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This chapter was brought to you by Razamataz22, Kakarot Son, and JMarieAllenPoe.

…

Neji's eyebrow twitched. Nightfall would soon be upon them and yet there had been no change.

After becoming a Chunin, Gai had treated him and the rest of their team to dinner, and the boy had returned home somewhat happily. Having fought valiantly during the exams but not getting to properly showcase his talent, he was glad that the Hokage had recognised it during the invasion. After a chat with Hiashi, who had said that he had 'done his father proud', the newly-promoted Chunin had retreated to his room.

He had been looking forward to meeting Hinata, since his relationship with his young cousin had been improving by leaps and bounds ever since she had been bitten by Orochimaru, but the girl hadn't been anywhere in sight. He hadn't paid it much mind, but now, a whole forty-eight hours later, Neji was beginning to question the Clan Heiress' whereabouts.

"I see that something is bothering you," said Hiashi as he approached his nephew in the hallway. "Something tells me that it is not uncertainty about the trials and tribulations that lie ahead now that you are a Chunin."

"That has been weighing on my mind, Hiashi-sama," said Neji as he bowed, more out of habit than necessity. "However, it is not my place to enquire about the true matters that are troubling me."

"I am sure you have earned yourself the right to some answers," said Hiashi, expecting the boy to ask a question or two about his father and the man's untimely demise.

"I see," said Neji uncertainly before continuing. The boy was unused to questioning the Clan Head. "Do you have any idea as to the whereabouts of Hinata-sama? I have not seen her since the promotion ceremony two days ago."

"I am sure my eldest is fine," said Hiashi as he tried to adopt a reassuring tone. "Seeing you advance to Chunin probably inspired her to replicate your success, so I am sure that she is training valiantly at the moment."

"I am slightly worried, though," Neji admitted. "Has she returned to the compound at all, Hiashi-sama?"

"I do not think you should concern yourself with such matters," said Hiashi, his voice suddenly sounding colder and less welcoming than it had a moment ago. "I am sure that my daughter is fine."

Neji's voice became apologetic. "I understand. Thank you for your patience, Hiashi-sama."

"Don't worry about it too much." A puzzled expression crossed the Clan Head's normally stoic face. "I had expected you to be seeking out answers about my brother."

"I know all there is to know about the situation," stated Neji as he looked away from his uncle's gaze. "My father performed his duty to the clan and saved the Hyuuga Clan in a time of crisis."

Hiashi was surprised to not hear a mention of the word 'fate'. The talk that Jiraiya had with the young ninja must have led him to some sort of epiphany. "That, and he willingly did his duty to me as a brother, to you as a father, and then some."

Neji nodded slightly, though he still refused to meet the man's gaze. Hiashi rarely gave out compliments, and to know that his uncle was actually appreciative of the fact that his father had sacrificed everything for the man really struck a chord with the Branch-family member.

However, Neji's question remained unanswered. Where was Hinata?

The boy's thoughts must have been evident in his expression. "Do not fret about Hinata," advised the older man as he turned around to take his leave. "There is nothing to be worried about, that much I can assure you."

Neji did not respond to the statement. He had picked up on how Hiashi had skirted around the question awkwardly when he had first asked it. "Good night, Hiashi-sama."

The Hyuga Clan Head responded similarly and then was out sight, most likely retiring to his room for the night. Neji figured it would be wise if he did the same.

He whirled around on his heel and was marginally startled upon seeing Hanabi. It was not so much the academy student's presence that surprised the Chunin, but the unconcealed anxiety that he saw in his younger cousin's pale eyes and in her trembling frown.

"Hanabi-sama, is something troubling you?" Neji watched his cousin shudder in a breath of air and release it.

"Neji nii-san..." Hanabi pleaded softly, her dark-brown hair flowed like a waterfall and obscured a portion of her young face as she looked up at the Hyuuga prodigy. "Where is Hinata nee-san? I... Where is she?"

Regretfully, Neji still did not have an answer to that question. "Come," he delayed, hand on her lower back as he effortlessly guided the distressed girl back to her bedchamber. "I'll keep you company."

The teen sat respectfully at the side of Hanabi's bed, and allowed the small girl to grasp his hand since this was her way at gaining comfort. Neji tried to produce a response that wouldn't come across as uncaring, insensitive, or heartless. Those were three things he was trying his hardest to move away from. "I… Honestly, Hanabi-sama, I am not aware of Hinata-sama's current location, but I'm sure she is perfectly safe and in good health." Neji attempted to smile at his cousin, but his lips refused to move from their horizontal position. At least he wasn't outwardly scowling at the frustrating situation. He would hate for the girl's trepidation to get worse.

"Neji-nii," the eight year-old whispered as she hesitantly looked in Neji's direction without meeting his eyes. She wasn't familiar yet with this Neji who was kind and caring instead of cold or angry. "I miss nee-san… I'm worried about nee-san. And… and I'm scared. That… that evil seal that's branded on her; it's gaining control of her! She's losing herself, I can clearly see that. What if that's why she hasn't come back? The—" Neji managed to make eye contact with his cousin. "That evil seal's finally brainwashed my big sister, and so she's run away, and she'll be evil now, and I don't know what I can do to help her! I… I'm scared, Neji nii-san."

There was a brief pause where Neji didn't know what to say in response. This was not the plea of the daughter of a clan head but rather the confusion a young girl had for the cruelness of the world. He shook his head with a ghost of a smile.

"Hanabi-sama, your sister, Hinata-sama, is very brave. She is trying her hardest to fight against the seal's temptations, this I know. And I also know that she wouldn't run away from this. Hinata… I would like to think that she could never turn evil, that her heart is kind enough and strong enough to keep the darkness of Orochimaru's seal away. She will be alright in the end, I have faith in that, in her."

…

"You're late!" exclaimed Sakura as Kakashi appeared with a puff of smoke at their normal meeting spot. The pink-haired kunoichi glared at her sensei as she leaned against one of the bridge's railings, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi insisted as he recited the excuse he had used countless times before turning the page of his orange book. The sun's rays burned down at ten in the morning. Naruto and Sasuke were seeking refuge from the heat under the shade of a nearby tree. Both boys were lost in concentration and barely acknowledged the Jonin before them.

"Save it, liar," Sakura muttered as she looked out at the lilypads that floated listlessly down stream. She wasn't in the mood to criticise her sensei's tardiness. Her latest talk with Ibiki still weighed heavily on her mind. She was dubious on exactly when and how she should present the matter to her team mates. Should she tell them separately or at the same time?

'He's dead. Died during the invasion.' Ibiki hadn't given away any further information. He had told Sakura to talk with him about it at another time, another place—that is, if he was in the mood for her questions on the matter.

Perhaps it would be better to wait for all of their reports to be finished and turned in to the Hokage before she added this stressful and confusing information to each of their plates. Though, it might be a good idea to try and form a backup plan if Ibiki proves to be unwilling to help with an investigation that is becoming more and more convoluted as time goes by.

Kakashi looked towards his male students and then back at Sakura. "Well, it would seem that my cute little Genin have all gathered when it isn't mandatory again," he noted aloud with a lazy grin that was hidden by his dark mask.

"We're not all as lazy as you are," Sasuke offered with a smirk as he stood up and stretched his arms behind his head. While a few muscles still ached from the spar and subsequent training with Lee, he felt as if he hadn't had as productive a day in a long time, and considering Lee had requested that he meet with him tomorrow morning for some more training, there were good times ahead.

Provided he wasn't brainwashed by the power of youth.

"We're a team," beamed Naruto. "Why wouldn't we want to catch up with one another?"

"So, 'team', how did we spend yesterday?" asked Kakashi, sounding as disinterested as Naruto during one of Iruka's lectures. "Did we get anything productive done?"

"You know it," said Naruto with a grin as he swung his arms around slowly. He was itching to get into a good workout.

"I take it that your report has been completed, then?" Kakashi's smile as the hyperactive blond visibly deflated with a sigh was just barely visible through his mask. "I thought not. How about you two?"

"I've finished mine," said Sakura, "I left it at home, but I can go grab it really quick if you want me to."

"Don't worry about it," Kakashi waved his hand dismissively. "Bring it tomorrow, and I'll read it if I get a chance. Otherwise, feel free to submit it to the Hokage."

Kakashi turned towards Sasuke with a questioning expression upon his face.

"I should be finished with my report this evening; Sakura gave some helpful advice on how to write the recollection," the young Uchiha recognized offhandedly.

Kakashi nodded in understanding. He was glad that his students were more willing to help and receive help from each other, even if it was just with a piece of writing in mind.

"Well then, I suppose that settles that. Now, before we decide what we're going to do tomorrow, I think it would be worthwhile if we all explained what we've done in the past few days," said Kakashi as he flipped through his porn. "I'll start. After helping Sakura find an instructor, I spent the rest of my time going on an Icha Icha marathon."

Sakura sighed defeatedly. There was no point calling the man out on his perverted tendencies, because he'd take it to be a compliment. "Well, I did work on a couple of different poisons with my new instructor, the guy who took the first part of the Chunin Exams."

"You mean that big, scary-looking guy?" questioned Naruto with a shudder. "Well, good luck with that. I reckon I'll stick to the perverted-but-not-frightening teachers."

"He's not all that bad," said Sakura as she contemplated once again telling the others about what she had learned regarding the examiner who had expelled Naruto.

"Well, I spent most of my time trying to get the report done. I did a bit of training and also had a spar with Rock Lee," said Sasuke as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, do tell?" Kakashi urged the boy to go on. Gai would no doubt be raving on about the outcome of the match in the Jounin lounge.

"Lee seemed strong, but I don't think he can use any Jutsu," said Sakura as she scratched her chin, trying to recollect her thoughts about the spar the two had had before the first part of the exams. "With your Sharingan eyes, you definitely should have had a huge advantage."

"It wasn't an all-out match by any means, just a small spar. I lost, though. The guy's a lot stronger than most people would probably give him credit for," Sasuke said with little-to-no shame.

"Ha, I knew it!" exclaimed Naruto with a massive grin. "I'm going to take on Lee next, and then I'll finally show you how much stronger I am."

Sakura noted absentmindedly that, had this little… gathering occurred around the time they had first become Genin, Naruto would have said something about impressing her as well. She wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he said no such words this time.

"Oh well, you can't win them all," said Kakashi as he seemed to turn his attention back to his porn. "And what about you, our little Hokage-in-training?"

"I spent the day with Ero-sennin; we did some interesting stuff," said Naruto, the grin he had from earlier not fading in the slightest. Upon receiving curious looks from his teammates, each one asking for him to reiterate, the blond continued. "Well, we focussed on trying to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra through sheer will. That didn't exactly go too well, but we did get into the basics of sealing."

Sasuke snorted. "You don't have the patience for seals, dobe. You might be able to do an intermediate-level seal or two, but anything more would end up blowing up in your face."

Sakura was more worried about Naruto's first sentence. "Wait, you're trying to draw on more of the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"Yeah, I don't want to have to go asking him for chakra each time I use it. That's how I've ended up losing control the past few times I've used it," explained Naruto as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "And as for seals, teme, Ero-sennin and I came up with a solution to that: Shadow clones."

"That could work," said Kakashi as he looked up from his book. "You're probably not going to get all that far using that method, though. It'll help you pick up the basics, but it'll be useless when it comes to the steep learning curve that bests most potential seal masters."

"I'll give it a shot, anyway. It gives me a chance to learn something other than how to use the damn furball's chakra," said Naruto with a frown. Until he could control it properly, having some other techniques to fall back upon could not be a bad thing.

"Jiraiya-sama does have a bit of a reputation when it comes to seals. If there's anyone in Konoha who could teach you about them, it's him," Sakura nodded.

"Kakashi-sensei, when I was fighting Lee, he said something about these Gates," said Sasuke, his eyes narrowing as he walked closer towards the man. Sakura and Naruto began to bicker about something a few metres away.

"Ah, I'm not too surprised," said the Jounin as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure you know what they are, but then again, that's not why you're bringing them up, is it?"

"I want to learn how to use them," said Sasuke firmly. "From what I remember of them in the academy, they're incredibly difficult to master, but I need everything I can in order to defeat my brother."

"Y'know, Sasuke, don't take this the wrong way, but you should contemplate letting Itachi go," advised Kakashi. "I think you're mature enough to at least hear me out properly. Your brother is a prodigy unlike anything Konoha has ever seen. There are very few people that managed to get anywhere near his track record. I'm probably one of them, and he's still leagues ahead of me."

"I can't," said Sasuke as he looked down. "Giving up on bring that bastard to justice would be like spitting on the graves of my parents and all my clansfolk."

"I thought you would say that," sighed Kakashi. "Anyway, the gates. So you want my help with them?"

"Yeah, I need to keep up with the dobe when he's in Kyuubi-mode, after all," the Uchiha said with a grin.

"Unfortunately, the Hachimon Gates are one of the areas that I can't directly help you in. Your best bet would be pursuing either Lee or Gai's help, but as you could imagine, they'll both be fairly busy," said Kakashi. Before raising his book back up to eye-level, he continued. "A word of warning, though: you need to be really careful with these things. It's not like the Shadow Clone technique where you'll suffer chakra exhaustion, maybe even die, if you don't have enough chakra. Keeping the gates, hell even the first gate until you become extremely proficient with it, for more than half a minute will tear your body to shreds. There will be no Itachi to kill and no clan to restore. It will be game over."

"Understood," said Sasuke, though that did nothing to stop a smirk from forming upon his face. If the technique had such incredible drawbacks, the damage he could do to an opponent would have to be immeasurable.

"Hey, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, if you guys are done talking about your creepy eyes, do you reckon we should head out on a mission?" asked Naruto as he cracked his knuckles enthusiastically.

"When the Sandaime ordered us to have a week's leave, I'm sure he meant it. Just training is pushing it, but I don't think he would be willing to assign us a mission, just yet," said Kakashi, though the Jounin wasn't complaining.

Sakura noted that the man's words weren't true, as Ino had told her that her team had gone on a mission the other day… The lazy bastard.

"Aww, but if I go back to Ero-sennin he's going to make me do more stuff with the Kyuubi's chakra. At least unless I get started on sealing."

"So, about that… thing," Sakura mumbled under her breath, her words having just enough strength to carry over to her team's ears. All three of them turned towards her, their smiles all but gone. "I mean, me and Sasuke are cool with it and all, but some other people may not be as understanding."

"Like all of the people we do missions for," said Sasuke, fully understanding why the clients for D-ranked missions always favoured himself and Sakura instead of Naruto. Something which he had thought was just over the fact that Naruto simply wasn't liked at the time had now taken on a much darker meaning.

Naruto forced a smile and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, uh, it's always been like that. Only having a couple people care and show me kindness and whatnot instead of seeing me as… as it…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Well, we're here for you now," said Sakura as she placed a hand upon the boy's shoulder. "If anyone tries to pull anything like that, I'll shove so much poison up their ass that they'll wish they were never born."

"Mah, mah, my cute little Genin already have their pitchforks out in order to help one another," teased Kakashi with a grin. "I wish I could capture this moment."

"So let's get down to business if we're not going on a mission or something." Sasuke grinned as he stretched his arms out and turned his gaze directly towards Naruto. "I can't wait to put the dobe in his place."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait," said an intruding voice which the Uchiha quickly recognised as Jiraiya's. "You can have the gaki back in a couple of hours, but I need to get him going on the basics of sealing."

"I think I may just come along and watch," said Kakashi before he pulled out another book from his kunai pouch. "Besides I need to discuss the sheer ingenuinity of the ending of Volume 7 with you."

"The more the merrier," shrugged Jiraiya before looking at the two members of Team Seven that held no relation to the Yondaime. "What about you two? Want to see the gallant Toad Sage Jiraiya in action?"

"No, wait!" Naruto waved his hands around desperately before either of them could respond. "Sakura-chan… there's something you should know. I taught Ero-sennin my Oiroke no Jutsu."

"You what?" questioned Sakura menacingly as she looked at the boy with anger.

"Uhh… I'm sorry, I didn't want to, but I needed to repay him for taking down some guy from the Sound Four."

"You idiot. Don't you remember? You obliterated two of them and the other one escaped!" exclaimed Sakura as she held her fist over Naruto's head threateningly, giving him one last chance to explain himself before it made contact with his skull.

"Yeah, but he took down the fourth guy before they got to us. We probably wouldn't have made it this far if he hadn't done that," said Naruto as he held his hands up as if to block the inevitable strike.

"Oh… um, thank you, Jiraiya-sama." Sakura bowed to the man before standing up straight. "I better not catch you misbehaving with that stupid technique, though."

"I promise to only use it for the most important research," said Jiraiya solemnly as he nodded.

Sakura sighed, knowing that the man probably wouldn't keep his word. "I don't even want to imagine what's going to go on between you and Kakashi-sensei while Naruto uses his seals, so I think I'll skip out."

"Suit yourself," said Jiraiya before turning to Sasuke. "And you?"

"Yeah, I'll pass," said Sasuke. "I've got to finish off that report for the Hokage… That and I want to also make a start on the Hachimon Gates."

"Ahh, to be a young teenager again, unappreciative of the finer things in this cruel world." Jiraiya shook his head as he led Naruto and Kakashi off to another training ground.

"Sasuke-kun, do you want to go and get coffee or something?" Sakura asked. "I'm going to look for Ibiki-sensei so I can continue my training before we meet back here, but I sure could go for some." It was worth a shot, though the girl already knew the answer.

"Alright."

Or not.

…

"This is so boring," moaned Kiba as he painted an old, tattered fence with white paint. "Can't we do something more interesting for once?"

"I do not find this activity to be enjoyable, but I do not find it to be unenjoyable," Shino remarked as he mimicked Kiba's actions from a few metres away.

"I explained it to you when you did your first D-ranked mission, and I'll do it again," said Kurenai with a suppressed sigh. "As a ninja of Konoha, you are more like a servant to our village than a mercenary for hire. You will first have to prove your worth doing menial tasks before you move onto more, at which point - if your skills allow it - you will be assigned harder but more interesting missions."

"Yeah, but we end up getting this same mission every other day now," complained Kiba with a frown. "That is, if we're not chasing that stupid cat."

"I am sure the Daimyo would not be too pleased if he heard you refer to his pet with such language," teased Kurenai with a bemused smile. "But yes, the majority of missions that we will undertake for the next few weeks - months, even - will involve some form of reconstruction. Suna and Oto did a fair bit of structural damage to us in addition to all the lives they took."

"Can't we just take the week off like the Hokage said we could?" groaned Kiba as his paintbrush slipped slightly. He would much rather be at home playing fetch with Akamaru or something other than painting fences.

"If you really want to, I'm sure you could," Kurenai said before continuing. "But then Team Eight will be the only team that is not doing missions. Hardly the impression we want to be giving off, since our team was the only one that completely made it to the finals of the exam but received no promotion."

"That's not fair!" protested Kiba, looking to Shino for support but receiving none from the silent boy. "Team Nine graduated a year before we did, so obviously they're going to be more experienced. And besides, no matter what, we still did a lot better than those losers in Team Seven."

"Perhaps," Shino finally weighed in, "but all we gained was some experience that will only help us during the next Chunin exam. Team Seven had been completing missions while we were fighting for promotion, so I'm sure their mission experience will be more useful."

"That doesn't mean a damn thing," said Kiba as he shook his head. "I mean, they were probably painting fences or something too. Don't try to make excuses for them because Hinata likes Naruto."

"Well, if they've accumulated enough D-ranked missions, it is entirely possible that they will receive another C-ranked mission before we do," said Kurenai. "So, if I were you, I'd get working."

"This is still bullshit," defied Kiba, growing more irritated with his situation by the second. "How are we meant to get any kind of work done when we're missing a member of our team? We should just take the day off and come back tomorrow when Hinata's here."

"I'll admit that I've been curious about her whereabouts too," supplied Shino as he pushed his sunglasses up with a finger. "She didn't come to training yesterday, and I figured that she had taken Hokage-sama's words to heart."

"It's not that much of a big deal," said Kurenai as she tried to dismiss the pair's queries. "I'm sure she'll be back soon, so just keep at it."

"C'mon, Kurenai-sensei. If you know, can't you just tell us?" pleaded Kiba. "What if something bad happened to her? Maybe she's sick with the flu or something; we could go help her out." Akamaru barked in agreement.

"No, no, it's nothing like that." Kurenai waved her hands. "Really, you guys shouldn't be too concerned about her wellbeing."

"She is apart of our team, though," said Shino. "It is only natural that we would look out for her best interests as though we were apart of the same hive."

"Yeah, you can't be telling us to forget about Hinata or something, right?" questioned Kiba as he stroked the fur on Akamaru's back, the pup yelping in either agreement or happiness. "Back when we all graduated from the academy you said that we had to care for one another like family. So, if nobody knows where Hinata is, I vote we go and find her instead of wasting our time painting these stupid fences!"

"Fine, fine." Kurenai scowled. Sometimes her pesky Genin were too pushy for their own good. Her face straightened out and her complexion seemed to pale a little bit. "The Hokage ordered her to undergo some sort of training remedial, so that's where she is at the moment. I'm not sure exactly how long it'll take, but he said he expected it to take about a week."

The words left a sour taste in Kiba's mouth. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something seemed off. Kurenai seemed somewhat happy, however, by the fact that Kiba nor Shino decided to push the topic further as she truly had no real answers to give. She herself had gone to see the Hokage about the location of the Kunoichi under her care but had been given little information.

"Do not worry," whispered Shino to Kiba as the two returned to the task at hand. "I currently have more than three quarters of my hive searching every inch of Konoha for Hinata's location. When they find her, we will look into this matter ourselves as that's what friends do."

Kiba blinked in surprise, never having heard Shino call either him or Hinata a friend, before a smile crossed his face. They were going to get Hinata back one way or another, rules be damned.

…

The day had been a normal one for Ino, having so far enjoyed the day off she had been given. With Shikamaru being drilled about the responsibilities of being a Chunin along with the others who had been promoted during the exams, their sensei had deemed that both she and Chouji could have the day off to relax. For her, that meant a casual day down the hot springs easing out all of the aches and pains that were in her muscles.

Every peaceful thought she had, however, was immediately shot down as her eyes fell on to a scene she had never thought would have been possible all her life. There was the heartthrob of her life, Uchiha Sasuke, sitting at a cafe, having what looked like a casual coffee with her best friend of all people.

Ino blinked; this was not possible.

Charging down the street, she nearly knocked over a little old lady but paid it no mind, her sole focus upon the indecency before her. She always knew that Sakura would have the advantage over her in regards to the amount of time that she spent with the last Uchiha, but under no circumstances had she even considered the chance that she would ever discover the two of them together, alone without the rest of Team Seven anywhere nearby. Again, she found herself wondering how such a thing was possible or if she was still asleep and this was all some horrible nightmare.

"Hey there, Ino," said Sakura as she noticed her friend storming towards her, clearly unaware of the imminent danger that she was in. All of that changed, however, as Ino grabbed her by the scruff of her clothes and cleanly lifted her out of her chair, much to her dismay.

"How can he like you over me?" she screamed at Sakura, causing many of the other patrons to look at the rather comical scene with confusion. Sasuke, meanwhile, tried to make himself look as small as possible, suddenly realising this may have been a terrible idea. "I hope you're happy, Forehead," Ino continued indignantly, "because you just stabbed a thousand kunai in my back! How could you?"

Wide-eyed, Sakura shook her head in bewilderment. "Ino, what are you talking about?"

The blonde girl stuck her nose in the air and turned away with a huff. "You not knowing just proves that you don't deserve an explanation—and you should know what I am talking about." With that, Ino strutted off down the road and disappeared inside the nearest clothing store, her journey to the hot springs momentarily forgotten.

Sasuke blinked at his teammate in confusion. "What was that about, Sakura?"

"I have no idea," Sakura spoke softly, disoriented by her best friend's odd behavior. She wanted to get up and go find Ino to apologize for whatever it was that had made her so angry.

…

With an excited roar of, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" four dozen copies of Naruto poofed into existence at the center of Training Ground 16. Each version of the blonde jinchuuriki had a thin brush and scroll at hand for practicing the rudiments of sealing. Each Uzumaki scattered around the area and took a seat in the grass. While Naruto was focusing on perfecting each delicate brush stroke, his two primary senseis stood watch in the treeline.

Kakashi's porn was open, but the silver-haired male held the book at his side as he scrutinized his student from a distance. Still, Kakashi was awed by the resemblance he was able to notice between Naruto and the late Yondaime Hokage. Physically, they both had the same wild blonde hair and cerulean irises; Kakashi was sure that Naruto's appearance alone would be able to strike fear into any passing Iwa nin. The Uzumaki's desire to learn sealing also reflected that of his late sensei.

"Reminds you of him, doesn't he?" said Jiraiya as he stepped closer to Naruto's original sensei. His comment was right on the money, and Kakashi didn't even need to say anything, treating the question as if it was rhetorical. "I taught Minato the basics, and he was able to turn even the simplest of things into something great. Just maybe, maybe lightning will strike twice, and we'll have another prodigy on our hands."

"Well, he is great at doing the unexpected, and I can guarantee that anybody who knew Naruto six months ago would never have imagined a hundred of him sitting in a field and practising a simple brushstroke as opposed to attempting a jutsu a thousand times over," said Kakashi.

"Maybe down the track I'll teach him the rasengan," mused Jiraiya. "You'd kind of expect him to pick that one up quickly when he knows that it's his legacy."

"Perhaps leave that one then until after he's become Chunin," advised Kakashi. "I know you plan on taking him for an extended training trip, and it'll do wonders for him to be able to go and see the world, but do you think you'll be able to align your travels with the exams in twelve months time?"

"The one that's going to be held in Kumo? I wouldn't see why not," said Jiraiya. "All three should be a shoe in, don't you think?"

Again the question was treated as a rhetorical one, and Kakashi decided to change the topic to one much more interesting than the possible increase in rankings of his students. He went back to skimming the novel in his hand. "When abouts can we expect the next issue to come out?"

A perverted grin took over the sennin's face. "Actually, I was looking to see if I could find someone to look over my final draft for me, to see if it was good enough for the public," said Jiraiya as he stroked his chin before bursting into laughter at the puppy-dog eyes Kakashi sent his way.

…

After muttering an apology to Sasuke, Sakura had given chase to her friend. Ino had left the clothing store she had taken momentary refuge in and was about a hundred metres ahead on the footpath, and fading fast.

"So you're the one Ibiki has been telling me so much about," a voice called out as she crossed a stand.

Sakura quickly came to a halt as she looked towards the voice while she attempted to keep track of her friend at the same time. It was a woman who looked to be in her mid twenties, picking at her teeth with a dango. Her hair was coloured in an odd purple and was styled in a spiky ponytail.

"I get enough shit for having purple hair, but bubblegum-pink?" The woman laughed. "At least it did make you easier to pick out."

"Who are you?" asked Sakura. "I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

"The one and only, extremely sexy Mitarashi Anko, of course," said the purple-haired woman with a grin as she stuck up two fingers in a peace sign.

"Anko?" Sakura repeated, noting that the name sounded familiar. "And how do you know Ibiki-sensei anyway?"

"Well, if you're going to be working in the T and I division, you should know that you'll be seeing a lot of me. It's kind of my home away from home, if you get what I'm saying," said Anko cheerfully.

"I don't."

"Meh, doesn't matter," said Anko brushing the comment to the side. "Anyways, now that you're not chasing blondie, you should come with me real quick. I heard you were learning to be a poison master, and let me tell you that nobody can help you in that department more than I can."

Before she could even consider coming up with some form of excuse, she found Anko's hand gripping her own and dragging her through the streets. Clearly the purple-haired woman was not taking no for an answer.

...

Far away from the gates of Konoha - or what remained of them after the invasion - two figures walked in the distance, barely visible to the Chunin instructed to watch the entrance. As important a job as guarding the village may have been, neither of them could understand just what the consequences would be for allowing these two individuals dressed in black and red cloaks to enter the village.

"It's time."

…

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