Life went on after they successfully defeated their greatest enemies. In a way, Kiba was kind of disappointed that nothing major happened after they had managed to prove to his sister and her teammates that they were still lacking in skill. But, in another way, he was mostly happy that nothing changed.

Things could have changed if he had failed... they could have changed too much.

But that wouldn't happen now. Hana had failed, so Hana was the one that would have to change; not him. For now, he could forget all about his stupid clan and everything they wanted him to do and be.

If only his life didn't have to continue in the manner it was currently going...

Kiba understood that his pack couldn't remain wholly isolated for the rest of their lives- he understood. But he didn't really like all of the new friends Fū was forcing into his life.

"And, wait, no... could you repeat the explanation again, Shika? This equation makes no sense!"

Shikamaru sighed softly, but went ahead and didn't grouch when he explained the process to Fū a third time.

Ibiki's apartment wasn't small by any means, but when there were so many pups running around, it didn't look quite big enough for the large interrogator.

"I think Shika's starting to like teaching." Chouji whispered at him from his right side, leaning closer to him to not be overheard by the rest of the brats that had been let loose in Fū's home. "I never would have thought he'd have the patience for it."

Kiba nodded without thinking of replying- Shikamaru had never had the longest fuse when it came to his annoyance, so seeing him not blowing up at Fū's difficulty to understand homework was definitely surprising.

With both of those kids focused on their math, it wasn't very surprising to see that the rest of the children congregated were working on their own homework. And it was annoying to Kiba that, at this point, it wasn't odd to see so many people within Ibiki's apartment. After a few weeks, it had become normal.

Shino was working with Naruto to aid him in his lack of understanding of history class, all the while Sakura and Ino were working together to come up with new ways to work with poisons in the field.

He had no idea how, but Fū had managed to build a real friendship with Shikamaru and Ino. Ino had gotten a bit less annoying in the last few months, so Kiba wasn't that surprised- especially because her friendship with Sakura was one that definitely inspired Fū to attempt to reach out to the Yamanaka. But Shikamaru was a renown sourpuss. How had she managed to convince him she was worth the trouble?

At the rate this girl was making friends, it would only be a matter of time before Kiba would be forced to deal with the only other two clan-members left in their year.

Although, those two were notoriously reticent to ever leave their own little world or absorb anyone else to enter it... so maybe Fū wouldn't manage to befriend them.

But she was already on speaking terms with other kids in the class! A social butterfly- that was the best word to describe Fū. Even though she wasn't the best student, she had a charisma to her that aided her in just talking to people. She could communicate with others without much difficulty. Heck, she had managed to befriend Shino Aburame.

It was... absolutely foreign how someone that reminded him so much of himself was able to accomplish such feats. He'd never been good at communication or getting others to understand him, after all. He could barely even begin to understand others as it was.

Flexing his fingers, Kiba rolled his shoulders and turned his head to look over in the direction of the poison aficionados. He was still interested in the idea of adding poison to his repertoire- he just needed Ino to get her father to confirm that they could, indeed, coat his nails without any adverse effects before Sakura allowed them to more forward.

Maybe he should remind the Yamanaka?

"Hey, Kiba."

"What's up, Pork Chop?"

He liked being with Sakura and Ino was tolerable. So it would only make sense for him to go ahead and join their little group.

While it would be smarter to work on homework, he didn't feel like doing so boring quite yet- besides, tomorrow was Friday. It wouldn't be the worst thing if he didn't turn in what little assignments they'd been given.

"I think we should start working on dinner."

Kiba quirked an eyebrow as he turned to look at Chouji once again, "You want me to help with the kitchen?"

That was odd.

Chouji smiled softly, shrugging his shoulders ever so slightly, "It gets lonely in there and I don't want to bother Sakura."

Kiba stared at him through somewhat narrowed eyes, "You want me to help in the kitchen?"

With a quick nod, the plump boy motioned in the direction of the large kitchen he had essentially adopted as his own. "It's nice to have company- and you can help me with simple tasks."

The Inuzuka took a moment to properly stare at his Akimichi pack-mate, truly taking in the fact that Chouji was inviting him to go with him to the kitchen. But he soon shrugged and motioned for him to lead the way.

It wasn't often Chouji took the lead and Kiba knew that he needed to encourage leadership in Pork Chop. They all started somewhere- maybe Chouji would finally be able to begin understanding how to take on the role of a leader by directing Kiba in the kitchen.

Kiba had absolutely no natural talent for cooking- this wasn't much of a surprise to Chouji, though. After a lifetime of having him as his best friend, even though Kiba had never been forced to cook while around them before, Chouji just kind of knew that his friend would have two left field in the culinary field.

Even though he was an absolute monster in the battlefield, Kiba couldn't use a knife to cut up an onion even if it could save his life.

"Itadakimasu!" was cried out by most of the kids seated at the dining room table- Shino most probably whispered, though, rather than shouting out.

Naruto threw himself at his food as if he were a starving boy, immediately congratulating Kiba and Chouji on a delicious meal. From the periphery of his vision, Chouji was able to see Kiba roll his eyes at the blonde's excitement, even though he didn't tell Naruto to shut up and close his stupid mouth- a true testament to how seriously he was taking Fū's friendship to him.

The rest of them were much more sedate in their speed; Ino actually took the opportunity to have everyone gathered together to invite them all to her huge birthday party.

"Isn't that like months away?" Shikamaru, of course, asked the most logical question because he had a point- Ino's birthday was in September and they hadn't even gotten to summer break yet.

Ino, characteristically enough, stuck her tongue out at him and told him that there was no such thing as preparing too early for something as important as an eleventh birthday. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and made a face at a large chunk of onion he pulled up from his dish.

Chouji fully expected a sarcastic comment about Kiba's ability to cut up an onion.

It never came.

"Are you inviting us because we are friends now, Ino? Or because we are all heirs-"

Ino shushed Shino with a huff, "We're friends! At least, I think we are? This is like the second week we've all hung out together, right?"

"That just means we've hung out together twice, Ino." Shikamaru sighed before taking a bite of the spicy beef Chouji had made. "Just admit that you're desperate to finally have a large birthday party- there's no need to sugar coat anything."

"Shika!"

Chouji sighed- even though there had been many changes to their lives recently, it seemed that some things never changed. Ino and Shikamaru were great friends, but they were still so very different.

"I don't think I've ever gone to a birthday party." Fū murmured as she stopped eating from her wholly vegan plate, causing all eyes to turn to her. She didn't seem to notice the attention as she continued with, "Yeah, no, I've never been to one. Actually, I've never been to a party." she turned to Ino now, who was staring wide eyed and horrified, "What's a party?"

Chouji couldn't help but to frown softly at her- Fū didn't really talk much about her home all that much, but it didn't take a Nara-intellect to understand that Fū hadn't experienced the most normal or warm childhood. Unfortunately, it wasn't surprising to hear that she had not had the chance to experience something so natural to a kid as birthday parties.

Ino threw herself into explaining what a party was and how fun birthday parties could be. The rest of them allowed the Yamanaka to go about explaining such a thing- Sakura would add a little detail every now and again when she thought it pertinent.

By the end of Ino's explanation, Fū wanted to throw a party on Friday.

Kiba groaned loudly as Naruto and Ino cheered in unison. Chouji smiled softly and did his best to send both Kiba and Shikamaru reassuring vibes- with Fū in their lives, things certainly would never be the same again.

When nighttime hit, Ibiki still hadn't returned to his home.

The only members of their little (but it wasn't that little anymore, was it?) group of friends that had left had been Shino and Naruto, because they had a curfew they needed to respect.

Sakura knew she needed to return to her home because her parents weren't going to be happy with her now that she was going to return after night had fallen. But she had been having fun talking to Ino about many different possibilities with poison and lacing different sorts of weapons; and Fū hadn't stopped chattering about throwing a party on Friday and that was exciting!

Kiba and Akamaru were both hiding from the rest of them by taking a nap in Fū's room, but no one was about to call him out on avoiding any of them. He had gone from only hanging out with his pack to suddenly being surrounded by his greatest nemesis, the always judgmental- in his opinion- Shino Aburame, and Shikamaru and Ino- who he wasn't good friends with. He deserved some time alone after an undoubtedly draining day.

"Don't worry, Fumiko, we'll definitely throw a party this Friday!" Ino slammed her hand down on the coffee table she had been working at, causing the girl in the silver wig to begin clapping in excitement.

"And it'll be bug themed, right?"

Ino pursed her lips for a second, but soon nodded. "Yes! I'll make sure to get the prettiest flowers from the shop for it, too!"

Shikamaru sighed softly as his head peaked out from the edge of the coffee table; he had chosen to lay down on the ground to get some shut eye. He was frowning softly as he mentioned, "We should get going; it's getting pretty late."

"But... party..."

Sakura didn't want to leave; even though she did know that she'd probably get grounded if she showed up even later than eight p.m. to her home.

"We can keep planning tomorrow; today's only Tuesday." Chouji offered with a soft smile from his spot sitting beside Fū, which caused her shoulders to slump and her to huff dramatically.

"Fine... but you better keep that promise!"

"I promise I'll keep the promise." Chouji nodded as he began to get up, signaling for them to begin leaving as well.

Sakura stood up and stretched her back, raising her arms high above her head, and then looked at her friends do the same. Shikamaru, for some reason, reminded her a lot of a cat in his movements...

"Alright, let's get going." Sakura announced after everyone had grabbed their backpacks; Ino and Shikamaru looked at her with confusion clear on their faces. "What?"

"Aren't you forgetting two specific dog-like beings?" Ino asked, jutting a thumb in the direction that Kiba had disappeared to after dinner.

Right... even though these two had been a part of their lives for a long time, they weren't as accustomed to their pack and Kiba's own eccentricities.

"Don't worry about them," Fū bounced towards the front door of the apartment, leading them there. "We've got this game going, y'see. If Ibiki-dad can't figure out they're sleeping over, he can't kick them out!"

Sakura quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at this- it sounded rather farfetched that a skilled jounin; a guy that was the Head of a full division; could miss out on two extra beings sleeping in his home. But... well... Kiba and Fū had shared the treehouse together before everything had changed... it wouldn't really be too farfetched to think that they would try and recreate some of that magic sometimes.

Ino huffed softly as she opened the door, beginning to step outside, "It's still so wild that Ibiki's a dad now. He's like one of the most boring people I know. Who would have thought he'd have such a huge secret?"

"He is a ninja." Sakura shrugged as she followed after the blonde, followed by the two boys.

Fū waved them goodbye with one final reminder to keep their promise of planning the party tomorrow before she closed the door behind them.

When Ibiki finally returned home, it was almost midnight and she had been buzzing with too much excitement to properly sleep. So, when she heard the door unlock and the telltale click of a doorknob turning, Fū flew off of the living room couch and rushed the man with a quick hug- she knew she needed to be fast unless she wanted him to step out of the way like Kuzu tended to do when any of them- mostly her and Sakura- tried.

"You're supposed to be sleeping." Ibiki sighed, sounding awfully tired, as she busied herself by hugging him tightly around the waist and plastering her face into the side of his stomach.

A single gloved hand eventually landed on her shoulder, delivering tired, half-hearted pats before Ibiki began to move into the home.

"I couldn't sleep." she answered quickly, moving behind him to close the door he had left semi-opened and lock up. "I just found out that there's a thing called birthday parties and Ino, Shika, and Chouji promised they'd help me throw a party on Friday. The pack's going to be invited, of course. Just like Naruto and Shino. Although I'm not sure if I want to invite anyone else."

As she informed him of all of this, Ibiki made his way towards the refrigerator. He opened it up and grabbed the container Chouji had left specifically for him- it was a pretty big container- with leftovers from their dinner together.

"Where's this party going to take place?" he hummed curiously as he placed the container in the microwave, set the timer, turned it on, and finally turned to face her.

Fū noted immediately in the kitchen's much too bright lights that Ibiki had incredibly heavy bags below his eyes- they even had a somewhat sunken look to them, really. Things must be tough at his job- he'd been returning home later and later almost every single night. This would be the latest he'd arrived, though.

The young girl took a moment to think about the question and soon shrugged. "Here? This is kind of like our new headquarters, after all."

Ibiki closed his tired eyes, the microwave hummed as it heated up the food, and he sighed heavily. "You're supposed to ask for permission from your guardian before you start thinking about throwing a party in his apartment."

It wasn't a reprimand; at least, it didn't sound like one. It was more like Ibiki was telling her information he knew she didn't know, rather than information he believed she had intentionally ignored.

Ibiki was really nice. She liked him. He was caring, understanding, and a complete pushover.

She allowed the food to finish heating up before she asked if he would allow them to throw a party on Friday. Ibiki sighed once more and didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed the food, pulled out some chopsticks, and silently made his way towards the living room. She followed quietly after him, more curious about why he hadn't answered than bothered by it.

Ibiki landed on the couch with a heavy huff, pulled off his sandals, and motioned for her to sit down beside him. She, of course, did that and pulled her feet up under her as she continued to watch Ibiki move through the motions without prodding at him.

Right before the first bite of food wound up in his mouth, he asked how her day had been. She smiled and began to explain to him how much she had learned today because Shikamaru was such a good teacher- not that Sakura was bad, but Shikamaru just kind of made her understand better- and Iruka-sensei had almost thrown Naruto and her in detention for talking too much in class- but it hadn't been their faults! It was all Shino's and his insects' fault! They had been sending secret messages all throughout math period and Naruto and her had needed to decipher them!

"You're supposed to pay attention in class."

"I did! Numbers are just more boring than Shino telling us about the newest gossip going on in the Aburame clan- did you know Atsukuni was punished by his father for having gotten poisoned by us and now has to ace the chunin exams this year if he doesn't want to wait two whole years to take them again?"

Ibiki hummed noncommittally at this, a beat of silence passed between them, and then he offered some of his beef to her.

Her teeth sunk into the juicy meat before Ibiki had been able to take note of the fact that she had moved her face closer to it, rather than her hands.

As she chewed the delicious treat, she noticed him frowning down at her. She smiled up, cheeks bulging with the meat, and asked, with her mouth full, how his day had been.

Ibiki looked away from her, and from the side of his face, she could tell that his frown had deepened. His eyes narrowed somewhat... it was as if something dark came over him.

His job... it wasn't easy, right? Like, he was supposed to torture people and stuff? That couldn't be an easy job... right? Or wait, no, it was his job? Was it supposed to be easy?

She had never had to contemplate too much about ninja life before...

"I've got these co-workers called Anko Mitarashi and Genma Shiranui- and your stories about your friends reminds me a little of them. When they get together, all chaos breaks out. And I'm the one that has to wrangle them back into the office they are constantly trying to escape from."

"Oh? Kind of like Iruka-sensei when Naruto and I tried to escape history class to get a limited-time coupon for Ichiraku's!"

Ibiki didn't look at her immediately, but she was able to tell that his deep frown became something more like a saddened smile. His shoulders slumped and he nodded softly, "Kind of like." he echoed.

For a few seconds, they remained seated in complete silence. She had no idea what she should say next; if she should even say anything; and Ibiki supplied nothing else.

Never before had she thought she would ever have a family. She had always wanted friends, yes, but family was something too far away from her- something that had always seemed unachievable.

But now she had Kakuzu in her life, even if he wasn't able to always be around.

And now she had a stable roof over her head, a refrigerator always filled to the brim with things for Chouji to cook, a huge amount of sturdy and good clothes in a closet that was her's, and so many more things that she had always known faint shadows of... and it was all because Ibiki had decided to be one of the best people in the world and officially adopt her.

She didn't understand what was going up in his head; and, really, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know. Whenever adults looked this serious and stern, bad things usually followed.

But she did know that she didn't want to add to any negative things going on in his life.

So she leaned forward and placed a hand on his large bicep, offering a small smile when he glanced over at her with wide eyes. "I got an A on my history test."

"Oh?" he sounded more confused than curious, but his face seemed to lose some of the darkness that had overcome it, so Fū counted that as a victory.

With a nod, she then began to explain to him how convoluted and somewhat stupid Konoha history was.

After a few minutes, there was a small smile on his lips and only the faintest bit of dampness to his eyes.

The eyes on him were obvious; palpable.

He breathed in deeply, feeling the swell of his chest, as he allowed his mind to wander.

Normally, he wasn't the type to meditate. In a way, he wasn't even meditating- his mind was much too busy for it to count as anything of the like. But if he looked as if he were deep in thought, it would alert the eyes on him about his current state of mind- and the last thing he needed was for the Hokage to know that he was busy contemplating something.

So, he looked like a damn fool, seated cross-legged on the balcony floor with only rays of moonlight as a source of light. His shoulders were rolled back and his head was held high, while his forearms rested on his inner thighs, his fists pressed tightly together.

It was annoying how familiar it was to adopt such a pose after a lifetime of attempting to erase his past from his conscious memory.

Meditation had once been taught regularly in Takigakure- but that was as far as Kakuzu was willing to acknowledge on this night. No more would he allow himself to remember a life he had left behind.

His long hair swayed somewhat with the breeze that brushed past him- there was a lot more wind on the fifth floor's balcony than there was on his own official unit's own.

How a Village had the resources to isolate a full construction building for just himself, Kakuzu didn't want to think about; he wanted to think about any justifications they had decided upon even less. All he knew was that he was fortunate that he wasn't restricted to just the singular unit that was stricken down as his own on the official records- he could move about freely, even as other Konoha-natives lived within other units.

All of these natives had been planted with the express purpose of monitoring him; none of them were his actual neighbors. But, as long as he was allowed to move about, he could care less about who shared a building with him.

It wasn't often he allowed others to see the true length of his hair; it wasn't often he allowed others to find out details about himself that went further than his overall physical appearance. But he needed to make those observing him believe that he was settling in comfortably to this new life as an agent of Konoha- and they wouldn't believe such a thing if he constantly appeared to be on guard.

The mask over the lower half of his face was not coming off and would not be coming off for the foreseeable future. The less Konoha knew about his body's modifications, the better. In a similar, but much more important vein, he wanted to keep their understanding of his abilities purposefully ignorant. He was working with Konoha because he knew it to be the best choice; that didn't mean he was here to make a home.

Home... such a meaningless word.

His carefully machinated plans had been chaotically destroyed by the randomness of the world- Hidan was being kept locked up tighter than he had expected and he would not be able to escape to send word to the Akatsuki. With the constant eyes on him, Kakuzu wouldn't be able to send word either. And so the Akatsuki would begin to doubt them.

He couldn't have that if he wanted to make sure they believed him about the current whereabouts of the containers of the nine and seven tailed beasts.

If he were to send communications out in the traditional means, he would still be alerting Konoha to his connections to someone outside of the Village; and he couldn't have that either. While Konoha was an ally against the Akatsuki, they were not an ally.

The only allies he truly had were the pack.

His breath hitched momentarily, for only a fraction of a second, before he forced his body to return to the slow breathing pace commonly used for meditation.

Undoubtedly, if Wolf was one of the ANBU observing him, he would have caught onto the momentary abnormality in his state and jotted it down. Tiger would probably become on edge and begin to wonder if Kakuzu was plotting some horrible plan. The rest of the operatives he had come to know, though, hadn't seem as keen- possibly, he was underestimating them; Konoha had not produced stellar shinobi in some years, though.

Even though he was constantly under surveillance, his pack was not. Kiba Inuzuka, even, was able to shake off most trackers that attempted to follow him.

There was a pause in the wind and his hair landed gently against his back.

He knew what he had to do to send word to the Akatsuki.

Ibiki truly was different from most adults he'd met in his life.

"Are you sure your family is alright with you not returning home for the night? That seems like the kind of thing a parent should worry over."

He sounded like he was absolutely confused about Inuzuka-clan dynamics, but he didn't sound like he was attempting to tell Kiba how to live his life. He really sounded worried about something that, for most people, would be a valid worry.

Kiba shrugged, "Ma only has enough energy to worry about a few important things at a time. Right now, the clan and Hana are the two things that matter most."

"Why Hana? Didn't she lose against you when we clashed? Shouldn't you be getting all the attention?" Fū took a break from her frenzied eating to gulp down her most recent bite and then asked those rapid questions.

They were seated at the dining room table in the early morning, preparing for a new day. The atmosphere around them was mostly easy, but there was a tension to Ibiki that could not be ignored easily. The guy needed a vacation or something; it was palpable.

He would much rather not be talking about this sort of thing... but Ibiki was constantly on his case about his family. So maybe explaining some things to these two would be for the best; especially considering how he and Fū really enjoyed sleeping over.

"Because she lost, she's clearly the one that needs the most practice." with a sigh, he picked at the breakfast Ibiki had made for them and explained, "When Ma found out about our little competition, she set the stipulation that the loser would get to train with her every day to get stronger. The Inuzuka are all about strength and independence- it's a real sign of weakness to lose."

The smell of absolute displeasure that appeared within Ibiki's scent became overwhelming for the first few seconds, but Kiba was able to breathe through it... only to breathe in the confusion coming from Fū.

"From every failure you suffer, you learn something important. Failure, unless you're in the battlefield facing death, is not weakness- it is an opportunity to learn."

That sounded exactly like everything something outside of his clan would think. But within his clan's own perspective, you only failed because you were weak- it was just that simple.

With another shrug, Kiba took a sip of his drink and looked over at the clock that hung over the dining room's table, directly above Ibiki's head. "We should get going if we don't want to be late."

"Aw, man!" Fū groaned, pushing herself away from the table, "That means I've got to put on those stupid glasses and evil wig..."

She still went away to acquire the annoying items, though.

Silence fell over him and Ibiki as they finished their meals and Fū searched for her things.

Because this wasn't a place he was really allowed to sleep over at often, Kiba had expected to wear the same clothes as the day before to school, but he had been pleasantly surprised to wake up and find Akamaru sitting on top of a fresh set of clothes that had been delivered by Bull. Apparently, Akamaru had let the strays know that he might need some help for clothes and they had gotten broken into his home to get him some clothes.

The strays were a great addition to the pack.

Fū, even with all of her issues concerning teamwork and understanding of the world, had also been a great addition. She was rough around the edges, sure, and gave Kiba way too many headaches with her insistence in making friends... but she had been someone good to enter his life.

Ibiki...

Kiba looked at the man for a second, taking note of the tension in his shoulders and the frown on his lips. He then scoffed softly and drained the last of his cup of water.

Ibiki wasn't half-bad either.

During the school day, Fū got into a bit of trouble with Iruka-sensei because of her insistence in working on plans for Friday's party instead of focusing on her school-work.

It got to a point that she was told that if she wouldn't pay attention to class, then the teacher would just give her after-school detention on Friday afternoon. That really got to her and, afterwards, she was so polite and attentive that Chouji had been surprised- he had never seen her so well-behaved in his life and had never wondered if she'd be capable of such a thing.

Still, once school let out and they were free to roam around as they wished, Fū was ready to set-about party planning.

Their group began to make their way towards Ichiraku's with a few minutes of having left school grounds- Naruto and Fū had coupons and they all agreed that Chouji deserved a break from working in the kitchen all week-long. It was likely that they would return to Ibiki's apartment after they had eaten, though, because the pack had not even thought about possibly creating a new headquarters.

Chouji had never brought the issue up, just like the rest of them had remained mostly silent about it. Partially, it had to do with the fact that there was still lingering fear of an attack on them by an unknown enemy. But, honestly, his silence mostly stemmed from the fact that Daichi Inuzuka had been a big part of the construction of the treehouse... trying to build another without him around... it felt... wrong.

Kiba dearly missed his father, even though he didn't talk about him much, and Chouji worried that bringing up the issue of the treehouse would ruin his friend's day.

He didn't want to do that to Kiba; not now... not ever.

If Kiba ever brought the issue up, that would be another story... but it just didn't feel right for Chouji to be the one to start talking about the issue.

For as long as Ibiki allowed them, they were okay to continue utilizing his home as their temporary base of operations.

"Okay, but, if not at my apartment because I'm not sure if my dad would let us do it, where could we have the party?" Fū asked after she had finished deciding on the kinds of flowers she thought would fit the color-scheme she was envisioning with Ino. "Can we throw it in the Forest of Death?"

Chouji already knew that the answer would be a resounding no; especially from Kiba; but he didn't want to be the one to explain the true dangers of one of their favored locations to the Taki native.

Luckily, Shino mentioned that he wouldn't mind aiding her in throwing a party and he believed his father would allow for them to host in their home.

As they rounded a corner and began to walk down the market place's main street, Chouji heard Akamaru bark in excitement.

When he turned his face to look at the puppy, he found Kiba with his nose turned into the air and his eyes closed. He stopped walking then, knowing full-well that Kiba would have some kind of important information for the pack to hear.

The left side of Kiba's lips pulled downwards, a semi-frown Chouji wasn't quite sure how to read.

"Chouji? What's up?"

When he turned back to look at his friends, it was to find Sakura standing a bit away from him, looking at Kiba with concern. The rest of their friends continued walking; probably, they hadn't noticed them stopping.

"I don't know. Kiba's smelling something- I guess it's important."

"It's Kuzu." Chouji looked at Kiba once more to find him frowning down at the ground, his eyes opened and narrowed in thought. Then he looked up at them and motioned for Sakura to go to the group, "Let them know something important came up. We'll meet up with them at Ibiki's house once we're done."

She nodded and quickly ran up to the friends that had continued walking without them, seemingly without noticing that they had stopped walking.

"Hey, guys, something important came up. Kiba, Chouji, Akamaru, and I'll catch up with you at Ibiki's place." Sakura informed them quickly, earning differing reactions from her friends.

Naruto immediately asked if it was something prank-related, he wanted in. Shino, instead, nodded quietly and made to continue walking to Ichiraku's. Ino, already accustomed to this kind of thing, shrugged and followed Shino. Shikamaru... was mostly unreadable, actually; his face was mostly devoid of emotions. And Fū looked at her with wide, worried eyes.

"Do I have to go too?" she asked softly, very clearly not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to hang out with her friends.

Sakura smiled softly and shook her head, "You keep on planning your party. We want it to be great, after all."

With a squeal of happiness, she jumped onto Naruto and told him to continue walking- they had a lot they needed to get done and Friday was only two days away!

Oh, Fū... Sakura turned around as she shook her head at the other girl's actions. Even though Kuzu was her granduncle, she was so focused on making friends that she was the only one in the pack that wouldn't jump at the chance to meet with him, even if it meant leaving other friends behind.

Once she was back with her boys, they followed Kiba through throngs of people going about their daily lives. Eventually, they reached a small tea shop that was rather close to the entrance of the village itself- she could even see the large Village Gates- that, for some reason, looked familiar to Sakura.

It was a subtle building, on the small side, with a traditional façade and an entrance that was wide open and allowed one to easily look inside. Because of this, Sakura was able to immediately spot the Old Man seated at a table at the far corner- from this spot, he was able to see anyone that came inside and only had a wall to his back.

"Wonder what he's got prepared for us today." Kiba murmured softly as he began to make his way towards the tea shop. Akamaru yipped from his spot on top of his head, agreeing with his human's curiosity.

"Maybe some surprise training day?" she offered, even though she knew it was odd for Kuzu to appear on a weekday.

The weekends were for him, but he was usually untraceable to Kiba on weekdays. The fact that Kiba had been able to smell him today meant that he had something he wanted to discuss.

She just hoped that he wouldn't mind that his grandniece wasn't with them this time around. It would have been cruel to pull her away from the friends she was so excited to hang out with.

Once they were inside of the shop, they walked towards the Old Man. He nodded at them in greeting as they sat down at the long wooden table, each of them facing him.

Without offering a word of conversation, Kuzu simply pulled out three different scrolls- seemingly materializing them out of thin air- before pushing one to each of them.

Sakura cocked her head to the side ever so slightly, curiosity taking over the worry she had previously felt about not having brought Fū with them, but did not move to pick up the scroll that had been left in front of her.

This was... different.

"Your skills have developed mostly according to schedule, even with the interference of bumbling idiots." Kuzu crossed his arms over his chest as he said this- and it was still really interesting to see that he was clad in a standard Konoha shinobi uniform nowadays rather than the garb they had first seen him in. "For this next week, you are to teach yourself the basics of sealing jutsu. Within these scrolls are individualized training programs- instead of a tracking and avoiding mission this week, you have earned yourselves a small break."

Whoah... Sakura blinked in stupefaction.

"Kuzu... are you feeling alright?" luckily, Kiba was there to give voice to her own worries.

Kuzu scoffed, his eyes began to glare, and he growled, "Or would you rather I work you to the bone with further genjutsu training?"

Sakura perked up at this because of course she would enjoy such a thing! But she felt more than saw Chouji and Kiba quickly begin to shake their heads; even though she had an affinity for this type of jutsu, it seemed that they did not. And the Old Man's punishments were brutal when it came to their inability to adequately perform.

When she looked at them from her seat at the far corner of the table, she was able to see them still shaking their heads wildly.

Softly, she sighed and allowed her head to hang.

Maybe the Old Man would be able to single out a day for her genjutsu training without forcing the rest to try and use it? She would really like such a thing to happen.

"Hn, good. Don't question my tactics." he grunted now, his voice losing some of the irritated edge it had acquired after Kiba questioned him, and he soon leaned back in his chair and motioned to someone behind them. "Just for that, Inuzuka, you get to pay for our drinks."

Kiba's protests started up immediately, "Wait a sec, that's unfair! If I've got to pay, then I'm getting something out of you!"

Kuzu quirked an eyebrow, Chouji sighed heavily, and Sakura made to tug at Kiba's sleeve- he was sitting right beside her- to try and get his attention. If he paid now, she could pay him back later- it wouldn't be a loss for him!

"Do you have another school project you have to complete?" Kuzu asked with clear snark, but Kiba didn't rise to the challenge; instead he smirked viciously, his eyes shining with mischief.

Under any other circumstance, Sakura would be worried about that look- it was a look that usually spelled trouble for her and Chouji, after all. But right now, after months of not seeing it... Sakura felt breathless and happy.

Kiba was finally coming back to normality!

"I pay if you tell us why you're working for Konoha."

The eyebrow Kuzu had quirked dropped. He stared wordlessly at Kiba for a second, and then began to stand up. "I'll see you all on Saturday, then."

"Wait, Kuzu! Don't leave!" Sakura shot up to grab at the arm closest to her, grabbing him on the spot where the forearm met with the elbow. "I'll pay for drinks! But only if you stay!"

In her panic, she barely took note of an oddity she felt with her hands around the man's arm. Later on, though, once her mind had cleared of the panic borne from Kuzu leaving them when they finally got a chance to talk to him normally, she'd think about it. But, for the time being, her mind was just too focused on having him stay.

Kuzu's body froze as soon as her hands touched his arm, but it was only for a fraction of a second; it went by so fast Sakura wondered if she had just imagined such a thing.

Soon enough, Kuzu was sitting down with a huff and crossing his arms over his chest, closing his eyes just in time for one of the employees of the tea house to appear and ask for their orders.

None of them ordered anything too expensive; as was customary.

When they reached Ichiraku's, Naruto and her wasted absolutely no time in cashing in their two-for-one coupons. The kind old man that ran the ramen stand leveled them with stern looks and threatened to never serve them again if they ever dared skip school to acquire coupons for his food right after they had finished ordering their food.

At least she had the decency of shrinking back and apologizing; all Naruto did was let Teuchi know that school was boring and they hadn't missed out on anything important!

Shikamaru had been standing right beside her as they had walked, so she had heard him quietly murmur, "I'm surrounded by troublesome people."

Teuchi seemed to be fully prepared to not feed them because of Naruto's outburst, but, luckily enough, Ino distracted him by asking about how his daughter was- she was a fan of sunflowers, right? She believed they'd just gotten a shipment today so maybe she could bring some round for her.

Appropriately distracted, Teuchi took the orders of the rest of her friends, answered Ino's questions, and began to prepare their food.

A proper disaster avoided, Naruto and her breathed out in relief as they sat down at the stand. Shikamaru sat down to her right, Ino to his, and Shino sat down on Naruto's left. Only one seat was left vacant after they were properly sat down; so maybe it had been a good thing that the rest of the pack hadn't come with them.

As they waited around for their meals, they were able to hear Teuchi go about different steps in cooking up the food. After a few seconds spent in silence, Ino reached behind Shikamaru and poked at her shoulder, which made Fū lean back to look at her.

Ino's face was pulled in with a look of curiosity and confusion, "What're they hiding from us?"

Fū blinked at the blonde, cocked her head to the side, and asked, "Who?" the unimpressed stare she was met with made her shrink back a little, and so she clarified, "Who's hiding something from us?"

Shikamaru, bless his soul, answered in a sigh, "The pack, Fumiko. Kiba, Sakura, and Chouji. What was so important that they had to ditch us?"

She smiled softly at this and waved her hand dismissively, "They didn't ditch us- they're going to meet up with us at my place! Didn't you hear that part?"

Shikamaru didn't answer. Instead, Ino breathed out and groaned, "They've had this huge secret for years now and you clearly know about it, but we don't! How fair can that be? Shika and I have been in Chouji's life since the day he was born!"

To her left, Naruto piped up, "Who cares if they've got a secret to themselves? Clearly Fumiko knows that we're more fun than them!"

"Hey, they're fun too!" Fū rolled her eyes at the blonde, but eventually shrugged, "Naruto does have a point, though- why do you care? Isn't it normal for shinobi to keep secrets?"

That's what her granduncle had told them, after all. And she knew for a fact that he wouldn't lie about something so important.

Ino huffed dramatically, "Because it's the kind of secret that only people that are close to them can know about... and it hurts to know that we're... not close."

That didn't sound right.

Ino and Sakura were pretty close, clearly. And Shikamaru and Chouji were too.

But... Ino believed that they weren't close enough to learn about Kakuzu... about her granduncle.

And she appeared out of nowhere and seemed to have some knowledge about this grand secret that only they were supposed to know... it kind of made sense that she felt hurt.

With a small sigh, Fū leaned forward in her chair and reached over with her hand until it was on top of Ino's own. "Trust me, you're close... besides, who's to say they won't eventually tell you about it? Maybe they just haven't found the words yet."

Ino's eyes shined with disbelief- Fū just didn't know if it was because she didn't believe the sincerity in her words or because she believed that Fū was delusional. She didn't get the chance to pry further, though. Teuchi arrived with their ramen and her hunger was too much to ignore.

After a few seconds of eating in silence, Naruto diverted the conversation by asking about what kind of music she thought would be good to have for the party. And Fū promptly forgot all about Ino and Shika's worries and doubts about the pack's greatest secret.

Within the scrolls he had given to the children, there truly were individualized instructions for each of them to begin learning fuinjutsu. Kiba's was the only one that had an additional assignment, though; one that he needed to complete by himself.

He knew for a fact that Sakura and Chouji would sign up to aid him if they found out about this mission; the loyalty these three had for each other was almost sickening. But he also knew that it wouldn't be prudent to inform them of the mission from the very beginning. If Kiba wanted to recruit their aid, he could. But if he wanted to go it alone, well, it was his choice.

After they each had finished drinking from their different teas and Akamaru had finished gobbling up the only food that had been ordered, the four members of the pack stood up, offered their goodbyes, and ran off to meet up with his grandniece and the rest of their friends in Morino's home.

Kakuzu allowed himself the luxury of casting a henge over his face to make it appear as if he was still wearing his mask. He pulled the real mask down and took a sip of the drink that had sat untouched for the past few minutes.

He felt the chakra signature of one of the ANBU operatives watching him from the corner of the shadows flare up, and breathed in deeply before breathing out heavily.

It was a simple technique that caused absolutely no harm to anyone- Wolf or Tiger must have been the person observing him at this point. Good to know.

He sipped at the green tea slowly, savoring the semi-sweet taste to it, and allowed himself to contemplate what he had just done.

For all intents and purposes, he had just assigned Kiba Inuzuka an unofficial S-Rank mission. If the kid wasn't able to figure out a way to hide his identity; or, worse yet, if he chose to not care about hiding it; he would wind up on the Akatsuki's radar. Even if he chose to disguise himself, he was going to run a huge risk escaping Konohagakure to reach a postal office that could send out the scroll he had written for only the eyes of the member of the organization.

He had just placed a monumental amount of pressure on the young Inuzuka's shoulders.

The cup clinked softly against the wooden table as he set it down, drained of its contents.

Kiba would be able to complete this successfully.

Besides, if he so chose to, he would have his pack to back him up.

He was going to be fine.

Kakuzu settled his mask over the lower half of his face once more before he dispelled the henge and stood up from the table. He gathered the cups that had been given to them to drink from and began to make his way towards the front of the tea house to return them to the owners.

The kindly old lady that ran the front of the shop smiled up at him as he set the cups in front of her, thanked him for the visit, and asked for him to return once more.

He nodded to her and made his way out and into the bustling streets of Konoha.

It didn't take long for the lithe figure of Wolf to jump from behind the tea shop to begin running alongside the roofs of the buildings he passed by.

~..~..~

And that is the chapter! I hope y'all enjoyed it! I know that I promised some more info on the Inuzuka for this one- and I feel that I gave a bit more insight, but I'm still workshopping how I want that whole business to be treated within the story itself. I just don't want to dump the info on y'all, you see, so that's why it's taken a while.

Next chapter will be a bit more centered around Kiba due to obvious reasons, and Kakuzu. I'm playing around with the idea of having only their points of view as the next chapter or if I should continue with the regular format.

Thank you for reading! Stay safe out there, y'hear. Times may be crazy, but at least we've got this little corner of the internet all to ourselves.