A/N: Hello, hello, hello! A surprise second update. I got the calling! Enjoy!

Uzumaki

Chapter 37

It had been a day or so since Satsuki had thrown her out of her apartment, and Sakura still felt like she was going through the motions.

But luckily, there weren't many motions to go through now. After the breakdown she'd had at the hospital, she had been temporarily suspended from hospital duties. Tsunade didn't want to cause a huge issue about her memory - and rightly so; it didn't look too great - so she wasn't on chuunin, or genin missions. She was in a limbo, right now, until they decided what to do with her.

Staying in was unbearable for sure, but trying to confront her problems with Satsuki hadn't gotten her far either. Perhaps she should have brought Tsunade or Ino, but it had been the kind of thing to occur to her in the morning, on the spur of the moment. The spontaneity of it had felt important - that she go as soon as Satsuki got home. It didn't help her any. Obviously.

She sighed, taking a piece of fruit from the wooden bowl in the kitchen. Examining it, it was molded. She chucked it, sighing and tapping her fingers on the counter.

Sakura was past panic now that she'd seen Satsuki in person. It was emptiness now, and it was eating away at her. She went out as soon as she could each day, because even her bedsheets seem to nip at her skin. Every texture scraped and bit her. Today was the same, even her clothes aggravating her, and for a moment, she wished she could burn the whole place through.

She woke up early, to do nothing, and as she looked around the house, her impatience got the better of her.

'Out for a walk.' She scribbled a note on the counter, heading out with a quiet click of the door.

That said, her parents - although worried about her health - weren't as parental these days. Sakura knew that was because she was older, technically; she was supposed to know more about the world and its dangers. But she didn't. Sakura felt just as dumb as naive as she always had, because she was. Yet everyone treated her like she was older.

She left the house, frustrated at every little thing she saw or heard or touched. It all grated at her, but outside some of it seemed to wash away. Sakura walked from her house, and to the park she enjoyed going to when she was little, a couple of streets away, buying herself an orange on her way. She sat, not comfortable enough to sprawl, awake and exhausted all at once. Sakura stared at the edge of the sky, eyes unfocused, thinking deeply as she buried her fingernails beneath the orange skin. Her nails were still jagged and mismatched: she'd have to fix that.

Someone sat at the other end of the bench, a portly woman wearing mint. Sakura could feel the juice of the mandarin leak over her fingers, but she couldn't bring herself to look at her food, or the woman, or the world. She stared somewhere in between, deep in thought.

Ssss. There was that noise - the noise of paper against paper - somewhere distant. Was the woman reading the paper? Maybe.

Sakura wondered about it all. Her memory. She plucked a shred of orange skin from the fruit, placing it on her knee and burying her nail again.

She'd been on that mission with Ino and a guy named Sai from ROOT, when she'd suffered a concussion and been out for an entire month. Everything had disappeared from before then, but everyone described her as being 'different'. That she'd changed, that she was focused on her work and her studying, all after Naruto defected. She didn't get that, either.

Ino said she'd had a vendetta. That she'd never believed Naruto had left to kill Orochimaru, and hated him for leaving her, and injuring her and Satsuki both. She couldn't remember all of that. Maybe it was worth holding a grudge over it, and the photo in her room with him cut out - that was definitely true.

Did Naruto do something to her? Ino was sure they'd never met him - did Sakura meet him before then? After the concussion? Did something else happen entirely?

Orange juice leaked from the pierced flesh, and the citrus leaked into a sore, exposed under-nail, searing her finger. She hissed, drawing it back, but still, didn't draw her gaze away from that strange, ethereal spot.

Sakura could almost see it. She could almost see Naruto, hear that fight, but the details were only half there. How could she not have met him? What was going on?

The shuffling nose, the paper against paper sounded again. She was walking away, Sakura could see that in her peripheral. Reluctantly, she pulled herself away from her sight.

A piece of paper had been left behind, a single slip from a newspaper - the inserts they put in with advertisements on them. She lifted it up with one hand, examining it.

It was just a slip. But had the woman had a paper? Strange of her to just read these boring inserts. Sakura skimmed her eyes over it, muttering to herself the words she saw, when she saw a circle.

Circles. There were circles over the text. Syllable by syllable, some came in characters that made the phrase nonsensical, but if Sakura read it aloud…

"Hebi wa shinda," she whispered, "Inu wa nigeta."

The snake is dead. The dog has escaped.

Sakura read the letters over and over again, and no matter what, they seemed to slip right through. Snake is dead? Dog has escaped?

What was this? Was this for her, of all people?

No, this couldn't be for her, she thought, looking over it. Why would this be? She must have been doing a puzzle or something. A crossword? Something? Sakura looked up and down the street for the woman, looking left and right for sign of her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Sakura fervently flicked through the paper, scanning page after page, but there was nothing. No puzzles, no other writing, nothing. It was just that, the one page circled, snake is dead, dog has escaped. What did it mean? Did it mean anything?

No. It did, she decided. Something was wrong.

Sakura stood up, dropping the mandarin and searching. Where did she go? Where did the woman in mint go?

She wished she'd been looking, or even paying any attention to her features when she'd dropped this. The more Sakura looked at it, the more she knew it was a code. Who would highlight things like that? It had to be something. Something was up.

Sakura ran, legs carrying her faster than she knew they could, and she looked down every alley and street, scanning for that hint of mint. Across the lanes and in the shops, nowhere was the mint woman.

It was no good, and the sun soon hit the high sky, searing her shoulders; the portly woman in mint was gone, and Sakura was left with the code, and her thoughts.

Otogakure was crumbling.

Naruto knew that the threat of him was what Orochimaru relished in using to keep Otogakure in check. He had often made him summon a couple of tails, to terrify the villagers into submission, holding him down with nothing but seals and a burning hot iron rod. A bit of anger rose in him, until he remembered that steamy bathroom. The storm settled, settling the rough sea.

The parts of the Land of Rice Paddies, as it would be known again likely now that Orochimaru was gone - as was Kabuto - that were away from Otogakure had suffered from Orochimaru's influence being far off. He needed to exert some influence to prevent illegal activity. Whether it worked was another question, but Orochimaru certainly relished the process.

Oe-cho was a town that Naruto had passed through only once, as it was a border town, and had nothing of much in it bar a few small shops, and a lot of agriculture. Its population was small, and given that it was mostly civilian, Orochimaru had only felt the need to parade him as a threat the one time.

It had felt truly ridiculous. Naruto had laughed through the pain, which only made Orochimaru burn him harder. He'd been essentially parading him to the local ducks and cats, which were the only things that stuck around to watch. The cats sat in the trees for it, and the ducks sat in the road, quacking, watching him laugh and shriek, and occasionally scattering when a tail swung too close. The place was, to say the least, quiet, and shutting it down for his ridiculous parade had been easy enough considering only about 10 people had to take the day off from work to avoid it. Orochimaru had probably felt too foolish to cancel the event.

Coming back, Naruto did not take the road, where he had gone back then. He came in through the trees, atop the sloping hill that the town began on. Kimimaro followed, still bloodstained, in blissful silence. That was fine, Naruto decided. There wasn't much to say right now.

Still, Naruto stopped on the hill, sitting back and looking over the town. "Nice place."

"Yes. It is."

He hadn't expected Kimimaro to respond, but he tried not to react so Kimimaro didn't feel pressured. He stood up, brushing himself off, and headed down the grassy knoll to the town.

There were a couple of shops, some low slung wooden homes, and not much else bar the fields.

"Doesn't look like we'll be able to get paid for labour here," Naruto hummed. "I do have some money though. We won't be truly screwed for a while. Let's look around."

They crossed above a thin stream, ducks hanging around beneath the foot bridge and nattering to each other quietly. The town was quiet: there was really no chatter anywhere, any distant gather of people to muffle the wildlife.

They came to a shop that almost looked like a house, and as they went inside Naruto knew the shopkeeper recognised him. He hadn't really felt like it, but it was probably wise to transform for the next town. "Yo."

The shopkeeper, a short man with plump cheeks and tough hands, bowed low. "Good morning, sir."

Naruto glanced around. Kimimaro was in the doorway, looking rather like a boogeyman. "Hey, Kimimaro, can you come in and look for anything you need?"

He did so, quietly. He just seemed resigned at this point, so Naruto tried to pep him up again. "Is there anything I can get you? Just while we're here. I still have money."

Kimimaro looked around, slowly, and then he shook his head, the hair tied to either side of his face swaying as he did.

Naruto hummed, and went on looking around. There was food rations, good, they would need them; a large water skin; two bedrolls; and the basic pipes, and material necessary for a tent. The rest could be scavenged, Naruto decided, and he didn't have enough money to be splurging in a place like this.

Kimimaro stood looking around, even so, as he collected all of that. "Thought of anything?" Naruto asked, giving him an encouraging smile.

The thin boy shied away from his gaze.

"I don't want people to see me," he said, quietly.

Naruto softened at that. He remembered that feeling distinctly. After Hinata, every look had begun to feel like a distant accusation, aggravating, insulting, frightening all at once. That pain felt like you were dying too, and like a dying animal, everything around you was a threat.

He looked around, and above the shopkeeper's desk was a variety of local knick knacks, like fans (did she still use those?) and so on.

Nope, no more of those thoughts. He pushed that right down. Naruto pulled his mind firmly to the task at hand, and spied a white wooden umbrella.

He pointed. "That - how much is that, sir?"

The shopkeeper looked up. "Ah… for you, sir, 700 ryo. Is that fair?"

"More than fair," Naruto blinked, flicking through a bundle of notes. "Sure y'don't want more?"

The man shook his head, motioning to the walls lined with all variety of things. "We don't get a lot of people here, but they're usually on long journeys. Nobody needs their money more than people without a home, right?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "Well, thank you, sir."

"Just tell people about Oe-cho someday. We don't have much, but it's truly beautiful here."

"You're right about that," Naruto smiled, attaching the skin to his belt and putting the rations in his pack. The tent, he put in the bed rolls and hung on his back.

"Thank you very much, sir."

Kimimaro took the umbrella, feeling the white paper.

"And could you do me a favour?" Naruto asked, looking at the man.

The man nodded slowly, looking just a little hesitant. "Of course, sir."

"Don't tell anyone we came through." Naruto pressed a fair number of notes to the desk, adjusting the bed rolls on his back. "Or rather, just don't say anything particular about us. Okay?"

The man gave him a long look, before taking them slowly. "Alright, sir."

They headed outside. The rain had begun, and Kimimaro opened his white umbrella. The paper between the spokes, which Naruto hadn't been able to see indoors, were covered in soft pink flowers, not roses, but something softer and rounder, and far more symmetrical.

"Camellias," whispered Kimimaro, lifting it above his head and staring at the patterns through the paper.

Naruto ducked under the paper. "Cool! Can I come under here with you?"

"No. That defeats the whole point."

"But it's raining!"

"No."

"I'm going to get wet!"

"I don't care."

"That's not fair. You don't need a whole umbrella!"

"I do."

"For what?"

"Style."

Tarou was nervous. This was his team he was being assigned, he thought, and there were lots of people he didn't want to get stuck with. It could potentially be years and years with this team.

He shook his head, trying not to worry, breathing out through his nose, and he nodded to himself. It would be fine, he decided, repeating his uncle's gentle words to him this morning. It would be okay.

"Team 3… Hyuuga Hanabi," Iruka coughed, "Nakazawa Tarou, and… Inuzuka Ashi. And your sensei is… ah, Uchiha Satsuki."

Tarou blinked. The Uchiha girl was their sensei? She was young, but she was the only one left in that entire clan, too. That was one high-ranking ninja. He supposed that was the benefit of having such important clans on his team, but…

He looked along the row.

Inuzuka Ashi.

She wasn't exactly what he was hoping for, that was true. They hadn't spoken a lot, and her dog had a habit of crying all through the lessons. Iruka-sensei had to tell her to take it outside a lot. He'd heard Inuzuka were supposed to be masters of their pets, but her pet didn't exactly seem like a fully tamed creature. And, it wore goggles. He wasn't even going to try and decipher that.

But Hyuuga Hanabi. He'd look at her, but she sat on the very back row, and she'd know he was looking at her. To be honest, he wasn't convinced she couldn't see his thoughts right now. Those eyes were terrifying.

Well, at least they were both pretty, he decided. It could have been worse. Konohamaru and his lackeys were insufferable.

The sensei filtered in, and the students filtered out, but as far as he could tell, Uchiha Satsuki was not there, so he waited. Ashi took the opportunity to pounce, coming over with the dog in her arms.

"Tarou! It's so cool we're on a team together, right?" she beamed, clutching the dog tightly. It growled at her, nipping her fingers, but she didn't even seem to notice. "I thought I was gonna get stuck with Konohamaru!"

"Yeah, no one wants to be with Konohamaru," he nodded. "Nice to be on a team with you too, Ashi."

She smiled warmly, taking the now empty seat next to him and sitting on it sideways. "So, so! I guess we're supposed to be a balanced team, right? Maybe trackers? I dunno, I guess Hanabi-san's got more offensive abilities than we do. Do you have any special clan jutsu, Tarou?"

"Nah." He shook his head. "My family's just civilian. Nothing special."

"Don't say that! Maybe if you try hard enough something will just pop out! That's the thing in Konoha, right? You just pop out with a bloodline if you try hard enough."

It did seem like that. But he doubted it. "Who knows. Maybe I will, Ashi-san."

"Or maybe you'll be the special one, you know? The Yondaime got there through hard work alone, right? Bloodlines aren't everything!" Ashi turned to face the front of the class, moving a hand over the side of her mouth to speak to him as she looked shiftily at Hanabi in the back. "But Hanabi… she's real scary. You think she can see what we're saying right now?"

"Yes."

Hanabi's voice made them both jump.

"I'm also not deaf," Hanabi said, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms. "Don't call me scary."

"Yes ma'am!" Ashi said, nodding furiously. "Sorry Hanabi. Didn't mean to disrespect you."

She really was scary.

"But uh," Ashi went on hesitantly, giving her a hopeful smile, "Why don't you come sit with us? We should get to know each other before sensei gets here."

"I don't want to," Hanabi said, giving her a truly disgusted look. "You both bore me."

"You don't even know me," Ashi retorted, visibly offended. "And you've never even spoken to Blackfire. What do you know about him?"

"The dog?" Hanabi asked, looking at the creature with disdain. "I don't see how I could speak to him."

"Blackfire understands everything you say," Ashi snapped, putting the dog on her lap. It was still biting her fingers. "He's just a listener. He keeps it all in. He's the silent type. He holds onto it for later."

Hanabi gave her a long look.

"Right," she said finally.

"Anyway Hanabi, come on! We have to be on a team with each other for years to come now! Nows our time to prepare for D-ranks together." She patted the seat next to her firmly. "C'mon."

"Don't remind me of that," Hanabi sneered. "You're both a waste of my time and potential."

"I'm not wasting anything," Tarou said hesitantly. "Hanabi-san, you'll go furthest if we just work together. If you just ignore us, then we'll probably hold you back even more. Right?"

Ashi gave him an offended look. "I'm not holding anyone back!"

Maybe not, but the dog definitely would, he thought. That thing barely seemed sentient.

Hanabi gave the thought some consideration, he thought, before she finally turned her chin up at them and looked away. Ashi sighed, defeated, and put her dog on the table before putting her chin in her palm and spacing out in record time.

Tarou sighed. It seemed like it would be a long day.

It was. Two hours passed.

Uchiha Satsuki walked in, rubbing her eyes and looking around for a couple of moments before she seemed to realise they were there.

"Oh. You're my team?" she said, eyes lingering on Hanabi. Even with Hanabi's eyes determinedly closed, Tarou was quite sure she was looking back.

Satsuki-sensei was not quite what he'd expected. He'd not gotten a good look at her, really; last time she'd been here, he'd been young, in the academy. People had pointed her out sometimes as she'd gone by, the girl with the dark eyes who apparently had frightening dojutsu. Her clan had supposedly been wiped out, bar her, by an insane relative who'd gone on a rampage. It was a tragic story, but her look was not tragic.

She looked, he thought hopefully, strong. She was in a dark, sheer desert cloak from her shoulders down, totally clad in black bar a clan symbol on her shoulder, the Uchiha fan. Her face was fierce, and her hair was in a bun. She was lacking the Konoha jounin vest, he noted; maybe it just ruined the look.

Ashi snapped out of her stupor, frightening the dog, who barked. "Hi sensei! I'm Inuzuka Ashi! You can just call me Ashi though, please. No need for Inuzuka-san."

Satsuki looked at him. "And you are?"

"Nakazawa Tarou, sir, uh, sorry. Ma'am."

"Sensei," she said, folding her arms. "I'm Satsuki-sensei. Got that?"

"Not Uchiha-sensei?" Ashi asked keenly, leaning forward on her desk. "Or Uchiha Satsuki-sama? Uchiha-sama? Do you have a title, like the White Fang? Are you the Black Fang?"

"Satsuki-sensei," she repeated. "Just Satsuki-sensei."

Her gaze moved up the row, and she stared, long and hard, at Hyuuga Hanabi. She waited, and she waited, until the silence drew out uncomfortably.

"And you?" she said at last, her stare cold.

Hanabi said, and did nothing.

"You, in the back," Satsuki said, sharper now. "Name."

"I don't give my name to someone who disrespects me by being two hours late."

Tarou shivered. This was bad. He thought it had been okay, but boy, it was bad. Was Hanabi always going to be like this? This was worse than expected.

"You can have respect when you're dead," Satsuki said icily. "I'm your sensei. Give me your name, or I'll send you back to the academy right now and you can sit the exam next year."

Hanabi's eyes snapped right open, and she stood up, giving Satsuki the coldest possible stare she could muster. "You can't do that."

Satsuki laughed derisively, crossing her arms. "Oh, I can. I might do that anyway. Give me your name. Now."

"You know who I am," Hanabi said, voice low. "You don't need to hear it."

"Name."

Hanabi was silent.

"Last chance." Satsuki looked fearsome. "Name. Or I will send you back and you can explain to your father about why you failed."

"I'm Hyuuga Hanabi," she sneered, giving in at last with a grinding of her teeth. "I'm from Konoha's most prestigious clan, with many living heirs. I'm going to become a top jounin, and when I do, I'll beat you and smear your dead clan's name in the dirt."

Tarou's jaw dropped.

Even Ashi's jaw dropped. If Blackfire had actually been listening, which Ashi insisted he was, he imagined his jaw would have dropped too. He stared, abashed, at Hanabi, in the dead silence of the academy room. But Satsuki did not.

"Good," she said, unshaken. She put her hands in her pockets and slid open the door. "Rooftop in ten."

Their sensei stepped from the room as quick as she'd come, and Hanabi got up once she was gone, leaving in silence. After a minute, Ashi collected herself, standing up and holding her dog's leash (why did it need a leash? Wasn't it a ninja dog?) and looking at him.

"Tarou, we gotta go," she smiled hesitantly. "Things'll get better. I promise."

He was thoroughly unconvinced, but he headed off after her. He was quite sure, he thought to himself, that things would get much, much worse.

Satsuki watched them filter in, one by one. She tried to hold back a sigh. It could be better, she thought, and no, it couldn't really be worse. This was just how the dice fell. Or how Tsunade rigged them.

Once her three unhappy students were all settled, she gave them a long look, before motioning.

"Introduce yourselves."

"We just introduced ourselves," Tarou said, unsuccessfully trying to hold back his exasperation.

"Again."

"Well, since you asked," Ashi began, lowering her dog with a flourish, "This, is Blackfire. He's my ninja dog. He's very clever, and very quick! He's my sidekick and my best friend. He does not like strangers, and he likes me. His aspiration is to become a big dog. Even bigger dog. Like, larger than average."

"You," Satsuki repeated, giving an unsure look to the dog. "Not your pet. You."

"But I already introduced myself," Ashi said, confused.

Satsuki regarded her sharply. "Do it again."

"And say what?" Ashi whined. "Like, what do you want to know? Just my name again? Don't you remember it, sensei? I can write it down…"

Satsuki scanned over them, a thoughtful look for a moment. "Likes, dislikes, that kind of thing. Hobbies. Aspirations."

Ashi sighed, defeated and sat back.

"Right… so I'm Inuzuka Ashi!" she said, regaining her cheer quickly. "I love training, and training Blackfire. I'm a big fan of action novels too! My favourite book is that one by the great ninja Jiraiya. I don't like films with people kissing in them! It's so gross! And I don't like onions either. My aspiration is to become a super strong taijutsu specialist, so I can be just like Jiraiya!"

"Jiraiya's not a taijutsu specialist," Satsuki frowned.

"But I did see him punch a guy outside a bar once, and damn! He's so cool. I wanna do that. Like, wham." She did a strange motion with her hands. Tarou, the skinny kid, gave her a long look.

Wants to punch people outside of bars, Satsuki noted. Cool. Right.

Ashi herself looked like she had a lot of potential. She looked like she did her training, and didn't diet like Sakura did, which was a start. Nor did she look particularly pudgy, which even beside the point was fairly workable.

The dog gave off a few confusing signals. Its midriff was very round, but its legs were very thin and horse-like. She assumed the Inuzuka knew how to make these things work, but even then, the dog looked like a mistake.

"Right," she said, uncertain. "Moving on. You." She leveled a finger to Tarou.

The skinny boy looked confused, but coughed, regaining his stance. Good, she thought. The cold sensei act was working. Kakashi had really nailed that one. Even she'd skipped breakfast.

Goddamn bastard.

"Uh, I'm Nakazawa Tarou," he began, fidgeting a little. "I like studying, but I train when I can too, I guess. I'm interested in seals, and medical ninjutsu. I think they both have a lot of potential. I don't like apples, and I think one day I'd like to invent some new jutsu of my own, something new in the medical or sealing field. That's it."

That was satisfyingly normal, she decided, and so was the kid. He was a little thin, sure, but he looked healthy and his scores had spoken to someone who at least put the work in. Plus, the team could use a healer. Not that she knew any healing jutsu, but maybe Ino could train him in that, or Sakura when her memories came back around. If they did, she thought sourly. If Sakura ever spoke to her again.

Her mood dropped, and she felt herself sag a little. 'Shouldn't have thought about that. Why am I even considering passing them anyway?'

"Right," she said. "Good."

"I've never even eaten an apple," Ashi said absent-mindedly.

"How have you possibly avoided eating an apple your entire life?" Hanabi snapped, seemingly unable to contain herself at last. "That's ridiculous."

"Red's the bad colour," Ashi retorted, affronted. "If we went and ate everything that's red, we'd be in big trouble. Dummy."

"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Now," Satsuki began. "Moving on-"

"Red's the bad colour!" Ashi reiterated, leaning forward and pointing a finger. "You know what else's red? Blood! No entry signs! Butterflies! Paint!"

"Do you eat wood, just because it's the same colour as noodles!?"

"Well I wouldn't eat brown wood! That's a bad colour too!"

"Don't eat any wood!" Hanabi snapped, incredulous. "Where do you come from?!"

"Do you eat green apples?" Tarou asked hesitantly.

Ashi rolled her eyes. "No. Those are just broken apples."

"Stop." Dear God. "Moving on," Satsuki pushed forward, "Hanabi. Introduce yourself."

"You just did," Hanabi said, her face the epitome of smugness as she folded her arms.

"Don't give a shit, introduce yourself." Satsuki folded her arms, grinding her teeth.

Hanabi sighed, but looked a little smug all the same.

"I'm Hyuuga Hanabi. I am from the most famous, and powerful, clan in Konoha," she enunciated, "and I like training and studying. My favourite snack is banana. I don't like wasting time, and I don't like mitsuba. And as I said, it's not a dream, because I will do it: I will become the best jounin in Konoha, and I will bring the Hyuuga clan to even more power."

Hanabi was very thin, even thinner than Hinata. She looked a little like herself at that age, Satsuki admitted reluctantly, but maybe a little shorter. Was she talented? That remained to be seen, but even before Hinata's death, Hanabi had been taken over as the heiress. Reason enough to be cocky, but that didn't necessarily make her a prodigy.

Ashi had her hand up. Satsuki stared.

"What is it?" Satsuki conceded at last.

"What's a mistuba?"

"It's a herb," Tarou explained to her gently. "You season your dishes with it."

Ashi had her hand up again.

"What?" Satsuki was getting irate. She had to have been their teacher for under 20 minutes. This was unbearable.

"Why do I care if Hanabi doesn't like herbs?"

"Oh, so you think I care about your egg of a dog?" Hanabi snapped. Ashi gasped, covering Blackfire's face with her jacket protectively.

"Shut the hell up, all of you." Holy hell. Was everyday going to be like this? "Okay. We're done."

Ashi had her hand up.

Was Kakashi made of iron? Was Naruto as annoying as this? Had he been worse?

"No. No more questions. Nothing more from you."

"But what about you, sensei?" she whined. "I wanna know about you!"

Oh. Kakashi had done that, hadn't he. "There's nothing to say."

"Sure there is!" Ashi beamed. "Where did you get those boots? They make you look like a cowboy!"

God.

"I'm Uchiha Satsuki," she said slowly. "I'm a jounin. I like training. I'm realising that I don't like children. And I hope someday, I never have to teach a team again."

Ashi gave her that sad look, that children with hopes and dreams give you when you shut them down. Satsuki felt the distinct irony of being stood exactly where Kakashi was, and hating her genin just as much.

She still wasn't going to tell them not to eat breakfast. Bastard.

"I have more bad news for you," she said, putting her hands on the railing casually. "You're not genin yet."

Ashi had her hand up.

"Down," she said. "Put the hand down."

"But I am a genin, because I have the special ninja headband."

"Let me finish."

"Okay."

"At this stage, we fail about two thirds of the teams," Satsuki explained, leaning back. "Two thirds go back to the academy, and only one third stay on to be genin. I give you my own personal test, to see whether you're good enough for my tutelage. Tomorrow."

Ashi was starting to put her hand up.

"No. No questions."

"If I leave and don't come back, do I get to keep the headband?" Ashi said. "'Cause if I fail my mom's gonna be so mad at me."

"If you leave and don't come back I will come and collect the headband from you."

"What if I hide it?"

"I will find it, now stop. No more questions." God, were they always like this? Were all children like this? Why did people have them?

Tarou looked at her, hesitantly, looking rather like his clothes were too big for him all of a sudden. "Sensei, are you going to fail us because you don't like us?"

Satsuki softened, just a little. "No."

Ashi had her hand up again.

"Are you going to fail us if Ashi keeps asking questions?" Hanabi asked, giving her teammate a long, seething look.

"Yes."

Ashi's hand lowered.

"Okay, so, tomorrow at 8," Satsuki said, cracking her back and giving them a long, sharp look. "Don't be late."

She shunshined away, with the distinct feeling that she had not imparted not even nearly the level of weight Kakashi had imparted on them. In part, she thought to herself, that was probably Ashi's incredibly dumb questions. The other part, she decided, was the lack of the breakfast thing.

It was the principle of it, she decided, putting on the kettle. Who tells children not to have breakfast? She'd been 12. Sick bastard.

The abandoned Uchiha facility was, as dead and filled with rot as ever. The night was alive with cicadas, and Lizard was waiting. His tongue was dull.

Where was Owl? (Where was Snake? What happened to Snake?)

Bad. No thoughts. He banished them. Bless the call.

"Hey."

He would have jumped if he was a lesser man. Owl had arrived, wearing that imperceptible mask with those dark, gaping eyes.

"You are late."

"Don't tell Danzo that."

"Danzo-sama," he repeated.

"What?"

"Have respect for Danzo-sama," Lizard snapped. He stared at Owl, whose face was imperceptible behind that mask.

"Yeah, whatever," said Owl, kneeling beside him. "Where's your intel?"

Lizard huffed. "I have received no notes of import from the Hokage personally. The mission assignments have been delivered. Hyuuga Hanabi has been assigned to the Uchiha heiress, along with Inuzuka Ashi and a young genin boy named Nakazawa Tarou. The civilian family boy Rock Lee has been assigned the Sandaime's grandson, Konohamaru along with Moegi and Udon. The rest of the assignments were of no interest to Danzo-sama, as Hyuuga Neji still has his team from last year who did not pass."

Owl splayed a piece of paper. "The Hokage hasn't moved around any senior intel that I have received, nor have I heard her receiving any important pieces of intel from outside of Konoha. Nothing on Uzumaki Naruto. Sabaku no Temari is still here in talks about the Akatsuki attack on Sunagakure, along with a few high-ranking jounin here who are supposed to hear out the talks. As far as I know, a meeting hasn't been held beyond the casual level yet, but they might have met privately. Hatake Kakashi hasn't returned, nor has Jiraiya. I haven't heard anything about Orochimaru, either. I'm aware Uchiha Satsuki got mad about the genin assignments and damaged her office."

Lizard took a pen and ink and began to write fluidly in cipher across the scroll on the ground. "And have you heard about the Chuunin Exams?"

"Nothing."

"Danzo-sama strongly suspects they will be held in Sunagakure this year, and imagines that will be discussed. Listen out for intel on it."

"Understood."

"And Haruno Sakura." Lizard lifted an image of the young girl from his coat, pressing it to the floorboards. Her face had soft sweet features, he thought, but in the photo, her eyes looked cold.

Owl looked down. "Haruno Sakura?"

"She's a jounin under Tsunade's tutelage. She recently lost her memory on a mission that was of Danzo's interest. He has given me a request that you provide intel on her movements. Although Tsunade is your primary interest currently, Danzo-sama requests you keep an eye on her and see to it that she does not discover anything untoward about ROOT."

Owl nodded.

"If she seeks to reveal ROOT's real nature," Lizard went on, "Kill her."

"Understood." Owl pocketed the photograph, and stood, turning to leave.

"Wait."

"Yes?"

No. No. Bless the call. He couldn't.

"Where is Snake?" he said, despite himself, despite his leader, despite everything, his training, no, no. He couldn't. But he did. "Where… is he alright?"

He couldn't feel these things. No. He wasn't allowed to.

Owl gave him a long look for a moment, the mask betraying nothing. Even so, Lizard felt as though he could see soulless eyes behind it, searching him.

"Snake is alive," said Owl.

Lizard felt ungodly relief flow through him. No. That wasn't how this was supposed to be. No, no, no. How had he ended up like this? He wasn't supposed to feel these things anymore.

"Don't tell Danzo-sama about this," he said, swallowing and staring at the ground, pressing his palms to the wood.

Owl turned, heading into the darkness with a creak of the old, rotting floorboards. "I won't. Praise to Danzo-sama."

"Praise him," Lizard breathed, so close to the wood he could smell the decay. "Praise to Konoha."

A/N: Frogs, or lizards? Personally, I like them both, but something about frogs is just really ugly-cute.