Umm hi guys, its me...hi! oh lord its been a year! i know its terrible and there is nothing i can do to ever erase what ive done, i really feel terrible. you guys probably forgot everything that even happened lol, but to the loyal fans still reading, i give you another chapter, and yes i will make good on my promise to never abandon this fic. =) enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto

It was a strange feeling he realized, waking up somewhere that was not his apartment, it was a feeling that he guessed he would never get used to no matter how long he stayed a ninja. The blonde Uzumaki shook his head and rubbed his body, still weak and lethargic from his slumber.

"Hey, Naruto, wake your ass up, we got food!" came Kiba's unnecessarily loud voice.

"I'm coming Dog breath!" he responded, knowing it would irk the Inuzuka.

Naruto proceeded to begin his daily routine, however, he soon found it impossible as he lacked the necessary materials. He had none of his favorite things like his Mad Cow whole milk and he refused to use one of the showers in this place as each of the bathrooms he tried were so disgusting they were unfit for human purposes.

Adorning his trademark orange jumpsuit Naruto walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to see his comrades already into the swing of things. The most amazing part was that it looked clean. Shikamaru seemed to realized his unvoiced question.

"We woke up a few hours earlier and decided to clean up the place," the Nara explained.

Kiba who was sitting at a small table near the kitchen eating yet another hamburger glared at their leader.

"I told him to wait for you to wake up so you could help with your clones but nooo! We had to get started as soon as possible," the Inuzuka said in a high pitched voice as he tried to mock the Genius.

Shikamaru just shrugged before opening the fridge and tossing something to Chouji who caught it and started to munch on whatever it was eagerly.

"Where is Neji?" Naruto asked plopping himself near Chouji who was caressing his stomach in satisfaction.

"Out back, there's some kind of backyard back there, I'm guessing he's using it for training."

Naruto nodded and thanked the genius before running off to find his Hyuuga teammate.

It didn't take long to find him as the backyard was quite large. When he arrived Neji was in the middle of a grass field much like a training area back in Konoha, except for the fact that this one was much more wild looking, the grass was longer and more uneven and flowers of various colors made up a good part of it. It was obvious to the blonde Shinobi that unlike the training areas back home, no one had tended to this place for quite awhile.

Naruto stepped through the grass to get closer to Neji who was siting in a lotus position and breathing at a slow and steady pace. He swung his hand back and forth in front of his face,

"Neji, hey Neji! You okay?"

Naruto snapped fingers twice in front of Neji, still, no response.

Naruto frowned before shrugging and sitting besides the Hyuuga boy in the same position as him. He was going to ask Neji for another spar but he guessed it could wait awhile, and anyways since Neji was doing it, it must be a good form of training too right?

Naruto had no idea how long he had stayed out there but when he opened his eyes he had noticed the position of the sun and had guessed it was around noon, maybe even later than that.

"Meditating."

Naruto snapped his head to the side at the sound of the unexpected voice.

Neji continued, his eyes still closed and his breathing still steady and even.

"What you did just now, it was called meditating."

Naruto scratched his head, Jiraiya had talked about meditation sometimes but every time he did, Naruto felt like it went way over his head. Things like sense of self and oneness and all that.

"I am honestly surprised by how well you grasped it, and in such short amount of time. I thought that someone with your personality would never be able to do something like this, you continue to astound me Naruto Uzumaki."

"Umm...thanks?" Naruto said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Let us go back inside, I think its time for us to discuss things."

Naruto yawned and got up to follow the Hyuuga back inside.

"I suggest that some of us stay here and continue the cleaning process," Shikamaru said. The Retrievers were all sitting around the table, deciding that it would be best communicate their plans like this.

"I vote Naruto stay and clean with his clones!" Kiba hollered.

"I vote dog breath stays here and cleans the bathrooms with his tongue!" Naruto said just as loudly.

"No one is cleaning anything with their tongues..." Shikamaru droned.

"Sounds fun!" Chouji laughed.

besides him, Neji's face contorted in discuss, "No it does not!"

Chouji frowned and turned to Shikamaru "Shikamaru, he's yelling again."

Shikamaru sighed. "Neji stop yelling at Chouji..."

"I am not yelling!"

"And tell him to stop making up words!" Kiba added.

"I do not make up words! Just because you do not understand the meaning does not mean the word has no meaning whatsoever."

"Well...I didn't understand it either." Naruto said.

"Me neither...," Chouji chimed in.

Neji clenched his fist, feeling the strong urge to punch all three of them.

Resigning himself to having to play peacemaker for his team Shikamaru spoke up in a demanding voice,

"Alright, everyone be quiet!"

The room instantly became silent.

"We need to get started. So first, we need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing."

Shikamaru pointed first at the blonde, " Naruto, you will stay here and use your clones to speed up the cleaning process. As of now that is what is going to be the most time consuming activity, and your clones will cut that time by a considerate amount.

The blonde wanted to protest but stopped the instant he saw Shikamaru's face, instead he crossed his arms and began pouting while muttering curses and things about dog breath.

Shikamaru looked at his best friend, "Chouji and I are going to get us some foo-"

"Wait, you have money?" Naruto interrupted.

Shikamaru nodded, "Yes, the Princess put a considerable portion of money into supporting us for our two month stay, so don't worry about those things, the Hokage told me that Takeshi village would provide everything we might need."

"How about a roof..." Kiba muttered.

"Except that."

Shikamaru cleared his throat and continued, "Another thing is that I don't really like the way the village seems to regard shinobi, so Chouji and I are going to maintain a transformation, and I strongly suggest you all do the same when you are walking around town."

Neji nodded in agreement,"That is a sound plan, Shikamaru. The few people who are from Takeshi village and have interacted with us all seem to be hostile towards shinobi, except for Harima-san of course."

"Yes, that's exactly why, only when we can conclude that this is not a view point that is shared by the majority of the village we remain cautious and transform at all times.

Naruto's eyes became slits and his expression became fox like as he formed a thought, "We just have to hope we don't get caught though, it would look really suspicious if we were seen going out of the house as different people all the time."

"Yes it would, but we're only going to use it for activities like this until we can tell if we need the disguises or not."

"We're being really careful aren't we Shikamaru?"Chouji said.

"True, but Asuma-Sensei told me once that you can plan and strategize all you want, but sometimes you got to go with your gut."

"My gut is telling me this village is bad news," Chouji moaned, clutching his stomach, "and that I'm still hungry.

"Anyways, Neji, Kiba, I want you two to monitor the house. Neji you take the front and Kiba you take the back, I want you to switch regularly, you can decided the schedules amongst yourselves."

They both nodded.

After receiving their tasks they had all gone their separate ways. Naruto, of course, had to stay behind and begin the cleaning process which he quickly found out was no easy task, sure he was use to cleaning up his apartment, but this was an entirely different matter. they're things growing out of the wall that he didn't even think Shikamaru could identify. He had done it though, despite all the vomit inducing things that he had seen, like the brown slosh that was in the toilets and the giant spider that killed one of his clones. He shivered at the memory of its long, hairy legs.

A few hours later, with the help of his clones, the task was finally finished, though there was still the matter of the rather large hole in the ceiling above them, but he figured there was no point worrying about it if he couldn't fix it.

"Hey Naruto we're ba...Wow" Shikamaru who had stepped in with Chouji carrying several large bags stopped to observe the place approvingly.

"Nice work Naruto."

Naruto's eyes narrowed with anger, he pointed at Shikamaru as if he was accusing him of something "Yeah, you better be grateful! Do you know the things I've seen, the things I've do-"

"I got you ramen-"

Naruto did a complete 180 and smiled luminously, "You're welcome Shikamaru, it was nothing I couldn't handle."

Naruto jumped the bag that contained the noodles as Kiba and Neji materialized to help with the groceries.

Neji looked to Shikamaru as began to put things away "Did you notice anything peculiar while you were going through the village?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Nothing out of the ordinary, just some basic observations. It's a lot bigger than we first thought, and since we weren't in disguise nobody recognized us and gave us trouble." Neji and the rest of the Retrievers accepted the answer and continued to pack things away. Kiba and Naruto went through their usual routine as Neji berated both of them, while Chouji opened some chips he had bought and ate away happily, Shikamaru yawned and was strongly considering taking a nap when there was small knock.

Everything stopped and the Retrievers all exchanged looks.

Shikamaru sighed when all those looks rounded on him.

"Fine, ill get it..."

Shikamaru made his way to the door and opened it slowly. Behind it stood a small petite woman dressed in a Samurai outfit, she was about as tall as he was with short black hair. She gave a cry a fright when she saw him, immediately going into a bow and stuttering out an introduction.

"K-kimiko Ayanashi, here to escort you around the village s-shinobi-dono's"

Shikamaru stared at her, was she frightened of him? Of them? Shikamaru made a mental note of this and called the others.

"Hey, she's here! Lets get a move on, Naruto, finish your ramen later!"

"There is no later when it comes to ramen!"

Naruto was about to continue his protest, but his Hyuuga teammate snuck up behind the blonde and snatched the small cup from him and threw it in the trash.

That did it.

Shikamaru face-palmed as Neji and Naruto began to fight, tearing up the kitchen in the process .

"Can you give us a minute?" Shikamaru asked.

She nodded and he closed the door as he went back inside.

Things must have escalated because after a few short minutes of screaming, the short samurai girl outside screeched when a large hand burst through the wall beside her sending a black haired boy and what looked like a small dog along with it, a few seconds later a pale boy's body came flying from a window crashing right next to her, amazingly the boy just stood up and rushed back in through the front door.

The screaming got louder.

She almost fainted right then and there, these shinobi were scary!

"A-and this our final stop, the Samurai Headquarters, this is where all samurai related activities take place, f-from our duties to our basic training."

Shikamaru nodded as the shaking samurai girl in front of him pointed at a large building with a red roof with the Kanji Samurai written on the front. The rest of the Retrievers were following close behind him surprisingly not arguing at all for the time being. Shikamaru guessed that they had gotten all their aggression out from the earlier incident.

"Hey lady, you okay!?" Naruto asked the girl, she squeaked and nodded hastily. Naruto gave her a weird look before shrugging and ignoring her.

"Kenji-San is w-waiting for your arrival inside," she said, her voice high pitched.

Before any of the Retrievers could even give her a word of thanks she was off, leaving only a trail of dust behind her.

The Retrievers stared after her, sweat-dropping.

"She Probably had somewhere to be..." Kiba suggested weakly.

Shikamaru lead the way and began to walk towards the entrance of the building "Whatever, lets go."

slowly they made their way inside, the place resembled a Dojo as they looked around, wooden training dummies were scattered about the place. The Retrievers could tell right away that there were large amounts of rooms in the building. in the middle there was a wooden spiraling staircase that led up several floors, and unfortunately coming down that staircase was a Samurai they were very familiar with.

"Good Afternoon, shinobi. Did you enjoy your accommodations?"

"It was lovely..." Shikamaru drawled, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Apparently Naruto had not noticed said sarcasm and glared at Shikamaru like he was crazy.

"What the hell are you talking about!? the place smelled and it was broken down, do you know the crap I went thr-"

Neji bopped him on the head to make him stop, "Quiet."

Naruto pouted and rubbed his head.

Kenji ignored the little scene and led them into one of the many rooms, as soon as they stepped in they froze.

Men, women, samurai everywhere.

Naruto gulped and began to sweat profusely with all the eyes that were focused on them, not to mention the clear hostility that radiated from their stares.

"S-Shikamaru, I don't like this." Chouji whined fearfully.

"It's alright Chouji, just bare with it."

Kiba who was beside the Akimichi scowled and met their stares with one of equal malice, his canine companion following his lead with rapid and aggressive yips. Neji crossed his arms and put on a stoic mask, not the least phased by the eyes that were on him and the Retrievers.

Kenji seemed pleased with their reactions, "Welcome to Central intelligence!"

Sakura groaned as she woke up that morning, a sense of fear filling her as she thought about what was going to happen today.

Training with Tsunade-Shishou.

All of which included reading medical book after medical book and not to mention the hellish physical training she would have to partake in, she really didn't want to do the boulder exercise again. On top of her already cramped and crazy schedule she had Kurenai's training on top of that. She was starting to regret doing all of this in the first place. She reluctantly got out of bed and started her morning routine, once she was showered and dress Sakura kissed her mom and dad goodbye and went straight for the Hokage tower via rooftop.

As she traveled though Konoha, her mind couldn't help but think about all the events that happened recently. The team consisting of herself, Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Kurenai that had formed mainly due to Ino's impulsiveness, and the training exercise that in her opinion had gone horribly wrong, especially since Ino would not stop vowing revenge on Shino the very moment she woke up and noticed all the bandages on her face. Sakura herself had sustained injuries but most of it was fixed in a few minutes, the only thing she had really needed had been rest in order to fill her chakra reserves once again.

The pink haired girl hopped down and made her way up the tower to start her daily training with Tsunade, as she entered the office Sakura was surprised see Kurenai-sensei talking to the Hokage.

"Kurenai-Sensei, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was just clarifying your training schedule, Sakura." Kurenai answered with a smile.

Sakura looked confused for a second before it dawned on her. She had not made the connection that making the choice to join Kurenai-Sensei's team might effect her training schedule with Tsunade.

"I-is there something wrong?" she asked a little afraid of the answer, she didn't want to give up either opportunity to strengthen herself.

Tsunade seemed to read her emotions and spoke "Don't worry about it, everything is fine Sakura, your training with me is now every other day three times a week, all other times is with Kurenai."

Sakura felt a sense of relief wash over, it seemed that things were finally looking up for her.

"Well, Sakura, since you're here we might as well get started." Tsunade stood and grinned an evil grin.

Sakura felt the relief vanish, replaced by a cold sense of dread.

"Ooh I hope he shows his face again. I want to at least get a punch in, I want to feel my fist against his face." The weapons summoner, also known as Tenten, growled to herself as she followed her sensei. The girl walking beside her agreeing with her readily.

Ino smacked her closed fist into her palm, imagining it to be the bug user's face "For what he did to me, ill break every bone in his body and bash his head in so hard, that he'll never get a girlfriend," she scoffed, "Not that he probably has a chance of getting one with the way he looks."

Kurenai who was walking ahead, winced at the barb, but said nothing.

Tenten and Ino continued to exchange ideas of how they would do bodily harm to one Aburame Shino with gleaming smiles on their faces, their words becoming bloodier and bloodier.

Hinata who was also present tried and failed to defend the actions of her teammates as each time she attempted to she was interrupted by their boisterous yells of their newest fantasy that involved mutilating her teammate.

Sakura Haruno was far behind the group, dragging herself along, her body was sore and ached all over, The Hokage had not been lenient on her ( like she ever is ) her training had started immediately, and each exercise got more hellish than the last, she was seriously starting to develop a fear of boulders.

All together the group walked on to their training ground. The only Jonin in the group smiled to herself. The girls had recovered well after the training exercise, for a brief while she had worried that Shino beating them as badly as he did would affect their confidence or to to cause them to change their minds about the team, but it wasn't so, the girls seemed to have a new drive to get stronger, after getting a painful reminder of how limited they were. it wasn't all good however as she feared that she had essentially ruined any possible friendship that Shino could have had with them.

They hated the bug boy now.

"I would feed his intestines to dogs then burn-"

Kurenai sweat-dropped and laughed nervously to herself

they really hatedhim.

After a couple more minutes of walking, the group of female ninja decided to take the trees , it hadn't gone unnoticed that Sakura was lagging behind and Kurenai knew why. Being a medic was not easy, the knowledge and chakra control required were extraordinary, and add to the fact that she was being trained by Tsunade was enough reason for Kurenai to conclude that Sakura was far from 100%. The red eyed Jonin made a mental note to herself to take it easy on her.

First it was surprise, then it had been a bit of fear, and now it was just plain old anger. As Naruto's eyes looked from left to right and up and down, samurais completely surrounded his vision and were openly glaring at his team, and that was why he was currently trying to reign his anger in. who the hell did these guys think they were? They were the ones who hired them and when they show up to help? they get treated like crap! first it was Kenji and that uptight princess, then it was that hotel that had half a ceiling! And now it was these assholes looking at him like it was personal.

Well enough was enough!

"What the hell are you looking at!" Naruto suddenly shouted to the nearest Samurai, who returned his heated stare with one of his own.

"Scum, that is wha-aaaah!" The samurai screamed, and began shaking his arm trying to get the small white dog that was currently biting down on it off.

Naruto began to laugh as Kiba yelled his approval, "Good boy Akamaru!"

"Nara!" came Kenji's deep and irritated voice, "Control your men!"

"Control yours..." Shikamaru replied, a slight edge in his voice.

The tension in the room increased after that, both leaders of their respective sides silently sizing each other up.

"Kenji-san" came a nervous voice, "We have to get to work."

over the tall samurai's shoulder was a sight for sore eyes, Harima Kentarou had a hand placed on Kenji's shoulder while giving the Retrievers a smile letting them know that he was supporting them.

Kenji stared at his subordinate, surprised that he was trying to stop him, Kentarou had never been an assertive person, "Kentarou..."

Kenji nodded and turned his attention back to business, the samurai went to the center of the room and stepped on a tile that was on the floor. Whatever he had pressed had activated, as not a second later the room began to shake. Kenji backed away from where he was allowing a small hole to open, slowly a structure took form, it was simple in its design, not too large or too small, and rectangular in shape.

Kenji beckoned the Retrievers over. Shikamaru, however, motioned for them to stay while approached Kenji alone.

Bright colors and shaped is what greeted them, it didn't take long to deduce that it was an extremely detailed map that showed the village and the surrounding region, the jagged gray protruding ones made the faraway mountains and the smooth green rising areas were the hills, the bodies of water were signified by flat moving surfaces of blue. What immediately jumped out on the map were the large X marks on certain areas near the village.

"Are these the areas that were attacked?" Shikamaru asked Kenji.

"Yes, those were the locations where caravans were raided."

Shikamaru studied the map looking for any noticeable patterns in their movements. the red marks seemed to be spread around randomly revealing nothing obvious. He needed more information.

"At around what time did the attacks take place?"

"The time of attacks varied, at some points they attacked during the day," Kenji answered.

Shikamaru was grateful for the information, it was clear that whoever these people were they were desperate.

"What did they steal?"

"..."

Shikamaru looked at the samurai when he gave no answer.

"Nothing...they stole nothing." Kenji closed his eyes and took a deep breath." Currently we have no idea what their goal is. When the caravans are raided things are broken and left a mess but otherwise remain there."

Shikamaru scratched his head as his mind began to race. Right now there was only two things clear to him. The bandits were desperate and they were desperate for something in particular, this wasn't just bandits raiding caravans to loot it, there was a larger goal involved.

Shikamaru decided that it as best that he discussed this information with the rest of the Retrievers. The shadow user quickly walked over to his team who had (much to his shock) stayed silent and manage not to murder each other or the surrounding samurai.

"Nothing! We brought our ass out here because some bandits were stealing air!" Kiba hissed in outrage, speaking low enough so the surrounding people could not hear the conversation.

"Calm down, Kiba. This bodes well for us, now we can clearly see that these bandits are searching for something," Neji cut in.

"I don't like Mysteries..." Chouji sighed and looked at his hands wondering why he didn't have chips with him.

Naruto wholeheartedly agreed with his chubby friend "Me neither. I guess this is where the scouting part of the mission is." Naruto said

Shikamaru nodded and motioned for them to come closer, the Retrievers listened closely as their leader's voice, "We'll need to cover a large area if we want to learn anything about these bandit's movements. So Naruto, I'm going to need clones."

"How much?"

"Lots."

Naruto smirked "I can do that."

Shikamaru began to explain the rest of his plan to his team, when he finished the Retrievers broke off and he approached Kenji "Okay, here is what we're going to need..."

The Retrievers felt nothing but satisfaction when the samurai's eyes slowly began to widen with disbelief.

Rock Lee breathed slowly in and out in rhythm, his fist making contact with a wooden dummy repeatedly, the self proclaimed Konoha's green beast let himself get lost in the familiar act and not allow himself to dwell on other things.

It wasn't working.

He was dwelling! And he hated it!

Rock Lee was not a man who dwelled on things, he did not dwell on the fact that he had lost in the preliminary rounds of the Chuunin exams, he just used it as a motivation to train harder and make it next year.

His punches became fast and fiercer.

He did not dwell on the fact that his teammate had left his Genin squad to find his own way on a new team, he stood behind Neji and cheered him on in his quest to strengthen himself.

His hands were a blur of movement as small pieces of wood began to chip away.

And he especially did not dwell on the behaviors of his teammates, especially his female teammate, something that Gai-sensei warned brings lots of problems.

The top part of the dummy flew off in a shower of wood as his final punch knocked it clean off.

In short, Tenten had been acting weird and it was bugging him.

It had started awhile ago when Neji began to spend less time time with the team. With their teammates sudden call to help on a retrieval mission followed by his stay in the hospital and then his sudden transfer to another team had resulted in him and her spending lots of time together.

Unfortunately it was not time well spent.

Tenten constantly complained and raged about Neji's choice to move to another team, and on top off that she had blamed the lost to Temari of the sand to her lack of weapon variety ( something that he didn't agree with at all!) and had proceeded to stock up on a variety of new weapons to add on to her already massive arsenal. She had brought a scythe to train with! And it had 6 blades!

For awhile he had wondered what to do, his teammate seemed completely out of sorts and he felt it was his responsibility to help her through whatever tough time she was going through, in his innocent ignorance Lee had once again sought the guidance of his sensei.

Flashback

"Gai-Sensei, I seek your guidance and wisdom!" Lee said respectfully as he bowed.

"What is it Lee!? Speak to me my student!" Gai replied loudly.

Lee began to squirm in his place, having no idea how to start this discussion.

"I have a problem...Gai-sensei"

Gai seemed to notice his discomfort and calmed down a bit "What is it Lee?"

"It is with Tenten, she has been out of sorts lately, I was wondering what I could do to help her!" Lee finished with a salute.

While Lee was explaining himself Gai was a perfect image of understanding and calm.

That was on the outside.

On the inside, however, Gai was stunned.

He hadn't noticed anything!

'hmmm...maybe just maybe Lee has started to notice Tenten a little more. Maybe that is the real problem'

With his mind made up, Gai grasped Lee's shoulders roughly and gave him an affectionate look. "Aaahh Lee, you've finally realized what else your female teammate can offer you!"

"...Huh?"

Gai gazed towards the sky, failing to notice his student's confusion. "There comes a time in every young ninja's life where he begins to think of other things that can make him happy, things outside the life of a ninja!

"Wha...?"

"It was only a matter of time, Lee, before your youthful flames sought out someone to share your burning passion with!"

Lee's thick eyebrows rose significantly as a blush covered his face. "b-b-b-burning passion!?"

"Now go, Lee! Shower her heart with love!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lee, completely confused as to what had just transpired went to the nearest training ground to look for his teammate, all the while his thoughts were trying to figure out the best way to share his burning passion with Tenten.

Gai completely unaware to what he had just done took to the tree's to head towards Konoha.

He didn't want to be late, he was meeting Kakashi for smoothies!

End of Flashback

He had looked for her all day and unfortunately had not been able to find her, he had decided instead to get in some light training, and wait to shower her with his...burning passion at their next team meeting.

Lee was not keen on sharing his umm...burning passion with Tenten, considering his heart belonged to Sakura-San, but if Gai-Sensei said it had to be done then he would do it.

He was going to confess to Tenten!

Sarutobi Asuma had faced many things in his career as a shinobi, when he was young he had seen the wrath and horror of the Kyuubi, and later down his life he had spent many years protecting the Daimyou as one of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve. He had seen it all and been through it all, Missing nin, rogue mercenaries, bandits, you name it. In that time he had done lots of things he wasn't proud of, some to protect his home, and some to protect the Daimyou. Some of those things he would take to his grave, and some made him feel like sometimes he was a terrible person.

Unfortunately there was an irrational part of his mind that said that no matter how badly he felt about taking the life of another person or how much the memories of death plagued him at night, it was nothing compared to upsetting Kurenai.

So when she had knocked on his apartment door yesterday night and fixed him with the most disappointed stare he had ever seen directed at him, his brain had decided that there and then that this was the thing that made him truly feel like the worst, most despicable scum of all the elemental nations.

Flashback

Sarutobi Asuma gulped as sweat poured down his face,she was just standing there and staring him down, she didn't even look angry or upset just disappointed, and for some reason he wished she was mad at him, Mad he could deal with, but disappointment? That was a whole new ball game.

"Umm...are you oka-"

"Come." was all she she said before she turned around and began walking without looking back.

Asuma scrambled to get something on and rushed out to follow her.

He walked behind her silently, allowing her to lead the way, there was no words spoken, the aura she was giving off demanded so.

They entered a small sushi shop he recognized as her favorite.

This was bad...

"Sit," she practically ordered him.

He obediently did so.

Unsurprisingly so she ordered her favorite sushi all without looking at him, he ordered some Tea. They sat in silence once again, waiting for their orders. When it arrived he sipped his tea while she slowly ate her raw fish.

He really wished she would say something, the quiet was killing him. He had known her ever since they were in the academy together and it had never been this awkward, hell even when they first started to date in secret it had never been this awkward.

"I expected more from you."

Oh thank lord! She said something!...wait what?

"What?"

"I said, I expected more from you."

"What do you mean?" he was utterly confused.

"Ino, I'm talking about Ino, have you forgotten that you still have a student to take care of!"

"Of course I do, where is this even coming from?"

She shook her head at him, "It doesn't matter , I just feel that you should be informed that a great portion of her time is now going to be spent being trained by me."

Asuma felt himself getting angry "Okay, enough of this! What the hell are you talking about!?" his voice raising slightly.

Kurenai was not one to back down, so she returned his anger with some of her own "You know exactly what I'm talking about! I'm talking about her lack of direction that you have failed to provide her for the last few weeks. She's been lost Asuma, shes lost her team and shes lost her friends, and you, someone that should have been there for her and given her guidance, ignored her!"

Asuma stayed silent, no matter how hard he wanted to protest, he knew it was true, after Shikamaru and Chouji left, he had been at a complete lost as to what to do with the final remaining member of his team, he had given up rather quickly if he was being honest with himself. Eventually he had just started to hope that the problem would fix itself.

Asuma took a deep breath and pulled out a smoke, with some nicotine running through his body he became a little more relaxed. " I tried, Kurenai, I honestly did, but at some point I just had no idea what to do, from the very moment they became a team, I knew what I had to do with those three. Teamwork. It was all about teamwork, getting them to use their abilities with each other perfectly just like their parents. It was a complete shock when Shikamaru and Chouji left, I just assumed they would always be together, learn together, and become as great as their parents."

Kurenai softened a little bit as she listened to him.

"I think everyone thought the same..."

Asuma sighed "I have to do right by her don't I?"

she smiled at him " Yes, and I know just how you can do it. I now own you, whatever I say goes."

"Kurenai, we're already dating..."

"..."

"Right, go on."

"Whenever I ask you to do something to help train these girls you are to do it without question."

"Kurenai, I think I'm missing something here. Girls?"

"Oh yes, you see yesterday was a very interesting day..."

End of Flashback

Kurenai had informed of everything that had happened recently, the girls teaming up, the training exercise. He had been stunned when Kurenai had told him it was Ino's Idea to start a team in the first place, she was the one to take initiative while he as her teacher hadn't even been able to help her, hell Kurenai told him that they had an argument about getting trained with the Hokage!

He really needed to have more faith in his student.

Though he wished he had Chouji back just for the fact that he was somehow capable of listening to Ino drone on for hours about the most ridiculous subjects, he didn't know how the big guy did it! With both Shikamaru and him gone, he was left with the tedious task of making conversation with her, and boy could she talk for a long time...like hours.

He shouldn't feel bad about that should he? not wanting to listen to Ino talk?

"Ahh, I'm a terrible person..."

the asuma Kurenai conversation at first was going to be like really funny and then i realize as i was writing that this was an issue that need to have a bit more seriousness to it, i even gave you guys a dose of lee, and before anyone asks Lee's part in the story is not simply going to be comedy or be heavily tenten Lee based or anything like that, this is my way of inserting lee into the story in a very...unexpected way.

You guys know the routine, review if you can, and especially review to tell me my mistakes, and if you cant review...then whatever.