Wow! I finally decided to put this up!

Don't know when the next chapter's coming out; sorry.

"Now, when considering the flight path of a projectile, there are several things to consider. First, what is your perspective of the object? Is it coming towards you, going away from you, or moving in a direction in between those two extremes? Obviously, the first and last seem like they are far more important, but remember that, as ninjas, you work on a team; intercepting projectiles aimed at others is a crucial skill."

A child in the front row, whose droopy-eyed expression belied his upright and focused behavior, raised his hand. "Misima-sensei, why is it necessary to start from the perspective? Isn't that obvious just by looking?"

Misima nodded, turning away from the blackboard. Her long black hair framed a heart-shaped face that always seemed right on the edge of turning into a full-blown manic grin – such was her love of teaching. "Good question, Kuno, and you've pretty much hit it on the spot – no pun intended. Yes, it is clear just from looking which direction the projectile is moving, but that's not all that you have to figure out in that one instant. The key is to train yourselves to pull up the right formula for the right situation. The mental calculations you must go through in the case of the first two are simple reversals, but in the third case it requires a lot of other factors. The essence of learning this is that the mathematics will replace your gut instinct, and be much more accurate – at least, as genin it will be." She frowned when several children started grumbling. "I don't want to hear anyone complaining about math. This isn't the kind of stuff Udon-sempai uses – he's a genius, and there are very few jounin who can calculate math like he can, much less use it in combat. These kinds of calculations are very simple, but you need to master them so that you can use them even when you're surprised. It's not good to say you'll just judge it by eye – we may have taught it that way a generation ago, but Udon-sempai's work on integrating mathematical formula into shinobi tactics has made the experience-weighted model obsolete, at least in part."

In the back row, sitting next to her half-brother, Miara yawned. "I hope you didn't actually expect any of us to understand that."

Sano yawned as well. "Speak for yourself, mush-for-brains. This is the basic of the basic."

Miara waved lazily, dismissing his insult. "Well, anyone but the nerd."

"I am not a nerd," Sano said, disgruntled. "We're graduating in less than a week, and you don't understand stuff like this?"

Sighing, Misima tapped the chalkboard with her piece of chalk, bringing attention back to her. "Miara is right, Sano; I got carried away. I could have phrased it differently. The basic premise is this: rather than relying on experience to tell you where a shuriken is going to end up, you can use these simple – and I emphasize the word simple, here – formulas to figure most of it out for you. It's not perfect, but it should make your life expectancy higher."

"Absolutely correct, Misima-sensei," a voice called out from the doorway. "We have much to thank Udon-sempai for in coming up with these variety of formula – which I'm sure you've all memorized, since the genin exam comes up in a week."

Misima bowed hastily. "Iruka-sempai! It is an honor."

Iruka, his grey hair pulled into a loose ponytail, smiled. His face bore the many aged lines that all teachers develop – especially the ones that have to send their charges into danger and watch many of them never come back. "None of that, please. I may be the head teacher here, but I'm still just a chunnin. No need for such formalities."

Miara sounded both bored and irritated, speaking from behind the feet she had planted on her desk. "Do we really have to memorize all this math stuff? I'd rather just go with the experience-weighted model, myself."

Sano had looked like he had been beginning to snooze, but cracked open one eye to give his sister a curious stare. "You did understand what she was saying. Do you like pretending to be stupid, or something?"

"Don't judge me, nerd. I'm not a braniac like you are."

"Ah, I see now. You like getting the attention." Sano closed his eye again. "Funny how we act more like each other's fathers than we do our own."

Iruka barked out a laugh. "Ah, if only Naruto had been pretending to be stupid!"

Miara blinked, and then looked to her brother. "You gonna let him say that about your dad?"

Sano didn't bother to open his eyes; his voice was drifting off as he really did begin to fall into a doze. "Why? It's..." he yawned, loudly, "true..."

Misima politely tried to get Iruka' attention. "Ah, Iruka-sempai, is there a reason you came here?"

Iruka gave her a hurt expression. "What, I have to have a reason to see how my cute students are doing?"

Miara gave Iruka a flat stare. "That's what Kakashi said when he was trying to justify why he was peaking in on mom while she was taking a shower."

Iruka flinched. "That, uh, wasn't exactly what I was going for there..."

Kuno raised his hand again, and Misima turned to him. "Yes, Kuno?"

"Misima-sensei, why is Kakashi such a dirty old man? Isn't he supposed to be a great ninja?"

"Ah, well, you see," Iruka said as he stepped forward, rubbing his chin sagely, "when someone experiences trauma, they deal with it in a variety of ways, and Kakashi is just-" He broke off and shook his head violently. "What am I doing, trying to defend him? It's because he's a twisted human being who's let his desires get totally out of control. Don't be like him, please."

Once again, Kuno raised his hand. "Yes, Kuno?" Misima asked, a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

"How come Kakashi can get away with stalking the Hokage like that? Shouldn't she be able to tell that he's doing it, since she's the Hokage? And even then, since everyone seems to know about it, shouldn't he be arrested, or something?"

Iruka started rubbing his temples. "Well, it's not that she isn't aware of him doing it, it's just... Look. The Hokage is a very, very complicated woman, and I don't think I know her well enough to be able to explain it to you. Just consider it one facet of the relationship she has with Kakashi."

Miara gagged. "Please don't use the word 'relationship' in the same sentence as 'Kakashi'. It makes me ill."

Kuno blinked, and looked like he was considering raising his hand again, but Misima cut him off. "Iruka-sensei, I'm sure you came here for a reason, since you're a busy person."

"Yes, well, you are correct. I did come here for a reason." Iruka pulled out a sheaf of paper. "A new, previously unknown ninjutsu talent has been discovered, and the Hokage wants you all to be tested. However, the test is slightly invasive; I need you all to take these waivers to your parent or guardian and have them read and sign them. For those of you without guardians, please read it and sign it yourself."

Iruka began passing out the pieces of paper, but when he came to Miara and Sano, only Sano was handed one, which made Miara frown in irritation. "How come he gets one and I don't? That's not fair!"

Sano glanced over the paper with one eye open, still half-asleep. "Couldn't have phrased that to sound any less mature, could you?" he mumbled sarcastically.

"As the Hokage is your mother," Iruka rattled off, his tone indicating that he had explained this at least a dozen times before, "she is also your guardian. Sano, however, has only one legal guardian: Naruto."

"But-"

"Drop it, idiot." Sano looked irritated that Miara had forced him to fully wake up. "You know full well what he's talking about, so just drop it before you cause some serious trouble."

Miara glared at him, but crossed her arms and remained silent.

Iruka nodded, and turned back to the rest of the class. "Right. This is important, so no one forget to give your parents those waivers. Testing will begin tomorrow after school. Unfortunately, I can't elaborate on what the test is, but I can tell you that it won't hurt."

The bell rang, and the students began to pack up their textbooks. Misima spoke loudly and clearly, trying to catch everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone. Tomorrow we'll practice putting these formulas into action, so be sure to review them all! Mathematics is a vital element of the genin test, so don't think you can pass without getting at least fifty percent of these formulas right!"

"Yes, sensei," all the students called out absently – except for Miara, who brushed past Iruka, still looking irritated.

"Touchy about her mother, isn't she?" Misima said, her tone a little worried.

"She's close to Sano, and doesn't like being singled out without him being there with her." Iruka smiled. "It's a positive thing – in the end, she'll work hard to be as competent a ninja as he's going to be. It's funny; the children of those two are pretty much doing exactly what their parents did, only in reverse, and with a lot more love between them."

"Well, as long as it drives her to actually remember those formulas for tomorrow, I have no complaints." Misima started packing up her teaching materials as well – there were a lot, since she had discovered rather quickly that her natural love of formula didn't extend to her students, and a variety of methods for catching their interest were required. "So, what is this test?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you either."

Misima froze. "You can't tell me? I'm their teacher!" She put her hands on her hips and stared down at her slightly shorter superior. "I'm not going to let my students-"

"Unfortunately," Iruka said sadly, cutting her off, "you don't have a say in this. I'm sorry, but this is a direct order from the council, not to mention the Hokage. Those waivers were just a formality – to let the students know they're being tested. I didn't want to just spring the test on the children tomorrow; that would scare them, suddenly being forced into a strange invasive test like that, and that's the last thing I want. And if I just told them there was a test tomorrow, many would ask why they didn't have to get permission from their parents." He sighed. "I don't like it either, but believe me when I say it's necessary."

Misima gripped the handle of her bag tightly, and then shoved the remaining teaching materials on her desk into it roughly. "I'll cooperate – but don't think I'm about to forgive you."

Iruka looked at her, a sad and tired expression on his face, as she stormed out of the classroom. "If only you knew..."

Sakura stared at the paper in front of her, her eyes half closed and drool starting to slip out of her mouth. Her head was propped up on one hand, and her pen was being tapped against the table with the other, at a slower and slower pace as she continued to drift off. Ino would have laughed at how dumb she looked, but it had stopped being so funny when Sakura put on the same expression when she looked over Ino's mission reports ('Oh, I'm sorry. That was a S rank mission? I totally forgot and gave you a B rank mission's payment! Well, better luck next time.').

Ino suddenly look surprised for a moment, and then smirked as she quietly walked outside of the office to stand guard there. As soon the door had closed, Sakura felt a hand gently grip her shoulder and shake her slightly, and she turned around to see Naruto grinning at her. "You look like you're having fun," he said.

Sakura smiled and pulled his head down so she could give him a quick kiss. "You're welcome to take the job, if you want."

"Please. We both know Sasuke would never let me do that – unless you couldn't do the job anymore. If that happened, I'd let him become the Hokage, so you could rest easy."

"Every time to you say that, it amazes how you can think it's reassuring – and it amazes me even more how reassuring it actually is. I never thought I'd be considering my own death as something minor compared to what would happen to the people around me after I was gone. Before I was made Hokage, I don't think I really understand the meaning of the word 'duty'. You, Sasuke; everyone I knew would continue on living just fine if I died. Now, though, my greatest worry is making sure everyone but me is alright." Sakura sighed. "Not to mention these other 'duties'. A week afterwards, and I'm still not through all these files. Ino must have packed a literal ton of paper into that scroll."

Naruto frowned. "Didn't you have some help in here the other day?"

"Yeah, but she had to leave to take care of some business, so I'm stuck here doing it on my own. Almost done, though; all that's left is what's in front of me. Should have a good idea of what to do next once I'm done with this junk."

"That's good," Naruto said, smiling. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather make my decisions for me than you."

"That's what you said when I was nominated to be Hokage over you."

"And it's more true now than it was then. You're a good Hokage, Sakura; better than I ever would have been. You decide what needs to be done, and I do it for you; I can't think of a better system. Certainly, it would be far worse if I was telling you what to do."

"You make it sound like you're the only ninja this village needs," Sakura said teasingly.

Naruto barked out a laugh. "Hah! If Sasuke wasn't around to get in my way, that'd be true! I'd finally get a title that wasn't about my relationship with the bastard. 'Eternal Rivals!' Do you know how irritating it is to be known for how your teammate always interferes with your work?"

"I was your teammate, you know."

Naruto flinched, and turned his secret weapon on her: the Big Blue Puppy Eyes. "That hurts! I was a great teammate! How could you say such things to me!?" A tear trickled down his face.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm only joking, you big baby."

Naruto gave her a disgruntled look, but then seemed to remember something. "That's right! Sano told me that Kakashi's been stalking you lately, the pervert! Want me to teach him a lesson?"

"I'm perfectly capable of handling a stalker on my own, Naruto. I am the Hokage."

Naruto frowned. "Then... why don't you?"

"Because it's more complex than that."

"He's stalking you – what else is there to know?"

Sakura looked away. "My relationship with Kakashi is none of your business."

Naruto flinched. "Please, don't use the word 'relationship' and 'Kakashi' in the same sentence. It makes me wanna hurl."

"Naruto, you should have stopped expecting me to be monogamous a long time ago."

"But, he's like, fifty!"

"And he's no less handsome now than he was when we were genin. Age only makes some people better. And being a stalker is just part of being Kakashi – I got used to him being a pervert a long time ago."

Naruto suddenly averted his gaze. "I see. So you like older guys, huh?"

Sakura turned a worried expression towards him, and lightly placed a hand on his arm. "Oh, Naruto, I didn't mean it like that. I love you for your personality more than anything else."

Naruto only sniffed.

"Ok, fine. So I appreciate your eternally young body, too. But don't tell anyone, alright?"

Looking slightly appeased, Naruto sat down on the desk, slightly crumpling a piece of paper in the process. "It's not like I asked for this body, you know."

"I know, Naruto, I know: a side effect of the Kyuubi's chakra that stuck around, even past its death. I know it makes the civilians even more afraid of you, but honestly, who cares what they think? All the ninjas know what kind of person you are – there isn't a single one who wouldn't hesitate to defend your name!"

"I can think of a couple," Naruto said darkly, but with a hint of mirth that proved he knew that those couple weren't doing it because they thought he was a monster. His expression softened after a moment, and he smiled at Sakura. "But that's not important. I decided to protect Konoha when I was a kid, and that resolution hasn't changed yet – even if I have to live inside a tree house in the Forest of Death."

Sakura smiled back. "I'm glad. To be honest, sometimes I don't understand how you can be so optimistic, but that's part of what I love about you, so I hope you never change. Oh!" Suddenly remembering something, Sakura went digging through the papers layered over her desk. Finding what she was looking for, she scanned it quickly before finding the part she was looking for. "The council has approved of my plan to re-appropriate part of the Uchiha compound into a small mini-village for ninja that civilians have no love for. It's still going to be years before it's done, but it's a step forward!"

Naruto didn't look as happy about this as Sakura had been hoping he would; he stared out the window, a wistful expression on his face. "You know, this whole 'new world' thing sounds interesting. Any chance of me getting a position in that forward base?"

"Not anytime soon." Sakura turned back to the paper in front of her, sad and disappointed despite herself. "I need you here, in case the war starts up again. Sasuke, too."

Sighing, Naruto got up again and wandered around the office, idly looking at the paintings and pictures that were scattered around the walls before returning to Sakura. He places his hands on her shoulders and began massaging, and she relaxed in her chair. "So, who will be going? Anyone I know?"

"Probably. Ino's still compiling an exact list, but there's a good chance at least two or three members of the Rookie Nine will be on there."

Wrinkling his brow, Naruto looked bewildered. "Why are we still called that? Aren't we a little past 'rookie' at this point?"

Sakura smiled. "I heard someone say a while ago that we were called rookies when we were genin because that's what we were, but now, we're called that because we make everyone else look like rookies."

"Hmm. I like that," Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I like that. So, anyone else? It's not like I only know the Rookie Nine- er, Eleven- Whatever. I'm calling them the Rookie Nine."

"Well," Sakura began, and then tensed up again. "...We'll need at least one genin team in there, probably two. Who exactly will be determined after the tests."

"You mean the genin exams?"

"No, I mean the magic tests. Apparently, magical ability is an inborn thing, so Marcus will be testing the children to see if they have the aptitude for it."

"Why just the children?" Naruto stopped massaging. "I don't like the sound of this."

"It's because we need to get some moles inside magic society, and as far as moles go, Ino's influence over people is easily broken unless she gets them isolated from other people. When they have other people to talk to, they start to realize how strange they're acting, and Ino can't prevent them from breaking her hold."

Sakura sighed as she once again put aside the paper she was supposed to be reading."So we need our own people in there, but the 'wizarding world,' as it's called, has protected itself from infiltration for centuries – we're not getting in there with adult people, even if they learn enough magic to blend in beforehand. Masters of infiltration we may be, but we can't work miracles – not against miracle-workers. However, these wizards don't view children as threats – get some genins in there now, and not only will they be taught everything about magic we could ever desire, but they'll be able to get information and make contacts without coercing anyone to their will using genjutsu, which it seems is something wizards regularly protect themselves against."

"I was right. I don't like the sound of this." Naruto walked around the desk and looked Sakura in the eye – proof that he was facing her now, not as a lover, but as a ninja. "There has to be a better idea than risking genins in delicate operations like this, there just has to be!"

"Don't think I haven't thought this out!" Sakura snapped. "I'm not a fool, Naruto; if there was a better path to take, I'd take it in an instant, but there isn't. We need solid infiltration on as massive a scale as possible, and the best way to do that is to get people on the inside – and a bunch of teenagers have dozens of excuses for acting strange and snooping around. The bottom line is this: We need moles, and they have to be children. I'm confident that this is the right decision."

"Then why are you acting so guilty!?" Naruto slammed his hands down on the desk. "I can already tell what the problem is. Sano or Miara have the aptitude for magic, don't they?"

Sakura gripped her fist tightly. "They both do. I was tested this morning, and apparently I have enough aptitude for there to be a ninety-five percent chance for them to have it too."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I see." He stood up, towering over Sakura. "I see. You know you can't have differing standards, Sakura."

"Damnit, why not!?" Sakura pounded on her desk, which was specially reinforced to withstand the damage. "I'm their mother – isn't it my prerogative to look out for them!?"

"Maybe so, but they'll be fine."

"Fine? They're both thirteen!"

"So what?" Naruto said coldly, making Sakura pause. "Sano's a lot smarter than me, and he has my chakra – not as much as growing up with the Kyuubi gave me, but still a massive quantity for a genin. Miara's going to awaken her Sharingan sooner or later, and she's damn determined – and a lot smarter than she acts. They're both excellent ninja – I am one hundred percent confident that they'll surpass us someday."

Sakura stayed still, and then put a hand to her forehead. "They're just kids, Naruto, and this is dangerous! What if they die? I don't think I could handle that."

"They won't die. They're good ninja, and we'll give them a good jounin leader." Naruto leaned over and hugged her tightly. "Trust in them. In a week, they'll be your ninja, and as Hokage you have to trust them to do the jobs you assign them."

"If they pass the test..." Sakura said, her voice muffled from her head being buried in Naruto's chest.

"They'll pass, don't worry. Sano's got everything down pat, just like Sasuke did, and Miara's been working hard and will definitely pass, unlike me."

"I don't get it." Sakura was hugging back now, taking comfort in Naruto's solid body. "Why do they seem to take all their personality from the person who isn't their father?"

"Who knows?" Naruto smiled fondly and petted Sakura's hair. "Seems to me like they got the best parts of everyone involved – probably a result of you being their mother."

"You're sweet," Sakura said, sighing as she gently pushed Naruto away, "and I wish I could spend more time with you, but I have to get this done. I'll meet you for our date later tonight."

"I have a great plan for tonight, so look forward to it!" Naruto waved as he walked away, leaving Sakura to, once again, turn back to her paper work.

"I will!"

Naruto hummed happily as he went through the door. As soon as he had entered the waiting room, though, he stiffened. "Sasuke. What are you doing?"

Sasuke returned Naruto's outraged look with a grimace. "Being harassed. Help me rip this leech off me."

Ino pouted. "Don't say that, Sasuke! I'm not a leech – at least, not one that sucks blood."

Naruto grimaced. "Oh, god, that was terrible!"

"My, whatever are you talking about? I was referring to how I suck out your money."

"I don't care, just get off me!" Sasuke got fed up and used a little taijutsu to force Ino to let go. She cried out and pretended to nurse her wrist, making Naruto step over, concern on his face, but Sasuke ignored her – he knew exactly how much strength he had used, and it wasn't enough to hurt her. Besides, Ino seemed to have fun doing this every time she ran into Sasuke – it was all a game to her, pretending that she was still a fan-girl. She knew exactly how badly it annoyed Sasuke. "Naruto. What were you doing in my wife's office?"

When he saw that Ino wasn't actually hurt, Naruto scowled, realizing he'd been duped by her once again. Why don't I ever learn!? "Showing her how awesome it is to have me around. Why? You got a problem with that, Grandpa?"

Sasuke ground his teeth, but then paused. "Speaking of the elderly...

"...I know one that deserves a beating. Yeah, Sano told me about Kakashi. Sakura said to leave him alone, but I'm not about to let this one go."

Sasuke had a strange combination of distaste, confusion, and attraction on his face. "We've fallen in love with quite the woman, you know. I think she likes being stared at by him."

"It's a kind of compliment," Ino said offhandedly. "He's basically saying, 'you're beautiful, and I enjoy looking at you.' Not that a normal woman would think of it so positively, but Sakura hasn't ever been normal. I don't think she'd let him touch her, but I also think that she has more feelings for that man than she admits to having. He's quite the looker, you know."

Naruto growled. "Well, I don't care. He's stalking the wrong person. Sasuke I can stand, but not that pervert!"

"Looks like we agree," Sasuke said coldly. "I don't trust you with much, but Sakura is one of those few things. Shall we get going?"

Ino stared as the two disappeared from view, leaving out the window, before opening the door to Sakura's office and called inside. "Sakura, your husband and your boytoy are about to go teach Kakashi a lesson."

There was a slamming sound, and then Sakura strode out of the office. "Those idiots!" She hissed, seething. "I told them not to-"

"If you don't hurry, you're going to lose yourself an admirer. They sounded pissed."

Swearing vehemently, Sakura left out the window as well, and Ino took out a little pocket book. "Let's see, Kakashi should be around here at this time of day..." Replacing it somewhere in her tight purple jumpsuit, Ino smiled. "This is going to be fun! Inciting those three never gets old!"

Asa walked into the Hyuuga household quietly, trying to cause as little disturbance as possible. Her shoulder length black hair and light frame gave her the same profile as any thirteen year old Hyuga, but the air of silence that followed her around was hers and hers alone. Her face was quiet, and only changed when her stubborn streak reared its head. Like her mother she disliked interacting with others, but Asa' disposition came from an aversion to expressing herself, rather than a feeling of inferiority. She winced every time a guard examined her, but their lips only quirked slightly, humored at what had become typical teenage Hyuga behavior. This was her house, though, so she was able to find her destination quickly despite her hesitation. "Mother, I have a waiver from school that you must sign."

Hinata sighed, putting down the report she had been looking at and adjusting her simple white kimono. Her silky black hair was arranged in a single tight bun behind her head, and was held in place with simple gemstone pin that, while small and unassuming, was of master craftsmanship. "The waiver? Give it here." Hinata glanced over it quickly, confirming that it was what she had been informed it would be before quickly but perfectly signing her name at the bottom. "There. Turn it in to your teacher tomorrow."

Asa held the paper in front of her, staring at it for a second before returning her gaze to her mother. "Uh, I, uh, don't mean to oppose your judgment, but shouldn't you have, um, looked over it more carefully before signing it..?"

I didn't need to because all the parents were informed beforehand, but I can't tell you that. "I am the clan head, Asa. I get forewarning of these sorts of things. More importantly, shouldn't you be practicing for the genin exams? It would reflect poorly on the clan if you did not pass."

Hastily bowing, Asa backed out of the room. "Of-of course, mother! At once!" Once she was out of direct out of sight, she nearly sprinted towards the Hyuuga training grounds.

Hinata sighed. Ironic that, in my passion to get rid of the Caged Bird Seal, I end up acting towards my child the same way that my father did. "When did father's unbending expectations become my own?"

There was a shuffle as someone announced their intention to enter the room, and Hinata glared as her sister walked in. "It's hilarious, isn't it?" Hanabi said dryly. She was still wearing the jounin clothes she'd used on the week long mission she'd just returned from; they were torn, and splattered with both mud and blood. Over the years the two sisters had developed similar profiles – they had the same hard faces, the same silky black hair, and the same curvy figures. Hinata took more effort making those features stand out, but Hanabi had gained a sort of feral beauty that drove away most males. "You, the wilting wallflower, ends up handling the clan the same way father did – with an iron will and a sharp tongue. Good clan leader, but bad parent, the both of you."

"I ended up this way because of you, Hanabi. Do not jest on the matter."

"I am perfectly aware of your motivation, sister dear; I still have plenty of scars from that beating you gave me. I've never been closer to death – not even when they were considering me for transfer to a puppet body."

"Trying to make me feel guilty will not work, Hanabi." Hinata gave her sister a glare that barely tried to hide the arrogant superiority that emanated from her. "I became aware of what was necessary on that day, and realized I needed to do whatever it took to make that necessity become a reality. Even if I have become a poor parent, it is for the sake of the clan."

"For the sake of the clan. Right." Hanabi looked disgusted. "If it wasn't for the clan, Neji would still be alive."

Hinata's eyes widened, and several guards sprinted towards the room as her killer intent leaked out. "Neji's death is entirely your fault, sister – I will not let you pretend to dodge responsibility on this matter."

Hinata's voice was quiet, but Hanabi found herself retreating a step towards the door nonetheless. "Maybe so!" Realizing her voice was a little too loud, Hanabi instantly regained her poise. "Maybe so. But if the Caged Bird Seal didn't exist, he would never have died. We both agree on this."

"Which is why I have taken constructive action to replace that seal. You, on the other hand, have done nothing but drown yourself in missions." Hinata waved away the guards as they made their presence known, and turned to the stack of papers at her side, her killer intent fading away. "Do you have something to say, sister, other than commenting on how I handle my child? If you do not, I have work to do."

Hanabi paused for a second, and then looked away. "I'm on the team."

Hinata paused, and then continued her perusal of the documents. "Is that so. You will do you clan proud." It was less of a statement and more of an order – one that Hanabi had received from their father many, many times before. It was unnerving, how similar father and daughter had become.

"If Asa is on one of the genin teams," Hanabi said, very – very – carefully, "I'll look out for her."

"I appreciate your concern," Hinata said witheringly, "but my daughter is the heir of the clan, and is fully capable of looking out for herself."

"You sure don't act like that."

This time Hinata paused long enough to stare her sister in the eye. "That is because she has much room for improvement. Rather than sheltering her, make sure she continues to improve herself."

Hanabi pinched the bridge of her nose. "A command for me to help her. You don't misspeak, sister; you already knew that she's got potential, huh?"

Hinata was coldly silent for a second. "As you found out this morning, you have the potential; I do as well. It is unlikely that she won't as well."

"You're one cold bitch, you know?"

"I already told you; if you have nothing more than criticisms of my parenting, please leave. I have work to do."

"I think I will." Hanabi have her sister one last dirty look before stepping out the door. Then she disappeared.

Hinata dropped the cold facade, letting the anger she had been restraining come out, mixed with the sad exhaustion that seemed to seep into everything she thought and did. I don't want to be this way, but I have no choice. How did you stand it, father? The loneliness... She gripped the paper in her hands tightly, causing it to wrinkle. I want to be there for my child so badly, but I can't. The Hyuuga aren't ready for that kind of soft way of living, not yet. I wonder if we'll ever be ready for it – if we'll ever fully integrate into Konoha's Will of Fire.

For one moment longer, Hinata let the overflow out, and found herself smiling as her guards subtly adjusted their pattern to prevent anyone from coming close enough to sense her distress. Then she sat up straight, smoothed out her kimono, and returned to work.

As she made her way up the garden path, Harami carefully listened for any sounds of disturbance from inside her home. Like her mother, she had naturally frizzy brown hair that had to be tied up into a pair of buns on the side of her head, and like her father, she had a large face that made her facial expressions seem exaggerated. She was pretty aggressive, too, and that was something she sometimes wished she hadn't inherited. Her parents were fond of fighting, and had a habit of dragging others into their verbal spars, including their own daughter. This time she heard no yelling, though, so she approached the house.

As she opened the door she realized, to her own dismay, that she had been tricked. Her parents were in the middle of a fight, one which had escalated to trying to immaturely shut each other up by shoving something into each other's mouths; for her mother, that was a hand, while her father was using a bundle of thin wire. "I'm home," Harami said despondently, knowing what was coming next.

Both immediately stopped their efforts to silence the other and raced over to their child. "Harami," her mother, Tenten, said fervently, her hands having reached Harami's shoulders first, "what would you say if your first mission as a genin was a long term assignment?"

"Long term?" Harami blinked, and then smiled. "You mean, I could get away from home? For how long!?"

"Several years," Tenten deadpanned.

"Several years? Several years!? Is this a dream? Are you serious? I could get away from you two for several years? Hell yeah! Sign me up!"

Kankuro wailed loudly. "Noooo! You can't mean that, Hari-chan, you just can't! You're not even eighteen yet – you can't make adult decisions!"

Tenten turned towards her husband. "Get a grip! Genin's are legal adults – she has every right to make this decision!"

Ignoring her, Kankuro clasped his hands and turned to his daughter, eyes watering and lips quivering. "Haru-tan, please say you don't mean it! You can't leave, Rami-twan – I still have so much to teach you before you're even remotely ready to go out and be a ninja! I haven't even finished your puppet protection squad yet!"

Harami glowered at her father. "You've been making that 'puppet protection squad' for the last thirteen years, and you'll be making it for the next thirteen too! I'm not waiting around for that to happen! And stop calling me something different every time you say my name!"

"But, Hami-pan-"

"Stop! Stop! You just called me a type of bread! That's enough!"

"Dear..." A vein was twitching on Tenten's forehead. "If you don't stop this nonsense, you're not getting any sex for a month."

"Hah!" Harami gave her father a triumphant grin. "You hear that? Stop buggin' me, or no sex for you!"

"Noooo! My daughter used the 'S' word! What kind of education have they been giving you!?"

Harami blinked, confused despite knowing what her father was like. "Uh, well, I skipped on the intensive course but I did go through the basic and advanced seduction courses. It's kinda required to graduate."

Kankuro began hyperventilating. "What is the world coming to, that my daughter must be forced to learn of such dirty things! Her purity is gone, destroyed, incinerated, disintegrated, devoured! I bet it was that shameless Kakashi that was behind this!"

"Actually, the one who taught us was Anko-"

Letting out a horrified scream, Kankuro sank to his knees. "Anko! That succubus has gotten her claws into my child! Soon she'll be wearing fishnet shirts and foregoing bras and chastity belts-"

"You never actually got me to wear one of those, dad." When Tenten glanced at her, concerned, Harami stuck out her tongue. "The chastity belt, not the bras. I'm not stupid."

"-And then she'll be going to parties and having sex with boys, and it all goes downhill from there!" Kankuro got to his feet, a gleam in his eyes. "I know what I must do. Puppet Brigade!"

Shikamaru stuck his head out of a doorway and looked to Tenten, who shook her head. "Whatever it is, do it yourself." Then he went back inside his room.

"Traitors, the lot of you!" Kankuro was foaming at the mouth now; as he whipped his head back and forth, looking for his normal puppets, froth and spittle were splattered onto the walls.

Tenten wiped off a bit of saliva that had landed on her cheek with a shiver of disgust, and then picked up a chair and shattered it over her husband's head. Kankuro fell like a stone, unconscious.

"Well," she said, nodding to herself, "now that that's over, you should be studying. Dinno is in his room doing the same thing, so you should go work together. Don't want to fail the exams, now. If you don't make genin, you're not going anywhere."

Harami straightened. "That's right! Now I have to pass, no matter what!" She sprinted down the hallway, turning left once and passing many doors before she got to the small condo where Dinno's family lived. Knocking on the door, she only had to wait for a few seconds before Kiba opened the door.

"Well, if it isn't Harami. Want to study together with Dinno, I suppose?" Kiba's mouth quirked into a smile, the edges of a wooden framework showing from beneath his skin. As a puppet, the only way he could age was if his body was deliberately modified that way, and Kiba had taken efforts to look about thirty, but hadn't bothered to update himself to look his actual age: thirty seven.

Nodding eagerly, Harami could barely contain her excitement. "That's right! If I get genin, I'm gonna go on a long-term mission, so I just have to pass! He's here, right? Dinno, that is."

"Yes, he is. You can work with him at the table. Mathematics, right?" Kiba turned around and called into the apartment. "Shino dear, did we have to do anything like that when we were students? I never paid attention in class so I wouldn't know."

Shino stepped out of the kitchen wearing a pink frilly apron. He was not a puppet, and thus had aged a little more than Kiba, but he had developed a thick frame thanks to the work his insects had done on him over the years. "No, we did not. However, I have always used similar calculations – or rather, my insect companions did them for me. Their hive mind is more suited to such things."

Kiba sniffed. "So I suppose you can't give the children any advice. Honestly, dear, you rely on those things far too much. You should get a proper animal companion, like Akamaru."

Akamaru raised his head from off the floor, looking at Kiba crossly. Kankuro wasn't as skilled at non-human bodies, so Akamaru looked a little boxy underneath the fur in places; he had forgone updating his body, so he still looked twenty one. "The both of you rely on us too much. Imagine what would happen if we weren't around?"

"We'd be fine," Kiba said, looking annoyed himself. "I'm not nearly as weak as you think I am. I just have to be properly motivated."

"So, now that you're no longer acting ultra-macho to convince yourself that you're heterosexual, you can't summon up the will to really fight?" Akamaru put his head back on the floor, depressed. "I liked you better when you were in the closet."

"Hah! You're my partner for a reason, Akamaru. Don't pretend that you haven't gone after your share of males; I don't buy that 'they smelled like females' crap."

"That's a lie! A vicious lie!" A panicked look on his face, Akamaru turned to Dinno, who was working at the table. "Don't believe what he's saying, boy! I'm the very gold standard of heterosexuality!"

Dinno sighed, not looking up from his papers. His long blond hair had been tied into a ponytail that snaked its way down his back, nearly touching the seat of his chair. He wasn't wearing his overly-large jacket, so Harami could just barely see the few holes his insects had buried into his torso through the thin tank top he was wearing; they were the only feature that tied him to his adoptive parents. He put one of his hands on the head of Karakuri, his cat, and began to lightly scratch her behind the ears, making sure not to rub her own burrow holes. "Please don't get me involved in this."

"Yeah!" Harami walked inside – Kiba smiling slightly as he got out of her way and closed the door – and proceeded to shake a finger in Akamaru's face. "Dinno has enough problems as it is, you know! You shouldn't be adding your sexual insecurity on top of them!"

Akamaru started blustering, awkwardly backing away from Harami's finger. "I- I'm not sexually insecure! I'm not! That's Kiba over there, mating with someone he can't have children with!"

"Kiba's a freakin' puppet. If he mated with a tree, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it; what does it matter if he plays catcher and Shino plays pitcher?"

Kiba frowned. "Now, Harami, I can tolerate a lot of things, but comments about trees are-"

The door slammed open, and Kankuro stood there, breathing heavily. "Hey, Kiba," he said, still catching his breath. "Know any good trees?"

Blinking, Kiba seemed caught off guard. "What?"

"Good trees." Kankuro seemed confused that his intentions weren't getting across. "Tenten's refusing to have sex with me for a month, and my hand's gonna be sore from building puppets, so I need an alternative. So, do you know any good trees? Don't worry about splinters; I've been making puppets my whole life, there are ways around that."

Giving Kankuro a crazed look, Kiba seemed to be seriously contemplating slamming the door in his face."Why would I know any 'good trees'!? What the hell do you think I'm married to Shino for!?"

"Don't give me that." Kankuro shook his head contemptuously. "Everyone knows that Shino has so many holes in him that a man wouldn't know where to stick it."

"Augh! No, the imagery!" Harami tightly gripped her head in her hands. "No, I can't get it out of my head! Damn you, dad! Damn you! Shino, are you going- Shino! Why are you blushing!?"

"Harami? Harami!" Kankuro slapped a hand over his mouth, horrified. "Oh, no, I've corrupted her even farther! What have I done!?"

"Kankuro," Kiba said, anger radiating from his voice, "if you don't leave, right now, I'm going to slug you."

"Not now, tree hugger, I've got Harami to-"

There was a resounding thud as Kiba's arm slammed into Kankuro's face, and then a crash as Kankuro went flying into the hallway across from the door. Tenten, appearing from down the hallway, peeked inside the room, turned her head to Kankuro's unconscious form, and then nodded. "Good job, Kiba. Shino and I can always rely on your beastly vigor."

"No, it won't go away! Why!? Why must I suffer so! Wait, Shino, you're blushing even harder; what's wrong with you!?" Harami squirmed in horror for a minute longer, and then abruptly sat down at the table with a sigh. "Well, that's another scar on my mind to attribute to my dad. Let's get to work, Dinno."

Dinno blinked. "Scar? What are you talking about?"

"Clueless as always, huh?" Harami smiled, blushing slightly at the same time. "Well, let's get to work, clueless."

Leaping from one roof to the next, Sakura made good time as she headed towards where she had agreed to meet Naruto. It was just after seven o'clock; it was getting cool, but comfortably so when compared to the broiling heat of the day, and her tight dress (commonly called a 'kunoichi skirt' because it was suitable to fight in) made sure she stayed warm. When it was possible, she liked to have a date with Naruto at least once a week. To the civilians, it was just two teammates hanging out – or at least, that's what it was supposed to be. To be honest, she wasn't sure if that was fooling them anymore, but no one seemed to be complaining. Ever since the ninja community had united itself in defending Naruto against defamation, civilians had toned down their verbal assaults against Naruto. The refusals of service had become nearly universal, but she and Naruto just went to ninja restaurants – not a huge inconvenience.

When she finally stopped, it was on the roof of Naruto's apartment. It was only a little bigger than his old one, having just enough space for two people. He'd been amazingly stubborn when Sakura had told him he needed to have a bigger apartment if he was going to raise a child; the frugal way of living he'd picked up from being an orphan drove him to find the cheapest, smallest, dirtiest, smelliest place that was available ("It just needs a little love, Sakura – and who better to do that than me?").

By now Naruto had renovated the place quite well, cleaning up the whole building and repairing the utilities when the superintendent refused to do it himself, but it was still small, and when the dates were over with and she and Naruto needed a place to be private in, more often than not they went to a love hotel. Not exactly her image of a romantic night, but Naruto was dense to begin with, and only managed to be charming by accident or through the long process of trial and error.

Naruto was waiting on the roof, a wide grin on his face. "You made it!"

"Of course I did. Since when am I late?"

Naruto stared upward for a moment, pondering the question, and then snapped his fingers. "About a year ago, right before you convinced me that Ichiraku's wasn't ideal date material. I remember it distinctly – you tried to use one of Kakashi's lame excuses."

"Ah, right. That." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I wasn't 'late,' I just had problems deciding if I wanted to go through another night of ramen."

"I know, I know. Everybody but me and Chouji has problems understanding the delicious appeal of ramen. That's just something I have to deal with – 'a wise man does not thrust his wisdom onto others, but lets them come to the table willingly.'"

Sakura smiled slightly. "Where did that come from?"

"I've been reading lately."

"Reading? Since when do you have books?"

"Since my son started buying so many of them that they're all over the house. It's become easier to just pick up a book than try and find the TV remote." Naruto shook his head. "But that's not important. Come on; we've got places to be."

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her to the edge of the roof and motioned for her to follow before leaping to the next roof. Sakura followed, but with a sigh. Generally, she liked it much better when they didn't act like ninja on their dates (aside from when they snuck into the love hotel. Couldn't let civilians see stuff like that. Or technically other ninja, but that was pretty much just a formality, and at the point in the night she wasn't really caring about formalities).

To her surprise, Naruto ended up leading her into one of the training grounds, and they switched from leaping on roofs to jumping from branch to branch. "Naruto, please tell me you're not thinking that an evening spar is your idea of a date."

"Of course not," he replied quickly, sounding slightly insulted.

"Then, where are we going into training grounds for? This one is fairly generic; only genins spend their time training here."

Naruto stopped suddenly, and as Sakura flew into him he gently caught her and placed a finger on her lips. "Shh," he whispered. "We don't want to be detected."

Sakura frowned at him, but then looked into the clearing they tree they were in was situated next to. She couldn't help but smile when she saw both of her children throwing kunai at each other. "Aww, they're practicing for the genin exams. I thought Miara stopped asking Sano for help a long time ago."

Naruto smirked. "So, you're okay with them throwing knives at each other?"

"What? Of course I am." Sakura looked at him, confused. "They're ninja. If I..."

"That's right – they're ninja. You know they good ones, too, or you would be worried that one of them would get hit by the other's kunais. On top of that, Miara is willing to do what it takes to be a good ninja, even if it involves asking Sano for help – and Sano is willing to help her, even if it slows him down. As long as they're together, they'll be fine."

Sakura sat down on the branch and pulled Naruto down with her. She leaned into him, and they both sat there, watching the children practice. "Thank you, Naruto. I guess I was panicking a little."

"It's okay. It's your perogative as a mother to panic. I'm here to tell you when your panicking is unnecessary, that's all."

"You do a lot more than that." Sakura tenderly kissed him on the cheek. "You've been a damn good parent to Sano, and a good uncle to Miara as well. With you and Sasuke working together to raise them, I've got no worries." She turned back to the children, missing (or ignoring) Naruto's irritated look at the mention of Sasuke. "What are they practicing, now?"

"The mathematic junk that Udon thought up some years back. Never understood it, myself, but apparently it's part of the genin exam now."

"Oh, that." Sakura chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair. "It makes it easier to know where a kunai's going to go – you don't have to rely so much on experience. You may have an abundance of it, but most genins do not, so I allowed it to be considered necessary knowledge for genins. It should make them live a bit longer."

"Well, whatever you think is best." Naruto pulled her closer with one arm.

"Of course. I'm your Hokage." She pulled Naruto closer as well, but relented when he winced. "What's wrong?"

Naruto looked at her guiltly. "I'm still, uh, a little sore from the pounding you gave me earlier."

"Oh, that." Sakura resumed pulling him in close, this time ignoring the grunt of pain he gave. "It's your fault for going off on that silly crusade of yours. You'll heal sooner or later, however that works with the Kyuubi gone." She gave him a questioning glance.

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry. I know you're curious, but I'm just not comfortable enough to talk about it. It's a burden I have to bear on my own."

Sakura smiled. "Don't worry about it. I trust you – you'd never do anything to hurt Konoha. You can talk about it whenever you feel like it, or never – but I'll always be there to listen."

"Thanks, Sakura." Naruto smiled. "That's the Hokage I've come to rely on."

The two sat and watched as Sano and Miara continued to trade kunais, each time trying to dodge by the smallest amount possible. Even after night fell and the two went home to rest for the next day of classes, Sakura and Naruto stayed in the tree, comfortable with each other's presence.

Predictably, Hanabi found that she couldn't sleep. She knew it'd been a bad idea to see her sister, but she felt that she had to deliver the news of her assignment personally. Every time she spoke to her sister, though, it always turned into a hateful exchange as someone brought up Neji – just like it had today. Hanabi hated thinking of Neji – it gave her nightmares, reliving that incident, and made the scars Hinata had given her ache – but she still ended up being the one to bring the subject up more than two thirds of the time. She didn't really understand it, but there was a feeling of desperate fear in there somewhere – that if she ever forgot Neji, stopped punishing herself for it, she really would become a monster.

Wandering the Hyuga halls late into the night, she was attracted by the sound of someone training. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Asa, throwing Kunai into the log poles that dotted the training ground. Hanabi smiled sadly; the girls' aim was almost perfect, but there was a large chunk of wood missing in the very center of the target – proof that she'd been practicing her throws, trying to move from almost-perfect to truly perfect. An admirable goal, to be sure, but she was doing it for unhealthy reasons.

"Hey," Hanabi said softly, making Asa jump and turn around. "Nice to see you. It's been nearly a whole year since I last spoke to you, what with me being on missions all the time. But what are you doing, practicing so late at night? You should be sleeping and getting ready for school tomorrow."

"I-I'm sorry, Aunt Hanabi. Did I disturb you?" Asa bowed hastily. "I will leave immediately."

"No, no, hold on." Hanabi almost laughed at how much the girl reminded her of a young Hinata. "No need for that, I want to talk. And none of this stupid formality business."

Asa stopped trying to run off and faced her aunt, but there was a gleam in her eyes and a displeased turn to her mouth. "Proper behavior is what separates the trash from the gems. As a Hyuga, I must act as befits my station – and so should you, Aunt Hanabi."

I'd forgotten how spunky she is, compared to Hinata. Maybe her father wasn't as much of a cold politician as I thought he was – or maybe she's less timid when she's with people she trusts. I know I've always tried to be supportive of her; maybe this is her way of reciprocating that. Hinata might have been the same way, if she hadn't been in constant fear of everyone being disappointed in her. "Perhaps so. In any case, I'm glad we met here. I'd like to talk to you."

Nodding, Asa's show of spine melted away into her previous meekness. "Of course, Aunt Hanabi."

Hanabi sat down on a bench, and mentioned for Asa to do the same. "Did you know that Hinata acted just like you do when she was your age?"

Asa blinked. "That is... impossible."

"Hah! You'd think that now, of course, but she wasn't nearly as nasty as a kid." This made Asa give her another dissatisfied expression, but Hanabi ignored it. "Before Neji died, it was looking like I was going to be the clan head after father died. It was that incident which changed her so much – awakened her inner bitch, as I like to say."

Asa blinked, frowning at the slight to her mother, but decided to focus on the more important question. "What is this 'incident' that people keep referring to? No one has ever really spoken about it to me."

"Is that so? We'll, I'm the most qualified person to tell you what happened, so I will. I don't care if your mother gets mad at me for it; you deserve to know why Hinata expects so much of you."

"Ah, well, uh, if mother doesn't think-"

"Stuff it," Hanabi said, irritated. "Your mother is not the end-all authority in your life – you are. Why don't you make a decision for yourself, this time, about whether you should hear this story or not?"

Asa was silent, pondering the idea, and then slowly nodded. "I... would like to hear why my mother is the way she is."

"Good." Hanabi nodded, satisfied, and then turned away. "Give me a moment. This isn't a nice story."

"Of course, Aunt Hanabi. Take all the time you wish."

Sighing, Hanabi closed her eyes, took a slow, deep breath, and the let it out again. "Alright. This happened when I was fourteen, and taking the chunnin exams for the first time. This was after the alliance with Sound, so the chunnin exams at that time were a small affair – we were at war, and only the three villages in our alliance were willing to participate in them. Our enemy, Kumo, Kiri, and Ame, had their own chunnin exams, and we'd declared a short cease-fire in order for both sides to have the exams unmolested.

"To make a long story short, I made it into the finals, but lost. It was a Sound genjutsu user who defeated me – I had assumed my Byakugan would make any genjutsu useless, and was unprepared to deal with a quality sound-based genjutsu. He used a series of hidden wind instruments to subtly weaken my grip on reality, and then hit me hard with a more solid genjutsu, forcing me to give up. When I got home, I was not only furious at myself for losing, but I was still really unstable from the first genjutsu he used on me.

"Neji was there, in the Hyuga home, alone. You have to understand," Hanabi said sadly, sighing, "that Neji was, at that time, a huge deal among the Hyugas. Back then, the branch family had the Caged Bird Seal placed on them, and anyone in the main family had the ability to use that seal to punish the branch family. Nowadays everyone's had the Linked Cage Seal placed on them instead, thanks to Hinata, but back then the main family could punish the branch family whenever they wanted.

"A few days before the exam, I'd gotten into a fight with Neji. He was branch family, you see, and I was really sore about him being so much better than any of the main family. He and Hinata were close by that point, and when I said that the only reason that he was considered the strongest Hyuga was because Hinata had been born in my place, he got really pissed – gave me a real tongue-lashing about how Hinata was not useless, and that she was almost as strong as he was – that he was going to lead her to become the strongest Hyuga and a wonderful clan head."

"I thought," Asa said slowly as Hanabi paused, "that you were going to become the clan head."

"The decision was in the works – the council was hesitant to just give up on the first born. It would have happened eventually, though, no matter what Neji believed. Anyway, Neji had just given me the most humiliating lecture I'd ever heard, and there he was, looking at me like he was right, he'd always known he was right, and he'd always be right in the future. In my unstable state, I couldn't take it, couldn't bear having a branch member look at me like that – so I activated the Caged Bird Seal. I activated it, and kept it on, and on, and on – and when Hinata walked in, having followed me home to console me for my loss, she found me holding the seal, looking blindly at the wall, with Neji dead at my feet."

Asa gasped, and then clasped a hand to her mouth. Horrified, but driven by a morbid curiosity, she spoke through her fingers. "What happened next?"

"She snapped. Totally, completely snapped. Screaming like a beserker, she charged me and started swinging. I tried to defend myself, but I was no match for her like that – she not only used Jyuken and all of the advanced techniques that Neji had taught her, she mixed in standard taijutsu she'd learned at the academy, beast-form taijutsu she'd learned from Kiba, some of the weird, bastardized stuff that Naruto uses, and a bunch of ninjutsus and genjutsus. By the time it was over, a fair portion of the Hyuga house was gone, and I was almost dead."

"Almost dead! How!? What she'd do to you!?" Asa was on the edge of her seat.

Hanabi gave her niece a nervous smile. "Uh, well, she used a lot of jyuken on me, so my internal organs were a little mushy by then. And I was bruised all over, broken bones in a lot of tough-to-heal places, with large gashes from the beast-style taijustu. I was also burned, from the lightning techniques she'd used on me, and the water techniques she used had made me lose a lot of blood out of my already pretty nasty wounds. That was the big thing there – blood loss. Being stuck in a whirlpool tends to suck the blood out of your open wounds, and she actually used a water kinjutsu – please don't ask me where she learned it, I don't know – to draw the blood right out of me. Finally, my mind was in shambles – I can't really remember what I was thinking, but I have vague memories of some nightmarish landscape that could only have been born inside Hinata's mind. I've never felt such a paralyzing loneliness before or since."

"A kinjutsu! Oh, wow- I mean, that's terrible!" Asa seemed to be soaking the story up – her eyes were glowing with excitement. "A kinjutsu that sucks out your blood! That sounds like a fantastic technique!"

Hanabi stared at her niece, worry – and a little bit of fear – hidden just beneath the surface. She's... pretty bloodthirsty. Maybe I shouldn't be so pleased about her showing more spine at a younger age. It wouldn't be the first time that a Hyuga turned out a little screwy in the head, but I didn't think Hinata's daughter would end up like that! "I'm sure it is, but that's the end of the story. After that, Hinata proved herself capable of being just as stony as our father, and no one doubted she would be the successor. I was in rehab for months, and she never came to see me – not once. For Hinata, that was something unthinkable – she came to see everybody she knew who got hurt, nearly daily. But yeah, that's why she forced the Linked Cage Seal through the Hyuga elders, and is so hard on you – she wants you to be strong, unlike she was. She doesn't want you to have to go through a tragedy like that to find your true strength."

Asa's excitement drained away, and she lowered her head as her connection to it became clear. "Yo-you're right. I need to become strong, just like mother."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Hanabi said, placing a hand on Asa's head and rubbing affectionately – something which Asa, despite returning to her timid, polite self, looked quite annoyed at. "You're plenty strong right now – You'll make a fine genin, and you'll be a jounin in no time. I bet you'll make it into ANBU."

"ANBU!?" Asa's eyes began shining again, and she got to her feet – a thinly disguised attempt to get Hanabi's hand off her head. "But even mother never made it into ANBU!"

"That's more because she didn't have the time. She'd qualify for ANBU, easy." Hanabi chuckled, getting up and replacing her hand on Asa's head for a brief rub. "You can aim even higher, though. I was in ANBU for a bit, but just like the famous Rookie Nine, I can do certain things with more ease than an entire team of ANBU can, so I began working on my own."

"Really!? You're stronger than an ANBU team!?" Asa held her hands clasped in front of her, and she almost seemed to be on her tiptoes, she was so eager.

"Ah, well, no, I'm not," Hanabi said, feeling like a cad. "I'm just better at assassination than an ANBU team, so they send me out for that sort of stuff. But hey, there's plenty of people in the village who are way stronger than an ANBU team! Like your mother, or Naruto, her old crush, or Sasuke, or Lee, or... half a dozen other people. It's kind of intimidating, actually," she finished, growling at the unfairness of it all. You never could get out of the shadow of strong people, it seemed...

Asa bounced gleefully for a second longer, and then paused. "Wait. My mother used to have a crush on Naruto?"

Hanabi nearly had a heart attack. Oh, shit! Me and my big mouth! "Ah, no, well, sorta, I mean... it's complicated. Why don't you ask her about it?"

Asa looked at Hanabi like you would Lee if he asked you if you wanted to do some serious sparring. "Are you crazy? I can't talk to her normally, and you expect me to just pull up the subject of her old crush?"

"Yeah," Hanabi said, sighing, "I guess that makes sense. Alright, look – it's pretty simple. Naruto was a loud-mouthed brat who did whatever it took to get attention. Hinata was a timid girl who desperately wished she could gather the willpower to say what she wanted. To her, Naruto was exactly who she wished she could be – so she fell in love with him. Stalked him a little, gave him him gifts without his knowledge, all those things that timid Hyuga girls are famous for."

"Hyuga girls are... famous for stalking?" Asa gave Hanabi a curious look – a little too curious, in Hanabi's opinion.

"Of course! With the Byakugan, it'd be weird if that wasn't the first option a timid girl afraid of actually talking to their crush takes." Hanabi gave Asa an amused grin. "What, you thought you were unusual?"

"W-what!? I, I don't stalk anyone!" Asa turned away, her cheeks heating.

"Sure you don't," Hanabi said teasingly. "Is it a classmate?"

After a moment of hesitation, Asa nodded briefly, her cheeks getting even redder.

"Hah! Hyugas never change! You know, my mother did the same to my father. In fact, clan heads have seemed to thrive on that sort of thing – the males like being stalked, and the females like to do the stalking. It's almost a tradition."

Asa turned around, just a little bit. "A... a tradition?"

Hanabi nodded. I know this is wrong, but I just can't stop! "Right, a tradition. I bet your mother would be disappointed if you didn't show interest in someone!"

This seemed to speak to the core of Asa's being, and she turned around to face her aunt bravely. "Then I will continue this tradition. There is no way around it."

"Absolutely. No way around it." Hinata is going to kill me for real if she ever finds out about this conversation.

Asa nodded, and then began walking back to the house. "Good night, Aunt Hanabi. I am very glad I was able to talk to you."

"Me too," Hanabi said jovially. "You get some sleep, alright? Training for a few more hours doesn't offset being sleep deprived."

Asa bowed politely, and then headed back to her room. She was exhausted from her long training – she'd been going at it since her mother had commanded her to, nearly six hours ago – and had no intention of doing anything but resting. She took a brief shower, and then climbed into bed, almost immediately falling asleep. Soon a pleased expression came to her face as a dream filled her sleeping head.

"Oh, Miara-chan," she murmured, giggling to herself. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll fill out when you get older, but I like you like this anyway. You're so cute when you look unsure of yourself..."

Sakura groaned as she staggered up the path to her house. It wasn't because she was inebriated; no, for once she wished she was hungover. At least that would go away in the morning, unlike Naruto's incompetence when it came to making love. She always felt unsatisfied afterwards, not to mention sore. Having an eternally young lover wasn't always a plus.

Grumbling to herself, she clumsily unlocked the door and walked inside, dropping her bag on the floor. At this time of night, Miara would be asleep, and Sasuke probably would be too. She sighed. Blasted men. I don't even know why I bother with this stuff anymore. I'm not a teenager with an overactive sex drive; what exactly do I get out of this anymore?

"Sakura?"

Sakura turned towards the kitchen in surprise. "Sasuke? Why aren't you asleep? It's almost two in the morning."

"Ah, I decided to do something for you." Sasuke's voice echoed out of the kitchen, and Sakura wondered why he wasn't coming out to greet her if he was awake. "But first, I suppose your date with Naruto went about as well as usual?"

"Well, yes, I suppose. I kinda wished we could skipped the last part, though." Sakura grimaced, wishing she could have retracted her statement. Mention the sexual part of her relationship with one lover in front of the other usually made them sullen for a while.

"Ah, that's good."

"Good?" Sakura frowned, a little angry and a quite confused. "How are the bad things in my life good? You haven't dropped to the selfish level of jealousy where you hope Naruto fails, even at the expense of my own happiness, have you?"

"Oh, no," Sasuke said, sounding exceedingly self-confident. "No, no. You see, I was expecting this to happen, so I baked you a cake."

"A cake?" Since when is Sasuke a baker? "Uh, thanks, but I'm a little tired, and sugar right before bed is probably a bad idea."

"Sakura, please." Sasuke's voice became louder as he began to walk out of the kitchen. "I worked so hard to bake you this cake; the least you could do is try it."

"Sasuke, I'm sorry, but I'm not really in the... mood..." Sakura trailed off as Sasuke walked out the kitchen. Somehow, he'd baked a cake around his chest and groin, complete with white icing and lettering made out of pink confectionery (which read, 'There's a special present inside me'). Aside from that, he was completely naked.

"So," Sasuke said while smirking, a twinkle in his eye. "How do you like the cake?" His smile grew wider as he watched Sakura gape. "Naruto may have an eternally young body, but I can learn."

Sakura stared.

Oh, right. This is why I still have a sex life.

"Dad."

Naruto froze mid-step on his way up the stairs. Turning around nervously, he saw Sano standing behind him, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Worse, he wasn't he clad in his pajamas, which meant he'd been waiting for Naruto to come back – and that he had more than a reprimand in mind. "Uh, yes, son?"

"We need to talk."

Damnit. No male should have mastered that statement like he has. What have I created? "Sure, Sano, we can talk tomorrow in the morning. Dad's still a little... tired... from his date."

"You mean your 'be as vigorous as possible' strategy failed... again."

Naruto frowned. "I'm not about to start taking sex advice from a virgin, much less my thirteen year old son."

Sano blushed, and turned away. "Okay, fine. But we still need to talk."

Sighing, Naruto sat down on the steps. "Alright. What are we discussing?"

Surprisingly, Sano looked hesitant. "Can... can we discuss this at the dinner table? I'd feel more comfortable there."

Blinking, Naruto nodded, and followed his son to the small round table at which the two performed their daily Ramen worship. Oh, I'm so glad that I was able to teach the wonders of Ramen to my son. I'm not sure I could have stood it if my own son didn't share at least that aspect of my life. "So, what's gotten you so worried?"

Sano hesitated for a second longer before folding his hands I front of him. "Dad, I want to ask something really personal. Is that okay?"

"Something personal? Sure, shoot. If I don't want to answer, I just won't. Simple enough."

"Alright." Sano took a deep breathe and focused all his awareness on his father. "Dad, I heard that, when you were a kid, your dream was to become the Hokage. Is that true?"

Naruto placed a hand on his forehead. Oh, shit. He wants to discuss that. "Yeah, it's true. My dream was to become the Hokage."

"Why did you stop trying?" Sano continued, speaking out urgently the moment Naruto had stopped talking.

"Why? Oh, geez, that's complicated, Sano." Naruto sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "Alright. You know that I was treated as a, a... a pariah (yeah, that's the word) when I was a kid. Well, I figured that the best way to get everyone to respect me was to become the Hokage, and I suppose I was right. It was more a matter of the process of becoming Hokage which would have made me respected, but the difference is pretty small. After all, you do the same thing and end up in the same place."

"Alright, I get that," Sano said, secretly wondering would it be like to live in such a simplified world. "So what convinced you to stop aiming for that?"

"In trying to protect Konoha, I realized that there were people better suited to being Hokage than me. It stung, but in this case the process overshadowed the goal, and I tried to get Sakura instituted as the Hokage. See, somewhere along the line my desire to get respect had become a desire to keep the respect I had already earned, and to do that I didn't want to lose anybody – and Sakura as Hokage would accomplish that much better than I would as Hokage. I mean, I'm stronger than Sakura – considerably stronger – but Hokages have to make the right decisions, and while my gut choices are pretty damn good, Sakura makes better ones using her head."

Sano was silent for a minute, and Naruto sat there, letting him collect his thoughts. After all, the boy hadn't brought it up just to hear the story. Finally, Sano once again stared his father in the face. "So you abandoned your dream."

Fuck. "Yes, I did. But that was because I had developed another dream – that of protecting my loves ones – that was more important."

"But..." Sano seemed to be struggling with the idea. "You abandoned your dream. I always thought that those who gave up on their dreams became smaller – became less. I... I don't know what to do, father. I thought my dream was to become great ninja, but the more I learn, the less important it seems. I mean, sure, I can protect Konoha from the attacks of other nations, but that doesn't feel like it'll change anything! That's just maintaining the status quo!"

Naruto stared for a second, and then smirked. "Oh, wow. That's pretty deep, Sano, much deeper than anything I would ever think up. You shouldn't be asking me about this – you should be asking Sakura, or even Sasuke. They're much smarter than me." Suddenly his grin vanished. "On second thought, don't ask Sasuke. He's... not exactly a great role model when it comes to this sort of thing."

"I know that, dad!" Sano was frustrated, clenching his hands together tightly. "I didn't come to ask you about whether or not I was right. I wanted to know what you thought about dreams – about keeping them, and breaking them."

"I see." Naruto looked at his son thoughtfully, and then smiled cheerily. "Well, the best advice I can give you is to not be afraid of giving up your dreams if you seriously think that they're not right anymore – but unless you have really, really convincing evidence of that, you hold on to that dream damn tight. The people who seem to become less after they give up on a dream are the ones that can't hold on to another one. No matter what dream it is, no matter how many you've had to give up on before you got the right one, as long as you hold on to it tight and do everything in your power to make that dream a reality, than you'll end up alright."

Staring at Naruto for a moment, Sano looked thoughtful. Then he nodded. "I see. Alright. Thanks, dad; that's cleared things up for me."

"Anytime, son." Naruto looked back at Sano, satisfied that he'd managed to help him, and then put back on his grin. "Now, how about we go back to bed? I'm still really... tired... from my date."

"You know, I have some books-"

"We all do, son. We all do."

"No! I didn't mean that! I don't have books like that!"

"Please. You think I can't crack a six digit passcode? There are ninjutsus for that sort of thing."

"What!? That's not fair! Ninjas shouldn't have shortcuts to avoid using their brains!"

"Just because you're smart doesn't mean every ninja has to be. Also, I've been meaning to speak to you about this, but your mother-complex stuff needs to stop."

"I, I do not have a mother-complex!!!"

"Son, I have all the same issues and more, and the one reason I have them is that Lady Violet looks just like Sakura. You can't fool me."

"..."

"It's okay. It's perfectly normal. But you're thirteen, now; you need to grow out of it."

"...I've seen you staring in the mirror as a naked girl, using that shapechange jutsu you figured out from the transformations the Kyuubi caused you to got through. I saw your expression, and I know what you were thinking."

"..."

"..."

"We never speak of this again."

"Teach me that technique."

"Why would I-"

"I'll loan you my sex technique books. I'll even bookmark the good bits so you don't get bored."

"Deal. Wait... how many times have you read those books, if you know where the good parts are?"

"That's..."

"Nevermind, I suppose it's perfectly normal for someone of your age and intelligence to be worried about under-performance. Well, normal as far as ninjas go. Good night, Sano."

"Good night, dad. Don't forget your promise."

"I won't. I'll even write up a scroll for you."

"Thanks, dad. Thanks for everything."

"For my son? No problem. Just... make sure you really get all the good bits."