#poor Hiashi

[okamirayne]

Do the clan elders harbor any resentment toward Hiashi for his 'confliction' with Neji, and Hiashi's "inability' to produce a male heir? Neji's talent is undeniable,& as Hizashi's and not Hiashi's son it makes me wonder if the elders think the wrong son was cursed? Since Neji has been around Hiashi more than Hizashi now, does Shikaku's words about him being his father figure cross his mind at all anymore in present day? Especially with Neji's death does he feel he failed Neji more or Hizashi?

Hey there Anon!

Great question - and kind of serendipitous considering I'm writing from Hiashi's POV at the moment in the upcoming chapter.

Do the clan elders harbor any resentment toward Hiashi for his 'confliction' with Neji

They most certainly do. Some individuals more than others.

Neji's talent is undeniable,& as Hizashi's and not Hiashi's son it makes me wonder if the elders think the wrong son was cursed

Bull's eye! Indeed, this is absolutely one of Hiashi's deep and abiding conflicts/wounds and one of the main reasons he privately struggles with (yet still meticulously upholds) his position in the clan...even though it's cost him so much. 😭 Hyuga Hitaro also needles this wound whenever he can.

Since Neji has been around Hiashi more than Hizashi now, does Shikaku's words about him being his father figure cross his mind at all anymore in present day?

Yes, they absolutely do. I hope this will reflect in HHU. There's a lot Hiashi has to contend with regarding Neji's death, considering his clan's politics/expectations...especially his Father's (Hyuga Hijikata in BtB)

Especially with Neji's death does he feel he failed Neji more or Hizashi?

Potential spoiler territory ahead.

I hope you'll forgive me sidestepping this for the sake of upcoming chapters! Thank you for the excellent ASKS - again, I find it so uncanny as I'm deep in Hiashi's headspace atm, so it came at the perfect time! Thanks, Anon! 💜💜

[chaosnojutsu]

I wanted to respond to the individual reply, but I couldn’t tag the user, so here it is:

100% agreed! I just don’t think “this is a very positive interpretation” and “he’s raised in a clan where status is everything” are mutually exclusive points.

I will admit, I find the status point ironic, considering said clan has no problem with picking on the weaker man— or with intentionally creating a weaker man to maintain their clan hierarchy— time and time again. Look at how Hiashi told Hinata she would never amount to anything and it’s a shame that Hanabi isn’t the heir to clan leadership, and Hinata is not only main branch, but his daughter. Look at the ongoing implementation of the curse marks at all, including but not limited to Hiashi’s identical twin (referencing Hizashi specifically because we have screen time of him actually suffering from the mark.)

One would think that after being the token weaker man of the generation central to the plot— lowborn, cursed, destined to die, etc.— that Neji would seek and conquer any available target just to feel better about himself. That’s the definition of a bully, which Neji is often regarded as by other characters and fans of the series alike.

He doesn’t, though.

I won’t pretend like it’s not because Neji thinks he’s above those opponents. But Neji also knows precisely what it feels like to be the weaker man, cornered and powerless against his opponent’s whims and a destiny that demands his ultimate defeat.

Neji goes out of his way repeatedly to ensure that he never puts anyone in that position… unless they swing first.

one thing i think people tend to overlook is that genin neji— the angry, self-righteous, arrogant prodigy— actively chose not to punch down.

he knew lee was weaker than him and didn’t get involved in senseless fights with him. if they were training, sure they fought, but neji and lee are framed as narrative rivals. you think we’d have a filler episode or a single manga panel showing them having a naruto/sasuke level fight over something stupid, but we don’t. (and i’m pretty sure lee instigated every single one of their fights.)

neji just so happened to come across team ten in the forest of death, and while they (hilariously) tried plan after plan to negotiate with him for their lives— mind you, this is one kid against an entire team of other kids— he walked away.

when neji was chosen to 1v1 hinata, he tried to talk her into avoiding that situation altogether. they both knew what the outcome of that match was going to be, and he spent a good bit of time trying to talk her out of fighting him, even trying to scare her out of proceeding with the match before it began.

and he did the exact same thing to naruto, which was yet another match he was *supposed* to win by a landslide. obviously we the audience know how that turned out, but no one in-universe knew that naruto v. neji was going to be a major upset, including naruto and neji. neji tried to make naruto stop fighting him even when he was winning.

and, like. you can chalk it up to neji being a smug little brat if you want. he was a smug little brat. but i think it’s very telling that The Kid To Beat only chose violence when his opponents did first.

[dragonsoulage]

His brain goes shortcut when you are around…pt.2

feat. Neji Hyuga

pt.1

After he agreed on going on a date with you, without his full knowledge. This boy is stressing because he is blushing so hard in your presence. Even when he tries to act all nonchalant. You are simply too pretty and too mesmerizing in his eyes…he is crushing over you.

Hello guys, since you seemed to like all blushing and crushing Neji, and I like too ✨blushing✨ and 💕crushing💕 Neji here is part two. Idk I really love the fluff about this boy. He simply would look just so cute with that pink shade over his nose 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤣 so have fun ✨

Wordcount: 1,3k

Warnings: nothing but fluffy fluff

How you loved to see the delicate pink shade on his cheeks. The way his eyes drifted slightly to the ground and yet too polite to completely look away from you.

Finally, he met with you, after you asked him to meet up. Even when Tenten and Lee needed to tell him, he agreed to this, too distracted with the way you had curled a strand of his hair around your digit.

Too distracted with the way your pretty lips kept talking.

Too distracted how cute you sounded without even realizing one word you said.

Too distracted, how good your scent filled his nostrils.

And to be honest, he was a little afraid, you were literally the only person that could catch him off guard. Neji never thought he would get caught off guard, not by a girl like you.

How should he tell this his uncle that he canceled training to meet with you?

Was it his fault? No, not at all. At least he declared it like this, for him. After all, how could it be his fault, when his brain stopped working out of sudden? It was yours.

Not that he would tell you that, of course not.

Where you two met?

It was a beautiful meadow, with cherry blossom trees.

You liked this place a lot, you told him that and even when he sometimes couldn't listen, he caught a few things.

You were cute, adorable and endearing. He still wondered why he felt this pull towards you.

„You know I am glad you came. I expected you to train today, but seems like someone made time for me." you spoke before you batted your lashes, not even on purpose. You two had sat down in the grass. At least it was a simple thing. Even when you didn't exactly say it was a date, it was for sure one.  

„Yeah, well, I can't decline when I already agreed." he said, he didn't sound so thrilled like you wished to.

But you knew the poor boy had sooooo many things going on in his head.

Turned out there was only one thing, and it was you. You leaned a little closer to him, nudged his elbow slightly. Earning a little huff in response when he looked at the falling cherry blossoms. You two sat against the tree.

„You know next time I could watch when you train. I mean, it is impressive for sure." you replied with that little smile. You were teasing since you had seen him blush. But you also were genuinely interested in him.

And when you smiled, his adam apple bobbed in his throat.

Why the hell did you took his breath away with simply smiling? Why did his hands get sweaty?

He was stressed, more than he should, and not just about the fact that Hiashi probably would give him a lecture on passing out training.  

„It's not that impressive at all. A lot of stamina training and mediation too, besides the exercises with the Byakugan." Neji actually tried to make conversation, even when his mouth went dry. What did you even bring you to like him?

„Oh, boy." you sighted with a chuckle.

„So you don't want me to come, then?" you asked and oh, is eyes rose up squinting slightly to observe your reaction. But his could not think straight.

„No!" he replied faster than he intends to.

Shit, shit, shit. This gave probably more out than he wanted. He sighted, leaning against the tree in defeat.

You leaned closer, looking him right into the face. Why did you need to be so close that he could smell your perfume? And why did it smell so good that he wanted to nuzzle your neck and breath you in?

„Then that means you want me to come?" your sweet voice asked yet again, your pretty eyes glint up.

Was that mischief he saw? Or what was that? But he simply couldn't look away. Feeling this damn allure about you. And now again your hand rose up, taking a strand from his brown shiny hair you loved so, so much.

It made him crazy. Lavender eyes watching how you took the strand of his hair in your delicate fingers, flicking it around them.

He felt his cheeks heat up, the composure cracking with every second left.

„My uncle probably wouldn't appreciate it at all." he answered, hearing that sweet laugh of yours. Watching the pink hue on his cheeks, before he finally managed to look away.

„I didn't ask what your uncle wants, I asked you, pretty boy." you were bold, so bold maybe because you kinda liked how he reacted now that you two were alone and closer. And fuck, he let out a small breath in surprise.

You called him a nickname? Your fingers in his hair, he was just so screwed.

„What did you say?" the Shinobi asked, kinda hoping you would „correct" your reply so he could stop crushing over you.

„You heard me perfectly fine, Neji." and the way you spoke his name. Nothing but the thought of you in his mind. Stressing, this boy was stressing.

And you saw it, you tested it.

„No need to tense up. Maybe you should relax for once. And I don't mean meditating." you added then, but this time you tried not to overwhelm the handsome man.

„Just let me, help you ok?" you cooed letting go of the strand of hair in your fingers, what made him look back.  

Before he could reply, you gently guided his head in your lap, your thighs were so soft.

Neji died inside, he was sure.

This type of stress he usually felt in a fight, not because someone was close to him.

But with you, it was different. It was special. The way you took interest in him, trying to flatter him. Nothing he was used to. And he secretly liked it.

He groaned, already thinking about what he would need to tell his uncle Hiashi when he wouldn't come to the training. Aware, he would cancel it a little more often when this would mean you cooed so sweetly into his ear.

Feeling your fingers running through his soft, silky hair. Some cherry blossoms found their way in it, because of the wind.

Gently you picked them out. Humming, whatever pure melody came inside your head.

And at first he tensed, literally stiff. But with the time you felt his body relaxing. His breathing steady. And you could even watch how he closed his eyes.

Just existing.

You thought he would be so stressed because of the expectations placed upon him, but it was not just that. It was you! It was all your fault that he sometimes really stopped thinking. Just like now. But he felt content, a lovely gesture from you.

Caressing his hair, humming so sweetly just for him.

Nearly wanting to nuzzle his face more into the plush skin of your thighs.  

You were too cute, too adorable and so caring...forgetting about his damn uncle, about training.

Maybe, just maybe, he could start to accept the fact he might like you.

After this moment was over when he rose up from your lap, you saw still the faint shade of pink over his nose. And then you just couldn't resist.

Leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

The short contact of your plump lips against his cheek made a weird flutter in his heart, a whole twist in his tummy. Eyes widen and simply as if he froze in place.

„See you around pretty boy." you meant and stood up, Neji too stunned to speak. Like always when it was about you. Nearly looking annoyed with himself.

Why did you are able to make the genius of the Hyuga clan short-circuiting?

[dayseternal-blog]

Hi, do you know any fanfic where Naruhina has an affair?

Hello! Yes!

Some of these recs will have them married to someone else, and some will be cheating while dating someone else. I'll just make a general list of

NaruHina Cheating/Adultery Fics

“A Maid’s Responsibility” by agitosgirl - Rated E, Modern AU, One-shot. It had been a year since he and Sakura had been physical. Now he had Hinata, sweet, kind, caring Hinata.

“All Kinds of Wrong” by Kieren - Rated E, Crime AU, One-shot. It was ironic how something so pure had sprung from such a sordid arrangement. They were perfect for each other. But they had met at the wrong time.

"The Hokage's Affair" and "Use Me" by madglow - Rated E, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot and Prequel. Hiashi Hyuga kicks out Hinata after finding out that she's pregnant at 18. Little does he or the rest of Konoha know that she's carrying the Hokage's child. The Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, who already has a wife and child of his own.

“Runner’s High” (to be rewritten) by @bunny-hoodlum- Rated E, College/Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. She’s an older woman. She’s also married. He’s a freshman at University. Single. She’s the one he wants and he doesn’t see what’s so wrong about that.

"A Girl Should Never Be Without a Father" by BunnyHoodlum - Rated E, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Somehow, his next chance at a family was dropped in his lap and he took it. Six years later, nothing has gone how he had hoped, and to make it worse, his stepdaughter's friend wants to drive the final nail in his happy enough ending. Maybe there's a reason things turned out like this. Maybe he was never a very good man to begin with.

"be the end of me" by BunnyHoodlum - Rated E, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Naruto hate-fucks the wrong blonde.

“Calming the Beast” by Goldfishlover73 - Rated E, Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. Naruto can’t understand why his relationship with Sakura just isn’t working. Hinata has a solution.

“Blurred Lines” by @vegebulsoup - Rated E, Police/Crime AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Detective Naruto Uzumaki is having a hard time staying focused at work due to an elusive, dark-haired beauty.

“Echoes of Silence” by @ellaroundpanda - Rated E, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Hinata Hyuga was trapped. Her relationship with Toneri was leading to nowhere and she wanted to find a new Dom. Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be the answer to all her prayers, but her fiancé wouldn’t give up that easily…

“Happiness Found” by dreadlord789 - Canon-Divergent AU, One-shot. The war has been won, differences have been set aside, and Naruto is now Hokage, married to his childhood crush. Though his marriage is far from perfect, he finds comfort in the one woman who has never left his side.

“I want you to cry” by Devahhole - Rated E for lots of awful things, like dub-con and graphic murder, High School AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. A sociopath blinded by revenge runs into his greatest opponent.

“Out With the Old” by agitosgirl - Rated E, BDSM Modern AU. Two-Shot, Complete. Rated E for smut. - A poor submissive meets a new Dominant to take care of her.

"Missed Years" by Rinne-Kami - Rated T, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. The act of one night gave birth to their future. And now, with years past since that one night, they were left with years to return. Seven years of love to find, seven years of trust to rebuild, and seven years of fatherhood to return.

"Don't Deny Me" by Imanga - Rated E, Yakuza AU, One-shot. When Naruto gets stabbed after a quarrel with a rival family member, he receives the visit of an unexpected visitor...

"When She's Done" by @narutosleftpec - Rated E, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. The soft pads of her thumbs stroke his cheekbones and she looks at him in an adoring kind of way. Eyes glowing, cheeks rosy and lips tilted in a serene smile. When she leans in and finally kisses him, Naruto is reminded just how hopelessly in love he is with Hinata Hyuga. 

"I Need a Bad Idea" by @char-lotteral - Rated E, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. He's a married man. He loves his wife. He loves his family. But when he meets this lavender eyed beauty at a bar one night, he asks himself if he loves them enough.

I realized that I'm writing one:

"He calls me the devil" - Rated E, Canon-Divergent AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Ohnej's AU, where the frightful Hyuga clan leader Hinata and Konoha’s powerful Hokage Naruto can’t stand each other in economical nor political ground. But walls do have ears, and Hokage’s office and conference room have heard it all. The walls know, that these legendary leaders can’t keep themselves off of each other.

If anyone wants to add on, please do!

[leiandroid]

yakuza / bratva au

extremely important note about this au is that, being russian, ino's name is ino yamanavka xD

many ramblings about this au vvv

hinata is the first daughter of the yakuza's hyuuga family. she murders her father in cold blood with his own katana after a psychotic break. hanabi becomes the boss by default and is out for hinata's head for revenge. hinata runs away to russia. she regains awareness somewhere in russia after her episode and after a few weeks is found by low level bratva members that answer to a certain faction led by ino.

ino is instantly taken by this exotic yet dangerous beauty and recognises that she's not all right up there. instead of wasting her she takes her in, much to the familys protest, and makes hinata her right hand. ino's goals are to climb the ranks and take over the entire russian mafia as the top leader.

hinata has reverted to a "childlike" state for self preservation. she is shy and cheerful and nervous and meek; qualities her father literally beat out of her to shape her up to becoming the next head of the hyuuga. despite this, hanabi would be the one to grow up to be the ruthless protege he always wanted and so tossed hinata to the side. the trauma endured and the pressure and ostracisation by the whole clan caused her to eventually snap.

the guilt and grief of killing her father then has her reverted to a childlike state where she constantly seeks for his approval. she took her father's sword with her and his "spirit" lives in the sword. she seeks the swords approval and talks to it as if it were hiashi himself. and in her mind the sword praises her for how far she's become, berates her for her mistakes, etc.

when she kills she becomes hysterically insane, and in the aftermath she becomes cold and unfeeling for some time before she goes back to her normal childlike state. basically she lives in a constant state of disassociation / multiple personalities (?)

ino manipulates her to do her bidding, assures her she's okay, that she's amazing, that her father is so proud of her. she eases hinata's nerves and anxieties with sweet words and sex.

ino came from a poor background where her father sold her to the bratva for money and medicine to help his sick wife. she grew up in the mafia and was used and abused all throughout. every year, every day that passed, ino would have an ever growing hitlist; members that raped her, beat her, humiliated her, etc. and on the top of that list was her fathers name.

when she was old enough to put her plans to fruition, she tracked down her parents house only to find that they had died long ago. not being able to have the last word she is fueled by hatred and goes on a killing spree on the rest of her list and kills her boss and takes his place and threatens the remaining living members of the faction to either join her or die.

over time she becomes a terrible and horrifying leader and is now the boss of a significantly large faction that has control of a sizeable area in moscow.

she has spent time in prison where she received most of her tattoos. (dot under the eye to denote homosexuality, rose to indicate that she turned 18 in prison, nautical stars that tell of her authority, eyes on her chest to mean she is always watching, "cyka" a forced tattoo calling her a bitch, spider to show that she's an active criminal, gun to show she's killed and is/was for hire to kill, roundstone that means trust no one, and various other tattoos with real world meanings).

half her face was burned with battery acid in prison. her back is littered with scars from cuts and from lashes as disciplinary measures growing up in the mafia.

hinata's irezumi tattoos include motifs of ame no uzume that represents inner beauty and kindness, with various other details like bamboo and ginko leaves and little creatures like crabs and goldfish that represent strength, perseverance, sacrifice and loyalty.

ino genuinely cares for hinata in a very fucked up, selfish, and narcisstic way. their relationship is very complex. ino has a girl that constantly seeks her dead fathers approval, and ino has to act like the concept of a father doesn't sicken her to her bones. in a way, they both drive each other mad. ino grows to hate the sword that has part of hinata's love and attention, but understands that if the sword were to disappear then hinata would too (mind and body).

ino drives hinata to kill, which frays her mind a bit more every time, and in turn the energy ino puts into not letting hinata fall apart at the seams causes her a great deal of stress and gets in the way of a lot of her plans to take over. by the end of their conquests they are barely held together by a thread.

they do get very far together but they meet a grim fate when after hinata is forced to kill a child, she loses the last thread keeping her together then murders ino then kills herself immediately after. they become stuff of legends within the mafia.

[mixu]

Naruto and H1n0t0's wedding chapter confirms SNS

Today in why Shippuden’s ending actually supports sns case, we’ll analyze the last sequence of the last chapter. (If you haven’t read the previous parts, you can find them here pt. 1&2, pt. 3, pt.4, although it’s not necessary to read them in order.) So, without further ado:

Pt 5. Naruto would rather be anywhere but here

As usual I leave my crappy clip from the scene then we’ll examine the expressions, body language of the characters and some of the editing. There’s very little dialogue but a lot to unpack.

The scene starts with Naruto and Hinata staring up at the Hokage Monument.

Who knows how long they’ve been at it, but Hinata is making the same face I make when I go to the museum and fail to understand why someone takes more than 5 minutes to appreciate a painting (excuse my uncultured ass). She then tells Neji’s ghost she is getting married (as if poor Neji cared) and turns to look at Naruto who is uncannily serious for someone who is about to marry the love of his life.

We get a close off of Minato’s face and Naruto’s profile, still serious. What is he thinking about? I very highly doubt he’s thinking about the honeymoon.

Then we get Hinata true to her stalker self, blushing, looking lovingly, dreamingly at Naruto, when Naruto doesn’t even know she’s there. She’s getting married to the man she loves (if you count that as love) so, acceptable, understandable expressions. And I want to emphasize how many expressions of Hinata they show us in contrast to Naruto’s during the whole sequence (3 is being generous).

One could argue that Naruto is looking back at her, but is he? Then why don’t they show us a broader shot of them staring at each other lovingly? Because that’s not the case. That���s their relationship in a nutshell: Hinata staring at Naruto incessantly while Naruto is barely aware of her presence. Furthermore, when Hanabi and Hiashi enter, making Naruto and Hinata turn around, Naruto first looks at Hinata as if asking “you were here the whole time?” then goes back to serious mode.

The following shots of the Hyuuga give us so much information. Hanabi is excited, smiling because she has no clue of the farce, while Hiashi is stern as he has always been, but he had changed after the Chuunin exams, didn’t he? Why does Hinata suddenly looks so worried? She was smiling a second ago? The transition of Hiashi’s expression reminds me of that meme where the father says “He looks gay to me, but whatever makes my princess happy.” So, with Hiashi’s blessing, Hinata smiles again. Once more, notice how many different expressions she has, when Naruto doesn’t even appear in the shot.

What follows is pure gold.

Is it just me or Naruto takes ages to return Hinata’s handhold?

Next, the first image of this batch is so hilarious to me. Hinata is looking down at their hands as if to confirm it is actually happening. Hanabi is more excited than anyone in the room even when it is Hinata and Naruto who are getting married. Naruto’s expression in images 1, 2 and 6 might have been as well copy pasted. Why? He is your main character, why are you hiding his face on every opportunity. Plus, number 4 is so bad. It looks like he is bracing for battle.

Naruto asks Hinata if she's ready, and off they go into a mediocre, loveless marriage for the sake of Konoha and Kishimoto’s, SJ and SP wallets. Look at Naruto’s half-assed smile.

This clip is 74 sec long and we only get to see Naruto’s face/head during 19 sec. That’s roughly a quarter of the whole sequence, and even when Naruto appears, we rarely get a close off of his face. Furthermore, when we do get a close off, there’s no range of emotion (watch Dragon Ball or FMA Brotherhood’s last chapter and compare Edward and Goku’s portrayal to that of Naruto). Why would the studio hide the main character like this? Why focus so much only in the love interest and not the couple? Because there is no happy ending for Naruto. He got trapped between duty, his promises and the expectations cast upon him, and the worst part is those who were supposed to look after him looked the other way.

You can read this post in which the author analyzes similar inconsistences across Gaiden and Boruto. The conjecture is pretty much the same: Naruto gave up Sasuke and married Hinata because that was what everyone told him, directly or indirectly, he was supposed to do.

None of these choices are accidental. We saw what the studio wanted to show us like we read what Kishimoto wanted us to read. Perhaps those last chapters weren’t as clumsy as we thought, but we were too hurt by the Last, Boruto and chapter 700 to notice the characters were responding accurately given the circumstances they were facing and the values of their world. And, people can say whatever about us sns being delusional, but Naruto didn’t get a happy ending (I won’t even talk about Sasuke because there’s no doubt that he got the short end of the stick). We know how happy Naruto is supposed to look like.

So, this is it. Even this wedding fiasco reinforces SNS and now it hurts a thousand times more. Thanks for reading my ramblings and sorry for the quality of the images and the video. I don’t have time to make better edits but I really wanted to share this. I’ll go back to the fanfic world where everything is right.

[pale-fairytales]

Naruto rant leggo

Okay. Neji, right? Neji fucking Hyuga.

I always loved him. I don't even know why, I just always felt weirdly connected to him. 12 year old me just looked at him and said "he is my little meow meow." And I still love him.

But god I just realized the depth of how tragic his situation is.

Imagine this; your dad is an identical twin. Your dad/your side of the family isn't as valued as the main one. And your dad volunteers his life to protect your clan. And following the day you lost your dad, every single day, you see someone walking around who looks just like him, but you know it isn't him.

Imagine it. How many times must Neji have accidentally called him 'Father' when he was younger just because for a moment, just a moment, he wanted to pretend that his father was still around? How many times must Neji think he's seeing a ghost when he looks at Hiashi, wondering if his father would have looked any different from Hiashi now if he hadn't had to die? How many times must he have reached for hands that he knows will never reach back?

Just. Imagine how heartbreaking that must have been. It absolutely doesn't excuse how he treated Hinata during the Chunin exams, and it definitely doesn't justify his resentment towards her. But god. This poor kid had to grow up not even being given the opportunity to decide his own destiny—he's mired into a box imposed by his clan, his father is essentially the sacrificial lamb.

I feel like the tragedy of Naruto is how much everyone loses all the time. Everyone has lost someone in horrific ways in Naruto—but it seems like no one in the show/manga can see that. Maybe it's just so normalized that there isn't really any semblance of 'this should not happen!' Or 'this should not be normal!'

Obviously, it could be worse for Neji; he could be like Sasuke, or Naruto, or any of the other orphans who don't have anyone. But god it's so sad to think that every day he has to see someone who has always treated him differently because he's a side branch of the Hyuga, someone who his father died for, and he reminded that his father is not here anymore. I feel like it's even worse because Hiashi looks just like Neji's father! It's that uncanny valley effect—like seeing a ghost but knowing it isn't that person who died!

Alright, okay, rant over.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Kakashi look my ask is no way to shame Sakura or something but just here me out.

If we got Hinata on team 7, we'd have Team Great Depression.

I mean Sasuke is depressed and so is Kakashi, Naruto is too but he's just good at hiding it and Hinata has self esteem issues and is also depressed.

Just think how hilarious the premise is.

I, personally, think it’s hilarious Sakura got stuck with team depression while being a normal kid with two parents while loved her and no major trauma.

Poor Sakura walked into our team thinking she would got to be close to her crush, but all she got was team trauma.

Besides, poor Hinata would not do well. I suspect she’d get over the overwhelming shyness with some time, having to he that close to Naruto and that, but the first three months would be unbearable for her.

Plus if I had to deal with Hiashi i’d probably get into some actual trouble. Kurenai is more timid that me. For the most part i’d avoid him, since i really can’t fo anything about his shit parenting and terrible clan practices, but at some point i’d have to speak with him and…

Well… i’m sure Lord Third would have some words for me if i electricuted the head of the Hyuga clan for being a grade a piece of parenting sh*t.

Kurenai is Definitely better for that job. Far mrie… reserved with her words, is how i i think gai would explain it :)

[alybur635]

Hinata: Father, I got a girlfriend now..!

Hiashi: The only thing you should be 'getting' is getting it together and improving your already poor training.

[spatio-rift]

the amount of people still saying hinata shouldve died instead of neji is crazy.... this poor girl being comforted by her crush after her cousin died enraged people so much the feminism left their bodies.... 'the clan heiress sacrificing herself for a branch member would have been poetic justice' hinata wasnt even really the clan heiress or at least certainly not until way into the timeskip... talk about selective memory everyone remembers nejis childhood but no one remembers hiashis abuse of hinata even though it shaped her entire shy and anxious personality (<- notable because every other girl in konoha (and to an extent the whole work) is type 1 (hothead)) ... what poetic justice is there in one of hiashis abuse victims sacrificing themself for another.... reread the scene and realize hiashi was right there with them. poetic justice would be hiashi sacrificing himself to save hinata AND neji, the future of the clan, who have been working hand in hand during the entire timeskip to change its ways and have the branch and main families stand as equals...

[sage--mode]

It's 2023 and I'm still mad so I say this again though I'm sure others have said so but. If anyone was going to die to protect Hinata and Naruto during the war, it should have been Hiashi.

This man is kind of a piece of shit. He allowed his own brother to die, his nephew to suffer with that seal, treated his older child like crap and idk what he even put Hanabi through. He never apologized and never did anything to earn being in Hinata's good graces after. He's done nothing to deserve the life he has. He broke his child's heart and never even cared.

Now in Boruto he gets to grow old and experience his grandchildren and family and it's so unfair it's sickening. Not only has his character done a bizarre complete change in temperament. Suddenly Hinata IS good enough to be in your life, why? Because she became a chunin? Because she was brave enough to follow her friends and team to the war? Married the hero / future hokage? When did he ever take responsibility for his role in both Neji and Hinata's awful childhoods? Why would Hinata even trust him to be around her own kids? I know this is a lapse on Kishimoto's part. He's written Hinata to be such a good person you can assume she's forgiven him despite him never being sorry. And why would Naruto be okay with it? Are we supposed to believe he would be fine with that man being around knowing how his behavior was?

And Neji?

That's the ending he gets? Dead at I assume age 18/19. It's Neji who deserved to have that family and live a full happy life. Get to be an uncle to Boruto and Himawari, watch them grow up, even have a family of his own possibly. He's one of the characters that gets such a unique story in the show only to be wasted in the end.

It should've been Hiashi. He should've been the one to die, as a means of proving to his daughter that he does actually care about her, and to his nephew, keeping them both safe and being a means of atonement to Hizashi. His own brother that he didn't protect and allowed to die, leaving poor Neji an orphan.

[chaoticproductivity]

[Part 2]

It was only the second day of January when the letter arrived. 

Duke Hyuuga had always cultivated a long and courteous relationship with the neighbouring dukedom, the Uchiha, especially because both current dukes had attended college together.

Hinata remembered them, from when her mother was alive, because both duchesses had shared a season in the ton. Mikoto got married to Fugaku in her first season, but Hikari had to wait two to finally snatch Hiashi, who was doing business overseas.

They used to play together, Hinata and both the Uchiha boys, when she was still quite young. Itachi was much older and was sent to boarding school when Hinata was still a toddler, but Sasuke was only three years older than her, so they were able to spend a little more time together. Three summers, to be exact, from when she was 6 to 8.

She hadn't seen him in 15 years.

So yes, she could say that she really met him at the funeral.

Since Itachi was the heir, Sasuke had lived mostly unnoticed and didn't really have a reputation besides being the absent son of Lord Uchiha, always travelling to far away lands.

No one knew Itachi had poor health, not even the family, not even the wife! Itachi, apparently, had hid it too well.

"I-i-i..." The widow was inconsolable. "I-i ha-had... No..." Mikoto was beside her, also crying, but in a more restrained manner. "I had... N-no idea... He was even... Sick..." She was trying to justify her ignorance while gulping air and crying her eyes out. Poor thing.

The wake was held three days after the letter arrived and it was clear not many people had been invited. The Hyuugas, Marquis Jiraya and his adopted son, a few selected inferior Uchihas, no more than half a dozen of other important, close families.

Naruto passed Hinata, nodding politely, followed close by his pink haired wife. Neither of them gave any indication they remembered who Hinata was. 

Sasuke looked... Detached. It was known he and Naruto were close friends, having attended boarding school and college at the same time, then travelling together for a few years, but Sasuke had remained serious and stoic, cold even, when exchanging a few words with Naruto. He was polite when addressed, but Hinata noticed early on that people refrained from approaching him.

There weren't many flowers around, it was winter afterall, blossoms were hard to come by. The Hyuugas had a winter garden, therefore were able to send three vases to decorate the mourning hall, for which Mikoto was most grateful.

Sasuke helped carry the casket the short distance to the family burial ground. So did the duke. And Neji, to show respect. The widow had to be carried by the women, she simply could not stand on her own. The only good thing was that the snow had stopped falling. 

All in all, it was a quick affair.

When the people started to leave, Sasuke remained, a dark figure against the white and grey of the landscape. When she saw he was not walking back to the house, Hinata stopped. His shoulders were shaking, the telltale of crying. Hinata left him be, tragically beautiful, not senseless enough to pretend she could offer him any comfort.

A few days later, she learned Sasuke was still at the Uchiha property neighbouring the Hyuuga estate, because she saw him riding a black horse near the border of their properties while coming back to the mansion after an afternoon walk. He was riding too fast to make notice of her.

"Well, yes, he is to be duke now", her cousin explained when, at tea time, she told him of having seen Sasuke. "He can't just go travelling whenever he pleases, anymore. Now he is expected to attend to Itachi's duties and to get married."

"What about you, cousin?", asked Hanabi, coyly. Neji coughed, knowing what she meant. Where was his wife since he was also to be duke? Neji changed the subject.

The spare is how seconds sons are called. Collateral in case the first one doesn't make it. Hinata's father had really taken the short straw by having two daughters, but he was fond enough of his deceased twin brother's son, Neji, to be content with their predicament of the dukedom going to him instead. The Uchihas, particularly Fugaku, did not seem quite so glad that Sasuke was now the heir.

Hinata dragged Hanabi to have tea with them one afternoon mid January, that's how she learned the widow would now move in with the inlaws at the main estate. She was quite overcome with grief and Mikoto thought best not to leave her alone. At the same time, the duke was eager to go home, so they would do it in a couple days.

"Sasuke will stay behind to take care of Itachi's affairs a while longer." Mikoto turned to Hinata then, grabbing her hand. "Would you keep an eye on him for me, dear? Just to make sure he is in good health."

"Of course, Your Grace."

If Mikoto was any other mama, and if she had not just lost a son, Hinata would think she had other intentions with that request, but she knew better. The duchess saw Hinata as she was: a safe spinster.

The Uchihas left. 

Sasuke stayed behind, riding his horse through their fields. He was a creature of habit, Hinata noticed quickly. He would ride everyday, at the same time, except when the weather was unforgiving. 

At one of those evening rides, Hinata grabbed her own horse and went the opposite way, to his house. There she waited, under the gaze of curious servants, for she was an unmarried lady waiting for a bachelor, alone.

"What are you doing here?" Was the very rude question she was greeted with when he entered the drawing room where Hinata was waiting for him.

"Waiting for you."

"Why?"

"Your mother asked me to."

"What?"

Calmly, Hinata drank the last of her tea and stood up, grabbing a sugar cookie.

"Your mother worries, as mothers do." Hinata approached him, unfazed by the enraged dark stare. She looked him up and down a couple times, then, without warning or shilly-shallying, grabbed his arm, pinching it. 

"Have you gone mad?" He recoiled like an offended snake, flushing a little.

"Good, you seem to be in good health." Hinata gathered her coat and gloves that were draped over a side chair. "Good day, sir."

Hinata left a quite flabbergasted Sasuke behind, wondering what had just happened. How dare she... And alone... His mother? How? Why? When had she... What had just... Who she thought she was?

Sasuke was still trying to make sense of her when a note came the next day inviting him to dinner at the Hyuuga Manor. His first instinct was to decline, if not for the rather impressive encounter with the pearl eyed woman the day before. 

He barely remembered her from his childhood. They were playmates, briefly. He did not, however, remember her name. She was Miss Hyuuga, that much he knew, but what was her first name again? 

It was Neji who received him in the drawing room of Hyuuga Manor when the servant directed Sasuke to wait there.

"Uchiha, you came."

"Hyuuga", Sasuke answered as a greeting. He knew Neji from society. There were not that many dukes, after all. "Thank you for the invitation."

"My cousin insisted."

Sasuke nodded. He had not yet elaborated a full opinion regarding Miss Hyuuga and the previous day's encounter, but since she had been there alone, maybe Neji did not know about that particular excursion.

"Oh!" Sasuke turned to where a girl was standing, staring at him. He had not seen her before, but she looked the spitting image of the gentleman in the room with him. "Sister, he really came for dinner."

Not a second too late, Miss Hyuuga was standing beside the smaller girl in a beautiful light blue dress. Her hair was up with ribbons, a lace ribbon also around her neck, and long white gloves. Hanabi was dressed in a similar manner, and Sasuke realised even Neji looked ready for a ball at the ton. Sasuke, with his nice evening coat and simple cravat, felt suddenly underdressed.

"Yes, Hanabi", the woman smiled and prompted her sister to enter the room, nodding at Sasuke as a greeting when they were close enough. "He said so in his note."

"Good evening." Hiashi entered the room after his daughters.

"Lord Hyuuga", said Sasuke. 

"Uchiha", Hiashi also closed the distance. "We thought better to leave you be after your brother's passing, but feel free to come visit if you so please. You are welcome here. Itachi was always a kind neighbour."

Sasuke's expression did not change, for good or for bad.

"I thank you, sir.''

Hiashi seemed quite pleased with himself.

Before any of them could say anything else, a servant came to announce that dinner was served and it went by quickly and mostly silently. The food was exquisite, so Sasuke did not feel bad for focusing his attention on the plate. Afterwards, Hiashi retired upstairs right away, leaving the youngsters to socialise. Before, he would remain amongst the inebriated gentleman for whiskey and cigars while his Hikari had her own fun with the ladies. Now, he had Neji to chaperone his daughters when the need arises. 

"Uchiha", Neji approached passing Sasuke a glass with two finger's of an amber liquid. "Given the circumstances, will you be joining us this season?"

"It is going to be my first season", Hanabi piped in. "I convinced father that I needed more dancing lessons and was able to avoid being presented last year."

"You did need more dancing lessons." Neji commented as someone that had had his feet stomped on too many times. "And still do, for some rhythms."

"It is good enough." Hanabi retorted. "Sister has impeccable dancing and is still unmarried, which proves that dancing is not what a gentleman is really looking for in a wife."

The information caught Sasuke's attention. How come Hinata was unmarried and had gone to his house, had been alone with him so unceremoniously?

"It might be the thing a gentleman is looking for in you, Hanabi."

"Oh, please." Hanabi threw herself at the dessert plate. "Look at Hinata! I don't stand a chance of getting married if she received only 4 proposals after six seasons."

Hinata! Yes, that was her first name. The mention made him look at her. Hinata was uncomfortable, Sasuke could tell from the other side of the room. She faked well, looking out the window sipping her tea. 

"Yes", Sasuke finally answered Neji. "Given the circumstances, I might attend this year."

"Prepare yourself. You're going to be the talk of the season." Neji downed his drink. "And the highest prize for the plotting mamas."

Sasuke downed his drink too. Neji seemed like he knew what he was talking about, at least regarding that. Naruto had said something similar about the season when he was looking for a wife himself - the search was cut short because of his indiscretions with Sakura.

"That may be a good thing", Hinata said. "If you are looking for a suitable wife, you'll have the first pick."

"Indeed."

Sasuke approached the drinks tray on the other side of the room and decided to switch his liquor for some tea. He still had a ride home to take and the last thing he wanted was to fall from the horse and die in a muddy ditch. Fortunately for him, it was not snowing or raining. Unfortunately, it was a very cold night.

"Want me to serve you?"

"No need."

Hinata turned to the window again and Sasuke used that time to observe her. She was not a very tall woman nor horribly thin. Her skin tone was so white she could pass as a sick person if not for the rosy cheeks. She was well-mannered, discreet, and didn't seem to take up much space; loyal, if the checking up on him by his mother's request was any indication. Being the eldest daughter of a duke and motherless from a young age, no doubt she was capable of running a household. 

How was such a lady still unmarried?

"You are staring."

And spilling the tea, he noticed. Sasuke tried to recover when she came to his aid, simply tipping the tea cup a little so the excess was caught in the saucer and then dumped the saucer's contents into the teapot. 

"There." Hinata smiled and he saw the blush in her cheeks. "You should've let me pour you a cup."

Unfazed.

Teasing.

Caring.

How was she still unmarried?

"If you need assistance this season, let us know." 

"Huh?" 

"My cousin should also be looking for a wife, but he insists on marrying us off before doing so." Hinata was fixing her own cup, which made it impossible for Sasuke to look at her eyes. "Hanabi has yet to have her chance, but it's too late for me and I hope he realises that."

"What do you mean?"

Hinata did not answer. She took the cup to her lips and sipped, looking over to her cousin and her sister. Sasuke was curious, feeling like that was the answer he needed to truly understand her, but she stepped away without another word and he did not know her enough to pry.

A week later, Sasuke attended dinner with the Hyuugas again, this time dressed up a little more. Five days after that, it was afternoon tea. When the snow started to slowly melt, he went hunting with Neji. And every so often, would stop by to exchange a few words with Hiashi about the properties and dukedom affairs. On one occasion, he even walked from the village with Hanabi and her maid, and she told all the details to her older sister upon arriving home, like it was some kind of miracle. 

As for Hinata, she kept on visiting him, at his house, all by herself. 

After the third time, he got quite used to it.

After a couple more visits, he started to expect her.

She never stayed much, the doors were always wide open, sometimes the maid who brought tea would stay in the room, in the corner. For Hinata's sake, Sasuke noticed. They could be their servants, but the Hyuugas were the sires of that county, and there their loyalties laid. Or maybe, just with Hinata. She knew his servants by name since the first visit, he learned.

She never stayed much, the doors were always wide open, sometimes the maid who brought tea would stay in the room, in the corner. For Hinata's sake, Sasuke noticed. They could be their servants, but the Hyuugas were the sires of that county, and there their loyalties laid. Or maybe, just with Hinata. She knew his servants by name since the first visit, he learned.

During the five minute visits, she would not even sit.

For the fifteen minute ones, she would make time for a cup of tea.

One day, she stayed for half an hour, engrossed in a book. Sasuke entered while she read and sat, looking at her, both in perfect silence. Hinata took the book with her.

Sometimes, they would meet coincidentally along the way and walk together. It was an easy conversation. She was well-read in most topics and an expert on the society affairs that Sasuke had kept away for so long. All she asked in return were tales from his travels.

"Naruto was with me that time, it was raining and all the hotels were full, but we needed a place to stay, so without thinking we entered the first brothel we..." Sasuke interrupted himself, palling. He looked up at Hinata, but she simply sipped her tea. "Forgive me", he said, very stiff. "It's not a tale appropriate for a lady."

"Why not?"

Hinata put the cup back in the saucer and grabbed a cookie. 

"Do you think well-bread ladies don't know about brothels?" Her question was delivered without stuttering, but not without blushing. "Or that we don't know what happens inside them?"

"Do you?" Without waiting for the answer, he followed. "How?"

"Women can get to know the world too, we just have to be extremely more careful than men." Her words weren't bitter where they should be, but resigned. "We are doomed to a much bigger sentence for a much more insignificant sin."

"That's the reason why you are still unmarried?"

"Oh no", she smiled. "My reputation is pristine. Maybe too much so."

They finished going up the hill from where Hyuuga Manor could be seen beyond the woods and the field.

"At three and twenty, and so many seasons, I've learned society is more than willing to sweep some indiscretions under the rug. Not all of them are plotting all of the time, you know."

"So even someone like you has been indiscreet."

"Yes, even someone like me..."

"That's why you think it's too late for you?"

"No, I think it's too late for me because that's just how things are."

They made it down the hill, into the woods.

Sasuke realised he wanted her.

Like a man wants a woman, and a woman wants a man back, he wants her.

More dangerous still, he realised that he could have her. In that way, she would most likely let him. 

Why else would she be so honest and candid in their conversations?

Why else would she let him know she was not so innocent?

She trusted him.

Why did she trust him?

"The new season starts in two weeks."

"Yes." Sasuke was not looking forward to it.

"You'll find a wife, and when you do, treat her well." Hinata took a step closer to him. 

Hinata trusted Sasuke because, for her, he was safely just out of reach.

Sasuke had the time to notice the dots of light from the gaps between the leaves illuminating her. No, it was not that he had the time, but he wanted to notice how it illuminated her, how it made her eyes even more pale.

Sasuke realised he wanted her.

Like a husband wants a wife, like a person wants an equal, like wanting a partner, a friend. 

He wanted to ask her to marry him there and then, but he had a feeling she would say no for whatever reason, and for no reason at all, and he could not afford that.

Instead, he took a step closer.

"Let me tell you more about the world."

She nodded.

They kissed. 

And kissed and kissed.

And the new season began.

[okamirayne]

Redownloading tumblr to find 2 new chapters from the god of shikaneji — I am truly blessed

As a long-time Hiashi hater, I did not expect to feel for him so hard this latest chapter. And the scene where little Hiashi finds his father in a.. precarious situation while looking for his SICK mother — oof, poor kid!

Also I have a bit of an obsession with Tokuma Hyuga so I was so excited to see him sprinkled throughout the chapter. Not sure how much, if at all, his character will be utilized in your universe, but if he is going to be recurring I am so interested to see what you do with him — i eat up my crumbs wherever i can get them

I am waiting with bated breath to see what comes of all the characters, but there’s one handsome little guy in particular that I cannot get out of my mind — Akamaru! I hope my favorite doggy is doing ok in all of this mess, though with Kiba in the state he’s in, I assume all is not well.

One thing I cannot stress enough is how much your mental health matters to readers like me. I really appreciate you taking the time you need in between and outside writing, as well as sharing your experiences with burnout!

The BtB-verse has truly been such a gift and something I will never stop coming back to — even after the last update (whenever that may be, scary thought).

Hope all is well on your end!

@rosebudddyy 😍 AW! So awesome to hear from you! I'm absolutely thrilled to get your kind feedback and thoughts! 🙏🏼

As a long-time Hiashi hater, I did not expect to feel for him so hard this latest chapter. And the scene where little Hiashi finds his father in a.. precarious situation while looking for his SICK mother — oof, poor kid!

That scene was tough to envision. Getting into Hiashi's headspace is always interesting and intense territory, to say nothing of his heartspace...💔

Also I have a bit of an obsession with Tokuma Hyuga so I was so excited to see him sprinkled throughout the chapter. Not sure how much, if at all, his character will be utilized in your universe, but if he is going to be recurring I am so interested to see what you do with him — i eat up my crumbs wherever i can get them

Oh awesome! Tokuma! I'm glad you enjoyed his mention. I honestly have no idea sometimes which characters are going to make a cameo appearance, or whether they will occupy a bigger part of the stage - so its possible? I never say never now.

I am waiting with bated breath to see what comes of all the characters, but there’s one handsome little guy in particular that I cannot get out of my mind — Akamaru! I hope my favorite doggy is doing ok in all of this mess, though with Kiba in the state he’s in, I assume all is not well.

😢Argh, yes...Akamaru. That was a hella messy fight. Hopefully he'll make an appearance soon!

One thing I cannot stress enough is how much your mental health matters to readers like me. I really appreciate you taking the time you need in between and outside writing, as well as sharing your experiences with burnout!

That's incredibly kind of you, sweetheart. Thank you. 💖🥹 I hope my two cents of the burnout experience can help others who might be going through it. The world seems to have gone to hell in a handbasket at the moment and a lot of people are in overwhelm and running off fumes.

The BtB-verse has truly been such a gift and something I will never stop coming back to — even after the last update (whenever that may be, scary thought).

I'm so grateful to hear this and so thankful that BtB-verse is something that you revisit. That's why I'm doubtly thankful and so damned appreciative of the readers who take the time to connect with me and share their thoughts/feels/feedback etc. Given the burnout, that's the only motivation I've got to keep going with this. It's thanks to the kind reviewers and commentors such as yourself that the sense of community and connection (and the reader-writer-feedback-loop) remains and sustains my ability to 'keep on keeping on' with HHU, otherwise I'll lose steam. You're amazing and throughly appreciated. 🥰

I hope you're well, sweetie. 🫶🏼 A thousand thanks again!

[lavender-long-stories]

Spoilers for Beauty and the Sand Beast | Chapter 1 | Rated T

Hinata thought of many ways her father could have gotten rid of her: marrying her off to a diplomat, sending her away to a permanent ambassador mission, or locking her in a room to never be seen again, but she never thought she would be traded for shelter.

No one told her why Hiashi was transported across the desert. It wasn’t planned well if they crossed through in storm season. Hinata was only told that the price for their stay was for her to return to stay with their ‘gracious host.’ 

Now the sand whipped through her hair as the sunset. Who knew that the desert could feel so cold? Hinata wondered briefly if her escorts were just going to walk her out into the desert to strand her because it took so long to see the single building standing alone in the hills of sand. It was a castle made of sand which would have been funnier to her if she wasn’t going to be living here. Hinata was led in by the sibling set that picked her up as part of the deal, a man and woman who looked more than concerned about this arrangement. They didn’t say much though Kankuro tried to crack a few jokes that didn’t land all that well on Hinata in her state. 

“We set you up a room at the end of the hall. There is a bathroom in there.” Kankuro pointed. “Kitchen is through there, and uh...” He looked at his sister to finish the sentence he hadn’t planned.

“Stick to that for now,” Temari added. “We’ll be here for a few days to help you settle in.” And then they were leaving to leave her here alone, with a stranger that locked himself away in the farthest reach of the desert. 

Hinata couldn’t dwell on the implications anymore. She was too tired. Trekking through the sand was somehow worse than trekking through mud. Her calves hadn’t been this sore in years.

“Why don’t you head to bed, and we can do introductions in the morning.” Kankuro waved his hand at her room again.

Hinata bowed her head and disappeared into the room quietly. She dropped her bags behind the door to look at her new life, four sand walls, and a single window that only looked out at more sand. She walked to the window and placed the poor potted plant she carried with her through the dry hellscape before padding to the bathroom to collect some water.

How did Neji think that she was going to keep it alive here? Maybe he didn’t think about it. She hadn’t really thought about it until the trees were long behind her. Hinata poured water into the pot and rested her head and arms on the window sill, laying her head down to look at the progression to the darkness outside.

To most villages, the beast of Suna was only a legend. Not everyone believed the story of the bloodthirsty monster that was so dangerous his own village banished him to the furthest sand hills, but Konoha knew it was true. They helped Suna make the decision to isolate the poor boy from the world. 

Hinata couldn’t say she liked Konoha’s track record on handling tailed beasts, and now she was going to have to see what the decision did to that little boy. She ran her hand across the roughness of the wall and sighed, pushing off to get into her bag to get ready for bed.

--**--

Sand particles jittering made the air thick and anxious as Temari opened the door to Gaara’s usual hiding place. His eyes slid up to her predatory. “We’re here.” She announced. “We sent her to bed.”

Gaara tightened his crossed arms and closed his eyes with nothing to say, as usual. 

“Did you eat?” Temari asked, knowing the answer. “I’ll bring you something.”

“The girl.” Gaara ignored her offer. “... Is she scared?”

“She’s…” Depressed. Resigned. Detached. Quiet. Temari was expecting her to be scared, too, but Hinata seemed to have shut down before they met her. To be fair, her father told her that he was sending her off to live with a hermit beast. Not a lot of options for reactions, but Temari was expecting anger. “She’s processing.” 

Gaara’s non-eyebrows became tight, putting a deep crease on his forehead. What was he expecting? Did he think she would be happy to come here? Temari knew that he was going to regret this decision the moment he made it. He was going to trap someone else here with him. To suffer the same fate he had. 

--**--

“How did you sleep?” Kankuro attempted small talk as he put breakfast in front of her.

The night was cold and long and didn’t give Hinata the rest she hoped it would, leaving her trapped in her thoughts and the animalistic howl of the wind. By the time she fell asleep, she was woken by a knock on the door. Her legs ached, and she could feel a sunburn spread across her face when she splashed her face with water. “Fine.” She didn’t know what he had given her to eat. The only thing she recognized was rice. She scooped it into her mouth anyway.

“You’ll have to tell us if there is anything you need,” Temari explained. “We come every month with supplies.”

There were only three chairs at the table. They weren’t used to having a fourth person. “Does he not eat?” Hinata flinched as the thought came out of her mouth. She scolded herself and shoved more food in her mouth, so she couldn’t say anything else.

Kankuro picked at his plate. “... No, not a lot.” Kankuro and Temari looked at each other, and Hinata could feel the redness of her cheeks under her sunburn. Hinata dipped her head down to finish the meal without saying anything else stupid. 

--**--

Temari sighed as Gaara paced around his usual spot like an animal in a cage. “I don’t know what you are expecting.” Gaara acted like he didn’t hear her. It’s possible he hadn’t. “You’re going to have to control yourself. If she’s not scared now, she will be if she feels everything in the air.” With that, it felt like a vacuum sucked the life out of the room as all the sand retreated, and Gaara glared at her. “You can’t wear all your emotions. Normal people monitor how much they show.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Gaara huffed. His face didn’t hide his anxiety well either. He was doomed. He was going to scare the poor girl off. “Where is she?”

“She went back to her room after breakfast. I don’t think she is eager to meet you,” Temari explained. Gaara’s frustration flared, sending some of the sand to stretch around the edge of his pacing area. “If you want her to like you, then you need to try to meet her on her level.”

“I don’t need her to like me.” Gaara’s non-eyebrows knitting betrayed him.

“Yes, you do.” Temari crossed her arms. “Because otherwise, you are going to be stuck out here with a daily reminder of what you fear the most.”

Gaara’s head whipped around. “Or a corpse.”

Temari rolled her eyes. “Please. Don’t talk to her like that.” He was going to screw this up, being childish. Gaara proceeded to sit behind his large sand chair. A throne for his castle with no one to rule. Until now. Temari rounded it, resting her hand against it. “She’s feeling abandoned. You know what that feels like.”

Gaara’s eyes darted to side-eye her. Maybe she should have taught him to act a bit more normal when he was young. 

Temari sighed, coming down to his level and sitting far enough away to not make him uncomfortable. “We’re only going to be here for a few more days. Is there anything you want me to bring back?”

“Anything the girl needs,” Gaara answered as the sand started swirling in patterns in front of him. His eyes watch the sand idly.

“All she asked for was tea from home.” Temari tilted her head to the side. “Apparently, she’s not used to spiced tea.”

Once more, Gaara acted like he didn’t hear her. If he was going to have someone here to talk to, he should learn how to hold a conversation.

--**--

Hinata lay awake on her bed. It was possible that the wind was what was keeping her awake or the gnawing feeling that she was going to be left alone soon with a man she had not yet met. He still had not come out of the room his sibling periodically disappeared to. Despite their trying, they couldn’t get him to come out, and she was told not to go in.

What kind of man demands a housemate and then doesn’t even have the courtesy to welcome them?

The whole complex was unwelcoming, with halls of empty rooms. What was it built for? Why keep one man in a building made for thirty? Was it all they had? Would it feel more lonely knowing all that space wasn’t filled?

“Hinata.” Kankuro knocked on her door. “We’ll be leaving in the morning. Do you want to try again?”

“If he hasn’t come out yet, then he doesn’t plan to,” Hinata called back. She was going to be trapped here with someone who couldn’t even decide if he wanted the company he requested. 

Kankuro sighed from the other side. “Good night.”

Beauty and the Sand Beast

Pairing: Gaara x Hinata Rating: T

Description: Gaara was deemed too dangerous to keep in Suna at a young age and since has been living alone in the furthest corner of the desert. Until Hinata is traded to keep him company.

Tags: Romance  |  Slow Burn  |  Fluff and Angst  |  Healthy Relationships  |  Happy Ending  |  Gaara is an awkward sheltered baby  |  Big Sister Temari

[dark-elf-writes]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRoHwYAB/

Sobbing.

My poor boy.

Nah you know Guy and Lee followed Neji around for days glaring at Hiashi just

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 99

'Ughhh.' Aiko did her level best not to let her discomfort with referendums and refinement of security protocols show, and resisted the urge to kick her feet back and forth under the table.

She felt a little like a child in this setting. In a prohibitively formal room with Hyuuga Hiashi on her left and Inuzuka Tsume on her right, she wasn't certain if she wanted to sit up as straight as possible or slump under the table and hope they didn't notice her.

'At least there's no civilians to care that I'm wearing mission gear,' she consoled herself. Good thing, too. It was too hot and stuffy for more clothes.

Afterwards, she walked out with a little more haste than was strictly proper, and made a bee-line for a bar downtown. Anko slipped up to the counter beside her less than half an hour later, still rolling a dango skewer between her teeth.

"Long day, huh?" Anko reached over and stuck her skewer into Aiko's drink, and grinned when she got a disgusted look in return. The bamboo bobbed up at her innocently. Aiko pushed the hurricane away, and Anko grabbed it up. "Thank you love," she purred before she tilted it up, disregarding the straw entirely.

Aiko just rolled her eyes. "You are incorrigible.'

"I prefer intransigent," Anko pouted, wiping a bit of alcohol off her lips. Even as Aiko began to talk again, she leaned her elbows onto the counter and made a kissy face at a well-muscled Jounin whom Aiko didn't know.

"Right, of course you do," Aiko sighed, turning to glance in the direction Anko was looking and then rolling her eyes. She gestured to the barkeep with two fingers. The tired-looking woman nodded and wiped her fingers on the apron 'round her waist before Aiko glanced back at her companion. "It's a two-slipper day," she confided lowly.

At that, Anko gave Aiko her full attention. "What the actual fuck is that supposed to mean, shortstuff?" She raised one eyebrow and gave Aiko a seriously unimpressed look.

Aiko heaved a sigh and buried her chin in a palm. The other one gratefully curled around her newly delivered drink. "Mitsuo gets nervous sometimes," she stated conversationally. Anko looked baffled. "He finds sleeping with something that smells like me comforting sometimes." She took a sip and licked her lower lip, sitting up. "So if it's been a bad day off in ninken-land or whatever, I'll come home to find that he made off with a slipper to cuddle. On really bad days, he takes them both."

There was a moment of silence. Then a "pffft-ing" snort sound escaped Anko. Aiko's lips twitched up, and then both of them were laughing.

"I love dogs," Anko wheezed, gently pounding the counter with a fist. "That's some classy shit right there."

Aiko looked at her, tilting away and cocking her head to give the older woman a mock-disapproving look. "Well, you would know," she sing-songed.

"Oh, shut up." Anko nearly pushed Aiko off her stool and turned her chin up. "I will have you know that I am in fact a classy fucking lady."

"If you have to say it, it's not true. But fine!" Aiko put her hands up in a peace-keeping gesture, smiling faintly. She ran a finger along the rim of her now-empty glass, and then licked the pad of her finger. "Is it a two-slipper day for you too?"

In response, Anko called for another round of drinks. "How does a trip to the onsen sound?" She whirled the last bit of her drink and then swigged it in a frighteningly unladylike motion.

Aiko tried not to cringe.

The older kunoichi raised an eyebrow. "It's not that horrible to have to compare your scrawny ass to my voluptuous bod, is it?" she asked, affecting baby-speak. Anko gave an exaggerated pout and leaned over to pat Aiko's head. "Poor kitten," she cooed. "I know it's hard to see everything you'll never be, but-"

"It's not that, you hag," Aiko huffed, smacking Anko's hand away. "It's just- no, it's stupid," she shook her head. "Yeah, fine, I'd love to go with you."

'I'm being ridiculous,' she scolded herself as she shucked her clothes and settled them in the bamboo storage boxes. 'It's not like there's any real correlation in between me going for a nice, relaxing soak and something terrible happening.'

She held her breath for a moment and looked around cautiously, checking the skyline for signs of the apocalypse. Anko gave her an odd look, but said nothing. Pleased that no one appeared to be hiding in the tree line, Aiko gave a little smile as she settled in, piling the towel on her head and being careful to hold her book above the water.

"Ah, this feels so good," Anko moaned, giving a lissome stretch.

That was when the village alarms went off.

"I fucking knew it!" Aiko snapped, standing straight up and huffily padding across the stones. Wasn't there an old saying to that effect- a mock science question about what happens when a woman gets in the bath and the answer is that the telephone rings? She was just never going to be able to relax again. Just freaking fine, she got the message already, thank you cruel universe. She levered herself directly over the fence into the grassy knoll out back, and started to walk towards town, wringing her hair out as she went.

"Um… Uzumaki?"

"What?" She balled her hands into fists and tossed her head irritably in the direction she'd come from. What was taking Anko so long? They had to report.

"Wardrobe malfunction?" Anko said, somehow making it sound more like a question.

Aiko looked down. "Ah." She turned 180 degrees and pulled the towel that had fallen onto her shoulders around her torso. "Oh, shut up."

That didn't stop Anko's sniggers.

As soon as the two had stuffed themselves into their clothing, they joined the group waiting in the Jounin stand-by center. Aiko did her best to ignore the odd looks they were getting for being soaking wet and batted her eyes until someone made enough room for the two of them on the circular red couches that ringed the outside of the tower. She kicked her feet up onto her new friend's lap and idly pretended to flirt, just trying to keep the atmosphere light as the shinobi milling about grew tenser. They didn't like being crowded and waiting for information. The alarm that was still going off meant different things for different ranks—the civilians and genin were going home or staying in their workplaces, the Chuunin were securing various checkpoints, and on duty ANBU were manning the walls.

When the door opened, nearly everyone came to attention.

Tsunade waved a hand at the crowd. "Stand down."

Aiko hadn't moved a muscle.

"The situation in Ame has changed," she announced without preamble. "We have received information that leads us to suspect that their leader has left the country, and he's probably not alone." Tsunade raised her voice as if to speak over the crowd, but no one in the room had so much as whispered. Under their hard stares, she continued, "As of yet, we don't have solid information, but if I were in his position…" Her lips twisted into a wry smile. "Well, I'd be coming here, to the heart of the alliance. He thinks that if he can break us, he can demoralize the other countries." She paused for a moment. "He's probably right," Tsunade said quietly. "But that's not going to happen, is it, ladies and gentlemen?"

"Fuck no!" Anko whooped, slapping the couch and plastering a cheery grin on her face. Aiko wasn't even sure how much of it was bravado.

"Thank you, Mitarashi," Tsunade gravely acknowledged. "We're going to go sector by sector and evacuate all civilians and any shinobi fourteen and under to the panic shelters. I don't need to tell you that this is going to be chaos. While the Chuunin and genin take care of that, I will need each and every one of you to do what you can to help out. We have the walls watched, but we can't afford to allow any suspicious persons to use the evacuation as a distraction. Be on guard, people, and wait for further orders."

It took a long time for everyone to pile out of the room, busy as they were checking their immediate assignment off with Tsunade's beleaguered assistants. Kotetsu caught Aiko by the wrist and nodded in confidentially. "You're assisting in the evac. of one of the academy classes, Tsunade-sama says you'll know which one," he explained without preamble when it was finally her turn. "Report directly back to her once you're done with that."

'I'll know which- oh, Fukiko's class.' Aiko gave him a strained smile in acknowledgement and left the building. The Academy was next door- no coincidence, that. The students who had been sequestered inside since the alarm went odd were doing a relatively good job at remaining calm, she noted as she made the familiar trip to Fukiko's classroom.

She nearly immediately realized the logical fallacy inherent in that.

'Or their teachers are keeping order,' Aiko internally corrected. Academy Chuunin were a particularly fearsome breed. She wouldn't want to tangle with one of them. She thought even civilian teachers had a hard job, and they could be reasonably certain that none of their little dears would be stabbing each other at recess.

Fukiko-chan's lovely instructor re-enforced the hypothesis that Academy Chuunin were stupidly terrifying by attempting to take Aiko's head off when she rapped on the closed door to the classroom. Aiko jerked to the side as the wood burst and put her hands up, maintaining eye contact with the older woman. "Maa, what kind of welcome is this?" She gave the brunette a disarming smile, noting her disheveled appearance—flyaways in her ponytail, ink on her fingers—and concluded that the poor woman was under a lot of stress.

Momentarily, Aiko wished she'd bothered to ask the woman's name at some point before now.

"I'm here to help you herd the cute little students to their designated safepoint, Sensei," she slowly said, tilting her head slightly and hoping the older woman would stand down. Good for her, being proactive with her students' safety, but fighting would waste time…

The older woman lowered her hands even as she flushed a little with embarrassment for having attacked a Jounin. "Of course, Uzumaki-san."

'That's awfully formal, considering she's older than I am,' Aiko noted bemusedly. Still, it wasn't a good time to comment about something like that and she let it slide. "I think our ducklings are first," she confided, poking her head into the classroom. "Do you have them all?"

"There should be twenty-seven," Sensei responded immediately.

Aiko stopped and just looked at her. That was a lot of children for one person to watch in the best of circumstances. An academy where they trained children to throw sharp projectiles was not anything like those optimal circumstances.

"Bless you, woman, you're a superhero," she said sincerely. Without waiting for a reaction, she strode into the room and made her own count. Frightfully familiar faces she had never noticed before stared up at her- that messy haired brunette with the triangle markings could have been Kiba's female twin, the trio of Hyuuga students were achingly familiar in their proud posture, and there was a little redhead in the third row who looked enough like Sakura that it outright hurt.

"Well, they're all here unless someone is messing around with bunshin or we've traded with another class," she muttered, giving a forceful genjutsu dispel to be sure there was no funny business. All was well, so she scooped Fukiko up onto her hip—pure force of habit, that girl was so cuddly—and took up the rear while Sensei led them out of the Academy in single file.

"Aiko-sensei?" Fukiko whispered.

She stroked the little dark head against her shoulder, visually scanning the surrounding area. "Yes, Fukiko-chan?"

"Are you going to stay with us?"

Aiko bit her lip regretfully. "I have to report," she confessed. "I'm sorry. But I bet I can leave a friend with you. Would you like to meet one of my ninken?"

Hōseki wasn't the best in a fight, but she would be able to pinpoint approaching intruders a mile away to give warning. Mitsuo could too, of course, but that wouldn't do any good if no one could understand him.

The hound was not exactly pleased about being left to watch over a group of enthusiastic children for an unspecified period of time, but she graciously enough acquiesced to keep an eye on 'the puppy' and be there to call Aiko for help through the seal under her collar if needed. It probably helped that Fukiko took direction well about how to rub behind her ears and properly massage the pads of her toes. Aiko rolled her eyes, but considered that well enough and summoned up Mitsuo to walk her back to town and keep an eye on the crowds pushing their way to the shelters. She didn't know what good paying attention was going to do- surely any infiltrators or spies would know the security protocols well enough to blend in. But she'd been told to keep an eye out, so she did.

The trip had been several hours walking through one of the underground tunnels out of city limits, and many of the little hidey holes were splayed out under the cliffs north of Konoha. It would have been foolish to usher their most vulnerable citizens to one place to be murdered in dark caves. The further they were spread, the safer they were. Of course, one academy teacher was hardly enough security, so an older group would probably be joining them. Hopefully, if there was one to spare, anyway.

Neither Mitsuo nor Aiko sensed anything amiss in the groups teeming across town, though she did see a severely put-out group of teenagers she recognized in the mob heading towards the facility she had just escorted the Academy children to. Mildly suspicious, she leapt out in front of them. "Ino-chan? Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun," she greeted cautiously. Intruders using their faces to approach the secured facilities, perhaps? Those three were all older than fourteen.

Ino scowled at her, but Shikamaru seemed to cotton on to her thoughts. "It's a drag, but Asuma-sensei's ordered us to go hide with the kids," he drawled, looking downright unhappy. "Apparently, they don't have much faith that the clan kids in the field are going to survive, and Tsunade-sama gave us some speech about how it would be more crippling for Konoha to lose an entire generation of clan heirs in one fell swoop than it would be helpful for us to contribute to an unknown situation."

She nodded sympathetically, but Aiko silently agreed with Tsunade's logic. Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin were out hunting Akatsuki and therefore in danger. Hinata's team was out on a tracking mission of some sort and therefore possibly compromised as well.

"That sucks. Well, have fun. Someone has to watch the genin," she said a bit awkwardly, twirling hair around her finger. Mitsuo gave a soft whuff- and she relaxed, the last bit of tension fading now that he had confirmed their identities. "Anything you guys need?" she asked to be polite.

"No, I think we're good," Chouji sighed. "Hey, would you tell my dad where I am if you see him?"

"Can do," Aiko nodded. She hesitated- and then gave each one of them a brief hug, lingering a bit on Ino. The taller girl took a steadying breath as if she was breathing in Aiko's scent. Aiko pretended not to notice and drew back, giving them all a smile. "Well, I'll be seeing you." She waved them off, and tried to pretend that they didn't all know that this was possibly goodbye. This was the first time that Konoha had undergone a full evacuation since… Well, since Aiko was born, the night that Konoha lost over half their civilian population, she noted with a little irony. She knew she was hardly responsible for that, and probably hadn't influenced whatever had gone wrong with Akatsuki that made Tsunade fear for Konoha, but it sure felt like a correlation.

She shook the thought off as morbid nonsense and made her way to the central tower to report back to Tsunade.

There was quite a line that indicated that she was far from being the only person to be referred to report to the top. Shizune was the one who eventually flagged her into the waiting room, and pulled her aside. "Aiko, how are you doing?"

A bit bemused, she took the concern for what it was and let the older woman coddle her a bit. Shizune probably just needed something to do with herself, and if that meant Aiko had to tolerate having her hair petted, she would valiantly take that sacrifice for the team. She certainly didn't close her eyes to enjoy it for more than a minute, and she definitely didn't nudge her head into Shizune's hand. Nope.

"Aiko," Jiraiya called out stridently, clapping a hand on her shoulder as he padded in the office. She jumped a bit, surprised, but didn't have the heart to glare at him for playing tricks when she saw how tired he seemed. "Come in, little frog."

Her eye twitched.

'I'll take it,' she decided, reminding herself that she didn't particularly want to be waiting all day and Jiraiya was her ticket into that office.

Jiraiya pushed open the door and strode in without appearing to even see the alarmed and disgruntled looks on Tsunade and Nara Shikaku's faces. Aiko trailed in his wake, counting that his bulk would protect her from anything Tsunade may decide to throw. Shizune snorted but trotted in behind them, conscientiously pulling the door shut.

"Any news, hime?"

That was when Tsunade threw something. Aiko didn't quite catch what it was, but it exploded into hundreds of shards of glass against the back wall. Ever so slowly, Jiraiya put his hands up.

The Hokage huffed. "ANBU, sweep that up."

Aiko took a moment to be glad she wasn't the one on duty right now. That was an undignified use of an elite operative.

"Sorry, pervert," Tsunade said, actually sounding a bit remorseful. "Yes and no. No news about our mysterious Akatsuki leader. None of our teams have reported since the initial check-in."

No one breathed.

"Yeah," Tsunade said dully. "That's what I thought too. Hatake at least would have the sense to keep reporting, so they've either been separated or have gotten busy."

"Either way, that's probably bad news," Jiraiya finished lowly. He ducked his head. "Shit, shit, shit."

Aiko couldn't breathe. She couldn't seem to do anything to slow her heartbeat, either, which was now obnoxiously loud in her ears. She snapped out of it when Mitsuo nudged his head against her hip. "Tsunade-sama? I could go check in with Naruto."

She had done a bad job of disguising her eagerness.

"No." Tsunade shook her head. "Not a chance. If they needed an extraction, they would have signaled you. We aren't going to let one of our few Jounin in the village go traipsing off at a time like this. You can go if one of them signals you, but we're going to have to trust that whatever is going on is under their control."

"But that-"

"I said no." Tsunade gave her a pitying look. "They're fine, I know it. They're probably fighting or something, or hell, they got caught up and away from a senior operative who would know to remind them to report in."

That… did sound an awful lot like Naruto and Sasuke. But wouldn't Karin keep them out of trouble?

Even Jiraiya looked at her strangely when she slapped her forehead and muttered, "Stupid, stupid, stupid thought." At least no one commented.

"One of them is away from the others," Karin confided, shaking her hair out of her face. It took Yamato a moment to catch on to her meaning.

"Sent to intercept us?" He tensed.

"No," she said placidly. "Actually, I think we can safely say that whoever is using this water jutsu now isn't a tracker or sensor at all. They seem to have no idea we're here. I was actually thinking that it might be a good idea to pick off this straggler before we go charging into the headquarters. There's four of them around. I wouldn't pick that fight until at least another team catches up with us."

Yamato outright rolled his eyes at her conscientious tone. He wasn't going to be fooled again, no matter how responsible she seemed. It was a lie.

Still.

"Sound strategy. Update the other teams," he ordered.

'Oh, so now they listen to me,' he grumbled internally as the group came to an obedient halt and Karin called on a serpent with obnoxiously vibrant blue scales. She exchanged whispers with it for a few minutes and gave it a cuddle before she dismissed the snake.

He intentionally didn't think too deeply about what that meant about how she could use snakes for spying. The idea that she had managed to get one to the other teams without anyone noticing was less than soothing.

"Why would one of them be alone?" Naruto asked, shifting a little uneasily. "That doesn't make sense. I've never heard of an Akatsuki being spotted alone."

"He needed to go on an ice cream run," Sasuke guessed, stretching his arms and running his fingers through handsigns to keep them loose.

"That's probably it," Karin said dryly, securing her glasses at the top of her nose. "He's going to a populated area, in any case. There aren't any shinobi around, so it could be a merchant area."

About fifteen minutes later, she changed her opinion. Karin's voice was strained when she called out. "Hey, guys? We're dealing with someone violent and opportunistic."

There was a moment of silence. "Karin, they're Akatsuki," Naruto explained kindly. "They're all violent and opportunistic. That's why they're missing nin."

"I know that, tofu-brain," she snapped back. Her tone was missing any venom, however. "I mean that I think this person is sneaking around behind Akatsuki's back." She sucked on her teeth for a moment before reluctantly adding, "I would say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, except I don't want anyone who sneaks out to kill civilians coming to my birthday parties."

Yamato blinked. "Yes, that sounds like someone who needs to be put down," he agreed. Akatsuki really didn't seem to have high standards for behavior. Anyone who couldn't meet their standards really couldn't be considered even a temporary ally.

"Well, in other news, Kakashi and Genma are headed directly for us," Karin added optimistically. She gave a little cough and exchanged a guilty look with her comrades. "So… maybe we should get to work? I'm sure this guy won't expect us to have reinforcements."

'Is their brilliant plan really to hope that Kakashi will get too caught up to tear them a new one?' Yamato thought incredulously.

Once they got within about a mile of their target, any one of them could have led the group to his location. None of them were trackers by any means, but the blood smears, broken bodies, and strange circles on the ground painted a vivid picture of the carnage that had gone before.

"What do you think those circles are for?" Yamato mused, unsettled. He held a hand up to signal the group to stop for a moment to gather intel and cautiously examined one from a distance. This was the third they had seen. Clearly, it was important somehow.

Naruto squinted at it, and cocked his head like a bird. "Ah…" he scratched his head. "I wasn't exactly the most diligent fuinjutsu student, but I'm pretty sure that there is a sympathetic link of some kind. Maybe for long distance communication?"

The group as a whole gave the scene a dubious look.

"Did he stop to call his mother before or after he gutted that woman with what appears to have been a blunt trowel?" Sasuke asked sardonically.

The blond flushed. "If you can do better, I'd like to see it," he snapped hotly.

Yamato raised a calming hand. "There's a lot of blood inside the circles," he pointed out. "But they're all free of bodies. What happens to those bodies? Clearly, this person hasn't been tidying up as he goes."

Naruto hummed through closed lips for a second, and carefully picked his way a little closer—close enough to lean over the line and sniff at the blood inside. He swiveled around and went from body to body.

'He's comparing scent samples,' Yamato realized, impressed. Had Kakashi trained him in that, or was his nose just that good? That should be insanely difficult to do in the rain.

"Are you finding anything?" Sasuke asked after a few minutes of picking through gore. Naruto shook his head.

"No, none of them match. Just a second…" he backtracked several blocks to try again with the next circle- and stiffened. "This is a match for the other circle," he called out. His forehead creased. "That's weird. Why would he drag one body around to bleed it again and again?" When none of the other corpses turned up a match, he shook his head helplessly and held up his palms in confusion. "I got nothing, guys," he admitted.

"Maybe it's something special about the blood in that body, then," Sasuke theorized. "I mean, that's the blood the circles are written with, right? It must tie in to some jutsu that he used to do this." He gestured broadly at the fourteen bodies they had come across so far.

"I think it might be best if we don't let him illustrate," Yamato pointed out dryly. "Fight him from a distance, and make sure he can't get a chance to make one of these things. He's been killing civilians—he might be replenishing something, or he might just be insane. In either case, we have no idea if this jutsu would work against a relatively competent shinobi."

There was a brief moment where the teenagers exchanged glances, wondering who among them was merely 'relatively competent'.

When they set off running again, it only took about five minutes to pinpoint where their opponent was. The sounds of screams were a pretty good clue. He probably sensed them arriving, because the last died off into a gargle just as the four cleared the building blocking what visibility was available through the heavy rain.

"Hello, heathens!" Hidan shouted cheerily, straightening to stare. He was outright dripping with blood. Where it came from was hard to tell—Yamato didn't spot any open wounds. "I'll kill you in a fucking minute, just hold on." He convulsed in a disturbingly sensual way, panting and licking his lips.

Sasuke grunted. "This guy again?" He closed his eyes as if praying for strength, but they were red when he opened them again.

'At least one of them is taking this seriously.'

"That is physically impossible." Sasuke flung a single shuriken directly into the mass of Hidan's body. The missing nin just blinked down at the metal sticking out of his chest.

"Are you done then, princess numbnuts?" Hidan raised an eyebrow, and carelessly ripped out the weapon. He let it fall to the ground. His eyes widened in recognition when he looked back at Sasuke. "Hey! You're the fuckin' douche who-"

"Well, I guess that means it's not a genjutsu," Sasuke sighed, looking genuinely disappointed. "Do you have a twin?"

'I hate everyone,' Yamato thought morosely.

Hidan blinked in disbelief. "No, dumbshit," he sneered. "Honestly, what kind of-" He purpled when Naruto cut him off, staring indignantly at the talking Konoha nin.

"Sasuke, you can't beat him by telling him exactly why he's a medical impossibility," Naruto rasped, looking pained. "He knows, and he just doesn't care. It's his blood he's been using for those fuinjutsu circles, by the way."

Lovely. Their opponent was nearly indestructible and used his own body parts as fuel for his jutsu.

The Uchiha gave an offended sniff. "I suppose you just didn't do a good job of killing him, idiot. Karin and I will do a better job."

"You were the one who tried to smash him," Naruto argued.

Yamato had heard quite enough, so he clapped his hands together and allowed his ninjutsu to explode outward, reaching and grabbing for their opponent with hundreds of vines and off-shoot branches. The missing nin gave a high, hysterical laugh, and leapt on top of the construction to race towards Yamato. Hidan angled his scythe behind him as he dodged the reaching branches—almost certainly so that he could swing it forward to take off Yamato's head.

He clearly wasn't expecting the clang of his precious weapon getting caught up in Karin's misfired chakra chains. It ripped out of his grasp and soared a good forty feet.

"Oops," she said sheepishly, adjusting her glasses. "I was trying to kill him." The chains almost immediately gave a jerk and reeled back in towards her. The shriek she gave implied that she hadn't consciously expected that.

Hidan hadn't stopped running, which meant his momentum was all forwards. He crouched and switched direction, flipping backwards and pushing off the side of the wood.

'He won't abandon his scythe,' Yamato realized. That was sloppy. A shinobi should never be so dependent on one weapon that they had to fetch it after it was lost in a fight.

Sasuke had clearly been thinking the same thing. He darted forward in an attempt to intercept the missing nin and missed Hidan by half a foot. Yamato tried not to grimace. None of the three teens had the speed to compete with S class fighters in direct combat. They would have to be more intelligent than their opponent instead. They still had the advantage of numbers.

He abandoned his connection to the wood pile he had been forming and used shunshin to cut Hidan off, already wielding a four foot long branch again. He swung and used it to viciously bat at the missing nin's ribs, audibly cracking at least two, but then he had to let go of the branch and duck under and away from a punch.

The Akatsuki didn't look very amiable or collected at this point. His teeth were bared and his eyes crazed as he traded blows. Or rather, as he attempted to wail on Yamato, who blocked or dodged the attacks. There wasn't time for Yamato to get in his own hits.

'Damn,' he winced, using his forearms to deflect a high kick and attempting to twist away to the side. 'It's like trying to get a hit in on Kakashi-senpai when he's not feeling generous.'

In other words, that wasn't good for their chances of winning this fight through conventional means. He would disengage from taijutsu—but that would mean allowing Hidan to pick up his weapon of choice.

A kunai with an attached seal fluttering at the handle landed blade down into the dirt not four feet from Yamato. He understood instantly. With a renewed effort, he sped and worked his muscles as much as was humanly possible, trying to distract Hidan from the three other knives that impacted the dirt at positions around them. He'd never seen Naruto set up a trap like that before, but the blond had been gifted an awful lot of free time lately and seen his sister use seals on kunai. He just hoped they weren't explosives, the conventional use of seals on kunai.

So it really shouldn't have been surprising when the fifth kunai established a perfect pentagram around the tussling Jounin and immediately fizzled to life, electric blue chakra heating the air. Hidan's eyes widened, now that he saw the trap—but Yamato blocked him, refusing to let the other man leave in the instant it was possible, even though that meant being caught himself—

And then motion was cut off. Naruto probably hadn't had friendly fire in mind when he had designed those particular paralysis seals, because his body was screaming with pain. Yamato nearly tilted over, unbalanced as he was from his last-moment lunge to block Hidan's escape. If he was able to think, he might have been grateful for that bit of luck, because falling into one of the lines of superheated chakra sparking lines across the ground would have been incredibly painful.

Hidan was standing on one of the intersecting lines that made the pentagram. Stupid shock was plastered across his features.

White hot pain made it hard for Yamato to register what was happening and how long he had been caught, but he managed to pay attention when Sasuke painstakingly directed little flares of the tiniest Katon jutsu Yamato had ever seen him make to melt the skin off of Hidan's flesh wherever he could without disturbing the chakra lines or allowing the flame to lick at Yamato's flesh. Sweat beaded down the Mokuton user's forehead, and he didn't know if it was from the heat or the pain.

He appreciated the logic there. If Naruto just released the fuinjutsu, they would be back to where they had been before. The three outside couldn't step into the five-point seal, and they couldn't disrupt it without freeing Hidan. They had to do as much damage as possible to the trapped Akatsuki so that once the fuinjutsu was released, they could go in for the kill.

Yamato hoped someone had a plan for that, because if burning the man to ashes and burying him after breaking all his bones didn't work, he didn't know what to do.

If he could have, he would have cringed away when their plan became clear. Karin's chakra chains were waveringly hovering above the seal—she was going to snatch Hidan as soon as Naruto released the fuinjutsu. It was a good plan. It would have been a better plan if she'd had better control and more than about two minutes to perfect the use of her chains. Yamato had been involved in Aiko's training with her chains—chains that were much smaller and suited for maneuvering, but had still resulted in unintended destruction and mis-firing again and again and again.

Karin's face was painted with the strain that holding the chains still caused her.

'If she accidentally kills me with those, at least I'll know she was trying not to,' Yamato thought inanely.

And then the blue chakra was gone and several hundred pounds of chakra metal barreled down on top of Hidan. He managed to make it a foot—not far enough to escape the coils of mint-or-maybe-seafoam that coiled around him like a writhing mass of snakes. Hidan was almost completely buried. "Fetid sack of weasels-" he roared, and then coughed as he was cut off by the squeal of metal. Three-legged whore's ugly sis-" CLANG. It almost sounded like the contents of a kitchen had been put into a big tin and shaken, interspersed with occasional cursing.

And it was all far too close for comfort. Yamato was desperately coaxing life into his muscles, which seemed to have been frozen and strained by the continuous electrification, when an actual group of writhing snakes darted into the chakra chains. He blinked, and realized only later that sheer terror had allowed him to dart twenty feet away to stand by the three teens.

'Or maybe not,' he noted, disoriented enough that he only now realized Sasuke had wrapped an arm around his waist and leapt away like he was carrying a stuffed bear instead of a full grown man. And the grip around his ribs hurt a little bit, actually. He wiggled, and Sasuke let go. He immediately knelt and ran a glowing hand down either side of Yamato's right calf.

'Ah, right, a medic,' Yamato thought, vaguely pleased to have remembered that. He had no idea what Sasuke was doing, but the little seizures going on in his muscles seemed to be calming. That was nice.

He swiveled enough to keep an eye on what was happening with their opponent, but it quickly became clear that Karin had the situation under control. Hidan's cursing quickly turned to incoherent sputtering as he was bitten over and over again. Bones cracked as the chains scraped against each other, twitching and jerking out of Karin's conscious control, but the snakes were hardly impeded. They darted through and around chains, tearing little holes in the Akatsuki's flesh and leaving behind a dozen kinds of poison.

"I've always thought she needed something to push snakes from 'horrifying' to 'mindlessly terrifying beyond reason,'" a very familiar voice mused drolly.

Naruto eeped and stood up straight. He gave a very fake laugh, scratching at his head. "Kakashi-sensei!"

"You assholes are in trouble, you know that," Genma huffed, glaring at the group as a whole. The pink on his cheeks implied that Kakashi had been pushing a truly cruel pace.

Yamato had gratefully relinquished what semblance of command he'd had back to Kakashi. The senior operative had barely glanced at Hidan before he came up with at least a temporary method of dealing with the quickly regenerating Akatsuki. Even the poison had been wearing off with inhuman speed, so Karin had been quick to follow his instructions to hack of Hidan's head and seal it away ("Your kill, your responsibility," Kakashi had pointed out).

The body they left like so much twitching, scorched meat.

The well-deserved ass-kicking they merited for running off was delayed by the arrival of Gai's team, who were far too cheerful for the situation.

Kakashi tried to frown at them, but couldn't quite manage. The moment that he had touched back down in camp to see scuffles in the dirt, wood splinters, and none of his charges had been terrifying. His heart had stopped, until he took a deep breath and realized that there were no foreign scents in the area. No, the fight that had happened had been between the team.

And that pissed him off to no end. Not only was that an abandonment of duty, it was reckless endangerment of each other and the other teams out here who had been expecting them to do their jobs professionally.

"Yamato, report," he clipped out. The smile on Gai's face dimmed, and he ushered his team a polite distance away. They were almost certainly still listening in anyway.

The ANBU straightened, though his legs were shaking from prolonged electrocution. "After you left, Karin, Naruto, and Sasuke announced their intention to enter Ame after Akatsuki," he confessed. "I attempted to subdue them. When it became clear that was beyond my capabilities, I abandoned the attempt and escorted them instead in hopes of mitigating the danger they would find. Karin led us to an Akatsuki. We deduced that he uses some sort of fuinjutsu to establish a sympathetic link with an unknown person and determined that our best course of action was to separate him from any such link. I engaged the target in taijutsu while Naruto set up a paralysis-"

"That's enough."

"Um," Karin started nervously.

"I don't want to hear it," Kakashi snapped, cutting her off with a sideways hand motion. "I'm disappointed in all three of you, and fully intend have you marked up for in-field insubordination. This isn't a game! You didn't just endanger yourselves. Our responsibility was to maintain the cordon around Ame so that no one could get out and go to Konoha."

"That's not going to happen," Naruto burst out impatiently. "We've been doing this for months, sensei! If they wanted to leave, they would have."

"Yes," a cool voice agreed.

"That's what I was trying to say," Karin meekly squeaked as the assembled party turned to look at the man standing a mere forty feet away, watching them with impassive red eyes. Itachi had a hand tucked inside his cloak, as if he thought he wouldn't even need it for this fight.

"Otouto, are you still so reckless?" Sasuke turned dangerously pale, eyes darting between the large party of Konoha nin and his older brother. Kakashi didn't breathe, positioning his muscles so that he could dart between the two at a moment's notice. Sasuke couldn't fight Itachi off. He wasn't strong enough. "Has your pursuit of vengeance made you impulsive? A pity." Itachi blinked slowly. Unlike the rest of them, the pouring rain hardly made him look silly or messy. It sleeked his bangs out to a ridiculous luster and trailed down his face like tears.

Sasuke shook his head, but it didn't look like shock at seeing his brother. "I won't fight you."

Kakashi stopped. That hadn't been what he had expected. If the uncharacteristic shock that crossed Itachi's face was any indication, he hadn't expected that either. Had Sasuke been struck by cowardice, a bout of pacifism, or just madness?

"I don't blame you at all," Sasuke said quietly, raising his unarmed hands and stepping closer to his shell-shocked brother.

Madness, then. He bent his knees, readying his weight to slip forwards.

"Don't touch him!" Sasuke snarled, holding out his left arm like a clothesline.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, sounding very small and confused. Kakashi couldn't blame him. The boy looked like he was possessed or fevered.

The younger Uchiha brother shook his head, never taking his eyes off of Itachi. "You killed them on Konoha's orders."

And the world tilted. Kakashi slowly raised a hand to his covered eye, disoriented and frightened on a visceral level he couldn't articulate.

A terrible fear shone on Itachi's face. The increase in his breathing was visible even from such a distance.

"I work with Tsunade, of course I found out," Sasuke continued gently, sounding as if he was trying to tame a wild animal. "The clan- our father was planning a coup. And so you stopped it. How could I blame you for that?"

"I killed them all," Itachi croaked, composure completely lost.

Kakashi thought he was going to be sick. Oh god, it was true. How hadn't he known this? How had anyone kept this secret? Konoha had murdered an entire clan—one of their clans, dozens of their shinobi—for the ambitions of a few men? Infants, he remembered with a delirious heat. He had been one of the first responders. The first body he had been had been an infant skewered by an ANBU short sword through her soft skull. The corpse had been cross-eyed, as if she'd seen the blade approaching her forehead. Konoha had been responsible for that?

"Death to traitors," Sasuke purred, taking a step forward.

Inanely, Kakashi thought he looked more like a large feline than a young man at that point. For a moment, he was all glowing eyes and flowing grace instead of the pale skin and vaguely hostile silences that usually characterized Sasuke's presence.

He pitied Itachi. Whatever the older brother had planned, it hadn't been this. Sasuke wheeled around, suddenly furious at the silent gawkers. "What are you looking at?" he bit out. "I'm not ashamed!" And he looked like he really believed what he was saying, or that he had convinced himself he did, in any case. How had Kakashi never noticed that Sasuke was such a raw, festering wound? He had seemed to be so much better in recent years than the dark little boy who had been assigned to his genin team.

That was hardly a healthy response. Had Sasuke forgotten all the innocents that had died that night, or did he just think the sacrifice was worth it to weed out the guilty?

Naruto cleared his throat. "If Sasuke says you're fine, then you're fine." His voice was a little shaky at the beginning, but steadied. "So why are we wasting time standing around when we could go kick Akatsuki's asses? Looks like we have an awesome source of information now."

Itachi was still completely wrong-footed. He tore his eyes away from Sasuke to survey the group at large. Kakashi had no idea what Itachi read from his face, but Gai managed to look approving, and his little ducklings didn't seem hostile to the older Uchiha either.

"I suppose I have no choice," he said slowly. "I had not been planning on revealing my affiliations." Itachi shifted slightly. "I cannot return to Konoha," he pointed out. "This information cannot leave Ame."

"Tough," Sasuke barked out. "I'm not letting you martyr yourself." He crossed the remaining distance and balled the front of Itachi's cloak up in his fist, yanking his older brother down. "Five of the clan heads already know. If I bring you back in, no one is going to say a damn thing."

"This civilians-"

"Don't pay that much attention," he countered, clearly exasperated. "They find all shinobi frightening, what's one more? Anyone who asks can be told it's above their pay grade and to mind their own damn business. Who cares what they think?"

Kakashi had a sudden and terrible understanding of exactly what kind of Hokage Sasuke would make- a man who answered to no one. He would either run Konoha into the ground or make it the strongest village there had ever been.

Itachi jolted straight up a full inch when Sasuke growled and began shaking him.

'And now he looks like Tsunade,' Kakashi noted.

"And what the hell have you been doing to your lungs, moron?" Itachi seemed to be on the verge of pinching himself to see if he could wake up from the surreal situation he found himself in. Kakashi wholly sympathized. "They sound awful," Sasuke continued, whacking his brother's chest and lighting his hand up with medical chakra. "Stop struggling, it won't help you."

"Maybe now is not the time for that," Kakashi pointed out dryly. He needed to get back to a place that made sense. If Itachi really was an inside man in Akatsuki, then their chances of routing the organization were considerably less laughable. "Itachi, what's the situation?"

The older Uchiha brother had only served under Kakashi for a short time, and it had been many years ago. But he straightened to report as if he'd last done so yesterday, ignoring the scowling teen hanging off his cloak. "The base is nearly empty," he shared impassively. "Konan-san has been left in command. When she saw that Hidan had crept out of the base in search of sacrifices, she sent me out in search of him. Hidan had been forbidden to harm the citizens of Ame, but insistent that he needed to serve his god on pain of losing his power and favor. His departure once unsupervised was inevitable. The leader, Pein-san, has departed the country. He charged Kisame with keeping up appearances. By now, Kisame will be tiring, having used at least fourteen percent of his chakra in flooding the country. Zetsu and Tobi have left the country in pursuit of a jinchuuriki."

"Tobi?" Naruto interrupted, frowning. He didn't seem to notice that Sasuke protectively tightened his grip on his older brother, which was probably pretty uncomfortable for Itachi. "The one in the orange mask?"

Itachi seemed surprised. "You have encountered him, then? He is not what he seems."

"I haven't," Naruto admitted easily. "He was in Konoha last week. He killed an ANBU and harassed Aiko."

There was just a little too much answering silence.

"Why?" Naruto demanded, stepping forward aggressively and pushing Sasuke aside slightly. He glared fearlessly into Itachi's eyes. "What's up with this guy?"

"I cannot begin to fathom what it is that has caused him to focus on your sister," Itachi said slowly. Kakashi instantly identified the statement as a lie, though he wasn't sure why. No- he did, it was an excessively wordy denial and the pitch was too steady. Textbook sign of a lie. Poor Itachi was clearly as awkward as ever. "But he is no ordinary man. Uchiha Madara hides behind that mask. He has prolonged his lifespan by possessing fallen Uchiha."

'That's foul. One of Konoha's founders is now a carrion beast? He should have been long dead.'

Revolted, Naruto twitched. That probably brought Orochimaru to mind. If there was anyone team seven hated, it was Orochimaru, despite being dead. "What would he want from her?" the blond asked in a small voice.

Itachi shook his head pityingly. "I cannot guess. But know that Madara is the true power behind Akatsuki."

"All the more reason that we should break his toys," Hyuuga Neji pointed out. Kakashi suppressed a twitch. He'd all but forgotten that Gai's team was there, which was a remarkable achievement. Who knew that Gai knew how to be quiet?

"I agree with my student!" Gai bellowed, punching the air in an enthusiastic blur of motion. "For Konoha's glory, the safety of our precious ones, and the joy of a good fight, we must take the fight to Akatsuki!"

Kakashi had the distinct impression that he had lost control of the situation. When Itachi looked to him for help, he raised a shoulder. "Oh, what the hell," he muttered. "Uchiha-san, do you believe we can take the base at the moment?"

Itachi glanced over the group. "Is this all of our resources? Can you contact the other teams?"

Karin raised a hand. "I'm in constant contact," she admitted with a sheepish glance toward Kakashi. "They may be slightly under the impression that I did so on Hatake-sensei's orders. In any case, three other teams are close. Sabaku no Temari's, for one. The other two are from Kumo and I don't know them."

Itachi hesitated for a moment. "Kumo nin may attack me on sight," he admitted. "If you think that the Suna team will listen to you, their addition may be enough. I suspect that Kakuzu will be the first to notice a party approaching the base. He may attempt to stop us, or he may flee. He is less motivated by idealism than he is by self-preservation and profit. If he sees no benefit to engaging us with such odds, Kakazu will abandon the base."

Kakashi shifted uncomfortably. That was remarkably cold and disloyal, even for a criminal.

"He possesses five hearts that allow him to utilize all nature transformations in conjunction with Earth Grudge Fear. They must all be destroyed in order to defeat him," Itachi continued. He blinked, as if re-orienting to change topics. "Konan will fight. She is immensely powerful and regenerates until she is out of chakra. Her ninjutsu has no weakness that I am aware of. She is a weapons specialist."

Gai's kunoichi perked up at that. Kakashi was still remembering everything he knew about Earth Grudge Fear. It was a kinjutsu that allowed the user to manipulate threads, but he had never seen it used before.

'Probably very versatile,' he decided grimly. 'He might be the most dangerous in a one on one fight.'

"Kisame is the only other Akatsuki in the base," Itachi finished, sounding uncomfortable to Kakashi's trained ear.

'That was his partner, wasn't it?' he mused. Kakashi sharply examined Itachi, wondering if that attachment would lead him to sabotage an attempt to kill Kisame. Another man might have thought that Itachi's murder of his clan demonstrated that he was willing to put the mission ahead of emotional attachments. Kakashi was less certain. The fact that Itachi had skewered babies but left Sasuke alive… no, that spoke more to an emotionally motivated set of priorities.

"He will have less than his full chakra capacity due to the prolonged rain jutsu, but his reserves are still formidable. I would not engage him lightly. He possesses the strongest of the swords of the seven swordsmen, Samehada, which he uses to siphon the energy of his opponents."

Karin shrunk back, looking slightly queasy.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san." Kakashi absently fluffed up his hair and surveyed his resources, thinking. "Karin, you'll be staying out of the action as much as possible. You are invaluable for coordinating the other units. Are they approaching?" At her nod, he gestured for her to back away. "Tell all of them but Sabaku no Temari's team to form a smaller cordon in Ame," he ordered. "Make sure it's as efficient as possible, but keep them at a distance. Tell me immediately if the Akatsuki leader returns." She nodded and quickly backed away, summoning a violently purple snake.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly at the rest of his troops. "Gai and Lee are optimal opponents for Kisame," he decided. "Since you do not rely on ninjutsu, he cannot weaken you by draining chakra. Tenten would be valuable there as well, but I suspect she will be needed to counter Konan along with Genma as our weapons specialists. Neji will join them. If we fight Kakazu, Itachi and myself will lead Yamato, Naruto, and Sasuke. Sabaku no Temari is a powerful wind user… but we already have Naruto," he muttered, discarding the idea of using her to counter Kakazu's hearts.

'Sasuke has powerful fire, as does Itachi. I have lightning cutter and water ninjutsu. Actually…' He squinted at the blond Uzumaki. 'Has he-'

"Naruto, did you finish your elemental transformation for Rasengan?" He relaxed slightly at the confirmatory nod. "Good," Kakashi mumbled. He'd been right to decide that they didn't absolutely need Temari for that fight, then. They still didn't have a powerful earth user that he knew of. Yamato was passable with earth ninjutsu, of course, but that was a last resort. Would wood be suitable for countering earth ninjutsu? That was where Yamato was truly an expert.

"Itachi, do you have any earth ninjutsu sufficiently destructive to use against Kakazu?"

The older Uchiha brother silently shook his head.

'Damn,' Kakashi cursed internally. 'I don't either. This would be easier if Sabaku was bringing her youngest brother. Baki-san is wind-natured as well. I don't know what Kankuro-san is… His puppet jutsu might be helpful for countering Kakuzu's strings, however.'

Well, there was more than one way to skin a cat. They didn't have to counter all the nature transformations in order to defeat Kakazu. That would just make the fight easier. He was still spoiled for resources.

"We will wait for the Suna team," he decided out loud. "Two powerful wind users will be a significant asset in countering an aerial weapon specialist. Yamato, I changed my mind on your assignment. You will assist Gai and Lee."

He might have Sasuke switch to that fight as well, if the taijutsu beasts needed help, since Sasuke was a bit redundant when they already had Itachi. But for the moment he would prefer not to separate the Uchiha. Sasuke had some level of emotional control over his older brother, which would be an untenable loss. Kakashi hadn't forgotten what it was like to fight Itachi.

Speaking of which, it was probably a terrible idea to confront the younger man. But Kakashi had never been a coward.

"Uchiha-san, may I speak with you?"

Sasuke gave him a long, steady look that probed for his intentions, but Kakashi kept his expression and posture blank. The teen gave a nod—clearly having decided to trust him with his brother. Kakashi felt oddly flattered.

"Of course," Itachi murmured, moving to stand at his side. Kakashi glanced at the rest of the group- who were not doing a particularly good job of faking disinterest- and then led the younger man further off.

Uchiha Itachi was an incredibly valuable asset and ally. Confronting him might make him bristle and lash out. But Kakashi had never been accused of diplomacy before. Why start now?

"Why did you lie?" Kakashi didn't bother to pretend at indifference, knowing that Itachi would be able to read him. "You lied to Naruto about why Tobi might be interested in Aiko. Tell me the truth."

He actually began to feel uncomfortable under the long stare that Itachi leveled on him. He was searching for something.

'Was confronting him a mistake?'

Itachi closed his eyes and then opened them to look away in the distance. Kakashi bristled at the dismissive body language. He had to force his muscles not to tense.

"I believe," Itachi said slowly, "That if it is wise for you to have that information, you are already aware and merely attempting to ascertain whether or not I am similarly aware. If, in the other case, you are genuinely unaware of the appeal your kunoichi has for one such as Tobi, it is because she has had judged for whatever reason that it would be unwise to share that information. I would be remiss to make such a decision in regards to a situation in which I am out of my depth."

'What.' Kakashi thought flatly. It took only a moment to parse through that. The insinuation that Aiko didn't trust him made him strangely angry. Not with her- with Itachi. Why would Itachi know something Aiko wouldn't even share with him? Had he forced her to tell him when she was with Akatsuki?

"You are uninformed," Itachi observed dispassionately. "Unfortunate. I had hoped that you were aware so that I was not possibly causing disruption by sharing more than was wise. I advise that you do not further investigate this line of inquiry." He breathed out slowly. "I do not understand fully myself," Itachi admitted in a lower tone of voice. "But even the little I know is enough to be very dangerous for your kunoichi."

Kakashi didn't trust Itachi. He didn't trust Itachi in general and he didn't trust Itachi to have anyone's specific interests in mind behind Sasuke's and his own. But he knew he wasn't going to get anything more than that.

Still, what was that about? Was the danger in something Aiko knew, or was it something Aiko was? Itachi had seemed to imply the second case, but that didn't make sense. Everyone already knew about Aiko's best skills, and her parentage was no longer a secret.

'She had to have stumbled on some intelligence that puts her at risk by making her a possible threat to Madara's plans,' Kakashi decided uneasily. The conclusion was dissatisfying, but he couldn't think of another explanation of that conversation that fit.