In the end, it's the little things that make the difference.
-Reflections
Naruto had not been avoiding Shiori. It had taken a day for him to hear that several survivors of Kumo had sought sanctuary in Konoha. It had taken him another two days to hear that there was a kid with them. The first time he had tried to visit her he had been turned away by the guards stationed there. The man told him he had been placed there to prevent every gawker bothering them which apparently included him. Now, with written permission from Tsunade, the solo guard let him pass.
It was only when he was standing in front of the door that he realized he had no idea what he was going to say. It had seemed like the right thing to visit her, but wouldn't she have asked to see him if she wanted to talk to him? Unfortunately, his traitorous hand had other ideas and was already knocking.
He heard footsteps from the other side of the door and then the latch being undone. The door opened wide, revealing Shiori standing there looking tired. They stood there for a long moment, staring at each other. "Hey," Naruto said.
"Hey, care to come in?"
"Yeah," Naruto said, slinking in.
The room was a suite, and as he took it in, he saw the little kid they had rescued sitting in a corner playing with some blocks. Naruto smiled, glad to see he seemed to be okay. Other than a few other toys scattered around the room, it looked clean, and there was a door off to the side that presumably led to another room. The door that led to the balcony was open, showing a nice view of the village and letting in a light breeze.
"Would you like some tea? I was just about to have some," Shiori asked, pushing him to the side.
"Um, sure." Naruto wiped his hands on his pants, realizing his palms were sweating.
Shiori nodded towards the balcony and he wandered over to look at the village. A moment later, she joined him, pushing a cup of tea into his hand.
"This is your first bereavement call, isn't it?" Shiori asked.
"Bereavement?" Naruto asked, looking at her not understanding.
"You know, I'm sorry for your loss, he was a good ninja and all that other crap. Just the usual crap people say."
"No, I mean he was my friend and you were important to him so..." Naruto trailed off, unsure what he wanted to say.
Shiori stared at him for a moment and then looked away. "Sorry. I just…" She shook her head, "You really were his friend, you know. From the way he told it, you two were a lot alike."
"Thanks," Naruto smiled, thinking of his friend. Otonashi had once tried to persuade him to defect, but it only been halfhearted and that had been actually one of the less weird things about their friendship.
For a moment, they just stood there staring out at the village and then Shiori asked quietly, "Did he know?"
Naruto hesitated. "He gave me some advice and said he was going to rest. The last thing he said was, it a nice day."
Shiori chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like him. He always gave his opinion even when no one asked for it. You know, I really wasn't expecting some sort of last message. It wouldn't have been like him."
"I guess. So, how are you doing?" Naruto almost instantly regretted it.
Shiori stiffened, but seemed to shrug it off. "Overall, I am hanging in there. I probably had a hundred meetings and it's not like I can tell them anything really important. When I'm not doing that I'm always watching him," she jerked her head back at the kid.
"Wasn't there someone else with you?" Naruto asked.
"Shuzo? He took a team to," she hesitated, "the site." She shook her head, "he's going to head to the scatter point and stay there."
"Scatter point?" Naruto echoed.
"Yeah," she eyed him curiously as if he should know, "if the village was ever overrun, there was a place we were suppose to reform at in a month. I'm hoping everyone who was on a mission or just wasn't simply in the village at the time will go there, but I have no idea how many there'll be. We were keeping our ninja within the border because we didn't want to get involved in the damn fighting." She spat out the last two words. "A lot of good that did."
"It might not be that simple," Naruto spoke without thinking.
"And what do you mean by that?" Shiori demanded.
"Er, we're only looking into it, but another village might not have been behind the attack. Please don't repeat that."
The young woman seemed to consider that. "You weren't supposed to tell me that were you?"
"It slipped out," Naruto confirmed.
She cocked her head, drawing out the moment. "It would be wrong to get one of Otonashi's friends in trouble. Besides, it's not like there's anything I can do about it right now, is there?" She rubbed her eyes, "I don't think I've had five minutes to myself since arriving here."
"Well, if you need a break from watching him, I could do it for a while. I'm pretty good with kids," Naruto smiled, remembering how fun it was to play with Konohamaru and his friends when he had been younger.
"You sure you have the time?"
"Yeah, I can spare a few hours. Go get something to eat or whatever." He smiled reassuringly.
Shiori glanced again at the kid, considering it. "He's not really much trouble. I mean, it's not like he's putting things in his mouth or anything."
"Um, yeah." Naruto wasn't sure that was a real problem with kids his age.
She lifted her hand to brush away some of her hair and her fingers touched her Hitai-ate. For a second, her fingers lingered there, feeling the metal as Naruto watched. "Suppose I should take this off. Don't want everyone bugging me." She slowly took it off and placed it in her pocket. For some reason, that made Naruto very sad.
"Masato, I'm leaving for a little. Naruto is going to watch you, so if you need anything ask him," Shiori said, raising her voice so that he could hear her.
The boy looked up from his blocks and just nodded before going back to whatever he was doing. Shiori shrugged and mouthed thank you. Naruto smiled back and downed the remainder of his tea. When she left he walked over to Masato and sat down.
"What you building?"
"A castle," Masato said quietly.
"Want any help?" Naruto said trying to sound friendly.
Masato shrugged, "It needs another wall."
"All right." Taking that as an invitation, he grabbed a handful of the colorful blocks and started to build. For a moment they just built in silence, but then a little hand knocked over his wall. "Hey!"
"Too big. Do it right. Walls get smaller, not bigger," Masato said going back to what he was doing.
Naruto bit back his irritation. "You could've just said that. You don't have to be mean about it."
Masato's hand struck through the castle, sending a shower of colorful blocks flying across the room. The boy then sprung to his feet and ran to the other room before Naruto had even realized what had happened. Then he thought he heard a sob that was quickly choked off.
"What the…" Naruto looked at the scattered blocks, completely confused. "Masato?"
There was no response, but when Naruto tried the door he found it wedged shut. "Masato, what's wrong? You wrecked your castle." He didn't know why he had stated the obvious.
He tried the door again and then considered breaking it down, but decided that would be pretty hard to explain to Shiori. "Masato, tell me what made you angry? Did I mess up?"
Silence was his only answer. Then Naruto felt the breeze from the still open balcony door. Walking out to the balcony, he saw the window that let light into the other room. The balcony didn't reach that far, but it looked like it could be opened. So, channeling chakra to his feet and hands, he did a spider impression stepping off of the balcony's railing and scurrying to the window. Looking inside, he could see Masato in a corner with his head resting on his knees.
Trying the window, he ran into his first bit of luck, it was unlocked and he was able to crawl inside without any attention from the street below. The boy didn't even look up, even when his foot caught and he almost fell. Brushing himself off, Naruto glanced over at the door and saw a kunai wedged between the door and the track which had prevented it from sliding earlier. He was about to remove it when he realized that with the door sealed, there wasn't any other place that he could run to. Walking over to Masato, he decided to channel Iruka for inspiration.
"Masato, what's wrong? I know you can behave better than this." That last line was pure Iruka. The kid said something but it was into his knees. "What was that?"
The boy looked up, his eyes tearing up. "I said go away!" He emphasized his words by kicking the blonde in the shin. Naruto ignored it. That got him another kick and another. Masato braced his back against the wall and kicked wildly. With one swift movement Naruto grabbed one of the flailing legs and caught the other one by the foot and then pinned them both against the floor.
"Stop," Naruto tried to sound calm and firm like Iruka.
Masato's eyes were still watering and he tried to free his legs, but once that proved impossible he just covered his eyes with his forearms. Naruto felt completely out of his depth. "Masato, what's wrong?"
"I hate them."
"Me, Shiori?" Naruto suggested.
"The guys that took me."
"The Akatsuki?" He corrected himself, "Those guys in the cloaks?" The kid nodded. "We stopped them. Those two are gone. They won't come after you again." He thought Shiori would've told him that.
"Still hate them," Masato insisted.
"Well, I do too. They tried to come after me once you know."
That got the kids attention as he wiped his eyes. "Really?"
Naruto mentally shrugged, not really liking the memory, but not seeing another option. "Well, I was meditating when there was a knock at the door. These two guys in the stupid looking cloaks were there and they told me to come with them. One suggested they should cut off my legs so I couldn't run away." He wondered if that had been too gruesome to share, but the kid just sort of stared at him.
"What happened?"
He smiled. "Kind of the same thing that happened with you, someone rescued me."
The kid sniffed loudly, "I'm supposed to be strong. They gave me the Cat so I could be strong, but I'm not."
"The Cat?"
"The Two-Tailed Monster Cat," Masato clarified.
Otonashi had once told him that his village viewed their jinchuriki slightly different than the other villages. Still, the depths of that difference had not really sunk in until just now with Masato's casual admission of being the container of the demon. He decided to be equally as blunt. "Well, I've got the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in me, and even though I was older than you, I still needed to be rescued."
"Yeah, but two is better than nine," Masato informed him.
"Really and why is that?" Despite himself, Naruto felt himself starting to smile.
"Because," Masato said in a tone that meant it was clearly obvious to him. "Nobody wants to be the ninth person. Everyone wants to be number one. I'm going to be number one even though I have the two tales."
Deciding not to argue with the kid's logic, he countered, "Well, you're going to have to beat me there."
Masato smiled for the first time, but it quickly faded away. "My family is all dead, aren't they?"
For split-second Naruto considered lying, afraid of a repeat of earlier, but lying wasn't in him. "Most likely."
He took this news with a solemn nod and Naruto gave up any hope of predicting his mood right there and then. He even wondered if the kid really understood. "You okay?"
"I thought that's what happened," the kid said slowly.
"Shiori didn't tell you?"
The younger boy shook his head. "She doesn't talk much to me."
"Oh," was all Naruto could say. He made a mental note to have a talk with her when she returned.
They were quiet for a few minutes until Masato announced, "I'm thirsty."
"I'll get you some water." Getting up, he un-jammed the door and headed towards the sink. As he started to fill the cup of water, he heard Masato come into the room and start picking up the blocks. Smiling to himself, he said, "Want to try to build that castle again?"
"Ranmaru, are you sure you're okay with this?" Sakura asked her smaller companion.
"Yeah," Ranmaru answered, smiling up at her.
Sakura smiled back, wondering not for the first time what exactly went through her younger friend's head. She showed the guard a piece of paper that gave the two of them permission to proceed. Knocking at the door, she didn't wait for an answer; knowing no sound could travel through the thick metal door.
Musashi's room had been made a little better by adding a cot and some more light, but it was still stark and shadows existed at the edges. The man they had come to talk to was seated at the table, writing something and stood at their approach.
"You were on the Hanzo assassination team," Musashi said without preamble.
Sakura was taken aback. "How did you know that?"
The man shrugged. "I saw you there. I was a bit of a captive guest, you could say. Your strength is quite impressive." He smiled in a way which made her feel that the praise was genuine.
Sakura thought back, Neji had used his Byakugan to scan for other people and then check to make sure none of them were their target. If this man was saying the truth, the only way they could have missed him was, "You were suppressing your presence."
The man shrugged, "Not much point in hiding that now. I'm assuming you and your friend didn't come here to talk about that, though."
Sakura glanced down, expecting to see Ranmaru standing at her side, but he had paused further away. She gestured for him to come closer and watch the man for a reaction. Ranmaru and the man's hair color were similar, although, the older man's had streaks of gray in his. Unfortunately, if he did give a reaction she missed it.
"So what other abilities do you have," Sakura questioned.
Musashi tilted his head, "Where I'm from, it's considered rude to ask such a thing. Especially," he emphasized the word, "if the person asking already knows the answer."
Sakura forced a smile, "I'm only half sure of that. Please tell me about your kekkai genkai." She really wasn't expecting this to go that smoothly.
"Don't you already have a guinea pig?" Musashi said nodding towards Ranmaru.
"Shut up." Those words had come quietly and firmly from Ranmaru, who was leveling a gaze at the man that could kill. "Sakura is a nice person. She's my friend, be nice. She's trying to help your village."
Musashi stared at the younger ninja for a minute and then shrugged in defeat. "At least tell me what you want to know."
Sakura smiled, and this time it was genuine. Like Naruto, Ranmaru was blunt and honest. "Can you suppress other people's presence?"
"To an extent," Musashi acknowledged. "I can eliminate someone from the sixth sense some develop. That doesn't mean they're invisible to the naked eye or that their movements don't make sounds."
"How long can you do it for?"
That question came from Ranmaru and Sakura was thankful. She knew the man wouldn't be volunteering information unless Ranmaru was involved in the conversation. She had tried to explain that to him, but a new social concept only stood about only a 50-50 chance with him.
Musashi considered for a moment, eyeing Ranmaru. "It depends. I can cover a dozen people for a few hours easily without expending too much chakra, but it goes up exponentially from there. To cover the same dozen people for a day would mean I would be useless for probably a week. I need to know the time in advance. What about you?"
"I don't have to know in advance." He said this proudly, "but I get tired the longer I do it."
The man nodded, "So, she must have succeeded. You must somehow send out chakra. I'm guessing if you were killed, though, the effect would stop."
"She?" Sakura questioned when the man seemed to retreat into his own thoughts.
"The psychotic bitch," Musashi said quietly. "I guess you figured out that our kekkai genkai is somewhat artificial. Actually, it was the brainchild of one particular person. I thought she would've been killed shortly after I fled, given the political environment of Kiri when I left." He nodded in Ranmaru's direction. "When did you leave Kiri?"
"I was never there. I was born in the country, but not the village. How can that be? Was I one of her experiments?"
The man nodded. "Most likely, at least from what I've seen our kekkai genkai doesn't breed true. Of course, you seem to be a bit different from me. She must've finally gotten around to experimenting on fetuses. I'm guessing your mother either ran away or you were smuggled out of the village by her for some reason. From what I have gathered, the village today wouldn't tolerate her type of research. A 95% failure rate makes for a lot of corpses."
Sakura was starting to feel a little sick. She really didn't want to hear more about this woman. What this woman had done was on the darker side of her profession and she did not care to dwell on it. "If what you said was true, then we have an offer to make. We're currently inclined to believe that Iwa is indeed innocent and we have a lead on the man who might have been behind the attack on Kumo. Would you be willing to accompany a team that intends to capture this man?"
"No more details?"
"Not until you agree," Sakura answered.
"Well, I'm already in your power so I suppose saying no would only lead to people thinking that I had something to hide. So, yes, I would be willing. Now, could you give me some details about this man?"
Sakura smiled. "That's a decision for the team leader to make." With that, she turned and started to walk away, Ranmaru running to catch up to her. Once the door was closed behind her, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
"Sorry," Ranmaru said quietly.
Cracking an eye open, she looked at the boy who really was a teenager. "Why are you apologizing?"
"Hearing about the psychotic bitch upset you. I shouldn't have asked about her."
"You're curious about where you're from. Asking about it is only normal."
"Not if it upsets you," he answered with a straight face.
Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ranmaru, don't ever change."
Sasuke stared at the moon's reflection on the surface of the pond water. A light wind caused ripples to race across the surface, making the moon's reflection unrecognizable. He observed this display, but his mind was elsewhere, dwelling on the upcoming mission. Himself, Naruto, Sakura and Jiraiya was the list of names going through his head. Was it too short? Was it too long? The enemy's strength was unknown. He couldn't even confirm this wasn't a trap. Unless he went by his gut, and that could as often lie as tell the truth.
He obviously had to go because he was expected. Sakura was the best medical-nin that he knew. Naruto and he had worked together for so long that they knew how to complement each other and he was a powerhouse. Jiraiya was an unknown quantity, but he came highly recommended, and if you were going to fight a legend you really should bring your own.
His mind drifted to other possibilities, Ino chief among them. She had experience fighting against the Sharingan because of him and Kado, but those had been in controlled spars. She was also a better than average ninja and had beaten him when it came to Kenjutsu. Her Mind Transfer Jutsu could be useful. Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine the layout of the room again. If they could position the man in the proper place, it might be a very short encounter. That was assuming the man wouldn't show up early.
His hand smashed against the dock in frustration. How was he expected to design a team when he wasn't sure what he was facing? He was still having trouble getting his head around the fact that this might actually be a distant relative of his. That fact alone was causing him trouble, and now he was thinking of bringing his girlfriend along with him?
He regretted the thought almost as soon as he had it. It was unprofessional. He knew she was much more than just his girlfriend. She was a more than capable ninja in her own right, but the thought was there. The desire to protect people had slowly crept up on him. The feeling was alien to the avenger he had been, and yet the thought wasn't uncomfortable. Is this what Naruto felt? Had his friend and teammate finally started to wear off on him after all these years? Now that was a scary thought, was he slowly becoming another Naruto?
Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate on the one other decision he knew he would have to make. Ranmaru's ability allowed him to hide both himself and others. That was a very useful ability, but should he bring Ranmaru or Musashi? Sakura had promised him that Musashi was capable, but was she just being overprotective of Ranmaru? He knew she had a soft spot in her heart for him.
Behind him, he heard someone approach through the grass and then the vibrations through the dock. "Yes, Kado?"
"I'm going with you."
"Not a chance," Sasuke said without turning around.
"Hear me out," the younger Uchiha begin. "First, this is a family issue. Either this is a relative of ours or someone using our name, which means it affects me. Second, I have a Sharingan which only one other person could boast and he's in the hospital. Thirdly, I already know the terrain more than anyone else you could bring with you. Fourthly, you know I can be useful even if I'm just breaking other people out of genjutsu."
"No, you don't have the experience."
"Hey, are you forgetting I helped bring down Kabuto? The number two of the infamous Orochimaru."
"Yes, you did kill Kabuto," Sasuke said mockingly. "After he fled from Naruto and me, you also had five others to back you up."
"The Hokage trusted my team to secure the message route," Kado said, his voice climbing with anger.
"This is S-ranked. You shouldn't even know about it."
"You know I'm capable." Kado insisted. "Is this because you still don't think I'm a real Uchiha? You don't think I deserve to be here."
Sasuke jumped to his feet and rounded on Kado, grabbing his shirt. "It's because you are an Uchiha that I don't want you there. If I die, you have to carry on the family line and that's final." Kado's eyes had become wide as Sasuke drilled into them before he let him go. Stepping around, Kado to get off the little dock, he started up the path.
"You mean that?" Kado called out.
He stopped. "I said it, didn't I?"
"So, you're saying not to go seeking revenge?"
Sasuke closed his eyes, remembering his brother and their battles. All those years that had concluded with his moment of victory that had felt like nothing. "It doesn't change things."