Team 8's first gathering...

[Tenko]

"Excuse me a moment."

Finding himself inclined to follow the other two in approaching Ai, he heard the girl's manner of speech; well, he was used to such things after all, considering Uzumaki Naruto's inclination to call him an 'old geezer', though he stood patiently at the doorway without comment.

"I don't think you're much to speak to her of these things, Taiki," the Hokage stated with a mild chuckle. "One act of honor does not reform everything; you yourself are only beginning to start..."

Fixing Ai with a steely look, Sarutobi demanded, "What have you to say for yourself?"

[terrx]

"Sorry..." Ai said, "You better take care of this headband. A precious memory resides in it. But as long I have my sword...You cannot take away my Pride." She said, handing him the headband. She stared at again, "Moonlight Shadow..." She plainly said. Her eyes closed, "I promise...I'll see you again." Her eyes seem to tell. "I'll run away to become a Shinobi. I don't care if anyone misses me...No one likes me anyway." She thought

[Tenko]

Pride.

Pridepridepridepride- he hated that word. Here, he meant. He hated that word coming from a little girl who seated herself there, looking so desperate and wretched and pretending to be something she wasn't - that was arrogance, not pride. This was the making of a ninja who wouldn't learn the will of fire; this was a type of pride he'd seen before.

"No." The Hokage stated quietly, taking her headband with the same reverance as he had Taiki's, but to Ai his expression was dark and his simply stated word just seemed to thunder. "Sorry? You are not."

"The taking of your hitai-ite is the taking of your Right, one which you have lost, to be ninja at this stage." Narrow eyes piercing into the girl, he added, "But what you have abused more than your honor is that Pride you say I cannot take away." Silence hung around the Hokage, though he didn't look at the blade he was about to mention. "And if it is your pride that will drive you to desperate means, Konoha Ai, I will order of you your so-called Pride as well, and see if that does not dampen your spirits."

Sarutobi-sama had just, with an overwhelmingly powerful tone of voice...
Threatened her right to her blade. The Sanbi Scythe.

[Taiki-kun]

^{Taiki just kept quiet. He knew he'll probably say something that will get him torn apart emotionally by Hokage. It is true what they saw about the Hokage aswell. He is a powerful man. Only by his words he defeated a team of Genin and their Chuunin instructor. Anyways, the point is, Taiki is very shocked at the asertivness of Lord Haokge's tone. He has the pure intellectual sound of a Clarinet but the booming and powerful voice of a Trombone. He truly is Hokage The Third.}

[terrx]

Ai narrowed her eyes like a cat hunting a mouse, "You can't do that!! I EARNED that Scythe!! 10 years of training! Pain! And the..." She stopped herself, "I gaurentee you this...Hokage-sama. I'll be the one walking away a proud Shinobi when we're done with this mission or whatever you assigned me to...You'll see. I vow it on my mother's grave!" That's one promise Ai cannot break...Once she vowed on her mother's grave...She'll do whatever she could to live up to that promise, "Just you wait..."

[Tenko]

"Men vow on graves all the time," Sarutobi remarked in an apparently impressed fashion, but there was that old-man matter-of-factness to it that didn't allow one to write itoff as sarcasm. "Ten years, you say? My training of over sixty years must pale in comparison, considering I fought a war and raised Legends in that time, and had so many more graves to vow strength for!"

Clearing his throat with his walking stick in one hand and the two hitai-ite in the other, the Sandaime allowed that silence to sink in to the child before continuing. "Konoha Ai. Until you learn of what you must overcome, I hereby declare the Sanbi Scythe confiscated from its rightful clan, due to the fact that it was passed down prematurely, until the heir can henceforth live up to her claims of being a Shinobi - and knowing the true meaning of pride."

And so he waited for the girl, daring her to contradict him, but there was a great sadness in those eyes of Sarutobi's, and a rather empty feel to the hall they occupied, as though the workers of the offices had evacuated in his presence.

[Taiki-kun]

^{Taiki's voice was set into a mere mumble... he was scared of what the hokage would say as a reply.
"Lord Haokge, I respect your decisions and everything, but don't you think you are being a little harsh?"
Taiki braced himself for what was about to occure. He almosted wanted to cry again from pressure.}

[terrx]

Ai was holding back the tears that were never shown in daylight, "But I'm not a man...I'm a woman. My grandfather is going to throw me out of my own house because of this. She handed over the scroll to summon the Sanbi Scythe, "After all...You don't know me that well...I will show you. I'll show you all!" She yelled running out, "I'll show him! I'll show him I don't need weapons! I will prove I am a Shinobi and not an ill-tempered girl!!" Finally...The first breakthrough showed...A single tear ran down her cheek.

[Tenko]

Sarutobi took the scroll wordlessly, watching Konoha Ai run from the building desperately; this was inevitable. It was best to do these things now.

"There is a breaking point to every shinobi," He replied sadly at last, looking to Taiki. "Every kunoichi. You become ninja when you hold on to the pieces of yourself yet learn to work without them."

Shaking his head, the Hokage continued. "It seems harsh because you're young, and genin; but from your clans you have recieved inevitable obstacles, and before I can commit to the both of you being deserving of what I take... I will take the blame for whatever pain I make you feel. That is the task of the Hokage. But I will have no ninja of mine running into something they are unprepared for - and cell eight is not ready yet for everything they can boast of.

"...I am sorry for this."

[terrx]

That's when HE came in. A man wearing a purple Yukata and had the same Sanbi Scythe, "Ai?" She didn't look back.. He then bowed at Sarutobi, "Hokage-sama! I'm terribly sorry for not honoring you...Forgive me." He noticed Ai's headband in his hand, "Uhh...Hokage-sama? May I see you alone for a moment?" He asked. Seeing Ai glaring. But something was wrong...He could sense her Sprit being crushed, "Did he? Could it be? Did he crush Ai's pride?" He had black hair and green eyes. After seeing Ai run...Now he was curious, "Uhh...Did I come in at a bad time?" He asked

[Tenko]

The Hokage's attention turned upon the shinobi who had freshly entered the offices, features softening from their formidable expression. There was a great weariness there, in the sun-darkened features, and when Sarutobi spoke this time it was little more than a tired sigh.

"Konoha Kurokai," the Hokage began. "Honorable shinobi. It is good to see you once more... but perhaps it is a bad time. Perhaps you shall be angry with me." Without turning completely and just watching the curious man, Sarutobi lifted his hand a little higher - revealing the two hitai-ite in his hand, and the scroll of the Sanbi Scythe. "It depends on what you value to your daughter, and how much you will consider I have hurt her."

He was much too old for this... much too old.

[terrx]

"I understand...I saw the look in her eyes...I'm not angry with you." Kurokai said, "Ai needs a lesson like this...But I was afraid I might hurt her to the point she'll hate me. I know Ai was trying act tough...She wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and wants to have friends. But she's taken it too far. Understand that deep down in that cold shell around her Heart is actully a very sweet and loving girl...It was my fault that she turned out the way she is. Suoh and I were discussing to have Ai marry someone...And she was listening in. Then...She turned so bitter and cold that no one dared to play with her...And whenever she...I better stop myself there." He said, bowing.

[Tenko]

Another sigh. Again - the same stories again. "It is said that those who live no drama make their hardships all the larger; knowing nothing worse, they cannot help but feel that which is painful to them is perhaps the worst they can bare. Your daughter is only as distraught as any other child, Kurokai."

Shaking his head, he drew closer to the other man, speaking lower and firmer as though thinking that it wasn't anyone else's matter to know about - and that it wasn't. Not until Ai told her team-mates herself. Sarutobi was waiting for that. "This is the story of so many clans, hammered upon perfection; the Kurama Clan, the Hyuuga Clan, even the tragedy of the Uchiha Clan - do not apologize for anything you have done, Kurokai, but see what you can do for your daughter now... You must remember that she never knew Sentai, and there's only so much strength she can draw from living up to her mother - granted, she will barely understand what that even means. And Suoh... Suoh is a hard man, that I understand, old enough to know the traditional lay of things - we fought together, after all, and so I would know such things. You must protect Ai from him by teaching her to work with the pressure lain upon her, as opposed to against it; she will merely drown that way."

Shaking his head, the Hokage offered, "I will speak to Suoh of the matter; doubtless, he will be outraged for his daughter recieving old Sarutobi's reprimand, but if you can allow Ai to learn - properly this time - how to be ninja, I will ensure that he does nothing to worsen the case."

[terrx]

"Please...Do not tell him about the Sanbi Scythe being taken away from her...He'll throw her out of her own home...Yes. Suoh is a hard man...He is wise...Like yourself. I will show Ai the true meaning of Pride, the Will of Fire, and teach her Redemption. I know so many clans are built with both the Will of Fire and the strengh and love of a family... I will do my best to teach Ai to behave as both a Shinobi and a proper girl. Thank you...Sarutobi. You really are a good man...That's why I have my faith in you in teaching Ai some of the lessons she'll face." He said, bowing polietly.

[Tenko]

"We will have help, and you need not bow," the Hokage responding, nodding at the faithful man. "I will stay loyal to your request, Kurokai, but should Suoh discover on his own accord - which he shall - I will come to stay his hand."

Looking back towards Iruka and Taiki, eyes looking back through the doorway where Kyo waited, Sarutobi continued. "Konoha Ai has a team now which we must convince her to rely on; in order to become truly independent, she must know to trust them. They will also be of Konohagakure, after all... if they can pass the same tests we have set for her.

"You may go, if that is your will - to find your daughter."