Chapter 4: A Bridge Builder
"Firefist Halen. Do you know why they call me Firefist Halen? It's not a name I picked for myself. It's a nickname I picked up after someone witnessed my Heated Heart jutsu - it was he who named me Firefist."
There was a knock at Halen's door, and the infiltrator woke with a startled snort, his eyes immediately wide and alert. A glance at his clock told him it was six AM in the morning, though recent events had taught everyone how wrong clocks could be. Halen grinned to himself.
The would-be Leaf genin stood to answer the rapping at his chamber door, though his scrying jutsu told him exactly who it was long before he answered the knock.
"Hello, Kakashi," he said as pulled the door open. "What can I do for you?"
Sure enough, the silver-haired copy ninja was standing alone outside Halen's room, hands carelessly stuffed in his pockets and a lazy look in his one uncovered eye.
"I was just stopping by to see how you were doing," answered Kakashi.
"That's pretty friendly of you. No hard feelings about the test, then?"
"No. None."
"I have to doubt this was a social call, Kakashi. You're not known for your punctuality and yet you're here pretty early in the day, not to mention that I've been confined to my room while I'm under investigation by the Black Ops. Of course, you'd probably know that, being a former Anbu yourself, so why did you come by?"
The copy ninja rubbed the back of his head. "I was just wondering why it was you gave Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura those bells."
Halen leaned against his doorframe. "Isn't it enough that they needed them and I had them?"
"In another person, maybe, but I don't really think that's the kind of person you are."
The impostor nodded slowly. "You're a better judge of character than I gave you credit for, Kakashi. If you really must know why I gave them those bells, it's because I knew what you were going to have them do if I hadn't. The standard for passing that exam is teamwork, isn't it? I know what your standard for teamwork is. I know what kind of situation you would have created."
"Really?" asked the sharingan warrior. "And what situation is that?"
For a moment, Halen said nothing, as if considering his words carefully. At last, he simply said, "Sasuke isn't you, Kakashi."
A bemused look crossed Kakashi's face, but Halen thought that for the smallest instant, he caught an expression other than that. Surprise? Realization?
"I don't think I ever said he was," replied the copy ninja.
"No? Well, I think you ought be going now. I've got an interview with the Anbu is about three hours and I want to get a little more sleep before then."
Kakashi shrugged and turned to go, but he'd hardly taken two steps before Halen called after him.
"Kakashi! A word to the wise: I hear that there's a bridge being built in the land of waves."
The copy ninja turned and gave Halen a quizzical look. "Oh?"
"Yes, but there's a problem with the construction. It gets pretty misty in the land of waves, you see, makes it hard to build a bridge. People say that there's a demon that lives in that mist, and anyone who challenges him by working in the fog will die. Keep that in mind."
The copy ninja seemed to consider Halen for a minute before finally nodding his head. "Sure, Halen. Thanks."
With that, Halen closed his door and flopped back down on his bed, and in an instant, he was asleep.
"Welcome back, Shin. Arcus. I appreciate you returning on such short notice."
The blue-haired Arcus bowed low, but Shin hardly inclined his head, unhappiness written across his face.
"My lord," Shin began tentatively, "why have you recalled me? I am sure that my work trailing the Akatsuki will pinpoint the inflection point, if only you would be so good as to permit me to continue."
The Lord shook his head heavily, a kind but knowing, weary smile written across his face as he did. "I am now convinced completely that the Akatsuki have nothing to do with the inflection point."
"My Lord, I must protest-"
"Shin, what is an inflection point?"
The dark-haired retainer looked up, startled. "It's the point of no return."
"That's one way to put it," agreed the Lord. "The inflection point is the point in time that the world irrevocably starts down a path that will lead to its own destruction. It is crucial that we locate this inflection point and either stop it before it occurs or, if necessary, create a second inflection that pulls the world off away from a destructive and inevitably terminal fate. The inflection point cannot occur naturally. Natural forces: the world's revolution around the sun, the tides, even volcanic eruptions, are governed by natural law and do not change the path the world exists on. The inflection point, therefore, must take the form of a human decision."
"A human decision made by the Akatsuki. Theirs is-"
"Theirs is what? Shin, we came back in time to now because we had determined the inflection point had already occurred in our future, but not in this past. If the inflection point was any decision of the Akatsuki's it would have occurred earlier still. The Akatsuki have only one purpose, one objective that has never changed, be it stated or secret."
Shin's face was heavy. "Then why do you think that the inflection point exists because of the actions of Sasuke Uchiha or Naruto Uzumaki? Do you really think that either of these men are likely to bring about the end of the world?"
The Lord of the Five shrugged, a kind smile still written into his face. "No, but I believe if we follow them, we will find the inflection point. We will find the moment that someone makes a decision that will lead us down the worst path."
The other man with the dark hair sighed heavily. "So I guess you want me to go help Halen watch the Leaf, do you?"
"No, not all," said the Lord, shaking his head. "I called you back because Halen has encountered a problem with his cover story and has been confined to his room in the Leaf. He should be able to keep track of our people of interest for a while, but they'll soon leave the Leaf Village on mission to the land of waves. I could have Halen continue to keep track of them, but I've decided that it's better for the mission if you take over while he's under investigation, Shin."
Shin closed his eyes. "I see. With you permission, your lordship, I take my leave."
The Lord nodded slightly and without so much as another gesture, Shin disappeared. It wasn't until the other had gone that Arcus stood and ran his fingers through his blue hair, concern written across his face.
"You weren't totally honest with Shin. You told him that Halen was confined and under investigation due to a problem with his cover story, not because of his own indiscretion."
Still smiling, the Lord nodded. "So I did."
"And how do you know that Squad 7 is going to the land of waves?" continued Arcus.
The Lord of the Five's smile broadened. "Well, I don't know how Halen knows, but before we left the 'future', I paid a little visit to the Leaf Village's mission archives and took a copy of everything I could find. Kakashi Hatake's report on this expedition to the land of waves is very complete."
Arcus nodded slowly. "Very well. If Shin is already aware of the details of the mission before he even leaves, he should do just fine, but I still think we should reprimand Halen for bringing so much suspicion on himself so quickly."
The Lord dismissed the possibility with a shake of his head. "No. There's no point punishing Halen for who he is. When we dispatched Halen to the Leaf Village, I knew he wouldn't be the most discrete agent we could have sent. He knew it too, he even said so at the time. That's because Halen has more than just a fiery hand. His heart, his spirit burn just as bright, and that fire can't be contained by the demands of stealth and discretion. That's why he, not you, is the Guardian of Spirit. Isn't that right, Firefist?" The Lord turned towards the shadows behind him and smiled.
Invisible boots struck out loud footfalls against the stone pavement, and a man's dark figure emerged from the shadows behind the Lord's seat. Arcus' eyes fixed on the intruder's face instantly; even his controlled expression unable to suppress his surprise.
"Halen! What are you doing here? You ought to be in the Leaf, continuing your mission."
"I am in the Leaf," he said more quietly than Halen was usually inclined to do. "I am also here."
"I see," said Arcus after a moment's consideration. "So this is what you meant when you said you both carry out the mission and remain at our Lord's side."
The Lord held up a hand, stopping the conversation. "We'll talk about that later. For the moment, tell me this: what do you know about a man named Zabuza?"
"Hypnotic regression jutsu!"
Halen looked unimpressed. "Was that supposed to do something?"
The two Anbu stared at each other, expressions unreadable behind their white masks and dark hoods. Without another word, the two members of the Black Ops leapt from Halen's room, not knowing that he was following them with his scrying jutsu.
"The hypnotic regression jutsu should allow me to place him in a state that makes it easy to access his memories," one was saying, "but it didn't have any affect."
"He resisted it?" asked the other Anbu, a woman.
The first masked agent stared at the other, his eyes just visible beneath the mask. "No. He didn't resist it. It had no effect whatsoever, like I was using it on a stone."
"Maybe he deceived us somehow, like-"
"No, I sensed no chakra presence whatsoever. Even a clone or an illusion would have had required some chakra. Something is very strange about that boy."
The Firefist chuckled to himself as he focused his inner eye elsewhere, seeking out the four people who'd he'd been sent to the Leaf Village to keep an eye on. He found Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto standing before the Hokage and the rest of the mission panel.
"I'm tired of going on these lame missions and being treated like a kid!" Naruto was yelling. "I want a real ninja mission!"
Halen smirked at the same time the Hokage sighed.
"So be it," answered the Hokage. "I will give your squad a C ranked mission, escorting a VIP to the land of waves."
"Alright! Who's it going to be? A princess? A councilman?"
A tall, tan man in a straw hat, reeking of liquor and with little more than a thin cord to check his bulging waistband walked into the room and sneered slightly at the sight of his escort. He took another swig from the white bottle of sake he had in left hand and patted the pocket of his brown tunic as his face twisted into a derisive sneer at the sight of Naruto.
"What's this supposed to be? Children?"
On the other side of the Leaf Village, Halen snorted in his bed.
"No. A bridge builder."