Chapter 16: How Genma Found Himself on Probation From All Fronts: After his supposed 'self-harming actions', Genma found himself getting scolded like a kid by everyone. His friends, the Hokage, even the kids wanted to keep him from going out on missions (They may have tried to force him into a clan.). Aside from that, he found himself seeing quite a few interesting things with his adult friends. Who would have thought Kakashi was capable of asking for help?

..~..~..

He hadn't really been thinking straight when he'd jumped in between Mizuki and the kids. All he had been thinking about was that he needed to get to Naruto before Mizuki tried anything. And that had landed him in the hospital under the threat of possible spine damage.

Apparently, Raidou was not amused with his actions. And he made it extremely clear as soon as Genma was awake and able to pay attention.

"Of all the stupid things you could have done, you had to turn your back on a traitor." His best friend sneered with a heavy frown on his face, pacing from the front of his hospital room all the way to the back.

From what he knew, Raidou had been pacing for a good hour. He'd been brought in about five hours ago and surgery had been performed to make sure that there would be no lasting damage to his nervous system. Now he was healed up, had been asked to not do anything too vigorous for a month and to stay for observation for at least two nights, and to wait for the children to appear rather than worry about them.

Genma looked at Raidou with a thoughtful expression on his face before pursing his lips slightly, "Where are the kids?"

If they had been told he was in the hospital, he was more than sure that at least a few of them would have appeared by now. But it seemed that none had been told.

Raidou glared down at him for a good minute before he sighed softly and sat himself on one of the plastic chairs to the bed's side, "Kiba, Ino, Sasuke, and Tenten took off after Naruto after Mizuki opened his big mouth. Hayate took the scroll back to the Hokage and was supposed to explain the situation. And Ibiki's locking the traitor up real tight."

That didn't answer his question.

Both men shared a moment of silence in which Genma just waited for Raidou to answer what he had asked. And with a heavy sigh, his best friend gave in.

"I don't know where they are, okay? Ibiki and I went to look for your little mongrels as soon as we heard they had stolen the scroll. Kotetsu and Izumo were with us, though, when we heard, so I'm sure the kids knew that those three were in trouble. Undoubtedly they split up into their own search groups, seeing how Hayate was with Ino and Sasuke when shit went down." With this the man looked out the window of the room, taking in the dark night sky. The moon was nowhere in sight. "I don't know where they are."

Genma resisted the urge to screw his face up in annoyance and pain. Even though he was hopped up on some kind of drug for it, he could still very clearly feel his newest injury.

He was pissed off. All he wanted to do right now was run after Naruto and explain everything, tell him how he wasn't a monster and that he was actually the son of one of the greatest people to have lived. But he had been stupid and turned his back on his enemy. So he was stuck in the hospital for the time being with an injury he could have easily avoided if he hadn't been impulsive.

It seemed that he wasn't all that cool under pressure when it came to his kids...

"Ino, Sasuke, Kiba, and Tenten are going after Naruto?"

"Yeah."

Genma's frown softened just slightly upon hearing this. "Good."

Kiba ran at the forefront of their little group. He and Akamaru had locked onto Naruto's scent and refused to let go of it. And for the first time in... Well... The whole time they had known each other, neither Tenten nor Ino were hurrying or insulting him. Instead the girls were silent, following behind both boys. Their eyes were narrowed in determination, more than sure of what they wanted to do.

Even though none of them understood just what Mizuki Sensei had meant with what he had said, they knew it had hurt Naruto. He wouldn't be running away from them if it hadn't. And they were going to make sure that he understood that, no matter what, he was their friend.

"We're getting close!" Kiba barked out behind him, alarming his friends.

"How much farther?" Sasuke questioned, which made the boy turn his nose forward and sniff before turning back to him. "He's stopped a couple of clicks up northeast. Close to that den of killer moths we found a couple of months ago."

Sasuke frowned heavily upon hearing this, "Can you smell the moths?"

Akamaru barked at this, which had Kiba nodding in agreement with him, "Of course. But they're resting. They haven't been annoyed or contacted yet."

Tenten looked at Kiba quizzically, but said nothing as they continued to run from one tree branch to another. Then, once they were close to the spot where Naruto was supposed to be, they slowed down to a wary trot.

"N-Naruto?" Ino called out, which made Kiba hiss at her and shake his head. "What?!" She hissed back, earning an eye roll from the Inuzuka.

"You can't catch someone by surprise if you yell their name out." He growled out, only to get flicked on the ear by Sasuke. "Ow!"

"We're not trying to catch him by surprise, idiot." The last Uchiha grunted, then looked forward to where Kiba had been leading them. "Naruto, Ino, Tenten, and Kiba are here."

All was silent around them as they waited for an answer. But Kiba soon frowned and Akamaru whined softly.

"What's wrong?" Tenten asked him, noticing how serious he suddenly became.

The Inuzuka held his finger up for a moment, seemingly concentrating on hearing something, then looked at his friends. "He's sniffling."

"Is... Is Naruto crying?" Ino asked in complete shock.

Sure, she'd seen the blonde cry many times. But it was usually out of happiness, not sadness. On his first shared birthday he'd cried for just about an hour before he had calmed down. And whenever someone did something he considered especially touching he allowed a few tears to fall even now. But he'd never cried out of sadness in front of them. Not that she could remember.

Tenten grunted and crossed her arms over her chest, eyebrows drawing in. "Stupid Mizuki jerk... Should have kept his mouth shut."

They couldn't hear the soft sniffling that Kiba said was coming from Naruto. But the girls wouldn't blame him if he truly was crying. The teacher's words were harsh. And they must have cut deep coming from someone he trusted almost as much as Iruka Sensei.

"Naruto, I'm going to find you!" Sasuke called out into the dense shrubbery the blonde was hidden behind, then looked behind at his friends. "Don't say anything stupid."

With this warning, the Uchiha walked through the greenery and made his way towards his best friend. Towards his brother.

The hive of the killer moths hung high above them on a tall ancient tree. Naruto was hidden within the two biggest and thickest roots, only the tips of his hair visible. As if finding him without a nose like the Inuzuka's was hard enough without any moonlight. The blonde decided to make it even more difficult by choosing a difficult place to be spotted.

"Go 'way."

Sasuke didn't even hesitate upon hearing the watery growl. Instead he climbed over the large roots of the tree, settling himself against the thick trunk two roots away from Naruto.

They both remained quiet for a moment, Sasuke just staring up at the hive of moths, internally wondering if this truly was the wisest place to be holding a conversation. Then Naruto coughed before looking over at him.

"At least now I understand why the rest of the kids didn't want to play with me..."

His words were sad, much sadder than Sasuke thought would ever be possible for the ray of sunshine that was his best friend. And his blue eyes were rimmed by a vibrant red while tears still traveled down his cheeks.

Sasuke gave him a moment more to compose himself before he spoke up.

"So what?"

Naruto was stunned by the harsh question. His whole body froze, something that just wasn't right for the always energetic Uzumaki.

"S-Sasuke-"

"Shut up, Naruto." The Uchiha bit out harshly, turning away from his friend. "The other kids don't matter. They never did. Do you forget that we grew up together?" Then the boy sighed heavily, hanging his head, "I don't know what Mizuki meant. I don't know what kind of monster you could possibly be. What I do know, though, is that you're my best friend. Naruto, we've been friends for years now. Why would you run away from us?"

Tears began to fall once more. The blonde didn't try to wipe them away. Instead he just struggled to breathe before saying, "B-Because I'm a monster! Who would want to be-"

He wasn't able to finish his self-depreciating sentence. Tenten burst in from where she had been left behind, throwing herself onto the blonde to hug him tightly.

"You're a dumbass but we're your friends!"

After this, Ino came rushing forward to wrap her arms around Tenten and Naruto. The distraught blonde shouted out at the sudden force impacting into him, but was not allowed to say anything.

"Ignore that Mizuki jerk! You're a great friend and we're never letting you forget that!"

After this, Kiba followed in an, oddly enough, more sedated pace. He grabbed Akamaru and placed him on the floor, only to have the pup run over and jump into the tight embrace.

Sasuke glanced at him in confusion, truly wondering why he was not part of the hug fest. The Inuzuka looked back at him for a moment before he shrugged slowly.

"I always knew Naruto was different."

The silence that fell over them was so loud that Sasuke could not believe what he had heard. Ino, Tenten, and Naruto stared back at Kiba with wide eyes, all of them stunned beyond belief.

Kiba raised his hand to scratch uncomfortably at the back of his head before he explained himself, "Inuzuka, remember guys? Sometimes I get insulted with how much you miss..." He sighed much too dramatically at this, but then explained himself, "Everyone's got their own unique scents. Thing is that I can tell when something's normal and when something isn't."

Then he looked over at Naruto, "You've always smelled like a fox. Like there's something off with you." Then he shrugged again, much too relaxed with what he was telling them for Sasuke's tastes. "Never stopped me from being your friend, though. And Akamaru likes you well enough even though he didn't trust you at first."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. This whole time they had been left in the dark to a huge secret about Naruto. And the only one that had any idea about it was the Inuzuka? What had he missed? How had he allowed it to get past him? He should not allow such big secrets to remain hidden from him!

The Uchiha glared at Kiba but said nothing. Instead he allowed his friends to speak out the outrage he felt, more than sure that they would be just as annoyed as him.

One. Two. Three.

Once four seconds had passed, Sasuke began to worry that he may have been wrong about his friends reaction.

But he was proven to not have needed to worry when Ino suddenly flew away from Naruto to unleash a flurry of punches on Kiba, all of which the boy took full on because he was not prepared for it.

"How could you have known this whole time and not have told us?! How could you be so calm about this?! Why do you think you're so cool!? Ah! Kiba Inuzuka, you're so infuriating!"

Sasuke smirked softly as Tenten joined in on Kiba's scolding, more than glad to know that he wouldn't have to dish out his own punishment because the girls were already doing it for him. But after a while, he got tired of hearing the Inuzuka's screams for mercy, so the Uchiha turned to look at Naruto. The Uzumaki was hugging Akamaru close to him, murmuring softly. Then, once he'd stopped, the dog began to lick his face and Naruto broke out into a large grin.

He wasn't sure just what it was that Naruto had asked to make Akamaru react in such a manner. But Sasuke was just glad to see his brother smiling again.

When Genma awoke the next morning, it was to a discordant motley of voices.

"You're never going off alone again, you hear me, kids? You were missing for hours!"

"We're fine, old man."

"Old man?! I'll have you know I'm younger than your Farmer man!"

"Doesn't matter. He's old. You're old. Anyone older than fifteen's old in my book."

The banter between Kiba and Kotetsu was loud enough for Genma to be able to separate it from the rest of the voices without too much difficulty. But the rest of the voices were somewhat muddled and confused, and he blamed that on the drugs that were still pumping through him. Although he guessed that was okay, seeing how he barely felt much pain at the moment.

"Of all the foolish things you kids could have done... Do you have any idea what the Hokage will now have to go through to fix this great mess you have created?"

Lord Hiashi's voice was harsh and just above a whisper. But it was such a hard and demanding tone that Genma could pinpoint it easily enough.

"We're sorry, Lord Hiashi." Naruto and Tenten chorused together, but Kiba didn't.

Wait a minute... Hadn't the Inuzuka brat been part of the-

"Say it."

Ibiki? What was he doing in there? Was the room even big enough to fit so many people?

"... Sorry, Lord Hiashi." Kiba grumbled and Genma could just hear the eye roll, then ended up having to surprise a smirk when he heard Kiba shout out in pain. "Why do I keep getting hurt?! I'm going rogue next time someone hits me!"

"I'd like to see you try, kid." Ibiki grunted with slight amusement dusting his tone. Then he grunted, "Maybe we should have agreed to having Genma moved from room. There are way too many people in here."

"Nonsense, Ibiki! We're all nice and cozy here."

Genma kept his eyes closed this whole time because, quite frankly, he wanted a few minutes to compose himself before he faced the scolding he would undoubtedly receive. Ibiki had most probably already told the rest of the adults about what he had done, which meant that a scolding was in place. Even though Raidou had made his annoyance more than clear the past night, he was sure that he would have a lot more to hear about his impulsive actions.

Admittedly, last night, he had not been a shining example of a competent shinobi. But he really didn't want people to tell him this.

"Yeah, big guy. Dad's right. We don't need a bigger room. What we need is for Farmer man to wake up." He could just hear the smile in Ino's voice. Although he could also hear a hint of worry, which made him feel bad.

He really should have been a bit smarter. But all he had seen was his kids in a dangerous situation. And then Mizuki had pulled that dirty trick about speaking of Naruto's biggest secret. He had felt the pain in Naruto's voice. He couldn't have just allowed him to go off without saying a single thing. In retrospect, he had been wrong in trying to fix all the problems at the same time. But he felt like he truly needed to do it.

There were more conversations going on at the same time. Hinata, Neji, and Hanabi were conversing with Iwashi about something or another. He couldn't hear Shikamaru or Chouji, but that really didn't surprise him considering how quiet both boys were.

Genma rejoiced in the discordant symphony that was everybody in his room talking above each other for a few more minutes. He just rejoiced in all the little conversations, catching snippets here and there as he enjoyed the different things he was hearing. Although hearing Hiashi scolding the kids sure was odd. But then he breathed in, steeled himself, and slowly opened his eyes.

Everyone shut up as soon as they noticed that he had opened them.

The first thing the senbon enthusiast saw were Hiashi's stern eyes soften just slightly before the man nodded at him with a grim frown. He was standing to the right side of Genma's bed, arms crossed sternly over his chest. 'We're going to have to talk' that look said. Genma didn't want to.

Then his eyes drifted over to catch Ibiki's own, only to find that the man had a soft smirk on his face. He was standing a bit away from Hiashi with Inoichi at his side. He found the smirk odd but wasn't able to ask anything before he suddenly found his bed taken over by the kids jumping onto him.

"Farmer man!"

"Genma-san!"

"You're not allowed to be stupid ever again!"

"You're not allowed to go on missions either!"

"Kiba, you can't possibly-" Ibiki began to say, only to get cut off by the Inuzuka.

"Shh! I know my clan rules! And a clan head can forbid a shinobi from going out into the field if they deem said shinobi a danger to themselves."

Neji, Hinata, Hanabi, and Ino were hugging onto his neck, splayed out on the bed in a manner he never would have expected the Hyuga to be in. Ino? Yes. The Hyuga kids? Not so much.

Kiba was standing up on the corner of his bed, Naruto sitting beside him with a hand on Genma's calf. Sasuke was sitting on the chair Raidou had used the past night, Chouji to his left. Shikamaru and Shino were both leaning against the wall quietly, even though their eyes were on him. Tenten, Sakura, and Lee were all at the foot of his bed, glancing up at Kiba with quizzical looks on their faces.

"But he's not part of a clan, Kiba." Izumo cleared his throat from the doorway, sandwiched between Kotetsu, Iwashi, and Hana. Hayate was hidden in the farthest corner of the room, eyes drooping tiredly.

"That's where you're wrong." The Inuzuka suddenly pulled out a tattoo machine from the bag perched on his shoulders, turning with a wicked smile to look down at Genma. "It's time to show that you're an honorary Inuzuka!"

"What?! No fair!" Ino huffed, turning to look up at her friend with annoyance. "I want him to be part of my clan!"

And suddenly Genma found himself in the middle of an argument over which clan he should belong to.

The adults in the room didn't do anything to try and stop him. Instead Hiashi merely told the kids that he would not be accepted into the Hyuga clan because of his lack of Byakugan, which made his three kids deflate. Inoichi pointed out that to be a Yamanaka, it would be good for Genma to know a few mind related jutsu. And Kotetsu (who, realistically speaking, may never count as an adult in Genma's book) said that his clan didn't need any fancy requirements to be part of it.

In the end, the kids spent a whole hour arguing over which clan he should belong to. The Uchiha were never mentioned and that was for good reason.

When he was about to drift off into sleep because of the drugs a nurse had come in to administer, he felt a thump on his shoulder. So he opened his eyes to find Tenten smiling broadly at him, all the while Hana shuffled nervously and Kiba raised the tattoo machine.

"No."

"Come on! You'd be an Inuzuka! We'd even give you a dog!"

Luckily, Tsume chose to enter right then and kicked out all of the kids so that the adults could have a conversation. She scolded Kiba for having even thought about admitting someone into their clan without her permission and Hana for not having stopped her idiot of a brother.

"Come on, you mangy mutts! Out! It's adult time!"

"I'm an adult too, ma." Hana grumbled even as she followed after Sakura and Hinata.

"I ain't going! I'm a grown-" Kotetsu wanted to argue, but Hayate and Izumo grabbed him and pulled him out before he could say anything too stupid.

Once all of the kids had left, Genma was left in a room filled with people that literally made him feel small. Ibiki, even though he was younger than him, had this aura about him that spoke of irritation and being all around pissed off. Hiashi's own was more controlled, but he was still clearly annoyed. And Inoichi and Tsume both looked like disapproving parents.

Sighing softly, Genma looked up at all of them for a moment before saying, "Before you start ripping me to shreds I've got only one thing to say."

He looked around the shinobi and waited for them to make some signal of acknowledging his petition. Hiashi quirked an eyebrow. Ibiki grunted. Tsume sneered. And Inoichi nodded to ask him what he wanted say.

"I know I was stupid. There's no getting away from that. But that jerk said some things I couldn't ignore." Genma sighed heavily, shrugging softly. "I shouldn't have listened to those things, I should have kept my eye on Mizuki, I'm aware of that. But there's no way any of you could be anymore disappointed in me than I already am."

He looked them over, hoping that they would take his words into consideration. And when Hiashi smiled softly, he thought that he maybe would be able to get away from the harsh words he knew these men and woman were capable of.

"Nice try." The Hyuga's voice was laced with humor, but he soon frowned. "But you're not getting off so easily."

Genma deflated much like Kiba had a few minutes ago. Then he smiled awkwardly, "It was worth a try?"

"You've been hanging around those kids too much, Shiranui." Ibiki grunted, then began to list all of the things he had done wrong the past night.

Genma wasn't allowed to work for a month after the Mizuki incident. Which was fine by him, seeing how it gave him a chance to truly connect with Naruto and try to fix whatever damages Mizuki had caused.

The first few days had been awkward. Naruto didn't speak as much, even though he and Sasuke truly tried. But one day Naruto walked into his room while Genma slept and shook him awake.

"Genma?"

The man murmured softly as he felt himself being pulled away from his sleep, then opened his eyes to find Naruto's bright blue eyes looking at him with worry and confusion. Immediately he sat up and asked, "What's wrong, Naruto?"

"The old man..." Naruto hesitated for a moment, then breathed in heavily before he continued. "He says that I've got a demon spirit in me that was sealed inside of me. Kiba says that he's known for forever, but just thought it was a biology thing. And the small amount of records of the Kyubi we've been able to find say that it's supposed to be a blood thirsty monster that can't be stopped."

Genma blinked at the blonde boy, unsure of where he could be going with this information. He wasn't surprised to hear that he, along with some of his friends, had looked up more information of the demon in his body. But he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react.

"... Genma... Did you know my dad?"

The question hit him hard. In all honesty, he had hoped that he would never need to have this conversation with the boy. Partially because the Hokage had created laws against Naruto finding out about his true heritage. Partially because he ran the risk of the boy spouting off his big mouth and getting himself in trouble. But mostly because he wasn't ready to speak about Minato and his greatest mistakes just yet.

The man looked at Naruto for a few seconds breathing out softly and looking away. He glanced over at his windows, only to find that the morning hadn't even begun to rise yet.

"He was a good man." He struggled to say, struggled to smile, struggled to stay together. "Just like your mother... He was a ninja, you know."

This immediately caught Naruto's attention. "Seriously?"

This could be a great mistake. Naruto could make him truly regret saying all of this.

But the boy needed something to believe. More than just cover ups and half-truths. He needed something he could grab and believe in firmly without needing to worry if he was being lied to again. And while Genma couldn't flat out tell him who his true parents were, he could at least tell him quite a few stories.

"Seriously." Genma smiled softly, then moved over to pat at the spot beside him on the bed. "Wanna hear a misadventure from when he was a genin?"

"Do I!" The boy jumped onto the bed and looked up at him with bright and innocent eyes.

Minato's eyes.

Genma did his best to prepare himself for the bout of story telling he had just sentenced himself to. And with an almost strained smile, he began to tell the story Minato hated to tell but Kushina loved to hear about his first true mission as a genin. Much like Kiba's worst stories, cats were involved. But to an unbelievable degree.

~/~

At one point, Sasuke appeared with breakfast for the three of them. Then he settled himself in the corner of the bed, listening intently to the tale of when Naruto's father found himself in the chunin exams with faulty underwear. Genma continued to speak, telling both boys as many light hearted stories as he could remember of the man he had once sworn to protect.

The rest of the day was spent in that manner. They only left Genma's bed to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. And when Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi joined in, they settled themselves in his room without disturbing the peace they had managed to create. Instead they just listened to Genma speak. And the man just enjoyed being able to say so many good things about Naruto's nameless parents.

(He wouldn't notice it at the moment. But Genma's chest felt a thousand times later once the day had finished and the kids were all asleep on his bed.)

(Must have been finally coming to some terms over Minato's death.)

As punishment for having been stupid enough to steal something from the Hokage's office, Kiba, Tenten, and Naruto were forced to work for the man for a month. Which, by the end of it, ended up feeling like more of a punishment to the man than the kids.

"Shopping cart race!"

The Hokage breathed in, counted to ten, and hoped nothing would break. Kiba's shout was loud and happy, the laughter that accompanied it clearly belonged to Kotetsu, and he could just hear Izumo's muffled voice telling them this was a bad idea.

Quite frankly, he should not have been surprised to find out that both chunin would spend their time with the kids, even though it meant they would ignore their work. But it annoyed him that even Izumo allowed himself to be dragged into their bad ideas.

With a 'come here' motion of his hand, Hiruzen found one of his most trusted ANBU standing beside him. The man with the bear mask wasn't as active anymore because of the work he took on apart from ANBU, but he had been brought back to his private guard after the kids had managed to steal the Scroll of Seals.

"I wish for you to speak with the kids as soon as you're able to." Hiruzen told him, then explained himself, "I believe it is about time they understood the true severity of what they have done."

"Of course, Lord Hokage."

The man bowed, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He felt bad for sending Bear to do such dirty work. But the kids wouldn't listen to anyone that wasn't close to them. And it would be good for them in the long run to begin to understand how serious their lives would be once they became ninja.

"Kiba, you cheater!"

A crash outside of his office resounded loudly, then Kiba's boisterous laughter. "It's not my fault Izumo's slower than Kotetsu!"

He could feel the beginnings of a headache appearing... There would be much paperwork to fill out because of whatever those kids had just broken.

"No, don't strain yourself, Genma! I've got the groceries."

Genma quirked an eyebrow at Kotetsu's sudden spurt of kindness, but didn't question it.

He had gotten used to this by now. Ever since he had taken Mizuki's shuriken to the spine, the kids had treated him like glass. Which, if he could tell the truth, he didn't mind.

It felt nice to have people treating him well. Although, after a while, it did get annoying that they didn't let him go more than a few feet away from them without tehm worrying about him.

"You never offered before, Ko." Genma smirked softly as the male grabbed the bags of his hands then harshly kicked his door open. It slammed against the wall, making Genma sigh heavily. "Not one time..."

"I'm trying to be nice, Farmer man." Kotetsu smiled up at him, "Can't have you hurting yourself anymore, right? Especially with how the kids now have a security detail on you."

This caused Genma to do a double take.

"What did you just say?"

Kotetsu froze. He paled just a bit. Then he smiled nervously and ran into his kitchen. "Nothing!"

He had climbed out of Genma's window before the man could stop him.

"How's Lee's training coming along, Guy?"

"Perfect, my most youthful friend! He is such the fire cracker! I am proud to call him my student! Much like Neji-kun and Tenten-chan!"

Genma smiled softly at Guy's ever present enthusiasm before he turned to Ebisu.

It was one of those odd days in which they were all able to get together. There weren't any missions that needed immediate attention and the kids were all of with their own devices, most probably getting in trouble.

"And how about Sakura, Ebisu?" Genma asked as he turned to his quiet friend, "She seems a lot more confident recently."

"I would hope so." The man answered almost haughtily as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, although he soon smiled fondly. "Even though she does not have a raw talent for jutsu, she has determination and discipline. Her fireball is nearing Sasuke's in size."

Hearing this made Genma feel good. He knew that both of those kids had struggled with their shinobi craft, unlike most of their friends. Both had been born to civilians. They did not have access to early training like the rest had.

"You know, guys, it's nice to catch up with you." The senbon enthusiast clicked the senbon in his teeth for a moment before rolling it over with his tongue, "It's been a while."

Both his old teammates nodded, "Sure has." Ebisu agreed, then smirked deviously, "All that is missing is Choza Sensei."

Hearing the man's name made an idea immediately strike Genma. And from the way Guy lit up, he hadn't been the only one.

"He doesn't have to be missing." Genma smirked, then leaned forward as Ebisu and Guy did as well. "Should we go and grab him? Drag him out for a reminiscing day?"

"Let's." Both Ebisu and Guy smiled broadly, then they jumped out of the chairs in Genma's dining room table and walked outside.

The rest of the day was spent hunting their old teacher down. And when they finally found him, it was with Team 10 with him, completing a mission for his clan.

"Farmer man? What are you doing here?" Ino asked innocently as he, Ebisu, and Guy walked up to their old teacher.

"Being old men." He answered coolly with a shrug, then smiled over at the man, "What do you say we go to that bar you always took us to?"

Choza glared at him at the reminder of having enabled teenagers to drink alcohol, but soon smiled good naturedly, nodded, and turned to Chouji. "Once you finish up rearranging the kendo sticks, you can start patching up that hole your Inuzuka friend made when he barreled in chasing after those cats."

The boy was left somewhat dumbstruck as the four men began to walk away. Genma even heard him mutter quietly, "Why are they all going out together?"

"Don't know... Must be old people stuff." Shikamaru answered back, which made Genma smirk.

Old people stuff.

These kids...

Genma had been told by Ibiki to round up all of his kids and bring them to Training Ground 8 at five in the morning.

'I've spoken with their parents. They are aware of what is to happen. Do not worry. Just bring them early.'

It was an odd order. But he wasn't about to go against his superior. So the man went about waking all of the kids up in the most creative ways possible (a small voice in the back of his head told him this was sweet, sweet revenge, but he ignored it.). And once they were all mostly dressed and somewhat awake, he had them all march down to the training ground mentioned by his boss.

When they got there, they found the not-teenagers thrown on the floor, all mostly asleep. Hayate was the only one that was awake, and he was seated comfortably on top of Kotetsu's back.

"Hayate?" Sakura asked with a stifled yawn. "What's going on?"

The man coughed as he shrugged, "No idea."

Truly, it was odd to find that so many people were in the training grounds. But it seemed that some of the kids didn't care to try and figure out the mystery this proved to be. Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Tenten, Hanabi, and Chouji all slugged their way over to the mound of bodies that were their older friends to throw themselves wherever they saw fit. Shino was a bit more controlled and sat himself beside Kotetsu, who opened his eyes upon being awoken, smiled softly at him, patted his knee, then allowed his head to drop onto the grass below.

Sasuke scoffed and shook his head at them, all the while Ino murmured about them being idiots. Neji didn't say a thing as he leaned against a tree, although Genma could see that he was stifling a yawn. And Hinata swayed on her feet, clearly not wanting to join her friends on the floor, but too tired to try and look cool like her friends. Lee was the only one that seemed to be awake so early but was kind enough to punch a tree without making too much noise.

Ten minutes passed without anything happening.

Genma found himself beginning to wonder if he had gotten the date wrong.

But in a puff of smoke none of them had expected, two members of ANBU suddenly appeared in front of them. Bear he knew. But the woman that was with him he didn't recognize. She wore a mask of what seemed to resemble a tiger and her long black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.

"Attention!" The man's voice was loud and booming and immediately woke all of the kids up.

The people on the floor scrambled to get up, even as Hayate stepped away from them with grace that reminded Genma of a limp cat. He wasn't as fluid as the Hyuga, but he wasn't awkward with his movements either. It was quite the odd sight of he could tell the truth.

"Five more minutes..." Naruto grumbled from the floor, even as Akamaru trampled over him to jump into Kiba's jacket before the Inuzuka stood up completely.

"Naruto, get up." Tenten hissed at her friend, only for him to wave him off.

"Need sleep, Tenten... Go 'way..."

Bear began to walk towards him then. All of the people around Naruto stepped away as the man got closer, then watched in awe as the man pulled him up by the scruff of his jacket.

"I said attention, Uzumaki." The masked man growled into the kid's face.

Naruto blinked sleepily as he found himself suspended in air, then his face broke out into a large grin. "Bear!"

All traces of sleepiness left him as he wrapped his arms tightly around the large man's neck, making Genma sigh softly before shaking his head.

"We haven't seen you in forever! Where have you been? We've really missed you, you know! Boy, do I have things to tell you! Ino, get over here, Bear's your favorite too!"

Bear's body was stunned frozen at the sudden hug from the blonde. Then Ino walked up to him to join the hug, jumping onto his neck from his side.

"You silly Poppa Bear! We've missed you!"

"Wait, that's Bear?" Tenten blinked in confusion, which prompted Kiba to sniff the air.

"It sure is!" The Inuzuka smiled broadly as Akamaru's tail began to thump against his chest. "Bear we haven't seen you in forever!"

One by one, the kids noticed who the member of ANBU truly was. And one by one they began to throw themselves at him, gladdened to see their old childhood friend again.

Bear tried; he truly did. The man tried to push the kids away and speak harshly. But the kids were much too happy to see him again to listen to him and began to tell him all kinds of tales so he could catch up with everything that had happened while he had been missing.

Genma never did find out why it was that they were forced to go to that training ground so early in the morning.

Kiba was in his room after having gotten the pictures he had taken of the Scroll of Seals developed. He had more than a dozen sheets of jutsu he had found interesting. And he had those two jutsu that Tenten had found interesting.

Akamaru was gnawing on a piece of bone they had taken from Kuromaru with some craftiness and was looking over the pictures with slight awe.

"They all sound dangerous."

"I know they do, dude." Kiba shrugged, pointing directly at the one with the words 'Summoning: Blood Oath'. "But this one's serious and powerful and awesome. Sure, I could die... But you have any idea how unstoppable you and I would be with this?"

If he was being honest, after having found out more about the demon inside of Naruto, Kiba wanted to get as strong as possible. What if that monster somehow managed to escape Naruto? What if it went on a murderous rampage like all the other times? Who would be able to stop the demon if they weren't prepared for it?

"They're all forbidden jutsu. You heard your mother." Akamaru growled as he stopped eating at his bone, looking at Kiba with a worried frown. "Those things kill."

Kiba rolled his eyes at the pup's worry then ruffled his head, "Dude, she's just saying that to get us to stay away from jutsu that aren't from our clan. But don't worry, I won't try and use these until I'm sure I can fight off whatever summons come from the contract." Then he shifted the papers to look at one that had a diagram of a human body with electricity running through it. "Think I should learning a lightning style move just for the heck of it?"

One day Kakashi walked up to him to ask if he thought his kids were ready for a C-Rank.

"Why would you think they aren't ready?" Genma answered with his own question, which made the younger man suck in a breath before shrugging.

"Honest answer?" He asked, one visible eye suddenly clouding up. "I'm a horrible teacher."

Genma was stunned to hear this admission. "What are you talking about, Kakashi?"

The man threw himself into his sofa gracelessly, not even caring about the mugs of coffee Genma had set on the table in front of them when he put his feet up.

"I got lucky with the Uchiha. He already knows so much that I haven't really needed to teach him anything. Sakura's got Ebisu, we all know she's learned nothing from me. And the only reason Naruto has yet to fall behind on his training is because of his permanent visitor." The man murmured with a shake of his head, "I'm not teacher material, Genma... Help me."

Kakashi Hatake never asked for help. For the man to truly ask this of him, he must have been desperate.

Genma looked him over for a moment before nodding, "I'll help. When's this mission you want them to go on?"

"Tomorrow."

He allowed his distaste with this to be clear to Kakashi. "You're an idiot."

"I thought you could go on the mission with us to see team dynamics. We'd be able to move forward from there." Kakashi admitted and Genma was reluctant to see that this wasn't a bad idea.

Breathing in, the man relented. "Fine. Where are we going?"

"To the Land of Water. A simple escort mission. Nothing too flashy. But it's just enough to get their feet wet so that they can begin to get a feel for what a real mission's supposed to be like."

"... I'll go simply because I'm getting tired of being stuck within these four walls."

..~..~..

I have decided to give Genma a chance to date both Hiashi and Ibiki. These two are the ones that make the most sense to me for the story. So I will give them both a chance to shine before making any decisions!

Don't forget to give me some of those awesome reviews. They just truly do make my day!