Hitomi sighed. "Gods save me from teenage boys." She laced her fingers together, cracked her knuckles, and tossed her hair.

And then there were two Hitomi, and in a swirl of leaves each one stood directly in front of the fleeing Kakashi. Poised, crouched low, with the Byakugan glaring white and one hand beckoning her opponent on.

Kakashi tried to dodge. Hitomi moved faster. Faster than lightning, faster than thought, as her fingertips jabbed shoulders, belly, heart...

One Kakashi vanished. The other stumbled back, panting. Hitomi straightened, raked a stray lock of wet hair out of her eyes, and released the Byakugan and her shadow clone.

"Four of your major tenketsu are sealed," she said crisply. "I'll open them again when you've got enough chakra to use them. If you'd still like to keep your internal organs functioning, you'll learn to behave."

"Meaning, do what she says or die of a burst appendix," Ryouma translated. He shook water out of his hair and brushed the last slimy leaves off the seat of his trousers. "Sensei, I figured out where the safe-house is."

"Two kilometers away," Hitomi said. She shivered and glared up at the sky. "And you couldn't wait to get indoors before you had your little puppy-fight? Gods! Namikaze Minato, you owe me."