mocking

by Lazydaily

naru OC in root no mass

11. Chapter 11

Itachi took my scheming in his stride. He was annoyed I had tried to manipulate him (or more annoyed he hadn't realised fully), but overall he was glad. Acting as ambassador had given him a taste of what he could accomplish, and it made him hungry for more.

Even Shisui admitted that which I was a 'scheming bitch', I had good intentions...he just asked if I had any ideas for him to tell him first, before meddling.

I think it's needless to say, but Itachi was soon redistributed to other areas within the shinobi forces. After his return, the Hokage seemed intent to place him back into the anonymity of ANBU. I had advised him not to - if Itachi was as interested in the Hokage position as he said he was, hiding in ANBU right now would do him no favours.

While he was in the spotlight, he needed to take advantage. Getting a position like Hokage in peace times was different than during war and strife. It wasn't only about your skill and position as strongest Shinobi in the village - although I'm pretty sure Itachi was up there in terms of strength.

Instead, I advised him to take a few normal Jounin missions. Nothing fancy, solo or teamwork were fine. After that, approach Shikaku for a mentoring post, or offer himself for consultancy work in intelligence. Or, if he was feeling particularly masochistic, take on a genin team and make sure they passed their chuunin exams first time.

And Itachi being the over achiever he is? He did all of the above. In one year.

It made me feel lazy. I had ANBU, and I had my seal work...and acted as Itachi's unofficial troubleshooter. I had absolutely no intention on doing more at the moment. For once, I was busy but not pulling apart at the seams and it was nice. Really nice.

ANBU was great. The missions were fun and varied. While Team Ro was officially an Assault-based team, we took on a variety of roles. The ANBU commander even offered me a position to coordinate espionage missions and help secure a spy network again, since ROOT's had gone by the wayside. It was an easy job, and I could fit it around my normal missions (it got me out of training, so yay)- it was nothing like the juggling act Danzo had me doing.

And soon after Itachi left our squad, we got a new member to our team. His mask designation was Otter, and he was a one eyed Uchiha.

Who the hell were they kidding?

Having Obito join ANBU was a move I didn't see coming, but I guess it made sense. They must have assessed him thoroughly, in regards to being a traitor and a flight risk, and deemed him suitable. It made me a little nervous at first, but I tolerated it. He was actually a pretty good team player, and charismatic...He was easy to like, unless he impaled you through your chest.

He didn't realise who I was at first and tried everything to get me to like him, but to no avail. From carrying my things to going out of his way to speak to me on mission. He knew the rumours of Hibari being ex-ROOT, but didn't know that Hibari was Nakahara Erena. And I didn't see a point in correcting him just yet.

"Hibari, I've been on your team for a few months now, and you're a good teammate, but why don't you like me?" God, he was whiny and sounded like a child.

I exhaled. "Many reasons. Why do you think?"

"I honestly don't know! I've been racking my brains and Dog won't tell me - he just said you're difficult. But you get on well with everyone else, so I know it has to be me."

"You're right. It is you."

"But whyyyyy?"

"Okay, I'll bite...tell me what you know about me."

"Um...you're in ANBU, ex-ROOT? Really good at infiltration. Lots of people respect you. I think even Dog likes you and he doesn't really like anyone, so that means you must be a pretty good Shinobi."

"Technically correct. Want the whole story?"

"Sure! This is us bonding, isn't it?" God, he was an imbecile. I raised a hand to show five outstretched fingers.

"I was taken in at ROOT age seven, after the Kyuubi attack killed my parents." I lowered a finger. "When I was in ROOT, I was Danzo's second in command, and in charge of the Infiltration Corps. But I went against Danzo to usurp him. During which I stopped the Uchiha coup." I lowered another finger. "And brought down Danzo...did you know he was receiving outside help from someone?" I lowered my third finger. I could see him starting to tense now. "Once I saw to Danzo's capture and ROOTs integration into Konoha, I volunteered for an undercover mission to Mist, where it was discovered that the Mizukage was under a genjutsu." I lowered my fourth finger. "And after I returned, I was stabbed through my heart by a traitor to Konoha." I lowered my thumb.

"Oh shit."

"Yes. Oh shit." I waved my hand with all my fingers lowered. "Do you know what this is?"

"Um...five times I've screwed up?"

"No, it's a fist."

And I slammed it into his stomach, winding him. I also really hoped I bruised some kind of internal organ.

"Okay, now we can be friends."

And we were, to some extent. I still wasn't fully relaxed around him, but I did loosen up. He also seemed to take extra care around me on missions after that...but more in a protective way? There was one time when we were ambushed, and he pulled me out of the way of a barrage of shuriken. And then another when I was 'taken' hostage, and he freaked out to save me (it was a ploy to find the kidnappers base and he nearly fucked it. I was so mad).

It was nearly a year since the Suna treaty, and I was supposed to meet Shisui and Itachi in a bar on a Friday night. Shisui was just back from a long-ish term mission in Snow (it seemed to be a favourite of his), and Itachi was celebrating no longer having his genin running around after him. After they passed their Chuunin exams, they hovered around him until he found them new jobs to keep them busy.

I was waiting at a table, grumbling to myself about the others being late. It was very unlike Itachi, at least. Two figures came and sat next to me, and I was about to tell the Uchiha off for keeping me waiting, only to look up and see it was Kakashi and Obito (or Tobi, since he had his genjutsu in place).

"Mah, Erena...what you doing here? Been stood up?"

"Oh, fuck off, Kakashi. The boys are just running a bit late."

"You mean Itachi and Shisui? You mean they didn't tell you?" Obito said, confused.

"What?"

"There's a clan meeting just now. It's not due to end for at least another hour."

Are you kidding me?

I huffed. Stupid clan meetings and stupid idiots who can't communicate.

"Fucking great. Well, nice seeing you two. If you'll excuse me, I'm going home to rage and plot some payback. Goodnight!"

"Mah, you could stay here? We don't bite."

I gave him a dry look. "Kakashi, you forget I go on missions with you. Biting is the least of my problems."

"Suit yourself!"

Fuck it.

"Fine, but I'm not paying for the first round. I've been stood up by my best friends and I'm in a bad mood."

For all my complaining, the two of them were pretty fun. Obito was a completely different person than when I first met him, and seemed to enjoy aggravating Kakashi as much as I did. Kakashi acted like the victim, but you could tell he was enjoying it. After the first hour, things slowly devolved into drinking games. Now, I'd normally decline, but peer pressure was a definite thing.

Fun fact: Hatake Kakashi can't hold his drink.

It was nearly two hours with Obito and Kakashi, before we were interrupted by a stressed looking Shisui and Itachi. At the time, we were playing Ring of Fire (one of my old favourites), when Shisui ran over to the table.

"Erena! We are so sorry. We didn't know about the meeting and then it was too late to send word."

I waved my hand at them, flopping. "It's fineee! Now get a drink and sit down before we finished the game."

"Are you drunk?"Itachi asked, looking concerned.

"Yup! Blame these two. Bad influences." I pointed to Kakashi and Obito, who waved.

Itachi sighed before sitting down. "I suppose this is better than the alternative. I'd hate to see what payback you would have had in store for us standing you up."

"Oh, she's not forgotten!" Obito chirped.

Itachi and Shisui shared a look of dread. I hummed happily.

"Well, I might as well enjoy the night since it's probably my last." Shisui sighed. "What are you all drinking?" The good boy went and bought a full round for us all.

When he brought the tray over, he handed the drinks out.

"I don't think we've met before? You friends of Hatakes?"

"Mmm. Yes! You could say that!" Obito said, already seeming a little off. I think they made him nervous.

"He's on our squad, too," I volunteered.

Shisui took a drink and Itachi frowned. "Oh, I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I keep to myself. I'm a bit shy, you see?"

I snorted. "Shy? I'm calling bullshit. Kakashi, you calling bullshit?"

He hummed. "Bullshit."

"Oh shut up, you two. Anyway, Erena. You're meant to be on my side tonight. It's more fun annoying Bakashi when you have backup."

I was about to reply when Itachi butted in. "And can we have a name? It's only polite." There was a faint edge in his voice I only just picked up on.

"Oh, I'm Tobi!" He grinned.

"Tobi...?"

"...Uchiha?"

Shisui seemed surprised, but Itachi's eyes narrowed. Mmm...I was going to have a headache soon, I knew it. Why did the idiot not say a fake last name?

"Uchiha Tobi? I don't know of any Uchiha Tobi...do you?" Shisui asked Itachi, confused.

"No I don't." His voice was sharp. Oh, he knew.

"Have we met?" Shisui asked.

Obito looked a bit nervous. "No, I don't think we have..."

"I would like to disagree," Itachi snapped. He never snapped. I took a drink and looked between the two. I went to look for Kakashi for help, but the bastard had disappeared.

Fucking coward.

"Really? I'm so confused...how do you know him? I know everyone you do," Shisui still had no clue. He looked to me. "What am I missing here?"

Itachi was full on staring at Obito now, who looked like he wanted to sink into the ground.

"Well...I guess you're cousins? Pretty sure you've met..."I volunteered.

His eyebrows shot up. "What? How? When?"

"Ummm...He was away for a little while? And I guess you could say he's skilled with the katana? Definitely got the better of me, anyway..." I offered, cringing slightly.

"What do you me-" He paused. "I really hope you are fucking joking."

Oh, it was quiet Shisui. I didn't like quiet Shisui. He was the scary Shisui.

"Um. Nope? But it's fine! I punched him, we made up. It's all good!"

"No, Erena. It's not 'good'" Oh dear, now Scary Itachi was coming out.

I turned to Obito and whispered, "If I were you, I'd pull a Kakashi and get out of here. They've turned on their Scary Modes. Zero out of ten, would not recommend."

He looked at me and nodded briefly. "Noted." And without delay, he got up and ran to the nearest closed door. Shisui growled and made after him, but by the time he made it to him, Obito had disappeared.

"What the fuck do you think you are playing at, Erena!"

I looked at the table and pointed. "Playing? Ring of fire? It's fun. Want in?"

"That's not what he means, Erena." Itachi sounded tired.

"Since when did you hang around with S-Ranked traitors?"

I frowned. "Since my best friends stood me up. That's how long."

"But you knew it was him! After what he did? He nearly killed you!"

"I'm over it. It's fine!"

"Stop saying everything is 'fine'. It's not fine!"

My nice evening had now turned into a big argument and I really couldn't be bothered. I rolled my eyes at them, before standing up and walking to the door.

"Erena, where are you going?! We haven't finished."

I waved at them behind me without turning around. I heard chairs scraping as they got up to follow me.

"Erena, stop." Itachi grabbed my arm. I turned around and blinked at him. "We're just worried."

"Shhh!" I put my fingers to his lips to quiet him. "No speak."

Itachi looked startled and turned to Shisui. "Is she always like this when she's drunk?" Except when I was fourteen, I had only been drunk one time since, when Itachi was away on a mission with his genin...I convinced Shisui to go out, mainly to see what we was like drunk. Sadly, he could hold his alcohol better than me, and I remembered nothing.

Shisui snorted. "Pretty much. But she's not reached the puking stage so our shoes are safe."

"Hey, I resemble that...resent?...no definitely resemble!"

"Yes you do...I guess we should take her home...otherwise who knows where she'll end up."

Happy with their conclusion, I turned around and walked off in the direction of home. "Erena, slow down!" Itachi called.

With my brisk pace, the others followed suit and I was home in no time. They didn't try and discuss the Obito topic any further.

I spun around before I entered the house and pointed my fingers at them.

"Tomorrow, eight, the bakery on the corner. Don't be late, got it?" Both nodded at me. "Goodnight!" And I closed the door behind me.

Unfortunately for them, I had no intention of meeting them at eight. Instead, I got up at six, showered, and went to hide in one of the trees at the training ground. It was likely Gai was doing his morning work out, and there was no way they would think to look for me there.

It was pretty petty of me to stand them up after last night, but I gave zero fucks.

I settled into my tree branch and went to fall asleep when I heard Gai return - he must have been running around somewhere, probably doing circuits of the whole village or something. He was crazy like that.

"Hello, Gai!" I waved from my perch.

"Erena! What a beautiful morning! Have you come to join me on my Youthful work out!?"

"Nah. I'm slightly hungover and hiding from Shisui and Itachi. Hope you don't mind me hanging out?" I tried to be funny and hang upside down from the branch, but as soon as I flipped my head, my skull pounded and I lost my grip on the branch.

I probably would have landed head first if Gai hadn't ran over and caught me.

"Note to self - hangovers and upside down do not mix."

Gai laughed and put me down, and I brushed myself off. "Don't worry! I promise I will catch you! And if I don't, I will perform a hundred high jumps!"

"Can't have that, can we? That sounds like an absurd waste of time." I tree walked back to my branch, and sat normally. "Maybe just do five? That seems far more sensible."

"Five it is!"

"Excellent. Now, I was planning on snoozing...that cool with you? Don't worry about noise, I could probably sleep through the apocalypse right now."

He gave me an extravagant thumbs up and went back to his routine. He knew me enough by now that when I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to talk, and it wasn't likely anything personal. Sometimes you just need quiet time, you know? Initially when I did this he thought he had upset me, but realised it was just part of my personality. Sometimes I'd talk your ear off, sometimes I just wanted quiet company.

I fell asleep soon after, and lost track of time. I felt a prod at my cheek, which stirred me awake.

"Erena! I am finished now, but I did not want to leave you alone while you slept. Do you intend to stay much longer?"

It must have been sometime after ten, so I figured I'd hidden for long enough. "Nah, I should probably go, too. Thanks for waking me...see you tomorrow morning?"

Sunday was our usual time for training. It was both the best and worst time of my week. Gai was refreshing, but he was a hard task master...It was also the reason why I never made any plans for a Saturday night - even if I was tired, Gai would never let up.

"Yes! I look forward to it. In fact, I wanted to discuss something with you..."he trailed off and started to blush. "Tomorrow, I was thinking I could bring breakfast for us both?" He seemed slightly subdued and nervous, which was very out of character.

"For before training? Gai, I can guarantee that will make me vomit."

"No! Perhaps instead of training...we could just enjoy each other's youthful company?"

My brain stopped for a second.

"Like, a date?" The question sounded weird coming from my mouth. Did Gai seriously just ask me out on a date? Instead of training? Was he okay?

"That was my plan." He nodded, his face held a little tight.

In all honesty, this was not something I had considered a possibility. I had my friends, and they were very much where I liked them. I didn't think any kind of relationship was on the cards for me...I wasn't sure I even wanted one? I didn't trust easily, so adding a new person to my circle was out. And because I had very few friends, the possibility of complicating one with a risky relationship (because, lets face it, I'm hard work at the best of times), was frightening.

But when I thought about it, Gai was very much in a similar position. He had a few friends, but I was pretty sure I was his only real female one. If he was willing to risk that, he must have given it a lot of thought.

And he knew most of my past, and had been around me at my best and worst. He brought out the best in me, and always seemed determined to keep me happy and cheerful, even in one of my moods. I'd snapped at him a few times, but he was the only one I could actually say i apologised to on a regular basis for it...maybe I cared more about what he thought of me than I realised?

"Sure!" I replied with a smile. "Want me to bring anything?"

"Yosh! No! I will plan a most Youthful morning meal! Simply bring yourself!" He grinned and started bouncing, I laughed at his ridiculousness.

"See you then!"

"Yes! Have a wonderful day!" He ran off in a hurry.

Huh...did I really just do that?

I left the training grounds right after him, and decided to go for a stroll. My head was milling around with my date tomorrow with Gai (I still couldn't believe that was a thing), I was still slightly half asleep and not in the right mood to find Itachi and Shisui yet. I would find them later and speak to them (and maybe apologise? Their reactions were pretty justified and I was just annoyed at them for bailing on me).

I went deeper into the woods, heading towards a small stream I found a few months ago. It was usually deserted and usually had some fish flopping around. It was quite a nice place to sit if you were avoiding people. As I approached, I could hear a couple of voices chattering away. I peeked around a tree and found Naruto and Sasuke...they were by the stream, and Naruto was acting like an idiot, trying to show off and catch the fish. He was failing pretty miserably, and Sasuke was finding his attempts hilarious.

"You're scaring the fish, Dobe! You'll never catch them!"

"Watch me! I'm going to catch them all, dattebayo!"

I had the sudden urge to start singing the Pokemon theme tune, but I would be the only one to find it funny.

At the edge of my senses, I detected a few other chakra signatures in the distance. This was odd for a number of reasons - largely because this wasn't a well known area, but also because I didn't recognise the signatures at all. There were usually an ANBU or two around Naruto, but they may be scarce during shift changes or in low risk areas. And if I could easily detect ANBU like this, they weren't doing their job right.

I suppressed my own signature, and kept myself hidden as I felt the signatures approach. The boys were still playing in the water, with Sasuke getting involved now.

I saw a rustle of leaves behind them, and a glint of metal. Whoever this was, wasn't expecting company and were shit at hiding.

Before the shuriken landed, I jumped in front of Naruto and used my kunai to deflect it.

"Boys, behind me!"

Without hesitation, they both stopped and jumped behind me. Four shinobi jumped out. They were hooded with no distinguishing village plates, but their cloth choice and gear screamed Iwa.

Two of them dove for me and I held them off easily. The other two looked like they were considering going for Naruto and Sasuke, but I couldn't allow that. I made for them before they could break for them.

"Sasuke! Fire jutsu! As high as you can go! Naruto! If you have any explosion tags or flares set them off! If not, join Sasuke - I want as much noise and light as you can! And both of you get as far away as you can, and stick together!"

As I was fighting, the boys obeyed my instructions explicitly. I knew Sasuke's chakra reserves weren't great, but we managed a fairly impressive fireball over the tree canopy- it wasn't huge, but I didn't need it to be. Naruto also had an impressive arsenal of tags on him and started setting them off.

Every so often, one fo the Shinobi would try and break free from the assault and head to them, but I would follow and bring their attention back. I managed to get one of them with a well placed knockout tag while doing some impressive acrobatics, if I don't say so myself.

Right now, my aim was more about the boys safety than anything else. I could have easily taken on the shinobi one or two at a time, but if one of them broke off, I couldn't allow them to get to them.

Despite the boys best efforts, there was still no sign of reinforcements. I couldn't see them anymore, which meant they had listened to be and ran off. I half expected Naruto to jump in and act like a fool, but I was glad he wasn't here.

I was getting annoyed, and was seconds away from activating my Time Flicker seal, when one of them caught me in an Earth jutsu. My left leg was caught over my knee and I was stuck in place. I snarled, and was about to use an Earthquake technique to shatter it, but another transformed his arm into stone and smashed it right across my femur.

If it wasn't for the Earth jutsu holding me in place, I would have fallen to the ground. My leg was clearly broken, and there was a shard of bone sticking out.

Before they could take advantage of my injury, I activated the Time Flicker. I could see them freeze. I was still stuck in place and couldn't move, but I didn't need to. I grabbed my remaining kunai and attached knockout tags to them (it was fiddly to do), before throwing them in their direction. Each of them hit their targets right at their shoulders.

Confident they were successfully tagged, I deactivated the Time Flicker. Right on cue, they fell to the ground. I activated the Earthquate jutsu to shatter the earth around my trapped leg, but instantly regretted it - the vibrations caused an intense pain to shoot up my leg and I almost blacked out.

I was about to try another idea, when Shisui shunshined into the clearing.

"Impeccable timing, you missed all the fun!" I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Shit! You okay?"

"Just peachy, thank you...care to give a girl a hand?"

He came over and started to peel the earth away from me, being careful not to touch my leg. I saw him wince when he saw the open fracture.

Itachi came out just after, Naruto and Sasuke in tow.

Once my leg was free, I collapsed to the ground, unable to hold my weight.

"Erena!" Naruto shouted, and tried to run over.

"Whoa, back up, little dude. No touchy!" I stopped him before he got any closer. If he jostled my leg, I couldn't promise I wouldn't scream bloody murder.

"We should wait for a medic, I'd prefer not to move you right now," Shisui said.

"Yea, no, fuck that," I wasn't waiting around for a medic.

I grabbed my broken leg to straighten it, clenching down to stop myself from screaming. I pulled my leg out and away from my body, twisting slightly to replace the expose bone. I am strong enough to admit I definitely cried out at this point.

I then concentrated on healing the bone. I didn't bother healing the wound - I just needed my let stable enough to get out of here. It took a few minutes, but I stopped when I was happy enough. It wasn't perfect, and I probably fucked up the bone position, but I'd deal with that later.

"Help a girl up?" I asked Shisui. He looked slightly pale. I scoffed. "Please, like that's the first time you've seen me do that."

"You had a bone poking out, then you made the bone not poke out." Thank you, Mr Obvious.

"That was so COOL!" Naruto shouted. Of course the young child appreciated it.

I smiled at him. "It comes in useful."

"Umm...I guess you're not actually a rubbish shinobi after all, huh?" Sasuke mumbled, still attached to Itachi's side. I shared a quick look with Itachi, where he smirked.

Sasuke was convinced I was his bothers hanger-on fangirl that he put up with. He couldn't understand why his bother would chose to socialise with a lowly genin of my age and it became his new favourite insult for me. Both Itachi and Fugaku had told him to quit it, but he was stubborn and a little bit vindictive.

"Not really, no," I scrunched my nose up at him and smiled.

ANBU then appeared from the trees, so I gave a quick report - I explained I had only sensed four, all knocked out, and the boys seemed to be their targets. They took them away, no doubt to T and I. I'd probably have to give an official report later on.

After that, we wrapped my wound and headed to the hospital. Naruto decided to fill me in on their little adventure, where they had met Shisui and Itachi as they were running away. It turned out they had seen the boys little firework display, while looking for me, and were coming to investigate - they were more concerned about the two of them burning the forest down than an attack, so didn't immediately hurry until they literally crashed into them. Itachi wanted to take the boys away from danger, but they wouldn't hear of it.

As we were walking, with Shisui supporting me, he whispered to me, "What were they after?"

"No idea. They started to target Naruto first...but the aim was lethal."

"You think they wanted to take out our Jinchuriki?"

"I'm not sure." I really wasn't. It didn't make much sense to me...not that it mattered, that's why we had T and I to wheedle out the information.

"And how did you manage to get injured like that? It's not like you."

"I needed to keep their focus on me, and I let my guard down. I couldn't activate my seals around the boys - they'd ask too many questions...or at least Naruto would."

"Hn." Whoa. Shisui just did the characteristic Uchiha grunt? Sometimes I questioned his true heritage...guess I was wrong.

Once we were at the hospital, Itachi took the opportunity to take the boys to his house while Shisui stayed with me. I was taken to a bed and a chuunin healer came over to assess me. She winced when she examined me, which told me I'd probably screwed up somehow. She disappeared and a few minutes later Yumi appeared, looking angry (but when was he not?).

"Why did you perform a field repair on a complicated open fracture when you were within Konoha's boundaries?"

"Nice to see you, too!" I grinned.

"Nice you see me? Nice to see me!? I thought you were over these stunts. I've been over a year since any major disaster. I actually quite like seeing you for only social reasons, you know? But no. Here you are."

"Here I am!" I parroted, please with myself. Shisui looked embarassed for me.

"Here you are, and here I am, and here I go rebreaking your leg to fix your fuck up."

Before I had a chance to reply and ask what he meant, he held my chest down with one hand, placed his other on my leg and channelled chakra through it. I felt both the pain and the physical sensation of snapping and I couldn't help but vomit.

Shisui managed to grab a tray to catch it just in the knick if time.

"What the fuck?" I managed to whisper between heavy breaths. There was no reason for it to feel worse than the first time, but it did. "Why couldn't you give me any painkillers?"

"It would take too long. You kept up the accelerated bone repair, if I had even left it another half hour, you could have lost full strength in that leg. Don't do that again!" He waggled his finger at me, before going about re-repairing the breaks.

Less than ten minutes later, he repaired my fracture and wound. He threw me out with crutches and told me to not place weight on it for at least a week.

Then he invited me to dinner and his and Kutsu's flat on Tuesday. I was to bring the dessert.

"Sure, whatever, as long as you lay off the nagging for the night," I said.

"Impossible."

I shrugged. "Worth a try."

Shisui offered to walk me home, since I was an invalid. I felt like Bambi with the crutches - I would have been better off hopping.

"Is Yumi always that brutal? I think someone needs to speak to him about his bedside manner."

"No, he's great. That particular ire is only reserved for me. And Kutsu - but I'm pretty sure the biggest injury he's had since ROOT is a paper cut."

"It's hard to imagine the two of them being such good friends. Yumi is so brash, and Kutsu is as stoic as you can get." Shisui had met them a couple of times over the years. On a whole, those that were in the Infiltration corps tended to stick to ourselves - we generally felt uneasy around each others extended friendship circles and didn't really overlap too much.

"Yea, well, you know what they say - opposites attract."

Shisui paused. "What do you mean?"

"Eh? They're together? Everyone knew that."

He blinked a few times. "Pretty sure I didn't. That actually makes a lot of sense."

"That's because your head is stuck up your ass. The only love life you care about is your own."

"Not true..."

"Really, and what about Itachi's girlfriend?"

"ITACHI HAS A GIRLFRIEND?"

I snickered. "No, of course not. But if he did, you wouldn't have known anyway. The fact you almost believed me proves my point."

"Thank god. I probably would have had a heart attack. It would be like you telling me you were going on a date." He laughed.

"Well, actually..."

"Nice try, I'm not falling for that twice."

I shrugged. Well, he can't say I didn't try and tell him.

The rest of the day I stayed at home. An ANBU came by later saying I was to report tomorrow to give my statement, and that I was off active duty for the next week. I was still to report to Command but I would be on desk duty.

Itachi also came over to think me properly, and discuss the Obito situation. He wasn't willing to trust him, but he would accept his presence in Konoha. He also threatened to kill him if he even stepped a toe out of line, which included hurting me. He was pretty scary, actually.

The next morning, I went out to meet Gai as promised. I had to leave a little earlier than normal to manoeuvre with the crutches. When I appeared, Gai was already there.

When he saw me with the crutches, he widened his eyes and ran over. He picked me up, bridal style and deposited me on the blanket softly.

"WHAT HAPPENED? How are you injured? You did not need to come all the way over here if you couldn't walk! The dedication!"

"Hey, I said I would be here! It's fine, just a little broken leg, I'll be back to normal in a week. There was an unfortunate run in with a few foreign nin."

"Within Konoha?" He seemed concerned.

"Yea, but they are with T and I now, so they are probably working on them as we speak. I need to give my statement later, though."

He looked thoughtful for a second, definitely thinking about something. "Yosh! Let's forget this for now! It's most Unyouthful, and I don't want it to mar our time!"

I grinned. "I couldn't agree more."

The whole affair was really quite nice. It didn't really seem like a date, but two friends spending time together. The only difference being he would occasionally make small physical gestures towards me, like briefly hold my hand or touch my face, and I didn't pull away. At the end, I suggested we do something again during the week, and he accepted immediately.

He offered to walk me to ANBU Command, but I preferred to go alone - I knew he wasn't ANBUs biggest fan so we simply walk together until other paths split. Not knowing what to do, we parted with an awkward wave...It was probably the only cringey time of the whole date.

When I was there, I was sat down with the ANBU Commander and Morino Ibiki. Even though I wasn't the one on trial, Ibiki had a way about him that made you feel judged. It would probably be quite intimidating if you gave a shit.

At the end of my statement, they shared a look and Ibiki nodded to the ANBU Commander, before speaking.

"During the preliminary interrogations -"

"Torture." I interrupted. Ibiki narrowed his eyes at me and I tilted my head, smiling innocently.

"During the preliminary interrogations," he lifted his hand to stop me interrupting again, I grinned. "We have confirmed that the shinobi are indeed from Iwa. Based on their knowledge of ANBU schedules, we have concluded that they are not working alone. They have access to inside information that should not be available."

"There's a mole in ANBU?" I asked.

"That is our conclusion."

"And let me guess - you want me to find it?" After helping Shikaku the year before, I had performed a few internal investigations since then. All on the down low, and often required no more input than reading a few files, but I had a bit of a reputation within the higher ups for uncovering treachery. Most of the time it was power hungry individuals seeking status or blackmailing for one reason or another, but I had found a couple of people selling information externally, and one plant.

"Yes."

"Okay. But I'm going to need more information. Either access to your reports or access to the prisoners - I can probably work with both. And access to the ANBU guards files - especially details of previous missions, unless highly classified. I may have a few further requests, but it depends what rabbit holes I end up going down."

"How long do you think it will take?" Ibiki asked.

I shrugged. "Depends on how redacted the files are, or how good your interrogation has been." He narrowed his eyes dangerously at me. Someone doesn't like being second guessed? Aw, poor little ego. "But if I don't have them by the time I'm out of my crutches, I'll be upset with myself."

He looked a little impressed. "Are you sure you don't want a job with T and I?"

I snorted. "That's a firm no from me."

The next day, I was given my own room to commandeer for the week and was delivered files from T and I, and the ANBU personnel files. I was pleasantly surprised with how intact the files are, as I expected a sea of black boxes across the board.

From reading the interrogation transcripts, there definitely seemed to be a mole in ANBU, but they were also barking up the wrong tree...the questions had all been geared towards the reason for capturing the Jinchuriki, and what they could gain blah blah blah, but the answers given didn't make sense. It was all guesswork and conjecture. No...Naruto wasn't the target at all.

And if Naruto wasn't the target, then the problem didn't lie within his ANBU guards. It was more of a border and village security issue...which meant a lot more suspects.

But also, if Naruto wasn't the target, then that only left Sasuke. And why on earth would Iwa want Sasuke? It didn't make any sense.

I sent a message to Morino to go down another route of questions - I wasn't given access to the prisoners myself, but I was allowed to ask for specific things, within reason. That afternoon I got my reply, so I knew where to focus on.

After milling things overnight, I presented my three main suspects to the ANBU commander. It was unlikely all three were involved, but I needed to question them before I was certain.

And unfortunately for all of us, I was right. When the summons for questioning were sent out, one did not respond and he was discovered missing that night.

Misumi Tsurugi was then labelled a missing nin.

Considering he was only a genin on paper, it surprised many...but I didn't give much stock to rank. The main thing that gave him away to me was the utter lack of information on him. Sure, he was from Konoho, but there were unexplainable gaps in his service. His file wasn't heavily redacted, so I couldn't even blame it on highly classified missions. Plus he was a frequently on wall guard duty at the section where they likely entered, and knew of gaps within the roster.

What concerned me was the lack of any possible link to Iwa. He had not been on mission outside of Fire, and had no encounters with Iwa or Iwa affiliates.

There was another connection somewhere.

Sadly, I was then removed from the case. I had found my ANBU mole, and it that was that...which was silly, really. Do they not know me at all? I'm like a dog with a bone.

When I had my little dinner party with Kutsu and Yumi (during which I was nagged constantly about my leg- Kutsu thanked me for his reprieve), I mentioned that I was looking into someone declared a missing nin from Konoha. I didn't mention anything else about the case (because classified), and asked them to keep their ear open for any interesting information...so obviously the entire Infiltration Corps were involved by the next day due to Kutsu and his gossiping.

And by the following day, I was informed of rumours of the reappearance of a Missing nin in different foreign countries. The stories were almost like people talking about the Bogey-man...they were more fantastical than anything else, and held very little actual facts.

The thing that made them interesting was that the rumours (of which there were many - mainly supplied by travelling merchants, visiting families, and a few loose lipped lower ranked shinobi) all fit into the same timeframe of a couple of months, which was a very narrow window when it came to stories. For me, it was enough to suspect there was a grain of truth. And I could work with that.

And when you connected a few dots, it painted a very strange picture.

I asked the ANBU commander for a meeting about the case, He must have held a lot of stock in my opinion, as soon the meeting with him also included Morino.

"So, care to tell me why you are working a case when you were informed it is out of your jurisdiction?"

"I don't like unsolved mysteries." I shrugged.

"And care to tell me what this is about?"

"...How's your investigation going?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Well enough that I am taking time out to speak to you."

"So, terribly then?" He crossed his arms. "Okay, so I'm pretty sure I've got an idea...but it's a pretty rough idea...but my ideas are usually pretty solid so figured I would tell you the idea."

He stared at me for a moment. "You are one of the most confusing kunoichi I have ever met and you irritate me."

"You know, a lot of people tell me that! I don't get it...I'm not that irritating, I always thought I was pretty charming?"

"Absolutely not. Now, get to the point."

Drum roll, please.

"Orochimaru is working with Iwa and tasked them with retrieving Uchiha Sasuke. He also has some kind of relationship with Ame, but to what extend I don't know."

Both men went silent. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure Misumi Tsurugi was a spy for Orochimaru. And if he doesn't have more, I'll eat my hat...I mean, I don't have a hat, but I can get one."

"Do you know what this could mean if correct?" the ANBU Commander said.

"Really, really bad things?"

"Really, really bad things," he confirmed.