((At the bottom is a somewhat important AN))
Chapter II
Leadership
"Example is leadership."
Sakura quieted her breathing and pressed herself against the underbrush, careful not to jostle any of the leaves or branches that scattered the forest floor around her. Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen – they had separated when it first became apparent that Akatsuki had found their campsite.
Sakura peered out through the underbrush, straining her eyes in the evening light. There were three ninja, all with the scratched headbands of Akatsuki. They were poking around the campsite – going through backpacks, examining scrolls, and eating the food they could find.
"Find anything?" One ninja asked. He was tall and lanky, with long, thin chains wrapped up and down his arms. His red hair was long and greasy, and he wore a scratched through Grass headband on his forehead.
"Nothing good," another one answered. He was of average height, average build. He wore camouflage pants, a Chunin vest, and a scratch Grass headband around his waist. "A few sealing scrolls." He tossed a bright blue scroll to the their member of their party, a tan, blond girl with short hair.
Sakura grit her teeth. That scroll held her stuff.
Jiraiya had left three days earlier to meet a contact – a farmer who lived on the border between the Fire Country and the recently created Dawn Country, home of Akatsuki. He had told Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke to stay put and work on what he had been teaching them until he had returned, but he hadn't told them what to do if enemy ninja had stumbled on their campsite while they were catching dinner.
Luckily, the Akatsuki ninja hadn't seen them approaching, so Team Seven did have a small advantage. Not so luckily, they had split up in a moment of panic and now really had no way of communicating without alerting Akatsuki.
But Sakura knew that if she just waited long enough, a certain someone would get tired of just sitting around.
To be honest, Naruto lasted longer than she had expected. She was forced to endure twenty minutes of silent breathing and watching enemy ninja root through her personal belongings before a rain of orange and yellow fell from the trees above.
"THAT'S MY RAMEN!" The clones roared, landing on the ground and springing towards the surprised and terrified Akatsuki ninja. The tall redhead barely had time to drop the stolen cup of ramen before being swarmed by half of the clones.
Sakura put her hands together in a simple transformation technique, and then burst from the underbrush looking like just another Shadow Clone. Smoke filled the air around their campsite – now that the Akatsuki ninja were recovering from the initial ambush they were beginning to fight back, destroying the Shadow Clones with little effort.
Sakura sprinted at the redhead, who had partially unwound the chains surrounding his arms and was whipping them through the air – two tiny cyclones of metal and smoke. The Clones were having a hard time getting close to him, as even a relatively light nick from the blades at the end would send them up in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura's hands flew through a series of strings as she ran towards the redhead – not expecting her to be any different from the other clones; he looked straight at her and met her eyes.
Sakura smirked, and the eye contact became the starter component that allowed her to establish a connection between her chakra flow and the enemy ninja's. Her hands made the final seal, and suddenly the redhead was stumbling awkwardly, forced to fight off an unexpected wave of nausea.
The genjutsu wouldn't last long, but Sakura didn't need it to. She and three remaining clones swarmed the redhead while he was struggling for balance, a flurry of kicks and punches battering him to the ground. Despite some extra training under Jiraiya Sakura's taijutsu was still sub-par at best, but backed by three clones she was more than enough for a dizzy Genin. She drew a kunai from the weapons pouch on her leg, preparing to finish the Akatsuki while he was down, but before she got a chance she was picked up off her feet by a wind jutsu and thrown back into the underbrush.
"What the hell?" She muttered, picking herself up and looking back towards the campsite.
The clearing where their campsite had once stood was now nearly completely empty, everything blown away by the violent wind that had engulfed the area. The Akatsuki Chunin stood in the center of the maelstrom, his hands clasped together in the Rat seal, his mouth open, and his eyes leaking tears.
The other Akatsuki Genin, the tan blonde one, was dead. Her body was pinned against a tree with a katana through her chest, her feet dangling uselessly about half a foot off the ground. Sasuke's work – Naruto didn't like bladed weapons beyond the basic kunai.
It was then Sakura realized that both her teammates were also in the clearing. Chakra surrounded their feet, anchoring them in place, but the wind was stopping them from moving or even opening their eyes. The Akatsuki Chunin couldn't keep the wind up forever, but at this rate when he dropped the attack Naruto and Sasuke would be too disorientated to properly defend themselves.. And she would be too far away.
Sakura took a deep breath and threw a shuriken into the wind, watching it whip around several times before flying off in a random direction.
Wind speeds…about 200 miles per hour. Moving in a circle, east to west from where I'm facing.
Sakura drew another shuriken from her pouch, twirling it on her finger as her mind raced.
Target is roughly fifty feet away. So angle…force and…
She drew her arm back and let fly with the shuriken – but an instant before release, a chain whipped into her forearm from somewhere behind her. She let out a cry of pain and watched the shuriken tumble through the air while simultaneously turning to face her attacker.
The shuriken hit the wall of wind and circled the clearing once, twice…then, caught in a gust, flew straight for the Akatsuki Chunin and buried itself in his thigh.
Well, she had been aiming for his head, but good enough.
Sakura felt the wind die down as she focused her full attention on her attacker. She was so stupid, how could she have forgotten the redhead like that?
He was standing a few feet away from her, chains whirling above his head, his face set into a snarl. "You killed Asha!" He roared, both chains flashing almost faster than Sakura could follow. She dodged one, but the other wrapped around her forearm when she tried to block it. The redhead pulled her close and hit her hard across the face – a thousand tiny fireflies danced in front of her vision before she managed to pull herself back together.
The redhead tried to hit her with his other chain but she whipped her arm up, using the chain she was bound with to stop his attack. She then pulled her bound arm back violently, sending him stumbling towards her, and kicked him hard in the groin.
The redhead exhaled in a silent scream, but managed to keep his feet, so Sakura wound the chain she was bound with around his other wrist. She then half jumped, half rolled over his back, wrapping the same chain around his neck as she did so. When she was back on her feet she bent down and pulled as if trying to throw him over her head. The redhead's chest went out, his head went back, and his caught wrist was dragged up to his ear, preventing him from forming hand seals. Sakura could feel his fingers scrabbling at the chain as it began to cut off his airflow, so she pulled harder and was rewarded for her efforts with a strangled gasp of pain.
Sakura took a deep breath and pulled more as the redhead's free elbow began to slam into her side in a desperate last-ditch attempt to break free of her chokehold. She could feel his blows weakening, but even after they stopped completely she held on – she didn't release the choke until a good minute later.
When she finally lowered the redhead's still form to the ground, he was black in the face and quite dead. Blood flowed freely from his neck, where the chains had bitten into the soft skin. The tips of his fingers were bloody as well – he had rubbed them raw trying to get them between the chain and his throat.
As Sakura untangled herself from the chains she got her first good look at them. They were old and thin, but incredibly strong, with some very nice workmanship. The ends were bladed, and upon closer inspection Sakura found that the blades could actually be bent to form rudimentary hooks. Definitely prizes worth keeping.
She pulled a small, rust colored scroll from her weapons pouch and unrolled just a bit of it – just enough so she could see the first Gate. Gates were points in seals where things could be put in or taken out – how much mass it could carry depending on how large the gate was. She sealed the chains within the first gate and quickly tucked the scroll back into her pouch.
Now to check on Naruto and Sasuke…
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There was a short grunt of pain. And then the wind stopped, and Sasuke could see again.
Their campsite was gone, blown in a thousand different directions by the Chunin's wind release. Sasuke and Naruto stood side by side in a now empty clearing, facing the Chunin, who was busy digging a shuriken out of his leg. Neither Sakura nor the ninja she had been fighting were anywhere to be seen.
"You killed her…" the Chunin gasped, bringing his hands together. "You killed Asha…"
"See Sasuke," Naruto said, gritting his teeth and pressing his own hands together in the familiar Shadow Clone seal, "this is why we don't kill people's girlfriends and stick them to trees."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Sasuke said, drawing a shuriken, a kunai, and some wire from his weapons pouch.
"Hey, listen!" Naruto shouted to the Chunin. "My friend is so sorry for killing your teammate but she did come after him and if you just put your hands down maybe we can work this-"
He compromise was interrupted by four balls of heavily condensed air, which the Chunin had shot out of his mouth at breakneck speeds. "Oh shit!" Naruto shouted, and several Shadow Clones appeared in a line in front of him.
The Shadow Clones took the hits for him, dispersing into clouds of smoke that temporarily obscured the Chunin's vision. Sasuke didn't waste time - he threw the shuriken and the kunai, sticking them to the tree behind the Chunin.
"Don't think I can't see what you're doing!" The Chunin shouted, pressing his hands together again. Sasuke grimaced and grabbed one of the wires with his teeth, pressing his hands together.
Snake Dragon Rabbit Tiger.
Fire burst from his mouth and shot along the wire, hitting the Chunin full in the face. It was a pointless endeavor, as by the time the fire reached him, the Chunin had already swapped himself out with a log, but it did serve to distract him for the few crucial seconds Naruto needed for an aerial attack.
Three of the orange-clad Genin landed in a triangle around the Chunin, screaming as they charged him. The Chunin ducked under one punch and blocked a kick, ducking low to the ground and delivering a brutal roundhouse to the side of one of the Narutos' faces. The clone vanished in a puff of smoke.
The Chunin jabbed out at another Naruto, but this one had already begun to gather a Rasengan in his palm. Yellow light swirled as the stage two Rasengan met the Chunin's fist – while it was too weak to do any real damage, the violent spinning threw the Chunin off balance.
Sasuke leapt in with a kick, trying to use the momentary distraction to his advantage, but the Chunin managed to get an arm up and ward off the attack. He fell into a roll, putting a bit of distance between himself and the Genin, and flew through a quick series of hand seals.
Five wind clones materialized in a circle around the three ninja, immediately rushing towards Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke threw himself out of the way, his Sharingan allowing him to slip by unharmed, but Naruto wasn't as lucky. He groaned in pain as one of the wind clones rushed through him, leaving several long, shallow cuts across his body.
Naruto cursed and threw a kunai at the nearest wind clone, which passed through the construct harmlessly.
"Use chakra to disperse them," Sasuke told him, leaping towards one and channeling chakra to and then out of his fist as he punched through it. Normally this would be a complete waste of chakra, but it was enough to disrupt the fragile network of wind chakra that kept the clone in existence. Wind clones were fast and immune to conventional attacks, but they were also stupid and easily destroyed when chakra was put into the mix.
Naruto followed Sasuke's example, charging another wind clone and dispersing it with a wild burst of chakra. Sasuke grabbed a kunai and hurled it at the real Chunin, who was using the distraction the wind clones provided to catch his breath.
The Chunin deflected the kunai with one of his own, but it was clear he was tiring. "Naruto!" Sasuke shouted, dodging another wind clone's charge. "Final push!"
The blonde grinned and made a seal, and suddenly there were another dozen clones on the battlefield. Half of them attacked the remaining wind clones, while the other half took the fight to the Chunin.
The Chunin blocked or dodged the first volley of blows, but he was too slow to survive the second unscathed. A brutal kick clipped his temple and he fell to the ground with a cry, desperately trying to push himself to his feet until the remaining clones mobbed him.
"I got him!" One Naruto shouted, leaping into the air and pumping his fist excitedly. "I got him!"
"Tie him up," Sakura said, emerging from the forest. She had a few nasty bruises, but seemed otherwise unhurt. "Knock him out. When he wakes up we'll interrogate him and see what he knows."
Sasuke and the Narutos nodded, and one Naruto grabbed the back of the Chunin's head and hit it against the ground a few times before giving a satisfied nod and helping the rest of the clones tie the Chunin up.
"Either of you hurt?" Sakura asked, running a hand through her hair. It was beginning to grow long again – Sasuke figured she would cut it again soon.
"I'm alright," Sasuke said. "Naruto has a few cuts but nothing he can't sleep off."
Naruto nodded in agreement, he and his clones striking up a small whistle as they picked up the Chunin and hauled him over to a tree. "I'm gonna take her down," Naruto said, nodding over to the Akatsuki girl Sasuke had impaled when the fight had begun. "He shouldn't see that when he wakes up. And she deserves more than…that."
Sakura shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Sasuke and I will dig our supplies out of the woods and set up camp. Again."
"You know what?" Sasuke said, marching off towards the forest. "Just…fuck these guys."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Let her out."
The cloaked man nodded, removing a heavy silver staff from his back. It was an old, worn staff; completely straight except for two large metal juts at the end that gave it the appearance of a large key.
The cloaked man tapped the staff against the metal door, which lit up with a hundred different seals. Chakra flashed through the seals faster than the eye could follow in a hellishly complex dance that no mere human could hope to keep pace with – the only way to open the door was through the key.
The metal doors slid open, and the dozen assembled shinobi, once Waterfall, now Akatsuki, held their breaths. They were the best and brightest Waterfall had to offer, Jonin of the highest caliber. Some had been raised in the Leaf, working as double agents until Akatsuki had officially come together. Others were carriers of secret techniques known only by their clan. One even had a special bloodline limit that allowed him to absorb chakra through one hand and immediately redirect it through the other.
And if the occupant of Cell Two decided she wasn't going to be cooperative today, then it would take every single one of them to take her down.
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Fu sat in her cell and tried her best to tune out its voice.
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Some days, the thing's incessant whispering was worse than others. Today it was particularly bad. She had had a restless night, and it was taking advantage of that to try to drive her up the fucking wall.
KillBreakChopSlashCutStabBur n
She did what she had been taught – closed her eyes, steadied her breathing, focused on something else. The whispering lessened somewhat, but she could tell that this wasn't going to be one of the good days, where she would be able to sit and think without hearing it whisper to her. At best she might be able to ignore it, to push it away until it was nothing but background noise.
KillThemAllKillThemAllKillTh emAllKillThemAllKillThemAllK illThemAllKillThemAll
Fu shook her head. It was just excited because she was getting let out today. Any minute now, actually, if her sleep schedule hadn't deviated too much. A month in solitary confinement could screw with your sense of time, but Fu was reasonably confident she knew exactly what time it was.
As if on cue there was a loud, heavy tap on the door.
Fu smirked and practically leapt to he feet, her hands quivering with nervous energy. Fuck this – a month in a fifteen by fifteen room was complete and utter hell. In a minute she would be breathing fresh air and-
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Running. She would be able to run again.
The door began to slide open, and Fu was forced to cover her eyes to shield them from the light. She could see maybe a dozen and a half shadowy figures just outside the room, waiting for her – at least two thirds of them were ninja. They really weren't taking any chances this time.
The doors eventually opened completely, and one of the assembled men spoke.
"Hello Fu."
It was Gokuri, one of the village elders. He was the older of the council, with hair that had turned gray long ago, but he was a powerful ninja nonetheless.
Fu gave him a quick salute. "Gokuri-sensei."
"I trust you won't be too much trouble today," Gokuri said. The ninja around him still hadn't relaxed – Fu could sense their tension, like a palpable force pressing against her.
"I won't, sensei," she said with a small nod. All she wanted to do was run – run, jump, leap, spin, burn off-
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Some excess energy. That would be nice. But instead she forced herself to keep still and quiet.
"Gokuri nodded, motioning for her to follow him. "Excellent. With me, then. I have a mission for you."
He walked away and Fu followed him, the ninja giving her a wide berth before flickering and vanishing. She could hear…three of them, see one more, and smell another. The others were either better at hiding themselves or actually gone.
"Much has happened in the last two months," Gokuri told her as they walked. "The Dawn country will be sending a envoy to the Land of Iron not long from now, in an attempt to gain the Kage title for our leader.
Fu nodded. She herself had never met this mysterious leader, but if half the rumors of him were true he was a ninja of unparalleled skill – practically the second coming of the Sage.
She wasn't sure if she believed those stories, but she knew anyone able to unite Rain, Snow, Grass and Waterfall had to be both powerful and charismatic, which should mean he was plenty qualified for the title.
"Will I be…going?" She asked.
Gokuri gave her a disapproving, almost disappointed look. "No. After your last outburst we need to be able to keep an eye on you. Perhaps if you had retained control of your beast I could have allowed it, but now…" he shook his head. "Actions have consequences Fu. Remember that the next time you feel the anger rising."
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"Yes, Gokuri-sensei."
They entered Waterfall's main tower, which served as the military headquarters and the meeting area of the village council. Gokuri lead her to a large, deserted room filled with maps – Fu remembered visiting once or twice when she was younger.
"With any luck," Gokuri said, "in a few short weeks the Dawn Country will have an Asakage, and all of the political power that entails. We are equal with any of the elemental nations – Snow's technology, Grass' spies, our training and Rain's territory make us a formidable threat that we intend to make good on.
"We're going to war," Fu said.
Gokuri nodded. "You're quite the clever girl, when the beast doesn't rule your thoughts. Pity that you can't be in control more often."
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"I'll do better, Gokuri-sensei. I promise."
Gokuri shook his head. "You'll try, child." He unrolled a large map, which detailed the border between the Dawn and Fire countries. "The Leaf has several bases along the border," he said, pointing to several highlighted areas. "A few of these are out in the open, a few hidden, and no doubt there are two or three more we don't know about. We have people on it as we speak."
He circled three of the bases. "We, the Elders, have been assigned these three bases. We will attack them as soon as the Asakage is appointed, while the rest of Akatsuki handle the rest of the bases. These attacks will flush the Leaf out of the area and allow us to take several miles of Fire Country territory."
"Why Leaf?" Fu asked. "Why even attack an elemental nation at all? Is war really necessary?"
"War is inevitable," Gokuri responded. "By striking quickly we can overrun the Leaf with minimum casualties. This is not the time of the first or second Hokages…the Leaf is not the superpower it once was. But it still holds several valuable bloodlines and clan techniques, which Akatsuki can use for itself."
"But–"
"It's really nothing you need to concern yourself with, Fu," Gokuri said. "You're a weapon, not a strategist. Leave the thinking to the council and I."
"Of…course sir."
"Good," Gokuri said with a nod. "You, and you alone, will be responsible for one of the bases. It shouldn't be too difficult a job for a ninja of your caliber. Walk in, kill everyone, and walk out. Perfectly suited for your talents."
"Yes sir."
Gokuri gave her a scrutinizing glance and sniffed, as if her agreement hadn't come quickly or confidently enough for his tastes. "Anyway. We'll be sending another Jonin along with you, to scout ahead, deal with prisoners, and most importantly, keep an eye on you."
"I understand sir."
"I really hope that you do, Fu."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
If all her years as a ninja had taught Tsunade anything, it was that teamwork was vital to any mission. And teamwork depended almost entirely on the makeup of a team. There needed to be at least some conflict of personalities, so that limits were tested and ideas could be challenged and there was no stagnation. It was the differences between the three sanin as much as the similarities that had made them so feared across the Elemental Nations.
Of course, there did have to be similarities. If two people were too diametrically opposed they would never be able to work together, and the team and the mission would suffer for it.
Tsunade had been a team leader before. She knew it would be up to her to make sure the team worked together towards a single goal. It would be up to her to iron out any differences too extreme, diffuse any tensions that got in the way of the mission. But at the same time, she wouldn't be able to always be there. As the team leader, she would have other duties, and she needed people she could trust not to explode at each other when she left them alone for a few minutes.
With any luck, she would be able to unify this (as of the moment) hypothetical team under one goal – kill Orochimaru. That shouldn't be too difficult, as the snake was known for his human experimentation, and Tsunade knew for a fact that he had hundreds of test subjects locked up, with nothing to do except dream of revenge.
The trouble, then, would be sorting through the shit and finding those with real talent. She couldn't afford to babysit – anyone she recruited would have to be able to hold his or her own. And often, it wasn't obvious who would be able to soldier on through the worst of it. Tsunade was well aware that while some ninja could look perfectly skilled and competent at first glance, they could just as easily fall apart the moment their lives were in danger.
So she would find Orochimaru's hideouts. Tsunade wasn't Jiraiya – she wasn't a spymaster, she had no list of contacts spread out across the Elemental Nations. What she did have, however, were friends. War had taken her all across the continent, and her travelling after leaving Konoha had taken her even further. And nobody did that much travelling without making a few influential friends.
Once she found the snake's hideouts she would hit them, and hit them hard. It was going to be a matter of finding the very best ninja Orochimaru's experimentation had to offer, ninja who could fulfill every requirement she asked and more – because Orochimaru was nigh un-killable usually, and Tsunade couldn't shake the feeling that he had something up his sleeve.
But before all that, she needed supplies. Weapons and scrolls and maps. There were some old Konoha bases along the Waterfall/Fire border (now the Dawn/Fire border, she supposed). One of those would have what she needed.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The two most powerful men in Konoha (and by extension, it could be argued, the Land of Fire) sat face to face in a sunlit office.
Hyuga Hiashi was the fifth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He was forty-one years old, a ninja since he was eleven, a Jonin since seventeen. A veteran of both the second and third Shinobi World Wars, he was the eighth most decorated ninja in the Leaf, behind four Hokages, two sanin and the other man in the room.
Shimura Danzo was seventy-two years old. A ninja since he was eight, a Jonin since fifteen. A veteran of all three Shinobi World Wars, a badge of honor only a handful in the world could claim, he was the only most decorated ninja in the history of the leaf who was never a Hokage (and he would often claim that the Fourth Hokage, in fact, had one fewer medal than he – Minato never actually achieved all the kills necessary for his final medal. His defeat of the Nine-Tailed Fox, while remarkable, was not a kill).
"I'm shutting down ROOT," Hiashi said.
Danzo blinked his only visible eye once. "I wasn't aware there was a ROOT to shut down," he said evenly. "To the extent of my knowledge, the program was highly controversial amongst the leaders of Leaf, and was shut down by order of the Third Hokage himself some time ago."
"I'm shutting down ROOT." Hiashi said again.
There was a long pause as Danzo waited for the Hokage to elaborate. When it became obvious that no explanation was forthcoming, he frowned. "You don't have the authority," he said finally. "The office of Hokage wields many powers. So many, in fact, that the average civilian…the average ninja may even believe that its authority is absolute. But this is not true. There are some things that the Hokage cannot control, because to control would be to associate himself with those things. And that is simply not an option." He fell silent.
"You don't respect me," Hiashi said after a moment.
Danzo's mouth quirked in a way that could've been either a smile or a pained grimace. "I had a son once. Ten years your senior. Dead now, but even still. It is difficult to see you as much more than a child given power he can barely understand, much less wield."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hiashi said, in a tone that made it quite clear he wasn't sorry to hear that in the least. "I suggest that you quickly get over these difficulties, as I am now your superior. And as your superior, I am disbanding ROOT."
Danzo opened his mouth to protest, but before he could Hiashi held up a hand. "ROOT has grown old and outdated. While its methods may have allowed Konoha to rise to prominence, it is becoming increasingly obsolete in a rapidly changing world. Because of this, I'm merging it with a newer, more promising project. You will lead this project, but as it is not "outside my jurisdiction", so to speak, I will be overlooking you."
"You're putting me on a leash," Danzo growled. "Changing my position and then sending me away to some bullshit summit in an obsolete land so that by the time I get back and take control you'll have vetted anyone who holds me in higher regard than you."
"I'm keeping an eye on you, yes," Hiashi replied. "I'm also providing you with manpower, resources, and a way to increase your agents' effectiveness tenfold. I'm not saying you won't lose some freedoms you may have come to enjoy, but it will be a small price to pay. One you will pay gladly."
"And if I refuse?"
"You won't," Hiashi said. "Because for all your age and all your medals, you're still just a man. And I'm the Hokage."
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AN
A comment pointed out to me on the last chapter that I called Sakura's chakra "light red". This needs to be explained.
This is mainly a stylistic choice, but in the Delicate Things series chakra as a whole is no longer uniformly blue – each person has a different shade. This is hinted at in the manga (Chap 91) but completely ignored in the anime. I like the idea and think it promotes chakra as a more individualistic signature. It will not affect the story in any meaningful way.
For the record, Naruto's chakra is yellow. Kyuubi chakra is red (not all tailed beasts have red chakra). Sasuke's chakra is dark blue. Cursed seal chakra is purple. Sakura's chakra is pink or light red (no relation to Kyuubi chakra).
More notes can be found on the livejournal.