"Good Morning Captain." An ANBU greeted Itsuko upon walking pass her. Itsuko nodded her head slightly before continuing her brisk walk to where the new recruits were supposed to assemble. She really hadn't had her hopes up on the new recruits. She never did, not after when she first took over the ANBU. That was when she learnt that sometimes, she had to be strict to them, otherwise they won't obey orders and will only take advantage of her, making the ANBU inefficient.

"Kozaki, I need you to be in-charge of the ANBU in my place while I'm with the new recruits." Itsuko spoke to Kozaki through her head, receiving a simple, satisfying answer. "Roger that."

Immediately after he replied, he turned from his jewel form into his human form, heading the opposite way of Itsuko. Itsuko smiled though Kozaki didn't see since they were back to back. She loved them so much, Kurama, Kozaki and...them. They were loyal and always kept her company, it was the best thing she could have ever asked for.

She lightly placed her ANBU mask on, covering her face. It'd been so long since she wore her full uniform, she couldn't help but dislike the comfort of it. Reaching out towards the door knob, she remember the prank Naruto tried to pull back then. She chuckled at the thought, 'Naruto grew so much.' She teleported into the training ground, where the new recruits were assembled.

The first sight of the new recruits made her irritated. A few of them were running around, another group were challenging each other and the rest were chit-chatting away. This group was far worst than the previous batches of ANBU. 'This is going to be chaotic.' She thought to herself as she sighed.

It wasn't before Zaoki, the person Itsuko put in-charge of the new recruits noticed the captain noticed her, only then silence came to her ears. Which was to her dissatisfaction. Zaoki had detected the Captain's change in expression and immediately explained the situation.

"Captain, I'm sorry. I told them to start off with the usual start off practice but they didn't want to." Zaoki apologized sincerely.

"HAHAHA, that weakling couldn't even beat me in a fight, all he could do was dodge." One of them spoke up. He had blonde hair and dark green eyes. He was already changed into his uniform and looked neat and tidy but one look at his proud face made Itsuko cringe in disgust.

"Get out." Itsuko ordered Zaoki. Zaoki nodded in acknowledgement before teleporting out. His heart skipped a beat, he thought he was going to get punished and scolded by the Captain for their behavior but when she asked him to leave, he was shocked. He didn't expect it at all, not one bit.

"Shut up." Itsuko said to the blonde this time.

"What?! And who are you to tell me to do so? I bet you'll get beaten up just as badly as he did!" The blonde said proud and confident. It only took a second and he regretted everything he had said and did.

It was within that second, Itsuko trapped him within Tsukuyomi. With the use of her sharingan, she also saw his past.

"What should I do with you? Should I let you watch her die over and over again? Or should I let you experience death?" Itsuko said inside the Tsukuyomi world.

The blonde widen his eyes, tears already forming at the tips as the memories emerged in his mind. "I'm sorry. Please, don't." He apologised sincerely, holding in his tears.

Itsuko looked at his poor fragile figure before deciding to release him from her Tsukuyomi. From then on, he was a changed person.

"Alright, I'm your ANBU captain. We'll start today off by a simple mission. We're heading out now." Itsuko teleporting to the gate after giving out her instructions.

"This is a waste of my chakra." Kurama moaned in complain.

"You're a waste of my chakra if you're no use at all." Itsuko replied instantly, making Kurama roll his eyes in annoyance.

She made a shadow clone, to help guide the new recruits. Meanwhile, she herself would be the one they were after. It wasn't a mission, it was a test. She took off her mask, getting changed into her usual clothing

"Let's see now." She mumbled to herself before teleporting off to where they were supposed to encounter her. They didn't know what she looked like yet since she was in her uniform and mask, they wouldn't know they were facing their own captain.

It was awhile before she heard sounds of footsteps coming near. Looking forward, she saw the new recruits rushing towards her. One had already

spot her and another had heard her, with the help of their jutsus. It was impressive, she admitted.

"Fire Style: Fire of the Dragon!" One of them rushed ahead of the rest, sending fire at Itsuko. With a gold shroud of Kurama's chakra at her left eye, her sharingan activated, she easily avoided it. "Fire Style: Fire ball jutsu." She sent her fire ball at his fire, eliminating it, at the same time, she managed to catch him inside her genjutsu.

Then the rest of the team came at her, but all individually. They didn't have teamwork and didn't trust each other. She understood that ANBU had little trust amongst each other since most had their own back story, otherwise they probably wouldn't end up in the ANBU either. She knew from personal experience.

-

"Itsuko! You're the ANBU captain right?" A young Gai ran up to Itsuko waving excitedly. Itsuko shot him an odd look, wondering what he would want to do with her. She knew that he treated Kakashi as a rival but Kakashi never really treated him seriously and that he couldn't use ninjutsu.

"Yea, why?" She replied with a dull and bored tone. She just returned from a mission and was heading home for a short nap to make up the lack of sleep during the mission. She was sleepy so wasn't exactly in a good mood to talk, especially since she never enjoyed talking to enthusiasm people like Gai.

"In that case, I want to join the ANBU! I want to join youthful Kakashi in his missions!" Gai said with a big grin on his face.

Itsuko looked at him twice before letting out a sigh, "Kill me." Was all her instructions. Gai stared at her bluntly. He wasn't willing to kill her, even though she wasn't close to him but he knew Kakashi treasured her. He just couldn't do it, she didn't do anything deserving death either. He froze there for a good couple of minutes.

Itsuko raised an eyebrow, "this is why you're not suitable. You don't have that something, that something that drives you, not for the better but hatred, lust. You hesitate in taking a life but they don't."

She turned, slowly walking off, letting her feet drag as she did. Gai stood on the spot, he didn't move, his eyes were fixated on the ground. He was loss in thought before he snapped, "you would kill every living person if you wanted to wouldn't you?"

"I don't have a reason to yet." Itsuko replied casually, not stopping her draggy footsteps.

'Is that what Kakashi wanted to be too?' The conversation left Gai thinking.