A/N. Goooood morning! Hope y'all having a fantastic day! Finally got some sort of plot working, so the chapter is out now. It still needs some major work tho, so if you're up for it, I still do need a Beta Reader! to help me further. If you're at all interested, please DM me. I'd absolutely love working with you!

"Generalists tend to do well in many scenarios, but in combat with other shinobi, they end up dead."

'Symptoms of skin flushing, lightheadedness, nausea, sweating, nervousness, numbness, feelings of impending doom have all been described; however these effects are very transient and short-lived secondary to adenosine's short half-life.'

A dull headache pierced through my brain as dirt was forced into my mouth. I can't get out! Seki was holding the rest of my body down, I can't move! No! Please! Please!

'Applying the dominant sealing array over the axis results in a superficial base in which to work the rest of the jutsu from. Oftentimes, it is not the difficulty which trumps execution, but the intent.'

Now I face my death again, hoping I wouldn't be granted a third chance. I fucked up twice already. I deserve this. I do...

'During wakefulness, adenosine levels gradually increase in areas of the brain that are important for promoting arousal, especially the reticular activating system in the brainstem. With higher and higher concentrations, adenosine inhibits arousal and causes sleepiness.'

"That means that as soon as my maternity leave ends, I will be sent to the front lines to fight...But I can't just leave this child behind. She needs care and attention from someone that'll be there for her. I can't be that, even after coming back from the war."

'—to create a new genjutsu, especially perilous. To marry the metaphysical and the scientific, you will need an intimate understanding of both. Happenstance can create powerful warriors, but few masters. Genjutsu especially does not bend to the will of happenstance.'

"The likelihood that she gets selected for Heirship is slim. But I don't particularly care. I said I would help her, so Headship is basically hers already."

"Hey. We should take a break."

"Yeah. Eventually."

'Other drug-drug interactions to consider when administering adenosine is the simultaneous use with carbamazepine and dipyridamole. Both these drugs may enhance the adverse effects of adenosine; the clinician should use a decreased initial dose.'

"We're never going to leave you behind, okay? We're always going to be here for you."

"GET AWAYYYY!"

"Whenever you need us, we're here. Okay Tetsuo? Everything's gonna be okay."

'When applicable, never neglect the use of experimentation. Although suspect in efficacy in many branches of genjutsu, it is nevertheless a valuable tool in the arsenal of the jutsu creator."

"This guy really needs to get to the point. How long is he gonna go on, not actually telling us what we're supposed to do?"

'Due to the rapidly short half-life of adenosine, toxic effects of adenosine are kept to a minimum, although there have been reports of severe effects involving prolonged asystole, development of heart block, and cardiac ischemia with adenosine. There is not a reversal agent; however, unless the patient sustains a permanent injury, these effects are transient, and patients should receive appropriate supportive measures.'

"Hey. We should take a break. Seriously. Our brains are so clogged, I have to resort to talking to you."

'Forever and always.'

"Just a little more, Shiro."

'Forever and always.'

"Yeah no. We're quitting now. I hope you remember I know exactly what you're thinking? We're still brainsharing."

'The adenosine system can also affect the gating of SWS-SWA expression by modulating the arousal level, thereby altering the duration of time during which sleep homeosta—'

Shiromaru slammed a paw down on the cover of the book. "We're done. We've been at this for four hours, and it's already past midnight. I don't need to remind you that our bodies are young and need sleep for proper development, right?"

I dragged my vision up at him, and my vision blurred for a minute as I met his eyes. Okay fair point. "Alright, let's get to bed then."

I closed the book on the effects of adenosine on the brain, not entirely sure it was worth the read yet, especially so soon after finishing studying for the exam we just took. At least I can somewhat understand what's in there now, even if the specifics still give me headaches looking at them.

Shiromaru took to the news that we'd be sleeping jubilantly, tossing his book on the introduction to genjutsu creation into the far corner not too carefully.

"Hey, that's a library book. Be careful with that."

"Whatever! Let's just go to sleep already."

I huffed, and calmly deposited my book in the corner of my bookshelf with every other medical text I had.

I wasn't satisfied with the current progress we were making right now. Orochimaru had put me on the right path. Developing our Bestial Illusion line was the most expedient way we were going to get through this war unscathed, but actually doing it is a wholly different matter.

"War is a competition, and you will need advantages rather than tools."

'Hey. Quiet! Trying to sleep here!' Says the yelling Shiromaru.

'Uh huh.'

Right now the three current genjutsu we had were Bestial Illusion: Doddering Haze, Anxiety's Jaw, and Emblematic Pride. All three of them either short circuited, lowered, or heightened the flow of norepinephrine and other related neurotransmitters through the adrenergic receptors.

Essentially, it messed with your fight-or-flight response to make you stop fighting, or start fighting harder. It's effective, and easy to use, but it's also obvious.

A quick stab of chakra to the brain is very not subtle, and it's far from strong enough to survive a simple "Kai!" from the target.

To someone not very versed in genjutsu dispersion, it is a deadly weapon. To anyone that was though, it was basically just a distraction.

I needed something either more powerful, or subtler. Considering my spiritual chakra reserves I could afford maybe a few more powerful jutsu, but the best of the best could remove those just as easily as the lower powered versions.

So, I decided on something subtler. It's just much harder and takes way more study into both genjutsu and the brain to be able to pull them off.

It's slow going, but it's definitely possible….. Probably. Most likely. To be honest, no clue, but I'm trying.

With that interesting thought I turned off the lights and tucked myself into bed, shuffling between the covers for more comfort. My eyes really didn't need my help to stay closed, falling shut as soon as I lay my head on the pillow.

I hope tomorrow I'll make some progress, at… least…

*BAAMM!*

The door flung open, an outstretched leg the culprit. "Get up, brat. We're going to Hot Springs." Tsunade said. How the hell did she get in?

"Holy sh—how—"

"I said get up! We ain't got all night!" She shouted at me, a jounin vest under her usual coat, along with a hitai-ate loosely fitted around her neck. She flung a scroll at me. "Mission, Hot Springs. Don't make me say it again."

At my shock, she just huffed and left, leaving the (probably broken) door open. In the corner I could see Tsume snickering, trying not to laugh her ass off. So that's how she got in.

I opened the scroll. Sure enough, it was a long-term envoy mission, A-ranked, to Hot Springs. Kami knows why. In the margins at the top there was a hastily written note:

"Bring your posse to the main gate."

So I'd have to gather the rest myself huh… Ugh. They're not gonna like me waking them up at 1 A.M. Not at all.

I glared at Tsume and started packing.

I went over to the Uchiha and Sarutobi compounds. Tetsuo was too busy being lethargic to care much about me waking him. I packed for him and put on his backpack. He eventually started walking on his own.

Ayame…. Well I'm lucky I'm not the next available item at Yakiniku Q.

"So does this mean we passed?" Tetsuo tentatively asked between yawns on the way to the main gate, backpack over his shoulder, tantou at his side.

"I'm assuming." I responded. Since this was a long term mission, I made sure to pack my genjutsu and jutsu creation books on top of my regular clothes and ninja stuff. I had to do it quickly, since we were expected there in two days and I would love the time to sleep.

I hurried out so fast I barely got to say goodbye to Shizuka and mom, dragging a still half-asleep Shiromaru out the door. He is now officially too big to stay on my head anymore, about as big as a teenaged Pomeranian, so he has to walk everywhere by himself now. I know, I know. The torture. The agony. It's overwhelming.

"Yeeh! Freedom! Oooh what do you think we'll see outside of the village? Giraffes?" Ayame jubilated, walking backwards. Yeah. She's happy now. The burns on the back of my pants would tell you another story.

"You've never been outside the village before?"

"Nope! What's it like?"

Mostly just farms and rude, superstitious people. "Well, there's a lot more livestock. And plenty of trees, way more than you'd think. I haven't gone to any big cities so I wanna see those for myself too."

"Wooow. Sounds.. adventurous!"

We'd arrived at the gate. Tsunade was standing next to the customs, a backpack of her own swung over her shoulder. The customs chuunin looked between themselves and the sannin with surprise, though no one had the nerve to actually talk to her.

I could probably guess as to why. They hadn't seen her there in years after all and she seemed to be in an all-business mood at the moment. I couldn't even smell any alcohol on her person. She's going in entirely sober.

She looked down at us, arms crossed. Ayame and Tetsuo stayed uncharacteristically quiet, waiting in anticipation of what she'd say next. "Slow. So slow." A sigh, and then an unfurling of her arms. "Inuzuka. You'll be in charge of the navigation. Here's a map. I assume you know how to read it?"

She threw me a scroll, the map. I nodded reluctantly.

"Good. I've already cleared us with gate patrol. We're to be in Hot Springs in exactly 48 hours. If we keep a moderate speed, that should give us enough time for sleeping, but not much else. You've brought rations, right?" She ended the last sentence on a bit of a dangerous note. We all nodded. "Good. Eat them on the way. Remember, Hot Springs is a ninja village. They are allies, but only reluctantly. Don't do anything foolish, and don't talk to anyone, even if spoken to."

She gave us another look. "Let's go."

She sped off, at freaking jounin speeds. We stared at her speeding away.

"We're supposed to keep up with that?!" Tetsuo exclaimed.

"Fucking hell." Shiromaru cursed.

"Uuh guys. She's getting away." Ayame muttered. Her chakra signature already left my sensing range. Damn.

"Ok guys. We'll have to book it. Follow me!" I booked it as fast as I could without using the Four Legs. Shiromaru, after a groan, was hot on my heels.

"Wooohooo! Let's gooo!" Quick reversal from Ayame.

"Oh crap!" And there's Tetsuo.

It took a bit, but we finally managed to get caught up with Tsunade, which was probably more of a result of her slowing down than us actually reaching her ridiculous speed.

"Heyy! Slow down! We can't keep this up for two whole days!" I yelled. Well, maybe Ayame could. She didn't look like she had broken a sweat yet, and if worse came to worst I would probably be able to scrape through, but Tetsuo's already going full sprinter speed. That's not sustainable in the slightest.

Her glance flickered to me. "Consider this the first part of your training then. Try to keep up." And with that, she's gone again. Hot damn.

"*huff* Ple— *Gah!* No!" Tetsuo reached his arm out desperately at where Tsunade was last.

"Okay. Screw this." I slowed down so I was going Tetsuo's level, Shiromaru and Ayame following me a beat after. "We can just track where she went and make up for lost time when she starts sleeping. That doesn't mean we can slow down much, but I'm not about to leave anyone behind on our first mission."

Shiromaru sighed to the heavens dramatically. "Ah, thank Kami. That miserable bitch, I hate her already."

"Drama queen."

Ayame looked a little put out, but if she was going to protest, she would have voiced it already.

In the end, we made good time, even if we were going closer to genin speeds, it could be excused. We were literal genin on our first mission after all.

Ayame, perhaps out of boredom, perhaps out of impatience, was talking our ears off the whole way. I could tell Tetsuo, even while having his stamina greatly improved by training with us, was barely keeping it together. He kept quiet the whole time, and every now and then a guilty glare would flash across his face.

The sun was gone for about an hour when I decided to call a break just as we landed next to a small area derelict of trees.

"So then Torune said: "Well why don't you just throw him?" And I said: "Because then they would get mad, and then I'd get mad at them, and then I'd get a beating and I would have to explain to the vendors why all their chicken strips are missing! So then she was like—"

"This is a good place to lay our heads down for the day, no?"

"Oooh yes, totally! I could take a snack break!"

I looked over at Tetsuo, who seemed to be dry heaving. His legs were shaking, still trying to stand next to us. "How about we leave food for tomorrow morning. Let's just get some rest."

Ayame didn't say anything again, staring mutely at Tetsuo, then went back into her rant about merchants and eating stolen meat.

"I actually didn't want to launch it from the roof too much, but then Anko double dog dared me and I couldn't say no anymore! So the Uchiha Police Station has really uncomfortable seats and Hayama was complaining about them and so I told him—"

I unrolled my sleeping bag after unsealing it and went to bed, helping Tetsuo to do the same. Vaguely hopeful some earplugs would appear out of thin air and help a brother out.

What? I need my ears for what now? Scanning for threats? Never heard of it.

Tetsuo was feeling better the second day of travelling. Even when we crossed the border to Hot Water, (surprisingly easy. We just showed our hitai-ate and mission scroll to the border patrol.) Tetsuo was still relatively keeping up. Although I'd probably trust that Tsunade's already in Hot Springs by now.

The trees started getting smaller and smaller the closer we got to Yugakure, making it so that instead of tree hopping we would have to start walking on a path sometime soon if we wanted to keep any modicum of speed going.

It made it easier to keep track of where we were headed, but it also made us easier to spot. Things got a little chilly when we crossed paths with a squad of Yu nin and they saw our headbands.

"Konoha nin already getting their greedy paws all over the country, huh. That scared of Cloud?" One of the older ones, probably closer to his thirties, asked. Blocking our way forward were his two other squad members. They were younger, but well out of their teenage years.

Interesting that they were trying to intimidate a gaggle of seven year olds. "That scared of us? That you'd try and pick on a squad of measly genin?" I challenged.

I could tell these guys were (excuse the pun) full of hot air. They weren't that strong going from their chakra and harming Konoha nin for no reason, under the alliance with a war coming? Terrible idea. I could stand to push the envelope a little.

"Cheh. You should know this ain't friendly tree hugger Konoha, brat. You should watch your back."

"You should watch your back!" Ayame glared, hints of Killing Intent seeping into the atmosphere. Ayame didn't like bullies, no matter which country they came from.

"Echoed." I glared at them. My pupils turned to slits with the little chakra I pushed through them.

The older dude spit on the ground. Disgusting.

'This is your country, idiot. Why you spitting on it?' Shiromaru said.

"Whatever you're here to do, it better not cause trouble. We have enough of that as it is." He and his team promptly Shunshined away, tails between their legs. Jerks.

"Well that was a nice reprieve, at least." If ominous.

"Awww. Does this mean we have to run again?" Tetsuo whined.

"Yup. We have a lot of catching up to do." Which means we'll be turning up the speed again, but I didn't tell him that.

"Awwwww."

Trees and straight paths eventually gave ways to crooked paths and mountain ranges, with only the occasional tree.

Considering we've lived in a flat Konoha for seven years, we did do a little bit of sightseeing. Not so much that it would slow us down, but just enough to appreciate the scenery.

"Look guys! That goat's floating!" Ayame pointed to a mountain goat on a steep incline looking the other direction.

"Actually I think it's somehow clinging to the rocks. Don't ask me how though." I'm assuming they evolved some special hooves or something. I Dunno.

"Isn't it scared it's gonna fall?" Tetsuo asked.

"Apparently not." Shiromaru responded.

"I would be…" Tetsuo murmured.

"Floating goat." Ayame said in the same volume, her eyes sparkling.

With the changing biosphere also came the famed hot springs popping up everywhere. We passed quite a few on the road, and each time Ayame and/or Tetsuo asked if we could stop at one of them I had to begrudgingly say no.

We were working up quite a sweat with the pace we were keeping and I was starting to get worried about our scent trail. Something I didn't think about for long distance travelling.

The aches I expected, the weather conditions too. The sweat? Somehow it didn't factor. So yeah, a bath would have been nice.

"We should have gone inside! The lady looked so nice!" Tetsuo complained. Don't think that was a lady. She had a beard, after all.

"She had candy too!" Ayame chimed in.

"How would you know they had candy? We passed them pretty quickly."

"She looked like she would." Ayame pouted. That's probably not a good sign.

And so I traveled through Hot Water with two petulant children, every once in a while pointing out some oddity or another you couldn't find in Fire. It would've been a lot more fun if we didn't have a deadline to keep, honestly.

Maybe that's something we could do after the war is over. Take a sightseeing trip around the allied countries. See the world a bit.

'Could be nice.'

'Yup. For now...' War. Obito. Kyuubi. Root. Akatsuki.

And the threats in front of us. "Guys, be on alert. Seven chakra signatures close to ninja levels about half a kilometer up ahead. One of them inches towards jounin." I could feel them tense up.

Ironically I hoped they were Yu nin, and not something else. We probably wouldn't have to fight then. Worst case scenario, we run into a squadron of Cloud or Rock ninja. That wouldn't end well for us at all.

Confusingly, it ended up being neither.

Our path ran up to a barren cliff, seven different individuals sitting around on elevated rocks or standing on lookout.

I decided it was better to approach, signalling the others to keep going, walking this time.

They spotted us. "Ah, there they are. I got reports Konoha ninja were making it back to Hot Springs again, so of course I had to go take a look." The man in front smirked. Judging by his jounin-level chakra he was probably the leader, but I couldn't spot a hitai-ate anywhere on his person. That meant an undercover operative, or a missing-nin who didn't like to advertise his origins. Neither was an option I liked. "Of course, I never expected it would be three little kids."

He didn't really look like a ninja either. He had rugged leather pants on, a swine's fur covering his crotch and a nodachi balanced on his shoulder, a giant katana to offset the simple white shirt he was wearing. Even that I could tell had faded dirt and blood marks on it. I doubted the blood was his. Everything about this guy screamed caution.

The other six on the other hand didn't seem all that threatening. They were dressed similarly, with equally large weapons ranging from hammers and kusarigama to normal swords and naginata, but they didn't have the sheer presence the guy in front of me did.

He brushed blond hair out of his eyes. "Since you're no threat I'll tell you this only once. We're closed to outsiders. No Konoha nin is allowed in Hot Springs. Pass that onto your boss too."

New development. Yippee. We'll probably have to go back to the border and update them. Can't exa—

"We're not going anywhere! We have our mission here! You can't kick us out!" Ayame stepped in front of me just as I was about to speak.

Sooo here's the thing about Ayame. Just like she doesn't like bullies, she also doesn't like being looked down upon. Usually that lands in all sorts of trouble, but nothing lethal or anything.

These people, however, looked pretty damn lethal to me!

"Ayame! This is not the ti—" She took on a taijutsu stance, not even listening anymore.

"Look. There's only two ways I see this ending for you three. Either you turn around and pretend you never had any business here to begin with, or we kill you." He turned the hand holding his nodachi, the blade poking out of the scabbard.

Gotta say, not a fan of those options. One in particular I'm really not vibing with, but given the rising killing intent rolling off of Ayame I feel I don't really have a choice anymore.

"Guys! Ryuu!" Here we go!

We all jumped up, hand signs flashing. I could see the guy smirking as the others unsheathed their weapons.

A great ball of fire burst out of two mouths, erupting into a scale you could only call dragonfire by the wind egging it on, speeding up the arrival to the target and aiming to devour it.

"Doton: Douryuuheki!"

To meet the dragonfire a great wall of earth erupted out of the ground, stopping the assault in its entirety.

We all landed back down on the ground. Ayame nudged me, so I started my next round of hand signs.

Demonic Illusion: Mirage of the Oasis

"Wow. Almost fried my men there. Good effort for a bunch of genin I'd say. What else can you offer?" His cocky smirk turned into a grin.

Ayame growled. "You'll see! Rou two!"

Just as Ayame started her "Fire Release: Ash Cloud Technique!" my chakra seeped into the surrounding grunts, who'd all come to attack us as the leader just stood there. I knew he'd pick up on the genjutsu use if I targeted him, so I kept the range of attack to just the grunts who were heading straight for the expanding cloak of ash with bloodthirsty battle cries.

They moved a great deal faster than your average trained civilian, which meant they knew how chakra worked, but they didn't move like ninja either. Rounin maybe?

One of the thugs with a hammer moved to strike Tetsuo, but as the hammer was supposed to crush his skull, it went straight through it.

Another two met the same fate, not realizing until it was too late that they were hitting illusions.

Ayame, who was safely behind the ash cloud, stoked the fire. "Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!"

The ash exploded into cacophony of fire, burning everyone inside it.

""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!""

"Shit!" The leader's voice said on the other side.

A couple of stragglers managed to get out of the firestorm before succumbing to the flames licking their through to their bones. From a couple of meters away, Tetsuo had summoned a yumi from a weapon scroll and was methodically picking off the escapees. Arrows shot out of a perfectly calm and collected Tetsuo as he shot through necks and chests, the thugs too frenzied by the fire to dodge the arrows coming their way.

We were killing them. We were winning against twice our numbers, just like that.

Just like that they fell to the ground dead, the firestorm dissipating as the sole survivor stared out at the bodies of his men, his mouth open.

"What.. are they feeding you in treeland?" He didn't seem all that concerned about the deaths of his men, focusing more on how quickly his cronies were gone.

To be honest, I'm shocked at the same thing. We just killed those guys, and it wasn't even hard. I didn't feel anything besides the relief from having less enemies to deal with. The sight was gruesome and honestly kind of disgusting, sure, but it didn't—it didn't faze me.

Tetsuo and Ayame didn't seem bothered either. I knew we were thoroughly desensitized to killing and gore in the Academy, but wow.

I must have acclimated to this world more than I thought.

"Ha! You see what we can do now?! Now you have two options, boy!" Ayame grinned, a fist in the air. "Run! Or die!"

"Hah… Alright then. You had to go and make yourselves interesting." His smirk was gone, replaced with a cold killing intent I had only felt one other time.

When Nobuyuki was chasing me through the jungle.

No more words, only action now. His scabbard was already gone.

A Shunshin! I felt the chakra before I saw the rush, blocking his diagonal strike with two kunai, Four Legs already up. The force alone was enough to launch me backwards. I could see Ayame and Tetsuo reacting too late to try and save me.

Tetsuo's yumi was thrown to the ground for the drawing of his tantou, Ayame already in a taijutsu stance accommodating kunai.

I had to do something to help. I got up as quickly as I could, my hands fumbling into another genjutsu. Leader's blade was too fast for Tetsuo, skipping clashing with his tantou and heading straight for his neck.

Damn! I wouldn't be fast enough!

"Bestial Illusion: Doddering Haze!" My voice came out from another source, Shiromaru having transformed into me and performing the jutsu.

Leader stopped in his tracks, his hand was still moving on its own and still heading for Tetsuo, but it was enough time for him to dodge the swipe, rolling on the ground under it and turning to stab his leg. Ayame jumped over him, kunai set to plunge into his neck from behind.

He snapped out of the Haze before either could finish their attack, kicking Tetsuo away and grabbing Ayame by the neck.

"Bestial Illusion: Anxiety's Jaw!" I was up fast enough this time, stopping whatever he was about to do in its tracks.

His grip eased up enough for Ayame to get enough strength back to stab him in the arm that was holding her.

He gasped and dropped her, Ayame coming in closer for a grab. Shiromaru approached with his own Four Legs, a Hunter's Kick heading for his head.

We were doing it! We were actually winning against a jounin! Somehow!

Until well. We weren't.

He substituted with a nearby rock, Ayame hugging the thing when it cracked from Shiromaru's attack.

He was about a dozen meters away, arm bleeding and looking mighty pissed. "You even got my fucking arm. This is why I hate Konoha nin. Always got one more trick up their sleeve. Where the hell did the fourth one even come from?"

We all stared at him, amped up from the ridiculous speed we just fought at. All of that happened in less than ten seconds.

"Yeah, I'm fucking done here. Gatai's probably going to be mad I lost another batch. Great."

He closed his eyes. He's about to do something!

I flew through hand signs, but it was too late. He threw his nodachi in the air just as a massive amount of chakra coalesced inside his arms.

"Oni Transformation: Double Armed Demon!"

The veins on his arms exploded, turning chakra and blood into an amalgamation of a construct that was supposed to resemble an arm. What were now his upper limbs were instead muscled red monster extensions ending in four fingered meaty hands.

He caught his nodachi. Before, I would have said using a nodachi would be impractical. It's too large and lanky to be used as an effective weapon for anyone not nine foot tall. Now, it looked tiny in his arms as he wielded it, and I already realised we couldn't win.

He broke through my "Bestial Illusion: Doddering Haze!" just about immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if his new oni jutsu was the one in charge of his adrenaline now.

"Let's get this party started!"

Ayame's eyes were wide as she yelled, "Split!"

He rushed at us, no Shunshin necessary and we booked it.

I snatched Tetsuo away, knowing he wouldn't be fast enough to get out of the way when I felt the wind from the narrow miss that passed over me. I threw all the chakra I could in the Four Legs, Tetsuo limp in my arms from the shock of almost dying.

I ducked behind the charred Earth Wall he made earlier. The arm not holding the Nodachi easily smashed through it, making me have to dodge the debris.

"This is the part where you get fucked!" He said, manic grin on him, dust and dirt spraying all around him.

The nodachi came down on us. I tried to dodge, but I slipped on the new earth under my foot, the overloaded chakra in my leg spasming.

Dang. We didn't even last through our first battle...

"I don't think so."

I blinked, and a green cloak was in front of me, blocking the strike about to separate me into two.

A clearer look. Tsunade. Tsunade was here.

She had blocked the strike with her bare forearm, the cloth underneath not even damaged. "You'll be answering some questions we have for you, nuke-nin." Her amber gaze pierced his manic one. "Yaketsuku. Your turn."

With one hand, she grabbed the nodachi, shattered it and then grabbed him and threw him away from us.

"Wind Release: Tsukuyomi's Blade."

Tsunade turned away. Behind her, a sudden tornado of sharp and howling winds tore up the nuke-nin in midair, blood spraying everywhere as he was demolished by invisible razors.

It was definitely a sight, but that's not where my attention was fixed. I couldn't take my eyes off Tsunade. She was looking me in the eyes, shaking, daring me to say something.

Even through the screams and the sounds of splattering, and then the plop when he dropped to the floor she held my gaze.

I knew I should probably be checking on Ayame and Shiromaru. Ayame especially, considering Yaketsuku was here for some reason.

But I just stood there, watching her watch me.

In the end I said nothing, but I saw her.

I saw her, and I said nothing.