1: hot air over sea

Months after Uchiha Sasuke's abduction during the Chunin Exams, the former Hyuuga heiress (and recovering stutterer) Hinata was the last to send off Uzumaki Naruto, the unnoticed Kyuubi container. Haruno Sakura subjected herself to training under Senju Tsunade. Teams 8, 10, and Guy resolved to expand their skill sets. Three years fly by quickly, and even the youngest of the Rookie 9 reached the ripe age of eighteen years. Here the story continues!

The Sannin had been an odd travel-fellow; sometimes he had shut himself in to scribble away on reams of paper. Other times he had used Naruto as a wingman at the bar (to no avail, mind, Naruto had quickly discovered that Jiraiya was still hung up on Tsunade). They had fallen into a routine—every couple of months they would travel to a new town, settle there, train, and study. Their last night in each town was marked by a merry night of drinking. At first, Naruto thought Jiraiya was choosing locations arbitarily; it wasn't until Naruto had spied a map Jiraiya was reviewing that he figured out the old man was choosing places with his favorite meals and liquor.

Green and greener. The place of his birth really had not changed at all. The sun was just starting its descent down the celestial stairs when they hustled through the Konoha gate. The last couple of days had been quick travel, mostly at Naruto's urgence. The minute they had stepped foot in Hi no Kuni, his skin had started itching, as if every cell was pulling him toward the place of his birth. His sleep had been light and full of vivid dreams, visions of his teammates, his home, and the other rookies. He woke up with the smell of benzoin resin hanging around his nose. Once he had asked Jiraiya if he'd been carrying some, and after the man's quizzical look, Naruto knew it was just him.

Konoha hasn't changed a bit. Naruto thought, a senbon swishing around his mouth as he gnawed on its end. His eyes roamed around the familiar streets before settling on a familiar landmark.

"Sakura," he said to the back of a pink head. The woman turned, green eyes passing over him quickly before doubling back, squinting.

"Who?"

"It's me, Naruto."

The woman titled her head, eyes running over his form again.

"…Nanato."

"Hah?"

"Naohito."

"Wrong again."

"…"

"…"

"…Umemoto Naosuke."

"Uzumaki! Uzumaki Naruto!"

Sakura blinked for a moment before a pretty, but depthless smile came over her face. "Gomen, stranger-san, I used to have a teammate by that name, but he left three years ago. Hasn't sent me a single letter or anything." And with that she turned around and continued on her walk down the uncrowded road, whistling a tune for good measure. Mouth ajar, Naruto was stock-still for a few beats before his legs ate up the paved road as Sakura sped up her pace.

"Sak—"

"I see you took my advice."

"What? 'Bout the milk?"

"Puberty seemed to agree with you."

"Eh? You sayin' I look nice, Leader-sama?"

"Your height. You were the runt before."

Naruto ignored the jab, sticking his hands in his pockets and skipping around her. "Leader-chan thinks I'm handsome, Leader-chan thinks I'm haaaandsome~!"

He worked hard to not wince as Sakura pressed a heavy foot onto his. "You're built like a gazelle on stilts," she deadpanned.

Naruto stopped and frowned.

"And you stink. When was the last time you showered?"

Naruto gave himself a quick pit check and met Sakura's eyes, "I thought you would be glad to see me again, Sakura."

Sakura stared back impassively. She moved past the taller boy, tossing over her shoulder, "I'm going to Ichiraku. You're welcome to follow me."

"You paying?"

"What, you broke?"

Naruto's initial estimation of his home was false. He was a big boy. He could admit that to himself, he pondered quietly as he stared over his bowl to survey the ramen restaurant. It had grown a bit in size since the last time he'd come—the bathrooms were much more luxurious than what he remembered; he had stepped in to properly sniff himself once they'd selected a place to sit. Gone was the single unisex commode with a poorly painted sign; instead Ichiraku had invested in separate bathrooms with sturdy wood stalls. The urinals in the men's room had been clean and smelled clinical, a welcome change from the bathrooms he'd used on the road. Naruto didn't have to pee, but he'd considered just trying to pass a little just to experience what it felt like.

His teammate had changed, too. Her hitai-ate was still sewn into the fabric across her left shoulder, but the outfit had changed into a short, sleeveless, olive dress with two slits at the sides. Underneath were fine-mesh compression shorts. Sakura had retired her kunai pouch entirely. Her pink head was cut into a bob which barely reached the lobe of her ears, perfectly layered and split evenly down the middle—no flyways. There were tiny wrinkles around her eyes and slight lines around her mouth; it appeared Sakura had done a lot of frowning. From what she had divulged about her training with Tsunade, it wasn't all that surprising. Two weeks after his departure, Tsunade-baachan had started her on hospital shifts with Shizune twice a week, where she primarily observed. Every other day she spent three to four hours memorizing the human anatomy, studying its weaknesses and its strengths. At her sensei's encouragement, she joined training sessions with Guy and Lee. At first she could only stand twice a week, but eventually she was with them four to five times a week. Shizune and Tsunade would focus on her medical ninjutsu on the weekends. A year passed that way. By year two she was studying the effects of herbal and manufactured medicines on the body as well as how to heal fractures and mild internal organ damage. By year three Sakura was working in the hospital daily, often spiralling around surgeries and cases of chakra exhaustion.

"How's Kaka-sensei?"

The Haruno woman snorted into her soup. "Same old. He's been reluctant to stay anywhere too long, you know, especially after the Exam."

Naruto considered this before he asked, "And Sasuke?"

Sakura's face went blank.

"You know we never debriefed after the Exam," Naruto prompted.

She took a moment before she said, "I suppose you weren't there." She waited until Naruto nooded his head in agreement.

"Well," she started, pushing her bowl away, "it started with Sasuke taking the Curse Seal from Orochimaru. He was always insufferable before, but after the Forest of Death it was as if something had corrupted his chakra. And then the preliminaries—"

"I was there for that. Short battle."

They both took a moment to recall the brutality of the preliminaries. While Sasuke's battle had been appropriately vicious, his demeanor had been off. Sakura recalled how he'd egged her on, threatening her with the appearance of his kekkei-genkai, daring her to tell someone about the curse mark. For a moment, she had been petrified.

"What about the recovery?"

"You know we followed the nin from Oto. We thought we were protecting an asset of Konoha, and we thought Sasuke had been taken against his will."

"Well, he was," Naruto corrected, but Sakura was looking at him strangely. He met her gaze with steady eyes. Sasuke had been reticent and a bit of an ass, but he wasn't a deserter.

"We thought so. But our team eventually split off to face members of the Sound Four. Kiba was left to deal with the man who was carrying Sasuke. According to Kiba, Sasuke woke up—" at this Naruto's eyebrow raised "—and we found Kiba among burned trees and looking mighty scorched. He had inhaled a lot of smoke, but he coughed out enough for us to understand Sasuke had attacked him." Sakura broke eye contact to consider the broth in her bowl, eventually drawing it to her and taking a slurp.

"There has to be more to the story."

Sakura hummed in disapproval as she set her bowl down again, wiping the back of her hand. "What else do you need to know? There's no explanation for attacking another Konoha nin."

Naruto shook his head.

"You're unconvinced."

"He was our teammate. He deserves a chance to explain himself."

"He hasn't come back to the village. If he wanted to plead his case he could've."

"It's unlikely he decided to just leave. There has to be a reason."

"What was keeping him in the village? He has no family. He lived alone. He didn't talk to us. The reason doesn't matter. He injured his fellow nin and now he's labeled missing. It's a waste of energy to try to determine why he left."

Before Sakura had finished Naruto was shaking his head. "His reason is important."

"Is there a valid reason for hurting another nin?" The question came out so fast and hung in the air between them. Naruto took a moment to sip out of his own bowl.

Sakura took a moment to collect herself before she leaned in and lowered her voice. "I led a group of nin on a spur-of-the-moment mission to collect a valuable Konoha shinobi who also happened to be my teammate. We had painted houses together, talked together, fought together, and traveled. And I gathered four people whom I had never worked with to rescue him, to fight nin whose strength was unknown. One of the group had her first kill in that forest. And for all our committment, our comrade had gotten away, on his own agency, and hurt one of our own on his way out. I had to explain to our sensei what I had decided to do. I had to explain to T&I. I had to go to Analysis. I had to return Kiba to his teammates and apologize to their sensei. I had to check in with Tenten. All because I decided to believe our teammate, no matter how distant or willfully disengaged, would never forsake the village. Forsake us. I risked many people to try to recover Sasuke."

The and I won't make the same mistake was implied. Naruto considered her before he tore into a wrapped plastic straw, balled up the paper part, and threw it at his teammate, all without breaking eye contact.

"Well," he said lightly, "we can give it one more try before calling it quits, can't we?"

Sakura leaned back, fishing for the little paper ball and hitting him right between the eyes.

"Did it feel good to get it all out, Leader-chan? That's the most I've ever heard you talk about yourself."

"Don't be rude."

"How is everyone else?" Naruto asked, slouching into his seat, absently rubbing his nose. Damned benzoin.

"Good. Team Ten has been on missions. I've been training with Lee and the rest."

"And Team Eight?" Naruto asked, eyes shifting to trace the grain on the table with a studied casualness.

"I actually haven't seen them much," Sakura mused. "I take tea with Shino sometimes, and I know Hinata convinces Shikamaru to play her in shogi occasionally." The pink haired woman graciously ignored the spark of emotion that played across Naruto's face.

"You never told me about what happened during the Suna Invasion," Sakura said. "Heard some wild stories."

"Oh? Do share."

"You think you're clever? Trying to get me to tell you what I know. Just like the folks in T&I."

Naruto just smiled in response. Sakura looked around in mock-secrecy and said in a stage whisper, "I heard you fought a container with a demon inside."

"Oh?"

"And Shikamaru was just about useless until it came to dispelling whatever newfangled barrier Hinata invented. I heard you were there as well."

"You're missing the best part."

"Which is?"

Naruto leaned forward, cocking an eyebrow as he offered, "Ino found a way to possess a puppet."

Sakura let out a disbelieving whistle.

"And stuffed her soul into that one Suna-nin's puppet. Lied in wait and then came alive. The nin was chased around. That must've been the first time Kankuro truly lost control since he started puppeteering."

"That was brilliant on Ino's part. You'd never suspect she used to be such a frivolous chit in the Academy."

Naruto chuckled as he said, "The funniest thing about that whole day was that Ino's stomach wasn't right fo rhours after her possession. And she kept walking around as if she wasn't used to four limbs anymore; I guess six was more comfortable after she had been in Karasu's form for so long. It took us hours to find her actual body."

"How interesting."

Naruto rubbed at his legs, "We've been sitting in the same place for a long time."

"Can't sit still?"

"Call it what you want. I'm a bit bored."

"I have a suggestion."

Sakura, it turned out, was borderline cruel. He was not more than four minutes into sparring with her, and he could already tell he'd have bruises in the morning. She had been aiming for odd places as well—the arm pit, the fleshy part between his thumb and index finger, thrusting a spear-like hand up into his stomach. He didn't mind any of that; he assumed she was taking petty shots since he'd not contacted her in the last three years. That was understandable. The issue came when her palm came dangerously close to his adam's apple, and Naruto leaned out of her reach and snatched her hand with a swiftness Sakura had not anticipated.

In short order he had wrestled her into a punishing hold, twisting her wrists in ways liable to pop them, his front to her back. Sakura gritted her teeth, pushed chakra to her legs and pushed the two of them into the trunk of a nearby tree. Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Sakura did not allow the ache in her wrists stop her from meeting Naruto in a blur of legs and fists. He did not relent, and Sakura started to realize just how much Naruto had grown. His reach was significantly longer, he seemed to give no indication he felt any of the impact of her hits. While definitely not exhausted, she predicted if it was a straight taijutsu battle, she would have to tap out.

She caught him make a quick sign and suddenly there were four more Narutos than normal. 16 limbs against her two. She ducked as two arms attempted to lock her in another hold. She side-stepped to avoid a kick to her gut. She allowed a couple of smaller hits to land, but it wasn't until she got tired of tanned arms and gray clothes and a fist grazed her temple that a vein began to throb. And he. Just. Kept. Coming.

"Get—"

A foot caught her in the side.

"Off—"

She felt the breath of too many bodies, too many lanky, gangly doofuses.

With a cry, she drove her fist into the earth and the ground shattered with a shake that displaced birds from their perches in trees. The sound of cracking pushed small animals deeper into the surrounding forest and a genin team in a nearby training ground took stock of their surroundings, bewildered.

The Narutos disappeared in poofs of smoke. With a swish of her arm, she cleared the air as her ears registered a low whistle. The boy she had been fighting was no where in sight, but she spied her sensei looking mildly around, orange book in his hand.

"Stressed, Sakura-kun?"

"Iie, Kaka-sensei," a deep, gravely voice said. Kakashi looked to a bright head of hair. "She's mad because I'm beating her."

His teacher observed him before asking, "When did you come back, Naruto?"

"Yes," said another voice, "please explain why you did not report to my office with Jiraiya. Inquiring minds would like to know."

"Baa-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "You look beautiful. How are you?"

The blonde Hokage crossed her arms, grass-green haori doing little to conceal her considerable cleavage. Her eyes were hard, yet held an odd light.

"Imagine my surprise when Jiraiya arrived alone," she said in response. But Naruto could see the tenderness in her expression as her arms reached out, and he smiled as he put his arms around her as well. All was well until he felt a sharp pain in his ear.

"Gotcha," said a distinctly un-Tsunade voice. Two hands put pressure on his ear, causing him to bend down and meet a sharp, bony knee. He let out something close to a groan as the image of Tsunade shimmered and Sakura reemerged from her genjutsu.

"Good job, Sakura-kun. Your use of genjutsu has improved; when did you weave the illusion?"

"The minute I dispelled Naruto's clones and the smoke covered the immediate area."

Naruto hacked a cough which his sensei and teammate ignored.

"So the Sakura I was speaking to was not you?"

"Hai, and I used Tsunade-sama's form in the meantime."

"Good choice. I couldn't tell the you on the playing field was genjutsu. Your Tsunade was a bit off—the voice did not have enough rasp. Otherwise the appearance was spot-on."

"Arigato, Kaka-sensei."

"That's a natural danger of using genjutsu to impersonate those your target may know, however—" another cough from Naruto "—it was astute of you to include me in the range of the jutsu. That has proper real-world applications."

"It was a last minute decision; I estimated the distance you stood from me, but I had no real way of knowing—"

"Why not overshoot?"

"My chakra reserves are still recovering; I was in a surgery yesterday. Additionally, it's just not an efficient expenditure—"

"Stop usin' words I don't know how to spell, dattebayo," said a cross voice. Kakashi and Sakura cast uncaring eyes to the Uzumaki, who had affected a dramatic, fetal position since anyone had last paid him attention.

"Something wrong, Uzumaki-san?"

"Yes," he declared. "I am quite sure I'm dying."

There was a pause before:

"Don't leave me here, -ttebayo!"

The large windows in his apartment did a fine job of revealing just how dusty his home had become in his absence. The couch slouched, the sheets of his bed were just as wrinkled as he left them. He wiped a finger in sheet-like dust that accumulated on his kitchen island before he bent to check if he'd stocked any cleaning supplies under his sink.

Nope.

Now he was in a convenience store, searching for a duster, some disinfectant, and a dustpan. He had turned the corner of an aisle, intent on checking out when a smaller body ran into him with a feminine "oof."

"Forgive me," said a voice Hinata half-remembered. "I didn't mean to run inta ya."

Piqued, Hinata took a step back to try to match the face to the tone. It was a male, with yellow-blonde hair and mellow blues. It was the whiskers that tipped her off.

"Okaeri (Welcome home), Uzumaki-kun," she said. "How have you been?"

"Hisashiburi (Long time no see), Hinata." It had indeed been a long time since he'd last laid eyes on his first-ever friend. She was not much taller than she'd been when he'd left, hair now long. Her adolescent bang was absent; she now fashioned her hair after her sensei, from Naruto's recollection. She was dressed in loose, cream colored pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a v neckline. It was a simple cut, but flattering on her figure all the same, hinting at a small waist and widened hips. After taking stock, Naruto was content to keep his eyes on Hinata's face.

It was thinner, its heart shape pronounced, with a delicate jaw he could probably fit in one of his hands. Her brows were still dark and thin, but arched—a thicker brow would have distracted from the wide set of Byakugan eyes, rimmed with thick, black lashes. The ex-Hyuuga's crowning glory, however, was the black mark meant to insure her kekkei genkai would never be harvested, even after her death. It sat there, raised like a scar against Hinata's forehead. She wore it uncovered, unlike many who had been branded with the Caged seal. The serenity of her gaze was at direct odds with the violent hand her clan members had dealt her, and, if you asked Naruto, the proof of her clan's cruelty would live forever on her skin.

"You look strong, Uzumaki-kun. Travelling must've agreed with you!" Hinata exclaimed. Her voice had settled into something feminine and rich, no hint of rasp like Sakura's.

Naruto made a noise of agreement. "Being away for years was fun, but definitely not fun for my apartment." He shrugged his shoulders to draw attention to the bottles of product in his hands.

Hinata let out a small, agreeing sound that flipped Naruto's stomach. "Your apartment must've put up quite the protest while you were away."

"And now I have to pay the price. I hate cleaning."

"Messy Uzumaki-kun," she teased. They shared a look before Hinata blinked and opened her mouth to say something.

"Ne, Hinata, let's train sometime together! Like we used to."

The ex-Hyuuga was already nodding. "Let's do that."

"I'm not sure what mission rotations will look like, now that I'm back but I'll let you know when I'm free."

"I understand," Hinata said, not bothering to mention her own missions frequently took her out of the country for long spans of time. In fact, Team 8, affectionately nicknamed the Bingo Team by the Analysis Division, had been instructed not to tell anyone when they were due to depart and return; most of their missions were classified by principle of their work. She was due to debrief later on tonight; Kiba, Shino, and Hinata would be leaving early the next morning for a three-day trip to the Valley of Hell in Yugakure.

For the past year, they had been trailing a money path wealthy families and hidden villages had left in the wake of paying the Akatsuki. After all, Shino had argued when he first proposed the endeavor, they were a group of hostile missing nin with enemies all over; they had no group's goodwill to rely on. They had to pay for their activites somehow. He reasoned Team 8 could at least determine the names and abilities of their members by reconstructing their client list. Their search had started over a year ago in Ame, where they'd been doing general sweeps until they'd caught a break and chanced over a grave listed as "Swift-Footed Kyusuke," a man who was "a comrade-in-arms who strove for a red, peaceful dawn." The small cloud had caused them pause. A couple inquiries in the area led them to believe someone had anonymously paid for the grave, an unnamed woman with blue hair. But no one knew much about a woman with blue hair—they were quite common. So they'd dropped the money angle and relied on cataloging inconsistencies in Bingo Books again.

Following a hunch, an excursion to Iwa had lead a disguised Kiba to hone his throwing skills at a little pottery studio for two months, where an old woman with a proclivity for beautiful, long-haired men had chattered happily about all the people who resembled Kiba, and didn't she just love blond hair? She had been a blonde once, that was, of course, before all the grays… Her favorite client had been a gifted handbuilder—he loved her porcelain clay bodies she mixed in-house, and it was at his suggestion she tweak the amount of iron in one of her earthenware blends. It was through her they learned of a little upstart who had stolen a kinjutsu from Iwakagure which allowed him to weave chakra into clay. The woman, bless her foolish soul, couldn't recall a name (Daisuke? Daichi?). But they'd found a Deidara in a rare, outdated Bingo Book. From there, at Kiba's suggestion, they had started making tentative inquiries in smaller hidden villages. Hinata had posed as the assistant for a reclusive nin-turned-author who was writing a history of stolen kinjutsu.

So they'd learned about a Takigakure (which, conveniently, was not far from Iwa) jutsu which rendered turned the innards of a shinobi to those of a ragdoll. They couldn't find specifics of the technique, but finally had a solid name: Kakuzu. After a couple weeks of false leads, they had resolved to following the money again. Kumogakure's interest in the "three-man team with an attached Hyuuga" had restricted both Team Guy's and Team 8's movements for a while. Team Bingo had contented itself to staking out bounty exchange stations with little expectation for progress.

It was just their luck. Their restriction to the Land of Fire coincided with the murder of one of the fire daiymo's twelve guardians. Imagine their amazement when they spotted two cloaked figures carrying what could only be a body bag to exchange master Zangei, who had previously been questioned about the suspicious characters who frequented his establishment. Hinata's Byakugan had revealed two figures with odd chakra systems and one whose innards had been replaced kilometers of thread.

Bingo.

That night had been spent in celebration back in Konoha. The three of them had shared cups of tea and groans of disappointment. Twelve months of work had only yielded one (1) name, a probable recruit from Iwa, and a faceless woman. It wasn't until Hinata recalled the unusual three-bladed scythe on the back of Kakazu's travel partners, late into the night, that they'd regained hope. They'd checked with weapon makers, and one had recognized the style as characteristic of a weapons family out of Yugakure.

Preliminary scouting revealed the weapons family business was now a popular tourist destination, a place where kids could go ooooh at pointy stuff. No one remembered who had last ordered a three-bladed scythe. Fortunately, the hidden village had a dedicated museum, and even had a Bingo Book they allowed visitors to flip through while wearing cotton gloves. There they found the likeness of a young man whom Hinata had seen accompanying Kakuzu. Hidan, Team 8 learned, was responsible for the slaughter of a blood-drinking clan who lived in the Valley of Hell.

It was with these thoughts Hinata met with the Inuzuka and Aburame.

This is the companion to ON SHINOBI, though it can be read separately.

Thank you for reading.