Disclaimer: Not the owner of Naruto, sad times.

OOOO

Akane had butterflies in her stomach. A response that seemed far too much how she should feel on a first date or speaking in public rather than how she should feel walking through a village full of ninja who could kill her and whom she was trying to join. She should feel foreboding, maybe a little fear. Not nervous excitement.

Jiraiya had gotten them through the gates with cheery smiles of recognition and a quick check of their identification papers. He was now proceeding to take them straight to the Hokage's tower where they could apply for residency. It was also, the man said, necessary for the Hokage to approve of their presence in a face to face meeting. Hence why Akane should be more nervous right now.

"Now this is what I'm fucking talking about. Big ass walls, big ass buildings, those fucking heads on the cliff. Feels powerful."

Hidan was gesturing around as he spoke, a slanted grin on his face. It was true. Compared to the scattered houses of the walless Yugakure, Konoha felt like a stronghold. Akane knew that the other Hidden Villages had a heavier presence but to Hidan this was a far cry from the village where they grew up.

They drew numerous gazes, whether it was because they were following Konoha's Sage Jiraiya around like lost ducklings or because they had a differing skin tone and hair colour from the norm around Konoha. Hidan's ridiculous scythe probably didn't help either.

Inside the Hokage tower they were directed to a friendly looking chunin who handed them a whole bunch of forms to fill in and who once again took their I.D. papers to make copies. While they stared in bewilderment at all the forms, Jiraiya had walked ahead into the Hokage's office, much to the chagrin of the lady sitting at a desk by the office door who looked like she wanted to protest but like she also knew it would be futile.

So far the office-staff had already shown more emotions in the few minutes they had been there than any of the staff in Yuga's admin building had shown the whole time Akane had lived there, which was nothing but amusing when considering that shinobi often prided themselves on keeping their emotions closed off when on duty.

"Fuck look at all these questions!" complained Hidan, "Blood type, family history, chakra type, affiliations, clans, hidden techniques! Can they even ask for that last one? Fucking hell."

"Just get it over with, if we want them to let us stay we just have to get on with it."

It took a good twenty minutes to fill in all the pages. About half way through Akane glanced up as a handful of people filed out of the Hokage's office. Clan heads by the looks of things as she spotted , Hiashi Hyuuga, Tsume Inuzuka, the current generation of Ino-Shika-Cho and an Aubrame, along with a few other people. Many looked non-subtly at the two teens doing paperwork, so Akane looked back, hoping she wasn't showing any signs of recognition, only curiosity. Jiraiya came out a few minutes later as they were finishing up.

"You guys can head through to Sensei now. After you hand that lot in I mean."

They handed their paperwork back to the chunin, who shuffled through quickly to check everything was answered. He looked a little perturbed at Hidan's scrawls of "they were weak motherfuckers" underneath 'Reasons for leaving previous nation.' but waved them towards the office door.

The Hokage was old, serious and gave an impression of being scrutinised from the instant they stepped through the door.

"So, yet more shinobi of another nation step through my doors. Tell me why."

OOOO

They were shown to a large apartment block with no choice of where they would be staying, though they did get the option of living together which was nice. From the moment they had left the Hokage tower Akane had been able to feel the slightest buzz of chakra at their backs. Whoever it was was suppressing their chakra well but were staying too close by for her senses to not pick it up every so often. The rest of their afternoon consisted of more paperwork for where they would live and for new I.D. papers. They had been given a map and a time and location for a psych and written tests tomorrow which would be followed by physical and medical tests the next day. Honestly Akane was surprised how easy it had all been, but then maybe it was in their favour that a large chunk of Konoha's population had just been massacred. A morbid benefit but a benefit nonetheless. Whilst the village was technically weakened, and so was extra cautious concerning new people, they were also aware that newcomers would be needed to fill the gap. The former came in the form of an unseen guard and the latter came in ease of access to the village.

Their new home was fairly average. A combined kitchen/living room/dining room with a couch, some shelves, a round table with four chairs and a manageable kitchen. They each had a bedroom with a single bed, wardrobe and small desk, and the bathroom was small but functional. Nothing to complain about. The décor was plain as hell, white walls, brown furniture, wood floors, neutral and plain in every way. The chunin showing them to the building gave the briefest outline of how and when to pay rent, gestured down the street that led to some shops and headed away after giving them their keys. The chakra buzz was lingering outside the window to the kitchen.

As the door closed they both heaved a sigh and then caught eyes and grinned.

"This place is not so fucking bad! The people look stronger at least, and the town itself like they actually give a shit."

"Yeah they do. Wasn't so hard to get in right. And they already have apartments for newcomers. I wonder how many people have turned up from Yugakure?"

"Fuck knows," Hidan replied, sticking his head through the doors to each bedroom, "You have a preference?" He gestured to the rooms.

"The one that you can see the cliff-heads from."

They each spent a few minutes unpacking the few things they had in sealing scrolls that they had bought specially for the trip. They only item Akane had that could be counted as 'decorative' was the bottle of red water she had which she placed on the windowsill. Her handful of clothes went into the wardrobe. She glanced around with disdain. I need to get more shit. She scrawled a quick note on a scrap of paper she had amongst her belongings; "Being watched, one guy by the window. Behave."

Heading into the kitchen she found Hidan opening the cupboards, each empty except one full of tableware, pots and pans. She tossed the scrunched up paper to him which he caught with ease and read quickly. He raised an eyebrow before going back to his search of the kitchen.

"Lets go get some food," Akane said, approaching Hidan, "You got much money left?"

"A bit, should last another week."

"Same," Akane sighed and glanced around the room, "This is so weird, we live together now. And they're doing their own tests to place us in the ranks. We might not be genin anymore. Probably won't be on the same team."

"Yeah, shit right? They better not put me with some fucking pussy's like Hiro. I know this place digs loyalty so I guess there's no point in fucking hoping for solo missions."

"We'll find out soon I guess."

Akane tossed the second set of keys over to Hidan and headed out.

OOOO

"When's that guy going to be here?" Hidan's voice called through the walls.

"In ten." Akane answered briefly, her head halfway through her shirt as she pulled it on. She finished gathering a few things, checking her hip pouch was stocked before heading to the bathroom. She swung the door open only for it to be obstructed by a leg sticking across the floor.

"I'm fucking busy in here."

Hidan was awkwardly sprawled on the bathroom floor, head between the gap between the shower and the sink and feet resting on either side of the toilet, his torso centred on the smaller than usual Jashin symbol smeared on the tiled floor. One hand grasped a knife plunged deep in his stomach.

"For fuck sake Hidan! The guy is gonna be here soon! You're cleaning this shit up!"

"You said he'd be here at ten, that's ages."

"No, I said he'd be here in ten not at ten. I need to brush my teeth."

Akane stepped forward into the little gap at Hidans side, her bare foot treading into something wet.

"Don't step on the fucking lines, bitch!"

Akane sighed and stepped up onto Hidan's chest instead, reaching over to grab her toothbrush.

"Akane! What the fuck man!" Hidan glowered up at her from the floor.

"Well 'what the fuck' to you too! In the bathroom?"

"I haven't had a sacrifice since that kid, that was five fucking days ago! I've giving Jashin-sama some of my own pain and blood as penance! The bathroom will be easier to clean than the wooden floors."

Akane ignored him, getting on with her morning routine, maybe shifting her weight onto one foot or the other every so often to dig a heel into the ribs of the dumb-ass on the floor. Hidan continued to move the knife in his stomach and let his blood flood across the floor. As she rinsed her toothbrush a knock at the door startled them both.

"Clean yourself up!" Akane ordered as she left the room.

She pulled the door open to find the same chunin from the day before standing there.

"I am here to escort you to the Interrogation Department where you and your companion Hidan will be taking your psych evalu..." he trailed off as he looked past her into the house.

Following his line of sight Akane cringed as she saw a trail of bloody footprints trailing from the bathroom door to where she stood. Shit.

"Oh err, really heavy period this morning," What the fuck was that Akane, "Must have missed a bit of the mess."

Naturally Hidan took this moment to step through the bathroom door, absolutely drenched in water and shuffling awkwardly through the door frame to not show the disaster inside the room. His trousers had patches of dark on them where he hadn't managed to soak the blood out.

"Morning. I just need to go get dressed."

"Morning..." the chunin replied uncertainly, "I'll just wait out here until the both of you are ready."

Akane resisted the urge to put her head in her hands and went to quickly wipe her feet clean and pulled on her sandals. Hidan emerged in clean, dry clothes.

"Well today could have started better. Hidan if you pass your psych evaluation, I'll clean the bathroom myself."

"Tch, I'll be fine bitch."

OOOO

The chunin had barely said a word as he lead them through the village, only speaking briefly as he passed them off to another pair of shinobi as they entered a large foyer to a building that seemed to have most of it's rooms underground, judging by the large sets of stairs leading down. After handing in all weapons and equipment from their person the were lead in separate directions.

Akane glanced around nervously at the high-ceiling of the dull room. It had grey walls, grey floor, a grey table and, of course, grey chairs. One wall was made out of one-way glass and the empty feeling of not even ambient chakra on the other side made Akane convinced that there were some kind of seals to suppress all chakra of the people who may be watching her.

The minutes ticked by and no one came in. apparently stage one was a patience test. Akane just sat quietly and gazed around the room, searching for a flaw in the paintwork, and uneven section on the floor, anything like that. Her mind briefly flickered to Hidan, wondering if he was sitting still, patience wasn't his strong point. Eventually the door slammed open and Akane completely failed to suppress her jump of surprise, absorbed as she had become in tracking scratches in the table with her eyes. She turned to look at the guy, relieved beyond belief that it wasn't Ibiki who just stepped through the door. He was really plain looking; dark hair, lightly tanned skin, easily one of the dozens of background characters from the show. He wore a grey jacket and Konoha headband tied on his forehead. He sat opposite her and placed a folder one his right and a pile of papers on his left.

"Akane Chinoike, age fourteen, previously of Yugakure which has recently forgone it's status as a Hidden Village. Correct?"

Holy crap that voice was not what she expected, it's was positively sultry. Deep and rich.

"Yep, all correct."

"This is just a standard evaluation to make sure you are suitable to join the military forces of Konohagakure, nothing to worry about."

Was he trying to be reassuring? Akane suddenly realised Interrogation was not an area she had any clue about. It hadn't been brought up in Yugakure, at least not to her team, so she had no idea what counted as normal procedure.

"First I'm going to ask a series of questions, just answer with whatever comes to you first. Understood?"

"Yes."

"What are your first impressions of Konoha?"

"It's nice. Feels more secure than Yuga."

"Why did you leave your village?"

"They de-armed. I had no place there anymore."

"Does this anger you?"

"No, they did what they needed to do."

"Why do you wish to continue to be a shinobi?"

"I want to make a difference. To be able to fight for what is needed."

"And what is needed?"

"Peace," damn what a cliché answer, "At least stability between the nations to reduce needless deaths."

"So you wish to reduce needless deaths by being part of the forces that kill people?"

"It is a necessary path for a desirable goal."

"Why Konoha?"

"It has a reputation for strength and I met someone who told me Konoha may be willing to let me live here."

"Who?"

"Jiraiy-sama."

The man didn't change expression but the pause was fractionally longer before the next question.

"If you met someone from Yuga who stood in the way of a Konoha mission, what would you do?"

"Depends how well I knew them. If they used to be a friend I would try to reason with them or get them to stand aside."

"And if they refused?"

"... I don't know."

Well that was probably the wrong answer.

"The boy you arrived with, are you close?"

"We've known each other a long time. I trust him to have my back."

"If he is not deemed fit for service, what will you do?"

"Depends on what he does."

"If he leaves?"

"I don't know."

Akane didn't like these questions, it wasn't something she had put much thought into. Would she stay if Hidan left?

"How many people have you killed?"

"Erm, I haven't kept count but can't be more than twenty."

"Why did you kill them?"

"Because they posed a threat or were part of a mission."

"Have you ever hurt someone without it being part of training, a mission or an order."

"Not beyond a slap or punch."

These last few questions did not bode well for Hidan. Either he gave truthful answers and seemed unstable or tried to lie and risked them catching on.

The man was apparently, a little abruptly, done with his questions. He slid a stack of paper over to Akane along with a pencil.

"You now must fill in these questionnaires. There's no time limit but it would be preferred if you didn't take all day."

Akane glanced down at the pages. These looked more like something from her old world. True/False questions and ratings of agreement from one to five for different personality statements. It didn't take her too long to answer most of them, though she was forever aware of the presence across the table from her whose stare burned into the crown of her head. As she slid the last page across to the guy he stood and held the door open.

"That is all. Return to the foyer until your chunin guide returns."

"That's it?" Akane was surprised. "Did I pass?"

"Well, you didn't fail."

OOOO

A/N: A slightly boring chapter but all the necessary crap to get the ball rolling in Konoha. I have literally no clue how an interrogation/psych evaluation would go so I just winged it, hope it was ok.