Author's notes: It's taken a while, but Madara finally makes his appearance. Woohoo!
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Tsume was the first to speak, ending the stalemate of silence. "What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious? I'm practicing my stealth skills."
Tsume didn't think that Danzo needed to practice. Besides, he totally stole her idea! "Why does your hiding involve my spot?"
"You can't claim the spot when it's public property." Danzo eyed her for a moment. They were both crouched behind a stack of barrels that were propped up beside a far corner post of the grand tent. Tsume's ninken were had more-or-less collapsed in the shadows, panting from the heat of the summer sun. "Even," Danzo added, somehow managing to sound snooty without actually sounding snooty, "if your dogs have already pissed in the corner."
That wasn't very nice, calling attention to poor Shi's overactive bladder problems. It wasn't Shi's fault that she was getting older and couldn't control herself very well. And thinking about Shi's overactive bladder just made Tsume sadly reflect on how she would eventually have to retire her Grandmother's ninken in the next two years or so.
"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your new role?" Tsume asked.
Danzo finally faced her; his face was dark and foreboding. "Evidently, I am as prepared to be seen as you are. I have nothing to prove to anyone – you, on the other hand, have much to prove to several judges."
Tsume refrained from curling her legs closer to her chest. She was the head of the Inuzuka clan, and she wasn't about to be intimidated. "What's the point of pretending to be a wild child while we're in Konoha?"
"The same point that makes me the Ringmaster."
Sensing that this would devolve into an ear-bleeding lecture on how one should throw themselves wholeheartedly into the mission, give it their entire Will of Fire and make sure they didn't seem like a waste of the money to the people who hired Konoha (that lecture had been even worse than the lecture on punctuality), Tsume changed positions, rolling to her knees and readying herself to stand. "Yeah, yeah, once you accept the mission, you don't half-ass it. So I guess I better go forth and give the mission the worth of my ass." Even if it wasn't the best-looking ass out there. She had seen Minato's backside in the required green tights that Enkan had ordered him to wear, and she felt distinctly inadequate. No wonder Kushina liked looking at Minato. He was totally an eight out of ten!
Grumbling under her breath, she stood and ordered her ninken to follow after. Feeling Danzo glaring at her, Tsume left to sneak up and snarl at a crowd of unsuspecting children. She hung back to the shadows though, trying to look like she had never seen such a bizarre gathering of people. Should she frown thoughtfully, or look wide-eyed and curious?
When San growled at someone who intruded into her blind spot, Tsume figured that her ninken had the better idea. She rubbed her face to relax the muscles, raised her lips enough to let her elongated eye teeth drop into view, and slipped back into the shadows to glare at anyone who looked her way.
"What's with the attitude?" Fugaku asked as he walked by with a fresh flower bouquet in one hand. He stopped in mid-step and arched a single eyebrow when her glare didn't shift. "Ah – Mikoto did say you weren't pleased with the roll you've been assigned." His voice shifted into Lecture Mode. Tsume automatically braced herself for the inevitable Ticket And Fine Mode that always followed. "A bad attitude isn't proper for a Konoha nin – no matter how much you dislike your mission, it behooves you to carry on with grace and dignity. Although that last one might be expecting a little too much for an Inuzuka."
Tsume pouted. She had even made sure that she had rolled around in the dirt again today before coming to the circus. Dirt clods fell out of her hair every time she scratched her head. Fugaku's sandals, badge, and forehead protector were polished to a high gleam, his uniform was neatly pressed, and even the dark brown hair on his head was highlighted with golden streaks beneath the sun, combed perfectly into place. No doubt Fugaku's brothers were going to look picture-perfect in the tailored silks that the seamstress had worked twenty hours yesterday to prepare in time. "I was trying to look like a wild wolf."
The look of confusion that washed over Fugako's face matched his scent. "With… rabies?"
Mikoto was also sure to be ready with all her exquisite beauty, highlighted with pearls and powders and paints. Tsume didn't dare stand next to Mikoto in fear that the dirt from her outfit would migrate over to Mikoto's outfit. That's kinda how the law of osmosis worked, if she remembered her lessons from the Academy correctly. Or was it a different law in regards to solid material, like dirt clods? She wondered how Fugaku would react if she hugged him and transferred her dirt onto his pristine uniform.
She wasn't going to think about how Kushina no doubt looked.
"No! I'm supposed to be the girl raised by wolves in the wild. How else am I supposed to act?"
"Like yourself." Fugaku rolled his eyes. "Tsume, there's no way you can possible remain looking dangerous and feral your entire mission. I've assigned you enough custodial duties over the years for your misbehavior to know that, sooner or later, you're going to slip up."
Bah, what would some Uchiha who bought the wrong toilet cleaner in bulk know about being a half-wild girl? Everyone worth their salt knew you didn't mix bleach with ammonia, and she had told him that at least twice, and he still did it. It was almost as if Fugaku had been trying to assassinate her with cleaning products.
Fugaku quickly rearranged his bouquet of orange honeysuckle and deep purple irises, and scanned the crowd. "Besides, wild wolves are still dogs." He gently fingered one of the velvety purple petals. "I expect that you would happen to know where my fiancé happens to be."
Ah, so Mister Uptight wanted her to point out where he could find Mikoto in the maze of people and silken tents. Well, he was going to have to be nice and polite about it. Tsume crossed her arms in front of her mostly-bare chest, and gave him a smile full of teeth. "Yeah. She smells nice enough to nibble, too."
Fugaku twitched in irritation. "I would like to give Mikoto a surprise."
"Gosh, that's awfully nice of you, Fugaku." Tsume felt daring enough to pat her dirty hand on his sleeve. He glared at her hand print. "I'm sure she'd appreciate the gesture, especially when we're shipping out tomorrow for the Capital."
Fugaku pinched the bridge of his nose. "Could you please let me know where she's at? The other circus workers refuse to tell me since she's supposed to be getting ready."
Unlike the circus workers, Tsume knew how much Mikoto actually liked Fugaku, so she finally caved and gave him mostly accurate directions. Fugaku rearranged the bouquet once more and his odor of curiosity/exasperation was quickly replaced by good cheer as he departed with Tsume's directions memorized. Tsume wondered what it was like to have someone love her so deeply and dearly, the way that Hiroaki loved Shinchuu and how Sakumo had loved Hidarime.
Kuromaru nudged Tsume's hand. Stop it. You've got better things to do than waste away mooning over someone. Don't let it interfere with work.
Tsume wanted a lot of things to interfere with her current work, so she decided to go see how Aunt Natsumi was doing, especially when it smelled like Orochimaru was bothering her. Tsume half-hoped that Orochimaru and his snake would've been run off by the time she reached Aunt Natsumi, but instead found Aunt Natsumi giving Orochimaru a reading.
Aunt Natsumi had firmly told Enkan that she wasn't going to wander through thongs of strange people in strange lands to read their fortunes. ("That's an excellent way for me to somehow wind up in another country before any of us realize it, and there's a few borders I technically can't cross without an official escort or it'll cause an international incident, so I will plant my ass in a booth, and that's going to be that.") Enkan gave Aunt Natsumi a tent, small but elaborate with midnight blue silk walls covered with white embroidered star constellations. Aunt Natsumi was seated behind a small table, which held a large copper bowl of water. The copper was polished to a high gleam, reflective even in the dim light cast from a single fat candle.
Orochimaru's back was ramrod stiff, his neck draped with an albino python that smelled bored and hungry. "Really?" he asked, his voice dripping with disdain. "You're going to behave even more immaturely than your own niece on a long-term mission?"
Aunt Natsumi repeatedly tapped on the copper bowl. The water rippled in unnatural squares, but Tsume couldn't sense any chakra. "I'm merely reporting what the spirits have shared with me. That's why Enkan hired me, after all."
"He randomly chose you to be his soothsayer because you look eccentric enough to pass the part, and the only reason you're coming along is because you threatened to let a pair of hell hounds guard Tsume for the entirety of your separation."
Aunt Natsumi's smile was sharp and feral. "Gee. It's like I don't trust any mission that allows you to get close to my niece. I wonder why that must be so, Orochimaru-kun."
Orochimaru abruptly turned about and left Aunt Natsumi with swift steps. Tsume bet he would've stomped away if he didn't have such an oily gait. Tsume quickly darted from the barrels that she and her ninken were poorly hiding behind to Aunt Natsumi's tent. San and Shi stood in the entrance to deter any interested audience.
"You know, certain people like to tell me that I should be careful with how much I antagonize Uchiha Fugaku."
Aunt Natsumi snorted. "Don't compare apples to oranges, Tsume. Fugaku is the future Chief of Police and will inherit the leadership of the clan when his father dies – as head of the Inuzuka clan, he's someone you probably shouldn't make a lifelong enemy out of, especially if you want the Uchiha clan to continue allowing non-Uchiha to enter the police force." Some of Tsume's cousins worked for the Uchiha Police in tracking and crime scene investigation. They were usually too handicapped for fieldwork as kunoichi, but they were able to work with the police, and they enjoyed the work and even their Uchiha coworkers. Tsume was pretty sure they would have different opinions if they had to clean the toilets as often as she did. "Orochimaru, on the other hand, is an orphan that I once took over my knee."
Tsume tried to imagine Orochimaru being young enough for Aunt Natsumi to spank. Apparently, Orochimaru didn't get enough spankings when he was younger. "That's probably going to bite you in the butt, you know."
"Probably. Although Jiraiya is the one I should've swatted. Orochimaru just didn't run as fast as Jiraiya when I caught them peeking through a hole in the fence on the women's side of the hot springs."
Orochimaru had probably tried to drag Jiraiya away and was just an innocent party whose actions and physical location was misinterpreted, a victim of Jiraiya's antics. Tsume would've felt sorry for him if she didn't remember stripping naked at Orochimaru's command (damn her fickle, fickle memory) and if her big toe didn't still occasionally sting from the phantom memory of sharp teeth.
Aunt Natsumi shooed her out of the tent. "Get going. I've got other people whose misfortunes I need to read, and letting you hang out here will cramp my style."
"I thought you were supposed to be reading fortunes."
"Bah. I'm much better at predicting disasters instead of future loves."
Tsume spent most of the early afternoon playing a traditional Inuzuka game – peek-and-growl – with people who steadily filtered onto the fairgrounds with an air of bored curiosity. Acrobatics and illusions were hardly that interesting to jounin and most of the chuunin, so they visited just to pass the time and to see what kind of mission that Sakumo's team and the others were all assigned (and to check out the exotic animals, since the elephants seemed to be the most popular exhibit), but the youngest genin and children frolicked in delight. Several Uchiha children laughed and clapped as Ringo and Daimaru put on a small display. Tsume expected them to swallow flaming sticks, just like in practice. Instead, they made the flames dance like they were manipulating marionettes. She watched from the edges of the crowd of Uchiha children, all dark-haired and dark-eyed, as Ringo formed a lasso of fire that he used to circle Daimaru's prancing flame cats.
Orochimaru was dressed all in black as he slithered across the circus grounds. That was the only word that Tsume could think of to describe his lanky swagger, the oily glide of his arms and legs as he occasionally stopped and shimmy with his albino python. His pale skin and the white scales of the albino python were in stark contrast to his black hair and clothes. Most of the children ran shrieking from him, smelling of delightful horror. Tsume had initially wondered why anyone would pay to be creeped out by Orochimaru – because Orochimaru would definitely do it for free if asked – but Enkan had told her that civilians, especially those who lived a safe, cushy life, often paid to be scared, to bring a controlled thrill into their otherwise perfectly orchestrated lives.
("Gosh, that sounds just stupid and silly."
"Thrills make life interesting, even if one must live vicariously through those whom they watch. The circus is all about performing illusions in which others can momentarily lose themselves. It's really nothing more than a genjutsu without the chakra.")
Tsume made an appearance just for Shikake and his wife, Hikaru. Shikake said nothing as he gave her an appraising look, but Hikaru asked Tsume several probing questions – was she supposed to be dressed like that? Was it appropriate to look like a slob? Was she getting enough food? Tsume managed not to slink away and hide like Shikaku. The interrogation was interrupted with the approach of the Hokage and his wife, Biwako. The Hokage and Biwako wore traditional, civilian-styles, and walked hand-in-hand. Biwako's eyes were bright with delight as the Hokage explained that Tsume was the quintessential circus's raised-by-wolves orphan. That made Tsume feel good – it sounded like her act was really important.
"You look so cute!" Biwako declared.
Tsume scrubbed her face and then growled. Biwako hid a smile behind her hand, so Tsume couldn't tell if she was succeeding at being a raised-by wolves orphan, or if she just looked more cute. Tsume growled again, and decided that retreating back into the shadows and playing more peek-and-growl with children was her best course of action.
She found Kagami with his wife, Fumiko. They trailed behind Shinchuu and Hiroaki as they strolled through the area, hand-in-hand. Hiroaki's hair was as unruly as Kagami's, but he was significantly short and a little wide for an Uchiha. His ears were also set low, and his eyes were wide apart, like Shinchuu, but there was no denying the joy and love that made him beam from ear to ear. Shinchuu's smile wasn't nearly as wide, but she led Hiroaki through the crowd with the quiet assurance of an Inuzuka woman who knew she was in charge. In between their tangled fingers, Tsume saw the flash of a small golden ring on Shinchuu's finger. A ring that she had never worn before. They left behind a bubbly trail of endorphins.
She threw her arms around Kagami's middle, pulling him back so they weren't in earshot and secretly delighted that she was smearing dirt on his pristine, grey civilian clothes. At least Kagami didn't mind getting a little dirty. "They are so adorable!" Tsume squealed as softly as she could. She hoped the baby-to-be would have Kagami's dandelion-soft hair, for she would pet it every day. It just wasn't appropriate to paw at the hair of the Head of Internal Affairs, even if Kagami seemed okay with it.
She grinned around Kagami's shoulder at Fumiko. "High five!" she declared, raising her hand in the air. Fumiko, who had become quite fond of Tsume ever since they met over dinner at the Hokage's years ago, laughed and slapped Tsume's palm in the air. She didn't skimp the chakra, and Tsume's hand stung. Fumiko was softer and darker than her half-brother, graying hair as roughly textured but always kept pulled back in multiple braids that she had piled up into a high bun tonight.
Kagami smiled wistfully. "They really are. She said yes, by the way, but insisted on remaining an Inuzuka in name. And even though it's way too early to be deciding anything, my brother is already trying to convince Shinchuu to call the baby, Shisui." He laughed softly. "Oh, it's going to be a long nine months. He had wanted to be there for Oyubi so very much for the first pregnancy, their first child."
"I," said Fumiko, hugging Kagami's arm, "eagerly look forward so the sound of little feet pitter-pattering around our house once more."
Oh, well, thinking of that, someone was going to have to break the news to Oyubi, and Tsume briefly wondered if it would be okay sending her a letter once the circus was a few hundred kilometers away from Konoha. No, she decided with a huff, Oyubi would figure out what was going on before they even managed to leave the Village. Bah, Tsume would just order Aunt Bashira to do it. That's what Bashira got for not telling Tsume about becoming Shinchuu's legal guardian when Tsume was a whole stinking twelve years old.
At one point, Tsume saw Kokoro. She was accompanied by her two older brothers, one of whom was pushing Kokoro's wheelchair, as well as a niece – two-year-old Anko. Anko was seated on Kokoro's lap and looked bored. The color was bright in Kokoro's cheeks as she studied her surroundings and the circus workers. Feeling somewhat embarrassed about her costume and the fact that she was going to leave with the circus while Kokoro stayed behind because of her disability, Tsume retreated to the other side of the circus grounds before her teammate noticed.
As early afternoon shifted into the evening hours, Tsume and her ninken entered the grand tent by squirming under the edge of the far back wall that hadn't been pinned securely. Squirming on her belly only added more dirt, and she had to pause to readjust her costume because her nipples were showing. After the ninken squeezed through, Tsume ordered the older ninken to stay in place. She and Kuromaru crept behind the audience that was already seated and watching the monkey handler direct his twelve howler monkeys in a comedy routine that involved getting them to cooperate long enough to stand together as a choir. Children squealed with laughter as he was tripped by a monkey, and two more jumped on his back with cheeky grins. The monkey handler was supposed to occupy and entertain people as they drifted into the tent and seated themselves.
Tsume ignored the audience and the act as she circled around to a section of the circus that was partitioned off and curtained to hide the other entertainers as they lined up in preparation for their act. Sakumo was there, just out of the audience's sight line, already dressed and ready to go. His face had been painted – white on the left side, orange on the other – and he wore a purple cone-shaped hat on his head.
He smiled when he saw Tsume. "What do you think?" He spread his arms wide, and then tooted his pathetic little horn twice.
"Uh… I think that Aunt Natsumi would like it."
"Oh, good. I'm glad someone would like it, even if it's your crazy aunt. As you can probably tell, Kakashi is so embarrassed that he's hiding behind the water barrel over there."
"I'm not hiding!" Kakashi peeked over the top of said barrel, face flushed red. "I'm practicing my stealth skills." Gosh, there sure was a lot of stealth-practicing going around.
Sakumo made a show of crouching low enough to loudly whisper in Kuromaru's ear. "He's definitely hiding."
"Am not!" Kakashi hurried over to Tsume and tugged on her fur girdle. She grabbed it before Kakashi could yank it down to her ankles. She wasn't wearing any underwear, because her ancestors lacked the foresight to create panties out of leather. "Shinobi shouldn't be loud, that's what Danzo-sensei says, and Dad's clothes are screaming at my eyeballs." Kakashi rubbed his eyes to emphasize how much his sire outfit made his vision hurt.
"You're not exactly descended from a quiet clan," Tsume told Kakashi.
"But I'm used to having my ears screamed at, not my eyes!" Kakashi rubbed his eyes once again, and then stuck his tongue out. "My nose is screamed at all the time, too. We should leave my eyes alone."
Sakumo carefully rearranged the hat on his head. "I suppose it's a good thing that you're not coming with us then, son. It'll give your ears a rest. Now, excuse me. The monkeys finally getting their act together is my cue to trip onto the stage." And that was exactly what Sakumo did, rushing into the main ring with his large shoes squeaking with every step. One of the monkeys tripped him.
Tsume carefully pulled Kakashi to the side. She made a show of deliberately sniffing him, and then rubbed her knuckles hard against his scalp.
"Ow!"
"I know what you're thinking, Kakashi. I can smell it from another country."
Kakashi's expression shifted. He sullenly kicked at a trampled clump of grass, and then stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I could come along."
"No, you can't. This is a big-time mission, and it's really important, especially for me and Kushina, because it's going to see whether we're qualified to be chuunin. You have to stay home."
"If I come along, then I'd pass and become a genin."
Tsume shook her head. "Sorry, but it doesn't work that way – you actually have to go to the Academy."
"Dad said I can't go until next year." Kakashi tugged on Tsume's hair. "Look, I can learn about becoming a ninja from you and dad and everyone else. Why do I have to go to school?"
A deep voice answered above his head. "To learn the shinobi rules, which includes Rule #22: Obey your orders and superiors, as they know more about the mission parameters than you."
Kakashi sighed. "Yes, Danzo-sensei." Then he muttered that Rule #22 should technically be an addendum to Rule #16. Tsume didn't know if Danzo knew that Kakashi had memorized all the rules from Yuu about three months sooner than Tsume did.
Tsume watched as Danzo dusted imaginary blemishes from his outfit. He didn't look at all like he had spent most of the morning and early afternoon practicing his stealth skills in the bushes. He crossed his hands behind himself and waited for his cue – Sakumo was trying to get his big red nose back from a monkey, tripping over his squeaky shoes as the youngest children screamed with laughter – and then quickly glanced down at Tsume and Kakashi. "Get out of the path, the three of you. The equine performers is the first act, and Sakumo wouldn't appreciate it if you got trampled."
Kakashi, tugging on Tsume's hands, led her deeper through the curtained partition. Kuromaru followed after with his tail curiously sweeping side-to-side. When they reached a corner where the partition opened the outside to where most of the circus acts were lining up by order of appearance (Tsume could see Mikoto and Kushina standing with the other aerial artists), Kakashi ducked and wiggled beneath the tent wall. It was too small of an opening for Tsume to squeeze through, and she had no intention of wiggling her barely-clad ass where the Uchiha twins could ogle it, so she decided to exit and circle around the tent to where she had originally entered.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru was there. He was sitting on the ground while peeling an apple, but that didn't stop him from patting a patch of grass beside him. "Have a seat." He sounded and smelled congenial enough, and he didn't have his albino python anywhere, so Tsume obeyed. The nice thing about Orochimaru was that he never really lied to her. Sure, he was sneaky and evasive, but that came with the territory of being an elite shinobi. There were a lot of people a whole lot nicer to her who lied, and she didn't know why they ever bothered when she could smell it immediately.
"Have you figured out what you're supposed to be doing?" Orochimaru also had a lump of sharp cheese tucked away in a pocket, and it smelled like a really good pairing to the apple that he was now coring.
"I'm supposed to prove my worth as a chuunin."
"Hmm, indeed, but being a good wild child, running around and growling at small children for the next few months isn't going to be enough. There will be side missions that you and your companions will be given as further tests of your skills, and you will all be expected to succeed… to the very end of our journey."
Tsume wanted to point out that she had been willing to stay to the bitter end on the last mission he had last given her. Instead, she nodded her head. "Yes, Orochimaru-sensei."
He sliced the apple into eights. "Given your talents and your track record, I'm sure that you're aware of how we intend to test your skills."
Tsume could guess that most of the side missions that she'd be assigned would have to do with tracking. "Yes, Orochimaru-sensei." At least, she hoped it was tracking. There was no way that Sakumo would let Orochimaru send her on a mission that involved her siren seal… right? Missions that called for seduction were usually S- and A-ranked, and those rarely went to chuunin.
With a gentle flick of his wrist, he buried his kunai hilt-deep in the dirt. "Where is Tsunade-hime?"
Tsume blinked, unsure of how to answer. "Uh, is that a question or an order to find her?"
Golden eyes flickered as his scent swelled with impatience. "Both."
"Oh." Tsume closed her eyes. She had spent nearly a week immersing herself in the circus life, trying to absorb information without relying so heavily on her nose. Increasing the chakra at her nose spiked and concentrated all the different scents – of the different environments that the tent silks had soaked themselves in, the apple that Orochimaru was now eating, of the foreign scents of elephants and monkeys and other unusual creatures, of the wonder and delight that she wasn't used to being condensed into such a small area – gave her a small head rush. She expanded her olfaction, pushing little by little so she wouldn't reach her limits. Tsunade smelled of swamps, incense, and booze (sake, as of lately, although plum wine had been Tsunade's selected poison the last time anyone – well, Jiraiya – had asked Tsume to check on her), and always left a large swath of damage behind her, so her path was always easy to trace throughout the world.
"Bears. She's in the Land of Bears, right now."
"I take it that she's in good health."
Tsunade smelled of soul-deep regret, lathered in bitterness and a hint of terror, but there wasn't any trace of physical illness or spilled blood. Tsunade's ever-present companion, Shizune, smelled tired and exasperated. "No different than usual."
Orochimaru said nothing until he finished his apple. As he dipped into his pocket for the wedge of cheese, he said, "I'm sure that it troubles you to be separated from Kokoro-chan."
Tsume tightened her hands where they rested upon her knees. Then she scratched Kuromaru's ears, because he was being very well-behaved and not growling at Orochimaru.
"And I'm sure that Sakumo has already explained to you why she must remain in Konoha while you and Kushina are leaving with the circus."
Kokoro-chan would've made a really good elephant rider, Tsume thought, because Kokoro-chan had learned how to balance really good on San.
"We preach loud and long on the importance of teamwork, of supporting each other, and that's true… up to a certain extent." Orochimaru pulled his kunai from the ground and swiped it clean on the sleeve of his opposite arm. "But the bonds between teammates, between friends, families, even enemies, are as fleeting as the passage of time." He ran a wordless, sign-less air jutsu over the edge of his kunai, whittling the edge sharp after it was dulled by its dirt bath.
"I prefer living in the here and the now, sir," Tsume said when Orochimaru expectedly glanced at her. "Bonds last a lifetime – or they should – and I've only got one lifetime, so I want to make the best of what I can. I could live to be a hundred, like my grandmother almost did, or I could die tomorrow from mishandled food in the kitchen. Which reminds me – the cooks uncovered the spoiled meat that my ninken and I buried, so I wouldn't try their mystery stew tomorrow if I were you, although I'll do my best to sabotage it beyond all hope tonight."
After a brief moment where Orochimaru's lips quirked into a surprisingly soft smile, he sliced off a piece of cheese and offered it to her. "It's such a shame that a lifetime isn't enough. There's so many mysteries to be explored – suspicious stew aside – and so much knowledge to gather. It seems inevitably cruel that one should die before they ever have a chance to discovering even just a fraction." His eyes gleamed as he studied Tsume. She felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. "If I had your nose, the mysteries I could solve and the information I would know in a single heart beat."
Tsume stuffed the cheese in her mouth and chewed, which bought her some time to think before she answered. She almost felt like she was being tested, that sniffing out Tsunade's location had been the start of a mini-mission. "It's, it's not that simple, Orochimaru-sensei. There's a lot of smelly things out there in the world, and once they get in your nose, it's hard to get them out." Was she supposed to downplay her talent, or showcase it as her strength? Well, shoot, she should've thought of that before telling him that his former teammate was in another country a few hundred kilometers away.
"I suppose that having a superior sense of smell also means it's easier to smell shit."
"Yeah. It's not like I can turn my nose on or off, like the Uchiha can their eyes." Better to downplay it, then. The better in which to surprise Orochimaru when she proved herself worthy.
"Indeed."
"And besides, my nose is attached to my brain, so even if you could gather all the information, you wouldn't be able to remember everything."
"True." Orochimaru's gaze flickered away – across the treetops where the outline of the Hokage monument could be seen. "Nothing in life is certain. Nothing in life is permanent – even the great Monument will eventually die, its faces eroded away with wind and rain. Well, you shouldn't keep your ninken waiting." Orochimaru lifted the edge of the tent enough for Tsume to wiggle under. Which she did, because Tsume knew a dismissal when it was studying her with blank eyes. She decided it was far better to move than to linger, even if it meant that he got a glimpse of her nethers. Bah, he saw it all two years ago anyway, and not a whole lot had changed in the meanwhile.
Once she was on the other side of the tent, Tsume found Kakashi, who was seated on top of two stacked barrels where he could see over the crowd. The ninken surrounded him, so Tsume climbed up to join Kakashi. She repositioned Kakashi in her lap and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Tonight was also going to be the last night she'd see him for a while. "This is going to be really awesome," she told Kakashi. The only time she had seen the entire performance had been that first night, and even then it had been piecemealed and mechanical, so she only had a vague idea of what the show would be like – she had no idea what it was going to be like with the music and lights, and with everyone putting their heart and soul into their performances, instead of rudimentary positioning. She felt something crackling and alive in the area as much as she could smell it – anticipation, eagerness, the energy of hundreds of bodies crammed into a small space – and stuck her tongue out to see if she could taste it.
Ick, no, it tasted like some people hadn't washed before deciding to go to the circus.
The small band of musicians (all cousins of Enkan's, and all dressed in uniforms that were as colorful as Enkan's daily wardrobe) wrapped up their bouncy little tune that matched the playful air of the howler monkeys. There was a brief lull as some of the musicians changed instruments, and then the drummer began his roll. As the drumbeats quickened, the floodlights began to erratically scan the circus floor. Then Enkan's voice, amplified with a bullhorn, made Tsume slap her hands over her sensitive ears.
"Ladies and gentleman – boys and girls – shinobi and kunoichi – please welcome your Ringmaster!"
The drumroll ended with a clash of cymbals as the floodlights suddenly halted in the center, pooling upon Danzo – Tsume hadn't even seen him make his entrance. His expression was sour, probably because the floodlight blinded him to his audience, and that was a terrible thing to do to a shinobi.
Even beneath the harsh, bright lights, with his shoulders hunched and his hands clenched behind himself, Danzo was surrounded by dark menace. The hat helped, Tsume decided. It was a very nice hat, after all, being all tall and black with a shiny buckle – her hair would probably get in the way, but if she pulled her hair back to the nape of her neck when it was wet and secured it with a lot of hairspray, she could probably get the hat to stay on…
Danzo slowly straightened, his gaze piercing as he slowly looked around himself, even if he couldn't see anything in the flood of bright lights. Because the crowds had hushed in anticipation of his speech, Danzo's voice carried without requiring a bullhorn. "Why are you here?" There was a puzzled murmur as Danzo smoothly paced in a circle, facing all sides. "Have you come seeking thrills? Adventures? Excitement? Tonight, there is no time, there is no place, there is no one who will pull your attention away from this realm. Tonight, you belong to Eternity Circus and the world's greatest performers! You are mine!"
The music swelled instantly with Danzo's last ominous words, just as the horses – decked in green silks, harnesses with gilded bells, and gigantic green feathers tucked in their head gear – cantered as pairs into the arena. Balanced on the backs with one foot firmly planted on each horse and reigns held securely in one hand were the original circus acrobats – three women and one man. As the horses circled the ring, the acrobats waved with dazzling smiles.
They were greeted with lackluster clapping from the audience. A hidden village of ninjas wasn't exactly the most excitable crowd, especially if the possibility of serious injury or death wasn't involved. Tsume didn't care – she admired the beauty of the horses as the pairs worked in unison with each other, effortlessly backing up, rearing upright, bowing, and performing other tricks as the behest of their riders. She had loved and admired horses ever since she had seen Juubi rear up beneath Danzo. Her breath caught in her throat as the horses danced on delicate hooves, heads bobbing in time with the string music. They danced, twirled, pranced, and bowed, barely-checked strength held at bay, pronounced in every flexing muscle.
Tsume had the sudden urge to make her ninken look pretty and do dances, too.
"No," said Kuromaru when Tsume leaned over to tell him all about her idea.
"But—"
He glowered at her. "No."
Nothing more was said, because someone who was seated in front of them turned around and harshly shushed them.
The horses left the arena with more enthusiasm than their entrance. Horses were rarely seen in Konoha, and even shinobi could appreciate such beautiful animals, even if the audience wasn't impressed with the acrobats.
The next act was the Uchiha twins. Tsume leaned forward in eager anticipation, expecting to see more flames manipulated into shapes and creatures. She wasn't disappointed. However, the great dragons that they produced and chased each other around the arena with were far more impressive than prancing cats. Even more impressive was their tight control. Even though Tsume could smell the chakra-fueled heat, none of the heat actually reached the audience. Ringo and Daimaru were drenched in sweat from the heat and the effort by the time they completed their act, clasping hands together and bowing to the cheers and clapping. As they left the arena, the band switched from rousting battle music to soft, sweet tones that reminded Tsume of ocean waves that lapped gently at sandy beaches.
As the music swelled, so did Danzo's voice. "Thrills, excitement, and wonder. All of this is yours to witness here, in Eternity. It's not just thrills that we bring, but beauty, also." Like the music, his voice was tranquil. His body, so tightly wound up before, was now fluid and graceful as he waved his arms. "For every warrior, there is the delightful young maiden." He stepped away from the spotlight as four thick cords dropped from the darkness overhead. The dangling cords unraveled into curtains – ruby-red, emerald-green, pearl-white, and citrine-yellow. Two aerial silk dancers and two kunoichi – Mikoto and Kushina – twirled down the silk. Tsume's breath caught in her throat as she watched the slow pristine beauty. From a distance, Ami-chan appeared as young and as full of life as Kushina and Mikoto, the rich yellow complimenting her dark skin and hair. Their costumes glittered, even from this distance, and the makeup accented and matured youthful features.
Tsume was too awed by the grace of her companions to feel jealous. She craned her neck and tried to remember everything that she saw – the way Kushina wrapped the curtain around her legs to unwrap downward, the way that Mikoto arched her back as she spun, how Ami-chan tumbled and twirled, and how Sekiko's arms flowed as she dangled, her deep, dark skin so rich against the ruby-red. Each dancer had a different dance, but the moves were performed at the same speed, which harmonized the entire performance. A hush had fallen over the watching audience, as if they were too hypnotized to breathe; shinobi weren't used to seeing performances strictly about grace and beauty.
It was, Tsume realized with a start, akin to being seduced. The aerial dancers were seducing the attention of their audience, the timeless grace as every bit alluring as her siren seal.
As the music's crescendo peaked, and then faded away, the four dancers set foot finally on ground. Linking hands together, they bowed as one. That seemed to awaken the audience from their quiet, and they applauded with energy and catcalls. Tsume scanned the crowds, increasing the chakra in her eyes so she could see better in the darkness. Off to the west side of the tent, parked in the aisle because her wheelchair didn't fit in the seated rows, Kokoro sat huddled beneath a sky-blue shawl with her hands clenching her wheels - she looked like she was on the verge of spinning around and leaving. Tsume shifted the chakra from her eyes to her nose. Kokoro's form dimmed and receded in the dark, and the odor of hate and resentment swelled. Tsume could smell her own envy, and Kakashi's happiness, but it wasn't enough to block out Kokoro's feelings.
Tsume squirmed in her seat and felt like she had peeped at Kokoro in a changing room, because Kokoro didn't want anyone to see what her legs looked like after they lost their muscle tone and were often bloated with edema. Tsume wanted Kokoro to come along with the circus, but now she realized that it was best that Kokoro was being left behind. If she were to come, Kokoro would always be reminded that she was crippled, grounded to a mobilized chair and kept tucked away in the shadows, while Kushina flew overhead in the limelight, unhindered by gravity and decked out in beautiful colors like a bird of paradise.
In Konoha, Kokoro would have her own chance to shine, to highlight the quick intelligence that Tsume admired.
As for Tsume… As she watched Kushina, Mikoto, and the other aerial dancers leave to the circus, as the floodlights aimed upward while Danzo introduced the wire walkers and the trapeze artists, Tsume felt like an awkward little hedgehog masquerading in wolf skin. Deep down, she knew she had the potential to be a wolf (she ripped out someone's spine, after all – granted, she also broke every bone in her hand, but Minato was always nice enough to never mention that part), but she didn't think that she'd ever have anything like the quiet ferociousness of her great-grandmother.
She wasn't ferocious, and she wasn't beautiful. She was just a wild child covered in dirt.
Kakashi poked her in the eye.
"Ow!" Tsume's eye stung and watered as she covered it with her hand.
"Hah! I managed to successfully attack you. I'd've disarmed you if I had a kunai. I should be a genin and allowed come along."
Tsume glared at him. "I'll toss you to the lions the next time you jab me in the eye."
"Kuromaru would save me."
Kuromaru leaned away from them, as if he didn't want to be involved in this squabble. "Uh, no, kid. You'd be on your own for that."
The same audience member from earlier, a civilian who worked in the ninja library, turned around and shushed them again.
Tsume tried to watch Minato's performance, but she was too busy feeling sorry for herself to pay too much attention (whoa, those tights were a little more tight from this angle than what she was remembered, and he really did have a very fine backside… Tsume brooded like a teenager, but she also lusted like a teenager - she bet she'd get quite a handful if she tried groping him during a spar. That would also startle him and give her the upper hand long enough to win! Hmmm...). She would've made a good acrobat – even better than Mooncalf – even if Aunt Natsumi had declared Tsume's hair the least aerodynamic of the Inuzuka clan. Tsume was getting really good with spinning in different directions in the air, and she bet she could do all kinds of fancy spins and flips without even needing a safety net below.
Okay, so she wouldn't look nearly as good as Mooncalf in the tights, and her hair would probably catch on something, like the trapeze itself, but that wasn't the point! She had more to offer the circus than just her ninken and ancient leathers.
Tsume was distracted from feeling sorry for herself as Danzo thanked the wirewalkers and trapeze artists. "And now, a special treat for our audience. We have with us, tonight for one night only, the world's greatest knife thrower. Please welcome Otakimaru!" Tsume didn't remember anything about the world's greatest knife thrower, and she was pretty sure that there were plenty of shinobi in the audience who might beg to differ on who qualified as the world's greatest knife thrower. She tried to remember if Enkan had scheduled a guest appearance as the floodlights scanned the ring erratically, flashing multiple colors as some of the stage staff crossed the lights with different colored films. Another set of stage hands moved a large bull's-eye target on wheels into the center ring where Danzo stood.
As the half-hearted clapping died down, Danzo' expression twitched in irritation. "Otakimaru-san, your audience awaits."
No one showed. Finally, Sakumo squeaked up to Danzo and whispered in his ear.
"What? He's got… really. I told him not to get involved with that woman. Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that our guest has come down with the most unfortunate infection – oh, what is it, now?" Sakumo whispered in Danzo's ear again and rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation. Danzo looked appalled as he recoiled from Sakumo. "You must be joking."
Sakumo began to hop from squeaky foot to squeaky foot as his expression morphed into desperate hope.
Danzo pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke in a monotone. "Ladies and gentlemen, taking the place of our indisposed knife thrower is this clown." Sakumo bounced around like a hyperactive bunny, looking excited at the opportunity to throw sharp objects.
Danzo turned away from Sakumo, who pulled a large knife from the inside of his sleeve. Sakumo stuck his tongue out and carefully mimed throwing the knife at the target. He threw his arm back, and the knife slipped from his fingers.
"Now, we shall begin with a safe target—" Danzo froze as a knife whizzed overhead, barely missing his hat. "You idiot!" As Danzo stalked toward Sakumo, Sakumo flapped his hands in comical fear and hurried away with wide-kneed steps. The children laughed at the squeaking shoes. As he ran, Sakumo pulled his tall cone-shaped hat off his head and yanked out another knife – longer than the actual hat itself – and threw it blindly over his shoulder. The knife gracefully arched over Danzo's head and struck the target dead-center.
Sakumo skidded to a halt and bounced from foot to foot again, tooting his little horn in one hand and wildly waving at the target with the other. Danzo stopped, looked over his shoulder at the target, and turned his nose up. "A lucky shot, you buffoon."
Sakumo glowered as he tooted twice. He managed to make the toots sound insolent.
Danzo stepped to the side. "Prove it."
Sakumo brightened and began waving someone in from the shadows. Kushina, looking puzzled but no less dazzling from her earlier performance, stepped forward.
"No, I don't think I like this. Emerald-hime is too valuable to be lost to your incompetence."
As Danzo grabbed Kushina's arm to prevent her from reaching Sakumo, Sakumo snatched the tall hat off of Danzo's head and ran wide-kneed to the target.
"It will be your head if anything happens to the hat."
The audience – particularly the adults who had been on the receiving end of Danzo's ire in the past – laughed as Sakumo defiantly tooted at Danzo. Then Sakumo pinned the top hat to the target with the dead-center knife. After winking at some of the children who leaned close to watch, he made a show of backing ten steps away from the target. He produced a knife from his sleeve and threw it carefully – it struck the upper part of the target, missing the hat by a wide margin. Then Sakumo backed away another ten steps. Another knife, again produced from his sleeve, struck the target, this time half-way between the first knife and the hat. Sakumo tooted his horn once, removed a shoe, and pulled a knife out of it. He turned his back to the target, carefully grasped the blade with both hands, and then bent over, throwing the knife unseen from between his knees. The knife struck beneath the hat.
Kushina pulled away from Danzo to run over to the target. She grasped the edges and pushed, making the hat blur as the bulls-eye spun on its hinges. Sakumo tooted his approval, and threw a knife that Tsume hadn't seen him draw from anywhere. Kushina forced the target to a stop so that everyone could see how the last knife thrown had struck the target a hair above the knife that pinned Danzo's hat to the target.
Danzo watched all of this with his arms folded and an impressive glower on his face. "I admit that you may be somewhat skilled with knife-throwing, but I wouldn't trust you with a live target."
Kushina pulled all the knives free, tucked Danzo's hat under her arm, and ran to Sakumo. She handed him the knives, then she started for Danzo. When Sakumo tooted his horn, she swerved and ran for the target, laughing. She skidded to a halt in front of the target, stuck Danzo's hat on her head, and posed with a smile. Sakumo's hands blurred as he threw every knife – thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk – and tightly outlined Kushina's head without touching a hair or the hat.
The music clamored in triumph and Kushina, smiling and still wearing Danzo's hat, ran back to Sakumo. The audience clapped with more energy, this time in respect for Sakumo's skills, because shinobi were far more likely to kill their target than to deliberately miss. Sakumo and Kushina bowed together, and then Kushina, making the hat artfully tumble down her shoulder and arm, presented the hat back to Danzo.
"Ladies and gentleman, beneath the makeup of the clown, may I present to you the skilled Otakimaru-san?"
The clapping swelled as the adults in the audience finally understood the charade. Sakumo, smiling and tilting his cone hat, gracefully followed Kushina out of the ring, every step silent of their previous squeaks.
Tsume absently touched a spike of her hair and considered that maybe it was a good thing that Kushina, with her long, straight, sleek hair, was the target. It would probably be harder for Sakumo to throw his knives and not give her a new haircut.
After the excitement of Sakumo throwing knives and deliberately goading Danzo, the display of elephants and the acrobatic flips and spins that Mikoto and another aerial silk dancer performed from the backs and trunks of the elephants didn't seem as impressive, even though Mikoto was just as breathtaking sliding and swinging from the trunk as from a curtain of silk.
The final act of the evening had been the orchestrated kidnapping and rescue of Inochi. Kakashi laughed, clapped his hands, and genuinely enjoyed how Shikaku was the slouching marauder who somehow managed to look just as casual and lazy ducking heavy crates as he did ignoring Inochi shrieking for help in a high-pitched voice. Chouza was magnificent with his strength, throwing objects that grew in size and weight the longer he fought with Shikaku. Finally, when Shikaku and Chouza were too focused on each other, Inoichi successfully ambushed them both, tied them up, and left them sitting back-to-back in the arena's circle as he fluffed his voluminous blond curls, smoothed down the train of his pastel pink obi, and mince-stepped away while fluttering his fan.
The band stuck up an energetic little ditty as all the performers flooded back into the arena to bow to the clapping and cheering. Danzo thanked everyone for their presence and attention, and then the circus performers left. The band kept playing as the crowds slowly filtered out. Tsume tried to listen to what people said – she wanted to tell Mikoto and Kushina what people thought of their performances – but the loud din made it too hard to for her to concentrate on what anyone said. She, Kakashi, and the ninken remained where they had chosen to sit until the crowds had thinned out.
Tsume set Kakashi on the ground. "Well, I have to slip on back and help people tear down the circus, now. We're supposed to have everything dismantled and packed up before two in the morning, and then we leave at the crack of dawn. I'm pretty sure that we'll be leaving before you get up tomorrow morning." She then pulled Kakashi into a spine-cracking hug that was partly goodbye, and partly a threat/warning. "Stay out of trouble, Kakashi. I can smell that you're up to something. Whatever you're going to do, don't do it, because it'll just hurt your dad."
Kakashi dragged a toe across the ground and completely smelled unrepentant. "I have to go pack. For staying with the Nara," he added hastily. Tsume watched him dart away to throw himself at Sakumo. Sakumo dropped to one knee and folded his arms around Kakashi in a tight hug. Feeling intrusive, Tsume slipped under the tent wall with her ninken, and hurried away to help the cooks pack up the food booth from which they had been selling roasted nuts and cotton candy.
oOoOoOo
The body fell with a gurgle, throat spurting blood like a mouth that vomited crimson. He leaned over to wipe the blade clean on the body's shirt before tucking the kunai back into his sleeve, then he paused a moment to consider if he should hide the body. He decided just to throw a handful of crumbled leaves over it – it was a civilian body, so he didn't give a damn about hiding it from enemies. Cowardly laymen armed with pitchforks and plows were nothing more than nuisances in his red-tinted vision. Cowardly men, lay or otherwise, who sought to exploit young girls before they even reached puberty, didn't deserve a quick death, but he was too tired to drag it out. Old age hadn't made him impatient; it just made him lazy.
If there was anything he learned from his history with the Hell Hounds, children should never be used for personal pleasure. There was time aplenty for that when children transitioned into jaded adults.
He took the bloodsplattered child by her little hand; she couldn't be any older than eight years old. She was shell-shocked, and not because of the death she had just seen – she had been shell-shocked before he arrived. "I have a new home for you," he said. He kept his voice neutral, and only the smallest tremble of old age weakened his voice. The vocal tremor had irritated him for as long as it existed in the last, oh, decade or so, so he rarely spoke anymore. Not that he had ever had much to say - no one listened to him when he had spoken – not his so-called best friend, not his own clansmen, and certainly not the simpering, bloodthirsty Kiri fools he had forced himself to align with.
"Yes, sir." The girl's face was frightfully blank and her eyes were glazed over. "That… that was my father." This child probably expected him to shuck the clothes he had carefully dressed her in and roll her on her stomach in the thick brush, exactly what had happened not twenty minutes ago.
The only reason he was bringing her with him, instead of snapping her neck and putting her out of a lifetime of misery, was because she had more chakra than the average civilian. His superiors (he sneered inwardly at such a title – he was superior to them) didn't care where the children came from, as long as their academy was full. Isn't it odd how constantly battling each other with all their petty civil wars and having only a 50% graduation success rate (combined with a 50% mortality rate) left Kirigakure with too low a replacement population for its high level of casualties?
As much as I couldn't stand Hashirama, at least the man could fucking add two and two together to get four.
At least in the academy, the girls would learn how to gut would-be rapists, or die before they would ever experience such horror again. Kiri was many things, but girls – and boys, thankfully – were off-limit to everyone before graduation.
He sometimes missed Konoha with the same level of passion that he hated her, with her lush forests and her stupid carved mountain side, and her stupid, fucking sensible academy. When trying to achieve the Omelet of World Peace (shut up Hashirama, that was too a perfectly acceptable metaphor), a few eggs always had to be cracked. And whipped. And fried. Which was to say that children would always be victims of war, and he had long come to terms that children would have to become warriors as long as there was war, and there would always be war until he could achieve his goal.
"Ow."
He realized that he had nearly broken the girl's hand with his tightening grip. He rubbed her hand soothingly. "You'll need to get used to the pain. The Bloody Mist knows nothing else."
And with those final words, as his thoughts once more wandered down the maudlin path of an old memory lane, Uchiha Madara gently led this little girl to what would either be her doom, or her glory. He was so stupidly grateful sometimes that he never took a wife and never had children to be caught up in the endless cycle of violence and death and pain and suffering. He regretted that he himself hadn't yet escaped the cycle, and that innocent children were ensnared, but such was reality. A reality that he would some day change.