(A/N) *is honestly just stalling here until TTDS decides to cooperate* I swear it'll get outta the prelims eventually! Ah screw it, this has been ahead of TTDS most of the time anyway, and not like anyone actually reads this, so finals time!
Much of the next month was spent training her genin, getting Kakashi to train his, assisting in the preparations, and checking in on the children she'd rescued.
"You've been on edge this entire month," Sakura noted, leaning against the railing. While she was off the crutches, and had been for a few weeks, she had complained of pain before.
Akiko shrugged. It wasn't like she could just tell the genin why she was so on edge. It was freaking confidential, and Sakura wouldn't know about it until it happened. Unfortunately. Personally, Akiko thought that telling Team 7 would've been a very good idea, letting the kids loose on the security system to upgrade the seals there.
Kakashi had somewhat managed to get them to upgrade the system somewhat by telling them it was a training exercise, and while the kids had a very impressive imagination, Akiko doubted a literal invasion was even a slight possibility in their minds. It was in very few people's minds, you didn't really starts wars with an invasion during the chuunin exams. Which was why it was the perfect plan.
Sakura eyed her suspiciously, but wandered off to chat with her teammates.
This was why villages tried to avoid letting missing-nin escape them. If they told the village's secrets to other villages, it would be disastrous.
In this case, the missing nin had formed a village themselves, apparently had allied with sand, and decided to attack Konoha. Akiko was still working on why they would do it. Konoha and Suna had been allies for a very long time. Not as long as they had been allies with the now dead Uzushio, but pretty long in the shinobi world where minor issues could result in a war.
Akiko glanced around, spotting her team sitting between what bits of Kurenai and Asuma's teams that weren't in the exams, with Kurenai and Asuma on either end. She could see the longing looks from here, and snickered. The poor sensei, with seven genin between them, there was no way they'd get the secret, or not so secret kisses in between watching the fight.
"You prepared for today?" Kakashi asked absently, appearing next to her with a puff of smoke.
"Are you?" Akiko replied, watching Genma shift from his seat, preparing to take his job as proctor.
"Shouldn't you be with your kids?" Kakashi asked instead, the abrupt change in subject telling her that yes, he was.
"They'll be fine with the other rookies," Akiko replied. "Why aren't you?"
"I don't want to get zapped," Kakashi noted dryly, jerking a thumb back at his students. Akiko glanced behind her, and sure enough, they were playing with lightning seals, the area around them crackling with electricity.
"Reasonable," Akiko decided, turning her attention back to the arena. "Genma's starting. Better get your kids in gear.
When Kakashi turned to go back to his genin, Akiko caught Shikamaru staring at her assessingly. He must've heard their exchange, and was now putting his brains to work. Akiko debated telling him, but ultimately decided he could approach her with what he thought was going on.
It took all of Naruto's fight and into Shino and Sakura's for Shikamaru to work out what was going on.
"Are we going to be attacked?" Shikamaru asked her point blank, watching her lazily.
Akiko tilted her head. "In a manner of speaking," it was purposely vague, they did have watchers after all.
Shikamaru watched her for a moment longer, then walked away, yawning and seeming to fall asleep against the wall. Akiko spotted the quick hand sign in her direction. 'Invasion.'
Yep, he'd figured out what was going on. Good kid. She just had to keep him awake. She was fairly sure her team knew what was going on, Shinta was only slightly less intelligent than his half cousin, and just as wily as his other half cousin.
Shikamaru went down to fight Temari, and they began a short game of chase, followed by Shikamaru grabbing her in his shadow after a series of genjutsu threw her off enough for him to catch her, then promptly forfeited.
"He's got more then half his chakra left," Kakashi muttered to her, pulling down his headband after a quick check with his sharingan. "Why?"
"He figured it out," Akiko said, shrugging. "And clearly decided that fighting a second battle on an empty tank would be a bad idea."
"It is," Kakashi agreed.
"You would know," Akiko said, shaking her head mock scoldingly. "This is coming from the person known for running into stupid situations without any chakra. Then being in the hospital for a week because you're in a freaking coma."
Kakashi pretended he didn't know what she was talking about.
Akiko just sighed and turned to find Gaara and Sasuke just standing there glaring at each other.
"What are those two even doing?" She asked, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Having a stare down and attempting to intimidate the other person into giving up," Kakashi said blandly.
Akiko just sighed heavily, rolling her eyes when she made eye contact with Kurenai.
An ANBU caught her attention, flashing the alright sign. Akiko frowned at the ANBU, but quickly turned her attention to the match. Did they induct new members? She hadn't seen that mask in a while. And why were they reporting to her?
Something was wrong, and unfortunately, it couldn't be accurately conveyed without risk of the ANBU seeing. Akiko resolved to keep an eye on the ANBU.
(A/N) *long gasp* who might that be? Fair warning, TTDS's updates may be a bit longer so the two stories can end at the same time.