CHAPTER ONE: Of Needles and Libraries
The gates of Konoha loomed before her, thrown wide open in the midday heat as civilian traffic bustled to and from the great metropolis. Monolithic in size, the message was clear: Welcome, but keep in mind, we're much much bigger than you.
She adjusted her knapsack to fit more snugly on her shoulder and doused her pace.
Konoha. The greatest progenitor of heroes and prodigies in all the five primary nations, and the first in a long line of destinations.
She had finally arrived.
As she crossed the village's threshold, she marveled briefly at the crowds that milled through the village streets. Silently, she remarked; History would record this as Point Zero. They would say, "…From amongst a people largely oblivious to the events at hand, the stone had begun to turn…" She smiled at the romantic turn her mind assumed whenever she contemplated the future. She stared down at the slip of parchment upon which her directions had been hurriedly scribbled and took a right.
All around her rang the clang and bustle of a village still heavily under-construction. It seemed mildly fitting. After all, there was still a lot of ground work to be laid before things could really get underway. But she had nothing if not time.
And for now, the background was her friend.
So it was that the Ao reported to the seamstress that was to be her master for the coming months and presented her letters of introduction. With only a cursory glance at her documentation and a rather snippy dismissal, she was immediately set to work patching up the influx of torn uniforms and overalls that had apparently become the business' staple since the latest attack.
A grim sense of satisfaction settled over her as she felt the shadowy presence that had been her constant companion since her village debut melt away.
The back ground was where all the magic happened. It was where she needed to be. From here, she would bid her time and wait. She tossed the finished pants over her shoulder and reached for a coarse shirt with a sizable rent down its side.
She had always been good at waiting…
The Toshodoroko, Konoha's Great Archive Library, was set deep into the side of the same mountain that sported the Hokage Monument.
Hewn right out of the rock during Konoha's fledgling years, it had no doubt been a feat of great strategic mastery, clearly evidenced by the fact that it had been one of the few locations left largely unscathed after bearing witness to three shinobi wars and Pein's rather drastic reconstitution of Konoha's general landscape.
It was largely believed that the structure held more defensive seal matrices and jutsu countermeasures than any other structure in the Land of Fire, save possibly the Daimyo's Palace. All designed and implemented by the legendary Senju Clan at their prime.
That aside, aesthetically, anyone who had ever actually been inside the Toshodoroko could and would tell you that the structure had never been a labor of love. An exercise in near clinical practicality was more like it. In layman terms, The Konoha library was, to put it mildly, drab.
The library itself consisted of a rather large external building constructed at the base of the mountain. Its purpose, to serve as a sort of superficial welcoming mat. A face- though not necessarily a pretty one -if you will. It was not the actual library. Housed within was a veritable maze of librarian offices, small private alcoves, shelves lined with popular shinobi tomes and the Genin/Chuunin library. That is to say, the building was one rather well stocked buffer zone. Konoha's true gems lay somewhere within the belly of konoha's Hokage Mountain, and only a very select few had access to that particular facet of the Toshodoroko.
Its exclusivity was such that even the village's Jounin were technically not allowed inside the heart of the Toshodoroko. Normally, upon lodging a request with a resident librarian, the sort after books, scrolls and other materials could be procured with due haste, but never would the Jounin actually extract the books himself from within the expansive archives. The logic being, information being what it was, a shinobi's greatest asset as well as a village's greatest potential weakness, it had to be controlled- yet somehow, not limited –so as to still allow reasonable access to those who really needed it.
Save for the librarians, who had to undergo a rigorous two years of careful conditioning and sealing processes (all voluntary, of course), during one of Tsunade's more mellow moments (she'd just been gifted with a rare wine by the Gaara, who cared very little for the expansive collection of assorted drinks in his father's cellar), the inebriated Sennin had let out that only six individuals in the entirety of the Land of Fire could come and go through the entirety of the Toshodoroko as they pleased.
Though she'd still been lucid enough not to mention any names, Sakura could safely conclude that Tsunade, as the Hokage, was one of this privileged few. Kakashi-sensei was probably another.
Also, judging solely from the number of hours he spent flitting in and out of the building, and his position as the head of the Intelligence Division, Ibiki was probably the third.
Yamato, as captain of the ANBU, was a strong candidate for fourth, and Sakura had a nagging suspicion that the eccentric Gai probably made this list, though she could not see how he could possibly fit something as tame a leafing through a compendium on poisonous fungi into his rather demanding(and nigh impossible) physical regimen.
She had absolutely no idea who the sixth candidate could be.
Not that it really mattered.
All that mattered was that she did not, as of yet, occupy any of these enviable positions. Tsunade was still required to sign off on some of her more…questionable requests whenever she rubbed shoulders with Sigei, a senior librarian and retired Hyuuga veteran of considerable skill and reputation located on the third floor of the external library building. Though more often than not cold and dismissive, his work ethic was undeniable and was the currently the librarian she relied on the most to service her requests.
The aforementioned librarian didn't look up from his paperwork as Sakura edged into his office, hefting a small mountain of scrolls and books. Closing the door behind her with a flick of her foot, she set the publications down on a small returns desk set to the side of the small windowless room under a tactical map of the greater Konoha area.
She took a few moments to mentally review the stack before turning to face the librarian, who had set aside his brush and was currently casting a critical eye across at her returns.
"Is my selection ready?"
The wizened old ninja gestured at a neat stack of scrolls and tomes amassed by order of size in a corner of the room. Making her way over to the pile, she leafed briefly through each of them before she was satisfied everything was in order. As usual, Sigei had yet to disappoint.
Reaching into her satchel, she produced a small scroll bearing Tsunade's emerald seal. She tossed it casually at the preoccupied librarian who snatched it lazily out of the air. As she watched, the veins that fringed his pale orbs dilated with the sudden influx of blood and chakra that marked the activation of the Byakugan. He examined the missive for all of a minute before nodding in satisfaction. Snapping the scroll shut, his fist lit with an almost liquid blue flame that ate at the scroll hungrily until not so much as a speck of ash fell to the floor.
Reaching again into her satchel, she produced another extensive list of publications and original works that she would collect upon her next visit, before exiting the office. She accepted her sealing scroll from the eager eyed chuunin at the library's fore as she exited the building and promptly sealed in her latest acquisitions.
Containment seals were an obvious no go inside the library. Those who flaunted this rule (usually freshly minted chuunin with big plans and a proportionately less than flattering view on the library's rigid bureaucracy) by attempting to sneak a scroll or two past the chuunin situated at the library's entrance, more often than not soon realized their folly when they were inevitably cornered by the library's true guardians
These guardians were never chuunin.
And they tended to not smile very often. A condition they were very apt at spreading around.
The afternoon sun burnished Konoha in sunset hues that dusted the surrounding streets and buildings in gold dust, a sight that the combat medic appreciated even more as she took to the rooftops. But the moment was fleeting as her mind predictably turned inwards at the muted sounds and breezes that permeated Konoha's skyline.
She was almost ready now.
Two, maybe three, months, and she would be as ready as she would ever be.
A Deadman's Step, much like walking right off a cliff, but she had been preparing for this moment for the last five years. It would have to be all or nothing.
"…Then grow, learn, change! Make it so the world reacts to you! Mourn your loss, yes, but do not let it consume you! Adapt, evolve! Only when the world at large has to reorganize itself to accommodate even the simplest of your actions, can you truly begin to make a difference in this world of Shadows and Daggers…"
The words replayed themselves again and again, over and over, in her mind. They had become her mantra; the standard by which she measured herself and her achievements. It had been a timely admonition, and one that she would never let herself forget.
And finally, when she was done with it all, she would make sure to dedicate it in their honor. Her two fallen teammates. Her raison d'être…
It was for them, and only them, that she would do these things.
Her face set, grim and resolute in the sun's dying light. In three months, she would set out into the world, to pick it up and shake it to the roots.
But to have the world move to the will of a single individual, she would have to be more than extraordinary. She would have to set a standard that no one even knew was there. Cross a line that no one even knew had been drawn. She would have be simply, more…
And when she was done; having achieved all she'd set out to do, she would join them. Maybe the world would be kinder in the next life. Maybe then she could rest. But until that time came, there was much to be done. Much to be overcome. A certain blonde's dream, passed down from father to son. And the destruction of a certain man…
NEXT CHAPTER: Of Boats and Promises
Hello there, and welcome to my first multi-chapter fic. My flagship characters currently stand at Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke (later), and much much later, Naruto himself. If any of you are confused as to how this could possibly be, wait. All is revealed later on.
As for Ao, well- let's just say she's going to be around…somewhere…
I have over twenty pages of this fic currently maturing and bidding their time on my external hard drive, so expect regular updates bi-weekly on Fridays/Saturdays, depending on my hectic college schedule.
I'm relatively new at this, so if anyone wants to act as my beta, slots are open. PM me.
Well do lunch.
A review or ten wouldn't go amiss either :-D