This one is over 6600 words, which is pretty good considering I've been in the garden all day. It's strange how easy it is to piece things together, now that this story is at that stage. Well, that's not to say things won't be getting difficult. Actually, I get the feeling things will get very troublesome in the near future. Eh... I'm gonna have to work my ass off to get the chronology right for this.

Disclaimer:Friggin mangastream severs filling up, making me wait two hours to catch the new update.

Her face was marred with indecency

The storm had calmed by the following morning, though the sky was still haunted by grey clouds. Faint rays of sunlight broke through the dull blanket casting a shine upon the droplets on the leaves and the still damp earth. The weather was considerably clearer, but the path had been deemed too unstable for anyone to use. This message had been passed by a young guard, who had revealed the reason as he slipped and slid through the mud on his way to spread word around.

Naruto and Yagura stood at the back entrance to the palace, closing the doors behind them as they prepared to take their leave. But they were in no real hurry, and so leant forward on the railing as they viewed the terrain they would have to travel upon. Rocks filled a great deal of the view, from a steep hill down to a giant's gravel path, outlined with plateaus on either side. The boulders had been painted black by the god of storms, turning the almost blue rocks into a sea of beetles.

The Oto nin remained in the palace, helping the preparations that were finally getting underway. As it was agreed with the new Daimyo, Yoinokuchi and the former Otogakure were to receive a village further east, one of Ta no Kuni's most valuable and therefore the Daimyo most wanted protection for. It was this point that was still fresh in the two Jinchuuriki's minds, and naturally so. "Man, and I thought making a hidden village was hard!" Naruto remarked, still wearing the grin he was so far unable to rid himself of. "We got ninja, we got a village, we got income, what more do we need?"

He had to wait a moment for an answer, as Yagura gave it some serious thought. The straw haired boy raised his chin from his propped arm for a moment, just long enough to offer a reply. "No point asking me, it's Utakata who knows about these sort of things." he mumbled, before slumping back onto the banister once more. "All we have are the bare essentials, and most basic of that. We need more money, more ninja, and more time. After that, who knows?"

Naruto let his head drop onto the red wood, taking a slight moment of mourning for his lost feeling of elation. The king of wet blankets had done it again. "Well we got the Hizuma clan, and like, sixty Oto nin?" he speculated, looking very relaxed for someone usually so overly enthused. He counted a total of around seventy ninja, which was pretty good by his reckoning. "Once we put in an academy and get some of those ninja to start teaching, we can have Genin doing D-ranks and stuff while the older ones get on missions and building and things like that."

Yagura cocked a brow at his half sleeping leader, wondering where thinking like that had come from. But then he remembered something, his brows arcing as he looked out to the mile of stones ahead. "Right, that's Konoha's style isn't it?" he asked, crossing his arms on the wood. He remembered a time when he tried to get his memory jogging, by asking Utakata about the differences between the five hidden villages. "Konoha put most of its attention on the education system, right?"

"You trying to piss me off or something?"

The Sanbi Jinchuuriki couldn't help but chuckle there, with a slightly apologetic smile on his face. Though he didn't know much about the ninja system, he knew that there were few people among the Jinchuuriki who would be glad to be connected with their former villages. "Heh, what are you getting so wound up about?" he asked, casting a glance to the blond haired boy for a second. But when all he got was a grumble in reply, he began to lazily look around again. Through the mounds of black rocks, he spotted the body of the assassin from last night, and once more tried to figure out what that man's purpose had been. Hadn't he said he was going to test- "Something's happening." he suddenly said, gripping the banister and leaning forward.

Naruto looked in that direction, not quite sure what he was expecting to see. But like Yagura, he was soon hit with a serious look as he realised that the body of the person the Daimyo called Jin, was being approached by a figure in black. Neither boy wasted a moment vaulting over the railing, running towards the person hidden behind a large, black hooded cloak. That person, who was a little distance away, cast a glance to them before crouching down to Jin's body. The two Yoinokuchi members skidded to a halt not far away from this stranger, both wearing demanding looks. "Who the hell are-" Naruto began, before he was interrupted by a shocking voice.

"Is that enough… Kabuto-sama?"

Naruto stared frozen, his eyes fixed upon the body of Jin. Somehow, impossibly, the young man was opening his eyes to look up at the hooded figure. The blood from last night had been washed away by the rain, and he was showing signs of pneumonia. He had survived Naruto's attack, and remained out in the storm all night long? "No way!" Naruto exclaimed, voicing his disbelief with a stunned expression. Beside him, Yagura was feeling the same. He too knew that when Naruto returned last night, the boy had to be dead. No one could survive after fighting with Naruto, not in conditions like this. If the fight hadn't killed them, the cold would have.

Their attentions lifted as the hooded figure slowly looked up at them again. As that mysterious person straightened up, Naruto caught a flash of light reflecting off of round glasses, and bore witness to the coldest smiles he had ever seen. "Yeah… that'll do I suppose." said the person Jin called Kabuto. That man looked almost subhuman, with his skin as pale as snow and cracked like a vase glued clumsily together. His golden eyes were marked with slits, his lids outlined with purple serpentine markings. Wavy grey hair cast over his brow and hung by his temples, giving him a cool look which only made him creepier. "I'd rather it was more, but it looks like I'm going to have to improvise."

Yagura tensed at the feeling he got from this person, a killing intent reeking of sadistic pleasure. He looked to his side to speak to Naruto, realising in surprise that his leader was still frozen solid. "… Naruto?" he thought, studying his associate's flitting eyes worriedly. Naruto stood deadly still, but was looking at Kabuto frantically, almost desperately. "What are you seeing?"

Even if Yagura had asked that question aloud, there was no possible way Naruto could easily answer. What he saw was not something he could easily put into words; his thoughts alone were far beyond his comprehension. "This guy… his energies are going insane!" the swordsman told himself, as he witnessed the torrential auras of this mysterious stranger. His physical and mental energy both seemed to be fluctuating sometimes, and corroding at others. "He's a walking bomb, how the hell is he alive?"

Both Naruto and Yagura jumped slightly as Kabuto suddenly whipped his head around, the gold markings on his hood glistening like a snake's wink. When he turned his head back, he wore a thin smirk that couldn't conceal the spike in dark intentions. "Looks like I'll have to hurry, company is coming." he said, wasting no time. He shifted his arm ever so slightly to point at Jin, his eyes flashing dangerously as he watched the two Jinchuuriki for their reactions. "I wonder if you'll thank me for this."

Without further warning, the two boy's gazes were forced upon the sleeve of Kabuto's cloak, where something huge had just bolted out. A long, thick snake had protruded from that space, diving straight into Jin's stomach without a moment for consideration. Kabuto completely ignored the spurt of blood and the cry of pain from his dying subordinate, waiting only to see the faces of the two people watching.

Jin was changing, and changing fast. His hair was retracting, and losing colour at an alarming rate. His body shrunk slowly, and his eyes took on a different shape. On his left cheek, just below his eye, a black marking like a stitched up scar started to appear. When his hair turned to a dim gold, and his eyes to a pupilless pink, Naruto couldn't resist looking at Yagura. This time, it was that person who was frozen solid. Within moments, Jin had taken on the same appearance, as Yagura himself.

The two of them watched the second Yagura, both knowing what others would probably dismiss. This was no transformation technique; this was more like a sealing Jutsu, being released. Naruto realised now, that the energies of Jin were very similar to Yagura's, bar the changes the real one had made in the past few months. He had little doubt about it, but no means to explain it. As for Yagura, he had no possible explanation for what he was seeing.

"Gah!" the ex-Kiri-nin cried, his hands suddenly reaching out to his leg. He and Naruto were shocked to discover the head of a much smaller snake peeking through the rocks, clutching on to Yagura' leg like a vice. Naruto wasted no time in dismembering the assaulting serpent, but it seemed the effect was already taken care of. Yagura grabbed his wound, but his face was not contorted in pain. His eyes were open to their fullest, almost fearfully so, and his mouth stretched to its widest. He had a look of complete terror, but was unable to say anything of it.

"YAGURA!" Naruto yelled, grabbing his blade and whipping around in a pure, destructive rage. He cut straight through Kabuto's mid section, but to his horror the serpentine stranger faded away into thin air, the place Naruto had cut burning away with flames. As the bespectacled man was about to vanish, he gave a small wave that showed absolutely no remorse. Naruto saw his energies disappear, and knew that he had already lost his chance. But with other things to concentrate on, he paid this little heed.

The Ekokaeten was quickly replaced on his back, his focus moving over to Yagura. The shorter boy had fallen to his knees, clutching the bite wound tight. His eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth gritted, containing whatever experience he was going through to the best of his abilities. Naruto crouched down beside him, his own eyes flitting over Yagura in a panicked state. The pulsating aura, the energy of the Bijuu, was going insane, blasting out of his body in a freakish frenzy. "What the hell did that guy do to him?" he thought, as Yagura through his head down in agony.

Naruto lowered his own head to check on Yagura's expression, uncertain of what it was he should do. Then Yagura's neck snapped up, his eyes splitting open. What Naruto then saw was enough to make him fall on his rear, a sight so unusual that he could never have expected it. In the centre of Yagura's empty amaranth eyes, small black pupils were growing in. With those tiny dots came a shine to his eyes, one that Naruto would never have known his fellow outcast was missing. Then, once again, Yagura hung his head, his face disappearing in shadow.

The young man's grunts were barely noticeable, his strength of will kept them well contained. The fluctuations of his energies were settling down, to almost the same as they had been. But there was one thing that didn't go back to normal. His Bijuu energy pulsed slightly stronger than before, and in Naruto's opinion, it was more wholesome, if volatile, than it had ever been in the past. "Is this-" he thought, his brow creasing in confusion. Suddenly he whipped his head up to the place that Kabuto had been, and then to the second Yagura with the gaping hole in his stomach. An idea came to his head, a memory from quite a while ago.

They were in Ta no Kuni, the place where Oto no Kuni had once been in control. That village had been under the rule of a person known as Orochimaru, who had small bases scattered even in other countries. Naruto recalled one of those bases in particular, a place that he and Utakata had visited once on a mission from Akatsuki. It was that place, where they had found a nest of freaks, mutated by the power of a giant eye. The eye of the Sanbi no Kyodaigame. "But that's impossible, we wrecked that place!" Naruto told himself, as he looked back to Yagura with a tense face. Utakata had been in such a rage about what he had seen that there was nothing left to do but obliterate that base and everything in it. "But no matter how I look, I can't help but see-"

"We're surrounded."

It took him a moment to realise it, but Naruto found that what Yagura spoke was true. He looked around and immediately noticed it, what Kabuto had mentioned before. In the trees of the plateaus above and the rocks down below, Shinobi had been deep in hiding. But after what had just happened to Yagura, it seemed they were choosing now to make their move. The multitude of energies Naruto's eyes picked up told him there had to be at least twenty ninja here, but why?

Before he could come to a conclusion however, Yagura stepped past him. As the Sanbi Jinchuuriki moved on by, he gave Naruto a short word of warning. "Your sword has a barrier, you should use it." he said, giving Naruto only the shortest of glances. Then he continued on without further explanation, taking a quick but steady pace as ninja made their presences aware. When he was just thirty yards away, he came to a stop, before speaking loud and clear. "Ninja of Kirigakure no Sato, listen up…"

All around the ninja stopped, Naruto included. Everyone was listening to the young Shinobi, forced to pause by the air of authority he exuded. Yagura took several moments pause, before spreading his legs apart and lowering his stance. "Actually, forget about it." he continued, with a quietly pissed off look on his face. Before anyone could stop him, his hands became a blur as they flew through a string of seals that no one could make out. "Just die."

Almost without thinking about it, Naruto's hand flew to the hilt of his sword, gripping it tight while his attention remained on Yagura. The energies inside that boy where converging into his hands and feet, building in massive amounts. But to the blonde swordsman's surprise, it wasn't just mental and physical energy being funnelled into the attack. Yagura pressed his hands against the ground, before lifting his eyes to look straight on ahead. "My name is Yagura, the former Yondaime Mizukage of Kirigakure." he said, before his brow creased into a look of pure determination. "The Fuinjutsu Sovereign!"

As he said this, the rocks beneath his feet became covered by a dark circle expanding from his centre. This circle spread out over the rocks at a rate faster than any of the Shinobi here, bar perhaps Naruto, could run. Within moments, an incredible radius was filled with this giant circle, which was then the point where act two began. The darkness of the huge disk faded away, replaced with a perfect reflection of the world above. The Kiri Shinobi were in shock at what they saw, but their shock soon moved to other places; they couldn't move.

"Fuinjutsu: World of the Mirage!"

A number of the Shinobi suddenly cried out in shock, as they began to sink into the mirror at their feet. It was like descending into a pool of cold ooze, where no amount of chakra would allow them to cling to the surface. Though quite a few of them were caught in shock, the majority was able to keep their heads. These were Jounin of Kirigakure, they weren't about to lose themselves to this trick. And Yagura was an easy target, crouching there with his hands and feet clinging to his Jutsu.

The former Mizukage looked around him as he saw a multitude of projectiles headed his way. Kunai, shuriken, even spheres of water were flying his way at breakneck speeds. However, for someone like Yagura this was no problem. The sclera of his eyes began darkening to a deep, bruised shade of purple. A red, bubbling chakra rose from his body, beginning to envelope him in a shroud. But it was never allowed to be completed, for something came his way much faster than he could react to.

"The hell you think you're doing, stealing all the action?"

In the moment Yagura was stunned, Naruto took care of all the attacks that were coming their way. Before his feet even touched the ground, he threw his hands together in a cross ram seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called. Flickers of light appeared all around him, bringing forth six copies of Naruto who were also still mid air. Without taking a moment to collect themselves, the now six Naruto's followed up with another attack, throwing their hands out and crying out at the top of their lungs. "FUUTON: REPPUSHO!"

An explosion of wind pulsed out from their palms, sending a force that struck the coming projectiles either off course or into oblivion. Explosions created from the paper tags attached to kunai were triggered prematurely, and metal scattered uselessly onto the mirror on the ground. In an instant all the attacks were negated, and the Kage Bunshin dispelled. And once all that was done, Naruto returned to the ground with his hand back on his hilt, his barrier restored.

The enemy Shinobi had no more time for a second attack. The mirror below pulled them in, their reflections getting replaced with their actual bodies. Even Naruto was in shock, as an area filled with Shinobi suddenly became eerily empty. Then the mirror at Yagura's feet began to disappear, spreading out and returning the rocks beneath to the sun. even before the Jutsu was gone completely, Yagura rose to his feet and looked at Naruto. The blond boy returned the gaze, his impressed state replaced by a serious look.

"Yagura… you remember, don't you?"

"… Yeah."

A few days later, back at the temple in Hi no Kuni, Naruto and Yagura had finally returned. The place had changed very little, though it seemed there had been a heavy rain just like what they had experienced back in Ta no Kuni not so long ago. The ground was darkened and the moss was like a wet carpet, squelching under each step. The smell of water lingered in an almost nasty way. If no special measures had been taken for this, it wasn't hard to predict that many of the people here would fall ill.

Of course, this was at the back of the two boy's minds. Naruto had been uneasy around Yagura ever since the revelation about his memories, and Yagura had been understandably silent too. Both were rather troubled at what was going to happen during the talks that would come later. Even if Yagura wanted to hide what had happened, the fact that the mysterious person named Kabuto had such involvement with things related to Yagura was impossible to ignore.

One thing that was not how they remembered it was that the Hizuma nin were even more active than ever. From the looks of things they had finally settled in, and were now by the looks of things cleaning up. From the blood stains the two of them had passed on the way here, it wasn't difficult to see just why everyone was so anxious. "Hey, do you know where Utakata is?" Naruto asked, stopping one of the boys who was passing them by. That boy looked at Naruto in surprise, before jerking his head back to the place designated the medical bay. With this answer, and a quick look between the two Jinchuuriki, they suddenly quickened the pace.

The first person they met, out of all the people they knew, was Han. The oldest of the group was stood outside the makeshift infirmary, still clad in all his armour. He looked over to the two younger boys as they approached, straightening up and unfolding his arms. Naruto and Yagura were forced to stop as he stood in their way, raising his hand to make them pause. He watched them both with sharp, careful eyes, giving them either silent warning or perhaps telling them to prepare themselves. In either case, Naruto was just made more nervous.

Yagura however stepped forward, his brow creased with no other signs of a reaction. He stared deep into Han's eyes, while the taller Shinobi looked back. It took Han a moment to realise the change, the pupils that changed the similarity those two had shared. Understanding that there were things needing to be taken care of, Han stepped out of the way and allowed them to pass. With a slight nod of gratitude, Yagura and Naruto moved on by, making their way inside and steeling themselves for what they would see.

"You're mean Utakata-kuuun!"

The two homecoming ninja stepped in on a surprising scene. In the only two beds currently available in the infirmary, Utakata and Fuu were playfully fighting. That is, Fuu was trying to slap the bubble nin, while said bubble nin was pushing her face away with the advantage of his longer arms. In the corner of the room, they were both ignored by Sakura, who was studying a chart with some interest. All three of these people however stopped what they were doing, when they detected the presences in the room. And out of those three, Sakura was the only one who didn't freeze.

Yagura looked at his alleged brother, and his pupil, with slow sweeping eyes. The fun and games ended when those two realised the person they had hoped to be late had in fact been early. They quickly settled down, Fuu falling much more silent than Utakata, who couldn't help greeting his fellow team members with a bashful grin. "Hey, so you're back?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "This can be explained-"

"Useless."

Utakata, Fuu, Naruto and Sakura came to a sudden stop, their eyes widening to their fullest. Everyone lifted their attention to Yagura, who met no one's gaze, yet at the same time gave a frozen look to everyone. Without warning, he strode to the space between the two beds, before suddenly reaching out and grabbing Fuu's wrist. "Ah!" the girl cried, as her arm was hoisted up into the air. Yagura's eyes were fixed upon her palm, where three black waves had appeared. While he stared at this, Fuu's shocked expression dwindled, replaced with quiet shame as she let her eyes fall to the bed.

Behind them, Utakata believed Yagura to be displaying yet another example of his unsociable behaviour. To counter this, he lifted the blanket from him and took a step out of the bed, a cross look on his usually smiling face. "Hey niisan, cut it out!" he ordered, as he reached out to pull Yagura's arm away. But the moment he touched his closest friend, Yagura whipped his head around and glared hatefully into the other person's eyes. Their pupils met, and Utakata's face contorted in horror, his mouth opening wide. "No… you can't be… that wasn't the real you!"

Before anyone could try and stop this situation, Yagura grabbed on to Utakata's kimono with his free hand, pulling him in close enough that there was little to no distance between their eyes. "You don't have the right to decide which is the real me." he said, his voice by no means the kind that would be said to someone so close to him. With just a little effort, he pushed Utakata back onto the bed, the effort made easier by the boy's ongoing shock. "If you wanted to make that incomplete version of me real, you should have tried to stop me from becoming this in the first place."

"This guy had the Sanbi's eye." Naruto said, earning Utakata's rabid attention. There was no need to elaborate, but Utakata was still far from understanding. Back then, at that mission, Utakata had told Naruto some things. Despite how Yagura looked, he had been the Mizukage of Kirigakure for around twenty years, yet he still looked no older than seventeen.

What was more, some time during those twenty years Yagura had been attacked, and the Sanbi's right eye came under the possession of a person named Orochimaru. For that eye to return to Yagura, and to have an effect like this, it must have remembered everything Yagura had once been. Now that the Sanbi was complete, Yagura's memories were returned to him. And it was for that reason, that Utakata seemed so horrified.

While Naruto and Utakata remembered that time, Yagura turned back to his miserable student. He let go of her hand and instead gripped her shoulder, forcing her to turn and look up at him. While she two realised the change, she was given no time to process it like Utakata had. "I warned you." Yagura dangerously spoke, without a shred of compassion in his voice. "I told you not to let that happen, I trained you so it wouldn't happen. But in spite of this, you let it happen. You… you…"

Fuu winced in pain, as Yagura's grip on her shoulder grew tighter. But even so, she couldn't draw her fearful eyes from Yagura's, nor could anyone else look away. Killing intent leaked out of him, through his clenched teeth and the choked exhales he made. Fuu was the only one who could see his eyes however, and in turn hers couldn't possibly be more distraught. "You're too unconscious!" Yagura exclaimed, his eyes hidden in the shadow of his brow. "You treat everything like it's going to work out, relying on everyone else! Well stop it! Stop counting on other people, and start counting on yourself!"

Silence carried out from the other people in the room, with only Yagura's grunting exhales to break it. Several times he opened his mouth to speak, but was too caught up in whatever conflict was waging in his head. He suddenly turned away from Fuu, looking straight to the wall opposite as if he hated it. Then, with no other words, he stormed out of the room with his hands clenched into fists. Naruto didn't stand in his way, and neither did Han.

With the room quiet once again, everyone felt kind of numb. Their eyes were on the door for several moments, before a loud thud caused them to look at the beds. Utakata had struck the bedside cabinet with his fist, his twisted expression looking almost as bad as Yagura's. "Don't leave him alone!" he exclaimed, his other hand gripping bandages wrapped around his stomach. Sakura moved over in an attempt to get him to calm down, but he only had eyes for Naruto right now. "If he's alone, he'll do something!"

Even though he said this, Naruto was a little slow on the uptake. Before he could comprehend what "something" was, Fuu had already thrown the blanket off of her and ran from the room, heading in the same direction as Yagura had left. The swordsman, the bubble nin and the medic all looked after her, wondering if she was the right person to go after Yagura in this situation.

But before anyone could come to a decision on this, more was to come their way. From the other side of the door, Gaara appeared. His eyes had been after the running Fuu, but when he noticed Naruto in the infirmary his brow arced for a moment. Then that moment passed, replaced with a solid stare as he read a dangerous situation. "We'll hold a meeting later." he said, as he looked to the other disquieted faces in the room. "There are some things that need to be discussed."

Naruto blinked stupidly for a moment, before remembering what it was Gaara had been doing. Shaking his head, he realised that it was strange that he, Han and Fuu had made it back so early. "Ah… yeah, sure thing." he replied, doing his best to calm his fragmented mind. Right now he wasn't sure what would be bigger news; the events that transpired at the Daimyo of at no Kuni's palace, or whatever reason that the Hachibi retrieval team was here, with one member literally just getting out of care. "I'll meet you there."

At the back end of the temple, where the slabs were fewer and scattered, Yagura sat reclined against one which had risen at an angle. He didn't mind the mild dampness; he was used to cold climates from his time in Kirigakure. The moisture in this place paled in comparison to the near ever present mist that lingered in the depths of that village. It was enough however, to send him into a bitter nostalgia as he remembered those days.

The look on Utakata's face when he realised the truth, what he must have felt, lingered on Yagura's mind. That person who claimed they were closer than family, knew nothing of what Yagura was feeling right now. Though in actual fact, he couldn't exactly figure it out either. It wasn't accurate to say he was mixed up with his feelings. It was more like he was in disagreement with himself, the Mizukage Yagura against the missing nin Yagura. "The way Utakata always dodged my questions, I was sure that if I ever found out the truth, I would feel ashamed of myself." he said, pulling his legs up slightly and resting an arm on a knee. "But no matter how I look at it, I don't feel any remorse for what I've done. It all makes sense, it all still seems correct to me."

He didn't look as Fuu sat down beside him, hugging her knees as she silently listened. She had known from the start that Yagura had been the Mizukage of Kirigakure, it was in fact the point she recognised him for. Yagura had deeply considered probing her knowledge, to see if she knew anything that Utakata wouldn't say. But he had refrained himself from doing so, not wanting to burden Fuu with his feelings.

Letting his head drop down to his lap, he looked at his short body with narrow eyes, clear signs that he was trying to understand something difficult were present within them. "I've been the Mizukage for over two decades, everything I did was to keep the village strong." he continued, his mind returning to events that he couldn't even begin to speak of. "The village became known as the Bloody Mist because it needed to be. The village was in a state of despair, income was low and population high. Shinobi graduating were of a poor quality, and died very young. What else was there to do? We had to downsize, but we couldn't afford to lose any more money. So we made sure only the strongest got out, and then we worked them until they were even stronger."

Not knowing what to say to this, Fuu remained silent with her eyes on the ground before her. Though she had known Yagura's former position, and the nickname Kirigakure had at that time, the exact details hadn't been disclosed to her. Even now she wasn't completely sure, but the way Yagura said "downsizing" made her feel uneasy. "But… weren't you under a Genjutsu at the time?" she asked, her voice still quiet after what had happened not so long ago. She thought about what Utakata had said, and how Yagura had seemed to blame his friend for something. "Wasn't that the reason you-"

"I already said it; I don't regret what I did."

Fuu flinched at her sensei's sharp tone, her words escaping her as quickly as they had come. Yagura watched her from the corner of his eye, easily reading her thoughts with that simple glance. With a sigh, he turned his gaze back to the forest. "Genjutsu can only control your perception, not your way of thinking." he explained, wondering to himself why he felt the need to elaborate for Fuu. "At a high enough level, a Shinobi can create an illusion that adapts to the target's mind, and can manipulate more than the senses. The Genjutsu I was under was like that. It made me associate what I did with what was right. Essentially, my perception of right and wrong has been twisted so much, that even knowing this I don't want to change it. Even if I did, I couldn't."

Once more he let out a sigh, getting the feeling that he had spoken outside Fuu's realm of understanding. He was certain that if he tried to explain anymore, she couldn't possibly follow his outlook. "Maybe that's why Genjutsu is the most dangerous." he thought to himself. Injuries from Taijutsu and Ninjutsu could heal, but no amount of recovery could ever completely erase the effects of a powerful Genjutsu. Pulling his legs in tighter, Yagura's mouth became hidden behind his hand as his pupils flitted across nothingness. "Maybe that's why I like it best."

"Um… but if you didn't feel guilty, you wouldn't be thinking about it so hard, right?"

Yagura tensed, his attention suddenly turning back to Fuu. Was she an idiot, to think that he could have his mind on anything else at this time? Twenty years worth of memories had returned to him in an instant, even the best of minds couldn't easily concentrate like that. "I don't understand what you meant by unconscious, but aren't you the same?" she asked, causing confusion in her sensei to grow even larger. "If I… I mean…"

She left her explanation hanging, and as a result Yagura grew annoyed. If she was going to say something, she should have just said it, rather than worry if he'd get upset. "I mean, that's what I'd… do…" he told himself, before leaving his own thought hanging too. Just a second later, he scared Fuu with a sudden groan and face palm, almost wiping his pupils back out of his eyes with his self anger. "Damn it! … I get it…" he thought, as his hand slipped back down past his mouth. "I'm too cold… and you're too warm."

Fuu could think of nothing to say to that, but her cheeks turned to a shade of pink that came from being called warm. She hugged her knees closer to her chest, trying desperately to come up with a reply, but sure that if she spoke she would stammer. "I- is that so…" she mumbled, saying all she could manage. Though there was a niggling feeling that even if she did say something, Yagura already would know it.

Even though he had been so detached before, Yagura couldn't deny that he had already relaxed. Being around Fuu had that effect, though the same could usually be said for Utakata. It seemed then, that deep down he was a rather lonely person. "I'm not the person you knew a week ago." he said, not letting his feelings get in the way of the things that needed to be spoken. "Those days have been overcome by twenty years worth of memories. Sorry, but I'm not the person you like."

He winced as he suddenly felt a brush of wind hit his face; Fuu whipped her head around so fast he actually saw her wince in pain. But she ignored that feeling, her tanned skin turning a rosy red as her mouth began fluttering uncontrollably. "I-I-I- what was that?" she exclaimed, suddenly shaking her head from left to right as if trying to rid herself of a buzzing wasp. But shake though she did, she couldn't stop the vapours rising from her body; a clear sign of her highest embarrassment. Realising this, she stopped wasting her energy and instead stared rigidly at Yagura, before a powerful column of steam blasted from her head. "I… I… I…"

Yagura couldn't help slipping on a crooked smile as he looked at his flustered student. From the looks of things, even she hadn't completely come to terms with her feelings. But after what Yagura had gone through recently, he couldn't be more certain. There were very few people who would come running after a person who did what he did, and fewer who would do it without vengeful intentions. "I owe you an apology." he said, deciding that he would not avert his eyes until he had confessed everything. "Actually, it was Utakata who told me. But since then, I've been using your feelings as a means to make you stronger… I guess that's all the more proof that I'm someone like the Mizukage of the Bloody Mist village."

Fuu stared half dead at Yagura, the vapours fading as her already low hydration levels dwindled. She felt that if she became any more embarrassed, she might lose consciousness again. "Utakata-kun knows… please let me die…" she thought, as the desire to cry grew within her. However, she did her best to shake those feelings away, taking in the rest of what Yagura had said. With this, she became a lot quieter, looking down at her legs in an almost forlorn manner. "I… if it's ok…" she began, swallowing hard, "… can I see for myself first?"

Looking down at the shy girl, Yagura was caught speechless. He had been certain that Fuu would be too embarrassed to say anything, let alone something like that. Yet in spite of his surprise, he got over it without even trying. "Damn… I keep misreading you." he thought, as a thin smile appeared once again. Reclining back onto the rock, he reached out with his hand and placed it on Fuu's head, knowing it to be the safest place to touch at this time. "If that's what you want, then I don't mind." he said, as he felt Fuu tense up. Even without looking, he could read her intentions clearly. The embarrassment, the nervousness, and the glimmer of hope she felt as she slowly leant towards him. There was no way he could resist. "But you should know, I'm thirty eight years old. If I get involved with someone, I'll be looking to go all the way."

It may have been cruel, but that was one aspect that was never going to change. He may have regretted it however, as the last of Fuu's body fluids exploded from her skull, resulting in her fainting on his shoulder. A faint chuckle slipped out of his lips, as he slipped his arm around her. He allowed a few moments to just sit there, before deciding that it would be really bad if Fuu died because of him. So without wasting any more time, he picked her up, and headed to bother their medic once again.