The five ninjas ran and jumped through the trees, winding in and out of branches and weaving between leaves. The wolf ran mercilessly and without let up, intent on his mission to find this missing genin. Aryus was almost as intent on following his animal. Not stopping or waiting for the other four, trusting in a way that they will keep up, which they did with no problem. Sakura was running next to Ashi with Sasuke and Hinata behind them bringing up the back.

Looking up at Aryus, Sakura wondered how he summoned that animal. He didn't use a normal summoning jutsu; he used an 'animal transformation' one. It was one like Kiba would use with Akamaru. Turning to Ashi, she asked him her question. "Ashi? How did Aryus summon that animal? He didn't use a summoning jutsu."

Ashi looked at Sakura with a small smile. "That was our Kekkei Genkei. When we come of age we are tattooed with various animals that we chose. Then our father will perform a jutsu that will enable us to 'summon' these animals. Essentially they become ours, we name them and take care of them when they are present, but they go back on our body when they are done. But like our nin-cats they stay with us and do not go back on our body. They are our first animals and have the privilege of staying 'alive'."

Sakura nodded along with him, following along with his story. "I've never heard of that bloodline before." Sakura wondered out loud. "Can you get a tattoo later on in your life? Or can you only get them when you're a certain age?"

"You can get one at any time, but its very painful and you have to have special jutsu, and that is only known by our father, the clan head." Ashi took an extra jump to avoid a snake that was hanging on the next tree. Coming back he continued his thought. "He will pass this jutsu on to us and our siblings."

Sakura looked at him. "Siblings?"

Aryus stopped next to a stilled Thaynous, causing the rest to stop and making Ashi put Sakura's question on the back burner.

"I-Is Konohamaru nearby?" Hinata asked with a determined stutter.

Thaynous looked at the women. "He is close by but I talked with Aryus and we need to form a plan before we rush in."

Aryus nodded along. "Thaynous will scout ahead to see the situation we have. We will wait for his return." With that, Thaynous ran into the forest and disappearing from sight.

Ashi sat himself on a rock and took off his shoes and started rubbing his bare feet. "Boy! I haven't ran like that in a long time." He said to an approaching Sakura. "I take a more leisurely pace when I'm on missions."

Sakura chuckled at his lazy attitude. "You are like Shikamaru, I don't think you have met him, but he is the laziest ninja in Konoha but he can move when he needs to." Sakura sat next to him and watched him gingerly rub his aching feet. "You were talking about your siblings." Sakura asked, wanting to resume their earlier conversation.

"Siblings? Ah yes." Ashi smiled at the memory of his brothers and sisters. "Well we have a very big family. My father had a wife before he had me and Aryus. Two daughters, Phira and Marion. Then she died on a mission and Tsunade came and her we are, but thirteen years later he met another women and she gave us our two younger brothers and my baby sister. Cairo and Artemis, and then baby Dakai."

Sakura's eyes widen at how many siblings that these two had. "That's a lot of brothers and sisters. I bet life was crazy!" She just couldn't imagine living in a house with that many people.

"It was interesting, I'll tell you that. But thankfully we had a lot of bathrooms." Turning to look at the owner of the voice. "So you had enough time to do your hair?" She asked Aryus jokingly. Making Ashi bark with laughter.

Training Grounds

Tsunade and Shizune looked at the retreating ninja, and then Tsunade reached down and petted the nin-cats that were left behind.

Shizune looked at her mentor with a small smirk. "Do you think they will pass the test? Why did you choose this to test their skills and abilities?"

Tsunade looked down at the tiger and panther, distracted by the scars that covered their feline bodies, she temporarily ignored her assistant. They looked like they have been through many missions and fights, Tsunade thought. The panther, Tatia, had many scars on her back; it looked like she was protecting something or someone. But the tiger had them mostly on her legs and chest area. It seems that the tiger was the fighter in a certain battle.

Tsunade the snapped out of her train of thought and turned around and signaled to the felines, causing them to follow her. "I want to see how my sons take the pressure of a stressful mission and see if they will fight hard to get back a ninja that isn't part of their village, if they are willing to protect someone who isn't their own."

Shizune sighed at her mentor and followed her and the felines back to the Hokage tower. Silently hoping that they passed this test.