riiiiiiight...
before y'all throw anything at me, i realise it has been a while (2.5 months...oops) but i just want to assure those who had worried that i did not forget about this story.
it's been a crazy few months for me, and between writer's block, finalising all the details for my placement year, managing a part-time job alongside my studies and turning 20, i simply didnt have enough time to properly sit down and write.
for that same reason, i still havent contacted anyone who volunteered to be my translation beta for french - realistically, that will probably happen only around mid-may, so if your availability changes or you no longer wish to beta, i'll completely understand.
thank you also to all of you who volunteered for spanish! i've actually found a beta for spanish already, but seeing how multicultural the readers for this little story of mine are really warmed my heart.
also, writer's block is a bitch. i know every writer who is not Stephen King will have experienced it at one point or another in their writing career but just. it bears repeating. fuck writer's block. it made this chapter take twice as long as it should've, despite being 9k long.
now, about this chapter! it did turn out to be more of a filler in the end, but it dug me out of the hole i'd written myself into, and sets us up nicely for the conclusion of this story, which should be in the next 5 to 7 chapters!
and, once again, fuck Kaguya.
also, if anyone has recommendations for what to do in Berlin/Tuscany, hit ya girl up! i'm going travelling next week and am open to suggestions!
love you all!
EDIT: ALSO I just remembered but!
The Yuki/Saku spinoff is up and running! It's called "wish fulfilment"!
Once the Kage Summit had been concluded, it didn't take long for everybody to wrap up their affairs and go their separate ways.
Apart from Kumo, that was.
A had insisted on accompanying Tsunade to Konohagakure, having sent Shi back to Kumo with the rest of the Kage entourage while Darui stayed and travelled alongside A and the Konoha contingent.
"More expedient that way." A had grunted at Tsunade's raised eyebrow, and fell silent, occasionally speaking with Darui in some harsh, throaty dialect Sakura assumed must've been native to Kumo, since she only managed to catch every other word.
All in all, the journey back to Konoha was quiet, cold, and tense, but when they arrived, the real hell began.
Kakashi was waiting at the Gates when they stepped into the Village, and behind him, Sakura glimpsed the familiar spiky head of Kotetsu, and her ears just about caught Izumo's put-upon sigh. Unbidden, a smile came to her face, as she made eye-contact with the brunet, and though she carefully kept her hand at her side, she raised her fingers and wiggled them in a little wave, getting a considerably more enthusiastic one back.
"Welcome back, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi greeted, then turned to A and offered the man a shallow bow and a considerably frostier, "Welcome to Konohagakure, Raikage." And Sakura barely stifled a wince.
For her, it was a distant memory, but by the way Shikamaru stiffened at her side, he too was remembering the ordeal with Ao's stolen Byakugan. If that was how the Village had reacted to a single shinobi's crime during wartime, how would the populace deal with having the Kage of a Village who had tried to kidnap a Clan Heir and led to the death of a Hyuuga Clan Elder meandering around?
Not well, was her guess.
And though A just scoffed at the greeting, it didn't escape Sakura's notice that his and Darui's postures straightened noticeably, while their gazes became more guarded, watchful.
"Good to be back." Tsunade replied simply, either ignorant to or pretending ignorance to the tension between her Hokage-regent and the foreign Kage at her side. "Haruno, Nara, show Darui-san to what's left of the Ambassadors' quarters, then consider yourselves dismissed."
Sakura and Shikamaru both offered quick, grateful 'hai, Tsunade-sama's, both exhausted after the journey and with more questions than answers that they couldn't wait to run past each other. Darui seemed to be engaged in a rapid-fire exchange with A, and Sakura noticed Kakashi's frown as he undoubtedly tried to parse through the accent-heavy dialect, but she ignored it for the time being and instead, took the time to study her partner.
Seeing the frown lines that had writ themselves deep into Shikamaru's forehead and the shadows under his eyes, Sakura felt a pang of sympathy for the teen, followed by another that felt a lot like affection.
She reached out to subtly hook her pinky finger with his and squeezed lightly. Shikamaru jolted, startled, then offered her a tired smile and rearranged their hands so all their fingers were intertwined, not just their pinkies, and turned when Darui and A seemed to have finished conversing.
The duo waited only long enough to make sure Darui was on-board and following them before they took off in the direction of the Ambassadors' quarters, hand in hand.
Along the way, Sakura realised that Konoha really hadn't changed that much since her childhood.
They'd arrived early, only a little after dawn, so the streets were empty save for the few vendors setting up their stalls for later in the day; even the reconstruction efforts hadn't picked up again yet, though Sakura noticed that a lot more of the Village had been rebuilt than before they'd left. Nevertheless, those who were awake and paid enough attention to spot their unusual charge paused in what they were doing and regarded Darui with blatant distrust.
Whether it was the man's skin tone, so different from the Land of Fire's peach tones, his Kumo-standard flak-jacket, or the bold tattoos on clear display on his upper arms, Darui caught and held the attention of the few citizens who paid him heed.
Whether he was truly deserving of the disdain Sakura could read on every other face, she wasn't sure – barring Konoha's tumulus history with Kumo, the man had been nothing if not professional or politely curt the few times he'd addressed them over the course of their journey.
Regardless, the glares and whispers seemed to slide off him like water off a duck's back, and the clear hostility in the air didn't stop him from rumbling out a question a few minutes later, when they passed through a neighbourhood the reconstruction efforts hadn't reached yet.
"The hell happened here?" He asked, regarding the totalled buildings and piles of rubble with an odd mix of curiosity and consternation.
"Pein." Sakura and Shikamaru answered in unison, traded wry smiles, and kept walking. Tsunade had explained what Pein's Invasion had cost Konoha at the Summit in more detail than they felt had been strictly necessary, so they didn't feel the need to elaborate. Plus, Darui had been there. He would know.
He grunted in acknowledgement, and something shifted in his posture, but Sakura had neither the energy nor the will to analyse what.
Finally, they reached the Ambassador's quarters, and while Shikamaru patiently explained, in as few words as possible, what Darui was allowed to do and what the layout of the building provided, Sakura considered where they could go from there.
"I can hear you thinking." Shikamaru informed her wryly, startling her out of her musings and making her realise that she'd fallen into a light doze while waiting for him to finish. "Out with it."
Sakura sighed, raked her hand through her hair, yanking on her hairband till it fell around her in sweaty, matted waves and glanced around to make sure Darui was well and truly gone.
"I don't want to go home." She admitted at last, toying with the hairband, pulling it into a mock cat's-cradle, and adamantly avoiding meeting Shikamaru's eyes. "It's better, Genma and I are…we're better, but it's still- I'm too tired to try and navigate this new facet of our dynamic and I don't want to say something- I just want to rest." She settled on at last, letting out an exhausted sigh.
Shikamaru was quiet for so long Sakura ended up biting the bullet and looked up, but all she was met with was a wry half-smile and a gaze full of understanding.
"I think our old room here got destroyed, but I doubt Tsunade-sama will mind if we just claim another one." He announced, a propos nothing, and Sakura was simultaneously frozen in shock and so relieved she could've kissed him. "We can call it 'keeping an eye on Darui' if she asks."
Despite herself, Sakura laughed. "From two floors up?" she asked disbelievingly, but obligingly made her way up the stairs to the third-floor quarters.
"Sssh. Let's not concern ourselves with details."
Half an hour later, when she stepped out of the bathroom, hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in joggers and a blue sweater, wisps of steam curling in the air behind her, she felt like a new woman.
She smiled at Shikamaru when she noticed that he'd pushed the two single beds together while he'd waited for his turn in the shower, and her heart soared when she spotted the inviting pile of bedding he'd undoubtedly stolen from other rooms piled on top of their bed.
"I love you." She breathed, then she let herself fall face-first into the nest of blankets and cushions.
She was out like a light within five seconds of her head hitting the pillow, and missed Shikamaru's floored expression.
Shikaku looked up when the door to the Hokage's office opened and Kakashi walked in, breathing a sigh of relief when Tsunade followed. His eyes widened, however, at the person who stepped into the room behind Tsunade, then snapped immediately to his assistant.
Neji had frozen in place, the paper he'd held in his hand caught in the middle of its path to the top of the ever-growing pile of paperwork, his lilac eyes wide and trained on the Raikage's distinct Kumo armour and Kage hat.
Not good.
"Tsunade-sama." Shikaku managed at last, hoping both Kage were too travel-worn to notice the delayed greeting, though judging by the sharp look he got from Kakashi, his lapse didn't escape the jounin's notice. "Glad to have you back."
He was going to address the Raikage as well, but he caught movement in his periphery, and realised that Neji had finally unfrozen and finally put the piece of paper he'd been holding down, his eyes downcast.
It was only then that Shikaku noticed the teen's other hand, balled into a tight fist at the small of his back, knuckles white with tension, while blood dripped from the inside of his fist where his nails were undoubtedly digging deep into the meat of his palm.
"Neji," Shikaku murmured, absently registering Kakashi getting scolded by Tsunade for the piles of paperwork they'd left for her and sending a quiet thanks to the other jounin for distracting the two Kage from the Hyuuga by his side.
Neji jerked, his gaze snapping to meet Shikaku's, and the Nara felt something in his chest clench and the sheer rage and despair in the boy's eyes. The rage, however, seemed to be winning.
"Your cousin wanted to see you." He improvised, mildly worried when his words didn't even warrant an imperious raised-eyebrow from the Hyuuga. "Take the day off." He pressed, opting for clarity over subtlety, and saw when his intention registered with the teen.
Neji took a deep, steadying breath, and slowly relaxed his fist.
Almost as if the motion triggered it, Shikaku released a shaky sigh, and realised the clenched weight in his chest had been an effect of the stifling pressure of Neji's chakra that had reacted to his emotions.
Neji opened his mouth, but his eyes strayed to the Raikage and he shut it so sharply Shikaku almost winced. Instead, Neji's fingers curled into the jounin-standard sign for 'sure?' and Shikaku nodded, relieved to not receive any resistance.
With a final jerky bow and a signed 'thank you', the Hyuuga was out of the office with a swish of his kimono and without a single glance back at the Kage.
Shikaku resisted the urge to sag with relief and looked up – Tsunade's amber eyes were trained on the door, and when they flickered to him, he knew his stunt didn't go unnoticed.
Troublesome.
When Sakura next opened her eyes, the sun was up and streaming determinedly through the window, and the shadows were long enough she reckoned it must have been past noon.
She yawned and stretched with a satisfied groan, letting her legs tangle in the nest of blankets and relishing in the remnants of the body heat trapped in the layers.
"Awake at last?" an amused voice drifted over to her, and Sakura raised her head and blinked blearily up at Shikamaru, who was sitting up, back propped against the headboard and a scroll spread over his lap.
"Mm," she managed, words temporarily beyond her while her brain was in the rebooting stage, "'ime?"
"You've been asleep for thirty hours." Shikamaru informed her, his words matter-of-fact, but his voice ringing with stifled laughter and a hint of schadenfreude.
"Eugh," Sakura groaned, letting her head thump back against the pillow. "Felt good though."
"You do realise most people would call this a coma, right?" Shikamaru asked, and now he wasn't even bothering with holding back his laughter, his body shaking the mattress as he chuckled.
"Pfft." Sakura attempted to wave him off, but her motor skills were clearly not up-and-running yet, and she ended up smacking herself in the nose. "Plebeians."
Shikamaru's snort was violent enough to knock the scroll off his lap, and he dissolved into laughter and sagged down on the bed beside her.
They would have to get up eventually.
Not just yet, though.
/
Even though they had arrived to Konoha at the break of dawn, it took Tsunade until noon to pacify the Raikage enough to send him to his quarters to rest, with a reassurance that they would properly talk business the next morning.
It took another two hours for her to parse through the 'brief' summary from Shikaku and Kakashi of what she'd missed – a proposal from Suna for an Academy-student exchange, from Ebizo of all people! Not to mention that Naruto had apparently taken her advice to heart and, if Kakashi was to be believed, had teamed up with the Gai's female student and was in the process of writing a petition to give children in the orphanage the option of pursuing the civilian education path, instead of signing them all up to the Academy in hopes of getting them out of the system all that much sunned.
Then, she was finally free to leave the tower, although 'free' might've been an overstatement considering the literal armful of reports, petitions, complaints and mission logs she had to get through.
Once in her restored, private Senju quarters, she had the time and presence of mind to change from her travel attire and grab a cup of instant ramen before she collapsed at her desk, the paperwork looming before her promising a good six hours of hell.
With a sigh, she put her head down and got to work.
She didn't look up again until it was already dark outside, and even then, it wasn't because she'd finished, no – she sensed a disturbance in the wards of the Senju compound.
More specifically, within the Forest of Death.
Tsunade knew the stories, because she'd been alive when they were common knowledge – the Forest had started out normal, and by virtue of being less than a hundred metres from her front door, it became Hashirama's personal backyard to work off grief and the frustrations of Hokageship. The combination of Mokuton and uncontrolled chakra gave birth to the looming, gnarly and twisted trees, and the oversaturation of natural energy in the air added to the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere of the forest's unique climate, creating the enormous caterpillars and bugs that infested it.
And while Tsunade hadn't inherited the Mokuton, she had inherited enough sensitivity to natural chakra to be a great med-nin, and to sense where it had been disturbed.
She cracked her knuckles and waited, while a quick glance at the clock on the wall told her it was already past midnight, making her suspicion grow.
No one, not even Anko, would be in the Forest of Death at this hour.
Then her blood ran cold when she sensed someone making their way through the traps in the back-garden with the ease of long-practise and familiarity. There were only two people still alive who were capable of that, and one of them would know better than to show up unannounced.
So when Orochimaru pushed open the door to her study and slid in with all his trademark serpentine grace and shinobi soundlessness, Tsunade was far more bemused than surprised.
"To what do I owe this visit?" she asked dryly, arching an eyebrow at her old teammate. Although little over a month had passed since she'd last seen him, he managed to look less gaunt, less haunted, and somehow, more regal than ever. "I had the impression you couldn't wait to be out of Konoha."
"You can't have truly thought I would accept your proposed imposition on my lands without first negotiating some terms, Tsunade." Orochimaru replied, equally dryly, and made his way further into the room, apparently reassured he wasn't going to get attacked.
Tsunade sighed and pushed the paperwork aside in favour of resting her elbow on the desk and her chin in her hand. "No." she agreed. "But I did hope you'd have more tact than to ambush me in my home, Orochimaru."
"Ambush?" the raven asked, a corner of his mouth tilting up infinitesimally as he slowly approached the desk and the chair across from Tsunade. "I could always come back tomorrow if you prefer, when your two regents and the Raikage will be more than happy to make this ten times more difficult than it need be."
Tsunade stared him down for all of three seconds then grumbled unintelligibly and waved at the chair. "I hate you sometimes. Sit down, and out with it. What do you want?"
"I want details." Orochimaru said immediately, frank and business-like, and his distaste of 'beating around the bush' was so familiar Tsunade almost smiled. "And, frankly, I want to know how you managed to persuade anyone to send the shinobi world's most powerful weapons to my den."
"You know the details." She replied wearily, pulling out a bottle and a cup from the bottom drawer of her desk. "And you know I can't give you any reassurances now. I can only venture what Konoha might be willing to offer as an incentive."
Orochimaru bared his teeth, visibly unimpressed, but nodded reluctantly, accepting the words left unsaid with poor grace, but accepting them nonetheless.
Tsunade released a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.
"And the mastermind behind this madness?"
At that, Tsunade snorted. She uncapped the bottle, filled the cup half-way, and pushed it towards Orochimaru while she took a drink directly from the bottle itself.
"'Mastermind of the madness'." She repeated and raised the bottle in a toast. "That's about right." After another drink, she sighed. "Sometimes I do worry for how their minds work."
"Their?"
"My little Ambassadors. Nara and Haruno. They seesaw between genius and insanity to the point I can't tell the difference between the two most of the time." Tsunade admitted, taking another swig and raising an eyebrow at Orochimaru's sudden delight.
"So Uchiha was right? His precious genin teammate suggested this?" he asked, reaching out and wrapping delicate fingers – which Tsunade knew had snapped necks before – around the ceramic cup and bringing it to his lips, no doubt to hide the curl of a satisfied smile that had appeared.
"She did." Tsunade confirmed hesitantly. "Though how the Uchiha knew that, I'd pay to find out." She added, eyes narrowing in suspicion, but Orochimaru waved her off.
"'Knew' is being too kind." He denied, and his eyes glinted in a way that told Tsunade he was about to tread all over the Uchiha's delicate pride. "He fears the girl. And now that his brother is out of the picture, she's his target."
"You mean 'bogeyman'." Tsunade corrected, and delighted in the way Orochimaru's nose scrunched up at the playground term. It was too Jiraiya-esque for him.
"Don't be juvenile, Tsunade-hime." He hissed, grimacing, and his whole demeanour reminded Tsunade of a bird whose feathers have been ruffled. "Now, as for my terms?"
"Oh, you have terms, do you?" Tsunade demanded, biting back a fond smile, knowing it wouldn't be well-received and aware that it really wasn't the correct reaction to Orochimaru's prickly side making an appearance.
"Of course I do." And whether he could read the sudden nostalgia on her face or whether he himself was experiencing the weakness known as the full spectrum of human emotion, Tsunade wasn't sure, but the expression on his face became a little softer.
"'Requests' are for powerless people. And I," he lifted his cup and drained it in one go, then put it down, softly still, but with an air of eerie finality, "am not powerless."
"I know." Tsunade admitted softly, and the glimpse of unadulterated surprise she got at the admission was worth the hell Shikaku and Kakashi were going to give her the next morning. Then she steeled herself and levelled Orochimaru with a flat glare. "But before I listen to your endless demands, I need my reassurances. You will take Naruto and the Hachibi in, you will look after them, and you will protect them no matter who comes for them, or there is no deal. Are we clear?"
Bemusedly, and with an impressive scowl, Orochimaru nodded. "We are." He murmured, draining the last of his drink.
With a sigh, Tsunade allowed herself to relax, and soften her voice when she asked;
"Now, your terms?"
In the morning, they would both blame the alcohol and the lack of light, but she could've almost sworn Orochimaru smiled.
When they finally did crawl out of bed, it was only because Sakura could no longer ignore her body's demands for food other than rations, and Shikamaru was starting to accuse her of being a ghoul.
She'd stuck her tongue out, the picture of maturity, and gotten a laugh in response, but she couldn't deny that even Shikamaru had left their den briefly, to go home and change from the Summit gear and touch base with his father. Sakura meanwhile, had determinedly not left their accommodation, sealing everything in her hammerspace seal to avoid the – admittedly long overdue – trip home. She'd also shucked the jinbaori and haori but stuck faithfully to her lilac nagujaban and purple kimono, and sealed Kubikiribocho in favour of her smaller, more inconspicuous wakizashi which she clipped to her thighs.
Once they were finally ready and had settled on a restaurant, Sakura shot down Shikamaru's suggestion to pay for their food; she'd slept for over thirty hours, and before that, had gone almost a week without a proper meal – she was ravenous. With a bit of grumbling, Shikamaru gave in, but it was only after the plates between them piled up almost to eye-level that he agreed she might've had a point.
Food was good. And food after almost a week of rations and whatever rabbit they could hunt down was a transcendent experience.
(Sakura did end up blowing an A-Rank's pay on food, but she found it very difficult to regret.)
Eventually, they managed to leave the restaurant, though Sakura was almost reluctant – she'd become one with the furniture, and was warm and comfortable and sated. Still, she rose as ell and followed Shikamaru out, though she fell a few paces behind when stopped to drop some yen in the tip jar.
With her head blissfully empty and focused on all the good food they'd eaten, Sakura wasn't paying as much attention as she normally would when she stepped out of the establishment. As a result, she bumped into someone, catching her balance almost immediately but not before bouncing off with a quiet 'oof!'.
"Oh, sorry-!" she made to apologise, and the person she'd bumped into – a girl with bright red hair and glasses – opened her mouth to reply, then shut it with a click once she properly noticed Sakura, and stared.
Sakura shifted from foot to foot, suddenly distinctly uncomfortable with the intensity of the other girl's staring, and mentally willed Shikamaru to come to her rescue.
"Can I help you?" she asked at last, when the staring finally got to be too much, and the white-haired teen she belatedly noticed standing behind the girl didn't look like he was going to step in and help.
"You're Sasuke's genin teammate." The girl said at last, and Sakura did a double-take.
Now that her head had cleared some, she realised she had only ever seen that particular colour once, and it was on the pictures Genma had around the house of the Yondaime and Uzumaki Kushina-hime. But how could a girl from Sound…?
Then, the girl's words registered, and Sakura let out with a snort, wincing when it came out a lot more bitter than she'd intended.
"Wow. And here I thought my days of being known as the Uchiha's teammate were behind me." She sighed, the earlier warmth and contentedness gone without a trace at the mention of the Uchiha. "What gave me away?"
"He described you as 'annoying with obnoxious pink hair'." The white-haired teen beside the girl offered with a grin, revealing rows of sharpened teeth, and Sakura suddenly realised that he too looked familiar.
"Huh." She said instead, pushing the familiarity to the back of her mind and focusing on the words instead, unwilling to let herself be distracted in front of unknown Sound shinobi.
"Offended?" he asked, cocking his head, clearly trying to gauge her reaction, and Sakura's eyes flashed unbidden to the headband around his neck.
"Nah." She waved him off, trying to subtly scan the busy market for Shikamaru's distinctive ponytail. "More surprised he knew what 'obnoxious' meant."
The boy's grin grew sharper and he snorted a laugh, tilting his chin in a mimicry of a 'hear, hear!', and Sakura's brain finally made the connection; the white hair, the sharpened teeth, the water bottles around his waist.
Hozuki.
However, if anything, the girl beside him only stared harder at Sakura's declaration.
Unnerved, Sakura drew in a deep breath and held it for a count of three, then released it and met that piercing ruby gaze with her own.
"I don't know what it's like in Oto," she began, deceptively mildly, "but in Konoha, it's rude to stare."
The girl scowled and opened her mouth to retort, but Shikamaru's voice cut her off.
"I don't think I need to remind you that Tsunade-sama won't be impressed if you impulsively pick a fight with Orochimaru's attachés." The Nara's lazy drawl diffused the situation as he appeared by the Hozuki's left side, and Sakura was hit with an almost-overpowering wave of relief. "Honestly, Sakura, I lose sight of you for one minute."
"I wasn't picking a fight!" Sakura denied, grateful for the light-hearted jab as it gave her an excuse to look away from the redhead. "And you partake in my 'impulsiveness' nine out of ten times, so I object to this slander!"
The corner of Shikamaru's lip quirked up even as the rest of his expression was a study in boredom, and the Hozuki seemed to be entertained by their banter.
"Do I really?" Shikamaru drawled, stepping closer. "Do tell."
"Suna." Sakura challenged.
"Law of the jungle; that was eat or be eaten by the crusty Elders. Next."
"Jounin." She added, a mirror to Shikamaru's grin growing on her face.
"Higher pay and less nagging by my mom. Next."
"Ao's Kubikiribocho."
The Hozuki froze.
"Hm." Shikamaru mused, pretending to consider it. "That was your idea, and I wanted sleep, but I see your point."
Before Sakura could go on, the redhead dropped the glare she'd been levelling at her for the past five minutes in favour of a confused look.
"Did you say Kubikiribocho?" she asked, tone hinting at more than slight disbelief.
"Yes?" Sakura replied, hesitant, only to have the Hozuki step right into her space, an intense expression on his face.
"Did you have it?" He demanded, a fervent glint in his eye, and Sakura's mind was whirring while she considered the possible explanations for the sudden interest.
"Yeah." She replied, hedging, then exchanged a covert glance with Shikamaru and added, "But Konoha offered it to Kiri in exchange for one of their jounin's war spoils."
"Does he still have it?" the Hozuki pressed, looking almost like he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake, but seemed to think better of it, for which Sakura was glad. "I'm gonna fight him for it!"
"No, he doesn't." she denied, feeling an idea spark at the back of her mind and stifling a smirk. "He gave it to another one of Kiri's jounin." She added, being intentionally vague.
Hook…
"Does he have it then?"
"No. He traded it for Kusanagi."
Line…
"Kusanagi?! How did Kiri get its hands on that?!"
Sakura allowed herself a small, victorious grin, then admitted:
"Through me."
And sinker.
"You?!"
Shikamaru had turned away, his shoulders shaking slightly in a way that alerted Sakura to the fact that he was desperately stifling laughter.
The redhead, however, seemed to have more sense than Sakura had initially given her credit for, and frowned.
"…Wait." She said, drawing three pairs of eyes onto her. "But if Kiri traded Kubikiribocho for Kusanagi… and you had Kusanagi… does that mean…?"
"That I have Kubikiribocho? Yeah." Sakura agreed easily, if only to see the mix of despair and frustration on the Hozuki's face.
"Couldn't you have opened with that?!" he lamented, glaring, but Sakura could also identify a hint of amusement in the amethyst eyes.
"I could've." Sakura admitted, a grin playing on the corners of her lips while Shikamaru was shamelessly laughing a few metres away. "But what would've been the fun in that?"
The Hozuki gawked, then his eyes narrowed. "I'm going to fight you for it." He announced.
"Mm, no you won't." Sakura denied easily, enjoying the way his eyes widened comically. "I don't mind fighting you, but you're not getting Kubikiribocho off me even if you win."
"You're not even a Kiri-nin!" he exclaimed, looking a step away from wrestling the sword from her by force, and Sakura had had enough.
"Neither are you, Hozuki!" she snapped back, poking an accusing finger at the teen's chest. "That headband around your neck is Sound's, not Kiri's, so while you might've been born one, you're no more a Kiri-nin than your partner!"
"In fact," Shikamaru interjected, sliding smoothly into the conversation, having tamed his laughter to level the Oto-nin with an unimpressed glare. He stepped closer to Sakura and rapped his finger against the Kiri headband tied around her neck, "with us being Ambassadors, we're closer to being Kiri citizens than you are. So. Sakura has considerably more right to that sword, not to mention that it was given to her as a gift."
While the Hozuki opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water at the announcement, his eyes glued to the collection of headbands around Sakura's neck, the redhead scoffed.
"Kiri wouldn't just gift a legendary sword." She said snottily, and Sakura was reminded, not too pleasantly, of herself in the Academy.
She let her lip quirk into a half-smile. "It would if you had good relations with the Mizukage and were friends with its previous owner, who also happened to be the Terror of the Mist."
Apparently, Yuki was notorious even in Oto, because the suspected-Uzumaki shut her mouth with a click.
Feeling like she had provided enough food for thought, Sakura grabbed Shikamaru's sleeve and made to leave, but a cold hand caught her elbow and held.
She turned around, a snarl already curling at her lips, but the expression on Hozuki's face stopped her.
"You knew my name." he murmured, and Sakura was as discomfited by the sudden stillness as she would've been by the concept of Anko whispering. The 'how?' behind his words went unsaid.
Sakura sighed.
"Only your family name. I knew of a 'Hozuki', and you're so similar in appearance you couldn't not have been a relative." She confessed, and the earnest expression on the teen's face dimmed slightly, replaced by what looked more like amused resignation.
"Mangetsu, yeah?" he asked, but it sounded rhetorical even to Sakura's ears.
"Yeah." She agreed. "Did you know him?"
"He was my older brother."
Sakura winced. "My condolences, then." She offered hesitantly, noting the surprise on the teen's face and feeling the need to defend herself. "From what I understand, he was a legend, even amongst a legendary group."
"Yeah, 'could wield all Seven', 'Kijin no Sairai' and all that, I know." He laughed, and Sakura didn't think she was imagining the bitter undercurrent. Then, he grinned, a smile so full of teeth Sakura would've stepped back if she hadn't grown used to and fond of Yuki doing the same. "I'm gonna be better though."
Sakura huffed, amused despite herself. Boys.
"And how do you plan to do that?" she challenged. "Only three of the seven Swords have known owners and the other four disappeared off the surface of the Earth around the same time as your brother."
The Hozuki shrugged. "It doesn't have to be one of the Seven. The one the Raikage's brute is carrying around isn't half-bad either. But I will be the best swordsman in the Elemental Nations." He announced, and Sakura assessed his build with a critical eye. It wasn't a lofty dream, what with his wide-set shoulders and narrow waist and, from what she could see, strong upper arms, but she doubted he had the temperament for a master swordsman.
She kept her observations to herself, and instead offered an amused, "Big dreams."
As if aware of her thought process, he just grinned. "You gotta live for something, hm?" then, that grin grew into something sharper, and Sakura felt Shikamaru tense. "Now, how about that fight, hm?"
It took her a few seconds to realise what the teen was referring to, but when she did, she felt an answering grin blossom on her face, only to freeze at the sharp look Shikamaru shot her.
The Nara seemed to be searching for something in her expression for a few seconds, before he slumped with a sigh, visibly resigned. "Fine." He grouched, and Sakura barely restrained a woop of joy. "But I'm not covering for you if we get called in." Shikamaru threatened, but Sakura was already leaning in to press a loud kiss to his cheek, before stepping over to the Oto-nin, beckoning him to follow with a wave of her hand.
They both ignored the redhead's indignant calls directed at the Hozuki's back.
She was Shikamaru's problem now.
It was fascinating, Sasuke mused, how easily Orochimaru commanded a room.
Fascinating and more than a little terrifying.
He was the Snake Sannin, the S-Rank missing who had invaded and all but levelled Konohagakure not once but twice and was complicit in experimenting on Konoha's orphans to varying results before being cast out.
Yet, with the exception of Kakashi and the sharp-eyed Nara who stood at Tsunade's back, the others were all but eating out of Orochimaru's hand.
Jiraiya and Tsunade could be easily justified – they were about as objective about Orochimaru as Naruto was about him. But how Orochimaru had managed to sway the Raikage, the beast of a man who could make Juugo look small, to his side, Sasuke would never understand.
Well, that was a lie.
Orochimaru was terrifying, yes, but he also oozed charisma and quiet, self-assured strength, and his chakra was raw power. It wasn't surprising he commanded the room.
But there was something else that unsettled Sasuke, the more he watched the man he'd sworn loyalty to make the room forget his many transgressions; the familiarity.
He'd long ago reconciled himself to the fact that Orochimaru's quiet strength reminded him of Itachi, or how the way he drew eyes even when he wasn't the one talking was reminiscent of Shisui's presence, or how every time Sasuke saw the man go from utter stillness to all-encompassing wrath and destruction he was thrown back to his first time seeing Kakashi fight seriously.
But there was one more thing that none of the others encompassed, and that was the dichotomy between the placid stillness of his body and expression, and the way Orochimaru's eyes betrayed the intelligence behind them, the constant plotting, the scheming, and every thought and adjustment to the threads of the web he wove around everyone, with him at the centre.
And that, that just threw Sasuke back to his first fight with Naruto after three years, how he was besting his old genin teammate, how even the ROOT they'd brought couldn't keep up with him. He'd felt confident, reassured, validated, enough so to dismiss the keen green eyes that had tracked his every move from the side-lines.
It was just Sakura. Weak, annoying Sakura who'd always had a crush on him.
And then weak, annoying Sakura had turned around and destroyed him in a matter of seconds, and all without using even a single technique that was higher than a C-Rank. Like Kakashi. Like Itachi.
Like Orochimaru.
She'd bet on his overconfidence, bet on him underestimating her, and upon being proven correct, had proceeded to methodically counter every advantage and edge he might've had over her until there was none left.
She could've killed him, and he'd have been helpless.
And Sasuke hadn't felt that kind of helplessness, that kind of being so utterly outmatched since he'd last faced Itachi, and the man had been sick and hadn't even been trying, then.
Sasuke was startled out of his musings when there was a knock on the door, and a harried-looking chunin he vaguely recognised stuck his head in, appearing out of breath.
"Sorry to interrupt, Hokage-sama," he began, scratching absently at the bandage over his nose, "but a confinement barrier just went up around Training Ground 7."
The reaction was immediate.
"Hostiles, or someone who's about to get demoted?" Tsunade asked, with a calm that surprised Sasuke, but then he saw how tightly she was suddenly gripping the edge of her desk.
The Raikage looked intrigued, while Orochimaru, to Sasuke's horror, looked knowingly amused.
"Ah, not hostiles, I don't think." the chunin hedged, but Tsunade waved him off before he could continue.
"In that case, since Jiraiya is here, Shiranui is out on a mission, and Ibiki knows better, is it Mitarashi or Haruno?" she cut in, and that was definitely a self-satisfied smirk on Orochimaru's face.
The chunin looked relieved. "Sakura, Tsunade-sama." He informed her on a sigh. "Along with an unidentified Oto-nin. Tall, white hair, purple shirt."
Tsunade hummed while Sasuke bit back a furious hiss. So she wouldn't fight him, but Suigetsu was fine?!
"Intention?"
"I…believe it was intended to be a spar."
This time, Tsunade groaned. "Thanks, Hagane. I'll send someone over to dismantle it."
"Actually," Orochimaru began, rising swiftly, once again drawing all eyes on him, while the chunin took the out Tsunade had offered a millisecond previous and shut the door with a quiet, relieved curse that Sasuke was sure everyone in the room had heard, "since my business here has been concluded for the day and it sounds like one of my subordinates is currently constituting fifty percent of the problem, I can dismantle it myself."
Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and focused on the pain to keep himself from otherwise reacting. Jiraiya, much like Naruto would've done, gawked openly, but Tsunade nodded thoughtfully, an odd depth to her expression that Sasuke couldn't quite decipher.
"Fair enough." She acquiesced, with considerably more ease than Sasuke had expected. "You won't mind if Jiraiya comes along, will you?" she asked in a tone that made it very clear it was a rhetorical question.
Sasuke held his breath, waiting for the inevitable explosion, but beyond an almost unnoticeable disdained curl of his lip, Orochimaru made no sign of being affected by the chaperone and instead nodded agreeably.
Two bizarre, tense minutes later, Sasuke was out in the afternoon sun, walking a step behind Orochimaru who in turn kept a step ahead of Jiraiya, and Sasuke bit back a smirk at the Toad Sannin's muted indignation when he noticed the formation they had inadvertently assumed, and hastened to catch up to his old teammate.
When they reached the edges of the clearing where the barrier was reported, however, Sasuke felt Orochimaru's chakra disappear, while the man himself slowed to a complete stop and with an easy grace that only hinted at death and destruction rather than screamed it, tucked his hands into the overlong sleeves of his kimono.
A second later, the Toad Sannin's chakra disappeared too, and he fell back against the closest tree with a sigh.
"You had no intention of dismantling the barrier, did you?" Jiraiya asked, voicing the same thought Sasuke had just entertained. Interestingly, the question directed at Orochimaru once again sounded rhetorical.
Maybe the twenty years apart didn't really make as much of a difference to the Sannin's team dynamic as Sasuke had assumed.
Orochimaru huffed, and on anybody else, the sound would've been a snort. "Why would I do that?" he asked absently, eyes sweeping over the clearing, and finally, finally, Sasuke allowed himself to do the same. "Suigetsu is a Hozuki. He's got Kiri blood, blood of a Swordsman, and Mangetsu's bloodlust. And I kept him in a tank for three years. Do you think, Jiraiya, that I have the personnel to spare to throw targets at him when all that destructive potential is finally unleashed?"
Jiraiya's spluttering was accompanied by an expression that Sasuke wouldn't have been surprised to see on Naruto's face.
"So you're going to let a Konoha jounin be used as a punching bag for your experiment, and then what? What if she dies?"
In any other situation, Sasuke would've been a little alarmed by how closely the Toad Sannin's thoughts seemed to be mirroring his own. As it was, his eyes were glued to Orochimaru's face, for the man looked almost insulted at the question.
"Was it not your very godson that called her a monster?" he asked lightly, an idle smile that felt more threatening than if he'd pressed a kunai to the Toad Sage's neck curling his lips. "You should know by now that monsters never die."
Jiraiya jerked at the hidden accusation, and Sasuke did his best to tune out the rest of the discussion, turning instead to the spar before him with narrowed eyes.
Suigetsu was panting.
He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, could feel the monster that roared for death and destruction shifting under his skin even as every muscle screaming in exertion and fatigue, could taste the iron tang of blood in the air and the overlying acrid stench of vomit and stale sweat.
He had never felt more alive.
The girl in front of him was a force of nature, and he couldn't decide what he wanted more; to witness what the potential for destruction that lurked within her would be like when nurtured and unleashed, or to see the light leave her eyes while his hands squeezed around her throat.
He had never had a chance to discover whether he would be much of a betting man, having been taken by Orochimaru and in captivity for most of his teens, but he was willing to bet Zabuza would not have anything against the girl using his sword if he could see her now.
From the moment she'd put a sword in his hand, they hadn't held back, and if Suigetsu hadn't inherited the ability to liquefy on command, and she hadn't been proficient in medical-ninjutsu, they'd have both killed each other ten times over.
Even as it was, every visible inch of Haruno's once-pristine kimono was stained a ruddy-brown; blood, both fresh and drying coated her cheeks and forehead, dripped down her forearms and over her fingers and covered her teeth when she grinned back, equally as unhinged as Suigetsu was sure he himself looked.
He'd never had anyone match him, even in Kiri, not since Zabuza left, and he'd been too young to be much of a challenge then.
He didn't expect to find the closest he'd ever come to having a true match in a Konoha girl with pink hair.
But he had.
The first surprise had been when they'd just started; she'd insisted on just kenjutsu, no chakra, his borrowed katana versus her daito.
When he first cut her, his katana's reach only marginally greater but enough to count, and she hadn't even flinched, just blinked, seemingly not having expected the injury, then grinned with enough teeth to make a Kiri-nin proud, that had been the second.
The third was when she finally forced him to liquefy lest his intestines tumble onto the ground between them. She'd paused and stared at the translucent part of his stomach, uncomprehending, until he'd solidified.
"That's a neat party-trick." She pointed out, her voice devoid of inflection even while her expression was calculating, eyes narrowed in a way that was so familiar Suigetsu's stomach churned, especially when the setting afternoon sun made the emerald gleam golden. "How many times can you do that? Do you know?"
Suigetsu shrugged uncomfortably, mind flashing back to years spent in a tank filled with water and him being forced to find the answer to that exact question. "Until I run out of chakra." He offered at last, and the calculating glint disappeared, replaced by a conspiratory grin.
"Then what do you say to making this more interesting?"
When Suigetsu nodded hesitantly, still ill-at-ease from that earlier comparison his mind had made, the girl brightened, and between one second and the next, Suigetsu felt four clones split off into the woods in cardinal directions, and a moment later, a chakra dome surrounded them.
Alarmed, he glared at the pinkette, but she just waved him off. "It's not a physical barrier, so you can leave whenever you want. But it'll stop chakra attacks from getting through."
"You want to introduce chakra into this?" Suigetsu asked incredulously, eyeing the section of the river that was encased in their dome with a raised eyebrow. He may not be a Mist-nin anymore, but this was a fool's bet. "Are you insane?"
His words seemed to have the opposite effect to the one intended, because the girl looked like he'd said something hilarious, and her smile grew.
"Most definitely."
Then, the air between them filled with mist.
Suigetsu's eyes widened.
He didn't even have it in him to be surprised anymore; he just let age-old instincts kick in and lowered his stance, let his chakra – evilcorrosivedemonic – spread out, and sprang.
Their blades clashed, and with the addition of chakra into the mix, the exchanges got more vicious.
Then, Haruno started talking.
"Why are you with Orochimaru?" her disembodied voice rang out from nowhere, and Suigetsu could feel the effort she put into masking her heavy breathing. "Or your Uzumaki teammate for that matter? Judging by the bitemarks on her arms, it can't be much more than misplaced loyalty to the Uchiha or some weird captor-abductee syndrome."
Suigetsu froze for a second, thrown, then had to duck under a kunai and hastily remind himself that still was dangerous with this particular opponent, even with reduced visibility.
"We don't exactly have any other prospects." He bit back, throwing a kunai from close-range and using the distraction to dig his katana deep into the meat of the pinkette's side. "And at least we're not starving in the streets."
"No, instead you're working for a man who, until three months ago, was a puppet of a power-hungry sociopath, and who no doubt had played a large part in any trauma you or your teammate sustained while under his reign." She hissed, and Suigetsu was a second too slow twisting out of the blast-range of an explosive tag he hadn't even noticed before it lit his pants-leg on fire.
"So what?" Suigetsu snarled back, sucking the moisture from the mist in the air and spitting five consecutive water bullets, using the grunt of pain to locate his opponent and deliver a punishing kick to her solar plexus. "We should come to Konoha, is that it? Save our souls?"
"Of course not." she bit out, and with less water in the air, Suigetsu finally spotted where she was crouched when she turned to spit out blood. "God knows Konoha may be the most corrupt Village of them all."
Suigetsu wasn't given much of an opportunity to digest that admission, before she spoke again, punctuating each word with a slash from the wakizashi she must've switched to when he hadn't been looking.
"But you could go to Kiri. Mei revoked the kill-on-sight orders on anyone who fled during her predecessor's reign and is willing to expunge all records. You could have a future there."
"Why do you care?" Suigetsu stalled, lashing out with a kick-shuriken-katana combo as he tried to process her words.
"I like Mei. I want to see Kiri prosper. And I have a grudge against Orochimaru." She said simply, advancing rapidly, and Suigetsu threw another hasty water-bullet to keep her at bay.
"Doesn't that make you a traitor?"
And then, almost as if she'd pulled the curtains across her eyes, the girl's eyes shuttered, her expression immediately becoming cold and closed off, the earlier grin and bloodthirstiness gone without a trace.
Suigetsu realised he misspoke a second before a quick shunshin brought the girl into his personal space. He managed to block the vicious swipe at his throat, but had to liquefy his stomach or the left-handed strike of the wakizashi would've disembowelled him. Then, the pressure against his sword-bearing arm disappeared as the pinkette dropped her blade, and instead, brought her hand down to his stomach, her fingers buzzing.
Suigetsu felt a jolt, then he felt no more.
"There you are." Orochimaru murmured, straightening from where he'd leant against a tree, and Jiraiya watched as that same satisfied glint enter his eye. "Didn't I tell you that you needn't have worried?"
Jiraiya glanced at the steaming puddle of what had, less than a minute ago, been a fully-formed teenager, and chanced a look at the unusually docile Uchiha. The raven's gaze was flickering from his mentor's back, to Haruno, to what had been Hozuki, and back again, and unreadable expression on his face, but Jiraiya reckoned he could hazard a guess what he was thinking.
"Well fought." Orochimaru's voice drifted over, and Jiraiya turned back to the field to realise the containment barrier was gone and Orochimaru had strolled onto the clearing.
Haruno, to her credit, didn't even tense, but he saw her grip on the wakizashi tighten.
"Most would take Suigetsu's ability to mean invincibility rather than weakness." His old teammate pushed, and Jiraiya was morbidly curious to see what he was aiming at. When they were younger, Orochimaru would probe incessantly just to find a pressure point or a button to push, and once he did, all subtlety would go out the window.
It seemed age and experience hadn't rid him of that habit.
Haruno scoffed. "Invincibility doesn't exist. Hidan of the Akatsuki was meant to be invincible, and look where he is now."
If Jiraiya was reading Orochimaru's posture right, the man looked amused. "Indeed."
"Excuse my bluntness," Haruno cut in, in a tone that clearly said she didn't care whether he thought her blunt or not, "but why are you here?"
That was definitely amusement on Orochimaru's face, oh god.
"Your containment barrier raised some concerns. I volunteered to dismantle it, but upon arrival, did not want to disturb your spar."
The expression on the girl's face informed him that she believed Orochimaru's explanation about as much as Jiraiya himself did.
"Mm." she hummed instead, sheathing her wakizashi with a decisive move, then jerked her chin at the still-incorporeal Hozuki. "If you intend to keep him, teach him that no defence is absolute. And that overreliance on one will kill him sooner or later."
Keep him. Jiraiya repeated, not even bothering to hide his horror at the casual way Haruno had uttered those words. The detachment in both their gazes. The business-like phrasing.
"And do you believe he will allow himself to be kept? What with the glowing recommendation you gave of the Mizukage?" Orochimaru asked, the picture of calm, and Jiraiya realised that he was keeping over ten feet away for Haruno's benefit.
Orochimaru was being considerate.
That realisation may have come as more of a shock than learning that Madara Uchiha had somehow survived and was still out there causing chaos.
"I don't believe he will get much of a choice either way." Haruno replied caustically, picking up the last of her kunai and holstering it. "But he was an interesting sparring partner, so if you elect not to inform him, I just might."
"Hm." Orochimaru hummed, then picked up one of the Hozuki's shuriken and twirled it around his finger. "I hear you are to blame for the new responsibility that has been bestowed upon me and my Village."
Haruno visibly stiffened this time, but when she spoke, her tone was light.
"Your pet Uchiha informed me you were looking for ways to rebuild your credibility. This provides one. Think of it as an opportunity."
Jiraiya could barely believe the girl's cheek, worse yet when the corner of Orochimaru's lips curled upwards. "An opportunity with high stakes and very clear consequences should anything go amiss."
Haruno's expression was almost a mirror of Orochimaru's, albeit sharper and humourless. "It would be boring if it were easy." She offered at last, then inclined her head in a shallow bow. "Now, if you'll excuse me."
And then she was gone.
Jiraiya thought he'd misheard, but a quick glance at the Uchiha revealed a similar dumbfounded expression to what he was sure must've been on his face –
Orochimaru was laughing.
A week later, Sakura was in the deepest cell in T&I, having come down on Anko's invitation to oversee what could've easuly been Zetsu's hundredth interrogation. Kakashi, Anko and Inoichi were also in the room, and Sakura allowed herself to relax, even as she watched attentively what was going on behind the one-way glass.
It had been decided that Naruto would, in fact, go to Otogakure, along with Jiraiya and Yamato, but whether the latter was going to keep an eye on the Kyuubi or as some cruel form of exposure therapy, she didn't know.
Naruto had, understandably, not been too happy about having to be out of the fight, but a conveniently-timed mention of unlimited spars with Sasuke and a friendly clap on the shoulder from Killer Bee – which, without the Kyuubi running through his veins, would've easily broken Naruto's back – dissuaded him from complaining further.
The Oto contigent was scheduled to depart in two days, and then Sakura could breathe freely again and focus on what the actual Alliance was going to be doing.
She tuned back in when Ibiki bared his teeth and stabbed a kunai through Zetsu's metacarpals.
"I said, are we truly dealing with Uchiha Madara?" he snarled, Killing Intent radiating off him in violent, vicious ways.
Then, Zetsu finally reacted.
He laughed.
The sound was like nails on chalkboard, or two stones grating together – cold and sharp and painful, before he too bared rows of sharpened teeth in a bloodied grin.
"Oh, no." he hissed, voice dark but amused. "You're dealing with much worse." He paused, leaned up, and spat in Ibiki's face.
Sakura held her breath.
"You're dealing with Uchiha Obito."