Chapter 15: The Way in Which Genma Found Himself Having to Hold Himself Back From Strangling Them All: The kids were insane. Genma was sure of it. Hell, he'd always known it... But he'd just never thought they would go this far. First with the elders, now this? The only thing that brought him any kind of reassurance was the fact that it hadn't been all of them, just three.

..~..~..

Genma did not like dealing with any kind of issues when it came to the clans. He had ties to most of the big clans of Konoha and didn't want to risk getting into any kind of trouble between them. So he usually tried his best to stay away from anything that could be seen as even moderately controversial and steered the kids away from said things as best he could.

Although, right now, there wasn't much he could do to avoid the issue.

All of the kids he took care of had been part of this mass attack on the council of elders of the Hyuga Clan. Not only them, but also their older friends. Even the most level headed of the group, Hayate, Izumo, and Hana, had been part of the whole thing.

He didn't know what it was that they had done. Nor did he want to know.

Luckily for him, the Hokage understood this. For he did not even try to tell him what had happened. He merely asked Genma what he should do with all of them, for he was at a loss.

At the moment, the guilty party was sitting outside of the Hokage's office. They took up just about the whole space outside along with all of the chairs, which would have brought a smile to Genma's face on any other day. But seeing how they had just committed a felony, he couldn't be bothered to even think about the pure hilarity of the situation outside the Hokage's office.

"If it had been just one or two of the children," The wise man sighed heavily with a regretful shake of his head, "But they were so many. Even the chunin... I am not surprised to learn about Kotetsu and Iwashi, they are wild... But how did they convince the rest to go along with them?"

Quite frankly, Genma was still trying to figure this out himself. Hana, Hayate, and Izumo were sticklers for the rules. They loved order and barely ever went against the shinobi chain of command. But they had joined in on the attack...

Breathing out softly, Genma smiled sadly, "The kids made a good argument?"

The Hokage was not amused with his answer. But it was at this moment that Hiashi Hyuga entered through the window of his office. Which, considering this was Hiashi and not Kakashi, was quite the sight.

The Hyuga's face was tense with restrained anger. And his whole body was coiled tightly, clearly irritated with what his children had done to the members of their own clan.

Upon noticing the curiosity both the Hokage and Genma didn't even try to hide, Hiashi sighed, "There were too many people to go through to make an acceptable entrance. I decided to not even risk having to go through there and entered through the window instead."

It made sense, Genma conceded in his mind. And after a moment of silence between them, he dared ask, "How're the elders?"

Hiashi's eyes burned with controlled anger. It looked so out of place in his usually gentle face that Genma truly was taken aback by it.

"They are alive and well. But they are just about asking for blood." Hiashi answered levelly, although there was clear annoyance dusting his words, "If not the childrens', then my own."

"Yours?" The Hokage questioned, which got a nod from the other male.

"I have told them that the punishment they wish to give is cruel and outrageous. I would much rather try and assuage their anger than have them on a war path against mere genin." At this, Hiashi sighed heavily, closing his eyes to compose himself before he continued, "If I am to accept their deal, no punishment will be asked to be delivered. If you wish to still punish them in some manner, Lord Hokage, you will be able to. But the Hyuga will not clamor to see them brought to justice."

If there was one thing Genma had learned after years of interacting with Hiashi, it was that the man was extremely skilled in keeping check of his emotions. But even he had his limits. The anger and regret that underlined his voice were emotions he undoubtedly wanted to hide. But it seemed that he could not. Which meant that the situation truly was grim.

"Lord Hiashi, what has the council asked of you?"

The Hokage's own voice was deep and worried. And Genma immediately knew that he was going to get caught in the middle of great tension among the Hyuga Clan. All because of the kids.

Hiashi looked them both over with distrust for a second before it vanished. Then he raised his head higher, squared his shoulders, and answered, "To be able to name my successor as Hyuga Clan Head. A member of the main family, of course. But neither Hanabi nor Hinata."

Genma was not able to process the words at first. He heard them. He could understand the meaning. But he could not connect the severity of them with the reality the Hyuga clan lived in.

From what he knew, this had never happened before. Hiashi came from the only line of Hyuga Clan Heads. And Hinata, as his eldest, was supposed to be the heir.

"What?"

Hiashi remained stern and serious even with how completely disbelieving the Hokage sounded.

"They believe that it is about time there was a change in the lineage for the leaders of our clan. My branch of the family, they say, is untrustworthy and does not hold the Hyuga as the most important of those we are loyal to." The man's pale eyes never left the Hokage's as he spoke, "They believe it is time they chose some new blood to take control of the clan once I have passed."

All was silent in the room after he explained.

Genma could not believe what he was hearing.

"And... You're going to accept this?" He asked softly, which made Hiashi turn to him and nod stiffly.

"Believe me when I say that what they have planned for the children is much worse than-"

But before he could finish speaking, the door to the Hokage's office was thrown open. All three men turned to it in surprise, only to find Hinata standing with her eyes narrowed and her lips pulled into a tight frown.

"Do not accept that deal, father!"

She did not stutter. She did not waver. Her face did not heat up in sudden embarrassment at having pulled such a stunt. Instead Hinata's whole body read of determination, her eyes of anger.

"I have worked too much to become a worthy heir just to have that council of ass kissers to take it away!"

"Hinata!" Genma made to scold, only for Neji to walk up and stand behind his cousin.

"We have worked too much to see Lady Hinata's future taken away." The boy glared coolly into the room, crossing his arms over his chest. And finally Hanabi moved to stand to her sister's side, "We will take the punishment."

Hiashi glared at his children. He took a step forward towards them, "What they ask for me to do is cruel. I refuse to do it to children."

And this was when Iwashi walked up and around the Hyuga kids, face set and voice steady, "Alright. Then I'll take the punishment for them."

"Iwashi-" Genma again wanted to intervene. But, once more, he was stopped.

"As Hanabi's unofficial guardian, I am supposed to keep her from getting in trouble. And as an adult, I should not have allowed the kids to go through with such a plan of revenge. I allowed my emotions to cloud me and allowed them to get into a predicament they never should have gotten into." He then turned to look at Hiashi and bowed deeply, "I will take the punishment on behalf of all the kids."

The young man was determined to be the only one to be punished because of a whole group's actions. But in ran Kotetsu, quickly dashing away the wishes the man had.

"I helped them plan everything." He looked Genma directly in the eyes before turning to Hiashi, all the while he moved to stand beside Iwashi, in front of the Hyuga kids. "I'll take some of the burden off of Iwashi."

When Genma turned to look at Hiashi, he found that the Hyuga was frowning sternly. But the anger in his eyes had subsided into what reminded him of the lazy flames of a dying bonfire.

"You-"

He wasn't allowed to say anything else before Hayate, Hana, and Izumo all burst into the room, quickly moving to stand beside Kotetsu and Iwashi. "We'll all take the punishment. But just us. As chunin, we should have known better." Izumo spoke up in a hurried voice, eyes wide even as a small blush began to spread on his cheeks.

He'd never been one for speaking out in front of his elders. And now he was doing it in front of two of the most serious shinobi he'd, undoubtedly, met in his life.

"There is no need for you to give in to those prudes' demands, Lord Hiashi." Hayate spoke firmly, even though he then went into a round of coughing after he'd said this. "We won't let our lack of judgement jeopardize your clan's whole future."

And finally, Hana crossed her arms over her chest, eyes closed as she nodded to herself, "It's only right we make up for our mistakes."

Genma stared at the not-teenagers with confusion pulling at his thoughts. He could understand, in a way, why they were doing this. But it made no sense. Hiashi had offered to keep them all safe. In a way that would change the Hyuga clan's whole future (and there was a high probability that this would be for the worse) and would leave the family reeling to fix everything, but it was still a solution that spared them from whatever evil plans the elders concocted.

Hiashi breathed in before he responded.

He shouldn't have. The man should have spoken up as quickly as possible.

"Never!" Suddenly the rest of the children came barreling into the room, forcing their way in front of the chunin to glare defiantly at the Hokage, Hiashi, and Genma. "If they're going down, we're going down with them!"

Ino was the mains spokesperson. But Kiba quickly followed, "You're all being stupid. We did this together; we'll fix it together. We ain't about to let you guys throw all of Hinata's hard work away just because a bunch of raisins needed a wake up call."

And then Naruto moved forward, raising a fist over at the three oldest people in the room, "And if you think we'd ever let those five take the punishment for us without us fighting about it, you don't know us at all!"

Genma could see a united front when he saw one. And it warmed his heart to know that, even though these kids were dangerous and always got themselves into problems they could easily avoid, they would at least always have someone around to watch their backs.

After the heated declarations, the room fell into a heavy silence. But then Hiashi broke it with a sarcastic statement Genma was still not accustomed to hearing from him. A Hyuga with a sense of humor wasn't all that common.

"Is that all? Or is there another outburst I should wait for before I speak up?"

Upon hearing the rather uncharacteristic sarcastic comment, all of the participants of the attack on the council of elders faltered. Just like Genma, they didn't really expect for Hiashi to have a bone of humor in his body. Even though, much like Genma once more, they'd seen it in action many times before.

"Uh... No... I don't think so." Naruto responded lamely before he took a step back to stand in between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Good." Hiashi nodded, then turned to look at the Hokage, "I believe this settles the matter. There is no need for me to step back and allow a new clan head to be chosen when the children are eager to right their wrongs."

"I agree." The older male nodded pensively, then quirked an eyebrow over at the crowd of kids, "Just how did you know exactly what we were talking about? If I remember correctly, my door was closed."

At this Kiba smiled broadly, Akamaru barked triumphantly from his spot on the Inuzuka's head, and Hana blushed minutely.

"We aren't just good for sniffing out bad guys. We also have pretty good hearing, Lord Hokage."

(After this, the Hokage began to employ sound barriers whenever Inuzuka were around his office and he wanted to speak of something that only a few ears should be privy to.)

"You two ever feel like you've been pushed to the sidelines?"

Chouji and Shino were both surprised to hear Shikamaru actually begin a conversation. And just a tiny bit confused by what he had said.

"What do you mean, Shikamaru?" Shino questioned softly, turning his head just slightly to look at him through the corner of his eyes.

Chouji looked at his best friend with wide, inquisitive eyes, even though he didn't voice out his concern. Instead he just continued to look at him, all the while he ignored the shouting and screaming that was coming from the training ground before them.

A join training competition once more. This time, Genma wasn't around to supervise the proceedings. Instead he had left Izumo and Hayate to take care of making sure everyone played it nice and clean while the rest of the teachers looked on as second pairs of eyes.

"These guys are insane." The Nara murmured as he crossed his arms over his chest, all the while leaning back against a tree. "We're always getting in trouble because of them; back when we were kids and even now. My body still hurts from what the Hyuga jerks did to us..." He sighed heavily, then opened one eye to look directly at Shino, "We go along with their insane plans, yet we get nothing in return."

This was nothing new for Chouji to hear. Seeing how he and Shikamaru had always been the most quiet of the group of kids- aside from Hinata and Shino, of course-, they had always been left behind. He had felt alone on more than one occasion. But then Izumo had come around and he hadn't felt so alone anymore. Just like he knew Shino didn't feel alone because he had Kotetsu.

But Shikamaru just had him. He had no 'big brother' to look up to. No 'big sister' either. And if he was anything like the Akimichi, then having his parents around wouldn't be enough.

"Shika... These are our friends you're talking about." The plump boy spoke softly, which made his best friend sigh heavily.

"Some friends. Chouji, how many times have we gotten the short end of the stick because of some plan they thought up of?" The Nara questioned, but he did not wait for an answer. "And we're always forgotten. Unless they want your baking skills, Shino's insects, or my strategy, we are forgotten."

His harsh words were followed by Naruto's boisterous and hearty laughter. Both things contrasted harshly.

"We are not forgotten."

Chouji turned to look at Shino, hoping that he would say that which he couldn't. He had never been good with trying to argue with others. Which was one reason why he went along with a lot of his friends plans without thinking twice about it.

"Farmer man has been looking after all of us for years now. He has never forgotten one of our birthdays and has always been there if we ever needed to talk with him. He has never forgotten us. Neither have our friends." Shino looked directly at Shikamaru, keeping him pinned even though his eyes were obscured by his thick glasses. "They are loud, they are forgetful, and they are impulsive. But they are great friends." Then he raised his arm and placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, "Do not forget who was there with you to help heal your broken arm when you did not want any of our parents to find out."

Chouji remembered that very well. He, Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru had been climbing trees when they had been eight years old. Shikamaru's parents had been the only ones to say that their kid couldn't do it. But he had followed his friends up the trees to not be left behind.

Kiba and Naruto were really good at it because they had been climbing any and everything since they had been young. Chouji had gone along carefully, paying close attention to the things Kiba had been saying. But Shikamaru had dozed off and grabbed onto an unstable tree branch. If he had been paying attention, he would have easily been able to right himself. But he hadn't. So he'd tumbled onto the ground before and landed on his right arm.

The Akimichi could still hear the way the boy's arm snapped beneath him when he'd reached the floor.

They had all panicked. They had been told to not let Shikamaru climb. And while the Nara's were kind, they were pretty tough. All four of them would have gotten into a lot of trouble if they heard what had happened. And they had all wanted to keep quiet about what had happened. But seeing how Shikamaru had broken his arm, they would not be able to lie their way out of trouble.

They'd gone straight to Genma. Even if the man had been busy at his job, he'd come out of his office to see them. And when he'd seen Shikamaru's broken arm, he'd immediately gone to a med nin and had her help him out. Then, while Shikamaru had been healed, he'd asked for them to tell him what happened.

None of them had lied to Genma. With tears streaming down their faces, the three boys had blubbered about how they'd been breaking Yoshino's rules. And once they'd finished, they'd expected him to rat them out.

But Genma hadn't. Instead, he'd hugged them all, made them promise to not try to climb any more trees unless there was an adult with them, and then ruffled their hair.

"I won't tell this time because you did the right thing in bringing him to me and telling me the truth. But this is the only time I will do this."

"He kept his promise, Shikamaru. Not only because Naruto or Kiba would get in trouble, but also because you would." Shino squeezed the Nara's shoulder for a moment, then let his hand drop. "He loves us all. Some of us... Well, they just demand more attention. Imagine if we were the ones always tended to."

At this, the corner of Shikamaru's lips curled up, "The others would be dead at this point."

"Exactly."

Chouji smiled when he saw his friend smile, then he hugged him and told him, "You don't have to feel like this. You could always come and hang out with me and Izumo. You know how much he loves it when you join us."

The Nara pulled a face in good humor, "He's always calling me a cat."

"Because you are one." Chouji smiled broadly, happy that Shino was around to say the words he had not been able to think of, "But I love you, even though you act as if you hate all of us."

"So Sasuke is a no-go. He's not going to help us out."

"I told you he wouldn't, Naruto. But we can't let that hold us back, now can we? Mizuki Sensei told you that this would help make you stronger."

"And if you're going to be the next Hokage, you're going to need to get as strong as possible. Especially if you want to deal with jerks like the elders in the Hyuga clan."

"I know, Tenten. Now, what we have to do is make sure that we've got the plan set and are ready to go. So... Lock picks?"

There was the jingling of metal, then a haughty laugh, "Akamaru and I've got that down."

"Good. I know the Hokage's place like the back of my hand. So all that's missing is accessibility. Tenten?"

"We are all in the village without any training in a day. So if we're going to strike, it has to be tomorrow."

"Understood. Guys, remember, the plan is to get in, take the scroll, and get out. Then we can look the scroll over-"

"Didn't Mizuki Sensei tell you to not peek?"

"Yeah... But since when have I listened to stuff like that, dog breath?"

"True. You three ready for this?"

A nod paired by a broad smile.

Then another nod, but this time followed by the pumping of a fist while bright blue eyes looked back at the Inuzuka with pure energy.

And, finally, an excited bark.

They were ready.

Sakura enjoyed spending time along with Sasuke. Not because she liked him or anything, her heart was still captivated with the incredibly hunky Hayate, but because he was nice to be around. The last of the Uchiha was quiet, yet understanding and nice. He never insulted her for being so weak and instead tried to help her get better even when she felt like giving up.

And Ebisu was a great teacher to have around. He wasn't sarcastic and rude like Kakashi. Instead, he was kind and encouraging. He used soft words and eager challenges to get her going rather than harsh threats of punishment if she didn't.

Even though she'd known Scarecrow for years and had been happy to have him as a teacher, Sakura had come to figure out that just because she liked the guy, it didn't mean he was a good teacher. But Naruto and Sasuke learned pretty well from him. But she didn't respond well to insults and threats. Instead, she reacted to encouraging goading and promises of rewards.

"Good job, Sakura! Done like a true Uchiha!"

Like right now. If it had been Kakashi teaching her this fire style jutsu, he would have given up on her after her first two attempts, which had ended in failure.

For all the stories there were about him being a great ninja, he was one of the least encouraging shinobi she'd ever come across. Which, really, didn't bother her. Maybe if she hadn't known so many other great teachers because of Farmer man, she would hate her teacher. But because she could ask so many different people for help, all she felt towards Kakashi's teaching methods was slight annoyance.

At least the man was knowledgeable when it came to poisons. And that was something that he couldn't yell at her about, for she understood that extremely well. She was the star pupil when it came to poisons and quiet types of attacks. Even though Naruto and Sasuke had her beat by miles when it came to raw power.

"Think you can do it again, Sakura? Maybe we can try to join the fireball attacks so we can make a giant one without wasting too much chakra."

Sasuke was smiling at her. He didn't smile much, not like this. He gave soft smiles to all of their friends. But this one had teeth. Sasuke almost never smiled like this unless Naruto was around.

Taking in a giant gulp of air to try and regain her breath, the panting girl took a moment to compose herself. Her lungs were burning, her body was sore beyond belief, and there were burn marks on her arms. Maybe, if she continued with trying to master fire style attacks, she would need to invest in arm guards like Sasuke's.

But, even with how tired she felt, Ebisu was looking at her from behind his sunglasses with a smile to just about screamed 'Do it!'. And Sasuke was right beside her, offering to try and create a tag team attack, much like he had with Naruto.

She had never felt so eager to lose so much chakra before.

"Let's do this thing!"

~/~

Ebisu ended up carrying her back home after the training session. Naruto ran to them from wherever it was that he had been just in time to see a humongous fireball soaring through the air and devastating a sizeable amount of trees. And when he'd noticed that Sakura had done half of the work to ensure the success of the jutsu, he'd hugged her tightly and congratulated her on finally being able to reach her dreams.

It had taken her years, but she'd done it. She'd finally mastered the fireball jutsu the Uchiha were so renown for.

Now all she had to do was weasel a few more fire release attacks from Ebisu... That fire bullet attack sure looked pretty cool when the man had shown them how it went... And the fire wall had been pretty interesting too and had great defensive capabilities, aside from offensive ones.

Sasuke and Naruto accompanied them half of the way back to Sakura's home. As Team 7, they stuck together and looked after each other. But Naruto was kind of annoying with his constant questioning of Sakura being okay. Luckily, though, Sasuke seemed to have understood Naruto being annoying and had distracted him with ramen.

Her eyes were closed as Ebisu walked her back to her home. And she dozed comfortably, already used to this sort of ritual after having gone through it many times before.

She was close to being completely asleep when they reached her home. Faintly she heard Ebisu greet her parents and explain what had happened. Her heart swelled with pride when she heard her parents gush about her strength when the spectacled man told them she had finally mastered the jutsu.

But that had nothing on how she felt after Ebisu lay her down on her bed.

The man tucked her in, just like he had done since this odd sort of friendship had first started. After he'd pulled off her shoes, he'd brought the covers over her and made sure they weren't going to fall when she began to move around. Then he patted her softly on the head, which was usually the signal to him leaving.

But tonight was different. Instead of leaving after this, the man stayed.

Sakura faintly wondered what happened. But she was much too tired to open her eyes, much less ask what was going on.

Then she felt his large hand on her head once more and heard him whisper, "I have not felt like I was truly a part of something for a long time... When my sister died, I was left all alone. My brother had not survived childhood and my parents were both gone... I was alone... But then you appeared, an eager child with a thirst for knowledge... And suddenly, I did not feel so alone anymore."

The silence that came after this pierced Sakura's heart.

All tiredness was gone at this point. What she heard, she knew she was not meant to hear. But still, she hoped for more, to understand why Ebisu was telling her all of this.

"You are so much like Enenra..." Ebisu's hand patted her hair two times before he pulled back, clothes rustling softly, "I was not able to teach her correctly... But you... Sakura, you are such a good student... And you are helping me atone for not having done all I could to keep my sister safe... Sakura Haruno, thank you for being my student."

After this, Ebisu vanished through her window.

And all Sakura could do was stare at the window he had gone through before she vowed to become better. To make Ebisu proud.

Lee enjoyed training with his team. They were great teammates to have and eve better friends. Always alert and ready to fight if needed.

Even though Tenten seemed somewhat distracted today.

"Tenten, are you alright?" The boy questioned after completing his final repetition of one hundred push ups, then looked up to find that only ten of the twelve kunai Tebten had thrown had hit the center of the dummy. "This is not like you."

Usually, she would hit the twelve perfectly. But two had strayed off. And that never happened.

"Huh?" The girl blinked for a moment, then turned to her friend, "Am I alright? Yeah. Mind's just drifting a bit. I've got to deal with Naruto and Kiba tonight."

The dark haired male looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"You've never been too bothered with spending time with your friends."

The girl now smiled, "You're right, Lee, I'm just overreacting." Then she ran over to the practice dummy grab the kunai before returning. "How about this: If I don't hit my marks perfectly, I'll run two laps around Konoha?"

"That is a most excellent challenge, Tenten! It is inflamed with the fire of y-OUCH!"

Guy Sensei appeared out of nowhere. And for his troubles of trying to encourage his students, all he received was a sudden Leaf Hurricane attack, followed by those twelve kunai all hitting their marks on his body.

"Huh... This one seems promising... Summoning: Blood Oath, it's called."

"That sounds dangerous, Kiba. Maybe you shouldn't try to learn it... Actually, looking them over, all of these sounds dangerous... Naruto, are you sure Mizuki Sensei told you that this scroll would help you get one step closer to becoming Hokage?"

"His exact words!" A broad beam, then the rustle of paper, "Don't worry, Tenten, we'll be fine! You see, this one's harmless: a clone made out of shadows!"

"You suck at making clones, dumbass."

"I'll show you by learning this!"

"Whatever... The rest are too complicated to learn right now before we give this to Mizuki Sensei... Besides, it says I've got to at least have a 'semblance of mastery of Earth Release'... Im'ma take a picture of all the cool ones. Want me to get some for you, Tenten?"

"Hmm... These two seem promising... Although I guess I'd need someone with medical expertise to help me out... But they look like they'd be cool paired together."

"Yeah. Just like this death trap thing along with the fire vortex."

"The clone one is easy! I'll show you, Kiba!"

"Whatever you say, fox breath."

Then the only sounds among the thieves was the shutter of a camera taking pictures.

When Genma opened his door late one Wednesday night after hearing knocks coming from outside, he expected to find any one of the kids or not-teenagers. And he was prepared to allow them to stay the night as long as they allowed him a few minutes of silence during the morning before they forced him to wake up.

He did not find them. Instead, it was his best friend, Raidou, along with Ibiki Morino.

"Ibiki? Rai?" He questioned as he looked them both over, then cocked an eyebrow in question, "What's going on?"

Both men were frowning sternly back at him. Which meant that they had come for a serious matter. So Genma sobered up and forgot all about how tired he was, instead looking back at them with a frown of his own.

"Three of your brats have just stolen the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's office. Search parties have been sent out to find them." Ibiki all but barked out, eyes hard and frown stern. "Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten. We need your help to find them."

"The places I thought they might go to were unsuccessful. We couldn't find them there. Are there any other places they would hide?" Raidou quickly spoke up, which made Genma's mood darken.

If they weren't in a place they usually hid in, it meant they did not want to be found.

"They are not running away. They wouldn't become missing nin." He immediately told the stern Head of T&I, more than aware of what assumptions their actions could be drawing. "There's more to this story than what you may think."

"I am aware, Shiranui." The tall man told him gruffly, "That is why we are here asking for your help rather than the Search and Pursuit Squad that would ask questions after they had captured the children. Now, why don't you lead us so we can make sure those idiots don't get themselves too hurt?"

There was no further need for any more words between the three men. They took off immediately, Genma leading them towards the one place he knew Naruto and Kiba both enjoyed going when they didn't want to get caught in the middle of their mischief making.

When they heard from Hana that shinobi from all around Konoha were looking for Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten, Team 10 wasted no time in rounding up the rest of their friends. The three split up to find the rest of the group of friends they had, along with Hanabi and the chunin, then brought them all together to be able to discuss what should be their next move.

"We have to find them before the rest do!" Ino, Sakura, and Hinata all agreed on this. "They're going to get into a mess of trouble if someone else finds them before we can help them out!"

"Just what did they take from the Hokage?" Shikamaru and Neji wanted to know, "They're not the kind that would steal something from the old man without having a reason for it."

Kotetsu was just proud that they had actually managed to take something from the Hokage without anybody noticing until a few hours had passed.

The rest of the chunin had smacked him upside the head when he'd said this. Now he was hugging Shino, murmuring about how loyalty meant nothing to this traitorous lot, all he needed was his favorite Aburame.

"It's a very important scroll." Izumo sighed as he ignored his best friend, "One that has information inside of it that could get those three into a lot of trouble."

Hayate then nodded, "If we don't want these guys getting thrown into jail for treason, we've got to find them quick and take them to the Hokage before he can declare them traitors."

"Alright! You guys heard the old men!" Ino suddenly shouted, catching the attention of everyone around her. "Split into groups. Shino and Sakura, you're going with Kotetsu; keep him out of trouble."

The chunin frowned at the blonde, but said nothing about it. The situation was much too serious to start whining about.

"Hana, you're going with Neji and Chouji." Shikamaru continued for his friend, which got nods from the three people he mentioned. "Lee, you'll go with Iwashi, Hanabi, and Hinata. Ino, Sasuke, and Hayate will be going together. And finally, I'll go with Izumo." The Nara finished splitting teams up, then began to assign their search areas.

Once that had been finished, the groups took off without any kind of hesitation. They all needed to find their idiot friends and get them out of trouble before the serious shinobi tried anything.

"What do you think, Akamaru? Good pictures, right?"

A bark followed by excited panting. "I know! I tell you, boy, nobody'll mess with us once we've got this down!"

"You two really are loud. Aren't you aware we're supposed to be ninja?"

"And aren't you aware that you've got to be somewhat smart to even try and use that death trap thing?"

"Are you insulting my intelligence, dog breath?"

"I sure am, Tenten. What, did my superior knowledge cause you confusion?"

"Why you little-"

"Shut up, guys, look at me being awesome!"

They didn't find Kiba, Naruto, or Tenten in the Forest of Death. Instead they found Mizuki skulking about, eyes darting around as he looked for something. With a giant shuriken on his back.

Immediately, Genma knew there was something off about Mizuki being out here. No ninja truly thought of finding kids in such a dangerous place. And no one was sent off alone in cases like this to prevent treason. They were always sent out with at least one partner to make sure that no one tried to take advantage of the situation.

Raidou was about to call out for the sensei when Ibiki stopped him.

"What are you doing? We could help us search."

Ibiki glared at Mizuki's feature with a stern frown, "Let's wait and see before we call on him. There's something off about him being the only one out here when even we didn't know where to look."

Raidou looked at him with confusion. But when he looked at Genma, then senbon enthusiast nodded sternly, silently telling him to stay put.

There was something odd about Mizuki being out here alone. And he wanted to know why the man was out here before they tried anything.

"Are you sure they'll be here, kids?"

"Positive. This is Kiba and Naruto's favorite hiding spot." Sasuke nodded stiffly as he led Hayate and Ino deeper into the Forest of Death, dodging all of the traps and dangers inside with practiced ease. "If they'll be hiding away anywhere, it'll be here."

The chunin followed after the Uchiha without any difficulty. Although Ino did have a bit of trouble trying to avoid the traps, even though she had evaded them a few times before. She had come here before, but she didn't know the place as well as the likes of Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke. But the trouble she experienced wasn't nearly enough to slow her down.

When they reached her favorite hiding spot, they found a rather odd scene.

Naruto was there. Just like Kiba, Akamaru, and Tenten. But they had been expecting this. What they hadn't expected, though, was to see their old teacher, Mizuki Sensei with a broad smile on his face.

"Come on, Naruto, you can hand the scroll over now!"

"You sure, dude?" Kiba was looking over an opened scroll in his hands, moving the long papers around in his hand as he scrutinized what was inside, "These things... It don't seem like it'd be a good thing if these jutsu fell in the wrong hands."

Tenten nodded beside him, "Shouldn't these be with the Hokage? I mean, it's cool that Naruto can get stronger with this and whatever, but... This doesn't seem right..."

The white haired teacher smiled warmly at his old students, "You kids can trust me. Now, if you would just hand the scroll over-"

"Don't!"

Genma was now standing between the kids and the teacher. His back was turned to the group of three that had just arrived, so they couldn't see his face. But from the tension in his body, Hayate knew he was angry.

"I should have known you would want to get your hands on this, Mizuki. You've always been real nice to Naruto... But I thought it was because you truly cared." Genma was growling. They'd never heard him like this before... Not even when they had pissed him off with the whole Hyuga elders situation. "You're sick, you know that, right?"

"Shiranui... I thought you were supposed to be outside of the village on a mission." Mizuki's face changed. He wasn't smiling anymore. Instead, he was frowning heavily. "Don't listen to him, Naruto! He's lying!"

At this, Genma looked back at the three kids behind him. None of them had noticed Ino, Sasuke, and Hayate's appearance.

"Naruto, I love you... You're an idiot, but I really d-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

Genma Shiranui had just committed the one great mistake no ninja should ever make. He had taken his eyes off of the enemy. And now he found a giant shuriken embedded into his back.

"Genma!" All three of the kids screamed as the man's eyes widened horribly, his body freezing up as it began to bleed.

Mizuki took advantage of their surprise. He quickly dispatched of them before he rolled up the scroll that had been his prize, a sick smile on his face as he moved to stand before Genma.

Sasuke and Ino were much too shocked at the scene before them to move. They didn't even notice Hayate moving away from them to get closer to the two men.

"How could you think anyone would ever like a demon brat?" The teacher spit out as he rested his foot over Genma's face, causing him wince and close his eye.

"Wh-what?" Naruto managed to make out as he clunkily sat up on the floor, staring at both men through wide eyes.

"Right..." Mizuki's sneer was what Ino could only call pure evil. "The Hokage forbid us from ever talking about this... Well, you see Naruto, you're a monster. You've got a monster living inside of you and that's why nobody-"

He was cut off from saying anything else when Raidou and Ibiki flew out from their hiding places, immediately rushing towards him to stop the man. But Mizuki smirked, apparently prepared for their attacks. Although, when the sharp edge of a sword slid threateningly over his neck, the smirk dropped.

"You've said a bit too much, Mizuki." Hayate growled before he coughed softly, glaring at the other man. "Let go of the scroll."

Mizuki glared back at him, seemingly intent on keeping hold of the scroll. But then two large bear traps clamped over his legs, summoned up by Ibiki. He shouted out and dropped the Scroll of Seals, which Raidou picked up before punching him so harshly that he was knocked unconscious.

There was an amount of skill that the kids could learn from by just watching the men at work. But their attention was taken when they all turned to look at Naruto, only to find that he wasn't there any longer.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, then grabbed Ino. "We have to go after him!"

"But Farmer man-" She gasped, eyes drifting over to the man struggling to get up from the floor.

"Has three capable shinobi helping him! Naruto, though, has no one!" He growled, then ran forward to haul Kiba and Tenten up from the floor, "We have to go after Naruto. Kiba!"

After a few seconds of blinking in awe at the four shinobi before him, Kiba looked at Sasuke, shook off his shock, and nodded. "Got it. Akamaru, we have to hunt down a fox!"

With this all four genin rushed off, not even thinking about the group of men they were leaving behind. Or the trouble they might be getting themselves into.

"Wait-" Raidou shouted out to stop them, but the kids were long gone by the moment he'd even said this. "We should-"

"Get Genma to a hospital." Ibiki cut him off, looking Raidou straight in the eyes. "What Mizuki said has undoubtedly cut Naruto deeply. Right now he does not need old men like us scolding him. Nor to worry about Genma. So you are going to get him to a hospital while Hayate takes the scroll back to the Hokage. I'll deal with the traitor."

..~..~..

I let the first poll stay up and open for a good three weeks, if I'm remembering correctly. So I'll do the same with this one to allow the most amount of people to give their opinions. And, if anyone's wondering, the reason why I put up this second poll is because the first one gave me interesting results. In that one, most people voted against Bear being the love interest. And they gave their opinion as to others, the reason why there are more people to consider in this one.

Please review!