Dance of the pureblooded

by The Shy Scorpio

A clan thought to have been wiped from the face of the shinobi world in the warring states era reemerges and forms a pact with the leaf village, this small change in history will impact Konoha and the shinobi world in ways no one could ever guess. *Slow paced story, lots of pairings*

28. A Medley of New Beginnings

This chapter was not supposed to be this long or take this long to write but I've been working on my writing skills so I kept going back and rewriting or just deleting and completely redoing certain parts of this chapter or the whole thing entirely. I currently have 2 other documents with over 5K words labeled as chapter 27 Part 3 but those are mostly just alternative fighting scenes that I wrote originally and decided to scrap. I took most of what I wrote in those alternative versions of this chapter (aside from the fighting scenes) and included it here in one way or another. I hope you'll enjoy.

31K Words

Medley of New Beginnings

Nubutaka and Amaris were both standing beneath a tall fire oak tree a few feet away from the group of Genin and junior shinobi, who seemed to be conversing with one another on various topics of a shinobi nature. When the Storm kunochi informed her charges that they might as well get to know the others since they'd be training with them again in the near future, the two both just stood there looking, or in Suigestu's case, nearly sneering at the others for the better part of two minutes.

It'd been painful for Amaris to watch, not because the two didn't know how to interact with the others, but because she knew they were choosing not to for no other reason than to just be their usual always difficult selves.

When she threatened to begin teaching them lightning release again Suigestu finally gave in and tried to spark up a conversation. That only made the others laugh though, because who the hell actually threatened a shinobi with the prospect of forcing them to learn new ninjustu, and how the heck did it actually work?

Suigestu, who didn't like being threatened or laughed at, adopted a scowl while Kokiri continued looking on without emotion.

After the laughter died down the group lapsed back into an uncomfortable silence. At that point Amaris began to feel a bit of second hand embarrassment or awkwardness for Suigestu and Kokiri. She knew the two knew how to talk whenever they wanted something. Were they really so unwilling to interact with people outside of their family or was it something else?

Nubutaka chuckled silently at the loud awkward silence earning himself an elbow him in the ribs.

Thankfully Suigestu managed to finally find something to talk about, bringing up ninja tools and mentioning that he thought shuriken were better than kunai. To a normal person that might have been a weird starting point for a conversation, but to all the junior shinobi and shinobi hopefuls who were gathered around the training field, it was nothing but a regular conversation that centered around a topic that really mattered.

It hadn't taken long for everyone besides Kokiri to begin weighing in on their preferred shinobi weapons. Amaris wasn't surprised that Kokiri neglecting to take part in the conversation. It seemed like the only people she ever really spoke to directly was Amaris, her brothers, and sometimes Kakashi.

The storm kunochi didn't understand the former Kiri refugee, and she didn't think that she ever would. Kokiri wasn't a normal girl by any means.. However, she had grown intimately familiar with the mannerisms of all three of the Kiri siblings by now. Kokiri interacted with others through her brothers, but other than that she always kept to herself. Suigestu and Togatsu weren't very social people, and they didn't really think it was worth their time to interact with anyone who hadn't earned their respect.

"Sooo.." Amaris hummed towards Nubutaka once the children had finally begun being social. "What do you think of my cute little angel fish?"

"Angel fish..?" Nubutaka blinked twice in confusion wondering how she went from calling the three 'my cute little devil rays' yesterday to 'my cute little angel fish' today. She was probably just messing with him.

"They're too reckless with their liquification abilities. If they focused on fighting without ever even letting their enemies know they have the liquid body bloodline ability they'd win a lot of fights from having the element of surprise. It looks to me like they use it like a defensive and even an offensive riumph card when they should be using it like an ace in the hole or a last resort."

Amaris was silent for a moment as she considered his words. He could tell by her now thoughtful expression that she hadn't really thought about it that way. He probably wouldn't have thought about it either if he wasn't also thinking that Kokiri and Togastu needed to go back to the basics of sword play for a bit.

Amaris had probably already thought of that and included some type of kenjustu training in their daily sparing routine. The only difference between the two of them was Amaris probably saw their liquid body kekkei genkai and as a blessing since they could take on an indefinite amount of damage as long as they still had enough chakra to become water.

Nubutaka saw it as a crutch though because it made them careless when it came to defending themselves, which in turn made most of their attacks sloppy, or just way too straightforward since they didn't need to worry about being cut down by an enemy who avoided or parried and returned with a counter stab or slash.

"Do you think Sayako would have something that can temporarily seal their bloodline?"

Amaris hadn't seen the old librarian since she sealed Kakashi's sharingan, but she didn't doubt that if Sayako didn't have any seals for it that anyone else would.

"It'd definitely be worth asking her about if you think you could keep yourself from killing the kids in spares where they can't liquify."

Amaris waved dismissively at his statement.

"They're all big fish Nubu, they should be fine."

Nubutaka folded his arms and sent her a look that said 'really?'

Amaris folded her arms and returned his look with of her own that said 'really.'

"No liquid body kekkei genkai means that I would have to actually take my time with getting them warmed up. And I would also have to go easier on them since I can't just casually cut off their limbs and expect them to reattach."

Nubutaka snickered. "And it also means no running them through with your sword either dear cousin!"

"I know that! And it's not like they'll just keel over and die if I just stab them once or twice in a none fatal area..! But this conversation is making me wonder if my lightning release would still be as effective as it usually is against them."

"Did you ever think about teaching them any lightning style techniques to compliment their water release?"

"I have, but it seems like their Hozuki bloodline or something about them just doesn't take too well to it, no matter how long I have them practicing. I had them all working on infusing their Chakra with the lightning element at one point. Suigestu learned it first and ended up frying himself after trying a B rank lightning release justu. We stepped down to a C rank justu and saw the same results over and over again. Needless to say that Kokiri and Togatsu simply refused to continue learning how to mold lightning chakra after a while. And of course Suigestu gave up on preforming lightning release techniques a short while after that when he kept frying himself.

Nubutaka turned away from two of the three siblings in mention just in time to see his cousin's lips turn down and her eyes narrow as she frowned, irritation clear on her face.

"Honestly..!? You'd think the three had never been shocked by lightning before with the way they're always acting like babies about it..! I definitely throw enough zap dragons at them in our spars for them to be at least somewhat immune to being struck by lightning by now."

"How does one build up an immunity to being struck by lightning?" Nubutaka didn't even know if such a thing was possible.

The only way that he knew of to make oneself immune to a specific type of chakra nature was for an individual to begin infusing the same type of chakra or whatever the polar opposite of the offending chakra would be. In the case of lightning the opposing element would be Earth.

"Did you teach them any Earth style techniques?"

"Kakashi has been trying to teach Togatsu and Kokiri a fee of the simpler earth release techniques but they both lack a real interest in learning them. Suigestu has learned how to use the earth release mud wall justu but that's it."

"If they can't learn lightning style techniques because of their bloodline ability you should try teaching it to them again if Sayako really does have a seal you could use for their bloodline."

For a moment the storm kunochi's seemed to have not heard him or to at least not have really registered his statement until her eyes widened and she spun to face him.

"You're a genius sometimes, Nubu! I knew I made the right choice in following you here."

Amaris stood on her tip toes to give her cousin a proud pat on the head. Nubutaka internally groaned at being treated like a child when he was the oldest and he was also the one who was helping her with advice. Shouldn't he be the one who was patting her head in this situation and telling her that child rearing could be a very long and difficult process? Especially if those children were Shinobi?

After about her sixth seventh pat, Amaris dropped her arm and stepped back, shooting him a subtle but a checky grin that said she knew exactly what she'd been doing.

"I really wanted to add lightning style to their bag of tricks but was beginning to think it was a lost cause. If this really works I'm going to end up turning those three into monsters that the Hokage can be more than proud we decided to take in as our own. I'll make Kiri wish they kept them."

Nubutaka smiled at his cousin fondly, appreciative of the fact she was putting in so much effort for three children who she didn't even know.

Just as he raised a hand getting ready to pat her on the head this time while he voiced his approval, her next words stopped him dead.

"That'll be sure to land me a cushy academy job when I retire! Then I'll be able to take it easy and just look after my flowers all day."

Nubutaka instantly lost his smile as he wondered where could he have possibly went wrong in standing out as a positive role model to his younger cousin.

He'd been hoping she would start bringing the Hozuki siblings around to train with the others. It would've helped to create some new fun around here since Shisui Hamura and Itachi tended to do their own training separately from everyone else, and the others tended to train more at the Shimura compound these days.

It seemed like Nubutaka was more and more so starting to be used as more of an officiator for when they wanted to spare rather than an unofficial shinobi instructor. But that was really no one's fault in particular. Most of the kids here all just so happened to advance so quickly that they no longer required a direct supervisor to make sure that they were learning and training in all the right things.

If that was a testament to Nubutaka putting them on the right track or something else he didn't know. But at least Neji hadn't forsaken him. The Hyuga definitely had the talent to train with the others or to train on his own, but he seemed to enjoy the advice and the training scenarios that Nubutaka gave him.

"They need to be stronger."

Nubutaka turned to face his cousin right after she spoke and immediately noticed that her expression while wistful and slightly distant a moment ago when she'd brought up retirement, had become completely serious.

He was just about to ask if landing an academy job when she retired was really that important when she interrupted him once again by elaborating on her former statement.

"All three of them are pretty much just a trio of foreign shinobi who are attempting to defect to Konoha. Because of that I have like a feeling that whenever they start receiving missions from the shinobi council, they'll start off much tougher and more dangerous than the missions given to Konoha born shinobi who are around the same age and experience level."

Nubutaka nodded his head not only as a sign of him following along with what she was saying but also as a sign of him agreeing with what it was that she was assuming would happen to the Hozuki siblings in the future.

"They have no influence, no money, no real power, and no real allies as of yet besides me, my beloved mask Kun, and possibly you since I'm bringing this all up with you right now.. So as it currently stands they have no bargaining chips whatsoever which means they won't be in a position where it's favorable or possibly even acceptable for them to refuse a tough or possibly even suicidal mission."

That sounded... perfectly in line with what Konoha's shinobi council might do to make the Hozuki siblings not only earn their keep but to also prove themselves. Taking them in as refugees would no doubt earn Konoha resentment from the village hidden in the mist, regardless of if they truly were wiping out every bearer of a bloodline ability as or not.

"So you want to give all three of them every advantage possible before the time comes that they'll be thrown into life threatening situation after life threatening situation?"

"Exactly. I need for my cute little angel fish to grow stronger until they reach they point that they no longer need to swim in my shadow. I'll only be able to protect them from the council for so long, if even at all once they turn eighteen." Amaris reaffirmed with all seriousness before grinning as her mind momentarily turned towards the future. "And it would also be pretty good if I manage to impress the Hokage with my teaching skills. I heard that Konoha has the best retirement plans for shinobi out of all the hidden villages."

Nubutaka began to shake his head even as he allowed himself to laugh.

"I really do hope that's not why you wanted to come here with me.. Other than you falling head over heels with your beloved, Mask Kun!" As he was finishing his sentence Nubutaka cupped his hands together over his heart and began making kissing noises to bring home his point.

Amaris felt her face heat up, but in truth, she couldn't deny either part of his statement, so she settled for playing with her hair as she feigned disinterest while looking in the other direction.

"Suigestu and Kokiri both seem to have good minds for strategy judging by their teamwork." Nubutaka finally said after a few more laughs at his cousins expense. "Maybe you should build upon that a bit by helping them to improve their tactical thinking capabilities along with their use of deception. All three of them would be so much more lethal if their fighting styles weren't so straightforward."

Amaris sighed and stopped playing with her hair and avoiding looking at her cousin. She turned around to regard him fully as she replied her explaination coming instantly.

"I've actually tried getting them to be a bit more versatile, but the problem with that is that when I'm sparing with those two I always need to include Togastu. Because he's behind the both of them in most areas I have to compensate for him by slowing down the pace of the training as a whole since I train them all as a group."

"Send him here to train with me whenever you're training his siblings. I have, pretty much, nothing but free time on my hands since most of the kids who come here to train mostly train themselves or each other now."

The storm kunochi seemed to think about that for a moment before shaking her head.

"That sounds like a good idea but I don't want to upset him if I can help it. Togastu may be one of the most reckless junior shinobi that I know, and he definitely needs to use his brain more, but he isn't stupid. He'll know exactly why I'm sending him here if I don't send his siblings with him, and I'm pretty sure that lose to Imari already did a number on the pride that his siblings make a game out of picking at everyday."

Nubutaka was honestly surprised to see that she cared so much about the boys feelings.

Usually his cousin was the first person to disregard another's feelings and follow along with whatever it was she'd decided. As evident by her fervent pursuit of, and her later acquisition of the copy Ninja. To this day Nubutaka still wasn't quite sure how she'd managed to pull that off seeing as the guy seemed to only be annoyed by her one sided affections at first.

Then there was the fact that Amaris had only been assigned to be the person who watched and kept them in line whereas Kakashi was their caretaker. His cousins mission was to only keep them out of trouble, but she looked after the physical, mental, and emotional, well being of the siblings as well. Clearly she had grown attached to all three of them. He could see why she didn't want to single out the youngest sibling. Knowing his attitude problems when it came to being seen as or called inferior to his siblings or anyone else, but still..

"From what I saw today that guys pride is his biggest issue. He'll need to get ride of some of that pride eventually, so we might as well help him now before that massive ego that he's carrying causes him to sink. If he keeps thinking he's a big fish, just because he has a big head, he'll end up bitting off more than he can chew."

Amaris lightly punched her cousin in the shoulder. "Not you too with the fish puns."

Nubutaka was going for an innocent smile, but it looked way too cheeky, and much too like a grin, to pass for a smile, or for innocent.

"I was just making a factual statement. And I'm almost certain you've made your far share of fish puns since those three have been around you."

Amaris found herself grinning alongside her cousin, as there was no denying or hiding from the truth behind that statement.

"I guess sending him here is my best option then..even if it'll really bother him to be trained separately and at a slower pace than his siblings. But you offering to help with me train Togastu definitely makes me feel better about their odds when the village starts assigning them missions. The only problem now is that Kokiri is so closed off that I'm worried about her ever finding her place here in Konoha. Her attitude would've been fine in Kiri but here in Konoha people are much more open than that and I'm scared that her attitude will just end up putting people off."

"Do you think the way that she behaves might be a result of her trying to deal with the psychological backlash of losing her entire family and clan all in a single night?"

Amaris tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. She halfway parted her lips as if she was going to speak before closing them and looking towards Kokiri with an intense focus behind her deep blue irises.

She couldn't believe herself and she felt unimaginably short sighted and irresponsible for never considering that as a possibility.

The entire Hozuki clan and every other clan in Kiri with a bloodline ability or a kekkei genkai had their entire household's hunted down and slaughtered over the course of a few weeks. The shinobi and the people of the Hidden Mist village were known to be suspicious, closed off, and guarded towards everyone; sometimes even their own families. One could only assume that having the village one was loyal to betray them in the worst way possible would only make those traits and that habit of not trusting people worse.

Nubutaka definitely thought that this could be case, yet apparently for some reason, after some time spent on taking those things into consideration his cousin thought otherwise.

After starring intently at Kokiri for a few beats of silence that nearly tallied up to a full minute if one had been counting the seconds, the storm kunochi simply waved a hand as if waving away the thought or the suggestion.

"You do make a good point Nubu, but honestly? I just think that's how she is naturally. The little fish big fish mentality of the Hozuki wouldn't have let them mourn this long for their fallen family or their clansmen anyway. In their minds, the Hozuki clan was just a big fish that got swallowed by the bigger fish that was the Hidden Mist Village. Even if they are upset about what happened, I doubt they honestly really care that much to close themselves off from others. That'd could only really happen if they were social creatures anyway, which most fish - especially the Hozuki, are not."

Nubutaka's mouth came open..and for a moment, his jaw just hung where it fell as he searched his mind and heart for a reply.

Eventually, the clan head managed to pull his mouth closed, but Amazingly, he still found himself coming up completely speechless. Did she really believe what she'd suggested, or were all the fish puns really just messing her up mentally?

After what felt like a long moment of mentally debating with himself he just gave up on trying to speak and stared at his cousin in disbelief.

"What?" Amaris said recognizing that look. "I've been around them long enough to know what I'm talking about."

"You've known them long enough to know this but not long enough to get them to listen to you when you're giving them suggestions and advice on how they can improve themselves?"

Amaris shot a glare towards her cousin, who did make a good point there, but she still wasn't going for it, and that was a low blow.

Before the clan head could do anything Amaris lifted her hands up and made two bullhorns, right before she proceeded to start jabbing into his ribs, sending small, completely harmless burst of pure lightning into his ribcage.

"You have no idea what it's like to be assigned as a caretaker to those three!"

Nubutaka gave a startled yelp and jumped backwards trying to back away after getting jabbed two times. Amaris stubbornly followed and continued jabbing him all along his ribcage, constantly sending the small burst of electricity through her fingers that not only tickled his funny bones, but also did a fine job of making him uncomfortable.

The clan head began steadily shuffling backwards on his feet, nearly running away from his cousin, as he held his hands up in a remarkably unsuccessful attempt at protecting himself. "Okay okay, I get it!" He wheezed out between the laughs that were being forced from his throat.

As he continued his fruitless attempt at escaping his cousin he tripped over a log and fell flat onto his butt. Yet somehow he was still holding both hands out defensively in front of himself.

"The three of them are stubborn as bulls and refuse to take your advice! I get it, I get it! Just stop tickling me with electricity already!"

Amaris pulled her hands back but kept them in the shape of a bulls horns as she didn't quite trust the man not to begin teasing her or calling her knowledge of the Hozuki siblings into question again.

Nubutaka picked himself up from the ground and began dusting himself off before glaring at the now smiling kunochi.

"That was not funny Amaris!" He shout whispered. "We can never let those kids figure out that I'm ticklish! With all the teasing I do those brats would kill me if they ever discovered such a vital weakness! Plus, all that electricity being shot inside my ribcage makes my joints go numb!"

"Stop crying! And then help me, and stop teasing!" Amaris whisper shouted right back.

Nubutaka took another moment to loosen his limbs up before he put one arm behind his back and began using the hand attached to the other arm to begin stroking his chin in a sagely manner, almost as if he thought he had all the answers. Amaris rolled her eyes arm folded her arms but she didn't say anything.

"Well.. since they already recognized you as a talented swordswoman, you just need to make them recognize your talents as a leader."

"Won't really work since sharks are solitary hunters. They feel like it's not my place to tell them what to do even if I am the biggest fish."

"Wow." Nubutaka whistled "They sound really difficult to work with when you take all that fish stuff into account."

"You have no idea! Did you know Suigestu actually graduated the Kiri shinobi academy in his first year? I always figured the fact that he holds one of the best ever graduation records for the Kiri Shinobi Academy has a lot to do with that immovable pride of his."

Nubutaka looked towards Suigestu curiously as he leaned back against a tree. "How'd he manage to graduate in his first year outside of war times?"

"The crazy bastard killed everyone in his class before the graduation ceremony could ever take place.. Said that his older brother, Mugestu, had already taught him everything he would learn at the Academy so he didn't see any point in waiting."

Nubutaka's gaze lingered on Suigestu who was currently wearing a scowl on his face as he and the others were still debating about what was the better ninja tool between a kunai and a shuriken with team shuriken currently being on the losing side of the argument.

"Well... That's.. Dark.. You wouldn't expect him to be so ruthless just by looking at him."

"He can be pretty ruthless when you get to know him. Kokiri and Togastu might need a bit of work but Suigestu is by all definitions, a prodigy, even if he isn't the brightest berry in the bush. He just needs a small push in the right direction and a good teacher."

Nubutaka couldn't help but wonder if Amaris was just pridefully boasting or if she truly believed that. He honestly hadn't seen enough of Suigestu to actually weigh in on what she was saying. The boy was definitely talented but to be called a prodigy was another thing entirely.

He ended up replaying her words in his mind and giving Suigestu another once over. The oldest sibling was eleven while his younger siblings were eight and seven years old respectively.

They all looked a number of years older than what they were, all looking to be well into their preteen years, but the same thing could be said about all other genin and shinobi hopefuls. Something about the awakening of chakra and training as shinobi caused a child's body to develop quickly for the next few years and then stunted said child's growth until they reached the age of 15-16 when they would undergo another rapid burst of aging and then begin to grow normally from there.

Other than that, which wasn't anything special at all, and his bloodline ability, Nubutaka couldn't say that he saw anything that really stood out as particularly special within Suigestu.

Even if the Hozuki had been the apex predator ij his class.. A shinobi in all but name amongst only a class of shinobi hopefuls, Nubutaka still felt like Suigestu would've had a hard time taking out all of his classmates by himself with only the skills he'd displayed against Shisui earlier.

If he'd been in the Konoha shinobi academy before Nubutaka and his clansmen had arrived in the village, Suigestu might have been able to have pulled that off with ease, but Kiri wasn't called the Bloodmist village for nothing. All of the shinobi hopefuls in Suigestu's class would've been on guard against attacks from all of their would be comrades and peers, yet Amaris made it sound like Suigestu had just casually slaughtered them all.

"Kakashi was the one who brung them back from Ame where they had fled to get away from Kiri right? Did you ever ask him to watch the three of you spare and gauge if Suigestu was holding something back? I'm willing to bet that that he's smarter and probably stronger than we're giving him credit for if he has that kind of foresight and ability."

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Amaris' head and she quickly rounded on her cousin with a grin that went ear from ear.

"How did you know!? I've had this feeling that Suigestu has been holding out on me the whole time but I wasn't sure!"

Nubutaka perked a brow towards his cousins elation at the fact that her would be 'students' were holding out on her. The clanhead cleared his throat before taking a step backwards.

"I don't understand why that makes you happy, but if that really is the case then it might be prudent to assume that Kokiri and Togatsu aren't showing their full hands as well."

"I'm happy because it means they haven't fully let down their guards yet, which they shouldn't do until they've actually proven themselves to be worth the trouble that bringing them in might bring. There's really no telling what could happen if their presence here threatens to cause a diplomatic incident with Kiri. Maybe the villages higher ups will attempt to have them kidnapped and returned to their own village. Maybe someone has already sent out a few assassin's try to prevent the possibility from ever even occuring. Which is why I'm going to welcome Togatsu back into my company with a triple zap dragon the next time I see him. He should've never wandered off without asking."

Nubutaka winced internally, extending his future pity towards Togatsu.

"You've put a lot of thought into this haven't you?"

Amaris looked at her cousin and frowned at that. "Don't say that like you're just seeing me for the first time. How could I not think about the wellbeing of those three well into the future, when it seems to me like no one else that would have done that before is around, and when no one who is around currently has even been considering it?"

"Maybe you can take it up with the Hokage?"

The storm kunochi immediately shook her head no at his statement, her nose crinkling after she actually gave it some thought.

"The same man who does nothing while the village still sees Naruto as a monster? How can I trust him with the wellbeing of children who aren't even from his village?"

Nubutaka thought to explain that there might be circumstances behind why the third couldn't do much to change the way the villagers treated Naruto, but that one was a very sensitive topic that he assumed everyone felt differently about, so he decided to say nothing. Amaris would probably take his silence as him being in agreement with her but he didn't really fully agreed or disagree either way. One would have to ask the Hokage his reasons first before declaring that the old man had been purposefully neglectful.

"So how do I go about getting them to show me the skills that they may be hiding?" Amaris asked getting back to the topic at hand.

Nubutaka shrugged. "More likely than not it's probably a pride vs life and death thing or something like that."

"So you're saying I haven't been pushing them hard enough in our sparing sessions?"

Nubutaka decided to avoid giving her a straight answer on account of the hard edge to her voice as she'd asked that question. "This is all just speculation right?" He sure hoped she felt that way, for the Hozuki's sake.

"Not really." Amaris replied with a frown that said she wasn't blind to what he was doing. "And they don't need you to run cover for them when you're talking to me Nubu."

She paused and then she smiled. "They are my, cute little angel fish after all." She bragged sweetly. "So I have them covered." She declared, finishing seriously, although she was still smiling.

The clan head laughed.

"So I take it this new highly territorial personality trait our yours is a side effect of all the shark puns an-"

"I was always like this!"

Nubutaka grinned.

The fact that she immediately jumped to defend herself gave her away. "So what's your plan then if you suspect they've really been holding out on you?"

"Don't have one." She replied "I figure that as long as I keep beating the stuffing out of them in our spares, they'll show me whatever secret technique they may have been hiding eventually."

"Oh wow!" The clan head ended up laughing much to his cousins confusion.

Amaris perked a brow and tilted her head slightly as she ooked towards her clanhead.

"What's so funny..?"

Nubutaka managed to pull himself together enough to speak coherently in between laughs.

"You're just so charming Amaris..! It's no wonder Konoha's great copy ninja fell for you over time when you have such a forceful personality!"

The storm style kunochi's face instantly colored at his statement and Nubutaka continued laughing, doing his best to cover his sides this time, and turning away from her just in case he had to ward off any new attempted assault's on his funny bones. But wow..! By Kami, she was even worse than the kids! He'd never actually seen his cousin grow so red before, and it was hilarious. Being as caught up within his fit of laughter as he was, he didn't even notice her eyes narrowing her before her lips turned upwards in a wicked smirk.

Before Nubutaka even had a chance to register what was happening the storm style kunochi launched a lightning infused straight jab at his spine. Caught up in his laughter as he was and facing away from her, he hadn't even had the chance to see the strike coming.

The clanheads laughter came to an instant stop as he recoiled from the blow at the same time that the lightning instantly locked all of his limbs from the neck down.

Having not expected for his entire body to suddenly go stiff on him out of nowhere, the clanhead immediately began tipping forward while locked in an awkward position, but Amaris moved in front of him and pushed him the other way, so that he began to fall backwards until he landed on his back with an 'oofff!' that was loud enough that it scared a few of the birds that were roosting in the trees above them into taking flight.

Amaris had known that she'd get some laughs out of that but, ohh, she was losing it now.

"Hahahaha! Oh my gosh..! You looked so 'shocked' when your limbs froze up and you started falling."

"So now we're trading the lame fish puns for generic electricity puns?"

Amaris had yet to stop laughing but she was sure to find time, in between recalling her cousins expression as he fell, along with the sound he made, and laughing at it some more, just to speak.

"Hahahaha! Sorry Nubu, but I don't know watt, you're talking about."

"What? How is that even a pun?"

"A watt is a unit of measurement for electricity baka!" Amaris seemed to be laughing even harder now that she'd one uped him again.

"Yea..!? Welll...!? You're a nerd!" The clanhead snapped back ineloquently. "Nobody besides engineer's and the guys who put up wire's need to know that stuff!"

"They're called electricians, and either way..! Getting to make puns like that is totally worth it!"

"Yea, but shocking me like that was totally uncalled for, baka nerd."

His insult only caused Amaris to laugh some more. "How is that even possible?"

"Don't think that I'm not gonna get you back for this..!"

"Stop being a baby! You're acting like you've never been struck by lightning before! Just like Suigestu!"

---

"Achoo!" Suigestu sneezed, making sure that his face was pointing away from the others before he turned back around and jumped straight back into the little debate they were having about which standard issue projectile weapon was better.

"My bad guys. Where were we?"

The Hozuki asked, addressing the entire group, but it was Naruto who replied first.

"I was just telling everyone that shuriken are better than kunai because they're easier to throw, and because you can carry more of them then you can carry kunai! Kunai take up a lot more space!"

After nearly a few minutes of everyone just shouting their opinions over one another, they'd come up with this plan of letting each person give their opinions on which was better individually, and to count all the votes afterwards.

Once he was sure Naruto was finished speaking he pointed towards Imari who was holding her hand up. "Shuriken look better! I mean, just think about it! Most of them have a hole in the middle and they all have completely sharpened points on four sides! That's a really unique design. Kunai are just baby spears with a hold in the middle for attaching things."

"Good opinion." Suigestu smirked.

"Next opinion then." He said right before he pointed towards the next person to raise their hand which just so happened to be Shisui.

The Uchiha calmly stepped forward and hurled a shuriken into a tree, following it up in the next second with a kunai thrown by the same hand at the same tree landing right next to the shuriken in the trunk.

"Kunai are much better at penetrating flak jackets and other forms of shinobi armor. Shuriken are good distractions but if you really want to hurt or incapacitate someone you start throwing kunai."

"Hey!" Suigestu shouted taking offense to that. "I've killed plenty of people with shuriken! And ninja stars are actually cheaper than kunai!"

Naruto and Imari both shouted a thank you in unison for Suigestu continuing to defend their side of the argument.

"Kunai do have more penetrating power though." Anko added wondering how this had become the topic of their shinobi weapons conversation. Kunai and shuriken were both created with completely different, yet some of the same purposes in mind. "But if I had to go for one or the other I'd pick kunai because they're more versatile. You never really see shinobi attached paperbombs or other similar items to a ninja star."

Anko was speaking what she really felt, but in her mind the best thrown ninja tool was easily senbon. Not only were the needles so small that a lot of shinobi never had the time to see them coming, but their small size and weight also gave them another edge in that they barely made a sound as they were thrown.

But Anko wasn't about to go telling anyone here that just yet. Of course she would tell Imari and Inoha later along with Naruto since he was a part of their family, but currently it was one of a number of secrets that the young snake summoner was holding onto.

She covered her mouth with her sleeve but her eyes narrowed with amusement as she watched Imari fumbled over her words for a moment in her haste to counter her statement. Unfortunately for Imari tho, she had already taken her turn.

Suigestu shot a glare towards a completely unbothered Anko who only grinned back in his direction as if she'd done nothing wrong.

"If EVERYONE" Suigestu said with a pointed look that couldn't have been anymore obviously aimed towards Anko "-is done interrupting, we can get onto the next opinion. So far we have three votes for shuriken and two votes for kunai."

He pointed towards the next person to raise their hand which just so happened to be Inoha.

"All of the weight within a shuriken is equally distributed inside the entire star or inside of the four tips depending on the variant, and that helps them stay in the air longer than shuriken, which have most of their weight leaning towards the tip and fall off trail faster."

"Shuriken might with weighted tips cost the same amount as regular kunai in most stores. But if you take away the cost advantage pertaining to shuriken you can give it a range advantage and make it equal to kunai in penetrating power."

"All right Inoha!" Naruto and Imari exclaimed in unison once again.

"So then what about kunai that are weighted in the tip?" She continued. "If you're putting custom kunai up against custom shuriken then they win in every area aside from price."

Imari and Naruto were both dumbfounded. When Inoha brought up custom shuriken and explained how they were superior to regular kunai they'd naturally assumed that she was on their side. "Traitor!" The two once again shouted in unison causing Shisui and Hamura to laugh st their antics while Inoha and Neji shook their heads, the other gathered junior shinobi showing they were either slightly amused or mostly indifferent by their varied expressions.

"Why do those two act more alike than the two of you who could almost pass for each other with different hairstyles?" Suigestu said directing his question towards the twin who seemed to be the most level headed out of the four who'd arrived in tandem.

"I guess their mutual love of pranks has drawn them a bit closer. And Imari doesn't even use Ninja tools. She's just messing with me."

"No I'm not! And the fact that I don't really use ninja tools doesn't mean that I can't have an opinion Inoha!"

While Imari sounded like she was being completely serious, the subdued grin that she was doing her very best to keep down was giving her away to all who noticed it.

"Well you can actually use kunai in melee battles but you can't do that with shuriken."

Imari gasped loudly enough to be heard by everyone. Naruto quickly followed the older girls lead and did the same, although it'd taken him a moment to realize why she did. They'd only assumed Inoha wasn't on their side a few seconds ago, but now, after her statement about custom kunai and shuriken, they were sure of it.

Imari was only faking, but the expression she'd just adopted after Inoha's last statement, coupled with the slight trembling of her form, made it look as if she was torn between crying and flying into a rampage.

"TRAITOR!!" The older Shimura twin howled with all the fury and sadness of a person who'd just been stabbed in the back by someone they held very dear or in very high esteem.

A few eyes amongst their group actually widened and a few brows even raised here and there as no one had been expecting that.

Naruto placed a hand on Imari's shoulder and watched the distraught looking Shimura girl with an equally well fabricated look of worry. Imari's legs seemed to buckle under her own weight causing her to fall onto her knees right before she just collapsed onto the ground as if stricken down by some sort of overwhelming grief.

The visibly distressed blonde shouted her name twice as she went down and tried to he help her up, but to no avail..

Imari had given up.

The Uzumaki's fist balled at his side and he stood up and turned towards the traitor with a look that screamed vengeance."I will never forgive you! Not ever in a million years! You'll pay for this!"

"What the heck is going on here?" Suigestu interrupted with a clear look of obvious confusion.

"Weren't we just debating on which standard ninja tool was better than which? How did we get where we are now?"

Kokiri, who'd been smiling lightly at Naruto and Imari's antics, silently laughed to herself at her brother's cluelessness. She briefly wondered if the Konoha shinobi academy taught acting skills to their junior shinobi to improve their abilities when it came to deception.

To the former junior kunochi of the Mist's great amusement, the blonde boy and the girl lying on the ground decided to simply ignore Suigestu in favor of continuing the act.

"She's gone Naruto, let it go." Anko called, joining the act as she moved close and reached out a hand out to comfort the blonde. A hand which was quickly smacked away.

"No! You were in Inoha's side, I can't forgive you either!"

"But Naruto..!" Anko cried dramatically. "I was always really on your side! You can throw a shuriken in more ways than you can throw a kunai! There's literally only one way to throw a kunai but you can throw shuriken at least three different ways! And plus I've never seen a person throw a kunai into the wind and make it curve towards the target!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Shisui cut in before Naruto could respond.

"Yea!" Hamura agreed. "She can't just switch sides like that, and she already went out of turn already!"

Somewhere within the back of the group a small Hyuga girl who was too shy to actually take part in the conversation giggled to herself. "Anko chan is cheating again."

The other Hyuga who was also standing in the back but had neglected to take part in the conversation for other reasons shook his head at the Shimura girls behavior. "Why am I not even surprised?"

"We never really made any rules, and she does make a good point!" Suigestu countered surprising a few of the others who hadn't expected him to actually argue for Anko this time.

He knew somewhere inside the back of his mind that it shouldn't really be okay for the girl named Anko to just switch sides like that. He just really didn't particularly care about what was fair right now considering he wanted his side of the argument to win and her cheating was helping.

When Hamura stepped forward and shot Anko a grin that said 'im only here to ruin your day' it became obvious to the others that he'd be throwing his hand in with the shuriken side just to mess with her.

"Even if you can throw shuriken into the wind or make them curve in a certain way to hit their target, kunai are easier to throw when there's a lot of wind. Large gust of wind make it difficult to aim your shuriken even when you're throwing in the way you're most familiar with. Standard kunai put more weight towards the point of the weapon for penetrating power and wind resistance whereas shuriken are for versatility."

"Not all shinobi fight like the anbu." Anko countered immediately only to be followed up with a fast rebuttal from Shisui.

"But kunai are also melee weapons. They're not only better for assassination but they can also be more useful in prolonged skirmishes. I keep telling you guys. Kunai get the job done while shuriken are mostly just used as distractions."

Suigestu, Imari, Naruto, and Anko all had to admit to themselves that was going to be a hard one to beat.

"Sometimes a kunai will get buried all the way up to it's hilt."

All heads turned to face one direction in unison as the very last person anyone had been expecting to speak, besides maybe Neji, saved the day for the shuriken side.

Kokiri hadn't spoken a single word to anyone aside from one of her brothers or Amaris the entire time that she had been here so far. The fact that she had been paying attention and was actually deciding to speak up and caste her vote for the shuriken group came as a surprise to everyone, her brother included.

"That can be a good thing if you want to kill your target quickly, but I bet it can also be inconvenient for taking prisoners." The way that everyone was just staring at her like she'd grown a second head, instead of actually reacting to her declaration cause her lips along with her brow to turn downwards as her eyes narrowed and she scowled at the group, wondering why they were acting so shocked.

She cough into her hand to break them out of their stupor before she spoke again. "Shuriken are better for immobilizing targets without fatally wounding or killing them."

"Alright, Kokiri!" Suigestu hollered, breaking the silence and throwing an arm over his younger sisters shoulders.

Kokiri frown in response to her brothers actions but made no move to remove his arm.

"You guys heard her! That's 4 votes for shuriken and 4 votes for kunai. We're at an even tie!"

The young prodigy of the Hyuga clan who everybody seemed to have forgotten about cleared his throat. "Kunai are melee weapons as well, like Shisui mentioned earlier. For that reason I'm voting vote for them being the better of the two.."

Neji didn't see why everyone was arguing about what was better. In his mind both of them were good at getting their respective jobs done, so it didn't really matter..even though he personally liked kunai the best.

"That's another vote for kunai" Inoha said while grinning cheekily at a completely befuddled and aggravated looking Suigestu, along with the rest of the group who'd voted shuriken, besides Kokiri, who she could tell was really completely indifferent.

"So that means me, Shisui, Neji, Hamura, and Anko, all voted kunai while Naruto, Suigestu Kokiri, and Imari, voted shuriken. That's 4 vs 5!"

"That's not fair!" Suigestu shouted wondering where the Hyuga who'd been standing there silently the entire time had come from.

"That guy just popped up out of the blue so his vote shouldn't count!"

"U-Uhm.."

Suddenly all eyes were on the shy Hyuga girl who'd also been standing there so quietly most of the gathered individuals seemed to forget she was even there, same as with her cousin. "I-I think t-that shuriken are better!"

Everyone was silent as the shuriken group took a moment to count themselves lucky while the kunai group wondered if it was too late to bribe Hinata into joining their side. When one took into account the fact that Naruto was in the shuriken group, their projected chances of a successful bribe were lowered exponentially.

"So then now we're 5 for 5.." Suigestu said grinning smugly at Inoha and the others on the shuriken team. "We just need one more person to act as the tie breaker, but there's always a chance that person will say kunai are better and then we'll lose. It might just be better to end it in a tie considering-"

Suigestu's eyes went wide as he remembered something. "If that idiot Togastu was here we'd have already won! I'm gonna carve that little runt up until he looks like a sea sponge if our side loses!"

Suigestu was contemplating how exactly he was going to do it when a voice called out his name along with his sister's.

"Suigestu, Kokiri!"

Both siblings turned towards the storm style jonin who was calling their names.

Suigestu hoped they wouldn't be leaving so early since these guys didn't really seem to be that bad to hang around with. And also because he wanted a one on one rematch against Shisui, and because they still had to decide what was better between kunai and shuriken of course.

Kokiri just hoped that they wouldn't be made to spare against anyone here again since she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of losing another spare so soon. Kokiri didn't think in the same way as her brothers. These people weren't fish in any sense of the word.. They more so resembled land animals.

Most fish don't think much. If I'm a bigger fish than you then I will devour you gradually or swallow you whole. It's as simple as that for most fish, but land animals are different. One animal that is smaller or weaker might devise a trap to take out it's much larger prey. Land animals were far more prone to strategizing and developing tactics for dealing with predators who were more powerful than they.

Shisui and Imari were simply bigger fish than her and her brothers, but she figured that it would make sense for everyone else who was present amongst this training group to be much stronger or much smarter than they looked.

If that was the case then it would make even more sense why they all showed up to the same place for training even though there seemed to be varying age groups among them. They would all essentially be prodigies or great assets to the leaf of some kind who came here to receive specific training, advice, or mostly none life threatening combat experience.

Talent awakens talent and geniuses always either stick to themselves or they stay within like minded circles. It could be good to train here with the others when they weren't learning from Amaris, because Kokiri could tell just from looking at these people, none of them were the types of land animals that a dweller of the sea or even one within their own domain should consider to be prey.

In the land of rain they hadn't run across too many shinobi who they could've considered predators in their own right. Nearly every shinobi who they had stumbled across within the war scared land had been refugees or missing nin of around the genin rank, who had fled from their village and were laying low within the land of rain for one reason or the other.

There had been a few higher level shinobi in their group so they hadn't had any difficulty in laying low with those guys and helping them to rob whoever they had come across. That's why the group that they had been traveling with had greatly underestimated Kakashi's group, but that was good. Those guys had been shady and untrustworthy, and while Kokiri didn't particularly trust Konoha; she herself feeling like she could at least let down her guard somewhat here.

Amaris and Kakashi for some reason. She couldn't really say why other than the two just seemed to be trustworthy.

As she and Suigestu approached, Amaris didn't say anything to them, but she motioned that they come join her in the tree she'd just leapt back into she'd been using as a perch while she watched them spare earlier.

Suigestu made a sound of reluctance but moved to follow her as she moved to go join Amaris in what they didn't yet know to be her preferred spectators area.

"Alright then.." Nubutaka started once he had everyone's attention. "We're gonna run multiple spares simultaneously today since it's early and no one else is using the training field right now."

There were a number of calls of approval and even a few high fives that made the clan head chuckle. "Imari and Shisui, you guys can do your thing as usual BUT, I want to see some ninjustu during the battle please."

"Awesome!"

"Yes sir!"

The two both intoned, sparing a moment afterwards to high five each other before moving to their own chosen section of the field.

"Hinata I'm assigning Neji to be your personal tutor in the mornings. You guys won't be doing any combat drills or anything like that yet. For now you two will just go and study your clans history along with it's philosophy."

The shy Hyuga girl blinked twice before nodding her head slowly and looking towards her cousin who motioned for her to follow as he began moving back towards the entrance of the Monogahi compound.

Being asked to study your own clans history and philosophy while others of your peer group were actually training was a little disheartening to Hinata, but she trusted Nubutaka san. For reasons that were entirely unknown to the Hyuga girl. Although, if she wasn't imagining things she would have to say Neji seemed to look unusually determined today.

50 minutes ago

"Good morning Neji!" A voice shouted right behind him, causing the Hyuga to whirl around and come face to face with none other than Hamura Monogahi, who was hanging upside down from a tree branch, grinning at him stupidly, like he hadn't nearly just blown out his ear drums.

"Was that kind of greeting truly necessary?"

"Nope. But big bro wants to talk to you before you get to the compound for some reason, so I tagged along." He said pointing higher up into the branches of the tree he was hanging from.

Neji looked up, and surely enough, his sensei was standing on one of the tree's higher branches.

Figuring that this conversation wasn't the type they should hold in the middle of the street, Neji looked around twice to make sure no one was paying him any mind before leaping into the tree and concealing himself next to his sensei, and Hamura who was pulling himself up.

"What is it that's so urgent that you both came to find me before I reached the compound?"

"Have you ever helped your cousin with her gentle fist training?" Nubutaka asked suddenly.

Neji's brow furrowed at the odd question. "Not too long ago I told her that I would be happy to help her with her gentle fist training if she ever wanted."

Nubutaka nodded his head and smiled for some reason as if that was good. "Hinata knows that the elders took an interest in you because of the talent, skill, and discipline, that you're already showing at such an early age. She knows that more and more people within the Hyuga clan have been taking an interest in you so she would never ask you to help her improve because she'd see it as herself potentially hindering your progress."

Well... If Neji confused before, now he was completely at a lose.

What would had been his sensei's entire purpose of asking him if he ever offered her help when taking what he just revealed into light? If he was able to piece those things together he should already have had the answer to his question, right?

"Where exactly are you going with this sensei?"

"Hinata will never ask you for help if she thinks she'll only end up hindering you, but I honestly think that you're one of the only people who can really help her. The thing that's mostly holding Hinata back is her nature as a pacifist who doesn't want to hurt anyone. I noticed that even when she's fighting with everything she has her mind still subconsciously places limiters on her body to keep her from really hurting anyone or getting too violent. We need to do something about that or she'll never reach her full potential."

That made perfect sense.. Neji could actually see it now when he thought about it.

"What do you propose then sensei?"

After being his student for sometime now, Neji had come to understand that Nubutaka was a man who rarely ever spoke for nothing. There was usually always some kind of deeper meaning behind his words or a plan of some kind brewing in his head whenever he spoke.

"When did you start learning your clans history Neji?"

The Hyuga prodigy frowned slightly at having his question be meant with another question but he answered anyway. "I honestly don't remember. I think my father began to teach me the clans history from the moment I began to walk."

"I assumed as much. Most Hyuga are likely to start being schooled in the history of the clan from the moment they began to walk. A sense of pride within the clan so strong that it borders on fanaticism is implanted into the head of every Hyuga clan member at a young age. You and your clan members are all made to believe you belong to the strongest clan within the hidden leaf village so that you'll all carry ourselves that way and even try to live up to that standard. But for some reason Hinata seems to lack that same feeling of pride and belief. It's like she's never been indoctrinated in the way that most Hyuga are indoctrinated, and I figure it had something to do with her mother's illness. She does have some pride in her clan, but hers isn't nearly as strong as your own pride, her fathers pride, or even the pride of some of the younger generation of the Hyuga clan who were born years after her."

Neji was silent as he took in everything that his sensei was saying and some small part of it actually managed to offend and upset some part of himself internally. The Hyuga were obviously the strongest clan within Konoha, but his sensei spoke it as if that was a topic that was up for debate somehow. Everything else that he was saying made perfect sense but that part confused him slightly.

"So Hinata's problem is that she doesn't believe in our clan strongly enough?" He asked while wondering to himself who his sensei actually thought to be the strongest clan within Konoha.

Surely it couldn't be his own clan considering their lack of true numbers compared to some of the more numerous clans such as the Inuzuka, The Aburame, or even the Hyuga clan.

"I won't say that's her only problem-" His sensei was looking at him with that look in his eyes. That look that said that even though they were speaking on another topic, he still knew exactly what it was that Neji was thinking in that exact moment. "-but the absence of a strong sense of pride in the Hyuga and an unwavering belief in the clans strength is definitely one of the many things separating Hinata from the rest of her clan. And that, and her nature as a pacifist, are the main things holding her back."

Once again, his sensei was making perfect sense to him. One's pride was always one of the major factors that determine how far they may be able to go in life. A person didn't need to enjoy what they were doing to have the motivation that they needed to improve themselves or to preform the task better than anyone else. As long as they could take a certain amount of pride in the skills they have that relate to whatever it is that they were doing then they should be fine or even excel.

"So you want me..to indoctrinate my younger cousin?" Neji asked still somewhat confused as to where his sensei was going with this but willing to hazard a guess.

"That's exactly what I'm asking from you Neji. Hinata only trains with the thought of improving herself because she knows that good Taijustu skills are what's expected of her as a Hyuga. She seeks to improve herself for others but she should be wanting to improve herself for reasons that are entirely selfish and meant to satisfy her own ego or sense of pride. Anko has been working on her confidence, and by some extension her pride, but Hinata still really only prides herself on what others think of her. She doesn't really have any personal pride in her own Taijustu skills because she doesn't like fighting at all. As you can imagine, that really hinders her growth."

Neji was silent for a few moments as he pondered over Nubutaka's words.

It was hard being told you and your clansmen had been indoctrinated by the very principles you lived on, and even harder to be told by your sensei to help him indoctrinate your younger cousin in the same way. Instinctively, Neji wanted to deny most of what his sensei had said about indoctrination as nonsense, but he knew that the man really had no reason as to why he would be lying to him.

In his own personal opinion however, the Hyuga were the strongest clan within the leaf village, and as such - they had a duty and a right to hold themselves up as such. At least until it was proven to them otherwise.

But his clan still needed to change and his cousin would really need to carry much more pride in herself and even passion for the Hyuga clan than what she carried currently if she was to take the role of leader after her father one day. Making sure that his cousin rose to power had become one of Neji's own personal goals, so what his sensei was suggesting actually fell in line with his plans of working towards a better future for the Hyuga.

That was, odd.. Sometimes, Neji really wondered if his sensei was just really intuitive or if he had some kind of justu for reading his mind. But either way.

"Even though what you're suggesting doesn't really seem morally sound, it does seem like it would be more of a benefit than anything else. It wouldn't hurt to try it if you know a way to get Hinata to ask me for assistance with her.. Clan history and gentle fist training?"

Nubutaka didn't give an audible reply, but he started grinning wickedly, which Neji presumed to be a yes.

PRESENT

"Nice of you to join us for our morning sparing session today Anko." Nubutaka proclaimed with a pleasant smile as he addressed the junior shinobi he saw the least.

"Nice of you to have me. You haven't been missing Naruto and the twins when I keep them at the Shimura compounds in the morning have you?" Anko asked while innocently batting her eye lashes, causing Nubutaka to chuckle.

"No way! I definitely do miss them sometimes but you're doing a great job of helping Naruto improve in the areas that I'm not really paying too much attention to. Imari and Inoha are just crazy freaks of nature so they'll improve naturally no matter where or who they train with."

"I thought talent ran in the family? You calling them freaks makes it sound like you think they're a cut above everyone else."

"I mean.. Those two learn at a scary pace.. It might be an effect of whatever kind of influence Danzo has had on them. Even Naruto experienced a boost in his growth rate once he started hanging out around the Shimura compound. You grow pretty quickly yourself, and Hatsue did too when I think about it. What's actually Danzo's secret..?"

Anko grinned, having no true idea but having an answer for the man that should suffice for them both.

"It's probably not so much a gift for training people. It's probably more so an eye for talent. He doesn't tolerate weak shinobi prospects or weak shinobi being in his presence when he can help it. And he tends to mostly only give advice to the others. I'm the only one he trains directly these days, and it took a while for us to reach this point."

"Why did he stop training Inoha and Imari?"

Anko shrugged, having only ever seen her adoptive father demonstrate justu for the twins and offer them advice. She figured that he stopped directly helping to train the twins before she was in the picture.

"I don't know, but I guess they reached a skill level he felt was sufficient for what he'd need them for in the future."

"I guess that means he thinks less of you than he does those two then huh?" Nubutaka said with a cheeky grin.

Anko matched Nubutaka's grin with one of her own. "You don't train Hatsu nee chan anymore, but you still train Neji right? Does that mean that Neji is way more important to you than Hatsu onee..? Maybe I should go tell her you said that..?"

Nubutaka inhaled sharply not, at the thinly veiled threat, the mischievous glint in her eyes that told him she would do it, not in the fact that he knew that she would not only do it but also relish in doing it, but at the mirth, and the pure sense of enjoyment that he could see shinning behind her mischievous gaze and feel emanating off of her in waves.

"Oh wow. Well played!" Nubutaka found himself laughing almost hysterically as he realized exactly what his brother had gotten himself into that night and why he'd been running around calling the girl a crazy purple haired fireball ever since. "Since you're here today we might as well have you and Hamura be the second pair to spare with one another."

Hamura nearly jumped out of his skin at his brothers declaration and immediately shifted his gaze away from the duo who he'd been watching with some interest up until now. Immediately after turning his head though, he could feel a predatory gaze hitting him from the side, trying to overwhelm his sense of calm, compelling him to turn around.

Without sparing even a moment to look at Anko, he closed the distance between he and his older brother, ignoring the girl who was looking at him like a cat, or better yet a snake; that had just cornered a particularly fat and juicy looking rat.

He moved straight past her and pulled his brother down to his level so that he could talk to him in a whisper.

"Why me and Anko!?"

Nubutaka didn't even attempt to hide the smirk that took form after his question.

"I just thought that it might be interesting little brother."

Hamura let go of his brothers shirt and pulled away from his ear only to say nothing and glare flamming daggers and ice into the clan heads soul.

Nubutaka continued to grin, the effects of his brothers scowl being lost on him, which only made Hamura's glare grow hotter.

"I'm gonna get you back for this one day!"

Nubutaka smiled some more when he noticed the Golden specs in his brothers eyes had grown to become the dominant color.

"What if you end up en-"

Whatever Nubutaka had been about to say was cut short as Anko appeared between them.

"Nubutaka san, do you have a soldier pill? I used up most of my chakra on the shadow clones I created earlier at the Shimura compound."

The snake summoner held her hand out knowing he would have one handy and that he wouldn't deny her. Nubutaka's grin resurfaced as he pulled out a bottle of the pills she was requesting and placed one into her open palm. Anko wasted no time swallowing the pill and grinning wickedly at Hamura as she felt her chakra levels returning to normal.

"Ready when you are chew toy." She declared before heading off in the direction of an empty patch of field they could use. Hamura sent one more glare towards his brother.

"This isn't over."

"It never is.." He replied easily.

Once Hamura took off after Anko that left Nubutaka with just Naruto and Inoha even though Amaris was still present with Suigestu and Kokiri. Anko made sure that Naruto and his little cousins never spent their free time in the mornings slacking around when they trained at the Shimura compound so he decided he'd give them some free time this morning. Imari would've wanted to spare with Shisui anyway so he just assigned them to be partners.

---

The sleepy Nara clan heir arrived at the usual meet up spot on the Monogahi field and came to a stop a short distance away from the others.

Shikamaru raised one of his arms up above his head in a stretch and used the hand from the other arm to cover his mouth as he released a yawn and tried to shake away the last of his drowsiness so that he could be ready for..

Uhh..

Well..

Just about anything anyone of the kids with ninja training in their group might throw his way.

At certain times he was almost certain that he, Neji, Inoha, Itachi, and Izumi, were the only fully sane one's. Sasuke might have seemed to be sane but Shikamaru knew better. Anyone who had the energy to argue with Naruto on a daily basis had to be crazy in some way.

"What'd I miss?" He asked no one in particular as he came to stand inside the circle of spectators. It was then that he noticed two new faces among the group; a guy with a head of pure white hair and purple violet irises accompanied by a mouthful of perfectly sharpened canines, and a female with purple magenta irises, long blue hair, and pupils so thin that they nearly appeared to be slits.

"Hey Shikamaru." Naruto said greeting the Nara first. "It's rare to see you here this early if you don't end up coming with Shisui Itachi or Hamura."

"Unfortunately my body is so used to being awake at this time now that it wouldn't let me go back to sleep. I figured I might as well see what you all were up to since I didn't have anything better to do."

"Nothing better to do like sleep?" Inoha teased poking at Shikamaru's cheek.

"Exactly." The Nara returned with a smile as he caught her finger on the last poke and guided it away from his face. "I'm sure my dad's happy about it though."

Naruto gave the Nara a smile and a firm pat on the back. "And he should be lazy butt. You missed out on two really cool kenjustu battles earlier. Our new friends here, Suigestu and Kokiri, went up against Shisui, while their brother went up against Imari. We were also having a conversation we never got to finish on if kunai were better than shuriken."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the kenjustu battle part. This guy and his sister had to be pretty strong to even be given the opportunity to fight those two, who usually only had time for sparring with one another; or making his mornings hell as was the case with Shisui.

He extended a hand towards the oldest looking out of the two, the guy with the white hair and sharpened teeth.

"Nara Shikamaru."

Suigestu looked at the hand for a moment before extending his own and giving a shake.

"Hozuki Suigestu."

Shikamaru was proud of himself for keeping his face devoid of any of the surprise he felt. Like, did this guy really just say he was a Hozuki? What could a member of one of the most violent and notorious clans of the blood mist village be doing inside of the hidden leaf village?

Although that would explain the teeth.

"This is my sister, Hozuki Kokiri. Don't mind her. She doesn't really talk to anyone. Our younger brother isn't here right now but you'll probably know him when you see him. Dudes always getting himself into trouble."

"Well, it's nice to meet you two at least."

Shikamaru would have to be sure to watch his behavior around these two. Sometimes he could be painfully blunt, and the last thing he needed was for anyone in the village to be pointing a finger at him for being the reason behind some sort of diplomatic incident.

"Likewise." Suigestu replied recognizing the gesture of civility of whatever it was called and reciprocating.

Hokage's Office 5:41

Hiruzen sighed at the fresh stack of paperwork that'd just been brought in and told himself that he hopefully wouldn't needed to do this job for much longer. Within the next five years he'd have hopefully integrated Tsunade and Jiriya so deeply within the internal workings of Konoha that they'll already be seeing to most of the work of the Hokage, and therefore have no reason to keep turning down the position.

Initially he'd been planning to basically continue hounding them about taking up the position, but that was no type of way to go about filling a position that carried as much weight as that of the Hokage.

He wanted to be able to offering either one of the two or possibly even both the position and have them accept because they knew that it would be for the good of the village. Not because he wouldn't leave them alone about it and because he didn't really give them a choice.

He figured that by grooming them for the role now by slowly delegating more and more of the positions responsibilities and power on them would help his students see that they could do a lot more good for Konoha if they took up the position together with him as an advisor than he could've done by himself.

And if that wasn't the case, then the fact that Tsunade and Jiriya will already hold a lot of sway and a lot of the power to make decisions that can affect the entire village on most levels, will act as a failsafe to ensure that nothing too unexpected might happen if he ended up he giving the position to Fugaku. Because honestly, he currently only saw Tsunade, Jiriya, and Fugaku, as the villages only viable candidates, and he was eight years past his time to retire.

The only thing about Fugaku, was Hiruzen was never truly sure if the man possessed the will of fire, or if he was just in possession of a fiery will of his own. Either one could be good for Konoha, but Hiruzen figured that if it was the later, appointing Fugaku to the position would be no more different than appointing Danzo, only Danzo would be far more extreme in every step he took to ensure the villages internal as well as it's external security and integrity.

And that in most cases, he expected Tsunade and Jiriya to be able to keep Fugaku in check, whereas with Danzo.. Well.. If anyone had ever been capable of controlling Danzo fully it had only ever been Lord Second, and Hiruzen struggled with keeping a leash on his old friend and rival on even the best of days.

Had the man been anyone else, Hiruzen likely would've had his personal anbu secretly deal with them by now, but he didn't blame Danzo for being as cold and as paranoid as he was. The man had lost his entire family, most of his friends, and all of his teachers, to war. Danzo choose to embrace the darkness while using the ice that crept into his heart to keep going whereas Hiruzen lived in the light and used the will of fire that he'd inherited to keep going.

While the man was only a shadow of his former self, Danzo did always act with the villages best interest at heart, and for that, alongside the relationship they once had, the Hokage allowed him to continue operating as he was, but he would NEVER give him the Hokage's Office. For as long as Hiruzen was alive, he would never see Danzo become Hokage. He felt that a situation like that- Giving someone as unhinged as his former best friend that much power would only have consequences.

So naturally if his two loyal students continued to refuse he would offer the position to Fugaku, once he already had a number of precautions or failsafes set in place. It's not that he distrusted Fugaku as much as he distrusted Danzo. He actually trusted Fugaku more so than he trusted Danzo when it came to doing what was right, but he didn't trust Fugaku's love for Konoha over his love of and his sense of obligation towards the Uchiha clan. And he still didn't trust the Uchiha even though things were getting better.

"Sake for your thoughts sensei?"

Hiruzen turned towards the voice that'd spoken to see Tsunade leaning forward in her seat with an expectant expression. Although she appeared to be casually leaning forward and waiting for an answer, Hiruzen could tell from the slightest furrowing of her brow that she was concerned.

He turned towards the rooms only other occupant and saw the same sentiment mirrored in Jiriya's face. That caused him to sigh before giving a shake of his head and reaching towards one of the many drawers attached to this side of his desk. The fact that he was getting so old that his own students were reading him now couldn't be a good sign.

Hiruzen was exhausted. The man felt that he was truly just in need of a good rest. And not just a rest, but a vacation perhaps.

"It's nothing you two. Just thinking about the meeting I'll be attending later." He lied smoothly.

The two nodded their heads empathetically, accepting what he said as the truth, which caused him to share a smile with himself internally. "A good shinobi should be able to tell a lie well into their deathbed." The memory of the Second Hokage's voice speaking those words to him once gave him some comfort.

He wasn't so old and wise as to be so humble that he couldn't allow himself a small amount of satisfaction at the fact that, even if he might have been getting old to the point to where he could no longer hide his emotions from the people that really knew him, he'd still never be so old as to lose his ability to tell a convincing lie to even those that really knew him. Such was the shinobi way.

"Would either one of you like to attend said council meeting with me later?" The Hokage asked, smiling fondly into his hand as he retrieved what he saw to be, the bane of his boredom and stress, his glorious crown gem, the irreplaceable momento given to him by his late wife, his most prized prized possession, a simple black wood smoking pipe.

He always kept it in one of his desk drawers next to a smaller version of the large family portrait that was hanging up within the main hall of the Sarutobi clan compound.

From his seat on the couch, Jiriya looked up from behind the pages of the newest release of The Hidden Clouds Bingo book.

"A civilian council meeting or a shinobi council meeting?"

"Shinobi." The Veteran Smoker/Kage said packing his pipe with some of the villages finest 'miracle herb' as some of the younger generation had taken to calling it. "It will mostly be an hour of me and the elder council listening to operational reports and any suggestions or grievances that may be brought forth. After that I plan on bringing up my decision regarding Yashiu and her shinobi as well as the Hozuki children."

Jiriya actually seemed to think about it for a moment which was actually more than Hiruzen had expected from him. Tsunade seemed to either be doing the same, or just ignoring the conversation completely.

"Count me in." Jiriya said surprising Hiruzen, who'd honestly expected both his students to say no immediately. "I heard that Ichiraku ramen is having a sale later today, but I doubt that Naruto will want to go with me now."

Hiruzen slowly nodded his head, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that he would eventually need to find a way to apologize to the blonde for his hand in everything as well. "I've been meaning to try and see him but I just don't have the time."

"I think he would understand sensei." Tsunade said reassuringly.

"I doubt it." Jiraya told them flatly. "You two didn't see the kid after he found out."

Tsunade glared at the man for his remark but the toad sage stood his ground. Tsunade knew that what Jiraya was saying was true, but he didn't have to be that blunt about it. She'd only been trying to help.

"Everyone did kind of hold this big secret from him for years." She sighed tiredly after what felt like a long moment of silence. "It probably also hurts to know that your parents were heroes, but that you get treated worse than everyone else inside the village."

Although he was saddened by this conversation and general turn of events, Hiruzen couldn't help but be glad for Tsunade's empathy towards Naruto. The fact that she had always been good at keying in on and feeling another person's pain was what had made her into the healer that she was today.

"Indeed.." The aged shinobi said, for just a moment until he spoke again, his voice for once actually reflecting the fatigue he felt from all the years of having to be the one to make the hard decisions. "Naruto isn't even a shinobi yet and he's already sacrificed more for the village than a great number of shinobi that I've known. I imagine that anyone who found themselves within his position would be rightfully upset."

Jiriya nodded his head and Tsunade spoke for the first time since finishing her second mug of coffee. "Since I'm currently only running one of the shinobi hospital's it isn't necessary for me to attend the meeting right?"

"While that may normally be the case with other departments, since the shinobi hospital's are also known to accept any number of civilian clients during times of peace, village policy makes it mandatory that the civilian hospitals leader attend every important civilian council meeting just in case anything that may concern the welfare of the civilians is brought up."

Both Jiraya and Hiryz eyelids of the blonde Sannin pulled themselves open fully as her hand stopped moving along the paper in front of her and her brow also raised in surprised. "Damnit!" The birds that'd been roosting outside of the Hokage's window were frightened away by the sudden loud outburst coming from the room that'd been completely silent aside from the sound of pens scribbling along paper just a few seconds ago.

"I'm going to need a drink before this day is over! Why the hell did I decide to take this job?" The blonde said closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Hiruzen developed a small smile. "For the same reason why I decided to follow the wishes of Lord Second and become Third Hokage. Because there is no one better to fill the position. And at least you'll only need to listen at the meeting. I can only imagine how the council will argue against my decision to let a wanted refugee from another nation begin using our village as a base of operations while she builds a small army of shinobi and makes plans to topple the current government of said nation."

"Well.." Jiriya hummed. "You've already got Danzo who is usually the hard ass out of the bunch to agree. Most of if not all of the clan heads will follow you out of respect and trust of your judgement. Don't stress yourself about it before you even get to the meeting old man. Hopefully this little gamble of yours will end up paying off in a few years and the council will see that you were right."

"We can only hope. If my gut feeling wasn't telling me something suspicious is going on in Ame, I may have granted them asylum, but I would have never agreed to letting a foreign shinobi create an army here."

Tsunade got up out of her desk and left with the parting words that she would be back. The two could only presume that she was leaving to get that drink that she would be needing for later. That or to chew out some poor fool who'd made a mistake at one of the hospitals, which she was doing a lot of lately.

Once she was gone Jiriya turned back towards his teacher, whose attention had turned back towards the paperwork in front of him, even though the old man wasn't writing or reading anything. The toad sage was able to pick up on the wave of stress coming from the aged shadow of the leaf village.

"That meeting really has you on edge huh?"

Hiruzen released a sigh and shook his head no, temporarily abandoning the thought of his paperwork and looking outside of the office window.

"I've been doing this job for far too long to let something as trivial as either of the councils disagreeing with one of my decisions really affect my mood. It isn't the meeting that has me on edge. It's the feeling I've been getting lately, that it's as if there's a dark cloud building itself up on the horizon. What's really worrying me is that despite Konoha's new economic boom, and even in spite of the new alliances we've been able to forge in such a short amount of time, I've still been unable to shake this feeling that something bad is coming."

"You're probably worrying about nothing old man. My spy networks haven't reported in on anything significant that we should be worrying about."

"When you've worn this hat for as long as I have Jiriya, you don't need spies to tell you when you should and shouldn't be worrying. I had this feeling right before it was discovered that Orochimaru was conducting his experiments, and I also experienced this same feeling right before the Kumo incident involving the Hyuga. Even in as the weeks leading up to nine tails incident on the night of Minato and Kushina's death, I'd experienced this very feeling. I don't know what's coming but whatever it is it surely won't be any good for Konoha."

Jiriya didn't know what to say to that. It's not like he could just use his opinion, no matter how real it might seem, to disagree with a man who had all the experience of the man in front of him.

"Maybe you should create a shadow clone to take care of your paperwork for the morning and the afternoon and go get some sleep before your meeting."

"While I'd love to do so, I don't think Lord Second would agree with me using his justu to get out of doing my job as a Hokage. Have you considered my suggestion as of yet?"

"Your suggestion that me and Tsunade both take up the hat and serve as the Fifth and Sixth Hokage at the same time?"

Hiruzen nodded his head, grateful that his student had decided not to feign ignorance or beat around the bush. "I know that I'm asking a lot of you two but I am getting old after all. My skills are nowhere near where they used to be and I'm beginning to feel as if I can only wear this hate for about five to ten more years before my old age will force me to pass on the mantle, as I'll probably not be in a good enough position to present myself as the strongest shinobi within Konoha by then."

"Are you saying there's someone stronger than you within the village right now?"

"No. I honestly doubt that to be the case, but I'm almost sure that in five to ten years that will change. The next generation will need to be lead by younger shinobi than me, whose skills aren't now decreasing with the passing years due to old age. I truly think that you and Tsunade would both be the best option for that. I'd considered Fugaku since he is a very prominent and a very powerful shinobi with more than enough experience, but while Fugaku does have a very strong will, he lacks the specific brand of the will of fire that both the first and second Hokage believed every Hokage after them should carry."

Jiriya looked unsure for a moment but after some time of being observed in silence by Hiruzen he sighed in defeat.

"Fine.. I'll accept on the condition that if you can get Tsunade to agree you'll have a serious spare with both of us so that we can see if we're really worthy of the title."

At this Hiruzen raised a brow in surprise before leaning back in his chair and releasing a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding. Jiriya watched as his teacher chuckled before adopting one of the most genuine smiles that he'd seen the old man wear in years.

"To see if you're worthy eh?" The Hokage began laughing heartily before calming himself down and raising his smoking pipe to his lips, before using a match to set flame to it's contents which had already been packed inside of it's bowl.

He inhaled deeply before leaning back in his chair and releasing a large cloud of smoke towards the window. Jiriya could of swore that the old man looked a year or two younger before he turned back towards him with a smile that was almost jovial smile still in place. "I thought that you felt as if there were a few tricks that you still had left to learn from this old dog."

Jiriya found himself smiling widely too as he realized how badly his sensei really needed to retire with the knowledge that his legacy would be passed down to someone who he felt was worthy enough to receive it.

"I'm sure I could probably show you a few tricks you wouldn't expect me to have up my sleeve, but I don't know about beating you outright. You're way too familiar with me and Tsunade's fighting styles for either one of us to beat you on our own, but I want to know where we stand in comparison. That way I'll at least know if our current training regimes are enough or if we'll both actually need to train a bit more to be worthy of the position of Hokage."

"So if you two defeat me or manage to do good enough you will agree to becoming one of the new Hokage?"

"Yup. And I trust that with your pride as a shinoni, and as our old sensei on the line you won't make it easy for us right?"

Hiruzen took another drag from his pipe, savouring the smoke for a few seconds before he exhaled with a cough and a laugh.

"So it's like that then is it Jiriya? Well if it's your old sensei at his current best that you're asking for I wouldn't mind showing two of the three legendary sannin why I was once heralded as the second coming of the god of shinobi."

Now with Jiriya finally onboard, all that was left for Hiruzen to either convince or coerce Tsunade into accepting the offer.

"I hope you don't think that I will be going easy on you two just because I'd actually like for you both to inherit my position either."

Jiriya DID challenge his pride as a sensei as well as a Shinobi. No way he could just let that slide.

Monogahi Compound Training Field - 5:42am

Suigestu had never felt as conscious of his own inabilities to masterfully wield a sword than he had in this moment. Watching Shisui and Imari fight one another was like watching a dance between two carnal swordfighting forces of nature that also seemed to be trying to kill one another. Shisui was just something else. The guy seemed to have three different styles all of which he could switch between at the drop of a hat and Imari was exactly the same.

Seeing the two fight was also making his realize Shisui had only been playing around with him and Kokiri. This fight.. This battle between the two kenjustu specialist in front of him was on a whole nother level from the fight he'd just experienced mer moments ago. Every other move that the two made happened so quickly that his eyes literally couldn't keep up.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Shisui took a step backwards to evade a horizontal slash aimed at his mid section and raised his blade above his head to block the vertical slash that came in the same breath.

Imari stepped forward and slashed down towards him again, jabbing forward with her other sword the moment he raised his blade to guard, but Shisui's sword was already moving, having blocked her first strike and quickly flashing downwards to block the second.

Imari took one, and then a half step forward, both her sword arms launching towards Shisui in a blur.

Shisui's blade was almost invisible as it moved so quickly it hardly had time to register the suns glare as it knocked aside Imari's first jab, becoming an indistinguishable shadow of movement alongside Shisui as he spun on of his front foot, switching to his back, using the speed and momentum of his rapid three sixty degree twist to bring his sword around in a one eighty that parried Imari's strike with enough force it pushed the junior kunochi backwards and caused her to lose her balance and her footing to the point that she had to tumble into a backflip and stab her sword in the ground to catch herself.

Imari lifted one of her arms to wipe a bit of the sweat from her brow and smiled at Shisui who returned the sentiment.

She stood fully upright and held her leading sword out on front of her body, keeping the other close to her hip before she rushed him again.

She pushed her speed only to it's limit and came in on Shisui's right for a low swipe with her left, digging up a trail of dirt as she went, expecting for her attack to allow her to gain something of a temporarily advantageous position against Shisui depending on how he countered. Her eyes widened however when Shisui stepped fully into her path and blocked her attack head on instead of using her own momentum to parry her like she'd mostly been expecting.

The force behind their clash created a loud echoing 'crack' and kicked up a small amount of dust, mostly behind Shisui as some of the kinetic energy behind Imari's attack was transfered to the wind and the environment as Shisui's blade made contact and stopped her own.

Imari's eyes opened even further as upon Shisui applying pressure against her in their blade lock drew her eyes towards a crack on the sword she'd gifted him that hadn't been there before.

Just as she'd been about to say something, Shisui used the lack of force pushing back against him to slide his sword along the blade of the sword she still had locked with his and forced her sword up while simultaneously taking a swipe at her chest. In a very impressive display of quick speed reflexes and acrobatics, Imari pulled her sword back down in the knick of time, using it to push back on Shisui's blade just enough to use the force behind his swing to gain some distance as she was forced backwards.

With the fire of battle calling to her soul again, she realized she forgot what it was she'd just been thinking, telling herself it couldn't have been that important if she forgot, smiling as she shook her head and charged her opponent once again.

Imari quickly got within striking range of the Uchiha again and swung, her sword moving so quickly in it's attack that it blurred and Shisui's did the same as he brought his sword up to block her swing with a swing of his own that knocked her slightly off of her trajectory.

He'd been using that tactic against her a lot lately, and while he knew it wasn't really far since he was naturally stronger as a male and as someone who was older, but he knew that Imari didn't like it when he held back, and he figured that most of her future opponents wouldn't care one way or another, so better she learn how to counter an opponent that physically outmatched her now than later.

Telling himself that it would be good for her, Shisui attempted to capitalize on her lose of trajectory by spinning to bring his sword back up before Imari could replant her feet. His entire body blurred with the speed of the maneuver and Imari had no choice but to shift slightly so that his blade only went through her shoulder instead of delivering a fatal wound to her chest.

A cloud of white smoke popped up in the air where Imari had been previously revealing a dry wooden log to be the object Shisui had pierced instead. Shisui ripped his sword out of the wood inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as he'd felt his heart skip a beat when he thought he'd really sliced through a good portion of Imari's shoulder.

Junior shinobi and genin were both expected to learn through pain and experience, and of course there would be plenty of medical ninja on standby within the Monogahi compound, but it'd still made him feel...he didn't really know.. Guilty for a moment maybe?

It was strange though. He was sure he wouldn't have felt that way if it were Itachi or Hamura. He would've felt bad but definitely not as bad. He probably honestly would've gotten a bit of an ego boost of he managed to injure one of his own teammates that badly, since the three of them were always competing in one thing or another.

He turned around preparing to scan the battlefield for any signs of Imari using his sharingan but the displacement of air a few feet behind him and the sound of feet hitting the ground gave her away. Instead of turning around though he smirked as he decided to do something a bit more flashy than that. He flickered forward and turned around mid flicker before flickering back into the position he'd been in previously.

His single sword meant with both of Imari's and the two grinned at one another from their blade lock for a moment before Shisui's blade caught fire and Imari was forced to leap backwards or suffer minor burns. The Uchiha had apparently anticipated this though because the moment that she leapt backwards Shisui spun and made two swipes in the air sending two crescents of flame rushing towards her before she could get her bearings. Imari didn't even need a moments notice to react however. She immediately swung one of her blades sending a weak crescent of wind towards the first flaming crescent, canceling it out and creating a show of embers.

She landed just in time to raise her blade and deliver a wind enhanced strike to the second crescent which had been right in front of her but still also burst into a shower of embers that forced her to raise her other and block the light and the heat of embers that'd exploding in from the fire crescent in front of her at nearly point blank range. Shisui took that opportunity to capitalize again and flickered into striking distance with his sword arm pulled back and ready for a slash, but much to the surprise of some of the onlookers, Imari dodged his horizontal slash with her eyes closed right before dodging a vertical slash and side stepping a jab of his blade right before flickering away.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

"How the hell did she just dodge those attacks with her eyes closed!?" Suigestu yelled feeling as if he needed an answer to at least one part of the amazing spectacle that he was witnessing.

Inoha made a gesture indicating the back of her sisters neck. "You see those horns on her that she didn't have before? The one coming out of her forehead and the one coming out the area between her shoulder blades on her lower neck?" Suigestu looked a bit closer and nodded his head when he saw them. Surely enough they hadn't been there before she'd just blocked that last attack and covered her eyes.

"She calls them deep bone sensors. Basically they're bones that she creates that are hollow on the inside but highly integrated with her nerves to the points that they're so sensitive that they register every shift in the air within a certain radius around her. She knew that Shisui would try to attack her while she was unable to see so she used them to feel when and where she would attacked from so that she could dodge and get away."

Suigestu didn't know what to say to that so he remained silent.

Shisui was able to flicker so quickly and with such precision that if he was just a bit faster it would look like he was teleporting. Imari was able to fight with her eyes closed and literally feel the area around her. Both of them moved so quickly while they were fighting that he'd be lying if he said he wasn't having a hard time keeping up. Sometimes when the two moved so fast that their limbs became a blur he would miss some of their movements completely and only be able to guess at what happened due to the results of the attack.

And to top all of that off they both knew how to stream at least one different type of elemental chakra into their weapons for attacking.

Togastu had ran off somewhere to sulk in embarrassment or anger from his lose but truth be told none of them had likely ever stood a chance against either one of them, even if they'd teamed up and it had been three on one. If his little brother had been here to see Imari fighting Shisui right now he'd probably be bragging about how he'd lasted longer against her than him and Kokiri had lasted against Shisui. Which in hindsight actually made Suigestu somewhat glad that he'd run off.

The oldest of the three Hozuki refugees resolved himself to double down on his training sessions with Amaris until he could at least last five minutes with these two in a real spare.

He currently wasn't even sure if he would last a full minute while fighting either one of them if they decide to go all out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Shisui was grinning from ear to ear as he predicted Imari's flicker trajectory with his sharingan and flickered into the place where she'd be before she got there. Imari felt him flicker into the place where she would be and literally tripped herself, interrupting her own flicker and throwing herself into the air, adjusting the density of the bones at various points in her body to control the direction her body and limbs rotated while in mid air.

She somehow ended up coming out of that wild uncontrollable launch forward into wild yet perfectly controlled launch, clashing swords with Shisui as she passed above him, landing in the dirt, sliding to a halt a few meters behind him, and rushing forward only to clash swords again with the Uchiha again.

Imari and Shisui held eye contact with one another for a few moments before Shisui stumbled forward as Imari stepped back and flickered out of his view.

Some of the onlookers might not have caught what happened but Shisui's sharingan caught onto the path Imari traveled, his head quickly turning towards the sky just in time for his eyes to take in Imari's form in the sky above him, falling as her hands formed a set of seals that allowed for him to easily recognized the justu she was about to preform.

He began forming his own set of signs just as Imari's finished, and just as he predicted, the junior kunochi spat a very large grand fireball towards him that would have made his clan mates proud. Imari had to have been practicing that justu for a while. The large ball of flame being large enough to cover a wide portion of their area of the training field.

Shisui finished his own handsigns soon after Imari though and he shot a very powerful very concentrated bullet of water at the fireball that weakened but didn't destroy the slowly descending fireball.

It was getting closer and he knew that Imari was waiting for him to scramble out of the way.

He began forming more handsigns as the adrenaline that began rushing into his bloodstream courtesy of him starring down the second largest fireballs that he had ever seen made him do something crazy.

A shadow clone poofed into existence behind Shisui and the two both took running stances before running towards different tree's, jumping from the trunk of one tree to another, increasing their momentum each time until they reached the highest point, and leaping into the air with a flicker that also accounted for all their previous momentum.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

All onlookers of the battle between Shisui and Imari went wide as Shisui shot a water bullet at the grand fireball and failed to destroy it, yet somehow got the bright idea to flickered into the sky behind towards it, in front of his shadow clone.

"This guy is crazy!"

"Alright Shisui!"

"Wow!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Imari was falling slowly from the great height that she'd achieved thanks to a wind style justu that allowed her to glide on air currents that she'd learned from her adoptive father. She was gliding on the updraft of air provided from her grand fireball but her eyes widened when her sensors felt something that couldn't be real.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Shisui knew this was going to hurt but he didn't really care. It'd probably look cool to the others and if he did this right he would definitely cement his position as the coolest member of his team.

He and the clone that'd flickered into the air right behind him were rapidly flying towards Imari's fireball but they'd already been running through handsigns the moment they flickered.

Shisui pulled all the air he could, which was a lot thanks to all of the air rushing into his lungs as he flew upwards, and launched a grand water bullet just as his clone did the same, the first water bullet slamming into the fireball and weakening it yet again, the second water bullet slamming into Shisui, who thanks to the fact that he was streaming chakra through his left hand and feet, landed on top of the water bullet in a crouch instead of going through it.

The Uchiha made sure he had good footing as he began streaming more chakra than he had ever gathered in one place before into the tip of his sword and thrust upwards.

"Pierce through the fireball..! My mighty sword!"

Shisui's second water bullet slammed into the grand fireball with him on top of it, the force of the water bullet and his chakra enhanced jab at the heavens still wasn't enough to stop the very impressive grand fireball that had managed to take both of his strongest water style techniques and keep going, but it had been just enough for Shisui to emerged from the other side of the large ball of fire, covered in steam, flanked by embers on each side as the last of his momentum brought him just above Imari who was wearing a look of total disbelief.

Time seemed to slow down for the junior kunochi as the two made eye contact and the sun seemed to form a halo around Shisui as it shined at his back. Imari felt her mind go blank.

Suddenly the Uchiha grinned from where he was in the sky, sending butterflies through the Shinura's stomach, right before he sent a good amount of chakra into his leg and delivered a devastating kick right to her ribcage, causing her to lose all of the air that she had in her lungs as well as the concentration she needed to glide, knocking her unconscious and sending her back towards the ground.

Shisui immediately began falling after Imari with all of his previous momentum having been spent.

As the Uchiha fell he flipped over and watched, waiting for Imari to right herself and begin to control the speed at which she was falling, but she never did. Shisui cursed himself and straightened his body as he leaned forward to make himself more aerodynamic so that he could fall faster after realizing that kick was too strong and just may have actually knocked Imari unconscious. He could stop himself just fine and he was sure that Imari could too, but not if she was unconscious.

He quickly began to brainstorm on finding a way to catch up to Imari and stop them both before either one of them could go splat against the ground below.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

The others hadn't even know what'd happened save Amaris who'd activated her Byakugan to see past the cloud of mist that came as a result of the evaporated water from the grand water bullets slamming into the grand fire ball. All they saw was Shisui seemingly get slammed with his clones water bullet and disappear into the fireball that both of his water bullets had failed to stop. Eventually they saw the fireball hit the ground and soon after that, after most of the steam dispersed, they saw an unconscious looking Imari falling out of the mist cloud that Shisui's attacks crashing against hers had created. Nubutaka moved to immediately get ready to go save his cousin but Amaris held out a hand and told him that likely wouldn't be necessary.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Shisui began pulling a bundle of extra tensile strength ninja wire from his tactical weapons pouch and tying it tightly around his arm as well as the formerly collapsed demon wind scythe he'd just pulled from the same pouch. He wrapped the wire around his large shuriken and pulled until he was sure it was tight before hurling a kunai towards the still falling Imari and using the replacement justu to switch places with it right as it'd been about to hit.

He ended up hitting her instead causing a loud 'oof' to issue out of them both. He was glad that, that painful little jolt had woken her up because he couldn't do this by himself. He wasted no time wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and pulling her against himself, causing her to let out a surprised squeak that he usually would've laughed at. Instead of laughing though he forcefully twisted his body, causing them to both turn over in the air as he hurled his demon wind shuriken at the highest roof of the fast approaching Monogahi compound.

"I'm glad you're awake Imari! Can you do that justu you used to make yourself fall slowly again?" He noticed how slowly she was falling when he'd broken through to the other side of her fireball and he needed that justu for his plan to work. Imari nodded her head and told him to hold onto her tightly while she preformed the handsigns because she would begin slowing down immediately once the justu took effect.

Shisui nodded his head and held Imari just a little bit tighter as she preformed the handsigns. Once she was finished he did feel the air beginning to drag against her but thanks to his added weight it wouldn't slow them down enough to land safely, but that's what his wire was for. He began moving chakra into the arm that he'd wrapped in ninja wire to increase it's strength and durability, right before telling Imari to hold onto him tightly because it would be a rough landing.

He began timing the distance to the fast approaching ground and prayed that he got the length right. Luckily the ninja wire in his tactics pouch was on a wheel. Once the demon wind shuriken embedded itself into the roof of the compound he began to decrease the length of their literal life line to a length that seemed the most accurate in conjunction with the measurements that he was taking with his sharingan. Once he and Imari passed the highest roof of the compound he let his body act on it's own.

Holding himself and Imari up, Shisui ground his teeth together as the wire pulled hard on his arm as the angle of it against the roofs edge pulled them out of a vertical descent directly towards the ground into more of a horizontal swing forward.

With the wire still holding tight onto his arm his feet began scraping across the ground with the chakra he was streaming l into his feet and legs helping in the process of slowing them down and negating what otherwise would've been some serious damage.

While still a bit disoriented from the kick from Shisui that'd knocked her unconscious Imari was still aware of what was going on because she could feel everything around her at the moment. Once they lost enough momentum she swiftly raised a kunai that she managed to pull from Shisui's weapon pouch and cut the wires that the crazy uchiha boy had wrapped around his arm, so that when it finally did catch and reach it's length it wouldn't snap his shoulder out of it's socket or break his arm in at least seven different places.

With the wire that was holding them up gone the two came up off of their feet, or Shisui's feet to be exact since he was holding Imari, and flew for a yard or so before slamming back into and skidding across the ground for a few feet until they finally came to a stop.

Shisui's arm was throbbing from the strain he'd put on his muscles but he knew it would've been much worse if Imari didn't cut the wire. Both of the young kenjustu prodigies were breathing heavily and were also covered with scraps and cuts from their rough landing.

The both of them laid there where they'd fallen into a crumpled heap with Shisui on his back and Imari resting halfway on his torso since he'd still been holding her tightly as they landed. Shisui was letting his heart rate slow down and Imari was just thinking.

She was truly grateful but she wondered why Shisui felt the need to save her considering neither Nubutaka or Amaris would have let her die from something as simple as a fall from really high up.

"Shisui?"

Shisui whose mind was replaying everything that'd just happened and wondering how they survived didn't hear her immediately.

"Shisui?"

"Huh? Oh sorry Imari." He replied with one of his sheepish smiles. "I kind of zoned just out there for a second."

Imari developed her own smile, relishing in the fact that he could be so carefree after almost badly hurting himself. If it was her she figured she'd probably still be a bit shell shocked, but Shisui looked like he was just fine from their ordeal, if not just a bit bruised, cut up and winded. Oh.. And his clothes were chared in certain places, but that was probably because of her grand fireball.

Imari found herself giggling and wondering what'd made him try something so crazy like flying through a grand fireball anyway. She could understand if it'd just been a regular one without so much chakra thrown into the mix. "Why did you follow me? You didn't have to flicker into the air after me so why did you do it?"

The Uchiha boy shrugged.

"I thought it would look cool."

Imari found herself laughing again, even harder this time, but she had to stop, wincing at the pain that laughing too hard had caused to emanate from her rib cage.

"Well you did look cool." She said resisting the urge to softly punch him in the ribs for hitting her that hard. Did he really have to hit her so hard?

The two were silent for a moment as the others were making their way towards them.

"And also-" Shidui continued. "-because I saw an opportunity to gain the upper hand if I could surprise you by going through your fireball and attacking you directly while you were in the air so I did it. I honestly didn't expect for that kick to knock you unconscious though. You didn't notice that I'd been taking you seriously from the start this time did you?" He finished with a flash of his teeth.

Shisui took notice of how his statements made Imari's eyes light up right before she flashed him a toothy grin as well.

He realized he hadn't even been aware of their position and proximity until she began untangling herself from under his arm.

He felt his face heating up slightly and double checked the training field, making sure Itachi was nowhere to be seen.

Imari was now sitting up and looking down towards Shisui with a cherubic smile painting her features.

"I actually hadn't noticed but that explains why I was having so much fun! We have to have a rematch!" Imari's eyes were now definitely sparkling now which caused Shisui to laugh.

"After my arm heals up, sure!"

---

"What the hell Nubu?"

Nubutaka looked towards Amaris somewhat surprised by her question. "You haven't seen them fight recently?"

Amaris was silent for a few moments as she continued to watch Shisui and Imari, but she eventually shook her head no.

"Those two might just be monsters, or even demons. Their kenjustu skills are both definitely at the Jonin level but otherwise they're both Chunin with a few Jonin level techniques.. What the hell have you been feeding them?"

"Why does everyone ask that? I swear I don't know what these kids are eating!"

Neji narrowed his eyes and began wondering how he was supposed to catch up to those two whereas Naruto and Inoha were just waiting to tell them how awesome that spare was. Amaris began to think about taking them both on in a two versus one battle, because she rarely got to enjoy herself against a good kenjustu specialist, and Nubutaka was just glad to see the two had finally preformed some ninjustu in one of their spares.

Suigestu was at a complete lose for words but Kokiri spoke what he was thinking.

"We never stood a chance, kenjustu or not. One of them can practically fly and launch gigantic fireballs, and the other one flies through those fireballs, tracks peoples flickers with the sharingan, and then intercepts them with his own flicker. Everything that we just saw besides the kenjustu and the shooting fireballs part should be impossible.. And somehow the two both just almost died but they're already planning their next spare."

Suigestu opened his mouth to tack on to his sister's comment but in that moment a tame explosion sounded from somewhere else on the Monogahi training field.

3 Minutes ago - Monogahi Training Field

Anko stood a few feet away from Hamura on their choosen section of the training field grinning evilly at the boy whose bother had tossed him to the proverbial wolf, or snake in her case.

"Don't think that I'll go easy on you just because I like bullying you chew toy."

Hamura snorted.

"Don't think that I'll go easy on you either just because your name sounds like-" Whatever the Genin had been about to say got caught in his throat as Anko began undoing the sash to her yakuta and pulling it off.

Anko tilted her head and turned towards the genin with a questioning look when she noticed that he neglected to finish his sentence. She began grinning at him deviously when she saw him looking at her with an expression that said he was completely flabbergasted.

"Snake got your tongue chew toy, or do I just look that good?" She teased as she pulled the yakuta off of her shoulders revealing that underneath her usual attire she wore a thin mesh shirt. She quickly untied the sash that was wrapped around her waste and pulled the yakuta off and fully away from her body, revealing a pair of dark leather Shinobu shorts that stopped just below her knees. The mesh shirt that she wore looked to be a body suit since it could be seen coming out of her shorts and extending towards both her ankles.

"You just gonna stare or are you gonna say something?"

Hamura seemed to come back to himself in that moment. "Don't just start casually taking off your clothes in public or I'm going to start calling you pervert. You should have at least given me some kind of a warning first you know."

"And miss the look on your face?" Anko's grin said that the look that he'd been wearing just a second ago had been priceless. "If seeing a girl take off one layer of clothing makes you so shy I wonder how you'd react if I-"

"Are we gonna spare or what?" Hamura said cutting her off and thanking whatever God that was listening that his skin was too dark for his face to color at Anko's teasing.

The snake summoner raised a hand to cover the uncharacteristically girlish set of giggles that escaped her mouth as she took notice of just how flustered her little chew toy had gotten so quickly.

"Okay then, but remember.." Anko began forming signs and bit the tip of her finger before slamming her hand against the ground. A large snake five times the size of Hamura burst out of a cloud of smoke, not in front of Anko, but behind him. "I'm not going to take it easy on you just because I find it fun to mess with you chew toy."

Before Hamura could react the giant snake had already moved. With barely even a second having passed since he'd asked his question and with no warning being given between them that they were ready to start the spare, Anko's snake summon immediately swallowed the young genin whole, making him into a literal chew toy or whatever it was that Anko would assume amounted to snakes food, since none of the serpents that she had ever summoned appeared to ever chew their food after all.

All was silent on their section of the training field for the next a few seconds after Hamura got swallowed up. Anko waited patiently for her snake to desummon as it was destroyed from the inside but it was just standing where it'd ate Hamura and starring at her as if awaiting a new set of orders.

"Alright, spit him out."

Surely she hadn't actually defeated Hamura that easily had she? The snake made an inhumane sound that sounded similar enough to a human vomiting and spat out a moderate amount of it's stomach fluid covering what happened to be a log. The revelation that Hamura had managed to pull of a substitution justu at the last second caused her to grin and place more focus on being wary of her surroundings.

There was the sound of earth breaking in conjunction with what Anko knew to be an explosion, and suddenly the junior kunochi was thrown from her feet.

Her vision went white momentarily, then it went black, and then she could see again, and her vision was foggy. There was pain in her chest, or really all over, but it was worse in her chest. She picked herself up off the ground and touched a finger gingerly to left side of the area just above her heart as she stood up, realizing she'd been wounded from a piece of debris that been sent flying from the explosion.

The snake was gone and in it's place there only remained scorched earth. So then Hamura had used the substitution justu to get away and used the hiding like a mole technique to get inside of the earth and place a paper bomb right beneath her serpent?

Despite the fact that she should be upset with herself for not being wary of such a tactic from the start she wasn't. Anko was too enamored with the fact that he could've just as easily placed the paper bomb beneath her feet instead of her snake and ended the spare right then and there.

Sure she would've suffered a more serious injury than the one she currently had, but it wouldn't have been anything that was fatal or crippling depending on how much chakra he sent to the seal.

The fact that he spared her instead of just ending it there could only mean a handful of things.

One, he was underestimating her and felt like he had nothing to worry about, which was possible but unlikely. Two, he wanted the spare to last longer, which was also unlikely. Hamura was a ninjustu nut who loved learning and practicing new ninjustu, but in a spare such as this, up against her of all people, there wasn't much room for either of those things. And three, he hadn't wanted to really hurt her physically, by planting a paper bomb directly under her feet, or emotionally, by taking her out of the spare so quickly and effectively. Four, he could've just given her a free pass.

Anko found three and four to be the options that were most likely based on Hamura's personality.

And she knew without a doubt that if he'd decided to give her a free pass, he would've revealed himself just to gloat about it. So the only other option was- WAIT..! Why was she smiling!?!?

PRESENT

The others looked to the forested area of the training field on the far side of the area where Shisui and Imari had been, and saw Anko dusting herself up a short distance away from the sight of the explosion.

The junior kunochi seemed to be smiling or grinning about something even though Hamura was nowhere to be seen.

Those that knew him rightfully assumed he was underground while Suigestu and Kokiri's minds wandered between that or him possibly being in the trees. Kiri didn't have a lot of trees, but every Kiri Shinobi knew to always keep an eye on the trees when one was conducting 'business' within the Land of Fire.

Anko, instead of leaping to the tree's or summoning some of her explosive tunnel snakes like some of the onlookers were expecting, she looked towards Nubutaka and raised her hand in the symbolic gesture of surrender.

Eyes widened, jaws dropped, and everyone was silent for what seemed to be a long time.

"Are you serious?" Nubutaka shouted so as to be heard over the distance.

When Anko nodded, he scratched the back of his head thoughtfully in his confusion before flickering onto the battlefield, touching the earth, walking a few feet, forming a set of hand signs, and punching a hand into the bedrock.

He seemed to wrestle with something for a moment before he pulled his hand back and another set of hands emerged from the dirt on his left. He grabbed one of the hands and began helping his brother to pull himself up out of the ground.

"What happened?" Hamura asked looking around in confusion. "Why are you stopping the spare?"

Nobody answered him, but he didn't miss how everyone all seemed to turn towards Anko in unison. So he tilted his head slightly and raised an eyebrow as he looked towards her for an answer.

Anko shrugged and released a chuckle before grinning at him and shrugging her shoulders.

"I let my guard down in the beginning, so you could've ended me from the start, but you didn't. Because of that, I decided to just let you have the battle, since I've already won the war."

Hamura's brow only rose further with his confusion but Nubutaka and Amaris both felt their brows rising for different reasons, causing them both to briefly turned towards each other and share a look. Surely Anko wasn't talking about what they were thinking she was talking about was she..?

Let it never be said that the Shimura heiress didn't have guts. That statement of hers was very.. 'Forward'. Amaris was impressed while Nubutaka was relishing in his dearest little brothers confusion. But everyone else was mostly just confused, including Hamura.

"What? What important battle?"

Anko didn't plan on elaborating on her statement so she didn't of course. She simply flashed him with a toothy grin and flickered back to the other side of the training field towards the spectators section.

"Do you know what she meant by that?" Hamura asked now staring curiously up at his older brother.

Nubutaka looked at his brother and nodded his head yes.

"But you aren't going to tell me are you?" Hamura asked after a few beats of silence passed since his answer.

"Sometimes the greatest mysteries in life are those mysteries where we can only hope to find the answers for ourselves."

"Figures."

Hamura turned back towards Anko but before he could speak, one of the Shimura clan servants, a man who wasn't affiliated with NEE but served as a guard for the compound flickered into view a short distance away from where they were all standing.

The man looked to be requesting permission to approach to which Anko shook her head no. She gave the duo in front of her a look before she moved away from them towards the man to see what message it was he'd come to deliver.

Danzo had never had a message delivered to her by one of the compounds servants before so she found this very peculiar. She didn't think that this was particularly important since he would've sent a NEE operative, but she was still unwilling to risk sensitive or secret information be heard by others. She knew that the man she called her father wouldn't have it any other way.

The servant pulled out a letter from his jacket that was addressed to her from Danzo, and then he pulled out another letter, this one being addressed to Danzo from the Hokage.

"Lord Danzo request that at you read both letters and instruct me from there. I am now under your command Lady Anko."

Anko perked a brow as the man bowed his head in a show of either subordination or complacency at his situation. For what reason would Danzo be giving her the right to command the head of the compounds security? As far as she knew that was something that her father took very seriously...

She opened the letter addressed to Danzo from the Hokage first. Apparently it wasn't really a letter, more so that it was a written recording of a conversation that took place between Danzo and the Hokage about the lodging of a few.. Anko couldn't be reading this right.. A few rogue Ame shinobi? The Hokage was requesting that they be allowed to stay at the Shimura compound and her father agreed? What the- Was she- Was she having some kind of weird dream right now?

"I have to leave." She said turning back towards Nubutaka and Hamura. "I forgot I have some business that my father would like me to begin handling for him as of today."

She smiled as her eyes lingered on the young ninjustu specialist for a bit as she recalled his actions during their spare earlier.

"It's been fun chew toy. I'll see you later! Thank you again for your warm hospitality, Nubutaka san." She finished before dipping into a polite bow and disappearing using the body flicker.

"I really like that girl."

"I really don't understand that girl."

The clan head and his younger brother were both thinking.

"Oi! What was that all about!?" Naruto yelled from the sidelines definitely not being the only one who was curious as to why Anko had suddenly given up and then left after receiving a message of some kind. "Did, Anko Nee, really just quit?"

Hamura shrugged his shoulders in Naruto's direction, still not being entirely sure of what had really just happened himself. Nubutaka nodded his head yes which only cause everyone else who knew Anko to raise more questions, which Nubutaka was quick to wave away by telling them they would just have to ask Anko.

"Alright then." Naruto said after a moment once everyone realized they'd be getting no more answers. "Now that those fights are over whose trying to spare with me? I wanna get at least one good fight in before we have to head to the Academy."

Suigestu looked at the blonde kid who looked like he was directing his question to all of the people present, including himself .

He'd admit to himself, he definitely made the mistake of judging everybody based on appearance which had resulted in him likely underestimating just about everyone here, Shisui and Imari definitely. But there was no way that this kid who barely even reached his shoulders was actually challenging him was there? He eould only stand for so much humiliation in one day.

"Who are you going to fight kid?" He asked before he'd realized what he was doing, his pride making him unable to help himself.

"Anyone who's up to the challenge?" Naruto replied easily. "I'll even fight you if you're up to it."

"Me?" Suigestu replied pointing to himself incredulous manner. "You do know I'm a chunin right?"

"I don't care." Came Naruto's immediate response as he began walking towards one of the fighting areas.

"Oh this is gonna be good.." Suigestu thought, smirking as he began thinking of all the ways he'd tortured Togatsu in spares within recent memories and picking out a specific one for Naruto. "Perfect." He thought to himself still smirking as the blonde took a position on the training field not too far away from where Imari and Shisui had been fighting.

The Hozuki pulled his sword out of the dirt and began dragging it along the ground behind himself as he stalked off to where the little blonde guy was standing. He came to a stop just a short distance away and hefted his large blade over his shoulder before developing a frown and turning towards the spectators area he'd just walked away from.

"You're cool with this right Amaris?"

The storm style kunochi nodded yes immediately.

"I would've said something if it wasn't fine Suigestu. I don't see why it wouldn't be alright. This will provide me with an opportunity to see how much Naruto has grown while hanging around all these other little monsters."

"What if I really hurt the kid though? He can't even be a genin yet."

"Check this out!" The blonde began shouting loud enough for everyone to hear it, cutting of any reply that Amaris might have had pertain to his readiness to face Suigestu. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I might just be a kid right now but I'm not gonna let anyone look down on me anymore! I don't care what your rank is or how much experience you have!"

Suigestu scoffed at the kids statement and lifted his blade back over his shoulder.

"Well then..let's see just how you live up to that statement kid. Only the winners get to choose who gets looked down on and who doesn't!"

Suigestu began rushing at Naruto with two hands on the large broadsword that he was holding over his shoulder. Naruto surprised everyone present by dropping a smoke bomb on his own position. In the very next moment five shadow clones popped out of the smoke all rushing torwards Suigestu.

The Hozuki readied himself for the attack of clones with a grin and a shift of his stance.

Once the blondes were within striking distance he pulled the large sword from his shoulder and swung with all his might taking all five of the rushing Naruto's off their feet and dispelling them all in one swing.

In his peripheral vision which he'd kept centered on the smoke he saw eight kunai flying out of the cover into the air above his head.

Thinking that the blonde had just foolishly overshot on his kunai throw by a mile, Suigestu hefted his sword back onto his shoulder and got ready to rush the blondes position again when the eight kunai in the air delivered a shock to his system by poofing into eight shadow clones who began assaulting him from the sky with a rain of steal projectiles. Suigestu turned the flat of the large blade he was carrying into a shield he used to block the literal rain of kunai.

"The kid created at least thirteen shadow clones under the cover of the smoke and used the first five as a distraction while he had the other eight transform into kunai that he could hurl into the air to pin me down for-!"

It happened in an instant. There was nothing in the smoke with the blonde in one instant. Suigestu could still see it out of his peripheral, but in the next second there was an orange glow, and not even a second after that, the smoke was pushed away from the blonde completely as the streams of fire coming out of his mouth and the mouths of two clones on either side of him touched the ground and quickly became racing infernos.

Suigestu's eyes went wide and he prepared to leap out of the way of the oncoming fire style justu, even at the expense of exposing himself to the barrage of kunai, but in that same moment, four kunai with paperbombs that seemed to have been prematurely activated landed on each side of him a few yards away. One for each direction, North, South, East, and West; leaving him with being blown apart by paper bombs or being blown away by fire style as his only options.

Either one would take an obscene amount of chakra to survive with his liquid body bloodline ability.

There was absolutely no way out of this.. Suigestu for the third time since coming to Konaha and sparring with Amaris for the first time, felt as if he was completely overwhelmed.

---

Nubutaka and the others were actually all pretty surprised by what they'd just witnessed. Anybody who'd been paying him any attention knew Naruto was a fast learner, but the way that he'd so swiftly and effectively backed Suigestu into a corner was not something one would ever expect to see from a shinobi hopeful facing an actual chunin.

"Was he..? Was he always that good..?" Amaris asked after a moment.

"No.." Nubutaka said after a moment. "He was good but he wasn't that good. Honestly, I have to know what Anko is feeding him."

There was a pillar of smoke and dust in the area where Suigestu had been standing a moment before, thanks to the paper bombs triggering at the same time Naruto's dragonflame bomb made contact with Suigestu's position. The eight shadow clones that he'd thrown into the air as kunai all transformed back into kunai just as they were nearing the ground, the tips of all eight of them landing in the dirt, holding them upright and keeping the clones who'd had no way of enduring a fall from so high up from going splat and dispelling themselves against the ground.

The kunai all poofed back into clones in the next moment, all of them at the ready stance, eyes trained on the cloud of smoke and dust.

Suigestu came limping out of the smoke a few moments later with burn marks covering a lot of his body, half his pants being burnt up, and his shirt and shoes nowhere in sight. He looked like he was barely still capable of standing but he was still gripping his sword firmly in one hand as he dragged it on the ground behind him.

It was obvious to everyone present, that despite the damage taken and the fact that he was obviously out of chakra, Suigestu wasn't willing to give up just yet. There was no way that the gap between him and this blonde kid was this large. Shisui and Imari he could believe since they were closer to him in age, but this blonde kid? He wouldn't- He couldn't allow it. Not on his pride as a shinob-

He felt a hand against his chest.. He hadn't even noticed anyone approaching him, eyes transfixed as they were on the blonde kid and no one else.. Not until he looked down and saw his younger sister.

"You don't even have any chakra left. He'll kill you next time."

"I can still-"

"Suigestu!"

Kokiri never usually raised her voice. Whenever she did and it happened to be for the sake of her brothers, her countenance grew so cold that it sent a chill up even the spines of even Amaris and Kakashi, who were now used to dealing with the usual antics and murderous auras of the Hozuki.

Suigestu looked like he might argue with her for a moment. Then he looked absolutely furious. He opened his mouth to try and bargain with his sister but he quickly shut it again knowing that wouldn't work. He looked angry again, then sad, then he seemed to just accept it as he sighed and loosened his grip on his sword.

"Count yourself lucky kid!" He shouted lifting his other arm up pointing a finger at Naruto. "I didn't want to have to use my super secret technique to end it because I might have ended up killing you in the process. My sister might have just saved your life!"

Kokiri mentally face palmed and rolled her eyes.

If her brother had any less chakra than what he'd had in that the moment then he likely would've died. It was obvious from the fact that he hadn't been able to avoid all of the damage from that attack that he had very little to no chakra left with which to use his 'super secret technique' as he called it. Boy could both of her brother's talk a good game when it suited them.

Naruto laughed at Suigestu's statement. "I would've won either way!"

Kokiri couldn't help herself and began laughing with the blonde causing Suigestu to glare at them both.

"Hey! I really mean it! I won't be so merciful the next time!"

The two only continued to laugh ignoring the swordsmens threats.

Konoha Forest - 6:14am

The group had been traveling through the trees at a shinobi's pace for around fifteen minutes till they reached a point where there were too many vines and branches blocking the way forward and Itachi called for them to drop to the ground and walk from that point onwards.

Sasuke and Izumi seemed to both be slightly on edge whereas Itachi seemed to be doing just fine. It was the forest; not the hidden leaf forest itself, but this part of the forest that was mostly making the two nervous. Izumi in particular almost felt as if the silence was threatening to suffocate her.

"This section of the forest is really creepy huh?" The halfblood practically whispered, attempting to break the silence, and somehow respecting it at the same time.

Neither of the brothers said or did anything that gave her any kind of indication that they'd heard or even consciously acknowledged her statement which wasn't surprising. She'd already known to expected that from Sasuke but she couldn't help turning her gaze away from the forest around them to look hopefully at the back of Itachi. It wasn't that she needed him to turn around and respond to what she said with a well thought out reply or a full fledged conversation. Izumi just wanted him to say something or anything really.

She did feel kind of bad for wanting her friend to help her calm her nerves when he was clearly focusing on something else that held more importance. At the same time another part of her didn't really care about being selfish whereas Itachi was concerned. He was her bestfriend so seeking his comfort could hardly be called selfish right?

The dark and eerie section of the Konoha forest they were currently traversing wasn't what was really putting Izumi on edge anyway. The forest was definitely creepy, but Izumi could hardly be bothered to care about that at the moment.

The only thing really concerning Izumi at the was the fact that she hadn't really been around Itachi for a while, and she found her mind plagued by thoughts of 'What if I'm not good enough? What if Itachi decides mid way through my training that I'm not worth the trouble of worrying over? What if he decides to stop being my friend because he'd rather not deal with the headache? What happens when Itachi decides he's better off without me?' It'd been a while since the two had trained with one another and she really didn't want her growth as a junior shinobi to be seen as a disappointment.

Sometimes the half blood genuinely believed that her bestfriend might be better off without her as his bestfriend. All she truly was for Itachi was a distraction. She could talk a big game but deep down inside of herself Izumi knew that even if she was the only person in Konoha who could help him to unwind, and even if she was the only person in Konoha who could truly understand him in a way, none of those things actually helped Itachi when it came to improving himself as a shinobi, and essentially, that was who Itachi was or at least what he was molding himself to be.

In her mind it wasn't really irrational for her to be afraid that Itachi might one day see her as an unnecessary part of his life and choose not to deal with her anymore. His current silence; his reluctance to offer her some small form of comfort, stung her in the heart way more than it should have only because it made her feel as if she was beginning to lose him already.

The half blood opened her mouth to try her hand at fishing for another response but she didn't really have anything else to say so she ended up saying nothing and just staring at the ground as she for the words that constantly eluded her that might be able to would get her bestfriend to speak.

What happened next surprised her to the point she was stunned. Izumi didn't even having the presence of mind to lift her gaze from the ground, all her thoughts coming to a halt immediately as the voice she'd been seeking for finally found her ears..and oddly enough, seemed to cause the rate at which her heart was beating to pickup not slow down, even though everything else seemed to have either stopped or slowed down in the moment that he spoke.

"It's called the forest of death because things that don't usually grow here or call this place home usually don't survive here long either. It's official name is shinobi training ground number 44, but it isn't a training field that was created or sectioned off purposely by the village like most of the others. It's really just a small section of the forest that's been closed off to civilians and lower ranking shinobi due to safety concerns. Shikono Sensei told us that information on why everything that grows here becomes so big and dangerous is restricted to shinobi at the Chunin level and above."

Izumi could hear her heart beating in her ears, not in fear, and she could feel the warmth on her face but she didn't need to bother with hiding it at the moment considering she was already looking down. Izumi wanted to say thank you but all he did was reply to her statement. That was only common courtesy, yet she still felt like extending him some kind of gratitude.

"Why do I only ever feel like this around Itachi? He makes the smallest of things seem like something so big or major to me, when half the time, I wouldn't even care if it was anyone else. Itachi is my most precious person of course, but that doesn't explain why he's the only one who can make me feel so..." Izumi knew the word she was looking for was complete but she didn't allow herself to finish that train of thought.

Izumi looked up at Itachi with a smile that left her face the moment her eyes made contact with his own. Itachi caught it immediately and immediately found himself confused with her reaction. The half blood stared at the boy in front of her with a mix of unidentifiable emotion before regaining her presence of mind and throwing on a mask of neutrality till she was finally able to tear her gaze away from the gaze of her bestfriend.

Itachi didn't know why, but he was sure Izumi had been wearing a look of trepidation and sadness when he'd turned to reply to her statement just a moment ago. He didn't see it on her face anymore but he was still confused. When he replied to her statement he could tell that she was happy, so he didn't understand why her mood had soured the moment she looked up.

Her expression was now one of calm neutrality and acceptance, as if she'd heard his statement and taken it at face value and that was that, but Itachi wasn't buying it. The way she refused to make eye contact with him was all the evidence he needed to know something was actually bothering with his bestfriend. Izumi was good at covering up what she was feeling by changing her expression but her eyes always told the truth. He couldn't help himself as he stopped walking forward and turned all the way around so that he could see her fully.

Izumi came to a stop just in front of him and meant his gaze by mistake before quickly looking away, wearing a look that was almost guilty and only confused him further. Sasuke came to a stop just a few paces behind them, wondering why they both stopped walking so suddenly. Izumi inhaled deeply before exhaling just as deeply and reminding herself that it was Itachi who stood in front of her.

Itachi noticed her deep breaths, and wondered why Izumi seemed to be trying to steel or gather herself. As if she was trying to draw up her courage for some reason?

Itachi had no way of knowing that the sharp crimson eyes he was currently sporting gave her such a strong mix of emotions. Izumi really hated seeing the sharingan in anyone's eyes, yet with Itachi she felt bad for feeling that way. How could she ever hate the eyes that belonged to her bestfriend?

"Are you alright Izumi?"

She immediately shook her head in a way that would have indicated no as it was meant to indicate to anyone else, but in a way that from her to Itachi, meant to just let it go. She didn't see any reason to lie to him but she also knew that she couldn't really just tell him she felt disturbed by looking at his eyes just now and that originally she'd just wanted to hear him speak.

Izumi didn't know how Itachi would or might react to either of those statements and she didn't want to risk offending him or making him feel awkward by saying something that might sound weird, so she would just keep it to herself.

She absentmindedly lifted a hand to pull back a strand of hair that'd fallen into her face, placing it behind her ear. She braced herself as she lifted her head expecting to be meant with the darkly piercing crimson pools of the sharingan. When her nearly onyx brown eyes landed on the familiar onyx black of Itachi's looking at her with only worry and concern she felt all her former worries and fears disappear as if they were never there to begin with.

"Are you sure you want me to just leave it alone? You're really okay?" His eyes seems to ask without his lips ever moving.

Before she'd even known what was happening, another cherubic smile overtook Izumi's features before she nodded a resounding yes to his earlier question and communicated how she was feeling with her eyes her smile and her body language.

"I'm just fine Itachi. Thank you."

She didn't know why she was always second guessing her relationship with Itachi. She figured it was because she expected him to eventually grow disdainful towards her like the rest of their clan had been from the moment she was born. It was sometimes easy for her to forget that Itachi wasn't the type who would do something like that no matter how much of a burden their friendship might grow to be in the future. Right.. Itachi was nothing like any other Uchiha or person who she had ever meant before..

Izumi closed her eyes and smiled to herself feeling like a weight had been lifted from her chest. She hadn't lost him yet and chances were she shouldn't even be worried about losing him.

Itachi was still watching her closely trying to gauge if she was really okay or just trying to ease his mind. Sometimes Izumi was so easy to read and at other times she confused him greatly. Just a moment ago he saw her wearing a melancholic expression but now she was smiling to him and herself as if nothing was ever wrong. Although her smile did seem to be genuine, he didn't really know whether or not she was lying just for his sake.

"Izumi?" He intoned speaking her name like a question. Her eyes were telling him that she was fine but Itachi just wanted to be certain.

Izumi opened her eyes at the sound of her friends voice and smiled at him with such warmth that he was no longer aware of the chill of the forest. "I'm fine now Itachi, thank you." She intoned softly while still smiling before looking down with her smile still in place as a thoughtful look overtook her features.

Itachi really wanted to know what it was she was thinking about but he knew it was rude to ask people such things in most situations. He usually didn't have that problem with people. Izumi was the only person who's mind he ever found himself distracted by when he thought about it. Even back when they'd first become friends he'd found her interesting. She was the only person who could make him highly curious about what she was thinking or feeling.

Izumi was his bestfriend yet she was also the person he understood the least and the most about at the same time. He wanted to know her better even though he felt as if he knew her better than anyone else. "Hey Itachi?" Izumi called drawing him out of his thoughts and back into the present moment.

She had her hands folded behind her back and was smiling at him playfully. "What were you thinking about just now?" Itachi smiled at Izumi but didn't say anything as he turned around and began moving forward again. The now beaming half blood took up her original spot with Sasuke following their lead and pulling up the rear behind them once again.

The youngest Uchiha hadn't been paying much attention to the older two at first when they stopped but now his mind was completely away from that. During the brief moment when the two hadn't been saying anything he realized the bond between Izumi and Itachi was much stronger than he'd originally thought.

There had been close to no words spoken between them and yet the two were able to communicate and understand each other so easily. He was one hundred percent certain that some kind of unspoken conversation or understanding had taken place between them during the brief few seconds in which they'd stopped.

He'd only ever seen his Oka-san and his Oto-san do that and as far as he knew Itachi only did things like that with his friends like Shisui or Hamura in combat situations. He'd heard about the bond that could be shared between two shinobi, but Izumi wasn't a shinobi yet.

For just a moment a few seconds ago he'd somehow felt like he should turn a blind eye to the conversation. While his brother was talking to someone else! How crazy was that!? How was it possible that these two were able to share such an intimate moment with one another at such a young age? In his mind it didn't make sense, even though his brother was awesome, and it naturally made sense that girls would go crazy over him.

Maybe the two were so deeply connected because they both shared a maturity that was beyond their years? Maybe they were just one of those rare pairings of people who found love in their bestfriend instead of looking for it in strangers? Or maybe they were just soulmates or something..even though Sasuke didn't really believe in stuff like that.

Funny enough, now it made sense why his Oka-san was always treating Izumi like a missing piece that belonged with their family. There was no doubt in his mind that his Oka-san knew how close these two actually were, but what about his Oto-san? Would his father ever even approve of his brother dating a half blood?

Itachi and Izumi were holding their own conversation as Sasuke pulled pieces of the puzzle together and conversed with himself in his mind. Eventually the group came to a stop inside a large clearing somewhere close to the center of the forest of death. The nothern edge of the clearing was surrounded by the same type of large tree's they'd been passing by mostly on their way here, with the eastern and western ends being exactly the same aside from the fact that there was a river running from east to west.

In the center of the river was a large rock face that didn't look like it'd gotten there by natural causes. To the south was the path they'd taken to get to where they were now, and all along the south side of the clearing there were these very peculiar trees that neither Sasuke or Izumi could recall ever seeing before.

Izumi and Sasuke hadn't really been expecting much but they both remarked to themselves that this place was mostly unremarkable. "Starting from this day until the chunin exams we'll be geting in at least two hours of training here every morning before the Academy begins. When the Academy day let's out we'll all return to this forest and do two or three more hours of training. Our average amount of training hours per day will extend beyond four to five hours Izumi, but Sasuke is already taking part in training sessions at the Monogahi and Shimura compounds."

Sasuke grumbled a bit at the unfairness of being forced to train under the Shimura Akuma that was Anko. "So what type of training are we starting with Onii-san?"

"This area mostly is the training. The predators that live in this forest frequently pass through this area to drink from the lake." / "P-Predators?" Sasuke asked looking around and catching no signs of any predators.

"Most of the predators in this forest are nocturnal, meaning they only come out night, however the animals that come out during the day are usually stronger and more vicious."

Sasuke didn't look at all relieved at this bit of information.

"Sasuke needs to work on his ability to pick apart an enemy by either creating or striking at weak points. We also need to find some sort of way for him to awaken his sharingan seeing as that could really help with the training. Unfortunately there are no genjustu strong enough to force an awakening. Izumi's taijustu skills are well above genin and her genjustu skills are passable. I'll start her off by working on her kenjustu techniques and stamina."

"Okay then, let's get started." Itachi preformed a few seals, ending in the ram and creating to shadow clones. "Izumi since your biggest problem is your stamina, so you'll be training on the river that runs through here. All you need to do is stand on the water and keep your sharingan active for as long as you can while blocking the shuriken and kunai my clone will be throwing."

Izumi nodded her head and began walking towards the lake, one of Itachi's clones following her. "After Izumi exhausts herself I'll give her a short break before we engage in a Kenjustu spare."

"And Sasuke.. Since your greatest vice is your patience you'll begin your training by tracking and hunting the day time predators in this forest that frequent the area around this river. I will personally teach you the basics of tracking and help you take the animal down when you find it, but for the most part you'll have to do all of the actual work yourself." What Sasuke might have been reluctant to do had anyone else ordered it as a part of his training, because it was his older brother he didn't see the potential danger of such training. He only saw that his older brother was about to teach him tracking, and even go hunting with him as a part of his training. Itachi and his clone both smiled as they picked up on Sasuke's excitement.

Little did the young Uchiha know, his older brothers training would likely be far more brutal than Anko's.

Konoha TID - 6:01am

Here goes nothing."

Inu ran through a short chain of hand signs before placing his palm flat against the seal engraved onto the lock outside of the holding cell. The heavily reinforced metal bars holding the door of the cell locked slide to the side, allowing the anbu captain to push open the door and glare at the foriegn party of 'refugees' who all looked back at him with a mix of expressions.

Out of the five Ame shinobi inside the cell only two sat on the cells bench while the others were either laying or sitting down on the floor somewhere. Yashiu was one of the shinobi sitting on the bench with her arms and legs crossed and her mask to the side. She didn't look the least bit out of place, but she was staring at him expectantly.

The benches other occupant was a large bald man with a shinobi tattoo of some kind on the left side of his head. He wore brown rags that hide a very muscular frame along with whatever he was wearing underneath. His headband was wrapped around his neck and the villages symbol had been cut through the middle ssme as everyone else's inside the cell. What was odd about him was that Inu felt as if the man was looking at him as if trying to discern his character rather than size him up as a shinobi.

The other three were looking at him expectantly the same as Yashiu, they were also sizing him up, but they also seemed to be perfectly comfortable from where they were laying or sitting on the floor.

"You gonna feed us anytime soon?" A wiry looking who was laying on his side on the cell floor questioned while propping his head up by placing his elbow on the floor and using his hand as a support.

"Feeding you isn't really my job. My job is making sure you get settled in nicely within the village."

"We'd prefer food." A grey haired shinobi who was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall at the left of the cells only entrance remarked earning nods of agreement from the others.

"You heard them Kenjo."

Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes or to just exit the cell and forget about his visitors after telling someone to get them some food and keep an eye on them.

The fact that some of their new visitors truly didn't seem to mind slumming it inside an Anbu holding cell made him second guess the Hokage's decision of allowing these guys into Konoha. Unfortunately for the copy ninja orders were orders. Whatever kind of shinobi some of these Ame nin were wouldn't really matter much if they didn't interact with the public much anyway. He'd been informed of where the group would be staying and he was sure that the Shimura compound had to be one of the most well protected places within the village.

The Shimura clan was just like any other in the fact that it held many of it's own secrets. The compound was closely watched over every hour of the day by an active NEE guard, and Danzo was known to hire only retired shinobi and active shinobi who were temporarily on standby or leave to be his compound's servants.

The Shimura compound was wrapped just as tightly as any of the other clan dwellings located throughout the village, and possibly even the Hokage's Palace, or even the TID facility knowing the paranoia of Danzo. But thanks to the absence of any clan members besides himself and his two daughters it was a much better option for housing new residents.

Boy was this going to be weird.

The copy nin stood there for another moment taking stock of the cells occupants and wondering at the best way to go about this..

He mostly ignored it when he heard one of the shinobi who'd been sitting on the ground snort and stood up.

"So what..? Aren't you going to at least take our breakfast orders or something?"

Inu turned his head towards the right side of the cell towards the man who's joke had earned him a few chuckles.

He glared solely at the that the newly taken in Ame born refugee and began contemplating all the ways that he might kill him in the next second.

The rogue Kiri shinobi for his part managed to keep up a strong front by appearing unaffected, and that only made Inu want to kill him as a message to the others, or to at least maybe rough him up a little bit.

Break an arm or two, possibly a leg.

Make sure that he and his comrades knew that they were in his territory, and that he wouldn't hesitate to end them if they stepped out of line. But he was sure Yashiu would complain about him killing one of her men when she only had so few of them currently to begin with. He wondered what had happened to the guys from her last crew when he'd last seen her in Ame.

"What's his name?" He asked Yashiu pointing towards the guy.

"Aba."

"I'll remember it." The anbu Captain said turning back towards the rogue nin, releasing another brief wave of killing intent.

"I had no idea you could be intimidating when you wanted Kenjo." Yashiu cooed pulling Inu's attention away from Aba. "You should've shown me more of that in Ame and you might have earned a little bit more while on my payroll." /

Kakashi perked a brow at the woman before deciding to disregard her statement and giving a response.

"You can stop calling me Kenjo now. From now on it's Inu in all of our future dealings."

"Everyone already knows who you are copycat. There's only one man/anbu in all of the elemental nations with a head of silver hair and a sharingan in one eye, let alone in Konoha. And I also know you as Kenjo. That's what I'm comfortable calling you, so that's how I'll address you. That's not a problem is it?" Yashiu said ignoring the snickering of her men, and looking only at him.

Inu immediately thought say yes, but he knew that would lead to some kind of confrontation, so he decided to ignore it for now..

"Just shut up and take your blindfold." The copy ninja said holding up a red blindfold for each shinobi in the cell. They'd been brought in blindfolded and they would be taken out the same say. Even though the facility was purposely designed to act as a maze so as to trap and disorient intruders, Inu had been taught to take no chances.

---

Upon stepping outside of the anbu facility and removing their blindfolds once they stepped into the sunlight they all began squinting or rubbing at their eyes. A few of them groaned at the brightness that their eyes weren't at all accustomed to as a result of growing up in a country where the rain clouds over head was as constant as the hard ground beneath. And also as a result of spending the last few hours inside of a dark anbu prison facility.

The group followed closely behind Inu as he lead them through the lesser used side streets of Konoha .

As they walked with Inu out in front and Yashiu right behind him the kunochi opened her mouth to inquire about something she'd been thinking of since arriving in Konoha.

"So Kenjo..?"

Kakashi didn't say anything as his feet kept moving, but Yashiu knew he'd heard her speak.

"How's about a rematch?"

"No." He answered immediately as if he'd been expecting her to ask that since she got here.

Yashiu's brow furrowed and the corners of her lips pulled downwards at his reply. She didn't have any reason to hide her frustration and disappointment since no one could see her face at the moment since she and Kenjo were out in front.

A deadly aura began to grow around her as she walked causing the smartest members of her group to slightly back away from her just incase she decided to attack with no concern for who might end up as collateral damage.

"You think you're better than me because you beat me once Kenjo?"

Feeling the deadly aura she was radiating and likely unconsciously directing towards him, Inu stopped walking and turned his body slightly so as to face her without looking over his shoulder.

"I do."

The feeling of killing intent and hostility in the air intensified oncd the anbu captain answered as he turned around to face her fully.

Yashiu's men stepped back five paces so as to give their leader ample space should she summon her scythes and start swinging.

A random anbu who'd been leaping across the nearby rooftops on patrol stopped a few paces away once he noticed the captain having a stare down with what looked to be a rogue ninja.

The man raised two figers to his lips beneath his mask and gave an abu whistle that wouldn't be heard by any of the people below.

A few seconds later and two more anbu arrived on the same roof, immediately realizing why they'd been called and taking positions that would let them move quickly incase the captain needed assistance. "Why is there a small party of rogue Ame shinobi being escorted by the captain?" The first anbu on sight; a young woman with long purple hair she kept tucked beneath the cat mask she wore asked herself as she continued watching the group below.

"You don't seem to remember that I wasn't fighting you with the intent to kill." Yashiu remarked coldly.

Kakashi's was unaffected by the oppressive atmosphere. His eyes were glaring back at the kunochi's eyes just as fiercely as her eyes seemed to be glaring at his own.

"I do remember that actually, and if your memory serves you just as well as mine, you would remember that I wasn't fighting you with the intent to kill either.."

Yashiu opened her mouth to discredit his statement but a flashback to the memory of her fight with the copycat back in Ame stopped her.

FLASHBACK

The offspring of Hanzo the Salamander. Versus the offspring of someone who'd been on level with the Sannin. Will you live up to your fathers name or will you end up being one of life's many dissapointments?"

Kakashi didn't bother indulging her with a response. Instead he stood up straight and held his hand in the other charing a lightning blade and deciding he would answer her question for her. He channeled more lightning chakra to his feet than usual figuring the quicker he showed her the difference in where they were as Shinobi the more painful it'd be for her to swallow those words.

The ground beneath him began to crack as access lightning from the justu was channeled towards his feet.

"That's some fancy justu you got there?"

Kakashi disappered in a blue blur lightning and was right in front of her just a moment later.

He spun and took her feet out from underneath her and stuck his lightning blade into the ground beside her head.

"Funny for all that talk of yours you ended up being the one who was the disappointment."

PRESENT

The kunochi's grin turned into a smirk as she recalled said incident and opened her mouth to address it.

"Maybe..but now that I'm all buddy buddies with you here in Konoha, we can have a rematch. I still have a few trump cards I want to play."

Kakashi/Inu had only actually seen Yashiu without the mask twice and as such he still wasn't really used to seeing her face. The Yashiu he knew was a cold and emotionless mask that only spoke when absolutely necessary and hardly had time for things like games and idle banter.

He didn't know if he should take her comment seriously or not so his reply was rather lacking.

"Buddies?"

Yashiu gave something that sounded like a snort of amusement.

"Better to have me as a friend than an enemy right?"

"I think that's something only time will decide." An unknown voice remarked cutting into their conversation.

Yashiu turned towards the source and was somewhat thrown off to see that it'd been a twelve year old girl with purple hair and a black Yukata who'd spoken.

She whistled as if in appreciation as she perked a brow and sent a curious gaze towards Kakashi. "Times must be hard for Konoha these days..? Training em young are we Kenjo? I think I could fall in line with that type of thinking while I'm here.."

"The Anbu aren't training anyone aside from the usual Chunin or Jonin level shinibi who find there way to our task force. This girl here is Anko Mitarashi Shimura, and your group will be staying at her father's compound. Danzo Shimura is a very busy man and as such you'll be deferring to his daughter for all your housing needs throughout the duration of your stay. I trust that she'll be more than substantial enough to see you all to your new 'homes' so to say."

Yashiu nodded evenly giving him no reason to believe her or her group would misbehave on their trip.

It's not like he wouldn't have Anbu tailing them their first few weeks in Konoha anyways. That is if they didn't plan to leave immediately to start recruiting again. It made perfect sense that she should take a little time to get the new squad of individuals she'd just recruited in order first before going to recruit others but as of now she was undecided.

"So your names Anko huh? You sweet like dumplings kid?" One of the older chunin in the small squad of soldiers jeered towards the girl earning him a few laughs.

Yashiu's expression became hard and she turned to the individual prepared to give him a brief but effective tongue lashing but the

tongue of the snake that emerged from Anko's sleeve and began flicking eerily towards the man's direction, as if tasting the air between them, was quicker.

pp

"I don't know." Anko said behind the hiss of the snake. "Why don't you come and see if you have what it takes to find out. If you're lucky you just might just amount to a decent breakfast if you never amount to anything more than a chunin."

The chunin who'd spoken was stunned silent by the girls retort, as was the rest of the cell besides Kakashi, who didn't know Anko very well but knew her well enough.

Yashiu's lips pulled upwards as Anko allowed the snake to recede into her sleeve before her smirk disappeared and she sent her subordinate a dry look that said she was disappointed he was all bark and no bite.

Any other day and she might have been disappointed or angered at the sight of one of her own men being silenced so efficiently by some who wasn't her, but summoners of any kind were a rare breed and he made the right choice by remaining silent.

Snake summoners were among the strongest and the girl might have come inside the cell appearing just the same as any other, but as soon as she spoke a second time and directed her voice towards him, she began to project a presence that quickly filled the room.

It wasn't enough to faze Yashiu or some of the more experienced shinobi in the cell, but it was impressive, and the man who'd spoken was one of the weaker chunin.

It would be foolish for someone with few ninjustu to rely on and an aptitude mostly for close combat to challenge a snake summoner.

After another moment of silence, satisfied that none of the Ame party would take Anko for much of a pushover now, Inu lead the group outside of the cell, explaining that the Hokage had their pardons drawn up already but he needed a few days more to draw up the rest of their paperwork and get them cleared for 'missions' so to say.

Yashiu was perfectly fine with that as she'd decided she needed a few days to organize her new squad.

The moment the Ame group was out of his hands and following behind Anko Inu called two Anbu to his side and told him to keep an eye on the group for now, and later on first thing tomorrow he would assign shifts. He was aware that by asking Danzo to see to their residency the Hokage had ensured the group would be watched for the majority of the time they spent within the village, but it never hurt to be sure of these things.

End Chapter

AN: The chapter wasn't supposed to be this long but this also wasn't supposed to end where it ended either. Onwards with the show!

Kasuf: Nice job Shy. It only took you close to two years to upload this one. Shows how much you care.

Khajul: Hey! I've been busy with work and the world of competitive gaming! Plus you can't say that my writing hasn't improved!

Kasuf: That is up for the readers to decide. I just can't believe you've kept people waiting for this long and we still aren't at part one.

Khajul: Part one is right around the corner!

Al Kabir: That was long! O.o

Khajul: I honestly never know what exactly is coming in the next chapter. I just have small ideas of what I want to take place and I usually just work from those angles. A lot of different angles just kept coming up as I wrote this one, which lead to all the rewrites. T_T

Kasuf: No kidding? There's so much content for this chapter, poor Kabir is over here struggling to find a solo topic to nail down and talk about like usual.

Al Kabir: Bro! Nobody asked you. There's just a lot of stuff going on, I kinda want to see where it's going next.

Kasuf: Mhm. If Shy doesn't wait until we're dead to upload the next chapter.

Khajul: Kasuf, Shut up!