Chapter Ten

Building Bridges

A triumphant roar sent an explosion of birds screeching as they fled overhead.

Itachi watched dispassionately as the thickly built man grinned savagely. It seemed as if the man's initial wariness of his red eyes had long since fled. Certain of his victory, the man finally removed his white mask, the only thing that wasn't black on his person and smiled, revealing rows of teeth that were filed to sharp points, "Will you finally answer me boy? Or would you like your gravestone to bear no name?"

Itachi remained silent and kept his eyes riveted on the man's form, studying with detached interest the manner in which his opponent imparted silent menace behind every gesture.

The man's smile faded into a disappointed scowl. Thin black brows that would have otherwise emphasized the sharp lines of a passably handsome face drew downwards, "Very well." Lowering his chin, the man flashed his teeth briefly as he smirked, "For the fight you've given me, I'll grant you a tombstone unlike any other!" With an intent glare, the man snapped up his right arm straight overhead before lowering it to his right with his palm facing the ground. The man's smile widened to an unnatural degree as he whispered with dark amusement, "So long."

He whipped his right hand upwards in a grasping motion and simultaneously formed a rabbit seal in front of his face with his left hand. In front of him, black obsidian shot forth from the ground from both sides, like a gaping mouth. The two sides closed and swirled upwards to form a miniature black peak of solid rock.

The man held his position for a second past when the rocks had finally stopped moving before straightening with a sigh. With a disappointed twist of the mouth, the man replaced his mask and walked forward to retrieve his sword from where it was buried in the stone. The monument released its grip on the sword without a protest and the man shrugged as he walked away only to stop.

Itachi deactivated his sharingan and stepped forward. He watched as the man visibly stiffened at his approach before collapsing bonelessly to the ground. Crouching at the man's side, he gently lifted the mask. Underneath, the man's skin was bleached white. The green eyes that had shone with glee just moments ago were already filming over, even as the man's lips twitched.

The reedy repetitive whisper could barely be heard over the wind, "How, how, how …how?"

Itachi bowed – a slight nod of his head. With his bangs obscuring his eyes, a makeshift curtain of privacy for the dying stranger, he explained succinctly, "Genjutsu."

He reached behind him for a storage scroll as he saw the man manage a paroxysm of laughter, "HA. HAHAHA." With a grunt, the man snarled with mad glee, "Nameless I came, nameless I-" left.

With a flick of the wrist, Itachi covered the frozen man with the scroll and activated the seal, storing the body away. He glanced at where the man had been staring, the nameless gravestone that had originally been intended for him.

He didn't want a gravestone.

He blinked, shuttering his unidentifiable emotions further away, and refocused. Picking up the scroll, he headed back to the cover of the trees and recalculated his plans. With this encounter, if he cashed in his bounties, he would have enough funds to both complete his final emergency stash and satisfy the Akatsuki's unofficial induction fee.

He came to a stop just as the forest floor dropped into a sharp ravine. Looking at the rushing waters below his feet, he was reminded of another scene and the dilemma that had haunted the peripheries of his attention for the past month.

Shisui's eye – specifically the use of the Koto Amatsukami. The day when he realized Shisui had truly left him, the day when he started analyzing how he would manipulate the emotions of those closest to him was the same day that he had programmed Shisui's final gift. If Sasuke became too embroiled with hatred, if Kazuki became too entrenched in fear and paranoia, then there was still the Koto Amatsukami – his last defense for the village. Where one would go, the other would most likely follow, was what he had initially assumed.

But with the disruption of his primary plans, there was a high chance that the need to use Shisui's last gift as a contingency plan had been greatly reduced. Still, he was reluctant to risk Shisui's eye for reprogramming, especially with the Madara imposter lurking about.

Though he was fairly certain that the imposter was an Uchiha with some type of teleportation abilities, he hadn't been given much opportunity to confirm his suspicions or continue further observations on the strange man. To his disappointment and relief, the imposter had seemed to avoid him as of late.

He listened to the soft pitter patter of falling leaves in the forest for a moment before flicking his fingers forward. A thin glassy sheet of obsidian shot forth, bridging the ravine. He stepped forward and assessed the grip of his sandals on the black rock. As he tested his weight on the bridge, his eyes caught sight of his own reflection in the glossy surface, causing him to retreat a step.

Crouching down, he took a closer look at the reflected image of two black eyes. Briefly, he imagined them larger and wider. Shaking his head, he moved the side of where the bridge started and took a seat on the moss covered ground. Letting his legs dangle over the edge, his eyes traced the path of a branch as it was swept along by the waters, bouncing off upturned rocks until it was finally pinned against the trailing roots of an old oak tree. Kazuki.

Reaching out with his senses, Itachi confirmed his singular presence in the forest and bit into his thumb. His palm had barely touched the dirt when a tiny black kitten appeared in his lap and yowled – loudly.

Itachi felt the beginnings of a smile touch his lips and swallowed. He watched as the kitten raised its hackles, making the small animal look even more like a ball of fur. He sent a prayer of thanks to whoever was listening.

Kazuki's awake.

-0-

Drawing the shadows around him, Shikaku watched as the boy careened into the space less than three meters in front of him. Then, for two long beats, the child stood disconcertingly still with the exception of his heaving chest.

He really did have better things to do than to watch an Academy student rage – understandably – about in the forest. But the unconfirmed conclusions that he had derived from the scrolls and Inoichi had been itching at him for the better half of the month. With the kid awake, the sensation that he was potentially overlooking something important only grew to an irritatingly high level until even Yoshino had noticed.

He watched as the boy's breaths slowed.

The existence of the scrolls had only niggled at him at first. Perhaps it was an Uchiha head family tradition or maybe having Itachi as an older brother had given the kid – a child born in peacetime – concerns about his own mortality. But then, there was the nature in which the scrolls had been imparted to consider. While it was plausible that a young child might want to give his last words to a close friend, it made much less sense for the young child to request his last words to be given straight to the close friend's father.

On top of all of that, and what truly bothered Shikaku, was the content within the scrolls. The scrolls' hints, which utilized relatively obscure knowledge, had seemed to gather some of the most high-profile ninjas of Konoha, who were known for their intelligence to address an issue that presumably involved all five great nations. Strange content for a child to leave as his last words.

He watched on as the young boy finally broke off his frozen stance. With some concern, he noted the bright, almost feverish eyes of the child, who was taking steadying breaths through his nose. Shikaku eyed how the child was holding one arm stiffly against his chest as he trod up to each of the targets in the clearing.

There was also the information Inoichi had found and shared. It had taken them a week to realize that the random mix of images, sensations, and emotions were all part of seven distinct memories. The very presence of such a mix had indicated that the kid had been trained against Yamanaka mind techniques, which would ordinarily have caused both men to assume that the kid was an infiltrator sent by another message.

But if that was the case, the child would have to be both extremely skilled to avoid detection from the Uchiha clan and extremely dumb to call together some of the village's strongest with his scrolls.

Regardless, figuring out that the flashes of emotion and sensation belonged to seven memories had initially led them to no sort of groundbreaking revelation. It was like they had been given only a small number of the pieces needed to complete a puzzle, and the pieces that they had managed to fit together only showed parts of a landscape instead of the portrait's main subject.

It was only on his fifth foray, reviewing his memories, that Inoichi had noticed a reflection in one of the memories' images. On the surface of a red curved blade was a bloodied image of Sarutobi Asuma – an Asuma that sported a full chinstrap beard.

Coupled with the child's comments at the hospital, the only conclusion that he had been able to arrive at was that the child had perhaps developed some form of limited precognitive skill. As dubious as he felt, he remembered how some of the more experienced shinobi in the child's clan had been able to predict the movements of their opponents during battle. Perhaps it was a stretch to imagine that such predictive skill could be extended from mere seconds to years, but it was the only hypothesis that he had at the moment.

He watched as the boy warned off a small kitten that had been hiding in the bushes. Strange. He hadn't been aware that stray cats frequented forested training areas. He sharpened his gaze as the child took what was a clearly preparatory step back. Rescanning the scene, Shikaku lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, He isn't going to…

Shikaku resisted the urge to facepalm as he leant against an old maple tree. Through half-lidded eyes, he watched with a growing suspicion that this visit, what was supposed to be a break from work, had moved straight into a grudging invitation for more work.

He definitely was.

He fought the urge to sigh as he watched the child take a flying leap into the air and brandish two handfuls of kunai – sixteen kunai to be precise. There were sixteen targets in the clearing.

He frowned as the child wrenched his arm to the side and started releasing the kunai. Onetwo, three, fourfivesix, seven…The Uchiha was leaning too far forward. At this rate, he wouldn't swing his arm far enough to – no. This time Shikaku lifted both brows, impressed, as the child tucked both legs in further, raising the speed in which his body was spinning and allowing his arm to complete the necessary arc just before he extended his other arm.

Eight. Nineteneleven, twelve.

Shikaku thumbed his goatee absently. Three of the remaining targets were hidden, impossible to hit directly.

Correcting his balance by first kicking out to the side, the boy lashed his other foot out directly upwards in a front kick to return his body to its upright position. Arching his back, the child took advantage of his body's rotation to increase the change in the launch angles for his remaining kunai such that each kunai redirected the path of the kunai that had been released before it.

Shikaku frowned as the child landed with a stumble and with his back facing Shikaku. The boy wasn't a natural genius when it came to taijutsu, at least not compared to his eldest brother. The instincts he had once observed in Itachi just weren't as noticeably present in this child. But there was no doubt that the child was a genius. Hitting all of the targets was impressive by itself, but the way that the kid had compensated for his mistakes was even more impressive.

Not to mention, the child was most likely still injured. Not that the boy seemed to be cognizant of his own state. Shikaku pressed his lips together as he saw the boy drop first to his knees, then his hands. He shouldn't be stressing his shoulder this much.

The child's harsh breathing filled the clearing.

The child was small for his age. In the borrowed clothes of his friend, his figure seemed even more diminutive. Coupled with the pallor of his skin that was only emphasized by his dark hair, the child seemed ridiculously defenseless – even with what Shikaku had just observed.

And this was the same child that was going to grow up at the center of political attention because of the potential locked within his eyes and the reputation held by his bloodline. As the child dropped his head, Shikaku squashed the irritation that flared up towards the village administration.

While he thought the adoption ban for the two survivors of the massacre was instituted to protect both boys from the political machinations of clan politics, he couldn't help the growing suspicion that the policy would do more harm than good. Although he doubted either child saw the partial destruction of their home as fortunate in any way, he was glad that the process of rebuilding gave Chouza the excuse to house the other twin for a little bit. In his opinion, even with a caretaker, the two children were going to be much too isolated.

Then again, it wasn't like he had the qualifications to judge how the children were going to be reared. He wasn't a parent.

He glanced at the medicine he held, the reason why he had an excuse to be in the compound. When he turned back, the kid was sitting back on his heels. He sucked in a small breath at the sight of a dark stain just on the lateral side of the boy's left shoulder blade and stepped forward, purposefully stepping on a dry twig.

The boy spun around, mouth open, ready to speak. His hands were clutched around a pendant that hung from a thin chain around his neck. From the way he swallowed his words, it was clear that he hadn't been expecting Shikaku.

They stared at one another in silence as the stillness of the training grounds was only interrupted by the occasional sigh of the wind.

-0-

With a loud chortle, Jiraiya swept in armfuls of his winnings – dozens upon dozens of dried rice crackers. With a disgusted snort, Hisoka threw down his cards and propped his cheek on his hand. Tonguing the toothpick in his mouth back and forth, he muttered, "Have fun eating all of that."

Jiraiya grinned at the red head facing him, "Not up for Round Four?"

Hisoka shot him a flat stare and spat the toothpick at the Sannin's face.

Ducking away, Jiraiya laughed again, "Okay, okay. I'll leave."

Hisoka felt a cold sweat break out along the back of his neck at the sudden open mouthed grin Jiraiya was sporting. Leaning away from the table, he tilted the chair precariously and crossed his arms just as Jiraiya slammed both hands down, "Hey Hissoo-kaaa."

He didn't hesitate, "No."

Jiraiya gave him a ridiculous pout. Feeling his cheek spasm, Hisoka presented the old fart in front of him with his fiercest glare.

It had no effect. Jiraiya widened his eyes with a comically piteous expression, "You didn't even hear what I was going to ask!"

Avoiding his gaze, Hisoka focused his gaze on the wart on the old man's nose, "I'm not going with you to the red light district."

Jiraiya straightened with an affronted expression and fought the urge to laugh at how the young man hurried to cut him off.

"Don't even try to deny it – don't you have somewhere to go?"

Jiraiya wrinkled his forehead, "Hmm?"

Letting the chair fall back onto all fours, Hisoka frowned upwards at him, "With the …" Waving one hand as he tried to find the right words, he finally gave up and made a vigorous stabbing gesture towards his own neck, "You know… clan."

Jiraiya stared at him blankly and blinked. He had an inkling of what the man was referring to, but he couldn't help needling the man.

Hisoka shot him a frustrated look, "Your village…?" He made circular gestures towards his eyes with both hands.

Jiraiya held his expression for a second longer before relenting. Hisoka's frantic motions were starting to attract attention. Snickering, Jiraiya broke into a grin and made a waving motion with one hand, "Yea, yea, I've heard about it. I'm sure I'll be sent for soon enough."

Hisoka dropped his hands and mouthed silently in rage at Jiraiya. Ignoring his informant, Jiraiya glanced up at the sky before sitting back down, "So kid, do you have anything for me?"

Hisoka ground his teeth for a moment before rolling his eyes. "Yeah, you know that flower from Mist you wanted?"

Jiraiya nodded, "How's her growth?"

Hisoka looked down and fished out another toothpick from his pockets. With a shrug, he popped the toothstick in his mouth and mumbled around it, "'pparently pretty damn stable. Foliage keeps popping up around her."

So Mei was poised to become Mizukage? He wondered if Tsunade had heard the news. Nodding thoughtfully to himself, he grabbed the satchel that hung from his waist and tossed it onto the table, "Some stuff for you in there."

Hisoka spared him a deadpan look as he reached towards the bag, "No shit." Pulling the drawstrings loose, Hisoka made his customary glance in the bag only to snap a frown at Jiraiya, "What's with the scroll?"

Jiraiya gave him a wide closed mouthed smile, "Right, I almost forgot." He ignored Hisoka's disbelieving expression, "Just give the scroll's message to your friends."

Hisoka deepened his frown, "What message?"

Jiraiya pushed back his stool and stood. Unclipping another bag, he started sweeping his winnings into the sack, "Ah well, like I said, some people should be coming for me soon." Leaving one cracker on the table, he pulled the drawstrings tight and swung the bag over his shoulder, "I'm sure they wouldn't mind tackling a few chores while tracking me down."

"I feel like I should pity whoever has to retrieve you."

Several countries away, in a marsh with tall grasses, Kakashi fought back a sneeze and then a groan as Gai jumped straight into the black mud.

Jiraiya clutched at his chest dramatically for a moment, "Ah you wound me so."

The red head shook his head and slid off his chair without a backwards look, "See ya."

Jiraiya huffed and muttered to himself, "No respect to your elders." He gave the dried snack on the tabletop a considering look. Not that I have the right to complain about respect to elders. With a shrug, he picked it up and broke it in half to pull out a slip of white paper. As he left the tea stand, he studied the words and munched on the rice cracker.

Sorry old man. I'm gonna take the fact that you sent Kakashi to look for me as a sign that I should dawdle some more, because I really do have a few more leads to follow up.

-0-

Hiruzen paused, letting his eyes fall on his folded wrinkled hands. Keeping his thoughts from his face, he waited for the protests.

As expected, Koharu cleared her throat, "Hiruzen, we have discussed the fallout before. But just because we considered the loss of the Uchiha acceptable, doesn't mean that we can afford to continue reducing the size of our forces."

Homura nodded at her side. Danzo was noticeably silent, but there wasn't a person in the room who wasn't aware of his opinions.

And that was the problem. Danzo didn't need to speak. He already had a spokesperson – technically spokespeople; the rest of the council already sided with him.

After his confrontation with Danzo, his subsequent inquiries into his former teammate had led Sarutobi to some uncomfortable conclusions. For one, Danzo's ROOT forces were much more well-established than he had suspected. Second, Danzo's political power base through his connections with the rest of the Konoha Council, Koharu and Homura, meant that any attempt to overthrow the man would have severe repercussions.

In recent years, the council voiced increasingly unanimous opinions. On the surface, such unity was a boon to the village, facilitating speedy decision-making in critical operations and boosting the overall morale of their shinobi force. However, as his investigations into Danzo had revealed increasingly disturbing implications that had highlighted the need to remove Danzo from power, Sarutobi suspected that such a unity would be a significant hurdle that he would need to overcome.

Without hard evidence, if his movements against Danzo came to light, he suspected that Danzo would have little difficulty persuading Homura and Koharu to side with him. Although it was understood that the Hokage did not have to listen to the counsel of his advisors, it was rare for the leadership to come into direct opposition with the rest of the village's high ranking official. He didn't want to risk the potential political instability that could happen if the different factions of the shinobi populace were forced to choose between him and the council.

He would have to move slowly, but in the meantime, he had promises to honor. Hiruzen raised his eyes, "We have discussed this, but didn't we once also discuss the need to raise the Academy graduation limit before? Didn't we say, after the war, we would change the age? Didn't we promise to stop postponing this change?"

As Koharu opened her mouth, Hiruzen hardened his eyes and ploughed forward, "In any case, with the … unexpected adjustments… to the original plan, raising the limit would also be seen as an appropriate response to the massacre. It would help support the conclusions that were released in the official report."

Homura frowned in confusion while Koharu squinted her eyes as she sought to follow Hiruzen's reasoning, "We raised the limit… to prevent another genius from snapping."

Hiruzen inclined his head and caught Koharu's eyes, "Moreover, it was Itachi's last request."

She held his gaze. But when Homura cleared his throat and shifted with clear unease, she blinked and looked down, "…very well."

"While that is all very well and true, we should not hold back students from reaching their full potential."

Sarutobi turned to face Danzo. Sometimes it seemed as if the man was wrapping himself in an ever increasing number of bandages by the day. Squashing down his concern for the man's health, Sarutobi replied, "It does not matter if the student is ready if there are no teachers to teach. Until the shortage in the number of jounin ready and able to take on a team of genin is changed, there is no sense in rushing to promote Academy students to genin."

Danzo's expression didn't change, "We would have enough if we didn't limit the size of our teams."

Hiruzen fought the urge to frown. You are making this too easy. Maybe something really was wrong with Danzo's health; maybe he was suffering from something that was impairing his judgment.

And maybe he was looking for excuses just as he had before with his former student.

He reached out to pour himself a cup of tea, "I thought that was a given. Didn't the third war prove that a genin's chance of surviving their first field mission – and their first year – is much higher as a team of four?"

Danzo breathed out slowly before nodding thoughtfully, "Hmm."

Before any of the council could change their minds, Hiruzen signed the scroll, "Then I'll make the announcement tomorrow." Standing up, he finally broke into a smile, "Now if you don't mind, I have a grandson, who I'm sure is waiting very impatiently for me."

Danzo left the room first, without a word. Koharu followed at a slower pace while Homura barely managed to cover a yawn as he trailed behind her.

As the door closed behind them, Sarutobi picked up his hat. It would take time to sway them to his side and to find enough material to convince them of Danzo's machinations. He would need more than just the support of his student, who had been away from the village and would arguably be seen more as an outsider who no longer was in touch with what the village truly needed.

He needed someone who had their own pull, particularly with the jounin, who had the respect and closer ties to the rest of the shinobi.

-0-

Staring into those black eyes, Shikaku found himself strangely reminded of the moment right before he decided to accept the position of Jounin Commander.

"Why are you here?"

He was slightly surprised that the child had chosen to break the silence. He held the boy's gaze for another second before he answered, "I came to speak with your caretaker."

The boy's eyes narrowed.

Shikaku expanded his statement, "About your medicine." He lifted the wrapped package in his left hand to support his statement.

The boy's knuckles were white, clenched tightly around the pendant. Despite the boy's tension, he spoke calmly and clearly, "Caretaker?"

Shikaku quirked an eyebrow. He supposed it was possible the caretaker hadn't had the chance to introduce herself to the child in the uproar unknowingly set off by the child when he left the hospital by himself. Then again, from the child's clothes, perhaps he had known.

Hayate had seemed unusually exasperated when he had related the morning's investigations to Shikaku – which was totally understandable. The hospital's security had needed some updates for some time now. It might have been excusable before, with the wars, the recovery from the wars, and then the confusion over the sudden loss of an entire clan. However, it wasn't like this was the first time an Uchiha child had left the hospital without adult supervision.

Shikaku nodded carefully, "There's been a caretaker assigned to you and your twin."

The boy's gaze flickered for a moment before returning, "That doesn't explain why you're here."

Shikaku twisted one side of his mouth upwards in wry acknowledgement as he nodded, "Nostalgia, mostly. I didn't expect to find anyone here."

"Ah." The child continued to watch him warily.

Silence fell between them once more. As he waited to see what the kid would say, Shikaku was reminded of his uncle's words. The first to move sets the field, but also shows his hand.

His eyes fell upon the darkened stain on the boy's jacket. He would have preferred not to play these sorts of games with a child; he needed to speed this up. Making his decision, Shikaku asked bluntly, "How did you know it was going to happen?" It was an open-ended and vague question.

He saw the boy's breath catch, "What do you mean?" The question was a push to see what cards he held.

"The scroll – or should I say scrolls?" Yes, I've seen your scroll and looked at your puzzles. Part of him admired how the boy failed to react to his words. Another buried part of him was disquieted that the child had apparently planned out his last words. Though what he hoped we'd be able to accomplish with his vague wording remains to be seen.

Perhaps what was more worrying was why the wording had been so vague. As the scroll had been presented to him, the boy had written those words with the assumption that he would be safely dead, out of reach from any reprisal attempts. By that premise, there was little reason to use employ such riddles unless the child was worried that either one of them couldn't be trusted, which would explain why all three had been pulled together, or that the child was worried about them being under surveillance.

Still ambiguous as ever, the child replied, "I had a bad feeling."

"Seems too detailed for it to be a bad feeling."

The child shrugged carefully with one shoulder, "It seemed silly."

What was silly was him standing there dancing around a topic with an injured child. Shikaku bridged the two meters and dropped into a crouch. He reached out with one hand toward the boy's shoulder and noted how the Uchiha didn't recoil. Hovering his hand an inch away from making contact, he asked, "May I?"

The boy gave him a tight polite smile and released his hold on his necklace to gingerly pull the neckline of his shirt down.

One look at the sodden bandages and Shikaku was pulling the shirt back up, "We should replace those bandages. Can you walk or do you need help?"

Before the boy could answer, Shikaku leant closer and scooped him up, "Never mind, my wife would kill me if she knew I let an injured child walk."

"I – "

"Consider it a favor to me?" Shikaku asked as he readjusted his hold. He suspected the boy was flushing from embarrassment.

"Ok."

He made his way out of the training grounds in silence, aware of the child studying his face the entire way. By the time the main road was visible, Shikaku realized that the tension in the child's body had left. He looked down, noting the child's closed eyes and the necklace that rested between the boy's sharp collarbones.

The pendant was a shogi piece with the character 'king' carved at the center. In some ways, it was the most important piece in the game. Once that piece was lost, the game was over.

Did the boy see himself as a 'king', the most important piece? From the scrolls, he doubted that the child had that sort of egocentric view. At the same time, if he was right about the boy's abilities, then the piece could be interpreted in a similar, but simultaneously different manner.

If the player could be considered as the king, (for if the king was lost, then the player was lost as well), then the king was making the final decisions for all of the rest of the pieces. In other words, the safety of the other pieces rested on the king's shoulders.

Shikaku lifted the child as he stepped over a fallen tree. At the same time, despite this responsibility, the king had very little mobility, very little power. Was this how the child saw himself – responsible for so many but powerless to act?

That realization made Shikaku think back to what he had witnessed in the clearing just moments before. He hoped the child didn't blame himself.

As he stepped onto the main road, he resettled the boy against his shoulder so that one hand supported the child's weight, while another rested at the back of the boy's head. He raised his brows as his pinky rested just over the child's pulse point.

With a soft rumble he asked, "Kazuki-kun, how much of the future do you see?"

The boy remained loose in his hold. Admirable.

"Never mind. Come find me when you're ready to talk."

Facing away with one cheek on the man's shoulder, Kazuki peeked one eye open and watched the forest grow smaller into the distance.

A/N Cont: Suzululu4moe wanted a picture of Kazuki as a kid, so a rough sketch of pre-genin Kazuki is up in my profile.

Conception Notes:
Hospital Security: There are a couple indications in the anime that indicate that the security in the hospital isn't very strict (e.g. the empty receptionist desk when Gaara walks in to attack Lee, Sasuke slipping out of bed to overhear the nurses gossiping after the massacre). I'm assuming that the hospital is similar to the public transit system in the states (specifically the MBTA), where it is very difficult to institute the type of security that might be expected in places such as the airport without seriously inconveniencing everyone. I'm assuming that it's expected that either the patient's friends/family or the nurses serve as the security… I admit, I was definitely influenced a little by Mokulule's Wish, where a lot of Tsunade's reforms have slipped on the wayside.

Question to Readers:
Review Responses. A kind reviewer brought up the concern that my review responses in the chapters may be against ffnet rules. Generally, I only reply to accountless reviewers in chapters. I've tried to find this rule on ffnet's guidelines and google, and I've also posted an inquiry on ffnet's forums, but no one has been able to find the direct text for this rule, only that they have heard of this rule. Does anyone know anything about this?

Loving the feedback as always :)

Once again, special thanks to Bonnie Mizuhara for betaing and reading my page long rants and replying with equally page long inspiration and encouragement. Also quick thanks to Bun and Bon &romantiscue for pointing out typos/issues and offering invaluable feedback in my last chapters and as always, thank you reviewers: rynerrain, Windninja1000, Raven the Kitsune Bard84,almakarma18, Bonnie Mizuhara, tyog56, Bobboky, Bun and Bon, Erydanes, CrecentMoon, Cadel, Amethystfirechik, Suzululu4moe , evilpinklollipop , NoName, romantiscue, Grey-Rain-Cloud,serialkeller, one123, Lock on Lockon, Distressed fan, skewedchoice, flakeshake07, MentallyEatingPastawithItaly, Yamon, Kawaii Fruits, phoebe turner, #28 Guest, ellesra, 10th Squad 3rd Seat,LokiHatake, #29 Guest, herondalefan, GreenOnBlack, Almost Ninja, Ransor, #30 Guest, SilverVolpe, #1 Guest, AnonymousFern, ITACHIROCKS, Uzushiogakure9, Dunestyler , Silvermist464, 1sunfun,Crown of Shadows, not the usual baka, BiblioMatsuri, paragoge, Hat O'Doom, MusicWritesLife, ReddishPanther, Viridian, Lord Geovanni, Vaughn Tyler, Madame Minuit12, SupaCrazee, InARealPickle,cyan96, Lilyblossom01, AvocadoMango, Camille, #31 Guest