Piece of advice: Don't trust my A/N's anymore. This two-parter just grew into three. But hey, finally came in under 10k words! Hurray for small victories.

Hope you guys enjoy!

They usually started late on Sunday mornings, given that they only took half of Saturday for themselves. But, as she had for the past several weeks, she had come out to their training ground early, developing her techniques in secret. That had been one of the first lessons Anko had taught her: information was deadly, and the less your opponent knew about you, the less likely they could take advantage of you. She was already an open book, so her only option was to keep her techniques, rather than her emotions, a secret.

The pitch black darkness of the Konohan dusk was no detriment to her. Once her kekkai genkai was active, day or night meant nothing for combat.

But then another one of Anko's lessons made its way through her head.

Don't take your abilities for granted. You could find them useless someday.

It wasn't a threat she took lightly, particularly with the way her elders had been bandying about threats of sealing as of late. But between her and Hanabi, she would rather it be her to be confined with the caged-bird than her sister. Just another reason to keep her capabilities a secret: to prevent a tragedy from befalling another member of her family.

She stood in front of the lifeless mannequin, eyes marauding over every inch of the figure's body. For the past several weeks, she had had Kiba stand right next to it, as she memorized every tenketsu her friend had and mentally superimposed them upon the wooden doll.

If the time ever came when her Byakugan was impaired or rendered useless, she would have to be prepared for such an occasion.

Concentrating, she eased the flood of chakra streaming into her eyes, deactivating her Byakugan. Darkness once again engulfed her vision, moonlight ensconced behind a curtain of evening clouds. Her tenketsu flared briefly, pulsing a thin dome of energy outward. As the sphere expanded, her mind's eye hazily drew itself a map based on where the chakra terminated. The mannequin, the most distinct object on the field, was clear for her to visualize.

A jet of blue aura flared to life around her finger tips as chakra burst forth from her tenketsu. Bounding forward, her hands hammered away at the figurine, splinters flying as she pierced each imaginary point she had envisioned over the doll's body.

Picking up her right leg, Hinata chambered a kick and unleashed it upon the figure's head, shattering the wooden block and raining needles onto the field.

Searching for the next one, Hinata flashed her chakra dome outward.

She was perplexed to find a figure dashing onto the field from behind her. Focusing, she noted deep breaths and heavy footsteps.

He was short, and too loud to be an assailant. And her Anbu detail would have thwarted such a sloppy assassination attempt before they got within 100 meters of her.

However, it did her know good to get complacent. Pushing chakra into her eyes, the Byakugan roared back to life, the world igniting into sea of white streamers.

Immediately, she noted that the figure was made of two chakra circuits, a smaller one overlaying the chest of the large one.

That usually meant only one person.

He skidded to a halt a meter away from her, breath ragged and sweat pouring down his forehead. A single line of golden yellow began to peer over the horizon, announcing the breaking of dawn over the village.

"Kiba, why are you-" Hinata began, taking in the bruised face of her brown-haired, slit-eyed teammate.

"-We don't have time for me, Hinata," he cut off. "My sister will start looking for me any second now, and we need to get to Naruto before then."

"Is Naruto-kun okay?" she asked, stepping forward as Kiba turned and began to speed out from the training.

"I'll tell you on the way," Kiba shouted over his shoulder, each breath exacerbating the ache his stomach felt after the roiling he'd received the evening prior.

Giving one last chakra pulse, she felt the presence of another team join the company of her Anbu watchers. Rather than trail her, however, she felt the two groups in a standstill, neither moving of the three-man cells moving while Hinata and Kiba left the training ground.

Months ago, she would have been terrified at the loss of her Anbu detail. But the flashbacks and nightmares of her kidnapping had begun to ebb away, as she grew more confident in herself. And rather than apprehension, she felt liberated when out from under their presence. Her nerves tingled, exhilarated knowing that, for the first time in years, she was on her own. No one watched as her breathing grew heavier or as her heart began thumping loud her against her inner chest wall. No one would watch her as she made her way to Naruto, no one to disapprove of her affection for him, or to report back to the elders of every moment they spent together.

Whatever had caused her Anbu guard to stay behind, she was ready to be tested.

She sped up, matching her pace to Kiba's.

"Tell me, what's happened to Naruto-kun," she shouted as they raced through the village's deserted streets. As light began to fill the streets, shopkeepers opened their blinds and unlocked their doors in preparation for the early morning rush, unaware of the shadowy war brewing within the village's walls.

Orange hues infiltrated past the crevices of her ash grey blinds, their imbrication allowing the dawn's rays to violate the last few moments of a tender, ephemeral dream as the light beamed over her eyelids. Her lashes tried to flutter open, but the left one had been crusted shut. The end result of crying herself to sleep.

Why she did, she could hardly remember. But it wasn't like that was atypical.

The not remembering. Not the crying. Definitely not the crying.

And if you she couldn't remember, that probably meant that…

Her eyelids creaked open, exposing her naked hazel irises to the blitz of the morning sunlight.

Her head squeezed, pressure filling the space just underneath her forehead and flooding her nose with a suffocating ache.

Yep.

These were the signs of a hangover. Rolling out her bed, the floorboards thumped under her as she crashed onto her hands and knees.

Damn, she hadn't even gotten out of last nights clothes. Looks like she'd have to toss this set of tights though. They had a run going up the front of her thigh.

Or not. She dug the punk look.

Flexing her biceps, Anko tried pushing herself up off of the floor.

And was immediately greeted by the sight of a spinning bedroom.

Teetering on her heels, the violet-haired kunoichi felt her thighs go faint, knees buckling as she fell right back onto her bed, a loud crunch echoing off the walls as her fall cracked a slat beneath her mattress.

It didn't help that the fall ricocheted a nauseous wave around the inner walls of her cranial vault.

Rolling to the other side of her low-rising bed, Anko reached for a stainless steel can and heaved last night's contents into the receptacle. Thankfully, she'd remembered to line it with a plastic bag this time. It'd been a bitch to clean after her last binge. Digested strawberry daiquiris came up worse than they went down.

Coughing the last bits into the bin, Anko turned onto her back and stared at the hypnotic rhythm of her ceiling fan. It was really the only thing in her room to stare at.

She never found much comfort in crowded, homey spaces, and her bedroom reflected that sentiment: the bed itself was all angles, by design a set of rectangles propping up rectangle that held a rectangular mattress, backed by a rectangular headboard. It was deep brown, almost black, and its only accompaniment was a night stand on either side.

The only object anyone could consider decorative was a full-length mirror attached to the back of her bedroom, a pewter frame of winding serpents coiling the piece's outer ages.

When she wanted to be dramatic, Anko took no half-measures.

Her stomach lurched, the crinkle of borborygmi disrupting the placidity cultivated by the low humming-whirl of the fan.

A soft tap at her bedroom door shook the snake mistress from her listlessness, arm lunging for the spare kunai she hid in a storage seal etched into her headboard.

She calmed as she caught sight of the figure who crossed the door's threshold.

"Oh shit, it must have been quite a night if I invited you, of all people, to come keep me company."

A plastic bowl grasped in the left arm with a metal wick clutched in the right hand, Anko found herself at the pampering, matronly mercy of her other best friend. Her sleeveless red dress matched her eyes down to the photon, and her brambling black mane paired the black, footless leggings she adorned as houseware during the frigid winter months. Splotches of dough peppered the young jounin's face and hair, her arm trembling as she continued to stir the confection with vigor.

"After last night, you looked like you needed a good breakfast," Kurenai answered.

Stepping out from the room's entrance, Kurenai made her way back to the apartment's sparsely decorated kitchen.

"You have a bad habit of starting the festivities without me. You'd already knocked back one bottle by the time I showed up."

"Not my fault you were late," Anko grumbled, shielding her eyes as sunlight began showering her room through the open bedroom door.

"Hard to be late when you're asked to come over last minute," came the genjutsu master's reply. "Not that I mind. I was sipping a glass of cabernet on my own before you came calling."

"Which is why I figured you wouldn't mind keeping your junior company," she groaned out. Lifting her head from he pillow, another electric shock circuited its way through her head. The nausea became evident once again, and Anko reached for the trash as she continued to hurl the contents of last night's binge.

"Unholy fuck, how much did I drink?" she shouted.

"I'm counting up 3 bottles from last night's graveyard," Kurenai shouted back. "Not to mention it looks like you let a tornado in here."

Empty bags of junk food laid scattered across the floor, crumbs littering the hardwood floor. A two liter bottle of soda laid tipped over on her rug, soaking the white shag in sticky, sweet brown. To top off the rest of the disaster, pieces of egg shell, glops of batter, and clumps of flour caked the kitchen counter top, the aftermath of Kurenai's well-intentioned cooking spree.

"The only thing that ever seems to survive your binges is the vase," Kurenai noted loudly. Dipping her head, she breathed in the strong, sweet fragrance of Anko's white tiger lilies. Nestled amongst the snow-colored petals, she noticed a crown of indigo blooming from beneath.

"Huh, this one looks new," she whispered to herself.

"What looks new?" Anko groaned from behind, having finally made her way out of bed. Feet heavy, she thumped over toward Kurenai, trying her best to tolerate the throbbing that radiated through her head. Nudging past the genjutsu mistress, Anko noted that she, indeed, place a new flower amongst her recently purchased set of lilies. Picking it out, she observed a shortened stem giving rise to a head of violet-blue petals, small bulbs of white fanning out at the bottom of each. She tucked a violet bang behind her ear, the familiar sensation flashing a buried memory from the night before.

Her mouth felt sour.

"Oh yeah, that," Anko deadpanned.

"Jeez Anko, did somebody die?" Kurenai teased. "Where's your usual pep?"

Anko reacted by flipping her the bird.

"Underneath all of this hangover, Kurenai."

Anko watched as Kurenai turned back to the flower, cursing that she'd let her sentimentality win out. And now the mother hen would start to pry, like she always did.

"It's beautiful," the red-eyed jounin stated. "But you know, I don't think I've ever seen a flower bloom like this in the winter time. Did you get this from the Yamanaka's flower shop?"

Anko shrugged in response.

"I picked it from some civilian's garden on the way home last night."

Kurenai huffed in response, turning to face her junior, hands placed on hips.

"Haven't we already talked about not subjecting the civilian populace to your criminal activities, Anko?"

"Kurenai," Anko sighed, "It's just a flower. Surrounded by others just like it. I don't think it'll be missed."

"It's the principle of the thing, Anko! You can't just go trapezing around the city, waltzing into gardens and taking people's plants!"

"The Great Mitarashi Anko only knows how to trapeze, Yuhi-sensei," Anko responded, forcing what little energy she had into the statement.

"Fine," Kurenai shot back. "Since it seems like you only respond to action."

Kurenai snatched a pair of scissors from the kitchen counter topped and snipped the top off of one of the lilies before Anko had a chance to react.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?"

"Oh, you know, I thought your tiger lily was pretty. It'd look much better on me than it would on you."

Taking a hair pin, Kurenai slipped it around the torn stem and fixed the flower into her hair. Anko flung her hands at her senior's hair in an attempt to snatch her flower back from the black-haired prima donna.

Making her way back to Anko's bedroom, the violet-haired vixen right on her heels, Kurenai struck a pose in the mirror.

"Well what do you know. I was right. This looks a million times better on me than it would on you."

Anko kept swiping at Kurenai's head, but her dulled reflexes stood no chance against a sober jounin.

"Oh poor, you Anko-chan. Maybe I should try the blue one out instead."

That seemed to have hit a nerve. The snake mistress's eyes immediately focused hard on hers, heavy breathing setting in.

Did… did Anko just growl at her?

Normally, this would be her queue to stop… but Kurenai was having way too much fun!

Bolting back out to the kitchen, Kurenai made for the vase, but found herself falling forward as Anko's foot caught her across the ankle.

Catching herself before she crashed face-first into the floor, Kurenai reached out to grab hold of the snake mistress but could only found air brushing her fingers. Looking up, she caught sight of Anko, vase in hand and a victorious grin spread across her face.

"Oh hey, looks like I won this battle."

Vines snaked their way out of the vase, ensnaring Anko's arm and making their way up to her neck. Recognizing the tactic, she flared her chakra out, dispelling the illusion.

But there stood her friend, twirling the iris in her left hand.

"But I won the war, Anko-chan."

Anko sighed, placing her vase back on the counter and watching as her friend began to pin the iris into her hair.

"Fine, take it," she huffed.

"Not gonna fight me over it?"

"I'm not gonna give you the satisfaction of dragging me into a fight."

Kurenai exhaled, gently unpinning the iris and placing it on the countertop alongside the vase. Anko probably hadn't realized it, but Kurenai could tell when the walls were down. She would jab and fake agitation, trying to get people away. Whatever happened, Anko didn't want to talk about it.

At least, for right now.

And she wouldn't pry. Anko would let her past the wall eventually.

"Come on, Anko," she teased, giving the usually-vivacious woman a light shove. "Stop thinking so much about my satisfaction and think about yours."

Taking the iris, Kurenai slipped the flower's stem between two of Anko's violet bangs, touching the petals to her hair and pinning each into place.

"Ugh, come on, you know I don't like these girly kinda things," the snake mistress complained. "Anko the Great is tough as nails, and prickly to boot."

Kurenai rolled her eyes, taking a second pin and fussing over the placement of the iris in Anko's hair.

"Deep down, we all love the occasional primping and doting. It's what separates us from the boors," Kurenai schooled, eyes focused on the task at hand.

"Kinda of like how we all like the occasional rough-and-tumble?" Anko answered back, growing impatient as the ritual continued to drag on.

"Yeah, kind of like that. Though some more than others."

"Oh, come on, Kurenai. When was the LAST time you enjoyed the warm, strong embrace of a nameless stranger?"

"I prefer the three-date rule, myself."

"What, so you've NEVER had a one-night stand?"

"I'm not a prude, Anko. Of course I have."

"So?"

"So, what? They just didn't do it for me."

"Aww, did Kurenai never get over Asu-"

A quick slug popped Anko in the arm, stinging her and causing her to rub the spot in response.

"Alright alright, I'll stop teasing you about you-know-who."

"It's not like I pry into the regrets of your love life."

A laugh spewed from Anko's throat.

"That's because I don't have any."

Kurenai rolled her eyes at her younger friend, recognizing her walls were beginning to find their way back up.

As the genjutsu mistress continued working on breakfast, Anko made her way to the sofa and plopped herself onto the couch, covering her face with a pillow.

"When are you going to finish with breakfast, anyway? My head is killing me and I'm STARVING."

As if for emphasis, her stomach decided it would be the perfect time to lurch, groaning in agreement.

"You could make yourself useful and clean up your own damn apartment, Anko."

A hard pound resounded through the apartment as a set of knocks rapped at her door.

"Oh shit, I almost forgot." Anko exclaimed. Turning onto her stomach, the snake mistress reached for the set of snow boots she'd kicked off the night prior.

"Almost forgot what?" her friend questioned.

"Hokage-sama was gonna start assigning some better pre-genin teams missions. He said they'd start coming by sometime yesterday."

"Already? That seems a bit early for a bunch of fourth-year academy students."

Anko made her way to the door, pulling it back to see the trademark black face mask of Hatake Kakashi. It'd been so long since anyone had seen behind his Fox-shaped Anbu mask, she swore she wouldn't have recognized him if it weren't for the way his characteristic scar peaked out from beneath his hitai-ate.

"Mind if I come in?" the grey-haired shinobi asked.

"I was expecting an Anbu messenger to stop by this morning." Anko began, maintaining her lithe frame in the doorway. "What brings you to my door, Kakashi?"

"Gonna make me answer your questions out in the cold Anko?" Kakashi responded lackadaisically. "That wouldn't be very nice."

"It's just a missive from the Hokage, I don't see why you can't just hand it over to me," the violet-haired beauty questioned.

Kakashi sighed, wisps of white escaping from behind his mask in the frigid winter morning.

"This wasn't anywhere near as hard with Iruka," Kakashi muttered to himself.

That certainly caught Anko's attention. Her body tensed, posture becoming more defensive.

"What does this have to do with Iruka?" she spat out, eyes narrowed.

Kakashi noted the edge in her voice, though the reasoning escaped him. Iruka had always struck him as a stand-up individual, though it seemed he'd done something to get on Anko's bad side. He filed the observation away for later.

"It's not about Iruka," Kakashi deadpanned. "It's about a member from your team."

Anko stepped out from beneath her door frame, putting herself a breath's distance from the cyclops.

"Don't mince words, Kakashi," she threatened, voice tight. "Whatever is going on, you need to spit it out."

"It's not a short story, Anko," the grey-haired jounin replied. "We could get to the point faster if you'd just let me in."

Giving a final huff, the snake mistress walked back into her apartment, leaving the door wide open for the grey-haired jounin. Accepting the invitation, Kakashi stepped in, ready to complete his final task as an Anbu operative.

Kiba pounded his fist on the door, past the point of worrying whether or not it would crack under the weight of his fist. It was only out of courtesy that he hadn't broken the entire thing down. That, and the fear of the type of reprimand he would get from his mother once she found out she'd have to pay to fix ANOTHER broken door.

"Come on, Naru-chan! I can keep doing this all morning," the dog-nin yelled, his voice reverberating around the open-layout of Naruto's apartment complex. "Any louder, and you might get a noise complaint from your annoying-ass neighbors!"

Pounding the door once again, Kiba was surprised to see a seal array flash neon green, before a pail of cold water tumbled out.

Crashing on the dog-nin's head and soaking him from head to turn.

"Damnit Nar!" Kiba shouted at the faceless door. "Stop playing around! I'm worried about you! Hinata's worried about you!"

Kiba nudged Hinata, prompting the Hyuuga to make her own attempt at trying to get the blond to open his door.

She stepped up to the door, noticing the white paint chipping around the edges. The wooden frame showed signs of rot, black pieces splintering off the bulk and the pungent scent of mold filling her nostrils.

Naruto had tried his best to cover it up, but everywhere you looked, there were small signs of the abuse and outright neglect the villagers showed him on a daily basis. The landlord had certainly done her part, ignoring the blond's maintenance requests. Even if he did his best to tidy up the inside, there was little he could do to mend the squalor evidenced on the exterior.

As had been their custom, Hinata gave four gentle knocks to the door, dragging her knuckles down the front three times. She paused for a brief second, before giving another two drags and final, single knock.

She stood, stare fixed at the door, waiting for any sign of life. Thirty seconds passed, then a full minute. Hinata pressed herself against the door, putting an eye to the eyehole, hoping she could make out some evidence of the blond's presence.

She caught a blue eye staring back at her, searching for her as she was for him.

"Naruto-kun," she breathed out. "I'm here Naruto-kun."

There was no answer from the other side, but somehow, she knew that he was still there. They attracted each other that way. Whether it was among the library stacks, or crammed into the confines of their childhood hideout, they could be sitting, silent, and yet one could always tell when the other was there. It wasn't something she shared with Kiba, or even her own sister.

It was something only the two of them shared.

"You don't have to say anything, Naruto-kun," she continued.

"You don't have to open the door.

"You don't have to let me in.

"I just want you to know that I'm here. No matter what you choose to do, I'll be right here for you."

Hinata turned, placing her back to the door and sliding down until she was sitting on the door mat. Catching the Inuzuka's stare, she nodded at him, a silent signal that she would take care of this, and that he should go home.

Akamaru gave a confirmatory bark, before the duo slinked off out of the complex, the sun fully risen and glistening off the crystalline flakes of snow that blanketed the Konohan cityscape. Above them, hidden in the canopies that shaded the aging apartment complex, a team of three shinobi watched the young cadet leave, no intention of interfering in the situation that was unfolding before them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was used to physical and emotional exhaustion. As Hokage during the last two Shinobi World Wars, he had experienced his own tactical miscalculations, and led several men to their untimely, unnecessary deaths. Children had died following his orders, and he knew that the children of other nations had been traumatized by the actions of his own shinobi. His sins would long haunt his village. He'd directly or indirectly groomed Konoha's next villain, if only to postpone the inevitable tragedies that would eventually befall its citizens.

These "peaceful" times were hardly any better. Their enemies were undefined, and they hunted the shadows of shadows. His allies could hardly be trusted, and the only trust he had was in the motivations of his adversaries. Terrorists cells were propagating and had begun infiltrating the great nations, further deepening Sarutobi's reliance on Danzo's Root operation. And he wouldn't be surprised if yesterday's incident wasn't in some way orchestrated by the jingoistic war-hawk.

He loved Naruto as though he were another grandson.

He had done everything he could to provide him with a normal childhood.

But the truth was that the boy was still a weapon.

And the elements conspired to break and remold him into soulless one.

"You may speak freely," Hiruzen finally stated, addressing the only other person in the village with whom he could entrust the blond's safety.

Iruka had come as soon as Kakashi had relayed the message to him. What little details the cyclops had provided, the Hokage had filled in upon his arrival.

"We must tell him, Hokage-sama," Iruka replied. "The doubt continues to eat away at him, and he's at his most fragile. With Naruto like this, I'm sure Danzo plans to make his move on him soon."

"Namiashi Raido, Shiranui Genma, and Tatami Iwashi have already been assigned to keep watch over the boy. I have given Kakashi direct orders to join them once he has alerted Anko and Ebisu of yesterday's incident."

"We can't guard him forever, Hokaga-sama."

"I am aware of the Iruka. We would risk a civil war amongst our jounin ranks in doing so."

"So, what do you propose, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen slid a manila envelope across his desk toward the tokujo, tapping his index finger on the document to catch Iruka's attention.

"Read the details. Burn the evidence. You and your team are to deliver the terms of a new trade negotiation to Yugakure. You are to leave by the dawn of tomorrow morning.

"Given the distance and the short notice, the necessary supplies have been requisitioned and will be awaiting you at the gates. Furthermore, you are being given full authority to disclose to Uzumaki Naruto the details of his burden.

"We are at a critical point Iruka. I leave it at your discretion what to disclose and what to withhold."

"Would it not be best to leave this to you, Hokage-sama? You know the details of this much better than I do."

"I am afraid that as more and more of the secret leaks, Naruto will begin to trust me less and less. You are the one best suited for this mission, Iruka. I have provided you the resources necessary. Now it is incumbent upon you to execute this task.

Beneath the Hokage's eyelids, Iruka could make out the purple tinge of sleepless nights. It was disconcerting, knowing that something on the horizon had kept him from a peaceful rest. Had spurred him to begin a full-fledged training regimen again.

But that worry was trumped by the fact that his student was on the brink of falling apart.

It was a well-worn path for him. He'd suffered it when his parents were robbed from him. He'd watched that damned day when Anko returned, miserable and broken, her eyes empty of the mischievous mirth that once filled them, a sorrow even after all these years he still failed to penetrate. Its shards were ever present on the crags of his Hokage's face, the betrayal of his favored student topped only by the massacre of his beloved Biwako. It was an unshakeable agony. Its scars were deep and uncurable, at best suppressed to a faint whisper one heard as the final thought before laying their head to rest, hoping to be spared the doubt among sleep's embrace.

It was a pain unassuaged by solitude. A lesson only time could teach.

Taking the envelope from Hiruzen, Iruka stuffed it into the inside pocket of his flak jacket. Saluting the Hokage, Umino Iruka barged out of the Hokage's office.

Clerks crawled around like a colony of busy ants, bussing stacks of paper to and fro, shouting at every near miss they had as they danced around one another. Amongst the cacophony of panicked interns and stressed-out administrators, he barely noticed as he and Anko passed each other down the tight, bustling corridor. The iris was still affixed to her hair, stopping a handful of men dead in their tracks as she took her turn walking into Sarutobi's office.

The world blurred behind him as he hopped across the rooftops, blitzing his way to his student's apartment, hoping to get there ahead of the forces that conspired against him.

Kakashi burst into the canopy with little fanfare, the final member of Naruto's guard making his appearance. Gone was his lethargic, semi-dramatic flare. He was steely, hand signs flashing as he questioned Genma on the situation.

Two Root teams, three members each. Genma answered. There's a Yamanaka and an Aburame amongst them, and that's all we've been able to make out.

Is 'Kinoe' amongst them? Kakashi signed back.

Not that any of us have been able to tell. Best guess, he's currently guarding the bastard himself.

Kakashi knew that neither team dared make a move. As aggressive as Danzo was acting, he did not want to risk igniting a civil war. He required the loyalty of ALL of Konoha's shinobi to fulfill his ambition, and it would not be an easy task to steal that away from Sarutobi.

Besides the Hyuuga, has anyone else been anywhere near that apartment?

Inuzuka Kiba came with the Hyuuga, but high-tailed it about half-an-hour back.

Whether she knew it or not, Hinata was the greatest obstacle sitting between Danzo and Naruto. Whatever tactic Root may want to try, it would fail while the blond's closest friend was in proximity. Any offer Danzo could make would mean nothing while Hinata was in Naruto's view. Even after everything, she anchored him to his hope. To the better side of his humanity. And she sat at his door with unwavering loyalty.

She was lucky to be a Hyuuga. Anyone else, and Danzo may have been less hesitant to deal with this obstacle more forcefully.

Where is Ko?

We made contact right before the Inuzuka left. He had been recalled to the house by Hiashi, who's embroiled in his own political tensities at the moment.

Kakashi cursed. It seemed that Root was already making their move with the Hyuuga. No doubt their plot would drag the young heiresses into the quagmire unfolding before them.

With a rustle of leaves, an Anbu messenger apparated before them, handing the cyclops a tiny scroll of paper before disappearing as quickly as he had arrived.

Kakashi unrolled it, igniting the scrap almost immediately.

What did it say? Raido signed to their commander.

Iruka was just seen leaving the Hokage tower.

It seems the Hokage has made his next move, then, Kakashi-san.

It was the only logical move on Sarutobi's part, of course, but this was a ninja village, and nothing ever played so straight-forward.

Danzo would know this was his rival's next move. And would look to intercept him. But each side's forces were spread thin as it was, and despite Iruka's recent promotion, he was a capable shinobi worthy of his title. It would take more than some low-caliber shinobi to bring him down.

The doubt gnawed at him. Iruka wasn't a piece with whom he could play loosely. He was their best chance at victory.

And at the same time, he was a clan-less, no name shinobi whose greatest accomplishment was killing a minor missing-nin. In the grand scheme of things, he wasn't someone to be missed. Especially by the likes of Shimura Danzo.

Decision made, he signaled his orders to the trio.

Go to Umino. Get him back here on the double. Don't let anything befall him.

The three men nodded, black blurs breaking out of the tree tops as they looked to meet Iruka and intercept whatever plan Danzo was putting into play.

Several meters underground, three masked figures made their way through the dank confines of the Root Headquarters' prison block. Danzo had allowed Orochimaru to perform experiments on these foreign prisoners, looking to make some use of their former adversaries.

It appeared that that time had come.

Five cells down and to the right, the group of three came upon the prisoner they sought.

He was a hulking figure of a man, easily double the width and triple the weight of the average shinobi, all of it pure muscle. His body was covered in stone scale, leaving the shinobi hairless.

"Takahashi Hyousuke," the center figure called, grabbing the stone-man's attention.

"Our leader has offered you a task in exchange for your freedom."

"Speak then, worm," the man's voice bellowed, his thick baritone echoing off the enclosure's steel walls.

"You are to lead a three-man team in the assassination of one Umino Iruka. In exchange, should you survive the attempt, our men shall provide you free passage back to Iwagakure."

The offer was met with a deep laugh, the shinobi's beady brown eyes filled with disinterest.

"You must have the wrong shinobi if you think I wax nostalgic about that hellhole," he retorted. "Get lost, tree-hugger."

Undeterred, the masked ninja continued.

"Our leader has also promised his support and resources in helping you launch a guerrilla war against the Hidden Rock's current leadership, in return for your success."

He stood a full 218 centimeters, several heads above the men before him.

"Now you're speaking my language, Konohan.

He pulled an arm behind his back, stretching the muscles of his shoulder blade.

"But it does make me wonder why the great Shimura Danzo would extend me, the Indestructible Golem of Iwagakure, such a generous offer."

"Take it or leave it, Iwa scum. We're not here to indulge in your petty word games."

"Damn, you're touchy," Hyousuke responded, spitting a glob of saliva and mucous onto the ground. "Whatever that jackass' motivations, I know a good deal when I see one."

A clatter resounded as the trio's leader tossed a hitai-ate into the cell.

"And make sure you wear that."

A gash had been struck through the middle of the Hidden Rock's insignia, the symbol marking the man as a missing-nin.

"You gonna unbind my chakra?"

"After you've done your part and you put it on."

"Seems a little hackneyed, doesn't it?" Hyousuke taunted. "Blaming foreign terrorists on the death of a villager."

"Are you going to continue looking a gift horse in the mouth, or are you going to take up the offer?"

Snatching the cloth from cold ground beneath him, Hyousuke tied his old hitai-ate behind his head.

Immediately, a guttural scream rang out from his throat, a trail of black markings snaking down his body and wrapping around his head.

That was the problem you ran into when you struck a deal with the devil.

Sometimes, the deal struck back.

The moment he felt the hint of a hot breeze tickle the nape of his neck, instinct took over as barrier of dense, white chakra manifested around him.

Turning, he saw a wave of fire baring down against the forcefield, contracting it against the scar-faced tokujo.

Damnit.

He hadn't been expecting an outright attack. Some tailing, definitely. But Danzo was getting bold if he was going to start actively attacking the shinobi loyal to Hiruzen.

His hands blurred through seals as his barrier began to give away against the coming conflagration. Placing a hand to his mouth, Iruka deactivated the shield and unleashed a water dragon to do battle with wall of fire.

The move only bought him seconds.

Iruka felt a fist crash into the side of his abdomen, launching him through the walls of a nearby shop. The building quaked in response, the beams snapping beneath the unbalanced weight of the top floor. Another stream of fire was directed toward Iruka, igniting the nearby debris.

A cloud of grey poofed above the wreckage, the brunet having performed the replacement technique with a piece of plywood flying through the air.

From above, he could make out three figures: a seven-foot beast of man with cracked, armor-like skin and the hitai-ate of Iwagakure wrapped around his hairless head; a black-haired woman of average height, the symbol of Konohagakure scratched through on her forehead protector; and a lanky, shark-toothed swordsmen, who no doubt had to be an assassin from Kirigakure.

Despite being outnumbered and out-gunned, he recognized that his first priority was the safety of the villagers.

But it did him little good, as the black-haired kunoichi unleased another blaze in his direction.

Electing to preserve his chakra, Iruka erected another spherical barrier around himself, bisecting the torrent of flames as it impacted the shield.

However, this move had left him defenseless to physical attacks.

The ground cracked beneath Hyousuke as he launched himself into the air, shooting himself straight at the ball of chakra surrounding Iruka.

Midair, Hyousuke clasped his hands together and axe-handled the sphere back toward the earth, a crater denting the once bustling street.

Screams echoed around him as the civilian casualties began mounting. The stone-man charged again, missing Iruka as the brunet leapt backward and out of the way of the man's punch. As it made contact, the Earth tremored once more, fissures rippling through the ground as a wave of dirt crested and made its way toward Iruka. From behind him, the Mist's assassin entered the fray, his katana swiping downward in an attempt to catch Iruka across the back.

Iruka tucked himself down and rolled forward, shifting his momentum and allowing himself to get hit by the earthen wall breaking in his direction. He felt his brain rattle inside of his skull as the wave made contact, but it was a small price to pay as it pushed him behind the mist-nin, allowing him to slash open his opponent's Achilles tendon.

The shark-toothed shinobi yelped as he fell to a knee, his right leg now useless. Hyousuke's shock wave finally caught up to him, throwing him off of his feet and sending the assassin tumbling across the snowbanks.

Iruka wouldn't let the chance go by. As the mist-nin skidded in his direction, he unleashed a fire dragon of his own, it's gaping maw thrashing forward in pursuit of the target.

Being on his back didn't make him helpless. Running through a series of hand signs, countered Iruka's fire dragon with one of water. As the two serpents clashed in mid-air, the fire boiled the water as the elemental advantage turned the tide in the missing-nin's favor. Steam misted off of the two attacks, concealing the missing-nin from Iruka's view.

In the midst of their jutsu battle, the black-haired kunoichi had made her way to Iruka's exposed backside. Inhaling, she expelled a swirling ball of super-heated fire, rocketing the missile in the teacher's direction. Caught between two jutsu, and pre-occupied by his current attack, Iruka had no time to erect a barrier to protect himself from the overwhelming onslaught.

Which was perfectly fine by him.

As the missile made contact, it ate away at the chakra construct, bursting the clone into smoke, the three jutsu crashing together and exploding as the energy of the attacks destabilized.

Obscured by smoke and cut-off from his team, the missing-nin was helpless when Iruka buried a kunai into the man's throat, twisting blade and slashing his larynx out. Carotids open, they flooded the mist assassin's airway with streams of blood, causing him to cough in reflex.

Whether he died of suffocation or blood loss first would be up to time itself.

But Iruka had no time to celebrate his victory. The last maneuver had eaten away at his reserves, and he doubted he could maintain the same level against his two remaining opponents.

Bursting through the curtain of steam and smoke, Hyousuke bore down on the weakened tokujo, fists arching down to pulverize Iruka where he stood.

With what little energy he had left, Iruka threw up barrier to hold back the Iwa-nin's attack. He stone-man pressed his advantage, a relentless barrage of fists crashing into the forcefield, weakening the shield with every hit.

Hyousuke felt the barrier crack under the force of his punch. Peering through, he could see the Konohan shinobi panting for breath, his forehead covered in sweat. It was on the verge of breaking through that Hyousuke found himself grasped from the mid-section by a tangle of snakes. Flung into the sky, the airborne shinobi watched as a violet-haired kunoichi launched a spray of fireballs in his direction.

Unable to dodge, the Takahashi did the next best thing and hardened his earthen hide, shielding him from the worst of the damage.

From Anko's side, another spray of fire burst through the black smoky veil, targeting the distracted leaf-nin.

His coils protested as he dug deeper, pulling the last of his reserves and placing a barrier around Anko and himself.

"I'm fucking spent," he panted out. "That was the last of it."

Snapping open a pocket, Anko tossed Iruka a soldier pill.

"Shut up and eat it, Iruka."

Without hesitation, the brunet gulped the red sphere down, energy flooding his system and giving him enough chakra to sustain the barrier against the relentless inferno.

"Listen asshole," Anko began, taking a Kunai and wrapping an explosive tag around it. "The moment this barrier goes down, I'm taking the meat head. You seem to do well with spit-fires, so she's all yours."

Anko had his back to him, her eyes refusing to deviate from the stone-man as he crashed onto a snow-covered roof.

"After last night, you owe me big. So don't go dying on me before I get a chance for payback."

Iruka hadn't finished catching his breath, opting for a wordless thumbs-up over a verbal acknowledgment.

"Good. Now let the barrier down."

Iruka tensed his legs, ready to propel himself out of range of the torrenting hellfire. As the field faded from sight, the duo split, allowing the pyre to scorch the Earth beneath them.

The pyromaniac continued to pursue Iruka with an endless stream of embers. Finding cover behind the remainder of a steel-walled building, the brunet collected himself. One-on-one, he didn't need to strategize on the fly like he had when he had been ambushed. And his opponent seemed like a one-trick pony. Mind you, it was a good trick. But he'd gotten around it once, and bet his winning strategy would work again.

Precipitation began to congeal together beside Iruka, shaping itself into a replica of the scar-faced shinobi. A second clone popped into existence on Iruka's right, turning to the original and giving the man a nod. The central one gave a thumbs up, signaling to his copies to initiate the plan.

The water clone dashed out from behind the cover, the black-haired kunoichi's flames giving chase. Using the remainder of his chakra, the mizu bushin manifested a white sphere of dense chakra around himself. It lasted only a second, as the pillar of fire burst through weakly constructed barrier.

But that distraction was all that Iruka had needed.

From beneath the earth, his shadow clone grabbed onto the ankles of the pyromancer, hauling her into the ground and burying her neck deep. Exploding from the ground beneath, the clone slammed his hand on the woman's forehead, an array of symbols and letters unfolded from the center. With her last moment of freedom, the fire-wielder turned the blaze onto the shadow clone, incinerating him and leaving behind a plume of grey smoke.

It was her last action as the String Light Formation locked itself into place, binding the woman into her underground prison.

Wasting no time, Iruka hopped over the barrier and sprinted to the exposed head of the black-haired kunoichi. Whipping out a kunai, Iruka buried it deep into her cranial vault, blood oozing from the wound he'd given her. Within seconds, a string of bold, black symbols formed along her skin, searing orange before enveloping the whole of her body and igniting the corpse in a blaze of purple flames.

His gaze shifted toward the Anko, watching as she continued to rip pieces of stone from Hyousuke's skin. Beneath the plating, torn, ragged pieces of sinew had been charred by a barrage of fireballs the snake mistress had spewed in his direction.

Anko herself was not without wounds. She favored her left side and jolted whenever she landed on her right, most likely the result of a few fractured ribs. Her right eye was swollen shut, and blood was running down her forehead.

His opponents were leagues weaker than the behemoth Anko had decided to face. He was lucky he'd only had to tussle with the man for a short number of minutes before she had intervened, and lucky he'd only sustained minor injuries during the exchange.

The Takahashi's chest fully exposed, Anko decided to make her penultimate move. Slamming her hands into the stone-man, the snake mistress unleashed a ripple of electric bolts through the man's body, rooting his feet to the rooftop. Picking the right kunai out of her pouch, Anko stabbed him in the midsection, leaping backwards off of the building and onto the snow-covered ground.

"Hope you enjoy fireworks, mother fucker!" she jeered back, watching as the explosive tag went off, blowing a hole into the man's peritoneal cavity and frying pieces of his viscera.

And just as with the kunoichi, a purple flame soon enshrouded the man, immolating him into nothing but ash.

A number of civilian corpses littered the streets, victims to the uncontrolled onslaught rained upon them by the trio of missing-nin. Already the damage was proving too much for some of the buildings, people stampeding out and scattering as a concrete edifice collapsed under its own destabilizing weight.

Iruka ran over to the snake mistress, lifting her arm and trying to wrap it around his shoulder. Anko immediately pushed him off, giving him a reprimanding glare.

"Civilians first," she coughed out through the smoke. "We can kiss and make-up later."

"We don't know how many of them are out there, Anko," Iruka pleaded. "I'm not leaving you alone out here."

"I don't need a knight in shining armor, Iruka," she wheezed. Unable to keep down a smile, she tilted her head up and gave him a smirk. "In fact, I'd say you were the one who need saving."

Reaching up, she felt the singed petals of her iris miraculously still in place. Unclipping the flower, she placed what was left of it into the front of Iruka's tightly pulled back hair.

"There you go princess," she teased, grabbing her side as another jolt of pain shocked its way up her body. "Guess I've got to take the hits for you too."

As he was about to reply, Genma, Raido, and Iwashi landed beside the duo.

"What are you three doing here?" Iruka half-shouted, panic starting to fray his nerves. "Who the hell is watching Naruto?"

"Relax, teach," Genma replied, cocky and suave in tone. "Kakashi's on it and he's worth like, what, at least twice the three of us combined?"

"Sounds about right," Raido answered, taking up a position on the other side of Iruka and connecting a hand with Genma's.

"Wait, get Anko out of here, she's far more injured-"

"-And you're the only one who can stop this from going any further," she replied. "Get to Naruto, and Danzo's lost. Whatever hand he's playing with becomes worthless."

"Either way, Iruka," Iwashi cut in, connecting his hands with Genma and Raido's. "We've got our orders."

"Back-up's already on its way, so focus on finding the blond-haired brat," Anko jeered.

It was the last thing he heard before a he felt the pit of his stomach fall out from underneath him. In a flash of yellow, the four were gone, leaving the snake mistress behind, struggling to stand. She wasn't alone for long. A green-clad blur of exuberance made his dramatic entrance, making proclamations of youth as Anko finally felt comfortable enough to let unconsciousness take her.

Iruka found himself at Naruto's front door. Reaching forward, the brunet knocked on the door three times, pausing before knocking once and dragging his knuckle against the door, knocking twice before giving a drag and knocking twice more.

"Something's not right here," Raido muttered. "The Hyuuga was standing out here not too long ago."

"She probably went inside," Genma retorted. "Everyone knows how in love with the blond she is."

"She'd have opened up for us by now," Iruka answered. "She knows my code word to let Naruto know it's me outside. She'd have recognized I arrived."

Frantically, Iruka tapped out his code onto Naruto's door again. He watched, hoping to hear a bolt unlock, or a brass knob turn. As the seconds passed, Iruka could hear the pounding of his heart inside his ear, breath rattling out in anxiety and exhaustion.

And his wit's end, Iruka began pounding at the door, frantic for a response.

"It's not going to do you any good," came a voice from beside them.

Walking down the corridor, hands in his pockets, Kakashi calmly approached the quartet of shinobi.

"They're gone."

"What do you mean, 'they're gone?'" Iruka interrogated, eyes scanning the cyclops single one.

"Gone. No longer at this locality. Gave us the slip," Kakashi responded.

Iruka's face slipped into surprise, followed by incredulity, before finally settling on outright anger.

The brunet grabbed the taller man by the collar of his flak jacket in a pathetic attempt to appear threatening.

"How in the hell are two twelve-year-old children capable of giving this village's second-strongest shinobi-

"-joint second strongest," Kakashi corrected.

"JOINT SECOND STRONGEST SHINOBI," Iruka roared, "the fucking 'slip?'"

"Mmmmm…" Kakashi hummed. "Well, I mean, he's been dodging lower-level Anbu since he was nine years old. With all the training you inspired, it was only a matter of time before he'd finally be able to evade me."

Iruka grit his teeth in response, eyes boring into Kakashi's.

"If it makes you feel any better, Root has even less of a clue where he is. They're completely scrambled, if their communication lines are anything to go by."

"Then what the hell are you still doing here?" Iruka questioned through pursed lips.

"Oh," Kakashi stared up, feigning thought. "Well, this isn't actually me. I'm out looking for him. I left this shadow clone behind to let you guys know what's going down."

"You didn't think you could start off by letting us know that in the first place?"

"I was busy fielding your questions."

"Then where IS he?"

The shadow clone shrugged.

"Pakkun can't even pick up a scent. You ask me, nothing short of master sensor is going to find him."

Iruka released the clone's flak jacket.

"Tell me you have a plan."

The clone nodded his head before giving the man a thumbs-up.

"You're the plan, Iruka."

"I'm the plan?"

"Well, seeing as the kid's crush has decided to join him for the proverbial joyride, you're our next best bet at getting to him."

"And what if I don't figure it out?"

"We have time, but sooner or later, Root's going to start hitting up the clan heirs with their questions."

"There's no way the clan heads would ever allow that."

"There's little an absent parent can do to protect their child. And Shikaku, Chouza, and Inoichi are currently on a mission.

"I'll give it another four hours before Danzo becomes desperate enough to start pushing his luck."

"Like he hasn't already?"

"Sending missing-nin to attack a clanless school teacher is hardly a political liability, Iruka. Sorry to break it to you."

"Shit," Iruka cursed, biting his lip.

"Sad to say, but he's got a lot of plausible deniability on this one," 'Kakashi' informed him. "Terrorist splinter cells seem to be all the rage amongst shinobi disgruntled with the current socioeconomic system and what-not."

"And aside from you and Anko, the only casualties are civilian in nature," Raido added. "The Civilian Council is likely to involve the daimyo, placing increased scrutiny on the Hokage."

"How the hell do we keep playing into Shimura's hands?" Genma remarked. "Any action we take, and he's suddenly a step ahead of us."

"We have to get out from behind." Iruka commented. "He has no clue where Naruto is, and the only way he's going to get any closer any time soon is if WE give him that information.

"Do you know any place where Danzo's men don't have their eyes and ears?" Iruka asked.

"If any place is safe, I'd hazard it's Sarutobi's office," Kakashi responded. "Why, you got a plan?"

"Yeah," Iruka responded. "But if they catch wind, they'll swarm the place before we can make it in time."

"Sounds good. I'll let the main one know to meet you there."

Disrupting his chakra flow, the shadow clone sent his memories back to the original, letting him know the first phase of Iruka's plan.

Raido, Genma, and Iwashi positioned themselves in their three-point formation, surrounding the scar-faced teacher.

"How close can you get us?" Iruka asked.

"How close do you think the ex-Hokage's guard is supposed to get?" Genma jested.

In another flash, the four were gone, their footprints covered by the increasingly heavy snowfall, erasing any evident evidence that anyone had been there. The complex remained silent and lifeless, its denizens curled inside, afraid of the pandemonium growing outside their doors.

Just a few notes:

1) Still promising a fuller A/N at chapter's end. We only have a few events left to cover in "The Calm Before," and I've used this chapter to set-up what's to come after.

2) These past two chapters have started one way and gone entirely different than planned. They haven't strayed from the general outline, rather, I have found that following it too narrowly may leave me with a more contrived plot.

3) Another Iruka-centric chapter, though we'll be returning to Naruto in the beginning of the next. His role will be growing in prominence, ESPECIALLY following this first arc.

4) Work on Part 3 has already begun. Expect it sooner rather than later.

As always, thank you guys for all your support. You all are what keep me motivated to continue writing this. I've never made it this deep into a story before but am glad it's turning out better than I could have expected. Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do concerning my writing skills. But the effort has definitely been worth it.

'Til next time!