Chapter 13: Love and War

...

In our third year, we moved into Iruka's class. I paid our tuition which was surprisingly expensive. It made me wonder how Naruto could afford it, but he did. He even had enough money left over to get me a gift that summer.

"Friends give each other presents on their birthdays, right?" he asked with a grin.

It was an obvious reference to the first present I'd given him. I smiled at the messily wrapped package. Sometimes it felt like I went a long time without smiling anymore no matter how cheerful I tried to be for Sasuke's sake.

The gift turned out to be a book: The Gutsy Ninja.

"You're always reading, so I thought you'd like it," he said. I wondered if he'd picked out Jiraiya's first novel on accident or if he'd been drawn to it somehow. I'd never seen a copy in the library, though I'd looked for it.

"I do love reading," I said. "And I haven't read any stories in a while."

"Yeah, you always read such boring books," said Naruto. "My brain hurts just looking at them."

Naruto's reading skills had improved dramatically since entering school. He still struggled and lagged behind a bit when it came to obscure kanji, but he was doing better.

I shrugged.

"Knowledge is power," I said. "It will be useful one day. Speaking of knowledge, we have a test next week. I'll give you my notes to study."

Naruto made a face.

"Gah, I don't need notes," he said. "Don't you know I'm gonna be Hokage one day? I don't need to study."

I opened my mouth to refute him, but then I paused.

That was…technically true.

Naruto would become a genin without passing the Academy graduation exam, and he'd still be a genin when he became Hokage.

It was amazing how far you could get with a bijuu and a can-do attitude.

I shook my head.

"I'll still give you the notes just in case," I said. I couldn't force him to study. All I could do was provide the materials and opportunity. He'd manage the rest on his own.

In addition to Naruto, I also tried to befriend some of the other kids in class too. Unfortunately, by now I had the reputation of being a quiet bookworm who preferred reading to playing. Still, I didn't give up. I worked up the nerve to approach Ino and Sakura during kunoichi class one day, but all they wanted to do was talk about Sasuke.

"I heard he likes girls with long hair," said Ino, touching her ponytail. Both she and Sakura had been growing their hair out for months now.

They looked to me for confirmation.

"Maybe," I said. "I don't think he really notices things like that."

"So what does he like?" Sakura pressed, wide-eyed and curious.

"He likes training I guess," I said.

In terms of interests, Sasuke was very single-minded. He'd only ever had one goal in life: to catch up to Itachi. Sasuke had no perceptible interest in girls. Besides, it seemed like a betrayal of his trust to talk about him behind his back even if I only said good things. Sakura's relentless, decades-long pursuit of Sasuke was probably the only reason he would ever get married. That itself was a strange concept to me. I couldn't imagine chasing after someone I barely knew for so long when they showed no interest in me at all.

"So, um, what exactly do you like about my brother?" I asked, baffled. That didn't come out right, but Ino and Sakura didn't seem to notice.

"He's so cool," said Sakura, a dreamy look in her eyes.

"He's the best in class at everything," Ino added. Then she squinted at me. "Don't you think he's cool?"

"He's my brother," I said. "I know way too much about him to think he's cool."

Seriously, I'd seen him wet the bed. There was no coming back from that.

"No way!" said Sakura, indignant. "I bet he's cool all the time and you just want to keep him for yourself."

My sudden burst of laughter was enough to silence her objections.

"And he's so handsome," added Ino with a happy sigh.

That was another thing I didn't understand. Maybe it was my adult mind, but Sasuke just looked like a kid. And all kids looked cute.

"Don't you think so, Kiyo-chan?" Sakura asked, apparently noticing my puzzled expression.

"Well…" I said, not sure how to phrase it without sounding like an insult to Sasuke. "There are lots of cute kids in our class. I just don't see why Nii-chan is the only one who gets attention."

"Oh, do you think someone else is cute?" Ino asked, her eyes suddenly sharp.

Uh….

"Well, for example, Naruto," I said cautiously. And when Ino and Sakura looked at me with interest, I continued. "His eyes are a really pretty blue and I think his whisker marks are cute."

Naruto was a pretty adorable kid. But it seemed that Hinata was the only one to notice. Sasuke had a frankly inexplicable monopoly on the attention of the girls in class.

Ino's lips quirked into a positively devilish grin, and she quickly changed the subject. I found out why two days later when Naruto came up to me after class looking incredibly nervous and asking to talk to me in private.

"Um…okay," I said, standing up.

"Yeah, we'll keep you company, Sasuke-kun," said Ino, cheerfully sliding into my newly vacated chair.

Sasuke's scowl deepened. He shot a warning look to Naruto but didn't object. Naruto led me outside looking more panicked with every step until we stood under the tree with the swing. He told me to close my eyes, which I did, and when he said to open them, he was holding a bouquet of flowers.

"W-will you be my girlfriend?" he asked with a deep blush as he thrust the bouquet toward me.

I could only stare, slack-jawed.

Huh?!

Was there not one single child in this entire village that still feared cooties? Where had he even gotten the flowers? They were red roses, long stemmed and wrapped in a sparkly red ribbon, like the kind purchased for Valentine's Day or anniversaries. While Naruto wasn't exactly destitute, he had a limited wardrobe and was always excited to have a few leftover bites of my bento. There was no possible way he'd purchased these on his own. But there was one person in class whose family ran a local flower shop.

Ino.

Of course it was Ino. I even knew why she'd done it. Sasuke and I went everywhere together. If Ino wanted to catch Sasuke's attention, she had to get rid of me first. She'd probably pushed Naruto to ask me out, even going as far as procuring the flowers. So, this was the future head of the Yamanaka, a clan famous for their master manipulators as well as their mind control. Even at nine years old, Ino could execute a classic kunoichi power move, and while I could appreciate her professional display of cut-throat deviousness, that didn't stop the stab of offense I felt on Naruto's behalf.

Naruto's expression faltered, uncertain, as the silence stretched between us.

"I-I mean, if you want to," he said. "I like you a lot. And Ino said that you told her…"

He trailed off with a dawning look of horror as he realized that Ino might not have been entirely truthful. Naruto wasn't the only student to pull pranks in our class. His eyes darted left and right as though searching for an escape.

"Um, well…" I mumbled, a bubble of panic rising in my chest. I didn't want this to turn out like my last 'girlfriend' proposal. Naruto would never hurt me, but I didn't want to break his heart either. It was just…what was I supposed to say?

Well, Naruto wasn't really looking for a girlfriend, was he? He was just a kid. What he really wanted was acknowledgement, and I could give him that.

"I like you too, Naruto," I said, giving him my best warm smile. "I think your whisker marks are cute, and I love how you're always so cheerful. I think some of your pranks are really clever, and you have a talent for making boring days into exciting ones! You're the most surprising boy in the whole school, and I know that you'll make a great ninja one day." Naruto's face lit up with joy. So far, so good. Now I just had to let him down gently. "But I'm sorry. I can't accept your feelings…" And his face fell just as quickly. Dammit. "…yet."

"Yet?" Naruto asked. "Well, when will you accept them?"

Good question.

"It's my dream to become a medic," I said, thinking fast. No, not ambitious enough. Think bigger. More impossible. "I want to become the greatest medic in the whole world, even better than the legendary Tsunade-sama. To achieve that dream, I need to graduate from the Academy, take a three year medic training course, and another three years of residency. After that, I need, uh, more time to, um, make enough unique medical ninjutsu to surpass Tsunade-sama. Until then, I need to work hard every day to achieve my dream and I won't have time for romance. You have a dream too, don't you?"

"Yeah, to become Hokage and have the whole village acknowledge me, dattebayo!" he said, pumping his fist into the air.

"Right!" I said, clapping my hands as though it was decided. "And becoming Hokage will take a lot of work too. Let's both work hard to achieve our dreams! And then we can talk about…this."

It would be a funny memory we could look back on and laugh about.

"Hmhm," said Naruto. He held up the flowers again. "Um, you can still have the flowers if you want."

No, I couldn't. If I came back with flowers, everyone would know what we'd been talking about. It would lead to unfortunate and embarrassing questions that I'd rather avoid. But I didn't want to turn him down either.

I plucked a single rose from the bouquet.

"Give me the rest when we've both achieved our dreams," I said. "I'll keep this as a promise that we'll both keep working hard until then."

"And then you'll be my girlfriend?" he asked, eyes bright.

By then he'd be married with two kids. So rather than crush his hopes, I swooped in and gave him a peck on his cheek before dashing back to the classroom.

"See you tomorrow Naruto!" I called, waving with the rose.

No sooner had I stepped inside than I heard a jubilant 'Yahah!' from behind me.

Naruto really was a cute kid.

"Well, well. It's certainly been a while, Kiyo-chan," said Senju Ameko as she opened the door to the examination room. Ameko was one of the few remaining members of the devastated Senju clan and was acting as the Medical Director for the Konoha hospital. Her time was valuable, but she'd personally taken care of me for several of my close calls as a child.

"Yes, I noticed something unusual with my diagnostic jutsu, and I wanted a second opinion," I said.

I was still wary of the hospital, but I was reasonably certain that this wouldn't require an overnight stay.

"Well, let's take a look," she said, drawing chakra to her hands and pressing them to my chest. Her chakra sank into my veins and spread through my body, pausing at the same worrying points I'd noticed around my lungs. "And what is your diagnosis?"

"Chronic Chakra Radiation Poisoning," I said. From his chair in the corner, Sasuke looked up, startled. "I've been using medical chakra almost continuously for several years to manage various medical issues including prolonged flu-like symptoms, pneumonia, and asthma."

"I agree with your assessment, both on the condition and the cause," said Ameko, sitting back. "Can you tell me about the medical ninjutsu you've been using? I've only encountered this type of healing jutsu once before, and it has very serious side effects…"

"I did model it after what I know of Tsunade-sama's regeneration jutsu," I admitted. Tsunade hadn't documented her regeneration technique, at least not anywhere I could access. I'd just started from what I knew of medical ninjutsu and took it to its logical conclusion. "I offset the aging with a type of permanent transformation ninjutsu by cycling healing chakra and returning cells to a previous undivided state. With that, I can avoid the negative effects."

Ameko's eyebrows shot up. She pressed her hands against my chest once more to perform a much more thorough diagnostic jutsu.

"I see," she said blandly. "That is quite advanced."

For an Academy student? Sure. But I'd had plenty of motivation and the better part of four years to figure it out. Also…

"Well, most of the negative effects," I said.

"Yes, you've caught the chakra poisoning at an early stage," said Ameko. "This is why we still use non-chakra methods of healing like bandages, salves, and good old fashioned bed rest on shinobi. Even minor cures can cause serious issues if used for extended periods of time. Let alone for something like this."

Ameko pulled out a prescription pad and began jotting down notes.

"I'm advising a week of bed-rest and a two-month moratorium on chakra usage," she said, tearing off the slip of paper and handing it to me. "Give this to your teachers to let them know. And Kiyo-chan? It's dangerous to perform prototype medical ninjutsu without proper supervision."

I could feel Sasuke glaring daggers at me, but I carefully kept my eyes on Ameko.

"Thank you," I said. "I'll be more careful to rest when I notice something wrong."

At least as much as I could. I could see why Ameko would be concerned, but I had no intentions of stopping.

'Dangerous' was a relative term.

As we left the hospital, Sasuke turned to me with a glare.

"When were you planning to tell me you were sick?" he demanded.

"I'm always sick," I pointed out. "I've always been sick. Don't you remember how often I went to the hospital and how often I had to stay inside while you went off to play?"

"I thought you were getting better," he said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" I asked, exasperated. "Good morning, Nii-chan, I have cold for the fifth time this semester?"

"Chronic. Chakra. Radiation. Poisoning," he said, biting out each word like a curse. "What is that?"

"Oh," I said. Well it did sound pretty scary. "Chronic Chakra Radiation Poisoning is also called chakra poisoning. It just means that I've been overusing chakra. It happens sometimes, especially in shinobi with strong chakra and low stamina. All I need is some rest, so it' not really dangerous."

Well, it could become dangerous, but only if left untreated. Chakra was fundamentally energy, and in certain situations it could cause damage to the body similar to a radiation burn. But the only way it could advance to a lethal level was when downtime became impossible, such as during a war or-

I frowned.

"And will you?" Sasuke asked, accusatory.

"Will I what?" I asked, my train of thought broken. There was something there, but I couldn't quite…

"Will you rest?" he asked, still angry. "Because you've been pretending to be fine this whole time. Without telling me. And it's made you more sick."

I swallowed a sigh. He was just worried. He was allowed to be worried.

"Yes, Nii-chan," I said. "I'll rest. And in the meantime, there are some things I want to pick up."

The Uchiha clinic was covered in police tape and a thick layer of dust when we arrived.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Sasuke asked, peering around the dusty lab.

"Glassware, the spectrometer, the vacuum glass manifolds, and, uh, everything else," I said. The clinic might have specialized in trauma, but there was plenty of useful lab equipment.

"What will you do with all this stuff?" he asked, already gathering up a set of flasks from a nearby cabinet and loading them into a box.

"When you become a ninja, I can make medical packs for you to take on missions," I said. Sure, it might have been easier just to buy them, but I would feel better if I knew he was using high quality supplies. "I can set up a workshop in the spare bedroom."

Sasuke grunted.

It took most of the afternoon to pack up the equipment, but we managed it. As Sasuke packed away the storage scrolls, I slipped into the records room containing the Uchiha medical files. Something had been bothering me ever since I'd been diagnosed with chakra poisoning.

I had to check.

Just to be sure.

At first glance, Itachi's file was nearly spotless. All health and vital signs were either excellent or within normal parameters. But there was one small note that gave me pause. Itachi had unusually strong chakra mixed with low stamina.

I took a deep breath.

The file didn't mention chakra poisoning at all, so clearly he wasn't showing any signs of it yet, but that would make sense, wouldn't it? Genin and chunin didn't generally use enough chakra to get chakra poisoning. But ANBU and missing ninja who were constantly fighting for their lives on long-term, highly dangerous missions? Yes, all the time. These records were pre-ANBU, and ANBU kept their own medical records for obvious reasons.

I shook my head.

I wasn't even totally sure that this was his illness. It could be something completely different. But I didn't think so. Advanced symptoms included weakness, dizziness, and multiple organ failure. Practitioners of breath-based jutsu like the Grand Fireball Jutsu also had to deal with coughing up blood. My intuition told me that this was it.

This was the illness that would kill him.

But what could I do? There was no treatment for chakra poisoning besides bed rest. You didn't treat burns by adding more fire. Likewise chakra healing would make it worse.

…Or would it?

Medical chakra was fundamentally different from normal chakra which was why it took four years of constant 24/7 use to give me chakra poisoning. If I'd been using normal chakra, I would have been hospitalized within a month. Medical chakra was purified to prevent aggravation, but there were always imperfections, and that was what stopped it from being a viable treatment. The impurities in the medical chakra would only make things worse. But what if I could get 100% pure medical chakra? Sure, it was possible. Supposedly Tsunade had achieved 100% purity, which was one of the reasons why her healing techniques were so legendary. She could heal injuries in an instant when a normal medic would require an hour.

Of course getting there was like getting to 100% chakra control. It just took time and patience and lots and lots of training. Most medics trained their purity to around 80%, but even medics specialized in chakra healing usually stopped at 90%. Those last few percentage points were monumentally difficult even for the gifted and likely impossible for most. It was a tall order, but if I could do it, it would improve my healing and ensure that I could use my medical chakra all day without risk.

And it would, in theory, mean that I could heal Itachi.

I doubted I would ever get a chance, but even so…

"Goodbye, Shisui-nii-san."

"You'll always be my Onii-chan."

"I'm sorry, Kaa-chan."

I had to try. I was tired of living with my regrets. I swore to look after our family. And I would.

It was a promise.

"You're done with medical leave, right?" Ino asked, snaking her arm around mine as we headed to the school yard after kunoichi class. We were the last to leave since I planned to wait in the yard for Sasuke anyway. He was still in shinobi class. Lately, Ino and Sakura had begun waiting with me in the hopes of spending extra time with Sasuke.

"Yeah, I was hoping to experiment a bit with casting sound-based genjutsu," I said, holding up my Shamisen. It was a type of stringed instrument used by performers and kunoichi disguised as performers. Suzu-sensei mentioned that genjutsu specialists sometimes used their instruments to project genjutsu. That was far beyond what we would learn in class, but there was nothing preventing a bit of self-study.

"You know, there's a new barbecue restaurant that opened near my house," said Sakura. "Do you think Sasuke-kun would like it?"

"Maybe," I said. Sasuke wasn't a picky eater, and we rarely went out to eat. "He doesn't like steak-"

Something brushed against the periphery of my chakra sense, and my heart leaped into my throat. Because I recognized that chakra.

The genin.

There.

Across the yard.

He wasn't hiding. He looked older now, much older than the five years since I'd seen him last. I wouldn't have recognized him at all if it wasn't for his angry, seething chakra. His eyes swept across the gaggle of kunoichi leaving the park, and with a jolt I realized that he didn't recognize me either.

At least not yet.

But he was obviously looking for someone, and that someone was probably me.

I fell back a pace or two. Neither Ino nor Sakura seemed to notice as I ran through the hand signs of the Blind Spot technique. I ghosted behind them, using their presence to mask my own.

Ino and Sakura had almost passed by the genin when Sakura paused.

"Kiyo-chan?" she asked, only just realizing that I was no longer beside her. The genin's head snapped up, zeroing in on the two young girls. "She was just here."

"Uchiha!" he snarled, lashing out and snatching Sakura by the hair. "I know you're out there! Show yourself!"

He wrenched Sakura back, bringing her to her knees. Ino's hand shot to her thigh where she usually carried a kunai pouch, but we'd just come from kunoichi class. Music lessons didn't require weapons, so none of us was armed. The same couldn't be said for the genin. Clenched in his other hand was a kunai. Time seemed to freeze as he lifted it toward Sakura in clear threat. The air around him sparked with Killing Intent.

"Let her go!" I shouted, dropping the Blind Spot technique.

His eyes snapped to me with a glint of triumph.

"You're not getting away this time," he said, shoving Sakura aside and bearing down on me.

My heart seized, but I managed to duck the swing of his kunai. Fast! Had he been this fast last time, or had he really just been toying with me before? He lunged forward, and I barely managed to dodge the blade of his kunai. He cut me off as I darted to the left, but his look of triumph vanished when his eyes met my Sharingan, and I caught him in a paralysis genjutsu. It wasn't really a genjutsu by itself, more like a component of a genjutsu. Whenever Itachi showed me the world with his Sharingan, he made sure to paralyze my real body so that I could explore and play inside the illusion without stumbling around and hurting myself in the real world. Casting it with the Sharingan was as easy as breathing, though with only a single tomoe, it wouldn't hold up for very long against an actual ninja.

"Run!" I shouted at Ino and Sakura.

The genin was struggling against the genjutsu. He wasn't a genjutsu type, but it still required all of my focus to keep him contained.

"What about you?" Ino asked, sinking into a defensive taijutsu stance. Even unarmed, she was prepared to fight.

"I can't hold him forever," I said. And that really was the downside of genjutsu. It didn't usually stop the person trying to kill you, at least not for very long. Still, Sakura and Ino were the only girls left in the yard. If I could get them to safety, I would be able to escape on my own with the Blind Spot genjutsu. Maybe. "Take Sakura and go!"

Ino shot me a look before grabbing Sakura and running.

Good. Now I just needed to stall long enough for them to get away. A feat made harder by the genin's struggles. I needed to distract him.

"Why are you doing this?" I shouted.

It worked. The genin stopped fighting, instead giving me the most hateful look I'd ever seen.

"Why?" he asked. "Because you…you are everything I hate about the shinobi world!"

What?

"What?" I asked, surprised enough that I almost dropped the genjutsu. "But I've never even done anything to you!"

The genin gave a short, humorless laugh.

"You clan-born, always so arrogant," he muttered. "You don't have any idea what I've been through, do you?"

My silence was answer enough.

"My parents were civilians," he said. "They were poor and worked hard every day to afford my tuition to the Academy. They took out loans, and eventually my mother worked herself to death. All for the hope that one day I'd become a ninja and lift us out of poverty. Then I could pay back their loans. I'd put my brother through school. As a ninja, I'd make sure that we would never go hungry again. So I worked hard. I studied every day. I trained until my fingers bled. And when I finally got my forehead protector, it was the happiest day of my life. Until…"

His face twisted with hate.

"Until I was assigned to a genin team, and our jounin sensei said that we had no potential," he snarled. "He sent us to the genin corps. I thought at first that maybe I just wasn't good enough. But when I joined the corps, I realized something. All my classmates who were there, all the students rejected by their senseis, they were all civilian-born just like me. The teachers had grouped the clan-born ninja on the same teams, and they were all accepted. And the rest of us? We were thrown away like trash!"

His chakra flared, almost enough to break the paralysis. I struggled to hold it even as he continued screaming.

"My father went into debt, my mother died, and I trained every day for all those years!" he shouted. "And for what? I never had a chance! They were against me from the start! But they took our money, and they pretended like I might be somebody if I just worked hard enough. But I couldn't afford my father's loans on a genin's pay. My father had to run away from the loan sharks, leaving my brother and me alone. But I couldn't even put my brother through school. All our struggles, all our sacrifices. They were all for nothing!"

The anger in his voice faded to pain.

"That sounds terrible," I said softly.

The ninja world was not known for its kindness. We were mercenaries to be used for the benefit of paying clients, meant to fight and die for the sake of the village. High-ranking ninja could earn a fortune on A and S-rank missions, but members of the genin corps were relegated to low-wage D-rank missions with little hope of advancement.

It was also no secret that clan-born children tended to be grouped on teams, and while it wasn't impossible for civilian-born ninja to be chosen by a jounin, it was certainly rarer. Sakura would be the only civilian in my generation to escape the genin corps.

"Don't," he spat. "Don't look at me and pretend like you understand! I hate you and the rest of your kind. You have everything handed to you. You're an heir to the great Uchiha clan, born with money and power and the legendary Sharingan. You've never had to struggle or work a day in your life! I wanted to knock you all down, maybe give kids like my little brother a chance. At least until the police, no the Uchiha clan, arrested me and took my forehead protector. They wouldn't lift a finger to help my father, but of course they jumped at the chance to protect a little Uchiha brat like you."

"What happened to you was not fair," I said. "But you had no right to hurt other people, innocent kids who had nothing to do with all that."

"You're all the same," he said. "When my little brother saw you and fell in love, you rejected him just like my sensei rejected me. I might have forgiven you, but then you went and chose that Uzumaki freak instead! Even the lowest loser clan-born gets picked over people like my brother and me. No, you're just like the rest of them!"

I wanted to object, but what could I say? I hadn't chosen Naruto because he was an Uzumaki. I'd chosen him because I knew his story. I knew his pain. And I'd wanted to help him. But this world was full of people who suffered injustice. I'd been so focused on my own fate that I barely even considered anyone else.

"But that doesn't matter now," the genin continued with a twisted grin. "Because I finally found someone who sees my potential. He promised that my little brother will become a ninja just like me. All I have to do is get rid of you, and if I'm right, you should be just about out of chakra."

Oh. It looked like I wasn't the only one stalling for time.

My reserves were low, but Sakura and Ino were long gone by now. I could try to hold on, but I needed enough chakra to cast the Blind Spot genjutsu to escape. Unfortunately, I'd have to drop the paralysis technique to cast it, and the genin was within easy striking distance. It would come down to reflexes.

We waited a beat longer in silence, and I dropped the paralysis, jumping back and molding my chakra into the Blind Spot genjutsu even as the genin wheeled around, swinging his arm out to block my path. His kunai rose up in a swift arc-

-only to be knocked from his hand by another kunai.

Then Sasuke was between us, sliding under the genin's guard with practiced ease and throwing a series of quick jabs at his torso. Two landed, but the third was met with a burst of smoke as the genin performed a lightning-fast replacement jutsu.

"Nii-chan!" I shouted, but Sasuke was already moving, instinctively blocking the genin's fist and lashing out with his foot to shatter the genin's kneecap.

The genin went down with a scream of pain, and Sasuke was on top of him, beating him with a series of vicious punches to the face. The genin tried to retaliate, but Sasuke knocked his hands away and continued to hit him, over and over and over again.

Sasuke's fists were red.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted.

Sakura, Ino, Iruka, Mizuki, and the rest of the shinobi class were running toward us. When I looked back, the genin wasn't moving but for the boneless twitches at each of Sasuke's blows.

"Nii-chan…" I said. Sasuke didn't stop. "Nii-chan!"

I nearly tackled him, pinning his arms against his sides. He resisted like a wild cat for only a moment before settling back into my hold. Iruka arrived and hauled the two of us away from the genin while Mizuki examined his injuries. The genin's face was a mess of blood. When I was sure that Sasuke had calmed, I healed his fists. He had a few hairline fractures in both of his hands from punching the genin so fiercely.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" I asked. I knew firsthand how rough the genin could be, and Sakura was still just a child.

"Yes, I'm fine," said Sakura, looking pale and terrified. Well, that was one less thing to worry about. "What about you?"

"I'm okay," I said, a little surprised that I was, in fact, unhurt. Despite the difference in our strength, the genin hadn't actually managed to land a single hit before he was interrupted by Sasuke.

Iruka and Mizuki were still examining the genin when pair of white-masked figures in black capes appeared before them. They took the genin by the arm and vanished in a flash of body-flicker.

"What the…?" Iruka asked. "ANBU?"

I was just as confused until I felt it. Just beyond the fence, in a shadowed alley, there was a stir of chakra. I looked up in time to see a mop of dark hair, bandages, and a black and white kimono. He stood there with a cane, a seemingly mundane old man.

But there was something about his smile that put me on edge.

He held my gaze for one long moment.

Then he turned.

And he vanished into the dark.