Chapter 15 – Team 13: D-Rank Mission #5… A Game of Hide and Seek! Part 2

Sho Inugami sat resting on the tips of his feet on the eve of a rooftop like a gargoyle, looking over the section of the city that he'd been assigned to search for junior ninja in. Nobody gave him a second glance, despite his odd perch.

Actually, no one was giving him a first glance either - one of the first things he did after leaving the Ninja Academy was to use his Hide in Plain Sight Genjutsu technique to cloak his appearance. Only a Genjutsu specialist like Yuuhi Kurenai, someone with the Byakugan or Sharingan Kekkei Genkai, or someone with augmented senses - like Kiba Inuzaka or Shino Aburame - could find him now.

A slight shudder ran down Sho's spine when he thought about Shino Aburame. He rather liked Shino and his general attitude towards, well, pretty much everything, but the medic in him rebelled at the thought of the massive physiological changes that the Aburame clan put themselves through to give the kikai mushi a hive.

'Of course that's pretty much the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?' He thought to himself. 'After all, my mother's abilities that I inherited are no less "unnatural" than theirs' in the overall scheme of things. We're just not as open about them as they are... And for a damn good reason.'

'Still... It kind of sucks being unable to confide with anyone without holding back...' He sighed being utterly honest with himself in his own mind. 'I razz Haruno and Itou mainly out of jealousy for what they have - even if they don't realize they have it. Well, maybe someday someone can be let in on our secret before...'

He shook his head. 'This is no time to get morose. We have a mission to do - one that calls for a very special bit of practice...'

He reached into the medical kit kept at his waist, pulling out a specially marked vial. Popping the cork, he emptied the contents into his hands. Sho then raised his hands into a seal symbol far different than the standard twelve taught in the Academy.

He started by making a pair of interlocking rings with the middle finger and thumb of his left hand and the thumb and ring finger of his right, the former contents of the vial held where the four fingers touched each other. He then connected the six loose fingers to its counterpart on the other hand - index to index, pinky to pinky, and finally the ring finger of his left to the middle finger of his right. It was a technique his own mother had developed based on a discovery she'd made in her own bloodwork during her first pregnancy; something that she'd passed down to all three of her children.

It was too new to be called a Kekkei Genkai – it would have to exist in Anastasia's grandkids and great-grandkids to earn that right – but if it waddled and quacked like a duck…

"Idenshi Hijutsu: Gizouzai Hutago." Sho intoned. This secret Inugami family technique – the Counterfeit Twin – was one of the few that he actually felt obligated to say aloud; more out of respect to his mother than anything else. A lot of ninja had an idiotic tendency to say the names of their techniques aloud. In Sho's personal opinion, if the technique worked the way it should - namely killing or maiming the foe the jutsu was aimed at - who cared what it was called? It just gave the survivors something to research a counter-technique for the next encounter.

He let off a brief grunt of discomfort as the jutsu took effect followed by a slow, shuddering breath as he broke the hand seal. As his fingers separated the immolated remnants of the vial's contents, destroyed in the process of activating the technique, scattered in the breeze.

"Suitchi jotai." He then said after a new set of hand seals. Chakra raced to his eyes, altering his view of the world. He was still learning to use this skill; his parents had only permitted him to start using the more advanced materials since graduating the Academy.

Rising to his feet, he started using the expansion to his senses granted by use of his special technique, quickly locating all the hiding students that he could find from his perch in his assigned territory. Those locations - there were 15 in all - were instantly locked into his perfect memory.

"Gen no jotai." Inugami intoned, causing his vision to return to normal as he put his family's secret jutsu into an idle state to conserve chakra. It would only be if he completely dispelled the technique that he'd have to start the process over.

Not that he could; the special materials needed as part of the technique's initial activation could be very difficult to come by, depending on the nature of it, that he was only permitted to carry one casting's worth at a time.

'And a-hunting we will go...' Sho thought to himself with a malicious grin. Then he paused as he remembered something. 'Wait… Miho-sensei had to make a promise to the Sandaime's grandson to not use her special abilities to locate the hiding students. I made no such promise, but I should to keep it nonetheless - after all, I probably would have had to give something similar had my ability been known...'

The medic frowned as he contemplated the ethics involved. 'At the same time, I can't just forget what I know; one of the few drawbacks of a perfect memory. Therefore, a compromise is in order...' He pondered the situation for a moment before hitting the base of his fist into the palm of his opposite hand. 'All right - we use the information I got from jutsu to target them, but we observe their efforts unbiased. Those offering a superior performance get a stay until I get all the subpar ones. I'll have to expend more effort, which I detest having to do, but it's as fair as I can make it, all things considered.'

He then nodded to himself. "Let's see what this class is capable of." He said aloud, leaping to the ground below - bouncing off the buildings in the alley to land safely.

* * *

Using Body Flicker whenever he could without hitting someone on the street, it took Inugami about ten minutes to scout out the fifteen locations. Of them, six had been absolutely pathetic attempts to disguise themselves - utter embarrassments to Iruka-sensei - that Sho had had no compunctions in ambushing them spectacularly by grabbing the student, chewing them out while taking their armband, and then using his white ribbons to tie their arms behind their backs using horrendously complex knots to prevent them from using the escape jutsu to break free.

'Yeah, it's a mean thing to do,' Sho thought to himself when the last one nearly wet himself at getting caught. 'But on the other hand - in the real world - the opposition probably wouldn't be trying to take them alive. Better they learn that now than later.' He frowned. 'And it's still better than what Mizuki did that one time he managed to catch me...'

Sho shuddered as he recalled the nightmarish illusion the teacher-turned-traitor had forced on him before he'd managed to break free... The details were thankfully blurry - he remembered that it had involved him and his entire family being executed by an angry mob because their family's secrets had been revealed, but little more than that. Those fears had been enough that he'd gotten Aniki to teach him the Hide in Plain Sight jutsu the next day.

'And that bastard Mizuki - or the other Senseis for that matter - never managed to find me during Stealth training exercises ever again.' Sho thought to himself with a feral grin. 'In any event, six down, nine to go - including my sister, Karin, but she's using the Hide in Plain Sight technique flawlessly, so she'll have to be the last to get picked up. If I get her now, Karin would know that I used THAT technique, she'd tell Mom and Pop, they'd get annoyed, and that's more aggravation than I need at the moment.'

'All right, that means there are only seven I can go after. I pass by all of them on my way to the Sandaime's Grandson. His efforts were just marginally acceptable, given his age - enough to survive the first round of culling. He also saw what happened to the guy down the road that failed, so he might have tried a bit harder after I was out of sight.' He decided.

Inugami dropped his own stealth jutsu, allowing anyone with normal eyesight to see him. 'They've at least earned the right to at least see me coming for them; something the first six didn't get.'

* * *

Since this time he was giving the students a sporting chance, it took nearly twenty-five minutes to get to where Konohamaru Sarutobi was hiding himself. For four of the students, including Sho's sisters, their skills and luck were still holding when he passed by. The other four, however, had allowed boredom to seep in while waiting and let their guards slip as he walked near their location. This resulted in a disqualification that was almost as humiliating as what the first group endured, but they did not end with their arms tied behind their backs.

Sho was just rounding the corner onto the street that Konohamaru had set up shop, as it were, but came to an abrupt stop when he saw the Hata twins standing near where the boy was hiding. Inugami frowned to himself - Motoko's unusual ability to read chakra was still a largely unknown quantity in his calculations. She would surely be able to instantly sense his special jutsu in operation and might ask questions that he wouldn't want to answer...

The apprentice medic backtracked about two blocks - his estimate of the range of her ability was approximately four city blocks; based off of his past encounters with the young woman. Making certain no one was in sight, Sho turned off his special technique all together; it was a shame to waste the material, but all the effects had to go if he was going to keep her in the dark.

Once done, he resumed his approach to Konohamaru as if nothing had happened. As he turned the corner, he noticed that the twins were still standing where they'd been before.

Exactly where they'd been.

'That's odd...' He thought to himself. 'Raiden Hata is notoriously restless - Iruka-sensei practically had to tie him to the bench in class. I can't see him just standing around for his health.'

As he kept walking forward, he noticed that Motoko had a puzzled look on her face that was shared, although a bit less obviously, by her twin brother. Both were looking around for something.

'They're standing right by Konohamaru!' Sho realized with a start. 'Hata-san is sensing the kid's chakra and is trying to locate it. Raiden must have a similar ability to his sister - he realizes that something is out of place, but not sure what. Given his attitude, it looks like he's not sure what he's sensing, so he's probably not reading chakra like his sister can.'

As he came closer, Motoko stopped her aimless searching, orienting on him. "Oh, Sho-kun! Did you get what you forgot?" She asked curiously. Her usual tentativeness was conspicuously absent for a change.

Sho blinked in surprise - not only at her unusual question, but at her attitude and appearance. 'She's far more confident than I've ever seen her before... Well, for whatever reason she found that extra gumption, good for her.' He paused. 'Her lips are also that fascinating color of orange again; just like they were out on the 21st Training Grounds.'

He coughed, shaking his head. "What… What makes you think I forgot something, Hata-san?"

"Well, I was standing here, trying to find the source of this chakra pulse I'm sensing, and I thought I sensed something that felt like your pulse, but not quite the same, down the street. That pulse wandered off and then I sensed you clearly, so I figured that the first pulse must've been you, too, but this other pulse was distorting my sense before."

It was only Sho's long training to keep a tight rein on his facial expressions that kept his jaw from dropping open. 'Shit... Looks like I owe Konohamaru a favor - he distracted Motoko just enough to keep her from outright sensing my active jutsu. It also appears that she can see past it and find the real me underneath it. How very interesting! I'll have to keep that in mind in the future...'

He looked at Motoko; Sho was about to violate one of his personal taboos, but the reasons justified it. "Actually, it wasn't me, Hata-san." He lied, feeling nauseated with himself, despite the perceived necessity. "I did just pass by my father on the street, though… You might have been sensing him the first time and mistook it for me."

Motoko paused, contemplating his answer. She'd only met the male Inugami-sensei once or twice before and only in passing. She recalled that the chakra pulses of father and son WERE rather similar. Oh, that and the fact that Sho Inugami didn't lie to people. So his explanation was absolutely plausible...

'So why does it feel like I've been punched in the gut?' She asked herself. 'And why does he seem to feel the same way?'

She smiled at him, hiding her feelings as adroitly as Sho was. "You know, you're probably right, Sho-kun." She felt some of his nervousness fade. "Maybe you can help me with something else. I've been here for a little while..."

"Try ten minutes, Nee-san." Raiden interrupted.

Motoko Hata threw her twin a sour glance that shut him up almost instantly. Raiden raised his hands in apology and she turned back to Inugami. "Anyways, for the life of me, I can't quite narrow it down. Any suggestions?"

Sho nodded. "Yeah, actually, it's why I'm here. My team was assigned to help Iruka-sensei with Stealth training today." At the words, 'Stealth training,' Raiden's face caved slightly and Motoko gave a slight squeak of terror, losing some of the composure that she'd been showing up until now. They, too, had been caught by Mizuki previously. "Yeah, that was Kimiko and Nakahito's reaction when Hokage-sama gave us the assignment. You happen to be standing beside one of the students..."

Inugami lashed out, grabbing the edges of the disguise cloak. The cloak was a lot bigger than he expected - nearly four meters long. Hiding there, his back pressed against the real fence was Konohamaru Sarutobi. Motoko let out an incredibly cute cry of surprise as she recognized the Sandaime's grandson.

"Ah, man!" Konohamaru groused, picking up his cloak and beginning to fold it up. "How'd you know I was here?"

Sho gestured at the fence. "The pattern didn't line up right in a few spots." He paused, watching Konohamaru take the time to properly store his gear. "Why on earth are you using such a big cloak, kiddo? That's easily three times bigger than it needs to be."

"I accidentally gave my personal one to Moegi..." Konohamaru said with an embarrassed grin that showed he was missing one of his front teeth. "I only had our three man one, so I had to try and set it up on my own."

"Moegi." Sho said. "The girl that was with you and the kid with glasses? The other two wearing the copies of Uzumaki's goggles?"

"Oh, you're right!" Motoko said, noticing them for the first time. "Those are the same style Naruto-kun used to wear."

"You guys know the Boss?" Konohamaru asked in surprise.

"Boss?!" Raiden snorted. "That's cute - Naruto couldn't boss himself out of a wet paper bag. You should look for a better role model, kid."

"Naruto beat Ebisu-sensei, my Jonin tutor! That's better than you could do, dummy!" Konohamaru argued back.

Raiden's eyes bulged at the insult. He stormed up, lifting Konohamaru by the front of his shirt. "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, BRAT?!"

"Raiden! Put! Him! Down! Now!" Motoko ordered her brother. "That's the Third Hokage's grandson, you idiot!"

As hard-headed as Raiden was, he knew there were lines even HE didn't dare to cross. He set Konohamaru down. "All right. I won't beat you up, but I don't believe you either. There's no way that Uzumaki beat a Jonin."

"I'll prove it to you!" Konohamaru argued. "I'll beat you using the same technique that the Boss used!" He crossed his fingers, forming the seal for the transformation technique. "Transform!"

Konohamaru exploded into a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he was standing there looking like a good-looking dark haired woman and was nude save for a pair of revolving smoke rings that showed equal parts "too much" and "not enough."

He'd used Naruto's Sexy Transformation jutsu.

The eyes of both Hata twins bulged – for different reasons – in shock, while Inugami was barely able to keep his laughter under control.

The girl winked at Raiden and grabbed onto him. "Hey there, cutie!" S/he said in a voice that was equal parts silk and honey, pressing her cheesecake assets against the orange haired young man's arm.

Raiden, not expecting such a debased jutsu from the young ninja, stared blankly for a few minutes before collapsing in a puddle of his own blood that suddenly erupted from his nose. One or two people on the other side of the street did likewise.

"Honorable grandson!" Motoko shouted, her cheeks a bright red - half shocked in feminine horror and half barely containing her laughter at her brother's utter defeat. "Not in public!"

Another cloudy explosion later, the boy was back where he was - albeit with a titanic grin on his face. "Naruto-niisan did a lot more than that; he must have made twenty, thirty clones and started clinging to Ebisu-sensei. I think he called it his Harem Technique..." He prodded Raiden's twitching leg with his foot slightly with a frown. "I don't think he's listening to me anymore." The boy said the line so matter-of-factly that it caused both Sho and Motoko to start laughing outright.

"No..." Sho agreed, barely able to say the words around his laughter. "But I'm pretty sure he believes you now..." His comment caused Motoko to slump against the wall, laughing her heart out.

Konohamaru looked at Sho. "I'm just glad I got it right this time... When I tried using it on Ebisu-sensei, he just got mad; I was afraid I was doing it wrong." He paused, pointing at the downed teen. "Hey, wait; if I did it right, why did it work on the doofus here and not on you two?"

Inugami shrugged. "It's kind of hard to explain, kiddo." The boy was WAY too young for a birds and the bees talk… He glanced at Motoko, pausing as he took in the image of the normally sedate woman laughing uncontrollably. Sho gestured to her. "In the case of women, you're not showing them anything they haven't seen before."

He gestured at Raiden. "And with men it's hit or miss with guys depending on how mature they are. See, in my case, while I'm interested in pretty girls, like Hata-san here…" He gestured over his shoulder to the kunoichi without looking, "…just like any other guy, including the doofus here. The difference is that I prefer women that have a more personality and brains, again like Hata-san, than the eye candy fantasy that your illusion created. That preference is why I wasn't affected the way Hata-kun there was." He said pointing at the unconscious figure of Raiden to indicate he was changing which of the twins he was referring to.

Since Sho was so focused on explaining things to Konohamaru, he failed to notice that Motoko had not only stopped laughing, but had broken into a blush that had tears starting to well up in her eyes. Motoko's lip started to quiver as her self-confidence started to crack, but she covered it up by pulling out the handkerchief Shino had given her and started wiping her eyes as discretely as possible.

Sho grinned slightly. "I was also there when Naruto came up with the idea for the Sexy Jutsu; hell, I helped him get the anatomical proportions right. His first few efforts were ridiculously inaccurate."

"So you're friends with the Boss?" Konohamaru asked. "Do you know where he is? I haven't seen him in the village in weeks!"

"Whiskers? Yeah, he and his Team were given a special mission by your Grandfather - they're acting as bodyguards for a bridge-builder from the Land of Waves to the southeast. He'll be gone for the next two or three weeks."

"Oh." Konohamaru glanced down, looking momentarily depressed. Then he looked up. "Well at least I have something interesting to tell him about now!"

Sho nodded sagely. "Indeed you do, Sarutobi-kun." He reached into the pouch that Iruka-sensei had given him. "Now, I need to swap your armband for my ribbon and send you back to the Academy."

The Sandaime's grandson nodded, pulling off the four colored band. "Well, you caught me fair and square, Inugami-sempai." He held out the armband. "You know, you're not really as scary as the stories say you are..."

Sho grinned as he made the exchange, leaning in conspiratorially. "Do me a favor, though, Konohamaru - don't spread it around; I've got a reputation to maintain." Inugami said with a wink. Konohamaru nodded with a grin as he tied the ribbon around his arm. "All right, head on back to the Academy."

The boy turned about with a whirl of his blue scarf and dashed off without another word.

"What a quirky kid…" Inugami said, shaking his head.

Sho turned to the kunoichi Hata, who had managed to re-establish her cool while the medical ninja was focused on the young boy. "Do you need any help with your brother?"

"Huh?" Motoko asked, clearly still distracted by her thoughts. The white and blue clad ninja gestured to the bloody lump in the street. "Oh... No, let him be - it'll teach him a lesson that he's badly in need of."

She looked up at him, opening her mouth as if to ask a question, but found herself incapable of that much confidence. "Ano... Sho-kun..?" She tried, tentatively, to force herself to ask the question burning in the back of her mind.

"Hai, Hata-san?" Sho asked. 'I wonder why she's so nervous all of a sudden.'

A shy blush crossed her cheeks. "I... I... I was just wondering... C-could you tell me..." The blush became more pronounced and she mumbled the rest of the question under her breath.

"Tell you what, Hata-san?" Sho asked - the sinking feeling returning. He had such little experience with lying and was afraid that she might have been thinking about that. He was tempted to grit his teeth, but he paused. Motoko Hata was one of the kindest people in the village - easily on par with Hinata Hyuuga.

'Maybe... Maybe I can trust her. I mean, she has no qualms about Shino Aburame - I'm not that different when it comes to my family's technique… And it would be nice if I knew for certain that someone in this Village knew most of who the real me was before…' The medic's thoughts trailed off. 'I'll have to think about that... If I do, I'd have to ease her into it; I can't just drop it on her out of the blue.'

Motoko took a deep breath in a valiant effort to shore up her courage again, the blush fading. "When you were talking with Konohamaru about his..." A faint blush of embarrassment returned. "His technique. D-did you... What you said..." She paused uncomfortably. Her nervousness was returning even faster than before. Motoko's heart felt like it was racing so hard she couldn't believe that Sho-kun couldn't hear it from where he was standing.

She took a quick breath - determined to ask the question. "Did you mean what you said about...?" Her courage collapsed like a badly built structure before she could say "Me?" She opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to force it out, but her voice was locked. She took a quick breath. "About girls?" She finished, feeling a bit lame about the cop-out. 'Oh, God, just kill me now...' She cried out internally as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Inugami looked at the kunoichi, the tense feeling fading. Motoko was fixated on something other than the lie. He smiled at her, not quite following her train of logic or understanding why it was affecting her so badly.

This was mainly because, for the first time in a long time, Sho Inugami had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Of course I did; I'm a complex person, so vapid people that only have their looks working for them - like Ino Yamanaka - turn me off."

He thought for a moment, enjoying the rare opportunity to be mostly open with someone. "If I were to try and put it in words, I guess I'd say I'd be more interested in someone that complements me, someone that I can click with, over a pretty face. There are a lot of amazing things that medicine and ninjutsu can do..." He reached out, clasping her hand to help pull her to her feet. He noticed the panicked look on her face, but failed to understand its meaning, so gave her a warm smile in an effort to calm her down.

However, it had the opposite effect - Motoko's face flushed and the weaker part of her personality was begging her body to run away, but she stood there, mesmerized.

"But two things neither can change are stupidity..." He touched her forehead lightly with the first two fingers of his right hand to emphasize his point. As when he had touched her head on the training field a week earlier, an almost electric thrill ran through her mind and body. He then lowered his hand to place his fingers on the top of her rib cage, well above the swell of her breasts to avoid the appearance that he was trying to grope her. "Or a bad spirit." He finished.

If his first touch had been electric, the second was almost like being struck by lightning itself. The feelings coursing through Motoko Hata were indescribable beyond what they made her do... She freaked out. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed.

Fortunately, although he didn't know why it was happening, Sho Inugami was able to react fast enough to catch her before she hit the fence or the ground. "Hata-san?" He asked out of reflex, but the look on her face quickly told him that she was as incoherent as her brother at the moment.

He set her gently on the ground, leaning her against the fence. He activated one of his medical jutsu to evaluate her condition. It took him a few minutes to realize that he had no clue as to why she suddenly passed out - heart rate was fine, if slightly elevated, and her temperature was normal. It was baffling to him. Without knowing the cause, he couldn't find a solution to help… THAT was just infuriating.

Inugami sighed, looking at Motoko Hata. Her face had a peaceful look on it that was mesmerizing to him, but he couldn't figure out why. He frowned... As much as he hated the thought of doing so, he had to leave her here to be able to continue his assignment. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a pad and a pen. He scratched out a quick note, folded it up and used one of his extra ribbons to tie it to her wrist - he didn't see any pockets on her outfit and she wasn't carrying her tool pouch or her sword.

Rising to his feet, he gave Raiden a not-so gentle nudge to the ribs to rouse him. Raiden coughed. "Oww... What the hell?"

"You got bested by a nine-year-old." Sho said. "And then your sister passed out. I've got a mission to complete, so I can't stay any longer than I already have. I would have carried her home, but I don't know where you live and doing so would have left your butt in the street blocking traffic."

"Right..." Raiden Hata said, wiping the blood away from his nose with a sigh. "Well, it's not the first time I've had to do so because of you…"

Inugami's eyes narrowed. He'd never done anything to Motoko Hata - before or after the boar incident. To be accused of doing so, even obliquely, caused his blood to boil.

Before Raiden could blink, Inugami had grabbed a fistful of the other Genin's shirt and slammed him into the fence with enough force to crack a few boards. "You get two minutes to explain that statement before we start finding out which bones you can have broken and still be able to carry your sister home."

As he looked at the medic's face through the green-tinted lenses, the male Hata twin was taken aback by the fact that the white areas of Inugami's eyes were changing to a darker color, although he couldn't be sure which one. As a result, the normally unrepentant, self-assured Raiden Hata actually flinched at the medic's threat. While he had been at the prospect of a fighter that might be the equal of Sasuke Uchiha for him to compete against, he knew that he was currently at a disadvantage: pinned, still a little bit woozy from waking up, and facing an already irritated opponent was a bad combination to try and get out of...

'Motoko will probably beat me up if I tell him.' Raiden thought to himself. 'But Oni might KILL me if I don't.' He groaned. 'I'm screwed either way...'

He looked at the medic. "You didn't hear this from me, okay?"

Inugami gave a negligent gesture. "Heard what from whom?"

Hata looked at Sho. "I suppose that's as good as I'm going to get..." He slumped, sighing. "My sister - for reasons that even I can't fathom - likes you… A lot. I mean we're talking Sakura Haruno to Sasuke Uchiha kind of like only without the mindless drooling. But she lacks the self-confidence that Sakura-chan has, so thoughts like that get her too excited and she passes out."

'Like Hinata Hyuuga to Whiskers.' Sho instantly realized, releasing his grip on Raiden; shocked beyond words.

Inugami turned to look at Motoko, who looked so peaceful where she sat sleeping… This dynamic was not something that he had any experience with; which left him feeling uncertain about what to do.

'This is an unexpected complication... I maintain my unfriendly persona towards others as an discouragement to keep people from WANTING to pry in my life. But she likes me despite that...'

'On the other hand,' Part of him whispered back, 'It's proof that maybe she'd be able to accept the truth... About everything including...'

He shook his head savagely, cutting off the thought. 'We can't hope for that! An angel like Motoko Hata deserves someone better than a demon like me! We have to encourage her to find that someone; even if it hurts to know what could have been… It's the least we can do for one of the few people that passed the test!'

'But what if she remains despite our efforts to do the right thing?' The other side asked.

"Then we'll re-review the situation then." Sho muttered tersely, ending that line of thought. He stepped over to Motoko, pulling out the note that he'd written - it would only exacerbate the situation - and tucked it into an inner pocket on his shirt. He considered removing the ribbon too, but decided to leave it behind.

Sho looked at her twin brother, "When she wakes up, tell her I'm sorry..." He paused. "…That I couldn't stay until she woke up to make sure she was okay and that I hope she feels better." He nodded - it was a truth that allowed him to keep his promise not to implicate Raiden.

Raiden looked at him, surprise evident on his face. "You can do polite?"

Sho grinned wryly. "It's not normally in my nature, but your sister is one of the few people that are actually worth liking in this village, so I'm willing to make the effort. Thanks for the heads up, by the way... Now that I know, I can minimize incidents like this; she doesn't deserve to have to suffer because of me."

Hata threw a mock salute. "Your secret's safe with me, Inugami."

Sho snorted, returning it. "And yours with me." He pulled down the glove on his left arm to glance at his watch. "I've got to get back to the Academy." He turned and then started to walk down the street.

Just before he turned the corner at the end of the block, the medic paused, looking back at the angelic form of Motoko Hata. For one brief moment, he contemplated the legendarily infuriating question of "What if..?" A cool gust of wind blew past him, chilling the exposed skin of his left arm - he'd forgotten to straighten out his elbow-length gloves - and dragging his attention back to the now.

Pulling the glove back into place, Inugami shuddered as he remembered the true events of the boar incident when he was nine. He felt phantoms of the agony in his arm and on his back that he'd experienced that day - all because of that damn animal. The myriad folktale versions and even the "whole story" that he had given to the teachers when they had found him covered in blood with scrapes and torn clothing has all been less than fully accurate.

'That was the last time I had to lie to someone...' He suddenly realized. 'Must be why I'm feeling like this... Another reminder that those spawned of Hell like me don't deserve the chance to associate with someone as pure as her.'

Feeling the depths of his self-loathing rising with crippling force, Sho bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. The coppery taste and the spike of red pain instantly cleared his mind, allowing him to regain his normally calm composure. He turned away, walking as fast as he could to make up the time lost due to wishful thinking.

* * *

Nakahito Haruno stood on the roof of a building nearest his latest successful 'capture' of an Academy student; his fourth in the ten minutes since he'd reached the area that he, Kimiko and Sho had agreed upon when they'd divided up the parts of the village the students were allowed to hide themselves in. The first two had been older students that tried using an illusionary technique to hide behind, but they'd been too close to each other that the two jutsu had clashed, causing a visual distortion that anyone would have noticed. Number 3 had been in the younger age group and had tried using the Transformation jutsu, but was nearly as bad at it as Naruto was; the face had been grossly disfigured and the clothing looked like a tailor with muscle control issues had made it.

The last one had been a surprise - the young woman had done such an incredible job at disguising herself that Nakahito hadn't noticed her presence, but accidentally let off a giggle of amusement when he'd passed by her. She'd then tried flirting with him to buy herself a second chance, but Nakahito had seen through her blandishments, swapped the armband for one of his ribbons and sent her on her way. Despite his rejection of her efforts, she'd kept up the pretense as she walked away - almost if she was expecting her rather evocative movement would change his mind. Any other day and that might have actually worked; but the morning's horrifying encounter with Kimiko had dulled his normal responses.

Nakahito shook his head, banishing the chain of thoughts that would follow if he wasn't careful. It was bad enough that it had happened in the first place; he had no desire to relive it - even in a daydream. Kimiko was a friend, not fodder for such fantasies; no matter how good looking she was.

Haruno took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts on the task at hand. "I'm doing pretty good..." He said aloud to himself, "But I must admit this is a lot harder than I expected - I've got a bit more respect for the Senseis than I did before doing this..."

He moved to the eve of the rooftop, putting his foot up on the raised edge and leaning forward to give him an aerial view of a five block area. This was a residential area and most of the streets were empty at this time of day, so most of the students were probably using the usual tricks to disguise themselves as part of the scenery. He looked around slowly; looking for any obvious mistakes but after four minutes, saw nothing out of place.

"These kids are pretty good, assuming there are any kids here..." He said to himself. "Maybe I'll try that new jutsu; just to be sure…" Nakahito removed his ninja tool pouch from its normal location on his back.

He released the snap that kept the leather container shut and reached inside for a small red scroll. The scroll had been in the mailbox at his home about two days ago with a letter from Karin Inugami - the older of Sho's two sisters - apologizing for the problems she'd caused between him and Kimiko during the Wall Climbing practice session.

The scroll was a copy of some of Karin's grandmother's jutsu. Like Karin, her grandmother had naturally possessed Fire-natured chakra. Apparently no one else in the family did: Sho was Wind-natured, their father, Kurando, had never displayed any elemental affinity; despite being a Jonin, their mother, Anastasia, was a Water jutsu specialist and little Lucia had Lightning-based chakra. As a result, Saki's jutsu journal had been given to Karin; the one who would be able to use it the best.

Karin's scroll contained only the jutsu that she felt Nakahito was likely to use. There were apparently a number of techniques in the journal that only a woman could use - 'Hito had no idea why, but was willing to take Karin's word for it - and some that only a medical specialist would understand the proper use of. Most of the jutsu were Chuunin or Jonin level and were sorted by difficulty (the easier ones were near the front end of the scroll.) While the descriptions of what they could do were absolutely impressive - like the Embodiment of Fire jutsu, which, for a short period of time, would make the user's entire body unleash a continuous wreath of flames hot enough to vaporize most incoming ninja tools - the chakra requirements and hand seal sequences were far beyond what Nakahito knew he was capable of currently.

There were three jutsu that Nakahito had felt he was capable of and had begun to put in the effort to learn them. First was the Fire Clone technique, which would allow him to make an elemental clone of himself - much like the imaginary Cloud kunoichi from the Yondaime's Gambit had - that detonated explosively when damaged. The second was a fireball technique that was almost identical to the Haruno family's Dragon Fire jutsu, but was able to be controlled mid-flight, instead of throw and forget like the Dragon Fire technique was. The third technique, however, was the one that was best for this situation.

Nakahito formed three hand seals as quickly as he could, concentrating the chakra into his hands. "Fire Style, Dragon's Eye jutsu!" He then created a ring-like shape using the index fingers and thumbs of both hands. As soon as the loop was completed, a thin web of translucent fire that was like red-tinted glass formed. The web emitted a little bit of heat; no more than the heat of a cigarette lighter, but it was uncomfortable nonetheless.

Nakahito grimaced. 'Still haven't gotten it right - the notes say that feeling any heat from the jutsu is a sign that the chakra isn't blended precisely right and that while it will still work, I shouldn't hold it for more than about a minute or it could result in burn blisters on my hands and potentially damage my eyes.' He thought to himself. 'I'd better make this quick.'

Raising his hands to the point that he could look through the glass-like fire, his view of the world changed, much like it had when he'd worn Inugami's germ-viewing shades at the Hot Springs Village. Instead of seeing germs, however, the jutsu allowed him to view the infrared spectrum: to see temperature variations as colors instead of them being invisible as they naturally were.

As he did another scan of his surroundings, there were 5 blobs of warmer-than-air temperature concentrations scattered around the local area that were small enough to be a human - in comparison to the sun-warmed buildings that were also hotter than the empty air. He focused in on the blobs, shifting the position of his hands so that only his left eye could see heat and the right eye saw normally. Of the five human-shaped heat blobs, three of them were visible to his normal eye and were either regular people or students that had done a good enough job at disguising themselves to fool him.

"That leaves two that are students that are trying to blend into the background. One big, one small - an older student and a younger student, maybe... I won't scare the young one too much; I'm not like that freak Mizuki was." He said, breaking apart the jutsu. His hands were uncomfortably warm. He looked closely at them and saw patches of redness that were like the start of a sunburn.

Nakahito waved them in the air to try and fan away the hot sensation. "Ouch... I've really got to work on my ability to properly mold Nature-altered chakra. But for right now, I've got some students to capture."

* * *

Nakahito decided to go after the older student first. It only took him a minute or two to get into a position where he could safely scale down from the rooftops. To his amusement, it turned out the student was standing directly under one of those spots. The student in question was a young man about a year younger than Nakahito and had used one of the basic camouflage jutsu to blur the shadows of the alley he was hiding in; making it hard to spot from a distance, but he was only concentrating enough to hide at long range rather than short range.

Doing so was understandable; it was more draining to concentrate the blur in a smaller area, but for a senior student it was unforgivable. Especially since from his new location - clinging to the wall directly over the student's head - the student was completely exposed to the naked eye. The fact that he was just sitting there, focused on the shadow illusion he was making and not keeping an eye out for anyone who might be approaching from other angles (like Haruno was) earned him the Genin's contempt.

'This guy ain't graduating next year.' Nakahito thought to himself as he shook his head. 'Even if he passes the standard exam, he'd never pass the Yondaime's Gambit or that bell test that Takahashi said he'd taken with his team.'

"Man... This is so cool!" The student said aloud to himself. "It sucks when the teachers catch us, since they chew us out, but Itou-chan's not supposed to be like that. Maybe she'll find me... It would be awesome if she did - especially if we get tripped up 'accidentally.'" He chortled with a perverted cackle. "It would be so hot if she landed on top..."

The student's words evoked in Nakahito Haruno PTSD-esque memories of the Yondaime's Gambit from just over two months before, when, in an effort to protect Kimiko from an attack, the two of them had ended up in a position the perverted young man was dreaming up. This, in turn, evoked related thoughts with Kimiko from similar situations that had been cropping up with an annoying frequency as of late. After the incident with the pervert Sannin at the Hot Springs Village, he'd been trying to do what Kimiko and Oni - Sho! - had demanded of him; to stop obsessing about sex. Life just wasn't making it easy to do.

At the same time, the younger man's words sparked a white hot rage in Haruno's chest and gut. This ass was contemplating molesting Kimiko! Nakahito would not allow anyone to commit such an act against ANY woman; the fact that it was Kimi-chan, though, was absolutely unforgivable.

Without a second thought, the Genin's hands reached into his tool pouch, drawing two kunai. He hurled the first one straight to the ground as he began racing down the wall. The thrown knife, accelerated by the pull of gravity, gave a glittering flash of light barely an inch away from the student's face to impale the pavement between the young man's legs - coming close enough to make a three-inch cut that split open the underside of his pants to expose his underwear.

"Holy shit..!" The student shouted in surprise as he tried climbing the wall with his back and the palms of his hands in a reflexive fear reaction in an effort to the close call his family jewels just had.

He still hadn't bothered looking up when Nakahito reached the end of his run in a crouch to bring the kunai under the bastard's chin, pressing the flat of the blade against his throat to avoid the risk of cutting something vital. 'But if the punk hadn't had the common sense to look up, he probably isn't smart enough to realize that fact...' Nakahito thought as a cruel grin of satisfaction crossed his face as he put enough pressure on the kunai to force the student's head against the wall.

"Move and you die, you perverted freak." He growled.

"Oh, God... It's Oni Inugami..." The student whimpered. The smell of urine filled the alley as the student lost control of his bladder in fear.

The student's words froze Nakahito dead in his tracks. The pervert was right - this was the kind of cruel prank that was typically attributed to Sho. But Haruno now knew Inugami well enough to know that he never actually did stuff like this - he used his wit to insult you and backed it up with violence only as a last resort.

That chain of thought resulted in an epiphany for Nakahito.

'All the stories, save for the whole boar thing, were grossly exaggerated by the other students - if not outright lies! And Sho had never bothered to protest his innocence. Why?' He asked himself. He thought about it for a few seconds, leaving the terrified student hanging in silence.

The answer struck him like a kick to the gut. 'Because he knew that no one would believe it… Everyone was so prejudiced against him it was easier to assume the worst about him than question the facts. And I was as guilty about it as this ass is. I may have to consider apologizing to him someday... But for right now, I need to get back to business.' Nakahito shook his head as he contemplated things.

He turned his attention back to the student. "Lucky for you, I'm not Inugami… Unfortunately for you, I just happen to be Kimiko Itou's closest friend, who overheard what you were thinking about pulling... And I didn't like what I was hearing." He gave a brief chuckle. "You're just lucky I'm the one that caught you; Kimiko doesn't like perverts. Her kunai would have cut MORE than just your pants if you know what I mean."

"Oh... Damn..." The student breathed. An even more foul odor suddenly arose as the student lost control of his bowels.

Nakahito ignored the accident. "So today's your lucky day, Hentai. I'm just going to take your armband and disqualify you. Would you be so kind as to hand it over?" He asked with false sweetness in his voice. The student obeyed, moving with forced slowness as his breathing resumed normally. Removing the band, he raised his arm slowly into Nakahito's reach.

Haruno added some happy tones into his voice. "Very good, Hentai. Now, I'm going to move my knife away. You're not going to do anything... stupid, like trying to run, are you?"

"No way in hell, sir!" The student immediately answered.

The Genin withdrew the throwing knife, swapping it out for one of his red ribbons. He looped the ribbon around the perverted student's throat; just tightly enough so he could feel it there without constricting his breathing. "Now this ribbon is going to do two things: first, it tells the Senseis who caught you. Second, it's a reminder of what would have happened to you if you'd actually DONE what you'd been considering - either at Kimiko's hand or my own. Got it?"

"Hai, Haruno-sama!" Hentai responded.

"Good. Now, just to prove that I'm not a complete jerk, you can run home to change your pants and get cleaned up before you return to the Academy."

"Arigato, Haruno-sama!" The student bolted down the alley, running in the stilted way one does when trying to minimize the spread of a mess in one's pants.

Nakahito snorted to himself as he shook his head. "It's rather disturbing that that was so much fun..." He stood up, preparing to re-climb the wall and go after the younger student, but paused as he looked at the first kunai he'd thrown - the knife was embedded into the concrete just past where the sides reached their maximum width. As he looked at it, he immediately knew that he'd never be able to extract it, but the image gave him pause.

"Damn... I must have been really pissed if I was able to do that..." Haruno was still unaware of why he was feeling these things so intensely. He sighed as he resumed his vertical climb. "Note to self... Go easier on the next one."

* * *

The other student that he'd noticed from his aerial perch was nearly 10 blocks away from where Hentai had been hiding. As he got near to the junior student, his nose caught the scent of something delicious. His own sense of smell was nothing compared to Kiba-kun's, but a few seconds of smelling it and he recognized the appetizing scent of miso soup and meat stock broths. With a start, he noticed that he'd wandered near Ichiraku's Ramen Shop, the edge of his assigned region ended and where Kimiko's began.

He paused to get his bearings to where the smaller heat source had been, but as he looked around he noticed something that he hadn't seen from afar. He dropped to the ground and approached what appeared to be a blank wooden fence, save for one flaw that his overhead angle had prevented him from seeing at a distance. Nakahito smiled, reaching out to tap the concealed shoulder of the student. "Got you." He said, holding out one of his ribbons to the boy.

The top half of the concealing cloth dropped - breaking the illusion and revealing a young boy - about the same age as the kid that had insulted Miho-sensei, but not the Hokage's grandson or the other boy that had been with him. "How'd you spot me?" The student asked as he pulled off his armband and made the switch.

"Look down." Nakahito said.

The boy glanced at the ground and noticed that one of his feet wasn't covered by the cloaking tarp. "Oops." The boy said with surprisingly good humor. "Looks like I pulled it up a bit too high without realizing it. Or I'm growing too big for my cloth again." He grinned at Haruno as he folded up the cover. "See you later, Sempai." A smoke bomb appeared in the boy's hand, which he hurled to the ground. The bomb exploded with a pop and a burst of thick gray smoke. Once it faded, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

A smile crossed Nakahito Haruno's face. It was nice to be given the Sempai honorific - tutor or senior - but the fact that the boy had been extremely polite and had known how to make an exit with style was a breath of fresh air for 'Hito, after what had happened with Hentai.

'Gives me hope for the other students in this game; maybe it'll actually be a challenge…' He thought to himself as he began to walk. Haruno was distracted enough that when Ayame Ichiraku appeared from the ramen shop, the two of them almost collided before he twisted out of the way before his momentum could knock her over. "Sorry about that Ayame-san."

Ayame gave him a winning smile. "Its fine, 'Hito-san. I'm not delivering anything, so no harm, no foul. Your team's assistance helped with that; we FINALLY managed to clear out that overstock. Tousan decided that it was a decent effort, but we'd have to hire more hands to make it a regular feature and the shop's always been a family-only business, so it looks like we'll only do it occasionally, like we do currently." Her honey-silk voice paused. "You looked a bit distracted; anything the matter?"

Haruno shook his head. "No... Sorry; my team's been assigned to help out at the Academy today as part of this massive game of hide and seek. The ones that I caught earlier were really bad at it - by ninja standards - but this last one was pretty decent, save for one minor error that he'd made. I was just thinking about how much fun this was going to be now that it looks like I've gotten the easier ones out of the way."

"I see." Ichiraku-chan said. "Well, I'm afraid I need to get going; Father has me running for some more ingredients from the market to hold us until next week's delivery. Bye, 'Hito-san." She made a wiggling gesture with the fingers of her left hand as a wave goodbye as she dashed off on her task.

As Ayame Ichiraku ran off, a light female sigh came from the roof of the ramen shop; reminding Nakahito of the reason that he'd originally come in this direction. His glance for bearings hadn't noticed anyone obviously hiding besides the kid he'd already sent on his way; so the ninja who sighed had done a great job at hiding - until now.

Nakahito turned to look up. "Look, I know you're on the roof, so you're caught. Why don't you come down; make it easy on yourself, yeah?"

As he watched, the ramen shop's sign was obscured with a cloud of smoke as the would-be kunoichi released her transformation technique. As the smoke cleared, a girl appeared on the roof, her arms linked around her knees, which explained the smaller but warmer heat source that he'd seen from a distance. The girl was about the same age as the older of Sho's two sisters - probably in the same class - and had midnight black hair that glittered with unusual gold highlights.

"Wow!" The girl said as she dropped to the ground to look at Nakahito up close. "Karin-chan was right - you are really handsome up close."

'Oh, great... Another flirty girl. Kami-sama, what could I have possibly done in a past life to have to suffer this? On the plus side - at least Kimiko isn't here to get mad at me for no reason because of it.' He sighed to himself. "You must be friends with Inugami-chan."

"Yep!" The girl said with an effervescent smile. "I'm Shinobu Dayspring; Karin-chan's one of my best friends. Did you get the scroll Karin-chan sent you? She was really worried about whether it got to you or not, but didn't want to seem like a pest about it."

Haruno nodded. "Yeah - I got it. I just wasn't sure how to let her know that everything worked itself out and that I got her apology gift. The last thing I need is Sho or her parents asking questions about why I'm trying to call Karin-chan; the book that she got the scroll's contents out of may belong to Karin, but I'm pretty sure they'd be upset if they found out that she gave away family techniques."

"Wow! Karin must have felt like she really stuck her foot in it if she shared some of her grandmother's jutsu with you!" Haruno gave the younger woman a confused look. Shinobu smiled sadly. "Saki-obaasan, Karin's grandmother, died seven years ago; shortly before Sho became known as Oni. Karin-chan and her brother were very close to their grandmother because she was the one who practically raised them while Kurando-san and Anastasia-san overhauled the Jutsu Research Department into what it is today. She keeps that book in a small shrine with an oil painting of Saki-obaasan in her room that she saved up three years' worth of allowance for to have built. I've seen the book, but I've never seen Karin-chan open it."

She paused for a breath. "But in any event, you don't need to worry about her parents - both Inugami-senseis typically pull long hours: either at the hospital or in the lab at home. They're almost never around between breakfast and dinner. Sho's not much different than his parents - if he's not training, he's typically with Kabuto-sempai at the hospital doing whatever it is they do. Sho-san talked about it one time when I was invited over to their place for dinner..." Her hands reached up to either side of her head. "I still have a headache from trying to understand him."

Nakahito smiled at the girl's chatty nature. "Join the club - Sho Inugami seems to have that effect on people." Shinobu-chan giggled at the joke while Haruno glanced at his watch. Twenty minutes 'til. That meant he only had about fifteen left to hunt for more students. Shinobu made number seven and 'Hito's goal was to try and get at least 10 before returning to the Academy. He pulled out one of his ribbons. "Well, it's been nice to meet you, Dayspring-chan, but I need to resume the hunt. Your armband please."

Shinobu nodded, sliding the armband off and taking Nakahito's ribbon. Then she paused. "Before you go, Haruno-san, I was wondering... Um... Could you..." She paused again before reaching up to pull her shoulder-length hair into a glistening black ponytail. "Could you tie it into my hair?"

Haruno considered for a moment, remembering the days when he was younger and Kimi-chan used to ask him to do the same thing for her... Something he still did on rare occasions. His throat tightened oddly at the memory and he dry swallowed to clear the sensation.

"Uh, sure, Shinobu-chan. Anything in particular? I used to do this a lot for a friend of mine when we were younger - I still remember most of the styles." He stepped behind her to take hold of the ends of the ribbon... And paused; Shinobu's hair smelled faintly of early spring cherry blossoms; just like Kimiko's. Curious, he stroked her tresses slightly - they even had the same feathery softness of Kimiko's. 'She must use the same combination of shampoo and conditioner Kimi uses.'

"Uh... No, anything you want is fine." Shinobu said with a bit of a nervous warble to her voice.

Nervous in his own right, Nakahito didn't notice. "Okay... Oh, I know." He began a series of intricate crosses and double-backs as he remembered Kimiko's favorite style of ribbon from about two years ago. Fortunately, the ribbon was just long enough to let him do it. As he finished, he pulled the mirrored steel plate out of his equipment pouch and held it out to the girl. "Here, tell me what you think."

Shinobu raised his arm with the mirror to get a good look of the crown of her head. "Oh, wow! It's so beautiful." She breathed as she saw what appeared to be a crimson red butterfly resting in her hair. She then did a little pirouette in place to turn around to face him - now uncomfortably close for Nakahito's tastes.

Before Haruno could react, Shinobu rose tippy-toed and planted a kiss right on his lips. "Thanks, Haruno-san!" She said with a naughty giggle before dashing off in the direction of the Academy.

Nakahito stood stock still, trying to grasp what had just happened. 'Did I just get set up?' He thought to himself as he snorted to clear the lingering scent of cherry blossom from his nostrils. "I wonder if Karin-chan told her to do that..." He murmured aloud. After a few seconds, he shook his head. "Nah. Karin-chan couldn't have anticipated us running into each other - Shinobu-chan must have done it all on her own." He shook his head, finally clearing his mind. "Back to work." He turned in the opposite direction that Shinobu had run off in and resumed his mission.

* * *

Ten minutes and another student later, Nakahito found himself in the Middle-West market district. It was smaller than the Central market area on the main thoroughfare between the South Gate and the Hokage's manor, but had offshoots of the major vendors who had opened up extra, smaller shops as a convenience for those that lived towards the edges of town and didn't want to make the several kilometer walk to the main market for minor needs. There were a total of 5 market districts - including this and the main one - but this was the boundary point for the Academy Students. Anyone caught beyond here would face three weeks of detention - a fate marginally worse than death if Iruka-sensei was the one in charge of it.

Nakahito stopped at one of the fruit stands and purchases a light snack of some rather juicy looking pears and a bottle of water - the Land of Fire was known for its beautiful weather through most of the year, but it was rather warm today. With all the exercise he was getting; the last thing he needed was to get dehydrated. It was bad enough to suffer that, but knowing Inugami, he'd probably razz Nakahito mercilessly if Haruno didn't take basic care of himself.

He glanced around the marketplace for a few moments before spotting a bench by a brick wall. Haruno paused as he looked down the wall, shaking his head momentarily as he noticed an odd bulge of brickwork from the wall... Another student forgetting to make sure to take into account all three dimensions when using the cloaking jutsu. He sighed as he took a seat on the bench - the student would keep for a few more minutes. Nakahito took a deep bite of his pear, which practically exploded with juice and taste as his teeth ruptured the skin of the fruit. He closed his eyes to savor the taste as it quenched his thirst as he chewed the fruit. His enjoyment, however, didn't prevent him from sensing someone approach him rapidly. With a silent sigh, Nakahito opened his eyes, but his world remained black as he suddenly became aware of a pair of hands on his face, covering his eyes.

"Guess who." A familiar voice ordered playfully.

Even if he hadn't recognized the voice, 'Hito would have instantly recognized the calloused, but surprisingly soft hands of the Genin kunoichi weapons specialist, Tenten. However, since she wanted to play, he'd play, too. "Ooh, Miho-sensei... I thought our date wasn't until later. After all, we don't want to make Iruka-sensei jealous."

Tenten made an odd laughing snort that cut off abruptly as she removed her hands from over his eyes. After a few seconds she playfully slapped him on the back of his head. "Don't even joke like that, 'Hito-kun." She said before leaping up over Nakahito's head in a twisting flip to land atop the brick wall, facing him. She reached into the small satchel on her back, pulling out an orange, before sitting down, her shapely legs dangling in front of the wall. "So, what are you up to today?"

"Just taking a well-earned break for a quick snack before resuming the mission I've been assigned today." He answered, taking another bite of his pear as Tenten tossed her orange into the air. The orange fruit was followed shortly by a slightly oversized shuriken tied to razor wire that split the fruit into quarters before twisting in mid-air - controlled by Tenten's chakra - to tie up the orange slices and return to her hand. Absolutely impressed, Nakahito sank his teeth into his pear, freeing up his hands for an impromptu round of applause.

Tenten did a mocking half-bow, accepting the accolades of her fan before untying the captive orange. "How well I remember D-rank missions... I'm just getting back from a C-ranked one; two days of escorting an annoying merchant's spoiled, bratty teenage son around the village while his father was in negotiations with the Hokage." She sighed rolling her eyes. "At least having Neji around kept him from trying to get all touchy-feely like some of them do. Anyways... What did they assign you today?" The kunoichi asked as she took a bite from her orange slice.

"Helping with the Stealth Training exercise for the 8 & up students at the Academy." He said, nonchalantly. His words had the same effect on Tenten that it had had on him earlier. Her eyes widened in disgusted fear before she began coughing as some of the orange juice went down the wrong pipe. He pulled out a handkerchief, passing it up to her. "Sorry about that, Tenten-san."

She shook her head after accepting his gesture of concern. "No problem... Just bad memories. Still, if they have your team doing it, that's a lot better than what happened the last time I did the exercise." She folded the handkerchief back up and leaned over to hand it to him. As she did so, she glanced in the direction of the bulging wall without moving her head.

'So she'd noticed it too.' He thought to himself as he made a half smile with the right side of his lips and winked with his right eye so that the student wouldn't realize that he or she had been caught. He took back the piece of cloth. He then stood up. "Well, it's been fun Tenten-san, but I need to go; those kids aren't going to find themselves, after all." As he rose, he made a gesture with the hand obscured by his movement.

Tenten smiled as she spotted the gesture, giving him a wink of agreement in response. "I understand perfectly, Nakahito-kun. The mission does come first, after all. I'll see you a little down the line."

Haruno nodded as he walked off - right past the bulge in the brickwork, which shifted after he went by - and took a turn down an alley at the end of the wall. As soon as he was out of sight, Tenten dropped to the ground, walking up to the bulge. She paused, contemplating it. "Knock, knock."

The bulge twisted again as the red-haired girl with too much blush on her cheeks and the Naruto-style goggles on her forehead appeared. "Oh, darn it... I'm so not good at this." She looked up at Tenten. "Is he gone?"

Tenten shook her head. "Afraid not, kiddo." She said - with Nakahito's voice. The girl opened her mouth in surprised confusion as Tenten exploded in a cloud of smoke to become Nakahito Haruno. "Gotcha."

The girl blinked her eyes. "Wait... How did..." She twisted around to see Tenten walk out of the alley Nakahito had just walked down and walk back towards her. "When did you two switch?!"

"Just after Nakahito disappeared down the alley." Tenten answered. "You twisted to watch him go and didn't notice me use the Substitution jutsu to exchange places with him while he used the Transformation technique to assume my appearance."

"Darn... But how did you know I was there?"

Nakahito paused before answering. The girl deserved an answer, but pointing out something that she already knew - that she was bad at the Camouflage technique - would probably be negative reinforcement. "Well, you gasped in awe when Tenten-san cut up her orange. We heard you."

The girl's eyes widened. "But I barely heard myself!"

Nakahito kneeled down to get to the same height as the junior Academy student, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "A really, really top-notch ninja could hear your heart beat and use it to locate you. Neither of us is that good yet, but we've got pretty awesome hearing. If you keep it up at the Academy, you'll be as good as we are in a few years." He gave her a wink that deepened the blush on the girl's cheeks. "Now, what's your name, kiddo?"

"I'm Moegi, part of the Konohamaru Corps, Haruno-sempai."

A smile crossed Nakahito's face as he remembered when he and Kimiko had been that age. They'd tried coming up with a nickname for themselves like Moegi and her friends had, but none of the names they could think up made sense or sounded right when they'd said it aloud. He pulled out a red ribbon. "Well, Moegi, you know I need to take your armband now and you have to go back to the Academy."

The girl nodded as she removed the four-colored band and handed it over. "Uh, huh. I know, Haruno-sempai."

Nakahito tied the ribbon around Moegi's wrist, making another butterfly bow. "Still, you lasted a good fifty minutes into the exercise. Iruka-sensei's going to be really proud of you. I lasted almost that long when I did this at your age." He put the finishing touches on the bow.

"Cool! A butterfly!" Moegi said, as she realized what it looked like. She looked up at Nakahito, her eyes glittering with admiration. "I did that good?"

Nakahito nodded, gesturing to Tenten. "Of course. If Tenten and I hadn't stopped here for our snacks, we probably would have missed you on this pass. Right, Tenten?" The girl turned to look up at the kunoichi - missing the wink Haruno shot the older Genin.

Tenten nodded, giving the young girl a thumbs-up gesture reminiscent of the one that Gai-sensei was always using. "Absolutely."

Moegi smiled. "Wow! Thanks a lot, Sempais! I hope I'm as cool as you when I grow up!" She turned around to look at Nakahito, giving him a half bow of respect. "I'll see you later!" She straightened up and dashed off in the direction of the Academy.

Tenten and Nakahito watched as the little girl ran off. Once she was well out of earshot, Tenten placed a hand on Haruno's shoulder. "You've really got a way with kids, 'Hito-kun. You'll make a great daddy one day."

Nakahito glanced up at the kunoichi and gave her a roguish grin. "Is that an offer, Tenten-chan?"

Tenten snorted, playfully pushing him away. "You should stop reading manga, 'Hito-kun; not every compliment a woman gives has a double meaning..." Despite her words, Nakahito could see the tint of a blush on her cheeks. "Well, I need to get going. I promised Neji-san that I'd help him practice his new technique that he's been working on for months. We've got just a few weeks before the start of the Chuunin exams."

Haruno perked up. He'd watched the televised exams last year and the thought of now being eligible to participate whet his appetite for the challenge. "What does it take to get in on the Exams?"

"Each team needs to successfully complete a minimum of 8 D-rank missions. C-ranks usually count as two D-ranks, 'though. It's about 5 weeks until the registration period ends, so there's a chance that all of you who graduated this year could end up participating, unless your teacher decides that your team isn't ready yet."

"Why would a teacher do that?"

"Well, my team completed the necessary number of missions in time for last year's exams, but Gai-sensei said that trying to grow up too soon was a waste of the Springtime of our Lives."

Nakahito's eyebrow rose slightly. "You know, if I weren't afraid of the answer, I'd ask the obvious question..." She giggled. "But you'll be entering the Chuunin exam? That's awesome! Maybe I'll see you there..."

Tenten smiled. "I'll be looking forward to it, then, Haruno-san. I'll see you later." She turns and walks away, her hips swaying with each step.

Haruno's lips pursed as he thought about might-be's. As soon as she was out of earshot, he muttered. "Damn. I hate to see her go, but I LOVE to watch her leave..." He paused as his brain registered what he just said. "Dear God... I'm turning into Tanaka-sensei - and I've only met him twice. That sounded almost like one of those idiotic pickup lines he keeps saying to Miho-sensei. Oh, shit!"

He looked at his watch - five minutes past the hour. "Damn it, I'm late for the rendezvous. I'll have to Body Flicker the entire way." He began focusing a flow of chakra through his legs as he stood up. He turned in the direction of the Academy and raced off like a bat out of hell.

* * *

To be concluded