Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its writers, animators, and producers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experience from writing this.
Summary: After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call.
A/N: I apologize for the long wait between updates, but motivation in general is kind of…not really there (which means homework is suffering and then this suffers more from it). Yeah…. Anyways, this chapter might be too dramatic, but I've hinted before that the Academy has become lax in their desensitizing classes, especially after the massacre. The genin may be a little catatonic at times, and they will be struggling with the fact they had killed 80 people within a very short span of time, plus they have no mentor to comfort or guide them. I'll break down why each reacts that way, but I hinted two chapters ago why Sasuke might react badly despite seeing so much death in his own life. Also, I have begun to edit some of the earlier chapters to remove some of the harsher characterizations and to polish the writing. Anyways, thank you to those who reviewed, or put this on alert or favorite ~ much love, depressedchildren Edited 5/14/2016
Chapter 36: Bearing the Consequences pt 1
Week Nineteen cont.
Tsunami was relieved the kunoichi had regained color and strength during the night; however, Tsunami was not prepared for the three Konoha ninja's behavior that morning. She had gone up to the girl's room to check on her, but she was surprised to find that the boys had moved their sleeping bags into her room. The three had slept together in a protective manner that made Tsunami think of how young these ninja really were. Sleeping so close together with their foreheads pinched in distress reminded Tsunami of Inari's nightmares after…after Kaiza was so brutally killed.
They ninja woke up when she stepped foot into the room. The boys had knives out, and were crouched protectively around the girl with the blonde looking particularly like a feral animal. When they realized it was Tsunami, the dark haired boy did something with his hands and tapped the blonde on the shoulder. Then, both boys stowed their weapons away. The girl was awake too, but she hadn't moved position; likely because of her stitches.
"Breakfast is ready…" Tsunami's voice was far softer than she had intended.
These children…she swallowed thickly, they had killed all those thugs by themselves. Her father had explained what it had been like, dragging all the corpses to the bridge and the outskirts of the village, and when there were thugs left alive but crippled, the boys killed them with a slash across the throat.
Tsunami backed out of the room to let the children get ready, although they were all in the same clothes they had worn the day before—bloodstains and all. Tsunami hurried down the stairs and began to set the table. The breakfast wasn't much, just rice porridge because she had given what she could spare to the villagers whose homes were raided.
The girl was walking down the stairs slowly, and used the wall for support. There was some color to her face again, but she was breathing heavily. Had she lost so much blood? Her teammates were behind her, and looked prepared to catch her should she fall. Still…the girl could walk now, at least. Yesterday, by the time the ninja had gone to bed, the girl had to be helped up to the room.
They all sat around the table and began eating, or well….the boys kept giving the girl more food and water; likely to help with her blood loss—not that the boys seemed to want to eat. The girl was trying to eat, but like the boys, she didn't seem to have much appetite. Tsunami knew the blonde boy had an inhuman appetite, and she knew ninja required more caloric diets due to their charka use and general levels of activity. So why weren't they eating? They surely needed it after the…battle yesterday.
There was a yell from outside, and Tazuna got up. He looked surprised, "It's one of the villagers," the three children tensed and looked prepared to fight more if they must. Father realized where their minds had gone and paled. "No, it shouldn't be that," he assured. "I asked them to take inventory of the damage. I know the bridge is a priority but…" but it was building the bridge that caused the raid, Tsunami finished the sentence in her head.
The Konoha ninja relaxed for a moment, and Tazuna nodded to them, "Why don't you three get ready?" the ninja nodded and got up.
The boys went off to get cleaned up while the girl checked on her bandage. The blonde was the first out of the wash room, and he sat at the table with a piece of paper and a pencil out. As far as Tsunami could tell, the boy was doodling, which was kind of cute, especially since he stuck his tongue out in concentration. However, the dark haired boy had yet to come out of the washroom. Hm… perhaps he had decided to use the restroom too?
Minutes passed and neither of the blonde's teammates had come back down. Frowning, Tsunami began going up the stairs to check on the girl. When she reached the bedroom, the door was open and the girl was staring out the window. She clenched and unclenched her fists slowly and she then started clenching them spastically. Her face was pale again, and it dawned on Tsunami that the girl wasn't staring at anything in particular.
"Kunoichi-san" she called, which made the girl jump in alarm. She looked like a deer caught in a bright light. …She was frightened for a moment, Tsunami realized, but her expression quickly became neutral and she nodded to the woman.
"I'll be down shortly, Tsunami-san." The girl bowed her head slightly before she began looking around the room for anything she might need. Tsunami nodded slowly and began going down the stairs.
Inari ran up to her when she was half way down. "Something's wrong!" he pressed and began tugging on Tsunami's skirts. Was it Father? Had something happened to him when he was talking with the villager?
Tsunami froze at the foot of the stairs. She watched the blonde boy rock back and forth slowly with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his hands under the arms. She could see from her angle that his hands were clenched tightly, so tightly that he was bleeding. He was staring in front of him unseeingly too, and then he closed his eyes tightly. Tsunami swallowed thickly, and began heading toward the washroom.
When she opened the door, she found the dark haired boy scrubbing something incessantly. His arms were shaking, but he continued scrubbing at, what Tsunami now realized was, his brown jacket. The sleeve had been covered in blood and the boy was trying to get the blood out now. The water was steaming and the boy's pale arms were an angry red from the heat.
She backed out of the room and began shaking her head. "Tsunami, what happened?" she turned to her father and shook her head again. She wasn't equipped to deal with this! "Tsunami?!"
"What do you think happened?" she snapped back at her father, "They k—" Her voice dropped to whisper. "They're children, and they k-killed so many people yesterday." She stared at the blonde boy who was beginning to cry and shake his head as if that could shake away whatever thoughts plagued him.
Where was the girl again? Tsunami moved over toward the stairwell and frowned when she found the girl just standing at the top of the stairs lost. Why was this happening? It didn't happen yesterday, although there was hardly any down time the day before.
Tsunami quickly grabbed everyone's bento boxes and gave them to Tazuna. "How much work do you have at the bridge?" she asked loudly. She was relieved when she heard movement on the stairs, and saw the blonde snap his head up in attention—at least that seemed to snap the ninja out of their thoughts. Her father caught on and he nodded his head minutely.
"There's quite a bit of work, and there are repairs that need to be done in some of the homes. Not to mention the road work where it had been blown up."
"Mah!" the blonde shoot to his feet and plastered on a very fake smile. "Sorry about that, we'll help with what we can!"
"It couldn't be helped though" the dark haired boy came out of the washroom and put on his sopping jacket, as if unaware of the wetness or residual heat.
"But reparations will have to come after the bridge is completed. We must ensure your safety," the girl was at the foot of the stairs again. It seemed the mission held some credence and kept them from and intruded on their thoughts—what terrible thoughts they must be.
These children…they were just barely holding on, and Tsunami had no clue what she could do to help them.
She stared after them as they left for the day and wished there was something she could do. This mission had cost them their sensei and so much of their innocence too.
As Naruto undid the barrier seal to let them out, Sakura tried not to think. She focused on her teammates' presence, her brothers' presence. They had survived yesterday as a team, as a family, and feeling them close to her made her feel safe. But there was this suffocating feeling that wanted to take over; it was a realization she didn't want to vocalize or fully admit even to herself. It was there though, lurking in her mind like this half-formed creature ready to pounce when she let her guard down.
They quickly proceeded on when Naruto reactivated the barrier, but they were silent for the most part. Tazuna was nervously chattering away about random, useless things; as if attempting to draw them out of their thoughts and silence. Maybe he was worried of a repeat of this morning from her.
This morning Sakura had thought back to what she had done to those men. She had snapped their necks, and broken their backs or legs. She had killed with her bare hands and chakra augmented strength. Part of her knew that was inevitable in her line of work, and Gai's instruction backed this up, but she wasn't ready for all this killing.
What would her parents think of her? What would they say to her? She had killed. There was blood on her hands. She even stared one of the men in the face before she killed him. What did this make her? It was a thought that chilled her to the core and made her feel sick, but it wasn't the half-formed thing—no that was something worse.
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment and breathed uneasily. She felt Naruto's fingers grab her own and she felt Sasuke brush his arm against her arm. Right, her team was here, and together they would keep themselves safe. Sakura exhaled as she opened her eyes. They were at the edge of the woods now.
Sakura saw villagers running back and forth with loads of dirt or pieces of lumber. Everyone was already busy at work. They turned to Tazuna who was also assessing the movement in the village.
"What should we help with?" Sakura asked quickly, and Tazuna looked at her in surprise.
"Oh uh…" Tazuna looked at them partly in surprise but also with guilt, "you all fought yesterday, perhaps you should rest up for the day, but you can keep watch?"
Sakura did still feel faint, and she could feel her teammates' gazes on her. They would take her lead on this. She was sure Sasuke was still fatigued from yesterday, but Naruto was undoubtedly bursting with energy. They could certainly help out, but…she didn't want to be left alone.
She nodded her head slowly and she heard Sasuke exhale slightly, almost as if in relief. The genjutsu and dojutsu must have taken a lot out of him yesterday.
They didn't say anything more, and Tazuna hurried over to a cluster of confused villagers; likely he would organize the people and they would all start to work on what needed to be done. Sakura looked at her-her brothers, but only Naruto was looking at her.
"Should I make some clones?" he asked hesitantly, and Sakura frowned before looking to Sasuke for his input. He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"We would probably have a good vantage point on that building," he gestured toward one of the taller structures, which may have been an inn at one point.
Sakura knew what Sasuke meant though by giving such an answer. They didn't want what happened yesterday to happen again. What if having clones out for too long caused as bad of a reaction as having too many out and doing too many different things. Sakura couldn't imagine the human brain was meant to process all the different information Naruto's clones fed him. Unfortunately, Sensei was…and he could no longer teach Naruto such things.
Sakura swallowed thickly as she felt that half-formed thought-creature rear its ugly head. She pushed it down as they hopped across roofs to reach the taller structure, but she didn't know how long she could keep it…repressed.
Once on the inn's roof, they sat down with their backs facing each other, and it was a reminder that they were together and safe.
For a while they sat there with their eyes tracking villagers carrying different materials from one place to another. Sakura could see the macabre line of spikes and bodies in the distance, but it was a dark blurry smudge with trails and pools of blood around it. She swallowed thickly and tried to look beyond the line for any more threats against the village, but her gaze went back to the mutilated bodies. Did that make them monsters? Were they bad people for doing this? They just wanted to scare Gato, but they had desecrated their foes' bodies. What if someone did that to them—did that to Sensei?!
Sakura clenched her eyes closed and worked to keep the bile back. When the threat of vomiting subsided, she began to breathe slowly. She couldn't think like that; it would do her no good. So she Inhaled, and exhaled. Her brothers were there with her and that made them all safe. She slowly inhaled, and exhaled again. Sakura was alive becau—the half-formed thing became whole with that thought and she gasped sharply.
Her eyes started to burn and her hands sought out her teammates' hands. She wasn't sure what she felt but the thought was…unsettling, numbing, and sad in ways she didn't want to think about. She should be dead. One movement too slow and she had been stabbed—stabbed! Sure she was able to fight on, but what if he had aimed higher or what if she hadn't dodged as much as she had? But even in the aftermath of the attack, even if the missing-nin hadn't delivered a fatal blow, she should be dead! Sakura should be dead right now because she knew there was internal bleeding she couldn't heal. She should be dead.
The thought was suffocating in some strange way, and she couldn't stop crying, but why damn it!? Was she so egotistical, was that why she was crying? But as the thought sunk in, all she could think about was Naruto and Akatsuki. Her visions, what were they worth if she was dead? What did any of it matter if she died before anything could come of it? Death meant an end, and all the hard work all the plans…
Of course it was a ninja's duty to die for their nation, to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of their village, but… Sensei would never get to teach them again; he just stopped existing and now he would never be there to protect them from that terrible future. That would have happened to her too; she would—no should—have ended the night before. Ino…her parents…her new-found brothers, they would never know all her thoughts or wishes, and she would never be able to protect them from the terrors down the road.
But she was a ninja, and death was inevitable, so too was her own death. Yet still Sakura felt the tears slip past her closed eyes, and then her body began to shake with sobs. She gasped for breath, but this realization was…it took her breath away and made her feel so insignificant. She was thirteen, and she should be dead now.
"Nee-chan!" Naruto's arms were around her and the weight of them grounded her. She could feel Sasuke hovering beside her as he held onto to her hand tightly.
She wasn't dead though, she wasn't. She gasped and continued to gasp for breath while Naruto tried to coax her to speak. Sakura should be dead, but she wasn't. How had that happened? How was this even possible?! That thought pushed back the sobs and she looked to her teammates in alarm.
"H-how am I alive?" her voice was hoarse and caught several times as she looked between her teammates almost desperately. They hadn't said it the night before, but when they had gone to bed, Sakura knew she wasn't going to wake up. She had done what she could for her teammates and for the villagers, but they all knew she was going to die. She had been prolonging the inevitable all day.
Her teammates shifted uncomfortably, but Sasuke was the one to eventually break the silence, "The ally you sensed…" Sasuke looked away, his jaw was clenched in anger, and Sakura could feel Naruto's arms tighten around her shoulders as he bowed his head against her shoulder—as if to hide from something or to seek comfort from her.
"W-what about it? Were they a medic; why would there be a…" Sakura trailed off. Her tired mind did not want to process what exactly this all meant, but one thing stood out regardless: there was a medic following them from the shadows, and yet Sensei was dead.
"ANBU" Naruto murmured almost brokenly. He sounded like a scared, lost child. Sakura numbly brought her arm up toward him as she tried to process what he meant.
"ANBU?"
"She's an ANBU operative. He's—" Sasuke's voice cracked in anger and hurt. She could practically feel his insecurities as he brokenly spoke on, "he's alive. The-the bastard's just t-testing us again!" She could feel Sasuke's arm shaking and his hand clutched hers tighter.
"S-sensei a-abandoned us," Naruto went on, and she could feel him crying against her shoulder.
Sakura numbly tried to move to hug her brothers as she processed this. Sensei...he wasn't dead. He left them an ANBU medic, why? Why was there an ANBU medic anyways, and where was Sensei? Was it really all just part of the test?
No! This couldn't be right! Sensei had been conflicted and torn the whole mission, but for some reason they had to take this mission. Could it just be a test? But Sensei would never put such a test above them, which meant what? D-did Sensei have an ANBU mission? Was that what he was so torn about? But he would never take a mission and place it above them, right? That just went against his whole shinobi code. Unless…unless he had to take the ANBU mission and it had to coincide with this mission. But why—
Sakura gasped and pulled away from her teammates. "No, no, no, no, no!" She shook her head frantically and began to run toward the forest. Her head spun as she dropped to the ground below her, and she heard Naruto call after her as she stumbled into a wall.
"Let her process it," she vaguely heard Sasuke tell Naruto, and she was thankful when the blonde didn't pursue because this couldn't be happening! She needed to be alone and to figure this out because this could all very well be her own fault.
Sakura stumbled and crashed into the tree-line. Her head was spinning and her breathing was very labored. She'd need to eat something to help resupply her blood, but she'd probably also have to check her stitches to make sure she hadn't pulled them. However, such thoughts were secondary to the feeling suffocating her.
Sakura grabbed tuffs of grass desperately until she had made a clear, circular patch of dirt. She patted the damp earth flat before she fumbled for the bag her father had given her. She poured the contents into her hand and several of the small bones fell onto the dirt. She hastily picked up all the pieces and held them in her cupped hands to her lips.
Please, please! This couldn't be her fault. Sakura's tears renewed and her body was shaking as she focused all her thoughts on one question: is Sensei on an ANBU mission?
She let her hands fall open above the circle. The little bones fell to the ground and bounced against each other until they settled. She stared unseeing at them for a long moment before the bits of bleached bone made sense to her. The short answer was yes, Sensei was on an ANBU mission. There were more details in the bones, but she couldn't read it or at least read it accurately.
Sakura sat back on her heels and shook her head. An ANBU mission, and if Sensei had…had abandoned them here then it must be important. No wonder he was so torn from the start of their mission. Sensei must think that completing his mission meant their safety somehow, or the safety of Konoha. They were in Nami no Kuni, which was close to Kirigakure. That must be the target because any place on the mainland would be better reached from the mainland, unless this was a misdirection? This ANBU mission also needed a cover, clearly. Sensei would somehow reveal himself on this mission and so he needed a strong alibi—at least that was the most logical conclusion she could draw for why they continued on with their C-rank when it was revealed to be more than that.
Oh god! This was her fault.
Sakura leaned forward and hastily pulled all the bones back up into her hands and brought them back up to her lips as she rocked slightly in place. She knew what the bones were going to say, but she wished for a negative answer to her question. Was Sensei's mission the Mizukage?
She let the bones fall again. They clattered together and rolled before settling. The bone groupings were different from last time, but then she found the formation she knew by heart. Yes.
"No, no, no, no, no," Sakura shook her head back and forth as she kept staring down at the bones. This was her fault. She started hastily pulling all the bones together again and put them back in the bag. This was her fault. This was her visions' fault!
"Nee-chan!" Sakura looked up sharply to see through the trees that Sasuke and Naruto were running toward her from the village. They looked more than a little concerned, and Sakura feared there were more thugs coming. She wouldn't be able to fight, not at all.
However, when the boys broke through the tree-line, they had their hands prepared to draw upon their seals. Sakura started to reach for her sealed staff as she looked around herself like her teammates were doing. Had they sensed an enemy coming up on her?
Sasuke was the first to relax his stance before he knelt in front of her. He was looking her over with a critical look, and his brow was furrowed. Sakura looked at him in confusion, but he finally looked and away and shook his head.
"Nii-san was keeping an eye on your chakra, and he said it was going everywhere," Naruto explained as he relaxed. He then scuffed his foot against the ground, "We thought something happened."
Sakura looked at her teammates and swallowed thickly. Sasuke was blushing slightly, perhaps embarrassed he had overreacted like that. Sakura was just amazed he could act like that, but then, he wasn't the man with the lightning fist from her premonition—maybe he'd never be that man?
"I-I'm fine," she shook her head and put the bag of bones back into her pocket. Other than that this whole hellish mission was her fault—they wouldn't have been on it if Sensei didn't feel obligated to do something about he controlled jinchuuriki.
Naruto kneeled down beside her and set his hand on her shoulder and gave her a solemn look while Sasuke scoffed at her response. "Nee-chan, it's okay to not be fine. S-sensei—" The blond shook his head and started again, "We don't need him, we're our own family and team now." The blonde's voice was wavering, but the look in his eyes told her he was convinced and determined.
Sakura looked over at Sasuke and saw the same grim look. "Y-you both think Sensei would just abandon us?" Sakura's voice cracked several times and her throat felt so tight. This was all her fault!
Sasuke snapped his head in her direction and glared fiercely, "You're going to defend him?! After all his words about teamwork and not abandoning teammates—" Sasuke made a frustrated noise and shot to his feet. He paced around the field, and Sakura stared horrified. Sasuke then whirled around, "He's the scum! He abandoned us because of some stupid test!"
"You don't know that!" Sakura screeched back and shook her head. "It's not like that!" It was her fault, she had told sensei…she had told him everything.
Sasuke looked at her in disbelief and slight disgust. Naruto's hand fell away from her shoulder and she saw him shaking his head slowly back and forth. "Nee-chan, I know it's painful and it's hard to—"
"NO!" Sakura got to her feet and moved away from them. "He's on an ANBU mission. He left his team's medic with us." Her head spun slightly and her breathing was labored. She brought a hand out to steady herself as she clutched at her head. "You two don't understand," she murmured. It was all her fault.
Naruto rushed to her side to give her support, but Sasuke just glared at her. "I get you might want to see the best in him," Sasuke shot out, "but the fact remains that that theif isn't here even though he's alive!"
Sakura looked up at Sasuke and shook her head slowly. Naruto looked torn between going with Sasuke and listening to Sakura. He began to frown as he turned to look at the Uchiha, "W-we never asked her if-if Sensei was alive." Sasuke stilled and paled but Sakura shook her head.
"No." Sensei wouldn't have been dead when he started his mission. He could be now because it was essentially a suicide mission but—but it couldn't happen, right?
"S-she would have said something," Sasuke finally replied numbly, and Naruto gave him a look that asked if he was positive. If Sakura didn't know any better, she might agree with them. The Medic could have sealed the bodies for them in line with protocol, and would not have told the boy's—they could have just jumped to conclusions last night.
Sasuke then narrowed his eyes and shook his head more firmly, "No, she would have healed or helped them in the battle against the mummy."
"Unless she was supposed to just guard and help us," Naruto's refutation was shaky and soft. In frustration, he began pulling at his hair as he closed his eyes tightly. "I don't know what to believe and I don't want any of this to be true, dattebayo!" He crouched down on the ground and kept shaking his head back and forth.
Sakura wasn't sure if she should convince them Sensei was on an ANBU mission or not; after all, what good would that do? Sensei had told them so often that those who put the mission before comrades were scum, and Sensei had put a mission before them. Granted, the mission could potentially stop cataclysmic events from occurring that would tear the Shinobi world apart, which would in turn protect them.
Sakura looked over at Sasuke who looked just as lost. Perhaps for now, it was better for them to be in this uncertain place rather than hate sensei for abandoning them for a mission or because of a test.
"Let's not fight," Sakura spoke up quietly. "We still have a bridge to guard." The boys looked up at her and it went unsaid between them that the bridge's completion would be the deadline for their sensei's possible return.
Maybe Sensei was dead; after all, the jounin was going up against a kage who also happened to be a jinchuuriki. That was basically a suicide mission; add to that, Sensei left his medic with Team 7 because he couldn't leave them without any protection like he had probably planned when this was a simple escort mission.
"We should add to the traps," Sasuke murmured as he looked over at the still crouching Naruto. The blonde nodded slowly as he stood up.
"I have some ideas I want to try out, and if they don't work, they'll still explode," the blonde shrugged slightly and his flippant manner made Sakura laugh despite the depressing mode around them.
"I'm assuming these are triggered by a foreign chakra?" Sakura asked, and the blonde nodded animatedly.
"I've been working on them since we started making traps out of my fuinjutsu, 'tebayo" he gestured between himself and Sasuke. The blonde led the way toward the line of traps and explained how the seal was supposed to function and trigger. She looked slightly over at Sasuke who glanced back over at her. He then tilted his head toward Naruto and smirked slightly. Sakura started to smile too. Naruto was oblivious as he rambled on about the intricacies of the seals he wanted to try.
…
Sasuke stared down at the food some of the villagers brought them for their lunch. The raw fish in the simple dish made Sasuke want to throw up. He swallowed back the bile and forced his gaze away from the meal. He couldn't eat; not after their journey to the macabre edge of town.
He wished the dobe or bookworm had been more…well, firm against the civilians' insistances that they accept their "humble show of appreciation and thanks." The villagers had gone to the trouble to make these extra lunches for them; even collectively pooling together what they could spare, but none of Team 7 had much of an appetite for even the small bentos Tsunami made, yet they couldn't refuse the offer without being rude.
Sasuke swallowed back the swell of salvia that said he'd be sick soon.
How could he think of eating after all they had done? After desecrating those bodies like that? He was a monster, just like that man who had cut out his best friend's own eyes… Sasuke found the report a year ago, and he cursed himself for not wondering if that man had stolen any more eyes during the massacre—or what if someone took his clan's eyes after the massacre and before the cremations?
Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and quickly took a bite of the food. He chewed quickly and swallowed. His stomach lurched, and he imagined the food settled heavily in his stomach. At that thought, he unintentionally recalled how he had gutted a man with his sword yesterday. The blood…the feel of his sword meeting resistance before slowly tearing through flesh and muscle…the smell of blood as it slipped down his blade. It had been so easy…it was so easy to kill with either a blade or senbon. It had been so very easy. Was it so easy for that man to kill too, is that why he attacked their whole clan? For the challenge? Because of the ease? Would Sasuke become like that man someda—NO!
He needed a distraction, and his honorary siblings were too silent—perhaps also troubled by their thoughts of killing, and eating after all they had done.
He cleared his throat slightly, and could feel their attention immediately go to him. They were on their roof again and they were sitting with their backs against each other, but he felt their muscles tense all the same as they turned to him. "Otoutou?" his voice as a little raspy.
"Yeah?"
"What was that chakra yesterday?" He felt the dobe immediately stiffen along with the bookworm—Sasuke found that those nicknames he gave his teammates no longer held the same resentment and anger they had before (not even when he thought them); his teammates were family now, yes, but they would always be a bookworm and a very surprising idiot.
The blonde began trembling slightly, and Sasuke frowned. Why would he do that? That chakra was terrible and malicious, but…what was it? Sasuke tried to think of any jutsu or, hell, seals that could lead to such an…explosion of chakra, but he came up with nothing.
"Maybe you should tell him, Otoutou?" the bookworm murmured.
"I-I can't do it like this, 'tebayo," the blonde sounded…scared. Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly in confusion, especially when he felt the other boy pull away from his back. He turned his head to look at the dobe, and found that he and the bookworm were now facing him, so he turned his body around. They were really serious, so…then this was some kind of forbidden jutsu?
"I…" the blonde began as he looked down at his lap and the picked-at lunch. Their sister set her hand on the boy's leg in an encouraging gesture. "Y-yondaime didn't kill the um," the dobe swallowed, "the Kyuubi." His words were barely audible.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this and pulled back slightly. What? Something settled at the back of his mind about what this could entail, and dread started to build up inside of him.
"Think about it," the bookworm murmured. "The Kyuubi is pure chakra. Does chakra die?" she asked rhetorically. "When you stop a jutsu, does the chakra just stop existing?"
"No," Sasuke replied immediately, "it disperses either back into your system or into the area around you." It hit him then. If Yondaime had "killed" the Kyuubi, it's chakra would have reformed by now and there would be a bijuu on another rampage. "Which means," Sasuke breathed out with his eyes wide in realization, "he sealed it." He glanced over at the blonde boy, who shifted uncomfortably with a guilty look on his face.
Unconsciously, Sasuke scrambled away from the blonde. That chakra had-had been the Kyuubi! And that meant the Kyuubi was sealed in some way that the dobe—of all people!—could access it's chakra in times of emotional distress or anger. What if it broke out?! What if it corrupted the idiot or-or something!
The blonde's expression became dejected and he hung his head, but the pink-haired girl glared darkly at Sasuke. "They're not the same thing," she hissed, and Sasuke blinked in surprise for a moment.
He hadn't thought of that, but then that meant Naruto was the seal, not some necklace or trinket. Oh god.
"Does the scroll that holds the kunai become a kunai?" the bookworm pressed on, while the blonde kept looking down at his lap with his fists clenched together and shaking.
"I didn't think that!" Sasuke snapped, "I only thought—" he broke off and looked anywhere but at his team. How could Yondaime do that? Seal the bijuu into a baby—because Naruto had to be a baby then.
What if that demon had been influencing the dobe this whole time? What if—but the dobe was genuinely an idiot most of the time, so how could that possibly be a demon possessing him…unless it was lulling them all into a false sense of security only to murder them all… but it still didn't make sense, and he didn't know enough to really understand all of this—
"Thought what?" Sakura asked angrily for the blonde who may or may not be possessed by a very cunning demon.
"What if it possess him or is possessing him," he hissed out and the blonde hunched in on himself. Was the demon going to suddenly reveal himself and start laughing?! "What if it breaks out," Sasuke gasped out. He was keeping his panic back, but only barely, and he knew his teammate could hear it in his voice.
Sakura pulled back and her mouth hung open. "It can't possess him," although she sounded sure, he knew she had no proof.
"Oh? So you know what Yondaime's seal did and how it works?" he shot back sarcastically, but he kept a wary eye on the blonde. He kept pushing the panic back down, but his heart was beating as frantically as his mind was thinking.
The bookworm glared at Sasuke, but he knew he beat her with his logic. She looked away from him with her hands folded over her chest. "It could be an ally someday, so-so just don't—" she broke off in a huff and shook her head.
The mood between them all was heavy and tense again, and the dobe just sat there with his head bowed and his arms shaking—in anger? Then Sasuke saw it, a tear fell into the boy's lunch, and he observed the slight shake in his shoulders…. He was crying this whole time?
"D-dobe?" he addressed cautiously, which brought Sakura's attention back to the blonde. Her eyes widened and she scooted closer to wrap her arms around him.
However, the blonde just began to cry louder, and he jerked out of Sakura's touch. He shot to his feet and began to run blindly away from them. His lunch spilled onto the roof and then fell to the street below them.
Sakura set her lunch to the side before she got up to race after him; although, she made sure to shoot Sasuke a disgusted glare. "You are such a heartless bastard." What?!
Sasuke reared back as his team…his family left him on the roof. He looked down at his lap where the barely eaten food stayed. His family…family…and he had rejected the blonde because he was afraid.
What evidence did he even have that the blonde was a danger to them? The dobe had always been this harmless idiot, and although that could all just be a disguise to mask a malicious demon…well, the blonde was really terrible at lying before that crazy snake-bitch began training them. If Sasuke really thought back on his interactions with the blonde critically well, he was always genuine and guileless—unless he was trying to prank Sasuke.
The blonde was lonely like Sasuke. He was an orphan and so starved of attention he would take any he could take. Did that sound like someone influenced by a demon? Not really… And that power… it hadn't hurt the bookworm, so he had control over it, if only in what direction it went. Then after the chakra went away, the blonde had been there to defend Sasuke.
They were brothers in arms and Team 7 was all either of them had—oh shit. He had rejected the blonde, hadn't called him by familial terms… shit.
Sasuke set the lunch aside and chased after his team in the nearby woods. When he caught up to them, he found the blonde pulling at his hair as he jerked away from all of the bookworm's attempts to touch him. "NO!" he shouted, "don't you get it?!" Sasuke stood frozen in the tree-line with his eyes glued on his emotional siblings.
"I-I ripped that guy apart, and I felt so happy that I did!" Naruto shouted. "H-he hurt you Nee-chan and I-I wanted him to pay, and suffer and-and—" the boy jerked away from Sakura's next attempt to comfort him. "I'm a monster, a demon! I'm the Kyuubi!"
"Naruto!" Sakura screamed back and tried to move closer to him, but he jerked away again.
"No!" the blonde pulled more at his hair. "What if it is possessing me? What if when I use it's chakra it has a pull on me?!" He stumbled back into a tree and sunk to the ground. He curled into himself. "I'm a monster, I'm a monster," he chanted.
Sakura looked lost and unsure of what she could do, and Naruto… Had Sasuke ever really seen the blonde like that before? He was afraid of himself too, terrified of what he could do with the Kyuubi's chakra. This didn't feel right. The dobe was always so stupid and optimistic…
Sasuke's fists curled tightly together. "You're right, we're all monsters," Sasuke called out over the boy's chant.
The blonde instantly stilled and looked up in alarm. The bookworm also turned to look at him with a confused and scared look on her face. With their attention, Sasuke pressed on. "W-we killed so many people, and we…desecrated their bodies," Sasuke felt sick, but he managed to stay composed as he stepped closer to his teammates and siblings. "But we did it to buy time and to protect the village, and the fact we feel remorse," because that had to be what this suffocating feeling was, "makes us human still." That man surely felt no remorse for what he did, so feeling this had to be a good thing, right?
Sakura looked at him with confusion and suspicion on her face, but she let him come closer. Naruto was openly looking at him in dazed confusion. Sasuke crouched down next to the blonde, "I…" he looked away from the other boy and sighed, "You're still my…brother."
The blonde started to come out of his protective curled position; his expression was open and earnest. "Really?" there was so much hope in his voice and expression, Sasuke wondered if the blonde had just chucked all of that psychotic woman's training out the window. Still…it was good to see such an expression on the dobe's face.
"Hn," Sasuke couldn't believe he had said what he had, and he didn't want to have to say anything else today. He just kept embarrassing himself when he did. First he over-reacted to the bookworm's chakra fluctuating wildly, and then he had to say these sappy things to the dobe.
Sakura crouched down beside him and their shoulders touched. "Glad you stopped being so dim," she teased and he glared at her half-heartedly before looking away again.
Sasuke shifted a little uneasily after a moment of his normally loud and talkative teammates reaming silent. "Have you figured anything about your seal?" Any discussion on this would break up the awkward atmosphere and also set him at ease if the dobe could answer him.
The blonde frowned and lifted up his shirt before he began circulating chakra. A really complex seal appeared around the central nexus of his chakra network. "It has several layers to it" he gestured to the overlaying structures, "I'm guessing they're fail safes." The blonde shrugged but that sort of put Sasuke at ease, even if he wasn't positive about the function of the layers. "The swirl is an Uzumaki fuinjutsu thing that either helps with stability or power. Otherwise seal's all gibberish to me." The dobe's shirt fell back down and he looked at Sasuke tentatively.
"Y-you really think I'm not…" he trailed off. Sasuke just shook his head; there was no need to say anything else embarrassing. The dobe started to smile, and then Sasuke found himself being suffocated. Of course the bookworm had to laugh at the blonde's affectionate actions and Sasuke's misfortune.
Sasuke managed to pry the blonde off of him while glaring at the unhelpful girl. "Can we avoid the emotional crap for one minute," he mumbled and his teammates both started laughing self-depreciatingly.
"It's been a pretty crazy day," the bookworm breathed before shaking her head.
"Mah…" the blonde began shyly, "it's all this thinking." His face scrunched up in distaste, and Sasuke couldn't help but think how typical that was for the dobe. "We gotta do something, 'tebayo." The blonde's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet with an arm raised in the air, "Let's help with the bridge building!"
Of course he'd suggest that. Sasuke looked at the blonde and then at the bookworm, who shared his blank expression. "No," Sasuke finally vetoed.
"We could train on the bridge, since the workers are all going to be there now," Sakura suggested, and both boys looked at her with eyebrows raised. What the hell was she thinking; it was dangerous to train around civilians…unless she meant push-ups or other mundane exercises. But that would hardly keep their minds occupied.
"We can't train around the workers, they'll get hurt!" the dobe voiced Sasuke's thoughts, but the bookworm shook her head.
"Chakra control and output exercises."
"At the same time?" the dobe didn't sound so sure about that, and Sasuke had reservations about wall walking so high above water.
"We'll wall walk along the railings and focus on our chakra control, or you two could try water walking?"
It was an option, and it would be better than sitting and thinking. They should probably finish lunch first though…
…
He was a businessman by trade, and a big boss in the shipping industry. He had it good with Kirigakure, and the smaller island villages were his dominion. All but Nami no Kuni. That damn bridge builder was interfering with his monopoly. Sure there were four settlements on the small island, and he controlled all of them, but that bridge held the risk of opening trading to all his controlled villages.
He had sent eighty of his men there the day before to secure the village closest to Tazuna and his damn bridge, but none of his men had reported in. He sent a scout to see what the status of the village was, and he came back shaking like a leaf. Gato could only assume Tazuna hired a team while he was in Konoha, but he hadn't thought they'd be powerful enough to get past the Demon Brothers, Momochi Zabuza, and Momochi's pretty-boy apprentice. Now it seems this Konoha team was more powerful than he had thought, and more twisted too. His eighty men now marked the edge of the village. Gato hadn't thought Konoha ninja would stoop to such repulsive lows, but he was proven wrong.
He'd send out thirty men to test for traps around the village. Undoubtedly the cowardly ninja set more traps up, so he couldn't use the village as a hostage again. Those traps were a nuisance and lethal. He had lost a good ten men to the traps around the house. He didn't want to lose more men. Maybe he should just raze the settlement to the ground? Surely one of his thugs could fire an arrow at one of the towns?
He was running out of rogue ninja near at hand. If this kept up… Gato scowled. Who could Konoha have hired? Perhaps he should test his contacts in Kiri… He'd have an answer by the morning if he sent the hawk off now.
…
Tsunami kept looking up at Team 7 a little lost and unsure. The genin pecked at the food, as if they had no real appetite, and the atmosphere around the whole dinner table was awkward.
"How much work do you think is left on the bridge?" she asked her father. Her gaze lingered on the genin, and she was relieved to see them perk up at this change in topic.
"Ah," her father rubbed the back of his head, "Well, perhaps a week." He grimaced and looked down at the table, "It depends more on what Gato will do in the time being."
The genin looked at each other, and the two expressive ones grimaced. "You are our priority, Tazuna-san," the girl of the group stated, though she looked apologetic.
"It's okay," Inari interjected. "We can all stand up to Gato now, I know it!" her boy exclaimed with a determined look on his face. She smiled at her son, and couldn't help but think of Kaiza; Inari had so admired him.
The genin shared a look again but didn't say anything, but Tsunami could guess what they were thinking. What if Gato hired more ninja? What if Gato storms the village again? The blonde one caught her worried expression and his own relaxed slightly. He flashed her and Inari a smile, "We set up more traps around the village, and the villagers said they'd have watches during the night. We'll do watches too, so…" he trailed off but smiled again. Something about the smile was stiff.
It was silent for a moment and awkward again. Tsunami shifted and glanced around the table. She had to break this suffocating atmosphere, "How old are you? What do Konoha ninja do for birthdays?"
The boys froze in place but the girl knew where Tsunami was coming from and gave her a pleasant smile. "Usually friends might throw a celebration for a ninja, but usually there are just small get togethers with friends or family." The girl smiled demurely, and began to blush slightly, "I turned thirteen just before graduating."
"Oh yeah!" the blonde nodded his head, "your birthday's in March, right?"
The girl smiled fondly at the whisker-cheeked boy and nodded. "And you're birthday's October tenth," she said slowly and the blonde's eyes grew wide in surprise.
"You knew that Sakura-san?" He said the honorific oddly, as if he was caught between different ones he wanted to use.
"Of course I do," the girl replied much more confidently and ruffled the boy's hair. He preened under the attention and then smiled over at Tsunami.
"There's usually lots of little celebrations all around Konoha on that day, so no one really pays attention to it," the blonde explained, although he didn't seem put down by the lack of attention. "But Teuchi-san's stall always has some new ramen recipe for me to try on my birthday, so it's really great, 'tebayo!"
Tsunami chuckled slightly. "So are you the youngest then?" she asked the exuberant boy.
He frowned slightly but nodded. "Yeah…I'm still twelve."
"So am I," murmured the quiet dark haired boy. He looked over at Sakura with a slight frown marring his features. The blonde also looked confused for a moment, and Tsunami wasn't sure what she had missed.
"Ah, so you like ramen?" She asked the blonde.
The boy sat up straighter, and his eyes practically sparkled as he began to talk about the various types of ramen he had tried.
…
Sakura stared out at the night sky. It seemed unbelievable, all that had happened in such a short span of a few days. She had killed men with her bare hands, almost died, forged bonds with her teammates, and realized her sensei was on a suicide mission. So much had happened and she almost didn't feel like she was Sakura anymore. How could someone stay the same after so much?
Would her parents be able to tell that she had killed? Would they understand? Would they be repulsed? Sakura looked down at her hands in the wane moonlight. Those small, pale hands were the hands of a killer. She…she didn't want to be a killer! She wanted to heal, like her dream said she could!
One of the boys shifted in their sleep and she froze. A beat of silence elapsed and Sakura started to breathe again. In and out. Slowly. She looked out the window in the direction of the village again. She had first watch. If anything seemed suspicious in the village, she had to wake up Naruto and have him make a few clones to check it out. The Villagers had set up a watch tower of sorts on the roof team 7 had stayed on during the day. If they thought there was danger, they were to flip a screen down over the light. So Sakura watched the pinprick of light off in the distance for any change, and she kept her senses open for anything untoward in the wild surrounding the house.
Minutes ticked by, and Sakura found herself staring down at her hands. She had killed… Sakura closed her eyes tightly for a moment and shook her head firmly once. When she opened them again, nothing had changed. She had to think of something else, anything else.
The magician holds power. The chariot is control… It had been so long since she thought back to her tarot lessons. The hermit is wisdom. The hierophant lawful…The empress is abundance. Death is growth… death is growth…something changes and will continue to change. So the death Sakura had seen and dealt would lead to growth, a growing phase in her life despite the pain, and remorse she felt. In some ways…death was good. Sakura did the right thing because otherwise those villagers and her brothers would be dead.
She looked back down at her hands. Perhaps these weren't the hands of a killer? Perhaps they were the hands of a protector, and she would continue to grow to protect her precious people. She'd learn to heal as well as kill, so she would always be able to protect her family and village.
Sakura glanced up at the position of the moon. It was time to wake Sasuke up for his shift. She turned around and was prepared to shake the boy, but he grabbed her hand on reflex.
Without a word, he got up and moved to sit beside her. He wouldn't look at her, and something told Sakura that Sasuke was bothered by something. In the relative quiet of the night, Sakura didn't want to speak, so she held up her hands and began to sign.
Something wrong?
Sasuke shifted slightly, a sign of discomfort or unease. He was annoyed now.
What is it? She signed again and he huffed slightly before signing back, you are older than me
Sakura raised an eyebrow at this response and fought back a laugh. That was what Sasuke was annoyed about? She couldn't help but laugh a little, although she tried to muffle it.
He immediately began to glare at her. "You shouldn't have called me Nii-san," he almost snapped this at her and Sakura frowned.
Why did that upset—oh… Sakura sighed and moved closer to the stoic boy who she could tell was pouting in his own way. She nudged him with her shoulder. "I may have been mimicking Naruto, but…" she trailed off and looked down at the floor, "I wasn't sure if you would want to be addressed as a younger sibling." She glanced over at him and hoped he understood her concern.
The way he paled said he did. "Don't ever call me aniki," he murmured and Sakura smiled slightly. That was his way of saying she should call him by the appropriate title, and maybe he would be fine accepting it from her.
"Okay, Otoutou," Sakura bumped shoulders again before she got up and moved to her bedroll. "Good night," she whispered as she settled under the covers, and she imagined the Uchiha was smiling a little as he began his turn at watch.
…
Gato scowled as reports came in over his morning breakfast. He lost a shipment of metal to pirates, which would mean actually hiring someone to retrieve it or negotiate a release of the metal. His next report was about the ten men who never returned last night. The traps around the village even went to the docks, so swimming to the village and entry that way was null.
His last report of interest, beside the various mind-numbing business contracts and updates on tariffs, was from his informant in Kirigakure. The Mizukage had been attacked by Momochi Zabuza and four masked ninja. He didn't know how the hell that was possible, but it still pissed him off. His ninja backed out on his contract and made a fatal move against the Mizukage!
Those Konoha ninja did this. They were plotting the whole—Gato froze. Tazuna couldn't have afforded more than a chuunin team. What chuunin was powerful enough to take on the Mizukage? And who then was defending the village? No one? But they had wiped out his men. Either way, the ninja Tazuna hired had something to do with the attempt on the Mizukage, and Gato as sure his informant would pay him well for the information. Perhaps he could even get a contract with one of those rogue kekei genkei ninja from Kirigakure?
…
Tazuna stared at his guards as they walked down one of the supports for the bridge. Their eyes were closed, and the girl would occasionally give an order of "Less output." Tazuna peered over the edge of the bridge and saw the children were now walking on the water, or the girl was but the boys fell in. He watched in amazement as they pulled themselves up by pressing their hands against the water and lifting themselves into a handstand before touching their feet back on the surface. They then began to follow the girl again. Amazing…He knew Sakura could sense his chakra when they did this exercise, so he knew he was being watched closely and did not fear any attacks while the children trained.
He was thankful these kids stuck with the mission despite everything. Although he still believed they were young and a bit scrawny, they were good guards in the end. They had gone above and beyond what any of the villagers could have hoped from them. Tazuna shook his head and got back to work. They were good kids and would become even greater ninja someday.
…
Terumi Mei shifted in unease. Ao was beside her and they were waiting for the Mizukage to appear. She hadn't believed the missive when she received it, and old fears of persecution made her want to deny meeting with the man, but Mei had always had suspicions about whether Yagura was really in control of himself during those persecutions.
Her hair began to stand up on the back of her neck. She whirled around with her fingers interlocked ready to release lava at the fool who'd sneak up on her. The chakra dissipated in her throat as she took in the pale features of the kage. She bowed slightly, but was prepared at any second to flee if this turned out badly.
"Terumi Mei," Yagura addressed calmly. Ao watched both of them in an eased manner.
"Yondaime-sama," she greeted in return. They straightened, and the youthful man gestured for her to follow him. With some reluctance, she did, but reluctance soon turned to amazement.
Yagura took them to a tunnel with seals covering the walls. Her mouth fell open when the man led her to a vault she knew only a Mizukage had access to. She looked at the man closely; what was his aim?
The door closed behind them and the kage ran through several hand signs before activating several more seals. Her humble knowledge of fuinjutsu told her it was for privacy and perhaps to help conceal them.
Yagura turned to her then. "As you know," he began, "I was attacked by Momochi Zabuza and four masked ninja two nights ago."
Mei nodded curtly. She had assumed he had called her for this. Likely she was to pursue the attackers who escaped and make them face justice.
"One of the attackers wielded the sharingan," Yagura stated calmly and Mei froze. The number of people with a sharingan could be counted on one hand. "I have checked with Konoha informants, and it appears Sharingan Kakashi is in Nami no kuni on a mission with his genin team." Which would be a perfect cover if the sharingan wasn't so rare. Mei nodded again and Yagura smiled slightly.
"It appears that my attackers hoped to place some kind of mind control over me." Yagura paused and seemed to be waiting for a reaction from Mei, but she had suspected the sharingan was capable of such things, so this was no surprise. The jinchuuriki nearly frowned when he got no reaction out of her, but instead pressed on. "My attacker inadvertently released the mind control I was already under when he attempted to control me with his sharingan."
Ao shifted slightly at this new information, but Mei only wondered who had the sharingan which initially put the man under such mind control.
"Jounin Terumi," the Mizukage's voice held a command in it and she straightened to attention, "You and Ao must eliminate me if I ever appear to be under control again. It is time for a new Kirigakure, and you shall be the face it."
Mei's breath hitched for a moment. He…he was telling her to be Mizukage should he fall under sharingan control again. She truly did want to lead her country to a new age, and out of all the blood, but…as a kage who would marry her? No… Kirigakure came before her childish dreams.
"Yes, Yondaime-sama."
Yagura smiled marginally, "Good." He then moved further into the vault and gestured to the various scrolls around him, "You will be granted access to this vault once we leave, and in a few weeks you will be announced as my successor. I will train you for as long as I am permitted," likely by whoever had initially controlled his mind, "but it will be made clear we are the bloody mist no more."
Mei began to smile. She would like that, and she would like the persecutions to end. It was time for Kirigakure to step up and be something more.
The Mizukage paused before he spoke again, "I have one duty of you at this moment." He pulled out two missives. One was clearly from an informant, and another was from a civilian. "According to our Konoha connections, Hatake Kakashi is on a mission with his genin team in Nami no Kuni. One of our shipping middle men owns most of Nami no Kuni and claims he has information on who may be responsible behind my attack.
"You will get the information out of the civilian, and confront Hatake." Mei nodded, but Yagura continued speaking, "Use your discretion as to whether he was involved and to what end."
Hatake Kakashi was a powerful ninja; their battle would likely level parts of Nami no kuni. This could also mean war between their countries, and Mei was not sure they had the numbers or strength to take on Konoha. She also was not sure how her skills would match Hatake's own. But if she must bring Hatake to justice then she would.
The jinchuuriki gave her a knowing look and smiled slightly, "I would not immediately assume such coincidences were nefarious. Though how Konoha could suspect I was under control all this time, does make one wonder."
"Why do you say so, Yondaime-sama?" she phrased her question politely and hoped that was clear to the man.
"Not nearly enough of my men are dead. It would appear Zabuza and the ninja posing as a hunter were the only ones to kill my men." He looked over at Ao who shifted slightly at the look, but they all knew what this mean. To not kill on such a mission was…folly. Killing was more efficient and ensured silence so no one was the wiser until it was too late. This wasn't really an assassination attempt.
Mei bowed slightly to accept the mission, but she could not suppress her smile. The only question that then remained was how could Konoha guess Yagura was being controlled? Perhaps they had better spies than she had believed.
TBC
A/N: So, I hope this wasn't too over dramatic; I'm sure how they reacted to killing may have been, but eh... It also seemed like I went on too long about certain dramatic things: like Sakura realizing she almost died. But from personal experience, the realization you almost died can be terrifying and really hard to articulate (this chapter was cathartic in that sense). Umm…next chapter time is all caught up and Team 7 + Yamato will be together again and that drama will unfold. Yeah… I originally was going to have it all be one chapter but it was just so long and yeah…