A/N: After this chapter I plan to have only one more catching up chapter and then we'll be back to the regularly scheduled programming. Also, sorry about the numbering but seems to be eating my lines and messing up the formatting so it isn't clear where new sections are and this is the best I could think of to work around it.

Chapter 26 – Catching Up Volume III

1.

Tip, tap, tip, tip, tap, tap, tip, tap… Rikku's feet danced anxiously and without rhythm as she and Kotetsu sat outside the heavily guarded hokage tower awaiting the verdict regarding the fate of Anko's team. The two watched with a slightly malapropos amusement as Izumo lost yet another foot race to the surprisingly mercurial five year old Inuzuka Hana, and did their best not to laugh at his attempt to be a good sport about it. Though the genin was smiling serenely and patting his sensei's daughter on the back for her win, it was obvious to anyone who knew him that it was a false countenance. The skin around his eyes was pulled too tightly and his top lip was stretched far too thin for his grin to be anything but a ploy to look good in front of the rest of the crowd (which was actually quite substantial since everyone was interested to see what happened to the mighty Uchiha progeny). A small giggle escaped from Rikku's own genuinely beaming lips as she thought how much it must smart the mighty first born son of the Kamizuki clan to lose to the tiny Inuzuka, especially since it was quite obvious to everyone around them that he was putting in a fully legitimate effort. Unfortunately for Izumo it was becoming very apparent that there was no way in hell he was going to beat the wickedly grinning little rascal.

Kotetsu had warned him that he would lose when Hana had first challenged him to the race in an attempt to ease her boredom, but Izumo had laughed him off ("Pffft… are you kidding? She's FIVE dude…" he'd scoffed.). It seemed the resident idiot of Team Kick Ass had been spending so much time at the hospital hovering ardently over Anko's bedside that he'd failed to notice that Hana was now able to mold chakra almost as well as a genin. In reality, the precocious little imp had been keeping up with the breakneck speed of Inuzuka nin-dogs for weeks now, and as a matter of fact, Kotetsu was pretty sure the girl might even be able to keep pace with that lunatic Maito Gai for a couple of feet, if he still had his leg weights on anyway.

In any event, it was good for a laugh to watch the idiot get repeatedly trounced by the formerly obsessed little girl(apparently her new obsession was Uchiha Itachi, she'd exclaimed with pride that she, just like her mother, was only interested in "bad boys", which was why she was here in the first place). Rikku had wished they'd left her at home; Hana had been whining over and over again about how boring the waiting was, and though she agreed with the little brat, hearing about it non-stop didn't make it any less so. They had tried unsuccessfully to convince the young Inuzuka that she could wait at home in the comfort of the clan compound and Rikku would transport them home the second the verdict was announced so she would know the results before they had even been announced on T.V., but Hana was her mother's daughter and would hear none of it. She needed to know Itachi's fate immediately and there would be no swaying her once she'd made up her mind. Nobody, including those in attendance for the private proceedings could have guessed the trial would take so long, if they had people wouldn't have been sitting around idly all day, and at this point nobody wanted to leave. Someone could exit the building with the results at any second, and nobody wanted to be the jackass who waited around all day and left the moment before the ruling was made. To be honest though, if Izumo hadn't insisted they come here, Rikku would have just watched it on the news this evening and spent the day training. Wasting the day sitting around held very little appeal to the kunoichi, especially with the chunin exams coming up so soon and much work to be done on her jutsu.

At the beginning of the day Kotetsu would have said he was of the same mind as his fair haired teammate, but now, after watching Izumo's repeatedly humiliating defeats, he had to admit it had been a good day. Not only had he seen his usually smug teammate get beaten by a five year old, but he had seen his usually smug teammate get beaten by a five year old at least ten times in front of almost half of Konoha, and the pay from five S-ranked missions couldn't buy that kind of entertainment.

2.

Scowling deeply in dim candle light, the pale skin of Orochimaru's face contrasted with the shadows encompassing him and making him quite a ghoulish sight. Raging anger at his idiot spy contorted his face in a way that he hoped made him even more terrifying to his informant as he clenched his fists at his side to keep from strangling the life out of the moron in front of him. The man was mentally defective, but he had his uses, though those were getting harder and harder to distinguish. As far as he was concerned the man was inept as a ninja, good for nothing as a father, ineffectual as a sensei, and pretty much incompetent as a spy.

Orochimaru had come to this last conclusion at the start of this visit and as it went on, Nao made it ever more obvious that it was a completely accurate assessment. This particular sojourn had occurred when Nao discovered a tribunal had been assembled o try someone for treason and Orochimaru's former pupil was to be their star witness. This news was only noteworthy to the Sannin in that he hadn't known of her continued existence at all, which judging by the length of time she had been back in Konoha (time enough in which to recover her health and train with and become part of a team), was easily over a year. An entire year in which his bugling buffoon of a spy hadn't noticed, at all, that Mitarashi Anko, whom Orochimaru still considered the best of the Konoha bunch, was alive and well.

An entire YEAR! The snake Sannin had to physically restrain himself to keep from bashing the man's skull into the stone wall until his brain ran down the sides. Who knew how much information the Leaf had been able to pull out of Anko about his hideout location, and not to mention his work on the Ten no Juin was now easily accessible to those Konoha fools, and he wished he'd thought to include some kind of self destruct precaution in his only surviving test subject. He'd done a memory wipe on the girl but who could say how effective it had been. He'd had a one-in-ten success rate with that particular experiment, but who was to say that with Tsunade and Jiraiya to look at it, Konoha couldn't improve on it. At the start, Orochimaru himself had thought together the three of them could have cultivated and completed the Heaven seal in record time (certainly much faster than he was managing on his own), than refined and perfected it; a crowning achievement for Konoha's Legendary Sannin. If could have been their finest hour; used to create the most amazing army the world had ever seen, nothing would have stood in their way.

Now however, he was a missing Nin, and Tsunade and Jiraiya were his most significant enemies, and because of the worthlessness of his current spy, they could be armed with information key to his demise. The only thing saving the imbecile from instant death was his own ineptitude. Having just discovered Mitarashi's existence, he had rushed out of the village instantly to share the news with his master; failing to discover if the girl could be woken from the coma or not. Needful of this information and currently lacking any other spy in his home village, Orochimaru resolved to remedy the situation on his next visit.

Smiling for the surprise he would dole at their next rendezvous, Orochimaru gave his orders, "Kukuku, Nao, come back when you know what happened in the Forest of Death and the fate of my apprentice. Oh… and bring someone with you that you trust completely."

"Hai Orochimaru-sama. Sayonara!" Nao replied with naïve enthusiasm.

3.

Makoto watched with loving eyes as her two year old nephew attempted to stand up again for what had to be the millionth time in a row and once again toppled over onto his dough-like little knees. He is very fortunate that she insisted on the thick soft rug currently cushioning his falls to the nursery floor. The Hyuga elders had fought her tooth and nail on it, insisting that the hard wood floors throughout the compound were essential for raising good strong Hyuga's, but Makoto's husband was head of the clan and very much in love with his beautiful young wife. In the end she'd gotten her carpeting and the elders had gotten a dose of their own medicine. So what if she'd used her so-called "womanly wiles" and "underhanded techniques," as they'd claimed, now her sweet little Hinata would not be covered in bruises like the rest of the Hyuga children, and now neither would Neji.

With Hizashi away on an undercover mission for who knew how long, Makoto had volunteered to watch his little boy. Neji's mother had died on a mission shortly after his birth and Makoto hated seeing him with a different nanny every week. At first she had volunteered to watch the little guy in the afternoons and now she found herself watching him even more frequently since Hinata's birth. Though completely opposed to the juin markings on the Hyuga family branch members there is still nothing she can do to keep it off her sweet little nephew's forehead. However, she does hope that if he and Hinata grow up closely together they will become inseparable and her daughter will never dream of harming the sweet boy at her feet with its' activation. As far as Neji is concerned she has faith that he will want to protect his cousin-slash-sister out of love, regardless of his family status. If things continue as they are, as she wants them to be, she is sure that will be the case.

Looking down she sees Neji determinedly scramble to his feet again, a look of pure single minded focus on his adorably pudgy face, his brow is furrowed with concentration as she watches him take his first wobbly step without falling. His lips are pursed; his big white eyes are squinted and scrunched intensely with effort as he attempts to take a second. Makoto claps her hands in encouragement as he almost makes it, but at the last second he loses his tentative balance and stumbles back onto his chubby rump. He knows though that even though he fell, he did a good job and he claps his teeny tiny hands and bubbles up with laughter so infectious Makoto can't help but join in.

A few seconds later though and the mini Hyuga is back up and at it again. Up he gets and he takes one more step before he's back on his behind, only this time he apparently had enough and he rolls to his knees with a big smile on his face and starts crawling at his top speed.

"Ooh so fast!" Makoto exclaims with glee. "Where are you going in such a hurry my little Neji-chan?"

Not really expecting an answer from the two year old, Makoto is startled but exceedingly pleased when he rolls onto his bum, sits up, and points to the crib where her daughter is peeking out of the slats.

"Nata!" he shouts his first word with glee.

4.

Glaring daggers at the back of Asuma's head, Kurenai tried desperately not to throw a kunai threw the back of his skull. She'd taken up the rear of their formation, a spot that was usually Ebisu's but which was further from her chain smoking teammate than her everyday position. She could barely stand to look at the bastard and every time she did it took every ounce of her being to keep from leaping on him to claw out his eyes. Ebisu on the other hand was being a dear, and had won her eternal gratitude for his exemplary behavior. While usually her bespectacled teammate insisted on extensively following the rules to the Nth degree, from A to Z, this time he'd ignored them for her without a word and given up his designation in the formation before she'd even been able to ask for it.

Since she'd first caught that lecherous troll unabashedly flirting with Suzume, the bastard's behavior had gotten even worse and Kurenai had had enough of it. His bi-polar feelings of love had run her heart through the ringer for the last time. They could be cuddling in her bed, her parents away on a mission, his hands wondering to her breasts while he looked deeply in her eyes confessing his undying love and trying to convince her it's time they had their first time, early in the day and then later on she'd catch him giving his number out to girls at the dango stand. It never ended, she'd confronted him numerous times only to be called crazy and psycho. Once after spending a particularly lusty afternoon making out with him on top of the Hokage monument she caught him at Ichiraku Ramen fondling Maedo Yuku's derriere, at which point he'd told her he didn't think they had been dating exclusively.

A fool blinded by teenage love and hormones, she'd given in and believed his outrageous lie and taken him back, making it clear with no uncertain terms, that their relationship was an exclusive one. However, after doing so, she'd caught him not even a month later, kissing Nakamura Takara at a booth at the Spring Festival. Asuma had claimed he had only done it to make a charitable donation to a good cause, but she'd finally taken all she could stand and that had been the end. She couldn't trust the Sarutobi at all, and living in constant fear that he was off with some other girl while she wasn't looking was just too much to handle. Now she'd requested a squad change but with the events in the Forest of Death and the Kyubi escaping it wasn't really a priority for upper management and she was stuck where she was indefinitely; trying to keep from killing her ex-boyfriend while simultaneously trying to keep others from killing him all while doing her damndest not to even look at him, it was much easier said than done. Inadvertently, in her attempt to keep Asuma out of her line of vision, she caught a glimpse of something moving in her peripheral vision. Signaling her teammates for potential danger, she stopped and doubled back to where she'd seen the movement.

"Come out," she said authoritatively. "We know you're there. We won't hurt you; we're bringing all survivors back to Konoha until the fox demon has been taken care of."

Nobody stepped out and she was beginning to think she'd gone crazy because now that she was much closer to where she'd thought she saw the movement she now so nothing. Looking around extensively she was about to give up and chock it up to a particularly zealous leaf dancing in the wind, when she heard the distinct sound of a baby crying and her hackles rose.

"Kai," she released the well done genjutsu and practically yelped in surprise when a sand ninja appeared less than three feet in front of her with three babies in his arms.

A/N: I know I sound like a broken record, but please review, I promise to update more frequently if I get more reviews. The more reviews I get the more encouraged I feel and the more encouraged I feel the more I want to write to keep the people who reviewed happy. Anyway, thanks for reading, you make it worth writing.