Settling behind the counter with a new book she starts to read, looking up as the bell rings. Naruto comes in and flies across the room to hug her. "Still need me today?"

"Not unless you have training instead." she says firmly.  She sees Maito Gai behind him and he nods. "Off with you then scamp." She says.

"Ick." 

"Lemme guess, one of the other farms."

"The sewers."

"Pharmacy. Buy a jar of the cold salve and put it under your noses. And buy a bottle of the lemon body wash for afterwards. I know they have showers for workers so they don't smell too bad coming through town." Maito Gai looks at her. "Some of my clan members work there."

"Thank you." Gai says. Naruto goes across and buys a scroll of emergency supplies. "We'll need to eat but we won't *want* to eat. This will keep us going." Kiriko nods and puts the money in the box.

"Naruto?" Tio asks an hour later when he comes in. He's in school part of the day.

"Sewers. I told him to get the cold salve for under his nose and the lemon body wash for afterwards." Tio nods and settles in the back room to work on his assignments.

Naruto whimpers as he comes in the store a couple days later for his regular work shift. "Corn, so much corn."

"It's the hard outer shell that people can't digest. That's why so much is left behind." Tio says quietly. "Yeah, everybody has that reaction." He stretches and sighs, putting his books up. Then looks at him. "That's usually a D-rank mission though. Shouldn't the newbies have been having to do that?"

"They needed the extra help and Gai's team was up." He sighs. "It's good money, especially since I'm not getting c-rank missions without a team. That's one of the reasons Jiji is letting me work here."

"Nobody has done anything bad enough to need replacing besides that little fool?" Kiriko asks, coming back from the pharmacy with more supplies for the special scrolls.

"No, most of the new teams failed miserably, the school is still trying to recover and the current students are having to deal with the new classes and can't keep up. Even those who have clans that should have been teaching them better are having problems."

Kiriko shakes her head in dismay, even with the changing classes none of her clan would be having a problem. Tio nods in agreement. "Your clan works for everything they want, the Dobe would have been running sobbing at nobody kissing his ass."

"You're coming out this weekend for a training session, right? Anko's coming out to help teach us."

"I'd be welcome?"

"Wouldn't have offered you a spot otherwise. Bring gear, you'll be staying at least one night. The loft over the hay barn is a good place to bed down and the shower works."

"Does everybody live out there?"

"Those of us not active shinobi or kunoichi. They live in the village in case of a mission. We have a compound in the village in case any of us need to stay over. It takes us less than ten minutes to get from the farm to the gates by the trees."

Gai follows Naruto through the gates at a distance. He doesn't know where the boy is heading and as his acting sensei he is concerned. Kakashi should normally be doing this but he's off on another assignment. And as loathe as he is to admit it about his rival, not the best teacher for the boy.

Naruto arrives at a farm and is greeted by the woman who owns the shop he'd stopped at earlier, the one where it appears he works when he's not training. She looks up and he swears the young woman can see him.

"You might as well come out Gai, since you're already here." Kiriko's father says, rolling his eyes.

"I was concerned where Naruto was going."

"You'd be the first adult in his life that was then." One of the clan women says in disgust. "His teacher just dropped him off here the first day he worked here and left, leaving him to find his own way back and forth the rest of the three weeks."

Gai curses softly. "Yes, he might have had another assignment but *somebody* should have been around in case a teacher was needed. Naruto jumps into things headfirst, a competent teacher would work with him. I'm afraid Kakashi is beginning to backslide into not wanting to teach."

"I believe so too, I had to teach Naruto a few things any other student would have learned within their first few weeks with a sensei."

Gai is quiet when he returns to the village later that night. He had known of the Izuno clan but he had never worked with any of their members in the village. The idea that a fellow Shinobi would look down upon another one for not having a clan gift or using a flashy jutsu is abhorrent to him, especially after taking Lee on as a student. He has got where he is by hard work, just like the clan. He'd been offered a spot at the training session the next day and he brings Tenten and Lee along. Neji would not be a good fit to work with the clan. He's one of those who would be looking down on them. Even with being a member of the branch house.

Tenten is blinking the next morning when she finds out what is going on while Lee looks like he's falling in love. They immediately join the others in training, some of the shinobi walking around the others adjusting forms.

"Do you do this all the time?" She asks Kiriko when they break for lunch.

"Weekends twice a month though whoever is training us changes as those members who *are* ninjas might be on assignment at the time. We don't have a kekkei genkai or use flashy jutsus, we just use good old-fashioned hard work." She looks at Lee pointedly who is in conversation with three of the clan members and Gai then at Tenten. Who sighs and nods.

"Gai, you've been asked to go to the Tower when you returned." one of the gate guards tells the group when they return to the village. Gai nods and heads that way, his students looking at his back and following him.

"I was not aware I had summoned the two of you as well." Sarutobi tells Tenten and Lee.

"Gai is our sensei. If this will affect our training we should know."

"Very well. I asked you to come here Gai to ask you if you would have any objections to Naruto joining team ten permanently. I know your students have been working a year longer than his former team so it would be extra work getting him caught up, not to mention integrating him with your team."

"Sir, I was intending to ask you if it would be possible to become his new Sensei anyway." Gai says.

"Explain." Sarutobi snaps.

"I followed Naruto yesterday out of the village, concerned. I found him joining a clan in a training session. I also found out that Kakashi had taken him to the compound one time on a three week assignment and left, leaving him to make his own way back and forth the rest of the time."

Sarutobi starts swearing.

"I knew that little fool would start backsliding after being reprimanded for not being a teacher to Sakura and Naruto." he finally sighs. "I am glad he found some mentors in the Izuno clan." He sighs again. "Kakashi was not meant to be a teacher. The civilian council only wanted him to train Uchiha because of the Sharingen." Gai nods. Then looks at his students. "Do you two have any problems with Naruto joining us?"

"No Gai-Sensei, but Neji might."

"I will talk to him." Sarutobi excuses them and they leave the Tower. "Gai-Sensei, do you think something happened to Kakashi?"

"No, I believe he was given a choice and made the one that benefits him but not his student." Gai sighs. He arrives at the Hyuga compound. "I need to speak with Neji, it's about a change to the team."

"Is there a problem Gai-Sensei?" Neji asks, not quite rushing to the compound gates.

"I have been asked by the Hokage if it would be possible to have Naruto join the team on a permanent basis. It would be a good bit of work, catching him up to where you and the others are and integrating him. Tenten and Lee spent the day with him training outside the village with the Izuno clan and they have no objections."

Neji closes his eyes and silently counts to ten before opening them. "I have no objections Sensei. I . ..I was going to come talk to you about this in the morning." Gai motions him to walk with him. "I. . .I have to.  . . I must leave the corps. I have been feeling ill and went to the hospital for an examination today. I have an untreated infection from a mission that is affecting my heart. Using Chakra is making it worse." He squawks when Gai pulls him into a hug. "What are you plans for the future?"

"I will find work in the village. I must find an apartment in the village as well. The elders want me to leave the compound by the morning."

"Talk to Kiriko Izuno at the shop, I know she has many job openings as well as apartments for rent."

"Thank you. . .Gai-Sen. . .can I still call you Gai-Sensei?"

"Of course, you will forever be my student even if you are no longer a ninja. You are not the first to have to retire due to injury or illness."

"Tenten, a moment." Gai says.

"Gai-Sensei?" His student asks quietly.

"I have talked to Neji, he is being forced to leave the corps for health reasons. An untreated infection is affecting his heart." Her father sighs and his daughter moans. "He will be moving out of the compound as well as finding work in the village. I told him to talk to Kiriko Izuno, she knows where he can find work and an apartment."

"Yeah, she's the richest woman in the village. Much to the horror of some of the fools trying to look down on her." Tenten says.

"Only the village?" her father says. "Try the entire country. If not all of them." Tenten stares at him. "Oh yes, the other ninja clans might look down on them for not having a kekkei genkai or use flashy jutsus, they work for everything they have. And they have a lot."

Neji walks quietly in the store the next day. Kiriko holds up a hand. "I already know, Gai left a message on the door. You've still got a job here making food, helping everybody else will pretty much be a full time job. Tio will show you around to the apartments when he gets out of school."

"Thank you Kiriko. And thank you for not telling the others I've been working here for a while. The elders would not like it."

"The elders can blow it out their wrinkled asses. Are *you* okay?"

"I will be. The medication is working on the infection. As a civilian I can live forever, but as a ninja. . .it would be too much strain."

"Talk to Shikaku Nara's wife. . .I want to say she had a brother go through something similar." Kiriko says slowly. "Oh perfect, just who I was thinking of." She says as the door opens. "Neji. . ."

"We heard, the story is all over town. That's why I'm here." The man she dimly recognizes says. "I went through the same thing." He leads Neji off. "The family nursed me through it, they can nurse you through it. It's a troublesome infection." his voice trails off in the distance as Kiriko snickers softly.

"Yes, it *does* seem to be a favorite phrase for most of the male clan members." Shikamaru's mother says, rolling her eyes. "Is Neji going to be working here permanently."

"Yes, between the scrolls here and the meals for the ANBU, there's enough work for him full-time. Once he's recovered he can move into an apartment if he wants to. That's if your family lets him." she chuckles. "That will be the hard part." She gathers a few items, pays for them, and walks off.

"No, we will not seal his eyes permanently. The medication he is taking for the infection means he is unlikely to have children and he cannot be a ninja anymore."

"But he's no longer under our control." One of the elders wails.

"Then you shouldn't have thrown him out as soon as he was no longer a use to you. By your own words, I should throw you out since you're no longer ninjas." He wails louder. "Damn drama queens. And now I sound like the village children." he sighs.

Naruto rushes to the training grounds Team Ten usually uses. "I just heard, is Neji okay?"

"He will be, I told him to go to your friend Kiriko for a job and place to live since the Hyuga elders threw him out as soon as he was no longer useful to the clan."

"That's stupid. He could still train the younger kids until they attend the academy. Lots of former ninja do that for one reason or another."

"Yes, the elders know that. . .now. At the time they just saw him as a liability and not an asset. Needless to say, he refuses to return to the compound and his uncle. . .and the Hokage, refuse to allow his eyes to be sealed."

"Awwwwww." Naruto coos sarcastically. "Yes, that was everybody else's reaction. The news is all over town and everybody is talking bad about them. Much to their horror." Tenten smirks.

"The team? Are you still going to be okay with losing a member."

"Yeah, the Hokage was talking to Gai-Sensei last night about adding you to the roster permantly since Kakashi seems to be accepting a new assignment. Not that he was much of a teacher to you before, the Hokage was furious when he found out he basically dumped you at the farm, making you find your own way back and forth. The function of a sensei is to be there for their team." Tenten says in disgust.

"Kakashi was only there for the Uchiha."

"Indeed." Gai says.

At Tenten's father's shop, the bell over the door rings as Shuisui walks in.

"Oh good, you're here."

"You sent a begging for help message?" 

"Yes, I have three special orders." They go over everything and start working.

"Are you the only one who does your clan's weapons?"

"Nope, I've taught most of the younger kids in case something happens so we have a good supply of weapons on hand in an emergency. Kiriko brings supplies for me when she brings in supplies for you."

"Where is Neji?" Tio asks when he comes in from school.

"At the Nara compound, I remembered one of Shikamaru's uncles had the same thing happen to him. They showed up at the store five minutes after he did and took him off." Tio snickers. "Is he still going to work here?"

"Yep, between all the clans and the ANBU orders, he's pretty much got a full time job helping with the cooking." Tio snickers again as he settles in the back room. "Why did I agree to continue with school?"

"Because you're an idiot?"

"Oh yeah, that." Their father rolls his eyes as he comes into the store. His children are such drama queens.

"Anything we need?"

"No, it's been quiet. Everybody is busy badmouthing the Hyuga elders for throwing Neji away. The store's been dead, the apartment buildings are all in good shape, and we're still good on supplies since I made that extra trip. Go find some of your old friends and raise a little hell if you want."

A medical nin appears in the door of the store a couple hours later. She walks inside and Kiriko sees Sakura following her quietly.

"I understand you have medical supplies in your scrolls?" She asks imperiously. Kiriko decides she already hates her. "Yep, Hokage and Lady Tsunade approved."

"Oh." she deflates suddenly. "Can I see them please?" Kiriko opens a scroll and the woman looks over everything, her attitude totally different from when she'd entered the floor. "Are they used often?" 

"Yep, at least one team member has one when they go out. Naruto used it to save that one's life and kept her from losing her leg. Not bad for an annoyance, right?" Kiriko sneers. "Unlike your oh so special Sasuke."

Sakura ducks her head, she's slowly beginning to realize how her attitude made her a target of much of the village. "Yes, I've apologized to Naruto for being a bitch to him. Kakashi-sensei. . ."

"Kakashi is no longer a team leader, I don't know what he did but the Hokage asked Gai if he'd be willing to integrate him into team ten permanently. He said he was going to ask him to allow him to be his new teacher anyway. Seems both of them were annoyed to find out Kakashi took Naruto out to our farm to work the fields and just left him to make his own way back and forth for three weeks." Sakura stares at her and moans. 

"Sakura!" Ino calls as she walks out of the store. She hugs her briefly. "How are you doing?"

"Well, I can't say my family was sorry to see me leaving the field but they wish I hadn't been hurt. Are you on an assignment?"

"No, we're just getting in some extra training. Meet me at Ichiruko's in a couple hours for dinner and talk?"

"I'll be there."

"What was *that* all about?" Tio asks when they medical nin and Sakura have left.

"Oh, every couple of years somebody at the hospital gets a wild hair up their ass about medical supplies being sold here. They try getting it stopped but something like Sakura only living and walking on two legs because of them happens and they walk off pouting. Like I said, the Hokage and Lady Tsunade approve the scrolls and they skulk off with their tail between their legs looking like a fool."

One of the ANBU in civilian clothes leans in the door. "The Hokage wants one of your clan on the civilian council to replace that fool woman. Any suggestions."

"Our father." Tio says.

Kiriko nods, listing off another five names. He nods and heads off. "Dad is going to kill us if he does get on the council." Tio says.

Kiriko rolls her eyes. "Half his old cronies are on it already, attending the meetings will be just another excuse to join them getting drunk and playing cards." One of the clan women who'd been coming in the door cackles, nodding vigorously. She looks over at Kiriko. "Next week to start cooking?"

"Yeah, we've got a good selection left." Kiriko looks at the meal wall. "Neji has a permanent job helping with the cooking now." She nods in satisfaction and heads back off.

A shadow at the door has them blinking. "Uncle Hiruzen." Kiriko says since the Hokage is in civilian clothes.

"Please tell Naruto to continue with his pranks? The rest of the civilians are getting complacent and the ANBU are bored." He says dryly. "And your father told me to come beat you two for suggesting him as a council member."

"Oh please, the meetings will be an excuse to go off get drunk and play cards with his friends." Kiriko says, rolling her eyes. The Hokage snickers but nods, nobody would know it was him dressed in normal clothes but the clan is used to seeing him in civilian clothes and calling him uncle Hiruzen while wearing them.

An hour later Naruto is seen walking down the street and Tio grabs him, dragging him into the store. Naruto looks at him as Gai hurries inside after him.

"The Hokage sent a message. He wants you to continue with the pranks, the civilians are getting complacent and the ANBU are bored." Kiriko says, holding up a hand as Gai starts to speak. Naruto blinks a couple of times and starts cackling. "I had a few ideas but the mess with Sakura and becoming part of Gai-Sensei's team delayed them."

The following week the new building is bustling as the first clan members start making their meals, Neji is busy preparing everything to be cooked and other than sitting on a stool and taking more breaks than he usually would seems to be handling the job well.

Kiriko looks at the full to overstuffed wall of meal scrolls, nodding in satisfaction. Screaming from the other building has her running into the building. Stopping and staring she cackles and walks off, grabbing Tenten as she walks past the building.

"Run to the tower and get some ANBU." She tells her. "It appears the Hyuga elders didn't want to listen to their clan head and the Hokage telling them no, they weren't allowed to bind Neji's eyes for not being an active ninja. The clan members working on filling scrolls took exception to their attitude. Unfortunately for them, they actually train and keep active. Unlike the elders."

"Is. . .is Neji okay?" Tenten asks, dismayed.

"Yeah, they got him out of there as soon as they tried breaking in to grab him. Because he's *demeaning* the Hyuga name by working with the other clans."

"Fools." Lee snorts.

"We're talking the Hyuga, their reputation is the only thing they care about." Kiriko says, rolling her eyes. A few minutes later several ANBU appear as if from thin air and she whistles, the beaten elders being dragged out of the other building and tossed to them.

"I'm going to be suing them too for property damage and repayment for anything they destroyed. Plus lost wages for my employees." Kiriko calls as they're dragged away. One of the ANBU nods silently.

"So what happened?" Naruto asks a few days later as he's called to the Tower for an escort mission. He knows the person they're going to be escorting is Kiriko.

"The poor devasted dears had their eyes bound just like they wanted Neji's eyes bound." Kiriko says sarcastically. "They're busy working in the sewers on permanent punishment detail making the money to repay me for the damages. Or rather repay Konoha the money the village is giving me for my troubles."

"Why are we escorting you? I know you do these trips by yourself all the time." Naruto asks.

"There's still some fools among the main house that are complaining about what happened. The clan head is dealing with them but the Hokage wants me to have an escort until they are dealt with." Kiriko sighs. "That's one reason we're leaving from the village and not the farm."

Gai shakes his head in dismay. That's not a youthful thing to do. 

They take to the trees as soon as they're out of the village, Gai nodding in satisfaction that Kiriko can easily keep up with them even if she's not a Konoha ninja. As they're beginning to tire she drops out of the trees. "This is where I normally camp for the night. There's plenty of wood for a fire."

The tents are set up, Tenten sharing with Kiriko while the others take a larger one.

Shizune blinks as she sees a familiar figure. She pokes Tsunade as tonton rushes towards her. Kiriko calmly swoops him up and carries him back to them. "Long story, I'll explain after dinner."

Gai joins them at the unofficial meeting, Lady Tsunade wincing and swearing. "Yeah." Kiriko snorts. "So I'm here replacing the supplies destroyed in the fight. Thankfully we had extra from the ANBU order."

"The Nara. . ."

"Already swooped him up and are nursing him back to health since they had it happen to a clan member."

"I'm sending a letter back with you, there's no damn reason for us to be losing Shinobi to a damn infection. We know that area makes them more common. A more than casual exam when they return will catch it in time before any damage is done."

"Come back and take over the hospital? I had another medical nin come storming into the shop throwing a fit because we sell medical supplies in a scroll. At least until she learned that it was approved of by you and the Hokage."

"Idiots, the supplies are the best thing to keep an injured ninja alive until they can get help short of having a medical nin on the team."

"Yes, but they're oh so special and everybody should do what *they* want." Kiriko drawls. "So I'm going to destroy the casinos after I get the supplies I need to replace. And a few other things."

A week later they arrive back at the gate, the group appearing at the Tower to announce the mission completion. The Hokage just looks at her.

"I met Lady Tsunade while we were there and she sent back a letter complaining about losing ninja when the hospital *knows* the infection is common in that area and a more than casual exam when a team returns should catch it before it does any permanent damage."

"Yes, I have been complaining about that myself." The Hokage accepts the scroll from her, opening it up to read before sending it off by runner to the hospital and Gai's team have excused themselves. "Maybe this will convince your grandmother to get off her ass and come back to Konoha."