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Chapter 12

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Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto, no matter how much I might want to.

AN: Chapter 12. There may end up being more sappy romance stuff in the next few chapters, but, for my own sanity, I will try to keep it to a minimum. I also found a web site that will provide easier translations for my original Jutsu, they still probably won't make sense to anyone who can ready Japanese, but like I said in chapter one, I just pick what sounds best to me.

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Kai grunted as his leg thudded into the side of the training dummy before pulling back and repeating the kick again. It had been three days since he had woken from his coma. After his discharge, he had wasted no time before getting back to his training, much to the doctors' chagrin. They had wanted to keep him at the hospital for continued examination, but the Hokage had intervened, saying that Kai would need to get back to his training as soon as possible or he would fall too far behind in his skills.

So, after Kai checked out of the hospital and grabbed his stuff from his apartment, he had immediately headed to the ANBU training grounds and gotten back to work. The Hokage had brought him back in for his seal training the day after, but they only reviewed everything that Kai had already been taught before Sarutobi announced that the Genin now knew everything about seals and sealing that he would be able to teach him, but the old man had sent for a new teacher to help Kai out. The only problem was that they wouldn't be able to get to Konoha for some time, so, until they showed up, Kai would be left to his own devices. Since then, Kai had been rising early every day, almost as soon as the sun rose, and immediately heading to the ANBU training grounds.

Kai had spent a little time with Naruto, mostly when they ran into each other during meal times, but the Genin had been wrapped up in his own training as well, so there hadn't been enough time for much socializing. Kai paused for a moment while his thoughts drifted wildly before settling on Ino. The Genin quickly resumed his kicking, fighting down a blush, hoping the ANBU ninja training around him wouldn't notice. He really didn't know what to think about Ino, and he didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone about it, not even Naruto.

Ever since he had woken up in the hospital, he had found his mind wandering toward the platinum blonde Kunoichi more often than he felt comfortable with, and he had no idea why. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear it, Kai redoubled his efforts at pounding the dummy into oblivion.

"If you keep that up, you're going to hurt yourself," a voice came from behind Kai, who quickly spun around to see the Hokage standing behind him with a slight smile on his face.

"Sarutobi-sensei," Kai said as he bowed slightly, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Obviously," Sarutobi chuckled, "you were too busy killing the training dummy, or were you just lost in thought?"

Kai's face turned bright red before he opened his mouth to speak, but the elderly ninja just chuckled again before waving his hand airily, "Never mind Kai. I just decided to take a break from my overwhelming paperwork to come and see how your training was going."

Kai laughed nervously as he resisted the urge to scratch the back of his head, "Everything is going fine Sarutobi-sensei; I'm just practicing my Taijutsu."

Sarutobi hid another laugh behind a light cough, "I can see that, but how is the rest of your training going, or, more specifically, your Ninjutsu training?"

"Well enough I suppose," Kai said, tilting his head slightly, "Hito's memories are gone, so I don't know exactly what all the Jutsu will do, but I still know the hand seals and the proper level of chakra flow, even if some of them are outside of my control level still."

Sarutobi nodded, "Have you tried any new Jutsu lately?"

"No," Kai shook his head violently, "I didn't want to risk it. I was afraid that one of them could be something that would destroy the training grounds even if I did keep it under control. My ninjutsu training has mostly been focused on perfecting my control over the jutsu I already know."

Sarutobi nodded once more, "That's probably for the best, but I may have a solution for you."

Kai tilted his head slightly as he forcibly relaxed his body, "What do you mean sensei?"

"I may know of someone who can help you identify these unknown Jutsu so you can classify them properly." The elderly Hokage explained as he puffed on his ever present pipe.

"Who?" Kai asked.

"Yamanaka Inoichi," Sarutobi said, closely observing Kai, watching and waiting for a reaction before slowly continuing, "Ino's father."

Kai reddened slightly when his sensei mentioned Ino, but immediately paled again when Sarutobi finished his statement, "R...Really?"

Sarutobi hid a smile behind his hand as he adjusted his pipe before saying, "Yes, he, unlike Ino, is a Jonin and has more experience with different Jutsu. He can enter your mind and look at the leftover Jutsu, and anything he doesn't recognize, he can describe to me or the rest of the village's Jonin until we find someone who can identify it."

Kai paled further still, "Cool…"

"Oh yes," Sarutobi said, smiling, "This man has enough skill to delve into your mind and discover things that even you don't know about, so it is also possible that he could find some trace of your original memories."

At this Kai perked up noticeably, "You mean, I might still have a chance to remember something?" He didn't want to get his hopes up again, but found it hard to resist in the face of this possibility.

Sarutobi nodded, "If there is anything there, Inoichi will be able to find it. But you have to realize that it is a very slim chance."

"That is more than enough for me," Kai said, all awkwardness forgotten.

The Hokage nodded, "I will try to get in touch with him and set up a meeting in the next few days," he paused for a moment before continuing, "have you met with your team since you got out of the hospital?"

Kai was caught off guard by the sudden question, but managed to recover quickly and say, "Not really. I have seen Naruto a few times, but not any of the others. I figured that Kakashi-sensei would find me if he needed anything."

Sarutobi nodded, "That is true, but you spend all your time here, and Kakashi didn't know that. He came to me earlier to ask me to tell you to meet with the rest of Squad 7 on the bridge north of the park about an hour from now. If you get going, you should have time to clean yourself up before you have to be there."

"Thank you Sarutobi-sensei," Kai said, bowing to the old man.

"Not a problem Kai," Sarutobi dismissed the Genin's statement, "It's no trouble at all. To tell you the truth, I just wanted to get away from the paperwork, and I should never let myself lose touch with my students, even if I have nothing left to teach them myself."

Kai laughed lightly, knowing that he needed to get going and bid the elderly man goodbye before starting toward the far side of the field. After a few feet however, he paused and turned back to the Hokage, "Sarutobi-sensei, do you know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"

Sarutobi looked slightly surprised by Kai's question, but nodded his head anyway, "Yes, why?"

"Well, since the clones are solid, why don't you use them to help you with your paperwork?"

The Hokage opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again and burst out laughing, "Of course! That's how he did it!"

"What do you mean Sensei?" Kai asked, taking a few steps back toward the old man.

Sarutobi continued laughing, "The Yondaime Hokage. He had a method for doing paperwork that allowed him to get it all done and still have a life outside his job, but he would never tell me how he did it. I should have guessed that he was using Kage Bunshin, it was one of his favorite Jutsu. Thank you for your suggestion Kai, I'll be sure to try that out, but you need to get going or you'll be late, and I have a feeling that you don't want to miss this meeting.

Kai waved at the Hokage, who had a strange gleam in his eyes, and turned once again before sprinting toward the far wall and jumping halfway up it in a single, chakra powered leap before wall-climbing the rest of the way up and over.

--

"Why is it that we are always waiting for him?" Naruto said once again, slowly sending Sakura closer and closer to the edge.

"It's just how Kakashi-sensei is Naruto," Sakura managed to say through her clenched teeth, "and you aren't going to make him show up sooner by complaining. You should actually be more used to it than Sasuke and I since he was training you before we even knew him."

"I know, I know," Naruto continued, sighing, "but still…"

"You want some cheese with your whine oni-san?" Kai asked as he came into earshot of the rest of his team. Sasuke was casually leaning on the railing of the bridge while Sakura was a carefully calculated distance away from him on the same side. Naruto was opposite the two of them, looking terribly bored.

"Kai!" Naruto shouted as he recognized the approaching Genin, "how are you doing? Are you alright? Is your head ok?"

"Yes, yes, and yes," Kai laughed, "I'm fine, stop worrying about me."

"I don't think you realize how shocked we were by what happened in the Wave Country Kai," Sakura said suddenly, staring intently at Kai, "you really scared us."

Kai laughed nervously as he moved to stand next to Naruto, "Sorry, I just don't want you all to get worked up over me when nothing is wrong. Everything is taken care of."

Sasuke smirked, seeing an opening, "You mean Ino took care of everything for you, right?"

Kai blushed slightly while Sasuke fought down a chuckle while Naruto looked between Kai and Sasuke with a confused look on his face and Sakura screamed, "Kawaii!"

Kai was saved from having to respond by Kakashi as he appeared on top of one of the bridge supports over the heads of his team. "Yo," he said, waving as if nothing was wrong.

"You're late Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed, while Kai sighed, grateful that the attention was off him.

"Who was the one who was just saying how we shouldn't complain about him being late Sakura-chan?" Naruto teased, which only caused Sakura to turn her stony-faced death glare upon him.

"Sorry," Kakashi said, "I met an old lady on the way here and I had to help her carry her groceries..."

"That was terribly weak Kakashi-sensei…" Kai said, looking at Kakashi questioningly.

Kakashi cleared his throat as he jumped down amongst his students, "Yes, well. We have another mission Squad 7."

Naruto practically jumped on Kakashi as he wildly shouted, "ALL RIGHT! What are we doing this time Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi frantically tried to push Naruto way, "Calm down Naruto! Everyone follow me."

--

"This is ridiculous!" Naruto shouted once again.

"Give it a rest oni-san," Kai said as he bent over to pick up another empty can that was wedged among the rocks at his feet. Squad 7 was assigned a terrific mission to follow their C turned A rank mission to Wave Country. Each of them was now in ankle deep water, picking up various items of trash that had collected in a stream that ran nearby Konoha.

This was the second D rank mission that they had taken for the day. The first was to pull up weeds in a garden belonging to one of the villagers. The only problem was that Naruto, in an attempt to do better than Sasuke and win Sakura's heart, had managed to pull up everything in the garden besides the weeds. The four Genin had not been paid for that mission, and were now forced to do this one to pay back the woman for her lost plants. Needless to say, no one was very happy with Naruto at the moment.

"But seriously, we just got back from a dangerous mission, and here we are back to stupid D rank chores," Naruto continued, blissfully unaware of the looks of anger growing on the faces of his teammates.

Kakashi, who was reading his latest Icha Icha Paradise book on the shore, looked up, "Back to work you four, you can argue and complain after you pay that woman back." Grumbling, the four Genin got back to work, constantly searching for each small bit of trash, knowing that every little bit would count toward filling their bags, and once they had filled their bags, they could stop.

--

"Nice work today," Kakashi said, "You are free to use the rest of your day however you want." It was around three in the afternoon, and Kai was sore all over. Once they had finished cleaning out the stream and paying the furious woman what they owed her, Squad 7 had been led back to the bridge they had been on earlier in the day by a far too cheerful Kakashi.

"I would suggest you use the time for your own personal training," Kakashi paused for a moment, "but you may just want to relax today. Two missions in one day that were basically manual labor can wear on you." Sasuke, Sakura, and Kai all leveled glares at Naruto, who was carefully stretching out his legs, and so was blissfully unaware of their looks. "Just remember that we are going to meet here tomorrow at noon," Kakashi said before, having delivered his final message for the day, waving once more and vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

"Well," Kai said, "I don't know about you three, but I have some Kenjutsu training to do."

This brought his teammates attention to him immediately. "Why do you need Kenjutsu training Kai," Sakura asked, "you fought so well with it before, it doesn't look like you could get much better."

"That is true Sakura," Kai said as he reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a scroll, "but my skill isn't quite where I need it to be. When I fight now, it all comes from me actively thinking about it. My current skill with my katana is based in Hito's old memories, and so I need to concentrate to be good."

"But you need it to become automatic," Sasuke said, understanding dawning on his face, "so that is why you are always training."

"Exactly," Kai said, unrolling the scroll a few feet to reveal a storage seal, "I have the knowledge, now I need to develop the reflexes to go along with them." Kai formed a half-sign over the scroll and a column of smoke immediately began issuing from the center of the seal. Then, in a larger cloud of smoke, the katana Kai had taken from Gato's bodyguard appeared in midair before the Genin twisted his hand around and grabbed it, simultaneously rolling the scroll back up with his other hand before returning it to his pouch in the same motion.

Naruto's jaw dropped while Sasuke smirked and Sakura 'oohed' her appreciation as Kai strapped the black-sheathed blade to his back. "I'll see you three later," Kai said with a wave over his shoulder as he began walking back toward the ANBU training grounds. Just as Kai reached the end of the bridge however, he was forced to stop in order to avoid tripping over a tan-colored box sitting right in the middle of the path.

As Kai watched, the box began moving around him and back along his path toward Naruto and Sakura, who now stood without Sasuke, who Kai could see rounding the corner at the opposite end of the bridge. Kai decided that he might as well satisfy his curiosity and turned back to follow the mobile box as it slowly moved closer and closer to Naruto, who had his back turned.

Sakura saw him coming and started to say something, but Kai quickly put his finger to his lips before gesturing to the box in front of him. Sakura's face contorted in curiosity as the box continued moving toward Naruto, oblivious of its two watchers. Finally, Naruto noticed that Sakura was being unusually quiet and turned toward her, only to see her looking behind him. He followed her line of sight over to the box that was now within a few feet of him.

As Kai watched, Naruto's face turned red and he quickly pointed at the box and shouted, "There's no such thing as a square rock! That's the worst disguise ever!"

Kai snickered lightly, but stopped when a voice emitted from the 'square rock.' "You're pretty smart boss, to see through our disguise like that. Just what I'd expect from my greatest rival" Suddenly the talking box exploded, forcing Kai to throw his arms up to protect his eyes.

Kai wasn't the only one suffering however, as coughs could be heard coming from within the smoke cloud. "cough I think we used cough too much gunpowder guys.cough"

Kai fought down a laugh as three figures came into view after the smoke had cleared slightly. Walking around the blast zone, Kai looked at Naruto, "Do you know them?"

"Of course he does!" one of the small figures shouted from within the smoke, "I'm Konohamaru!" A boy wearing tan shorts, a yellow shirt with Konoha's symbol on it in red, and a dark blue scarf that seemed too big for him jumped out of the smoke and struck a pose in front of Kai and Naruto.

"I'm Moegi!" A girl wearing grey pants and a dark pink shirt with a lighter pink sash jumped out and struck her own pose to Konohamaru's left.

"And I'm Udon!" A boy with tan pants and a blue-grey shirt that almost went down to his knees jumped out and took his position on Konohamaru's right, sniffing slightly when he landed, almost as if he had a cold.

"And together, we're the Konohamaru Corps.!" The three children shouted together, causing Kai to recoil slightly.

"Humph," Konohamaru crossed his arms, "pretty impressive huh?" The truth was that Kai stepped back because he was having trouble keeping himself from laughing out loud and had lost his balance, but he still nodded, fighting back further tears of mirth when he caught sight of them without smoke obscuring their figures, all three of the children were wearing goggles just like Naruto had before he graduated.

"So," Kai said once he trusted himself to speak, "are these friends of yours oni-san?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, Konohamaru is old man Hokage's grandson. We met during your hospital stay after the fight with Mizuki."

"Wait a second," Konohamaru shouted, cutting off Kai who had just opened his mouth to speak, "you're Wareta Kai?"

Kai looked down at the boy, who just barely came to his waist, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

Konohamaru just stared at him for a second before turning away and crossing his arms again, "You don't look like much; I bet I could take you on!"

Naruto face faulted as Kai simply burst out laughing, "You've certainly got a lot of energy, don't you. Sarutobi-sensei sure wasn't lying."

Konohamaru immediately turned back toward Kai," Huh? You know grandpa?"

Kai nodded, "Yeah, he was my sealing teacher until a few days ago. He always spoke very highly of you."

Konohamaru's face took on a dreamy look until Moegi poked him on the shoulder, "Konohamaru-kun, don't forget about why we were trying to find Naruto in the first place."

The Hokage's grandson shook himself slightly before turning back to Naruto, "Oh yeah! Boss, are you ready to play ninja with us?"

Kai found himself once again fighting back laughter while Sakura's face turned bright pink as she said, "A ninja playing ninja? Well that's just plain stupid."

Konohamaru immediately turned to Sakura and looked ready to start berating her, but Kai quickly stepped between them, "Hey calm down you two. Sakura, Don't worry about Naruto, he can do whatever he wants to in his free time. Besides, you aren't one to talk about stupid behavior for a ninja."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Sakura fumed, now turning her wrath toward Kai.

Kai took a step back in the face of her fury and quickly turned to Naruto, "Sorry, oni-san, I've really got to get going," before disappearing in a cloud of smoke leaving a furious Sakura to stomp off the bridge toward her house.

Naruto looked up to one of the arches overhead and said, "Nice work oni-san, I'll see you later." Kai waved to Naruto and the three children before jumping from arch to arch over to the end of the bridge opposite the side Sakura had used before jumping down to street level and continuing toward the training grounds.

His trek was once again interrupted, however, when an enraged scream suddenly split the air, a scream that was immediately followed by a higher pitched scream of terror. Kai sighed, recognizing Konohamaru's voice, and turned around before leaping to the rooftops, rapidly making his way back to the bridge. When he arrived to find no one there, Kai began to get worried. Looking around slowly, Kai tried to find some sign of where Naruto and the others had disappeared to. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. Obviously, Naruto, or more likely Konohamaru if the scream was anything to go by, had done something to anger Sakura, who had probably begun chasing them in her hormonally fueled rage.

Kai sighed; he was going to have to talk to Naruto about spreading his bad habits to others. Konohamaru was looking to become more of a troublemaker than Naruto had ever been.

It only took Kai a few moments to realize that he wouldn't be able to find Naruto and the others. They weren't on the bridge, and they could have gone in either direction. It would be nearly impossibly for him to find them without some kind of clue. Just then, another scream tore through the air, this one tinged with more fear than the first. Kai caught his breath and immediately pushed off the bridge support arch, jumping back onto the rooftops, hoping that they hadn't irritated Sakura too badly.

--

A short time later, Kai landed on a building near where he thought the scream had come from, frantically searching for his teammates and the Konohamaru corps. "Let go of me!" Kai looked down and saw Konohamaru being held in the air by his scarf by a boy who couldn't have been much older than Kai was.

The boy seemed to be trying to impersonate a cat with his full-body, black jumpsuit with what looked like human-sized cat ears jutting out of the hood which framed his makeup-painted face. He had a large bundle on his back, wrapped in bandages that also kept it strapped to him, with a tuft of what looked like some kind of straw sticking out of the top. Standing behind him was a blonde girl wearing a short kimono that was a very light shade of purple with a red belt and a large, folded fan strapped to her back.

"Let him go or I'll rip you apart," Kai looked to his right and saw Naruto standing in front of Sakura, Moegi, and Udon, all of whom looked frantic with worry.

"You know," the still unidentified cat-Shinobi said mockingly, "When I hear weaklings and wimps running their mouths like you two, it makes me want to break them." Kai silently gasped. Who was this guy, just standing there, acting like he was in charge of everything? In fact, now that Kai actually looked at the two Nin standing in the alley in front of him, he saw that they weren't even from Konoha. Their hitai-ate marked them as Sunagakure Shinobi. What were two Suna Nin doing in Konoha?

"So," a voice said quietly from behind Kai, "are you going to do anything, or would you like me to?" Kai turned around quickly to see Sasuke standing behind him, smirking slightly but still keeping a serious look on his face as he watched the scene playing out before him.

"Go ahead," Kai whispered, "I'll play back-up." Sasuke grunted his assent and quietly moved over to the edge of the rooftop before jumping to the next building and then across the alley where Kai lost sight of him.

Kai's attention was brought back down to the figures before him when the Suna Nin holding Konohamaru spoke again, "So, I think I'll start with this squirt," he shook Konohamaru, causing the boy to cry out, "and then, I'll take care of the orange one."

"You know that we don't want to cause trouble," the girl said, speaking up for the first time, "he will be here soon."

"But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun until then, right?" the boy lifted Konohamaru higher into the air and drew back his other fist. Just as he was about to hit the young Shinobi-in-training, a small rock flew through the air and bounced sharply off of the hand holding Konohamaru, causing the nin to drop the boy before cradling his injured hand in his other one. Konohamaru instantly twisted in midair to land on his feet before turning and running back toward Naruto and the others, where he hid behind the orange-clad Genin's leg.

"Who did that?" the Suna Nin demanded, looking around frantically.

"That would be me," Kai looked across the alley and saw Sasuke sitting casually on a tree branch, tossing another pebble up and down in his hand. Kai smirked; leave it to Sasuke to make a dramatic appearance.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed, "He's so cool."

Naruto, however, had a different point of view, "Why does Sasuke always have to show up just when I'm about to prove myself?"

Konohamaru turned to the brooding Naruto, "Boss, why can't you be that cool?"

Naruto looked upset as he kneeled down in front of Konohamaru, "Come on, I could have beaten that guy easily!" Konohamaru just stared at Naruto with a "yeah right" look on his face.

"Get lost," Sasuke said, standing up on his branch and crushing his pebble into dust.

"You know, you're the kind of punk I hate the most," the Sand Nin said as he reached around his back and pulled the bandaged bundle free before standing it next to him with his right hand securely grasping the straw on top, "all talk and no action."

The girl gasped, "Kankuro, your not going to use Karasu for this are you?"

"Relax Temari," the now named Kankuro said over his shoulder, "this won't take long."

"Kankuro, back off."

Kai froze. That voice had come from the opposite side of the alley, from the other side of Sasuke's tree. How had someone gotten there without being detected? Kai quickly looked up from the figures below him and caught sight of a person hanging upside down from a tree branch behind Sasuke. Sasuke himself was pale. It seemed that he hadn't had any more success sensing this guy than Kai had had.

"You're an embarrassment to our village." The boy said as he continued to level his even gaze upon Kankuro, who was visibly wilting. The boy was wearing black pants with a black T-shirt covered by a white sash that wrapped around his waist and up over his right shoulder. Across his other shoulder was a brown, leather strap that was holding a large gourd on his back. He had red hair that seemed to lie wherever it wanted to and partially obscured the Kanji for "Love," that had been written on the left side of his forehead, over his eyes, which were ringed with black, as if he hadn't slept in months.

"Uh," Kankuro quickly slung the bundle back over his shoulder and raised his hands in front of him, "Hey, Gaara," he seemed more than a little embarrassed, but Kai also felt an aura of fear radiating from the Suna Nin.

Gaara, however, seemed not to notice, "Have you forgotten the whole reason we came here?" He was still upside down in the tree, his unwavering gaze never leaving the cat-dressed Nin while his cross-armed stance gave him a look of authority that could have intimidated anyone.

The effect on Kankuro was obvious, "You see…we...uh…they…uh…they started it…They actually challenged us...you see…"

"Shut up," Gaara said coldly, his eyes narrowing as he paused, "or I'll kill you."

Kankuro paled, "Right, right, sorry Gaara. I was totally out of line…way out of line." The fear was coming off of Kankuro in waves, and Kai couldn't help but sympathize with him. The way this Gaara person had talked about killing someone who seemed to be, at the very least, a fellow Suna Nin, if not more, had sent chills down Kai's spine.

Kai was still stunned when Gaara's gaze broke away from Kankuro, and fixed right on him. "You may as well show yourself," Gaara said in his dark monotone, "I know you're there."

Kai numbly decided to follow the Suna Nin's advice before he decided to threaten his life as well. He stood up slowly causing Kankuro and Temari to flinch slightly when they saw that he had been in a position to ambush them at any moment.

"Oni-san," Naruto said, slight surprise in his voice as Kai jumped down from the rooftop, "how long have you been there?"

Kai sighed silently as he walked over toward Naruto before turning next to him and facing the Suna Nin, "Long enough Naruto, these guys are strong, especially the one in the tree."

Gaara, completely ignoring Kai now that he was no longer hiding, leaned forward slightly so he could see Sasuke before addressing him, "I'm sorry for any trouble Kankuro caused," and then, without waiting for a reply, he was engulfed in a swirl of sand and disappeared, only to re-appear in another cloud of sand behind Kankuro and Temari, "let's go, we didn't come here to play games."

Kankuro, still obviously nervous, jumped slightly, "Alright, sure, I got it."

As the Suna Nin turned to leave, Sakura decided that she hadn't gotten enough trouble from them. She roughly pushed past Kai and Naruto before shouting, "Hey!"

The retreating Nin stopped and Temari turned back to them with her eyebrow raised, "What?"

Sakura seemed to blanch slightly, but still continued on her path, "I can tell from your hitai-ate that you are from Sunagakure, and I know that Fire and Wind countries are allies, but you still can't come into our village without permission. Explain your purpose here, and you had better have a good excuse!"

Temari smiled sweetly as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a small card with her picture on it before holding it up and spoke with a voice dripping with sarcasm, "We have permission, right here. Yes, we are from Sunagakure, but we're here for the Chunin Exams, get the picture?"

Sakura blushed as the Sand Shinobi turned again and continued walking away. Just as Sakura was about to turn back to her teammates, Sasuke jumped down from his tree branch to land in front of her. "Hey," he called out, "what's your name?"

Temari turned again, "Who, me?" she said, almost posing as she gazed at the Uchiha with an expression that reminded Kai of Sakura's lust-filled gaze when she was anywhere near Sasuke.

Sasuke fought down a scowl, "No, him, with the gourd on his back."

Temari frowned slightly as Gaara turned once more to face Sasuke, "I'm Sabaku no Gaara. Who are you?"

Sasuke seemed unaffected by Gaara's dark monotone as he responded, "Uchiha Sasuke." The two Nin stared at each other for a few seconds that seemed to last a few hours before Gaara turned away again and the three Nin jumped to the rooftops, quickly disappearing from sight.

"Well, that was different," Kai said, trying to break the uneasy silence.

"Yeah," Sasuke said as he turned around, "that Gaara guy is strong. He found you but still managed to avoid everyone else's notice." Kai nodded solemnly, but not everyone was as impressed as Sasuke.

"That still doesn't mean that he could beat Sasuke-kun!" Sakura announced as she jumped to Sasuke's side and attached herself to his arm. Kai looked at Naruto and rolled his eyes. Sakura had completely immersed herself into her Sasuke adoration mode, and therefore, no longer acknowledged the existence of anyone else.

"By the way," Sasuke said, shaking the excited kunoichi off his arm, "what did you think you were doing, calling them out like that? They could have turned on us in an instant, and someone would have definitely gotten hurt, if not worse."

Sakura stared at Sasuke looking slightly dumbfounded but she quickly recovered, "Like I said Sasuke-kun, there is no way that that guy could have gotten past you."

Sasuke sighed, "Yeah, but there were three of them Sakura, what about the other two?"

Sakura paled a little, but quickly came up with an answer to that as well, "Naruto and I could have taken them on, and even if we couldn't, Kai was in ambush position."

"But you didn't know that Sakura," Kai interjected, "We don't know how strong they were; I may not have been able to help. Not only that, but Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon were in the danger zone too. They could have been hurt as well; you have to think about all the possibilities before you just act like that."

Sakura turned on Kai and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again when she found herself unable to speak. Naruto chose that time to speak up, "You could have put us at risk Sakura-chan, but we got lucky." It seemed like Naruto was trying to comfort Sakura, probably in an attempt to score some points with her so he could get her away from Sasuke. He knew that she had made a mistake, but he was trying to play it down to make her feel better.

"Yeah," Sakura said, suddenly finding her voice as she shot a grateful look at Naruto, "everything is alright now, so we don't have to worry about it." Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were following the conversation by looking at each person who talked in turn. It would have been funny if the situation wasn't so strained.

Sasuke sighed again while Kai just shook his head, but Sakura decided, once again, not to let the subject drop without a fight, "And besides," she continued when it became clear that no one else was going to speak, "since Kai was here, if anything went really wrong, then he could just go psycho like he did back in Wave, then those Suna Nin wouldn't have stood a chance."

Kai stiffened as he leveled his gaze onto Sakura, fighting down the urge to burst out against the pink haired Genin. "For your information, Sakura," Kai said evenly, trying to keep emotion from leaking into his voice, "when I went 'psycho,' as you put it, it wasn't intentional or even voluntary, and it wasn't anything I would care to repeat again. And you would know all of this if you would take your head out of the clouds and stop obsessing over Sasuke so much. You put on a face for everyone, acting like you care about others, like you care about this team, but you are only concerned with yourself and what you want to do." Kai was unable to stop talking now. It was almost as if all his frustration and anger that had gathered over the past months was finding a bit of an outlet in his venting on Sakura, and wouldn't let him stop, "The only reason that you even include yourself in anything involving our team outside of the missions and meetings is because you want to be with Sasuke, and you only focus on Sasuke. You don't care about anything else, and you have made that quite obvious to me now." Kai turned around and leapt back up onto the rooftop, leaving an open-mouthed Sakura staring after him while Naruto sadly turned away and left, followed closely by the Konohamaru corps.

Sakura saw Naruto leaving out of the corner of her eye, "Hey…wait…I…" but Naruto didn't hear her. Sakura quickly turned toward Sasuke and tried to say something, but he just shook his head and walked away as well, leaving Sakura standing alone in the alley.

--

A few rooftops away, Kai jumped down into a narrow alley between two buildings and sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands. Kai fought to keep his sobs quiet enough to prevent any attention from the nearby street, but there was nothing he could do to keep the tears from flowing.

He hadn't told anyone how much the Wave mission had bothered him, but he had a feeling that a few people had figured it out. There was something about how the Hokage and Kakashi had been looking at him recently that made Kai think they guessed that he was still troubled by it. Ino knew how much everything that had happened troubled him, but that was only because she lived through some of the effects of the mission with him, and there was something about common experiences that helped two people understand each other.

Hearing Sakura use his traumatic experience in a selfish attempt at self defense had sent him over the edge. He just couldn't help himself. He was only thankful that he hadn't broken down before he was able to get away. Maybe, just maybe, what he had said would get through to Sakura's lust-fogged mind and make her realize what she had done.

Kai sat for a few more minutes before his tears dried, leaving his eyes red and aching as his sobs slowly subsided. He still had things to do before he could relax for the day. He didn't have any more time for self pity. Groaning slightly, Kai rose back to his feet and wiped his face dry before turning and walking out onto the street and making his way to the ANBU training grounds.

--

Panting, Kai carefully slid his katana into its sheath on his back before turning and trudging over to a nearby bench. He sat down with a groan of appreciation and surveyed the last few hours work. He had systematically taken his aggression and emotion out on a ring of twelve practice dummies, with terribly destructive results. Each of the dummies had started out as a replica of a human made of wood and straw, complete with arms and legs and held to the ground through a pole that went up through the middle of the dummy up to the head.

If someone were to walk over to Kai's area now, they would see that these dummies now resembled nothing more than a few, thin bundles of straw that had been poorly gathered and wrapped before being tied to a chipped post. Kai was not normally so destructive when he practiced his Kenjutsu, and for good reason since he would have to replace the dummies from the storage shed a few yards away, but today had been a bad day and warranted a special occasion.

After resting for a few moments, Kai wearily rose from his seat and began the monotonous task of pulling the excess straw from each of the posts before taking it over to a large bin on the side of the storage shed where it would eventually be used to make more dummies. Once he had completed that part of the task, he went into the shed itself and brought some replacement dummies out, one at a time, before sliding each one onto the poles with a grunt of effort.

Kai stood back and inspected his work before letting out a sigh and returning to his seat on the bench. Once there, he drew his sword once more and placed it across his knees before reaching into his weapon pouch and pulling out a small, drawstring bag. Pulling on the string, Kai opened the bag and reached inside before pulling out a whetstone that, after he set the bag aside, he immediately began running down the sharp edge of the blade on one side, and then the other, slowly but surely bringing back the sharp cutting edge that he had dulled through his training.

This was the position the Sarutobi found him in when he sought out the Genin once more at the ANBU training grounds. Clearing his throat politely to announce his presence, the elderly Hokage walked over to Kai, "I heard that you enjoyed you team meeting," he chuckled.

Kai smiled, but continued sharpening his weapon, "Oh yeah, it was great. Naruto managed to mess up one mission, and we had to do another just to pay back the woman for her destroyed garden. So today's total came to two missions with no pay for either of them."

Sarutobi smiled, hearing the sarcasm in Kai's voice, but hid it expertly, "Yes that happens sometimes." Kai moved over on the bench to give the elder ninja a place to sit, which he gratefully took, and silence hung over both of them for a few minutes with the sole exception of the sliding of Kai's whetstone on his katana.

Suddenly, Kai spoke up, "I met your grandson today."

"Oh really?" Sarutobi asked, "And what did you think of him?"

Kai smiled again and paused in his work to look at his former teacher, "He could end up being more of a handful than Naruto one of these days."

Sarutobi feigned shock, "Oh no, spare me please!" The two ninja laughed lightly and Kai returned to his task.

"From what I hear," Sarutobi began after a few more minutes of silence, "you met more than just Konohamaru."

Kai let that sentence hang in the air while he continued sharpening his sword, only pausing for a moment to flip the blade over and continue the process on the opposite side. "We ran into a group of Suna Nin," Kai said suddenly, pausing once more, "Temari, Kankuro, and Sabaku no Gaara."

The Hokage nodded as if he already knew this, which he did. What were crystal balls for after all? "And," he prompted.

"Naruto and Sakura nearly got involved in a fight, but Sasuke intervened before it got too heated, and then Gaara showed up and put a final stop to it. After that, Sakura took a risk that might have gotten us all pounded, but they ended up leaving." Kai finished, picking up is blade once again and holding it so he could look down the edge to make sure it was properly sharpened.

Sarutobi had seen the entire event, as well as Kai's reaction afterward, through his crystal ball, but he had been hoping that Kai would be willing to talk about it without being prompted. Seeing that that wasn't going to happen, Sarutobi moved on to his next subject, "I talked to Inoichi."

Kai quickly turned toward his teacher and lowered his sword to his lap again, "I thought you said that you wouldn't be able to speak with him for a few days."

"That is indeed what I said, "Sarutobi nodded, "but in light of recent events, and not just your encounter with the Suna Nin, I decided to put a rush on it."

"How much of a rush are we talking about Sarutobi-sensei," Kai asked as he replaced his whetstone into its bag which he placed in his weapon pouch once more.

Sarutobi smiled, "He's waiting for us in my office right now."

Kai paled slightly, but nodded as he stood up and reached behind himself to remove his sheath before sliding the blade inside, "Alright Sarutobi-sensei, I'm ready when you are."

Sarutobi watched as Kai pulled out a scroll and unrolled it to reveal a storage seal, "What are you doing Kai?"

Kai paused, "Sealing away my katana."

"Why?" Sarutobi questioned.

Kai stopped, unable to find any reason at first, "Well…I can't exactly carry it out in the open all the time."

"Why not?" the Hokage said and smiled as he caught Kai off guard once more.

Kai stood in front of the Hokage with his sheathed katana in one hand and a partially unrolled scroll in the other, trying to think of some reason that he couldn't wear his sword openly. He had just assumed that he shouldn't wear such an obvious weapon out in the open unless he was on a mission or training.

"Well?" Sarutobi said, "Anything?"

Kai laughed as re rolled his scroll again and put it away before swinging his sheath back over his shoulder and re-buckling its strap, "I guess not."

"Alright then," Sarutobi smiled, "I had been wondering why you weren't openly wearing your katana. From what I could tell, you are very skilled with it, or at least more skilled than the average Genin, and you cannot rely on a tool that you have to unseal before you can use it. You may end up needing that blade sooner than you think."

Kai just chuckled and shook himself slightly to settle his katana into place before walking with Sarutobi over to the wall closest to the Hokage tower and following the elder ninja up the wall and out of the training grounds.

--

Yamanaka Inoichi was sitting in the Hokage's office, as he had been for the last several minutes. He had been asked there to help the Hokage with one of this year's Genin; one who, according to reports, was one of the more promising ones, despite a rough start.

But that was not his only interest in the boy. His wife had told him that while he had been gone, Ino had helped bring this boy, Wareta Kai, out of a coma by using their family Jutsu. No one really knew what happened during her time in the boy's head, but it had had a definite effect on each of them. Ino had been talking less about Sasuke lately, which was a shock in itself, but besides that, she would begin blushing furiously any time anyone brought up Kai or her helping him.

His paternal instincts were screaming at him that he needed to figure out exactly what was going on between Ino and Kai, and that was exactly what he planned on doing. If it was necessary, he would give the boy the father's talk and put a healthy bit of fear into him, if not, then he could at least use him as ammunition to tease his daughter.

Smiling the maniacal smile that only a parent can pull off, Inoichi patiently waited for the Hokage to arrive with Kai.

--

Kai followed Sarutobi up the stairs of the Hokage tower with a calm look on his face, but in reality, he was anything but calm. He was going to meet the father of the girl who had helped him recently, who also happened to be a girl that he had been thinking of a little too often lately. Somehow, he didn't think that Inoichi would be very happy when he found those thoughts in Kai's head.

And it was a question of when, and not if, because one of Inoichi's goals while he was in Kai's head was to try to find things that Kai couldn't. He was supposed to use his experience and skill to try and unlock any lost information, and to do so, he would have to immerse himself in Kai's thoughts and memories. In the end, Inoichi may end up knowing as much about the young Genin as Kai did himself, and definitely more than anyone else did, or at least that was what Kai's frantic mind was telling him.

But it was too late to turn back now. Kai knew that he had to get the help that only Inoichi could offer, no matter what the cost. Besides, it was only total embarrassment and the small potential for Inoichi to decide to castrate him on the spot, right? Kai paled slightly as that thought ran through his head, but still followed the elder ninja up the stairs to his office. When the two Shinobi entered the room, Kai's eyes were immediately drawn to a man sitting in one of the chairs strategically placed around the Hokage's desk. The man had turned to look at them when the door had opened, and Kai immediately recognized the family resemblance between Ino and the man in front of him now.

The man, who must be Yamanaka Inoichi, was dressed in a similar fashion to Kakashi, except his dark jumpsuit and dark green flak jacket were slightly lighter in color. Other than that, Inoichi had on a red vest that hung open in the front and stretched down to his knees and his long, blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail that fell halfway down his back. Why were there so many blondes in Konoha?

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi said, standing and bowing to the elderly ninja.

Sarutobi nodded before stepping slightly to the side and motioning for Kai to come forward, "This is Wareta Kai, the boy I talked to you about."

As Kai stepped up, Inoichi stared at him intently, trying to get some kind of a reading on him. Inoichi could read people fairly well, as could most Jonin level ninja, but even a Genin would be able to tell that this boy was petrified. The Jonin smiled kindly, trying to relax the boy, "So you're the boy that Ino helped, huh? I am her father Yamanaka Inoichi."

Kai bowed, "It's nice to meet you Yamanaka-san."

Inoichi laughed, despite his fatherly instincts, he liked this boy already, "Just Inoichi please, you don't need to use formality when we are in private."

"Gentlemen," Sarutobi said politely, "I hate to interrupt, but we need to get on with what we came here to do. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can all get back to what we should be doing; whether it's training, family time, or…paperwork." Sarutobi feigned disappointment but Kai sent him a conspiratorial smile when Inoichi looked down to hide a laugh, to which he responded with a smile of his own.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said when he had regained his composure, "Kai, if you would please take a seat, we can begin." Kai nodded and walked over to the offered chair across from the one Inoichi had been sitting in, which he took once again.

"I will keep watch over both of you for as long as it takes," Sarutobi said as he slid into the chair behind his desk.

Inoichi nodded to the Hokage and said, "Alright Kai, this will be just like when Ino entered you mind, except this time you will obviously be completely conscious. You are going to feel a slight pull when I use the Jutsu, sort of like the pressure that comes before a headache; you are going to have to relax into the pull to let me in, otherwise I may have to force my way in like I would with an enemy ninja, and that might end up causing more harm than good." Kai nodded and Inoichi raised his hands up in the proper hand sign before calling out his technique, "Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

The two ninja seated in front of the Hokage slumped and Sarutobi sighed, "I hope this helps Kai," the elder ninja then pulled a stack of papers in front of him and formed a cross-fingered hand sign.

--

"Very nice Kai," Inoichi commented as he appeared in Kai's mindscape, "Ino wasn't kidding when she said that your mind was highly disciplined."

Kai blushed slightly, but managed to hide it, "Thank you, I sort of had to obtain this level of discipline, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to succeed the way I did."

Inoichi smiled, the boy had succeeded in more than his classes if his daughter was any indication. "Alright," he said, "where are those Jutsu stored at?"

Kai led the way over to a three-drawer dresser and pulled out the top one, Inoichi walked over and peered into the drawer. Lying in a neat row was a series of scrolls, around nine of them; each scroll had a different symbol on it: fire, earth, wind, water, lightning, or ice. Reaching toward one of the fire scrolls, Inoichi removed it and opened it with a twist of his hand. The Jonin studied the scroll momentarily before smiling, Kai had organized the Jutsu so that each scroll detailed the proper hand signs, and chakra flow of each technique.

"The scrolls in this dresser are the Jutsu that I haven't identified," Kai said, pushing the drawer back in so that it was still open, but was not in danger of falling out, "the ones that I know and have used are on the rack over there." Kai pointed and Inoichi looked over to a large metal framework made of crisscrossing bars that formed dozens upon dozens of diamond shaped slots, some of which held scrolls.

Inoichi rolled the scroll up again and looked over at the beaming Genin, "This is very impressive Kai; I would never have thought to find something like this in the head of most Nin, much less a Genin."

Kai beamed at the praise, "Thank you again, is there anything you need before I zone out?"

Inoichi chuckled, "Well, if you could make me a chair it would certainly make things easier."

Kai gestured to a clear section of floor between the scroll rack and the dresser and a large armchair appeared, "How's that?"

"Great, now if you could make me a pen or something to write with I think I will be all set," Inoichi watched as Kai lifted one eyebrow, not understanding the request, "If I write what I know about each Jutsu in their respective scrolls, that should add to your knowledge of the Jutsu as well, that way you can learn about them and not even have to be here."

Since that was exactly what Kai wanted, not needing to be there while Inoichi dug through his mind just in case he came across something…interesting…the Genin eagerly nodded, "Alright," and gestured again, causing a pen to appear on top of a small table that also materialized next to the chair, "Anything else?"

"Nope," Inoichi shook his head to emphasize, "You are free to 'zone out.'"

Kai bowed to him, "Thank you again for your help Inoichi." The Jonin nodded to Kai before turning back to the drawer and pulling out several scrolls which he then took to the armchair. Kai turned away and walked over to the opposite side of the room where he sank down to the floor and sat cross-legged before beginning to meditate. Eventually, Kai lost track of everything around him and entered a dreamlike state where nothing mattered, not his past, not his friends, not even the Jonin digging around in his mind.

--

Inoichi had been working though the drawer of scrolls for several hours before he finally rolled the last one back up. There had been a few that he recognized, those few were overwhelmingly outnumbered by the ones he didn't.

Oh well, at least he was able to help the boy out some. Now he would be able to go back to his full training regiment, or at least he would be able to if he didn't get into the Chunin exams. If that were the case, then he would be smart to take it easy for a few days before the exams.

Inoichi rose from his seat and placed the still unidentified scrolls back into their drawer before closing it. The ones he knew, six of them, he placed in a neat stack on the top of the dresser for Kai to sort through later. The Genin had remained in his meditative state ever since Inoichi had begun searching all those hours ago; it seemed that the Genin wanted to think about what was going on as little as possible.

Smiling, Inoichi walked over to Kai with the intention of rousing him, but stopped when he suddenly detected something out of the ordinary. After all his years of going into people's minds, Inoichi had become fairly good at detecting things that were different from everything else just by how they felt. In a person's mind, things that felt different to someone with Inoichi's skill tended either to be things that the person didn't know about, or things that the person was trying to hide.

Since his curiosity had been aroused, Inoichi quickly walked in the direction of the disturbance and found himself approaching a bookshelf. Inoichi smiled, these must be Kai's memories organized into books. Reaching out with his senses, Inoichi tried to determine where the disturbance was coming from before finally settling on a book that was bound in red on the top shelf, just within Inoichi's reach.

The Jonin pulled the book down from the shelf and returned to his chair. Sighing lightly, Inoichi examined the book. There was no title, not that he had expected there to be one, but that did not mean it wasn't important.

Inoichi began to get excited, this was the only thing in Kai's mind that felt like this, so it was either something he was hiding, or something that might be from his past. As the Jonin began looking closer, he noticed that the bright red cover seemed to be shimmering slightly, as if it was some kind of Genjutsu. Tilting his head to one side, Inoichi focused on the book and tried to use his hard obtained skill to see through the illusion over it, if there was one, and, to his surprise and delight, the book's cover changed from red to pink and the shimmering faded.

Inoichi's excitement continued to grow, he was almost as big of a gossip as his wife and daughter, and pink memories dealt with strong emotions toward others. He didn't know why it was like this, but it was just one of the few constants that he had found in all the minds he had visited that had been organized enough to tell. This book could be what he was hoping to find.

Fighting down the urge to laugh, Inoichi settled into the chair and opened the book about halfway through; hoping to find the most recent entry, but only saw blank pages. His brow creasing in frustration, Inoichi began flipping backwards through the pages, frantically searching for the last entry. On and on he went, drawing ever closer to the first pages of the book, and Kai's memory, as his frustration began shifting to concern.

Finally, Inoichi found himself on the first page of the book, and found it to be blank. Inoichi looked over to the meditating Genin with concern; there was nothing in this book, which meant that Kai had never felt anything beyond friendship with anyone, or at least not since his memory had been erased. The Jonin now knew that there was no trace of Kai's memory anywhere inside his mindscape. Emotional memories are always the most durable and tend to last even after a mind wipe. It seemed like Hito had definitely known what he was doing.

But it still didn't make any sense that there was nothing at all in this book. At his age, he should at least be thinking something about girls. Even if it wasn't a girl's name, there should be something in the book. Inoichi was about to give up when he noticed a small line towards the top of the page, so small that he wasn't surprised he didn't immediately see it. It wasn't much wider than his fingernail was thick, but Inoichi could tell that it was the writing he had been looking for.

Leaning closer to the book, Inoichi tried to read the words written there, but was unable to make them out. In desperation, the Jonin pressed his face against the book, trying to get as close as possible in hopes of reading it, and found himself flying face-forward into the pages.

--

Groaning, Inoichi raised his hand to his forehead, trying to massage away the headache he had developed over the last hour. He cursed himself for his stupidity. It was fairly obvious what had happened, once he had done it. In his extreme curiosity, he had managed to enter Kai's memory, but that had been an hour ago.

The Jonin had spent the past hour reliving Kai's memory of his battle within his mind, or at least everything that had happened after Ino had arrived. Inoichi had been able to force himself out of the memory shortly after the two Genin had begun searching through the memories, but it had cost him in chakra. It would only be a matter of minutes before he was forcefully recalled back to his own body, and he needed to wake up Kai before then, or he risked sending the boy into another, possibly permanent, coma.

Dragging himself out of his chair, Inoichi slowly walked over to the bookshelf and replaced the pink book where he had found it where it changed back to its shimmering red color. He had come to the conclusion that Kai wasn't sure about his feelings for Ino yet, but they were there, as the memory Inoichi had experienced clearly demonstrated. The writing was so small because Kai's didn't know how he felt about Ino, and the reason it had been red instead of pink was because Kai was trying to hide his thoughts on Ino from Inoichi, and emotion, known or not, counted as thoughts.

As the Jonin stumbled over to Kai to wake him up he smiled. He did know one thing though. The words on the page had been his daughter's name, and he now had a juicy bit of information that he could use to indulge in a one of hid favorite pastimes, teasing his daughter relentlessly. The next few days were going to be fun.

--

Sarutobi was beginning to get worried. Inoichi and Kai had been unconscious for several hours, and it didn't take someone with Hokage-level skills to tell that Inoichi was running low on chakra. His paperwork had been finished a few hours before, thanks to help from a few dozen Kage Bunshin, and all he was left to do was read his Icha Icha books and wait for Inoichi to wake up and give his report.

Something had to have happened, that was the only possible explanation, but Inoichi was too smart to let something like that happen. Unless, that is, he found something relating to Ino in Kai's mind. Then there could be trouble.

Suddenly, Sarutobi was pulled out of his thoughts abruptly by a groan coming from Inoichi. He quickly put his book into a drawer and rushed around his desk to help Inoichi sit up, "What happened in there, you've been out for nearly four hours."

"Sorry," Inoichi said, accepting the Hokage's help before adjusting himself in his seat, "I finished identifying what Jutsu I could before I found something interesting, and made a stupid mistake."

Sarutobi rolled his eyes, this was exactly what he had feared, "Could you be more specific?"

Inoichi smiled, "I found out that Kai has feelings for my daughter, Ino."

Sarutobi sighed, "I could have told you that based on how he reacts when anyone mentions her name."

Inoichi blushed slightly, but recovered and said, "But he doesn't know how he feels. He knows something is there, but he hasn't recognized it as what it is yet."

"So you nearly put yourself and Kai into a coma just because you wanted a little piece of gossip?" Sarutobi was slightly irritated by this news. He had hoped that Inoichi hadn't done something stupid like this without any real reason, but it appeared that that wasn't the case.

Inoichi, however, shook his head, "No Hokage-sama, I did get some useful information out of it, but it isn't good news, although it is hardly unexpected."

Sarutobi sobered quickly and frowned, guessing what Inoichi was going to say, "So there is absolutely no hope to recover his memories, even with your help?"

Inoichi shook his head again, "I'm afraid not. Kai had manifested his memories as books on a bookshelf, and the one I looked through represented his emotional attachments for others over the course of his lifetime. The book was completely blank except for my daughter's name on the first page written so small that I was pulled into his memory when I tried to read it. That is why it took so long. Emotional memories are the ones that tend to remain even through amnesia, but they were completely gone. So unless Kai grew up as emotionless as one of Danzo's Root ANBU, there is no chance of recovering his memory, and I'm afraid that this was his last chance."

The two were startled by a sudden sob, "Well," Kai said, as he opened his eyes and sat up, "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better. But it doesn't matter anyway." Kai had only heard the last sentence that the Jonin had spoken, but it was more than enough for him.

"I'm sorry Kai," Inoichi said, any thoughts of immediate teasing and tormenting put to the side for now, "I know how much you were hoping for some answers."

Kai shook his head, "It's alright Inoichi, the Jutsu help is more than enough. You don't need to worry about my memories."

Inoichi smiled weakly, he knew that the news bothered Kai more than he was letting on, and the Jonin couldn't blame him. Kai may have accepted that his memories weren't recoverable, but that didn't mean that he hadn't jumped at another chance.

Kai bowed to the two older ninja, "If you'll excuse me Inoichi, Sarutobi-sensei; I need to get home, it is long past my usual bedtime." Kai smiled widely, almost as if he was imitating Naruto, but Sarutobi could see the sadness in his eyes.

"Alright Kai," Sarutobi nodded, not wanting to put the Genin through anything else for one day, "get some rest, you'll probably need it."

Kai turned toward the door to the Hokage's office and slowly made his way out, completely missing Sarutobi's frown, which was mirrored almost exactly by Inoichi, although neither Shinobi was thinking the same thing.

--

AN: Another boring chapter. I can promise a little action in the next one though. I hope my introduction of the Sand Sibs was good enough for you all. They are only the first of several characters that will have to be introduced in the next few chapters.

Jutsu List:

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: Shadow Clone Technique

Shintenshin no Jutsu: Mind Body Switch Technique

Kage Bunshin: Shadow Clone

Anyone who knows the Naruto storyline should know what is coming up. Please review.