Title: Time
Warnings: Mystery, Drama, Violence, Kakashi Gaiden filler Spoiler (Naruto Shippuuden 192)
Disclaimer: I do not own this original piece of work, neither do I gain financially from it~
Author's Notes: Well, lately I've found some spare time to pick up a bit of writing - and finally after a year of no Naruto, I've begun to redownload it and rewatch it with a friend. It's amazing how time gets away from you. So, I will have to really really pull up my knickers and try to get back to updating stuff. *sigh* Teaching can take a lot out of you. Ganbarimasu~
Chapter 1: Interlude of Peace
It was a bright day of blue skies full of puffy white clouds. These were the kinds of white clouds which Shikamaru would love to watch if he had the chance. Shikamaru, like the rest of Konohagakure, however, was too busy to give more than an appreciative glance at the fine weather. Farmers worked hard on making the most of the sun, the field workers toted water, the housewives hung laundry, the Academy students sweated as they ran around the twentieth lap and somewhere, every ninja to be had was out on duty, hopefully completing their missions successfully.
It was on that kind of day that you could find, if you were lucky, the Hokage in the mission room. If not, perhaps the study would be a better place... Or lounging on the Godaime's stern head. On days like these, you wonder if it's too good to be true.
"Where's Naruto?"
Tsunade, jerking up from some paperwork which had been pillowing her head, blinked and scowled at the pink-haired medic standing before her. Sakura looked obscenely perky this morning - even more groomed than ever. Her black boots shone, her hitai ate affixed just so and her clothing as painstakingly ironed as usual. It hurt the eyes - not to mention the sensibilities. Tsunade's eyebrow twitched dangerously, knowing that she would fare much worse in comparison. The last of the Sannin had a sinking feeling that there was ink on her face again - and the headache she had hoped to avoid had returned tenfold.
Sakura sighed as she recognized the signs of her ex-teacher's hangover.
I thought we were through with this...
"How should I know?" barked Tsunade. "Like I ever see the outside of this room! What with Shizune whining and you bothering me and Naruto blathering on and on - the only way I am going to get released from this damned place is in a coffin, dammit!"
Her armchair's arm creaked ominously as the last Sannin gripped it alarmingly.
"Sorry, sorry..." Sakura sweat-dropped and backed away, waving her hands in a soothing gesture. "Never mind. I'm sure I can find him around somewhere... I just thought he might have popped in for some potion - he's still got a bit of an arm ache from the last time... So... I thought... he told me he'd be here..."
Inner Sakura screamed, "Look what trouble you got me into, you total idiot! When I find you, you're dead for sure! Hell, yeah!"
Tsunade groaned. "I don't remember hearing anyone."
Sakura bit back a snide remark about age, and smiled weakly instead, saying, "Well, maybe Shizune heard him."
"Yeah... ask her..."
Sakura crept out and wandered through a few more passages, trying to find the still ever-busy assistant Shizune. Long, white and shining, the laboratories of the new Konoha hospital were a thing of pride for the medical ninjas. It had been a well thought out process - with years of complaints brought to mind. Labour saving devices were bought as well as new technologies. However, the twisting passages made it more difficult to easily locate Tsuande's assistant. On days like these, the dark haired assistant had to be everywhere at once - trotting from room to room with experiments Tsunade was double-checking, filing pieces of information on almost long-forgotten medical jutsu - and ensuring that Tsunade's was not trying to escape her confines to get drunk at the tavern. After all, it was Shizune's mission to ensure that Tsunade kept on The Task.
The Task, as it was called, seemed weighty enough to get full honours. It has going to be a long, laborious project, which would not so easily finished. So, Tsunade spent most of her time here now finishing The Task - writing out copious memoirs.
For future reference, the Rokudaime had said. Years from now, medics will be able to draw on the font of knowledge that a life time of experience has given Tsunade-sama. It's something we should have done before as a village, seriously.
Tsunade couldn't say 'no' - not to the Hokage or the village Elders. So she was stuck, as usual in the basement laboratories, double-checking her work and editing her never-ending memoirs. Tsunade, Shizune...
And not Naruto... Sakura bit her lip. I was SURE he was here... What if... something's gone wrong? What could go wrong?
"Ah! Sakura!" Shizune's voice broke into the girl's thoughts. "You looking for Naruto?"
"Shizune! You saw him?" Sakura whirled around eagerly, coming face to face with a hot and sweaty Shizune carrying an overwhelming stack of papers.
"An hour and a half ago - around eight o'clock, he picked up some liniment and said he'd be out practicing some more jutsus."
"Did he say where?"
"I think he mentioned the practice grounds," Shizune said thoughtfully. "I think..."
"Thanks, Shizune! I'll look there!"
Bolting out of the hospital, Sakura sped towards the practice grounds, inwardly steaming at the realization her subconscious worries were for nothing. Of course, it was a simple matter of Naruto yet again slacking off on his ninja duties in order to get more jutsu underneath his belt.
"A Hokage has to be well-rounded, Neji says. So I gotta practice more with wind and start to use my other types of chakra," Naruto had told her, blue eyes serious and intense as always."I'm already kinda linked to water... I think..."
"Do you KNOW what your chakra types are?" Sakura asked skeptically.
"I think I talked about it a couple times with Ero-Sannin... and Tenzou-san... Ahhh... It was too long ago! But I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will help..." Naruto smiled smugly.
It had taken her all not to punch the idiot into next week as she watched her ever clueless teammate laugh. Truly, if she did find the two - the ever late Kakashi-sensei and the ever idiotic Naruto - evading their duties with jutsu practice, she'd... well... she'd do something drastic.
It's not like it was before where things were simple and all we had to worry about was completing the mission. Not that things were simple before either. There was Sasuke to worry about, there was Sound and the Akatsuki - and after that, more problems with Sasuke... Was it ever simple? Surely there was a time...
Sakura's thoughts were once again interrupted by a sound - not so much a sound as a blast which seemed to rock Konoha. She sighed as she realized that this was no doubt her teammate - as she had expected, slacking off when he was supposed to be meeting her at eight o'clock sharp in the mission room. In front of the Hokage. Dammit.
If Sasuke was here, Naruto surely would be on time. It would be a thing of pride to show up before the smug bastard. Still... Sakura sighed. I know Naruto is serious about becoming Hokage. He's gotta practice somehow... But he should know by now... We've got a mission to complete! It's not like I want to leave my studies with Tsunade either! That guy can be so thoughtless!
Landing in the glade, Sakura glared at Naruto through the wafting smoke of newly released Shadow Clones. Catching sight of his teammate's withering glare, the blonde ninja gulped in realization and dread.
"Sa-sa-sakura-chan!" Naruto laughed awkwardly, scratching his head. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"What do you THINK, IDIOT!" Sakura's yell almost blasted the young man back a few steps.
"Am I late for something again?"
"Are you late for something again?" Sakura's gentle voice seemed almost creepily unnatural. It was even more scarey than her screaming. "Are you LATE for something again?" Her voice cracked. "Do you realize it's nine-thirty? And we were supposed to be in the mission room at eight?"
"Ah..." Naruto's eyebrows scrunched for a moment and then he froze as he remembered. "Oh shit!"
"Oh shit is right! We gotta get going! Like yesterday! Do you have stuff on you?"
"I'm always prepared when I am practicing."
"Let's hope so - because we have no time to stop and pack up. I got packed - but if you didn't, it's your loss."
"Sakura-chaaaan... you could have warned me!"
"I did." Sakura stomped off.
"You did? When? When did you warn me? I don't remember that -"
"Last night," ground out Sakura in a dangerous voice.
Naruto wisely dropped it - and followed her lead - as Sakura cut across town over the rooftops towards the ever red tower of Konoha's most important offices. Below them, the townspeople teemed and chatted. A few of them proudly watching the ever visible back of Konoha's hero - late yet again for another important mission.
"Oi... you could try to be on time for important things, seriously," Kakashi noted half-heartedly, as he looked at the mission scrolls before him. Tipping his hat back, he looked up at his two ex-students and tried to look reproving.
"I'm sorry, Sen- ah... Hokage-sama," Sakura sighed.
"Bah! I refuse to apologize to the man who was late all the time when we were his students!" Naruto stuck his nose up and folded his arms stubbornly.
"HELL YEAH!" Inner Sakura agreed.
"Be more respectful to the Hokage, idiot!" Sakura glared at her teammate, shaking a warning fist already flaring with her powerful chakra.
"Now, now," Kakashi raised his hands placatingly. "I don't want to lose the back wall of this office again... The draft was depressing, seriously!"
"Why were you late anyway?" added Iruka who was also glaring at the Hokage. Iruka had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi wasn't taking his role seriously. Although Hatake-senpai was a man renown for his abilities, the grey-haired Hokage seemed to be too laid back to be right...
Surely this man has to have some kind of fire... well, Sandaime, you did once tell me that the Will of Fire burns in every Konoha ninja's heart, but in Kakashi-sama... it's hard to tell...
"Well... we got lost on the road of life..." smirked Naruto.
"What the hell - I mean..." Iruka tried to bring himself back into control, as veins popped out on his bright red face. "What do you mean by that?"
Kakashi didn't seem to surprised by his assistant's radical changes in temperament - or Naruto's idiotic explanation.
Iruka wondered what kind of thing could ever get the unflappable Nanadaime flustered.
"Ah, yes. That kind of thing can happen," Kakashi shrugged philosophically. "Well... it's not like the mission had a time limit or anything. It is just that the earlier you start, the better chance you have to complete the mission in a week and get the weekend off. Well, I guess that's not happening now, is it?"
"Ehhh..." Naruto and Sakura glared at the Hokage. "What kind of thing are you trying to get us to do now?"
"Just a visit to Sand."
"Whatever for?"
"Read the mission scroll. Have a nice trip. And make sure you finish all the requirements of the mission. Seriously." Kakashi waved them away and went back to contemplating a scroll.
Iruka, the Hokage's newest assistant, as he watched his apparently unconcerned Hokage doodle a henohenomoheji on a document, wondered if this was what most likely turned Shizune a mature woman before her time. Taking care of a irresponsible Hokage put years on you. Trying to keep the cheerful, superficially bland Jounin better known as Hatake Kakashi in line would take everything out of him, he was sure. Within the first hour of service, he had had to drag the Hokage away from those horrible pornographic books... that alone had been a feat. He could just remember the conversation...
"No, really, Hokage-sama. It would not do for the customers or the daimyou to come in and see that you are sitting around reading porn!"
"It's not porn! It's classical drama! With a bit of romance parts yes - but, seriously, I mean what kind of book is it without -"
Iruka closed his ears and shut his eyes.
"Don't want to hear it!"
Opening them again, he found his Hokage had disappeared...
That had felt like a long day. In the end, they had compromised. Kakashi would be able to read his porn after four o'clock p.m. until the next morning at seven o'clock. The whole issue of punctuality had been another war altogether...
But, then, Sandaime. I too have the Will of Fire. Iruka shook his fist. I too can stand strong!
"Yo, Iruka... you need a rest or something? There's something about you - around the eyes..." Kakashi leaned forward, eyes intent and serious. "I think we could take the day off and no one would notice -"
Iruka stared at his Hokage in disbelief.
Will of Fire, Sandaime. Will of Fire.
Sakura waited outside and read the mission scroll while Naruto packed up. Naruto had never been strong on the reading and understanding part of life. As always, he struggled with the written word - and seemed more apt to remember by working with his hands. So, although Sakura rarely considered herself the leader of what had been Team Kakashi, the medic found herself more informed than most medics might have been. It seemed, superficially, to be a rather straightforward mission - with little to no chances for hostile contact.
Which is probably why Sai wasn't added to our number. Well, he's off with Tenzou for now... but when he gets back, I'm sure we'll be put on more complex missions. Until then... we've got some information gathering to do. Naruto won't like it - but at least that means he can meet up with Gaara...
At the sound of Naruto locking his apartment door, Sakura pocketed the mission scroll away carefully and turned to her teammate expectantly. He had packed fairly quickly and seemed to be full of good cheer.
A good sign.
"So what is it all about?" Naruto asked as the two Jounin made their way to the main gate. "Anything exciting this time?"
"Not really," Sakura paused to give a quick nod to Kotetsu and Izumo before continuing on her way. At Naruto's groan, she added quickly, "We'll get to visit Gaara."
Naruto perked up at that.
"So we ARE visiting Sand?" Naruto jumped up into the trees, followed by Sakura.
"Yes," Sakura frowned. "We got a letter yesterday by bird. Apparently there have been strange omens, strange natural disasters and other things happening in the Country of Wind - and the Hidden Village of Sand would like our opinion. So all we are doing is talking to people and looking at some specimens and gathering information."
"So... boring..." Naruto grumbled.
"Yeah, well, until Sai gets back, this is the kind of things we're gonna have to get used to doing."
"When's he going to get back?" the blonde Journin asked.
"You asked me that yesterday."
"I did?"
"Yeah, idiot. And I said, in a couple of days."
"So by the time we get back, Sai could be back?" Naruto looked excited at the thought of seeing the dark-haired young man again.
Sai was as ever, the oddball of Team 7 - although many would agree that the whole team was filled with oddball geniuses... Sasuke the last Uchiha. Kakashi with the Thousand Jutsus and counting. Sai with the mysteriously shrouded past and beautiful artwork. Sakura and her Tsunade-like abilities. Naruto and the Kyuubi... Sai fit nicely in the group - and yet stood out a little despite his earnest efforts at social self-education. Now that Kakashi was out of the game - being the Hokage was a 24/7 hour job - when four man team missions were required, the three boys and Sakura had had to learn how to get along. The tall young artist still had some learning to do when it came to social niceties, but Sai's smiles were a long way from his early times with Team 7.
One of these days, Sakura thought. He'll sweep some kunoichi off her feet...
Naruto continued on, thinking aloud, as usual.
"Good. I can't wait for him to get back and then we can all go on some crazy ass mission and kick some ninja butt and just be awesome - and I can practice my new jutsus - and get closer to my dream and -"
"Yeah yeah..." Sakura sighed. "You said the same thing yesterday. It's not even like you want Sai back - more you want a chance to get a higher ranked mission... so selfish!"
"Well... a guy can dream..."
"That he can..." Sakura sighed.
Sand, like Konoha, was covered by a blue sky - but without clouds. In the desert, it was rare to see such treasures filled with rain. Instead, a dry hot wind blew across the sand, swirling up to the large entrance of the Hidden Village of Sand. The front platforms of old had given way to a more cemented front with crenellated tops. War had devastated the countryside, all through the countries, and Sand had not been an exception. However, like Konoha, over the two years since the final battle, long hard work had resulted in better than new buildings and firmer foundations. The traditionally rounded buildings of Sand were now more gaily decorated with flapping flags and banners. Signs of prosperity in the contented villagers' faces. Low slung towers also ringed the city along the tops of the mountains which surrounded the village - a new improvement on Sand's defense.
Naruto and Sakura, arriving three days later, were swiftly ushered into the Kazekage's presence. Gaara, flanked by Kankuro and Temari, greeted them in his ever quiet voice.
"Naruto - Sakura - we've been expecting you."
"Yo, Gaara!" Naruto totally ignored the formalities and bounded forward to greet the Kazekage. "You know what? Know what? I got a new jutsu!"
"NARUTO!" Sakura's calm demeanor immediately melted away before the heat of her wrath - and Naruto froze.
"Sorry - sorry!" Naruto sighed. "Mission first. Mission first."
"Our daimyou is rather worried - so we thought we'd get some second opinions on the matter," Temari said. "However, I don't know if the idiot's opinion is so important... Why does this team have to be the ones who came?"
"Temari..."
"Someone with more strategy smarts or -"
"Temari," Gaara repeated mildly as Naruto and Sakura scowled at the blond ninja.
"Sorry for not being Shikamaru," growled Naruto. "But - at least let us have a look first, eh? It's not like I wanted to be here either you know..."
"Well, explaining won't help the idiot," Kankuro mused. "Let's just get out there and show him. I mean... the Daimyou said no time to waste!" He added hastily at the sight of Gaara's glance in his direction.
"Yeah..." Naruto grumbled, stomping out of the room, a picture of complete disinterest. "Let's get this over and done with."
Sakura sighed. Gaara smiled.
"It started a week ago," explained Kankuro, who led the way down a winding stair to the underground offices. Sakura wondered, as the atmosphere got chillier and damper, if they were going to end up in a laboratory or a dungeon. "With the death of our daimyou's brother-in-law."
"A death?" Naruto sniffed. "Was it murder or an accident?"
"It looked like an accident," sighed Temari, shaking her blonde head. "But there were some chilling details that made it look more and more like a murder."
"Like what?" Sakura asked.
"Well, for starters... how do you get a fairly well setup man, muscled and tall - willingly over the edge of a balcony - to fall to his death eleven meters below?" Kankuro smirked.
"What a minute," Naruto dropped his peevish attitude and frowned in thought, interest now perked. "A large, muscular man falls off a balcony to his death. Wasn't there a railing?"
"There was... a railing..." Gaara said in a deadpan voice. "And yet, he plunged to his death and his blood was spattered across the courtyard -"
"EWWW! GAARA!" Naruto jerked spastically, shivering at the image evoked by the Kazekage's creepy voice. "That's... so scary!"
"Now we know who shouldn't be telling stories around the campfire," Sakura laughter died away quickly as she considered the story. "But it does seem rather odd, seriously. If there was a railing - surely he should have noticed..."
"That and the fact that below his body - imprinted in the ground was a strange symbol - like the picture of an amulet or seal. Something we are not too familiar with..." Temari sighed. "We have a package of pictures for the Hokage and the investigators of Konoha."
It turned out to be more like a laboratory which looked like a dungeon. There was a chill in the dark underground places - lit weakly by lightbulbs which had seen better days. Sakura knew that time and money would help prosper Sand - eventually.
But everything takes time, I guess. Even our current Hokage has had to consider things like that as well... Sakura drew close to the table which Kankuro now stood beside. Boxes lined the table, each marked with a place and date. Inside the first box was a stack of photos and a file for Konoha. Sakura pocketed it carefully away in her backpack and looked at the original data. The medical files were quite straightforward, clear and detailed.
"Multiple contusions indicative of a eleven meter fall. Skull and brain damage... he probably didn't feel a thing - if he fell on his neck. There were some snapped bone in the -"
"Sakura-chan!" wailed Naruto, quivering beside her. "You're creeping me out..."
"It's death," Gaara stated bluntly. "You've seen it before."
"Yeah... but..." Naruto glanced around the dim, gloomy atmosphere and shivered. "Not in a place like this. It's like... spooky!"
"Naruto..." Sakura tapped her teammate on the head none too gently with the clipboard. "Grow up. It's just another mission. Like detective work."
"So the brother-in-law died," Kankuro interjected before the conversation could escalate. "We thought nothing of it -"
"There was no sign of genjutsu, hijutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu..." Sakura noted. "So it would be hard to pinpoint as a homicide, right?"
"Exactly," Temari nodded. "So nothing was said for a while. But then, to a village a few kilometers away to the south-east, there was rain. For a week. And further beyond... strange patches of plants began to grow..."
Gesturing to two other boxes, Temari continued. "The thing is... rain is uncommon - unseasonal - at this time of year. And the fungi is not a local plant."
Naruto and Sakura shifted through the bags of earth samples and plant samples. The medic considered it and wondered what her blonde teammate was making of all this. Naruto's face had the usual trademark clueless expression. Obviously, he was thinking hard but it was going over his head.
Admittedly, I don't understand much either.
"All of the conclusions from experimentation on the plant and soil samples are included in the file. Also our chronicling of the growth of other non-localized plants such as these red flowers..." Temari gestured to other boxes with even more plant and soil samples. "It's getting to be quite a mystery. At first, we thought it was a jutsu, but now, we wonder if it isn't some kind of strange climate shift brought on by the war... but surely that kind of reprecussion wouldn't happen so late after the war?"
"Good point," Sakura nodded. "You'd think the effects would be sooner..."
"Hey, hey," Naruto shook his head. "I don't get it. Explain it. Strange things are happening..."
"Strange things are happening Naruto," Sakura repeated slowly, enunciating every word as if talking to a child. "Things which should never happen. Things like flowers growing in the desert, fungi spreading... rain falling... and men jumping off balconies..."
"And... then there is the ghost..." Gaara intoned, holding up a blurry photo.
"AIYAAA!" Naruto quivered like a jelly fish behind Sakura. "Hey! Hey! Is that - a ghost?"
"It's a spirit drawing," Temari said quietly. "One of the young children in a temple on our borders painted that a week ago. The latest and last thing we've seen."
"It's a young boy..." Sakura peered at the drawing. "... I think... Here, Naruto - have a look - tell me what you think..."
"No - no - I'm sure you can figure that one out on your own," Naruto gulped.
"What... it's just a picture," Gaara murmured suddenly behind the blonde ninja.
"You can't quite make out the face..." Kankuro added.
"He's turned away - and rather obscured..."
"Well, he IS a ghost," Temari stated, enjoying Naruto's spasms. "Have a look -"
Naruto flinched as he received the picture. Looking down cautiously, while gingerly holding the painting between his thumb and forefinger, Naruto's eyes widened at the photo. It seemed... much different than he expected. He could almost feel the emotion of the subject -
The green grass seemed so real - the blue sky so familiar - and yet, the sand surrounding the artificially growing grass and the red-brown cliffs in the distance were distinctly Wind Country terrain. And the faded soul half-turned as if hesitating to go onward -
It's so sad and full of regret, Naruto thought. Sad, full of regret - and yet surely, there is some kind of meaning... What is the key to all of this?
"It's sad..." Naruto finally said. "Full of sadness..."
Temari's eyes widened a little, as Gaara nodded in agreement.
"I also thought that," Gaara mused quietly. "As if the ghost had something else to do that is unfinished here... Driven by some unnatural force, maybe. Out of sync with time..."
"The report here says that the young child put a message with the picture. Simply, 'Wish'. A message from the dead?"
Naruto nearly dropped the picture - but Gaara's sand caught it in time and lifted it gently to place it on the table.
"Like I said," Gaara repeated. "I think the ghost has been driven to complete something unfinished on this earth. It will not rest until that mission is completed. Time will tell the true meaning of these events."
"I felt rather useless," Sakura wrote in her report book, that evening before turning in. Watching the lamp flicker in the spare bedroom she was given for the night, Sakura considered all of the strange things that had been happening in Wind Country. "There is nothing I feel I can do since everything seems after the fact... Yet... there is something in the air that warns us all to be extra cautious. Perhaps the ghost or the forces at work here will not bring good fortune to us. Their ways are beyond our understanding."
Naruto and Sakura as they turned homeward fell under a thoughtful silence - their thoughts far away from each other - turning northward to the Wind Country and the ghost of the boy. It had been a while since the last war - time had healed some wounds - but there were others still waiting to be heal.
Some, Sakura thought, would never be healed.
What if this boy were a victim of our wars, Naruto thought. If he were to bring vengeance, wouldn't that also be something we should bear as those responsible for such pain? How much time must pass before we can forgive as well as forget?
After the third day, the large welcoming gates of Konoha hove into view through the trees. Naruto and Sakura, glad to finally return to the comforts of home, picked up their pace.
"Well," Naruto said, finally breaking the silence. "I'll be glad to talk to Old Lady Tsunade about this - and seeing Kakashi-sensei - I mean, the Hokage - react to this crazy news... I wonder how that will turn out." The blonde nin snickered gleefully.
"Oh... I can see it already," Sakura rolled her eyes, envisioning Kakashi's perpetual response - nonreaction. "I'm more excited about finally getting my soft bed back. Tree roots and Sand mattresses aren't that different - you notice?"
"Hmmm..." Naruto thought about his night. "Not... really... I'll just be glad to get back to Ichiraku Ramen... and Sai... and new missions," he ended on a more cheerful note. "Then I'll -"
Naruto skidded to a stop beside Sakura and stared, eyes wide and agape at Konoha's gate. Sakura leaped forward to join Izumo and Kotetsu who were pulling themselves off the ground painfully as if they had just been thrown back.
"What happened?" Sakura asked - eyes never leaving the dark swirling shield that seemed to surround the village in a dome of darkness.
"I don't know -" Izumo coughed. "One minute Kotetsu and I are checking something at the gate - the next, something cold passed through and then - wham! We were forced back - only a few minutes ago... or longer... I think I... blacked out... Kotetsu - you alright?"
"Somehow..." Kotetsu grunted. "I don't think we're going to be able to finish our shift for today..."
Naruto and Sakura gazed at the swirling shield with horror. Something was going on - and it looked like there was no way in.
Review after reading, please! Easy payment for free entertainment!