The next morning, Sasuke left the apartment early so that he could quickly visit the Hokage on his way to the inn. Sasuke knew that she was an early riser on work days, which he was about to take full advantage for two very specific reasons.

The door was open, so Sasuke simply knocked on the door frame to get her attention. She looked up to see who was there.

"Oh, Sasuke. Come in. I wasn't expecting you. How'd the first day go?" Tsunade asked.

"I thought it went pretty well. It wasn't perfect though," he replied.

"How many?" she took the hint immediately, knowing that not all the shinobi could be let go.

"One," he replied.

"What are you going to do with...is it a him or a her?" she asked.

"It's a him. Teki Abunai…and he has no intention of going quietly. His ninjitsu isn't anything special, but he rather excels at taijutsu and the stealth arts," explained Sasuke.

"Ah, I see," replied Tsunade. "Thanks for letting me know. Now if you don't mind, I'm very busy..."

"There's something else," interrupted Sasuke. "I'd like both Sakura Haruno and Rock Lee on this mission at their earliest convenience."

"Oh?" said Tsunade.

"I have three who I am going to recommend to the shinobi corps and seven who will either be leaving us or integrating into the population. Essentially I have broken them down into two – those that need to be trained, and those who need to be transitioned. The training will be handled by me and I'd like Sakura to work with the others," said Sasuke.

"Why Sakura?" Tsunade asked. "She has no special skill in this area."

"Last night, she was present for the post-mortem of the first meeting. She showed a true interest in these shinobi and was very helpful in discussing how to proceed from here," he explained.

"Got it," answered Tsunade. "Your request for Sakura Haruno is approved. So why do you want Rock Lee?"

"I don't want to give up on Teki Abunai just yet. I'm going to recommend that he join the three others in the training group and try to affect him from there. We'll still have control over him and perhaps he can be swayed. However, with just me, I don't want any mishaps or escapes to take place, so I'd like a taijutsu expert with me since that is Teki's specialty," explained Sasuke.

"A well thought-out plan," added Tsunade. "Both Sakura Haruno and Rock Lee, approved. I will make sure they get the message…and when they do, they'll report to the inn at their earliest convenience."

OlOlOlOlOlO

Sasuke made his way to the inn near Hokage tower and walked into the central meeting room. It was already full with eleven shinobi waiting for Sasuke to show up.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke stated to the group as he entered. "I needed to speak with the Hokage before I came here." He walked to the front of the room. "Today will be a bit of an off-day for most of you. I have determined what the next step will be for all of you; however, I would rather communicate it one-on-one rather than in a group setting. That way, we can have a personal discussion if need be and you won't have to worry about who else might hear. You may come back here for your afternoon and evening meals, but the prep work for your next assignments has not quite been completed yet so we will start anew tomorrow. Now, please return to your rooms."

"This is a little strange," Sasuke heard one of the shinobi say above the voices of the others. He didn't give it a second thought. This is how he thought they should proceed and he took full ownership and responsibility for this mission.

Just as they were all about out the door, Sasuke called out, "Karin, I'd like you to be first. Please stay."

Karin raised her eyebrows and returned to one of the seats. Sasuke sat down in one of the chairs next to her.

Sasuke was silent for a small period of time. Frankly, it made Karin feel a little uncomfortable.

"Oh come on now, it can't be that bad. Here's your opportunity to get rid of me for good," she said aloud, filling the dead air with meaningless chatter.

"What makes you think that I want you gone?" asked Sasuke.

"It has been obvious since Hebi," she replied. "You never liked me."

"I have never thought of you romantically," said Sasuke bluntly. "You were asked to join Hebi for a reason…you have tremendous skills."

"Tell me something I don't know," said Karin sarcastically.

"In fact, I think it is one of the reasons you are as you are today…and, in retrospect, it saddens me," said Sasuke.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Your skills are quite extraordinary, but they are the only reason anyone has ever recognized you," said Sasuke. "Orochimaru put you in charge of the prison and you handled that assignment extraordinarily well. I recruited you for your skills and, when you weren't fighting with Suigetsu, you did a very good job there as well. You have shown yourself to be loyal and skillful, but still lack confidence and security."

"So?" she asked. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"I'd like you to stay," said Sasuke. "Yes, your skills could be helpful to the Leaf. I could see you rising to the top and perhaps even making ANBU one day."

"You…think so?" asked Karin. "But you just said that despite my skills, that I was still lacking…"

"Yes, you are. You'll have to work your way up at first, but I fully believe that you can be successful here. And, along your journey, the people here…the shinobi and the people in the village itself…will give you the confidence you need. I have a good friend who went through something similar to what you are now facing. His journey started at a younger age, and he was much less skilled than he is today, but through friendship and support, he has become a fine shinobi representing this village. I think in becoming a Leaf shinobi you will be influenced in many positive ways."

Karin just looked at him. She had lost all hope a very long time ago that he would ever find her attractive romantically...she certainly wasn't expecting anything like this. She was used to being considered a throw-away. Now, here is this man – one of the most influential people in her life – trying to do something for her. She was still a bit standoffish. Karin instinctively tried to figure out if this whole thing was a trick or not.

"I…," she started, then paused. "You really think I can become a valuable shinobi to the Leaf?" she asked.

Sasuke nodded.

"Very well. I accept," she finally said.

"Good," said Sasuke. "You finally made a good decision." Karin flashed him an evil look just as she had in the old days when teased.

"So where do I go from here?" she asked.

"Well, obviously, you are the first shinobi I've talked to. There are three others who I feel will be taking a similar path to yours. Once I have the agreement from all of them, we will start with training tomorrow," explained Sasuke. "You are free to go back to your room or do whatever for the remainder of the day...but on your way, please ask Juugo to see me."

"Four of us, eh?" repeated Karin as she turned to exit the room. She started wondering who the other three were. "Surely not Suigetsu…," she murmured as she left.

Not more than a minute later, both Sakura and Rock Lee entered the room.

"Sasuke, can you talk now?" asked Sakura. "We just saw Karin leave the room and thought now would be a good time to talk to you." Apparently they had arrived while Sasuke was talking with Karin and politely waited for them to finish.

"Yes, what did you need us for?" asked Rock Lee.

"I have gotten permission from Lady Tsunade for you both to join me in this mission for the next three weeks," said Sasuke.

Sakura smiled. She already knew all about the mission and had even heard about all the homeless shinobi last night at dinner.

"I'm on a very tight schedule right now," explained Sasuke. "Sakura, I hope you don't mind me asking you to fill Rock Lee in with the background of what I'm trying to do here."

"Sure thing," she answered.

"The bottom line is, I need support from you two to help these eleven shinobi. I'd like Sakura to take the lead for those who will no longer be staying in the Leaf, or who will no longer be shinobi. I can talk to you later about these folks, but we may need to set them up with mentors, or even get them involved in some volunteer work to reintegrate them into society," said Sasuke.

"What about me?" asked Rock Lee.

"You will be joining me in training the four individuals who will now be Leaf shinobi," said Sasuke. "They are obviously already very skilled, but are perhaps rough around the edges. I have specifically asked for your help because of one shinobi in particular...his name is Teki Abunai. He is the only shinobi whose intentions I currently question. Since he cannot become a villager, or be allowed to leave the village, I am going to try to train him and see if we can get his attitude to change."

"I see," said Rock Lee. "I take it you asked for me because he is a taijutsu user."

"Yes. That is the area in which he is highly skilled…that and the stealth arts," said Sasuke. "We need to try to train him, but also need to keep a close eye on him. I want that to be your primary role on this mission."

"Yes, sir!" shouted Rock Lee in his usual motivated demeanor.

"Sasuke?" came Juugo's voice from the doorway. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Come on in, Juugo," said Sasuke. He nodded at Sakura and Rock Lee, not wanting to say anything else aloud. "I'll see you two just before dinner tonight. Please come meet me back here."

"Hai," they both answered, nodding their heads.

OlOlOlOlOlO

Sasuke cycled through the rest of the homeless shinobi that day, meeting with each of them one-by-one until every one of them had been talked to. As Sasuke had expected, ten of the meetings really had been no sweat. They had communicated to him where they wanted to go and there was no real reason not to let them do what they wanted.

Juugo had expressed interest in staying by Sasuke's side. Although he had traveled with Suigetsu over the last few years, he really had no interest in following him around collecting the swords of the Hidden Mist. The main reason he had chosen to go that past a year ago when Sasuke had disappeared was because, other than isolating himself from society once again, he had nowhere else to go. Now Sasuke was offering him up the chance for a new life in the Leaf village. Juugo was always die-hard loyal to Sasuke and Sasuke had promised him that they would remain close friends inside the Leaf if he stayed. Juugo had no interest at all in violence or battle and thus opted to integrate into the village itself.

Suigetsu had shown no malice towards the Leaf, yet had no desire to run amok either. He simply wanted to chase the swords. Sasuke felt it may have been a fool's journey - Mist had probably collected most of them long ago. But who was he to argue with Suigetsu who insisted they were still out there somewhere just waiting to be found.

Teki Abunai was one of the shinobi brought in towards the middle of the day. It was going to be like a game to keep him placated and try to turn him back into someone who could contribute to society. Sasuke knew he was trouble, but Teki didn't know that. He had no idea what Kanja and Sumato were really doing that first day they sat in the room with him.

Since he was so non-committal with his future plans, Sasuke informed him that his decision was that he was going to be one of the four allowed to train in hopes of eventually being named a Leaf shinobi. Upon being told this, Teki smirked and let out a slight "hmph". Sasuke and Rock Lee would need to work hard to bring him around else he may become a prisoner for the rest of his life. Cocky as he was, he probably didn't understand that his actions over the next three weeks might change the direction of the rest of his life.

Sakura and Rock Lee arrived shortly after Sasuke had finished. He was sitting alone in the large meeting room of the inn waiting for them to arrive.

"Sasuke?" Sakura said as she walked in the room. "Are you ready for us?"

"Come in," he replied. "I've been done a little while now."

"Did everything go alright?" Sakura asked.

"Everything went exactly as expected," Sasuke answered. "Did you get a chance to fill Rock Lee in about the situation these eleven are in?"

"I did," Sakura replied.

"Good," Sasuke nodded. "I really don't have anything else for you, Lee. Unless you have any lingering questions..."

"No, I'm good! I will be here bright and early tomorrow ready to go!" Lee replied.

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow," said Sasuke.

Rock Lee left the room leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.

"...and did you get a chance to think about the transitions?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes," she answered. "I reported to the hospital for my regular shift after I saw you this morning, but within a half hour, I received word that I was off-duty for the next three weeks. I figured Lady Tsunade had gotten word to my supervisors there about this new assignment...so I did have a few hours in the afternoon to make some plans for the first few days."

"Let me hear them," said Sasuke.

Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out a small scroll. She unfurled it at the same time as taking a seat next to Sasuke.

"I figured some volunteer work wouldn't be a bad thing," she replied. "For those who are going to remain in the village, it will give them an opportunity to get to know some of the people and places around the Leaf. For those who are planning on leaving at the end of the three weeks, it will give them a chance to know us and hopefully by getting to know some of our citizens, they will have more empathy for our village in the future."

"It sounds like a plan. Have you set anything up yet?" asked Sasuke.

"Only the first day," said Sakura. "We'll be heading over to the orphanage in the morning."

"Good plan. It all really starts tomorrow. Technically, we've got about two and a half weeks left to get this all done. I'm leaving these seven to you. If you need me for anything, please let me know. I'm really planning on keeping my attention fully focused on Teki," said Sasuke.

"I've got it covered," said Sakura with a smile. She liked it when he depended on her.