Author's Note: Winner for the next Sideshow installment is "Uchiha Shisui and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month." If you'd like to have a say in what Sideshow comes after that, you can check out my Tumblr and vote on one of the other three choices from the list of options.

Fun Fact: I think I gave myself an aneurysm the other day trying to make sense of Kishimoto's timeline.

Chapter Thirty-Four - Temerity

[temerity—noun : reckless boldness; rashness]

"Hey, you're alive. Sasu-chan mentioned you disappeared a couple days ago and haven't been around since."

"Pakkun told them where I was," I murmured, giving Shikamaru a shove. "I've been with Kakashi."

"Ah." He caught my arm. "That's new."

"This? Chakra storage seal. I have about half max chakra in there right now. Planning to add more. The idea is that it can give me a boost if I need it. Or at minimum help me avoid chakra exhaustion."

"Huh." He squinted at the mark. "You have a lot of chakra, though."

"I've been chakra exhausted before," I pointed out. "How far away are they?"

"Naruto said they were getting inarizushi, so however long it takes for them to get their order."

"Alright, well, everyone I need to talk to is already here, so." I cleared my throat and raised my voice. "There's something I want to let everyone know." As everyone snapped their attention to me, I shrugged. "Well, a couple things, actually."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "Is this about Yondaime-sama? Or the Kyuubi?"

"I— What?"

"Yeah, Naruto threw that information at everyone a while ago," Shikamaru said, shrugging.

"He did. But you don't seem to share anything with us," Ino accused, hands on her hips. "I mean, we had to find out about your whole Nara thing through our parents and then tell each other about it. Why didn't you or Shikamaru tells us about that, huh?"

"Whoa, hey, don't bring me into this."

"Too late. You didn't say anything to us either. And you easily could have."

"Okay," I cut in, trying to derail that conversation. "With that out of the way, then we can go ahead and start setting up our training for today."

"Yeah, why are we back here?" Sakura asked, looking around Training Ground 12. "I thought we were meeting at the lake."

"We're going to add something new. A little thirty minute session before we focus on other things each week."

"What kind of session?"

"I'll explain once everyone is here."

Sakura huffed, crossing her arms. "Fine. Where have you been, then?"

I just gave her a smile and settled down with my fuuinjutsu notebook to work instead of responding. I could feel Sasuke and Naruto's chakra already approaching a ways away. They'd finished getting the food, then. A few minutes later, the rest of the group heard them as they finally arrived. "Inarizushi!" Naruto announced, waving a storage scroll over his head.

"Great." I hopped up to my feet and sealed my notebook away. "We'll dig in right after our first game."

Naruto faltered, handing the scroll off to me. "Game?"

"Yep. Ninja last week with Team 5 was great, and I figured having more real hands-on type experience would be helpful." I stored the scroll off food away and retrieved the supplies I'd prepared earlier. "So, each week now we'll be starting with a game, limit thirty minutes, with us sorted into teams of five. Today will be an elimination round." I held up fifteen flags. Five blue, five red, and five green. "Once you steal an opponent's flag, that opponent is dead and returns to this spot. Last team standing wins." Then I shook the envelope. "Teams will be randomized, with me picking out the team leaders first. Teams will have five minutes to plan, only planning and no set-up, and then the game will last twenty-five minutes. Any questions?"

"What do we get?" Tobio asked. "For winning. What do we get?"

I blinked. "Um . . . . What do you think you should win?"

Tobio frowned, rocking back and forth. Next to him, Tenten had started to grin. "I have one," she said. "Do you mind?" When Tobio motioned for her to keep going, Tenten straightened. "Each winner still standing at the end of the game gets an hour over the next week. Either with you or with someone you connect us with. You're ahead of us, and I want that boost to try to catch up."

I raised an eyebrow, but everyone gave sounds of agreement. I shrugged. "Alright, then that's the reward. Ready for teams?"

When no one protested, I opened the envelope and reached inside for one of the pieces of paper. "First team leader is . . . Maru." I held up the flags. "What color do you want?"

He eyed them for a long moment before picking up the five red ones. "Where are we supposed to put these?"

I took one of them back and hooked it through the loop on his kunai pouch. "One tie. No covering it."

"Got it." He moved away.

"Next team lead is . . . ." I picked out another piece of paper. "Tenten!"

Tenten grinned and stepped up, holding out her hand. "Blue."

I handed it over and dug out another name. "And that means that green goes to . . . Kiba's team!"

"Hell yeah!" he yelled, bounding forward and snatching up the green flags. "Who's on my team, then?"

I fished out four names. "Hold on. Shikamaru, your team is Lee, Shino, Neji, and Hinata." I waved them over to Shikamaru and watched for a second as he started handing out flags. "Tenten, you have," —four more pieces of paper— "Naruto, Tobio, Ino, and Sasuke. And so that means that Choji, Sakura, Ami, and I are on your team, Kiba."

He grinned and shoved a green flag at me. "Sweet!"

I tied it to my kunai pouch. "No going past the boundaries of the training ground. Remember, five minutes to plan. Twenty-five of action. And this is practice in teamwork just as much as it is in action and applying our skills. A lesson in leading just as much as following. So keep in mind who your team lead is." I tapped my timer seal. "Five minutes starts now."

Kiba perked up. "Alright, let's go!" he yelled, taking off into the trees.

I took off after him and landed with the rest of our team when he stopped on a branch. "Alright," he said, turning to face us. "So, what's the plan?"

I shrugged. "You're the team lead, Kiba. We're listening to you."

"Right." He frowned. "Okay, so whatever Shikamaru does is gonna be super clever, right? I don't think I can out-plan him. But . . . ." He frowned and crossed his arms. On his head, Akamaru shifted. "Choji, Mirai, and I are good at taijutsu. Sakura, you're pretty fast. And Ami, you broke that dude's nose, so I know you hit hard." He rubbed at his own nose as he said that. "Though you're the only one that can't water walk yet, besides Lee, so you should stay away from the pond."

I grinned, settling down and listening to him as he thought out loud. Kiba paid a lot more attention to things than people realized, and the Inuzuka Clan as a whole was more clever than people usually assumed when looking at them. When the number on my wrist dropped to a one, he finally straightened and hit his fist into his palm.

"Alright, here! Ami, you and me are pairing up. Choji, you're with Sakura. Mirai, you don't need anyone backing you up. Your job is to go after Shikamaru's team and pick them off while the rest of us go after Tenten's team. Um." He wrinkled his nose. "Are you gonna be going easy on people?"

"I have a lot more training and experience than the rest of you," I said carefully. "I want to help everyone improve and learn, not win."

He huffed. "Alright. As long as you don't throw it on purpose."

"Got it." My wrist pulsed. I grinned and adjusted it to say twenty-five. I raised my voice to carry across the entire training ground. "Time starts!" I yelled.

Kiba grinned. "Go!" He grabbed Ami and took off.

I closed my eyes and listened to the chakra sources all around the training ground. My own team was pulling away quickly. But Shikamaru's . . . .

I smiled. Shikamaru was keeping his entire group together, then? And closing in on . . . me. Well, this was going to be fun. I dropped down to the ground, falling into a stance. I felt Neji, Hinata, and Shikamaru's chakra pause, but Shino dropped down in front of me and Lee behind me. Shino moved first, and I blocked his first hit. Then Lee moved and—

I gasped in surprise when I didn't dodge quite fast enough and Lee's foot grazed my side. There was no way— I shunshined out of the way of his next hit, sending him straight into Shino, and landed behind him. Oh, Lee wasn't wearing his leg warmers, and there were no weights around his ankles.

I muttered a curse and shot a chain towards Lee. He went to dodge but stumbled into Shino instead, making it possible for me to snap the chain around his leg as he fell atop his teammate on the ground. I dashed forward and bent down, snatching up both their flags.

And then I felt parallel blows against my shoulders, and it finally registered that Neji and Hinata were much closer than before, and their chakra was still burning under my skin. I whipped around and blocked their next couple blows, but that hurt. I should have known better than to block a Hyuuga instead of dodging.

Shikamaru's chakra was edging closer and closer and— That didn't feel quite right. I shunshined backwards just in time to see Shikamaru pulling his shadow back. I grinned. When had he started learning that? I flipped up into the trees to get a moment of reprieve—Neji and Hinata had managed to close five of my tenketsu between the two of them and that hurt—only to immediately roll to the side to avoid Sasuke's tanto. I finally managed to shove the two red flags I had into my pocket and jumped upward to stand upside-down on the branch above us. "Really going for it, aren't you, Ke-kun?"

He just grinned up at me as Tenten came to land beside him. "You're the biggest threat, Neechan!"

I shrugged and started dashing through hand signs. Their eyes widened and they jumped away just as I brought my hands up to my mouth. With a laugh, I shunshined instead of activating a ninjutsu and slid right past them and alongside Neji instead, grabbing at his flag. Momentum skidded me along the ground on my knees for just a half-second, but it was Hinata hitting me with another chakra-infused palm that stopped me in my tracks.

I swung my leg around to knock Hinata's feet out from under her. She hit the ground hard, but I didn't have time to follow up on it before Tenten and Sasuke were on me. By the time I'd managed to get to my feet while fending off their hits, Hinata was back standing. She aimed a chakra-charged hit to my hip.

And then bypassed that and snatched free Sasuke's flag from his kunai pouch.

I laughed and slid to put Hinata between me and Tenten, reaching for the girl's flag. Then I realized immediately that I should have still kept a close eye on Shikamaru's chakra, because I froze with my hand outstretched. As I was forced to move my hand to my own kunai pouch instead, Tenten ducked under one of Hinata's hits. Tenten freed Hinata's flag for herself just as Shikamaru made me untie my own and drop it to the forest floor.

Tenten looked past me, grinning, and took off like a shot. I heard a squeak of alarm and Shikamaru's chakra spiked as he withdrew his jutsu. I whipped around just in time to see Tenten tackle him and remove his flag from his kunai pouch, which he'd moved to his left hip instead of his right. Tenten proudly tucked both red flags away in her pocket. She flashed us all a salute and took off again back to where she'd come from. Presumably to check up on the rest of her team.

I rolled my shoulder with a groan. "Holy— I didn't expect that to hurt so much."

"I'm sorry, Mirai-sama," Neji said, reaching out a hand for me. "Would you like me to open them again?"

I nodded. "That would be great. Thank you."

His byakugan activated. He jabbed a couple spots before moving around to stand behind me. He jabbed at four more. "How's that?"

"Much better. Thank you. We should head back and see if the others are finished or not."

By the time we arrived, Kiba, Choji, Naruto, Ino, and Ami were already there. And then Tobio, Tenten, and Sakura came over. The former two were grinning, and the latter was soaking wet. Tenten proudly waved the final red flag in the air. "My team wins!" she announced. "Tobio and I are the last ones standing."

I grinned, moving to gather up all the flags. "Great job! Any idea what you want to spend your hour on?"

Tenten frowned. "Not sure yet. Can we wait until Monday to tell you?"

"Sure thing." I sealed the flags away and then unsealed a towel for Sakura. "Alright, let's do a little debriefing before we move on to our regular work." I brought out the scroll of inarizushi and unsealed the food so we could get started on it. "Everyone did a great job, but there's always things we can do better next time."

"This," Ino announced loudly, "has been the most exhausting day of Study Group ever! I'm going home to die, now. Come on, Hinata." She looped her arm through Hinata's and started dragging her away without further explanation.

"She has a point," Shikamaru groaned, rubbing his neck. "Are you trying to kill us?"

I shrugged. "Just preparing you for when we're all genin. Why? Can't keep up with the rest of us?"

He scowled. "Please, more like the rest of us can't keep up with you. Kiba's team would have won easily if you hadn't held back so much."

"If I didn't hold back, none of you would ever learn anything."

"That'd sound really arrogant if it wasn't true," he muttered. "Are we doing the elimination game next week too?"

I shook my head. "I have a new one in mind for next week. I'll see you tomorrow at dinner, okay?"

Shikamaru gave me a wave as he trudged off with Choji. I turned to find my boys only to see Naruto standing close with Ami, head bent as they spoke with his brow furrowed. And then Naruto stepped forward and wrapped his arms tight around her. I expected Ami to push him away or make some kind of snide comment, but instead she just ducked her head down and kept her hands at her sides.

"Is . . . Ami okay?" Sakura asked, sidling up to me.

"Doesn't look like it," I murmured.

"Huh." Sakura pushed past me, and I followed close behind.

Sakura stopped right by Naruto and Ami. Ami jerked back from Naruto, immediately scowling at Sakura. Sakura just crossed her arms. "What's wrong with you?" she asked bluntly.

Ami's scowl deepened. Naruto glanced at her, biting his lip. And then he squared his shoulders. "Ami doesn't want to go home because—"

"Naruto!" she growled, whipping around and shoving him.

"Because what?" Sakura demanded.

"Nothing," Ami snapped at her. "It's nothing, okay?"

Sakura frowned at her. "You're really rude."

Ami scoffed. "Yeah, I know. You've told me."

"If you sleep over, you have to not be mean to me for once. And you have to do the dishes."

"What?"

"The dishes. I'm supposed to do them tonight. But if you do them instead, I have a comfy sleeping bag. My dad got it for me when we visited my his family. They live outside the Village."

Ami frowned at her, crossing her arms. She lifted her chin. "Is it pink? I don't like pink things."

"My favorite color's blue."

"Good enough."

Tobio and Tenten were waiting for me at the front door of the Academy. I took one look at their set expressions and waved Sasuke and Naruto to class ahead of me. Then I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. "You two decided, then?"

"What are you doing after class?" Tenten asked, crossing her own arms. "And could we combine our hours so that we each get two altogether? We chose the same thing."

I tilted my head. "I can allow that. What did you choose?"

"Fuuinjutsu. You're good enough at it that you can definitely at least teach us the basics. And when I mentioned it to Tobio, he wanted to learn too."

"Huh."

"What?" Tobio asked, frowning. "Do you not want to?"

"No, it's not that," I reassured him. "I'm just surprised. That's all. But yeah, we can do that. Let's meet back up here after class. We'll have to start at entry level stuff, but I can give you some resources to keep working past that."

Tenten beamed. "Perfect."

I went straight from the bounty station to the Jonin Station and hopped up onto one of the couches, startling Kotetsu out of his sleep. He jerked in surprise, rubbing at his eyes. "Wha— Mirai-chan?" he croaked out. "What are you doing here?"

"Am I not allowed to be here?" I asked him with a grin, unsealing my bingo book. I opened my envelope from the bounty officer.

"Whatcha got there?" he asked, sitting up with a groan.

"New bingo book pages." I stared at the top page. Huh, they already had an updated page for Zabuza. I flipped through my bingo book and switched my current Zabuza page out for the new one.

"Oh." He yawned and slumped back, dragging a hand down his face. "I should probably swing by there soon. You know, Tani made a page for me a couple months ago."

"That's nice."

"You don't sound nearly impressed enough," he whined. "Do you have any idea how good you have to be to be worth putting in a bingo book?"

I looked up, raising an eyebrow. Kotetsu crossed his arms, looking smug. I snickered and flicked to the beginning of my bingo book, where I had the Maru-Maru page clipped. "I have an idea."

Kotetsu froze. Then he snatched the book from me. "Holy shit, is that— Holy shit!"

"Jiraiya got it from a bounty firm in Kawa."

"Why did no one mention this to me? Holy— But you're five."

"Kotetsu, I'm ten."

"Yeah, but— What the hell?"

"What's going on?"

I looked up and straightened. "Ibiki. Kotetsu's just—"

"Have you seen this?" Kotetsu demanded, shoving my bingo book in Ibiki's face.

Ibiki didn't move for a long moment, his expression impassive. Then he reached up and took the book. "Huh."

"Huh? That's all you have to say? This is insane, right? Tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is insane."

"What's insane?" Anko asked, popping up at Ibiki's shoulder. Then she grinned. "Holy fuck, Red. Is that you?"

I sighed, settling back against the arm of the couch. "Sure, by all means, just pass it around." Ibiki did so, either not picking up on my sarcasm—unlikely—or just not caring—far more likely. I busied myself in looking through my new pages, doing my best to ignore everyone as Anko called someone else over. There was an update for the Demon Brothers as well. A new page for a Kiri nin. An update for a Taki nin. And—

And that was a face I knew.

Blond hair, hooked nose, tanned skin. Brown eyes instead of red or black. The page didn't have much information at all beyond a height estimation—six foot—and a rough weight estimation—two hundred, maybe a little more or a little less—and only a few techniques—kenjutsu, noted genjutsu skill, and an unidentified suiton jutsu. No name. But I didn't need one, because I knew exactly who it was.

"Missing this?"

I flinched in surprise, snapping my head up. "Hana."

She arched an eyebrow, waving my bingo book in my face. "Well?"

"Thanks," I mumbled, taking my book back. I bent over it, clipping my new bingo pages into their places.

"I didn't get a page until I was fourteen and Choza-sama was my captain for a track and capture mission along the Kaminari no Kuni border." When I gave her a look, she shrugged. "The Triplets literally tore an enemy limb from limb. Apparently it was pretty memorable for his surviving teammates. Anyway, Kaachan wants you over for dinner tonight. I checked with Naruto, but he and the other two were already halfway done with making burnt sushi and they seemed pretty proud of it, so I decided to let them be." She flicked my ear. "You coming?"

When I arrived at the training ground and sat down to watch, Genma glanced at me briefly but didn't break off from his conversation with Sai. I could hear them but couldn't distinguish what they were saying, and I didn't want to distract them. So I unsealed my fuuinjutsu notebook and worked on that while I waited.

"Mirai, can I show you something?"

I looked up to find that Sai had turned and taken a few steps towards me, although he was still a ways away. Genma was behind him, watching with a slight smile around his senbon. I straightened and sealed away my notebook. "Of course."

Sai nodded and knelt down, unrolling a large scroll in front of himself. I shuffled forward, holding my breath. Was this what I thought it was?

Sai moved quickly, and it only took about twenty seconds for the drawing to form completely. A mouse? Sai sat back on his heels and brought his hands up into a seal. His chakra flared, pulsing into the scroll. The ink drawing shifted. And then the mouse pulled up and away from the page, tail and nose twitching as it looked around.

I leaned forward. "That's amazing," I breathed. I looked up to find Sai giving me a kind of half-smile. I grinned. It was the first time I'd seen anything like that from him. I made sure to catch his gaze and hold it. "I'm proud of you."

Sai lit up, fumbling into a full smile. "Thank you." He made a hand seal again, and the mouse burst in a splatter of ink. "Can I hug you?"

I shot to my feet. "Of course. You don't have to ask."

Sai stepped over his scroll and ducked into my hold, wrapping his arms around my middle and dropping his head to my shoulder. I hugged him tightly as I murmured, "How was today?"

"Productive. I'm very tired."

I pulled back so I could look at him. I ran my thumb over his chin and nodded. "Why don't you go ahead and go home, then? There's leftovers, and Choji brought in mochi for everyone today and sent some home for you." I finally released him and ruffled his hair. "I'll be back later, okay?"

He nodded and leaned down to roll up his scroll. He glanced between us before taking off in a shunshin.

Genma shifted from one foot to the other, though he stilled when I looked up at him. He rolled his senbon between his teeth. "Did you . . . need something?" he asked slowly.

I nodded, dancing my fingers down my forearm but not unsealing anything. "Kakashi said you would be able to help. If you want, or if you have time."

"Of course." He moved as if to step towards me but didn't follow through. He frowned. "Um . . . what with?"

I nodded and unsealed a hiraishin kunai. "I understand . . . most of it. Three-fourths, I think. I've been training up my speed, awareness, and sensing, since Minato's notes said that's necessary."

His brow furrowed, and he nodded. "I can talk to, to Raidou. And Iwashi. And we can get our notes together. Um . . . Raidou is back Monday. Tuesday? After Academy?"

"That would be great. Um, dango?"

He nodded.

"Thank you." I leaned towards him for a second, itching to give him a hug. But my chest tightened, and I stepped back. "Love you."

He raised his hands and pointed to himself. He moved his palm over the back of his left hand three times before flicking his pointer finger to me. I smiled.

When I made it home, the boys weren't in the living room. Hiruzen was. I stopped in the doorway, frowning. "Sandaime-sama," I greeted. "Can I help you?"

"Mirai-chan," he greeted with a smile. He was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of tea with his kage hat on the tabletop. "I just wanted a word. I've missed our weekly shogi games and chats, after all."

I stepped in and closed the door. "My Sundays aren't available anymore."

"Ah. Yes, so I've heard." He paused to take a sip of tea. "I'll locate and arrange a different time for our meetings."

I crossed my arms. "Just like that?"

Hiruzen set down his cup and got to his feet, gathering up his hat. He smiled at me. It didn't reach his eyes. "Just like that. Monday mornings will probably work, I believe. I'll let Iruka-kun know that you'll rejoin class at lunch." He moved to the door and slid it open. "I assume you have things you want to do, so I'll leave to give you room to work."

"Capture the Flag!" I announced, only hold one flag of each color this time. "This time, the five minutes of planning will include choosing a place to plant your flag to mark your homebase. You can't carry your flag around with you. The only reason you should be moving a flag is if you've stolen a flag and are bringing it to your base or if you've stolen your flag back and are returning it to your base. To win, you need to have all three flags at your base. Understood?"

"We've got it. We've got it. What are the teams?" Kiba asked.

"Right. If you're in a hurry, then." I dug through the envelope. "First team lead is Ami! Color?"

"Blue." She snatched it up from me.

I pulled out a new name. "Lee!"

"Yosh!" Lee bounded forward and took up the green flag, to no one's surprise.

"And that means . . . . Shino, your team is red." After he took his flag, I drew names for the teams. "Ami, you have Choji, Tenten, Neji, and myself. Lee, you have Hinata, Kiba, Tobio, and Ino. Which means that you, Shino, have Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Sakura. Five minutes starts . . . now!"

"You're sure it's safe?" Neji asked, leaning close with his stare never leaving the sealing tag I was showing him.

"Safe as it can be. The question now is does it work."

"Does it?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Okay." I rose to my feet. "Take a look at my chakra as is."

He nodded and stood, backing away. "I've seen it during Study Group. Is it different because . . . . Your chakra is red."

"It's always been red."

He frowned, nodding. "You just want me to watch to see if it changes?"

I nodded. "This is just a first draft, so I know I'll have to do some tweaking. I just want to know how much. After this, we can work on the hour you earned at Study Group. You wanted to do speed work, right?"

"Right."

"We'll get to that soon, then. This shouldn't take long." I pressed the tag against my bicep. "Alright, so look at my regular chakra."

Neji nodded and activated his byakugan. His brow furrowed. "Alright. It looks like it always does, Mirai-sama."

"Okay." I pressed chakra into the tag. An itch crawled through my system, and I shuddered. "And now?"

"I—" He was frowning fully now. "It's more hidden. But I can still see it. Nothing is different about how it looks beyond that."

"Huh. Okay." I deactivated the tag, and the itching stopped. I stored the tag away and turned a grin to him. "Alright. So speed. Let's start with a run to warm up!"

"You look . . . ."

At first, I thought that Shibi was pausing to find the right word. But the silence stretched, and I looked down at myself. "Ah, Tenten wanted some help with bukijutsu work. Should I have cleaned up before coming over? I didn't want to be late."

He shook his head. "This is a meeting, not a dinner. You'll be fine." He stepped aside to let me in.

I took off my shoes and moved to follow him to the office. "I met with Hiruzen. He was more interested in talking about my training than Danzo or Torune."

"I see. That is . . . unfortunate." He sat down behind his desk and unlocked the bottom drawer. As he withdrew the file folder we'd slowly, steadily, been filling with information, he asked, "You spoke with Hatake?"

"He said he'll talk to Tenzo tomorrow, and he can meet with us Wednesday. I'll talk to Iruka-sensei to see if I can leave class after our morning sessions. If I work ahead tomorrow, I'm sure he'll say yes." I pulled up the chair and sat down, leaning onto the desk so I could look over the papers he was pulling out. "I've made some progress with the seal."

"Removal?"

"Not yet. Priority is making sure that it's safe above anything else, and that's difficult with the things Danzo has layered into it."

"Explain."

"Right." I unsealed my notes and laid them out for him. I sorted through them until I found and unfolded the large page I'd recreated the entire seal matrix on. "For example, this here." I pointed at the binding in the fourth quadrant. "If I don't remove this part first when taking the seal off, it would trigger this hidden gem here. That . . . is a poison tag."

"It would kill him," Shibi concluded.

"Exactly. There's a few things like that sprinkled around. It's definitely meant to be able to be taken off. But it's also meant to be difficult if you don't have the original instruction manual in front of you."

"Can you do it?"

I sighed, biting my lip. "Not yet. But eventually."

They were already there by the time I made it to the dango cafe. Genma saw me first, giving me a smile from where he sat between the wall and a man I didn't know. Raidou turned around to look from his spot across the table. He saw me and grinned. "Mirai-chan!" he called. "We already ordered dango for you. It should be here soon."

"Thank you," I said sliding into the spot beside him. "You must be Iwashi," I said, holding my hand out to the stranger. "Thank you for coming here."

"Nice to meet you, Mirai-chan," he said with a mild smile as he shook my hand. "I hope we can help. I dug up all of my notes." He tapped a storage scroll against the table. "Though from what I've heard about you, you probably have some decent notes of your own."

"I've got a decent grasp on the fundamentals. It's the . . . how to go about practically applying it that is the struggle."

Iwashi nodded. "It takes three of us to do it for a reason. What do you have so far?"

"I'll be back at four." I said, unsealing Sasuke's bento and setting it in front of him. "I shouldn't be late, but if I am, wait for me. Okay?"

"Okay," Naruto said, reaching for one of Sasuke's cherry tomatoes. When Sasuke hit his hand away, Naruto pouted.

"Hey, I've got your food here." I pressed his bento into his hands. "You don't have to steal from each other."

"Alright, fine." Naruto opened his bento and immediately went for his carrots. "Four?"

"Four." I dropped a kiss first to his forehead and then to Sasuke's. With a smile, I shunshined away.

When I made it to the restaurant Shibi had selected, I immediately felt that maybe I should have changed into something other than my black shinobi pants and sandals, red sleeveless turtleneck, and Nara vest. The hostess that greeted me was wearing a kimono with her hair tied up and her face painted.

She bowed. "Uzumaki-sama. This way."

I followed her to a private room near the back of the restaurant. She slid the door aside and bowed again as she moved back to let me inside. I stepped in and sighed in relief when I saw Kakashi and Shibi were wearing their regular clothes as well. I knelt at the low table. "Am I late?"

"Not at all," Shibi said, pouring me a cup of tea. "Hatake-san ordered for you. I trusted his judgment in what you would like."

"I'll eat anything. Thank you." I took the tea he handed to me. "Niisan, were you able to talk to Tenzo?"

"He wasn't able to tell me anything I don't already know. Not because he doesn't know more than me, but because he literally can't tell me."

I frowned. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Pup," Kakashi said softly. "I . . . . Can you tell me what this is all about? I thought you were done with—" He flicked his gaze between me and Shibi. "Are you trying to leave again?"

"No," I said immediately. "Absolutely not."

"Then what is this about?"

Shibi cleared his throat. "I can explain that for you. In her year away, Mirai-dono met and befriended Aburame Torune. Torune's father, Shikuro, was a close friend of mine, so I took in his son when he died. Torune's entry into Danzo's training was against my will, but my hands were tied without offering up my son in his place."

"That's where I come in," I said, pouring myself more tea. "Part of my deal with Danzo is that he can't recruit anyone I identify as part of my Study Group. Which means he can't using taking away Shino as a threat anymore."

"And you want to get Torune out," Kakashi concluded. "That's why you're talking to me. Because I got Tenzo out."

"We will also be eventually looking for support of fellow clan heads, including yourself," Shibi clarified. "But yes, your own experience is invaluable."

"We ran long," Shibi noted as we stepped out from the restaurant. "This was more informative of a meeting then I expected it to be."

I nodded, bouncing nervously on my feet. "I can catch up with you Friday then, as planned. But I'm late to pick up the boys. I told them they should wait at the Academy for me."

He nodded. "Shino is certainly home by now. Goodbye." He disappeared.

"Thank you for your help, Niisan." I gave Kakashi a quick hug.

He nodded, frowning. "Just . . . be careful. Okay?"

"Me?" I grinned. "Always." And then I shunshined away for the Academy. Naruto and Sasuke weren't outside, but I could feel their chakra in the building. Alongside Iruka and Mizuki's. Mizuki and the boys' chakra sources were farther inside, but Iruka's was approaching. I'd just stepped through the gate when the door opened and the chunin walked out.

He saw me and straightened. "Ah, Mirai-chan. Did your meeting go well?"

"It did. Thank you for letting me leave class early today." I glanced past him at the building. "The boys? I'm late, so I thought they'd be outside waiting for me."

"Ah, well." He sighed and scratched at his nose. "Mizuki is supervising their clean-up. Their prank today included green paint, ribbons, and a frankly horrendous amount of glitter. It's a bit of a mess in there. They'll be busy for . . . probably at least an hour. Maybe more." He smiled and looked out at the street. "In the meantime . . . . Tea?"

I hesitated over the feeling of the boys' chakra, but then nodded. "Tea sounds nice."

"I'll pay," he said, leading the way. "He's been agitated in class, lately. Both of them. Naruto and Sasuke," he clarified. "Their misbehavior was out of control during the time that you were gone. It got better when you came back, but in the past couple weeks . . . . Has something happened?"

I frowned. "In the past couple weeks? Not that I can think of."

"Nothing at home? Or with the Study Group? Or, um, Hatake-san or Shiranui-san?"

I shook my head. "Nothing with— We started doing a competition in Study Group. And I guess I've missed more Academy than usual recently."

"Competition?"

"Yeah. Um, Tenten decided to call them Shinobi Games. We've been splitting up into three teams with some kind of objective. We did a last team standing round. Capture the Flag was the last one."

"Hmm." Iruka opened the door and waved me into the teahouse ahead of him, frowning.

"Hmm?" I asked, finding a table and sitting down. "What do you mean hmm?"

"How have they done in the competitions?"

"Everyone's been doing well."

"Have Naruto or Sasuke won at all?"

I frowned. "Well . . . Naruto's team won once, but he'd already been eliminated."

"Have you won?"

"I did this last time."

He raised an eyebrow. Then he looked up as the waiter came over and ordered for the both of us. When we were alone again, he refocused on me. "You lost before?"

I nodded with a shrug.

"You lost?" he asked again, sounding doubtful.

I pressed my lips together, frowning. Then I sighed. "I was holding back. I want them to learn, not lose."

"Right. Which is good. But did they know you were holding back?"

I nodded.

Iruka sighed, pinching his nose. "Alright, I think I know what's going on. You're aware that Naruto and Sasuke admire you, correct?"

"I am aware," I said flatly. I sat back as the waiter returned with our tea. "Thank you."

"They want to be like you," Iruka continued, barely even waiting for the waiter to leave. "But you're very far ahead of them. I can see why that would upset them. Not to mention Sai's own rapid advancement."

"Sasuke and Naruto are skilled," I defended. "They and the rest of my group are well ahead of standard Academy progress."

"I know. And I'm not saying they aren't impressive," he said, frowning and softening his voice. "I'm saying that you're more so. And that has to be hard for them."

I stared down at my tea, tightening my grip. "I'll talk to them," I murmured.

"Let me know how it goes. I'll set some time aside to talk to them too." He sipped at his tea. "Speaking of you . . . ."

"That sounds ominous."

He smiled. "It's not meant to. I'm sorry. I just wanted to check in with how you've been doing. You've been stressed ever since you came back. Which is certainly understandable with Sai's graduation. I just want to see if there's anything I could do to help."

"Ah. I've been fine. But I do like getting tea. Though maybe we can do this outside somewhere next time."

He considered that, sipping at his tea. "I like tea outside as well, so I don't see why not." He cleared his throat. "How has Sai been?"

Iruka was telling me about the process to become a Academy sensei when a siren roared to life. He almost dropped his tea, eyes widening. When the siren blared a second time, he set down his tea and scrambled up, digging in his pocket for ryo.

"What is that?" I asked.

The siren roared a third time and fell silent.

"The Village alarm. I need to go to the Tower and see what needs to be done." He bit back a frustrated sound as he spilled his ryo. He dropped down and started collecting it from the floor. "It hasn't sounded in ten years."

Ten years? Ten years ago was— Then why was it sounding now?

"I'll see you there," I gasped out, on my feet and dashing outside. I heard Iruka call out to me as I activated my shunshin.

There was already a solid crowd of shinobi gathering around the Tower. I couldn't see Hiruzen, but I could hear him distantly. I tried to fight forward, but they weren't making room for me. Kurama pressed chakra up to my ears, and I focused on that.

"—students have taken the Fuuin no Sho. Tracking the two of them and bringing them and the scroll back safely is priority."

Students. The Fuuin no Sho. I focused through the crowd on the building.

Naruto and Sasuke weren't there. Nor was Mizuki. I tilted my head back, closing my eyes. Naruto. Naruto's chakra was huge and there was no way I would be able to miss it if he—

There.

I opened my eyes and took off to the east in a shunshin. Naruto's chakra was small, and he was already so far away. Once I'd reached the wall, I didn't have to strain to feel his chakra anymore, and I could feel Sasuke's too. I went up and over the wall and into the trees. I still couldn't feel Mizuki anywhere.

There wasn't any chakra following me. No one else had picked up the trail yet? That . . . didn't bode well. Depending on exactly what the situation really was, I would really prefer the backup. But on the other hand, it seemed Sasuke and Naruto had really just committed a crime and stolen from the Hokage. Maybe it would be a good thing for me to be alone when I found them.

I was close now, and their chakra were burning bright with adrenaline. I slid out of my shunshin, and now I could see them. They were leaping through the trees close together, and Sasuke had a large scroll over his back. I activated another shunshin and landed several branches ahead of them, pivoting to face them.

They stumbled to a stop on their next landing, and Naruto grabbed at Sasuke to keep him from falling. "Rai! What are you doing here? We're not done yet."

I frowned. "And what are you doing?"

Sasuke frowned. "Mizuki-sensei didn't tell you about the test?"

"Test," I repeated. I heaved a sigh. That's what he was doing here, then. "Okay, boys, listen to me. There's no test. That—the scroll—is not something you're supposed to have. Mizuki lied to you. Where did he tell you to take it?"

Sasuke faltered. Naruto's eyes widened. "But Mizuki-sensei said that if we did the test—"

"Nato, where did he tell you to take it?"

He pointed past me. "He said there's a shack that way where we finish the test."

"Farther east?"

Naruto nodded, brow furrowing. "Then what—"

"Go back. Tell the Hokage what happened. Tell him where Mizuki told you to go." I bit my thumb and summoned Ikebana. Then I made a clone. "Ikebana, you and Ichi will go with the boys back to Konoha. Keep them safe."

"Rai—"

I shot Naruto a look. "The two of you take the scroll back. Now." Then I turned and shunshined, continuing my way east. I could feel the boys' chakra moving away, and I could feel something distant and chilly. Mizuki? It certainly felt like his chakra. It wasn't cold like Kakashi's. It was cold like Not-Genma's.

And then I felt that cold spike as I landed on a branch to take stock of where I was. My senses jumped in alarm, and I followed through by leaping backwards just as seals spread out across the tree branch and there was a flash of light. I threw my arm up over my eyes, catching myself against the tree trunk to keep from falling. When I lowered my hand and squinted, all I could see was the empty weighted rope trap hanging uselessly over the branch I'd just escaped from.

Mizuki had left traps, then. Not even harmful ones. Ones meant to capture. At least that meant I was on the right track. I took off again, hyperaware of his chakra and dodging a couple more traps when I felt the whisper of his cold energy in the trunks and branches before I touched them.

Pain spiked through my leg, and I stumbled a bit on my next landing. I dropped to one knee, trying to sort through what had just happened to my clone. A trap back that way too? My clone hadn't taken much damage, and the trap wouldn't have done much to hurt either of the boys, but it was definitely enough to dispel a bunshin. I growled in frustration. At least Ikebana was with them.

I paused for just a brief second to run through the hand signs to activate toton and then I palmed a kunai. I took off again, and the cold was getting closer. I couldn't see the shack.

But then the cold was right there.

I threw myself to the side and stilled, holding myself to the trunk with chakra. Mizuki landed on the branch above and to my right, looking around. He'd probably noticed his traps being activated. Would make sense, after all. Unfortunately for him, even if Sasuke and Naruto had been caught by those traps, they probably would have been able to make it out of most of them if not all.

I took the deepest breath I could while staying quiet. Then I snapped my left hand forward and shot out a chain. It looped around him, and Mizuki reacted instantly with a kawarimi. I shattered the chain and tracked his chakra as he moved off farther to the left. Then I shot forward in a shunshin, already forming another chain and dropping my concentration on my toton.

I wrapped the chain around his leg and pulled, already lashing out with the kunai. The blade caught him across the shoulder as he fell. Mizuki bit out a curse and snapped out a hit that I leaned out of the way of. My range was limited by my chain, and so he clipped my ear.

"Uzumaki," he spat out. "You're not supposed to be here."

"I've heard that before." I snapped out another chain, wrapping this on around his middle. I missed his right arm, but managed to trap his left against his torso. He threw another hit, only to throw himself forward off the branch with his momentum. My shoulders lurched in response to the sudden pull as his entire body jerked me into the fall with him.

"Shit," I muttered, shattering my chains in favor of catching myself in a roll against the ground.

He wasn't so lucky, hitting the ground with a thud on the side I'd held captive. He moved to get up, but I was on him immediately. I didn't have enough weight to hold him down with that alone, but . . . .

I stabbed my kunai through the inside of his left knee. Mizuki screamed and lurched up for me. I ripped the kunai out through the back of his knee and bashed my elbow up into his nose. He sputtered, bone crunching under my elbow, and clawed at my face. I yanked back, pain blooming across my eye. I shot out another chain, this time trapping both arms against his torso.

He was already going pale, and his pupils were huge.

Mizuki tried to pull against the chain, but his movement didn't seem like he'd put that much effort into it. He slumped back, eyes shuttering closed and blood leaking out of his nose.

Huh.

Did you kill him?

No. I didn't release my chain, but I did lean forward and peel open his eye. He didn't move. He went into shock. I did just cut through the entire back half of his knee and break his nose, so it's understandable. I shattered the chain and made a clone. The clone immediately moved to put pressure on his knee while I moved up and tilted Mizuki's head up so the blood from his nose would drain instead of going down his throat.

There was chakra, and it was getting closer. Still holding Mizuki's head, I twisted to look. I couldn't see anyone clearly yet, but I could see movement far, far back in the trees. And I knew several of those chakra sources.

"Gai-sensei!" I yelled. "Hana!"

The chakra sped up, and there was a streak of green as Gai landed. "Mirai-chan," he greeted. He wasn't looking at me, instead looking at Mizuki. "Report."

I nodded. "Mizuki told Naruto and Sasuke to steal the Fuuin no Sho and meet him at a location east of here. I sent the boys back to Konoha and went after Mizuki to keep him from getting away. I've cut through his knee and broken his nose, and he's passed out from the shock."

The rest of the group arrived. Gai immediately waved two of them forward. Izumo and Kotetsu. "Secure for transport," he ordered.

I shifted back to let Izumo take my place at Mizuki's head. Kotetsu moved to my clone and took over putting pressure on the wound. My clone burst. Something pushed against me, and I looked down at Fukai.

"I'll take him with us back to T&I. Get this processed. Genma?"

"Sure thing, Gai," Genma murmured, gaze flicking from Mizuki to me. "East of here?"

I nodded, curling my fingers into Fukai's fur to stabilize myself. "Naruto said they were supposed to meet him at a shack to finish the test."

"He was probably there before. We can follow the scent back," Hana said.

I looked back towards Mizuki to find that Kotetsu had wrapped up his knee and Izumo had bound his hands together with handcuffs and seal tags on his wrists. They were moving him onto a stretcher.

I pointed. "He came from that direction."

Hana gave me a lopsided grin. Then she looked at Genma. "What do you think? Want to show her just how good we are at investigating?"

Genma frowned. "Mirai," he said carefully. "Are you hurt?"

"What? No."

"Hm." Hana stepped up and gripped my chin, tilting my head back so she could get a proper look at me. "A little scratched around your eye, but it looks like just a little redness. He got a hit in on you?"

"He tried to claw my face. Didn't work out for him."

"It definitely didn't," Genma said, looking as Izumo and Kotetsu took off with Mizuki between them, Gai close behind. "You did a number on him."

I grinned. "Hey, at least I didn't go for the throat this time."

A brief look of confusion flickered across his face. "What?"

My throat went dry. Right. I hadn't had those conversations with him. "Um, east. Are we going? We should look out for traps. He had some set, presumably to try to capture Sasuke and Naruto, but I don't know why."

Genma straightened and nodded. "We'll keep an eye out. This way." He took off in the direction I'd pointed out. Hana and I followed close behind.

It took us two minutes to find the shack, and we avoided seven more traps along the way. As we landed, Genma said, "I'll call in a team to clean up the traps once we get back. For now, let's look for anything he might have left here. Any evidence. Any items. Any tracks."

The six of us looked all over the shack and the surrounding area. We found another capture trap, this one larger than the other and manual instead of triggered. Beyond that? Nothing. The Triplets didn't pick up anything other than Mizuki's scent.

"So he wanted the scroll and the boys," I muttered, my chest tightening. "And that's . . . all we know."

"The boys are fine," Hana said, dropping a hand on my shoulder. "Kakashi found them and brought them back. Since Genma came along here, he stayed with them."

Genma made as if to reach for my other shoulder, but then he pulled back and nodded. "Let's head back and report in."

When we made it back to Konoha, we were waved into the Hokage's office and told he would be back soon. Hana dragged me to the couch and had me sit down while she finally soothed away the irritation from the scratches on my face with iryo-ninjutsu.

"You need to learn how to take down and capture a target without crippling them," she murmured.

"Yeah, I have a few things I need to work on," I agreed, putting non-lethal capture in my mental to-do file, right alongside durable clone.

The door opened. "Shiranui," Hiruzen said, striding inside and moving to his seat without sparing any of us a glance.

"Hokage-sama," Genma said, snapping to attention.

As he began to report, Hana hauled me up and moved me so we were standing beside Genma. She shot me a look and jabbed me with her elbow. I straightened and squared my shoulders.

"I see," Hiruzen murmured. "Uzumaki, can you explain to me why you decided it would be a good idea for you to go after Hisayoshi on your own?"

I bit back the snark that rose up at those words. Instead, I took a breath. "My priority was my brothers. Initially, I didn't intend to go after Mizuki. But once I caught up to them, I realized that Mizuki had something planned that probably included him leaving the Village completely. I didn't want to risk him getting away, as that would have led to resources being used to track him down that could be used elsewhere."

"You're an Academy student, not a shinobi yet."

"I was a Root operative. I knew what I was doing."

"You are no longer. You have no hitai-ate."

"I'm sorry," I said before I could stop myself. "Are you— One of your chunin sensei betrayed the Village and used two Academy students, my boys, to do so. More than that, those two Academy students were able to break in and steal something from your Tower in broad daylight and get outside the Village before even one person—me—caught up to them. They're talented and skilled, but if this scroll is so important then they shouldn't have been able to get to it at all. So I'm not the problem here."

Silence fell. Beside me, Hana had tensed her chakra. Genma had his teeth clenched so tight that I was afraid his senbon might break. Hiruzen leaned forward, elbows on the desk and hands together.

"Shiranui. Inuzuka. Out."

It was almost a scramble to see who could get out of the room first. The answer was Hakai, but the other four were close behind. The door slammed loudly.

Hiruzen rose to his feet and withdrew his pipe, lighting it. He didn't say anything at first, instead moving to the window to stare out at the Village. He puffed out smoke and looked back at me. "Come," he said, motioning me forward with his pipe.

I moved to stand beside him, looking at the glass and not really through it. I cleared my throat. "I'm . . . sorry for speaking to you that way."

He chuckled. "You have convictions, and you're loud about them. It's easy to admire that. Admittedly a little harder when you're using those convictions to yell at me."

"I don't think I was exactly yelling," I said carefully, testing the waters and unsure of exactly where this conversation was going.

"Did you know that Hatake has repeatedly brought up his worry for how much weight I'm putting on your shoulders?"

"I—"

"But the truth is, most of the weight isn't even from me, is it? You put most of it there yourself. Carry it well, too."

"I'm— Is this a reprimand? Because I'm confused."

"You were three when you unlocked your chakra. All on your own. Do you remember that?" He pushed forward without waiting for an answer. "It was undeniably clear at that moment that you had a great wealth of potential. And yet, you time and time again show that for you there really seem to be no limits."

He paused after that, giving me time to clear my throat and rasp out, "I have limits."

"None I've seen yet," he murmured. "Do you know who you remind me of?"

"I— No. I don't."

He nodded, chewing on the end of his pipe. Then he turned and stared up at the portraits high on the wall behind his desk. "You share a lot of traits. Intelligence, creativity, the ability to completely put aside yourself for something. Of course, Tobirama-sensei had far more life experience than you, but that will come with time. There is a clear difference I think I might see however. Tell me, Mirai-chan. Do you love Konoha?"

I curled my hands into fists, staring up at Tobirama's portrait. It took me a few seconds to figure out the right words to say. I settled on a succinct, "I love the people in Konoha. It's their home."

"In a way . . . isn't that what Konoha is? The people?" He sighed heavily. "The Shodaime was powerful. He ended decades of fighting and built this Village with his own hands. A peacemaker. A good Hokage. Tobirama-sensei was hardly what someone would call a peacemaker. He wanted peace, yes. But people knew him as a killer. He was a good Hokage as well. The question is, which approach do I think is better? I've tried both, after all." He moved back to his chair and sat with a groan. "Which do you prefer?"

I frowned. "I—" I cleared my throat. "Both are good, I think. But I know which one I am."

Hiruzen nodded, setting down his pipe and lacing his fingers together. "It's good," he murmured, almost as if he was talking to himself and not to me. "It's good to have a killer beneath the hat." He opened a drawer and retrieved a scroll. He set it on the table. "Let's see how you do filling our your first mission report for me. I want it here tomorrow morning. And think about what I said."

My chest was tight, and the air was heavier than it had been moments ago. Stepping forward to pick up the scroll felt like trying to swim through syrup. "Yes, Hokage-sama," I croaked out. Holding the scroll tight enough that I thought it might snap, I backed from the room and let the door close behind me.

"Whoa. Did he really chew you out that bad?"

I blinked and looked up at Hana. "I— Um, no. He didn't chew me out at all," I said slowly, still not exactly sure what had happened. "I, uh." I glanced between her and Genma. Then I looked down at my scroll. "Are the boys at the house? I'd, I'd like to see them."

Genma's brow furrowed. But he nodded and stepped away. Hana smiled. "Yeah. Course. The Triplets and I will even walk you. Bet the boys'll like to see 'em too."

I nodded and sealed the scroll away. It would be easier to breathe when I saw with my own two eyes that they'd made it back safe. Right?