Hey guys! Bet you've all forgotten what the hell this story is supposed to be about, right? Haha its been that long since I've updated :O I'd like to use the excuse that I was busy with NaNoWriMo (won it this year! ~Happy dance~) but that doesn't really account for the other months -_ -'' still! Here is a long overdue update, especially for my cliff hanger! ~

Also - the timeline in this runs concurrently with part 1 - i.e the end of Pt.1 = middle of this chap (where Kakashi appears) - makes sense? Hope so!

Oh, and a Happy New Year to you all! ^_^

Storm Cloud – Chapter 01 – A Fire Bright, A Forest Dark (Part 2) – Season 02

Sasuke hadn't moved much beyond the bench he'd found at the bottom of the Hokage monument; he hadn't any lessons that day and his night before had been utterly sleepless, the Uchiha trying analyse how he could better engage with his students. Iruka hadn't been much help, he only really said that the first lesson is always the worst and Sasuke couldn't have expected to be perfect right away – teaching takes time to get used to. Sasuke could only frown at that response: what kind of help was that supposed to be? The Uchiha's bad mood seemed immovable and he knew that the only way to tackle it would be to teach his next lesson, but doing that offered cause for greater dread…that he'd rather not admit, even to himself.

The sun was hot, as though making a final show of strength before it submitted to the tilt of the earth and deepening winter, but it only made the young Uchiha bothered and distracted from concentrating on how he was supposed to face a challenge he never had in all his twenty years as a shinobi had ever tackled – he'd always assumed, when younger, that by the time he was at his mid-twenties, he'd have life sorted out. He'd have dealt with Itachi, got his life back on track and maybe even having new clan members to name – despite how far-fetched those initial, immature hopes of those had been – he'd subconsciously clung to them throughout his teens. It gave him something to keep and draw strength from to when all he could see was down, and increasingly blurring contours of those things that had once directed him so strongly.

People had been passing by haphazardly for what had seemed hours, so when footsteps drew close and stopped, he didn't bother to look up; it was only when a familiar voice addressed him directly, that his glance shot up to acknowledge,

"Sasuke-san?"

"N-Naomi-san, what are you doing here?" She merely offered a meek smile as the sensei's eyes were drawn by a small face peeking out from around her waist,

"Tsutomu-kun was telling me about your first lesson yesterday, that you taught by yourself,"

"Ah," Here it comes, he thought blandly,

"I understand that my son wasn't exactly being a model student," She spoke again, whilst moving to take a seat beside Sasuke, leaving a lightly blushing and rather ashamed-looking Tsutomu to stand by himself in front of the teacher,

"He was alright…no worse than any of the others," His head dropped slightly, unable to keep the dissatisfied feeling from creeping over him again,

"Maybe so, but that was no excuse, he knows how to behave himself and he shouldn't have taken advantage of the fact that it was your first time instructing alone. So he's here to apologise,"

"Ah…" Sasuke wanted to tell her that he'd rather the boy didn't, but her solid expression, as she gazed expectantly at her son had the last of his words dying on the tip of his tongue,

"Tsutomu?"

"Um…I'm s-sorry Sasuke-sensei, I shouldn't have talked in class or misbehaved," He spoke mostly to a clump of leaves at the base of the stone bench they were sat on, but raised his eyes, shyly, as he finished his sentence. Sasuke hesitated for a moment, trying to think what Iruka would have said, had he been the one sat there,

"…Thank you for apologising, Tsutomu-kun, that was very grown-up of you; just try a bit harder to focus next time," The shy but relieved smile he got in return for complementing the boy lifted some of Sasuke's own unease,

"Well, now we have that sorted out," Naomi butted in, "How about we go and get some lunch, Tomu-kun?"

"Yea!" He shouted excitedly, punching the air at the apparently unbearable excitement of getting fed,

"Sasuke-san? Would you like to join us? You look a bit lonely,"

"Oh, uh…"

"C'mon Sasuke-sensei,"

"Fine," He replied shortly, unwilling to admit to himself how suddenly he felt much better and less daunted for the later lesson; he fell into line beside Naomi as Tsutomu skipped on ahead, chasing a cat that had unfortunately wandered into his attention span. They ambled on in silence for a while, Sasuke wondering if and what he should say to start a conversation;

"I think its great that you were able to become a teacher." Naomi began, her eyes still on her frolicking son ahead, "How long have you been a shinobi?" Sasuke frowned slightly, the question seemed strangely difficult to answer – he'd always been a ninja, but he guess she meant how long since he'd been at the academy;

"I became a Genin at twelve, so…about twelve years,"

"Wow, that's a long time…had you always wanted to be a teacher?"

"No, it was something I'd never given any thought to until just after I'd come back to the village,"

"From a mission?"

"No. I'd…actually been out of the village for most of my shinobi life;" Perhaps he shouldn't make any mention of the whole missing-nin-trying-to-destroy-the-world thing.

"Oh! I guess that explains why I haven't seen you before…I only moved here just after the Fourth War,"

"Oh? Where were you living before?" Safer to talk about her, he supposed,

"In Tea country, not far from the Fire border,"

"Why did you move?"

She hesitated for a little while, long enough for them to enter the small restaurant, "…I just couldn't stay there any longer," The Uchiha opened his mouth to ask 'why', but a sudden memory of Sakura playfully, though painfully slapping him upside the head for ignoring social convention gave him reason to pause – he (accurately) supposed that Naomi would probably not appreciate his nosiness. They sat at a small table, in the corner of the restaurant, a waitress appearing by their side very quickly, politely asking:

"Would you like to order something to eat?"

"Please," Naomi replied immediately, "Can I have two miso soup, yakitori [grilled chicken] and a side of fragrant rice; Tsutomu, would you like a meat bun?"

"Yes, yes!" He grinned,

"One of those, too, please," The waitress nodded, smiling, and scribbled down the order,

"Any drinks?"

"A pot of tea, please,"

"Anything for you, um, Uchiha-san?"

"Miso soup, egg-rice and green tea. Thank you," He inwardly frowned at the subdued demeanour of the server, who disappeared quickly after making a note of the orders.

"Are you a regular at this restaurant? The waitress knew you by name," Naomi asked easily,

"Ah…" Sasuke wasn't sure how to really answer that, "I guess, she must have just remembered me," He covered, despite Naomi's mildly suspicious expression,

"I heard that Sasuke-sensei was once a bad ninja who left the village for Oroka-maru," Tsutomu piped up loudly, unaware or uncaring of the impact of his words; the Uchiha could do no more than purse his lips and restrain his urge to – initially – correct the boy's poor attempt to pronounce 'Orochimaru',

"Tsutomu, you shouldn't repeat mindless gossip you hear! Especially when it's something negative about your teacher," She scolded gently to her son, before turning back to said Sensei, "I'm sorry,"

"No…it's fine;" He wanted to tell them that it was, in fact, true and that he had been a 'bad' ninja, but his instinct was just to keep his mouth shut – not to ruin the closest thing he'd had to friendship – that he could appreciate – whilst it was still budding;

"Anyway, Sasuke, tell me something about yourself – what do you like to do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies?"

"Um…I supposed I've always had an appreciation for calligraphy, though I can't say I've had much chance to practise any, only really though what I've seen written on old scrolls or stories,"

"Oh! Then you might enjoy some literature I have, I have some wonderful poetry written by Asukai Gayu, Saionji Shōko and quite a few others, they are wonderful works for both their poetic content and exquisite calligraphy…I'm sure you would enjoy them immensely. I keep trying to get Tsutomu to read them, but he's a little bit…disinterested," Sasuke's eyes flicked to said boy, whose hand was shoving his cheek up into his forehead as he rolled his eyes,
"Boooorr-ing," He muttered, "Just a bunch of old men talking about stupid flowers," Sasuke couldn't quite resist a grin, remembering the same feelings about poetry quite well,

"You know, Tsutomu, there are some things in life that look to be so insignificant, you wouldn't notice if you trod on them, but you might later find that they're the most important thing you could imagine," Naomi smiled lightly, Tsutomu only sighed heavily in a childish dear-Kami-sama-kill-me-now kind of way, though Sasuke's mind couldn't hlp but turn to thoughts of his teammates and his village.

And how carelessly stomping on them, arrogantly thinking he knew better, had cost him more than he'd imagined he'd even possessed in the first place.

Sakura yawned widely, her hand rising lazily to cover her open mouth out of ingrained politeness; her day had been long enough without the boisterous nosiness of Riika, curious and self-asserted stranger and a stubbornly sullen Uchiha. It was only about twenty past five, but already the fact the sky was beginning to darken and the chill in the air had the kuniochi pick up her pace slightly; though Riika was still on her mind and it weighed heavily on her.

Despite her and Kakashi's relationship, Riika seemed to be one factor that Sakura couldn't get around – it was just weird; aside from the fact that Sakura couldn't quite help but feel that Riika's friendly façade was more of a means to an end than a genuine like, Sakura didn't appreciate the sensation it gave her of Kakashi being younger than his years. There being a 'parental' figure looming over them both made everything seem so much more restrained and stilted than she would have preferred; whilst Kakashi's agreement on this was a help – it did nothing to resolve the immediate issue.

Thank god at at least Riika lived in her own house.

That said, the kuniochi was still on her way to Kakashi's house to spend her evening, he had been due back at some point yesterday – though he had been doubtlessly delayed – but she hoped that he might put in an appearance this evening. He had been away for well over a month and she missed him dearly. As she hopped from tree branch to tree branch, the light was fading further and for the first time making this short journey to Kakashi's house from the limits of the village, she felt a strange prickle of unease at the back of her neck, long years of taught instinct had her avoid looking around too obviously, but she analysed the sensation and it was neither to do with the cold nor the dark of the woods.

Sakura maintained her pace towards the house, knowing it would give her a central point with which to work from, she disliked this kind of wariness – it wasn't like there was an impending attack, but rather, that there was some set of eyes or other that knew she was alone and just waiting for the time to make their move.

As she reached the house, it was both quiet and dark, she had expected it, despite the rather disappointing revelation; still, she let herself in and, after carefully checking each room for some intruder or other, she lit the kamado and, whilst it was reaching its full temperature, she drew out a tea set and measured her chakra. The same tetchy feeling that had plagued her since she'd left Konoha's outer walls was still upon her and the longer she lingered in the same place, the more it really bothered her.

Sakura, as she sat in the silence of the house for a moment, heard the unquieted steps upon the engawa and darted over the low table and up to the front door, whilst drawing a kunai, her entire body tensed as the front door slid open – she tensed her muscles and regripped her kunai as the figure stepped over the threshold. Sakura only just managed to stay her hand,

"Holy shit, Riika, you didn't think to knock?"

"Oh!" The older woman's hand jumped to her chest, "I am sorry, Sakura, I was just coming to check on the house when something…didn't quite feel right," Riika slid the door closed behind her as she spoke and Sakura reholstered her kunai as she led them back to the kitchen,

"I know what you mean, I felt eyes on me the whole way here – and I'm still feeling a bit on edge;" The younger kuniochi went through the motions of pouring a cup of tea for Riika, but calmed herself and listened for any noise that wasn't being made by the two in the kitchen, Riika accepted the small cup, sharing a look with the other kuniochi as she reached again for her kunai. Moments later, the sound of the tearing rice paper before the glass of the picture opposite their front door shattering and falling from it hanging to the floor had them leaping into action; Sakura's reactions were momentarily faster as she skidded through the broken glass and frame, her kunai meeting the waitress from the tea shop's outstretched one.

"Suzu?" Sakura queried, "What the hell?" The – apparently no longer so simple – civilian mrely gritted her teeth in response and drove her free fist into Sakura's stomach; the kuniochi was fast enough to tense to protect herself from the worst of the blow, but it still smashed her back against the wall. Suzu aimed for a second strike, but Riika's kick forced the younger to compensate and ignore Sakura for a moment – instead, the waitress darted backwards out of the door, the pink haired kuniochi leapt after her and attacked with her own volley of kicks and punches, effectively halting Suzu's escape, though it was highly debateable whether she was truly attempting escape rather than gain a better vantage point.

Riika stood at the doorway, for the moment observing the vicious taijutsu battle between the two kuniochi – her age and now instinctive wisdom telling her that she was definitely the support in this battle, the worst thing she could do, was get in Sakura's way – despite the slashes and flecks of blood that were beginning to dot Riika's clothing, she felt a strange sort of prideful admiration at a medical kuniochi was clearly so at home in direct combat.

In a blur of pink-tinted movement, Suzu was thrown backwards, sliding to a halt, just outside of the pool of light which the house gave off; Riika's attention was drawn just in time as she turned to find another Suzu crouched over the fallen frame, her had just grabbing in time, the little square of chakra chromatography paper before she jerked backwards just enough to miss the kunai Riika threw, the elder chased after the former, out of the hall doors and – although grumbling slightly about her old bones – up and over the roof to the small patch of clearing behind the house; Riika's chakra took a while longer to mould than she remembered, but her jutsus were still up to scratch as she erected a great wave out of the earth which effectively unbalanced and tripped the enemy kuniochi before she could react,

"So you were after the chromatography paper?" Suzu – apparently, not much of a talker, merely clapped together her hands as she formed a jutsu – Riika tensed cautiously before springing backwards out of the range of what she saw to be a fire jutsu and a sudden great jet of fire blasted out from the enemy kuniochi as Riika tensed her left arm just in time and her wire threaded shuriken that she'd hurled onto a nearby branch and it pulled her safely out of the way of the fire blast.

Riika's long years of shinobi training kicked in, even as she felt her insides lurch uncomfortably at the strains of such a jump, her right arm already had three kibakufuda attached kunai which she shot at Suzu. All three hit their mark, but it was disappointing to see the younger woman a lot less damaged than she had aimed for; Riika began to mould her own chakra again and prepared to form another ninjutsu as she jumped from her hiding place, dodging the kunai that Suzu threw, she managed to get close enough to form the first half of a Suirō no jutsu [water prison technique]. Just as the water had engulfed the right hand side of her body, a sudden figure appeared from Riika's flank – though that wasn't what caught her off guard. It was more the over-sized shuriken that suddenly struck her just under her ribs and ripped upwards to her neck, the jutsu faded from life as quickly as Riika's ability to keep herself upright.

She felt the fear before the pain – that she was suddenly incapacitated and her enemy wasn't; but just as Suzu stepped over Riika's coughing and spluttering body holding a kunai to her throat when she herself disappeared in a puff of smoke from another volley of kunai; the elderly kuniochi could just about move her head to the side to see Sakura crouched over Suzu as she drove a kunai into the other's shoulder,

"Riika how bad is it?"

"Sh-it," She choked, "But fight her first…she…has-ha chak- paper,"

Sakura answered more to herself, swearing softy as Suzu fought back with a few heavy punches and kicks, Sakura had used a lot of chakra believing her opponent to be the real Suzu, but obviously, as soon as Riika had posed enough of a threat, the clone had disintegrated. Sakura was pissed at seeing such a proud and self-assured woman in such a state due to a power-hungry, mothball of an enemy kuniochi - something small, insignificant but waiting in the wings to screw someone over at the first opportunity.

Sakura had gotten three good strikes on Suzu, but it wasn't enough and as she chased her again through the trees, although conscious of leaving Riika without aid for too long, the paper was the priority as well as finding out who the woman was and why she'd been posing as a civilian waitress…and doing a very good job of it too. As Sakura predicted, her enemy raced through the trees as though her intention was to run as far and fast as possible. Sakura's trap, however, coiled around her legs and it brought the nin down enough for the Konoha nin to again get another strike; it kicked the kunai out of Suzu's hand as Sakura landed on her, driving her knee into her solar plexus and a fist charged with chakra to her jaw. Whatever jutsu had masking her true identity as it waned and Kazuko appeared in place of Suzu.

"What the fuck? Why were you hiding in our village?" Suzu gritted her teeth instead of answering, doing her best to weave a hand down to her shuriken pouch without Sakura realising, "Speak!" She commanded, but to little avail and Kazuko's hand almost gripped the kunai she was after,

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," A sudden, familiar voice drew both women's attention,

"Kakashi?" Sakura took a moment to register her surprise, "Right on time, huh?" His grin was obvious only to the pink haired kuniochi,

"Of course! But I'm worried about Riika, I can handle this one, if you'd go back and at least stop the bleeding?" Kakashi's tone was more serious, but he did well to keep the heart of his distress away enough not to alert Suzu to what Riika meant to him.

"Of course, but apparently she took one of the chakra chromatography papers from the house – get that back first," He nodded as Sakura darted back over to Riika as Kakshi quickly bound the nin, searching for the scrap of paper he tucked it into his pocket as he turned to face the ANBU nin who landed in front of him,

"Hatake-san, is the situation under control?"

"From my end, I believe so, but Riika was injured and Sakura is tending to her – I wasn't involved in this fight, I only showed up about a minute ago," His hand subconsciously rose to scratch the back of his neck,

"I see," The captain barked a few orders for his team to fan out and search the area, "Take me to Haruno-san, then I'll sweep the house for any–"

"No, that won't be necessary, I'll hear from Sakura what happened, but I can clear the house myself," The ANBU hesitated for a moment, but nodded, they darted back to the house to find Sakura glowing with her green medicinal chakra through the darkness and she fought to save Riika. Kakashi stood by but knew well not to disturb her, after a moment or two, the brilliant energy caused by her chakra waned, her fanned out hair calmed and they were dropped back to the soft, faint light emanating from the house. She sat back, wiping the sweat from her forehead,

"Okay, she's stabilised, but we need to get her back to to Konoha Medical as soon as possible," The other ANBU reappeared and informed their Captain that the area was secure;

"Alright, we'll take Urushima-san to the hospital,"

"I'll go and report to Tsunade – Kakashi, you might have a bit of clearing up to do in the house…sorry about that," Kakashi rolled his eyes, but replied amiably,

"Its alright, come and see me when you're done reporting to the Hokage,"

"Sure."

"Kazuko? You're sure?"

"Yes...she'd been using some sort of masking jutsu to make her appearance different, she was under the guise of Shimakuburo Suzu a waitress at the 'Sweet Chestnuts' tea shop," Tsunde nodded, frowning into her clasped fingers as they held her chin,

"You're sure she just came to attack you? Because you were at Kakashi's house? That doesn't make sense, you and Kazuko had extremely limited interaction in Kumo and she had other, probably more opportune moments to kill you…but even so, why now? That conflict ended months ago, what's changed?"

"I don't know, but-" A sudden rap at the door drew their attentions as Kakashi appeared from behind the wooden frame,

"I apologise for the interruption, Tsunade-sama, may I have a word with you and Sakura alone?" He cast his eyes to Shizune and the lingering ANBU in the room,

"Hai," The Hokage motioned for the other two to leave the room, "What is it Kakashi? I'm aware you just got back from your mission tonight, but…"

"Yes, I imagine Sakura didn't tell you what Kazuko was after?" Tsunade shot a rather intense glare at Sakura for her apparent lie of omission,

"Uh…"

"That's more my fault, Hokage-sama, there are a number of things I found at the house since I moved in which are of a very personal nature but are also rather…intriguing," Kakashi spoke a little awkwardly and Tsunade's only motion to suggest she'd even heard his words was one of her slender eyebrows raising slowly up, "Kazuko attempted to steal this," He held up the square of multi-coloured chakra card,

"This is a piece of chakra chromatography paper – it records the natures of chakra that comes into contact with it," Sakura couldn't help but glance at Kakashi for so suddenly revealing a truth about his house she knew had been something he'd almost jealously guarded the secrets off for the better part of a year.

"How does that work?" Tsunade asked, her curiosity obviously piquing as she sat up a little and reached her hand out to take the card, Kakashi stepped forwards and handed it to her,

"I'm not sure how it works, but it seems to absorb a bit of chakra and give off a colour to represent the chakra it's come into contact with; the dark chocolate brown colour I think is Kazuko's," Tsuande nodded as she turned the card around in her hands,

"What about the other colours?"

"The metallic sort gold is Sakura's and silver is mine," The Hokage's eyes flicked to the pair before returning her attention to the card, she channelled some of her own chakra into the card and watched with a unique fascination as a light, almost white-ish blue unfurled over the paper – it was almost hypnotic in the way that it appeared to almost have a mind of it's own. Especially for the fact it didn't just run into the other colours dabbed over the paper, but it seemed to interact with them - the chocolate washing down to a faint, earthy brown and the metalic colours simmering witha blueish tinge that seemed completely unnatural, almost.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Sakura asked rhetorically,

"Indeed it is…where did this come from? Did you just find it in the house?"

"Yes, but…apparently it was created by my mother,"

"What?" Tsunade's eyes shot up from the square of paper and directly to Kakashi's single visible one,

"Your mother? What else did she make?"

"Tons; apparently, she was something of an engineer and focused a lot on chakra – she was the creator of my father's chakra tantō," This apparently shocked Tsunade,

"Really? Anything else?"

"A lot of other chakra channeling weapons, but…there's a lot I haven't yet catalogued and I honestly don't want anyone else poking around my house," Tsunade nodded,

"I can understand that, but this is an exceptionally valuable tool…Kakashi, I appreciate that this is very personal to you, but if even our enemies are aware of this technology when Konoha isn't, this is a big problem. I will have to ask you to allow as many subjects of your mother's to be handed over to research and development, you can choose what, but please think carefully about who else might be out there that can take advantage of this - we've already suffered another war from enemies we had thought were our allies... If it'll make you feel better, I will hand pick the team to look into it will complete discretion and confidence," Kakashi hesitated for a moment, whilst he trusted his Hokage – and a lot of the village – implicitly, but there was a massive difference between trusting someone professionally and personally.

"I am well aware, and this attack by Kazuko was what made me come to you about that card in the first place…there is one other thing I can tell you about now, it was something I first became aware of back when we first recaptured Sasuke,"

"That little scrap of paper that incapacitated the Uchiha? That was something of…your mother's as well?"

"Yes…I have now found some more information about that," Tsunade's eyebrow twitched again dangerously;

"What kind of information?"

"A little on my mother's technique for creating them and how they work, I can hand over the scroll,"

"She produced scrolls on her work?"

"Yes, detailed ones,"

"Kakashi…as much as I'd like to punch you in the face for hiding this from me, if you can give me as much information as you can of what you've found, I'll look the other way on how long it's taken you to come up with it,"

"Ah, haha," Kakashi's signature I'm-not-really-guilty laugh didn't cut much mustard with the Godaime, but she merely sighed and waved them both away,

"Just bring me something else to analyse along with your mission report in a day or two; I'm glad your're back safely," Her voice was stiff enough that she might as well have begrudged the fact he was still alive and sounded the same,

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Both shinobi left and as soon as they were up upon the rooftops, he gestured for her to follow him back to his house; they were through the trees and away from the lights of Konoha, Sakura piped up - glad to have him to talk to again,

"I'm sorry you had to return to such a mess from your long mission,"

"It's alright…aiya, I was really looking forward to seeing you when I saw that the light was on, but nearly had a heart attack when I saw the blood," His eyes drifted over the still stained patches and rips in her clothes, "Did you manage to heal all of your injuries?"

"Yea, aside from being a bit grubby, I'm fine…You know, I'm surprised you suddenly opened up to Tsunade,"

"Hmm, well, from the look of the smashed frame and kunai mark in the wall, it looked a lot like Kazuko knew exactly what she was after and where it was,"

"Yea, I wonder how long she's been in the village, or how long she's been watching the house?"

"A worrying thought, isn't it?" They landed in the small clearing ahead of Kakashi's home and paused for a moment, "Nevertheless, I'm finally back in Konoha after a long mission, pleased to find you in the village at the same time – makes for a refreshing change, doesn't it?" Sakura nodded, a sly grin finding its way onto her face,

"It does indeed, but you know, I probably shouldn't pester you too much, since you just got back from a mission…" Kakashi didn't waste a moment in wipping his mask down, pulling his girlfriend closer and eagerly meeting her in a long-absent kiss; it easily stole each other's attentions as Sakura's arms found their way around his shoulders and his large hand spanned over her back; it wasn't easy to set aside the endless, yet beneath-the-surface desire that was always there. Trying to put it out of her mind whilst Kakashi had been gone, was tricky, but she knew it had to be done, yet whilst he was back here, now and literally within her grasp, she wondered how she'd ever managed it at all.

Kakashi seemed to completely envelope her as he tightened his grip and kissed her more deeply, which Sakura easily matched, almost surprising herself by how desperate she felt to impress upon him how much he'd been missed and just how glad she was to have him back – and from his own return short breaths which barely made it to being the shyest of groans, told her that he felt just the same. It was truly bizarre somehow feeling something that could be both reassuring and electrifying at the same time.

They might know how to be consummate professionals, but it sure did get the in way of their relationship at times. But right now was their time and they weren't planning on wasting any of it.

Kazuko slammed down onto the unforgiving earthen floor, her chin smashing into a small, especially pointy rock that jutted out of the floor, cursing slightly, the kuniochi shifted to lie on her side as she did her best to adjust to the chakra suppressant and the rather hefty beating piled on her by the pink-haired girl. Even so, Kazuko couldn't keep the grin off her face, as the Leaf nin had escorted her through the catacomb-like tunnels of Konoha's high security prison, she'd seen a familiar though significantly more gaunt face of one Ashikino Peikou.

Phases one and two had been executed perfectly – but here was where things would begin to get tricky…Peikou was an arrogant man, and although she needed him alive to get what she wanted, he wasn't a man who took kindly to rescuing. Still she knew how to push his buttons and he'd crumble soon enough; after all, how many months had he been stuck in this god forsaken excuse for a prison?

..

.