Fun Fact: I started a new fic called "If You Do Not Enter the Tiger's Cave" about Suna OC (with eventual OC/Shisui). I'm biased, but I think you should totally check it out.

Chapter Thirty-Five - Rhetorical

[rhetorical—adjective 1: used for, belonging to, or concerned with mere style or effect 2: marked by or tending to use exaggerated language or bombast 3: of, relating to, or concerned with rhetoric, or the effective use of language]

"Look, all I'm saying is that it'll be quite a while before you're big enough to capture an opponent completely on your own without lethal force. You need an external factor to even up the odds."

"Okay," I said, shifting to secure my place on Takai's back. I started scratching at the spot between his ears and looked up at Hana. "What type of external factor?"

"Well, I use the boys, mostly," she said, reaching down to pet Hayai's head. "They'll immobilize and hold 'em down while I go through whatever capture protocol I was issued for the mission. But I've seen different methods. Genjutsu probably wouldn't work for you. Raiton is nice for a quick stun. There's some helpful doton techniques, too. That chain trick of yours might be able to work something out. And you could look into some sealing stuff. There's probably been a fuuinjutsu solution at some point."

"Huh. Maybe." I straightened, resting my hands on Takai's back. He grumbled and looked back at me. I grinned and started scratching his ear again. "So needy. Does Hana not give you enough attention?"

Hana scoffed, crossing her arms. As we entered the Uchiha Compound, she lowered her hands and looked around. "Um . . . wow. That's, that's a lot of plants."

"Sasuke likes gardening," I said, shrugging. "And it's better than all the empty houses."

"Huh. And, uh, what are those ones for?" she asked, pointing at the plots that we'd built that Sasuke hadn't touched yet.

"He doesn't have everything planted yet. He likes the watering and the weeding, but I think he likes keeping the planting for when he's stressed or upset."

"He left that one up?" Her voice dropped low as she glanced over where Fugaku and Mikoto's house was still standing.

"I did, actually. I didn't want anyone touching it."

"Ah." She shoved her hands in her pockets. "I haven't actually been here since . . . . Well, it's been a while. Which one is yours?"

"This way." I pointed down a perpendicular street. "Shisui's. Have you ever been there?"

"A couple times. Usually, I only ever saw Shisui if he came to bother—" She cleared her throat. "Bother Itachi. When we were training or— Though sometimes, I'd get dragged places as a kind of human shield against Shisui. So I knew him, I just didn't . . . hang out at his place. Um, this is it?"

Takai stopped and let me slide off of his back. "This is it," I said. "You all can come inside." I walked up the steps, focusing on the five chakra sources inside. When I opened the door, I stopped short and blinked, staring at the person standing right in front of me. "Sai? Is something wrong?"

"Genma-sensei sent me home and said you were in trouble." He frowned and leaned far into my space so he could look over my shoulder. "You're being followed."

"Yes. I invited her."

"And the . . . dogs?"

"Dogs?" Kakashi asked, appearing right behind Sai. "Hana," he greeted. "The triplets look good." He put an hand out, and Hayai shoved his way forward to get pet. Kakashi lowered himself down his knees to match the ninken's level.

"Kakashi," Hana greeted brightly. "They're a little grumpy that Mirai finished her fight before we could get involved, but they're getting over it."

"Fight?" Kakashi snapped his gaze to me, hand stilling on Hayai's head. "I thought you would wait for backup. Pup, if I had known you were going to—"

"I didn't need backup," I interrupted before he could spiral. I finally pushed my way inside and looked back to wave my guests in.

"She really didn't," Hana reassured. "She got through with literally just a scratch while Mizuki passed out from his injuries like a baby."

"He's alive?"

I frowned. "You don't have to sound so surprised, Niisan. He did what he did for a reason, and I want to know if he tried to get the boys purely for his own motivations or if there's someone else we have to keep an eye out for."

"Whoa, whoa. You think he had a partner? Did he say something about a partner?" Hana frowned. "You didn't mention this to me or Genma. Did you say anything to the Hokage?"

"He didn't say anything. It's just a suspicion. Don't worry, I'll mention my reasoning in here." I withdrew the mission report scroll Hiruzen had given me.

Kakashi gave Hayai a final scratch and rose to his feet, frowning at the scroll. "You're filling out a report?"

I nodded and glanced across the room. "Which means I need to get a handle on what actually happened before I got involved." I smiled, moving to the couch. Naruto and Sasuke were asleep there, piled atop each other. "How long have they been out?"

"They crashed just after we got back here." Kakashi stopped beside me and dropped a hand to my head. "You got hurt?"

"Scratched," I corrected, looking up at him. "Hana already healed it for me. I'm fine. Hana, do you want tea?"

Hana shrugged, sitting on the floor and grunting as Fukai took the opportunity to lean all of his weight into her. "I wouldn't say no."

"I'll make some," Sai said, already moving into the kitchen.

"Thanks." I set the scroll on the coffee table and turned back to the boys. "Thank you, Ikebana. You can go."

Ikebana lifted his head, peering at me from where he was perched on Sasuke's back. He nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Alright, boys," I said, shaking Naruto's shoulder. "I need you to wake up. C'mon, Nato."

Naruto grumbled and shifted. He squinted. Then he shot up, throwing Sasuke from his spot on top of him. "Rai!"

Sasuke tumbled to the ground with a yelp. Naruto scrambled to catch him just a little too late and ended up just leaning over the edge of the couch to peer down at him. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke groaned, rubbing his head. He squinted up at us. "Neechan? Neechan! What happened?" He sat up, reaching out and curling his fingers into the hem of my shirt.

"That's exactly what I need to talk to the two of you about." I sat down on the coffee table. "Tell me what happened. Start at the very beginning."

Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other. Then Naruto hauled him up onto the couch. "Um, we were cleaning up like Iruka-sensei told us to, dattebayo." He lit up. "We set up a prank where—"

"I don't care about the prank, Nato. Tell me about Mizuki."

Naruto pulled back, blinking. "Um . . . ." He looked down and scratched at his ear. "After Iruka-sensei left, Mizuki-sensei asked us about Sai."

"Me?"

I glanced over my shoulder to find that Sai was back in the living room, handing a cup of tea to Hana. "What about Sai?" I asked, refocusing on Naruto.

"He said he just wanted to know how Sai was since graduating. And what we thought. Then he asked us the same about you."

"Me? I haven't graduated."

"He—" Naruto frowned. "He said you were. I mean, you're bored in class and you don't even show up a lot. He said you're taking the test in a couple weeks."

"I'm not."

"But he said you are. And he said we could too. He said that to graduate early there's a special test."

"The scroll."

"It was a little hard to get, but we did it. We we going where Mizuki-sensei told us to when you stopped us."

"Okay." I took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Sasuke?"

"Um." He shifted, tucking his hands under his knees. "What he said. We just— We didn't want you to leave us behind again. So when he said we could graduate too, I wanted to."

I flinched and bit my lip. "Sasuke, Naruto," I murmured. "I'm not graduating yet."

"Are you lying?"

"I—" My immediate denial choked itself out in my throat. "Do you think I'm lying?"

"You lie all the time," Sasuke mumbled, hunching his shoulders. "I can't tell when you are and when you're telling the truth."

I let out a shaky breath and tapped by fingers against my knees. I swallowed. "Okay. Yeah, okay, that's fair," I said, nodding. "I'm—" I straightened and took a moment to steady my breathing. "I do everything . . . ." I chewed on my lip, trying to choose my words carefully. "I do everything for a reason. I'm careful with every decision I make. If I was to graduate early, I would have to have a very good reason for it. Can you . . . tell me what reason you think I might have for wanting to graduate early?"

"You've been bored."

I nodded once. "I've been bored for years. If that was enough of a reason, I would have graduated four years ago."

"You already left for a year," Naruto pointed out. "You could do it again."

"I had reasons for that. It was for Sai, mostly. It wasn't because I wanted to leave you or because I wanted to leave the Academy or because I wanted to be a shinobi early. I don't have a reason to graduate now, and so I'm not going to. Do you believe me?"

Naruto shrugged. Sasuke ducked his head and said, "I don't know. We just . . . we just want to be strong like you."

"No." The word practically yanked itself out of me, and I winced at the way that had to have sounded. "You two are already strong. But you don't— I don't want you to be like me," I said, voice thinning as the Void in my head got louder. "Ever."

"You just don't think we can."

"I— Nato, I never said that."

Naruto rubbed his nose and got up. "I'mma get ready for bed," he muttered, already moving off down the hallway.

Sasuke watched him go, glanced at me, and then scrambled up. "Um, me too," he said, rushing after Naruto.

I whipped around to stare at them. "Wait, don't—" When they both looked back at me, I faltered. I cleared my throat. "Never mind. Sleep well." Then I watched them disappear into their room. My shoulders slumped, and I curled my hands into fists.

Hana cleared her throat. "I, uh, gonna get going. Thanks for the tea."

I got up and turned to see her on her feet, handing the empty cup off to Sai. She gave me a tight-lipped smile and vanished out the door, the triplets close behind her. Sai stared down at the cup.

"Here, I can take that," I murmured, moving around the coffee table and holding my hand out. "You should follow their lead, probably. Go ahead and hit the shower. I'll need it in just a bit."

Sai nodded. "Okay." He moved past me to do as I'd said.

I moved into the kitchen and dumped the cup into the full sink. I frowned at it. Gritting my teeth, I picked the cup back up and turned the water on to rinse it out. I put it in the dishwasher and picked up another cup from the sink.

"Hey, Pup, give me a second here," Kakashi said, shutting off the water. "Can you look at me?"

I tightened my grip on the cup and looked up at him. "I don't think they're weak."

Kakashi watched me for a long moment. He nodded. "I know that."

"They don't. They don't know that, and they should. I made them think that I think I'm better than them. I'm not. I'm really—"

The cup gave way, cracking loudly and breaking in my hands. I looked down, staring at the broken pieces and the red that was dripping from my palms.

Kakashi snatched up my wrists, holding them tightly. "Where's your first aid kit?" he asked, voice level and tight.

"It's fine," I muttered. "It'll heal."

"Mirai."

I sighed and tapped the cabinet under the sink with my foot. "It's not that bad."

Kakashi didn't deign to respond that, switching to hold both my wrists in one hand and opening the cabinet with his other. He retrieved the box and moved it to the counter.

"Niisan—"

"Hold still," he said, opening the box. He bent over my hands, examining them. With a nod, he turned on the water. Kakashi moved my hands under the faucet, rinsing the cuts out under the running water. "I won't send you to Tenzo for healing, but I will bandage it. Okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

He turned off the water and reached past me for a hand-towel from the basket on the counter. He patted my hand dry and then winced. "Sorry," he mumbled when the white cloth came away stained red. "I'll get you a new one."

"That's okay."

He nodded and said nothing else as he bandaged my hands up. When he finished, he packed the box away and returned it to its spot under the sink, closing the cabinet. I curled my hands into fists and drew back from the counter, murmuring my thanks.

"I should do my report," I said. "Um, do you want to stay?"

"Yes. I can answer questions about how to do a report, too."

I blinked. "I've written reports."

Kakashi caught his breath so loudly that I could hear it. "Right," he said, voice strained. "Um . . . ."

"I'd still like you to stay, though. I, uh. I'm going to take a shower first. Wait for me?"

He nodded. "Of course."

I rushed through my shower, half because I didn't want to leave Kakashi alone long enough for him to stress out and half because the water was still difficult even though I'd been getting better. I ended up in sweatpants and Iruka's shirt instead of one of Shisui's when I was done. I snatched a pen from my desk and shuffled back into the living room.

Kakashi straightened up from his spot on the couch. I shot him a smile and nudged his knee with mine as I shuffled past him. I knelt between the couch and the coffee table, pulling the scroll over and unrolling it. I was a ways into filling it out when I felt a hand on my head. I paused. "Everything okay?"

He hummed, carding his fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry today happened. It shouldn't have, but . . . you did a good job despite all that. I'm proud of you." He shifted loudly, and then he pressed a kiss against my temple, ruffling my hair.

I twisted to look back at him. I reached up and curled my hand around his. "Um . . . can you stay tonight?"

He blinked. "You already asked me that."

"Yeah, I just—" I cleared my throat. "I have a feeling I'm not gonna sleep super well. And it was nice when I stayed with you at your apartment."

Kakashi winced. But then he nodded and ran his fingers through my hair again. "I'll stay. Finish your report, Pup."

When I woke up, the angry brown eyes and raging water from my dream fading, Kakashi already had a hand on my back. "Breathe," he ordered. "You need to breathe."

I nodded and tried my best. It took me a little while, but between Kurama's rumblings in my head and Kakashi's voice beside me I eventually no longer felt like dying. Kakashi pulled me up against his side. "Talk to me."

"I'm okay," I mumbled. "Thanks for being here."

"Of course. I'm sorry you're having so much trouble sleeping."

I cleared my throat and sat up straight, rubbing my eyes. I paused and looked towards the door. "Mask up."

"What?"

A knock. "Neechan?" Sasuke called quietly, voice barely audible through the door.

I shuffled farther up the bed and tapped the security seal on the wall. "Come in!"

Sasuke opened the door and stopped short immediately. "Um . . . ."

I elbowed Kakashi. "Shift over." I moved into the space he opened up. "Come here, Ke-kun."

He eyed Kakashi for a long moment. Then he nodded and climbed up onto the bed. He tucked himself up against my side, pressing his face into my shoulder. I curled an arm around him. "Are you okay?"

He didn't answer that, but his shoulders did start shaking. He twisted his hands into my shirt tightly. Tight enough that I could feel his nails digging into my stomach through the cloth.

"Whoa, hey." I turned so I could hold him with both arms. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

He shook his head and burrowed deeper into my side. I could hear his muffled sobs now.

"Okay. Okay. I've got you." I kept one arm around him and combed through his hair with my other hand. It was longer now, and Tenten had recently been trying to convince him that he should put it in buns like hers. While he cried, I busied myself in trying to braid his hair with one hand. It ended up being more of a twist than anything else, and I combed it out. Finally, Sasuke's tears faded off into even breaths.

"Does he do this a lot?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"Sometimes," I admitted. "He usually tells me what's happening, though you being here probably threw him. And usually the other two are close behind. Though . . . I guess Nato's mad at me now, so . . . ."

"He's not mad at you."

I glanced at him. "You saw him. He's mad at me."

"He's not mad at you," Kakashi said again. "You know, I, uh . . . ." He cleared his throat. "I used to think that Obito was angry with me all the time. But after—" He shifted and took a deep breath. "Minato-sensei told me that Obito felt insecure. He wasn't a bad shinobi, no matter what I thought at the time. Bad shinobi don't make chunin at eleven. But Sensei said that the reason he acted the way he did around me was because he felt like I set a standard that made him feel inadequate."

I flinched. "So Naruto's not mad at me. I've just made him feel inadequate. Is that what you're saying?"

"I—" Kakashi groaned, grinding the heel of his left hand into his sharingan. "I'm sorry. I'm making this worse."

I looked down at Sasuke when he made a noise in his sleep. "You're okay," I whispered, rubbing his shoulder. I shifted, being as careful as I could to keep him from moving too much. I settled back against my pillow, tilting my head down to Sasuke's. "I'm going to get some more sleep," I said quietly.

"Yeah, okay."

I trailed off on my explanation to squint at him. "You know, if you warm up like that, you're going to be too tired for our run."

Lee paused mid-push up before starting again. "Nonsense! I'm just killing time until Gai-sensei gets here. What were you saying?"

"Just that I'll be leaving early. Should we check on Gai-sensei? He's never been late before."

"He will not be joining you today, unfortunately."

I whipped around, and Lee leapt up in surprise. I stopped short, blinking at the large orange tortoise. There was a Konoha hitai-ate tied loosely around his neck. I straightened. "Are you . . . Gai-sensei's summon?"

"I am. You can call me Ningame. Gai is predisposed with work duties, and has directed you to continue your run as normal."

He vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Yosh! Let's go, then!" Lee said, taking off in a run.

We were only halfway through our normal run when I had to separate from him and head to the Tower. The door to the Hokage's Office was open, and Hiruzen waved me in.

"Mirai-chan. Close the doors. Do you have your report?"

I stepped up to his desk, scroll held out. "I did."

"Good. Let's take a look." He took the scroll and unrolled it flat on his desk, lapsing into silence as he looked it over. After a few minutes, he glanced up. "You suspect that someone else was involved?"

"Yes. I put my reasoning in the report," I said, leaning forward to see where he was.

"Yes, but I'd like to hear your reasoning directly from you."

I frowned. "Fine. He clearly intended to capture Naruto and Sasuke, not hurt them or kill them. The scroll might have been understandable—maybe he wanted the information and jutsu inside for himself—but there's no reason for him to want my boys unless there was another person involved. Sasuke's one of the last two Uchiha, and Naruto's a jinchuuriki. It's not unlikely that there's someone out there who would find that useful."

"I see. I will look over the rest of this. You are dismissed."

I glanced at the scroll again and nodded. I bowed my head and backed from the room.

"Morning."

I looked up, closing the office doors. Shikaku was leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets. He nodded to me. "Morning," he said again. "You look fine. I'll tell Yoshino she didn't need to worry so much."

I raised an eyebrow. "She was worried about me?"

"Eh, a little when she heard about the fight. You weren't hurt?"

"No."

"Good." He put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me down the hallway. "Go to class."

"I— Okay." I glanced back at him. "That was it?"

"Go."

I squinted at him for a second. Then I nodded and headed off to the stairs, looping down to the Academy. When I approached the classroom, I found that Iruka was standing outside the door in conversation with Naruto and Sasuke. He looked up as I approached, and the dark circles under his eyes were stark against his skin. Skin that was paler than normal.

He cleared his throat and nodded to the boys. "You can go inside," he murmured.

Naruto nodded and scrambled past him. Sasuke glanced at me. "Hi, Neechan."

I smiled and came to a stop beside him, pecking a kiss to his cheek. "Hi, Sasuke. Go ahead and go in. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." He threw Iruka a look I couldn't quite interpret and headed inside.

"Iruka-sensei, are you okay?"

He smiled, but it looked more tired than reassuring. "I'm fine. I'm sorry for what happened yesterday, Mirai-chan."

"Oh. Well, you don't need to apologize for that. It wasn't your fault."

His smile grew strained. "Mizuki's plans should never have made it that far without being caught. I'm sorry for not noticing anything sooner." He stepped aside. "Go on in. Class is about to start."

"Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka paused halfway through straightening his papers. "Yes, Mirai-chan?" he asked cautiously.

I smiled and tapped my bento box. "I was wondering if I could eat with you today. I have some jutsu notes I'm wanting to go over, so I won't be a bother."

"Oh." Iruka nodded and straightened, clearing his throat. "You're more than welcome to join me. I'm just about to head to my office." He turned and led the way out into the hallway. "You're sure you wouldn't rather spend lunch with your classmates?"

"I'm sure." I followed him into his office and pulled up a chair to his desk. While he got his food out, I sat down and opened my bento box and notebook. I selected an onigiri to start with and bent over my kage bunshin notes.

After a while, he asked, "What are you working on?"

I glanced up. "Trying to figure out if there's a way to strengthen the durability of my clones."

He raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason why?"

I pressed my lips together tightly and nodded once. "Mizuki showed that they are too easily dispelled to be trusted in any sort of guarding or escort capacity. I'm going to fix that."

"That's . . . Nidaime-sama's jutsu, correct?"

"Right."

"And you think you can improve on it?"

"I think that I can at least try."

"Okay, matte," I said, stepping back with a frown. "Look, you've pack a strong punch, but it's pointless if you don't actually make contact. Power means nothing without technique."

Ami huffed, pulling at the bandages she'd wrapped around her hands. "Well, that's the point of this, right? You're supposed to fix that."

"I can give you all the advice in the world. It won't do anything if you don't apply it."

"None of it has been helpful so far."

I sighed. "Alright. Fine. Let's go back to the kata."

She scoffed but fell into the stance I'd taught her at the start of our hour. "Fine. Kata."

"I'll run you through them one more time, but then I have to go."

She scowled and glanced at the sky. "Alright, fine. Show me one more time."

I led her through the kata again, careful to go slow and explain each and every step and hand placement. When we finished, I unsealed two water bottles, offering one to her.

Ami took it but didn't open it, eyeing me. "I'll see you Saturday, then." She set the water bottle down and fell back into her stance.

I watched her for a moment before shrugging. "Alright. See you then." I shunshined away.

When I got to the house, I hesitated for a long moment outside the door. I could only sense two sources inside, one adult and one small. I recognized both. I knocked. As I waited, I tapped my fingers against my thigh and tried to steady my breathing.

The door opened, and Konohamaru threw himself at me. "Mirai-nee!" When I caught him, he yelled, "Touchan! Mirai is here!"

I laughed, swinging Konohamaru around so that I could brace him against my back, hooking my hands under his knees. "Hi, Kono-kun. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Yosu appeared in the doorway, smiling brightly. "Mirai-chan! Do you want to join us for dinner?"

I faltered. "Oh, uh. Sorry. I thought I would be able to catch you before dinner. I don't want to intrude. Is . . . ." I frowned. "Do you always have dinner this early?"

"Ah, not usually. But my team and I have a mission and have to leave before dawn tomorrow, so I'm planning to get to sleep sooner than usual. And you wouldn't be intruding at all! Come inside."

I shrugged and stepped in, adjusting my hold on Konohamaru. "In that case, thank you. I'd love to join you for dinner."

"I was actually just about to start cooking, so you get to help." Yosu reached out and ruffled Konohamaru's hair. "Why don't you go and finish up your reading for today. Mirai-chan and I will get dinner together."

Konohamaru huffed and started to whine. But then Yosu raised an eyebrow, and Konohamaru shimmied down from my back. "Okay, okay, I'm going!" He scrambled off down the hall.

Yosu waved me into the kitchen. "Go ahead and wash up. You can cut the vegetables while I get the broth started. Then you can tell me what you need to talk about. Unless you actually came all this way just for my company."

I grinned, stepping up to the sink and washing my hands. "I always like your company, Yosu-sensei."

"Uh-huh. Here, towel," he said, handing it to me. Then he picked up a spoon and started stirring the broth on the stove. "Talk to me."

I dried my hands off and took a deep breath. "I . . . I, uh, I . . . think you father wants me to be Hokage someday."

Yosu paused. "And . . . why would you think that?" he asked slowly, frowning.

"He talked about the types of leaders the Shodaime and Nidaime were. And then he asked which one I am, and I think he was—" I hesitated, foldding up the towel. "Am I crazy for thinking that's what he was implying?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. It sounds like him. What exactly did he say?"

"Um." I cleared my throat. "He said that Hashirama was a peacemaker and Tobirama a killer, and that both were good Hokage. He asked me what I was. I just . . . said I know which I am. And then he said," —it took me a second to remember his exact words, "'it's good to have a killer beneath the hat.'"

He put down the spoon and turned to face me fully, crossing his arms. "First off, you're not a killer, Mirai."

I scoffed. "Uh-huh. Tell me another lie. I came to you because I thought you would be honest with me."

His expression twisted, clearly displeased. "I am being honest with you."

"Okay. Then is that what he was implying?"

Yosu grit his teeth so loudly that I could hear them. He sighed. "Yes, probably. But it doesn't mean he's right to call you that."

"But—"

"Do you want to be Hokage, Mirai-chan?"

I snapped my mouth shut, straightening. I shook my head. "No," I murmured. "Naruto wants to be Hokage. Besides, I think I would make a pretty lousy kage."

He snorted. "I've seen you with your Study Group. You're not the worst leader around. Now, are you going to start chopping those vegetables or what?"

"I see you were training again," Shibi said.

"With Choji. He wanted to do stamina building, so pardon me if I'm a little more tired than usual." I glanced down at myself. "But I figured that Tsume would hardly mind. Right?"

"Correct. Have you made progress on the seal?"

"Some. But until I'm done, gauging our support is really the most we can do. Once I finish breaking it down, we should be able to get off both Sai and Tenzo's. That will be helpful." I stepped back from the door to clear the way for him. "Should we go?"

Shibi nodded and closed the door behind him. "I doubt she will refuse to support our cause."

"Because you two were teammates?"

He glanced at me. "Perhaps. I was thinking more about her prominent dislike for Shimura himself."

"Ah, that makes sense. I doubt she gets along with him." I wrinkled my nose. "Doubt he gets along with most people, if any."

"Hmm. He did have a genin team. Do keep that in mind."

"That's true," I murmured. We lapsed into silence for the rest of the walk to the Inuzuka Compound.

When we got there, we found Tsume and Kuromaru standing over where Kiba was laying flat on his back on the ground. I skipped forward. "Having fun, Kiba-kun?"

Kiba groaned, an arm thrown over his eyes. "Go away," he whined. "I'm dying."

"Uzumaki," Tsume said, grinning. "Shibi. What a surprise."

"Inside would be the best place for this discussion," Shibi said.

"Aw, it's good to see you too, Shibi-kun. Alright, Kuromaru, keep Kiba working." She reached out and clapped Shibi hard on the shoulder. Hard enough that he stumbled. "Inside we go!"

"So today's Shinobi Game is called Captive. We'll be splitting into teams like normal, but—"

"No."

I blinked, glancing towards Sakura. "I— What?"

"No," she said again, crossing her arms. "I had an idea for something else. You're always holding back on us."

"That's not—"

"You always are. And I want you to stop. Just once. 'Cause how are we supposed to know how we measure up if you won't take us seriously."

I sighed. "Sakura, this isn't a comparison game."

"No, she has a point," Tenten cut in. "We heard about what happened, but we can't tell how well we would have done in that situation because we don't know how well we would do against you. Like the actual you. When you're not watering down your fighting."

It took everything I had not to look at Naruto as I slowly asked, "So . . . what are you suggesting?"

Tenten glanced at Sakura. The latter scrunched up her nose as she thought. Then she nodded. "One-on-one fights."

I hesitated. "I'm really not sure that's a good idea."

"We could do it in pairs," Hinata spoke up. "Um . . . ." She cleared her throat. "If, if you went against two of us at a time, it would be good practice for, well, for everyone. We'd get teamwork practice and you would get to practice against multiple attackers."

"There!" Tenten said proudly. "That's a perfect idea. All in favor?" She put up her hand.

I glanced at the group, frowning as I saw every hand went up. Except for Shikamaru, who was looking around in amusement. I sighed. "Alright, fine. What type of fight? Like the spars at the Academy?"

Kiba frowned. "Those are taijutsu only. We've got more than taijutsu. Plus, we don't have a referee here. Oh! We could ask Iruka-sensei!"

"No. Absolutely not," I said, thinking of how tired he'd looked the last couple days. "We can just do timed fights."

"That would not be measurable," Shino pointed out. "We could have asymmetrical goals. The pair's could be to last a certain amount of time."

"And we could wear flags," Ino cut in. "Like we did in Elimination. Your goal is to get our flags, and ours is to last five minutes in the fight without having our flags taken."

"You could just run," I pointed out. "That would be the smart thing to do."

"We can do boundaries," Sakura said, flipping out a handful of kunai. "If you go outside the line, that also counts as a loss. Sasuke, do you have some wire we could use?" She stabbed the first kunai into the ground. By the time Sasuke held a roll of ninja wire out to her, she had the other three kunai placed as well. "Good. Hold it." She took the end and looped it through the handle of the first kunai. She threaded it through the other three. When she made it back to the first kunai, clipped the end of the wire, and tied it off, Sakura had made a large square. "There. How's that?"

"Perfect," Tenten said, grinning. "Mirai, you can handle timing the five minutes, right?"

I looked down at my wrist and adjusted the timer seal. "I can." I unsealed two flags. "You should all probably figure out what pairs you're splitting into."

"Will do." Sakura snatched the flags from me and turned, waving the group over.

I backed away to give them room, stepping over the ninja wire and into the ring. There were so many ways that this could go wrong, but if they were going to be this insistent about it . . . .

"Alright! Ami and I are first," Sakura announced, turning to face me and handing one of the flags to Ami. "Ready?" she asked, stepping over the wire.

I took a few steps back so that we were one either side of the square. Once Ami was in, I said, "So five minutes for you to last? And I want your flags?"

"And no holding back," Sakura said, tying her flag around her front kunai pouch and watching as Ami did the same. "You need to try to win."

I frowned. "Sakura—"

"Mirai," she shot back, crossing her arms. "Are you ready or not?"

I sighed. "Alright, fine. Maru, call it, and I'll start the timer."

Shikamaru shrugged and stepped up to the edge of the wire, raising his hand. "Okay. Ready?" He dropped his hand. "Hajime."

I activated the timer and shot forward in a shunshin, already blocking Sakura's first blow. I twisted my hand to grip her wrist and pull her forward along the line she was already heading. I spun around her as I did so, using her as a block between myself and Ami while I tugged her flag free. I dove to the side as she caught herself, tucking the flag away in my pocket.

I dropped low, swinging my legs out and catching Ami's ankle. When she rolled to save herself, I snapped a chakra chain around her. With her pinned, I plucked the flag from her. Behind me, Shikamaru called the match.

Sakura groaned, brushing herself off. "See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. You're way ahead of us. Right now, we have no chance of beating you."

"Then maybe—"

"Hinata, Neji," Sakura said, interrupting me. "You're up next."

"Naruto hates me."

"Naruto doesn't hate you. You're being dramatic." Iruka picked up the kettle. "More tea?"

I scowled and held up my cup. "He hasn't said a word to me since Saturday."

"When you won all the fights?" he clarified needlessly, filling my cup.

"Right. It's been four days. I've never had him not talk to me for that long before."

Iruka squinted at me, sipping at his own tea. "You were gone for a year."

I huffed. "You know what I mean. He's purposely avoiding me, and I don't know how to fix it."

"I'll have that talk with him that I mentioned. He can't wrap so much of his self-worth into how he measures up against you."

I flinched, looking down at my tea.

"And Sasuke?"

"Um . . . . He's been clingier than normal. He's almost always upset, but he won't talk to me about it."

"Hmm. I'll talk with him too, then." He checked the clock and cleared his throat, getting to his feet. "I'll go call everyone back in. Thank you for eating lunch with me again, Mirai-chan. It's very sweet of you."

I beamed. "Of course. I'll meet the rest of you in class."

"Are Naruto and Sasuke in trouble?" Ino asked, catching up to me in the hallway.

I glanced at her. "No."

"Huh. Iruka-sensei only ever has them stay behind when they've done something, but I didn't see them pull a prank today."

"Ino," Sakura hissed, elbowing her. "You're getting distracted."

"What? Oh! Right! So we did a big sleepover with all the girls last year!" Ino announced, swinging around in front of me and stopping me in my tracks. "And we figured that now that Ami's here and you're back, we should do it again. Aaaaand your place has plenty of room, and we wouldn't have anyone bothering us like my Touchan did last year. What do you think? After Study Group this Saturday? I already talked to all the other girls, and they're in. Though Sakura had to tell Ami to come, 'cause she was making a big deal about it."

"I—" I blinked, glancing to the side where Shikamaru and Shino had both paused their conversation to stop with us, looking amused. I cleared my throat. "That sounds fun. Sai won't be around, since he's on a mission, but Naruto and Sasuke will still be at that house."

Ino pouted. "But it's a girl's sleepover. Why can't they go somewhere else? Like— Hey, Shikamaru! You and Choji do sleepovers in your shogi house all the time, right?"

"So?" he asked defensively. "You can't just invite people over to my place, Ino."

"Too late!" She grinned. "You should have all the boys over at your place!" She reached out and snatched up his hand. "C'mon, let's go ask your mom. It's only, what, eight guys? I'm sure she'll say yes. You're helping too, Shino!" she yelled, already dragging Shikamaru down the hallway.

"Why?" Shino asked.

"Because you're polite, so she's less likely to say no to you!"

Sakura shrugged. "She has a point."

I watched as Shino and Sakura hurried to catch up with the other two. Ino threw a grin back at me, along with a goodbye, and rushed them all outside. I took a second to listen to the boys' chakra—Sasuke's was quiet, and Naruto's was curled in on itself—before I forced myself to leave.

I stopped briefly at Ichiraku and got a few bowls of ramen. So when I walked into his office and set my five to-go bowls on his desk, Inoichi raised an eyebrow. "Hungry today?"

"Hungry every day," I corrected. I took one of the bowls, sat down, and dug in. "Ino's arranging sleepovers for everyone, by the way. I don't think we have a choice in the matter. Seems like she made the decision unilaterally."

"That does sound like her," Inoichi murmured, opening his notebook. "Good afternoon, by the way."

I hummed in response, slurping up a mouthful of noodles. I waved my chopsticks at him. "I've been able to have whole conversations with Genma."

"That's good. It's nice to see you're making progress." He tapped his pen. "I . . . wanted to bring up something you mentioned a few weeks ago. In relation to what happened last week."

I frowned, thinking back. "Mizuki?" I ventured. "What about him?"

He cleared his throat and set down his pen. Folding his hands together, he leaned forward. "No one would have blamed you for it. Not for using lethal force against a chunin when you're an Academy student. You could have killed him."

Ah, he was talking about that, then. "But I didn't. I told you I have self-control."

Inoichi frowned at me, nodding. "Yes. Yes, you did."

Naruto was sitting on the house steps when I got home. I came to a stop in front of him, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Are you . . . waiting for me?"

He got to his feet, head down as he scuffed his sandals against the ground. "Iruka-sensei said I need to talk to you, dattebayo."

"Oh. Okay." I cleared my throat.

"Iruka-sensei says that some people learn fast," he said, rushing forward with his part of the conversation before I could say anything else. "And that it's okay if other people don't learn as quick. And he said I shouldn't feel bad about that, but he's wrong."

I frowned. "Nato, he's—"

"No, 'cause that's not what—" He huffed and rubbed at his eyes. "I want to be Hokage."

"I know."

"So that I can protect you. And take care of you. Remember?"

Oh. Was that what this was really about? "Naruto . . . the Hokage does a lot more than just protect and take care of one person. The Hokage is supposed to take care of the entire Village. Everyone. That would mean me, but it would also mean your future genin teammates. Sasuke. Our Study Group. Even Niisan."

He sniffled, squinting at me. "Kakashi is too strong for me to protect him. Just like you."

I shrugged. "For now. But not always. That's what hard work is for. You're getting better all the time."

He shrugged. "I guess." Then he snapped up straight, eyes going wide. "Oh, oh! I got to summon a whole actual toad yesterday! I mean, he was still small, but he didn't have a tail like the other one."

I grinned. "See? Hard work."

"Sasu-chan, why can't we just go to my place?" Shikamaru whined, stumbling along with the rest of us as we followed Sasuke to the Uchiha Compound. "I'm tired and I want a nap and I'm pretty sure Hinata bruised a rib with that last hit."

"I'm sorry," Hinata said, whipping around to him with wide eyes. "I didn't mean to. I, I can get you some chakra balm. And—"

"He's being dramatic," Ino interrupted, patting Hinata's shoulder. "Just ignore him. You did great. Though he has a point. We're supposed to be splitting up for our sleepovers. I have things planned, and I do not want you boys there."

"Relax," Sasuke said. "I just have something for everyone."

"Something for everyone?" I asked, frowning. "Like what."

He moved ahead as we made it through the gates. Then he stopped at a planter. The dirt in it looked freshly laid, and there were several plant tags spaced throughout it. He threw his arm out to the side to draw our attention to the other similar planters nearby. "So, I'm gonna give Sai his when he gets back, but there's one of these for each of you. And, uh, I planted them with stuff I thought you might like." He pointed at the name he'd carved into the side of the planer he was standing at. "This one is for Shikamaru. It's got a bunch of stuff that's super easy to grow. You don't have to work on it too much."

"Smart of you," Shikamaru said, crouching down to peer at the plant tags in his box.

"What about me?" Kiba asked.

"Oh! Yours is this one here." Sasuke turned and led the way.

I knelt down next to Shikamaru, looking at the closest tag that read lavender. "Huh. So this is what he was working on."

"I don't really think I'm a flower person," he said, poking at a different tag that said orchid. "But whatever. And he left some empty spots." He pointed at the handful of blank tags. "I could probably talk to Tousan. See if I could get some tips on growing some of the traditional Nara herbs."

"Neechan!" Sasuke called, rushing back over to us. "C'mon. I want to show you yours!" He grabbed my arm and hauled me up.

I threw Shikamaru a wave and then let Sasuke pull me down the row of plots. He stopped at one and beamed at me. "This one is yours. It's all vegetables and herbs, since you like cooking." He chewed on his lip, rocking back and forth. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. It's great. Thank you." I dragged him into a hug. "This is really sweet of you," I murmured. "I'm sure everyone loves theirs."

He nodded against my shoulder. "I put poisonous stuff in Sakura's," he mumbled.

"You—" I blinked at looked up at where Sakura was grinning as she and Ino looked over a plot marked with several blue tags. "That's nice. I think?" I cleared my throat. "Though you boys should probably head over. Yoshino will be very upset if you're all late for dinner."

"Right. Um . . . ." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he stepped back. "Shikamaru!" he called. "Are we ready to go?"

"Ugh, yes!" Shikamaru groaned, dragging himself to his feet. "Finally! Let's go, then."

Ino clapped her hands loudly. "That's our signal! C'mon, girls. I have a lot of fun things planned!"

Sakura had talked about genjutsu for an hour, Ami had not spoken outside of interrupting Ino and Sakura's debate about who was the cutest boy in class to say she liked Iruka-sensei, Tenten had done everyone's hair, Hinata had made flower crowns for us all, and I had baked a frankly unreasonable number of cookies when Ino brought out the gun. I stared at it and the box of earrings she was holding up. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"Don't be ridiculous. This is a great idea! My Touchan did mine the other day, so I know how to do it." She brushed back the curls Tenten had given her to show off the studs in her ears. "Now, who's first?"

Tenten shrugged and shuffled forward, rising up on her knees so she could look in the box. "I'll go. Ooh, I like these," she said, picking out a set of green studs.

"Good pick!" Ino fit the first stud into the gun. "Alright, brace yourself. If you move, you could mess it up."

"Is it going to hurt?" Tenten asked, keeping still as Ino set the gun into place.

Ino shrugged. "Probably." Then she pulled the trigger.

Tenten winced, screwing her eyes shut. After Ino removed the gun, leaving the earring in place, Tenten muttered, "Ow. Just one more, right?"

"Do you have a third ear?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow. "Brace yourself." She shot in the second stud.

"Ow," Tenten whined again.

"Oh, relax." Ino turned a grin to the rest of us. "Who's next? Ami?"

She squinted at the box. "Maybe."

"You'll look cute. I even have some purple ones that will match your hair. C'mon!"

Ami huffed. "Alright. Fine."

The moment she opened the door, Anko grinned. "Nice ears, Red."

"Thanks." I ran my fingers of the studs. "I realized it might heal up completely if I take them out for too long, so I'm semi-terrified of switching them out for a new pair."

"Well, if you're fast enough I'm sure it won't matter. Come in! We can look through what I have! I'm sure there's something that'd look cute on you." She snagged my arm and dragged me into the house.

"I mean, technically I'm supposed to leave them in for a couple weeks so my ears heal up," I said, letting her pull me into the bedroom. "Though I probably don't have to worry about that."

"Good!" She yanked me into the bathroom. "Here!" She opened a draw from the wooden box on the counter. "Alright, what do we have here? Oh! These are perfect!" She picked up a pair of dangling spikes. "Okay, hold still."

"Wait, but—"

Anko undid my studs and then went to work on fitting the new earrings in. "So, did you come all this way to see little old me? Or did you forget that Genma's out on a mission?"

I winced as she tugged on my earlobe to properly fit in the second earring. They were apparently still sensitive. "I wanted to talk about your seal."

Anko stilled, gaze snapping to me and narrowing. "My seal," she echoed. She fixed the earring in place. "What seal?"

I flinched, reaching up and adjusting the earring so it wasn't so tight. "Your seal. I haven't seen it, but I can feel it. Just like I can feel the Hyuuga seals." When her lips settled into a line, I sighed. "Sorry. We could get some dango and talk about something else instead."

"Why?"

"Um . . . . Because I don't want you to force you to talk about if you don't want to."

"No, I mean why do you want to talk about it at al?"

"Oh." I frowned. "Because . . . I don't know why you would have a seal, so that makes me curious. But also, it's a seal. I really like looking at seals."

She scoffed, crossing her arms. "You sure do. Hmm." She pursed her lips. "Alright. I've got some dango here. I'll eat that while you look at the seal." She moved past me.

I turned to follow. "Wait, really?"

"Sure." She pointed at the table. "Sit." She dug up a box of dango from one of the cabinets. Then she took off the too-large shirt—definitely Genma's—that she was wearing, leaving herself in the tank top underneath. She twirled a chair around so that it faced away from the table. She straddled it backwards and picked up a stick of dango. "Study away," she said, the curse seal on her shoulder stark against her skin.

I straightened and unsealed a notebook and pen. "Great! Thanks!"

"And that's it!" Ino said, spinning around to face us all as we left the building. "Last day of the Academy for the year! You know what that means!"

"I get a week without homework," Shikamaru said, yawning.

Choji nudged him. "Shikamaru, did you forget?"

I blinked, frowning. "Forget what? Did I miss something?"

"Well, it's the 25th, right? And you always do those presents."

I nodded, reaching in my pocket to retrieve the scroll. "I do. I delivered the others this morning, but I figured Iruka-sensei would probably prefer that I waited to hand the gifts for the group out until after class." I pulled the scroll out. "But we can—"

"Great!" Ino pulled out her own scroll and sat down in the middle of the Academy yard. "You can go first, and then the rest of us can hand out ours."

I paused. "Hand out . . . yours?"

"Uh-huh. It felt weird last year without you, so we gave out our own to each other. And we liked it! Anyway, you're first."

"Oh, right." I opened the scroll and unsealed the presents. "Lee! This one's for you!"

It took almost an hour for us to get through handing out all of our gifts. By that time, Kiba had long since started complaining about how hungry he was, and Ami had grumbled several times about how Sakura had promised her barbecue at her house and that it wasn't fair they were having to wait so long to get to it. Shikamaru sprawled out on the ground, arm over his face. "Okay, okay. Are we done?" he asked for the fifth time.

"We're done," Sakura said, sealing away the last of the gifts she'd gotten and tucking the scroll into her pocket. "Ami, let's go."

I hauled myself to my feet and offered a hand to Shikamaru. "I'm heading out to see Niisan. I'll see you tomorrow."

He grunted as I helped him stand up. "If you're late, Kaasan will kill you."

"Don't be ridiculous. And I won't be late. Plus, with any luck, I'll have made some real progress with that seal. I think I really had a breakthrough this last week."

"Ugh, finally. It took you long enough."

I squinted at him. "Uh-huh. I'm going, now." With a wave to all the others—who were already mostly dispersed—I shunshined away. When I got to Kakashi's door, I knocked and bounced on my feet.

Pakkun opened the door and squinted up at me. "Come inside."

I skipped in, grinning. "Niisan! I brought— Uh." I faltered, staring around the half-destroyed apartment. "Is . . . everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Pup," Kakashi said, holding a bundled blanket against his chest. "Just a little bit of trouble with our newest pack member."

"Newest—" I straightened and lit up. "You have a new ninken?" I closed the door and moved over to him. "Can we meet?"

"Of course." He sat down and titled his arms so I could see the blankets better. In the middle of it all was a small puppy with ears that were far too large. "This is Bisuke. Bisuke, this is Mirai."

"Aw, he's so small," I murmured, scratching at his ears.

"Kinda like you."

I threw him a pout. "I'm not small. Can I hold him?" I frowned. "Uh, why is he in the blanket, anyway?"

Kakashi looked around pointedly. "He got a little out of control, so we're practicing being calm. But of course you can. Here, sit down first."

I sat down and then dug my scroll out. "First, I have something." I unsealed my gift for him and then tucked the scroll away. I held my arms out. "Okay, now I can take him!"

He pressed the blanket, Bisuke and all, into my arms while he eyed the gift. "What's that?"

"It's the 25th."

"Oh. Right."

I settled Bisuke in my lap and kept one arm around him while I reached out and shoved him with my other hand. "Open it. It's for you."

"Well, if you insist." He tugged his mask down and picked up the gift. When he unwrapped it and found himself holding a folded, fluffy blue blanket, he glanced up at me. "Um . . . thank you."

"Well, you gave me a Hatake mark, and I don't know if the Uzumaki Clan ever did anything like that. So until I figure that out, I thought this would work."

"Oh?" He held the blanket up, unfolding it. In the middle was a large, embroidered red Uzumaki spiral. "Oh," he said again.

"Oh?" I repeated. "Is, is that a good oh? Or a bad one? Do you not like it? If you don't, I can get—" I snapped my mouth shut when he draped the blanket around me. "What are you doing?"

"Of course I like it," he said. "Don't be ridiculous." He pulled on my arm, dragging me around and backwards so I was nestled up against his chest. "Thank you."