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There appeared a clone of Zabuza and a man with blue skin and gills. Nekomi looked at Zabuza who looked like he recognized the man. He asked "Kisame?"
Nekomi turned to Zabuza and said with a frown "All of your clones are supposed to be in."
The blue man looked at the Zabuza in front of him then the one beside him, clearly confused. "Wait, two Zabuzas?"
Nekomi frowned. That was not a kage bushin. "Who are you?"
The man posing as Zabuza said "I picked up a few techniques from an interesting clone."
Nekomi frowned "Show yourself."
A teenager with midlength black hair and dark, almost black eyes showed himself. He said "I heard what you're doing here. I want to join." Nekomi saw the young man wore a Leaf hitate with a scratch through it, but it was not until she saw the crest on his sleeve that she recognized him "Itachi Uchiha."
There was unrest among the crowd. Nekomi frowned "How did you get here?"
"I happened to be in Mist and I saw a man dissapear in a flash, later, I saw another man who did the same. The second time I copied the technique and used magenkyo and a technique I picked up from the clone. I didn't know clones could be made that were that advanced."
Most of the crowd had heard of the infamy of the Uchiha murder, so there was much unrest among them. Nekomi silenced them.
She wanted to have a council meeting immediately about this, but then something gave her pause "The other man, the first. Where was he? What did he look like?"
"Black hair, brown eyes."
"Which way was he coming?"
The teenager looked confused at the way the conversation was going, but he said "This way."
Nekomi frowned and tensed, feeling a slight spark in the air. Just then there was another flash and a man with black hair and brown eyes appeared. "Nekomi-san!"
The man shimmered as he took off a necklace and now his eyes had turned green and narrow and his hair had turned a bright red.
Nekomi sighed "Akado." She knew that all of these new arrivals were making her people nervous. She said "Council meeting, I want Yasuko, Mareo, Amaya, Hisoka, Kado, Morio and Miwa. I also want Zabuza and Miya with me." She formed a kage bushin. "My bushin will stay here to alert me of further incidences. I want construction to continue. This event will not delay us. Masato, Jin, Kane, Saburo, you will lead construction. You are to divide up the capable adult workers. Nami Watatsumi, you are in charge of the youth. Working under you are your team of Taro Amatsubu, Juro Amagumo, Ruri Shippuu and Ikusei Miyo. The rest of the children are to be divided up between the four of you."
The teenagers looked somewhat panicked. "What should we do?"
Nekomi said "Nami, you are familiar with chakra concentration excersises."
"Hai, hime-sama."
"Show them to your group and they will teach them to the children. My sons are familiar with the excersise. They may assist. "
Naruto and Gaara looked at her. She said "The two of you go with Haku and the other children." They looked at her. She said "Nothing's going to happen. Go." They went, reluctantly into the cliff. Then, at Nekomi's order, the construction crews split up and left, leaving just the people Nekomi requested and the newcomers. Nekomi said "The cases will go in order of difficulty. Starting with Kisame Hoshigake."
The blue man put his hands up defensively and said "Hey, I have no idea what's going on. I was just looking for Zabuza and..."
Nekomi said "Be quiet. You have not been asked to speak."
He said "But..." The council members glared at him and he shut up.
Nekomi asked "How did you come here?"
Kisame thought 'Why did she tell me to be quiet and now she wants me to talk? Weird onna.' He said "I thought that guy was Zabuza and he told me to follow him,"
"Why?"
"He said we were gonna go fight..." Kisame replied in almost a whine.
Zabuza frowned 'I should have thought about Kisame. We did spar a lot when we weren't on missions.' He said "I can understand his reasoning. We challenged each other...before.."
Nekomi nodded. She asked "What are your feelings on the Mizukage?"
Kisame scowled, serious, "He's a money hungry bastard."
Nekomi smiled slightly and as he talked, she searched for signs that he was decieving her and found none. She said "How would you like to get back at him?"
Kisame grinned "Sure!" Nekomi nodded and said "I detect no deceit from this one. Is there any one against telling this man about the village? As a former member of the seven swordsmen, he would be an asset to the village." No hands were raised, though some looked a bit skeptical. Then, someone spoke up "What if he does not wish to join?"
Nekomi answered "Shitsunen then." The council members nodded. Nekomi said "Hoshigake, go with Zabuza and he will tell you a story." Zabuza took Kisame off to the other side of the room.
Nekomi now focused on the two left. She frowned "I am not sure which of you to focus on next. One of you may be the betrayer and murderer of his clan and one of you may have compromised the security of this village."
The red-haired man winced. He saw, too late, that this movement drew her attention to him and made up her mind. "I think I will talk to you next, Akado."
Akado laughed nervously "Surely you are glad to see me, lady?"
Nekomi frowned "I was surprised to see you, yes, however, you inadvertenly or not led this man to my village and who knows if more will come."
Akado cried, in self defense, "How was I supposed to know about him?"
"You're a Wara!" Nekomi cried as though that explained everything. While Akado looked down in shame, the other council members looked shocked.
Nekomi said, in explanation, "The Wara clan was split up into two groups, the black haired noble and the red haired commoners. Our sides fought for generations. I am the princess of the noble, Akado is my equivalent of the commoners."
Akado said "But we're not enemies. We never fought." He placated.
Nekomi said "It is true that I have not held you to be a personal enemy, but you have made mistakes that may cause the uprooting of what I and so many more have risked it all for."
He cried "Come on! I just slipped up once!"
Nekomi scowled "More than once, I'll bet. Tell me, Akado, were you still in Rain when the investigation party from Konoha came?"
Akado looked nervous. Nekomi continued "How well did you cover up the fact that you weren't really dead?"
He winced "A bushin?"
Nekomi yelled "Bushins dispell!" Nekomi seethed. It had been Akado that the scarecrow Konoha-nin had been talking about. She had almost given herself away for nothing. She scowled, but forced herself to calm down. She said "However, I must consider all things objectively as a good leader. Council, on one hand, this man may be one of the most powerful assets to the village, on the other, he may have inadvertently brought doom upon our heads."
The council murmered among themselves. Finally, Miya said "You use the word may, shall we take this to mean that there might be no further repurcussions of his actions?"
Nekomi said "There is a possiblilty of nothing happening and it is also possible that we may be discovered."
Mareo asked "How long would it be before we knew if we would be discovered?"
Nekomi thought on this question. She didn't know of a real way to know when or if they would be discovered, although, if someone had already found them out, they wouldn't take long to get there. She said "If no one has come in a month, it is unlikely that we have been discovered."
Amaya said "If genuine desire to join the village is expressed, I suggest a month trial period during which he will show his worth and his commitment. If nothing happens within this time, I would allow him to become a member."
Nekomi thought on this. Although she was angry, she had studied Akado and he was sincere. He was just an idiot. She said "I am open to this suggestion. A vote, all those who agree with Amaya's proposal." The hands raised unanimously once Nekomi had shown she was open to the idea. Having another Wara in the village boosted their chances of survival, especially if this Wara was as powerful as the princess. This was the thought of most of the council members. Nekomi sighed. She said "Akado, do you agree to the terms?"
Akado nodded. Nekomi said "You are the responsibility of Miya and Hisoka Okibi." The two immediatly looked at her. Nekomi said "Both of which could kill you rather easily if you prove a traitor within your one month period and both of which are excellent at reading people." The couple looked at her again. Nekomi said "Miya, I will show you a few techniques once we are done here. Akado, you will go over to that wall and wait." Akado got up slowly and walked to the wall opposite of Zabuza and Kisame.
Nekomi turned to Itachi. She said "You are the hardest case for me to understand. You are accused of murdering your clan, but I don't sense evil within you."
The teenager looked at her, with a pained expression. He said "I did not do it, but no one would believe me. I was accused of murder. I had to run. No one would believe me."
Nekomi said "You have been accused of a great atrocity. There can be no doubt that you are telling the truth. I shall perform Wakeshin."
There was uproar among the council members who knew of the mind sharing technique. Nekomi held up her hands "I will take an observer in with me. The most qualified would be Miya." The woman nodded. She said "I will come as an observer."
Hisoka said "The rest of us will observe and dispell the jutsu if..." Nekomi picked up on the broken statement. She said "Do not dispell the technique. We shall do a full Wakeshin, Miya will only observe. If you think something has gone wrong, you may dispell the jutsu upon Miya. It will not be as dangerous that way and she can tell you what is going on." They nodded.
Nekomi turned to the young man "Do you submit to a mind sharing technique?"
He looked confused, but he nodded.
Nekomi said "You are familiar with meditation. Clear your mind as well as you are able." She saw him close his eyes, he was still obviously nervous. His breathing hadn't slowed down at all, or his heartrate. Nekomi started the handsigns, finishing them as she closed her own eyes. She touched her forehead to Itachi's and grabbed his hands and went in.
Nekomi found herself in a place that was blank, but not as dark as she had expected. She asked "Are you aware?" A mental image of the boy appeared. She said "Now, I need to see what happened, for that I will need access to your memories. You must not fight me."
He looked somewhat frightened, then he looked away slightly and said "I am not comfortable with this."
Nekomi said "It will not hurt. I am not seeking to injure you or take away your knowledge or memories. I just seek information." He nodded slightly. "Do not fight me." He nodded again and dissapeared.
Nekomi accessed his memories. She went back a little further than she had meant to.
She watched the boy, who she was shadowing, sit in his house. Suddenly a younger boy ran up. "Aniki, you said you'd train with me today!"
"Not now, ototo. Maybe later." He answered as he flicked him in the head.
The younger boy rubbed his head "You always do that. Why won't you ever train with me?"
Nekomi felt conflicting feelings from the teenager. He felt a fondness for the younger boy, but wanted to distance himself at the same time. Emotions were forbidden for an ANBU. They got people killed. So he was told by the black ops, so he was told by his father, which reminded him. He had a meeting with his father that night.
Nekomi let the memories play through, watching the boy meet with his father. She was shocked at what she saw. The Uchiha head had called Itachi because he was considering making an alliance behind the Hokage's back with a former Konoha nin who was establising his own village. Nekomi was enraged when she discovered who the nin was. Orochimaru! She watched as Itachi tried to talk his father out of the idea. Several other Uchiha were present in the room. They met each night for a week. At the end, the young Anbu commander had convinced the clan that he would betray them the way he had betrayed Konoha itself. The exhausted Itachi had then been sent on a mission. He completed it early and came back. He came home to a scene of death and destruction. Bodies were littered in the street. Itachi rushed to his parent's home to find himself standing over his younger brother who was wailing on the floor. He scowled at this impersonator. "What have you done?"
The man who pretended to be him smirked "I have found none of these worthy for an alliance, save you and your brother. You will come to join me." He laughed "You will have no where else to go. And if you do not, your brother will, to get revenge against you!" He laughed again.
Nekomi raged "Orochimaru!!"
Those outside wakeshin grew alarmed as Nekomi began radiating a strong killer intent. Mareo stopped one of the other council members from touching the two. "Remember her warning." He dispelled the jutsu on Miya.
Miya shook her head, to clear it. "I don't believe it."
"What's going on?"
Miya shook her head "I don't believe it." She repeated.
Yasuko said "What's going on? Do we need to dispell the jutsu?"
Miya shook her head "No, the Uchiha is not the focus of her anger."
Several council members shivered. All felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up at the killer intent that she was radiating.
Back in the middle place...
Nekomi tried to stop the rage that was penetrating her every thought. She stopped the jutsu.
Itachi woke up. This was all very strange. First, he had been on the run ever since he had been falsely accused of murdering his clan, then he had come upon that man and then this place and then he had been interrogated in a manner he had not even seen the Yamanakas or the interrogation squad use. Now, what was going to happen? He could feel killer intent still rolling off her. He watched her, prepared to fight and leave again if he had to.
Nekomi shook as she tried to bring her rage under control. She took several deep breaths then opened her eyes. She said "The Uchiha is innocent of the murder of his clan."
Miwa asked "Then who commited the genocide?"
Nekomi answered tersely "The same man who murdered mine." She shook and didn't notice Itachi's eyes widen. "Orochimaru." She breathed out loudly. She said, tersely, "He is innocent. If he wishes to join, his acceptance his up to you. I must take my leave of this meeting. I will be up top." She was gone in a violent flash of light. They all tensed.
Hisoka said "Byakugon" He looked around and said "She's above." He deactivated it. They all stared at the teenager. Miya turned to the other council members and said "I saw most of it. I have despised the Uchiha clan my whole life, but this boy is different. I vote in favor of him staying."
Up above...Nekomi was alone, the others gone to work on the construction. She could just hear them working. She created two dozen jiykuu bushin and surrounded herself with them. "Let's go." She ordered them to rush her and turned her aggression upon fighting the bushin. Once she had gotten down to the last one, she panted. Miya walked up to her "The council has decided. The boy will stay. It has not been decided where he will live. That decision has been left up to you, hime."
Nekomi had calmed down enough to think clearly after the training. She thought about the boy. Where would be the best place to put him? She said "I will talk to him again." She followed Miya back down.
Itachi looked at her. He wondered if she had known of the memory he had recieved from her before she cut off the jutsu. This woman had been through the same thing as him and they shared the same enemy. He felt an intense kinship with her. He waited for her to say something.
Nekomi looked at this boy.He was just barely a teenager and he was an Anbu. What a life to give a child. And yet, they hadn't drilled all of his emotion out of him. There was hope for him. She said "Itachi, you have been accepted into this village. Will you stay here and be loyal to it and its leader?"
"Hai, if you are its leader."
Nekomi nodded with a slight smile. She said "I have not yet decided where you are to stay, Itachi." Nekomi left off a suffix awkwardly, not sure how to adress him. He was younger than her, but of high rank.
Itachi looked at her and asked, quietly, "Do I have a say?"
Nekomi said "It will be considered."
Itachi answered, not looking her in the eyes "I would stay with you." He said this quietly, almost embarassed. Nekomi was surprised. The council also looked surprised. Finally, Nekomi smiled. She said "Fine." He smiled slightly. He said "Thank you, bankage-sama." He looked up at her with a smile.
Nekomi shook her head slightly in wonder at him. How had he known to do that? How much had he gotten out of her clone? She needed to talk further with the boy. She said "Of course you'll have to take an examination to prove your skills to me. Your Konoha rank will not hold here."
Itachi looked startled at the sudden change of topic. Mareo asked "An examination, Nekomi-hime?"
Nekomi said "Hai, after the village is built. It will determine the rank of the citizens of the village."
Mareo asked "Rank?"
Nekomi said "Ninja rank." She smiled "I will be doing things a bit differently than some of you are used to. Now, I have some work to check on."
A month later...
Akado had proven himself in his contribution to work and nothing else had happened. Kisame was also proving to be very useful with water jutsus and with his huge chakra levels. Itachi had been living with Nekomi and the boys since the day he arrived.
In that month, much had been acomplished. Everyone had moved in and had finished their rooms. In another month they would have the village finished and it would be time for the examinations to begin. Since the end of the first week Nekomi had set up a training program and today she would begin determining the classes of everyone. It was another way in which banshougakure was different. There would be three classes of ninja in addition to rank. There would be Guard, Ground and Medic ninja. Guard ninja would be those with high chakra levels and average chakra control. Ground ninja would be those with with average chakra levels and good control. Medic ninja would be those with low to average chakra levels, but excellent chakra control. The way rank would be determined would also work a bit differently, but that was not a concern for another month.
Nekomi rose to do meditation that morning. Soon would be morning training in the newly completed training grounds. She smiled at Naruto and Gaara who she would let sleep until the call for morning training. Itachi was already up. She wasn't surprised to see him already meditating. He was the earliest riser out of the village. She asked "Mind if I join you?"
He shook his head once "Ohayo, oneesan."
Nekomi noticed the small smile on his face and also smiled slightly "Ohayo, Itachi-kun." He had started calling her big sister a week after he had moved in with them. He seemed kind of embarassed at the time and Nekomi had the same talk about emotions with him that she had with Haku. After that, Itachi seemed to latch on to the family he had come upon strongly. He was very protective of the boys and was rarely seen far from them. Naruto and Gaara got along well with him, especially Naruto. At first Gaara had seemed a little resentful at having another person added to the family, but he seemed to have grown on him a little.
Itachi turned to her "Who will start the examinations?"
Nekomi smiled "The examinations for class will start today. It will go in alphabetical order."
Itachi frowned a little. Nekomi said "You will be near the end with Naruto and Gaara. You will go after Gaara and before Naruto."
Itachi looked at her in surprise and some feeling. That meant...she accepted him...as part of her family...his eyes teared. Nekomi smiled "That ok with you?" He nodded.
The class examinations were much simpler than the level evaluations would be. The chakra control test would be a version of the excercise they had been practicing and Hisoka would evaluate their chakra levels.
Nekomi was tired by the end of the tests. She had recorded all of their scores mentally and on paper. She could tell Hisoka was ready to drop from the extended use of the byakugon. She was proud of her sons. Naruto and Gaara had both classed Guard. So had Zabuza and Haku and Kisame. It was tougher to place Itachi because he had very good control and good chakra levels. She finally decided to place him in the ground class. After the level examinations she would assign teams.
Nekomi was glad the day was nearly done. Today was the day that Akado would be moving out and into Kisame's room, who he seemed to have hit off a rivalry with that was bigger than the one he had with Zabuza. Hisoka and Miya were clearly relieved. Nekomi felt a little twinge of guilt of putting Akado with them. It wasn't really fair, but it had been the best she could think of at the time.
Nekomi sat up top. Akado walked by on his way down. She called "Don't throw any parties."
He grinned at her. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Nekomi thought 'He's like an irresponsible younger brother.' "I mean it."
"Of course." He grinned as he left. Nekomi sighed. She hoped he didn't become a bad influence on the boys.
They had all been training for the next month and the level examinations.
The level examinations took a week and Nekomi and the council members were the examiners, then they had to be examined themselves. Once it was completed, they would be put into teams.
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Naruto- Unranked guard nin, team purple Gaara- Unranked guard nin, team purple Zabuza- Chunnin guard nin, specializing in ninjutsu and kenjutsu, team purple Haku- Unranked guard nin, team purple Itachi- Unranked ground nin, team gold Kisame- Chunnin guard nin, specializing in ninjutsu and kenjutsu, team orange
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List of teams:
Red Orange Green Blue Purple Indigo Gold Silver Black
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Level examinations:
To obtain the rank of Genin: one must demonstrate a specialization in one of the ninja arts tested
Chunnin: one must demonstrate a specialization in two arts
Jounin: three arts
Arts tested and what is required to specialize in the art:
Genjutsu- can do 3 wide range and 3 short range attacks and can dispell strong illusions.
Ninjutsu- know one technique from each land and be able to perform perfectly.
Taijutsu- Come up with own fighting style and be able to use weights 5x body weight.
Kenjutsu- Come up with own fighting style and specialize in a weapon.
Medic Jutsu- Must master self-healing, energy transfer and healing
Kinjutsu- must know any 10 forbidden jutsu
Seals- Must know 5 basic and 3 complex seals.
Dojutsu- Must be mastered to highest form.
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The timeskip will be in the next chapter. I know a lot of you are looking forward to that. I will post it soon, within the next day or two probably, at the latest, sometime this week.