The next morning, Miwa was standing in front of the Hokage next to Guy with Lee and Shino on the other side. She said, "So, what're we here for this time? Hopefully it's not another painting job, cause, I gotta tell ya, while I'm getting good at them, they're getting really boring, and you know what happens when I get bored, right?"

Minato said, "Yes Miwa, I do. I'm still having issues with the Masuda's because of you and your sister. In any case, you're in luck. Lee here just brought in a mission that I think would be perfect for you."

Shino said, "Then…if you don't mind my asking…"

"No. Go ahead Shino."

"If it is 'perfect' for them, why are we here?"

"Missions under B rank require four shinobi to go on them. I'd thought that that at least was in the curriculum"

"I may have misstated. I meant why are Lee and I specifically here?"

"Ah. Sorry. While Lee has flourished under Guy's tutelage, he lacks experience with ninjutsu. If he stays with Guy and Neji alone, that won't happen. As to you…honestly?"

"It would be appreciated."

"Well then, if I'm being brutally honest, the rest of your classmates are out on missions already, and Neji just returned from a mission and, thanks to some personal experience, I know that an inexperienced byakugan wielder needs to rest their eyes for a time before making use of them again for any significant time. Besides, if a…certain situation arises, you may be necessary for the success of your mission. As to why you've been put under Guy specifically, there have been some rumours that have been going about lately about one of the Seven Swordsman is in the area of the Katabami Goldmine and, of the jōnin in the village at the moment, he is best equipped to deal with them. Also, both you and Miwa have a lot to learn that Guy can teach you."

Shino turned to face Guy and before silently turning back to Minato to say, "No offence, but I don't think that that is the case. Why is that? It is because he cannot use ninjutsu. As such he cannot help me specifically, since what is beneficial for me, is to continue training to increase my chakra capacity. Why? Because that will allow me to take in more than one colony."

Minato sighed and said, "Look. You still need to increase your skills in taijutsu to become a rounded shinobi and you won't get that from Kurenai. The same thing applies to you too Miwa, so don't get any funny ideas."

Miwa sighed and said, "Hai hai. Is there anything else?"

"No. You can go now."

"Alright. We shall see you when we are done Hokage-sama."

Minato nodded as Guy left the office, followed by Shino and Lee. Guy though, rushed back in as Miwa started running away from the door. He just missed grabbing her ankle when she jumped out of the window of her father's office. Guy exclaimed, "Miwa!" Guy rushed through the entire tower, causing papers to fly all over the place as Minato sighed and shook his head. Lee, not knowing why Guy was rushing through the tower, assumed that it was a new form of training and rushed after him. Shino though, was used to Miwa's antics, and the extent that she could go to to elicit a reaction and made his way down at a far more sedate pace.

As soon as Miwa had left through the window, she made sure that she was facing the ground as she hurtled towards it. she reached her arm out and touched the outer wall of the Hokage Tower and attached her hand to it with chakra. She then pulled forward so that her feet were towards the ground before attaching the side of her left foot to the wall. As she did, she lessened the strength of the chakra attaching her hand with the wall and matched the new level with her foot, letting her slide down the wall at a more controlled pace. Guy burst out of the door of the tower when Miwa stopped sliding. She exclaimed, "Damn it! I thought I had it that time for sure!" and let herself drop the rest of the way to the ground.

"So…that was training?"

"Yeah. What? You thought that I'd purposefully jump out of the window like that for no reason?"

Guy said, "So, Hana showed you the tree training, did she?"

"Nah, Aniki left me 'n' Mizuko a bunch of scrolls before he left last time. Most of them were for Mizuko, but there were some that I could do on there as well. Some of them seemed useful, like the tree training and the water training."

Guy gripped his fist in front of him and exclaimed, "Yoshaaa!" as flames started burning in his eyes. "You are burning with the power of youth Miwa! Just like Lee!"

Lee heard what Guy said and exclaimed, "Guy-sensei!" as tears of joy at being praised by his beloved sensei welled up."

Guy saw Lee and exclaimed, "Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Guy exclaimed, "Lee!" and flung his arms around Lee's shoulders and a sunrise appeared behind the two as Shino joined them outside of the tower.

Miwa said, "Is it…genjutsu?" and made the ram seal as she tried to dispel it.

Shino said. "It's not," as Miwa failed and looked at him expectantly. Shino said, "I assume by that look that you are wondering how I know that. The reason is because my colonies told me. Before you ask, it is because they lack a complex nervous system so techniques that control the senses are useless against them."

"Colonies?"

"My clan uses insects that are housed within our bodies to form our jutsu."

Miwa said, "You talk to roaches? Then could you tell the ones at home to rack off?"

"No. We use kikaichū. Do not refer to them as such again. Ever!"

"Alright, alright. Yeesh. Wait up a sec. you just said 'colonies', right?"

"That's right. Members of my clan house queens within us that then go on to breed and form a colony within the hive that they create out of my chakra system. In doing so, we form a type of empathic symbiosis that allows me to control them, allowing me to know what they want to inform me of."

"Wait. Then would that make you like, the Queen's Queen?"

Shino said, "No, that does not make me…that," as Guy and Lee struggled to muffle their laughter.

Miwa turned to Guy as she said, "Well, whatever. Now…" and blinked as she saw something horrifying in his hands. She hesitantly said, "Uhhh…What is…that?"

"This, Miwa, is what has made Lee and I as strong as we are. Your youthful desire to strengthen yourself through any method available epitomises the burning power of youth. As such, you are worthy of wearing this."

Miwa said, "Uhh…no thanks, I'm good."

Guy asked, "Why not? It utilises that latest in jumpsuit technology. It is breathable, retains moisture, is lightweight, and perfectly designed for free movement, all in a beautiful, stylish package. If you wear it while you train you'll notice a difference immediately..." Guy winked and formed a grin that seemed to somehow sparkle. "…They really really grow on ya. Pretty soon you'll be wearing them all the time, just like Lee. This is a secret, so don't tell anyone, but I've got a bit of a thing for them myself."

"Yeah. I don't care."

"Why?"

"That…thing…is bloody forest green! I can't stand that shade!"

Shino said, "That makes no sense Miwa. Why? Because the flames of your haori are that colour."

"Huh? Don't be silly Shino. The flames are emerald green, not forest green."

"Hating something that cannot defend itself despoils your burning flames of youth Miwa."

"Exactly what is this youth that you keep on babbling on about?"

"Youth is…"

"Yes…"

"Youth…is youth! It's the..."

"You know what, forget it," Miwa said, waving a dismissive hand as she cut Guy off. "I don't think I'll ever understand it if that jumpsuit has anything to do with it. Actually, where is this Katabami Goldmine anyway? I don't think that I've heard of it before."

"It could be because it's in one of the smaller countries, the Land of Rivers. They don't have a shinobi presence there, so they regularly hire the services of either us, or the Land of Wind. Since the mine is on their border with the Land of Fire, they have requested our aid. Isn't that right, Rokusuke?"

"Yes. That's right. You sound as if you've been there before."

"Yes. Lee and I trained there a while back. Actually, there's The Curry Shop Of Life there that saved Lee's life at that time. We might just see if Lady Sancho will let us use it as a temporary base of operations."

Miwa asked, "Why?"

"Why? What do you mean, Miwa?"

Shino said, "The reason should be obvious. That is because we need somewhere to sleep and organise during our stay."

Miwa addressed Shino as she said, "No no. That's not what I meant. When Mizuko and I were rifling through Nii-chan's stuff one day we found some papers from a whole bunch of places that we found out were these things called deeds to property in a whole bunch of different places." She turned to Guy. "Don't all jōnin have places like that?"

Guy coughed and said, "Uhh…" as he tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn't end up with him in prison. Eventually he said, "No. Naruto…is part of a division that's members can operate outside of Konoha for extended periods, so it is more useful for them to have multiple properties outside of The Land of Fire rather than here, where they can either sleep in the barracks, or with other family members. Just out of curiosity…"

"Yes?"

"Was one of his properties in The Land of Rivers?"

"Yeah. I think that there was one there, but, if I'm remembering right, it was deeper into The Land of Rivers than we will be going if this Katabami Goldmine is on the border."

Guy sighed and said, "Ah well. Lady Sancho's it is then." He then led them through the village to the main gate before saying, "Uhh…Rokusuke-san…"

"Yes?" Rokusuke prompted.

"What is your top speed?"

"Huh?"

"How long did it take you to get here?"

"Hmmm…I'm not entirely sure, but it could have been from three days up to a week."

Guy rubbed his chin as he said, "Hmm…" thinking on what they could do to get there faster with Rokusuke and, suddenly, a lightbulb appeared over his head as he said, "Ah hah! I've got it." he turned to Lee and said, "Lee."

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee. You put Rokusuke on your back and I'll take the other two. Then, we race to Katabami Goldmine."

"Guy-sensei…" Lee said, tears rolling down his face as he continued, "You have found a way to turn this trial into a method of training!" and pulled out a notebook. He wrote, 'Guy-sensei says that you can make training out of even mundane tasks like carrying a client on your back.'

Miwa said, "Hold up!" bringing Guy up short before he could throw over his shoulder and take off.

"What is it, Miwa?"

"I've got a better idea."

"What's that?"

"We seal all of them in a scroll, take those scrolls with us, and then release them when we've reached the mine."

"Well sure, we would if Tenten were with us, but right now she's with…"

"I can do it just fine thank you very much," Miwa said, annoyed at being underestimated by so much.

"You mean that you've been training in fūinjutsu?"

Miwa exclaimed, "Of course! You didn't think that I'd let Nii-chan be the only one that could do it, did you?" She looked to Shino and said, "I…uhh…said that out loud, didn't I?"

Shino said, "Yes. You did." Miwa blushed.

Guy said, "If you are up to sealing humans, then how long have you been studying it?"

"I started in the third year at the academy. Uhh…" Miwa clutched her hands together and bowed as she said, "Please don't tell Dad or Hana-sensei!"

Shino said, "Then those scribbles that you were doing during class…"

Miwa sighed and said, "I told you that they weren't 'scribbles'.

Guy said, "Alright Miwa. Please do."

"Miwa reached into her tool pouch and withdrew a scroll. She unfurled it and took out a paintbrush. After writing a few more characters on three of the seals on the scroll, she said, "Right. You three. Come here and stand on one each." The three miners nodded and did as requested. Miwa went through a seal sequence and said, "Jintai no fūinjutsu," and there were three bursts of lightning that shot up as they were sealed."

Guy asked, "What was with the lightning? Whenever Tenten uses it, there is a cloud of smoke that bursts from the seal."

"Oh. That. I messed with the seals in the books that I was learning from and changed it so that it uses lightning rather than smoke."

"Why?"

"It looks cooler with lightning rather than smoke. Besides, I've got a raiton affinity, so it only makes sense for me to make it with that."

Shino said, "Miwa. It doesn't make sense, even if you do have a lightning affinity, it is unnecessary to have its presence in jutsu unrelated to raiton. Why? Because if you use that alternative in front of an enemy shinobi, they could deduce that you have a raiton affinity and fight in such a way that minimises its effectiveness."

Guy sighed and said, "Shino. Miwa seems to share her brother's concept of what 'normal' means."

"Can you explain that?"

"No. Even to this day I find it inexplicable."

Miwa brightly smiled as she asked, "Really? You really mean that, Guy-sensei?"

"Of course. I don't mince my words. I do truly find your brother's definition of normal to be…"

"No no. Not that. I meant when you compared me to Nii-chan."

"Oh yes. But, please, Miwa. For the duration of this mission, refrain from doing anything that you perceive as normal. For both our sanity, and those of the client."

"Eehh? But wouldn't that be like…you know…totally lame?"

"I'm sure that it would appear that way to you, but it is necessary for the success of the mission. That should be your primary concern right now."

Miwa sighed and said, "Alright. I'll…try."

"That's all that I can ask."

"Hmm..." Miwa said, considering something. When she'd finished thinking it through, she said, "Hey Lee. You wanted to race, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did, but you didn't want to," Lee said, still somewhat disappointed at not getting to test his youthful flame against Miwa's.

"Tell you what. How about this. We do it twice from when Guy-sensei says go. Once to the gate, then we wait for these two before going again, but there's no winners or losers and we go full out from the start."

Guy thought, 'No winners or losers huh? Miwa might have been able to discern Lee's strength and wants to determine the limits.'

Lee exclaimed, "Yoshaaa!" as fire consumed his eyes. He declared, "I shall honour your youthful request!" He turned to Guy and said, "Guy-sensei, are you alright with this?"

"Of course, Lee!" Guy said, a spark shining from his grin as he extended his fist towards him with his thumb up. Lee then moved next to Miwa and stood next to her in a standing start as Miwa got down into a crouching start. When Guy said, "Ready!?" Lee's eyes lit up and chakra started to swirl around Miwa. Guy thought, 'So, Miwa's planning to use her chakra to keep up with Lee? She must have been telling the truth when she said that Naruto left those two scrolls for the tree training if she can use her chakra to actively increase her speed.' He said, "Set?" Lee and Miwa nodded. Guy said, "Go!" and the two took off at top speed." As Guy watched the two, he frowned, thinking, 'That's odd. Why did she wait?'

Shino blinked and said, "Uhh...Guy-sensei."

"What is it, Shino-kun?"

"Why did you agree to this?"

"Why not?"

"We are all Genin. If Hokage-sama's intel is accurate, there will be at least one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman at the destination. From what little we were told at the Academy, they were all highly capable jōnin even before they received their swords. None of us are capable of fighting against a jōnin at this point."

"Maybe so. But, Lee has inherited my Shinobi Way and, from what I can tell, Miwa has more than a little of her brother's in her. So they'll be able to at least survive until we get there, should they come to that. But I doubt it will. Besides, right now they're just racing to the gate and will be waiting for us to get there."

"Even so, Miwa has the scroll that she sealed those civilians in. If she gets captured I find it highly unlikely that the Swordman will be incapable of releasing them, that's even if those two aren't tortured to get information on the two of us."

Guy sighed and said, "Look, Shino-kun. I am far faster than both Lee and Miwa at this time, so will be able to get there quickly enough should it come to that, and I will be carrying you with me." Shino lost what little colour was in his face at the prospect.

XXXXX

At the same time, under Konoha, a jōnin was standing in front of Danzō. She said, "Are you…seriously asking this of me, Danzō-sama?" Danzō frowned at her, causing her to stutter, "Not that…uhh…I'm questioning your decision…sir!"

Danzō sighed. He said, "You are one of the best jōnin that I have serving in my division, Natsumi. So yes, I am asking this of you."

"Even with what happened back then?"

Danzō nodded. he then pressed a button on his intercom and said simply, "Send them in."

Natsumi exclaimed, "What? Already?! But you just…I'm not…" She stopped when the three that she genin walked into the room.

The one that entered first, was wiry and had short black hair that was spiked slightly backwards. He was wearing a red shirt under a white jacket with black pants that had bandages wrapped around his left leg, protecting it from rubbing by the kunai pouch that he had attached above them and another one on his right leg, though it was holding shuriken. He was followed by a shorter girl that had her mid-back length black hair tied into a high ponytail that was wearing a more stereotypical shinobi outfit, excluding a lower face mask, though it was a very dark purple rather than black and had a tanto held diagonally across her back. The third one, another girl, was about as tall as the boy, but she had flame red hair and wore blue shinobi pants and a blue hooded shirt that held no identifiable weapons at all. The boy thought, 'So what the heck's Uncle Danzō got us all doing here at once? I've never met these chicks before.'

Danzō said, "Natsumi. Meet Kotarō, Shikawai and Hōshuko. They will be the genin serving under your command."

Kotarō blinked and said, "Huh?"

A sentiment that Hōshuko echoed as Shikawai thought, 'So, I was right after all,' and sighed. 'I just know that this is going to be a drag.'

Kotarō said, "Uhm…not that I'm doubting you or anything, uncle. But…why? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to learn directly under you?"

Natsumi frowned at Kotarō's questioning. She said, "Alright then, you three! Make no mistakes. I'm no more a fan of this plan of Danzō-sama's than any of you. But you're my subordinates for the near future, so you'll be doing what I say, when I say it. Got it?"

"I disagree," Kotarō said. "There is no point that I can see."

Natsumi turned back to face Danzō and said, "Do you mind if I do this the way that they do it in the Hokage's division?"

"No," Danzō said. "It would appear that that would be best."

"Alright then," Natsumi said, turning back to the genin, bringing out a scroll from her flack vest. She unsealed what was inside and dangled the two bells in front of the genin. She said, "You've got six hours to find me, and wrest these bells from me. Then, whoever gets a bell, will be working under me."

Shikawai said, "But there's only two bells there."

"What's your point?"

"Then only two of us could get a bell, right?"

"Yep. It'll cut down on the work that I'll need to do looking after you three if I only have two subordinates to take care of."

"Then why did you say, 'find you'?"

Natsumi smirked and said, "Goodbye, Shikawai." The three genin blinked as they saw a yellow flash where the redhead had been.

Kotaru turned to Danzō and asked, "What is this, uncle?"

Danzō said, "You heard her. You need to find her, and wrest those bells from her."

"Who is she anyway?"

"Natsumi is one of the strongest jōnin in ROOT. Frankly, if I wasn't here, she'd be in the running for the leadership of ROOT."

Shikawai said, "We're already shinobi. Why should we participate in this trial?"

Danzō sighed and said, "Go. Now. Or do you want to waste the limited amount of time that you still have?"

Hōshuko exclaimed, "Right!" and rushed from the room, quickly followed by Shikawai and Kotarō. Danzō sighed and shook his head when they were gone before focusing back on the papers on his desk.

XXXXX

At the same time, in Minato's office, he was blinking, saying, "You are…but how? I thought that…"

Natsumi said, "Yeah yeah, that's great 'n' all, and there's time enough for all of that a lot later. For now, I'm just telling you that I'm testing some genin that Danzō-sama has put under my care and I'll be using the village as a testing ground, so if anything happens, it'll probably be us."

Minato said, "What?" his nervous excitement disappearing with the threat posed by a test being run within the streets of Konoha. "Who is involved and what techniques are available to them?"

"You know mine, there's also going to be shadow style jutsu, fūton, katon and doton, as well as potentially shōton. Maybe a summoning, depending on whether Danzō-sama has introduced them to the art, but I should be able to limit the possibility of that occurring."

"Haven't you increased your skills since we last saw you?"

"Yeah, but they're more variant techniques and genjutsu than strict offensive ninjutsu."

"You do realise that I will be sanctioning Danzō for this, right, Natsumi?"

"No. I asked him not to tell you."

"Why would you do that?"

"I had my own issues to work through after 'that'."

"Didn't you know how it would affect us?"

Natsumi said, "Of course I did! Especially…" Natsumi grabbed her heart as she let out a grunt, her eyes starting to close, but returned to being open before they could as her lips moved almost imperceptibly. In a regular tone, she said, "But I had to deal with them myself. Please understand."

Minato sighed and said, "Alright. Just…don't get too carried away. The civilian council is getting hard enough to deal with as it is."

Natsumi grinned and said, "You know me," and there was a burst of fire as she used the shunshin no jutsu to disappear from the office.

To the empty room, Minato said, "Yeah, I do." He sighed as he swivelled to look away from the scorched floor, in the direction of the Land of Demons. He thought, 'Naruto, you have no idea just how much I wish that you were here right now,' his son always having been far more capable of dealing with Natsumi than he had ever been.

Natsumi appeared in front of a weapons store and paused, considering what she was about to do and shrugged, thinking, 'I'm probably not going to need it, but I was about to get it anyway before that messenger asked me to go 'n' see Danzō, so I might as well,' and entered the store. When she was in, she heard the bell above the door ding, and saw the person that she'd come to see enter through a doorway into the back of the store. She nodded and said, "Daisuke."

Daisuke said, "Natsumi! So, you're here to pick it up then, are you?"

"That's right. I'm sorry that I couldn't get here sooner, but I just got back from a mission last night."

"That's fine. I get it. I was in that division back when I was on active duty too, so I know how things can be. Naruto was actually in here…about a month or so ago."

"I didn't ask about him."

"Oh, I know. But I thought that you'd be interested in knowing that he actually bought some standard chakra blades."

"So what? From the report I read, he just got back from a long term mission, so his were probably in need of repair, right?"

"Oh, most certainly. But, he bought four."

Natsumi frowned and questioningly said, "Four? Do you know why?"

"No. Asami-chan only told me about it because she thought that it was odd, but I didn't get the chance to ask why."

"I see." Natsumi shrugged and said, "Well, I suppose that it doesn't really matter in the long run," as Daichi went back out the back to retrieve Natsumi's sword. Natsumi turned around and looked over the merchandise in the store as she waited. She frowned. 'Hmm…' she grinned and went over and started fingering the clothes. Eventually she settled on a white shirt, a pair of black shinobi pants that tucked into a pair of knee-high shinobi, open heeled and open toed, shoes and a pair of fingerless gloves that had a metal backing plate. She topped it off by unsealing a coat that she hadn't worn in years. It was a short sleeved emerald green coat that had lighter green flames at the lower hem. She was just finishing putting her second arm through the sleeve as Daichi re-entered the storefront. He blinked and said, "It's been a while since I've seen you with that on."

Natsumi grinned as she turned back and grabbed a cord from the desk and used it to tie her hair into a high ponytail before tying a hitai-ate on a black backing that she'd picked up alongside her clothes, leaving two bangs framing her face. She said, "Yeah, well, right now I'm playing keep-away with some genin that Danzō-sama wants me to babysit. I figure that a change in look will make it easier on me." She picked up the sword and placed it on a seal on the back of her coat that attached it to the back of her coat diagonally without the need for a scabbard or belt, letting the hilt extend downward, off of the side of her body.

Daichi scoffed and said, "You're joking right?"

"Believe me, I wish I was."

"Really?" Natsumi nodded. Daichi sighed and said, "Well, whatever, I'm sure that there's a reason that he wanted you to do it personally."

"I've no doubt. I just can't imagine what it would be."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find out eventually."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Well, regardless, thanks for bringing this to me."

"I don't see why I wouldn't."

"That's not what I meant."

"Oh? Then what did you mean?"

"I mean that this will let me offer an alternative kunai-sword hybrid to that hack Iō's Kunai Blade."

Natsumi sighed and said, "I suppose that I should have expected that. Well, anyway, rather than me, you should be thanking the Prajñā Group. I got it from the corpse of one of their shinobi."

"It doesn't matter to me where you sourced it. I'm just sorry that it took me this long to analyse it and turn it into a chakra blade for you."

"That's fine. How much do I owe you?"

"It's normally 5000 for the sword, 250 for the pants 'n' another 250 for the shirt and 500 for the shoes. But I'll give you half off on everything as a thanks for the sword."

"Alright," Hikari said and tapped a spot on her cloak, unsealing a scroll. She unsealed a wallet and took out three thousand two hundred and handed it over, saying, "The two hundred is for you to not tell those kids what I'm wearing."

Daichi said, "Alright," putting the three thousand in the till before pocketing the extra two hundred.

"Well, I guess that I'll be seeing you later, Daichi."

Daichi said, "Anytime," the door ringing as Natsumi left the store.

XXXXX

When the three genin had left the ROOT base, Kotarō said, "Okay, now what? It's not like we can just go running through the streets shouting 'Natsumi-sensei!' at the top of our voices.

Hōshuko said, "Why not?"

"We're shinobi, not court jesters."

"Well, it's just that it's not like we know anything that could give us any sort of clue about where we should start looking. Even if we did, we should probably have some sort of a plan ready to implement to get that bell." She turned to Shikawai and said, "You Nara's are supposed to be pretty smart. Do you have any ideas?"

With a sad face, Shikawai sighed and said, "Please don't call me that."

"Call you what?"

"A Nara."

"But isn't that the clan you're from?"

"I have nothing to do with them. Shikawai is fine."

Hōshuko thought, 'Okay, touchy subject. Leave that one alone for now.' She said, "Alright then, Shikawai, do you have any bright ideas?"

Shikawai said, "Hmm…" closing her eyes as she thought over what had happened in the last ten minutes or so. She opened them and said, "I think that we should talk to the Hokage."

Kotarō and Hōshuko both exclaimed, "Hu-uhhhh!? Why? We're in ROOT! What does that man / he have to do with this test that Natsumi-sensei has set up?"

"She hasn't."

"What? What do you mean?"

"She was quite annoyed about being given us to train, so Danzō-sama must have sprung it on her at the same time as he did us. This 'test' is just something she arbitrarily came up with. That means that there wouldn't have been the time that it would normally take to go through the process to authorise the entire village as a test ground. Failing that, the only way would be to appeal directly to the Hokage. Hokage-sama is also the one that we need to lodge an appeal to revoke the permission, if he did indeed grant it in the first place. If even that ends up not working, we can at least ask him where she is." She then started to walk towards the tower, but was forced to run after her teammates when they rushed past her on their way to the Hokage's office, not wanting to give their potential sensei enough time to get away.

About five minutes later, the three genin reached the reception area to the Hokage's office. Seeing the panting genin, the receptionist sighed and said, "Alright you three. What do you want?" somewhat used to genin turning up expecting to see the Hokage at random times over the past two months since his daughter's graduation.

Shikawai stepped forward and said, "If it's possible, we would like to see Hokage-sama to undergo some information gathering for a test that we've been set."

"I don't see what information you'd need from Minato for some genin test, but he's free now." When Kotarō had placed a hand on the doorknob, she said, "A word of warning though…"

Kotarō asked, "What is it?"

"Based on the way his chakra's been fluctuating over the last ten minutes or so, Minato's probably not in a very good mood."

As Kotarō shrugged a dismissive shoulder, Shikawai said, "Thanks," with a smile.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow as she thought, 'That smile that she just gave me…it wasn't genuine, but it was certainly a good act. It'll be interesting to see how her career progresses. Well, not that it matters really.'

When the door opened, Minato looked up at the intruders with a dark look on his face. He demanded, "Exactly who do you think you three are to come in here unannounced?"

Hōshuko stumbled backwards as she said, "We…uhhm…ahh…ur…" and swallowed, completely unnerved by the look and unable to get anything out. Shikawai was little better.

Kotarō tisked as he thought, 'Useless, the both of them.' He said, "Hokage-dono. We are part of a team that has just been created by Danzō-sama. The one that is to be our sensei was caught off-guard by the announcement and has decided to form a test to determine our fate as her students."

Minato thought, 'So, this is the team that Natsumi told me about.' He said, "Exactly what do you think that has to do with me?"

"Kotarō said, "Shikawai here thought that since the test was likely something that she'd just thought of, and had decided to use the entire village as a testing ground, she would need to come to see you to at the very least notify you of what she had done."

"Well, if you're talking about Natsumi, then yes, she was here moments ago."

Kotarō turned to Shikawai and said, "Shikawai, you've probably got a better idea as to what we should ask from here."

Shikawai nodded and said, "Hokage-dono. If it is possible, could you please tell us if you know likely spots that Natsumi-sensei would be likely to go?"

Minato rested his elbows on his desk as he linked his hands and rested his chin on the back of his hands as he said, "Hmm…" closing his eyes." He sighed and said, "Sorry. But I haven't seen her for…it'd be almost fourteen years now. But, when I knew her, her favourite meal was ramen and, she's never liked surprises, but if she was as angry as you said she was, she probably only just got back from a mission, so will need to restock. She used to use the same armourer as my son, but, like I said, it has been more than a decade, so she could have moved on."

"What's your son's name?"

"This thing is a test, so I don't want to give you too much information, but he's quite well known, so it'll be easy enough to find out."

Shikawai said, "Okay, that's fair," cutting Kotarō off as he was about to start demanding things of the Hokage. "Hmmm…could you possibly tell us what jutsu she can use?"

"I can give you a general rundown, but more than that…again. This is a test."

"That's fine."

"Alright, then in that case, she was brought up through the Konohagakure Ninja Gakkō. Since then, she has learnt to use all five elements, genjutsu, the summoning technique and healing ninjutsu, but, like I said, any more than that…fourteen years is a long time."

Shikawai slightly bowed and said, "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for telling us what you could."

Minato said, "You're dismissed," far calmer than he had been since Natsumi's visit.