Field operation

One month later

Konan peered through the bushes at the group beyond the tree line. The Hidden Stone's border incursion wasn't going well at all. Two of their members had already been wounded falling from trees during their journey, and they looked to be running low on supplies as well. They sat around a campfire in the small clearing cooking an abysmal excuse of a meal. The boy in charge wasn't paying attention and the smell of something burning reached her nose. One of the older shinobi, a young woman with medium-length auburn hair, noticed and let her discontent be known.

"Dammit, Shin!" She shouted in a gravelly voice. "How in the fuck do you burn stew?! It's a liquid!" The boy's face and neck flushed red as he began stirring again.

"Sorry," he grumbled. "Just hungry, captain." She smacked the back of his head.

"We all are you idiot! This is what we get for being so fucking rash." Huffing, she rose to her feet. "Just cook, damn you." Without another word, she stomped off toward the trees. The rest of her band shared a look but didn't comment on the outburst. Konan assumed it was a regular occurrence. Just another lash-out in a long series. She committed it to memory. If she could understand how this captain thought and behaved, she could defeat or capture her.

This was her second time being the Jōnin mission leader, and her first mission since the deceptive infiltration of the Hidden Stone. While it felt good to finally be out of the village again, she still doubted her ability to lead. For now, all was well. The party in the clearing didn't seem to notice they were being watched and nobody in her team had died or been hurt yet. Still, she doubted. So much could go wrong. So many unpredictable scenarios could shatter her plans. If that happened, it was up to her to lay out and enact a new plan of action. That terrified her.

When the captain returned, she joined her team by the fire and quietly apologized. Her subordinate accepted, probably more out of fear than actual acceptance. Nonplussed, she declared that their supper was ready as it would ever be and started pouring bowls for everyone. They are like starving men, which Konan had to admit wasn't far from the truth by the look of it. After a few more moments she leaned back against a tree. Was this all she was going to see? Would the captain admit defeat before the Leaf even found out what their objective was? She had no idea.

The team of five infiltrated the Land of Fire four days ago. Konan's team had been hastily assembled and ordered to intercept and monitor them. That was easy enough since all they'd done is set up camp and wait. And wait and wait. The stillness was starting to drive her crazy. Her anxiety was building with each passing hour, but she was under strict orders to only act as a deterrent or in a defensive manner. If they caused trouble, run them off. If they attacked civilians or attempted sabotage, she was to kill them. Her home was invaded, and she could only watch; it rubbed her the wrong way. Just when she was about to summon a relief watch, the boy Shin raised his eyes from his food.

"Where is this contact we're supposed to meet?" Konan blinked and sat forward. Did she hear that right? Somebody in the Land of Fire was their contact? It wasn't such an unusual concept. People betrayed their homeland all the time. But still, this time it seemed even worse. One of her fellow citizens of the Land of Fire was helping these foreign shinobi. The intel was worth reporting, she decided. Her skin peeled and a small piece of paper lifted underneath the top layer. She grabbed it and her skin solidified. Her ability often drew looks of distaste from her comrades, but I'm scenarios like this it was important.

She scribbled down notes and continued her observations. The captain wiped her mouth and shrugged.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I was told to get us here and wait." She shot her injured comrades a look. "We've got good reason to just wait here for a bit anyway." The ninja wore twin expressions of humility, but Konan felt that she hadn't meant to shame them. Frowning, she wrote down another line. Seems to jump from one emotional extreme to the other. Perhaps it was an unfair estimation, but she didn't have time to spare feelings. This was war.

Things quieted down after the group finished their meal. Most of them settled down to sleep while the boy Shin was selected for the first watch. His comrades dozed off while the fire petered out to a smoldering pile of ash. Hours crept by and the moon reached its apex. Shin was beginning to nod off, and Konan couldn't blame him. The last few hours held no notable events whatsoever. It was getting more and more difficult to keep her eyes open. Perhaps it would be best if she summoned her own watch replacement for a few hours of rest. That thought was short lived.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement. Just a fraction of a second, but long enough for her eyes to shoot open. Her hand closed around the grip of a kunai knife and her gaze was locked at the section of trees where she saw the figure. For a few heartbeats, she wondered if she was paranoid. The sentry in the clearing hadn't seen it, or if they did they weren't as jumpy as Konan. But despite that, she was sure something was there.

Silently, Katsuki Sarutobi landed on the ground beside her. His face was tense, and he pointed in the same direction. He had seen it too and decided to report it. She gave a curt nod and flashed a hand signal. Prepare. He disappeared as silently as he came, going from hiding spot to hiding spot rousing their comrades. Konan's hand trembled slightly as she waited for something to happen.

A stone clattered and every insect in the forest stopped at once. Although just a stone, it might as well have been an avalanche. Shin was up and armed in an instant. His face was set in a scowl and his captain was clambering to her feet. Still groggy from sleep, she shouted a challenge.

"Who's there?!" She said, slurring the words slightly. The rest of her team scrambled to their feet. The part of the woods that the stone's sound came from seemed particularly ominous. Konan swallowed dryly. She wished dearly that her heart would stop beating so damn loud. The silence was killing her. Apparently, the captain had similar ideas.

"Come on out!" She said. "You made yourself known, just give it up!" Sounding a hundred times more confident than Konan felt, her words seemed to inspire her subordinates. They adopted similar scowls and drew weapons. Whoever created the disturbance seemed to be convinced. Their game was up, as the captain said. The dark figure appeared again, a tall, thin person with long and shaggy hair. As it drew nearer and stepped into the moonlight, Konan's breath caught in her throat.

No, she thought. Anybody but him. Please, God, no. She hoped with every fiber of her being that her eyes were just playing tricks on her. Anybody could mimic appearances. It was easy to do. But a voice was harder to fake, and she was incredibly familiar with this one.

"Calm yourselves," Nagato Uzumaki said. "I come in peace." Her whole body felt numb, and a cold lump formed in her stomach. She'd heard Nagato's voice countless times. It matched the cadence she knew so well, his particular way of speech, even the slightly higher than normal pitch. There was a possibility this was a fake, but she doubted it. She just didn't believe someone would go through the trouble to frame him. Which meant that it really was Nagato standing in that clearing speaking to foreign ninja.

"Who are you?" The captain demanded. She was on edge now, eyes flitting from tree to darkened tree. Nagato held his hands in the air.

"A friend," he said. She scoffed at him.

"Friends don't sneak up on you like that." She sheathed her tanto and waved her team down. They didn't like the order, but they followed it. Nagato set his arms back down to his sides.

"I assure you; I don't sneak around like my comrades; I made myself known." Blood turning to ice, Konan dropped her kunai. It softly hit the dirt and settled to one side. He knows, she realized. He's known for some time. But why did he tell her? She didn't know, and she was freezing up.

"As for my name, you can call me Nagato Uzumaki." He bowed in a fake display of chivalry. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." The captain sneered and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yeah yeah," she spat. "Uzumaki, huh? Thought your clan got wiped during the first Great War." Nagato shifted uncomfortably. Konan too believed that his clan was mostly dead. He and Kushina were the only living members she'd ever met.

"No, not all of us." He was quiet now, more reserved than a moment ago. Something that only he could hear claimed his attention for a bit. Shaking his head sadly, he returned to business as normal.

"Did you bring the map?" The captain asked. Nagato nodded slightly, reaching into his tool pouch, and producing a folded parchment.

"I did." He confirmed. "Do you have what I asked for?" Konan perked up again. What could be so valuable that you'd betray your home, Nagato? The woman hesitated. Slowly nodding, she also pulled out a folded parchment.

"All the information we have on him," she replied in a tight voice. "How you proceed is up to you, though. We can't contain him forever." Shin glanced from his captain to Nagato, clearly unsure.

"You're really betraying him, Tota?" He questioned in a small voice. She didn't meet his gaze.

"He's a danger to the village." She answered pathetically.

"He's your father, for Stone's sake!" Shin sneered, finding his confidence. "And you'd deal with him, a Leaf Jōnin, because of your daddy issues!" He seemed satisfied with the flush that consumed her face. She rounded on him, forgetting Nagato for a moment.

"Careful, Shin," she threatened. "Be very fucking careful." Her hands were trembling with rage, and Konan wondered if she were actually watching a sitcom instead of an act of war. The ground next to her was disturbed as Katsuki returned. He quietly reported that all their teammates were ready on her command. Nodding, she picked her target. In the clearing, the Stone ninja were getting antsy. The power struggle was getting to them, and Nagato was forced to clear his throat to regain attention.

"The trade?" He pressed. Holding out the folded map, he eyed the parchment that the captain held tightly. She nodded, preparing to make the exchange when Konan gave the order to spring their trap. Kunai knives and ninja stars calms flying from a dozen different prearranged traps, catching the Stone ninja completely unaware. Before they realized what was going on, seven Leaf ninja jumped out of bushes and trees all around them.

Konan dashed toward Nagato. The surprise of the attack and the shock of seeing her rendered him immobile for a few valuable instants. She grit her teeth and, wishing that it didn't have to be this way, swung her tanto upward in a fierce arc. Steel flashed and blood sprayed. Half of Nagato's right ring finger and his entire right pinky hit the ground along with the blood-soaked map. He jumped backward with a yelp of pain and grasped his mutilated fingers with his other hand. His purple swirling eyes were full of rage.

"Why did you do it?!" Konan screamed. "Why are you here, Nagato? Betraying the village, and for what?" She pointed her weapon towards the downed captain. "Information on, from what I heard, a single man that is estranged from his family!" Nagato grit his teeth. He exhaled and let go of his stumps of fingers. They fell to the ground without a sound.

"You don't understand. It isn't your business," he said. Anger filled her.

"Of course it is," she ground out. "Treason is precisely my business." Behind her, she heard Katsuki giving orders.

"Secure the survivors and then back up the captain." Three of her comrades ran up to flank Nagato, which she was supremely grateful for. A Rinnegan user was nothing to sneeze at, especially not Nagato. He saw that they were trying to surround him and locked eyes with her.

"You shouldn't have interfered. I didn't want it to come to this, but you've left me no choice." With that, he raised both hands until his arms were parallel with the ground. The four-ninja facing him tensed, and when he spoke again it was almost a whisper.

"Almighty Push."

The forest literally exploded. The ground erupted and shot backward like a dirt tsunami. Her team was thrown about, and when she left the ground she landed hard against a tree. Upon impact, she promptly passed out. Inky blackness held her like a vice. She floated in the void, hearing faint voices calling her name and asking questions. To her, to each other, to no one in particular. Her head pulsed with pain and she felt her body swaying gently. An unknown amount of time later, her eyes slowly opened.

A dark room encompassed her. Shades blacked out the windows and her favorite candle was burning to her left. Frowning, she took a closer look around the room. Recognizable sights met her searching gaze, and she began to notice something. It was her bedroom, she realized. Somebody had brought her home. Sitting up in bed, she heard voices out in the living room of her apartment.

"Help," she called out meekly, but it was enough. Immediately the voices stopped, followed by a few sets of hurried footsteps. The door pushed open, and Lady Tsunade entered her bedroom, followed shortly by Jiraiya-sensei. Konan barely had time to open her mouth before Tsunade was by her side, checking her pupils and asking her how she felt.

"A little parched," she admitted. Tsunade snapped and Jiraiya, a bit dramatically but with a smile, fetched her a cup of steaming herbal tea. She was able to keep a few sips down and said her thanks to her teacher and master, respectively. They wore concerned looks.

"Do you remember what happened?" Tsunade asked. It was a straightforward question, but no matter how hard she tried, nothing would come to the surface. Her mind was still too addled from pain.

"No, I can't remember anything." Tsunade shot a quick look to Jiraiya, who nodded grimly. He sat next to her master and appeared to be quite uncomfortable.

"During your mission, you encountered some Hidden Stone ninja." He began slowly, recounting the details that she now remembered writing down to report later. She nodded along with the story until he paused. He was all choked up, she realized, blinking away tears. Tsunade laid a hand on his arm gently, comforting him. He couldn't meet anybody's gaze for a long time.

"Nagato…" he trailed off, staring into the distance. Something niggled in the back of Konan's mind. Nagato did what? She was sure he'd done something, though she couldn't remember what it was. When it became clear that Jiraiya wouldn't, or couldn't continue, Tsunade took up the mantle.

"Nagato Uzumaki has gone rogue." She declared with clinical dispassion, though Konan caught the flicker of concern directed at her sensei. "He killed four members of your squad and put two in the hospital, one critically wounded, and the other being you." It looked like she wanted to say more, but she stopped there.

The words hung in the air like a bad smell. Konan's mouth opened and closed a few times. She wanted to protest, to defend her friend. He wouldn't do something like that. Not Nagato. Not to her. And yet the truth of the words pierced her heart. She believed them even as she denied them in her mind. When she concluded that it was the truth in fact as much as in her belief, all anybody could do was sit in silence. And they did, for a long time. She felt numb, the betrayal fresh in her mind.

"Yahiko…?" The name was more than just a single question. It was a dozen, a hundred. Where is he? Does he know? What will he do about it? Will he go after Nagato? Can he even match Nagato's power if he tried to stop him? So many more, but she couldn't give voice to them all. Tsunade bit her lip. It was clear that she didn't know everything Konan wanted to.

"He's safe," she assured her student. "A mission required a Jōnin team leader a few days after you left, and he's been gone since. Although he should've been back two weeks ago." That made Konan start. Two weeks? What kind of mission took more than a few weeks? And the timeframe she imagined didn't match up either. Hesitantly, she swallowed and asked her next question.

"How long was I out?" It felt like an eternity before anyone gave her an answer. To her surprise, Jiraiya spoke up.

"You were hospitalized for a little over a month. Fractured skull." He winced slightly. "Honestly, it's a miracle you're alive at all." More silence. Leaning back into her pillows, Konan had a newfound appreciation for her modest bed. Tsunade nodded in agreement and squeezed her hand gently.

"You've been home for three weeks with varying levels of coherence. This is the first full conversation you've been able to have." A small smile appeared on her lips, but Konan couldn't share it. She was in too bad a mood for visitors, she decided. Squeezing Tsunade's hand, she let go and turned away from the two adults.

"Can I go back to sleep?" She asked. Mercifully, they agreed. Rising from the bed, Tsunade kissed her ear affectionately.

"Good night, Konan. Get some rest," Tsunade said as she shut the door. It didn't take long for Konan to shut her eyes and fall back into the dreamless void. She awoke several hours later and when she called, Tsunade came. The older woman was able to coax a small mixture of honey, oats, and some tasteless seeds into the younger girl despite her insistence that she wasn't hungry. When it was gone, Konan noticed that her master was considerably subdued from earlier. She quickly figured out that Jiraiya was gone but didn't call attention to the shift. When she asked what day it was, she was shocked to learn that nearly a day and a half had passed.

"What's making me sleep so much?" Konan asked curiously. She knew from her time training with Tsunade that sleep was the body's way of healing itself. Still, this seemed a bit excessive. Nearly two months of constant rest; she should be plenty healed by now. Tsunade joined her on the bed.

"Your body has been hurt pretty bad," she explained. "The skull fracture is a big part of it, though it isn't everything. There's also the shock of losing your teammates to contend with." The reminder wiped whatever happiness remained in Konan. Slowly, she nodded. It made her think about them, and a sudden thought came to her mind.

"Who all died?" She asked, looking into Tsunade's eyes. Twin orbs of amber frowned back at her.

"You don't need to think about that right now." That line of questioning died in its infancy. Shifting, Tsunade tried to recapture Konan's attention. "Anyway, you're sleeping a lot because, in addition to your body taking a toll healing the fracture, your mind is healing too."

"I see," Konan said, nodding. She didn't know much about the healing arts except for the medical ninjutsu Tsunade taught her during her summer training a few years ago. The concept of broken bones was one she knew well, but a broken mind? It was completely out of her sphere of understanding. She didn't even know if the mind itself could break. What happened to a person whose mind never healed? Suddenly uncomfortable, her gaze shifted back to Tsunade's face. Her master was waiting patiently for her to organize her thoughts.

"So," she said, desperately wanting to change the subject. "Are you going to reschedule your ceremony?" A dark look crossed Tsunade's face. She shook her head gingerly.

"There's no need," she said softly. "Officially, the rites have already been performed. Grandmother conferred the title of head of clan Senju to me after I finalized my debt payments." She smiled widely. "Although I do miss my restaurant and it's mahogany desk." Konan couldn't help but laugh. It felt good, the pleasantness of Tsunade's company and whatever made her feel so warm. She supposed it was her body feeling normal for the first time in nearly two months. Whatever it was, she wanted it to continue forever. Unfortunately, her spurt of energy didn't last, and she fell back asleep within the hour.

In her dreams, she was back in the clearing. Steel weapons clashing rang clearly in her ears. The slice of flesh and bone as she cut off Nagato's fingers. The smell of blood and death. Bodies crumpling as her team cut down one enemy shinobi after another. A verifiable massacre.

As the Stone ninja fell one by one, she heard Katsuki's voice, except it sounded like a fading whisper. Help the captain, he said. Konan stood at the ready, defying Nagato's glare with one of her own. Yes, he was more powerful, but she had the will to take him on and a full squad of warriors to help her. She heard them now, their footsteps strangely sounding hollow and their movements creaky. Confused, she tore her eyes away from Nagato, who had begun streaming red smoke, and nearly screamed. Her teammates were skeletons; wraiths wearing flak jackets and Leaf headbands.

Her fists clenched tight, and she was on the verge of panicking. Turning her focus back to Nagato, his hand was rushing toward her neck. It closed around her throat the same instant that her undead team lunged at her, raking her skin with their sharp finger bones. As Nagato strangled her, he called out to them, beckoning them to take their revenge against the one that killed them. That was you, she tried to say. You killed them, not me. But it was no use. The four dead ninja would hear none of it. Their fingers burned as they ripped away at her. Everything they touched sloughed off her bones.

You led us to die, one of the spirits said in her left ear just before it bit the cartilage away. Another set of teeth closed around her right cheek. We trusted you, it said. We died because of you. She opened her eyes in mute appeal to Nagato, but he didn't stop them. Instead of helping her, his hand lifted up from his side and his open palm stood inches from her face.

Almighty Push, he said without speaking.

Suddenly, she was falling. Falling, falling like a heavy stone. Her skeletal attackers shifted from the remains of human beings to horrific winged beasts. They continued to rip and tear, but their new boney wings buffeted her as they fell. Finger bones turned into talons and sharp blades. The teeth in her right cheek turned into several daggers. The beast ripped her face open with a shake of its powerful neck. Blood red replaced her terrible nightmare, and she screamed. This time, her scream woke her up.

Apparently, it had woken Lady Tsunade, as well as half her apartment block. Her master stood over her, the lamp on her nightstand turned on. Cold sweat beaded her skin, and her blankets were twisted all around her. Tsunade gently embraced her, stroking her hair, and saying soothing things. Konan was unashamed to cry, to blubber like a tantruming toddler. Concerned neighbors came by every now and then, checking in. Tsunade would leave Konan only long enough to assure them that she was, physically at least, fine. Just nightmares. Then she would return and hold the crying teen.

"The poppy seeds," Tsunade muttered. "I thought they might help. They reduced pain and encouraged sleep, but they allowed you to dream." Konan shivered. After almost an hour of being held, her voice finally found itself.

"No more dreams," she begged. "No more, please." Her eyes began to tear up again. She couldn't bear the thought of more guilt-ridden nightmares. If she had the choice, she'd rather die than see those ghouls again. Twisted mockeries of the ninja that her incompetence killed. Tsunade's mouth twisted in a pained grimace. She nodded, letting Konan go and sweeping quickly into the kitchen. She was gone for several minutes, then returned with a cloudy white liquid in a small glass. Konan gratefully drank the thick mixture, and within seconds her head was on her pillow.

She drifted into a deep, blissfully dreamless sleep.