A/N: December is here, Christmas is coming! And here I am, offering you guys an early Christmas present! I haven't updated this 'fast' in a while, so I hope you enjoy it!
A special thanks to all those that commented, faved and followed this story, users and guests alike!
Also, lots of love to Yuki! You wonderful guest, you precious, precious person! I love how thoughtful and in depth your comments are!
To answer your questions, since I can't PM you: Alex is doing great, growing with each day! He's turning 10 months on the 13th and is a few steps away from walking! NOTHING is safe from him anymore and I've taken to rearranging quite a lot of stuff in the house. Yes, Kishi has been vague at best with technology in canon, and I sort of plan to follow up on that. There will be technological stuff like screens, mics and cameras, but in my view those are mostly military stuff and are not really available to the general public. As for the lizard taming ritual, I was really close to including it in this version as well, but I feel like it needs a whole lot of explaining and it would pull away from the plot. Still, I was quite attached to the idea, so I left it in there as a world building tidbit.
The thing with Root shinobi is that they are too… perfect. They have little to no emotion. Remember how shit Sai was at… everything in the beginning? Akatsuki would figure out that a person with 0 personality, 0 wants and 0 emotional response, would be a brainwashed soldier. Such a person would have no motive to go rogue other than being sent there. So this was the argument behind it.
Regarding Fugaku, yes. His attitude, his actions and his pride are his ultimate downfall. He did not acknowledge his wife's powers and instead chose to oppress her and force her into a role she despised. He did not listen to Itachi, or Shisui, thinking that he knew best. He did not take Shuko seriously because he was weaker in terms of raw power, and did not want to understand the threat of the civilian population (which made up half of the clan).
Thanks again for your comment and dedication!
I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I wish you all a Merry Christman and a Happy New Year!
"Sometimes, saying you're sorry is the hardest thing to do. But do it. Do it often and do it when it's due, only then will the weight of your mistakes leave you."
-Riruka's words to Yahizui-
-It's a Fine Line-
After his third knock, the door finally opened, and he stepped impatiently through it. A teapot was on the table, though whether it was set up for him or merely a coincidence played no role in the matter. The crudely carved object ostentatiously placed there, however, was clearly there for him to see.
He took a seat, watching his unwilling host putter through the house for a presentable cup and biscuits. Ever the gracious one, even if he was likely not held in high regard.
"Why have you come here?"
Ah, straight to the point, it seems. "You are resisting me," he replied, taking a biscuit and examining it before placing it back on the plate. The possibility of poison had naturally crossed his mind. "Why?"
"Why, WHY? Is it not obvious? This is not normal, this is… I don't want this!"
"Your personal desires have not been taken into account in this matter. The seal has been in place for many years, ever since it was in its experimental stage." He pushed the tea away and crossed his fingers on the table. "This is the only reason why you even have the… free will to not want this. But make no mistake, experimental or not, you will do as you are told."
"Never! Not with what you ask of me."
He was getting tired of this charade. "You have no choice, Riruka. The seal will give you no other choice but to obey. You can struggle, but in the end, I will get what I want." He stood, his cane scrapping the wooden floor.
"Tell me something," she hissed between closed teeth, "did you do this to my brother as well? Is this how he died?"
Danzo turned, his visible eye looking at his long gone teammate's younger sister. "Don't be absurd. Toka is the one that helped me build this seal."
-O-
In their small tent in the middle of the desert the three members of Team 4 were slumbering peacefully. Ever since Yahizui learned to cast a wide area sensor net they no longer had use for keeping watch. It was something she did almost subconsciously now and required little effort to hold up, even if she had the chakra to spare. The night was peaceful, undisturbed up until the sun's rays began chasing the darkness away.
Yahizui's eyes snapped open, adrenaline burning through her extremities. She quickly blinked, trying to process the signals her brain was sending. Chakra – three – enemy.
They were not alone.
"Get up!" she shouted, shaking the boys awake. "Someone breached the perimeter."
"Can we take them?" to her right Tojiro had already pulled out his weapon.
They were getting closer… fifty meters away. "Maybe…" the signatures were potent, definitely one of the better teams in play. Could they take them? "I'm not sure." She looked at Hakudoshi, silently begging for a plan.
He didn't fail her.
"We could use a coverage genjutsu and try to slip away," he said, sounding far away.
Yahizui envied his ability to detach himself from the situation at hand and think of a way out. She nodded, rushing outside and pulling her storage scroll out. As soon as the boys stepped out of the tent, she activated the seal and quickly packed their whole camp away.
Behind her, Hakudoshi was already weaving the hand signs for their cover. His chakra flared, pulling at the reality around them, bending it to cover —
"Oh no, you fucking, don't!"
The ground exploded beneath their feet, sharp stones shooting up and forcing them to break formation. Yahizui landed nimbly on her feet; her speed and reaction time helped her avoid the deadly spikes. The boys weren't so lucky. Tojiro's baggy pants were ripped along his leg, showing a long bleeding gash, while Hakudoshi clutched at his arm.
Shit. A jutsu like that… they were in trouble.
She dug in her pouch, grabbing two kunai and the healing tags, quickly tying them just as a bulky teen came sauntering over the dune. Iwa, fifteen, maybe sixteen… it was definitely not his first try. The rest of his team came soon after, both looking to be in their mid-teens.
Without blinking, Yahizui threw the two kunai to the boys. "Just pump chakra in it!" she shouted, hoping her voice carried over the earth jutsu's rumble.
"Thought you'd escape?" asked the bulky boy. "You can't escape me! I can feel every move you make before you even think to make it."
Yahizui's eyes widened. A sensor? How did she miss him? She quickly looked to the side, relieved that the boys had already applied the healing seal, and were looking better. "How?" she asked, hoping to stall them a little. If Hakudoshi had enough time to think, maybe he could come up with a plan.
"I'd never tell a dumb little chit like you! We're goin' to show you Konoha weaklings what Iwagakure is made of." His grin was horrid, a grimace on a broad, ugly face.
Yahizui pushed chakra in her legs and somersaulted over the earth-spikes, landing next to Hakudoshi.
"Plan?"
"We need water, and we need them all in the same place. If we manage to get enough water on the ground, then I can shock them. This will let us at least escape." He never failed to deliver.
Yahizui smiled, turned to Tojiro, and circled her hand in the air, then tightened it into a fist. He would know what to do. "I'll take care of the water, just be prepared with the jutsu." She then jumped toward the Iwa team, hoping to distract their attention from Tojiro.
"Looking for this?" she pulled a copy of the Heaven scroll Hakudoshi had and dangled it between her fingers. If they were to take the bait, they'd come toward her. Then Tojiro would move around them, create a few illusionary clones to mask his moves and pull them together with the kusarigama chain. After that, it was only a matter of timing, and the cocky teens would get the shock of their lives, literally.
"No."
Perfec—what, NO? She couldn't keep the surprise away from her face. The teens grinned, and it chilled her.
"We're here to teach you Konoha scum a lesson, just like we did with the other weakling Konoha teams," said the bulky teen.
On his side, a dirty blond boy nodded. "This is revenge, this is us showing you that Iwa should have won the war. You don't deserve the privileges you've got. You're weak, disgusting little leaves."
Behind them, Tojiro was still circling from afar, and as the second teen finished talking, he made his move. Yahizui's held her breath, watching it all happen with wide eyes. Tojiro's timing was right, but their reaction was better; it was flawless. The speed with which they moved was beyond his, the force of their hit more than he could take.
A punch to the jaw. A kick to the head. The crunch of Tojiro's broken nose sounded sickeningly loud to her ears, the blood streaming down his face much too red. Tojiro fell to the ground like a rag doll, his long limbs lying haphazardly. She had her sword out before anyone could blink. "You fuckers will pay for this!"
"Stop." Hakudoshi's hands dug painfully in her shoulder.
When did he move?
She tried to pull away, but his grip was of steel, the veins in his forearm bulging. Yahizui turned to look at him, to yell at him, but stopped. The anger in his eyes was frozen, his mouth a barely visible line.
"We work together. Toj can handle a few minutes of pain." His voice was barely above a whisper, yet it sounded like a scream in her ears. If she was enraged, Hakudoshi was livid with anger, chakra crackling around his body like a barely contained storm. This was no longer about running away, they couldn't do that anymore. They had to fight, and they had to win.
She knew what she had to do. Hakudoshi was a good frontline fighter, but his real strengths lay in battlefield control and masterfully executed plans. It was usually her and Tojiro that brought the enemies right into Haku's neatly laid trap.
We, Uzumaki, were feared by our enemies; we were like immortal Gods on the battlefield.
Ashina's words resonated in her head, giving her the confidence she needed. Yes, there was nothing to fear. She could feel the bite marks on her collarbone tingle, a phantom pain that reminded her what Uzumaki chakra could do. It was time to put it to the test.
"Your planning, whatever it is, won't work little Leaves!" shouted the bulky teen. He moved toward the unconscious Tojiro, his mouth twisted in a grimace.
Yahizui's eyes narrowed, her chakra flaring, focusing on her legs.
"You will die, just like your—"
He bent down from the waist, his meaty wrist caught in Yahizui's steely grip, beady eyes staring into her narrowed ones. She pulled him forward, using the momentum of his heftier body to her advantage, and rammed her knee in his face, all in the blink of an eye.
Blood gushed from his nose, spraying on her pants. It felt good to see it, satisfying to hear his nose crack under the impact. She grinned as he staggered backward, before jumping away from his incoming teammates, taking Tojiro's half-unconscious body with her.
"Atsuchi!" They shouted.
"Get that bitch!" screamed Atsuchi, his face smeared with blood. He might have been a sensor, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn't react in time.
He spat a mouthful of blood to the ground and started forming hand signs to a jutsu Yahizui had no time thinking about.
Yahizui quickly bent over Tojiro, placing two healing tags over his face and chest, just to be sure. "Stay here Toj, let us handle this."
Through swollen lips, he gave her a bloody smile that looked more like a grimace. "Like hell, and leave my friends do all the work?"
There was no way she could convince him otherwise. She had to trust that the tags will do their work and that they wouldn't need any more of them since there were only two left. She needed to have faith in Tojiro. "Be careful. We're moving on with the plan."
Yahizui looked back, seeing that Hakudoshi had already jumped in the fray and was crossing weapons with one of Atsuchi's teammates. There was no time to waste. Atsuchi had to be taken down fast, or any plan they had would be for naught.
A ripple of chakra passed through her net. It was intense, malicious. "Jump!" she shouted, hoping that Hakudoshi will hear her.
It was too late.
The hardened earth spike pierced his thigh, tearing through muscle like a knife through butter. Yahizui immediately flashed toward him and slashed the hard rock with her wind infused blade. Behind her, Tojiro was swinging his chain in both directions, desperately trying to shield them.
There was no need to worry. At Atsuchi's signal, the other two Iwa genin pulled back, watching them with smirks on their faces.
"So weak," mocked Atuschi. "He's as good as dead."
Yahizui's hands tightened on Hakudoshi's trembling shoulders. His skin was paper white, sweat pouring down his forehead. He was losing blood fast, and if they didn't do something soon, then Atsuchi's words might become more than a taunt.
She gently placed a hand on his cheek, making him look at her. "Haku, look at me, it's gonna be all right." His eyes, usually so vibrant and alive, were fogged with pain.
Yahizui shook him, digging in her pouch for the healing tags. Two. It wasn't enough, not for a wound as big as his, not for his state. She looked at Tojiro and saw the horror in his eyes, the fear. This was his friend, her friend.
"This is what happens when you bite more than you can chew! Leaves fall and are crushed, but the Stone lives on!"
She hated his voice; it grated on her nerves with its nasal tone and stupid accent. Her chakra flared. Haku began to tremble in her arms, his eyes rolling back in his head.
"He is dead, and you two are next!"
As Atsuchi pulled out a kunai, Yahizui pried open Hakudoshi's mouth, shoved her forearm between his teeth, pushing his jaw closed while her other hand pulled the earth spike from his thigh.
His blunt teeth pierced her skin with agonizing slowness, and somewhere in the back of her head, Yahizui realized that back then, Orochimaru must have had razor-sharp fangs. What came next was different than before. There was no pain, nor fear or a sense of being violated, robbed of something.
Euphoria, like she'd never felt before, sparked in every cell, and suddenly, she was aware of everything. She could feel her chakra enter his system, repairing torn muscle and ripped vessels. It filled him like an alien force, overwhelming everything in its path before changing, becoming his. She could feel his heartbeat, sense his own chakra core and energy coming back to life, flooding his system. Yahizui gasped, and it had nothing to do with the pain of a simple bite. How was this different, how could it feel so… good? The flow stopped as soon as Hakudoshi's body was whole and healed once more, his chakra replenished.
Yahizui opened her eyes and saw him staring at her, his golden eyes vibrant and questioning. Her body burned, and as he unclenched his jaw, Yahizui finally became aware of herself; of the hand fisted in his shirt, of her panting breath and burning cheeks. What… was that? She felt enraptured, brimming with emotion and energy in a way that defied logic. The chakra she'd lost was inexplicably rushing back in her system, expanding. On her side, Hakudoshi moved, and she could… feel his anger at the Iwa nins, sense his rage. It fueled her, mixing with her own emotions until she no longer knew who was feeling what.
Control your rage; do not let it consume you!
Ashina's words rang in her head, shackling the beast that was threatening to take over her mind. It was hard, no it was impossible to know what was what and who was who; his feelings, his impulses were so tightly interlocked with hers that she felt like exploding, like screaming and hoping that all that emotion would release in some wave of anger, gratitude, fear, hate… admiration. Were those her thoughts? Would any thought ever be hers again?
"What did you do?" shouted Atsuchi, his face red with anger. "Don't think your g—"
"SHUT UP!" the words flew out of her mouth, dripping with all the emotion that was threatening to overwhelm her. "Shut your fucking mouth, or I swear to all the Kamis above, I'll end you!"
She didn't know where the words came from, were they hers, or were they Hakudoshi's? Where did her emotions end and his start and… who was in charge? Yahizui took a deep breath, trying to control the tremble in her limbs, trying to figure out what her mind was telling her to do.
Vaguely she heard Hakudoshi shout at her, but it all seemed so far away.
A kunai zipped past her head, cutting a stray strand of hair, but she just couldn't move. Frustration welled within her like a balloon, coated with spiky, heart-racing fear. Her pulse heightened, and she clenched her hands, wanting to scream at someone. Was she frustrated with herself, fearing for her life?
No, no.
That was not her, those were not her feelings. Yahizui closed her eyes, pushing the back of her hand in her eye-sockets until all she could see were stars, and only then the sounds of reality slowly came back to her.
"Hizui watch ou—"
The rest was cut out by the crack of a bone breaking. Pain followed soon, stinging and all too real; she was pulled out of her inner world, and she clung to that stomach-turning pain as she opened her eyes.
Oh, she was on the floor.
How did she get there?
Her ribs were hurting, and each breath made her want to scream, but it also brought something else. Clarity. That pain was her pain, the anger was her anger. She stood up, dizzy with adrenaline and agony. Atsuchi's next hit caught her in the stomach, and she doubled over, bending around his massive fist like a rag doll.
She heard Tojiro scream, or was it Hakudoshi?
When her head touched the ground, bouncing with the impact, she opened her eyes and smiled. Hakudoshi looked enraged a few meters away, locked in a tight battle with one of Atsuchi's teammates. He was livid, but his anger felt like an afterthought to her; it was no longer consuming, and she could tell where she stopped and where he began. She should thank Atsuchi and the anguish he brought upon her.
"I'm gonna take my sweet time with you, bitch!" sneered Atsuchi above her. From this vantage point, he looked huge, a giant ready to step on her head and squish it like a rotten pumpkin. "You will scream and beg, and when you admit how much of a lowlife vermin you and the rest of your lot really are, then I will let you die."
He talked a lot, this angry Iwa teen. Before she had a chance to say or do anything, Atsuchi grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up. Her scalp burned, but each second gave her another dose of clarity. Face to face with him, Yahizui had to admit that the boy had some unfortunate features. A nose that had been broken too often and badly reset, beady eyes and cracked thick lips made him look brutish. Not that he was anything but.
"Got anything to say?" he mockingly asked, then turned her to look at her two teammates. They didn't fair well. Both boys were held in a tight hold, their weapons discarded on the ground. Tojiro's newly healed wound had reopened, and Hakudoshi's split lip was bleeding all over his shirt. Triumphant, Atsuchi pulled her back toward him, the grip on her hair tightening.
"I'll have them watch, and then finish them off as well. So little leaf, anything to say? Are you going to admit which village has the strongest shinobi?"
Yahizui looked him in his beady little eyes and smiled a bloody smile. "I'm gonna tear you apart."
She wasn't sure where the words came from, but every fiber of her being meant it. For hurting the boys, for killing the other Konoha team, for being the angry little shits that they were, for talking the way he did and holding her the way he did. For the hunger in his eyes and the disgust in his voice, she was going to carve him up like the fat little pig he was.
His beady eyes widened, and he let go, pushing her away from him. Yahizui stumbled in her tiredness, and before she fell to the ground, she heard the teen shout and felt his chakra flare. A blunt rock met her back, bruising her all over and knocking the air out of her lungs.
Rolling over Yahizui pinned him down with all the hatred and anger she felt, ignoring the frightened look he gave her. Her teeth clamped on her arm and bit down hard. She wasn't sure what she would feel. Would it be the pain, or the shot of pleasure she felt earlier?
It was none. It felt like a breath of fresh air in the morning, like that first sip of cold water on a hot summer day. Her wounds healed, her bleeding stopped, and the aches in her body miraculously ceased to be. She was reborn in her own strength, and it was intoxicating. Her mind buzzed with the high of adrenaline, and she moved with more speed and accuracy than ever before.
It was all a blur. Reaching for her blade, stepping, moving, slashing forward. In a heartbeat, she was close to Atsuchi, so close that she could hear his heartbeat accelerating, could hear the ragged breath intake. She opened her eyes and came face to face with his wide, pained, orbs.
Triumph bubbled inside her, threatening to spill over her lips. Where was his smirk now? Where were his snide remarks? Atsuchi coughed— a wet gurgling sort of sound that brought forth specks of red. The warmth of victory turned to ice as she saw blood seeping through his parted lips.
His heart slowed down, and then she came to. How did she move, how did she do it, how did she go past his defenses, or did he even have any? Panic took over, and Yahizui withdrew her blade, stepping backward.
His face was white, mouth open in a scream that never managed to come out. Beneath his feet, the sand turned red.
What did she do? What… how?
Atsuchi fell, his life ending before he hit the ground. His chakra, so present in her mind before, went out like a candle, creating a void where just a few minutes before a person stood. Around her, people moved, but Yahizui could only see the crimson liquid that seemed to come toward her.
"What did you do?" shouted one of his teammates, kneeling over his cooling body. "Y-you…" he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"He… was going to kill me," she said, suddenly wanting to legitimize her actions. "He was going to—"
"No, he wasn't, you crazy bitch!"
What? The words cut through her like a knife.
"He was just playing, wanting to rough you guys up, intimidate you. We never wanted to kill anyone!"
"But… the other Konoha team…"
"There is no other team!" The teen shouted at her with tears in his eyes. To his side, the third boy looked at her with a burning hatred.
His voice trembled with barely restrained emotion as he spoke. "I will—"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," interrupted Hakudoshi, his hand landing on Yahizui's shoulder.
"There's three of us and only two of you," continued Tojiro, standing straight despite his injured leg.
Hakudoshi's hand tightened on her shoulder, and Yahizui could feel his apprehension. "You're tired and out of chakra. Let's not make this a bigger mess than it already is."
The kneeling teen lowered his head and reached for his hip pouch. Tojiro's kusarigama chain fell to the ground as he and Haku tensed.
"We don't need this anymore," said the teen between clenched teeth as he pulled out a Hell scroll and threw it on the red-stained sand.
"What are you doing?"
Yahizui didn't hear the rest of the argument. Her eyes were glued on Atsuchi's dead, open eyes. He was dead, killed by… by her sword. Her mouth went dry. I killed him. The thought buried itself in her brain, multiplying until all she could think were those three words, and all she could see was the light leaving Atsuchi's eyes. Her palms grew clammy, lungs trying to take in more and more air until the world seemed to implode, and her erratic heartbeat was the only real thing remaining.
A voice spoke in the distance, so far away that she could barely hear it. Her heartbeat was too loud and air… where was all the air?
She couldn't breathe. Yahizui's eyes shot open in panic, and all she could see were red-stained grains of sand. A coppery smell filled her nose. Blood.
"Hizui, are you—"
Her stomach knotted itself, and bile filled her mouth as the stench of the bloody sand became overwhelming. There wasn't much in her stomach as she dry heaved until her face turned red, and tears filled her eyes. A hand touched her shoulder, and she flinched as if burned, batting the offending limb away and staggering to stand on her feet.
"Are you ok?" Tojiro's voice was filled with a pity that made her want to scream.
Why were they not blaming her? What was wrong with them, she just killed a person, another human being!
Yahizui stood, trying to keep her breathing under control, pushing away the disgust of being in her own skin. She looked down at her hands.
Red.
Her fingers were stained with blood that began to crack and flake under the morning sun like caked mud. She kneeled, taking a fistful of sand and started rubbing it all over her palms with slow, methodic movements, so unlike the frenzy happening inside her head. They'd been taught how to deal with their first kill, but no amount of reading, breathing exercises, or essays were enough to prepare her. Yahizui had always imagined that her first kill will be something heroic. She would do it to protect a client, or she would rid the world of some scumbag that terrorized villagers and little kids. She would take a life and know that it had been for a better world, for a higher purpose.
No one told her what to do when… the word 'murder' made her want to heave all over again.
Hakudoshi touched her back. She knew it was him, on a level deeper than she dared acknowledge. She didn't flinch.
"We need to go, there's one day left, and we need to make it to the finish line."
The finish line… the exam… Who cared? Oh, right, she did. Or used to.
Hakudoshi's urgency prompted her to move, but her mind registered little. She took steps, drank water, and ate when prompted, but she wasn't really there. When night came, Yahizui kept her eyes open, slowing down her breathing to feign sleep. She didn't dare close them, didn't dare allow the tiredness to take hold.
By the time the Demon Desert outpost came in sight, she had managed to bury the disgust she felt with herself deep enough to enjoy finishing the second trial. She'd been too absorbed with her own thoughts to see or listen at the time, but the boys told her that the Iwa teens surrendered their Hell scroll and left, taking Atsuchi's body with them.
As they reached the gate, Yahizui briefly wondered if they will stop her, lock her up… put her on trial. She had, in the end, killed another shinobi for reasons that could not be deemed valid. Did they see that? Were there Suna shinobi hidden behind the dunes, watching their every move?
They passed through the gate and gave both scrolls to a tired-looking chuunin. Yahizui held her breath, her mind churning. It would be right if they took her; it was the right thing. She opened her eyes, ready to face her fate.
"You pass," said the man in a bored tone. "Here are the keys to your rooms. There's a meal waiting for you in there. Don't use too much water and rest. Congratulations on passing the second trial."
Yahizui's breath hitched, eyes widening. "But what about—"
"Thank you, we will do just that!" intervened Hakudoshi, placing his palm over her mouth and dragging her away from the uninterested man.
"Are you insane?" he asked as they reached the cool interior of the building. "Are you trying to get yourself removed from this exam?"
She brushed his hand aside. "Are you insane?" she shouted in a raw voice. Her thoughts were jumbling. "Were you not there with us, did you not see what I did? It was wrong and… and I don't deserve to go unpunished for it!"
Pain erupted in her cheek as her head whipped to the side. "There, punished enough?" drawled Hakudoshi, returning to the superior tone she had learned to loathe. "You did what you had to, what you thought was right. How would we know that the fuckers weren't aiming to kill us for real?"
She wanted to cradle her swollen cheek, looking at Tojiro for help, but he seemed to be conveniently studying the walls. "But…"
"Shut it. People die all the time, especially shinobi. This is the life we chose, and this is the risk we take. I say better them than us."
Yahizui had never heard him speak with such cold, calculated accuracy. Was this what laid under his snide remarks and tragic life stories? Was… this what the Kiri wars made of him, or had he always been so cruel?
"Guys…" Tojiro's voice came from the side, and they both turned to look at what his long fingers pointed.
The wall was covered in an electrical board filled with names. They were grouped in teams of three, cataloged per village. Next to each name were written one of three things: passed, failed, dead. Yahizui's eyes widened as she saw just how many were dead. Almost a quarter of the participants had the letters written next to their names.
"It's how things are…" said Hakudoshi, his hand brushing her shoulder.
It's how things are. The words stung harder than his slap.
Yahizui wasn't sure how long she stood there looking at the board. She went through every name more than once, through every death. Finally, as the darkness outside dragged on, she succumbed to the inevitable exhaustion and lugged her feet to the assigned room. With lead-weighted arms, she opened the door and was surprised to see Hakudoshi's unruly white hair. He'd dozed off sitting on the floor, hitai-ate dangling between his fingers.
What was he doing in her room?
With the last bit of energy she had, Yahizui slammed the door and watched satisfied as he jumped awake, looking at her with bloodshot eyes. "Get out," she said in a clipped tone. The earlier dislike she'd had for him was returning, and she was comfortable to keep things that way: barely civil, enough so that the team would survive.
"I'm sorry I slapped you," he uttered, voice hoarse with sleep.
He stood, moving toward her, and Yahizui could swear she felt his remorse. She stepped back, not wanting to see how deep the newly formed connection was. Looking at him, she could tell that she was the only one feeling it; there was no way in hell he would find out about it, not if she had any say in it. She sighed. How was she supposed to hate him now when she could literally feel how sorry he was? "Fine," she said, hoping to sound flippant. "Anything else?"
Hakudoshi stepped closer, and Yahizui realized with barely leashed panic that there was no more space for her to retreat to. She could see the specs of green in his golden orbs, hear his light breath. Her heart rate increased, palms flattening to the wall behind her.
"Yes," he said, and Yahizui could almost feel his chest vibrate with the words.
He moved closer, and her heart rate spiked in panic before she felt overwhelmed by… gratitude? Her forehead tingled with the touch of his lips, and when Hakudoshi stepped back, his eyes were warmer than she'd ever seen them before.
"Thanks for saving my life."
-O-
His steps were soundless in the narrow, winding corridor. The exam was proceeding well so far, and now that the second trial was over, they could start their preparations for the third and final round. In a few days, officials from all participating nations will arrive. It was Suna's moment to shine. Just as Rasa had predicted, their teams had all passed. The genin were well trained, as hard as the desert storms and just as merciless. Their village depended on them, and he was sure that the candidates they chose would not disappoint; after all, he handpicked them himself.
As he turned, another corned Yashamaru thought of his other, much more critical task. He raised his bandaged hand as if glaring at it would make the friction burn go away. Gaara's control was tenuous at best, but the boy was learning. Still, it was hard to control the temper tantrum of a kid with volatile, demonic sand at his disposal.
"Yashamaru-dono."
He looked up and saw councilor Noku walk toward him. "Councilor, good evening."
The old man nodded, then promptly handed him a scroll with the Kazekage seal. "Rasa-sama is caught up in the meeting and requested me to bring this to you."
Yashamaru gave the ancient looking councilor a long look. "Wasn't there a younger message carrier he could find?"
"There is no time for jokes, Yashamaru-dono. Rasa-sama informed me that the contents of this scroll are of utmost importance and are to be delivered to you personally."
Yashamaru's eyes narrowed. "Then surely he can tell me personally."
"You understand the position in which Rasa-sama is right now. The whole future of our village depends on his decisions, on this going well." He pushed the scroll in Yashamaru's hands and turned without another word.
He looked at the scroll in his hands. Rasa rarely, if ever, communicated with him in written form. Their conversations were often times too dangerous to be recorded on paper.
He carefully broke the seal and read the contents. His hands trembled, eyes widening.
No… this could not be.
Unranked mission:
Eliminate the One Tail Jinchuuriki.
A/N: Ah, that was one long action scene! I'm curious what you think about it! Action scenes are not really my forte, and writing them feels like trying to pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.
Next time we switch our focus to Itachi for a bit and the chaos waiting for him in Konoha!
Comments are love!