"Run!" Kōta shouted. "Run! They're going to kill us all!" He blurred forward at fully chakra boosted speed.

The hillside was a frenzied nightmare; children running in all directions, their parents and some of the ninja that had been guarding the team chasing after them like sheep dogs after strays and the rest splitting up to contain Kagome, Hazō, and Akane.

Kōta had taken barely a step when Kagome was after him, explosive-tagged kunai in hand and ready to throw.

"Naito, stop!" Hazō cried.

Kagome ignored Hazō and the village ninja got their timing exactly wrong: too slow to stop Kagome from stopping Kōta, just fast enough to stop Hazō from stopping Kagome. The formerly-a-Mist-genin slammed on the brakes and flicked through a series of handseals as his paranoid and furious teammate started hurling explosive-tagged kunai after Kōta.

"Earth Element: Multiple Earth Style Wall!" Hazō said, tearing a series of walls out of the ground in front and on either side of Kagome. The walls barely came up in time to intercept the kunai and detonate them harmlessly. Kagome spun around, an expression of betrayal on his face.

Hazō dropped to his knees, fingers laced behind his neck. "It's okay!" Hazō said quickly. "It's okay, I'm not fighting! Everyone stand down!"

For the barest second, the world seemed to freeze as everything hung in the balance; Hazō on his knees, voluntarily helpless. The Isan ninja leaping at him, weapons raised for the attack. Kagome, more explosive-equipped weapons springing to his hands as he prepared to defend his team.

"STOP!" Akane bellowed. "IT IS NOT YOUTHFUL FOR FRIENDS TO FIGHT!"

All eyes turned to her in shock; multiple people stumbled as they tried to stop mid-step.

Akane dropped gracefully to her knees, lacing her fingers behind her neck in mirror of Hazō's position. "I did nothing wrong," she said calmly. "I voluntarily surrender myself to village justice."

"Akane, get up!" Kagome shouted in horror. "Don't let those stinking ninja stinkers take you!" He raised a kunai to throw—

"No! Stop!" Akane called. "It's all right!"

Kagome hesitated; very slowly, he lowered his hand. He did not, however, sheathe his kunai as he stalked back towards Hazō and Akane. When the Isan ninja didn't move out of his way he bristled.

"Get back, you stinking stinkers!" he growled. "Leave my team alone or I'll blow you so high up you won't come down again!"

"It's all right," Hazō said, trying to balance the contradictory needs of projecting his voice enough to be heard while also keeping it quiet and calm enough to not set anyone off. "It's all right," he said again. "Naito, stand down." He looked to see which of the village ninja appeared to be in charge and wracked his brain to remember the man's name. It started with a 'K', didn't it...? Kobi, that was it!

"Kobi, peace," Hazō said. "No one wants to fight."

"I do," Kagome grumbled. "Stinking stinkers want to threaten my team, huh? Boom! Squash!" He glared around, making sure that none of the Isan ninja were behind him as he edged closer to Akane and Hazō.

"Stand down," Kobi said, his posture relaxing. "Everyone just step back."

Reluctantly, the village ninja pulled back, weapons still in hand and scowls still on faces.

"That's right, you stinking stinkers!" Kagome said. "Back off or—"

"Naito!" Hazō snapped.

"What?" Kagome asked.

"Relax," Hazō said. "We're trying to keep the peace."

"Why?" Kagome asked, puzzled. "They were attacking you two. And that stinking stinker framed Sasaki."

"What?" Kobi asked.

Kagome rolled his eyes. "Really?" he said. "You think that Sasaki won the bout and then randomly tried to kill that stinker right in front of three dozen witnesses? Sasaki, who can't lie to save her life and is the friendliest person on this team? Are you naturally stupid or did you have to work at it?"

"Naito!" Hazō snapped. "Not. Helping."

Kobi was caught somewhere between embarrassment and anger. "I don't—"

Grass rustled and dirt sprayed as Inoue slammed to a halt. Keiko and Noburi were seconds behind her.

The jōnin looked around at the tableau and nodded to herself. "Naito, put the tags away. Tsutomu, Kimiko, get up. Kobi, what happened?"

"That stinking Gasai stinker tried to—!"

Inoue cut him off with an upraised hand. "I asked Kobi," she said. "I'll get your version in a second. Kobi, talk to me. What exactly did you see? No interpretation, just what you saw."

Kobi worked his jaw for a moment, clearly both uncomfortable and angry. "What I saw was that Sasaki and Gasai Kōta were having weapons practice," he said. "She disarmed him and they went into a clinch. He stepped back with a cut on his chest and started shouting about how she'd tried to kill him. He ran, Naito went after him throwing explosive kunai, Ishida pulled walls out of the ground to intercept them, then Ishida and Sasaki surrendered themselves."

Inoue nodded. "Kimiko, what's your version?"

Akane shifted uncomfortably. "He suggested that we try weapons practice, which I thought was most youthful. He was winning until I closed the range and managed to disarm him. I thought—"

Inoue raised a hand. "Stop. Don't tell me what you thought, just tell me what physically happened. I don't want to muddy the waters with speculation."

Akane blushed. "Yes, sensei," she said. She licked her lips as she gathered her thoughts. "Um...I disarmed him, then he stepped in close. He said 'Learn some respect in the next life'. Um...he also called me an unpleasant name. He grabbed my hand and pulled the edge of my kunai across his collarbone, then he jumped back and started shouting about how I'd tried to kill him. The children in the audience ran, along with their parents. Gasai ran, Naito went after him and started throwing explosive kunai. Ishida-sensei came for me, but he called for Naito to stop and then brought up earth walls to intercept his weapons. The most youthful guardians of the village came for us, and Ishida-sensei surrendered. He told me to do so as well, so I did. Then Naito came back and told Kobi what had happened, and then you arrived."

Inoue turned to Kobi again. "Do you think that my students started this, or do you think that Gasai was trying to stir up trouble as revenge for what happened a week ago?"

Kobi paused. "I can't really say anything about that until I've heard Gasai's side of the story," he said.

"Okay," Inoue said. "Look, if it's okay with you we're going to go back to our quarters. We'll wait there until someone from the village comes to fetch us. That work for you?"

Kobi thought about that. "We'll need to put a guard on your quarters," he said. "And I'll need you to stay inside."

"Sure, no problem," Inoue said. "We didn't do anything wrong here, and I'm sure your investigation will exonerate us."

"In that case, after you," Kobi said, gesturing back towards the team's fort.

o-o-o-o

The first thing Inoue did once they were inside the fort was to sweep Akane into her arms and hug her tight.

"Great job, kid," she said. "You played that exactly right. Honest, forthright, and direct. That could have gone very badly, but you really pulled it out for us."

"But sensei, the whole thing was my fault!" Akane said, her eyes full of tears. "I shouldn't have let him do that! I should have known that he was still against us. I thought he was improving!"

Inoue shrugged, not releasing the hug. Akane was fully five inches taller, and in other circumstances, it would have been funny to watch the taller girl awkwardly bend down to be hugged. No one seemed to find it funny at the moment, though.

Eventually the jōnin released her and stepped back. "Look, Akane," she said. "You aren't at fault here. I knew he was still angry, but I didn't think he'd go this far. He'd been respectful and cooperative for long enough that I thought maybe we actually could work through it."

"But..." Akane said, clearly still trying to find a reason for it to be her fault.

"No buts!" Inoue said. "Well, except for Gasai, whose head is a butt. We'll deal with him later. For now we just need to be cooperative. Now, who wants to play some board games? I could go for a little Strategic Domination, myself."

o-o-o-o

In the actual event, Kōta's 'clever strategem' fell apart faster than tissue paper in a rainstorm. Even his grandmother couldn't stretch far enough to suggest that Akane had actually instigated the incident. The best she could do was to let him keep his ninja status but be put on punitive duty for six months.

Unfortunately, Inoue walked in while Keiko was reviewing Hazō and Noburi's assassination plans. As their jōnin commander she gave them a direct order to avoid all contact with Kōta and take no action against him. She also refused to be swayed by even the most dewy of puppy-dog eyes. It was frustrating.

o-o-o-o

"You were most insistent on seeing me, Yoshino," the elder Takahashi said, calmly sipping his tea. "Almost to the point of rudeness."

Inoue gave him a shallow nod of acknowledgement. "'Almost' being the key word," she said with a smile. "I'm sure you understand my concern for my student. The deal you pressured her into making is stringent. I don't have an explicit problem with it, as long as I'm sure that it is what it seems to be."

Takahashi raised an elegant eyebrow. "Are you questioning my integrity in my own home?"

Inoue shook her head. "Of course not, sir. No, I am simply concerned for my student. I find myself confused why you would be willing to train her in summoning. We are outsiders; why not train your daughter, or one of your grandchildren?"

Takahashi pondered that. For several long minutes the room remained utterly silent except for the tiny sounds of tea being sipped.

"I think I shall answer that at another time," he said. "In the meantime, I would like to know more about you. For example, what are your hobbies? Myself, I enjoy studying plants and animals. Especially ants."

Inoue didn't allow her face to move. "I am not familiar with ants, sir," she said. "What is it you find so interesting about them?"

"Fascinating creatures," Takahashi said. "They form villages, build giant and complex hives, and manage a complex society. It is a warlike society, though. If members of two anthills meet, they usually go to war and the smaller hill is wiped out. The ants from the larger hill will go down the tunnels of the smaller one, kill every ant they find, and plunder the food stores and other treasures of the smaller hill."

He paused, sipping his tea in thought. "I often wonder about this warlike nature," he said, his voice far away. "Ant society is so rigid, with no possibility for change or growth, no option to find different ways that might be better. There is only one queen, of course, and she is guarded with religious fervor. Suppose there were no queen? Suppose ants from another hill snuck in and stole her away? What would the remaining ants do with no queen? They would need to find a new purpose in life, and perhaps that purpose would allow them to become more than they had been."

The far away tone dropped away and he looked Inoue straight in the eyes. "Of course, such a thing is unimaginable. Were any of the local ants to recognize the purpose of these invaders they would be attacked immediately. Ants have no regard for their own lives when their queen is threatened, and would fling themselves suicidally on any invader who showed such thievish intent."

He laughed and shook his head regretfully. "Look at me, rambling on about impossible things. I do apologize; when you get to my age the wits tend to wander and one grows boring."

Inoue sipped her tea and smiled. "Not at all," she said. "I find it fascinating."

o-o-o-o

The next two weeks were surprisingly calm. The team stuck close to their quarters. Inoue escorted Keiko to her lessons every day, waited outside the door, and then escorted her back. Everyone else was given strict orders to stay inside the fort while she was gone. Kagome was given even stricter orders to not indulge in murder or use explosives or talk to anyone or even look sideways at anyone no matter how much he wanted to. The poor man almost cried until Inoue unbent enough to say that he could work on the fort's defenses as long as he didn't actually test them. The sun was instantly restored to Kagome's brow.