Shinobi of the Leaf

Setsuko bowed before Tsunade. The Hokage sat behind her desk, watching the younger woman intently while leaning forward and resting her chin on her hands.

"You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?" Tsunade leaned back and studied the woman. Her clothes were what she normally wore now, but there was a difference. Her belt buckle had three lines. At the top they were think and then they would narrow down into a point. The only one that was straight down was the middle line while the other two curved in from the side.

"That symbol . . ."

"Hai. The Seishou Hidden Village symbol . . . . my . . . birthplace." She looked down, ashamed of her act.

"You've never worn it before." Setsuko looked back up at Tsunade. The older woman seemed concerned.

". . . . I . . . was not proud of Seishou before."

"What's different now?" Setsuko was silent, trying to find the words to answer the question as she stared down at the ground. After a few moments of silence she answered.

". . . . I still believed that I was . . . incapable of making my village proud. Yet I realized now that I have come a long way from a scared thirteen year old girl. I was able to help save Konoha. I think that the Sixth Mikage, the one that sealed Aka Yuki into me, would be proud." Setsuko looked up at Tsunade. "So I think that I have finally earned the right to wear the Seishou symbol. On my belt, atleast. I do not think that I can wear the symbol as a ninja of Seishou. Not after what I did." Tsunade nodded, understanding her reasoning.

"I see."

"I do not mean to be rude, but what did you call me for?"

". . . . . Setsuko . . . . before you taught students for Konoha." Setsuko nodded sadly as Riki flashed into her mind.

"Hai."

"Setsuko, you are no ordinary ninja. For this I had to think what position would you best serve Konoha. It took some time for me to come up with it."

"Pardon?" Tsunade smirked proudly as she pushed a folder forward to Setsuko. Setsuko picked it up, opened it, and scanned over the contents. "I do not understand."

"Simple really. You can't teach. Not when you are needed elsewhere. ANBU or a hunter would suite you, if you wanted it." Setsuko took a minute to think before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry but no. I do not want to go out and kill for my job. But that still does not explain 'special jounin'." Tsunade smiled.

"I thought you wouldn't want to do either. Understand that you will be treated as a normal jounin for the most part. Except mission wise. Due to your background I will assign which missions you will get personally. There will be special missions that I will call you in on. Ones I have trust that you alone can handle it."

"I understand, Tsunade-sama." Setsuko bowed.

". . . . Setsuko . . . . a little fox told me you were engaged to a certain silver haired jounin." Setsuko looked at Tsunade, startled.

"Tsunade-sama . . . we . . . that is to say . . . . I-" Tsunade smiled and cut her off before shooing the woman out of the room.

"I think you two will find happiness."


Robin was thrown to the ground roughly. She coughed as she forced herself up again and winced at a pain in her ribs. She tightened her grip on her naginata and fell into a deep stance. Dirt was smeared over her face and blood dribbled down from her mouth. A large welt had formed on her left cheek and a small bruise was under her right eye. Her clothes were torn and tattered and her right glove was torn apart completely. Robin spat out some blood.

"Ne, Naruto-kun, I am not done." She hissed before launching herself forward.

"Stop!" Robin came to a halt and looked over to Yoko. She woman walked down the steps to enter the training grounds with Tenshi. Naruto looked at Yoko, only having a tear in his chuunin vest and nothing more.

"Robin-kun." Tenshi sighed and shook her head before beginning a healing jutsu on Robin. Yoko turned to Naruto.

"Naruto, that was a dramatic improvement from your last training session. I knew you could learn your father's jutsu." Yoko reached out and brushed some hair away from Naruto's face. "You are Konoha's new Yellow Flash." She turned to Tenshi and Robin. "Robin. Do not feel anger towards your loss. You too have improved since your last session. I see you also have been training."

"Hai. But I see now that Naruto is growing beyond my reach." Yoko nodded and looked back at Naruto.

"Yes. Soon Naruto will be beyond anyone's reach."


Setsuko looked up from her stop on a tree branch and saw Kurenai standing on the branch.

"Kurenai . . . ." Kurenai held her hand over her heart.

". . . . I know it was just an illusion . . . that is wasn't real . . . but it still hurts." Kurenai smiled sadly at Setsuko.

"Kurenai . . . . I'm sorry."

"No . . . it isn't you fault. You saved us. It wasn't real. I don't like Kakashi as anything more than a friend." Setsuko reached out to comfort Kurenai. "It hurts. Don't go through my pain. Go after him."


"You're joking, right?" Setsuko shook her head. Kakashi stood at his door, staring at her. She had knocked on his door in the middle of the night for reasons that baffled him. It was pure luck that he had not gone to bed yet and still wore his jounin uniform.

"No Kakashi. I want to fight you again." She pointed to the moon. "When the moon sets and the sun rises then our fight will be over." Setsuko jumped back, ten feet away from him. "Come on Kakashi! Winner take all!" Kakashi could only stare. Was she serious? What was the point in any useless fighting.

"Setsuko . . . you've lost your mind." Setsuko smirked.

"Are you scared? You are one of the best in Konoha. Is this what Konoha has to ofter?" Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"Setsuko, it is useless to taunt me into this. I want to know why you knocked on my door in the middle of the night."

"I have to fight you Kakashi. To see if I can stay in Konoha. Only when I've proved that I'm strong enough can I stay in Konoha."

"You stood up to Orochimaru and beat him up pretty badly. I'd say that your strong enough." Setsuko shook her head again.

"No Kakashi. I was able to last because I still had some of the demon god powers in me. Though they were fading they were enough to fight him." Kakashi sighed once more.

"On one condition." Setsuko watched him carefully.

"Name it."

"If I win, you can't run. I get you completely. You can't hold back from me anymore." Setsuko smirked towards him.

"You're making it hard for me to win."

"That's the point!" Setsuko barely had time to bring up her arms and defend herself from his punch. Setsuko blocked a kick form him and jumped away to gain some distance from him.

"But if I win, put me out of your mind."

"Then you won't win!" Kakashi snapped as he punched, again blocked. Setsuko leapt high up into the air.

"This is all out Kakashi. I won't hold back!" She let her hand go threw seals as Kakashi went through his own. Black fire and a blast of water canceled each other out. Setsuko grabbed onto the Shinigami, which had been hooked onto her belt, and threw it. The weapon spun threw the air toward Kakashi, who dodged it, letting it embed itself deep into the tree behind him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Setsuko watched as the five clones all attacked her with balls of fire. Setsuko made a quick sweeping motion with her hand, blowing the balls of fire back and destroying the five clones. 'Damn, it takes too long to make blood clones and I need to concentrate for them!' Setsuko heard a snap and turned, only to see a cloud of shuriken and kunai flying at her.

"HHAAA!" Setsuko sent a large blast of black fire towards the sharp weapons, melting them.

"Kirigakure no jutsu!" Setsuko looked around as mist rose up and blocked her vision. She caused the wind to spin around her before blasting outwards, blowing back the fog. Setsuko knocked back the shuriken that was flying at her only to dodge the second one, hidden in the shadows. The weapon had ripped her shirt as she just moved out of the way. "Katon Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Setsuko acted quickly, using the wind to slice the fire in half for it to avoid hitting her directly. She whipped around to block a hard kick from Kakashi, knocking her back in the air. As Kakashi fell Setsuko sent a ball of black fire at him, only to have him disappear in smoke. She heard another snap and twisted and turned, barely dodging all the kunai. She turn again and struck Kakashi as he jumped up to attack but he turned into smoke at her hit. 'Kage bunshin! Damn, he knows that he can't directly attack me with taijutsu because my Ninjou Shuujuku will disable him. And he's being careful to avoid spilling my blood!' She sent blast after blast of dark fire down towards two clones. Setsuko bit down on her lip while blocking another sea of kunai coming towards her. She smeared the blood onto her hand and formed senbon and threw them, destroying three clones that had just appeared. Setsuko saw another stream of fire coming towards her and used the wind to send her up and avoid the fire.


Robin brushed some of her hair to the side as she sharpened her naginata. With a heavy sigh she turned her head to the side to look at the young man who just appeared in the door way.

"Gaara-kun, is there something you need?" He shook his head and sat down beside her as she continued to sharpen her weapon.

". . . you seemed . . . distant today during dinner . . ." Robin smiled sweetly towards him. Gaara and his siblings still lived in the Uzumaki Estate, after Tenshi insisted that it would be too big for the Branch family and Naruto to live in alone.

"You are kind." She looked down at naginata's blade and sighed. "I sparred with Naruto today. He has learned another of his father's jutsu. This one makes it almost impossible for me to keep up with his movements. If I had the time or cover, I would have gladly transformed to fight him." She looked back up at Gaara. "I am . . . saddened by the trouble I have had in keeping up with Naruto." Gaara was quiet for a moment before speaking.

". . . Naruto has always had great potential. He was suppose to be the 'dead-last' when he fought me for the first time, but he beat me. Now with Yoko and Tenshi training him, he is excepted to grow leaps and bounds beyond us." Robin nodded and leaned her head against his shoulder. Gaara was startled by this but made no movement as not to cause to retract her action.

"I know. But I still feel bad. Gaara, there was a moment when I wondered if his demon was the only reason anyone could grow so fast. I was mad at him for growing so fast since out last spar. I know he has been working day and night. I know he has spent every second to master his father's jutsu. I know it is him and not the demon. But I feel so terrible for even thinking that, even for a second. Am I a bad person for it?" Gaara gave her one of his rare smiles and shook his head.

"No. It is only human to be jealous." Robin place a hand over her heart.

"Jealous? But why? Why would I be jealous? Shouldn't I be happy instead?"

"From what I understand, you were the one Tenshi and Yoko concentrated on before Naruto. You were the best before Naruto." Robin closed her eyes and thought about it for a minute before nodding.

"That makes sense. It's not that I want to be in the spotlight, but . . . I suppose I don't like such change."


"Damn." Setsuko panted while leaning against a tall tree. The sun was going to come up soon. They had been fighting for nearly three hours. She felt her mind being pushed to its limits. Only now did she receive a break long enough to hid. She could even get through half a chant before she had to use the wind to block something. 'He's had me on the defensive since the beginning!'

"Sofuushasen no Tachi!" Setsuko looked up, startled, as kunai and shuriken with wires sprung out from behind the tree as was leaning against and wrapped around her, tying her to the tree.

"What the hell!"

"No use, Setsuko. I win." She looked up to see Kakashi with his hands on his knees as he panted. Setsuko looked over to the side to see the sun rising. She heard a light thud and looked back to see Kakashi lying on the ground, sleeping. Setsuko cut her arm on some wire and used the blood to cut through the wire and free herself. She knelt down and moved Kakashi's head onto her lap.

"Yeah. You won." She smiled and brushed hair out of his face before leaning down and kissing him softly. "I won't run anymore . . . koi."