"Sleeping peacefully,
The girl I used to be,
Until I fell so deep,
A never-ending tragedy,"
-Circles, splediferachie
The border separating Rain, Grass, and Fire was a long, winding road, wide enough to fit two full carts side by side. It split three ways.
Rain country was behind us, the swampland slowly turning to wet, flat land the closer we got to the road. The road that way wasn't gravel but dirt.
Grass country was to the left, fire on our right. Both sides of the road were bordered by grass that stretched up to my knees. I watched a patch on my left rustle.
"It's a snake," Naga murmured. "All this noise must keep it off the road, and it's a natural defense if anyone steps off it."
A civilian man kept his head lowered as he walked past us, the opposite way. I watched him tighten his grip on the strings of a backpack over his shoulder.
The high grass on the left side gave way to hills with edges like steep cliffs. I could see the start of watery rice fields halfway up the hills and rows and rows of planted crops. A shinobi stood at the edge of another, watching us.
A wood house sat on top of a hill between fields.
An outpost, maybe.
I couldn't see the symbol on his headband but, "I thought Kusagakure didn't have shinobi."
Naga followed my gaze. "That's why," he said. "They use all the shinobi they have left to guard the fields from people who'd steal or destroy them."
I could just barely make out a person-shaped outline far off to my left, next to another field.
"This whole area used to be tall grass until the war," Naga murmured, quieter as a cart was pulled past us. "Even if they stop growing rice now, a lot of the land underneath was damaged by over farming. Fujiwara wanted us to send earth-style shinobi to help with that, but we don't have enough."
"You have one. Right next to you," Namekuji pointed out, peeking out from under his collar.
"She can't do it alone," he said back.
"But she could help."
Naga didn't answer.
I thought about offering, and I thought about what Yahiko said about taking everything from Fujiwara if he didn't keep to the deal. "We'll see," I said.
The shinobi up there must've thought we were missing-nin. Why else wouldn't we wear headbands? Why have weapon pouches if we were civilians?
Technically we weren't shinobi. Technically we were.
I smiled up at them and waved.
Alarmed, Naga pulled my hand down. A woman sucked in, shuffling away from us, walking faster down the road. The shinobi didn't react, but their hand moved down to the pouch at their side.
"Why do you want to give me a heart attack?" Naga whisper-hissed.
"Huh. Still no killing intent," Namekuji noted.
I shrugged. "I was being friendly."
Naga sighed at me. "Don't antagonize our allies."
Maybe if I thought they were.
.
.
.
The road ended with a crater, a hole filled with scorched rocks and half-buried red flak jackets. A civilian could go around, but it would take longer. A shinobi could leap over, but it would waste a lot of chakra.
I crouched at the edge. I knew there would be traps hidden in the grass, buried on the other side of the road, or waiting in the hole for someone to think to climb across.
"I don't sense anything," Naga murmured.
"The human that left traps here didn't leave chakra behind," Namekuji said.
There could've been traps under me, but I didn't think so. The best way to catch a shinobi in a trap was to make them think they were safe.
And Amegakure and Iwagakure-Kusagakure were both Konohagakure's enemies in the last war. Maybe even the one before that.
"Do you think someone will come and disarm them?" I asked.
The war was over.
"I'm not sure," Naga answered, hesitant.
We had peace.
I didn't respond.
"We'll head back and go off the road near the border," Naga said.
The road was empty, except for us.
I stood, stared down into the crater for another second or two, then turned away.
平和
Naga stopped suddenly on a thick branch, sucking in through his teeth. His eyes widened. His knees were bent like he'd been about to jump.
I landed next to him. "Naga?"
"Shit," he breathed, then changed directions. He pushed more chakra into each leap, landing so hard he left footprints or cracked the wood.
Something he sensed. Something bad enough to make him curse.
I palmed a kunai as I followed him, tilting my head towards Namekuji on my shoulder.
"He sensed the shinobi your one-armed sensei found," he answered.
I stared at him at that. Why were they in Fire?
"Three humans are following them. One of them was there the day that crowd showed up," he added.
Someone Mamoru-sensei didn't recognize. Someone both Naga and Namekuji passed off as civilian.
Naga shot out of a tree, left marks where he hit the dirt, and ran. He didn't glance at the body peeking out from behind a tree, but I did.
A black hood covered her face. Half-dry blood soaked the grass beneath her.
Was this better? Was this the 'right choice'?
Naga didn't look at the sack on the ground as he passed it. There was a hole in the middle, crushed paddy spilling out.
If Root didn't find out and we were hated, would it end like this, too?
A red puddle with a detached leg in the middle. Grass flattened by wheel tracks.
I wondered, again, if this was peace?
He didn't glance at the kunai marks down the side of a tree or the body slumped against the base of another, shuriken having torn bloody holes through her cloak.
Would the civilians have turned on us, too? Would mistrust have created another civil war in Amegakure?
A dead man on his side, hood down, stiff hands clutching his side.
The war was over. The fighting would never stop. There were no battlefields. Only small, bloody conflicts like this one. No more kids sent out to fight. Except as mercenaries, like me. Except for 'missions' where they had to fight and kill.
Was it enough to call Konan's dream for Amegakure 'peace'? Even if we sent shinobi out on missions and they died?
Naga followed the tracks until a felled tree stood in our path. It was one of the bigger ones with branches that were almost thick enough to be trees.
Climbing on top, I spotted Kanae. She stood in front of a wagon full of brown sacks, a kunai in hand as she faced three members of Root. Her left arm was limp at her side. She dressed like a civilian, but her tan shirt ripped and stained with blood. Brown hair cut shorter than when she left. Her chest heaved, her expression grim.
The tree had been brought down on purpose to push them deeper into Fire country.
On the ground, away from Kanae and the wagon, Shinnai pushed himself back with his right hand. His left was pressed against his stomach and blood leaked through his fingers.
What if Mamoru-sensei was wrong? What if peace really didn't exist?
One of the cloaked shinobi stood back, watching the other two. He saw us first, shouting a warning before I thought to move. "South, reinforcements!"
The Root member standing over Shinnai spun, hands raising together in the tiger sign. She shot three small fireballs at us.
Naga, frowning deeply, made the dog sign.
I stepped in front of him.
I saw Kanae's eyes widen at us, Shinnai throw shuriken at the back of the fire user, and then they were obscured by flames. The ground took on an orange hue, grass turning brown under the heat.
I raised my left hand. The first and second collided in a blinding flare against my palm, fire bending around me and charring the bark in front of me.
Naga leapt up as fire chakra was pulled backwards into my palm, clashing kunai with the Root shinobi who warned his friends.
"That's the asshole," Namekuji said.
I stared up at the shinobi as the third fireball shrunk, chakra warming my coils. I watched him shove my brother back and land sideways on a tree.
You'd let them all starve.
Kanae, Shinnai, and the Root shinobi were frozen, staring at me in shock.
I made the tiger sign and shot three fireballs back at the fire user who'd dodged Shinnai's shuriken, forcing her further away him.
Her hands flew back up in the tiger sign again, a second before a wave of water crashed down on the fireballs before they hit. The fire user threw her arms up in front of her face as fire hissed and steamed as it was put out and I glanced at Naga as he stopped his jutsu, standing next to the base of a tree.
The why was answered when, in seconds, the area was filled with thick steam. If the fire user had responded with their own fire, it would've made an explosion. And I remembered where we were.
In Amegakure, everyone was used to the sounds of war. Here, someone would come investigate.
"The asshole is still on that tree," Namekuji said.
I leapt at him, holding up my kunai. I heard Shinnai's wince, Kanae's panting, but the Root shinobi didn't make a sound.
"Aim southeast—not that far east—"
I sliced down, my kunai hitting skin as he dodged away from me. And then it felt like I was falling, like the tree had disappeared and the ground turned as weightless as air.
"Kai," I said, making the dispelling sign, but the feeling didn't go away.
Flaring my chakra didn't work either. The feeling persisted, but the genjutsu was like a second layer of reality that didn't fit right. A playing card from a different deck.
Maybe it was too strong to break, but I could separate the feelings I knew weren't real.
I felt something off behind me and ducked, hearing a gasp as his kunai cut air. He hastily leapt back as I turned, but not fast enough to stop my kunai from splitting open his cloak and leaving a shallow cut across his stomach.
I was disoriented, but I didn't move as the ground splashed up around me like water and I fell straight through. I wondered if I could absorb genjutsu. It used chakra, just like ninjutsu.
"None of them have much chakra left," Namekuji told me.
"Do you think I could absorb genjutsu?" I asked.
Namekuji answered by dropping off my shoulder.
I smiled and concentrated on absorbing any chakra I was touching, ignoring traces of Naga's chakra in the steam as it was pulled in. I felt foreign chakra in my head, sticking to my coils like a stain. It resisted when I tried to mix it into my chakra, like mixing water and oil. It was like trying to grab air.
I vaguely heard Namekuji shoot acid, a hiss and a curse as the asshole dodged. The feeling of falling wavered when I tugged, but the chakra stuck to my senses. My head started to ache.
I needed somewhere to direct it, something for the chakra to cling to after I absorbed it. The steam was clearing, and I stared at the shinobi's shape as he ran down the tree towards me. He thought the genjutsu worked.
I made the rat sign with one hand, directed my chakra at him like Mamoru-sensei always did to me, and watched the asshole's red eyes narrow. He dodged acid as I pressed my left hand against my forehead, thinking that I wanted him to feel like he was falling, too.
The chakra unstuck as he leapt at me, kunai in hand. It rode the wave of chakra I sent at him like the wind and then I couldn't feel it anymore. But I saw the asshole's face freeze, surprise making his eyes shoot open, and I stepped neatly out of the way as he fell past me.
He tried to recover, feet searching for the purchase of the tree, hands making the dispelling sign, but he fell too fast.
I crouched as he hit the ground loud enough that the birds above us scattered and held out my hand to Namekuji. The sound distracted the fire user for a split second. It was enough time for Naga to slit her throat.
Slime coated my fingers. "Your chakra tastes worse," he told me.
And I laughed.
I straightened and saw the last member of Root facing Naga and Kanae. He or she was hunched, kunai held up, trying to back away.
You almost killed our village and you didn't think twice about it.
I lifted my right hand. They jerked forward suddenly, and Naga threw a kunai. They dropped.
I jumped down as Naga stared at his hands and sighed.
Kanae's look reminded me of the way the bearded man stared at me when I came back from Antei alive. I pulled another kunai out and tossed it at the back of the asshole, driving it down with my foot to make sure he was dead.
Kanae looked back at the cart. A back wheel had broken off and an unmarked sack hung over the side, ripped down the middle, paddy on the ground. It had been stepped on during the fight. She sagged. "If you hadn't come..." she trailed off.
Walking closer, I saw that Naga's hands were clean. They didn't shake.
"Lord Yahiko received our message then?" Kanae asked tiredly. She went to Shinnai and knelt in front of him, pulling his hand away from his stomach so she could rip his shirt to look at a deep cut and tanned skin.
Naga's head jerked up like he'd forgotten them.
"Message?" I asked.
Kanae faltered, pulling too hard, and Shinnai grimaced. "I see."
"I'll take care of him," Naga said to Kanae. She moved back and he took her place.
"Thank you, Lord Nagato. Lady Oka," Shinnai managed, trying to sit up.
Naga pushed him back down.
Lady?
"I sent Lord Yahiko a hawk when I first suspected we were being watched in Kusagakure," Kanae explained. "It returned without my missive but was unharmed, so I assume it was delivered. I brought it up with Lord Fujiwara, but he had no escort to send back with us. I sent another a week ago when our tail followed us from the village. A third for desperate aid a day ago."
"Yahiko didn't get them," I told her.
He would've come here himself if he had.
She looked grim.
"You have a hawk summon?" I asked.
Shinnai, biting down on his torn shirt, cried out through the fabric as Naga's hands glowed green.
"It's a common summon," she deflected. "Many nations have them. Some even breed them for personal use."
I dropped Namekuji on my brother's shoulder and he slithered down to the wound. "Why were you in Fire Country?"
Kanae frowned. "Seven of them watched us in Kusagakure, but only two followed us. The others were waiting for us at the Grass-Rain border. We had no choice but to detour northwest through Fire. We didn't have a chance to change our disguises before they turned aggressive."
I looked at the paddy in the dirt and thought of all the food Root wasted.
"Make a clone," Naga said to me, eyes on Shinnai. "I don't think Root will attack again, but in case they do, our clones can help them. We can't go with them back to the village. We have our own mission and already lost hours backtracking."
I made the snake sign with one hand, pushed chakra into the dirt under my feet, and watched the earth rise in front of me, a lump twisting itself into my shape. Color bled into it until I was staring at a replica of myself.
Kanae looked uneasily at the clone. "We couldn't before, but we should head back to Kusagakure. Tell Lord Fujiwara of Konohagakure's interference and—"
"That'll give them time to send another team," Naga said absently. "It's better to salvage this and bring back what you can. Yahiko will want to know."
Shinnai went limp. My clone crouched in front of the wagon, inspecting the broken wheel.
"What do you think he'll do?" I asked.
Naga didn't answer right away. "We've been ignoring Root for a long time. The priority was on finding a way to feed everyone, but we can't keep looking the other way," he sighed. "Once he knows what happened, I think he'll be angry."
Yahiko's anger was quiet, but relentless.
Kanae still looked skeptical. It would take them days to recover enough to fight again. Our clones would have stand between them and death until then.
"Naga's clone can use Sage Mode," I told her.
"They—They can't," Naga immediately denied, surprise pitching his voice high. "Not on their own. They'd need to be made with water chakra and natural energy."
Kanae frowned again, eyeing my clone and the wagon.
"I'll give half my chakra to my clone," Naga assured her.
Kanae's expression didn't change, but she didn't know how much chakra Naga had.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"They have to make it to the village, Oka," Naga murmured. "My chakra will come back. This chance—we might not have another if Konohagakure gets fully involved."
I hummed. "Then Namekuji should go too."
"No," Namekuji said instantly, on Shinnai's stomach.
"You can tell Yahiko instantly if they need help. No one else can," I said.
Namekuji stared at me, then turned to Kanae. "Learn to run faster," he told her.
Her expression didn't change.
"Yahiko won't question you if you tell him what happened," Naga said quietly, but not quiet enough for Kanae not to have heard.
Yahiko will believe you, he meant.
Her frown deepened. "We risked our lives and you still don't trust us?"
Naga didn't look up. "I trust you both, but only so much," he finally said. "Would you if you were in my place? Mamoru-sensei vouched for you, but Root is good at this. Infiltration, deception. Too many people want us dead on both sides for me to not be careful."
Kanae's expression smoothed over, as unreadable as stone. "Hanzo, for all he did, was a deeply charismatic man. Some shinobi are cruel or don't care for civilians, but the majority who still oppose you only found meaning in their lives through serving Hanzo. It wasn't his strength that earned our devotion, but his ability to make us believe everything he did was genuinely for the betterment of the village, even when, to outsiders, it seemed obvious it wasn't. To them you took away their purpose, their hope, their reason to live. That kind of adoration runs deep, but if they were made to understand that their loyalty harmed the village..." she trailed off.
Naga leaned back, chakra fading around his hands. He didn't speak. He only pressed on Shinnai's stomach with his fingers, testing the new skin.
Yahiko could do it, I thought.
He made Kanae reconsider what she believed about Hanzo. If he wanted, if we captured our would-be-assassins instead of killed them, he could try and do the same to them. He might fail with one or two, but Yahiko had his own charisma.
He could, but he didn't want to anymore. At least not intentionally. Yahiko told my brother so himself when he said it wasn't up to him to help the world.
"No," I said.
Kanae looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. "No?"
"We don't owe anyone a purpose. People who try and kill us don't deserve kindness because they might change," I told her.
Naga sucked in quietly but didn't look at all surprised.
Kanae's expression cracked, just like stone. Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "They believe themselves to be right the same way you do. It's misguided, but all of them think that by putting someone else in power the village would be better off."
"So what?" I asked.
Kanae stared at me.
"It's not Yahiko's job to change people who don't want to be changed," I told her. I looked up at the sky, at the fluffy clouds that reminded me of Amegakure. "If they die, they die. That's just how it is."
Kanae's stare was different. It reminded me more of the civilians that had been in front of our hideout now, who stared at me and my brother in confusion and fear.
.
.
.
"Wolf," Naga mentioned later, when we were alone, after Kanae and Shinnai left his sensory range. He sat on a branch with his legs dangling over the side.
Sunset dyed the entire forest orange. Red-yellow leaves were piled on the ground.
Namekuji went with them. The last thing he said to me was, Last time you left me with someone, you humans died.
I could've promised him we wouldn't, promised that Naga would summon him if we needed him, but I didn't. Konan promised him her paper for a week, and she couldn't keep it. It would only make both of us sad if I had.
I couldn't say Naga would summon him if he thought Shinnai and Kanae needed him more.
I only smiled at him because it was all I could do.
Stretched out across the branch next to him, hands behind my head, I watched the sun drift lower in the sky. "Yahiko said it first."
"He didn't say it about a specific group of people," Naga said back.
I didn't respond right away. I watched the sun dip a little more. "You and Yahiko cared too much and it hurt you both," I spoke. "I don't want either of you to feel like that again. That's all."
Naga paused at that. "Is that why you told Yahiko that he doesn't have to be a role model?"
Naga saw Yahiko at his worst, but only in bits and pieces. He hadn't been there when Yahiko cried or heard him admit that all the expectations people had of him had been too much.
"You shouldn't have told them I had Sage Mode," he mused when I took too long to answer.
"Assassins might target you because you're a medic-nin. Maybe they won't try now."
Naga looked at me and sighed. "You want them to target you, Yahiko, or Mamoru-sensei instead."
Dark blue started to bleed through the clouds. "I don't want them to. But I don't know what I'd do if you died, Naga."
"You have to trust that I can protect myself, Oka."
I sat up. "Says you."
Naga's eyes widened at the irony of his words, and then he laughed.
A/N: 平和 - Peace.
A /problem/ arises when you create a path that can absorb any and all chakra when nearly every technique uses chakra in some way.
I only learned the Land of Rice was A Thing recently, and because it seems to be anime-only and I thought of the grass-having-rice thing before I knew about that, I'll throw it in the filler bin and pretend it doesn't exist.