DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama - his name now known - in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Anko tapped her pen on the desk, wondering how to respond to her best friend's letter.

"I think something inside of me broke when I had to kill all those people - those Leaf nins, whether they were under Danzo's control or not - during the attempted coup at the Capital, Anko..."

On the one hand, Mito was being a drama queen: they were kunoichis after all. On the other, her friend was alone in hostile territory and had a stupid fox in her gut that used her abilities to wound that Sora kid. Like her, Mito loved kids so that had to be pretty awful.

Anko had once thought that she would become a fighter-healer (when she was little,) too, but here she was at Torture and Interrogation instead. She'd first been brought here to find out if she was a traitor to her homeland but now she was hoping to work here, full-time, with Ibiki who was one of the coolest shinobis she'd ever met!

He had been doing some shit wrong and she'd told him that without hesitation: he was being inefficient and stuff. Ibiki had acted all big and bad, like her words of correction hadn't phased him - but Ibiki had altered his kinky methods, hadn't he? She broke out in evil giggles.

Ibiki looked at the crazy, pain-in-the-ass kunoichi. "What are you thinking, Anko?"

"I'm thinkin' I'll soon be taking your job!"

"As if," Ibiki drawled with a reluctant grin. Anko had a lot of energy and now wanted to (very) actively prove that her loyalty remained to Konoha. Orochimaru had certainly pounded "anatomy and psychology lessons" into his apprentice: Anko really knew how to hurt or manipulate people and had no problem doing it - although outside of her new job she seemed a nice if not half-insane person. He was glad that Inoichi had found that she'd done nothing against Konoha and was only "misguided."

Of course, she was still being watched.

And yeah, Anko-chan had been "misguided," alright, but she'd been straightened out. Now Anko's largest motivation was distancing herself from her former master. –It wasn't easy for others to believe, considering her summons and the mark on her neck. The evidence they'd collected against Orochimaru had shocked Anko, however. Even Inoichi was certain of it.

As had the fact that Orochimaru had abandoned his main base, leaving a sea of dead children behind. –Children that Anko had cared about and mentored.

And then there was the whole thing with Tenzo… Orochimaru had told Anko that her childhood friend had run away, yet here he was in Konoha, having lived through not only Orochimaru's horrific experiments but Danzo's manipulations, too.

Ibiki, of course, remembered that long ago, his little brother, Idate, had a huge crush on the purple-haired girl when she was at the Academy. Idate had loved how she was always trying to prove herself, how strong, fast, and "cute" she was - and had been all pouty and miserable when Orochimaru took her on and "she disappeared from my life, aniki! I can't stand it!"

Maybe those memories of Idate were what motivated Ibiki into letting her stay on. Plus, Tsunade-hime (and Hokage-sama, to some extent) had no problem with her working part-time at the hospital and that really said something. "Alright baka; today's a pretty slow day so whaddya say we head out for a nice, clean spar?"

Anko's expression turned coy as she opened her jacket a little to better show off her figure. She smiled prettily and bent down over Ibiki's desk. "Fight with me and it'll be anything but clean, Ibiki-kun."

One of Ibiki's eyebrows slowly rose and he might have checked her out since she was so willing to put certain assets on better display. A guy could respectfully look, after all. "Nice try. You've mentioned many times to anyone who'd listen that you're a lesbian, Anko."

Anko hummed. "And I know you're a pretty lady under all those scars, Darling." She shivered with anticipation as the room cooled with Ibiki's mood. "We're going to have so much fun together."

"We are. I am so going to pound you."

Anko let her head fall back and cackled before skipping out of the room. She flipped her ANBU minder off on the way to the training ground, her letter to Mito forgotten for now. "Let's go!"

.

Utakata had, so far, kept his mouth shut about who Mito was. Mito knew that he hadn't even told his master, whom he was close to since she or her clones had been watching him. All the time.

Under threat of death (which was mainly a lot of sputtering outrage about how she'd sent a "respected Jonin" through the sky far into the sea,) Mito had been forced to retrieve and heal the Jonin whom she'd punched but wasn't happy about it. She'd called him a bastard, further threatened his life, and thoroughly chewed him out once he was awake and out of surgery for trying to kill his student.

Now, because of that punch, people thought she was a disguised Senju Tsunade, which was ridiculous. Mito had summoned Tora to prove that she couldn't summon slugs - I still miss you, Katsuya-sama - and fortunately, her Jungle Cat summons had never appeared in her profile in any Bingo Book. (That was something Mito had made sure of before she left Hi no Kuni.) –And Tora looked terrifying which should have helped.

Then the absent-minded giant tiger started talking and encouraging the children to scratch his back and ears. – He didn't seem so threatening after that.

Some of the younger kids STILL didn't believe that she wasn't "the Senju Princess," though, thinking Fox to be a Sannin even when she reminded them that Tsunade was old.

"You could be disguised as a young person, Tsunade-hime!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

In another village, the Slug Sannin had sneezed hard enough to almost release the jutsu maintaining her youthful appearance.

Utakata sat down beside Mito, looking glum after visiting with his currently infirmary-bound mentor. He sighed unhappily. "Master wanted to free me from my burden. …Because he cares for me."

"Yeah?" Mito responded as she took off her gloves, "well, that makes your master an idiot." Utakata only hummed. "And don't call your slug a burden! Slugs are neat! And at least Saiken likes you."

"Kurama" said he didn't like Mito which at this point hurt her feelings. They'd been stuck together for more than a decade but the fox reminded her that her mother caged him longer and that "Mito-1" had been the worst. It didn't matter to him that she'd tried to be kind to him or hated caging him at all. He had a lot of resentment built up over the past decades, especially, and Mito understood it.

Mito had her own resentments. It still would've been nice to have him as a partner and friend.

Utakata groaned softly, remembering that Saiken HAD, in fact, told the Nine-tails that he (or the slug a she, he suddenly wondered) liked him which seemed to be an odd thing. It did bring a small, hesitant smile to his face and now that he thought about it more, he realized that it somehow gave him a sense of relief. First, however, he needed to screw with the masked kunoichi next to him. "I know you can't resist watching me at night while I sleep…"

Mito clicked her tongue. "You know I'm just ensuring you keep your mouth shut," she whispered.

Utakata hummed. "I wonder. –I think you can't keep your eyes off me."

"Pervert," she replied under her breath.

"I think the 'pervert' would be the one watching me all day and night. Wouldn't you agree, Princess?" Utakata knew that he'd gone too far when Namikaze-hime's chakra spiked as she glared at him. "I'm so glad Princess Tsunade speaks to one as lowly as this one." The kunoichi scoffed and he could swear that she was blushing under her mask. Her exposed neck had certainly reddened. He gave her a wink and tried not to laugh when she spazzed out and threatened to castrate him.

Although Namikaze-hime explained her reasons for being here, Utakata found the whole thing confusing. He did have to agree with what she'd said about them having been conditioned not to trust each other. It was odd that the Yellow Flash's close relative (he still wasn't sure of their exact relation) would feel that way and even discuss her ideas with shinobis from a different village as if she were a foreign observer. –She had explained her theories on shinobi psychology while chomping fish like a pig. Where she put all the food she ate, Utakata couldn't imagine.

- Yes, he could. All of that food definitely went to That Ass: a feature of hers that was absolutely remarkable. Her ass defied the laws of physics. He cleared his throat, trying to clear his mind of Kami's big, round, bouncy yet high, firm-looking masterpiece again.

That's right: Utakata reminded himself that he had been and was angry with his master. Master Harusami had not told him what he was going to attempt. No, Harusami-shishou had used a seal while he slept to incapacitate him, carting him off to an otherwise almost uninhabited island, and… Nearly died. He supposed he should be aggravated with the kunoichi beside him for attacking his master with a single punch but she had later found and saved Harusami-shishou.

Plus, he was still angry with his master. Not for what he attempted: no. He was saddened that Harusami-shishou hadn't trusted him enough to tell him what he wanted to do. For some odd reason, he found himself explaining exactly that to Namikaze-hime (aka Fox.)

Mito hummed as she considered what her fellow jinchuuriki was concerned about. As far as she was concerned, his master, (the rebellion's supposed sealing expert,) was a moron. Her bedside manner also wasn't stellar like Shizune's so Mito wasn't sure if she could really help him. "I don't know, Utakata-kun. Maybe he thought that if he told you of his plans, Saiken would hear him and try to escape before your mentor had a chance to prove himself the idiot that he is?"

"Saiken," Utakata harumphed. He had rarely spoken to the slug he was tasked with imprisoning when he was a small child. –His chakra had supposedly been uniquely suited for it and aside from the distrust he received from his comrades for carrying him, things had worked out until his master pulled this stunt, he supposed. He hadn't known that the slug or ANY tailed beast had a name and now he had a chatty one in his head. "This is all your fault," he said childishly: purposely so.

Mito laughed. "This is all Yagura's fault" - and Obito's - she argued, her eyes skimming her latest patients.

Utakata hummed in agreement. The war wasn't the only thing Yagura was responsible for. He had been treated satisfactorily as a jinchuuriki until the Mizukage declared war on anyone with a bloodline. Now their citizens felt that Utakata might turn on them, too. –It was one reason why he'd decided to keep at least one of Namikaze-hime's secrets safe.

"He needs to die," the kunoichi concluded moments later. After a beat, Utakata began laughing, surprising her.

"You are the strangest medic I've ever displeasure of meeting!"

Mito snorted. "So much for coming on to me?"

"I don't know about that!"

.

Minato was beyond frustrated with his sensei. "What more does Orochimaru have to do for you to realize that he is a traitor?"

Jiraiya turned around from the window to look at his student; he was exhausted deep down to his eyeballs. "Do you think I'm not disgusted with his actions?"

Minato blew out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Have your sources determined his current whereabouts?"

"No. The last time anyone in the 'Sound' party was seen was in Kusa. –Where they completely destroyed a small village; that son of a bitch. I don't know what he was looking for there."

"Sensei," Minato began, realizing that he may have misinterpreted Jiraiya's earlier words. Jiraiya's grief seemed to fill the office. He waved his men out. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not! I don't get his game." He sank into the couch and tried not to let his student see the tears in his eyes. Tsunade-hime had been inconsolable with the latest news on their lifelong friend and teammate.

"Konoha has to deal with traitors no matter how strong - or their past service. One of our own operating in another country? –I should've never allowed it to continue." Hiruzen had been the one who allowed his student to operate several labs outside of not only Konoha but Hi no Kuni as well. Minato had booted Orochimaru out to one of those bases when the whole mess with Kushina and Mito went down: his head hadn't been on straight at the time. And for years, Orochimaru reported in! "We also need to get word to Mito about it," Minato mumbled to himself. If she finds out we're putting the man she considers "her uncle" - disgusting - in the Bingo Book she'll have a fit.

He could even picture her trying to Hiraishin toward the traitor if she didn't know any better since her contact with Konoha was… sporadic. –She'd gone to Orochimaru's old base before hadn't she? With the cats? "What's the latest intel you have from Kiri?"

Jiraiya looked up, glad to discuss something else. "Bratty sources believe Terumi Mei may lead the rebellion. There's additional word from her that the Seven Swordsmen have split up: their alliances split."

Minato's eyebrow rose behind his hitai-ate. Yagura losing some of his famous swordsmen had to be a big hit for the Kiri leader. He'd also had very brief run-ins with a young, lava-wielding Lava no Mei a few times. "'Bratty sources,' huh?" Konoha now had undercover ops in the Mist activated that were keeping tabs on his daughter and the war, too. Minato was a little peeved that Mito hadn't sent this new intelligence directly to him although that bird of hers could only carry so much.

He had no idea of what she and her cats were up to.

At that very moment, a clouded leopard who was waiting for Anko's reply to his summoner became her enemy when he went for her dango.

"Terumi Mei is very clever and tenacious."

Jiraiya agreed. "The brat thinks Terumi's part-Uzumaki."

"Well," Minato began before biting his lips. It was great that more Uzushio survivors or their descendants were out there but that also mean that Mito might be willing to out herself as one to get closer to another. "Dammit." Someone knocked on the door and Minato realized the time. "You want to stay for the Jonin-sensei meeting or do you want to go find Kakashi? –I'd like to get this meeting over with sooner rather than later."

"I don't know why you think that kid would be a good Jonin-sensei." Jiraiya hopped up on the windowsill. "I'll drag his ass in."

Two hours later -

Asuma wondered why he'd had to go through this exercise - at first. Everyone knew that he was supposed to take the Ino-Shika-Cho trio but they wouldn't graduate until next year. One - only ONE team - had passed the Jonins' test this year and Asuma felt something was very off. He waited for the meeting to end and approached the Hokage when only one person remained. It looked like Hatake had made himself comfortable on the couch with the original Icha-Icha in his face.

"What can I do for you, Asuma-kun? Have you changed your mind about passing your assigned team?" Minato teased.

Asuma began twirling his lighter. "Call me slow but I wanted to address the elephant in the room. –Or the one that was in the room."

Hatake's book snapped shut and Hokage-sama sent his guards out. "So you noticed it, too?"

"24 Academy graduates and only three pass the Jonin tests?" Asuma felt he didn't need to ask. "Seems fishy. Especially considering that some of those kids came from ROOT. They were already trained; they know Konoha standards even if they were originally taught something different to use in the Foundation."

Minato nodded in approval, liking Asuma's gumption: the fact that he'd bothered to mention the whole thing out loud. A leader could always miss something. "Why don't you check it out for me? Quickly."

"Hai."

As Asuma turned to leave, Minato pulled out a mission assignment for him that he'd keep to himself. "Those Academy kids are Konoha's future! Use all means necessary to get to the bottom of what's going on but be quiet about it."

"I'll begin tonight, then," Asuma said and stopped before opening the door. "Have you heard anything from Mito?"

"We have recent intelligence from her."

Asuma sighed and nodded glumly as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Maa. You sure he doesn't have it bad for hime-sama?"

Minato frowned at his student. "You're just trying to cause trouble. Since you want trouble, I'll give you trouble!" He was satisfied when Kakashi's visible eye popped open and he (perhaps pretended to) flinch back in fear. "This is deadly serious, though, Kakashi-kun: I have a mission for you. Choose eight members for your team carefully. You're going after Orochimaru."

Kakashi felt like all of the wind had just been knocked out of him but accepted the mission. He already had a good idea of which shinobis he should take with him.

.

Mito felt her not-so-unknown-now benefactor approach when she was up to her elbows in hair dye in the makeshift women's latrine in the middle of the night. "Shit! Shit, shit, shit… " She almost reached for her nearby mask but of course, her gloved hands were wet and PURPLE.

It wasn't the first time Mito'd had to touch up her hair but this WAS the first time she'd been caught doing it. The door swung open and Mito sighed heavily as she put up a slight henge, hoping very much that she wouldn't have to fight.

"I wondered if you dyed your hair," Terumi Mei said pleasantly. "It's really beautiful." She began getting undressed and turned on the shower stall's water, appreciating that the Konoha kunoichi didn't try to watch her. She had weapons hidden in case she did, in any event.

"Thank you. It's a pain, to tell you the truth. And the smell really bothers me."

Mei hummed. "Would you like some help? Perhaps you can repay me by helping me with mine in a couple of weeks. We girls MUST keep our hair as long as possible …and beautiful, ne? –Colored just right."

Did she just admit that she's an Uzumaki?! While Mito was completely bent over she'd seen from under her wet hair that Mei's hair was even longer than hers: approaching her ankles. Mito stood up and grimaced when she saw herself in the cracked mirror, half-covered with hair dye that she knew she'd have to scrub off her body and face. Yes, she'd brought what was essentially a tarp to put over herself while she worked with the dye but as soon as this assignment was over, she hoped to never deal with this crap again! Weird hair or not!

The Hyuugas supposedly grow their hair out as a sign of prestige, though, too, don't they? It's not just an Uzumaki thing…

Realizing that she hadn't responded to the lava-wielding kunoichi behind her, Mito cleared her throat and apologized before introducing herself. "...I am Fox and am in your care. I'm sure you don't want to get your hands covered in this, though!"

"I'm Mei. And I don't mind."

Suddenly Mito had a naked woman dragging hair dye down her tresses beside her.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said in irritation. She put Mei's hands in the sink and turned on the water, soaping off the dye, not realizing that the older kunoichi was looking at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Let me get you some gloves at least!"

Mei laughed and Mito noted that it sounded like tinkling bells. Then came the snorts and Mito went stiff.

"Are you alright?" Mei asked worriedly. -And deeply hoping that she wouldn't be forced to fight the med-nin who could reportedly punch like Senju Tsunade while they were each undressed in the camp's only kunoichi facility. If one can call it that.

"Sorry," Mito said uncomfortably, biting her lip. "Your laugh just reminded me of someone." - Terumi Mei laughed just like her mom used to.

"Ah." Mei's brows climbed behind her hair yet again when the Fox-masked kunoichi grabbed the sink, bending the thick metal with her fingers and palms.

Mito opened her eyes and looked at the woman she was fairly sure was in charge here. "He's back! –The shinobi I'm after is back." Obito… "He's with Yagura again!"

Mei looked for any signs of falsehood. She could easily feel how excited and angry the kunoichi was: Fox's chakra was powerful even without the "foxtails!" "Well then. As soon as we finish up here, let's go discuss what you plan to do next."

Mito smirked. "I can put down a silencing seal and we can begin discussing that now?" A sardonic smile spread across Mei's beautiful face.

"Make it so."