Soul Mirror

by Archontruth

The Kyuubi has granted a wish Naruto never should have made. Now he must come to terms with a terrible power he cannot control. Allies and enemies alike are in the crosshairs as Naruto delves into the lost past of a dead village seeking to understand the Kyuubi's malicious gift before it destroys everything – and everyone – he has fought for.

36. Battlefields

Chapter 36: Battlefields

---

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" The question came from Kurotsuchi as she walked by Shikamaru's side through the streets of Konoha.

"A meeting with a long-standing client of the Nara clan," Shikamaru replied casually.

Kurotsuchi looked around, and one of her eyebrows drifted up. They were deep in Konoha's Red Light District. Smoky bars, cheap hotels and neon-lit bordellos seemed to be the primary businesses in the area. Most people on the streets were armed with at least a belt knife, and she'd noticed half a dozen individuals with potentially violent intent looking them over in the last few minutes. Even in the rougher parts of a shinobi village though, two people openly wearing hitai-ate were viewed as 'not worth the trouble' by the criminal element.

"I assume our business has something to do with this?" Kurotsuchi asked with a glance at the locked metal briefcase Shikamaru had given her to carry before they left the Nara compound.

"That would be a safe assumption," Shikamaru murmured.

"So what's in it?"

"No comment."

Kurotsuchi gave him an irritated look, but didn't rise to the bait. She'd been around Shikamaru long enough to know that he'd tell her what she needed to know when he thought she needed to know it. It was annoying, but understandable. It's not like I care, Kurotsuchi reminded herself. If he comes to trust me, the job Mayonaka gave me will be easier. If not… well, I'll get it done anyway.

Shikamaru turned into an alleyway without warning, leaving Kurotsuchi scrambling to catch up. When she did, he was already speaking quietly with a pair of tall and muscular men with dark suits and glasses, dusky skin, and incongruously pale blond hair in cornrows. Kurotsuchi's eyes narrowed as she studied the men. Both were from the Land of Lightning, and by the way their suits fell, had concealed weapons under their jackets.

One of the pair opened a reinforced metal door leading off of the alleyway. Shikamaru beckoned to Kurotsuchi to follow, and entered the dark passage. Gritting her teeth as every danger sense she had was triggered by having to turn her back on armed men, Kurotsuchi stepped inside.

When her eyes adjusted, Kurotsuchi could see they were in a dimly lit tenement. The scent of unwashed bodies was strong enough to wrinkle her nose, and layered under it was the chemical tang of the kind of hard drugs favored by the poor and hopeless. Her eyes narrowed in anger as she began to have an ugly suspicion about the contents of the case she was carrying. Nonetheless she was on the job, so she shadowed Shikamaru as he headed deeper inside. The Nara seemed to know exactly where he was going, passing closed doors, as well as open ones through which Kurotsuchi glimpsed drug labs guarded by more hard-faced men like those in the alley, though inside they were openly armed.

"What are we doing here, Shikamaru?" Kurotsuchi demanded in a low voice when they reached a stretch of hallway where they were alone.

"I told you, we're meeting a client," he told her. Growling under her breath, Kurotsuchi stopped walking. Shikamaru stopped as well after taking a few more steps, turning to face her. "Well?"

"Meeting a client to do what?" Kurotsuchi growled. "What's in this damn case?"

Shikamaru studied her silently for a moment. "You obviously think you know why we're here and what you're carrying," he said at last.

"I think this is a drug deal and you've got me carrying a case full of drugs or drug money," she hissed. "Am I wrong?"

"No," Shikamaru replied with a shrug. "Full marks for reading the situation, though."

Kurotsuchi just stared at him, stunned. "You're dealing in drugs," she said with a faint note of disbelief in her voice.

"Well, yes," Shikamaru replied, sounding perplexed. "Kurotsuchi, we're professional killers for hire. I've murdered people for money, and you have too. Are you seriously telling me you have a problem with drug trafficking?"

"Damn right I do," she snarled. "I killed people in service to my nation, Shikamaru," she continued. "No one in Iwa's shinobi corps would have trafficked drugs to be sold on our own streets. I honestly thought you were better than that." She shook her head, surprised to realize that she was actually disappointed in her Nara companion.

"Ah," Shikamaru murmured. "Well, sorry to disappoint you. Now we've got a meeting, and I would prefer not to be late. Come." He turned and started walking again.

Kurotsuchi glared at his back, seething. She was tempted to refuse, to throw the damned case at his back and leave. After a moment she shook her head, exhaled slowly to let out her anger, and followed him silently. What do I care if the bastard deals drugs? It doesn't have any impact on my real mission. In spite of that reminder, Kurotsuchi stewed and glared holes in the back of Shikamaru's skull as they climbed a few flights of stairs into a marginally nicer floor of the building; it was carpeted at least. Shikamaru stopped outside an unmarked door no different from a dozen others in the hallway, and knocked. The door opened instantly, and the pair of shinobi stepped into a reasonably well-appointed office. The windows actually let some daylight inside, it was clean, and the room didn't smell bad.

Sitting behind the room's desk with his back to the windows was another bulky Lightning native, this one with a shaved head and sharp yellow eyes. He was flanked by another pair of goons, in addition to the one who had opened the door and now stood beside it after closing it. "Mister Nara, a pleasure to see you, as always," the man behind the desk offered with an oily smile. The look he gave Kurotsuchi, starting at her feet and travelling up, lingering on her hips and chest, made her feel like she needed a shower, and she returned a challenging gaze when he finally made eye contact. "Though I don't believe I've met your lovely companion before."

Shikamaru shrugged dismissively as he leaned across the desk to shake the man's hand. "Likewise, Mister Mittani." He took a step back and sat down on the leather sofa in front of the desk. Kurotsuchi remained standing, keeping her eye on the bodyguards. Only one had any chakra and he was fairly weak, but in a closed space size and muscle granted an advantage all their own. "As for this one?" Shikamaru jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Kurotsuchi. "She's a new addition to the clan. Nobody important." Kurotsuchi directed a dire glare at the back of Shikamaru's head and idly attempted to determine if she could set something on fire by looking at it.

"Yes, because the Iwa shinobi that Konoha has poached aren't the picks of the litter," Mittani replied sarcastically. Shikamaru offered a lazy salute in acknowledgement of the point. "Anyways, I assume your pet Rock ninja there is carrying our usual delivery?"

Shikamaru nodded and gestured to Kurotsuchi. She set the case down on Mittani's desk. He apparently knew the combination on the lock, as his deft fingers had it open in seconds. Kurotsuchi could see half a dozen bricks of a compacted white powder wrapped in clear plastic were nestled in the foam padding inside the case, and her hands clenched into fists at the sight. She'd never dealt in drugs, but she recognized refined cocaine when she saw it, and knew enough to guess at its street value. Plenty of the people outside might have risked challenging two shinobi if they'd known what the case held.

Mittani gestured to one of his thugs, the one who gave off a faint chakra reading. The man held his hand over each of the cocaine bricks for a moment, and then nodded to his boss. Frowning, Kurotsuchi focused her own senses on the drugs, and noted with surprise that the bricks were faintly permeated with chakra. Mittani smiled before closing the case. "Your clan continues to deliver a product without peer, Mister Nara. The balance of our payment will be in your accounts before you make it home."

Shikamaru nodded, rising to his feet. "Then I wish you luck, Mister Mittani… in your usual market."

Mittani waved a hand negligently. "As always, Mister Nara; we've never broken our deal, ever since it was your father supplying mine."

"Of course; it's a pleasure doing business with you," Shikamaru responded. "Good day."

Mittani offered no words of parting, and Shikamaru left without further comment, Kurotsuchi on his heels. She kept her peace until they were well away from the building and into a better part of town. "I can't believe you sell drugs," Kurotsuchi growled at him once they were far away.

"And I can't believe it bothers you so much," Shikamaru replied, "so we're both surprised today."

"I thought you Leaf ninja were a bunch of idealistic crusaders, all about protecting the people and such?"

"Well, I thought Rock ninja didn't have hearts; scuttlebutt was that you had them surgically extracted as genin in order to be better soldiers."

"You're selling drugs in your own damned village! That son of a bitch is going to turn around and peddle that poison to people here in Konoha!"

Shikamaru blinked. "No he isn't; don't be absurd. Mittani knows better than to sell what we provide him inside the Land of Fire's borders. He knows we'd kill him if he did, and even if that weren't the case, he's not so foolish as to lose access to his best supplier by breaking our deal."

"Your… deal? What deal?" Kurotsuchi demanded.

"The Nara clan has been providing the Mittani cartel with chakra-refined cocaine since before I was born, and the deal has always been the same: they sell it only in the Land of Lightning."

Kurotsuchi just stared. "They… what? Why?"

Shikamaru sighed and gave her a patient look. "Okay, you know that virtually all coca plants are grown in the jungles lining the southern coast of the Land of Fire, right?" Kurotsuchi nodded, slightly offended. That was common knowledge. "Well the Land of Lightning is the biggest market for refined cocaine. So there's been a sizeable drug trade between our countries for a long time, and it hasn't stopped even when our governments were at war. Understandably, organized criminals on both sides of the border have fought for control of the cocaine trade for as long as it's existed."

"How does this explain why you're selling to a Lightning cartel?" Kurotsuchi demanded. "I assume that was something the Nara clan grows and produces itself."

"Of course we do," Shikamaru explained patiently. "We have a secondary compound in the southern jungles. No one else knows how to imbue chakra into the plant and keep it in the product through refinement all the way to the finished product. That particular derivation of cocaine produces a more intense high, particularly when consumed by a chakra user. Its street value is something like four times what usually comes out of the jungle when refined by other growers."

Once Kurotsuchi put aside her growing outrage and thought about what Shikamaru was saying, it suddenly made sense. "You're… you're peddling poison to your enemies."

Shikamaru smiled "Exactly. Most of Mittani's best customers live in one place. Can you guess where?"

"Kumo."

"Yup; we've been quietly contributing to the drug problem in the Raikage's forces for decades, and we've made good money doing it. But that's not the whole picture. Think about what other benefits Konoha and the Nara Clan might accrue from our relationship with a cartel based in the Land of Lightning."

"An intel channel," Kurotsuchi replied immediately.

"Indeed; criminals hear a lot, and Mittani's not averse to sharing what he hears. He knows we'll give him a discount in exchange for useful information. But beyond that, what does a cartel do?"

"Well they smuggle and sell drugs…" Kurotsuchi trailed off. "They smuggle between countries," she realized, "so they can probably sneak more than just drug shipments past border security."

Shikamaru gave her an encouraging grin. "Now you're seeing the whole picture. The cartels can cross the border even in the middle of a war. In peacetime, they're a perfect conduit for getting people into or out of the Land of Lightning without much risk or chance of detection."

Kurotsuchi crossed her arms. "You couldn't have just said all that to start?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "What would you learn from that? Part of what I'm trying to do is teach you to think like a Nara. You're an intelligent woman Kurotsuchi, so picking up our habits of thought shouldn't be hard for you. Analyze, contemplate, and step back to see the whole picture," he urged her.

"I… all right," she murmured in response. "I can't say I'm comfortable with selling drugs even for a good cause. It goes against what I was raised to believe. But it's your clan and your village."

"It's your clan and village as well, Kurotsuchi. That's the end goal here; the day when no one has to watch you. The day will come when you're one of us in truth."

That day will never come, Shikamaru, Kurotsuchi replied in the silence of her thoughts. Soon my mistress will command me, and the snakes Konoha has clasped to her bosom will bite her to death. Kurotsuchi paused in her thoughts for a moment, surprised to discover that she felt a hint of regret. The Nara weren't bad people as shinobi went. In another life, she could see herself making a home with them. But it could never be; they were part of the village that had destroyed hers, and honor demanded vengeance.

Kurotsuchi and Shikamaru were passing through Konoha's central market when they heard the sound of screams nearby. After exchanging a glance they both sprinted for the source of the commotion. When they arrived at the point that all the civilians were fleeing from, they discovered Leaf shinobi fighting… other Leaf shinobi. Kurotsuchi was perplexed until she saw that some of the combatants… well, they looked like walking corpses; corpses that had already started to rot. When they got a bit closer she could smell them, and then she sensed the familiar dark power animating them. They're driven by demons!

The living shinobi were outnumbered by the dead, and Shikamaru cast out his shadow as soon as they got close, quickly snaring half a dozen of the animate corpses. They didn't stop moving the way a Nara's victims usually did, however. Instead Shikamaru gasped, and Kurotsuchi saw his skin go even paler than usual. The tendrils of shadow extending from his feet were sucked into the dead shinobi, and each of them actually seemed to bulk up a bit as they absorbed the darkness. Shikamaru staggered back, and if Kurotsuchi hadn't caught him he would have fell. "What the hell was that? They ate my shadow!"

Kurotsuchi didn't have time to respond, because several of the dead men were heading for her and Shikamaru, who was sweating, weak and generally out of commission for the moment. Her thoughts, however, were racing. These things are probably Mayonaka's doing if I can sense them like this. Shikamaru will probably never be weaker or more vulnerable. Do I let them finish him, or do it myself under cover of the chaos? I could proceed to my primary mission and be done with this act. After a moment of consideration however, she decided against it. The time isn't right yet. The primary target will be heavily guarded and I've only made contact with a few of the other infiltrators so far. I want to be assured of success; I'd rather not find out what Mayonaka will do if I fail.

Having reached a decision, Kurotsuchi opened holes in the street beneath the feet of the shuffling zombies and then closed them over their heads. With the dead men hidden from sight, it was simple to reach out through the earth and absorb their dark essence one by one. She was a far stronger demon than the frail things animating the corpses, after all. She hid a satisfied grin as she luxuriated in the wash of dark power that nestled in her bosom when she was done.

After that it was all clean-up and investigation. Once he recovered some of his strength Shikamaru noticed some loose manhole covers nearby, and the other investigators discovered that the dead shinobi had crawled and swam through flooded sewer tunnels to gain entry into the heart of the village. When the Hokage arrived, there were a number of whispered conferences between her and senior shinobi. Kurotsuchi wasn't close enough to overhear, but she could guess what they were talking about. The dead men who hadn't been chopped to pieces or incinerated to stop them were being identified as shinobi sent out to hunt the rampaging demon that had been randomly attacking one town after another in the Land of Fire.

"C'mon, let's get home. You need some rest," Kurotsuchi said. Back in the Nara compound Yoshino fussed over her son until he'd had a hot meal in him and was put to bed. His protests and efforts to avoid being excessively mothered amounted to nothing, and put a smile on Kurotsuchi's face.

As she was leaving Shikamaru's quarters, Shikaku pulled Kurotsuchi aside. "It seems I owe you my thanks again," he rumbled. "Twice now you've shielded my son from harm when you could have let him fall." He put his hand on her shoulder, and Kurotsuchi forced herself not to tense. "I don't think it will be long before the deer see you as I do; as one of the Nara."

Kurotsuchi was surprised to discover that something deep inside of her ached at Shikaku's words as she headed back to her cabin in the woods with Shikamaru's little sister Mikasa as an escort, chattering away at her side. Don't trust me; don't praise me, she pled silently of the Nara. I'm going to betray you in the end. Shikamaru's alive because he's not my target. The day he stands between me and my mission, I will cut him down. Realizing how much the idea of having to do that disturbed her reinforced for Kurotsuchi that she'd been living this cover too long and needed to see her mission done with.

---

Sakura Haruno woke to the nearby sound of shouting and the distant roar of flame. When she rolled over on the wide cot that she and Itachi shared in their tent, she could see through the canvas that the night was being illuminated by flickering orange light to the east. Itachi was already on his feet and getting into his armor. "What's happening?" Sakura demanded.

"There's a riot in progress," Itachi replied tersely. "The supply shipment still hasn't arrived, and tempers boiled over when a few of the kitchens ran out of food."

Sakura swore. "The caravan still isn't here? It should have arrived days ago!" The refugee camps along the northern border of the Land of Fire were heavily reliant on shipments of food and medicine from the interior of the nation, and to the daimyo's credit he was making sure the supplies were adequate, if not generous. But the last scheduled convoy was very late, and it appeared the situation was deteriorating quickly. "We have to stop the unrest before it gets any worse," she insisted.

"We may be forced to withdraw," Itachi warned Sakura. "The daimyo's troops are being pushed back by the sheer numbers of the mob. The situation is spiraling out of control."

"Then we'll spiral it back into control," Sakura replied stubbornly. She reached for her armor, but Itachi's hand fell on her arm and he shook his head. "What?"

"You can't fight in your condition," he stated firmly.

Sakura scowled. "I'm not an invalid just because I'm pregnant, Itachi," she growled dangerously.

"Not what I meant," he replied. "But if you put your armor on, everyone who looks at you will know that you're pregnant."

Sakura flushed, looking down. Her stomach's swell was becoming more pronounced every week as the child she and Itachi had conceived grew inside of her. It was becoming more challenging to hide her baby bump even under loose clothing, and Itachi was right. Her fighting outfit would advertise that she was with child, and thanks to Kabuto she knew that there were spies from Oto in the camp. Itachi had rooted out as many as he could, but they both knew he couldn't have gotten every last one. "I won't abandon these people, Itachi," she said at last.

Itachi leaned down and kissed her. "Then I will do everything in my power to save them, but there may be no choice. We should start gathering the Konoha noncombatants and preparing to evacuate."

Once Sakura had slipped into a loose, concealing dress and hidden her hair under a headscarf the pair left their tent. Most of the front-line shinobi were already waiting for Itachi's direction, and Sakura got the other doctors and medics moving, breaking down some of the bulkier equipment and tents, just in case they needed to relocate. Sakura resisted the notion that they would have to abandon the mission entirely. She couldn't let it come to that; there was still so much more to be done.

Sakura frowned when most of Itachi's forces trotted off towards the sounds of fighting but he remained. "You should be with them," she insisted quietly.

Itachi shook his head. "I won't leave you alone, especially now."

Sakura crossed her arms. "I am not helpless Itachi," she reminded him again.

"I have never said that you were," Itachi replied immediately. "But my mission – my purpose – is to keep you safe. I cannot ignore the possibility that this whole sequence of events was engineered to spread out our strength in preparation for an attack."

"That's a possibility, yes, but this riot needs to be stopped now. A lot of the refugees will stand down just at the sight of you." Sakura paused. "Or me," she continued grimly. "So if you're not going over there, I will." She took a few steps in the direction the other shinobi had departed in before Itachi grabbed her shoulder.

"Sakura..." he growled, frustration clear in his voice.

She whirled on him. "I am not a china doll you can pack away in a padded crate, Itachi. I came here to help these people, and I'm going to do that. Now, are you going to stand beside our comrades, or do I have to go?"

Itachi glared at her for a moment, but his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine," he conceded. "I'll go, but you stay safe." Itachi gestured to a pair of Leaf genin he hadn't dispatched with the rest of the force, and they trotted over. Both were a few years younger than Sakura herself. "You two stay with Medic Haruno, no matter what happens, understood?"

"Yes sir," was the echoed reply from the genin.

Itachi gave Sakura one last look before flickering and disappearing. She could feel him heading east at a rapid pace. "You stay safe too," she whispered before getting back to the work of preparing the expedition to leave.

It was less than half an hour later that Sakura heard an explosion from the north as the last few items were being loaded onto the wagons. She turned to see smoke and new flames rising into the night sky. When she calculated the direction and approximate distance, her gut clenched in fear. "Oh, no…"

"Ma'am?" One of the genin inquired.

"The water purifier's over there," Sakura replied rapidly. "That blast wasn't large enough to be the fuel tank, but if those flames touch it off, the whole thing will go up." The purifier had been built on the north edge of the camp next to the stream that ran nearby. The expensive machine – donated by a charity based in the Land of Fire's capital – was most of the reason that the doctors in the camp had been able to keep water-borne pathogens under control. If it was destroyed dysentery would sweep through the camp again within weeks.

Sakura looked back, taking stock of who remained. Her staff was mostly civilian doctors and nurses, along with a few of her fellow medical ninja, none of whom were strong enough outside of healing techniques to be any use against rioters. The genin Itachi had left were the only real fighters other than Sakura herself. It would have to do. "All right, let's go," she said to the pair.

"Ah… the commander said we were to stay here," one replied nervously.

"The commander didn't know that was going to happen," Sakura replied, pointing at the flames to the north. "He said to stay with me, and that's where I'm going. So let's move." With that Sakura took off into the streets of the tent city, leaving her bodyguards with little choice but to follow.

At a run it didn't take Sakura long to reach the purifier. There was shouting and lots of movement, but most of it was refugees forming bucket lines between the stream and the source of the flames. A pair of large tents nearby were burning fiercely. They'd been used to store supplies, both empty wooden barrels for water from the purifier, and other staples including kerosene, which had probably been the source of the explosions.

Locating one of the older refugees who was directing the fire-fighting efforts, Sakura strode over rapidly. "Lady of Mercy," the man old enough to be her father exclaimed in relief, "thank goodness you're here."

"What started this?" Sakura asked. Looking around she didn't see any rioters.

"I don't know," the man replied, "one moment it was quiet and the next the supply tents went up like fireworks."

"We'll figure it out later. Right now this fire needs to be put out before it spreads to the other tents or the purifier."

"We're trying, but there was a lot of oil stored in those tents. The fire is fierce."

Watching the efforts to douse the blaze, Sakura could see what he was saying. The buckets being thrown on the burning supply dump weren't having much effect. "How are you two with water ninjutsu?" Sakura demanded of her bodyguards.

"I've learned a few D and C ranked jutsu," the kunoichi of the pair replied hesitantly.

Sakura sighed. "I don't suppose you can manage a water dragon, then?" Wide-eyed, the kunoichi shook her head. "All right; just get as much water as you can from the stream to the flames after I'm done, then." Sakura headed down to the river bank, starting to form the long chain of hand signs as she went. The technique required forty-four signs to perform unless you were really good with water ninjutsu, which Sakura wasn't. It also required a lot of chakra, and she could feel the drain building until she finished with the bird sign.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu [Water Dragon Technique]!" Sakura called out, her voice audible even about the shouting of the refugees and the roar of the flames. It was the first truly powerful ninjutsu she'd ever witnessed, used by both Zabuza Momochi and her sensei Kakashi Hatake in the terrifying battle between them that had shown her - at twelve years old - just how big a gap there was between genin and jounin.

The entire flow of the stream reared up out of its banks, forming a towering column of water that distorted into the head of a dragon at the front as it reared higher than the multi-story purifier, arcing over the machine and plunging down on the blaze. The force of the impact and volume of the water together snuffed out most of the flames. The refugees had wisely pulled back, but many were drenched or even swept off their feet as the water flowed away from the site of the fire. The genin kunoichi summoned up smaller tendrils of water from the suddenly ample supply to snuff out the last few hot spots, smiling when Sakura gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

Sakura barely had time to catch her breath before the refugees were crowding around her, dozens of voices offering thanks and praise. Despite both her natural discomfort and training expressing their unhappiness with so many people in her personal space, she tamped down her reflexes and forced a smile, clasping hands and exchanging words with the happy, tired soot-stained people whose homes and drinking water she'd saved.

Sakura had taken half a dozen hands in hers when the latest set off a quiet alarm bell in her head. The calluses weren't those of a farmer; they were thickest in the arc between the finger and thumb; the calluses of someone who handled a blade, not a plow. Focusing her full attention on the man before her, Sakura noted even in the dark that while there was some dirt rubbed on his face and hands, the skin where his wrists and neck vanished beneath his clothing was a lot cleaner than the average refugee's should be.

In close confrontations between shinobi fractions of a second mattered. Even as the man's free hand rose with a kunai glinting in it, Sakura closed her grip on the hand she was holding with her full strength, pulverizing bone into powder and sending blood spraying in every direction. The pain of his hand being crushed only made the man falter for a moment, but it was enough. Before he could stab her Sakura released the ruined limb and swung up with an elbow that demolished his face as thoroughly as his hand. More blood sprayed the people around her.

With adrenaline flooding her system, Sakura took in events around her in slow motion. The first screams started, as the refugees registered the violent death in their midst. The genin were pushing their way through the crowd to get to her. Sakura felt a slight sting on the back of her neck. Turning rapidly, she spotted a plain-faced woman in civilian garb and a headscarf, a senbon already halfway back into her sleeve. Continuing the spinning motion as the people near her drew back in shock at her first kill, Sakura let one foot rise, and her heel kick hit the disguised kunoichi from the side. The blow snapped her arm like a twig and impacted her torso without slowing appreciably. The senbon-wielder fell with a shattered rib cage and pureed internal organs, but Sakura dropped to one knee herself as her head started to spin. Drugged senbon, she realized dizzily. Fuck, I'm such an idiot; of course someone started that fire for a reason. But who are these clowns?

Forced to apply most of her attention internally, trying to isolate and filter from her blood whatever she'd just been dosed with, Sakura could only watch as a pair of seemingly fleeing refugees turned once they'd passed her genin escorts, drew kunai and slit the throats of the young ninja simultaneously. Sakura tried to rise to her feet, but despite catching a flicker of motion from the corner of her eye, she wasn't fast enough to evade or block the strike. The sap landed hard against the back of her head, and Sakura saw stars. She slumped back down to her knees, vision blurring. She lashed out behind her, felt bone break under her fist, and heard an agonized cry as though from a distance. Another blow to the head landed a moment later and Sakura hit the dirt, blacking out for a moment.

Unconsciousness lasted for only a few seconds, and when Sakura's eyes snapped open the restorative jutsus she'd initiated after the first prick of the drugged senbon were clearing her head, but her attackers had not been idle. Half a dozen pairs of hands were holding her down, and even as she started struggling one of the men jabbed a syringe into her neck and depressed the plunger. Alien coolness flowed through Sakura's body in seconds, and her muscles went slack. Her mind started drifting, her fear and anger suddenly remote – far away, as though sealed behind glass. The chakra constructs she'd formed to purge her blood of the last drug unraveled instantly.

Most of the grasping hands released Sakura, and the ones remaining started closing shackles of cold steel around her wrists and ankles, but she couldn't seem to care, or even think about it much. The refugees had fled, and the sudden quiet was almost shocking. The crunch of gravel under boots announced a new arrival. It was a woman with deep blue hair that was styled in spikes sprouting from the back of her head. She wore a green leather coat with a white fur fringe at the neck. She crouched over Sakura, and after a quick examination a smirk crossed her full red lips. "Oh, the Otokage's going to be so pleased to see you," she murmured. "He just wanted something Itachi cared about; he'll be so surprised to find out he's getting two somethings."

A remote corner of Sakura's mind knew she should be terrified and pissed, but she was neither. Nothing in her head was connecting. Two of the men picked Sakura up and then the band – with the blue-haired woman in the lead – was headed north, away from the refugee camp. They crossed the stream with feet that clung to the surface of the water, and didn't slow from their fast sprint until they entered an arroyo that cut into the mostly flat terrain of the borderlands. They paused there and rolled a boulder aside to reveal concealed Oto shinobi gear. The men donned their ninja uniforms and Sound hitai-ate. They had a collapsible stretcher that they deposited Sakura on and bound her to at the insistence of the blue-haired woman whom they called Guren.

"The Otokage didn't know the little bitch was knocked up," Guren explained to the men she detailed to carry Sakura when they grumbled, "but he'll be thrilled at the news. Let's make sure she makes it back to Oto healthy, yes?" Guren injected Sakura with another dose of the drug that made her thoughts slow and disjointed, and then they set off.

Chained and lying on the softly bouncing stretcher, Sakura's slightly glazed jade eyes stared up at the stars. Because she was looking up, she saw when a shadow rose up on the dark lip of the arroyo above them. It was a man in a cloak, though his features were lost in shadow at first. Then his hands rose, and his fingertips glowed softly with green light. The dim illumination was enough for Sakura to glimpse the purple hue of the cloak and the silver of the man's hair.

His hands moved, and the glowing green blades detached from Kabuto's fingertips. They flew through the air, striking both of the stretcher-bearers and two others besides. Sakura winced at the stretcher fell from the dead men's hands and hit the ground hard. When she looked up again, Kabuto was gone.

"Fan out!" Guren snarled, cutting through the startled exclamations of the remaining Sound ninja. "You three, and you three, get up onto the canyon lip and find whoever did that! The rest of you, eyes open!"

The Sound ninja scrambled to obey Guren's orders, and for a few minutes, the arroyo was quiet. Then one of the Sound scouts to the north stepped on a circle of recently turned dirt, and disappeared in a column of fire. When Guren and her men turned to look at the blast, Kabuto dropped down from the arroyo lips and moved over to Sakura on silent feet. A flash of light from his fingertips and the lone Sound ninja still guarding her fell with his neck flayed open. Sakura felt the wetness of blood as Kabuto rested his fingertips on her forehead for a moment, and she felt his chakra pouring into her. "Stay down until you're recovered," he whispered to her.

The sound of those quiet words caught Guren's ear and she turned, one hand rising. Half a dozen daggers of purple crystal materialized at her fingertips and flew at Kabuto with lethal speed. He avoided the projectiles with a nimble leap, landing far away from Sakura. "Who dares?" Guren snarled.

Kabuto pulled back the hood of his cloak, and Guren's features twisted with disdain. "Oh. You." She put her hands on her hips. "The miserable, traitorous little worm crawls out of his hole. You could have lived if you'd kept your head down, Kabuto; I didn't come for you. Now that you're here though, I'll get a bonus for bringing the Otokage your head."

Kabuto shrugged. "If you want to keep kissing the ass of that schizophrenic chimera that's your business Guren, but I'll thank you not to abscond with the camp's medical administrator. I'd probably wind up doing her paper work if she disappeared. You can still walk away; I'm just not going to let you take Medic Haruno."

Guren laughed harshly. "You know, I thought you were crazy when you deserted, but you really have lost your mind, Kabuto. There's no possible world in which you could beat me. It's time for you to die." A fast-moving spear of purple crystal erupted from the ground between Kabuto's feet, but instead of spearing the renegade medic it splintered a twisted sapling tree, while Kabuto appeared where the tree had stood. He quickly ducked behind a boulder that was deeply pitted by a rain of razor-sharp crystal shrapnel. While keeping up that deadly hail, Guren charged up a ball of violet energy in her palm and threw it like a grenade. When it struck the boulder there was a brilliant flash of purple light, and when it faded a huge pillar of jagged crystal had encased the whole area where Kabuto had been hiding.

"Idiot," Guren muttered before turning to glare at her surviving subordinates. "Well don't just stand there, get the stretcher!" Two of them moved to comply, but when they got close to Sakura a pair of whistling kunai shot down from the arroyo lip to the west and punched through the left eye of each man. They fell without a sound as laughter echoed from the canyon walls.

"Son of a bitch," Guren yelled at Kabuto as he appeared on the cliff edge above. She gestured, and another massive crystal pillar engulfed the area where he was standing. Kabuto reappeared on the opposite lip of the arroyo, and Guren struck again, forming yet another blast of rapid-formed crystal.

While Orochimaru's favorite operative did her best to kill his most accomplished spy, Sakura's mind slowly cleared. She jerked in shock when the last haze of the drug wore off. Growling under her breath, she focused her chakra and slowly exerted herself. Applying her strength with no leverage was difficult, but she persevered and chain links started to pop one after another.

Hearing the sound of chains breaking Guren glanced at Sakura and swore. "The Otokage's going to have to settle for your corpse, I suppose," she growled, hurling a spray of crystal daggers at Sakura. Rolling off the stretcher she avoided most of them, but one cut deep into her leg, hobbling her. She tried to stand, but the leg collapsed under her, leaking blood. When Guren followed up with another volley, Sakura knew she couldn't avoid it. She threw up her arms to shield her vitals and bit back a cry of pain as the jagged crystal cut deep into her limbs.

Sakura's arms fell to her sides, bleeding heavily, and she saw a third flight of knives already coming. I'm sorry Itachi, was her last thought before the world disappeared in a lurch of rapid movement. Sakura blinked, and then Kabuto was easing her to the ground a few meters away from where the dirt was littered with crystal knives and stained with her blood.

Kabuto turned, standing between Sakura and Guren. "I'm done playing," Guren snarled. Her chakra surged visibly, and hundreds of crystal blades appeared around her. "You can't beat me, Kabuto."

Kabuto just grinned, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "I haven't been trying to beat you, Guren," he replied cheekily. Noting her frown, he spread his hands, taking in the ravaged battlefield and the half-dozen multistory crystal pillars. "Do you think all of this new landscaping might have attracted the attention of a very keen pair of eyes somewhere nearby?"

Guren's eyes widened in alarm, and then she blurred into motion as black fire consumed the space she had occupied a moment earlier. A dark streak flew off of the cliff above and weaved effortlessly through the hail of crystal blades Guren hurled in desperation. Sakura glimpsed Itachi for a moment before Guren fled further down the arroyo with her lover in hot pursuit.

Kabuto wasted no time crouching over Sakura, deftly plucking out the blades still embedded in her arms and leg, healing the gashes shut with a speed Sakura had only ever seen rivalled by her sensei Tsunade. Noting that she was shaking from cold after the blood she'd lost, Kabuto slipped off his purple cloak and settled it around her shoulders before continuing to minster to her injuries.

"W-why?" Sakura managed, teeth chattering.

"Why did I come to help you?" Kabuto guessed. Sakura nodded. "I already explained this to you," he answered with good nature. "I was raised and shaped by two mentors who were very different people. The man I would have called 'father' had he allowed it proved not to be someone whose methods I could emulate, so for now I've chosen to walk my 'mother's path instead. She was no saint, but neither was she one to allow petty evils of the sort that Guren excels at to stand if she could prevent them." Glancing at Sakura's rounded stomach in the course of treating her, Kabuto offered a wry smile. "Allow me to be the first to extend my congratulations, as well," he added.

By the time Kabuto was done patching Sakura up, giving her some blood pills and a full canteen to fortify her shaky stamina, Itachi returned alone. One glance at the frustration and anger on his face told her that he hadn't been successful in his pursuit. "Sakura, are you all right?" Itachi demanded once he drew close, eyeing Kabuto dangerously.

Climbing to her feet, Sakura prudently placed herself between the two men. "I'm all right, Itachi," she replied, "though if not for Kabuto I'd be on my way to Oto." She shuddered in absolute dread at the thought.

Kabuto smiled faintly at Itachi's expression of surprise and disbelief. "I suppose I'll be earning reactions like that for a while."

"I can't say I expected this, but… thank you," Itachi replied sincerely. Then he looked at Sakura again. "What happened? I told you to stay with the convoy!"

Sakura shook her head. "Guren's men set fire to the supply dump next to the water purifier. They've probably been watching long enough to know I wouldn't let it be destroyed." She gave Itachi a warning look. "I won't apologize for doing what needed to be done, even if it was a trap."

Itachi enfolded her in a crushing hug. "I'm just glad you're all right," he murmured in her ear.

"Ribs… bruised…" Sakura groaned, prompting Itachi to release her. "Has the riot been contained?"

Itachi's expression turned grim. "The hostilities have ended, but the situation is not good, Sakura. There are dead and injured on both sides; refugees and the daimyo's troops. There will be fallout from this, and it's likely to be major."

Sakura sighed. "You're right. For now I need to get back to camp and see the wounded cared for. Then we need to figure out what happened to that supply caravan; I'd wager Sound ninja waylaid them. Then-"

Kabuto cut her off with a polite cough. "Sakura, I'd be shocked if you could take a dozen steps unaided right now. The only thing you need to do is rest and recover, for your sake and your child's. There are plenty of other doctors around here qualified to set bones and sew up cuts. I'm sure your boyfriend here can send someone to back track the supply convoy. You should be in bed."

"He's right, Sakura," Itachi agreed with a frown.

"Bullies," Sakura muttered, but she couldn't ignore the bone-deep weariness she felt as the last several hours really sank in. "All right, you win. I'll-" she cut off with a squeak as Itachi scooped her up in his arms. "Put me down!" she fumed.

"When we get back to our tent, certainly," he replied, propelling them both up onto the canyon lip with a powerful leap and setting off back to camp at a brisk pace. The motion was smooth and lulling enough that Sakura's eyes slid shut even before they got back to camp, and she was barely aware of being lowered onto their cot before she plunged into a deep sleep.

---

"It's quiet… too quiet."

"You've wanted to say that for a while, haven't you?" Ino Yamanaka demanded of Naruto Uzumaki as they stood on the bow of the Uzushio-flagged ship that had been charged with ferrying them to Westport.

"Well yes," Naruto admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "but that doesn't make it less true."

Ino looked around the harbor they were sailing into and sighed. There wasn't a single ship in motion anywhere in sight. There were dozens moored on the city's extensive docks, but they all appeared to be deserted. Even the streets of Westport beyond the docks were empty. The only movements visible were the waves and the birds wheeling overhead. "Yeah, this is kind of suspicious," Ino agreed.

"No port this size is ever so quiet in the daytime hours," Haku agreed as she joined them.

"Soo… we're sailing into a trap?" Ino guessed.

"Almost certainly," Haku replied.

"You take me to the nicest places, Naruto," Ino quipped dryly.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know these idiots were going to be dumb enough to ambush us?" Naruto complained. "I'm halfway tempted to turn around and leave, but… the people living here don't deserve to suffer for their leader's idiocy any more than the people in the Land of Fire did."

Haku crossed her arms. "So we're going to spring the trap?"

"Well, yeah. Unless either of you has a better idea?"

"I'm fine with the 'go home and let Uzumaki wipe this city off the map' plan," Ino volunteered. "What?" Ino added defensively at the look Naruto and Haku gave her. "We don't owe Westport anything."

"Yeah… I'm going to pretend you didn't suggest we sit by and let another Ame happen," Naruto chided her.

"Naruto, I'm a mercenary," Ino replied wearily. "We're all fucking mercenaries. I was on board with coming here to negotiate because Uzushio was getting boring, but no one is paying us to risk our lives for this city. If these people are dumb enough to provoke your ancestor the fucking chakra god, let them pay the price."

Naruto shook his head. "Even if I was okay with letting Westport die, I'm not leaving without at least attempting to rescue the subjects of Uzushio imprisoned here. You can stay on the ship if you want." Walking past Ino, Naruto climbed the aft castle to where the captain of the ship stood behind his pilot.

"What are your orders, Chosen One?" The captain inquired respectfully.

Naruto suppressed a sigh. He'd spent half the voyage trying to get the captain of the ship at least to use his name, but the reverent, worshipful way the crew and officers looked at him, Haku and Ino convinced him of the futility of his attempts. As far as the former Exiles were concerned, Naruto was one step away from divinity. "Find a place where we can dock. My…" Naruto glanced over his shoulder to make sure Ino and Haku were out of earshot, "my consorts and I will be going ashore. Keep your eyes open, and your men on the ship. Be ready to leave in a hurry."

"As you say, my Lord," the captain replied with a bow. Then he was barking orders to his officers, and the sailors altered the yardage of the sails as the ship slid into an open berth. Naruto was glad to see the ship's marines armed and wary on deck as he headed for the gangplank. To his surprise, both Haku and Ino followed him onto the docks.

"I don't feel like staying on that ship any longer is all," Ino snapped in response to his curious glance. "I swear to god I want to put a kunai into those spineless saps every time one of them practically genuflects in my presence."

"I didn't say anything," Naruto replied innocently. "Glad to have you along."

The streets of Westport were as deserted as they'd appeared to be from the ship. Naruto occasionally got a glimpse of a curtain twitching, or a shutter being pulled closed. There were still people around, but they were staying indoors in spite of the fact that it was the middle of the day.

"This is weird," Ino commented. "What the hell scared a whole city badly enough to just… stop everything?"

Fifteen minutes later the trio got their answer. In a broad plaza before the palace that housed the ruling Merchant's Council of Westport, two men stood before the marble fountain in the center, while a woman lounged behind them on a stone bench. Naruto groaned in dismay when he got close enough to spot the white cloth sashes around their waists, embroidered with the symbol of the Land of Fire in red silk thread.

"Naruto, those are members of the Fire daimyo's Twelve Guardians," Ino noted nervously. She would recognize the sashes of course; her own jounin sensei had worn one thanks to his former service as a Guardian.

"I know," Naruto sighed in response. "Jiraiya made me study the dossiers of the current members." He pointed to the first man. "That one is Vath the Living Flame. His power is pretty much just fire ninjutsu, but he might be the strongest specialist in the world in that one art." Vath was a tall muscular man wearing lightweight red armor with burnished gold trim. His hair was spiky and brilliant orange, his long bangs dyed crimson. Vath's eyes were pale red, sharp and eager. A fierce grin appeared on his face as Naruto, Ino and Haku approached, and he started twirling a black metal quarterstaff in his hands.

"The woman behind him is Mina Ki," Naruto continued. "Her dossier indicated that she prefers indirect combat; genjutsu, ninjutsu, and apparently she has some skill in the mental arts." Mina wore dark armor of tough cloth and matte metal plates. Her wavy, dark hair fell to her waist.

"The other man is known as Carver the Vampire," Naruto concluded, "the current leader of the Twelve Guardians. He's a fuuinjutsu master, but no one Jiraiya could find was willing or able to disclose what his specialty is." Carver was skinny to the point of being cadaverous, which was on full display since he was bare to the waist, his Guardian sash serving as a belt above his dark blue pants. The skin of his torso was drawn tight over his ribs, and Naruto could count them even from a distance. Carver's head was shaved, he was barefoot, and every centimeter of visible skin from his head to toe was carved in fuuinjutsu seals. Carver's dark eyes were heavy-lidded as he studied Naruto, Ino and Haku. In his hand was a katana.

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Do you two think you can keep Mina and Vath busy while I see what Carver can do?"

"I'd like to say that I'm still on board with running away from this shit," Ino offered. As though he'd heard her words, Vath raised his staff high in the air, a huge pulse of chakra pouring from his body. Roaring flames erupted, ringing the plaza's edge and climbing higher than the roofs of the buildings behind them.

"Yeah, I don't think they're going to let us leave," Naruto replied dryly.

"Tsch. Fine," Ino conceded. Naruto moved left, Haku moved right, and Ino headed down the center. Carver and Vath moved to meet them agreeably enough, while Mina merely sat up, studying Ino critically.

---

"Hey," Ino called out to Mina. "Are we going to do this dance, or what?"

Mina shrugged, lazily rising to her feet. "You'd be better off just surrendering," she informed Ino. "The daimyo wants you alive, and in combat... well, accidents can happen."

"Yeah, accidents like you getting your ass kicked. You must know what I can do. You're not getting into my head, and I might wind up doing some serious damage to yours."

"Aren't we a confident little brat? Let's put that bravado to the test, then. I'll try not to kill you, sweetie."

Ino palmed a kunai and sent it flying at Mina in a smooth motion. The brunette slapped it out of the air with the back of one hand and raised the other in a single motion. Ino had to dodge a rippling lance of hard air that sprang from the older woman's palm. It missed her by centimeters and continued unabated. When it hit a statue across the plaza it bored a hole clean through the broad stone base.

"Well, you know how to move at least," Mina murmured. Electrical energy crackled around her hands, and Ino felt the hairs on her arms stand up. She drew two more kunai and hurled them into the ground to either side of her in the same motion as she ducked down into a crouch. The motion was none too soon, as thin arcs of lightning jumped from Mina towards Ino, but parted before striking her, drawn to the grounded kunai.

"Yeah, okay, I'm done with this game," Ino growled after ducking under a fireball Mina tossed at her. A glance to either side showed her that Naruto and Haku appeared to have their opponents well engaged. Forming a rectangle with both forefingers and thumbs, she centered Mina in the box.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Mina inquired idly.

"Yeah, I really am," Ino replied with a grin, shifting her aim from Mina to an apparently empty space several meters to her right. The false image of Mina dissolved and the real one's eyes widened in alarm as Ino threw her mind. Mina tried to dodge, but Ino adjusted her aim mid-flight and connected.

The transition was a bit disorienting, as always. One moment Ino was in the brightly lit plaza, and the next she was surrounded in the dark of deepest night. Moon and stars overhead dimly lit what appeared to be a small village. The houses around her were primitively built with mud brick walls and thatched roofs. They were all unlit, and a number were boarded up or crumbling from obvious abandonment. "Well, this mindscape is a cheerful place," Ino muttered.

After travelling a few blocks Ino could hear angry voices raised in shouts. Through that din she could hear a few voices screaming and pleading. Following the noise Ino stepped into the village green, which was thronged with people. They were clustered around three wooden stakes with dry logs stacked around their bases. An adult man and woman and a blonde teenaged girl were bound to the stakes. The man was shouting angrily, the girl was sobbing, and the woman was pleading for her daughter's life. But Ino could barely hear them over a red-faced man who was standing on a raised platform near the stakes and shouting to the crowd.

"The sickness that has claimed so many lives is not a natural thing," he yelled. "It is the work of malevolent forces that walk among us, hiding the face of their evil under a pleasant guise." His hand swept toward the three struggling people tied to the stakes. "Those who wield chakra to stand above others are an affront to god! For years we have allowed these... freaks... to live among us, and look at how we are repaid! The homes that lie empty and the graves freshly dug are their doing!" His audience roared angrily. Ino studied the faces of the mob, and saw no mercy or reason evidenced on any of them.

"Superstitious idiots," Ino muttered, the rhetoric offending both her common sense and medical training. "This area must have been really backward."

"Oh, you have no idea." Ino whirled towards the voice and found herself face to face with an angry Mina. "You wanted to see what's in my head? Choke on it!" Mina lashed out with a shove, catching Ino in the chest. The mindscape swirled around her as she stumbled, and then her back hit a wooden pole. She couldn't move her arms, and when she looked around, she realized she was tied to the stake that the blonde girl had occupied a moment earlier. Ino should have been able to free herself with a thought, but the dreamscape resisted her; it seemed Mina wanted her where she was. Okay, so this isn't her first mind duel, Ino concluded.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the man on the platform was done talking. Angry villagers were closing in on the wood pile at her feet, and they were carrying lit torches. Okay, where is she… Ino scanned the mob and the area around her, but Mina wasn't standing where she'd been before the shove, and Ino couldn't see her black armor anywhere. A handful of torches were thrust into the dry tinder at the base of the wood pile, and the flames started spreading rapidly. Ino ignored the growing heat through force of will.

Where are you hiding… huh. Ino spotted an iron cage just below the priest's podium. Inside was a small girl in a peasant smock with dark hair. She bore a resemblance to the adults on the stakes and she was sobbing, reaching out through the bars toward the older woman who was starting to scream as the hem of her dress caught fire. Clever bitch, but not clever enough, Ino thought, before lashing out with a dart of her will at the girl in the cage. As she'd suspected there was an actual mind there, not just a projection. She reversed Mina's trick from moments earlier, swapping places with the owner of the mindscape. That landed Ino in the cramped cage, but left Mina on the stake as the flames reached her.

The mindscape whited out for a moment, and when it reformed, Ino got a quick glimpse of the same girl in the same cage, now in daylight. The younger Mina languished in her tiny prison just meters from the ash piles where her family had died, her eyes dull from grief and lack of care. Occasionally a villager would walk by, ignoring her completely. What, they're going to leave her to die? Ino couldn't help but feel disgust, even if Mina was trying to kill her.

That fate was not to be, however. Time blurred forward a day, and a trio of shinobi in Leaf uniforms crossed the village green. With clear disgust their leader broke Mina's cage open, bearing her away from the village in his arms.

The mindscape blurred before morphing into the streets of Konoha. Looking around, Ino spotted Mina as a young adult in chuunin gear walking alongside two men in similar garb, probably her teammates. As they passed, Mina stopped and glared at Ino. "You're going to die here," she growled. Mina's teammates, as well as a number of other random shinobi on the streets, drew weapons and closed in on Ino.

The blonde just shook her head. "This isn't my first mind fight," Ino growled. She reached into her memories, and pushed certain ones out into Mina's mindscape. Choji and Shikamaru appeared in front of her, followed by the rest of the Konoha Twelve. The Naruto and Hinata she conjured had their old eyes, but still fought quite ably as battle was joined.

Taking advantage of the chaotic melee, Ino vanished in the shadows. The fight was a target-rich environment, but there was only one target that mattered. She worked her way around the brawl, and once she had a clear line of sight hurled a kunai at Mina's back. She dodged it, and Ino had to duck behind a concrete barrier to avoid a hail of jagged rocks that flew at her in retaliation. "You'll have to do better than that to hurt me," Mina taunted.

"Your mind is full of sharp edges, bitch. All I have to do is let you hurt yourself," Ino smirked. She ducked her head back around the pillar and saw Mina whirl in alarm as a shadow loomed over her. She tried to evade, but Choji's hand was the size of a horse cart when it landed, crushing her into the pavement.

The mindscape whited out again, and when it didn't reform immediately, Ino pulled Mina's reeling psyche to her; they both appeared on a featureless white plain. "You're not bad at defending your mind," Ino acknowledged, "but my family has been fighting battles like this for centuries." Without waiting for an answer Ino raised her hand, and projected a blast of pure will at Mina. She was displeased to note that it was silver now, another reminder of her unwanted bond with Naruto, but she couldn't complain about the results. Mina raised a barrier of her own mental power that started to fray under the assault immediately.

Ino poured on more power, and the barrier collapsed. Mina screamed and writhed, her ego and very sense of self breaking down as Ino struck at the core of her being.

Soon Mina's self-image dissolved entirely and Ino was thrown backward with a physical jolt, landing on her behind on the paving stones of the plaza below the Council of Merchants in Westport. Panting and drained, Ino looked up to see Mina sprawled on the stones next to the fountain. Her wide eyes were unblinking and a trail of saliva leaked from the corner of her lips.

Climbing to her feet shakily Ino glanced around to see how the other fights were going.

---

Naruto drew a kunai in each hand as he closed with Carver, and used them to block the first swing of the man's katana. Despite looking half-starved Carver was surprisingly strong, and Naruto had to put some effort into stilling his opponent's blade. "Has your boss lost his god-damned mind?" Naruto inquired.

"Not that I've noticed," Carver replied quietly. "He does want his daughter back, however."

"Well that's not happening in this lifetime," Naruto sighed. He half-turned, slid inside Carver's guard and delivered a rising slash with his right hand. The blow connected, opening up a gash along his protruding ribs. Blood trickled down his side.

Carver took a step back, his expression showing no pain or awareness of the wound. "I've read your file," Carver said conversationally, his sword resting at his side. "You fought powerful men to prevent the kidnapping of a princess when you were barely thirteen. Why do you now side with another kidnapper?"

Naruto shook his head, remembering that long-ago battle in the Land of Snow. "That was different. For one thing, Princess Alara chose Uzumaki. I can't say it's a choice I agree with, but it was hers to make."

"Ah, but was it?" Carver replied, lunging forward to cross blades again. "If the daimyo proclaims that his daughter's hand is his to give and not hers then that is the law, no?"

"Uzumaki believes that his word is law as well," Naruto argued gamely. "So, given that the princess is in his domain, which ruler's word is more lawful than the other?"

"Even so," Carver replied. "Thus it falls to men like us to determine by force of arms which ruler is more right. When you and your lovely companions are chained in my employer's dungeon, perhaps the demon you serve will be more inclined to negotiate?"

"Actually, Uzumaki is more likely to raze sections of the Land of Fire instead. He won't give up a woman he's claimed, even if he could break the bond, which he can't. I explained this to Marshal Kitada who marched an army into my village, but I guess the message didn't stick."

Naruto slipped through Carver's guard again, surprised and made wary by how easy it seemed to be. This time he stabbed between two ribs, burying the kunai to the hilt before wrenching it back out again. It was a serious wound, but Carver didn't fall or even falter. Instead he grabbed Naruto's wrist, and his touch burned. Naruto could feel his chakra being drained through the point of contact. Lashing out with the kunai in his free hand Naruto forced Carver to let go rather than lose a limb. Staggering back, Naruto could see the pattern of the fuuinjutsu seal on Carver's palm, now burned into his wrist.

"How are you still standing?" Naruto demanded. Blood was pouring from the hole in Carver's chest, but the man only grinned.

"How am I standing?" Carver asked with mock-surprise. "I stand because I do now allow myself to fall. My thanks for the meal, by the way. Your chakra has a strange taste, but it is very strong." More of the seals adorning Carver's hide started to glow, and both the stab wound and the long cut on his ribs sealed themselves up in seconds, only the fresh blood staining his skin evidencing that he had been wounded at all.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered. Well, I guess that's why they call him 'vampire'. I can't let him touch me again.

Carver closed in again with his flashing sword, and Naruto moved to meet him. The fight became frustratingly predictable; Naruto inflicted more wounds, but took some in turn from Carver's katana. In melee combat it was difficult to avoid all physical contact, and Carver's lightest touch pulled out more of his chakra, which was no longer as limitless as it had been before he cut himself off from the Kyuubi entirely. Abandoning his kunai Naruto formed some clones and paired them off to create rasengan. That made Carver grin as he suddenly sped up, avoiding the humming orbs and the grievous wounds they would create. In a series of blurring slashes he dispelled the clones. "You've been sandbagging this whole time?" Naruto inquired wearily.

"Apologies, yes; it's a weakness of mine," Carver admitted cheerfully. "Fighting a worthy foe and consuming their chakra is an experience to be savored, not ended in a moment. Would you like me to go all-out?"

"Honestly, I'd like you to go home," Naruto replied. "Your little trick takes away most of my gentler options for dealing with you, and this is a fight I didn't want in the first place."

Carver looked intrigued. "Stabbing me in the chest and hitting me with the famed rasengan are your 'gentle' options?"

Naruto shrugged. "You seem pretty tough; and yes, that was me trying to go easy."

Carver shook his head. "Oh no no no…" he chided. "You must show me all of your fury Naruto Uzumaki, all of your power and rage! Else you might not live long enough to be my employer's prisoner!"

Carver blurred forward, blade flashing, and Naruto sighed. In a reversal of their fight so far he accepted a wound from Carver's katana, letting the blade slice into his side with an icy kiss in order to get close enough to grasp Carver's head in his hands. "Sorrow," Naruto intoned regretfully, putting the full power of the Soul Mirror behind his words.

Carver tried to absorb the chakra of the attack, but Naruto only poured on more and saw a few of the seals on Carver's skin actually start to melt. Carver cried out in pain, his eyes going wide. His bloody katana slipped from his fingers. "Alicia…" he choked out, tears tracing trails down his face.

"Despair," Naruto said, his fingers digging into Carver's skin hard enough to bruise as he flooded his opponent's mind with more of the chakra from behind his eyes. Carver had left him with few options.

"No, no, no… my love," Carver sobbed, sending a spike of guilt through Naruto. He could control the emotions he inflicted, but not what psychic wounds they would home in on. Carver fell to his knees slowly.

"I'm sorry," Naruto murmured. "I've never used this much of my power before on just one person. I don't know if you'll recover from this, but I just can't take the chance. You're too dangerous. I found my way back from the edge of this abyss, so I have to believe you might as well."

With that, Naruto plunged every negative piece of his childhood into Carver's already fractured psyche. He gave his opponent the hopelessness of being beaten in the street while people walked by without helping. He added the loneliness of sitting on a swing outside the Academy and knowing that there was not a single solitary soul in the world who cared about him, save perhaps for a kind old man who hardly ever had time for him. He gave Carver the choking frustration of failing again and again and having no one there with a word of encouragement. Prior to Iruka's class in his final year, Naruto hadn't had an instructor who'd encouraged him, or offered anything other than disdain.

No human mind, no matter how strong or disciplined, could tolerate the full might of the Soul Mirror for long. Carver's sobs trailed off, and when Naruto released his grip on his opponent's skull the man slumped slightly, remaining on his knees but unmoving. His eyes were fixed, staring straight ahead but seeing nothing.

"I'm sorry," Naruto murmured again. With his work done exhaustion and the pain of his wounds really hit him. He pressed a hand to his side where Carver's blade had bit deep, feeling blood seep between his fingers. Naruto wanted nothing more than to find a place to lie down and sleep, but he forced himself to turn and see how Ino and Haku were doing.

---

Haku drew senbon and hurled them at Vath as soon as she was in range. The colorfully dressed man deflected the needles with a sweep of his staff. Haku followed up with some hand signs, drawing water from the fountain behind Vath into jagged projections that sought to impale him. The man stepped away from the fountain and thrust his staff at the seeking tendrils. Brilliant flames shot forth and melted Haku's ice instantly. That gave her enough time, however, to close to melee range, form ice claws over her hands, and swipe at his neck. He got his staff up to block her swipe, and then thrust his free hand forward, summoning a flame blast that Haku felt the blistering heat of even as she ducked around it and retaliated with a back swing that sliced his sleeve open but didn't quite catch his flesh.

"You're pretty hot," Vath observed as he traded blows with Haku. "I'd feel really bad about burning you to cinders. What say you let me take you to dinner instead? There's this really nice tavern a few blocks from here. They brew their own beer, and the baked fish there is to die for."

Haku blinked at the strange offer. "I'm flattered, but I do not believe that would work out. However, I would take you up on your invitation if you and your allies were to stand down and release the hostages from Uzushio."

Vath shook his head regretfully. "Sorry babe, no can do. Orders, y'know? Ours are to capture the jinchuuriki and you two lovely ladies and bring you back to our boss." He grinned at Haku. "If you want to surrender, I can promise you'll be well taken care of. I'll see to it personally."

"Unfortunately, I have a job to do as well. I cannot allow Naruto's capture. You don't seem like a bad person. I'll try not to hurt you too badly."

Vath looked mournful. "Too late babe; you've broken my heart already. Anyways, you can't beat me. Let me show you that fighting is futile, and you can surrender before I have to mar that perfect face with my flames."

After narrowly evading a few more of Haku's swipes Vath jumped back and slammed down the butt of his staff on the flagstones of the plaza. Instantly a ring of blindingly bright flame sprang up around him, forcing Haku to retreat lest she be burned by the very air. She didn't hesitate to throw a spray of senbon, but the weapons melted and then vaporized entirely short of the roaring barrier.

This man should be dead standing amid flames that hot, but they don't even seem to be touching him. Haku had to dodge and weave as she considered the situation, because Vath was hurling one fireball after through the barrier in her direction. When he loosed a volley too wide to dodge Haku summoned a thick ice barrier to hide behind. The fire melted it anyways, and Haku hissed in pain as she was splashed with scalding water. Evading the pyromaniac's relentless attacks took all of her concentration, and over the roar of the fire she could hear Vath's voice. "Ready to give up yet? I could get you a private cabin so you wouldn't have to stay in the brig."

Shaking her head slightly at Vath's persistence, Haku formed ice mirrors all around the area and started darting through and between them to keep ahead of his unending assault. In addition to hurling several fireballs a second he was somehow maintaining the flame barriers around himself and the plaza. What manner of monster is this man? Haku wondered. Any shinobi – even a kage – should be tiring after producing this much fire, but Vath seems to be getting stronger. It's as though he draws power from the very flames he creates. Every attack she sent at him – ice and steel alike – melted before it could do him harm. Out of desperation she formed a massive ice chunk above his head, but he spotted the shadow and directed a blinding stream of flame upward, vaporizing the whole thing before it could strike him.

"You're pretty flexible!" Vath called out playfully as Haku bent backward at the waist to avoid another flame volley, continuing the motion into a handspring to get clear of his attacks. "I'd love to see more; maybe after dinner and some wine? But let's finish this first. Cerberus! Here boy!"

Haku's eyes widened in alarm as a circle of fire appeared on the ground near Vath, absolute darkness inside its boundary. One massive paw emerged, and then another. A house-sized canine clambered out of the dark pit. It was covered in ebony fur, with four muscular legs and two heads with glowing red eyes and maws full of sharp teeth. "Sic her boy," Vath called out, "but don't kill her! I'm still hoping she'll agree to go out with me after this!"

Cerberus' twin jaws gaped wide, and fire boiled up from each throat. Oh you have got to be kidding me, Haku thought in dismay, as she was now forced to dodge three different sources of fire attacks. Her mirrors seemed to annoy the two-headed dog, and he started bounding around the plaza, crushing them with powerful tackles even as he kept spitting fire whenever he spotted Haku.

Running low on mirrors and chakra, Haku recognized that the battle was going against her. I need to get through that barrier around Vath somehow, but everything in my arsenal gets vaporized. Wait a minute… maybe there is something in my arsenal that will work. Gathering all of her remaining ice mirrors into a multi-layered dome to shelter her, Haku knelt in the center, gathering the last of her chakra and ignoring the shuddering of the barrier as Vath and Cerberus attacked it. She bit her thumb and formed a few hand signs. Her sensei Zabuza Momochi had taught them to her, adding a warning that if she ever attempted the jutsu while he was alive, he'd kill her himself. He was dead some seven years now, but Haku had never attempted it out of respect for her fallen mentor. Now she had need, however. Forgive me Zabuza-sama, Haku apologized silently. I'll return it to you as soon as I'm able.

Haku felt a heavy weight settle in her hands at the same moment that the barrier of ice mirrors crumbled under an onslaught of flame. Even with the speed of a shunshin Haku earned some minor burns from the steam and fire wreathing her shelter. She charged Vath and evaded his fiery attacks from the front as well as Cerberus' from behind. It was harder than before both because she was getting tired and because of the weight of the massive great sword she carried in both hands. The wide blade had a round hole near the tip and a half-moon gap in the cutting edge above the hilt. Despite having served as Zabuza's grave marker for almost a decade, Kubikiribocho wasn't tarnished, and only a bit of dirt clung to the upper half of the blade where it had been driven into the ground.

"I do love a woman who knows how to handle a sword," Vath called out as she closed in on him. "What can I do to convince you to show me what you can do with mine?" Haku didn't answer him, stopping just short of the flame barrier and swinging the great blade in a rising slash. She could feel the skin of her hands and wrists burn from mere proximity to the flame wall, but she didn't hesitate even as she cried out in pain.

Kubukuribocho's blade glowed red, then yellow and finally white-hot, but it didn't deform at all as it passed through the flame wall and struck Vath. Then it was his turn to scream as the searing-hot blade sliced through his staff, and took his right arm off above the elbow without slowing appreciably. Haku's fingers released the burning hot hilt of the blade as she finished the swing and the weapon went flying, but her purpose had already been served. Both the ring of flame around her foe and the wider one circling the plaza vanished as Vath staggered and fell, screaming and clutching the cauterized stump of his arm.

Haku fell to her knees just paces away from Vath, overwhelmed by the pain she'd been ignoring through force of will. She was burned all over, and her hands had taken the worst of it. Her fingers were blistered and red, even blackened in places, and she focused the last of her chakra on encasing them in her ice, letting out a choked scream as the pain spiked for a moment before her hands went blissfully numb.

Haku was roughly thrown to the ground a moment later as Cerberus rushed past her, and she cried out again when one of his heavy paws tread on her right calf, snapping the bone. For a moment she feared the creature meant to finish her, but the huge dog only padded over to where Vath lay, passed out from the shock of his own wound. Haku watched, surprised, as Cerberus gently picked up Vath in the jaws of one head and trotted off toward the fountain.

Haku was utterly spent, but she managed to crawl over to where Kubikiribocho had fallen. Her master's sword was still red-hot, but as she waited for it to cool she was thankful for something Zabuza had told her once, a tale she hadn't remembered until it was almost too late. She'd asked him, with a child's naiveté, what made Kubikiribocho so special compared to the other Swords of Mist that could throw lightning or eat chakra. "You're right kid," Zabuza had replied with a laugh. "This sword isn't flashy or magical. She is, however, pretty much indestructible. Long after some hotshot's broken Kiba's twin blades on a thick skull, after Samehada's crawled back into the depths of the ocean where it came from and Kabutowari's so full of chips and cracks that it's nothing but ballast, Kubikiribocho will still be cleaving limbs and taking heads.

---

In the aftermath of their battle, Naruto carried Carver's unmoving form over to the fountain and lay him down next to Mina, who was similarly incapacitated. Ino had already rushed over to Haku, who melted off the ice on her hands so that Ino could start to heal her burns. The two-headed dog that Vath had summoned hovered over his fallen master and growled, but didn't move to attack. Naruto was wondering what to do with the three of them when he heard footsteps approaching from the far side of the fountain. Peering around it he saw a familiar figure descending the stairs from the palace. "Hey kid," the dark-haired and bearded jounin in Leaf uniform called out as he waved to Naruto. Around his waist was the same sash that Carver, Mina and Vath wore.

"Asuma?" Naruto exclaimed, surprised.

"Sarutobi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Ino exclaimed, looking up from healing Haku's burns and broken leg.

"Not what you're thinking," Asuma replied, noting the suspicious look on Naruto's face. He slipped a cigarette from a pack in his breast pocket and lit it with a flicker of flame from a finger. "I'm not here to fight. The daimyo – my former employer – requested that I accompany his men and brief them on your capabilities. I was going to refuse, but the Hokage ordered me to do it."

Naruto took a step back in surprise, and couldn't help feeling betrayed. "Granny Tsunade told you to help these assholes capture us?"

Asuma shrugged. "She's trying to repair her relationship with the daimyo in the wake of your departure, kid. A lot rides on it. She had faith that what I could tell Carver about you and Ino wouldn't matter, and she was right." He smiled crookedly. "You've both grown a lot. Mina fought your dad to a draw once, Ino."

Ino blinked. "Really?"

"Yup," Asuma confirmed, puffing smoke.

Naruto exhaled slowly, letting go of his anger and hurt. He'd gone missing after all, abandoned the village. Granny still had all the people and shinobi of Konoha to think about. If helping his enemies a little got the daimyo back on her side, could he really blame her? "So, what are you going to do now?" Naruto asked.

"Get these three some medical care." Asuma glanced at Naruto. "Assuming you don't intend to finish them off."

"Should I let them recover?" Naruto asked bluntly. "I don't want to have to fight these guys again in a few months or years." He looked at Asuma squarely. "Are you going to stop me if I decide to kill them?"

Asuma dropped his cigarette and ground it out with his heel. "I'm an observer, Naruto. I wasn't paid or instructed to interfere. I was planning to ensure none of you were harmed if you'd lost and been captured, but beyond that this is all out of my hands." He paused. "Speaking for my former colleagues though, they're not really bad people."

Naruto considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "All right; I didn't come here to fight or kill anyone. I just came for the hostages from Uzushio. If they're released and their cargo returned to them, we'll call it even."

"No problem; for what it's worth, the Merchant's Council didn't want to get involved in this. The daimyo threatened them with sanctions if they didn't seize the ship and crew." Asuma turned around and whistled loudly through his teeth. In response the liveried guards outside the palace opened a side door and Uzushio sailors started pouring out. Seeing Naruto, they cheered.

"Asuma, this can't continue," Naruto said seriously as the sailors and officers headed for the harbor. "The Fire daimyo is pissed about losing his daughter; I get that. But I've talked to Alara, and I'm convinced she genuinely did ask Uzumaki to bond her. There was no coercion involved. She just decided that Uzumaki was better than the man she was betrothed to and took the opportunity that presented itself."

Asuma nodded slowly. "I knew Alara when she was younger; guarded her more than a few times so I believe you. She always did have a mind of her own and a rebellious streak."

"If I return with the seized crew and cargo safe I can convince Uzumaki to leave the matter to rest for now, but if the daimyo keeps pressing his luck, eventually Uzumaki's going to lose his patience and do something really drastic. You need to make the daimyo understand that his daughter isn't coming back, and if he keeps trying to force Uzumaki to return her, he needs to start thinking about how much of the Land of Fire he's prepared to lose to cataclysms like the one that obliterated Ame."

Asuma's expression was troubled. "I'll do what I can to convince him."

"You – or someone else – need to do a lot more than 'convince'," Naruto insisted. "No one man, even a daimyo, is more important than a nation. If this daimyo won't change his mind… then there needs to be a new one."

Asuma looked stunned, shaking his head reflexively. "Naruto, you're talking about treason!"

"I'm talking about survival," Naruto replied bluntly. "Because if Uzumaki decides he's offended enough to raze the Land of Fire, Konoha may not be spared. I can advise my ancestor, I can influence him, but I've already found out the hard way that once he makes up his mind, I cannot stop him. Nor can anyone else. Think about that, and tell Granny Tsunade to think about it as well." Asuma started to reply, but Naruto cut him off with a chop of his hand. "I'm leaving," he said firmly, as Ino helped Haku to her feet, "and I'm taking my people with me. What happens next is out of my hands. Hopefully it's not genocide because seeing one of those was enough for my lifetime."

Asuma closed his mouth and nodded. "Be well, both of you."

Ino darted over to give Asuma a hug while Naruto supported Haku, whose leg couldn't bear her weight yet. The blonde and her former teacher exchanged some quiet words, and Naruto thought he saw some tears on both sides; they hadn't had a chance to say goodbye before the headlong flight from Konoha. When they parted Asuma slung Carver's limp form over one shoulder and lifted Mina's smaller body under his other arm. He retreated toward the palace, and Cerberus trotted behind him, bearing Vath in his jaws.

"Let's go home," Naruto murmured. Ino and Haku both made noises of agreement, and they wearily headed for the harbor.