It only took a split second, but that split second seemed to be all which he needed. Lin suddenly discovered herself pinned to the ground, our jounin's hand in a tight grip around her neck.

"Lin!" Von cried out helplessly.

"Lin Shujo," the monotone voice came from the redhead's mouth, his eyes fixated on the struggling girl. Suddenly, his eyes flew to Von's. "Von Shujo," he addressed before turning to me. "Kumiko Ikeda," he threw Lin to the side, her back hitting a tree. Hard. Von ran over in assistance.

"First mission for team five," he straightened up, dead eyes glaring. "Try to survive,"

I expected him to charge at me because the twins were occupied, but I quickly realized that's exactly why he headed towards them. Also, because I chose to keep my pace a distance behind from the terror filled twins, I was now a little distance away. How quick were my legs? Well, no time for debate.

I jumped from one leg, my form low and quick to move. Von wasn't paying attention to the happenings behind him, only to his unconscious sister. I managed to intercept the jounin, but barely. He had a kunai out, ready to strike and I nearly missed the chance to block him. I had not time to open the fan I grabbed from my pouch, and instead stunned the kunai with the blade on the side of the folded up fan. The jounin frowned before bringing his other hand to attack. Since I was in an awkward side position, my two hands nearly letting the fan go, I was in no way ready for a block.

He hit my jaw with a forceful punch, much worse than one any of the sparring at the academy could deliver. My jaw took a sickening crack, and my mind quickly worked overtime to figure how long it will take to heal. Considering I haven't eaten in nearly four weeks, and on top of that I still had a human-caused hell brewing within my stomach, I had a problem. It definitely won't heal within this battle. Continuing my train thought, I realized that any injury sustained here would take longer than an hour. Luckily, my skin still put up their natural defence. Flesh wounds and cuts were unlikely, but breaking of my bones?

That, I feel, this man would somehow manage.

I just realized my fan was lost on my fall towards the grass. The jounin was also nearing in on me, meaning I have two options: go on the offensive or act on the defensive. Taking into consideration his sly smirk, I chose the latter. He brought down a mighty first towards the ground where I lay, his fist creating a breakage in the hard ground. Luckily, I used a quick momentum from rocking forward to back to flip my body onto my hands and push off them, creating a fairly safe distance between me and the man.

With a quick push of my jaw back into place, an action I probably would regret later if Ibiki had anything to say about it, I settled my body into an offensive manner with my second fan raised. This time, the fan was wide opened and showed off their sickening blades. Now let's try this again.

I jumped at him, and he clearly having the advantage, expected it. He moved to the side where I held no fan and grabbed that arm. Twisting it, he got a fairly good grip on my arm before he threw me over his shoulder. I lost the fan in the process, and I also took a few good stones to the back. Why can't I figure this man out?

"You monster!" Von cried suddenly, charging with a kunai in hand. The idiot. But still, the jounin was distracted. I quickly retrieved my fans, ignoring the pain blossoming in my body. I made a promise to myself that if I survived this, then I deserved a meal tonight. That thought brought me motivation.

Von was quickly disarmed. Typical.

I bend down into a lunge, my one leg in front of the other. Both my arms were stretched behind me, the fans open and ready within my slightly trembling hands. The fiery head had his back turned towards me, his feet stalking to Von. He must've figured that his back throw knocked me out. How wrong he was.

Wait.

Could he sense chakra?

The thought suddenly stunned me. Not once had he used any type of jutsu. Did he refuse to, or couldn't he? No time up for debate. Von's life was at stake now.

Holding my fans between two fingers, the other three began working on the abridged hand seals. I could feel how my chakra was ready to work with me today. Lucky.

"Wind Style: Bladed Windmill!" jumping into the air, I sequentially brought down my arms in front of me. Large, straight gusts of wind struck at the jounin in a cross type of manner, my aim being his back. The first one hit but the second one he dodged, leaving Von in my piercing gust's reign.

Luckily he was already down on the ground like the coward he was.

Taking a step towards the side the jounin headed towards, I quickly brought my arms down in the same notion. Except this time I didn't stop at just two gusts. This time, I continued at it, aiming at him each time. He had to run to dodge the ever-growing wind blades, each one strengthening the previous. He side hopped a few of the attacks, but eventually, he took one to the chest.

That's when I stopped, panting slightly. He now had a large straight cut down his chest and a diagonal one on his back. Blood leaked slightly through his blue buttoned shirt, his eyes cast down. For a few moments it was silent, my panting the only audible sound. Quickly casting my eyes towards the twins, I realize they were gone. Von must've taken Lin away.

Good.

A puff and a swish later, I realized he had summoned a katana to his side and armed it. His eyes were now fixated on me, blood red emotions swirling within them.

Not good.

He jumped at me, a lot faster than he was before. I barely sidestepped the attack, holding my fans over my neck in a crossed manner; my arms offering protection for my chest. Unfortunately, he aimed for something else. Stepping his left foot into the ground with such a force, he swung his right leg around. I suddenly remembered the fight with Ino. Except, this time, I don't think I'll be able to catch his foot.

I crouched down below, my fans now raised slightly over my face. That gave him and opening. Using his katana in only one hand, an impressive technique actually, he drove the blade into my exposed side.

The fact that I now had a blade stuck in my side wasn't the true issue, it was the question which followed that action. How?

In almost an instant, I could feel my kakugan take over my eyes and the adrenalin and power that came with it. Abandoning my fans, I jumped up until I could get a good grip on his shoulders. I pushed him down onto the ground and loomed over him, my eyes revealing all hidden agendas. He only stared at me, the deadly intention now gone from his vision.

"How?" I asked lowly, not once blinking as I stared at him. "How?!" I demanded, harshly. He sighed deeply.

"Ibiki gave me that sword," I immediately recoiled, straightening my body and stepping away in disbelief.

"He... he wouldn't..." The jounin sat up, his hand rubbing over his chest wound.

"Yeah... six years ago," he responded, rising onto his feet. I frowned deeply at him, and he only widened his eyes in disbelief. "Seriously? It's taking you this long?" it took me a minute to revaluate everything I discovered about this man. Strangely enough, his profile was almost exactly like that of another I knew.

And he did possess chakra. He was just too lazy to use it.

"Centipede?" I was in utter shock. Why was he here? He laughed sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah... kind of a confusing matter. I would explain it all to you, but well... I'm bleeding from both sides of my body and you've got a sword stuck in your pelvis. Rain check?" frowning I looked down to see the sword still sticking out of me. I must've confused the pain from the sword with the pain from consuming human food. Believe me, it was easy to compare them together.

"Hey, wait-" he tried to stop me from pulling the sword clean out, which I did anyway. Another thing Ibiki would have my head over.

"Gah!" I immediately grunted in utter pain. Defiantly the worst day of my existence.

"You're so impatient," he returned to his monotone ANBU voice, shaking his head. "I'm going to head over towards the hospital to get some medical nin's to fix me up. You should really get to T&I and stock up your regeneration fuel. I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Intelligence Division so head with Ibiki to work," with that he turned around and started to head towards the hospital. He suddenly stopped in his journey, however, and turned his head towards me.

"By the way, you pass," he said with a sly smile before going off again. I didn't take the time to contemplate his words and instead headed his advice and headed to the Intelligence Division.

The place almost felt a second home to me. It was the place where I was introduced to the therapy dog and, later of the same day, to Ibiki. Luckily they placed me in the child section at that time, because I've seen the adult section and there they don't use dogs to interrogate you.

The Intelligence Division consisted out of the T&I Force, meaning Torture and Interrogation, as well as the Communication Force. There was also a section for Therapy & Rehabilitation, captained by Inoichi Yamanaka; Ino's father. Although, as I understood it, Inoichi was involved with each force at the Intelligence Division because he was a neuro specialist. He was supposed to be the one who interrogated me six years ago, but because of my comment about humanity, they decided a therapy dog would suffice even better.

Therapy animals were rarely brought it.

The Inuzuka's weren't too happy with it.

Wow. That puppy is six years old now. I wish I could see him again.

The front desk only gave me glance before turning back to his magazine. After six years, they knew me enough to just let me pass. To T&I, anyway. The Communication and Therapy & Rehabilitation were still off-limits to me.

I turned left at the entrance and headed down the darkened corridor lined with years of dry blood. When brining in a 'patient', you can't have them feeling comfortable, now can you? I headed through the familiar corridors until I arrived at Ibiki's office. My left hand was still clamped around the wound on my right side, but the pain was almost numbing somehow.

He wasn't in his office, but I wasn't ready to go look for him. I flopped down onto the couch he had in the room, and decided to get comfy. I could almost feel the strength leaving me as my vision slowly turned darkened. Sighing, I closed my eyes and just laid there.

Everything hurt. Even my jaw.

Ibiki later entered his office, but he wasn't alone. Inoichi was behind him in tow, both of them carrying documents stacked high. Ibiki entered the office using his foot to open the door. Not the most graceful of action, but it wasn't as if Inoichi didn't know Ibiki's ways. Stepping inside, his eyes immediately fell on me. He gave me a once over before moving to place the documents down on his table. Inoichi entered behind him, but stood frozen as he saw my battered body on the corpse. Hesitantly, he followed Ibiki and placed the documents down.

It was peculiar for Inoichi to be on the T&I part of the building. I've never seen him here before.

"Are you bleeding on my couch?" was Ibiki's first response to seeing me, his brows furrowed.

"Yeah... sorry," I could hear him sigh in annoyance.

"Ibiki, who is this?" Inoichi questioned, his hands now free from the papers. I decided to answer this time.

"Kumiko Ikeda," I introduced, raising my hand towards him for a handshake. Seeing my hand covered in blood, I quickly retracted the hand. Inoichi's brows furrowed.

"So you're Kumiko," he exclaimed in realization.

"Ino talks about me?" I was startled. He nodded at my question.

"And Shikamaru and Choji. I heard quite the bit about you at our clans' celebration a few days ago," I nodded slightly, understanding washing over me.

"So you're going to tell me why you're bleeding all over the place?" Ibiki questioned, but it sounded more like a demand. I made a move to sit up straight, but failed. I immediately laid down again.

"My new jounin sensei. He decided to test us," Inoichi looked almost horrified at this. Seeing my wounds, he wondered what kind of monster I had received as a sensei. Suddenly he found himself worrying for his daughter.

"And?" was all Ibiki said. His response also shocked the long ponytailed man.

"My one teammate got knocked out in the first two seconds, whilst the other was a coward. He didn't fight at all and kept cradling his sister, not paying attention to the fight. He did later jump into the fight in fury, but he got disarmed almost instantly. Then they abandoned me. Granted, I now understand why those two were sent back to the academy after becoming genin last year. They're not cut out for it," Ibiki nodded in understanding, but with his motion he gestured for me to continue.

"Our sensei knocked my jaw out, which I had to put back in to continue fighting. I'm sorry about that," I could feel his glare but continued to explain. "My back also injured and it took me a while to retrieve my weapons to start the fight. I was also stabbed with a sword in the side," Inoichi really didn't understand the reason behind my blunt words and began wondering about my sensei again. And my injuries.

"What about him?" Ibiki pressed.

"Slice to back, slice to the chest. He's at the hospital now," he threw me a sly smile whilst the Yamanaka just shook his head lightly. This was the girl whom helped his daughter passed? Who was continuously bullied at the academy?

"That's my girl," Ibiki commented and walked over to his desk. "So do we know who your sensei is?"

"Yeah... it's Centipede," Ibiki froze for a second before nodding.

"I guess the Hokage always has a trick like that up his sleeve. Very well. I'm guessing you're hungry?" I groaned at his words.

"Starving," I answered with a pained growl.

"Cell 2B needs a clean-up," was all he said before gesturing Inoichi over, whom gave me a concerned glance before returning to his work. I slowly pushed myself off the couch, ignoring the pain and rising to my feet. I exited the office, closing the door, and headed towards to the allocated room. Nobody questioned my intentions, nor the blood leaking from me as I walked. In a place like this, it's better to not ask questions.

The cells were all underground and weren't stacked next to one another. Meaning that every single cell was in solitude, leaving the prisoners without any sort of communication. I reached the door which lead the cell, a man standing in front of it. A guard.

"2B needs a clean-up?" I asked the man, whom in return, nodded. He unlocked the door behind him and allowed me through to the dim lighted stairway. I made my way down and soon found myself in front of a metal cell. Inside sat a man, weakened to the extent that he no longer blinked or even acknowledged my presence. His interrogation must've gone well.

I unlocked the cell's seals with a hidden jutsu taught to me before simply using a key to open the door, one which I received from the guard. The man didn't even look up as I stepped over to him. He looked so dead, inside and out. He won't make a lot of a noise. He wore nothing but a simple pair of trousers. That made it easier.

With his hands cuffed above him, he had nowhere to move. Even as I went to bend in front of him, he still did not seem to notice me. Oh well.

I allowed my kakugan to take over my eyes and in one swift movement, my jaw locked around the side of his rib. It was then that the man seemed to wake up, his eyes cast down at me with utter terror in that one moment. He went to scream but my hand quickly covered his mouth, shushing him. I could feel the tears rolling into my hand but I didn't care about that. Not at all.

I bit a large piece from his side, blood spilling onto my face as I tore the flesh straight off. Quickly chewing, I savoured the flavour. I'm sorry Choji, but you were wrong. I went back for more at his stomach, the place where most organs could be found. Those were the best.

"Would you like some fries with that?" Ibiki retorted sometime after when he came down to check on me. I just send him a nasty glare. By now you couldn't even distinguish the man anymore. He was now just a big pile of gore and blood and bones. Ibiki sighed, shrugging off officer's coat. He held it out towards me.

"Cover yourself. We're going home," I slowly stood and headed over, Ibiki not at all fazed as he witnessed my bloody and completely healed form. I pulled on his coat and buttoned it straight up so that my entire body, including half of my face was covered. I also pocketed my hands. Nodding, Ibiki turned and together we exited the building. It was already night out, or rather, the start of night.

"Centipede said he'll meet me at the Intelligence Division tomorrow morning. So wake me up, please," he nodded in understanding, and throughout the rest of the walk, it was quiet. As we got home Ibiki went to grab himself some dinner whilst I took a cleansing shower as well as cleaning the blood out of his coat. Once he returned I was already dead tired and ready to retire. Slipping under the covers, I noticed Ibiki enter the room. He gave a quick ruffle on my short hair, bid me good night, and was of.