Chapter 8

Something felt wrong to Naruto and Sakura. Unlike when they first seen her again after three years. Kira wasn't throwing out cocky comments, neither was she taunting Aphrodite. There was no emotion on her face whatsoever. Periodically Kira would tilt her head at her cousin's words or possibly even to something she was thinking. "M'lady." Shizune gasps as Kira lands a direct hit on Aphrodite creating a crater much like Tsunade and Sakura.

"Yes." Tsunade says as she crosses her arms just beneath her breasts. As if a switch had been flipped. The girl that had clearly been afraid to meet her, not just because she was the Hokage but even Tsunade could tell. She was afraid of what was going to happen to her. Afraid that Tsunade would be like the Third and put her through that torture again. Yet, now there was no feeling left in her. As if she has trained herself to be disconnected from any and all emotion as she fights. A feat ninja do not usually learn until later in their careers.

Kira dodges the kunai with ease but what had Tsunade biting her bottom lip was after Aphrodite actually used a jutsu to attack her. Kira was unfazed. No marks came from it and not even a single tear to her outfit was made. Almost as if it hadn't touched her at all. When clearly the jutsu had hit her dead on. The large fireball made the onlookers leap into the outlying trees just to avoid its size. "Wow!" Naruto shouts staring at the fireball with wide eyes. "It's huge!"

"Yes, it's impressive." Captain Yamato says in conjunction with Naruto's words as he stares up at the ball of fire. Sora grunts before turning and leaping down out of the tree. Walking away. This has nothing to do with him and he still doesn't understand why Naruto even made him come. They just wanted to keep an eye on me. He thought to himself while the others were continuing to watch the fight. He couldn't help however but to glance back. The look in her eyes bothers him. They were empty.

The fireball recedes leaving no view of Kira or Aphrodite to those of lesser experience. Across the field, in the trees, the fight was continuing to take place. The audience moves out of their own trees and crosses the field so they could get a better look. Once again Aphrodite was trying to push Kira more into hand-to-hand combat. Each punch, each kick. Kira dodged them all. One punch from Kira and Aphrodite narrowly dodged it making her fist collide with a tree causing it to splinter and fall.

With all of Kira's dodging, she didn't realize that her cousin was pushing her in a certain direction until Aphrodite lands upon a small river and completes another set of hand signs. "Water dragon jutsu!" She shouts as her chakra pulls water from the river and compresses it into a dragon. Even a realistic roar met their ears. Kira seems to just stop before her hands flash like a blur to their eyes before she brings her fingers to her mouth. Fire shoots out in a swirling typhoon as it takes the shape of her own fire dragon. The roars of dragons pierce through the area with a deafening sound.

"They're evenly matched." Sakura calls out over the sounds and Tsunade shakes her head. When no one answers Sakura, Yamato fills it in for her.

"Look again Sakura." He simply says and Tsunade finally makes a sound of agreement to him. "They are far from evenly matched. So far every jutsu that has been cast takes a lot of chakra and chakra control. Aphrodite's already showing signs of fatigue." He continues watching as Aphrodite mixes her wind style with her dragon. Just as Kira reaches a hand out towards her own. Sparks of lightning shooting from her palm towards her own dragon. Both jutsu wrap around their individual dragons causing them to roar again and grow in size.

Aphrodite's swirling water becomes stronger miskewing her dragon's form to make it look more like a typhoon causing the trees to blow erratically. Gusts of wind blowing out from the jutsu causing Sakura and Naruto to raise their arms and cover their faces to protect their eyes from the flying debris. As Kira's begins to shoot lightning out around its entire form. Electrifying the area around them raising the hairs on their arms in reaction. "I see. Aphrodite looks like she's taken on damage." Sakura hollers out over all the noise.

"And Kira looks like nothing at all has happened!" Naruto agrees with her as he tries to peer through his arms at the two in front of him. Both members of Team Kakashi felt the weight of how much stronger Kira has become. They have fought every day for three years to achieve the strength to bring Sasuke and Kira back and yet, Kira stands before them making their own achievements look like they haven't done anything at all.

Tsunade steps forward and taps her heel against the ground causing the area to rumble as the ground begins to split. Shooting out towards the two girls. Kira leaps back away from the growing crack in the ground canceling her jutsu making the mass of fire and electricity fizzle out, as the water from the river begins to flow into the broken earth. Aphrodite drops her hands to her sides ending her own jutsu causing water to fall back down to the river. "I've seen enough!" Tsunade calls out to the girls.

As if by those words alone Aphrodite's strength leaves her and she drops to her knees. Kira glances at the Hokage before leaping towards her cousin. Yamato jumps sending his chakra into the ground and making a branch of wood shootout through the bottom of the river and wrap around Kira. Kira clicks her tongue in annoyance but doesn't make any other movement. Now seeing that the stand-in leader of team seven didn't trust her at all.

Kira glances over at Yamato and pins him with the iciest glare he has ever seen before he noticed Kira's right hand was glowing green. The sight of this makes Sakura gasp in realization. "Medical ninjutsu." She breathes and Yamato releases Kira from her binds. Once the wood moves back beneath the flowing water Kira kneels down to her cousin. Instead of moving her like Sakura would have guessed, she watches as Kira simply reaches out and holds her hand above the blond. The healing chakra flows from her hand and slowly covers Aphrodite's entire form.

Tsunade walks up to the two girls making the others follow her until she stops and places a hand on her hip. Watching what Kira was doing, noticing the cuts and scrapes disappearing on Aphrodite's skin. "What do you think, Damphire?" She asks seriously. As Aphrodite's breaths slow from feeling even her internal injuries healing with the warming effect of the green chakra she could see coating not just her arms but her entire body. Aphrodite waits a few moments longer to answer the Hokage until the chakra fades taking the pain she had been in along with it.

Standing the bright blond looks towards her Hokage. "There is no comparison in strength to the last time her and I sparred. She has grown." She states simply even though deep down, it felt like her cousin was holding back. Kira stands and places her hands back into her pockets. Her eyes were now no longer void of all emotion as they had been only moments before during the fight. Once again pain settled into the depths of her dark onyx eyes.

"Then it's settled. She will return to Team Kakashi immediately." Tsunade smiles down at the dark-haired girl who unlike before didn't show surprise or hope.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouts excitedly as he pumps a fist into the air. Sakura raises the knuckles of her right hand to her lips with a light giggle. Even at this time, Tsunade didn't know if she was making a mistake or not. But Naruto's voice continues to ring in her ears.

*~ "But Grandma! She's team seven! She is meant to be with us not kept out of everything and watched! She's finally home now!" Naruto yelled at Tsunade in her office when Team Kakashi had returned from their mission at the fire temple. The news of Kira's return had shocked three of them that stood before her. Only Naruto had yelled excitedly, happy for the return of one of his teammates. An excitement Tsunade didn't quite share with him. Her return was completely out of the blue and even of her own volition.

"Naruto! We do not yet know why she has returned. Now of all times with the Akatsuki closing in on us…" Tsunade begins and Naruto steps forward slamming his hands onto her desk making her tea nearly spill.

"I understand Grandma but she's here now." He lowers his voice as the sad emotions swirl in his gaze. "What better way to bring her back completely than having her with us? With her team... Her friends.." Tsunade couldn't help but smile at his words. -When he's right he's right.- She thought. It would not only make it easier to watch her but if anyone could fully reach her it's this guy.

"Then we will put her through a test, we need to see what she is capable of." Tsunade tells him making Naruto stand completely and laugh excitedly. Even though beneath her words Tsunade wanted to put Kira into a situation that her true intentions could be shown. She needed to know if Kira could be trusted before fully making her decision.~*

The three children left their sides with Naruto shouting for ramen and Kira rubbing her ears as if Naruto's tone was bothering her. She was actually arguing about barbeque instead which leads Naruto to counter about how delicious Ramen is. "There's nothing better after a long day of training than Ramen!" His shouts echo around the ones remaining in the trees. Making all of them but Aphrodite laugh.

"M'lady?" Shizune begins drawing their eyes to Tsunade. "What do you think?"

"Hmm. She passed." Tsunade mutters making Aphrodite look down. "I think with everything she has been through. The best place for her is Team Kakashi. Maybe they can reach her." She finishes making Aphrodite hope that the Hokage was right. "It does bring more questions than answers." Tsunade mutters as she replays the fight in her mind bringing her thumb to her lips. It's clear the Akatsuki took the time and energy to nurture her growth. She thought as she bites down on her thumb. -It just doesn't make sense that they would put so much into her training when they didn't trust her to begin with.-

Shizune was right after Tsunade had sent Kira home that night. Shizune expressed her mistrust and even suggested getting the interrogation core involved just to make sure that what Kira was saying is the truth. However, Tsunade reminded her about the last time when the Third had tried those exact tactics. It didn't work. Even Inoichi said all he could see were memories she herself was willing to show him. It proved that Kira herself will only share the information she wants. This is why Tsunade agreed and set today up the way she did. She wanted to assess Kira's reactions to not only seeing her teammates again but also, to Aphrodite.

From what she learned when speaking with the Anbu, Kira hated Aphrodite with everything she had, all because Aphrodite obeyed orders given to her by the Third and brought her cousin in for questioning. Her reaction to seeing her cousin spoke volumes. She hasn't forgiven her completely yet, but she was trying. The result of their fight meant she could have killed Aphrodite if she had wanted to but she didn't. "Damphire, your thoughts." Tsunade speaks up drawing the young blond's attention back to her and away from where the others had left.

"Something isn't right, M'lady." She said her voice void of emotion like all active Anbu. "Her actions have always been to the point and straightforward, fighting with everything she had. Not once in the fight did she give away even an inkling of her true intentions. She remained distant and methodical only doing what she had to in order to draw the fight out. My cousin was always one to try and hide her own emotions but they would always slip through her gaze. This time, there was none."

"I see." Tsunade bites her thumb again before dropping her hands to her sides. "Yamato, I will inform Kakashi when he returns. Getting her to let her guard down and watch how she interacts with her team is the top priority. We need to know what she is up to."

"Yes, M'lady." Yamato responds before disappearing from the trees to keep an eye on Team Kakashi. -It's as you said Kakashi.- Yamato thinks to himself as he remembers a conversation the two of them had after meeting Kira.

*~ "So she healed you." Kakashi said as he leans against the tree watching Naruto's training with wind-based chakra.

"Yes. She made no move to attack us or to try and take Naruto. She let me catch her." Yamato grunts as he feels the energy of the Ninetails pulling against his jutsu.

"Seems about right." Kakashi sighed still watching the multitude of Naruto's trying to cut a leaf with his chakra. "Even when we ran into her she acted like she was going to hurt Naruto only to take off. She could have hurt him if she wanted to but she left him without a scratch going against what she was claiming."

"So are you thinking she is still loyal to the leaf?" Yamato asks as a bead of sweat rolls down from under his forehead protector.

"No, that was never Kira." Kakashi comments making Yamato grunt in confusion and look at him. "She's always only ever been loyal to the ties of friendship she managed to make. It is why what the Late Third Hokage did, hurt her so deeply. Someone she had seen as a grandfather wished to cause her pain."

"So you're saying that she isn't loyal to the leaf or the Akatsuki. But people." Yamato mutters trying to understand what he was being told.

"Yes, She called Deidara and Sasori her friends. It could mean that the only reason why she is still with the Akatsuki is due to ties she is desperately clinging to, but she isn't fighting against us, because of more ties she doesn't want to lose."

"Hn, I think I understand, Kakashi. She's in pain and using friendships to try and dull it." Yamato mutters and Kakashi gives a grunt telling him he was right.

"Kira is always fighting her own emotional pain. Even when we first became Team Seven. She is constantly being overwhelmed by everything she has been through. Friendship to her, eases that pain." ~*

-She's in pain, Kakashi, all of us see it.-