After teasing her for not putting the silencing seal up quickly enough last night, Kurenai filled Mito in on all the gossip she'd missed, whispering in her ear unless the girls, Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, and Ino, were particularly rowdy.

I can't believe Mikoto-oba left. Mito let out a shaky sigh, really tortured by the idea. Mikoto was her mother's best friend. What in the world had her aunt-figure gotten herself into? And she had been reported to be with Orochimaru? Didn't she realize how dangerous that was? "Do you know anything about Izumi-san?"

"Uchiha Izumi?" Kurenai asked, wanting clarification. There were lots of Izumis around and the only reason she thought of her was that they were talking about Uchiha…- dono, who had not yet been declared a rogue. "I haven't seen her in ages."

Mito gritted her teeth, wondering if Kurenai even knew that Izumi had a baby. From what she'd learned, Uchiha Izumi had been a fine kunoichi, a Chunin who went directly into the police department and was set to one day become a captain there, her stellar career progressing quickly. How could Mikoto leave her and the baby behind? Her sons had chosen to leave, hadn't they? But then again, maybe Mikoto knew Izumi was strong enough to protect herself and her son. She, in fact, would be pissed as hell if she learned her father was doing something she didn't know about or even needed to keep her safe.

Somewhere in Konoha, Minato sneezed.

Mito kept wondering about the Uchihas. "Shisui?"

"Haven't seen him in months," Kurenai replied with a worried shrug. She hadn't been aware that Mito was particularly close to the Uchihas. "He was in the village for quite a while, hanging around the district," she said, meaning the old Uchiha clan district, "but then he started retaking missions."

"Right." For the millionth time, Mito wondered what her mother would think and do about all this. And what was her Hokage/father doing about all of this, especially with Obito potentially running around? She had previously wondered if…

Gods, Mito had wondered if her father and Mikoto, being close at one time, both sharing old grief over their spouses being killed… If they would somehow find their way to each other one day. Maybe that was silly thinking but Mikoto was a good person. Mito wouldn't have minded, even if a tiny part of her was scandalously - perhaps even traitorously, (although she deeply hoped not) - pulling for Mei and her father, even if it were in a far-flung future. You're so ridiculous, Mito. Mei's probably only giving Tou-san a hard time. She snorted, thinking about the Hokage's blushing, flustered face when Mei would say something flirtatious. He makes it easy for her.

It wasn't wrong to want her father to be happy was it? Mito found it hard to believe that her loving mother would've wanted her father to be alone for decades…

"How's Anko?"

Kurenai's lips pulled into a smirk. She covered her mouth as she whispered, not wanting the teens to hear or lip-read. "Still pining for Hana-hime."

Mito grinned. Anko really needed to get over herself and ask Hana out on a proper date. They'd gone out before but it was as friends or in groups. "Ah, Hana doesn't like being called that."

"Which is why it's fun when we do it anyway. Right, hime-sama?"

"Oh-ho. You are asking for it, Kurenai." You are getting dunked. She scootched over just a little, trying to be sneaky in her move to attack but Kurenai only moved that same distance away.

"Hmm," Kurenai grinned. "Seems, I am. In fact, I am SO going to order a "Heroes of Kiri" Kitsune Reaper figurine," she snickered - loudly - as she darted away when Mito splashed her, the two of them playing like kids. "I'm going to get my Mito doll a little Barbie crown and cape, and display it on my table! –And tell people that's how you walk around in your apartment when no one's around!"

Snorting through her snickers as she swam after her into the deeper part of the natural springs, Mito gave her a look. "I was only going to dunk you, but it seems you need a good stabbin'." She halted her movements, worried, when Kurenai looked surprised and paled, clutching her stomach and gagging while holding a hand over her mouth. She made a mad dash toward the shallower part of the water. "Kure? You okay?" Kurenai waved her off but she didn't look good.

"I gotta get out. Too," she gagged again, "too hot."

Mito also stood, knowing that Kurenai couldn't have been in the warm water for very long at all. "I'll come back to the room with you; we'll get you some water and…"

Kurenai jumped out and ran over, hurling into a trash bin. Mito rushed to her, helping her into a yukata and then pulling on one herself so that they could get back to their room.

Later -

Wrestling Mito might not have been Kurenai's best idea but the heterochromatic woman truly seemed to be genjutsu-resistant and neither of them wanted to hurt the other. Mito was doing her best to bend out of Kurenai's holds while inching her way toward the door, her heel dragging her forward. "Stop being so tall!"

Mito snorted. "No! Let me go so I can go pound that idiot!"

"Mito, it's okay! He - I don't think he's told anyone - but he asked me to marry him!"

Mito went limp and then tapped. "He did?!" Oh, now she was almost excited! Good job, As!

"But… I have been taking the pill for years!" Kurenai felt her stomach flip again. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to keep from gagging. Mito had told her that for a lot of women, prenatals helped, and that she could give her more literature and whatever else she needed after she ran testing at home. Then her friend had balled her head off, excited about having a little niece or nephew, and then she'd gotten mad that Asuma hadn't "done things in the right order." Thus the impromptu wrestling match.

"The pill's only 99.9 percent effective, Kurenai," Mito stated, sure that her friend knew that. Why hadn't she been wearing a seal? "It only takes one time to…"

"Even so, I don't know if I'm ready," Kurenai finally admitted, raking her hands down her face and then allowing Mito to help her up slowly. "I haven't even answered his proposal yet."

Mito sucked in a breath and tried to nod in understanding. "Are you…" Her eyes watered up and she tried to blink the emotions away. "But you want to marry Aniki, right? -OH GODS, Kurenai. I'm sorry! You still have choices, 'ttebane! All the options! I… Shit. Forgive me." She bowed her head, meaning it. "My reaction was completely unprofessional."

Kurenai waited for her to stand but Mito was truly repentant it seemed. She softly yanked at her two-toned hair and hid a little smirk - and went to make tea, not allowing Mito to touch the mini-kettle in their room, although she tried to insist. "You know, I've loved Asuma since I was a girl." Smiling more genuinely, she shook her head, thinking of all she had gone through in her career and personal life. Asuma was always as solid as a rock for her, even in his rebellious days. "I want to have the baby, already. But I should probably talk to him about everything first, although he's never been opposed to the idea of having children."

Mito nodded, happy she accepted her apology and understanding. She wiped her eyes, guessing she was almost too excited about this. Nah! "Would you like me to get him?"

Kurenai spent a few quiet moments considering it. "No. He'll be impossible all the way back to Konoha if I do. No… I'll tell him there, after we get home."

As they headed to Konoha, Asuma narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend and sister. Mito was nearly hovering over Kurenai and insisting on moving fast, having put them in center positions which made little sense. Mito might be their head medic and an outstanding sensor but she was also a flippin' tank.

Kurenai seemed like her wonderful self although a little pale. Mito, on the other hand, was not making eye contact with him or anyone else - although that could be for a variety of reasons.

Apparently, the girls in the onsen had finally seen Mito standing up and fully naked. Asuma had NOT appreciated hearing their too-loudly-whispered comments about her 'amazing' (yuck: that's my sister, you dumbasses) body when she left - or about "the carpet matching the drapes." The boys had managed to go silent just before that, naturally. They, all whipped their heads to him and Kakashi (who groaned and put his washcloth-covered face in his hands,) and Asuma had gotten out and hissed and spit himself hoarse through the fence at Ino. Or especially at Ino, (who had made that particular comment,) and then had the gall to quietly argue that it was surely unusual, even though that had been more directed toward the other girls. You could almost hear a pin drop otherwise during that nightmare. And then he had to hear Tenten mention that "it's not like Mito-sensei is rocking a full bush, so what's the problem?"

What the fuck?! One thing was clear: Tenten had been around Anko too damn much.

Were kids like this when he was their age? Even as he asked himself, he knew that yes, boys were; but girls, too?!

At least Hinata and Sakura had put Ino in a hell of a lot of pain for her comments. Tenten didn't come out unscathed, either.

Had Mito heard about all that? Oh, who was he kidding? The other kids were unbruised, unsealed, un-pretzel-tied, and able to walk, so surely not.

Were these idiots mature enough to be Chunins?

Konoha -

"Tousan." Mito allowed herself to be picked up and swung around by her emotional father, smiling into his shoulder. "I've missed you." She really had - although, in the end, he and his buddies were the ones who sent her away for so long - again.

She was fine with it: it was a mission. It had just been… a little difficult for her. But people took on difficult missions all the time. She didn't want to be treated differently, truly.

"I've missed you, too," he cried, pulling her away a bit so he could look at her. Mito had a tan! And were those new freckles? Aw.

Minato pulled her harshly into his side, his grip like a vice so she couldn't leave, and nodded seriously at all the Genins and their senseis. Where did Kurenai disappear to? "Good job; all of you. The reports are that you represented yourselves and the village well." He frowned a bit, directing his gaze toward Kakashi and Asuma when the kids seemed more uncomfortable than proud of themselves. "I assume your senseis have given you orders for when to meet next. Dismissed until then."

That at least got a good response. The Genins all took off in the same direction. Kakashi and Asuma strolled over and Mito who finally surrendered to his fussing, and put her arm around his back. "Ramen?"

"Yatta!" Mito cheered, "Ramen!"

"I'll take a pass," Asuma requested, fumbling for a cigarette (and ignoring the sourpuss look Mito gave him for it, then deftly moving away from her efforts to crush his pack.) He needed to check on Kurenai. "If that's alright, Hokage-sama. –-Honest to Kami, control yourself, Imouto!" Mito was still going for the cigarettes like a two-toned bloodhound. She hadn't been around to prescribe his patches (which he may have started slightly abusing again before running out.) Thankfully his Hokage had his back.

"C'mon, Mito, Kakashi," Minato grinned as he clutched his student's shoulder after picking his daughter off her big brother figure. "You two can tell me all about everything at Ichirakus."

…

Could Kakashi look any more guilty? Mito wondered. He was playing with his chopsticks, not making much eye contact with her father and generally being silent unless spoken to. What to do; what to do? They were each on one side of her father who seemed happy but had noticed, she was certain.

It was hard to enjoy another bowl of ramen like this… What a violation of the natural order.

Plus, Kakashi had softly but audibly GROWLED when Gai, Genma, and Anko came over to greet and hug her (although okay: Anko shouldn't have swatted and pinched her "I've missed you and your fat ass" like that when her father looked away, quietly laughing at them.)

Trying to ignore all of that, Mito grinned as she was scolded in a way that sounded a lot like praise about the sealed water cyclone she'd set off in his office; having attached the transparent, delayed seal to the message she'd sent him. "I'm glad you liked it."

"Liked it?" he grinned. Minato did like it! It was wonderful seal work. "I should demote you."

"You'll have to talk to Daimyo-sama, then, huh?" Haha! I don't think you can demote me without his approval. Plus I'd use Tsunade's Kunoichi/Dealing-With-Dad Lesson #1: I'd cry to make you feel bad if you did.

"Ah, my daughter pretends to be a brat." Kakashi loudly snorted, earning him an attempted side-hug from her father that he ducked out of. "Speaking of, Mito," her father grinned at her, sitting up and looking excited rather than put out. "Daimyo-sama sent you something for the Uzushio Museum; I think you're going to like it. –And after that meeting, I'd like to pull you in on the Orochimaru/Oto task force."

Mito's eyes widened and she nodded.

Later -

"So this is the one," a short man in a modern suit and polished shoes sniffed, walking around Mito in a circle, assessing her. He hadn't seen her in a long time.

Mito looked at him and then her father. "Daimyo-sama sent me a guy?"

"I am not any guy, young lady." Mito bristled. "I am a Hasegawa Yuko, and I am a scholar, a curator, and a designer. I am responsible for the Warring Clans History Museum in the capital and my latest is the new Museum of Contemporary Art in Shizu. I was first trained at Tokyo University of the Arts and Music and then…"

"I'm sorry, did you say Tokyo Arts?" Mito asked, backpedaling.

"Tsk. That was only the beginning. I'm sure you're curious," he smirked, rolling onto the back of his heels. "For your information, I was brought here, kidnapped by shinobis of Konoha while at sea, after a love affair gone sour, and decided to remain in Daimyo-sama's employ," he said with a little jerk of his shoulders. Mito glanced at her father; he looked slightly embarrassed and guilty.

Yuko pushed his thick black glasses back up his tiny nose. "After that, our great daimyo allowed me to make my own fortunes. I'm very interested in the genocide of your people; their history," he ignored the way Mito had shifted, her pretty eyes narrowing a bit. He had first seen her at the capitol and became interested when no matter what he tried, the then-preteen ignored him, only smiling at him benignly, trying to avoid him. Daimyo-sama explained much of her story and he became enamored.

- As a human being, not a suitor of any sort.
- Something he had to ridiculously assure her father was true.

"...I would like to see what you plan to exhibit at your museum."

Blinking, Mito took a slight step back. She kept almost all of that stuff on her person, although she had an experimental seal in a safe deposit box that should transfer it in case of her death. Reluctantly, she began telling him about some of the exhibits she and others had discussed, feeling her blood pressure rise when he kept shaking his head. He wanted to see.

Mito guarded Uzushio's things fervently. What if he or her father… wanted something? What if this guy wasn't who he said he was?

Twitching, Mito eventually pulled a leather band with a piece of thick sea glass out of her top. She channeled chakra into it and it began to glow. "This is only an example and doesn't include any of the items I've collected."

"Young lady," he interrupted snootily. "I need to see what I'm working with and where it will be!"

Mito softly glared at him, continuing to channel her chakra. "Fuuin."

He and Minato gasped and Minato moved to flash Yuko away but then realized he could breathe - that he wasn't even truly wet. "What is this?" he asked in awe, moving his hand into a large school of small fish which darted around his hand - fish he could feel brushing against him. They were surrounded by brightly colored coral, fish, and water, as far as the eye could see. He could see sunlight above him although it was only filtering in.

Mito was so glad the illusion was holding. She and Kurenai had worked toward something similar to this but it was only after sinking herself for a half hour near a trench inside the eddies, and then focusing her experience on the seal she'd etched into the mineral that it came to life. The first time she tried it, it hadn't worked. –Or her hair had been in the way. "It's the ocean, isn't it?"

Yoku choked out a laugh. "Marvelous. Fabulous!" He shook his head, looking around and feeling as if he was in the center of a coral reef. He noticed a beautiful lionfish and laughed, reaching down to touch it but pulling his hand away at the last second. "What would have happened had I touched it?"

Mito grinned, sharp and foxy. "It would've stung - at least a little, wouldn't it have?" She winked at him and her father. "Only a little bit: truly."

"Hoh! Very good; I like this!" He slowly strolled through the illusion, amazed that even his footing seemed off and as strange as if he were on unsteady sand, underwater. Now that he thought about it, he felt a bit of pressure in his ears. He swallowed and laughed when they popped. "You were right. Promotion is a huge part of a museum continuing to succeed or even getting its doors open. If you keep offering these types of experiences, 'they will come.' And we will ensure that they see everything you want them to see on the way to… this."

"So… You think people will enter to experience something like this, but they can be made to see parts of my mother's village on the way?" Mito asked somewhat breathlessly, feeling strangely emotional. Hopeful. "They'll really… have to see what happened to it? What could happen anywhere? –And all the things Uzushio contributed to the world they know?"

"If that's what you wish, then that's what we'll ensure they see."

Mito could've cried. Ooops! She was crying! "G-good." She glanced over at her father whose eyes were red, too. He ran his sleeve over his face; he was crying although hiding it as well as he could. "Good! –GOOD! Thank you," she bowed in the sensation of water, feeling a little hysterical. "I'm gonna hold you to that!"

.

Hours later -

Mito stared at Shikaku, trying to get his superbrain to bend to her shitty excuse for a will. What was going on here? His, Ibiki's, and her father's unending questions about Orochimaru were all over the place and making Anko very uncomfortable. Her arms crossed lazily over her stomach as she slouched in a chair, Mito's eyes kept darting over to her highly-strung best friend, hoping that she was okay.

Were five people enough for a task force? What was this?

"I think I've told you everything I can think of about that bastard," Anko muttered, glancing at her fingernails. "AGAIN. I'm sure of it!"

Shikaku sighed. "It's a drag, but we want to know more about what you remember or thought of him as a man."

Mito rubbed the back of her neck, not feeling that description was accurate. "He's more like, genderfluid, I think."

"More like a vicious snake than a human being." But Anko caught on immediately to what Mito was talking about. "Not that I care BUT I think he would've been on about choosing one's pronouns, and were he a human being, he or they would've used 'they;' as a personal pronoun."

"Agreed," Mito said, doing a slight double take when she saw that her father and Shikaku, to a lesser extent, looked confused. "Old people," she mouthed to Anko behind her hair, who finally grinned just a bit. "Why did he do it all, though?" That's what Mito had always wondered about Orochimaru. "Any of the rest of it."

Anko was immediately on the defensive, as Mito should've guessed she would be. "What does it matter, why? He's a rogue, a traitor, and a monster. The things he's done… Done to children…"

"He always said Jii-san allowed it," Mito said, not looking at Anko when she hissed. "Not that it was right, and that was of course related to his activities as a shinobi of Konoha, right?" None of the other men answered, which was almost answer enough. "What he did afterward, after being allowed to found the Sound village; what he did to especially YOU and those other kids is what I can't forgive him for." She jerked her chin up at her quiet father. "And for attacking Konoha, of course. …He wasn't like that before," she added quietly, knowing no one here wanted to hear that.

"Loads of Oto kids needed the body modifications he 'aided' them with - or they thought they did," Anko sighed, thinking back. "He took in so many sick kids and…"

"I know, Anko," Mito said, having talked about this with her many, many times. She would've let her talk but had a weird feeling about this whole non-interrogation. Plus she'd said it before. "Whatever he wanted to call it, Orochimaru was exploiting those kids. I'm sure there were kids missing limbs, or sick, or what have you, but they wouldn't want to have given up their lives even if they supposedly dreamed of one day being shinobis. Lots of them didn't KNOW of other options, did they? Some smaller villages want to sweep their differently-abled or sick people behind a locked door or worse."

"If you think I'm going to defend him for keeping kids from languishing where their parents or villagers left them, you're wrong," Anko said, her eyes flashing and daring Mito to push her. "I can't defend him for anything, and I won't! I don't give a FUCK about HIM, other than wanting his mark off my shoulder and to kill him. To make sure he can't hurt Konoha or anyone else."

Mito sighed, just the way her father did, too, although to her, he looked awfully wistful for some odd reason. Because of Mikoto, maybe? Has she truly been seen with Orochimaru? "I just don't get how someone could change so much."

Minato didn't give anything away. "I had a good reason for wanting you to stay away from him," he said coolly, "when you were little."

Mito felt her ire rise. "If I had listened, I might not have met Anko and finally gained a friend. –Is there anything else?" Minato softly dismissed them and asked Anko to wait outside for her. "What's going on?"

"I can't say." Mito looked disappointed but looked to be biting the inside of her cheek. She eventually nodded her head in understanding, still seeming aggravated. "So. I read your report on the barrier and wanted to ask… Do you have any idea why a rabbit was repeatedly mentioned in the old language?"

Mito shook her head. "I don't. I thought I was mistranslating something but nope: the word 'rabbit' came up within the interconnected seals time and time again."

"I'll look into it." Mito nodded and stood as he went back to his work. "If you see something related to that - or anything else that seems relevant in the clan archives, will you let me know?"

"Sure." If I can.

The next day -

"I've been thinking," Kakashi said, embarrassed over having a strange, weeklong+ existential crisis about being a shinobi in front of Mito the way he had. "Remember how I punished you?" Mito's big eyes dilated.

"Oh, I do. I DO!"

Kakashi bit his lips and gave her a firm nod. "Maa, I was thinking that maybe you can return the favor." Mito looked puzzled and was scrutinizing him in a way that made him uncomfortable. From what he understood, sexually, a lot of people needed to top or bottom (among other things) but some were happy to switch. He was hoping that Mito was one of the latter, even if he normally preferred to be dominate, so to speak. "I haven't seen you in that dominatrix getup I gave you a year or so ago."

Mito's eyes went wide. "That was from YOU?!" Kakashi chuckled, pulling her down to straddle him on the couch, admitting he did. "I don't know why you didn't say anything or tag it. I always wondered who that came from. It's a… nice outfit." Looked expensive. "Thank you."

Kakashi smirked into a long kiss, squeezing her ass and pulling her closer. "Got it made for you."

"For me?" Mito asked. Kakashi nodded as if that were normal. They hadn't even been dating at the time. "Like… You got my measurements?!" Mito wanted to crawl under a rock. Stupid Body Dysmorphia. She was trying - TRYING - to be sexy and awesome here. "How?" Kakashi tapped just below his Sharingan to explain it.

Mito ran her fingers through his hair, watching him lean into her ministrations. "Do you want me to put it on?"

Kakashi groaned, rubbing his face in her neck. She always smelled so good. "Oh, God, please."

Mito took a deep breath and nodded, sliding back and telling him to wait. She turned at the last second. "We should probably have some ground rules - and I'm not going to do particularly weird things to you." Although what did that really mean, especially considering the self-made butt plug thing she made with her chakra chains?

Gah! Mito realized she was such a freak!

Kakashi smiled at her. "I just want to see you in it." That wasn't quite true but it would be a start. "If you don't mind."

"That's um… fine," she said, nodding to get herself psyched up for it. "Prepare to have your ass tied up and do whatever I say." She strutted out of her living room, into her bedroom, and closed the door, shivering with excitement and dancing a little near-jig once she was alone. Kakashi would be getting his fine self chained and ridden, all night long!

"Jackpot," Kakashi breathed into the air, waiting to see what would happen; how he could please his lover.

.

Mito smirked at Hinata who was wincing every time she scratched a chakra-filled needlepoint into her palm. "All those palm strikes haven't toughened you up one bit, have they?" Wook at dese soft widdwe hands!

Hinata scowled. "J-just because I don't enjoy having my s-skin pierced like you do, sensei, does not mean that I am not t-tough!"

"I don't enjoy it," Mito grinned - and then winked at her. "Much." Hinata rolled her pale eyes but smiled back at her gamely.

"H-how do we load the weapons into the seal?"

Mito shrugged. "Just shove 'em in there." Hinata looked distraught over that, and she chuckled. "It's an Uzumaki thing; don't worry about it. I'll stick a retrieval method in there for your pack and show you how to do it yourself after."

Hinata blinked at her, shirking just a bit when Mito-sensei got her a little deeper, drawing blood, and then scowled at her sensei when she began giggling. Sadist! "You th-think it's going to work?"

"Of course, it'll work! What do you take me for?!" Mito couldn't believe she'd asked that. Mito has seals all over her limbs, not to mention the ones holding the fox back. "I'm trying to work it so that the seal won't look wrong with the tattoo over it."

"And in a few weeks, it can be tattooed over?"

"Yes." Mito glanced up at her face again, wanting Hinata to have the weapons loaded for the Chunin Finals but not wanting her father to know. "You're ready to wear bandages for a month or so? Like Neji-kun does?"

"A little over three weeks," Hinata reminded her. After the exam finals, sensei was going to meet them outside of Suna and flash them to their appointment unless they got home more quickly than expected. She glanced over at Kiba when he called their sensei from where he was readying himself to spar with Shino.

Kiba grinned fangily. "Let's shove some axes in my nipple, sensei!"

Mito broke out in snickers. "I swear Kiba, if you say the word 'nipple' one more time, I'm going to gag. And NO. I will not be loading axes into your chest. –We can load them in your arms, though."

"Yatta!" Kiba cried, dodging a swarm of kikachu before engaging in a mad taijutsu fight with Shino, Akamaru aiding him. His voice came out of the large cloud of chaos he and Shino were producing. "Where are you getting yours, sensei?"

"Like on my body?" Mito asked, shouting over their noisiness. Kiba stopped and nodded before getting sucker-punched while Mito blushed up to her roots. That pervert, Kakashi, had first advised getting the number eight around… an intimate area that would be awfully painful. No. She had pretended to think that was a good idea and wound up with a horrified boyfriend on her hands, begging her not to let anyone else see or touch her anywhere near there. What a goofball. "I haven't decided."

"Get it right between your eyes," Kiba hollered, always ready with crazy advice. Her other students rolled their eyes, and then Mito wound up forced to heal Shino when he got nailed with an ax because of it.

"That will teach you to never let your guard down, Shino!"

Sai pouted. He'd thought Kurenai-sensei would train him for the Chunin Exams but for some reason, he was out of luck. Kurenai-sensei wasn't feeling well. Now he was in front of the crazy woman who'd hellishly trained him for the earlier Chunin Exams.

"Welcome back to Hell!" Mito laughed maniacally, projecting her voice skyward and pulling her fists down through the air. Sai whimpered. "So, Sai-kun! Tell me what you want to focus on so I can get to rubbin' your face in the dirt."

Sai expected that, so he tapped his lip, considering it. "Danzo said that I have an aptitude for sealing but I don't know many seals."

Mito grinned and bounced toward him. "Wonderful! Except don't ever mention Danzo again. …Hmmm! How do you feel about sealing your enemies into another dimension?"

Sai scratched his cheek. "I guess that would be okay."

Mito snorted. "As long as it's not one of my students," she amended. "Er, I mean your comrades. –Or our allies, either, I guess."

"Then I cannot seal anyone in another dimension," Sai mourned.

"Okay, let's figure out some other stuff, then."

.

Hinata and Kiba wanted to do clan training (boo) so Sai was with Mito daily. Today, though, Shino and the rest of her team had joined them and Shino brought a friend. "Torune!" Mito jumped up but was surprised when the young man bowed to her, thanking her for saving him. "I'm just so glad you're back! It's been so long."

"Indeed," Torune replied, and then moved to SIT DOWN NEXT TO HER.

Mito's eyes welled up with tears. I'm not emotional, she lied to herself like always, It's just PMS! "You can be this close to me? I'm not hurting your buggy friends?" Torune stared at her for a good minute. There was no telling what he was thinking, Mito thought.

"Correct, sensei," Torune finally nodded, still wearing his mask and gloves. "How? Because thanks to Father's interventions, my hive is no longer so volatile or… sensitive."

"That's wonderful! –We were just going to brainstorm and then spar. I take it, you'd like to join us?"

"If it's not a problem."

"Of course, it's not," Mito grinned, happy as could be. She unrolled a scroll that listed all of the Chunin Exam participants. She'd earlier crossed out the names of those who wouldn't be in the finals. "Now as it was in Konoha, the Finals in Suna will be attended by a lot of folks BUT it's an all-day or even a multi-day tournament. You could be fighting any one of these Genins as the tourney proceeds so let's go through everyone." Sakura came running up, out of breath and asked to join them, too. Everyone greeted each other and Mito sighed, repeating what they were doing over and over again as all of the rest of the Konoha Genins participating joined them, as well, their senseis following sedately behind and walking up the trees to laze around in.

She gave Asuma a small grin which became infinitely wider when she saw his cheeks pinken a bit. He bobbed his head at her, answering her silent questions. Awwww. Asuma! She was so excited for him and Kurenai. She tried to put on a pouty face, though, making herself think about how he and Kurenai had been holding up in her apartment, refusing to talk to anyone. She glared at him and the other senseis. "You all are making me do your work!"

"Get to teachin', Mito!" Anko hotly scolded.

Mito gave her a deadpan stare that Anko didn't care one bit about. "...Fine," she eventually drawled. "Let's start with the first person listed. What can any of you tell me about Hozuki Suigetsu?" Three hands went up. The kids really didn't need to do that.

"The Hozuki Clan is famous for their water jutsus, and for the ability to turn their bodies into a liquid state," Sakura explained, sounding like she was reciting everything from a book. "Hozuki Genjutsu was the Second Mizukage. Suigetsu's older brother is Mangetsu, also known as the Second Coming of the Demon and…"

"An admirer of yours, i-isn't he, sensei?" Hinata asked cheekily.

Mito was amused. "He's a brat is what he is.'

"He has a statuette just like yours Mito-sensei," Ino grinned. Mito couldn't help but think about what her father had said when they went to Ichirakus. Apparently, Inoichi was having a very hard time dealing with his daughter growing up… and using a whip.

Tenten caught her eye. Mito groaned when Tenten winked at her. "Mito-sensei's doll is way hotter ."

"Oh, God, Anko," Mito sighed into her fist as everyone else laughed. "What have you done to our sweet Ten-chan?"

"Question," Neji thankfully interrupted, raising his hand a bit. "Can this Suigetsu truly turn his body into a liquid state?"

"Yes," Mito said, fascinated by that ability. "And I have no idea of how your palm strikes would work against that."

"I hope we aren't placed a-against him, then," Hinata commented to her cousin, looking tense. Neji nodded in agreement Sakura immediately started in on the swords the Hozukis used, which led them to discussing strategies against Chojuro, too, and their genjutsu-mistress-in-training kunoichi teammate for the exams, Maia. Mito met each of their eyes. "I hope you all realize how important it is for my students to beat Zabuza's."

Four feral grins eased Mito's worried heart.

In Kiri, Zabuza sneezed and shivered. "Fox-face is coming for me, I can feel it," he grumbled to himself, an image of a demon beginning to rise behind him. His students cowered. "I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU BRATS DON'T POUND HERS, I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!"

"gAH," his Genins responded.
– Rightly so.