The night passed as such nights often do with an unsupervised genin team.

"You're cheating!" Wakahisa shouted, red in the face, as Hazō smoothly slid the last of Wakahisa's currant buns across the table. He'd decided at the outset that there was no point gambling with money – right now, theirs was in a common pool anyway – but some kind of motivating factor was still necessary. And if that motivating factor ended up indulging Hazō's sweet tooth, well, there had to be some perks to being an instructor.

Hazō nodded slowly, as if talking down to someone with a severe cognitive deficiency. "Yes, I'm cheating. I'm a ninja."

Then he remembered the earlier conversation. "But well done for catching me," he added hastily. "That was the real point of the exercise. I think you're ready to gamble for real."

Of course, Hazō had been successfully cheating at gambling for years, and Wakahisa was about as likely to actually catch him at it as he was to speak multiple sentences to Mori without putting his foot in his mouth. But, as Inoue-sensei said, submission was sometimes the ultimate form of control, and if he could maintain Wakahisa's soap-bubble ego merely by pretending to lose at something he wasn't really invested in…

Still, it was probably best to change the subject (and that definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Mori had been watching the game like a hawk, and it was her turn to gamble against him next). Hazō initiated Transformation Technique practice by turning into one of the more ridiculous mercenaries he'd seen around town – a small, rat-faced man with an ugly smirk and a sword at his belt so heavy it kept pulling down his trousers at inconvenient moments. Hazō didn't actually imitate this last part, but he certainly managed to imply it, leading to a lot of embarrassed laughter.

Mori was next. Seemingly at a loss for creative ideas, she ended up creating what looked like a late teens-version of herself, complete with sleek raven hair, a slender figure and an assassin's poise. It took a pointed look from Hazō for Wakahisa to pick up his jaw off the floor before Mori noticed (not that Hazō could claim to be entirely unaffected, but his long acquaintance with Inoue-sensei had wired instinctive suspicion of gorgeous women into some level of his brain).

Finally, it was Wakahisa's turn. Wakahisa transformed into a comically exaggerated version of Inoue-sensei, with pouting lips, a sultry expression, prominent hips, and such tremendous… secret weapons… that they must have strained the mass limits on Wakahisa's Transformation Technique. He proceeded to wink and then make an uncannily accurate impression of Inoue-sensei blowing a kiss the way she did before one of her "catch me if you can" training sessions.

Hazō's laughter was interrupted only when Mori, initially stunned, gave a loud "hmph!" and stalked off downstairs, pausing only to give the boys one of her "I thought better of you than this" looks.

"Don't say it," Wakahisa told Hazō as the sound of Mori's footsteps faded away.

o-o-o-o

"Three thousand each?" Hazō repeated.

"Three thousand each," the tall, bald man confirmed, glancing back at his three other bodyguards (one of whom, alarmingly, was short, rat-faced and with an overly heavy sword). "It's a simple two-day trip, but I don't feel like being eaten by wood pigeons on the way."

"Wood pigeons?" Wakahisa echoed incredulously.

"Not from around here, huh? That's good. Shima will tell you all about the local critters on the way. Are you ready to set out now?" The man hefted a very large bag over one shoulder. His sleeve dropped down, exposing some very elaborate tattoos.

"You're not telling us something," Hazō replied. "And three thousand each for two days for six bodyguards is an awful lot of money."

"You already have three whom you know," Mori added, "and you're willing to hire us without recommendation. You're planning to use us as sacrificial pieces while your real bodyguards protect you, keeping you and them safe and negating the need to pay our fee afterwards."

The man tensed, as did his bodyguards.

"Five thousand," Wakahisa said firmly. "Five thousand each, and you tell us exactly what is going on here, and for that you'll get top-class bodyguards and we'll see you and your possessions safely to Hanaoka. Between us, we've killed steelbacks, hunter-killer dragonflies, dropbears, entire swarms of waterbugs and chakra voles, and more other monsters than I can even remember.

"Or," he went on, "we could go out there and spread the word that you're trying to leave town in a hurry, and planning to cheat any bodyguards you hire."

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

"Fine," the man sighed, sounding more impressed than aggravated. "The local authorities and I have had a... fierce disagreement over the ownership of some property, and I need to disappear fast. I've got contacts in Hanaoka who can make that happen, but I've got to get there in one piece first. And since I'm talking about the real local authorities, not those pompous fools in city hall, I'm expecting you guys to have to fight off at least one pack of yakuza enforcers on the way. So if you don't mind, I'd like to not waste any more time."

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Wakahisa shook his head. "No, now that we've established the real conditions for this job offer, my associates and I need to confer. You wait here."

Wakahisa took the other two around the corner.

"Wow, Wakahisa, that was actually pretty impressive," Hazō grudgingly admitted.

Wakahisa gave a not-particularly-modest shrug. "Inoue-sensei's been coaching me on dealing with guys like him. So, Mori, what do you think?"

Mori's eyes slowly unfocused.

"Wait, no, Mori! Don't do the thing!"

She blinked at Wakahisa's sudden reaction. "The… thing?"

"The thing. With your brain. You know…" Wakahisa, tongue firmly tied in a knot, glanced at Hazō for support.

"You shouldn't overuse your ability," Hazō elaborated, thinking back to the state she was in the last time she did. "Just… um… think about it normally, I guess?"

Mori seemed puzzled, but didn't argue. She took a few seconds to consider.

"The risks involved are injury or death in a combat encounter, finding ourselves in direct opposition to the yakuza, and being revealed as ninja. The first is not significant, as we'll only be dealing with standard monsters and civilian combatants. The second should not be a problem as long as we have our disguises. Using disguises in combat isn't optimal, but we could manage through use of conventional weapons to avoid direct physical contact, or… by ensuring that there are no survivors who have seen our real appearances. The third is the biggest issue, but our client is not going to be in any position to alert anyone locally, nor will he have anything to gain by reporting the mere existence of missing-nin in this area.

"We also have to weigh the risks this will prevent. By taking a two-day mission outside town, we will minimise any risks of exposure and/or confrontation with the yakuza or with local ninja, as well as of any mishaps that could occur while gambling. Of course, the high guaranteed income is also important."

"Hazō?" Wakahisa asked.

"I don't like the idea of trying to fight in disguise, but I do like the idea of collapsing all the risks involved in making money here down to just one or two battles out in the wilderness where we'll have full control of the situation."

"Great. Sounds like we've got a plan," Wakahisa announced with an unexpected smile. "Let's go, team."

o-o-o-o

She was there, somewhere, in the shadows, in a deep pool of liquid darkness. All she needed was a hand, a single helping hand to grab onto, but he wasn't close enough to reach. She was looking at him as she drowned, with eyes of despair and recrimination. "Why did you abandon me, cricket? Why weren't you here to save me?"

Hazō woke up with a start, years of conditioning kicking in to keep his body still no matter how fast his heart beat. He could always almost reach, his fingers close enough to feel the warmth of her, but they never touched. The darkness always got her in the end. He knew what it represented, of course. And he knew that if he couldn't beat it in his dreams, there was always its source in the waking world. One day…

Mori was on watch right now. Well, if he couldn't sleep, maybe he should go sit with her. The two had never really talked very much, and a team leader ought to…

Sigh. Hazō didn't trust Wakahisa with the team leadership, not really. The egalitarian approach he'd proposed was the best compromise he could come up with, but on some level it still rankled. However he'd ended up there, Hazō had been a good team leader. He'd kept the team safe, and effective, up until their escape with Inoue-sensei, and even after that, he'd played a distinct part in making things work. He resented having to give that up just because Wakahisa was too immature to accept a hierarchy where he wasn't at the top. Wakahisa lacked the self-control and reliability to be a team leader, or the ability to see the bigger picture. And while Mori was eminently reliable, and scarily intelligent, she didn't have the initiative needed for leadership. Which meant that, in Inoue-sensei's absence, it really ought to have been Hazō.

Still, being in charge wasn't the same as being in control, and it was being in control that mattered. It was a distinction that Inoue-sensei had explained to him once, and perhaps it was what he needed in order to deal with this problem.

Hazō was jerked out of his thoughts by Wakahisa, also failing to be asleep, walking up to join Mori. He initially thought to go over there as well, but then decided against it. It would be easier for Wakahisa to attempt a normal conversation with Mori if he didn't have Hazō to argue with at the same time. Instead, Hazō just listened.

"Hey, Mori," Wakahisa sat down on the tree branch next to her.

"Wakahisa? It's not your shift yet."

"I know. I couldn't sleep. Kept thinking about stuff."

"That happens to me too," Mori said sympathetically, then went back to staring out into the forest.

They sat in silence for a little bit.

"Mori, can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"What's up with that Bloodline Limit of yours?"

"What do you mean?" Mori gave him a strange look.

"That, uh, trance thing you go into. How does it work? What happens? Is it safe?"

Mori looked up at the sky.

"I don't know how to describe it to an outsider. It's like… it's like turning everything into ice. Perfectly clear ice, so you can see all the way through it, and see how everything fits together. It's beautiful. Only you have to turn yourself into ice too. And the further you go…

She hesitated.

"Ice doesn't care about anything," she finally said, her voice quiet. "Ice doesn't care about being a person again."

Wakahisa stared at her in horror. "That sounds terrifying. How can you do something like that to yourself? How can they make you do it?"

Mori's eyes flashed. "I'm a Mori. This is what we do. We train hard, and we learn special techniques, and we master ourselves so that we can use our power for the good of the village. We're not victims, Wakahisa. It's an insult to suggest that we are."

"I'm sorry! That's not what I meant at all!" Wakahisa backpedalled urgently. "I just meant… uh… that it must be very difficult to learn how to do what you do. I mean, Wakahisa chakra training is pretty rough too. No one ever appreciates what it means to have your chakra system torn out, rearranged and then stuck back in sideways. And then they just take you for granted because you have a support speciality."

Mori turned towards him unexpectedly. "That's exactly it! Nobody outside the clan thinks about the thousands of hours you have to spend training in order to use your abilities. They just expect you to give them what they need whenever they need it, and the rest of the time you may as well be scenery. And in the meantime somebody else gets all the praise because their clan speciality is summoning giant crabs, even if they can only summon one the size of a dog because they spend all their time showing off in front of the boys instead of ninjutsu practice."

Wakahisa laughed.

The two smiled at each other....

Mori and Hazō only just made it to the terrified client in time, with a confused (and disappointed) Wakahisa following half a second later. The assassin leapt back, over the three civilian bodyguards' bodies...

...and into formation with the other two enemy ninja.