Chapter 33

At the age of nine, Sute had gotten used to war.

The carnage was different from the bloodshed she'd grown up with originally, death much more swift and instant than the drawn-out screams and gurgles echoing from the basement. She never saw a shinobi's intestines pulled out of their stomach as they stared at the sky with glazed eyes, never saw a man vivisected on the middle of a battlefield. It differed even from the aftermath of battles she'd seen as an adult, none of the bodies riddled with bullets or strewn in gory pieces by an IED.

She did not fight directly on the front lines, opting to act more as support for her platoon. Heal the wounded, hide and wait for an opening to throw a kunai or senbon at an enemy to give her allies the opening for a lethal blow, weave through distracted opponents and cut them with poisoned blades. She felt like a ghost sometimes, a constant presence hovering on the battlefield and providing aid where she could.

That day she'd seen one of her comrades get knocked down by a well-placed stab to his side and not get up. He'd been near the outskirts of the fighting where it bordered with a forest, so she had grabbed him and dragged him towards the cover of the trees to tend to him. He was conscious but unable to talk or move, likely a victim of paralysis. She never did find out for sure.

They had barely entered when her instincts kicked in and made her drop him and dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding a heavy stone weight thrown her way and watching it crush his skull instead.

A group of men in brown flak jackets and red clothes stood at the edge of the forest, seeming to tower above Sute's small, childish figure. Her chest seized at their cold glares, able to see the intent to kill. Her eyes flicked towards her comrade's corpse, blood still seeping beneath the stone, then to the rest of her allies fighting beyond the men, unaware of her predicament.

And so she turned and ran deeper into the forest.

She ran as fast as she could, dodging stone projectiles thrown her way as she wove through the trees. They weren't even trying to seriously kill her yet, clearly wanting to get her as far away from potential reinforcements before making the final blow. The worst part was that she knew this and their strategy was still working, because she couldn't do anything but run.

Fighting them head-on was suicidal. For all her training and knowledge Sute still had the physique of a child, her body lacking the strength needed to fight back. Good technique only did so much, she stood no chance against the brute strength of fully trained adult shinobi. It was why she avoided fighting directly, why she'd had to be saved by her comrades more than once.

It wasn't that Sute was weak, it was simply that prepubescent children lacked the physical strength to face multiple adult shinobi at once and survive.

Her pursuers knew this, and had made sure to single her out while her allies were distracted with their own battles. They knew they had the advantage in terms of brute strength and experience, knew there wasn't even a body of water for a suiton jutsu in the direction they pushed her. With each step Sute could feel a bone-deep terror welling up more and more, constantly running through potential scenarios and strategies in her mind before being forced to discard each and every one.

It continued until finally she found herself cornered. Back literally pressed against a stone wall, a tall cliff towering high above her. Climbing wouldn't work, it would leave her too exposed to attacks even if she ran up its side. When she turned around she found her pursuers already approaching with cruel smirks on their faces, all of them aware she had no escape.

"No hard feelings kid," one said gruffly. "It's just war."

Those words struck a nerve in her, her mind going momentarily blank. Suddenly she was standing in her father's basement peering through the bars of cages. Ordinary people huddled inside them with the eyes of cornered prey, their gazes hollow with the knowledge they had no hope of escaping on their own. She spent far too much time as a child in her old life wondering how it would feel, knowing a murderer was closing in on you with no escape, and now she was experiencing it firsthand.

That realization made something in her snap, terror taking full control of her.

And then, the ground exploded.

Roots burst forth from the soil, twisting and spiraling together to pierce the men from all directions. Blood spewed from their mouths as it impaled them from multiple angles, shredding internal organs and leaving holes all throughout their bodies. The man who Sute had been looking at when it triggered looked down at his body in shock, a dribble of red from the corner of his mouth.

"Y-you... m-moku..." His voice came out barely a whisper, shaky and weak, and before he could finish the light faded from his eyes, body slumping where he stood. For several long moments Sute just stood there, panting heavily as she stared at the corpses of her would-be attackers.

Her affinity for mokuton had always been naturally strong, and it should have been no surprise it would rear its head when she felt cornered.

As the realization of what happened sunk in she winced, and slammed her hands together to make an instinctive seal. The roots immediately receded back into the earth, leaving only the upturned soil to indicate what had happened. The men's bodies slumped from the sudden lack of support but managed to remain upright, but she had no energy to think about it as she felt numbness creep over her. Death had been moments away, this encounter a much closer call than any others.

She still stood there when someone came through the trees. It was a woman from her platoon, one with the ice element that caused her to be shunned by all. She took one look at the scene—at the shock on Sute's face, the still upturned soil where the roots had burst and the large holes in the men's corpses. Then without a word she raised her hands into a single seal, and icicles speared them from below to fill the holes.

If their comrades noticed the lack of blood on the ice when they arrived, they never mentioned it.

Six years later, that nameless Yuki woman had appeared in front of her once more.

She looked just as elegant and graceful as she had back then, even in her shabby-looking civilian clothing. If anything, she looked even more beautiful, the few years since their last encounter allowing her features to mature even further. It occurred to Sute now that the woman had likely still been a teenager during the war, not fully finished with puberty just yet.

Yet for all her serene beauty, Sute had never felt quite on edge as she did now.

"You know about the mokuton," she said, her voice ringing hollow as she gazed at the woman. She felt hollow, her mind blank on how to proceed. No one had ever known about the mokuton, let alone acknowledge it so openly. Even Ameyuri, who had hinted her knowledge of Sute's experiments with it in the greenhouse, never mentioned it directly to Sute until she was literally on her deathbed.

The Yuki woman inclined her head, those cool gray eyes seeming to pierce through Sute's soul. "Back then I saw those men run into the forest and gave chase once I finished my opponent," she said. "I arrived right before you withdrew the roots." The blunt admission made Sute's stomach churn, a cold chill running down her spine. Looking back the timing of her appearance had been too perfect, it had felt like hours passed but in reality she knew it had been closer to minutes at most.

"Why didn't you come forward then?" she asked, and her voice sounded so quiet even to herself, was it really that quiet?

"You seemed to be in shock," the woman replied smoothly, "so I decided to wait for a few minutes. I felt that showing myself too soon would have panicked you and may have caused you to lash out unconsciously." The words felt almost like a punch to the gut, and Sute quietly inhaled.

"I would have," she acknowledged, flat and emotionless. At that point in time she had been in shock, and the mokuton had already flared up unconsciously. If someone from her own village appeared and saw the evidence of her powers, she had no doubt she'd instinctively call on it again to eliminate the threat no matter who it was.

She took a breath, pushing the thought away. "I never expected you to join Kumo after you left," she remarked flatly. The timing of her appearance left no doubts that she had some connection to the Cloud ninja. "I'm surprised they would let an obvious foreigner join the protection detail. I feel like it would give Konoha mixed messages."

The corners of the woman's mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly, a spark of amusement briefly flickering in her eyes. "Perhaps, but when traveling through a country known as Frost in the dead of winter, it's reassuring to have someone who's more experienced with that weather. And ice is my element."

She raised a hand and Sute jolted as she flashed through a few seals, her own hands flickering towards her kunai pouch. Rather than attack though the snow swirled to form a stool, the woman sitting down with an almost graceful flourish as she folded her hands atop her lap and smiled at Sute. "Let's sit and talk for a while, Sute-chan," she said, gesturing to a large stone not too far from where Sute stood tense and rigid. "We have much to catch up on."

"Really?" Sute asked, arching an eyebrow and making no move to sit. "Do you actually expect me to believe you want to just talk?" Her eyes darted briefly to the path as she spoke, discreetly skimming their surroundings for movement or potential hiding places.

"None of my comrades are planning to ambush you, if that's what you're thinking," the woman offered calmly, making Sute's gaze snap back to her. "I'm traveling somewhat separately from the caravan, since as you said, we'd rather not make my participation in this mission too obvious."

"And why should I trust you?" Sute challenged, and the woman inclined her head.

"I haven't told anyone about your mokuton," she said, and Sute tensed further at the reminder that she knew. "I've kept it secret for the past six years. Surely, you can at least humor a simple request to talk in light of that?"

Sute eyed her warily before finally moving to sit on the ground, keeping her gaze locked on the woman save for a brief half-second glance to ensure she still had a decent visual of the path below. As it stood the Yuki woman had the environmental advantage, and Sute knew from experience just how much of a difference that could make. A full fight would potentially draw her comrades' attention.

More importantly though, the woman had given no indication she knew about the other ambush points. She likely suspected there were other Mist ninja nearby, but she didn't even seem to realize there was a string of explosive seals set up to trigger an avalanche halfway up the mountain. If she had she would have surely mentioned it by now, which meant the mission had not been compromised yet.

So for now Sute would play along, and try to buy her teammates time. The mission came first and foremost, and as long as Sute wore this unblemished hitai-ate she would not compromise its success. "You want to talk, so talk," she said bluntly.

The Yuki woman smiled then, polite and cordial enough but not something Sute would call gentle or sweet. "Very well. I believe I never properly introduced myself back then, so let's start with that. My name is Yuki Shiromi. As a Mist ninja I was a veteran chuunin, but right now I am an independent mercenary currently unconnected to any village."

"Not even Kumo?" Sute asked, unable to help herself. Highly reputable or not, Sute could not see Kumo hiring just any outsider for a mission as politically critical as this one. There had to be some sort of foundation, a pre-existing relationship that gave them reason to trust her.

Shiromi hummed, picking up on Sute's thoughts. "My relation with Kumo is more complex," she replied. "I did go to them for support when I first left, but I did not join them. They give me access to resources like weapons and tools, guaranteed safety from their forces and access to Kumo when I need to rest or recover from injuries. In exchange, I assist them on missions, along with some other tasks."

"I'm surprised you went to them at all. You would have been safer abandoning shinobi life entirely. No one even thought you were alive. Going out doing missions is just risking a target on your back from the hunter-nin."

"I am, aren't I." Shiromi sighed, folding her arms with a small frown. "I will admit, I did think of leaving the shinobi life behind entirely. Truth be told, even before you warned me to leave I'd been thinking about retiring after the war. I don't hate being a shinobi, but I know my limits and I could tell my skills had reached a plateau. I doubt I would have promoted higher than a tokubetsu jonin."

She sighed again, an almost wistful air about her. "After leaving, I just couldn't think of a good alternative though. I spent most of my life training, and the other skills I learned wouldn't really be useful for normal civilian life. Flower arrangement and origami is hardly useful to peasants, and while I'm a decent cook, I'd rather not do it for a living. The only other options I could imagine were becoming a courtesan or housewife, and neither of those appealed to me."

Sute remained quiet as she listened to Shiromi's somber musing, falling into her own train of thought. She had dedicated a good deal of time to thinking of her plans for after leaving Kiri, and had already eliminated all of the options Shiromi mentioned for reasons of her own. Unlike Shiromi though she had more options, her skillset more varied both because of her training and her experience in her previous life. Sute had lived as a civilian once, and she could easily settle into that lifestyle again if she so desired.

"Why Kumo though?" she wondered aloud. "I mean, I can't see you joining many villages easily, but Kumo has always been pretty... hostile." Of the five shinobi villages, Kumo and Kiri probably tied for most aggressive. Kiri had the bloodier reputation because it had bloodthirsty individuals, but Kumo was willing to launch attacks at the smallest sign of weakness if it meant increasing its own power. When defecting from a village, Sute doubted Kumo would be anyone's first choice.

"It was really a matter of convenience," Shiromi said with a shrug. "I met a team from Kumo and we became quite friendly. I had no other ideas on where to go so I decided to join them on their return. Going there willingly gives you a lot more freedom than those who are forced to join. Granted, I had to pay a certain... price," she settled after a moment's thought, glancing away, "which many would likely find too burdensome. Given my other options though, I personally did not mind."

As she spoke Sute felt the telltale burning sensation in her wrist, and it took a good deal of conscious self-control not to lift her sleeve to check the sleeve or otherwise react visibly. The moment Shiromi glanced away at the word "price" Sute risked a quick peek, rolling up her sleeve just enough to look. Multiple dots lit up the furthest seal, gradually moving towards the end.

Relief cascaded over her, recognizing it to almost certainly be the caravan. The scout must have not noticed the seals, and moreover, Shiromi must not have been alerted them to Sute's presence. She covered up the marking before the Yuki woman could notice her peeking, her mind settled.

"What kind of price?" she pressed. Shiromi's gaze returned to her, studying her for a moment.

"It's a secret for now," she settled with a coy smile. "Sorry to be evasive, but we barely know each other. I'd rather not tell you everything, even if I feel indebted to you."

"Indebted?" Sute repeated, and Shiromi's smile softened a bit, still sly but a bit more genuine.

"You warned me to leave," she said. "Don't you remember? You even brought along a bingo book. What a curious nickname," she mused lightly, "The Bloody Oracle of Kiri." Sute's eyes narrowed at the moniker, giving a soft huff.

"The nickname's not accurate," she warned dryly. Especially now, with Juzo gone and taking the Kubikiribocho with him. Her knowledge would only grow more outdated from here on out. "I still have no idea how that got started you know. I wouldn't put much stock in it. I was just being a dramatic little shit."

"You say that, but you were right to warn me. After I left, I learned my brother was likely murdered by our so-called 'comrades' after he got injured. That says nothing about the others who supposedly died in the line of duty. By the time you warned me I was likely the only member of my family left still fighting on the front lines. Several of my civilian relatives were killed by angry villagers, including my other brother. Anyone left of my clan had to scatter."

Her tone took on a bitter note, her smile now a bit more wry and humorless. "You said the stigma would only get worse, and you were absolutely right. If I hadn't left when I did, I likely would have died. So, I really do need to thank you for the warning."

Sute regarded her silently, meeting those eyes stoically. Though Shiromi had on a thin, cold smile Sute could see a distinct melancholy in them, a quiet sense of solitude and knowledge she was alone. After several long moments Sute averted her gaze with a small huff. "You really don't need to thank me. I only warned you because you helped me first."

"Perhaps, but that still doesn't change the fact that I am likely only alive because of your warning. If not for the timing of your warning, I wouldn't have met the love of my life."

"The love of your life?" Sute repeated, and Shiromi's smile grew coy again, an almost mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Yes. I'd rather not go into detail, since you and I are still strangers. But I just can't resist saying..." She leaned forward, and Sute found herself subconsciously leaning forward as well as Shiromi lowered her voice.

"The Raikage is fantastic in bed."

Sute felt her face flare up, snapping suddenly so far she almost fell. "W-what!?" she sputtered, boggling the Yuki woman in disbelief. Shiromi smirked at her before covering her mouth with a giggle.

"Just kidding," she said in a sing-song voice, and Sute felt her jaw drop. Seriously!?

As Sute struggled to process how to respond Shiromi's giggles faded. "I obviously didn't sleep with the Raikage. He's not my type, to put it lightly. But he is fun to drink with."

"You drink with the Raikage?" Sute asked as her mind finally began to function properly again, and pressed a hand to her face with a low groan. "No, actually, don't answer that. I already have enough of a headache."

"My joke really threw you for a loop, didn't it?" Shiromi noted with a smirk. When Sute glared at her she just giggled behind her hand again. "For the record, I've only gone drinking with him once so far. It was supposed to just be with his assistants, but he randomly showed up at the bar and downed a bottle of sake. On a related note, did you know he's tone deaf?"

Sute just groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No, I did not. Let me guess, he sings when he's drunk."

"Apparently he usually doesn't, but his brother goaded him into it. It was... interesting."

"Fascinating," Sute drawled, voice dripping with sarcasm, and Shiromi snickered. Before either of them could continue the sound of voices and clatter of wood and metal drifted their way, and their gazes automatically trailed to the path below. Through the barren tree branches Sute could see two white-cloaked figures walking along the path at a sedate pace, soon trailed by a cart drawn by a horse. Two more covered carts followed, their contents quietly clanking together as they traversed the bumpy mountain road while more cloaked figures walked alongside them.

The caravan.

When Sute turned back to Shiromi she found the older kunoichi looking at her once more, her dark eyes sharp and expression as cold as the element she commanded. "You really shouldn't try anything," she remarked, her voice almost eerily flat. Gone was the casual and almost friendly tone, replaced by stoic professionalism and an air of danger. "I guarantee, no matter who is here as backup, it will not end well for you."

"I know," Sute replied just as flatly. "I think we established you have the full environmental advantage right now." Shiromi eyed her before slowly nodding, though she clearly remained guarded and on edge, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"I don't get why you're still doing this," she commented, and Sute frowned.

"Doing what?"

"Working for Kiri. I saw the way you froze up all those years ago, the way you freeze even now when I mention the mokuton." Sute stiffened reflexively at the mention, her minute tenseness not passing Shiromi's notice. "You're afraid of anyone finding out about it even now. I can understand feeling too young to survive alone during the war, but by now you should be strong and skilled enough to live on your own if you leave."

"It's not just Kiri I have to fear," Sute replied evenly. "The mokuton is infinitely more valuable than the hyoton. It's the power of the First Hokage, the so-called 'God of Shinobi' himself. No one else in history had it, not even his children. It's a one-of-a-kind power that people will give anything to attain."

And in the end, that was the true crux of her dilemma. Being born with the mokuton basically doomed her to a life of scrutiny and attention. Kiri might kill her for it, but other villages would surely want that power for their own forces. One only had to look at Orochimaru, and the Leaf ANBU who was the sole survivor of his attempts to infuse the First Hokage's DNA into infant children just to get that power.

People from all over the world would hunt her once her mokuton became well known, which made her situation infinitely more tricky than all the other defectors from Kiri.

Shiromi seemed to understand even if Sute didn't say any of that out loud, nodding along with a soft hum. "Yes, I can see how your situation is different. But you don't have to do it alone." Her words naturally caught Sute's attention, her guard instantly going up as she huffed.

"Is this the part where you try to convince me to betray my teammates and join you right now?" she asked dryly, but Shiromi shook her head, a faintly amused smile playing across her lips.

"No, I don't expect you to do it now. Frankly, I wouldn't trust you if you did suddenly agree right now. Making an alliance in the middle of a mission is just asking for one of us to double-cross the other." Smart woman, Sute thought dryly. "I would like to team up with you someday, but obviously that is not today."

"Then what are you getting at?" Sute pressed, arching an eyebrow. "Because this is definitely not just casual conversation." Shiromi smiled at that, head tilting slightly to the side.

"Have you ever wondered about your family?" she asked, and Sute fell completely silent.