The gentle chime of the Kosshi Florist and Mochi Shop betrayed the harsh aura that surrounded Biteki Kosshi as he entered. His severe chartreuse gaze scanned the environment of the store, noting the man currently checking out with his father, the diamond-shaped sunglasses and green trench coat giving him away as a certain regular.

"Biteki! How did it go?" His father, Futsuu, waved him over. His light blue hair was pulled back tightly, wisps of bangs framing his face. He began to reach underneath the counter as he searched for something in particular.

Approaching his father and the man, Biteki cast a glance towards the taller regular. "Aburame Setsu, I hope you are well today." Looking at his father, Biteki's eyes immediately softened as a smile, ever so slightly laced with his usual pride, began to appear on his face. "I passed, not that it was too difficult."

Setsu's brow furrowed as he looked down at the young boy. "I am well, Biteki. Congratulations on passing, I know the instructors have spoken highly of you in the past."

"That's my boy!" Futsuu swooped around the counter to pick his son up in a hug as the shifting polychromatic powder around the boy opened to allow him in, swinging him around in an embrace.

As he gently set him down, he quickly picked a plate of cherry mochi from behind the counter and handed it to the boy, a wide smile on his face. "I made your favorite. You should go tell your mother, she'll be so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Dad…" Biteki couldn't hide the growing smile upon his face. Turning to Setsu, he gave a curt nod. "I'm glad to hear that I've been spoken highly of, it won't be the last time either."

Ruffling his son's hair, Futsuu returned behind the counter as he began to finish the transaction with Setsu as Biteki moved towards the greenhouse section of the shop. "Who would've thought that we'd have a son as gifted as him, huh!?"

Setsu chuckled to himself as he nodded. "You're definitely right, it did come as a surprise to many."

Suddenly, Biteki stopped in his tracks. Turning to face the man, his metallic shroud seemed to writhe with a malevolent aura. His eyes were sharp, and his tone was laced with venom. "And why is that surprising, Aburame Setsu?"

Futsuu and Setsu shared a grimace as they watched the telltale signs of Biteki's pride and rage flare. "It's not incredibly often that someone comes from a civilian family without any history of shinobi and has abilities like yours." Setsu said, locking eyes with the boy.

"He didn't mean any offense by it, Biteki, you know that." Futsuu attempted to placate his son.

"Well, perhaps it won't be such a surprise once I make a proper name for myself. Maybe then, it won't have to be specified that we're from a civilian background when people have heard of me." Biteki's words did little to hide the growing rage inside. Turning on his heels, he began to walk once again, leaving with only a, "Enjoy your watermelon mochi, Aburame."

Watching his temperamental son walk away, Futsuu immediately turned to his customer with a regretful look upon his face. "I apologize for that, Setsu. I could never understand why he gets so touchy about that sort of thing."

"It's okay, Futsuu. He's young, I'm sure he'll grow out of it." Setsu cast another glance to the boy as he prowled through the store. "He's not entirely unwarranted in the thought. I think he just wants to prove his strength more than anything."

The two shook their heads and sighed in unison. "Still, he can go about it in better ways. Hopefully whoever is assigned as his mentor can get some sense through his head."

"If he's a student of mine, I'll do my best." Setsu slowly made sure he had all the mochi he wanted. It would be awkward after all if Biteki was a student of his. Truthfully, he didn't think he'd be able to break the boy's shell to get through to him. "His teammates might also help him though. Overall, he's young, he hasn't had to deal with too much, so maybe that will change things."

Futsuu retained a calm smile, although he felt the slightest bit of frustration at that. If only he knew what the boy had dealt with already. He had been instructed to not talk too much about the various incidents through the years. "Well, you have a great day, Setsu. If you need anything else, feel free to stop by. We're always happy to have you!"

'That was a sudden change…' Setsu's brow furrowed, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. Maybe the man just wanted to spend some time with his son after his graduation. "It's always a pleasure, Futsuu, you are a master at your craft. Tell Mato I said hello."

Giving a wave, the man stepped through the door of the aromatic shop.

Watching the man leave from his skulking position, Biteki's face twitched with a barely-suppressed rage. Shoveling another cherry mochi into his mouth, he finally made a move towards where his mother resided.

The combination of the overwhelming floral scents emanating from the practical forest of flowers filling the glass-covered section of the Kosshi shop, and Mato's powerful perfume, did little to hide the smell of cigarette smoke as Biteki approached closer.

Her fluffy black hair was tucked behind her ears as her chartreuse eyes focused intensely from behind her thick glasses as she pruned a bonsai tree, the cigarette in her mouth seemingly refusing to drop a single ash near her subject. "Picking fights with clan members again, Biteki?" Her husky voice was low as she made precise incisions.

"He said it was surprising that I was gifted." Biteki looked to the side as he scowled. "Which is rich coming from someone who has every bit of their clan knowledge to pull from when it comes to training and getting stronger."

Mato took a puff of her cigarette as she set down the pruning shears, spinning around in her chair to look at her son. Letting out a cloud of smoke into the air above them, she locked their matching eyes. "You realize it is surprising though. We haven't had any shinobi or clan members in our family for quite a while. Granted, you may come from a family of nomads that seem to want to cross off every village as a location they lived in, but still, we haven't had any combatants in the past fifty years give or take."

"So what if it is surprising though?!" Biteki snapped, grabbing another piece of mochi. "That doesn't mean they need to say something about it! When an Uchiha or a Senju does something impressive, they say "Wow, you've got so much potential!" or "You're a natural!" Placing the sweet into his mouth seemed to placate him for the moment. "But when I do it…they always go, "Wow, it's still so impressive that he's a civilian kid."

Mato placed a hand on his shoulder. "They're always going to say that, Biteki. I know you don't like to hear it, but you're going to be in for an uphill battle when it comes to social standing if that's what you care about." She took another puff of her cigarette and let it out. "But you shouldn't. You know how strong you are, and if you focus on yourself and your achievements, they'll come to see it as well."

Biteki took a deep breath, feeling the anger in him quell for the moment. She was right, and he knew it, but it still didn't sit right with him. He'd show everyone though. He'd change how everyone looked at civilian families.

At the very least, he'd change how they looked at his.

"Regardless, you aren't allowed to pick a fight with Setsu at the least, he is a frequent customer and we don't want to lose him. Pick another Aburame if you want to argue with one." Mato turned back to her bonsai tree, picking up the pruning shears again.

Nodding slowly, Biteki set his plate down and pulled down his current bonsai project from a shelf, placing the cherry blossom tree on the table next to his mother's. Pulling a chair beside her, he quietly took a seat. The skin at the tip of his index finger ripped as a sharpened point began to protrude from the digit.

Beginning to make small incisions as well, Biteki cast a glance at his mother. "I passed the practical exam."

"Oh, I know." Mato chuckled to herself. "If you hadn't, I don't think we'd have a shop right now."

Biteki scoffed at his mother, lightly tapping her elbow with his. "I don't have that bad of a temper!"

"Considering your teacher is the head of the Akimichi clan, I'm fairly certain you'd take that personally on a whole new level." Mato pushed her son back, his shroud parting to allow her to do so as she remained careful to not interrupt his bonsai cutting.

The boy contemplated telling her about Choji's comment towards the end of his exam, but decided to keep it to himself. "I think I'm going to go train after this. There's a few things that I didn't do as well as I had hoped for during the exam, and I can't have that happen again."

"You're going to have a celebratory lunch with us first." Mato immediately stated, not looking up from the small apple tree in front of her.

Coming up from behind him, Futsuu checked to make sure his son wasn't making an incision before slapping his hands on his shoulders. "That's right, you're not just having cherry mochi and leaving! We've got kakuni cooking and I'll start frying up the jackfruit soon."

Grumbling to himself, Biteki's flushed face couldn't hide how silly he felt at how proud his parents were of him. "It was just passing the academy, plenty of people weaker than me did it as well."

"Don't care about them. You're the one who passed in our family." Mato said, making a final incision before pushing the tree towards the center of the table. "Besides, considering how many times we were told about you fighting your classmates, you had to have beaten all of them at this point, haven't you?"

Biteki's gaze hardened as he took care to not make a poor cut on his tree. "Almost. Senju Zennou still refuses to accept my challenge."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get the chance to fight him at some point. There's always those chuunin exams things, right?" Futsuu asked, inspecting the cuts of his family's trees. "Regardless, we're proud of you for everything you've managed to do, despite what some people may think."

Biteki couldn't hide the smile as he pushed his tree next to his mother's. "Yeah, I suppose the chance will come up." Swiveling around in his chair to face his parents, the shroud enveloping him compressed into a dense cube as it was replaced with the enveloping frames of his family.

Finally, the two let go of their son. "Now, why don't you water the flowers while we get things ready? Shouldn't be too long!" Mato patted Biteki's shoulder as she handed him the watering can.

Shaking his head, Biteki couldn't help but sigh as he grabbed the can and took to watering the camellia bushes first, his shroud reforming around him.

True to their word though, it didn't take long for them to finish lunch, considering the main dish had already been cooking for quite some time. In the middle of watering the spider lilies, his mother came to fetch him.

Making him wear a blindfold, he still easily navigated the store, and their home, as they approached the kitchen. The food smelled amazing, but considering it was his father's cooking, he wasn't surprised. He had yet to find anyone's food he enjoyed as much as his dad's.

As Mato sat him down, he was instructed to keep the blindfold on as they both shuffled about the kitchen for something.

Finally, he was told he could take the blind off.

As he did, he was greeted with the sight of Futsuu holding a cake frosted with strawberry icing and crude drawings of bones, pieces of rock candy, as well as sprinkles peppering the entire cake. He could recognize both of his parent's handwriting in the congratulations written. Placing the cake in front of his son, Futsuu rubbed the back of his neck. "You can take the rock candy off, of course, I just figured having all three would sort of just really bring it together."

"We're proud of you, Biteki, and we know you're going to show everyone why they should remember you." Mato chimed in from behind her husband, placing her elbow on his shoulder. "But just don't become some kind of villain or get yourself killed in the process."

Biteki nodded as the two took their seats on either side of the table. "Thank you. This means a lot to me."

"We know, we know, just start eating so we can eat as well!" Futsuu playfully demanded, pushing the kakuni towards his son.

The clacking sound of Zennou's geta seemed to be lost within the lively streets of Konoha as the siblings slowly made their way back home. Families were out celebrating, buying gifts, and livening up the day for their children, regardless of if they failed or passed. Some could be heard still complaining about how unfair it was that they had been held back, while others were bragging about how easy it was for them to pass.

Despite the fact that nobody knew about their written exam results, everyone seemed to be sure of where they stood by how they had performed on the practical exam.

Still, it was invigorating to see the spirit of the village on a day such as this. It was the start of a new generation of shinobi, and it only seemed to become more of an occasion with every graduating class.

And he got to be part of it as a whole, rather than by himself. Such was how the world should be, shared and connected through experiences, not focused on oneself.

With a subtle smile to himself, Zennou glanced over to his sister devouring a handful of chicken skewers. Despite her mouth being full, Hitode couldn't stifle the laughter at his barely disguised chuckling. "Shut it, I was hungry! Now is one of those times you should say something about how cooking is how we connect to the subtle appreciations of people or something!"

"That's close to it, I'll leave it at what you said." Zennou audibly laughed as he moved to snatch a skewer from her hand. However, as soon as his hand made contact with the wooden stick, her grip tightened.

Her amber eyes pierced Zennou's as she spoke through her stuffed mouth. "Don't you dare. We can pick you up some of your own."

Of course, how could he have been so foolish? Trying to take food from Hitode was a death wish.

Pulling his hand away, he sheepishly held his palms up. "Of course, there's a nice barbecue place close by that I've been meaning to try out anyways."

The two walked in silence, well, as much silence as Hitode's steady shoveling of food into her mouth could allow, arriving at the stand in no time at all. "I'm more surprised that you aren't going for dango. You love dango after class!"

"Yes, but the light of the day calls for spontaneity." Zennou chimed, pushing aside the hanging banner as he walked in.

Immediately, he recognized the spiky black hair flowing down to the midback of their first cousin once removed, Hametsu Uchiha. "Well, fate's loom continues to tailor a resplendent tapestry."

The Uchiha turned to the twins, a smile immediately breaking his face as he placed a hand on each of their heads. "Hey, you two! I didn't expect to see you any time soon."

"Zennou tried to steal some of my food, so we're saving him by getting him his own." Hitode joked, nudging her brother. "I thought you were still on a mission to Uzushiogakure?"

They had known Hametsu for the majority of their life, with Tsunade attempting to make sure they knew as much of their family as possible. Zennou always enjoyed it by seeing the different walks of life their family took, considering they were all in some degree a descendant of the founder of the village, but Hitode enjoyed getting the familial aspect of it all.

She understood why their mother did it too. She had been too busy to focus on that sort of stuff when she was still the Hokage, but once she had the two of them and lost their father, as well as her past of losing loved ones, it made sense for the woman to make sure her children knew as much of their family in her aging years.

A plate of beef skewers was placed in front of Hametsu, who quickly picked it up and handed one to the staring Zennou. "I just got back the other day actually. It's always interesting being there, the way fuinjutsu is utilized there is terrifying."

"The art of sealing gets used by the Uzumaki clan to its maximum efficiency." Zennou spoke between bites, taking a few breaths after every one due to how hot the beef was. "We still have quite a bit to go in our fuinjutsu proficiency though."

Hametsu laughed, beginning to idly stroll with his, as he referred to them due to how little he cared about semantics, niece and nephew. He didn't get to spend time with them often, and he often tried to appear impartial to them when it came to talking about them with the other jounin simply because he didn't like too many people knowing his family and relationships.

But in an atmosphere such as this, few people paid attention to them as they were focused on either getting through the crowd or being the crowd.

"You two don't need to worry about fuinjutsu, you're only genin! Only amount of fuinjutsu you should be worried about is simple sealing of objects, nothing serious." Hametsu effortlessly cleaned a skewer of any food on it before handing another to Zennou, and upon seeing Hitode's eyes track it from his plate to her brother's hand, he handed one over to the girl as well. "I hope you two get to visit Uzushiogakure at some point though. Not only is the village itself amazing, but the Land of Whirlpools has some beautiful islands."

Hitode happily began to eat the skewer, ignoring the fact that she was plenty full already. "It'd be nice to go to dad's home village at some point. Maybe we'll go there on a mission someday."

"That's right, you two just had your academy graduation today, didn't you?" Hametsu feigned surprise. "I know that quite a few jounin have been talking about you two in specific, there's quite a bit of expectations on you."

Zennou hummed to himself. "I suppose that is to be expected. Having the children of a former Hokage as students might be a bit stressful."

"Well, all I can say is don't expect any favoritism if either of you are my student, and don't expect my students to go easy on you either." Hametsu pointed his bare skewer stick at the both of them.

"Aren't you going to ask us if we passed, Hametsu?" Hitode huffed as she finished the skewer. She didn't expect there to be anymore, and as much as she wanted to ask for another, she knew that Zennou deserved to have them more considering he had just started mooching off of Hametsu's instead of getting his own.

The man hummed in surprise, onyx eyes staring down at the two-toned hair of the girl as he placed his hand upon it. "Why would I need to? I know you two, I knew you'd pass no problem. Have you even gotten home to tell your mother though?"

"No, we were enjoying the shared enjoyment of the day." Zennou said, finishing the final piece of food off of the plate. "But I suppose we should, I'm sure she's excited to hear from the both of us."

Hametsu nodded. "You're absolutely right. Let's get you two home, it's been a while since I've seen my cousin anyways." He mentally noted that he would also steal some of whatever food was likely made for them considering his nephew just ate more than half of the plate by himself.

The three began to make their winding way towards the residence on the outskirts of town. It was a fairly lavish house, which Hametsu expected of Tsunade. His father had always told him that Hashirama spoiled Tsunade more than any of his children or grandchildren, considering she was his first grandchild.

The surrounding scenery wasn't too bad either. Any time he came to visit, Zennou seemed to be in the nearby forest, often with the Ningyoushi girl.

Midori Ningyoushi…what a strange girl. The only Ningyoushi that had managed to escape from Takigakure and somehow wound up in the vicinity of the past Hokage of Konohagakure.

He'd never outright say it…

But he didn't trust the situation, and part of him didn't trust her.

However, he also couldn't deny that she seemed to be the one to begin cracking open Zennou's shell and help him start socializing somewhat normally with people other than Hitode.

Finally, the trio arrived at the house. As soon as the door was in sight, Hitode broke into a sprint with a, "Last one there loses!" However, just as quickly as she had turned to shout the challenge, her head turned to reveal Hametsu already at the door. "That's no fair, you're supposed to take it easy on us!"

"That's not how the world works, Hitode, you know that." He tapped his bended finger against her forehead. "You weren't the loser anyways, that goes to Zennou."

The pair turned to look at Zennou, who hadn't changed his pace at all. The crimson haired boy gave a wave of his hand as his geta rhythmically clacked along the stone pathway. "I prefer to take my time, no point in competition over meaningless things. I've been loud enough today."

"That's no good, Zennou!" Hitode stuck her tongue out. "You're gonna get left behind by others if you look at things like that!"

Hametsu stifled the brief chuckle in his throat as he looked at the two.

A pang of familiarity hit his heart every time he thought of how similar Zennou was to his brother in certain aspects.

Turning to the door, Hametsu gave an exaggerated knock that was far too fast, turning to give a smile to Hitode who seemed to find enjoyment in it. Zennou slowly joined them as the sound of the sole inhabitant of the house approached the door.

Throwing open the door was none other than the blonde-haired woman who had once led the village and now settled into a quiet life.

"There you two are, I was wondering how much longer it would take!" Tsunade quickly dipped into an embrace of her two children. Holding on to them for a moment longer, she released them and looked to her cousin. "And you found trouble on your way back, it seems."

Hametsu innocently held his hands up. "That's not true and you know it! Besides, that's a pretty rude way to speak when you haven't seen me in a while."

"He told us that he would work extra hard to pit his students against us if we ever faced off against them." Hitode nonchalantly stated as she entered the house. "But, we both passed the practical exam!"

"Oh, did he now?" Tsunade looked at the scarlet-dressed man as she ruffled her daughter's hair. "Go clean up, I've got a meal made for the both of you."

Hametsu pointed a finger at Hitode as he clicked his tongue. "Now, you know that's not true. She's just mad because I didn't share more food with her."

Zennou immediately perked up upon hearing Hametsu mention the food, turning to his relative. "Thank you, Hametsu, sharing food and needs is the base of civilization."

"You're welcome, Zennou." Hametsu smiled as the twins began to venture further into the house to get ready for the food that he could clearly smell in the house. As soon as they were out of sight, he turned to Tsunade. "Those two can eat, do you mind if I join you to make up for my lost meal?"

Tsunade shook her head as she stepped out of the doorway, letting the taller man into the house. "Of course, I bet that's why you accompanied them here." Closing the door behind Hametsu, she let out a sigh. "It is good to see you. Have you been taking care of yourself?"

Hametsu bobbed his head from side to side. "The best I can. This whole sensei thing seems like it is going to be interesting, but it's what Yume would have wanted out of me."

"You think so?" Tsunade asked as she moved towards the kitchen. "It's nice of you to do it in his memory though. It'll be a change from what you're used to, that's for sure."

The Uchiha rubbed the back of his neck as he took a seat at the table. "Yeah, but I'm excited for it. What about you? How are things with you and those two?"

Tsunade gently set down plates as she looked to her cousin with, admittedly, tired eyes. She had always looked a bit older than her age let on, but ever since losing Shiryou and having the twins, Hametsu could track the subtle hints at her aging.

The lines in her face got a bit more severe, the grays in her hair popped up faster than they once had, but she seemed to take it in stride along with the fact that she could take life a little slower now.

"Zennou will always have unique aspects when it comes to raising him, but he has definitely improved from when he was younger. Midori definitely causes problems here and there, but nothing that gets her in trouble with anyone. She honestly spends more time at Kurenai's than she does here when she has free time." Tsunade finished setting the table, looking in the direction of her daughter's room. "And sometimes with Hitode…it feels like I'm looking in a mirror of my younger self. That girl managed to inherit so much of myself."

Hametsu hummed to himself. "That's kind of what having children is."

"Do you want a free meal or not?" Tsunade immediately fired back, shooting daggers at her cousin. "Regardless, we're doing great. I don't worry for them as much as I once did, but…I can't act as if part of me isn't worried about something happening to them on a mission."

"That's only natural, especially considering how much you've seen happen." As Tsunade brought a glass of water over to him, Hametsu immediately grabbed hold and downed it. "But I'm sure whoever is assigned to them will keep them safe. Having faith in them will help more than doubts."

Tsunade held a smile for a moment as she watched her children enter. "Is Midori going to be joining us?"

"No, she left to go visit Kurenai's." Zennou responded, taking a seat on the left of Hametsu. "I'll fix her plate after lunch."

"Don't worry about that, just enjoy yourselves." Tsunade ruffled her son's hair. "I'm so proud of all of you."

The four slowly began to settle into the meal, jabs and jokes being thrown around as the two twins began to quiz Hametsu on recent missions he had taken.

The excitement of the day had begun to wane as Midori left Kurenai's house. She had gone over the various genjutsu methods she used that Kurenai had shown her in scrolls and books, and enjoyed a light lunch with her and Mirai. Asuma was currently off on a mission, which was a shame because she had been hoping to get to tell him about it as well.

She may not have had a lot in common with the man, but he showed her a few things when it came to tool usage and chakra flow, specifically how to better enhance her own speed and her kunai with her chakra.

It wasn't exactly her style, but it still meant a lot to her. Their family was definitely more accepting than others.

She couldn't exactly judge them for that though. There were plenty of factors that she understood caused their suspicions.

At the same time, she had heard plenty of stories from Tsunade about immigrants from other villages, and the fact that it was still happening. Given Konohagakure's size and the economy of the Land of Fire, it was an attractive place to migrate to in search of a better life, whether it was for business or safety.

Even within her class, she was far from one of the most recent immigrants.

Shoving her hands into her pockets, the silent girl fell into a slouch as she continued to walk. 'No point in thinking about it. It's not like they are gonna throw me out.'

Coming from behind her, a mahogany hand slapped down on her shoulder before her vision was filled with the radiant smile of one Zasshu Hibana. "Yo, Midori! What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be hanging out with Zennou and Hitode?"

Midori shook her head before beginning to sign about her time at Kurenai's. It was always funny watching the boy actively slow himself and his brain down in order to focus on her signing, but it was endearing too.

There weren't many people in the class that had taken the time to learn sign language to be able to communicate with her. Of course, Hitode and Zennou were the first, then Zasshu followed once he realized he couldn't read her body language like the twins.

But it had surprised everyone when Biteki learned it, although she suspected he only learned it to be able to know when she was insulting him. If she could laugh, she would have the first time he signed back at her after she made fun of his gourds.

As soon as she finished signing, Zasshu's energy immediately returned to him as he began to walk circles around the girl as they prowled the streets. "Miss Kurenai is always so sweet, and Asuma is a pretty decent guy too! I remember that one lesson he gave at the academy, I always thought those blades of his were the coolest."

Before Midori could agree or form any response, he grabbed hold of her arm and practically dragged her to a nearby stand, excitement lacing his voice. The displays were full of shiny black stones. "Look at those! They used to sell these back at my old home!" He picked one up, causing his curling white hair to stand on end. "They're these weird stones that are charged with electricity or something, they're mined back in Kumogakure!"

He held it out to Midori, who upon holding it, felt her hair immediately explode outwards in all directions. Zasshu could barely hold back his laughter at her once fluffy green hair now being a wispy viridescent ball. "You know, I think I could get used to this hairstyle for you, Midori!"

Even as she did her best to appear unamused, she could only wish for a mirror at the moment to see the hilarious display. With a shake of her head, she gently set the stone back in the display, causing her hair to begin settling down.

Either as a way to entertain his hyper tendencies or as a way to help her, Zasshu began to run his hands through the still standing strands, ruffling her hair and giggling with every slight shock he received from the static.

"There we go, now you're…almost back to your normal self." Zasshu caught a chuckle in his throat at how disheveled her hair was now, even if it was laying down. "Man, I haven't seen one of those in forever. I had to leave my collection back in Kumogakure when we moved here."

Midori nudged him, her eyes somewhat expressionless but her face still displaying some form of sympathy. She quickly began to sign. "What happened with your home back in the Land of Lightning? I still remember when you first got here, you were…a lot."

Zasshu sucked his teeth for a moment as he hopped in place, beginning to walk backwards so he could face Midori. "I dunno, it's still weird to me. I mean, we were so happy there! But then all of a sudden my mom is all like, "Zasshu, we've got to leave." and I'm just sitting there like, "But I want to go play later." but then we're packing up and my dad is setting up a wagon-"

'Oh, he must not have talked about this for a while.' Midori's eyes widened as she took a deep breath. She had learned just how the boy seemingly built up reservoirs on certain conversation topics, and if he didn't talk about them enough, then they would come flooding out at the first chance he got.

Looks like this was a chance he needed.

"I didn't get to say goodbye to any of my friends, and I can only imagine it caused a bunch of issues when I just stopped showing up to classes. Then again, I don't think that the academy progress really transfers between villages. I think they kind of hate each other?" Zasshu paused for a moment, eyes looking upwards as he began to follow that rabbit hole of a thought.

Midori nodded, nudging him to get his attention again before beginning to slowly sign again. "I understand how you feel. I didn't have anything from Takigakure when I came here, but Tsunade set me up with more than I could have hoped for. Plus, they took me in like family. Still surprised about that."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, I still had some of my things. Still, I wish I knew why we had to leave. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, there's so many different people from so many places, but I still miss pieces of my life back there." Zasshu explained, a temporary damper coming over his usual attitude. However, his usual smile returned to his face just as quickly as it had left. "Oh well! If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have met someone as cool as Zennou or you. Sure, that means I also had to meet Biteki, but I swear I'm going to wipe that guy's smirk right off his face some day."

Midori began to smirk to herself as she shook her head, her signs seemingly embodying her smugness. "Trust me, if you don't, I will. He could take a few lessons from Zennou when it comes to how to act regardless of what you can do."

"Or Zennou should take some lessons from him and just wipe the floor with him." Zasshu laughed out loud, taking a moment to look around in case they were around the Kosshi shop. He wasn't scared of him necessarily, but he didn't want to deal with any confrontation today.

Okay, maybe he was scared at some level. But he was unpredictable on who he would get into a fuss over. If someone like him or Midori made comments, he would often just scoff and go off on his way. But if an Uchiha or a Hyuuga said anything? It was genuinely terrifying.

In an effort to take his mind off of things, he turned to Midori with his usual ear-to-ear smile. "You know, I think one of the weirdest things here was getting used to how away from water we are." His arms were flung to the side before quickly being retracted as he nearly smacked his hand into a passing couple. "For how huge this place is, we need more than the occasional river and lake. In Kumogakure, I'd go down to the rivers all the time with my family."

Midori smirked to herself, giving a slight nod in agreement as her hands smoothly began to move. "You're telling me. Takigakure was full of water." She paused for a moment as she thought. "I didn't get to play in it much though."

Zasshu grimaced as he realized what she meant. He barely knew what the entire situation with her clan was back in Takigakure, just that it was less than pleasant and that she wasn't exactly the most free back home.

When he had learned that she had arrived half-feral by herself in Konohagakure when she was five, he could only imagine what led her to run away so fiercely.

And how hard it must have been to survive on the journey here.

"Well, hey! One of these days, we've got to have an outing to the nearest lake and we'll all chill out. You, me, Zennou, Hitode. We could invite the whole class!" Zasshu exclaimed, already beginning to make the plans in his head. He had an idea for the exact lake, what outfit he'd wear, any snacks he'd bring.

He had to steady his brain though as he felt it beginning to rapid fire into any related thoughts.

"Even Biteki?" Midori asked, an amused expression on her face.

"Look, if he wants to come, I'm not going to stop him. Honestly, he may be unable to swim with all that bone stuff he's got going on, maybe he is so dense he'd just sink." Zasshu looked up as the thought took the forefront of his mind. It…actually might not be such a bad idea.

If it was anyone else, he'd definitely offer to help them when it came to swimming. But the thought of that prodigious bastard having difficulty with it…brought a smile to his face. It'd be something he could poke fun at so easily. Besides, maybe the boy was extra sour because of the fact that no one really wanted to have him around.

The only person who seemed to put up with him on a daily basis was Hosheki Setsuzoku. And he still didn't understand how that boy did it.

Suddenly, a spark of a thought crossed his mind. "Midori, I am so sorry but I have to go! I was actually supposed to be going to get some groceries for my mom to finish making lunch, but I got sidetracked when I saw you!"

Midori nodded, giving a slight wave before signing. "Don't worry, it was nice talking to you. Hopefully we get placed in a team together!"

"Yeah, hopefully! We'd be faster than anyone else!" He began to break into a sprint in the opposite direction, berating himself as he zipped towards the nearest grocery store. "Man, I really messed up this time!"

Shaking her head, Midori continued to walk in the direction of her home. Things were finally picking up.

Maybe…she wouldn't have to live with that worry above her heart every day now.

The clearing held an uneasy silence underneath the light red sky as the sun set in the distance. The only sound that could be heard was Biteki's guttural grunts and the occasional sound of crystals shattering.

Ten targets. Ten targets scattered about the clearing he trained in, but with the way his vision was currently distorted, there seemed to be a hundred. With the red crystals clinging to the skin over his eyes, Biteki felt like he could understand how insects looked at the world.

Taking a deep breath, he felt the skin begin to rip and open at the point of his fingers. Launching himself into the air, his azure hair rippled with the wind as he spun with practiced precision. His eyes darted between the vision of the multiplied targets, picking out which were the right ones and which were just reflections.

Finally, the sharpened digits of his fingers shot out with blinding speeds at the various targets. As soon as he heard the projectiles make some form of contact, he caused the crystalline lenses over his eyes to break apart.

However, the sight of his performance caused him to grit his teeth in frustration. He had only hit seven of the targets in the center, with the other three being off by some degree. He may have hit all ten, but it wasn't perfect.

He had to get it perfect. He had to get the hang of this technique if he was going to make a difference.

Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, Biteki formed a half-ram seal, causing the crystalline lenses to form again over his eyes, their colour being a thin line between black and purple this time. Passing his hand through the shifting cloud of iridescent metal, his hand pressed to his ribcage.

When he had first begun using the abilities of his Shikotsumyaku, there had been varying degrees of pain depending on how he used it. But that pain had all but vanished from his usage now.

Pulling at a steadily emerging rib, he revealed a short curved blade made of the bone. Locking his eyes on the nearest target, he jolted towards the blue crystalline dummy. As he got closer, the vision within the lenses became more difficult to decipher, as if he were looking at several frames of the target's body in a jumbled puzzle.

But he was slowly understanding the reflections. Noting which pieces reflected where, he was able to construct an image of the dummy's body from the jumbled images.

Slashing towards the center of the target with the blade, he thoroughly hooked the curved bone into the crystalline structure before shattering it completely. Whipping his head around, the metallic shroud around him separated into writhing tendrils, grasping the two nearest dummies and bringing them into Biteki's reach.

Holding out his palms towards the rapidly approaching targets, slender bones that had been sharpened jutted out from his hands and speared the two targets.

Retracting the bones, he quickly turned towards the remaining seven targets. Rearing his right arm back, he launched the curved blade in a sideways arc, causing it to tear through two of the targets effortlessly before embedding itself into the side of a tree. Lifting his left hand, the bones beneath the skin began to shift unnaturally as his fingers moved in odd directions.

Loosing another handful of digital projectiles from his fingers, segments of his Iridescent Powder escaped the shroud and surrounded the bone bullets, creating a sharpened spiral around them as they pierced through the remaining crystalline targets.

Taking a breath, Biteki recalled any grains of his metallic powder as he moved to remove the lenses over his eyes.

Suddenly, a round of applause came from behind him. "That might've been one of your worst works yet, Biteki. I've never seen you so imprecise and stumble quite like that before."

Biteki turned to address the voice, knowing full well who it was. Even without his hair in a turban, he would know that tousled crimson undercut and those hazel eyes anywhere. "Have you been spying on me for long, Hosheki?"

While Hosheki moved to respond, he had to stop as he looked at the crystals placed over his eyes. Dropping to a sitting position on the branch he remained on, the boy began to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh, you were trying out some new fashion for your outfits, huh?! Can we expect you to begin making all of your clothing with one of your abilities?"

As Biteki opened his mouth to retort, Hosheki held his finger up to stop him. "What next, are you going to start wearing armor like the old days made out of bones?!"

"Shut it, would you? Besides, my Iridescent Powder makes a much better shroud than your flimsy purple one." Biteki scoffed as the lenses disassembled. Looking around at his performance though, Hosheki was right. It was better than his previous attempt, but there were still imperfections.

Finally feeling his laughter come to an end, the puppeteer looked down on the boy. "What is the point of the crystals then? I mean, we all get the shroud of metal stuff, we've seen you use it, but why those?"

"It's to combat genjutsu." Biteki stated bluntly, slowly forming a series of hand seals before causing the crystalline dummies to break apart and disassemble. "But it makes it difficult to see, so I have to train it properly in order to use it effectively. It's like learning how to see again."

Hosheki nodded slowly, realizing now why he was still so focused on the targets rather than any of the comments he was making. The boy's weakness to genjutsu wasn't exactly a secret, although calling it a weakness was dubious at best. Most of the Uchiha and genjutsu specialists that were capable of catching him in a genjutsu were often unable to cause much damage before he broke himself out of it. The lines of defense he had were numerous even when he was incapacitated temporarily like that.

But still, he didn't seem to make many efforts exactly to prevent genjutsu in any of the sparring matches Hosheki had witnessed. Perhaps he just hadn't been watching closely enough though. It always appeared as if he was confident enough in his abilities to just power through any genjutsu affecting him or release it before he continued in his usual fashion.

"Well, with all due respect, why not take a breather for at least a day and then work on this sort of stuff with your squad once it is assigned? You always seemed to do better when you were sparring with actual people, not training dummies." Climbing down from his branch, Hosheki dusted off his shroud before approaching Biteki.

"I mean, even your worst performance is still leagues better than what I'd expect from someone else using those silly lenses." As Biteki's usual smirk began to reclaim its position on his face, Hosheki rolled his eyes. "Don't let that add to your ego."

Biteki looked away as he gave the idea some thought, but he hated the idea of not continuing to train. Choji's comment still lingered in his mind, which opened the floodgates to so many other memories. "You're here now. How about you train with me with those puppets of yours? You could use it after all."

"First of all," Hosheki immediately raised a finger. "no. It took me days to rebuild Aomushi after you basically destroyed her during our sparring match. Second, if I wanted to train with someone, it sure wouldn't be with some arrogant boy who can't tell when to take it easy."

With a roll of his chartreuse eyes, Biteki looked away again as he refused to meet Hosheki's gaze. The wind rolled ever so gently through the trees as the sun slowly began to set further in the distance. "Why are you here? How did you even find me?"

"Oh, it's actually really simple, I just followed the smell of your ego and could feel the pressure of your "I can balance the world on my fingertip" mentality." Hosheki joked, reaching to shove Biteki's shoulder before being stopped by the shroud. "I came by to buy some mochi from your father and he told me where you were. I figured I would come see what kind of training the oh-so prodigal Biteki gets up to."

Reaching into the bag slung across his shoulder, Hosheki removed an orange piece of mochi from the usual pink box Futsuu Kosshi packaged them in. Were they a little squished in the process of traveling over here? Sure, but that didn't take away from their taste.

After all, in Hosheki's eyes, art could be enjoyed in all forms. Whether it be manmade or natural, beauty was in so many things. It's why he enjoyed the shop so much, it had all of the human qualities of hard work in Futsuu's mochi, and so much of the natural beauty in the world with Mato's plants.

"If you didn't come to train as well, why show up to just watch?" Biteki's tone betrayed his genuine curiosity. "Are you trying to figure out ways to train for yourself? Because I think our styles are vastly different."

Hosheki let out a drawn out sigh as he practically fell to the ground, looking up to the sky in the clearing. "No, Biteki, believe it or not, I'm not here for training. I just figured I would make sure you weren't killing yourself over your challenge getting rejected again."

Biteki continued looking down at the boy, his brow furrowed. 'Why is it that he always shows up? Everyone else just goes away, but he sticks around like a thorn in my side.'

Suddenly, a piece of bark hit him on the forehead as he was caught in thought. "Stop looking down on me, both literally and figuratively. Sit down and take a load off, it won't kill you." Hosheki instructed, pulling out a peach mochi. "Besides, I'm the only person who tolerates you in our entire class, you should be grateful that I'm here."

'Is he reading my thoughts?' Biteki could only speculate on the boy as he cautiously sat with crossed legs. "Why?"

"What?" Hosheki sat up in disbelief, his eyebrow cocked. He knew the boy was arrogant, but to not be grateful for him practically being his only friend, as much as the limits of that word were being stretched. "What do you mean "why?!"

"Why are you always coming around?" The azure haired boy elaborated, his body tense and rebelling against the notion of relaxing. "Everyone else who I beat just stopped approaching me or would move away if I sat near them."

Hosheki took a deep breath as he looked back to the sky. "Who knows, Biteki. In my eyes, you seem a lot harsher with everyone else than you do with me. Maybe I can just tolerate you more than anyone else, and you react to that. It's the beauty of the unknown." Casting a glance at the boy, he picked another piece of bark from the nearby tree. "Now, are you going to relax or do I need to throw this again?"

"You throw it and I'll break your precious puppets." Biteki snapped back, his shroud slowly condensing into an iridescent cube as he laid on his back. Every piece of him seemed to yell to get back to training…but maybe just this once, he could take a breath.

With someone else there…the silence wasn't nearly as uneasy, and that vermillion sky felt a bit more comforting.

The moon hung high above Konohagakure, the village illuminated by a combination of its light and the many houses still awake. A calm had finally settled on the day, children were tuckered out from celebrations and businesses were shutting down.

The village itself was filled with the savory smell of various dishes and the fragrant aroma of blooming flowers.

However, inside the household of Hinata Hyuuga and Menma Namikaze, there was an eerie quiet. A blue-haired woman sat at the table, her pale eyes staring into the distance as she impatiently tapped her fingers against the wooden surface. Sucking her teeth, she finally moved to stand up.

Just as she moved, a shock of yellow hair suddenly appeared on the balcony. The shaggy blonde hair and feral whisker-like markings were more than enough to identify the figure as Menma Namikaze. Sliding open the door, he quickly closed the distance. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long, th-"

"It's okay," Hinata gave a slight smile as she approached, giving a peck on his cheek before leaning in. Menma immediately felt a lump form in his throat as he sensed the feeling of her Byakugan activating. "After all, why would you need to send any message the entire month you were gone?" Her tone was laced with venom and made his hair stand on end.

Quickly backing up, he held his hands up with a sheepish chuckle, doing his best to hide his worry at his wife's temper. "I just couldn't send any messenger hawks while I was in the Land of Water, we were-"

Her eyes seemed to pierce into his soul. "Not a single one? Was there some kind of extinction there?"

"N-no, we just couldn't rouse too much suspicion from where we were…" Menma scratched his cheek, looking away for a moment. "I promise, I wasn't meaning to worry you."

"Oh, no, there's no worry here. Why would I worry about you?" Hinata came closer again, the air becoming thick with tension. "Why would I worry about my husband in a foreign village where he could get injured or killed?!" She suddenly smacked him in the chest. "I always send a hawk when I'm on a mission! Not to mention, you can just teleport he-"

This time being the one to interrupt, Menma pulled her into an embrace, hugging his wife close to his chest. "You're right, I apologize. I'll make sure to find a way next time."

Hinata huffed as she melted into her husband's embrace, her Byakugan deactivating. "I'll keep you to that. I'll throw you out the next time it happens and you can stay with your parents for a while."

"That's too harsh, Hinata!" Menma chuckled as he looked around. The place was spotless, and he could smell that she had cooked. He couldn't help but feel worse than he already did. "I'll make it up to you."

Hinata couldn't help but let out a venomous laugh as she stepped back. "Oh, I know you will. You have food in the fridge, it would've been warm if you'd gotten back sooner…or if you'd let me know when you were getting back."

"Well, now that we're both going to be teachers, I'll be around much more often." Menma chimed. "Sakura won't be able to send me away as much, and I doubt she's going to send the kids on missions for that long."

Hinata gritted her teeth as she thought of the pink-haired Hokage, feeling the veins behind her eyes tensing again. What a pain she was at times, always sending Menma to foreign countries for so long.

"Stop sending curses her way, Hinata." Menma softly said, shaking his head. "I can see it on your face. She's only doing what she has to."

"If that's what you think, but the way I see it, she has plenty of others she could send on those missions." Hinata stated as she moved for the fridge. Taking his plate from it, she slowly began to reheat the food. "They said we should know which kids we'll be teaching by the end of the week at the latest, but most likely starting tomorrow for us."

Menma looked around the apartment, moving to light a candle and turn on a light. She really made quite the eerie environment with how dark it was. He could practically feel her coldness just upon entering the apartment. Coming up behind Hinata, he took over the process of reheating his food on the stove. "You've done plenty. Thank you."

"That's the right choice." Hinata smiled as she caressed his face, lightly pinching his chin. She moved to sit down at the table, folding her blouse over to where it was slightly less revealing as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you worried at all about taking on teaching some kids?"

"No? I wouldn't have accepted it if I wasn't ready." Menma responded without turning around, turning off the burner as he began to replate his food. "Besides, I…prefer to do anything I can to make up for what happened."

Hinata hummed to herself for a moment. She understood the sentiment, but considering how few people actually knew that he was the one who caused all of that destruction years ago, she could only imagine that he kept himself in a personal prison over it. "You've done more than enough to repay the village, Menma. You need to stop looking at everything like that. At this rate, I'm going to wonder if you married me just to make it up to the village."

"Well, now that you mention it-" Menma laughed as Hinata immediately shot to her feet, her teeth gritted and the veins behind her eyes becoming prominent. "Bad joke, sorry! Of course that wasn't the reason I married you."

Hinata shot a glare at her husband as she settled back into her seat, kicking her feet up on the table. "That's the right answer."

A calm set over the room as the two sat in silence while Menma devoured the meal in front of him. It was honestly the first good bit of cooking he'd had in a month, but then again, he had started to dislike any food that wasn't made by Hinata. Something about it just always tasted better, even if it was the most basic of dishes.

Finally, Menma set down the plate and broke the silence. "I hope I can teach those kids as well as Jiraiya-sensei taught me."

"You'll do fine, Menma. I told you, if you do everything with the thought of what you did in the past, you'll get too in your head." Hinata's gaze was soft as she looked at her husband. Standing to her feet, she pulled her chair to his side and took a seat, gently rubbing his arm. "You weren't in control. Everyone knows how devoted you are to the village, and you have proved that you will do anything to make up for it all. So, stop being this gloomy version of yourself, that's not the Menma I know and love!" She playfully smacked the side of his arm before kissing his cheek.

The blonde-haired man nodded. "I'm really excited to teach them, I hope I can pass down some of my techniques to at least one."

"I just hope whichever kids are under my belt have some thick skin. If they don't, then it's going to be rough at first." Hinata sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Plus, this can be like our own little trial at parenting. We'll see what we have to work on."

Menma chuckled to himself as he looked at his wife. "Oh, is that right? You don't have any ideas of what you might need to work on?"

"Are you suggesting that you already know something I should change?" Hinata's voice grew low as she stared into Menma's soul.

But the tension quickly dissipated as the two laughed. Menma stood and placed his plate in the sink before turning back to his wife, the couple slowly beginning to settle into a more cozy night than either had experienced in some time.

And as the village slowly found itself going to sleep, the moon provided silent comfort to all of the denizens of Konohagakure.

However, the shifting winds seemed to carry a breeze charged with sparking unease and chaos.

And there's our second prologue chapter! Along with it, I am extending the deadline of the story to January 1st, due to the fact that I want everyone to have more time to create their characters as well as give me time to focus on work and a few other things in my life.

On that note, I would also just like to put out a disclaimer that I do this for fun. Writing doesn't pay my bills because I don't expect or want anyone to pay me for writing. As such, I can't promise some sort of monthly updates, or any type of consistency, because as it is right now my life is still extremely unsteady and all over the place. I hope you all understand.