Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never will, don't want to. But it's fun to dabble!
Chapter Twenty Seven: Between Heaven and Earth
"As you know, there will be a month long interval between now and the Finals of the Chuunin Exam."
Gaara of the Desert, Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, sat behind his desk. Facing him were some old friends – Rock Lee, Inuzaka Kiba and Hyuuga Konohamaru. Standing alongside them was also someone he'd never thought he'd have to see again. Just like them, he was an old acquaintance. Unlike them, he had never been a friend.
His name was Hoshigaki Kisame, and years ago he had been one of the deadliest of enemies. A member of the criminal organization Akatsuki, who among their manifold crimes could include an attack on the Hidden Sand and the kidnapping of Gaara.
Needless to say, Kisame was not someone Gaara enjoyed seeing. Even though the shark-man had been pardoned by his home village; even though Kisame himself had not taken part in the attack on the Sand or the subsequent kidnapping of Gaara, that didn't mean that Gaara or anyone else in the room had forgotten who Kisame was. But the Kazekage could not simply execute whomever he wanted, much to Gaara's disappointment.
It had been a long time since Kisame was a member of Akatsuki though, and a long time since he'd been a missing-nin. For thirteen years he had been nothing but a simple Jounin of the Mist village.
"During this month your students will be allowed access to the Sand's Genin-approved training grounds assuming either you or they properly request their use from my office. They may also freely visit any non-restricted areas of the village itself, though they are to obey our laws while doing so."
Gaara's tone did not leave any room for argument. It was a skill that he had picked up over his years as being a demonic killing machine, and later honed by his lifetime duty as Kazekage. It was also a pretty good ability for a father to have.
That was another reason Gaara had to be less than happy with Kisame – one of the Mist-nin's students had beaten Gaara's own son, Jinsei. Gaara had watched the fight, and had wanted more than anything to stop it, but Jinsei needed to win or lose it on his own merits. He couldn't live a charmed life as Gaara's son forever.
The Jounins left Gaara's office – ostensibly to find their students, but the three Leaf-nins wanted to talk to their Mist counterpart. Oh yes.
They'd first come together during the preliminaries for the Chuunin Exam Finals, and the three Leaf Jounins had been very surprised to meet Kisame again. Especially Rock Lee and Inuzaka Kiba, who had numbered in the group who had defeated the Akatsuki. Lee had personally killed one of the missing-nins, fighting alongside the Sand Jounin Kankurou, brother of Gaara, and Tenten, the woman who was now Lee's wife and the mother of his children.
In fact as the four Jounins stepped out from the Kazekage's office Kankurou joined them. As the sensei of Okuta Mai, another of the Chuunin Final participants, Kankurou had a perfectly valid reason for wanting to talk to them. Of course the real reason was that he too was suspicious of Kisame. He'd fought alongside Lee and Kiba to save Gaara and Naruto from Akatsuki, of course, so his suspicions were justified.
"Kisame-san, wait a moment with us, will you?" Lee asked politely. The blue-skinned Jounin stopped, turned, and smiled his pointed smile. "Certainly.
"What is it you'd like to say?"
Lee looked at Kiba, who looked at Kankurou, who looked back at Lee. Konohamaru looked at all three of them.
"We remember Akatsuki very well, Kisame-San," Lee continued, "Do you?"
"I stopped being Akatsuki a long time ago. You should know that – you three had a lot to do with it." Kisame's eyes clouded over as his mind travelled decades into the past. The four other Jounin-senseis mistook the look in his eyes for nostalgia, and prepared themselves for battle.
Time seemed to slow down for the group. The corridor which should have been busy and bustling with daily life, emptied. The sounds of the Sand village stopped, leaving only the silence of the deadly pressure.
Kisame hated them. That's what he honestly felt in that moment. But still part of him regretted that, and for years now that part of his self was what he'd listened to – even if it took every ounce of willpower in his body. Kisame hated that if they were ever going to trust him he couldn't fight their killing intent with his own. He hated that he had to lose face in front of them. But he did it, all the same. Because he had to. He had to show the kids who'd been his enemy so many years ago that he was a different person now. Hoshigaki Kisame, swordsman of Akatsuki was dead. Now he was a Jounin of the Hidden Mist again, sensei to his own flesh and blood.
Now Kisame had to listen to that one part of his mind and block out the part that had ruled him for the first half of his life. He had to do that, because otherwise he would be betraying his brother, his family, and his friends.
"I'm not the man you knew anymore, Rock-san. Akatsuki died with its leader. And I gave up my blade more than ten years ago."
The other men were not convinced. They did not back down. The Kisame they knew of was a ruthless killing machine who'd done terrible, unspeakable things in his time. Mere words would not convince them otherwise. But there was nothing they could do right now.
Three of them left. They had more important things to do. One remained.
"What's your problem with me, kid? You weren't there. You didn't fight Akatsuki."
Konohamaru's eyes tightened a little, his expression becoming more guarded. This was an easy question, but a personal one. Still, he believed in redemption, and he believed that people were essentially good. These were lessons he had been taught well.
"The man I respect the most in this world, Kisame-san, is my sensei."
"Who was your sensei then?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of the Hidden Leaf."
"Oh. So you're blaming me for him getting captured?"
"No. I wouldn't have any hostility towards you; except I've seen the man I respect the most in the entire world, the strongest ninja ever to live, after one of his nightmares.
"Nightmares that he has because the leader of Akatsuki gave them to him. I'll never forgive that."
"I wasn't there."
"I know." Konohamaru turned away, and Kisame could no longer see the young man's ashen face as he spoke his final words. "And that is why you're still alive."
Konohamaru sped up his walking to a run, hoping to catch his fellow Jounin-senseis. Now that the business with Kisame was done – for now – Konohamaru had some prime gloating to get in. His students had pulled off two wins and a tie. Lee was closest to that with two wins and a loss, and both Kiba and Kankurou had pulled through with just one win apiece. Konohamaru sure was glad they'd made that bet.
Before the scarf-wearing Jounin could catch up with his friends though, a runner from the Sand's administration building caught up with him, panting.
"Hyuuga-san! I have a message for you. Mamoru, our fastest message bird just returned from a trip to the Leaf carrying a scroll for you."
"Oh?" Konohamaru raised his eyebrows and grinned friendlily at the man, who handed over a small message scroll. It was still sealed, and bore his name.
"Thank you," Konohamaru said, and the Chuunin ran off again. He broke the seal on the scroll and started reading. He was about halfway down the message when he burst out laughing, and then started walking again, this time headed to find his young team.
Uzumaki Yume, Yuuhi Sakumo and Nanaka Jo were in the Sand hospital. None of them were patients, despite Yume's insistence that Jo get himself checked out. Instead they were visiting their friends and new acquaintances who were still being looked after.
Yume poked her head round a doorframe, and grinned in success. "Found you!" She said victoriously, and the room's occupant smiled weakly in response.
Yume bounded into the room with her mad energy, followed by her more sedate friends, but Jinsei just stayed still in his hospital bed. He wasn't badly injured, but the staff didn't want to take any risks with the Kazekage's son – Jinsei was practically Hidden Sand royalty.
"So, how long they keeping you locked up?"
"Oh, you know, just for a few days," Jinsei said a little quietly. "I'm not hurt or anything… it's just a bit of chakra depletion and some bruises."
"As long as you're okay for the Finals so you can cheer me on!"
"Yeah…"
"Hmmm…" Yume looked like she was deep in thought. For a long minute she pondered something or other, wrestling with her own thoughts. Finally she came to her conclusion, and with one hand whacked Jinsei as hard as she could.
"Idiot! Quit moping around - don't think just because you lost one fight you get to feel sorry for yourself! Now cheer up or I'll make you!"
Jinsei sat in shock. That had hurt. Really hurt. And he didn't just mean his stinging cheek – Yume wasn't supposed to be more insightful than him dammit! He was smarter than her! And better than her! Hell yeah!
"Oh I'll cheer up. I'll cheer up a month from now when I get to watch you getting your ass kicked!"
"Heh," Yume flashed the redheaded boy her foxy grin. "Just don't let your horde of girlfriends crush you to death before then." Yume left the room, one hand raised in a familiar goodbye.
Elsewhere in the building Yume's younger brother, and former partner in crime Iruka was visiting the room of Uchiha Yamino. The Uzumaki boy felt bad about their fight. Not about the part where he won, of course, but about the part where Yamino had collapsed from exhaustion.
She really should have known better than to attempt a Jounin-class jutsu without the proper training. But then she wasn't to know that it was only because of the Uzumaki blood flowing through Iruka's veins that the dark-haired fox boy could use it. The Uzumaki clan inherited from their father his incredible stamina – the stamina that had let him use the Kage Bunshin at such a young age as well.
Iruka's girlfriend, Nara Kazeko, had chosen not to accompany him on this little expedition. In fact she had been very put out when he had broached the subject. Why would she want to visit the room of that Uchiha tramp? For that matter why did Iruka want to go? Oh, Kazeko burned with hatred. But not jealousy. Oh no.
"Hey, you're sure you're okay?"
Yamino laughed a little, a friendly laugh. "I'm fine Iruka-kun. It's sweet of you to come visit me, really. I wasn't expecting a visit from my opponent."
"So who were you expecting then?" Iruka asked, a sly smile creeping onto his lips.
"Oh, uhh, no one…" Yamino responded quickly, her cheeks turning pink.
Iruka laughed, and after a moment's outrage Yamino gave up and joined in.
In another room still, Yuuhi Sakumo lead his friends to the person he wanted to visit this time. Not that Yume was particularly unwilling to go see her own cousin. Jo went along with both of them without saying anything.
Sakumo asked Yume and Jo for a moment alone with Hyuuga Sazashi.
There was silence in the room for a long time. Sakumo's red eyes met Sazashi's white, and neither would speak. Neither wanted to be the one to break the silence. But eventually Sakumo brought himself to do it.
"How are your hands?"
Sazashi glared harder, but grudgingly responded. "Healing. They'll be fine."
"Can't have the son of Konoha's Great Healer being injured for too long, can we? Makes the village look bad." The bitterness of Sakumo's tone could have sliced through stone.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm here, Sazashi, to make sure I didn't hurt the great genius too badly."
Another time of silence, with the two Genin simply staring at each other. You could have heard a pin drop, except neither of them would move enough to drop one, and with the intensity in the air no one else would be doing anything any time soon.
"What do you have against me, Yuuhi?"
"I have nothing against you, Hyuuga, except that I hate everyone who is called genius. I hate how superior people like you act. I hate how everything goes your way. Until now, right? Because I kicked your ass, and I did it easily. You never stood a chance.
"I guess that makes me more of a genius than you."
With that he left, and Yume took his place sitting across from her cousin. He didn't have much to say to her, but she sure had plenty to say to him, just like always.
Out of the front door to the hospital walked Uzumaki Iruka, whistling on the way to meeting his team. Now that he and Choumaru had a month to train, Lee-sensei had given them very, very strict routines. He could be a harsh taskmaster, but he knew what he was doing.
Kazeko and Choumaru greeted him as Iruka rejoined them at the training ground Lee had scheduled for their use. They greeted him a little differently however – Choumaru had given him a friendly wave; Kazeko had given him an icy stare and then turned her shoulder to him aloofly. Iruka had waved back to Choumaru and frowned confusedly at his girlfriend.
Lee was overjoyed to see his students, even though it had only been a few hours since he'd seen them last. With Rock Lee, every meeting was filled with passion!
Kankurou was pleased to see his student as well. He would have been more pleased if more than one of them was out of the hospital, but he made do.
Kiba was in the same boat as Kankurou. His only student to pass was Rock Len, and he was also the only one not in the hospital. Still, if there was anything in the world that Len loved it was training, so they had plenty to do.
"Hey, Konohamaru-sensei!" Yume shouted. "Where are you?!"
"I'm standing right here, Yume," came the reply. Part of the wall seemed to come to life, and Konohamaru suddenly came into view. He had been standing so perfectly still that none of the three had even noticed him.
"We've got a long month ahead of us. But Yume, I'm afraid I can't train you."
"What? Why not! Konohamaru-sensei, that's unfair!!"
"Calm down. I just meant that someone else is here to do it instead."
Just as Konohamaru spoke, smoke exploded as if from nowhere, and there appeared a man. A big man, with long white hair, sitting on top of a giant frog.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, Yume-chan, you're developing nicely!"
Author's Note: Gotta love that last line. Well, I do.
Pretty short chapter, but it's just an interlude. Basically its purpose is just to develop a couple of the characters and their relationships some more. And also to push forward the timeline. The next part of the Chuunin arc will be the beginning of the Finals, because I will almost certainly have to split them into two chapters due to sheer length.
Hope everyone enjoyed it. Remember to review if you want to maintain my much-needed self-esteem!
On another matter – yes, the baby was Jo.
