Hey, sorry about the short delay. I think I got a little overwhelmed with trying to keep two stories updated at the same time. I've never done so much work in my entire life (that includes during my HSC year). Well enjoy this chapter.

I don't own Naruto.

Team Kurayami waited in the darkness, by the Konoha main gate, for their sensei to arrive. Each was carrying a pack with supplies and weapons for the mission, though Kedakai, Yoake and Tsuya had left their katana's at home, knowing that they were unlikely to need them on a mission of this kind.

Tsuya had slipped back into the state where she ignored every living thing and focused entirely on the background. Kedakai had found this strange until it had been explained to him by Yoake, who could no longer see his surroundings. Apparently the triplets always travelled in this state.

A cold wind blew through the dark trees, making Kedakai shiver. He was extremely nervous about this mission, wishing he hadn't been thrown straight into the deep end without even having a chance to get use to the water. But he was excited as well, knowing that most genin had to wait years before they would see a mission like this.

"How long do you think this mission will take?" Shogo asked, and for once he didn't sound annoyed or angry. "I know Kumogakure is far to the north, though not as far as Nikko, so it shouldn't take us more then four or five days to get there, and the mission itself shouldn't take too long."

"I give it about eleven to twelve days," Yoake replied, he stood leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. "Give or take a day or two. That's if all goes well. If we mess this up then I doubt we'll be coming back at all."

"Are you always so cheerful?" Kedakai said sarcastically, trying to hide how nervous these last few words had made him. "The world could end in a few days, you might like to take that into consideration as well."

"Hey, I'm just being realistic," Yoake replied with a small shrug. "I could say we'll be back in no time and it will all be a walk in the park with cake and ice cream waiting for us at the end, but we all know this isn't going to be easy."

"Yoake's right," Gin's voice said as the woman herself came into view. "This isn't going to be easy, and we can't go in there thinking that's going to be. Though moral is also an important part of any mission," she added, with a sharp look at Yoake.

"Yes Gin-sensei," Yoake said, bowing. "Forgive me."

"We should get going," Gin said, eyeing the taller Akengata boy. "It's getting late and we need to get this over with as soon as possibly. I want to reach Kumo in less than four days, so we will be pushing hard. The faster we are the less likely our mission will be discovered by the enemy."

With these last words the team set off. Gin watched Tsuya move first, Yoake close behind, mirroring her movements exactly. Shogo followed a small distance away, his eyes fixed straight ahead. Kedakai and Gin came next, she had instructed the blue haired boy to stay close to her for this mission, and he had agreed without complaint.

Gin couldn't help but wonder, as she watched her young team dart through the trees, if sending them on this mission had been a good idea. She had no doubt in their abilities, but she was worried about putting them in such danger.

-

The team stopped to rest in a small clearing, some hours later, with Gin setting out a watch time for each of them while the others slept. As they sat down to eat the triplets dropped the jutsu they had been holding since leaving Konoha.

Gin saw Tsuya stiffen, but, out of the others, only Yoake seemed to notice. His eyes went wide and he made a frantic gesture to Shogo, trying to get the other boys attention. When Shogo finally turned around he almost choked on his food.

"Do something," Shogo urged through gritted teeth, keeping his voice low so that only Gin and Yoake could hear. His eyes kept darting between his two siblings. "Quickly! Remember what happened last time. Come on Yoake! Who knows what she'll do."

Yoake, who was normally so confident and composed, was visibly hesitant as he slid a little closer to his sister and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Tsuya," he said carefully. "Are you all right?"

The look she gave her brother was pure poison. She slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Why wouldn't I be all right?" she said angrily. "Don't I look all right to you? Or do you think that just because I'm a girl I'm not as good as you, that I need your help all the time? You're so stuck up Yoake, you think you're better than everyone else." Shogo had the common sense not to laugh, he looked like he wasn't even breathing, for fear that his sister would notice him.

"And you," the red head spat at Shogo, who cringed. "What the hell is wrong with you, you spoilt brat? You never do anything but complain and get yourself into trouble. I'm sick to death of the both of you."

With that she got up and marched off into the trees. Yoake breathed out, and Shogo looked as if he was about to die with relief.

"Well," Yoake said cheerfully. "That definitely wasn't as bad as last time. Good job on not opening your mouth. Remember what she did to that boy last year, the one who said she was crazy?"

"How could I forget?" Shogo said grimacing and continuing with his once forgotten meal, though his enthusiasm for the food seemed to have disappeared. "And, as I recall, last time it was you, not me, who provoked her and walked away with a broken wrist."

"All I said was that she looked a little ill," the taller boy said in his defence. "At least there are no walls she can put a fist through out here. It cost so much to fix all those houses, and that poor old woman, she was never the same."

Kedakai sat with his mouth open, not understanding what had just happened, only that the normally happy, lively Tsuya had gone completely insane and yelled at her brothers, both of which she usually adored, and they seemed to think this was a common thing.

"It's the jutsu I told you about earlier," Yoake explained to his confused team mate. "Her moods are all over the place afterwords. You're lucky this time wasn't so bad. Sometimes my wrist still hurts in cold weather."

Kedakai looked so horrified that Gin almost laughed. She had watched the entire exchange in silent amusement, eager to see what the Akengata girl would do next. She certainly was surprising.

"How long will it take for her to be back to normal?" Gin asked seriously, no trace of her amusement showing on her face. "I don't want this to be a problem later in the mission."

"A few minutes to an hour, at most Gin-sensei," Yoake replied, rubbing his wrist and looking into the trees where his sister had disappeared. "It won't affect the mission at all, I'll make sure we don't use the jutsu within an hour of out target."

"In a few minutes I want one of you to go see if she's calmed down," the young sensei ordered. Yoake and Shogo both shuddered. "Then we can all get the rest we need. Shogo, you're on first watch, followed by Kedakai, then me, Yoake and finally Tsuya."

"Yes sensei," the three boys chorused. Gin nodded and disappeared.

"I'll go after her," Shogo said, standing reluctantly and peering through the trees for a glimpse of his unpredictable sister.. "I have first watch, so if he punches me I won't be able to sleep anyway."

Shogo found Tsuya sitting with her back against a fallen tree. Her eyes were closed and she was looking calm again. The boy breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's all right Sho," Tsuya said with a smile. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm sorry if I caused any trouble. I really didn't mean what I said about you and Yo."

"Yeah well, you were probably right," Shogo said, taking a seat next to her and leaning his head back against the log. "Yoake is stuck up and does think he's better than everyone else. And I am a brat who only complains and gets into trouble."

"What's wrong Sho?" Tsuya asked, shuffling closer to her brother and leaning her head against his shoulder. "You've been so quiet and thoughtful these past few days, ever since the festival. Is there something bothering you?"

Shogo sighed and looked up at the dark sky, he could just see the sun coming up over the horizon. He hadn't yet been able to get up the courage to tell Tsuya and Yoake that he had been wrong about Gin, but he thought he should tell them, if only to put his stupidity behind him.

"The night after the festival," he began slowly, still looking at the sky. "I saw Gin-sensei walking alone through Konoha, she was headed towards the gate so I thought I would follow her. Outside the gate I saw her meet with two members of the Akatsuki, the organisation Taiyo-san was meant to be a part of. They asked her if she would join them and she refused. They also said..." he paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "They said they had been the ones that killed our Uncle. Gods, Tsuya, do you know how stupid I feel. Everyone was right, you, Yoake, Kedakai, and I wouldn't listen because I wanted Gin-sensei to be guilty. I'm such an idiot."

Tsuya sighed and smiled, putting her arm around her brothers shoulder. "You're not stupid Sho," she said happily. "You were smart enough to admit you were wrong. Now all you have to do is apologise to Gin-sensei."

Shogo smiled slightly, a genuine smile. "I already have," he said. "She told me not to worry about it. Even though I attacked her the first time we met and insulted her over and over. She still forgave me."

"She really is a nice person," Tsuya said, closing her eyes. "Just misunderstood. Like you and like me."

-

It took them a total of three days to reach Kumo, and they were exhausted by the time Gin finally let them rest. The sun had just risen, but the sky was overcast and it looked like rain was about to fall at any minute.

As they ate Gin pulled out a large map of Kumogakure and began to make small marks on it in red ink, gesturing silently for her team to gather around.

"This is the building were they're keeping the Kiri artefacts," Gin said, pointing at a small square building in the bottom right corner of the map. "At the moment we are here," she pointed to the bottom left corner. "Underneath the building are a series of tunnels and store rooms that can only be reached from the main building, what we're looking for will be in one of the store rooms. We'll have to find out which one when we get down there. Are there any questions so far?"

The four genin shook their heads. The Akengata three were looking calm, but Kedakai was nervous, and Gin could tell. Part of her wished she had left the boy back in Konoha, but she knew it really would have done him no good to be left behind.

"All right then, here is our plan," Gin said quietly as her team moved in closer to hear. "I will be the one to go inside and retrieve the artefacts, as you will all know by now, my training was focused on stealth. The condition of my eyes made it almost impossible to use me on the open field, but gave me a great advantage at night. Adding to that, my clan's skill with darkness and shadows made us extremely skilled assassins. I was trained mainly for this type of stealth mission. Needless to say, you will do exactly as I say, keep to the shadows, don't show yourself. I will take one of you in to help me retrieve the artefacts, as we'll need at least two to carry them. The rest of you will stay outside. You will worn us if there is any change in their patrols or if they become suspicious. There are three exits from the main building and I want one of you on each. If we are spotted you may have to create a diversion to lead the enemy away. Are there any questions."

The group shook their heads again, not saying a word. Even the usually bubbly Tsuya was looking serious, though, for some reason, she was still holding her blue marker. Each member of the team knew how difficult this was going to be.

"All right then, Tsuya, you will come in with me," Gin continued. "You are the best, by far, at the stealth techniques I showed you, but I want you by my side at all times, you will not go off on your own unless I give you specific orders to do so. Yoake, Shogo and Kedakai will stay outside and watch the exits, you will have to work closely with each other to make sure none of you are caught off guard."

Shogo didn't look too happy with this arrangement, but he nodded along with his team mates. He didn't like the idea of working with Kedakai, feeling that the younger boy would need to be looked after because of his inexperience. The last thing he wanted to do was babysit one of his team mates.

Gin studied each of them in turn before she too nodded and reached into her pack, pulling out five radio head sets, which she handed around to the genin. "From the moment we start this, you will have these head sets on at all times. Make sure we can hear each other. Now get some sleep, we move in at sunset."

Hours past like days as the team waited for sunset. They slept in shifts, though none but Gin seemed to get much sleep at all. When the sun finally set a light shower of rain began, adding clod and dampness to the bleak tone of the mission.

Gin stood up and looked down at her team. Four determined faces stared back at her, awaiting their orders. "Everyone ready?" she asked, her only reply was a series of stiff nods. "All right then, lets go."

This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I'm hoping to make the next one a little longer than usual and I thought this was a good place to stop.

This chapter had absolutely no planing done for it at all, so I hope it's all right, though my favourite part in this fic (the bit where Gin apologises to Genma in front of all the other jonin) wasn't planed either so maybe this isn't as bad as I think it is. People keep telling me to stop putting myself down, maybe I should start listening.

Thanks for reading,

Kwin