["Mistletoe"- Kiss Me; Affection; To Surmount Difficulties]


Kinoto stretched, letting out a deep sigh as he did. His ribs had finally healed enough for him to take on some missions- he still got headaches sometimes, but they were easy enough to shrug off. Unfortunately, it seemed that the more mobile he became, the more brooding Raiden acted.

He didn't get it. Raiden refused to talk about his last mission, and it was making something itch in the back of Kinoto's mind. Raiden had always told him everything (even the stuff Kinoto really wasn't interested in), and he should! They were partners, they were supposed to support each other. He couldn't do that if Raiden shut himself off.

Kinoto glanced over to the opposite side of the room, where Raiden was still in bed. He could barely see the other's spiky hair underneath the covers, and he was curled up into a little ball like a child. It made Kinoto ache, sometimes. Raiden should have had the chance to be a child. But he'd made his choice, and Kinoto wasn't in much of a position to judge. He'd joined ROOT when he was only nine years old, after all. Still...

Quietly getting his gear, he closed the door behind him gently, mindful not to wake his younger partner, and headed down the hallway. As he passed by the other agents, he carefully avoided their gazes. They seemed to stare at him wherever he went, porcelain-covered faces turning to watch his every move. It was unnerving, the way most agents didn't take off their animal masks. Not unless they were in their unit's break room, at least.

Kinoto didn't bother to wear his. For one, he hated wearing that damn mask, and for two- he didn't have much of a reason to be professional with these bastards. Ever since he'd been transferred to the 'special' unit, they'd all pretty much hated him. Except for a choice few, like Izumi-san and Commander Kawauso, his unit was treated with mild disdain at best.

Whatever, none of that mattered right now. He'd been itching to go out and do some real work, especially after being cooped up so long. Perhaps Danzo would give him a retrieval mission this time, instead of an assassination? Kinoto would love if that happened.

Lost in thought, he almost walked into the door to Danzo's office, barely managing to save himself from that embarrassment at the last second. He hung back for a moment, wanting to take a breather and regain his composure, when he heard voices.

Curiosity overcoming his better judgement, Kinoto crept closer, carefully masking his chakra in order to better listen in.

"-this plan of yours just isn't giving any results, Danzo! I'm not saying that you need to abandon it, but it couldn't hurt to come up with another option."

Homura-san... One of the village elders. What was he doing here, in ROOT's base?

"What, so you just want me to walk away? Impossible. Too much has been sacrificed for this, too many lives have been lost. I have to do this, for the good of Konoha-"

"That's what you always say! For the good of the village, you are willing to destroy families, ruin the lives of countless people! I have seen your soldiers, Danzo, do not presume me to be so ignorant!"

"Yes, and who gave me those soldiers in the first place?"

"We gave you the children at risk, the abandoned, the scorned! And we did that because you you said that you would do what was best, not only for the village, but for the children as well. But you have warped them into slaves, unaware of their own circumstances or tragedy! You promised safety, old friend. Now I wonder just who you were promising it to."

"The ones who matter," Danzo replied tersely, and Kinoto reeled back, as if struck. Was that what Danzo thought of them? The man that Raiden worshipped, that had always been a kind, if distant authority figure?

Ah, fucking hell.

"Perhaps it is time that ROOT came out of the shadows," Homura-san said firmly, though not without a small bit of disgust.

"That won't be happening," was the calm reply. "My soldiers could not speak of the truth even if they wanted to."

"Maybe it won't be your soldiers who decide to come clean."

"Don't forget, now," and Kinoto could practically see the sneer that must have been on Danzo's face in that moment, "that if ROOT is discovered, those who helped in its formation will be similarly uncovered. Am I understood?"

"Are you threatening me?" Homura-san said, sounding incredulous at the very thought.

"Not yet."

After that, there was only silence. Kinoto stood there with bated breath, until he heard someone heading towards the door. He cursed inwardly, but managed to duck away before the person emerged.

At a loss of what else to do, he stumbled back to his quarters, collapsing onto his bed after shutting the door with shaking hands. Raiden still hadn't awoken, but the time between his departure and his return seemed to have stretched to years.

There was so many things that could be addressed because of that little exchange... But the one that stuck with him the most- my soldiers could not speak of the truth even if they wanted to.

Opening his mouth, Kinoto said; "Shimura Danzo is running an underground military force known as ROOT."

Or at least, he tried to. Nothing would come out, and when he tried a second time, he got a splitting headache. After he let out a frustrated groan at the failure, Raiden finally began to stir.

The younger teen looked over, blinking blearily. "H-huh? What's up? Something wrong?"

For a moment, Kinoto almost said it. But one look at Raiden's innocent, if fairly sleepy face, was enough to still his tongue.

"Nothing," Kinoto lied, shifting to stare blankly at the white ceiling. "It's nothing."

/=\

"Woohoo!" Naruto cheered, throwing his arms up in the air out of excitement. "Go Kiba! Kick ass, dog boy!"

Down in the arena, Kiba puffed up in confidence, waving at his childhood friend. "Just watch me, Naruto! I'll be chunin in no time, so you better catch up quick!"

At that, Naruto booed, sending Mitsuki into a fit of laughter from where he was sitting beside him.

"That jerk," Naruto pouted, sitting back down in his seat with a huff. "It's not like I wanted to stay behind! It's all that stupid Sensei's fault, forbidding us from participating this year."

"Now, now, we have to be fair," Mitsuki chided, hiding his grin behind one of his long sleeves. "Obito-sensei was right. We just aren't experienced enough to go for chunin quite yet. We'll be able to join in next year."

"Humph, maybe," Naruto allowed, crossing his arms over his chest. "But then why does Kiba's team get to try? They're even worse than us!"

"Don't lump me in with you two," Sasuke butted in from Mitsuki's other side, a slight scowl twisting his facial expression. "I was fully prepared to take the exams this year. Obito-nii would've let me take it alone if he could."

"Not a chance," Mitsuki said bluntly. "You can't take the exam alone, and our teamwork is shitty. We weren't going to take the exams this year, just face it."

Naruto and Sasuke pulled simultaneous faces, looking away from each other in irritation.

"Maybe if Sakura was still on the team with us..." Sasuke muttered spitefully.

Naruto silently agreed, before seeing the way Mitsuki stiffened at the remark. Then he bristled, realizing how that must have been taken by his more literal-minded teammate.

"Shut up, Teme!" he snapped, standing up so as to glare at Sasuke more effectively. "It's not Mitsuki's fault we're not in the exam. Honestly, it's our fault for not working with him effectively. We worked well with Sakura-chan, but now she's apprenticed to the Old Lady. Our rhythm was kinda thrown off, but we've gotta do this together if we want it to work. Don't pin the blame on him!"

"I-" Sasuke seemed thrown off guard for a moment, genuinely stunned. He regained his composure in a second, standing up as well. "I wasn't blaming anything on Hatake, dobe! I was just saying, that if Sakura was still with us then we wouldn't have had to-"

He cut himself off, eyes widening. He must have realized, belatedly, just what he'd said. Sasuke sat back down, studiously avoiding their gazes. Mitsuki was watching the fight below with a tight expression, yellow eyes tracking the action like it was the last thing he would ever see.

"I didn't mean it like that," Sasuke said quietly. All the anger drained out of him at the soft confession, Naruto slumped back down in his chair.

"I know, Sasuke-san," Mitsuki said stiffly.

The trio sat in uncomfortable silence for awhile, watching as the fights went on below them. Naruto scrambled for something to say, some joke or prank to pull. Luckily, the matter was taken out of his hands.

"Well, what happened to you kiddos? Sudden downpour?"

"Kaa-chan!" Naruto yelped in surprise when his mother appeared behind him, ruffling his hair. "I thought you were sitting up in the Kage box with Tou-san? Why are you here?"

"Don't sound so excited," Kushina rolled her eyes, plopping down in the empty seat next to her son. "Those old farts were being boring, so I decided to come find you. Having a good time?"

"Eh..." he shrugged, uncomfortably aware of his silent teammates watching. "Wish we could've been in the exams, but it's no big deal. We'll join next year, and kick everybody's asses!"

"That's the spirit!" she laughed, throwing a wave of her red hair behind her. "Don't let it get you down, boys. The only reason Kurenai-san's team got to participate was because they begged for it. And Gai's team already waited a year, so they had been promised they could try this time. Once you go out into the field a bit more, take some more difficult missions, then you can join in, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto groaned, slouching in his seat. "We know, Kaa-chan, Sensei already gave us the lecture. It would just be so much more fun if we could do it now."

"Well-" Kushina cut herself off, attention suddenly on the still-ongoing match. "Woah there, looks like Kiba's run into a tight spot!"

"What?" Naruto immediately jumped out of his seat, practically leaning over the railing to try and get a better view.

Kiba was going up against some weird Suna shinobi wearing a hood with cat ears, and he'd been doing okay for the beginning part. But now, the Suna shinobi's puppets were pinning a red-furred and growling Akamaru to the ground with sharp, lethal swords. Naruto winced. Unless some miracle happened, this was definitely the end of the match. There was no way Kiba would put his partner in danger for an exam, of all things.

Naruto had kinda seen this coming, if he was being honest. He'd never say it out loud, as despite popular opinion he did have some tact, but Kiba had already looked like shit before he even got into the arena. The Forest of Death must have taken a lot out of him.

"Does it look like the proctor is going to step in?" Mitsuki said in concern.

"Yeah, he's watching carefully," Sasuke answered distractedly. There was still a tiny bit of worry on his face, despite the confident tone. Sasuke would never be best friends with Kiba, but they had grown up together.

Naruto scanned the arena, searching for the shinobi who was proctoring this event. Shisui had been the overseer for the first test, and Dan-ojisan had taken care of the second one. He half expected it to be another member of his extended family, like Genma or even Aoba, but when he finally caught sight of the jounin, he had no idea who it was.

Which, okay, wasn't impossible, but still.

"Kaa-chan, who the heck is that guy?" He pointed out the pony-tailed shinobi at his mother's inquiring noise.

She studied him for a moment, expression momentarily serious, before it returned to her normal jovial one. "Not a clue!"

Naruto choked a little at the nonchalant tone, and he could hear his teammates sighing behind him. "What the hell, not even a little?"

"Not even the tiniest bit."

"...Huh," Naruto mused, before putting it out of his mind. "Well, who cares! So long as he doesn't let Kiba get killed I don't give a shit anyway."

When the Suna teen had a snarling Kiba pinned down in a headlock, that seemed to be the final straw.

"He's stepping in," Sasuke said, and Naruto knew that he would deny it, but he could hear the smallest amount of relief in his voice.

"Match, end!" the dark-haired jounin called out, jumping down to the two's location to pull them apart. "Sabaku no Kankuro is the winner!"

The crowd all cheered, a tall blonde girl whooping excitedly and a redhead beside her making a giant thumbs up with his sand. If Naruto remembered correctly, they were Sabaku's as well. Siblings, maybe? It was a bit weird for a team to be made out of all the same family members, but it wasn't unheard of.

"Nice try, Kiba!" Naruto called out, cupping his hands around his mouth so that he could be better heard. "Next time, you might even last longer than ten minutes!"

When Kiba flipped him off, Naruto put his worries aside. He was gonna be fine, and Akamaru looked alright too. That was all that really mattered.

"How did the rest of his team do?" Kushina asked, watching the proceedings with curiosity. "I wasn't paying attention in the beginning, since I was busy harassing Yahiko-kun, so I think I missed them."

"Hinata-san won her fight against the Kumo genin quite handily," Mitsuki answered gladly. "There's a decent chance of her being promoted, I believe. She just has to learn to stop hesitating quite so much, as other than that she is an excellent shinobi. Shino-san won his fight against an Uzushio genin without any trouble at all. I definitely think he'll be promoted. He needs to learn to communicate a little better, but it won't be enough to bar him from ranking up."

"Sounds good to me!" Kushina exclaimed, before she tugged Naruto to the side slightly, leaning in.

"Alright, what's really going on?" she asked quietly. "You guys have been all doom and gloom since before I even got here."

Naruto shrugged, not quite sure of the words to accurately describe the situation. "We just... haven't figured out how to work as a real team yet, I guess. Mitsuki's been with us for a few months, but still..."

Kushina studied him for a moment, giving him that piercing stare that all parents and teachers seemed to have, before she sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Just talk to each other," she advised seriously. "So many problems could be cut off if people just gave each other that one small bit of trust. They're your teammates! If you can trust them with your life, you can trust them with your heart. Understand?"

"I think so," Naruto replied slowly, brow furrowing in thought.

Kushina smiled warmly, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Good. I'm counting on you, Naruto. Now, I'm going to go make sure that your father hasn't been tricked out of the Hokage hat while I've been gone, so have fun!"

When his mother flounced away, Naruto turned to face his teammates, courage emboldening his actions.

"Hey, Mitsuki," he said seriously, clasping the other genin's shoulder. "You're my friend, and our teammate. Don't forget that, okay? We care about you. Even if your dad is creepy as fuck."

"Hn... Agreed," Sasuke grunted, an almost embarrassed look on his face.

Mitsuki let out a small sound of protest at the dig to Orochimaru, but the tenseness in his body noticeably relaxed. "...Thank you."

This time, when the three of them turned to watch the final exam, it was with a great deal more cheer.

/=\

Kushina strolled through the stands, watching as all the people cheered. It was a nice image, seeing everyone having a good time and all of them generally getting along. She wished she could see it more often.

Soon enough, she was back in the Kage booth. Pretty much everything was exactly how it had been when she'd left; Yagura arguing with his guards and trying to fend off Mei's exaggerated advances, Yahiko simultaneously cheering on his genin and needling Jiraiya with his two companions, and Rasa sitting with his head in his hands.

"Hey," she greeted as she passed by him. "Congrats on the win for your son!"

He only groaned. The Kazekage had been looking like he was steadily growing a migraine the longer he stuck around the loud and boisterous group his fellow Kage made.

The Raikage had wondered off a while ago to try and locate his (once again) wayward brother, and the Iwakage had declined to come. So she didn't feel guilty about not interacting with them, and instead headed straight for her husband.

Minato perked up like a blond puppy at seeing her approach, beaming happily. "Kushina! How's Naruto doing?"

"Oh, fine," she replied, reaching out to intertwine their fingers. But she couldn't let herself be distracted, so she pulled him away to the edge of the booth, away from the other Kages.

"What is it?" Minato asked in a low tone, proving he wasn't quite as silly as she liked to say he was.

"The proctor," she muttered under her breath, subtly gesturing to the shinobi in question. "Who is he?"

Kushina honestly hadn't given it much thought until Naruto brought it up, but she really didn't know who that man was. And that was a problem.

"Shin. He was recommended by Danzo, and I permitted it to keep him complacent," Minato answered, brow furrowing in a way eerily reminiscent of his son. "I will admit, however, to not knowing much about him. I think this is the first time I've ever even seen him. Do you have some concerns?"

Kushina shook her head. This wasn't the place. "No. I won't go so far as to say it's paranoia, but I don't think that it's as serious as I first assumed. We can discuss it later."

Minato nodded, and the two headed back to their seats, hands linked and a strange, uneasy feeling rising up in their chests.