"Tama-Sensei, can't we take a break?" A young gennin whined, trying to catch his breath. The two other gennin silently backed their teammate up. They'd been training since early that morning.

I glared at the kids. "Not, until I say so. I warned you when I became your team captain that I'd be hard on you, now let's run through the exercise again."

The gennin who'd asked if we could take a break sighed and went to his position. The other two followed suit.

The purpose of the exercise was to work on their critical thinking skills. In the battlefield, there was no time to ponder over strategies.

"What two type of people are there?" I barked, throwing some kunai at the students.

They dodged my attacks and sent counter ones flying back at me.

"The quick and the dead!" They repeated.

"What are you?" I again yelled, going after them with tai-jutsu.

"The quick!" They yelled, while trying to attack me.

"And what are they?"

"The dead!" They answered.

After several minutes, our sparring match fizzled out; my students too tired to go on.

I smirked. I may be tough on them, but they took it well, even looked forward to our training sessions.

"Go home, take the weekend off." I smiled at them. "You've earned it."

They grinned and took off to the heart of the village to get something to eat.

I picked up my tools and made my way to the Inuzuka's house. It'd been a year since I moved in with them...since that day...

Subconsciously, my hand went to my wrist and flinched as pain shot through it.

While walking, I ran into a familiar blue eyed girl.

"Tama!" My teammate, Toku greeted, smiling.

I gave her a tired smile as she followed me to where I was staying. "Hello. Toku."

She then held out a small package. I looked at her confused.

"I-I didn't know what to get you when you were promoted to jounin, but I saw this and I thought you'd like it." She stuttered.

I opened the present and just stared. It was a necklace with a small garnet stone as the charm. It probably costed her a small fortune.

"Thank you. I absolutely love it!" I stated, putting the necklace on and hugging her.

Our little celebration was then interrupted by the screeching of a bird. Lady Tsunade was signalling us to visit her office.

We took off running, not wanting to keep our Hokage waiting.

"You called for us ma'am!" I inquired, walking straight into her personal office. I'd done this thousands of times before and she never minded.

The Hokage smirked. "I have a mission for the two of you. A merchant from the land of Stone is seeking protection while returning to his village."

I smirked. "Doesn't sound very challenging."

"You'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning. You're dismissed." She stated as she went back to her stack of paperwork.

Toku bowed her head and quietly took her leave while I stayed behind. There was something I'd been meaning to discuss.

"Is there something you want, Tama?" Lady Tsunade asked, glancing at me.

"Yes. I-I know I just became a jounin, but I would like to undergo training to become an Anbu. I'd still train my team, and-and go on missions when requested." I rambled, becoming flustered.

"Anbu training isn't some class like at the accademy! You very well could die." The woman explained.

Letting my irritability get to me, I rolled my eyes. "And I really don't care."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Maybe."

"What about your sister? Have you even thought about her?"

"I have. She's better off without me." I told her, not caring how blunt I was being.

Tsunade just sighed and rubbed her temples. "You're as stubborn as that Naruto."

I continued standing there, waiting for a definitive answer.

"My mother and father were both Anbu. I know I'm meant to do this." I pushed.

I met her tired looking eyes, not flinching. "Fine. When you return, you'll begin your Anbu training."

I bowed and thanked her before leaving. Anbu training was the first step in finding out what happened to my father.

I decided to pay a visit to my sister before settling in for the evening. She was still staying with her team captain.

Instead of using the door, I was able to jump up to the second story window and go straight into her bedroom.

I looked around the room, wondering where Seiko could be. It was too late to bed out training, ans she was still too young to be out partying.

Eventually she popped in, clad in a large shirt and shorts. Her damp hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Tama, what are you doing here?" She asked as she threw her towel in the dirty laundry basket.

"I wanted to see you kid." I smirked, sitting on her bed.

She chuckled. "You never come to see me."

"Hay, I've been busy." I told the now thirteen year old.

"And you've got something big to tell me, don't you?"

Reluctantly I sighed. "I'm leaving in the morning. Got a protection run...and when I get back...I'm going to be training to become and Anbu member."

"And there's a chance you'll die, right? I heard the rumors. Anbu training isn't like normal training."

I nodded.

"Then why do it?" She asked.

"You know as well as I do that the Anbu ranks are tight. If I get in, I'll have access to information that could tell us who killed dad."

Seiko looked down.

"Hay, don't look so down. I'm not dead yet." I teased, attempting to lighten the mood.

She gave me a ghost of a smile. I realized how much she had changed since father passed.

She had been growing her hair out and I could smell the smoke on her clothes.

"Thirteen's a little young to be smoking." I observed.

She blushed madly. "It helps...with the stress."

"You steal them from Asuma?" I questioned.

She gave me a mischievous grin, still blushing.

Guess I'd have to warn Asuma that he had a thief on his hands.

I reached an arm out for her. She latched onto me.

"Promise you'll be back soon?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Why don't we do something special when I get back? Just the two of us."

She hugged me tighter.

I chuckled. "Alright, well I have to go, okay."

She flashed a sad smile and watched me disappear out the window.

What she didn't know, was that I went to my room, locked myself in, and proceeded to breakdown.

The mental fog creeped into my brain. The images that my nightmares produced plagued me, and imaginary blood stained my hands.

Instantly I grabbed my kunai and began slicing any easily accessible skin. Within moments the calming effect took hold.

I could breathe again.

I then watched as the wounds turned into slivers of red crystal. Too bad this ability didn't stop me from having scars...so far there were over a thousand.