The four of them were gathered in one of the two rooms that had been assigned to them.

"Well we've actually made it into the exams as a registered team." Kakashi said. "No small accomplishment."

Inoichi nodded worriedly. "I don't like the fact that they're going to check with Waterfall about us."

Kakashi shrugged. "That's not surprising given the fact we just showed up unannounced. It doesn't matter; with the distance it will take at least four days for them to receive a reply. By that time our mission will be over one way or another."

"One way or another." Inoichi agreed glumly.

"So what do we do now?" Choza asked.

"Well the normal procedure would be to get in contact with our informant, in this case Temari. Any idea how we can find her in the next fifteen and a half hours?"

The three members of team ten smiled at each other. "Oh I don't think that will be too hard." Shikaku announced. He performed three hand seals. "Shadow Lost Lamb Technique: Temari." Immediately his shadow extended fifteen feet to the north-east. He reigned it back in to just a couple of feet so it would be less noticeable. "Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXX

There was a knock at their hotel room door. The three siblings looked at one another. Baki would have announced himself and they weren't expecting anyone else. At a nod from Kankuro and Temari Gaara uncorked his gourd and allowed the sand to pool around his feet. They were in a foreign village after all, and a certain amount of caution was warranted. "Who is it?" Gaara inquired.

"Four friends from a distant village. One of whom happens to be the parent of a certain lazy genius."

Temari stiffened. She knew that voice, but it couldn't be! She went over to the door and opened it. There standing before her was Shikamaru's mom dressed in battle gear and smiling mischievously. There were three other kunoichi standing with her. One was a blonde who looked suspiciously like a teenage Ino and was dressed in the exact same way. One was a plump red haired girl who had on a red outfit with a chest plate in front. The third had on black clothing, her silver hair was sticking up wildly, she was wearing an eyepatch, and she was reading a suspicious book with an orange cover. All of them had on the Waterfall head protector. "Yoshino! What are you doing here and who are your friends?"

Yoshino shook his head and pulled something out. "Right family but wrong parent." He displayed a Nara's Heart with Shikaku engraved on it. "May we come in?" She quickly nodded and the four of them entered. Gaara kept his sand out as quick introductions were made. Temari had told the two of them about Sasuke and about sending out a message to Konoha. The arrival of a team here was not totally unexpected. But anyone could cast a henge and tell a story.

"How can we be certain that you are who you say you are?" Gaara asked.

"I thought you might want proof." Like a magician he made a photograph appear. "Will this do?"

At the sight of the photo Gaara simply nodded, Kankuro chuckled, and Temari instantly grabbed the picture out of his hand. "How did you get this?" She demanded.

Yoshino smiled. "Shikamaru took some pictures of the photo album."

Temari's face reddened. "You mean there are others?"

"What's the problem?" Yoshino asked innocently. "I think you were very cute as a kid and it's perfectly normal that you had a doll."

She crumpled up the photo. "I swear I'm going to kill him."

"Oh but that would ruin the wedding."

"Hey!" The other blonde in the room spoke. "Don't say that even as a joke! She has his heart but it's not like they're engaged. The thought of you as a father in law will probably scare the poor girl off."

Yoshino tossed Temari a wink none of his friends could see. Temari gave the slightest of nods in return. "Of course, it's not like they're engaged. I just have a good feeling about them." Yoshino pulled something else out. "Well if you plan to murder him I guess that means you really don't want his letter do you?"

She took the letter eagerly. "Thank you!"

"This is all very nice but we did come here for a reason." Kayasha said. "Temari what can you tell us about our target?"

She related what little she could, which amounted to the fact he would be taking the exams as part of squad from Sound. She itched to open up his letter and read it, but it would have to wait.

Yoshino nodded. "Well if he's taking the exams we'll just have to grab him during the second phase."

"If you would like I can offer our assistance." Gaara said.

The four Leaf nins all looked at each other, that hadn't been expected. "While we appreciate the offer it would be best if we took care of this ourselves. If your involvement with us becomes blatant you may have trouble with both Mist and Sound. Sending us the intelligence that he was here was more than enough." Yoshino said.

"Hey!" Ino yelled at Kankuro. "I saw that!"

"What?"

"You were checking me out!" Ino accused. All eyes swung to the puppet user.

"Well, can you blame me? You've got a really tight…"

Temari put a hand over her brother's mouth. "Don't say it, don't even think it."

Yoshino smiled and Ino shook with fury. "Trust me; he's not your type."

XXXXXXXXXX

Troublesome, Well you'll be happy to know I am now officially Jonin. I'll save the details for the next time we see each other. The Hokage made sure to tell me that she intends to keep me very busy from here on out. Man what a drag. She could just picture him rolling his eyes and laughed. On a personal note Naruto is training with my team for the Leaf exams. He and Ino are constantly clashing and their teamwork is horrible. If she says right he goes left. Asuma thinks they're all doomed, I have more faith that Naruto and Ino will pull it together when they really need to. Chouji is trying to play peacemaker and muddle through. He and my cousin Irmana have been on three dates now and both of them are really happy. Ino is jealous as hell but won't admit it of course. She keeps sending poor Chouji mixed signals. One minute she's playing up to him with a hand on his arm, the next she's treating him like he doesn't exist. It's troublesome but I'm glad he finally has a girlfriend. Temari nodded to herself, she liked Chouji and was also glad. As for Ino she would have to decide what she wanted. I hope you and your brothers do well at the exams. Take good care of yourself. I can't wait until we are together again. All of my love, now and always. Lazy

She put the letter down and smiled. "So he really passed his Jonin exam on the first try?"

Yoshino nodded. The rest of the team was outside waiting to go. "He did indeed."

She looked a bit embarrassed. "Would you mind…"

"Delivering a letter for you? Of course not."

She grabbed a pen and some paper and quickly wrote out a letter. She handed him the letter. "Thank you Shikaku."

He shook his head. "Please don't call me that."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I mean thank you Shikaku-san."

But there was another shake of the head. "Wrong again." She looked to be in obvious confusion. "I would like it if you would call me dad… my daughter." She didn't say anything, just stared at him. Suddenly he realized that maybe he was being a bit too forward. Her father had died after all; maybe she didn't want to call anyone else that. He held up a hand and waved it. "I mean, if you want to. If you'd rather not Shikaku is just fine."

"No!" She said suddenly, getting over the shock of abruptly having a father who wanted to acknowledge her as his daughter. "I would really like to call you that… dad." The word felt strange in her mouth, but she liked the sound of it.

"And would you prefer me to call you Temari or daughter?"

She smiled. "Please call me daughter." On impulse she went over to the person in front of her and hugged fiercely. "Thank you." She was embarrassed to hear the raw emotion in her voice.

Yoshino smiled and hugged the girl back. "You're very welcome my daughter. And please consider yourself to be part of the Nara clan and always welcome in our home." They let go of each other. "I won't contact you again and please do not contact us unless some emergency arises or you have new information. Good luck in the exams." Yoshino looked over to her brothers. "To you as well."

"Good luck on your mission." Gaara said and the others nodded agreement.

"Thanks." He gave them all a last smile and left.

Gaara looked over at his older sister; there were tears in her eyes. "Are you all right Temari?"

She nodded and wiped her eyes. "I'm fine. It took sixteen years, but I finally found my dad."