"He's almost here! I see them!" A Hyuuga shouts.
The rest of the villagers without ocular jutsu stand on tiptoes, crane around each other, prop kids up onto shoulders. Despite standing literally among ruins, there's almost a festival atmosphere.
After all, everyone is alive.
Sakura isn't looking in the right spot, and when the shouts at his appearance begin, she only catches a glimpse of Naruto and Kakashi-sensei before they're swallowed up by the crowd. She fights her way forward.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto says, and people part slightly to let her through to the hero.
She bops the top of his head—gently, by her standards, but he still lets out a loud whine as she scolds him. "You made me worried sick, idiot!"
Then she catches him to herself and steals his breath with a tight hug, tears leaking from her eyes. "Thank you…"
At first, Naruto is frozen within her grasp. Her cheek is pressed against his, and she feels his head slowly move, as if panning the crowds. Then, hesitantly, he lifts his arms up and awkwardly returns her hug.
They release the hug and she smiles at him through her tears. "Everyone's alive!"
Naruto laughs. "Yeah. Yeah, they are, dattebayo!"
"Cheers for Naruto the hero!" someone shouts. Sakura laughs as people begin chanting hero, hero, hero, and draws back a bit as people lift Naruto into the crowd and begin tossing him into the air.
"Everything will go back to the way it was soon, just like you said, huh Kaka-sensei?" Sakura says cheerfully. "Naruto is so strong now…"
"You're talking about Sasuke?"
She tilts her head up to him. "Well, of course, Sasuke-kun. After all, if Naruto can defeat Pain…!"
Kakashi doesn't answer her. His face is frowning now. He's not looking at Naruto, and Sakura follows his gaze and sees Nara Shikaku speaking to an ANBU.
"So everything will be the way it was soon, right, Kakashi-sensei? Like you said?"
"Sakura! Kakashi-san!"
They both turn to see Shizune-sempai running up to them. "I need you to come with me right away! And bring Naruto too."
—
"I don't get it," Naruto says as they all look down on Tsunade's haggard face. "You and Kaka-sensei are walking around just fine, how come Nagato's jutsu didn't bring Baa-chan back too?"
"It must be that she never actually died, Naruto," says Sakura. She has a faint green glow to her hand as it hovers over Tsunade's head. "She's in a chakra exhaustion coma… but it's deeper than anything I've ever seen before… it's like when I attempt to give her a little chakra, it just disappears into a black hole. I even thought maybe it was a poisoning, but I'm not detecting any toxins."
"It might have to do with the seal," says Shizune. "Katsuyu-sama also said something about 'loans and repayment' before she disappeared. It's beyond my abilities, Sakura… I hoped maybe you would see something I missed."
"I've never seen something like this before." Sakura ceases her chakra treatment and pulls slightly on Tsunade's top to reveal a wavy red line. "Look, even her bond mark is feathered at the edges, as if her body is attempting to leech the foreign chakra. That's incredible…"
"Sakura…" Kakashi stares up at the tent pole as he talks. "Bondmarks are permanent… right?"
"Well, that's what the literature says," says Sakura.
"The mark itself is simply a hub, or perhaps more accurately a nodule," says Shizune matter-of-factly, as if these words should be self-evident in their meaning. Sakura nods, and Shizune continues. "If the flesh with a mark is cut away, or even an amputated limb, for example, the mark simply regrows on nearby flesh."
"What, really?" says Sakura, fascinated. "Have you seen that in the field?"
"Several times," answers Shizune. "The original bite scar, if there is one, doesn't recur, but the size and shape of the mark itself is the name, though perhaps misshapen by the differing site. A mark on a finger, for example, was one instance, and after the loss of the finger, it reappeared on the knuckle. It had wrapped around the finger but on the knuckle it was flat, so it looked somewhat different."
"That's amazing. How long did it take to reappear?"
Sakura and Shizune begin to chatter about proprioceptors and chakrathesia and gastrulation—"although of course that term isn't really accurate," says Sakura, and Shizune nods and adds "but it helps to contextualize the dorsal-ventral axis".
"Kakashi-sensei," whispers Naruto, tugging on Kakashi's sleeve and looking glazed, "do you think we could go look for some ramen packages in the rubble?"
—
Among his first acts, Yamato raised up a hospital. It's bigger and better than the previous structure, honestly, but there isn't actually much to do there, even with Tsunade unconscious and Shizune keeping vigil around the clock. Most of the injuries during the assault had been fatal, and everyone who was resurrected came back fully healthy; and for the time being, no one is going out on missions.
However, she ends up getting a flood of alphas and omegas who died in the fighting, panicking about the disappearance of their mark. The first case she's fascinated: she can see the bite scar, but there's no trace whatsoever of any foreign chakra. It's extra fascinating because the bond partner still has her mark; she hadn't died, and she had gone through bond shock at the initial death. She still had his chakra in her mark, but no information about his location, as if he was still dead. The unmarked man also had no sense of his bondmate. Sakura had paused to record all this data down, since it had important implications for the still mysterious matter of how bonded couples' awareness of each other functions.
It ends up being a rather straightforward fix. His mate is able to reapply the mark through the usual means of a bite during orgasm (which they did on the exam table, pleading the excuse that their home was destroyed and the temporary shelters have no privacy; Sakura told them they had a half an hour, which she spent on the opposite end of the building, giving Neji, Shikamaru, and a few others an impromptu lesson in tourniquets). The mark reappeared, and the couple reported everything went back to the way it was, without Sakura needing to do anything. As for the people who had already lost their mate, it appeared that they were now back to an unmarked existence and there wasn't anything she could do for them either.
It quickly gets repetitive telling this over and over to people. She sets up the staff with informative packets about the situation and heads out to the reconstruction efforts, which are good, honest, mind-clearing physical work. Tazuna the bridge builder had brought a group of expert carpenters with him from the Land of Waves, and with their knowledge and shinobi strength and speed, the building was going fast.
"Wow, Sakura-nee-chan is so strong now!" says Inari between swings of his adze, chopping away at a log. Sakura knows nothing about architecture, but she can follow directions. She holds the central post steady as Naruto's clones buzz around, joining lintels and lesser posts as they form the frame of the house.
"Sakura-chan's smart too," says one clone. "She can heal anything. When I get in trouble, she takes care of me."
Another clone says, "Yeah! Sakura-chan is the best!"
"Naruto!" says Sakura, blushing.
"So she's Naruto-nii-san's girlfriend?"
"Uh…"
"Well…"
"Um…"
The clones hedge and waver, which surprises Sakura. Naruto's always enthusiastically blustered to Konohamaru that she was his girlfriend. What's changed?
"We're really good friends," says Sakura. The clones blush, rub their necks and laugh, and she shakes her head with an indulgent smile. "Like best friends. We've been through a lot together."
Inari frowns "Really? You can be best friends with a girl?"
"Naruto has many best friends," Sakura says, a light flush to her face that she hopes comes off as exertion..
"Is Sasuke-nii-san his best friend too?"
Tazuna saves them from having to respond when he huffs over, grumbling around from clone to clone. "You can't force it," he says. "This is traditional architecture, yes? Best quality, best craftsmanship. No nails. So the fit has to be perfect. You hammer too hard—the wood cracks. Maybe the crack is small to begin with, but as the wood breathes with the seasons, it'll get wider and wider and then—boom. No more house."
"It's a ninja village, jii-chan," a clone huffs back, and another one adds, "Yeah, it'll probably get blown to pieces before that happens."
"You, girlie," Tazuna barks at Sakura, ignoring Naruto. "Just hold steady, alright? Keep it together while I check this dimwit's work."
The clones all bang out of existence, leaving just one Naruto behind. "Argh! I'm not a dimwit! Gah!" He stomps over to the refreshment station and twists open a bottle of sports drink with such zest that the bottle explodes in his hands, spraying him all over with the sugary liquid while Iruka-sensei, who was manning the station, laughs in treacherous amusement.
"Always forcing things," grumbles Tazuna. "Probably the love triangle too, eh?"
"There's no love triangle," Sakura protests faintly, eyeing Naruto who is yelling at Iruka-sensei about his stupid defective bottles while Iruka-sensei yells right back about Naruto's lack of restraint. "It's not as simple as that."
"Hmph. Well." Tazuna walks back up to her. "There's more than one kind of love triangle. The three of you had something special, I saw it even back then. Or perhaps I should say the four of you…"
Sakura turns her head to follow his gaze. Kakashi is strolling up to the work site, one of his Icha Icha in his hand, stepping nimbly over stacks of timbers without looking up.
"I'm a carpenter, so I always watch how things fit together, see?" Tazuna's voice brings her attention back to him. "I have to see how they fit, and I have to see how they'll fit as they change. You mix different kinds of wood, for example, if they don't shrink and expand at the same rate…"
"Boom?" fills in Sakura.
"Not necessarily a collapse. It depends on whether you planned and adapted for the contrast. You can even mix wood and stone, after all, and they're very different. You can let go now."
"What?" I have no idea what that means…
"The pillar." He nods at the central pillar she's still holding stationary. "Let it go."
"Oh." She lets go and stands back, and nothing happens. "I think… I'll go join Naruto for some refreshment."
The farms around Konoha weren't damaged, so at least food isn't a problem. It's a chilly winter day despite the sun and the exertion, and the meal station is handing out hot sweet potatoes and sticks of grilled chicken. Sakura grabs an extra sweet potato and thrusts it at Naruto as she sits down next to him on a massive log that's serving as a temporary bench.
"Ehe, thanks Sakura-chan, but—"
"No buts! It's good for you!" She bites a piece of chicken, ignoring the way Naruto's eyes dart to the juicy meat.
He sighs and peels away the wrapping to take a bite. They eat in silence for a bit, until Naruto says, "Hey, Sakura-chan? Can I ask you a question… about girls?"
Sakura pokes the roof of her mouth with the yakitori stick. "About girls?!"
"I dunno… something strange happened… I guess I don't really understand… I mean, you know, I've always liked Sakura-chan…"
Sakura's cheeks heat up. "N-naruto! You c-can't say things like that!"
"But that's what I mean that I don't understand," he says, frowning at the sweet potato. "What if someone does say that?"
"Eh?"
"Like… if a girl says, 'I love you,' to a guy… what does that mean?"
"Well if she says that, then she loves him, of course!"
"But what does she mean by that? Like… what do you mean when you… say it to Sasuke?" He's addressing the potato.
Sakura feels all the annoyance evaporate out of her. How should she respond? Why is he thinking about Sasuke? This just seems too cruel.
"I really do want to know," Naruto says, still staring at the potato. "You know, Sasuke would always say I didn't understand him because I didn't know what it was like to lose anything. It made me really angry because I thought I did… but I know now I really didn't. So of course it didn't matter what I said to him in the Valley of the End dattebayo. Because of what happened… I understand him a lot more now…"
Naruto lifts his head up and adopts the braggadocio posture that somehow evokes Jiraiya-sama. "'I believe the day will come when we finally understand each other!'…"
He lets his shoulders drop back down and takes a bite. Sakura says nothing.
"Pervy Sage said that, and I said to Pain… that if there is a way to peace, that I will find it dattebayo! But there's the problem, I understand Sasuke more now because I suffered… I understand why he wants vengeance… so how can people understand each other without undergoing the same suffering? I don't know what her sufferings are… I don't know, it's all jumbled up… but I really want to know what a girl means, to say that kind of thing to a guy…"
"Well…" Sakura speaks to her own sweet potato, stomach twisting with past dreams of Sasuke-kun. "That she cares about him a lot… that she wants to be with him, and make him happy… I mean, girls are not all the same either, Naruto! What brought this on?"
"Hinata."
That Hinata-chan loves Naruto is not surprising—that she said it is. "She said, 'I love you,' like that?"
"Yeah," Naruto says mournfully, "like that."
"Well… Hinata-chan is a very sincere kind of girl, you know? If she confessed her feelings, then she means it. But how do you feel about her?"
"I don't know. I never really noticed her… I mean, she's my friend…"
"You should get to know her better, then, right? I mean, a declaration of love is a big thing… but you can still take it slow, I think. Like I said, that when a girl loves someone, that she wants to be with them… you can spend some time with her…"
"Like… sparring?"
"Shannaro!" Sakura rolls her eyes. "Like a date!"
"A date…" Naruto looks at her, blue eyes wide.
"And I'll talk to Hinata-chan too," she says firmly. "Oh! Sit with us, Kaka-sensei!"
Kakashi-sensei turns, just finishing shifting his mask back into place. He waves a hand holding several yakitori sticks and a crumpled up potato wrapper at them.
Damn, another opportunity to see his face gone!
"Maa, just look at the two of you," he says as he strolls up to them. "Sometimes I feel like I blink and you two have changed yet again. What happened to my cute little genin?"
"Well, Naruto's still a genin."
"Oi, oi, Sakura-chan!"
"Now, Naruto, is that any way to speak to your superior?" Kakashi-sensei taps Naruto on the head with his smut.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Why are you all such jerks dattebayo!"
"Especially when she gives such good advice," their former teacher continues mildly, as if Naruto wasn't having an arm-flailing conniption centimetres from his face. "It really is important to take things slow."
He was listening to us?
"Guys! Big news and it's bad!" Kiba rides Akamaru at a gallop up to them. "The daimyo has named a new Hokage and it's some guy named Danzo! I don't know much about him, but he seems like bad news—and it gets worse! He's declared Sasuke a missing nin—wanted dead or alive!"
—
Kakashi is used to making hand seals effortlessly because of the Sharingan's effect on the memory, but he has to actually think and remember to make the right seals to open his father's door.
Someone—Minato-sensei? ANBU? Sandaime-sama?—must have covered the few pieces of furniture he can see from the door and packed everything away. Not that there was much. The house followed the most traditional style.
It isn't as dusty as he expected. Nor did he expect the plants creeping in and the silence beneath his foot as the floor gives a little. It used to be a nightingale floor that squeaked and squealed when walked upon—a last little bit of physical security, very old-fashioned.
Kakashi turns and places his hand on a innocent looking part of the wall, wondering if this will work after all these years, but it does. A soft click and a pop and the keys are revealed to him. He takes the keys to the shed and walks out.
The fireproofed shed is definitely mustier and dustier, and he's glad for the filtering effect of his mask. There's a stool here and he sits on it gingerly, but it holds his weight. He has to hunt for the candle and is chagrined to find that it fell among rat droppings. Should he just make do with the indirect sunlight?
He opens all the tiny windows and pauses with his arms on the windowsill, wondering if he really wants to do this. As much as he knows that what he experienced was real, he's not sure he wants to admit to himself that he really died and that he went to a place where his father's dead spirit had been trapped for twenty odd years, where his father told him where to find pictures of his mother.
"So… have there been any girls?"
"Dad…" Well, this was weird. Thirty years old and a professional assassin with a kill count over a thousand and he was cringing like a teenager. Like he had never actually as a teenager.
"I'm guessing you would have mentioned grandchildren."
Kakashi couldn't help the bitter laugh. "No. From me? No."
The fire crackled.
"There was a girl," he said finally. "But it was a mistake. The girl I told you about. The one… the one I killed. She was… we were… I only wanted to protect her…"
"Oh, Kakashi…"
He rubs at his unmarked neck self-consciously.
"It's difficult to explain… women, and all that, are complicated enough, Kakashi, but when it comes to a mate…"
"Well, it's a bit late for advice on the subject."
But here he was. Alive. Unmarked. A second chance?
A second chance not to drag another person down with him, at best.
He reaches forward quickly, to forestall his own hesitation, and practically rips open a box marked with the kanji for memento.
But it's not about his mother at all.
His sullen childhood face stares accusingly at him from the top of the stack, holding his new forehead protector. Memories assault him.
"So where do you want to wear it, Kakashi?"
"On my forehead, of course, Father. I'm not the kind of silly show-off who wears it in some absurd place, like my waist. I'm a true ninja."
He closes the box back up quickly, locks the shed, walks blindly, head swimming too much for even Icha Icha to stop the howling within. The monument? His apartment. He stops and looks around. He's at the gate.
"Kakashi!"
A hand slams between Kakashi's shoulder blades in an over the top imitation of a friendly back pat, knocking the breath out of him and making him stumble forward. His book slips out of his fingers and he juggles it for a moment before getting a good grip on it and shoving it into his pocket. "Guy."
The grinning green menace takes a deep breath. "Snow is coming, Kakashi! Can you smell it, my rival?"
"Uh..." Kakashi blinks as Guy dramatically sweeps his hand in the direction of Konoha's still-standing gate, where crews are moving supplies through.
"So we must put our backs into the reconstruction!" He makes to slap Kakashi's back again, but Kakashi parries. Somehow Guy turns Kakashi's parry into an absurdly complicated handshake. "Agreed!"
"Wait, that wasn't—" Chakra flares announcing the imminent return of a team thankfully interrupts.
Aburame Shibi hails Kakashi outside the gate, with his Inuzuka team and their dogs close behind, but it is the fifth person with them who speaks first.
"Well what the ding dong doodle happened to your town, eh?"
Kakashi stares at the bronze-eyed jinchuuriki while Shibi coughs and says, "Our mission was a success, as you can see, Kakashi-san… we found Fuu-san's trail, and at the end of it, Fuu-san, as you can see, in good condition… and I must admit that we are also curious about what has occurred in Konoha in our absence."
Fuu puts her hands on her hips. "Is he always like this? Do you live with this every day?"
Inuzuka Mayu throws back her head and bark-laughs. "I like her!"
"They say it's the whole clan, eh? That so? They say it's the bugs," Fuu persists, "but the bug in me'd beat any of them, eh. You don't see it weighing me down any."
Kakashi smiles a little despite himself, but drops the smile when Shibi speaks again. "So, we need to report to Hokage-sama, but we're not sure where she is, or as we have intimated, what has occurred, and so, when I saw you, I thought to query you—"
"I wanna know about the town first eh!" Fuu lets out a low whistle. "I mean heck, maybe I'd be safer on my own after all!"
"Pain attacked," Kakashi says. "They wanted Naruto. Naruto defeated him, although as you can see, there was great property damage. It's a long story, but ultimately there was no loss of life."
Fuu whistles again. "I'd like to meet Naruto! Sounds like a good friend to have."
"He is," Kakashi agrees somberly. "Regarding Godaime-sama, however, Shibi-san, she's in a coma, and—'
"And Rokudaime-sama will receive your mission report, Aburame-sama." A masked ANBU has suddenly appeared among them. "The outsider must leave. No outsiders in the village by order of Danzo-sama."
"Well the heck's with you buddy?" Fuu points at her flat stomach and says, "You're just gonna kick out a pregnant lady? When Konoha's the only place with experience with pregnant jinchuuriki? Don't you have any feelings?"
"No," says the ANBU. "We must obey Danzo-sama."
"I am sure that Danzo-sama would want to see a jinchuuriki," says Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama gave orders—"
"I'll take responsibility for Fuu-san, and I am sure Aburame-sama will as well."
Shibi backs him swiftly. "Absolutely, ANBU-san."
The ROOT member's adherence to instructions wars with her respect for authority. Kakashi tips the balance when he adds, "It would save time to just let her come with Aburame-sama."
The pig mask slowly dips in a nod. "Hai. Follow me."
But the sound of a scuffle and a sudden spike in chakra attracts them all to detour to where a fight has cooled down between three Cloud ninja on one side and Naruto, Sakura, and Sai on the other.
"Good gravy," mutters Fuu from behind Kakashi's shoulder.
"I'm a jinchuuriki too," Naruto is saying, "so I know exactly why they're after your sensei! Just like how they took Gaara! They want to capture us alive to extract the tailed beast, so instead of seeking revenge, you should be focused on rescuing him! He might still be alive -ttebayo!"
"Are you serious?" says a young man with a lollipop stick in his mouth.
"Yeah! I knew Killer B-sensei couldn't be dead!" shouts a wild-eyed young woman beside him.
"Regardless," says the third Cloud ninja, coolly eyeing Kakashi and the others who just arrived, "our orders from the Raikage are clear, and we need to report to him—"
"That's the eight tails jinchuuriki, eh? Killer B? Yeah, he's not dead, he's not even captured, ya know," Fuu says.
"How do you know that?" shouts one Cloud nin while another says, "Who are you?"
"I'm Fuu! I'm pleased to meet you!" She does a cute pose. "I hope we can all be friends, I've never met someone from Hidden Cloud before. And um…" Fuu tilts her head. "…how I know… is it a secret? Hmm… I've always heard people saying, 'don't kiss and tell,' buuuuuuut…" She tilts her head the other way. "It's a matter of national importance, eh?"
"It could mean war, Fuu-san—and they want to kill our friend, so please tell us what you know!"
"Oh, hello Sakura-san!" Fuu waves merrily. "Well… my… mmm…. mate, is a member of the Akatsuki…"
"What?!" Practically everyone listening, except Shibi, makes some variation of this. Even the Root ANBU makes a snort of disbelief.
"Yeah," Fuu laughs. "I don't actually know his name! Big sharky guy, cool sword, blue skin, ring any bells?"
Guy frowns. "Hmm! Never heard of anyone like it!"
"Hoshigaki Kisame is his name," says Kakashi politely.
"Oh, thank you very much! Kisame… Kisame Kisame Kisame…" She appears to be evaluating over the name for a moment, then abruptly claps her hands together. "Right, the eight tails! Well, my mate… Kisame," She pauses to tap on her lip with a pleased smile. "Kisame, he was supposed to capture me buuuuuuut… I caught him instead. Ha!" She claps her hands together again. "I haven't quite reeled him in yet. But I'm determined!" She makes a fist. "That fish is on my hook for sure, ya know!"
"The eight tails, Fuu-san," prompts Sakura.
"Right! Eight tails! Yeah, so, we were… mmmmmmm…. negotiating, but he got the call to extract the eight tails, buuuuuut it turned out that the eight tails jinchuuriki fooled them all and substituted a double! Ha!" She makes an air punch with her fist. "So my mate… Kisame… Kisame got reassigned to go find the eight tails. Which is what he's doing now. He's still super committed, eh? He's gonna be a tough fish, buuuuuut I'm the best bait there is, so I'm not worried! Oh! And I want the names of all my new friends! You!" She points at Naruto. "You're a jinchuuriki too, eh? Wanna be friends?"
"Name's Naruto dattebayo!" They shake with every sign of being instant bosom companions.
"Hokage-sama will want to know all of this," says Sai, and then adds, "and I am Sai. And would be pleased to make a friend."
"We must report to the Raikage," says the Cloud squad leader. "Karui, Omoi, come."
"Hey, you might want to keep in touch, you know!" yells Fuu at their receding backs. "Sheesh. Are they idiots? I know exactly where my mate is, you'd think they'd find that information useful eh?"
—
"So what's the deal here eh?" Fuu tilts her head. "Y'all got no town but you got a spa? The heck?"
"The attack that levelled the town did so from the centre out, Fuu-san," Sakura answers, a bit overwhelmed by her Danzo-appointed job as Fuu's guide/watchdog. She's always countered outsized personalities like Naruto's with equal pushback of her own, and she isn't quite sure how to act around this honoured guest, or prisoner, or whatever she is in this Konoha gone mad. "This onsen is on the outskirts, so it wasn't really damaged, and since most people are still living in temporary housing without plumbing and are short on goods like apparel, this is serving as public baths. And they'll wash and dry our clothes while we're inside."
"Sakura-chan! All you got are the clothes on your back, really?" The taller and older girl throws an arm around Sakura's shoulder for a side hug, throwing Sakura physically and mentally off-balance again. "Poor thing."
"Uh… eheh. This way."
The front desk is temporarily unmanned, since in the wake of the disaster the village budget is paying to have the onsen free for use for all. Sakura leads Fuu to the women's locker, where the onsen's landlady Kitade-san is looking harassed by the increased traffic, ordering her staff around as she herself pitches in by receiving the dirty clothes and labeling them.
Staring is generally considered bad form in an onsen, but Sakura isn't sure she blames those who stop to gawk at what Fuu reveals from underneath her crop top. Between her breasts is the locus of a seal which runs over her left breast like a spray, intricate and mesmerizing.
It certainly catches Kitade-san's attention when Fuu waltzes over to surrender her clothing. "No tattoos," she says firmly, pointing to a large sign at the top of the wall with ONSEN RULES written on top of it.
"A tattoo? Isn't this a Hidden Village? Obasan, these are seals ya know!" Fuu grabs a handful of boob and points at it unnecessarily. "Even checked out by one of your own jounin, so they're completely fine!"
Kitade-san makes a quick recovery. "We also don't allow foreigners."
"No foreigners?! That's not—"
"Kitade-san, this is Danzo-sama's special guest Fuu-san," Sakura cuts in, and is prepared to explain further but Kitade-san's eyes widen.
"Oh, well, of course, that is different!" She fumbles as she grabs Sakura's clothing from her, nearly dropping some of it. "Risa! Risa, show our honoured guests to the Sumire bath."
"The Sumire? But that's—"
"Yes, yes, the Sumire, I know! Unless you have a vacant room in your pocket!" Without looking at Sakura or Fuu, she thrusts yukata and slippers at them.
"Hey, that's not—" Fuu begins again as she takes a yukata.
"Yes, ma'am." The servant bows and gives them an official smile. "This way please."
"That's not very friendly ya know!" Fuu yells over her shoulder at the landlady as Sakura hustles them off after the servant.
Sakura has only ever been in the women's group bath portion, adjacent to the women's changing room, but they follow the servant down dim wooden hallways towards the ryokan inn end of the business. Doors are unlocked, and they suddenly blink into sunshine. The air is crisp and snips at their ankles as they pad down little steps.
"Excuse me," the servant says, but she is not addressing either of them, but rather the occupant of the matcha-coloured tub enclosed in a high fence lined with pine trees. "Because of the crowding, we need you to share your bath, Hinata-sama. We do apologize."
"O-oh! That's—it's fine! We're—well, I haven't met—but Sakura-san is my friend and—it's fine!" Hinata-chan's blank eyes, as ever, provide a weirdly placid centre to the confusion and discomfort on the rest of her face from attempting to communicate that she was friends with Sakura, but strangers with Fuu, and didn't mind the presence of either. Her cheeks were already pink from the bath. "This is my last dip anyway!"
The servant bows to them all and retreats.
"Hinata-chan, this is Fuu-san, a jounin of Takigakure. Fuu-san, Hyuuga Hinata is the heiress of the Hyuuga clan." Sakura never had to introduce someone to someone else while one of them was naked and the other was stripping off her yukata to become naked before.
"I'm not... that is to say, my cousin Neji is... I am very glad and I hope that he will... to be truthful, I do not think..."
"You shouldn't downplay yourself, Hinata-chan!" Sakura turns to Fuu, who is rinsing her body in a business like manner while frowning at the tub's water. "Hinata-chan is an expert user of her clan's special technique of Gentle Fist and a superb sensor as well."
"Ah, superb is a b-bit much..."
"Is that soup?" Fuu points at the murky green water.
Hinata seems to relax a small amount at the introduction of a topic that is not related to her specifically. "It's a medicinal blend mixed with the spring water. A Hyuuga clan blend for the skin..."
"Ah?" Sakura hangs up her yukata and pads over the water, analyzing it. Burdock... orange peel... peony root... tea leaf... skullcap...
"Ah, really? Okay for a pregnant woman?"
"Oh! Ah, congratulations, Fuu-san, uh, yes! Yes, in fact we make a cream from some of the same ingredients to aid the stretching of the skin—"
"Why sappanwood?" Sakura's brows furrow.
"How did you—oh, of course, Sakura-chan, you would know. Ah, I don't really know... it's not in the cream, only the bath mix..." She blinks as Fuu settles herself in the tub right next to Hinata, instead of leaving a discreet amount of space between them.
"Sorry about your town and all," Fuu says cheerfully. "Wanna be friends?"
"I, uh, of course, that is, u-um," Hinata's eyes always look blank but her face turns towards Sakura with a certain amount of supplication. "We've just met, so you don't know me very well..."
Poor Hinata-chan still can't imagine anyone actually wanting to be her friend. "Fuu-san reminds me a lot of Naruto," Sakura says, "So I'm sure you'll get along, Hinata-chan."
"You should call me Fuu-chan too, hey!" Fuu demands as Sakura enters the tub at a more decorous pace. "No need to be strangers! No time for it when you're ninja ya know! Plus I'm basically a Leaf nin too now, eh."
That brings to the forefront of her mind something that had been bothering her. "Won't your village declare you a missing-nin?"
"Nah," says Fuu. "I sent the old man a note. He'll be mad but he'll get over it. Not like I'd ever really abandon Takigakure ya know! But he gets it. I mean, this is the only village that's ever had a jinchuuriki give birth successfully hey? So he should understand why I'd come."
"You're a jinchuuriki like Naruto?" Hinata asks.
"Sure am!" Fuu brandishes fingers at them both. "Seven Tails! Hey, it's so great that people in your village are so nice to jinchuuriki! Back in my town it was basically just me and the old man most of the time."
Hinata looks away. Sakura says awkwardly, "Uh... well, actually..."
To her surprise, though, Hinata speaks up. "We weren't always kind to him," she says softly. "Some people were... cruel... and for the most part he was just... avoided, or... sneered at. But Naruto, even though for the longest time no one acknowledged him, he never became bitter or full of hate, he never stopped trying... he is the strongest person I've ever met. I only wish... I only wish that I had had the courage earlier to approach him..."
That bring another issue to mind. Her promise to Naruto to speak to Hinata. It seems doubtful in these hectic days that she'll get another chance to speak to her... but the presence of Fuu will surely complicate things...
To Sakura's surprise though, Fuu brings the subject up herself. "You like him, hey?" She nudges the younger girl who flushes.
"W-well... w-w-well I..."
"Naruto said that you said you loved him," Sakura says, as gently as she can for how blunt it is.
"Giiiirl! That's what I like to see! Go and get it!" Fuu claps, splashing the herbal water about. "Ninja! No time to lose!"
"Well, I did but... but Sakura-chan..."
Hinata is a private and shy person and Sakura knows this, but it's like a tooth being extracted. There's no stopping it now. "Naruto brought it up to me because he was very confused about what you meant, and I said I would talk to you."
Hinata's face drops. "I thought I was going to die," she tells the water, "so it wouldn't matter. I just thought... if I could give him ten more seconds alive, ten more seconds to try, even a one in a million chance..."
"You thought that was worth your life?"
Hinata is silent, and Sakura realizes she's put more heat into her words than she intended.
"A love confession on the battlefield!" sighs Fuu. "How romantic. And now you have the chance to live it out! It's like, a dream come true eh?"
"But that doesn't mean you have to rush things," says Sakura. "Naruto is... well, he's not stupid exactly, but he's not exactly ready to settle down, either, and we're all young. Whatever the regrets of the past are..." Hinata raises her head, and Sakura thinks she's hit a nail, "none of us are the kids we were in the academy anymore, and none of us are where we want to be yet. We've all got a lot of growing and changing to do. But if you can give each other a... a special kind of support, and comfort... have fun together and laugh..." She steadfastly disregards unbidden girlish fantasies of Sasuke-kun from bygone days that float back to the front of her mind at the idea of together and laughing. "I think he might ask you on a date, and I think you should say yes."
Sakura smiles, and Hinata tentatively smiles back.
"I think any guy'd be crazy not to ask you out," says Fuu, wrecking the moment. "You Hyuugas got a formula for your hair too?"
"Ah, in fact, we do—"
"How about bigger boobs?" Hinata sputters, and Fuu sighs. "Yeah, I'm probably too old for anything to make a difference now. Bummer. Anyway, some men don't care. That Jiraiya-sama of yours, for instance—the entire time he was inspecting my seal—" She gestures to her nose. "Like a torrent, ugh. I took a shower as soon as he left. But I gotta say, he helped a lot with my tailed beast. Don't know if I could have escaped from those Akatsuki freaks otherwise."
"Akatsuki freaks? Which?" says Sakura.
"It was a shame. I always wanted to meet Kakuzu. Seemed like he ought to be a firecracker, from all I heard about him, but he was just mean. And the other guy..." She shook her head. "He got my bodyguards, and that's when I realized I was way over my head. I used my blinding skills to get away, though. Just flew like hell. Lucky for me they got called off of me and put onto the Two Tails and then they made you all angry so you took them out. And then Kisame was assigned to me and I got my own love story!"
Love story? With an S-class terrorist?!
"Enemies to lovers is the best," Fuu challenges, perhaps gauging Sakura's incredulity. "You just wait. I'm gonna live a best seller!"
—
Kakashi kneels before Danzo with his eyes on the kanji for fire.
"When I leave the village to attend the summit," the Hokage says, "I am sure I can count on you to maintain order in my absence. We are all, of course, grateful for our jinchuuriki's defeat of a threat… but his arrival was so late. We suffered such catastrophic damage."
"The village will be rebuilt in no time, with assistance from our allies and Yamato's jutsu, Danzo-sama," Kakashi answers. "When it becomes known that not a single Leaf shinobi was lost, our enemies will know they have cause to fear the Leaf."
A chair scrapes. "Allies?"
"Hai, Danzo-sama. The building operation is being spearheaded by a talented builder from the Land of Waves—"
"Unacceptable. To let an outsider have such knowledge of our infrastructure? Why was I not informed of this? What was he building?"
Kakashi suppresses a noise of disgust. He unintentionally placed Tazuna's head in a noose; now he needs to get it off. "Merely housing, sir. He is a former Leaf client, and this help may perhaps better be seen as a late payment for the true value of the mission we performed for him."
Danzo grunts. "Ah, yes. I remember now. More foolishness, treating the jinchuuriki like a regular genin to begin with… and clients who lie should be abandoned to their fate, Kakashi. In the future, such a thing will not be allowed to happen, you understand?"
"I understand, sir."
"But back to present matters. I leave for the summit today, and I am expecting—"
He stopped because there was a scuffle and spiking chakra. Kakashi turns to the door, ready to attack, but instead who barges through is none other than Naruto, with a stiff Neji and a cringing Hinata in his wake.
"You need better guards dattebayo," Naruto begins without preamble. "Sorry if I killed them."
"You didn't," murmurs Neji, but Naruto doesn't seem to notice.
"What do you think you're doing?" says Danzo, ice cold and furious, but Naruto doesn't pay much attention to that either.
"Sorry," he says, not sounding sorry at all, "but it's an emergency! You need to marry us right now!"
Kakashi allows himself to close his eyes for a few moments. The number one unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja… So that's what that smell is.
It takes Danzo a bit longer than that to respond, but he doesn't have Kakashi's experience with Naruto. "Marry you? To a member of the Hyuuga main house? Are you out of your mind? I'd say you should apply to Hiashi-sama, but I can tell you, boy, forget it!"
"But we need to get married right now! Hinata, she… well… y'know… and so I… and then we… and that's why we need to get married dattebayo!" Naruto blunders around, saying everything without actually saying anything.
Kakashi glances at Danzo and is secretly pleased to see that Danzo is speechless.
"If I may, Danzo-sama," Neji cuts in smoothly. "I can fully appreciate that you, as Hokage, with highest respect for the charters of the founding of Konoha, cannot interfere with Hyuuga internal affairs such as marriage, no matter how much you may rightly wish to help a hero of the Leaf." Neji pauses to give a highly unconvincing smile to Danzo. "But I have good news for you, Danzo-sama. Even the founders foresaw this kind of scenario. Knotted mates have special rights under the law." He steps forward, holding out a scroll. "I brought the relevant legislation, if you wish to see it."
Danzo reaches out his hand, but Neji does not relinquish the scroll, instead holding it as if he expects Danzo to take it with his useless bandaged arm. There is a strained pause, Neji's unconvincing smile never wavering.
"Ah, my mistake, Danzo-sama," Neji finally says, handing the scroll into the good hand. "How silly of me."
Danzo doesn't open the scroll. He sits back down slowly, regarding Neji alone. "What is your interest in this?"
"If Hinata-sama's bond with a non-clan member is discovered while she's still bound by clan law, Hiashi-sama will have her marked with the Caged Bird seal and sterilized," Neji says bluntly. "I won't let that happen. It will not happen, Danzo-sama."
"I see. That's all?"
"That's all. I have no wish to further anger Hiashi-sama, in any matter." Neji pauses, and Kakashi is sure that Neji's subtle tap on his arm is significant in some way. "If you can avoid mentioning my involvement in this wedding, I would be most grateful."
Danzo takes less time than Kakashi expects to answer this. "Of course. You are right, young Neji, that I wish to honour our acclaimed hero. How fortunate that you put me in the way of doing him a good turn. Naruto. The clan districts are largely undisturbed by the attacks. The Shimura compound is far too large for just myself, alas, with quite a few completely empty houses. Allow me to offer you any of one of them that you and your new bride would like, as a wedding present."
Naruto grabs onto Hinata, who lets out a startled squeak as Naruto talks over it. "Wow! That'll be great!"
"And of course, for your security," continues Danzo, "your captains Kakashi and Yamato, and a few guards of my own, will monitor your honeymoon month. You two can really get to know each other. So important for the mental health, or so I'm informed."
Kakashi racks his mind trying to come up with a way out of this, but Naruto surprises him again. "Yeah, uh, sure. Okay. We'll go straight there then? Kaka-sensei, you can take me there, right?"
Puddles on a dry day.
Kakashi gives an eye crinkle smile. "Not a problem, Naruto."
—
Sakura reflexively shrieks and smashes the vermin that skitters in front of her, and it becomes a smeared message, something about following. She sighs. Why does Sai's ink messenger have to be mice? Doesn't he understand how bad it is to see mice at a hospital?
Another couple of mice crawl near their smashed comrade with some amount, perhaps, of trepidation in their inky movements.
She sighs. "Do I follow you? Can it wait?"
The tiny whiskers shake.
"Fine. Hinouchi-san!"
"Hai!"
"I'm needed. I'll be back when I can." She pulls off her lab coat and hangs it up.
"Hai!"
The mice leads her scampering over rooftops, construction sites, and finally to tents, and panic surges in her chest. Is it Tsunade-shishou? Something's happened! Why is Sai sending for me? Oh no. Is Danzo involved?
And the mice do indeed lead her into Tsunade's tent, but Shizune is kneeling at her master's side calmly, and so Sakura's heart settles back in its proper place. "What's going on? Why did you call me here?" Then she blinks. "Why is Shikamaru tied up?"
"Goddamn troublesome women," Shikamaru growls. "Have you ever heard the story of the sirens?"
"There's an alpha female in rut somewhere among the tents," Shizune explains less poetically. "She's on the hunt."
"Oh!" says Sakura, self-consciously looking away from Shikamaru, now that she understands exactly why scents of mango and fenugreek with a metallic tinge are wafting from her former classmate. "Uh... I don't know much about the... tracking of pheromones and..."
"It won't be a problem," Sai says from behind her, and when she turns, her eyes widen as she smells not only ink and paper, but also a confusing blend of burnt matches, star anise, and cilantro.
Sai is an omega too?
"But won't you be in... uh... danger, if that's the right word?"
He gives her that big fake smile. "No."
Okay... weird...
"Alright, lead on."
They deal with the issue quietly and discreetly, injecting the young civilian woman with the heat suppressants and bustling her off to the hospital, then return to the tent to free Shikamaru.
He's already untied and smoking with a wounded expression outside the tent when they get back, but since she's already there, she decides to go in and see if Shizune needs anything.
"Wait, Sakura... I need to speak with you." Sai makes hand seals, and the air inside the tent thickens with chakra. It must be some kind of countermeasure against espionage, but it's like a strange sauna-like atmosphere, though not humid at all. She finds herself conscious of her own breath.
"I cannot reveal how I discovered it or how they did it," Sai begins, "but I think Naruto and Kakashi-sensei have left the village to attempt to get the Kage to call off the capture-or-destroy order on Sasuke."
"Left the village?!" Without me? she wants to protest... not out of disbelief, and that's the worst of it. She swallows it with the thickened air and forces out instead, "But Kakashi-sensei told us that Naruto had to be on his best behaviour or Danzo—"
"Kakashi-sensei believes in Naruto," Sai interrupts her. "Even if it is futile... he wants to give him the chance to try. I know I'm just Sasuke's replacement, and I haven't known any of you long, or well... not that I actually understand emotions to begin with... and I don't know whatever promise he made to you back then, but even I can tell that Naruto... really loves you!"
His slightly raised voice and pained expression, compared to his normal attitude, are like an ordinary person screaming in agony. It hits Sakura directly in the heart, where Naruto's words, his smiling face, his unconscious body—all the memories are swirling.
It bubbles up into her tear ducts, just watering at first, but the moment she notices her tears she's done for. Don't cry, Sakura. Don't you dare cry, you crybaby... big forehead... useless... deadweight... The tears come faster and faster, and her back bends with them.
"Sakura..." Shizune-sempai's worried voice only makes the tears flow faster.
What am I even doing?
"Naruto's been under the burden of that promise for a long time now... and I think he intends to bear it for the rest of his life. I don't know what you said to Naruto... but it feels like what was done to me... like a curse mark."
Sakura forces her breathing through this stunning idea. Is that what I've done to Naruto? Am I... am I really no better than Orochimaru?
"Sasuke causes Naruto to suffer... but I think you do as well."
Can I deny it? Can I honestly deny this?
"Naruto's not doing it just because of some promise he made to Sakura!" protests Shizune-sempai. "He wants to save Sasuke for his own sake!"
"Of course I agree, but Sakura, and I, and everyone in this village rely too much on Naruto. Lately, when I look at Naruto, I feel... his sadness... and then I think about Sasuke, and I feel this heat, here, in my belly... " Sai gestures, his face back to its sombre neutral. "...which I've learned is anger. We've got to do something about this issue ourselves, for Naruto and Konoha."
"Sai's right," says Shikamaru, with the sound of a lifting flap, though Sakura doesn't look up. He only smells like cigarettes now.
"Shikamaru?" says Shizune-sempai.
Sai says calmly, "I should have known. The light cast your shadow onto the tent and we could see it within... and you can listen through that?"
A cigarette stub drops onto the ground and Sakura watches Shikamaru's sandaled foot grind it away.
"I'm not giving away freebies today, Sai. The point is, we're not kids anymore and we've got to face facts. Sakura, Sasuke's gone and made himself an enemy of the Cloud. So the Cloud kills him, and then you and Naruto go and kill somebody from Cloud... then maybe somebody from Cloud kills you... now there's no way the rest of us would let that be..."
How did I get so many loyal friends when I'm...?
"So then maybe more of us die, and if we died then our parents would want vengeance and it would blow up into total war. And then we have an alliance with the Sand—who knows who Kumo would try to drag in on the other side—and meanwhile the Akatsuki is still trying to kill Naruto and they'd be getting plenty of chances to do it. Naruto who just saved all our asses not so long ago. Sasuke is part of Akatsuki now, and Akatsuki is an enemy of not only Konoha but the entire world, so the longer he stays with him the more enemies Sasuke will rack up. We need to take care of Sasuke ourselves. You understand what I'm saying, right, Sakura?"
Why is crying all I can do... no. No, I'll do better than this.
"So that's why I'm asking you to consent to this, Sakura... and I'll need to talk to Naruto as well..."
"Shikamaru... please don't say anything more..." Her hands slowly form into fists, then release. She wipes her eyes. "I... should be the one to talk to Naruto. That fool who's in love with me... so let me tell him. I've caused him more pain than anyone... made nothing but mistakes... I won't make another one."
She has control of herself now. Shikamaru's right... whoever kills Sasuke will be hated by Naruto...
And therefore, it should be me...
—
"'Take it slow,' we said. 'Find out how you feel,' we said." Kakashi dodges a branch that Naruto ripped off and chucked at him.
"It was not my fault! All I did was say I thought we should maybe have a date and booooooooom!" Naruto swings from a branch, making his cloak flutter out behind him. "Suddenly nothing mattered!"
"But you didn't use your scent blocker?" Tenzou challenges. He makes a hand seal and the branch that Naruto was reaching for to use as a projectile retreats back into the tree, sending Naruto plummeting off balance into the snow.
He pops back off and shakes himself like a large fluffy white dog. "Gah! I forgot it, okay! And before you say anything, yes she had a heat suppressant but we just didn't use it. And that's all I'm telling you perverts dattebayo!"
Kakashi grins behind his mask, but Tenzou sputters. "Pervert? Sempai, did you hear him?"
"Maa, until you understand this," Kakashi waves a copy of Icha Icha Violence at them both, "can you be honoured with the title?"
"Yeah, well," Naruto says, puffing himself up, "I know now that it's nothing like in those boring books at all."
"Poor Hinata," Kakashi can't resist saying, but he knows they have to get on track, so he cuts off another sputter with a question to Tenzou. "How soon until we need to apply more stealth?"
"We should close in on them enough to need caution in about twenty minutes, sempai. I'll give a warning in fifteen."
"No, let's start now," Kakashi replies. "Naruto, exactly how much chakra is in your clone?"
"About a third, sensei," Naruto replies.
Tenzou reels. "What?! Are you crazy?! Why would you put so much into the decoy? I barely left any of my chakra in my wood clone. Do you know what kind of enemies we're going to be up against?"
"Hey, hey, what about some credit huh? It was a good plan and I came up with it! I thought he might do something to arrest me, and he did!"
"You were right to put in that much, Naruto. Any less than that and you risk getting destabilized over such a long period of time… especially with what your clone will be doing. Maybe this will teach you to employ some caution instead of just blazing into things and trusting your massive reserves to save you. Now let's get going."
They start off again in stealth mode, although there is a brief stumble early on when Tenzou takes a sudden tumble. His bright red face when Kakashi checks on him implies that he just realized what Naruto's clone is doing on his honeymoon.
"My cute innocent kohai," Kakashi murmurs. "Let me help you."
He gives Tenzou the copy of Icha Icha as he helps him up. Tenzou huffs but simply stows it away.
In the quiet of their trek closer and closer to Team Samui, and hopefully its rendezvous with either the Raikage or the Kage Summit, Kakashi has time to puzzle some more over Neji's blackmail—for it can't have been anything else—of Danzo.
