

"You said a bad word!" Phoenix accused, pointing a finger at him. "That's a yen in the swear jar!"

Ibiki yanked open the door and looked around, seeing purple smoke in the corridors. "What is going on?!"

"The genin in Room 2 has broken out!" Someone called from down the hall. "She's gone to get the genin in Room 1!"

"SEBBY!" Ibiki heard from somewhere in the interrogating rooms.

Ibiki whipped around to glare at Phoenix, but there wasn't anyone there anymore. Ibiki was shocked. How did he not even notice she was gone?! Did he really let a genin slip under his nose?

"Morino-san!" Someone panicked, running into the room. "There's blockage in the air-vents! We think that…there may be something, or someone up there!"

Ibiki glanced up, seeing the open vent above him, a stray crayon teetering on the edge. He grit his teeth. He himself was getting sloppy if a genin escape when his back was turned.

~Arielle~

"Sebby!" Arielle squealed, throwing herself into Kas's arms. "I found you!"

Kas blushed, glad Arielle couldn't see it. "Y-Yeah. Likewise…now get off of me."

Arielle stood, grinning. "Let's blow this joint! Follow me!" She took off running, and Kas had no choice but to follow her. "You know where you're going?"

"No!" She called back, grinning. "But I'll figure it out!"

They ran for a few minutes, turning down corridor after corridor, where Kas had gotten tired of running. "We're lost!"

"We're not lo-oof!" Arielle collided with someone, throwing her to the ground. Rubbing her head, she looked up into green eyes. "Damn it Sebby! Watch it!"

The green eyes blinked. "Sebby? Who the heck is Sebby?"

Arielle stood, poking him in the chest. "You. You're-" she gasped, getting a good look at the person. "You-you aren't-where's my-"

"Kain?!" Kas shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

"…I work here," Kain pointed out.

Arielle stared between the two. One was a head taller than her, the other was…a lot taller than her. "That means…BIG SEBBY!" She screeched, throwing her arms around him.

Kain blinked. "I can only assume this is the girl you were telling me about. Arielle right?"

Kas sighed, nodding. "Arielle, this is my eldest brother Kain. Kain, my crazy teammate Arielle."

"Big Sebby!" Arielle declared.

Kain rolled his eyes. "Okay. Tell me little brother, Sebby, why you're at my job? And why do I get the order to hunt down three genin who broke in?"

Kas held up his hands. "I promise I will explain later. But Kain, if you're my brother and you love me, you'll hide me and Arielle."

"Arielle and I." Kain raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it, just sighed. "You're lucky blood is thicker than employment, otherwise I'd turn you over to Ibiki. Alright, look. There's a closet in the next corridor. It has some ANBU gear in there, so don't touch it, but just hide there until things calm down. I'll knock four times in short succession, so that means leave. After that, I'm not sure how I'll be able to help."

Kas smiled. "Thank you so much nii-san. I promise I'll make it up to you."

Kain sighed. "You'd better. If I lose my job, I fully blame you for this."

"Whatever," Kas called, already running down the hall to said closet.

"Bye Big Sebby!" Arielle called as well, waving.

Kain sighed. Today was just not his day…

~Phoenix~

"These air-vents are oddly spacious," Phoenix observed as she crawled through the vents. "If I wanted to, I could walk through these things." She shivered. "But it's too cold up here." Something hit the wall beside her, making her jump. "Ah! What the heck was that?!" She felt another one. "Oh no! They must be trying to get me out." She sat down, sitting cross-legged, and flashed through seals. "Secret Flame Art: Astral Detachment Spirit Projection!"

Again, she felt herself leave her body and out the vent, peering at the scene. Someone was trying to get her out of the vent. In fact, it looked like they would try to gas her out, which explained what hit the wall. A long tube was hooked up to a machine where they were pumping a gas into the vents, all while they had their own masks. It wasn't anything lethal, but it would definitely be a bitch to hold her breath for that long. Whoever was doing it was being watched carefully by Ibiki, while someone else was trying to open a gate. So she had two options: force their hands to turn on one another or crawl through the vent until she found a way out (while holding their breath)…

Well, she didn't really have the chakra to maintain this for so long. She had already exhausted it using it before, and she was wasting more doing it now. Crawl through a vent it is!

Getting back to her body, Phoenix hastily crawled through the vent.


'Finally,' Phoenix wanted to breath in relief seeing light stream through a final gate, but the gas they were trying to lure her would with was thick and she couldn't risk breathing it in. She began pushing it until it fell. "I can get outta here-WHOA! Big drop!" She panicked, seeing the ground far, far below her. "Okay, I was not expecting this! How big is this place?! Seriously?!" She took a calming breath. "Okay…maybe I should just climb down…screw that! I'm a kunoichi with good chakra control, so this jump shouldn't…why the heck am I still talking about this?!" With a grin, she jumped.

"Ah!" she rubbed her ankle when she landed, hissing. "Crap! Forgot to bend my knees all the way!" She looked down. "I'm now on the roof of…I have no idea. But I've gotta get home." She ran over the roofs, uncaring who saw her. The glares she was receiving didn't matter. What mattered was getting home, making a plan, and figuring out a way to save her sensei and take out the guy who was impersonating her sensei. And Naruto's help with everything would be much appreciated with everything. Now to figure out how to lure the impostor away from the village…

Seeing her home come into view, she jumped off the roof of the complex she was on and landed in a nearby tree, scaling down the branches to hit the street. As expected, she got dirty looks from people, all who probably knew Iruka. Phoenix didn't like these looks. She wanted to resolve things soon so those looks would stop. Sighing, she brushed off the leaves from the tree and almost collided with someone. 'I've been doing that a lot lately,' she mused to herself.

Looking up, she winced at who she saw. "Hi…Kiba."

She really didn't expect an answer. Kiba just glared at her.

"Um…look, I know things may look bad, but-"

"Just leave me alone!" Kiba growled.

Phoenix flinched. "Kiba, I-"

"You attacked Iruka-sensei! What's wrong with you?!"

"Kiba, wait. You need to understand that-"

"That what?! There's a chance I like an enemy to our old teacher and a possible traitor to the village! You know Phoenix, after everything Iruka-sensei did for us, why would you go and really attack him like that?!" Kiba looked, angry…and hurt. "You should be lucky that you get to keep him as a sensei, and that you can see him every day and keep learning from him." He narrowed his eyes. "But you hurt him Phoenix. You tried to kill him, traitor."

"Kiba…" she murmured, reaching out a hand. To her shock, Akamaru bit her before he hand got too close, making her jerk it back. Small drops of blood dripped down her hand, but Phoenix didn't care about that as Kiba and Akamaru snarled at her.

"Just-stay away from me," he hissed. Without waiting for an answer, he brushed past her, none-too-kindly bumping his shoulder.

Phoenix wasn't about to cry over this. She wasn't going to cry…

Taking a shuddering breath, she opened the door to her house and collapsed against the door. 'Why did this have to happen to us?'

~10 Minutes Later~

"We're back!" Arielle declared, throwing open the door to Phoenix's room. "You won't believe what happened!" She held up clothes. "However, we are in trouble. I may or may not have stolen ANBU gear. And Naruto may or may not have found some masks…which we also stole since the lady selling them was being a bitch, but that's neither here nor there."

Phoenix rolled her eyes. "I have a plan," she mumbled. "We start in half an hour, and it's a good thing you got that ANBU gear. We'll rest for a minute to recharge our chakra, and then we'll gear up and set out."

Arielle tossed her a bundle of clothes, which she easily caught. "Speaking of which, how exactly did you get these?"

Arielle grinned. "Well…"

~Flashback~

"Arielle, I swear, if you try to rub against my cheek again, I will shove you out the closet," Kas growled, shoving his teammate off of him.

"It's a tiny closet!" Arielle protested. "And keep your voice down! Someone might hear!"

Kas shuffled around a bit. "The closet is big enough for you to stay over there!"

Arielle pouted, though it would be hard to see in the dark of the closet. "Well, since we're in here, we might as well grab some gear."

"Arielle-"

"We're already in enough trouble for breaking and entering, and for escaping from someone like Morino-san, so why not add salt to injury?"

"…The expression is 'insult to injury' y'know," Kas pointed out as Arielle shoved things into his hands. "But whatever."

Four short knocks came, all in short, rapid succession. Kas nodded to the door. "That's our cue. Let's get going." Pushing open the door, he was met with Kain glaring at him. "Let's go!" Kain hissed. He began running down the corridor. Kas grabbed Arielle's arm and began dragging her down the hall after his brother. "I thought you said that this was out of your power?" Kas asked.

Kain sighed. "I thought about it, and…you are my brother, so helping you is more important than my job…though, if I do lose my job, you are full for blame."

Kas laughed. "C'mon. You're the top jounin here. I doubt Morino-san would fire you."

"Mm-hmm. You say that now. Once I get fired, Kas, I swear to you I'm destroying you."

Arielle was the one who laughed this time. "Sebby Fight!" She yelled. But then she tensed. "Wait! Stop!"

The three stop, Kain holding up a hand. "Someone's coming. We have to get outta here!"

"I've got this!" Arielle declared. "Grab on!" Without warning, the two grabbed onto her shoulders as she flashed through seals. "Secret Art: Shadow Sneak!"

All of a sudden, they were engulfed by darkness, and then they felt air rushing past them. It was only a couple of seconds before they blinked away the darkness, finding themselves near the alley of a market down the street from where Phoenix and Arielle lived.

"How did we do that?" Kain asked in awe.

"That was me!" Arielle declared happily. "You see, I have a jutsu where my shadow comes alive and lets me morph into it, and allow others to morph into it to. After that, we can travel places that have shadows, even into someone else's shadow! It just takes a lot of chakra to pull it off. Even more with having to travel with people."

"So…let me get this straight," Kain began. "You have a jutsu that brings your shadow to life, correct?"

"Yup."

"And…your shadow is basically you, in a sense, right?"

"Yeah!"

"So…Kas, does that mean that I was inside your girlfriend?"

Kas glared at his brother. "Kain?"

"Ye-OW!" Kain yelped as Kas punched him in the arm. "What the hell was that?!"

"Shut up, that's what."

~Flashback End~

Phoenix rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's gear up. Naruto, what masks did you get?"

Naruto held up for masks. They looked like ANBU masks, so maybe they'd pass. "I got one that's an Eagle, one that's a Bear, one that's Snake, and one that's Fox."

"I call Bear!" Arielle shouted, snatching the mask.

"I'll take Eagle," Phoenix decided, sliding the mask on.

"I'll be Snake," Kas said, taking his own.

"And I'm Fox!" Naruto yelled happily, taking his own mask.

"Good. Now get out!" Arielle shouted, scaring the boys.

"What?! Why?!" Naruto declared.

"Because we're girls," Phoenix pointed out. "And you're boys. And you might see us naked and that isn't cool."

"Fine," Kas mumbled, pulling Naruto out of the room.

"Wait!" Arielle shouted, making the two boys freeze and turn to stare at her. "Phoenix, have you been crying?"

"Huh?" Phoenix felt her cheek, surprised to find them moist. She hadn't even realized it. "O-Oh. Well…I ran into Kiba on my way back and…he said things that got to me worse than I thought I guess, and…" she sighed. "But don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?!" Arielle shouted. "No! He cannot make you cry and get away with it! I am going to find that bastard and-"

"Let's deal with the fake sensei first, eh?" Kas suggested, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You can go after Kiba later."

Arielle grumbled, crossing her arms. "Fine," she conceded. "But if he says something else, I will kill him then and there."

Phoenix gave a shaky laugh, which made more tears she was trying to hold back fall.

"Oh, come here," Arielle cooed, wrapping her in a hug. "It's okay. He's just a boy."

"It isn't just him," Phoenix whimpered. "Everyone hates us. I want to get this done as quickly as possible to clear our names."

"We will," Kas said softly. "As long as we get this done today, everyone will apologize and we'll be worry free."

Phoenix nodded slowly, wiping her eyes. "Alright. I should be better. Let's move out!"

~Iruka's House~

"Hatake-san, the Hokage requests your presence immediately," Kas murmured in a gravelly voice. In his voice, it was clear that he was trying not to blush. But then again, finding your 'sensei' in a compromising position with a top jounin wasn't something one liked to see…

"Oh, alright?" Kakashi pulled himself away from 'Iruka' and pulled his shirt and flak jacket back on (he still had his mask on damn it!). 'Phase One: Complete,' Phoenix thought to herself. As long as Kakashi didn't ask any questions…

It was obvious to everyone that Kakashi was confused, but they only needed him gone for five minutes. Then again, it wasn't easy to comprehend why four ANBU were suddenly appearing in the middle of the room, during an empty afternoon for that matter, talking about the Hokage needing him. Of course anyone would be confused. And a Copy-nin was no different. However, no one ignored ANBU, and the four knew that.

Kakashi dressed quickly, and with a quick masked peck to 'Iruka's' cheek, he left. It was silent for a few short moments before Iruka finally realized that they were still there, and pulled his own shirt back on. He turned confused eyes to them. "Um, you…you can leave now."

Phoenix nodded to Arielle. 'Phase Two: Commence' "You're coming with us," she said aloud.

Arielle reached out and hooked an arm around his neck with one hand, muffling his shout. The others grabbed onto her shoulder as she flashed through some hand seals. They disappeared into a shadow and were gone from the room.

~Forest~

"What's the meaning of this?!" 'Iruka' shouted, wrestling their hands off of his body. He was surrounded by four ANBU, all who were seemingly glaring at him.

"Well, sensei," Kas said, pulling off his mask. "We have questions for you."

'Iruka's' eyes widened. A genin?! How could a genin have even gotten to him? "W-What do you mean? I've done nothing wrong!"

"Save it!" Arielle shouted, pulling off her own mask. "We all know you aren't the real Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto yanked off his mask, angrily throwing it to the ground. "Yeah! Iruka-nii would never treat me like a monster! He loves me like a brother!"

And finally, Phoenix pulled off his own mask. "And now, we're going to find out the truth, one way or another."

They advanced on him.

~Hokage's Office~

"Huh?" Minato raised an eyebrow. "Kakashi, I didn't send for you."

"Yes you did," Kakashi said slowly. "You sent Snake, Bear, Eagle, and Fox to get me."

Minato shook his head. "Kakashi, there's never even been a Fox code name in ANBU, and Snake retired three years ago; we haven't reassigned that code name. Eagle is already out on a mission and I don't know about Bear, but that isn't even a code name assigned to anyone. I couldn't have sent them to you, even if I did send for you."

Kakashi felt his head spinning. Now that he thought about it, the ANBU, save for one, did seem awfully short… "So wait, if you didn't send for me…who came to get me? And furthermore, if they aren't real ANBU, who were they?"

Minato stood. "Kakashi, who else was with you when the ANBU appeared?"

"I was with Iruka," Kakashi answered immediately.

Minato's eyes widened. "Team 13!"

"You think they did it?!" Kakashi asked, stunned. How could four genin trick him like that and get away with it? It was impossible, but with the way they've been acting lately, it was becoming more and more plausible.

"Think. They were so insistent that Iruka was the real Iruka. Kakashi, I think they may have kidnapped him!"

"And the fourth ANBU?"

Minato collapsed back into his chair. "For that, I don't even know…but then again, when was the last time you saw my son?"

Kakashi gasped. So, Team 13, who may have either been delusional, under a genjutsu, or had finally snapped, had turned on their sensei and recruited Naruto to help them take him out. And in a clever guise, they posed as ANBU and separated he and Iruka, who could be anywhere with four genin with an extraordinary set of skills that were out to kill him in cold blood, and Kakashi had no clue where to look for them.

He had to save Iruka.


Me: Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuun!

Abbeh: And there it is! The first part of the imposter saga!

Me: Yup. This'll only span two chapters, but who cares? Action coming up next!

Both: Read, review, and stay tuned for more!