Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
I personally didn't like how weak Konan seemed in canon Naruto so I'm giving her a preferred chakra nature, like a lot of the other powerful ninja in Naruto. She'll have a fair bit of skill with it, but most of her jutsu will still revolve around paper like in canon.
"Speech"
Thoughts/Past
Moment by moment, day by day, we persist through this raging war... she clenched her hand into a fist, feeling a bit of strength return to her. Not enough, but at least it was a little. She got up, discarding her robe and pulled on a dark shirt and pants. Looking into her closet, she reached for a black cloak with red clouds on it, but then paused. No. That's part of the past.
She donned a plain black one instead, and stood in front of a mirror, looking at herself.
Her face was more gaunt than she had remembered; being sick and not eating much tended to do that, but at least her skin had returned to its normal color. Still pale, but not deathly white, like it had been before. There were still dark shadows all across her face, but that was nothing unusual.
She pursed her lips, unhappy with her appearance, but that was nothing she could change - and besides, what did that matter anyway? Nobody was going to judge her based on looks. Or if they did, they would think her weak and delicate, which could work to her advantage.
She tore her eyes away, glancing out the window. Outside, the snow still fell in its endless veil from the sky, but it had already begun to turn into more of a sleet than the flaky, pure white that it was in the dead of winter. Spring was coming.
She closed her eyes. Spring... when the amaranthine rains fall again. The season of life, but only death rages about us. But that never changes...
And looking away, she stared at her hands. Yet we still try to protect everything. Our people, our country... those precious to us... I cannot be useless forever... She looked up, then back down, shaking her head. I think too much. Time to act.
Naruto looked up. Above them, the skies were raining blood. The freezing sleet that dripped through the trees was ashen, tinted crimson, and he knew that there had been another slaughter. There was something awful and gruesome about it; the rain, a rain of blood, staining the scarred, scorched land... it was a mark of how much senseless slaughter there had been. The sheer volume of crimson droplets, falling from the sky, and he wondered just how many people had died. Part of him was still amazed that there were so many people to die in the first place, but at once he was disgusted with himself for thinking such a thought. I should be sad for them - and in truth, he did pity them, but it was hard to think of people individually when there was so much destruction. No, instead he wondered how their countries had gotten to this point, fighting through a small nation stuck between them, ravaging everything that they could find. Rather, why they were fighting each other and killing so much when they didn't have to be. His brows furrowed. It reminded him of the time Suna had invaded Konoha, for no apparent reason at all; it had turned out that Orochimaru had been the one manipulating them, but still... he had to wonder how many people out there were as sick as that guy. It was disturbing, to think that there could be people like Orochimaru leading countries, people with no regard for the lives of others... but forgetting about why war had broken out... he knew he wasn't the type to think about the cause. Rather, what can I do about it? I feel so helpless...
He turned as he sensed someone approach.
"Kaka-sensei..."
"Naruto," the older man replied, looking up as well. "So you were thinking about the weather as well."
Naruto's brows furrowed. "I was thinking about these assholes who are just randomly killing people out there-"
"That includes people from our own village," Kakashi replied calmly, to which Naruto had no immediate reply.
The blonde looked at the ground, downcast. Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.
"War's hard the first time you see it. Just be glad that you haven't lost anyone precious to you yet." Like I did.
"But-"
"It could happen," the silver haired man said gravely. "First we worry about those close to us. Then we worry about others."
Naruto frowned. "And what about all those people out there that we're hurting."
"We aren't."
"But people from Konoha-"
"So would you have us fight against our own village while we're in the middle of a war? Think about it, Naruto. Who would you rather help first?"
Naruto's eyes hardened. "The helpless person in front of me."
Kakashi paused for a moment, then smiled slightly. "You know, I'm kind of glad to hear that answer from you. But not everyone else thinks like that. Humans are a selfish breed..."
"Why do we always have to fight, anyway? Why can't people at least try to understand each other?"
"Our countries don't work that way," Kakashi murmured. "Its people might be fine, but the ones ruling at the top are greedy and thoughtless. They don't care for the well being of people from other places."
"Huh?"
Kakashi closed his eyes. "Our leaders are corrupt."
"You mean Granny Tsunade-"
"No, the feudal lords. And unfortunately, they have all the money..."
"Then why don't we get rid of them? Ah-" Naruto broke off as Kakashi looked at him strangely. "Right. Stupid question."
Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets. "And the other part of the problem is shinobi, by nature are catalysts for war. We're supposed to fight and that's where all the money for the village comes from. Without war, our village would not be as large or as powerful as it is right now."
"So... we need war to be strong?"
"Something to that effect. If there is no conflict, then there is no need for ninja."
"I, uh... hmm."
Kakashi shrugged. "It's okay if you don't get it. But just know that it's not as simple as everyone just getting along."
Naruto sighed. "Is there really nothing we can do?"
"I don't know. We have to give it some time, Naruto."
"And how many people are going to die before we figure out what to do?"
Kakashi remained silent.
Kirigakure
It was a large village and true to its name, the mists around him were extremely dense. It reduced visibility, but he was grateful for it; nobody seemed to notice that he was not from around the area - hell, hardly anyone even looked at him.
Still, he had changed his disguise once again, this time to a pale, dark haired man, though his eyes were notoriously hard to mask. The rinnegan, it seemed, did not like being affected by transformations or genjutsu of any sort.
He stopped and bought some steamed buns from an old woman sitting on the roadside. Glancing down, he noticed that she seemed to be a refugee as well - her clothes were much different than the water resistant stuff from around the area - but then again, since Kirigakure was not supposed to be involved in this war, he figured it made sense that all the refugees would come here to find safety.
And Madara, he reminded himself. He'd definitely look for the perfect place to lay low. Especially after what he did... No. We all had a part in it, even if it was indirectly. By turning a blind eye to his machinations until it was too late, we caused this mess as well.
Konoha and Kumogakure never had had a good relationship. From that time with the Second Hokage to the Hyuuga fiasco, many of their attempted peace talks never really worked out. He knew this...
Nagato looked down, memories swirling through his mind.
It had been a particularly foggy day, perfect for the kind of mission that Madara had planned. The basics of it were simple, really. There were only two tailed beasts left. One of them, the Kyuubi, hosted by Uzumaki Naruto, and the other, the Hachibi, hosted by Killer Bee from Kumogakure. Each country's precious weapon, though they were both feared, if not by all of their fellow villagers, then by many. In Bee's case, that meant isolation from the rest of the village, which worked out perfectly.
Yes, the basics were very simple. Attempt to kidnap Bee, frame it on Konoha, pretending like it was another great nation trying to grab all the power for itself, and undoubtedly war would break out. Or if not that, enough distraction for him to take Naruto in the process.
A simple plan, but things didn't work out as he had expected, apparently. The Hachibi they had tried to put into the Gedo Mazo had been a fake - it had just been one of the tentacles. But in the other regard, Madara had succeeded. Far too well.
He had a good knowledge of jutsu unique to Konoha, especially Uchiha jutsu, and it had been easy enough to procure a jonin jacket from an unsuspecting passerby. Combined with several loud, flashy jutsu and he had made sure that someone saw him take down Bee, or at least a clone of Bee.
It was enough to make the Raikage furious, to say the least. Enough for almost a declaration of war, save for the fact that Konoha was allies with Suna and Kumo had no allies, so he would have been entering a losing battle. But Madara had calculated that in his plans as well.
Iwagakure had a bad history with both Suna and Konoha, from both the Third Shinobi World War and simply by being neighboring countries. In this case, he had chosen to target Gaara, who had already had the Ichibi removed from him, but was still a major influence in Suna.
A 'botched' assassination attempted; he had limited knowledge of Earth style jutsu, but the little bit he had picked up from Deidara had been unmistakably Iwa techniques. But that would not have been enough alone. A couple days later, he feigned another assassination attempt, this time clearly displaying his Akatsuki cloak, and when he 'failed', he 'accidentally' left a slip of paper on the ground, a paper with a contract written on it, signed by the Tsuchikage...
He felt immensely lucky that he had kept that signature from the last time the old man had hired them.
Nagato closed his eyes.
Madara is a master with such things. He comes from the time before the villages and knows exactly how to play on the hatred that plagues our world. The Raikage, despite all his anger, is an honorable man and hates underhanded tactics like stealing another village's weapon to gain power. Iwa has been known to hire Akatsuki and it was one of the reasons for the Third World War. It is no surprise that he pulled that trick again, especially since the new Kazekage seems to be truly beloved by his people. He and Princess Tsunade might have been pacifists, but the feudal lords of the wind and fire countries are not. A bit of convincing here and there, manipulating a couple events, and even if he did not do it perfectly...
He resisted the urge to grab the nearest thing and smash it. If we had been more alert, we would have caught him! We could have prevented it! But now Konoha and Suna are in a war with Kumo and Iwa, and we can do nothing to stop it. Not with our reputation, as Akatsuki, one of the primary instigators of war... there are too many wounds to heal, too much hatred to quell. And we, who have caused much of it, cannot be the antidote to the poison that infects the shinobi world. No, we have only been the venom so far...
He sighed. First things first. I take care of Madara. Stop his plan, whatever it may be. Then we worry about everything else.
A white haired man turned. He frowned to himself, beneath the rim of his straw hat, but otherwise gave off no indication that anything was wrong. But, as he wandered around, he stopped again, frown deepening. I thought I sensed something familiar nearby... his eyes darted side to side, but he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Must've been my imagination. There's no possible way I'm sensing what I think I am. Those three died a long time ago... besides, sensing was not my strongest point. Not outside of sennin mode, at least.
Shaking his head, he continued on his way. I have to get my mind out of the past. And yet... I cannot help but get this weird feeling of déjà vu. What could it be?
Obviously other than the fact that they were in yet another war, with yet more people dying, especially in the rain country...
He sighed. There really was too much hatred in this world. Hatred spawned out of greed, and endless wars. False peace, born out necessity lest everything be destroyed, but war always loomed right behind prosperity. He shook his head again and began looking around.
Spotting a nearby bar, he decided to check it out,
He took off his straw hat and finding the bartender to be a rather attractive young woman, walked over and grinned at her.
"Hello there, miss-" and broke off as he was greeted with a slap to the face.
"Oops, sorry old man. My hand slipped."
Jiraiya looked rather pathetically at the ground. "Why does this always happen..."
The girl, a brunette around 20, looked away awkwardly and went back to washing mugs. "So what can I get you?"
"Whatever the house specialty is," Jiraiya set a few coins on the table and waited a moment.
The girl came back with a glass filled with some sort of beer and set it in front of him. He drank in silence for a couple minutes, then glanced around, noticing that the bar was empty.
As if on cue, the woman spoke. "So what brings you here on such a foggy day?"
"Just a thirsty traveler." His stomach rumbled. "And hungry."
She laughed lightly. "I can get you something to solve that problem. But seriously, a traveler? You know the other great nations are fighting, right?"
"I'd have to live under a rock not to know that."
She grinned. "That's true." She began to prepare a meal and soon, the savory smell of meat and vegetables filled the air.
"And I suppose Kirigakure's staying out of it?"
She shrugged. "Dunno. But our new Kage is a lot better than the old one."
"Yagura?"
The girl shuddered. "Yeah. Him. You know about him?"
"I've heard about it. Supposedly it was really bad when he was in power. How's the new one?"
"She seems pretty nice," the girl set a plate of food in front of him. "Least she's not crazy."
"That's good. There've been quite a few wackos from your village," Jiraiya grinned sheepishly, then narrowly avoided another slap. "No offense."
She glared at him for a moment, but then relented. "Yeah, you're right when you say that. You're a shinobi, I take it?"
"I quit doing that a long time ago," he said smoothly, and in truth, it wasn't a lie. He hadn't really taken part in Konoha affairs for a long time. "But I still pick up a few things here and there. Like that guy who joined Akatsuki. Hoshigaki Kisame."
"All those guys are nutjobs," she replied nonchalantly. "Wouldn't want to get caught by one of them alone. He'd probably like eat me or something. But you know..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "Rumor says there's a new one in town."
Jiraiya's eyes flashed, but he raised his eyebrows, managing to look skeptical. "Oh, really?"
She blushed faintly. "It's just a rumor, okay? But they say there's this old dude with a huge statue underground somewhere. Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me, but weird things happen around here."
"That's very specific," he chuckled lightly and her blush deepened.
"It's just a rumor I heard from a boss! Stop making fun of me!" She yelled as he began laughing louder.
And then he was forced to duck, avoiding another slap. "Sorry, sorry," he kept smiling, entertaining her. "But you don't really expect people to believe it when you say there are 'old dudes' running around underground..."
"I don't believe it either. Ol' boss man must be getting senile."
"The owner of this place?"
"Yup. My best friend's dad."
"Ah. Well, thanks for the meal," he put more money on the counter and gave her a smile before leaving.
He paused for a moment in the fog, looking back at the bar suspiciously, but figured that those people really had just heard a rumor. A possible accurate rumor, though. If I recall... Akatsuki had that huge statue to collect the tailed beasts in. I don't know about old, but several of them were not young. Kakuzu, for one, but even Kisame and Itachi were no longer young men, not like Naruto and Sasuke. But definitely not old.
Hmm...
Akatsuki is an organization of ten members. Orochimaru quit, leaving nine. Hidan and Kakuzu are dead. Seven. Sasori, Deidara, Kisami, Itachi, and that leaves three. There have been reports of a plant man, acting as a scout for them. Nothing conclusive, but he was wearing the Akatsuki cloak, so if I assume he is their primary scout, then that leaves one pair. Their leaders. It's highly possible that they could be older than the others...
Akatsuki does like to hide their bases underground or in caves. Just like Orochimaru. There could be more truth to this than I thought. But where to begin looking?
Abruptly, he looked up sharply, sensing that familiar chakra signature... that very familiar chakra signature that he would never forget. The colorful, varied sign of the rinnegan, the power of all six elements... but it was gone again in a flash.
He held a hand to his head. Am I really just imagining things? He looked around, and seeing no one, closed his eyes. Must be getting old...
Nagato shifted uncomfortably. That tall, powerful figure, with the long, white mane of hair, the unique 'oil' headband on his forehead, the red lines running down his face from his eyes... there was no mistaking it.
His former sensei, the sannin, the sage Jiraiya. A man he had not seen in a long time, a man he was not prepared to face. Neither as an enemy, nor as a friend.
Jiraiya, of course, did not know that he and Konan had become the leaders of Akatsuki. And he probably will not find out unless I tell him. I could just greet him as an old friend, as my sensei, and leave it at that... but this is not a secret I can keep...
He closed his eyes. No, the fact that they had become the leaders of Akatsuki was definitely not a secret they could keep. Such information had a way of leaking out, even if from disreputable sources, and if it was information that was leaked at the wrong time, it could ruin everything.
Yes, it might, now that they were working for peace. For an end to the endless war, and if people found out later, after the fact, that they were the master criminals, the S-ranked missing nin from Amegakure, it would ruin everything. That was not something they could hide.
But it was also a fact that made him hesitant to approach the white haired man. What am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to do? What if he attacks me suddenly? What if... he sighed. There were too many what ifs, but if he were to be honest with himself, it wasn't those that threw him off. He was more afraid of doing it alone - without Konan - yes, if he wanted to be honest, that was it. Without Konan there, to support him if he needed it. She might not have been the voice of reason that he needed, that either of them needed, but there was something about her that made him feel calmer, a little more in control of himself and of the situation. And of course, a reliable partner, if a fight did break out, but he did not want to imagine that his old sensei would attack them on sight if he found out that they were the leaders of Akatsuki. Jiraiya, of all people, he thought might try to understand.
But he was not prepared. Not yet. Was he?
In the end, he hesitated too long and the decision was made for him, as the white haired man walked off into the fog. Muttering to himself, Nagato turned as well, pulling the rim of his hat over his eyes and began looking for a place to stay for the night.
Amegakure
Konan slipped silently out of her room and walked down the hall, finding a door and knocking on it quietly. She waited patiently for a few moments, then looked inside as the door opened.
The blue haired woman raised an eyebrow. "Just woke up?"
Sakura yawned. "Yup."
Konan looked out the window. Outside, the sun had already begun to dip low in the sky, casting its glorious pink and magenta hues over the land.
She turned away. "And I thought I was supposed to be the nocturnal one."
It was silent for a moment.
"... was that... an attempt at a joke?"
Crimson tinged Konan's cheeks but she did not turn. "No. I was merely suggesting that you were sleeping longer than I had thought you would."
"Oh. Well that was because it was so dark for the past few days so I had no idea when dawn was. Anyway, what's up?"
If the girl's informal tone bothered her, she gave off no indication of it. Truthfully, it should have bothered her, but Sakura didn't really seem to have a good sense of formality to begin with and she had just woken up - no. That's just an excuse. If I'm honest with myself... she closed her eyes. I rather like being talked to just like a friend. I don't want to be so distant all the time. I want to feel like another person. Another human that maybe other people can sympathize with.
She bit her lip. "I... ah..." and the blush in her cheeks deepened a little. It wasn't like her to stutter so much, but for some reason the words would not come out of her.
She took a light breath then tried again. "The weather is clear right now," she murmured. "I'm sure you've guessed that that's rare here."
"Yeah..."
"So if you want, we can go out to eat for today."
Sakura blinked in surprise. Why does she seem so shy now? Why is she being so polite? Why... well, maybe I shouldn't question it. She opened her mouth, but noticed the odd expression on Konan's face and decided not to bother her. Yup. Shouldn't question it. "Um... sure..."
"Well then get dressed. You can't possibly go out looking like that."
Sakura looked down at herself. And blushed when she realized that she was just wearing a rather revealing top and a pair of panties. "I- that's-"
"Just get dressed," Konan said quietly, then closed the door.
She bowed her head, staring at her hands, but for once, she wasn't thinking about anything in particular. Just staring off into empty space, her mind completely blank. It wasn't unpleasant at all, though. No, she actually felt pretty calm. Pretty relaxed, and if she had bothered to notice, she would've felt far less tense than usual.
Even when Sakura's door opened and the pink haired girl moved next to her, she wasn't really thinking about anything in particular. And if she had bothered to think about it, she would have found it pleasant. But she wasn't thinking, and so the placidity of it was just there, implicit. Though Sakura seemed to notice because she looked at her a bit oddly, confusion marked in her eyes.
"Yes?" Konan murmured.
"Um... well... never mind. It's nothing."
Konan's turned, staring at Sakura for a moment and the girl shifted nervously, unsure of what the older woman wanted. "You were wondering about something."
"I... yes, I was..."
The blue haired woman continued staring.
"Well, I didn't want to bother you with unnecessary questions."
More silence.
"I... fine. I was just wondering why you were acting so weird... well, you still are, but..."
Konan frowned. "I'm acting strangely..?"
"I dunno-"
The blue haired woman nodded. "I feel strange."
It was silent again. Sakura bit her lip, then mustered up the courage to speak. "Why?"
Konan shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know my own feelings half the time..." she sighed. "Whatever. Come, let's go eat."
She began walking down the hall. Sakura stood there for a second, then followed her in silence. They traveled through the maze of hallways, down a couple flight of stairs and out of the doors of the tower.
Outside, the streets were still slightly snowy, though notably less than before. It was still cold, but the temperature was now bearable and they actually spotted a few people walking down the street, bundled up in their clothes against the chill of the wintry weather. Sakura shivered a little - she had only worn a t-shirt and a light jacket - but she was a shinobi and more used to temperature extremes than normal people were.
The streets were dimly lit in the light of the setting sun, revealing the numerous, odd tube structures that lined the industrial buildings that crowded the city. However, as they continued walking, those strange, tube-like buildings started disappearing and they entered an area which was filled with shops and restaurants, much like one might find in Konoha. Here, there were more people walking around, and as the pair passed by, many of them bowed their heads and pressed their hands together - a sort of prayer, Sakura supposed - murmuring praises toward Konan. Sakura stole a glance at her and noted that the blue haired woman did not respond to any of them and had closed her eyes... that might have been taken as a sign of her acceptance of their thanks, but she got the feeling that Konan was somehow disappointed or felt uncomfortable.
Which was the truth, unsurprisingly. She could not help but feel disappointed in herself; she, the guardian angel of the people of Amegakure, the one who was supposed to protect them, but was unable to stop the war from ravaging their lands and claiming their people as casualties... blood to feed the land... how could she not be grieved? And still people praised her as their savior, their angel... a liberator.
"Konan?"
"Hmm?"
Sakura shifted nervously. "You and your partner... does everyone respect you this much?"
"We have saved the lives of many people," she said softly. And were supposed to save the lives of many more, had we not been weak and deluded. "My partner... they think of him as a god. And me, his angel. Not all feel this way. But most do."
"But you two were part of Akatsuki, right?"
She wasn't looking directly at Konan so she didn't realize it, but the other woman paled a little bit at that statement. "Yes. The leaders of Akatsuki. We still are..."
For some reason, Sakura got the sense that the other woman was deeply upset by what she had just said. "Um, I mean, you guys are like, better now, right? I wasn't trying to put you down or anything-"
"I know," Konan stared up at the sky. It was our own fault. And these are our mistakes to correct. "All I want is for this war to end. And for my country to heal."
"I hope you mean that-"
"Of course I do," Konan replied quickly... quietly, but quickly, and Sakura knew that she was dangerously close to setting off the other woman's temper.
"O-of course," she stuttered. "I was just thinking..."
The blue haired woman pursed her lips. "I know. It seems unimaginable that we, the leaders of Akatsuki, could have done any good anywhere. Not with our record of destruction for so many years. But we aren't all bad... I hope..." her voice trailed off.
"You aren't," Sakura said firmly, sensing the other woman's mood shift again. "You aren't," she repeated, looking at Konan's dejected gaze. "Nobody's all bad. At least you're trying to do something... at least you're trying to save other people."
Konan sighed. "Too much thinking. Too much talking. If anything, we should save it for after we eat."
The pink haired girl nodded. "Alright then."
They continued walked and eventually stopped at a door that had a fish engraved on the front and entered a restaurant. There were two seats in front of a sushi bar where the chefs were preparing all sorts of different varieties of fish, though as soon as Sakura saw the prices on some of them, she nearly fainted.
"A-are you sure this is-"
Konan shrugged. "Prices go up during war time. It's lucky that some shinobi are good at stealth and can bring in supplies from outside, otherwise most of the shops around here would go out of business. But even as it is..." they looked around and noticed that they were the only ones inside. "People are too worried about their lives to enjoy anything," she murmured, then sat on one of the seats.
Sakura sat next to her. "Well now I feel bad..."
"Don't. The chefs here need to make a living too. We should not be stingy," Konan turned and pressed her hands together in greeting.
A man approached and did the same. "Welcome to our humble restaurant, Angel-sama. What would you like today?"
The woman's blue-grey eyes ran over the assortment of fish on display. "A little of everything. And two bowls of rice, please."
"As you wish."
They waited in silence, watching the chef slice several pieces of fish into fine, thin slices, then stick a bit of wasabi beneath them, packing them over little balls of rice. He prepared two plates, placing the sashimi on them in flower-shaped patterns, then went over to the rice cooker and filled two bowls with rice. Then moving over, he set the food in front of them and gave Konan another bowl filled with warm, slightly watered down soy sauce and an egg. She smiled slightly, very slightly, but the chef knew it was a gesture of appreciation - she frequented the place and he had quickly learned what condiments she liked with her rice.
"Itadakimasu," Konan murmured.
She poured the sauce over her rice, cracked the egg and mixed it in. Sakura looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and put a bit of wasabi in some soy sauce. She dipped a piece of fish in and ate it. And a moment later, she put a hand over her face, feeling the spice work its way straight up to her nose. Tears began streaming down her cheeks, but another minute or two and it passed.
"The wasabi here is rather strong," Konan said tonelessly.
"Couldn't have told me that before I ate it?" Sakura grumbled, staring at the other woman.
Konan's face was still blank, but there was a sparkle in her eyes and her lips trembled just a little - and she realized that the blue haired woman had gotten a kick out of seeing her reaction. And then she realized that it was even weirder that Konan... Konan... had any sense of humor at all.
"I'm not always so serious," she spoke quietly, guessing at Sakura's thoughts. "I used to be pretty cheerful... when I didn't have any inclination to be moody."
"Which was all the time?"
"No," Konan replied quickly, looking slightly uncomfortable. "It's just our... situation."
"Oh." Sakura paused. "I see. That makes sense..."
Konan turned away and Sakura stared at her a moment longer before looking at her own food. She held up another piece of fish, a piece of tuna, and studied it. It was a deep reddish hue, almost a blood-like color. She ate it, feeling the soft and silky texture in her mouth, feeling it almost melt as she tasted it, although there was a bit of toughness about it, creating the sensation that it had substance still, like a piece of meat should. In other words, one of the best things she had ever eaten.
She finished her plate of sashimi quickly enough, and downed her bowl of rice, looking back at Konan, who had surprisingly finished faster than she had.
"Done?"
"You eat quickly," Sakura muttered.
"I don't have time to sit back and eat when there are things to do. Let's go."
"Wait, but the bill-"
"Already paid."
"How much was it?"
"Don't worry about it."
"But-"
"Akatsuki is not poor. And my partner and I, as the protectors of Amegakure, are definitely not poor," her voice was soft, but Sakura sensed that the other woman was not going to budge.
"Fine," she muttered.
Though, it still seemed a bit strange to her - she, a person from a rich country with plentiful food and resources - and she was the one being treated to an expensive meal by someone from one of the poorest nations. Admittedly, not someone poor, but she was fairly certain that Konan did not nearly have as much money as even a normal daimyo in the fire country. But she wasn't exactly in a position to argue, she remembered, since I'm technically a hostage. But isn't it weird? Taking your hostage out and treating her to a meal... that can't be all that she wanted to do, right?
She turned, looking at the blue haired woman. "Where are we going?"
"Out."
"Um... to where?"
"Wherever the wind takes us," Konan murmured, drawing her black cloak about her - and only then did Sakura notice that it was missing its usual red clouds.
So she has a reason for not displaying that she's one of Akatsuki. Maybe she's afraid of being hunted. Or maybe, if Sakura had thought about it, she was trying to leave the past behind...
Sakura could not help but feel a bit of tension as they stood atop one of Amegakure's walls, looking down at the ground below. She knew, now, where the other woman intended to take them, and it scared her a little bit that they were going out, out into the war torn land.
The pink haired girl turned, and her eyes widened as Konan's slender form began to dissolve into a mass of paper, her skin flaking off in sheets of white, her entire body transformed, and began to surround her. Now the nervousness in her was definitely present, a sense of anxiety at being surrounded by the whirling paper, being helpless to fight it off, even if she had tried to. But the touch was surprisingly gentle and she felt herself lifted up, taken outside of the protective walls surrounding the village. She briefly wondered why the other woman was trying to take them out into the war torn world, away from safety, but then she remembered what the blue haired woman had said.
Konan was the protector of not just Amegakure, but all of the country's people. She and her partner, whoever he was, were supposed to save everyone. And because she had been sick, she had been neglecting those duties. And so the land was strewn with crests of blood, scarred by scorching fire. A visit to the outer villages had been long overdue - and neither of them could be sure that they even remained, but there were certainly still many survivors, still suffering, left homeless and helpless from the onslaught of the war.
Sakura felt her feet contact the ground and looked up as the paper danced in the sky for another moment before condensing back into the solid form of a blue haired woman. She looked at Konan for a moment, wondering what kind of jutsu the woman was wielding, but she decided not to ask - the woman seemed distracted.
Konan looked up at the sky, her lips trembling as the frozen water began cascading down in the dimming sunset. She blinked a couple times as water dripped through her lashes, down her face, and she knew that it was cold out, though she didn't really feel it too much; she was practically immune to cold. She turned, glancing briefly at the girl beside her, then turned, hardening her gaze and looked toward one direction, where she sensed a mass of a chakra in the distance.
As if on cue, there was a massive explosion in the distance and not a moment later, smoke began rising into the sky. Konan took a deep breath and summoned up her chakra, then let her body dissolve into paper again. She surrounded Sakura, then a powerful wind began propelling them toward the smoke. It only took a couple moments, and she let Sakura down before condensing, looking worriedly toward the nearby battle.
They were still a little distance away so they hadn't been spotted yet, but Sakura had the terrifying sensation that Konan was going to step in to intervene anyway. She stole a glance at the blue haired woman and saw that she was still pale, too pale, and the red rims under her eyes had still not faded - she was still sick, and even had she been at full strength, it would have been risky to step in the middle of a bunch of powerful shinobi.
But then Konan shook her head, and Sakura followed her gaze.
It had been Suna and Kumo fighting, and the Suna shinobi, who naturally did fairly well against lightning jutsu, were already pushing their opponents far back. Even had she wanted to intervene, the battle was already dying down and so there was not much else to do.
So she turned to paper again and carried them both swiftly across the area. In blink of an eye, they were a fair distance away on the other side, on the outskirts of a village, and as she reverted back to human form, cast a mournful glance toward the smoking buildings before moving forward.
The damage, luckily, was not devastating, since the battle had been some distance away, but there had still been a couple small skirmishes in the area and so the villagers had not been left completely unscathed.
A couple people stared out nervously from their homes as the two figures approached, but as they saw Konan's blue hair, many of them began streaming outside, looking at her with shining eyes.
"Angel-sama-" "We're saved..."
Konan held her hand up and they quieted. "Was anyone... killed?" the last word came out with some difficulty.
A couple of villagers nodded. "Matsui's parents were. He was badly hurt too."
"Does he have any relatives?"
"No, but Akira said that she would take care of him. But it doesn't look like he'll make it..."
"Take me to him," Konan cast a brief look at Sakura.
The pink haired girl followed silently as they entered a house and went into a dark room, where a woman was bent over a bed. As they approached, she looked up, and her eyes sparkled as she saw who they were.
"Angel-sama-"
Konan nodded briefly. "This is Matsui?"
The woman moved aside, revealing a young man, whose face was covered in bandages. The rest of his body, what they could see of it, looked badly burned, and his breathing was shallow and ragged.
"Yes," the woman said sadly. "I was good friends with his parents. So when I found out they died..." she broke off, shuddering slightly.
And to Sakura's surprise, Konan moved forward and hugged the woman tightly. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "So you thought you would take care of their child."
The woman nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "But it doesn't look like-"
Sakura moved forward. "I think we can change that," she held out a hand, moving it toward the injured man.
"W-who's she-"
"A healer," Konan replied simply.
And truthfully, when it came down to it, she was just that. A healer, maybe not of the mind or soul, but she was there to cure wounds, and often times that gave people hope again, when they saw their loved ones saved from what seemed to be sure death. When they could cure things that usually took many months, or years to heal, that tended to give people hope.
Indeed, as the burn marks faded from Matsui's body, the woman put a hand over her mouth, and the look on her face was pure surprise mixed with a hint of joy, that at least someone had lived. That they weren't all doomed to a horrible death.
Sakura unwrapped the bandages and put a hand to the man's forehead. Her hand glowed green again, briefly, then she stood back a little, listening to his breathing. After a moment or two, she was satisfied and walked toward the woman.
"He'll be alright now. He might be hungry when he wakes up, but-"
"Oh thank you so much!" the woman hugged her. "You have no idea what this means to me - to all of us-"
Sakura stood there, surprised at the outburst of emotion, but then smiled and hugged her back. "I'm just glad I could help. Take care."
She exchanged a glance with Konan as they walked out, but there was nothing different that she could discern from that gaze, nothing different in those stormy, blue-grey eyes that held so much beneath their cold exterior. Still nothing she could make sense of. But one thing was still quite apparent to her. This woman, this unfathomable, seemingly uncaring blue-haired woman... she cared about these people. A lot. And she wanted to protect them; she wanted to help, not for any personal gain, but truly out of the kindness of her heart.
It was weird, thinking about a member of Akatsuki - a leader of Akatsuki - like that, but it was true. Konan had displayed a sense of sympathy that she had never seen before, not even from Naruto. Yes, he was willing to risk his life to save even complete strangers as well, but he had not done it on such a regular basis as Konan did, she suspected, and Naruto had one defining trait that made his sympathy rather limited.
He was a bit loud and obnoxious at times; it made him amicable, but sometimes intrusive and forceful as well. It wasn't like he was thoughtless, just a bit too quick to jump into the midst of things without considering everything first. And so he was somewhat incapable of understanding people who were a little more shy, who did not like to show their deepest secrets so easily... the world was not solely made of extroverts, after all.
They looked at each other again. Konan shifted a little uncomfortably, knowing the other girl was trying to figure out how to judge her. But then what do I care about the opinion of just one little girl? She shook her head. I try telling myself that, but it doesn't help. I still can't help but worry about what she thinks of me... she closed her eyes, feeling the freezing rain fall on her face.
Then looked to the side as another explosion sounded in the distance. And her paper wings spread again...
This wretched world... Konan's face twisted angrily.
"You will leave this village," she spoke harshly, still quietly, but with a hard edge. "Or I will make you."
"Whoa there, Lady, what makes you think-"
Her chakra flared up and the four shinobi, four Konoha shinobi, backed away, sensing that she was much stronger than they were. As she raised her arms, the wind above her began to tear about wildly, blasting toward them, leaving her seemingly unaffected.
The shinobi backed away slightly and looked at each other nervously. But then another squad of four joined them, then another, and they began to gain confidence, staring back at her cockily. And then a man with a bandana on his head and many scars lining his face walked forward toward Konan, looking at her quizzically.
"Hello..."
"Konan."
"Hello, Konan. My name is Ibiki. I am the jonin in charge of this contingent of the Konoha Shinobi Forces."
Konan forced herself to stay calm. "Your men..." she paused slightly after that word, "are stealing food from my people and your fight has caused a significant amount of damage to this village. Your presence here also happens to be scaring many of the villagers," she cast a quick gaze around at all of the faces watching her from within the buildings. "I would ask that you leave."
Ibiki looked back, specifically toward the few shinobi that seemed to be shrinking uncomfortably in the back. Then back toward the blue haired woman in front of her, who undoubtedly was very powerful and seemed to be very important, though he had never seen her before.
Ibiki nodded. "Sure, we'll leave," he looked back, holding a hand up as a signal. There were a few grumbles, but fortunately everyone complied without too many complaints. Ibiki faced Konan again. "Before I go, a quick word?"
Konan remained motionless.
The scarred man gave her an odd look, but sensing no objection, continued speaking. "I must apologize for the behavior of some of the shinobi from our village. You have to understand, most of the ones trained normally are fine, but there are those trained as spies under a different leader than the Hokage and so they are a little less-"
"I know about him," Konan said quietly.
"You know about Danzo?"
The blue haired woman nodded, then sighed, gesturing around to the village. Ibiki frowned he took in the grim scene, the bodies strewn everywhere, many huts left smoking, still on fire, or completely burnt down... the people, still on the streets, wearing only rags in the freezing rain, staring at them with mournful, haunting eyes...
"It is not your fault, I know," the blue lady muttered. "It is a byproduct of war. And that decision comes from your superiors."
"Not just the Hokage. Were it up to her alone-"
"I know. But just think. You great nations already feel the pressure of war, even far from the front. Think about us lesser nations that you fight in, the ones that have to bear the brunt of the devastation in a fight that we are not even involved in."
Ibiki closed his eyes. "I speak for many of the men under my command. We want this war to end as much as you do. But if we are attacked, we will not hesitate to fight back. And Iwa was the aggressor this time..."
"So a little grudge is worth the lives of all of these people..."
"It's not. But in that matter, I have very little say."
"I'm not asking you to make a difference by yourself," Konan turned away. "Just think about it."
Ibiki bowed his head for a moment, then looked up toward the blue haired woman, nodded curtly and shunshined away.
She waited a few minutes to make sure they were all gone, then turned to the side, looking at a dark alley. Another Konan appeared, leading Sakura out, and disappeared in a cloud of paper. The pink haired girl ran toward her, frowning.
"So I'm still your hostage. You couldn't trust me not to run off with them."
Konan was silent.
"I guess that makes sense. You can't risk me running off and telling anyone what I know about you," Sakura spoke slowly, confusedly. "But I would've thought... well I suppose you can't really trust me..."
Konan was still silent.
"Sorry. I've just never been a prisoner before... well, this isn't exactly being a normal prisoner, right? You're not trying to extract any information from me or anything and we actually went out to eat-"
The blue haired woman shook her head. "This isn't about me or you. I need you here because you're the only healer that can come with me on these outings and save those people," she gestured to several badly burned people still laying in the street. "That's why I need to keep you."
"Oh."
Konan turned, moving toward the people fallen in the street. "Unfortunately I don't know any medical ninjutsu. So it's up to you to take care of this."
Sakura nodded briskly, rolling up her sleeves.
It was gruesome work, seeing all the wounds, all the mutilated bodies; some of them were missing a limb or two - others were burned so badly that they hardly even resembled people anymore, and the worst part was many of them were still conscious... the only thing keeping the pain at bay was the shock, but once that faded...
She donned a pair of gloves, summoning up her chakra. Konan's presence faded to a faint chill behind her and all of her focus poured into healing whoever happened to be in front of her. Several minutes passed and she saved the lives of a few people and two had died on her. Behind her, she heard a couple shrieks and wails, but there was no time to be sad or to worry about others - there were only the bodies in front of her, and a quick checkup to see if she could actually save them or not.
There was an explosion - she was faintly aware of Konan flying off, leaving a clone behind again, and Sakura felt a slight bit worried, but it was the lesser of her concerns.
Honestly, she was astounded at how many people had gotten injured by the fight, even if it seemed like it hadn't taken place directly in the village - but then these were just civilians who had no way to protect themselves from the powerful jutsu that shinobi used. So it was terrifying to think about the villages that had been caught directly in between the crossfire between the two opposing forces. They must've been completely annihilated...
Sakura shook her head and looked back down. There was a woman, one at least a little less wounded than most of the rest of them. She was conscious and as Sakura tapped one of the cuts on her legs, she winced a little.
"What happened?" the pink haired girl asked her, putting a hand to the woman's leg.
"I don't know. It was so confusing," the woman closed her eyes. "I was watching my kids play in the street one minute, and the next moment everything was on fire. I think I hit my head since everything went black for a minute, and when I opened my eyes, Nana and Makoto were trying to get me somewhere safe."
"And those shinobi from earlier?"
The woman put a hand to her head. "My home burned down so they didn't care about me. But I saw them take some stuff from other houses. Isn't that what they all do anyway?"
"No! That's-" Sakura bit her lip and caught herself, restraining her overly aggressive side. "Not all shinobi are like that," she said gently. "Just some of the bad ones."
The woman smiled bitterly. "Well there sure are a lot of bad ones out there... just look at what they did to our village. And we never even did anything to them..."
Sakura glanced around again and looked at the ground, downcast. Yeah. To these people, all shinobi must seem bad, huh. Since they never have felt anything but the pain of being devastated by ninja wars. Nobody has ever helped them...
"Sweetie, I don't mean everyone. Just look at yourself. Putting yourself in danger to help all of us. And Angel-sama..."
Sakura glanced toward Konan's clone. "You all adore her, huh."
"Of course. She freed our people from the old leader of Amegakure and has protected us from attacks before. She is our savior."
"Along with her partner?"
The woman nodded. "He is a god to us. Even Angel-sama holds him in high regard. But I wouldn't know anything about that. I've never even seen him."
Sakura blinked. So I guess Konan was the one doing most of this stuff. And her partner was... well, probably managing Akatsuki or something. It's too bad nobody seems to know anything about him. Otherwise... no, I shouldn't think about that now. It can wait for later. Right now There are still people who need my help.
The pink haired girl lifted her hand. "Can you stand?" She held a hand out.
The woman took it and after a couple shaky moments, she was standing and walking, if just a little stiffly.
"Thank you so much," she murmured gratefully, bowing her head and pressing her hands together.
Sakura gave her a smile and moved onto the next person.
Konan returned several minutes later and she appeared notably more disheveled than before. She moved quickly over to her clone and dispelled it, then walked over to Sakura, glancing briefly around at the surprisingly clear ground around her.
"Are you hurt?" the pink haired girl stood and moved toward her.
She shook her head. "The injured?"
"Healed. Or..." she paused a little, looking uncomfortable. "Buried. Konan, are you sure you're not hurt?"
The blue haired woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure."
Sakura frowned, staring at the other woman for a moment. She did seem uninjured, judging by the grace and fluidity of her movements, but her skin seemed yet a little paler than before and her hair had come out of its usual messy bun, falling over her shoulders in wet, silken locks of cerulean. Konan coughed slightly, pressing a hand to her chest - her lungs felt like they were on fire, but it was nothing that she could not handle. She was used to pain; she could bear it.
"You're still sick. You shouldn't push yourself-"
"So I should sit back and watch as all these people die."
Sakura bit her lip. "Well, that's... but if you die, then who will save them?"
"I'm not in any danger of dying, girl," Konan grumbled. "It wasn't that hard to get rid of the few that refused to leave."
The pink haired girl paled a little, suddenly reminded that this was an S-ranked missing nin in front of her - one of the most powerful ones, who could easily kill her without a second thought. And one who was not afraid to kill, if the situation called for it.
But when Konan coughed again, Sakura was reminded that the bluenette was, after all, just another person who was fighting for what she believed in, and it was an admirable cause at that. Not just fighting for that cause, but sacrificing her body and soul for it.
"You're so stubborn," she murmured, moving behind Konan and pressing her hands to her back.
The older woman tensed under her touch, but let the pink haired girl heal her.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "But we really need to get going."
Sakura sighed but she knew that the decision wasn't hers to make. So she let the paper envelop her, bearing them swiftly on the winds of war.
The acrid smell of smoke filled the air.
She glanced around, and there was nothing but fire, fire and the burning remains of homes and people. The stench in the air was horrible; scorched flesh never smelled good. But here, the sheer amount of burning bodies made the smell almost unbearable, to the point where Sakura put her hands and knees on the ground, throwing up violently into a nearby puddle.
Sakura wiped her mouth and splashed her face with some cold water, rinsing her mouth out, trying to ignore the smell.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you shouldn't be here. I can send you somewhere else with a clone-"
"No, it's fine," Sakura breathed out. "I need to see this. I need to see the effects of what war does to your country."
"You might not like it."
"I know I probably won't."
Konan nodded and held a hand out. Sakura ignored it and got up by herself, earning her a slight smirk from the other woman. But it faded quickly and the bluenette closed her eyes as they passed through an area littered with blackened, burnt bodies.
There was an area filled with quicksand - a mark of the Iwa shinobi's work - and another area was filled with just ashes, the mark of lightning ninjutsu. There were no survivors as far as they could tell, and even if someone had lived through all that, those wounds would not have been easily healed. Not something someone would've wanted to live with. Given the destruction that the village had seen, death probably would have been merciful. And so they only did a brief check, before Konan paused.
"Are we going?"
Konan shook her head. She formed a few hand seals, drew up some chakra, and above them, a powerful wind began to swirl about. The dust, ashes, smoke, the bodies, everything began to disintegrate in the whirling wind, dissolved into nothing but minuscule particles of dust in the gale. It was a mark of immense control that the wind was powerful enough to utterly annihilate everything it touched, yet it did nothing but make their cloaks billow about as it surged around them - she was able to force the jutsu away from their location, so that it would not harm either of them.
Konan's face tilted upward as the dust began to rise upward, up into the sky against the falling rain, forming into a pale grey cloud directly above them. And abruptly, she turned as she heard something through the sound of the rushing gale around them. She listened more closely, frowning, and heard it again - a quiet wail, belonging to someone very clearly not dead.
The wind died away and around them, the moonlight settled in pale beams, casting shapeless shadows everywhere on the ground where it was blocked by the clouds. Konan's eyes darted around for a few moments, and then she picked out a shadow that seemed out of place in the barren area around them.
She glanced at Sakura, who looked at her quizzically, but followed as the blue haired woman began to move.
There was a small patch of forest left in the area, and Konan caught sight of someone running into it, a mere shadow in the ivory light around them, but she was sure that her eyes were not fooling her. She moved into the forest quickly, and as she caught up, it became apparent that it was a child - a little girl, running for dear life from what she probably perceived to be a pair of enemy shinobi, similar to the ones who had destroyed her village.
The girl looked back with frightened eyes, but as she caught sight of Konan, she stopped and calmed down, waiting for her to approach.
"Angel-sama," the girl whispered, and suddenly burst into tears.
Konan walked forward quickly and hugged her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't come in time."
She knew that Sakura was watching her but she didn't care - this girl, the sole survivor of her village, deserved her affection and sympathy. After all, it's my fault that I didn't come faster. If only I wasn't so weak... her brows furrowed and she felt terribly tempted to cry as well, but she could not. I must not. I have to stay strong. I have been weak long enough...
Once the girl's sobs had stifled into sniffles, she stood and turned back to Sakura, who looked rather distraught as well. Konan turned away from the girl and closed her eyes.
"She's all alone now." Just as I was.
"No relatives?"
Konan shook her head. "The people in these villages rarely have family outside of their immediate vicinity. That's the only reason they stay here, even if it's more dangerous than living in Amegakure. This was probably their home for generations."
"So what do we do with her?"
The blue haired woman bit her lip. Not everyone has the strength to carry on. And even those who do have that strength only suffer in the end. If we bring her to Amegakure, she will fare no better there than she will out here, alone. The city is already overflowing with people. Supplies are running low. It is a miracle that we can even feed as many people as we do. It is only the presence of the Akatsuki that keeps crime to a minimum. But we cannot magically make food and shelter appear from nowhere.
"She will be miserable no matter what we do," Konan murmured.
"We could take care of her. Bring her to-"
"She is alone. Completely alone. We are not a suitable replacement for her family and I do not have enough space nor food to supply every single person who needs it in Amegakure."
"That's true..."
Konan's brows furrowed. "I do as much as I can. But it is not enough... and so sometimes..."
Sakura frowned, then her eyes widened. "You don't mean..."
The older woman bowed her head. "It is never pleasant. Taking innocent lives. But knowing that they will only suffer if I do not..." she clenched her hands into fists. "I just don't know if I have the strength to do it."
Sakura shifted uncomfortably. Killing someone completely innocent... for their own good... it seems so... wrong! But if you think about it... what if she does only suffer? If we just leave her here, she will starve to death. A slow, painful death. And in Amegakure, there probably isn't enough food to support a helpless child who has no means to get it either. And she has no family. Nobody to take care of her, or to care about her at all. It would be like torture. But still!
They both turned as the girl began coughing, shivering in the freezing rain. Konan moved forward, pressing a hand to her forehead.
"You're sick," she glanced at Sakura, who instantly understood that the girl was probably burning up with fever, from being out in the freezing rain too long.
The girl nodded slowly. "It's so cold."
Konan closed her eyes, fighting with herself for a moment. Her lips trembled, but her face remained smooth, expressionless. Then she took off her cloak, wrapping it around the girl and crouched down, looking her in the eyes.
"It won't be cold any longer," the blue haired woman said quietly. "I will make the pain go away."
She waited a moment, waiting for the girl's response. The child clutched the cloak, blinking confusedly for a moment, but as she studied the solemn, downcast look in Konan's eyes, she seemed to understand what the woman meant.
"I will erase your pain," Konan repeated softly. "But only if you want me to."
The child nodded slowly, then closed her eyes and waited patiently. Konan bit her lip, hesitating as she stretched out a hand. And paused. Can I really do this? I have done it before, but something seems so... she shook her head. I cannot be indecisive forever! I am sorry. But I cannot bear to leave you to suffer. Her hand glowed slightly with chakra for a moment, and then she drew back, listening for the sound of breathing in the falling rain.
She could hear her own, slightly ragged breath, Sakura's smoother breathing behind her, but nothing from the child in front of her. Nothing from the girl who seemed to be peacefully clutching her cloak, who might've just been sleeping had she not been so cold - so lifeless.
"Konan?"
She turned slightly, avoiding the pink haired girl's eyes. And remained silent.
"Are you... okay?"
She felt something stir in her heart and for a moment, she was tempted to spill out everything she was feeling at the moment, all of her rage, and frustration at the warring, suffering world, but she knew instinctively she would do no such thing. Especially not to a young woman from one of the great nations, whom she barely knew.
"I'm fine," Konan murmured. "We'll bury her and go back."
For a second, Sakura seemed like she was going to argue, but looking at the roiling emotions in Konan's eyes, she decided against it. She nodded, and Konan turned away, looking around. After a minute, she tossed Sakura a tree branch and they began digging.
"Is it always this bad?"
"I don't know. It always feels horrible."
It was silent for another moment as they finished digging. Konan lifted the child's body gently and placed it in the hole. And they covered her before looking at each other again.
"You know," Sakura said slowly, "you could always make a few clones so you can be in a couple places at once-"
"Not while I don't have a lot of chakra. Even at full strength, I normally don't use many standard clones."
"But Naruto-"
"Has a lot of stamina and chakra. I don't. I'm-" weak. Useless. "Not him," Konan muttered.
"Oh."
The blue lady turned away and began walking out of the forest. Sakura followed her, staring as Konan looked up toward the sky. After a minute or so, her body began to dissolve into paper again and she surrounded the younger girl, carrying her up into the clouded night, back toward Amegakure.