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electrasev5nwrites · 1 year ago

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Ninja Daily: AIC 31

Aiko was reading a missive from Nadeshiko requesting an in-person conversation when her apprentice sullenly appeared. She did not look up at the sound of shifting sand. If she didn't see it, she didn't have to vacuum. An unseen mess did not exist.

"The sand-nin have requested an audience."

'I'm going to guess that the reunion did not go smoothly.'

Aiko looked over at Gaara, and chose not to comment on how stiffly he'd bit that out. And then she was surprised to note that he had not been carelessly dropping sand. So he could control that, then? He had been choosing to leave grains in her carpet? Why? What the fuck? Did he hate her carpet? Was it that ugly?

"Yes," Sanbi said. "It gives me a headache."

'Fuck you. No one is making you look.'

She turned her attention back to her apprentice, who was still waiting on some kind of reaction. "Thank you, I can see them in about 2 minutes." She began clearing anything sensitive off of her desk and did a walk around the office, looking for anything out of place. Gaara reached out and pushed on a book, aligning the spine with the rest on the shelf.

"Is there anything I need to know to be prepared to meet with them?" she said, as bland as possible.

Gaara made a low sound from the back of his throat. It was not an acceptable answer. She deliberately chose to let it slide, because she wasn't totally heartless. But- "Stay here," she commanded. "For at least the first part of the meeting. I want to establish that we have a good working dynamic."

She seated herself back at her desk and surveyed the room one more time, confirming that it conveyed power and competency. Then she nodded to the door.

Tense, her apprentice went to pull open the heavy oak. "The Mizukage will see you now," he said, utterly without tone.

Temari was the first to stride through. Whatever her thoughts were, they had been neatly tucked away by the time that she passed into view. Kankuro nearly faltered, taking just an instant to long at the place where he wanted to veer around Gaara. Baki came last, implacable in his path as a train.

"Mizukage-sama." Temari's tone sounded like it was paired with a hand on her hip, not palms clasped in polite deference. "I see that you have a guest."

Aiko gave the girl an easy smile. "My apprentice?" she said, as though she didn't know how baffling and terrible that might seem from the outside. "Gaara is often present at high-level meetings. Would you prefer for him to leave?"

Temari paused before answering. "Of course not." The lie wasn't even obvious.

She inclined her head gracefully. "I wouldn't either," Aiko said, as though she was confiding something funny. "Gaara will know quite a bit about operations in Kirigakure when he returns home to Sunagakure. I assume that information may prove quite valuable, down the line."

There was a moment of shock, but Temari was too disciplined to let her eyes wander over to her youngest brother. She hesitated. "Mizukage-sama. Might I ask how he came into your tutelage?"

Aiko leaned back in her chair and thought, well, in for a penny. "When I removed him from the unpleasant kerfuffle in Konoha, I wondered if he might benefit from a mentor," she said, pleasant as anything. "As a fairly successful jinchuuriki, I thought I might be able to offer advice both personal and political." She deliberately turned her gaze to Gaara, so as to 'miss' the moment that her guests reacted to the shock of just what she was. None of them would have particularly warm and fuzzy feelings about being in a small room with a jinchuuriki, much less two of them. "But I must admit that it was Gaara who asked me to take him on as a student, to better prepare him for reintegration into Sunagakure."

Kankuro was working really hard not to gape. From where he stood at Temari's left shoulder, it would have been very obvious to sneak a glance at Gaara. Baki, on the other hand, did not even attempt stealth. He slowly turned his head to regard his former student for the length of two seconds, and then rotated his face back without changing expressions in the slightest.

"He is skeptical about Gaara's reintegration into civilized society after time under your tutelage?" Sanbi asked. "Why do they doubt you so? They do not know you yet. Perhaps you are a reasonable woman."

She resisted the urge to laugh wildly. Her influence was not exactly the problem, which was a hilariously bad state of affairs given how serious it was to have spent time with a foreign head of state.

"Temari-san, let's speak plainly." Aiko waved a hand, indolent as you please. She was kind of enjoying being top dog. It had to be killing Temari, proud as she was. "You're not here because of your little brother, but he has offered an excellent suggestion that will be of mutual benefit to both of our countries. Assuming that you have any desire to assume a leadership position, you are well-placed to agree to it, and therefore seize international legitimacy that would be difficult to subvert. Given that you answered my summons, may I assume that you have at least considered taking leadership?"

The teenager gritted her jaw. "Yes." She unstuck her teeth to try to sound a bit more pleasant, adding, "We may be able to come to some terms."

Aiko eyed the girl, marveling at the change in perspective. Temari had once been a peer, but Aiko had three ranks and about a decade on her now. Life was so odd sometimes.

Oh, wait.

"A genin is not going to become Kazekage," Aiko said, despite knowing that it really wasn't her place to comment on what had to be a contentious issue. She couldn't help but poke.

"I've been promoted to chuunin, and will stand for jounin exams in two months," Temari said evenly. "I received a combat promotion after my performance in Konohagakure." Her expression was mulish.

Oh, ouch. Politically speaking. Aiko let out a startled laugh. The Kazekage's daughter had gotten a combat promotion for actions against an ally. "Konoha can't like that." She clasped her hands and winked. Temari recoiled, startled. "Lovely. They're assholes. Kicking the nest is good once in a while."

Kankuro looked hopelessly lost. His sister was diplomatic enough not to respond to that.

"Some of them are alright," Aiko added, feeling the need to assure that she wasn't hostile to her allies. "I'm only thinking about murdering one of them, really. No one that they really need." She was half-thinking of Danzo. She needed to work on that. He was still out there, probably wondering where she had stashed Sai's corpse.

Temari's calm broke at that. She looked horrified and confused.

"I'm joking." Aiko made a disgusted sound and tapped the top of her desk. "None of you can take a joke. Where did you all learn to be so serious?"

"It is part of the Sunagakure Academy curriculum."

All three visitors' heads jerked to look at Gaara. Aiko feigned surprise and leaned forward. "Really?"

Gaara shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't go there."

"Ah, so that's why you're so funny."

"I assume so, yes." He cocked his head to the side. "Aiko-sama, might I return to my duties?"

She waved him off, feeling incredibly pleased with his thoughtfulness. He'd managed to do that very well, and forced his siblings to look at him in a new light. "Yes. On your way out, have Nishikawa send that note to Karin."

Gaara bowed and left, using the door. His siblings and even Baki looked shell-shocked. Aiko made sure to give them a very smug look, ready for the instant that they stopped gaping at the closed door and noticed her.

"Now he is just being ridiculous," Sanbi said, sounding disgusted. "He never does anything so conventional. I have always appreciated that about his comportment."

'Don't complain, it means that we don't have to vacuum sand while I still have guests. That does not convey power and grace. Even though I have a very nice new hand vacuum imported through Iron. I love that thing. Maybe I should show it to them, it would be a good way of casually showing off that our trade contracts are on point.'

Anyway. After seeing how Gaara acted reasonably and deferred to her, Suna would definitely not hold any misconceptions that she was anything less than competent. She'd done in a month what no one in Suna had ever managed to do.

Granted, the change was more on Gaara than her, but they didn't know that.

Aiko preened as Temari gathered her nerve again.

Up went her chin, back went her shoulders, and- "Mizukage-sama, what do you propose?"

Aiko tilted her head and smiled. "An alliance, cemented by an exchange of resources. Namely- we will host a number of Sunagakure's shinobi, and allow them to perform missions contracted to Kirigakure. Gaara will be in charge of the program, and we have constructed a housing unit for these shinobi."

Temari frowned. "Why would we do that? We would have to send our people to live among recent former enemies, performing missions in unfamiliar territory that is disadvantageous to our work-style."

"True, true," Aiko agreed. "But they'd be making the rates that Kirigakure shinobi get. Temari-san, your daimyo has been strangling your city. He arrogantly believes that he can do without your strength."

Temari was looking distinctly red.

She raised an eyebrow in provocation. "So far, he has succeeded in weakening Sunagakure. And no, Gaara did not tell me this," Aiko added, at the shock on Baki's face. "It is plain to see, especially since Sungakure was desperate enough to turn on their oldest ally. My country, however, has an inverse problem. We have a desirable reputation to the civilians of our country, and receive many missions requests that we do not have the personnel to fulfill. Failing to fulfill them would harm our reputation. The solution is obvious, and binds us together. It is a natural extension of an alliance, and would solidify it by creating goodwill and bonds between our shinobi as they work together."

A heavy, unfriendly silence hung over the room. As of yet, Temari did not seem to be jumping at the idea. Her brother, though… Kankuro looked interested. Baki was a harder read. She didn't know what he was thinking.

Aiko managed a smile. "It is late," she said, although it was only 6. "You must be tired from your travels. I will have someone escort you to your lodgings- by the way, it is the building set aside for Sunagakure that I mentioned earlier." She rose to her feet and indicated the door. "Eat, rest, and consider. I will see you tomorrow, or perhaps the next day." She inclined her head in a clear dismissal.

They took the hint and bowed, some more stiffly than others. For all her many graces, Temari was not a natural hand at diplomacy. But she didn't say anything dismissive outright.

Good enough, for now.

Gaara returned not long after his siblings had gone.

"What do you think?" Aiko asked. She shuffled her papers together and then attached a clip at the top. She looked over at her student. "Will they go for it?"

A line formed between his brows. In that moment, he looked a bit more like Temari. "Yes," Gaara rasped. His eyes hardened. "I will speak with them again."

"How is that going to help?" Aiko prodded. Not to put salt in the wound, but- "They are afraid of you. They didn't listen when you told them that things were different, did they?"

He looked away.

That probably meant that he hadn't managed to have a decent conversation with them. Aiko thought that over for a moment and then sighed. "You didn't have a chance to really talk yet, I suppose," she allowed, although she was a bit annoyed. "Temari can't tell me no until I speak with her- so I'm not going to meet her until you've told me that she's going to tell me what I want to hear." She leaned back in her chair and made eye contact with her apprentice. "Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly." Gaara sounded resentful, but that didn't necessarily mean a lot coming from him.

"Fine." She nodded at him and gestured to the door. "Be convincing, and sincere. And stay out of the open. Jiraiya isn't meant to be out in public, but I'm sure he is." She scowled. "We're going to have enough trouble keeping him away from the Suna diplomats. At least they'll stay put. Jiraiya is a nightmare."

"Indeed." Gaara turned and left without any more comment. It was just as well, because it was less than an hour later that Noa timidly knocked on the door and told her that Jiraiya wanted to talk with her.

She could actually feel her blood pressure spike, which was kind of interesting.

He burst in less than a minute later, nearly knocking the poor genin over. "Sorry I'm late," Jiraiya sang. Noa clung to the door frame.

Aiko sat up and crossed her arms in disgust. "I require appointments," she said. She knew it was useless even as she said it. It was about as effective as her attempts to make him take off his shoes had been in Konoha. Fuck, he was steam-rolling her in her own office.

He pretended not to hear her. "Hello!" Jiraiya said, beaming as he bounced around the room. He tangled his fingers behind his back in an ostentatious show of not-touching her books and paintings. "Interesting, interesting. Everything here is fascinating." He shot her a dangerously clever look, even though he was still grinning like an idiot. "I heard something today that I never would have guessed."

Ah, shit. She felt her expression falter. What had that bastard- where had he been snooping around? He really was a menace.

"Hirai-san," she said. Noa jumped to attention. "Please bring us refreshments."

Jiraiya's eyes sparked with victory.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama." Noa stole one suspicious glance at the foreigner beneath her eyelashes, and then she flitted away.

Aiko held out a hand to indicate the chairs on the other side of her desk.

The Konoha shinobi took a seat.

"What are you talking about." Her tone was so flat that it didn't come out sounding like a question at all.

He leaned back in her office chair. Aiko noted, resentfully, that he was in Utakata's favorite chair. It had the highest back and no arm rests. Utakata looked better in it. "I hear that you might have the Ichibi," Jiraiya said.

Sanbi roused.

Aiko stared at Jiraiya with her lips pressed into a thin line. She had to assume that her expression was not particularly friendly.

"That would be a bit of a departure from what we heard in Konohagakure," Jiraiya said. He did not seem friendly now, either, despite the smile on his face. "Isn't it strange that someone might tell me the Ichibi is in Kirigakure?"

"Interesting. That plan fell through faster than usual," Sanbi observed.

"Get wrecked."

"Excuse me?" Jiraiya's tone went flat.

Aiko waved at him dismissively. "I don't know what you're talking about. Where do you think I'm keeping it? Did you check under my kitchen sink before bothering me?" She leaned back in her chair.

"Your home is the place where he is most likely to encounter Gaara," Sanbi said, sounding a little lost. "It is unwise to direct his attentions there."

Yeah, that was kind of the point. It was a bluff. The more outrageous, the better.

"You got me," she continued. She held out her hands. "It lives in my house and takes long showers. We have breakfast at 6:25. You can take me away to jail for lying now."

He looked a little bit unsure, and then shook it off with a scoff and shake of his enormous mane of hair. "We both know that's not how it works. You're an Uzumaki. You could have sealed it away into one of your -."

"One of our strongest toddlers, yes," Aiko said, feeling a vicious smile creep onto her face. Jiraiya didn't know about Gaara. He was bluffing. "That is the Konoha technique, yes?"

He opened his mouth-

"Unfortunately, unlike Konoha, we are short on orphans." She tried to look concerned. "Should I kidnap one? I gather that's an important part of the process."

"What is that supposed to-"

"Danzo-sama," Aiko said. "Orochimaru. Take your pick. Your hamlet sucks." She made a fart noise at him and gave a thumbs down. "Your fish is old, your leaders are corrupt, and that goddamn takoyaki cart is never where you want it."

Jiraiya sat back down into the chair he had half-stood up from. He gave her a wary look. "You can't bullshit me," he said. "We-"

"Can and I will." Aiko tossed her hair. "I assure you that I've gotten away with it many times. Fight me."

He stared.

"That part wasn't planned, I was just feeling it," Aiko admitted. "I don't actually feel like fighting you right now. I have too much to do today. I'll fight you later. Wednesday? Soft yes on Wednesday?"

"No," Jiraiya said, holding up a finger.

"I'll let my assistant know to pencil you in." She glanced over at her closet and thought about leaving. It was a good time for a break. She needed to yell at Karin, and she could do that over tonkatsu. Jiraiya would be left alone in her office- he would definitely rifle through it, but there wasn't anything he wouldn't already know. And it would keep him busy. There was no chance he would leave without snooping.

Also, he would miss the lunch hour. Ha. By the time he gave up, it would be that awful in-between time when all the restaurants only served fucking coffee for some god forsaken reason. Fuck that guy. He wouldn't be able to eat until 7pm.

Yes. Yes, she was going to do that. She gathered up the only remotely sensitive documents in her office at the moment and tucked them under her arm. Then she set off on a beeline to the back wall.

"Do not- what are you doing?" Jiraiya moved fast, blocking her path to the supply closet. He stared down at her and crossed his arms. He was going for stern, but she could not be moved, no matter how far down he drew his eyebrows.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she said blandly. "I always do that at 2:30."

"It's noon." He took a step back. Keeping one eye on her cautiously, he tried the handle and opened the closet just enough that she could see a mop and stacks of printer paper. He glanced inside. Then he looked back at her, unamused. "You piss in there? Got a litterbox?"

"You don't know my life, buddy." Aiko ducked under his arm. He let her, making an exasperated sound. "Why are you so interested in what I do on my bathroom breaks? Who even wants more information about that? I'm a lady and I won't tolerate you creating a hostile work environment."

"I can wait," Jiraiya said. "Whatever you're really going to do in there cannot take that long." There was a grim challenge in his voice.

He was going to be very surprised. But that, more than anything, made her consider actually waiting in the closet just to have the chance to spite him by out-waiting him. But she had shit to do, so. "Please enjoy my stationery as you snoop," she said. "The pen with the gold tip is a joy to write with. But try not to break or lose anything, I have a system and you look like a man who owns five broken pencils and a pen with no ink."

She closed the door. Aiko waited a moment, spitefully savoring the angry and baffled silence. She deliberately made just a bit of noise when she settled to a seat on a stack of paper, so that he heard her getting comfortable. She crossed her legs at the ankles and waited for him to speak first.

"Is this really necessary?"

His voice was muffled through the door.

"Just a moment, please. I am busy shitting," she called back. And then she went to her kitchen and pulled open the drawer she filled with random bullshit like her army of broken pencils.

"I wondered why they hired you," Sanbi said. His tone was wondering. "I thought it was a miracle that you have not died. But I see now. That was masterful. You weave a web of bullshit."

"Thank you," Aiko said, surprised by the praise. She found a 10 centimeter-long pencil with no eraser left and shut the drawer.

"It was also horrible to even experience as a bystander," Sanbi said. "You have made me feel very uncomfortable. I did not enjoy it."

"That's the idea, friend," Aiko pointed out. "If I make a situation incredibly terrible, no one wants to be involved in it. He was all alone, and he would have been all alone if he'd had 20 jounin with him. No one wants to be caught in the bullshit typhoon."

"I don't," Karin said blandly. She finished pouring a glass of juice and shut the fridge. "Why did you tell me to come to the office and then meet me at home before the appointment?"

"My personal edification. And you're clearly involved now," Aiko said. "You're in it up to your eyes, kid. Hand me that notebook, please, so I can torment an old man. I want to make him cry and go hungry and I don't want to spend a lot of time arranging it."

Karin pulled the magnet-backed pad off the fridge and tossed it over. She leaned back against the counter and watched with narrowed eyes. It took her a while to decide to ask. In that space, Aiko scrawled a note for Nishikawa, instructing him to keep Noa out of the office for an hour. She paused over the words for a bit, and then decided to instruct Noa to ask Jiraiya if he needed help reading any of the big words in her daily planner.

"What did this old man do?" Karin asked casually, like she didn't even care about the information she was fishing for.

"Asked me a question I didn't feel like answering." She finished the note and dug around in her pocket for her glorious seal from Mifune-sama.

The other redhead's eyebrows shot up. "Touchy," Karin said.

Aiko gave her cousin an unimpressed look. "That was the actual answer. He asked me a rude question, so I'm making him suffer."

Karin watched for about three seconds, waiting for the joke. When it never came, she frowned. She seemed uncertain, which was big sign that she really didn't understand the way that things worked around here.

"You're grounded, by the way," Aiko added. And then she switched topics again. "But anyway, when someone from a foreign government asks you about your bathroom habits, you tell them to eat a whole bag of-"

"I can imagine, thank you," Karin said primly.

"I was going to say 'rancid weasels'," Aiko said, tone arch. She ripped the yellow paper off the pad and held it up between two fingers. "I'm going to drop this off, and then you and I are going to have a chat about going on missions that you knew full-well you were not authorized to participate in."

Karin rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal?" she complained. She put her juice on the counter with a loud clink. "No one died."

She pressed her lips together, because it was hard to argue with that. "I am your mother," Aiko changed tacts. "Don't backtalk me. If I say that you can't join in on counterintelligence operations, you focus on making park benches and mind your own business. How many benches have you made, Karin? Is it enough benches? Enough benches for you to have free time to sass me?"

Karin sighed. That probably meant there were insufficient benches. Damn it.

Aiko went back to the office and tiptoed to Nishikawa's desk. She could hear Jiraiya singing a bank jingle loudly and off-key. Her assistant just looked tired. He nodded at her and took the paper without any comment or surprise. She saluted to him, hiraishin'd back into the closet, and called out, "Sing the Princess dumbass theme song next. I like to poop to that one." Then she went to lunch.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #clarity #AIC #Aiko in Canon

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cebwrites · 9 days ago

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bittersweet, clear medicine

a/n: a little gift for @itsgai since i've been rotating our characters in my head nonstop sfsdjgh

oc | gen word count: 1k

Two weeks since Shin was cleared from their physical therapy. 14 days since an older man in a sterile white lab coat had given them a clean bill of health in the stead of their usual medic since he'd been sent on a mission at the time.

Takashi still congratulated them when news reached him once he returned, though. Baked him a lopsided cake and everything.

Unable to recapture the slumbering sand in their eyes, Shin sat up with a lot less difficulty than they'd struggled with in previous months. Taking note of an owl's morning hoots on the branch outside their window, then the actual note on their bedside table to take their meds and stretch properly.

...Right.

With Gai out of the village at Tsunade's request, Shin would have a few more hours free every day for a little while. Today, they chose to spend it tailing someone else for a change, out of curiosity if anything else.

Shin arrived at Konoha's main hospital to find a scene of mild panic—though they still kept their distance—nurses ranged from completely flustered to only showing mild irritation, other patients and staff members still conversing as if the old man making a break for it across the lawn in nothing but scrubs was just another everyday occurrence.

Judging from the exasperation of senior medical personnel, it was.

There was no need to intervene, however, since the man was eventually apprehended by a couple of winded interns, probably former shinobi from the way they moved, but not particularly good enough to keep on the field.

"Takaki-san! You can't keep trying to escape your sponge bath! This is embarrassing, think of what your daughters will have to put up with when they hear about their father's bare ass in public."

"Agh, let them! S'what they get for leaving me in the care of you bozos."

As the excitement died down, Shin gradually started to ignore most of their surroundings in lieu of searching for their person of interest again; blending into the background despite their distinct appearance made even more notable by the new scar that spanned across a large part of their upper body now.

They found him about an hour later, still remaining hidden, apologizing for his tardiness and placing blame on a failed alarm clock. His seniors could forgive Takashi for being behind schedule, but they still laid into the young man for overworking himself again.

That... Takashi had no excuse for.

Shin watched from the shadows as Takashi went about his day, tending to patients with the same tenderness they had been afforded under his care, disappearing in and out of rooms Shin either had no access to or felt wrong to spy on given specific circumstances. They also gained funny looks from a handful of particularly perceptive jonin passing by, but most people either ignored them or weren't aware of their presence.

At some point they'd lost their in the somewhat controlled commotion of rush hour, but found Takashi making polite conversation with a coworker during his lunch break outside.

"That's Takaki-san for you," he offered a smile in consolation to his fellow medic-nin, "he gets really fussy if he isn't allowed to have his breakfast in view of the sun."

"Does it really matter? That doesn't give him an excuse to make hell for the rest of us."

Takashi put down the instant coffee he'd been nursing, turning his gaze to the band-aid wrapped around his left index finger. "I think it does. Lots of our patients will be here for the rest of their lives. The least we can do is make sure it's comfortable and dignified, right?"

Tuning out the other medic's complaints, something along the lines of there being no dignity in running around naked, Shin's mind began to wander to a conversation they had with the taller brother out of this pair some time ago.

"What do you think of your brother, Takashi."

"...What about him?" Tae's attention lifted from the shogi board between them to his companion's face; still heavily bandaged, but he'd heard from his brother that they were well enough to start moving around - the reason why he was here playing in Takashi's stead.

"Your opinions; do you think little of him, do you find his weaknesses a hindrance."

"No." The response is immediate. Though his voice is still very monotone, Shin senses a twinge of irritation worked into the muscles of Tae's forehead as they take one of his pieces off the board. "I don't think my brother is weak."

"Tacchan has more strengths than drawbacks. He can do things most people can't as a medic-nin, he's kind despite everything. If I was in his position I would have failed a long time ago. Takashi's someone people can easily trust in."

Shin watches the board, mirroring the placid expression of the man before him as their game intensifies, beads of sweat starting to form on their skin with every audible wooden tap, every new move, every counterattack,

"So I won't let anyone mock my brother's resolve."

Check mate.

Shin's brought back to the present by the sound of their target and colleague getting up to stretch, to get back to their backbreaking, thankless labor - they also begin to wonder about the similarities they've noticed between these twins.

Just as they feel as though they've observed enough and get up to leave, Takashi's voice catches Shin's attention again.

"Oh man, I'm going to be late for my afternoon match with one of the patients—we better hurry!"

"The shogi one? But I thought that guy was released a while ago?"

They watch from the cover of densely packed leaves as their former physician stumbles, almost losing his balance as the information registers and his buddy fusses over whether Takashi's really alright or not, regardless of the sheepish grin he's given.

Shin couldn't help the small, almost inaudible laugh that bubbles out from them—hidden by their sleeve. They don't suppress the smile that forms at the thought of Takashi yelling at them to get down from there and rest, Shin-san since even though they'd been cleared from physical therapy, they were still technically not supposed to strain themself.

Exemplified by the way their right shoulder had been prickling on and off all day. But that would just be another excuse reason to visit the doctor, right?

#cebwrites #naruto #naruto oc #takashi #taeru #gift fic #idk how to tag this

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plunderalert · 2 years ago

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House GOP ditches metal detectors 3 days before Capitol riot anniversary

January 3, 2023 (Tuesday) Today, the Republicans took over the House of Representatives. The first thing they did was to remove the metal detectors that were installed after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The removal was one of the things Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) promised far-right Republicans in hopes of winning their votes to elect him speaker. The House has not yet voted on the rules package that ends "Democrat fines for failure of Members to comply with unscientific mask mandates and security screenings before entering the House floor," but the metal detectors are gone, just three days before the second anniversary of the January 6 attack. So far, the removal of those metal detectors is the only concrete outcome of McCarthy’s attempt to woo the extremist members of his conference. McCarthy failed today to win the House speakership. For the first time since 1923, the speaker was not decided on the first ballot. The reason for the failure is that the Republican conference in the House is feuding internally. On the one hand are the extremists who maintain the reason the Republicans lost ground in the last three elections is that party leadership has not gone far enough in dismantling the government. They are led by lawmakers who were key in former president Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, men like Scott Perry (R-PA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Jim Jordan (R-OH). “I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes,” Perry tweeted. “If…McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the…Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now.” Politico’s Heidi Przybyla recalled that in his 2021 memoir, former Republican speaker John Boehner said of this faction: "What they're really interested in is chaos.… They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails and they've finally proved that it's beyond saving." And they are tied tightly to right-wing media: "Every time they vote down a bill, they get another invitation to go on Fox News or talk radio," he said. "It's a narcissistic—and dangerous—feedback loop." On the other hand are Republicans like the one who spoke to CNN’s Jake Tapper last night, saying that the holdouts want “procedural trickery that no one in America gives a damn about, but that might give these few loudmouths just a little bit more of the attention and power they crave…. None of these narcissists—and that’s what they are, pure narcissists—did a damn thing to help us win the majority. Nothing. If anything, many of them were liabilities, requiring outside help from Kevin McCarthy, ironically. So they contribute nothing to the team, and then have the audacity to demand outsize influence and power.” The statement is important; equally important is that the source wanted to stay anonymous. Before today, there were plenty of signs McCarthy did not have the votes he needed to become speaker. About five extremists had made it clear they would not vote for him, and another bloc of about nine Republicans had waffled. McCarthy tried to bluster his way through the uncertainty, beginning the process of moving into the speaker’s office last night. But as former White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted: “politics 101 rule—avoid going into a vote not knowing if you have the votes….” McCarthy revealed that he had not mastered that rule when the House began to vote. It turned out that he was down not just the five promised “no” votes, but a full 19 votes as extremists threw their support to members who share their ideology. Meanwhile, the Democrats united around Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House minority leader. The results of the first ballot had Jeffries in the lead with 212 votes and McCarthy second with 203; Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who was part of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, had ten votes. Nine votes went to miscellaneous others. A second ballot again saw Jeffries and McCarthy at 212 and 203 respectively. But extremists concentrated around Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), giving him 19 votes. A third ballot had Jeffries holding steady at 212, while McCarthy dropped a vote to stand at 202. Jordan picked up that vote to stand at 20. A dropping vote is never a good sign for a frontrunner. And with that, the House adjourned about 5:30 p.m., sending representatives off to negotiate behind closed doors. At stake is the direction of the Republican Party. While extremists blame their recent losses on the leadership that will not, they insist, go far enough, observers note that Republicans have lost voters who see the party as far to the right of the mainstream. Moving the party farther right is the last thing less extreme Republicans want, especially those 18 new Republican representatives from districts President Joe Biden won in 2020. An extremist House speaker will almost certainly kill their careers as two years of headlines feature members like Lauren Boebert (R-CO) lecturing and Jim Jordan yelling. So, as McCarthy’s bid for speaker bogs down, the question is whether they will accept the extremist Jordan—who is deeply implicated in the January 6, 2021, attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election—as speaker, or whether they will work to find a compromise candidate by working either with Democrats or with Republicans who regroup around someone who isn’t Jordan. Former Republican governor of Ohio John Kasich has already called on House Republicans to work with Democrats “to pick a speaker to run a coalition government, which will moderate the House and marginalize the extremists.” But which way they will go is unclear. As congressional reporter for Punchbowl News Max Cohen reported tonight, the Republicans still have to defer to their media for direction. Representative Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), who expects to be in the House leadership, said of the 19 voters who swung to Jordan: “We’ll see what happens when Tucker and Sean Hannity and Ben Shapiro start beating up on these guys. Maybe that'll move it.” As for the man who sparked this meltdown, NBC’s Garrett Haake tweeted an exclusive story: “Former President Trump declined to say if he's sticking by his endorsement of Kevin McCarthy for speaker tonight, telling me in a brief phone interview he's had calls all day asking for support, and ‘We'll see what happens. We'll see how it all works out.’” People are comparing this multiple-ballot contest to that of 1923, when Progressive Republicans forced incumbent speaker Frederick Gillett, a Republican, to accept rules changes that gave them more power before they would put him back in office. Perhaps more instructive, though, was the speaker’s contest of 1855–1856, when a struggle over the future of the country created shifting coalitions that crossed party lines until, after two months and 133 ballots, representatives put Nathaniel Banks, who had ties to most of the different factions, in the speaker’s chair. Conspicuously excluded from the talking and visiting on the House floor today was newly-elected George Santos (R-NY), whose lies about his education, employment, financing, and so on would lead any healthy political party to demand an investigation of him before he took office. In this case, though, his vote for McCarthy was too important to pass up, so he sat shunned by his colleagues, alone and silent, except when called on to vote. The House Democrats, meanwhile, organized without a hitch, putting together a leadership team that consists of Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Katherine Clark (MA), and Pete Aguilar (CA). With quite a bit of enthusiasm, the Democrats voted as a bloc to give Jeffries more votes than McCarthy, whose party is in the majority. The Senate, too, organized easily and with what looked like a good deal of fun. Vice President Kamala Harris swore in the senators, then chatted with families and posed for pictures. Tonight, Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wrote to the Architect of the Capitol complaining that McCarthy had occupied the office of the House speaker without having been elected. “How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?” Gaetz asked. “Please write back promptly as it seems Mr. McCarthy can no longer be considered Speaker-Designate following today’s balloting.” The first day of Republican control of the House of Representatives does not bode well for the next two years.

Notes:

https://www.axios.com/.../house-gop-removes-metal... https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1610064876201705472 https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/1610408754721218561 https://twitter.com/maxpcohen/status/1610377165480296450 https://www.cnn.com/.../new-congress-sworn-in.../index.html https://www.cnn.com/.../house-speaker-vote.../index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../kevin-mccarthy-in.../ https://www.inquirer.com/.../scott-perry-pa-opposes-kevin... https://www.rawstory.com/kevin-mccarthy-john-boehner/ https://twitter.com/HeidiReports/status/1610384979996950528 https://thehill.com/.../3795829-mccarthy-struggles-to.../ https://twitter.com/JohnKasich/status/1610347326790410240 https://twitter.com/kamalaharr.../status/1610380917452804097 https://twitter.com/jrpsaki/status/1610333815343292417 https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/1610469170499420161 Read the full article

#GOP #House #Republicans #Speaker

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stupendoushimawari700 · 5 years ago

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“It’s been awhile since I last used myself.”

#Sasori of red sand #Akatsuki #Dead #Blazing #Naruto/Shippuden #Puppeteers #Puppet mode #former Sand nin

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faerociousbeast · 2 years ago

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Oh I sent reply as soon as u moved back but. Ya leaf is cool ofc but also mint n sand r rlly tempting. Espec sand I love puppetrhings.

YEAH YEAH THEYRE SUPER COOL AS WELL leaf is always the popular option WHICH IS FAIR as that's where most things happen but the other villages are soo. however i have to let you know on the negatives too !! okay so !!!

sand had a large period of poverty as well as like.. REALLY weak military forces, leading to the creation of a certain jinchuuriki- jinchuuriki are basically the people who serve as vessels to tailed beasts yeah, such as naruto. this jinchuuriki went through.. some tough times we'll just say that, had a habit of kinda..... slaughtering random citizens? haha? so watch out for that KGHKGJHDF

THEIR PUPPET THING IS HOWEVER VERY INTERESTING their best known one is "sasori of the red sand", a renowned puppet master who went missing when he was around 16. most of the current puppet designs were actually credited to him!! some other users include lady chiyo, an elder who's been a puppet master for many, many years- she's actually the leader of the "puppet brigade", which iirc is what the puppet unit was known as :) finally we have kankuro, he's in the main generation, middle child extraordinaire. he's fun though. love him

the other thing with puppets is that they often are created with poison- so all of the above are very skilled poison experts. depending on the puppet style, they have senbon with poison that shoot at you, trap their users inside of them, are just laced in general, etc. very cool

HIDDEN MIST so they were most likely the starting place the akatsuki, the criminal organization formed mostly of rogue ninja/missing nin (ninjas who abandoned their villages and went rogue or went missing. obviously), and theyre also where the seven swordsmen come from- technically.. there are a lot more than seven, bc of all the inheriting etc etc, but GENERALLY they all have really unique swords and a crazy high reputation :)

negative things. Yeah it was known as the "bloody mist" as if you'd like to advance in your ninja career, you must kill every last one of your other classmates for your exam! the other kids who you spent so many years with. so it's a bit... much. high expectations. there was also a lot of drama going on with one of the former mizukages, rumours of him being.. controlled....? oh my. cant say much though :)

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catflorist · 4 years ago

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The Time Being (ao3 / ffn) catflorist Summary: Time-slipping is a side effect of wielding the Rinnegan. When Sasuke slips through time, he always goes to Sakura, whether he wants to or not. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

pt 6: time

Whispers ignited, naming the figure before them.

Here was the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre. The former Konoha genin with promising skill and power. The rogue nin, the traitor. The Akatsuki member, the criminal, the political adversary and enemy to the village.

Sasuke turned his head to scan the crowd. He stopped when his eyes found Sakura's.

Here was Sasuke, in the same place and time as her.

"I'm here to fight alongside you," he announced. He was speaking to everyone, but looking at Sakura.

Sakura couldn't move. Everywhere around her, a wave was crashing.

Naruto darted towards Sasuke, buzzing with joy. His loud voice carried as he introduced himself to Sasuke's three teammates.

Sakura took a short step forward and halted. Her chakra network hummed with energy, swirling within the internal reserves she had created and filled to the brim over the past five years. It was time for every long, drawn out thing she had been waiting for to unfold at once.

Just over the rocky ledge, the battle was calling. Impatient, and finished with introductions and reintroductions, Naruto bounded away to join the fight.

Sasuke was waiting. "Sakura. Aren't you coming?"

With that, she knew where they stood. The wind stirred his long hair––long enough to tie back, though he hadn't decided to yet. He wasn't the man who had offered her his cloak, but he was the closest she had ever seen.

"Sasuke-kun," she sighed out, eyes falling shut. "I need a moment…"

With three deep breaths, the seal grew into existence on the center of her brow.

When she opened her eyes, Sasuke was smiling at her.

They entered the fray together.

Gripping Obito's shoulders, Sakura released her seal. With her borrowed energy, Obito harnessed the power of his Rinnegan and tore a portal into the air.

They flitted between dimensions, searching for Sasuke. Snowflakes blew into their faces, then the scent of a forest, then a puff of hot dry air.

Sakura gasped. "There!"

Sasuke stood on the tip of a distant sand dune. Sakura couldn't hear a thing with how loudly the blood pumped in her ears. She tightened her hold on Obito and burned through her chakra, funneling it all into him. Obito grunted with the desperate effort of keeping the portal open. His shoulders shook under Sakura's touch.

Sasuke raced towards them, kicking up clouds of red sand in his wake.

The portal flickered shut like a breath to a flame. No, she thought.

She didn't know she was falling back until something solid and warm stopped her fall.

Sasuke's mismatched eyes, two deep wells of red and purple, met hers.

"Yokatta," she breathed. Sasuke squeezed her shoulder. Though they had not touched in years, he held her perfectly, with a surety and firmness that made Sakura feel weightless. Her head fell back upon the crook of his neck.

"Hm. You lied to me, Sasuke," Obito said.

"Takes a liar to know one," Sasuke said. Tucked so close, Sakura felt the vibration of his voice in his throat.

"For me, it was two people," Obito said, standing. "My old teammates."

Sakura did not know what this meant. She lifted her head. Sasuke pressed her more firmly to his side.

Obito addressed Sakura. "You okay, kid? You've got quite a lot of chakra, but that was rough."

"I'm fine now," she said, righting herself on her feet. Sasuke's hand did not drop from her arm. "Thank you for helping."

Obito nodded. Sakura glanced at Sasuke and only then did he let her go.

They fought together. They took down the moon.

Old rivalries outlasted the war. Sasuke and Naruto bristled as they faced each other, itching to continue an unresolved battle. The tomoe of Sasuke's Sharingan spun. Naruto clenched a fist, eyebrows drawn.

Sakura stepped between them. "Don't."

Naruto and Sasuke breathed heavily. Finally, Sasuke blinked. His eyes faded to their normal darkness. Naruto sighed, and the tension left his shoulders.

Sakura didn't use her strength. She didn't forcefully pull them apart. She asked, and they listened. Her word was the only convincing they needed.

Sakura lit her palms in green chakra. "Sit down. You both look a mess," she ordered. They obeyed. She knelt and healed them at the same time. When they were both in good shape, she healed the shallow scratch on Sasuke's cheek, though Tsunade would have called it a waste of chakra. At her touch on his face, Sasuke closed his eyes.

"You're both idiots." She meant to sound angry, but her voice shook. "What's the point in fighting each other? There are better battles."

Naruto's mouth twisted into a sheepish grin. He placed a hand on her back. "Sorry, Sakura-chan."

"I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you." Sasuke stared down at his clasped hands. "And that it's taken me so long."

Unable to speak, Sakura nodded. She sat between her boys. Kakashi approached and joined them.

They did not linger for long. They had a world to reawaken. But they spent a moment together in the silence. Enough time to mourn, to breathe, to watch a glimmer of light shine through the thick clouds.

The afternoon sun glared down on Sakura's back as she made her way through the loud and crowded allied forces encampment. She paused to shed her medic apron.

An insistent, waving hand caught her attention. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted, sitting in the shade of a tent next to three other shinobi. "Come meet my new friends!"

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and drew closer. The faces of Sasuke's teammates came into focus.

"This is Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin," Naruto announced, pointing. Suigetsu, polishing the blade of his sword with loving strokes, flashed a wide grin. Jugo blinked placidly in her direction and continued whittling a chunk of wood with a kunai. Karin looked to the left of Sakura's face and frowned.

"It's nice to meet you all," Sakura said, resisting an urge to rub the back of her neck. She was not nervous earlier, stabilizing the condition of a shinobi bleeding out on her operating table, but she was nervous now, facing Sasuke's teammates.

"You've got some blood in your hair," Karin remarked.

Sakura felt her face fall. "Oh," she said, a hand darting to find the offending strand.

Karin produced a cloth from her satchel, wet it with drinking water, and held it out with a smirk. Sakura accepted it with a rush of relief.

"Taka's been filling me in on what they've been up to," Naruto explained. Karin shifted in the tent's shadow, leaving room for Sakura to sit.

"Traveling, fighting, crime," Suigetsu summarized with a wink in Sakura's direction.

"Bickering," Jugo supplied, flicking away a curl of wood from the form in his hands.

Naruto barked out a laugh, and a grin rose to Sakura's face. "What about?" she asked. They also shared memories of bickering with Sasuke.

Karin's head snapped to the side, aiming a loaded look at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu sulked. "We have a difference in opinion about meal preparation."

"And why is that?" Karin prompted.

"Sasuke says 'onion skins aren't edible' and I'll 'ruin the meal,' or whatever," Suigetsu explained, with a passable impression of Sasuke's voice. "I'm not allowed to cook anymore. Can you believe that, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

"How awful," Sakura said with a smile, smoothing her hair.

"You missed a spot," Karin said. "Let me." She took over cleaning Sakura's hair, wetting then combing it through with her fingers. This sensation combined with the warm sun on her face had Sakura fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Are you going to braid each other's hair next?" Suigetsu jeered.

"If you want me to braid your hair, Suigetsu, you can just ask," Karin scoffed.

Suigetsu grinned at himself in the reflection of his blade. "Do you think it would suit me?"

After inspecting Suigetsu with narrowed eyes, Jugo shared a thoughtful look with Naruto. Naruto spoke for the both of them. "Why not?" he said.

Karin rolled her eyes and released Sakura's hair. "You're set," she said. "I have to say, it's nice to spend time with people beyond my idiot teammates."

"Speaking of idiots, where is Sasuke?" Naruto asked, voicing the very question on Sakura's mind.

"Karin sent him to find water," Suigetsu said.

"Ages go." Karin waved a hand. "He disappears sometimes, and thinks we don't notice." Suigetsu and Jugo shrugged in agreement without looking up from their respective tasks. Sakura tried not to look too interested.

"Ha!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sounds just like the bastard."

Jugo coughed softly and presented his finished carving to Naruto. "A toad for the toad sage," he said.

Naruto's eyes bugged out in surprise. "It's mine?" He turned the figurine over in his hands. "Jugo, you're amazing, 'yanno?"

As Naruto sang Jugo's praises, Sakura caught sight of a cloak and travel pack resting near the entrance of the tent. Her heart panged, knowing they belonged to Sasuke. He had folded and arranged his cloak neatly atop the pack just like he used to when they were genin. The left strap was rumpled and dirty, because that was the side he liked to grip when he walked a long distance. Despite the years, Sasuke went through the world with the same touch.

Sakura wanted to wait for Sasuke to return with the water, to sit and talk all together, and witness two teams merging into one. But her medic-nin duties called. She waved farewell and left for the infirmary tent.

By the time her shift ended, the sky was pink and orange, illuminating the rocky landscape in a warm glow. Sakura stepped outside the tent and stretched, settling back in her own body after hours spent in the flow of healing. Her vision swam with images of fractured radius and ulna bones, the type of injury the White Zetsu Army most commonly inflicted. It was a good shot––targeting the arms meant shinobi could not easily cast ninjutsu. Her hands almost hummed with the precise quantity of chakra needed to set and mend the bone.

"Sakura," called a quiet voice.

Sakura rubbed her eyes. "Don't tell me it's another proximal forearm fracture."

The medic did not respond. A gust of wind blew through the encampment, carrying the scent of stony soil and juniper. Sakura opened her eyes and nearly jumped. Sasuke stood before her.

She scrambled to place him. He had appeared with little warning, but he looked a lot like the Sasuke of her time, with long, unruly hair and mismatched eyes.

"Are you…are you my Sasuke?" she blurted, instantly lamenting her choice of words.

His mouth quirked. "I'm your Sasuke," he confirmed.

"I see," Sakura said, fighting the wave of heat rising to her cheeks. Sasuke remained silent, content to watch her struggle for words. Finally, she let out a breath. "We have a lot to talk about."

"We can start now," he offered.

To steady the uneven pace of her heart, she stalled. "I don't remember you being so willing to have a conversation."

"I've waited a long time to talk to you, Sakura."

A buzz filled Sakura's ears, calm and quiet, like plunging underwater. She had been waiting, too, from the instant she had blinked awake on that cold stone bench. Could it be true that her waiting was done?

Under Sasuke's attentive gaze, Sakura recounted each moment she witnessed him slipping through time and all that occurred in between. Halfway through describing Pain's attack, a medic-nin jostled shoulders with Sakura on their way into the infirmary tent. Sasuke's fingers brushed Sakura's elbow, a suggestion to move three paces to the left.

Sakura lost her train of thought. "What has it been like for you?" she asked, as Sasuke's touch vanished.

"What do you want to know?"

"How often do you slip?"

"It depends," he said. "Sometimes I slipped every night. Sometimes, years passed in between."

"What does it feel like?"

"A bit like falling."

Sakura frowned as Sasuke's earlier words registered. "Exactly how many times has it happened?"

"I've seen you countless times." His brow furrowed. "I always went to you, except once," he said, but Sakura barely heard him.

"Countless times?" she repeated, raking through her memory of their conversation on the bench––a conversation that replayed in her mind every single day. "You didn't tell me it was like that."

"I'm telling you now," he said, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Sakura shook her head. She thought she'd known everything there was to know. "What happened the last time you saw me?"

A glint grew in Sasuke's eye. "You'll see."

Something about his expression made Sakura's mind go blank. "I...I can't think of any more questions right now."

"Fine," Sasuke said. "We have time."

They had time.

He could use a haircut, Sakura thought, looking up. They were standing close enough that if she reached a hand out, she could easily brush away the dark hair threatening to fall in his eyes.

"Oi, teme, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blinked and took a step back. Her legs were tired from standing, and the steady flow of foot traffic around them was gone.

Naruto approached the tent, hoisting a sword as tall as Sakura over his shoulder. "What's taking you two so long?" he demanded.

Suigetsu burst around the bend. "I need that back now––"

"The food is ready and Karin's getting mad," Naruto said, returning the Executioner's Blade into Suigetsu's protective hands.

"I just polished it," Suigetsu muttered to himself, rubbing his sleeve over an invisible smudge.

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "I was supposed to tell you that you're invited to dinner."

Before accepting his invitation, Sakura marveled how they had talked long enough for the moon to rise in the sky, to cast the elegant features of Sasuke's face in a silver glow. All this time passed and he was still here with her, not slipping away into thin air. He was not going anywhere.

Up next: Sasuke is back. The seasons pass. Notes: early update, bc i couldn't wait to share this chapter. as always, please let me know what you think, and thank you for reading :) ps, you can also find me on twitter (@catfloriste) for additional ramblings

#sasusaku #sasusaku fanfiction #sasusaku fanfic #ss fic #ss #my ss #my fic #the time being

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electrasev5nwrites · 2 years ago

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Ninja Daily: Vapors 44

"I don't like this," Temari muttered. The boy who had introduced himself as Suigetsu –'just Suigetsu, sweet cheeks,'- merely gave her a hard stare and a vaguely threateningly toothy smile, with just the right hint of 'unhinged' behind it. She didn't appear impressed in the slightest, although Aiko mentally gave the try 7 out of 10. It was hard to threaten someone who'd lived with Gaara for an extended period of time, she supposed.

"I'm not a fan either," Yamato sighed, keeping an eye on their new friend. Aiko rather suspected that the adults were thinking of him more along the lines of a 'prisoner' than anything, but it hadn't been explicitly stated.

Suigetsu had definitely caught onto the hostility, but he didn't seem frightened or upset by it. Perhaps the right word was 'amused.'

Baki grunted. "I'd join you, but we need to get this one to the medics." He jerked his head at Kankuro, who was woozily doing his best to pay attention and not entirely succeeding. Still, he wasn't in any immediate danger. "If Suigetsu isn't full of it, this is a situation that needs to be addressed."

He was undoubtedly right, and the Konoha nin knew it. Without Suigetsu's cheerful tattle-tailing, they might have thought that what was going on was more Sand's problem than Konoha's. They would have been wrong.

"How do we know we can trust this person?" Temari glared pointedly at the interloper. "He could be loyal to Orochimaru."

"First of all, he's dead," Suigetsu drawled in a tone that implied she was an idiot. He glanced at his jagged, filthy nails casually and made a slight face as if making a note to clean them. "Besides, why would I hold loyalty to that fucker? He basically kidnapped me and performed experiments on me". Suigetsu paused. "And by basically, I mean that he did exactly that thing I just said." The nin visibly dismissed her to take a long drink from the water bottle he had begged off of Yamato.

Temari flushed pink, scowling as she turned her face away.

Kakashi's gaze flickered silently over the assembled nin, assessing the general opinion. He didn't comment on whatever he saw, but his stance shifted as if he'd made a decision. "Yamato, Aiko, we need to go investigate this. Suigetsu-san, thank you for offering to escort us. We'll take you up on that."

Suigetsu rolled his eyes at how obviously unenthusiastic Kakashi was, but didn't comment.

"Baki, would it be possible for you to send the Mist reinforcement team our way when you get back? Of course, we'll understand if the border can't spare them."

It was probably a good thing that Suigetsu had wandered behind the group. Kankuro and Aiko were the only ones angled to see his flinch, and Kankuro almost certainly wasn't paying attention.

Before that, Suigetsu hadn't given any indication to contradict his story that he was a Mist loyalist who had been kidnapped by Orochimaru. He'd left out his specific definition of loyalist and that he'd already defected from the last administration before he had been kidnapped. But his dismay at the implication he might be seeing Mist forces was telling.

She closed her eyes, suspicions confirmed. 'I thought as much. This is the guy that Sasuke was supposed to end up taking with him after he killed Orochimaru.' Aiko was also certain that he'd been talking about the last member of that group. But it just seemed so farcical, so unlikely.

'Then again, it can't really be anyone else that Kabuto is using to infect the people he has kidnapped,' she sighed.

The confirmation that Kabuto was the one in charge of Sound was one that bothered her. Everyone else was taking it in stride, but they didn't know much about Kabuto's character. They didn't even seem to know that he was a former Konoha nin. It was frustrating that she couldn't share her suspicions.

From what she knew of him, Kabuto was a very logical individual, and not one with a strong grudge against Konoha. 'Well, not against it as a whole, anyway,' she allowed. Her memory was a bit fuzzy, but she thought that he had a grudge against Danzo in specific.

But from what Suigetsu had said, Kabuto had completely cracked. They had been correct that they were seeing various low-level missing nin infected with the 'rage' virus (for lack of a better descriptive term), but in the weeks since they had left Konoha, he had turned to raids on border towns in Fire Country.

On one hand, that nicely explained why Tsunade was too busy to send them replacements. On the other, it meant that the Sand alliance forces had been killing Fire Country civilians. That wasn't going to please the Daimyo.

The choice of engaging in the risk of kidnapping across Fire's borders implied that Kabuto was trying to cause a split between Konoha and the Fire Country ruling elite. (or someone else is trying to cause trouble, Aiko insisted mentally, still not sold on the idea that it was Kabuto. Perhaps someone was impersonating him? Then again, why, if Sound was ruled by the strongest nin there?)

As much as the kidnappings still directly concerned the Sand border guards who had to kill the constant irritants, their job was primarily to protect the border. It was obviously frustrating to Temari, who would clearly rather go after the source of the problem than wait for Kabuto to make more low-level kamikaze foot soldiers. But they couldn't quite justify leaving their post, either. That frustration was probably why Kakashi thought it was worth the trouble of asking if the Konoha team could get reinforcements. It would depend on if Mist was amenable, but Aiko rather thought they would be. They didn't seem fond of the climate or long deployment. It had been about a month in Wind country, and no one liked it.

"I'll ask them," Baki allowed. He turned and bodily picked up Kankuro, ignoring his involuntary whimper. Temari gritted her teeth, gave Suigetsu one final glare, and spoke up.

"Wait, Baki-sensei. I think that we should send a representative with them. This isn't just Konoha's problem." She shifted her hands to her hips combatively, as if ready for a long argument.

Baki merely shrugged. "You want to go with them? Fine, then."

"We'll take good care of her," Kakashi drawled, probably knowing that Baki would have to pressure the Mist team to accept the mission if he was worried about one of his students.

He merely grunted, inclining his head at the group. "Be careful, Temari." He fixed Suigetsu with a stern look. "If you're playing us for fools, I will find you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Suigetsu muttered testily.

The older man gave a little sneer, and then shook his head. "Let's get you to the nice nurse, Kankuro-chan."

Temari and Suigetsu sniggered in unison, and then stopped, appalled. While they exchanged poisonous looks, Kakashi exhaled loudly and tugged a worn map out of his hip pouch. "Suigetsu-san, where exactly did you say this hideout was?"

Aiko drifted over to the other girl's side, assuming they would probably be assigned to stick together. Kakashi didn't seem to like or trust Suigetsu much, so he would probably either watch him personally or assign Yamato to it so he could be on the lookout for a trap. No doubt Temari could take care of herself, but it didn't hurt to be extra careful with their diplomatic cushion.

Even when on the outs with him, her analysis of Kakashi's thoughts seemed to be dead on. Yamato clung to Suigetsu like a burr, who looked a bit put-out at his new accessory.

'Someone should remember to tell Tsunade she was wrong about Rock letting Sound past their borders,' she thought at one point in their long sprint. Apparently Orochimaru had set up an underground hideout in Vegetable that crossed the border from Grass. That acquisition made a bit more sense now. If they were going to be sending large numbers through Grass, it would just be easier to get rid of any border patrol that might put up resistance. No doubt it had also helped to provide a confusing smoke screen to obscure what was really going on by making other villages think Sound had just suddenly gone nuts.

'Not that their current course of action isn't suicidally crazy', she allowed. Aiko just couldn't believe that Kabuto was really running the show. It didn't make sense. Someone had impersonated him. 'Or he could have motivations I'm not aware of,' her treacherous mind pointed out. 'Something could have changed, or I could just be wrong entirely. Don't be so damn cocky.'

There was something undignified about mentally scolding herself, so she dropped that train of thought and concentrated on cataloguing the changing scenery. The scrubland had transformed into a smattering of scraggly deciduous trees capable of surviving the still-dry (by her Konoha-raised standards, anyway) heat. They were a bit droopy, but they were still decently tall trees, so she chose to see them as an improvement.

"That's where we stopped for the night," Suigetsu wheezed, looking a bit strained. Kakashi barely gave the place a glance.

"I know."

"Apparently we're not stopping," the Mist-nin breathed sardonically.

Aiko resisted the urge to snort. They'd only been running for a few hours. Was he really so out of shape?

'Then again, he was kept in a glass containment tube for at least a year,' her conscience pointed out in the interest of fairness. 'It's reasonably likely that his aerobic abilities went downhill.'

She snatched a glance at his form to her left, knowing that her conclusion was logical but having a hard time accepting it nonetheless. His swordsmanship certainly hadn't suffered. He was much better than she was, and she was passable. As if he'd heard the grudging compliment, Suigetsu's head turned to give her another one of his strange, toothy smirks. Aiko managed an awkward half-smile in return before lifting her gaze back forwards, ignoring the amused sound he made.

'He's so weird, though.'

Aiko was now relatively certain that he was flirting with her, possibly because it ticked off Temari. She seemed to think he was an absolute pig and untrustworthy to boot. He seemed to think Temari was a gigantic bitch and got a kick out of provoking her.

'Suigetsu doesn't have great taste,' she snickered at that thought. 'Temari is smoking hot.'

Aiko would never make the counterproductive claim that she was unattractive. By her standards at least, she was pretty damn adorable. (She might be a little over-muscled by civilian standards, she was fair enough to acknowledge). But seventeen-year-old Temari was hot in a way that a fourteen year old just couldn't compare to, not even an early bloomer.

His strange behavior would just have to remain a mystery, because she didn't care enough to ask.

"If we keep at this pace, they'll know we're here within half an hour," Suigetsu wheezed some time later, appearing decidedly wilted.

"Hn." Kakashi stopped the group, gifting the suffering Mist nin with a condescending look. "Ten minute break, then we head out again." With a flash of sunlight off a cloud of conjured leaves, he was gone.

'Probably to scout ahead,' Aiko realized dully. He didn't trust Suigetsu. She didn't feel any worry, however. Kakashi would never lead his team into more danger than they could handle.

Everyone left in that clearing knew the break was for Suigetsu's sake. Temari didn't seem to appreciate it, but Yamato was nonchalant, dropping down onto the yellowed grass bonelessly. Aiko cringed a little at just how terrible their guide looked. That was an unreasonable rate of deterioration in physical condition… unless it was related to his kekkai genkai, she realized. The condition was much less arid than it had been when they'd started running, but the air had nothing on Mist or even Konoha for dampness. He was probably evaporating and too damn stubborn to say a thing after it had become clear that the general attitude of the group was against him.

Aiko unhooked her water pouch and wordlessly tossed it to Suigetsu, not making eye contact.

There was no point in letting his condition deteriorate further. They still needed him.

She could practically feel his prideful glower, but in a moment she heard him gulping it down desperately. She tried not to wince at the thought that she wouldn't have any sanitized water left for her trip back into the desert. If things got desperate, she could burn chakra to produce more. It would just be a bad decision before entering a fight with unknown entities to waste even a little on something so mundane as a drink when she wasn't desperate.

'No point in standing around like a lump.' Aiko imitated Yamato by flopping down into the grass, but she let her legs go akimbo and leaned over into a stretch instead of letting her muscles cool down too much. She almost wished she hadn't, or that she had been wearing real pants instead of stretchy black shorts. The skin exposed between her boots and shorts itched terribly wherever it touched the grass. It was hard not to scowl. 'How can grass even be this dry? This whole place is a tinderbox.'

She glared at Yamato for good measure, irritated that he didn't even seem to notice the roughness that was bothering her. He just looked confused and mildly concussed, which was sort of his default expression when he could be bothered to have one at all.

'What a jerk,' she thought uncharitably, 'with his fancy pants and his regulation turtleneck.' She scrunched up her nose. 'I'm Yamato,' she mocked silently in an artificially high pitch she would struggle to recreate vocally, 'I always do exactly what the handbook tells me to do, like wear the winter uniform in a desert because it was the cool season when I left Konoha. I like pants, long walks on the beach, and kissing Kakashi's butt.'

Kakashi's butt was dangerous mental territory, so she flopped over irritably and pushed herself up into a bridge position, trying to just concentrate on getting a good stretch.

"That wasn't ten minutes," Suigetsu complained from somewhere above her. Aiko startled a little, having not sensed Kakashi return. She flipped upright and rolled her neck, blinking at her serious-looking commander.

"Suigetsu, how many people are usually at this location?"

He shrugged indolently. "Man, I was kept in a cage until those loonies thought they could drug me and point me at Sand. How the hell would I know? I only saw a couple of the science freaks when I left, but I know they wouldn't have released the freak the original virus came from." He gave a low laugh. "You'd know if they had, trust me."

Kakashi relaxed slightly, tenseness leaving his shoulders. "So you wouldn't know anything about any in-fighting? Any information on the vulnerabilities of patient zero?" When Suigetsu shook his head, he sighed and rolled his neck. "Alright then. Let's move out."

Yamato got to his feet, Temari pushed off from the tree she'd been leaning against, and Suigetsu sighed before tossing back Aiko's water pouch. Kakashi's eye narrowed, but he silently waited a few moments for her to re-secure it before starting off again at a punishing pace.

It became violently clear why he had asked Suigetsu about in-fighting. Aiko gagged, reflexively covering her mouth.

She wasn't an especially squeamish person. But what had been done to the pink-haired corpse strung up between two buildings didn't bear thinking about. It might not have been so bad, if she didn't have the observation skills and physiological knowledge to spot that the girl had been conscious the entire time.

'That's point one towards Kabuto being here,' she noted vaguely. 'Not just any medic could keep a person alive through torture like that.'

By the patterns of blood spatter and obvious signs of struggle, the girl had definitely been alive at least until the muscles in her legs were peeled off.

"Death to traitors," Yamato read, voice dry. "It's good to know about their philosophy towards turncoats."

Suigetsu looked decidedly green and suddenly unhappy about being there. "I remember that bitch," he muttered. He gave a mirthless, barking laugh. "Guess she didn't like the change in management much." He shuffled uncomfortably. "Let's just get this over with," he muttered, starting towards one of the two buildings. "Entrance is through there."

"I think I'll go first," Kakashi drawled, giving the teen a warning look about trying to lead them into an unsecured area. It was amazing that he'd thought anyone would allow that. "Yamato and Suigetsu, behind me. Aiko, take up the back."

Temari huffed at being left out as if there was no question that she would follow implicit orders, but obediently fell in behind Yamato, who was close enough to Suigetsu to probably make him nervous. The building above ground appeared perfectly normal—like someone's house in the woods. Suigetsu jerked his head at a wall, but Kakashi didn't need the notice and had already gracefully kicked in the false door.

"Or you could have opened it," Suigetsu muttered resentfully. "But whatever. That's cool too." He silenced when Kakashi turned to level him with a hard stare, cowed despite his bravado.

'As he should be,' Aiko thought with amusement as the group began a long trek down, down, down into dampness on stone steps. 'Kakashi is a much better fighter than Suigetsu. I wouldn't provoke him either.'

"Ho-ly crap."

When she finally got to see where they had emerged, Aiko had to silently agree with Yamato. It was a gigantic laboratory.

The room was also spectacularly creepy. She stifled the grimace that wanted to paint her features—the walls along one side were lined with empty cells, some of which stank of dried blood and other things. There were tables with restraints, large sets of spinning displays of chemicals, skeletons on racks, strange things in jars, and several large glass containers down the center of the area. As they passed, Suigetsu irritably shattered one with a fist, baring his teeth at it.

In another situation, they might have actually killed him for making so much noise. No one cared, however, because the lab was almost deserted. At the sound, the one chakra signature that Aiko detected became agitated, fluttering like a butterfly's wings.

"S-stay back!" a man's voice ordered, sounding surprisingly strong through the stutter. "Just leave me alone, you monsters!"

As their footsteps echoed across the floor, none of them daring to speak, the voice turned to a hopeless sob. "Haven't you people done enough?"

Crumpled on the floor, one of the largest men Aiko had ever seen in her life glared up at them through a shock of red hair and chains when she finally got a peek between Kakashi and Yamato's broad shoulders. Then Yamato shifted, and her sight was obscured again. Nervously, she glanced around the room, feeling anxious even though she couldn't sense another presence. Something just felt wrong.

"You're not with them," the man who could only be Juugo breathed. "A-are you here to help me?"

Pity laced Kakashi's voice when he responded. "We came to kill you, if you're the person who Sound has been using to drug Fire Country civilians and force us to fight them."

The pained gasp was enough answer. Aiko gritted her teeth and took a deep, slow breath through her nostrils as the sound of shifting chains filled the air. But she couldn't sense or smell anything out of the ordinary.

'Not that I necessarily would, with all the blood and chemicals in the air,' she thought darkly. This place was foul.

"Kill me." She startled, wishing she could see over her taller companions. Suddenly she wondered why Kakashi had put her at the back when even Temari had a good four inches on her. "Kill me," Juugo pleaded. "Just make this stop before they come back."

"Before who comes back?" Yamato asked with a kind tone.

It didn't do any good, as the mere thought seemed to send Juugo into tears. "I don't know who they are," he breathed through shudders. Aiko backed up slightly, concentrating on the wide-open room. Something just wasn't right. She didn't know what she was reacting to, but something just wasn't right.

The sound of Kakashi sounding gentler than she'd ever heard, so sweet and low it broke her heart, managed to pierce her unease. "Close your eyes."

Involuntarily Aiko obeyed, wincing a little at the squelching sound that followed and the thud of what was almost certainly a head hitting the ground. Furious with herself for the moment of weakness, she blinked her eyes rapidly and clenched her jaw.

'I've never heard a man beg for death,' her mind whispered. 'What could possibly do that to a person?'

She tabled the thought, refusing to indulge in morbid speculation. 'This place would give anyone nightmares.'

"Well, that's that." Suigetsu clapped his hands, sounding unduly cheerful. "Let's blow this shithole, hmm?" He strode out of the group and headed directly towards a set of cupboards along the ceiling, carelessly pulling things down and letting them fall with a clatter. Temari pursed her lips together until they turned white, watching him while Kakashi burnt up any genetic material so that Sound couldn't salvage any of it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Suigetsu grunted, finally pulling out a sword. He tugged the rusty, crappy one on his back off lazily and let it fall with a clatter. "I knew they kept you, baby," he crooned to the new sword, stroking it before slipping it carefully into his sheath. Then he flashed Temari with a toothy grin. "Just getting my things back, love."

The Suna kunoichi rolled her eyes, looking disgusted that he'd referred to her so familiarly. Aiko bit at her lip and blinked furiously, fighting the sting in her eyes from the thick smoke of the burning corpse. She'd always hated doing that indoors and having to breathe it in.

"I think that we should destroy this place," Kakashi mused, scanning it in a detached fashion. "We don't know when they're coming back or what they'll be able to salvage, even with Juugo unavailable."

Suigetsu made a rude sound. "That's a nice euphemism, old man. I think the word you're looking for is dead," he taunted. "You wasted a sick kid in his prison cell. Even I've never done that."

Suddenly, Aiko wanted to put a kunai through his brain stem. She resisted the urge, somewhat unnerved by her own fit of temper. She didn't usually resort to violence out of anger.

Kakashi ignored him anyway, striding across the room. "Everyone, out. I'll light it when you're at the top of the stairs."

Aiko furrowed her brow, not liking the idea of letting Kakashi linger in a room full of nasty chemicals when he was about to start a fire. His sense of smell was far stronger than hers. She lingered a little, giving him an uncertain look. Shouldn't someone else do that? Strong smells could actually paralyze a person.

"Go."

She went, trying not to stare too much at Suigetsu's ass directly in front of her. Now wasn't the time. Even if he did wiggle it humorously, as if in an attempt to defuse the tension.

Everyone else had filed out when she felt Kakashi flying up the stairs like a bat out of hell, forcing her to scramble to get clear of the building as it began to leak heavy clouds of colored smoke and a foul, acrid smell. She crumpled her nose and tried not to breathe it in.

"Oh, fuck," Suigetsu said in a small voice.

'Ah,' she realized. 'Looks like I was wrong. That's definitely Kabuto.'

He didn't seem best pleased, a fact she gathered less from his blank expression and more from the way that he immediately leapt at Kakashi with a blazing handful of medical chakra.

"Shishou!" She couldn't help but yelp, moving to intercept Kabuto. But she wasn't fast enough, lunging after Kabuto had passed her.

Luckily, Kakashi was far faster.

"Temari, Aiko, get the other one!"

She blinked, not having noticed the second shinobi in the confusion of Kabuto's appearance.

'It's one of Kabuto's teammates from Konoha,' she realized. 'Either the one who steals chakra, or the man who bends his bones. Is the last one here somewhere too?'

Aiko took a moment to wish Yamato and Kakashi good luck, before flickering in to cover Temari's back. The older girl had whipped open her fan to display all three moons and forced a barrage of cutting wind at the man before flipping it shut and sprinting in to hit him while he was still lifting his arms to protect his face.

And… Suigetsu was running away. "So long, bitches!" he called out merrily.

"Good riddance, trash!" Temari spat.

She didn't have time to be irritated by his cowardice, so Aiko bit her tongue and darted in with a kunai in each hand to slash at their opponent's grasping hands. 'The chakra-thief, I bet,' she concluded. "Temari, don't let him touch you!" Though a bit confused, the older girl leapt back and flung a spray of senbon to keep the man at bay.

"May I assume there's a reason?"

"Unless you can end it in one blow, I think he has one of those special abilities. He's way too eager to touch you." By the tensing in what little was visible of the man's face, Aiko was sure she was right. 'Either that or he's a pervert.'

"So that means weaponry," Temari concluded easily, producing a twin pair of wickedly curved daggers from what appeared to be thin air. "Very well then." She bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile. "Hold still, I'm afraid I'm not skilled enough with these to be gentle if you struggle."

Aiko sniggered, circling around with her own sword drawn as the man pulled out a weapon of his own, a long blade she didn't recognize. Two-on-one was a tactical advantage, but dangerous for them as well, especially since they had so little experience working with each other. Temari seemed to have similar thoughts, swiping in for quick, glancing blows in a war of attrition instead of engaging constantly. Aiko harassed him from behind, keeping him on the move. It was a way to ensure that they would almost certainly wear him down and win, but it was infuriatingly slow.

"It's like he knows all your moves!"

Especially when she heard Yamato's unnerved exclamation. She had to force herself to focus on her own fight, clenching her jaw and making a nasty cut into her opponent's left leg. He was definitely slowing down now, struggling to block the hits from two directions as the girls circled like sharks.

"He's under a genjutsu!" Kakashi grunted. Aiko heard scuffling sounds. "Yamato, your right!"

'Well, that doesn't sound good.' She managed to exchange a glance with Temari, who looked similarly eager to end the fight. The older girl could see the men's fight from her position, and she didn't look terribly relaxed about whatever was happening.

'It's probably out of our league,' Aiko realized, irritated. She was good, but she wasn't nearly as good as Yamato, much less Kakashi. If the boys were struggling against Kabuto, she'd be dead weight, and she didn't think Temari was much better.

The man they had pinned made a desperate break between the two, eyes wild. Temari swooped down like a goddamn hawk and blocked his way. Aiko saw her chance as if in slow motion while he lifted his glittering blade to deflect Temari's leading arm, darting in to hamstring him. He howled and turned, managing only to take his sight off of Temari as she dug one of her blades into his temple and twisted viciously. He dropped like a rock. The Sand kunoichi bent to tug out her weapon, but Aiko's attention was already on the other fight.

She had been right earlier. It wasn't a fight she should interfere in. Kabuto was fast, and resilient. He ducked off even Yamato's hard blows, regenerating as he made his own attacks. It was damn creepy, and she didn't have the sheer hitting power needed to take him down in one hit so he couldn't heal himself.

Nervously, she circled the trio and tried to think of something. She wanted to say that she was certain her team would win, but Kabuto was preternaturally hard to hit with the kind of move that would keep him down. Aiko was certain that a good chidori to the head would to the trick, but that would only work if the fucker would stay still.

"You got anything good for paralysis?" Temari muttered in her ear.

Aiko shook her head, irritated with herself. "Nothing that'll work fast enough or just on him," she muttered lowly. She didn't see a way to poison Kabuto without getting Yamato, who wasn't immune to her blend. That could get him killed if it set in on him before it did on Kabuto.

Of course, she was wrong, but Aiko rather thought she could be forgiven for not coming to the conclusion that Kakashi apparently did. She'd only had the contract for a short time, after all.

"Summoning no jutsu!" Kakashi practically roared, slamming his palm into the ground. An entire pack flooded out of the smoke, leaping and biting to immobilize Kabuto.

Only one had to get teeth in him to slow him down for the others to begin to catch on, weighing him down on his arms and legs, with little Pakkun viciously clamped around an ankle. They couldn't hold him long, of course, but it was long enough for Yamato to clap his hands together and shoot a winding trunk that wrapped around his legs. Then it was all over, with the sound of a thousand shrieking birds and blinding light that hurt her teeth somehow. Aiko blinked and suddenly Kakashi was fist-deep in the smoking crater where Kabuto's chest had been.

That was when the Mist team touched down.

It was a rather grotesque tableau. Aiko almost had to laugh at the look on Kakashi's face—a mixture of mild surprise and guilt, as if he'd been caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

Temari leaned on her fan and fixed them with an unpleasant stare. "What, did you stop for coffee?" The Mist team exchanged a sheepish look.

"Took you long enough," Yamato panted, resting his palms on his thighs. "I think we're done."

"Uchiha Shishui is the only person I've ever known with that kind of hypnosis ability," Kakashi muttered lowly to Yamato as they waited to depart. His kohai grimaced, looking pained.

"Doesn't make much sense, does it?"

He felt a muscle in his jaw twitch, shaking his head shortly in lieu of a reply. Something had been very wrong about that fight with the white-haired medic, but he wasn't willing to share his suspicions with their foreign allies. He had never seen anything other than Sharingan induced hypnosis that could so totally control a human being from a distance and for an extended period of time. There wasn't really a good outcome to that conversation, especially if he was wrong and caused trouble for nothing.

Uchiha Shishui was very much dead. There wasn't even a chance that his corpse had been missed in the confusion of the massacre clean-up, as he had died first days before at Uchiha Itachi's hands. The body had been interred in the family gravesite. He was sure of it.

Obito's eye burnt in his socket, as if in reminder than another Sharingan eye could have developed a similar ability, or could be wielded by an outsider. 'I know, old friend,' he soothed. 'I think I should check on Shishui's eyes first, before I go looking to see if we could have missed an Uchiha somewhere.'

The obvious conclusion was Uchiha Itachi, of course. He was the only rogue that Konoha was aware of.

But Kakashi had worked with the boy in ANBU for an extended period of time, and he knew from what little had been begrudgingly shared with him that the Sharingan eye of a particular user tended to only enhance that shinobi's specialty. He had never seen Itachi perform anything like this.

'I would feel a lot better if I could rule out the eyes I already know of,' he sighed, despite the fact that such a thing would leave him without a clear course of action.

The door to the barracks squealed open, revealing their tiny kunoichi member flipping her hair over a shoulder. He idly noted that it was getting impractically long and seemed to bother her a lot.

'While I'm asking to dig up Shishui, I can also ask Tsunade to look into the oddity of Aiko's claim that she raised Naruto,' he decided. It would be one less thing to worry about, at least. They set off for home at a much faster pace than they'd arrived at, not burdened by genin. The six they'd traveled with were being left to supplement the border, at least for a while longer.

He was torn between wishing he'd had a chance to speak to Aiko in private and relieved that he hadn't had to start an awkward conversation yet. At least he was relatively certain that she would be amenable to an apology now, so he felt much less on edge when she landed just a little too close to him as they barreled through the trees that meant they were close to home. His apprentice had abandoned her veneer of hostility during most of the mission a few days prior, not even trying to hide her concern over such little things as poisonous fumes from a burning laboratory. Honestly, as if he couldn't hold his breath for a few minutes.

'It's adorable when she tries to protect me.' Kakashi let his lips quirk into a smile under his mask. For all that Aiko seemed to have little sense of self-preservation, her heartrate jumped through the roof whenever he did anything mildly dangerous.

He was willing to acknowledge on the basis of her skills and her relative maturity that she was a young adult and not a child anymore, but the girl had years to go until she would be in the right to try stunts like that. At least she generally had the sense to stay back, even when she couldn't resist the urge to hover.

In a strange way, it was kind of nice knowing that someone cared, even if it was so ineffectual. No one had tried to protect him for a long time.

"Home sweet home," Yamato breathed when the great gates finally came into view through the treetops. Aiko gave an undignified grunt, obviously intent on her creature comforts. She hadn't really been trying to hide her longing for a real bed and a hot bath while they had been gone.

Amused despite himself, Kakashi let his lips curl into a smile under his protective mask that kept his thoughts secret. His subordinates were a bit soft, but he liked them anyways.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

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pain-somnia · 5 years ago

Text

akatsuki gift exchange 2k19

Title: A New Favorite Characters: Sasori, Kakashi Hatake Rating: T Disclaimer Request: Kakashi/Sasori, Setting: Kakashi as a living puppet, Prompt: spending immortality together or something. Anything really goes. Warnings: Death of a Character (not explicit but it’s central to the plot) Day’s Notes: I’m always late and a dollar short 😅 here’s a Sasori-centric fic written for @uintuva for the @akatsuki-gift-exchange; I used this lovely art/headcanon they made as inspiration...the sad headcanon 😇. I hope you like this uintuva and that you have a wonderful 2020.

A New Favorite

The eyes were the difficult part. Usually they were a throwaway detail, just enough to match the body. But these eyes—one eye to be more specific—came with a kekkei genkai.

These eyes needed more care.

Sasori clucked his tongue as he gauged the use of chakra in the implant. It was no wonder Hatake Kakashi hid it away. He would have to make a note of that for his future use.

It was a beautiful eye. The glassy quality left over from the efforts to preserve it left it gleaming, light refracting and making it shine like a ruby. A vibrant red unlike the murky shade of blood on sand.

It was a good red.

There wasn’t much color to Kakashi. He was completely muted with silver locks against ivory skin. There was dullness to charcoal eye of his which was a shame. The smolder of it during the heat of battle would be lost forever.

If Sasori had taken him alive and willing for the process there may have been a chance of preserving all of the finer details—the crease around his eyebrow and the way his nose crinkled and shifted his mask subtly.

Oh well, he thought as he continued his task of preservation. Sacrifices, sacrifices.

What luck it had been that when he and his partner split, Hatake Kakashi followed him instead of the child with rose gold hair. Sasori heard of her feats and he had plans for her. His new puppet would be perfect to use when he sought her out for his collection.

If it wasn’t the new arsenal of ninjutsu that guaranteed his conquest, it would be the psychological damage he was sure to inflict on the kunoichi when he would make her face her former sensei.

Hopefully she would make the battle as entertaining as her teacher. It was rare he was ever made to work up a sweat. He expected big things from the person that discovered an antidote to his poison. He was already going to be deprived of a final showdown with his grandmother, it would be something if the battle would be worth his while.

Ah. Pity. Sasori strummed a thread of chakra. The Sharingan really did waste away a lot of chakra. It pulled so much in its stagnant state and absolutely drained when techniques were attempted.

He would have to work on that.

The Copy Nin puppet did the job of multiple puppets. Easily replacing half of his arsenal of puppets, Kakashi stood by Sasori as a contender for the most used puppet. Hiruko was dust, measly parts that needed to be repaired and if Kakashi was able to perform the Magnet Release, the Third could easily be packed away.

With his own abilities, it shouldn’t be difficult to pull the use of the proper natures.

“Dammit Hatake,” Sasori hissed as he felt his chakra thread snap. Practicing activating the Sharingan wasn’t going as well as he hoped. He snaked chakra threads to feed chakra into the eye in hopes of working around the drainage issues.

“Speaking to your puppets, again?” Deidara’s voice drawled from the corner of the cave he was lounging in. “You’re getting loonier than Tobi. And that’s saying something.”

Sasori peered at the teenager from the corner of his eye and then at the masked man. Tobi had been unusually quiet the past few days. It was hard to tell, but Sasori could have sworn he was staring at the new puppet.

The fascination with the puppet was concerning. Sasori assumed it had something to do with the Sharingan. It was a rare and powerful kekkei genkai, he wouldn’t doubt someone would try to steal it.

Like hell he was going to lose a prize as great as this one.

“Isn’t there somewhere you should be?” Sasori went back to tinkering with some vials. “Both of you?”

“What? Trying to kick us out so you can be alone with your new toy?” Deidara snickered. His expression sobered up at the lack of response from Sasori. “Aren’t you supposed to come with us?”

Instead of responding, Sasori whipped out his tools and a scroll.

“You’re not seriously about to send me off alone with Tobi are you, Danna?” Sasori remained silent. “Oh, come on. Tch. Fine.”

Sasori listened to the pair’s footsteps as they left the cave. As soon as he was alone, he unmasked the Kakashi puppet, slowly revealing the smooth features underneath.

Kakashi was pale when alive, his scars a stark white against the porcelain of his skin. To reflect his coloring the proper wood was found.

Ghost gum trees had the whitest bark. They only grew in a particular region with a particular climate but it was the only wood he found permissible to use for this particular puppet’s design.

The beauty of red against the canvas of white skin and shocking silver hair would live on forever.

Translucent skin revealed highways of blue and green veins criss-crossing under the surface. Sasori recreated the effect with tubes full of poison, cording them in the limbs.

Even with the use of fingerless gloves, nicks still littered the grooves between long fingers from years of using shuriken. Same long fingers were altered to release a gas of deadly poison.

It would have been easier to forget all of the details—to not worry about the way pale lashes fluttered or the little wrinkle formed between the brows from narrowed eyes.

But easy wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted—craved—perfection. And perfection is what he would get.

The amount of tinkering didn’t matter as long as the end result was exactly what it should be.

“This one looks the most like the original, Danna.” There was a hint of awe laced in Deidara’s usual snark. He of course ruined it with his next set of words. “But then again, how difficult could that be when he wore a mask all the time, huh?”

The mask was no longer necessary. The body no longer belonged to Hatake, it belonged to him, covering up the face shouldn’t have mattered anymore.

“You know all about that huh, Tobi?” Deidara frowned at the lack of response. Their very own masked comrade was, once again, uncharacteristically silent and staring at puppet. “Tobi?”

Sasori shifted his impassive gaze from the two of them back to his Copy Nin. He never left his puppet alone and he never let the mask fall from its place around others.

He had seen the face—much younger than he expected and more comely than a face behind a mask should be. Sasori wasn’t entirely sure what he had expected but it was there, perfectly preserved under the mask, given more consideration than necessary.

The face was a secret and it would remain a secret—his secret. No one else really had the right to it, not like he did. The Copy Nin was his spoil of war and if he guarded him a little more closely, watched him, held him closer than it was no one’s business but his own.

Deidara’s voice wheedled somewhere in the background. Despite his loathing of spending time with Tobi, he tended to fill the gap of silence the masked nin left when in Sasori’s presence. Sasori barely caught something he said about the unnaturalness of Tobi’s demeanor around the new favorite toy.

New favorite, hm?

Sasori cocked his head slightly to the side as his gaze fell over the edges and the colors. He followed the contours and the shadows back up to the empty stare of glazed over eyes. That red eye still gleamed delightfully as it mocked him with its locked potential.

Probably. He would figure it all out as they chased perfection.

#akatsukigiftexchange2019 #sasori #kakasaso #day!fics

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koorinohebi · 4 years ago

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@shouga-nai continued from 🦂.

For someone suffering from what seemed to be amnesia, he was considerably calm. Panicking wouldn’t do any good after all. So he settled down and went through all that he had on him. Surely there’d be a clue or two as to who he was and where he might be.

The cloak he had on… red cloud… It’d probably be of significance later. What really threw him off was his very being. This body. Lacking flesh and bones, the only human part of him being the beating core at his chest. What exactly did this make him?

Puzzled yet intrigued, he yearned to learn more— but the sudden feeling of being watched put his thoughts to a halt. It seemed certain instincts remained.

“…I know you’re there. Just when are you planning on showing yourself?”

For a moment, a bead of cold sweat descended her brow.

On normal occasions, Kiomi would have brazenly answered that question with sarcasm, as if to pick a fight. However, even she knew when to pick her battles. She wasn't so oblivious of the affiliation behind those red clouds; nor was she oblivious of who it was that stood there.

A former comrade of her current lord, and an S-Rank Missing-nin from Suna-- Sasori of the Red Sand.

If there was anything that she was thankful for in being a shinobi of the Sound, then it was being privy to all sorts of intel that would otherwise be unavailable to the common man. Plus the Bingo Book in Otogakure that she had stolen been privy to, contained information on Ninjas with abilities and Jutsus that their Kage found valuable, or at least worth noting.

Still, a reconnaissance gone wrong... to think that her scouting could lead into this kind of run-in was something that she didn't expect, not on a seemingly good day at least.

I guess it's time to face the music and weasel my way out of this situation.

"This is why I chose to follow you, senpai. Nothing gets past you at all."

And from there, with arms slightly raised, she stepped out of the clearing and into view; slowly approaching,and cautiously feeling the situation.

#shouga-nai #|| Draped in Snow || Interactions #mindwipe #It's more than okay. It's great~#I can't wait to see what happens to this meeting of theirs. xD

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the-deeds-to-shibden · 4 years ago

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Thursday 5 September 1839

[It’s Anne and Ann’s last full day at Stockholm. They prepare for the journey and fit in some last-minute sightseeing, but a visit to a mineralogy collection proves extremely disappointing. They again narrowly miss seeing the King of Sweden, and say goodbye to the city from a lovely viewpoint. But Ann is frightened by talk of the rough weather at sea, so Anne does not book their steamer berths just yet.]

[up at] 7

[to bed at] 10 50/”

Good comfortable night in our spacious airy bedroom – redoing and repacking portmanteau etc till about 9 – then had Gross – breakfast at 10 ¼ The Russian steamer arrived from St. Petersburg at 5 this morning – F 69 ½ now at 9 50/” breakfast at 10 ¼ – ticketing minerals etc till now 11 ¾ - Calèche (neat carriage) and out at near 12 – to the banks – Russian steamer – good accommodation but the captain in bad English talking of rough water – Ann frightened therefore did not then engage the places – will they be gone tomorrow? Then to the bank or counting house (merchants not bankers) of Messrs Tottie and Arrfwedson – young man who speaks good English very civil – exchanged 2 circulars nos 8586 and 8587 = £50 =

Palace about 1 first musée pictures and statues and then the old wardrobe of royal clothes – could not see the royal apartments – now the library – thence to the park – paid 6 skillings banco on entering – at the Kings petit chateau at 3 – Sumach red dogwood and ditto with red berries – spiraea calcifolia – several pretty sorts of ragwort and scarlet lychnus and michaelmas china asters marigolds dahlias – Sumach headed down to about a yard from the ground had made shoots above a yard long this year – oaks small and tall planted this spring and headed down to about 2 yards long – much narrow leaved willow picturesque – double chamomile – much lilac cut down short, and shrub- wise – oat-sheaves stuck tall small poles to dry as in Norway etc – much Norway maple here and everywhere – its autumnal scarlet beautiful – much birch too – a moss on the fine large old oaks here as yellow (ochre) as the red (rud) moss on the stones in the forests about on our journey from Upsala – noticed this yellow moss 1st time today – and saw a little of red in the forests near Stockholm on our return – At the mint (collége des mines) at 4 i.e. 4 ¾ by my watch – plan (model) of the gold mine at Adelfors on a little island on the Wetter lake – Metallurgie pratique du fer . . . . . par Walter de St Ange. Avec atlas. Paris. Libraire Scientifique et industrielle de L. Mathias (Augustin) Quai Malaquais no 15. 1835 – 8.4to

The captain of the Russian steamer Furst Menschicoff said this morning that the exchange was 41 skillings rigs for one paper rouble 41 skillings rigs = 27 2/3 skillings banco say 28 skillings banco = 1 paper rouble Banco 11.30.0 = £1 11.30 x 48 = 550/28 = 19 18/28

Then say nin[e]teen thirds of a skilling banco = 6 skilling banco and say one has at this rate 20 roubles for £1 then the loss per £1 = 1/6 or ¾ English or about 16 ½ per cent. Terrible! ¾ hour at the mint for nothing but to give the garçon a rigsdollar - he knew nothing – not even whether the professor of mineralogy was in town or not – very few specimens ticketed – most of them locked up – and we no better for sauntering along the 3 or 4 rooms – home at 5 ¾ - heated up in our little boiler the rest of our yesterday’s lamb (very good) and had bad coffee – out (in the carriage) again at 7 to 8 ½ – the King dined today with the Russian minister Count Mastuzewie on board the Russian steamer that brought him here – the vessel all decorated with streamers as we passed – but we missed seeing the King – he was returned as we came back – had Grotza – F 66° at 9 50/” p.m. very fine – the fine view Jean had persuaded us to go to see even so late from Moses’s mountain turned out to be the hill-café near Saint Catherine´s church that William Riddle our Götheborg coachman took us to see – glad to see it again even by twilight – very beautiful – and our former knowledge restored what the lateness of the hour (7 1/4) . . . obscured – then drive about the principal to the large hotel now building begun Jean says this spring – the site in the time of Gustaf 1 a large hill of gravel and sand from which he bombarded the castle

Anne’s marginal notes:

return to Stockholm from the mines

8586

8587

8588

paid 2 rigsdollars

oaks headed down

moss red and yellow

metallurgie

Taken away to fill up with about the new bridge and up to the present double flight of stairs and the lions – all that used to be water –

WYAS pages: SH:7/ML/TR/13/0023 SH:7/ML/TR/13/0024

The northeast wing of Stockholm’s Royal Palace, where Anne and Ann saw King Gustav III’s collection of pictures and sculpture, and the National Library, which was housed there at the time:

#anne lister #ann walker #anne lister code breaker #travelnotes1839 #sweden1839 #gentleman jack #annelister #annwalker

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oc-hospital · 6 years ago

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Hi! I wanna write a Naruto fic that realistically and slowly portrays Gaara and Naruto falling in love while Gaara is Kazekage, but Naruto is still a Genin. I also think I want Tsunade to be against it both politically and out of concern for Naruto because of Gaara's former bloodthirsty reputation. I don't wanna stray too far from their character but I want them to connect on a deeper level because they know each other pain. How can I achieve this? Who would be for and against? Any other tips?

Hiya!

Good stuff, fuel that ship up with content and give it some love!

I’m not sure if Tsunade is the right person to pit against this relationship in the long term - if you need someone to be against it, that is.

I just feel like Tsunade might have a reason to care politically, but not a whole lot? I’m thinking that she’d have to be thinking ahead to marriage here to be even mildly phased. Gaara is the Kazekage and his family is at least temporarily regarded as the Kazekage clan. From a heritage standpoint, Naruto is an Uzumaki which is a dying lastname, but Gaara certainly can’t marry into a Konoha clan as the Kazekage. I’d say it’s a priority, so Naruto would be marrying into his clan? Sort of the way Temari married into the Nara’s. Which would mean that Konoha’s Jinchuuriki has Suna ties?

Maybe she’d be worried enough to be like “Hey, be careful Naruto” but I don’t think it would be out of fear of Gaara hurting him, rather his emotional health? Like, a cross-village relationship with the Kage of said village, when you are actively trying to become the Kage of your own village and be a good ninja - that’s like, yikes.

But Tsunade being hung up on Gaara’s past seems strange to me. I mean she brought in the sand sibs for the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Plus, he’s a Kage that she has a truce with, so I don’t think she’s strongly anti-Gaara. It’s also Naruto’s business?

A short term problem is like “Um you’re a Konoha nin with a job to do, I can’t have you hanging out moon-eyed in Suna every weekend, I need you here.” I think she could care in the way that. It’d also be a problem for Gaara. He’s a busy man, so I have to imagine this is a very long distance relationship? And a very difficult one to keep up.

Even just as endgame friends, I don’t think they see each other often. I like to think they send letters to each other in this relationship. Naruto’s is scrawly and full of typos because he writes with so much emotion and his brain is running too quickly to think it out, and Gaara’s is neat and careful, and maybe not visibly expressive, but still backed by as many emotion’s as Naruto’s is. I have gone wildly off track here.

It definitely could be a political issue though. Konoha Council of Elders seems like your best bet to be anti- this. They don’t want their Jinchuuriki on the loose, because they suck, and don’t really see Naruto as anything as that at this stage. Definitely think the Suna Elders would be against it because they are mean and cranky. They’re also very adamant that Gaara gets a Suna heir?? Because they’re worried about losing their influential clan to Konoha through inheritance in the future. Like, this is established post ShikaTem marriage, but I imagine it’d still be a thought.

Tips:t will not be hard to get those emotional bond points up to the basic believable relationship amount required. Starting off canon, there’s some pretty stable groundwork already laid for you. Gaara likes Naruto as much as I like Naruto, and Naruto sort of loves everyone.

Gaara and Naruto definitely relate to each other through their similar experiences and painful childhoods. I mean, Gaara’s war speech is centered around Naruto and his compassion. And their bond. I watch that speech more than I consume any other piece of Naruto media.

So I think you should use the pain as a starting point - but you’ll want to go deeper than that? I know, their pained feelings probably seem like the deepest part to them, but I feel like deeper still is the need to be accepted despite their past and to be seen as who they are (not just as a vessel.)

If Naruto and Gaara just got together to be sad about their pasts all the time, it’d be a bit of a bummer. Don’t get me wrong - probably would be best to start off that way. They know the other’s deal in canon through the power of friendship speeches, but, you’ll want to set the precedent in your story.

Having them freely expressing vulnerable parts of themselves, and feeling validated and accepted despite that, knowing that the other has lived similar experiences - good stuff. Having their first connection being based off shared pain - that’s a good start to a strong bond. But, you’ll want them to like each other more for other things? Like, Gaara likes Naruto for being a beacon of joy, and how accepting he is, ect. ect. Knowing about the pain, acknowledging the pain, but having the pain not be the most centric part of their relationship - because they’re both more than that and that’s all they’ve ever wanted to be to other people? I think that’s the way to go.

I look forward to reading your story! Feel free to send it in to us via fanmail or ask!

- Grey

#naruto #naruto oc #naruto fanfiction #naruto asks #grey speaks

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manikas-whims · 6 years ago

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A Chance at Redemption [9]

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [...] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Chapter 9: Blank Canvas

"He is the rain... ..washing away her colours. Now they are the same— A blank canvas..." -Sai

"My great grandson, Sasuke, has decided to settle down. He has found himself a suitable woman and wants to tie the knot with her in the sacred bond of marriage." Kiba spoke, mimicking Madara's exact words.

"Sacred my ass!" He yelled a second later.

"Pipe down, will you?! Unless ofcourse, you want the anbu to discover our hidden HQ." Temari warned in an irritated voice.

"Hn" Tenten scoffed, "atleast he's not just sitting silently about Sakura's betrayal."

"Tenten!" Lee yelled at her, "Sakura-san hasn't betrayed us. She will...she will never betray us..." Lee finished in a small hopeful tone.

All the members of FoK went silent after hearing Lee's words. They were all angry and confused about their pink-haired friend's sudden decision of going against them and marrying Sasuke. Everyone had known about her feelings for the young Uchiha who broke her trust and left the village to gain power under the commands of the former leaf shinobi named Orochimaru. Everyone knew that even after Sasuke's attempts at killing her and Naruto, both of them were still willing to save him from his dark past. Yet none of the members of FoK ever expected this to happen. None of them had ever expected Sakura to leave their side to join Sasuke in a bond of marriage.

"Whatever it is..we don't have much time to ponder about that bitch's traitorous decision." Samui declared firmly.

Her choice of words earned her a pulverising glare from Temari. The four-pogtailed kunoichi is a proper civilian from the village hidden in the sand but she isn't oblivious about her friends from the leaf. She is fully aware of Sakura's love for Sasuke but she also knows that the pinkette will never stoop this low to be with the guy of her dreams. She will never marry him like that on a whim so she can stay by his side forever. There is something more to this whole situation than meets the eye. With a tired sigh, she ran her eyes across the room. To her surprise, she found Sakura's best friend aka the Yamanaka clan's heiress lying as still as a rock on the lap of a very pale looking Sai(if that is even possible). All this time when some of the members of FoK were speaking against Sakura, Ino didn't even bat an eyelash. It's as if she isn't even present in this room, as if she is lost somewhere else in her thoughts.

"Her actions have been suspicious from the very beginning. I'm not surprised if she has betrayed us now." Samui stated as matter of fact.

"Nothing's suspicious about it!" Kiba argued.

"Yeah! There must be a good reason behind Sakura-san's decision." Lee agreed.

"And why do you guys think so? She couldn't even bring Hinata. So how can you expect anything good from her?" Tenten sneered.

"Tenten" this time Neji Hyuga spoke-up in a stiff tone, emphasizing every single word and it's syllables, "you.have.no.idea."

Neji has been hearing all of his comrades arguing over Sakura's loyalty for a while now, which is making his tongue itch to speak out for the poor girl but sadly, he cannot. Neji...I want this deal to remain a secret shared between only the two of us. I don't want you to tell anyone. He recalled her words. How he wants to speak-up for the pink-haired medic but cannot. No one but he knows how much Sakura has done for his clan by her marriage. But still, he has doubts about the Uchiha...doubts about his promise- whether he will stick to his words or not.

Tenten was eyeing Neji questioningly, wondering what he meant by his sudden statement. He tried to act as cool as possible and answered.

"What I mean is..I don't think we must accuse Sakura of a crime that she hasn't even committed." Neji explained.

"How can you be so sure that she isn't guilty? That she hasn't betrayed us?" Tenten asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

"I...I'm not sure.. But we can't just accuse her without any evidence." Neji countered.

"Is it even necessary to look for an evidence? We all know that she has feelings for the Uchiha! She always had!" Tenten challenged.

"Tenten" Neji called her by her name yet again, "Shut up."

Those two words struck her like an arrow straight through her heart. She found it hard to believe that the Hyuga just ordered her to shut up? Shut up for what? For that pink haired kunoichi who couldn't even help them with the plan of a coup d'état? For the girl who couldn't even convince Hinata to join them? For the girl who has now taken the Uchihas' side?

She looked at him with an intense glare, "Neji, I can't believe it, you just shut me up for her? For her? What's so special about her, huh?"

Before the Hyuga Prodigy could answer his dual-bunned former teammate, the Nara clan's young genius spoke up.

"Quit it you two. There's no point in arguing."

"Yeah.." Choji agreed with his best friend and continued with his potato-chips stuffed-mouth, "Fhikamau's wight! Orjuvents mon't belp ush." (Shikamaru's right! Arguments won't help us.)

Darui felt relieved that someone finally put an end to his small team's quarrel. A clan's annihilation is going to occur soon and a group of misfits is not what he wants to be handling at these times. He wants a well-coordinated group of skilled shinobis and kunoichis, who can aid him in his coup against the Uchiha Government's orders.

He has been listening intently to their verbal fight. He was also present at the Hokage Tower for the hearing of Madara's announcement. And even though he doesn't know Sakura that well, he too suspects something fishy about Sakura's decision. She was even late for the meeting held yesterday. He recalled the previous days conversation that he had had with Ino, Sai and Tenten.

"She..." Ino went quite.

"She's at Hinata's." Tenten answered for Ino, "I met Ino and Sai in the streets today. So I asked them about Sakura and they told me that she has gone to talk to Hinata."

And then he also went through Sakura's explanation in his head.

"I was at the Hyugas'."

And also, how both Sakura and Neji gave completely contradicting answers in relation to the Hyuga Princess.

"It worked out." said Sakura.

But Neji uttered at the same time, "She won't be helping us."

All these hurriedly spoken confessions are more than enough for the former cloud nin to tell that most of these explanations given by his team members are plainly false. Ino's hesitance, Sai's silence, Tenten speaking in place of Ino and then Sakura and Neji's contrasting answers are all hinting towards some kind of hidden acts.

On suspecting this, Darui immediately called, "Ino! Sai! Yesterday...you both didn't know anything about Sakura's whereabouts. Am I right?"

Both the said persons gasped at his sudden question. Ino averted her eyes as if she was confronting herself about how she must go on with answering this query. Sai, on the other hand was looking expectantly at Ino, waiting for her to make a decision about their response to their leader. Yes! They both had lied the previous day about their pink-haired friend. Ino had informed Sai about Sakura's unexpected leave and thus, both of them had embarked on a trip around the village in search of the pinkette. But they had not prepared themselves for any encounters with the other members of the FoK. So when Tenten came up to them, Ino and Sai naturally lied to her and told the weapons' mistress that the girl in question is at the Hyuga's. Who knew one small lie would lead onto another one? And yet it did. Darui too asked them about Sakura and Tenten informed the cloud nin exactly what she herself had been told. Funny thing is, when Sakura arrived at the meeting thirty minutes late along with Neji (to everyone's surprise) and spoke exactly what Ino and Sai had used as a lie about her, they felt a sense of relief wash over their souls. So then, why is it that all of a sudden Darui is doubting them?

Sadly, if he is doubting them then he really must have caught on something from yesterday's meeting. Therefore Sai chose to let Ino shed some more tears for her friend while he left her side and walked towards the leader of the FoK to stand face-to-face with him.

"Yes. Indeed we lied. We didn't know anything about Sakura's location the previous day." Sai confessed the truth.

Every single member of their group gasped in shock but their leader's facial expression held no surprise. Creepy as it may appear, the dark-skinned man's demeanour remained calm and collected.

"Good" he patted Sai's back, "I'm glad that this time you've chosen to speak the truth."

"You both lied to me?!" Tenten yelled immediately after Darui's words.

Sai glanced at her and then shrugged with the best apologetic smile that he had learnt to put on within the past two months.

"You both lied!" Tenten yelled again.

"Yes they did," Shikamaru spoke up in a weirdly calm tone, "but this is not what must be questioned. The thing that we must be pondering about is Sakura."

"That's right." Temari joined, "Despite the lie told by Ino and Sai, Sakura was actually at the Hyuga compounds yesterday."

Darui nodded at the sand village's kunoichi and at the faithful Nara genius. Both of them had voiced his concern with the proper words. But the only person who can solve this completely tangled case is none other than the Hyuga Genius. He turned his eyes towards Neji, "Were you and Sakura actually at the Hyuga Compounds?"

For the first time in his life till date, Neji Hyuga tensed. He stood like a motionless statue, anxiety written all over his face. What should he do? Should he spill the beans? Should he hold onto his loyalty? He shook his head and lowered his head in contemplation. I don't want you to tell anyone. Sakura's words hammered into his thoughts yet again. She made this choice on her own free will. And if this is how she wants to go with it...like an unsung warrior..then so be it.

"We were at the Hyuga Compounds..to see Hinata-hime." He answered with an impassive face.

"Actually", Sai began, "Yesterday, Ino was keeping watch over Sakura. But then, Sakura somehow managed to escape the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Ino came to inform me about this and we began looking for her. It was at that very moment that Tenten stumbled upon us and asked us about Sakura."

Darui nodded his head and so, Sai went on, "We didn't want to create any kind of panic amongst the members of our already busy group, so Ino and I lied to Tenten. We thought that we'll be able to find Sakura in no time. We couldn't...But thankfully, Sakura joined us at the meeting along with Neji."

Sai explained, putting all the puzzle pieces in their proper place.

"Okay, Sakura escaped from Ino's watchful eyes and went to see Hinata. It is only natural since she herself suggested the idea of taking Hinata's help. Neji was also there at the Hyuga Compounds at that time." Shikamaru concluded Sai's explanation.

Yet, however legit this explanation may appear, there is still something that is unsolved. And it can't be solved until they find the missing puzzle piece. And that piece is, Sakura's marriage. All this mess doesn't put a finger on anything related to her unexpected marriage to the Uchiha Prodigy.

"So most of our problems have been concluded." Darui spoke, "But we still have no idea about Sakura's decision of marrying Sasuke."

"Like Tenten said, there's no need for any explanations. The girl has feelings for the Uchiha." Samui stated.

"No," Darui shook his head before Kiba or Lee could violently protest against Samui's words.

"I may not know much about Sakura or any of you guys from the leaf and sand. But something about that pink-haired girl screams loyalty to me. I don't think she can betray us for something like love. Love is supposed to make people help out those in need. Love doesn't make one selfish. It turns people into selfless souls..." Darui explained with an image of innocently smiling Sakura flashing before his mind's eyes.

"Love is an emotion that can make people achieve great heights. Love makes us strong. You are all expressing different emotions because you are concerned about your friend, Sakura. Some of you are anxious, some angry while others are silently wondering about her act. But unknowingly, you are all expressing disappointment for your friend's action because you all love her." Everyone listened silently to their pale-white haired leader's explanation.

He then went on, "Also if Sakura is marrying Sasuke because she loves him, then you are wrong. Even if she does love him, then too there must be another hidden reason for her doing so."

"Right" Shikamaru agreed, "but as of right now, thinking about our coup must be our top priority. Sakura's decision can be investigated later on."

"Yeah..." Kiba nodded, "You're right."

Samui and Tenten lowered their heads when they realised their mistake. Darui is speaking the truth about their emotions. They hold nothing against Sakura but for some reason, her sudden decision has disappointed them. Maybe it is because of her constant quiet behaviour for which they trusted her and never expected her to turn against them. It's just their bonds that are hurting them...

"About Sakura," Sai hesitantly began but when he noticed how everyone's attention had perked, he went on, "you all can plan out the coup while I, as a member of the anbu, can go and have a talk with Sakura."

Temari bolted up at that, "This is a really good idea! I agree with Sai."

"Me too!" Lee jumped up and down in excitement.

By the looks on other's faces, Darui confirmed that everyone was in agreement with Sai's ideology. So he allowed Sai to leave for his task while he discussed the last bits of their coup d'état.

"So, a pink-haired Uchiha. That's a first."

The words were addressed to Sakura by a very amused looking, explosive art-loving blond shinobi. She turned away from the window in the Hokage's Room to face the former Stone Village Ninja. A crooked sort of grin was plastered on his face and he had his right arm draped around the shoulders of his partner, the former Sand Village Ninja aka Sasori of the Red Sand. For some unknown reason, they both decided to stay in the room with her. Who knows? Maybe to bother her? But she was not at all in the mood to talk to anyone, especially if one of them happened to be a man that she had once killed in a punch.

"I think she's ignoring us." The young-looking, red-haired shinobi suggested in an amused tone.

"Hn! Whatever." muttered the blond and moved to stand next to the sullen female.

"You know what? Madara expects..." , Deidara paused to correct himself, "Madara wants grandsons from you. So...I already feel irritated at the prospect of little versions of Sasuke roaming around this place."

He smirked amusedly at the pinkette who finally decided to roll out some words from her silent tongue, "I wonder what would it be like to see little pink haired boys running around this place with their Sharingan."

It took the two re-animated shinobi a few seconds to realise that the girl had made a joke about her hair colour. And a sarcastic one at that. Sasori couldn't stop the small smirk from creeping on his face when he saw his blond partner grinning like an idiot at the little joke.

"Those boys will still be Uchihas." Sasori stated.

"But they'll look more Uchiha like without my hair trait." She shot back.

"I see you're getting quite cozy around each-other." A sly voice remarked when the door swung open to reveal a red-cloaked figure.

Kabuto slithered his way towards the three occupants of the room and smiled with an evil glint in his eyes. He glanced at his two re-animated shinobis and then moved his gaze to settle it on the only female amongst them. He grinned at her to reveal the creepy kind of opening of his wide jaw. It made the girl cringe but she kept her cool by hiding her fear behind a stoic face.

All throughout the war Kabuto Yakushi had stayed in the shadows and pulled the strings to control various dead men. But his reanimation jutsu was stopped somewhere in the middle of the war. Rumours kept circulating around in every nook and corner and one fine day, they even reached the ears of the fifth Hokage's disciple, Sakura Haruno. She heard several descriptions of how Itachi Uchiha was the one who put an end to Kabuto's tricks. But how? If Kabuto was the one acting like the puppeteer and pulling the strings, then how come one of his own puppets managed to stop him? Maybe Itachi Uchiha really is a legend? Or maybe it's just a rumour? But most of the times...rumours turn out to be the truth. Then...how? This is a tormenting topic. And what's even more tormenting, is the fact that Itachi didn't really kill Kabuto. He merely stopped the user from manipulating his puppets. He let the puppeteer live. He gave Kabuto a chance. And because of that very chance, this sick sycophant of Orochimaru is grinning from one ear to the other at a very irritated pink haired kunoichi.

Sakura glared at him and muttered out as calmly as possible, "What?"

"Well hello to you too, Sakura-chan." The snake drawled out immediately.

Sakura sighed loudly, wondering exactly how long she'll have to suffer in the presence of these crazy men.

"I wonder..." slithered Kabuto.

The pinkette knew that he was teasing her deliberately and wouldn't continue unless she asks him to. So she questioned, "Wonder what?"

The creepy guy snickered and answered, "I wonder how long have Sasuke-kun and you been having this clandestine affair."

She wanted to laugh in his face. Laugh at his choice of words because there never was any affair going on between the two. She used to harbour feelings for the dark avenger of her team. And these feelings later on developed into a very strong emotion- Love. Yes! Unfortunately she fell in love with the young Uchiha Prodigy right after he left her all by herself on a cold bench in the middle of the night. Because that very night, she witnessed the true personality of that boy and realised how alone and lost he was. And it is because of this realisation that she truly fell for him and decided that she wanted to save him. Sasuke on the other hand, never showed any interest in her. No. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno never had an affair. They just happened to be together on the same team. Nothing more...

"Hmm...maybe it all started in the Forest of Death with the curse-mark?" Kabuto guessed, adjusting his glasses to the level of his piercing yellow irises.

"Or maybe...you two had been together even before that?" He whispered in her face with a sly grin on his face.

Unbeknownst to her own self, she had clenched her palm into fists and was currently shaking with rage, trying her best to keep herself from punching this snaky man right in his face and then yank out his tongue to chop it off and snatch away his ability of speech forever. Kabuto has hit a nerve he shouldn't have. He is well-aware of her feelings for the Uchiha and is just messing with her on purpose. She gritted her teeth and released a long breath before speaking.

"What do you want?" She muttered, trying to keep her anger in check.

"Oh come on, Sakura-chan! I'm just here on the Lord Hokage's orders." He feigned a look of hurt by placing one of his scaly palm on the position of his heart beneath his equally scaly chest.

She groaned in irritation and simply turned around to face the window again and ignore the presence of those three men.

Kabuto understood that she won't be turning back any time soon and so, he signalled the two other men in the room with a slight tilt of his head. On seeing his action, both of them brought out their arms and caught her wrists to keep her from moving. She gasped at the sudden intrusion but the guys kept on ignoring her and turns her around to face Orochimaru's sycophant once again. She began flailing her hands but a huge snake crawled out from underneath Kabuto's veil and coiled around her form.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" She yelled.

"Now now, an Uchiha bride mustn't raise her voice like this. It's bad for her reputation." Kabuto teased.

He pulled a small scroll from inside one of the sleeves of his cloak and spread it open infront of him. He then began making numerous hand signs, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on her angered state.

"What is it?!" She shouted again but earned no answer.

He continued on with his hand signs and once he was done, he grinned maniacally at her and slammed his palms on the intricate seals that were drawn on the scroll. Instantly, a surge of light blinded them and out came a tiny, mustard-coloured snake. It moved towards Sakura's left hand and crawled all the way up to her wrist, winding around it in a tight grasp. She shrieked, both in shock and fear. The little reptile made a low hissing sound and dug his fangs into the skin of her wrist. Sakura began losing the colour from her skin and paled in fear. The snake turned into a gold bracelet with it's scales etched into the accessory in a beautiful pattern.

"What is this, Kabuto?" She asked in fright.

A numbness spread all across her body and the pumping of her heart stopped for a second. Then it began to beat again but the strength she used to feel in herself was gone. It's as if her chakra was gone, leaving only small pints of it in her form.

"What...what did you do?" She asked desperately.

The snake-look alike grinned even more and her eyes widened in realisation. Her chakra points had been blocked.

Sai knew exactly where he'd find the solution to his problem. And his assumption turned out to be true. He saw Sasuke Uchiha resting atop a tree branch which happened to be in the vicinity of the Hokage Tower. The guy looked as silent and emotionless as he always is. Briefly Sai wondered why in the world did Naruto and Sakura want to help him out? Because clearly this guy is a stubborn brat who is way too blinded by his clan. Sasuke is nothing short of egotistical. As he knows that Sasuke is already aware of his presence, Sai takes in a deep breath and waits for the young prodigy to face down at him.

After a duration of five minutes, he realizes that Sasuke won't speak, so he himself decides to start the conversation, "We need to talk."

"I know you dislike me. But atleast try to show some respect to the grandson of the Hokage." The raven haired guy replied curtly.

"I apologize, Sasuke-kun. But seriously..we need to talk." Sai stated.

"Meh...I'd suggest you to stay away. He's not in a good mood right now." came the voice of a man sitting underneath a tree near Sasuke.

"Suigetsu-san" Sai greeted.

"Sai" the sharp-toothed guy returned the greeting.

Both of them came to know each-other on the day that Sai entered the Hokage Tower and requested Madara for a position in the anbu division. Suigetsu was the one who had guided him with all the things necessary for his entrance. They get to see each-other on a frequent basis just because they are both working like underdogs for the Uchiha but they never really engage in any kind of conversation other than the usual greetings. And although Suigetsu will never admit it, he has always wanted to talk to this pale-skinned shinobi who has now taken Sasuke's place in his former team.

Sai huffed out in annoyance, an action that he has learnt from Ino. They've been spending a lot of time together ever since the end of the war. The blonde female has been very kind towards him and always tries her best to help him out with his emotions. Maybe because of his connections with Sakura, Ino has become extremely friendly with him. A small unexpected smile graced upon his pale lips and he lowered his head to hide the joy he felt just by thinking about the Yamanaka Heiress. But thoughts of her also reminded him of her present sad condition.

He looked-up at Sasuke and began, "I need to talk about Sakura-san. I know she isn't marrying you on her choice."

The minute he uttered those words, Suigetsu choked on the water that he had been sipping from his bottle. He narrowed his purple irises in anxiety and turned his gaze towards the young Uchiha. Bad move, dude. He thought to himself as he gulped down on more water.

The said man finally opened his closed lids and glared down at Sai with his threatening Sharingan. "And who do you think made that choice for her?" He gritted out in his sinister, dark tone.

Sai lowered his head again, but this time in confusion, "Honestly speaking Sasuke-kun..I don't really know. I don't know why she is doing this but I know she doesn't want to marry you."

"Hn" Sasuke scoffed, "She always wanted to be with me."

"Not like this." Sai replied immediately.

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed into fine slits at his words. Not like this? Then like what?! As far as he remembers, Sakura has always loved him and even though she isn't admitting her feelings right now, she still loves him. She does. Sasuke knows that she will keep loving him despite of everything that has transpired between the two. He also knows that she is marrying him for the sake of a deal but Sakura would've married him even without any deals. Atleast..he thinks she will.

"She loves me." He stated the fact.

Suigetsu coughed this time, his eyes as wide as saucers after hearing Sasuke's statement. Sai too expressed hints of shock on his face. A brief moment passed in silence after which Sai spoke up.

"I know something's going on. I know she's hiding something. And because of that something, she has decided to marry you." said Sai.

Sasuke clenched his fists. This guy merely knows anything about team 7. How long has Sai been with them? Not longer than him, right? He knows everything about Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura like the back of his palms. Sai is nothing more than a pathetic replacement for his position in the team. Does Sai know the members of his team as well as him? No. So then...how does this stupid replacement know that Sakura is not marrying him plainly out of love but for some other reason?

"We were alone." Sai spoke again.

When he saw the quirk of one of Sasuke's brow, he continued, "When you..when you killed Naruto, Kakashi sensei lost it. He..he went into a coma. He's still not conscious and no one knows if he ever will be. Captain Yamato was gone. Sakura even had to declare herself dead and leave her parents. She disguised herself under the alias Doctor Kimiko Minamoto. So that left only me and Sakura. We became the only two remaining members of team 7. We were alone. We only had each-other. But then..Ino came to us and Shikamaru and Neji and many more. We formed a family again. But now..", Sai paused midway to glare at him, "She will be alone again. Alone..because you have taken her away from me and Ino and many of her other friends. She was finally rising up again..coming out of her state of torment. But now...she'll be in even more despair than before..."

If he was even the slightest bit affected by Sai's words then Sasuke is way too good at hiding it. He didn't even twitch after hearing this long speech. Just as Sai was about to speak again, Sasuke interrupted.

"Isn't it always like this? I am Sasuke Uchiha. I always take away what is mine." The raven stated calmly.

"What makes you think she's yours?" Sai asked with an edge in his voice.

Suigetsu noticed the Sasuke clenching and unclenching his palms, trying his best to keep calm. Uh-Oh! Not good. Suigetsu stood up from his spot underneath the shade of the tree and walked towards the two conversing dark-haired nins.

"Sasuke..Man..I think that Sai is right. That girl is not a non-living object that you can put your signature on. You can't claim her."

"Whatever..If you're done, then leave already." The Uchiha spoke without any trace of emotion.

Sai couldn't believe what the Uchiha just said. Sasuke doesn't care even a bit. It's like throwing words at deaf ears. Yes! Now Sai has realised it. Sasuke Uchiha is engulfed by the hatred. Darkness has eaten up all of him. Sasuke is a blank canvas now, just like he used to be.

"I was a blank canvas." Sai spoke.

Sasuke looked at him coolly while Suigetsu waited for him to elaborate.

"I..used to be a blank canvas..until I met him..Naruto..and then Sakura-san and Yamato Taichou and Kakashi sensei and..Ino... They all changed me.." He smiled dreamily, something he had never done before, "They painted this blank canvas." Sai finished, gesturing towards himself.

Sai didn't wait for any response from either of the two men listening to him. He turned on his heel and began walking out of the place.

It wouldn't have been possible for any commoners to hear Sai's words but Sasuke's trained ears caught on the words that his replacement had whispered before departing.

"You are also a blank canvas...and you'll turn her into one as well..."

A/N: So the chapter ends here. If any of you are still confused about Sasuke's behaviour, then let me explain. Remember the time when he killed Danzo and also stabbed Karin? He was not in his right mind at that time. I have based my Sasuke in that way: The one who only cares about his clan and revenge and is too lost in the dark.

Anyways, what do you guys think of the FoK?

Kabuto has sealed Sakura's chakra points. What do you think about this?

And what do you think of Sasuke?

*NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS THIS ONE REACHES 20 NOTES.

Until next time guys..

~Manika

|MASTERLIST|

|SUPPORT ME ON KOFI|

#sasusaku #sasusaku fanfic #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno #angst #romance #redemption #dark #hate #post war

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jacksgreysays · 7 years ago

Note

Prompt: Windy Strife interacting with Naruto's team (especially Kakashi). Outside pov?

A/N: ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Windy Strife!

Unto The Climate, part three (2017-12-08)

The problem with Fuyu Namikaze is that she appeared so publicly.

She is not some spy abducted in the quiet of the night, plausible deniability erasing her existence, or a conspirator whose own paranoid privacy wraps the noose around her neck.

She appeared on the rooftop where the Hokage and Konoha’s most infamous missing-nin were fighting, awakened by the Shinigami itself.

But even if secrecy could be enforced amongst the witnesses–not so unbelievable, given they were mostly ANBU and high ranking shinobi at the scene–she was then brought to the hospital, a screaming, uncontrollable ruckus right there in patient intake.

And while, true, it was just one incident in the midst of already so much chaos–an invasion does not immediately end simply because one side has been defeated–people saw her, spread the news.

People want a hero.

Ibiki shakes his head, considering the woman on the other side of the one-way mirror.

Fuyu Namikaze is not a hero.

But she looks enough like the last one that maybe they can make do.

“Send him in,” he orders, eyes never leaving Namikaze.

“Which one?” Anko asks, irreverent as always–but she’s not wrong: there are two options that Ibiki thinks will give the most information about their guest.

He glances over at his second in command. No doubt she is both celebrating and coping with the death of her former sensei–it’s been a hard couple of weeks for her. She deserves this.

“You choose.”

—

Windy stares at the cup of tea in hir hands–paper, of course, don’t want to risk giving the prisoner something breakable, something that can produce shards. It really is quite a nice interrogation room: everything soft and subdued and only slightly uncomfortable. Like the ShinRa conference rooms.

Given the number of shifts Winter had tailing the department heads, this is practically his second home. He might very well take a nap.

There’s a soft pulse of magic then a click–the door unlocking. Zie wonders who they’ll send in: the grizzled hard ass to intimidate her or the kindly old man who only wants for her to help him help her?

Frankly, Windy has no idea why they’re trying anything given zie can’t understand a word they’re saying.

The boy who enters is just exactly that: a boy, no older than thirteen–fourteen maybe if he’s the same kind of late bloomer as hir brother–and yet he’s wearing the green flak jacket of a trooper.

Ah, appealing to her emotional side, then.

The boy stares, mouth agape, expression honest and honestly hopeful.

Zie regrets the comparison to hir brother, now. Damn it, they’re good.

Clearly they’re looking for something, so zie might as well give them what they want.

“Sit,” Windy says, which doesn’t prompt anything in the boy until zie gestures to the chair beside hir. Across the table is too distant, reserved for her interrogators, they want to see her be softer, more vulnerable.

The boy sits. He doesn’t stop staring.

Zie’s already reaching for her dull pencil and pad of paper, “Name?” zie asks, writing down the Wutaian character that they used–thankfully that seems to be the same–before sliding both over to the boy.

He writes, trying to maintain visual of hir at the same time which is… some kind of feeling… before returning them.

Maelstrom.

Now that’s a solid Strife name.

—

Kakashi waits.

What a bizarre thing to do.

Normally he’s the one that people wait for, but not today it seems.

Anko probably did that on purpose. He just waits and watches in the viewing room, his teacher’s son–his student–and his teacher’s… sister? Relative?… interact and it’s doing… something to him.

Yeah, given the smirk on Anko’s face, she definitely did it on purpose.

Ibiki knocks on the glass–Naruto startles, the prisoner doesn’t–signaling time’s up. Kakashi’s mildly surprised: it’s the quietest he’s ever seen Naruto, most people would do a lot for that.

However Naruto, perhaps overly mindful of how new his chuunin status is–or, more likely, feeling self conscious of the casual kindness the woman has shown him–gets up to leave.

But not before the woman reaches out and brushes a hand against his cheek, hand glowing a pale green.

Kakashi can feel his own eye narrow in suspicion.

“What the fuck was that?” Anko spits out, stepping over to where the controls for the room’s seals are, “We’re at level two, she shouldn’t be able to do any jutsu in there.”

Ibiki says nothing before Naruto returns, no doubt eager to claim a spot in front of the one way mirror to resume his staring.

“What did she do to you?” Ibiki asks him, a quick jolt of chakra to disrupt any possible genjutsu.

Naruto, showing his quickly won loyalty–not exactly a good trait, especially in front of the head of T&I–bristles at the accusatory tone. “Nothing, scar-head, she was really nice!”

“She can’t even speak our language,” Anko refutes.

“That doesn’t mean she can’t be nice,” Naruto starts, at which point Kakashi tunes out.

Maybe it was nothing.

Naruto did have a bruise on his face earlier–a yellowing remnant of his fight against Sand’s jinchuuriki–which is no longer there.

Then again, Naruto does have a known healing factor; maybe it was nothing.

“Your turn, Hatake,” Ibiki interrupts, silencing the argument–literally, it just turns into one of stuck out tongues and ugly faces–and adding a simple warning, “Watch yourself.”

Yeah, he doesn’t believe it was nothing either.

—

Anko remembers the Yondaime vaguely–or, as vaguely as can be done when his face is carved into the mountain overlooking the village–which makes sense given it’s been over a decade and the time before that she had been… well.

That fucking snake bastard, not even an eternity in the Shinigami’s stomach is enough suffering.

She doesn’t have that weird nostalgia about him that some of the other shinobi have, and certainly none of the creepy starry-eyed zeal that the civilians do, but what she remembers of him is probably not the full picture.

Better than that snake bastard could mean anything: kinder, more charismatic, more competent, stronger, smarter, hell even better looking!

(Stone isn’t exactly the best medium for glamour shots, but if Fuyu Namikaze really is so shockingly similar, well. She’s certainly easy on the eyes, is all Anko will say about a current prisoner.)

Definitely a better teacher, that’s for sure, and Anko will never admit to being jealous of Kakashi Hatake but she’d certainly trade if that were an option.

It’s clear Fuyu Namikaze is bringing up all sorts of emotions in that deadened heart of his. Probably this next bit will be more revealing about him than her, but might as well, right?

… except as soon as Kakashi walks through the unlocked door, Fuyu Namikaze bugs the fuck out: face draining of color, feet flat on the ground and retreating as far back as she can get. She makes a motion–grabbing for something on her back that isn’t there, a weapon maybe?–before picking up the chair and chucking it at him.

It’s not much. Chairs aren’t exactly aerodynamic and these ones even less so–weighted to make it harder for prisoners to do shit exactly like this–Kakashi easily shifts out of the way, but it’s clear on the tiny patch of visible expression that he’s confused as fuck.

“Hey, what’s going on?” the brat asks, probably more to make noise than anything else.

It’d be funny except then Fuyu Namikaze’s hands begin to glow, a darker, cooler green–blue, almost–and Ibiki barks, “Level three, now!”

Anko complies, activating the stronger set of seals on the room. Level two prevents jutsu use–or, at least, it should–level three knocks out the inhabitants… or, at least, it should…

Kakashi goes down pretty easily–he’s nearly as famous for chakra exhaustion as he is his Sharingan–but Fuyu Namikaze stays standing for a few more moments, not even puasing, shards of what looks like ice forming around her hand, before she sways once, twice, and falls to the ground.

“Get him out of there!” Ibiki says to the two T&I flunkies guarding the door who immediately jump to obey; then he turns to her and raises an eyebrow.

Anko shrugs, she doesn’t know what he wants her to say. “Yeah, that was fucking bizarre.”

Which isn’t exactly out of line for Fuyu Namikaze.

A/N: A longer fill than yesterday, because there were so many ideas I wanted to convey for this prompt, to-someplace-else, and I didn’t even get to the rest of Team Seven so… um… but at least I got the Kakashi and outside!POV parts?

Also, apparently I’m going FULL CANON DIVERGENCE here–Orochimaru’s dead, Naruto became a chuunin, who knows what else I’ll change? So there’s that…

(Also, Ask Box Advent Calendar is on!)

#jacksgreyson #prompt response #to-someplace-else #ask box advent calendar #fanfiction #writing #naruto #final fantasy vii #windy strife #ibiki morino #anko mitarashi #naruto uzumaki #kakashi hatake #into thin air #unto the climate

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swiftkick404 · 7 years ago

Text

Slant

Deidara acquires the best medic - no, more like, the most available medic in the five nations to heal Itachi, as per Pain's orders. Sakura doesn't exactly agree with the situation. [Diverges post-Gaara rescue arc] (bamf kunoichi focus tbh) Rewrite&Re-post. Suspense/Horror.

Chapter Three [excerpt]

looking for thoughts and suggestions (sorry for the unpleasant topics mentioned)

Itachi and Kisame stood in the hallway outside Deidara’s quarters and discussed the situation with the medic-nin.

“Kill her,” Kisame suggested.

Such an extreme measure and so quickly. Itachi hummed, unconvinced. “Someone is a sore loser.”

“Someone is being too considerate of his former allies.” Kisame had a smug twist on his mouth. He was bent double and rubbing at his back while trying to stretch it. His words were punctured by groans and hisses out the side of his teeth. He still found the energy to prick at Itachi's facade. “Strange habit for a man who claims to hate his village. Real funny how you're never able to actually snuff out any of the Leaf nin we come across. She's no different.”

Sakura was in a room down the hall from where they stood. The space was small, manageable, and she could stretch out on the floor to rest. Itachi had given her a blanket. When he had left her he made sure to put her into a deep, unrelenting sleep. She fought it at first but she needed it.

Kisame was right, he was favouring Sakura because of her ties to his village. He didn't want to kill her if her death could be avoided.

Ultimately, Sasuke was his only concern, and if she absolutely had to be hurt in return for his brother's salvation, then so be it. She would not be the first victim he had claimed. He was Akatsuki; there had been occasions when he had forced himself to carry out reprehensible missions in order to preserve his image. If sparing her became a problem for his goals or his image, he would dispatch her.

He didn't love the thought. He loved his village and he loved the ever distant pacifism that taunted the monster he was.

He could save her.

Or was he being too considerate of her fate? She didn't need to be another one of his small saves to atone for his sins. He could not risk Sasuke's life fulfilment just to quiet his inner turmoil, to scrape together some meagre salvation before his death. Would that risk be worthwhile?

Itachi resisted running his fingers to his brow in consternation. The answer was 'no,' and he knew with certainty right away. There was no allowance for hesitance and waste in minding the girl's life or wellness.

Sakura would heal him or he would have to destroy her so completely as to never risk the truth of his illness escaping with her. Kill her to keep things simple.

“She's gonna run,” Kisame intoned with a weary shake of his chin. He eased up from his stretches but still looked bothered. “She'll be a pain in the ass. Nonstop ride to a shitshow.”

He agreed. “I put limiters on her wrists and ankles. She is unable to make hand seals or summon chakra. That at least should minimise any physical threat or trouble she might inflict.”

“She didn't use chakra to take out that shrimp in there. Good old barehanded strangulation.” Kisame held together two fingers. “This close to terminating him.”

Itachi thinned his lips. He wanted to say Deidara was unlikely to make the same mistake and compromise himself to such tactics twice. He wanted to say as much, but couldn't quite. “We can find another distraction for him.

“He shouldn't need one. He should have some fucking shame and hide his face.”

Deidara wasn't the type to hide from grievous miscalculations. He liked to revisit conflicts and failures from new angles. Fixated on righting slights. Itachi worried on that. “Do you really believe I should look elsewhere for another medic?”

While Itachi was concerned with his fellow Akatsuki being an issue, Kisame was focused on the kunoichi's reticence. “What, you gonna try winning her over with your pretty smile, too?”

Not exactly the route he had envisioned. “Do you find my smiles to be pretty? How flattering.”

Kisame grimaced. “I'm serious, kid. You need someone to look at you who wants you fixed. I don't trust her putting a damned tongue depressor near you. Probably snap the thing in half and gouge an eye out with it...”

It was preposterous enough of a scenario, and yet one the kunoichi might actually take, that Itachi smiled. He said, “I am not so encumbered as to fall victim to that.”

“Not yet, maybe. You used one genjutsu and I can still see the sheen on your temple.”

The smile fell. “Do not exaggerate.”

A grumble and Kisame admitted he was just trying to emphasize his point. “You're...not your regular self, is all.”

“If I am so incapable, then I suppose you have a proposal for handling the medic?”

His partner didn't answer immediately. He blew a quiet exhalation from his lips and lifted his shoulders. “Vulnerability. Fundamentally. Deep down. ”

Itachi waited for an elaboration and it came.

“They used to knock them up. You know?” Kisame had a peculiar look on his face. He wasn't seeing Itachi as he talked. “They used to do that. A person changes their thinking when they have some little bean growing inside 'em. Perspective and priorities can shift. So they'd trap them like that, make them sick, desperate, dependent. Get them thinking, suddenly, maybe there's something more important at stake. They can change then.”

He said, repeating himself, “didn’t always work, but it used to be they did that.”

Itachi didn't consider the option and he didn't think Kisame was telling him to try it. He said anyway, dismissing the idea, “the Fifth keeps her ranks protected. Nothing would take.”

Another pause and Kisame was still visiting somewhere else in his mind. And then, without inflection but obviously trying to pull himself back from wherever his memories had taken him, “huh. Smart move.”

Tsunade had likely instituted the change to maintain active duty numbers during recovery after the Sound-Sand invasion. Or perhaps it was preventative in other ways, as well, he didn't know.

“Shake her foundations, kid. Be gentle with her. Show her your humanity, tell her your truths.”

“If I had months, I would.” If he could only pause his illness...

Or, Itachi thought, if he could pause the world around them.

“You gotta figure out what she would like about you,” Kisame continued, unaware of Itachi's thoughts, “and get her on your side.”

Itachi tilted his head, a slow movement. “I need her to know we have always been on the same side. I need her to want to heal me.”

“You know how you'll do it?”

He didn't have months to persuade Sakura. Not in this world. Itachi had another place where he could wear her down gradually for as long as he needed. The technique would require focus and he needed to prepare his body for the strain. He felt a familiar warmth, a wave of sharpness in his eyes as his view gained a red tinge and he considered his partner.

Kisame snorted, catching the smirk Itachi didn't share. He looked away. “Should've guessed.”

#swiftkick fanfic #i love kisame #but the dude has seen some shit #sorry for the unpleasant topics #slant #long post

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