We walk into the Hokage's office to a shouting match between Madara and Obito. "That man was a trusted advisor of the Hokage and he was an eye thief!" Madara growls.

"Minato-Sensei has been trying to get rid of him for years," Obito snarls. He crosses his arms against his ANBU chest plate, and I notice the mask tied to his belt. It's the same bird mask as the one that arrived with Kakashi. "Besides, there are Hunter-nin following him right now. As soon as he's away from the village, we can engage him again and kill him."

Madara pauses and contemplates. "Oh," he says, deflating.

Minato huffs out a breath. "I was made Hokage for more than just taking out practically an entire generation of Iwa nin, Madara. Now-" he turns and looks at us- "report."

Shisui starts. "Well, the ANBU operatives ordered us to patrol. Itachi and I heard about the missing eyes and figured they were after an Uchiha artifact." Shisui shifts nervously as Itachi takes over.

"When we get to the location the artifact is held, we found an infiltrator stealing the artifact. Shisui eliminated the target and we secured the perimeter." Itachi motions for Hana and I to continue.

Hana steps forward. "Yoruka and I decided to wait outside at the entrance, so Itachi and Shisui weren't surprised. Three Shinobi attacked a little while after. Yoruka managed to apprehend them with her shadow, but they used cyanide pills so they weren't captured." Hana's voice shakes and I take over.

"The next wave were two children. Hana and I managed to knock them unconscious before they could use the pills." I hesitate, then continue. "Lord Hokage, the girl I fought was using the Nara kekkei genkai." Uncle Shikaku tensed.

Hana cuts in. "And the boy I fought used a type of ink creation jutsu. It looked like somebody stole clan kids and brainwashed them."

Madara growls and turns on Minato. "You've been letting this happen under your nose." He moves forward with a hand on his sword until Obito jumps between them.

"It's not Minato-Sensei's fault! Shimura Danzo has been doing this for ages!" Obito hisses and gets into Madara's face. Both of their Sharingan activating. "Hell, it's been getting better since Minato-Sensei took the hat!" Obito bares his teeth in aggression.

Hound and the hawk masked shinobi move as Obito and Madara lunge for each other. Kakashi holding back Obito, and Hawk pins Madara in a very familiar style. I narrow my eyes at Hawk. That move almost looks like... Ryu-Sensei's?

"Enough!" Minato stands up, radiating anger. "If you two can't be mature adults about this, you're free to leave."

The ANBU release them. Madara straightens his clothes in irritation as Obito goes back to stand with Kakashi. "My apologies, Lord Hokage," Madara says stiffly.

Uncle Shikaku steps forward. "A Nara you say? That makes at least four clans we can be sure Danzo has stolen from. Eyes from the Uchiha, and children from the Nara, Yamanaka, and Aburame." His words may sound nonchalant, but his tone promises retribution.

A hunter nin slips through the window and kneels before the Hokage. "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. Shimura Danzo escaped our tails." Madara's tightly reined killing intent exploded from him in his rage. The chunin in the room, including myself, gasped in surprise before we adjusted to the induced fear. Damn, for an old man, Madara is still very strong.

Apparently, our gasps drew the attention of the Hokage. Minato colored slightly. "Ah," he coughed, "I kind of forgot about you four. You are dismissed." We nod and get out of that office like the dogs of hell are on our heels.

When we're out of the tower, Hana collapses onto a bench. "Damn," she gasps, eying the two Uchiha, "your ancestor is fucking powerful. Even as an old man!"

I nod in agreement. "You three want to stay over at my house, today?" I ask. "We can try to needle my uncle for more information."

Itachi snorts. "It's not like we're going to get anything out of him, but sure." Shisui bobs his head in agreement as he grins at me. It doesn't reach his eyes.

Hana raises her hand, "I'm in, too!"

A few days later finds the four of us eating lunch at a café in the Uchiha District after morning training. "So," Shisui says, looking up from his food. "I've been nominated for the Jonin spar, and I'm like 75% certain I'm gonna have to fight Kakashi. Yoruka, you've trained with him before, so tell me all his secrets."

I snort and fold my hands behind my back. "It's not like I've seen any of his high level combat capabilities. He trained me in lightning ninjutsu back when I was still a Genin. But, well, if I had to guess, you're probably faster than him at base shunshin. However, he has Kamui to fall back on, though he's unlikely to use that in a Jonin spar considering how much it drains his chakra. He's lighting natured, but he has mastery with all five elements." I close my eyes in contemplation. "Luckily for you, most of Kakashi's more powerful lightning jutsus are way too powerful for a fight he doesn't want to kill anyone in."

"Like I said earlier, you have him beat in the speed department, but I'd be wary in engaging him in close combat. If I remember correctly, historically Hatakes are known for their kenjutsu. I have no idea how good Kakashi is with a sword, but as he's a Hatake and ANBU, I'd wager he's better than you with one, Shisui." I open my eyes and grin at him. "In my humble opinion, you're screwed unless you really capitalize on your speed advantage."

Shisui puts his head down on the table and groans. Hana pats him on the back. "There, there," she comforts, "Yoruka's not right about everything."

Itachi scoffs. "Name one time she wasn't about something like this." Hana sighs and looks down at Shisui apologetically. Shisui lets out a distressed wail.

Shikamaru and I look at Uncle Shikaku and Aunt Yoshino, then at the girl I fought two weeks ago. Uncle Shikaku clears his throat. "This is Karasuko, and she'll be staying with us until I can track down her closest relative."

Shikamaru just yawns. I give a small smile and wave. Karasuko's face remains impassive, but she gives me a small wave back. Ha! Take that, Hana! I can interact with the younger generations, too! I decidedly ignore the fact that Karasuko is emotionally stunted and probably was brainwashed most of her life.

A day later, I'm taking advantage of the break between Team 12 training plus Shisui and Nara training by drawing a napping Shikamaru. For some reason, I need to do stuff with my hands to relax, napping never really helped that. Karasuko approaches me with the first obvious emotion I've seen in her expression. Curiosity.

Karasuko climbs onto the couch next to me, and leans over my shoulder. "Why isn't it coming to life like Sai's?" She asks. Of course, the pale kid was Sai!

"Well," I respond, "Sai uses chakra to make his art come to life. I don't know that jutsu, so my art just stays on the paper." She seems satisfied with that explanation.

I continue shading Shikamaru's ridiculously spiky hair. Karasuko hesitates before asking another question. "Why is your drawing all gray and three dimensional, while Sai's are all sharp colors and two dimensional before he uses his jutsu on them."

"For the first part of your question, Sai probably uses ink instead of graphite. Graphite is pretty exclusive to Lighting Country, but I was there for the Chunin exams and I bought in bulk. Also, every shinobi I'm friends with will bring me back some when they go. For the second part, it's a stylistic difference." I explain. She nods and falls silent again.

I turn out to be right about Shisui's spar. He loses against Kakashi, but still makes Jonin due to his ridiculous speed. He retaliates by upping my speed training. It's hell. I thought speed training was bad before, but it's even worse now.

I finally look up at him in suspicion. "What is Uncle Shikaku giving you to get me up to Jonin speed, so he can give me a promotion to Tokubetsu Jonin?"

A line of sweat runs down Shisui's face as he laughs nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about." He looks away from my piercing stare.

Shisui finally sighs. "He promised to talk Kakashi into teaching me kenjutsu."

I squawk. "Kakashi's in on roping me into Jonin Commander! That traitor!" Shisui lets out a barely audible sigh of relief as my irritation is turned onto a new target.

"You've learned all the Nara kenjutsu I can teach you, Yoruka," Uncle Shikaku starts, "So I'll introduce you to the woman who taught your mother, Nara Sayaka."

Nara Sayaka is imposing in a way only a Nara can be. She's short and lithe, the typical Nara build, and old as dirt for a shinobi. Which thinking back, is only about 60. The thing that really makes Sayaka stand out are her eyes. Brown, like most other Naras, but calculating in a way even Uncle Shikaku's aren't.

Sayaka stands before me in all her five feet four inch glory, which wow, that annoying. She's still taller than me. "This is Kuroko's brat?" She addresses the question to Uncle Shikaku.

"Yes," he answers, "She has gained mastery or near mastery on every kenjutsu form I know. You are the only true Nara Kenjutsu Master since Kuroko died, so will you teach her?"

Sayaka gives me an appraising look. "Alright, then girl. If you want to be my student, show me you deserve it. Kenjutsu and Shadow Blade only." That was my only warning for when she flew across the field, Shadow Blade summoned.

I dodged back, summoning my own blade, and blocked a hit that would have eviscerated me. Sayaka is fast, but I've been training a fuck ton with Shisui. We're evenly matched for speed.

She moves forward with a single minded focus, instantly putting me on the defensive. I dodge or block all of her attacks until a second blade is summoned to her left hand. Surprised, my reflexes are the only thing that save me from anything worse than a large gash on my scarred, right arm.

Sayaka straightens out of her fighting stance with an unreadable look on her face. I eye her warily as she turns to my uncle. "I can work with this, Shikaku. I'll take her on as a student. Just one more question, though." She turns to face me. "What your name? I never got around to getting out of your mother."

I look at her incredulously as I allow my blade to dissipate. "It's Yoruka." Thus begins another couple of years of training from hell.

oes.