Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Shikamaru & Hinata badassery ahead.

Enjoy!


FAMILY

/ˈfam(ə)lē/

a group of persons with common ancestry, a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation


Most people didn't realize it, but Nara Shikamaru was incredibly territorial when it came to the people he cared most about. When he cared about somebody, he kept a constant vigil upon it. His world changed too much for him not to, and as a future clan head, it was only natural for him to.

Maybe it was the influence of having a cat demon within him; Shikamaru didn't truly know. The cat's influences upon his body and psyche were bountiful—his sense of smell became more astute and sensitive, making him lose any liking for the strong smells his mother wore around the house. His sense of hearing increased as well, allowing him to hear anything odd that was happening around his house. He became quieter in his movements, padding around instead of walking.

Thankfully, he didn't start randomly licking himself and coughing up fur balls, nor did he rub himself up against random people or scratch random items (well, he rubbed and scratched Temari, but that was a completely different rubbing and scratching and besides, she liked it), and he also didn't start catching rodents, or carrying his toddler around by his mouth. The territorial part, he wasn't sure it'd given him, but he did know one thing for sure: it increased that territorial nature within him.

"You can't catch me!" giggled Soyokaze as he ran down the hall, followed by a silent Shikamaru, who was smiling widely down at the small body of his three-year-old son as he ran down the hall. He enjoyed when he had moments free so he could play with him, though he claimed to find it troublesome. Watching Soyokaze grow up was quite possibly the most enchanting experience he'd ever had and he didn't like missing any moment of it.

"You can't catch me, Otō~!"

Suddenly, Soyokaze stopped in the middle of the hallway. Shikamaru stopped a few meters away, unsure if Soyokaze was trying to taunt him into catching him, or if something was actually wrong.

Shikamaru didn't have the time to think about if Soyokaze was taunting him. A noise off to his side alerted him, and his senses reacted before his mind caught up. He leaped, grabbing Soyokaze and pressing him down onto the ground as an Fūma shuriken broke easily through the wall, grazing his back and planting firmly inside the wall on the other side of the hallway. Shikamaru's eyes widened in realization of what had just happened: someone made an attempt on his son's life. His precious son, his heir.

Soyokaze stared up at him with wide blue eyes, obviously scared and incomprehensive of what was going on. That look made Shikamaru's vision turned red as he jumped to his feet, pulling shuriken out of his thigh holster and throwing it through the hole created by the giant shuriken and hitting something fleshy, though, due to the fact that there was no scream; he could only assume that it was dead—the increasingly pungent smell pointed to that fact, at least. In the back of his mind, he realized that it was actually Obito's room that he was throwing things into, but he didn't care.

Whoever threatens my son needs to die.

"Shikamaru!"

"Get my son and my wife and hide them!" he ordered instantly, leaping through the hole, his nose differentiating the smells quickly enough for him to turn around and throw his fist into the chest of a shinobi who was trying to sneak up on him. The ninja's face was obscured by a cloth mask, holding no markers of an allegiance towards anyone. All Shikamaru knew about the man was that he was going to die by his hands, a fact he would make sure of.

Nara Shikamaru was a territorial man and when people screwed with his family, he became a territorial lion—a lion who, at the moment, was getting ready to play a game of cat-and-mouse.

The man threw down a flash bomb, but Shikamaru was ready for it, already closing his eyes and memorizing the scent of the shinobi. The sound of breaking glass was more than an indicator for him as he turned on the balls of his feet, leaping out the window blindly before he opened his eyes, landing on a branch and making chase, easily locating the fleeing shinobi who had invaded his house. The man turned around, throwing shuriken at him. Pulling out his own weapons, he threw the same amount at the incoming weaponry, deflecting each and every one of them as he surged forwards, gaining on the man all too easily.

As an ANBU, Shikamaru had been required to become more than efficient on more arts than the specific set of ninjutsu his family specialized in. He had the basic training within the Fire Release beforehand, but he mastered the arts while training to become a part of the prodigious order. He'd never really thought of using it, though (his shadow ninjutsu was fine enough) but he wanted to do more than just trapping someone right now. He wanted to make him suffer; he wanted to make him feel unquestionable agony. Slamming his hands together into the tiger seal, he reared back, an almost unbearable heat gathering in the pit of his stomach before he released it, the flames forming the shape of a large dragon that burned the branches in its path to reach his target, catching the shinobi in the back. The flames quickly spread, and the man screamed in pain, falling out of the tree line and onto the ground.

Shikamaru touched down a few meters away from him, glaring at the man who was writhing about in agony in pain, now begging for his life as he rolled around, managing to put out the worse of the flames on his body. He allowed him to do so without much argument—he did want to talk to the man before he took his life. Shikamaru walked calmly over to him, standing on top of his badly burned leg and making him screech in agony.

"Who sent you?" he asked automatically, arms crossing over his chest.

The man, thankfully, didn't even make the attempt to lie. "Ya-Yakushi Kabuto!" he sobbed as Shikamaru put more weight down on his leg, twisting his bare, dirtied foot into the wound.

"What did you aim to do?"

"H-He told me to h-harm the soon-to-be Nara clan heir!"

Shikamaru nodded. "So… you were trying to kill my son?"

"YES!"

"There was a wall in the way. So, either you have an amazing sense of smell, or you can see through walls, or you have creatures to tell you what is in my home. Or… have you been stationed all day, observing, and just waiting for a chance to strike?"

"THE LAST ONE! PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!"

"Good. Because, if you were a Hyūga, an Inuzuka, or an Aburame, I might've actually gone easy on you," said Shikamaru, removing his foot from the man's leg and instead sat down on his torso, pulling a kunai out of his flak jacket's pocket. The man panted, writhing underneath him, and Shikamaru idly started to carve a message into the man's leg as he screamed in agony. When he was finished, he hummed satisfactorily, turning around and looking at the man's mask. "How old are you?"

"TWENTY-FIVE! PLEASE, PLEASE STOP!"

"I'm twenty," said Shikamaru, staring at the blood smeared on the blade of the kunai. "I'm twenty, and I'm going to be a clan head soon. I'm also a father, a father of a three-year-old toddler; an innocent boy who knows nothing about death and decay and fear and war. My son is the very light in my life. I love him more than life itself, in fact. As a father, for you to threaten my son, my precious light, my fuckin' world… it makes you the scum of the fucking planet. Anyone who fucks with my son, the heir to my entire family and one of the few people I would give up my life to protect, deserves to die a slow painful death." On the last word, Shikamaru plunged the kunai into the man's throat, breaking through his windpipe and splitting open an artery, the blood gushing as if it came out of a geyser. Shikamaru pulled the blade out and watched this man suffer, wanting to watch him die for what he'd attempted.

"Shikamaru." The Nara heir turned, blinking upon seeing Suigetsu and his father standing behind him, their eyes wide as they took in what he had done. Shikamaru sighed and stood, tossing the kunai onto the writhing man. "Shikamaru, you—"

"Did Soyokaze see anything?" he asked in an emotionless voice, making his way over to the two shinobi. "The bodies?"

Shikaku shook his head. "No. I made sure of it. He and Temari are perfectly safe, he's just scared, and Temari's pissed as hell that someone tried to hurt you guys."

"He was aiming for Soyokaze," said Shikamaru in an uncharacteristically cold tone, turning his head to look at the would-be assassin. "He's one of Kabuto's minions. I think he was aiming to harm Obito by harming me. And he is no longer any sort of issue."

Suigetsu whistled. "And I'm supposed to be a psycho." Shikamaru, normally, would've grinned. Instead, he just gave a look that was vaguely akin to something like disdain, but Suigetsu and Shikaku could easily see his heart wasn't in it enough to care. Maybe tomorrow, Shikamaru would be able to joke around and feel emotions, but at that moment, he was just coping. He'd never slaughtered someone before. Yes, he had killed—but this was far and beyond just assassination. This was done out of hatred, and this was intentionally drawn out.

Suigetsu placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, his half-hearted smirk slipping off his face. "Want me to dump the body?"

"Cut it apart. I don't even want to know the face, and I don't care what you do to the body. Just keep the right leg intact. Take the leg outside the borders of Konoha and just dump it," ordered Shikamaru clearly, sighing and continuing forwards, headed in the direction of the Nara compound. "Then, after that, come to meet me at the compound. I hate drinking alone."

Suigetsu nodded, pulling the Kubikiribōchō off his back, making his way over to the body. Curious, he crouched down next to the right leg in question, eyes widening in realization that Shikamaru had carved characters into the man's leg. He shivered upon reading the words, finally understanding why Shikamaru had been able to live for so long in ANBU.

The next time you attempt to fuck around with my family, it read in nearly illegible kanji due to the amount of blood dripping from each every slice made into the flesh and the sheer amount of burnt tissue, I will come for you, and trust me… blood will paint the walls. Try me, motherfucker. Just try fucking with my family. I dare you to.


If there was anything that becoming her father's apprentice had taught her over the years, it was that Hinata didn't like the Hyūga council. They were old idiots that really needed to be slapped hard for a lot of the hypocritical idiocy that came out of their mouths, as well as their selfish ways of dealing with situations that they didn't benefit from, not to mention that they were Main House elders, so that meant that most of the reconstruction her father had done over the years, they would love to abolish and change back to what they were before. It was irritating and she really wished she could take her mother's sword and cut their heads off. Of course, that would remove her from candidacy for the clan head, and they'd put one of her idiot cousins in charge and really screw up the clan, so she couldn't do that.

But, oh… how she really wished she could.

Neji could somehow sense this murderous need in Hinata as he sighed, taking her hand in his and giving it a light, reassuring squeeze. She looked over to him, irritation showing in the depths of her pale lavender eyes, and he gave a half-hearted smile.

"Don't worry," he mouthed, "I wanna kill them, too." Hinata gave a half-hearted smile of her own, a small giggle passing her lips.

"Is there something around you more interesting than this meeting?"

Both shinobi flinched, turning their attentions back to the council. The faces of each old council member were enough to destroy any sort of happy mood that Hinata was trying to feel. She sighed unhappily before locking eyes with the youngest of the old; the man who'd asked her the question.

"No, Hiro-Ojiisama," she responded in a cold voice to her paternal grandfather, not bothering to hide her dislike for the old man. He had to be the worst. He didn't care for his own sons; all he cared about was the family name. Isn't a father supposed to care? Well, no, not in the Hyūga clan, or at least the age her father had been born into. She knew this, and yet, she found herself sort of surprised by some of the cold, callous things he did and said sometimes. Did she really share the same genetic material as this reprobate? "This meeting has my full attention."

Hiro nodded once. "Good," he responded, not betraying any dislike Hinata knew he must feel towards her before continuing on with whatever he was saying. "Anyways, I think we will receive nothing if we allow her to marry a man like Sabaku nō Kankurō. Granted, he is a gifted shinobi, but he does nothing for us politically. The brother may be a better option for exploitation." Eww, Hinata thought with a frown, Gaar-kun's like a brother… not a lover. She couldn't even see the red-headed Kazekage like that. Besides, he was in love with someone already, and he was happy with her.

"I don't believe the Kazekage would possibly ever be very… interested in the prospect of marrying her," sighed Hiashi, putting his cheek on his palm and tapping his finger against the wooden tabletop. She knew her father was just as irritated by the council as she and Neji were. Nearly four years of having to dick around on the same subject matter would do that, she figured. He flicked a glance at her, a reassuring smile in the depths of his white eyes. "What do you think, Hinata?"

"Same idea. Gaara doesn't see me like that," she agreed, "He sees me a sibling and nothing more."

Hiro shrugged. "He doesn't have to see you like that. As long as he can provide a viable offspring, he could see you as anything he wants."

That makes #4,382 in the list of the stupid shit the elders think to say. I think. "I would prefer to have a husband who can provide a 'viable offspring' and love me at the same time," she responded coldly, frowning.

Hiro glared at her and responded in an equally frigid voice, "If you wanted love, Hinata-sama, then you should've given up your seat in this clan." God that would've made you ecstatic, wouldn't it?

"Yes, because becoming the clan head and wanting love are two mutually exclusive things for me," responded Hinata sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her grandfather.

"Yes, they are," Hiro replied in a steely voice. "Hiashi, have you not taught your daughter obedience?"

Hiashi sighed, closing his eyes. "I taught my daughter obedience and how to be proper in business and politics to those who deserve her respect, much like you taught me, Hiro-sama." His meaning was clear: his father had not earned his daughter's respect, not in any term.

Hiro scoffed. "That was obviously the wrong lesson. You forget that you sired two females instead of males and paired with that wench I allowed you to wed; I see why Hinata came out wrong. She's defiant and stupid, just like her mother. In my day, if I had your daughter, I would've flogged her every time she said something that was unsavory." The council hummed their agreement, and Hinata clenched her fists, her anger growing by the second that Hiro talked. Hiashi glared at his father, reaching his own limit.

Neither was expecting that their usually silent and calmer accompanying third party was already there.

"Shut up!" barked Neji, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table, stopping all conversation immediately, both Hiashi and Hinata's eyes widening at Neji's uncharacteristic display of disobedience. "Just shut up and show her some damned respect! Hinata-sama is the future leader of the clan, and Hiashi-sama is the current leader of the clan! They both demand more respect from all of you! You are their underlings, not their superiors!"

"Neji-Niisan, calm down. It's okay," whispered Hinata.

"No, it's not fucking okay! Hinata-sama has worked damned hard to get to where she is at! Your rudeness towards her obviously shows your idiocy and shallowness if you think causing her misery will get you anywhere! She will be the leader of this clan, and she will be better than you ever were… Hiro-Ojiisan." Hinata's eyes widened, knowing that Neji's last word would be the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back.

As a Branch House member, Neji was, by all intents and purposes, so far below the council that he was almost an ant. Therefore, he was supposed to give all members of the council respectful titles, such as –san, -sama, or -chama. Hiro was not, therefore, considered his grandfather—to Neji, he was the Honorable Hiro-sama. However, by calling Hiro grandfather in a more familial way, it was as if he was close to being like them, and so it was an intentionally disrespectful way of referring to the head of the small council, even if Hiro technically was his grandfather.

Hiro's eyes flashed with anger, and before Hinata even truly realized it Neji collapsed to the ground, holding his forehead, screaming and writhing with pain. She gasped out, jumping out of her chair to touch her cousin, only for him to scream louder upon her touching him. She had been very young the last time she'd ever seen the curse mark being used, and she had no idea how much pain it actually was.

"Branch House scum; thinking you are like us! Gifted as you may be, cockroach, you will never be like us, so do not speak to us like you are!"

Hinata was a woman of high tolerance for irritating things—she had been in the same class with Naruto and Kiba, after all; and she wasn't in ANBU for nothing but even she had her limitations. Seeing her friends and family being hurt was much beyond her limitation, and the worse thing imaginable for any person to do was to make her reach that point.

She activated her Byakugan as she pulled out her sword from underneath her seat, jumping onto the table and running down it, unsheathing it and holding into the face of her grandfather, pressing its tip into his wrinkled cheek. The man opened his mouth to chastise her, but the cold look in her eye stopped him. Though she was kind-hearted, the look came naturally to her, as an ANBU and as a Hyūga. It was cold, analytical, and even cruel, and it meant that she was prepared to drop her kindness and kill at the flip of a switch, regardless of who they may be.

"Stop causing my older brother pain this instant," she said in a cold, authoritarian voice that had all council members shivering in fear. Hiro's eyes widened at this new side to his granddaughter, cutting off his jutsu and stopping Neji's pain at her wish. The boy gasped out in relief, much to Hinata's own, but she didn't display this.

"Now listen to me, very, very carefully," she said evenly, not moving to check on Neji or to remove her sword from her grandfather's face. "I do not wish to spill blood and dirty my kimono. It was purchased as a gift for me from a man I truly love, and I like it very much. However, I will if you push me any further. Are you going to push me any further, Hiro-Ojiisama?" He opened his mouth to speak, only for Hinata to press the tip into his cheek further, breaking the skin and drawing blood. "Do not speak. I don't want to hear you. Respond with a nod, or shake your head. These are your very few options. I shall repeat myself only once more. Are you going to push me any further?"

Hiro shook his head, and Hinata nodded, pulling her katana back and placing it back into its sheathe. She walked down the table quickly, bending down and placing it in front of her father, who was, in fact, smiling with pride at his daughter's display. She gave him a quick smile of her own before she stood back up, the smile slipping away as she returned her attention back to the council members.

"I have dealt with the disrespect of this council for many, many years," she began, walking slowly down the table and making sure to look at each member she walked by. "I understand that you have certain prejudices against me due to my gender. And I know why that is—it is because you are all from the old days of the Hyūga and, therefore, inherently sexist. And, for a while, I allowed this. Why? Because the disrespect of a few old bastards, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean very much.

"However, it's come to my attention that allowing you to be as biased as you are is slowing our clan from maturing. Your prejudices against me, my sister, my late mother, and the entire Branch House stop us from ever moving forwards, and beyond that, it sincerely pisses me off. We are Hyūga. Are we not supposed to be better than this?

"Neji is correct. You are simply an advisory council, and therefore not my superiors. For too long, my father has allowed you powers above what you had, and I am personally sick and tired of watching my father lose his sanity trying to get everything he wants for this clan done. Granted, he has done a great many thing for this clan, but you are all there ready to hold him back. I shall not tolerate this during my administration. I refuse to give up what I want for the clan, and just for the clan. My family name does matter to me, but my happiness does too. If the clan heads before me didn't have to sacrifice their happiness, I see no reason for me to have to.

"I may be a woman, but I was raised like an heir and I am a warrior of Konoha, much like the rest of you. As such, I demand respect from you—all of you. I don't care if you dislike me. I don't care if you hate me. But you will respect me and my authority. There are no alternatives. I will not take more crap from any of you, and if I feel that you are hindering the clan in any way, I will not hesitate to be rid of you. You will respect my decisions, my words, and my laws, because they are, around you, one in the same."

She stopped in front of her grandfather, finally, and turned around, walking quickly back down the table. "I am your soon-to-be clan head and as such I will not simply marry someone just so you can get ahead. I refuse to. I should be given the same rights to happiness that my father has gotten, and his father before that, and his father before that. I don't care if you dislike it, but I have made my decision and as nothing more than advisors, as Neji-Niisan as previously mentioned, you shall respect my decision."

She stepped down onto her seat, hopping off of it to land alongside her cousin. Neji looked up at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. She smiled down at him, offering her hand to him. He smiled back, taking her hand and pulling himself up with her support.

"Gentlemen, today you have made asses out of yourselves and I believe a new leadership of this council is in order, one that coincides with the changes and leaps forwards that the clan has made over the years. Do you agree, Otōsan?" she asked, turning to her father, who smiled wider and nodded. "Good," she said with a chuckle, "Then, the day I take the seat of the head, not only shall Hiro-Ojiisama be removed from the top of the elder council and replaced with my father; my older brother, Neji, shall become the second-in-command."

One elder jumped to his feet. "You mean to dirty this council?!"

"Dirty? No. I cannot dirty what is already so," she said, glaring at him, "I mean to clean it. To make it better. To reflect that the Hyūga has truly begun to change. And what better way to do it than to make someone as dear to me as Neji-Nii a council member?" Neji looked down at Hinata, his eyes wide at his cousin's guts. "And trust me, I have many more changes coming your way, but for now, I'm too annoyed by the lot of you to even think of continuing this conversation with you annoying old cunts." They all blinked at Hinata's use of profanity, while Hiashi just began to laugh. "Otōsan, Neji-Niisan, I think I would like tea. Would either of you care to join me?"

Hiashi pushed back his chair back, still laughing as he nodded, standing up and picking up Hinata's katana as he walked out of the room, too amused by his daughter's enraged speech to care if he was being impolite to his elders. Neji squeezed Hinata's hand gently, allowing himself to smile widely with pride at the immense backbone Hinata had just displayed towards these vindictive old council members, showing him, for the umpteenth time; how much she deserved her inheritance.


Inuzuka Kiba was a man of many definitions, and one of those definitions was definitely not an early riser. Kiba was not fond of waking up before ten AM. In fact, 'not fond' was a gross understatement. He deeply and totally resented the idea of waking up before ten AM. In fact, he felt that all times before ten AM should be abolished and eradicated. He hated the fact that they even existed, because since it existed, some people thought it was okay to wake him up during that time—especially annoying older sisters who thought it was fun to shove her seemingly ice-cold foot under his abdomen and wiggle her toes and make him squirm and try to keep asleep.

Hana glared down at her little brother, who was sprawled lazily and fully on top of his bed, his arm draped across the smaller body of some random guy he'd probably met the night before. Though she knew that her brother was bisexual, like much of the clan, including herself; lately, all of the people he brought home were skinnier men with pale skin and black hair, and she could've sworn that one of them had a pissed-off look that could rival Uchiha Sasuke.

Did she mention that they all resembled Sasuke to her?

Kiba groaned and pushed his knee in between the smaller males', making him moan out and writhe underneath Kiba's larger body. Hana rolled her eyes, pushing her foot further underneath her brother's body and rubbing her toes against Kiba's nipple. She knew that Kiba hated it when people tried to wake him up, and she sometimes wished she cared. But it was moments like these, when his room stunk of sweat, sex, and vodka and a random whore writhing around underneath him while Akamaru whined outside of his door; having apparently been kicked out while Kiba was fuckinga random civilian last night, that she really couldn't find it in her to give even a little bit less than half of a shit.

Hana sighed, finally reaching her limitation on the issue presented to her. She removed her foot from underneath Kiba, pressing it instead against Kiba's warm cheek instead and forcing his face into the pillow, making sure his breathing was stopped by the pillow she was attempting to suffocate him with. And then she smiled, opened her mouth, and said, with the loudest voice she had:

"INUZUKA KIBA, GET YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW BEFORE I KILL YOU IN YOUR FUCKING SLEEP!" Usually, she wasn't one for extreme amounts of vulgarity, like her mother was, but the shock factor of her waking up her little brother was simply added to when using curse words.

Kiba's eyes snapped open, and he gave a loud yelp before he twisted, falling off the bed and almost taking the male who'd been underneath him the entire time with him. Of course, the male had a lot better reflexes than Hana would've given him credit for—he pulled himself out of Kiba's arms and pressed himself against the wall, his [onyx] eyes wide in surprise.

"What the fuck, Hana?!" snapped Kiba, jumping to his feet, standing upright… and fully and totally naked.

Hana flinched and put her hand in front of her eyes, letting a small squeal out of her lips. "KIBA! Why don't you wear clothing to bed? Why don't you even have underwear on? You're at home! You live with your family! Wear something, goddammit! Fucking shit!" She ran a hand through her hair, blushing crazily. Kiba frowned, looking down at himself before he began to blush himself, putting his hands down in front of his manhood.

"Sonovabitch—Hana, get the hell out, please, I'm begging you," said Kiba, picking up the end of the sheet hanging on the floor, holding it in front of his groin, his blush contracting deeply with the dark red of his fang tattoos. The boy in Kiba's bed was blushing almost as deeply as Kiba was, from what Hana could see between her fingers.

"God. Just," Hana said, "Just get dressed, get the boy—"

"Daisuke," whispered the boy. And he has almost the same name. Great job at trying to replace Sasuke, Kiba…

"Whatever," Hana sighed again, "Just get your ass dressed, get Daisuke out of the house, and get downstairs so we can get to the Hokage tower. Tsunade-sama called us both there, and we need to be there in an hour. Just… sneak him out the back, Kiba, because if Okāsan even gets a whiff of him, you're in for hell. She still hasn't forgiven you for the last person you decided to fuck under her roof." Daisuke frowned, and Hana barely managed to hold back snickers in amusement. She never liked any of the whores Kiba brought home. Yeah, sure, some of them were nice. But… they weren't whom she knew Kiba really had the hots for.

"Hana, it's… its two o'clock in the fucking morning! Why are we needed so damned early? Is she even fucking awake right now?" he grumbled.

"I don't know, but whatever it might be, it's got to be important," she deadpanned, glaring at her younger brother. "I'll be downstairs."Hana left Kiba's bedroom, resisting the urge to pluck out her eyes. They may be brother and sister, but they weren't that close! She didn't need an update on Kiba's dick!

"Hana, are you okay?"

The Inuzuka flinched, looking over to the former Uchiha heir sitting on her sofa, a small blush (thankfully hidden by the tattoos on her cheeks) developing on her cheeks. He had been the one who had woken her up that morning, giving her word that Tsunade had called for her and Kiba that morning, and was polite enough to wait up for the both of them, since he'd already come this way, and so to also detract from the amount of anger Tsunade might feel. Itachi was usually always on-time, and since he was more on-time than most shinobi in Konohagakure, she had a lot more leniency with him than anyone else.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at Hana, smiling softly at her. "I'm sorry, was I too silent?" he asked politely.

"Ah… maybe," she said, giving a blush and a small smile, sitting down in the couch next to Itachi. She hadn't been this close to Itachi since she was much younger, back when they both attended the Academy together, and she was glad that he seemed to have no problems with their closeness. "You have such a… aura, and then you're so silent that people just don't notice you sometimes. Um… good thing for an ANBU. I mean, not that I know that you're in ANBU. Because I totally don't." Ugh, so awkward, kill me.

Itachi smiled softly, a light chuckle escaping his lips. "Yes, it is a good thing for an ANBU to be… silent. It doesn't quite do for dealing with people, as I've understood as so far, but sometimes I can't help it." His smile lowered into a slight smirk.

Hana giggled. "You're the silent type, Uchiha-kun. It's not your fault."

Itachi flicked a glance at her. "After all these years, you still call me Uchiha-kun, Hana? You've known me since school."

"I never really knew you. And you graduated before I could even think of getting the chance to finish knowing you," Hana said with a shrug, smelling the exit of Daisuke out of their back door.

"Well," said Itachi with a growing smile, holding out his hand. She looked up at him, a confused look in her eyes, and his smile, unexpectedly, grew slightly, even. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I'm twenty-five. And…" He cocked his head slightly. "…Your name is…?"

Hana caught on, her blush increasing as she took his hand, giving it a slight shake. "I'm Inuzuka Hana. I just so happen to be twenty-five, too."

He chuckled—actually chuckled—and said, "Small world, isn't it."

"It's a very small world. Next thing I know, you'll be telling me that you live in Konohagakure, too."

"Well… it just so happens…"

"That you're flirting with my sister?" Both shinobi flinched, turning to see the younger Inuzuka standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed at Itachi. Itachi immediately stiffened up, redrawing his hand from Hana's and moving back in the couch, his smile disappearing. "Yeah. I can see that. And I definitely do not like it," said Kiba, arms crossed. Akamaru whined and pulled at the bottom hem of his mesh shirt, trying to get his biased master to stop.

"I apologize for making you uncomfortable," Itachi said, standing up off of the couch, once again returning to a stoic attitude that had Hana's mood tanking. He turned, and Hana quickly gave her brother the finger, as well as an expression that showed her disdain for her brother's approach towards her allowing herself to 'flirt' with Uchiha Itachi. He scowled and shrugged, looking away from her. "I think… I think we should be getting to the Hokage's office. She's only patient to a point, right?" he asked, turning around again in time for him to catch the end of Hana's reaction.

She didn't notice that he caught the end as she turned and smiled softly at him. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. We should be going, shouldn't we?"

She also didn't know the light blush on his cheeks as he turned around, looking forwards at the door with a light smile on her face. He liked the fact that she could challenge Kiba without any pre-thoughts. She wasn't afraid to attempt to put Kiba in his place, whatever the situation was, and he most definitely liked that fact. He wanted a girl with a lot of backbone, and she had more than enough.


"It's about damned time you got here," Tsunade growled, glaring at the three shinobi, led by the Uchiha who was one of the very few shinobi above a Chūnin rank to actually still utilize a door, which she was finding to be increasingly rare, especially amongst those whom she just seemed to find in her office all too often. Itachi flicked a glance at her and somehow managed to actually shrug politely (which was a motion she couldn't figure out how to do herself), taking his place next to his own younger brother. Kiba resisted the urge to growl at him, taking his place next to Hana who, for this meeting; served as the buffer between the Uchiha brothers and her little brother, knowing better than to allow the chance of something happening.

"Sorry, Tsunade-sama, but I got lost on my way to the Inuzuka compound," Itachi blatantly lied, mostly to cover up for Kiba's slowness upon waking up; but also to protect his little brother from knowing that Kiba was sleeping with yet another person. Sasuke knew full well about Kiba's sexual escapades, and each and every one hurt Sasuke immensely—though he did his very best to hide it from everyone.

Tsunade knew he was lying, too—as an ANBU, Itachi had been required to absolutely know his way around the village, all of them were—but she let it go, knowing the reason he had for protecting Sasuke from it. Naruto had talked about it—at length—earlier that same night.

"Whatever," she sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I'll just get to my point. Two days ago, as the Uchiha brothers know, Nara Obito came back to Konohagakure with two curse seals on his body, which was dealt with before the situation escalated. Last night, I got word that three kunoichi, fitting the detailing of the women that had given Obito these curse marks that I got from Jiraiya, one of Obito's traveling companions, were found hanging in the Nara compound—specifically, the bedroom Obito used to live in. Thankfully, the youngest children in the compound didn't see it, and neither did Obito, as he is resting at the Uchiha compound. Nara Shikamaru personally dealt with the shinobi who infiltrated the compound in order to deface Obito's quarters. Needless to say… that shinobi is no longer a concern of mine.

"But there was a message discovered in their gear that I found… disconcerting," she said, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a stack of photographs. She laid them out carefully on the table, spreading them so the shinobi could see them. Sasuke, who hadn't indicated any sort of emotion from what she could see, was the first to step forwards, a frown pulling at his lips. She knew that he found as much disdain for the photographs as she did—after all, who would be perfectly alright seeing about five pictures of his own student; training, eating, sleeping, dressing?

"What the hell are these?" Itachi asked as he picked up a picture of his younger brother in the same sort of situations—except he was also pictured playing Gō in the confines of the Uchiha compound. The angle told him that the person who took the picture had to be on a corner of the roof by the courtyard. How could he not have noticed such an obvious thing, something so obvious as someone standing practically directly across from his little brother, taking pictures of him?

Kiba scowled, noticing pictures of Hinata, turning to Hana as he held up a particular picture of Hinata kissing Kankurō—which hadn't happened more than a couple of days ago. He was even in that shot, which was the worse part—how did he not notice some random stranger, taking photographs of his best friends?

"I don't know how they were captured, but that isn't a concern anymore—the 'body' found last night near the Nara compound had a small camera in its weapons pouch," said Tsunade, frowning. Kiba's own frown deepened—the way she said 'body', with those air quotes, made him think that Shikamaru had gone slightly overboard. "If you take a notice to some of them, you'll notice they have a couple of stains at the corners. It looks like water damage, but my labs have identified them to, in fact, be sweat—actually, human sweat mixed with a small of snake venom. It's an easily tracked scent, according to my sources. That's where you two come in," she said, pointing to the two Inuzuka shinobi. "As trackers, I need you to use your ninken to pull up a scent, see if we can trace the person who took these photographs."

"What about us?" asked Itachi, frowning.

"Right," said Tsunade with a sigh, "I need you guys to pair up. If this trail leads to Kabuto in the end, I need people who can end him, quickly and efficiently. I want this bastard wiped off the face of the planet. He's caused us more than enough problems. I would send Kakashi, but he has a son at home to think about. I would send Hinata, but she is the Hyūga heiress, and she has her own problems I need her for and she is, and always has been, one of Kabuto's main targets. I would even send Gaara, but he is the Kazekage and I cannot risk his life. I'm not saying I like risking your lives, but in the grand scheme of things, the two of you are the only options I have left for quick and efficient killing. You've proven yourselves to the fact." Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other once before nodding, accepting the information.

"So we are going as a four-man unit?" Kiba asked, raising an eyebrow. "That'll draw attention, especially with the dogs…"

"No. That's not efficient enough," said Itachi, turning slightly to Kiba. "There's two of you and two of us for a reason. There will be two, two-man teams—three, given that you each only bring one ninken. Sasuke and I work predominantly from the shadows, so a four-man group wouldn't utilize our skills best—we'd be worrying about each other rather than you two, who are our major concerns for this mission's success. Besides, it wouldn't make sense for there to be more than one medic per team."

Kiba raised an eyebrow. "'More than one'?"

"Sasuke has basic training in the medical ninjutsu arts. He's the one who save Nara Obito's life two days ago," Tsunade said, nodding her head towards the young Uchiha heir, "And Itachi is right. They do work best in the background, but if they were on the same team, they'd constantly worry about each other's safety, which isn't a good thing in the case of a fight, considering the two of you are their primary focal points, not each other. Not that you two can't help yourselves, but most of their mission is to protect you so you can remain focused on your own tasks. So it will be two-man teams—Itachi, you'll be with Hana; and Kiba, you'll be with Sasuke."

"But—" began Kiba, eyes wide before Tsunade cut him off.

"I don't want to hear complaints. Not every pairing I give out is a match made in heaven. They're made based upon a question of familiarity and compatibility. The compatibility being, you are in the same age groups in your pairings, and you went to school together; which means that you know some of the basics of their techniques. There are other factors involved, but I know all you want to do is argue with me, so I'm gonna do myself a favor and send you off. I want you to leave ASAP. Am I completely understood?"

They all nodded.


Thank you, sailorangelmoon1 (every time I see your name, I want to write 'sailormoon' instead... so I apologize if I've fucked up your name in the thanks before. I know how it's spelt, but Sailor Moon was the shit when I was a kid and I can't stop writing it like that, it's habit) for your kind review. I'm glad I made you smile because of the things I make Obito do :)

I just finished a piece of OC/Nabi smut that I'm proud of... shame that it's in a chapter very far off... the story's going to take off right after that chapter... I just wanted to get a majority of the romance done before I actually hit the danger and shit, so that's going to start now... wish the author luck with favorites and follows and reviews! :3

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next one should be up soon!