Chapter 9: How the Children Wound Up Making Even More New Friends and Began to Plot: In retrospect, maybe taking the kids to his work hadn't been his smartest idea. They met at least three new people they deemed interesting. Two of whom they weaseled into Genma's life... Something that was completely natural for them, at this point. They also began some rather important plans (of which Genma knew almost nothing about) while learning important lessons along the way.

..~..~..

When they passed through the large doors that led into the TI Building, Genma could feel all eyes turn to him. Which didn't really surprise him, considering how it seemed that, even after taking care of these eleven kids for at least three years, people were still taken aback by the sight of him with tykes surrounding him.

"Oh my God! Genma has a midget army! No fair! I made the plans for one! I even have the uniforms I want them to wear!"

The shout that came from the bubbly woman merely made the senbon enthusiast roll his eyes, although his grip on Hinata and Sakura's hands tightened just marginally.

He knew he could trust his comrades. But Anko was kind of insane and the girls were highly susceptible to people with interesting personalities. And they had yet to meet a kunoichi that was as present in their lives as most of Genma's other friends... Who knew what Anko could do if she got her claws into the bright and doe eyed young girls?

He did not want four little Ankos running around.

"Tonbo! Shimon!"

Both males were lounging around by the front desk and perked up when they heard Genma call on them. "Three free rounds for the guy that can keep Anko as far away from the kids as possible."

Tonbo was usually a man that didn't like funny business. Shimon didn't mind it, but didn't seek it out either. But at the promise of free drinks, especially three rounds without any kind of limitation (because they knew by now that when Genma said something like this, he spared no expenses), both men immediately looked interested.

Anko glared dangerously at Genma as she froze in her advance, then turned to scowl at both mentioned men.

"Don't you bastards dare."

Anko was one of the most dangerous women Genma had ever met in his life. And she was also pretty freaking insane. Having been that traitor, Orochimaru's student had left her with all kinds of problems. But she was also one of Konoha's most capable kunoichi and one hell of an ally to have.

So she was a really great fighter to have around... Even though she was bat shit insane.

"Alright, Shimon. You go low, I'll go high." Tonbo smirked, the upturn to corner of his lips making the bandages over his eye crinkle softly, all the while the dark haired Shimon gave a stiff nod.

"And if it's needed, you are allowed to go into her mind!" Genma added, which made Anko turn one final glare at him before looking back at Shimon and Tonbo, whom prepared themselves to run after her.

For a moment, everything was still as both men analyzed the woman that was now their target. Then Anko decided that, even though she was awesome, she couldn't deal with those two without some kind of upper hand on them, so she quickly stuck her hands into her pockets, grabbed something from inside, and hurriedly threw it at the men, all the while screaming "Smoke bomb!"

What she had thrown had not been smoke bombs. But both men ducked away, worried about ending up inhaling poisoned fumes because of the crazed Anko. She was known for lacing some kind of poison into her smoke bombs, after all.

But Genma couldn't help the boisterous laughter he let loose.

Anko stood blinking in complete shock at what she had thrown, all the while Tonbo and Shimon slowly straightened themselves up, blinking at the fact that they were able to see.

"Oh man!" The woman shouted out as she pouted and stomped one foot, "I was planning on eating those!"

Dango. The woman had thrown dango at Tonbo and Shimon instead of smoke bombs.

And this was the woman Genma had previously been praising for being a worthy adversary?

"That was a gross misuse of dango, Mitarashi." Shimon tutted as he shook his head softly, then smirked at the woman and steeled his body once more. "But it only helps us get our drinks!"

"Caramel red apple pie!" The woman squeaked as she quickly turned on her heels, then took off running, Tonbo and Shimon following closely after her.

Genma watched them go with a satisfied smirk in place. Then, when he felt a tug at his pants, he looked down at the children around him and squeezed both Hinata and Sakura's hands.

"That woman is dangerous. And she eats little kids. You stay away from her."

~/~

There hadn't been too many trustworthy people with which Genma could leave the kids while he conducted the interrogation. Tonbo and Shimon had both been at the top of his list of people he could trust, but he'd sent them off to chase after Anko to make sure that none of his kids were corrupted by the snake mistress.

He had thought that, hopefully, Mawashi would be around. He was used to Ino because of her father and was level headed enough to take care of a bunch of kids. But, apparently, he was sick with the flu and had not been able to go into work. Which, when he thought about it, made sense. When conducting a difficult interrogation, Inoichi would usually call on either Ibiki or Mawashi. It made much more sense for Genma to be brought in if Inoichi's usual choices weren't available.

Shinobu Mubi was busy with paperwork. The thirteen year old chunin, Mozuku, was way too young. Maen Nara was sleeping on the job and would get his ass handed to him by the kids in no time. The rather old to be a ninja Furofuki terrified the kids, even though she was only around to keep the prisoner alive. Fuki Hōki was just as dangerous as Anko. And her twin sister, Suiren, was so boring Genma knew the kids would revolt if left with her.

There were other people that worked in TI, of course. But Genma didn't think they were rather trustworthy.

Genma had been about to call it a day and tell Inoichi he'd need to find somebody else to go through with the interrogation when two teenagers, one with spiky black hair that seemed to be untamable and the other with dark brown hair that covered one eye, decided to make themselves known.

"Oh, come on, Izumo! We've already been here for six months! I think our position is stable." The one with the spiky hair had his arms crossed behind his head in apparent ease, even though his friend was walking with his body tensed, eyes shifting with distrusting over the hallway they were walking down.

"Lord Yamanaka could still demote us, Kotetsu! We're supposed to be filing away that paperwork."

Genma couldn't help but smirk at the sight of both teenagers. They had just made his life rather simple.

"Hey, you two!" He called out to the two as he stepped into the hallway, all the while the rest of the kids looked at him from their spot inside of the break lounge. "Guppies! I'm talking to you!"

Both males froze instantly. And Genma had to stop himself from snickering when the one called Izumo smacked his friend harshly over the head before they both turned to him.

"I've got an assignment for you two that you better not screw up. Unlike your paperwork."

Both teenagers paled considerably at his words. And now Genma couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his lips, then allowed a loose smirk to take over his face.

"You know Lord Yamanaka's daughter, Ino, right?" He questioned, which immediately had them nodding. "Good. Get your asses over here so you can take care of her and her friends."

The one with the spiky hair seemed to want to protest. But before he could even open his mouth, Izumo's elbow drove into his ribs, successfully stopping any kind of argument the male could bring up.

"These kids are all important and have to be treated with respect. You're going to treat them like treasures, you hear? If not, you'll have more than just me or Lord Yamanaka to answer to."

He had not had the pleasure to mess with peoples' minds in this manner for a long time... He kind of missed it.

"They have yet to eat dinner and don't like to be kept hungry. And the Inuzuka is not afraid of biting peoples' arms to get what he wants."

And that was the last thing he told the teenagers before he shunshined away from them, pretty sure that those rookies were so green they'd be to terrified of angering their boss to do anything bad to the kids.

"You don't cook bad at all, Izumo. I don't get what Kotetsu was talking about."

The eighteen year old smiled down at the young Akimichi as the boy lifted his plate to ask for a third helping of the miso soup he had cooked up for all of the kids. He took the plate from him and began to serve him some more of the food, more than aware of how much a person from his clan could and should eat.

"He's just grumpy because he won't be able to leave TI early." The teen answered, then sighed when he looked over at the clearly grumpy Kotetsu.

His best friend was much too emotional sometimes. He didn't understand just what was so wrong about taking care of these eleven kids. They were mostly respectful and had yet to cause them any problems. They practically took care of themselves! And Chouji had even helped him improve his recipe for the soup, making it much more delicious than before.

"He's like Kiba, Chouji!" The only blonde female of the group, Inoichi's daughter ran up to the plump boy with a huff and a glare towards the hyperactive Inuzuka, whom was busy tying Kotetsu's hair up in knots with the help of the only blonde male. "Mean and rude."

"I'm not mean!"

"I'm not rude!"

Izumo didn't know what was more amusing. The fact that Kotetsu believed he wasn't rude or that that the Inuzuka actually thought he wasn't mean.

"You're actually a mean little shit, Kiba."

"Kotetsu!"

The calmer of the pair was about to head over from the stove to smack his best friend for daring to use such language around children, but he was beaten to it by the girl with the buns on top of her hair appearing out of literally nowhere to throw a kunai at his knee. Kotetsu had been lucky and moved fast, but had clearly been surprised by the girl's speed.

"No swearing! Gen-Gen doesn't swear around us, so you shouldn't either! You should be happy it wasn't soap to your eyes!"

Kotetsu blinked at the girl in complete shock, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly ajar. Then he blubbered out, "Don't you mean mouth?"

"Nope." The Nara breathed out from beside him, causing both teenagers to look down at him, even though he didn't even open his eyes. "She meant eyes."

Izumo didn't really know how he had ended up playing babysitter to these eleven kids. Kotetsu had tried to blame him, though, even though it had not been his idea to try and skim through their duties just so they could head out early and try to get into a party being thrown by one of Konoha's richer families. That had all been Kotetsu, even if the jerk didn't want to admit it.

But even though he wasn't sure, he knew that it was hilarious to see Kotetsu brought down quite a few pegs by children more than a decade younger than them.

"No! We can't ask them!"

"But, Sakura-Chan, there is no one else we could ask. Scarecrow-San has yet to give us any useful answers and Raidou-San does not enjoy speaking about such matters."

"A-Are you s-sure we can tru-ust them, Neji-nii-san?"

"Of course I am sure, Lady Hinata."

Izumo turned to look at the three gathered kids with a quirked eyebrow. Then his curiosity was peaked even further when the Hyuga with the long black walked up to him, a piece of paper clutched in one hand, a pen in the other, and a determined scowl on his face.

"Is everything alright?" The teen asked as he crouched down just slightly to look at the kid better, only to receive a haughty nod from the Hyuga.

"We wish for you to tell us all of the single kunoichi you know of!"

~/~

"There aren't that many kunoichi for Farmer man..."

"Not at all." Kotetsu lamented, arms crossed over his chest as he sat cross legged among the children.

Izumo looked at his best friend with a quirked eyebrow, actually surprised by him taking part of something with the kids he had, initially, wanted nothing to do with. But he soon smiled softly at the children, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the topic they had chosen to talk about.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you kids would rather discuss?"

"He told us that Anko eats kids, and we're kids, so we can't really have her around Genma." Shikamaru mumbled with his eyebrows drawn in with concentration, leaving Izumo to sigh at having been blatantly ignored. "Unless we want to be eaten, of course."

"Yeah, getting eaten doesn't sound like too much fun." Kotetsu mumbled in agreement, raising his hand to rub at his chin in deep thought. Then he breathed out and closed his eyes. "That leaves the twins, Fuki and Suiren, Kurenai- even though we're all pretty sure there's something going on between her and Asuma-, Junko, and Himawari for kunoichi he knows."

"No Himawari!"

Kotetsu jumped slightly at the shout that came from the usually calm Hyuga, even though it was paired with a shout from the hyperactive dark haired girl that had tried to stab him with a kunai an hour ago. Izumo looked at them both quizzically and asked, "You know Himawari?"

The girl glared at him, all the while the boy sighed and nodded regretfully. "She was our teacher for a few months before she was relieved from her teaching duties."

Both chunin exchanged questioning looks, but Kotetsu soon shrugged and turned back to the children. "Fine by me. She's much too boring for someone like Genma. He needs someone calm, but a bit more energetic than him."

Why Kotetsu was speaking about Genma as if he actually knew the man was beyond Izumo. But the kids were hanging onto his every word, clearly taking everything he said to be true. And until now, Kotetsu had not said a single thing that might have gotten them in trouble. So Izumo had not been forced to stop his best friend.

Yet.

But if he knew Kotetsu at all, there would come a point in which what he said would be either wrong or too honest. And when that time came, he'd be forced to stop him before he completely tainted these youthful minds.

The kids were seated in a circle around Kotetsu, with Neji and Hinata sitting right in front of him with pens and papers around them. One of the papers had writing on it and read 'list of kunoichi for Farmer man'. Beneath were the names Kotetsu had muttered. Anko's had been crossed out, though, by the Nara, as soon as Chouji had written it.

For some reason, these kids actually thought Anko was capable of eating them. And Izumo was caught between thinking that was the most adorable thing ever and feeling kind of bad for them.

"We're getting nowhere with kunoichi!" The Inuzuka exclaimed after a few seconds of silence, crossing his arms with a huff. "Is there no other kind of ninja we could think of?"

The kids exchanged looks at this, then looked at Kotetsu, who, in turn, looked up at Izumo with curiosity. Which made the older of the two sigh and shake his before beginning to answer his question... Only to get cut off by the pink haired one.

"I know! He could date a male ninja!" Her green eyes sparkled animatedly as she suddenly jumped up from her spot between the Uchiha and Chouji, then explained herself when she noticed how everyone was looking at her with questioning and confusion. "My mom! She has this one book with two women kissing on the front. She says I can't read it... But if two girls can kiss, then two guys can too! And only boyfriends and girlfriends and husband and wife kiss, so that means that there can be guys that have boyfriends and girls that have girlfriends!"

Izumo had heard quite a few crazy things in his life. Mostly from Kotetsu. But this one... It wasn't crazy in itself... But he honestly had no idea how a six year old had come to such a conclusion.

"Yeah! I see what you're talking about!" Ino jumped after her friend, fisting her left hand up to pump it into the air. "There are loads of guys out there! We should be able to find one for Genma without too much difficulty!"

"But..." The girl with the buns on her hair mumbled, looking down at the floor in confusion. "I thought that girls could only kiss guys. I didn't know they could kiss whoever they want."

He really should have said something at that point to stop this whole thing. Izumo didn't want to get onto any of these kids' parents' blacklist because of the conversation they were currently having. But just how was he supposed to stop these kids? It wasn't as if either he or Kotetsu had helped them get to the conclusion. They had arrived at it by themselves. (With a little help from what was undoubtedly a romance novel targeted for middle aged women.)

"Believe it, Tenten!" Naruto suddenly jumped up, joining both girls standing up. "I've seen plenty dudes sucking face! Just like chicks! It's normal!"

Just where did that kid live to see such things so often that he deemed it normal?

"And ma says that you love who you love." Kiba nodded to himself, "Don't matter who it is as long as they're not a child-mol-what-ya-ma-call-it."

These kids... They did not live normal lives...

"But my father says that women can only love men. They cannot love each other. And it's... Uh..." The Uchiha drifted off in thought, then snapped his fingers together when the word came to him. "Disgusting!" Then he looked at his friends in confusion. "He says that it's disgusting to even think of two men together."

All of the kids seemed to have an answer for that. But the one to be listened to completely was the Aburame, whom straightened up to look at the Uchiha with an air of authority around him.

"There is nothing disgusting about love. And your father is an idiot." The kid truly was an Aburame. As blunt and brutally honest as all the others he'd ever come across. "He said that Farmer man was stupid to take care of us. And that your brother should not spend so much time with us. I would not listen to him when it comes to fun or romantic things, Sasuke."

"But... My father is intelligent..."

Suddenly, a booming and raucous laughter filled the break room they had taken over. And Izumo whirled around to face his best friend. He had been so busy paying attention to the children and their reasoning that he hadn't even realized that Kotetsu had begun to stifle giggles. And those giggles had now become full on laughter, loud and whooping.

"This is too good!" Kotetsu shouted out, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye before turning to face the kids with a loose smile. "You kids are a lot less dumb than I thought you were."

"Kotetsu." Izumo growled, making sure to look as serious and angry as he could... Only to be ignored once more.

The jerk rolled his eyes and waved Izumo off, then continued, "But why don't we- instead of argue over how right or wrong it is or whatever- start up on that list of guys? I'm sure Genma's supposed to finish up with his interrogation in no time. And you want this done before he gets out, right?"

They all nodded immediately, even though Sasuke and Tenten continued to look troubled. Ino and Kiba knew a lot of possible shinobi and were the loudest, although other kids gave off their own ideas. Even both Hyuga's spoke up, really surprising Izumo. He would have expected them to have learned a view similar to Sasuke and Tenten's.

By the time the kids had finished up shouting out names, they had filled up three whole papers. Of course, that was because Neji's writing was still rather large. But there was quite a number of ninja they thought would be good for Genma.

At one point, Izumo had heard Ibiki's name thrown around. Just like 'Scarecrow', 'Bear', and 'Rai'. He didn't know who the last three men possibly were, but he'd gotten worried at Ibiki. He hadn't been able to say anything, though, because the kids had continued shouting out more names before he could have.

When he had finally finished the interrogation, Genma was tired, hungry, feeling just a tad bit remorseful, and just wanted to pick the kids up so he could return to his apartment.

"Yo, you two, how were the kids?"

Quite frankly, it didn't surprise him to have the kids suddenly shout and scramble to hide whatever it was that they had been working on. But he had not expected to see the spiky haired teenager join in on the chaos, jumping up to shove the papers handed to him by Neji. The other one, Izumo, merely shook his head with a groan, clearly unimpressed with his friend's behavior.

"They were good, sir." He answered respectfully, turning to him even as the rest continued to run around, screaming about having to hide their 'Master Plan'. "They all behaved rather well."

Genma hid his amusement at the sight before him well. Seeing a chunin that was much older than the children running around with them while screaming about keeping silence about their secrets was quite the sight. And it did Genma's heavy heart well to see such a thing. It helped remind him that there weren't scum to be found in all aspects of life. There were still good people around.

"Ko! You can stop running around!" Izumo huffed in exasperation at his friend's actions, only to have Kotetsu suddenly pick Shino up and twirl with him, both screaming out pure nonsense at this point. This made his friend sigh and shake his head, then cross his arms and jut his hip out in the universal sign of aggravation. "I thought you wanted to go out to party and drink. You can now."

Those words finally broke through the insanity unleashed by Genma just appearing. Kotetsu stopped and lowered Shino slightly, although he did not place him back down on the floor. And when they noticed that he had stopped, the rest of the children slowly stopped screaming until finally there was silence in the room, all looking at Kotetsu, even as Kotetsu looked at Izumo.

"Dude..." Kotetsu groaned after a moment, shaking his head regretfully. "You don't say stuff like that with higher ups around!"

Genma cocked an eyebrow and bit at his senbon in curiosity, knowing rather well who the higher up the teen referred to was. Normally, he wouldn't care about teenagers drinking. But he knew for a fact that these two had not been part of the war. And the only teen shinobi that were allowed to drink were those that had served their time back then and continued to serve it.

For some reason, he felt like meddling. Even though, before, he would have let those kids go off without any words to them. There was just a bitter feeling in his mouth now when he thought about those that were younger than twenty one drinking.

"Aren't you two a bit young to be even thinking about alcohol?"

He didn't miss the smirk that appeared on Izumo's face when Kotetsu shouted out in annoyance, even though he continued to carry Shino.

"I'm eighteen. Kotetsu is seventeen."

"Shino, you'll help me get revenge on Izumo the Icky, right?"

The Aburame immediately nodded at the petition. But soon Genma found someone tugging at the leg of his pants and looked down to find Neji looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Izumo and Kotetsu are younger then twenty one?"

"Yes, we are." Izumo answered the boy, then had to avoid a pen thrown his way by his partner.

"Interesting..." Neji nodded to

himself, then asked, "We will be leaving now?"

Genma found his question somewhat odd. But, even with how amusing it had been to see the two chunin interacting with the kids, he wanted to get back home. So he nodded, thanked both of them for caring for them, warned them to stay away from any kind of alcohol, and walked off with all eleven kids.

He should have understood Neji's question the moment he had made it.

Iwashi was seventeen. And Genma made sure he was safe and cared for, even though the kid didn't need it.

Kotetsu was seventeen. And he lived with Izumo. Both didn't have parents, they'd been killed in the Nine Tails' attack.

Quite frankly, it had taken Genma too long to figure out just why Neji had asked it. But when he did, he couldn't help but smile like an idiot at the way Kotetsu lugged Shino around the living room, running away from the rest of the kids while screaming about how the Aburame was his only true ally in this mental asylum. And then, when Izumo's head popped out from the kitchen and asked him what he would like to eat, he and Chouji were cooking, Genma couldn't help but appreciate Neji's need to find even more strays to fill his apartment with.

Both kids were crazy. But they were the right type of crazy for the situation Genma had landed himself in.

The kids were free from school today. Two months into the school year and they were celebrating their first free day. It was a day that was taken to commemorate the founding of the village, and the children had arrived the day before eagerly chattering about what they had learned about the First Hokage.

"Bear! You came!"

Genma looked up from the backpack he was packing to find Bear lumbering in through his room's window and Ino running towards him with a broad smile.

"You asked me to come." The man answered simply as he patted the blonde's head softly, then looked up at Genma, mask still as terrifying and emotionless as when they had first met. "The children invited me to join your picnic at the park."

Of course they had.

The senbon enthusiast smiled softly at the muscle bound man and turned back to making sure that he had packed enough snacks and water bottles for the hyperactive children.

"I'm not surprised by that, if I can tell you the truth. Raidou and Kakashi are both waiting outside, being entertained by Chouji, Tenten, and Shikamaru."

Both boys had been left to keep the men busy and away from Genma. They had seemingly created a pact earlier on that consisted of doing everything possible to get on Genma's nerves before the day even ended. And that meant that, when they had arrived, they had begun to distract him, poke fun at his lack of love life, and even mess with what he was trying to take to the picnic by throwing in all kinds of random items into the bags he packed.

He had two. One with the perishables and water that were supposed to keep the kids hydrated and fed throughout the course of their time in the largest child friendly park known to any well-known shinobi, Akagahara.

Why he was going to the greenery that surrounded the spot was beyond him, if he could be honest. But, apparently, Tenten had been told by her father that the place was where he ended up taking his chunin exams. And now that she had told her friends about how awesome and beautiful the place was, all of the kids were clear on where they wanted to spend their first vacation from school.

"Did you tell Rags and Bands?"

Genma looked up from the pack he had finished checking over to find Ino hugging Bear's leg tightly, all the while the large man looked down at her, not moving a single inch. Rags and Bands were the newest nicknames he had heard the kids give any of the people they met. And it kind of worried him, seeing how whenever the kids gave someone a nickname, it usually wound up with them integrating into their group.

It had happened with Bitch Face at the beginning, although that had changed for Rai now. Genma had a sneaking suspicion that the kids had stopped using such a name after his injury to keep from injuring Raidou any further with words. And if he was right, then he would have reason to believe the kids were much smarter than some might think. Because for six year olds to understand that words scathed in such a manner to change something they were so used to... They must have understood the true severity of Raidou's injuries.

"I did tell them both." Bear nodded, then his voice took on a more intrigued tone. "Just how do you kids even know Kotetsu and Izumo? They are not Shiranui's usual target demographic."

Genma could have bitten back with some kind of retort about not having targets, but instead victims. But he just shrugged slightly, closed up the pack on his bed, and turned around to face the rest of the bored children laying at the foot of it.

Naruto and Kiba were currently snoring on top of one another, clearly having been struck by a need to sleep out of utter boredom. Sakura and Hinata were busy braiding their hair and looked so cute Genma couldn't be bothered to scold them. And Sasuke, Neji, and Shino were murmuring amongst each other in a way that made Genma remember all kinds of prank plots Naruto and Kiba came up with.

All of the kids had their own individual bag packed from home, except for Naruto. He didn't have anything except for the spare set of clothes Genma had forced him to bring before coming from the orphanage.

Just how the six year old had no extra bag to use was beyond him. But at least he now knew what type of birthday gift he could get the kid... If he decided to stick around for this birthday...

"Okay, munchkins." Genma clapped his hands rather loudly to make sure the sound was enough to awake both snoozing boys, a lopsided smile making its way onto his lips. "Time for fun by Akagahara!"

Immediately the children that had been waiting for him jumped up and began to cheer, running out of his room to tell the five outside that they would finally be leaving. But Kiba and Naruto were a bit slower, groggily waking up with yawns and groans before they saw Genma standing before them with two large bags over his shoulders. They both blinked at him for a second, then their eyes widened comically as the sight before them registered. Then, they too sprung up and began to cheer.

All the while they did not notice the small and rather crooked braids their female friends had managed to create.

The kids were their usual, hyperactive selves while in the greenery they had, for some reason beyond Genma, dubbed 'Aka Park'. The 'walk'- which was really a run- to the old place had taken them only an hour, seeing how between seven- mostly grown- shinobi and Itachi, they had managed to run to the place instead of walk.

Kotetsu and Izumo had met up with them at the village gates, bearing their own small packs and twin smiles. Iwashi had appeared a few seconds later, looking like a giddy little kid with a red bandanna that matched Tenten's own on his head, rather than his usual hitai-ite. The four teens that accompanied them were wearing civilian clothes, even though the four older men all chose to keep their standard shinobi uniform.

They had all marveled at the centerpiece that was Akagahara itself.

None of them had ever taken their chunin exams there. That practice had been left by the time Genma's year was set to take it. Although he had heard rumors of Hayate's team having gone through some kind of team exercise there, although Iwashi's friend had never said a thing about it.

"I want to go inside!"

"What did you all promise me?"

All of the children's awe filled gazes turned to him and soon fizzled out into a kind of annoyance filled one, all the while Itachi recited, "The kids can go to the green surrounding Akagahara, but they are not to go inside. And they already promised you they would not even try, reason why I should not allow myself to be fooled by any lies they may give."

Genma smiled over at the Uchiha and nodded, then motioned for Bear. "You brought the blankets, right?"

The man nodded and soon pulled off the bag from his shoulders. When he opened it, he moved to grab what was inside. But found his hands being slapped away by much smaller ones. And Genma could only look on in amusement as Tenten and Ino pulled the bag away from Bear and forced Naruto and Sasuke to set up the blankets they were supposed to sit on.

While the girls argued about it being the gentlemanly thing to do and for the boys to get their butts in motion, Genma looked at the rest of the kids and motioned for them to hand over their bags.

"We're here. You can go off to have some fun."

It hadn't taken any further nudging from him. The children all dumped their bags by his feet and took off, all apparently set on getting something done as soon as they were able to.

"R-Rags?" Genma looked down at Chouji with slight amusement dancing on his features, then smiled when Izumo bent down slightly so he could take to the child properly.

"Yeah, Chouji?"

"Would you like to play 1, 2, 3, fish with Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata and I?" The boy asked softly, looking up at the older male with wide eyes.

Genma didn't know why, exactly, his friends had decided to send him off as the spokesperson for their game. But he guessed it was merely as a way to influence the teenager into going with them, seeing how Izumo had a rather deep and easy to see connection with the young Akimichi.

"Of course, Chouji." The teen smiled, then looked over at Kotetsu. "Want to join, Ko?"

The wild haired teen shrugged, thought about it for a second, looked over at Shino, then shook his head. The Aburame was slowly making his way towards the patch of flowers to the side of the monument, but Genma trusted him to not try and go inside, so he didn't try to stop the boy.

"Nah. I think I'll join Shino. He doesn't rat me out and has promised me to help me get my revenge on you." He answered cheekily, then placed his pack at Genma's feet like the rest of the kids had. "Shino! Let's find some ants to put down Izumo's pants!"

With that he took off running, all the while Shino nodded seriously at his suggestion.

Genma and Izumo both sighed at his antics, but soon Izumo placed his own bag by the rest of the childrens' and followed after the four he was to play with. Which left Genma with Raidou, Kakashi, and Bear. Ino and Tenten had bullied Naruto and Sasuke into placing the blankets down on the ground, even though the boys clearly weren't too happy about it.

"Seriously, Ino, it's fine. It doesn't have to be straightened." Iwashi chuckled softly at the girl's wanting to have everything perfect, which made the blonde glare up at him in annoyance.

"But it has to be perfect."

"No it does not, Ino." Bear crouched down beside her to pat her shoulder softly, then motioned for the flower patch Kotetsu and Shino were heading towards. "Why don't you head over there? I know how much you love flowers. You could go and have some fun with those."

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows and seemed just about read to argue with the ANBU, but soon enough huffed and grabbed Tenten's hand to force her to go with her.

Genma smirked after them both, then turned to the men left behind and nodded at them all. "Let's set everything up before they get hungry."

~/~

"Rai! Scarecrow! Here are your headbands!"

The mentioned men glanced up from their card game to find that Ino was offering flowers strewn into twin headbands, one just minutely bigger than the other.

On her head was a piece similar to the ones offered, although with more purple flowers than the blues and greens Genma saw on the offered pieces. And Tenten sported one of her own, although with blue and red flowers, clearly having been made specifically for her.

After they had set everything up for when the children eventually came around and demanded to be fed, the men had sat down and begun to enjoy their time in the beautiful green surrounding Akagahara. Genma had to admit that, even though the place itself was rather dangerous, its surrounding scenery was beautiful. And it didn't hurt to look, seeing how it also allowed him to make sure the children weren't up to anything too dangerous.

He and Bear had been watching the kids while giving offhanded and almost lazy commentary on who they thought would win whatever it was that was being played.

(Shino and Kotetsu were too busy gathering ants into a jar Kotetsu had brought. The rest had moved on from their initial game to hide and seek and Sakura was winning most of the rounds. Izumo was letting them win because he wasn't too competitive. And Itachi, Kiba, Iwashi, Sasuke, and Naruto were playing something that reminded Genma of hide and seek, even though they had sticks and screamed out 'You're the Scarecrow!'. Kiba and Sasuke seemed to be the ones that one the most, all the while Naruto always seemed to be Scarecrow. Iwashi made sure to not win too much and to allow Naruto a victory or two, playing a good mediator between the three kids.)

"Uh..." Kakashi blinked as he looked at the offered piece in trepidation, then turned to look at Raidou, who was just as hesitant. "Flowers aren't really something I would like to wear."

Ino's smile quickly turned into a frown as soon as Kakashi spoke, which made Genma sigh softly and shake his head. Seriously? Were they really going to go against Ino? On a day like this?

"But... I made them for you." The girl pushed the slightly bigger one onto Kakashi's head, which made the man jump slightly. But he, instead of trying to get away from the girl, just allowed her to do it, huffing in clear annoyance. "Why wouldn't you want them?" She questioned as she turned to Raidou, then pushed his own headband over his hair.

They were expertly crafted, if Genma could tell the truth. The weaving technique used by the girls was superb and looked good. But his friends were most probably fighting about it because of some stupid notion about what was macho and what wasn't.

He wouldn't, necessarily, want a flower headband. But if he was given one, he'd accept it with a smile. Ino had made it, after all. And the kid deserved to be recognized for her talents. All children deserved that, after all. To be told they were good in whatever they truly were good at.

Raidou looked like a pouting puppy when Ino turned to offer Bear his own headband. And Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest, beginning to sulk.

Why Genma kept these idiots around was beyond him at times.

"And I made Gen-Gen a crown!"

Genma was taken out of his thoughts about his friends being idiots by being offered an even more elaborate style of headband, one with peaks that resembled the crowns shown that the kings of old once wore.

He looked at it in surprise before smiling softly, "Thank you, Ino. It's lovely."

He made to grab it to put it on, only to have his hands smacked away by the blonde girl. "I'll do that, Gen-Gen."

"Oh. Okay."

The girl had allowed Bear to place his own headband on top of his head. But maybe that was because the mask of his caused the girl to have to bend awkwardly to do so...

Genma smiled softly when the elaborate piece was slipped onto his head, snug and not at all uncomfortable. There was a bit of weight on it, but minute. And from the way both Tenten and Ino's faces lit up, he knew they were overjoyed by him having accepted the crown so easily.

"But I don't wanna wear this... It's so..." Raidou's eyes narrowed as he seemed to look for the correct word to describe the flowery gifts, oblivious to the way Ino gasped softly and her eyes began to water.

Immediately, Genma became worried.

"Just wear the headband, Raidou." Bear growled at the man, then looked over at Ino and Tenten. "Run along, little ones. I will make sure the idiots don't break these beautiful creations of yours."

There were no more tears in Ino's eyes after that. She thanked Bear with a broad smile and skipped off after Tenten, whom wanted to give the rest of their kids their own headbands.

With a chuckle, Genma leaned back onto the palms of his hands and looked at Ino and Tenten rush among their friends. The first to receive their headbands were the group of Naruto, Iwashi, Kiba, Itachi, and Sasuke.

Iwashi accepted it with more grace than Kakashi or Raidou. He bowed low, using his hand to curtsy his stick as if it were a sword. Genma smiled at the sight and knew that Ino and Tenten giggled.

"I don't want to wear this..."

"Suck it up. If you don't, you'll make Inoichi's daughter cry."

"He's not my boss."

Genma smirked at both idiots, "He could be. And that's all that matters."

The men didn't seem too amazed with his answer, but they stopped fussing over the flower accessories. So Genma turned back to watching over the children, only to frown at the sight he found.

"That's for girls! I don't want to be no stupid girl!" Naruto growled, "They're smelly and girly!"

It was interesting, really, to see how elementary the kids insults could be. It reminded Genma that, even though they were demonic masterminds, they were still just children.

"I made this one for you, you idiot!" Ino shouted back at her fellow blonde, only to have Sasuke back his fellow boy up.

"That's not something guys are supposed to wear, Ino. You should just give those to the girls here."

"You jerk!" Tenten yelled, taking a step forward to smack Sasuke upside the head.

The boy dodged and only stuck his tongue out at her.

This was going to start a fight among the children. He was just sure of it. Kiba would join in at any time and-

"What's so bad about flowers?"

Genma blinked in surprise at Kiba as he looked curiously at the red and green headband Tenten had offered him, then took it to analyze it further. "Is there poison or something?"

Sasuke, Naruto, and Iwashi were both just as surprised as Genma. Itachi, though, just looked down at the Inuzuka without any emotions on his face. "Kiba, you're always against anything girly."

The Inuzuka snorted, placing the headband on his head in a crooked manner. "Yeah, when the stuff's girly. But this is nature, you idiot. And the Inuzuka Clan is respectful to all kinds of nature. If it weren't for the trees and dirt and water, we wouldn't be around, now would we?"

Everybody was surprised by the kid's uncharacteristic thoughtfulness. But none more so than the girls that had made the flowery accessories.

"Kiba..." Both girls looked at him with wide eyes, stunned in place.

"Tch, don't get all girly on me. Iwashi, let's keep playing!"

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"

But the Inuzuka took off with Iwashi, forcing him to begin playing once more. Then the two girls turned to Naruto and Sasuke, glaring at them.

At this point, they had gotten the attention from the rest of their friends. The rest of the kids, including Izumo and Kotetsu, had walked over to them and had began to accept their flower headbands.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, you two." Izumo bowed to the girls when they placed one on his head, then elbowed Kotetsu in the ribs to accept his own. The younger teen glared at his friend but smiled at the girls, rather polite about the whole thing.

(Bear pointed that out to both Raidou and Kakashi to make them see they were being irrational. It was at this point that both men noticed how close Bear had become to the children... And the point in which they vowed to make the kids love them even more than they loved Bear.)

"The flowers are lovely, Ino-chan." Neji smiled at the girl, then nodded at Tenten. "Thank you both."

Shino quietly stepped forward and placed his own over his head, then looked up at Kotetsu almost expectantly. The teen patted his head softly, making Shino begin to glow in happiness. And Genma had to admit, the Aburame looked adorable with the headdress over his hood.

"You could have invited me, you two. I know how to weave because of my mom. So does Shika!" Chouji had smiled at Ino as she placed his on his head, all the while Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Don't tell them that, Chouji... I don't need to work any more than I already do..."

Hinata had stuttered out a thank you while Sakura blushed brightly and nodded at both her friends. And, soon enough, the only people in the group to not be wearing their flower accessories were Naruto and both Uchihas.

"It's girly! It's not for guys! It's-"

"Is there one for me, Ino-chan?"

The enraged Uchiha's shouting sputtered off when his brother knelt down in front of the girls and asked for his own. And when Tenten produced one similar to her own and placed it on his head, Itachi smiled and nodded at her, thanking both the girls for their beautiful work.

After that he straightened up and smiled at his brother, who looked away in confusion and annoyance.

"Even Genma's wearing his crown."

The kids had looked over at him when Izumo had pointed that out, which made him smile and wave over at them.

After that, it didn't take much convincing to make the stubborn boys to accept the gifts.

..~..~..

Thank you all so much for the love for this story! I never expected for it to garner so much popularity, but I certainly am grateful for it!

I hope you all enjoyed this! And I hope you're able to stick with me for the rest of Genma's tale!