Disclaimer: Naruto will never ever belong to me, never, alright? Seriously.
Fire Country, Unknown Location
Rain dripped down from the thousands of leaves above them, splashing tiny droplets on their hair. The wind and thunder had long stopped but the rain kept falling in sheets that reduced visibility to near nothing. It plastered her hair to her skin and made her lungs feel soggy.
Jiraiya came to a halt in front of them and Sakura stopped and put an arm out to catch Ino. Both girls watched on, and the only sound was the hundreds of thousands of water droplets falling to the earth. His silvery hair flipped over his shoulder as he looked into the trees.
"You know you don't have to sneak around us like that." Jiraiya clicked his tongue in mock impatience. "Just get out here."
Something in the murk seemed to shift and two familiar forms emerged from the rain.
Sakura grinned. "Anko-chan."
She ignored Kakashi entirely (and he was reading an Icha Icha book and ignoring her, anyways) and Anko swept over and threw her arms around both Sakura and Ino's shoulders. "And how are my favorite two kunoichi doing?" The older jonin purred.
Once upon a time Anko had been their sensei during the courtesan training they'd received after their fifteenth birthdays. The course was required for all kunoichi, but only the girls who had shown any aptitude for it were given the full regiment in the arts of seduction and deception. Sakura had declined any further training. Ino on the other hand, had sparked Anko's interest and that interest eventually resulted in the jonin recommending the blonde to Ibiki. It'd been a match made in hell and the Torture and Interrogation department had certainly seen an upswing in intel from broken and sobbing shinobi.
Anko fondly called it the Ino-effect.
During this time Sakura had hung out with the older jonin constantly. She'd gone to bars with Anko off and on for the next year and change (along with Ino and infrequently, Hinata), and she supposed they were something close to friends if not there already.
Anko gave them both a once over before breaking into a sly smile. "Anybody have any good stories for me? Either sex or violence works for me, but you know I prefer both in liberal amounts."
Sakura smirked. "Sorry Anko, but we're a bit too busy to get into anything really kinky right now."
The jonin sighed unhappily. "Shame."
Ino remained silent and watched them with darkened eyes. The smile fell from Sakura's face. They were here for more important reasons than playing catch up with an old friend.
Jiraiya spoke. "Unless some of you are going to start making out I think we need to move this along."
Anko clicked her tongue in disappointment and drifted back to Kakashi. "So what do you need us for?"
The Sage dropped straight to business. "There was a severe breech of Village security less than twenty-four hours ago. Orochimaru sent in a large assassination platoon to infiltrate behind our walls and take out our command structure along with some of our best ninja while they were in their homes."
Anko and Kakashi both took in sharp breaths and the book in her old Sensei's hands dipped a fraction.
Anko's hands twisted until her knuckles were white, and her lips peeled from her teeth. "What were the casualties?" She knew how Orochimaru worked better than anyone.
He answered grimly. "Too many."
Sakura felt Ino's hand fisting in the back of her shirt. The jinchuuriki could offer her friend no comfort but silence.
Anko seethed. "Then what the hell are you doing out here? This squad isn't big enough to be an assassination team for that son of a bitch."
Sakura spoke up. "Hyuga Hanabi was kidnapped by Kabuto. We need to reacquire her immediately, Orochimaru can wait."
For a second, Sakura thought Anko might smack her. The older jonin would have liked nothing more than to skin her old sensei over a fire, but having them say he wasn't important enough had her teeth on edge.
"So what the hell does Orochimaru have to do for this Village to actually terminate him?" Anko bit out. "Kill another few hundred of our ninja?"
"Now, now." Jiraiya raised his hands in some attempt to placate. "When I left, Tsunade was already putting something together but the village is in literal chaos right now. Just getting together this rescue mission nearly didn't happen. Trust me, when the assassins go you'll be the first invited to the team."
Anko deflated. "Right, sorry." And she shot the jinchuuriki an apologetic glance. The younger jonin gave a nod and sympathetic smile in return. She knew very well just how deeply revenge could burn, and how leaving it unquenched ached more fiercely than having all your ribs broken.
Then over Anko's shoulder she caught a glimpse of silver, and Sakura and Kakashi shared a long glance. It was incredibly bitter and uneasy both ways.
"Nice to see you Hatake-san." She murmured dryly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Sakura." He acknowledged.
That was all she was probably going to get and Kakashi returned to his book, seemingly oblivious to them and the rain. Kakashi was the champion of not-giving-a-fuck.
Jiraiya looked up to the gray sky and rain sluiced down his face. "The trail's getting cold."
Sakura bowed her head. "Right. Should I take tracking?"
The Sage nodded. "That's probably for the best. Can yours handle the rain?"
She smirked. "They'll deal." In a flat ten seconds she had a small, red-brown fox with two tails summoned. It made a keening sound at her and burrowed against her leg and out of the rain. She looked down at it, mortified. "Don't be such a baby."
The fox looked up at her mutinously.
She glared back down, totally unimpressed. "You are the worst demon ever."
It made a barking sound at her that almost sounded like scoffing.
Sakura rolled her eyes and pulled a bloodied rag from her pocket. "Can you find the girl with this blood?"
The fox paused, sniffed, and bobbed its head once. Then it jumped up on her shoulder and chattered in her ear. Sakura didn't understand a yip of it, but she could feel the message filtering down and resonating in her chakra. It was then she realized this demon was carrying a message for the Kyuubi alone.
And yet the Demon King was so deep in her subconscious she did not feel a stir. The hair on the back of her neck prickled and something slick and nauseous pooled in her guts. Whatever this message was, it was a bad one.
And the Kyuubi wasn't talking.
The fox on her shoulder abruptly stopped and was then off into the trees.
Sakura stood there, bemused. "I guess that's our cue."
No one even asked her what just happened. Her summons were apparently so weird people had just stopped wondering what was going on with them a long time ago.
Somewhere far above them the clouds broke, and they spilled out a scarlet sunset that stained the black sky hellish and then poured through the trees. It turned the rain to a million, tiny jeweled prisms. It made the ground look like it was soaked in blood.
The rain would stop, soon. The feeling of being covered in blood would remain.
She leapt and Jiraiya and Ino tore after her. Kakashi and Anko followed, jaws set and kunai ready. They ran and ran and Sakura wondered where this chase would end.
The sun set beyond the trees and they were plunged into a world of terror and shadows.
Konoha Hospital, Temporary Headquarters
Tsunade sat in her office alone with the lights low and her eyes closed, mostly to fight off her impending migraine. Between her thin fingers a slip of paper hung. She'd already read it twelve times.
She had found the paper wrapped around inside of one of the rings Konohamaru had delivered, and it had only taken her a split second to recognize the handwriting as Sakura's. It was written in an older form of medic talk meant to be used on the battle field when communications had been compromised, and the Hokage knew that only three people in the entire village knew it fluently. And since the rings had never been in Shizune's possession, that left only one option.
Sakura.
Tsunade cracked open her eyes and read it once more, hoping beyond hope she'd hallucinated the first twelve times.
During the invasion I interrogated an Oto ninja near to death, and what he told me was startling. He stated clearly that Danzou was involved into getting the platoons into the village. I know the situation with Hanabi and her family make me biased to wanting Danzou's head on a pike, but I think it's safe to say we can't abide by this. Do what you will with this information; I can't be of any help in this situation until Hanabi is found.
Also, the rings this message was delivered in are some kind of tracking devices. They kind find each other and sense jinchuuriki. Something in them spellbound me and Gaara both, so it's safe to say these things are highly attuned to us.
I can't run from Akatsuki, I never could. Until the day I die they will be able to find me.
"Shit."
The thirteenth reading did nothing to dispel what she'd read, and Tsunade was coming to the unfortunate conclusion this wasn't going to go away.
It made too much sense; nearly a hundred ninja had infiltrated their village without being seen. There was no way that had been done (with their security on high alert with a war going on) on Orochimaru's initiative alone. Danzou had betrayed them. The straw that broke the camel's back had come, and much more would break by the time this was over.
Her lips pulled into a hard line and she flicked on the intercom. "Shizune, summon an emergency council meeting."
Static buzzed before a small voice came out from the speaker. "Rodger that."
Thirty minutes later as the sun set behind the roiling storm overhead, Tsunade swept into the council chamber. So many of the chairs were empty and she was certain they were one more loss away from not being able to have a quorum.
That was…not actually a bad thing. If anything opportunity might just be knocking. Of course, she'd worry about her internal enemies after they took care of the outward ones.
The chatter around the table immediately died down and all eyes turned to her, some sad, others demanding, and the most damning were calculating. Even in the worst situation some never stopped to mourn but only advanced their own agendas.
This village was on a slow rot and Tsunade was watching it fall.
She didn't even spare Danzou a glance. That would give away the game too soon. "I'm sorry we have to meet today under these circumstances. Friends, colleagues, and our comrades are dead. Some of us have lost family and I will make this vow here: those responsible for this atrocity will pay in blood."
The next three hours passed in a dizzying blur as she heard some of the most vicious arguments to ever come out of the council chamber. When it was done the Clans were furious, the civilians terrified, and the older Jonin were near nervous breakdowns.
Tsunade was the only one untouched by the fray and the emotions running so high they left burns. She had refused all laws, edicts, or decrees from being passed. She'd noticed both Hyuga Hiashi and Danzou trying to usurp in the melee.
She wasn't that fucking stupid to let them.
"I'm calling this meeting to a close." Which was for the best, considering that the interim Aburame head (one of the only Aburame currently conscious) was inches away from ripping Hiashi's face off.
Slowly the council members began filing out one by one, some objected but she just gave them a poisonous glare in return. They moved on quickly after that.
But before one last man could leave she called out. "Danzou, I need to speak with you for a moment."
He turned to her with his face carefully blank and attentive. She hated every freaking second of it, but she didn't leap to tear his head off with her bare hands. Instead she watched him pull out a chair with his one arm and take a seat. "Yes Tsunade?"
No honorific, no title. It was like he wanted to get caught by flaunting his insubordination to her face.
She took a deep breath and reminded herself that pride always came before a nasty fall.
"I need your help Danzou." The words poured off her tongue and they burned her like acid. "We may not always be on the same side but I know you hold Konoha's best interests at heart. That's why I can only trust you with this." She nearly gagged on the words.
His lips quirked, scars pulling, an almost-smirk. Pride and the fall, she had to remember that.
He cleared his throat slowly. "I will serve you in any way I can, I am always loyal to you Tsunade."
He was fucking reveling in this. He might as well have been holding up a neon sign screaming: I've betrayed you, bitch!
She let a touch of unease color her words, her acting flawless. "A source has told me that there is a traitor in our midst, there is no possible way that all those assassins got in here without inside help. I need you to help me find this person and tear them out with the utmost efficiency. I don't brook having traitors in my ninja."
"I well do my best Hokage-sama." He wetted his lips. "Do I have discretion in this?"
Bait, hook, and sinker. Tsunade deserved a freaking medal for this. "Of course." She nodded graciously. "Thank you for your assistance."
He gave her the shallowest of bows he could get away with and swept from the room. "I will inform you of my progress regularly."
She doubted that.
He was off to scurry to his spies and ranks, and his ROOT ninja that had evaded her so long. He was going to cover up everything he could reach and he'd only be giving her the noose to hang him from. It was a beautiful plan if she said so herself.
Her ANBU were already sent out, prepared to track and worm out every secret Danzou held. Ibiki was running the operation and he would twist the knife in ways she couldn't even dream of. She couldn't have the blood on her hands, which was a pity. This couldn't be outright as this had to stay in the shadows. Not when the source of calling Danzou a traitor was Sakura. The council would rally around Danzou out of sheer spite if their jinchuuriki made that sort of accusation.
Tsunade knew where the politics stood and she could use that with the best of them. Danzou was going to lose this game to her and with him; the rot in their village would finally burn out.
Konoha/Oto Border, Three Days Later
"Kabuto-sama, can't we stop for just a little while?" The first assassins panted, a cramp raging up his side like fire.
Kabuto snarled. "Are you stupid?" The medic reeled around and his eyes had a frenzied gleam. "We just killed hundreds of Konoha ninja and kidnapped the Hyuga princess of the Death Squad. They won't take this lying down and if they catch us they'll skin us for it!"
The assassin swallowed. "Sorry."
Then Kabuto thought about it. A prickling had been building in his neck the past few days and the skin on his back had burned like the devil was on his heels. Kabuto and the cargo he was carrying was priceless, but the assassins were…expendable.
"Scratch that." Kabuto's lips pulled viciously tight. "Rest here for awhile and then lay a fake trail for them to follow. When you're done make sure to get back to the base undetected, don't fail me."
Both assassins saluted him.
It was he supposed, a despicable thing to do, but survival of the fittest and all that. They would be caught and Kabuto would buy himself the time to get away. First to base to drop off some Hyuga blood and then on to Kumo with the prize.
He casually ripped a sleeve off of the Hyuga's shirt. It was covered in dried blood. "Take this, if they're following by scent this will snare their attention."
The assassins took the cloth and Kabuto took the girl and left. Under his hands her skin continued to cool and her pulse weakened. It wouldn't be long before she died from blood loss and dehydration.
But that was Kumo's problem, all Kabuto had to do was get her there.
One Hour Later
Sakura had not expected to come up on the Oto ninja so quickly, but there they were resting like idiots as she burst from the tree. They stared at her, she stared at them, and she breathed in deeply.
It smelled like Hanabi's blood here. "Where is she?" The growl road low in her throat and the Kyuubi's chakra was already stirring.
One of them tried to say something, but at the moment black snakes wrapped around his neck and hoisted him in the air. The second one got blindsided by Ino's foot to the back of his head. He staggered right into Jiraiya's fist and dropped out cold.
Anko, snakes peeling out of her wrists, lazily swung the first in the air. "Where's the princess?"
"You're suffocating him." Sakura commented dryly.
Anko paused and considered that. "Oh, my bad." She dropped the man in a pile of limbs. The snakes retreated back to Anko's wrists and were absorbed back into her skin smoothly, black scales melting in with pale flesh.
"Well that wasn't nearly as entertaining as I expected." Anko murmured sadly.
Sakura didn't have a chance to reply as her attention was caught by Ino kneeling next to the unconscious men. The Yamanaka spoke harshly. "I'll find where they're taking her, even if I have to rip their minds out layer by layer."
Anko made a thrilled noise. Sakura felt her own pulse flutter a bit.
Ino had once been a vapid little girl, but Sakura could scarcely remember it. What stood before her was a woman working towards the same kind of atrocities Sakura already reveled in. Finding kindred spirits was always such a nice surprise.
Ino touched the first assassin's head and let her chakra pool out. Within five minutes the body was writhing, ripping out his hair, and biting off his own tongue. It was an odd thing to watch. Anko and Sakura sort of cheered it on, Jiraiya and Kakashi just watched mutely.
Then his eyes flew open and blood poured, then his mouth opened and something dark splattered out from between his teeth.
Ino's eyes flew open and in the biting ice of them was something unholy. "You son of a bitch!"
It was only Sakura's hyper-fast reflexes that had her dragging Ino off before she could tear the man's throat out. "Ino, Ino! Calm the fuck down!"
It was the wrong thing to say.
The blonde thrashed harder and Sakura was forced to exert some of her actual strength to wrestle her friend down. "What's wrong? Just tell me!"
The other girl rolled and snarled. "It was them! They killed my—" A harsh, wracking sob sucked out all her breath.
But Sakura knew. The jinchuuriki gave one look over her shoulder, eyes already bled scarlet, and her gaze said it all. The other three Konoha ninja immediately retreated into the trees. They would have some privacy, at least.
Sakura rocked Ino gently. "Please honey, I need you to find Hanabi for me. Then I promise I will help you skin these fuckers down to the bone."
These were the assassins that had gotten Ino's parents. Sakura almost, almost felt sorry for them.
Ino remained in her arms for a moment, and the jinchuuriki didn't know if it was shock or her friend gearing up for a psychotic break.
"They used my face." Ino rasped.
Sakura could only sit in silence, holding her friend, and the nightmare spilled from Ino's mouth. "They looked like me, they got my daddy first. I saw it in his eyes…he thought I was the one who…"
This next sob wracked her so hard Sakura thought Ino's ribs would break.
The blonde fought and gasped. "They went for my mom next. She was a civilian and they just carved her up and laughed the whole time. She begged, she begged so long and they just watched her…"
"I'm sorry." It wasn't fucking enough. It never ever would be, not for this kind of agony.
"Do one thing for me." The blonde pleaded.
Sakura rested her forehead against the other girl's. "Just say the word." That promise was the sort of thing Sakura would burn countries to keep.
"Half an hour." Ino breathed. "I only need that much to get the information from them the old fashioned way, so keep the others away and let me work. And watch out for the skin, I'll leave it stretched between the trees…"
The thought was a lovely, macabre thing. Like a butterfly with its wings peeled apart so delicate…
"Alright." Sakura paused and considered. "I have a straight razor in my bag."
Ino smiled and it was a cadaver's grin, all bone and teeth and sickness. "That'd be perfect."
Kirigakure, Mizukage's Offices
The message had come from the Hokage on their most secure line, and Haku couldn't even pretend it might be fake. The war was getting into swing and Konoha had been the first to bleed by Orochimaru's hand. And Konoha wouldn't take that lying down.
Except the Hokage didn't want help wiping Otogakure off the map, oh no, Tsunade had other plans for her allies.
Haku watched as her master (her Mizukage) paced across the office with eyes flickering to every corner like a caged animal.
"You can't be seriously considering this Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked but she already knew how this man ticked, and the answer was long decided.
"Don't even start; this is very unique opportunity that we've presented with. And I've been stuck in this damn office too long." Zabuza bit out.
She arched an elegant eyebrow. "That doesn't mean you have to jump in the way of danger. That's why we have minions. It's what being the Mizukage means: having people to do things for you and take the risks. Which, by the way, you aren't doing."
Zabuza spun on his heel to face the window that overlooked the village, now cloaked in a heavy mist that turned the buildings to skeletal husks. "This is driving me insane Haku just…waiting like this." He paused. "And you know what that treaty we signed means if we want Konoha's to help us stay solvent, we need to lend a hand whenever that queen of a Kage dictates."
Haku slid behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know Zabuza-sama, but the last time you were out in the open you were almost assassinated." But Oto and Kumo ninja no less. They hadn't waited long to try. "You need to be careful; there are more people depending on you than just me. If you were killed I…"
I would die. It remained unsaid but it hung in the air.
"As long as you're with me there's no way I can die." His grin was razors. "And you're my best weapon, between you and me the world could burn. What do you say we do this just once, for old time's sakes?"
He was manipulating her and she let him. God, did she have it bad for this man. "Fine."
He didn't cheer but it was a close thing.
In one swift movement he had his sword strapped over his back and left his ceremonial hat sitting on his desk. He beckoned her. "Let's go Haku, with Konoha dealing with all fronts of the war we can at least find a few freaks wearing black cloaks with red clouds."
"Whatever you say." Haku secured her mask back over her face. The cold porcelain felt like nostalgia. Surely this was just like old times, them running head long into danger and death with nothing but the blades in their hands and the masks on their faces.
His coal black eyes glittered at her from across the desk. "You'll be with me the whole time; you're more loyal than anyone in this village. I have absolute faith in your abilities to protect me. So relax."
She almost rolled her eyes. The reason I do all this is because I love you. That remained unsaid too.
But that was alright, Haku had everything she needed in the world in him. And she'd follow him down to hell if he asked.
Sunagakure, Kazekage's Offices
"This can't be a good idea." Kankuro complained.
Gaara, from his position by the window, just sent his brother an apathetic glance. "Your point?"
Temari swung her legs and let her heels clatter against his desk. Her eyes were sharp. "Our point is we don't want you killed."
Her fan rested against her hip and her fingers trailed it lovingly. Gaara was certain she was contemplating beating him upside the head with it. It was an amusing thought, at least. He spoke. "Akatsuki breached Konoha and nearly got Sakura this time, we can't stand by idle anymore. Besides, we still owe them a little visit for killing our entire council and me, for the time that lasted."
Both of his siblings flinched at the mention of his death, albeit as temporary as it had been.
"Gaara…" Kankuro frowned.
"I'm not going to sit here hiding from Akatsuki the rest of my life." Gaara turned on them and raised an eyebrow. "You can come with me or stay; it's all up to you."
Temari huffed. "Fine. We're not letting you wander around to get yourself killed. Again."
Kankuro sighed. "When are we leaving?"
The former jinchuuriki smiled darkly. "Now."
Rice Country, Otogakure
"Did you bring me her blood?" The question echoed between them, a slick of oil in the air and Kabuto kept his eyes low.
"Of course Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto wetted his lips but it did nothing to take aching frost out of them.
His master, the Sage of Snakes, just laughed. It was like howling wind and broken glass and dried bones. "Very good Kabuto-kun. Take that little Hyuga on to Kumo; she will make a lovely gift."
The praise was a hollow thing, he had risked his life and came back the only one alive and still he was forced to play messenger boy with a unconscious girl to a country that might as soon skin him as let him leave unimpeded.
Kumo was notoriously capricious like that.
Orochimaru flicked a wrist indifferently. "Get out of my sight."
Kabuto nodded, rose, and fled. There was nothing that could get him back in Orochimaru's good graces, he knew that now. Nothing short of killing jinchuuriki Sakura at least, and he knew that was well out of his reach. That demon vessel was his near equal as a medic but she fought with suicidal abandon that could level cities. There was no winning that fight.
He made his way down the twisting labyrinth of halls quickly, but the hungry eyes of the other ninja followed him. They were animals, all of them. Waiting for any sign of weakness to tear into him, any smell of blood to pounce and bring more glory to themselves. There was no camaraderie in this village, just fear and betrayal.
Once upon a time Kabuto had been king of the heap. Now, he was clawing and backstabbing just to stay alive.
An iron door came up on his right and he quickly opened it and slid in. His eyes immediately landed on the angelic sleeping face of Hyuga Hanabi. A man in a white mask stood over her, tending to her IV and carefully shoring up the heart wound Kabuto had patched on his way out of Konoha.
Kabuto didn't particularly care. "Is she ready for transportation?"
"Yes." The other medic looked up at him with insincere, gray-as=maggot eyes. "A few food pills and an IV cleared up her complications, but I had to apply more healing to that gash over her heart due to the…mediocrity of the patch job."
Kabuto snarled but didn't dignify the man with a response. It was just another backstabbing snake looking for weakness, another wanting to steal his position and slide a kunai between his ribs. There was nothing safe or sacred in Otogakure.
Kabuto picked up Hyuga Hanabi and left.
Nothing sacred, nothing was safe; he was just another pawn lost on a very large board. So he held his tongue and bided his time.
His day would come, soon enough.
Rice Country, Unknown Location
Ino hummed to herself as she cleaned her hands of the blood spattered on them, and everyone around her looked slightly nauseous. All except Sakura of course, as she was too busy making ecstatic and breathy noises while examining the skin stretched out between the trees. Ino had peeled it carefully, the ink blue of their veins unbroken and shot through the gray membrane like spider webs.
It was really some of her best work.
The grass was soaked with blood and viscous fluids in every direction, and the corpses were long past unrecognizable lumps of flesh.
And Ino had been smiling, laughing, and sounding carefree and almost childish as she had turned to grin at Sakura. "Do you like them?" She gestured to the paper thin and stretched tight to the point of being delicate skin.
"Very much." Sakura laughed as well. "I've never seen better."
And the jinchuuriki walked over and helped Ino clean the blood from her hair, too.
Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Do you know where Hanabi is?"
Ino nodded, and for a second her eyes were not touched with that childish glee but by a deadness nothing could fill. "Otogakure. Their current base of residence is…nearby, by about twenty miles."
Kakashi looked to the bodies. "Are you sure? Torture isn't always the, uh…most effective method for the truth." Sometimes people would say anything to make the pain stop. Every ninja knew that.
Ino's dead eyes turned to him but the smile she wore was a gleeful wound. "When I do it, it is."
There was really no way Kakashi could have answered that, so he didn't even try.
Anko didn't object any, Sakura was still working the blood out of Ino's hair, and Jiraiya seemed satisfied. "All right then, you'll lead the way."
The blonde nodded. Sakura absently dismissed her summon and helped Ino to her feet. The jinchuuriki asked. "Ready?"
Ino felt the hum of a song in the back of her throat. "Of course."
And so they ran again, night turning to a gray dawn, a gray dawn passing to an overcast day, and soon night was almost on them again as they halted. They had reached their destination. The base beneath them buzzed like a hive of bugs: ninja, supplies, and messengers moving in and out at a rapid pace. They were certainly gearing up for war. They knew Konoha would be coming.
They just hadn't realized how soon.
Anko rubbed at her shoulder absently, curse seal aching. There was a sinister and resolute set to her shoulders.
Jiraiya looked to the jonin then off to Sakura. "Think we should seal that up before we do anything?"
Sakura nodded. "That'd probably be for the best."
Anko looked between them, confused. "What?"
Jiraiya nodded sagely. "We need to take care of your curse seal before you go in." The nod turned to a lewd grin. "You'll have to take your shirt off for this."
Sakura sighed. "I'll do the sealing."
Jiraiya was undaunted and just grinned. "You still need supervision."
Anko was no less confused. "What the fuck are you two going on about?"
The jinchuuriki made a dismissive motion with her hand. "Once upon a time Naruto and I made a suppression seal for that mark Sasuke carries around. It was mostly designed for him but I could tweak it to last for you until we get out of Oto. If Orochimaru is here…"
She left that sentence trailing.
Anko nodded eagerly. "Do it." She didn't even mind the getting naked in front of Jiraiya for it.
Jiraiya gave an order. "Kakashi, Ino, watch the patrols for an opening we can exploit. We'll be back in twenty."
Both jonin nodded, Ino still humming that melancholy song. As they left to go seal Anko somewhere a bit more private, Sakura recognized the tune.
Follow the Trails of Blood.
It was an ancient song, older than the village. Nowadays the ANBU trackers would sing it to themselves to keep their minds focused when they were on a long tracking grind.
Before then, it'd been a song of the nomad ninja clans who lived without villages, trapped between terror and blood and moonless skies. It was a song of loss and violence and it was steeped in bitter regrets.
It had been the one lullaby people would sing to Sakura as a child.
And they wondered why she was such a monster now.
Anko was sealed in twenty minutes, they had the guard patrol figured out within the hour. Jiraiya stayed outside to provide an escape if they needed it (and by escape, that meant a toad crashing through walls and setting the whole damn place on fire), and the rest of them started the long slide to get in undetected.
They hadn't realized it then, but Kabuto was already two hours gone to Kumo.
Iwa, Unknown Location
Naruto had done wet work in every nation across the land, killing for Kage and country with nothing but a smile and a kunai in his hand. Still, Iwa always was the worst of places to go. Endless fields of dust, jagged hills and gorges of stone stretching for miles, and wastelands where nothing would grow and no one could live that went even farther.
There was a reason Iwa had never been invaded and conquered successfully. They had lost wars but Konoha had known better than to chase them back into their own country.
The tree he stood on was long dead, nothing but serrated branches and tangled roots. Only the rock hard dirt it had once grown in kept it standing. The riverbed below him was a silver, pale snake in the moonlight.
He couldn't remember quite how long it had been since Gemma and the other's had left to scout out the platoon to ambush, but it felt like decades.
But eventually the wait would end and Naruto would tear into the enemy like the code name he wore; Bloody Maelstrom. It'd been awhile since he'd seen someone's guts peeled out from between their ribs by nothing but wind.
And these Iwa ninja would all get to see it too, when he wasn't just a yellow blur robbing them of their lives faster than they could blink. He'd leave one survivor just to take the story back to Iwa, to let them know full-well he was ready and able to pick up the war his father had started. And Naruto would win it. That run-on-sight order was still out on a blond ninja who could turn to golden light. It was a good thing they had never specifically named his father in that order, because it'd be such a pain to get it reissued onto himself too.
A song lingered in the back of his head, one sung by Sakura in the darkest of nights when they were far from home, and he whistled it absently.
Follow the Trails of Blood.
He felt a gathering of chakra around him, and he cracked a grin as a figure of shadow looked up at him with a shining white mask. "We're ready for you." It was Kotesu.
Naruto cracked his neck. "Then let's get this party rolling." The song stayed in his head, but his bloodlust that was now raging for a kill was drowning it out. It was drowning out a lot of things.
They moved up the river bed. Naruto soon saw the other two ANBU of his crew waiting in the rocks by a bend. He signaled them. "You know what to do." The ANBU immediately retreated into the dark. Naruto just stood up on the rocks in full view for anyone that'd care to look.
He waited.
One by one the Iwa shinobi came into view, there were at least thirty that he could count and most were jonin with a few chunin in-between. They were loose with their words and didn't bother to keep quiet or stay in any kind of formation. They made their way leisurely down the flat riverbed, and Naruto knew it'd been too long since someone had come onto Iwa's home turf.
A feral grin split his face. They were almost beneath him by the time the someone noticed him. By all appearances he was nothing but a wraith, his body wrapped in a tattered black shroud. Only his blond shock of hair and staggeringly blue eyes gave him any appearance of life.
Gave him any appearance of humanity at all.
The first jonin froze and shouted and the halt spread down the lines in a second flat. Weapons bristling up at him and there were a few silent moments of disbelief.
Naruto's head tilted back, the shroud twisting out behind him, and he gave them a skeletal grin. "Your country asked for war." A three pronged kunai spun on his fingers and it caught the moonlight with a ghostly sheen. All eyes were on that kunai. "And I'm here to tell you Konoha's going to deliver it."
His headband caught the same moonlight. There was no point in hiding where this attack was coming from. Psychological warfare was just as valuable if not more so, than its counterpart that relied on steel.
One Iwa ninja jeered at him. "You're out numbered you stupid son of a bitch!"
Laughter flowed like frost out of his chest. The kunai spun faster.
The shinobi around him closed in and Naruto's laughter was reduced to a few deep chuckles, his eyes half lidded. "You have no idea."
Izumo appeared right on schedule behind the enemy, mouth spewing a syrupy liquid that flooded the riverbed and stuck the enemy fast. Naruto watched it all happen with nothing but a smirk on his face. His enemy was stuck for a few moments and it was all he really needed.
There was an upsurge of shouting but Naruto carelessly threw his cloak aside and jumped. The scrolls dropped into his hands and he unfurled them with a twist. Hundreds of three pronged kunai rained into the riverbed.
He held out one hand and in his palm lit a crush of light and chakra brighter than the moon. It bathed the fractured earth blue. He didn't even need to voice the name of the technique, but he did it anyways. "Rasengan."
And he turned to yellow light.
The first jonin, the one who'd spoken, died in a grind of bone and muscle as his chest was literally blown apart. The five people around him got splattered with their comrade's blood and bits of organs.
Naruto grinned at the ninja nearest him and then vanished again. The screams of panic, fear, and pain started. They wouldn't end for another twenty minutes. The only thing louder than the screams was the sound of wind howling down into the riverbed. The ANBU didn't bother joining him but watched from the rocks, only picking off those that escaped from the sticky field.
When it was all over Naruto stood amongst the bodies and there was so much blood misted in the air it coated the insides of his lungs. One chunin laid a few feet away, both his legs broken and half his ribs busted in. But the chunin was alive and laying still, playing dead.
Naruto let him, that chunin would carry the message.
The bloodlust pounding through his veins died down and the song was back on his lips again. The mission was nearly over and they were finally heading back home.
Naruto couldn't wait.
Kumo, Unknown Location
"What is this place?" Kiba asked, chewing on a piece of dry meat out of their field pack.
Beneath him a large steel structure rose from the trees, its blocky exterior contrasting with the naturally smooth contours of the forest. It practically screamed: I'm a secret facility where terrible things happen!
Shikamaru lowered his binoculars. "It's a military hospital Kumo's been using to study test subjects. Bloodlines mostly, among other things."
Neji frowned and Shikamaru gave a helpless shrug.
"Long story short: they have a lot of money and information tied up in that place and it should put a real wrench in their war effort when we blow this place sky high."
That assuaged Neji some. Tenten moved closer to her teammate so their thighs were pressed together from their crouched position in the trees.
"Okay." Shikamaru looked around them one last time. "No bickering, let's get this done then move onto the next target. We still have twenty-five more to go after this."
The bickering was honestly, mostly Sasuke's fault. He'd been more irritable than usual and had taken to pissing off Shikamaru to varying degrees of success. Most of the time Tenten would jump in to take the brunt of it, and when she got riled that would bring Neji and Lee into it, causing Kiba to throw his hat in the ring just for the fun of it, invariably leading to Shino to step in to shut his teammate up. Chouji mostly stayed out of it, instead jabbing Sasuke in the side when the opportunity presented itself.
The jabbing seemed to work better than anything to shut him up, not that Sasuke would admit it.
Something was sitting low in his guts gnawing at his patience and setting off warning bells in his head. It was like he was forgetting something or maybe he was just finally fucking losing it.
The squad around him began moving into position to set up the explosives.
Sasuke pulled up his head band and rubbed at his scarred eyes. He'd be home in a few weeks and then he could sleep for a solid week. Hanabi would either pester him or curl up in bed with him. Both sounded just fine to him.
He didn't miss her. Except that he did.
His hand fell to the scythe on his back. He could worry later; they had shit to blow up first.
Suddenly the lights on the complex flared, and the Konoha ninja froze and reeled back into the trees in alarm. Sasuke felt the light on his face and Chouji grabbing him by the scruff and hauling him even farther back.
"What is it?" One of the ANBU hissed.
"I think they're…expecting someone." Neji murmured. Sasuke could see every vein in Neji's face flare with chakra as his byakugan activated.
"We'll watch for now." Shino had already taken the point on sentry.
Shikamaru grunted his approval. "No point running in there when they have the lights on. Everyone keep an eye out, I want to know what the hell they're waiting for."
Everyone scattered themselves to watch and wait. Sasuke scowled and lowered himself to the forest floor. He'd need to be as near to the chakra as he could, and honestly he was less visible here and he didn't need an eye-line on the building to know what was going on.
The minutes stretched and turned to hours and still the lights stayed on. They all remained as still as stone.
His mind wandered, nothing was happening and he couldn't really help himself. He thought of Hanabi and a hum built in the back of his throat. It was a song that Hanabi sang from time to time and he didn't know the words, but he knew Sakura had taught Hanabi the melody.
It was a melancholy and bitter song and one of the few he didn't mind. Not that he ever really minded Hanabi's high soprano, airy and clear, lingering in the rooms of their apartment.
The haunting strains of Follow the Trails of Blood carried into the night air. It resonated in the dark and in the back of his mind, Sasuke only heard the sound of rain, Hanabi singing, and something that ruffled like feathers and fell like a dying star.
AN: The song isn't real, just a product of my melodramatic tendencies. Because yeah, I have those in spades.
Edit: One of the few chapters that got shorter instead of longer on editing, go figure. What changed this chapter was the meeting with Anko and Kakashi was cut down and the poor attempts at humor were removed entirely, the foreshadowing on something-is-wrong-in-demon-land with the summoned fox was switched up and will be addressed more in detail later, the note Sakura wrote to Tsunade was changed, and various random scenes were cut down and cleaned up.
The Kage scenes with Zabuza and Gaara were changed: Haku was less sappy and Zabuza wasn't weirdly affectionate this time around, and in Gaara's scene everything but the relevant information of what they were doing was cut out. Ino's descent into being psychotic was made more apparent and suitably creepy, all the connections with that song about the Trails of Blood were outlined and tied together better, Naruto gloated less when killing the Iwa ninja, and Sasuke's vague feelings of unease remained vague instead of him being weirdly psychic about Hanabi being in danger.