Takashi Shiranui frowned as he entered his clan's vast holdings. He had said no to his leader. He had steadfastly refused to allow his prodigy of a son to join a battlefield at the tender age of five. His daughter, barely eleven, was already a genin. Was that not enough for Onoki? Takashi, as a captain in the Explosion Corps and head of the Shiranui clan, knew that war was coming. He did not want his son participating, at all. The boy had already started learning Landmine Fist, though he had yet to show any true progress in it. He devoured knowledge on poisons and senbon, and had asked his parents' help in developing an immunity to poisons. Takashi sighed as he removed his sandals in the foyer of his house. He could hear his wife, the poison mistress Amari Shiranui, talking to their son about poisons in the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen and sure enough his son, brown hair in his face, was diligently taking notes about hemlock. Takashi met Amari's eyes. They were full of worry.

"Why don't you go ask your sister if she'd agree to pumpkin broth for dinner?" said Amari. Takashi swore he saw the five year old leave a vapor trail as he bolted out of the kitchen.

"What happened?" asked Amari.

"It might be best for you and the kids to leave the village," said Takashi as he sat in the chair his son had previously occupied.

"Why?" demanded Amari.

"Onoki wanted our five year old son to become a genin the next exam period. I told him no. Lord Third is not a forgiving man and with war coming his patience is all but gone. You refused to go back to active duty and I am doing my best to keep our children off the front lines," said the weary man.

"Telling him no…..he could consider this an act of rebellion from our clan….he could see it as an act of treason….it would be an honor for our children to die in battle. Not this. Lord Third could kill us all," said Amari, tears streaming down her face as she sat opposite her husband.

"Amari…..pack all the scrolls, clothes, everything of importance and necessity. You and the children must leave and leave quickly," said Takashi, standing abruptly. He started packing and she joined him. All the scrolls on Explosion Release, jutsu, and poisons were put in a storage scroll. Takashi swept the scrolls on his desks in there. Amari packed the few family pictures into a scroll. Then there was the dreaded knock. Takashi opened the door to reveal two ANBU.

"Lord Onoki demands your presence, Takashi Shiranui," said one of the masked figures. Takashi pulled on his scandals and quickly hugged his tearful wife.

"I love you," whispered Takashi, then he was gone. Amari threw what scrolls were packed into a small backpack, adding her scroll of mission rations. She then called her son. She made him put on the backpack and scandals.

"Mama…whats wrong? Why are you crying?" said the young boy.

"I need you to listen to me and do as I say. I want you to go out of the village into the mountains. You are to stay hidden until I come and find you. Do not be seen. If I do not find you by dawn you are to go south east to the Land of Fire. Defend yourself if attacked, but do not get caught and only attack if needed. Now run my son. Run knowing that I love you," said Amari, picking her son up and carrying him to the kitchen window.

"I love you Mama," softly said the boy as his mother released him and opened the window. Amari reached out with her chakra. Her daughter's and her husband's chakra were gone. She could sense the ANBU moving.

"Run my son. Run and don't look back," said Amari. She shoved her young son out the window and watched him run and disappear into the dark. Tears now flowed freely down her cheeks. She knew that come dawn there would be no more Shiranui in Iwagakure.

Sakumo Hatake was having a bad night. He had felt like this whole mission was just wrong. Now his three man squad was surrounded by Iwa shinobi in full battle mode. He groaned. It was supposed to be a simple mission; grab a specific scroll proving Iwa was plotting war, blow up their main weapons depot, and get the hell back to the Leaf. Sakumo glared at the lone chunnin in his squad. He had told the man to be quiet as the Iwa battalion moved past their hiding spot in a cave but he couldn't shut up. Now they were in this mess and to make matters worse they had no scroll and hadn't blown up anything, except their cover. Sakumo's pack of wolves snarled at the Iwa shinobi, Sakumo had his hand on his tanto, and the other jonin in the squad, an Uchiha, had their sharingan spinning as they grasped shuriken in both hands. Neither group of shinobi moved. Silence reigned. Then an Iwa shinobi moved into action, only to be taken out by the Uchiha. The wolves and Sakumo became white blurs as they took down opponents. The chunnin hid behind a rock and the Uchiha shot a dirty look at the man and his cowardice. Sure they were badly outnumbered, but whose fault was it that Iwa knew they were there? It would be better to die fighting than to explain to the Third Hokage that they completely failed their mission because a certain chunnin had refused to just shut up. A kunai was buried in Sakumo's shoulder. He hissed in pain and the Uchiha moved, skillfully decapitating the Iwa shinobi who had stabbed Sakumo. Suddenly an explosion rocked the mountain. Rocks started raining down on the shinobi fighting on the mountain trail. The Leaf shinobi managed to dodge most of the rocks, only getting scratched by a few of the smaller ones. Suddenly a small kid went running by them. The Iwa shinobi who were left shouted at the kid and ran after him, ignoring the Leaf shinobi and quitting the battle with them.

"What just happened?" asked Sakumo. He grabbed the kunai that was buried in his shoulder and pulled it out as the Uchiha glanced where the explosion came from with his sharingan active.

"Appears the kid blew up the main weapons depot," said the Uchiha, Fugaku if Sakumo remembered right. Sakumo frowned. He focused a bit of his chakra to his nose. He couldn't smell any explosive tags being used to cause the explosion. The pain in his shoulder reminded himself of his injury and he ran through the seals his friend Tsunade had taught him and healed himself when the chakra in his hands was green instead of the usual white.

"The boy could have Explosion Release. And it appears that Iwa wants him more than they want the White Fang and an Uchiha," said Sakumo. He was really only thinking out loud at this point.

"What do you think we should do Captain?" asked Fugaku.

"We now have no idea where the scroll we are supposed to get is. The weapons depot is destroyed though by what smells like Explosion Release. The kid smelled like smoke when the kid ran by so I say we cut our losses and liberate the kid from Iwa since he clearly is not wanted here," said Sakumo. Fugaku grunted in reply.

"Come on out coward. We are going kidnapping," said Fugaku. The Uchiha took off after the Iwa shinobi. Sakumo's wolves followed him. The chunnin stood shakily from behind his rock.

"I'm just a medic," stammered the man. Sakumo looked at his recently healed shoulder and sighed. Sakumo took off after Fugaku and the wolves. The Iwa shinobi had been so focused on catching the boy that they had apparently forgotten about the Leaf shinobi. That was until the wolves and Fugaku attacked them from behind. By the time Sakumo and the chunnin whose name Sakumo just couldn't remember arrived, the fighting was practically over. Sakumo jumped in and finished the last two standing shinobi after ordering the supposed medic to the child who was tied up and looked to have been beaten. Fugaku looked through the pack that had been ripped from the boy's back and motioned for Sakumo.

"Jutsu, notes on Explosion Release and poisons, as well as a few mission scrolls and a scroll with rations," reported Fugaku.

"What were the missions?" said Sakumo, catching the boy when he launched himself away from the medic after the medic had cut the boy loose. Sakumo was reminded of his own young son Kakashi. Fugaku skimmed his eyes over the mission scrolls.

"Protection….protection….wait a minute. This one is a notice to all clan heads that every child five and older would be taking the genin exam, no expections, as 'Earth must prepare to crush and stomp out Fire'. It is signed by Onoki," said Fugaku. Sakumo looked down at the young boy squirming in his arms.

"This mission is complete. We all shall head back to the Leaf Village immediately. I, Sakumo Hatake, take this boy into my own custody. Now let's move out," barked Sakumo. By the time the four would reach the Hidden Leaf Village, Genma Shiranui would be listed in the Iwa Bingo Book as a missing-nin with destroying a weapon depot and murdering a battalion of Iwa ninja credited to his name.