52-Pick-Up

I really don't see why my warped variation on a popular Manga warrants a disclaimer. So in this chapter is won't include one… or maybe I won't include one ever again… if you want a disclaimer go to the first chapter.

A recap of the story so far:

A six year old Naruto shows impressive talent in interrogation by capturing and intimidating a civilian into revealing the secret of the Kyuubi's defeat. This is witnessed by Ibiki who claims guardianship of the boy and takes him as an apprentice. Several years later Naruto attends the graduation test at the academy and meets Hyuuga Neji who he swiftly befriends only to part ways due to his continued training. Over the next year Naruto meets with and befriends Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino along with the Enigmatic Aburame Shino. He is placed on a team with Ino and Uchiha Sasuke under an old child hood friend of his, an ANBU member named Hatake Kakashi, Code Name: DOG. The team undergoes three months of intense training to get them ready for the dangerous and complicated missions they are likely to take due to their specialty. Their first mission hits a snag when Sasuke's lack of forethought leads to Ino being captured and nearly Raped before the rest of the team organizes and executes a rescue attempt. The mission is completed quickly and the team flees back to Konoha to recuperate from the stress.

Now on with the story:

-

"Where is your base of operations?" a voice growled into the man's ear.

"I told you!!! It's in the west- Graaahhhh!" his gurgling screams consumed whatever he was trying to say.

"Feel free to keep lying; I have plenty of new tricks I would love to try." There was a vicious malice in the voice of his tormentor as he drove a twisted, jagged blade between his captive's knuckles.

Further shrieks echoed down the halls of the interrogation department, just as they had for three days now.

-

"Wait, Naruto!" a tall man in a heavy long coat and a bandana called after him as he walked towards the door.

"Is something wrong, Sensei." The surly blond turned towards his instructor and surrogate father.

"What's wrong is that you're scaring your coworkers… in three days you have driven twelve hardened enemies of this village into broken, slobbering wrecks… you need to calm down. What happened is not your fault." Seeing the boy's sagging shoulders he quickly sped up to do some damage control. "Let's go get some ramen, I'll pay."

The blond just sighed and nodded.

-

"You are beating yourself up over nothing Kakashi-san. They will recover. It is in the nature of youth to bounce back, wounds will heal and resolve will replace confusion. That is what the springtime of youth is all about. Your worries are unfounded; it is but a mater of time before they recover." The man in green put a hand on his old friend's shoulder, no mater how hard he tried to keep a strong and unconcerned mask up in public Kakashi could never hide his true emotions when it was just the two of them, it was the kind of bond that only two lifelong friends and Rivals could have.

There was a kinship between them that could only be forged in the heat of battle and the trenches of war, a bond of brothers.

-

"Everyone came back in one piece; that is what is important. You should move on, calm down and think rationally. You are letting your rage cloud your actions and its starting to affect your coworkers. Naruto, you didn't just break those guy's mental defenses, you broke their minds. Its just not your style, you are usually the one who leaves them beating their heads on a wall muttering about their own stupidity, not rolled up in a corner mumbling incoherent phrases... not that I mind." Anko had joined them half way to the ramen shop and had decided to stick around. Her speeches were confusing at some points since she alternated between worrying about him and complimenting his latest accomplishments.

The ramen shop owners had come to the realization that their best customer had a dark side long ago, but it was rare that they got to hear about it. Usually he left his work at the office and was all smiles when he visited but right now he was Gloomier than that Uchiha boy. Still they didn't ask it was probably something they weren't supposed to know about.

"I should have taken a more active role on the mission. I was the most experienced person there except Kakashi-Onisan. I should have gone with them… I should have…" he was cut off by the teenage girl who was serving him Ramen… oddly enough since he hadn't told her about the mission.

"Stop blaming yourself, you must have had a good reason to not go with them right?" she didn't wait for a response. "You were doing your job and they were doing theirs, you can't be everywhere at once, at least everything turned out OK right?"

The three ninja in front of her stared for several seconds making her get really nervous before nodding in unison. "She is right… strangely enough… perceptive isn't she…" the violet haired woman deadpanned.

"That's why I come here, great food, and great advice!" somehow the boy had cheered up significantly.

"But that what I have been saying for the last hour!" his teacher looked far more confused than the head of the interrogation department had any place being.

The girl smirked and went back to her cooking, "you don't have enough experience talking to teenagers, to them parents are always wrong and older teens are always right! That'll cost you extra by the way."

-

The top spy in Konoha was currently lying on his couch with his head on his wife's lap. It was hard enough to be a father with a preteen daughter even when she wasn't traumatized. And now he had to figure out what to do after she had nearly gotten raped… she hadn't left her room since she got home. Her teammate had carried her home and given a brief explanation of what happened before stumbling away to get some rest. Ino had woken up after a few hours to find her parents looking down on her with worried expressions. Afterwards she had kicked everyone out of her room and only showed herself when someone brought her food. Even then she didn't talk, just took the tray of food and closed the door behind her. Being a master of espionage and mind reading Inoichi had found out far more about her thoughts at the this time than he was comfortable with… she was confused, but that was only one part. She was fixated on the thoughts and feelings of that time when she was about to be assaulted… before she was saved. It was a traumatic experience but the worst part was that she was cursing her own purity… a train of thought that no father wanted his little girl adopting. She believed that if she were not so horrified by the idea of what those men were going to do to her she might have been able to find a way out, and found a way to not drag her team down.

He sighed again, trying to relax and not think about what his little flower was going through upstairs. But no mater what he did, he just couldn't stop thinking about it. Had he failed as a father, should he have found some way to better prepare her for this contingency… or made some plan to deal with the aftermath… or maybe he could erase her memory of that day…

-

Sasuke rammed his fist into the training dummy again, he knuckles were bleeding but he didn't care. He had torn a muscle in his shoulder but he ignored the pain… he had failed to protect those around him yet again.

He had already broken his other hand, and he couldn't feel his feet, his head was spinning but he couldn't stop. He couldn't be weak anymore. He had to be strong so that he never lost anything ever again.

-

"I found him lying unconscious in a training field… he was feverish and the doctors say that he was experiencing severe sleep depravation in addition to a number of torn muscles and ligaments… not to mention broken bones and malnutrition. I don't think he has eaten or slept since you got back."

Kakashi looked up at his rival from where he was sitting. He had gotten word a few minutes ago that one of his students was in the hospital and had rushed over to find Gai standing over Sasuke's bed with a frown on his face.

It would be another two days before the boy was recovered enough to leave the hospital, even with the care of some of the best medics in Konoha.

They would later find that Naruto had taken a leave of absence from the Interrogation department to cool his head and was spending his time playing with the Hokage's grandson to take his mind off the mission. The little boy dreamed of being Hokage to get out from his grandfather's shadow but he was getting nowhere fast. Of course he had asked Naruto to train him in the ninja ways but the older boy told him with finality that it was not safe for him to be around pointy objects in his current state. This somehow led to the two of them lying around in a park staring at the clouds.

Ino was harder to get back. While Naruto had agreed to return to the team with some enthusiasm she had a slightly more explosive reaction to the sight of her team.

"Naruto-kun!" the boy in question was knocked from his feet by a flying, purple projectile. The projectile turned out to be a girl who managed to straddle him and was now grinding her hips against his… it was an odd experience for the twelve-year-old. It had taken several minutes to get the overly amorous girl off of her teammate and another twenty minutes o make her stop crying and convince her that it wasn't in any way her fault that she had been scared of getting raped… a strange conversation the left everyone feeling awkward and embarrassed. Luckily she did not attempt to throw herself on her team mate again.

In the end it took a week to get the team back together and back to training. Still the marks of that fateful night remained. A blazing fire burned in their eyes; never again would that mistake be repeated, never again would they fail their team.

-

AN: I had planned to make this chapter longer and to include a couple of missions but I felt this was good place to pause.

I know a lot of people will be upset that I didn't include the awkward discussion with Ino but I felt that it just didn't fit properly… also it's a really awkward sort of conversation involving lots of crying and self hatred witch is really difficult to write. The Scenes with Konohamaru will pop up again with more detail, since he is one of my favorite characters.

The next chapter is already started and will be up soon.

The characters will not change that much but their attitudes will be more mature. One does not go through something like that without some serious changes.