A/N: A shorter part, but a part nonetheless.

Five days passed without incident. Then it was violence.

It was quiet, we had left our camp and set up a new one each day, further and further we scoured a massive radius of terrain and by the time we'd make camp in the evening, my eyes would feel heavy and I felt like I was going to pass out. So going with the flow, I dropped into a Naruto run, something about wind resistance and easier chakra flow.

This method of running feels wrong. Definitely not how I used to run.

Now we were standing sentry at the road watching caravans while the others patrolled the forest for some mark of a hideout or even an old trail. So far we'd turned up nothing. I was starting to get a bad feeling. Yet still, I let my eyes close and decided to rest my back against the

My eyes snapped open as Anzu's chakra flared in the distance. Then I heard it, a massive explosion. Smoke billowed into the sky from the direction of the noise.

Those were ours. Multiple preset paper bombs. And they were set to proximity detonation. So they were dangerous to both friend and foe. The fact that they activated all at once was slightly worrying.

I made my move, running forward in the underbrush to make it harder for any ninjutsu or genjutsu to knock me out of the air. I did what I could to minimize my chakra, sending tiny ripples out with each footstep. The world sped around me, my perception fast enough to be able to keep up with this 80km/h running speed. It became obvious why Ninja ran through the trees instead of on the ground. Footing down here was harder to see, uneven, bunch of roots. And that ankle-deep puddle I just stomped in and soaked myself with.

Ugh.

Still, I made it through and found Anzu mid-air as a water release ripped through the air and punched a hole in the tree she leapt behind.

Hm?

She disappeared, almost into thin air, I felt her presence up high. Good, she was okay.

An opportunity presented itself, so I scanned with chakra in an attempt to assess our enemy. Male, Jonin level, high chakra content. He was on my left, dodged his hand, spiked and superloaded with chakra.

His fist slammed into the tree I had been behind a moment before. Splinters flew in all directions.

Assessment complete.

The enemy was little more than a boy around the same age as me with bright pink hair and eyes that were ice blue. His eyes looked so cold they reminded me of the time I stuck my tongue to a pole in winter. He wasn't wearing a forehead protector and had a mask almost identical to mine.

He disappeared, and in the same instant reappeared in front of me. Kunai drawn, aimed for the jugular.

100%

"Hoh? You're pretty good… mind if I have a taste of those-"

I took his monologue as an opportunity to draw a kunai in each hand, deflected with one engaged in a tight melee. Sparks flew. Didn't pause, aimed for the ribs with the other.

He dodged, drawing back as he sensed Anzu's presence flaring an intense amount of chakra.

"A little too obvious dear… and I'm not exactly into big-bosom'd women who try too hard for my affections, no matter how beautiful their body and fighting form is." He arrogantly taunted her, and flamboyantly flipped his hair out of his eyes.

I dodged backwards as well.

Anzu flickered right in front of him, swinging a kunai that shone bright and was three feet longer thanks to jagged and roaring lightning. "Eat shit. Little freak!"

It didn't connect. He dodged each swing with time to spare. She did make him dance for it though. Why though, did his exaggerated movements somehow look so elegant?

Bah! Minimalist movements are superior.

I started to get a handle on Anzu's movements and jumped in to help her. I thought with my power and Anzu's combined we'd be able to overwhelm this unknown and irritating bastard.

Alas, he sped up to deflect our attacks made with a synchronicity I didn't think me or Anzu would be able to attain. The little bastard didn't even break a sweat, in fact he seemed to be enjoying this.

That fucking giggling!

The three of us continued to exchange blows, but we were at a stalemate. It was all we could do to dodge each other's attacks. He weaved signs as we fought.

I got impatient, I didn't want to see the end result. So I hit him with the finger guns and started firing bolts at him. They shot forward with more ferocity than usual and he reacted with an earth wall.

He's… a menace!

My shots blasted it to nothing but he was already gone. I felt cold steel against my neck as he held a kunai against my neck. I froze, my joints locked with fear.

"Well… it was fun… little leaf… but I think this dance is over… for now." He leaned in, pressed his masked lips to mine before his body became translucent and I was soaked with water from head to toe.

IYAAAAAAAAA!

"A water clone?" Anzu growled, she was in disbelief.

I felt bad, really bad. Imagine going at it 100% only to be held at bay by a fucking water clone. And then almost dying and being saved by the whims of a perverted guy who… who… I am already dead.

Anzu staggered and let out a loud and exasperated groan. "Shit… he was never even here to begin with."

I just slumped on the ground next to a tree. Sweating, breathing heavily, dead inside… And now I would probably stink.

Well it was mask to mask, no bare skin… so maybe it was fine?

Anzu wasn't much better off. She looked exhausted, and finally that chakra lightning blade shut off. She looked around, and then flopped against the tree right next to me.

"Ok…" She started and paused for a moment to try and catch her breath. "Thanks for the help… I'll forgive you for breaking my mask… and maybe tell you what the Hokage plans to do with you." She half-murmured.

Fucking finally.

"But first… I wanna talk about that parting kiss… wasn't that actually pretty romantic?" She teased and started laughing.

"No. Keep your hokage information." I said bitterly, and immediately got up and started running back to our post. It was approaching that time. My heart fluttered, it wasn't romantic at all!

Honestly, I hope the others are alright. The sentry post manned by Anzu and I was a fallback point. We need to regroup. The others probably heard the explosion from earlier given the scale of it. Kurenai was lugging around Kiba, Narumi, Ryuko, Hinata, and what w- Shino! So they… might be fine?

Wait there's only seven including Anzu? Oh, the last one is me.

I pressed my hand to my lips. "Bastard." My thoughts were wandering and I was distracted by that dangerous boy with the pink hair and ice blue eyes.

Anzu patted my shoulder, "It'll be our secret, so long as you promise to do as I say and always give one hundred percent from here on out." She whispered, literally blackmailing me into working hard.

There was a bitter taste in my mouth and I almost gagged on the word that I forced through barred teeth, "Alright."

She laughed triumphantly. Then we got to our post, it was quiet. Not a soul in sight. We agreed to wait a few minutes and then depart. She took that time to start talking to me about the Hokage's plans for me.

"The Hokage fought hard for you to be our responsibility instead of an alternative caretaker. I'll summarize and cut the roundabout political bullshit, but old man Hiruzen's current plans are simply to make you partially responsible for the Yin half of the Kyuubi. That being said, your current mission is to keep Narumi safe at all costs. He said she can trust you, don't make a liar out of him.

Also worthy of note is the fact that I've officially stated that I'd induct you as a member of clan Hatake. And a plan to betroth you to Narumi is in the works. Nothing official yet."

I looked at her with disgust. "Lady, I barely know you guys."

"Well you know what they say… Live fast, die young." She teased with a laugh.

"Did you even tell her first?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, remember the day you knocked her out? It was just before that." Anzu erupted into roaring laughter. "You have no idea how hard it was to not laugh… I mean I get that you weren't even aware of it, but that was fucking hilarious!"

"Well. I felt pretty bad about it, but I think we made up, she even told me about the Kyuubi." I said with a triumphant smirk.

"I think she was just trying to scare you away with the Kyuubi, so she didn't have to marry you because she thought you'd be too afraid of her. You just happen to be a freak of nature." She said but didn't laugh. She just chuckled a bit, then fell silent.

"Oh… well now I don't feel as good about myself." I said with a sigh.

Anzu patted my head as consolation... It felt nice.

We ran in silence, until we found the rest of our eight-man squad. When we did, I can say for a fact that I didn't like what I saw. It was a mess. Clangs of kunai, battlecries. Kurenai was a genjutsu specialist, but it looked like they were all being overwhelmed. There was a bunch of ninja not wearing headbands and fully masked. That boy was amongst them.

Hinata and Kiba were unconscious, but I could feel their chakra. They were alive.

Shino was still up, on the defensive. There were dead bugs everywhere though. Fire jutsu burnt a lot of them to crisps.

Kurenai was fighting, battered and bruised.

Ryuko was going full-speed, flickering back and forth laughing maniacally as she fought.

Narumi was… oh fuck.