Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its writers, animators, and producers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experience from writing this.

Summary: After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call.

A/N: I apologize for the long wait; I just lost all creative drive for a few (many) months there. After writing a sixty-seventy page academic piece I just lost all creative writing abilities (although that is really is like nothing compared to somethings)—finding words were too hard. Anyways, my brains rested now, so I should begin updating more regularly for at least the next six months, we'll see after that. With my health back, I should be getting back into my writing flow, but again, we'll see. Thank you for everyone's support, PMs, reviews, favorites, and follows. ~ Much love, depressedchildren

Chapter 45: Month of Preparation pt 2

Week Twenty-five cont.

Ino couldn't believe it. Forehead was really truly over Sasuke-kun. Sure the girl had said as much repeatedly, but to see Sakura actually walking with that Suna boy she had been flirting with at the chuunin exams—Oh! She had to tell everyone! Perhaps that Suna boy wasn't as deadly and scary as Hinata-chan had said, or—gasp!—Sakura placated his killer tendencies. How romantic!

Ino halted in her hurried walk to the nearest gossip point. What was she even doing?! Was this how a kunoichi should be acting? She had just spent most of the day training herself to death (while a hyperbole, her muscles certainly felt like it was to death), and on her way home she stumbled across a possible piece of gossip and all that seriousness flew out the window!

Even if Forehead did have a foreign boyfriend, she wasn't acting stupid and traipsing around openly. No…they were walking with some distance between them and talking in hushed voices so as not to be overheard. Ino was probably jumping to conclusions if anything. Because when in the last five months had Sakura ever been open? Everything the girl said lately was calculated to reveal just a little of the truth. Forehead was guarded and serious. Perhaps this was just an alliance with the Suna team, but they were out of the exams so why make an alliance?

Ino didn't realize she was standing still in an alley as she tried to work through what she had seen. There was so much about Team 7 that didn't necessarily add up. What had really happened on their mission in Nami no Kuni? Why did Team 7 keep their skills so close to their chests? Why did Team 7 take the team spar so seriously even if it was just practice for the next chuunin exam (which would be six months from now)? What did Team 7 know that Team 10 didn't?

It was like…it was like they were preparing for a war. Tousan talked about the years before she was born; he talked about what it was like to know it was only a matter of time before they were sent on mission against an enemy far stronger than them. There was a serious, grim anxiety which took away frivolity in even the friendliest of spars.

Sakura told Ino now wasn't the time for games. She had best stop acting like a fangirl before it gets herself killed. That trick Team 7 pulled on her—while providing her with many future fantasies—revealed how easily she fell for a handsome face. Then there was that ugly boy with the bowl haircut; he had wiped the floor with Ino—she had never stood a chance and even her own Sensei knew that. Forehead had told Ino she needed to essentially grow up or she'll die for her own foolishness and likely get her allies killed too. But what was all of that about precious people? Ino's fists curled into tight balls at her side—her well-manicured fingernails began to dig into her palm.

Ino was a support fighter, same with Shikamaru, but if she was ever separated from her team what could she do? She had no substantial taijutsu skills to rely on, and she barely knew genjutsu. All Ino had were her family techniques and her above average skills with projectiles. She needed to build up her repertoire. If Team 7 was taking everything seriously, then so should her team because clearly the other genin knew more than they let on.

…

Temari nearly sighed when she saw Gaara return in a swirl of sand, though something was off. "Why are you holding onto your shoes?" Part of her immediately went to the terrible soap operas she watched on occasion when she had the house to herself and had excused all of the help. It was a guilty pleasure she needed to rid herself of and fast if she was thinking her baby brother had snuck out of some clandestine meeting.

Mentally shaking the thought away, she regarded her youngest brother. He looked troubled and pale. Kankuro just raised an eyebrow and even looked a little concerned.

"Did something happen?" Kankuro asked slowly as he tried to dry his hair with the thin hotel towels—he had immediately gone into the shower after they came back from that stupid capture the flag game.

Gaara scrunched up his face in confusion. Are we doing the right thing? He asked in their clan sign language. Was he talking about the invasion? Temari swallowed thickly while Kankuro grimaced and sat numbly down on is bed.

It seems foolish but father must have reasons. Her response lacked conviction, but that was because she didn't want to go into a war with Konoha. She had seen the economic hardships on her home and knew Konoha was pulling in jobs from Suna's ninja, so she understood why they would go to war. However, there must be some reason why they were now going to war? Suna didn't have the forces to take on Konoha alone, so they were trusting some no-name and mysterious village to help. Yes Suna ninja were trained better but sheer numbers can always overcome skill. The whole invasion seemed foolish, although they were also in dire economic straits so...

Gaara grimaced and nodded shakily. "S-shukaku, you say mother is that demon…" he was speaking slowly, and Temari flinched slightly. "Does…it keep me strong or weak?"

"What?" Temari was as lost as Kankuro.

"Does it tell me only lies!? Does it keep me from thinking for myself?! Am I just its tool…" After the first shouts the boy trailed off and grabbed his head as he fell back numbly onto his unused bed. His shoes fell to the floor with loud thuds.

What brought on these thoughts? Was it that pink-haired girl? Temari had had reservations about her little brother escorting a girl home—he was too young to be having a girlfriend!—but then he was her anti-social baby brother who wouldn't know what to do with a girl anyways. Now it seemed like whatever happened in his meetings with that Haruno girl left him questioning…well, everything. Kankuro looked closely at the fabric of his boxers and kept drying his hair for nothing better to do. So it was on her then, great.

What was she supposed to say? Temari sat on the bed across from Gaara and exhaled as she gathered her thoughts. "Demons manipulate, right? So maybe it does hold you back but it also gives you an edge…" Temari ran a hand through her hair only to pull out a twig caught in there. Gaara was looking up at her with wide eyes—he used to never show so much emotion…

Temari sighed as she thought how to phrase her next few words—she also began twirling the stupid twig between her fingers. "I…remember when you were still a baby…" She swallowed slightly. "Otousan kept reassuring the village elders that Shuukaku could not speak or influence you. Then…then it started… and got worse" after uncle died—she couldn't utter those words but they hung in the air.

Gaara closed his eyes and continued to hold his head as if in pain, but he eventually nodded. "I…see…" Temari waited for any further questions from her brother, but none came right away. Instead, the boy moved over to the window and stood in the moonlight. He was breathing slowly, as if working through some sort of pain. "Would…" his words faltered. "Would you have fought for me when the assassins came?" he whispered softly, and Temari's mouth fell open in shock.

What did her brother want to hear? The truth that she hadn't known for a year and had thought it was the demon who killed their uncle out of pure malice and not because her baby brother was defending himself? Then afterwards, she realized she was too weak to do anything about the assassinations, and father was so often set in his way there seemed to be no use in saying anything? Or should Temari give him the ideal answer? "If I could have, I would have…" she muttered before looking away. After Uncle died, Gaara had changed and became so inward focused. He was hurting, so he lashed out at everything around him. It was hard to watch, but she didn't know what she could have done.

Gaara ducked his head a little and continued working through whatever pain he felt. As the seconds went by, his back straightened and he held his head up high. "I understand."

Her baby brother was growing right before her eyes and changing into a new person. She didn't understand how it was possible after everything they had experienced, but she imagined that annoying Konoha team had something to do with it.

…

Sakura had finished her shower and left the bathroom dressed in her pajamas. She was using a towel to try her hair and was once again tempted to just cut it all off. This was so annoying and took far too long to dry! She blinked when she saw her teammates and Sensei waiting for her. She blushed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to take long—" They were waving away her concerns.

"Sakura-chan, why don't you take a seat?" Sensei was eye-smiling. Naruto was also smiling though it was a little tight, and Sasuke was doing his best to look disinterested but was failing.

"Okay…what's going on?" she asked as she sat down. She was still trying to wring her hair dry so it was pulled over to one side. They were acting a little weird. She saw her parents and Jiraiya standing off to the side looking on with mixed parts confusion and amusement.

"So…Nee-chan, how was the walk?" Naruto began conversationally. Sakura blinked.

"Fine…" they were being weird. This was weird. Why were they being weird?

"Did you two talk about anything interesting?" Sasuke added in.

"Uh…yeah, I guess…?"

"Oh?" Sensei perked up, "And what was that?" They were being way too weird.

"We talked about his sister and also how the Kazekage sent assassins after him when he was a child." That broke whatever strange mood her teammates were in because they both showed varied expressions of shock. Her parents also looked alarmed while Jiraiya and Kakashi did not look too surprised.

"B-but isn't he the Kazekage's child?" Kaasan asked startled before she needed to move to a chair to steady herself; Tousan helped her.

Naruto looked slightly devastated and then he became determined. "I'm gonna punch that bastard if I ever see him!" He held his fist up and was shaking it slightly.

"Naruto-kun…" Sensei chided, "You would be detained and killed before you even got close to the man."

The blonde huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "I still wanna punch that bastard, 'tebayo."

Exhaling in amusement, Sensei ruffled his hair before sobering. "But really, don't do that—you'll be killed," he warned. The blonde pouted for a moment.

Sasuke sighed beside the blonde boy. "So nothing happened on the walk home?" he asked half bored.

Sakura looked at the stoic boy with her brow furrowed, "Why would something happ—oh come on!" it clicked, and she gave her teammates unimpressed looks.

"Well what were we supposed to think, dattebayo!?" Naruto exclaimed as he threw his arms out to the side, consequently making Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke duck out of the way. "He asked to walk only you home!"

"He might have been trying to kill you," Sasuke added in while Kakashi-sensei nodded his head in agreement.

"You guys were worried he'd kill Nee-chan?!" Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion along with Sakura's parents. "I thought he was trying to be Nee-chan's boyfriend or something like that!"

"I thought you liked Gaara-kun?" Sasuke shot back with a slight smile.

"Well, he wouldn't be good enough for Nee-chan!" now Kakashi-sensei and Sakura's parents were chuckling while the blonde huffed and blushed brighter. Making an angry noise at the laughing, he shouted again, "And what was all this about you two going up to your room, huh?!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I did a tarot reading."

"Why'd it have to be in your room, 'tebayo?"

"Because we had started the reading up there." Sakura frowned, "Gaara-kun keeps running away before we finish the reading and I don't want to move the cards so they just stay up there." She then mumbled to herself "Why does he keep running away?"

Shaking her head, she focused back on Naruto, "Oh! And Otoutou, what if I really liked Gaara-kun and he was kind and a perfect boyfriend, would you try to stop us from dating because you think he's not good enough?"

The blonde immediately began to blush brightly, and Sakura nodded her head like she thought that was the case. "I am my own person Naruto-kun, while it's kind of you to worry, don't you forget that!" She then smiled at the other boy while her two teammates looked at each other nonplused.

"Wait…so is Gaara-kun your boyfriend…?" Sasuke looked both worried and confused as he asked this question slowly.

"What?! No! No," Sakura shook her head and shuddered slightly; her teammates looked relieved for a moment and nodded their heads.

"Good 'cause, no offense, Gaara-kun is really awkward," Naruto stated while Sasuke nodded his head adamantly. The irony was not lost on the adults in the room or Sakura, who all began to laugh. Once they sobered, Jiraiya came forward.

"Speaking of your tarot reading…" It was about as natural a segue-way as Jiraiya could manage. "What exactly does it all mean?" He was regarding Sakura seriously, and it made the girl straighten in her seat. Kouken jumped up onto the couch beside her and began to nuzzle into her side so she absent-mindedly pet him while her towel fell into her lap. The other summons were sitting with their masters, who also pet them—well Sasuke just left his hand on Bikou's side which seemed to please her.

"Well, only the person being read to knows what it actually means, but I think the reading has mostly pertained to his demon?" She shrugged, but Jiraiya urged her to elaborate. Sakura blushed and looked at her teammates. "I-I don't really feel comfortable telling everyone, it's personal to Gaara-kun and—"

"Within infiltration you will have many personal conversations," Jiraiya interjected, "but even those can reveal matters of national security so they must be reported to your superiors."

Sakura blushed more and looked down at her lap. Her hands fell away from the pup and she began fidgeting with the towel she had been drying her hair with. "It feels wrong and like I'm—"

"Betraying his trust," Jiraiya finished for her. He sighed and crouched down beside her to face the Ganbaru Shinobi. "It never gets easier and you'll always feel remorse over it, but it is necessary. Maybe someday you'll learn what does not need to be shared but you don't have that experience. Besides," Jiraiya laughed a little, "the strangest and most mundane conversations can reveal the subtlest political threats. I'll tell you three some over lunch tomorrow."

The boys nodded their heads, but Sakura still chewed at her lip in unease. It just felt wrong. She could keep secrets; she had gotten really good at it even, but telling someone else's secrets felt wrong. Sensei and Jiraiya gave her encouraging looks while her parents smiled sadly and excused themselves from the room. It was shinobi matters now, and the civilians had felt out of place.

Sakura inhaled to ready herself. This felt wrong… "Fine." She exhaled and looked away from her team. "In the core reading, the cards warned against past influences controlling him. Also, the demands he faces make him feel doubt and he must begin allowing others to help him." Sakura fidgeted some more with the damp towel in her lap while Kouken pressed his nose against her elbow.

"Of course…" she began while shrugging "there are also contradictions in the reading. For instance, while he takes the lead in all things and should watch it, he lets the past influence him too much. Gaara-kun also has the capacity to let others help him but, again, those past ties cloud this ability—at least that's what I think." She shrugged again and still refused to meet her teammates' and instructors' eyes. "Ultimately, he could flourish if he lets others help him.

"The secondary reading talked about the past and future, as well as some of the forces in his life," Sakura began with an explanation, and Jiraiya hummed while her teammates just looked a little confused. Sakura took a breath to prepare herself. "His grounding energies reiterate previous statements: he has relied on plans but they will not always succeed unless he asks for help. In his immediate past was the demon card, which refers to addictions and bad habits. So his past habits might be enticing but they had or have harmed him. The incoming energies suggest he is faced with lies and deceptions which he must try to see through. Finally, in his immediate future seems to be possible political turmoil and the need to remain level headed in face of it."

Sakura then looked back at Jiraiya, "That's all I've read so far and I'm not reading further until he's here again."

The Sennin hummed again, "So what makes you think the reading refers to his bijū?"

Sakura pressed her lips together for a moment before nodding. "Well, Temari said it talks to him and it seems to want him to kill people. So it influences his actions and would then be a force that keeps him from thinking for himself. If it wants to dominate and manipulate him then it wouldn't want Gaara to have external help, right?" Jiraiya hummed yet again as he nodded his head—those were reasonable deductions. Naruto, for his part, looked pale and had a hand on his stomach.

It would not due for Naruto to worry needlessly, but there was truth to what the girl had said. "That is how bijuu have been perceived since the founding. They are dangerous weapons we use to hold power over each other." Jiraiya smiled a little sadly, "Uzumaki Mito, however, believed they could be more."

"Huh?" Naruto perked up at this as the older man suspected the boy would; it made Jiraiya smile a bit more. "Who was she?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "She married the Shodaime Hokage, dobe."

"She was also the first kyuubi jinchuuriki and taught the next host how to control the kyuubi's power," Jiraiya added.

"She taught my mom?" Naruto whispered, and Jiraiya pulled back with his eyes wide. When the hell did that happen? He was too young to know about his parents—at least that was what Sensei said the last time Jiraiya had brought it up. He moved his gaze over to Kakashi who seemingly blinked.

"Didn't Hokage-sama tell you he knows about Kushina-san?" Jiraiya just shook his head slowly.

"I figured it out by looking at the Kyuubi memorial stone," the blonde stated proudly before his smile fell. "It wasn't really all that hidden, ya know?" he groused while he pouted.

Jiraiya coughed and then nodded. "Yes, well… anyways…" He coughed again, "Uzumaki Mito believed love could overcome the kyuubi's hate. While Kushina-chan thought it was her personal love for others, I do not think she had the most success with the bijuu, so perhaps there is another way to interpret Uzumaki-hime's words?" He tried to keep the meaningful gaze from being too obvious, but Naruto just seemed to ponder the words.

Jiraiya exhaled and ran a hand through his hair. "The relationship between jinchuuriki and their bijuu is…complex and unique. People like to ignore that it is symbiotic, but it is. The host dies and the bijuu dissipate for a time, which I recall reports saying they fear. Why? I am not sure," Jiraiya shrugged; he was still puzzled by that. The bijuu were chakra entities and therefore could not die, so why would they fear possibly "dying?" Was it a pride thing, or something more?

"So…" Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion while his team looked on in uncertainty. Jiraiya focused back in on him. "Will the Kyuubi try to manipulate me? I-I don't want to hurt my friends!"

Jiraiya ran his tongue over his teeth as he thought, "That is a risk, and I am not sure what the best approach would be to your relationship with the Kyuubi, but make no mistake that you do have one with it Naruto."

The blonde began to frown while Sasuke just brushed his shoulder against the younger boy's shoulder—as if to show comradery. However, it was Sakura who broke the almost somber silence. "It could be an ally," she murmured, her gaze held a far off look as she stared at the wall behind her honorary younger brothers. "A friend or guardian, perhaps like Rikudō Sennin intended."

Jiraiya stood up from his crouch for two reasons. One, his legs were starting to cramp; and two, he wanted to get a better look at the girl. What did she just say? He knew he was openly shocked by her words, but he didn't know how else to react. "What version of the story do you know? I've never heard that." The girl blinked and began imitating a fish, which made Jiraiya narrow his gaze further while Kakashi just cocked his head to one side and Sauske frowned.

"Umm…" Naruto interjected, "whose the Rikudō Sennin?" The boy gave a sheepish laugh.

"Seriously dobe?" Sasuke gave his honorary brother a side long look while the boy shrugged.

"If it was in the text books, I didn't read it." He was so nonchalant about his scholarly faults; it was almost endearing—although his teammates sobered at the casual confession.

The Uchiha boy frowned, "Legends say he brought chakra to the world and created ninjutsu." Sasuke had almost sounded exasperated—like he had explained stories and lessons Naruto had missed from the textbooks hundreds of times now. "We have a copy of the legend at the compound I'll lend you," the older boy added almost dismissively.

"They aren't legends…" Jiraiya whispered before he rubbed his face. "The Rikudō Senin did divine the truth about chakra and he traveled the world to share this knowledge. But he thought of chakra as the key to peace not a means to wage war. He believed love and cooperation would finally bring peace to the world."

"But-but-but how do you know it's real, 'tebayo?" Naruto was getting excited. In fact, the boy was practically bouncing in his seat—correction, Naruto was bouncing while he pressed his heels together and held his feet.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and exhaled as he sat down on the couch beside the enigmatic pink haired girl. "In the legends, it was said the Rikudō Sennin had a Rinnegan." Sakura and Naruto's clueless looks prompted Jiraiya to explain. "The Rinnegan is said to be a tool of heaven…a tool of god that would bring salvation when the world was in chaos or…or a weapon that would destroy all creation and return everything to dust… [1]" Those seated around the man looked at him expectantly, and Jiraiya winced. "I have seen someone with that doujutsu."

"What?!" "Where?" "Whoa!" Sakura was the only one speechless.

Jiraiya shifted slightly, "I…trained some young people in need during the second war while I was in Ame."

"You trained someone before Minato-sensei?" Kakashi whispered, and Jiraiya bowed his head before nodding. "Does Hokage-sama know?" Jiraiya winced, though he neither confirmed nor denied Kakashi's suspicions.

"Those kids had had such promise and…" he shook his head, "when I saw that Rinnegan, I knew I had to help those kids because—" Jiraiya shook his head again.

"Because the kid with it could have saved the world?" Naruto supplied quietly with a fascinated look on his face.

"Yes and I…" he shook his head. "I couldn't leave knowing that boy could grow up with hate and use that dojutsu to destroy the world. For a time, I even thought he might be a reincarnation of the Rikudō Sennin."

It was silent for a moment before Naruto spoke up, "What happened to him?"

"I have my suspicions, but I do not know anything for certain." Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck. "The kids I had trained started a group called Akatsuki, a resistance group in Ame against Hanzo."

"But they're now after…" Naruto paled more along with his teammates, and Jiraiya rubbed his face.

"Whether that kid still is with them or not, I don't know. I don't know…" he shook his head. "Akatsuki has multiple hideouts and while the kids I trained were in Ame, the organization has changed. Even if I were to investigate Ame for them, no one can get into Ame undetected. There is new leadership in that country, and whoever they are knows every movement made within the village's walls."

They were all silent for a long moment as they processed. Then Jiraiya spoke up again, and this time directed his gaze back at Sakura. "But I'm curious, where did you hear about the Rikudō Sennin's intent for the biju. That would imply that he created them and none of the legends detail that."

The girl nodded. "My dad's family travels the world and that was the story they told about the Sennin." It was hard to tell whether the girl was lying or not. She had not shifted in unease, she had not fidgeted, and she had not looked away from him except as dictated by his superior status. Yet it was so unbelievable, and her earlier speechlessness would indicate she had no truthful response. Moreover, because of his explanation, she would have had plenty of time to come up with a lie. Jiraiya would have to trust his gut on this, and his gut said this was a lie she had come up with to cover her previous slip-up, but her words about the Rikudō Sennin had not been lies; she believed the Rikudō Sennin intended the bijuu to be an ally.

The girl then shifted slightly under his continued gaze. "But I mean, given what you said about the symbiotic relationship between the jinchuuriki and the biju, perhaps it's not too far off the think of the biju as a possible ally. An ally that will be hesitant because of years as a prisoner?" That was certainly a way to think about it.

The girl shifted again and then hopped off of the couch. "Neh, I think my parents set out some board games if you want to try playing them," she offered to her teammates. Now she was diverting attention. His instincts were right then, she had been lying about her explanation. Jiraiya glanced over at Kakashi who caught his suspecting look. He watched as the Jounin's jaw tensed and his eye flickered almost nervously between Sakura and Jiraiya.

The girl was now huddled with her teammates around some old board game that was supposed to simulate civilian business adventures. The girl began explaining the rules to her teammates while continuing to dry her hair. Jiraiya stood up and gestured for Kakashi to follow him. They moved up to the girls' room. He could see the previously described tarot cards laid out on the ground with paper weights atop them.

Kakashi shifted to from one foot to the other and raised his visible eyebrow as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Jiraiya leaned against the window and faced the younger man with his arms crossed over his chest. "What am I missing?" Kakashi's blank expression told him he needed to elaborate. "I read that girl's file, none of her family have a kekkei genkai and she doesn't either."

Kakashi hummed and nodded his head slightly. "I had assumed Hokage-sama informed. You should go speak with him."

"So there is something I should know, but Sensei hasn't debriefed me yet. Any reason you can think why he wouldn't?"

Kakashi hummed again before examining the girl's closet door—it was decorated with stickers and a poster for some movie. "I suppose he is attempting to keep the circle as small as possible when it comes to this matter."

That was not the answer Jiraiya wanted or was expecting. He frowned and furrowed his brow. Sensei trusted him to act independently in favor of the village, he trusted Jiraiya with some of the most crucial national secrets, yet he was keeping this girl's secret from him. Although…this was not the first time, was it? The mysterious clairvoyant that tipped Sensei off to Akatsuki hadn't been divul— Jiraiya glanced back at the tarot cards.

He gave a short laugh that was more of a scoff than anything. The timing, the girl's insight…huh, who would have thought? "Did you know I've come across psychics and fortunetellers in my travels?"

"Oh?" Kakashi just raised an eyebrow, and Jiraiya smirked a little as he crouched in front of the tarot cards.

"Yes, and they were real—not just people who were good at reading others, but legitimate psychics." Kakashi hummed again and shifted his weight to a different foot. Jiraiya glanced up at him quickly before looking back down at the cards.

"I mean, I've heard prophecies from the elder toads, but humans can exhibit this too—I suspect it's a different way for chakra to manifest within a person, but I don't have any proof." He was still working out the theory, but it seemed plausible. He was always intrigued by those nomadic psychics he came across, and what made these civilians unique.

Jiraiya stood up then and walked around cards and moved to look at the dolls on the girl's desk. Cute. He picked up one with a likeness to Kakashi and waved its hand at the younger man. He couldn't help smiling as he continued speaking. "Most of the human psychics and fortunetellers I've come across are nomadic. They travel constantly so they cannot be tied down or abused by shinobi villages. Much like I believe young Sakura's father's family. Did he not marry into the Haruno family from some nomadic clan?"

"So the report says," Kakashi's expression was blank again, and Jiraiya knew his suspicions were right.

Jiraiya set the doll back down and moved toward the door of the room. So the pink haired girl was a clairvoyant, and she knew much more than she should because of her abilities. "I'll have to ask Haruno-san for a tea reading before we leave," Jiraiya tossed this comment over his shoulder as he began moving back down the stairs.

At the foot of the stairs, he clapped his hands together loudly. "So! Who's going to teach this game to me, huh?" He smiled broadly as he joined the kids huddled around the game board.

His godson jumped in to teach the rules with an unmatched exuberance and an abundance of verbal ticks. Throughout the explanation, Jiraiya couldn't help but glance over at the young psychic. Who would have thought?

…

Shikamaru stared up at the ceiling of his room. The sun had just begun to peak through the curtains of his room but he was wide awake. After the spar with Team 7, Team 10 had continued training. Ino's rivalry drove her further in her exercises than ever before. It wasn't that Ino had been slacking off before, but she was support and information gathering. The most combat their team would face would be on retrieval missions, and even then, their strategizing should accommodate for their lack of combat prowess. So really, he and Ino had focused on ranged weaponry and manipulating the field to their advantage, but they didn't work much on upfront fights. Their physical abilities were not as honed as Choji's because of their role on the team, but the spar with Team 7 revealed they needed to work on their weaknesses. So Ino kicked up her physical training regimen that day while Asuma-sensei began briefing Shikamaru on his upcoming fight with Temari.

Shikamaru should be sleeping right now but he couldn't. When he had come home from training, he fell straight to sleep. He had been tired because of the spar and training afterwards, but for the last few hours he had been replaying the spar from the day before. Something about it unsettled him still, and it wasn't the fire it lit in his annoying teammate. No…it was Team 7's seriousness, and their mysterious C-rank mission that had gone bad. He was definitely missing something. Their drive wasn't just from hard work but from survival. They took that spar and their training seriously because they needed to.

Team 7 was an infiltration team—their experiment at that teahouse and their overall subterfuge tipped the specialty off to him—but they had combat prowess. Why did they have combat prowess, especially to the degree they did? Why was a "friendly" spar so serious, and why would they use such harsh tactics? Sure, Shikamaru had thought of a few, but he had dismissed them because it was a spar with his countrymen. Team 7 had held nothing back, and part of the spar felt like…Shikamaru didn't know, maybe a warning or wake-up call? It especially was one of Ino, but-but why?

Those chuunin Ino had overheard gossiping about Team 7 killing on their mission in Nami no Kuni…could that have been the case? Shikamaru suspected as much, but there was more to it than them having killed a few bandits. Something hang like a warning around the team. They acted like everything was a matter of survival, but why?

Shikamaru knew killing did something to people, at least on some level. Even as a kid, he knew it did something. He could recall clan members coming back from a mission grim faced. It wasn't the grimness a teammate's passing caused but a different one. No…this grimness left people looking hollow and numb, even withdrawn. No one said anything about it; they just occasionally set a hand on the person's shoulder or gave them a shot of sake or a bottle of beer—even genin his age sometimes got that treatment. Nobody talked about it, but Shikamaru knew those grim faced clan members had killed and it weighed on them.

Hell, Shikamaru always knew when a cousin had killed because there was this look in the cousin's eye at times. It was like a hard edge, and for a moment Shikamaru had seen such a hardness in Team 7's eyes, but there was something more to it. Was it the desperateness or resignation of someone who would do what they must to survive?

Things on Team 7's C-rank could not be as simple as the reports say. They didn't just kill some bandits; no, things got bad, so bad not even a jounin could help them. Team 7 realized how fragile their own lives were and they had to fight to survive. Being ninja became something more to them because of that mission. They might have all been trained to kill since they were six, and might have been desensitized to killing, but Team 7 had realized what that all actually meant.

Shikamaru threw his arm over his eyes as his mind continued to focus on Team 7. There was one more thing bothering him. He thought it the last time he saw them but…but why were they so nervous about the next chuunin exams? Those had to be six months away, so why did they quit this exam when they could have gone on?! There were ANBU watching Team 7 and his team, but why? And Team 7 knew what it was all about too.

Shit… things were getting serious, weren't they? Was there a war coming that Team 7 knew about, but why would Team 7 know? Or was it that need to survive that was driving them? But then why did they push that onto Team 10 too? Why did everything seem so-so…troublesome.

Shikamaru kicked his blankets off him after arriving to the same conclusion for the twelfth time. It was still uncertain, but one thing was clear—no matter how troublesome and annoying, Shikamaru had to work harder. Something was coming and he would not be caught unprepared.

Getting dressed, he moved to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He had training with his father today in preparation of the upcoming public rounds; Team 10 all had clan training today. Shikamaru didn't need to get ready yet for at least five hours, but he couldn't sit around anymore. He needed to get faster and stronger. He couldn't always rely on his teammates and his current skill set.

Shikamaru dried his face before moving into the rest of the house—his mom was still asleep even. Grabbing something light to eat, Shikamaru began to move out toward the clan training areas in the early morning light. Huh…he hadn't worked with such shadows since…well, since he was a kid.

Finishing his breakfast, Shikamaru began some easy laps around the field before stretching. Feeling like he had digested—because throwing up would have been troublesome—he began sprinting without chakra around the field before he'd continue with the rest of his physical training.

…

"Ah! Hey it's Team 8! Hi Kiba-san, Shino-san, Hinata-chan!" Naruto greeted loudly.

The Ganbaru Shinobi had just returned to their designated training field—after having done their laps around the village—to the sight of Team 8 waiting for them. Kakashi-sensei raised an eyebrow as he signed for the Ganbaru Shinobi to continue their warm up stretches. Naruto deflated slightly at that but moved into his beginning stretches while saying no more.

"Kurenai-san, welcome to our training ground. Can I help you?" He shoved his hands in his pockets while he rocked back onto his heels.

"Well, my students had heard about your spar with Team 10, and they hoped—"

"Mah, my genin have a strict training schedule to keep and another team spar will disrupt it." It was rare for Kakashi-sensei to interrupt someone, and it seemed the Team 8's sensei knew the same. The woman physically drew back at the response. Sakura frowned as she moved into another stretch that worked on her tendons. She wouldn't have minded another team spar—it was good experience for the international exams—but she also knew they couldn't reveal too much of their skills and the more spars they had, the more they could reveal.

"However," Sensei added on thoughtfully, "my genin are anxious to learn certain skills I am…" he sighed in annoyance, "apparently" the word dripped with sarcasm, "less equipped to teach them." He threw a dry look back at them, and Sakura could feel her brow furrow in confusion—she wasn't the only one. Sensei turned back to Team 8, "In return, I could teach your genin a few things within peace time limitations."

"Oh…" the woman blinked several times while Kiba made a face and looked like he was about to say something less than pleasant. However, the red eyed woman threw a sharp look at the Inuzuka boy before pursing her lips and looking Sensei up and down. "If it is training you're offering, I have a counter."

Sensei just hummed in response, and Sakura could imagine he had an eyebrow raised. Now the genin on the other team were beginning to shift at the almost awkward atmosphere—Hinata in particular was blushing as she fidgeted in place. Team 7 just kept stretching as they glanced over at the other team.

"You know, Kakashi-san, I am awfully curious about how you adapted my lesson plans to your genin. Perhaps we should join up for training for a week?" Oh…that was clever, but Sensei wouldn't fall for such a blatant attempt to looking into their skills.

"Hmm… I counter your offer," or maybe he would? Sakura gave a quick almost worried look at her teammates who were looking wary (Sasuke) and excited (Naruto). "We do morning warm ups as my team does, break into what we'd like each other to teach the genin until noon."

"Shino-kun needs to train for the finals," Kurenai argued, and Sensei hummed as he nodded his head.

"Of course, that is what the afternoon will be for: clan training. If more time is needed for the finals, then we could train together for a few days of the week rather than the full week. Is that agreeable?"

The woman narrowed her red eyes for a moment as she considered the offer. "Either we do a full week together or carry this another week." Sensei shrugged, and the woman added another stipulation. "Also, I'd like the genin to do the training together until noon. So we will alternate teaching—I'd rather like to see how you teach my genin."

Sakura actually grimaced at that, especially when she saw how her sensei tensed. Okay…that was definitely not just the woman being protective of her genin. Maybe they shouldn't have been making their sensei out to be a monster all these months? Team 8 didn't miss the tension either and they looked at each other almost awkwardly.

Sensei didn't say anything but he did stiffly nod his head. The Kurenai woman smiled. "Wonderful!" She set her hands on her hips. "Now, I hope you might teach my genin either a few ninjutsu or team tactics for different combat scenarios." Kiba looked excited about the ninjutsu but less thrilled about the tactics.

"That's doable," Sensei consented with a nod of his head. "Team tactics would insure we remain in accordance with the peace time regulations, so I will defer to that, but I have a few D-rank ninjutsu your genin may find useful."

"What the hell?!" Kiba shouted while Hinata muttered something about calming down.

Kurenai just gave her excitable student a look before nodding her head. "That is agreeable to me. Now," she paused as she folded her arms under her bust, "what is it you'd like me to teach your genin?"

There was a beat of silence, and Sensei shifted his weight slightly. "Seduction."

…

"Wait-wait-wait," Jiraiya shook his head as he held a hand up. "Kakashi-kun just bluntly told that sexy sensei with the red eyes and the big—" Sakura may have kicked the sennin under the table. The sennin dropped his hands from his chest and picked up where he had gotten distracted, "—he wanted her to teach you seduction?!" Jiraiya blew out some air as he leaned back in his seat and began to chuckle.

"Yeah, Kaka-sensei's awkward, dattebyo" Naruto agreed while his siblings nodded their heads.

"Not that you two can talk," Sakura murmured under her breath, and Jiraiya chuckled a little more while her brothers looked at her in varied expressions of offense.

"So…what was her response?" Jiraiya pressed for more information. Oh, he could just envision the rage on a woman like that's face. She probably thought they were too young for such lessons and probably would have taken the request as a personal insult too.

"Well…" Naruto began after a moment, "she asked Sensei to repeat, so he did, and then she got really scary 'tebayo."

"She began to exude some KI," Sasuke elaborated in a bored tone as he picked at some food.

"Then she began to rant about teaching impressionable young minds inappropriate things," Sakura added.

"Neh, you're forgetting the part about how she said something like 'What kind of kunoichi do you think I am?'" The blonde quoted the genjutsu mistress with a falsetto voice.

Jiraiya chuckled. He could think of the woman's potential in one of his books with the right—oh they were talking more. Shelving those fantasies and possible story lines to one side, Jiraiya focused back on the genin.

"Well, Kaka-sensei eventually calmed her down by saying we wanted to learn it because of our time as umm…waitresses. So, yeah," the blonde shrugged again, and Jiraiya shook his head. He had been filled in on their previous exercises in infiltration.

"Of course, Kurenai-sensei," Sakura added, "said she didn't know how to teach the boys, and Sensei told her we needed to learn what kunoichi did and he'd teach us how shinobi seduced later."

"But we all know Kaka-sensei doesn't know how to seduce people, dattebayo, so we're probably going to be stuck," Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, and Jiraiya began to cough on his own spit.

"Wha-What makes you say that?" Jiraiya hit his chest a few times as he tried to stop coughing.

Sasuke smirked almost maliciously while his teammates just shrugged and calmly said, "He's asexual."

"Every genin wants to think their sensei is asexual; it's like how kids don't want to think about their parents having sex." Sakura and Sasuke made disturbed looks at the reference, while Naruto just gave the man a nonplused look.

"Huh? But he is asexual 'tebayo," the boy was becoming frustrated now.

Jiraiya sighed. Yeah, he had never heard of the jounin being with anyone, but Kakashi was a shinobi; plus, he was a healthy young man who had to have a sex drive. "He reads my books, and he has always been popular with the ladies—do you know how many fanclubs he had and probably still has?"

"Yeah but it's like Sasuke-san, he doesn't like any of them even if they like him," Naruto rebutted.

"Plus," Sakura added, "I firmly believe Sensei reads those trashy books—" "Hey!" "—for reasons other than the obvious."

"And reading that trash—" "It's art damn it!" "—doesn't mean he's…" Sasuke trailed off looking a little green as he rolled his hands; he consequently ended speaking at the same time as Jiraiya's interruption. Really these kids just had no respect for him!

Jiraiya shook his head. "Look kids, I hate to break it to you, but your sensei has been on seduction missions before."

"Yeah right!" the boys challenged with varying degrees of derision, while Sakura threw him a skeptical look.

"Even if that was the case," the girl offered in a more level headed manner, "it's acting, and Sensei would still be asexual."

Damn these kids were stubborn, but what they said had merit. Maybe he should ask Kakashi about his love life or sex life—he never seemed like the romantic type. Maybe the kid was just having a dry spell? Or it was his trust issues and PTSD keeping Kakashi from even fooling around. Oooh…maybe he really should check in on the kid. Of course, this also could just be the genin poking fun at their sensei and also vehemently denying the sexuality of a superior for their own sanity—like not wanting to know your parents have sex.

Jiraiya shook his head to dismiss those thoughts and focused back on the genin in front of him. "You know it's a little weird how much thought you've each put into your sensei's sex life."

"How is it weird if he doesn't have one?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Jiraiya blinked for a moment before laughing loudly. "Oh kid…" He wiped at some moisture at the corner of his eye, "you'll learn someday."

The genin shared looks with each other while Sakura spoke up for them. "We really haven't put much thought into it; it just makes sense."

"Alright, alright," Jiraiya waved his hands in front of him. Damn, the kids really were stubborn. "Say what you will. Now let's focus back in on what I'm teaching you, yeah?"

They all nodded, but Naruto had to add something just like his motor mouth mom would have. "Okay, but will you teach us how to seduce as shinobi? 'Cause Sensei probably doesn't know how to 'tebayo."

When Jiraiya removed himself from the ground, he stared up at the three innocent looking genin in front of him. Oh, Kakashi-kun, what have you been dealing with?

…

Kiba hated this arrangement from the go. Why did they have train with Team 7? What was Kurenai-sensei thinking or hoping to get from this? Since Team 10 sparred the other team, it was like Team 7 had become the new measuring stick, and they hadn't even made it into the second phase of the Chuunin exams! What could Team 8 learn from the other team anyways? Or at least that was what Kiba had first thought.

Yeah, the deadlast and Uchiha had taken him down while they were in the hot springs that one time, but Kiba had been training a lot since then, so he shouldn't feel outclassed. But as he stared at the backs of Team 7's stupid brown jackets, Kiba wondered how the hell he was supposed to keep up. Kiba was the fastest of his teammates and he was always just a little short of Team 7. How was he behind the dead last!?

A glance backwards showed Shino and Hinata keeping pace together though they were still lagging behind several paces. That lazy sensei passed them after a moment, "Keep pushing yourselves genin, and don't use your chakra." Kiba growled at the casual words thrown at him while Team 7 picked up the pace somehow.

"Come on Kiba-san!" the dead last cheered over his shoulder. "You can do it Hinata-chan, Shino-san!" Kiba could hear Hinata give a little squeak before he heard her picking up the pace.

"Ten more laps!" Sakura called as if to cheer them on more. This was infuriating. By the time they were done, Kiba felt like his lungs were burning and Akamura was whimpering feebly in his jacket. First that lazy Nara had trapped Kiba and now he was outrun by the dead last and a fangirl! The humiliation could not feel more real.

The masked jounin landed in front of them and clapped. "You know the drill genin," he said to his students in an overly cheerful tone. "Make your way back to the training field. Flips first, hand stands second!"

Team 7 gave affirmatives and began to do flips and cartwheels through the forest back toward the training ground. For real?! Growling, Kiba set his worn out companion on the ground and began to take off after the genin ahead of him.

His arms felt like lead by the time they got back to the original training field, and Kiba thought he might have pulled something during a few of his flips. If Kiba learned one thing from these warm ups, it was how much he had been relying on his chakra. He groaned as he began to stretch out his inner thigh—oh that was the pulled muscle. He glanced over at Team 7 who had been slightly red faced after the run but now looked calm as they stretched. His own teammates looked a bit flushed and were panting slightly from the exercise.

Man…Team 7 did not mess around with their workouts. Kiba moved to stretch out the tendons in his legs slightly while he glanced up at Kurenai-sensei and the lazy sensei. They were talking, and, if he focused, he could probably hear them. Yeah…he was picking up what they were saying now.

"That was not the warm up I was expecting; I recall suggesting something less extreme in my lesson plans," Kurenai-sensei muttered, and the lazy Jounin shrugged. The woman sent him a glare, which was always intimidating because of her red eyes, "I think you are taking too much after Gai-san."

"What?" the lazy man scoffed a little. "No, I would never. ever." Sensei gave the man a sidelong look that said she didn't believe him. Kiba shifted into his next stretch while the male Jounin shifted slightly. "Any similarities are coincidence."

"Uh-huh," Kurenai-sensei drawled skeptically before her expression became serious. "Don't you think you might be pushing a little too much?"

"They've built their way up to the amount they do now, Kurenai-san," the jounin responded casually, though there was a slightly defensive edge to his voice. "They also have days when the warm up is more relaxed because the training itself is more intense. They will be having relaxed training today so the warm up compensates for it."

"Hmm." Kiba wasn't sure what to make of Sensei's response, but she was soon adding on. "And the balance of physical energies and spiritual energies?"

"I have accounted for that as well Kurenai-san," the Jounin almost sounded bored, but Kurenai-sensei smiled slightly. "They have designated meditation times and they do therapeutic meditation in the evening."

"Oh…" there was an awkward beat for a moment. "Is the meditation helping them cope, do you think?" Sensei was whispering now, and Kiba had to strain his heightened senses to catch what they were saying as he moved to the next group of stretches.

"We worked on resolution for the weeks after, and they have hobbies now to help too. …" Kiba kept waiting for the Jounin to say something next, but he didn't even though there seemed to be several false starts.

Kurenai-sensei waited maybe half a minute before speaking up. "Do you think they should see a Yamanka?" The lazy Jounin closed his eye like he was in pain. Kiba moved onto to his next stretches.

"They should." But they aren't, Kiba added in his head.

Kurenai-sensei frowned, "Why aren't they?"

"Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan's minds are dangerous, and Sasuke's previous traumas have left scars…"

"The girl's dangerous?"

The Jounin eye-smiled, "I believe they diagnosed that she has an inner-will that fights mental intrusions." Kurenai-sensei looked impressed.

"Well, that could help her in genjutsu," Sensei offered while gauging the man's reaction. He hummed. Kurenai-sensei coughed, "I'm sure simple counseling could help too," Kurenai-sensei suggested, and the lazy Jounin gave her an eye-smile.

"You know how genin sometimes take on traits of their sensei?" the woman nodded in response to the question. "How good have I been at disclosing my emotions and thoughts?" the man asked blandly. Kurenai-sensei gave the Jounin a disapproving look before shaking her head.

"At least they have coping strategies in place," she mumbled. The man gave an affirmative noise before clapping his hands.

"Alright genin," Kiba pulled out of his last stretch and formed ranks with the other genin as the lazy jounin addressed them. "I will be teaching you a jutsu that temporarily paralyzes your enemy." Really?

"Like the Nara shadow possession?" It still rankled Kiba that Shikamaru beat him. The guy couldn't fight hand-to-hand all that well, so Kiba should have had been able to wipe the floor with the lazy guy, but he couldn't.

"No," was the response he got, and it made Kiba's hackles raise slightly. The lazy Jounin continued with his explanation as if Kiba hadn't asked a question. "Kanashibari no jutsu can be effective depending on your skill. Those with precision can even paralyze an opponent with a look or paralyze multiple opponents.

"While this is D-rank, many do not use the technique for they either fail to see the promise in such a jutsu or do not know how to use it effectively. Several ANBU personnel know this technique and use it to great success in capturing enemies."

The Jounin paused and ran his eyes over each of them as if to gauge their reception of the jutsu. "Now, Sakura-chan, I would like you to stand off against Naruto-kun and use the jutsu."

"Wait she already knows this?!" Kiba blurted out. Where did she learn it? After all, why would their sensei reteach his own genin something they already knew?

The Jounin gave Kiba an unimpressed look and motioned for the fangirl and the dead last to come forward. The lazy Jounin then raised his hand up. As soon as he lowered it, the dead last rushed forward.

The fangirl jumped back, and then flipped to the side as Naruto pursued her. He dodged to the side several times after she ran through a few hand signs. However, each time the hand signs differed by one or two signs. Was she trying to psych him out or was she trying to remember the hand signs? Then, just as the deadlast had gotten into the fangirl's range, she smiled and the blonde froze mid punch. The fangirl quickly moved into the boy's space and held a kunai to his throat. It all happened in a matter of seconds and the paralysis left the blonde but he was already compromised. The pink-haired girl hadn't even needed to use hand signs for the jutsu that time.

"I hate that jutsu," the deadlast mumbled while the fangirl just gave him a lopsided smile before childishly sticking her tongue.

"Just 'cause you haven't gotten it down yet…"

The boy grumbled something under his breath and sat down with his arms folded over his chest while he began pouting. Kurenai-sensei tilted her head as she examined Sakura for a moment.

"Is this a type of genjutsu?" she asked after a moment, and Kiba was shocked she didn't already know the jutsu.

The lazy Jounin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yes and no. It functions similarly in the sense that your chakra infiltrates the opponent's, but it is different for it momentarily blocks the nervous system by centralizing the chakra along the spinal column rather than the brainstem. The target's mind isn't tricked into believing the body is paralyzed; the target is actually paralyzed for that short moment."

"Wow…" and that was classified as a D-rank jutsu? Kiba really should stop underestimating them.

"But the jutsu takes precision even if it is not taxing chakra-wise," Kurenai-sensei deduced. "Therefore, genjutsu specialists or medics would be perfect users of the technique while the average shinobi would not be able to use the technique to much success."

The lazy jounin eye-smiled, "Which is why most ninja don't take advantage of the technique."

"Yourself included," the deadlast mumbled as he leaned back on his arms and stuck his legs out straight. The Jounin gave the boy an unimpressed look for a moment before eye-smiling again.

"Yes, but I have never denied its usefulness, which is why I taught it to your teammates and will teach it to Team 8."

"Wait, so why are they learning it again?" Kiba interjected. This seemed like a waste of time for the other team, but it also explained where the fangirl had learned the jutsu.

The Jounin closed his eye though he might have been blinking—Kiba couldn't tell the difference. He sighed and looked over to Kurenai-sensei as if prompting her to explain.

Sensei coughed before speaking. "Kiba-kun, your former classmates will help you learn the jutsu and they will likely also take this time to refine their abilities with the jutsu."

"Exactly," the lazy Jounin affirmed before giving his genin a look too. "Like me, they opt not to use the jutsu," his tone was dry now. Said Genin looked either at the sky or the ground as they shuffled their feet, and the deadlast snickered. The Jounin clapped again. "But now they all get to work on it again!" he used an overly cheerful tone as he eye-smiled. Okay, that was starting to creep Kiba out.

"Even me?" the deadlast asked with grimace on his face. The Jounin nodded while maintaining his creepy smile. "I'm gonna go work on my chakra control," the blonde mumbled as he got up and began moving for a tree.

"Good plan, Naruto-kun!" the almost terrifyingly cheerful man called, and the blonde actually shuddered a little—Kiba felt like that too. The Jounin then turned his eye-smile onto all of them. "In fact, we should all begin with chakra control exercises." He paused and turned to look at Kurenai-sensei, "Do you have some advanced recommendations?"

The deadlast was now back by them within a heartbeat and looking excited. Kiba's hair ruffled a little in the wind he had produced. Sensei shifted slightly. "Well…" she began with an uncertain look, "I do but they would need to be approved by Hokage-sama."

The lazy Jounin pulled out some documents from his vest, "I made the request for both of our teams last night, and Hokage-sama has had them notarized."

Kurenai-sensei blinked several times before taking the documents and reading through them. "Did you forge my signature?" she asked incredulously.

"Hmm?" the Jounin asked before looking at what she was pointing to, "Oh, Hokage-sama did that." What?! Kurenai-sensei seemed to be processing things like Kiba was.

"Right then…" She shook her head and gestured for each of them to gather around. "Here is what I will need each of you to do…."

By the time noon was rolling around, Kiba felt exhausted. It was less physical and more mental exhaustion. Well, he had some physical aches from the warm-up and he was a bit tapped out chakra wise from the exercise. Still…the chakra exercise had been more mentally draining than anything. He had never thought about manipulating chakra in such a way; it was almost like patting one's head while rubbing one's stomach and hopping on one foot while water walking.

"Genin," the lazy jounin called out, "I would like each of you to take the last hour to meditate." Kiba fell onto his back and gave a relieved exhale. However, he sat up and began to even out his breathing and drown out the noise around him. In fact, he had reached his zen and stayed in it for a long time when a word broke into his meditation. War.

Kiba maintained his breathing and kept his eyes closed, but he began to let the noise around him register again.

"You didn't answer me Kakashi-san," Kurenai-sesnei's voice was hard and edged with worry.

"Now isn't the time to talk about this Kurenai-san," the lazy Jounin's voice was hard and held an authoritative edge.

"You may be my senpai, but you and Hokage-sama went behind my back to get the documentation ready for advanced skills. These kinds of requests usually take weeks to notarize, so why the hurry?

"I know the veteran Jounin are preparing for something," Kurenai-senei added in a whisper Kiba could barely hear. "Is there war coming? An invasion?" There was a pause before Kurenai-sensei gasped lightly. "Who's leading the invasion? Is it set for the public round?"

"We have suspects, but nothing definitive," the Jounin responded just as quietly, and Kiba was sure he would not have been able to hear the exchange if not for his naturally superior hearing.

"Does any of it have to do with the ANBU guards around my genin?" still hushed whispers.

"Orochimaru disguised himself as a Kusa-genin during the second phase; we believe he's looking for genin." Kiba wasn't sure how he remained calm and breathing steady, but he was. He felt a bit numb.

"Kiba-kun said a genin had cards with your genin's information. You've been training them in advanced skills for some time now, why? Why risk breaking the peace time regulations?" Sensei's voice was thin and trembling ever so slightly.

"The boys have targets on their backs; Hokage-sama agrees they should be prepared," the lazy jounin's voice was quiet and almost devoid of emotion.

"You'd tell me if there was a war coming, wouldn't you? I need to prepare my genin," Kurenai-sensei's protectiveness was coming through in those whispered words.

"We're still in peace-time."

"Of course," the earlier concern was replaced with a hard edge. The two instructors lapsed into silence, and Kiba realized there would be no further discussion. He tried to focus back on his breathing and meditation, but he kept thinking about what they had said.

There were people after the deadlast? He could get the Uchiha, but the deadlast was-was the deadlast. How could people be after him? Was it Orochimaru? Kiba had heard vague horror stories about what Orochimaru had done to people before he went rogue.

Then there was all that talk about peace time regulations. His mom had vaguely told him about that when he came home complaining about how he hadn't been learning awesome jutsu or as intense things as he did at home. Clans can teach children whatever they deemed the child should know, but jounin instructors had to limit what they taught their genin for multiple reasons. One, they didn't want to overpower the genin in case the genin went rogue or were actually a plant from another country, and the second reason was the peace time regulations. If Konoha began teaching their genin a lot of C-rank or higher techniques, it could be perceived as a threat. The peace time regulations also limited the number of promotions a country can give at any one time. If a country began amassing Jounin, that was a warning sign, same with promoting too many genin to chuunin. Yes chuunin took up the main force of shinobi, but there was still an accepted ratio.

So, yeah, Kiba remembered telling Kurenai-sensei about those ninja info cards that Kabuto guy showed them because it hadn't seemed fair. Initially he had thought it all pertained to the Uchiha, which just looked like favoritism, but after talking with Kurenai-sensei, he realized it was really just the requests Team 7's instructor made for his genin's training. There was fuinjutsu training, advanced field medicine training, poison permits, advanced taijutsu technique requests, and elemental chakra testing were the requests that had stuck out to him and that he had remembered. It was like that lazy jounin was preparing his team for the worst, for war, but since they were still at peace with the other countries, they couldn't be overt in their training and had to file all the requests.

But even within those restrictions are opportunities for the one-eyed Jounin to make his genin deadly. Focusing on D-ranks that could be effective with the right practice and skill was one way to give his students an edge. Hearing the possibilities of the Kanashibari no Jutsu and seeing it for himself highlighted that last point. Paralyzing your opponent for even just a few seconds could give any ninja the opening to kill their enemy, just as the fangirl showed.

Wait…The conversation he had overheard earlier. Counseling, Team 7 needed counseling and coping strategies. But why? And Kurenai-sensei was nervous about Team 8 needing it too. No, Kurenai-sensei knew they would need counseling some day after a mission—a bad mission. She was looking to her senpai for advice to learn how to respond to when Team 8 would inevitably need counseling…when Team 8 eventually killed… That was what the Jounin instructors had been dancing around: first kills.

Kiba remembered his mother taking him hunting. He had just gotten his beast form down and she told him to kill the rabbit with his claws. He did and it was a different experience from hunting with traps. She then sat him down and asked what he was feeling, but Kiba couldn't articulate it. He grew up with animals around him; they were part of his family and life. So to kill an animal, like a rabbit, with his bare hands had felt…wrong in a way. His mother said he would be expected to kill other humans someday as a shinobi, and no one was ever really equipped to process those emotions.

His mother said there would always be a part of killing that was for survival. You kill rabbits and other game to feed yourself, to survive. You kill other humans to survive because they will kill you first. Or you kill to ensure the survival of the pack. Killing is necessary but it is not easy. Killing changes you and sometimes hurts in ways that can't be explained. So you have to cope or learn to cope. You get counseling. Team 7 had killed already, and none of them could get counseling so they had had to learn to cope with what they had done. Damn…

Kiba had always know how dangerous and serious it was to be a ninja, but this moment just…made it real. No, that wasn't right. It had always been real, but he hadn't understood. His rivalry with others, his pride in his skills…what did it really mean anyways? He could always improve and with and invasion coming…

Kiba flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see that masked jounin crouched in front of him. "Clam down Inuzuka-kun," he whispered. Kiba looked behind the Jounin and saw Kurenai-sensei frowning at them. "I know you were eavesdropping earlier," Kiba involuntarily tensed, and Kurenai-sensei's eye widened in alarm, "but you start acting differently and others will know. Keep calm."

"Easier said than done…" he muttered under his breath, and the Jounin gave an eye-smile.

"Ask my genin for pointers then." The man stood up and returned to Kurenai-sensei's side.

"You let him overhear…" she mumbled, and the man just gave her an eye-smile, but his body language said he was tense.

"Shall we disrupt the genin's meditation?" he asked with false cheerfulness. "Do you know my favorite method?" Kurenai-sensei shook her head and watched the Jounin warily. If the man could make his eye turn into any more of an upside down u, he would have as he brought his hands together and… Kiba scrambled back away from the man. His legs were shaking and he felt like he was going to die!

Team 7 snapped out of their meditations and began launching projectiles at their sensei while the rest of Team 8 moved back on uneasy limbs. Shino actually drew on his kikaichū and made a thin barrier between him and the Jounin. Akamura whimpered pitifully beside Kiba.

"Kakashi-san!" Kurenai-sensei chastised while also sounding appalled.

The terrifying aura disappeared, and Kiba took his first breath since the KI hit him. The Jounin just shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets, "What? It tests their reflexes against a hostile force."

"You're terrible," she admonished while shaking her head. She then glared at the man and a terrifying aura began seeping off of her as she glared at the man beside her—though Kiba didn't feel as afraid since it wasn't directed at him. "Don't ever do that to my genin again," she hissed, and the Jounin nodded with a neutral expression. The suffocating aura dispersed again, and Kurenai-sensei turned back to Team 8, "We're going to lunch now. You'll have clan training afterwards." Kiba nodded dazedly as he left with his team.

Once Team 8 left, Naruto scratched the back of his head. "So…Kiba-san's chakra was all going crazy toward the end of meditation. What happened?" It really confused the boy. Feeling his chakra, it was like Dog-breath kept fluctuating between worry, panic, and fear. Then there would be somber lulls in his chakra.

"I let him overhear my conversation with Kurenai-san about future threats."

Naruto rubbed his chin as he nodded his head; that actually made a lot of sense. "Ya know, I thought he felt afraid," Naruto's tone was wistful as he continued to rub his chin like the grandpas he saw playing those board games with the little wood pieces—what was the name of that game?

Kaka-sensei blinked, "Excuse me?"

Naruto pulled out of his reverie and shrugged. "His chakra got all sad at one point and then all anxious and scared at another point."

"Dobe, are you saying you can feel the emotions of others in their chakra?" Teme-nii sounded like he was caught between incredulity and awe.

"Yeah…" he dragged the word out as he stared at his teammates warily. "Is that not normal?" his voice went up an octave with the question.

Kakashi-sensei just shook his head. "I've heard of sensor types with empathetic abilities, but I hadn't considered you a sensor type."

"It may be due to his status. I've heard rumors of others with the ability to sense emotions," Naruto whirled around at the sound of the perverted sannin. He was standing behind them with a thoughtful expression on his face as he regarded Naruto. The old man then waved his hand, "but now is not the time for that."

Jiraiya then smiled broadly, "We have training to do!"

"Where are we going today?" Nee-chan asked before Naruto could.

The Sannin smiled broadly. "Why only the most expensive teahouse in Konoha!" he exclaimed, and Naruto immediately deflated. This was going to be boring.

"Can't we go somewhere else today?" Naruto would deny whining if anyone asked.

"Mah, but how else will you learn proper tea ceremony?" Kaka-sensei chimed in.

The Sannin nodded his head sagely. "Yes and at these establishments you are more likely to hear political intrigue from upper class citizens who think they could become the next big name or influence the daimyō. You also pick up news on trade agreements and foreign politics, so…shall we?" Ugh! That sounded so boring!

"Can we at least have fun disguises, 'tebayo!"

"Well, who should we be, Naruto-san? We don't want to be anyone too noticeable but we don't want to be thrown out or looked at as suspect," Nee-chan stated.

"We also can't have any known connections to clans or the like otherwise our covers are blown," Teme-nii added on.

Naruto hummed and rubbed his chin while their instructors watched them work through the problem. "Do you think spectators and traders for the public round of the chuunin exams are coming in now?"

Sakura hummed, "My mom said she was getting more foreign trade since the chuunin exams began, so I guess." She shrugged, and Naruto hummed again.

"Suna and Oto are the only allied nations in the public rounds, but other allied countries might have merchants attend to promote their domestic wares," Teme-nii offered, and Nee-chan nodded her head in confirmation.

"What about Takigakure? We're allied, right?" Naruto asked, and his teammates nodded though they didn't look too positive. "So what wares would they sell do you think?"

"Textiles, so they may be selling fabrics to clothing stores," Sakura chimed in confidently.

"They also produce medicinal herbs and poisons," Teme-nii shoved his hands in his pockets as he said this. He then frowned, "How dead are our gardens?" he asked Sensei. Oh no their gardens! Naruto completely forgot with Orochimaru and everything.

"Kohai has been taking care of them," Sensei then gestured for them to continue with their conversation.

"Really weird-eye guy's taking care of our gardens? Why'd he do that?"

"Naruto-san, remember Yamato-san likes to garden." Sakura reminded gently.

"Well yeah but why would he—"

"Dobe, don't worry about it too much, just be thankful he's doing that for us."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'd be said if Ukki-san junior died before it even got to grow." Naruto ignored the confused looks around him and focused back on their covers.

Tapping his chin, he hummed in thought. "So we got textiles and healing stuff, huh?" With his arms folded over his chest, Naruto nodded his head, "It would make sense for some merchants from Takigakure to be here, right? I mean," Naruto licked his lips, "they would want to see the competition and sell their wares to increase trade."

"Yeah…" Nee-chan consented with a grimace.

But Teme-nii was frowning too. "I don't know…Aren't they like the only hidden village to not be invaded? So would they want to draw in trade like that? Also, wouldn't we be suspect if we pose as their merchants—people might assume we are ninja spying, you know?"

"But there are better places to spy than a fancy tea shop, 'tebayo," Naruto refuted. He scrunched up his face and shrugged, "I mean, what ninja would care about civilian plots and conversations?" Teme-nii only stared at him with a deadpan expression, and Naruto huffed as he sat down on the ground and began to pluck at the grass.

"Well, what else should we be, datteyabo!?" he challenged, and his teammates were silent. "If we go as some small Hi no Kuni village merchants, we might run into contacts of them and be exposed, or we would be thrown out because we wouldn't have the money perceived appropriate for the place." His teammates now sat down beside him, and Naruto pulled more viciously at the grass. "And if we are an allied nation we again run into connection risks, but a neutral country with less established trade could be a good cover, 'tebayo."

Teme-nii and Nee-chan looked at each other before sighing. "Alright, dobe, let's try it." Nee-chan just gave him an encouraging smile. A glance over at the Sannin said he was amused by their debate but he was also proud of them.

"Neh, Ero-sennin," the man's eye twitched, which just made Naruto smile mischievously. New nickname acquired! "Do you have advice on appearance?"

"Do you have to call me that, Naruto-kun?" the Sannin asked with a wounded expression. Naruto just nodded his head vigorously, and the Sannin gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Most Takigakure citizens are pale. The shinobi tend to have pastel colored hair while civilians appear more mundane." Naruto raised his eyebrow skeptically. The old man just shrugged. "Don't ask me. I don't get it; it probably has to do with chakra." That was beginning to feel like the man's go to answer for the inexplicable.

"That's usually your response," Nee-chan mused suddenly, and Naruto couldn't stop from laughing, especially as the old man dropped his head forward like he had been defeated. Ha! If that didn't say he and Nee-chan were siblings, then what did!?

As Naruto calmed down, ideas came to him. "Hey, hey, hey! I got an idea!" Everyone looked at him expectantly. "We have a granny with her daughter/apprentice as the medicinal people, then a young couple as fabric merchants!"

"I'm the daughter!" Sakura blurted out immediately. While Jiraiya called out, "Can't we make it a grandpa?"

"Nope!" Naruto beamed. "People trust the old ladies with herbal stuff, so it's gotta be a granny."

"I'll be the granny," Teme-nii volunteered, which meant—

"Eww! No! I'm not gonna pretend to be a couple with that pervert!"

"Yes, it's inappropriate—I'll be the granny," Jiraiya said this with a grimace before what Naruto said fully caught up with him. "Hey! Anyone would be proud to be married to me."

"Yeah, well none of us would," Naruto stated dryly, and Ero-sennin pouted.

"We'll have to pretend to married on occasion as an infiltration team anyways, so it's not a big deal," Nee-chan reasoned.

"Then why did you say you'd be the apprentice right away?" Teme-nii challenged with a smirk.

"I'm not pretending to be married to my baby brothers!" she scrunched up her face even as the hypocrisy rang clear between them all.

"Janken to decide who's what!" Naruto announced, and his siblings paled.

"Why don't we just make the textile duo siblings?" Nee-chan tried to bargain.

Naruto just gave her a steady look. "How often do siblings successfully enter business together?"

"It does happen," she groused, and Naruto made a disbelieving hum.

"Yeah, but it isn't always successful."

"Well, neither do couple businesses!" Nee-chan argued again.

Ero-sennin got between them before they could start on the really fun arguements. "Alright that's enough; we're drawing straws. Longest for the granny, next longest for the apprentice, then the shorts straws for the couple." By straws, the jounin meant blades of grass. Preparing themselves, they picked their fates.

"No!" Naruto cried while Nee-chan paled and held up the short blade of grass that matched Naruto's. "Nee-chan! I don't want to be married to you!" He cried as he hugged her.

"I don't want to either, Otoutou, but we have to for training."

Naruto sniffed and pulled back, "Fine. I'll be the wife."

"Okay."

Teme-nii stared at his blade of grass and then Ero-sennin's. "Just because you'll look like a young girl, doesn't mean you should do anything inappropriate," he warned the old man. The dark haired boy then turned to Naruto, "So what should we look like? Something like this?" Sasuke put his hands together, and after the smoke cleared was a little, hunched granny with her grey hair pulled into a strict bun. She was slightly tanned, likely from years collecting herbs. Her frown lines were exaggerated and she had multiple crow's feet, but not many other wrinkles though the skin on her hands were thin.

"Awesome!" Naruto turned to Ero-sennin. "I'd match the nose and ears and a slightly lighter complexion. Do black hair and age her maybe early twenties."

The Sennin frowned but made his henge to Naruto's specifications, well almost.

"Smaller bust!" Naruto shouted while shaking his head in disappointment. Chuckling, the perverted old man changed the henge. "Better," Naruto announced with a stern nod.

Naruto then turned to Sakura. "We'll wanna be pale if we worked in textiles most our lives. I'm thinking brown hair for me."

Sakura nodded. "Black curly hair for the husband and a more bulbous nose." They nodded and did their henge. Everyone's clothes appeared to be a nicer quality and they proceeded on their way while discussing names.

...

When Baki gave them the afternoon off, Gaara knew it was so that they could do individual training and information gathering. They were to look for structurally weak points in Konoha, and possible areas civilians may be drawn to while Baki met with Otogakure officials and other Suna elite.

Gaara would have opted to sit in the room while his siblings explored, but he didn't like the silence that greeted him. Mother…the voice was silent now. Perhaps trying to make him feel bad for doubting it and choosing others over it? It was making him anxious, he wasn't used to this silence within his own mind. So Gaara decided to go with his siblings.

They were making a show of shopping and seeing sights with a Konoha chuunin escort and several ANBU shadows. Gaara walked with his siblings through the more shinobi-centric shopping areas in boredom. Kankuro stocked up on oil, ninja wire, and senbon for Karasu, while Temari bought some flash bombs and kunai. When they went to the ninja clothing store, Temari bought a few steel-mesh shirts.

"You know," Temari said suddenly as they were exiting the clothing shop, "I kind of want to get a kimono. With all the diplomatic dinners we've had, I've gotten bored with Suna fashion."

Their chuunin guide frowned but eventually began leading them toward more civilian shopping areas. Gaara's siblings talked idly as they walked, and once at the clothing store, they entered almost animated conversations with the clerk. Perhaps he should have stayed at the hotel, though no one as bothering him right now.

While Temari held up different silks and fabrics to her person, Gaara looked around his person in boredom. Different kimono patterns, different fabrics, obi… He glanced out the window. Across the street was a store filled with display cases of shinny objects across the street. Metal? Were there more weapons over there? If there were, they were worth examining since they were in the civilian district.

Gaara glanced back at his sister who was trying the fifth piece of fabric and had just roped Kankuro into getting a new outfit for diplomatic dinners. He nodded to the chuunin. "I'm going across the street. The ANBU can watch me." The chuunin reared back slightly at that but didn't try to stop Gaara.

The boy looked around him as he moved over to the store. When he entered the place, he frowned. This was jewelry and not functional jewelry that could hold weapons. Well that was a waste of time.

"Excuse me, Shinobi-san, can I help you with something? Are you purchasing something for a girlfriend perhaps?" There was that phrase again. Frowning, he shook his head.

"None of this is practical. I'm leaving." The clerk sputtered, but Gaara was already heading back to the damn tailor.

Once he returned to his spot, Temari glanced over at him with a frown. "Where did you go Gaara?" She was still slightly nervous talking to him.

"Across the street."

"Isn't that a jewelry store?" she looked confused. Gaara was mildly surprised she knew what the store was—he couldn't see the sign from in here.

He just hummed and moved closer to his siblings. "What is a girlfriend?" Temari froze and her eyes widened while Kankuro began coughing.

"Ask Kankuro!" Temari blurted out and looked anywhere but at her siblings. Somehow Kankuro tripped over his own feet.

"I-I-I'm not explaining it to him!" Why were his siblings getting so flustered?

"You're both annoying me," he shouldn't have growled that because now his siblings were pale and fearful again. He closed his eyes and breathed. "Just tell me what it means."

There was an awkward tension in the air. "A girlfriend is a girl you like who, umm, likes you back…" Temari began slowly, and Gaara gave her an unimpressed look so she pressed on. "Umm…you go on dates with her and stuff."

"What does that mean?" this was annoying. His siblings looked at each other with wide eyes before Temari motioned for Kankuro to explain.

"Uh…umm…dates are um…a way to get to know someone and uh…" he scratched the back of his head, which pulled his hood back slightly. He fixed it while fidgeting in place.

"There must be more to it," his bland statement made his siblings actually blush, and he narrowed his gaze. What was wrong with them!? Their Chuunin guide was stifling laughter now, so Gaara shot him a withering glare which shut the man up. He then turned back to his siblings expectantly.

Temari nudged Kankuro again who glared at her but managed to get out: "D-dates help you figure out if you should marry someone."

Gaara furrowed his brow, "So a girlfriend is a potential wife?"

His siblings looked at each other and grimaced, "Yeah…" They dragged out the word.

"That seems pointless given most marriages are arranged for our clan." His siblings deflated at that and frowned as they looked at each other.

"Well yes, but having a girlfriend isn't pointless. I-I mean…" Temari trialed off and blushed as she scratched her cheek.

"It's like practice for having a wife," Kankuro suggested, which made Temari scowl and glare at him. He shrugged, "What else would you call it?"

"I don't know, a possible meaningful relationship!?"

"It's not like he knows what that means either," Kankuro argued back in a whisper before realizing what he said and giving a grimace like smile at Gaara.

"This seems stupid and pointless." Gaara turned on his heel. "I'm going to that ramen stand." As he was leaving, he heard the Chuunin mumble something while his siblings gaped back at Gaara.

"Did that really just happen?" Kankuro asked Temari.

"I think it did. Do you think he and that Haruno girl are dating?"

"Did she say she was his girlfriend?" Kankuro sounded incredulous, but before he could hear Teamri's response, Gaara was out of the building and using shunshin to reach the ramen stand that odd genin team took him to.

When he pulled back the flaps and entered the stand, he was greeted with a smile. "Ah! Naruto-kun's friend! Welcome, welcome! First bowl is on the house!" Taken aback by the kindness, Gaara sat down at the stool absentmindedly.

"What was your name again, Shinobi-san?" the old man asked.

"Gaara."

The man smiled more, "Well, Gaara-kun, what would you like to eat? You had miso before, right?" Gaara nodded again and the man looked at him expectantly.

After a beat, Gaara realized the man was waiting for his order. "Miso is fine." The man smiled again and went into the back while his assistant—daughter perhaps—came forward.

"Hello Gaara-kun, I am Ayame. How long have you known Naruto-kun?"

"A week." The young woman pulled back and smiled more.

"You two must have been fast friends then!" She began to ramble on about how nice it was for Naruto to have friends and how he used to come to the stand alone or with Hokage-sama. She then started talking about the pranks he'd do, and she sounded a little nostalgic and amused.

Normally Gaara would have been annoyed, but he listened and found himself enjoying the stories. He quickly finished his first bowl and soon a second one was set in front of him. Feeling slightly full, he picked at his bowl while the girl continued her stories about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

The girl paused, "Gaara-kun, is something wrong with the ramen?" She asked suddenly with a frown on her face. Gaara blinked.

"No…I am full." The young woman nodded and smiled again. Why had the old man assumed he'd want a second bowl? Perhaps because of the blonde jinchuuriki? He had gone through bowl after bowl like he had a bottomless stomach.

"What is Suna like, if you don't mind me asking? I've only ever been in Konoha?" the young woman laughed a little sheepishly.

Gaara blinked and looked down at the bowl. "It's cold at night and hot during the day." She hummed and waited for him to go one. "We have clay homes."

"What does it smell like? I've heard there are some spices you can only find in Suna."

Gaara nodded his head and unbeknownst to him he began to smile. "Some streets they cook these special chilies, so you can't help but sneeze and cough when you walk through it. And the streets with the food vendors…" He couldn't articulate it but it just smelled like Suna…like home. But it wasn't really home for him, he was a monster there and no one trusted him. He had to be alone for his own protection, for his own safety because the moment he let someone in there they would try to kill him. He couldn't rely on other's love anymore, but…things were different here. Those strange genin…they accepted him, they showed Gaara compassion and kindness—they offered to be friends.

And the blonde loud boy. He was like Gaara. He had been alone for so long but he let his teammates in and they became siblings. Naruto was hated too, hated and feared by the people he's charged to protect. Gaara had seen the glares Naruto garnered when they had walked together a week ago. He had since witnessed people write crude things on the blonde's apartment building and heard hateful whispers from the civilians. Even the other shinobi and kunoichi distrusted him, but still Naruto pushed through it and had friends and was-was happy. He and Naruto were so similar but he chose to let others help him. Gaara only pushed people away. His choices…they were what caused his misery and he distrust he faced.

His own people feared him and he did nothing to dissuade it because he thought love was weak, but watching that stupid blonde and his teammates… Love didn't make one weak, it gave one something to fight for and protect. It gave someone's live meaning; it validated a person's existence.

"Gaara-kun?" the girl asked gently, and he frowned.

"I should find my siblings," he quickly set down his tab and he used shunshin to return to the hotel. He was confused all because of those stupid genin and remembering his home for what it was. Remembering what he loved about the village he had come to hate.

Gaara missed the smells of the market and the sounds of the linen tarps flapping in the wind. He missed the cacophony of the bazar even though he was never allowed in or to peruse the wares without causing a panic. He would sit on the hard clay rooftops above the market and watch the different fabrics flutter even as they spread between the buildings forming the sides of the bazar and provided shade to the vendors. And the smells of the spices and grilled meats. He vaguely remembered Uncle buying him a stick with goat meat cooked over a grill once and it had been the best thing he had ever tasted.

Gaara pulled his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes as he hid his face. He used to love watching the bazar from the rooftops. Shinobi would go out together to food stands and buy grilled meat on sticks and bottles of beer. They would laugh and tell stories as they ate, and the young ninja would crowd around with their own food and ask questions. Then there were the kids in a side street who would shout and laugh as they played a game with a ball and clay hoops. He wanted to join them, but they always ran away, so he watched. Watching didn't lead to yelling or fear. Watching let him be there even if he wasn't part of it. He used to love all those things until Uncle…and then Mother started tormenting him and he was all alone.

Mother wanted them to all die, but he was supposed to protect the villagers; Father made sure he understood that just as he understood he was to be alone. So some of those nights he couldn't sleep, he would watch the villagers just so he could figure out why he had to protect them. Mother…the voice he reminded himself, never thought they were worthy of his protection but they had to be so he invented reasons to keep himself from giving into mother's demands.

Those shinobi with the beers were teaching the younger shinobi through stories so they would not make the same mistakes. Without the vendors they would not have gathered together. Suna needed the trade so none of the other vendors could be killed either. Those kids playing that game in the alley could become ninja. But now…now those were not just reasons to not kill them but something more…they made Suna Suna, they made the village what it was. Those people were the reason he found himself watching them from the rooftops and once upon a time trying to connect with them. Those people were the reason he now missed home. He missed Suna even though he was a monster there. He missed home.

A/N: That felt like a good stopping point. I hope this chapter didn't feel like filler; its purpose may be subtle but the chapter did establish elements that will be expanded on later within the characters.

Also, I apologize if the "Kakashi is asexual" running gag is getting too annoying. I realize it might be for some readers. I confess, I read him that way because I don't recall him being with someone, but I don't think it's a stretch either. There will just be one more reference to it next chapter, and then I will stop making the jokes—not that being asexual is a joke. Though I mean, it would be pretty cool if Kakashi was canonically asexual—I mean it diversifies the sexualities represented in the series at least somewhat. Anyways, thank you for your support. ~ Love, depressedchildren

[1] – this was a direct quote from the series.