Chapter 11: Memory of the King

"Asuma-sensei are you sure that Haruki is still coming?" Ino asked from her position upside down on a branch of one of the taller trees at the edge of the clearing.

Team 10 had met up at the flower shop like they usually did before the start of every day. When the time came to leave for the training ground though and the red head still hadn't arrived, they began to get concerned. Asuma assured them that Haruki had likely just gotten held up at the Hokage tower and would be along shortly. When they arrived at their training ground he got each of them started on their warm up, but now he was running out of ways to stall.

"Yes, Ino." the bearded jonin replied, "I spoke with him last night remember. He had every intention of being here, and he's not a man to break his word lightly. He was likely caught in his other duties or called away on a mission."

"Still sensei. He's never been late. And from what Naruto tells me he hates being late. He really gives Kakashi sensei a hard time about it." The Nara hanging beside Ino pointed out.

"In any case people are not perfect and if he can't make it this time we will make the most of our training time regardless and go ask him about it later," Asuma replied after taking a long drag of his cigarette before flicking it on the ground and stepping on it.

Privately in his own mind Asuma could not help but echo the same concern his students had. Not that he knew the full extent of Haruki's character, but from what he did know the man was not one to let Kakashi's tardiness rub off on him. And it seemed, for whatever reason, that the training of his students and their friends was something of a priority to him. So then why wasn't he there at the meeting time. He looked up at the sky. 'It must be approaching 11 now,' He thought. 'Not too long ago these three would be moaning as they drug themselves to the flower shop around this time. If Haruki hadn't gotten some motivation in them….'

Just then a cold shiver went down his spine as the smoker realized what the actual problem was. "Shit!" he explained as the implications started to sink in. He had forgotten to tell Haruki about the time change.

In the next moment he heard a voice right behind him chuckle darkly, "Oh you have no idea."

An instinctual shunshin kept Asuma from being cleaved in two. Reappearing on the other side of the clearing in a cold sweat, blades out, Asuma tried to placate the clearly enraged red head that stepped into the clearing and started striding across the grass toward him. "Now Haruki wait just a minute, I can explain." He started before he was cut off by a sudden onslaught from the red head who appeared mid swing, blade coated in chakra. It took all of his concentration to parry the blows and keep his footing. Asuma, headless to the fact that his students hadn't stopped training, too shocked to react, was driven back to where Haruki had started. Weaving between the blurred blade that whirled almost silently through the air Asuma ducked and dodged while the red head seemingly effortlessly slashed and stabbed at the Jonin.

Back flipping away from an upward slash Asuma didn't see the smirk on the red head's face until it was too late. Suddenly feeling a presence behind him. Asuma turned to see a familiar large fist inches from impact. He braced himself as the impact launch him all the way across the clearing into the base of the tree that Shikamaru and Ino were using to train. The impact was enough of a shake to break Ino's connection since her concentration was already divided. With a shout of surprise she began to fall even as Shikamaru tried to catch her. Luckily she fell right into the waiting arms of their sensei's attacker.

"Are you alright Ino?" Haruki asked with concern.

Realizing that he had caught her bridal style and that she was much closer and more vulnerable to the powerful Jonin then she ever had been before she began to blush. " Y-y-yes-s Ha-haruki-sensei." Quickly she squirmed out of his arms even as he set her down gently. His face appearing neutrally kind with perhaps a bit of discomfort.

Hearing a grown over to the side, they turn to see Asuma still laying on the back, while Shikamaru hopped down to join the group.

"I don't want to hear it, Asuma. You had every opportunity to tell me the meeting time had changed yesterday and you didn't. Shikamaru-kun you are now in charge of making sure I'm informed." The red head said callously as his turned to the spiky haired genin. Shikamaru just nodded feeling a mixture of annoyance and nervousness. The last thing he wanted was the red head to turn his temper toward him.

Turning to Choji after stowing his blade Haruki smiled broadly and gave the genin a thumbs up. "Good job, Choji. That was a solid hit. You're significantly better at suppressing your chakra. Excellent team work too."

The genin beamed at the praise as his actual sensei began to sit up while internally noted how quickly the redhead's mood shifted. "You were pretty good yourself sensei. It didn't seem like you were trying all that much."

"Not really but your sensei was caught by surprise which gave me the advantage, and I didn't have to beat him. I just had to provide you the opportunity to score a hit. A far easier task. This just shows you that proper planning can take down any opponent no matter the strength. A kunai will kill a Kage same as it would a civilian." Haruki answered as he scratched the back of his hand. Truth be told if he wanted to he could probably take Asuma down but not nearly as easily as he had just bested the man. Maybe the genin were not the only ones needing some extra training. He shook himself inwardly as he reminded himself they were not yet at war.

"But when did you have time to plan, anyway?" Ino questioned trying to figure out how the ambush had been set up in the first place.

It was Shikamaru that answered though, "While Choji was on his run, Haruki-sensei probably met up with him and planned the whole thing." Haruki smirked at the Nara.

"Let this be a lesson to you that pranks will not go without a bit of revenge. And you won't know what hit you when it happens. Right, Asuma." The red head side eyed the the bearded jonin, gaining a sadistic grin.

The man gave and irritated huff as he rubbed his head but otherwise stayed quiet.

"So what are we doing today sensei? You're not going to give us another insane mission are you?" the blond asked with not so subtly hesitation. While ultimately the mission had been worth it, none of the genin were eager to repeat it.

"Ma, ma. You all handled the last one I gave you fairly well. But don't worry we aren't doing anything like that right now." The red head finished with a small smirk.

There was a pronounced shift in posture at that news and the three relax more than a bit relieved.

"No, in fact I brought presents for you guys. Rewards for taking your training seriously and training aids to keep you from falling behind the other teams." Haruki then produced three scrolls from his jacket and tossed one to each genin. Each was sealed with their respective clan insignia.

"It appears that we arrived just in time," a voice called from the edge of the clearing.

Turning the group glance at three figures coming out of the brush. "That is if you don't mind us watching, Haruki," said Choza Akimichi as he strode out with Inochi and Shikaku to his left just a step behind.

Haruki's eyes darted over to Asuma who was still sitting on the ground. Asuma quickly put his hands up as if to placate the coming anger of the redhead. He was just as surprise as Haruki was to see them here.

Haruki's eyes scanned the faces of the three genin as they greeted their approaching parents though he kept his face neutral. They didn't seem to be expecting them either.

Raising and eyebrow at Shikaku as they finally arrived with the group, Haruki turned his unspoken question to the Nara even as he replied, "That's fine Choza. I don't mind."

"We were just curious to see their growth for ourselves. Inochi was very impressed with your methods the other day, and after what you told me yesterday, we thought it might be helpful to have a grasp of their training with you in order to better support them. We were going to come by during the meat of the training but due to your delay now we get to see the whole thing," Shikaku explained with a knowing smirk.

At the mention of the former interrogator Haruki frowned but did not comment instead deciding to dutifully ignore the man's presence while trying not to be obvious about it.

Nodding the redhead replied unfazed, "Well like I said I don't mind, but this first part may be boring." He shrugged and turned to the three genin watching the exchange. "After all I do owe Shikamaru-kun a shogi game."

Shikamaru perked up at the mention of shogi and a smile threatened to part on his face.

Turning back fully to the genin, Haruki acted as if their parents weren't standing ten feet away looking on.

"Open them," he said to them smiling.

Each genin unrolled their scroll only to realize they were sealing scrolls. Quickly unsealing the contents, each one trying to guess what was inside. Their fathers didn't hold back their curiosity as they looked on.

In front of Shikamaru there appeared a receipt, a Seal Department application, a shogi board, four scrolls and a thin paper square.

In Choji's scroll appeared a set of weights, a metal Warhammer, a small book, a thin piece of paper and 4 other scrolls.

In Ino's scroll appeared a large set of books, a thin piece of paper, a green Konoichi combat dress and 6 other scrolls.

"Now Shikamaru-kun, I would like you to set up the board please while I go over the others gifts." The red head said as he sat down in the grass and crossed his legs. The other two quickly gravitated to their own gifts. Ino naturally picked up the garment and was examining it closely. She let out a breath as the dress began to change color where she touched it to red. She was so surprised she nearly dropped it. Her gasp was enough to grab the attention of a very confused Choji who had been flipping through what appeared to be a blank notebook.

The collection of fathers off to the side were trying to keep from rushing the process wanting to understand what the enigmatic Jonin had just placed in front of their children. Thanks to Shikaku they had had some idea as to what each of their children would be receiving for their training. Perusing the present materials proved that their thoughts were not far off. The unique gifts however where still perplexing and in Inochi's case slightly discomforting.

'Why did Haruki give my daughter a dress?' he thought with slight apprehension.

Asuma also was surprised by what appeared. He knew the other teams had started elemental training and if he was honest, he was uncertain his students were ready. For now though, he would follow the red heads lead.

As if reading the man's mind Haruki addressed the flabbergasted girl first, "Ino while I show Choji how his works, why don't you go into the woods and change and try that dress on. I'll explain when you come back."

The blond nodded still looking at the dress before rushing off into the woods to be away from prying eyes.

Focusing back on the Akimichi, Haruki almost laughed at the expression of concentration on Choji's face as he examined the book.

"Choji, flip to the last page." He paused and waited as the genin complied. "Now place a finger on each of the squares on that page and channel chakra into it like you were climbing a tree."

Immediately after he started channeling chakra into the page, letters started appearing on the page.

"Your book is now unlocked. To lock it back just do the same thing you just did." The read head said with a small smile as Shikamaru finished setting up one side of the board.

"Inside the book are all the recipes and properties of different ingredients I could think of with room for you to add more. As you learn more you can add to the contents. Now, flip to the back again." Haruki clarified as he pulled out ink and a brush from his pack.

Choji did so tearing his eyes away from all the information inside. Haruki then handed him the brush and ink.

"Write 'fever reducer' then channel chakra into those square just like you did the first time only keep it constant."

After doing so the ink faded into the page, then ink faded into view on the back side of the previous page. On this page there was an index of names and page numbers that all related to the words that Choji had written.

"Haruki-sensei this looks like it will be very helpful, thank you." Choji said politely but Haruki just smiled. It was clear the Choji didn't understand the full value of the resource he had just been given. How could he? He hadn't even been out of the village yet. His father on the other hand was gaping as he looked at the book with wonder. A resource like that would be invaluable to a ninja. The Jonin present had never seen anything of its kind. Choza new he would need to stress its importance to Choji.

"Oh I wasn't quite done Choji. Clear the page by just stopping your flow of chakra."

Choji obeyed and they waited while the words quickly faded. Shikamaru had stopped setting up the board and had been looking on while his sensei and their parents look on over Choji's shoulder stunned.

"Now write Barba-que" Choiji's face splint into a grin as he did what he was told. Without being prompted he channeled chakra into the seal again and waited with anticipation as the words faded. On the other page words once again faded into view and it was a list of terms and page numbers associated with barba-que.

Choji teared up a bit as he looked up at his redheaded sensei who just laughed. "See it's for fun too, so make the most out of it." The red head said giving him a thumbs up and a wink. He missed entirely the look Choza gave him. Whatever uncertainties he had about the man Choza set them aside as he looked at his son and Haruki. 'There is no doubt this man cares for my son. I don't know why but maybe it doesn't matter right now. I see why the others have had such a taking to him.'

Choji shook his head but didn't respond not trusting his voice. Haruki continued "This book was crafted with complex fuinjutsu that were not easy to apply. Take good care of it. I will not be making you another. This is a precious resource for you to use and cherish. Make the most of it. When the time comes and you run out of room. Come to me a show me what you have learned and how you have grown then I will give you the key to make your own. Will you do that, Choji?"

"Hai Sensei!" Choji answered with such ferocious determination. Haruki pitied the person who so much as thought of touching that book. It honestly wasn't that hard to make, but it was very time consuming and he wasn't in the mood to even have a clone do that in the near future. The Choji he knew would always be hungry both for food and knowledge. It was his desire to learn all that he could that kept many shinobi alive during long stretches in the field. Haruki was confident this Choji would be no different.

An informed Choji would become very effective at information gathering and resource management. He was instrumental to the medical core. Especial after Sakura was taken and Ino was forced to head both the Medical Force and what was left of their Interrogation department.

Shaking away such thoughts mentally before he got lost in the memories. Haruki turned to the Nara that was sitting across from him. Shikamaru had stopped setting up the board and was looking over Choji's shoulder eyes roving the pages with a far off look already coming up with uses for the gift his friend had been given. For a brief moment Haruki thought he caught a hint of jealousy as well. Haruki decided to it was time to move on. Or at least he was until a certain blond emerged from the woods.

"H-hey every one? What do you think?" Ino said as she approached the group. The dress that was once solid green now was a light pink.

"Wow Ino, you look great!" Choji said grinning at his teammate.

"Yeah, but wasn't the dress gre-" Shikamaru started before in front of his eyes the dress started to change colors to a bright happy yellow as Ino smiled at Choji and strode forward more confidently than before.

"Haha I'm glad you like it." Haruki said looking at her and tilting his head slightly sideways and giving her a soft smile.

Ino once she reached them did a spin to show off her new look while she was still grinning ear to ear. Ironically though everyone's eyes were looking at the red head clearly wanting to know how such an item came to be and why.

"Well Ino as I'm sure you've noticed your dress changes color." He began ignoring the others as he did for Choji.

"Yeah, at first it kind of freaked me out, but it's actually kind of cool. How did you get it to change with how I'm feeling?" she said even as the dress transformed to a pale purple.

"Well that's not really how it works. The dress is made of special thread that is chakra conductive and highly sensitive to chakra. I then put a sealing matrix on the dress that activates when I comes into contact with enough chakra. This causes the color changing effect." He paused gesturing in her general direction. "Ino you naturally have difficulty keeping your chakra frequency stable that's why it appears to change with your emotions. This dress will help you train to recognize this and learn the refined control you need. Not to mention you'll be able to change your look as you wish without needing a henge. When you've mastered it there is a surprise for you. When you can use a jutsu and the dress doesn't change colors I'll show it to you."

Ino looked at the dress with a mixture of emotions ranging from excitement to curiosity to nervousness and this was reflected in a rapid shifting of colors. Immediately Ino took a breath and tried to center herself. The dress settled on yellow again.

Haruki relaxed looking back at the whole group. "Each of your gifts will help you build on the control you gained last time we trained. Ino yours help you with chakra regulation. You can practice matching different frequencies with different colors and holding it for different lengths of time. Choji the more you use yours the more you will learn and the larger your chakra reserves will grow. The more you empty your reserves the more they will refill and push the boundaries of your network. And Shikamaru…" He finished with a smirk turning to the last member of team 10 to address specifically. "You are about to figure yours out."

Sighing as the all eyes turned to him, the young Nara gestured at the incomplete board "I'm guessing this is why there aren't enough pieces to finish up the board. How troublesome."

In front of them the metal bored had each of the pieces necessary to complete one side of the bored but left behind was only a King, three pawns, a knight, a bishop, a rook, and a gold general for the other side.

"Exactly. You see the pieces on the bored represent resources that you have at your disposal. The amount of resources you have compared to me are vastly different so you start with less. As your skills improve, I will give you more pieces of the set. Until then when we play this will be what we have."

"That's so troublesome and hardly a fair game." The Nara grumbled glaring at the board as if it would spontaneously generate the remaining pieces he needed. His teammates giggled a bit at his misfortune.

"I promised you a game I never said anything about how or when and I wasn't quite done." He countered with a shrug before sitting down and putting his hand on the board. "The board is chakra conductive so we can only move pieces using our chakra. For me I use lightning chakra through the metal to magnetically move the pieces. For you I would recommend using your shadow. Still want to play?"

To the surprise of the adults looking on, especially his father, Shikamaru didn't say no immediately. Starting with most of your own board gone was a disadvantage that was almost impossible to recover from especially if your opponent actually knew what they were doing, which Haruki clearly did. Instead the Nara just asked a question. "So wait if these pieces represent resources I have, what is each piece?"

"I had hoped you would figure some of them out but giving you a bit of help is probably fair." Haruki said neutrally with a small smile.

"You are the knight that can out maneuver other pieces with your flexible thinking. Ino is your bishop who comes in from the wings with a fresh perspective and dynamic abilities, while Choji is your rook and your solid support. Asuma is your gold general, your limited baseline of support. The pawns each represent a vital skill of a shinobi. Currently you only are good enough to have earned three: teamwork, chakra control, and strategic thinking. But hopeful with some training we can change that soon."

Even as Haruki explained the purpose of each piece to them, the other Jonin were all regarding him with blatant curiosity though for different reasons. Shikaku was more subdued than the others because he knew who the Haruki really was, but it was because he knew who Haruki was that he was incredibly curious what had happened to turn the Naruto he knew into this man. He knew he had only scratched the surface but the man clearly knew each of these genin well to have pick such perfect motivators for them. Shikamaru already held great respect for the man but his desire to prove his own metal ability would drive him to actually follow the man. Shikaku smiled to himself. 'The greatest part of all is how he fosters their will of fire. This time we will not fail!'

Inoichi was analyzing the jonin's every move. None of this made any sense to him. Haruki had obviously gone to great lengths to prepare these gifts and training materials. It was a testament to the man's skill that they were made at all but they already had proof of the extent of his skills in the art. The question that kept surfacing in the Yamanaka clan head's mind was 'Why?' The man had definite baggage including potential struggles with trauma. Inoichi hadn't witnessed any incidents but all the factors were there. Whatever this an knew was sensitive enough to have the Hokage forbids any attempts at a mind healer gaining access and Haruki himself reacted very poorly to the idea. And despite coping with whatever burdened his condition, as well as his mount responsibilities, the man was dedicating time and resources to personally develop his daughter and her friends. Even after examining all he knew or could conclude about the mysterious man, Inoichi still couldn't answer that nagging question.

Choza, however, was watching Shikaku out of the corner of his eye. It had been the Nara's suggestion rather suddenly this morning to witness their kids training session. They had readily again since they knew it was Haruki's day with them and Choza was curious to see the man's methods for himself. He had suspected then but his reaction proved in Choza's mind that the Jonin Commander ha figured out was going on. The fact though that he wouldn't just tell them conveyed all he needed to know about the situation. Choza hoped that he would be able to figure out What Shikaku wanted him to see. It seemed Inoichi was to busy scrutinizing the enigma Haruki was to notice Shikaku's moves. 'Perhaps that is for the best at the moment though,' the Akimichi thought.

The father's were each roused from their musing when Shikamaru asked Haruki about the last piece on the board.

"But Haruki-sensei what about the King." Immediately Shikaku felt Asuma tense a bit as he looked at the red head. It was true that Haruki had left that piece unspecified but Shikaku thought that had been intentional. Knowing Asuma's recent history the whole subject probably brought bad memories to the surface. There is little doubt the man was probably wanting to hear the red heads answer. He was likely already uncomfortable at the gold general comment.

Haruki, fully aware that the eyes of the other's, particularly Asuma's, were boring into him calmly tilted his head in thought as he leaned back on his hands "The king huh. Who do you think the king is?"

"That's easy it's the Daimyo." Choji answered without a second thought.

"No baka, the King is the Hokage." Ino immediately responded before anyone had a chance to speak, though from the look of things Haruki made no effort to reply.

"That's just the leader of the village, the Daimyo is the leader of the country." Choji countered in an annoyed huff. Ino's brash attitude really annoyed him sometimes.

"Actually if this were a mission the 'King' would be the client after all the point of shogi is to protect the king and what Hokage needs protecting. We protect clients on missions." Shikamaru cut in before things could escalate while he tried to reason out the 'right' answer. Last thing he wanted was Ino screeching in his ear about HIS present.

"That's why I'm saying it's the Daimyo!" Choji answered slightly frustrated still with Ino's attitude.

"Are you even listening-" Ino shouted back but was interrupted by Shikamaru.

"Haruki-sensei which of us is right?" He asked silently pleading that he would settle the matter before Ino shrieked any further.

"Yeah Haruki-sensei tell us." Ino added while Choji nodded as well.

"Hmmmm that's a good question. And each of you raised good points. I suppose it is difficult to say. This reminds me of a part in my favorite book. Here I'll read it to you. It's based on an old legend that I believe is true." With that the red head pulled out from his pack a book. Maybe Kakashi was rubbing off on him after all if he was starting to actually carry a book around with him. As he flipped the book open to find the pages he wanted to read, the others sat down and got comfortable, though the genin appeared to be trying very hard not to seem incredibly bored at the prospect of being read too like young children.

"There were once three kings who argue about this very question a long time ago. Powerful individuals with abilities and strength far exceed any ninja; they were in a war against each other for the prize of any wish they wanted granted. No one knows how, but the three agreed that the wish should go to the most worthy. They thought that if they could decide on who, that there would be no more need to fight each other." Haruki summarized as he finally found the page.

"And so they held a banquet where each that claimed the title of king tried to justify why they were the worthiest and why they were the true king. The first king, King Gilgamesh, was a very wealthy and powerful man whose horde of riches had long surpassed his knowledge. He believed that a true king is one with complete dominion over all within his realm. All property is his, all of his subjects only live to serve him and are unequivocally beneath him (although that doesn't mean he believes in abusing them). The absolute rule of his law guides all his actions. He places himself before his nation and the people, and he has neither the curiosity nor desire to conquer, possibly because he had too much in the beginning. He takes the time to enjoy himself, mastering every treasure and every pleasure. With conviction to treat good and evil equally, he has no need for other ideologies and ways of life when the absolute basis is "himself." He was once quoted saying 'To a King, his country is nothing more than his property. If a King cannot control his property, then his people no longer need someone as powerful as a King and it is because of this, King Arturia, that you woke up to find that your country had turned on you.'"

Here Haruki paused and explained that King Arturia was one of the three kings at the summit. He noticed that the students at least had begun to be pulled into the story even as he summarized parts to get to what he really wanted to share. Haruki smiled to himself; flaws aside, his sensei really was a good writer.

"He had no wish of his own but to deny others access to the treasure that could grant the wish. He saw it as a theft of what is 'rightfully' his. Because to King Gilgamesh, all treasures were his.

The second king, King Iskandar, realizing that there was no compromising the declaration of the first, toasted in his honor and declared he would take pleasure in the coming fight where he intended to claim the artifact for himself in any way by right of conquest.

The third king, King Arturia, then having heard the answer of the first and the conclusion of the second asks a question of Iskandar.

After acknowledging that the rightful ownership of the artifact belonged to another and admitting that he was therefore, logically, not as worthy, why would he still seek it? What was so important to him that he would continue to strive for the artifact? Iskandar replied, after drinking from his cup, that he wished for the power he needed to continue his conquest of other nations, for his body was failing him despite the battle prowess he still possessed. He wouldn't dare leave the conquering to some mere object.

Arturia was very displeased with his answer and stated as much. She claimed that was not how a king should behave.

Intrigued and slightly amused, Iskandar asked what she would ask of the artifact if she should win it.

With confidence she replied that she would use the overwhelming power of the wish granting device to avert the destruction of a portion of her kingdom that had fallen to a fruitless civil war, leaving it vulnerable to its neighbors.

Iskandar confused by this, asks her to clarify that she would change fate and that it was during her reign that this nation, her homeland, was conquered and failed.

Arturia affirms this desire and says that she is the only one to blame for this outcome and thus why she regrets it.

Her response causes Gilgamesh to lose himself in laughter, which she does not understand. He replies to her questioning, saying he is surprised she can claim the title of king and feel regret at all.

In anger she rises to defend herself. Her beloved country for which she dedicated her whole life to was destroyed. 'Why is my sadness about that strange?' she says."

Haruki starts quoting from the book instead of summarizing. By this point even the adults are absorbed into the story. Moving on Haruki reads the book aloud.

Laughing even harder the first king says to the second, "Do you hear that? Her beloved country for which she dedicated her whole life haha?' Gilgamesh snickers mockingly to the Iskander. "Do you hear that drivel. Do you hear what that little girl that calls herself a king had to say?"

She replies in confusion and rage, "Why is that humorous to you? For their country's prosperity a true king should be willing to make any sacrifice!"

But before she could continue, Iskandar, who had been looking on silently for the time being, interrupted her. "You are wrong. The king does not devote himself, it is the nation and the people that must devote themselves to the king. You have reversed the concept."

"Those are words of a brutal tyrant!" She answers accusingly.

"Just so," Iskandar continues to answer calmly. "We are heroes because we are tyrants. But if a king regrets his rule or regret how his rule came to an end, he is nothing but a fool worse than the tyrant you distain."

"Your empire is falling apart due to the deaths of your sons and the failing of your own body, and you claim to have no regrets?" Arturia deflects accusingly.

"None at all." He replies calmly. "Not if the end has come by my own decisions and the considerable sacrifices of my many retainers. It's destruction was inevitable. I shall mourn it and shed tears for it, but I will not regret it. Let alone undo it all! Such an act would be an insult to all those who fought and bled and died alongside me!"

"It is only a warrior who can find glory in destruction, worthless as a king who fails to protect the weak. A just rule guided by just laws. Those are the true duties of a king." Arturia rebuttals.

"So you, the king of your realm, are a slave to what is right?" Iskandar answered in shock.

"I am." She answered solemnly "Kings are martyrs to their ideals."

"That is not the way a person should live." He mutters.

"If I am to rule as a king I should not expect to live as a person. You seek the artifact merely for your own benefit and as such you could never understand that. You who became a ruler only to satisfy your endless greed." She finished with a scoff of disgust then quickly takes a step back as the second king yells in response.

"A king without greed is worse than a figurehead!" Seeing her apprehension, he sighs and relaxes again though his previous jovial attitude is long gone. "You must be regarded by your people as something akin to the purest of saints. A proud and noble figure at the very least, but who can truly admire the rough and thorny path a martyr must follow in life? Who actually wishes for such an ending?"

Stunned into silence Arturia just stands as Iskandar continues. "A king must be greedier than any other. He must laugh more loudly and rage for much longer and embody the very extreme of all things good and evil. That's why his followers envy his very existence and adore him and why the flames of aspiration, to be just as the king is, burn in his people. Proud king of chivalry the righteousness and ideals you embraced may have saved your people… once. However, surely you know what became of those saved by you, who were left to fend for themselves." He finished with a grim face.

"What are you saying?" she replied in almost a whisper.

Haruki looked around as he spoke and took in the wide eyed and thoughtful looks on each person's face. Without a doubt each was wrestling with what he was reading. Some trying to understand and make sense of it; others understood but were trying to filter what they had heard through their own thoughts. He was sure that the older members present understood the symbolism in the work. Time would tell how they would react, but in the end the story wasn't really for them.

"You may indeed have saved them but you never lead them. You never showed them all what a king should really be. You abandoned your men when they lost their way. Then alone and untroubled by that fact you went off to chase your own pretty little ideals to the end! Thus you are no true king. You spent your life enraptured in a false idol of the humble king that always serves others. You're just a little girl…"

Their dinner continued in silence until the three kings prepared to leave where they had met. The first king sat smug the entire time amused at the anguish on Arturia's face as she wrestled with the second's accusations. As Iskandar stood to take his leave, he presented them one final question. "Does the king always stand alone?"

Arturia answered him subdued but with certainty saying, "The king must indeed be alone. Always."

Iskandar chuckled lightly to himself as he stood to leave. "No, no. You obviously don't understand. Little girl you must wake from your sad dream and see the truth. If you don't, you'll someday lose that modicum of pride that you retain. The dream of a king that you spoke of earlier is a curse and a burden that blinds and cripples you."

And with that he left.

Standing to follow him out Gilgamesh turns to the third and says, "Pay that bias mongrel no heed. You are correct to follow the path you believe in. Your agonizing pain and terrible sorrow as you bear a burden of kingship that is too heavy a weight for any, is quite a splendid and marvelous thing to look upon." And so he left with a laugh over his shoulder leaving the bitter King of Knights to her own reflection on what the others had said.

Suddenly Haruki snapped the book closed, breaking the spell over the clearing.

"What happened next? Who one the contest? How did they decide? Did they get their wish? Don't stop their Haruki-sensei!" All three genin immediately bombarded the red head with questions, Ino even stood up in exasperation her dress turning a red orange color.

"Haha I can tell you more of the story another day. For now, I want you to think on what each king said and then when you feel you have an answer tell me who is the real king?" he laughed as he put the book away while all who heard him stared off in thought.

Ignoring this, Haruki instructs each genin to pick up the thin piece of paper.

"Now on to actual training."

x.X.x

Asuma didn't know what to think. Just when he thought he had figured the red head out, the man had to go and casually throw a philosophical paper bomb in his head and then not talk about it.

When Haruki had first pulled the book out the bearded Jonin had been curious about what he would say but confident in his own answer to the question. But then the red head began reading. Not only was the story entertaining, but it was easy to pick up on the meaning underneath each of the three kings. Even if the genin were not mature enough yet to see it, Haruki had shaken Asuma and, from the looks of things, the other three adults present with the challenge the story raised. And if he was honest with himself, he found that he immediately wanted to discuss the matter further even when the man decided to start their actual training. Asuma had been through two cigarettes since the story finished, and it had only been ten minutes, just to calm his nerves.

The three kings each represented actual positions in the world. The First King, Gilgamesh, represented how most Daimyo behaved. The Daimyo had existed for as long as there have been nations. Families of high influence that lived in a world set apart from the average person. Many, having made fortunes years in the past now owned most of the land within their respective nations or critical business to their region of influence. This hoarding of money and valuables fueled their secluded and privileged lifestyle and often gave them power over individuals. It was common then for those that grew in such environments to view themselves as superior and often snobbishly so. And there is some measure of credence to their point of view. The nation doesn't exist without the Daimyo. Their wealth or business controls the flow of the economy for all that dwell with in. It is because of this wealth that Ninja villages even came to be. Almost every village and certainly the larger ones are subsidized by the ruling lord of their land. They are symbols of might and a powerful fighting force that can counter forces much larger than them. Yet despite a village's considerably larger fighting power, they are still dependent on the daimyo. Sunagakure is learning that first hand if the rumors circling lately are any indication. Konoha is fortunate to have a rather reasonable lord ruling Hi no Kuni, but that doesn't change the fact that the Old Man still answers to him.

The second king represented the Hokage or some other village leader. A kage's word was law in most instances. Not only was the ruling kage typically the most powerful ninja in the village but was also the example that every ninja in the village looked up too. This was especially true in Konoha. The Hokage was the defender of the Will of Fire, and while he expected absolute obedience from those under him, he also cared for them. The ninja of the village in turn defend the Hokage even as he stands both above everyone and between them and the enemies that would destroy the village if they could. Regardless of their personal prowess what sets kage apart is not only their authority but also their ability to inspire and empower those beneath them. A kage is often called to make difficult decisions. Decisions that often time do not allow them to keep their own morals intact but put the village first. They don't have time for regrets and second guessing.

The final king represented the common people whether that be the client on a mission or the ninja underneath a kage's authority that are expected to lay down their lives in defense of the village. The ninja in Konoha hold to the Will of Fire. The idea that everyone in the village is part of one big family that each member protects. Those apart of it now and those to come. And for the longest time this was the group that Asuma had placed as the true king. The future generation, what he was fighting to protect. But that story had raised some valid points. 'Why did Haruki have to stop there?' he thought with a slight whine. Asuma had always seen himself as the sacrificial pawn. Only important enough to give up his life in preservation of the next generation. "You may indeed have saved them but you never lead them. You never should them all what a king should really be. You abandoned your men when they lost their way. Then alone and untroubled by that fact you went off to chase your own pretty little ideals to the end! Thus you are no true king. You spent your life enraptured in a false idol of the humble king that always serves others." Even now the words rang in his head. What was he living for? For his own death?

Shaking his head Asuma decided that for now he would focus on the training. Maybe his dad would have some thoughts.

Asuma had been too engrossed in his own thoughts he almost missed his team use their chakra paper slips. They had moved over to sit in the shade on the edge of the clearing. Haruki just finished explaining them and each genin began channeling chakra.

Haruki glanced over as Asuma stepped closer. It seems whatever contemplative state he was put in had passed. 'About time.'

Haruki glanced at him with a slightly accusing side eye. "About time you rejoined us. Were you planning on shrugging your students off on me again today?"

Asuma rolled his eyes in response but was cut off from responding as Ino gave a shout of surprise.

Turning to the platinum blond everyone saw that her paper had burst into flames at the edges before she dropped it. Her dress had change to a light orange but she didn't appear to be hurt.

"Congratulations Ino. Your sensei will be able to help you more than I could. Fire Jutsu and I don't get along well." Haruki said nonchalantly with a smile tilting his head to the side. Next to her Shikamaru and Choji finished channeling chakra into paper. Immediately Shikamaru's contorted violently and crinkled into as much of a ball as it could in between his hand. Choji's started to crumble from the center before the edges burned away.

Asuma watched the paper react and couldn't keep the surprise off his face. Ino's affinity wasn't all that surprising. Fire was the most common affinity in Hi no Kuni and the Yamanaka clan had no shortage of Katon jutsu users. A Nara with a lightning affinity, and if the papers reaction was any indication, a really strong one at that, was a different story. Wind and earth jutsu might be beyond him without a great deal of effort, which when speaking about a Nara usually settled the matter. A Nara that had something different from water or fire was unheard of, at least when considering natural affinities. Considering Choji, his result was almost as shocking. The Akimichi were known for having either a natural fire or a natural earth affinity, but being born with two natural affinities was very uncommon even in the clan.

Asuma glanced over at the fathers watching on. Choza had a large grin on his face as he ruffled Choji's hair and congratulated him. Shikaku didn't look fazed by the revelation though he had a distant look on his face as he regarded his son as if he was trying to solve a puzzle but didn't have all the pieces. Likely he already knew Shikamaru's affinity if he wasn't shocked, which is odd since Shikamaru had not ever mentioned being tested before.

Glancing at Inoichi, Asuma realized the man wasn't even looking at Ino. Instead he had his eyes fixed on the red head. Though his exterior was calm, his eyes held an intensity that Asuma had not seen before in the clan head. Following the man's gaze he looked at the red head while the man interacted with his genin chatting about their results. He vaguely perceived the man mention the results of some the other teams, apparently the Nara had a stronger affinity to lightning then Sasuke did, despite Ino's very vocal doubts that the Nara didn't appreciate. And that's when he noticed.

Haruki was not surprised at all.

There was no indication anywhere on the red head that the results where unexpected and their should have been.

Asuma cut his eyes back over to Inoichi and found the man's eyes looking back in his own. Something passed between the two and Inoichi just nodded. 'So he noticed too.' Shaking his head ever so slightly at the Yamanaka, the blond blinked and went back to watching the genin. Asuma wanted to wait and watch where things went. Only the most powerful of sensors could passively sense the affinities of another person unaided. The ability, while possible, was so rare he hadn't heard of a specific person who actually had it. He didn't actually know of anyone in history besides the First Hokage that had that ability in Knonoha. But if the man didn't sense it, how else could he have known?

"Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you guys about the training supports I included. I will go into more detail with each of you individual when we begin training. " Haruki said gesturing toward the remaining scrolls and things lying around where the genin were sitting with his feet.

"Ino your chakra reserves put you in a unique position to learn chakra control very easily. You are like Sakura in that in fact. I think both of you have the talent needed to be a medical ninja and so just like I did for her I gave you the same set of entry level medical ninjutsu theory and anatomy. However, while you have greater endurance than Sakura her control is still better than yours because of her ability to regulate different frequencies. To help you catch up I have included two scrolls on advance chakra control exercises. One of them requires you to hold a leaf to your forehead like in the academy but then to move it along your body using only your chakra. When you can do this while preforming other tasks you will have mastered the exercise. The second is the basics of water walking. This is like the tree climbing exercise but instead of using the same frequency and amount of chakra to climb, you have to change and adjust based on the movement of the water. When you have mastered both of those I will arrange for you first medical ninjutsu training session if you are still interested." Haruki paused to let her soak in the information while pointing to the different scrolls. Truth be told Sakura was always better at things that require supreme chakra control but that didn't mean Ino couldn't get close if she put in the effort. Ino hadn't reacted well at first to hearing that Sakura was better than her, the dress had changed to a dark red as Ino's brow furrowed. She did adopt a determined expression as he finished explaining the exercises, however, which was a good sign.

Continuing Haruki gestured to the remaining scrolls, "To be honest Ino, if you were put in a straight up fight you would more than likely lose. From what I know you are only capable of using the standard academy jutsu and one from your family's arsenal. If an emergency were to happen and you were placed in combat even against relatively week opponents you would die." Haruki finish bluntly and even in his tone. He didn't bother looking at the others knowing that her father likely was not pleased with what he said despite it being the truth. Ino had gone from indignant to pale her dress a bluish purple. "And that is why we are going to change that. I have included two genjutsu that are particularly effective in assaulting the senses of another person. And a fire jutsu for you to master for a stronger directed range offensive. Be wise with how you use it though. Asuma-sensei is more than capable of teaching you all you need to know." Haruki half expected Ino to begin to wilt under the amount of training materials that he just gave her. To his relief and slight surprise the spit fire only seem to get more resolved. 'Well at least her stubbornness is good for something.'

"Shikamaru similarly to Ino you have very few options to defend yourself with beyond basic stall tactics and your intellect. In addition to training in your affinity which is very important, I'll explain why later, I included two offensive jutsu and one defensive to prepare you for more difficult enemies. You have a great grasp of chakra control, but you are slow to execute it. I can help you with your lightning manipulation. I also want you to seriously consider enrolling in the fuinjutsu program. You have the analytical mind and the chakra control to find value in it." 'Though perhaps not the creativity or work ethic' he thought dryly to himself; Kuruma huffed inside his mindscape in amusement. Shikamaru looked like he was about to ask a question but before he could the red head turned, hands in his pockets to Choji who was cautiously gripping the large hammer that had come with the scrolls.

"Choji." The red head said turning to the boy who was eying the weapon. He chuckled lightly, "I see you have found your weapon. Do you like it?"

"Honestly sensei I don't really know. I mean I've never used something like this and my hand gets bigger than the head of it when I use jutsu anyway and I…" the genin trailed off slightly too embarrassed to voice what he was feeling.

It was obious to the adults though. Choza sighed internally. Choji always was very timid at heart. He didn't like violence and tried to avoid conflict where he could. He wasn't a coward and would fight if he had to. He was just a peace loving boy, which made him worry now that his son was a ninja.

Hopeful Choji would grow out of his apprehensions to violence before it cost him something he was unwilling to pay.

"Thats alright Choji. You could always chose a different weapon but let me ask you this. If I told you that you could protect your team better if you learned how to use this would you?"

Choji nodded after a moments hesitation.

"Good answer, the hammer is chakra conductive and can be used to execute jutsu that will affect a large area. I'll show you how during training. Choji you have the ability to gain a lot of strength because of how much you eat and I want you to take full advantage of that. The weights that I have included are designed to help you gain mass. In addition I have included two offensive jutsu and two defensive jutsu. One from each element, in those scrolls.

"How did you know sensei?" Shikamaru asked his eyes squinted a little. At the red heads questioning eyebrow the Nara clarified, "How did you know what affinities we would have. I thought that it was impossible to know for certain without chakra paper and I'm pretty sure this is the first time any of us have been tested."

"I would like to know that as well," Inoichi voiced.

Haruki shifted his weight slightly but otherwise seemed unperturbed by the question "Just call it a good hunch."

"That seems a bit convenient for your hunch to guess all three genin's affinities perfectly." Inoichi retorted with a slight accusatory edge to his voice. 'Not counting all the other highly convenient pieces surrounding you.'

Haruki remained calm but met the gaze of the Yamanaka head as if daring him to defy his claim. "My hunches have a tendency for being correct which is particularly useful in the business of gathering information. Sometimes I'm just that lucky." It was a weak excuse and he knew it, but Haruki didn't want to talk about the real reason for obvious reasons. He hadn't exactly planned for observers but denying them access would have been even more suspicious.

Inoichi stared for another moment and seemed like he was going to push the point before a cough from behind him caught his attention. Without turning to look at the source the blond nodded and relaxed his posture slightly.

Haruki took the opportunity to segue the genin into their actually training. 'Thank you Shikaku," Haruki thought, 'I should probably come up with a better way of giving them resources for the last group. People are starting to catch on that I might know too much.'

Quickly seallessly making three clones Haruki broke the genin up for their individual training. "Alright each of you come with one of me, and we will get you actual training started."

"But sensei what will you be doing?" Ino asked curiously.

Haruki smirk before pointing his thumb over his shoulder "Training your lazy ass sensei obviously. After that scuffle earlier, it's pretty apparent that smokestack over here needs some of the rust knocked off him."

Asuma went from surprised to slightly offend to a mixture of excited and anxious faster than Ino changed emotions. He would not deny the prospect of sparing with the mysterious red head was appealing. Both to test himself and clear his head but also to learn about the red head and measure his actual skill.

Ignoring for the moment the comment about his habit, which was likely petty revenge for making him late anyway, Asuma nodded and stepped on the cigarette he was currently smoking. "Considering we have some pretty qualified guests to be proctors and keep us form getting out of hand, I see no harm in that. What are the rules? That is if they are willing." The words had barely left his mouth before Choza agreed.

"I'll gladly proctor your spar!" The Akimichi agreed. 'We are all curious what Haruki can do anyway.' Choza thought

"First one to be hit 5 times or yield looses. Tiajutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu are all that are allowed. Sound good." Haruki asked while tying hi hair back.

"Fine by me."

"Great, take a minute to warm up while the genin get settled." The red head then began leading each genin away to a different section of the training ground for their specialized training.

Asuma then began stretching while Haruki sat down and closed his eyes as if beginning to meditate.

xXx

(Meanwhile with Shikamaru…..)

One of Haruki's clones lead Shikamaru to the tree line at the other end of the clearing, "Well I think this is far enough for what we are going to be doing. So tell me Shikamaru-kun, what have you been working on since the last time I was here."

"Mostly what you suggest sensei as troublesome as it is. I've been trying to make my shadow possession jutsu faster. I have been using leaves as targets by trying to catch as many as possible before they hit the ground. Tou-san has been helping me."

Nodding Haruki put one hand in the kunai pouch and began digging around, "That's good keep doing that. Since your dad is working with you on your shadow then we will start on you nature transformation."

Haruki pulled out a wire sting attached to a light bulb. "Before we begin I want you to know that the lightning element is not only one of the most destructive, but also one of the most dangerous. While fire if used incorrectly can get you burned, and wind can get you cut. Lightning if not channeled properly can quite literally fry your nervous system and organs," Shikamaru nodded grimly making a face of apprehension, "That being said lightning is also in my opinion at least the second most versatile element of the base five."

"What's the first sensei?" asked the Nara.

"Wind," Haruki answered quickly, "Because of its natural flexibility as a support force and destructive power in combat, these make it the most versatile nature manipulation type. Wind can be used to slice through all kinds of objects, without regards to how strong or durable something is, or be used for blunt force trauma. It can be used to detect enemies or to augment a ninja's sensory range or even the speed of their projectiles. It is viable as a strong defense and offense. And while fire can beat wind due to their opposing natures allowing fire to feed on it and grow stronger, a skilled wind user can beat just about any other ninjutsu specialist out there."

A clang of metal interrupted the red heads speech and drew his student's attention back to where the team had met. Asuma and the real Haruki were a blur of blades as Asuma tried to weave through the red heads guard to get in close while at the same time not getting sliced in half. So far Asuma hadn't had much success, and Haruki didn't seem to be trying that hard.

Haruki shook his head, "Anyway, we're getting distracted. Now the thing about lightning is, like wind, it is more than just an offensive or even defensive element, like fire and water. There are many Raiton jutsu's that are supplemental in nature, the best example I can give you is the Raiton No Yoroi (Lightning armor) that is used by the Yondaime Raikage, which increases not only ones physical strength, but also increases speed and reflexes by speeding up the neural synapses, increasing their overall physical performance by a magnitude of 4." Haruki smirked slightly as the Nara did the math in his head, he may not have a reference point but no doubt whatever he imagined as Kage level speed was probably enough. "There are many jutsu that can do things similar to this. However all of these are more advanced than the other jutsu and require an innate understanding, if not total mastery over lightning. Some even affect things externally like the jutsu I included for you to learn Raiton: Magunechikku Gyakuten (Lightning Release: Magnetic Reversal). This just creates a brief electric field around you that will stop most projectiles. "

A sudden explosion once again caught their attention. Asuma had used his Ashfire jutsu on the red head and the the intense explosion sent a plumb of smoke skyward. The smoke cleared to reveal an earth doom. Asuma, however, back flipped away immediately and brought his chakra blades down to strike at nothing. Only for Haruki to burst out of the ground, sword drawn and pointed at the bearded Jonin who deflected the blow and jumped away the swordsman dashing after him.

A snap of Haruki fingers brought Shikamaru's attention back to the clone in front of him. "Focus on your own training. Your short-term goal is to get use to using chakra to generate a sark and then hold it. To do that you need to focus chakra into a point and then separate and eject it from that point. This creates a potential difference and causes the change in nature to lightning even if its no where near the strength of actual lightning. This is what the light bulb is for when you can make this glow with just your chakra then we will move on to stage two." He handed the wire and bulb over to Shikamaru who examined it in his hands.

"Too little chakra and the bulb wont glow. Too much and the bulb will explode. This can be caused by too much chakra or too strong of a nature change. This is important so that you don't fry your own nervous system when you try and use Raiton jutsu and allows you delver more current at higher voltages."

Shikamaru just sighed, "Well I had better get started. Sensei is probably not going to last much longer and I need to get in as much practice as I can before we have to take him to the hospital."

Haruki chuckled lightly and started him on his first attempt.

xXx

Shikamaru's prediction was not far off. The jonin continued for about five more minutes, which is a long time for jonin, before Haruki managed to pin Asuma with his blade to his neck. The bearded man was good, really good. Asuma was excellent at balancing the spacing between them. He didn't leave openings or over extended himself. He kept just within range to be a threat keeping up enough pressure to keep Haruki from make the most of his ninjutsu, while also staying out of range to get caught in a taijutsu struggle. Granted Haruki had been holding back extensively in the range of his abilities but in the skills he did utilize Asuma kept pace with him until he miscalculated and mixed up the real one with a Kage Bunshin.

Afterward the two jonin swapped jutsu and pointers with each other in a relaxed fashion. There were no serious injures much to Inochi's surprise. He had come to associate the red head with foolish overboard decisions. Choza who had proctored the spar didn't say anything as he just observed the two interact and watched from his seat on a rock. It had not escaped him the few pieces of familiar styles he had seen embedded in the overall fighting style that Haruki used. Especially during the taijutsu portion of their bout. Haruki clearly had his own original style as well as the skill to execute other style of combat that gave him an advantage in a particular moment. However that didn't explain the influences of the familiar techniques he detected in he young man. He was Gai's sensei after all. 'I'll have to follow up with Gai and see his relationship to the man. Maybe Shikaku will have an idea. It's apparent that he knows more than he's telling us, though Inochi has yet to notice. Usually that means that whatever it is needs absolute secrecy. If that's the case though, they need to work on deflecting the curious identifiable similarity's in our mysterious friend.' He sighed internally as Haruki set each genin with their beginning exercises, showing his own boy how to use the war hammer he had been provided, 'Though Shikaku probably knows that already. Not much to do now but wait and watch'

Team ten's training session continued for another hour culminating in all three genin attempting water walking after Ino requested to give the skill a try. Haruki's use of space time jutsu raised a few eyebrows however the adults quickly moved on to taking bets on who would fall in the most. It was actually Choji who was having difficulty getting the chakra frequency change fast enough given how exhausted he already was.

This was an opportunity for the students to ask about their training and Haruki was happy to answer all their questions. Even if the answer was 'You'll find out later'. Shikamaru was the most exasperated trying to get a plan out of the red head.

"And after that?" The Nara sighed. So far all Haruki would tell him was that he would be doing the lightbulb exercise for the foreseeable future, as long as he was working on chakra control at home. He hadn't even made the lightbulb flicker once. Haruki assured him though that he was close. The real test was to maintain the glow after all.

"Next we will work on your shape transformation, so that you can take full advantage of lightning's piercing nature," Haruki answered the Nara, "Though what I've given you should last you quite sometime."

No one spoke as gust of wind blew through the clearing over the space time lake even as the ripples went the opposite direction. The genin narrowed their eyes at Haruki who just smiled back innocently. They suspected the winds presence was his doing to disturb the water and make it hard for them so that they would fall in more. The fact the wind pushed them opposite of the ripples just made it that much more difficult for them. That's just something Haruki would do.

"Haruki-sensei, why do I have a receipt to Tagirashi's weapon emporium." Shikamaru asked

"That is for your own set of chakra blades. That paper is the claim number to go pick them up." Haruki said cassually after yawning. They couldn't tell if he was just that tired or the bored.

"But why those?" He pressed, the lack of information was really beginning to frustrate him.

Leaning back in his heels Haruki looked up at the sky and hmmed to himself for a moment. "Shikamaru what would say are the weaknesses of the shadow possession jutsu?"

The Nara grunted as he focused on staying a float. "Well... I need light for there to be shadows to use. It matters the size of the object too. And I have to be still while I use it until it connects." Why did Haruki have to answer a question with a question. This was so troublesome.

"That seems pretty accurate. In time you will learn to overcome these weaknesses. You're smart enough. In the mean time, having chakra conducting blades will let you literally pin someone's shadow through a projectile for a brief time. As for why they are trench knives, well there isn't a better weapon for your actual sensei to try and teach you how to use."

Shikamaru conceded the point as his mind started trying to factor in what he just learned.

Looking up at the sky and noting the time the red head stood from where he was sitting. "Alright you guys, that's enough for today. The materials I gave you today along with any training Asuma adds will keep you busy for quite some time. It's important not to over do it. Your coils need time to recover as much as your bodies do."

Turning to Asuma who was still sitting on the ground slouched forward and arm propped on one knee, the man was clearly tired and trying not to show it, Haruki turned the genin back over to the bearded Jonin. "Thank you Asuma for the spar. I feel that these three have done enough of my own trading for the day." If he seemed bothered by the trench knives or the loss of the spar it was masked by his exhaustion.

"But sensei we still have energy left." Ino said despite her wobbling legs and furrowed brow.

"Yeah we can still going." Choji agreed even though he was panting and soaked to the bone. It was evident on all the adult's face, including Haruki's, that no one expect this reaction from the genin.

"Hahah well if you keep going that is certainly your choice, but you'll have to find a different source of water. I am looking forward to the progress you make before we train again. For now though, I am going to go see about my own training." The red head declared as he ended his jutsu causing the water to disperse like a puddle in the ground. The genin collapsed on the ground even as the red head waved to the adults and nodded to Asuma before starting to exit the clearing. Ino quickly made eye contact with her dad who smiled and nodded which caused her face to split into a grateful grin.

"Um Haruki-sensei before you go. Do you have any plans tonight?" She called out as she forced herself to stand to face him.

Haruki paused and turned around to look it her with a thoughtful if slightly apprehensive expression. "Um well I have lots of work to do at the office, but I'm not sure when my own training is going to end.-"

He didn't't get to finish because the blabbermouth blond couldn't wait any longer.

"Because I was wondering, or I guess we were, if you would come to the cookout we are having tonight. You know as a thank you for helping us out so much. We know you don't really have to do it, but it's helped us a lot ." She said with her motor mouth searching the red heads face for any sign of rejection.

Shikamaru came to her rescue from his position on the ground, "Not that Asuma-sensei is bad. We actually really like him but having you around has helped us too. So you should come sensei. Choji's dad is cooking a special BBQ recipe and Ka-san is bringing several side dishes. It would be troublesome if it wasn't all eaten."

"I am not sure I can guys. Thanks, though. I don't want to intrude on your gathering." The red head tried to say despite Ino's crestfallen face.

"Nonsense, this is a great idea. We have dinners like this frequently and its just a casual BBQ nothing big we'd be happy to have you. Inoichi is hosting this time so we will be eating at about 6:00 at his place. You should make an appearance." Choza interrupted as he approached the group with the fathers in tow. Haruki's expression bounced from one face to the next before landing on Ino's who had made her eyes big and pleading.

The red head signed and rubbed the back of his head. "I never should have taught you that trick. Ok I'll come, but only if I can contribute in some way. I'll bring a dessert sound fair?"

Ino immediately took a 180 degree change the dress changing from blue to yellow in an instant. "Deal! Asuma-sensei you should come too."

"Thank you Ino, but I actually have plans this evening or I would come." It was the truth but if he was honest he needed sometime to process with the other jonin in their group about the red head.

"Oh and with who?" The genin asked all too innocently while the others had a knowing look on their face.

"That's not really important. Say Haruki what's the title of that book. I kinda want to know what happens next." The bearded jonin deflected to something he was sure would grab everyone attention.

"Well I certainly don't mind it if you read it, but I would like you to find your own answer to my question before you do. Its called the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja and it was written by Jiraiya of the Sannin. His first book actually and my favorite. Anyway catch you guys later." And with those parting words to the genin and those gathered, the man disappeared in a burst of wind and leaves

xXx

Hours later an exhausted Kazuma Haruki stubbles into his apartment to shower and change out of his now ruined training attire. He may have gone a bit intense today but it was necessary. It became apparent quickly that Haruki had not fully recovered from the final battle with Madara and his sleep and eating habits were likely not helping in that regard. That wasn't to say he wasn't immensely powerful, but if Madara showed up the next morning and he had to fight that same battle over again, it was likely that he wouldn't win and that thought terrified him. Kurama of course anchored his worrying mind from following every paranoid rabbit trial it thought of. What was most critical besides recovering at the current moment was getting a handle on his new abilities that he never really had time to fully appreciate during the last war. Orochimaru had really out done himself that was for sure. Haruki was confident that he was beginning to get a handle on his new ninjutsu skills. He would need them with how many handicaps he now had. As the warm water wash over his tired muscular form Haruki reflected on his current arsenal and more importantly its limitations.

'Of my three summoning contracts I can only use one. Which means I can only use one form of sage mode. My ninjutsu has expanded but I can't use the Rasengan or any of its variants until I have met with Jiraiya and who knows when that will be. I can't risk using Kurama's chakra even once, that cuts out some of my recuperation, speed and sensing capability. I'll need to make up for theses with my new abilities.' Haruki thought tiredly. He leaned against the shower wall and closed his eyes soaking up the heat.

"No kidding. Bet you'll start appreciating everything I do for you from now on." The fox grumbled. Haruki ignored the jab and turned his attention to the tasks he needed to handle immediately .

'I will need to create a kage bunshin for Sasuke's private lesson tonight. Another to go work at the office. One to stay here and prep tomorrow's training for team 8. I need to finalize the changed matrices for the village seal barrier. I still need to do more training but I just don't have the time. I'll send a clone to the fuinjutsu test and seminar tomorrow. It's not like there is going to be a high turn out of attendees. The deadline for my assessment is only a couple days away after all. And I still need to get with the old man and Shikaku about planning our next move. The window to strike critical blows to Obito's plan is coming fast and it won't last long.'

Haruki cut off the water and dried himself off with a towel while he rolled his eye's internally. He ignored the fox and continued to take inventory of his skills. 'Until I can use Kurama's chakra again I am vulnerable to fire which Jiji will no doubt use in our match. I need to finish the seal array on my new sword to compensate for this. Thank Kami my massive reserves allow me to abuse the hell out of Kagebunshin or I would be royally screwed.'

Getting dressed in some casual cloths Haruki walked into the kitchen where a naked version of himself was putting the finishing touches on a berry custard pie he had made for the occasion. 'I really need to remember that Kagebunshin appear wearing whatever I'm wearing when I make them. Not that there is anyone to see this but still.'

The clone dispersed and Haruki carefully picked up the dish and made his way out the door closing it behind him. He would have to hurry if he was going to make it on time.

xXx

The Yamanaka flower shop was the same as he remembered it, and though it was the home of his biggest critic Haruki felt strangely calm even relaxed as he approach the store front. The street wasn't particularly crowded and other than the occasional greeting in passing most people were minding their own business, mulling about as they prepared for whatever plan's their evening held. The Yamanaka clan didn't use a clan compound like the Nara or the Hyuga. And while their homes were spacious they had more freedom than most other clans in their internal structure. That's not to say it was good or bad but it was different enough that it mattered to Haruki. Going to a casual cook out at someone's home that wasn't patrolled by guards or required a particular set of rules was far closer to his style. It reminded him of happier times, of what he was fighting for. He ignored the pang in his chest as the fond memories surfaced. The dates he had with Hinata, the gambling nights with the guys, the various birthday celebrations that they had together, the laughter of the villagers celebrating at a festival safety inside the walls of the village. 'Walls that eventually burned to ash." He thought bitterly. Shaking himself out of that train of thought, it would do no good to reflect on that now. He zoned back just in time to be aware that someone was calling his name.

Looking up he sees the Nara head family approaching from the opposite direction on the road. Shikaku was the inside of the road carrying multiple paper sacks dressed in casual cloths. He had a small smile on his face and nodded to the red head in greeting. Opposite of Shikaku was the unmistakable sight of Yoshino Nara, the dark haired, simple civilian woman that Shikaku married and supposedly the most troublesome woman alive. In many ways Yoshino reminded Haruki of his own mother. Haruki had many interactions with her back in his own time but had yet to be formal introduced in this one. He would have to take extra care to act accordingly if he didn't want to appear anymore suspicion. No pressure right? Thankfully, Shikaku was in the know, so he would be able to help steer conversation in a safe direction. In between both of them was Shikamaru who was carrying another container of what looked like noodles. He was the one who had called out to him and had even strode faster to reach him.

"Haruki sensei you made it." The boy said stopping in front of the redhead with a small side-smile.

"Seems I did, I am not late am I?" Haruki replied while scratching the back of his hand nervousness.

"Right on time actually." A cough from behind the young Nara was all the prompting he needed to remember what he was suppose to do.

"Haruki-sensei, this is my Ka-san. Ka-san this is Haruki-sensei. He's the one that beat Tou-San n a game of shogi."

The red head pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed in exasperation. "You know I really wish you would stop bringing that up Shikamaru-kun." The genin shrugged but didn't seem apologetic.

Yoshino chuckled lightly at the whiny tone that the red head took even as she commented, "I'm sure Shikaku would prefer that as well. My name is Yoshino Nara and you may call me Yoshino, since my son neglected to give you my actual name. I've heard a lot about you, Kazuma-san."

"Haruki is fine. Well I can only hope they are good things I suppose." He replied unsure of what to really say.

"More vague details than anything. You don't really tell a lot about yourself. Your not a very open person from what I gather." She replied evenly with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Taken aback a bit, or at least pretending to be, by the blunt admission Haruki hesitates to reply but was saved when the door to the shop opened and two people exited to meet them.

"Welcome to my house Haruki-sensei," Ino said in greeting as she came to meet them, Choji just behind her.

"Dad is out back grilling the pork now. You're in for a real treat tonight sensei. What did you bring?" The curious Akimichi greeted before taking a closer looker at the package the red head carried. Haruki chuckled at his eager look when he saw the dessert he brought. 'Still thinking with your stomach.'

"Haha, here you go Choji. This is a berry custard pie. I made it fresh this afternoon hopefully it is enjoyable for everyone."

Choji looked like he was about to inhale the pie then and there as he examined it closely.

"I didn't know you could cook Haruki. It looks delicious. Perhaps I could get the recipe from you later." Yoshino said genuinely curious as she examined the pastry.

The red head smile warmly "Sure I don't mind."

"Well lets not stand out here all night. We have food to prepare and it was troublesome enough carrying all of this here in the first place." Shikaku huffed.

Quickly the others were led in by the Ino who immediately took Haruki on a tour of the shop. She showed him all the flowers they had on display deliberately showing him the ones he had her name the first day that they trained together.

"So what do you think of him?" Shikaku asked his wife curious as to her reaction to the red heads first impression.

"So far I like him. Well see how the rest of the night goes," she replied after a moment of bought.

"Just remember to go easy on him dear. The man is a guest after all." Shikaku warned.

"I know, I know. You told me." She said dismissing his concerns. Shikaku had explained what he could of the situation to here fore they came over.

Choji and Shikamaru had gone ahead with the food and gone to the back room and down the hall to where the down stairs living area was, before rushing back tp find Haruki and Ino. The Nara adults smiled to themselves at the kids not so subtle eagerness to spend time with the Jonin. Turning left into the kitchen they encountered their hosts for the evening.

The room was nice and spacious with a dining area on one side that had a table big enough to seat everyone comfortably though you could tell that chairs had been pulled from other area's of the house by the mismatch of styles. Over at the store a woman with brown hair wrapped in a bun and glasses was stirring a boiling bot that smelled incredibly inviting, while Inoichi was washing what looked like lettuce for a salad in the sink. Both were dressed casually and were wearing aprons as they prepared the food. Just behind the table that was set up was a a sliding door that was open to a patio area; the aroma of cooked spiced meat drifted through the open airway and filled the kitchen with salivating scents.

As the Nara family entered the woman looked up from the pot, "Oh look Shikaku and Yoshino are here" she said walking over to Shikaku. "Here I'll take those." She said with a smile as she grabbed the bags and began unpacking them and sorting the items that still needed some finishing touches. Shikaku nodded his thanks and relaxed against the counter.

Inochi had finished with the lettuce and walked over to greet his guests. "Glad you both could make it. Any news on our guest of honor; do you think he will actually come?" If he was honest with himself, he wasn't expecting the man to actually show.

"Actually, we ran into him just as we were arriving the kids are taking him on a tour of the inside of the shop. Ino in particular was very eager to show him the flowers you had displayed." Yoshino answered as she unpacked what they brought.

"Oh well that good, I must say I am pleasantly surprised." Inoichi said with grin.

"It wouldn't be that surprising dear if you didn't harass the man as much as you do." Came the knowing reply from over his shoulder.

"Now, now. There is no need to get into any of that tonight. We invited him here to thank him for the good he has done for our kids. Haruki is a man of his word, and he told Ino he would come. Let's not spoil the evening referencing potential… confrontations." The Nara quickly deflected not wanting his friends blunders to sour the mood or suffer further embarrassment.

"Your right as usual. I am sure he will be among in a minute. Hopefully at least. We may have to go save him from the children. Ino can talk someone to death is she's not careful." Inoichi said causing the others to laugh.

"Hahaha I'm sure Choji will keep them on track he can't resist sampling the dishes we brought anyway." Shikaku countered as he went to pick up dumpling before his hand was slapped with a wooden spoon by his wife.

"Absolutely not. He'll ruin his appetite." She said giving him a pointed look while he shook his hand grumbling.

"That reminds me here is the dessert Haruki brought. It's a berry custard pie he made fresh this afternoon." Yoshino placed the container with the other deserts on the counter.

"Oh well he didn't have to do that." Himora said.

"Haruki isn't someone to show up empty handed. He wouldn't come unless we agreed to let him contribute. He's a prideful man or at least appears to be. Not that that's a bad thing." Inoichi explained as he began setting the table.

"Regardless lets make sure he feels relaxed and welcome tonight, so be on your best behavior Inoichi." Yoshino said with a wink.

"Hey!" He exclaimed indignantly while the others laughed at his expense.

"Did we miss the joke?" Came a voice from the doorway. All eyes fell upon the red headed and the kids as they entered the room smiling with curious expressions on their faces.

"Not at all. How did you like the tour?" Inoichi assured the man as he walked over to greet him extending his hand. He flashed them a friendly reassuring grin.

"It was great; you have a lovely home." Haruki replied warmly shaking the clan heads hand though they shared a knowing look. Haruki had been humoring the genin after all.

"Yeah! Haruki knew so much about the flowers Tou-san. He could name almost all of them and even knew some stuff about them that I didn't. Can we show Haruki-San the green house?" Ino chattered excitedly even as all adults grinned while continuing to prepare the meal.

"So long as Haruki is ok with it, I don't mind. Just don't be long, dinner is almost ready." He said with a hidden smirk, perhaps he was enjoying messing with Haruki a tad too much.

"Haha is suppose, we can take a peek." Haruki acquiesced seeing Ino's pleading expression. He was immediately led through the kitchen before he could really process what was happening.

They exited out the door into the backyard to see Choza humming to himself as he cooked a large quantity of meat over a grill. Hearing someone exit the house the large man turned and smiled at seeing who it was.

"Welcome Haruki, I hope you brought your appetite. There is plenty to eat and it should be ready soon."

"I will certainly try Choza, training today was a bit intense," replied the redhead who stopped out of respect for the man.

"Hmm well perhaps you could tell us more about it once we have started eating. I'm sure I am not the only one curious how a man of your talents sharpens his skills."

Seeing the curious looks that the genin sent his way, Haruki just shrugged and gave a noncommittal answer, "Well we see its really nit that interesting. I think for now they are showing me the green house for the flower shop."

"Yeah come on Haruki-sensei this way." Choji said. If they waited any longer, Ino might explode.

And so the Jonin was pulled ahead by a very eager blond with her two genin compatriots tagging along. They had of course been to the house before but hanging out with Haruki was really the main point. One thing was certain tonight's dinner was going to be something to remember Choza thought

xXx

It wasn't long before the food was ready and the genin were called to return with Haruki and seat themselves at the table where their paces were prepared. More food had been prepared than was really necessary although you could never be too careful when planning a meal that involved Akimichi. There was a large selection of dishes that the group was likely to eat. However, no one complained as they quickly gave thanks for the food and dug in. Harkui was particularly thankful for the food. It had been years since he had Akimichi quality BBQ and Yoshino was a master of the kitchen. Combined with his intense training regime that day and his lack of proper eating days prior the red head consumed multiple helpings of food from almost all of what was provided to the clear pleasure of everyone at the table for a variety of reasons. Some were happy to see their food appreciated while others were happy to see Haruki act with any amount of healthy life choices. Choza even challenged the man to an eating contest after seeing the man put away his third helping, but Haruki quickly clarified that no man could hope to beat an Akimichi at eating BBQ.

Throughout the meal the members present discussed a variety of topics ranging from favored pastimes and dishes, to training techniques, to even silly stories from the Older Ino-Shika-Cho's genin days. They laughed and ate together each person relaxed in a calm environment. Haruki found himself feeling light and full of energy as he laughed to a story Ino told of how Inoichi had mistaken a Poison Ivy vine for a Climbing Ivy and sold it to customers for a solid day before figuring out what he had done when they first opened the flower shop, much to the older blonds embarrassment.

Inevitably, however, the curiosity of some people present became too great and Haruki found himself on the receiving end of questions about his own past.

"So Haruki-sensei, do you have any cool stories about missions from when you were a genin." Ino asked.

"Hmm. A couple I suppose, but honestly, they're not worth sharing. I'm not even sure I remember all the details right." Haruki said after a moment of thought.

"Oh, come on Haruki-sensei. You've got to have something." The blond insisted.

"Well… this wasn't really on a mission but there was one time during my training when I was a genin that my teammates and me beat our jonin-sensei in a spar." Haruki explained sheepishly with a grin at the memory.

"No way really? How?" Ino asked excited.

"I don't doubt it. Haruki-sensei is really strong." Chouji add.

"Haha actually, I wasn't very talented as a genin. I had a lot of chakra and wasn't very good at controlling it." Haruki admitted slightly embarrassed while the genin looked at him skeptically.

"Then how did you do it?" Shikamaru asked while Haruki took a drink.

"With a book." He answered with an innocent smile while everyone else especially the genin looked at him like he grew a second head.

"Huh? What do you mean with a book?" Ino asked the obvious question.

"Well you see, my sensei was a lot like Kakashi-sensei. He read all the time. Shortly before I became a chunin the Hokage had my team examined by our sensei, we had to capture a flag our sensei was guarding on his person. We fought him from afternoon all through the night and into the next morning and neither of us could pull it off." He explained.

"But what does that have to do with a book?" Yoshino asked confused.

"I'm getting there. See I had just gifted sensei with the latest addition of his favorite series and he hadn't had a chance to read it. So, we devised a plan to rush him while yelling out the ending to the book." Haruki said with a smirk. "He was so busy covering his ears and closing his eyes that we managed to nab the flag from him."

Everyone in the room deadpanned at the ridiculousness of the story.

"Wait, that actually worked?" Shikamaru asked, clearly having trouble believing him.

"Hey, it was good plan. It just goes to show you as a ninja to take advantage of any weakness you find." Haruki claimed a little defensive though they could telll it was playful.

"I don't know sensei. I think your sensei was just a dumb ass." Shikamaru said while shaking his head making the others laugh except for his mother.

"Language Shikamaru!" She warned firmly, though despite her tough exterior you could see the mirth dancing in her eyes.

Himora then began gathering the used dishes and tidying the kitchen. Seeing an opportunity now that the dinner was coming to an end and Haruki seemed to be in a far more relaxed state than Inoichi had ever seen him, he coughs to get Ino's attention signaling her that now would be the time to execute her plan. The children had discussed after Haruki left different ways they could thank him for the thoughtful gifts he had given them. Deciding to get him a gift in return they were trying to gage the best time to give it to him.

Understanding immediately flooding her eyes, she turns and grabs the two boys, "Excuse me Haruki-sensei, I meant to show Choji and Shikamaru how I redecorated my room. We'll be right back." And before either boy could really protest, she dragged them out of the kitchen and up the stairs in a blur.

Haruki watched them go before turning back to the adults still sitting at the table and arching an eyebrow. Inoichi doesn't meet his glance, standing up to help his wife clean and put things away. Haruki surveys each parent who seemed all too keen on pretending hatever just happened was perfectly normal.

Audibly sighing Haruki decides to address the elephant in the room, "Ok what's that about?" pointing over his shoulder with his thumb at the doorway the trio just exited.

Shikaku excused himself to the restroom to avoid answering.

After another ten seconds under his cerulean gaze, it was Yoshino who finally broke, "The kids wanted to thank you for the very thoughtful gifts you gave them. Even if it was for training each of them was very thoughtful and something that they would also enjoy."

Haruki groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "That really isn't necessary. It was a reward for their hard work and dedication. Ultimately each of the items is a training tool."

"Oh, but it was so much more than that to them. Ino was absolutely beside herself when she came home today. She ran in babbling about how amazing her dress was and wanted to show me immediately. When she could change to some colors at will and hold it for a few seconds as she showed me, the smile on her face was true satisfaction." Himora said from the sink.

"Choji too, he couldn't put the book down even when we got home. He actually fell asleep reading it until it was time to come here." Choza added before Haruki could reply.

"Besides it's nothing major, just a memento of appreciation. And it would mean a lot to them." Yoshino added.

"I suppose there is no getting out of this one then." Haruki said rubbing the back of his head.

Seeing the jonin still wasn't completely comfortable Yoshino decided to change the conversation, "So Haruki now that you're back is their anyone special in your life?"

The red head looked up and tilted his head slightly and asked neutrally, "What do you mean?"

"Oh come now, there is no reason to be coy. Is there a special lady in you're life now that you back?" Yoshino said with a wink.

Choza however was watching the red head and noticed subtly signs of tension slowly creeping in the man's posture as she spoke. Before he could interrupt however the red head replied, "No, I can't say there is at the moment."

His voice was neutral and polite betraying nothing of the tension beneath the surface that Choza could see. He felt a colder than expect breeze rush in from the patio doorway to his back. He thought that would be the end of it, but Yoshino pressed on frowning.

"Well that's a real shame. Young men like you shouldn't dawdle you know. Life doesn't slow down. You need to get out there and get a good one while you're still young. Everyone needs someone. If you're not careful you'll end up alone when your old and –"

She's interrupted Himora shouts in surprise. The room looks at her holding a dish to her chest away from the sink which had somehow frozen over with a trail of ice up to the faucet. Choza had felt the small chakra flare, a slight leak that burst from the red head. Before he could decide what to do, their attention is drawn back to the jonin in question as he stands abruptly sliding his chair back as he does so.

"Yoshino-san, thank you for your advice, the life of a Shinobi is not an easy one. You never know what is going to happen even during a time of peace. The world is cruel and fighting against that cruelty is one of the burdens Shinobi bear as is embracing that same cruelty. Love, or more accurately, loved ones and the bonds we share with them are what give us the strength to fight. They are the reason we brave the torment that awaits us. Love is our greatest source of strength." Haruki said in a voice just above a whisper, his eyes hollow and distant. He speaks as if to himself, as if he is no longer in the room. "And yet, our greatest power is also the most fragile of weaknesses. Despite every effort and power a ninja may possess what matters most can be taken from them. So then you can imagine what its like when that happens. And then the reality of the world's harshest paradox sets in that now you must continue on the fight with the knowledge that the most you have in the end is the memories of a love you failed."

The room is silent as the red heads eyes refocused and gain a dead steel to them pinning Yoshino. "If I told you, it was only going to hurt, if I warned you that the fires going to burn, would you walk in? Do it all in the name of Love? In the darkness? In the middle of the night? In the silence when no one is by your side, what would you do in the name of love? When there's madness? When there's poison in your head? When the sadness leaves you broken in your bed? Who is left to hold you in the depths of your despair? Would you call out in the name of Love? And then ask whoever answers the question, is it better to have loved and lost or never loved at all? Anyone who can casually answer that doesn't know the meaning of the word!"

"Haruki-sensei?" Came a timid voice from the doorway.

The red head closed his eyes and winced noticeably. He hadn't meant to yell. This wasn't supposed to happen, he knew he meant well. He wasn't really angry with her. In that moment all the emotions he blocked in reference to the past broke through his barriers. The he pictured her face, he just started talking and defending himself from an accusation Yoshino hadn't made. The guilt for failing, the hurt at never having what he lost again, the anger for criticizing his detachment it all boiled over causing him to justify himself to an unstated accusation. Haruki tried to clear his mind and refused to open his eyes. Yet the darkness of his mind would not shield him from onslaught of images of the dying Nara that flood his mind as soon as he heard those words from the doorway. 'Why now? I can't let them see me like this. They don't deserve this. I am not going to be around forever. I shouldn't let them get too attached.' Haruki thought as his stomach turns, panic rising in his mind.

Opening his eyes, he turns toward the door to see the Nara standing in it clear concern worn on his face. Resolving himself Haruki strode to the door. "I am afraid I have many things I still need to attend to. Thank you for the meal. I'll see myself out, you can keep the pie, consider it compensation for the trouble I caused."

Haruki strides passed the door even as Shikamaru calls out his name. He can't look at him not now. Not when all he will see is ghost of the past. He rounds the corner to find the other two standing along the wall. He absently wonders how long they had been there but doesn't break stride to really take note of their faces or what they are carrying. He hears them call for him but only quickens his pace. Shikaku comes out the restroom at the end of the hall. One look at him as he turns left through the door into the shop and Shikaku's face goes from bored to alarmed, immediately. Before he can speak though, Haruki is already gone through the door. He is vaguely aware of rain pelting the glass of the shop's windows. The shop door opens as he is half way crossed the shop to reveal a thoroughly soaked Inoichi. He looks up as he shakes his arms to get the water off and blinks confused "Haruki?"

"Thank you for your hospitality, but I'm going now." Haruki says quickly as he side steps around Inoichi to grab the door, but when he reaches for the handle his body freezes in place. Haruki becomes acutely aware that someone has tried to restrain him and his breath quickens. 'Keep it together.'

"You Will listen!" That same voice calls.

And now he is angry, irrationally angry. Why couldn't they just let him be?

"Let me go." He says without looking in a bitter commanding voice.

"Will you listen?" It replied back. That damned hybrid voice. He could hear them both. His past and his present.

"Let go!" He red head repeats himself this time with more force and grits his teeth.

"Not until you let Ka-san apologies and take Ino's gift." Shikamaru replies with force. Haruki can tell from the corner of his eye that Inoichi is watching off to the side standing at the ready.

"Sensei just-" A burst of chakra and killer intent washes through the room and Shikamaru who had been straining to hold the red head was knocked back on his butt and Inoichi jumped back in front of him to shield him just in case. The force of the chakra shattered the jutsu's hold on the jonin and he looked over his left shower a singe tear starting to escape down his cheek from his stormy blue eye as he whispered, "I told you to let me go." And then he was gone.

Boom! Thunder crashed over head as rain continued to fall in a torrential downpour. No one moved in the shop as they stared at the door trying to process what just happened. Ino and Choji were knelt behind Shikamaru trembling. That had been terrifying. Never had they been exposed to such a presence, such a massive turmoil of chakra. A light layer of frost that covered the store began to fade. Inoichi still stood in front of them staring at the door, his expression grim and determined. And then it was like world came crashing back in and they heard yelling from down the hall. "I told you not to bring up his past!" came the firm voice of Shikaku.

"I didn't! He seemed fine! I didn't mean to upset him. It all happened so suddenly. I was just trying to distract him from the kids present since he seemed uncomfortable with it." Yoshino yelled back defensively.

"Is everyone ok?" Inoichi asked with calm if serious voice finally looking away from the door and taking in the appearance of the genin on the floor.

"I-I think so," Choji answered a slight tremor in his voice.

"That was pretty ballsy Shikamaru. I wouldn't recommend trying that again." The Yamanaka clan head said extending a hand to help the boy stand.

This seemed to snap the Nara out of this stupor. His eye narrowed immediately and he stood up on his own spun on his heel and stomped back towards the kitchen, Chouji scrambled up to follow hot on his heels.

Inoichi turned finally to his own daughter that bent down to pick up the pieces of a vase she had been carrying. It was a special vase that had the clan insignia of each member of the Ino-Shika-Cho and was signed by the genin of team ten. Ino had been holding it when they followed Haruki into the store front but in her shock at being exposed to the chakra and killer intent of the red head she had unknowingly dropped it and it had shattered.

She sniffed slightly as she picked up the pieces slowly.

Inoichi sighed and went to comfort his daughter, "I am sorry Ino. You shouldn't have been exposed to that. It was irresponsible of Kazama-San to react-"

"What happened Tou-san?" Ino interrupted him causing him to blink in surprise. "What happened to make Haruki-sensei carry so much sadness? Why can't you help him?" She said in a broken voice as tears finally began to fall.

"Oh Ino. It's complicated, and I honestly don't know what the full story is." He said eyes softening as he pulled his daughter into a wet hug, her warm tears landing on his chest.

"You should have heard him daddy. He was so hurt and angry. He couldn't even look at us." She said as she cried. "Promise me you'll try to help him."

"I promise," Inoichi whispered as he rubbed her back, but if he was honest with himself, he didn't know what to do. He needed to find out why the man had snapped. Shikaku had told him that there was a good reason Haruki was hurting after training that morning. He insisted he didn't have all the details yet and they were going to discuss some of it later. If this was an indication of the man's psyche then he definitely shouldn't be active duty.

Meanwhile a much more aggressive parent child confrontation was taking place.

"How dare you!" Shikamaru shouted as he rounded the corner glaring at his mother standing by the counter packing food hastily arguing with his dad who was rubbing his forehead. Choza and Himora were busy trying to unfreeze the sink but stopped when Shikamaru stormed into the kitchen, as did Yoshino.

Yoshino narrowed her eyes as she faced her son. "Excuse me-"

"No, I will not!" He cuts her off fling his arm across his body. "How could you do that to him? Dad warned you. He told you that Haruki-sensei had no one, that the whole point of this was to help him reconnect with the village after being gone so long."

At seeing their surprised expressions, Shikamaru answered the unasked question, "I overheard To-san and you talking. He clearly told you sensei was recovering from a long mission that had hurt him and to avoid saying anything that would trigger him. He told you he lost a lot."

Shikaku tries to step in, "Shikamaru she had no way of knowing-"

But Shikamaru cut him off, "Yes, she did! Ka-san isn't dumb. Asking sensei about his love life would obviously bring back memories."

"It's a shinobi's responsibility to control their emotions, even allowing for whatever misfortune befell him what I said shouldn't have resulted in such an acute reaction." Yoshino responded coldly staring into her son's eyes as he gritted his teeth.

"How can you say that? You threw his loneliness in his face! It was inconsiderate. You're not a Shinobi how could you possibly understand what he's gone through. You just didn't care! You're just a housewife that nags about everything she doesn't like-"

SMACK!

The ranting Nara's eyes widen in surprise as he felt the sting on his cheek. He gentle raises his hand to touch his pulsating cheek before slowly turning to stare at his mother who was was staring straight into his eyes. "Shikamaru Hiroshi Nara, you are a brilliant boy and you can be right about a lot of things, but I am your mother and you will not speak to me that way." She said in a firm but calm voice. "I regret my error in talking with Haruki-San. I did not expect his reaction and that is my fault. I have been very blessed that the Shinigami hasn't taken anyone in my immediate family, yet but I have had countless friend pass on before their time. I have to worry about your father and now you every day. Every time you leave our home. I have to trust in the village that it will guard and protect you, that your sensei will train you properly and hope that the fragile peace that we have now is not broken to satisfy one man's greed. I pray to Kami that the price to maintain that peace won't require my son's blood. So, I understand that kind of lose. I can fathom the pain he is experiencing at least in part. I am very thankful for Haruki's influence on you, and you must know I meant no insult or harm to him. He is a strong man and cares for you. My foolish mistake will not change this."

Shikamaru averts his eyes still holding his cheek as he hangs his head in shame. She was right of course but… "You're not the one that he can't bear to look at." He whispers in a small voice looking at the floor. He is then enveloped in a hug by Yoshino.

"I know it hurts. But it's not your fault. Nor is it Haruki's. This world we live in is not perfect and sometimes scars on our hearts tear open. The wounds he has suffered must be numerous and deep. Many may be fresh; we have no way of knowing. Time and kindness are the only things that can help now. So, we need to be strong for Haruki-sensei so that when the shadows come and they block you from his eyes you can still be there for him. Right?"

"Right." He says sniffing. "I'm sorry Ka-san."

"It's ok, my love." she says smiling, "Now help me pack up, hopefully the rain will start to clear out."

Now that everyone was calming down, they worked together to finish cleaning up. Choji was silent the whole time. Eventually the rain passed and Yoshino left with Shikamaru and took Choji with them. He would stay over with the Nara's for the night. Himora made sure Ino went to bed after such an eventful day, leaving the three men in the kitchen to discuss what to do about Haruki well into the night. Death was common place in the shinobi world and while it was never easy, such a reaction indicated a deeper trauma than mere loss. This was major evidence that the man wasn't stable and the three argued about how this would affect his coming mission. In the end they didn't come to a consensus but agreed to keep doing what they had in the meantime. It was likely that Haruki would lie low for a while around them. It was important to treat him no different so that he would come back on his own. Chasing him would just cause him to run more. With heavy hearts and tired minds, the trio parted ways to get some much needed rest.

xXx

Haruki ran. He ran and ran and ran, dashing across roof tops and down alleys. He didn't really know where he was going he just couldn't stay where he was. The wind howled and the rain obscured his vision. He was soaked t the bone after five steps outside but he didn't care. They were still following him. Those damn voice. The haunting memories, the ones he failed, the promises he broke.

'Snap out of it!' He screamed in his head, 'That time is gone. It happened but its over. That why I'm here.'

'But can you really stop it' the voice said. That damn voice. It didn't belong to any one person. It was like all of them together and yet like none of them. 'Open your eyes and look. Can you really save us? You promised last time and look how that turned out?'

Everywhere the red head looked it was like his memory overplayed what was second he would see a wet dreary Konoha an the next nothing but ashes dancing in black flames. 'Stop it! I refuse to believe it.'

In a burst of speed the red head launches himself even faster through the storm. Sudennly though he lost his footing

'You can't out run us. We are with you wherever you go. Avenge us Naruto. Avenge your failure.'

Kit.

'Naruto we rusted you. We believed in you.'

Kit!

'Why didn't you save me Naruto? I loved you!'

NARUTO!

In an instant the voices were gone. The world was back to normal. Haruki was lying face first on the cobble stone street of an alleyway as the cold rain poured down panting.

'What was that?' He thought as he felt his hammering heart.

"Time disassociation, It's a side effect of the paradox. We are very lucky your escaped this time on your own. You'll need to do something about this or the next time you may not be so lucky."

'What?' he replied to the fox tiredly trying to follow what he was saying.

"Your trauma is causing a time seal feedback loop. The same thing that causes your body to fail at certain intervals is also affecting you mind. If the balance of Yang chakra in the seal fluctuates outside the tolerable limits of the seal matrix your body will dissociate and exist in both times simultaneous, hence your condition. The more you feed it the worse it gets and if you get lost in the loop then your mind will break trying to be in two times at once. Stress on either chakra type production will cause this and my chakra can't compensate enough passively. My help would blow our secret out in the open which we can't afford."

"And how the hell am I supposed to stop that?" He snaps back exasperated.

"The same way you always do. By not giving up." Kurama responded evenly like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Time disassociation happens when you doubt, when want to go back more than you want to go forward. If you don't give up and focus on where you are going it will prevent you from subconsciously making part of the seal flow backwards which causes the imbalance that feeds the feedback loop. Your chakra is influenced by who you are and how you think. That's basic chakra theory numbskull. So, simply just don't give up. You might not be able to stop every instance but trying won't hurt."

Haruki stayed silent for a moment as he processed what Kurama had said.

"Hey Kurama."

"Hmmm?"

"You suck when you're right."

"Love you too flesh bag." The fox scoffed sarcastically.

Haruki made to stand but as he took a step he began to fall only to be caught by an Anbu with purple hair.

"You shouldn't train so much." The woman's voice said.

Haruki just grunted far too tired to argue. The stress of breaking out of the time disassociation had drained him.

"The rain is starting to let up. Let's get you home senpai." She said and shunshins with him on her back.

They arrived at his apartment where he insistent he could stand now. "Thank you ANBU-san, but I can make it from here." He said opening the door while waving over his shoulder. She nodded and disappeared though he could tell she had only gone to the roof to observe him. At least the storm had passed by now. Haruki absently notes to himself that Kakashi must be at his own place until he walks in and finds a cup of hot chocolate waiting for him on the counter and Kakashi presumably asleep, on the couch.

Deciding that he can figure out how the man got in his apartment in the morning and frankly far too tired to care, Haruki walks into his room, throws off his cloths and crashes on his bed where he's asleep in seconds.

xXx

Be-Beep Be-beep Be-Beep Be-Beep *crunch*

Haruki opened his eyes slowly letting them adjust to the dim light that tried to bend around the blackout curtains that covered his bedroom window. He was laying face down naked in the bed only part of his left leg covered in his sheets. His right arm was still out stretched resting on his night stand with his fist embedded in the remains of his alarm clock.

Haruki blinked to himself examining that thought again; he was woken by his alarm. He hadn't slept late enough to allow his alarm to wake him since he had returned to this time. Taking his arm out the mechanical remains Haruki pushed himself onto his knees and stretch out, popping several joints across his body as he did so. He hadn't felt this good in a long time. Granted one healthy night of sleep and a belly full of good food was all it took to repair a good bit of damage when you were a Jinchuraki. With a yawn and one last stretch, Haruki got off his mattress and went to shower. His alarm was set to go off at 7:30 so he had a bit of time before he was expected to report at the Academy.

Haruki sighed as he quickly washed and then dried off. A lot had happened in the last couple of days and last night was just the most recent complication. He didn't know how team 10 was going to react to him after last night's episode or what their parents would do. Shikaku would understand even if he would encourage him to keep better control, but the others didn't know the details. Hell, he had just figured out a major drawback to his time seal and the cost if he slipped up. He would have to think of a way to help mitigate the risks of a relapse just in case. He would also need to tell the old man and Shikaku what was up, though he dreaded to do that. He didn't want them questioning his capabilities. He had had a meltdown of some sort almost every night since the meeting. At least now he knew what a contributing factor was. He had always been an emotional person even when he wasn't suppose to be and now it was beginning to haunt him. Mind breaking trauma and its consequences aside, several unexpected events had also happened the last couple days. First there was the twist at the council meeting, then Hiashi's request for help which came way earlier than he expected, then Genma's confrontation which was his own fault for not being careful enough, and then his interaction with Danzo and the Elders which still made no sense to him at all. There were too many new variables to consider. Today promised to not be any easier. First, he had to administer the sealing exams and then he had training with team 8 and if he was honest, he wasn't quite prepped for that yet after last night. Haruki needed a solid training session to clear his head and prep for his fight with Hiruzen later that week.

After getting dressed and cleaning up the broken clock that he just bought, Haruki left his bedroom expecting to find a Kakashi sleeping on his couch. He walked out of his room, absently noting that he hadn't closed his bedroom door last night, and was surprised to find that his couch was empty with the blanket half on the couch and half off clearly used. On the table in the kitchen was a note that looked scribbled in a hurry. It said, "Called for a mission. You've got the kids today, cancel their training at your own peril. Don't forget to lock your door this time."

Haruki rolled his eyes. Well that wasn't happening. He would send a clone to do individual training with them and then he'd give them the day off or tell them to train together. They wouldn't be getting many of those before too long. At least he knew how the cyclops got in his apartment in the first place. Deciding that he needed to be in more than one place at a time. Haruki formed a clone to handle this mornings testing. He didn't want to do the orientation lecture anyway and Shiho could handle the rest. 'Time to do some training in the old stomping ground.'

Quickly grabbing a bagel the red head exited his apartment and locked it with its security seals before racing off to the forest of Death. His clone headed to his office as his previous clone there had dispelled about two hours ago.

xXx

The Academy was bustling with activity as the introductory lessons and subsequent evaluation of fuinjutsu were supposed to be administered over the next three days. The chunin staff of the Academy had cancelled all class that day and were asked to assist the sealing department in setting up the facilities. This wasn't surprising to them given their role at the institution. What did surprise them was who showed up to spear head the orchestration when it was time for them to begin making preparations. Apparently, the Sealing Department consisted of two people at the moment. The department head, the mysterious redhead who just appeared out of no where and was the talk of the ninja community in Konoha right now, and his new assistant whom had shown up loaded down with files and books and looking extremely flustered. The staff quickly took pity on the poor girl and offered to go and retrieve the rest of the materials from her office.

The girl just smirked and said, "That won't be necessary," before opening one of the giant scrolls she brought with her and unfurled it. Channeling chakra into the scroll, she tried hard not to laugh at the expressions of the chunin staff as court yard was quickly filled with stacks of paperwork books and other materials, including stage pieces and a small host of chairs.

"This ought to last us the testing period and the orientation class. Could you please begin sorting the stacks to the appropriate room? Each should be labeled already. The rest of you please assist me in setting up the stage and presentation table for the director."

The dumbfounded chunin instructors quickly shook themselves of their surprise and began following her specific instructions.

Shiho was incredibly pleased with herself and simultaneously incredible nervous. When Haruki-senpai came to inform her that she had gotten job she was incredibly surprised. She of course was thrilled at the opportunity and was confident that she could do the job but surely there had been more qualified people that applied for the position. The man hadn't given her much time to process her success and he left her a lengthy list of secretarial tasks to accomplish. These ranged from familiarizing herself with her new work space the files inside, fuinjutsu protocal and the new sealing knowledge that she was supposed to become familiar with. Learning sealing from a seal master was one of the biggest perks of the job but Haruki-senpai said she had a lot to learn on her own before he could really teach was all a bit overwhelming. It also became readily apparent that Haruki never stopped working and thus had a tendency to forget that other people couldn't make endless copies of themselves to work around the clock. Never one to back down for an academic challenge though she pushed forward and this was the culmination of her work. If she could successful establish the testing environment then perhaps, she could affirm to herself and her rather mysterious new boss that she was the right person for the position. It was probably silly of her to view it this way, but she couldn't help it.

With the amount of help available and a diligent effort the academy staff under Shiho's direction was able to finalize the preparations in a little over an hour's time. She was just finishing the finishing touches to the presentation table when the first of the test takers started to arrive.

For the next twenty minutes a steady stream of ninja arrived for today's presentation and evaluation ranging in rank from genin to jonin with some ANBU mixed in though they were not in uniform and so the only way to tell was to look at the registration paperwork they filled out after the fact. Everything was going smoothly except for one critical facet.

With ten minutes left until the beginning of the orientation, the presenter had yet to show.

As registration was about to close for the day one final party arrived that raised Shiho's stress levels to new heights. The Hokage and his advisors had come themselves to view today's presentation. Shiho stood off the side of the stage trying to suppress the building panic inside her if her boss didn't show up.

'Where is he! After all this work I'm going to have to get up there and try and wing an orientation about things a barely know. I haven't learned enough myself to answer all the possible questions they could ask. What do I do? What do I do?'

The hokage greeted and spoke with many ninja as he and his advisors found their seats. The courtyard was almost completely full, at least five hundred ninja were present. Most seemed to be chunin and jonin all of which had seniority over her.

She stilled herself and took a breath, 'Calm down. I don't have to pretend to know the answers I can just skip the introduction to sealing and go straight to examination-'

Just as she was taking the stage to bluff her way through the opening speech gaining the attention of the assembly she saw a familiar stock of red hair round the corner into the academy court yard. She made eye contact with the man and he stuttered slightly in his step. 'Good' Shiho thought, 'glad he understands the situation. Then again maybe I shouldn't be trying to intimidate my new boss.'

Sighing to herself she addressed the crowd, "Thank you all for coming today to the first fuinjutsu evaluation exam and orientation. My name is Shiho and I am the assistant to Kazuma Haruki the head of the Sealing department and Barrier corps. After a brief introduction you will each be dismissed to a testing room indicated by the color letter and number on the card you received when you registered."

Here she held up a sample card that was red with the letter B and the number 48 in black inscribed on it.

"When you receive your test please mark the correct color letter and number in the boxes on the top right corner. This will reveal your test. If you do this in correctly you could end up taking the incorrect test and your evaluation will not be counted. The various versions of this exam have been formulated based on the level of experience that was indicated in your file or on your application. Each test is customized and thus cheating is not advised as it is likely not to work and is self-defeating to the purpose of this evaluation. Your scores can be calculated quickly so you should know your results and the corresponding sealing proficiency assigned to you by the end of today. You have as long as you need to take the test and may take breaks as you desire however submissions will not carry over to the next day and all submissions must be turned in by 5:00 pm today to count. If you leave the academy grounds before you have submitted your test then you test is void and you will need to take it again another time. Food stalls will be set up in the court yard following the orientation for those who will need a food break. Be advised that these evaluations are meant to push the limits of your understanding." She finished holding up her finger as drawing attention to her reminder.

Seeing nods of understanding Shiho continued, "Kazama-dono will now lead the orientation into sealing. I wish you all good luck." She finished with a bow.

The crowd looked to the side of the stage as she exited to see the mysterious jonin take her place. If he was perturbed by the honorific, he didn't show it. He was relaxed as he approached the table set up for him. Looking out into the audience Haruki saw several key figures. Hiashi and his brother were both present with several members of their clan including Neji. Haruki could also see Choza and Shikaku along with the Hokage and his advisors. Danzo was in the back stoic as ever. He saw genma , Raido, Yugao and Hayata sitting together off to the left of the stage. Sighing internally, 'Bosses orders suck. I'll just have Shiho do the rest of these.'

Keeping a pleasant smile oon his face with hands stuffed in his coat he addressed the crowd. "Thank you, Shiho. Welcome everyone. I hope that for most of you what I am about to say is mostly review." The red head begins neutrally before gesturing to a stack of books next to the demonstration table. "This stack of fuijutsu texts represent the ten levels of fuinjutsu. As a fuinjustsu master I have a proficiency with all ten of them what we will be discussing today, however, can all be found in the first volume. When you receive your score today, it will assign you a sealing rank from one to ten. This rank is partially to make you aware of your proficiency and establish objectively where your fuinjutsu skill stands. It also serves as a mark of authority to handle certain tasks on missions and within the village. The reason for this will be explained in more detail later. The rankings are as follows: The first level and corresponding volume means you have mastery of the basic of basics, seal recognition, the foundational languages of seals, culminating in the storage seal. The second is an introduction in synchronized and localized reactions, i.e. explosive tags, as well as building multifaceted arrays. Level three of his fuinjutsu books is about manipulating chakra networks on a basic level. This volume outlines the principles for how chakra suppressor, paralysis seals, shock tags and even resistance seals work, how they connected to the chakra system and the effects on the body. The volume includes a detailed diagram of the chakra system along with the placement of every tenketsu."

"Beyond this level is the intermediate level. Most of you that have dabbled in sealing long enough may know bits and pieces but lack mastery of these levels. Level four covers the beginnings of barrier and other security seals, include methods to detect chakra and motion. The fifth level expands intermediate sealing theory; it includes an understanding of variant sealing languages, ideas about chakra and a start on log and algorithmic seals. This is also when elemental ninjutsu begins entering fuinjutsu, focusing mainly on infusing elements into barriers and ideas on how to suppress jutsu. The sixth level is focused on application of seals involving techniques on increasing the speed you write, how to write on the move, how to etch seals into hard surfaces, such as rocks or foundations, to increase their stability. The technique, called Chakra Engraving, allows for a concentrated micro blade of chakra to be made via a conduit. Chakra etching is rare because it takes a long time compared to the ink based or the materialization methods but they were longer lasting and more secure from outside influenced as it took another etching to interact with the seal. It also required a good bit of chakra control, comparable to that of a medical ninja. The seventh level is about linking and merging sealing arrays, how to make different arrays compatible enough to be merged or how to build the bridge if they weren't. It also focuses on other methods of activation like timers or changes in weight or temperature. There were several non-chakra methods to activate seals, experts could even use emotional states to activate a seal. This requires an understanding of the more theoretical side of fuinjutsu. The evaluation book includes even more advanced symbols and sealing languages."

"The final tier of levels and corresponding evaluation volumes are for experts culminating in the tenth level which grants mastery. It goes without saying that these topics are restricted and few of you have even close to the right skill set or temperament to use them. The eighth level concerns juinjutsu, how to create them, how to counter them. It also includes how to expand and condense arrays, how to see full arrays without activating the seals and methods of seal concealment and cloaking. And before you ask not all Juinjutsu are the same and not all have anything in common with the more infamous one some of you have heard of. But you can learn more about that when you are ready. Level nine involves the theories behind space-time fuinjutsu/ninjutsu. Mostly it covers summoning and advancing storage seals to create stable pocket dimensions. Finally, level ten well.." Haruki trailed off and observed the audience. "I'll let you work to find that out." He said much to the audiences obvious disappointment. "But enough about the divisions. By the end you should all be able to tell me the significance of sealing a kunai into a scroll. But first we need to establish three truths, what is chakra? Anyone? All right you there in the blue, tell us your name." He said pointing to a young man who wore standard chunin attire with ab lue bandana covering his head. The guy had clearly not been expecting to be called on and was probably cursing the red head in his head. Those around him sympathized but were also relieved that they hadn't been singled out. No one expected this to be interactive.

"Ah right, sir, um my name is Hatoru Kajui rank chunin. Chakra is a form of energy that is made up of two parts that can be access and controlled to produce other effects, sir. At least that's the simple definition taught at the academy." He answered quickly hoping he hadn't made a complete fool of himself.

"Just so," Haruki said nodding his smile still in place, "Excellent recitation Hatoru-san." The chunin smiled at his success as he seated himself again, "However, that definition will not suffice for the purpose of fuinjutsu. There is a significant word missing from the standard definition that impacts your foundational understanding when using fuinjutsu." At this declaration most of the audience became curious as to what the red head could mean, none more so then the chunin academy staff.

"Life," Haruki began as he allowed his chakra to calmly leak out of his coils and blanket the area. Letting its flow and vibrance be felt and thrum through the air, washing over them. The audience gasped at the feeling and the implications. Chakra often couldn't me felt so much as perceived accept by skilled sensors but this presence was thick if not oppressive. Refreshing was the closest word to describe it. The fact that all this was coming from this one guy further established respect and awe for the mystery man from the ninja population gathered.

Choza reflected onit truly puzzled him. The jonin's chakra hinted nothing of the previous night's events and wasn't certain what this meant. The hokage grinned under his hat. 'perhaps there is still some of the old Naruto left after all. Then again maybe he's just trying to establish himself to those who don't know his skill.'

Hiashi emmersed himself in the feeling. 'you can sense his experience through the chakra.'

the feeling as it washed over him. There was a contentment in the flow that hadn't been their before. "Chakra is life energy and is made up of our essence of life in both areas of connection, our devlopement of our physical bodies and our strength of spirit. This energy fills the vessels that produce it, the mind and the body and by training those vessels you can both increase the amount that that can create and the amount that can control."

Withdrawing his chakra, Haruki made sure he held their attention leaning back against the table. "This contributes directly to our understanding of chakra control. I'll give an example. When I was young, I was unable to perform the clone jutsu. To this day it still can give me difficulty," he admitted catching the surprise on many people's faces, " This is due partially to the sheer volume of chakra I had when I was young. Now I know what many of you may be thinking. What does this have to do with fuinjutsu and we will get to that just bear with me. The advice I was told by my academy sensei was to ' Just improve your chakra control.' While this wasn't incorrect, it was also supremely unhelpful. What does that mean? Is there a unit that can be manipulated and measured? Admittedly even knowing that answer would not have helped me much. I was a bit of an idiot haha. But the point remains that such a casual exploration of what chakra control is will not be sufficient for fuinjutsu. And honestly, you should consider making the change for the entire curriculum."

"The benefit to this is that the principle can be applied to other disciplines besides fuinjutsu. So then we are lead top the next question, What about chakra are we controlling?"

At his question many of the younger members looked lost as they tried to come up with and answer. This time a dark haired man with sunglasses raised his hand. At the red heads acknowledgement he stood to give his thoughts, " Yamashiro Aoba, rank Tokubetsu Jonin, Aoba is fine. We manipulate both the form and the nature of chakra as well as the volume used in our jutsu using control."

"Yes, that's true, but once again that definition is too broad for fuinjutsu. Remember chakra is life energy and is influenced directly by the two areas of life that formulate it. These are divided into the Yang and Yin portions of chakra. It is the change of the position and the ratio of these base elements that allow different jutsu to be preformed. Most of this is intuitive and there in lies the challenge. Each person's unique chakra is mixed at its own ratio and position naturally and this produces your chakra nature, form called frequency in fuinjutsu, and volume. This is the reason I as a jonin still have trouble with the bunshin jutsus. My chakra base is skewed sharply toward yang chakra which very little of is needed for the bunshin jutsu. But again, I bet you are wondering how this effects fuinjutsu. Bear with me just a bit longer."

Haruki raised his hand with three fingers extended while still leaning casually against the table.

"What is the final piece needed to execute a jutsu?"

"Handseals!" This time it was a genin that stood up, though he didn't bother to introduce himself in his excitement.

"Exactly but why?"

Not expecting to have to explain himself further, the genin stumbled over himself, "Uh because uh, they help change the chakra?"

"That's right but it's specifically how it changes the chakra that gives us our answer." Haruki said patiently. He decided to not embarrass the eager boy and continued on.

"Since each person has a predetermined natural state that their chakra appears in it is extremely difficult to change the ratio of yang and yin to achieve the desired effect. The handseals provide a mechanism and focus for each person to alter the ratio of a portion of their chakra to accomplish the desired effect is. Your mind alters the yin aspect of the chakra through your will and your movement focuses the alteration of the yang half of your chakra to the desired amount. The more drastic the change is from the based the harder it is to accomplish. Over time and use our chakra grows with us because it is life energy and it responds more to our use of it, gaining flexibility. This is how new affinities and chakra growth occur. This is the basis of chakra and jutsu theory." The audience by this point was enraptured. While some of the concepts were deeper than the surface stuff they were used to. Haruki's simple and relatable explanation was maintaining their interest.

"Here is why that matters for fuinjutsu.' Haruki continued "Fuinjutsu uses the physical expression of a seal to alter the yang aspect of chakra to the desired amount and what the seal represents alters the yin aspect. These interactions result in whatever effect occurs from a base chakra being applied to the seal."

"This means that so long as the seal is clear and balanced appropriately, it can accomplish practically anything for anyone at anytime. This reality makes fuinjutsu one of the most powerful and dangerous arts known to man."

"To drive this home in each of your minds I have one final demonstration," Haruki formed the horse handseal, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullett) has 44 handseals to complete the technieque for most practitioners. My level of mastery allows me to accomplish this with just one."

Instantly a giant dragon made of water swirled like a waterspout from behind the stage towering thirty meters in the air and at least 5 meters thick. It roared loudly before launching itself into the middle of the audience. Before the ninja could react however the redhead appeared with the scroll that had been laying on the table open between his arms.

"Suin Fuin (Water Seal)." He said neutrally and instantly the water dragon he made was absorbed into the seal. The audience as a whole was tense after that display while the red head made his way back to the stage.

"Now, I would wager that not many of you can preform the same jutsu I just did and even less could with the same proficiency. If you attempted it, the jutsu would simply fail because you only partially completed the change that was necessary, because you only used one hand seal. Now let me ask you this, how many of you can use a sealing scroll despite not knowing how it works mechanically?" The look on every person's face, except the most experienced, transformed from contemplative to fascinated terror.

"Exactly. Chakra applied to a seal will execute the seal that is present, whether it is complete or not. So never and I mean never experiment with fuinjutsu until you have mastery of the level you are on. This is why the levels exist. You will only get yourself and others killed. This also means don't apply chakra to a seal you can't read or don't understand. Any questions?" Seeing that most of the audience was still processing what he just said, Haruki started walking back down the stage steps.

"Good well, if you have any later you can come find me and I'll do my best to answer or direct you to where you can get an answer. Now you are dismissed to take you examination, the test will begin in thirty minutes."

Meanwhile in the forest of death the real Kazuma Haruki began training in earnest the past couple of days he had been pushing his body to the brink and experimenting with ninjutsu. He had to be careful not to overdo it though. His next priority was to confirm that he could still summon and use sage mode. What was most critical besides recovering from his battle was finish expanding his repertoire that was now limited due to his need to hide critical facts about himself. Orochimaru's alterations had more than made up for his limits in power though he still wasn't comfortable with the price that the knowledge to do this came at. Haruki was confident that he was beginning to get a handle on his new ninjutsu skills

'Of my three summoning contracts I can only use one, it's about time I checked in. Which means, I can only use one form of sage mode. Well here goes nothing. Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique).' Haruki flashed through handseals and bit his thumb drawing blood before slamming his hand on the ground. The usual seal array appeared on the ground; however, the pull of the chakra was pulling on him not whoever was on the other side. At that realization Haruki vanished in a puff of smoke.

The next thing that Haruki felt was the rush of wind and a chill grow across his body. Taking in his surroundings it was quite plain what had happened. Whenever the summoning jutsu is preformed by someone unbound by a contract, the seal pulls them to the most compatible partner available. He was currently in a clift side facing a ravine where another cliff met his gaze several hundred meters away. He could not see the bottom of the ravine as it was obscured by a fog and he could just barely see the sky high above. Air currents of different amounts of force streamed through the crack in what was now unmistakably a mountain. 'I suppose at this point in time I haven't actually made contact with any of them. Which means, it would draw me to the one I was most compatible in chakra too. This is definitely not Ruchi Cave or Mount Myoboku or Shikkotsu forest. Haruki had never been to the Miho Pine Grove on Mt. Miho in his previous time. The contract he made with the Hawks was made after the war had already begun and he was undercover in Iwa. It was just as likely that his place was somewhere altogether new.

Behind Haruki there was a cave that had not floor. The cavern stretched on far past his sight.

'What do you think Karuma?'

"There is no way to find out other than to go forward. Still its probably best to be cautious. Not all summons are looking for partners and you could find yourself in store for a fight." The fox reasoned lazily not particularly concerned.

Haruki nodded and began molding chakra before suddenly jumping backwards away from the edge as a hail of sebbon came out of the darkness and impacted the ground where he stood.

"Hoho, this one has good reflexes ni-san." Came a high pitched scraggily voice from the darkness that echoed around the room.

"Indeed." Came a much deeper reply from behind the red head from the cliff side. "I think however our intruder is not as much a threat as we first supposed."

Haruki knew that voice even before he turned. Carful to not turn to quickly Haruki pivoted so that he could see in both directions. He was now in the shadow of a massive hawk whose eye was fixed on the red head.

"What do you mean ni-san? We could feel his chakra from all the way back at the nest."

"Yes, but this man matches the great mother's description besides his attempt at disguise. There is no doubt that he is our yet to be summoner."

Haruki smirked and relaxed his stance. "Nothing ever could fool your eyes Takarashi. How is Kazehime-bachan doing?"

The massive hawk landed with a rush of wind and without a crash or shake. His towering form resting unconcerned without removing his saze from the redhead.

"Your use of the great mother's given name in such a casual manner give credence to my conclusion. She speaks highly of your skills and your character, Naruto-sama. You seem unsurprised by my ability to see you. Why did you where such a disguise?"

"To be honest I wasn't expecting to be called here when I tried to summon you. As to my disguise, well it complicated."

"Hoho and we are just suppose to take your word for it. The great mother can be quite an air head sometimes. She could have inflated her perceptions of you." Came a voice from beside him as a much smaller and chubbier bird landed on Haruki's shoulder. To his credit Haruki didn't outwardly react to the snobbish and shrill voice, inwardly he was marveling and the sheer skill it must take for that bird to be so quiet.

"Ma ma, Reinoske. Don't be so harsh on bachan. Here has some jerky." Haruki says pulling out some jerky from his rations seal from his pocket and tossing it too him. The plump bird immediately snatched it out of the air.

"What can we do for you Naruto-sama?"

"Honestly I was just trying to check in and fill whomever in on the situation at hand. I didn't know what I would find." Haruki explained.

"We have been expecting you for a little while now. One day you name appeared faded on one of the seal tags hanging from the great mother's nesting tree. She said the winds told her who you were and that you would come to explain yourself to us. She wouldn't tell us much else other than you were a honorable and powerful warrior worthy of our clan's support." Takarashi said politely explaining the circumstances though there was definite scrutiny hidden behind his words. It was certain that the respect he had for the sage was the only reason Haruki wasn't under attack at the moment.

"Perhaps then I can offer this as assurance that I am who she claimed I was." Haruki said as his eyes changed and his feet left the cavern floor. The Hawk boss's eye widened at the sight as Reinoske squawked. "Takarashi, I need your help, and I have a long story to tell you."

xXx

(Hours later in the Forest of Death)

With a explosion of smoke Haruki found himself back in the clearing in the forest of death right where he had left.

"Well nothing to do now but train on the basics. Can't ever hone those enough."

Haruki created about 200 clones, half of them would go through the taijutsu katas he knew. His remaining clones split off into four groups of twenty-five, they would again work on chakra control, Kenjutsu, nature manipulation, and Fuinjutsu. He didn't have time to work on Genjutstu right now.

Haruki knew that because of his massive reserves, doing things like Genjutsu and medical jutsu would be impossible However, when Orochimaru altered his genetic make-up, and he mastered Kurama's chakra, Haruki achieved a level of mastery over his chakra that was thought impossible for someone with his volume. He could flux his chakra to match or compliment any foreign chakra that entered his system making most genjutsu pointless against him. This also enabled himself to use his own version of medical ninjutsu, which was partly why he didn't like referring to it as such, but that wasn't really relevant at this point. However, he still needed to maintain this ridicules level of chakra control. So his clones would do a mixture of exercises, most of them would run around on a body of water with several large rocks sticking to different areas of the body while balancing senbon or kunai on his fingers with chakra.

While his clones were doing that Haruki would work on physical conditioning and strength, training his body to withstand high speed combat. He would do a 15 mile run, 400 pushups, 400 sit ups, 200 pull ups, 1000 squats, 500 kicks and 500 punches without chakra enhancement while his resistance seals were active. While Haruki was considered a ninjutsu specialist he had strong hopes that he could also match the likes Lee and Gai in taijutsu and Kisame in kenjutsu. Then he would do his own mix discipline challenge to really push himself.

'Just you wait Old Man. I'll give you such a thrashing they will have no choice but to let me go.'

xXx

Anko by nature was a curious person. The need to know had been one of the reasons that she became as skilled as she was at intelligence gathering and was chosen by Orochimaru to be his apprentice. Though she would never admit it that part of her only grew under his tutelage. That's why when she felt a massive disturbance of chakra deep in her usual place of solitude to murder and destroy to her hearts content, she had to investigate. When she finally reached the source of the disturbance, she had a front row seat to an impressive sight. She immediately recognized it was Haruki but what he was doing was beyond intense. The man was currently balancing on a kunai with one finger as he did several one-armed pushups. Sticking to his body were several decently sized rocks that blond was no doubt using chakra to keep in place, balanced on his feet were two large 6 foot boulders; one for each foot. He was currently blindfolded with Hitea-ate over his eyes, while several clones' of some kind were standing around him in a circle. Around his body she could see three condensed rings of wind chakra that expanded and retracted at different intervals. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the boulders were actually sitting on a cushion of air between their surface and his feet.

The red head was only wearing a pair of pants currently as he worked, allowing Anko to see a physic that while not bulky was extremely well defined. It was lithe, firm and reminded her of a panther or some kind of powerful predator; no doubt his body trained for a combination of intense speed and strength. She could see the ripple of his muscle's every time he moved, watching him caused an unusual heat to rise to her cheeks. Though that was dispelled as she examined what seemed to be a rather gruesome scar on his left side. Now that was a story she wanted the answer too. It was after all the only blemish on his body. Deciding that he was sufficiently distracted that she wouldn't be noticed, Anko began some impromptu surveillance on everyone's favorite mystery man. Afterall in a couple of days, everyone that mattered would get to see what he was made of anyway.

Twenty minutes later, he was still going at his workout routine. As she watched she saw the clones that were surrounding him take out several kunai and without warning started launching them at him. She wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see it, but the rings of wind fluxed to block each projectile that came and Haruki didn't break his rhythm the entire time. A few he couldn't block since they were coated with cut through the protective ring so he dodged, using the boulders connection to his feet as a counter balance to each other as he leaned his body from one side to the other as he dodged the kunai. In all her years Anko had never seen anyone who had such a ridiculously dangerous training regime. There were some that came close but those were not as multidisciplined as this. She licked her lips grinning like a predatory as an idea of what else was dangerous about this man came into her mind.

She watched him for what seemed like hours but in truth was only about 30 minutes as the man continued training. When it was done the clones dispelled and the man kicked the boulders off himself shattering them and the rocks on his body dropped. Anko readied herself pulling out three kunai, 'This is just too good of a chance to pass up. This'll be fun.'

(With Haruki)

'How long is she going to watch I wonder?' Haruki thought has he shook out his arms. He could have done more but he still had more to do in his training for the day and didn't want to risk too much with this particular person as an audience. Anko had always been a wild card.

However, as he was walking back to put his clothes back on, Haruki heard the distinct whistling of kunai cutting the air, a sound he had become intimately familiar with.

'I just had to ask.' He thought catching the only one didn't block with wind chakra and sent it back with double the speed. 'She can probably dodge that and maybe that will encourage her to come out so I can find out what exactly she wants.'

Not a moment later the woman appeared in a crouch at the base ot the tree with a kunai in hand and a wicked smile on her face. She was wearing clothing that could be considered more of a lack there of then anything else, which was typical for her. She had on a dark orange miniskirt that barely covered her unmentionables, a fish net shirt that once again did really nothing to cover her, it was especially bad since she had no bra under it as far as Haruki could see. Over that she had a tan trench coat that covered just enough of her breasts that Haruki could not see her nipples. She was wearing a pair of standard shinobi sandals with shin guards over them and had a Konoha headband on her head that held up dark purple hair in a pineapple hairstyle, though he would never actually describe it that way to her. He valued his genitals more than that.

"Hey ya Red, how's it hangin?" She began relaxing as she stood up not losing her slight off-putting smirk but stowing the kunia in her trench coat pocket.

"What do you want Anko?" Haruki began tiredly. He didn't mean to be rude but he wasn't in the mood to be bothered right now. He didn't bother attempting to dress. It was obvious by her body language that she would likely pounce on the opportunity. She wasn't very good at restraining herself when she wanted to fight.

"I was just curious to see who was training out here is all," Anko said in a pout, "Really, I mean when you get a new neighbor it's common courtesy to greet them."

"Neighbor, huh? So, you train out here too." Haruki respond putting a small smile on his face while feigning ignorance.

"Yup!" Anko said, smiling at him. "It's such a great place, all the creatures there that would like nothing more than to kill you, the giant tigers that love to feast on human flesh, spiders, man eating plants…"

As Anko continued to list off all of the 'amazing' animals that could be found within the forest, Haruki was thinking about other things. Haruki mentally tallied up what he knew about the woman for the enevitable sparing session that would happen; now Jōnin in rank, former apprentice of Orochimaru, hence a snake summoner and a ninjutsu specialist, had a boisterous personality, liked to use mind games to mess with people's heads, skilled in torture, interrogation and intelligence gathering. So overall, a less insane but probably more violent version of Orochimaru. She may have been the apprentice of the Snake Sannin, but Haruki in his own way could be considered the apprentice of all three of the Sannin. He shouldn't need to show too much to handle her so long as he was careful.

"Hey Red, are you listening to me?" She shouted flinging the same kunai from earlier only for it to be deflected to the side well before it reached him.

One of Haruki's cerulean eyes twitched in annoyance, "You know. I told you my name so you would use it."

Anko's grin threatened to split her face, "I know…"

He sighed. There was no other way around this. "Fine. You want a spar, lets get this over with."

It was impossible for her mouth to get wider. "I knew you were a quick learner. I love a good game of death tag and haven't gotten to play in a while." She got in a ready stance drawing a kunai from her trench coat again.

"When do we start?"

"We already have." A voice said from behind him.

Boom! The ground exploded underneath him from what was likely a paper bomb.

"Tell you what if you win, I'll show you a good time later." She said in sultry voice as she approach the piller of smoke from the explosion she just made.

"Darling, I'm glad you thought that our first-time fighting should be accompanied by fireworks, but I hate to tell you…you're just not my type." Anko whipped her head around and saw the red head casually leaning against a tree looking bored.

Not one to be out done, Anko double down on her attempt to fluster the red head meat slab. In a husky voice she breathed out, "Are you sure about that?" as she positioned herself in a clearly sexual manner showing off how full her breasts where tauntingly.

"I've seen better." Came the neutral and honest reply as the man rolled is right shoulder and popped his neck before settling in a loose stance. His body was primed and ready he would need to scale himself back accordingly for his opponent.

"Oh?" she sensually licked her lips. "Sounds like my kind of woman."

Haruki smirked. That was the Anko he knew. Confident, definitely too forward, stubborn and relentless, mischievous and terrifying even to her friends, but most of all she was loyal as they come despite what others may say. She was also a very attractive woman but thinking of her in any sexual way just weirded him out. Banishing those thoughts from his mind while Kurama chuckled deep in his mind Haruki launched himself at the saucy woman. In a blink his fist was embedded in her face which immediately exploded into mud. 'Hmm this may be a bit too much power. Well we'll see how it goes.'

"Damn Red that's cold going for a woman's face. Are you trying to damage my womanly charm?"Anko asked playfully droping down out of a tree from behind him. She went through some handseals then her and three other versions of herself appeared and dashed towards him.

"You know charging at an opponent who is clearly superior to you is just stupid," Haruki said with a large grin on his face, perhaps he could loosen up just a bit. In burst of pure speed he was on the first clone before she realized he had moved and already punched throw its body. He appeared behind the second that had begun to change course burying his heel in her skull before dodging a few kunia thrown by the last. It appeared she had realized that his raw strength was going to be too much for low level clones. Haruki snatched a kunai out of the air and returned it just as he had done earlier to end the last clone before turning to the original that was circling him.

Haruki braced himself for a taijutsu barrage, but was instead assulted by a sudden rainfall of steel headed. He dodged and looked back only to find most of them vanishing as soon as they hit the ground; Shuriken Kage Bunshin then. Before Haruki landed his dodge, he created three smokeless shadow clones in midair. "My turn, let's see what you got. Lesson one Taijutsu."

They speedily moved towards the snake summoner and her copies with kunai in their fists, as Haruki backed off to observe for a moment. Despite the fact that she was outnumbered she did not appear at any moment to be overwhelmed. While her snake-style taijutsu was similar to Orochimaru's, he favored speed with flexibility over strength; she preferred short vicious strikes that were almost too fast to dodge. After a few exchanged blows she twisted around one of the clones' strikes and dispelled it with a kunai through the eye, before flexibly using an overextended fist from another as a stepping stone and leapt into the air. "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)" she called out as snakes extended from her hands and dispelled the clone she had as a springboard; as she landed she bent over backwards, appearing not to have a spine, to avoid being decapitated and in the same movement raised a foot and slammed it into the throat of the last clone.

Damn.

She spun the kunai around her finger as she called out, "Is that all you've got, Red?"

"Alright let's take it up a notch, lesson two ninjutsu!" Haruki shouted his face lit up with a smirk his younger counter part would be proud of. Haruki launched some shuriken he had retrieved from his pouch. He coiled his arm back after releasing and thrust it forward shouting a jutsu. He didn't need to weave signs for this one anymore.

"Fuuton: Repuusho! (Wind Release: Wind gale Palm)"

The shuriken which had already been going forward at high speeds soon became a nothing more than a streak of silver as they headed for Anko. The snake summoner jumped out of the way, knowing how dangerous Haruki was when he used his wind element for anything. However, Haruki knew Anko would dodge; after all Anko was not a jonin level shinobi for nothing and had in fact counted on him dodging. Haruki put in a small but intense burst of highly concentrated chakra into his legs, literally disappearing and reappearing right in front of Anko. The blue eyed shinobi aimed a punch at her solar plexus; Anko swatted it to the side and downward in the hopes of knocking him off balance. No such luck as Haruki went down and pushed himself into a handstand, launching a kick that managed to hit Anko in the face forcing her to lean back. Pushing himself into a flip, Haruki went for an axe kick to Anko's collar bone; Anko put up both arms to guard and immediately regretted it as she was forced to a knee.

'God damn his stupid strength is ridiculous. He is likely still holding back', Anko grabbed onto Haruki's leg with both hands and was about to flip the man over. However Naruto used his other leg to jump up and over Anko, using her grip to keep himself balanced and launched a kick to her face. Anko was forced to let go of Haruki's leg as she tilted her head to the side and dodged the kick. She turned around and managed to kick Haruki in the chest on the man's way down, but he moved with the blow and went into a series of flips as he jumped away to gain some distance. Anko took out a kunai and threw it at the red head, going through a few hand seals as he shouted.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai multiplied into two dozen kunai as they all headed straight for Haruki, said shinobi just looked at them with a smirk forming the horse hand seal before calling out his jutsu.

"Suiton: Suejinheki! (Water Release: Water Encampment wall)"

A large wall of water formed around Haruki blocking the kunai, once Haruki heard the popping of kunai being dispelled and he formed the horse handseal again.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu)"

The wall of water soon began to swirl around Haruki, before taking the shape of a 30 meter water dragon with glowing yellow eyes. As soon as it did Haruki created a kage bushin sealessly and had it form one handseal as the water dragon launched itself towards Anko.

"Fuuton: Renkudan! (Wind Release: Wind Bullet)"

The clone smashed a fist into its stomach and shot a large ball of compressed wind out of its mouth; it went straight for the water dragon. The water dragon's power and speed were soon increased as the Renkudan merged with it as it headed towards Anko, said snake summoner swearing enough to make a sailor blush as she jumped out of the way. The water dragon made slammed into the trees behind her and smashed them to bits, which was a testament to the combinations power. These were forest of death size trees after all. With a loud crash, water erupted everywhere looking something akin to a large explosion.

Using the distraction caused by his jutsu Haruki threw several kunai and went through the hand signs Anko had used earlier even though it wasn't strictly necessary at his level.

"Ninpou: Kunai Kage Bushin No Jutsu! (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)"

One kunai became forty-one kunai as they headed for the still air born Anko, noticing the kunai the purple haired kunoichi went through her own hand seals in an attempt not to become a pin cushion. A large number of snakes were released from her sleeve wrapped around the nearest branch and pulled her out of the way. She sprung of the side of the tree as the snakes returned and flipped to land before sprinting towars the red head a serious expression on her face.

"Ah back to Taijutsu are we? That didn't work out so well for you last time." Haruki jabbed but she gave no reply pouring all her concentration on weaving through and blocking his strikes.

Their respective attack speeds had escalated as they traded blows in close quarters; as did their inherent risk taking. While blocking a blow to the side of the head Anko released a kunai from up her sleeve, likely from a seal, and slashed across Haruki. He mange to dodge mostly, but the very tip nicked part of his arm. She did another backflip after a single handstand and put some distance between them after realizing that the red head was no more tired or vulnerable than when they started. Anko could tell he was starting to increase his intensity and if even one of those got a clean hit on her she was in trouble. As she looked at Haruki she brought up the kunai to her face and lewdly licked off my blood coating it. Her voice went back to the same husky tone from earlier as she said, "Mmm, you taste good, mysterious wonder. I'll have to get more of that."

"Does that mean you're free tonight, hot stuff?" Haruki said back giving as good as he got. Banter aside, if he were anyone else that slip up would have been the end for him. Good thing he was in fact himself. Haruki brushed off his arm drawing attention to the already healed wound. His chakra had already burned out the poison even if it had been able to affect him.

'Time to show off' He thought to himself with a smirk. In quick succession, his right and left hands went through separate seals. He saw her tense her leg muscles, ready to dodge; she wouldn't move yet as she had no idea what the jutsu might be. If she committed a direction, it would only seal her fate.

"Futon: Cho no Habutaki." (Wind Release: Butterfly's flap)

"Raiton: Suzumebachi no sashi kizu." (Lightning Release: Wasp's sting)

A wall of wind descended like a sheet to fill the whole clearing while the ground became alight with lightning chakra blades of grass exploding upward toward the woman. This combination was actually used for capture more than eliminating the target. Anko began to realize this as she failed to dodge the wind wall and was flattened into the barrage of electricity. Rather than a shock she felt numb and found it difficult to move. He ears were ringing from the pressure difference. "What did you do to me?" She yelled as she stood.

"Now, now. That's for me to know and you to find out." Haruki said grinning "Time to end this." He conjured a wind blade and sent it toward her. She spun away to dodge acting out of instinct more than anything else.

Right into his fist. As her head snapped back, disorienting her Haruki pushed his advantage, immediately striking at her shoulder and sternum before attempting to knee her in the stomach. She had recovered by then and with a cough raised her arms to block his knee and pushed him back. As Haruki regained his balance she spat blood in his eye and charged forward as Haruki flinched, landing an elbow in his face and a vicious uppercut to his chin that caused his neck to snap backwards with a horrible cracking sound that rang throughout the arena, causing Haruki to dispel.

With almost perfect timing, as Haruki received the memories from the clone, he leapt from beneath the earth intent on landing an uppercut of my own. However, the split second made the difference as she had already leapt into the air, throwing two kunai towards me and yelling out "Kunai Kage Bunshin!" With a wrench of raw Fūton chakra Haruki gracefully changed directions in midair and landed in a heavy crouch with a huge grin on my face. 'I haven't had a fun spar like this in forever! Man, I wish I had gotten to fight with her before.' he thought to himself.

All of a sudden, he had to lean back to avoid another Anko, likely the original, leaping from beneath the earth to land another uppercut. He back-flipped out of her reach in a move reminiscent of her own; but this was exactly what she had been waiting for. "Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" she called out victoriously as a bunch of snakes streamed from her sleeves and shot towards Haruki, quickly wrapping around his body and hissing ominously.

She squeezed the snakes binding me tighter and said ominously, "Give up now, Red; my snakes are already hungry. I'd hate it if one of them decided to take a bite out of you." The snakes hissed ominously, completing a rather scary effect.

"Aren't you curious how I'm still able to move?" Haruki asked calmly even as the snakes tried to squeeze him. He wasn't worried. He sparred bare handed with Tsunade the snakes couldn't hurt him through constriction no matter how hard they tried.

Anko frowed at the man, "Hardly. Poison immunity, though not common, is to be expected whenever you use them. You always have to plan for your poison failing you. Given your previous role it is more than likely that you have an immunity to most poisons used in the ninja world today and I already know of your healing abilities and medical ninjutsu. However, that doesn't mean I don't have questions. Like how you are this strong of a shinobi that you're still holding back when I'm going all out. I'm not the strongest out there but I was trained by a Sannin. Now without his stupid hickey I'm even stronger and yet you are treating me like a fresh genin. How is someone as strong as you a mystery to everyone?" Her eyes bore into him though he made no attempt to look away "But that doesn't really matter. The old man trusts you and you helped me out. So I don't really care that much, I'm just curious. Then there is what you are doing all the way out here. Aren't you supposed to be administering the sealing test today? I mean I'm going on a day where it'll be less crowded but you are kinda the main guy right? How did you get to ditch?"

Haruki looked sheepish as she brought up him ditching work. "Well I have to face the old man soon and I needed to train. I figured a clone could handle my other duties."

Anko blinked. "Wait. You sent a clone to administer the fuijutsu test. Do you have any idea how the Sandaime is going to take that if he finds out?"

"He's not going to find out. The clone should have enough chakra to handle anything that comes up and if not I trust my assistant. The test should be well underway by this point." Haruki said in an annoyed huff while rolling his eyes.

Anko's face split into a wide grin. "Well Red it's your unlucky day. See you are a man of many secrets and of those many secrets right now, I want to know one. Who gave the cure for our good friend Hayate? You're a super spymaster after all. I'm sure you have a clue. Either you tell me something or I'm telling the Sandaime."

Haruki's face maintained a neutral smile. "Interesting choice. How about I offer you another one instead? Fūton or Raiton?"

Anko's eyes widened as she felt the release of chakra and attempted to jump away. 'Too late' Haruki called out calmly, "Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)!"

Her face immediately changed to horror as lightning poured down Haruki's arms and shocked her snakes, shocking her by conduction as well. She dispelled them at once, but didn't realize that she was standing in a puddle from Haruki's earlier Suiryūdan technique; a fact she was shockingly reminded of when she was electrocuted.

She leapt away, her hair frazzled and a murderous expression on her face. She had taken too many heavy hits; by comparison he had only been briefly captured. Understandably she lost her cool at this point. "Fine time to go all in! You think I'm going to let you treat me like a genin, Pissant. Well then you've got another thing coming." She bit into one of her singed hands and started forming a very familiar set of handseals.

Simultaneous cries rang out around the arena, "Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" and " Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning Technique)! " and all vision was obscured by the cloud from their techniques.

When the smoke cleared Anko stood atop a red cobra with a scared right eye, and much too anko's surprise Haruki stood atop a large brown hawk with a golden beak.

"Anko! I though we agreed you would not summon me unless your life depended on it." Garaga bellowed addressing the woman on top his head. An instant later however he spread his neck and coiled sharply as he fixed his eye on his opponent. Garaga was deathly still. "There had better be a good reason for calling me here especially if we are fighting against him."

Anko was shocked by Garaga's reaction. The snake had been harsh and cocky for as long as she had known him. While he didn't openly oppose Manda he wasn't afraid of him either which was why she went along with his attitude. He typically had the power to back it up too. But now he was on high alert and held a healthy fear for their opponent. Did he know Haruki?

As Anko assessed the opponent it became clear that Garaga was focused far more on red's partner. The giant hawk was incredibly still with its head cocked to the side. Its giant silver colored eye pinning them in place taking in every bit of detail it could perceive. She felt naked before his gaze.

Then it spoke.

"Na- Haruki-dono for what reason have you called upon me so soon since our last meeting?" Takarashi spoke in a very polite manor. His voice sounded very refined though deep. It did nothing to lessen his overwhelming presence.

"Sorry Takarashi-dono. As you know, I am training for a large confrontation. My friend over there is aligned with the snake clan and is helping me train. It has been a while since we have fought together and I did not want out compatibility to grow rusty. This is just training, no need to get serious."

"Hmmm a sound argument. Very well I shall assist you. You have select excellent opponents to hone your skills against. I can tell. They were quick to perceive how completely out matched they are against us." The hawk complemented his eye never blinking or wavering.

"Ah is that you Garaga. It has been some time since we crossed paths. Still giving Manda trouble I hope." The hawk boss added in a slightly smug tone though nothing changed about his posture.

"Garaga, you know that guy?" Anko asked gesturing toward the giant hawk and bending over to look at her summons.

"Anko, shut up and focus. Do not take your eyes off of him. I don't know how you managed to find someone who could some him but that beside the point. Is what the summer say true are we just here to train?" Garaga hissed in a hushed tone.

"Umm I mean yeah but uh what's the deal?" Anko said now far more alert and on guard then before despite the casual response.

Garaga didn't relax one bit. "Good I'll only maim you instead of eating you for this then. Anko our opponent is the one being even Manda fears. The Hawk boss Takarashi. He is not an opponent to be taken likely. Do not underestimate him. Despite his polite and reasonable exterior, that bird is a rutheless monster."

"Don't you worry, Takarashi. I have not given that worm my allegiance." Garaga bellowed out in his usual disrespectful bluster.

"That's good. Perhaps now I won't have to rend you skin to ribbons with my talons. Since I'm in such a good mood I'll even let you keep your remaining eye. How's that sound?" Takarashi replied politely as he flexed his right talon.

"Hmph you haven't changed much. Be warned. If you escalate this, I'll take you with me!" Garaga declared baring his fangs in a hiss.

"Ma, ma. I don't think that will be necessary after all this just a spar." Haruki said holding his arms out in a placating gesture before his eyes sharpened, "But that doesn't mean we have to go easy either."

"Anko, hold on." The cobra shout as the ducked and weaved, invisible blades of wind cleaving through the space they just were. The giant snake thumped his tail filling the area with a dust cloud to hide their movements.

'It's not much but it might buy us a second.'

Weaving through the trees Garaga twisted and shot a blast of venom into the cloud. Just in time too as around them hundreds of large feathers pierced every surface they came in contact with as if they were blades.

"Anko!" He shouted rearing back.

"You got it," she said flashing through hand seals "Katon: Ryuendan no jutsu" (Katon: Flame dragon bullet)

A large dragon of fire five meters wide launched from her mouth and ignited the venom while blazing its way to their target.

When the smoke cleared though it was evident she had missed and just hit the tree the bird was perched on but they were no where to be seen.

"Above!" Garaga yelled. And launch himself to the side by coiling and reeling himself quicker than something of his size had any right too. Just in time again as a large talon grasped the ground right where he had been a moment before ripping up a monstrous chunk. And then the pressure wave hit them. They endured it even though there were wind blades with in the blast.

"Ho. Very good Garaga that battle sharp mind hasn't faded yet good. But tell me," That polite inquisitive voice echoed through the dust kicked up by the wind; the wind cleared to revealthe golden beak of the hawk and then his head, his unblinking eye clearly fixed on them, "How long can you keep it up, I wonder?"

Even as he finished, Takarashi brought his wings back and Garaga's eye widened.

"Anko earth wall now!" the red cobra shouted as he coiled in on himself as much as possible.

"Too Late. Senpu: Tako no Tensei (Sage Art: Heaven's Kite)" Takarashi flapped his wings forward and Anko's ears popped.

All of the air together shifted in front of the hawk and fled before him. Stronger that a hurricane the trees were stripped of bark and may knocked over. Anko and her summons were lifted of the ground a flung with the debris in a maelstrom. Both disappeared into the chaos created by the collateral damage.

Takarashi remained in position before he was smacked hard by his summoner on the beak causing him to tip forward slight.

"I thought I told you this was training. Sage arts are too much." Haruki barked in frustration.

The hawk rubbed his beak with his wing before folding his wings back. "Quite right sir. I am sorry about that. It's just when I see a snake I quite lose myself in the moment. It has been a while since I've had a decent challenge."

"Be that as it may. We need to go find them. Worst case scenario we blew them into one of the truly dangerous area's of the forest and they likely aren't in any position to be dealing with it."

With a mighty flap of his wings the two were instantly skyward. It really was a good thing training ground 44 was so far from the village proper. The last thing he needed was to blow his cover with the old man by causing an incident with accidental damage.

xXx

When Anko came too, she was hanging upside down from a tree. Immediately she felt pain from her side as well as from her leg that was tied up in whatever was keeping her hanging. She could make out Garaga's form bellow her. Well that was a good sign at least he wasn't dispelled. She was beginning to understand her summon's warnings. That creature was ridiculously fast and the raw power it possessed. It could have slaughtered them if it had wanted. And Haruki had mastered that thing. The man must be a monster in his own right.

Her hearing and balance were shot in one ear and she was bleeding a bit. Her leg was dislocated and broken in multiple places. The pain would probably be worse if she still wasn't numb from Haruki's raiton technique earlier. She looked up to examine her leg and then froze as she realize where she was.

Her leg was wrapped in a gooey sticky white threadlike substance. And above it staring with eight empty eyes what a giant man-sized spider. As Anko realized the implication of exactly which part of the forest of death she concludes that the hawk had blown them to the far north side in the darker overgrown section. A place even she avoided. This was spider territory. The creatures were nasty to deal with when it was just one of them but in this portion of the forest there were hundreds of them. They weren't stupid either. They knew how to hunt and though they held no love for each other, the spiders factored in each of their brethren's efforts when moving. Always hungry, always breeding, these monsters were held back by regular missions from the anbu and jonin to keep them contained to this area.

And they were in their nest.

So why weren't they descending upon her to devour her now.

"Garaga are you awake." Anko whispered through the pain, even talking hurt.

"Keep quite kid. We don't want to set them off. Our arrival was sudden and violent. The only reason you are still alive and I haven't unsummoned is because they are to warry of us for the moment. The moment they think the danger has passed we are toast. The truth is that neither of us is in a position to fight our way out. I need to recover before I try to break the amount of webbing I'm wrapped up in. Our best bet is wait for your friend to come get you then I can get the hell out of here. If they come for us before then we make our stand then." The snake said back in his own quite way.

They could here the rustling and chittering of the hoard as it scurted the edge of the new clearing. Webbing was everywhere. They kept their silence for what seemed like an hour but in reality was only five minutes. Then a flair of pain burst through Anko and she cried out. Th lurch had come from her leg and when she looked up, she saw the spider from before had crawled to where her strand connected to the rest of the web and was hoisting her up Its mandibles chattering in what she could only assume was excitement and hunger.

'Like Hell this is how I go. I refuse to be bug food.' Anko summoned another kunai from her arm and poured chakra into it. She flung it at the strand cutting it and causing her to free fall. In that moment no less than seven bodies launched themselves at her falling form. 'Damn those creatines. They planned this.' There wasn't enough time to substitute and she couldn't reliably shunshin. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact, the struggle to come. But it never came. In fact she realized she was no longer falling but floating in the air.

"Looks like I got here in time. Seems Takarashi did a number on you. I am so sorry Anko."

That was Red's voice wasn't it. Anko sighed in relief as the pain that had been racking her body subsided. It was then instantly replaced by exhaustion.

"Woe there. Don't pass out on me we aren't out of the woods yet. Literally." He said in jovial tone despite the situation. "Let's get you patched up. Garaga. Takarashi. Think you two could buy me some time.

Anko could tell from the resulting screeching and large crashes what the answer had been.

She felt herself be laid down gently and she opened her eyes barely to see the red head still shirtless and his warm ocean blue eyes staring into hers full of concern and confidence. But then she realized that she was still in the air, and there was something different about his eyes.

"Sage mode. That's how we were flying. Damn red your good," she croaked out too tired and injured to do much else. They were flouting in the air as if the atmosphere turned into a pillow.

He smiled softly at her despite the nickname, "Your pretty banged up there, if you were anyone else this would be a problem," Haruki paused as he floated in the lotus position beside her with his hands pressed together, "but you have tough chakra coils from living with the curse mark so long. Even better you've been exposed to my sage mode before. This means if you are as tough as I belive you to be I'll have you back together in no time."

His hands glowed with green chakra with flecks of white in it, "This is going to hurt." Haruki said a grimace.

"Senpo: Kaze no Sai Ketsugo!" (Sage art: Wind's Rebinding) Haruki pressed he hands to her body, one on her heart and one on her stomach. Instantly she felt as if her entire chakra system was burning. She tried to scream and thrash but couldn't the very air around her held her firmly in place as her body rapidly knit itself back together. She felt her leg unscrew itself and lurch back into place. Within a couple of seconds, the chakra left her system and other than extreme exhaustion she felt fine.

Haruki on the other hand was panting and pouring in sweat. He lowered them to the ground as his sage mode fades. "Damn that's never easy and took far more out of me than it should. You feeling better?"

Anko just nodded still processing what just happened.

"Good now take a soldier pill we still go a long way to go." Haruki said and got in a fighting stance letting his chakra flow out of him and saturate the air around him.

Anko quickly popped a pill in from her ninja pack and took in the situation. The entire forest in the area was in tatters. Everywhere she looks she saw broken bits of stone spiders, likely Garaga's work, and shredded remnants of their webs and body parts. Takarashi was divebombing the hoard from. above crushing them with his talons and slicing them with his wind and wings. The spiders would try to jump on him and he would spiral and fling them off. Garaga was making liberal use of his venom and quick reflexes to stay ahead of the hoard's numbers. Constantly moving around the field so they couldn't box him in. Despite their individual superiority it became clear that the shear volume of enemies was far greater than they initially would have feared and based in what they new of the forest they were in the heart of the spider's domain.

"You ready?" Haruki asked as a small contingent of the monster's speed past the giants looking for easier prey. Oh how wrong they were.

Anko grinned. "Hell yeah." And they sprinted together toward their challengers.

xXx

(3 hours later)

Hearing a snap from behind Haruki rolled to the left, just dodging a giant spider that had tried to land on top of him. Grimacing, Haruki grabbed a kunai and wrapped an explosive tag around it. They had been fighting a running battle with these things for hours. They managed to make it out of their standard territory, but the creature were incised about them. Almost as if they had to eat the two ninjas out of principle now. Garaga and Takarashi covered their retreat as they plowed their way through literal thousands of these monsters. The two giants eventually dispersed to return to their respective realms as they lacked the chakra to remain in this plane. Looking back, it would probably have been wiser to hop on the hawks back and make a bee line for the exit but he doubted that the hawk could have defended against all of them with both shinobi in the way. Haruki told himself as soon as he was out of here, he was going to establish in a sealing barrier to keep them pinned in their section on pain of death. The two had managed to make it back to where they initially started their spar and Haruki had his equipment which had been a big help.

As the spider began to move towards him, Haruki threw the kunai. It managed to hit the creature right in the left eye, one of its few weak points. The creature shrieked and thrashed in pain, however it still continued to charge after Haruki. Putting his hands in a ram seal, Haruki activated the explosive tag. He jumped off the branch as the creature's head exploded in a gout of blood and brains.

Bouncing from branch to branch Haruki eventually landed on the ground. He leaned up against the tree, panting as he tried to get a breather.

Faint sounds of inhuman screeching rang out in the distance and were growing ever closer. The tense waiting was broken when the woman that had been accompanying him flew past him into a tree, followed by the biggest spider that he had seen yet, it was easily triple the size of a full-grown adult male and was nimbly pursuing Anko, fangs dripping with paralytic venom.

Haruki pulled out his ninjato and drove it right through the spider's face, sending the blood of the arachnid spraying all over the place. Swinging his blade upwards with a burst of wind chakra to bolster it he cut straight through the deadly creature.

Anko hurried over to him spitting on the corpse of the spider as she passed.

"Damn, these things just don't give up. We can't keep doing this. We've got to have at least cut the population in half and there are still this many of them."

"I know what you mean, but can you really say you haven't been having fun?" Haruki asked with a smirk.

"Now Red. I like indiscriminate slaughter of my enemies as much as the next girl, but give me a break I'm ready for some dessert. Plus," She said suddenly getting serious, "even with your strength it would be unwise to try and confront these things at night."

"No, your right. Time to wrap this up." The pigment around his eyes began to change. Entering sage mode with this little chakra left was risky but it should give him the needed boost to trim their numbers down enough for them to finally escape. Using it early would have given them an advantage sure but it would not have bean as decisive. Damn, he had put some work in today.

"I sense at least a dozen of the spiders of that same size surrounding the area, watching us." He said gesturing to the spider corpse in front of them. The slightest disturbance in the air was tracked by him through the entire forest. It was then that he realized the full depth of their spider problem. He could feel the form of the queen in their tunnel as a large as Gamabuta though they were miles away. They were more organized than before, evolved to take over the wood. "We get rid of these and get out of here."

Anko nodded and paled slightly, "Not going to lie I am running a little low on chakra to deal with those and I've been through two pills."

Haruki propped his ninjato on his shoulder, "It would be two risky to take any more lets make a break for it. They'll come in waves to try and wear us down. You fight until I tell you to run and you follow me out. Keep your eyes peeled for the small ones when we break out, those sneaky bastards like to hide in the canopy and jump you from the shadows."

Haruki unsealed a ninjato from a scroll and tossed it to Anko. At Anko's questioning look, Haruki's eyes darted around the area, "You're going to need something bigger than kunai. That will just piss them off."

Anko scoffered and pulled out a metal rod from a seal in her ninja pack. "I don't use this often, but I have it when I need it." She stabbed it into the ground and yanked out a chunk so that it looked like a mace.

Haruki stared at her blankly, "Anko, you can use an mace? That's surprising…"

The first spider saw a moment of weakness and jumped from the trees at the group. Haruki jumped in the air and gave the spider a wide berth while swinging his blade. Extending the end of his sword with wind chakra he cut right through the spider and landed on the ground. Haruki formed two Kage Bunshin and sent them into the forest to cause as much havoc as they could. It would shorten his sage mode but ultimately allow them to escape. Haruki flew directly towards the closest spiders that would jump at him. He cut out one of the spider's legs from under it using a one-handed swing while simultaneously using a wind whip to slash through the torso of another.

Meanwhile Anko was bashing away at the closest critter and her sanity could be called into question at this point, "You fucking eight-legged pieces of shit just don't get it yet do you!" She caused rocks to spear ones abdomen keeping it pinned as it shrieked before back flipping and smashing in the "sckull" of another that tried to get from behind, "I'm not trapped in here with you! You're trapped in here with me!"

Haruki ran to back her up as three more spiders emerged from the surrounding area to attack. The giant arachnids were now extremely wary of Haruki's sword, seeing as how it had been his weapon of choice for the entire day's events. Getting sick of how the spiders were avoiding him he ripped the sword he had given Anko out of her hand and threw it at one while enhancing it with wind chakra, impaling it against a tree and killing it.

"Hey! That was mine!" Was the indignant cry from the put out kunoichi. The red head just shrugged before the two scattered due to being double-teamed by the two other spiders. Haruki and Anko engaged the spiders, Haruki simply ran some misdirection and cleaved all four legs on one side of his spider off. Anko slid underneath it and planted an explosive tag which exploded showing the area in gore. She then jumped up to smash one that was swaying from thread tauntingly in the tree above.

While Haruki was receiving the intel from his now dispelled clones that had obliterated large portions of the advancing horde and saturate the area with his chakra, he ended up being blindsided by a spider from behind and sent sprawling along the ground by the powerful creature. The giant spider skittered closer to the man before one of the more sizeable trees from above came crashing down on top of it, killing not only that one spider, but two more hiding in the background. Anko landed on top of the tree with the sword that Naruto had thrown in hand, "Ha! I found it!"

Haruki nodded, "Good work. But watch your back." Haruki was up bouncing on the balls of his feet and his fists in front of himself before punching the air

"Futon: Fuujin Seiken (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God)!"

Haruki obliterate four smaller attackers that were attempting to rush them with a quick series of punches. Haruki stood in a pile of the spiders remains, "So I guess we're doing okay for the time being?"

Anko readied herself to smash any surprises, "What's your count?"

Haruki sighed, "Not everything has to be a competition but if you insist, thirteen hundred."

"Damn it./ I'm only at five hundred." She said pouting, "You're only at such a high number because of your stupid clones. It doesn't count"

Haruki just rolled his eyes. "More are coming. It's time to leave. I'm ready."

"Then hop to Red. I don't have all day." She said getting ready to bolt strait for the exit.

"Here goes." Haruki flew through a string of handseals. More than Anko had seen him use. Ever.

Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho (Ice release: Demonic Ice Mirrors)

Ranton: Reiza Sakasu (Storm release: Encouraging Crushing Chain Tormenting Principle)

Senpo: Chakurazon (Senpo: Chakra Zone)

Kumiawase-jutsu: Rifurekushonrifurein (Combination Jutsu: Relection Refrain)

Materializing out of water vapor large mirrors spawned all through the clearing but based on how the chakra felt it was clear that more was happening. Suddenly lasers of liquid light shot out of Haruki's raised hands and shot through the spider that came charging into the clearing vaporizing the organs it touched killing it instantly. The lasers then bent and fluxed to some unheard command and passed into the mirrors. In the distance through the shade of the trees in the afternoon light, Anko could see flashes of blue back the way they came.

It was over a moment later and Haruki swayed on his feet before stumbling forward falling to his hands and knees panting, his sage mode vanished completely. "That took more out of me than I thought it would."

"What did you do?" Anko asked trying to process what she had just seen and felt. For hours she had seen this man demonstrate mastery of almost every ninja discipline , wield four out of the five major elements without the need for many handseals, and preform feats with chakra and strength that she hadn't witnessed before. But this, she didn't know what to think.

"Oh its simple really I used a technique from sage mode to extend the jutsu farther but using the ambient nature chakra of the area where my chakra has been saturated. It's called chakra zone and t takes a lot of effort to control. I used that to extend the mirrors all the way back to the nest. I then used them to effectively see the collective area and reflect my laser jutsu with perfect accuracy through as many spiders as possible all the way back to their nest. Effectively slaughtering them all at once. This combination is called Reflection Refrain.

Anko blinked. "You know what. You're buying me dango and a drink for getting me in this mess. And I'll buy you one for getting me out. I hope you don't have any other plans, because I have a lot of question for you, Red, and you aren't skipping out this time." Haruki didn't bother trying to dodge it. He actually wanted to relax and talk through things with her.

And so, the two exhausted jonin ran as quickly as they could, not stopping even as they left the forest focus too much on their survival and the food they both desperately wanted. Neither notice a figure stepping out from behind a tree next to the entrance before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

xXx

To be continued…

Updated 9-23-2019

I'm back. Life gets chaotic some times. Between jobs, school, and my own original writing I wasn't able to really flesh out the chapters I had outlined at the pace I wanted you. My goal now is to post a chapter of about this length once a month. I went back through and edited all previous chapters. There may still be errors so I will try to do this each time I post a chapter. In October I am launching my own original works. So if you like my style and creativity go check out my own original works around that time on . As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter please review and tell me you thoughts.