Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ After the Dream ❯ Bless the Broken Road III ( Chapter 31 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Agent's Spiel: This is the end of Chapter 29. them anyways…heheheh.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Blessthe Broken Road (pt. 3)

Itachi glanced toward Hanabi when he heard her activate the byakugan. He nudged Moegi and the young girl walked over and whispered something to the Hyuuga. Hanabi looked at her questioningly, but Moegi simply shrugged and pointed towards Itachi. After a moment's deliberation, Hanabi deactivated her byakugan; she doubted the last Uchiha would endanger their group.

The road in front of them was much the same as the road they had been traveling on since early that morning. About thirty meters in front of her a tree hooked down nearly blocking half the road, it was this tree that Kakashi took notice of it. “How much farther?” Genma asked.

“Hmm,” Kakashi replied, before going back to reading.

“Kakashi pay attention,” Anko said angrily.

“Did you say something?” Kakashi asked, pausing underneath the hooked tree and glancing at the group from over the top his book.

A giggle above him distracted the others from saying anything back. A pale arm shot down out of the trees foliage. It waved in front of his face and Kakashi's eye curved up in a smile. That smile disappeared a moment later when the same hand snatched his book away.

The arm's owner appeared a moment later as she tumbled down in front of Kakashi. “What did Rin tell you about reading this?” she asked Kakashi, as she flipped the book open.

“Not to?” Kakashi said, cringing slightly when the girl paused to look at a page. She tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows as she took it in. “Interesting,” she muttered.

“Rin is going to kill him,” Itachi whispered, shaking his head. Rishito was grinning like a maniac behind him.

“And why did Rin tell you not to?” she asked, still flipping through the book.

“Because they're morally degrading,” Hanabi muttered.

The teenager grinned at her from over the book's cover and shook her head. “No,” she said, walking over towards the group; she still had her head in the book.

Kakashi grabbed for it when she passed him but she stepped aside at the right moment. She handed the book to Hanabi and turned back to Kakashi. Hanabi got one look at the page in front of her and blushed brighter than anyone had known the Hyuuga to be capable of. Anko reached over and snatched the book away from her student. Instead of shutting it like they expected her to, she glanced at the page. “Ooh, this is the good part,” she whispered.

“Anko-sensei,” Konohamaru muttered in horror.

“Hmm,” she said, stifling her perverted giggles.

“Looking for ideas to give to Iruka,” Raidou quipped at her, as the psychotic Jounin continued to read Kakashi's book.

“That man doesn't need ideas,” she responded, causing all six Genin to blush and look away.

The teen watched the group in amusement before turning back to Kakashi. “Rin told you not to read those books while you were doing something else,” she scolded.

“Nonsense,” Kakashi replied.

“It distracts you,” she said back like she was speaking to a five year old. The others watched in amusement, trying to figure out who the red haired teenager in front of them was.

“No it doesn't,” Kakashi replied, pouting slightly.

“Who is she?” Moegi asked, leaning over to Rishito while Kakashi continued arguing the red haired girl in front of him.

“Who Hana nee-san?” Rishito asked pointing to Sakura.

“Hana nee-san?” Inari asked.

“Yeah, you remember Eiki?” he asked, gaining a nod from his friends as Genma and Raidou gazed appreciatively at `Hana nee-san'. “Well she's his twin sister. And if he hears somebody twice her age was looking at her like they are right now he'll tell Kyokki and then those two'll kick their asses,” he added, glaring over at Genma and Raidou who quickly straightened up when they noticed that Itachi was mirroring the glare and even Kakashi had paused in his teasing of the girl to gaze at them disapprovingly.

“Rin's waiting for you all,” Sakura said, pretending she hadn't noticed the slight glare off. Kakashi nodded and barely noticed as Sakura slowly fell behind the group. Anko made sure her students were following the rest of the pack before falling back slightly as well. Sakura turned to look at her curiously but waited for the other woman to speak.

“Aren't you the kid that met up with us to heal Itachi?” she finally asked, gazing at Sakura.

“Yeah after your fight against Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame,” Sakura answered.

“You're studying in Hifukidake now?” Inuzuka Hana, the last member of Kakashi's current team, asked.

“Right, you met us while you were there to speak with the daimyo,” Sakura said.

“The Eiki that Rishito was talking about, was he the kid that was in Konoha when we returned?” Anko asked, gaining a nod from Sakura. “Which makes Kyokki the one that was with you; with the black eyes,” she continued, gaining another nod from Sakura. Neither woman that was speaking with Sakura noticed how far behind the others they had fallen.

“Why exactly isn't Kakashi allowed to read Icha Icha Paradise? You mentioned that in Hifukidake as well,” Hana said curiously. The silver haired Jounin was well known for his favorite reading material; it seemed odd to see him lectured over it.

“Hmmm…Rin says it distracts, which reminds me…excuse me,” Sakura said, running to catch up with Kakashi. When she reached him she sidled up next to him. “Rin will be angry if you're still reading this when she sees you,” she lectured.

“Then I'll stop reading it right before we get there,” he replied happily.

The others saw the red head shake her head in amusement before snatching Kakashi's book for a second time. This time she stuck her tongue out at the Jounin before taking off down the road with Kakashi on her tail. The group walked a bit slower and was just in time to see Kakashi catch the girl in front of a house. He threw her over his shoulder and snatched his book back.

“This is not for children's eyes,” Kakashi lectured, before placing Sakura back on her feet. She pouted at him and moved away towards the house as he busied himself with hiding his book while the others caught up to him.

Anko and Hana rounded the corner and Hana froze; her dog growled slightly as it sniffed the air. Anko continued ahead, quickly catching up to her students before she realized that something was wrong. They heard ropes snapping and attempted to get away only to find that the leaves had turned against them. They heard someone near the house laugh as they were pelted with… “Water balloons?” Konohamaru shouted in outrage as he was soaked to the bone.

“That wasn't funny,” Hanabi growled, causing a sopping wet Itachi to chuckle as he brushed some of his soaking hair out of his face. His students shared his laughter but most of the others, except for Hana and her dog who were both still dry, glared first at him and then at the two women laughing on the front walk.

“You all couldn't dodge a bunch of water balloons, and you call yourselves shinobi,” Rin said shaking her head at them and sharing a laugh with Sakura.

“Chiyu Rin, I swear this time I will kill you,” Anko shouted lunging at her in outrage.

“Geez it was just a little water,” Sakura muttered, nonchalantly stepping in front of Rin and pretending not to notice that she had forced Anko to stop her attack so that she wouldn't hit the teen instead of Rin.

“Just a pity Kakashi didn't hold onto her long enough for her to get hit by that little water too,” Raidou mumbled. He once again gained the glares of Itachi, Kakashi, Rishito and this time Inari…although none of them were sure if the comment was perverted or just spiteful.

“I can't believe you two. You're almost as bad as the four of them are in Hifukidake,” Reiko stated, walking out of the house behind the two.

“I beg your pardon,” Rin stated slightly offended, “but I like to think that I have more finesse than four little brats half my age.”

“If that's what you want to call it,” Reiko muttered, trying not to laugh at the dripping shinobi. “Takara's on her way out with towels,” she told them, walking quickly back in side.

“Who was that?” Moegi asked, noticing the uniform like threads the woman wore.

“Onshi Reiko, she's one of the women we're here to meet,” Anko told her.

“Who are the others we're meeting again?” Konohamaru asked, scratching his head and trying to remember all of the names from his mission assignment.

“Nami Takara and Hana. One is standing in front of you, the other is on her way out,” Sakura answered him. “I'm Hana, though I think Rishito-kun already told you that,” she added, watching the boy closely. Part of her wished that the first person she met from her village since she left had been one of her friends. The brief meeting with Anko and the others with Kakashi at the capitol didn't count, especially since they all had other business to distract them. Another part of her really, really wished that Genma and the Konohamaru corps weren't in the group; she had dealt with the majority of her guilt for leaving but whenever she let her mind drift even a bit she worried that Genma blamed himself for what supposedly happened that day.

“I thought Shizune was coming with you,” Rin said to Kakashi, snapping Sakura out of her thoughts. She realized that she was actually disappointed that the other woman hadn't been able to make it.

“The hospital's overloaded at the moment,” Genma stated, watching Rin. “By the way, that patient you saw at the end of your last stay made a full recovery,” he told her.

Rin responded as absentmindedly as possible, hoping to avoid the topic at all costs. “That's good.”

“You went through all that trouble and you didn't even manage to get Kakashi's mask off,” Takara interrupted, walking out with an armload of towels.

“I'm sure we'll manage that at some point during his stay,” Rin assured her; Kakashi wondered if he should be worried by the evil gleam in her eyes.

“It's nothing that special,” Sakura muttered to Rishito, causing his teammates to look her in surprise.

“That's enough out of you,” Kakashi stated, lifting Sakura effortlessly with one hand. “Take her inside,” he said as he tossed her to Itachi.

Itachi caught her on reflex and glared at Kakashi. “I think he's angry with me Itachi,” Sakura told him with wide innocent eyes. “Oomph, Oh damn now I'm all wet too,” she added gracelessly when Itachi dropped her onto the muddy ground.

“That wasn't very nice,” Rin told him.

“You know just because I accidentally burned off your hair doesn't mean you have to act like a jack ass,” Sakura pouted.

“You were the one who burned off Itachi-sensei's hair?” Moegi repeated in awe.

“Itachi-sensei?” Sakura muttered, quirking her lips as she pretended not to have known that he was teaching the three Genin. “What does he teach you? How to look and act like an ice queen? I bet if I hadn't burned his hair off he could have taught you how to make it all shiny and how to make it flip perfectly while fighting; he's really protective of his hair, you know,” she added, ignoring Itachi's glare.

As Sakura continued babbling on about Itachi and his hair the Uchiha finally got fed up with glaring at her and brushed past the girl, heading inside. “Hey where are you going?” Sakura shouted after him, jumping to her feet and skipping inside as she continued to annoy Itachi. Moegi and Inari exchanged a curious glance before quickly following him and trying to figure out why Rishito's mother was laughing so hard or why Rishito himself looked so bemused.

“This might actually be an entertaining week,” Anko stated, watching as Rin went inside after the others.

“She's a lot gutsier than most fangirls,” Genma pondered.

Kakashi considered reminding him that Itachi had actually managed to scare off all of his fangirls since returning to Konoha so there really wasn't anyone to compare Sakura to. He also considered mentioning that she had had plenty of practice with the younger Uchiha, but that was a topic that he couldn't really bring up in front of the others.

XXXXXXXX

Aside from the first prank she had pulled on them, Inuzuka Hana was actually surprised at how civil Rin was towards them. When they had heard that part of her upcoming mission would put her in contact with the woman as they passed through on the way to Kirigakure, her grandfather and several elders - not only in her own family but several of their friends as well - warned her that the woman was disagreeable, obstinate, and was generally a pain in the ass who hated authority while she was in Konoha and ninja in general ever since then. Even her brother had mentioned that the Hokage had a lot of trouble getting information out of the woman, but he had also mentioned that when business with her past wasn't brought up she was actually pretty nice and apparently still skilled enough to nearly rival Kakashi and Itachi - at least that was what he had heard from Rishito. Her mother had assured her - after discreetly ushering her away from the elders as their talk continued to get darker and they began complaining about Kakashi, Anko, someone named Kachuu, and several other older shinobi - that the elders were biased and that the majority of the attitude Rin had shown during her younger years had been more justified than most would admit (she was also reminded that the woman left at seventeen which meant none of them had really dealt with her as an adult).

From what she could basically understand, Rin had been incredibly protective of
Naruto before she left, and even then from recent events it seemed those feelings had never diminished during her absence. Apparently she had run afoul of the Uchiha clan and some of the elders and had left Konoha; Hana had heard Orochimaru mentioned, but she couldn't figure out how he played into it. Her mother had mentioned a growing feud with the Sandaime that had left Rin even more distrustful of the council and probably driven her to her current working relationship with the daimyo, although no one was actually sure what that was.

All Hana could really see in the woman was that she was loving mother who constantly joked with her son, even though anyone who looked hard enough could see how proud she was of him. She also seemed to have developed an extended family mainly focused outside of Konoha. Itachi seemed to respect her and the change in his personality and disposition while around Rin and the two teenagers had shocked everyone but Kakashi and Itachi's students. Rin, Hana, and Takara's banter reminded her of her play with her cousins and even her brother. They were comfortable around each other and sometimes seemed to forget the shinobi were in the room when they really got into their taunting.

She also looked nothing like Hana would have expected. The elders had described a plain, shy younger girl that always reminded Hana of the Hyuuga girl on her brother's team. Rin didn't really immediately strike her as looking like a shinobi; after all she had spent years as a civilian, but once she took the time to study her she could still see that none of her skill had faded. If anything, she'd bet Rin was more dangerous now because one wouldn't immediately see as her as a threat.

The teens that the Genin were there to meet surprised and confused her even more; enough so, that she spent more of her time observing them than Rin. She had heard of the Nami family a lot as a child and even met one once: a young woman who had been at the festival held when the Yondaime had been sworn in as Hokage. She and one of her friends had been trying to get a glimpse of the new Hokage and had seen him speaking to his students and several adults that they hadn't recognized, including a blond woman with bright blue eyes; she had heard a young woman, just a year or two older than the new Hokage's students, run up to them and address the woman as Nami-san. She had later been told by her own grandfather that the woman was from a prosperous family along the southeastern coast of Fire Country. Two years previously, when Nami Mitsutori moved to Konoha, that same grandfather had called the Nami family impertinent spies of the daimyo; Kiba had recently suggested that it had something to do with Naruto, but no one liked to think about what any truthfulness in that statement might suggest.

They had been told in Hifukidake that the red head, Hana, had been adopted by the Nami family about four months before. The girl's hair looked longer than it had in the capital, but Hana attributed that to its straighter locks. Her dark blue eyes were almost the same shade as Takara's and were complimented perfectly with the bright blue sleeveless top she wore. Hana had seen the way Genma and Raidou had eyed the girl's legs; of course she couldn't blame them since her light beige shorts accentuated her legs, and the wave like stitching on her shirt.

The same stitching was visible on Rin and Takara's clothing as well, so Hana figured it was something common among civilians. She had seen the pattern circling the left leg of Rin's pants and the bottom hem of Takara's skirt. She decided not to comment on the odd accessories that the two girls sported, including the two fans she had seen tucked into Takara's waistband and the dark red rope looped several times around Hana's waist like a belt. She probably wouldn't have noticed either, but she had seen Reiko prepare to use the ropes that were twined about her upper arms. Part of her wished she had more than one night to observe them, but her team left in the morning to continue on to Kirigakure and Kakashi hadn't known whether or not they would encounter Rin on the way back.

Hana had actually shocked herself earlier during dinner by admitting to herself that she was enjoying being around the group. She hadn't worked with Kakashi, Genma or Raidou very often and normally then it was only when her mother or another regular teammate worked with them as well. She hadn't been looking forward to this mission but obviously the setting put everyone, including Kakashi and Itachi, at ease. She wondered if it would be worth trying to explain to anyone in Konoha that Itachi could actually smile and that occasionally he allowed people to touch him casually outside of sparring. Even his students seemed closer to him than she would have guessed; Hana had always pegged him as a standoffish teacher, and although she never would have said it aloud she had been curious as to what he could actually teach them since he had never struck her as someone who had bothered learning jutsu that a Genin could learn, let alone someone who would then spend time passing that knowledge on to someone else.

The only thing that really bothered her about the trip was Rishito's stuttering. She had never heard Kiba mention that the boy had a problem, and she had never heard evidence of it before herself. She thought that maybe being around his mother was making him more secure so that he wasn't trying as hard to hide it but that didn't make sense to her. Of course neither did the fact that at random intervals throughout the night he couldn't properly say Kakashi or Nami Hana's names, even though he had no problem with her own.

That and the fact that Nami Takara seemed to be struggling a lot to remain polite around certain people. Oddly enough Hana noticed that she seemed to have the most trouble around two Genin: Hanabi and Konohamaru. She wasn't aware that Takara had met either of the Genin previously and she knew Rin, Kakashi, and Itachi wouldn't have said anything bad about someone that young. The only other option she could think of was that the Eiki boy that had been to Konoha had made a comment that had struck her, but it was still a bit unsettling.

“Woohoo!” Takara shrieked, causing Genma to wince and cover his ears. Hana looked up from her own thoughts and realized that the girl must have won whatever game she had been playing with the Genin; she didn't think it could be that hard for Takara to win every time since she seemed to be the only one who actually knew the rules.

“Good god girl, are you trying to shatter our ear drums?” Raidou muttered.

“I swear you shout louder than Naruto did,” Genma added. Unlike Hana he didn't notice Rin and Sakura stiffen.

“What do you mean?” Takara asked.

“Never mind, it's a comparison that only the shinobi here would get,” Genma dismissed, turning back to Raidou.

“I asked what you said about Naruto,” Takara repeated.

“That's enough Takara,” Sakura hissed, trying to turn the other girl's attention back the card game they were redealing.

“Just a br-”

“Don't even think of finishing that sentence,” Rin stated, cutting off Raidou's dismissive explanation.

The stifling silence that followed was ended several minutes later by Genma. “You two are related to Mitsutori, right?”

“Yeah,” Takara replied quietly, not bothering to look up from her cards.

“Where has she been lately? Gai noticed that she hasn't been around,” Genma continued, not noticing Rin and Kakashi's stares.

“She's not there?” Takara repeated, glancing at an equally baffled Sakura.

“She's back in Anraku for now,” Rin told them, hoping to cut the topic off.

“Why-”

Takara's question was cut off by Rin, “We'll talk about it later.”

XXXXXXXX

“How early are you leaving?” Rin asked Kakashi later that night. Once the shinobi and Reiko had gone to bed, Rin had allowed Rishito to sneak in to Nakera's room to get a peek at his sister. Takara, Sakura, and Itachi had quickly followed.

“We'll get out of your way as soon as possible,” he replied, watching as Rishito squinted at the baby and leaned in to poke at her.

“Don't do that,” Sakura scolded lightly as Nakera whimpered slightly. “If she starts crying the whole house will wake up and where will that get us?”

“It's not like they can do anything,” Rishito responded pouting at Sakura.

“They may not be able do anything but most of them have to leave early in the morning. I don't know about you but I don't want to face that group tomorrow morning if they're cranky because they didn't get sleep,” Sakura answered winking at him.

“What are you talking about? You'll still be asleep when they leave,” Rin responded, poking Sakura in the forehead.

“I don't sleep that late. Reiko makes me get up early in the morning,” Sakura told her pouting.

“It's true. Reiko makes her wake up within an hour of sunrise,” Takara explained, nodding in support of Sakura's pouting.

“Well if that's the case I suppose she should be getting to bed,” Rin teased, picking up Nakera and moving to shoo Rishito and the others out. “Takara, wait for me in the kitchen; I'll be down when she's asleep. Rishito, Sakura, Itachi to bed,” she jokingly ordered.

Sakura laughingly walked out of the room pulling Rishito with him. “See you in the morning,” she said as she left him at the door he was sharing with Inari, Udon, and Konohamaru. She, Rin, and Takara had decided not to bother preparing more rooms than absolutely necessary so at least until Kakashi's team had left nearly everyone was sharing rooms. She quietly crept into the room she was sharing with Takara, Hanabi, and Moegi; the lack of privacy was an unfortunate consequence of the several days they had spent lazing about. After checking to make sure both girls were asleep, she smiled to herself and lay down, quickly falling asleep.

XXXXXXXX

Takara ambled out of the room behind Sakura and Rishito and headed down towards the kitchen where Rin had told her to wait up. She was surprised to enter the kitchen and find that the majority of the older shinobi were gathered there speaking quietly. “Didn't you all go to bed?” she asked in confusion.

“Just some end of the day planning,” Genma told her kindly, wondering the same thing about her.

“But I could've sworn you all went to bed,” she repeated in confusion.

“Well now we're down here. Why are you still up?” Anko asked.

“Rin told me to wait for her down here. I think she wants to tell me what Mitsutori is doing and didn't want to say anything that would alarm Hana,” Takara answered, walking over to the sink to get a drink.

“I don't want to alarm them either,” Rin muttered, walking into the kitchen and noticing that the shinobi were still there. “Let's go Takara; we'll talk outside,” she said, walking past the others and out the back door. Takara quickly obeyed and scampered off after Rin.

“Remember we leave at dawn,” Kakashi told his team, walking through the kitchen and out after Rin and Takara.

“Hey wait Kakashi, why are you going out there too?” Anko shouted after him.

Kakashi ignored her and Anko slumped back down by the table. “I hate it when they're together,” she muttered.

“Why?” Hana asked.

“They're more secretive and less cooperative,” Genma answered for her. “And since Rin once again didn't want to say anything in front of us, my guess is some of the rumors are true,” he added.

“Which rumors?” Anko muttered, glaring at the table. The numbers had risen to over a hundred and they were all plausible as far as she was concerned.

“Mainly the ones connecting Naruto to the Nami family. Weren't you at Hifukidake when Shizune and your mother questioned that Suzu woman?” Genma asked, turning to Hana.

“Of course, but what does that have to do with anything?” Hana asked in confusion.

“Did you happen to see any of the four Nami kids' reactions to their accusations against Suzu, or to what they said about him?” Genma asked.

“No,” Hana replied honestly.

“From what I heard their reactions were pretty much the same to our comment tonight. Takara looked curious and eager to know about him; Hana, like her brother and the other Nami boy, was quick to silence her and smooth over the situation. Takara doesn't even pretend that she doesn't know who Naruto is,” Genma answered.

“So the Nami family probably fully understands the situation,” Hana said.

“Yeah and even though Rin has given some assurances that they won't take advantage of the fact that we don't, she also won't shed any light on it. She's even less cooperative when Kakashi is around,” Anko told her.

“Maybe if you all showed some patience the Nami family would speak to Tsunade and then you could learn what was going on as well. It's their place to bring it up, not Tsunade's to dig into it,” Itachi stated from the doorway.

“That means you're in on it as well,” Genma muttered.

“No, I just happened to guess. I still don't know everything and probably never will. There are things they refuse to share because they show the failure of those they respected. Why do you think Rin didn't come back the moment Tsunade was named as Hokage? By all technicalities she could have told Tsunade everything, but that would have meant shifting the blame,” Itachi explained.

“You know I was starting to think I was imagining it but you really do talk more when you're not in the village,” Raidou said.

Itachi rolled his eyes and turned back towards the living room. “Hey!” Anko called after him. When he continued to walk away she stood up in aggravation and walked out after him. Genma sighed before slowly standing and following. Hana looked after them in bewilderment and moved to stand and follow but Raidou stopped her. “Don't bother; it's between them right now.”

XXXXXXXX

“What's going on Itachi?” Anko asked after having caught up with him and being forced to wait several minutes for him to explain himself.

Itachi turned around and raised an eyebrow in question. “What do you mean?”

“What is there between Rin and the Nami family? What is she doing for the Daimyo? What's going on in the Nami family that she doesn't want us or the other girl, Hana, to hear?” Anko asked

“And what is there that she doesn't want someone blamed for?” Genma added reminding Itachi of his presence.

“Rin's known the Nami family since she was a Genin,” Itachi answered. “As for what she does for the Daimyo, she calls herself his security consultant. I don't honestly know to what extent she is merely a consultant or what even that would actually include doing.”

“What's going on in the Nami family?” Anko asked.

Itachi shrugged and continued to walk away. “What do they not want the Sandaime to be blamed for?” Genma asked.

“I don't know…everything?” Itachi offered. “Failing them, failing Naruto, not maintaining any promises during his second reign, ordering the death of the Uchiha council. How should I know what they really see as bad and what they saw as necessary?”

“Itachi-sensei?” Moegi said nervously from the stairs as she watched her sensei speak with the other two Jounin.

“Go back to bed,” Itachi stated, cursing himself for speaking without paying attention to who was there.

“But…Rishito sent me down to get you. It's Hana. She won't wake up; it's like she's having a nightmare and we tried to wake her up but she wouldn't respond and then we went to get Rishito and he tried but he couldn't wake her up either,” Moegi explained quickly.

Itachi stared at her for a moment before walking away from Anko and Genma and heading up stairs with Moegi. “Hey, you want me to go find Rin?” Anko asked.

Itachi paused and turned around to glare at her. “No there isn't any reason to alarm her. Besides, you'd probably take the opportunity to eavesdrop,” he responded. As he continued up the steps he could feel her glare settled on his back before she stomped off to the kitchen. It was a good thing everyone in the house was already awake or Anko's temper tantrum probably would have woken them.

He reached the girls' room and found Inari, Udon and Konohamaru loitering nervously by the door. He brushed past them and they followed him inside. Rishito was kneeling by Sakura occasionally shaking her and trying to wake her up by calling “Hana.” Hanabi was leaning against the wall looking miffed for being woken up and entirely peeved by the older girl's problems. Sakura was lying in bed shifting restlessly and whimpering occasionally.

“Konohamaru, Udon, Rishito and Inari go back to bed; if anything the number of people in here would make her uncomfortable when she wakes up. Moegi and Hanabi go rest in the living room for now. When she's been taken care of I'll come and get you so you can sleep up here.”

Hanabi sighed and walked out pulling Konohamaru and Udon with her. Moegi glanced back and forth between her sensei and the distressed girl on the bed. “I can wait up here,” she offered.

“No, just try to get some sleep downstairs,” Itachi told her. She nodded reluctantly and waited for her teammates; Moegi glanced back once more before the three walked back down the hall.

When his students' footsteps had faded away he turned back to Sakura who had begun shifting more restlessly. “Hana wake up,” he tried once not remotely expecting Sakura to be able to respond to an alias in her current state. Her condition only seemed to get worse and several tears trailed down her cheeks as she muttered something that Itachi couldn't make out.

Itachi frowned and leaned down reaching around to pick Sakura up. He sat her up slowly as she began to struggle against him. “Wake up Sakura,” he urged not really bothering to keep his voice down.

Sakura inhaled sharply and sat straight up without Itachi's assistance. She looked around wildly for a moment before her eyes settled on Itachi. She stared at him blankly for a moment and Itachi got the impression that she wasn't looking at him at all. “Itachi?” she finally asked. “Ho…wha…” she continued to fumble for several minutes as Itachi sat back and let her settle down.

She stifled several choked sobs before turning away from him. When she began to speak flatly, he turned to look at her in surprise and noticed that she was staring blankly at the wall in front of her. “For the first months all we could think about was making it to the next town. We didn't know what we were doing we just kept moving. And then we ran into Sasuke, and they got in fight and all I could think about was how much I wanted Kakashi to be with us. I never thought about them. It was always Kakashi and my teammates. I don't know who they thought about we just all wanted Kakashi to be with us. We wanted him to protect us and then we met Rin and then he came back and you were with him and that was all that mattered.

“But Naruto's been so weird lately and that whole thing at the capitol with Suzu and everything they were saying about her,” Sakura trailed off staring despondently.

Itachi watched her for a moment in confusion. Not even Rin had really been able to get them to talk about their time in between escaping the Sound 4 and meeting up with Rin. They knew of some of their activity especially their dealings with the Yozoku, unfortunately all of that was known by the Hokage as well since she had pressed Sagan Daika into telling her everything he knew about the Chuuin siblings and their possible connection to Rin.

As Sakura slowly regain herself, she glanced around the room. “Where are Moegi and Hanabi?” she asked.

“Downstairs, I told them they could come up when you had calmed down,” he told her.

“I wanna go outside for a while,” Sakura decided. “They can come up and go to sleep.” She moved to get out of bed and Itachi quickly caught her when her legs gave out. She blinked in confusion and looked up at Itachi for answers.

“The nightmare must have stressed you more than you realize take it slowly,” he said moving to lower her back down.

“Can you take me outside? Please? I don't want to sit in here any longer.”

Itachi glanced down at her before sweeping her up and moving towards the window; as an afterthought, he grabbed the quilt off her bed. “Why are we going out this way?” she asked.

“Genma, Anko and the others are still awake and down there. I figured you wouldn't have to go past them,” he answered.

Sakura nodded bleakly and unconsciously curled into him as a few more tears making out of her eyes. Itachi quickly made it out of the window and stole through the yard towards the hammock. Once she was settled Sakura told Itachi to go back and tell Moegi and Hanabi that they could go back to bed.

He glanced back at her once before heading back in. He ignored the other's confusion and Anko's silence as he walked through the kitchen to where Moegi and Hanabi were. Finding both girls asleep, he decided to take Moegi up first and then have Anko take care of her student.

“What are you doing?” Hanabi asked sleepily just as he lifted up the other girl.

“Hana's outside. You can sleep upstairs now,” he told her turning around and taking Moegi up. He had placed the younger girl back in bed and was preparing to leave when Hanabi finally showed up. He smirked as he walked past her; Takara nodded to him in the hall and told him that Rin and Kakashi had stopped to check on Hana when they saw her. He walked outside and up to where Rin and Kakashi were standing near Sakura.

“Are you alright?” Rin asked sitting down next to Sakura and swinging the hammock slightly. Sakura nodded quietly and tried to wipe the tears off her face. “Do you know what caused it?” Rin asked gaining another nod from Sakura.

“It won't happen again. I promise,” Sakura stated.

“It's alright. Whatever was triggered was bad; I can relate as well as guess a number of things that you could have been reliving,” Rin assured.

Sakura shook her head fervently. “No it isn't alright. This hasn't ever happened to either of them. If they don't wake up with nightmares then neither will I. I'm as strong as them, it won't happen again,” she insisted more to herself than to Rin, Itachi, or Kakashi.

Rin looked at Sakura for a moment before deciding to change the topic so that Sakura could take her mind off of whatever it had been. “Kakashi mentioned that Naruto isn't wearing his contacts as much,” she said.

“Yeah he takes them out whenever we're in the rooms or we know only Lian or one of the others who know us is going to see him,” Sakura told her, wiping her eyes one last time.

“Has he been showing signs of irritation?” Rin asked.

Sakura nodded, wondering why Rin was so interested Naruto's eye problems. “Suzu tried giving him a different type of contacts but they didn't make it better so she stopped,” she added.

“That's good. Tell me if they keep giving him trouble. If he starts having vision problems tell Suzu to contact me immediately,” Rin told her.

Sakura looked at her in alarm. “Are you saying he could lose his eyesight?”

“No, no,” Rin assured her. “His father had some temporary vision problems. Jiraiya used to tease him about them all the time. They'll pass but I still want to know if it happens. At the very least it will give me another reason to visit and bring Nakera with me.”

Sakura laughed and curled up more as she began to be lulled to sleep by the movements of the hammock. “I'll stay out here with her for a while,” Rin said quietly to Kakashi and Itachi. Kakashi nodded and bid farewell for the night; he looked like he wanted to stay but he would be leaving rather early and didn't want to piss off his teammates. Itachi just shrugged and moved to sit down at the foot of the tree the hammock was tied to on one side. Rin rolled her eyes and lay down next to Sakura before quickly falling asleep herself.

The three woke up the next morning when they heard Kakashi laughing at them. “That couldn't have been comfortable,” he told them when they were a bit more coherent.

“It's still dark out. Why did you wake us up?” Rin asked.

“We're getting ready to leave. I figured you wouldn't really want them to catch you off guard out here,” Kakashi suggested. “And just so you know, Anko is awake as well; she might come bug you three once we leave.”

“You could've just said goodbye like you wanted to,” Sakura pouted.

Kakashi's eye curled up in amusement as he smiled at her. “We'll see you if you guys stop here on the way back. Otherwise we'll see you when we go to Konoha for the Chuunin exams,” Rin said, smiling at him as well.

Kakashi huffed at her and turned to leave with a wave. “Well since we're up we might as well make use of our time,” Rin stated getting up off the hammock as Kakashi walked back to the house.

“What's that supposed to mean? I want to go back to sleep,” Sakura muttered.

“Nope. If Reiko normally wakes you up not long after dawn then you might as well get up now and warm up. Besides I never tested you at the palace or after we returned.”

“Test, you mean sparring,” Sakura said a bit nervously as she watched Rin warily.

Rin smiled reassuringly at her. “Not against me of course,” she promised.

“So we're waiting to go back to Hifukidake so that I can spar against one of the boys?” Sakura asked hopefully.

“No, no there isn't any need for that,” Rin told her.

“So I'll go wake up Takara then and she'll help me,” Sakura suggested brightly.

“No.”

“Rishito?”

“No.”

Itachi stood up shaking his head at Rin's behavior and turned to walk inside as Rin spoke again. “See, Itachi's got the right idea!”

Both Sakura and Itachi turned to look at her in confusion before quickly realizing what she had meant. “No,” Itachi stated continuing on his way to the house.

“Oh come on, If I see her fight against you I'll be able to judge her improvement since your last fight,” Rin reasoned.

“You can judge my improvement just as easily by fighting me yourself,” Sakura insisted, turning to follow Itachi inside.

“You two should listen to your elders and do what I say,” Rin shot back at the two retreating figures.

“Alright Rin baa-chan,” Sakura threw back to her as she happily entered the kitchen giggling slightly and ignoring the amused shinobi within.

“What did you call me?” Rin shouted at her finally catching up and walking inside as well.

Anko sighed and muttered, “Great now the Genin will wake up.”

“Well you're the one who wants to be treated like elder,” Sakura told Rin, ignoring Anko interjection. “I was perfectly fine viewing you as young; I mean Itachi looks more aged than you do,” she added.

Itachi turned to glare at her and while she grinned at Rin. “Funny I thought you had a thing for older men,” Rin mumbled.

“Yeah but that was before I saw Kakashi without his mask. That's a face only an old woman would love,” Sakura giggled back poking her tongue out at Kakashi.

He rolled his eyes at and stood up. “You were looking for someone to help her warm up before Reiko came to train her, right?” he asked Rin. Rin nodded victoriously and Sakura paled slightly when Kakashi hoisted her up and carried her outside.

“Rin baa-chan saaaaaavveee meeee!” she shouted back as he moved farther into the yard. Rin snickered into her hand as she walked out the door, watching as Kakashi got sick of carrying the struggling girl and threw her out in front him.

Sakura had enough brains to turn the fall into a flip and landed nicely on her feet before standing and looking at Kakashi a bit nervously when his team, Anko and Itachi followed Rin out. Of course she actually was nervous since she had never actually faced him alone, but she was still looking forward to bragging to Naruto and Sasuke about how she had done against him.

Kakashi angered Sakura, and Rin, when he pulled out his book and grinned at her over the top. Sakura glanced over and saw Rin fuming, which she took as permission to attack Kakashi. He easily avoided her first punch and pretended to aim at her using his book while he moved to sweep her legs out from under her. Sakura smirked and easily grabbed hold of his arm using it as leverage when she jumped out of the way. She used it again as a springboard as she propelled off it into a flip.

Kakashi watched in interest as she twisted in the air landing several feet away before attacking again. He could tell that she was holding back because of their audience and was actually amused by the amount of acrobatics she had incorporated into her fight; Naruto had always liked the moves because they were flashy but Sakura had never really bothered with them, although he was sure she was probably much more agile than either of her teammates. He figured since they were supposed to know that she was a performer she was showing off a bit. He knew she was when he saw her swing herself up into a tree before pushing off of the branch and flipping three times trying to land a kick.

“Show off,” Kakashi muttered when she avoided his punch by back flipping off his fist.

Sakura snickered but Kakashi's sentiment was quickly repeated a woman near Rin. Sakura turned towards the house and stuck her tongue out at Reiko when she saw the woman watching with barely concealed amusement at her behavior and the others' reactions towards it. “Since you taught me I don't know how to do anything else,” Sakura retorted as Kakashi let her go and they both walked back towards the house.

“Why are you stopping?” Rin groused.

“Kakashi's mean,” Sakura pouted.

“Fine then. You and Itachi can keeping warming up then,” Rin told her.

“Good idea. I don't feel like training her this morning but she needs to be kept on her toes,” Reiko insisted.

Sakura gaped at them for a moment before resorting to the same trick she often used on Sasuke and Naruto: she slowly began tearing up. Rin rolled her eyes as Sakura's eyes grew misty but Reiko actually looked a bit apologetic. “You're all so mean,” Sakura pouted.

“I wish Takara were awake, she's always nice to me…unless she's around Eiki and then they make fun of me. I wish Kyokki were here, he never makes fun of me,” Sakura sniffled.

“Too bad,” Rin told her as Sakura continued to pout. “Get going. They have to leave,” Rin continued motioning to Itachi and Sakura as she not so nonchalantly dismissed the others.

“But I'm already warmed up,” Sakura informed her inching away from Rin and Itachi and trying to figure out the fastest way into the house. She was considering escaping through an open window on the second floor, but Rin caught the window she was eyeing and shook her head.

“Itachi'll kill me,” Sakura finally whined.

“I wonder why,” Raidou muttered, gaining a glare from Itachi himself.

“Don't worry I'll make sure he can't,” Rin cooed.

Sakura eyed Itachi warily wondering just how sore he was at her after the hair incident. “He'll still kill me,” she muttered.

“As I recall the last time he was the one who came off worse,” Rin suggested. Sakura shied away further at that reminder and Itachi glared at her.

“How about just for five minutes?” Reiko suggested. “After that I'll work with her for a bit even though I wasn't planning to.”

Sakura didn't look too thrilled by the plan but she looked to see if Itachi would agree. Judging by the smirk on his face he had and it wasn't going to be as fun as when she was against Kakashi.

“Why are you all yelling so much?” Konohamaru asked sleepily walking outside. Sakura sighed in relief and took his appearance as her chance to disappear. She figured Itachi knew what she was doing as he smirked in her direction. She hid in her room for the next couple of hours until Takara finally came and got her for a quick demonstration before they ate dinner. It went well as long as she blocked out Hanabi's complaints. And Moegi had eagerly asked to see more over the next few days.

The next day was spent watching Itachi and Anko train their teams. Reiko got bored rather quickly but Takara barraged Rishito and his teammates with questions about Genin activities.

Moegi woke up the next morning and was surprised to find Hanabi still sleeping. The sun was already slanting through the window, but the house sounded too quiet for midmorning. She got up as quietly as possible, making sure not to wake Hanabi. She walked into the room across the hall where she knew Anko was staying and found it empty. The next three rooms belonged to Rin, Takara and Hana, and Itachi but all three were empty as well.

She peeked into the boys' room and found Konohamaru, Udon, and Inari sleeping peacefully but there was no sign of Rishito. Back in the hall, she slumped down against the wall and frowned in confusion. Itachi rarely let them skimp on training and Anko had woken them up every morning not long after Hana was woken - which was at least later than usual for training in Konoha, it was vacation after all. Usually she could hear Rin when she woke up but the house was absolutely silent. Where were they all?

Okay, so she had stayed up later than usual the night before listening to Hana's stories about Hifukidake - with many amusing interruptions from Takara - but Hanabi hadn't and she was still asleep.

Growing bored with her thoughts, Moegi decided to go downstairs and find something to eat. She would have done so but she was stopped - rather painfully - by something blocking the stairs. She tried again but it felt like she was hitting a brick wall.

She cautiously moved her hand forward and found that she could run it along whatever was blocking her way. Experimentally she brought her hands together in the tiger seal and whispered “Kai.” When nothing happened, she cursed her sensei. If this was another one of his `training exercises' she was a bit too hungry to deal with it. Sure it was fine for him to pull stunts like this in Konoha - she actually found it amusing that he had enough of a sense of humor to pull pranks on his students, something most people would never have expected - but did he really have to lock her on a single floor with Hanabi, Udon, and Konohamaru; they had spent most of their time together ignoring Itachi's team anyways.

Deciding to wait until at least Inari was awake to plan her escape she decided to explore a bit. She walked down the hall curiously trying the doors as she went. Most, aside from the ones in use, were still locked. There was a cute nursery but it didn't look like it had been used for a while. She peeked into Itachi's room but he hadn't brought much with him so she couldn't snoop around. Takara and Hana's room was equally bare since they had moved to Hifukidake and taken all of their things with them. Rin's room of course was wide open and had plenty to look at.

Moegi grinned mischievously and entered. She was very curious about the woman and really, if Itachi was dumb enough to lock her up there she might as well sate her curiosity a bit. She glanced back out into the hallway to make sure no one was around before closing the door behind her.

The room was small but obviously one that Rin frequented or had at least been using consistently in the past. There were pictures all over the room and even more in two boxes at the foot of the bed.

The ones in the open varied from Rin as a Genin through a recent one that had Hana in it. Some had her Genin team, including Kakashi and his mask, a teammate who Moegi didn't recognize, and Rin's sensei. Moegi had heard that her sensei had been the Yondaime Hokage, but the man in the photo looked like an older Naruto without the scars on his face. Some had Anko and two other girls their age in them. One had a woman that looked like Rin's sensei and a black haired man standing next to a teen that might have been Mitsutori.

She fought the urge to squeal when she saw Rin holding a two year old with blond hair, blue eyes, and scars on his cheeks. There were others with Naruto in them but he never got much older than three or four. Some had Anko or Itachi in them. In the ones with Naruto as a baby, she recognized one of the women for other pictures with Rin and some through the end had the other, red haired, one.

One had Rin holding a silver haired baby while glaring at Kakashi as he read his book. She couldn't figure out who the baby was since Rin looked young, but it couldn't have been Rishito. There were some of Rishito, Mitsutori, Takara, and several other people, but she skipped over most of them in favor of the ones by the window. Apparently, when Kakashi had become Team 7's sensei he had kept in touch with her. She had Team 7's official photo and quite a few others. Including one with all three Genin sitting around a fire - she had barely been able to recognize their faces, although there clothing gave them away.

On her way out, she noticed the boxes on the floor. She paused and listened carefully but when she couldn't hear anyone moving around she knelt beside them and began rifling through the contents and froze almost immediately. A lot of the photos had the same adults that the pictures in the open had, but there were a lot more photos. The blond haired sensei with his team. A few with Anko and a creepy looking Jounin who might have actually been Orochimaru. One or two with Jiraiya. A few that looked like Rin probably didn't know had been taken until they had been given to her. Even more with Naruto as a baby and the black haired woman with Sasuke. There was even one with Kakashi where his mask had been pulled down moments before the picture had been taken.

Some of the most recent ones had Rin holding a second silver haired baby. Moegi took a moment to compare this baby with the one from the picture she had already seen, but the younger one didn't have the cheek stripes. She was confused but passed it off for the contents of the second box.

It was filled with pictures of the same three teens. The ones on top were easily recognizable because they had Hana and her brother Eiki with a second boy with light brown hair and black eyes. As the three got younger, their hair changed a bit, as did their clothing. There were some pictures, in which they must have been about thirteen, where all three were wearing plain brown clothing and had dyed their hair brown, which also matched their eyes. There was one with a little girl that Moegi vaguely recognized as Anko's niece who was currently in the Academy.

When Rin started appearing, the three were covering their heads with bandanas and hats and their eyes had changed color again to green, black and blue. She took a deep breath and continued looking through the box as they slowly took on the characters she had met.

The five Genin didn't get out of the second floor until shortly before dinner that night. Itachi hid a smirk as his kunoichi glared at him the entire night; Moegi was too distracted to notice that Sakura shared his smirk.

The next day he made it up to her by sneaking her, Rishito, and Inari out of the house early in the morning and moving farther away from the house until it was out of view. “The Chuunin exam starts about a month after we get back and the three of you will be taking it,” he began. Moegi and Inari looked up in surprise.

“None of you need to pass it or even make it past the second round. I just want you to have the experience against shinobi from other countries. I also want you to have an advantage over your competitors,” he said reaching into his shuriken pouch and pulling out three scrolls and unrolling them for the three to see.

“These were designed with you in mind. You'll get the real ones before the finals, if any of you make it to them. But for now you'll learn how to use these for practice,” Itachi explained. “Rishito you've seen your mother summon, correct?”

“Yeah,” Rishito answered.

“Then does this look familiar to you?”

“A bit. I mean she uses a scroll to summon so I can see where this is going. Are these special weapons or something sealed for us to use?” he asked.

“You could say that. These are just trials so they aren't as powerful as the ones that you'll receive later. In a fight, it's important to conserve chakra. For Genin using high ranked jutsu typically wipes out your chakra reserves,” Itachi explained.

“Naruto nii-san never seemed to have problems with it. I heard that most of his jutsu were A rank by the time of the demonstrations,” Moegi reasoned.

Itachi schooled his face and answered. “Naruto wasn't a typical Genin. His chakra reserves, even at the time of his graduation, were at least Chuunin level and, from what Kakashi told me, were closer to Jounin level by the time of the demonstrations. While the three of you would probably be able to pull off at least one A rank but it would have to be a desperation move.”

“These change that. By sealing the jutsu inside, it takes less of your own chakra to release it but you still gain the benefits as if you had performed it at full power. The ones in these scrolls are only B ranked to let you get used to summoning them. The first one on there is Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu. It's not destructive enough to get anyone angry at us,” Itachi explained.

“Don't we need a water source to perform Suiton jutsu?” Inari asked.

“Normally you would unless you were powerful enough to convert the water particles in the air for your own use. Luckily for you, these sealed jutsu can do just that,” Itachi stated. “The seals are simple enough, all you have to do is activate it and then let the jutsu run its course,” he added before going on to show them the seals they needed and how to activate them.

They returned to the house that night with a very wet Itachi, but that certainly hadn't dampened his students' spirits.

The next week passed quickly. Sakura, Takara and Reiko put on three more demonstrations - much to Moegi's pleasure. Takara continued to pester Rishito's team for information, which they gave more than willingly; although, Inari's stuttering was starting to annoy Takara a bit. Her family wasn't that scary.

On the final day of Teams 6 and 7's visit Sakura was in back showing Moegi a few moves that shinobi normally didn't learn and weren't appropriate for the demonstrations. Kakashi's team had returned that morning and had distracted Rin inside leaving Sakura to finally give in to Moegi's begging. Hanabi was sparring with Konohamaru not far off, but that didn't stop her from scoffing at the older girl. “Moegi, she's just a civilian if you want pointers even Rin-san would be better,” she called out.

Sakura turned to her in surprise. “What was that supposed to mean?” she finally asked.

Hanabi and Konohamaru stopped to look at her and Hanabi finally answered. “You're a civilian. You might be talented at what you've been taught, but Moegi won't benefit from any of that. It's too flashy for a shinobi and it's impractical in a fight.”

“Really?” Sakura questioned in amusement.

“Yeah Moegi's just wasting her time,” Konohamaru added.

“Hey don't say-”

Moegi's defensive shout was cut off when Sakura lashed out with her whip catching Hanabi off guard and pulling her feet out from under her. With another flick of her wrist, the chain came back to her and she rewrapped it around her waist. “I'm sorry you feel that Hanabi-chan, but perhaps you shouldn't mess with those you know nothing about. The byakugan does not give you an advantage in a fight when you can't catch an opponent,” she told the younger girl. Moegi looked up at Sakura in surprise and grinned at the other girl.

Sakura kept her eyes on Hanabi as she stood up and she wasn't surprised to see the younger girl activate her bloodline limit. “Don't even think about it Hanabi,” Anko stated walking over to her student. Hanabi deactivated her byakugan and looked at Sakura angrily before turning away and going back to her spar with Konohamaru.

“Do you have a minute Hana?” Anko asked before Moegi could distract the older girl.

Sakura nodded and shooed Moegi off towards her own teammates, turning to Anko she apologized. “Sorry about baiting her like that. I just get kinda pissed off when people overlook me like that.”

“Actually I think you were right in doing it. The fact that Moegi recognized talent where Hanabi couldn't makes me a bit jealous of Itachi's teaching methods, not that I'd ever be able to figure out what they are. I just wanted to see if you'd had any more problems since the first night we were here,” Anko told her.

“Oh, no,” Sakura answered, biting her lip slightly. “Sorry if it disturbed you or your students.”

“Ha! Trust me I've dealt with worse and probably disturbed more people,” Anko told her. “It just sounded bad the way Moegi described it, so I figured I'd ask. Do you know what set it off?”

“Yeah I think it was something Rishito and Konohamaru said. They bicker a lot just like my brother and Kyokki so it kind of reminded me of a pretty bad fight those two had had,” Sakura told her.

“You're from Settei, right?” Anko asked.

Sakura looked up at her in surprise and nodded. “Did you lose a lot of people when those Sound Nin attacked?” Anko asked.

“You could say that. They didn't exactly spare anyone,” Sakura muttered in response.

“Sparing people isn't Orochimaru's style. He left a bloody trail even after he'd left Konoha,” Anko told her. “It's why Rin left in the first place. We were kinda jealous she got out of there when she did - relieved as well. I just got lucky the elders had brainwashed me enough not to see me as a threat even though I was his student.”

“You were Orochimaru's apprentice?” Sakura repeated curiously. Anko nodded and turned towards her with a bit more openness. “Rin's mentioned you before. I guess the first time we met I didn't put the two together,” Sakura admitted.

Anko looked perplexed for a moment and said, “I'm surprised she would bring up Orochimaru around you or your brother.”

“It was not long after we met her. We were a bit suspicious of someone with the skills of a shinobi. She had admitted that she had a bit of training as a shinobi but later it became obvious that she had more than a bit. So she admitted that she was from Konoha,” Sakura explained not needing to lie.

“But why would she have brought up Orochimaru?

“She was trying to reassure us. She mentioned that she had met him when she was younger and had been friends with his apprentice. Later she admitted that shortly after she left Konoha he contacted her and attempted to convince her to work for him but she hated him so she wouldn't go,” Sakura said shrugging.

Anko straightened up and studied the girl for a minute. She showed no sign of having made it up no any sign of believing there was anything wrong with what she had said. “He what?” Anko asked, hoping she had simply heard incorrectly.

“He asked her to work for him,” Sakura said trying to remember Rin's exact words. Sasuke had finally gotten curious about how she knew so much about seals, Orochimaru's especially, and had asked exactly how much contact she had had with him. She had been brief on that day but later after they had met Itachi she had explained the rest. “I think he had offered to retrieve that boy Naruto. He told her he would bring him to his new village and that later the youngest Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother, there as well. She couldn't accept though…not after what he had done”

Anko listened to the girl's brief explanation before storming off and leaving a bewildered teen behind, although Sakura quickly recovered and took off after her to see what was going on. Anko stormed back into the kitchen ignoring the others who had returned that morning as well as the Daimyo's guard and shouting, “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Who are you talking to?” Rin asked looking around the room and wondering why Anko looked so furious. When a nervous Sakura appeared in the door behind her Rin backed off slightly hoping that Anko hadn't figured out.

“He offered to get Naruto and Sasuke out of Konoha and you turned him down?” Anko shouted directly at Rin.

“Who offered?” Kakashi asked in confusion.

“I'm sorry Rin. I didn't mean to say it I just-”

Rin shook her head and Sakura stopped talking. “It's alright, go pester Itachi for a bit while I settle this,” she told her smiling lightly and trying to reassure Sakura.

“What is she talking about?” Kakashi asked as Sakura began to turn around slightly alleviated. Sakura spun back around and sent Rin another panicked look but Rin simply shooed her off.

“Go now. It's not a problem. Just bother Itachi for a while,” she repeated. Sakura's mouth twisted slightly into a frown before finally nodding and following Rin's directions.

Once Sakura had disappeared, Anko turned back to Rin still furious and growled, “Well?”

Rin shrugged in response. “What are you so pissed off about? I told him no,” she said.

“Why the hell would you turn that down?” Anko shouted back. “He could have gotten both of them out of Konoha wouldn't that be worth it?”

“What are you two talking about?” Genma sighed trying to figure out why they had to yell at each other almost every time they saw each other.

“Orochimaru asked her to join him and offered to take Naruto and Sasuke out of the village,” Anko told him.

“Then why are you so pissed off that she said no?” Raidou asked.

“When did this happen?” Kakashi asked suspiciously.

Rin turned him and her lip curled slightly in a snarl. “I don't know, maybe a month or so after Rishito was born,” she answered, looking at the wall out of the corner of her eye. Hana was struck by how childish Rin's actions were when something was brought up that she didn't want to talk about.

“Had Sasuke been removed from the village earlier than expected-” Kakashi began before being cut off by Anko.

“Sandaime could have instated you as a spy. You could have even let him take the trouble to get them out of Konoha before taking them away from Sound and hiding with them. If the Nami family protected you so much they would have helped,” Anko shouted, seething as she stood over Rin.

“Would you shut up for a minute and sit down,” Rin finally ordered. She sighed as Anko continued to glare and fought the urge to bang her head on the table. Finally getting angry with Anko's overbearing presence she stood up swiftly and, before Anko could react, she had knocked her over onto the ground. Rin sat down on her to prevent her from fighting back. “I'm well of aware of just how intelligent it would have been,” she stated.

Anko glared at her suspiciously but relented in her struggling. “I was so aware of it that I made the mistake of telling the Sandaime my idea. Unfortunately for those involved he was against it for a very large number of reasons, none of which I agreed with. Because I had told him of the possibility, in hope that he would see the genius of the plan, it took away any chance of it happening without his allowance,” Rin explained.

“If I hadn't told him anything then the whole plan could have gone through without a hitch and he wouldn't even know that I was involved. I could have done exactly what you had said: let him go through the trouble of getting them both out of Konoha, I would have of course told Itachi ahead of time so that he wouldn't panic about Sasuke's safety any more than he already was, after he let off a bit on watching us I could have gotten them both out of Sound and with the help of the Nami family and through them the Daimyo both Naruto and Sasuke would have been kept safe.

“Instead the Sandaime told me that he wouldn't support anyone going into Orochimaru's service as a spy. He added that if he learned I was no longer in Yasumido or that I was acting suspiciously he would name me a missing nin without bothering to investigate. That wasn't really a status I was willing to accept with a son not even a year old,” Rin finished. “Happy now?” she added as Anko stared at her in horror.

When she heard someone stand up, she glanced out of the corner of her eye and noticed Kakashi walking out of the room. Rin fought the urge to sigh but turned her full attention back to Anko. “Why would he not do that?” Anko finally asked.

“For the same reason he didn't kill Orochimaru on the day he escaped: he wanted to solve everything himself when he felt the initial mistake was his own. He didn't want to risk a spy because he didn't want them getting discovered and hurt. He wanted to watch Naruto grow up because he wanted to be assured that nothing would happen to him. He didn't want to incite the Uchiha clan should they ever learn he had interfered in their business,” Rin explained.

“You have to remember that he would be gaining Sasuke without having to risk anything himself. The Uchiha's wouldn't have cared much until they learned that somehow Sasuke had disappeared from his grasp. Admittedly there were probably a lot like Itachi who were already trying to plan ways to make sure Orochimaru wouldn't get Sasuke and they would have been happy, but they were a weird bunch some would have been ticked off if they learned the Sandaime had something to do with it.”

Anko finally nodded in acceptance and Rin slowly stood up off of her and helped the other woman back onto her feet. Rin moved away from the table and over to the counter to glance out the window; satisfied that Itachi, Kakashi, and Sakura were occupied with teasing each other she turned back to the doorway into the sitting room and called out towards Reiko who had been waiting for the shinobi to cool down. “You can come back now.”

The others looked up in surprise as the woman walked back in shaking her head at them; they hadn't even noticed when she had walked out. “You have more people pissed off at you than anyone I know,” Reiko muttered to Rin, hopping up on the top of the counter.

Rin rolled her eyes at the woman and decided to occupy her time by cooking. At least if she looked busy Genma was less likely to go through with asking the questions that she could tell were on the tip of his tongue. The stifling silence in the kitchen was broken up occasionally by shouting and laughter drifting in from the backyard, but Rin managed to ignore it until Inari stumbled in through the backdoor.

“…Umm, Rin-san you might…umm well they're out there and…,” Inari mumbled nervously as he pointed back to the yard.

“Who's out there and what are they doing?” Rin asked smiling at him.

“Itachi-sensei and Hana nee-san, they're fighting again,” he finally told her.

“Isn't Kakashi out there?” Anko asked.

“Yeah but, well he's laughing at them and Rishito said I should come and get you because Nami-san wasn't going to break them up either,” Inari reasoned.

Rin rolled her eyes and walked to the door just in time to see Sakura pull a small flask from her hip. Without being able to rely on jutsu, they had found other methods of replicating certain jutsu that they liked. Sakura's favorite: learning how to breathe fire.

“Uh oh,” Takara muttered as Sakura dropped the flask from her lips and struck a match holding it to her mouth. Itachi's eyes widened and before they settled back into a glare and his hands moved quickly through several seals. Before Kakashi or Rin could reach them, the two had already sent jets of fire at each other and the spectators lost sight of them.

“Are they insane?” Anko shouted running up next to Rin in the yard.

“I know they teased each other a lot, but were they really trying to kill each other?” Raidou muttered.

“They weren't aiming to hurt each other. They were aiming at their opponent's head,” Rishito explained.

“How will that not hurt?” Hana asked turning back to see that the fire and smoke had lifted, revealing the two glaring at each other. Something was off but she couldn't place it until Sakura raised a hand to her head and ran her fingers through her hair, only to realize that there was a lot less of it than normal. Her eyes widened in shock and she could do nothing but stare at Itachi for a moment. He stared back, ignoring the state of his own hair, and tried to remain calm as he met her stare.

A moment later the visitors from Konoha were greeted to a rare sight: Itachi doubled over in laughter. The sound of his laughter brought Sakura far enough out of her daze that her shocked look turned to a spiteful one and she growled. Kakashi finally stepped in when Sakura tried to lunge towards Itachi. He held back the furious girl as Itachi continued to struggle with his laughter. “You were asking for that,” he finally told Sakura.

“You do not touch a girl's hair!” Sakura shouted directing her anger at a more accessible target. “I am so going to get Kyokki to kill you two for me.”

“When you tell Kyokki what just happened he's going to tell you the same thing I just did,” Kakashi reasoned. “And don't bother with the fake tears. Those only work on Kyokki and Eiki.”

“But I've…I've been,” Sakura whimpered trying not to actually begin crying. She had been growing her hair out ever since they had left Konoha.

Anko noticed that the girl seemed to be holding back real tears for once and leaned over to Rin. “Is she actually trying not to cry or is she going for sympathy?”

“She's been growing her hair out since Eiki and Kyokki told her to when the three of them started traveling together,” Rin answered.

“The opposite of why most kunoichi finally do. They promised to protect her, didn't they?” Anko said.

“Yup, not that those two would ever have learned that. Kyokki and Eiki might actually get pissed off about this since Hana really did like her hair long.” Apparently, Rishito seemed to agree with his mother since he had launched in a tirade aimed at Itachi about how the two teen boys back in Hifukidake were going to kick his ass when they heard what he had done. Itachi seemed to find the Genin's threats even funnier and continued laughing much to Sakura's distress.

Rin finally took pity on the girl and stole her away from Kakashi antagonistic form leaving him to deal with Itachi. Sakura had managed to avoid crying but she certainly didn't appreciate the amusement of the bystanders - namely Reiko, Anko, and Takara - while Rin sheared off the burnt edges of her hair, leaving it just a bit longer than Itachi's. After dinner, she finally got sick of Reiko and Takara's remark and walked out side to get away from them.

“You don't need Naruto and Sasuke to protect you.”

Sakura twirled around in surprise, but relaxed when she saw that it was just Itachi walking towards her. “I'm well aware of that. It's the thought that counts,” she retorted.

Itachi shook his head in amusement. “Even if you're disguising yourselves as civilians you don't have to have physical signs of protection. If anything it'll just make you look like you need protection from something,” he told her.

“But we do. Children of Settei and all,” Sakura shrugged.

“No one's going to buy that. Any one who managed to escape from Settei will be singled out, not for needing protection but for being able to do the impossible,” Itachi stated.

“Are you trying to make excuses for yourself because you aren't very good at it,” Sakura muttered.

Itachi smirked at her and replied, “I don't need excuses. You moved first; I was just getting a bit of revenge.”

“You're so mean,” Sakura pouted, turning away from him again. “But I'm not apologizing for burning your hair off in the first place. It makes you look younger, especially since the stress lines are fading.”

“Yes and with short hair you no longer look like you're twelve so stop complaining,” Itachi retorted.

“I did not look like I was twelve!” Sakura replied indignantly turning to look at him. When she saw the amusement her outburst gave him, she quickly quelled her temper. “Naruto and Sasuke will still be pissed off at you,” she added triumphantly. Itachi shrugged in response and Sakura sagged slightly at his nonchalance.

“Why was Anko so angry earlier?” Itachi finally asked changing to topic away from Sakura's hair.

Sakura glanced up at him cautiously. “I'll only tell you if you promise not to go storming off like she did if you don't know it already,” Sakura stated. Itachi chuckled at her stubbornness and sat down nodding for her to go on. “Rin told Naruto, Sasuke, and me about running into Orochimaru outside of Konoha. Apparently not long after-”

“Not long after Rishito was born he offered to let Rin join him. In return he would have Naruto kidnapped from Konoha who would then be joined by Sasuke if the negotiations went as he planned,” Itachi continued figuring out what Sakura was talking about.

“So you know already?” Sakura asked in confusion, sitting down in front of him. “Not even Kakashi knew apparently.”

“I didn't hear it from Rin. My guess is she's still furious over the incident. Orochimaru mentioned once,” Itachi told her.

“When?”

“At the same time that he told me about killing the majority of the Uchiha Clan,” Itachi replied. When he noticed that Sakura still looked confused he went on. “After I had joined the Akatsuki. Did you honestly not ask Sasuke what the two of us talked about that night?”

“It wasn't anything Naruto and I needed to know. It was you and Sasuke's business,” Sakura reasoned, shying away when Itachi shook his head at her in disbelief.

“You two are far too trusting. All three of you actually. You should have started asking questions the moment you ran into Rin and you shouldn't have ever stopped,” Itachi commented.

“Kakashi-sensei taught us to look underneath the underneath. We did that and we trust the three of you. We don't need to know everything about everything you've done,” Sakura retorted.

Itachi rolled his eyes again at her naïveté. “That may have worked so far, but one day it'll get the three of you killed, which I might add is exactly what we're working to avoid.”

Sakura looked up at him in surprise and finally continued, “Look it isn't like we weren't curious or even a bit suspicious. I still want to know more about Naruto's parents, but I'm not about to ask him or to ask Rin or someone behind his back. We know there's more stuff out there that we need to know, but until it becomes an absolute necessity we aren't going to push for answers if waiting won't hurt us.”

Itachi deadpanned and Sakura figured her explanation hadn't been reassuring. “How did you become a genin again?” he finally asked her.

“I was at the top of my class academically in case you didn't already know that,” Sakura growled back.

“I can't figure out if I'm shocked Tsunade chose someone like you as your apprentice or if it's the most fitting thing I've ever seen,” he muttered back. “You're really nothing like Rin was.”

“I don't doubt that,” Sakura bit back. “I don't want to be as pessimistic as she was. I happen to like being happy and not arguing with people at ever turn. I realize she had her reasons, but I don't.”

“Yes you do. All three of you did. Had you asked more questions and demanded more answers about yourselves and each other, my guess is none of you would have ever had to leave,” Itachi finally stated.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Sakura growled glaring over at him.

“Naruto dealt with everything he had to by ignoring it or getting angry at the wrong people. He was too trusting of authority figures because the Sandaime always treated him kindly at later Umino-san did the same thing. You and Sasuke grew up with the right amount of respect towards your elders. Had that level been just a bit lower, or if Naruto had trusted the Sandaime or Umino-san a bit less you probably would have questioned those around you more.”

“We did question people! I asked Tsunade about Kakashi-sensei every day that he was gone. Every time he disappeared on another mission, I asked why he had left so soon and when he was coming back. Everyday I didn't see Naruto, I asked where he was and why he was training so much. Every time I questioned anyone, they told me the same thing: everything will be alright.

“Even Kakashi-sensei told me that and Sasuke left the next day because Naruto and I couldn't stop him,” Sakura bit out losing her temper.

“But you still trust Kakashi. And you still trust Tsunade.”

“They were trying to protect us. They wanted to protect us.”

“Just like Naruto and Sasuke want to protect you now. Just like what Rin and Kakashi are doing again. Everything will be fine, but first you have to wait,” Itachi stated.

Sakura gritted her teeth. “Rin and Kakashi trusted too. They trusted Sandaime enough that Rin went to him when Orochimaru made the offer. They trusted him when Naruto was younger, so did the Name family or they would have hired someone to kidnap Naruto or something. You trusted the Sandaime too or you wouldn't have done what he told you to that night,” she stated. “It doesn't always turn out bad.”

Itachi shook his head. “It doesn't,” he finally agreed. “But that doesn't mean you should be so complacent with everything.”

“Fine. Then tell me why you came out here tonight,” Sakura stated proudly throwing Itachi's words back at him. Itachi smirked at her and moved to go back inside. “Hey! That's not fair you're the one who tells me not to take anything for granted. Did you just come out here to annoy me?” she said scrambling after him and managing to tackle the larger man. She grinned at him triumphantly and waited for her answer - it was his own fault after all.

XXXXXXXX

“What happened to your hair?” Sasuke stated, staring at Sakura when she walked in.

Sakura pouted and looked around for Naruto before increasing the pouting and whining, “Your bastard brother burned it off. I got him back though; his hair's really short again. All spiky like Naruto's was when we Genin, but not quite that wild.”

“Itachi burned your hair off!” Naruto cried.

“Yeah, you two are supposed to kill him next time you see him. Rishito told him you were gonna and he laughed so you should kill him twice for that,” Sakura told them earnestly.

“So who all was there?” Sasuke asked turning to Takara. Sakura turned an incredibly offended face towards Naruto, who stifled his laughter before pretending to by sympathetic. It wasn't like Sakura was actually that pissed off anyways.

“Anko and her three Genin, Itachi and his. Kakashi's team, I only learned two of their names though; Raidou and Genma I think it was. Another was a girl,” Takara trailed off looking to Sakura for help.

“Inuzuka Hana, Kiba's sister,” she answered for Takara, still pouting at her former teammates.

“Did Rin have Nakera around them the whole time?” Sasuke asked.

“No, she was around the first day so that Kakashi and Rishito could see her. But most of the time one of Rin's friends in town watched her so that Rin wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing her,” Takara answered.

“So just those ten, you two and Reiko, and Rin?” Naruto asked gaining a dreary nod from Sakura. “Did anything happen? Other than Itachi burning off your hair of course?” he added.

“Nope. We started teaching Rishito that new jutsu. He said he would write to us when he named it. And I think Itachi gave them the practice scrolls. It must have gone well since he was totally soaked when he came back in. Well, and Rin got in a little trouble when I accidentally told Anko about Orochimaru's offer, but I think she smoothed that over,” Sakura told him.

“What offer?” Takara asked in confusion.

Sakura's jaw dropped when she realized what she had done again and finally dropped her head onto the floor with a loud clunk. “Please, please don't ask for an explanation,” she muttered, tilting her head slightly. Naruto looked down at her in amusement and leaned over slightly as something caught her attention.

“Fine I won't ask,” Takara pouted as melodramatically as Sakura normally did.

Sakura sat up finally and nodded to her happily. “Anyways we go to Konoha a week before the final matches start. The Daimyo and most of the people here aren't arriving until a day or two before but we're going early,” Sakura told them. “But even so Rin will be here in about a month and half, probably with Sho and Mitsutori. She'll take the two of when she leaves.”

Naruto and Sasuke nodded in acceptance as the two girls moved to take their bags back into their rooms. “So we'll yell at Itachi later?” Naruto asked.

“Sure, at least it'll give him a laugh,” Sasuke replied getting up to leave as well.

When the other three were gone Naruto finally gave into the urge to laugh. He'd tell Sasuke about the hickey later.

XXXXXXXX

Tsume watched in amusement as her daughter continued to pace in the backyard. Kiba had watched in amusement as well until his hyperactivity had finally gotten to him and he had run off to find his teammates. Hana had been agitated ever since she had returned from her mission. Tsume could think of at least a dozen different things that could have happened, most of them pertaining to one Chiyu Rin, but she wasn't about to pry for answers.

Hana's worries had very little to do with Rin. Rin hadn't done anything wrong. Anko's reaction had worried her, just a bit. That was why Genma had forbidden her or Raidou from repeating it to the Hokage. She had actually encouraged Rin join that psychopath. It was worrying, understandable but worrying.

Kakashi's comment had caught her off guard. Rin had cut him off so she wasn't sure exactly what he was getting at. But it had sounded like something important. Something that could have been stopped if they had allowed Uchiha Sasuke to be kidnapped, and that didn't make sense to her. What possible could have been so important that allowing a child being kidnapped would be worth preventing it. It had also sounded like he already knew Sasuke was going to be taken from the village and that didn't make sense either.

The main problem was that she trusted Anko. She trusted Rin too, even though she had barely spoken with Rin. She didn't want to get either of them in trouble by telling her mother who she knew would tell the Hokage. She finally glanced back inside where she knew her mother was watching her. “I need to talk to the Hokage.”

Tsume's amusement faded at her daughter's announcement and walked outside to meet her. “She's knows they're hiding something from her, right? How much of that does she know?” Hana asked not following her mother out of their yard.

“That depends. Does this have more to do with the Uchiha or with the Uzumaki boy?”

“Technically both but I'm more confused with how it connected to the Uchiha,” Hana replied.

“Sasuke or Itachi?”

“Sasuke, it was something Kakashi said in reference to an argument Rin and Anko were having. Itachi never got involved so I don't know if he even knows about it,” Hana replied. “Did they know ahead of time that Orochimaru wanted Sasuke?” she finally asked.

Tsume nodded sadly. “There was some sort of deal. I've never understood if Fugaku was involved in it, personally I don't think he would have been but I don't know.”

“Anko cut him off, I don't think she meant to but whatever he was about to say Rin didn't want him to because she looked relieved when Kakashi was cut off. It sounded like it would have been better if Sasuke had been given to Orochimaru, but that didn't make any sense to me,” Hana muttered.

Tsume looked up sharply at her daughter's utterance. “Were those his words?”

“He said, `If Sasuke had been removed from the village earlier than expected.' Anko cut him off with her own question. Genma looked like he understood what Kakashi had been hinting. I don't know if it was something he just knew, or if it was something he had earlier that week when he and Anko had been arguing with Itachi or what it was.”

“You're not giving me enough to go on,” Tsume stated.

Hana looked over at her mother and scowled an expression that was much more common on her face than the confused pout she had been sporting. “Anko and Rin are already on hot water with the Council of Elders. From the sound of things, it's going to get worse for Rin. I don't want to add this to it.”

Tsume chuckled and shook her head. “Telling Tsunade isn't going to get either of them in trouble. Tsunade's so close to ordering the elders to resign it isn't funny. Yamanaka told her about the memory block they ordered to be put on Anko. A few others have hinted at worse things. Eventually she's going to know everything and then they won't be able do anything.”

“If I take you up there will you back out and leave me to repeat what you told me or will you tell her yourself without being forced?” Tsume finally asked her daughter.

“I'll tell her what I can,” Hana muttered.

Tsume nodded and led her daughter out front. When they passed Kiba, Akamaru, and his teammates, Akamaru looked at her curiously before barking urgently at Kiba. Kiba looked in confusion between his mother and sister as they walked towards the center of the village and his dog as he went on about something even he couldn't understand.

“Is Tsunade busy?” Tsume asked running into Shizune as the two neared the Hokage's office.

“No, go on in she's finishing up for the night,” the other woman replied hurrying on her way out.

Tsunade looked up when they walked in and turned curiously towards the younger Inuzuka. Tsume was a frequent visitor to her office, but Hana rarely had a reason to be there. “I take you heard something interesting on your way through Yasumido,” she finally guessed.

Her mother glanced over at her before turning back to the Hokage. “That's one way of phrasing it.”

“What did Rin say?” Tsunade asked.

“It wasn't actually something Rin said. That was interesting but not what caught my attention. Kakashi said something about Uchiha Sasuke that confused me; although, to be honest I think Genma would be better off trying to reason it to you,” Hana admitted.

“Genma didn't tell me anything about your stop in Yasumido,” Tsunade informed her.

“I know. He also informed us not to tell you either.”

“What was it?”

“Rin passed up an opportunity that made Kakashi and Anko furious with her. Anko was the angrier of the two so Kakashi couldn't get a word in, but what I heard out of him made it sound like removing Sasuke from the village at a date `earlier than expected' something could have been prevented,” Hana told her.

“What was the opportunity?”

“Orochimaru. He approached Rin not long after her son was born. She turned him down,” Hana quickly added.

“What was Anko angry about?” Tsunade asked in confusion. Hana froze and stared out the window behind the Hokage. Tsunade looked at Tsume but the other woman could only shrug. “Look, tell me everything you remember the three of them saying.”

“Exactly how much trouble could anything I say get them in?” Hana asked.

“None,” Tsunade replied honestly shocking even Tsume with her bluntness. “I'm not dumb,” Tsunade finally told Hana. “Somewhere along the way someone gave them a very good reason to start hiding things from authority figures. I don't know if they're doing it for their own protection or to protect others by not crossing the council but I never learn anything that they're hiding-”

“Anko didn't do anything. She was just learning about the offer, it was her response to it,” Hana cut in.

“Doesn't matter. She probably had a good reason for it. Especially if you're hesitant to tell it to me.”

“Orochimaru offered to have Naruto kidnapped in return for Rin joining him. It sounded like somehow Sasuke was going to join them as well. I think Anko heard it from the girl from Settei. Kakashi didn't know about the offer. He started to say something that started, `If Sasuke had been removed from the village earlier than expected.' Anko cut him off,” Hana told her.

“If that was the case, why was Anko angry?” Tsunade asked. “Was she just upset that Rin hadn't told her?”

“She asked why Rin hadn't taken the offer,” Hana said causing Tsunade and Tsume to look at her in confusion. “She said that Rin could have acted as a spy and it would have gotten Naruto out of Konoha. Getting him out of the village seemed really important.”

“Why didn't she?” Tsunade asked.

“Rin said that she had proposed the idea to the Sandaime, she obviously considered that mistake. He turned down the suggestion and threatened to name her a Missing Nin if he caught wind of anything that might suggest that she was planning on going through with it. She hinted that had she not told the Sandaime she would have been able to pull it off without anyone even knowing she was involved,” Hana told them.

“Kakashi didn't know anything about this?”

“I guess once the Sandaime made it impossible she didn't want to give him any ideas. Orochimaru's proposition had included Sasuke joining them. She specifically named him and Kakashi seemed to think it would have been beneficial if he had been removed from the village.”

“Why?” Tsunade asked in confusion.

“It probably would have prevented the slaughter of the Uchiha clan,” Genma stated from the doorway.

Tsunade looked up in surprise before scowling at him. “Explain.”

“Itachi was rambling when he mentioned it. But it sounded like a lot of what they aren't telling us is because they don't want to point fingers. He listed a number of vague accusations which included `ordering the death of the Uchiha council'.”

“These were against the Sandaime?” Tsunade asked.

“That doesn't explain the rest of the deaths in the clan,” Tsume stated.

“I can't claim to know what was really happening. But Itachi didn't snap and kill those people. If he killed anyone that night it was on orders or at least for a damn good reason. If removing Sasuke from the village would have prevented something and Kakashi actually bothered mentioning it then it was something big. My guess is Orochimaru had something to do with the massacre and that that is what Kakashi was talking about,” Genma stated.

Genma paused a moment before continuing. “I also thought you should know that something is going on with the Nami family. Rin spent about half an hour talking to Nami Takara, most likely about wherever Mitsutori is now. Coupled with Takara's reactions to any mention of Naruto, you're probably going to have a few problems on your hands.”

Agent's Spiel: If anyone got confused with the whole “the leaves turned against them” thing, think back to the Chuunin Exam prelims and Ino infusing her shorn off hair with chakra and it should make more sense.

Jutsu translations:

Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu - Water Shark Projectile Technique