Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Glee.

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xXx-Chapter 23-xXx

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Something was bothering Ino and Quinn wasn't quite sure what? But whatever it was it had been enough to wake her up last night. And for the rest of the night Ino had been… clingy wasn't the word that Rin wanted to use, but Ino did not want to be away from her for any reason. People always complained about how she could read emotions, but they never stopped to consider it from her side. She could tell when someone was upset, or angry, she could tell if they were happy or sad. But it wasn't mind reading, she couldn't tell you the cause of it, or what they were thinking. Knowing a person's emotions was all about the broad strokes, never the finer details.

She knew Ino was upset, but unless Ino told her why, that was all she knew. That's it, and she couldn't do anything about it either. It hurt, she wanted to make her sister feel better, and when Ino had left for her training for the day, it was done so reluctantly. It was like she didn't want to let Quinn out of her sight. Her mother was furious as well, at their father, who was feeling tired and guilty. It made Quinn want to scream, she just wanted to stomp her foot and demand that everyone just tell her what was going on.

But then she also recognized how hypocritical of her that was. It wasn't like she was the most forthcoming person either, and in all honesty, she was keeping the biggest secret of them all. That she was some freak who had been reborn into this life with the memories of an entire other life. A life that she had screwed up beyond recognition.

Quinn kisses her mother goodbye for the day and waves to her father as he's leaving as well and begins making her way to her designated meeting spot with her sensei. Hopefully after today everything would calm down and be okay. In the mean time she needed to focus on the things she could affect and change, and so with that thought in mind she reaffirms her resolve from last night.

Ino may have been her older sister physically, but mentally Quinn viewed her as the baby of the family. And while she could be childish at times, Ino for the most part was quite mature, definitely more mature than she had been at that age. And vulnerable was never a word she would have ever applied to Ino, Ino was a fighter. If she didn't like something she changed it, she didn't let it get to her, she didn't let it bring her down. She fought it. Last night had been a little scary for Quinn as she observed her sister. She hadn't broken down and really cried or anything, but she seemed so confused and scared. She was super worried about something, and no matter what Quinn said or did she couldn't comfort her.

She hated that, she hated not being able to make things okay for the person who meant most to her in this world. It really drove home to her that she couldn't protect her sister from everything, but she could protect her from some things. There was no point in beating around the bush, there was no point in over thinking everything. She was going to accept Yugao-sensei's offer anyway. She knew it, Yugao-sensei knew it, her father and mother knew it. So she may as well tackle it the same way she had when she decided to become a ninja in the first place, head on and not holding back. There was nothing she wouldn't do to protect her Ino, or Naruto and Sakura for that matter either, she was going to accept the offer eventually, so she may as well get started. When she first set down on the path to becoming a ninja, didn't she say she would do whatever it takes, not hold back?

She would become the darkness, she would give up her portion of the light so that those she loved could have their time in it. She had said it before right, perfection or death. The choice in whether or not she would do this was made the very moment she entered the academy. Brooding about it and overthinking it was no longer a luxury she had. She had given up the right to hesitate when she swore she would do whatever it took to protect those she loved.

"Good morning sensei." She says with a bow, when she arrives at their designated meeting point. Yugao-sensei was already waiting for her.

"Good morning Rin, are you ready to get started?" Yugao asks.

"Yes, but before we do I have something to tell you."

Yugao gives a nod of her head indicating that Quinn could go ahead.

"Right, I've thought about what you said yesterday, and my answer is yes. I'll take the spot in ANBU when it is offered. I wanted you to know that I've come to that decision. I'll give this training everything that I have, I won't hold back, I won't quit and I swear to you that I'll be the very best. So please, if you had any worries or concerns, forget them, give me everything you've got, and don't hold back."

"You're sure?" Yugao asks, her voice is completely even, almost nonchalant, but Quinn could sense a spike in her concern and a little bit of guilt as well.

"Yes. You said it yourself, I can't protect Ino and the others from everything, but I can do this. I can do this and I can make a difference. The thing about me sensei… when I'm faced with a choice like this it often takes me forever to come to a decision, I'll think and overthink everything, but once I've made a decision, that's it, I stick with it. I've made my decision and I've chosen my path. You have my psyche profile, you knew exactly what to say to me to get me to accept this and I knew it too. It doesn't matter, I would choose the course that would allow me to protect those I love anyway. I just saved myself and you some time by making the decision I was always going to make anyway right now, rather than months from now."

Yugao nods her head. "I want you to know how sorry I am…" Her sensei trails off.

Quinn shakes her head, "Forget it. Your reasons for doing this are your own, they're none of my business. I just need your word that doing this is the best course of action, that I really am doing what's best for Ino, Naruto, and Sakura."

"You have my word, what you're doing may very well save their lives one day. I'm sorry, that's the best guarantee that I can give you."

Quinn nods, "Then that's all I need. However you want to start, I'm ready."

"Alright, well then… forgive me, you are the first student I've ever taken on, so I'm not quite sure how to start." Yugao says, scratching the back of her head.

"Well, seeing as I've never been an apprentice before, I guess you could say we're in the same boat. So don't worry, if you do something wrong, I won't know." Quinn laughs.

Yugao laughs, "Fair enough, I guess I should tell you what to expect with me and what you'll be doing. Because you're in an apprenticeship and not a genin team things are going to be a little different for you. For the most part you and I will be training together, specifically, where your weakness are as well as other skills that you will need to have in order to thrive in ANBU. When we aren't training, you and I will be out on missions putting those skills of yours to use, you are already aware of D-rank missions, however you will not be participating in them. They won't do you any good at your level. We'll start off with a C-Rank and do those until I think you are ready for a B-rank mission. My goal is to have you take one last mission before you participate in the chunin exams nine months from now, hopefully A-rank, but we'll see just how far along you come.

The reason I want to start you off on higher level missions is because they are the best way to learn. Experience can't be taught, only earned. And experience is more valuable in ANBU than anything I could just teach you. Missions will last anywhere between a few days to a few weeks, it just depends. Once a mission is complete and our reports turned in, you will then have at the very least the next 24 hours off. It may be more, but that will depend on how long the mission was and how difficult it proved to be. But after a mission you can at least count on one day of rest.

When we aren't on a mission, we will meet here Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. and we'll train until either 8 p.m. or I release you. Again, that is just going to depend on the day. Saturdays are yours to do with as you please. I suggest you rest and relax but if you feel the need to get some light training in, then be my guest. Just don't exhaust yourself. Sunday's are yours as well, with one exception, I've spoken with the Hokage and he would like to continue to meet with you as he has been and at the same time. You will continue to go but now I'll be there as well. Learning from the Third is just too great an opportunity for you to pass up so I want you to continue to do so. But other than training with him, as I said Sunday's are yours to do as you please."

Quinn nods her head, "Yes sensei."

She kind of wanted to be angry at the Hokage, I mean everything that he had done for her had obviously been done to lead her to this moment, but she found she just couldn't find the anger. He was giving her the best chance she had at protecting her family and friends, and he was the leader of this village, he had hundreds, if not thousands of lives in his hands. In comparison, her one life didn't matter. Really, she was more miffed that he felt he couldn't just talk to her about this, that he had to go around her in way and try to manipulate her into this. And maybe it was necessary, maybe this was the only way she would agree. In the end it didn't matter, what was done was done, and it was best to just move on.

"So… where would you like to begin?" Quinn asks.

"First thing I want to do is get a rundown of your skills as well as go over our fight yesterday. I want to understand why you chose to do what you did, why you engaged me the way you did, and just your thought processes and strategies in general. For example, when you pinned me the other day, I noticed that you went for a kunai rather than the kaiken at your hip, why? The kaiken is a sharper blade, and would have had much better leverage in that situation than the kunai?"

Quinn thinks about it for a moment, "Well the short answer is I'm more experienced with a kunai than I am with a kaiken. I mean I have had some blade training and I know how to wield both, but I know how to use a kunai much more effectively and comfortably than I do a kaiken. My friend Sakura gave me this blade and it really is a high quality piece of equipment, but until I can really train with it I don't want to use it unless I have to. I'm like that with anything, I don't use it unless I have either reached a proficiency with it that I find acceptable or I don't have any other choice. The Fiend Fyre Jutsu I used against you yesterday, for example, I would never have used that normally, I haven't mastered it yet. But I felt I had no choice. I mean, I guess I could have tried the dragon flame bomb or another phoenix flower, or any of the other fire jutsu's I know, but you had already shown that you could avoid them. Fiend Fyre jutsu was just the best option under the circumstances."

"Fair enough, though I don't mind telling you it had me completely on the defensive. I felt you used it quite proficiently."

Quinn shakes her head, "No… I can control it to a certain degree, but I haven't reached anywhere near an acceptable proficiency with it. Every technique I know, and I do mean every technique, I master it. I get it to the point where I either only need one hand seal to activate it or even none at all."

"I noticed that, it was quite impressive, I saw you activating your fire jutsu with only a single hand seal. Are you saying you can do that with all of your jutsu?" Yugao was surprised once again, most shinobi figured that once you could perform a technique consistently, that was all that was needed and you could move on. That this girl wasn't satisfied with just learning a technique was rare.

"Most of them, it's what I consider the level I need the jutsu to be at before I can actively rely on it in battle. Once I have reached that level of proficiency with a technique then I work it into my battle strategies. Like with my fire jutsu, pretty much all of them I have down to just a single hand sign, and when I'm at my threshold point I don't even need hand seals to create them, I can just will them into being. But the Fiend Fyre Jutsu is different, I can't even perform the technique unless I've reached my threshold point, and even then I have to use all the hand seals required and call out the name of the jutsu. And it is an extremely chakra intensive technique, even with my larger reserves and level of control, I can't realistically maintain it much longer than I did against you."

"You've mentioned this threshold point, what is it exactly? I noticed that your abilities seem to have increased exponentially once you did it, it was similar to opening the gates but that isn't what you did?"

Quinn gives a quiet hum before answering, "The concept itself is pretty simple, but difficult to execute. Basically, I convert all of my chakra from yin and yang chakra into fire chakra. The increase in energy if I were to pull it off would be extraordinary, it would do on its own what would take multiple enhancement jutsu to do. It would super heat my body to the point that fighting me in hand to hand would be near impossible and I would be able to perform all of my fire jutsu without the use of hand seals and almost no chakra."

"Cool, what are the downsides?" Yugao asks, intrigued by the concept.

"In that form I could only perform fire jutsu or non-elemental jutsu, not that it would really affect me now, but later on I hope to incorporate more elements into my style. At the threshold point and beyond I would be restricted almost completely to fire jutsu. Also you can't just fall into it. It takes time and preparation, so I can't just… you know snap my fingers and do it, I have to give myself time, which is not always possible in battle. And if I don't maintain perfect control over the fire chakra within me, I'm essentially a giant bomb. The control is the hardest part, I haven't been able to reach a full conversion yet, and that is what the Hokage and I have been working on for the past few months. The threshold point is that point where half my chakra is normal and half is fire chakra. It's the best I've been able to pull off and still be able to fight."

As Quinn continued to list off her abilities and what she was working on and what she would like to work on, Yugao listened attentively, asking a question here or a bit of clarification there, but for the most part allowing Quinn to just speak. Once Quinn had finished listing off her techniques Yugao nods her head.

"You've impressed me once again, people will start to think that happens easily." Yugao teases.

Quinn ducks her head in embarrassment, but is actually quite pleased. Yugao Uzuki was a powerful kunoichi, and the fact that she did seem pleased with her was in all honesty a bit of an ego boost.

"You've got the right attitude about your training. You'd be amazed at how long it takes people to get into that mindset of perfecting and honing what you already know. All too often, genin through chūnin, it's like a mad rush to learn as much as you can as quickly as you can. But, what good is knowing a thousand jutsu if you can't use them properly."

Quinn shrugs, "That's kind of how I always looked at it. Besides, I've always been a bit of a perfectionist." She finishes with a small laugh.

"Me too. Well, I think that's enough talk, shall we get to work." Yugao says with a kind smile.

"Yes sensei."

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xXx-Scene Break-xXx

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Quinn lets out a pitiful whimper with each step up the stairs to her room. Yugao-sensei was a sadist of the worst kind. She made coach Sylvester seem like a kind and benign athletics guide in comparison to how hard Yugao-sensei worked her, and yet Quinn really couldn't complain too much. Yugao-sensei didn't ask her to do anything that she wasn't willing to do as well, which actually put her lightyears ahead of her old coach… still didn't change the fact that she was a sadist.

By the time it was lunch Quinn was soaked through her clothes with sweat, having been pushed harder and further in that morning than she ever had before. Yugao gave her an hour and half long lunch which was nice and they spent the time resting and getting to know each other a little better, mostly through small talk. Once lunch was over however the real training began. They went through another series of exercises until Quinn could barely stand and then they sparred.

"Very rarely will you ever battle at one hundred percent, so I'm going to get you used to fighting when you're at less than perfect."

Quinn couldn't argue with the reasoning, in fact it made perfect sense to her. But it sucked, it really did. By the time Yugao-sensei had called it quits for the day Quinn was ready to just fall over and die. Yugao-sensei said she did great for her first day and to be ready to do it all over again tomorrow. The look on her face when Yugao-sensei had said that must have been something because the older woman had laughed.

She was so tired and sore after her dismissal that it had taken her 45 minutes to walk home, wincing with each step. When she had finally gotten home her mother had taken one look at her, gave her a sympathetic smile and sent her upstairs, saying that she would bring her up some dinner.

Once she finally reached the top of the stairs Quinn decided that whoever decided that buildings should be more than one story was an evil sociopath and she cursed them to the deepest pits of hell. She opens the door to her room where Ino is already inside, flipping through a magazine.

"Geeze, you look terrible." Ino says.

Quinn collapses face down onto her bed and groans. "Gee, thanks, just what every girl wants to hear."

"You're pretty snarky for someone who looks like they spent the day being dragged behind a horse." Ino teases, as she gets up from her bed and goes and sits down beside her. When she speaks again however, her voice is much more sympathetic. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Pretty rough day, huh?"

"Oh gods… yes, Yugao-sensei is a sadist… I ache in places that I didn't even know you could ache..." Quinn then uses the last bit of her energy to roll over so that she can look at Ino. "So my day was rough, what about you?"

Ino rolls her eyes, "I painted a fence. Boy let me tell you, it used up every bit of my training and knowledge to complete. I don't know how I ever would have survived it if not for the academy and all those years preparing for this moment." Ino's voice is dripping with sarcasm.

Quinn giggles weakly, "Well, that's good to know, at least your talents aren't being wasted."

"Shut up." But there's no real bite to Ino's voice. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"

Quinn yawns before answering, "Sure, you can talk to me about anything, you know that."

"It's about you joining ANBU, daddy told me about the offer."

"Oh… is that why you were so upset last night?"

"Partly, I just…" Ino trails off for a moment like she's considering what exactly she wants to say, "I think it's a bad idea. I… I think, no, I know you'd do really well there. I know you're strong enough, but, I just have a really bad feeling about it. So I'm asking you, please don't do it. Don't join." Ino finishes softly. She couldn't just come out and say what she suspected, and the danger Rin may because that would lead to questions of why, and she couldn't let Rin know that she was different. But maybe if she could warn her sister against this, get her to maybe pull back and separate herself from where she was being led then maybe everything would be okay.

"I'll be okay. Really, you don't have to worry about me."

Ino shakes her head, "No it's not just that, it's…" Ino stops and takes a breath, "I want you to be more than just 'okay.' I want you to be happy, and I want you to be safe. You can't do that in ANBU."

"Ino…"

"Look, I can't stop you, and if this is really what you want to do then you know I'll support you one hundred and ten percent, but… I just have a really bad feeling about it. And if you're joining up for me, if I'm the reason you feel you have to do this, then I'm telling you, don't. Okay, just don't."

Quinn sits up, wincing slightly as she does so. She then takes Ino's hand in her own. "I won't lie and say that you aren't a motivating factor… because you are, but… I don't know what else to do. I don't know what I want to do in this life. I don't want to be Hokage like Naruto, I don't want to become some kind of Taijutsu master like Sakura, I don't want to be the head of Intelligence like you do someday, I don't have any ambition as a shinobi… I just don't. The only thing I care about is being strong enough to protect you and everyone else… and I think that doing this will allow me to do that. I think that this is the right path for me. Or maybe not, but… I don't know, I just… I feel like I have to do this. It's the same way I felt when I first decided to go to the academy, I don't want to, but I know that I have to. I can feel it."

"Okay." Ino says with a sad smile. "Just, promise me that you'll be careful, that you'll… that you'll keep your eyes open. That you'll trust your instincts, that if something doesn't feel right that you'll listen to that feeling." Ino is staring at her so intently, as if she's trying to convey something else to her, some kind of hidden message, but Quinn is so exhausted, physically and mentally, that she just can't pick it up.

"I promise I'll be as safe as I can as long as you promise the same." Quinn says with a reassuring smile.

"Rin…" Ino sighs, as if her sister had missed the point entirely. It's at that moment that Ino comes to a decision and it's on the tip of Ino's tongue to tell her sister everything. To warn her about the Hokage and this Danzo person. To tell her why she needed to be careful and why they were after her in the first place. Rin could handle it, she was strong enough. And if she wasn't, then Ino would be strong enough for her, she wouldn't let Rin believe she wasn't real or that they weren't sisters. She knew she had promised their father she wouldn't say anything, but Rin didn't get it. She didn't understand just how much danger she was in. Being a ninja, joining ANBU, was dangerous in and of itself, but Rin was going in blind with an unknown enemy pulling the strings and they just didn't have enough information to know who was really on Rin's side. She had to protect her sister.

However, before she can say anything there is a soft tapping on the door and their mother steps in carrying a light dinner for Rin and Ino's resolve wavers. As Rin thanks their mother and starts to eat Ino decides that for now she'll just do as her father asked and just watch and listen. Help gather more pieces to the puzzle that was Rin and find out what it was exactly they wanted from her, whoever they ended up being. And Ino would train hard, harder than she ever had before, that way if it came down to it, she would just kill whoever was after her sister and remove the threat permanently.