"Ah, ha!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as he pointed down the hill they now stood on. Down below them was their home village. "There's Konoha!"

Hinata and Chouji watched as Neji, Ino and Shino shook their heads. Sakura stomped over to her noisy teammate and punched him on his head. Naruto promptly fell over. "You baka!" she shouted. "Do you always have to be so noisy? We can all see that we've reached Konoha!"

Naruto sat on the ground, rubbing his sore head as he listened. "B-but Sakura-chan-"

"Naruto. Sakura. Save the bickering for when we have finished our report to the Hokage." Neji demanded irritably. He was in charge of this mission and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"N-Neji-niichan, they're just-" Hinata stuttered but froze when Neji turned his piercing eyes on her, his gaze icy. Hinata gulped in fear. Shino stepped between his partner and her cousin, putting his arm around Hinata in a rare gesture of affection.

"Sh-Shino-kun!"

Shino turned his mostly hidden face to her. Come on, Hinata. Let's go."

The five remaining genin stared after them in surprise.

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The chuunin and jounin around Hokage Tower informed the seven genin that Tsunade was not in her office.

"Ah, Tsunade-baachan is never in her office." Naruto said. "Meanwhile I'm going to go have some ramen. Anyone wanna come?"

"Naruto, shut up!" Sakura growled through clenched teeth.

Ino flapped a hand dismissively. "Oh Sakura, let the baka go and stuff his face."

The two jounin and one chuunin who had told the Tsunade wasn't in her office snorted, hiding grins behind their hands.

Naruto leapt forward and pointed at them, shouting, "Ah, ha! You're laughing at me! Me, Uzumaki Naruto who will be the-"

Sakura smacked the boy on the side of the head so hard he was knocked back several feet and into a wall.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

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Of all the things Tsunade had been expecting, this was not it at all.

Kyiara struggled wildly against her bonds. "Where the fucking hell am I?" she growled at them.

Tsunade raised her hands in what she hoped was a calming gesture. "You're in Konoha Hospital, Kyiara. You're safe."

"Safe?" Kyiara repeated sarcastically. "I'm never safe, as you call it! Do not lie to me!"

"Kyiara," Genma spoke her name. "Kyiara, you are safe now. I promise."

"G-Genma-sensei?" Kyiara asked shakily. She stopped struggling briefly as she stared at him. Then she struggled even worse; the restraints started to cut into her flesh.

Genma held her down, trying to stop her from hurting herself further. "Kyiara, please hear me out!"

Sharingan eyes bored into his own. "Why should I believe you, or anyone else for that matter? How do I know this isn't some sort of plot of Orochimaru's to make me fight for him, or one of his allies?"

Genma didn't know what to say for a moment. Finally he said, "Ask me to say, show or prove something only the real Genma would know."

Kyiara was breathing heavily, eyes closed as she thought. She stopped struggling. Slowly, Genma removed his hands.

"Show me the three throwing needles Luna, Oria and I gave you on your birthday." She opened her eyes, which were still Sharingan red.

Genma nodded. He reached under his shirt and pulled out a silver chain and pulled it over his head and handed it to her. Clumsily, she examined what hung upon the chain. Three five inch throwing needles were attached to the chain by a seed of chakra. Each one was intricately etched with a different design, and a set of initials, one on each needle. One had hers.

FLASHBACK

"Hey Luna-chan, Kyiara-chan!" Oria motioned his friends over. "Genma-sensei's birthday is in two days. I think we should do something for him."

The girls nodded emphatically. "But what can we do?" Kyiara demanded curiously.

They thought for a moment. Suddenly Oria leapt in the air and executed a perfect jumping spinning hook kick into one of the tree trunks. "I've got it!"

The girls eyed him suspiciously. His ideas were not always one hundred percent foolproof and more often than not got them into a heap of trouble. Luna and Kyiara hoped this time would be different. "What?"

"Luna-chan, you can manipulate and contort metal, right?"

Luna nodded, and Oria continued, "Is there any way you could do something to metal that would allow people without your keikai to carve on it?"

"No." But upon seeing Oria's crestfallen look, continued hastily, "But If I manipulated the metal into being carved and contorted the carving and etching tools into working for you, then it would work. Why, what are you thinking?"

Oria grinned. "We could each carve a design on one of our own throwing needles along with our initials. What do you think?"

The girls smiled. "You're on!"

When they were finished, each throwing needle was etched with an intricate design. Luna's was by far the best, but for not having any keikai with metal like Luna they had done very well.

The look on Genma's face when he saw what his students had done for him was wonderful. Sharing a glance, the three knew this moment was well worth their time and effort.

END FLASHBACK

Kyiara stared at the throwing needles in her hands. The first one she recognized had a flowering ivy plant etched upon it, along with her own initials. The one in the center had a dragon etched on it, surrounding Oria's initials. But the most beautiful one had phoenixes on in with Luna's initials. There was no mistaking it. These were real and not forged or an illusion, the Sharingan proved that to her.

Slowly, she relaxed onto the bed.

"Now do you believe me, Kyiara?" Genma asked.

Kyiara scowled at him, still not totally convinced. "If you're Genma-sensei, then get these stupid things off of me!" she motioned with her fists, indicating the wrist and ankle manacles.

Tsunade stepped forward. "Only if you promise not to try to get up. Even if you can heal yourself, your body still needs time to rest. Is it a deal?"

Kyiara eyed Tsunade suspiciously. "I remember you from last night, old lady. Who are you, anyway?" She glanced at Lee, Tenten and Shikamaru. "Your looks can not hide what you really look like, Senpai. Why hide behind the looks of a young lady when you're over fifty years old?"

Tsunade's eyebrow twitched; Genma tried not to grin and failed; Lee, Tenten and even Shikamaru stared at Kyiara, then at Tsunade.

"You mean Tsunade-sama doesn't really look like this?" Lee demanded.

"When she was younger, maybe." Kyiara said dryly. She tugged sharply at her restraints. "But she uses a jutsu to make her look like this."

Genma nodded. "She is very powerful after all. She is one of the three legendary Sannin, Kyiara. Along with Jiyaria and-"

"And Orochimaru." Kyiara finished.

"Kyiara, Tsunade-sama was chosen to be our fifth Hokage."

"Is the third Hokage dead?" Kyiara asked softly. "Does this have something to do with Orochimaru's plans to destroy Konoha?"

Before anyone could answer, the door nearly burst off of its hinges as Naruto charged into the room, followed by the other six genins and Kiba, who had helped the locate Tsunade with the help of Akamaru. He came to a halt when Kyiara met his gaze.

"Nane? Why does she have Sharingan, Tsunade-baachan?" Naruto demanded.

Tsunade glanced at the genin who had just arrived to Kyiara. "That's a good question, Naruto."