A/N: I've been asked to list team Ro members and some other miscellaneous stuff, so I have put them at the end of the chapter, in order to keep the space on the top more organised.

Beta'd by the beautiful Alice J

Chapter 34 - People and Weapons

"Are you sure you are not just really pissed off at our Kiri informant?" Really, that's all you have to say? I was sure that Falcon was going to say more until he saw my unimpressed glare.

"How does that have anything to do with the plan? Focus on the two dozen shinobi in the camp, please." I argued as quietly as possible since technically we were still in enemy territory. There was a long pause as my teammates contemplated the plan I had just made five minutes ago.

"Actually, the logic works very well." To my surprise, it was the usually quiet Bear who gave me my first vote of confidence.

"You know that the Kiri force we are working with won't be happy, not after they realise how big of a mess they will have to clean up," Kakashi muttered behind me. He had already scraped off his attitude of watching a drama and fixed his attention at the campsite.

"Then that's their business. They screwed up the information, they deal with it. On the other hand, if you guys were to tell me that you think the plan is impossible, then I'll think of another plan." My last sentence was directed towards all of my teammates. I looked at them one by one, waiting patiently for their responses. I wouldn't force them to go through with a plan they didn't have confidence in.

"I don't have any objections." Suddenly, I heard Kakashi spoke behind me. You know, his voice always contained so much confidence and reassurance when he was serious. I didn't know if he was trying to help me or not, but he being the one to approve of my plan would definitely make my life easier. He has that true aura of a captain. Quickly, I received confirming nods from my teammates and I let out a breath without even realising that I had been holding it in the first place.

"Thank you. Bear, Zebra, if you would start the preparations. We begin in fifteen minutes." As soon as I finished speaking, Bear and Zebra disappeared in a stroke of wind. It would probably take them ten minutes to set up, but a bit of extra time would never hurt. As for the signal, well, it would be a hard one to miss. Meanwhile, I needed to set up things on my side.

I bit my thumb and pressed the bleeding digit onto the forest floor while watching the black lines expand into an intricate shape. With a small poof, a petite greyish-brown wolf appeared on the summoning array. All of my teammates save for Kakashi backed up a step in surprise despite the fact that I did warn them beforehand.

"Miss, you've summoned me?" The young wolf asked as he flexed his limbs.

"Yes, Hyousetsu. I would like for some help." I answered. Hyousetsu was one of the wolf cubs that Fuyuki was currently training. His greyish-brown pelt blended in with the muddy environment around us quite nicely, his small size could easily get mistaken for a wild wolf cub, and most importantly, as Fuyuki's apprentice, his earth manipulation only required minimal chakra.

"Fuyuki-san said that she wants to see you," He suddenly said with a polite tone as Otter handed me rolls of soft metallic wires.

"Oh? What does she want?" I asked curiously as I unwinded the wires.

"She said that you haven't called on her for a long time." The cub answered, matter-of-factly. Of course, that sounds exactly like her. To be fair, I brought her out four days ago for the training session, but then again, I was supposed to call on her today, that was if the mission hadn't come up.

"Uh-huh, is she having a temper tantrum?" Hyousetsu nodded initially, then after a second of thought, he shook his head.

"Sure, is she mad at me?" This time, he nodded firmly.

"Fine, I'll call on her in a few minutes," I told the wolf cub as he took the end of the ninja wire with his jaws. "Go," I whispered to the cub and patted him gently forwards. With minimal noise, he dived into the ground and swam away, leaving the spool of wires rolling at a constant rate.

"Are we all clear on the plan?" I asked the remaining three teammates by my side who looked like they were having fun watching a family drama. Ah, perhaps this is turning into a soap opera. Nonetheless, they nodded reassuringly as Kakashi and Falcon flickered away to the other side of the small clearing near the camp.

Reluctantly, I pressed my hand down on the ground until another summoning array appeared. With a large puff, a wolf as white as snow tried to pounce on me. However, I immediately raised a hand and kept her head at an arm's length.

"Business first, chatting later," I told her determinedly. Right now, I did not want to hear about her complaints towards my tardiness or who gave birth to whom back in her snowy kingdom; that could come later. Over the months, the more I had learned about her, the more I realised that she was actually a very gossipy wolf in nature.

"Well then, let's hear your request," she said with a smirk, seemingly quite interested in the foreign environment we were in.

"Of course, I wouldn't have called you out if there wasn't a big fight coming up. So here is the plan…" I proceeded to explain my 'long' thought-out plan to the wolf. I'd say that the plan was a sound one, albeit a bit violent and destructive, but when had we ever been not violent?

"Somehow, the plan you've made could sound either crazy or logical depending on how you look at it. Makes me wonder what exactly grows in that brain of yours." She looked at me with a curious glint in her eyes, but I just rolled mine in exasperation. When the roll of ninja wire was completely set up, I grabbed hold of the end. I felt Hyousetsu returning to his clan's dimension, so I assumed that Kakashi had gotten the other end of the wire as well. Soon, I returned my gaze to the enemy camp, still oblivious towards the subtle changes taking place around them. Now that everything was set, all that was left was to wait for the signal.

Five minutes later, the warehouse went up spectacularly in flames.

And that is our cue. Silently, I counted fifteen seconds. That should be enough time for them to realise that something is up. Like I had expected, the camp started to stir as shadows blurred across the entrance.

"The last one's coming up, chunin, he will cross the entrance at exactly … now." Upon hearing Otter's voice, I immediately flickered near the entrance just as said shinobi was walking out of his tent. He was the last one to get out, therefore, he would have to be the unfortunate one.

I flipped over the fence just in time for him to pull out a kunai and face it towards me. With a sharp flick of the sword, I hit his arm away and locked my eyes onto his. The redness overwhelmed him, and a second later, he started to scream out the words I had scripted.

"Ambush! Enemies at the entrance, Kekkei Genkai―" I slashed his throat before he could finish the sentence. That's all I need, thank you. Like I said, unfortunate. Quickly, I threw a kunai wrapped in explosion tags towards the ground, flickering away quickly as the smoke blinded the entrance.

"Are they coming?" I asked Otter as she returned the metallic ninja wire to me. The hidden mist jutsu that was blocking Falcon and Otter's sensory techniques was centred mainly at the middle of the camp but not so much on the peripheral. Therefore, I needed to draw the enemies out all the while never exposing our true identities. See, burning the warehouse down was an extremely old tactic, but nevertheless, it was effective. However, the point of us burning their warehouse down was not for a siege battle but rather to make the enemy feel like there was an actual ambush. In order to guarantee that the four leading figures we needed to assassinate would come out, I added a second attack and made sure that the threat was perceived to be caused by Kekkei Genkai users - a prominent threat that would definitely get the Jōnins off of their asses.

"Yes, I can sense them. Four large signals at the entrance, they are being followed by some chunins." Shinobi were wired a certain way, they liked to deal with things with their own hands, especially when it concerns the prey of the Kekkei Genkai hunt.

Now that the first stage was working properly, it was time to move on. The moment the Kiri-nins - the four targets along with a few more passersby - stepped out of the entrance into our view, I pulled the ninja wire at my end, exposing a spider web of metallic cords. Suddenly, the hesitation left me as I charged my palms with lightning chakra - concentrated and wild - and sent it down the threads. The moment my end of the wires lit up with sizzling electricity, the lightning coming from the other side of the clearing flashed in tune as well. The streams of electricity touched the ground in the blink of an eye and spread out in a jagged web, electrocuting and paralysing anything that was unfortunately in its path.

The second stage was separation: separating our actual targets with those that we don't need to kill. I had never planned to kill everyone here in the first place because it would take too long. The Kiri jonins took priority on this mission.

Before the paralysing sizzles and the blinding flashes in the air disappeared, wooden vines shot out from behind, grabbing all the shinobi who weren't our targets and dragged them back to the campsite. As the wooden columns dumped the shinobi into the camp and slammed the gates shut, I blew a stream of flame towards the gate.

It was a beautiful scene. The fire spread from the entrance and all the way along the camp fence. Like a well-choreographed routine accompanied by the musical sound of explosions, the flames danced and engulfed the entire campsite in an instant, wrapping all of the shinobi inside the immense heat.

It was perhaps the only good thing about having a mission in a land that constantly witnessed acts of violence. Nobody would question too much when there were a few explosions and a burning campsite.

I asked Bear to line wooden columns with explosive tags attached to them around the camp discreetly so that they would rest just beside the metal fence. Normally, the camp wouldn't catch on fire so easily, especially with the amount of moisture in the air, but with Bear's wood release, anything could happen. Once the fire started to lick the trees nearby, it wasn't so easily stopped. The Kiri-nins inside wouldn't die so easily, I think. The fire was only maintained through the wood so it acted like more of a barrier than anything else. Besides, most of them had water ninjutsu to help them stay alive, but it would take them a few minutes to get out since the attack was sudden and half of them were paralysed by the lightning jutsu. With Zebra and Bear supplying some wood release, fire release, and wind release every so often, I'd say, we had five, maybe seven minutes?

Now, here came stage three. I locked my eyes on the four slightly shocked and dazed Kiri-nin left outside of the wall of fire. However, they quickly composed themselves and observed their surroundings cautiously. All that's left is to kill them and let Terumi Mei handle the rest and this is probably the most straightforward part, I thought. This was where my plan turned to pure improvisation. I don't make any plans for the fighting, not with this team. We were familiar enough with each other to detect when to add in that finishing slash or blow during the battle.

Fuyuki was the first one to appear out of the shadows as she slammed into one Kiri-nin and brought her jaw down over his head. Apparently, it was impolite of me to not let the wolves be the battle opener, or so they had demanded. That Kiri-nin was a jonin after all, therefore he was able to quickly shake off his daze and block Fuyuki's sharp teeth from biting his head off.

Fuyuki suddenly turned and swiped her hind leg near the ground. The Kiri-nin tripped ungracefully but he still managed to roll away as Fuyuki's abnormally large claw crashed onto the ground where his head would have been had he not escaped. I did give Fuyuki the permission to blow off some steam, but it didn't mean that the rest of us would just sit back and watch.

Fuyuki was cooperative in that she chose to hit a position that the Kiri-nin would have to roll away from the rest of the group, closer to where I was, waiting to ambush. I took the chance and flickered down with two blades in my hands. My first strike was aimed at his heart, the fourth intercostal space between the ribs, to be exact. As the Kiri-nin tried to push himself up from the ground with one hand, his other hand came up and stopped the tip of my ninjatō. Sadly, I still had one more blade. The tantō was smaller, quicker and harder to detect. The Kiri-nin only had the time to widen his eyes as I slashed the tantō across his neck, splattering a trail of blood on the forest floor.

The whole sequence from Fuyuki's starting attack to the first kill had only taken five seconds. Five seconds and we had very little time left. I had to admit, the success of my assassination had a lot to do with luck and surprise. The Kiri-nin had obviously been surprised when a giant wolf attacked him, and it was his lack of information that ultimately led to his death.

Now that the grand finale was revealed, the three Kiri-nin who were still alive quickly stood in a triangle formation for better defence as they glared at us with caution and rage. The factor of surprise wouldn't work anymore and we still needed to finish this whole mess before Bear and Zebra ran out of chakra to keep the remaining Kiri-nin inside. For those of us who made a living by licking the blade tips, this was the real deal.

And so, the battle began.

The next five minutes were a mess. Between the heat, the fire, and the weapons, the whole battlefield was filled with confusion. When a shuriken whizzed past you, all assistance and sabotage were fair game.

The last Kiri-nin screamed like a cat with its tail cut as I drew a slash on his thigh and almost sliced it in half. It was supposed to be aimed towards his abdomen, but he had been fast enough to jump up and dodge it, although he probably didn't quite imagine that the silver glow on my blades could cut that deep.

Relentlessly, he twirled in mid-air and swiped his other leg at my face. That tenacious kick forced me to raise my weapons to block and the impact forced me to slide back a few metres. Soon, I blew out three balls of phoenix sage fire as the Kiri-nin tried to rebalance with one leg left useless. He flicked two of them aside and let them join the already waning fire around the campsite, but the third one zig-zagged past him, only to fall back and slam into his back, forcing his newly regained balance to falter.

As Hound and Otter closed in on the Kiri-nin with their glistening swords outstretched, he still had the spirit to pull up two earth walls around him to slow their attacks. However, it only managed to halt the attack for a second before both of their blades broke through the walls and penetrated his mid-abdominal region, holding him in place.

He wasn't giving up because humans seem to have the most tenacity when they were on the brink of death. Suddenly, I was very glad that we didn't just rashly march in. His hands moved furiously in front of him to make a seal for something. Oh no, you don't. We were already dragging this out longer than what I was comfortable with, there was no way I would let him run wild with that jutsu that was obviously his last desperate attempt. Without thinking, I threw the tantō at him since it was the closest projectile I could find. The blade lodged itself in the Kiri-nin's neck as blood sprayed all over the earth walls. The silver glow flickered for a second before finally disappearing. It seemed like I still couldn't keep the yin-chakra activated without touching the weapon itself.

"So…" Falcon asked in a small voice far behind me. He sounded like he was panting rather harshly because of the water prison technique he had accidently got caught up in. The water prison was simply a huge pain in the ass.

"So, we get our teammates and get the hell out of here." I continued his sentence while pulling out my precious tantō from the dead body.

"I'll find you later, little rabbit." Fuyuki stepped towards me, dragging a dead Kiri-nin in the process. The dead body wasn't mutilated like what normal wild animals would do; there were sharp puncture holes on his chest, showing that in the end, it had been one fatal strike from the wolf's claws that had killed him.

I didn't even have time to respond to her bossy statement (excuse me, I control the summoning technique, okay?) because she had already put the dead body down and returned to her clan's icy dimension. When I turned my gaze back to the camp, it was still burning, albeit the flames were dimmer and more tamed. The shinobis inside were definitely trying to keep the fire down, hopefully still unaware of what had happened outside.

"You seriously weren't kidding about pissing off the Kiri informants, weren't you?" Zebra said tiredly as he and Bear walked out of the forest. "They are going to be so mad when they realise that we've framed this on the rebel group."

"I think I made more wood columns today than I did in a whole year." Even Bear decided to chime in with a rare complaint. I narrowed my eyes at him, sending him a glare. Trust me, seeing how Kakashi liked to exploit Bear's wood release, I doubt it was that many.

"Well, nobody said the plan was going to be easy. Let's go, we wouldn't want to stand in the way of the clean-up team, would we? I'm sure they are just dying to start on it." My last sentence was followed by a few snickers. Ironically, the simplest job for the clean-up troop would be dealing with dead bodies since it was the easiest to bury. However, with the fire that was starting to burn the forest beside the camp and the fact that I had left most of the Kiri-nin alive inside the camp would make their job of covering the tracks a lot harder. People saw the messy event; they just didn't know what the event really was. But still, I even gave Terumi Mei a chance to be the saviour. I didn't care what kind of tales she would decide to feed the remaining Kiri-nin to get them on her side. Based on my perception of that woman, she would probably succeed spectacularly in convincing them.

Without looking at the bright orange flames that were dancing passionately in this dreary forest or the four dead bodies sprawled out on the forest floor, we left the crime scene silently.

(づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"A word, please." Terumi Mei barely squeezed the words out. I could tell she was trying to be as polite as possible, considering the fact that Konoha did complete what she had asked for. However, her tone was just barely hinting at her hidden frustration. She whipped her body around swiftly, as if every look at me made her even angrier, then she walked away from her escorts to the other corner of the clearing. I didn't need her signal to tell me that she expected me to follow her.

Before I followed along with her, I glanced in Kakashi's direction for a brief second. Like I suspected, even if his facial expression was blocked by the hound mask, I could instinctively tell that he was a making a face that was a mix between "I told you so" and "but I'm too used to this to care".

"You made my job really painful back there, Konoha-nin. I had to save half of the forest from burning, as well as rescue more than a dozen men choked on smoke who still think that there's a rebel group nearby." The moment we were isolated from the rest of our teams, Mei spat the words out angrily with a hint of laughter. Yeah, no, I didn't feel any pity. She was the one who gave me the inaccurate information.

"Unforeseen circumstances arose. Here, as per the agreement." I handed her the folder with all the files on this mission and with a suspicious glare at me, she took it. After flipping a few pages, she burned the documents with ease. The condition for this mission included that the documents detailing our exchanges be destroyed. I didn't know if Konoha made a copy or not, but I did know that the one I gave her was the original copy. If the information leaked out, it wouldn't do either Konoha or Terumi Mei's Kiri faction any good.

"You don't like to lose a single cent, do you? There's no such thing as a fair trade, you can't expect to get payback for everything people conned out of you." Suddenly, she said out of nowhere. "The world doesn't work like that. One day, your persistent attitude just might get you to lose more than you can afford."

"You are an ambitious woman, a trait which I have no intention of gaining." I couldn't help but add. It was totally a spur of the moment, which I shouldn't be doing. However, I just felt the need to point it out.

"This world never lacks ambitious men, but it always lacks ambitious women. Ambition in women is frowned upon because it's rare and unorthodox, but it's nothing to be ashamed of." The woman commented offhandedly with a smile. A very ambiguous and calculating smile that fitted her personality quite well.

"Send your Hokage-sama my regards. Next time, I will go visit Sandaime-dono as a Kage of the same status. When that time comes, Kirigakure will be a safe place for all Kekkei Genkai. That invitation extends to you too, Uchiha, if you ever find that you are in more trouble than you can pay." It was a bad idea to pick up the conversation in the first place, I knew it. There was no way that I would leave Konoha for Kirigakure. No way.

"I will be sure to send the Hokage your kind words." I just outright ignored the last part of her words. Some lines should never be crossed or even mentioned. Seeing Kirigakure's current condition, she still had a lot to do in order to become the Mizukage and unify her village.

"Don't be angry. You may say that now, but as a word of advice from someone who has been there, the higher you climb, the more you need to watch out for your fall. Trust me, keep an eye out for allies and enemies alike, you never know which one will catch you." That was the last piece of advice she gave me before walking off with her companions. I scrunched my eyebrows a bit at her confusing words, but eventually, I left with my teammates as well. It wasn't long before we boarded a ship and left the Country which none of us missed.

"So now the mission is done, how's my evaluation?" I asked as I leaned against the ship railing. The sky was in a shade of dark grey now, unlike when we had come. The dark clouds covered the sky, a supposed premonition of harsh rain. However, the greyness had been covering the sky for a while, yet there wasn't even a single drizzle.

"Mm…" Like always, he didn't give me a straight answer. Instead, as a general habit of his avoidance, he pulled out that carefully preserved novel and started reading from a page in the middle of the book.

Sometimes, I really want to take that book and rip it to pieces, just to see how it goes.

"What did she say to you right before we were leaving?" All of a sudden, he asked and I frowned a bit at the question.

"She told me that I should be careful about demanding paybacks. I don't quite understand what she meant," I answered, choosing my words carefully at this exchange.

"She's probably telling you to leave a fall-back zone; a cushion, for both you and your enemy."

"She wants me to be merciful? To the Kiri-nins, in this society where it's to kill or be killed?" I stared at Kakashi in confusion, unable to comprehend what Terumi Mei was trying to teach me. "And do you agree with her? That I should have been more merciful on this mission?"

"No, I don't agree with her," he responded with no emotion colouring his voice at all, "I think you killed just enough to guarantee our safety and anonymity, so I don't have a problem with that. But we are looking at this issue from a shinobi's perspective, while our ambitious Kiri informant was speaking from a politician's point of view." Now, he was catching my attention. My gaze was probably making him very uncomfortable which was why he gave me a long sigh before he continued his previous point reluctantly.

"You and me, we are wired to kill our enemies with no hesitation and that's good for survival, very good. When it's shinobi fighting, it's a fight between weapons and there's no room for mercy. But the politicians, those are fights between people and things start to get ugly when one side has no cushion and starts to go all out. When that happens, it becomes a mere dog fight and in more ways than one, it's way uglier than a bloodbath."

"Do you know why Terumi Mei chose to make a deal with Konoha just to get rid of the extremists quietly when she could have just taken a stand at the pro-Kekkei Genkai faction and rallied up the people? The genocidal faction is very unpopular in Kiri right now, she could have easily gathered more than the majority of the people and forcibly taken the power," he drawled before tilting his head, awaiting my answer with interest.

"She was leaving cushions for herself and her enemy," I said tentatively after a few seconds of contemplation. "If she made a stand and only appealed to one side of the population, she would have lost everything if she couldn't win. On the other hand, she's also offering those Kiri-nin who don't see eye to eye with her a cushion as well. Now that she's playing the role of saviour, if she doesn't win, she won't lose much. But if she does win, the shinobi against her will have no choice but to take a fall onto the cushion instead of openly waging a war against her simply because they have no reason to. Some of them might even be grateful for the cushion." With that being said, Kakashi clapped lightly though I wasn't sure if he was mocking me or not.

"I'm sure she's angry for the Kekkei Genkai persecution, being a Kekkei Genkai user herself, but she's not looking at this from a shinobi's view, where the elimination of enemies is the key to survival. She's not fighting weapons, she's fighting people using weapons and the rules are different. She's giving leeway, after learning from her predecessor who gave no leeway to the Kekkei Genkai users." He paused a bit, scrunching his eyebrow for a second in concentration before he continued. "If you want an example, let's just take a look at the struggle for power between the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama-sama, and Uchiha Madara. That was a fight with no cushions at all, each side was going all out. It brought turmoil to the entire village and luckily, they finished the fight using a shinobi's method instead of a politician's. If they hadn't, then …"

"Then, we would be like the Kirigakure civil war." I finished the sentence for him. I waited for a second before asking, "Bringing up my distant ancestor, are you trying to warn me away from that kind of a fight?"

"Are you planning to go into that kind of a fight?" He answered with a question.

"No." There was no hesitation in my voice.

"Good." That was all he said.

"How in the world do you know this? I remember that you made it perfectly clear that you couldn't care less about this kind of stuff." I looked at my captain curiously.

"In my opinion, the best way to stay away from something is to learn everything about it, so that you can walk away from it at the first sign." Good advice, I thought as he continued, "You're too young; you haven't lived through a Shinobi War. Whenever a war or a catastrophe ends, the dog fight begins. Eventually, you learn to stay away."

"And were you in the dog fight?" I probably shouldn't have asked him that. At this point, I couldn't tell if I was just brave or impertinent. Most likely the latter.

"Funny you have that idea. No, I was never one of the people in the dog fight." At that moment, I suddenly understood why he would want to stay away from politics as far as he could.

He wasn't one of the people in the fight; he was one of the weapons used by those people.

(づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"I'm sorry, what?" I had once thought that surprising news would lose its shock once I've heard it often enough. Apparently, they don't.

The Hokage looked at me with an amused expression, but his face was still filled with benevolence. Behind me, the room remained silent, not a single gasp escaping because of the news. Those little liars, they were all in on this.

"I can imagine your surprise, and I apologise for keeping you in the dark," the Hokage continued in his special calming voice, "however, I do believe that the abilities and work ethics you've shown over the last few years qualify you for this position."

I really wanted to ask what in the world made my work ethics qualify for the responsibility he was giving me. However, against the death glare that I was receiving from Kakashi which warned me to behave, all I could say was, "I am honoured by your compliments, Hokage-sama."

"So?" The Hokage asked, but he didn't specify what he was asking. Given our previous conversation, I had a feeling that I should know what he was asking, but I was having a temporary blank out for the moment.

"So…" I muttered. I could feel my teammates' urges to facepalm, and there was no one's stronger than Kakashi's.

"Rabbit, there's nothing to be nervous about. According to your captain's evaluation, you did quite well as the leader on your last mission. He described your improvised method as 'innovative'..." I narrowed my eyes at Kakashi's word choice, isn't innovative just another word for 'crazy and unusual'?

"I, for one, am quite impressed with your plans and diplomatic skills…" The Hokage continued as I ruminated over his words. You mean how I tricked her into giving me unauthorised information and then pissing her off?

"But then again, the choice is yours. Whether you take the promotion or not, you passed this evaluation with flying colours. If you don't take it, it won't affect your career. I assume you already understand the responsibilities and pressure that the captains have to shoulder. Ultimately, it's your decision whether or not you want to become an Anbu Captain." Finally, the Sandaime finished his sentence.

"Hokage-sama, if I do take the promotion, I will be pulled out of Team Ro, correct?" After a moment of silence, I asked.

"That would be correct. You will be assigned a new team with some new recruits to train as well as some experienced Anbu agents," the Hokage answered precisely, with no sign of wanting to hide anything from me.

The number of agents in Anbu never fluctuated too much. New recruits came every year, but there were constantly people leaving the force. Anbu was a high-risk organisation, not everyone could stay without physical or mental repercussions. Those like Kakashi who stay for over a decade were rare entities indeed. When old agents leave, new ones came in and fill the spots. If there were no available spots, then promoting an existing member to captaincy and splitting up old teams became another option. Normally, it was quite rare for a team to remain completely static for over two years, but Team Ro was one of them.

That was probably because of Kakashi.

He was good at his job, no matter how much he annoyed me on some occasions, I had to give him that. He made judgments that kept us alive. I couldn't remember how many times he had to bail me out of trouble. I supposed that I was already looking up to him as a role model if I were to be completely honest. I found myself constantly asking what would he do if he were in my position.

What would he do on the last mission if he were the leader? What kind of plans would he make? What kind of decisions would he make?

One thing was for sure: He wouldn't have chosen to burn the campsite like I did. No, he was way too secretive for that. In his opinion, my method might have been effective, but it would have the operative too emotionally involved.

But, I am not following directly behind him, am I? I am not stepping on his trail one footprint at a time. I am not catching up to his shadow. No, I tried that with Itachi, it never ends well. It was at that moment that it became perfectly clear that as long as I was letting Kakashi take care of everything, I would never learn and gain from the experiences. I am my own person, I have my own identity. I have my own methods of doing things.

"Now that I've laid out everything, what's your choice?" The Hokage didn't rush me, he waited patiently as I made up my mind. He didn't have to wait for long. I supposed that I had already made up my mind long before, I just hadn't been confident enough to act on it.

"I will accept the offer, Hokage-sama. I swear to devote my loyalty to the current Hokage of Konohagakure before anything else. I promise to protect Konoha, its citizens, and the Hokage with my life from the shadows." I pledged the Anbu declaration once again as I kneeled down before my village leader, letting the calm voice fill the room. After the last sentence echoed, I added, "I won't disappoint you, Hokage-sama."

"Congratulations, Rabbit. You are now the Captain of Anbu Team Kō." As I bowed again to the declaration, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride bubbling in my chest. Maybe I'd finally achieved something other than just surviving to see the next day.

"Also, after some discussion with your ex-teammates, it was decided that Falcon and Zebra would be transferred to Team Kō and both teams will be taking over the specialisation training of two or three new recruits. Captains of both teams, please come tomorrow at 0600 to pick up your team member assignments." Both Kakashi and I nodded, despite the fact that I was a bit confused. It seemed that Falcon, Zebra and I needed to talk about some life choices.

"Rabbit, you may take your future teammates back to Locker room 15 to collect your belongings. Your team is officially assigned Locker room 29 as your base of operation." I nodded at Hokage-sama's words. I will miss the cold benches in locker 15… I almost laughed because of that ridiculous thought. The locker room would probably look the same throughout. It was the people who had changed.

"By the way, if you have any trouble or need any tips, Hound is right there." Before we could leave, Hokage-sama called out to me. I had to work really hard to suppress the laughter as I saw Kakashi's aura darken just a bit. See, our Hokage-sama was really good at exploiting human resources.

Swiftly, we retreated out of the Hokage Office and headed towards the Anbu Operation Centre. The journey was silent, but not in an awkward way. It was more like a mutual understanding that whatever we needed to discuss, we could do it in private.

"Anything the two of you want to tell me?" As soon as the locker room door was closed, I appeared behind Falcon and Zebra. Zebra was okay, keeping his usual calm demeanour, not a hint of being startled. Falcon, however, dropped his kunai because of my sudden appearance. Sometimes, I wondered who was the older one between the two of us.

"No, not really," Zebra answered for Falcon before he could say anything stupid.

"Let me try to make this clear. Why agree to the transfer order? I'm not exactly the most reliable person here, nor am I the most experienced one. I know Hound has his unbearable moments, but I don't think my luck is any better. So why?" I was very thankful for their help, but more so, I was curious. I was just trying to get an answer. One of the things I learned over the years was that when you have the chance to know the truth, don't hesitate.

"Well, we didn't agree to it, we asked for it," Falcon added quietly, and he received a glare from Zebra, who apparently just wanted him to shut up. Now I was really confused so I turned to Zebra for the answer.

"It's exactly because you are so damn unlucky." Under my intense gaze, Zebra started with a sign, "You know, you are not the first patient I lost in my medic-nin career, but you are definitely the first one I saved after you had already died. It was a miracle, I will believe that for the rest of my life. I used too many medical supplies on you for you to die now because of some stupid blood loss."

I blinked a few times as Zebra pulled out his first aid kit from the locker and slammed it onto the bench beside him. It made a really loud noise that startled all of us as the metals crashed into each other.

"Okay...that's reassuring, I suppose," I muttered. No one really wanted to piss Zebra off, but I wouldn't say he was angry or frustrated, more like...determined.

"What about you? What's your excuse?" I pointed at Falcon next, who had managed to drop another kunai because of the loud crash earlier.

"Umm…this team wouldn't be fun anymore without you around to tease." Immediately, Falcon's snarky attitude returned. Seriously, you just couldn't give him any attention. Without looking at him again, I turned around and walked to my own locker.

As I cleaned my own locker, I could hear Falcon's complaints about my dispassionate attitude. However, Zebra whispered (even though we all could hear) to him: "Don't bother, she's not on the same wavelength as you. Her mentality is on a different planet." Excuse me? What does that even mean?

"We should go celebrate, for Maiko-chan! Let's go to the Jonin bar, whenever someone gets promoted, it's a tradition for us to go celebrate there!" Suddenly, Otter pulled me into a side hug and said cheerfully.

"Wait, what? No―"

"We should totally go. It's the tradition." Before I could finish the sentence, Falcon added cheekily. In response, I send him a chilling glare. Whenever they wanted to drag me into something, 'it's a tradition' just flowed out of their tongues automatically like water.

"Why not? I assume that you have learned from your last experience or are you still running away from a little cup of sake?" Suddenly, my ex-captain who hadn't made a single comment since we got back spoke up. Maybe it was my imagination but he seemed to be a bit more gloomy today.

"Sure, let's go. It's my favourite Uzuki-senpai's request after all." I squeezed each word through my teeth. I was bad with alcohol, I was aware of that. But Otter had insisted on teaching me how to use chakra to cancel the effect of alcohol by speeding up the detox process. Being such a nice little kouhai, I had taken her lessons to heart.

Before I could even finish packing up, Otter had already dragged me by the shoulder and pulled me out of the door. Suddenly, I had a really bad feeling for this.

Okay, maybe I made the decision a little too rashly… is it too late to regret now?

So before long, I was back at the shinobi bar we visited back when I was thirteen. Since we got back to Konoha pretty late, it was already close to midnight when we arrived at this murky place. I wonder if this was becoming a trend. I seriously hoped not.

The air was still as intoxicating as I remembered. The floating scent of alcohol cramped the tavern, suffocating my five senses, invading my consciousness. So yeah, I made my chakra work overtime to compensate for my lack of immunity towards alcohol, all for the sake of my pitiful pride. But then again, it was because of Kakashi, he always managed to do it somehow.

"Okay, I've got this." I glared hard at the cup of sake in front of me. The colourless liquid was mocking back at me like the true evil incarnate.

"Yes, you've got this," Otter affirmed beside me. I had no idea how the situation had come to this, but every one of my teammates was staring at my attempt to drink my first cup of sake without going unconscious with rare concentration.

"Right, she's totally got this. A hundred ryō saying that she will faint!" Falcon yelled out from the behind as he tapped Zebra's back, trying to get a bet running.

"Don't listen to him, use the chakra to separate the water and alcohol. Once it's in your body, you can control it." Otter reminded me helpfully as I picked up the cup firmly. With one more determined look, I gulped the sake down in one breath, all the while forcing the chakra to filter through the alcohol.

I closed my eyes immediately as the strong flavour entered my mouth. With a hopeful heart, it dimmed and dimmed until I could no longer taste the burning sensation anymore. When I snapped my eyes open again, I was so glad to realise that nothing was swaying or turning upside down in front of me.

"Hey, it worked," I muttered with disbelief. Despite the fact that I was probably like a shining beacon for any sensor in a hundred metre radius, I had won my first battle with alcohol.

"So, what does it taste like?" Falcon asked as he shamelessly poured me another cup. Once again, I stared at the colourless liquid, because I honestly couldn't remember what it tasted like after the sensation of drinking liquid fire was gone.

Reluctantly, but also curiously, I sipped another cup of sake, repeating the same circle of chakra filtering again, trying hard to distinguish what comes after the initial searing burn. It just tasted like … nothing.

"It tastes like water. Pure water," I responded honestly. Was it supposed to taste like something else? Honestly, it had been so long since my last life that I couldn't remember what alcohol had tasted like.

"Oh, whoa, you are filtering the alcohol component out so determinedly that there's no trace left. You must be the first person I've known to order sake, only to drink it as water," Falcon chimed behind me, gaining a few chuckles from the rest of my teammates.

"What is it supposed to taste like then, if not water?" I asked him with confusion. But then again, I should have never expected an honest answer.

"No, no, that's not how it works, you have to figure it out yourself." And letting go of my control over the chakra? No thank you. Yeah, just let the flavour of sake be a mystery forever, I could survive with that.

"Oi, was it you who said that my sake tastes like water? I'll let you know that my sake has never been diluted." I blinked at the sudden voice as a tall figure loomed over the counter. Who was he again? Oh right, the owner of the bar, a middle-aged man whose left arm was always in a sling.

"Umm …" I just kept on repeating that one syllable, "That's not what I meant." The intensity of his glare increased. "It tastes really good, worth every penny," I said quickly, chugging down another cup just to prove my point. "The flavour tastes like …" Nothing. Nothing was left after my chakra had run through it.

"Oh, relax, I'm just messing with ya, kid." It was like a magic trick, his tone changed all of the sudden. Before I could figure out this abnormal shift in the atmosphere, he had already smacked me on the back. I supposed that it was a gesture one used on social occasions, but all it did was make the water go down the wrong pipe. I started to cough rather loudly, it was kind of embarrassing.

"Hah, it works every time with new customers. Always so much fun." The bar owner let out a coarse laugh. "Take it easy, kid. Come back more, but don't make it a habit." He walked away after that, leaving me to squint my eyes at his contradicting comments while still letting out occasional coughs.

"As usual, your social awkwardness has no limits." Falcon cut in immediately, not even bothering to hold in his laughter.

"You have … let's say, seven hours to scram before I decide on how to make your life a living hell." I said coldly to Falcon without batting an eyelash. For a second, he actually looked like he was trying to argue, but then he soon deflated when he realised that I kind of did have that power now, effective starting tomorrow morning. Zebra, the smart one, stayed out of the argument as he gave Falcon an expression full of pity.

As time passed, my teammates, save for Kakashi, involved themselves in various social circles in the tavern as the two of us remained at the counter. Silent, gloomy, dispassionate.

"Okay, I know it's your nature to be pessimistic, but you are acting like I did something to piss you off and I can't remember it, so what did I do? At least try to pretend that you are happy for me," I said exasperatedly as I took the cup of sake on the table. I would probably regret this very soon seeing how I was busily circulating my chakra, trying to quicken the metabolising process.

"You are still using chakra for this, aren't you? I'm not dragging an unconscious idiot back this time." Instead of answering my question, Kakashi changed the topic.

"Yes, Captain. I do learn from my mistakes, contrary to popular belief." As if to prove a (very stupid) point, I sipped the sake down. It still didn't have any distinct taste, and it was making me more curious with every cup.

"You don't have to call me 'Captain'. Not anymore."

"Force of habit," I answered as I put the empty cup down. Maybe it was out of boredom or maybe Kakashi's gloom and doom aura was making me uncomfortable, I was suddenly determined to find out what the sake tasted like, So I grabbed the bottle and poured another cup.

"When you get the info on your new team members, remember to go deeper than their profiles to understand each and every one of them. You are not in the familiar environment of Team Ro anymore, you are going to make plans with strangers. Strangers who you have to familiarise yourself with." Suddenly, Kakashi started speaking in a perfectly calm voice. I looked at him with curiosity but before I could respond anything, he continued.

"You also won't have the benefit of everyone's trust at the beginning. You have to establish yourself as an authority figure, a reliable and trustworthy one. It's not going to be easy but you have to stand through this." It was like he had been holding back all those commentaries for days and now, he just couldn't stop the downpour. Nevertheless, I listened attentively.

"Your missions will be a lot more different than the last one in Kiri you supposedly led. It will be harder and there will be more pressure and more responsibilities involved. You can't do things by your whims anymore because you are supposed to be the backbone of your team." Whoa, that must be the most comprehensive instruction he gave me in forever. For once, he actually sounds like he is willing to teach me. I swear I was listening, his experiences were very valuable after all. However, at that moment, my bottle ran out, and so far, I was still tasting nothing but water.

So, when it seemed like he was finished, at least for a little while, I reached out for the cup of sake in front of him that he had yet to touch. Hey, if he was not going to drink it, I might as well take it for the experiment.

The moment my fingers wrapped onto the porcelain cup, something gripped firmly onto the cup as well, preventing it from moving. I struggled against the iron strength to no avail so the next best thing I could do was to give Kakashi an angry and accusatory glare.

"I'm serious." No, he was not amused. He stared back at me so gravely and solemnly that one would have thought that one of us was walking towards our death. I was startled for a second by his seriousness.

"Be careful of Shimura Danzō." That was his message. A really important message.

"I know you are, and I am too," I answered, finally giving up on the cup. I didn't know what he really meant and he didn't look like he wanted to elaborate. However, with Danzō's personality, I could more or less gather the gist of it. Shimura Danzō was a spider that weaves its web from the dark, and there was no telling how far that web had already penetrated. However, in order to do that, he needed spider threads he could control.

"Why didn't he show up sooner?" That was a vague question, but I knew he would understand. If Danzō wanted to 'infect' me, then the best time would have been when I was still struggling to adjust in Anbu.

"Because I was there." He said shamelessly as he took that cup of sake away from me. Confident, unwavering, authoritative. That was the Kakashi I respected and followed.

There was a period of silence as I processed his lessons. His gloomy aura was much better now, maybe all he needed was a cup of sake.

"What's with the sudden change in attitude? Finally decided to approach the teaching career properly? Should have done that a few years ago." I teased, simply because I had nothing better to do.

"Probably. Although it would have been much easier if my pupil were less troublesome and demanding." I rolled my eyes as his commented jokingly.

"Oh, trust me, I am probably the best student that you will ever get who will put up with your crappy attitude and your commitment issue. Wait till you get Sasuke, then you will remember how easy it was with me."

"Who said your tiresome brother would be my student? There will be more than one qualified Sharingan user in this village by the time he graduates."

"You know, I'm already teaching him full time when I'm off duty. Therefore, I prefer not having to teach him as well when I'm on duty. But then again, you probably prefer not to teach any Uchiha on duty or off duty." Upon hearing my comment, he nodded grumpily.

"You know what, let's make a bet on who Sasuke's future instructor will be since it's apparently going to be our impartial and fair Hokage-sama's decision. I bet it will be you, and you can bet on the opposite." After much thinking, I proposed. And by 'much', I meant ten seconds of evaluating a pop-up idea, probably under the influence of alcohol.

"What's the wager?" Kakashi seemed mildly interested. It was a pretty fair bet, no one, perhaps except for the Hokage, knew who will be Sasuke's instructor. Although the hint of sharingan was quite obvious, there was still no guarantee. As long as it was someone else, Kakashi would win.

"I don't know … how about one month of locker room work, and that included damage check and weapon counts." Maintaining the tidiness of locker room was apparently an Anbu Captain's job, so was reporting the number of weapons lost in a fight and the number of weapons left in the locker storage. Lots of miscellaneous jobs that I didn't even know existed.

"Make it one week and we have a deal."

"Feeling less confident now, are we?" He glared at me for that one, so I raised my hands in defeat. "Fine, a week, you've got it."

Following the finalisation of our bet, silence ensued again. It wasn't awkward or boring or gloomy, no, it was peaceful and comfortable. Against the noisy background and the drowsy alcoholic scent of the tavern, I found it amazing that I could feel so calm and collected.

"Thank you." For everything. That was what I wanted to say, but with the noisy background muffling everything, it became more like a dim whisper.

"Good luck." In return, I heard a faint whisper as well.

1. Team members: As of now, Team Ro has been split into two teams. Back in Kakashi (Hound)'s team, there's Tenzō/Yamato (Bear) and Yūgao (Otter). Maiko (Rabbit)'s newly formed team includes Falcon and Zebra, both real names unknown.

2. Timeline: Right now, it's around two years before Canon. It's August, so Maiko's fifteen at the moment.

3. Yin-chakra blade: it's a variation of chakra coating techniques, like using lightning or wind natured chakra. However, think of the swords as a container that seals the yin-chakra because of the metal's special affinity for it.

4. Maiko's stats: I've given Maiko numbered stats just like the Naruto Data booklets have done. So if you have any question with what each of them means, please refers to online Wikia. The stats correspond to right now, so when she's fifteen.

Ninjutsu: 5

Taijutsu: 4

Genjutsu: 3.5

Intelligence: 4.5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 3

Hand seal: 4

Total: 30.5/40

Many shinobi don't use full strength in fights unless absolutely necessary. In Maiko's opinion, preservation for chakra, eyesights, and anonymity are very important, therefore, her MO: what swords can solve doesn't need ninjutsu; what simple ninjutsu can solve doesn't need flashy A-rank ninjutsu; what can be solved by the previous three categories doesn't need Mangekyou Sharingan. I'll probably update the stats when the Canon starts.

Hope those clear off some confusions. This arc has two parts: Captaincy and Danzo, and yes, the first one needs to proceed the other.