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Akeru stepped in to the room, looking towards Tanto. She knew he was probably stressed with genin coming to him all day every day trying to get their exam clues and all, so she would try to be brief.

"I just wanted to know if you had anything for me to do. Like something to help with the exams, or some mission or something. There's a limit to how much I can train genjutsu without someone to try them on, you know, and all my usual partners are off at the exams..."

Akeru then noticed another ninja behind her, probably someone looking for one of these clues. She knew if it was her, she wouldn't still be looking so late in the game, she would have already made it there. But not everyone could be as good as she was, she supposed.

"Err...it looks like you have another of your visitors, kazekage-sama. I'll just...wait here until you're done with him, I guess..."

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

Four? Akeru wasn't even aware that he knew genjutsu. She figured since he usually had info on anything, he would probably have some interesting ideas for her for training.

"Thank you, kazekage-sama. I'll go find him now."

Now the only thing would be trying to find him. Suna wasn't exactly a small place, so she needed to start looking. With any hope, four would find out that she was looking for him and end up finding her.

Akeru turned to walk out the door, walking past the genin who was still waiting there. Definitely a strange looking guy, but Akeru had something more important to do than waste time with him. When some of the others came back as chunin, she had to make sure she was the strongest of them all. If she wasn't, it would look like she had been sitting back and relaxing all year...

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

As Akeru made it to the Kazekage's office, she knew that chances were he wasn't even there yet. He could have just left the exam stadium, of maybe he had important kage duties to take care of. But she had to try; maybe if he wasn't at the office, someone would be able to either tell her where he was or relay the message.

Akeru quickly made her way to the office door, knowing there wasn't any time to waste. She needed to tell the Kazekage about Ichi right away.

"kazekage-sama, its Sukami Akeru. I have some urgent news regarding Ichite-ru. Something happened while he was walking back to the village from the exams, something involving the shukaku..."

She was looking for anyone to answer back or open the door. She just hoped nobody would be mad that she didn't come right away; she had felt that taking care of Ichi was the top priority...

Theme Music: Blue Sky

Akeru entered the room and began to explain the situation to Tanto. It was a stroke of luck that he happened to be in his office.

"When I was coming back from the exam stadium, I spotted Ichi and his sand powers were out of control again. It seems that he was physically attacked by the demon inside of him, and it used the sand to crush his arm. It then threatened him, me, and a genin that was there at the time, Ryumon Tensa, that it would kill us if we tried to help him back to the village. It wanted him to go back under his own power, like it was torturing him or something. I led Ichi back, trying to keep his mind off the pain, and got him to the hospital here."

Akeru then bowed apoligetically, as if she had done something wrong.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get this information to you, I know that it's important. But I had to make sure Ichi got to the hospital, and I had to make sire Ryumon didn't get himself hurt...b-but I know those are just excuses. I'm sorry, sir, next time I'll get the information to you right away..."

Theme Music: Blue Sky

"...You did what!?"

Akeru had figured that Tanto would have had some kind of way of sealing the demon, or he would have worked with Ichi so the boy could learn how to control it. She couldn't believe that he just removed him. He had done plenty to try to keep his power in check and avoid hurting anyone, and the kazekage was just abandoning him? Akeru couldn't believe it.

Akeru's eyes went down to the floor. She looked ashamed, but she was really just trying to hide her anger. She couldn't even look Tanto in the face. Once again Ichi was recieving a punishmet he didn't deserve, and once again the village that was supposed to be his home had forsaken him. Akeru used all of her power to restrain herself. As much as she wanted to do it, she knew mouthing off wouldn't change anything, and would just make things worse again.

"...I...I see. If that is what you believe to be best, Kazekage-sama..."

Akeru forced her emotions away, forcing herself to look up at Tanto without any anger in her face.

"The doctor taking care of him had told me to find his sister and tell her of his state. Would you like me to tell her that he is gone now?"

Theme Music: Blue Sky

Akeru was silent. She wanted to scream at him, ask him how the hell he thought abandoning someone who himself had done nothing wrong. But then she thought back to her own interactions with Ryumon. A superior usually had a better view of the whole picture, and maybe Tanto knew something she didn't. Despite him not being her favorite person, she hadn't seen him do anything besides what he thought was best for the village yet. And she already knew how frustrating it was when the people under you continuously questioned and disobeyed you. The decision was already made, and there wasn't much she could do about it.

"...Umm...It doesn't matter...if I agree or not, kazekage-sama. It is a decision you have made, so I'll just have to deal with it."

It was easy to see just by looking at Akeru's face that she disagreed completely. But she wasn't going to start a useless fight over it. It was just something she'd have to do differently when she became kazekage. She sighed, letting all the disappointment and anger completely fade away. All she could hope was that Ichi would be happier this way, rather than living amonst people who despised his existance. Maybe he would learn to control himself and come back.

"...Is there...anything else you need from me, kazekage-sama?"

Theme Music: Blue Sky

Akeru was confused. She thought she and Tanto had a mutual dislike of eachother, so she was expecting him to be glad she had fallen into place, or maybe follow up with one of those sexist comments he was well known for. But she didn't know exactly what this lesson was for.

"...I...understand, kazekage-sama. Then let me say this: I do disagree with what you did with Ichi. I think it would have been a better decision to find a way to seal the Shukaku or to teach him to control it. But, I do respect your decision. "

For some reason, even though she didn't scream and yell, just being able to say that made her feel so much better. But Akeru didn't know what to make of Tanto wanting her to follow him around for the day. He couldn't have been trying to prepare her for being a kage herself, could he? No way, this was Tanto, he would never accept the thought of a female leader, let alone her. She decided not to read into it and to just try to learn as much as she could.

"Okay, I'll make sure to take note of everything, kazekage-sama."

Akeru knew out of everyone she had ever been taught by, this was definitely going to be the strangest experience for her.

Theme Music: Blue Sky