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- Vainglory -

10: Come Hither, in Peace

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"I am a citizen of the world, but my nationality is goodwill."

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Socrates


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Kushina's proclamation was met with blank gazes, an "oh hell" look from Jiraiya and the "I am made of wood, or possibly my ears just don't work" stare from Minato.

"Bring you back?" Jiraiya jerked a thumb at his apprentice. "You want this guy to do it?" His mouth formed a wry grin. "Or a Konoha battalion? Because that's as good as what'll be happening if I bring you back. Whirlpool'll be banging drums and shooting me dead when I turn my head."

This seemed to crash Minato's thoughts back onto earth. His blank look faded as the blond turned to his teacher. "Aren't Konoha and Whirlpool allies?"

"Sure," Jiraiya quipped, while waving his hand, as if batting the question away."But the important thing is, I once stole from 'em."

Kushina scowled. Jiraiya looked unrepentant, down to his wriggling fingers as they clasped the tiny sake cup. Then the older man tipped forward one of the enormous sake jugs in a movement with focused, startling grace.

"It was almost a decade ago, but they don't forget. And those Whirlpool elders will outlive me for sure. If they're famous for one thing besides stubbornness, it's longevity."

Kushina sniffed to interrupt the second swig of sake Jiraiya took. His eyes swiveled to meet her, even as he oozed an air of practiced nonchalance.

"Just what did you steal?"

"No need to look at me with those narrowed eyes, now." Jiraiya downed another drink with relish. "See, it was for the greater good."

"You people from Konoha always talk about the greater good, but you're thinking only about your own good. If our elders hold a grudge against you, it's for good reason."

She had seen a lot of talk about the greater good from Danzou back in Konoha. Only a stupid person would be willing to compromise now over vague notions like that. She'd clawed her way to escape an intricately laid trap back in Kumo, moving across the continent as if the hounds of hell were onto her scent. If this white-haired man Minato called "sensei" was an enemy, then she couldn't pull any punches.

Jiraiya gave a rueful laugh. "Hey, no need to look like you're about to bite my head off!"

"If only I could, and not get warts for my trouble," she dug. "Look, are you going to come with me or not, Sunshine?"

"Ask nicely. He's got a name."

Nothing phased this old man. Who the hell is he? Kushina racked her head, and came up with some distinct memories from long ago, on her field trip to Konoha.

She shot a particularly dirty look at the Sage, who was now polishing off the alcohol straight from his jug with a patient air.

"You're supposed to be the Great Jiraiya? Toad Sage? One of the three Sandmen?" she scoffed.

Minato recalled one of Jiraiya's letters. "I thought it was—"

"Sannin," Jiraiya finished soulfully, before he cleared his throat to explain. "Alas, I would pride myself on that title more if the other two talked to me nowadays. Hanzo that Ol' Salamander thought we were a great team, but that mission was one of the last times my squad worked together. I've been on... er, diplomatic relations duty. And Orochimaru is cooped up in a lab in Konoha as Danzou's pet. Or maybe the opposite, who knows?"

"And Tsunade-hime?" Minato asked with polite interest.

"Ah, lovely as ever, I hear."

Kushina looked on in alarm as the so-called legendary ninja's face got all slack.

Eventually, Jiraiya's dopey look faded.

"But now, the Senju name's more of a curse than a sign of Konoha royality. Danzou's been parading Hime around the nations, preparing to marry her off. Haven't heard from her myself, though."

"Senju Tsunade?" Kushina chimed in. "She has Uzumaki blood, doesn't she?"

"The clans used to intermarry," Jiraiya nodded. "Though more and more people today forget that old tie. A marriage from can't keep the peace forever. Listen, I don't oppose your plan to go back to Whirlpool, Kushina, but I'm in favor of keeping a corner in this world free from war."

"Thanks for the history lesson. But why should that stop me from going home?" she said testily.

"Danzou's laid claim on you as some sorta Konoha asset. Going to Whirlpool without his permission isn't the wisest in these times."

Kushina brushed off the older man's comment, turning to glare anew at Minato. As usual, his poker face was inscrutable. But she would not be cowed. After a few tense moments, her 1000-watt stare seemed to do the trick.

"She's never going to get permission," said Minato. "You're just telling her no."

"Oho! I recall you were a genius, Minato!" Jiraiya swiveled back to Kushina with a sad look, though his tone was carefree. "So you see, my dear, the greater good forbids us from helping you. My deepest condolences."

"I do not see, 'ttebane." She turned, eyes fierce, jaw set.

"Minato! I'm asking because I thought you remembered," she spat, heart hammering too loudly across the too-small table for all to hear.

Kushina slammed a scroll onto the rickety table. The spinning sake cup clanged as it toppled over. This was one final straw to pull, but it felt like laying down all of her cards. She breathed—in, out.

"You two save your crappy greater-good excuses, because there's no peace to be had until you help me."

The seal on the scroll came apart at her touch, unrolling itself leisurely. Characters bloomed on the scroll, swallowing the textured empty surface and rippling like a wave of black inky swirls. Among the characters, one shone in emblematic red, followed by an insignia unmistakable as Konoha's, and another emblem resembling Konoha's own.

War.

With Konoha.

Whirlpool in danger without concessions.

And, finally: Come back, Kushina.

Jiraiya was the first to speak. "Could be fake."

"It's a secret seal."

Minato sounded skeptical too. "This looks a lot like a technique one of the ANBU use in Root."

"Kushina, you should have figured out by now that I stole secrets from Whirlpool," the Sannin said, a little guiltily this time.

Kushina fought to contain her anger. They were treating her like a child—some person playing at being a kunoichi! Furthermore, they were looking down on her village, and her very culture.

She sat very still, poising her fingertips over the page, watching as the words lifted from the scroll and fizzled into nothingness at her touch.

"Tell me. Did you steal this one, thief? Disappearing ink, a Whirlpool sealing technique invented three years ago. No other ink-based art can counter or recreate the words, since the ink itself has the signature of the fuin user."

The two men sat silent.

"No," Jiraiya said finally.

He looked grim. With Jiraiya's changed attitude, Kushina could imagine that the Sannin was indeed very formidable in battle and an adept spy. All his niceties and pouring sake belied a burning patriotism to Konoha, and an even greater idealism under that.

"You'll come, then? For the greater good?" Kushina said testily.

Scratching his white mane absently, Jiraiya dispelled the dark mood as quickly as it had come on. "We'll come. But in disguise," he said. "I'm curious, since I didn't hear anything about this from my network. Danzou may have overstepped the boundaries this time, but the only way to know for sure is to check."

"Information has been hard to get," agreed Kushina. "I barely believed this when it came to me three days ago."

"Good. So are we allies?" Jiraiya said brightly.

"In your dreams." But she shot a look at Jiraiya, signaling a temporary truce.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Minato interjected.

"Battle zones? Long distances? Do those stop the great and fearsome Yellow Flash?" Jiraiya smirked, appreciating the unexpected humor he'd noticed in his student's eye.

"The ex-Flash." Kushina supplied. "Those who don't train get rusty."

Jiraiya nodded. "Yes, rusty. So the answer is..."

Against the lone blond dissenter, two voices chimed in rare agreement.

"No."

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After the sheets of rain in Amegakure came the thick, dense forests. The trees served as Mother Nature's generous protection of the Land of Fire's borders. They grew in towering tangled green pillars until hitting the eastern coasts.

The trio traveled in what some would call un-companionable silence, broken finally into a grudging (on Kushina's part) and jovial (on Jiraiya's) camaraderie after the first day of hopping on branches. There were small mercies: thanks to Minato's well-placed, well-hidden tags (Jiraiya singing praises about Minato being such a good catch, into Kushina's unwilling ear), it quickly became easy going. Travel was smooth up until they found themselves much farther east, closer toward the sea.

Kushina found herself stealing glances at the blond, trying to piece together the man she'd known. His various facets puzzled her: Minato tying her to his floral armchair, Minato the missing nin in the basements, the radiant Konoha child still tucked into her memory.

But Minato couldn't be understood no matter how hard she tried to crack his veneer. To probe gently or to sledgehammer made no difference. He brushed off her meanest comments with no more than a shrug, but the smallest, most inoffensive ideas made him as talkative as a clam.

Jiraiya, in turn, was a man who could be summed up in three syllables: hard to hate. Kushina found herself relying on Jiraiya's expertise as the elder shinobi mapped out the lay of land along the border zones of Fire Country. Jiraiya showed them areas that were in active conflict, and those which were major arms trade routes to be avoided. Despite Jiraiya himself noting that he was "one of the last men Danzou would trust", the de facto exile of the Toad Sage to foreign espionage meant that Jiraiya was one of the most acquainted with Konoha's most vulnerable points. He and Kushina frequently swapped tips.

"I nearly got caught here by ANBU on border patrol." Kushina pointed to a cave under an overhanging cliff. "So we should bypass that by moving to lower ground.

"Yes, well, there's actually an old minefield set up by Iwagakure shinobi to prevent deserters during the first great war."

"So far from Iwa territory?"

"This was the long but safer route to enter Konoha. There were a lot of traitors back in the day who wanted to defect to Konoha, because they claimed the Nidaime could raise people from the dead."

Kushina's eyes went wide. "Well, could he?" she asked tentatively.

"Hmm, despite what you think, Konoha has principles." Jiraiya tapped his chin, and Kushina thought he looked a bit unsure. "The Nidaime destroyed that technique, if it had existed, and let Iwa set up the mines in Konoha territory, because the Nidaime wasn't sure he wanted deserters hungry for immortality to join his ranks."

"Still, to be blasting deserters this far from their own border… maybe Iwa should have just let them go."

"Not all leaders are forgiving," Jiraiya said. "Some would use their shinobi as pawns, not citizens, because it is a necessity to survive. There are villages that would breed monsters, just for war." He glanced at the prone figure who was sleeping cross-legged, against the trunk of a tree.

Kushina shivered. Jiraiya's words hit a bit too close for comfort. He'd inadvertently made her realize all of the similarities between her and Minato.

So what if she wasn't a technical missing nin? She might as well be, given the ease with which villages traded her as a war commodity.

Kushina peered over at the slight rise and fall of Minato's breath. She'd tried to convince herself that he was same man as before the exile. But it was hard to believe such, when Minato was constantly sending mixed signals.

Taking the map and refolding it carefully, she sighed into the foliage of the dark forest floor.

"I've been wondering, why did you come with me?" she asked of the Toad Sage.

The bushes nearby twitched.

Both Kushina and Jiraiya heard rather than saw any movement. A thunk echoed dully toward their little camp as the dead squirrel hit a patch of hardened mud.

"Dinner," Kushina shrugged, but she let out the breath of air she'd been holding. She flexed the hand that had thrown the kunai.

Jiraiya whistled appreciatively. "I would say you're my type, but I think my dearest student got to you first."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop that. Answer the question, pervert."

He held a hand to his heart. "You wound me!"

"I didn't hire a prostitute with cat ears for my dearest student."

"Hm, fair point." Jiraiya ceased the theatrics quickly. He rose without a sound to collect the wild game, stretching out the animal on the ground and unclipping a shuriken from his holster.

"Well," the man said as he slit and gutted the animal neatly. "I can't really answer your question at the moment."

"Why not?" Her hands clenched her kunai holster once more. She'd gotten used to being betrayed, and even if she trusted Minato's motives (though other things about the blond were in question), like-teacher-like-student perhaps didn't ring true in the converse.

"Minato's awake," Jiriya wheedled. "And he's a great eavesdropper. Saved me a lot of beatings at the bathhouses when he was a child."

Huh. She didn't want to ask about the latter part of that statement. Kushina stole a glance sideways, to where the man in question was crouched in an unchanged cross-legged position.

"He looks asleep."

"C'mon, you're smarter than that," Jiraiya chuckled, deftly hooking the cleaned squirrel to a small branch in a creative use of his shuriken and spool of tripwire. "Kid doesn't sleep at night. He's pretending, for your benefit."

Kushina felt her cheeks grow hot, and she hoped that Jiraiya wasn't great at seeing in the dark. "You've got a lot of weird ideas. For one thing, we're not… like that, so stop suggesting. Why would he care if I don't? We're not even friends!"

She hated when she sounded like a rom-com.

Jiraiya was not to be swayed. "Good! Saves him from escaping the friend zone. Minatoooo, the jig is up! You can come clean now and confess your tender, budding feelings!"

Kushina shook her head. Hopping mad. That's what the man was. Still, she stiffened, as Minato rose fluidly from his trunk, dusting the bracken and leaves from his lap, his eyes dilated but clear. There were a few more leaves in his hair, and Kushina thought he looked like some sort of forest spirit.

"No confession necessary, Sensei," Minato said shortly, before plopping back down a safe three feet away. "We drop her off at Whirlpool and that's it. I owe her that much, after getting her in this mess in the first place."

"Minato, stop beating yourself up." Jiraiya chastised. "You don't owe her anything but a nice, long hug."

Kushina took a deep breath. Jiraiya's words likening her to Minato played still in her head, and she felt her guilt rise. She eyed the shadows that wrapped themselves around the thick trunks and every speck of forage. The sky was not visible from their vantage point, obscured by layers and layers of growth.

"Danzou's had his eye on me forever, so it's not exactly your fault," she whispered. "I just want to stop the war reaching Whirlpool. Then we'll let bygones be bygones, okay?"

Minato's face registered a hint of confusion, but Jiraiya's went dark.

"Get down," the Sannin said.

"Wha—"

Kushina's protests were quickly muffled by Minato's surprisingly warm hand, which clapped quickly over her mouth as he swept her body behind his, rotating quicker than she could gasp out that he was injured.

The kunai that pierced Minato's outstretched arm had no sooner left the hand of their assailant than it returned to its master. In an instant, the force over her mouth was gone, and Minato with it, gone to the enemy kunai, as the metal tool shrieked through the dead forest air.

"Min—ah, fuck," hissed Jiraiya. "He is fast, crazy kid."

Kushina whirled back in the direction from where their assassin had come. A crumpled, uniformed body lay at Minato's feet.

She strained for any other noises, any indications of backup. After several seconds of silence, she scrambled over to Minato's side, frowning at the noisy crunch-crunch underfoot, a stark contrast of her gracelessness to Minato's cold efficiency. Minato's face as he searched the assailant's pockets, holster, and equipment created goose bumps down her arms. Kushina bent down, closer to the corpse.

"Hell, it's Sunagakure," she breathed, noting the dead man's headband with alarm. "I thought they were neutral parties."

"They are," Jiraiya grimaced from behind, padding over as silently as a cat. "But not for long."

"What d'you mean?" Kushina balked.

Jiraiya's face clouded, as he looked at the silent Minato with a new expression in his eyes. "That paper on the floor. Give it here. Really, Minato, don't litter."

Minato didn't comply. Instead, he was wrapping gauze from the assailant's pack onto his bleeding arm with the precision of a surgeon.

The older man huffed (muttering something along the lines of "used to be a cute kid") and retrieved the crumpled paper from the dried leaves on the ground.

"As I thought," Jiraiya frowned. "This was an assassination request. One for our dear Minato, with Danzou's blessing."

"Why would Danzou let Minato take commissions?" asked Kushina. "He's Konoha's missing nin, an exclusive agent."

Jiraiya looked intently at Minato, as if waiting for answers, trying to catch his pupil's eye, but to no avail.

"Minato." The man's tone was gruff.

"Yes, Sensei?" Minato's eyes were ice.

"We could have questioned him."

Minato didn't respond.

His teacher sighed. "What I mean is, maybe you were hasty in, uh, dispatching the man."

And then Minato's blank look was back. Kushina felt her gut clench, as if the air around them had dropped twenty degrees.

"Minato, stop it, 'ttebane," she hissed. "We don't want to blame you."

Jiraiya looked back and forth between the two. "Ah, yes, blame is a strong word, though honestly, I don't quite remember my cute student accurately, it seems."

Minato's tone was light, deceptively so. "He attacked first."

"That's not the problem here. He's Suna's inner circle."

"Which means?" Kushina felt the temperature dip even lower, if possible.

Jiraiya grimaced as he scanned the paper he'd retrieved. "He's one of the Kazekage's most trusted. I met the guy at a Sand wedding last spring. His sister married the Kazekage, and I was taking notes for Danzou."

"And who's the target?" she asked. Maybe it was some other village head, or a local Daimyo. She knew Kumogakure, and Iwagakure were involved, heavily, and Kirigakure was supplying Kumo.

"That's not it, entirely," Jiraiya said. "They want to terminate the Kazekage's unborn daughter."

"What? That's crazy. Let me see. You said it's the brother?" Kushina grabbed for the paper, but Jiraiya had summoned some sort of chakra from his hand, completely ripping the paper to shreds.

"Better to hide the evidence," the Toad Sage murmured. "It's too soon to know what this means. But if Danzou allowed it, he wants more nations in the war."

To Kushina and Jiraiya's surprise, it was Minato who spoke up.

"Suna's making a jinchuuriki, like Killer B." Minato's voice was impassive. "The Kazekage's orders were absolute. But this man was scared his sister could not handle her firstborn being used like that."

Kushina felt a ton of bricks hit her. She stood there, reluctantly, willing herself not to bolt from the spot.

The forest didn't feel large enough to hide in, at this moment.

"O-Oh," she forced herself to say, tasting bile in every corner of her mouth. "T-That's..."

"Quite enough, Minato." Jiraiya's tone was stern as he clapped his former student on the back. "Regardless of the truth, we need to move now. If we don't make it to Whirlpool in another day, I fear Danzou's reaction to a failed alliance with Suna won't be pretty."

Minato shrugged, as he took up his pack. "I'm not perfect. Danzou knows that."

Jiraiya shot another hard glance at him. "I'm telling you this for your own good, Minato. You're getting vain. You think Danzou will keep letting you off, happy to pester you with little messengers, but there are things that man is capable of that other Kage wouldn't even dream of doing."

Minato's eyes were a dark, deep blue in the night. "I'm his best tool. I commit acts that the village doesn't have to take blame for. Why would he get rid of me?"

There was no way to keep the bitterness from his voice. His teacher seemed to understand, because the older man's tone grew soft.

"Just be careful, Minato. You know tools get thrown away when a better one is acquired."

If Jiraiya's eyes wandered over to Kushina, she didn't notice it.

Because up in the trees, she thought she heard the flapping of wings.

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They put him in a dark room. So dark that not a speck of light permeated the slick, close walls.

Someone had pricked him with a needle. The adrenaline shot pumped through his veins like a cheap sake, hot and searing strong.

Fight.

He saw again when he activated the Byakugan, his family's legacy, even if he was just Branch. He saw the lines of chakra, blindingly bright in the absolute darkness of the small room.

Fight now.

His veins seemed to sing, rushing blood and chemicals to his activated eyes.

Another!

The other person in the room, just a bundle of circulating chakra, came close, startlingly close, though it seemed there was only five feet of lateral space between him and either wall. A brief touch. The merest brush, as if his opponent was trying to find a nerve.

Another touch.

There was no light.

Ah. Another. Hizashi's chakra point closed.

How was his opponent doing this? The touches were not random, it seemed.

Fight.

Hizashi spun close, hitting half of the chakra points along his opponent's arm. What surprised him was the answering barrage of light hits, all meticulously done along his own arm, perfectly copied, as if the other were a crude novice to the palm technique previously, though no novice to using the eyes to see.

"Who are you? Are you Hyuuga?" Hizashi called out in the darkness.

There was no answer, only another hit, sloppily done to the torso.

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Kushina rubbed the sleep from her eyes and patted the grass and loose shrubbery from her shoulders and head. She felt stiff, not due to sleeping on the ground, but due to her dream. Mito had been in it, and it was never a good morning after she dreamed about the Uzumaki's favorite phrase.

"We're alive. That's paradise enough for us," Kushina muttered under her breath.

She stared over the last row of hilly land separating them from the beach front. Dawn's streaks of pink and gold were fanning up over the hill. It'd be a gorgeous eastern sunrise over the water, haloing her island home, which would be shrouded in mist from this vantage point. If only its villagers welcomed her with the same luxuries as mother nature.

Kushina had no ill-founded delusions. Increasing poverty shook Whirlpool villagers and shinobi alike. They took what missions they could get, paid their debts, and got by.

She eyed Minato a few feet away, who was patting himself down looking worse for wear. He'd ferried both Kushina and Jiraiya using Hiraishin without complaint, occasionally even coming out of his shell to comment about the edible vegetation.

Stupid Minato. He was hard to like, but also hard to dislike.

They were back to the stilted silence of the first day of this trip. In a way, Kushina was glad. She had no confidence in being able to handle light conversation right now. Her thoughts grew ever more insistent that either Minato or Jiraiya would figure out her secret, pretty soon. She had explained that she could broker the peace (or at least delay the war) between Konoha and Whirlpool on account of having familial relations with the leaders of Whirlpool. As for dealing with Konoha, she told Minato and Jiraiya that they could secretly finagle with Danzou. They had looked at her like she'd grown an extra head.

"How'd you sleep?" she asked Minato. It was a stupid question. They both knew it.

He looked untroubled by her crassness. "Okay." He even offered what may have been called a small smile.

That was rare. It's because this is the last day, she told herself.

After all, they were at Whirlpool's doorstep.

"Listen..." Kushina started, cheeks hot. The breeze against her face smelled of the sea, calming her. "Thanks, for everything."

The calm was gone as soon as the words left. Someone kill rom-com Kushina now, her sanity screamed.

Minato looked a bit taken aback.

"Your Hiraishin helped loads," Kushina ground out. "I don't think I could have gotten through those war zones without the Great Yellow Flash's help."

This made Minato go quiet and wooden again.

Kushina cursed herself, because there was no reason to care about the psyche of one of the previously well-adjusted shinobi she'd known. No freaking reason to still feel responsible for Danzou exiling Minato. There were no answers for that, she told herself. There were more important things to worry about.

Like preventing this conflict between Whirlpool and Konoha.

Like Jiraiya was uttering his last snore, because she was going to kick him awake, now.

"This is the last hill," she said to a still-groggy Jiraiya as they stepped foot onto the apex. "I'll find the boatman I usually use. The town's not even thirty minutes from here."

The Sannin yawned in reply. "Ahh, I don't think you'll need to find the boatman. I'm sure he's enjoying vacation—just look"

Five ships, all enormous, lined the shore closer to them. Each looked new, judging by the state of the mast and unrepaired sides which glinted with new polish in the breaking morning light.

"Galleons," Jiraiya supplied. "About two hundred fifty soldiers fit in each of those things."

"New commissions, I'll bet." Minato was staring, too, his hair dancing in the sea breeze.

Kushina bit her lip, to keep from looking as impressed. Stupid big villages and their big populations to tax the heck out of.

"The hell," she whispered. "M-Maybe they're not filled with soldiers."

"It's possible."

"I have to get home."

A boat.

She still needed a boat to get home.

Without another word, Kushina ran in the direction of the fishing village, not bothering to look behind to see if the men followed. The wet dew of the early morning made the path muddy with poor traction. She found her traveling sandals caked with thick crusted goo by the time she reached the first crop of houses.

They were more shacks than proper houses, built with mixtures of wood and hardened resin, to withstand the salted humidity of the shoreline. The people here were proud of their fishing and boating skills, but had never extended their crafts into more lucrative outlets. Kushina's childhood acquaintances often came to trade and barter for a bit of mainland rope and wood, since the cultures were close enough that there was a lot of Whirlpool blood mixed with this tiny village.

Today was outright eerie. Unlike the usual mornings where Kushina had passed through here, there was not a soul wandering through. Perhaps it was the presence of the large ships, moored so close. The early morning mist had receded, but a soft, untouched sheen of dew layered all of the grassy lawns.

She made her way, finally, to the hut that was the house of the boatman. It was a small, modest thing, with a front door and a single window. The more impressive of the structures on the plot of land was a large shed in the back, where the boatman kept boat, oars, and other repair equipment and nets.

Relentless with purpose, Kushina pounded the door with abandon. "Toushirou-san, open up! Are you home?"

Footsteps came from the other side, and the rusted hinges creaked.

The first face that greeted her was familiar, but unexpected.

"Kushina?"

"Nobu-san!"

The middle-aged man stared at her like she was a ghost. His usually fine set of whiskers was haggard and ill-kept, and visible wrinkles formed at the corner of his glass-grey eyes. Besides that, he looked the same as when she'd seen him in council rooms, handing out jounin assignments, scolding her as a young child. As one of the sternest and youngest village elders, it was strange to see him in a hut, without his normal luxuries.

"Is it really you? I thought you were in Konoha!" Nobu exclaimed. "W-why are you here?"

And Kushina was a little child again, sprawled in her neighbor's cabbage patches. She clasped his hands with her own. They were cold to the touch. "It's me, Nobu-san," she blurted in a rush. "You know there's a war about to happen! Of course I'd come back! Where is everyone? Why are you here, and not across the water?"

"So our message got to you… that's a relief. I'm here on war business, like you," Nobu said. "I wish I could offer you some sea or refreshment, but I was just about to leave to go meet the ambassadors. To sign a treaty."

"They want to negotiate?" Kushina's eyes narrowed, as she surveyed the empty room behind Nobu. "Where's Toushiro-san? And everyone in the village?"

"There're a few left," the man sighed, moustache twitching. "A lot of them relocated to Whirlpool. I-I left Whirlpool just last night, and needed a place to stay. Toushiro is staying at my house on the Island, so he volunteered his place."

She shook her head, laughing a little. "Ugh, Toushiro-san is a bleeding heart, but there's the town hall or other nicer cottages in the center of the village! You should have slept there."

Nobu shook his head, as he crossed the threshold and led her across to the main road with him.

"You know how it is," he said. "The smaller the space, the easier to fortify with seals."

She nodded in understanding. "Good thing I didn't knock the door down, then."

"Nothing you couldn't handle, what with you and your gang breaking down my fence when you were seven and stealing my fall harvest."

She laughed weakly.

Walking through the deserted town with an old friend was much better than doing it alone. Kushina's stomach was still unsettled, however, thinking about the treaty, and she itched to ask further questions, but Nobu was one of the most traditional of the elders, despite his relatively young age. He didn't think women, much less young women, should be sticking their noses into such things. Despite his considerable respect for kunoichi as deadly weapons, he was not of the same mind when it came to politics. Despite all his faults, Kushina knew him to be a generous man, who shared his bounty from his vegetable garden with the entire village when food was scarce.

"Can you tell me what made both sides change their mind?" Kushina tried.

Nobu sized her up, not slowing his pace. "Kushina, you know you shouldn't worry your head. We could have used you as a valuable fighter and bargaining chip, and it's good you're here, but it seems that Konoha has a fairly reasonable commander on those stupidly giant ships."

"Oh yeah? Not the Hokage?"

"No, some relation of Mito's, though, apparently."

They meandered through a particularly thick clump of grass at the top of the hill, Nobu hobbling a little from an old wound. Kushina helped him to reach the shore, only to hear a familiar voice.

"Oy, see? She's replaced me, but not you," warbled Jiraiya. "That means something!"

Kushina scoffed, cheeks warm. "You guys didn't leave after all?"

Minato looked stone-faced, per usual. Jiraiya's hair was wilder and fluffier-looking than usual, despite having uncanny gravity against the sea air that blew in from the waves. The elder man was gesticulating toward Nobu in an accusatory way.

Her companion looked on, confused but slapping on his diplomatic poker-face. "Your… friends?"

"Hardly." Kushina's mind raced. Not exactly kosher to tell Nobu their real identities. "We just happened to be going the same way. They'll be going, now."

"I'm not blind, Kushina. I can tell they're in need," Nobu said in a scolding voice reminiscent of her childhood.

Kushina squinted. "Ah, yes. They're escaping the war inland. I picked them up so they could come get a bite to eat at the village."

Minato's henge disguise was impeccable down to the tanned skin and the fishing net looped around his reed backpack (of course), but Jiraiya's… it was flashier than conventional merchant attire. The bright red hakama and white, bushy hair was unchanged and uniquely… him.

"I see that the younger one's a fisherman, and the older one is... some sort of merchant?"

"He used to be a... street performer. I think."

Nobu was sympathetic. "You can try to get some rice grain from the storehouse up ahead, where we came from. You look travel weary, especially you, lad," he said to Minato, whose dark circles were so strong no amount of henge could rid them, it seemed.

Jiraiya shook his head. "We haven't had great times with shinobi from Konoha. We were just escorting this girl here, but we have business in that village yon yonder."

The Sannin's accent was perfect, if a bit over-the-top. Kushina looked meaningfully at Minato.

Are you sure? She tried to say with her eyes. This is it, Minato? You'll go back to wandering?

He'll be fine, another part of her smacked her brain. He's got his Sensei now.

Kushina huffed, inner dialogue quite over.

"C'mon, Nobu-san, we have a treaty to sign. Or negotiate. Or fight out. We'll see."

She glared at the two disguised Konoha nin, who looked away nonchalantly.

"A-ah, yes," Nobu agreed. "We shouldn't keep the Konoha ambassadors waiting. Senju-san is expecting us."

Jiraiya's mouth twitched.

Without warning, Minato moved close to Kushina, giving her a quick squeeze on the small of her back. She thought she felt his breath fan against her ear, but as quickly as he'd come, he was gone.

Stupidly, her breath still hitched, her chest tightened, and she scowled at Jiraiya, who looked knowingly between the two of them.

"Oh!" the white-haired man sang. "Yes, Marui and I need to get some supplies. Rice sounds delish. Amazing. We're going." The Sage waved conspicuously, almost comical as he dragged his student off to the direction where Kushina and Nobu had come.

Nobu put a hand on her still-dazed shoulder. "Are you ready, Kushina? You won't miss anything?"

"H-huh? Oh, yeah." She flushed at the look Nobu gave to her and to the retreating form of Minato.

She took a breath as they walked down toward the water, willing her strangely aching feet to move.

"Listen, Nobu-san, will it be… safe? Going with me? You know I left Konoha."

The Whirlpool elder hesitated.

"There are other Whirlpool members there already, but they are all very old," he chuckled gently. "You know. Anyhow, I will feel safe having you with me, Kushina."

Warmth spread through her leaden limbs. Coming from the traditional Nobu, it was a high compliment, and a most humbling plea.

"Sure. Let's do this 'ttebane!"

She didn't look back as she walked forward toward the five ships. Up close, they were larger than life. Larger than any houses she saw back home. The only thing comparable was the towers and huge apartment complexes she'd seen back in Konoha.

Though neither of them called out anything, the Konoha people seemed to know they were here. She watched the knotted rope ladders that were pushed over the sides, and came spiraling down like corded straw-colored snakes.

One.

Two.

Just climb.

Don't look back.

Nobu took a lot longer than she did in climbing up. Kushina would have offered to climb back down to help him, but something strange arrested her.

The deck of the ship was clean and as new as the rest of it. Rope, sail, mast. All of the things were in their correct positions and accounted for, but Kushina knew how very wrong this treaty-signing meeting was.

"There's no one here," she breathed.

"Correction."

She whirled around, to see none other than a familiar, scarred face. The figure stood casually against the starboard, salt and pepper hair blowing in the breeze.

"Miss me?"

"You make a good pirate. Shoulda changed your name to Sea Dragon. Or Seaturd," Kushina deadpanned.

Dragon stepped close, his arm moving out. Kushina flinched and nearly crashed into the railing of the ship's side.

She watched with a sinking feeling as the Konoha ANBU hoisted Nobu up onto the ship.

"Welcome, Nobuhiro. Thank you for bringing her here."

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"I can't shake this feeling, but just maaaaaybe we should have gone with her."

Minato shook his head. "Isn't it just hearing Tsunade-hime's name? You could have gone to see her."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful, as he continued trekking through the muddy grassland. "Well, actually, I've been meaning to reconnect, but not right now. It seems there's a lot about Konoha I've lost touch with. It'd just be embarrassing to see her now."

Minato patiently waited for his teacher to explain.

"For one thing, I can't fathom where we got those boats and enough rowing men to haul them along to the coast, then prepare to attack Whirlpool, if what Kushina claims from her letter is correct. What if Kushina-chan were lying?"

"She does, periodically," Minato shrugged.

"A woman does. But to the man she loves? I think not! The only woman I know who does that is Tsunade, who's obviously just holding out on me."

"What are you suggesting?" Minato said.

A sly look plastered itself across Jiraiya's face. "Well, first, that Kushina-chan's in love with you."

"Funny. I was talking about the letter."

"Oho! Don't pretend that thought doesn't put you in a good mood. Look, you're even talking again."

Minato sighed. "I talk, you know. She just... sets me on edge. I don't feel as comfortable with her around, Sensei. Reminds me of my mistakes."

"Figures. I didn't have time to teach you about women." Jiraiya sighed. "They're a vicious lot, quick to point out your faults! But regardless, we can't live without 'em! You know, Minato, I would have had you stick close, but you as a technical missing nin can't waltz into Konoha military ships that casually, disguised or not… Oh, hey! We're here!"

The small pile of lichened rocks turned out to be a village enclosure of sorts, and thin dirt pathways extended in several directions to small wooden huts with thatched roofs. The sun was not yet strong enough to dry out the wet grass and small puddles scattered about the habitat.

"Picturesque," Minato commented. "But empty."

The older shinobi kicked up a stone. It landed squarely through the window of one of the nearest houses.

A small squeak was heard from inside the house.

"Sage arts, Minato. Remind me to teach you sometime. You can sense life force, which is extremely useful."

Minato looked with mild astonishment at his teacher's eyes, which were now fading back to normal.

"Oy! We know you're in there! Come out!" Jiraiya called as he stalked up the pathway.

No easy surrender came.

Jiraiya motioned for the two of them to move around the thrushes planted around the cottage, doing a funny little jig that Minato knew to be a maneuver to avoid setting off potential traps or mines.

"I think there are seals around here. Luckily, I know how to unravel a good deal of them from all the spying I did back in the day."

Minato also edged around the house, curiosity piqued as he examined the faint but distinct markings around the foundations. "I didn't know you traveled to Whirlpool."

"Sure I did, but way back. Ten years ago now, about," Jiraiya called from his spot cross-legged in the grass. "There were a lot of strained tensions at the time. People who say we're allies often aren't privy to top secret information, you know. The relationship has always been rockier than it seemed, especially after the Nidaime died. It was always more of a Senju-Uzumaki alliance than a Konoha-Whirlpool one."

Minato thought back to his vague memories of the Third Hokage. He didn't remember anything particularly offensive about the Sandaime, but he supposed that a Sarutobi was still no Senju.

"That should be the last of 'em," the older man finished, straightening from the floor, the seat of his pants wet and mud-covered. "Come out, come out, whoever you are! C'mon, Minato, you shout too. Tell 'em you're the great and fearsome Yellow Flash."

"Er," said Minato.

"Tremble in fear, villager! The Great Yellow Flash has come to—ah." The white-haired man stopped, pointing to an equally pale-haired individual who had poked his head out of the window of the hut.

"Yo, Minato! I thought I recognized your voice, dude!"

Jiraiya blinked, then coughed.

"Yikes. It's a fish man!"

Hozuki Shigetsu pulled his best shark face. "Ugh, speak for yourself, frog man."

"Toad," Jiraiya sniffed.

Minato frowned. "Why're you here?"

Shige, resplendent in a large, quilted blanket, shrugged. "Just sleeping off a hard few days. I came from Kirigakure to watch the purge. And to fight some strong Konoha shinobi, of course. Arrived a day too late. Who knew Konoha had so freakin' many weird guys with famous eye jutsu?"

The Sannin and his student exchanged a look.

"Purge? You mean the war already happened?"

"What war?" Shige pouted. "It was a freakin' massacre, only nothing fun about this one. All the Konoha soldiers spilled outa those boats like a freakin' tide. Some of 'em had white eyes, some had red eyes. All of 'em were fuckin' powerful, so the other side didn't really stand a chance."

"Are there survivors?" Minato asked. "When did this happen?"

"Two days ago… I was on the island at the start, but high-tailed it off there when I realized it was a lost cause. They burned and wrecked everything. You can check if ya like."

Jiraiya's face grew pale. "How many Konoha soldiers?"

Shige opened his mouth wide, rows of pointed teeth gleaming as he exclaimed, "Hundreds. Almost a thousand, I'll bet. The weirdest thing, though, was that they all looked the same."

The Sannin swore. "Fuck. Minato, you stay here. Find Kushina. I'm going back."

"Oh, where ya goin'?" Shige asked, dropping the quilt and motioning for them to wait. "If you're goin' back to Konoha, I'm coming along. Always wanted to see the Continent. Heard your trees are huge."

"Minato. Stay here?" Jiraiya asked this time.

Minato felt an uncharacteristic sense of loneliness, a refreshingly honest feeling he thought he'd lost. "Sure," he said, all politeness and blank, impenetrable face. "I can investigate things further here. Don't worry."

Jiraiya gaze turned tired.

"Look, Minato, I know I haven't been the best teacher. I should have brought you with me on my journey after the Sandaime's death. Heck, I should take you with me back to Konoha to see that bastard Danzou. But I can't… I need the cover of legitimacy to weasel into Danzou's inner circle, where I'm gonna find the answers. This has the taste of Orochimaru. I know it."

"Orochi… like a snake man?" Shige shook his head. "Geez. What are y'all Mainlanders still discriminating against me for?"

"Aesthetic," quipped Jiraiya. "Now let's move."

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tbc


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Suzu: I am putting Konoha's pre-Danzou level of active shinobi at roughly 800, though many are stationed along borders or abroad. I was curious, so I did a bit of research. The estimates from the Naruto databook (according to the internet's account of it) put Konoha as having many, many more, while the ninja registration numbers from the databooks again suggest otherwise. As Naruto stretched on, numbers were padded, and overall, inconsistent without some major world building surprises. I centered my number around several key details: Konoha had trouble with a Sound invading force of 500 shinobi. Jiraiya's ninja registration number is 2300 (all since history of founding, supposedly). Finally, I'm not treating the name "village" as a misnomer. A village implies a smaller size, and we need to account for a civilian population considerably larger than the shinobi one, to provide immediate resources to the shinobi and to run other businesses around the town. There are several other calculations, but hey, enough math. Just read the story!