DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. This is my Mito, though.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"You did good today," Asuma praised. He and Mito had spent the morning at a waterfall in southern Fire Country finally completing Mito's wind mastery to check off in her official Jonin record. She'd had the element down for years, really, but it was apparently lacking in her files.

He did not appreciate her celebrating by reversing the waterfall's flow onto him, however. For several seconds there, he thought she'd decided to drown him.

After drying off and reteaching her a taijutsu "lesson" for being a laughing, immature brat, they had lunch at Ichirakus and then Mito flashed them outside of the Southern Training Base (so Mito could better spy on Naruto and Sora from afar) to work on their earth jutsus. Mito might be able to travel underground like a particularly eager land shark but her earth walls left a lot to be desired for a Jonin of her caliber.

Then again, so did his.

Both of them had needed to get away and had also gotten a little carried away with their individual training. He was worn out and thought that even Mito might be, too.

"Thanks, As."

After cleaning up and getting some barbecue, they were back in Asuma's apartment now and Mito was sealing every security feature she knew of into an array that he could (hopefully) manipulate to his dark heart's desire. Heart's desire, she thought and scowled. Asuma had been doing it all day: "Smoking is well-known to be a major risk factor in coronary artery disease," she murmured. "Increased plaques, narrowed blood vessels, elevated risk of clots and STROKE…"

"Eeeeasy, Mito."

Asuma saw the way she worriedly looked back at him - her red eyebrows furrowed - as she pushed her chakra into the array, activating it, and winced a bit. Mito looked genuinely concerned about his health, which he knew she always was. She was also right, whether his father managed to live to a fairly old age for a ninja after smoking since he was an adolescent or not.

"I know, I know," Mito said. She appreciated her time with Asuma and didn't want to make him uncomfortable with this longtime argument so much that he didn't want to share things with her or hang out anymore. "Come put your chakra into this seal again. And I'm sorry I brought it up." Sort of.

"No. You're right." He smirked at the surprise on Mito's face and handed her his pack of cigs after pushing chakra into the wall. He waved his packet of gum at her as blue light flashed up, over, and through his apartment. "It works," he admitted about the nicotine gum. "Meh, it tastes good anyway. I just wish it lasted longer."

"Part of that's psychological, you know," Mito said as she finished her work. She tried to hide how thrilled she was that he might want to work on giving up his ever-growing addiction. Or even discuss it.

"Oh, I know," Asuma agreed with a reluctant grin. He'd probably "learned" from his parents and elder siblings how nothing seemed quite as good as a cigarette in the evening, after work, before bed, first thing in the morning… Yeah. It's a wonder Mito didn't fall into the temptation; he credited her mom and Tsunade for that. "Nica still smokes."

Mito let out something between a groan and a whimper as she flopped down on the couch. They were here to safely talk about Asuma's ALIVE sister, what things were really like in Tokyo, and brainstorm about the case they'd been working on - or anything else. It had been a while since they had a chance to chill together and there was a lot of crap they couldn't discuss anywhere unsecured. "So. Nica."

"She's happy." Mito nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek, Asuma could see. "I don't know that I agree with the vetting that allowed her to go over there but in the end, your father was probably right to let her go."

Without being consciously aware of it, Mito crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the cushions on Asuma's sofa - angry with her father (again.) "Why is that? And how much do you know about the vetting process?" You're not planning to leave, too, are you?!

"Nica couldn't be a ninja anymore; not with the kind of injuries she sustained during the Nine-tails attack."

Mito gave him a look of disbelief. After finding out about Asuma's sister (my big sister, too: that's what she'd called Nica as a child,) Mito had checked Sarutobi Nica's medical records; but of course, they said that she'd died from her injuries - just like her twin sister, Rika, really did.

She did, right?

A lot of shit was redacted in Nica's files, though. She was ANBU so that only made sense. Not to mention that she's an outside spy now. "Yet she can still play drums, work, and travel? –Many of those with supposed career-ending injuries after Obito attacked are still in the forces today. Even with chakra damage, Nica would've been a good fit for intelligence or encryption. Hell, this whole village is filled with ninjas or former ninjas that still work for the Hokage, ultimately." Disabled ones, too, Mito knew.

Asuma hummed; Mito was right about that. "Nica said she went through a really bad break-up right before she applied for the job." Asuma hadn't known that his sister was involved with anyone but she apparently had been for years. Then the still-unnamed guy cheated on her, and then he died in the Kyuubi attack, Nica had explained during the day they spent together in Tokyo. "That's why I mentioned the vetting; I mean, people are able to get over or eventually move past… exes and stuff," he commented with a frown. Asuma scratched the back of his head. He didn't think he could ever "get over" Kurenai, however, and was going to make damn sure he never had to. "But anyways… Pops knew."

Mito let out a sad sigh. "That makes sense, considering that she must've applied to go over there either before Tou-san took over as Hokage or when he was in transition. Do you think - had he had time - that Ojii-san would've told us she was leaving?"

"No," he drawled with a sour face after a beat. Mito eventually began shaking with silent laughter. "Fucking Hokage bullshit!"

Mito snickered herself into outright laughter, bitter and thinking it was all kinds of fucked-up that her grandfather figure, the Third Hokage, wouldn't tell his family they'd never see Nica again; that she'd DIED. My father wouldn't and didn't tell me either. It was hard to stop laughing: she was losing it. Although Mito was physically exhausted, something might seriously be wrong with her! "It is fucking Hokage bullshit," she heartily agreed.

No matter what dreams her mom and little brother had, why anyone would want to be Hokage was beyond her. Settling down, she observed Asuma with a growing grin as he got up. "You'd make a good Hokage!"

"Fuck. Off." Mito laughed at him. She was the one who'd make a "good Hokage" if the village could catch her after she went rogue to avoid the position, Asuma thought.

He grabbed a bottle of scotch and a couple of glasses with ice. Mito made a face and stuck her tongue out at his choice of booze so he went back to the kitchen, returning with peppermint schnapps; it was about all he had. "You know how I got over there?"

"Tokyo? Summoning is the safest way to get over there, you said, right?"

"Jiraiya-sama threw me in one of his toads. Right into his mouth!" Mito laughed at him again: she really still was such a brat.

"Ahhhh, I think I like Jiraiya again," she grinned. "So. Start from the beginning and tell me everything you can."

And just like that, Asuma did. They talked for hours and Asuma eventually passed out on the couch sometime after Mito declared his ideas for what might be going on with those missing kids and the Gato Corp. to be "batshit crazy."

Mito's ideas were the ones that were extremely worrisome - and potentially too much for Konoha to safely deal with, though.

Asuma also thought she might be right.
He'd been fearing the same thing for a while now.

The next morning, Asuma's team woke him up and God was he hungover. Mito, he sensed, was waking up in his guest room. And speaking of the heterochromatic thorn in his side, he still didn't know who his little sister was messing around with!

"I am not having sex with anybody." Mito pushed his face away from her. Asuma was really fishing for info hard but she wasn't having it. "You're not an Uchiha, dumbass! You can't light me on fire with your eyes!"

Asuma knew something was wrong with that statement (and he could definitely set her on fire again) but figured he could eventually pry the truth out of her. "But you've been suckin' face with someone, right?"

Mito growled and pulled her legs up in front of her chest. "Mind your own business."

"I like kissing Kurenai," he drunkenly admitted seconds later. Mito burst out laughing; she was so mean. "Don't laugh at me! –Just because you've only kissed ANKO."

"Hey, I've kissed somebody! Somebody else, I mean."

"Really?" Asuma asked, probably entirely too eagerly since Mito whacked him off his own couch again. "Who?"

"I don't know," Mito smiled shyly with blushing cheeks.
Then she looked away as if she was hiding something - although he did believe her.

"What do you mean, you 'don't know?' Fess up!"

"I went out on a blind date," Mito smiled - as if she were proud of that.

"Why would you do that?!"

"Because it was fun! And I wanted to go out; it's not like anyone else's gonna ask me."

Asuma grumbled as he climbed back on the couch. He knew that Mito thought that she was too scary (she WAS) - and that they all knew that her father was too terrifying - for anyone to ever ask her out.

"Sensei."

Putting my heart on my sleeve, he pouted internally. Grimacing that he let the brats into his place - why had he done that? - Asuma remembered drunkenly gushing to Mito about how much he loved Kurenai. Oh, God; she's gonna raz me endlessly.

"Sensei, you alright?" Shikamaru asked, snapping his fingers in his sensei's face.

But maybe not, Asuma re-thought. Mito had told him that she loved Kurenai, too, and asked what she had to do to be either the maid of honor or the "best non-man" at their wedding since she couldn't imagine Hideki standing next to him in his ANBU mask. His bearded face went aflame when he remembered them discussing an absolutely ludicrous plan to make that happen in depth. He'd even told Mito that he would definitely name her his Best Non-Man. "Oh, God." Mito was right; scotch sucked. He wasn't ready to get married!

Worse, Kurenai definitely wasn't.

Mito peeked into the living room, looking raggedy as hell but chipper, Asuma thought - and waved at his brat students, leaning on the wall. "Speak of the devil and she will appear."

Mito scratched her cheek. "You were speaking of me? –I'll pound you for that, Asuma." Asuma rolled his eyes and Mito saluted the kids before skulking off toward the bathroom.

He turned around and groaned when he saw Ino's expression. She looked like the cat who had caught that damn 'Ruto-chan. "We grew up together. She's my sister, Ino-chan."

"I didn't say anything, sensei," Ino said with a naughty grin. Mito-sensei was wearing Asuma-sensei's old clothes, Ino was sure of it. Ino thought that Mito-sensei might not even be wearing a bra underneath that top! Scandalous, the 13-year-old thought giddily.

Asuma believed he guessed right about what the little gossip queen was thinking, but the boys were looking at Ino with disbelief, thank God - even Choji! Asuma wrinkled up his nose, completely grossed out by his kunoichi student's possible thoughts, and decided to sic Spiderman on her again when Ino least expected it. "What are you three doing here? I thought you were on a mission."

"We got back late yesterday afternoon and wanted to train with you today."

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm. I've got a hangover," Asuma mumbled as he rubbed his head. None of the kids looked particularly surprised. Where was the respect? "What a drag."

"You got my hangover balls, As?" Mito asked as she wandered back and into his kitchen. She stuck her head in his fridge and Asuma was glad he did have those foul things available this morning.

"White container on the second shelf."

"I'll have your sensei ready and fit as the C-rank force he is before you know it, kids," Mito joked. Asuma only scowled at her harder but definitely took the part of the hangover cure she passed to him.

Shikamaru sat down since they weren't being asked to leave. "I saw the Kumo Bingo Book…"

"Kumo!" Mito growled, shaking her fist.

"...listed Asuma-sensei as an A-rank," Shikamaru finished without commenting on Mito-sensei's hatred of Kumo.

"He's stronger than that," Mito murmured about Asuma. If Asuma was forced to put it all on the line, she was positive that he could win against an S-rank. God forbid he ever again has to.

"I can't believe Asuma-sensei's so strong," Ino remarked in wonder. Mito-sensei nodded before she started laughing, agreeing with her, and Asuma - with his mouth full of that yucky-looking medicine ball - told her to get out of his house. Maybe they really were like siblings.

Ino thought it would've been more fun if they were hiding something.

"I saw your team leaving the Tower, Mito-sensei," Choji let her know.

"Hooray! They're back!" Her team had taken a mission to Suna last week with another team. "I'm going home. See ya, As! See ya, Asuma's kids! Ja!"

And then she was gone again.

"That is one handy technique," Shikamaru commented aloud although it was rather obvious. That woman was truly troublesome, though.

"Yeah, it is," Asuma said, letting a slow grin grow on his face. He was already starting to feel better even without that additional disgusting shake Mito usually made. "So what do you three want to work on today?"

.

"I don't really care for ramen," Anko said, wrinkling her nose at her bowl of noodles.

Mito growled at her, noticing how aggravated Teuchi was also becoming behind the counter. The man was an artist and his medium was broth and noodles. "Take that back, Heathen."

"I mean," Anko said, looking over Mito's shoulder and not realizing that for once she might be getting herself into trouble without meaning to, "Ichirakus makes a mean ramen but you know my tastes run sweeter."

Teuchi crossed his arms over his chest and punctuated his words by shaking his ladle at her. "I can put a tangy or sweet barbecue sauce on the pork that would knock your sandals off but you've never once asked for it!"

"Barrrbecue," Anko muttered longingly.

Mito groaned, seeing that lost look on her best friend's face, and sucked down the remainder of her noodles, plus Anko's. She put an extra large tip down on the counter for Teuchi, hoping that she'd be allowed back in although she bet Anko would put on a ramen time-out for a little while for saying such blasphemous things. She grabbed her by her elbow, regaining Anko's attention and wanting to know what was up with her. "Barbecue?"

"Whatever."

Mito grumbled but the two Jonins made their way down the main drag toward the Yakiniku-Q. Mito gestured for Anko to follow her into an alley that only had a few normal cats wandering in it. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing."

Mito twisted her lips; Anko seemed a little melodramatic right now. "Does this problem relate to a beautiful heiress that…"

"Shut up." Her mood sucked and not only because of her "love" life. Dealing with Orochimaru-sensei; seeing those things' bodies that had been transformed thanks to a similar or the very same seal she desperately wanted to get off her shoulder more than almost anything else? Kami.

Although the thing with Hana bothered her, too.

Mito sighed. "She obviously likes you." What was the problem? Anko liked Inuzuka Hana; Hana liked Anko: there ya go. Anko was causing her own relationship or potential relationship problems.

"You don't know that she likes me like that." Anko couldn't help it, though: she looked to Mito to see if maybe she was wrong, that perhaps Hana had said something to her. Mito, however, only looked as big-eyed and clueless about those kinds of things as she ever was. "She's an heiress." She's too good for me. No one will accept it.

"Tch. You're both excellent kunoichis and good people." Anko made a very low, keening sound and looked so miserable that Mito felt like she had to do something for her. "I don't get the sense that Inuzukas are like that, anyway. At all! –Just ask her to come out with a bunch of us. That way you're not asking her out and making yourself VULNERABLE." God forbid, Mito thought with a snort.

"Like you know anything."

"Too true; and thanks for reminding me, by the way," Mito snarked. Oh man, how she wanted to tell Anko that she wasn't a virgin anymore but there were obvious reasons she couldn't. One was her Deal with the Devil or Devilish monk. Two, Anko made every time she'd been with someone sound like the be-all/end-all of fantastical, mind-bending sex while her one experience had kinda sucked. Plus, it didn't matter, she told herself - aside from the lost friendship with Chiriku and how Mito felt like she had (KNOWN that she had) done something terribly, terribly wrong.

Not to mention all the newfound additional doubts Mito had about her appearance now.
Kami.

Mito was too embarrassed to tell Anko what had happened in her own singular bad experience - even if Chiriku hadn't demanded the deal with her that he had: it would still probably be too embarrassing. The main issue, though, was NOT that Anko would laugh at her - although she definitely would. No, Anko would go gunning for Chiriku and get them both into deep shit. That's the last thing Anko needed.

That's the last thing Mito needed!

"You've been acting weird lately," Anko commented, suddenly suspicious.

"Does that mean I was acting normal before now?" Mito's normal was weird; Anko definitely said so often enough.

Anko tilted her head, looking at her oddly flushing and blushing friend more as Mito pulled her in the direction they were going before. That was suspicious. She'd also thought that Mito would want to grill or "advise" her more. "What's up with you?"

"My cubs are in the village," Mito grinned hugely, eager to get off the topic of herself. "Asuma's team asked him to train with them so I thought that if they're not too tired, I could train my team with them, too!"

Anko hummed. "I guess I could bring Tenten" if she's still alive. She'd left her apprentice with Ibiki. Tenten was fascinated by Ibiki; there was really something wrong with that girl, she thought in growing amusement. "Barbecue first - then dango; then training."

"Fine. But you're only getting dango if you finally explain what the deal is with you and that cute sensei I've been hearing about!"

"SHUT UP, MITO!" Anko was so embarrassed but that cute Iruka-sensei was adorable! She'd truthfully told Mito that she was using Iruka to get Hana interested in her (which earned her a nasty punch to the solar plexus just on principle) but truthfully… Well truthfully, Anko wasn't sure.

She liked Umino Iruka, too - which felt all kinds of wrong.

Mito regretted eating dango as she twirled around, trumpeting water and flinging her chains. She was attempting to remain unimpaled by the axes Kiba was hurling at her and Hinata's rapidly improving senbon and water techniques. Shino and Tenten were sparring against Asuma's whole team. Asuma, she could feel, was getting frustrated that his team hadn't taken the two down yet and Anko was asleep against a tree.

Asuma shouldn't have been surprised; Mito's entire team was fast as hell and she had TOLD Asuma that Shino was incredibly smart. "I'm gonna throw up!"

Hinata stopped throwing senbons and her sensei's chains dropped. Mito ducked as Kiba almost impaled her with an ax.

"Ha. Haha - uh, sorry, sensei," Kiba apologized awkwardly.

"Nah, it's okay," Mito said, looking behind her. Kiba's last thrown little ax was in a tree behind her with a piece of red hair dangling from it. "Nice one, though." She felt around the back of her head and two-toned hair, trying to figure out where that strand of hair came from. There were a lot of little axes lying all around this side of the training field and not all of them had been deflected. Maybe Kiba needed a heavier set? A lot of them had been thrown way off target: her. "Without my chains, you would've made me a pincushion, Hina-chan!"

What Kiba DEFINITELY needed was a seal that would allow him to automatically retrieve his axes, though. Same thing for Hinata's senbons. Mito made a mental note to get on that.

Hinata shyly smiled and thanked her sensei but knew that the Jonin could've moved away faster or have potentially drowned them. She tilted her head at the especially big grin on Kiba's face. Lately, her teammates had begun teasing her. Kiba always did so in a good-natured way and Shino rarely did it at all but…

"Hinnn-ah-tahh, you should use Genma-senpai's technique with sensei." Kiba's eyes lit up with even more glee when Hinata's byakugan activated for a second, despite the danger that screamed at him. Team 8's little heiress was beginning to develop a backbone! He smiled fangily at her and their sensei. "Hina-chan sometimes injures herself with her senbon loogies… OOOOF!"

"Oh! Kiba-kun! I'm S-so sorry," Hinata panicked after punching Kiba. "Sensei!"

"What?" Mito asked. "You put him down; you heal him!"

"Sen-sei," Kiba moaned in a hoarse voice from the ground. Fortunately, Hinata was already trying to heal the damage she'd just caused. "You're so mean, Hinata," he whispered and felt Hinata's healing jutsu turn a little sharp. "Ow."

"They are n-not LOOGIES, Kiba-kun!"

"Oh, yeah: I forgot you said that," Kiba lied to his kunoichi teammate. He looked behind him when he heard Ino scream - but Shino had just gotten her with his bugs again. She was running around, freaking out before grabbing her whip. He looked back at Hinata who was watching the others spar with great interest. "What's wrong?"

"I-Ino-chan has progressed admirably with her whip." Hinata got up, feeling that she had healed Kiba enough. Hopefully, any lingering pain would remind him not to tease her about the trouble she was having with effectively aiming senbon, en masse, from her mouth. Honestly, she wasn't sure that it was the Shirunai technique she wanted to emulate. Her father would probably lose his composure if he were to see it (as Neji-nii-san had,) and she was much more interested in Genma-senpai's poisons. "Sensei, may I try using a whip?"

"Sure," Mito agreed easily with a drawl, "what the hell. We can go shopping for one later."

Mito frowned, however, when she saw that Tenten had either run out of weapons or decided to only evade for now and yelled at Anko to wake the hell up. Mito had made the mistake of eating dango after her ramen, too, but she wasn't zonked out or missing out on an opportunity to train her cubs. "ANKO-CHAN!"

Anko was on her feet in less than a heartbeat, noting how frustrated her best friend was. Tenten got stuck in the Nara kid's shadow possession jutsu and she knew how to counter it although she certainly wasn't going to tell her apprentice in front of other people - at least not right now. "Winner, Team 10," she said firmly. The kids complied with her decision and stopped sparring immediately.

The kids that had been sparring were all panting.

"Good job, everyone," Asuma congratulated them. "So beginning with our Chunins, tell me what you learned from this spar."

.

Gai's frown didn't suit his features at all, Mito felt. "You sure you don't mind giving me a hand?" she asked the village's taijutsu and weapons expert.

"Of course not," Gai grinned broadly (his expression suddenly doing a 180.) "We must fan the flames of youth to the point it consumes us!"

Gai was pretty darn excited. Mito wanted to show him her mother's famed twin swords. He could tell this was an emotional moment for the slightly younger kunoichi and kneeled down beside the scroll that she had put on the ground. With a release of her chakra and a *POOF*, he couldn't help an audible and slow intake of breath at seeing what Uzumaki Kushina had once called her twin swords: The Storm.

Mito softly smiled as she balanced the blades on her hands after unsheathing them. "They're twin blades, of course, meant to be used together and heavily sealed," she said, allowing the sharp edge of one sword to nick her finger. Both blades were covered with engraved seals that appeared for less than a second before disappearing again. Gai's reaction: a high-wattage smile was very appreciative. "Everyone calls them The Storm but;" Mito felt her throat close up with emotion. "Their real name... I don't remember," she admitted. She also hadn't found it in any of the scrolls, books, or anything she had from her mother or Uzushio, either.

Mito sort of remembered her mother telling her what her blades were originally called: it was some forgotten, ancient language and Mito deeply regretted not remembering - and the fact that her mother had never apparently told anyone else. "I had planned to save them for Naruto but like me, he uses ninjutsu more than he does weapons."

"Naruto-kun does enjoy weapons," Gai countered. Naruto was quite good with weapons for a Genin of his age: the result of being raised by so many high-level ninjas. Gai had occasionally babysat/guarded young Naruto and had enjoyed how determined the Hokage's son was to

"...master all the weapons, knowledge, and jutsus I can, dattebayo!
Now, show me what you've got Gai-nii-san!"

Mito smiled, wondering if that indicated just how selfish she was being. She missed her mother terribly, though - for some reason even more lately either since the whole thing with Chiriku went down (or maybe, PROBABLY, it was more because of things finally blowing up between Mito and her father.) "I will give them to him," she said quietly but firmly. "When I do, it would be nice to show him how to use them, though."

"And you were not previously trained to use them?"

"No," Mito said sadly as she ran her hand back through her wild hair. She grabbed a batch of ponytail holders out of her Jonin vest. The cool wind was really picking up in Konoha. She bet that the capital would be getting snow this year, considering how cool it was in the village already. "Anyway, Hayate told me that you'd used blades similar to these before." She handed one to her friend and then the other. Gai's eyes were huge, making her chuckle.

"I have never used twin swords as fine as these." He took a step back. "Do you mind?"

"No, please: go right ahead," Mito said, giving him permission to try them out, "that's why I sought you out!" Truthfully, she'd asked Hayate first but he was leaving for a mission.

Gai slowly moved through his self-made katas as he twirled the swords this way and that. The Storm seemed to suck up the wind - and if he wasn't mistaken, water vapor, too. Supposedly it was also malleable to or would channel lightning and fire as well. "Incredibly impressive."

"You really are," Mito said in admiration of the way he moved. Her mother had a completely different style than Gai, but that only made sense considering that she had a dramatically different build and was spontaneous almost to a fault. Mito rarely saw her mother do the same katas with them twice. She only wished that she'd seen her mother practicing with her swords more often.

"Ha," he laughed before slowing down and observing his fellow Jonin-sensei. "You miss your mother." Mito nodded and looked away. "Forgive me for being so blunt! However, when I saw your expression, I thought of my nunchucks." Mito only blinked at him with large, thickly lashed, cornflower-colored eyes. "I first took up my father's nunchucks one day when I was missing his presence in my life quite profoundly." He went back to moving through his katas with the remarkable swords.

Mito swallowed hard. "Did it help?"

"With missing my father?" Mito nodded, looking again at the ground. "It did; eventually." Mito looked up at him, clearly determined as he stopped. "HA! The first time I tried to use them, I broke my nose. The second time, I broke my jaw!"

Mito snorted. "You're great with nunchucks now, though!"

"Ex-xactly," Gai said, planting his meaty, strong hand on her shoulder. "And so too, will you be great with these swords given time and maximum effort."

"Thank you, Gai," Mito said genuinely. Gai returned the second sword to her, looking at both longingly before grinning at her wildly - and then unsealed his own twin swords. "Those are nice! –I was thinking just now that since I use ninjutsu so much, maybe I can use them with my chains!"

Gai blanched. "You wish to use your chains to control the swords?" How terrifying. Fighting her would then be like fighting a particularly strong, wily helicopter.

"It's just a thought," Mito said, blushing. She had no idea whether or not that was possible but that way she could still have her hands free AND use the blades. "I have to learn to use them fluidly with my hands first before I really try anything like that." She'd also need to figure out how to seal the blades into her chains.

And anyway, they're for Naruto, she reminded herself. Smiling down at them, Mito realized that she should have taken her mother's swords out a long time ago.

Maybe, since she'd be eventually giving these to Naruto, she could use a different sword or swords, though. Her chain idea wasn't impossible, either; anything was achievable through sealing. For now, I can try to use my chains to open one of my seals - and begin making them grab things!

Mito's mind began racing through one idea after another of how she might do that. Oh geez; now she was getting excited! "Let's get busy, Gai-sensei!"

Gai, though, had narrowed his eyebrows at seeing someone approaching. "I believe we have company," he said quietly.

Mito felt Ensui's chakra before she saw him approaching behind her. She waved at him but a tiny dog came rushing to them, ahead of the ANBU Vice Commander.

"Pakkun?" Gai and Mai addressed the ninken.

"You're somewhat needed at the hospital," Pakkun said - he didn't seem winded, Gai noted. "Non-medical, non-emergency: mehh," the pug drawled - as if he was trying to decide about that. "BOTH of you."

Both Jonins were already sealing away their weapons and Mito was about to flash them off but found herself tripped up by a shadow.

"Namikaze-san will meet up with you there in a minute, Maito-san," Ensui said in a slow, lazy drawl.

Gai narrowed his eyes at the older shinobi but bobbed his head as soon as the ANBU Vice Commander put his hands back in his pockets. At least two of his very good friends believed Nara Ensui might be unprofessionally interested in Mito-chan.

"It's fine," Mito whispered, although she kept her eyes on the idiot that surprised her with a jutsu from behind. Ensui could've just called out to her; there was no need to use his creepy shadows.

"She'll meet you at the hospital in a minute." Gai ran off with a concerned look on his face and Ensui told Hatake's ninken to get lost.

"What's up?" Mito asked with a frown.

Ensui shoved his hands deeper into his pockets to prove that he wasn't going to try to stop her again. "Just wanted to let you know: beginning next week, you're mine."

He turned around and strolled off, leaving Mito pulling a face as she flashed off to meet Gai.

Of all the weird ways to phrase something!