Chapter 54: Octopus Fishing
The Yondaime Hokage stood on the balcony outside his tower, dressed in the formal garb of his office, though he'd left the hat hanging on his chair. It was just after midday, and there was a great deal of foot traffic crossing the plaza below the tower. From time to time people glanced up to where Orochimaru stood, and he was pleased to note that either fear or respect was writ on every face he saw.
When Orochimaru sensed a whisper of displaced air behind him he didn't turn. He knew who it was. "We may have a problem," Shimura Danzo informed him gruffly.
"Oh?" Orochimaru leaned on the balcony railing, still not turning around. "What is this problem 'we' have?"
"Yamanaka Ino and Fu are dead," Danzo replied.
"I know," Orochimaru said, turning to face the bandaged old shinobi at last. "The report from the village morgue just crossed my desk; one apparent case of suicide by the young clan heir, and one case of 'cranial trauma' so severe that Fu had to be identified by his fingerprints. You're the one who wanted pet mind readers; you assured me you could control them. What happened? Did Inoichi finally notice that you subverted his nephew and daughter?"
"It's possible."
"It's possible?" Orochimaru hissed. "Find out. You created this mess; fix it."
"Contingencies are in place," Danzo said steadily.
"Are they?" Orochimaru demanded. "If the Yamanaka have evidence of what happened with those two, it will be more than just a problem. The Nara and Akamichi will close ranks around them, and if those three clans bring a petition before the full village council, I can't bury it."
"If they do that then I'll disappear," Danzo stated, "and you'll play the role of a disappointed leader betrayed by a trusted servant. I've been prepared for that eventuality for years. The closure of the mountain home and the relocation of its reprogramming facilities is already mostly complete. Root's work doesn't require me to remain in the public eye. In fact, perhaps it's time I took a more hands-on role in shaping the organization into what Konohagakure needs."
Orochimaru sighed. "Do as you wish, and keep me informed." As he spoke, Orochimaru noted a familiar figure crossing the plaza and heading for the village's north gate. A tall, beautiful young kunoichi with long raven hair, she wore the blue and tan of the Uchiha, though the fan insignia on her back was hidden by the travel pack she carried. The kunoichi queued up at the gate to present her travel documents.
Danzo noted the direction of Orochimaru's gaze. "Why let Uchiha Amaya leave? I could have prevented her from doing so."
"Why would I stop her?" Orochimaru replied innocently. "Young Amaya has more than enough accumulated leave, visiting an old teammate is a perfectly valid reason to take some vacation time, and she's hardly a stranger to the Land of Lightning."
"She's not going to Sky City and you know it," Danzo growled. "She's hidden far more than I'm comfortable with already. I know she's holding back about the powers of those eyes of hers, and she lied to Sai about her encounter with Itachi. He wouldn't have confronted her unless it was to share things she doesn't need to know. She's going to seek him out, and as things stand we'll lose her if that happens. She'll react poorly to the truth of her past and her clan's. At least let send Sai with her to manage the situation."
"Danzo, the matter of Uchiha Amaya does not concern you at this juncture," Orochimaru replied glacially. "I never intended to prevent her from seeking out Itachi when I allowed you to take her into Root. I am well aware of her prevarications and the consequences of her intention to face Itachi. They matter little. She will play the role she is meant to. Worry more about insulating Root from the Yamanaka, and leave that girl to me."
Danzo was silent for a long time. Below, Amaya reached the head of the line, presented her papers and passed through the gate. "Very well," the old shinobi said at last. With a soft gust of displaced air he was gone, and the Hokage was alone. Well, almost.
Orochimaru made a discreet hand signal, and waited a few moments for his ANBU bodyguards to absent themselves as ordered. He knew they took their work seriously and were unhappy when he sent them away, but some things required secrecy even from ANBU.
Retreating into his office, Orochimaru formed a shadow clone and set it to work at his desk. He shed the robes of his office and slipped out a window into the trees. It was a matter of just minutes to make his way to the village wall and open up a secret passage hidden near the gate. The stone tunnel was poorly lit, but Orochimaru's slit pupils widened in response, and he had no difficulty navigating the gloom. He emerged from the doorway hidden in a tree trunk overlooking the north road. He'd made good time, and as he watched from the brush saw Amaya amid the travelers on the road.
Extending a hand, Orochimaru willed a drop of blood to seep from his fingertip; biting one's skin to draw blood for summoning was a gauche affectation for lesser shinobi. In a puff of smoke a large snake with mottled green and brown appeared before the Hokage. It was an adult boa, nearly six meters long – though it was coiled up into a smaller space – and its body as thick around as his thigh. One of its eyes was yellow with a slit pupil like Orochimaru's, but the other was round and crimson with three tomoe equidistant around the iris.
"Follow her," Orochimaru instructed the serpent. "Stay at a distance; remain unseen. You know what to do when she finds her quarry."
The snake hissed an acknowledgement before turning away from its summoner, slithering into the grass and disappearing from sight in moments. Orochimaru watched for a minute until Amaya's retreating back disappeared over a hill. Only then did he return to the hidden tunnel.
Tenten walked the nighttime streets of Tanzaku, the City of Sin, and every second she understood better why every shinobi she'd ever met professed to hating the place. For ninja, situational awareness was a matter of life and death. Picking out threats visually, hearing the whistle of a descending blade or feeling the movement of displaced air from an ambusher all meant the difference between failure and survival. Even shinobi who weren't sensors tended to have more acute senses simply as a matter of training.
Tanzaku turned all of that on its head. The gambling center of the Elemental Nations was garish, loud and crowded. Neon signs were everywhere, most of them moving, and where they weren't, bright flickering, moving lights filled the gaps. For the tourists it was a visual bonanza. For a shinobi, it was blinding and distracting.
Even worse was the noise. Music blared from every shop, casino and eatery, mixing with the muted roar of the crowds and the staccato booms of fireworks that started going off as soon as the sun set. It was hard to hear someone speaking a few steps away; detecting the sound of a blade leaving a sheath was impossible.
If the visual and auditory overload wasn't enough, the constant press of the crowds provided further distractions. The streets of Tanzaku were never empty, even in the wee hours of the night. Gamblers, revelers and the workers who kept them fed and entertained thronged the streets. There was almost always some kind of parade taking up space, or a particularly boisterous party that spilled out into the open air. To walk the city's streets was to enter a sea of humanity that pressed in on every side; pickpockets and other criminals that preyed on the unwary swam that sea like sharks, looking for fresh prey.
"I hate this place," crimson-haired Karui complained loudly enough for Tenten to hear. The words were followed by a meaty crunch as her elbow broke the nose of a man who had sidled up behind her. The unfortunate soul fell to the ground, and got stepped on a few times before he managed to crawl away. "That's the third pickpocket in an hour!"
"Actually, I think that one was just a drunk trying to cop a feel," Omoi noted clinically around the stem of his lollipop. "He was reaching for your chest, not your belt."
"Is that supposed to be better?" Karui demanded, glaring at her taller male teammate.
Omoi shrugged. "Just saying."
Samui gave her teammates an irritated glance. "Do you two want to maybe stop talking for a little while and keep an eye out for our target?" The blonde turned her gaze to Tenten. "Are you getting anything, Naegi?"
"I'm sorry," Tenten said. "There's no shortage of strong chakra signatures. We could walk in any cardinal direction and hit a dozen shinobi who feel like jounin-class or better. Nailing one down is difficult unless I'm close." Tenten lowered her gaze respectfully as she spoke, addressing Samui with the same inferior-to-superior forms she'd slipped into since admitting to being a homeless-nin on the ship leaving Blackwall Isle. As Kisame had guessed, Samui had been impressed enough with the power of Tenten's kekkei genkai to invite her along on their mission with an eye on taking her to Kumogakure once the job was complete.
"It's all right," Samui assured her. "We've just arrived, and we'll have time to scout the area. The man we're after isn't hard to miss, and you'll know his chakra when we get close. It's… monstrous, for lack of a better word."
Tenten nodded, looking appropriately concerned. The Cloud trio had maintained the fiction that they were hunting a bounty rather than their errant sensei, and Tenten hadn't questioned it, just keeping up the deferential role of 'Naegi', a largely self-taught young kunoichi who mostly got by on her rare kekkei genkai and a natural aptitude for sensing chakra. She was good enough at taijutsu and kenjutsu to act like a complete novice, which made the evening lessons from Omoi as they travelled rather amusing. She was at least his equal with the sword and better hand-to-hand, but she hesitated, made mistakes, and slowly 'improved' under his tutelage.
"Let's split up," Samui continued. "Karui and I will head north and check out the arenas; if he wants to lose himself among other shinobi he might go there. Omoi, Naegi, take the southern half of the city; lots of hotels and casinos, lots of people. Keep an eye out, and we'll meet back up at our lodgings at dawn; if we haven't seen or sensed him by then we'll get some rest since that's what he'll be doing too."
Tenten watched Samui and Karui head north, glancing at Omoi once the crowd had swallowed them up. It wasn't coincidence that they were paired together, or that he'd been her tutor during their travels. Samui's efforts to push them together were subtle but constant. After all, the true value of a new kekkei genkai to a village came not from acquiring it but from ensuring it was passed on to future generations.
"Where to, boss?" Tenten inquired of Omoi.
Omoi chuckled. "Samui's the boss, Naegi. I'm just Omoi."
Tenten ducked her head. "Oh… sorry."
Omoi waved a hand. "It's okay, just… you don't need to act like that. We're all plenty impressed with you already, and the Raikage will be too." He headed south, and she fell in at his side.
Tenten managed a nervous squeak at the mention of the Raikage. "I… I hope so. Ever since I left home I've been pretty much on my own. Maybe a one-time partner or two for a bigger job, but usually I've been the only one watching my back, sticking to the smaller countries where I was less likely to step on the toes of a village like yours. Maybe belonging to a real village at last… it would be nice."
"So how'd you end up on the island with the fish people?" Omoi inquired. "That's pretty deep in the Land of Water."
"I signed on to guard a merchant freighter in the Land of Spices; Blackwall Isle was their third or fourth port of call, and it was where the captain tried to stiff me on the first payment of my wages; offered me half of what we'd agreed on and said if I didn't like it I could get off. So I did. The Hoshigaki were nice enough to let me stay with them for a little while."
Omoi whistled. "Damn. I'd have gutted a bastard who tried that with us, and that's if Samui or Karui didn't beat me to it."
Tenten shrugged. "If I'd hurt every person tried to cheat me I wouldn't have had enough clients to feed myself. It's a fact of life as a homeless-nin; without the reputation of a village backing you up, people feel bolder about messing with you." She grinned at him. "As for that particular merchant… I heard from the next supply ship that he got hit by pirates before he made it back to the Land of Spices and they took his whole cargo. Life may not be fair, but karma is often a bitch." Omoi laughed at that.
When they reached the southern half of the city, where towering hotels and brightly lit casinos flanked the broad boulevards, Omoi gestured for Tenten to take the lead. "You're the one who can sense chakra, so lead the way. I was never much good at that."
Tenten shrugged modestly. "It's a gift." In actuality, her limited ability to sense chakra was hard-won through dedication and training, including months spent voluntarily blind or deaf to get used to feeling other shinobi. "Let's see…" she looked around. "The biggest collection of strong chakra signatures are there… and there." She pointed to a hotel with two blue-painted pagoda-style towers named the Azure Climb, and a sprawling casino shaped like a pyramid and named Rakhasa's Tomb.
"Okay…" Omoi glanced between them. "We'll cover more ground if we split up," he decided. "You remember what our guy looks like?"
Tenten nodded. "I remember." The most useful piece of information she'd gotten from the Cloud trio was a more recent picture of the Hachibi's jinchuuriki than Sasori had. He was a tall, solidly built shinobi in his forties who bore a marked resemblance to his brother the Raikage. The man that Samui called 'Shindo' but whom Tenten knew to be 'Killer B' was dark-skinned with pale cornrows, sunglasses and a neatly trimmed goatee. In the picture he'd worn Cloud shinobi armor and hitai-ate as well as four swords, but she knew he probably wasn't dressed like that if he was trying to hide. What she planned to keep an eye out for was the fact that he was probably the biggest man in the room, and had a tattoo on his left cheek.
"Good. We'll meet back here in four hours unless you spot Shindo. Remember, if you see him back off and come find me. Don't try to talk to him, don't even get close. You're good, but Shindo is more dangerous than anyone you've met." Omoi's tone was grave.
I sincerely doubt that, Tenten thought, thinking of Pein. "I understand," she said seriously. "Believe me, after everything you've told me about this guy I don't intend to get anywhere near him, especially not alone." Tenten wasn't entirely certain if the Cloud trio actually expected to fight their former sensei when they found him; they certainly seemed serious, but she didn't know how much of that was for 'Naegi's' benefit.
"That's good; Samui would be pissed if I let you get hurt before we got to take you home," Omoi said with a grin. "I'll take the hotel if you want to go look around the casino."
"Okay," Tenten agreed readily. They parted ways, and she made her way inside the casino. It was just as noisy as outside and almost as crowded; the vast main floor under the pyramid was full of whirring blinking machines, card tables, shiny spinning wheels and dice pits. She could see semi-private rooms screened off at the edges of the main floor where more traditional games were being played, probably for more money than the one-ryo slot machines and other games before her.
Tenten cased the casino as she had countless other places in a dozen nations while looking for a target. Rule one was blending in; she already wore civilian garb, and her weapons were all well concealed. Most of them were hidden in a few small sealing scrolls that just looked like a scribe's supplies. She'd surrendered her only metal knife to security at the door, while keeping a few of her custom-crafted ceramic blades in concealed sheathes on her person.
Since she was looking for a target in a casino, she drifted around the floor, homing in on any strong chakra signatures to confirm visually if they were the infamous Killer B. None were; shinobi took vacations like everyone else. A few had acute enough chakra senses of their own to pick her up when she got close, but none were looking to start a fight or make a disturbance. The most she got was a curious glance or two.
Tenten wasn't worried about being recognized. She suspected even Neji would need a close look at 'Naegi' to realize the truth. Back on Blackwall Isle she'd had her hair cut short in a bob and dyed black, and that was the least of her transformation. Kisame had convinced his older sister, a retired kunoichi, to perform a surprising jutsu. The Hoshigaki, Tenten had discovered, had long ago perfected a means of altering their shape of their own faces when they wanted to blend in rather than standing out. It wasn't a genjutsu like the henge, but rather a ninjutsu that made minute changes to the flesh. It was enough like the abilities Orochimaru was rumored to have to be eerie, but Kisame had assured her that the Hoshigaki had been using it to make themselves less recognizable for centuries.
When the Hoshigaki elder had finished her work, Tenten's face was slightly thinner, her cheekbones higher and more pronounced. She had a small scar beside her left eye and a mole in front of her right temple. Undoing the changes was a less complex affair than making them, she'd been assured, and could be achieved through specific hand signs and a release of chakra.
Thanks to the Hoshigaki's work Tenten wasn't worried about anyone giving her trouble; she'd been in close company with Samui and Omoi for weeks now, and neither of them had recognized her from the Chuunin Exam. She'd already gotten her hands on a recently published Bingo Book, and the official price on her head now was far more flattering than the unofficial bounty the Uchiha had posted years earlier. Tenten had to guess that the Hyuuga had put up some funds, because thirty million ryo seemed like more than Orochimaru would have offered for what he still had to believe was a crippled traitor.
As she explored the casino Tenten paused to try her hand at some of the games, so as not to stand out if anyone was watching. To test herself, Tenten experimented with using the Steel Release to affect the games. She had to transform some portion of her body into steel form to affect iron with her chakra, but a hand hidden in a pocket worked fine. She couldn't do much for the ones involving dice – as the cubes were wrought from animal bone – and she lacked the mechanical knowledge to affect the slot machines. The roulette wheels proved to be a different matter. Tenten amused herself by losing small amounts of her own money while giving the bouncing metal ball tiny nudges, quickly picking up the knack of it and sending other gamblers on winning streaks as the mood took her. She could have enriched herself considerably, but there was no point to attracting that kind of attention; if she needed more money she could visit any bank in Tanzaku and withdraw money from Akatsuki dummy accounts.
After a few hours, Tenten had visually located every chakra presence strong enough to be a jinchuuriki, and none of them were Killer B. She made her way out of the casino. Omoi wasn't back at the rendezvous point and Tenten realized she had plenty of time before he'd be done scouting the huge hotel he'd chosen.
On her own, Tenten drifted down the main drag for a while until she got close to the edge of town, where the buildings were smaller and seedier, and the crowds less dense. The people in the area looked poorer and more desperate, and Tenten shed some of the air of deference she'd carried around the Cloud trio, moving more confidently. It served to deter at least one mugger she spotted.
Tenten paused outside a dimly lit bar when she heard music drifting out of the open door. It wasn't as obnoxious as what the casinos were pumping out, and sounded like it might be live. With little else better to do, Tenten went inside. The place was packed, but despite the large number of people there was no sense of incipient violence that usually permeated dive bars, and she couldn't see evidence of a single fight. Tenten found a seat at a narrow table also occupied by a pair of women whose uniforms proclaimed them to be off-duty casino workers. After ordering a drink Tenten observed the late-night patrons. All eyes were towards the small stage in the back where a live band was playing.
Listening, Tenten relaxed in spite of herself. The music was classical enka, not the sort of fare she expected to hear in Tanzaku. Most of it had been composed before she was born, and it was performed with skill that exceeded what she'd thought to encounter in such a place. The instrumentals were mostly strings. The man on stage who was singing had a deep, rumbling baritone that was pleasing to hear, but more than that he had a presence. After listening for fifteen minutes or so, Tenten came to the conclusion that he was the reason the people listening seemed so spellbound. He was good enough to be worth listening to, but it was more than that. When she let her eyes drift shut, Tenten could feel something drifting off of him, permeating the whole bar. It was chakra, but not the sort she usually associated with people. It was almost like natural chakra, but not quite that either. Sampling it, Tenten had an odd impression of its taste of all things, a flavor she couldn't identify right away.
Opening her eyes, Tenten studied the man closely. He was tall and broad shouldered, and his simple outfit of white cloth left his muscled arms bare. His skin was pale and his hair dark and falling freely to his shoulders, but as Tenten studied him, she became increasingly convinced that his appearance was a kind of henge, one formed with the same odd, peaceful chakra that rolled off of him in waves.
The performers finished their set, and Tenten joined the audience in applause. The singer's eyes scanned the crowd and paused on her. Tenten lowered her drink as their gazes met. His eyes were dark and shadowed by a heavy brow, but in that moment the feeling she had being near him finally clicked; it was the polar opposite of the aura of restrained violence that Naruto had exuded since he was a boy. Oh no way… Tenten thought as she finally placed the 'flavor' of his chakra; it reminded her of tako [octopus] sashimi.
Tenten didn't dare move until the man's gaze passed her over. Once it had she dropped payment for her drink on the table and headed out the door, heart hammering. She slipped into the alley behind the bar, jumped up onto the roof of the next building, and travelled a few blocks away from the bar in powerful leaps, reassuring herself that the strange singer's chakra was behind her but still in range of sensing.
Is it possible? Could that man be Killer B? Tenten trusted her instincts and the pieces fit; Sasori had referred to the jinchuuriki of the Hachibi as a musician, but every jinchuuriki Tenten had ever met was an eye in a hurricane of dark, burning chakra. She had fought Gaara and Yugito, and she'd been near not only Naruto but Han and Roshi during their sealing. Every one of those individuals made her chakra sense hurt just being in their presence. How could the Hachibi's container exude such a deep sense of peace?
Tenten's musings were interrupted by the startling realization that she'd lost track of the enka singer's chakra signature. Either he'd gone in the other direction… or he was suppressing it. Looking around in alarm, Tenten leapt across a few more rooftops, keeping an eye out for pursuit. If the man had realized she was a shinobi…
Six blocks into her flight, Tenten landed lightly on the roof of an apartment complex in a residential area when she felt a soft explosion of chakra inside the rooftop utility shed, like a blossoming flower but unmistakably powerful. Tentacles glistening with slime shot out from the open doorway of the shed. Tenten backpedaled, dodging the first two and leaping over the third. She had to bat aside the fourth but it struck like a snake, wrapping around her wrist and tugging. That was all the opening the other three needed to catch up. Suckers on the undersides of the tentacles bit into her skin as one wrapped around her knees, another caught her waist and the last caught her other arm.
When the tentacles tried to drag Tenten into the pitch darkness of the shed, she flashed into steel form, reached out to the metal frame of the concrete building behind her, latched on and pulled. She wrenched free of the tentacles and slid backward, her heels digging tracks in the rooftop gravel before she came to a stop. She retrieved her knife from her belt sheath and took a ceramic kunai in hand from a hidden brace in her sleeve. "I'm not looking for a fight," she called out.
"Yet you were looking for me. You ran when I spotted you… and that's an interesting kekkei genkai you've got." The bass voice was that of the enka singer, but when he emerged from the shed his appearance was different. He had dusky skin, pale cornrows, eyes hidden behind oval sunglasses and two blue arcs tattooed on his left cheek. His clothes from the bar had been an illusion too; he wore Cloud shinobi armor, and a quartet of octopus tentacles arced around his torso from origin points along his spine. Killer B rolled his head lazily, cracking his neck before drawing all four of his swords, two in hand and two gripped by tentacles. "So what am I dealing with here, hmm? Hunter-nin? Assassin? Bounty hunter?"
Fuck. Confronting Killer B directly was the last thing she wanted. That was Tobi's job, and she knew she wasn't qualified for it even with the Steel Release. "None of the above; I'm just on vacation. I really don't want to fight you."
Killer B didn't respond right away, his gaze going distant for a moment. "My partner says you're lying," he said suddenly. "He's got a nose for lies; hates the smell. So let's try again. Who are you?"
Tenten blinked. Partner… his bijuu? His rapport with the Hachibi is that close? Sasori's research had indicated that most jinchuuriki had to sleep or meditate to commune with their demon passenger, and even Naruto – who had somehow managed to convince the Kyuubi to cooperate with him – couldn't communicate with his so easily.
"Look, my name's Naegi, I'm-"
"Another lie," B interrupted. "I guess we'll have to find out who you are the hard way, metal girl." The jinchuuriki blurred forward across the rooftop, his swords crackling with electricity. Tenten swore under her breath and threw her knife, giving it a push to send it flying as hard as she could right at his head. A 'crack' echoed through the air as the magnetically accelerated blade broke the sound barrier, but B still dodged it, tilting his head to the side so it whizzed past his ear. Tenten's eyed narrowed, and she reversed the push into a pull. A second later the knife hit B in the back of the head hilt-first, and he stumbled. The blade flipped up as it bounced and Tenten recalled it to her hand with another pull, snatching it out of the air.
A hit that hard would have killed a civilian and knocked out most shinobi, but B didn't even hit the rooftop. His free tentacles caught him, and he was back on his feet in an instant, closing the distance between them. Tenten didn't want to get into a melee with a man who was wielding four electrified blades, so she latched onto the building behind her again and pulled, shooting across the fifty meter gap and landing on the wall feet-first. She looked 'up' at the rooftop where she'd left B.
"Great…" Tenten muttered. The jinchuuriki of the Hachibi was already airborne and headed right for her. Tenten released her bond to the building's steel and let gravity catch her, falling and barely avoiding B's quartet of blades ramming into the wall where she had been standing. He pulled his swords free and fell after her.
Tenten grappled onto the building they'd started on with her steel chakra and zipped back in that direction. B kicked off the wall to follow, but once she was halfway across the gap Tenten let go of that building and latched onto the top of a streetlight, changing direction in mid-air. She heard the pole groan in its fixture but it held, and she caught onto it with one hand, flipped up to stand on it, and then made a leap to the next one. She could hear shouts from the crowd at the woman of steel flying along above them, but she didn't have time to worry about it, because a glance over her shoulder showed Tenten that B was still in pursuit. He'd put his swords away and was using a mix of powerful leaps and swings from rooftop protrusions using his tentacles to keep up with her.
When she ran out of streetlights Tenten pushed off of the last one, knocking it over in the process and flinging herself halfway up the side of a skyscraper, sticking to it on landing and sprinting up the side. Hearing B's boots pounding on the wall behind her Tenten turned on him, crouching as she faced 'down' and pouring her earth chakra into the concrete siding. It softened under B's feet, engulfing his boots and the tentacles touching the wall. "Leave me alone," she yelled at him. She didn't get a response, but realized with a start that he was grinning.
Crazy bastard's enjoying this! Tenten realized with despair as he drew his swords again and went to work cutting himself free. She didn't hang around to see how quickly he could extricate himself; she resumed running up the side of the building. When she reached the roof Tenten sprinted across it, pausing on the other side. She'd climbed one of the tallest buildings in Tanzaku; the only one higher was the massive high-rise hotel ahead of her, almost a kilometer away. Hearing a thud of heavy boots on the other side of the roof; Tenten turned around with a scowl. "Go away!"
B shook his head. "Having way too much fun, metal girl," his voice boomed across the roof. "No one's given me a chase this good since my brother stopped working out with me. Besides, I really do need to know what you're after."
"All I'm after is going back to my hotel and going to bed without being molested by a jinchuuriki!" Tenten yelled back.
B laughed, of all things. "Oh hey, you've seen that wood cutting, too? My partner's a gentleman, I promise!" Tenten was glad that her metal cheeks couldn't turn red, because she had seen the piece of artwork he was referring to, an old painting on wood featuring a fisherman's wife and an octopus in an… interesting position.
B started walking across the roof towards her, his pace unhurried. He probably thought he had her cornered way up on a rooftop with no buildings nearby, and she realized he probably did. She could just jump off; the landing would hurt the street below more than her. But he didn't seem to fear falling either, she was burning a lot of chakra on this chase, and if they kept this up he'd simply outlast her with his jinchuuriki stamina. The only thing she could think of that would make him stop would be Omoi, Samui or Karui, but he was between her and the hotel where Omoi was searching, and she had no idea where the other two Cloud ninja were. Summoning some of King Enma's apes occurred to her, but she discarded the idea. Other than Enma himself none of the tribe's warriors would be able to fight B, and she knew how badly summoning Enma would drain her; she'd only managed it once since signing the contract – just to make sure she could – and that had been when she was rested and at full strength. She briefly wished she had her sword Saru no Tsume [Monkey Claw] on hand, but she had entrusted it to Deidara before leaving the Akatsuki base with Kisame.
I have to go somewhere even B can't easily follow. Tenten glanced back over her shoulder at the tower in the distance. Never tried something that far before. She'd discovered in experiments that the amount of chakra required to grasp metal increased exponentially with distance, so she'd never tried affecting something that far away. But even he can't jump that far, and something tells me he's not going to fully transform or fire off a bijuudama in the middle of a city. Eyeing B's progress towards her, Tenten sighed. Fuck it.
Just projecting her chakra across such a distance was a huge drain; she didn't try to latch onto the whole building's frame, focusing on the lightning rod coming out of its roof. Pouring her chakra into the connection, she pulled.
Being airborne over such a gap was a little frightening, and even with the speed she was travelling at gravity was still a factor, pulling her down while her chakra pulled her over and up. Turning in midair Tenten did have the satisfaction of seeing B on the roof's edge staring after her in surprise. She didn't have time to dwell on that, though, because landing was coming. Tenten hit her destination skyscraper halfway up its height, hard enough to make a crater in the wall. Dusting herself off she made her way up to the roof, feeling tired and drained. That took a lot out of me; now to find the rooftop access and lose myself among the guests inside.
When she reached the roof and climbed up, Tenten glanced back at the other tower to see if B was still watching. Her jaw dropped at what she saw. B had wrapped two of his tentacles around the tops of the sturdy water towers and positioned himself between them, backing up and stretching his tentacles like the band of a slingshot, buckling the tiles of the rooftop with the force his boots were exerting gripping them.
"Oh, no way," Tenten breathed despairingly as his feet left the roof. He blurred forward, his tentacles releasing their grip on the water towers as he shot across the gap. "Crazy, impossible fucking jinchuuriki!" Tenten swore as she ran for the rooftop access door. She looked back again just as B's slingshot maneuver carried him across the distance. He caught the lightning rod she'd used to pull herself with his tentacles, looped around it once in a blurring arc and then flew straight at her. His boots hit her square in the back, sending her sprawling with enough force that her metal face carved a groove in the rooftop before she came to a stop.
"Kami, what does it take to make you go away?" Tenten complained as she climbed to her feet, her head spinning from the hit even in steel form.
"No idea," B answered close behind her. "No one's ever managed it." She only had time to turn around before he was in range. She ducked under his bear hug, but his tentacles wrapped around her ankles and pulled her feet out from under her. She hit the rooftop again, and then the tentacles whipped her around, throwing her hard into the lightning rod with a loud 'clang'. Tenten staggered to her feet once more, registering a whistling hum over the sound of the wind. B had new weapons in hand, flexible wires with lead weights on the ends. He was spinning them in circles, and threw them while Tenten was still too unsteady to dodge. The arc of the weights from his throws curved them around her, wrapping wire around her and the lightning rod, binding her to it when he pulled them tight.
"Shit, don't-" she pleaded
"Raiton: Borutorain [Volt Line]!" B roared. Tenten's vision whited out, and she was distantly aware of her own voice screaming as electricity poured through her.
Careful experiments with the other Akatsuki had shown Tenten that her steel form was virtually impervious to most forms of physical attack and ninjutsu. Edged and blunt weapons broke upon striking her, low-to-moderate yield explosives didn't even leave a scratch, and most elemental ninjutsu were ineffective. Kakuzu had thrown his masks at her one after another: even strong wind blades only gave her shallow cuts, her density, hard hide and lack of respiration made water attacks pointless, she could deflect or ignore earth-based attacks, and while she could feel the heat of fire jutsus, it would take one hot enough to melt steel to actually harm her.
Unfortunately, the same experiments had shown her that she was even more vulnerable to electricity than she had been before her transformation. Her otherwise invincible steel hide was an excellent conductor, and B was far more powerful than Kakuzu's lightning mask, which had been able to put her down with one attack.
When B ceased his assault Tenten slumped against the wires, her limbs twitching spastically. Her clothes were smoking and charred in places, the scent of burnt cloth filling her nostrils with each pained breath. "Huh. Figured that would either work really well, or not at all," B mused.
"First one," Tenten panted. "Please don't do it again. I give up; you win."
"I usually do," B said, smugly enough that Tenten really wanted to hit him. "Lose the metal skin." Tenten obeyed; in truth she was too tired to keep it up much longer anyways. He stepped behind her to tie her hands behind the pillar of the lightning rod and then efficiently searched her for weapons, tossing aside her holdouts. The whole time she was still wrapped in his wires, and she knew he could shock her again faster than she could get up to any mischief. Her mind raced to find a way out of this situation. If his bijuu really was some kind of lie detector, it was going to be tricky.
"So what now big guy?" Tenten inquired acidly once he stepped back, satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere.
"This is the part where you tell me who you are and why you came looking for me," B replied.
Unwilling to risk being caught in a lie by the Hachibi, Tenten settled for silence.
B studied her for a while before shrugging. "I can wait, metal girl. You might not want to though." He pointed to the southwestern horizon. Tenten looked and saw tall, roiling black clouds on the horizon with flashes of light illuminating them from within. "Those clouds are going to be here in less than an hour. You seem to run on earth-nature chakra, so I'm guessing you don't want to be tied to a lightning rod when a thunderstorm breaks over Tanzaku."
Tenten's eyes widened in horror; natural lightning bolts were even stronger than what a jinchuuriki could produce. She was fairly certain she wouldn't survive in or out of steel form. "You'll be up here too," she protested.
"I've bathed in lightning and enjoyed it, metal girl. Can you say the same?"
"You're wondering why I ran away from you?" Tenten inquired. "I was scared; seems like you're proving I was right to be."
Killer B shrugged. "Power like yours – like mine – always has an agenda attached. I was minding my own business and you came to me. I want to know why."
"You'll stand there and watch me die if I don't tell you?" Tenten demanded. This time it was B who remained silent.
Tenten sighed. "Okay, you win. I've been travelling with some Cloud ninja who are looking for you. They said you were a fugitive named Shindo, and they didn't say you were a jinchuuriki."
"What are their names?"
"Samui, Karui and Omoi."
Tenten had thought B looked scary before, but after uttering those names she didn't even see him move. One moment he was two steps away, the next two crackling blades were hovering in front of her face, held snugly in tentacles. "Lie on this one and I will end you." B growled. "Why are you with them?"
Tenten felt a cold sweat break out on her skin; she'd thought Naruto and Gaara's auras were menacing, but B was worse in his own way. There was nothing malicious about the threat he exuded; she could tell he'd take no joy in killing her, but he'd do it for those three Cloud ninja and bear the burden. It was like standing under a mountainside about to collapse.
"I met them in the Land of Water," Tenten said shakily. "Samui was impressed enough with my kekkei genkai to offer me a chance at a home in Kumogakure."
B's eyes narrowed. "You're a homeless-nin?"
"I have no village to call my own," was Tenten's careful reply. That was the truth, while a simple 'yes' wouldn't have been; she had a home with the Akatsuki.
After a moment's hesitation B put his swords away, and Tenten breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Those three shouldn't have involved you," he murmured.
"I was happy they did," Tenten offered. "It was like a dream come true. Well, it was until half an hour ago. Now I'm pretty scared and hoping not to die." Looking up at the storm, she could see how close it was getting. The wind was already picking up, howling around them with nothing to break its path at their altitude.
"One more question. What's your name? I know it's not Naegi."
Shit. No way around that one. "My birth name is Tenten."
"What would Samui say if I told her that?" There was no recognition of the name on his face, and Tenten felt a bit of relief. That was something at least; B apparently didn't keep up with the Bingo Book, or at least hadn't made the connection between her and a wanted Akatsuki defector from Konohagakure.
"She'd be mad at me," Tenten replied simply. That was the truth, and an understatement. Tenten knew that Samui did keep up with the latest Bingo Book entries.
"Then why lie when you're hoping to establish trust?"
Oh boy… Tenten thought hard about an answer that was true but not incriminating. "Tenten was an unhappy person who lost everything she loved and left behind a life in shambles. Naegi is who I'd like to be. Is it so wrong to want a clean break from a painful past?"
B didn't speak for almost a full minute. "Curious," he said at last. "My partner can't tell if that was a lie or the truth. No one's ever managed that before. You're not confused about who you are, but you're not lying about who you want to be, either." Tenten held her breath as he considered her. "You've piqued my interest, 'Naegi'." He drew his sword again. Tenten braced herself, but he only used it to cut the ropes and wire binding her. "Take me to Samui," he instructed her. When she gave him a dubious look he chuckled. "She lied to you, too. Those three aren't hunting me and I'm not a fugitive. They're my former students, and my brother sent them to tell me it's time to come home, which I reckon it is." Tenten was struck by how sad B looked when he said that.
"Are you going to tell them about my name? If so there's no point in my going back. I'll show you where they are and then go my own way."
"Shouldn't I tell them? They are my students," B challenged her. "Answer me this, then: do you intend harm to my students or the people of Kumogakure?"
Tenten shook her head. "Given the chance, I'd like to make Kumogakure a better place for its people and your students."
"Now isn't that an interesting response? But my partner says you really believe that."
"Sincerely," Tenten murmured. Of course, the Kumogakure envisioned by the Akatsuki wouldn't include A or B, but that hadn't been the question. If he'd asked her if she intended harm to him or his brother, the answer would have been harder.
The thunderstorm broke overhead shortly after Tenten and B left the high rise hotel, and peeking out from under her umbrella Tenten could see the sky lit up with flashes and felt the rumble of thunder in her bones. She shuddered at the thought of being tied to that lightning rod, and touched her skin to reassure herself that she was flesh and blood again.
The storm had largely emptied the streets, though revelry continued inside the buildings. Tenten and B made good time to the small hotel where she'd taken rooms with the Cloud trio. When she made her way inside, Omoi was sitting in the lobby looking worried. He leapt to his feet with a look of relief on his face when he saw her, his expression changing to shock when B entered behind her.
B laughed at the expression on his student's face. "I found something of yours, Omoi. I thought I taught you to take better care of your juniors."
"Save it. Samui and Karui just got done yelling at me," Omoi muttered sourly. He looked over Tenten, brow wrinkling when he noted the singed patches on her clothes. "What did you do to her, sensei?"
B crossed his arms. "Made sure she wasn't a threat."
Omoi's shoulders slumped. "Damn it…" He looked at Tenten sadly. "You're going to leave, aren't you? Samui's going to blame me… the Raikage's going to blame me…"
Omoi's dejected mumbling became inaudible until Tenten stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't say anything about leaving," she said firmly. "Your sensei and I have come to an understanding, haven't we?"
"Of sorts," B agreed.
Omoi perked up immediately. "Really? Great! Samui and Karui will be happy to see you." He grabbed Tenten's hand, only pausing when she winced.
"Easy; I'm still a little sore from your sensei's shock therapy," she murmured.
Watching the reunion of B and his students was strange to witness for Tenten. Samui lectured her sensei for a solid fifteen minutes on the 'irresponsibility' of haring off without telling anyone and then squeaked in dismay when B responded with a crushing hug. That led to Karui challenging her former mentor to arm wrestle. She lost with good grace, and while she was massaging her shoulder B and Omoi started chatting about a shared interest in the arena combat leagues in Tanzaku. What struck Tenten was that she could have substituted herself, Neji, Lee and Gai into the happy reunion and it would have had the same feel
Tenten couldn't help but feel a bit tense herself, waiting to see if B would tell his students her real name or not. It seemed he'd decided to keep her confidence, however, because he departed to book a room near theirs without letting the cat out of the bag.
"I owe you an apology, Naegi," Samui told her when they were alone.
"No you don't," Tenten replied. "I understand why you didn't tell me who he really was."
Samui shook her head. "I had my orders, but interpreting them in the field is what a smart leader is supposed to do. You got chased across town and hurt because I let you think B was an enemy rather than an ally. I'm sorry for that."
Tenten moved her limbs experimentally, grimacing. "If you want to make it up to me, maybe we take it easy tomorrow when we head to Kumogakure? I think I'm going to be pretty sore and drained tomorrow after all of that." She paused and then looked away. "Assuming I'm still invited to your village," she added. "Omoi told me not to get spotted, and I did."
"Don't be silly; of course you're still invited. Sensei seems to like you and that'll carry more weight with the Raikage than just my word. Go get some rest. We'll take it slow for a few days; I promise."
Despite herself, Tenten felt bad leaving Samui's presence. The three Cloud ninja and their mentor weren't bad people. B had hurt and frightened her, but nothing he'd done had been malicious; he was just cautious, and Tenten couldn't blame him. After all, she was his enemy. B, Samui, Karui and Omoi were good shinobi, the kind Kumogakure would need once the Raikage was deposed. It made her feel guilty knowing that she'd have to betray them.
"This was easier when I didn't like any of the jinchuuriki," Tenten muttered in the privacy of her own room, pausing as her own words hit her. Did she like B? Tenten was dismayed to realize she did. The man wasn't cruel, and his bijuu seemed… peaceful, of all things. Sitting down on her bed without turning on the lights, Tenten simply watched the rain spatter the outside of the window and the lightning flash, ordering her thoughts.
I believe in what the Akatsuki want to do, and none of it works without the power of the bijuu. Seven have already fallen, and being there when Naruto goes down will be a personal pleasure. But Naruto's not the jinchuuriki in front of me, B is. What does it say about the man that he soothes people just by singing for them, that he cares about his students as fiercely as Gai cared for us? What does it say about him that even after seeing his worst I still want to like him? The Raikage is Akatsuki's enemy, but it seems like he's B's enemy too, in a way. He doesn't seem lazy or apathetic; the rumors Sasori heard must be true. He doesn't like being a living weapon. It explains why he keeps running away. Only he's got a sense of duty and honor too, and he keeps getting dragged back in.
In the end though, she knew what she had to do. Carefully unrolling one of her sealing scrolls, Tenten fed her chakra into the smallest seal on the roll. A puff of smoke revealed a rod of black metal the length and width of her smallest finger. She picked it up, and carefully let her chakra permeate it. The tiny rod vibrated once, and Tenten spoke. "I'm in the city of Tanzaku with the jinchuuriki of the Hachibi and three other Cloud ninja. Kisame's strategy has paid off. I'll be travelling with them to Kumogakure. I will be ready when the time comes." She fell silent, and the rod vibrated again. She sealed it back in her scroll, and stowed away with a sigh.
Tenten undressed and climbed into bed, but sleep was a long time coming, and it had nothing to do with her aching muscles.
The snake that Orochimaru had ordered to follow Uchiha Amaya tailed the dark-haired kunoichi for weeks, from the gates of Konohagakure across the Land of Fire and into the patchwork of minor states in the center of the Elemental Nations and into the Land of Lightning. On the border it witnessed Amaya putting on a golden teardrop earring that earned her instant admission into the country. From the border it shadowed her into the mountains along roads that snaked through the bottoms of valleys and ascended into the heights carved from solid rock of the mountainsides.
It was deep in the mountains that the snake witnessed a curious thing. When Amaya was far from any other human, she made camp early one evening, and spent almost an hour seemingly meditating by the fire, building chakra in her sharingan but not visibly doing anything with it. In the end, all of the gathered chakra disappeared in a rush. With a 'pop' of displaced air, a shinobi with red hair and grey eyes appeared. The snake had witnessed and participated in summonses all its life, and knew that this was nothing of the sort. Nor was it an illusion or clone technique; the new arrival was a living, breathing shinobi with his own chakra. The kunoichi embraced him, and both their long, lingering kiss and the noises they made in their tent after supper spoke of true mammalian affection. Orochimaru's snake made a note of this oddity, sure that its summoner would be interested in the phenomenon.
Together with the shinobi she had called to her, a man named 'Ken', Amaya made her way high into the mountains. Finally, they reached Sky City and paused only to take a room in a hotel and freshen up from their travels before presenting themselves at the gates of the Kutsuku Clan's compound. No less than the newly invested head of the clan and his wife were there to greet them.
The summoned serpent kept its distance from the clan compound, instead slipping into the forest that surrounded it and finding a vantage point in a tall tree to watch its target. The snake was well aware that many of the insects in and around the compound were capable of communicating with the shinobi who lived there, so it expended a bit of its chakra to give itself a more vibrant green coloration and disguise its unusual left eye. Once that was done, the large snake was indistinguishable from the local species of boa. It could sense the tiny pulses of chakra moving between local butterflies, moths and beetles, but since it wasn't doing anything suspicious – merely lazing about in the boughs of a tree – there was nothing for the insects to report to their masters.
"I promised you I'd visit before I left to find Itachi, so here I am," Uchiha Amaya said once she and Ken had settled down in the private quarters of Kutsuku Kaede and Kiran, the young leaders of their clan.
"I'm glad to see you too, Amaya," Kaede murmured dryly.
Amaya grimaced. "I am glad to see you, Kaede, but I'm also on a clock here. I don't have a lot of time to get to the Land of Water if I want to catch up to Itachi."
"I understand, but surely one day won't make a difference," Kaede replied, "especially since we can speed your way on the last leg of your journey."
Amaya blinked. "What do you mean?"
Kiran chuckled. "I'll send word to our factor on the southern coast tonight. By the time we get there he'll have a fast, armed frigate hired to take us to wherever in the Land of Water you need to go."
"Us?" Amaya shook her head. "You guys are clan heads now; you can't just drop everything to go find a terrorist with me."
Kaede snorted. "I'm certainly not going to sit here while you go off to face that man by yourself."
"I won't be by myself," Amaya grumbled, glancing at Ken. "This one won't hear of it." She'd briefly been tempted to simply not bring him across the veil between worlds, but she'd promised, and she couldn't bear to break her word to him, even though taking him into danger again was a different kind of agony.
"You said Itachi would permit you to bring your team," Ken said reasonably. "He'll certainly have that fish-faced swordsman of his for backup."
"Wait… Itachi invited you to meet with him? When did this happen?" Kaede demanded.
"I fought him when the Akatsuki sprung Tenten from her execution."
"Okay… why don't we start at the beginning: what happened with Tenten-sensei? I got letters from my dad and Shino about the whole thing, but they weren't personally involved, and they said you were. I couldn't help but notice that you didn't write to me about it. I was ready to go to Konohagakure personally when Kiran's father passed and we had our hands full here."
Amaya lowered her gaze, studying her hands. "I didn't write because I didn't know what to say," she admitted at last. "I wasn't just 'involved', I found the evidence that proved Tenten was a traitor. That the whole time she was pretending to care about us, she was working with the Akatsuki, the same people who helped Kirigakure slaughter my family." Amaya looked up. "What was I supposed to say about that? 'Sorry Kaede, the woman who was the closest thing I ever had to a mother lied to me, to all of us?'"
Kaede was silent for a while. "I'd like to think I knew sensei pretty well too. Why did she do it? Does anyone know?"
Amaya glanced at Ken. "It's complicated. Remember when I told you I brought this Ken here with my eyes?"
"Hard to forget," Kiran commented wryly. "It's not every day a friend casually mentions an ability to violate the basic rules of the universe."
Amaya smacked him on the shoulder. "Well it works the other way, too. I went over to his original home and talked to the Tenten there. She was a member of Akatsuki too, ended up marrying one of them. She told me… things about Konohagakure's past I didn't know; things they don't mention in the history lessons at the Academy. When I got back I did some discreet research to make sure those things happened here, too. Being able to access ANBU's archives helped." Amaya was silent for a long time. "Even there I had to read between the lines, but… kami, Kaede, the things that have been done under Orochimaru's reign! Just the secret records of what happened during the sacking of Kusagakure were enough to make me sick."
"Tell me," Kaede said intently.
"Where do I start? The orders to slaughter the civilian population after they'd surrendered? Every woman with potential for possessing the Grass Release being raped repeatedly in captivity until they were willing to marry whoever the Hokage wanted them to just to make it stop?" Amaya looked at Kaede, her expression haunted by her own experiences. "I haven't been able to look Moroshi Tanai in the eye since I found those records," Amaya said quietly. "I always thought it was odd how much taller he was than either of his parents. Tell me he doesn't resemble an Akamichi; think about how easily he adapted their techniques to suit his kekkei genkai."
Kaede didn't respond right away; she only looked sad. "What is it?" Amaya asked.
Kaede shook her head slightly. "All the time we were a team as genin I'd thought it was just Ken that didn't know, and that we didn't discuss things like that for his sake. I thought being an Uchiha you would have learned the truth about Konohagakure from your clan as I did. But you didn't know, did you? Underneath your practicality and ruthlessness, you still thought that our village was the place they taught us about growing up?"
"You… knew about stuff like that? When we were genin?" Amaya stared at Kaede.
"Very little happens in Konohagakure that the Aburame aren't aware of, Amaya. You know that," Kaede explained. Amaya nodded mutely. "But do you know why? After the Second Shinobi World War and the near-disastrous attack by the Kamizuru, Sarutobi Hiruzen allowed the Aburame to build kikai hives in hidden locations all over the village. He knew what it would mean, but he knew we were loyal too. An individual kikai beetle isn't very smart, but a whole hive has a memory. It remembers what it sees and hears, and we can share those memories. After the Sandaime's death, Orochimaru tried to have them removed, but Shibi-sama made a deal with him; if he left them alone we'd keep what we heard to ourselves. I think sometimes he regrets that bargain. We've heard so many terrible things."
"Kami, why?" Ken exclaimed. "I wasn't in your Konohagakure long, but even I could tell the Hokage wasn't a good person."
"He isn't," Kaede agreed. "But Hokages come and go while the village remains. Making a deal with one bad Hokage that would allow the village to remain secure seemed like a good decision at the time. Now? I don't know. You'd have to ask Shibi and Shino."
"So you knew everything way back when we were genin?" Amaya asked.
"Well, not everything," Kaede amended. "They didn't tell me about the rape rooms in the ruins of Kusagakure when I was twelve. But my mother and Shibi told me enough to know to be careful around the Hokage, to be aware that Root was watching everything." Amaya resisted the impulse to twitch at the mention of Root. Just thinking about the organization in the context of the conversation made the seal on her tongue hot. Doesn't matter, Amaya resolved, reminding herself that her continued eyesight and evenhandedness depended on Danzo, even if she was appalled by some of the things done on his watch. "But around the time Kiran and I were getting married, they filled me in on the rest," Kaede concluded.
"Getting back on track," Amaya murmured. "As nearly as I can tell, sensei concluded Orochimaru is an unworthy Hokage – maybe she's right – and decided to do something about it. The hell of it is, now that I know everything I could almost understand why she betrayed the village and broke her oath… except that the Akatsuki helped Kirigakure murder my entire clan. That's the part I can't understand, how killing old man Kotoru who made ice cream for kids in the compound every summer – not to mention every one of the kids he made it for – accomplished anything." Amaya felt her shaking hands close into fists. "That's why I'm going to go meet Itachi. He said he could explain it. He's probably lying and he wants to finish what he started. But either way, I have to resolve this."
"I agree," Kaede volunteered. "If Itachi wants to talk you should go. We're still coming with you."
"You guys have a clan to run," Amaya protested again.
Kiran shrugged. "My aunts and uncles can manage the family business well enough in my absence."
"I don't want to put you guys in danger. This isn't your fight," Amaya insisted.
"Amaya, you are family to me," Kaede said seriously. "Your fight is mine."
"If you're Kaede's family that makes you mine by default."
"You could die!" Amaya shouted.
"Either of us could die tomorrow anyways," Kaede replied neutrally. "Amaya, Kiran and I have been preparing for this – to help you – for years. We've held off on having a child because we knew we'd be going into danger with you."
"If the worst happens, my uncle is more than capable of leading the Kutsuku until my little brother is old enough," Kiran continued. "Besides, if you want to sail into the war zone in the Land of Water you're going to need our ship, and it's not sailing without us on it."
"Besides, you need us," Kaede said. "Look me in the eye, and tell me that even after all of your preparation you think you can take Itachi one-on-one if he wants to fight."
Amaya looked away. "I can't. That's the only reason I gave in to Ken when he insisted on coming."
"But Itachi's not going to be alone, Amaya," Kaede told her gently. "We both know that where he goes, Hoshigaki Kisame follows. We're coming with you, and if the 'Tailless Bijuu' tries to interfere when you take on Itachi, we're going to stop him. Ever since we got married and returned to Sky City, Kiran and I have been preparing to fight that man."
"I spent a small fortune learning everything there is to know about Kisame; his ninjutsu repertoire, his fighting style, his weapon," Kiran told Amaya, "and we've developed countermeasures to his abilities. We're not going to let all that investment and effort go to waste, so just accept that we're coming with you."
Amaya lowered her gaze, and was surprised to find tears in her eyes. She dashed them away with a hand. "I don't want to lose you guys," she whispered. "You're the last family I have left."
"We don't want to lose you either Amaya," Kaede replied, rising from her seat to hug Amaya. After a moment Kiran and Ken joined her, Amaya's friends surrounding her. "So we're all going to go to meet Itachi, and we're all coming back afterwards. That's all there is to it, okay?"
"Okay," Amaya conceded quietly. "I don't deserve you guys, but okay."
"Well, now that that's settled," Kiran said after everyone's eyes were dry, "our chef has assured me that tonight's dinner will be his finest work. Let's go find out, shall we?"
Author's Note:
I apologize for not portraying Killer B speaking in rhyme. I'm no good with music or writing in prose, and I'm not going to try and wind up butchering it.
I also apologize to the reviewer who asked for more information on when I update. Unfortunately, the answer right now is "irregularly". I write fanfiction as I have free time and the inspiration strikes me. Sometimes real life catches up to me and I don't write for a long time. The gap between chapters 51 and 52 was longer than I'd like and I don't ever intend to go that long again before finishing this story, but long-time readers know that I sometimes go a month or two between updates, while I pounded out the whole Chuunin Exam in a week or so. I'd like to say I'll put up a chapter roughly once a week, but I can't promise to do that. As a reader of Naruto fanfic I know how frustrating it is when a story doesn't update for long enough that you lose track of the details as they blend in with the other stories. At least one person said as much when I put up chapter 52, and believe me I understand.
If people would be interested in a 'What's happened so far' summary at the start of the next chapter let me know and I'll make one. I realize that this story's closing in on 400k words; there's a lot of stuff there.
