Part 2

Chapter 16

Sayomi's POV

Regardless of Deidara and me agreeing to leave Konoha at sunset, I thought telling it to everyone at lunch would only prompt them to ask how and why we all of a sudden made that decision. By the time we'd finish explaining ourselves lunch would be ruined. So I didn't say anything once we returned back inside, and Deidara wasn't the type to announce it either.

I couldn't avoid that forever though. After taking Deidara back to hospital, I returned to the house. I guess it was a rather uneventful day in Konoha because I found Shikaku and Shikamaru lazily playing shogi on the veranda. I sat next to them, looking at them moving their pieces at steady tempo, which is something I never experienced when I watched Rin-sensei play. She could spend up to ten minutes pondering about her next move.

Those clicking noises of moving pieces were the only sound on that veranda. That, and the faint echo of a bell coming from the other part of the house, being moved by the wind.

"Once I beat Shikamaru I'll check whether you've gotten any better at shogi." Shikaku said and I smiled at his absolute confidence he'll win over Shikamaru.

"We're leaving today." I said and though both of them looked at me, they didn't stop with their game.

"Ibiki must have caught him lying." Shikamaru muttered.

"He caught me lying." They didn't expect that and I sighed. "Stupid mistake. I wasn't precise when answering him, but either way, it's time we leave. His leg has gotten better and Hokage said herself we should leave as soon as he heals. She doesn't want Akatsuki in or anywhere near Konoha."

"Is Hokage planning to go after Akatsuki?" Shikamaru aimed his question at Shikaku who shook his head. "We don't know their whereabouts nor abilities of all their members. Hokage is more worried about the fact that Akatsuki needs to catch just Hachibi and Kyuubi to complete their collection. They extracted seven bijuu and have it contained, and seven out of nine is still substantial power. No one can tell what that accumulation of energy is capable of doing."

"On the other hand…" He continued. "Jiraiya thinks he found their leader and has left to check that info. Lady Tsunade sent him a messenger bird to stay in Land of Fire until Deidara's questioned, just in case-"

"He doesn't know anything about their Leader. Only that he calls himself Pein, but nothing about his abilities or looks." I cut him off.

"Then Jiraiya bided his time for nothing."

"Jiraiya should've been the one to talk to him. He'd have more concrete questions." I shrugged.

"Seven out of nine you say. That means Akatsuki is closing in on Naruto." Shikaku sighed at Shikamaru's words. "They've always been close."

"At least you care about him. Onoki didn't retaliate once when Akatsuki took Iwa's two jinchuuriki."

"That definitely worked in Akatsuki's favour." Shikamaru's look was a clear disapproval of Iwa's actions, but when it came to understanding Onoki's decision, I was none the wiser. "I don't know what's going on back there, but it's…confusing to say the least." Compared to Konoha, Iwa was heartless.

"We won't let Naruto be taken." Shikaku firmly said, and I could tell whole village shared his sentiment.

"He won't let himself get taken, that dumbass." Shikamaru added, his lips curling up in a smile.

"So, when shall we expect your next visit?" Shikaku surprised me with his question.

"She hasn't even left yet." Shikamaru rolled his eyes and I chuckled. "I'll come. Huge distances are not a problem for me."

"Make sure to announce it though. Mom would freak out if you come when she's unprepared." I sighed, knowing the worst is yet to come. I have to explain to Yoshino I'm leaving tonight.

"I have to agree, please announce it a week upfront for the sake of our sanity." There was no use in postponing it any longer, I had to talk to Yoshino.

She didn't approve of me leaving so suddenly, scolding me for keeping it a secret until now. She also kept repeating "It's not finished yet." over and over but refused to elaborate on it. Then she tried to keep me in Konoha for a couple more days but when I didn't budge she lowered it to tomorrow morning. I couldn't promise her even that, since there was an important reason why I chose sunset. Switching that with next morning wouldn't do us any good.

In the end, least I could promise her was to take bento boxes with us, and with that she marched into the kitchen. Knowing I still had a few hours to kill, I decided to request Shikaku one last thing.

"Can you please show me my mother's grave?" Shikamaru stayed behind, saying he'll pass this time, so Shikaku lead me to the cemetery. He told me he doesn't go there often, because not only does he not see any use in visiting the gravestones, but that the dead aren't any good at shogi to justify him going to the whole other part of the village.

Neither of us brought any flowers, so we just stood there, looking at the gravestone, even though there wasn't anything particular to look at; it was a simple white rock bearing my mother's name and Konoha's leaf symbol.

I tried to remember her more clearly, but I only kept seeing random stills in my head from back when I was a small kid. Iwagakure's rock buildings everywhere, someone holding my hand high up in air while walking, grandma's heartbroken sighs because my parents never came back.

None of those memories were particularly happy, just random bits I was lucky enough to remember. Every other important thing, like how my parents looked or how their voices sounded, I couldn't recall.

"You asked me why your mother did all that." Shikaku finally spoke. "Abandon her village and go with the enemy, as you've put it."

"I still don't get it, but I think I know her a bit better after coming here."

"I think you understand her very well." He turned to leave. "You're probably the only one who can as a matter of fact."

I furrowed my brows, catching up to him. "I know your first priority is to safely reach Iwa and then successfully deal with Onoki, but Akatsuki won't cease to exist even if you're hiding up in the mountains of Iwa. Hokage could propose to Onoki the formation of a unified team to take care of Akatsuki. We'd need Deidara for it."

"Onoki cooperating with other villages…" My sarcastic remark made him glance at me. "That's where you come in. You've proved you can skillfully talk Hokage into agreeing with your demands, and no less is needed when talking to Onoki. If we really wish for peace, we need to be willing to cooperate with our enemies, and open to turn enemies into our friends."

"All this sounds like you want me to be a mediator between Iwa and Konoha." I stopped walking and he turned to me. "I don't know anything about politics, I just have parents from two different villages." I thought that was dumb. Why should I be put in some kind of a role because of a circumstance I was born into?

"I want you to think of your village as your family. Any village you choose, or even both. I know Shiori wouldn't want you to think relations between Konoha and Iwa are your responsibility, but I learned the hard way that you shouldn't leave things to fate. If there is something you consider wrong, you have to act on it. I was aware of your mother not being a fighter, yet I've let her be deployed to the front lines. I could have done more." He looked so serious telling me all this. "If you don't want to deal with politics and village relations, that's your choice. However, if you do wish to change rules you disagree with, I think you are capable of changing even Onoki's mind." He spoke like a true advisor, and for a moment I was frozen in place, thinking about his words.

He began to walk again so I followed.

"There comes a point in every shinobi's life, especially if he or she are jonin and gravitate towards higher positions, when you have to be clear with yourself about certain things. What's your outlook on life, what do you want to change about yourself or something else, what do you want to achieve in life. Just like Shikamaru, some of those things you already thought about, and some are susceptible to change. It's impossible you have come this far in life without having your own way of thinking about matters around you, from which you draw your own beliefs and convictions. The difference between you and Shikamaru, however, is that he's conscious, he knows what caused them and he knows how he has to act to follow whatever it is that he believes in."

"And I'm not?" I furrowed my brows.

"You're not asking enough questions, Sayomi. You are capable of connecting the dots, but you can't connect them if you don't see them – that's when you need to question other people and yourself."

"I missed something, right? That's why you're telling me this." I tilted my head forward, trying to catch his eyes. "What's the question I didn't ask?"

"Earlier today, Ibiki came to ask me about your whereabouts, but about something else too. He wanted to know if there's any need for him to worry about something Deidara said during interrogation. He seemed to be really vocal about his wish to fight Naruto, or Kyuubi as he kept saying."

"Yeah and I did ask him about it. He likes to fight, always did, and to him Naruto was just another powerful opponent he wanted to test himself against."

"You've told me that you don't know how your parents died, yet you've mentioned a possibility that they might've been killed by Kyuubi when he attacked Konoha sixteen years ago." My eyes widened at his words.

"Have you told him that?"

"But that-that was just an assumption, a wild guess, I've only said it because they were near Konoha around the same time. I don't have proof-no, anything, to support that claim. There's no way that's the reason Deidara-"

"Have you told Deidara that you think Kyuubi might be responsible for the death of your parents?" He repeated the question.

"He has no reason to do something like that." I balled my fists. "No reason to go after Kyuubi for me, it's absurd." He sighed.

"Then ask him." I still thought it's not believable, and for a few minutes we walked in silence.

"I told Ibiki there's nothing to worry about, in case you were wondering." I inhaled, deciding to postpone thinking about everything Shikaku dumped on me. I didn't know what to say to all that, and I didn't have time to calmly think it all through.

"Do I have to notify Hokage we're leaving?"

"Inform the guards at the hospital. They'll report it to her immediately."

"I'll come to say goodbye before we leave." He nodded and I made the seal, teleporting to the hospital.

Everything Shikaku said held a lot of weight, I could feel it while listening. As if he was the advisor and I was the Hokage. A lot dumber than any Hokage though. He wanted me to take something from his words because he definitely didn't say it for naught, but my mind decided to focus only on that part where he implied Deidara's wish to fight Kyuubi had something to do with me. I didn't think it was plausible, because not only is Kyuubi being responsible for my parents' death a major speculation, but Deidara himself said that none of it mattered since they were dead for years. He kept drilling it into my head that it's pointless to think about them.

Shikaku misunderstood it. Deidara didn't have any grand reason to go after Kyuubi, especially not something like avenging my parents.

I reached Deidara's room, approaching the guards. "We're leaving in an hour, so there's no need for you to be here anymore." They shared a look but didn't move from their positions.

I rolled my eyes, going in. Turns out I was just in time to catch the nurse freaking out because of us leaving earlier than planned. She blabbed on and on, explaining to us how she doesn't think Deidara's sufficiently healed. He can walk, yes, but any sort of strain he can get from running or godforbid jumping, could make things worse all over again. Since we didn't give an impression we'll listen to her and stay for a couple of more days, she advised us to at least have a five minute rest every kilometer or so. I really had to concentrate on listening her because Deidara kept giving me a look that said we wouldn't have to walk at all if I could get him some clay. I still thought that wasn't a smart idea so I ignored him on purpose.

The moment she closed the doors Deidara took his shirt off, unwrapping bandages from his arms. I was about to turn to the window until he's done but as he pulled off that patch from his ribs, my eyes zoomed in on the seal on his chest. The night when he cast the kinjutsu on himself was fresh in my memory, mostly because I was never as afraid as that night. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know how to react, what to do, and worst of all, Deidara was in pain like I've never seen him in before – and that by itself was terrifying since he was the toughest person I knew.

"Say." He snapped his fingers, making me glance at him. Regardless of kinjutsu changing his body and causing him pain, he was the one who pulled me back to earth that night. With that nickname he came up with all of a sudden

"You're staring." I quickly shifted my eyes to the wall on the other end of the room, hoping I didn't blush from his words.

"You didn't touch the stitches." I motioned to the seal to sort of explain why I was staring. "Why didn't you ask medic nin to seal it? You said you don't need the one on your chest."

"It's fine like this, un."

"The stitches look really good if you take into account I didn't know what I was doing." I continued. "I was really freaked out. You could've at least told me what you plan to do."

"You would've tried to stop me." He put his shirt back on.

"I think I'd only ask you how can you know it'll work."

"The scroll said the material needs to be solid, and I had that covered. The one thing I didn't know was that it would make my sculptures alive."

"You didn't consider that outcome?" He shook his head. "It should have helped me dose chakra, that's all I needed it for, un. Once that bat flew out of my hand, powered by my chakra, everything changed. It expanded way above all the limits I've set for my art."

"Because you finally brought your sculptures to life." He always talked about bringing his sculptures closer to truly being alive, until finally succeeding in that.

"I simultaneously discovered and created something new. Something never seen before, with me being the only one capable of doing it." Corner of his lips curled up in a smile. "All the pieces I mold become alive for a brief period of time and then I erase their existence in a flash, un." He raised his hands, turning his palms towards me. "This made me achieve heights I didn't know existed and there's still a lot more I need to see."

I smiled, recalling how I spied on him making sculptures on his balcony more than ten years ago. The difference in his art then and now was huge, but that proud grin he always had plastered on his face when admiring his newest creation remained unchanged. His art was the thing that mattered to him the most, it made him happy, powerful; that was who he was. That was the first thing I'd imagine whenever I thought about Deidara, though I never saw the finished product. No, when I'd think about Deidara and his art, it'd always be him in the middle of his creative process; thinking something has to be better, saying he has to find a way to make it better, brewing, experimenting, and then coming up with a solution so insane it would blow me away. I was the only one that witnessed his efforts up close and personal, and that's why I thought he was better than everyone else. He continued to work on his art regardless of what anyone said.

"Art is an explosion, so for me to make it greater I need grander explosions. And I can't do that if you don't get me any clay-" I put my forearm over my eyes, my smile growing into a grin. Goddamit I've missed him.

I turned to the window, trying to calm down. "You'd just blow Konoha up, I don't want to be responsible for that."

"Really don't remember you being this boring, un." I rolled my eyes, looking at the fading blue sky above the village. I've been in Konoha for some time now, but things escalated once I've found the courage to knock on Shikaku's door. Not even a week has passed since then and I've accomplished the thing I set out to do three years ago, while reconnecting to my mother and the rest of my family. A lot of things happened in short amount of time, but I had a feeling Konoha was like that. Its peaceful vibe was just a façade.

"Ready?" I clapped my hands and he nodded. I teleported to the house, leaving Deidara at the entrance of the yard while I went to say goodbye.

Yoshino tried once again to keep me in the village as I packed the bento boxes she prepared, only to all of a sudden flip the script and start talking about Konoha and Shikamaru and the family. I didn't know how to cut her off, so I put my hand on her shoulders, which miraculously did the trick.

"I'll come visit you, okay? I'm not here to say goodbye forever to my aunt." Her eyes gleamed as she put her hand on her chest. "That's right, you have to visit your aunt." I gave her one last smile as I left the kitchen while I still had the chance.

I had a feeling Shikaku and Shikamaru didn't move far from the garden but as I took a turn behind the house I met only with Shikamaru lying on the veranda, hands underneath his head.

"I think I owe you a favor." I said, making him open one of his eyes.

"Didn't think of one yet."

"In all seriousness now Shikamaru, thank you. I know Akatsuki caused you a lot of pain."

"He is not an Akatsuki anymore." He waved his hand. "Both of you are really bizarre though. Must be an Iwa thing."

I smiled. "Take care." He went back to dozing off as I circled the house, finding Shikaku at the front doors, taking off his shoes.

I wanted to find the right words to thank him for everything he has done for me. He accepted me as his niece the moment I stepped in, disregarding the nineteen years he spent unaware of my existence. It didn't matter to him his sister betrayed Konoha, being lovestruck to the point of marrying into an enemy village and keeping it all a secret. I came asking for help and he did all he could. I'll forever remain a fool in my own head because I put off visiting him for three years, but I couldn't have known how Nara family's like. I thought of them as my mother's family, not as my own. Now they were mine.

I bowed my head, and as I looked back up he closed his eyes, his lips turning into a smile. "Then I'll check your shogi playing next time."

"Next time definitely." I confirmed and he disappeared inside the house. I exited the yard, closing the doors behind me. For a split second I thought I was still hesitating about ringing their doorbell, stuck in a moment from a couple of days ago.

"I need to come back here to blow the place up, un." I grinned, turning to the left and seeing Deidara leaning on the fence, hands crossed. "It's hideous."

"What exactly?" I asked, following his stare to the cliffs and to five kage faces chiseled in rock.

I burst out laughing. "I wouldn't call them hideous, just freaky. Staring at you day by day-"

"That's why it's hideous. They want to have a reminder about their kage forever. Master Sasori would commend their effort, un."

"Just imagine Mu-sama and Onoki chiseled on the front part of Iwa's cliffs."

"Why at the front?"

"So they can scare people away." I couldn't stifle my laughter anymore. He made a face. "I'd rather blow up the cliffs than let it happen."

I took a deep breath, trying to stop my laughing fit, motioning him to follow me. It looked like we were taking a casual stroll down the village because of Deidara's slow walk, but I did notice he kept a steady tempo, and his knee didn't give in at all. He didn't walk like a shinobi, but as a normal person walking he could definitely pass.

We walked through the giant doors, serving as an entrance and exit to Konoha, without anyone stopping us. Both of us were aware of a couple of shinobi stationed on various roofs as we made our way to the exit, but there was no trace of them, or anyone, following us out of Konoha. I kept turning every so often until Konoha completely left my line of view. Then I let out an exhale from the depth of my stomach, telling myself we did it. We survived Konoha, negotiations with the Hokage, and that pesky interrogation. We were officially done.

Done with this part of the plan, but for the time being I was happy we accomplished this much.

"So what's the deal with the sunset, un?" Deidara finally broke his silence. "That space-time ninjutsu of yours has something to do with your Yin chakra, right?"

"Yeah, with my Yin chakra that's tied to my Shadow jutsu. When I teleported you, you probably noticed the darkness around you and the cold, but other than that it's impossible for you to see my shadow moving around us. When I do it, you see me disappearing, not me actually entering inside my shadow. The only way for you to figure out it relies on shadows is if there's direct sunlight, which affects me by making my shadows slower, or if you pay close attention to the location of my exits. I'll always come out of a shadow."

"Still having problems with sun, huh?" I shrugged. "I've gotten used to it over the years. Sun and terrain are crucial factors when using Shadow jutsu, though that's not the only thing I have to keep in mind when I use my Shadow Teleportation." He raised his eyebrow. "Is it the distance?" I shook my head, pointing at the rows of trees on my right.

"Let's say you want me to teleport you a kilometer in that direction." He observed the forest for a moment, shifting his eyes back on me. "I know you can do more than a kilometer, un."

"I can. But I can't teleport you a kilometer that way." He narrowed his eyes and I cracked a smile. "I can't visualize it. If I can't visualize it, either by seeing it directly or by imagining it to the tiniest detail, I can't make the trip. That's the secret of this jutsu."

"So the only way for you to reach a kilometer that way-"

"Is to teleport the farthest I can see from here, and then repeat the process."

"Then your long distance travel is possible only because you can correctly imagine the place you want to teleport to, un." He got it.

"Yeah. I remembered the woods in which you and Sasuke battled, and only because of that did I manage to take Konoha shinobi there. I couldn't teleport you to hospital right away because I've never been there and couldn't visualize it, and so on and so forth."

"That's a lot of memorizing to be done."

"It's easier when the place is memorable, or when I've seen it quite a few times. I gave up on trying to remember parts of forest, or the desert, since it's generic and you can never be sure you recalled it correctly."

"Iwa is too far for you to make it and you don't remember the path to it…" He muttered and I pursed my lips, giving him a glare. "We should just fly to it, un."

"I can't take us to Iwa that easily, but I can speed up our journey tremendously. I told you I spent three years looking for the Akatsuki, though at lunch I only counted two years of travel." I raised my fingers in the air as he furrowed his brows. "That's because I spent almost the entirety of that first year training with my jutsu, and to be able to train every day I had to have perfect conditions. So I switched day and night."

"And what did you discover?"

"It didn't take me long to understand how the jutsu works, but I wanted to test its limits. That's why I did the switch. I'd wake up at six in the evening, go eat, then train until morning. I experimented with speed, with the amount of shadows, with visualizing; yet all that time was unrivaled by the amount of time I spent on studying the distance I can cross."

"So what's the maximum distance you can do?" I put my palm up, asking him to be patient.

"My daylight teleportation has short and long distance. Short distance is to an area I can see from my starting position. Long distance isn't. If you're asking me about maximum distance I can teleport to during the day, I'd have to be able to visualize the place that's really far and then have enough chakra to execute it. Testing that out was troublesome." I frowned. "I had to measure the distance I want to travel, then remember the place, then teleport, then go back, measure the whole thing-"

"Yeah yeah, so how far away can you teleport?"

"I don't know! You think I can do so many measurements inside a freaking forest?"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me, un." He let out an annoyed exhale.

"It's tiresome, okay? Walking back and forth and counting my steps to know when I've reached a kilometer – I went nuts by the time I reached five kilometers and then I couldn't remember my starting position because the forest looked identical to where I started."

"Like you couldn't exit the forest and go experiment with that somewhere else."

"That first year I didn't step foot out of Land of Fire. Later I really didn't want to waste my time doing that again. I just teleported and later checked the map to see how far away I've managed to go." He glanced at me. "Teleporting you from that battlefield to Nara clan's forest is the farthest I did, by my own calculations. It definitely exceeded ten kilometers, but I don't know for how much."

"You can do ten kilometers then?"

"Turns out I can, but only if I can visualize a place that's ten kilometers away." I sighed. "Nighttime is different though. Long distance functions the same but short distance is somewhat easier to execute. Shadows are everywhere so it's almost effortless, and unless there is an overcast I have no problem doing short distance."

"Overcast is a problem because what, you can't see?"

"Yeah. When it's not an overcast it's easy as hell, look-" I put my hand on his arm, looking at the road ahead, my eyes settling on the farthest point I could see. I made my seal and since it was around sunset, we transitioned instantly, right to that part of the road I've set my eyes upon.

He looked behind as I let go of his arm. "I call it Shadow Leaping, usually just Leaping. I stand still and teleport to the farthest place I can see, and the moment I exit I can already see the next place I'll move to. I'd use up whole nights traveling like this, only to discover in the morning I'm in a whole other part of Land of Fire."

"Does moon have any effect on you, un?"

"No, at night the only problem I can encounter is overcast. If I can't visualize a place to teleport to and it's an overcast, my jutsu is rendered useless. Same thing happens when it's noon, or if I'm in a terrain without shadows, like a desert."

He didn't say anything and for a while we walked without talking, until I heard him chuckling silently.

"If you think about it, you actually developed a jutsu that helps you evade almost any attack. You can just teleport away from any harm, un."

"I don't really run away from fights." Except that time when I encountered Hidan.

"I said harm. You still don't want to get hurt in the slightest." I had to smile. "That's how I discovered it in the first place."

The sky turned to an orange shade, and from that to a light pink. The light continued to fade as we walked.

"So what if tonight's an overcast?" Deidara asked, taking a look at the sky.

"We'll have to walk, obviously."

"Great, un. Not much of a plan then." I rolled my eyes. "Your leg isn't in a state to walk the whole night and with my Leaping you only have to stand still and let me do all the work."

"For the whole night?" It didn't look like he believed me.

"Yeah, Leaping is only done at night because the more shadows there are, the less chakra I need to use. I told you I trained with it, I can keep it going until morning."

"I guess I have no choice, un." He muttered.

"Though I've never done it in pair." He gave me a look and I bit my lip trembling with laughter.

"Seriously?"

"I'm just kidding, it'll be fine." The light finally disappeared altogether and I stopped him with my hand on his shoulder, making a seal with my other hand.

"Time for me to show you what I can do."

I'm never taking a break this long again, I promise.

I realized Sayomi didn't laugh at all during her travels (except that time when she got drunk with Jiraiya) not even when she met her family, and then as soon as she found Deidara she's laughing and having fun - yeah I'll see myself out.

When I first thought of pt2 of this story I instantly knew which chapters will be hard to write, just because I want them to be absolutely perfect. Chapter 31 where Sayomi meets Deidara after three years is a good example of that: a lot of things happening at the same time, a lot of emotions, and if it isn't done right the vibe of the whole story shifts (that's just my opinion/experience). Next two or three chapters will be as important as ch31. I'm still in the process of writing them and a lot is happening already, so I may break the initial two chapters into three.

So yeah, really eventful chapters coming soon, but I want them to be perfect so I'll see you guys in two weeks. I think you'll like the next one. No, actually, I think most of you will hate me after it. xD

My sincerest thanks to everyone reading this story, and keeping up with my AN rambles. And to those of you who reviewed, thank you so much for your kind words, it makes me so happy to hear you like this story. :)