Paper Mountains
Chapter 1: Playing the long game
Damn, Raasu cursed for the fourth time, when the scroll she tracked down was still not what she was looking for. Had anyone asked for her opinion, she would have said that a total lack of organization was not what she had envisioned to be her biggest challenge during her mission to infiltrate the massive, five-tiered records library located in the Kage tower of the world's largest shinobi city.
Though she had to admit, she liked Konoha's scroll-house. Despite its flaws, it was clean and its maintenance was well intentioned if not totally overwhelmed. It was arranged on many floors of their Kage tower, each floor more advanced, or more confidential, than the floor below. The top floor of the building was, of course, the Hokage's office. Rows were almost her height, with shelves of a latticework of wooden slats that were as pretty as they were functional.
Kusagakure's library had been dark in comparison, but her job in Kusa was made easier by the fact that their librarians only ever categorized by year – but that was why that mission had taken her a week, in and out.
Konoha had been her temporary home for a month, and with no small amount of luck, today would be her last day in the Hokage tower – ever, if she had anything to say about it.
A little over a month ago, she had slipped into Konoha with her country's genin under the guise of advising them during their participation in the Chuunin Examinations. It was an amusing distraction when she wasn't busy with her own mission. Having never taken a Chuunin Exam in her life, she happily obliged when asked to serve as a decoy during the written test of round one.
Once inside the city, the distraction of the exams was the perfect cover for her to gain access to the library. She'd made good use of her "borrowed" ANBU standard issue that was provided to her at the start of this mission – ANBU had the highest clearance, after all, and the anonymity that was necessary for Konoha's highest brand of shinobi awarded Sagami the privacy she relied on.
Though their genin team had failed the exam's round two, Takigakure's representatives were, as a courtesy, welcome to stay and watch the one-on-one battles between finalists. Over the month's interim in which combatants trained privately and guests enjoyed themselves in the large city, Sagami had worked her slow pace through the upper floors of the city's library. Mission records, peace treaties, and meeting transcripts were among the bounty concealed in her travel-pack back in the compound reserved for Konoha's guests.
She wanted to represent her country at the 3rd Hokage's funeral happening this very hour, but knew she would hate the pomp and circumstance and all the petty praise Konoha would bestow on their fallen Kage. Thus it was with mixed feelings that she had once again donned the ANBU standard issue and slipped into the private, humidity-regulated highest-security floor of Konoha's record house. For the second time in three days she was closer to the Hokage's office than she'd ever been. Compared to the lower floors, this floor had low ceilings and thick, tinted windows for security and to preserve old, irreplaceable originals. She could feel the heat of the anti-teleportation jutsu circling the structure.
Well, it had had thick, tinted windows before her own handiwork shattered the North-facing window two short days ago, when Sand and Sound invaded the city and she'd been forced to make a quick retreat.
When all available eyes were trained on the finals in the far-off stadium, Sagami had donned her ANBU uniform and slipped into the top floor. She had planned carefully for her invasion into the privacy of that floor: it was, after all, the highest risk target of her mission. Likely due to very low traffic, it was mercifully better organized, so it had been a simple task on that day to locate the Kage Summit transcripts and complete her collection of that subject before she renewed her methodical hunt for a missing third in a set of particular interest to her colleagues.
The violent shaking of the building beneath her feet, accompanied by a distant crash and pillars of thick smoke pouring up and over the high walls of the stadium threw her on alert. Movement just left of the stadium had drawn her eye and she had watched, open-mouthed, as a sizable portion of the great city wall toppled inward.
Observing the first moments of the invasion of Konoha from the height of the Kage tower, she had made the only sensible choice: follow through with her mission. Get her stolen scrolls out of the city and see them safely to Takigakure, if necessary.
After abandoning her search of the most elusive scroll in favor of protecting the bounty she already had stowed in her team's room, she shattered the window with a burst of chakra and leapt through the anti-teleportation ward. Long before she hit the ground far, far below, she had performed a string of seals and closed her eyes as her teleportation justu melted her into water and taken her outside the city where she waited, restless and pacing, for the clamor of the invasion to die down.
The following morning, when Sagami had strolled through the front gates of Konoha without a whisper of a guard's presence, the damage done to the great city was apparent. Taki and most of the other visiting countries stayed to lend their meager support, but rebuilding would take months. The least anyone could do was attend the 3rd Hokage's funeral.
"You're playing the long game," Taki's team leader reminded her the morning of, as if she needed a reminder of what her country expected from her.
What if I don't find this scroll at all? She wondered, but didn't ask. Instead: "it's my personal opinion that the scroll we search for was destroyed for Konoha's protection." He'd pursed his lips and said nothing. Her team leader was a severe man. She drew the mask down over her face and hoped it unnerved him if only just a little, and left.
In current time, she ran a gloved hand over the curve of the nearest scroll. What secrets, what forgotten knowledge, was hidden in the room in which she stood? She wiped a hand down her face under the mask, mentally preparing herself for the next task, when a bundle of white feathers careened into the room, talons outstretched towards her face.
At the last second she snapped out an arm for Shiro to land on. He chattered away angrily. She listened for a moment before scowling beneath the hood and mask. Out of time: they're here.
She tipped her head back to stare for a second at the ceiling and to imagine the Hokage desk above. Forcing a deep breath in and out to calm her nerves, she then touched Shiro lightly and inclined her head in his direction.
With her summon's teleportation, they landed in the apartment with a thud. Sighing, she straightened, turning for her pack, when movement caught her eye.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Raasu barked at the genin, who was backing into the bathroom with a kunai held defensively. Raasu ripped off her mask so the girl could see she was no threat. The genin were all supposed to be at the ceremony, why was she here?
"He said to come here and wait for you," the girl stared at her ANBU mask fearfully, not understanding why Sagami would be dressed like a Leaf ninja. "Why weren't you at the ceremony, Sagami-senpai?"
"No time for that," she barked. "What is it?"
"Sensei said to wait for you, tell you, 'they're here.' Said you'd know what it means." Her gaze flicked to Shiro, now perched on Raasu's shoulder.
She nodded. "I know. I won't be returning to Waterfall with you. Sorry I don't have more time. Train hard."
Shiro twisted his head around this way and that, telling her to hurry up. Raasu cast an apologetic glance at the only female genin on the team and swung her travel pack onto her shoulders. A second later, both owl and human popped out of existence, leaving only a thin splash of moisture in their wake.
A/N: I know, I know, that's a lot of non-dialogue paragraph text up there. I wouldn't want to read it either, but I have to set the stage.
In this fiction I will be using the comic book style of a lot of italics to indicate strong emphasis on certain words. It eases the flow and makes reading more natural, imho.
As you may have gathered, this is not a 'Konoha-is-best' protagonist. Shinobi raised in different nations will have different perspectives on worldly events, and I intend to fully exploit this fact.