Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.


Chapter Twelve: The Disaster

October 10, 0292 AtD, 9:23 PM
Unnamed stretch of Forest, Southern Cha no Kuni

Twelve year old Kojimaru leaned over the pot of rabbit stew that was suspended over the campfire and gave the bubbling brew a deft stir with his ladle to prevent the meat and vegetables from sticking to the bottom and burning. Satisfied that he was not in danger of burning their supper, the artificial redhead sat back against the log he was sitting next to as he let his eyes drift over his teammates that were scattered about the campsite. In the background, he could hear the sound of heavy rain crashing down on the awning that he and Tenzou had hastily grown over their camp when a nasty storm had cropped up out of nowhere just a half an hour earlier.

His eyes touched on Tenzou first; his brother in blood and arms and his best friend. The slightly younger boy (by a full ten days) was still taller than Kojimaru by several inches though they weighed about the same since Kojimaru had grown stockier over the years thanks to his weaponsmithing lessons. Next there was fifteen year old Yamashiro Aoba; the unofficial adopted older brother and close friend of both younger boys. The older Chuunin towered over both twelve year olds by nearly a full foot (or well over a foot in Kojimaru's case) and that wasn't even counting the extra six inches that Aoba's gravity defying hair added to his overall height.

Then there was Kanden Tekuno; the team's second in command and something of a favorite uncle and mentor to all three boys. Tekuno was a rather easy going man that had confidence and ingenuity in spades. And lastly there was Shirakumo Hayama; the team's Jounin sensei for their first five years together and for the last year, their team's official teichou. Hayama was rather strict and unmoving on the surface but the man was not cruel in his methods or in his nature. He also truly cared about all three boys and looked out for them even as he drove them into the ground with their training.

The only one missing from the group was their part time member and Kojimaru's godfather, Maruboshi Kosuke. Kosuke only rarely ever joined them on missions these days since there wasn't really much call for a six man team. There had been some talk about Tekuno being pulled from the team as well but the Yondaime hadn't made any real attempts to break their team up. Especially when they worked so well together, maintained an impeccable mission record, and had an irreproachable reputation for maintaining their professionalism no matter what misfortune befell their team.

In the two years following the war, Team Fourteen had continued on much as they had during the war; by taking missions, fighting and capturing the handful of rogues that were displeased with the newly declared ceasefire, and training hard in order to continue improving themselves. They worked hard to help Konoha and Hi no Kuni recover from the ravages of war during that time. The first year had been the hardest but they made it through somehow.

There had even been more than a few happy occasions to celebrate; such as Shikaku's marriage to Yoshino (though that had taken place a good six months before the war ended), the Yondaime's inauguration, the Yondaime's marriage to Kushina (secret though it was for the majority of Konoha), and the scattered births of the next generation of shinobi and clan heirs. Those happy moments helped ease the grief that cloaked the village in the wake of the war. There were those that were unable to cope with their losses but on the whole, the village healed and life went on.

Smiling to himself, Kojimaru turned his attention back to their supper and prepared to give the stew another stir when he unexpectedly felt the seals maintaining his disguise shatter. He also felt something unraveling in his mind but he ignored that for the moment as he jerked his head up in shock while his eyes automatically searched out Tenzou to find that his self-claimed brother's disguise had also fallen. Tenzou was in fact staring at Kojimaru with an equally shocked and worried expression on his face.

"Teichou…!" Kojimaru cried out sharply as he jumped to his feet and snapped his eyes over to Hayama; panic and fear forming a knot in his belly at the implications of the seals failing after all this time.

"What's wrong, Koji…?" Hayama began to ask only for his question to trail off the moment he glanced up and caught sight of Kojimaru without his disguise for the first time. The man then immediately cut his eyes over to Tenzou, whose real face he was also seeing for the first time, before demanding, "What happened to the two of you?"

"Kasai-sama said the seals disguising our hair and eyes would only break upon his death," Tenzou answered in a stressed tone. "What could have possibly…?"

Hayama's lips pressed tightly together as he flicked his gaze back and forth between the two boys as he took in the differences in their appearances; Kojimaru's changes being the most drastic though he recognized the pre-teen's leaf green eyes after having caught brief glimpses of them through his disguise from time to time whenever Kojimaru felt particularly emotional.

"Do either one of you have a means of reapplying the seals or failing that, disguising yourselves without resorting to a henge that could be easily dispelled?"

"H…hai, teichou," Kojimaru answered after swallowing the bulk of his panic so that it settled like a rock in his stomach. "Our guardians taught us how to draw our specific seals while we were still in the academy and we in turn taught each other how to draw both sets so that we would both know how to do them if one of us couldn't for any reason."

"Good, as soon as you salvage our supper so we can eat, I want the two of you to reapply the seals."

"What about…?"

"There's nothing we can do out here in the middle of nowhere," Hayama pointed out before Tenzou could even finish voicing his question. "It is also important that the two of you regain the features that you've worn for the last eight years. While Tenzou's changes aren't that drastic; Kojimaru's are fairly startling. Drawing attention to yourselves now, when it appears that there is something happening back in the village, will only cause more problems in the long run.

"Wakatta, Hayama-teichou," Tenzou and Kojimaru replied in unison.

Kojimaru then spent several minutes salvaging the stew (which thankfully hadn't been completely ruined though it had developed a telling hint of burnt vegetables and meat in the flavor). An extra couple of dashes of pepper helped hide the small mishap with the meal and the five of them ate in silence; their thoughts firmly focused on any number of scenarios that might be playing out back at the village.

As soon as they finished eating what little they could stomach, Kojimaru and Tenzou rinsed out their bowls and moved off to one side of the clearing so that they could reapply their disguise seals. A short conversation conveyed through a single glance had the two of them facing one another as they simultaneously applied the seals to one another. Sure, they could have done their own seals but it was easier to do each other's so they didn't have to account for the reverse image the mirror would show them. It also allowed them a measure of comfort to know that they would always know that the other was alive and safe so long as their seals remained intact.

Once they'd finished drawing the seals, they activated each other's disguise. Kojimaru watched as Tenzou's hair faded from medium brown to dirty blond while his eyes changed from the color of dark maple syrup to thick honey even as he felt his scalp and eyes tingle as his own hair shifted from black as sin to blood red while his eyes shifted from deep green to deep blue. At the same time, Kojimaru felt a part of his mind being locked away once more but he soon shook off the odd sensation in favor of putting away the simple sealing kit he carried with him on missions.

"Good work boys," Hayama stated as he approached the pair and studied their faces just as intently as he'd studied their undisguised faces nearly an hour earlier. "I don't see any flaws or discrepancies in the disguises; which can sometimes happen when two people draw the same exact seals."

"Because everyone's handwriting is unique and even a pair of characters that look identical can have small differences that stand out if you know how to look for them," Kojimaru recited by rote as the memory of one of Kosuke's long ago writing lessons briefly surfaced. "It took well over a year before Kosuke-oji thought my recreation of Ka…Kasai's seal was adequate and another two years before he considered it good enough to pass muster. I've drawn both of those seals so many times that I could draw them in my sleep."

"My hand aches just thinking about those practice sessions," Tenzou added with a slight shudder that Kojimaru copied a split second later before they both snickered weakly because they'd been the ones to make those lessons far worse than they originally were by learning how to recreate each other's seals.

Twenty minutes later, Kojimaru was curled up in his sleeping bag with his eyes closed in an attempt to get some rest. His thoughts and fears just wouldn't stop chasing one another around inside of his head though; the mere knowledge that Kasai was dead inevitably leading to traitorous thoughts of returning home to find Kosuke dead. He knew his godfather was strong and that he could take care of himself but Kasai had been just as strong, if not stronger, and he was dead now.

He wasn't afraid of being alone; he knew that Tenzou would be there for him so long as his brother drew breath but Kosuke was Kojimaru's anchor and he just didn't know what he'd do if he lost his godfather. His godfather was also the one that kept his nightmares of his time as a captive of Orochimaru at bay. Kosuke's long ago promise to protect him and keep him safe from the traitor had been the tether that had kept him grounded in reality at a time when he could have so easily drowned in his terrible memories.

A half strangled whimper slipped passed his guard and Kojimaru felt himself shaking under the smothering weight of his fears. The sound of fabric shifting across the dirt followed by the feel of a warm body pressing up against his snapped Kojimaru out of his self-destructive thinking and he instinctively turned over and curled into Tenzou; the twelve year old both seeking and offering comfort since he knew that Tenzou had the same fear as he did. A shaky calm fell over both boys as they clung to one another and clung to the hope that everything would be fine when they returned home.

Seated with his back against a tree just a few feet from the troubled duo, Aoba sadly watched over his little honorary brothers; the fifteen year old well aware of just what dark and terrible nightmares still haunted his teammates to this day – though they usually hid their insecurities far better.


October 12, 0292 AtD, 10:09 AM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

The approach leading up to the main gates of Konoha looked much as it always had upon their return to the village after a mission. The view would have been reassuring to Team Fourteen if it had not been for the disquiet that clung to the forest surrounding the military village. On top of that, the very air surrounding the village was oppressive and filled with the lingering traces of foul chakra that set the entire team on edge. The closer they got to the village the larger the knot of worry in Kojimaru's belly grew.

Any relief they might have felt at being home again fled the moment they were close enough to see the extensive damage that had been done to the village and parts of the surrounding forest. All three Chuunin stumbled to a stop and Kojimaru actually let out a strangled whine as his eyes fell upon the great stretch of wall that had been destroyed along with a large track of apartments and homes and a great stretch of the forest outside of the village. Every where he looked, he could see bandaged shinobi and civilians moving amidst the rubble salvaging what they could and hauling the rest of the debris off to the landfill or the recycling center depending on what it was.

The grief that clung to the village was palpable and exceeded only by the lingering fear and anger that filled the air.

It took two full minutes before Hayama managed to prod the three young Chuunin into moving forward. When they reached the gate, Hayama held a hushed conversation with the Chuunin on duty (who was unable to provide him with any information by order of the Hokage) while Tekuno kept a close watch on the three shocked boys. Kojimaru had taken several steps in the direction of his home (the twelve year old focused on his desire to hunt down his godfather), before the normally jovial Jounin grabbed him by the shoulder and forcibly turned him towards the Hokage Tower. It tore Kojimaru's heart to pieces to delay his search just to give a mission report to the Yondaime Hokage.

The damage done to the village was even more extensive than it appeared from the outside. It literally looked like a giant being had thrown a temper tantrum in the middle of the village and jumped all around. The new scar that marred the face of the Shodai Hokage on the Hokage Mountain only emphasized the feeling of wrongness that suffused the entire village and Kojimaru found it rather difficult to breathe all of a sudden. All through the Third Great Shinobi War, Konoha had remained unmolested; a bastion of security in the sea of madness and bloodshed.

And that bastion had been breached without warning. Violently.

Tenzou shifted mid-step so that his arm was pressed up against Kojimaru's and the two twelve year olds drew strength from one another. They were still subtly leaning on one another when they passed through the gate of the curtain wall that protected the Hokage's Tower; a wall that had been partially crushed. Kojimaru's eyes lingered on the damaged stretch of wall for a moment before he tore his gaze away and stared up at the seemingly unharmed tower that housed the Hokage's office and private quarters.

Five short minutes and a short jog up the stairs had Team Fourteen standing just outside of the Hokage's office. The absence of the secretary that usually manned the desk outside of the office gave the hallway and small lobby a sinister feel. Hayama hesitated a brief moment before he knocked sharply on the door. He opened the door the moment a weary voice from the other side granted them permission to enter.

Kojimaru and Tenzou were the first ones through the door and they both stopped the instant their eyes fell on the man seated behind the desk. And while that man was just as familiar as the Yondaime, seeing him in the red and white robes of the Hokage's office was just wrong. Sarutobi Hiruzen had stepped down from his office nearly two years earlier when Namikaze Minato had been sworn in as the Yondaime Hokage.

There was only one reason that the Sandaime would take up the mantel of Hokage once more.

Kojimaru shook his head in denial. Minato couldn't be gone. The twelve year old had seen the Yondaime single-handedly crush an entire army in less than an hour. He knew there was not a single person alive that the powerful Kage couldn't defeat. The only way anyone could have possibly brought down the likes of Kasai and the Yondaime (and countless other powerful shinobi) was through treachery. The twelve year old never felt his sensei reach out and push him all the way into the office so that the rest of the team could enter the room.

"I'm certain that the last thing you wish to do is give out another explanation but what happened to the village, Ho… Hokage-sama? Where is the Yondaime?" Hayama inquired respectfully; his tongue tripping itself up over the need to address the Sandaime by his title for the first time in two years.

"The village was attacked by the Kyuubi two nights ago; Minato sacrificed himself to stop the bijuu from destroying the village entirely," the Sandaime replied after a long pause; the old shinobi looking even older than he normally did. "We lost far too many good people in our efforts to protect the village from the demon's mindless rampage."

"Ojisan…? Is he…?" Kojimaru hoarsely demanded as he took two steps forward; his eyes shining with desperation and fear as they bored into the Hokage's.

"Your godfather lives, child; though his name was listed amongst those that were critically injured during the attack…"

Kojimaru reeled back as though he'd been physically struck by the Hokage's words. Numbness washed through him and his world tilted dangerously as all of his fears came crashing down on him. When he regained his equilibrium, he found himself seated on the Hokage's couch with his head being held between his knees by Hayama.

"Are you going to be alright now, Kojimaru?" Hayama asked when Kojimaru tentatively lifted his head.

"Oji…"

"Is alive," Hayama firmly reminded him. "I will go with you to find him as soon as we are finished here. In the mean time, you need to hold yourself together; you will do your godfather no good if you make yourself sick with worry while allowing your imagination to run wild."

"Ha…hai, sensei."

"Good," Hayama replied before ruffling Kojimaru's hair. The Jounin then stood up to address the Hokage, "What are your orders, sir?"

"What is your team's current status? Were any of you injured over the course of your recent mission?"

"Aside from being shaken over the state in which we found the village upon our return, we are fine."

"That is a relief. I can give you six hours to recoup from your journey, write up your written reports, and take care of any urgent personal business before I will need your team to help clear away the rubble. You can report directly to Nara Shikaku and he will assign you to a clean up crew. Once the remainder of those teams that were out of the village on missions return, I will be making several village wide announcements; so you can expect to remain in the village for at least a week or two."

"Wakarimasu, Hokage-sama."

They were dismissed at that point and Tenzou latched onto Kojimaru's wrist and dragged him out of the office through the window where they would take to the roofs as they made a beeline for the battered building that housed Konoha's Hospital. Kojimaru heard Hayama yell after them but neither he nor Tenzou looked back or slowed down. They were halfway to the hospital when Kojimaru suddenly pulled up and yanked Tenzou to a stop.

"What are you doing?" Tenzou demanded in confusion.

"We have to find Emiko-san first. We already know ojisan is… is hurt but we also know he's alive. We need to make certain that Kisuke and Emiko are both okay as well before we go see Kosuke-oji."

"Weren't you paying any attention? Kisuke-oji was standing guard in the Hokage's office. He's fine and he would have let me know if anything had happened to obasan."

"Oh," Kojimaru replied in surprise as he allowed Tenzou to start dragging him towards the hospital once more; he hadn't even noticed that Kisuke was in the office. He'd been far too busy panicking upon hearing that his godfather had been critically injured.

When they dropped back down to the streets just outside of the hospital some three minutes later, they found a slightly annoyed Hayama waiting for them on the steps leading up into the building. The Jounin let out a small sigh and shook his head the moment he saw the two boys before he gestured for them to hurry up and get inside as he opened the door for them. Once inside of the building, Kojimaru's panic returned threefold.

He had grown to hate hospitals by the end of the Third Great Shinobi War.

And while he personally disliked it each and every time Hayama dragged him to the hospital for a medical evaluation or medical attention when his body was too exhausted to heal itself, he found his discomfort and disgust with the building multiplying exponentially over the fact that his critically injured godfather was somewhere inside of the building. Terror and horror warred within him as his teichou steered him towards the receptionist in order to find out which room Kosuke was being kept in.

By the time the three of them were standing outside of Kosuke's hospital room, Kojimaru was shaking. Hayama sighed yet again as he opened the door and shoved Kojimaru inside. The twelve year old felt his breath hitch as his eyes landed up the bruised face of his godfather. He took two stumbling steps forward as he tried not to think of how fragile (how old) his godfather looked trussed up to several diabolical machines (all medical equipment were demonic instruments of torture in the twelve year old's mind and no one would ever convince him otherwise) with his hair unbound.

A low, tortured moan was drawn forth from Kojimaru's lips when his eyes shifted down to lock onto the unnaturally shortened length of his godfather's left leg; the limb had been amputated just below the knee.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Hayama quietly assured the pre-teen as he dropped his hand down onto Kojimaru's shoulder.

Kojimaru bit his lip and jerkily nodded in response to his sensei's words. He then hesitantly crept up to the bed (his eyes warily eyeing the torture devices hooked up to his godfather) until he reached the chair beside the bed. His hands gripped the back of the chair in a white knuckled grip in an effort to stop his hands from shaking as his eyes inevitably returned to the shortened limb of his godfather's left leg. He had no idea just how long he'd been standing there before he found the courage to sit down in the chair and awkwardly latched onto Kosuke's hand; taking care to avoid touching any of the tubes and wires that had been attached to his godfather. He never noticed Hayama silently pull Tenzou from the room to give him a bit of privacy.

The young Chuunin would eventually fall asleep with his head pillowed on the bed beside Kosuke's hip with one hand clutching his godfather's hand like a lifeline.


October 21, 0292 AtD, 12:01 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Kojimaru wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees as his eyes focused on the newly scarred Monument that loomed over the Hokage's Tower while he (and the rest of the village) waited for the Sandaime Hokage to make a village wide announcement. The twelve year old was seated precariously on an undamaged section of the curtain wall that guarded the Hokage's Tower alongside a good number of the village's able bodied shinobi while the courtyard below was packed tightly with civilians and the injured.

Pressed up against either side of him in a silent offer of support and comfort were Tenzou and Aoba. His self-adopted brothers had rarely left his side since the day after their team had returned to the village; the two of them taking it upon themselves to make certain that he took care of himself. If not for their stubborn support and well meaning bullying at times, he probably would have begun wasting away at Kosuke's bedside. They were the only ones that had been able to pry him away from Kosuke's unconscious side for a shower and food during the first two days they had been back.

It wasn't until Kosuke had woken up on the morning of the third day that Kojimaru felt a kernel of hope rekindle itself in his heart. He still didn't want to leave his godfather's side and he'd actually growled at the medics more than once when they attempted to chase him off the moment visiting hours were over or when they needed to change the bandages on Kosuke's leg. After the umpteenth complaint from the medical staff, Hayama had put his foot down and hauled the over-protective Kojimaru off to the closest training ground to knock a bit of sense into the pre-teen.

Since the day his Jounin-teichou had hauled him off for an attitude adjustment, Kojimaru had only been allowed to spend a handful of hours at the hospital each day. The rest of the time, he'd been helping to repair the damage that the Kyuubi had done to the village. Like the day that Iwa and Kumo had laid siege to the village, Kojimaru and Tenzou had both dropped their disguises and donned ANBU uniforms and unmarked masks (this time under Shikaku's direction) so that they could use their Mokuton to reconstruct the damaged perimeter wall and shore up the village's defenses.

It was a rather thankless job.

Few of the villagers (shinobi and civilian alike) could understand just how much effort and chakra it took to produce the sheer volume of wood required to rebuild the walls. Most of them wanted to hound the two Chuunin into producing complete buildings in the blink of an eye to replace those that had been crushed. Sure, he and Tenzou had grown during the six years since they'd earned their hitai-ate but they were still just children and they still had a lot to learn. If not for Shikaku and his two teammates personally looking out for the pair, they'd have ended up in the hospital or the morgue due to life threatening chakra exhaustion because of the many attempts to run them ragged.

As it was, by the end of each day, the two of them were utterly exhausted. Tenzou usually ended up in worse shape than Kojimaru after they'd finished what repairs they could for the day; the taller twelve year old still had smaller chakra reserves than Kojimaru. It didn't help that the supervisors preferred Tenzou to do the building because his Mokuton was more akin to actual construction while Kojimaru's was more along the lines of natural formation. Not that it really mattered either way when it came to the wall since their work would be hidden by a layer of chakra enhanced concrete and painted to match the rest of the wall.

Kojimaru's abilities would actually be used to regrow the ruined swaths of forest both inside and outside of the village once most of the wall had been repaired; the trees considered another layer of the village's defense in that they were heavily relied upon for concealment and as an alternate path for the shinobi. They were also an important resource as the many plants that grew beneath their boughs provided food, medicines, and poisons that were difficult to grow in a garden or green house. The game animals that they hunted made their homes in the forest as well and without that extra source of food, the village would suffer because the scattered farms in the area couldn't support the population of the village on their own.

The only reason the two boys weren't draining their reserves dry on the next repair project at the moment was because of the village wide announcement that the Hokage wished to make. Kojimaru would much rather be sitting guard over his godfather to make certain nothing further happened to the man while waiting for the medics to release him.

Kojimaru was just considering the chances of sneaking back to the hospital when he was alerted to the Hokage's arrival on the balcony overlooking the courtyard by a wave of silence washing over the gathered crowd. Dropping his eyes from the stone faces of the village's venerable leaders, Kojimaru let his eyes focus on the living face of their past and current leader. And though he was too far away to clearly see the man's face, the twelve year old knew that Sarutobi Hiruzen's face would be frozen in a stern but benevolent mask that barely held his grief in check.

He'd seen that mask many times over the course of the war; the aged shinobi had worn that same look each time their team had walked into the Hokage's office for another mission.

"Tragedy has once again befallen upon our beloved village," the Sandaime intoned gravely; his voice easily carrying on the cool breeze that swirled in the October air. "Eleven days ago, our village was ravaged by the rampaging Kyuubi no Youko. Many of our comrades fell to the demon and many more were injured before the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi by sealing him into a newborn child at the cost of his own life. Our village suffered extensive damage before the bijuu could be contained though. Hard times lie ahead for us. We will have to be vigilant to protect our home from those that will try to take advantage of us in our weakened state."

The Hokage paused for a moment as he glanced out over the crowd before he continued, "We have to hide our grief and stand strong now, more than ever. We can't allow even a single one of our enemies to think they have even a ghost of a chance to hurt us more in the wake of our tragedy. As such, I am officially reinstating the wartime protocols. All able bodied shinobi with a minimum of one year's experience will be pulled from the reconstruction and clean up efforts so that they can resume taking missions immediately. You will have three hours to present yourselves to my office to receive your new team formations and your next mission assignment."

"All members of the reserve forces are hereby reinstated to active duty. All civilians between the ages of fifteen and twenty that have had at least one year of training at the Academy will be conscripted into the force. Those civilians with any medical training are asked to present themselves to the hospital to help tend to those people with minor and non-life threatening injuries. The minimum age required for entrance into the Shinobi Academy has been dropped back down to age four and the minimum graduation age once again lowered to age five."

"Effective immediately; curfew has been set at nine p.m. for all civilians and at ten p.m. for all Academy students. Any non-shinobi caught on the streets after curfew will be taken into custody for questioning; exceptions will only be made for those working the graveyard shift at the hospital, those in need of immediate medical attention, and those civilians who are leaving or returning to the village after curfew on authorized missions in the company of a shinobi. And lastly, all citizens are required to carry their identification cards on them at all times; those individuals caught without a valid identification card will be taken into custody for questioning."

"Come on, you three; let's go get our marching orders," Hayama instructed the moment the Hokage walked back into the building as the rest of the crowd began to disperse.

Kojimaru numbly allowed Aoba and Tenzou to haul him to his feet before the three Chuunin followed after their captain while Tekuno brought up the rear. Their team would be amongst the first to arrive in the lobby outside of the Hokage's office along with several other young Genin and Chuunin that had graduated from the Academy right around the same time as they had. Kojimaru was quick to note that theirs was the only complete team present with Hayama and Tekuno being the only Jounin in the group.

Shikaku stepped out of the Hokage's office just a moment later and scanned the small crowd in his office before he addressed their team, "Oh good, the five of you are already here; so nice of you to save me the hassle of hunting you down. Come on in, the Hokage is expecting you. For the rest of you; all Genin are to report to the mission desk on the first floor where they will give you your new team assignments and all Chuunin are to gather in the briefing room on the second floor where you will pick up your new team assignments and job assignments."

Kojimaru felt more than a little nervous when he stepped into the office and saw that it wasn't just the Hokage waiting for them inside. He easily recognized Jiraiya the Sennin (a man he'd only seen from a distance a few times over the past eight years bar that first time he saw the man after he'd first been rescued from Orochimaru's lab), Maboroshi Kisuke (Tenzou's adopted uncle), Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Chouza (the latter two Shikaku's teammates). There was also a rather intimidating bear of a man wearing a trench coat and a black bandana over his scalp that Kojimaru didn't know and another man in an ANBU uniform wearing Kasai's mask.

The twelve year old couldn't help but flinch when he heard Shikaku snap the door shut behind them the moment all five of them were inside of the office; his eyes never leaving the familiar trio of swirling flames on Kasai's mask. A heartbeat later, his attention was pulled from the impostor wearing a dead man's mask by the sound of the Hokage's voice as the aged shinobi addressed Team Fourteen.

"Due to the high number of fatalities and injuries that were incurred during the Kyuubi's attack a week and a half ago, it is far too impractical for me to keep a five-man squad on the active roster. As such, I am permanently disbanding Team Fourteen. Shirakumo Hayama and Kanden Tekuno; the two of you are being reassigned to a three-man Jounin squad with Mimura Hamaki. Your first assignment is to deliver urgent orders to the outposts situated along the border between Hi no Kuni and Na no Kuni."

"Once you have checked in with each of the outposts, you are to patrol that stretch of border until the thirtieth of November when you will be relieved by another team. I have already sent a Chuunin to track down and brief your final team member and he will be given instructions to meet you at the main gates in one hour."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Hayama replied as he stepped forward to take the satchel that Jiraiya held out for him. The Jounin then turned to face the three boys that he had worked with for six years now. "Even though Team Fourteen has been officially disbanded, the three of you will always be welcome to come to me if you ever need anything. Be careful and stay safe out there. And whatever you do, never stop growing and improving yourselves."

"Hai, sensei!" Aoba and Tenzou replied in unison while Kojimaru just nodded; his eyes shining brightly as he solemnly held the older man's gaze for several seconds.

"See you around, gaki," Tekuno affectionately added as he fondly ruffled their hair before he followed Hayama out of the office. "If you need me, you know where to find me."


Translations: Japanese to English

Cha no Kuni – Tea Country
Gaki – brat
Hai – yes
Na no Kuni – Vegetable Country (randomly selected country for Kusagakure to be located)
Obasan/oba – aunt
Ojisan/oji – Uncle
Teichou – captain
Wakarimasu – I understand (formal – present tense)


11-14-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.