Disclaimer: Naruto not mine. Hitomaru is though...evil little bastard that he is. And just a reminder that this is growing ever farther from any canon imaginings.

Chapter 533 made me soooo happy. It's about time Ino-Shika-Cho showed their mettle. Especially our Ino. ^^ Go Ino! And yay for another rare Genma sighting in Ch. 536 too. :D

They ate dinner in silence, although he kept a close watchful eye on his companion as she ate her meal. She'd been wearing an inscrutable and altogether far more pleased of an expression than the occasion warranted all through dinner, and frankly...it was starting to bug him. He'd had an agenda for the evening, something he'd been working himself up to for some time now and her inexplicable smugness was definitely taking the wind out of his sails. Finishing his miso, he set the bowl down on the table with a firm snap.

"All right, what gives? You've been looking entirely too pleased with yourself all evening."

Her eyes met his coyly as she gazed innocently back at him from over her teacup. "I'm absolutely certain I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit."

She tipped her head to the side playfully at his tone as she smiled at him. "Can't I just be in a good mood?"

"Of course you can, but this's more than that. You have a 'cat that swallowed the canary' expression that only tells me that you're up to something."

"Up to something? What could I possibly-?"

"Yuugao..." Raidou cut her off warningly with a frown. She huffed slightly at his tone.

"Well, fine. It's just that Genma-kun invited our Ino-chan to have dinner tonight. At his place. Isn't that wonderful?" Yuugao asked him happily.

"Hn," Raidou grunted noncommittally as he turned back to his dinner, earning himself an unhappy scowl from his violet-haired girlfriend.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" she demanded, her dark eyes narrowing. Raidou's eyes flicked up to hers momentarily before he returned his attention to his plate.

"It means, I don't see how that qualifies as 'wonderful', to be honest with you," Raidou shrugged. Yuugao gaped at him.

"He's your friend! How can you say that? Of course it is! He's been all alone for so long...never letting anyone get close-"

"Not THAT alone, Yuu-chan..." he interrupted with a knowing smirk. "He's not celibate, you know."

"Emotionally," Yuugao finished as if she'd never been interrupted, save for the stress she put on the last word. "He never lets anyone get that close to him emotionally. So it's wonderful that he's taking a romantic interest in Ino-chan. It's quite surprising!"

"Not that surprising with the way you've been throwing her at him," Raidou muttered quietly under his breath. Unfortunately for him, not quietly enough.

"I have not!" Yuugao said hotly, fisting her hands on the table as she tried to keep her voice low enough to not attract attention from the other diners.

"Ever since you met that girl you've been pushing her in front of him. Of course he was bound to notice her," Raidou argued back.

"What's wrong with that? Genma-kun just needs a little push in the right direction is all," Yuugao told him. "He's so emotionally distant, he needs this. And Ino-chan's a good match for him."

"He doesn't need your interference, Yuu-chan, or your help. If he wants to date again, he will." Raidou countered.

Yuugao's red lacquered nails dug into her palms as she held her emotions and temper in check...barely. "But he doesn't," she bit out finally.

"That's his business, my love. Not ours. Besides...she's awfully young. Too young for him I think," Raidou mused, oblivious to the rising emotions of the kunoichi who sat across from him.

"Not that much more than the decade of difference between you and me. Does that make me too young for you? Is that what you think?"

"What?" Raidou gaped, cluing in at last to Yuugao's stormy expression and tightly fisted hands on either side of her plate. "Of course not! It's completely different."

"Oh you…Hypocrite!" Yuugao hissed under her breath at him. "You don't know…you don't understand anything!" Raidou's eyes widened at the furious expression on his girlfriend's face. How had the conversation turned so quickly? Yuugao looked like she was seconds away from either storming out of the restaurant or doing him bodily damage with her chopsticks. And given her current occupation in the ANBU, bodily damage was a very valid worry on his part.

"Yuugao...what is this?" he questioned quietly as one furious tear made it's way down her cheek, her fingers gripping her chopsticks so tightly they snapped in half. Before Yuugao could answer the door to the restaurant slammed open, startling them all.

"There's been an explosion at the Hokage Tower!" A voice yelled over the growing din of the storm outside and the dozens of running feet as Konoha's Shinobi made their way to the center of the Village.

Their discussion put on hold by necessity, Raidou and Yuugao quickly made the hand seals for a teleportation jutsu and were gone.

The heavy rain muffled the shouts of Konoha's shinobi as they pulled the dead and injured from the smoking rubble of the ANBU's basement Interrogation Room. The worst of the injured -and there were fortunately more of those compared to the dead- were being immediately whisked away by white garbed Medical Nin.

Hidden under an overhang on a roof nearby, Hitomaru sat in the dark with his stolen Hebi mask tipped up on his head and watched the action. He was working his way through a small pile of persimmons that he'd stolen from a street vendor shortly after planting his little surprise on Chigumo, and the juice from the orange fruits mixed with the rain to drip from the ends of his gloved fingers. His pale eyes were fixed on a buxom blonde below as he watched her triage the injured before sending them on to the hospital as well as direct the ongoing rescue efforts. The Legendary Sannin and Godaime Hokage Tsunade in the flesh evidently...she was nothing like what he had imagined. For instance, she kept continually yelling at a particular dark haired woman -the sloe eyed medic with the pig he'd seen earlier- who was obviously injured, but refused to leave the scene. They would argue briefly whenever the blonde wasn't actively giving orders to the many ANBU and Shinobi present. The dark haired woman kept trying to get past the Hokage to re-enter the building until finally in exasperation the Hokage ordered two of the remaining medical-nin to physically carry the woman off. Interesting. He idly wondered what the story going on there was.

Hitomaru tensed for a split second when he felt another chakra approach his hiding spot, but by the time the Ushi-masked ANBU dropped silently at his side, Hitomaru was already languidly eating another persimmon and back to enjoying the show below. It seemed they had cleared more of the rubble and found a few more bodies judging from the muffled shouts and runnings about going on.

"You son of a bitch! This wasn't part of the plan," the Ox-masked Nin hissed in Hitomaru's ear. Hitomaru didn't even acknowledge the presence of the other shinobi at his back.

"Plans change," Hitomaru replied mildly, finishing his third persimmon and reaching for his fourth.

The Ushi-masked ANBU grabbed Hitomaru's wrist tightly to stop him and get his attention. "No one was supposed to get hurt, you bastard! That was the agreement. It was supposed to be a simple infiltration job and now you've fucked it up all to hell! This is all your fault!" Before the man could register the movement Hitomaru had the Ox-masked shinobi on his back and pinned underneath him, Hitomaru's wicked curved blade pressed against his throat and digging in.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves with the blame game, Tsuzumi-chan," Hitomaru said with a nasty grin, the rain pouring down through his pale hair and over his face to drip onto Saragaku Tsuzumi's red and white Ushi mask. "If you had given me all the intelligence -which is really giving you way too much credit for having any- in the first place I wouldn't have had to improvise."

Tsuzumi swallowed carefully, Hitomaru's blade was pressed so tightly to his throat he could feel it move with the motion of his muscles. "I told you everything-" he started defensively, only to feel the blade breaking skin.

"You didn't tell me about that Mind Walker," Hitomaru snarled and Tsuzumi's eyes widened as he finally noticed the unbridled fury in Hitomaru's.

"The what...?" he said weakly. He could feel a warmth running down the sides of his neck in contrast to the cold rain that he was pretty sure was his own blood.

"The kunoichi! That blonde," Hitomaru hissed. "Why didn't you tell me you had a Mind Walker on your squad?"

"Who? Ino?" Tsuzumi puzzled. "She was just transferred in. She's useless! Ibiki's little fuck toy...she's no threat..."

"She used a mind jutsu on Chigumo-baka," Hitomaru explained as if to a child. "When I scanned him I could still sense her residual spiritual chakra. Who is she?" he hissed.

"Yamanaka...Ino," Tsuzumi told him. Hitomaru groaned.

"That was a Yamanaka...?" Hitomaru ground his teeth. "Mind ninjutsu users like Yamanaka's can break my jutsu's you worthless piece of shit!" Hitomaru snarled at him, his rage barely contained. "Why the fuck do you think we scheduled this Op for when the Yamanaka Clan Leader was away on an A rank mission, moron! I should just cut you to ribbons now and do the Leaf a favor!" Tsuzumi's eyes bulged behind his mask in fear.

"You can't!"

Hitomaru's pale eyes narrowed as he flexed his fingers around the hilt of his blade, making sure the man below could feel it bite deeper into his skin. The wound was superficial, a shallow slash the length of Hito's dagger that would sting and irritate for days while it healed. Just a reminder to Tsuzumi of his failure, and that Hitomaru was watching.

"Give me one good reason," he told the bleeding ANBU pinned beneath him. Again, Tsuzumi swallowed carefully, doing his best to keep Hitomaru's blade from slicing deeper into his windpipe.

"I know where she lives..." Tsuzumi gasped. Hitomaru's smile was pure malice as he at last lightened his pressure on the other man's throat. His pale eyes fairly glowed in the dark as he used one hand to make the seals for his jutsu.

"Show me..."

Elsewhere on that stormy Thursday…

Dinner had been a low-key, pleasant affair with big bowls of Genma's one culinary success and specialty: Pumpkin curry stew. It was spicier than Ino was used to, and she'd probably had more beer than she should of as a result, but she was thoroughly impressed with his cooking skills and had told him so. Her earlier confusion about Genma and his bizarre mixed messages hadn't really been eased in the companionable quiet as they'd eaten and cleaned up. She still felt as if Genma was putting her through some strange test she didn't know the rules to, but all it would take was one glance across the table at the handsome older shinobi to remind Ino that if he was…she really didn't care. Whatever his plan was, as he sent her ahead into the living room with some beers for them…so far she was totally on board with it.

"I have something for you..."

Ino raised her eyes from her beer and smiled at Genma's playful tone as he entered the room. "Oh yeah?" she queried happily. She always liked presents. He tossed a short flattish cylinder over to where she was sitting on the couch with her legs curled underneath her and she caught it one handed without really looking. A weapon. She could tell by the weight immediately.

The kodachi Genma had tossed her was white and well worn, with a distinctive design similar to the spiral tattoo of the ANBU inlaid into the scabbard in coral and a faded red cord -the sageo- wrapped around it. The saya may have looked old and chipped, but the blade Ino drew looked new and sharp enough to cut wind. "What's this for?" she asked. Genma settled on the couch beside her and grinned as he picked up his beer.

"It's an ANBU wardrobe essential," he chuckled wryly as he took a drink. "I noticed yesterday in the hall you weren't wearing one. ANBU always carry a blade."

Ino blushed at the oversight. Most full members of the ANBU (like Yuugao) wore a Ninjaken on their backs with the sword's handle facing up over their shoulders to be drawn quickly. Ino hadn't really considered that as a member of the Interrogation Squad she would be expected to carry a sword...a rookie mistake obviously. The other members of Ibiki's squad did all carry shorter swords like tantō's and kodachi's, as she recalled. It surprised -and more than a little flattered- her that Genma had not only noticed the deficit in her uniform, but had also provided her with a proper solution. It felt like he was looking out for her, the same as with his advice about her tattoo on his birthday.

Ino's eyes flicked up to his from her admiration of the well made weapon and her musings. "Are you certain? This is...beautiful," she murmured. Genma nodded as he stretched his arms over his head briefly with a groan.

"Yeah...it's just been collecting dust around here. It'll be nice to see it get used again."

"Was it yours?" Ino asked with a curious tilt to her head. Genma had his arm resting along the back of the couch behind her as he took another sip of his beer, and just like in the bar Ino could feel her skin tingle with awareness of him. He looked down at the short sword in her lap as she sheathed the blade back into it's scabbard. "No," he said quietly, "this belonged...to another kunoichi."

"Are you sure you want me to have it?" she asked again. At his slow nod, Ino smoothed her hand over the slick surface of the kodachi's saya and licked her lips subtly as she debated how to proceed. She was brimming with curiosity as to who the mystery kunoichi could be. A relative? A past lover? Was it the someone he had mentioned she reminded him of? She was dying to ask, but she was having that sense with him again, of being on shifting sands and not sure how to react. Obviously the weapon had belonged to someone close to him, and now he was giving it to her. So many implications...so many mixed messages.

"I don't know what to say," she murmured, raising her eyes to his face again. "Other than thank you." His eyes were still on the blade in her hands and while his attention was elsewhere Ino impulsively leaned closer and kissed the corner of his mouth. Thankful that he was without a senbon between his lips at that precise moment. His eyes lifted to hers and he gave her a crooked grin that made her breath catch.

"You're very welcome," he said quietly. His arm came from the back of the couch to wrap around her narrow shoulders, pulling her gently into his side. Her heart skipped a little to be so close to the object of her attraction. She found it hard to meet his steady gaze and the heat rose to her cheeks again as she tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. Why was she so damn jumpy and nervous around him, she wondered. So afraid of making a fool of herself. What was it about Genma the Man, that made her beyond thrilled and yet absolutely terrified of what would happen next with him all at the same time?

"Any other...tricks of the trade you want to teach me?" she asked with saucy smile, trying to regain her confidence.

He chuckled. "Oh, there's plenty I can teach...if you want to learn," he told her. His calloused fingertips ghosting over her skin up under the baggy sleeve of his borrowed t-shirt to her healing tattoo and the soft skin of her shoulder. Ino closed her eyes and leaned into the caress, much as she'd done when he stroked her hair earlier, wanting more. Her head was a happy buzz of beer and growing lust, making her want to purr again.

"Like what?" When he didn't answer she opened her eyes and looked up at him, her lips parted as she gazed into his heavy lidded brown eyes.

Genma smirked slightly at the hopeful anticipation on her face and he brought the hand he'd had on her shoulder up to her hair, where he ran his fingers gently through silky blonde locks. "Well, for one thing," he told her, "you should keep this covered when in uniform...ANBU are supposed to blend in. You...you stick out."

"And that's bad?" Ino asked, bristling at the perceived criticism. She wasn't liking the sudden notion that Genma might be somehow finding her lacking as a kunoichi.

"Easy there, killer…" he chuckled in response as he tugged her back against his side and she relaxed. "I'm just saying that it's safer for us to be anonymous is all." Ino tipped him a sideways glance.

"Us who?" she queried. Without taking his arm from around her, he shifted more towards her and twisted his torso, offering his left shoulder to her. Curious, Ino leaned across his body to inspect, lifting the sleeve of his loose shirt to see the spiral mark of the ANBU inked into his golden skin. Feeling brave, she touched him, his skin soft and warm and she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the black pattern lightly, tracing it. A giddy sort of joy came over her as she tried picturing him in an ANBU uniform. All sinister deadly grace. She'd bet he was an amazing ANBU…amazingly hot, and she grinned up at him.

"Yeah?" she asked happily. "You're ANBU?"

He couldn't help the major ego boost she was giving with how impressed she looked, smiling up at him like he was the King of all Fire Country. Not to mention he was definitely enjoying the way her strong slender body fit against him. Her left breast pressed into his chest as she stretched over him. "Was," he told her, "but not so much these days, though. I fill in here and there, once in a while, but I decided years ago to quit while I was still ahead and alive. Same with Raidou," he chuckled, "but then again it's also true that once you're in, you're never truly out. You'll learn about that one too I'm afraid, darlin'."

Ino bit her lower lip softly as she cut her eyes away from Genma's well formed lips to his even more well formed biceps and shoulder. She slid more of her hand up over his deltoid, the sleeve of his tee bunching at her wrist as she explored. Her fingertips ghosting over his skin and mapping out the occasional scar she came across. It was forward, what she was doing, and she could feel the heat coming to her face, but the soft hiss of the storm outside and the feel of his warmth against her wrapped her in their own little world. Genma's breath barely stirred the hair at her temple as he let her touch him. "How long have you been a Tokubetsu Jounin, Genma?" she asked. Trying to continue a conversation and not just seem like a slightly buzzed, hormonally-deranged teenager intent on feeling him up. Which, face it, she totally was. Hello! Nineteen. Helloooo, dead-sexy Jounin.

"Ever since I left the Squads," he told her with a wry twist to his lips, "but it seems Sandaime and the Elders found another use for me instead."

At his ironic tone, Ino glanced up. His face was even closer than before and she could see the flecks of gold in his deep brown eyes. He had beautiful eyes…bedroom eyes. Ino was losing herself in those eyes, even as she felt awkward. Pressing into his side with her hand sliding into his shirt to the forearm to feel the muscles of his back and shoulders. And more scars too, as she felt the imperfections under her fingers. Genma eased the awkwardness as he made a sound in his throat between a groan and a sigh and wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her across his lap and fully into his embrace. She let him hold her, tucking her face into his collarbones as she inhaled deeply. She loved his smell, soap and sandalwood and a masculine spice that made her fingers twist in the back of his t-shirt where her arms were wrapped around his middle.

They were getting to the part of the evening where Ino was feeling more confident now about his intentions. Now she was on firm and equal footing with her sexy, confusing, mixed-message sending jounin friend. This game she knew, and she tilted her head up, nuzzling his throat softly while he hugged her, rubbing his cheek against her hair. "What use," she breathed, her lips brushing the side of his corded neck.

One of Genma's hands slid up to cup the back of her head and tip her face up to his. "Not important," he mumbled, and closed the distance between them to kiss her softly. His broad hand gently stroking her back and pulling her even tighter to his muscled chest. Ino sighed into his kiss, his lips every bit as skilled and wonderful as she'd imagined they'd be as they moved languidly over hers. Just lovely. Even more so when he brought tongues into the party. She twisted her fingers in the back of his shirt, trying to hoist herself up closer to his face so Genma didn't have to lean over as far as she reclined in his arms. Her hip pressed into an impressively muscled thigh and an uncomfortably hard bulge. Genma's hand slid down from her spine to her backside as they kissed, shaping her ass with his palm through the scads of t-shirt fabric and loose shorts that were twisted around her. She groaned softly in appreciation as he squeezed her gently, and she could feel his quick grin against her lips before he kept up his lazy exploration of her mouth. "Mmmm…you taste sweet," Genma murmured in her ear as he moved on from her lips to scrape his teeth gently against her jaw.

Genma squeezed her again, pulling her pelvis even closer and she yelped in pain. He looked down to see that the kodachi that had been in her lap had gotten wedged between their bodies and the back of the couch and the end of the scabbard was digging into Ino's lower abdomen. "I was wondering what that was poking me, " Ino said cheekily, "and here I was all ready to be even more impressed with you." Genma grinned and wagged his eyebrows at her as he pulled the kodachi from between them and dropped it on the floor.

"No need to get impatient, darlin'," he told her as he leaned over her again, pressing her back to lie on the couch as he shifted over. "I'll impress you soon enough." Genma's fingers walking down her side over the twisted t-shirt to the hem and he nudged at her with his chin, trying to get her to kiss him again. Ino giggled helplessly as she pressed her face to his shoulder. "What?" he teased, still burrowing into her neck to get her to face him. She shook her head, and Genma suspected it was more because she was ticklish than anything else. Slipping his hand under the end of the shirt -once he'd managed to free it from where it was cocooned around her slender torso- he splayed his hand out on her side, rubbing the edge of her ribcage with his thumb. Her skin was so soft and smooth, he loved the feel of a woman's skin and he groaned softly. "Kiss me then," he whispered, still nuzzling at her ear. Her eyes were luminous, so huge and trusting and blue as she tipped her head back to see him, he was sorry for a moment to see them slide closed, but then her sweet mouth was back on his, her tongue sweeping over his lower lip before it twined with his and then he wasn't sorry for anything as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He slid his hand around to her back and rolled them on the couch so they lay face to face, her head pillowed on his bicep and his other hand making long sweeps over the silky skin of her bare back under her t-shirt. She sighed into his kiss again and arched, pressing her chest even more firmly against his. She shifted her hips and Genma slid a muscled thigh between her legs, entwining their bodies even more. Something niggled at the edge of his attention and he pulled back from her kiss to cock his head toward the balcony. The storm was lessening, but still masked any sounds from outside. Perhaps just the wind, but he could have sworn he heard…something, and he frowned.

"Still with me?" Ino murmured, pressing light kisses along his jaw towards his lips, and he realized that he had frozen, tensed against her. "Yeah?" she questioned, her slender fingers tracing his jaw on the other side as she turned his face back to hers. She smiled at him, and what a picture of flushed and lovely perfection she was, those eyes of hers smoky with desire. She wiggled against him briefly, trying to get comfortable on the edge of the couch and he rose suddenly, pulling her up after him.

"Oh yeah," he answered her and folded his arms around her waist as he kissed her again. Her arms going around his neck as she lifted up on her toes to reach him. She groaned softly into his kiss as he ground his hips against her. It amused him that with how loud and fiesty he knew she could be, she seemed so quiet and reserved in this. "Genma," she breathed, and it was all the encouragement he needed. Quickly making hand seals behind her back, he threw up what he liked to think of as his "Fuck off, I'm busy" genjutsu, the one that would make it seem as if no one was home in case Raidou or Kakashi come nosing around looking for him to go drinking or something. Sliding his hands down to Ino's delectable ass he hiked her up, picking her off the floor as his genjutsu shimmered down over the windows and balcony doors. She gave a little squeak of surprise that he thought was pretty adorable and wrapped those long legs of hers around his hips tightly.

"I don't believe I've shown you the rest of my place yet," Genma told her with a positively wicked grin as he took her into his bedroom. Ino's grin was even more devious than his as she reached over his shoulder and pushed the bedroom door shut behind them.

Neither of them noticed the two ANBU that appeared on the balcony moments later to peer in, and then flicker away.

Meanwhile…

The rain had thoroughly darkened the Tsunade's green coat, making the cold fabric stick to her skin in an irritating way, but the thunderous scowl on the blonde Sannin's face had nothing to do with her wet clothing as she watched Raidou and Asuma help with bringing out more debris from the basement interrogation room. No, her biggest source of general irritation -on top of her unbridled fury that someone had decided to blow up half of ANBU HQ- was her assistant who had once AGAIN defied her orders to take herself off to the hospital and was trying to slink back onto the scene, having ditched the medic-nin's Tsunade had specifically instructed to escort her to be checked out. Honestly, what was wrong her? From Tsunade's first cursory triage, her assistant was suffering from a possible concussion and broken arm, she should be in the hospital being treated. Or barring that if she felt so good she should be at the hospital helping Sakura treat the injured. Either way, she didn't need Shizune HERE getting underfoot.

"Goddamn it!" she snarled under her breath. She'd find a way to make Shizune stay put if she had to tie her up herself. "I need an ANBU!" she barked, and within seconds she was surrounded by four silent masked figures and a plain-clothsed Yuugao. She almost smirked at their efficiency. At least someone remembered who was the Hokage around here. She peeled off her soaked jacket with disgust and dropped it in the mud at her feet where Ton-Ton was snuffling around unhappily.

"You," she snapped, pointing at an Uma-masked ANBU to her left. "Inform the Elders."

"At once, Tsunade-sama," the ANBU replied before disappearing.

"You, You and You," she continued to the next three in line. "I want this area locked down. No Civilians in or out." The ANBU in question vanished with the barest of nods. "Yuugao!" she barked, her temper getting the best of her as she noticed Shizune trying to slip past Raidou again and re-enter the damaged building. "Keep HER," she snarled with a finger extended in Shizune's direction, "out of my sight! Preferably AT THE HOSPITAL!" the Hokage roared the last at the top of her lungs. She couldn't very well hit something to vent her anger and frustration, so all Tsunade had at that moment was volume.

Shizune at least had the good sense to look terrified as she heard Tsunade's voice reverberate, not dampened by the rain one bit. Yuugao flickered over to Shizune's side where she began to gently try and lead her away. Shizune kept arguing and pointing to the building with her uninjured arm. Yuugao nodded sympathetically, but Tsunade noticed that the violet-haired ANBU still kept calmly herding Shizune back down the street toward the Hospital.

"And SOMEONE," Tsunade yelled over the din of the rescue efforts, "find out what's taking Izumo and Kotetsu so long with my On Duty List!" Kurenai, who had been standing nearby Asuma as he leaned over to catch his breath from the heavy lifting of debris, made eye contact with her and with a nod disappeared to find Tsunade's wayward Admin's. Satisfied for the moment Tsunade fisted her hands on her hips and surveyed the progress.

It was ugly. Whatever Someone had planted the explosive tags knew what they were doing. Initial reports from those ANBU only mildly injured said that the blast had gone in a ring, starting in the Interrogation Room and then spreading outwards. Neji -who had luckily escaped with only minor wounds- had told her about the Ex-Suna shinobi Chigumo's attempted suicide and Ibiki and Tora-taicho's response and summons to the medics. It was a classic trap, lure as many personnel in as possible and then BOOM. Tsunade scowled harder. Six confirmed dead so far, Ibiki's subordinate Tatami Iwashi among them and they hadn't even gotten to the Interrogation Room itself yet. She had a feeling there would be more before morning. Possibly even Ibiki himself who was still among the missing.

"Tsunade-sama…" A breathless Izumo and Kotetsu appeared by her side along with Kurenai. "The List…" Izumo offered the file to her and she snatched it from him with a glare.

"About fucking time!" she snapped. Before she could even scan half of the list of On Duty ANBU, a shrill whistle pierced the air. Her head snapped up to see Asuma wildly waving her over from the doorway of the building moments before a stretcher carrying a heavily scarred bald man was carried out by Aoba and a harried and pale medic. "Ibiki!" she gasped and ran to where her Torture specialist was being evacuated from the destruction. "Condition?" she demanded of the medic-nin, even as her eyes were cataloguing his injuries for herself. Oh God! So bad…Ibiki….

"Critical, Tsunade-sama," the medic stammered. "He was under a huge portion of the..wall…we almost missed him." He was making a clicking sound in his throat as he swallowed convulsively.

Tsunade's eyes snapped up briefly to see the medic turning a pasty shade of green. "Asuma!" she snapped, and without a word the bearded Jounin took the end of the stretcher from the medic before the nin dropped the severely injured man. The medic dropped onto the ground in the mud and stuck his head between his knees before he passed out.

"I-I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama…I've never," he swallowed again and looked up at her helplessly. "I've never seen anything like that before..."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and looked from the medic to Aoba and then Asuma, even as she ran healing chakra through her hands trying to triage the worst of Ibiki's wounds. Asuma was looking a little pale himself. "How bad," she asked the bearded jounin in a much gentler tone than her expression.

"There's...at least three or four more in there. We won't know how many exactly until we can…find everything," Asuma told her quietly. At his words the medic nin on the ground scrambled over to a nearby pile of debris and noisily lost his dinner.

Under her hands Ibiki stirred, regaining consciousness in a bellow of pain that almost set her teeth on edge. She pushed more chakra into him, trying to repair crushed bones and organs and stabilize him. "Ibiki-kun!" the scream came from behind her and before Tsunade knew it Shizune was at Ibiki's side, her panicked eyes running over him in frantic jerks. Shakily, Shizune put her hands onto Ibiki's abdomen, earning a loud moan of pain from him for her efforts. Tears filled Shizune's eyes and she sobbed as she tried to summon her healing chakra and failed due to her own injuries. Tsunade growled again in frustration with the situation even as she continued pumping green medical chakra into the critically injured jounin.

"What the hell is she still doing here?" Tsunade yelled, pinning Yuugao and Kurenai with a pointed glare as the two women again tried to keep Shizune back. "Hey! Idiot!" she snapped at Shizune until the sloe-eyed medic finally looked at her in shock. "You are NO help to me here like this! So either get your head on straight and get your ass over to that hospital or so help me I am going to knock you into orbit!"

"Shizune, please…" Kurenai murmured as she and Yuugao tried to pull the stunned woman away from Ibiki's stretcher.

"He saved me!" Shizune cried, her tear filled eyes locking with her mentor's, the woman she'd left her home and family to follow. "I would not be alive now if Ibiki hadn't pushed me clear! Do you get that?" Shizune screamed angrily, raising her voice to her master for the first time. Tsunade's golden brown eyes met the deep black of her beloved friend and kohai's and held them.

"I'm going to do everything I can. You understand me…?" she told the younger woman gently. "Everything." Appeased, Shizune dropped her challenging eyes from Tsunade's with a weary nod and she let Yuugao and Kurenai lead her away to be treated at last. The hospital was where Ibiki was headed after all and likely to be there for a long time provided Tsunade could stabalize him. "Where are the medics?" Tsunade demanded.

"On their way, Tsunade-sama," Kotetsu answered from somewhere behind her. Ibiki began to convulse as his eyes rolled up in his head and he began weakly choking on the blood that was slowly filling up his lungs.

"Shit!" Tsunade clenched her teeth as blood splattered her face from Ibiki's weak struggles. "We're gonna lose him here if we don't move!" she ordered. "We can't wait for the medics! Let's go!"

"Tsu-….Tsunade-sa…" Ibiki tried to gasp through his mouthful of blood as Aoba and Asuma hustled him as quickly and smoothly down the road to the hospital as they could with her running alongside, still pumping chakra into his internal organs.

"Don't talk!" she told him through gritted teeth. They passed a wide-eyed Shizune and her escort in the street and Ton-Ton broke off from following Tsunade to join her assistant. She felt a weak scrabble of fingers on her arm and looked down to see Ibiki trying to clutch at her. Terrified he may do more damage to himself she called out to Kotetsu, "hold him! Do NOT let him move!" The spiky-haired chuunin was right there to run along side the stretcher opposite of her, gently holding the larger jounin down. Ibiki spat out the mouthful of blood and weakly sucked air into his lungs, his eyes rolling toward hers. "Hang in there, Morino! Don't you dare quit on me!" she demanded.

"Ino…" Ibiki said weakly, holding her eyes with his before they slid closed. "In...I-Ino…"

"What did he say?" Asuma demanded, almost stumbling in his shock. "What the hell did he just say?" The sudden worry on the Sarutobi's face sharpening his features. Tsunade frowned and shook her head, then her eyes widened as she made the connection.

"Izumo!" she yelled, "Who of Ibiki's squad was on shift tonight?" She could hear Izumo rustling through the file behind her as they at last met up with the medics, busting ass to answer her summons. After a quick transfer and some hurried instructions the medics swiftly whisked Ibiki away to prep him for surgery. Tsunade paused long enough to take the Duty file from the stunned chuunin at her side. The smell of cigarette smoke behind her told her without looking that Asuma was peering over her shoulder. She scanned the list of names and status quickly: Sarugaku Tsuzumi - off duty - unaccounted for; Mimura Hamase - on duty medic - missing/presumed deceased; Tatami Iwashi - on duty - confirmed deceased; Yamanaka Ino - on duty - missing/unaccounted for. She heard Asuma's sharp intake of breath as he reached the last name of the duty roster. Oh dear God, no…

"Ino!" Before Tsunade could stop him the bearded jounin had taken off, running back to the site where there were still unidentified victims. Hoping against hope one of those mangled bodies wasn't his former student.

Author's Note P.S.:

Thanks muchly for all the patience. I know it has been a long time, but…I was stuck, and now I finally seem unstuck. So barring getting stuck again (crossing fingers), updates should be coming much more regularly. Already at work on the next part!

'Til then! Reviews are lovely and appreciated, but not required. ^_^