Hi! Thanks again to everyone who gave this story the time of the day :) This chapter deals with the aftermath of the kidnapping and gives a bit more insight into how some of the other characters think. But while I absolutely adore Itachi, I find writing his character to be the hardest, that's mostly why it took me two weeks to update. Regarding Juno herself, she has moments where she's very mature, and moments where she has lapses in judgement, that happenes mostly because she's had to adapt quickly, but is still a kid at the end of the day. Also because I'm not the most logical person out there and still figuring the plot out ( - ). But please bear with me for a while.

Anyway enjoy the chapter!


'' Why am I so differently wired? Am I a martian?" - Eminem, Legacy


POV Genma:

Genma was really looking forward to a nice, long soak with Raidou, as his team entered the village premises through one of the hidden anbu gates. What he wasn't looking forward to was the report about their two-week long mission to the Hokage, but he figured he could brave through that, if it meant spending the rest of the day with the scarred jonin afterwards.

All that flew out of his head when, on their way to the Hokage tower, he felt a spike of killing intent coming from an abandoned housing complex on their right. He knew that signature very well, having experienced it over a month ago. And as they got closer, running over the roofs, he recognized the chakra pulsing in thick waves as well.

A brief glance towards his team confirmed their confusion over the kid's presence there. But they all tensed when they noticed another three signatures coming from the same spot, all three indicating chunin level reserves.

Hound signaled careful approach and maintain stealth modus and Genma kawarimied at the entrance with the others.

He climbed up the stairs soundlessly with Cat taking point, apprehensive as to what they'd find on the other side of the door.

The chakra spiked again, thick with murderous intent, as he heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor with a wet gurgle.

Tenzo signaled the door hadn't been trapped and they burst inside, almost running in the spikes growing from the wooden floor.

A chunin, Mizuki, if Genma recalled, was pinned on the wall next to them by a beam.

On the other side of the room, Juno's kneeling form, one hand on the floor pushing chakra in it, the other gripping a sword, every inch of visible skin bloodied.

Hound gave a short, barked out order and Genma rushed through the maze of roots towards the man, hands going through the signs for the mystical palm jutsu. He was unconscious but alive, though not for long, considering the growing gap developing in his shoulder. A quick scan didn't reveal any other injuries. Besides the reddened bruises over his knuckles. Genma blood boiled. That explained why the kid was all beaten up.

Cat's hands were a flurry of movement as his own jutsu tangled with the wooden beam barely halting its progress. Genma contemplated stopping him for a second, let the bastard get speared. But the other two were dead already and they needed intel to get to the bottom of this.

He glanced towards the others when the spike suddenly froze before stopping completely, Tenzō finally able to dislodge it from his shoulder. Juno had slumped against the wall, her head hanging in front of her to rest against Weasel. He could hear her breathing from there as she tried to catch her breath. All roots had fallen limp around them. The kid's control had gotten better in these two weeks. Still, no one would have expected a hostage situation to happen so soon.

And that scenario seemed more and more likely, considering the chair knocked to the side, ropes snapped next to it, and the other two corpses littering the ground.

Hound crouched in front of her and asked her to explain what happened.

'She can do that in the hospital' Genma ground out, pushing more chakra into the chunin's body. He would be soon stable enough to be transported. But the kid looked like she was about to pass out.'I think it's fucking clear what happened'.

Still, she gave the report in short sentences, punctured by ragged breaths. Cracked ribs? He tensed at the mention of Orochimaru, of course that sick bastard would have heard by now about the mokuton and couldn't resist getting his claws on such a rare kekkei genkai. At his side, Cat had went very still as well, his history as one of the snake's test subjects known to all.

Then she got to the physical assault part and his hands started to shake minutely, one look at her undone pants confirming the transgression. The bruises seemed almost like a mercy compared to what could have happened, had Mizuki not intrevened. Still, that didn't stop the utter disgust at the man he was healing.

The others were all silent as she finished relaying the events. Itachi had a death grip on her arm, which was probably the only thing keeping her still upright. Even their leader seemed affected, if the tension in his shoulders was anything to go by.

They felt the approaching chakra flare of the medical team kakashi's summon dog had run off to alert the moment they saw the damage. When they entered the room, he let the healing jutsu fizzle out before giving a short recount of the injury and redirecting the rest of them to the kid. She didn't look like she would be conscious for much longer, now that the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, but with the medic nin present, she was out of the danger zone.

He went to properly inspect the corpses as Cat withdrew the roots back in the floor tiles, offering easier access around the room. Both had been chunin, low-level, unnasuming enough that they would have been perfect choices for moles. One of them had been speared through the chest by a branch thicker than his thigh. The one who tried to have his way with an eight-year old kid. Genma kicked him in the head for good measure, but that didn't seem to alleviate his anger.

The other one had his throat cleanly slit to the side, which explained the spray of blood on her left half and sword. Sleek.

Hound came to crouch next to him. 'That is some damage for somebody without formal ninja training' he noted.

Genma wholeheartedly agreed. 'Kid could have finished the job without our help. Her kenjutsu is impressive. Mokuton control could still use some work' he added dryly, looking at the hazardous jungle slowly receding around them.

The other hummed affirmatively. The tension hadn't left his shoulders, and through years of knowing him, Genma realised it was out of guilt rather than anger, like in his case. He blamed himself for this. If they hadn't brought her in, she wouldn't be haunted like an animal barely two weeks in . Even though her fate with the samurai would have been just as grim.

Killing her back in that forest would have been kinder.

With her last name and abilities broadcasting to the entire world just what she could become, she would always live with a target painted on her back.

Genma sighed, anger draining from him, leaving behind only weariness. They had been following orders from the Hokage. This situation wasn't Kakashi's fault any more than it was his. Of course, reminding that fact to his headcase of a teammate with a guilt complex the size of the Hokage Monument wouldn't be easy.

'We will train her so next time it won't be like this' he said, fixing the other man through the mask holes. Kakashi tensed at the prediction but nodded. Which meant he would take care of the formalities with their leader.

Genma stood up and approached the small team of medics, to inquire about the kid's status, as she was being moved on a stretcher. Rib contusions with hairline fractures on half of them. Broken nose and a few milk teeth had been knocked out, but those would grow back naturally. Besides that, she took some heavy blows to the head, but no internal bleeding, as far as the medic could tell, but they would have to admit her for further observation.

Genma swallowed looking at the bruised face. His tenure in Anbu had desensitized him to most injuries, but seeing children hurt never got any easier.

She didn't have the luxury of a careless childhood. Most of his team didn't have. Kakashi made genin at 6, Tenzō had been a lab project and Itachi had pressure piled on him as the heir of the Uchiha clan since he could walk. It was ironic how they all ended up in the same squad.

It seemed like between missions and taking care of the kid's training, leisure time with Raidou would be sparse.


When I came to, the first thing I noticed was the stinging smell of antiseptic, signaling I was in a hospital.

There was a dull ache in my chest and in my head. I opened my eyes and looked disoriented around. There was a thin tube coming out of my arm, connected to a fluids bag hooked over my head. I tried to pull it off since it was itching me.

A hand stopped me and I looked up to see it was Itachi's. He was sat at my bedside, staring intently at me, an opened scroll in his lap. He was no longer dressed in ANBU uniform, but a high-collared dark shirt and pants.

'You shouldn't pull it out until the nurse tells you to' he said. At my inquiring look, he elaborated ' You have lost blood and your body is recovering, you need the electrolytes and nutrients in that solution'.

'How long have I been out?' I frowned looking out at the dark sky.

'A few hours, it's almost midnight' he replied. The bags under his eyes seemed deeper than two weeks ago. Was that even normal for a 10 year old? I caught myself leaning forward, staring at him. Guess they finished their mission successfully, in time to rescue me.

And with that, the memories of the previous day's events came crashing down on me. I now realized how close I'd been to being sold off, then molested and then almost beaten to death. I felt my chest constrict and a lump formed in my throat, and I shut my eyes to push everything back down. Dammit, control yourself.

His hands suddenly gripped mine, which proved to be an effective distraction. I concentrated on taking a few calming breaths, focusing on the shared human contact and going through a mantra in my head. Gi, yuu, jin, rei, makoto, meiyo, chuugi, jisei.

When I opened my eyes again he was watching me worried, his hands still clutched in mine. I felt yet again thankful that he was there to calm me down.

Good, I was good now, but I sorely needed information.

'Why?' it was so strange to me. What was so important about my kekkei genkai that would compel a mass criminal to try to steal me away? It was just wood. The only thing interesting about it was that the First had it, but I was just a kid that could barely make some twigs move when I wanted to. And apparently more when I was feeling threatened. But this Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to know, since I didn't have any other outbursts since coming to Konoha. It just didn't make sense to me.

I stared at Itachi, begging him with my eyes to give me the answers.

He seemed to understand my unspoken plea and he sighed, pulling his hands out of mine. My hands felt kinda cold now.

'This world of ours, it has no respect for morals and is not straightforward, unlike the place you come from' he stated quietly, looking right at me. 'Shinobi cheat, steal, lie and assassinate on orders and they get paid for it. The only aspect where we might agree with the samurai is on loyalty, in our case to the Hokage and the village' here his voice turned to a murmur and his gaze hardened, ' but there are always those whose conviction falters in front of personal gain'.

We stared at each other in silence while I digested that. He was looking at me expectantly and I felt that there was a second meaning hidden in his words, something that he couldn't say out loud. So Orochimaru wanted me for personal reasons, that meant that he thought my abilities would serve his purpose, whatever that was. And there was someone in the village who agreed with him and passed the information about me to his three lackeys. And Itachi couldn't tell me who. That left somebody in power that had been informed about their mission to retrieve me and had read their report about my abilities. Was there such a person in this village besides the Hokage who could do that?

I'd need to study the books I had for that answer, or ask Genma for more literature regarding the clearance levels in the ninja ranking structure of Konoha.

I frowned but nodded in his direction, to signal him I understood. But I still didn't know how I was going to integrate here, when apparently everything I knew about how an individual should act was reduced to null. Would I have to give up my values in favor of this opposing ninja mindset, which was so repulsively amoral. Did I even want to become someone like that ? Did I have a choice? With the way everyone has been phrasing it so far, it was clear that the price of my stay here was my enrollment in the shinobi ranks.

'What do you think I should do?'

He smiled, pleased I had understood. 'For now the Hokage will increase the security around you and once you start the Academy it will be more difficult to attempt another kidnapping, since the Academy is well monitored' he leaned towards me again and I stared mesmerized into his black eyes as they changed to a deep, hypnotising red, the dots inside spinning languidly around his irises. 'Also, I would like to start training you personally, if you would be willing'.

Oh, that could work. That was a sure ticket to getting strong enough, and once that happened maybe I'd be able to choose for myself what kind of person I wanted to be. For now though, I had to play by the rules.