Juniper

by Agent Spielplatz

A conspiracy within Konoha leads to a near fatal encounter for Naruto on the night of the Genin Exams. As he copes, his team struggles to work together and live up to the Hokage’s expectations.

10. Beating

Agent's Spiel: I'm so tempted to start using the exclamation "Ninja Jesus". If you're ever bored look up 'supah nario bros.' I actually credit it with amusing me enough to actually start working on my fanfiction again.

Just a warning, this chapter is fairly unedited. If you see any big mistakes, or even a lot of little ones, just tell me and I'll probably edit this weekend.

Also, here is some of the action I promised you guys (it's not much but it's more than usual). I'm gonna tell you the same thing I tell the readers ofAfter the Dream, fight scenes are not my strong point. I try but they always fall short because I don't really have a lot of the terminology to properly describe the scenes the way I want them to play out.

Naruto will be using alternate means of communication:

Single quotation marks '' will be used to represent sign language; I'll probably use more than one form of sign language but I'll denote that in the sentence, it will still be within single quotes ''. For inexperienced signers their statements may appear stunted not to reflect their actual signs but to show inexperience.

Back slashes / will denote Naruto writing what he is saying.

Italics mean you are reading the characters thoughts, congratulations on becoming telepathic. Of course, it generally only applies to Sakura and Naruto so I'm not necessarily sure telepathy is good thing around those two.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Extra spoilers in this chapter if you haven't caught up with Naruto Shippuden (or however that's spelled). Nothing big just an allusion towards another jinchuriki.

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Beating

XX Day 1 of Mission XX

"I'm very impressed," the Hokage stated looking at the three Genin in front of them. Only two months after their training had 'officially' begun and their improvement was more than obvious to the casual observer – if the casual observer happened to be of Kage level and had any knowledge of what the three had been like before their graduation to Genin level. The three looked very pleased with his compliment and the Hokage suddenly felt Kakashi's curious gaze. "I was wondering if the three of you would like something a bit more challenging to test your skills."

"Really?" Sakura asked, her tone betraying her eagerness as she stepped in front of her teammates.

The Sandaime chuckled and nodded pulling out a scroll and handing it to her. "I received this mission request this morning and I believe you will be capable of handling it."

Sakura scanned over its contents before handing it to Naruto and Sasuke and turning back to the Hokage with a smile. "It sounds straightforward," she told him.

"Very much so. We've known about this for a few months now, but it wasn't until recently that the attacks became anything worth our involvement," he paused to chuckle as Naruto and Sasuke finished looking over the short mission description and sent the scroll flying towards Kakashi. Much to the Genin's disappointment, he deftly caught it and scanned over it as well.

"Just five?" he asked picking up on the details much quicker than his students had.

"Yes, they rarely hit more than one stall but recently they've been doing so more frequently and the cost of the damages has risen too high for the merchants to ignore. Do you three believe you're up to it?" the Hokage asked, directing his question at the Genin.

Sakura was about to raise an objection but Naruto and Sasuke beat her to the Hokage's attention with their quick acceptance. She glanced back at Kakashi but he obviously agreed with the Sandaime that it was their choice. "What about you?" the Hokage asked as Sakura remained nervously silent.

Sakura opened her mouth slightly before Naruto and Sasuke's expressions caught her attention. Naruto looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect of a mission, especially one that would take them outside of the village. She knew he was feeling cooped up since he wasn't supposed to wander around the village much which left him confined to training and Iruka's house. Sasuke, on the other hand, was sending her a warning look that just screamed I know you're about to ruin this for us so keep your mouth shut. His people skills had been improving and he had warmed up to his teammates slightly but she had noticed him growing more impatient with their activities and with her and Naruto when they didn't push for more excitement. "We can handle it," she finally told the Hokage.

"Sasuke, Naruto still can't get our attention without whapping us over the head. What if it isn't as easy as the Hokage thinks or something goes wrong and he can't communicate with us?" Sakura insisted when she met up with her teammates on the bridge later that morning.

"We're good enough for this. The Hokage wouldn't have even offered this mission to us if he didn't think we would be able to handle it," Sasuke retorted.

'Bastard is right. The Old Man isn't senile enough to send us on a bad mission,' Naruto chimed in.

"Don't call the Hokage senile," Sakura corrected him on impulse.

'But he is old,' Naruto told her.

Sakura grinned weakly and shook her head knowing this wasn't a fight they would let her win. "Sometimes I hate working with you two," she muttered.

'That two better have included Bastard,' Naruto told her looking put out.

"Of course it included the Bas…Sasuke," Sakura told him, glancing at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye long enough to know that he was now glaring at her intensely for the slip up.

"Morning!"

All three turned around as their tardy sensei cheerily interrupted their conversation. "Now, now, no need to look at me like that. I just wanted to make sure none of you had any questions about the mission before we leave. The town is northeast of here, but it should only take us about a day to reach there and we'll start lookout tomorrow. It might take a few days for these bandits to strike and then we'll get them and come back," he told them.

"Will we have lodgings or do we need camping equipment?" Sakura asked.

"They'll put us up in the town. We might be pulling some all-nighters, but no real camping," Kakashi told her. "Still, pack lightly for this. Just a change of clothes and some extra supplies. The weather should be pretty much the same as here so don't worry about that," he added.

"Any other questions?" he asked when the three remained unresponsive. Sakura looked up and shook her head negatively so Kakashi nodded and dismissed them to pack quickly so that they could leave within half an hour.

An hour later, he finally met them at the main gate of the village. "Got everything?" Kakashi asked cheerfully.

"You aren't going to arrive on time anymore, are you?" Sakura sighed.

Kakashi's smile slid off his face and Naruto had the suspicion that he was very disappointed with their reaction. 'Are we leaving?'

Kakashi smiled again at Naruto and nodded, turning to lead the way out of the village. As they stepped through the gates, he reconsidered and turned to study his team for a moment. "Sasuke take point, Naruto and Sakura after him, I'll watch the back," he ordered them into formation.

The three Genin glanced at each other momentarily before Sasuke smirked and stepped out in front of his sensei and his teammates fell in behind him. Once he was sure they were focused on the road, Kakashi sighed and reached into his flak vest and pulled out his book to settle in for a long walk.

An hour onto the road and Kakashi had already reread Icha Icha Paradise twice. Having memorized it months before even he had a limit as to how long the book could hold his attention and he unfortunately found that he was already in need of a new pastime. His sensei had always used downtime during missions like this for lessons on history, but his students had already learned history in the Academy – one of the few benefits of attending a ninja school during peacetime.

Although, I bet Naruto and Sasuke don't remember anything that they learned. Of course neither do I…but Sakura enjoys talking…now how to get the conversation started? Looking up he noticed that Naruto, in a fine imitation of his teacher Kakashi noted proudly, was multitasking by reading as he walked. It was one of the many odd comics that the Sandaime continued to slip to the Genin every chance he got and which Iruka seemed to hate because Naruto was more interested in reading them than he was in studying whatever strategy or history book Iruka put in Naruto's hands for the week.

"Mah Naruto, what is that?" Kakashi finally asked, ignoring his earlier plan of convincing Sakura to talk.

Naruto looked slightly startled as he turned to look nervously at Kakashi. 'A present from the Old Man,' Naruto signed.

"Why does the Hokage keep giving you presents?" Kakashi asked wryly trying to get more of an explanation from him.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment as he turned around to walk backwards so that he could converse with Kakashi more freely. After a moment, he shrugged in confusion. 'He gives them to his grandson too,' was all Naruto could tell him.

"What's it about? Ninja?" Sakura asked joining the conversation.

Naruto shook his head and looked thoughtful for a moment. 'They're fighters. I think one of them might be an alien. I'm confused though because he got them out of order so I missed the two books before this,' Naruto shrugged watching as Kakashi got an odd gleam in his eye. Naruto returned the gleam a moment later when he signed, 'What's yours about?'

Kakashi's eye curved in a smile but he simply shook his head. "Sakura is still angry at me. If I answer that, even as a joke, then she'll tell Iruka. And, if his reaction to Anko two months ago was any indicator, he'll kill me," he stated.

Naruto shrugged and quipped back, 'Orange was just joking. Sensei thought it was funny. I heard him laughing that night after you left.'

Kakashi's eye curved again and he glanced up to check that Sasuke was paying attention to them as well. "For some reason the idea of me giving the three of you the talk was very amusing to him. I haven't been able to figure out why," he shrugged. "Speaking of which, do I still need to go over that with you? Seeing as this is our first mission outside of the village and …well opportunities and all."

Naruto's eyes widened and he blushed at Kakashi's hints. "Kakashi-sensei, Anko told me to tell you that if you put ideas into Naruto and Sasuke's head I was supposed to report back to her," Sakura interrupted, still not entirely certain why Anko had given her the order in the first place.

Kakashi shrugged in response and went back to examining his students as they continued on the road. Finally, fed up with the scenery he spoke up again. "Mah, what do you say we speed this up a bit. If we get into town earlier than expected, I'll treat you three to dinner," he offered. The three looked back at him eagerly and nodded. "Follow me then," he said, jumping into the trees at the side of the road they had been traveling on. He heard Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto enter the canopy a moment later and he nodded back at them before heading off at an accelerated pace.

They reached their destination in no time it seemed. The sun was just setting when Kakashi led them into town and towards the house of their main client: Biru-san. His wife answered the door and her eyes widened happily when she saw the team's forehead protectors. "Please come in. My husband will be back soon; there was another robbery this morning," she informed them unhappily, leading them into her home's modest sitting room.

The three genin gratefully took the seats she offered them, lowering themselves to the cushions while Kakashi remained standing behind them. "I hope we aren't disturbing you," Kakashi told the woman, but she merely shook her head and seated herself across from the genin.

"Not at all. As I said, we were expecting you, and my husband would normally be home except for the robbery this morning. It was only one of the bandits this time and the losses were far less than normal, which is odd since their activity has been escalating," she informed them, as the front door was heard opening down the hall.

All four shinobi turned as a middle-aged man walked into the room. He stared at them for a moment before sighing relief. "I see you've met my wife, Merinda. I'm Karamete Biru. I can only thank you for arriving as swiftly as you did," he told them.

"The Hokage was concerned with the case," Kakashi told him. "He was wondering if there was a problem that caused you to wait so long to hire us."

"No, there weren't any problems. We simply did not see it as financially sound. The damages caused by the thefts simply weren't adding up enough to call in shinobi. Recently that has changed, that is why I sent in the mission request a week ago," Biru explained.

"Our information says you know the identity of the five main bandits, is this true?"

"Yes, all five have been identified. They are low-level crooks, all originally from towns within half a day of here. We don't know why they started working together, or what made them decide to target us as often as they did. We also don't know why their activity escalated. It used to just be small things, a little food here, a few small trinkets elsewhere. Now though, they've emptied out two stores. They've taken to attacking merchant caravans and traveling merchants. No one has been killed, but the level of violence has gone up," Biru claimed.

"How frequent are the attacks?" Sakura asked curiously.

"At least once a week for the past two months. Although, the attack this morning was the third this week," Merinda told her.

"I have all the reports on the thefts for at least the past four months if you think that would be helpful. You'll have the full cooperation of everyone in the town. We're eager to get this solved before someone really gets hurt," Biru added.

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "Would you mind taking me to the shop that was hit today? My students can start going over the old reports," he finally asked Biru.

"Not at all. Merinda, would you help them? The reports are in my office. If the three of you have any questions she should be able to answer them or direct you to someone who can; as I said we are all eager to help," Biru said, turning and heading back out with Kakashi following him.

"Just try to get a feel for what's been happening," Kakashi called back to them disappearing down the hall.

"The kitchen is right through there," Merinda said, standing up and smiling at the three teenagers. "You'll probably be more comfortable with a table to work at and I can start dinner while you're reading. Would you like to take your bags to your rooms first?" she asked.

"I'll take them," Sakura said standing as well and picking up her bag before holding her hands out to her teammates. Once she had them, she followed Merinda back into the hallway while Naruto and Sasuke went into the kitchen.

They had just seated themselves at the table when Naruto snapped his fingers in front of Sasuke's face to catch his attention. Sasuke turned to the other boy coldly but his angry retort died on his lips when he saw the confusion on Naruto's face. 'He said they sent for us a week ago. The Old Man just got the report this morning,' he signed.

Sasuke frowned in surprise as he processed what Naruto had already figured out. "Tell Kakashi when he gets back. He might have already caught onto that but we'll have to wait. Maybe the Sandaime just hadn't processed it until this morning," Sasuke reasoned, falling back into brooding silence.

He was interrupted a moment later when a small pile of folders was dropped in front of him. "Let's get started," Sakura told them weaseling her way in between the two and pulling open the first folder.

When Merinda entered several minutes later, she found the three hunched over a file whispering quietly. Well two of them were whispering, she noticed curiously. Ignoring her curiosity, she left the three to their business while she set about cooking.

Dinner was prepared and the four were sitting patiently still waiting for Biru and Kakashi to return an hour later. The burglary reports had been set aside after forty minutes. They had mainly consisted of lists of petty goods that had been stolen, although the more recent ones had been much longer lists, and the property damage claims had been added. "I didn't catch any of your names," Merinda finally claimed, looking at the three curiously again.

They had had enough dealings with shinobi before to know what to expect when they sent in the mission request. The sudden escalation and number of perpetrators would easily have ranked the mission at C, possibly higher if the Hokage did not like something in the report. None of the other shinobi that had performed C class missions had ever been as young as the three sitting in front of her. She had seen genin their age performing far more menial tasks, normally confined to their home village, but never this far away.

"I'm Sakura, these two are Naruto and Sasuke," the pink haired girl finally said, pointing first to the blond haired boy on her right and then to the dark haired one on her left.

"And the other man, he's your sensei? Would that make you three genin?" Merinda continued.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei. We've been genin about…two and half months I guess," Sakura told her. Merinda's eyes widened slightly but the three had behaved professionally the entire time they had been in her line of sight so she decided not to express too much of her shock…at least not in front of them. "Your husband owns one of the local groceries, right?" Sakura asked, remembering the information she had read in the reports.

"Yes, it's been in his family for years. We've actually only been targeted twice by these men so we've been lucky," Merinda claimed, eyeing the girl curiously. Pink hair was a bit odd, but she'd seen odder on shinobi – she had never really understood what it was about their genetics that created such unique appearances, but you could almost always distinguish shinobi from civilians, especially if they weren't first generation. Sakura's hair was cut a bit unevenly and pulled back into a pair of pigtails making it look shorter than it probably was. Studying the two boys, she realized that they had unique genetics as well: short, spiky, bright yellow hair and slightly longer, spiky, dark bluish-black hair. Not two shades you saw on civilians. Unlike their sensei who wore his forehead protector skewed over his eye, all three Genin wore theirs around their necks allowing their hair to look even more haphazard; she had no clue how the two boys could see with their bangs falling over their eyes.

Merinda also realized for the first time that most of the shinobi she had met had been in uniform, like the jounin Kakashi. These three were not in uniform, not that most genin were; however, she realized, their clothing gave them a slightly more mature look, which was why she hadn't realized that they would be such new Genin. The girl interested her the most of course. When she had been a child, probably the same age as the rose haired girl in front of her, the legendary Sannin and their legendary kunoichi had been on the rise during the Great Wars. Merinda herself was only ten or so years younger than the legendary healer and she could even remember seeing the woman once when she had passed through the village with her teammates on the way back from the border.

The pink haired girl reminded her a lot of what she had seen: the same confidence, the same beauty, the same violence when her teammates got out of hand. Merinda had no doubt that Sakura caught attention when she was in public; even though the girl was only twelve or thirteen, she was dressed like someone several years older. She, like her male teammates, had fishnet sticking out wherever her more substantial clothing didn't cover. Over what appeared to be a red fishnet bodysuit, the girl wore a short, dark grey skirt. Her top was a very deep red, sleeveless, mock-collared shirt with a small white circle on the front bottom corner where the shirt dropped over the skirt's waistline. The fishnet theme was continued on her arms where fishnet gloves peaked out from under armored plates on her forearms, and again on her legs where fishnet stockings peaked out above shin guards leaving just a small gap in the fishnet for bare knees. The motherly part of Merinda's mind really hoped Sakura had some sort of jacket because they were due for colder weather later in the week.

The two boys looked more prepared to handle colder weather; of course, she wasn't quite sure how the smaller one was actually managing to not sweat himself to death in the coat he was wearing. "Aren't you warm in that?" she asked the darker haired boy.

He looked up in confusion and shrugged. "Just take the coat off Sasuke," Sakura sighed. I have never seen someone so embarrassed about a sunburn before. Of course, with all the training we've been doing outside you'd think he'd be used to the sun by now, she thought as Sasuke sulkily pulled the coat off and set it on the ground behind him. Merinda immediately noticed the reddened skin on his arms and neck and smiled apologetically when she realized he had been trying to cover it up. She also realized that he wasn't as small as he had looked in the oversized coat; comparing him to Naruto she would guess that Naruto was actually the smaller of the two. When the actually smaller boy started silently laughing at his teammate's state, Sakura reached over and whapped him on his head; Merinda was beginning to understand why she had made sure to be sitting in between the two – it put them both in hitting distance.

Once Sasuke took his coat off, Merinda had a much clearer view of his clothing, and that fact that Sasuke was wearing as much fishnet as Naruto, if not more. He was wearing dark, navy blue shorts with a dark red fishnet shirt and dark blue armor over his chest. He wasn't wearing gloves or any armor on his arms, but Merinda suspected that that had more to do with not irritating the sunburned skin. His lower legs were wrapped in bandages half way up his calves where they met thin kneepads.

Naruto was the only one of the three to not be wearing red. He had on a dark blue fishnet shirt that reached his wrists and had a high neck. Over that, he wore a dark grey hooded shirt with sleeves reaching his elbows and an orange spiral on the sleeve of his left shoulder. He was wearing dark blue capris with a cinched hem that went over more fishnet down to his ankles. Unlike both his teammates, he didn't appear to be wearing any form of armor or extra padding, although his shirt could have been hiding armor similar to Sasuke's.

Merinda was interrupted from her study when she heard her husband return through the front door. He appeared in the kitchen a moment later with Kakashi behind him. "Sorry about the delay Sutibu-san was at the store so we spoke with him," Biru explained as they took a seat at the table.

Dinner passed in relative silence and soon after Kakashi excused himself and his team claiming that they needed a good night's sleep before starting early the next morning. Once the four were in one of the rooms Merinda had given the three Genin, Kakashi sat down and looked at his students curiously. "Did you learn anything from the files?"

"No, they really just corroborated what we had been told," Sakura answered.

Naruto tugged on Sasuke's shirt meaningfully and he spoke up. "We thought the Hokage said that he just got the mission request this morning, but Biru-san said he sent it a week ago. Did something happen on the way to Konoha or did the Hokage simply not see to it immediately?"

"I noticed that as well and I honestly don't know. The Hokage didn't mention a problem or any delay in bringing the request to his attention. The best person to ask while we're still here would be the messenger; however, Biru said he hasn't returned yet," Kakashi explained.

"Was he supposed to return with us?"

Kakashi shook his head at Sakura's question. "The Hokage didn't even mention the messenger to me," he answered. He was cut off from continuing when Naruto launched himself at Kakashi bowling the older man over and scowling at him. "Sorry," Kakashi apologized when he realized that he had been ignoring him.

'What did you learn?' Naruto signed finally happy to have Kakashi's attention.

"Not much. This is mainly a travelers' town so there are more inns and shops then residential areas. Most of the merchants actually live in the surrounding towns; that's how they recognized the thieves so quickly. Since the attacks escalated so much this week, I think the best plan will be to patrol the main street during the day – all of the attacks have actually taken place during day light, normally in the early morning," Kakashi explained. "Get some sleep and I'll wake you up early in the morning to start patrols," he added ushering them back to their own rooms.

XX Day 4 of Mission XX

The visitors and residents of the town had quickly gotten used to seeing the ninja walking through the streets or bounding across the rooftops. Every few hours they would pop into a shop to speak with the owner about his or her day, occasionally asking about past incidents with the thieves. It seemed as if just having the ninja as visible presence had been enough to ward off attacks in the town and on the two main roads leading in and out of it.

Kakashi hadn't allowed the Genin's training to stop while they were on the mission, which often led him to wake them up at least an hour before dawn. They used their morning runs to encircle the town's perimeter and he'd send them out in pairs to spar throughout the day, allowing them to look at the surrounding forest as well to get their bearings.

However, their clients had expressed some concern that the messenger that Sutibu had sent to Konoha still had not returned and so, instead of remaining in the village patrolling with Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto found themselves patrolling the road that led in the direction of Konoha looking for clues that the messenger may have been attacked. Kakashi had spent the first hour recalling to Naruto exactly what he had seen and heard when he went out with Biru to the scene of the robbery on the first night of their business. After that, he spent the time going back and forth between reading Naruto's signs as he explained why he thought most of the shop owners were crazy for waiting as long as they had because collectively it would have been worth it to send for ninja after the first two months.

Kakashi went on to explain that while that makes sense to ninja it doesn't from the shopkeepers' perspective. That in such a town as this, there exists a heightened amount of illegal activity which nearly everyone turns a blind eye too as long as it doesn't get so bad as to drive visitors away. And while shinobi are not law keepers or connected to Fire Countries court system most civilians forget that and so, they avoid calling in ninja until it is absolutely unavoidable.

'What could they be doing that's illegal? The Client owns a food store,' Naruto signed in confusion.

"It's not necessarily that they are doing something illegal. It might be as simple as allowing customers to come in that are technically criminals but haven't threatened anyone in the town. Or it could mean they let people pass through and stay in the hotels without proper identification. Technically ninja don't interfere unless either a crime is being committed blatantly or another ninja is involved. These men we're dealing with are businessmen. This town is their business and they don't want to bring in someone who might hurt it unless it is really worth it," Kakashi stated.

'So since the town wasn't hurt by the early attacks they didn't do anything. Did they hire us because traveling merchants were attacked?'

"Most likely. That or Biru-san and Sutibu-san got ticked off that they were finally targeted and their businesses are least likely to suffer from our presence," Kakashi shrugged.

'His store was only robbed on the day that we came,' Naruto pointed out.

"Biru or Sutibu?" Kakashi asked but he figured Naruto was talking about the latter when he jabbed at him and nodded at Sutibu's name.

"There weren't any other reports from him?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shook his head.

"What about Biru? He mentioned one that I remember."

'Two. One was old, don't remember. The other was this week, more damage than losses.'

"Interesting. What do you say we head in?" Kakashi asked his eye crinkling up in a smile and making Naruto rather nervous. Naruto shrugged and followed his sensei back to the village. Kakashi quickly found his other two students on their patrols and told them that they were done for the day as he led them back to Biru's house.

"Why are we quitting?" Sakura asked as they landed at the door and walked inside.

"We're not. I'll go back out and keep an eye on things but I want you to do something for me here. Start by asking Merinda for the theft records she had and then meet us back in Naruto and Sasuke's room," Kakashi told her as he led her teammates down the hall.

Sakura ran into Kakashi as he already on his way out of the house and she teetering down the hallway with a large stack of files. "Sasuke will fill you in on what you'll be doing for the day. I'll speak with you in the evening," Kakashi promised.

Once she was in the room with her teammates and the door was securely closed behind her, Sakura dropped the files on the ground and looked at Sasuke expectantly. "Kakashi thinks one of our clients is hiring the thieves," Sasuke stated.

"What?" Sakura asked sitting down next to Naruto and looking between the two.

'Client hired runner who got to Konoha late. Runner not back. Also only one robbery at his store, minimal losses,' Naruto answered.

"Which client? Wait Sutibu-san was the one with only one robbery, right?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded. "Kakashi recommended that we not talk out loud. I think he's making us reinforce our sign language while we go over this," Sasuke added quietly.

'What are we looking for?' Sakura signed nodding back to him.

'Loss records. Most hit and highest losses first,' Naruto told her. Glancing through the folders and haphazardly handing them out to his teammates. 'It'll go faster if records for same store go to same person,' he explained when Sakura gave him an odd look.

An hour later the trio had finished their first sweep of the records and found the stores that had been hit most frequently, surprisingly those hit most frequently had not been the ones with the highest losses. They also found one detail that they had missed the first time around. 'Keep that file aside for Pervert…,' Sasuke scowled as he trailed off looking at Naruto. 'You don't have a nickname.'

Naruto grinned pleasantly and shrugged. 'That isn't fair,' Sakura added mirroring Sasuke's scowl.

'Is too Pinky.'

"No it isn't," Sasuke said aloud. 'Pervert should pick it,' he finally decided figuring Kakashi's vocabulary would be wider than theirs would and so he would find something more insulting.

Naruto frowned and sighed, turning away from his teammates to look down at the files. He still didn't think it made sense that no one before Biru or Sutibu had bothered to send for Konoha or at least tried to hire someone who passed through for protection – especially if Kakashi was right and other bandits and such passed through here regularly.

'Clients have fewest losses, but convenient location,' Sakura finally said. 'There was no reason to send for us.'

"What?" Sasuke asked.

'Each was hit after they sent runner to Konoha,' Naruto added. 'Why step in for other stores when they didn't before?'

'Traveling merchants? Do they buy more from them?' Sasuke suggested.

'Not in the records. We'll have Pervert ask,' Sakura suggested. "What else do you need to look for?"

"What did you mean by convenient location?" Sasuke asked before going on.

'Both stores are near each other and close enough to edge of town to be easy to get away from,' Naruto told him.

"Where have the others been located?"

"Don't you pay attention on patrol?" Sakura asked in exasperation.

"I pay attention to our surroundings and look for anything out of the ordinary. Apparently I haven't connected what we read to the places we've been around," Sasuke admitted reluctantly.

'All on main roads. Most not in center,' Naruto signed. He rooted around in the pile of files for a moment before he found the map Merinda had given them on their first night in town. Sakura rooted in her pack before coming out with a marker and began circling the buildings that had been robbed.

'There are more robberies on the North and West,' Sasuke pointed out.

'We spar up there,' Naruto pointed out indicating the forested areas surrounding the town that they had already explored. 'Maybe they're traveling from South to attack since more caravans from South were attacked.'

"And Biru-san and Sutibu-san's stores are both on the East and they have definitely been avoiding that area since first hitting Biru-san four months ago," Sakura added.

'Why protect nearby stores though?' Naruto asked.

"What do you mean?"

'If one is paying the thieves, why are they avoiding the area nearby? There are more competitors nearby,' Naruto pointed out.

"He's right. They only hit stores on the borders of that area, as if they're afraid to go near the street. That doesn't look like they've been hired to go after competitors, since a lot of these stores aren't actually competitors," Sasuke added.

"I shouldn't be hearing this much talking," Kakashi stated, opening the door a crack to peak in at them.

'Sorry,' Sakura signed.

'Naruto needs a nickname,' Sasuke interrupted before Kakashi could chastise them more.

"Indeed he does. Are you telling me this so that I can pick one?" he asked, gaining pleased nods from Sakura and Sasuke.

'Cut it out. We found stuff for you,' Naruto interrupted scowling at all three of them.

"Well tell me what you found while I think of an appropriate name for blondie," Kakashi suggested, stepping into the room and kneeling in front of them.

Sasuke tossed him the report they had set aside earlier. "Is this the first theft?" Kakashi asked noticing the early date on it.

Sakura nodded and signed, 'Client suffered from damage and losses, just like the one last week. But someone interfered so losses were not bad.'

"This only identifies a man name Gorou. Why do you think he's involved?" Kakashi asked.

'He took on bandits once. Maybe he wouldn't go after them, or they just asked him to watch over that area,' Sasuke suggested.

'It explains why they've avoided that area,' Naruto added.

"Does this explain why they contacted us?" Kakashi asked Naruto.

'No. But we thought maybe caravans were needed and since those were hit heavier they would call for us.'

"Do the caravan reports list what was taken?" Kakashi asked.

'No caravan reports. Only dates that they were hit,' Sasuke explained.

"What about the missing messenger?" Kakashi urged.

'If messenger is this…' Naruto paused to point to the name Gorou before continuing, 'maybe he didn't want to deal with ninja. Illegal like you said, but Clients might not know.'

"Good guess. I think that before we take our investigation further we need to chat with our clients. Why don't the three of you do a few rounds around the border of the town and then come back. I'll talk to them while you're gone," Kakashi suggested. "Before you leave if you could stop by Sutibu's house and send him over that'll save me the trip."

His students rolled their eyes at him as they filed out of the room. He waited until he heard the front door shut before he began to pick up the files he wanted to use to pester his clients and was just standing to walk out of the room when Merinda appeared at the door. "Did your students leave? Dinner's just about ready."

"They'll be back later tonight after they make up their rounds from this afternoon. In the meantime, I need to speak with you, your husband and Sutibu-san; they'll be sending him over shortly."

"Is something wrong?" Merinda asked nervously.

"Probably not. But I'd like to talk a bit more about our mission here. We've been here for four days and nothing has happened. We want to make sure that we'll be worth your money," Kakashi claimed.

"I'll get Biru then. He's in his study."

"When you get him, could you ask if he has records of what has been stolen from the caravans?" Kakashi asked heading towards the sitting room. That was where Kakashi was when Merinda answered the door allowing Sutibu in nearly ten minutes later. He happily ignored his clients discomfort as all three sat down opposite him.

"Is there a problem?" Sutibu asked.

"That depends on how honest the three of you decide to be. I've been approached by two of my students with a nearly identical concern. They can't understand why you would finally decide to step forward and contact Konoha when the only time you had been targeted was nearly four months before you sent for us. Both of your recent robberies were after you sent the messenger to Konoha. A messenger who may be missing, or may just be avoiding returning while ninja are still in town."

"I told you on the first day you were here. Losses were mounting and it couldn't be ignored anymore," Biru insisted.

"You aren't the magistrate. You owe nothing to the other shopkeepers. The only suggestion my students had was that the caravans were your suppliers and targeting them had harmed your business, but neither of your businesses look harmed," Kakashi paused to pull out the map that Sakura had been drawing out. "From the looks of things, these bandits have not only avoided your stores, but also the entire area around you. I see two possibilities: one makes you look very guilty, the other makes you look very smart."

"If you're suggesting we hired the bandits that's ridiculous."

"I agree. That's why I think you're very smart. My guess is after the original hit on your store Biru-san, you hired someone to make sure it didn't happen again. You certainly have the wealth that would allow it. I'm going to guess it was either this Gorou – who is mentioned in your report – or someone else who you simply don't want to mention to a ninja. I'm going to repeat a small lecture I gave to one of my students earlier today in hopes that you'll speak a bit more honestly about this.

"Shinobi are not law enforcement anywhere but Konoha. The only times we take such a role is if a ninja from an opposing village is present; it is within the parameters of our mission; or a law is being broken so blatantly that the ninja cannot turn a blind eye towards it – and we are very capable of turning a blind eye. Depending on your cooperation, we can take care of this situation and only this situation. If you've hired someone and you are honest about it, he or she does not need to be mentioned in the mission report. But if I feel that your omission puts my students in danger we'll dig deeper until we can guarantee our safety."

Biru, Merinda, and Sutibu glanced at each other before Merinda sighed. "His name is Nii Gorou. The day we were first robbed was two days after someone tried to rob Sutibu's store. It was still locked and they failed to break in and take anything, which is why there is no report. Our niece and nephew, who are only a few years older than your students, were working the store that day while we were meeting with one of our suppliers. When they were threatened he stepped in and they convinced him to stay at least until we returned."

"When we returned we spoke with Sutibu. There had already been three more robberies and we wanted to make sure that we weren't targeted again so we hired him to watch the street around our stores. He stopped another robbery two stores down and from that point on they avoided our area of city."

"Is this Gorou the messenger you sent?"

"Yes."

"Did he give any indication that he would rather not involve ninja or that he shouldn't be seen by them?"

"No," Biru insisted.

"Did he ever go after the thieves or did he stay near your stores?"

"Stayed near the stores. It may have only been five men but he didn't want to stumble upon them unprepared," Sutibu said.

"Why did you finally send for Konoha? Was he leaving?"

"No. Other shop owners that had been hit repeatedly were threatening to do so. We felt that if we sent for Konoha there was less chance of trouble with the others."

"So you're paying for the mission because someone you hired only protected your street?" Kakashi asked gaining three nods. "Any idea where Gorou might be if he is avoiding us?"

"None. He said he wasn't from Fire Country. But he said nothing about not returning after sending for you and his belongings are still in the apartment above Sutibu's store that he was given," Biru claimed.

"Do you have records on the caravans that were robbed?"

"Not all of them," Biru answered apologetically as he handed a small stack files to Kakashi. "Those are only the most recent few. We think some of the robberies were reported to other towns and some weren't reported at all."

"Have any of the thieves, or even any of the caravans given you any idea why the thefts are coming more frequently?"

"There have been rumors of problems in Wave Country. Some caravans have mentioned that few resources are getting into the country. We're a bit far from the coast, but this is one of the largest trade towns in this area," Sutibu suggested.

"But the bandits you named are from the surrounding area. You think someone is paying them for goods that can be sold in Wave for higher prices?"

"It's the only idea anyone has come up with," Merinda admitted.

"Then here's my last question: Would you rather us spend less time in the town protecting the stores and more time searching for the bandits or do you want to put up with us for a longer period while we wait for them to come to us?"

"If you think your students can handle it, a more aggressive search may make the caravans coming in feel more comfortable."

"We'll talk it out tonight," Kakashi assured them, standing up. "If Gorou comes back or you hear from him please tell me. His input would be useful," he added heading towards the front door.

"Well kiddies, you were right," Kakashi stated half an hour later when he had caught up to his students near the entrance of the southern road.

"Right?"

"Nii Gorou was hired nearly four months ago to deter attacks against the businesses of our clients. Because of general vicinity, most of the stores on that main stretch of road by them were protected as well. According to our clients, they hired us because other merchants were complaining and they were afraid that if they didn't hire us another merchant would and would blame them. I'm actually impressed; it only took you four days to give me enough information to take to them to question them."

"Wait? So you've figured something was wrong the entire time?" Sakura asked.

"Pretty much. But this is your first mission. If you still hadn't voiced concerns within a week or so I probably would have pointed it out to you but you caught on within the first day or two."

Sasuke's scowl darkened but he didn't comment on Kakashi's cheerfulness. "Where is this Gorou?" he finally asked.

"Well that's one of the main questions. He didn't tell them he wouldn't be back and he left most of his things. This could mean that he doesn't want to run into ninja so he's waiting to come back until we're gone or he just abandoned it, but it could also mean that he ran into trouble so we'll keep an eye out.

"After your rounds and training tomorrow morning I want the three of you to look over these. They're the only files Biru claimed he had on the caravans that have been attacked. It isn't much of a sample but if you find any similarity or anything suspicious in them, it might give us something to go on. Now that we have a fuller picture, we're going to do less sitting around but I don't want to waste our time in the wrong place so talk it over and come up with a plan. I'll approve it tomorrow afternoon."

XX Day 12 of Mission XX

Team Kakashi's plan had ended up being quite simple. As they had already discovered that more of the caravans on the southern road had been attacked, it made sense to have a discreet presence in that area more consistently. All they had learned from the caravan reports was that the caravans attacked were typically leaving the town and not entering, although that was only out of a sample of ten attack reports. Like in the village, there was no consistency with the items stolen – not in quantity or quality – so Kakashi agreed that it was safe to guess that the thieves did not know what the caravans were carrying ahead of time which ruled out the likelihood of any type of inside information.

During the duration of the mission, only one caravan had come into the town from the southern road and two had left along it. Like in the town, simply the presence of ninja seemed to be enough to keep the bandits at bay and Kakashi was beginning to wonder when his students would decide to just start looking for the bandits and abandon protecting the merchants at all costs. Until that point, he was going to be putting up with a very moody Uchiha who had been struggling to deal with his own teammates on rounds which had landed him as Kakashi's permanent partner until Sasuke decided to finally say what was bothering him.Although it isn't like it's hard to figure out, Kakashi snickered drawing an annoyed look from surly student.

"When did Naruto get smart?" Sasuke finally growled out.

Must not laugh at jealousy. Must not laugh at jealousy. Kakashi repeated over and over in his head as he turned to look at Sasuke. Admittedly he had acted the same way whenever Obito or Rin had upstaged him; teaching his own students had finally given him an understanding of why his own sensei was so cheerful all the time. "It isn't as simple as that," Kakashi finally countered trying to appear serious.

"They both figured out that something was odd before I did. Naruto even caught the fact that something was strange with the messenger on our first day here."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Right now the difference between you and your teammates isn't intelligence, it's motivation. Sakura is naturally curious and logical. When things don't add up, and she isn't distracted by black haired boys, she immediately questions it," Kakashi stated losing his battle with his grin as Sasuke snarled at the quip. "As for Naruto, ever since his attack he has had one thing repeatedly drilled into his head. Never take someone for face value. They will always have a motive and that motive is rarely selfless."

"He doesn't question Iruka."

Kakashi snorted drawing a confused look from his student. "Iruka was the first person he questioned. It took Iruka a week to explain why he was letting Naruto stay with him. The only reason he accepts Anko and me is because he noticed that we seem to derive never ending amusement from watching the three of you and we're twisted enough for that to be our motive."

"That's why he was so convinced that our clients shouldn't have sent for us?"

"Exactly. To be honest I don't know why or how he picked up on the messenger bit. I suppose that's just one of those things about Naruto that we will never figure out," Kakashi admitted. "As for why you didn't pick up on it the answer is simple: you focused on doing your job. You were set on doing something and so you did it without questioning the mission. That isn't a bad thing. The only reason I let them pursue their curiosity was that I knew it wouldn't interfere in the mission. There are many times when they will have to ignore it and focus solely on carrying out the mission exactly as it was laid out for them. That being said if you never question situations like this it will get you into trouble."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when Kakashi suddenly reached forward and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Come out or I'll come get you," he stated loud enough for whoever had been watching them to hear.

"Figures Konoha would send someone like you," a man with light blond hair mumbled as he appeared in front of Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Sasuke go find your teammates and stick with them for the rest of patrol," Kakashi ordered.

"But if they're here-"

"They aren't. Nii Gorou I presume?" Kakashi asked looking over at the man curiously. "See not a bandit," Kakashi smirked when the man above him nodded. "So you go stick with your teammates while I deal with the missing nin."

Gorou's eyes narrowed at Kakashi's announcement and he tensed. Sasuke hesitated as Kakashi continued to nudge him out of his way and finally took off in the direction of the road that Naruto and Sakura were patrolling. "Who'd have thought Sharingan Kakashi would take students," Gorou muttered waiting for Kakashi to make a move.

"As far as I'm aware you haven't committed any crimes in Fire Country yet. You haven't threatened any ninja here and you haven't drawn any attention to yourself. However, you are from Kumogakure and, unfortunately for you, Konoha just discovered a spy from Kumo within our ranks so that makes me a bit less likely to just let you be. Fortunately for you, I promised our clients that I wouldn't bother you unless forced to, so what happens next is up to you."

"What the heck does that mean?" Gorou asked in disbelief.

"Considering how much it would be worth to turn you in for your bounty, you better have something other than the fact that you hated the Raikage as your excuse for leaving your village. Give me something the Hokage can use against your home village, and I'll keep my word to our clients. Give me something I can use personally and I'll consider leaving you out of my mission report all together."

"You've got to be joking," Gorou stated in disbelief.

"The word of an S Class missing nin, who miraculously never made it above Chuunin level, has to be worth something. I'm giving you an opportunity. The Hokage wants to hurt Kumogakure. And considering rumors about you, I'm going to guess that you do too."

"I think I'd rather take my chances against you," Gorou finally sneered.

Kakashi stared at him in disbelief for a moment until chakra began leaking from the blond man. "Well that explains the S Class ranking," Kakashi murmured in disgust a moment before Gorou attacked.

'Are you as bored as I am?' Naruto signed, yawning as he and Sakura stealthily trailed a particularly large caravan out of the town.

"Of course I am," Sakura muttered before turning back around to focus on the caravan. It didn't look like they had anything particularly interesting among their wares but the thieves had grabbed some fairly odd items in the past and they hoped that the sheer size of the caravan would make it seem like an easy target. That was also why Naruto had left two cleverly crafted clones in the city when they had set out that morning. Hopefully the caravan would appear unguarded.

A shout near the back of the caravan made her grin a moment later. "You check that out. I'll do a once over of the rest of the caravan and circle back to meet you if I don't find anything else," she told him taking off towards the front of the caravan. Naruto continued in the same direction veering out of the trees and onto the road.

Sakura heard increased shouts from the rear of the caravan and she sped up as the front of it came in sight. She landed in front of the head of the caravan and gave it once over when Sasuke suddenly landed next to her. "What's going on?"

"They attacked near the back of the caravan. I was just making sure they weren't attacking in multiple spots. We need to get back to Naruto; is Kakashi-sensei here?" Sakura asked.

"The messenger showed up; he said he'd handle it. Is Naruto at the back?"

Sakura nodded and turned to head that way when the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she began to quiver. "What is that?" she asked breathlessly.

Sasuke straightened and sneered as he looked back in the direction he had come from. "It's chakra, but we need to get to Naruto. Kakashi-sensei will handle it," he claimed taking off.

Sakura shook her head and took a moment to warn the head of the caravan to keep his people together before taking off after Sasuke. That isn't human chakra, she swallowed nervously as she hoped for the first time that her sensei wasn't about to meet a premature death.

The sight that met her at the back of the caravan actually made her pause in surprise. She could spot at least ten different Narutos trying to fend off the attackers at the same time as at least five more were trying – unsuccessfully – to corral the end of the caravan and the living wares that had been knocked off it. One of the defenders, whom she assumed was the real Naruto, looked vaguely ill and kept glancing in the direction of the ominous chakra source. Sasuke had stepped in against two of the attackers but had completely ignored the caravan itself. "Leave your wares and move!" Sakura shouted when one of the merchants bumped into her. "Just move towards the front of the caravan; you can deal with your wares later!" she added raising her voice and hoping it would carry to the others around them.

The merchants finally began to clear out of the way and the multiple Naruto clones that had been focused on them looked to Sakura gratefully before popping out of existence. The real Naruto glanced at her for a moment and nodded towards the group of clones struggling with three of the bandits before turning back to the two he was focusing on.

Sakura hesitated momentarily before moving to aid the clones. It was just as she moved to avoid the punch one of the bandits through at her that she remembered one small gap in their planning: Kakashi had never told them what to do with the bandits once they had found them. Capture? Kill? She had no idea although she was fairly certain it wouldn't be the second. She decided she was thinking about it too hard when she just barely managed to block a punch from one of the men in front of her.

Although he was pleased that none of their opponents seemed armed their sheer size was more problematic than Sasuke had anticipated. Most adult shinobi were not particularly large. There were exceptions – like the Akimichi clan and supposedly the legendary Sennin Jiraiya – but most were around the same size as Kakashi. Their size allowed them good speed and flexibility and what it cost them in muscle mass was often made up for by sheer training and even chakra reinforcement. Because of this, the men in front of him would have been no trouble for an adult ninja.

Sasuke wasn't an adult teammate, and his teammates were even smaller than he was. The two men in front of him were at least ten centimeters taller than his sensei and he knew they both probably weighed twice as much as the older pervert. Sasuke's speed kept him from being hit by either of them but none of his hits had any effect. He knew he couldn't risk throwing a shuriken with all the dogs and rabbits running around underfoot – he had a feeling that the caravan would not be forgiving if any losses were incurred – and that also ruled out his more destructive fire jutsu. Pulling out two kunai, Sasuke skidded past one of his opponents and under the other's legs, jamming one of the kunai in the back of the knee and slicing at the Achilles tendon with the other. The man shouted and teetered unsteadily, swinging down at Sasuke and forcing the Genin to block with both arms as he threw his entire weight behind the punch. That stupid sensei better get here fast, Sasuke growled to himself, hoping for the first time that his teammates weren't dead.

Naruto cursed himself for a second time as his distraction allowed the man in front of him to land a punch square in the center of his chest. He skidded back and glanced in the direction of the odd chakra that had appeared just minutes before. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew the Kyuubi didn't like it and apparently the fox wasn't very worried about Naruto getting hurt in his current situation as it kept making its displeasure known.

He swallowed nervously and stood back knowing that he had to finish his fight soon so that he could help both of his teammates in their outnumbered fights. The clones were holding up but they weren't good for much more than a distraction for Sakura as getting close enough to land any type of injury on the attackers would make it far too easy for them to be hit and dispersed.

Squaring his shoulders, Naruto straightened and pulled out a kunai before lunging at the man. He felt more than heard his clone pop and his eyes widened at the sudden assault of its last memories. Naruto turned away from his opponent and opened his mouth to shout at Sakura before snapping his mouth shut and taking off. Two more of his clones suddenly popped and it seemed to him as if their opponents had finally figured out the trick behind them. He skidded into a Sakura's back, forcing her forward a bit more than he intended and then they were both on the ground with one of the men on top of them.

Naruto felt something warm and sticky on his hand and he glanced down realizing that he had still had a kunai in his hand. The man above him opened his eyes in a glare as Naruto stared at him and tried to brace himself with one arm on the ground behind him so that he didn't have as much weight on Sakura. The man tightened his grip on the knife he had been aiming at the pink haired girl and drove it into Naruto's unguarded left side.

Naruto exhaled painfully and his eyes widened when the Kyuubi suddenly became more restless. He wrenched the knife out of his side and threw out of the way before placing his free hand on the bandit and pushing. The man stood up on his own, removing the kunai from his rib cage and tossing Naruto off to the side.

Sakura heard a woman in the caravan scream as she rolled to the side to avoid being grabbed by one of the men she had been fighting. Naruto's clones had disappeared and it was suddenly down to her and Sasuke against six men. Six men who apparently weren't complete idiots and kind of knew how to fight ninja, or at least against Genin.

Sakura scrambled to her feet and glanced to see where Sakura was, her eyes skimming over Naruto's still form and then taking in the blood already pooling underneath him. Sasuke glanced back at her freezing as he took in Naruto's appearance. "Get Kakashi's attention," Sakura shouted her hands moving into seals without thinking.

"Ikko Akechi no Jutsu," she muttered moving away from the men who had attacked her. Two of them froze proving that at least they had been caught in the jutsu but her legs wobbled underneath her from the sudden loss of chakra.

As Sasuke finally moved into action sending a Katon jutsu into the sky to catch their teacher's attention, Sakura pushed herself forward knowing that if she couldn't render the two men unconscious she would probably lose control of the genjutsu and then she would be defenseless and Sasuke would still be up against six men. She pulled out several shuriken as her legs gave out underneath her just meters from the two men and she threw one handful and then a second, but was disappointed when both men were pulled away. Forcing her self to scramble back still attempting to maintain her jutsu she flinched when one of the men picked up several of the discarded shuriken and threw them at her with surprising skill for a civilian.

She needn't have bothered with scurrying backwards as the shuriken were suddenly swatted aside by an arm sheathed in red chakra. Sakura stilled at the overwhelming pressure it created barely a meter from her. The man in front of them panicked and launched his knife at the boy in front of him; the knife stopped as it came in contact with the chakra and was repelled back towards the man before falling harmlessly to the ground several feet in front of him. Naruto turned around to face Sakura and she was shocked by the odd look in his eye. "Move," Naruto snarled before turning back to face his opponent. The man continued to watch the boy soundlessly when Naruto suddenly disappeared from in between Sakura and her opponent.

The men that Sasuke had been fighting each moved towards him but Naruto appeared above them bashing their heads into each other and knocking them out. Sasuke's eyes dilated trying to follow Naruto's movements as he darted away again in a flurry of red.

The next to go down was the scrawnier man that Naruto had been fighting initially. He moved back as Naruto landed in front of him but the blond jumped at him again and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head sending the man skidding into a nearby tree.

The two that had been caught in Sakura's genjutsu were almost completely ignored as they continued to sit off the side still in a daze. Rather sit and watch Naruto go up against the man who had stabbed him earlier, Sasuke reached into his equipment pouch and pulled out a length of wire as he approached them. Pausing only to pull the two men back to back, he looped the wire first around their wrists and finished by tying several lengths of it around the two men. He figured that their lack struggling meant they were too drained by the genjutsu.

Naruto was still in the middle of his fight with his assailant. The man was struggling to avoid the kunai that had made it into his teammate's hand and Sasuke noted curiously that Naruto seemed more intent on actually injuring the man. Sakura screamed suddenly and he noticed the man dodge a set of shuriken, driving him straight into the range of Naruto's kunai. A hit that was only aimed to disable the man's arm sliced through his neck and, if the blood was anything to go by, the jugular had been hit.

Naruto moved to follow through with a second hit when his sensei suddenly appeared behind him snatching Naruto around the waist and spinning him to look him straight in the eye. After a moment, the look of ferocity faded off the blond's face and gave way to wide-eyed shock. "Just calm down," Kakashi whispered, placing Naruto back on his feet and turning to look at his other students.

Sakura was watching them warily and making her way back onto her feet. Sasuke appeared completely unconcerned with the sudden change in his teammate's behavior and he nodded towards the merchants that were beginning to come out of their shock. Naruto coughed strenuously and brought Kakashi's attention back to him, or more importantly to the blood still on his hoodie. Kakashi bent over a raised Naruto's shirt a few inches, making sure to wipe more of the blood off his skin, and nodded in satisfaction when the only remainder of his injury was a small pink scar. "You'll be fine, just stay with me for a minute," Kakashi told him.

Naruto nodded but pointed down to the injured man still lying on the ground. Kakashi looked closely and noted that he was still breathing painfully and his eyes were wide in shock. "Gorou," Kakashi called out looking back towards the trees as he crouched next to the injured man. When a blond man appeared next him glancing at Naruto warily, Naruto to a quick step away from and watched him cautiously as he leaned down next to Kakashi. "He missed the jugular," Kakashi stated, taking out a wad of gauze from one of his vest pockets and placing it over the wound. "Take him back to town and get him healed so we can question him later. While you're there, send the magistrate out here to get the other five."

"I don't take orders from you," Gorou growled.

"I'm not done with you yet," Kakashi stated lowly looking at the other man. "Do this and maybe our next talk won't last as long."

Gorou sneered but a quick glance at Naruto had him picking up the injured man and heading back towards the town. Kakashi glanced up and frowned as Naruto blinked in confusion and shook his head as the red faded out of his eyes again. "What did you do to our guards?" a man shouted in outrage finally approaching Kakashi.

"Guards? Five of these men are known bandits," Kakashi stated pulling a set of papers out of his vest. "We were hired to capture them."

"They were our guards," a man Sakura recognized as the head of the caravan shouted back.

"We caught them robbing us," another man stated moving them forward. "We had confronted them and the kid showed up after they attacked us."

The caravan and two other merchants who had approached with him continued to stare at them in disbelief. "We aren't lying," another man insisted. "He threw me into the last cart," he said pointing to the broken cages that had been knocked onto the ground. "The kid showed up and used those…the-"

"Replications," Sakura supplied.

"Yeah, he used them to separate them from us and was just trying to restrain them but they kept struggling against them. He saw my wife calming down my daughter with sign language so he had one of his…replications bring her over to interpret for him."

"Where were you?" Kakashi asked holding his hand up for the man to pause and turning to Sakura.

"I was circling around the caravan to make sure they weren't attacking multiple locations but by the time Sasuke and I arrived they were already fighting," Sakura answered a bit ashamed that she had sent Naruto to the back alone.

"He had my wife tell them to stop struggling and that they would be able to clear it up when his teammates arrived. When she mentioned teammates they started fighting more and kept knocking the animals loose," the man stated.

Kakashi nodded and turned away from the merchants completely. "Sakura, Sasuke tie the other three up and then cancel whatever genjutsu is on those two, it's still draining your chakra," he told her. Sakura immediately moved to follow his orders but Sasuke had stilled and was staring at Kakashi's eyes. Kakashi reached up and pulled his forehead protector back over his left eye. "Help your teammate Sasuke," Kakashi repeated turning back to keep a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Are there any injuries among your people?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the caravan leader and turning to the men who had explained what happened.

Both men shook his head and Kakashi nodded. "You two done?" he asked Sakura and Sasuke gaining a nod and a glare. "Good help them gather up all the animals that got away while we wait for the magistrate to show up. These guys will help you," Kakashi told them performing several hand seals before slamming his hand onto the ground. Two small dogs appeared before him and pointed them in Sasuke's direction.

"Is your side alright?" Kakashi asked quietly as Sakura easily picked up two of the rabbits that had escaped and brought them back over to the caravan. Several workers were already busy preparing new cages for the animals and took them from her thankfully. Naruto nodded tiredly and looked up at Kakashi nervously. "Help them out for now but take a break if it starts to bother you. The healing factor is still a bit questionable," Kakashi stated nudging Naruto in the direction of his teammates. He fought the urge to snicker when he noticed a small white puppy rotating between nipping at Sakura's heels and forcing his own pug dog, Pakkun, to play with it instead of finding the other escaped dogs.

As Sakura nearly tripped over the small dog a third time she finally gave it the attention it had been aiming for and picked it up. When she tried to hand it over to the merchants, it squirmed out of her arms and took off after Pakkun.

Sakura sighed and brought back several more rabbits to add to the ten that Naruto had managed to collect and the four dogs that Sasuke had found before the puppy made its way back to her yipping excitedly as it nudged her forward towards the tree line. Sakura followed it in annoyance and was surprised when it nudged some taller grass out of the way to reveal several small bunnies that she hadn't noticed. She shrugged off the coat her sensei had convinced her to wear after Merinda continually expressed concern about the girl catching a cold on patrol and placed the bunnies in it before carrying them back to caravan. One of the young women nearly squealed in delight as she handed them to her.

"Well, do you know where any others are?" Sakura asked looking down at the excitable puppy. The little dog yipped in response and took off back the way they had just come. When he revealed more of the hiding animals, Sakura called out for her teammates to help her gather all of them. Pakkun had walked back over to Kakashi and was sitting lazily as his younger partner, Monomi, followed Sasuke around occasionally corralling one of the missing dogs or rabbits.

"What exactly are all the animals for?" Kakashi finally asked.

"Pets and livestock. We sell mainly to agricultural families," one of the men answered. "We probably have twenty puppies. Almost a hundred rabbits – at least half of them got out. If we can get at least half of them back I'll be happy," the man admitted.

"The last move Naruto used expelled a lot of chakra; it might have scared them off so I'm not sure how many we'll find in the area."

"Actually they already found all but ten and the two dogs took off like they were on the trail of more," a woman spoke up.

Kakashi snickered as Sakura came running back onto the road with several more bunnies huddled in her jacket and giggling madly. Monomi and the white puppy appeared moments later followed by two angry young Genin who were both sopping wet.

"Sakura," Kakashi called out sternly as soon as his young student had handed over the bunnies she was carrying.

"It was the dog's fault," Sakura giggled pointing to the small white puppy that was still following her around.

"How so?"

"It tripped them when they were trying to reach those guys," Sakura snickered pointing at the bunnies she had handed over.

"Well at least you returned the bunnies unharmed," Kakashi said smiling at the boys as they glared at their teammate and the small dog she was playing with. "Pakkun, Monomi, you're done here," he added dismissing both of his summons.

"Are you missing anymore?" Sakura asked.

"Just that one," the woman said pointing to the small dog sitting at Sakura's feet. She smiled and leaned down to pick him up. "Thanks for your help," she told the dog, scratching his ears lightly before handing to the woman. The puppy immediately began whining and struggling to get away from her. The merchant that Kakashi had been talking to laughed out loud and walked over to the woman, plucking the puppy from her grasp. "I think this one is no longer ours," he laughed handing the small dog back to Sakura. "I hope that in the future he can be as helpful to you as he was today," he told her with a gracious nod.

Sakura's eyes widened and she turned back to Kakashi in question. Kakashi walked forward and whispered in her ear, "Just tell him thank you and that the dog will be trained in hopes that one day he will help our clients as he did today." Sakura nodded to him and repeated what he told her while stroking the puppies head happily. The dog yipped excitedly and licked her face.

'She's keeping the dog?' Naruto signed curiously.

Kakashi nodded happily and waved to the merchant as he moved back about his business. "And it's going to be training with us?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Kakashi told him in confusion.

Both boys exchanged a smirk and the dog whined when they turned to look at it. "I think we just found a moving target," Sasuke muttered.

"You stay away from him," Sakura glared, comforting the dog as it continued to whine.

'Stray kunai here, rogue shuriken there,' Naruto signed more to himself than anyone else.

"Alright, that's enough out of you two," Kakashi stated, slapping his hands down on their shoulders and leading them to the side of the road. "The magistrate is finally here. The three of you will go with Gorou and help take the bandits back into town. I'll stay here and deal with him. If they don't need your help in town, then go back to our client's house and rest."

All three nodded and moved over towards the taller blond man who had showed up with the magistrate. "I'm not babysitting you three," Gorou stated looking at them nervously.

"We're just supposed to help you take them back to town," Sakura explained smiling disarmingly.

"What's he saying?" Gorou asked, ignoring Sakura and turning to Naruto.

"He wants to know if the bandit you took back survived," Sasuke informed him as he helped Naruto push two of the bandits onto the cart the magistrate had sent for them.

"I'm sure he'll live. He was waking up when the doc came in to take a look at him. Waste of air in my opinion."

"We didn't ask your opinion," Sasuke retorted as he undid the wires binding the other three so that they could move them onto the cart. Gorou paused when Sasuke's glaring eyes glinted at him and Naruto suddenly froze almost causing Sakura to collapse under the weight of the man they were carrying.

"Let's get them back to town," Gorou stated his voice a notch deeper than before. He grabbed the two remaining men and threw them into the cart before picking up the man Sakura and Naruto were carrying and throwing him on top of the others. "Get on the cart so that you don't collapse on the way to town. If you do, I won't carry you," he added.

Naruto shivered slightly under his stare and moved onto the cart next to Sakura. As the cart began moving, Naruto slowly calmed again and Sakura turned to Gorou curiously. "We have a bet. Did you not come back because you were lazy and wanted us to finish up here or did you not want to run into ninja?" she asked.

Gorou glared at her but she noticed that his eyes were grayer than before. "He's a missing nin. Kaka-sensei recognized him," Sasuke smirked.

"Stupid know-it-all," Gorou muttered shifting his glare to Sasuke. "An Uchiha without a sharingan. You're more pathetic than him," he added pointing to Naruto.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked, the small puppy in her lap began to growl in his response to her own anger and she petted it soothingly.

Gorou's eyes shifted to the blue she had seen before and he coldly stated, "Keep quiet until we reach town."

All three Genin silenced and spent the remainder of the ride to tow glaring at the older man.

When Kakashi returned three hours later, Merinda met him at the door with a frown. "Naruto's shirt was covered with blood but he insisted that he wasn't injured and he refused to meet with the doctor," she stated.

"He wasn't lying. He was healed already. I'll have a medic take a second look in Konoha but he'll be fine until then," Kakashi told her.

Merinda looked unconvinced. "I fed them and told them to go to sleep. Since your mission is done, I ask that you actually let them sleep a full night before leaving. When Gorou brought them here, he said the two of you could finish your discussion at his apartment. I trust you remember where it is?" she asked.

"Right I'll take care of that. Thank you for your hospitality," Kakashi told her bowing as he back out the door again. As he walked back down the street, he could clearly hear Merinda muttering about irresponsible bachelors and poor bewildered teenagers in need of a mother's care. He doubted it would help his case if he bothered to tell her that all three were motherless.

As soon as he heard her shut the door, he took to the roofs and crept along silently as he made his way back to the house. He peeked into the window of the room his students had been stashed in and sighed in relief when he saw the inside door still closed. He slowly opened the window and crept inside. He placed a hand over Naruto's mouth and slowly shook him awake. The younger boy's eyes shot open but he calmed down when Kakashi backed off and allowed him to sit up. Kakashi moved back to the window and motioned for Naruto to follow quietly.

Naruto followed him nervously as Kakashi led him over the roofs of the nearest houses before landing on the street near the gate out of town. "First thing. Please tell me you actually had some proof of who I was before you followed me this far," Kakashi stated.

Naruto rolled his eyes and pointed the papers that had been hastily placed back in his pocket. "Okay I'll buy that for now but I'm sure Gorou would have picked up on that I could technically be him," Kakashi told him.

Naruto fervently shook his head at that and Kakashi motioned for him to explain. Naruto chewed on his lip for a moment before sighing, 'It reacts badly around him,' was all he managed.

"It? You mean Kyuubi?" Kakashi asked gaining a nod from Naruto. "Well that makes sense. He's a jinchuriki. Probably the Gobi but I'm not certain. And since we're on the topic, you are aware that you used its chakra today, right?"

Naruto frowned and nodded edging away from Kakashi.

"Cut that out. You aren't in trouble. Judging by the scar on your side he probably took control after you passed out or at least because you were wounded. Do you remember any of it?"

Naruto thought for a minute before shrugging and pointing to Kakashi. "You just remember me snapping you out of it?" he clarified gaining another nod and a yawn from Naruto.

Kakashi was drawn away from Naruto when he heard deep laughter from the alley they had just passed. "Is there a reason you're here?" he asked turning to look at Gorou.

The other man's eyes appeared slightly iridescent in the darkness and Naruto shivered as his stomach began to squirm. "I came out to find you and saw your other students sneaking out so I followed them. But man, I knew there was something wrong with this one; I don't think I ever would'a guessed that the great Kyuubi would get stuck in a mute kid. That is priceless," Gorou laughed out loud.

Naruto's eyes widened as the unease in his stomach grew worse. Kakashi glanced over at him and reached out to steady him as Naruto suddenly doubled over and retched. He coughed harshly several time only expelling a small amount of blood as he agitated his throat. He glanced up at his sensei dizzily before suddenly clamping his hands over his ears. "Naruto?" Kakashi finally questioned as his student continued to stare banefully at the ground trying to block out noise.

"Kid doesn't even know how to communicate with his demon," Gorou laughed.

"At least he can fight without relying on it. As I recall, you didn't even try to fight without it. No wonder you're known as nothing but a jinchuriki. Without your demon you'd be nothing," Kakashi replied harshly. "Naruto won't have that problem."

"Sounds like he already has. That spy tried to kill him didn't he? That explains why the Hokage is out for blood. Poor little genin targeted just because he's a jinchuriki and nothing else," Gorou taunted, glaring at Kakashi.

"Gorou, you're trying my patience. Leave my student be," Kakashi stated, pushing his forehead protector out of the way. Gorou looked up over at him and his grin suddenly dropped off his face. His eyes glinted again and his voice deepened as he leaned down to look into Naruto's face. "Listen well and tell that mutt that if he ever dares to show his filthy muzzle again they will know," he growled. "Even if it means compromising myself."

Kakashi watched in interest as the man finally turned to look at him. The eyes were definitely bluer than they had been a moment before and the chakra felt more demonic even though the man wasn't doing anything with it. "Wonderful, a botched seal. Are you the reason he can't give me any information about Kumogakure?" he asked.

"That village was below my presence. Nekomata preferred to stay and play with them but I would not submit myself to it, even through this host."

"Which one are you?"

"Houkou, the Gobi to you ninja." The man smirked before adding, "I'vemet one of your line before."

"I'm sure you have," Kakashi stated grimacing as he pulled Naruto back over, noting that the boy had actually calmed down after the threat Houkou had given to the fox. "We'll be leaving tomorrow. Just keep your host out of Konoha's way and there will be no trouble," he added backing up towards the more populated street.

"Sakura and Sasuke head back now," he added turning to see his other students behind him. He knew that he had been quiet enough that they wouldn't have heard what he said to Naruto but Gorou hadn't cared and if Kakashi's regular luck was anything to go by he was going to have to find away to keep the two silent when they returned to Konoha. Neither genin moved and he turned, breathing a sigh of relief when he found them staring at Gorou and not Naruto.

"Keep your word," Houkou stated, walking past the Genin and disappearing down the street without a glance.

"What was he?" Sakura finally asked.

"This isn't a topic for right now. I'll explain it tomorrow," Kakashi stated.

"Then why were you out here with him?" Sakura asked.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Right now if I don't get the three of you back in bed I'll get yelled at by our client," Kakashi told her sternly.

As it was, he got yelled at anyway. Merinda was waiting in the room when Sakura snuck back in the window and she waited until all three were inside before approaching Kakashi and ranting about how he went against her request. She seemed more upset about the fact that the three had snuck out without shoes or coats than the fact that they had used a second story window.

XX Day 13: End of Mission XX

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were told to skip training the next morning and instead quickly packed as Kakashi finished their business with their clients. They were out of the town before morning crowds arrived and the small puppy happily trailed behind the three as trekked along the road. After about an hour Kakashi summoned Pakkun and ordered the pug to dog sit while he had a talk with his students.

"Is this about Gorou?" she asked.

"That depends. Gorou and the Gobi were both present last night. You probably caught the shifts in personality while he was speaking," Kakashi stated.

"Gobi? Houkou the demon?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. He was sealed outside of mist about twenty-two years ago. Gorou is apparently a jinchuriki: the host that he was sealed in," Kakashi informed her.

"That's what that chakra was yesterday?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. I'm not sure what you heard last night but I'm going to guess that Gorou has fairly little skill. He was only a Chuunin when he was declared a missing Nin and its questionable how much of that skill was even his own. Houkou seems to take control the moment the situation gets sticky."

"Is what he said to Naruto true?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke with wide eyes and backed closer to Kakashi. "Calm down," Kakashi told him, frowning at Naruto's behavior. "That depends on what you heard."

"He said Naruto was only attacked because he was a jinchuriki. That means he has a demon sealed in him, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, but the seal is more stable than Gorou's which is why the Kyuubi can't surface," Kakashi explained.

"Kyuubi?" Sakura asked faintly. "Is that what the red chakra was after he was stabbed?"

"Most likely. The chakra heals him frequently and it probably decided to remove the rest of the risk after Naruto passed out," Kakashi told her nonchalantly.

"Who attacked him because he was jinchuriki? I thought he got into a fight with Mizuki-sensei but Gorou mentioned a spy," Sasuke continued, looking a bit jealous at his teammate's potential but otherwise nonplussed by the news.

"Mizuki-sensei was the spy. As far as we can figure, he was recruited by Kumogakure. He convinced Naruto to steal a scroll as part of test and then he and another ninja from Kumogakure attacked. The woman was who injured Naruto. They escaped but they didn't manage to get the scroll," Kakashi explained.

"You said Naruto's seal was more stable, but how did Kyuubi manage to take control?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Naruto was wounded near fatally. Like I said, after dealing with the injury, it seems he decided to take out the rest of the threats. It didn't look like he went near either of you and when I arrived Kyuubi retreated showing that Naruto still had control."

"I assume we aren't supposed to tell the Hokage about Kyuubi or Gorou," Sasuke guessed.

"That's preferable. Right now, Gorou isn't a threat but if we threaten him, Houkou may take control again and whoever is sent after him is likely to be killed. And we won't be telling the Hokage about Kyuubi until Naruto displays more conscious control over its chakra without tapping into is psyche."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Because I say so," Kakashi stated. "The Hokage and the councilors aren't bad people but they do have a village to protect. If they see training Naruto to fully access and use the Kyuubi's chakra as the way to do it then they will. It may make him stronger, but it could also drive him insane. It would force him to stop relying on his own skills in favor of taking them from beast dumb enough to get trapped in the first place," he added. "In short he'd probably end up like Gorou."

"Is that why you're training him?" Sakura asked suddenly.

"What?"

"To keep him from losing control. You stopped him when he was fighting earlier," she added.

"No. He probably would have responded to either of you as long as you didn't threaten him. I'm training him because they know I won't tell them when he accesses Kyuubi's chakra. As long as they don't know, he doesn't have to leave regular training. It's the least they can do," Kakashi explained, smiling at her. "Now will you keep quiet about it?"

"I suppose. As long as it isn't hurting him," Sakura answered. Sasuke shrugged in agreement, but Kakashi noticed that he was paying more attention to Naruto and he frowned.

This is not going to be a fun return.

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

I almost didn't recognize her, was the first thing that ran through Haruno Sanzo's mind as he shook his head and moved to squat down in front of his fidgeting daughter. He silently waved the three men still in the doorway towards the kitchen so that he could focus on her. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"Fine," Sakura responded despondently.

"You don't sound or look fine," her father insisted. "Did something happen on a mission?"

"Not really," Sakura claimed. "Although I did get a dog."

Sanzo froze and he heard snickers from his kitchen. "You what?"

"Well, we helped this caravan see. And one of the merchants gave me a dog as thanks. Sensei called it derivative payment," Sakura claimed.

"We've been over this before," Sanzo stated.

"I've never been given a dog for free before," Sakura countered. "You wouldn't say no to something as cute as Houkou," she insisted.

"Houkou?" one of the men in the kitchen asked in disbelief.

"I let Sasuke name him. Sensei thought it was funny so I let it stand," Sakura told them.

"And where is Houkou now?" Sanzo asked.

"With Sasuke."

"And can Houkou stay with Sasuke?"

"Nope. He doesn't like dogs. The only reason Houkou is with him is because I told him to pester Sasuke until our team had to meet again," Sakura answered.

"And can Houkou stay with your sensei?"

"Nope. I'm the only he'll stay with. He whines around my other teammates," Sakura chirped proudly. "Oh! That reminds me. I used Ikko Akechi and I didn't pass out!"

Sanzo narrowed his eyes at his daughter's change in subject but her grin didn't waver. "Can we get back to talking about the dog please?"

"Nope," Sakura said.

Sanzo opened his mouth to argue when there was a sharp knock on the door. "That's Sasuke, I have to go," Sakura declared jumping off the couch and darting out the door.

Sanzo gazed after her despondently for a moment before drawing chuckles out of the other ninja by muttering, "Why did I have to get stuck with a teenage girl?"

Sakura and Sasuke reached their training field with Houkou at their heels. Kakashi and Naruto were already waiting, the latter shifting his weight impatiently. "Well then let's talk. What could we have done to be better prepared to take a riskier mission and to prepare for complications on that mission?" Kakashi asked.

"We needed a way for Naruto to communicate without sign language," Sasuke told him immediately.

"Good. I'm starting to think I was right in recommending you for squad leader," Kakashi told him proudly. He was shocked when Sasuke shook his head in the negative.

"Sakura should be," Sasuke told him almost grudgingly much to the surprise of his teammates. "She thought of it before the mission. She knew we weren't ready. We talked her out of telling you," he admitted. "Besides she knew something was wrong on the mission before I did."

"Oh. Well in that case…you guys are dismissed for the day I gotta go talk to the Hokage. Just make sure you go through the day's training first."

The three Genin blinked in surprise when Kakashi disappeared from in front of them. Sakura turned to the other two scowling. "He is such a…a…I swear he must be dying his hair silver to cover the fact that he's a blond," she finally settled on saying.

Naruto scowled at the insult but shrugged. 'Pervert's just messed up,' he concluded smartly for his teammates.

---

Agent's Spiel: Before you get really confused, you understood it correctly if you caught on that Sakura's nickname has been changed from Blossom to Pinky. Naruto will probably continue to use both depending on whether or not he's sucking up to her but anyone else using sign language to talk about her has switched to Pinky.

Anko's nickname is Orange – it shouldn't be that hard to figure out the reason, but if you're confused just be patient, it will be explained eventually.

This won't come in yet but since they just revealed the name of the Fourth Hokage in the manga I'm going to be using that name in the future. I've only referred to him by his first name once (as Arashi) so I went back and changed that to the name they just gave us obviously this is a spoiler (not much of one but it is) so for the future you've been warned. I also made a mistake last chapter when Anko mentioned her guardian – it was her Aunt and not her cousin so that was fixed too.

And lastly. Nii Gorou is an original character and not the jinchuriki we have already seen in the manga, I'm not dumb so if you recognize his surname it isn't a mistake. It'll get explained eventually (or you might figure it out on your own).

I've had a few reviewers comment on my updating rate and, yes, I know I'm slow – especially if you consider the nearly year long break I took. I would like to update more often, I'd like it even more if I could blame the slow updates on a hectic social life or something but the truth is I'm typically just lazy or going through long straits of writer's block. The chapters come out when they come out because I hate my writing when I force myself into it and I'm writing this for me as much as I am to share with you guys.

Thanks to Flame Rising, I think your review was actually the first real flame I got for this story. I've had a few other critical reviews, but yours was definitely the first I'd consider a flame. I smoked a celebratory cigarette just in honor so maybe you'll get your wish and I'll die of lung cancer or something for you. I can only hope that one day you and those like you find something that interests them on this site…although that is very doubtful. Oh who cares, you're not reading this anyways.

Thanks to all my other reviewers:

Kage Husha,Shinsei Tsukiko, Arcane Emotions, Symphonious,mscs3, Edengrave, cdkobasiuk, DarkRavie,Archangel Rhapsody, Bobboky, obliviandragon,JohnnyG, frogger666, insanechildfanfic,RaitenKitsune, AznPuffyHair, mikatsuki.arashi,japanese-jew, Itallia, LachwenII, rianifitria,Tombadgerlock, Hiei's Cute Girl, Azamiko,Raimundo, Yami Umi, Dark-Syaoran, thecorrupted,Akitesyu, AnkukoTenma, cutsycat, Marz1, Pendulous Threads, Azamiko, bottlecaps, causeiambetta, BukkakeNoJutsu, ADD Kyuubi Naruto, Lord-Scruffy, Lupanari, SongoftheDarquePhoenix, notter, Jasmine Bloomberg, snowecat, Myst Shadow, thegentrygmail,Guardian Dimension

If you were all like FR I'd probably be laughing a lot more but I also wouldn't be writing and then I would have no excuse not to do my homework. Just a quick note, I've been really disconnected since like June and I can't remember if I actually responded to well anyone who sent me reviews or if I just archived them. If you asked a question and I didn't get back to you and you still need an answer just PM me. Otherwise I'm sorry I have such a low rate of response I really do appreciate your reviews, they make putting this story online completely worth it.

If anyone is still reading this I'd like your opinions on the scene breaks I used in this chapter. I don't usually like denoting time like this, but did it make the chapter more bearable?