(GASP)

I AM BACK!

I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE GREAT BEYOND AND IT HAS GIVEN ME THE VISION OF THE FUTURE FOR HALFBREED NINJA!

I would like to apologize for that Hiatus (six f*ing YEARS), but now I'm back and better than ever! I am in college at this time so, updates will be a little spacy… at least one update per month is my goal.

Read and enjoy.

Ch.5- Bandits? Squad 11's New Mission!

It was a bright and sunny morning. The Hidden Leaf Village was quiet and peaceful… until a certain blue-haired girl yelled for all to hear, "WHAT!?"

The squad known as team 11 stood before the Hokage's Tower. Anko Mitarashi, their Jonin sensei stood before her three students, Ryu Takeda, Lynn Houka, and Kyna Izu. The purple-haired woman sighed at her student's reaction. She knew she would get an earful from one of them about this. The woman looked toward the golden-eyed girl who had exclaimed. "I said, you don't have a mission today. You have the day off."

Kyna pointed accusingly at her teacher. "But we've barely done any missions! We've been mostly taking days off!"

Ryu, equally annoyed as his teammate, glared at his sensei. "We've only done three D-rank missions all month." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You keep saying you have important stuff to do, but all you do is goof off and stuff your face with dango!"

Lynn, who was the only one who hadn't spoken, just smiled and nodded at what her teammates said.

The Mitarashi threw her hands up in the air, annoyed with her students. "Fine, fine! You want a mission so bad I'll give you one!"

The statement caused the three to look at her slightly surprised. They had expected her to say something like, 'just go train'. Receiving a mission from their sensei and not the Hokage was something completely new to them. The Izu had put her arm down and with her teammates, patiently waited for their assignment.

Anko had said she would give them a mission just so they would stop complaining, but now she had to actually think of one. She put a hand to her chin and looked at the sky. Quickly thinking, she got an idea. She looked back down at the Genin. She rested her hands on her hips and gave them a small smile. "Ok, your mission…" The young ninja leaned in closer to hear what she had to say. After a moment of silence, the woman finished her sentence. "…is to get to know each other better."

The Takeda and Izu face-faulted while the Houka stood there with a confused expression on her face. The two quickly recovered and glared at the purple-eyed woman. "What the hell!? What kind of mission is that?" exclaimed Kyna.

Ryu added, "Didn't we already do that when we met? What's the point of doing it again!?" questioned the boy.

The Jonin grinned at the two. "That day, you only found out a couple of facts about each other. I want you to know your teammates the like back of your hands. Strength, weaknesses, everything you can know." While saying this, she held up her right hand, showing them the back of it.

Kyna and Ryu glared at the Jonin, both shaking with anger at their teacher's laziness.

Anko smirked evilly at them. "But if you don't like the mission, I could have you take care of my snakes for the day…"

The blue-eyed boy and gold-eyed girl paled at the thought. Taking care of snakes five times your size, and possibly poisonous, sounded a little dangerous. Lynn, again, didn't seem to show the same reaction or thought as teammates, still just standing there smiling. The other two violently shook their heads at the offer. The woman smiled at them. "Good, now have fun you three!" With that said, their crazy teacher waved them goodbye and walked into town.

"So… what do you guys want to do?" asked the Izu. The three Genin were now at the park, thinking of what to do next. Ryu leaned on the swing set, Lynn sat in the swing closest to him and Kyna sat on the ground before the two with her legs crossed. At the moment, the park was empty of the children who usually played there. The members of squad 11 began thinking of how to start their 'mission'.

Kyna and Ryu both sighed. A few days ago, Team 7 was able to obtain a C-Rank mission and were now off to the Land of Waves. They get to have a grand adventure while Team 11 is stuck with nothing. Oh, how they wished they had such luck.

The Houka swung back and forth slightly on the swing, thinking. Suddenly she got an idea and stopped herself from swinging. "I got an idea!" She hopped out of the swing and looked to her teammates. "How about we go to my house? I'll tell you about myself there!" she asked, the ever-present smile shining on her face.

The other two nodded in agreement, liking the sound of the idea. Following Lynn to her home, approaching a corner, no one took notice of the man running at them at full speed. "Out of the way!"

Turning to the sudden voice, Kyna and Ryu had no time to react as the man ran into them, knocking the two to the ground. The man stumbled for a moment but recovered and ran off.

Ryu sits up, rubbing his arm where the impact had occurred. He turned to see the back of the man disappear. With a gruff he says, "Some people are just plain rude. Where he is off to in such a hurry he can't apologize?"

Lynn helps the two to their feet. As Kyna brushes off the dirt on her cloths another voice calls out. "STOP!"

Team 11 turns to see a young woman running at a haggard pace towards them. It takes Kyna a moment to recognize her as a worker at the local scroll shop. She stops to catch her breath and asks, "Did a man just run through here?"

Lynn looks to the woman with concern. "Yes, is something wrong?"

The woman's face changes from weary to surprise when she saw their headbands. "Are you three ninja?" The group nods to her. She looks at them desperately, putting her hands together before her. "Please, I need your help! That man just stole a map from my family's shop!"

Ryu blanched at her declaration. His head whipped back to where the man escaped. "That guy was a bandit!?" He then growls. "I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner."

Kyna suddenly looks excited and turns to the woman with a grin. "Don't worry, we'll get it back for you!"

The woman looks to them hopefully. "You will?"

Lynn gives her a thumbs up. "We got this. Just wait back at the shop and we'll be back in no time."

The woman bows to them. "Thank you so much!"

With that said, Kyna turns and sprints down the alley the man disappeared into. Lynn runs after her, leaving a baffled Ryu behind. "Hey, wait a minute!" He pauses for a moment before running after his teammates.

Instead of taking the streets for travel, Kyna began climbing and jumping up onto the rooftops. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop at top speed, occasionally jumping on a taller buildings wall to change direction. Lynn had no trouble following her moments, but Ryu struggled to match the girl's speed and seemingly random path of travel. As the buildings start to thin out, the Takeda soon realizes that they are heading toward the village gates.

Before the Chunin guards could say anything, Kyna sped past them, Lynn eagerly following behind. Ryu moved faster and hid his face with his hand, hoping that the Chunin wouldn't recognize them later. Genin weren't allowed to leave the village without the approval of a higher up and he did not want to get the reputation of an insubordinate ninja.

Running into the forest, Kyna didn't slow down as she followed the faint presence of old footprints. A moment later Ryu caught up with the Izu. He sends a glare at his blue-haired teammate. "What are you doing? We should report this not act on our own!"

Kyna didn't stop as she turned and looked at the Takeda. "If we don't get him now he might get away!"

"That doesn't matter! Right now we are acting out of regulation! If we get caught we'll be in serious trouble!"

Kyna glared back at him. "Why are you angry? Isn't this what we wanted, a real mission? We finally get a chance to actually do something and you want to leave it to someone else?"

"We need to follow our orders and stay in line!" he growled.

"Would you give it a re—"

Kyna was unable to finish as she found herself suddenly tripping on a log. Not being able to recover, she yelped in pain she tumbled for a few seconds before coming to a stop, face first to the ground. The girl took a moment to groan in pain before slowly sitting up and rubbing her injured face.

Ryu and Lynn stopped and helped their teammate to stand. "This is why we shouldn't do this, you can't even chase someone without tripping."

Kyna growled at in frustration and yanked her arm away from Ryu's grip. She turned to him with anger in her eyes. "Why are you always putting me down? I'm your teammate, you should have more faith in me!"

Ryu raised his voice in turn. "How can I faith in someone who's reckless and doesn't think? Unlike you, I actually want to go somewhere with my life! Out of everyone in class, why did I have to be stuck with the dead last's flunk buddy?"

Kyna ground her teeth together as she became angrier. Before she could throw a punch, she felt a hand on the back of her head and saw Ryu's face suddenly rushing towards her. The Izu and Takeda's foreheads slammed together and the force of impact bounced the two away from each other. The two took a minute to keep their balance and try to stop the dizziness that overcame them from the head-butt. They may have been wearing ninja headbands, but that didn't stop it from rattling their brains. When they could finally stand, the two turned to Lynn, who still had her hands up from slamming their heads together.

"What was that for?" Kyna asked, still holding her head.

For the first time since they met, Lynn actually frowned as she looked at her teammates. She placed her hands on her hips. "I want you two to knock it off! We're supposed to be a team but you two keep acting on your own."

She turned to Ryu. "Ryu, I appreciate that you try to help us stay on the right path, but you can't always just sit by and do nothing. This is something important and needs to be done quickly. Action is needed."

The Houka turned to Kyna. "Kyna, your heart is in the right place, but we can't just rush in without a plan. We need some strategy before we act."

Ryu and Kyna both looked down to the ground in shame. They knew she was right and that they had acted upon their old presumptions of each other. They looked at each other with guilt.

Kyna spoke first. "I'm sorry… it's just I've always done things either by myself or with Naruto." She rubs the back of her head in nervousness. "I figured with how you act all the time, we would all do our own thing and work together only when necessary."

Ryu sighed and looked toward the trees. "I'm sorry too… I was trying to do what my family would do and now I know that won't work." He looks back between Kyna and Lynn. "If I'm to be the best I can, I need to be more understanding of you two and not think of just myself."

The Takeda held out his hand. "Let's start over?"

The Izu smiled and took his hand. The Houka then clasped her hands around their and shook them cheerfully, back to her old self once again.

They all separated from each other and all looked into the direction they were originally going to. Ryu smirked. "Let's go find us a bandit."

Kyna nodded and Lynn just smiled. With Ryu in the lead, Team 11 went forward to fulfill their mission.

As they kept walking, they found what appeared to be a cleared path before them. Jumping over a log that fell and going further, the team found what they were looking for. In the crevice of two small mountains, it appeared that they had just stumbled upon a small bandit fortress, the gates being made of boards. The team looked at one another exchanging surprised glances. This may be more serious than they originally thought.

Before they could advance, a man jumped down in front of them. The man, dressed in ragged cloth and wearing a red bandana over his face, glared at them. "You brats aren't going anywhere!"

He charged at Ryu. The boy stepped to the side and held out his foot causing the man to trip. While he was falling, Kyna threw an uppercut, making him float in the air for a bit. Lynn came around the girl, brought her leg up and kicked the man down into the ground. He groaned and lost consciousness.

The blue-haired girl smiled. She put her hands behind her head. "He wasn't that tough after all."

Ryu knelt down and looked at the bandit, seeing an unfamiliar face. "This isn't the guy we're after, he doesn't have the map." He looked up at the gates. "But I think we're on the right track."

He stood up and walked to the gate. With a simple push, the gate opened, and the team was able to proceed forward. After running for a bit the group stopped, in front of them stood two more bandits. The three Genin got into fighting positions. Ryu looked toward his blue-haired friend. "Kyna, you go on ahead. We'll deal with these two."

Kyna looked to Ryu surprised, before smiling and nodding. She started running at one of the bandits. The man threw a punch at the girl. She jumped and flipped over him, landed on her feet and ran forward. The bandit was about to turn and go after the girl but was soon preoccupied with Lynn.

Kyna started to slow down and looked around. It looked like a dead end in the small area. She shaded her eyes. "If I had stolen a map, where would I put it?" She then spotted a shack a few yards from where she stood. She smiled. "Bingo!"

She ran toward the shack. She was almost to the door when suddenly her foot was caught on something. She stumbled forward but quickly regained her balance and let out a breath of relief. "Why am I tripping so much today?"

She turned around and looked at what had tripped her. It was none other than the map she was looking for. Grinning, she picked it up and placed it into her pouch. She was about to head back to her teammates when she heard a familiar voice. "Hey!"

The girl turned around and looked up onto the roof of the shack. A burly man with a red bandana wrapped around his head glared down at her. "That's my map you're stealing."

Kyna recognized him as the man who ran into them earlier. She glared back at him. "Hah, funny, since you stole it in the first place."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Details, details…" He jumped down and aimed a punch at the girl. She dodged and kicked him in the head. He rolled on the ground and quickly got to his feet. He ran at her and aimed a punch to her side. She dodged, but was hit by the second punch. She stumbled back and then quickly charged at him. She punched him in the face, then the side and then knocking his feet from under him.

The man fell to the ground and blue-haired girl formed a 'cross' hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Two clones appeared and charged at the man. The man got to his feet and was kicked in the face and started flying back. Then the second clone appeared behind the man in kicked him in the back and forced him forward. Then the original jumped and punched the man in the stomach sending him to the ground. The clones disappeared and the man slammed into the ground.

The girl slowly walked up to where the man lay. She squatted down next to the man and saw that he was unconscious. She saw something on the ground next to the bandit. She reached for it and grabbed it. She looked at it and saw it was a key. "Wonder what this is for?" She shrugged to herself and placed the key in her pocket "Might as well keep it."

"Hey!" the girl turned toward the voice and saw her teammates running toward her. The girl smiled and waved at them. "Hey guys, what took you so long?"

The boy and girl came up to their blue-haired teammate. The brown-haired boy scowled at her. "What did you think? That it would take us only a few seconds to beat them?" he asked.

She smirked at him. "Maybe…"

He ignored what she said. "Did you get the map?" he asked.

The Izu reached into her pouch and brought out the map. "Here."

"Thanks for getting it." he said, smirking.

Suddenly he pulled out a kunai and aimed to stab the girl. The Izu jumped back only having the tip of the blade stab her shoulder. She landed a few feet away from her teammate. She pressed a hand to the wound and glared at the blue-eyed boy. "What the hell Ryu!?"

'Ryu' laughed and went poof. The smoke cleared to show it was actually a different older ninja. The man had black spiked hair and brown eyes. He wore a black shirt, pants, gloves and mask. The only thing not black was his gray vest. On his forehead was a headband with the 'Grass' symbol on it. The golden-eyed girl glared at the man. "Who are you and what do you want?" she asked angrily.

The man laughed. "I am Bakageta, a Chunin of the Village Hidden in the Grass." he said proudly, putting a bumping a fist onto his chest.

Kyna tried not to laugh. Bakageta meant 'foolish'. She coughed and regained her composure and glared at the man. "Are you the one who hired that guy?" she pointed to the unconscious man to the far right of her.

"Yes, he was to get the map so I could get a very special scroll that is hidden in this forest." He held up the said map. "With this, I'll be able to find it and become a hero in the Grass Village."

Kyna brought her fists up, ready to fight. "Not if I have anything to say!"

Bakageta smirked and grabbed a handful of kunai before throwing them at a blinding speed. Kyna's eyes widened in surprise before ducking and dodging the kunai. She sprinted toward Bakageta but he back flipped farther away. While leaping, he threw more kunai. Kyna had to stop and jump to the side to avoid being hit. She began running at him again, only to have to dodge more kunai.

Kyna stopped to glare at him every time she tried to get close, he would throw more to keep them separated. She growled to herself. She was more apt for close combat so now she was at a disadvantage. Time to try something a little different.

Kyna made the 'cross' hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Four more of her appeared and then they all charged forward. Bakageta still smirked and threw more kunai. As they drew closer to Kyna, he performed a few hand signs. "Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

What used to be five kunai were now twenty kunai flying toward the Genin. With shock, Kyna and clones proceeded to try and dodge the kunai. Two clones poofed out of existence before Kyna noticed something. The kunai that were flying by her had something attached to them. She realized too late the paper bombs flapping from the kunai, before they caught fire. A second later they blew up, Kyna and clones right in the middle of them.

The smoke cleared revealing a very injured lone Genin. Thankfully for Kyna, her two remaining clones took the brunt of the explosion, but not enough to escape completely unscathed. The girl clenched her injured left arm, covered with several burns.

Kyna breathed heavily, wincing in pain as she tried to move her arm. 'This isn't good. I can barely move it. I'm not going to be able to use jutsu for a while. I don't know if I'll be able to survive that long.'

Bakageta laughed darkly at her. "What's wrong? What happened to that flare you had just a minute ago?"

The Chunin brought out a single kunai. Kyna suddenly became aware of the rope next to him, leading somewhere off into the trees. He cut the rope. There was a creak of wood before a log tied with rope came swinging at Kyna. She barely had time to bring up her arms in defense, before the dog slammed into her side. Her burned arm took the brunt of the impact, sending a jolt of pain throughout her body as she was sent flying into the stone of the small mountainside. Her body smacked into the wall before dropping face down into the dirt.

It took her a moment to get past the pain in order to get to her knees. Shakily she attempted to stand up, only to fall backwards to sit against the stone at her back. She looked down at her left arm. It was starting to bleed now, running down to her hand. She was definitely not going to be using jutsu for a while…

Bakageta walked over to another rope, kunai still in hand. "Well, it's been fun but…" He held up the blade to the rope. "I have a scroll to find."

He cut the rope and Kyna saw a log rushing towards her, multitudes of spikes protruding from it. The girl had no strength left to get up and braced herself, her arm defensively in front of her chest. Hopefully she can stop it from killing her, but with how fast it was approaching, she doubted it.

Luckily for her, she didn't come to the forest alone.

Suddenly Ryu came sprinting toward her and the log. The boy jumped and kicked the log where there were no spikes, changing its destination. The spikes smacked into the stone merely a foot away from Kyna, breaking upon contact with the force behind it. Ryu quickly grabbed onto the rope and cut it with his own kunai, causing the spiked log to drop to the ground. The Takeda landed on his feet, immediately turning to his teammate.

"You ok?" he asked hastily.

Kyna looks at him in surprise before grinning. "What took you so long?" she said, her voice laced with pain.

"More bandits had shown up to slow us down, took a while to get rid of them." Ryu turned to Bakageta. "So they had a ninja with them huh? Explains why they didn't try to stop you better."

Kyna glared at the enemy. "Careful, he's a Chunin and has some tricks up his sleeve."

The Chunin smirked at the two Genin. "So there are more of you huh? But from the sound of it, you don't have a Jonin with you." He showed his teeth. "Guess that means you're out of luck."

Ryu glared at the Grass ninja. "Kyna, wait right here and rest. I've got this guy."

He rushed toward the enemy. The Izu called out to him in a panic. "Ryu wait, there are traps!"

Bakageta laughed. "Too late!"

The Chunin threw a handful of shuriken at Ryu. The boy dodged to the right. One moment he was on solid ground, but in a few steps he felt the ground give out from under him. He looked down to see he stepped on a camouflaged trapdoor, the bottom of the hole covered in spikes. Ryu reacted quickly and flipped, moving him forward with momentum. He grabbed on the edge of the pit and pulled himself up. Once he was back on solid ground again, he looked to his opponent.

'There's no telling what else he has for traps, if I get too close I'm toast.' He studied Bakageta for a moment. 'His only advantage is his distance. He must be bad at close combat if he's trying so hard to keep us apart.'

Ryu smirked. "Unfortunately for you, unlike my teammate, I can use long ranged jutsu."

He performed a series of hand signs. "Earth Style: Rock Throw Jutsu"

A small fist sized piece of rock came out of the ground and in front of Ryu. The boy pulled back his fist and punched it, sending it propelling towards Bakageta. The man's eyes widened before he moved to the left, effectively dodging it. He looked back at the Takeda with a gloating face.

"Nice try kid, but a slow moving target like that won't get me!"

Ryu smirked. "Who says I'm done?"

Ryu's fist, which had propelled the rock, glowed with chakra. He turned his fist and pulled it back. Suddenly Bakageta felt something slam into his back and he flew forward. He rolled for a moment before coming to a skidding halt. The Chunin struggled for a moment to look up, Ryu now stood just a few feet away from him. The same rock he threw, was floating before the Genin.

Ryu held up his glowing fist, which resonated with the rock's glow. "I infused my chakra into this rock, allowing me to move it as I want. As long as I keep the flow of chakra going, I can control it for a while."

Bakageta glared at the boy.

Kyna finally had the energy to stand and slowly made her way to Ryu and the Grass ninja, making sure to avoid the pitfall. She still clutched her injured arm, but shot the Takeda a grin. "Nice one Ryu."

The boy looked back at her and nodded, smiling.

That, however, was a fatal mistake.

When Ryu turned away from his enemy, Bakageta decided to use one last trick. He reached into the grass and grasped a hidden wire. He got to his feet and jumped away from the two, quickly pulling the line with him. Various wires pulled out of the grass and surrounded the Genin, into a sort of makeshift cage. It wouldn't have been as bad if the wires weren't lined with paper bombs. Ryu and Kyna stared in horror at the webbing of bombs that surrounded them.

Bakageta laughed. "Don't you know not to take your eyes off the enemy? Now you're gonna die for it!"

He formed the 'ram' sign. The paper bombs began to catch fire.

The two Genin's eyes widened. There wouldn't be any time to get away and this many paper bombs would surely kill them. It would take a miracle to get out alive.

As if listening, Lynn dropped down from the heavens and landed between her teammates. She stood up, holding a handful of shuriken in each hand. "GET DOWN!" she roared.

No time to question her, Ryu and Kyna quickly ducked to the ground and covered their heads. Lynn then threw the shuriken in every direction. The second she threw the last one, she quickly formed hand signs. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The number of shuriken tripled in number and flew to their targets. Each shuriken tore a paper bomb in half, rendering it useless as the ignition went out. As the shuriken embedded themselves in the surrounding area, Kyna looked up to see why they weren't crisped to a charcoal black.

The Izu stared in shock. Her teammate had successfully disabled every single paper bomb, rendering the trap useless. She looked to her teammate in awe. What kind of training did she have before coming to Konoha?

Bakageta released his wire, causing the wire cage to slacken around them. He started sweating profusely as he stared in horror at the still breathing Genin. "N-No way… my bombs…"

Lynn straightened her posture and smiled at the Chunin. "Don't underestimate us just because we're Genin. We're ninja of Konoha and we never go down easily."

The Grass Ninja turned to run but found a stone ram itself into his back once again. Ryu regained control of the fist-sized stone with his chakra and stopped the man from running away.

Bakageta tried to get back to his feet until he saw a shadow cast over him. He looked back with fear at the Genin before him. Kyna stood over the man, a glare in her eye. She raised her right hand and formed a fist, cracking her fingers in the process. She pulled back her fist and proceeded to beat the Chunin into unconsciousness with that one hand.

Kyna stood up straight and breathed in a breath of relief. She went to stretch her arms but a sudden stab of pain reminded her of her damaged arm. Lynn giggled at the sight and pulled her teammate to one of the trees, away from their unconscious enemy. Once seated, Lynn began bandaging the Izu's arm, while Ryu tied up Bakageta.

Kyna grinned at her teammates' handiwork. "Thanks Lynn, I don't know what we would've done without you."

The Houka blushed at the compliment. "It's no problem, you're my teammates and we look out for one another."

The two kunoichi got to their feet as Ryu walked over to them. The Takeda thumbed to the Grass ninja. "Kyna, do you have enough chakra to make for clones to take him and the others back to the village?"

Kyna nodded and, while wincing in pain, formed the 'cross' sign. She created a dozen shadow clones and each proceeded to pick up one bandit and one for the Chunin. With orders from Ryu, the clones started the trek back to the village to deliver their prisoners. The Izu let her arm go slack, rubbing it lightly with her right hand.

Before they could leave Kyna stopped them. "Wait guys, what about the treasure?"

Ryu turned to the girl with a raised brow. "Treasure?"

Kyna pulled out the map from her pouch. "Yeah, Baka said that this lead to a special scroll or something."

The Takeda sighed. "We have the map right? Mission accomplished. We weren't asked to find whatever that map leads to."

The Izu reached back into her pouch and produced a key. "I found this too. It probably goes to the treasure right? We could find it and bring it back to the shop."

Lynn placed a hand on her cheek in thought. "She has a point, they might be grateful for it."

Ryu stared at his teammates, both of them looking at him with big sparkly eyes in an attempt to sway him. Finally, the boy sighed in defeat. "Alright, we'll look for it…" he quickly brought up his pointer finger, "BUT we go back immediately after we find it. Got it?"

The two kunoichi gave him a thumbs up. "Got it!"

The Takeda smiled a bit at their enthusiasm and with map in hand, they went on their treasure hunt.

One hour later…

Team 11 walked through the Leaf Village Gates, all three Genin covered in dirt from head to toe. Under her good arm, Kyna carried the chest, looking rather tired. Lynn skipped happily next to her, carrying the map and key. On the other side of the Izu, Ryu walked with his shoulders slumped as he breathed excessively, weariness etched into his face.

"That was ridiculous… I can't believe there were booby traps just for this thing," groaned a sore Takeda.

Kyna muttered, "I was almost blown up for a third time today…"

Lynn looked at her teammates and chimed in, "Aw don't complain guys, if Kyna hadn't set off all those underground bombs, we wouldn't have found it so soon."

Ryu sighed. "You have a point there, at least we didn't have to dig too much for it afterwards."

The Izu stopped and let her head droop. "I'm sorry for causing such trouble…"

Her teammates stopped walking and looked back at the girl. Lynn approached the Izu, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Kyna…"

Kyna looks up at her, the Houka giving her a gentle smile.

She gives her a thumbs up. "If you weren't so thick headed and charge in without thinking Ryu and I would have been more severely injured. You did an excellent job today as our meat shield."

Kyna started crying anime tears at the "compliment". "…Thanks, Lynn."

Ryu sweat-dropped at the two. 'Lynn is trying to cheer her up, but I think Anko is starting to rub off on her…'

"HEEEEYYY!"

The three Genin jump at the voice. They turn to see Anko running towards them at top speed, leaving a dust cloud in her wake. She comes to a screeching halt right before them, and quickly delivers a blow to each of their heads.

As the Genin clutch their new bruised heads, Anko glares down at them. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Kyna looked up at her teacher. "This woman asked for help and there wasn't any time—"

The Mitarashi cut her off. "THAT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU WENT OFF ON YOUR OWN WITHOUT TELLING ME ANYTHING! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU DIED AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT?"

The Genin looked at their Jonin in surprise. Was she really that worried about them?

"IF YOU GUYS HAD DIED, I WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED!"

Ryu and Kyna face-faulted. Nope. Of course not.

When the two recovered, a new voice rang in. "It's good to see you made it back."

Anko moved to the side, team 11 coming face to face with none other than the Third Hokage, an ANBU ninja standing at his side.

Anko moved to Ryu's right and straighten up. The others following her lead, fell into line and stood at attention. Sarutobi placed his hands behind his back and analyzed the three, his face grim. "I was enjoying my day with paperwork and suddenly someone barges into my office to tell me a group of Genin ran through the gates without prior informing the Chunin guards."

Ryu and Kyna stiffened.

"Then, trying to figure out who it was, a woman from the local scroll shop comes by to tell us three ninja offered to help her catch a bandit, without informing any Jonin or submitting a report."

Ryu and Kyna flinched.

"By the time we realize what had happened, behold my surprise when a group of clones show up with unconscious bandits and a Chunin from the Hidden Grass Village. And yet, no Genin with them." Sarutobi added a small glare with his words.

Ryu and Kyna felt their shoulders slump. This was the first time they'd seen the Hokage, who was always kind and gentle, look so angry.

"Finally, an hour later, the missing Genin show up dirty and wounded, but have seemed to complete their objective. Have I got it all right?"

The Takeda spoke up, "Yes sir…"

The Hokage closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "What you all did was reckless. You acted out of line and it could have cost your lives." He opened his eyes and stared at the Genin. "Which one of you is responsible for this?"

Kyna looked down at the ground. She was the one who decided to help the woman and she didn't ask her teammates for their opinions. She acted on her own and forced them to help. She closed her eyes as she felt her heart sink. This was all her fault and she needed to take responsibility. The Izu lifted her head and looked directly into the Third's eyes.

"This is my fault."

Kyna blanched in shock. Her head whipped to her teammates and sensei with wide eyes. All of them were staring at the Hokage with serious faces. All of them had spoken at once, the same words passing over their lips.

Sarutobi looked at the group in surprise. "You're saying… that all of you are responsible?"

The Izu turned to her team. "What are you guys talking about? I'm the one who started all this, it's my fault."

Lynn turned to Kyna in confusion. "What do mean? I was the one who promised that lady we'd get it back. I'm a part of it too."

Ryu crossed his arms. "I knew what would happen if we didn't do it by the book, but I didn't try to fix it. I was the one who didn't take my team's safety into account, that's my fault."

Anko scratched her cheek. "I… probably could have stuck around. Or at least know what was going on with my team, but decided to let you guys do your own thing. I avoided my responsibility as your sensei and you all got hurt because of it."

The Houka smiled at the Izu. "Kyna, we all messed up, we were divided when we should have been together. We are in this together, one for all, all for one!"

Kyna stared at her team for a moment. Tears started filling her eyes as she started sniffling a bit. Anko saw this and sighed. She walked over to the girl and pulled her, as well as Ryu and Lynn, into a group hug.

She held the team tightly and whispered, "Don't get so worked up over this, things could have gone worse…. I'm just happy you're all ok…"

After a moment, Kyna started calming down and Anko let the Genin go. Kyna wiped away the remnants of her tears and looked up to Sarutobi, a smile on her face despite the situation. The Third blinked, staring at each and every one of them. He smiled.

"Since you all bear the responsibility of this, your punishment will be… cleaning duty for two weeks."

Anko blanched at his decree. "Wait, really? I figured I'd lose my position."

Sarutobi laughed. "No, no Anko. You are still new to being a teacher, you are bound to make mistakes." He motioned to the Genin. "And you three, while disobeying orders did manage to capture bandits and an enemy ninja. You all did an excellent job today."

Lynn, Ryu, and Kyna smiled widely at the praise. Anko grinned, pulling Kyna and Ryu into headlocks, squeezing the life out of them in joy.

Lynn pumped her fist into the air. "Alright let's get to our punishment!"

The Houka started walking away. Kyna stopped her struggling for a moment as she watched Lynn leaving. She called out, "Lynn wait, we haven't given back the treasure yet!"

The Houka stopped in mid-step. She spun around back to her team, rubbing the back of her head. "Oh yeah, oops…"

Still in a headlock, Ryu sighed. "This is the team I'm stuck with…"

Kyna turned to Ryu with a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Don't oh nothing me! You still think you're better than us?"

"I never said that! Don't put words in my mouth!"

"Then stop being an a-ACK!"

Anko tightened her grip on the two Genin, a tick mark on her head. "KNOCK IT OFF YOU TWO!"

The Third Hokage sighed. 'Two steps forward, one step back… they still have a lot of work ahead of them.'

Team 11 brought back the chest, map, and key they found to the scroll shop. Anko let them go on their own, stating that she needed to gather the papers for their two-week punishment. In the shop, the young woman, standing next to an elderly woman who owned the shop, looked down at the chest from behind the counter. She looked at it with wonder, her awe-filled eyes going to the Genin.

"You found this and stopped that man you stole the map?"

Ryu nodded. "Turns out the bandit that stole it was hired by an enemy ninja to steal it."

The young woman stared in amazement at the Takeda's cool expression as he explained the details.

"You must be weaklings if it took you so long."

Kyna's eyes narrowed at the comment. While the young worker of the shop was grateful, the owner of the shop was a senile old woman that wanted them out of the shop the second they entered. The worker had to convince her boss, who was also her mother, that she had asked for their help.

The elderly woman looked at the chest carefully, going over every detail. She then stared at the Genin with skepticism.

"None of you opened it and took what was inside did you?"

While she said this, she looked to Kyna coldly. The Izu frowned at her, resisting the urge to swear at the old lady. Did she honestly think they would dig through another person's property?

A moment later, the old woman grunted and picked up the key. She inserted it into the lock and turned. A loud 'click' resounded through the shop. With wrinkled fingers, she removed the lock and laid it on the counter. Carefully she opened the chest and peered inside. She quietly gasped, her eyes wide.

Lynn looked at her with big curious eyes. "What, what's inside it?"

The old lady reached into the chest and pulled out an old red scroll with gold embroidery. She held it in both hands. "This belonged to my husband… I haven't seen this scroll in over ten years, I thought he had lost it…"

The young woman looked at her mother in surprise. "That belonged to father? I've never seen it before."

The elderly woman nodded. "Well, not long after he got it, he said he needed to hide it away for safe keeping. Not long after that, he passed away. Now I understand why he made that map in the first place."

The Genin looked at the scroll curiously. Lynn raised a brow. "What is it supposed to be?"

The shop owner sighed and laughed sadly. "My husband he had gotten this scroll from a man one night. Didn't give his name, but did tell him what it was…" She looked at the Genin with a small smile. "According to my husband, this is a demonic sealing scroll."

Kyna's eyes widened in shock.

Ryu looked at it skeptically. "Demonic sealing? Is that even possible?"

Lynn looked to the boy and held up a finger. "Come on Ryu, don't you believe in demons? What about the Eight-Toed thing-a-ma-jig that attacked Konoha years ago?"

Ryu narrowed is eyes at the Houka. "It's the Nine-Tailed Fox and no, I don't. I'm pretty sure the Nine-Tails was just a summoning jutsu from an enemy ninja. There's no way something so evil could possibly exist and even if it was real, it was killed not sealed."

Kyna stared at the scroll in the woman's hands. Was it possible that scroll was used to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto? And if it was… could it be undone?

The Izu hesitated for a moment, then asked. "Um… could we look at it?"

The shopkeeper shook her head. "No, if all this demonic mumbo jumbo is real, I don't want anyone messing with it."

She placed the scroll back into its chest and closed the lid. She placed the lock back onto it with a 'click', before looking back up at Team 11. "Thank you for finding this, it's a nice memento from my husband. I'll be sure to inform the Hokage what an excellent job you did."

Kyna looked downcast for a moment, but then smiled at the old lady. With a slight bow of their heads, the Genin of Team 11 left the shop. Lynn spoke as they walked down the street. "Hey, let's head over to the dango shop! I bet you 10 ryo that Anko-sensei is there."

Ryu looked at her and smirked. "That's not much of a bet, of course she's going to be there."

Kyna snickered. "Yeah I bet she went there instead of getting the mission papers."

The Houka grinned. "Let's go blackmail her into buying for us!"

With that said, Lynn took off running. The Takeda and Izu looked at each other before chasing after their oddball teammate.

Kyna smiled as she ran. 'I suppose it doesn't matter… cause whether Naruto has the Nine-Tails in him or not, he's still my best friend.'

Iruno Izu walked into the Hokage's office. Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork to his friend. "Oh, hello Iruno. I'm happy you came by."

The elderly man stood before the Third and looked at him with concern. "What happened with Kyna? Why are all the Jonin on edge so suddenly?"

Sarutobi placed his hands together before him and smiled. "Don't worry about Kyna, her team had gone on a mission and ended up catching an enemy ninja. She sustained some injuries, but nothing life-threatening."

Iruno closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness…"

The Third then frowned. "However, the news we obtained from the enemy ninja is rather odd."

The elder Izu raised a brow. Sarutobi continued. "The ninja Team 11 caught was a Chunin from the Hidden Grass Village. According to interrogations, he left his village without orders, deciding to come here on his own. Lately, there have been sightings of a strange creature outside the village. He believed it was a demon, and when his elders didn't listen to him, he decided to come to our village and find a demonic sealing scroll…"

Iruno's eyes widened in shock. "You mean…"

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, I believe it's the very same one."

The Third closed his eyes. "He hired some bandits to get the scroll but learned it was hidden away. The bandits found out there was a map to the scroll's location and stole it. That was when Kyna's squad came to intervene and caught the bandits along with him."

The Hokage sighed. "I wonder, if what he saw really was a demon…"

Iruno stayed silent, lost in his own thoughts.

How did the enemy ninja learn of the scroll? Only someone in the village could have known about it… But who would want the man to mess with demonic sealing?

The elder Izu narrowed his eyes and looked out the window, into the night sky. He felt his doubt cloud into his heart.

Did he… make a mistake?

End of Chapter.

Next time: The Chunin Exams!

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