Happy New Year Everyone! I wanted to say thank you for all the support by updating twice in one week! Thanks for being patient with me, its been a joy to share this with all of you! Plus this chapter has a surprise, one of my favorite characters comes in. As always, please let me know what you think!


Chapter 9: Show Time

"You want me to help proctor one of the exams?"

"Yes, with your skills in the field, the second exam could use your assistance, what with one of our original volunteers out of commission with the flu." Lord Third said distractedly as he shifted through multiple stacks of paper, pipe hanging precariously from his bottom lip.

Finding what he was looking for, he gestured absently to Sumi to take a piece of paper. It was an official form detailing the expectations and duties of a proctor for the Chunin exams. She took it, quickly reading through it in case she had any questions that needed to be cleared up by the Hokage. It appeared to be a simple assignment, she was to monitor the boundary of the Forest of Death and provide assistance for any examinees who should find themselves in need of it.

"Anko-chan will be the main proctor for that exam, and as she has done it for the past several years, I am sure she would be more than happy to answer any questions should they come up. Sorry for the short notice, after all the exam is next week." The Hokage met her eyes and Sumi immediately knew that there was no mysterious 'flu'. Something else had happened, but she simply didn't have high enough clearance to be informed just what that something was.

"Of course Lord Hokage, I thank you for the chance to serve." She bowed and took her leave but his voice stopped her.

"Before you go, Sumi-chan, is there anything you need to tell me?" She turned to look at him. Lord Third, one of the greatest of the Hidden Leaf, the Professor as they called him, taking a special interest in her. She must really look a wreck.

"Of course not Lord Third. Is there anything you need to ask?" Her question was genuine. She let him know that she was alright, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, but if he wished it, she would tell him.

"No, I suppose not. Good day, and thanks again for taking up this last-minute assignment. I know how you have been busy with the patrols."

"Happy to do it, Lord Hokage." Happy to have something else to think about other than Kakashi, she thought. And she took her leave.

As she walked back to her apartment, blissfully free of Kakashi-thoughts for the moment, she nearly walked straight into Kurenai.

"Oh! Geeze, I'm sorry Kurenai-chan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but you look like shit. What happened?"

She could feel the lie on her lips, she was so ready to say the same lie she had told Lord Third just minutes earlier. But somehow, looking into Kurenai's concerned face, she just couldn't do it. Her fierce resolve, the one she had been keeping up for the last twenty-four hours crumpled around her face. And it that was all it took for Kurenai to whisk her back to her place.

"…You…and Kakashi?" She asked, truly dumb-founded. "…For FOUR years? And you never said a word. Not to me, not to Anko-chan. Why not?"

Sumi sat on Kurenai's couch in the middle of her apartment. The same apartment she had lived in since they were Chunin and she had finally saved up enough money for the down payment herself. The apartment that they had shared so many 'girls' nights', and so many secrets. But for Sumi, it had never been the biggest secret: her relationship with Kakashi.

"We had originally agreed to keep it a secret. Ever since…well, ever since our ANBU days." Sumi replied quietly.

Kurenai's expression changed drastically from hurt and shock to dawning understanding. Kurenai had never been a part of ANBU, but she had known that both Sumi and Kakashi had been, hell, both of them still sported the tell-tale tattoos on their shoulders. It was hard to miss.

"I never knew you were on the same team. That's…shocking."

Sumi merely nodded.

"Was that when…you started seeing each other?"

"Yeah, that's when it started. It was actually a pretty awful situation to tell the truth. At first anyway."

"Can you tell me?" Kurenai asked tentatively, not wanting to push her too much.

"I can tell you…certain things. Not about our mission of course. But about how it happened."

"Alright, but let me get another bottle of wine first."

"Yes please."


Sumi blinked her eyes slowly, though it made little difference as it was as dark with her eyes open as with them shut. She felt around instinctively, noting as she did so that her hands and feet had not been bound. Good, it appeared that her abductors had no suspicions of her true powers. She appeared to have been laid on a sizable bed, the sheets felt smooth under her and she felt multiple pillows next to her head.

She stopped her shifting enough to listen and heard no noticeable sounds other than her unsteady breathing and the thumping of her heart. Though it was going according to plan, Sumi was nervous. Finally, she felt down her body and noted that her clothes were still the ones she had been wearing earlier. She appeared to have been searched as some of the folds of the outfit were disheveled and one of the ties for the sleeves had been undone.

However, the person who had completed the search had done a sloppy job. She still maintained the choke wire that had been sewn into the hem of her dress along with the long Senbon needles that had been enclosed into the fabric of her underclothes, especially the boning of the corset-like brassier.

Easy, too easy. Her eyes narrowed. It shouldn't be this easy to kill a criminal wanted in multiple countries. Alarm bells were going off in Sumi's head. She had just about made up her mind to make her way to one of the walls when footsteps met her ears from out in the hall.

"Is she still out?" Came the rough tones of the Unagi, her target.

"Yes sir, Jiro gave her an impressive dose of the sleeping solution with her last meal. She should be out for at least a few more minutes."

Last meal? I don't remember—

"Good, I'm sure our newest client will be very happy with having a Kunoichi like her to play with."

All the blood in Sumi's veins seemed to freeze. They called her a Kunoichi. They knew. But how? And why hadn't they done anything to restrain her?

The guard laughed and Sumi felt instantly ill. Someone had sold them out, and worse yet, Sumi had no idea where she was or how long she had been out. She fought down her panic in an effort to hear what came next.

"Alright, the client will be here in a few minutes, make sure our guest is…manageable for him."

"Of course sir." And the footsteps retreated.

Sumi had about half a second to lay back down in the bed before the door creaked open revealing the Hidden-Mist guard from the bar, she kept her eyes closed, but was able to recognize his chakra signature

"Alright now, sleeping beauty, we got to get you up and looking good for the customer."

Sumi waited, she waited for just the right moment. The guard shifted his weight slightly so that he could lean down to wake Sumi. She struck.

Ripping out one of the Senbon from her left side she raised it and stabbed the guard in just the right spot, effectively immobilizing him, but not killing him. She rose up and caught him before he could hit the floor and lowered him gently, highly encumbered by his dead-weight.

Once he was safely on the ground, she reached to her right side and ripped a second needle from her bodice, placing the tip next to a pressure-point they both knew would cause instant death should he make one wrong move.

The guard raised his eyebrows, unable to do anything else below his neck.

"Alright big guy, you know how this will work. You give me the answers I need, and I spare you. I'll even knock you out and give you a few bumps to make it look like you actually fought me off. Spill."

He glared at her, attempting defiance and playing her for time.

Sumi didn't buy it.

"I said spill. Our maybe I miscalculated how much loyalty you have for your boss. Enough to die for him? Enough to be permanently crippled for him? Which would you prefer?"

His resolve shattered.

"We are in the Land of Hot Water. The boss had me knock you out and package you up."

"How long have I been out? And don't you dare lie." She poked him threateningly.

He flinched, but responded. "Three days, enough to move you out of Hidden Mist and into the buyer's hands."

"Who's the buyer?"

"An ex-Mist Shinobi, S-class. His name is Hoshigaki Kisame."

"What is it with Hidden Mist and their-sea names?" She asked no-one in particular.

"Well," He tried to answer.

"Never mind." She signed and roughly pulled out the needle at just the right angle, causing no permanent damage, but instant unconsciousness.

It looked like her instincts had been right after all. It was too easy.


Kakashi couldn't remember the last time he had been this worried about something. Probably not since Kushina and Lord Fourth's fight with the fox, he reflected to himself. Matsumi was missing, had been for hours if Yugao's frantic calculations had been correct.

"Calm down Yugao-chan, explain again what happened."

"Well, we were admitted just like our contact said we would be and we were introduced to the Unagi. He trained us for most of the day, nothing too serious, just rules and guidelines we were to follow part of our 'services'. Then, we were placed out on the floor to watch and observe what some of the other girls were doing and were asked to do the same. I was talking to one of the other guests, nothing too serious, just trying to blend in, when I saw that Sumi had been summoned to the back room. She nodded the signal to me, letting me know that the Unagi had summoned her, just like in our plan. I waited for her, but an hour passed and I grew suspicious. I excused myself from the floor to use the restroom and made my way to the back of the building.

"I saw…no sign of her…or of Unagi. I checked every area of the bar including the rooms for her chakra signature, and I found nothing. I could only assume that something had gone wrong and that she had been moved. I immediately left my post to come and find you, and here we are."

"I understand, you did well Yugao, there wasn't anything else you could do without blowing your cover and putting everyone on the team at risk. At this point, we can only assume that wherever Matsumi-chan is, Unagi is there also. Itachi-kun…remind me again how good you are at tracking."


Sumi moved stealthily through the building. It appeared to be some kind of headquarters, something she had deduced both from the layout and from the strategic placement of guards. She knew from her background research that the Land of Hot Water was a typically peaceful country and in the last several Shinobi conflicts, they had been strictly neutral. It was a country that prized itself on helping both sides so that neither could afford to lose its support.

It wasn't surprising that this country was also the site of the Unagi's hideaway.

She moved through the levels, always listening, always on alert. She had adjusted her Genjutsu slightly. No longer focused on being noticed by others, she had tweaked it so that she was far less obvious. People would really have to focus on her to see her, and as a result, she slipped by many a guard bored out of his mind.

She made it all the way to the ground floor from the top level where she had been kept when she heard his voice.

"Hoshigaki-san, welcome to our establishment! We are honored that you have requested our services."

"Thanks for being able to fulfill my request…I understand it was a hard one to complete." A new voice said, this one surprised Sumi at how…normal it sounded.

"Yes…I believe your specifications were a 'fiery Kunoichi for my pleasure'. Yes, I think she will fit all of your expectations." Said the Unagi.

Sumi peeked around the wall, still at least ten feet from the pair of men, and almost pitched forward with surprise. What the hell is he?! She thought to herself, for the 'normal' voice seemed to belong to a huge blue man. She shuddered when she saw that the man's face seemed to resemble a shark, complete with gills and pointed teeth shown when he grinned at something else the Unagi said. As she continued to stare at him, he cocked his head and grinned again.

"I think you were right indeed, Unagi. She is fiery…but I didn't expect you to allow her to meet me at the entrance."

Sumi froze in absolute terror.

"…What do you mean, Hoshigaki-san?"

Faster than Sumi would have ever thought possible, the blue man was in front of her.

"Clever, to use such a high-level Genjutsu, powerful enough to avoid obvious detection, but low enough chakra output that no one except the exceptional would ever sense it. Girlie, I think you will do me just fine."

"Hoshigaki-san, my deepest apologies. She was supposed to be waiting for you upstairs. Please accept my deepest apologies."

"No problem, besides, I'll take my compensation and be on my way."

"Your compensation?" The man asked, confusion and alarm both flitted across his face.

Hoshigaki merely grinned and Sumi became afraid of another Shinobi for the first time in a long time. The giant man reached behind his head for the equally giant word strapped to his back and in one fell swoop he cleaved the Unagi in two.

Sumi, too stunned for words, blinked at the pile of flesh and blood that her target had previously inhabited. He hadn't even screamed.

"Alright girlie, we have places to go. You can come quietly…or not. I never was turned off by a woman's scream." He grinned at her, somehow finding humor in a situation that was anything but funny.

"I'll come quietly." Was her only reply.

Yes, this mission was anything but easy.


Kakashi ground his foot into the dirt in frustration and in an effort to scrunch the feeling of nausea from his stomach. It didn't help. They had traveled for three days after finding their lead to the Land of Hot Water. After the use of extensive questioning with locals and Itachi's tracking skills, they were able to find the trail.

And despite all of their efforts, the group of four seemed to have arrived hours too late. The headquarters were in chaos, it seemed that a customer, the one who had bought Matsumi, had also paid his respects to the establishment by killing the Unagi. And with him died countless ways that the countries could have tracked their stolen children.

There was much to be frustrated about, Kakashi told himself. But he was beginning to believe that his feelings were too strong, even for a situation such as this.

Luckily, the mission on one end was still salvageable. Yamato was able to capture one of the Unagi's lieutenants, Yuki Ichi. It was there that Kakashi had made a tough decision. He was splitting up Team Ro.

"Taichou! You can't do that, Team Ro functions as one unit!" Was Yugao's protest.

"I agree, it isn't a good move." Yamato added.

Itachi said nothing, but looked at Kakashi, sudden understanding dawning on his young face.

"As captain, I am making the call. I need you to respect that. Yamato-kun and Yugao-chan will return to Konaha, Yuki Ichi here in tow. Itachi-kun and I will go forward and continue to look for Matsumi-chan. That decision is final. I expect you two to deliver at least part of what was promised and to give a full report. Explain to the Hokage that we were sold out. There was a rat somewhere down the line. Inform Lord Third that we will return with Matsumi…dead or alive." He clenched his fists hard at his last words.

Reluctantly, Yamato and Yugao followed his instructions, each wishing them luck and to return safely. Finally, only Kakashi and Itachi were left alone.

"Taichou…I believe I know the answer to this, but please humor me. Why did you ask me to stay behind?"

Kakashi signed deeply, Itachi still amazed him on occasion with powers of perception, even one year after working side-by-side. It was in that moment that Kakashi knew that if they returned to Konaha in one piece, he would recommend Itachi to head his own squad.

"For one simple reason, Itachi-kun. You and I both have it: the Sharingan."