A/N: I have a cover! Even though I draw it in an hour, and it was really simple, I have a cover! Okay, so this is the first chapter of Arc 2, and this arc has to do more with character development than anything. Yes, I know that I left a bunch of mess with the massacre and stuff (both emotionally and physically), so I need to fix it.

On the other hand, thanks to all the reviewers, I read ever single one of them with much happiness. Also, I thank all the guest reviewers as well, even if I can't reply to all of you one by one.

Beta'd by the charming Alice J

Chapter 15 - Forward

I laid down on the metal bench and let the coldness of the metal overwhelm my body. I almost forgot how tiring and exhausting recruit training could be with twelve years of comfort (in comparison I mean, definitely not missing that three days spent with a psychotic puppeteer).

My training clothes were soaked with sweat, though of course, it's not visible on the black fabric. The blank white mask was still on my face, it was the protocol that all Anbu must keep their masks on at all time until they were dismissed to go home. Technically, as new recruits, we won't be dismissed until the month-long training was over. So we stayed at the training facility, slept on benches for three hours per day, and then trained for the rest of the day.

"Fifteen-minute break is up!" Someone yelled and the whole room full of Anbu recruits lying on benches or floor groaned. I pushed my sore body up from the cold hard bench. I sighed and stood up from the bench, adjusted my black training shirt and made sure the mask was still straight on my face.

I felt something coming at me, without turning, I raised my hand and caught an incoming water bottle. "Thanks." I said briefly and nodded to acknowledge the recruit who threw me a water bottle. He (it's probably a he, his build looked like a male) raised his hand to make a "you're welcome" gesture before continuing to throw water bottles to the rest of the recruits. I wouldn't say we were family-like, or even comrade-like, we were just a bunch of people who were thrown into this training hell hole together.

We got out of the resting room/sleeping area quickly and lined ourselves in front of our supervisor. "Alright, time for another drill, you guys know the routine, now start yourselves on it. Those who finish them will go over to the Taijutsu training area to practice with a dummy. Set them on extra fast mode, work on the speed and the power of your strikes." Despite the groans we all made in the resting area, none of us made a sound and went straight for the drills, laps, jumping, speed and muscle training.

The recruit training, or the thirty-day-hellish-conditioning like some called it, was basically training to increase our general physical conditions. It builds our fitness, strength, endurance and speed, so that when we were assigned to teams later, we could at least follow our senior teammates. It also lets us get used to working with very little sleep, so when we were actually sent on the mission, we won't get killed immediately.

The training was painfully monotonal. We get 20 hours of training every day that's split off into five sections. Each section was four hours then followed by a fifteen minutes break as the other sections began. At the start of each section, we did the general drills to build our fitness first. To say it's hellish is an understatement, its difficulty and tasks also increased as time passed. Recruits usually finished them in two to two and a half hours, then we worked on different aspects of close combat. Taijutsu, speed, evasion, or sometimes, just pure strength. This part was mostly self-directed, we trained in our own methods, and the supervisor gave us advice and lessons as he walked by. I still remembered the first words Turtle gave me: "Your hit power sucks."

We had assessments every day in different formats such as sparring with others or with dummies, timed runs, and evasion. Those who didn't reach the standard or didn't perform well enough was withdrawn from the training. Only those who survived the thirty-day training get to be placed in actual Anbu forces. I got into my old rhythm in OLYMPUS when it was the fifth day or so, letting the familiar environment settle around me.

This was our last day of the training, the fifth section to be exact. All of us who were still here were the ones that adapted and survived. By the time two hours had passed, all of us were furiously beating down our dummies like bags of potatoes, and I was sure it had nothing to do with our pent up frustrations or anything. Oh boy, we really weren't holding anything back, I was sure we destroyed dozens of dummies, because it would really suck if we got eliminated at the last moment.

The clock struck twelve and today's training was over. We gathered around Turtle for the debrief before whatever happens next. Usually, we would go to sleep quietly, with no extra energy left to spare. However, today was different, we should be jumping in excitement, but we all learned that if you made sounds when you shouldn't, you get an extra set of drills.

"Congratulation, or something like that. All of you survived the recruit training, but rest assured, that was only beginner stuff. Next, you will be placed into teams, and your team captain will assign your mentors for your specialization training. You have… let's say eight hours until you have to be back here in full gears." Turtle said in a casual voice. Don't get fooled by his casual choice of words, when he said eight hours, he actually meant seven hours thirty minutes.

Our supervisor then proceeded to hand out our gears, I wasn't sure how he differentiated us from each other, but somehow he did. Each of us got our unique masks and the standard Anbu gear in our size. I stared down at my assigned animal mask, and thought "Really?" It was a rabbit. Two small ears stuck out from the top, and the eyeholes were circled in red paint with three red strokes on each cheek for the whiskers.

"Dismissed! Come back on time, I meant it." No one would ever think that he didn't mean it. I didn't stand around dazed or drop on the ground because of extreme tiredness, instead, I quickly took a shower in the locker room and changed out of my black training clothes for a normal shirt and normal pants. Compared to my body a month ago, I gained more lean muscle, as well as a few more bruises. Yep, I was definitely coddled by Akira-shishou. I pulled out my bag, which I hadn't touched for a month, and stuffed the Anbu gears in along with the rest of my possessions. I left before my hair was even dried. I had a visit that's long overdue.

I ran across the midnight streets until I arrived at the place I called home for three years, yet I didn't return for one month. I fumbled through my backpack and pulled out the old keys. The door opened, and to my surprise, Shun and Sasuke were sitting by the same old table, drinking tea.

"Welcome back, the person who lost her room a month ago." Like always, Shun just had to make an unnecessary remark; it was like time never passed.

"It's twelve at night, why are you guys still awake? More importantly, why is Sasuke still awake?" I asked with disbelief. I could survive with three hours of sleep every day, but Sasuke couldn't, his body was still growing.

"I'm not a child anymore. Besides, it's not like you care." Sasuke spat at me angrily, then he slammed the teacup down on the table before stomped towards my - his room.

"Bad day?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Bad month." Shun answered and started to clean the spill Sasuke made. I muttered a "sorry" quickly before following my temperamental little brother. I twisted the doorknob and entered my old room. Sasuke was hiding in the bed, using the blanket as a cover, he buried himself.

I walked towards him quietly and proceeded to sat on the bed, I said to him gently: "Still mad at me, Otouto?" There was a momentary silence before I heard a small, muffled voice.

"Shun-nii-san said that you are doing something important, that's why you won't be home a lot of times. Is that true?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, something very important." I answered ambiguously.

"Are you going to kill Nii-san?" There was a pause.

"Do you want him dead?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to kill him yourself?" Another pause.

"Yes."

"Then yeah, I am going to kill him." I said as Sasuke slowly sat up.

"But I want to kill him myself, I want to be the one taking revenge." He said with his childish voice, and that made me want to cry and laugh at the same time.

"Won't it be the same if I kill him?" I asked the stupid question, already knowing the answer. Sasuke immediately shook his head.

"You don't understand, Nee-chan. I saw everything, how that…monster killed everyone in cold blood. I want to kill him with my own hands." Oh, little brother, I probably saw more than what he was willing to show you.

"I'll kill him. I'll kill him before you do. If I fail, you can finish the job." I said to him, ruffling Sasuke's hair. I wanted to pass this as a joke, maybe he'd believe it was a joke. He didn't.

"Don't say that. You are the only one left. I will protect you from him." Sasuke yelled at me before he fell back to the bed. He turned away from me and tucked his head back into the cover. I sighed quietly, and then I uncovered the blanket and let myself into the bed. I hugged Sasuke from behind, and that just earned me an angry grunt.

"Stop that! Mai-nee-chan! I'm not a child anymore!"

"Well, you are to me right now. Go to sleep, Sasuke, you are tired, and I'm tired as well." I said with an annoyed tone. When Sasuke went quiet, I continued, "Five years, Sasuke. Give me five years to figure things out and take care of things, that's all I'm asking."

"What happens after that? What if nothing changes in five years? What if there is nothing to figure out?" Sasuke questioned in his angry little voice. Do you really believe that, little brother? Do you really believe that what you see is all there is? I supposed that he didn't have a choice, with how little things he could believe in.

"We will figure it out after five years, when our heads are clearer and when our powers are greater. Have some faith in me. All I'm asking is that you wait for five years in the village and don't do stupid things. Can you do that for me?" Once again, I asked the child in my arms. This time, he didn't speak up immediately. After an excruciatingly long period of silence, I felt the ruffling of his unruly hairs as he nodded.

It wasn't long before he fell asleep and I felt his rhythmic breathing. Sasuke needed a mother figure, someone that can be with him, someone like mom. I was not that figure.

However, there were things that only I could do. I'll definitely find him, Sasuke, I'll find him and get our answer, and then… I'll figure out what to do when I hit that point. Now that the bridge behind us is burned, the only way is to move forward. Soon after that, I drifted to sleep as well.

I woke up three hours later, and I blamed the training for that. I left Sasuke to continue sleeping and I walked out of the room. I found Shun still sitting by the table, looking through the piles of paperwork on his desk, even though it's almost three thirty in the morning.

"Why are you still up? It's really late." I said to him and sat myself down by the table.

"First of all, I wasn't planning on sleeping today seeing the stacks of intelligence reports I have to go through. Your brother was just trying to stubbornly show that he can be adult-like too. Secondly, I figure I won't get to talk to you soon if I missed this chance. You doing well?" He asked.

"As well as I can be with three hours of sleep every day. I'm sorry if Sasuke is giving you so much trouble, I wasn't allowed to come back before, but now, I can, even though it's probably not a lot of time anyway." I felt really bad for leaving Sasuke with Shun, it seemed like every time I got a problem, I'd dump it on him. And being the gentle friend he was, he would never say no.

"He is really troublesome, but I guess it couldn't be helped. I was going to leave him in the Yamanaka household when I had to be on the job, but he'd just run back anyway, something about the Yamanaka heiress being an annoying fangirl." Shun joked and I laughed.

"I assume he is not going to the Academy? I'll get him to go, so you don't have to deal with him." I said as I fiddled with the teacup.

"He will be going next week anyway, he said he will go back." There was an awkward silence in the room.

"Are you regretting your decision?" He asked me slowly. Another silence.

"No, I still stand by it."

"Then that's all that mattered. Sasuke will be fine. He is young, so he is not easily adjusted. But he will be fine. A little twisted and emotionally broken, maybe, but he will be fine."

"... Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, I'm just telling the truth from a psychiatrist's point of view."

"You are not even a psychiatrist!" The conversation continued for about fifteen minutes before I decided to leave and give Shun some time to rest.

I walked along the training grounds, unsure of what to do for the next four hours or so. I was sure that I didn't want to do any of that hellish training again, but now that it's done, I felt… empty, like I didn't know what to do. Sasuke was in emotional turmoil, Shun was busy keeping his life and his promise to me in balance, and I was… I supposed the closest thing was making a five-year-plan for the future. Forward. We are all marching forward. As ironic as it sounds, there is no repeat button this time. Just so we don't get lost, we need to march forward.

I sat down in one of the benches near the training grounds with my bags. When I was sure there was no one around, I pulled out the mask from my bag and started to study it. There wasn't anything special with the mask. It's a codename, a hidden identity, I'd done it enough times. I was Operative 31, and then I was 'Artemis'. In between, I became others, and now, I am Uchiha Maiko, and I will soon be Rabbit.

I felt a wind rustling, and as a reflex, I quickly pushed the mask away into my bag. There was another rustling of the wind, and then Kakashi-sensei was sitting beside me.

"Geez, you scared me. What the hell?" I asked after letting out a breath. I didn't know if he saw the mask or not, but I guess it didn't matter. He was in Anbu, and Anbu didn't judge each other.

"I don't know, I was just strolling while reading my book. Why are you here, kids shouldn't be out this late." He answered while reading his favorite 18+ book.

"That doesn't apply to me anymore. I had my share of the sleep today." Three hours seemed to be all I need now, even if I tried to fall asleep after that, I couldn't.

"Thirty-days-hellish-conditioning? Yeah, it has that side effect." I shouldn't be surprised that he knew, he probably saw the rabbit mask earlier. I tried to close my eyes under the slightly chilling breeze, but after one minute, my brain was overwhelmed with the desire to do something, so much that I opened my eyes and shook my head.

"Yeah, couldn't do it. I kept on thinking that I am late for my first morning session." I sighed, realizing how ridiculous I sound.

"How long do you have before you have to leave?" Kakashi asked me. I looked at the watch in my backpack, it said 4:25. I answered after a pause, "Three hours." deciding that I should probably arrive at 7:30 instead of eight.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to someone." He stood up and started walking. I followed him confusedly and asked: "It's the middle of the night, who's up this late?" He didn't answer me, so I just followed him blindly.

When we arrived at an apartment building, I realized that there were indeed people awake at this time of the day, because the room was clearly lit up. Kakashi didn't knock on the door, instead, he jumped up to the railing and got in through the window. My mind was racing through a thousand possibility of traps that Kakashi could get by but I couldn't. I sighed and jumped up to follow him.

When I got in through the trap-less window, I heard a loud war cry "My rival! You are here! Shall we have a match?!" I saw a man dressed in a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers, he was doing push-ups furiously with one finger. I wasn't sure I was seeing this right, so I blinked, but the image was the same, and the man seemed to notice me.

"Ah, Kakashi, you brought a youth! I see, you want to introduce this flower of springtime what youth is all about! You came to the right person! Let's exercise, a thousand push ups starts now!" Then he proceeded to switch his hands and started to do his push-ups.

"Maiko, this is Maito Gai, the best taijutsu specialist and one of the Jonin in Konoha. Gai, this is Uchiha Maiko, she couldn't sleep because she wanted to do some training." I attempted to kick Kakashi, but he dodged quickly. He was twisting my words, I did not ask for this. At. All.

"That is the spirit of youth! Maiko-chan! We shall train extra hard just for you today!" I took a step back, as Maito Gai increased his tempo by two times. "I take it back, I want to sleep." I whispered to Kakashi, but he just shook his head at me "Too late, just accept this." I glared at him again, he ignored me.

Thankfully, Gai did not force me to do the push ups with him, so I just watched in the sideline with Kakashi. It was kind of funny and amazing how this guy could do so many push ups so fast while still be able to shout encouraging words at me or war cries at Kakashi.

It was kind of entertaining and interesting, so I stayed and watched the furious training display Gai did until seven twenty. Then I said goodbye to Gai, and Kakashi was already gone like usual. Quickly, I gathered my bags and ran for the Anbu operation center, it's time to begin a new identity.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

When I finished changing into Anbu gears and put the mask on, it was exactly seven thirty. I wasn't surprised to see all the other recruits were also there, completely ready. We lined up in front of our supervisor, Turtle, and he seemed satisfied that all his training finally cracked through to us.

"Glad to see all of you knew what I meant. First order of business, the tattoo." Turtle motioned toward his right shoulder, showing us a black spiral tattoo that resembled the Konoha leaf symbol. This was our symbol, a permanent mark on our bodies, and it also served as an emergency communication service between the Hokage and us if necessary.

Turtle walked to us one by one with a stack of seals, and he placed a paper seal containing the tattoo on our chosen shoulder. When it was my turn, I motioned to my right shoulder, and he placed the paper seal on it. There was a short searing pain, and then the pain faded little by little. After ten seconds, Turtle ripped the paper off, leaving a black Anbu tattoo on my shoulder. It flared red once, showing the tattoo was working, and then it turned back to black.

"Now for your team assignment. Listen carefully, I will call your codename, which is what you will be referred to for the rest of your duration in Anbu, and then I will tell you your team and their assignment locker. Go meet them when I am done and follow the directions of your Team Captain." He said clearly, and after a slight pause, he proceeded to read out our assignments and I listened closely.

"... Rabbit, you are with Team Ro, locker room 15… That's all, now disperse." Immediately, all the recruits left for their respective locker rooms. I quickly moved towards my own assignment, it wasn't far. When I arrived at the door that said 15, I knocked lightly. There was a silence before I heard a voice saying "Come in". I opened the door and let myself in quietly, then I bowed to my seniors and soon to be teammates.

"I'm the new recruit that is assigned to Team Ro. Please take care of me!" I greeted them using standard phrases. For a second, I didn't hear any responses, but then they started to chatter.

"A new recruit? Are we supposed to get one?" A male voice asked.

"Are you not listening earlier, we are getting one to replace the one we lost." A slightly more feminine answered.

"But getting a rookie? The rookie did go through the recruit training right?" Another male voice asked.

"Quiet, everyone." Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice, but the possibility was a bit wild for it to actually happen. It couldn't be…

"You can raise your head now, Rabbit." The same voice told me, and I straightened my body. I saw the one who spoke, and he was wearing a Hound mask. Yep, the voice, the mask and the body structure all matched. I was placed on Hatake Kakashi's team. We stared at each other for a moment, there was no doubt, he knew my rabbit mask, and he knew that I knew his hound mask.

You have got to be kidding me.

Somebody screwed me over, and that's probably the Sandaime Hokage. Most likely, he placed me on Kakashi's team so that a) He can keep an eye on me so I don't turn into another Itachi with massacre tendencies, b) Someone can teach my sharingans and if circumstances dictates, counter my sharingans. Thanks, Hokage-sama, so much for my career in anonymity. I supposed that this was the reassurance Hokage-sama had when he agreed to place me in Anbu. I was a factor of uncertainty, not so really so in terms of mental stability. They were more worried about what I was going to do now since my psych report came back clean. What better way to do so than to place me in a very organized and supervised division with mandatory evaluations every month? Compared to the normal shinobi force, I would have less freedom on my parts and a lot more supervision. However, I was fine with that. I wasn't expecting the price to be free anyway. Well played, Hokage-sama, or should I thank the Jonin Commander as well?

"Welcome to Team Ro, I am Hound, your Captain. Meet your teammates, Bear, Otter, Zebra and Falcon." He signaled to other members and I heard a bunch of responses including "Welcome", "Hello", and "Yo". From my point of view, Bear, Zebra, and Falcon looked clearly male, and Otter, with her body curves and long purple hair, definitely looked like a female.

"We are going to have to cut the meeting short, Team Ro will immediately have a mission assignment, and so we should be leaving around… now." Hound said, "We'll continue with the introduction and general stuff when we get back, so for now, Rabbit, try to keep up." Just like that, the team members rushed for the door and I followed without a complaint.

Once we were out of the Anbu Facility, they started to run like mad. For once, I was actually thankful for the drills we did in recruit training, but still, I was barely keeping up, and I had a feeling that Hound was lowering their normal speed. They led me to a tunnel outside the village, which I assumed was a secret passageway for Anbu. Once we were out of the village, they switched to tree hopping for traveling methods. I wasn't sure where I was going or what I was supposed to do, but I was vaguely aware of the fact that we are traveling towards the Northwest direction.

"Somebody debrief Rabbit about the mission." I caught Hound's voice ahead and someone immediately tapped my shoulder. I snapped my head towards that direction and I saw Otter motioning the special sign language to inform me about the mission.

'Target: Shinobi, possibly Iwa missing-nin who were dealing with bandits near Konoha's border. Objective: If confirmed to be Iwa missing-nin, complete elimination of the shinobi as well as the bandits. If target identity unclear, acquire information first, before complete elimination." Otter debriefed the mission details quickly before moving away from me and continuing to travel in her previous position. Identification and elimination. Sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the bingo books memorized, so the identification part was going to be somebody else's job.

It took us exactly one day to travel to the place where the bandit activity was reported. It didn't take too much snooping to get the location of the bandits. All six of us were hiding in the trees. We were far enough that we could get a whole view of their supposed meeting ground, but close enough that the sign language would reach. There was really nothing special about the bandits, they did normal dirty jobs, robbing, thieving, and occasionally murder if a job had gone bad. Usually, that kind of missions would be given to Chunin or Jonin, but if they were consorting with foreign shinobi, it was considered treason and a security breach. This was where we came in.

Quickly, our target shinobi group appeared. There were four of them in total, all dressed in normal civilian clothes. However, I didn't even need the sharingan to see that they were light on their feet, too light for civilians. When I activated the sharingan, I confirmed that they were indeed shinobis, judging from their developed and trained chakra coils.

'Target confirmed, all Iwa missing-nin from bingo book. Two B-rank and two A-rank. Additional targets were 10 bandits. Proceeds for complete elimination. Bear and I will take the A-ranks, Otter and Falcon take the B-ranks. Rabbit and Zebra will take the bandits." I saw Hound signing from the tree across and we all returned the sign for 'clear'. Before we started the raid, Hound signed to us once again 'stealth elimination required, refrain from flashy and loud techniques unless absolutely necessary.' I was pretty sure that last line was directed at me since I was the only rookie here.

The second after Hound gave the 'go' order, we all rushed out of the trees. The bandits were not even alert of what was happening, so I got to cut down two before they even started to panic. The two went down like ragged dolls with one cut across their necks. I infused lightning chakra into the Anbu issued sword so that the wound would be more damaging but there would be less blood spraying around. It was a quick business, but nasty enough. Zebra was also on the roll, a few shuriken to the necks and hearts, and a few slashes across the necks, he was done his half of the job. I was a bit slow in completing my share compared to his since my speed was far from his. Nevertheless, the last two bandits around died of a kunai to the neck and a half cut neck. They were civilians, non-shinobi criminals, but when they decided to consort of foreign missing-nin, they were guaranteed to be eliminated as a whole, and most bandits didn't stand a chance against forces like Anbu.

Zebra was already on his way to help our teammates dealing with Iwa-missing nins. I didn't jump into the battle right away because unlike Zebra, I didn't know how any of them fought. Jumping into the battle would probably just get in their way. Instead, I stayed hidden, letting my sharingan spin furiously, noticing every detail, looking for a chance to strike a hit.

Otter and Falcon were doing well against the B-rank Iwa missing-nins. According to the missing-nins' frantic movements, the battles would be done in a few minutes. It was the A-rank missing-nins who were dragging out the battle, but seeing Bear and Hound's composed movements, the Iwa missing-nins wouldn't stand a chance. Bear had Zebra helping him corner the A-rank so that the missing-nin wouldn't move around so much. I had no doubt that Hound could finish the A-rank missing-nin himself, he was Kakashi of the Sharingan after all, but still, I'd like to look for a chance to help him finish the battle faster. Unlike normal shinobi forces, Anbu didn't have the glory, so no one cared who got the last kill or not. This reminds me so much of OLYMPUS, and the fact that I am so comfortable with the environment and line of thinking scares me like hell.

The A-rank missing nin created a thick Earth Wall against Hound's lightning jutsu. I guess all the talk about no flashy ninjutsu goes out of the window when your opponent doesn't play by the rules. Hound was using Raiton: Lightning spear, and it was less damaging and less flashy than Chidori. The lightning spear hit the Earth wall and dissipated as the Earth Wall crashed. The A-rank missing-nin took a few step back to avoid being caught up by the residue paralysing electricity left behind, and he was retreating in my direction. I had faith that even if wasn't here, Hound would have caught up with the missing-nin and killed him, it would just take a few steps. But why do that when he can be dead in one step? Kakashi's pride should not be wounded, Anbu marked efficiency, and I was going to make his job easier. With a body flicker, I appeared behind a shocked missing-nin. He noticed me immediately, but his position was too awkward to have an immediate reaction. His hands were in front of him to block the blows from Hound, and his momentum was towards the back. I gathered chakra to enhance the strength of my knee and slammed it into his spine. As I heard the familiar crack and the grunt in pain, I brought my hands up around his neck. Concentrated lightning chakra was crackling on my fingers, when I placed my hands in position around his head, I digged my finger hard into his skin, letting the lightning pulse through his nerves. The Missing-nin paused slightly due to the miniature paralysis, and that was all I needed to twist his head in full force.

There was a really loud crack, signifying his neckbone twisted and broken. I dropped the missing to the ground, with his neck in an unnatural angle. Light cervical fractures could be treated with immediate medical attention and surgery. However, his broken neck was neither light nor did he have any immediate medical attention. He was going to die.

Shortly after I broke his neck, the other missing-nin were more or less dead. Two lost their heads, and the other had multiple… wood spikes… through his chest. Hound signaled 'clean up', and we proceeded to gather bodies. It wasn't hard to gather all the evidence, most deaths were quick, and rarely were there multiple pieces of a body (except for the head). Otter opened a storage seal and proceeded to store all the bodies of the Iwa missing-nin into the scroll. The bodies of the bandits were buried underground with an Earth release, along with the blood and their weapons. When we left, you could barely see the signs of a fight. The ground seemed bare compared to the surrounding, but even if someone were to dig, they would only find the bandit's body, and this would be classified as a paid B-rank mission. No one would know the existence of Iwa missing-nins or Anbu. As far as the world was concerned, we didn't exist.

The returning trip was uneventful. We got back to the village, dropped off the bodies in the intelligence division for examination, debriefed to the Hokage and then we returned to locker room 15. All of us stayed silent, except for Hound, who was our Captain and thus had to deal with the debrief.

"So since the introduction is cut short, let's continue. First of all, this locker room is basically Team Ro's meeting place, we plan the missions here and we rest in here between missions. Bathroom and shower are over there, and your locker to put your personal stuff is here." He motioned one of the metal lockers on the wall and I nodded.

"Your report said that your specialties will be front-line combat and assassination, so you will be trained accordingly." I did not, for a fact picked my specialty, I was sure that the Hokage must have filled it in. Really, Hokage-sama, that was blatant exploitation of the human resource.

"Team Ro is a heavy assault team, so all of us here are specialized in frontline combat. Some of us have a second specialty. Zebra, our combat medic-nin here" Zebra raised a hand, "Falcon, sensor." Falcon nodded. "Otter, tracker and sensor as well." Otter waved at me. "Bear, heavy hitter, infiltration, second in command." Bear nodded slightly. "And me, assassination" Hound finished the round of introduction. I thought about what he said about Zebra being a medic-nin, was he on the team when Hound lead the mission that got Daichi, killed? Maybe, maybe not.

"Ninjutsu and Assassination training with me. Kenjutsu training with Otter. Train other areas by yourself, don't slack behind, I expect you to be able to follow our speed and stealth in a month. This is a dangerous business, Rabbit, you slack, you get killed." Hound summarized quickly, and he looked at Otter, asking for confirmation. Otter nodded and I assumed that meant she was willing to train me.

"Woah, intense training, Captain, you planning on whipping the rookie into another one of…" Falcon started something, but Hound cut him off quickly, "All of you can disperse now until our next mission assignment is here." He was hiding something, I knew that from the bottom of my heart, but I almost smacked myself for immediately jumping to think that it's related to Itachi. He could be hiding a number of things, some of which were really not my business (for example, the porn he deemed to be so precious).

"Not you, Rabbit, your training starts in five minutes at Training ground 37." Just like that, he disappeared from the locker room. I was debating whether I should change or not, since technically when we were not on missions, we were not supposed to wear our Anbu gear outside. But if I change, it would definitely take more than five minutes for me to get there. Then again, it's Kakashi we were talking about, he was never on time, but would that change if he was on Anbu duty?

"Don't bother to change, training ground 37 is very well hidden, lots of Anbu train there anyway." I turned around and realized that it was Zebra who gave me the advice. I gave him my thanks and he just waved it off casually. Quickly I left, if I were to be there in five minutes, I'd better run my ass off to get there.

When I arrived at training ground 37, which is basically a large ravine sheltered by lots of trees, I realized that I put way too much credit on Kakashi. He was late, but only for thirty minutes, so I guess that was an improvement.

"Captain, you are late." I said emotionlessly, trying to keep that annoyance in my tone under control. I still had the rabbit mask on my face and he still had his hound mask on.

"That's unfortunate for you. But I thought you already knew that." I sighed at his words.

After a few second of thoughts, I took the mask off and said: "You are right, this mystery thing doesn't do well between us. I guess I should be thankful that you are only late for thirty minutes, not three hours." After a pause, he took the mask off as well, revealing his usual half hidden face and silver hair.

"Your training will be every day when we don't have a mission. I need to get you up to speed, Team Ro is not for beginners. As per Hokage's request, I will teach you ninjutsu, assassination skills and control over your sharingans and even Mangekyou sharingans." he said calmly, motioning his finger towards my eyes. I guess that training was overdue, I hadn't touched the Mangekyou ever since that time in the hospital.

"Yes, Captain." I answered. There was a moment of silence as I wait for him to say something.

"Zebra was assigned on the team four years ago. I asked for a transfer of Combat Medic-nin to the team." Kakashi suddenly said. I wasn't expecting him to say that, so I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Four years ago was a few months after Daichi's death because of the Kiri-nin, I guess he wanted to reassure me that Anbu didn't ignore my cry for help and that they had been genuinely helpless in that situation. Perhaps it changed my perception of Anbu a bit, but it was too small for me to realize at that moment.

"Okay… but what are we training today?" I asked.

"Thought you might want to work on Chidori since you are so keen to use it when you don't even know how." I messed up that one time. ONE TIME!

"... You are never going to let it go, aren't you."

A/N: So, I can finally start writing fun missions again, and considering Maiko's luck, it would probably be snafu anyway. But yeah, I really try to keep people alive, really. Gai, so I really like him, but I have yet to find a way to put him in, so here is his cameo. So what do you guys think of the cover?

Anyway, the next update is a week from now, on next Saturday.