Treacherous Dealings/A New Mission Part 2

Back in the cave with Team Kakashi and two of the three sand siblings, each of them were taking turns guarding the cave entrance and watching the sandstorm subside. After Einjeru's shift she went over to where Kankuro was and laid next to him hoping to share some warmth. Naruto was watching the entrance and Sasuke sat next to him. Sakura was trying to make Kankuro as comfortable as possible. Temari was explaining what to look for in determining when a sandstorm will subside.

Einjeru was drifting to sleep and into her mindscape. Her inner demon smiles and says "Back so soon? Still debating?" Einjeru shrugs and says "I guess… I want to know something; doesn't the test of faith tether the person to you?" Her inner demon looked at her and nods. "It also is the key to the inhibitor on your powers… If something would happen to the person after they're tethered; the inhibitor is released." Einjeru sighs and lays down against a wall.

Naruto was watching the sandstorm intently. In his head he hears, "Hey Naruto, it won't help you to be a nervous wreck over this. We need to think of this objectively." He shrugs and says "Doesn't Einjeru have a stake in this too? She seems to be the laxest of us right now." Kurama shakes his head. "She has her own problems. She's almost of age in terms of being a demon. She may be mostly wolf, but she has some fox in her. She'll be sprouting another tail soon *sigh*"

Sasuke looks at Naruto curiously and then looks at everyone else. He thinks to himself, "I should take care of Itachi, should we encounter him. I may be the only one who can. Kakashi may have a sharingan but it isn't strong enough to best him from what I heard from the last time those two fought. Naruto is his goal and Einjeru… is kind of off put by him. Sakura has become a fine medical ninja, but one of the rules of a medical ninja is that they are the last of their platoon to die/are never to fight on the front."

Sakura continues to research a little more into the poison used, so she can get working on an antidote as soon as they get into the sand village. She looks over at Einjeru and sighs. She started thinking of a mission where they had to stay out of the village, but she forgot her blanket.

Flashback:

It was the mission where they tried to get Kakashi's mask off left and right and failed at every turn. After they finished the work for the day, the squad decided to stay the night. Sakura went to set up her sleeping bag and blanket and realized she didn't have one. She asked Einjeru, forgetting that she slept in her wolf form. Upon realizing that she laid upon the ground and tried to sleep. Little did she know, a little bit of weight and warmth fell upon her.

Sakura felt a nuzzling sensation and looked to see Einjeru on top of her. A half-sleep Einjeru said "Don't… get used… to this." Sakura smiled and started to fall asleep.

Presently:

Einjeru shivers feeling how cold Kankuro is. She sits up, yawning. "Sakura… I think he's getting worse." Sakura nods saying "I don't have anything to help right now, unfortunately. His best hope is getting back to the Hidden Sand."

Einjeru looks down saying, "I see… I hope this storm subsides soon then." She stretches, allowing any bones to pop back into place.

Sakura looks at Einjeru sadly saying "There hasn't been any sign of it letting…" She gets interrupted by someone saying "It's letting up!" Temari comes for a look and nods. "We need to get ready to move." Sakura assisted in getting Kankuro onto Einjeru's back and ensuring that he wouldn't be jerked while they ran. About 10 minutes later, they left the cave.

They managed to get to the Hidden Sand village by nightfall, having taken no breaks to account for the time they were put behind because of the sandstorm. Baki had been awaiting their arrival, but didn't expect them to have Kankuro in tow. Einjeru remained quiet as they got Kankuro checked into the hospital. Baki looked at the four ninja and one wolf and said "I thought this was a five-man squad."

The wolf looked at Kakashi and his visible eye drifted to the door. The wolf walked out and Einjeru walked in a couple minutes later stretching. "Who said there wasn't five?" In her head, she said "Being in wolf form for more than eight hours makes me stiff…" Sakura then says "Is there anything else? I need to get to work." She shooed everyone who wasn't a medical ninja out of the room.

Baki looked at the four of them in an appreciative manner. "We're glad the leaf was able to respond so quickly." He looks at Kakashi and asks "Aren't these guys technically genin?" Kakashi looks at Naruto, Einjeru and Sasuke and tells them to go look around because that kind of talk was going to set their egos into overdrive. Einjeru decides to take a stroll and see if they had a shop around. Sasuke followed Einjeru and Naruto remained with Kakashi.

Kakashi looks at Naruto imploringly and gets in reply "It's ok Kakashi sensei. He's calling it out for what we are. I know we get easily offended and hot headed, but we can keep calm *stomach growl* Uh oh…" Kakashi chuckles and says "Go catch up with them. You haven't had a decent meal in almost three days. I'm pretty sure Einjeru is looking for a shop that has food." Naruto then decides to take a moderate paced jog to catch up.

Baki smiles and says "These guys are completely different than at the chunin exams. What happened?" Kakashi shrugs "Three of them weren't in my care for the last two years. They were training under masters. Sasuke remained under me, but other than that he's relatively the same."

Naruto manages to catch up to Sasuke and Einjeru who happened to be talking about the next meal. Einjeru was holding a parcel of meat and hears Naruto behind her muttering something about a lazy Uchiha. Unfortunately, Sasuke heard that and a tick mark seemingly appeared on his forehead. Einjeru sighed and says "We have training grounds for that, but for now let's get to the hotel so I can make something to eat." The sweet twinge in her voice made a shiver go up both of their spines.

They made their way to the hotel and their room where Einjeru started working her domestic magic. The smells had the boys entranced. Einjeru smiled having not been able to cook like that for two years, but the movements were still there. Naruto smiles and says "It's been a while since I had Einjeru's cooking."

At this point, Sasori and Deidara were in a position to start sealing, but Deidara decided to start an argument. "Well at least we got ours on the first try. What happened with the nine-tails?" Itachi shook his head. "I refuse to acknowledge a kid that is no older than our reinforcements and who has a big mouth." Kisame then appeared and said "We would've had them if it wasn't for the White Fang's brat, the younger brat that fried my clone, and the other elite jonin that are close to him." Meanwhile, in the sand village, Einjeru sneezes thinking "Who could be talking about me? What a drag…" Back in the leaf village a 16-year-old Nara got a slight inkling that someone used his catchphrase.

Deidara then says "We got ours on the first go, so kiss my ass you two!" Sasori then said "Shut it before I get Kakuzu to sew your mouth shut for you." Kakuzu and Hidan appear. Kakuzu grins and says "So your loudmouth won't shut up either huh?" Hidan objects saying "What'd you say Kakuzu? I'll kill you and offer you up to Jashin for that!" Kakuzu sighs and looks at Sasori and Deidara.

The shadow that has purple eyes with ripples in them calms them down. He looks to Deidara and says "Silence! We have a tailed beast to seal, and we do not need this petty arguing."

Itachi shakes his head and says "All because Deidara made a show..." The shadow then says "Itachi and Kisame will take care of them. We only need a little extra time, so stop arguing. We need to start the sealing." Itachi silently nods and they prepared to seal the one-tail Shukaku. Deidara had the bird spit out Gaara, and the lead shadow summoned a statue. Everyone got into their positions.

Back in the Hidden Sand, Einjeru got annoyed from hearing Naruto and Sasuke bickering. She closed her eyes and a purple aura washed over her. It spread from the kitchen to the room that Naruto and Sasuke bickered in. As soon it was felt, they ran out the door as fast as their feet would take them. They ended up running back to the hospital where Kakashi was.

Kakashi upon seeing them, thought to himself, "Einjeru must have let out some serious killing intent for them to be running like puppies with their tails in between their legs." As soon as they were sitting in front of Kakashi, an elder walked by and eyed Kakashi. She flared some killing intent and ran at him saying "This is for my son, time to die White Fang of the Leaf!"

Kakashi wasn't able to say anything as Sasuke and Naruto got into defensive positions. Naruto then said "This lady is crazier than Lady Tsunade! Why are you attacking Kakashi sensei?!" Sasuke nods and says "I'd like to know that as well. He's not the White Fang." Both Sasuke and Naruto thought to themselves "Thank Kami that Einjeru is content in making dinner and not here. Someone would have been killed."

Einjeru happened to have finished dinner and brought it to the hospital since no one came back after her silent anger aura scared Naruto and Sasuke off. She feels a pain in her butt, but shakes it off upon getting to the floor where Sakura was working. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi's mouths dropped upon seeing Einjeru. The elder looked back and saw a faint purple glow.

A low growl built up in the back of Einjeru's throat as she said "Unless you want an international incident to take place, Naruto and Sasuke stand down." Naruto and Sasuke did so and the elder looked at Einjeru laughing. Kakashi flashed behind her saying "It's a little misunderstanding. Calm down." Einjeru took a deep breath and the elder was on the attack again. As Einjeru put her arms up to block, another elder said "Chiyo? Why are you attacking this young man?"

Einjeru chuckled at the fact that Kakashi was called "Young man." The aptly named Chiyo then said "What are you talking about? This is the White Fang of the Leaf." Einjeru's eye twitched at the mention of her grandfather before she started belting out in laughter. "You think my dad is my grandpa?! That's rich!" She fell on floor and continued laughing.

Kakashi paled while Naruto and Sasuke face-planted. Chiyo looked at Einjeru scrupulously before Einjeru glared back and says "What's your problem with my dad anyways?" Chiyo continues staring at Einjeru and says "You must be the White Fang's brat!" Einjeru had a vein pop out of her forehead and she stood up saying "MY GRANDFATHER DIED 24 YEARS AGO!"

Kakashi grabbed Einjeru before she could get a chance to hit Chiyo. "Calm down you! Do you want to have an international incident?" She tried to fight Kakashi's grip saying "She's crazy dad! She thinks that you're grandpa, and thinks I'm his kid instead of you. I'm the grandkid." He exhales as the other elder comes up saying "This youngling with the black and silver hair is correct." Naruto and Sasuke look at each other and thought "Should have seen this coming."

At this point, Team Guy has made it to land of wind/fire border. Guy says "We have made it to the halfway point. It's about a day and a half from the Hidden Sand Village. Let us make our way there youthfully." They continued their trek through the desert.

Sakura comes out of the room after healing Kankuro and flops on a chair. She sleeps through the argument taking place and the elder continues. "The White Fang committed suicide 24 years ago. How this young one knows is beyond me." Kakashi then says "If I may clear any misconceptions, my name is Kakashi Hatake, leader of the Leaf's team 7. The White Fang was my father and we do bear a striking resemblance." He sets Einjeru down and tells her to introduce herself.

Einjeru then says, albeit reluctantly, "I'm Einjeru Hatake. I'm the captain's daughter and granddaughter of the White Fang." The elder then looks at Einjeru and Kakashi respectively. "I can see the family resemblance. Your hair and facial structures are all similar. I apologize for Chiyo; she can't seem to let go of the fact that the White Fang killed her son." Chiyo then says, "I was just kidding." Everyone (awake) including the other elder face-planted.

Sakura woke up to seeing everyone eating. Einjeru, who was calm and still rather confused to the elder's behaviors, brought a bowl of the hotpot over so Sakura could eat. "Einjeru? What happened?" Einjeru shook her head and said "You don't want to know." She sighed and says "Enjoy the food. You're going to need the energy." Sakura nods and eats. "Yum! Did you make this?" She got a nod in return and put some in a bowl for Kankuro when he wakes.

Kakashi comes over to her and says "Keep your temper in check. You don't think about your powers when you get upset. Your mother told me about when you lost it before." He got a sigh as she looked at him and said "You are aware that I have both your quiet anger and moms explosive anger right? The only time you need to worry about my powers is when my quiet anger shows."

Kakashi looked at her, surprised. "I didn't know you were capable of that." Einjeru rolled her eyes and said "Mom didn't tell you that she took the squad photo that I kept in my bag and burned it. As soon as the familiar scent hit my nose, my anger had skyrocketed past my normal explosive behavior and I blanked out. I woke up to grandpa's snout in my face."

Kakashi chuckled at the 'what must have been awkward' sight. "That I didn't know. You kept that funny photo as blackmail, and as something to make you smile when you were down in the dumps. I understand a little bit." Einjeru sighed and said "I really liked that photo…" Kakashi hands her his photo from his bag saying "Don't let your mother get ahold of this one okay?" Einjeru gave him a tight hug and joins the others.

While walking, Einjeru had a dark thought come across her mind and a bad memory surfaced. Her posture went rigid as if someone had gotten behind her and put a kunai to her neck. In her mind she started to say "Why am I feeling this presence? Who was/is that?" Naruto and Sasuke noticed the rigidness and walked over to her. Naruto starts off saying "Hey! Are you okay?"

Sasuke then felt something off and looked towards the window, sharingan ablaze. "Whatever she's feeling, she isn't wrong. Someone or something that isn't friendly is near." Kakashi readied a kunai and started hearing a loud thumping. "This sounds like… a heartbeat, but whose?"

Einjeru's legs started to shake and her heart started to thump against her rib cage. A voice that only she can hear rings out "It looks like you haven't forgotten my presence have you princess?" Her head jerked in all directions and her face was frozen in a fearful state. "Y-You… B-but how?"

As if everyone and everything froze, a shadowy fox appears from her shadow saying "That lovely torture session that I gave you which forced out your werewolf state after your mother burnt that picture. I saw that fire in your eyes once and I want to see it again. The fire of that anger that you carry is bright."

To everyone else, it looks like Einjeru started showing signs of hyperventilation. Her heart pounded and raced trying to calm, but her mind was in a state of shock as she felt a jolt. She grabbed her chest and started collapsing hearing "That fire will blaze eventually, and I'll be there to see it." Naruto managed to catch her and Sasuke came over saying "I have a feeling that it's related to something that happened during her training. I don't know why'd she be having a fit like that now though."

Chiyo came over and said "We don't have time to wait for your student to recover. We need to move." Kakashi told Naruto to lay Einjeru down and get ready as Sakura ran a quick diagnostic to make sure Einjeru was stable enough to be left. Sakura comes back over to them and says "Everything is perfectly fine. No chakra fluctuations, no anything. I'm thinking it was exhaustion."

Kurama brings Naruto into his mindscape for a spill. "If Sasuke was able to sense that malicious intent, I'm sure you are. That presence can only be sensed by either a powerful demon such as myself, or someone with that same malicious will. You have the ability because of me, but it isn't strong enough. I'll have to train you a little bit. However, you'll have to wait until you're back in the village to start on that." Naruto comes to and notices that he's walking out the village.

Kakashi gives an eye smiles and says "Enjoy your mind walk?" Naruto looks around and says "Where's Einjeru?" Kakashi shook his head. A yell of "YOUTH!" rung throughout the desert as 2 shadows with dust clouds behind them started getting closer to the team.

Back in the hospital, Einjeru started to twitch and tensed up while she was sleeping.

Einjeru flashback nightmare:

Einjeru and Anjera were returning from a training venture, and Einjeru notices that there was no light like usual. She thought that maybe that someone accidentally put the torch out. She gets a fire jutsu ready to reignite the torch. She gets close to the cave to sense an unusual presence. She snarls and says "Quit being scared and come out!"

A mysterious voice then says "Why are you being scared and not coming in?" Anjera upon hearing this yells out "Einjeru! Get away from there!" Einjeru then says "Huh?" The voice said "Too late." Some shadows came from the cave and grabbed Einjeru by the ankles. Anjera leapt into action to be knocked back. "Mom!" Einjeru got heated and tried to fight back.

The shadow then grabbed her arms. "Thank you for reminding me of your ability to fight back." Einjeru's eyes widened and she thought "Great… Just great. If dad saw me he'd scold me…" The voice said "You know; this is why you'll never get stronger. You always think of what daddy says, or mom is going to do if you messed up." Einjeru is dragged in the cave completely.

Sakumo in the meanwhile, was out looking for herbs and food. He hears the yelling and turns toward the mountains. "Could it be? Is that the demon who voiced their dissent?" He starts to run back to the mountains. "Please be okay."

Einjeru at this point was tied up, and the torches were lit. "What are you doing?! What did I do?" The voice ended up manifesting into a fox. "It's what you're not doing. You're ¾ demon, yet you act human! You're a disgrace to your mother! Hell, your mother is a disgrace for mating with a half-breed!" Einjeru then says "Say what you want about me, but my mother and father are off limits!" She struggles against the restraints to be told "The only ones who can break out of that are those of demonic royalty who embrace their powers."

Einjeru closed her eyes and thinks "My mark is still unstable. Even if I do embrace it, I still won't be able to control it." The fox then says "You are quite the cutie; I'll grant you that. To be able to charm the most powerful fox of them all is a remarkable feat." He knocks Einjeru on her back and climbs on top of her. "Maybe I'll take you for myself." She growls and wriggles from under him. "Not on your eternal life!"

Sakumo gets to the cave entrance to see Anjera knocked against the rock. "My lady! Are you alright?" He goes over to her and she says "Your suspicions are right, I'm sorry for not listening. Because of that Einjeru may be…" He shakes his head. "Not if I can help it." A scream of pain was heard and Sakumo used his skills to sneak in.

The fox smirks and ripped Einjeru's pants with a few slashes. He sees the blood and smiles. "Maybe there is a plus to you being part human. I can sustain myself with your blood." Einjeru screams out in pain. "There's no point in screaming. No one is going to come." A voice from the shadows said "Want to bet?!"

The fox chuckles and says "I doubt you'd be able to face me." He licks Einjeru's legs. She whimpers and a pack of wolves come out. "The Hatake do not take this too kindly." Sakumo then comes to the head to see Einjeru's legs. He snarled. "Did you do that to my grandbaby?"

The fox smirks. "So what if I did? Last time I checked, you're nothing but an old wolf." Sakumo shakes his head. "And the clan head!" The fox then says "Oh really?" Einjeru sits up and sees him. "G-grandpa…" Sakumo looks at her and smiles. "Don't worry." The fox slashed her in the most uncomfortable area. She screamed out in pain and Sakumo tackled the fox. "You know what; I never did care for foxes." They got in their defensive positions with their hackles raised.

Sakumo uses his most authoritative voice and says "Release your mark. After that tend to your mother. This is not going to be pretty." Einjeru didn't speak yet he knew what her eyes were saying. "You can do it! Stop doubting yourself and do what I'm telling you!" She closed her eyes and her mark glowed through her forearm protectors. Her hands became claws and she started turning into a giant wolf with black fur and silver markings.

She started to grow and the restraints started to bend. She snarls and growls. The restraints broke. Her inner self yelled out "I'm free!" Sakumo smiles seeing her full wolf form. However, since her human legs were injured, her rear legs were going to reflect it. She whimpered as she went outside. She saw Anjera and went over to her. "Mom? Wake up…"

Anjera woke up and saw Einjeru in her wolf form with her marking covering her. She sat up and told Einjeru to release it. Einjeru shook her head, and due to not having full control, she couldn't speak to tell Anjera that she couldn't undo it. Anjera got annoyed and said "Do it!" Einjeru whined and resorts to clawing the words out in the rock.

Anjera read it and shook her head. She then saw a picture sticking out of Einjeru's bag and grabbed it. She smiles looking at the picture and frowns sadly thinking "I'll have to force it out of you. I'm sorry about this Einjeru." She uses a small bit of fire chakra and ignites the picture.

In the meanwhile, Sakumo is facing the fox. The fox said "Well my job is done. Her powers are out, and now the queen will fall." Sakumo grew wide eyed at this and ran to the outer cave. Once he got out of the inner cave, he saw Einjeru sitting there composed. The smell of a burning photo hit her nose and a low growl came out. Her head turned to where the smell was coming from and saw the squad photo in Anjera's hand. "That… Picture…"

All of a sudden a white glow started poking into the cave and Einjeru started to grow bigger. Sakumo looked outside and saw a full moon. "Oh no… Her powers and temper are going to be unpredictable if shown to the moon's light."

Einjeru groans and says in a strained voice "Why did you burn that picture?!" Anjera looks in astonishment. She then sees the moons glow "Oh crap… Einjeru, you need to fight the instinct!" Einjeru starts to growl and her eyes flickered between control and werewolf. "I'm going to… kill you!" The moonlight starts to completely show and her consciousness becomes overcame.

She grows even bigger and Sakumo looks in fear. "Werewolf state… It's rare that this ever comes out in any wolf demon. Anjera looks at him sadly and he says "This was my fault. I'm glad her ANBU guardian isn't here right now. We have to get her under control." Einjeru growls and looks at her mother. Sakumo looks at this and thinks "Maybe I could pin her while she's distracted."

Anjera looks at Einjeru and sees a hint of purple in her eyes. Anjera's eyes flashed to Sakumo and he nods. "Any sudden moves will probably trigger her." All of a sudden wooden restraints appear out of nowhere and drain her demonic chakra to the point where she fell asleep. "Good grief Einjeru. I can't go back to the village and report without you going crazy…"

Presently:

Einjeru wakes up in a hospital bed, and senses Kankuro. A certain question rung through her mind, "Did I lose control again?" She feels a snout rubbing against her face as she opens her eyes. She sees a black nose and black eyes and all white fur. "Grandpa? Is that you?" Sakumo nods and says "You went into shock. One of the reasons I'm here is because your sub-consciousness brushed against my mind and it bothered me the way it was doing so."

Sakumo did a doggy shake and looked at Einjeru who had a bitter taste in her mouth. She starts off saying, "He made an appearance. He was in my shadow… Did something happen? I'm still getting flashes of that one night, and…" Sakumo brings her a box of Pocky.

"Relax. That's another reason I'm here. Your mother has been having every single demon with an enhanced sense of smell tracking him since that night in question. A lot of the wolf demons traced him here to the hidden sand, so I came to sniff around. You being here happened to be a bonus. So what's the mission?"

Einjeru sighed in resignation, taking the Pocky. "Grandpa… Our squad was sent to retrieve the Kazekage's son. He was kidnapped by the Akatsuki. However, he's also…" Sakumo hushed her instantly. "I am aware of what he is and who he carries. I've been doing some research myself, but isn't it unwise for Naruto to be on this mission?"

Einjeru shrugs. "We were the only squad mission-ready so we had to go for it. It's time-sensitive, you know this, and I'm here lying in bed while the others are fighting." She then sticks the Pocky in her mouth while Sakumo pulls the covers off in an attempt to examine her and see that nothing is wrong.

At this point the two squads were on their way to the hideout in two different directions to avoid being halted should one group encounter the enemy. Team Kakashi set their wireless mics to Team Guys frequency so they would be able to keep in contact. Team Guy was almost to the border of the land of wind/streams when a blast of water started coming at them. Team Kakashi plus Chiyo was at the same point but met with a fireball.

Einjeru felt a chill run down her back as if she sensed the fighting begin. "Sasuke… Don't do anything reckless." Sakumo looked at Einjeru and exhaled. "There's nothing wrong with you, so I don't know why you're sitting here saying that. Go. Complete your mission. I'll be with you all the way."

She strapped on her sword to hear a question from Sakumo. "What did you name your sword? You don't think the White Light Chakra Saber got its name by itself, do you?" Einjeru shook her head in an amused fashion. "I named it the minute you gave it to me. Silverlight is the name." Sakumo used a transformation and smirked. "I'm considering getting back in the game, if the hokage will let me."

He got a shrug in return as they were getting ready to head out. The other elder came in the room and says "I apologize for Chiyo. She's a card. Can you please make sure she makes it back in one piece?" Einjeru nods. "I'll try sir. I'm also going to try and bring Gaara back as well." The elder nods and steps towards the window. "I'd assume this would get you on your way faster?" He gives a smile and opens the window.

Einjeru jumps out of the window in a black, silver and purple blur. Flashing through the village, she had one thing on her mind and that was catching up. There was no way she was going to miss a battle like this. Naruto would only brag to her later. Sakumo trails her saying "Which group are we going to tag with?"

Not having given it much thought, Einjeru sweated for a moment. "We'll go to Team Guy since Team Kakashi has the five-men that it was originally meant to have… My spot being temporarily filled by Lady Chiyo, plus we don't know who we're up against yet. Tell me something though gramps, did you really kill her son?"

When this question was asked, they were out of the village and following Team Guy's tracks. Sakumo exhales sharply hoping to dodge the subject. "It was during the wars. We had to do dirty things to succeed. There hasn't been a day that I haven't thought about it. I'm also the man who ditched the mission to save his comrades, so don't you dare think of judging me on that young lady."

Einjeru shrugs thinking "Gramps. If I was judging you, I'd tell you I was. However, if you were able to do that, I'm pretty sure you could have done something to complete your mission and protect your comrades. I'm a ways off from judging, but you never mentioned any of this and because of that, dad was attacked by a sand village elder who thought he was you." Sakumo sighed and remained silent. It was about 30 minutes before Einjeru and Sakumo caught up to Team Guy.

Upon seeing the water, Einjeru and Sakumo channeled chakra into their feet. Sakumo gave her hand signals to just observe and keep her chakra presence to a minimum. They watched from behind the rock to see Kisame entrapping three of the members in water prisons by means of water clones.

The main Kisame starts chasing after Guy. Sakumo decided to watch Guy and see how much he grew in about 20 years. Einjeru kept a watch on the three that were entrapped. "Lee… Neji… Tenten…" She felt a moist nose touch her hand and she looked down. "Pakkun? What are you doing here?" Pakkun smiled and said "I could ask you the same pup. You could be helping them."

Einjeru half glares at Pakkun and grips Silverlight. "I have all intentions to. I'm just waiting for the main one to be completely distracted." Sakumo chuckles and turns to Einjeru. "He's distracted. Use your half-moon strike and take the clones out, and hurry. From the looks of things, the girl won't last much longer." Before anyone knew it, a silver arc slashed through the clones causing the water prison to break.

Rock Lee took a look in all directions wondering where the slash came from to eye a black, purple and silver ninja holding what looks to be a katana. "Who are you?" The ninja, or kunoichi in question looked at Rock Lee ready to face-fault. "You're telling me after two years that you don't recognize me?" Neji and Tenten think to their-selves, "She looks like Kakashi…" The yelling of "ASA-KUJAKU!" distracted them for a moment.

Behind the rock, Sakumo and Pakkun look on at Guy and Kisame, the latter getting pummeled with what looks like fire. Sakumo was impressed at the display. "So Guy has grown huh?" Pakkun chuckles. "Him and Kakashi have the most insane rivalry matches." Sakumo nods in acknowledgment.

Back with Lee, Neji, Tenten and Einjeru (Who they have yet to recognize); they're staring at her wondering who she is. Neji takes a look through Byakugan and gasps. "Her chakra level is low, yet she's still…" Einjeru then said "Oh." And stopped suppressing her chakra. Neji gave a bigger gasp causing Tenten and Lee to look at him curiously. "Her chakra… The presence is huge, almost inhuman…"

Einjeru grew annoyed at them not recognizing her and said "It's Einjeru! You know, the girl who used to be the shortest girl on Team Kakashi?" Lee got elated about this and said "How youthful this mission has become?!" Neji cut him off there asking Einjeru why she wasn't with Team Kakashi.

Sakumo who was under the guise of Shirobuki butt in because her mental stance would be questioned if she answered truthfully. "I held her. I needed her for something pertaining to the mission. It ended up tying up with something that I was doing." Neji looked at him, wondering who he was. Einjeru fronted that saying "His name is Shirobuki. He's one of the distant relatives I've been training with for the two years I've been out of the village."

Lee nods in understanding and says "Shouldn't we be helping Guy sensei?" Einjeru looks over where Guy and Kisame are thinking "I wanted a piece of that fish cake…" The four of them walked over and saw that Guy had a look of disbelief on his face. Einjeru looked down and saw why. "This is a really good impersonation jutsu. His chakra and scent was masked perfectly." Guy looked at Einjeru saying "Do I know you?"

Einjeru face-planted in the sand, got up and recomposed herself. "Take a look at the hair and think 'Who does she look like?' Think hard." Guy looked at the hair and thinks "I know only one person with black and silver hair, but the hairstyle looks like… Kakashi's." He looks at her face one good time as she gives a smile. "Einjeru? Is that you?" He got a nod in return.

Back with Team Kakashi, Naruto ends up in a genjutsu and blasts a rasengan out of nowhere. Sasuke and Kakashi try to hold down Itachi with their sharingan. Itachi was impressed with the level of growth that Sasuke and Naruto have demonstrated, but didn't show it. "So it seems that the team's fighting spirit isn't just one of them, but all of them." He allowed the faintest of smiles on his face and grips Kakashi's and Sasuke's fists.

Team Guy plus Einjeru and Shirobuki make up for the lost time from the battle by going full speed. Neji has his byakugan going, Einjeru has her senses stretched as far as she could allow. As they got into the forest, Einjeru's nose twitched as she caught a whiff of something burned. "I smell burnt wood, and it wasn't a traditional fire. I sense faint traces of chakra."

Neji starts seeing Team Kakashi on the edge of his Byakugan. "I see Team Kakashi to our east." Einjeru flashes ahead readying her hand signs. Sakumo allows a smile to grace his face as he hears her thoughts. "She knows it's probably another impersonation. However, she is genuinely concerned for her teammates and family."

Neji wanted to say something but Guy told him not to. "Einjeru is too headstrong for anything to stop her. I see that hasn't changed from the time I started training her. I'm pretty sure she's formulated a plan in her head, and from those signs it's best to stay out of her way."

Itachi by this point recognizes that Kakashi and Sasuke are clones, and Kakashi pops out of the ground with an uppercut aimed for Itachi's chin. Sasuke has a fire jutsu ready, but Itachi dodges. Kakashi performs a reverse handspring, getting out of range in time.

Chiyo and Sakura notice that Itachi is distracted and release Naruto from his genjutsu. Sakura looks at Naruto and asks if he's ok. He nods saying "I couldn't break it. I tried so hard." Chiyo replied in a calm voice "The Uchiha were exceptionally skilled with genjutsu and they're hard for anyone to break out of. You're lucky you weren't by yourself."

Itachi lands in the grass and starts weaving signs for the fireball jutsu. Sasuke and Kakashi catch the signs but noticed a fireball coming up from behind Itachi. Kakashi immediately weaved the signs for the multi-mud wall. From the trees, Einjeru was perched with her headband over her eyes. Sasuke notices and smirks thinking "It's about time."

Guy and Lee appear with their dynamic entry after the fireball dissipated. Itachi landed face first in the dirt. Kakashi put his headband over his sharingan and walked over slowly to Itachi. Naruto came up behind and Einjeru landed on the ground from her perch in the nearby tree. She set her headband back on her forehead and walked over to them.

Chiyo, Sakura and Naruto walked up. Chiyo had a surprised expression on her face. "This man… He's on the Hidden Sand's council." Einjeru then said "Do you think it could have been a puppet master jutsu or something?" Chiyo shrugged and started writing something on a scroll to send back to the Hidden Sand. Kakashi looked at Einjeru and said "So you did learn that jutsu?"

Kakashi got a shrug in return for that question. Einjeru smiled and said "Well at least I know it's battle ready. You also told me to learn fire style so I did." Naruto looked at Einjeru and said "So you have two chakra natures under your belt now?" Einjeru shook her head and put up three fingers.

Sasuke looked on curiously and wondered what the third nature was. Einjeru shook her head and said "We're still on a mission here. Besides, you saw me use my third chakra nature already." Sakura nods and Kakashi looks at Chiyo. She sends off a toy summon and nods at the 2 squads.

They took to the trees and within the hour, Kakashi told them to stop. Chiyo and surprising Guy, who was not going on about the power of youth, agreed. The main two people who argued were Einjeru and Naruto. "Are you kidding?! Gaara will be dead if we don't reach him!"

Kakashi sighed and said "Look at the two of you. You're both panting, and considering the fact that we fought a major battle, we've slowed considerably. Naruto I could understand wanting to keep going, but Einjeru; he could have almost killed you. What is your reason for continuing?"

Einjeru's fist clutched. "It's not about that. It never was. I may not like Gaara as a person, but I still see him as a person with a burden. He holds Kurama's brother and that's enough for me. Also, maybe if he saw that he has someone who cares maybe he wouldn't be like that! Not every village is like the Hidden Leaf, and we're not saints either, or did you forget?!"

Kakashi and Guy's jaw dropped upon hearing something that profound coming out of Einjeru's mouth. Her eyebrows were furled in an upset manner and her mouth was set in a motion to growl. Chiyo then says "You know what he carries, don't you?" Einjeru calmed only slightly and nodded.

"I really despise people who just place burdens on people just for the sake of it. People like that make me sick." Chiyo gets a bewildered look on her face. Einjeru continues on. "People like Gaara and Naruto have had targets on their backs from the moment they're born, yet everyone calls them the outcast. I hate it."

Kakashi shakes his head and bonks Einjeru on the head. "What is the matter with you? You weren't like this before you left." Sakumo shakes his head and takes Kakashi to the thicker part of the woods. "You idiot! Did you forget their burdens? The two years I've been watching her, I've noticed something. Her mask that she kept on around strangers, was cracking. Anjera spent the two years stripping the mask off and forcing Einjeru to be honest with herself and everyone. Along with that was getting her to show the emotion on her face."

Sakumo folds his arms and allows Kakashi to speak. "So basically all that time from the academy to her first few months as a genin?" Sakumo nods. "Totally reconditioned. She won't be hiding anything to the point of breaking anymore. The time of her wearing an emotional mask is done, these are her true emotions as they flow.

Back with the others, Naruto sat next to Einjeru who wasn't feeling too sociable at the moment. "Hey Einjeru? Why are you getting so worked up?" Einjeru sighed and leaned back against a tree. "Two years of training… Learning about different types of demons and the tailed beasts. This type of mission; it really makes me reflect on that."

Sasuke, Sakura, Neji, Tenten and Lee joined Naruto and wondered why Einjeru lashed out like she did. Einjeru pulled a Sasuke and smiled. "Most of my emotions and lashing out were hidden behind a mask. The smart-alick that you came to know was just my distain hidden behind a mask. A mask that was developed after the land of waves to hide my shock from my first kill, which still comes back to haunt me."

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were no strangers to her shock and knew the mask as it had formed. The laid back Einjeru and the explosive Einjeru were hand in hand in the same mask, but no one saw an empathetic or upset to the verge of tears side of her. Lee gives a flashy grin and says "Well you're still the same person no matter what!" He got a smile in return.

Chiyo and Guy stand together waiting for Kakashi to come back. Chiyo looked at Einjeru and Naruto curiously. "I wonder… Why those two would go so far for someone who isn't of their village." Guy smiles having known those two since they were six. "Those two have basically grown up together. Their secrets have made them forge bonds with others even if they don't know it yet. That's just who they are."

Kakashi and Sakumo come back to see the genin and chunin sitting together. "It looks like they settled down." Guy nods to Kakashi. "When we get back to the village, let's have our rivalry match!" Kakashi gave his signature eye smile. "I'd like to, but I want to spend some time with Einjeru when we get back."

At this point the genin and chunin have worked out a guarding schedule for the night so they could get some rest. Einjeru went and tracked down the supper while Naruto would find the firewood and everyone else set up tents.

After supper, Einjeru took the 2-hour watch, followed by Sasuke and Naruto for an hour and a half, followed by Neji and Lee for an hour and a half, followed by Sakura and Tenten for an hour and a half, followed by Guy and Kakashi for the last hour and a half.

Einjeru made her eight shadow clones to fan out in all directions while she sat guard over the tents. "I pray to Kami above, please let us save Gaara… *scoffs* sounds stupid coming from a demoness, but if he is listening, please let us make it." Somewhere down the line, her prayer was answered, but not in the way she expected or wanted.