The next morning I woke up late in the morning. I got out of bed and bound my kunai pouch to my left thigh before going into the shared area of the apartment. Mitsuru was in the small kitchen area making eggs on the stove top while a shirtless Jiro sat at the table already eating. Shozouki was nowhere to be seen, but I wasn't too worried about him. He was probably meeting with uncle Yagura or spying on the Suna ninja's.

"Good morning lady Ketto!" Jiro called. He gestured for me to take the seat next to him, so I moved to that spot. "Mitsuru is making us breakfast."

"Mitsuru, I didn't know you could cook." I said.

"I can't make much, but I try." he said. He grabbed a plate that was nearby and then slid the eggs from the pan to the plate. He took one of two slices of toast from the toaster to put butter on it and added it to the plate. I watched as he turned around and placed the plate in front of me. I didn't say anything, but my face must have given away my shock. "You need to eat. Yesterday, the only time you ate was with the Mizukage and before that you slept for two days. You need eat more to gain more energy for tomorrow's round of the exams."

"You're right, I haven't eaten much lately. It hasn't really crossed my mind." I said.

Mitsuru grabbed a fork from a drawer and handed it to me. "Being that I'm assigned to your team, I feel as if I should keep an eye out for you as the Mizukage's niece. I would be letting him down if I didn't contribute to your health."

"Can't you just say you care if something happens to her?" Jiro said exasperated. "No need to drag the Mizukage into it."

"I just don't want her to topple over tomorrow in front of hundreds of people because she hasn't been eating. It will make Kirigakure look bad." Mitsuru said. He turned back to the stove and cracked some more eggs into the pan.

"You do care! Remember what you said when she was gone to the land of Waves?" Jiro asked.

"Shut up." Mitsuru said it calmly, as if he couldn't be bothered by the nonsense Jiro was talking about.

"But it's true!" Jiro insisted. "You were so ticked that she just disappeared on her own. You were worried about the trouble she would get into and that we wouldn't be there to help her."

"I told you to shut up." Mitsuru repeated. He didn't turn to us, he just kept making his eggs.

"It's okay." I said. I played a bit with my eggs before taking a bit. "Mitsuru just doesn't want to seem vulnerable by keeping the fact that he cares about me a secret. The two of you haven't had the same life experiences as me so your emotions show a bit more than mine would. That doesn't mean I'm completely heartless. I'll admit that while I don't necessarily care about either of you, I feel a need to protect you and have your back as your teammate because I know that's how teammates should feel."

"No offence, but how are we supposed to believe that you care about us as teammates?" Mitsuru asked.

"I haven't told anyone that you are part of the Yuki clan." I said. I saw his shoulders stiffen. "So, I was right in that assumption."

"What do you mean that he's part of the Yuki clan." Jiro asked.

"Jiro you saw it, during the preliminary round when Mitsuru was fighting Tenten his water dragon turned to ice." I explained.

"Yeah, so. I just thought it was a jutsu." Jiro said.

"The ability to freeze something is the kekkei genkai of the Yuki clan." I added.

Jiro slowly came to the realization, "Mitsuru is that true?!"

I should have expected this from him. Of course he wouldn't have known, sometimes he's a bit oblivious even though he has evidence. When Mitsuru turned his water dragon into ice, Jiro probably didn't think anything of it. Just like he said, he thought it was another jutsu.

"It's true." Mitsuru said. He grabbed another plate, this one for himself, to put his eggs on. He also buttered his own toast and turned off the burner before joining us at the table. "Why haven't you said anything to anyone?" he asked me.

"Just as I said, as your teammate I feel the need to protect you." I said. "Also, the Mizukage doesn't have me hunting for those with kekkei genkai anymore so it's not like I need to tell him." For a moment, I wondered if the second part of what I said was relevant. I just made it seem as if I cared about him and then implied that if it was a different time, like let's say two years ago, I would have told uncle Yagura over hiding Mitsuru's identity. I said the truth though and I guess it doesn't matter what Mitsuru thinks about it.

"Thanks for not telling him, I guess." Mitsuru mumbled.

"So how exactly are you a Yuki?" I asked. I've been wondering about it since I found out he was part of the Yuki clan.

"My dad's family are Yuki's, he just changed our last name to Onishi and relocated us to a different village in the land of Water for a couple of years." Mitsuru said. "There's not many of us. My dads two brothers managed to make new lives for themselves too. Otherwise it's just us that I know of. Mom, dad, me, and my little sister Hikaru."

I guess it never crossed my mind that they could change their names and take on new lives. I always thought they would be too proud to even consider doing something like that. Though many did not and that's why they were found and killed. I never questioned why we were killing those with kekkei genkai, but now that I think about it the elders were wrong. I even realized that if uncle Yagura wasn't the Mizukage they would have killed him for his coral palm technique in which he can make coral appear on any surface. I also inherited the ability to create and use coral, so if I wasn't someone precious to the Mizukage then I probably would have been killed too.

With Mitsuru sharing that piece of information about himself I decided to share something too. "Last night, my uncle said that he wanted to adopt me."

"Now? After all this time?" Mitsuru questioned.

"Yeah, he said that he doesn't have an heir of his own and I was like his daughter anyway so he wants to make it official." I said. "It's like he wants me to be his legacy."

"You have to admit that it has a nice ring to it." Jiro said. "Being the legacy of the fourth Mizukage. It's actually pretty badass. Not that you're not already badass as the Demon of the Mist."

"Eh, it's whatever." I said. "Did you know that my bounty has doubled since Zabuza died? Apparently, I'm a rarity."

"That you are." Jiro chuckled. "You know, I'll admit that while I don't have plans of surpassing Ketto, I do plan on being someone whose skills you respect."

"Is that what you mean to do instead of surpassing Shiro?" I asked. I remembered when Jiro was in the hospital after the preliminary round and he told me about his older brother whom he always planned on surpassing. "You said that you wanted to aid me."

"I did say that, yes." Jiro nodded. "I'll never be stronger than you but I can still get strong to fight by your side and protect you. It was the next best thing I could think of other than beating you."

"That's very noble of you." Mitsuru said. He started to eat his toast while I just let mine sit, thinking about how Mitsuru wanted me to eat I decided to eat my slice too. "I want to take a part of the future of the land of Water in a diplomatic way."

"You like making decisions for people?" Jiro asked.

"It's like a game of chess, you have to move all of the right pieces to ensure a better future. Lady Ketto is the queen." Mitsuru explained. I'm like the queen? I guess that makes sense. Uncle Yagura is the Mizukage and would be the king, I protect and fight for him so that would make me the queen. "And queens have a power all their own."

"If you think about it like that then it looks like we both made a good decision." Jiro said.

"I don't fault you for it." I said. I finished the last little bit of my toast. "Would either of you like to go with me to the hospital to visit Lee? If his sensei hasn't told him that he can't be a ninja anymore then I'll do it."

"Why can't he be a ninja anymore?" Mitsuru asked.

"When his bones in his arm and leg were broken they left bone fragments everywhere. I don't think the doctors here can fix it, so he's stuck with the bone fragments." I said. "He still thinks he's going to heal and go back to the way his life was before."

"And no one has told him?" Mitsuru wondered.

"No, no one had the heart to tell him because Lee only had his taijutsu abilities. Apparently, he can't perform genjutsu or ninjutsu." I answered. Honestly, I was surprised that Lee had the perseverance to be a ninja even though he had no remarkable qualities. Now, the one ability that he does have to make him a ninja was taken away from him. I wonder how he can recover from this mentally.

"I'll go with you." Jiro said. "Remember yesterday? I said I was going with you to make sure you didn't disappear again."

"That's right." I sighed. I really don't think I'll be able to go anywhere on my own anymore. At least until they forget about the fact that I didn't tell them I was going to the land of Waves on my own. Its not like it's entirely my fault, I didn't want to risk the slight chance that they would want to come with. I didn't even know what my own reaction to seeing my brothers grave would be and I didn't want them seeing me like that.

"I don't know this Lee person, but I might as well go with too." Mitsuru said. He got up from his seat and started grabbing our empty plates. "I'll take care of these first."

"I need a shirt." Jiro said. He also got up from his place at the table and went to his shared room to retrieve said article of clothing. I stayed in my seat, not having anything else to do at the moment but wait for them to be ready. I listened to Mitsuru wash the dishes while I traced figures into the grain of the wood on the table. I stopped when the faucet turned off, because I didn't want Mitsuru to see me doing something so meaningless. I heard Jiro re-enter the room behind me."Ready to go?" he asked. He looked from me to Mitsuru, who was currently drying his hands on a towel.

I pushed my chair away from the table and stood up. "I'm ready. Mitsuru?"

"Yeah, I'm ready too." he replied. He tossed the towel on the counter behind him and we started to leave the apartment.

"You know lady Ketto, you're hair looks really nice when it's down." Jiro said. He was looking intently at my vibrant blue hair. "I didn't realize it was that long."

"Thanks, I guess." I muttered. My hair was voluminous and straight. It flowed down to my knees when it wasn't in a ponytail.

Together the three of us exited the building and walked on the street. Mitsuru and Jiro still walked on either side of me, but they were closer to me than they were before I went to the land of Waves. The villagers of the Leaf village didn't pay much attention to us, none of them really looked in our direction. It was as if we were a part of the village. I briefly thought of what it would be like when I went back home to Kirigakure. Would Mitsuru and Jiro still want to be seen with me in public? I mean it's a fair question, I know they both have it set in their own minds that they are going to stick by me but would they really not care about what the other villagers think? What if I get used to having them around me while we're here in the land of Fire and then they will renounce their so called friendship once we are back in the land of Water?

I tried to push those thoughts out of my head when I heard someone call my name. "Ketto?" the voice sounded familiar to me and it took a moment for me to fully place who it belonged to. Though as soon as the name of the person registered I could feel a crease on my forehead at my confusion. I composed myself before turning to them.

"Temari." I said. Jiro and Mitsuru were halted next to me, waiting. I looked to Temari, who was walking with Kankuro. She looked much better than the last time I saw her. She didn't have any bruises on her skin that I could see and she didn't seem to be moving with any lingering pain or difficulty. It has been about a month since I last saw her, so she definitely had time to recover. Still, I think the medical staff here in the Leaf village had taken a bigger part in helping her heal than the time she had for her body to heal on its own. She was supposed to have another three weeks to recover. The more that I look at her the more I realize she is still recovering. She was holding on to Kankuro's arm for support as she walked and she approached with smaller steps, probably to counter the bruising from the broken ribs.

"Where have you been? You just disappeared and now you're here again." Temari looked a bit confused. I could see something in her dark teal eyes that I couldn't quite place.

"I went to the land of Waves for awhile." I said.

"The land of Waves? Don't you mean the land of Water?" she asked.

"No, the land of Waves, I had something to take care of there."

"Don't say it like that!" Jiro exclaimed. "You make it seem as if you were there on an assassination mission."

"Jiro, shut up." Mitsuru scolded. "She can say it however she wants."

"Right, right, whatever." Jiro grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked in the opposite direction of Mitsuru.

"Have you actually killed someone before?" Temari looked shocked, but not frightened.

"You mean you didn't hear that Kabuto guy during the first stage when he told all of those rookie genin from the Leaf about her?" Jiro uncrossed his arms and looked to Temari.

"No, we were a bit occupied with something else." Kankuro said. His eyes narrowed. "Why, what did he say?"

"Um, you see, it's not really important so…" Jiro rambled. At first, I didn't know why, most of what I've done in my life is common knowledge so telling them shouldn't be a problem. Then, I realized Jiro was trying to protect the image of me these new people would have.

"I am known as the Demon of the Mist because I killed all of my graduating class." I said. I saved Jiro the trouble of having to explain, now he was guffawing like a fish out of water. "That was the last year of that graduation exam. The elders of the village decided that if the casualties were so high then there wasn't a point in continuing the practice. I was the second child to kill all of the other participants, my brother being the first."

"What exactly was the graduation exam?" Kankuro asked quietly with gritted teeth.

"To become the perfect ninja it was thought that if our emotions were discarded then the success rate while on missions would increase." I stated. "The third Mizukage decided that a good way to get rid of emotion was if we took a life at the start of our ninja careers. The point of the genin graduation exam is to be pitted against your classmates. The goal is only to kill one other participant, but if you managed to kill an additional ninja it would only help your probability of tossing aside emotion. It was the only way someone could get passed that kind of trauma."

"Why did you kill all of them?" Temari asked softly.

"I didn't have a choice, I needed to kill them all." I said.

The way I said it seemed kind of heartless, though I didn't realize until Kankuro shouted. "Of course you had a choice! You didn't have to kill them all."

I didn't say anything, I didn't feel the need to explain myself. I was about to turn away from them all and leave them when Jiro spoke up. "She really didn't have a choice. At first, I didn't understand why she did it, but when I got older it started to make sense. Especially if Shiro was her opponent."

"Who is that?" Kankuro asked. "Is that name supposed to mean anything to us?"

"No, you wouldn't know him." Jiro said. "Shiro was my brother and I know that he would have targeted Ketto. He was arrogant and had too much faith in his half developed jutsu. I know that he thought he could kill Ketto without a problem, because of her limitations."

"What do you mean?" Temari voiced. "What limitations? It doesn't seem as if she would have any problems holding out on her own."

Jiro took a deep breath and continued after he released it. "First, Ketto is a girl. At that time the majority of academy students were boys. Ketto never even went to the academy, she received alternate training. The one thing everyone took advantage of was her age, she was only seven when the Mizukage had her participate in the graduation exam. Everyone targeted her because they thought she was an easy kill. I understand why she killed my brother."

"It was a good strategy though." Mitsuru said. "Go after the one perceived to be the weakest."

"See, she really didn't have a choice." Jiro said. He threw his arm over my shoulder, shocking me. "Though last night I'm still not convinced someone picked a fight with her on purpose. I think she maybe accidentally provoked them in some way."

"I told you, I was the one that was attacked not the other way around." I scoffed.

"You were attacked last night." Temari asked worriedly. "Who would do that?" She didn't seem to know, so I don't think Temari or even Kankuro had any idea that the other genin from their village have been targeting my team since the beginning of the chunin exams.

"Actually, it was Gaara." I said.

Temari and Kankuro's eyes widened. "Sorry." Temari said. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye on him. It's not like we can stop him even if we are with him. We were actually looking for him now."

"He wanted to kill me last night." I said. Jiro gasped and slowly pulled his arm away from my shoulders. "He couldn't harm me though and that angered him. I asked him if he would like to be friends instead of enemies, which only seemed to upset him more. He didn't understand why I would want to be friends with him. I saw his loneliness reflected in his eyes and I thought he shouldn't have to be alone."

Kankuro was shocked silent, but Temari seemed to get her bearings. "He tried to kill you and you asked to be friends? How could you forget the fact that he just tried to kill you?"

Jiro and Mitsuru shared a look before Mitsuru said, "We won't leave you alone anymore Lady Ketto. Jiro and I will take turns escorting you."

"That won't be necessary." I said, though deep down I knew there wasn't much I could do to dissuade them. I turned back to Temari. "Honestly, my only friends up until recently have been members of the seven ninja swordsmen of the Mist. They've tried to kill me on numerous occasions in training, yet they are still friends. I'm used to people attempting to take my life."

"Wait." Kankuro spoke up after a look of realization crossed his face. "You said Gaara couldn't harm you at all? Not even a little?"

"No, not even a scratch." Jiro jumped in. "Her clothes were trashed, but she wasn't hurt."

"Oh, I see." he gulped and looked away.

"Uh, do you guys need help finding him?" Jiro asked. "If you want, I guess we could help you look for him. We have some time."

"No, that's okay." Temari smiled to us. "He's our brother, we can find him."

"That's another thing." I started. Temari looked to me and I continued. "I told him to give you a chance at being both his brother and sister. I understand the disconnect between the three of you or more accurately the two of you and him, he told me that he was a jinchuriki and because of that he is unloved. I think the two of you should try harder to bond with him. He can't keep being alone."

"What would you know about it?" Kankuro growled. "You wouldn't know what it's like to be expected to care about a jinchuriki!"

"Kankuro!" Temari yelled at him. "She's just being nice! We really should be trying harder to be there for Gaara! He's our baby brother!"

"Still that's none of her business! She doesn't know how we feel!" Kankuro argued with her.

"No, I guess I wouldn't know what it's like for people to expect me to care about a jinchuriki. I love my uncle, always have and he's the jinchuriki of the three tailed beast." I said. I looked down at my feet when Kankuro started yelling that I wouldn't understand, but now I glared at him. "You act like it's such a chore. Familial love runs deep, it's always there. You're just letting your fear of him get in the way of that love. I find that despicable."

"What did you just say?!" Kankuro shouted.

Jiro and Mitsuru stepped in front of me to block me from Kankuro's line of fire. "If you even think of hurting Lady Ketto, we will have to take action." Mitsuru raised his hands in a defensive position while Jiro reached for his katana only to realize that he left it back at the apartment and grabbed a kunai out of his pouch instead.

"He's fine!" Temari butt in. "Aren't you Kankuro?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, fine, whatever." he grumbled.

"Thank you for saying that Ketto." Temari said. Her eyes softened and she seem to think carefully about what she was going to say. "I'll admit that Kankuro and I haven't been the best siblings to Gaara, he's been through some traumatic events all on his own and we weren't there for him. He pulled away from everyone emotionally because he didn't want to get hurt again. We should have tried harder to be there for him. What you said really touched me."

"You're welcome." I said. "Usually, all it takes is for someone to be reminded of what they have for them to appreciate it."

"We'll leave the two of you to yourselves now." Mitsuru said. He relaxed himself and so did Jiro. "We need to get to the hospital to see someone. We'll see you tomorrow for the final round."

Jiro, Mitsuru, and I turned and started walking away when we heard Temari shout, "Wait, Ketto! Please, keep trying to be his friend! He needs someone to rely on if it can't be us!"

I turned back to look at them. "Don't worry, I'll keep trying." I know that Gaara was only shocked because he couldn't understand why someone would care if he was lonely or not. It will take some time, but I know there is a possibility that he may change his mind. Even if the chances of that are low odds, I'm willing to still try.

We continued on to the hospital to visit Lee in a comfortable silence. I didn't want to ruin the moment by thanking either of them for sticking up for me when it looked like Kankuro wanted to fight me. I would have been fine if I did get into a fight with him, still, it is touching that they would both want to fight for me. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea of us being a team.

At the hospital, I lead the way to Lee's room with Jiro and Mitsuru following behind me. The door to his room was open, before we fully reached the door, I knew Lee would already have visitors. In the doorway, I saw that Naruto was the one that was visiting. There was another boy here, the lazy one from earlier stages of the chunin exams. I couldn't remember his name, but I think he was able to move on to the final round like me and my team while the rest of his team were defeated in the previous round. Well, Ino tied with Sakura, which could just as well be the same as being defeated.

Naruto and the other boy were playing a board game. They looked up from their game when they felt someone was watching them.

"Ketto!" Naruto exclaimed. He had a large smile on his face as he continued, "How has your trip been? How was the land of Waves?"

"It was nice enough." I replied.

"Wait, how does he know where you were, but we didn't?" Jiro asked. He sounded hurt at that fact.

"He wanted me to train with him, I had to explain why I couldn't. How could I train with him if I was needed somewhere else?" I said.

"Still, he knew." Mitsuru muttered.

"You two must be Ketto's teammates, I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He got up from his spot at the small table and came over to us. "I'm Ketto's friend. That guy over there is Shikamaru, he's another one of my friends." Naruto pointed to the lazy boy who gave us a little wave.

"Yeah, we're her teammates. My name is Jiro Matsuo. Nice to meet you." Jiro shook hands with Naruto and nodded towards Mitsuru. "The quiet one over there is Mitsuru Onishi. Don't let him intimidate you."

Mitsuru glared at Jiro, but didn't say anything.

"He kind of reminds me of Sasuke. He doesn't talk much either and he usually looks angry all the time." Naruto withdrew his hand from Jiro and he observed Mitsuru, who seemed more annoyed with the situation than anything.

"Has Lee been up?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Naruto looked away from Mitsuru to look to me. "No, but some of the medics think he'll be waking up soon."

"Can we keep you company until that happens?"

"Sure, Shikamaru and I were just playing a game of shogi."

I moved to pull a chair up on one side of the table Naruto and Shikamaru were using while Jiro and Mitsuru took up the other side of the table. We decided to watch Naruto and Shikamaru play their game. "What is this game exactly?" Jiro asked.

"You've never heard of shogi before?" Shikamaru asked confused.

"No, we don't really have time to play games in the land of Water. They're seen as a waste of time." Mitsuru replied. He lifted his gaze from the board and looked to Shikamaru. "Could you explain how to play?"

"Sure," Shikamaru reached forward and started to explain the pieces. I had a faint understanding of the game, Zabuza considered it the game of generals. He was the one that taught it to me, he wasn't only just physically strong, he was mentally strong too. Though I'll admit that we didn't play it much.

Naruto moved so that Mitsuru could take his place explaining that he was losing anyway. Then he pulled a chair to my side. Shikamaru continued to explain the movements of each of the pieces. "Did you get to do any training while you were gone?" Naruto asked.

"A little bit, I spent more time visiting with Tazuna's family." I said. "What about you? Was Jiraiya able to teach you anything?"

"That perv? He taught me the summoning jutsu, only I've been having some trouble with it." he confessed. "Instead of summoning the chief toad like I've been trying to do, I keep summoning smaller ones. I've gotten better though."

"That's good, I've never had the need to summon Kofuku so I don't know if he'll come or not. Do you know why you couldn't summon the chief toad?" I asked. Until now I've never thought if I would be able to summon Kofuku, I always seemed to expel that thought because worrying about it wasn't going to do me any good.

"I didn't use enough chakra, that's why I've only been getting smaller toads." he said. "Jiraiya says that if I tap into a deeper store of chakra I'll be able to summon the chief toad with no problems, but it's been hard for me to do that." A deeper store of chakra? So if I use a combined chakra consisting of both mine and Isobu's then I'll be able to summon Kofuku without any problems. Or at least, I should be able to. "What is your summoning?" he asked.

I thought for a moment, what could I describe Kofuku as? "A giant lizard…"

"Cool! Can you summon him?" Naruto looked at me expectantly.

"I don't think that will be a good idea." I said, Naruto's face fell. "He won't fit in here."

"Oh, that's all? Some other time then." he said.

"Yeah, maybe some other time." I agreed. Secretly, I hope I wouldn't have to summon Kofuku. Not only do I worry that I'll actually be able to summon him, but if I ever found myself in the situation to need him it would need to be dire. Slowly, I've been having more faith in my ability to merge my chakra with Isobu's, yet still, I can't help but wonder if I'm where I need to be to summon Kofuku successfully.

I relaxed in my chair while being soothed by the talk of the other guys. My muscles tensed up slightly when I felt Gaara's chakra. I straightened myself when he appeared in the doorway of Lee's room. Why would he be here? I wondered.

He met my gaze for a moment before he looked away to Lee who was still sleeping in his bed. He stepped forward in Lee's direction and that was when I knew. I suddenly got up from my seated position and darted around Mitsuru who was still playing against Shikamaru. Gaara raised his arm out towards Lee and sand started to rise up around Lee's unconscious form. I managed to get close enough and grasped his wrist. "Is this what you do? Dispose of those who are a threat to you?" Gaara was shaking in an attempt to remain in control of his bloodlust. When I looked into his teal eyes, I saw that he was battling with himself in his own mind.

"Lady Ketto!" Jiro shouted. He got up from his chair so fast that it fell backwards. Now Mitsuru, Naruto, and Shikamaru were also standing.

Shikamaru did some hand signs and Gaara's trembling stopped.

"What do think you're doing in here you rat?!" Naruto yelled. He ran up and punched Gaara in the face just as I moved out of the way, I dropped Gaara's wrist as I moved.

"Hey! Take it easy!" Shikamaru called. "I've got him in my shadow possession jutsu, so whatever you do to him is done to me! You got it?"

"Oh, sorry Shikamaru." Naruto said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. I watched Gaara and saw that Naruto punched him hard enough to break his sand armor. "Out with it. What were you trying to pull?" Gaara stayed quiet, not acknowledging that Naruto spoke.

"Well, are you going to tell us what you were going to do?" Jiro ground out, even he isn't stupid enough to not know what's happening right now.

"I was going to kill him." Gaara said. Looks of shock crossed on Shikamaru and Naruto's faces while Mitsuru remained calm and Jiro looked ticked off.

"What did you just say?" Jiro questioned.

"You already beat him once in the competition." Shikamaru said. "What's your problem? Wasn't that enough for you? Do you have some kind of personal grudge against him or something?"

"I have nothing against him." Gaara said. "It's nothing that complicated, I simply want to kill him that's all."

"You know what?! You're sick in the head! You're crazy!" Naruto shouted as he pointed at Gaara.

"Yeah, you think we're just gonna stand by and let you do whatever you want?" Shikamaru said. "You sick selfish psycho."

"If you don't stay out of my way I'll have to kill you too." Gaara said.

Jiro started chuckling darkly. At first he was quiet and then he got louder. Naruto and Shikamaru turned to him, but Mitsuru just sighed as if he knew what Jiro found amusing. Jiro's chuckling turned into a belly aching laugh and tears started to appear in the corner of his eyes. We didn't say anything, just watched him laugh. When he was more in control of his laughter he said, "Sorry, I just remembered that Gaara was the one to attempt to take Ketto's life last night. The whole time I thought she provoked someone into fighting her just so she could kick their ass."

I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. Mitsuru smacked Jiro upside the head. "Idiot."

"Ow, you didn't have to hit so hard." Jiro whined. He rubbed his head where Mitsuru hit him. "You know it's funny. She's the Demon of the Mist listed in the bingo book above Kisame Hoshigaki known as the tailed beast without a tail. Her own brother tried to kill the Mizukage and failed. She trained with both of them for most of her life and you don't think it's funny that some genin from another country wants to kill her for no reason?" He kept rubbing his head. "Come on Mitsuru, it's funny, you know it is."

"I guess it's a little funny…" Mitsuru mumbled. Jiro smiled satisfied that they came to an agreement. "Not funny enough to laugh psychotically."

Jiro pouted, "Why do you always have to be so mean to me?"

"Why do you always have to act stupid?" Mitsuru countered.

"Lady Ketto, Mitsuru is being mean to me?!" Jiro whined.

"Stop, when did you start whining to me about this kind of thing?" I asked. "Please stop, it's embarrassing."

"Okay." he muttered dejectedly. "Anyway, back to Gaara, if you think Lady Ketto is going to let you kill someone on her watch then you better think again!"

"Yeah, we know you're tough, but we have some tricks we haven't shown yet either, right Naruto?" Shikamaru said.

"Right, there's so many things we haven't shown yet." Naruto agreed.

"I'll say it once more, if you get in my way I'll kill you." Gaara said.

"That's it, Lady Ketto, I'm never leaving your side." Jiro input. "If he tries to take your life again I want to see it. I want to see you put him in his place."

I sighed, I've already planned on ditching both Mitsuru and Jiro at any chance I can get. I didn't want them following me to protect me or anything, and now they'll have the threat of Gaara on their minds. It will be a bit more difficult for me to lose them now.

"And I'll say it again, you can go ahead and try it!" Naruto shouted, he was getting all fired up. It looked as if he was going to pick a fight with Gaara on the spot.

"Back off!" Shikamaru yelled. "We don't want to go there. This guy fights like he's mad, like he's a demon or something."

"He can act like a demon if he wants to but you know what, I've got the real thing inside of me!" Naruto yelled. I perked up at that bit of information.

Shikamaru elbowed him in the stomach. "Idiot, leave this to me. What's the point of getting him mad."

"A demon huh." Gaara said. He looked down and continued, "My demon is as real as yours is. From my birth my upbringing was not what most people would consider normal or a happy one. To ensure that I would become the strongest of shinobi, my father cast his ninjutsu on me, infusing my unborn self with the sand spirit. I destroyed the life of the woman who gave birth to me, I was born a monster. It's name is Shukaku, the incarnation of an old monk of the sand village who had been sealed up in a jar of tea."

"Yeah, some kind of demonic jutsu, but to use it on a baby before it's even born. Man that's creepy." Shikamaru said. Everyone else looked bothered by what Gaara told us, I wasn't affected, it's so very similar to what my uncle did you me. "Gee, what a swell guy your dad must have been. He really must have loved you alot."

"You speak of love? Don't measure me by your standards." Gaara said. "Love, family, the only emotional ties I have to my family are the ones that I would like to wrap around their necks. They are only ties of hate."

"Your mother's dead." I spoke suddenly. "Your siblings are terrified of you and they keep their distance." my hands curled into fists as I continued, "It's your father, the one who made you a jinchuriki. He's the one that decided you have no use for him anymore. All because you can't control your bloodlust." While my uncle worked to develop my skills to use me as a weapon for Kirigakure, Gaara's father had been trying to get rid of him for not being what he wanted him to be.

"In the six years of me turning six, my father tried to destroy me more times than I can count."

"What the hell!?" Naruto yelled. "That's messed up!"

"The jutsu that had given me birth had unbalanced something in my mind. Even the fools in my village finally realized I had emotional problems. My father the Kazekage had created me as his ultimate weapon, but I eventually became a threat to the village I was supposed to save. By the time I was six, I became a figure of terror to the villagers. To them, I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. I failed at my one purpose in life, so why go on living? For a long time I couldn't find an answer to that, but in order to live you need a purpose. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead. The reason to live is in the killing of others."

Everyone was frozen in place, all except for Jiro. He charged forward with the intent to punch Gaara in the face, but Shikamaru still had his hold on Gaara's shadow so Shikamaru would also be affected. I moved to intercept Jiro and hold him back from Gaara. "Lady Ketto let go! This sorry excuse of a human wants us to feel sorry for him when there are others out there who have had it worse!" Jiro struggled against my hold on him, but I kept my feet planted firmly on the floor. "He doesn't know that our whole village thought of you as the Demon of the Mist long before the graduation exam all because the Mizukage raised you since birth. They thought you would turn out just like him, and he is a jinchuriki! He had you participate in the graduation exam when you were seven where you had to kill more experienced ninja just to survive! He's had you training with the seven ninja swordsmen since you could wield a blade! You even said it yourself, that your own brother comes at you with the intent of killing you! So why won't you let me knock some sense into this guy?!"

Jiro still tried to get passed me without success. "That is my life." I said. "I never knew that the way I was being raised was wrong, it just was the way things were and still are. I don't care how you feel about it, but my time spent with the seven ninja swordsmen before they defected was enjoyable. They didn't treat me like some weapon of the village, they saw me as their legacy. While we weren't training and trying to kill each other we became our own family."

I heard someone groan behind me and glanced over to see that Shikamaru's hold on Gaara faded and Mitsuru was the one to punch Gaara in the face. Gaara stumbled into the wall as Mitsuru advanced on him again.

"Yeah! Sock him again!" Jiro cheered him on. Gaara managed to gain his footing and sand rose up around him.

"That's enough." We all looked to the doorway to see Lee's sensei there. "Save it for tomorrow, that's when the final competition begins.

Gaara's sand was put back in his gourd as he clutched his head and then he walked out of the room. Before he passed through the door, he stopped and said, "All the same, I will kill you. Just you wait, I'll kill you all." He left then leaving us all standing here wondering if he will actually try and kill all of us.

Gai was quiet for a moment. "The rest of you should go too. You shouldn't be worrying about Lee when you should be preparing for the final rounds. Go on now, all of you should go prepare for tomorrow."

Slowly, we all left Lee's room and left the hospital. On the street Shikamaru was the first to say anything. "Well, I'm gonna head on home. If I get home too late I won't hear the end of it from my mom." he turned away from us and started to walk off. "See you all tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Shikamaru, see you tomorrow." Naruto waved absentmindedly. Shikamaru left us, now it was just me, Naruto, Jiro and Mitsuru.

"Mitsuru, I can't believe you were the one to punch Gaara in the face." I broke the silence.

Jiro went to high five Mitsuru, "Good one!" only he ended up awkwardly holding his hand up in the air. He dropped his arm when he realized Mitsuru wasn't going to give him a high five.

"He deserved it." Mitsuru said. "He was using all of what happened to him in his life as an excuse for the way he acts. There's nothing I can't stand more than someone not owning up to who and what they are."

"That's kind of poetic." I said. "I'm still surprised you did something like that, but I understand why you did."

"What now?" Jiro questioned. He looked around the street trying to take in our surroundings. "Actually, this will probably be our last night here. I would like to try some kind of barbeque before we go back to Kirigakure." Then to Naruto he added, "Our cuisine is very different from yours, we usually eat rice with fish and vegetables, or at least variations of that. Can you show us a good place to eat? I'm starving." Jiro was right about our lack of meat variety. Last night, uncle Yagura and I had beef, but we rarely do. It's something that's more expensive because it has to be imported from the land of Fire. We don't really have the land to raise cattle, the land of Water does mostly crop farming rather than cattle raising.

"Huh, oh sure!" Naruto exclaimed. "There's this barbeque place that Shikamaru always goes to with his team. It's actually pretty good. Come on, I'll show you."

Naruto directed the three of us through the village and in no time the four of us were seated in a booth with a grill in the tabletop. I tossed my hair up in a messy bun so that I wouldn't be sitting on it, a few wisps of blue hair didn't quite make it into the ponytail but I didn't care. Then, I picked up a menu and tried to figure out what sounded good to me. Barbequed ribs, cut beef and pork, chicken, and there were even vegetable options to grill up too. I didn't know what I wanted.

"We should get the ribs." Mitsuru commented from behind his menu. "If we want barbeque anything then we have to get the ribs."

"I agree." Jiro said.

I shrugged, I didn't really care what we got, I would be willing to try whatever they wanted to. I didn't really care about what I ate as long as it tasted good. I put my menu back on the table. When the an employee came to take our order Naruto ordered several racks of ribs for our table.

"Do any of you have a plan for tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, not really." Jiro said. "My opponent is Mitsuru and we have been training with each other all month. We've been training together before we even knew we would have to go up against one another. If I want to win against him, I'll have to whip up something new, otherwise neither of us will win."

"I hate to admit it, but we are pretty evenly matched." Mitsuru sighed. "I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow."

"What about you Ketto?" Naruto turned to me. "Any plans for your match with Kankuro?"

"I haven't thought of it either. I'm not all that worried about beating him, it's just a matter of how I'll beat him." I said. I thought of my upcoming fight with Kankuro. His chakra levels are not something to be desired, they're pretty average for a genin and he doesn't seem to have any remarkable jutsu's. I'll admit that I've never gone up against a puppet master before, but even I know that Kankuro's skill with his puppets is also average. I briefly wonder about his chakra strings, could he use them to control humans? I vaguely remember Kankuro using a chakra string to trip Naruto during our first meeting, but the string was just in the way, it didn't actually move any part of Naruto. I guess Kankuro's chakra strings are something I'll just have to look out for.

"But you saw him in his preliminary match, he won against his opponent without a problem." Naruto said. "Are you sure you're not worried?" he wondered.

"This is Ketto we're talking about." Jiro said. "She'll beat Kankuro without a problem. I'm not worried about her moving on to the final match."

"Kankuro is going to have to know more than the trick he used in the preliminaries." I said. "All he did was change places with his puppet and have it do all the work. There really wasn't anything remarkable about his performance."

"I wonder how far he's come?" Mitsuru wondered. "I doubt he'll be able to beat you, but for his sake I hope he's improved. If he hasn't then that would just be embarrassing for him."

"Hey, we should do some training together!" Naruto suggested excitedly. "I haven't done much training, I learned the summoning jutsu and Ketto taught me how to walk on water before she left to the land of Waves, but I didn't get to train with anyone."

"If you want we could find a training area when we're done eating." I didn't plan on doing any training tonight, but Naruto seemed to want to do some training. For a second, I wondered if Naruto had anyone to train with. Kakashi was doing separate training with Sasuke. Sakura didn't seem to have an interest in training at all now that she was no longer participating in the chunin exams. Something tells me that she spent more of her time visiting Lee in the hospital than she does working on her ninja skills. So, Naruto wouldn't have many options for people he could ask to train with him. "Actually, could you show us some memorable places here in the Leaf village? I would like to see the Hokage monument up close. We don't have anything like that in Kirigakure to remember our kage."

"Do you guys also have a memorial stone?" Jiro asked.

"Yeah, we do." Naruto said. "Did you want to see that too?"

"Yes, it would be nice to see how other lands remember their dead." Jiro said.

A server came by with a plate of ribs for each of us and small cups of barbeque sauce so we could add however much we wanted. Naruto turned on the grill and we all began adding our ribs to the surface. Right away, I added barbeque sauce to one side of my ribs with a basting brush and then waited for it to cook.

"Doesn;t every village use a memorial stone?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know." Jiro said. "We have a memorial stone, but it's located in memorial park. No one really goes there unless if they are visiting the stone of the lost."

"What's that?" Naruto wondered. His eyes were squinted in confusion. "I've never heard of it."

"It's something particular to the land of Water. The lost are those who have lost their lives during the last graduation exam. It was the biggest loss the hidden Mist has suffered since the last shinobi war." Mitsuru said. "There were one-hundred something lives lost. The biggest graduation class since the second Mizukages reign."

"My mom visits once a year on the day of the anniversary." Jiro added. "I wish she would stop going, people have been commenting on it in recent years. They think she's unfit to be a member of the cypher division. It's only a matter of time before she really does something to warrant that."

"She's just remembering Shiro, it doesn't mean that she's crazy." I said. The way Jiro said it made me believe that he also thinks his mother is losing her mind. He's probably just embarrassed by her behavior. "She must be good at her job, hmm?" If she wasn't any good the head of the cypher division would have let her go the moment she started showing emotion that could jeopardize their work.

"Oh, she's amazing. She's one of the best at gathering information. She's valued that's for sure." Jiro said.

I flipped my ribs and applied barbeque sauce to the other side. "You must be proud of her. I hear that being part of the cypher division is really demanding. It's almost impossible to maintain a good standing in that division."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that I'm proud of her." Jiro turned his ribs over on the grill too and slathered on some sauce.

"My dad was part of the cypher division." I said. "Or at least that's what uncle tells me. Dad was good at what he did, but one day his squad was captured and he commited suicide to protect the villages secrets."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Jiro looked away.

"I didn't know my parents either." Naruto said. "I've only ever had the Third Hokage to look after me." he was quiet for a moment before he added, "Iruka sensei has been looking out for me too. I don't know why he would do that, I always did a bunch of stuff to get attention and instead of ignoring my actions he would treat me like any other kid."

"Why would anyone treat you any differently anyway?" Mitsuru asked.

Naruto softly smiled, "I'm the jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. The day I was born it rampaged the village and there were lots of casualties. Everyone treats me differently because they think the nine tailed fox will take over and attempt to destroy the village again. They're afraid of what could happen."

"A jinchuriki is still a person." Mitsuru said. He was reaching over to take his ribs off of the grill so he didn't see the wide smile on Naruto's face. "Our Mizukage is a jinchuriki of the three tailed beast, we used to have another one to, the six tails. Only, I think he defected awhile ago."

"You mean Utakata?" I asked. My brows furrowed, I haven't thought of him in years.

"Is that his name? I never knew, just that he defected." Mitsuru said.

"Wait, you knew him?" Jiro wondered. "How did you know him?"

"He was an anbu, I was paired with him for some missions for awhile when I was first assigned. He was older than me, so his purpose was to make sure I completed my missions in the way the Mizukage wanted." I said. A part of me knew I was related to Utakata in a way, only members of the Kage family became jinchuriki, but I didn't know where exactly our relations met. Not that it matters, I was just pleased to be acquainted with someone in the same situation as me even though I couldn't tell him. "I don't want to say he was a friend, we tolerated each other that's all." I picked my ribs off of the grill and took a bite. "This is good."

"Told you it was the best!" Naruto exclaimed. "So Ketto, you know two other tailed beasts? Is that why you weren't affected when I told you?"

"I suppose, but like Mitsuru said, they're still people." I said. That and I wouldn't want to be treated differently because I was a jinchuriki. I get enough of that now and no one knows I am one. I doubt the way people treat me would change much even if they did know. "You've also been nothing but kind to me since I've gotten here."

"Yeah Naruto, you're pretty cool!" Jiro gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks!" Naruto looked pleased with himself and couldn't stop smiling. "You guys are pretty cool too!"

I lightly smiled, Naruto has got to be the first person to think of me as being cool. How does one even get classified as being cool? I shook my head not wanting to think about something that wasn't all that important.

Together the four of us finished eating and then we paid for our food equally. Naruto was walking us through the village to where the memorial stone was located. I'm not sure why something like that interested Jiro, but I didn't question it. I always assumed other nations worshiped the dead in the same way. I never had a need to find out for myself, so I didn't bother checking it out.

Naruto brought us to a clearing that had a large black stone shaped like a kunai on top of a pedestal. It was just like the one in Kirigakure. Names were engraved on it and appeared darker than the already black stone, the names were very small probably to fit as many on as possible.

"Hey Jiro, you said something about the stone of the lost." Naruto said. "What does it look like?"

"It actually looks like Ketto's Kukushibyo sword, that's what was thought to be the, um, killing weapon. But there was an unknown toxin too, some people speculated that she had access to poison." Jiro said. "It's the only memorial that people visit."

"There's nothing else here." Mitsuru said. "I thought there would be more for some reason."

"Well, we have a cemetary." Naruto said. "Only people who were killed in service to our village are remembered here. Those that are normal civilians are buried in the cemetery."

"Can you take us to the Hokage monument now?" I asked. The idea that the people of the land of Fire remember their Hokage after generations struck me. When the Mizukage passes and a new one is chosen we all seem to forget about them. We remember specific things they did, like the third Mizukage, Shojuro, was known for making the Mist the Bloody Mist. None of the Mizukage's have ever done anything all that remarkable for the villagers to want to praise them after death.

"Sure, let's go!" Naruto cheered. He brought us to the monument and we all looked up at it.

"Who are all of the Hokage's?" Mitsuru asked. He looked up at each one, but I could tell he didn't know who any of them were, why would he.

"The first is Hashirama Senju, his brother Tobirama is the second. The third is old man Hiruzen Sarutobi. The fourth is Minato Namikaze." Naruto explained.

"Wait, what happened to the fourth?" I wondered. The Hokage that I've seen and known about was Hiruzen Sarutobi, I didn't even know that there was a fourth until I saw the monument.

"The fourth died on the night of the nine tails attack. It was a tragedy that also took his wife and son." Naruto said. "I can't help feeling that it's partially my fault."

"It's not though." I said. I looked to him. "It was the nine tailed fox, not Naruto Uzumaki."

"Thanks Ketto." Naruto said. "The sun is going down, do you guys wanna see something cool?"

"Sure." Jiro said.

Naruto showed us a path that zigzagged up the side of the monument. At the top he walked over to the edge of the structure and sat down. I followed him with Mitsuru and Jiro trailing after me. We also took a seat and looked over at the village with our legs dangling off of the edge of the monument. "Doesn't it look amazing?" Naruto asked.

I looked across at the village that was illuminated by the sunset. Everything looked ethereal, it was nothing I've ever seen before. In Kirigakure everything is gray and covered in mist. The buildings there are cylindrical and uncolored, different than what is seen here. There is color everywhere, reds and blues, greens, and the sun is making everything look more golden.

"It is pretty amazing." Jiro said. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"What's it like in Kirigakure?" Naruto asked.

"Completely different from here." I said. "I hope you can see it one day. Hopefully it will be different there by the time you visit."

"Why do you say that?" Naruto wondered. I could sense that he turned to look at me, but I was still admiring the view.

"The people there are not all that friendly. I was hoping that by the time you went to Kirigakure the people would have changed. Especially if they find out you are a jinchuriki, they won't like that at all." I said. I looked away from the view to look at Naruto. "It will take some time, but eventually Kirigakure will be different. It's all a matter of where to start with the change. I'll figure that out at some point. We'll see which direction things go from here."

"Lady Ketto, how do you plan to make that kind of change?" Mitsuru wondered.

"I have no idea, all I know is that it has to happen and it has to happen soon. The specifics can come at a later date, but that is the conclusion I have come to for now." I said.

We were all quiet, just watching the sunset. I was stuck in my own thoughts. I don't know where the idea came to change the way Kirigakure is, but I know it's something that needs to happen. It's just the thought of seeing Naruto in Kirigakure, I wouldn't want him to see how it is now.

After the sunset Jiro, Mitsuru and I separated from Naruto to go back to our apartment. We wished him well for tomorrow and left him to himself. All night, I had Kirigakure on my mind, but what could I do to change anything? I'm only one person, this is something that will require the cooperation of many people. Now to figure out how to go about it...