A/N: A brief note before I begin: at this point I have the draft of EoL up to Chapter 54 for sure, and I'm currently working on Chapter 55. The main takeaway is this: Echoes of Light will be back to updating once a week. Don't know what day yet, but you can expect the next chapter next Sunday at the earliest! Anyways, enjoy~
Chapter 50
"Sometimes you don't even realize you're putting together puzzle pieces until you can see the full picture."
As far as missions went, eliminating a drug ring was probably one of the easier ones to fall onto ANBU's plate.
Tenzo had lost count of the number of jobs like this he'd done over the years. Drug ring takedowns tended to fall into a smooth and easy rhythm, and the footwork in the investigation for this one had already been done before the invasion. They'd identified the key figures and located the production lab, all that remained was to simply eliminate the leaders and discreetly destroy the lab. When partnered with Torune, his most common partner for two-man teams, the job was guaranteed to be a breeze.
Among their targets would be a member of a traveling merchant caravan, who'd been identified as one of the major peddlers. It was because of the preliminary checks into his background that Konoha became aware that another member of that caravan had come across an interesting item: a tessen believed to belong to Uzumaki Mito.
After the chaos of the invasions had thinned Konoha's numbers, the Third Hokage had seen a golden opportunity. He needed to get the Uchiha out of the village until Gaara's departure, but he couldn't spare any jounin. He also needed to test a newly appointed chuunin's capacity to lead, without significantly detracting from the village's active forces to supervise him.
In short, he gave the ANBU pair sent to destroy the drug ring the secondary objective to supervise the genin squad retrieving Mito's tessen and protect the Sharingan. A clever use of limited resources, though in hindsight Tenzo could admit they'd made some mistakes in their handling of that objective.
In the present, he and Torune stared down the man he knew to be Kakashi's kidnapper, their faces blank even behind their masks. Sakura released a strangled noise of equal parts distress and relief from behind her kidnapper, her body still tightly coiled and tense as she stared at them. "A-ANBU," she stuttered, her voice choked and shaky. Tenzo spared her a brief glance just long enough to assess the girl for any visible injuries before focusing on the masked man separating them once more, his eyes narrowing warily.
He had been one of the very few briefed on the full circumstances behind Kakashi's kidnapping, and he'd burned the drawing of the mask his senpai had produced deep into his mind. Kakashi had never seen the man in action—he'd been kidnapped after passing out from chakra exhaustion—so they had no idea of this man's actual combat ability. But his interactions with Kakashi had established him as a dangerous and skilled individual who should not be underestimated, if only because all signs pointed to him being a former Leaf ninja.
As if reading his thoughts the man shifted his weight to one foot, his head rocking to the side in a gesture of inquisitiveness. "Wow, Konoha really didn't hold back when choosing the backup," he commented lightly. "Good to know someone's looking out for this group after all. I actually thought the Hokage let them all wander alone into a potentially dangerous area without any supervision. Happy to see I was wrong."
Head tilts to convey curiosity in absence of facial expression to denote emotion, delayed timing suggests target may not be used to wearing mask, Tenzo noted, filing the detail away for potential later usage. Aloud he said, "On orders of the Third Hokage, you are under arrest for two counts of kidnapping and tampering with a kekkei genkai, and taken into custody and transported to Konoha immediately."
"Aaand I just remembered why ANBU are no fun in uniform," the man muttered under his breath, and then straightened with a sigh. "Not gonna lie, I didn't plan for a major fight today. I'd still prefer to avoid one, especially if the other guy's an Aburame like I think."
The fact he specifically singled out Torune for that suspicion raised alarm bells in Tenzo's mind, harkening back memories of Kakashi's comments about his apparent familiarity with him. Mentally he added another mark to the possibility of him being former ANBU, but he kept his voice bland and inflectionless as he offered, "Should you choose not to comply peacefully, we are authorized to use lethal force to apprehend you. It would be in your best interests to submit yourself to custody peacefully."
"Sorry, but no can do. See, if I go back to Konoha, I'll probably be assassinated in a cell before interrogation. Or between sessions. Actually, I might not even make it to T&I if that guy figures out who I am in transit," he added in a perfect deadpan. "Yeah. Not too keen on actually dying anymore, especially at the hands of that bastard." His voice took on an agitated hiss, practically spitting the last two words. Apparent hostile relationship with someone in Konoha, may merit later investigation.
"ANBU-san!" Sakura suddenly yelled, grabbing their attention. She shakily rose to her feet behind the man, her face tight with resolve even as her legs shook. "H-he's up to something! I don't know what he's planning, but he said we were in his way and he captured me to be a distraction!" Tenzo tensed slightly at that, turning to the stranger with an even more critical eye. The man just twisted his head to peer at her over his shoulder, his shoulders slumping in dismay.
"Really, Sakura-chan?" he deadpanned. "You're tattling that fast? And here I thought we'd bonded." Apparently that snapped her out of her stupor a bit, her eye twitching in irritation.
"You kidnapped my sensei and held him prisoner for five days, and then you kidnapped me!" she snapped angrily. "When the hell did we bond!?"
"Oh, come on, I told you a story! That was nice!"
"Nice—You used intimidation tactics on me!" Sakura seemed even more furious now, visibly grinding her teeth. Guess she's fine after all, Tenzo noted with minor relief, before focusing on her words. Her kidnapping had been a distraction tactic? That lined up with the trail of pink hairs leading away from her actual location. From the way she worded it, he thought it safe to assume the man had been referring to plans set in place before their arrival, which meant the boys likely wouldn't be targets.
That just raised the question of what he had planned. The only events of interest in this town would be the drug ring and the poker tournament that had lured Tsunade, and he had a feeling this man wasn't the type to involve himself with a bunch of civilian drug lords or gamblers. While he mulled over that, Torune apparently decided asking could wait, because the next thing he knew the Aburame had surged forward towards the distracted enemy.
Even in the dim candle light Tenzo could see a cloud of purple stretching across his bare hands, swiping his hand at the apparently distracted man. The enemy spun around and dodged out of the way just before Torune's fingers could brush his neck, seeming to just vanish before reappearing several feet away. "Woah, woah, woah, what the hell?" he nearly shouted as Torune whirled to face him. "Are... are those kikaichu!?"
Torune didn't respond, the mass of purple rippling across his hand as he launched forward with another punch. The man dodged it with a yelp, leaping into the air to jump over a sweeping kick from the Aburame. His toes had been tinted purple and a small cloud started to stretch upwards from it, barely brushing the soles of the other man's sandals before receding back to his skin.
While Torune continued to launch blow after blow Tenzo body-flickered towards Sakura, grabbing her arm to steady her as she startled at his sudden appearance. "Are you injured?" he questioned briskly, and the girl looked at him in shock for a moment before rapidly shaking her head.
"N-no, I'm fine," she reported, obviously trying to steady her voice. Behind them the masked man made a sudden noise of realization.
"Holy shit, those are rinkaichu!" he yelled, and Tenzo tensed, silently cursing their luck. Torune didn't respond as he fell back to wait by Tenzo and Sakura, but Tenzo could see the tension in his shoulders. Very few people knew rinkaichu even existed, not because it was a secret but simply because no one else in the Aburame clan could use them. Only Torune could safely host the nano-sized insects, the incredibly poisonous beetles able to kill with a mere touch. And since he'd spent most of his life in ANBU, not many people knew he existed. So the fact the man could identify them at all just erased any doubts about his former Konoha allegiance.
"Rinkaichu," the masked man murmured, standing straight as he faced them with a much more alert posture than before. "That means you're..." He trailed off and hummed to himself. "Shit. I really don't want to fight you now."
"Then turn yourself in peacefully," Torune told him bluntly. "If you choose to continue resisting, I will be forced to use my strongest poison techniques." The man huffed a small laugh, shaking his head slightly.
"No, no, that's not why I don't want to fight you," he told him. "It's just, well... Ah—?" His head snapped to the wall, suddenly alert, and then it exploded.
Sakura shrieked as debris and rubble burst towards them, Tenzo reflexively rushing through the hand seals to produce a wooden wall to shield them from the worst of it. A green blur zoomed into sight from the dust cloud and raced towards the masked man, who spun to face it just in time for Senju Tsunade to aim a solid punch to his gut.
Stunned silence fell as they watched him soar across the room, Tsunade's pigtails and jacket still rippling in the breeze as her amber eyes flashed furiously. His body slammed into the far wall with a loud thwack, the plaster sinking in and fractures instantly spreading outwards like a spider web. He sank to the ground with a groan, wheezing and hacking violently as he clutched his stomach. "F-frick, that didn't even c-connect..."
The female Sannin just glared at him with a ferocious scowl, her pigtails and jacket still settling down from her large burst of speed. "You are a fucking moron," she snarled, and the man groaned.
"N-noted," he gasped, doubling over in pain. Tenzo didn't waste the opening, flashing through more hand seals to cause wooden pillars to erupt from the ground around him. The second he finished the last seal the man sprung to his feet though, leaping into the air to avoid the snaking wooden tendrils. He tapped his foot atop the tip of one to use it as a springboard to launch towards the ceiling, flipping mid-air so he landed foot-first and anchoring himself with chakra.
Tenzo started to run through more hand seals, still intent on restraining the man, not faltering even as he heard Sakura gasp behind him. Well, so much for secret identities, he thought dryly as he sprouted more wooden pillars to try to catch him. This time the man just released his chakra from his feet, letting himself fall to the ground before vanishing mid-air. He reappeared on the floor several feet away, much closer to the doorway.
"Why are you even here?" he shouted towards Tsunade, who just scoffed and folded her arms over her chest with a scowl.
"You kidnapped a genin and because of that her friends interrupted my poker tournament!" she responded hotly, her amber eyes cold and unsympathetic. "It's not like I had anything better to do!" The man seemed to pause at that, his head tilting to the side.
"Aww, you DO care about her!" he chirped, and laughed as he swiftly blinked out of existence again as Tsunade surged forward once more, vanishing just in time to avoid the undoubtedly rib-shattering kick she swung his way. Sakura made another strangled gasping sound, but Tenzo decided she was probably fine as he surveyed the room for their opponent. He could still feel the man's presence there, and he swiftly spied the shadowy figure standing on the ceiling in the far corner.
Once more he began running through hand seals but just before he could finish the man suddenly perked up, blinking onto the floor just as wooden pillars erupted where he'd been standing. "Oh, look at that. Good timing. Sakura-chan!" The pink-haired girl winced as he clapped and turned his head to face her, shrinking back even as Torune moved to position himself in front of her. "Pop quiz! What happens when a shadow clone disperses?"
Sakura flinched and swallowed, suddenly looking very anxious as her eyes widened in realization. "They... they send the memories back to the original," she answered shakily, and the man bobbed his head.
"Yep!" he confirmed sunnily. "I knew you'd get that one after everything that happened in Wave. You've got a pretty bright mind there, it's probably the best tool in your arsenal. So with that said, it's been lovely seeing you all again, but it's time for me to go. Later!" He waved and then just like that he was gone, blinking out of existence for a final time.
A brief silence fell over the room as they stared at the space he'd occupied, the only sounds their labored breathing and the high-pitched chirps of cicadas filtering through the hole left in the wall. The air felt emptier than the other times he'd vanished, leaving no doubts in their minds that he had left this time for good. Slowly Tenzo felt the tension seep from his shoulders, shifting to stand a bit straighter.
Then Sakura released a choked-sounding sob and collapsed to her knees, sobbing hysterically as she hugged herself. Tenzo and Torune flinched, having no idea how to handle a crying teenager, but before they could even think of how to react Tsunade strode across the gap and crouched next to the pink-haired girl.
"Take deep breaths," she told Sakura, her voice surprisingly soft yet still firm as she placed a hand on her back. "It's okay now, he's gone and he won't be back." As she spoke she shot Tenzo a pointed look, and he gave her a brief nod before signaling for Torune to follow him. The two ANBU silently disappeared in a body flicker, leaving the Sannin to deal with soothing the traumatized genin.
Masaru felt tired.
One hour had passed since the disastrous confrontation with the masked man, and it found everyone back in the hotel room, huddled on the beds in tense silence. The sheer stress from the past few hours had obviously eroded their energy, leaving them all tired and listless. Sakura fared the worst though, for understandable reasons. Dark bags rimmed her eyes as she sat hunched on the bed, her eyes red and puffy and her nose a bit pinker than usual.
Sasuke and Masaru had taken up perch on either side of the female, Sasuke's posture tense and rigid as he exuded a protective air, while Shikamaru leaned against the door. For his part Masaru just sagged tiredly, mentally and physically exhausted. While Sasuke may have been the one to charge into the situation, Masaru was the one who'd let his emotions completely consume him and he'd gotten knocked around like a rag doll for his efforts. Nothing had been broken, but he knew he'd wake up with nasty bruises once morning came.
Seated on the bed opposite from them sat Tsunade, her arms folded across her chest with a stern frown, while a worried-looking Shizune sat at her side clutching Tonton in her lap. Sasuke had been alternating between glaring at the blonde woman and checking over Sakura since they'd all returned, but Tsunade just pointedly ignored him and focused her attention on the pink-haired girl.
It just added to the heavy pressure that seemed to saturate the air, making Masaru want to squirm uncomfortably. Judging by the concerned gleam in Shizune's eyes she could sense it too.
Shikamaru was the one to finally break the silence, breathing a loud sigh to ease them into the reintroduction of noise. "So to recap," he started, "that guy told you we were 'in the way,' and he kidnapped you as a distraction. " Sakura winced, biting down on her lip before bobbing her head in confirmation.
"He knew Kakashi-sensei's rule," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "About abandoning comrades being worse than scum. A-and, that story..." She trailed off, looking shaken. The young kunoichi had yet to share just what that "story" entailed, only confirming its connection to the trail of hairs, but clearly it'd taken its toll on her for some reason.
Masaru swallowed, his hands balling into fists on his lap. "He wasn't after us," he declared tightly. "It was just a case of wrong time, wrong place." The sullen silence held a note of grim agreement with this assessment. Everything had been meant to buy time: from luring them to a false destination with a shadow clone waiting to engage them, to the witty banter used to trigger their emotions.
The fact none of them knew what that plan entailed was what made them really uncomfortable. The man was an unknown element in every sense of the word; Shikamaru probably had some ideas, but at the moment he didn't seem inclined to share them, too busy ruminating over his own failings. Everyone was doing a bit of that; the number of mistakes they'd made tonight was atrocious.
After a few moments Tsunade snorted, her lips curling back in distaste as she leered at the downtrodden genin. "Are you all just going to keep moping around?" she grumbled, and rose to her feet. "Know what? Screw it. I didn't skip the tournament to waste my time hanging around a bunch of sulky brats. I'm going back to the bar to get a drink before it closes."
Sasuke's eyes flashed at that, sharply shifting to stand with clear intent to say something, but Sakura quickly grabbed his shoulder and jerked him backwards. "Sasuke, don't," she implored quietly, turning pleading eyes on him. His lips pressed together in a tight frown but he clamped his mouth shut, and after a moment Sakura released her grip and her hand fell limply back onto her lap. Across from them Tsunade just surveyed him with narrowed eyes, clearly unimpressed with his show of temper.
Her amber gaze briefly flickered towards Masaru then, and for a brief second their eyes met, making him wince at the sudden flash of... something in them. Not exactly cold or hateful, but definitely not happy.
It vanished and Tsunade's mouth tightened as she spun on her heel, stalking towards the door. Shikamaru moved aside to allow her to pass in silence, and she slammed it shut behind her with an echoing thud. A brief silence fell after that, Sasuke silently seething while Sakura just stared at her lap morosely. Masaru frowned as he watched them, and spared a brief glance to Shizune to find her sporting a similar frown. Even Tonton's ears lay flat against her head as the pig stared at the closed door sullenly.
The dark-haired woman seemed to hesitate, but then she leaned forward with a small sigh. "Please don't mind Lady Tsunade," she said, an apologetic frown on her face. "She's just really stressed out right now."
"That's not the word I would have picked," Shikamaru muttered dryly as Sasuke twitched and grit his teeth, and Shizune's shoulders slumped as she sighed yet again.
"I know. You need to understand that Lady Tsunade is only this way because she's seen so many people die. She served as a medic through the Second War, and during that time she lost her younger brother and had to watch her boyfriend die without being able to save him. Shinobi die all the time, but losing a patient is always hard for a medic. I know she's been really rough and harsh with you, but that's because she's just tired of seeing people die so young."
Masaru didn't miss the light wince Sakura gave at the last sentence, or how her teeth dug into her bottom lip even deeper. Clearly the words meant something to her, but she didn't say anything. After a while with no response Shizune seemed to accept the conversation had ended and got up, scooping Tonton into her arms. "We should go now. She'll probably get drunk and do something stupid if I leave her alone tonight. The tournament got rescheduled for tomorrow night so we'll still be in town, so feel free to find us tomorrow if you want to talk."
"Thanks, Shizune-san," Sakura muttered, offering her a weak smile. Shizune returned it with a small and worried one of her own before turning and leaving. Once she departed, the group sat in silence for a while, none of them in the mood to talk.
"We should probably go over what went wrong," Shikamaru finally said, and the group groaned softly.
"Everything," Sakura replied feebly, and Masaru moaned in agreement, hanging his head in shame.
"Splitting up was the first mistake," Sasuke declared flatly. The others just sighed, knowing it came more from his continued irritation with Sakura's choice than anything else, but they couldn't really argue it.
"You two losing your cool like that didn't help either," Shikamaru pointed out, eying Masaru in particular. "What the hell was that, anyway? I didn't peg you for the kind of person to have a short temper."
"He really isn't," Sasuke agreed lowly, giving Masaru a pointed look, and the brunet winced and sank into the mattress, averting his eyes with a frown.
"...It's... complicated," he hedged, offering a half-hearted shrug. How could he even begin to explain it? The things that went through his mind when he saw that mask, and heard what he did to Kakashi... He flinched at the mere thought, grimacing as he offered, "I guess something just snapped when I heard he messed with Uncle Obito's eye." Sasuke winced at the mention as well, his sour scowl fading briefly as he quickly looked away.
The idea of someone messing with their doujutsu made Masaru feel physically sick. Doujutsu users hated letting anyone near their eyes; the Uchiha and Hyuuga barely trusted even medics from their own clans to examine them. His mother had only gotten swift approval from the Uchiha as its dedicated ophthalmologist after she retired from active duty because she'd already spent several years studying it, and they also trusted and respected her due to her war contributions.
Worse though, Kakashi had Obito's eye. That had been a dying gift from Masaru's uncle, a final heroic act that had helped guide his teammate back to the right path. Tampering with that eye felt particularly like sacrilege, and the thought of someone poking it made his head swirl with nausea.
Next to him Sakura sucked in a breath, shaking her head. "I screwed up worse," she admitted bleakly. "I... On the way back tonight, I think we bumped shoulders in the street, and then I went out of my way to follow him. If I hadn't, I probably wouldn't have been caught. He grabbed me when I was alone in an alley."
"Why the hell would you follow him?" Sasuke blurted, staring at her incredulously, and Sakura buried her face in her hands in aggravation.
"I don't even know anymore! I wasn't even sure it was him! I just had this stupid feeling, 'hey, it might be that crazy masked guy who kidnapped Kakashi-sensei' and then for some stupid reason I decided to just follow him! And because of that I basically screwed up everything and now this mission's gone to hell, all because of me!"
"Actually, all things considered, this doesn't even really count as a failure," Shikamaru cut in, drawing everyone's attentions. "Our mission has nothing to do with that guy, and in the end he didn't even show any actual hostility."
"No hostility?" Sasuke repeated, sharply rising to his feet to pin the Nara with a dark glare. "He kidnapped Sakura and beat up Masaru!"
"If he'd been hostile, Sakura wouldn't be here now," Shikamaru countered calmly, making Sasuke and Sakura both tense and Masaru suck in a sharp breath. The Nara eyed the trio on the bed evenly as he spoke, his eyes narrow and calculating. "All of us made some giant mistake tonight that could have gotten ourselves killed. He had all kinds of openings, but he never made any moves to hurt us. If anything," he added, gaze sliding towards Masaru, "he prevented it when we lost control."
Masaru winced at the remark, grimacing as he unwillingly glanced to his bare hands. Back during that rage-fueled assault he'd nearly used Foxfire on instinct, forgetting he didn't have the seal-reinforced gloves. Blowing a fireball directly onto his bare hands would have severely burned them; even if he'd been able to get medical attention right away, had the man not stopped him, then...
Masaru didn't want to think about it.
Darting a glance to the side, he noticed Sakura looked even more tense than before, her teeth digging into her bottom lip even deeper as she stared at her lap. "This is a mess," she declared thickly, and Masaru swallowed before nodding in agreement.
"There's one other thing we need to talk about," Shikamaru added, turning to survey Sasuke. "The scene in the bar."
Both boys winced at that, sporting identical grimaces at the reminder of Sasuke's outburst towards Tsunade. It had definitely been hanging over them for the majority of the night. "There's nothing to talk about," Sasuke said through gritted teeth, while Sakura peered at them curiously.
"What happened in the bar?" she asked, having only been given a brief summary of their encounter with the masked man and the trail of pink hairs.
"It doesn't matter," Sasuke bit out.
"I beg to differ," Shikamaru countered flatly. "I'm no expert on this stuff, but you've been angry and moody for almost the entire mission, and I get the feeling it wasn't just about Sakura leaving. Whatever happened between you two isn't any of my business, but it's obviously still bothering you and left you emotionally compromised—and as team lead, that part is my business."
Sasuke just scowled, pointedly looking away, while Masaru just slumped on the bed shamefully. Leave it to a Nara to pick up on that sort of stuff stuff, he'd just chalked up Sasuke's moodiness to being mad at Sakura and Tsunade for some reason. But of course it was never that simple though, emotions always had to be so freaking complicated.
(It occurred to him he might be an awful cousin.)
After a long while with neither of them replying Shikamaru sighed, pushing off the door. "Look, I don't need to deal with the details as long as it gets solved. I need to go find the ANBU agents and review tonight and go over the plan for tomorrow. Sakura, you should—"
He was cut off by a frantic pounding on the door, making them all jump and Sakura yelp lightly. Even Shikamaru startled at the sound, jumping away and producing a kunai on reflex as he spun to face it. "Hello?" a voice called from outside. "Is anyone in there? Please, I heard there are ninja here!" The group exchanged wary glances as the pounding continued, now on guard. Nodding at them, Shikamaru cautiously edged back to the door, while the others discreetly pulled out kunai and shuriken in preparation for a fight.
Their preparations proved unnecessary, because when Shikamaru opened the door they found a scraggly-looking man standing there, obviously civilian. He nearly stumbled as his fist collided with air, but quickly gathered himself and looked at Shikamaru desperately. "You're—you're the Leaf ninja?" he stammered anxiously, eying his vest wide-eyed. "The—the ones who caught those bandits a couple days ago?"
"Yeah, we are," Shikamaru drawled, crossing his arms. "What do you want?"
"I—we, I'm, I'm from a caravan," the man explained breathlessly, clearly frazzled and struggling to gather his thoughts. "Staying at the White Orchid Inn." The three teens on the bed perked to attention at that, recognizing the name as the inn the merchant caravan had been scheduled to stay at. Oblivious to the change in atmosphere the man continued, "We checked in this afternoon and went out for dinner, but when we got back—we, our room—it was messed up, and-and—"
He stopped short, taking several labored breaths before blurting, "We were robbed!"
Tense silence fell at the loud exclamation, a small trickle of dread creeping up their spines as they processed his words. Before anyone could respond Sakura was suddenly on her feet and storming out of the room, nearly knocking the civilian down as she shoved past him. Masaru and Sasuke were on their feet instantly, chasing after her with Shikamaru even before fully registering what just happened.
They slid into the hallway just in time to see Sakura slam her fist on one of the neighboring doors, yelling at the top of her lungs. "YUZU! YUZU-SAN, OPEN UP!" Masaru, Sasuke and Shikamaru exchanged incredulous looks, ignoring the confused civilian scrambling to his feet behind them.
"Who the hell is Yuzu?" Sasuke hissed, and when Shikamaru shrugged it occurred to Masaru they'd never actually heard her name. He remembered the redhead easily, she'd been the very first one they interviewed about the bandits, and after that they'd seen her around a... few times...
Chilling realization slowly washed over him as his thoughts gradually slid to a halt. Bit by bit the memories began slotting into place, pieces of a puzzle he didn't realize existed now suddenly fitting together.
"And room four has a single girl, Yuzu," he said as he looked over the list of guests, "about our age and here while her friends handle some business outside town—"
"You should go to the Three Sparrows Bar. You'll find something... interesting there—"
"She followed me yesterday," Sasuke complained. "She's ridiculously hard to lose for a civilian—"
Even as he began to grasp the bare edges of the puzzle Sakura's fist lit up with chakra, slamming through the door with an angry roar. Splinters exploded from the hole and the group reflexively dodged the spray of wooden chunks, while Sakura wrenched her hand free and shook it before peering through the new hole.
Cursing loudly, she spun and took off for the stairs, leaving the others to chase after her. As they passed Masaru glanced at the door, only able to glimpse a neatly made bed through the hole. "What the hell is going on?" Sasuke demanded impatiently, and Masaru swallowed.
"Do you remember that redhead who was following Sasuke?" he asked reluctantly. "And who told us to go to the Three Sparrows Bar?" The others looked at him in confusion, but to his credit Shikamaru quickly realized where his thoughts were going, his eyes widening before shooting forward with a newfound determination.
They reached the lobby to see Sakura practically flying towards the counter, where the old innkeeper regarded them with a startled look. "What on earth is going on?" she gasped. "I could hear you yelling from down here, and then that horrendous crash!" Sakura didn't respond to the query, slamming her hands onto the counter and leaning forward.
"Room four, Yuzu," she started breathlessly. "Red hair and glasses, our age. Where is she?"
"That sweet girl?" the innkeeper asked, frowning. "She checked out this afternoon while you all were out. Why do you ask?" Once again Sakura remained silent, her face draining of color while everyone froze behind her in cold realization. No one begrudged Sakura when her knees gave out and she threw her head back with a loud scream of frustration.
Across town a redheaded girl walked through the nearly empty streets, hitching her backpack over her shoulder while surreptitiously glancing around. No one was out at this hour, the streets darker than usual as a cloud drifted across the moon. Something shifted in the shadows of a nearby alleyway and she jumped, staggering back with a muffled gasp, but then a figure beckoned from the darkness. She relaxed as she recognized the gloved hand, breathing a sigh through her teeth before grimacing.
"Did you really have to do that!?" she hissed as she scurried towards the alley. "You're totally camouflaged by the shadows!"
"Have to say, it does make me feel even more ninja-like," came the cheerful response from the shadows. "You should try it sometime, Karin." Karin just scowled, crossing her arms with a huff.
"Are you seriously an adult?" she questioned irritably, and the masked man laughed, raising his hands in mock-surrender.
"You got me. I stopped aging when I turned fifteen. Anyways, back to business, I heard you got it." Karin sighed softly, slowly nodding as her stance relaxed.
"Yeah, I did," she confirmed. "I still can't believe how easy it was. I've never broken into a room and stole something before, I thought it'd be harder."
"Well, I mean, you are a genin," the man remarked dryly, sounding faintly amused. "That automatically gives you more skills than a civilian merchant. Plus your sensor skills give you an edge in avoiding witnesses."
"Yeah, I know, but still! I only ever really sat on the sidelines before!"
"That's because you had a stupid teacher who had no idea how to help you use your full potential. Can I see it?"
"Oh, uh, right, hold on." She shifted her bag to lean against her side so she could unzip it, rooting through it before pulling out a folded fan. The dark metal glinted in what little moonlight reached the alley as she clumsily fumbled with it, struggling for a moment due to being unfamiliar with fans. Spreading it open revealed a complex pattern of dark markings decorating both sides, the elegant scrawl spanning the fabric and even crossing the metal ribs.
The man let out a low whistle as he studied it, nodding his head in appreciation. "Nice. Fireproof, waterproof, and even some extra durability for the fabric so it won't rip if it gets hit with a kunai. She could've used it like a gunbai, except this one actually folds. Ooh, and that seal there amplifies fuuton techniques and heats up the wind! So if she channeled chakra into it, it'd totally roast everyone in its path, like a microwave."
"...Right." Half of that went over her head (gunbai were those giant, solid things that looked like shields, weren't they?), and to her the markings mostly looked like a bunch of scribbles. Elegant and fancy-looking scribbles, but still scribbles. Karin pushed the thought aside, pressing him anxiously, "But you're saying this is the real deal?" She had no particular interest in Mito or even fuinjutsu, but she wanted any trace of her heritage she could get.
"I'm no expert, but that is almost certainly Uzumaki fuinjutsu," the man declared with a nod, and her shoulders slumped with a giant sigh of relief as she folded it up.
"Oh, thank kami. After all that trouble I'd be pissed if this was a knock-off."
"Hey, you weren't the one who had to kidnap someone and get punched by Tsunade!" the man countered teasingly, and Karin had a sudden case of whiplash, nearly dropping the fan.
"...W-wait, you did what!?" she stammered, her face rapidly paling.
"Details can wait. With that said, we should probably get out of here before the ANBU get my trail. One of them had kinkaichu, and I'd rather not risk hanging around long enough to get bugged." He snorted at the pun, while Karin just stared at him in pure horror and exasperation.
"Remind me again why I defected from Kusa to go with you?" she groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Probably because we promised to never use you as our living first aid kit," the man responded, and she grimaced.
"Right..." Hard to forget that. For all his apparent silliness and immaturity, at least this guy never forced her to let him bite her to heal his injuries like everyone did in Grass. That particular trait had caused her far more trouble than good, the countless bite-shaped scars littering her body doomed her to a life of long-sleeved shirts and pants.
"Anyways, ready to go, Lady Uzumaki?" he asked, extending a gloved hand towards her with a small bow. Her face twisted in mild disgust at the moniker, shoving the fan back into her bag before shifting it onto her back.
"Don't call me that," she hissed.
"Why not? You're obviously an Uzumaki, and you're the only female Uzumaki I know of, which means you're pretty much the closest thing to a princess it has."
"I really hate you sometimes," she deadpanned as she took his hand. His laughter echoed as they vanished from the alley, leaving no traces of their presence.
And so, the mission fails!
Well, this chapter had a lot of information. And also a good amount of violence and angst. Everyone's in a bad mood now. Except our masked friend and Karin, who were actually working together this whole time to get Mito's tessen. And they succeeded. Who knew? On that note, did anyone figure out Yuzu was Karin? One person on AO3 managed to identify her, but no one else has mentioned it. I was honestly surprised people didn't jump on that when I mentioned the red hair, guess I did a good job with being subtle. (Also, I think any Bleach fans will recognize the shout-out to her using Yuzu as a pseudonym.)
So, no one really predicted HOW this mission would go. Still, this chapter had some important revelations... and some important little hints to the future. Next chapter will be a wrap-up for this arc and clear up some important details, including the long-needed talk between Masaru and Sasuke. I'll save my final thoughts on this arc for then. I'll say now that I'm getting really excited though, because after this arc comes a VERY important one I've been anticipating for a long time now, including a couple of GIANT game changing twists.
Also, I mentioned it in the latest chapter of Bloody Oracle, so I'll say it here too: after this next giant twist is revealed, I'm thinking of doing a crossover between that and EoL. Ryoko and Sute would make the most terrifying and canon-breaking alliance ever, even if Ryoko's still dead for 99% of the story. You guys obviously know Ryoko is at least PARTIALLY responsible for 90% of the changes in EoL, so if she teamed up with a living S-rank ninja... Well, canon would be even MORE broken. The only reason I'm not combining the universes now is because Sute's going to have her own canon-shattering journey that is in sharp contrast to everything in EoL.
So, yeah. I won't be able to do it until after the next arc since the plot I have in mind involves the upcoming reveal, but you might want to check out Bloody Oracle if you haven't already.
Anyways, as always, thanks to everyone for reading! Specific shout-outs to:
xXSpades231Xx (No need to apologize, you're not forgetting anything. To answer in order: 1. he's definitely mentioned Obito to Sasuke but they've never talked about him in detail; 2. Surprisingly not many, though Masaru's gonna work on his own new one soon; 3. Sadly, Masaru would never try to become Hokage, though now I'm tempted to have him become the 6th or 7th instead of Naruto... 4. Not romantic, per se, but he is VERY possessive of a certain someone... 5. I don't know, I didn't have much OJ while sick), Elise142, Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf (I can neither confirm nor deny anything, but I've basically all but outright said Obito has been stalking Masaru so that's a change in itself), BloodRaven42 (Maybe, maybe not. I legitimately could not resist the urge to use that line though, especially after having him call Sakura "princess" earlier), May525 (Yep, last cover was indeed our Masked Friend. You can find that image in my DA gallery too. Also, Firefly is officially on track in the draft.), reebajee (if Masaru ever heard someone singing that he'd probably become a hermit), Darksoul (¡Gracias! Masaru y Fu son muy adorables.), dinorun154 and Kayo-san (ahhh thank you for marathoning it and leaving so many reviews! Also you managed to pick up on something that will be VERY plot-relevant in the near future... ;D)
Whew, that was fun. That's all for now. Thanks again for reading, and please leave a review. I seriously LOVE hearing people's speculations. I'll see you all sometime this week!
