So I didn't get any reviews last chapter... So I will now beg: PLEASE review! I don't know what you think about the story if you don't tell me. I am always open to constructive criticism and love to hear what y'all think about Ume and her relationship with Kakashi! So please review!

Day 9602

Day was still hours from breaking when Ume showed up at the Forest of Death. She did a quick check of all the locks and then popped up on to the desk of the first proctor station to wait for her two teams to show. Ten minutes later both ANBU teams, in full uniform, stood before her.

Ume, who had been directed to forgo her own ANBU uniform stood and leaned up against the desk, looking at the eight ANBU ninjas surrounding her, she smiled. "Ok, here we go. I don't need to go over why we are here as we were all Genin at one time. But there are a couple of ground rules. First off, we will be patrolling the outside perimeter of the forest only. As this is a survival test and there hasn't been any sign of trouble yet, the Hokage doesn't see the need to break with the long-standing tradition of letting the kiddies play by themselves. In short we will be keeping the perimeter of the forest secure. No one goes in or out but proctors.

"Second, I don't care how you break up the patrol but there needs to be one squad on the perimeter and one on standby at all times. Because of the duration of the exam, the stand-by unit may sleep as long as they are close by and there is some kind of sentry set up to listen for distress calls. Third, in the case that for some reason you do end up inside the Forest, do not make any contact with the Genin, they should never know that you were here.

"Every every hour on the half-hour, the on-duty squad leader will lead a check in for the perimeter unit. If someone fails to check in, we assume they are dead and the stand-by unit is called in to find them. Do not miss a check-in, you will end up making someone very angry. I will check-in with you every hour on the hour, both squads. If you miss this check-in, I come and find you and I won't pretend to be nice about it. Make sure that the proctor, Anko Mitarashi, knows you are here. I will be listening if you have anything to report." Ume smiled again. "Any questions."

There was silence.

"Excellent! Keep your guard and be very observant. This is the hardest section of the exam to watch. On top of that if we do have enemies in this batch of Chuunin candidates, what better time to do mischief then when you have a five day window with no one watching?" Ume waved them away. "Good luck, keep safe." They left without a word.

She looked up into the forest briefly and then made as if to leave. as she passed on of the many trees surrounding the training ground she threw a set of senbon into the branches and stopped beneath the tree.

"Come out, Kakashi."

Kakashi dropped out of the tree and passed her senbon back to her. "I understand now. ANBU is running security for the exams. The only question now is: why?"

She shot him a stern look. "You are not supposed to be here. This area is off-limits to everyone except ANBU and proctors. You know that, Kakashi. If you had been anyone else I would have assumed that you were up to no good and I would have dropped you right there, allies be damned."

He shrugged. "You know I'm not up to anything."

"Lucky you." She put away her kunai and moved away from the Forest of Death, walking back towards Konoha. He fell in step alongside her and she smiled up at him, before eyeing him with playful suspicion. "Why are you here anyways? Going for a walk?"

"Sure, if that's the excuse you want me to use." He shrugged and turned a stern eye down on her. "Your turn. Why is ANBU running security?"

"Well you know that usually the Hokage assigns three or four novice ANBU teams to Exam duty. Normally, they just check the identities of foreign ninja and dignitaries and maybe offer protection during the third portion of the exam, nothing major. This year we have eight teams lead by some of our most experienced captains assigned to watch each event."

Kakashi looked confused. "Eight? Why?"

She shrugged. "We don't really know. The Hokage received some information regarding the Chuunin Exams, before you ask he didn't share it with us and you know I couldn't tell you if he did; however it was vague and not, strictly speaking, reliable. Therefore the Hokage decided to be prepared for anything that might come our way. So far nothing has happened but I have a bad feeling."

Kakashi nodded. "I feel it too."

She sighed heavily and treated him with a tired smile. She hadn't been getting enough sleep recently. "How about breakfast and lots and lots of coffee. I haven't eaten yet and this is going to be a long next five days."

"Sure, lead the way."

Kakashi sipped lightly at his coffee, watching Ume as she pushed her food around her plate. She was quiet, which by itself was odd and spoke of her preoccupation, and every so often she would look up at him, catch his eye and give a small smile and a shrug.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up sharply as if not expecting him to speak to her. "Nothing's wrong, per say. I'm just tired and I can't shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong today." She shrugged. "I guess that's all."

Kakashi clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and mused. "I have known you for how long, Ume? Twenty-two... maybe twenty-three years? I know you better than your parents. Now what's really wrong?"

She chewed that over briefly before taking a sip of her coffee. Setting it down again, she stared down into it. "Do you ever worry about me?"

Kakashi's head jerked back sharply. If being quiet was odd for Ume, being self-conscious and timid was more so. "What?"

She looked up sheepishly as if she feared that she had offended him or made a fool of herself. "Never mind, don't worry about it."

Kakashi mused over her question slowly, the table going quiet for a good stretch of time. Ume had returned to pushing her food around her plate and sipping hesitantly at her cup.

"I worry about you, usually when you've been gone too long, or you're late." He glanced at her, still trying to understand why she was asking. "But I also know that you are a damn fine ninja, who is more than capable of taking care of herself under every condition that I can think of. Does that answer the question?"

She was still looking down at her coffee but at least she was smiling now. She nodded and caught his eye. "Yeah that answers the question. Sorry about that. I guess I was just feeling a little down."

"Why?"

She looked confused and shrugged. "Asuma has known me as long as you have, but he still, after ten years, doesn't think I can do this. I was just wondering if maybe you guys were seeing something I wasn't. If I had been fooling myself this entire time."

Kakashi shrugged. "You know how Asuma is, though. He makes up his mind about something and that's the way it is. He still sees tiny Miss Ume Nagasaki, who he accidentally knocked down and made cry on her first day at the academy."

She giggled lightly and nodded. "Okay maybe so."

Kakashi sipped at his coffee. "On the other hand, I had that particular image shattered more than a decadeago. It's hard to image you as a bawling child when I have seen you break through enemy ranks like they were wet paper." He looked up, caught her eye and held it. "You may not be most aggressive ninja under normal circumstances, but there's definitely a reason why the Hokage put in you in charge of this mission and it isn't because he doesn't think you can do the job."

She shrugged. "I guess I just feel soft sometimes. I mean, compared to Ibiki and-"

Kakashi cut her off. "You are soft."

She looked down. "Yeah I guess."

"But you have always been more compassionate than most of the other ANBU. It's your compassion that makes you a good leader and an asset for the village. Besides I don't particularly like Ibiki, so I would prefer if you are never like him... ever."

Over her ear piece, she could hear the first perimeter check of the day. She grew quiet and waited until she heard all four members of the perimeter squad check in. Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked at him and smiled. "Thanks Kashi."

He nodded and ordered more coffee.

It had been a mostly uneventful day, the first day of the second phase of the exams passing quietly with little to report. Once or twice, members of the perimeter squad had confessed to feeling antsy, anxious, feeling as if something bad was going to happen at any moment, but aside from intuition and instinct there was nothing spectacular. going on

By lunch time, she had cleaned her apartment, done laundry and was well on the way towards bored. She was just taking the last few articles of clothing off of the line when there was a knock on her door. Folding the last shirt she placed it on top of her stack and walked to the door.

Looking through the peep-hole, she smiled. Opening the door, she smiled and invited Asuma and Kakashi in. "How can I help you lovely gents?"

Asuma snuffed out his cigarette before entering the apartment. "Smells clean in here."

Ume shrugged. "Unfortunately it's gonna smell a lot like cigarettes now. Gee thanks."

Asuma smirked down at her. "I do my best."

Ume smiled. "Tea?"

Kakashi shook his head. "We're here to collect you for lunch. We're all a little bored without the brats running around. You up for it?"

Ume nodded. "Sure. Where are we going?"

Asuma was grilling up the last plate of short ribs when Ume, who had long since eaten her fill, remembered something. "How often do you come here, Asuma?"

He shrugged, flipping the meat with practiced ease. "Three or four times a week. It is my preferred method of coercion. If I can get Choji motivated, Shikamaru interested and Ino focused, I can normally get things done."

Ume nodded. "Makes sense. Kakashi I assume you use goading to get the Uchiha and Uzumaki going?"

Kakashi nodded. "More or less. I don't normally have to do much, they pretty much motivate themselves. Why?"

Ume shrugged. "I was just thinking about how different everyone's teaching styles were and what I'd do if I were to ever become a Jounin sensei."

Kurenai sipped at her drink. "What would you do?"

With a bright smile, Ume proclaimed: "I would treat my students the same way my Jounin sensei treated me and my team."

Kakashi chuckled. "Your Jounin sensei was out of his mind."

Ume frowned and Asuma laughed. "Then it should suit you just fine, squirt."

Sticking her tongue out at Asuma, she emphatically defended her teacher. "Saitou-sensei was awesome, eccentric maybe, but awesome."

Kakashi shook his head. "He was senile and far too old to still be teaching kids."

Kurenai smiled. "What did he do?"

Kakashi made as if to speak and Ume cut him off. "He taught us to always be prepared and-"

Kakashi cut her off. "He liked to jump out of hiding spots at random times during the day, screaming: 'constant vigilance' and throwing weapons at his students."

Kurenai made a face. "What?"

Ume crossed her arms over her Jounin vest. "Saitou-sensei was teaching us to be aware of our surroundings and he'd only throw stuff at you if you didn't notice him before he came out of hiding."

Asuma popped a piece of meat into his mouth and chewed thoughfully. Swallowing, he added: "Didn't you like break a foot once?"

Ume nodded hesitantly. "Yes, about a week after I became a Genin, Saitou-sensei jumped out of a tree in the forest and scared me half out of my mind. I jumped ten feet in the air and ended up toppling head over heels down a hill." She rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. "It didn't take long to heal though, I was out of the hospital and ready to go in like thirty minutes. To tell you the truth, the healing jutsu was more uncomfortable than the broken foot and I never dropped my guard in that forest ever again."

From there the other members of the lunch party began to tell stories about their Jounin sensei. It was nearly dinner time when Boar, the captain of the standby ANBU team, called her over her earbud. "Weasel-taichou, we have a problem. The three Grass Genin have been found dead, their faces ripped off. Anko thinks it's Him."

Ume stood and threw some money on the table. "Take care of this for me, Kakashi? I have to go now." She quickly formed the hand signs for the Body Flicker Jutsu and left. Within the space of ten minutes she had answered the call, gotten home, changed into her ANBU uniform and made it to the Forest of Death.

Kneeling over the corpse closest to her, she swore. "Where did Anko go?"

Boar took a step closer to her and dropped into a crouch. "She's already in the forest along with the perimeter crew trying to track him down. Do you think it's really him?"

Ume stood. "I don't really know a whole lot about Orochimaru, but Anko thinks it's him and I don't know of a more qualified person to recognize his handiwork."

Boar nodded. "Orders, Captain?"

Ume pointed to the corpses. "Two of you take these guys back to ANBU headquarters and bring back Bird and Ox and their teams. We three are going to watch the perimeter until you guys get back. Hurry."

By the time night had completely fallen, they had searched every inch of that forest multiple times over. She was jumpy, agitated and exhausted when she finally set up the guard and started toward the tower. There were three full squads of ANBU shinobi in the forest this time and one watching the Hokage. If Orochimaru so much as pissed the wrong way tonight, they should be able to find him.

Whether they could stay alive when they found him was less certain.

She dropped into one of the balconies of the tower and entered the Hokage's room, making enough noise to alert the ninja in the room of her presence. She walked over to where the Hokage sat smoking his pipe and bowed to him. "I am so sorry, Lord Hokage, I should-"

"There is nothing you could have done to stop this from happening, Weasel. There were no signs or warnings that he was planning anything like this." He treated her with a kind smile. "You responded quickly and admirably, that is all I can ask from you."

She nodded and turned towards the window."Has Anko turned up?"

The Hokage nodded. "She is in the other room. Ape and Toad brought her in an hour ago. The curse mark is causing her a great deal of pain right now, she is resting." He smiled wryly up at her. "I don't know what it is, but it seems that there is an epidemic of guilt running havoc among my best kunoichi."

Ume blushed under the mask. "Thank you, Lord Hokage."

"Maybe you should get some rest as well, while you can."

Ume shook her head. "I have to be awake for the check-ins. With that monster out there, I have to make sure my men are safe."

The Hokage nodded. "A wise leader knows that in order to keep her men safe, she must be at her best and as I recall you always are very grumpy when you don't get enough sleep."

Ume nodded. "True enough, sir. Let's just get through this first night without any more causalities and I'll try to set up a sleeping rotation in the morning, so everyone can get some sleep. We might turn this place into a mini ANBU compound before this exam is done."