Passing Tests

Anju had to force her body to breath when she stepped into the Hokage office. She saw that the Konohagakure ninja she had travelled with had stayed in the room and were giving her smiles and thumbs up. For a second she felt relaxed when she saw them but then her eyes landed on the woman sitting behind the desk. The glare that she was given her scared Anju more than anything she had ever faced. The woman was quite young looking with blonde hair pulled into pigtails, honey eyes and a diamond in the middle of her forehead. Anju could only imagine the terrified look that must have been plastered on her face.

"Lady Hokage, it is an honour that you made time to see me and my family." Tadashi commented politely –he had always been the diplomatic one- and bowed deeply. The example was quickly followed by his three other clan members. Her expression did not change as her eyes wander over all four of them and then back on Anju again.

"You can deactivate those young lady I won't have you coming into my office trying to scare me." The woman snapped at the girl and the Tsukiko princess nearly went running from the room – probably would have if Hansuke was not behind her blocking her way- she tried to find words to explain her condition but her tongue was all twisted and numb.

"I'm afraid she can't help it Lady Hokage." Tadashi and Kakashi both stepped in together; honestly, sometimes it was like they acted like twins. Both men both looked at each other before the silver hair ninja signalled to his new friend to continue. Tsunade sat there impatiently as she waited for and answer. "You see, until recently we had no idea what my sisters ability was…" That's when her brother began explaining the whole story about their clans' legacy, Anju birth and the present situation. Throughout the whole story, the woman's face was expressionless as she lay back in her chair and listened intently. Once he had finished explaining, the honeycomb eyes turned sharply to the new found Uchiha who stood with her legs trembling under her cloak. Her expression had changed slightly; it seemed less hostile them before.

"If what your brother says is true, then why are you afraid now?" She questioned which caught Anju off guard for a second before realising it was a perfectly normal question to ask in this circumstance. She wanted to turn to her brother and ask for his help but she could not remove her own eyes from the woman in front of her.

"It's just… I don't like my eyes and a lot of people don't like them either so I'm afraid what everyone else will think, then I started thinking about it I got even more worried …"

"She says a lot of things really fast when she panics." Hansuke explained with his hand slammed over her mouth. The fast talking girl could only blink in response because she hadn't realised what she had been doing. Once it seemed that she had settle down, he team mate released her. The Hokage got up from her chair and approached her.

"May I?" She questioned, holding her hands up near her face. Anju was a little taken back for a little while and shot a worried look at her brother who also seemed to be taken back by the odd gesture. It seemed he wasn't sure what to do himself, which she found unsettling since he always knew what to do. This meant she had to decide on her own. She nodded in agreement, unable to think of any other way to answer. The woman gently placed the tips of her fingers on either side of her temples. Out of the corner of her eyes, Anju could see a green glow, similar to the glow that her brother would show when he was healing. Soon her eyelids began to droop as they slowly closed together, the tightness in her chest loosened and her breathing became more relaxed. When she felt the woman's hands leave her face, she felt more relaxed then she had ever felt in her entire life. Finally, she opened her eyes to see the woman still looking directly, staring at her with a small smile on her mouth which shock Anju a little bit. "You have very pretty purple eyes." The old woman muttered out with a sudden look of shock on her face, as if she hadn't meant to say it out loud. Surprise overcame her and she hand instantly went to touch her eyes. They didn't feel so tight as they usually did when the sharingan appear and apart from a little surprise she felt totally relaxed.

"Fascinating!" Tadashi exclaimed as he bent down and placing a finger on the side of her head began glowing green for a few seconds as he did a quick examination. "Why did I never think of that?" He muttered to himself out loud. Anju was still not sure what had happen to her but to be honest she didn't really care; she just felt so relax. The sound of the door opening made everyone turn around to see a middle age man wearing a bandager and a large scar slashed across his face.

"Ah Ibiki, you've finally arrived." Tsunade introduce the stranger, who seemed to put fearful looks on the chunins faces (except Sai) while the Tsukiko clan could only stare at him in wonder. "If you don't mind I would just like to talk to Anju alone with Ibiki." The woman asked everyone. Out of instinct, three of the strange clan members couldn't help but let their bodies tense and Tadashi reached for a secure grip on his sword handle. Fearing for her brother safety, Anju tapped him on the wrist and shook her head. She could see her temple throb in annoyance but he settled his hand back down to his side. One by one, everyone began to slowly leave the room. The last to leave was Tadashi, who seemed uncomfortable to leave her alone with strangers. How could she blame him? Before they were surrounded by people that were trying to kill her or at least planning to. What if this place was no different? After a few moments having a staring contest with Tadashi, he finally left.

Kakashi wasn't actually happy that he was leaving the poor girl alone with Ibiki –even if Tsunade was with him. But he had to let to go. He was a Konohagakure ninja; he had to think of the village's safety first. So you can imagine his expression when instead of standing tense by the door like, Tadashi asked where the nearest bathroom was. As soon as the brother had been given the information he took off with his friends following close behind.

"Come on you've got to see this." Jin said, grabbing both Hinata and Sakura's arms and dragging them with her. Out of curiosity the rest of them followed. They were shocked to witness the amazon woman easily yank the two girls into the men's bathroom. Quickly they followed and when they entered they found the three Tsukiko clan members surrounding the mirror with their two females comrades looking a little uncomfortable in this room. Moving further into the room, Kakashi's lone dark eye soon closed on Tadashi's left arm which had been extended on the mirror. He wasn't sure what the man was doing until the reflections in the mirror began to swirl around and change. Once it had finally settled the whole scene had changed. It took him a second to realise what he was looking at and then quickly turned to his old ANBU partner to see a Yamato had a startled look. Kakashi was glad his years of training had held up on his face otherwise he would have shown a similar facial expression. Really they should have reported this or arrested them as soon as they saw this but if these people caused any harm intent then they wouldn't have dragged them into it – he had known these people long enough to know they weren't stupid. The images now shown the inside of the Hokages office with Ibiki and Tsunade standing near the desk while Anju now sat in a chair that hadn't been in their before. There was no way he wouldn't of even known that the girl knew she was being watching if she didn't suddenly hide her arm behind her back and show off her middle finger.

"I don't deserve that!" Tadashi cried out angrily but was quickly shushed by his two comrades. Being the good shinobi he was he should of arrested them for spying on the Hokage meeting but the woman had not said anything about the meeting being top secret and besides, even good soldiers broke the rules once in a while.

Anju sat in the middle of the room alone as she faced the two scary people that stood in front of her. Any other day she would of being sweating with nerves but whatever the woman had done to calm her ability also blocked her reactions as well. They had been nice enough to offer her a chair (where they had gotten it from she still didn't know) so unless she wanted to get on the woman's bad side she would have to do sit there and answer the questions she knew the two were dying to ask. However, she was not happy that her brother had decided to spy on her.

"So Anju, tell us what it's like growing up in your clan?" The man with the bandager asked, it sounded like a general question but there was something about the way he was staring at her that made her feel uncomfortable; it was like they were searching her soul. Chewing the numbness out of her tongue, Anju made sure she picked her words carefully.

"Well it's pretty rough. You've got to learn the straightforward camping skills as soon as you can walk and you've got to know basics rules of trade all before you're five." Quickly she bit her tongue to stop herself going on, maybe she had loosened her mouth to much. Though the expression on their faces told her to go on. She didn't want to give away too much information about her clan, she was used to saying little when a stranger asked but she didn't want to seem like she was hiding anything, so she just gave the basics. As she continued to talk, she explained how everyone got older everyone settled into their own path. The three main groups were trader, soldier and food gather. There were also the rare groups, mercury, healer and teacher (you were lucky if you were teacher, it meant you survived over thirty five) then how you had your basic leader then second and third in command.

"What about you Anju? What was your group?" Tsunade asked kindly but the question still caught her by surprise.

"Well, I am… was sought of a healer but most of my time I was on duty as a soldier." She quickly answered and hoped to move on quickly but the woman was quick to pick up the on the unsteady note.

"Sought of a healer?" The Hokage twisted the words on the tip of her tongue like she was testing out a strange formula. She hated it but she knew she had to explain…

A seven year old Anju was running around the board of the made up camp the clan had made just a few days ago and Jin had just received word that Hansuke and her brother had returned to the village. For the last couple of days she had been thinking of what she wanted to be when she grew up. At first it seemed like to her only destiny was to be a soldier of the clan but after what she had witnessed her brother do a few weeks ago she had been determined to follow that path. She could hear a fifteen year old Jin chasing after her but she wouldn't stop. The sooner she talked to her brother then sooner she could begin her new journey.

"Tadashi! Tadashi!" She called out to him when she saw her brother and friend coming down the man-made path the clan made to get to the camp and the village quicker. The teenager smiled back at her as she leapt into his arms to hug her. He swung her around and she screamed her head off. But she had no time for this; she had important matters to discuss with him. "Tadashi! Will you teach me to be a healer?" She half asked and half begged him.

"Of course I will teach you little sister but what is with the sudden interest." He questioned as he placed him back on the floor. His grey eyes shone like silver in the morning light.

"I've been thinking about what you did to help that woman the other day and the man before that and the little girl, I wanted to be able to do that I don't like the idea of taken people's lives I want to save them." She spoke clearly with fiery determination.

"Ok, let's get to it." Tadashi smiled and Anju dragged him off to begin her new advantage.

Three weeks later…

Anju sat near the camp fire examining the medical books her brother had given her to study. She couldn't understand what she was doing wrong, she had followed every instruction her brother had given her to the letter but all she had succeeded in was killing fish; a big waste of supplies. There must have been something she was missing, some word her brother was saying to her she was miss-understanding. It was taking her an awfully long time to figure it out and see felt she was nowhere closer to figuring it out. But she was determined; she had to learn how to do this. Half way through her reading her brother entered the tent with a grim expression his face.

"Brother, I'm sorry but I have failed to find out what I am doing wrong." Anju groaned as she placed the book on the floor. Really she wanted to throw the stupid paperback on the floor and jump on it out of frustration but her brother would be very upset if she did that.

"Anju we need to talk." Her brother whispered and she looked up from the crackling embers to meet his face.

"What is it?" Anju asked as she turned to him. Was he leaving for another mission but he had just returned a day ago from another one.

"Anju… I do not believe you will be able to become a medic." Tadashi exclaimed sadly. This sudden notice caught the little girl off for a few moments. Is this some kind of joke? She wondered to herself but she knew her brother was not so cruel. The burning sensation in her eyes as she tried to hold back the tears.

"I know I'm being slow Tadashi but I promise I'll learn, I just need a bit more time to understand." She begged him but it was no use.

"I'm sorry little sister but it is not your knowledge or your determination that holds you back but you just have too much charka, your body is unable to harness controllable amounts for what is required." He informed her and this time there was no way she could hold the water bursting from their pipes.

"But I want to help people." She cried and she was pulled into a deep huge.

Of course she had left out the sad little kids bits, it was very unprofessional, so she only informed the two people of the facts. But looking into the woman's honey eyes and the man's dark ones she could sense they felt the despair that was really behind the tale. It didn't help that she felt the sadness from the physic link she and her brother shared. I hate our family's stupid technique she thought as the questions just got even harder.