"What do you see?"

Shikamaru's voice was barely a whisper. They were slightly over half a kilometer away from the small orphanage, far beyond the hearing capacity of any shinobi even with chakra enhancements, and, assuming Root hadn't managed to recruit a Hyuga, far beyond anyone's visual capacity as well. Hinata had claimed that she could stretch the limits of her Byakugan to about a kilometer's worth of vision, but he wasn't going to test that theory and put her under unnecessary strain. This was reconnaissance, and even he had no way of predicting what could go possibly go wrong here. He was treading unknown territory against an unknown enemy. He didn't expect it to come to a fight. But even he could only predict so far.

"N-nothing out of the ordinary, Shikamaru." Hinata answered, looking far more nervous than usual. Shikamaru didn't blame her. This request was strange, and he'd insisted upon secrecy. "The boy you mentioned is playing outside in the grass. There's a couple of other kids nearby. And...a woman is sitting at the porch, watching. I b-believe she is the owner."

"Dark hair in a bun? Green dress?"

"Yes, that's the one." Hinata nodded. "Shikamaru, do you...do you think she's hurting the children?"

"No." Shikamaru answered. "That's not what this is about."

"Oh."

Silence fell over the two, and Shikamaru waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The nice thing about Hinata was that she knew how to keep quiet and still. Kurenai had trained her team in tracking and recon, so he'd known that this sort of mission was one that Hinata would be used to. Quietly watching, waiting, gathering information, hoping for the right opportunity...this was one of the reasons he'd asked Hinata to come along, but not the only one.

Eventually, Shikamaru was drawn from his thoughts. Hinata had seen something.

"There's...someone in the trees nearby. I can't make out their face. They're wearing something...I-I think it's an Anbu mask?"

"Damn it all."

It was the proof he'd been looking for, proof he'd desperately been hoping not to find. Even after everything Sakura had told him, even after a month of investigating, Shikamaru had hoped that all of this would be unfounded nonsense. He didn't want to believe that something so heinous could be going on within the walls of his village, the village that he'd sworn to protect and keep safe, the village that he loved (even if he would never admit something so troublesome out loud).

But here it was. A Root agent had come to this orphanage, no doubt scouting out a boy that Shikamaru had seen to have a fair bit of intelligence for someone his age. Was he chakra sensitive? That, Shikamaru did not know, but the presence of the agent made the option fairly likely.

Shikamaru had never seen anyone scouting out the boy before, but he'd needed to be within normal eye range to keep an eye on him. Obviously a Root agent would see him skulking around and wait until he'd left to do anything unseemly. Now that Shikamaru wasn't nearby, the agent would think the coast clear, the area safe.

Hopefully, the agent wouldn't suspect that Shikamaru had recruited living binoculars.

"He's moved…" Hinata relayed what she saw. "Down the tree...h-he's really fast but I think he's heading towards...oh!" She let out a small gasp. "S-Shikamaru, he just grabbed that boy!"

Shikamaru slapped a hand over Hinata's mouth. "Keep your voice down. We don't know if there's others around."

Hinata quietly nodded, continuing to watch despite the growing horror on her face. Eventually, as Shikamaru pulled his hand away, she spoke again in a whisper. "I don't know where he took the boy. H-he's out of my range. W-we should tell someone, Shikamaru, we need to-"

"There's no one we can tell. Not yet." Shikamaru put a finger to his lips before gesturing for Hinata to follow him. "Not here."

There was only one place that was safe. Only one place where Root would dare not go. If anyone was found trespassing in his family's woods...it would mean certain death. Shikamaru hoped not even Danzo was foolhardy enough to send his minions there.

Under the shade of his favorite tree, Shikamaru finally allowed them to rest. Hinata was breathing heavy as she sat down, still processing the weight of what she'd seen.

"It's...t-this has been happening a while, hasn't it?"

"Longer than it ever should have been allowed." Shikamaru agreed. "What I'm going to tell you can never be talked about outside of this forest, understand? Not until this is done."

"Shikamaru…"

"I asked you to help me for several reasons, Hinata. One is because of your Byakugan. Two, your extensive training under Kurenai in information gathering. Three, because you're one of the Nine, and I know I can trust you with this. But most importantly, more important than any of those other reasons…" Shikamaru took a deep breath. "Because you're the heiress to the Hyuga clan, which means that they can't possibly touch you without starting some sort of civil war."

"Shikamaru, who's they?"

"They're called Root."

And Shikamaru began to explain.

It had started with Sakura, of course, troublesome girl that she was, but the spark had started in his mind and had spread into a private investigation that had engulfed his waking hours. When he wasn't running missions with his team, he was looking into Root. Finding evidence, proof, even just small wisps of the organization that he could compile into something substantial. He'd investigated each of the village's small orphanages, finding, of course, no trace of children ever having been missing and never found again: Root was too good to leave that trace. But on accident, he stumbled upon a tidbit, a reason to find no evidence, and that tidbit was perhaps something only someone like him would have caught wind of.

One day, a girl was at an orphanage. The next day, missing.

Upon disguising himself and questioning the matron, he was told lies. There had never been a girl like that before, he'd had to have been mistaken. There was nothing else to it.

Root was getting the matrons to cover their tracks. Shikamaru was certain now that if he inquired after the boy that had been taken today, he'd find no trace of the boy's existence. Root recruited orphans, urchins that wouldn't be missed. Urchins that could be trained into perfect soldiers.

And now Hinata had seen it as well.

"I don't know if they're bold enough to go after clan children." Shikamaru admitted. "But I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Still, clan heirs like you and I would obviously be far off their radar, since they don't want to fall under everyone else's, which means that we're the safest people to investigate. Anything happens to us, there's going to be a full scale investigation, and Root can't afford that."

"Y-you're really sure that Root exists? It's not someone just...just pretending to throw you off their tracks?"

"I have proof of Root's existence. Sakura Haruno is currently traveling with an agent of theirs, among other things. They're real, Hinata, and they've been real. They recruit children and brainwash them into perfect soldiers. Not just Konoha children either. According to Sakura, they've stolen children from other villages too."

Hinata let out another gasp at this, covering her mouth as she did so. "Shikamaru, why does Lady Tsunade allow this?"

"I doubt she has the ability to confront them directly. As far as I'm aware, Root was probably legitimately formed by one of the previous Kage. I'd wager the Second or the Third. Tsunade may not even know half of what Root gets up to, only that they're willing to do the dirty work that she can't afford to let anyone else do. I also have a theory that whoever is leading Root is someone very high up. Someone that would be very difficult to move against even with a solid case." Shikamaru leaned back against the trunk of his tree, staring up at the leaves above as he talked. It was nice, he realized, to finally be able to get his thoughts off his chest. Nice to finally be able to talk to someone, anyone, about what he had found.

"Konoha is...broken."

Shikamaru blinked, not expecting those words from Hinata. She looked sheepish, but continued nonetheless.

"I-It's like my own clan. There's such a harsh divide between Branch and Main...a-and it's all because of tradition. Nobody ever tries to change how things are, and if they do, they're...t-taken care of. Konoha is the same way. Nobody tries to change things. A-and now I know why. If Root does what you say, then they can just...they can just take care of whoever speaks against them or moves against them. I don't even know what w-we can do, Shikamaru."

"Me neither." Shikamaru admitted. "It's such a drag, knowing about all this. I certainly can't challenge Root on my own, and you can't challenge your whole family."

"...N-Naruto would."

Shikamaru remained quiet. He'd known for a good while now that Hinata was sweet on the blonde terror; it was obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell. It was predictable, albeit in a kind of sweet way, that Hinata would think of him when confronted with a problem.

"Naruto wouldn't think about how hard it would be. He would just...h-he would just do it."

"Yeah." Shikamaru agreed. "He probably would."

"A-and you're trying too, aren't you? If you thought it was hopeless, you wouldn't be talking to me about it right now."

...girls really were troublesome. Especially when they were right.

"...I'm thinking of forming a team. Only with people we can trust. People who are low risk when it comes to retaliation from Root. Clan heirs, well known shinobi with good reputation, and...the closer to our age the better. If they're too much older, they might be more loyal to the system than to any concept of justice."

"The N-Nine?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Well, one of the Nine is out at Orochimaru's, but everyone else, yeah. Sakura is already trying to find out what she can, even though she's not really doing the Konoha thing anymore. My teammates are probably safe, and I know I can trust them. I don't even think Root would try Naruto at this point. Apprentice to the Hokage and all that." And host to the Kyuubi, though Shikamaru wasn't certain Hinata knew (or was ready to know) that particular bit of information. "Can you trust your team, Hinata?"

"Yes." Hinata said, more certain than he'd ever heard her. "Kiba and Shino...they'd be appalled if they knew about this. I k-know they would help us."

"Good. So that's eight people we can trust. This is…" Shikamaru sighed. "Well, consider this our first S-ranked mission, assigned by me. The exposure of Root. And...the comprehensive upheaval of Konoha so we can make room for a better system."

"Shikamaru…" Hinata smiled. "I think...this isn't very like you to be so...so enthusiastic."

"It's a drag." Shikamaru complained. "But...I don't think I can just let it happen."

"I-I agree." Hinata nodded again, determined. "I'll talk with Kiba and Shino…"

"Only here." Shikamaru insisted. "And I'll have to be around or else my clan will put a knife through your head. We'll get everyone together here and explain it all at once."

"R-right. How about...we meet this time tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow then."

Tomorrow...Shikamaru wouldn't be able to back out after this.

His father always complained that he was far too apathetic when it came to the village. Funny now how things were turning out.

All he could do was hope that Root severely estimated what they'd be capable of achieving. And that, no matter what, he could stay several steps ahead.

Like a game of shogi…only right now, we can't see the other player's pieces.

Shikamaru smiled.

He'd always enjoyed a challenging game.

"Ugh, you're simply hopeless!"

Ino's voice was an annoyed screech, echoing against Naruto's mindscape. If not for the fact that he'd been listening to her argue with the Kyuubi for days now, the sheer shrillness of her voice might have snapped him out of the effects of her jutsu. But he was used to it now, this boring back and forth that Ino and the Kyuubi had established. She tried to play nice, Kyuubi threatened to eat her, she tried to play bad cop, Kyuubi threatened to eat her, she got fed up...and that was the day.

Naruto was so, so…

"Bored."

The Kyuubi yawned, his giant teeth flashing as he did so. "I'm getting bored, little girl. Why don't you come into my mouth and end this once and for all?"

"Is all you can think about eating people?"

"Yup." Kyuubi grinned. "You're all very tasty."

"Ugh!"

Ino sat down next to Naruto in a huff. He could tell that she was exhausted; this technique took a lot of chakra to maintain, and they hadn't gotten anywhere with the Kyuubi at all. No signs of bettering the relationship, no new information...nothing. Gaara had managed to get somewhere with Shukaku. Why couldn't they make friends with this stupid fox?

"Hey Fox."

"What now, brat?"

"What's the tastiest part of a human?"

Ino smacked Naruto's arm, making a disgusted noise. "Naruto, why would you even ask that?"

"I mean, I like talking about the tastiest parts of ramen." Naruto admitted. "I love that last bit of soup you get at the end that's been soaking in all the flavors of the meat and the vegetables. It's so savory and juicy, like one last little punch of yum!" He gave a toothy grin. "So, Fox, what tastes best to you?"

The Kyuubi let out a hot breath, closing his eyes. For a moment, Naruto wasn't sure he was going to answer. But then, out of nowhere, the fox replied.

"I prefer eggs."

"Eggs? Humans don't have those."

"I wasn't talking about humans, boy. A good, fat pheasant egg. When it crunches between my teeth, it pulls out all the leftover human bits that got stuck inside."

Ino made a dramatic retching noise, but for once, Naruto was enthralled. Food...now food, he could talk about.

"But aren't eggs going to be like, really really small, compared to you? Or is there a big summon animal with huuuuuge eggs that I don't know about?"

"I've eaten eggs twice your size. Big enough to fill my whole mouth."

"Whooooa!" Naruto cried out, standing up so he could measure just how big an egg Kyuubi was referring to. "What even hatches from an egg that big! Is it like a summon animal? Big Boss Gamabunta is as big as you, so maybe there's birds that big. But what do they eat?" Naruto frowned as he considered this. He'd never even thought about where a giant toad might live, what they might eat, and that was just toads. Orochimaru had snakes! Tsunade had slugs! And he'd seen tons of other summon animals...where did they all live? This was a mystery he just had to solve!

And then, what surprised Naruto most of all...the Kyuubi laughed.

The fox had a deep, guttural laugh that seemed to make the whole room shake. But instead of the menacing chuckle Naruto had grown used to, this one seemed almost jovial. Almost like...the Kyuubi was actually amused.

"You've been summoning those toads for a year now and you never even thought to ask where they came from? You really are an idiot, brat."

"Well if you're so smart, why don't you tell me where they're from?"

"Mountains. Forests. Oceans. Far away from where anyone can reach them. Even my own kin have a retreat away from you nosy humans. Haven't you ever wondered what lies across the sea, on the other side of the world?"

"You mean you know what's on the other side?" This time Ino spoke up, now more awestruck than annoyed. "People have been sending ships to try and find out for years, but nobody's ever-"

"Idiots and fools. What is the point of inventing space-time jutsu if you don't use it?"

"Yeah, why don't we use it?" Naruto agreed. "Everybody should learn super cool teleportation jutsu, then we could just go everywhere!"

"It's probably not that easy!" Ino protested. "If everyone could do it, we already would be doing it. It probably takes a stupid amount of chakra, and we don't know how big the ocean is, so how would we know how far to teleport?"

"Uh...maybe we just have to keep guessing til we get it right?"

"Then we'll drown in the process!" Ino huffed, crossing her arms. Nearby, the Kyuubi also huffed in disappointment.

"Idiot."

"Idiot."

Ino and the Kyuubi looked at each other as they spoke, simultaneously. For a moment, silence.

Then, just as Ino's jutsu broke, Naruto saw a small smile on the Kyuubi's face.

They awoke in the training field with a gasp, as was usual. Naruto, nursing a raging headache, Ino, exhausted from chakra drain. But this time, they were both grinning to themselves.

"I think he likes me."

"I think he likes us."

Naruto held out his hand for a fistbump, and Ino obliged. They were doing it. Gaara had been right.

Slowly...slowly but surely...they were befriending the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"Again."

Sasuke focused. His target was a single leaf at the top of a tree that spiraled over a hundred feet into the air...and only that leaf. He had learned to channel lightning chakra into Chidori from Kakashi, and through Orochimaru had learned to channel that chakra out from his hand into a ranged arc. But getting the control necessary to hit a small target from such a far distance? Well…

He'd never been top of the class when it came to chakra control.

Sasuke thought briefly of Sakura, long ago in the Land of Waves, climbing to the top of a similarly high tree with ease while he and Naruto struggled to make it a few feet. Would she have been able to master such a technique? A part of his mind doubted it, little Sakura, always scared, always hiding behind him…

Not the same Sakura, his mind reminded him, that had left home and gone to fucking Iwagakure of all places. Not the same Sakura at all. Kabuto enjoyed flaunting his knowledge of her to him, reminding him that his old teammate was raising hell in other parts of the world. Something about making a peace treaty. Something about uniting everyone.

Sakura had always been hopelessly naive.

Would she come to Oto? Sasuke couldn't help but wonder. She was supposedly going to several villages, maybe even every village, so Oto would have to be on the list, wouldn't it? He wasn't sure what he'd do if he saw her again. Wasn't sure how he'd feel. It had been easy back then, leaving her behind. His mind had only been focused on one thought, one goal. Power. Power to get revenge. Power to kill Itachi. It had been simple, easy, and now…

And now…

Orochimaru made sure to involve him in every facet of the village. It was rare Orochimaru let him leave his sight. He'd seen the monotony of shinobi life, running a village, maintaining order, seeing what Orochimaru was willing to do to keep a tentative peace. Sure, one day he would be strong enough to take Itachi down, but…

What came after?

He wanted to rebuild his clan. Karin would be more than willing to help him with that, he was sure, but Sasuke wasn't altogether certain that Otogakure was where he was supposed to be. Could he stay at a placed so steeped in the stench of Orochimaru, created by him, influenced by him? But, in contrast, could he possibly return home to Konoha?

"I think I understand now why you had to leave the village…"

Sasuke's mind wandered to a letter, a solitary letter delivered by Karin that had carried Sakura's signature on it. A letter that not even Kabuto had known about, and that thought alone made him smile.

Sakura had forsaken Konoha too. What had that meant, if someone like her had left? And what did that mean for him?

"Again."

Sasuke focused his chakra, pushing it, pressing it into a thin line as it shot forward into the depths of the tree.

He thought of Konoha, thought of Team Seven, thought of his brother.

What was he becoming? What would he become?

He was an avenger...but when all was avenged…

Then what?

His lightning pierced the leaf, a perfect tiny circle left behind from the pinpoint accuracy of his lightning. Nearby, Orochimaru smiled. The smiling unnerved him at times, but at times, like now...the smile seemed almost legitimate.

"As expected, Sasuke."

Sasuke took a deep breath, allowing himself a brief rest.

When his thoughts lingered on his old home, did it make him weak?

As his eyes glanced up to the leaf, now fluttering down from the impact of his strike, he wondered if that was really true.

Maybe, just maybe…

"Again."

Sasuke focused, and barred all thoughts of Sakura Haruno from his mind.