Naruto Shippuuden: A Time to Die

The pleasant twittering of the birds, the gentle rustling of the breeze through the maple trees, and the rich smell of flowers and freshly turned earth lulled Sohma Yukino into a relaxed state. Next to her was a beautiful young lady who looked a lot like her father and had one green eye and one red eye. She had come from twenty years in the future to save Konoha. She recalled her daughter's words: "To save Konoha." She had declared with determination. But this time they weren't threatened by some enemy village or Akatsuki, problems they knew how to handle. They were threatened by the bureaucracy and politics of Konoha.

"Aoba-sensei is being held at the Konoha Hospital." She said in a whisper.

"I know." Hitome replied. "I've been here throughout the tribunal and the verdict. You may have seen me assisting Tsunade-sama. I went by the name of Yakumi Hitomi."

"That's right. So you've been here the entire time?"

Hitomi nodded.

"Then you know about the death of our comrades at Soukutsu. It wasn't our fault. They're blaming Aoba-sensei, but there wasn't anything else he could do."

"Calm down, mom."

"According to Junshin there is a mimic ninja in the graveyard, lurking among all those bodies. It paralyzes a person with some sort of jutsu; then it assumes the person's appearance. Junshin was insistent that we were in immediate danger. That's why Aoba allowed us to attack the mimic."

"But the tribunal didn't see it that way." Hitomi muttered.

Yukino scowled. "No, they had to appease the Mist."

"Tsunade-sama is doing what she can for Aoba-sensei. Another thing is I need you to keep my identity a secret for now. I'm kinda breaking rules right now. I'll need you to keep this a secret because a certain someone that is above me will take my abilities away from me if I break the rules but I'm not going to allow Konoha to be destroyed. I do need to go now. I have something I have to do at the moment."

Yukino looked into her daughter's heterochromatic eyes and then nodded.

"I'll be seeing you again before you leave, right?"

"Yeah. You'll be seeing around. Especially before I leave."

At that, her daughter's face disappeared and Yukino was left standing alone in the tranquil gardens of Konoha.

Yamashiro Aoba sat on the bed in the bedroom of the log cabin he had been using as his "cell" during his stay at in the Gen Ward. He gazed out the window to look at the snow covered ground. He had pens and a journal in which he had yet to write a word. There was nothing in his present circumstances he wished to record for posterity; he wished only to wake up from this horrible nightmare and get on with his life.

As befitting his hermitic lifestyle, Aoba had let his beard grow. He wore the standard blue long-sleeve shirt and pants of his Jonin uniform while his head protector was resting on the table nearby and his vest was hanging off the corner bed post. Aoba lied back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. He presumed that Kaunsera Kana and her assistants were watching him through the fake wall, if they even bothered to pay attention to him anymore. He supposed that some of this neglect was his own fault, because he had let it be known that he didn't want to see many of his comrades under these circumstances. They were respecting his wishes thus turning him into a recluse.

He had avoided further proceedings on the Soukutsu matter, but now he was beginning to miss the day to day interaction with the others. The incident was over, as far as everyone else was concerned; for him, it had only prolonged the embarrassment and started an open ended incarceration.

I have to find some way to cope or I will go mad.

"Good morning, Aoba." A friendly voice said from the doorway. He turned to see the blond haired and fair skinned woman known as Counselor Kaunsera Kana. Again she was wearing civilian clothing which was flattering to her. Then in hindsight, many of the shinobi didn't wear the standard uniform. He had only seen Kana in her Jonin uniform twice, during his inquiry and at the memorial service for the team lost at Soukutsu. She made a few notes on her notepad. He felt like a zoo animal being visited by the zookeeper. According to Tsunade, Kaunsera Kana had done him a considerable favor by allowing more psychological evaluation, but it didn't feel that way to him. She walked closer to him.

"People keep making requests to visit you, but you have a very short list of those you approve. You really don't have to be alone."

Aoba sat up and looked at his "jailer." "They have better things to do now with Satori in charge now without being overly concerned about me."

"That's very selfless of you." Kana said.

"The welfare of the village and my team is my first concern." He answered. "Always has been."

The counselor nodded. "That's right. If you hadn't been sure your team was in danger, you wouldn't have attacked the Mist."

"They weren't the Mist." Aoba said with his jaw clenched tightly. With considerable self-control, he managed to relax and muster a smile for his keeper. "But you haven't come here to rehash the inquiry have you? I hope not, because I hate to keep fighting battles I've already lost."

"Isn't that what Soukutsu is all about?" She asked. "Fighting that never stops."

"Yes, that's one theory. This mimic ninja, or ninjas, could explain why the shinobi from the different villages fought to the death at Soukutsu. They didn't know who or what they were really fighting. They died fighting with surrender never an option. Think about it, how can you have a battle with no survivors? You're a psychologist, you know the will to survive is one of the strongest instincts."

"Yes, Aoba, and you went to Soukutsu wanting to solve this mystery, didn't you? And you solved it, you were successful."

Aoba narrowed his eyes warily at his keeper. He could see where this line of questioning was going. He had to hand it to her; she was always working one angle or another."

"I didn't make up the mimic ninja just to fit the facts." He said firmly. "Junshin didn't expect to see what he saw, two identical ninjas, but he did."

"You take me the worng way, Aoba." Kana said with disappointment. "This mimic ninja is not only at the base of your defense; it's the basis of your mental state and confidence. As long as you are unshakable in your belief in the mimic ninja, your case makes sense to me and everyone else."

He snorted a laugh. "You mean, I'm either right or delusional, therefore it doesn't really matter to you."

"It matters to me a lot." Kana said somberly. "And it should matter to you, too, if you want to get out of here."

"But how do you prove me right or delusional, except to go to Soukutsu and see for yourself? To me and the others, Junshin's word is proof enough. But it wasn't enough for the tribunal and I can't offer you anything else."

The young blond woman shrugged. "No one other than Junshin saw the transformation firsthand. You're convinced, but you didn't see it firsthand either. I guess you're right, Aoba, Konoha has to go back to Soukutsu."

"If we don't stop this threat more people will be killed."

Kana sighed on her way out the door. "You attribute too much power to me, Aoba." And at that she left.

Strolling down the corridor of the Gen Ward of Konoha Medical, Counselor Kaunsera was troubled. She couldn't fulfill the charge given her because there was no more information to be gleaned from Yamashiro Aoba, or any of the others connected with this incident. He was as sane as anyone in Konoha. Keeping him here was unnecessary. Rather than hold him here, they should just give him a medical discharge and be done with it. The Mist had all left Konoha and returned to their own village, so dragging this out seemed pointless, unless there was something to be gained.

The young counselor was still deep in thought when she opened the door to her office and walked towards a cluttered desk. A hulking figure whirled around in the chair, startling her. He was a formidable presence indeed.

"Danzo-sama." She said catching her breath. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought it was time to talk." The crippled elder answered crossly. "We don't have much of it before we have to decide what to do."

Kana tossed her notepad onto her desk. "I've reached a dead end. He doesn't know any more about the mimic ninja than he's already told us. If you send Aoba to Soukutsu, he'll only try to destroy it."

"You must have ways to influence him." Danzo pressed. "Drugs, posthypnotic suggestion, ninjutsu, there has to be a way to get him to capture this weapon , so we can study it."

Kana felt resentful toward Danzo's patronizing attitude. She no longer cared about the promised fast track promotion. "Why not send a fact finding mission?" She asked. "A whole task force to study it or capture it…or whatever you want to do."

"No. The Mist are too touchy now. Remember, they control the island of Soukutsu. It has to be a covert mission. Besides we need a lot of ninjas here in the village to be here for when Akatsuki arrives."

Kana seethed at the unfairness of the whole situation; however she still had one big card to play in this game, Yamashiro Aoba. He was her property until she chose to let him go, but now the Jonin wasn't foremost in her thoughts."

"The reason you don't want a lot of ninjas on this mission is because you want them all killed by Akatsuki so you can rule the village anyway."

Danzo slightly grinned but not enough to completely reveal to Kana what his intentions were when it came to Akatsuki.

"I've also heard that Uzuki Hanako will be heading up the Medical Ninja Corps."

Danzo shrugged his brocaded and bedecked shoulders. "Oh, that's just a rumor."

"She holds no love for me, not after the way I've treated Aoba. If that should happen, I'll have no future in the Medical Ninja Corps, no matter what you do to help me."

Danzo stared pointedly at her. "Forget that brat and concentrate on the task at hand. Just make that Jonin comfortable, but not too comfortable, so he'll be happy to get out of here when the time is right. I know you can do that without any problem."

She cringed as Danzo slowly passed her limping with the help of his cane. Kana had begun to dislike her chief benefactor intensely. Kana had known his backing wouldn't come cheap, but this was not how the young counselor wanted to succeed in Konoha. However, like Uzuki Hanako, Danzo would be a bad one to cross.

Either way, I'm screwed.