Venatori

Summary: Kankuro was a few minutes too late, and Kiba died. Now, Shino and Hinata work to ensure that no more traitors get away alive. Divergence from chapter 212.

The Laughing Phoenix does not own Naruto and makes no profit from this work, other than her sense of accomplishment.

WARNING: Massive spoilers in future chapters. Character death. Blood, gore, and questionable use of medical knowledge and techniques. Some OOC-ness.


A Matter of Fortitude

"All right, you two are done. Don't bother to show up here tomorrow."

The breath caught in Hinata and Shino's throats. After everything, all the work and effort and hope they'd put into becoming hunter-nin, that was it? Numbness settled over them, making it seem like they were hearing everything from further away.

Ryouken was still talking. "Report to the Hokage tower tomorrow at 14.00 so we can get this wrapped up. Dismissed."

Still numb, the pair bowed to the two hunter-nin, then turned and walked back into the village. It was far earlier in the day than they had finished training in the past two months, and the village was still busy with people. As worn and exhausted as they looked, they attracted a number of strange looks, but they largely ignored them in favor of the crushing weight of Ryouken's dismissal.

Thanks to their introspection, it took Neji a couple of tries to hail his cousin.

"Hinata-sama. Hinata-sama!"

Team Gai had been crossing the village after turning in a mission report when Neji spotted Hinata and her partner in the street. Remembering the task Hiashi had given him about a week and a half prior, he managed to grab Hinata's attention.

"O-oh, Neji-niisan. What is it?"

Neji nearly bit his lip, but stopped. Fidgeting like that in public was not proper Hyuuga behavior. "Hiashi-sama wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience."

Hinata sighed and leaned into Shino, who slipped a hand under her elbow in support. "When did he…"

"He told me to pass on the message ten or eleven days ago."

Hinata hissed and lifted a hand to rub at her temple, not liking the implications of that at all.

"The Inuzuka would probably be willing to put you up for the night, if you'd rather not go back to the Hyuuga compound just yet." Shino said conversationally, eyes on Team Gai behind his goggles. "And if they are not, there is always a room for you in my family's home."

Hinata shook her head. "If Father asks Neji if he has seen me and passed on the message Neji will have to tell him the truth, and if I do not return tonight he will be more difficult to deal with. Thank you, though."

"Would you like me to come with you?"

Hinata shook her head again. "I need to have this conversation with Father alone, I think." She looked up at her cousin. "Thank you for telling me, Neji-niisan."

Neji bowed his head quickly.

"Good to see you again Neji-san, Lee-san, Tenten-san." Shino said, placing his other hand on his partner's shoulder. Neji caught sight of something small slipping from under his hand and inside Hinata's collar.

"And you, Shino-san! Indeed, it has been far too long…"

"It's nice to see you guys again," Tenten interjected, cutting Lee off before he could get started on one of his swiftly-becoming-infamous rants. "Come by and train with us sometime."

"Such a marvelous idea, Tenten-chan!"

Hinata and Shino bowed quickly and extricated themselves, leaving the excitable Green Beast with his teammates.

"If you need me, let me know." Shino murmured to his teammate as they paused at the gates to the Hyuuga compound. Hinata gave him a tired smile.

"Of course, Shino-kun."

As Shino walked away, headed in the direction of the Aburame households, Hinata squared her shoulders and went in search of her father.

Inquiries with a number of Branch House members, all of whom gave her startled looks, directed Hinata to one of the smaller gardens, where she found Hiashi sitting with a pot of tea.

"Father, you wished to see me?"

Glancing up at his eldest, Hiashi couldn't quite control his frown. "Hinata." He gestured for her to sit by him, taking the chance to examine the disheveled state of her clothing, her far thinner face, and her too-pale skin. Once Hinata was properly seated, he continued speaking. "You have been spending a lot of time out of the compound lately."

"Yes Father." When Hinata refused to volunteer any more information, Hiashi raised a mental eyebrow, and went digging.

"I trust you have been spending this time in a productive manner?"

"I have been training, Father."

"Hmm." Hiashi surveyed the garden for a few minutes before launching his next question. "And have you gotten the results you wished for?"

"Not…exactly." Hinata's shoulders slumped slightly. "But it was not," she paused, looking for the right words, "without benefit."

"Oh?" Hiashi's voice sounded indifferent to Hinata's ears, and her hold on her temper slipped.

"Hokage-sama said that she might assign me to diplomatic missions."

"Hmm. Considering what Tsunade-sama seems to consider diplomacy, that is an interesting assignment." Hiashi did not enjoy Tsunade's bluntness, and often wished that Sarutobi had managed to teach her to be a politician when she was his student. At least with the Sandaime you could largely gloss over the man's manipulation. The Godaime was about as subtle as a shove.

Fifteen hours later, once she'd had some sleep and a decent meal, Hinata would be embarrassed by her lapse in judgment. At the moment, though, she was tired, hungry, and desperately wanted to go to her room so she could have a good cry and get some rest. "M-my team was a-assigned to a joint m-mission to Suna two m-months ago. W-we ended up spending three days i-in Suna, and Ts-Tsunade-sama said that the Kazekage w-was impressed."

"Is that so." Hiashi looked over at his daughter again, then decided the rest of his questions could wait until she was more composed. "Hinata, return to your quarters. You are overtired and could benefit from some rest."

Hinata sat for a moment before rising. "Yes, Father." With a slight bow, she turned and walked away.

Hiashi's gaze rested unseeing on the surface of the pond as he returned to puzzling out his eldest. He had the best sight in his clan, and he was not getting a clear picture. This was becoming ever more troubling.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Daddy, would you train with me today?" Yamanaka Inoichi glanced up from his breakfast at his daughter. "I wanted to work on my Mind-Body techniques a little more before the next Chuunin Exam." Ino told him, playing with her glass.

Before Inoichi could reply, a knock on the window drew the Yamanaka's attention. A messenger shinobi was balanced on the window ledge, holding a folded sheet of paper. "Just one second, Princess," Inoichi said, pushing himself to his feet and going to open the window for the messenger.

"Message for you Inoichi-san," the shinobi told him, passing over the paper. Message delivered, he backflipped off the sill and took off, drawing his next message from the pouch on his hip to check the recipient's name.

Inoichi raised his eyebrow as he glanced down at the paper, taking in the seal scrawled along the edge to hold it shut. Absently biting his thumb, he smeared a little blood over the seal, letting it dissolve away. A seal meant work. Flipping it open, he was not disappointed. The message was short but to the point, written in Ibiki's distinctive blocky strokes.

New puppies need a checkup. Usual place, 13.30

A cough behind Inoichi reminded him of his daughter. "Sorry, Princess," he said, turning back to the table. "I need to go in to work today. Day after tomorrow?"

Ino pouted slightly, but nodded. "Sure, Daddy."

"That's my girl." Inoichi folded up the note and slipped it into his pocket, mind already halfway across the village. The words 'new' and 'checkup' meant ANBU trainees, coming in for a thorough evaluation. 'Puppies' meant hunter-nin. T&I had assigned each department their own animal during Nidaime's reign as the ANBU finally sorted itself out, to make it easier to classify them – Black Ops were 'fledglings', while medics were 'cubs' and R & Ds were 'kittens'.

Inoichi applied himself to his cooling breakfast, already making plans for his part of the evaluation. The hunter-nin hadn't had a trainee make it this far in nearly three years, as far as he knew. Should be interesting.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Despite Shino's intention to sleep until 11.00 at least, he found himself blinking awake shortly after dawn. When attempts to go back to sleep by burying his head under his blanket proved fruitless, he dragged himself out of bed and dug out some clean clothes, muttering under his breath about irritating habits and the sadistic commanders who created them. He made himself breakfast, but was unable to choke down more than a few bites, the memory of Ryouken's commands echoing in his head.

You two are done. Don't bother to show up here tomorrow.

Deciding it was a lost cause, he left the rest of the food for his father and wandered back towards Hinata's lab. It had been neglected during their absence and he puttered around for a while straightening out jars of ingredients and throwing out what little litter he could find. When he found himself straightening the pestle in the mortar for the second time, Shino forced himself to walk out of the lab and back into the main part of the house, settling into a chair. Five minutes later he could no longer deal with inaction and he went to get his coat.

Leaving the house, Shino wandered aimlessly, nodding absently to the occasional person, usually Inuzuka, who hailed him. When his feet stopped moving, he pulled himself back to alertness to find himself standing at the Memorial Stone. Shaking his head slightly, Shino dropped to his knees in front of Kiba's name, his breath leaving him in a harsh rasp of a chuckle.

Hello, Kiba. I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long. The hunter-nin kept driving us into the ground…and yes, I know I look like shit. Hinata may have the better vision, but I'm not blind. He stared at the ground in front of his knees for a minute, then lifted his gaze to the neatly-chiseled characters. Kiba, the way Ryouken-taicho worded his orders…I don't know what to expect from them today. It sounded like he was displeased. It…it sounded like we failed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When Hinata woke up at around 10.00, it was with gritty eyes and the cotton of her pillowcase sticking damply to her cheek. She'd silently cried herself to sleep the night before, and, glancing at the mirror in the bathroom, she could see the faint tracks of tears along her face. Washing her face and dressing, Hinata made her way to the kitchen for food, trying to avoid any who might still be around.

Quickly heating some broth, she drank it down as fast as her stomach would let her before slipping out of the house. The last thing she wanted today was to deal with her family. Escaping without being hailed, she wandered out into the streets of Konoha. It didn't take her long to decide that she didn't want to be around people in general, not just her family, and she began trying to think of a place where she knew she could be alone. Most of the village was out of the question, especially if an Inuzuka wanted to talk – if you were in the village and not obviously doing something, you were fair game as far as they were concerned. The training grounds were considered and rejected, as was the library. Finally deciding on the cemetery, Hinata turned and cut across the residential sectors.

When Hinata arrived, she picked her way through to the Hyuuga section of the cemetery. Like nearly all the bloodline clans the Hyuuga cremated their dead, but the ashes of their shinobi were buried in the general cemetery, in large part due to an agreement between the Shodaime and the then clan heads. By burying the shinobi dead together, regardless of clan affiliation, Senju Hashirama had hoped to have one more way to unite their disparate interests and keep the fledgling village together. In return, the clans handled the bodies of their own dead without the interference of the village.

Dropping to her knees in front of one grave marker, Hinata looked the plot over, biting her lower lip. Hyuuga Yukiko had been a chuunin when she married Hiashi, and although she'd not been active for nearly six years before her death she'd been buried as a shinobi. The plot was kept relatively clean by the volunteers who took care of the cemetery and the occasional Hyuuga who came out to tend to the clan's graves, but there were some weeds that needed pulling and the engraved letters needed to be swept out. Hinata neatened up her mother's gravesite as well as she could, then stood and pressed her hands together, offering a brief prayer. She didn't feel the need to talk to her mother the way she did Kiba – among other things, she wasn't sure what she'd say. She'd been five when a combination of old injuries and Hanabi's birth caused Yukiko's death, and her memories of her mother were fuzzy.

Her mother's grave cleaner, Hinata passed the Senju, Akimichi, and Nara plots to reach the Inuzuka. Kiba's grave had been cleaned more recently, probably by Hana if the incense smudges were any clue. Kneeling, Hinata gently brushed them away before offering another short prayer. She sat in silence for a good quarter of an hour before, with a shuddering gasp, the words just burst out and she started talking rapidly.

"We've been working so hard, putting in so much time. I haven't had a conversation with Hanabi in weeks. We're tired and yesterday taicho said…he said…" unable to repeat the words, she shuddered, and was distantly surprised to feel tears running down her face. She'd cried so much the previous night that she'd have thought she'd cried herself out.

"I'm sorry, Kiba-kun. I'm so sorry."

For a moment she imagined she felt the warmth of an arm across her shoulder in a hug, but the feeling dissipated as soon as it came.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Morino Ibiki, Yamanaka Ino, and Ryouken stood around a table in a bare room on one of the subterranean floors of the Hokage tower, waiting for Jakkaru to bring them the trainees.

"Alright, Ryouken-san," Ibiki rumbled, hands in the pockets of his gigantic coat. "What've you got for us?"

The hunter-nin dropped two folders on the table. "My division's current trainees, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, currently designated Jakkaru's Pups." The scarred tobuketsu scooped up one of the folders, passing the other to Inoichi, as Ryouken went on. "They began their training three months ago, and we're grooming them to operate as a pair. Their progression has been what we usually expect from our trainees, and we've spent the last seven weeks running them into the ground on a burnout regimen. Their primary trainer, Jakkaru, tells me he's had them right on the edge of collapse for the past four days. In accordance with procedure, we're turning them over to you for evaluation before we progress any farther with them."

Inoichi had Shino's file open to the page with his basic information summary. "Ryouken-san, these trainees are thirteen. That's a little young for hunter-nin, isn't it?"

Ryouken shrugged. "It was take them now or let a potential asset go to waste."

"I remember the Hyuuga from the Chuunin Exams," Ibiki said, scanning Hinata's file. "As far as I recall she's like cracked porcelain – it wouldn't take much to damage her." He glanced up at the hunter-nin. "You must be seeing something in her to make this worth it."

Ryouken tilted his head in acknowledgement of the comment, and Ibiki got the sense the man was smiling. "She may look like porcelain but I can assure you, gentlemen, that they've both got cores of steel."

"They're going to need them," Ibiki snorted, trading folders with Inoichi. "Especially if they want to pass the evaluations." He frowned. "I'm not going to lie to you, Ryouken-san, they're coming in with a handicap. Since they're clan heirs, there's a limit to how far we can push them. On top of that, Tsunade-sama has us under orders to leave them capable of diplomatic missions, if they don't pan out as hunter-nin. We're not going to be able to test them as thoroughly as they should be, so I'm automatically downgrading them."

If Ryouken was perturbed by this, he didn't show it. "They may surprise you yet," he said mildly.

There was a brief tap on the door and Anko poked her head in. "Heya, Ibiki!" She called cheerfully. "What's this I hear about examinations?"

The big man shook his head. "Sorry, Anko, you'll have to sit out on this one."

Anko slipped into the room and closed the door behind you, planting her hands on her hips. "Why the hell do I have to sit this out? I'm one of the best you've got!"

"And you'd be compromised if you took it on." Ibiki told her calmly. "I can't have a conflict of interest."

Anko went very still for a moment. The list of people who might cause her to have a conflict of interest in her line of work was short. "They're doing that well?" she breathed.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow, and Anko scowled at him.

"Fine," she snapped. "I'll sit this one out." She turned away and flounced out of the room.

Anko hadn't been gone five minutes when someone else tapped twice on the door. Jakkaru, leading Shino and Hinata down the hall to an empty office. Inoichi placed the folder he'd been perusing down on the table. "That's our cue." He and Ibiki slipped into the shadows as Ryouken opened the door and followed his second down the hall.

When Ryouken entered the office, he spent a moment observing his trainees before he announced himself. Shino stood straight-backed, hands in pockets and goggles firmly covering his eyes. Hinata, meanwhile, stood at his shoulder with her hands clasped in front of her, eyes trained on the desk and shoulders slightly slumped. In front of a civilian, even most genin and chuunin, they would have looked calm and collected. To an ANBU, they were practically broadcasting exhaustion and distress.

"Good afternoon," Ryouken said, walking around the desk. "The next part of the procedure beings now."

Ibiki and Inoichi emerged from the shadows right behind his trainees. To their credit, they reacted fast, turning as they summoned a weapon to hand, insects and shimmering chakra appearing at their fingertips. Before they came anywhere near connecting, though, the jounin had slapped seal tags to their skin, and they dropped into unconsciousness.

Inoichi caught Hinata. Ibiki let Shino hit the ground. When the last of the insects he could see stopped twitching, he threw the boy over his shoulder and turned to the hunter-nin. "Do you want to watch this?"

Jakkaru shook his head. Ryouken considered it a moment, then shrugged. "I leave it in your capable hands, Ibiki-san."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Inoichi carried Hinata to one of the interrogation rooms and sat her on a chair, strapping her in. Pulling another chair around to sit across from her, he rested his hands on her temples. He usually preferred backup when going into another mind, just in case there was something truly nasty lying in wait, but for what he was going to do he'd be fine on his own.

Closing his eyes and slipping into Hinata's mind, he opened them again to find himself floating in a dark space. Before he could probe any farther, he found himself facing a child-Hinata, sitting with her knees drawn up and face buried in them. As he approached, a voice began to speak, gradually getting louder.

Failure…Disgrace…Worthless…Dishonor…

It took Inoichi a moment, but he finally identified the voice as belonging to Hyuuga Hiashi. Wincing slightly in sympathy for the child in front of him, he marshaled his forces and began to push. It wouldn't be pleasant, but Hinata would probably thank him later. He hoped.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Shino came back to awareness to find himself without his coat and goggles and strapped to a chair. Blinking a couple of times in the light, he managed to note that the room was bare concrete and plain tile when a figure moved into his line of vision. He recognized Morino Ibiki in his distinctive coat and bandanna, and bowed his head slightly. "Ibiki-san."

The big man paced forward until he was standing over the boy. "Hey kid. I've got some questions for you, and you're going to tell me what I need to know."

Shino refused to look up at the man. "Am I, Ibiki-san?"

With a bark of laughter, Ibiki turned away and picked up something Shino couldn't quite see out of the corner of his eye.

When Ibiki pulled a chair around some time later and sat down backwards, facing him, Shino blinked a few times and resisted the urge to cough. "You're a stubborn one," the big man told him. "Perhaps I'm wasting my time with you. Perhaps I'd get better results asking your pretty little teammate."

Red-hot rage rose unbidden from Shino's gut, and he didn't quite control himself in time to stop his arms from jerking in the restraints.

Ibiki grinned, like a cat spotting an injured mouse.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Grumbling slightly to himself, Inoichi examined the outer levels of Shino's mind. This was exactly why he hated going after Ibiki for something like this – the other man had gotten the boy all riled up and he wasn't going to be able to get a good idea of the boy's base state. Sighing slightly, he probed the outer defenses and found them to be just as solid as he'd expected, given the necessary emotional control an Aburame possessed.

Applying himself more firmly to the 'walls' between himself and his goal, Inoichi's attention was momentarily distracted by a surge of hunger from outside the mind. The hunger was followed quickly by a pressing need to action that itched annoyingly to him, disturbing his concentration a little further. Inoichi frowned. Now he remembered just why he generally avoided doing this to Aburame – the hives had their own lesser consciousness that, in the absence of attention from the host, could get testy.

Allocating some of his energy to protecting his own mind from the hives, Inoichi turned back to the other human mind.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ibiki examined the little Hyuuga girl with interest. She'd reacted typically upon waking up, eyes flying around the room to identify her surroundings, but she calmed fairly quickly for a girl her age. He started applying a little verbal pressure, and she promptly shut down, staring at the wall and not responding to his jabs.

He decided to up the ante. "Tell me, Hyuuga-chan. What about your teammates? Oh, forgive me, teammate."

Pure unadulterated shock flashed across her face for a second, before she shut down again. Ibiki hid a smile. Now he had something concrete to work with.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ibiki and Inoichi sat in Ibiki's office with Ryouken and Jakkaru, going over their notes from the evaluation.

"Shino is about the norm for Aburame," Inoichi was saying as he nursed a cup of herbal tea. "Pretty closed off and difficult to break into, and distracting to boot." He grimaced. "I'd forgotten how headache-inducing an Aburame can be. They're so tied into their insects that if you're not careful you get caught up in the hive's instincts. He's got two of them too, which does not help. On the other hand, once you break in he's surprisingly volatile."

Ibiki nodded. "Pretty levelheaded when confronted, but he's got a mouth on him. That'll get him into trouble. He can largely ignore a threat to himself, but the minute his teammate's threatened you can get a rise out of him. That's another trouble spot. I'd recommend deploying them separately, but you say you want them as a pair." He glanced over at the hunter-nin.

There was the hint of a wry smile in Ryouken's voice. "That had been a concern of ours," he said calmly.

Jakkaru sat forward in his chair. "The thing is, Ibiki-san, that they work best as a pair. Oh, they're pretty good on their own, could keep up with any other trainee, but give them a couple of years experience in the field and they'll be hunting rings around me." He shook his head. "Their teamwork's insane."

"Hm." The scarred man returned to his papers. "Your little Hyuuga is interesting indeed. She shuts down when you put pressure on her, which is not the norm for her clan. Just stares through you like you're not there. It's a good strategy in theory, but if she's given a strong enough shock she slips and a smart interrogator can use that. Like Aburame, her team's a weak point. She also reacts to anything around her eyes, particularly if it's sharp, but that's typical in most Hyuuga, particularly the main house."

Taking another fortifying gulp of tea, Inoichi picked up the thread. "She's got perhaps the strangest mental shields I've seen, but they've got a number of glaring weaknesses if you concentrate. That being said," he looked at the hunter-nin, gaze steady, "I now know exactly why Yuuhi Kurenai dislikes Hyuuga Hiashi so much."

"Anyway," Ibiki interrupted, "You'll be happy to know that we can pass them. However, I want them working with someone from T&I, and I'd like to check up on them again just before you activate them."

"Thank you, Ibiki-san." Ryouken bowed slightly in his chair. "Might we borrow Mitarashi Anko? She's already given the puppies some instruction and we were hoping she might do some persona work with them."

Ibiki snorted. "If you want her, then have at it. I don't think I'd be able to keep her away."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

When Hinata and Shino surfaced again, it was to find themselves lying on beds in what looked like a room at a clinic. Pushing himself upright slowly, Shino winced a little at the intensity of the light. Somebody passed him a pair of shades and as he put them on he recognized Jakkaru sitting in a chair between the beds. Hinata was on the other, already sitting up.

"Now that you're awake," the hunter-nin began, "I can give you something of an explanation."

"Explanation?" Shino asked, rubbing his temples with one hand. He could feel a headache building.

Jakkaru nodded. "Part of being a member of ANBU is knowing that the odds of your mission going wrong are very good. Because of that, we have to make sure our incoming members aren't going to lose it when everything goes to hell."

Hinata gasped a little, then flushed when both of the males looked over at her. "Th-that's why you made it sound like we'd failed." She said quickly, playing with the sleeve of her coat. "You wanted us off-balance."

"That's part of it," Jakkaru confirmed. "We deliberately put you on a burnout regimen – good job lasting as long as you did, by the way, you passed the average by a good three days – so that by the time we hit you with your supposed failure you were exhausted and not thinking too clearly."

"That can't be all of it," Shino interrupted, frowning. "If all you wanted was to make us perform under pressure, then why hand us over to Ibiki-san?"

"Because we want you to understand what happens when a mission goes wrong." All three looked up to see Ryouken standing in the door. "You'll run yourselves to exhaustion doing everything you can possibly think of to shake your pursuer. You'll have to deal with the feeling of failure crushing down on you. Should you be taken alive by a non-allied village, you'll be handed over to their equivalent of Ibiki." The dark eyes in the white mask stared down at Hinata and Shino. "Still think you can handle this, puppies? If you want to back out, do it now. Tsunade'll assign you to diplomatic and general tracking missions and you can go back to being semi-normal chuunin."

There was a moment of silence. "You said puppies, Ryouken-taicho." Hinata said softly.

"That's right."

Shino and Hinata traded a look, communicating silently with slight gestures.

What do you think?

I want to keep going.

We can do this.

Shino looked back at the two hunter-nin. "When and where do we report next, Taicho?"

"Day after tomorrow, 09.00, at the usual place," Ryouken told them. It was impossible to see with the mask, but it sounded like he was smiling. "Don't bother to bring more than the basics, we'll be doing something a little different."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Anko sulked at her favorite dango stand. Kurenai had turned out to be on a mission, so she couldn't share the news that their two favorite chuunin were tackling one of the first major ANBU checkpoints, and she knew full well that Ibiki wouldn't let her see the reports until the Hokage had had a chance to read them.

A pebble dropped onto the table next to her nearly empty plate and Anko snapped her head up, fully intent on castigating whoever had nearly desecrated her dango. The words died in her throat as she caught sight of a masked face looking down at her before the hunter-nin nodded sideways and launched himself off. Settling her bill and snatching up the last dango stick, Anko quickly followed.

Turning down an alley, she found the ANBU waiting for her. "Yeah?"

"Anko-san, the hunter-nin wish to borrow you."

Anko blinked. "Borrow? For what?"

"Some of our trainees will need training in personas and disguises. A number of our members could stand to brush up on their skills as well. You are well-experienced with disguises and infiltration, and we would like you to work with our trainees. If you have the time and inclination, we would appreciate any help you could give our active members as well."

"An' I'm sure the fact that I already work with your trainees wasn't lost on ya?" Anko couldn't help the grin. She'd not had a chance to play with her kohai in nearly three months, and was looking forward to this.

"Of course not. Shall we say training ground 23, 11.00, on the day after tomorrow?"

Anko hummed slightly under her breath. "So long as Ibiki doesn't need me for anything, then sure."

"We've checked with Ibiki. He said we were welcome to borrow you."

One of Anko's unholy grins crossed her face. "Then I'll see ya there."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Walking back to the Inuzuka household from the clinic, Hana stopped and blinked for a moment, half wondering if she was imagining things. She'd not seen Hinata or Shino for months, none of the clan had as far as she knew. But no, there they were, pacing along the road together, heads close as they talked quietly. A slight grin crept across Hana's face as she leaned down towards her four-footed companions. "Go get 'em, guys."

Needing no further encouragement, the Haimaru triplets took off, weaving around the chuunin's legs. One managed to pin Hinata against a fence and began trying to lick her face, while the other two actually knocked Shino over and proceeded to climb all over him.

"Caught you!" Hana crowed, laughing as she watched her ninken enthusiastically greet her clan-cousins.

"It appears you have," Shino said dryly, ducking to avoid one of the triplets as they attempted to wash his ear.

"Alright guys, let them up," Hana laughed, waving the dogs off. "We'll take them to visit the clan." She mock-glared at the younger teens in front of her. "You've disappointed the kids, you know," she informed them. "Every week, 'When are Hina-neechan and Shi-niisan coming to play?' You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Hinata practically deflated. "I-I'm so sorry Hana-san, it's just – "

Hana cut her off. "Hey, hey, I was just giving you a hard time, okay? Come on, we'll go to the clan houses, the kids will get a chance to say hello, and everything will go back to normal, alright?" She wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders, coaxing the younger girl along as one of the triplets leaned slightly against Shino's legs, nudging him after them.

The toddlers among the Inuzuka were thrilled to have their 'cousins' back, and the retired chuunin who'd been put on babysitting duty was equally happy for a break. Hinata and Shino ended up spending the rest of the day there, as Tsume walked in as they were attempting to excuse themselves and insisted they stay for dinner.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Kohai mine!"

Shino and Hinata ducked automatically as their senpai appeared behind them. Jakkaru, leaning against a tree in front of them, chuckled. "As I was saying," he told them, "you are at the point in your training where you get to learn alternate methods of finding your marks. There will be a lot of hunting through the wilderness, but there will also be times when you need to go undercover or infiltrate an organization to get at them. To that end, Mitarashi-san has kindly agreed to help us teach you what you need to know."

"Yep!" Anko chirped, slinging her arms around the two chuunin's necks. "This is gonna be fun."

And it was fun, in its own way. The first few days were spent in the village proper, observing the people around them and answering Anko and Jakkaru's demands for observation. "The details are what make and break a persona," Anko kept insisting. Jakkaru had his own mantra. "It's not enough to pretend to be somebody, if you're going for deep cover. You need to actually be your new identity."

Before long, the trainees were being given roles to play. "Truculent civilian." "Refugee." "Naïve teenager." "Flirt." "Overconfident idiot." "Carefree noble." It was slow going. Both of them could pull off the quieter roles without too much trouble, but they kept hesitating when told to play a more expressive part. Finally, in frustration, Anko applied for a week's leave, which she got, and dragged them to the capitol city.

Every day she took them out into a different part of the city, and had them play someone else, sometimes as a pair, sometimes alone. She also began to teach them ways to change their appearance without using ninjutsu or genjutsu – makeup, clothing, ways of moving, even speech patterns. At the end of the week, Anko pronounced them "passable"…then proceeded to chase them back to Konoha in a game of Anko-style tag.


A/N:

Yes, I seem to keep drawing dog references. No, only half of them are intentional – the rest just sort of happen.

Thank you everyone for the sympathy you showered me with last chapter. It helped so much.

Next Chapter: Invisible Identities