Once we made it back Rin, Obito, and Naomi's teammate immediately greeted us.

"Kakashi!" Rin exclaimed.

"Hana!" Obito added.

"Naomi!" Naomi's teammate also added.

"Where were you? You guys have been gone for a week! A search party was even made to find you guys!" Rin scolded.

"Yeah, do you realize how worried sick you had us?!" Kasumi Inuzuka added.

Mariko hid behind my legs and Kasumi rose an eyebrow.

"Who's the girl?" She asked.

Before I could speak, Minato-Senei was in front of us in a flash, with Kushina. 

Uh oh. She walked up to me and punched my head. 

"You idiot!" She yelled. "Why would you just leave like that? We were worried sick about you!" 

I rubbed my head. 

"Ouch..."

Kushina embraced me in a hug and I hugged back.

"You do realize we're going to have to speak to Lord Hokage, right?" Minato asked, not sounding happy with us at the moment. 

I nodded and he looked at Mariko. He questioned us and I explained everything to them. Kazuki, the inn, Mariko's condition, Rentaro and Rika, the Ishida Clan, and even the whole scheme Rentaro caused. 

Kakashi added the conversation we had at the hospital, the blood transfusion, and how badly injured I was. Naomi also told him about how she did a lot of investigations to get to the bottom of everything and helped us out. 

"I see..." Minato nodded. "I have no say in this, but Lord Hokage will handle this. I'll have you four talk to him," 

I just nodded, Kakashi looked down, and Naomi crossed her arms and then stumbled forward, hissing curses under her breath as she clutched her eyes. 

"I also strained my byakugan fighting some stupid guy who went by the name 'Yukio'. He may have been a complete moron, but he was still strong," Naomi said. 

Obito, Rin, and Kushina followed us to the Hokage's Tower and we walked in. They waited in the hallway for us and Minato-Sensei told him what happened.

"Minato, just let me talk to them," Lord Third said and Minato stepped out of the room.

"So," He said to us. "You've taken an A-ranked mission on by yourself?" He asked.

"Yes and I apologize sir," I said. "but this was supposed to be an escort and suddenly we stopped some criminals from killing Mariko,"

"Well, let me speak to Mariko by herself and then I'll decide on what to do," He said and we stepped out of the room.

Obito looked over at me. 

"I'm so glad you're okay, I was worried about you when you went missing and I couldn't sleep. This entire week I've been wanting to talk to you about something, but now isn't the right time," He said.

"Really?" I ask. "What is it?"

Suddenly, his cheeks started dusting pink. 

"No really. Now isn't a good time," He looked away, making Kakashi raise an eyebrow.

Rin just looked at him, with a tiny smirk at the corner of her lips.

Obito caught me by surprise because he suddenly embraced me in a tight hug. He had his arms around my waist and his face nuzzled into my shoulder. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this hug. It almost felt...right.

I could feel eyes burning a hole in my back and I knew who it was. I hugged Obito back. 

"Seriously Hana, don't ever scare me like that. I thought I..." Obito couldn't finish his sentence and he let go. I could see Kushina was looking over with a smile and even Minato was smiling at the sight. 

Kakashi just had his normal, emotionless, expression on his face. 

"I also wanted to uh...apologize for last week. I was a jerk, I'm sorry," He said.

"It's okay Obito," I smiled at him. "You're forgiven,"

"Um, you can let go now," I said, blushing a little.

"Oh, right. Sorry," He let go quickly, not looking me in the eyes.

Kakashi looked annoyed and stayed silent. Mariko then came out and told me that Lord Third just wanted to speak with me, Kakashi, and Naomi.

"Even though you guys have broken the rules," Lord Third said. "I have to say I'm a bit proud of you three for working together like real ninjas would, but you guys broke the rules so there'll be consequences-"

"Now just hold on," Naomi interrupted. "We did the right thing! We saved a clan, stopped criminals, and even brought a hostage to safety!"

"Yes, but you should've gotten permission from Minato and I first. This was dangerous and if things got even more hectic, it could've been an S-ranked mission and genin are not allowed to assign missions to themselves," He lectured.

"Just go get rest and heal. I'll let you know when your consequences are decided," He said. 

We turned around to leave, but he stopped me.

"Yes, Lord Hokage?" I ask.

"I wanted to ask you about those ninjas you ran into at the estate," He said.

"Rentaro and Rika?" I ask.

He nodded.

"Well, I don't know much about them. All I know is that they both had some weird power and black marks started forming on their bodies and they couldn't control whatever power they were trying to use," I said.

"Did they say if they worked for anyone?" He asks.

"No. They just told me to stay out of their way," I said.

"I see," He said. "It's just I know someone who has this kind of ability and I'm worried he may be responsible for it. Also, what's even more suspicious, is that Rentaro and Rika are two siblings who betrayed their home village and they're in the bingo book for murder and being spies,"

"Really? What about this Yukio guy?" I ask.

"Yukio too. He's a wanted criminal because he just kills for fun," He added.

Those three sound like truly terrible people.

"Anyway, I'll leave Mariko Ishida as your responsibility until she's healed." He said and dismissed me.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," I bowed and left his office. 

The others were waiting for me and we started exiting the tower. 

"I can see you guys are injured, so why don't you go to the Leaf Hospital," Minato suggested. 

We headed over there and Naomi started talking to me.

"I have to say, Hana, you're not bad," She said. "but this doesn't mean we're friends or anything!" 

I chuckled at her rushed response. She's too stubborn to admit she has a soft spot for anyone.

A woman who had blonde hair tied into a ponytail greeted us

We told her that we needed some medical attention and she led us down the hallway. She put us in separate rooms and started with Kakashi since he was in the worst condition right now. Then she went to Naomi, then it was me.

"What's your name?" She asks.

"Hana Uzumaki," I replied. 

"Okay. Your injuries aren't as bad, but you still tore some of your muscles, so I'll just heal that," She said.

Her hands glowed green and she healed where my muscles were torn.

I was amazed to see this in real life. I only heard about this. Maybe she's the one that I've been hearing about.

She turned around to leave and I stopped her.

"Wait," I said.

"What?" She asks.

"Are you...are you the Slug Queen that I've been hearing about?" I asked her.

She didn't reply.

"Well if you are, please try to heal Mariko. She went through a lot just to find treatment." 

"Very well, I'll see what I can do and I'll let you know how she's doing." 

Just as I was going to relax, the migraine started kicking in and my breath got shorter as it did at the store...