*AN: Yea, a little late on the chapter, but that's how life goes. Here you guys go! Reviews are love.*

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Tsunade roared at me, and I winced. When we got back to the village, she had the rest of the squad wait outside with Fu, while Jiraiya and Hiruzen stayed in the Hokage's Office. My team may have followed me, but I had been the one to initiate what was essentially a kidnapping, so I got to be the one to face Tsunade's full wrath.

I leaned back, more than a little bit afraid. Truth be told, I'd rather face Orochimaru again than an angry Tsunade.

"YOU HAVE JUST SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH THE HIDDEN WATERFALL VILLAGE! IF THE OTHER VILLAGES FIND OUT THAT WE TOOK A JINCHURIKI FROM HER HOME VILLAGE, THEN THEY WILL ACCUSE US OF USING OUR MILITARY MIGHT TO HORDE THE TAILED BEASTS!"

"Quite right, Hokage-sama." Danzo said as he walked through the double doors.

"Aaaand here we go." I muttered.

"What do you want?" She growled at him.

Instead of immediately responding, he looked at Lord Hiruzen. "Hiruzen."

"Danzo." Lord Third responded.

Danzo then looked at me, and I glared back at him in defiance.

"The boy has overstepped his bounds." Danzo said finally, turning back to Tsunade. "You said it yourself, this puts us in a particular tricky situation. If the other villages find out about this…"

Tsunade sat down tiredly. "And I suppose, in your infinite wisdom, you have a solution."

"I do have a solution, yes. This boy has shown arrogance and unwillingness to follow the rules time and time again. You have refused to do anything about it, and look where it has landed us!"

"I'd like to see you do a better job." I shot back. "At least I respect Tsunade-sama. She ain't a cripple."

He narrowed his visible eye at me. "Hokage-sama, I again urge you to send this boy into my Anbu. This will never be a problem again."

Tsunade glared at him. "Give me one reason I should do that."

"Not even the Hokage can break the rules. This boy must be held accountable for his actions as demanded in our laws."

Tsunade hesitated, and the sour look on her and Jiraiya's faces told everyone in the room that Danzo had won. Tsunade wouldn't be able to protect me from joining ROOT, and my gut sank.

"I think I may have a better solution." Lord Third said.

OH THANK JASHIN!

"I took the liberty of looking through the old scrolls of the Leaf, and I found something of particular interest: a clan protection law." He continued, and everyone, including me, looked at him, confused. "What?" Tsunade asked as Danzo regarded Hiruzen in suspicion.

"According to the Clan Protection Act, under the First Hokage's Council," He said, drawing out a scroll and placing it in front of Tsunade, "the clans of the Leaf are granted the right of taking in any shinobi they feel has been abused for their status by another clan or village, providing the shinobi is not guilty of any serious crimes, as long as the Hokage grants approval, and the shinobi is willing to live under the clan's protection and laws. This was enacted because mutual suspicion between the Senju and the Uchiha, who believed independent clans or shinobi would be targeted by another clan because of the support they would show. In fact, the Uzumaki clan was under the Senju's protection, but their destruction during the Second Shinobi War prevented them from actually moving to the Senju Compound during that time and taking advantage of this act."

"Dead people usually can't take advantage of things like that." I said thoughtfully, earning a hastily-concealed laugh from Jiraiya and a glare from Danzo.

Tsunade ignored me. "It doesn't require approval from the Council?" She asked her predecessor.

"No. That was the stipulation added by Madara Uchiha." He replied, and I smirked. Just because he tried to destroy the Leaf didn't mean that the fact that he was one of the most powerful shinobi that ever lived was nullified, or the fact that I was related to him meant nothing.

Tsunade smirked. "As long as Fu agrees to this, I approve."

"Hokage-sama!" Danzo burst out. "You can't possibly-"

"Who was it that was insisting we follow the rules, Danzo?" Tsunade asked with a smirk, resting her chin on her hands, and the bandaged elder stopped.

"What about the boy's refusal to follow orders?" Danzo asked meekly, hoping to salvage something out of the meeting.

"Yes, about that…" Tsunade fixed a hard glare on me. "Ibukai Kokori, this will cease immediately. You will participate in the upcoming Jounin Exams. Either you pass them, or you will resign as a shinobi!"

Her declaration was met with stunned silence, and I just stared at her, shocked, and she took advantage of my silence to finish putting the nails in my coffin.

"This isn't the first time you've disobeyed orders, so now, you will either be promoted to a position to make those kind of judgement calls or you will cease to be in a position to show this kind of insubordination. Let us not forget that your team simply followed your lead, and you are the one responsible for this gigantic clusterfuck of a situation. Now, you are all dismissed!"

Danzo left in anger, and Hiruzen and I left the office together.

"Thank you." I said, bowing formally. "For a second there, I thought I was fucked for sure."

"Be more careful in the future." He replied. "No need to be so formal. Now, I need to go see Naruto. I promised to take him to Ichiraku's when I returned, and the boy hold promises of free ramen in a sacred light."

We shared a laugh and he left. Sasuke shook his head as he walked into the building, brushing by Hiruzen. "I heard my cousin was in trouble." He said sarcastically.

"Half the village heard." Sepi said dryly.

I shook my head. "Yea, let's never do that again." I turned to Sasuke. "Fu is staying in our district under the Uchiha's protection."

Sasuke gave me a blank stare. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Hello? I kidnapped a jinchuriki? Our respective compounds are the safest places in the village. Remember, it's not just the other villages we need to worry about."

Nodding, Sasuke locked gazes with Fu. "Come with us."

"O-okay." She said as she followed Sasuke, Sepi, Miko, and I through the village. Soon, though, her natural curiosity was aroused, and we had to keep her from wandering off.

I sighed gratefully once we got to the Uchiha District.

"Why is it so...empty?" Fu asked.

"Because almost everyone living here got slaughtered." Sepi replied, stopping walking as she noticed Sasuke and I glaring at her. "What?"

Fu glanced at Sasuke and I. "Oh." Was her only response.

"Come on." I said irritably, heading to my compound.

... ... ...

I threw my gear to the side as I entered the living room, falling with a thud onto one of the couches.

"Tidy." Sepi remarked. "How did that happen?"

I chuckled. "I pay Naruto to have his shadow clones clean up the mess once a month."

"Pay him?"

"All you can eat ramen."

She winced. "That must put a dent in your wallet."

"I consider it money well spent."

She changed the subject. "So, what was with the whole fiasco in Tsunade's office? After her yelling I didn't hear jack shit."

I groaned at the memory. "Long story short, Lord Third saved my ass."

"Again?"

I glared at her. "Again."

She smirked at me, and I did the mature and adult thing to do, and stuck my tongue out at her before continuing. "Anyways, Tsunade finally had enough of my backtalk, plus Danzo wouldn't let up about my insubordination, so Tsunade told me I either passed this upcoming Jounin Exam or else I'm no longer a shinobi."

Sepi stared at me for one second before bursting out laughing, falling to the ground and clutching her sides as tears streamed down her face.

"BAHAHAHAH! Oh that's rich! HAHAHA!"

I threw a pillow at her, smacking her with not a little force upside the head. "Fuck you."

She grabbed the pillow and snuggled with it. "You do realize that the Jounin exams are in like three weeks, right?"

I paused. "Fuck. Can I have my pillow back?"

... ... ...

Sasuke showed Fu around Ibukai's compound. "We've set up a good amount of security and privacy seals, so you should be safe here. If, for some reason, you are attacked or kidnapped, Ibukai and I will be alerted."

Fu tilted her head. "How and why would I be attacked?"

Sasuke looked at her as if she was stupid. "Because you're a jinchuriki, and Orochimaru and the Akatsuki aren't the only threats out there."

She drew a breath to ask another question, but Sasuke cut her off. He had to deal with one hyperactive jinchuriki on his life, he wasn't going to deal with another.

"The facilities here are pretty much for free use. One of our comrades is an expert with weapons and keeps us in good supply, and the training room is taken care of by a Hyuuga, so knock yourself out. There only off-limit places is the master bedroom on the second story, and the double doors over there."

Fu looked where Sasuke was pointing. "Why?"

He glared at her. "Because I said so." His expression cleared. "Those are Ibukai's rules, anyways. If you want a more detailed library or better training scrolls, they are in my compound."

"You guys have two separate compounds?" Fu asked, even more confused. "Why?"

Sasuke looked up at the sky. "This is going to be my entire day, isn't it?" He muttered.

"Huh?"

"Forget it. Suffice to say that we're planning for the future."

Fu shrugged. "Alright."

... ... ...

A figure stood over me, and I buried my head in the pillow. I was still on the couch, not bothering to go to my room to sleep.

"Fuck. Off." I muttered.

They still stood there, and I slowly rolled over, leaking killing intent.

Fu was standing over me. "Where's your kitchen?"

I glared. "What time is it?"

"Five."

I froze. "In the morning?"

She nodded.

I could have happily killed her.

... ... ...

"Why do you have kunai and shuriken in your drawers?" Fu asked as I retrieved a bottle of sake from a cabinet as she explored my kitchen.

"Because I can." I retorted. At her look of wounded innocence, I relented. "Alright. Enemies tend to strike when you're least aware. If I'm making a snack and I get attacked, I'm going to kill a fucker, and I'm not gonna be unarmed while doing it. Plus, I'm gonna be eating a sandwich and stabbing them like a boss."

"Attacked?" She asked incredulously. "In a kitchen?"

I shrugged. "Expect the unexpected."

"But if you expect the unexpected, then that makes it expected, so you're already expecting the expected, so since when you expect the unexpected, and that makes it expected, then the unexpected is truly unexpected, or else it would be expected."

I froze, saucer of sake halfway to my lips, my early-morning brain attempting to decipher the sentence the beaming jinchuriki had just uttered.

"Drinking? This early in the morning?"

I turned my head to see Sepi walking into the kitchen, dressed in her Anbu gear, mask in hand.

"If you heard what she just said, you'd be drinking, too." I muttered, raising the saucer to my lips, only for it to be snatched away by my teammate.

"Sepi." I growled. "Mess with my sake again and we're going to have a real problem."

"Dude, we need to get you in shape for the Jounin Exam. That means no early-morning drinking."

"I'll drink whenever I damn well please." I snarled.

"Jounin exams?" Fu asked, confused. "I thought that Jounin were appointed by the leaders of the village…"

I broke off glaring at Sepi to explain. "They are. However, the major villages each have their own special way of testing their shinobi to see if they are ready to become Jounin. The exam isn't an exam, per say, and it's definitely different than the Chuunin Exams. About once a year, any Jounin hopefuls are given a series of tasks to complete before they are deemed worthy of the title of Jounin. Now, Special Jounin are kinda of an exception, as they already showed that they are Jounin-level in a couple areas. For example, Kurenai-sensei earned her Special Jounin promotion through skill with Genjutsu. However, even though it makes the exams easier but cutting out a couple tasks, they can't skip the test, and you don't necessarily have to be a Special Jounin to promote to Jounin."

Fu stared at me blankly. "Eh?"

Sepi smirked at me and I resisted the urge to chuck a handful of kunai at her. "Special Jounin promotions are given out directly by the Hokage in the Leaf." She continued to explain. "They go to shinobi who are exceptionally skilled in certain areas. However, they are still considered Chuunin in other areas, and earning the rank of Jounin is a very, very serious endeavor, and you have to show that you are skilled enough to be one, not just in one area, but in all areas."

"Ohhhh. Why didn't you just say that?" Fu asked me, and I attempted to slug her, only to be grabbed from behind by Sepi.

"I-Ibukai, easy! Take it easy!"

"EEP!" Fu yelled.

... ... ...

"So what are the tasks?" Fu asked, and I glared at her. We were walking with Sepi towards a far-off training ground, where she said a couple more people waited to help me get ready for the exams.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Jounin aren't allowed to share that information. I do know that it will be a test of all skill areas, as well as leadership skilled and how I handle unexpected or dangerous situations."

"Is anybody else taking it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe? It isn't exactly an open book. I'll find out if anyone is taking it with me on the day I show up."

We walked into the training ground to find Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto waiting for me.

"I didn't think Naruto was a Jounin." I pointed out mildly.

Kakashi gave me one of his eye-smiles. "He's not. He'll be taking the exam with you, so it's a good idea for you two to train together."

"So much for not knowing who is taking the exam with you." Fu said, and once again, Sepi had to restrain me as I attempted to slug the oblivious jinchuriki in the back of the head.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and I glared back at him. He sighed and shook his head. "We'll help you as much as we can, but we won't be able to give out specific information on the exams." He said.

I nodded. "Well, let's get started."

Kakashi held up a hand. "Hold on. We're still waiting on one person."

I stared at him. "Wait a sec. You're on time?"

His response was interrupted by a green blur running into the training area. "YOSH! Who is the shinobi who have decided to test the flames of their youth and become JOUNIN!"

Sepi looked around for me, but I was already running in the opposite direction. "OH FUCK THE HELL NO!" I yelled.