~or~

The Angel of Konoha

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...

A few moments later, Akaryu decided that the decision to flash fry, beat and humiliate Kakashi was the best decision he'd ever made. The woman introduced to Squad Seven to be their new Jonin Instructor was quite possibly the most beautiful he had ever seen…and he hung around Kurenai and Anko a lot. Her hair was an eye catching blue that shone like fine silk, tied up on the side of her head in a bun with a blue rose holding it in place that Akaryu noticed after a moment was made of paper. Her eyes were orange like fire and alight with a quieter sort of mischief than what shone in Anko's ever cheerful gaze.

She didn't wear a Jonin vest, but judging from the way at the very least her clothes seemed to be composed of constantly shifting sheets of paper that she could apparently control at will as they turned seamlessly back into the lower half of her outfit from where they'd been fully functional angelic wings a moment earlier, Akaryu guessed she probably didn't need a flak jacket. What she did wear was low high-heels, skin tight black pants that showed off her perfectly toned legs to the absolute fullest, and a revealing top that showed off her midriff and the sides of her ample breasts while leaving her arms bare, tied with a Hidden Leaf Hitae-ate around her waist like a sash. It was a daring and enticing outfit even by Anko's standards.

"You summoned me Lord Hokage?" she asked in a contralto as smooth and sexy as the rest of her.

"Good morning Konan," Old Man Third smiled, "Yes I have just removed an apparently incompetent Jonin-Instructor-to-be from active duty for atrocious negligence of duty, but that leaves me with the problem of an untended genin team. Unlike him, you are not a bundle of indolence so foolish as to not even read the dossiers I provide you about your new team."

Konan quirked a delicate eyebrow and a faint smile tugged at her lips, "So that's why Kakashi-kun looked rather more, crispy?" her smile blossomed into a full blown mischievous grin at the thought, "than usual. It sounds like he had it coming."

Hiruzen nodded firmly, "Yes, quite. Will you be willing to take over training this team for me?"

Konan turned that smile on the three before her and immediately had all three of them at her complete command, "Of course. They seem like such little sweethearts, I'm sure we'll get along swimmingly. Provided they listen to sensei of course, you will won't you boys?"

"HAI SENSEI!" Squad Seven chorused. Konan smiled happily, "Wonderful. Lord Hokage do you have their dossiers handy? I'd like to get to know my new students and I'm sure those will bring up all sorts of interesting things to talk about."

Hiruzen lifted three folders and handed them to her, "Please keep in mind which information is classified and/or sensitive."

Konan smiled brightly, "Of course Lord Hokage! I'd never dream of telling them things they don't need to know. I'll only bring up what's important for their training to make them into the very best shinobi they can be." Hiruzen looked like he wanted to protest as a slightly panicked expression crossed his face when that settled in, but by then Konan was already herding her new students out of the office very quickly with a mischievous grin.

==Half An Hour Later==

Konan had led them to a nearby rundown looking townhouse which they discovered upon entering to be actually very nice on the inside. She explained that it was one of the rather exclusive shinobi lounges that even for shinobi were invitation only. This particular one she revealed was actually her personal establishment. She was the owner, manager and designer.

"Even most shinobi couldn't find this place if they're not invited," Konan explained proudly as she led them through the kitchen to a private room in the back, "and if they didn't know what they were looking for, they never would, let alone get inside. My fuinjutsu is very good."

"How good?" Akaryu asked, interest immediately piqued.

"In Konoha, I'm second only to my sensei," Konan replied with a grin, "and I can give Jiraiya-sensei a run for his money. There are probably a small handful of greater seal masters than him, but they are very few and far between. I'm about as skilled as Jiraiya-sensei's former teammate Orochimaru."

Akaryu almost tripped in surprise, "You're the one who got the curse-mark off Anko-senpai?!"

Konan looked over her shoulder at him in surprise as she laid her hand on a seemingly blank stretch of wall, "You know Anko-cha…" a smile lit her face as lines of seal script erupted out across the wall from her hand, "So you're Akaryu-kun! I've been looking forward to meeting you!" A door opened in the wall, "Step inside everyone, the door won't stay open long."

The three filed inside and Konan waved them to cushioned wooden chairs arranged in front of a nice cherry wood desk which she proceeded to sit down at in her own very nice spinning chair. The three sat down in the same order they'd been in earlier: Akaryu on one end with Naruto on the other and Sasuke in the middle.

Konan spread the three dossiers on them out in order after flipping them open to match the pictures on the front page of each to the corresponding student and smiled, "Alright, since you three undoubtedly know each other already, allow me to introduce myself. I am Konan Nogama, adopted daughter of Jiraiya of the Sannin. I am an S-ranked shinobi in my own right and widely regarded as a master of both fuinjutsu and ninjutsu. I've never had a genin team before, but I look forward to helping each of you reach your fullest potential." Her smile turned slightly somber, "This is not an easy life you three are getting into, but I want you to know that if you ever need me, you can come to me. I'm not your mother," she clarified with a flash of stern light in her eyes, "but I will prioritize your wellbeing and I will strive to earn your trust as I hope you will earn mine."

Then she flashed them that dazzling smile again, "Now then, let's begin shall we? We'll go right to left, so first is…" She lifted and opened the corresponding folder, her eyebrows immediately going up as she proclaimed, "Naruto Uzumaki!" She looked over the top of the folder and quirked a smile at him, "Your mother would be thrilled that you got your father's hair."

"YOU KNEW MY MOM AND DAD?!" Naruto was up out of his seat immediately, almost coming across the desk in his desperation for more information, "YOU GOTTA TELL ME ABOUT THEM DATTEBAYO!"

Konan covered her smile with the folder before gently rapping him on the head with it, "Back to your seat Naruto-kun. We're here to talk about you not them. We can discuss them more later, but for now I'll tell you that your personality seems to much more heavily favor your mother than your father. She'd be a little annoyed you inherited her verbal tic though, must be genetic…" she mused.

Naruto was so stunned by the revelation that he actually went back to his seat and sat there in a bit of a daze as Konan began to read. A few moments later her face crinkled into a frown. Then it proceeded to grow more and more pronounced with every page she turned until she was outright glaring at the report in her hands, ghostly pale with rage and biting her lip near bloody. The three genin watched her sunny playful expression shift to grim murderous rage and wondered what sorts of horrible things were in that folder. Naruto felt a very sinking feeling as it dawned on him that he might be about to be on the receiving end of the same sort of hatred that he received from near everyone else in Konoha.

Konan closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself and try to regain control of her temper. After a second to still the rage induced trembling, she snapped the folder closed with such force that it somehow made a crack like a gunshot.

"Naruto," she said in a voice of very clearly forced calm, "I take it back. I am your godmother, and as soon as we're done here, I am going to go rip Lord Hokage a new asshole for not telling me twelve years ago when I really needed to know. After that, we will go collect your things and you will be moving in with me. I just saw pictures of the hovel you've been living in and I will not allow my godson to live in such a place."

Naruto looked like his brain was completely and utterly broken as Konan continued firmly, "And we will be expanding upon your diet. No more eating nothing but cup ramen because it is sorely lacking in the nutrients a boy your age needs. I understand you like it so you can still have it from time to time, but no godson of mine is going to be malnourished."

Konan exhaled a very shallow and unsteady breath, still very clearly trying to keep herself from storming off to go savagely murder the Hokage, "As for your training…"

"You really mean it?" Naruto asked in a very small timid voice. It was not lost on anyone that there were tears welling in his eyes.

Konan got up and walked around the desk to wrap him in a hug. "Of course I mean it," she said quietly, "I had no idea of how poorly you were being treated or I would've come and gotten you immediately. That's all going to stop now. I've, never been a mother before," she said tentatively, "but I'll do the best I can for you okay?"

On came the waterworks. Sasuke and Akaryu both grew decidedly uncomfortable as they got the distinct feeling that they were witnessing something that really should've been private. Naruto cried for almost fifteen minutes straight.

When Naruto had finally cried himself out, Konan went back to her seat and gently pushed the dossier on him away from her, "As I was saying, for your training Naruto, we're going to pursue your parents' specialties. They were both among the very few fuinjutsu masters who could compete with me, and I believe you will be able to follow in their footsteps regarding their other specialties as well. Your mother was exceptionally skilled in taijutsu, so I'll be having an old student of hers who inherited her spot as Konoha's most fearsome taijutsu master tutor you.

"As for your father's ninjutsu specialty, I'll be teaching you that myself along with fuinjutsu, and I intend to get Jiraiya-sensei back here to assist with that. I may not be the best suited to teaching you ninjutsu due to your rather unusual hurdles in chakra control, but Jiraiya-sensei had the same problem, so even though I'll try my best, he may be able to make greater headway in that department." She smiled, "And I'm going to see if I can get ahold of any notes your mother had on her kekkai genkai since you probably inherited it."

The three genin stared at her in shock for a moment and then…

"I HAVE A KEKKAI GENKAI?!" Naruto exclaimed in shock.

"HE HAS A KEKKAI GENKAI?!" Sasuke exclaimed in shock.

"Of course he does," Akaryu replied as though it were completely obvious.

"YOU KNEW?!" Naruto and Sasuke chorused.

"You knew?" Konan asked in surprise.

"I figured it all out years ago," Akaryu replied calmly.

"YOU KNOW?!" Konan exclaimed.

"YOU KNOW?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You're all very shouty today aren't you?" Akaryu asked dryly, "Yes I know. Are we making a running gag of this?"

Everyone blinked at him and the fourth wall was broken, allowing the others to regain their composure and Konan to clear her throat and continue onto the next folder, "Right, moving on." She opened the folder, "Sasuke Uchiha!"

Konan opened the folder and quickly scanned through the first page, "Younger son of the Uchiha Clan head, found unconscious and traumatized the night of the Uchiha Massacre. High-genin to low chunin skill levels in most areas especially fire style ninjutsu and taijutsu. Suspected to be highly obsessed with revenge on his brother." She looked over the top of his folder at Sasuke, "That is unacceptable."

"He murdered my family and trapped me in a genjutsu to make me watch it happening repeatedly for three days straight!" Sasuke shouted in protest.

Naruto stared at him, jaw dropped in shock. Akaryu looked bored but raised an eyebrow of interest. Konan's eyes widened in horror and after a moment she asked, "Aaand have you told anyone else about that genjutsu?"

"No," Sasuke frowned, "It was an advanced Sharingan technique. It was nobody's business but my clan's."

Konan covered her face with the file and all three genin opposite her got the distinct feeling she was trying very hard to reign in her temper. Then she lowered the folder and exhaled before pinning Sasuke with a lethally serious look, "Sasuke, do you know what genjutsu does?"

"Makes illusions," Sasuke replied bluntly, "Everyone knows that."

"How are the illusions made?"

"By implanting chakra into the…target…" What little color was in Sasuke's face drained out as the implications of that hit him.

"Meaning he could have an assassination technique hidden inside your body already primed to go off the instant he sees you again that you would have no way of defending against," Konan declared firmly, "Not to mention the fact that high level genjutsu of the sort Itachi favored can and often do inflict permanent brain damage and possibly even personality changes or mental defects. Did you dispel the genjutsu or did you think it just wore off?"

Sasuke started shaking and raised his hands to do a genjutsu dispelling technique only for Konan to bark, "NO! DON'T DO THAT!"

Sasuke froze, "Why not?"

"Because depending on how the chakra manifested in your brain it may have done significant structural damage that could cost you your life or leave you permanently crippled if removed carelessly! Even low level genjutsu can be deadly if left in place long enough before being dispelled," Konan explained, "As soon as we're done here, we are taking you to the hospital to get a full physical and psychological evaluation because it says here you haven't had either since before the Massacre. Whatever you do though do not dispel! One of the deadliest ways to use genjutsu is to use the chakra for the genjutsu to induce lethal brain damage, and I know for a fact that that was one of Itachi's favorite methods of assassination!"

Sasuke slumped back into his seat, even more ashen faced than usual and filled with existential dread. Konan sighed, "We'll wait to outline your training until we've made certain that you're actually okay. I don't want to go putting together a training plan for specialties you might not actually want to pursue, and until we know you're actually yourself, this," she waved the folder irritably, "is completely useless." She dropped it onto the desk and sighed, "Okay, last but not least…Akaryu-kun!"

Akaryu smiled through his mask. Konan flipped open the folder and began to read. Then she paused and glanced over the top of it at Akaryu, "So do either of your teammates know what you're capable of?"

"They watched me blow up Kakashi and hit him in the head with my shovel, Naruto watched me take down and dismember a rogue chunin a few days ago, and before that Naruto had gotten a glimpse of my genjutsu a couple of years ago before I really hit my stride," Akaryu replied calmly as he ignored Sasuke's bug eyes of surprise. Then he smiled crookedly, "So no, they haven't got a clue what I'm capable of."

Naruto suddenly joined Sasuke in the "scared shitless" club.

Konan smiled, "Well then, would you mind if I read them your profile?"

Akaryu shrugged slightly with a small smile, "If you want."

Konan smiled, "Akaryu, no last name, was born Sakura Haruno to parents Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno." Akaryu went stiff as a board and pale as a sheet as Naruto and Sasuke stared at him. Konan read on, "Akaryu insists that he is male despite his biological body, and is known to grow exceedingly violent when it is brought up." She shot a look that would brook no argument over the top of the folder at Akaryu, "We're going to get you over that. Assassins that can pull off either gender are far and away the most effective."

Akaryu twitched as she turned her gaze back to his folder, "Notable skills include high chunin if not low jonin abilities in fuinjutsu and genjutsu, extreme physical strength, speed and stamina, and a strong affinity for earth release jutsu." Akaryu relaxed slightly as the subject turned to something he was actually quite proud of.

"Notable achievements include studying under Orochimaru of the Sannin prior to his defection, mastering several of his signature snake jutsu in the process. After Orochimaru's defection, Akaryu slipped out of Konoha and disappeared for almost a month before returning with his friend, Orochimaru's apprentice Anko Mitarashi, and a little girl who had been subjected to Orochimaru's inhumane experimentation, as well as the heads of no less than half a dozen traitors and missing-nin with the contents of one of Orochimaru's hidden strongholds in the Land of Sea, which he and Anko destroyed. This was counted in their credit as a B-rank mission."

Sasuke and Naruto gaped as Akaryu faintly glowed with pride. Konan read on as her eyebrows rose in interest, "Other notable achievements include development of numerous advanced seals (I want to see those), the suggestion to harvest reproductive fluids from the bodies of the Uchiha after the massacre which ensured the survival of the Sharingan bloodline…" Sasuke's eyes went wide and his head snapped around to stare at Akaryu. That decision had undoubtedly been the best thing that could've happened for his clan after the massacre as it ensured that even if Sasuke were to die his clan wouldn't.

"…and the successful assassination of a visiting Hidden Cloud ambassador during the signing of the Cloud-Leaf treaty when said ambassador attempted to kidnap Hinata Hyuga to steal the secrets of the Byakugan for Hidden Cloud." Konan finished, not at all oblivious to the way Akaryu's jaw had hit the floor unimpeded by his mask.

Silence reigned for a moment and then…

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY KNOW ABOUT THAT?!" Akaryu exclaimed in shock, "I DROPPED LIKE THIRTY FLASH BOMBS!"

"Byakugan," Konan replied calmly, "Hiashi-sama simply closed his eyes and saw right through them all. He was quite impressed by your disposal of the body."

Akaryu twitched at the revelation. "What did he do?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I positioned his body so that it looked like his neck broke when he tripped going down the stairs and injected air into his blood stream to make it appear he'd had a stroke rather than me snapping his neck mid-kidnapping," Akaryu replied numbly before crossing his arms and grumbling, "Stupid Byakugan, thought I pulled that off in perfect anonymity."

Konan smiled, "There's no need to worry. Only Hiashi-sama, Lord Hokage and now the three of us know."

Akaryu frowned thoughtfully, "No. I'd about bet that Orochimaru knows. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what earned me his interest, and that is a seriously dangerous piece of intel for him to have."

Naruto frowned, "huh? What are you talking about?"

Akaryu looked at him, "You know we're at peace with Hidden Cloud right? If they found out that I had assassinated their ambassador rather than him falling down the stairs because of a stroke, then they'd be able to declare the treaty void and use it as an excuse to start another great ninja war. Needless to say, that's bad."

Konan cleared her throat, "Yes, quite bad, but a little beside the point. For now, let's go take care of getting Sasuke looked at and then we'll head to a training field and you all can show me all the jutsu you know so that I can get a better idea of your skill levels."