Sorry for not updating this story in ages. I hit a major writer's block with this one, and I've had tons of other story ideas floating around in my head. I posted one of them which helped free up some space in my mind. I've also been working a lot and recently started a new job that takes a lot of my time. Anyway, this chapter has some filler concerning other characters, but still helps push the story along.

On another note, if anyone wants to help me out with ideas, feel free to leave any good ideas for the story in a review or PM me. Please make sure they fit with the direction I've been working on for this one if you do.

Iruka sighed as he marked another homework assignment from his class. While he was very grateful for the Hokage giving him the chance to teach, especially as he had learned to greatly value the bonds he had forged with the children he taught and all that he had learned, he really didn't like the other side of the job…paperwork. Having to grade papers, plan lessons, deal with reports to the Academy all in addition to his other duties as a chuunin, it was enough to make him want to scream at times.

"Having fun, Iruka?" came a familiar voice as Iruka was organizing his papers.

Iruka looked up in pleased surprise to find his old friend Mizuki leaning against the door to his office. "Mizuki! What are you doing here?" he asked happily as he abandoned his paperwork to greet his old friend. "Last I heard you were leading a squad on the border of Rice Country."

Mizuki grimaced as he embraced Iruka as a brother, before stepping back. "I was," he replied with a shrug. "However, there was an incident and I lost a member of my team. So, I've been reassigned while T&I review the mission and what happened."

"I see. How unfortunate for you," Iruka said sincerely. He had known Mizuki since they were both in the Academy together and he was familiar with his friend's goals to make something of himself. In fact, he could see a lot of similarities between Mizuki and Naruto, though there were far more differences. "So where have you been reassigned to?"

Mizuki just smirked and shrugged. "Right here, actually. You're looking at your teaching assistant for next term," the reassigned chuunin said with a grimace at the punishment.

Iruka laughed as pulled his friend into the room. "Oh, come on. It may seem bad, but I've grown to really like this job. I get the chance to help the next generation of shinobi and influence them at the most crucial time of their careers. It's a great honor to be here, you'll see."

Mizuki just rolled his eyes at his friend's naivety. His chances at greatness were out in the real world, doing missions and getting greater renown and power, not sitting useless in a classroom teaching snot nosed brats how to hold a kunai. "So, how has it been teaching the demon? Have you had any trouble from it?"

Iruka paused while shuffling some paperwork he was going to give to his friend to go over to introduce him to the ins and outs of teaching. "I would rather you not talk about Naruto that way, Mizuki," Iruka said evenly as he turned to give his friend an steely eyed look. "Besides the fact that there is a law against doing so, Naruto has shown that he is not the beast he carries within him. He has become a fine shinobi and a worthy legacy of the Fourth."

Mizuki was shocked by Iruka's defense of the boy. Obviously there was more to the situation and considering that he had agreed to help Orochimaru gather information from Konoha, this would be a very good place to start. "I'm sorry, Iruka. I suppose that there is a lot I don't know. How about I treat you to dinner and you can tell me more about teaching and…the boy?" He tried but couldn't hep by grimace at being nice about the demon brat.

Iruka sighed and grabbed his coat along with some papers. "Alright, but it might take a while. Let's go," he said as he led his friend out of the Academy.

XxXxXxX

The next day found Iruka meeting Mizuki at the Academy, both men nursing a slight hangover from their dinner the previous evening. Mizuki waited by the door as he watched Iruka bring his unruly class to order.

"Alright, settle down," Iruka said firmly, getting most of his students' attention, though the young Kiba Inuzuka wasn't paying attention. "I SAID SETTLE DOWN!" Iruka shouted right next to the boy, causing him to jump in his seat, banging his knees on the underside of his desk and start cursing. "Detention after class, Kiba," Iruka said with a smirk as he walked back to the front, ignoring the glare the young boy was giving him with practiced ease.

As Iruka went about bringing the chaos that was his class to some order, Mizuki thought back to their discussion last night over beers.

"I still don't get it," Mizuki said with a frown as the bartender refilled their drinks. "How can you defend the beast after what it took from you?"

Iruka sighed and shook his head. "Trust me, if Naruto was actually the beast that he carries, I wouldn't be able to defend him as the entire village wouldn't exist, not after all they've done to him. Just because you seal a kunai into a scroll, that doesn't make the scroll the kunai. That boy has had more hardships and grief than most ninja three times his age," he told his friend before taking a long drink from his refilled glass. "Naruto has risen to the challenge and become a fine shinobi, and that's without even considering his curse or his other gifts."

Mizuki looked at Iruka in confusion. "What do you mean 'gifts'? And you talk about him as if he's already a ninja. Isn't he still in the Academy?"

Iruka let out a laugh and set his beer down before he spilled it. "Can't say anything about his gifts. It's pretty much a Clan secret for him. As for the rest, kid got himself promoted to genin by saving the life of another ninja and showing the Hokage that he deserved it. He's a true shinobi, not like that Uchiha brat," Iruka muttered darkly, the alcohol affecting him at this point. "That little brat has no idea what being a true shinobi is about. He thinks that just cause he's an Uchiha that he can do whatever he wants and everything will be handed to him. Everything that Naruto has, he earned."

Mizuki just nodded along, not really caring anymore as Iruka had already given him far more than he imagined about one of the targets that Orochimaru had wanted him to keep an eye on.

The two men had stayed up late drinking and catching up, and now Mizuki was having the chance to see how his friend handled his class. He brought his attention back to the present as Iruka started handing out packets of paper to each student.

"You are all about to go into your summer break, your last break before you finish your last year in the Academy. Your last year will be your hardest so I expect you all to study hard over the break and make sure you practice all your skills so that…"

"Sensei?" a timid voice called out, interrupting Irkua from his preplanned speech. He was so shocked it took him a moment to realize that it had been the shy Hyuga heiress Hinata that had spoken.

"Yes, Hinata? What is it?" Iruka asked curiously.

"Sensei, Naruto hasn't been to class for a while, and no one knows what happened to him," she said timidly, poking her fingers together nervously. It had taken a full week for her to work up the nerve to speak up in class. "Can you tell us what happened to him?"

Iruka smiled softly and shook his head in the negative. "I'm sorry, Hinata, but Naruto is no longer a student at the Academy. That's why he hasn't been to class in some time. However, if you want more details, only the Hokage and Naruto himself can tell you why."

This caused whispers and murmurs to break out at the unexpected news. Several of the girls immediately turned to Ino, Sakura leading the group. "Did you know about that, Ino?" Sakura asked curiously.

Ino had paled slightly at learning that Naruto had apparently dropped out. She knew how much being a ninja meant to him. A small part of her wondered if he had dropped out because of what she had told him. Guilt ate at her, but she pushed it aside and pretending that she didn't care. "Know what? That Naruto was a wannabe ninja that had no chance of succeeding and thus dropped out? No, I'm not friends with him anymore, so this is the first I've heard about it."

The girls around her shared an uneasy look. They knew that the two friends had been drifting apart, but that Ino showed so little care about one of her oldest friends was slightly unnerving to them.

"Class…class…..QUIET!" Iruka shouted, gaining total silence as he gave them an annoyed look. "You will have all the time to discuss this AFTER class, and then a full summer. Until then we have classwork to do." Mikuzi gave a small cough and a smirk. "Oh, this is my friend Mizuki-sensei. He will be assisting me over the summer and next school year. I expect you all to give him the same respect you give me."

Mizuki gave the class a small bow and a smile. However, there was a student that wasn't paying any attention to any of this. Young Hinata was shocked and heartbroken that her crush had left the school. But it didn't make any sense to her. She knew that Naruto would never quit, that was one of the things she liked the most about him. He never gave up and he always succeeded at the things he did. So why wouldn't he be in class anymore. She spent the rest of the class thinking about it, and when the Academy let out for the summer, she slowly made her way back to the Hyuga compound, clutching the packet of papers Iruka had handed out to her chest.

"Well, well, look at what we have here, a lost little Hyuga," a voice from behind her startled Hinata as she quickly turned around, almost losing her balance in surprise. She looked up to see two girls and a boy from her class. She took a step back in fear as she recognized them as some of those that had teased her for years in class, though they had usually left her alone outside the Academy. That they were bothering her now scared her more than she would like to admit.

"Wh-what do you want?" she said as she took another step backwards.

"We saw how much finding out that Naruto dropping out affected you, and we wanted to make sure you were alright," the lead girl said with false sincerity. However, she shared a grin with the other two that showed that their intentions were anything but benevolent.

Hinata couldn't help flushing in embarrassment as well as anger. "Naruto would never drop out," she said, though she quickly looked away after her outburst.

"Oh, does someone have a little crush on the failure? Well, I guess that makes sense for failures to stick together," the boy said with a sneer. He walked up to Hinata and gave her a firm shove, causing her to stumble backwards and fall to the ground with a yelp of pain. "Why don't you follow his example and quit? You'll never be a real ninja, you're too weak!"

The other kids laughed as Hinata's eyes started to tear up in pain and shame. She knew they were right; she wasn't strong like her father wanted her to be. She wouldn't stand a chance in the real world. But she also didn't want to quit and let her family down either. She just didn't know what to do.

"Leave her alone!" came a familiar voice from nearby. Hinata looked up in happy surprise as Naruto dropped down from the roof of the building next to them. She blushed as she saw the changes to his outfit which made him look even more handsome than she had thought he already was.

Naruto looked from Hinata to the three bullies with a glare. He had been on his way back to his apartment after training with Anko when he had caught the thoughts of the bullies and he had immediately made a beeline towards them. He shifted into an aggressive stance and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"I suggest you three beat it, or else I'll have to remind you the hard way that none of you have ever beaten me in a spar…when I was holding back."

The three would be bullies gulped and shared a look before they turned tail and hurried away. They hadn't expected to meet any sort of resistance and their courage, if it could be called that, quickly fled when faced with someone not afraid to fight back. Naruto scoffed in disgust as he turned back to Hinata.

"You ok, Hinata? They didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked as he offered her his hand to pull her to her feet.

Hinata blushed a bright red and was barely able to manage to take his hand. She had never been this close to her crush and it was nearly overwhelming to her young mind. "Ano, I'm fine, Naruto-kun. Thank you," she said softly as he pulled her to her feet with a smile.

"Ah, no need to be so formal, Hinata," Naruto told her as he rubbed the back of his neck with a bright smile. "I'm just glad I could help." He started to turn to head off, being really in the mood for ramen now and deciding to go indulge in his addiction before heading home.

"Wait, Naruto," Hinata blurted out as she saw him moving to leave. Her blush deepened even further as Naruto stopped and gave her a curious look, his attention fully on her once more. She stuttered and gulped as she struggled to say what she wanted to say.

"What is it, Hinata? Are you sure you're alright? Your face is really red," Naruto said in confusion.

"I…I…" Hinata stuttered as she hid her face behind some of her hair. Finally, she took a deep breath and peek up at him. "I heard today that you…you aren't in the Academy anymore," she said so softly that Naruto barely heard her. "You…you didn't drop out…did you?"

Naruto had to pause for a moment as he tried to figure out what she meant, cheating a bit by peaking into her mind, before he let out a chuckle and giving her a charming smile.

"Nah, I didn't drop out, Hinata. Reason you haven't seen me in class is cause I got promoted to being a genin already. I did something really cool and the Old Man decided that I had shown I was ready," he told her with a shrug. He couldn't give details, but that didn't mean he couldn't give generic info of what happened.

Hinata stared at him in wonder. She didn't doubt what he said for an instant, knowing in her heart that he was telling the truth. But she felt another stab of shame as she knew that she would never be able to reach his level, especially as he was so far ahead of her to begin with. But through her doubt, she felt a sliver of resolve settle within her. She might never be on his level, but she would do her best to not be left behind and to be able to one day stand beside him with her head held up.

"Hey, Hinata, how's about I walk you home, ok?" Naruto said, interrupting her mental process very effectively. "Don't want those losers coming back to bother ya, after all."

Hinata's blush, which had faded a bit, returned full force, but she hesitantly nodded and smiled shyly as Naruto walked next to her as they headed to the Hyuga compound together.

Neither one noticed a pair of blue eyes watching them from a distance, guilt and sadness in them before turning away and heading in the opposite direction.

XxXxXxX

An old man walked through an abandoned temple with two much younger men walking behind him, his cane tapping on the ground with every step he took. Danzo Shimura had seen better days, his flight from his home had taken a toll on him as his very essence seemed to be bearing a heavy burden. He hadn't lost his resolve, however, and he still had many tricks up his sleeves to regain his previous power and standing, and perhaps increase it to the point that he sat at the very desk occupied by his former friend Sarutobi.

In fact, the reason for him being in an abandoned temple was that he was seeking to take advantage of one of his many resources that he had cultivated over his long life, most of which were highly irregular and some walked the line of treason, though he saw things differently than lesser men. What some saw as treason, he saw as being willing to do what was necessary for the greater good.

"My, how the mighty have fallen," came an amused and silky voice from the shadows.

However, even he realized that this man he had come to see was a being that even he couldn't justify as being anything other than a treasonous monster, a dangerous snake in the grass that was a danger to the great tree of Konoha. But even monsters had their uses, and Danzo had need of this one.

"Orochimaru," Danzo said evenly as he turned his gaze to the former Konoha ninja. While he had no doubt that in a straight fight, he would be able to defeat the traitorous Sannin, it would be costly and he would likely not survive long afterwards. However, Orochimaru never fought fair and a fight with him was something that the old war hawk sought to avoid.

"A little bird told me that you have fallen on hard times," Orochimaru said as he strode from the shadows, an amused grin on his face, though not the face he had been born with. "Such a shame, to have been driven from one's home, leaving behind all their power, their resources…their worth."

Danzo said nothing, knowing that Orochimaru was referring to both of them with that. He stood silent, his head held high as he gazed at the Snake Sannin with an even look.

"Why have you come here, old man? Your plots have failed and you have nothing I desire with which to gain my protection and aid."

Danzo arched a brow as his bodyguards stiffened as figures melted from the shadows to surround them, cutting off all escape routes.

"I came to reestablish our previous arraignment," Danzo told him evenly, not at all intimidated by Orochimaru's show of force.

For the first time in a very long time, Orochimaru let out a genuine laugh of amusement. It quickly subsided as he saw that Danzo was serious and he narrowed his eyes dangerously as he stepped closer to the old ninja.

"You dare come to my territory and presume to seek an alliance with me? You have nothing, Danzo! Why should I waste my time helping you when there is no benefit to me?"

Danzo ignored the rising danger and reached slowly into a pouch at his side and withdrew a small blue crystal and tossed it to Orochimaru. The Sannin caught the crystal negligently and examined it curiously. "And what is this supposed to be?"

"The demon container has worn a crystal pendent made from that crystal for years. I have reason to believe that it is the cause of his unique abilities which have allowed him to become something beyond a simple jinchuriki," Danzo explained casually. Over years of surveillance and subterfuge, Danzo had been able to find out many things that Sarutobi had sought to keep from him, such as the fact that Naruto had gifts beyond those expected of someone in his position, including the ability to read minds. He had discounted the boy as a threat based on those abilities, seeing as while the Yamanaka were useful, they weren't a truly dangerous clan on their own. One of the few times he had been so completely wrong.

Despite his outwardly calm appearance, Orochimaru's curiosity was peaked. "What sort of abilities?"

"The boy can read minds, more reliably than a Yamanaka and without the use of chakra," Danzo told him casually.

Orochimaru swallowed his suddenly dry mouth as possibilities flooded his mind at what he could do with those same abilities. He wouldn't need a Sharingan as he could simply take the knowledge of ninjutsu from someone's mind. He looked at the crystal more carefully, trying to sense anything unusual about it.

"When I was forced from Konoha, I found the cave the brat had gotten his crystal from and took what I found there," Danzo said with a satisfied smirk.

"I suppose you left nothing for the boy to return to?"

"You would suppose correct," Danzo said with a chuckle. What remained unsaid was that there was nothing for Orochimaru to find either, which meant that Danzo controlled his access to the crystals, giving him leverage over the younger man.

"Very well," Orochimaru said eventually as he considered his options. "I will run some tests on this sample and should I find something that is of use to me, our arraignment will be resumed and you shall have my resources." He snapped his fingers and his ninja disappeared into the shadows once more. "I'll be in touch."

Danzo watched as Orochimaru vanished into the shadows himself. He hated that he had been pushed into reaching out to someone who was a known enemy of his home, but it was for the greater good. Only with him protecting Konoha could it be truly safe, and he would do whatever it took to return to power within the walls of his village. With a shake of his head, Danzo made his way out of the temple and back to where he had left those that had followed him from Konoha.

XxXxXxX

Anko sat down at her usual spot at the best dango shop in the village. Without even having to say a thing, a plate of dango was placed before her along with a jug of sake and a single cup. She gave the owner a sultry smile as she reached for her first stick of dango. However, when she only grabbed air, she looked down with a frown and saw that she had missed the stick, which was very unusual. She reached for the stick of delicious goodness again and this time she saw the plate move half an inch away.

"Brat!" Anko growled out dangerously as she looked around with flashing eyes. She spotted a sliver of blonde hair and threw a kunai at it, causing it to drop and vanish with a childish laugh. She glared around at the few people that were giving her odd looks. "What are you looking at?" With that, people decided to ignore the crazy ninja lady.

"That wasn't very nice, Anko-sensei," Naruto said from next to her, a satisfied smirk on his face. He squeaked in surprise as she moved faster than he could read her intentions and grabbed him by the neck and pulled him nose to nose with her.

"Don't you EVER mess with my dango again, brat. Got it?" Anko hissed, so very similar to her summons. Naruto nodded frantically before she let him go.

"Geez, so touchy," Naruto grumbled as he rubbed his neck.

"How would you react if I messed with your ramen?" Anko asked snidely as she picked up one of her sticks of dango and took a large bite, smiling in happiness.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the thought of someone messing with his ramen. "Point made," he admitted with a sigh. He then shrugged and looked at her eagerly. "So, what's the plan for today?"

Anko grumbled at having her meal interrupted. It was quickly becoming her least favorite aspect of training him. She glared at him and sighed before finishing her meal, letting the boy stew with impatience.

"Well, I figured that you don't want to deal with D-Rank missions, correct?" Anko asked rhetorically.

Naruto growled in response, having picked up the 'secret' of D-Rank missions from the many minds around the village. There was no way in hell he wanted to go around doing chores for other people!

"Didn't think so," Anko said with a laugh. "Well, I've been wanting to get out of the village, so we're gonna go to the Hokage tower for a C-Rank or B-Rank and see what looks good."

Naruto smiled happily and jumped to his feet. "Well, let's go!"

Anko chuckled and dropped some money down for her dango and sake before heading out of the shop. Naruto followed behind her closely as they walked to the tower. Anko purposely walked slowly, stopping every so often to look at something that 'interested' her. She could tell how annoyed this made Naruto and she couldn't hide a grin as she saw his frustration grow.

They finally made it to the tower and walked inside and headed to the mission assignment desk, which happened to be manned by Iruka, who smiled as he saw the duo approach. "Well, well, I was wondering when you two would show up. Lucky that it happened while I was here."

Anko just rolled her eyes as she had told Iruka the day before that she was going to take Naruto to get a mission that day. "Well, come on then. Let's get on with the show." Naruto nodded eagerly.

"Of course, of course," Iruka said with a laugh as he grabbed several scrolls marked with a D. "So, for D-Ranks, we have walking the dogs at the Inuzuka compound, painting a fence in the Uchiha sector, and then there…"

"No need for those, Iruka. We're looking for a decent C-Rank to start with," Anko told him with a negligent wave of her hand.

Iruka's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Are you insane? There are D-Ranks for a reason, Anko! Naruto's not ready for C-Ranks yet, he needs to grow in experience before he is ready for that."

"He's my apprentice, Iruka, not yours. I know his true skills, not what he showed you in the Academy. Besides, no apprentice of mine will be walking dogs and picking up groceries for lazy villagers that don't want to do it themselves," Anko snapped at the other man.

Iruka leaned back in the face of Anko's anger. He also knew that she was right, though he was still protective of the boy. He sighed and put the scrolls back and grabbed a scroll with a C on it. "Very well, we received a request from a village in northern Fire Country that have been having bandit problems. Are you sure that you two are ready for this?"

Anko looked down at Naruto who looked up at her with a hopeful look before turning back to Iruka. "Yeah, we'll take it. It'll be something good to properly cut the brat's teeth on."

Iruka let out a resigned sigh and handed over the scroll to Anko, who took it and tucked into her jacket before nodding at him and turning to leave. Naruto smiled at Iruka and gave him a slight bow. "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei, it'll be alright, trust me."

Iruka chuckled and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Just be careful, alright, Naruto?"

Naruto smirked and shot him a thumbs up before running after Anko, who was waiting impatiently at the entrance, tapping her foot with her arms crossed. "Come on, Anko-sensei, let's get going!"

"Did you pack everything you need?" Anko asked as they headed off.

"What? Uh, no. I had no idea this was happening so all I have is my basic gear, along with my quiver and bow," he replied as he stopped to stare at her back.

"Alright then, let's get on the road. Anything you need you can either pick up later or forage along the way," Anko told him with a smirk as she headed towards the north gate to the village. "Teach him to mess with my dango."

XxXxXxX

The two of them had been traveling for several days before they had anything unusual happen. Naruto stopped in the middle of the road, the kunai he had been holding in the air with his telekinesis dropping a few inches before steadying. He looked to Anko, who had kept traveling before realizing that he wasn't keeping pace with her.

"Anko-sensei, I hear thoughts coming from over there," he said softly, pointing subtly with his head off to the right. "Old man, hurt…about 100 yards or so into the trees."

Anko crossed her arms under her bust as she considered the situation. While technically it wasn't their problem, they were starting to come up on the area that had been reported with bandit activity, which was part of the contract that they had been assigned. Coming to a decision, she looked to Naruto, who simpily nodded his head in acceptance, having followed her thoughts as they crossed her mind. He snatched the kunai from the air and put it away.

"Go on, brat," she told him with a wry grin.

Naruto shrugged and headed off into the forest, slipping around the trees with nary a sound, putting in practice some of the advice that Anko had been giving him, though he was naturally pretty stealthy. The two of them quickly made their way through the trees and came across an old man, Naruto would have guessed his age to be late 60's or so, collapsed on the ground, with several wounds littering his body. His wrists looked as if they had been rubbed raw, possibly from being restrained with ropes and struggling against them.

Naruto carefully rolled the man onto his back and started treating his wounds with some bandages he had in his pack, basic supplies he kept with him for emergencies. As he did, the old man started coming around, having been almost unconscious before.

"You…what…" the old man said feebly as he started to struggle weakly.

"Relax, old man, we're here to help you," Naruto said soothingly.

The old man surged forward, surprising them with the sudden movement, and he grabbed hold of Naruto's jacket with surprising strength. "No, you have to help my granddaughter, please! They have her, she's all I have left. Please, you have to help her!"

Naruto focused on the man and looked into his thoughts, seeing a small girl about ten years of age being taken away by rough looking men, her hands bound, and her mouth gagged. He saw the old man bound in a similar manner and left behind, though not without a beating by the bandits. He had struggled and eventually freed himself and he had tried to follow them but had eventually collapsed where they had found him.

Naruto pulled himself out of the man's thoughts, though he now knew his name was Gendai, and realized that Anko had been grilling the man for information as to what had happened, which explained why he had gotten more information than he had expected.

"So, you expect us to believe that some vicious bandits took your granddaughter but left you behind…and alive? Come on, do you think we're that stupid?" Anko asked with a scoff.

"Anko-sensei, can I talk to you?" Naruto said, cutting off Gendai's response.

When Anko shot him a confused look, Naruto motioned over to the side with his head and walked about ten feet away from the old man so that he wouldn't overhear them clearly.

"What is it, brat?" Anko asked curiously as she walked up to him.

"He's telling the truth, I saw it," he told her bluntly. "I think they wanted him to tell others, give the villagers something more to fear or something."

"Hmm, you get anything else out of his head?" Anko asked as she looked back at the old man, who was staring at the ground, tears dripping into the dirt.

"Yeah, saw which way they went. I figure that with them dragging a kid along, they couldn't be too far," Naruto told her with a nod. "Anko-sensei, I think we should go after them. Not just cause it's the right thing to do, but we're close enough to the village that hired us that these are likely the same bandits causing them problems," he said quickly when he saw he open her mouth to say something.

Anko gave him a wry look before letting out a short laugh. "Alright, brat, you have a point there." She looked at him for a minute before making her decision. "We'll go after them and do some scouting. If the bandit group is small enough, we can handle them now. But if there are too many, we'll do some planning before taking them on."

Naruto gave her a bright smile and a quick nod before heading back to Gendai. "Alright, old man, we're gonna go save your granddaughter! You head back to your village and we'll meet you there when we're done."

Anko rolled her eyes and smacked him on the back of his head. "Idiot, don't make promises you don't know if you can keep. Look, we'll do our best, but when it comes to these things, shit happens."

Gendai just looked up at them with a hopeful gaze. "Please, just get her back, I beg you."

Anko just waved off his plea and started walking away. Naruto gave the old man his canteen of water and shot him a grin before dashing off after his sensei.

A little shorter than I wanted it to be, but I feel this is a decent spot to end the chapter. I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, but I'll be writing in my free time, so hopefully it won't be as long of a wait for the next addition.

Please read and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and usable ideas are greatly appreciated.