Ch. 14: Good Guys vs. Bad Guys

We met one more Naruto on the road out of town. A child dressed in silk clothes flailed in his arms. Naruto summoned a second clone to hover behind him just in case he dropped the fighting boy or one of the child's frantic kicks dispelled him.

Naruto yelled over the boy's wails. "He's upset."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

The kid matched Nene's description: A fine-boned boy, only eight years old, with ears as big as saucers and eyes a few shades darker than his mother's hair. He took after his father's side, she had explained.

Although our rapid pace whipped the air from his lungs, rendering his cries unintelligible, Akihito still screamed and wept as if the Nine Tailed Fox had shoved its snout into his window and run away with him. Although the boy resembled his father, he had inherited his mother's flair for the dramatic.

We reached the cave in only half an hour, leaving a squadron of Narutos at the entrance.

"I wanna go home," Akihito wailed. "Let me go home."

Sakura smiled at him, bathing the boy in a gentle wave of killing intent which terrified him into silence. "Don't worry. You'll be home soon."

Nene burst from her carriage. During the trip, her hair had frizzed and her fine clothes had crumpled. She ran to her son, pulling him into a hug and pressing her nose into his hair. She whispered, "Akihito, oh, my Akihito."

"I wanna go home."

Her hands smoothed his dark hair. "We will, sweetie."

Akihito jerked away. "Not with you. I wanna stay with dad."

Nene's lips pinched and her nose subtly wrinkled. "Your father doesn't love us anymore."

The boy shook his head. "He loves me. He told me last night. He tells me every night."

She faked a smile, blinking rapidly to whip away nascent tears. "He's lying, baby."

His saucer ears flushed red. "You're the liar."

I watched them. The boy whose father wasn't dead and the woman whose son wasn't kidnapped. Well, not until today. "He's right, you know."

Nene turned away from her son, fury inching onto her face. "Excuse me?"

"You lied," I said. "You do realize that rescue missions and kidnappings are the same price in Konoha?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I do," the eight-year-old said.

Nene placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. "Children should be silent."

Naruto, who had been watching the situation with squinted eyes, suddenly exclaimed, "Wait a second, are we the bad guys?"

Kakashi took a moment to consider the cave and its inhabitants. "Well, we did just steal a small child from his loving father, but we also reunited a boy with his loving mother. So I guess that makes us about even."

The boy sniffled. "I want my daddy."

I had been this kid once. "We're the bad guys."

Sakura fiddled with the mask atop her head. "I mean, it's not that bad. We didn't know that we were kidnapping anybody. And why would the family have a bunch of ninja there if they weren't doing something shady?"

Hinata nodded so deeply that it bordered on a bow. "Father always used to say that C-Cloud ninja will accept any job because they only do missions for the money."

"Wait, isn't that why we do missions?" Naruto asked.

"Of course not," Kakashi said. "We perform missions for the honor of it. The money is merely a screening process."

The kid had resumed crying. Behind her sunglasses, Hinata's eyes darted towards him. "Do you th-think that we should take him back?"

Sakura shook her head. "We can't just abandon the mission."

"We said we'd rescue him, not kidnap him," Naruto said.

"You sure? I know you never read the mission briefing," I said. "Besides, it's a pretty minor distinction."

Naruto crossed his arms. "Well, yeah, but Nene lied and she's being a jerk. So we shouldn't help her."

"Yeah!" Akihito cried. "You're the best."

Naruto laced his fingers behind his head, beaming. "Heh, heh. You bet I am, kid."

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto. This is…" Sakura paused at Kakashi's raised hand.

"Team, this is one of those situations where being a ninja is confusing. Luckily, I have a story that I think will help us come to a decision."

We all watched him expectantly.

"This is the story of the first ninja, who they called the Sage of the Six Paths because he wasn't a ninja at the time. He was a sage. The sage invented chakra and shared it with our ancestors. You see, before this, humans didn't have chakra, even though all living things have chakra. It was a strange time. The sage hoped that people would use their new chakra to come together in peace. So we took the chakra and invented ninjutsu. And ninja have been fighting for peace ever since."

Naruto grinned, Sakura's eyes shone, and Hinata wrung her hands. We all felt pretty inspired.

The eight-year-old was clearly too young to fully understand the moral of the story. "If ninja are fighting for peace, then why are they always starting wars?"

"Because of the bad ninja," Kakashi said. "I didn't mention that part because there were children present."

"That doesn't even make sense," Akihito said, "and what does that have to do with my situation?"

"Look, kid"—Naruto jabbed a finger at the boy—"Not everything is about you, okay?"

"But you were talking about my mom kidnapping me, and then you went way off topic."

Naruto growled. "You shouldn't complain so much. Plenty of people don't even have moms."

I nodded. "She could have been murdered by your evil, older brother."

Akihito scowled. "But I don't have a brother."

I activated my Sharingan and set my tomoes spinning. "Be grateful."

Akihito shivered and quieted, so I guess we had taught him a valuable lesson about appreciating your blessings.

Sakura pushed past us. "Alright, I'm going handle this since I'm the only person here who has parents."

Hinata peeked up at us over her sunglasses. "I have…Actually, no. Never mind."

Naruto crossed his arms as Sakura smiled sweetly at the boy and spoke in dulcet tones.

Naruto grumbled, "Sakura thinks she's so great because she has four parents. That's three more parents than anybody needs."

Naruto had a point. Even relying on one parent seemed pretty bizarre after age eight or so. Sakura should be independent by now, not picking up more family members.

Sakura ruffled Akihito's hair. "So you have to listen to your mom, okay? She knows what's best for you."

"But…"

Sakura's smile widened. "She knows what's best for you."

The Cloud kunoichi landed beside Sakura and the boy. "You're seriously trying to convince the kid that he's better off kidnapped?"

Suku jabbed her elbow towards Sakura, who stiffly jumped away. The enormous sword strapped to her back severely limited the kunoichi's mobility.

Sakura slid her hunter-nin mask down. "Hinata, guard Akihito."

The Hyuuga placed herself in front of the child, facial veins bulging as she activated her Byakugan. "O-on it."

The enemy team's sensei, Yugito, strolled into the cave with the two boys flanking her. "When you've gone as far as snatching a child from his bed, you might as well do the job properly."

I fell into a taijutsu stance. "Hypocrites. We all know about your bloodline thievery."

Chigau glowered at me. "That was never official policy."

Kakashi stepped forward. "So, given the opportunity, you wouldn't steal a child for their bloodline?"

Yakeru ran a hand through his hair, which left the strands standing straight up. "How good a bloodline are we talking here?"

"No, Yakeru," his sensei said "We are not doing that anymore."

"Really?"—Kakashi's eye curved mischievously—"What if I told you that the Hyuuga heiress was right in front of you?"

Sakura huffed out a few words in between her taijutsu fight with Suku. "Sensei, what are you…?"

"Hinata, take off your sunglasses."

Hinata reluctantly followed orders, although the bulging veins should have already made her bloodline obvious. She fiddled with the glasses' stem as the Cloud team watched her. "Um, hi?"

Yakeru charged towards Hinata and the boy. I skidded in front of them, chasing the shinobi back with a grand fireball. He swung his leg around, and I jumped over it. Below me, his foot crackled with blue. He was a lightning wielder, then.

Across the field, a gang of Narutos approached the third enemy genin. Chigau flashed through a few seals, and lightning sparked across his body. The boy grinned, his teeth shining. "Yeah, I don't like taijutsu much. So, how about I stand here, and if you hit me, you die?"

The Naruto who was currently in charge said, "Ha. If it's so bad, why aren't you dead? Huh?"

Chigau held his hand out, twisting it as the lightning chirped. "The shield isn't actually touching my skin. If it was, well…Sssss."

"We'll see about that!" A Naruto charged in. He died, but not until he'd landed a punch in his opponent's gut. And there were a dozen more Narutos rushing in after the first. Chigau, his lightning shield still sparking around him, began to frantically dodge.

I was in a similar situation with my opponent. His taijutsu wasn't particularly amazing, but if one of his hits even came within a centimeter of touching me, I would earn a nasty burn.

Suddenly, an idea struck, and I activated my Sharingan. "Heh. You're not half bad, kid."

Yakeru met my eyes and sneered. "We're the same age, moron."

I watched myself through his vision. I looked really smug.

"Unfortunately for you, my Sharingan allows me to see exactly what move you're going to make"—by following his gaze, I could anticipate his next attack—"before you even start to move."

As she stood watch over the boy, Hinata continued Sakura's efforts to confuse a small child into coming with us willingly. "Parents…parents are flawed. They make mistakes, and sometimes, well, sometimes those mistakes hurt you. You might want to hurt them back because you know when they sleep. You can see through walls. B-but you can't. You can't because you're a good dau…son. Um, do you understand?"

Great. The kid was crying again.

Our senseis stood calmly amid the battle. Yugito occasionally glanced towards her students with a frown or a proud twitch of the lips, but Kakashi never took his eyes off of the other jounin.

Yugito placed a hand on her hip, and its fingernails suddenly grew into foot-long claws. "Do you really want to fight, or should we leave our genin to decide this?"

"Most of mine are chuunin, actually," Kakashi said. "They should be jounin by now, but you know kids these days: Always wanting to take things slow."

Yakeru missed again and again as he swung at me. Another Naruto clone burst through Chigau's defense, then burst apart. Sakura, her sword still slung across her back, set the air trembling as her fist missed Suku's jaw by a hair.

Yugito charged at Kakashi, claws raised.

Sakura and Suku circled each other, their spar momentarily paused. Sakura said, "Isn't this the part where you pull out some amazing lightning jutsu?"

"It would be," Suku agreed, wetting her lips, "but my element's water, and nobody in the village knows a single water jutsu. Figures, right?"

"Yeah, it really d—" Sakura lunged mid-sentence.

Suku cried out as Sakura tackled her to the ground, pushing her hand seal against the girl's chest. The enemy kunoichi wailed, "Oh, no. I'm too injured to fight."

"Dammit, Suku," Yugito panted between attacks. "I told you that if you pulled that stunt again, I'd dock your pay."

The kunoichi somersaulted towards a more defensible corner, not slowed by any injury. "I don't care! I don't do it for the money."

Sakura turned towards me, her cheerful voice muffled by the hunter nin mask. "Need a little help, Sasuke?"

While I really didn't appreciate her taunting me like this, it was a definite improvement on her usual fawning. I nodded coolly, hoping to encourage this behavior without rekindling her crush on me.

Sakura rushed forward, pulling her sword from its sheath. Before she reached us, however, Suku darted past and snatched the blade from her hands. Sakura said, "Hey!"

"Playing dead is boring," the girl grinned. "Let me do the stabbing for once."

Sakura raced after her, growling, as the Cloud kunoichi hacked at Yakeru.

My opponent spat out, "What the hell, Suku?"

Suku's lips pursed as she eyed her trembling arms. "Wow, this girl's kind of weak. Good thing I don't have to worry about breaking her, huh?"

She lifted her sword high. "But you do. After all, if you fight back, you'll hurt your friend."

Yakeru grabbed the sword, his hands glowing as electricity pulsed through it and into his teammate. "We aren't friends."

The current jumped a foot past the shuddering girl and into the closest body. Through Yakeru's eyes, I watched my body shudder with lightning.

Inner Sakura POV

Inner Sakura kept her breathing slow and steady as she woke, just as the Academy textbook—which Outer had read three times—had told her. The fact that she could control her breaths proved that she wasn't back in Sakura's head yet, and when she silenced her thoughts for a moment, the distant wailing of her host's soul tickled her ears.

She'd been hogtied, but at least they'd been nice enough to put her on a bed. Inner listened for enemies. One paced, thudding across the wooden floors then softening as the sandals reached a rug. A set of fingers tapped against hard fabric. There was breathing, too. Enough for three people? No, four. Maybe…

"Suku," a woman's voice said, "in the future, when you feign unconsciousness, try not to scrunch your nose."

Inner Sakura opened her eyes and smiled. "Sensei!"

The Cloud team's sensei stood over the bed, her claws still extended. Beside Yugito, Yakeru smirked down at her. Inner Sakura tried to sit up, then scowled in that big-mouthed way common among foreigners. "Wait. If I'm with you guys, then why am I tied up?"

"You got mind-controlled," Chigau said.

"So? Cut the rope, dumbass." Inner Sakura hadn't paid that much attention to her opponent prior to possessing her, but she had noticed that the Cloud team had no group cohesion. So she figured that her smartest move was to be really, really mean.

"Not so fast," Yakeru said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "First, you have to tell us the password."

Inner Sakura stared at his smug face for a moment while her mind raced. There was only one response with a decent chance at success. She raised her chin haughtily and said, "We don't have a password, and you are such an asshole."

Chigau laughed from where he slouched against the corner of the bed. "Yeah, that's her, all right."

"Are you guys gonna untie me or what?" she snapped.

As Yakeru fumbled with the knots around her host's wrists, Inner Sakura analyzed the rest of the room. It was large, with a spacious window that would be terrible for defense. She couldn't see any vegetation when she peeked through it, so that put them on at least the second floor. A man, presumably Mr. Iijima, watched the team from a plush chair. Akihito sprawled across the floor, leaning against his father's leg. In the corner, another prisoner kneeled calmly, her wrists and ankles bound.

Inner Sakura said, "What's up with the Hyuuga?"

Chigau rolled his eyes. "Yakeru's a bloodline thief."

"By the time this mission is over, I'm gonna have a Byakugan in one eye and a Sharingan in the other."

"That sounds v-very, um, impressive," Hinata said from her spot on the floor, "but I'm pretty sure it would just make you dizzy, and maybe nauseous."

"I bet she's lying," Inner Sakura said. "If I were her, I'd totally lie."

"Good thinking, Suku," Yakeru said as he grabbed his kunai to hack at the knot. "You get the extra Sharingan. The rest of you can fight over the Byakugan."

Chigau said, "When I'm Raikage, I'm gonna make that shit illegal."

Yakeru finally destroyed Inner Sakura's bonds. He snorted. "If you ever become Raikage, I'm becoming a missing nin."

On the floor, Hinata gasped, and Inner Sakura barely kept from doing the same. No one would ever say that sort of thing in Konoha. If Outer had been there, she would have insisted that the Cloud ninja came from a terrible village that any sane person would want to leave. But Inner Sakura was pretty sure that Cloud wasn't all that much worse than Konoha, they just had fewer informants and paid less attention to petty treason.

Inner Sakura paused for a moment, a small part of her expecting to be shoved into a little box where she couldn't tell lies. But she soon relaxed and grinned. Having her own body was cool.

Deep, deep within her mind, a Cloud kunoichi screamed.