Harbinger

by tigerowl

Naruto's friendship with his teammates Gaara and Haku is put to the test as they prepare to deal with the threat of the Akatsuki. The secrets Jiraiya has kept come to a head, and Naruto must shoulder the responsibility of protecting much more than the Leaf Village. Continuation of Forlorn. AU NaruHina, GaaSaku, NejiTen, ObiRin, OCs *Taoism, Self-Indulgent World Building, longfic

49. Line of Sight

Note: *DRAMATIC GASP*

Chapter 49- Line of Sight

Chapter Soundtrack: "Line of Sight" by ODESZA feat. WYNNE & Mansionair

By the look of it, Ino overstuffed the box Hinata had brought to stock up on herbal remedy ingredients. The Yamanaka Flower Shop's donation of rare roots and blooms was very generous, though Hinata regretted not bringing payment with her, 'This is too much— and they're expensive…' Ino had shooed her along cheerily.

Hinata crossed town in a brisk scurry, and on the third floor of the Administrative Building she spied Shizune in a corner workroom. When she entered and set the very full box down on a table top, Shizune batted her eyes in surprise. "Thank you for bringing these so quickly, Hinata…but we only needed three roots at most."

Young medic-nin trainees were filing into the room and gathering 'round.

"I know, Ino-chan shared more than I asked for." She opened a satchel bag slung over her shoulder and scooped a variety of excess plants into it, "I'll bring these home with me so I can plant some of my own."

"Perfect." Shizune nodded to the girl and acknowledged the Hokage when she stepped into the room, "Good morning, Hokage-sama."

"Morning. Shizune…let's talk later about what's going on in Shiogakure. It'll be a long talk with the advisory council." Tsunade kept her voice down, then greeted students, "Good morning, class."

Hinata was about to make her way out before Tsunade stopped her, "Hinata…"

She spun on her heel and bowed slightly, "Good morning, Hokage-sama!"

"I've been waiting, you know."

"Waiting?" Hinata's brows were aloft, "For what?"

Tsunade cocked a hand on her hip, as if she didn't believe Hinata was unaware of the broached subject, "Don't be coy, young lady. Kakashi said he dropped off a recommendation letter for you over a week ago. I've been waiting for you to submit it after I heard…I thought maybe you'd forgotten."

"A…Jounin recommendation?" She wanted to be sure.

"Of course." The Hokage balanced her spread fingertips on the table, exercising patience, "Bring it to me when you think of it, and then your evaluation can be scheduled."

"R-Right!" This was the first she had heard of such a letter existing. Had she been informed, Hinata would have scoured her house days ago for this alleged recommendation. She excused herself, and rather than take the stairs of the building, she exited from a top story window and bounded over rooftops.

'So I did receive one! Just like Neji-niisan and Sato-kun did!' Her face stretched in a wide smile, still in disbelief over the development, 'Wait until Naruto hears! My hard work paid off, and other shinobi know that they can depend on me…'

She had been too caught up with other distractions to give much thought to another promotion. Hinata and most of the Hyuga clan were still waiting to hear the results of Neji's assessment. He set out a day ago and had yet to return. As Hanabi had put it:He went off somewhere, with someone, and it could take over a day to finish the test. Whatever.

Also, Hinata had been chafed to hear that Fujita spent time with Naruto on a temporary team for Suna's Accelerated Exam…after which Naruto had not come back to Konoha. Fujita explained it thusly: Hinata-sama, I know that he wanted to go home too! It seems the Kazekage had further business with him. It'll be soon now. You were all he talked about!

She could take a bit of comfort in those words, but her patience was wearing micron-thin. Knowing that Naruto was so close made her a little chicken-headed, and disrupted some of her routines and assignments.

At the Hyuga estate she circled around to the garden and set her satchel on the porch, intending to plant the tubers she'd brought with her. Hinata then kicked off her shoes and hurried into the house, thinking to herself, 'If Kakashi-sensei brought a recommendation letter here, he most likely gave it to Father…' That too surprised her— that her father had not mentioned such an honor.

Down the hall and through the door of the sitting room, Hinata found Hyuga Hiashi reading a stack of daily news publications at a low table. He looked up at her fondly and his eyes said hello. Sometimes, nothing need be said between them. Unable to help herself, Hinata smiled and sat down, "Good morning, Father."

"Good morning." He poured tea for her, "Have you been rushing somewhere, Hinata?"

"I only had a few tasks this morning, and the Hokage told me…that Kakashi-sensei brought a Jounin recommendation letter to the Hyuga estate on my behalf." She accepted a cup of green tea, "Do you have that letter, Father?"

Uncertainty crept at the corners of his face, "I don't."

"Oh." Her joy fizzled.

"I was unaware, to be perfectly honest. That isn't something I would have kept from you." Hiashi stared out of a rice paper window, deep in thought for a moment, "It is possible that when that letter was delivered…it fell into the hands of our elders."

"Ah." She understood why that possibility displeased him.

"I suggest that you ask Elder Hichida, once he returns from prayer at the Branch House." Her father supposed, "Or you may ask your Great Grandfather Haburo. He is in his study right now."

Hinata sat quietly and sipped, also staring lethargically at the window of the room. It was no secret to her or anyone in the clan how much Haburo disliked her. In spite of this, Hiashi wanted her to advocate for herself.

Hinata asked, "Has Neji-niisan come home yet?"

"I expect he'll be here soon. I am curious to learn how he fared."

"I am too."

He returned to the initial topic, "Hinata, don't let our Great Elder take this opportunity from you…if indeed that is what he is trying to do…" Hiashi advised, "Challenge him. If all of the clan and village believes you to be worthy, with my Grandfather being the sole exception, then indeed you are worthy. Remember that."

She downed the last of the tea in her cup and nodded. Hinata rose from a cushion and ventured back into the corridors of the Main House, proceeding toward the office at the far end. 'Father thinks that maybe…the elders hid my letter? Maybe Great Elder told them to, or he took it himself?' She was speculating, 'Or we could be wrong. Maybe-?' No. Hanabi and Tenten certainly would not have held onto it; they would have stormed up to her and presented her with such valuable correspondence.

It was deliberate interference, Hinata determined. She rapped on the jamb of the study before sliding the door open, announcing herself, "Good morning, Great Elder. Is it alright if I speak with you…?"

The old man was upright, leafing through pages in a binder he had pulled from a wall cupboard. Haburo did not even glance over his shoulder at her when he said, "Come inside and shut the door."

Hinata did as she was told and hovered at the center of the room while her Great Grandfather trudged around, putting things away. She had scraped together enough nerve to address the issue, "Great Elder…Kakashi-sensei said that he dropped off a Jounin recommendation letter at the Hyuga estate vouching for my promotion. If you have it…will you please give it to me so I can submit it to the Hokage?"

Haburo shuffled around the edge of his desk toward a tall-backed swivel chair, making tired sounds as he settled into it. Once comfortable, he looked her square in the eye and said, "You may not have it."

Such a response was expected, but Hinata wanted to uncover the heart of the matter, "Why?"

"I tore that letter to shreds." Haburo informed her.

Heartbeat soaring and prickling with rage, Hinata took all the time she needed to silently fidget and glare. She was never one to throw a tantrum, but she was truly bewildered by such treatment. 'I have only ever tried to bring honor to my clan and please our superiors! I'm not helpless like I once was! Why does he hate me so much?'

"Hinata," The old man said, "You mustn't think that you do not deserve such an accolade. Rather…now is not the time for you to be focusing on a Jounin promotion."

Her arms were stiff at her sides, "Not to focus-? Great Grandfather—!"

"You must be thinking about the future of the Hyuga clan and how you will preserve it. I need you to pour your mind and efforts into it. Young Fujita, in spite of his recent promotion in Hidden Sand…is ill-equipped to be this clan's next acting steward." Haburo clarified himself, "You will assume that responsibility as stewardess, when Neji ascends to leadership. The Hyuga will be very well-positioned between your combined talents."

This took her aback, "…I thought the Taketori—"

"You will NOT be betrothed to Kitano under any circumstance." Haburo announced rigidly, "Choose someone respectable, preferably from Hidden Leaf." He added with a sigh, "Fujita can maintain relations with the Taketori through his future marriage, and his children may be kept as wards of that confounded clan. If not, he may do as he likes and raise his children with the Branch Seal here."

Hinata shook from head to foot, frazzled by the projected changes. It did not seem that Haburo hated her at all. He expected many things, but they did not seem nearly as injurious as they had in the past.

"If that is what you want us to do…if you want me to work hard and support our clan—" She marched up to the desk and asked, "Why did you tear up my letter, Great Elder?"

He laced his hands and settled his bony chin on them, weary, "Now is not the time for you to be roaming far and wide, under the direction of many councils and directors. You will stay here…close to the clan. You will not be entrenched in any of the dangerous diversions that superiors would bestow upon a young shinobi like you."

"I am perfectly capable." She reminded him.

"Great Granddaughter, please." The old man's tone was not cruel, but concerned, "I ask for your cooperation."

Sullen, Hinata sank down into a spare chair opposite the desk and brewed over the request. Very little of it made sense, but at least she could tell that the old patriarch was not malicious.

After a dragging silence, Haburo admitted slowly, "These trying times…have me worried." His eyes wandered around the room as he went on, "I ask you to continue your training, and to keep a low profile. With the conclusion of Leaf's Chunin Exam, too much attention has been on the Hyuga clan."

A niggling feeling ate at her stomach walls, "What do you mean?"

"I wish for you to pass beneath Root's notice." His voice was as soft as snow in deep wilderness, "You must avoid the Foundation while their scrutiny of our clan intensifies."

The nervous feeling climbing up her stomach and chest reached its peak. Hinata knew precious little about the Root Foundation and what purpose it served outside of the Hokage's jurisdiction, but she'd heard a few grisly rumors. She leaned forward and lowered her voice, "Great Elder…if we were not being scrutinized, would you have allowed me to take a Jounin Trial?"

"Yes."

She frowned and considered the implication of such a reply. None of this was personal. If she knew well enough, Root's primary task was the security of the Hidden Leaf Village through secret and unconventional means, so why would the Hyuga clan fall under their magnifying glass?

"Was it alright for Neji-niisan to—?"

Haburo confirmed, "I allowed him to take a Jounin Trial, although it may not have been wise."

"What is Root looking for among the Hyuga clan?" Hinata wondered.

"Save your questions for now and do as I ask." Haburo dismissed the train of thought, "Your ability is inestimably rare, Great Granddaughter. We will take no risks. I will approve for you a mountain of recommendation letters, once uncertain times pass." He assured her, "The Hyuga clan will depend on you and Neji for protection."

"From what?" She asked in a whisper.

He tried to speak, but couldn't. His eyes were glossy and desperate, pale in their sockets as dry air puffed from his mouth. Hinata felt alarmed as the old man strained to give an answer. Then, Haburo gave up and batted his lips, exhausted.

"Run along now." He told her. His shoulders were slumped as he turned his attention back to items scattered on the desk.

Hinata rose with a cautious bow while watching her Great Grandfather, far more concerned walking out than she had been walking in. She was lost in thought as she retreated down the corridor toward the front of the house. Why didn't he say anything? Had age robbed him of the thought? He had looked so sure.

She needed fresh air. Hinata stepped out of a side door and spotted Fujita and Tenten seated on the east side of the porch. When she drew close she could hear Tenten gently scolding the young man as she handed him a dagger in a sheath.

"This is new." Tenten folded his hands around it, "And better than the last one. So don't lose it, okay?"

"I won't, Onee-san." He smiled slightly, "Although, it was kind of cool how I lost my other tantō…"

"Yeah, yeah. In the eye of a big eel or something…" Tenten waved it off, "A waste is still a waste. I give you things with sentimental value, so don't let them sink into the sea please."

"Got it."

Hinata took a seat beside them and felt far more relaxed. The combined easygoing attitudes of the adoptive brother and sister helped her sideline Haburo's incomplete warning.

"Hinata-sama, Naruto wrote back to me! I got a message this morning." Fujita reported cheerfully, "He said that he was disappointed he couldn't join me on the return trip. A broad no-exit order was issued by the Kazekage just after a report on the Akatsuki came in."

"The Akatsuki?" Tenten was up off of the porch and bending in low Wushu stretches on the lawn, "Did something happen?"

"It said that the Tide Village was attacked by Akatsuki members who wanted to capture a jinchuriki." Fujita exhaled roughly and leaned back on his arms, "That made me worry a little about Fū…"

Since Hinata was sitting there in a mildly horrified daze, not commenting, Tenten took that time to inquire, "And who is Fū?"

"Our third teammate who we met in Suna. She's a jinchuriki from Hidden Waterfall." Fujita was comfortable with the subject, "I know that the Akatsuki is dangerous and hunting individuals like her. I asked Fū to write to me often so that I know she's alright."

A presumptuous grin spread on Tenten's face, "She sounds cool."

"She is."

"What does she look like?"

"Uh…well, about my height. She's strong and fit." His description was feeble even though he could picture the kunoichi clearly in his mind's eye.

"Pretty?" Tenten gathered while she sank into a low leg extension.

Fujita puffed his cheeks and nodded.

"You're such a sucker." Tenten teased, "Boy can you pick 'em. A jinchuriki! What must her jutsu be like-?"

"Amazing!" Fujita was compelled to share, "She's versatile and easy to get along with! Fū can grow beetle wings to fly, or transform completely into a giant insect when using Chōmei's chakra." Understandably, Tenten was not familiar with who or what Chōmei was, so Fujita filled her in, "That is the name of her Tailed-Beast."

"Wow." Tenten stopped stretching and rested her hands on her hips, "Must be nice to grow wings. Or be huge."

"It was very helpful." He recalled Fū's finest moments.

To Fujita's left, Hinata was unusually withdrawn while she had been listening to the description. Much of her cousin's account of making acquaintances with a jinchuriki, even identifying a Tailed-Beast by name, seemed more than coincidental when Hinata thought of what she had learned while 'visiting' Naruto. The possibility swirled around her mind, mixing with her disappointment over her torn up letter, as well as her awareness of the Root Foundation that Haburo claimed was 'scrutinizing' their clan.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Tenten patted her knee.

The woman smiled warmly at her, "Is something on your mind? You haven't spoken much to us, Hinata."

"I…I…" Hinata exhaled and blew a strand of hair from her face, "I've had a morning."

"Ah." Tenten got it, "Did your Elders get you out of sorts?"

Hinata drummed her hand on her leg, a bit anxious, "Great Elder Haburo said something strange…"

"He spoke to you?" This surprised Fujita.

"I thought he might be in possession of the Jounin recommendation letter that Kakashi-sensei wrote for me, but Great Elder tore it up."

Aghast, both Tenten and Fujita were on their feet, about ready to light torches and locate pitch forks. They would arrange a mob to rally against such gross injustice. Hinata reached to pull both of them by their sleeves so that they were seated again.

She shook her head, "Please…don't cause a fuss. He said he would have many other recommendations written for me, as an apology. He was worried about me taking a trial…how it might attract the wrong attention."

Tenten crossed her legs and arms, still furious as she sat, "An apology? That old man is terrible! How could your promotion attract bad attention?"

"He thinks that…" Hinata glanced around, then dropped her voice to tell them, "The Root Foundation has been watching the Hyuga clan. Since the Chunin Exam, he said."

Fujita's concern was rather shallow, as he was unfamiliar with the ancillary Black-Ops organization. Tenten, however, had a glint in her eye that suggested she was privy to the murmurings of unsavory activity Root was rumored to conduct.

"We haven't done anything—" Hinata rephrased it, "I haven't done anything that would be considered…objectionable by security forces. I know that."

"We all do." Tenten confirmed.

"Though Great Elder said he was worried." She added in a whisper, "And he couldn't tell me about what."

Fujita protested in a hushed voice, "If Great Grandfather is going to dramatically cancel your chance at a Jounin promotion, surely he can explain-!"

"No. He…couldn't speak. It was as if he couldn't breathe, or…I'm not sure." Hinata pressed her fingers together, bending and flexing them, "He was stopped from telling me. Maybe."

At that, Fujita ruminated in silence while Tenten held Hinata's gaze, taking the news very seriously.

"So…" Tenten took a breath, "We should be on the lookout for anyone who thinks they need to watch us. Your dad should know about this. Well, Hideyasu too…" She rubbed her chin, "And Neji, of course."

"I don't want to trouble everyone."

"It'll be more trouble if they're unaware of what's going on when we are inexplicably arrested or who knows what." She prophesized, "Let's not blow this out of proportion, but let's not ignore it."

"Could we really have committed an offense?" Fujita wracked his brain for any possible context of guilt that would incur Black Ops supervision.

"No, we didn't. Let's relax." Hinata coached her two companions to inhale with her, breathing out heavily, "Now, I would like to eat ramen."

"Straight to the sodium we go." Tenten chuckled, "I'll have lunch with you, if you want. Later I have—"

Reaching over to direct her by the shoulder, Fujita turned Tenten around so she could observe Neji plodding through the entrance of the estate. These days he wore black and white Hanfu almost exclusively, thanks to Kayato's fashion influence. It looked as though Neji had been jostled around in the forest: green leaf and dirt stains visible on white sleeves, hair a bit untidy. He'd certainly worked hard on something.

The question blared off of their faces as Hinata, Tenten, and Fujita stood in front of the engawa, watching the heir of the Hyuga clan approach tiredly. Neji felt the force of their stares. Of course they would want to know how it went. He wasn't going to have a few minutes to sit and relax and eat something. The most he'd had for a meal in over a day was a handful of almonds, donated by one of his evaluators.

Ah, and there was Tenten watching, her eyes astute and calculating. She read the signals. His disheveled state. His lack of energy and emotion. His gait. Her mouth curled up in the beginnings of a smile. She didn't need his explanation to know how his trial had gone.

The expression on her face immediately goaded an honest reaction from Neji. He tucked his head down slightly and tried not to smile, because she always made him want to, but resisting the urge was futile. She had caught him. Without speaking, he'd let the truth slip.

She grinned and folded her arms, thrilled, "Congratulations, Neji. I see that you didn't come back home a complete chump."

He stopped in front of her and quipped, "I never do."

Hinata had surfaced from her funk to greet Neji with her typical congeniality, and beside her Fujita was also chirping his congratulations. Down the way, a door slid open and Hanabi charged out onto the porch with a clamor. Hiashi was following behind her slowly. Neji's return had not gone unnoticed since they had been watching indoors.

Hanabi's questions drowned out all other comments for a full thirty seconds. Neji's answers did not illuminate much: Yes, he'd passed. No, he was not officially a Jounin; the decision still fell to the Hokage, who would look over his transcript later. No, it wasn't very interesting.

"You need to give more detail than that, Neji-niisan." Hanabi complained flatly.

"Detail." Neji sighed as he sat down on the porch, "I would prefer to exchange details for a meal."

Tenten was assessing his needs, "I bet you're starving."

When he nodded, she set out into the house to find something for him to eat. Hiashi stood between his daughters with his arms tucked in long sleeves, amused by his nephew's evident burnout, "It was a trying task, no?"

"Trying, but not unmanageable."

"What were you made to do?" Hinata asked.

"I came to understand after a talk with Gai two days ago…it is tradition for old teammates to test the protégées of former team members. In my case, Shiranui Genma and Ebisu agreed to host my evaluation." Neji explained, "I reported to the designated training area and listened to their instructions."

"Which were?" Hanabi pressed.

"To test my competency, they wanted to see if I could disable the both of them while adhering to limitations they set."

Hanabi pestered, "What limitations?"

Story-telling was not Neji's strong suit. He was frowning as he went on, "None of us were individually permitted to use hand seals to perform Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I was also told not to use my Kekkei Genkai."

"But it's only natural for us to use it!" Fujita was astonished by the handicap.

"They knew that." Neji acknowledged.

"You clearly overcame their test." Hinata noticed cheerfully.

"Not without hardship." Neji acknowledged, "I might have misunderstood the parameters of that duel initially…because they did not hesitate to use combined hand seals for jutsu against me."

Hanabi's face was blank, "What's a combined hand seal?"

To demonstrate, Hiashi wordlessly extended his hand and Hinata folded hers against it, creating a Horse Seal.

Hanabi clucked impatiently at such a simple concept, "So ninja can actually use jutsu that way?"

"To great effect." Neji confirmed, "I wasn't expecting it."

When Tenten returned with a tray of rice, mackerel, and vegetables for her boyfriend, Hanabi caught her up to speed by paraphrasing the start of Neji's trial retelling. Tenten nodded and sat down beside Fujita on the porch.

"Oh, so they tried to trick you?" Tenten was pleased, "Did they land a hit?"

"A few."

"You fought without the Byakugan?"

"Without it."

"So how did you counter a no jutsu situation while your opponents were still technically using jutsu?" Tenten let him have a few moments to chew the food he stuffed into his mouth.

"I focused on Ebisu to wear him down with Taijutsu." Neji explained, "That additional pressure made him use Supplementary Jutsu, unintentionally…which did not stop the trial. But I felt it was reasonable to bend the rule after a host broke the rule."

"You used jutsu." Hanabi accused.

"Just once." Neji was pleased with himself.

"A Shadow Clone." Tenten guessed.

"They didn't notice until it was too late." Neji took another victorious bite of lunch.

"You were not reprimanded for that breach of regulation?" Hiashi was surprised.

"The matter was debated fairly…and they agreed not to fault me for a reaction to their mistake." He finished another mouthful and added, "Following the initial trial, I was asked to accompany them on an A-Rank mission. We completed that this morning, and they gave me their endorsement."

"Huh. So that's how it works." Tenten was impressed.

"You will keep this in mind for your own evaluation in the near future." Hiashi turned to Hinata, arching a brow as if to say, Did you find that letter?

"I…will need to speak to you about that, Father." Hinata had a few things she needed to address, "May we go inside to talk about it?"

He nodded and shepherded Hanabi along, and Hinata trailed after them on the engawa while parting from Neji and Tenten with a wave. Across the lawn, Hideyasu was bellowing for Fujita to get off his tush as he was late for Nature Manipulation training! Fujita sprang up with a squawk, "Ack— Neji-niisama! Congratulations to you on your promotion! Look after Onee-san today—" He took off to meet his father.

Blinking, Neji watched the boy skirt around the corner of the house in the direction of the pebble training yard. When he wasn't looking, Tenten picked food from his bowl to sate her empty stomach. He still noticed, of course.

"You haven't eaten anything?" He suspected.

"No. I was up early this morning working. I told Lee and Gai-sensei I'd join them for weight training this afternoon." She wore a pleased-as-pie smile, "And now you can come with me to tell them the news."

"Yes. Though there's still time."

"For what?"

"To go somewhere." He said.

His bowl was about empty, to Tenten's displeasure, "Where?"

"Wherever you want—"

Before he could finish speaking, Tenten had selected their destination, "To Nabezo! Let's get shabu shabu and dumplings." She did not even wait up for him. Tenten was on her feet and marching off of the property to the beat of her hunger pains.

He set aside the food tray on the porch, which he knew was a rude thing to do to housekeeping staff, and followed after his girlfriend. Their dates were always more pragmatic than romantic, not that Neji would complain. He took comfort in the routines and rituals they had established. There was a time and place for displays of affection, and that was usually beyond the public's view. And yet, he thought to himself as he walked and caught up to her, watching Tenten from the corner of his eye, 'I wanted her to…' He'd expected to come home to less clan fanfare, hoping to discuss his success with Tenten only and then revel in her attentions. His family had mucked with that goal.

Neji slid his fingertip along the back of her hand and arm while they walked. She only spared an acknowledging glance, smiling at him, knowing better than to hold his hand. He didn't like doing that while out among peers and society who might, heaven forbid, witness him tethered to an attachment.

"I'm proud of you." She said the words he wanted to hear, because she was also a part-time mind reader.

He smiled and, oh well, some other pedestrians may have seen it.

"I knew you could do it. I wasn't worried. Lee and Gai-sensei aren't worried either, but they've been preoccupied devising new ways to challenge you when you get back." Tenten warned him, "Wong Leung's training might be gentler than what they've got in store."

"Then I'm switching training regimens."

"Ha, nice try. You can't go soft right after a promotion. Keep working hard." She looked lively for someone who had been up since four in the morning and had not eaten anything. Neji kept catching himself looking at her, even after they arrived at the tavern and were seated.

While chatting about the last 48 hours of their lives apart, Neji noticed that in spite of the fact he'd eaten already, he kept up with Tenten as they dipped marbled beef into the hotpot, clearing two plates and then some. Tenten had finished a basket of dumplings without his participation, as that item was her gastronomic fetish. Somehow she was pacing herself to eat long after Neji had politely sat back to quit.

"On top of all that," Tenten continued the conversation as she boiled radish and mushrooms, "I learned some weird things today."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. Fujita said he made friends with the jinchuriki of Hidden Waterfall."

Neji was authentically amazed, his eyes widening a fraction.

"And," Tenten crowed softly, "He has a crush on her."

Neji sipped from his glass of water. Apparently his young cousin had a particular palate when it came to women.

"He didn't say so, I just have a feeling that he does." Tenten clarified, "He also talked a bit about being on a team with Naruto, which was very entertaining. By the way, do you know what the Flying Thunder God technique is?"

"A legend." Neji recalled from Academy stories, "Born from the endeavors of past Kage."

"Well, Naruto uses that technique." She popped a mushroom in her mouth, "That's what Fujita said."

"Fujita is mistaken."

"I don't think he is."

"We'll ask him to clarify his comments later. He was delirious from heatstroke in the desert." Neji explained away the contentious claim.

"Yeah, sure. Also…Hinata told us that Elder Haburo said some crazy stuff about the—"

He held up a hand to deter the subject, "For now, I would prefer not to think or talk about Elder Haburo."

"But he—" She quieted when she took note of the withered expression on Neji's face. He needed to mentally fortify himself whenever Haburo was mentioned, due to past experiences with his dour forbearer.

"Okay, save that for later because you will be hearing about it from your uncle and Hinata. Most likely." Tenten forecasted, "What he said was unsettling."

"It always is."

She had to hand him that point. She also paid for lunch, which Neji did not object to. Upon leaving the eatery, Neji asked her to take him to the location stipulated on the land deed her father had left her. Tenten thought it an odd request, "Are you sure you don't want to…go home and take a bath or something?"

"I'm sure. There's something I want to see."

"I haven't been there since I was a kid. It's south of here…probably overgrown and unfit for resale." She supposed glumly, leading the way.

They passed the Han Ethnic Quarter, circumvented the west side of the park, and came upon untended flat land at the foot of gently sloped hills. Everything was green but not overgrown, as Tenten had predicted it would be. She stopped and turned her head, "It doesn't look so bad..." Businesses in the village were developing land and growing ever closer to the unused plot, but for now there was still half a kilometer of pristine, natural space.

Neji was dawdling around, observing young cypress trees that marked the edge of the property line. On a nearby stone, a lizard lay still while warming itself in the sun. Tenten crossed the grass and rested her hands on her hips, asking Neji, "Do you think I should sell it?"

"I don't think you should."

"I wish I could've lived here. Had a big house…our own yards and everything." She reminisced about her father's plans for a new home that he was never able to build.

"Is that what you still want?" Neji inquired.

"No. I have everything I could ever want." She nudged him in the side with her elbow, content.

"Then what will you do with this place?"

Tenten shrugged, "I don't know. My home is with you now. If I sell it, it'll be like selling my Mom and Dad's dream."

Red and gold leaves blew loose from a nearby maple, tinted with the start of autumn. They stood in silence and wondered what good they could do together. What could be done that would not insult the past nor forsake the future? Tenten didn't know. Since the loss of her parents, her life felt like a leftover piece of something, struggling to fit and settle her identity somewhere else.

"What if you restored another dream with their dream?" Neji suggested.

"…if I knew how to do that I certainly would." Tenten was a little overwhelmed by such an objective.

Without clearing much up, Neji went on, "I plan to take a few solo missions as a Jounin."

"You mean annually? Or monthly?" She already knew she would miss him.

"Monthly. For a short while. I prefer being with our team." He explained, "Extra income will be helpful."

Tenten scoffed, "Extra income." Like he needed it.

"Permits can be expensive. We should ask about materials…"

"Hold it, you want to build something here?" Tenten caught on. She turned up her eyes as Neji stood very close, trailing his hands down her sides while thinking.

"Would you consider it? This land belongs to you. It's your decision." He reminded her, "But if you did, I think Wong Leung would teach at a school built here. He told me that he gave up that goal to raise Lee."

She shut her eyes to deliberate for one silent minute. Tenten glanced around again and then tapped her finger on Neji's chest, chuckling, "You thought of that yourself?"

"After he told me about his past, I've been thinking about how to help him." Neji admitted.

"I think I remember Wong Leung mentioning that, once. That he came here to open a school, but it never happened…" Tenten nodded, "Quite the opportunity we have here…I say we do it. We'll figure out the budget piece and then get to work."

When Neji went in to kiss her mouth, Tenten simultaneously leaned back to offer her hand to shake on it. She laughed at his dumbstruck face. To seal the deal, she shook his hanging hand and then pecked his lips. After that he appeared to recalibrate.

"I was going to find a way to build it no matter what," Neji said as they set out back in the direction of Leaf's city center, "But thank you for doing this."

She noticed that he was holding her hand, yet she did not bring attention to it, "Not at all, Neji. Though I don't want to tell Wong Leung or Lee what we're planning. I want it to be a surprise. Or more importantly, to not get their hopes up since we're inexperienced and could fail miserably at this."

"We won't."

"We won't, eh? What do you know about constructing martial arts schools?"

"Nothing." Neji conceded, "But who knows about anything when they are only beginning?"

Tenten had to tease, "I seem to remember you did as a kid, in the Academy. You were so stuck up."

"Don't remind me."

---

A few blocks south of Konoha's Administrative Building, where Neji and Tenten intended to inquire about building permits and such, they passed Tama and Sato traveling in the opposite direction. Tama and Tenten greeted each other civilly, but Sato was his usual cheeky self as soon as he laid eyes on Neji.

"Neji! Someone else's fashion sense looks great on you." Sato provided a thumbs-up of salutations.

"Likewise." Neji was aware that Sato had formed a habit of repurposing his grandfather Sakumo's clothing.

"Have you taken your Jounin Trial yet?" Sato was curious, "I just had mine scheduled with Asuma-sensei and Namiashi Raidō for next week."

All Neji shared was, "Yes. It went well."

"Of course it did." Sato was smiling. He had a new fondness for Neji after they'd beaten the daylights out of each other in the Chunin Exam. Reciprocally, Neji seemed a touch less prickly around the gregarious Hatake. Only Tenten could have noticed such a subtle change.

Neji was still not very responsive to Sato's attempt to gossip with him, whipping up tales of Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei's upcoming, clandestine nuptials, Hinata's possible participation in Friday's ramen eating contest at Ichiraku Ramen, and how was life with Tenten at the estate going? Because as soon as Sato got the scoop on that direct from the horse's mouth, he'd be sure to spread it among their peer group and tease.

Meanwhile, Tenten and Tama carried on their own amenable conversation:

"You're feeling better, Tama?"

"About back to how I felt before the Exam. Therapy helped! Sakura-chan looked after me."

Tenten agreed, "She's been protective of you. Me too, come to think of it."

"Are you going to train with Uncle Gai today?"

"This afternoon. Were you thinking about joining us?"

"I was."

"By all means." Tenten invited her, "3:30 on those nose, field C."

"I'll be there!"

Tenten walked on with a brief farewell, though Sato grumbled as Neji tore himself away from forced chit-chat to follow his girlfriend.

"He'll open up to you more soon." Tama supposed as they walked down the street, "If you pass your Trial, Neji will definitely see you as an equal. He's not as rough around the edges now that he has Tenten."

"Yeah, he's just not a talker. He's barely even a listener." Sato joked.

"That's why we have Lee-kun, Chouji-kun, and Shino-kun."

"They're much better listeners, by far." He agreed, "But I am stoked for Naruto to come back. He's a chatterer after my own heart."

"It won't be long now, right? Hinata-chan would know." Tama slowed to a stop when Sato did, as her companion had noticed a visitor to the Leaf Village wandering around the intersection of the avenue, trying to get some directional bearings.

Right away, Sato recognized the non-inhabitant as the new Mayor of Kuro Town and his tutor, former Grass ninja Toshisue Anyo. Sato took Tama's hand in his own and trotted up to his friend with lively greetings, "Anyo! What brings you here?"

"Ah." The white haired man had a careworn look on his face, "Hello, Sato. It's nice to see you."

"How've you been?" Sato extended pleasantries.

"Better." Anyo's gaze fell on Tama, "Hm. Is this your special someone?"

"Yep, this is Tama." Sato introduced, "Tama, I've told you about Anyo who works in Kuro and chills with me sometimes."

"He's told me many good things." Tama confirmed with a formal bow, "It's good to meet you, Anyo-san."

"And you as well, young lady. I'm looking for the Administrative Building." Anyo announced, "Would you mind pointing me in the right direction? I am not very familiar with Konoha."

"Oh, sure." Sato gestured north up the road, "Just continue straight and bear right about…eight blocks up from here? You'll see it's a big circular building— kind of faded red with a beat-up roof." He then wondered, "Did you need help with something in town? A project-?"

"This is more of a personal matter." Anyo explained, "I wanted to submit a mission request to the Hokage to hire a tracking team."

Sato and Tama exchanged eyebrow-raising glances.

"That might be a wait-listed request, since Hidden Leaf has a high volume of tracking assignments posted to search for various criminals and organizations." Tama warned him.

Anyo nodded in understanding, "I'll still apply. I've been struggling lately…since Sarincha went missing."

The boy's heart nearly stopped upon hearing the admission, "Sarincha's missing?"

"It's been over a week and she hasn't come home…which is completely out of character for her." The man lowered his voice, not truly comfortable sharing the situation, "She did not tell me that she would be away if it was for work, or visiting Kusagakure, or perhaps to see her father in Nanakusa…" It appeared as though he was in physical pain just speculating, "Or if something happened to her while I was occupied at the office…though I found no signs of foul-play in town or at our home."

"That's terrible." Tama empathized.

Sato wanted to volunteer, "I can-!"

Anyo flicked his hand at him, "I don't need you to work yourself up, Sato. There is much that the Hokage depends on you for…and Tama says this village is short on trackers." He assured Sato, "I won't stop until I find her. My instincts tell me she's safe, it's just…I have no idea where she might be, if not with me."

"I really want to help you." Sato protested.

"Well, you told me where to find the Hokage, so that's enough." His smile was lopsided.

"Is everything okay, though? You didn't have a fight or anything?" Sato whispered.

Anyo was miffed by the implication, "No. Everything's been fine. Better, even. That's why none of this makes sense."

"Sorry, sorry. Just wondering…" He was sincere, "It's just that I really care about you guys. I'll probably go crazy until you tell me that you've found her and that she's safe. I mean, Orochimaru, Dintei Bi, and the Akatsuki are at large right now…so it's hard to relax."

"I know." Anyo patted Sato's shoulder appreciatively, "I promise I will keep you informed."

"Thanks."

With a nod of his head, Anyo acknowledged Tama, "Once again, it was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Tama. The two of you stay out of trouble…and hopefully I will be introducing Sarincha to you soon."

"I hope so. Best of luck." She watched as the man hurried on up the street, watching with Sato beside her, "He looks so jittery…"

"I would be too, if I lost you." Sato spoke absently, watching his friend go.

Tama smiled to herself and laced her hand with his. Sato did not comment on how he was aware of Anyo and Sarincha's tumultuous past, or the fact that Sarincha had once privately admitted to him that everything was not perfect in her marriage. She put up with many disappointments as Anyo's spouse, yet claimed it was worth it. This recent development certainly cast a shade of doubt on that claim, Sato thought with a frown.

"Yo."

The pair whipped around to observe Kakashi.

"Friend of yours?" Kakashi inquired as he loped to a halt.

"Toshisue Anyo. Swordsmanship tutor and Mayor of Kuro Town." Sato explained, "Yeah, I know. He looks a lot like my dad."

"Freakishly so." Kakashi confirmed.

"Good afternoon, Sensei." Tama greeted brightly.

"Hi, Tama. I'm not too late for practice, right?"

"You missed it by three hours, but you know we understand." She relayed Kiba and Sakura's expectation that Kakashi could never reconcile himself with dates and times.

"Sorry about that…"

Sato circled closer to his uncle, "Are you feeling better Kakashi?"

The man sighed softly, "For the most part. That last episode hasn't repeated since…"

Tama seemed to be partially aware that Kakashi intermittently experienced strange phenomena attributed to his Sharingan eye. She did not press for further details, though.

"Do you know what might've caused it?" Sato asked.

"Not at all." It was a seamless response that was only half truthful. Kakashi had ideas on what catalyzed the hallucination, but he wasn't ready to share them with his talkative nephew.

He regarded Kakashi with a tilt of his head, "Take it easy, alright? We'll catch up later."

"Later." Kakashi carried on as the young couple proceeded south down Main Street. He was not in the mood to broadcast how out of sorts he'd felt since seeing that Akatsuki member again, or how he wasn't so sure he had imagined it all. It felt real. It still did.

Based on the morning's update, passed through the grapevine top-down from the Hokage's Advisory Council…the Akatsuki had attacked the Tide Village. That much was certain. Both Sunagakure and Shiogakure were reporting shinobi casualties, extensive damage to the city, and one missing Awa Utakata. The tidbit that Kakashi had asked for that no one had been able to answer was: How was Tide informed of an imminent attack? That isn't information that Jiraiya casually happens upon.

None of the council members or Jounin had a clue. While climbing the steps of the Jounin Standby Station, Kakashi suspected that Jiraiya more than likely had an insider within the Akatsuki. It wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Plenty of shinobi were well-connected, and practically made a second living off of espionage and selling information. Accessing the Akatsuki's inner circle, however, was not common spy work.

'That type of intel…planning attacks and the like…that would be shared with those who are considered unfailingly loyal to the organization— and this person clearly isn't. Or…' Kakashi pushed open double doors at the top of a landing and made a stop at a vending machine, 'It could be one of the active members who snitched.' His stomach swirled, 'Like Uchiha Itachi.'

That, of course, bordered on absurd. Kakashi slipped a coin into the machine and pushed a button, 'That'd be incongruent with what he did to the Uchiha clan. Although, the thin plausibility of village loyalty might fit there…I'll have to ask Jiraiya to explain.' It seemed too soon to try to explore the missing-nin's motivations, or possible affiliation with Jiraiya. Trying to think about the slim chance of exonerating one of Konoha's mass murderers in light of the greater good, whatever that was, would probably melt the brains of many councilmen. Kakashi at least prided himself in peeking outside of the box, once in a while.

He unwrapped the sweet apple bun, cozied up in a secluded corner near a window, and ate the snack. As someone who had known Itachi from a professional standpoint, back in the ANBU days, Kakashi could admit he still did not see why on earth the young man had chosen to destroy his clan. There was a fishy smell to it. A faint odor of doubt. Yet, Sasuke's suffering and Itachi's defection to the Akatsuki seemed to certify wrongdoing at a cellular level. For most people in Konoha, those actions were proof enough of Itachi's guilt. They did not need to dig deeper.

And then there was the other coincidence, Kakashi thought as he chewed. That he had seen the Akatsuki member on the very day the attack on Shiogakure reportedly began. 'Why?' Had the trauma from his fight in the Land of Rain been so great that he had developed a sixth sense for it? What he could recall with certainty was that his Sharingan had changed during that past struggle, after watching Sato die. Kakashi could not claim to know everything about the eye that Obito had given to him, and so it helped to keep an open mind as he discovered new things. 'If I am somehow able to see a member of the Akatsuki, I'll have to grow a spine and keep it together…so I can report on it to the Hokage.'

He tossed the snack wrapper in a trash can and slipped his mask above the bridge of his nose. Kakashi strode past the panel window of a conference room door, deciding that since he was nearly an hour late for the Jounin Council meeting anyway, he'd get caught up once they called recess. He exited a sliding door onto the top floor balcony, where Asuma leaned on a rail and smoked.

His friend did not even turn around before speaking to him, "Get into that meeting, Kakashi. You'd be a useful mediator."

"I'd feel more inclined if you weren't out here shirking." Kakashi happily took the spot beside Asuma.

He uttered a single word after a long drag, "Stress."

"That bad, huh?"

"There sure as hell weren't any good topics brought up in there. They didn't even start discussing Shiogakure yet." Asuma exhaled smoke from his nostrils, "Kurenai was tough enough to stay; said she'd fill me in later. The council was covering the details of Sasagainu Huo's escape from custody."

"I heard bits and pieces of that." Kakashi turned around to lean his back against the rail, propping up his elbows, "Most of Leaf's squadron was killed."

Asuma recapped, "Only Inuzuka Hana survived when Bihokukuni's group attacked the Leaf and Rock squads at the meeting point…they said our Captain Aburame Shihori took down two of Bi's men and ordered her squad's retreat." He paused to inhale and exhale, "We also confirmed Oku Sekieima made it back to Iwa with serious injuries, but most of the Rock team was also killed in that skirmish. What a fucking mess."

"I did notice Kiba saying a prayer of thanks yesterday. I had no idea his sister was on that detail." Kakashi admitted.

"Guess he doesn't want to bellow it out for the world to hear, or he'll jinx his family's luck." The man had burned his cigarette down to its filter, putting it out in a stone tray, "To be honest, I don't know how I feel about Tsunade sending out four units to track Huo and Bi's group. We just got the report on the Tide Village…so rapid response teams aren't readily available."

"We're spread thin." Kakashi acknowledged.

"She already has stealth trackers checking the Rice Country for any word on Sasuke's whereabouts. That team had to regroup after triggering a series of Orochimaru's traps, plus that decoy base fiasco…" Asuma stared out on the city below, "Now a small fleet of medical teams will have to go to Tide. You see why this is a problem, don't you?"

"Why it's a problem?" Kakashi was amused, "I should circle all of the above."

"It means we'll be pulling double time on our assignments, at the very least." His friend warned him, "It'll suck. That's why the Hokage has been campaigning for young bloods to take Jounin Trials, to pick up some of the slack. In case you didn't hear, Raidō and I will be testing Sato next week."

Kakashi only gave his friend a knowing, sidelong smile.

"Eh…so you're confident in him?" Asuma chuckled.

"He's ready."

"Yeah, sure." Asuma turned back toward the door, "I don't know if I am."

---

Since neither Matsuri nor Shigenori had protested, Temari cut their break short before sunrise and ordered the team to continue. By the time it was proper morning with a blue sky overhead, she had her two companions crossing the Great Naruto Bridge with no complaints of fatigue. The signs of damage and calamity were immediate. As they approached Shiogakure's main hub at the shinobi barracks, Matsuri held her breath and observed an entire road of brick buildings had been flattened, spread out like toy blocks.

Areas that had been washed out and crushed had only just been dried out and cleared. Temari found it heartening that the battered city was crowded, full of citizens actively assessing the scope of loss and clean-up. She and her teammates passed the gate of the barracks, meandering through a dense pack of shinobi responders. Even without his traditional face paint on, Temari was able to pick out her brother's face among the throng. In seconds, she had slipped through the bustling bodies to reach Kankuro, Matsuri and Shigenori tailing behind her.

"Uh— don't mind my appearance." Kankuro said as he rose from a canvas folded stool, still bandaged with an arm in a sling, "Hey Temari…I'm glad you're here."

"If only I'd been around when it happened…" Temari was careful not to squeeze him while hugging.

"Trust me, none of you wanted to be down here for that." Kankuro acknowledged Matsuri with a nod, and was surprised to see Shigenori, "Oh, Shigenori, Gaara's not giving you a streak of garbage missions is he?"

"Not that I've noticed." The man seemed good-humored about it, "He hasn't asked me to do much until recently."

Temari kept her mouth shut, aware of how Gaara was hoping that he could rely on the veteran Shakuton-user when the possible treason case with the Advisory Council blew wide open.

At Kankuro's feet was a pile of disassembled carbon fiber parts, which Matsuri vaguely recognized, "Kankuro-sama…those aren't your-?"

"Yeah. All of my puppets were destroyed." He confirmed, "Further proof you guys didn't want to be here when the shit hit the fan. It was bad." Matsuri was cringing at the scrap heap.

"The city looks…" Temari trailed off, "How about the people? Should we be reporting somewhere?"

"Right now, there are four active emergency infirmaries running. All of them also need help identifying the dead, mostly shinobi. A lot of victims were admitted after the big wave…" He further explained, "The Tide Village was spared from that attack thanks to one of Utakata's failsafe jutsu…but it also struck a nearby community on the mainland. There were a lot of unintended civilian injuries because of it." Kankuro crossed the busy lobby with the Sand team and asked for directions from Kiriyama Saizō (also bandaged), as he was the only remaining co-chair for Shiogakure's Jounin Council.

"Do us a favor and help excavate some of the south side buildings— there might still be people trapped there." Saizō recommended, "Later, donate some of your blood. Most everyone here already has."

With that, the Sand group proceeded past the more-or-less untouched Star Notojiso Hotel Resort on the south end of the village, and assisted a large group of ninja and townspeople among the rubble of collapsed buildings. The day wore thinly, stomachs empty and complaining, food and supply lines overwhelmed; but Matsuri got a sense of stubborn optimism from those gathered. She too felt a boost when buckled scaffolding over a pit was shoved aside, revealing two trapped Academy students who were shaken, scratched, and in need of food and water. She guided them to the barracks for care, holding the hands of both students as they trudged up the road.

"Matsuri!"

Her heart leaped when she heard someone call her name. After handing the children off to a kind faced Chunin attendant at the gate, she spun around to see Inari sprinting towards her. They crashed together in a weepy hug.

"Oh my god— this has been—" The boy was sniffling, "Thank you for coming here, I wasn't sure if your Sensei would tell you to stay away-!"

"No, of course he wouldn't!" Matsuri wrapped her arms around Inari's shoulders, letting him gasp and cry for a short while.

"…eh-hem. Sorry." He rubbed his dripping nose on his sleeve, "Thanks. We've been working to get everything under control since the Akatsuki attacked. I'm so damn tired…and a report came back from one of our tracking team members." Inari's eyes were still watering, "Saying that squad is gone."

"Gone?" She felt electric fear course through her.

"We think other members of the organization…attacked our follow-up groups. They might've had a chance to stop Pein's escape otherwise…" Inari shook his head, "But they took Utakata, even though we fought our hardest. All of the Leaf ninja and Menma are gone."

Matsuri gave him a light shake, "Are you sure? About Menma?"

"I dunno! I've looked for three days straight. They said he was last seen fighting on the bay." Inari wilted, "Matsuri…he told me that he loves you and he didn't expect to…" He cleared his throat, "I think he knew he couldn't win. He tried to help. He had to."

"Then…we'll keep looking." She swiped a tear at the corner of her eye, "If we've got to…identify him at the infirmary…where do we go to ask?"

Inari made a small sound of despair in his throat, but led the way to a wide, tented area of the barracks. Matsuri followed him and reflected, while shaking head to foot, that she had considered this type of an outcome on the way over from the Sand Village. That someone she knew and cared about could have been a casualty of the Akatsuki's attack. Temari had pointedly not commented on the subject while they traveled the day before. All the same, Matsuri had adopted a few crucial threads of cynical wisdom from Gaara. Thus, she was able to draw sobering conclusions. Her stomach hurt terribly as she thought it over, holding out hope that maybe Menma's body would not be one of the dozens laid beneath white tarps all over the ground.

The smell of the No-ID tent also made her want to gag, though she marched silently up the row behind her friend. Matsuri guessed that Inari had been through this area before. At a secretarial station beneath blowing fans, there were several shinobi talking to a pack of worried-looking people. Some broke off from the group with chaperones to check rows, guided by descriptions of the deceased.

While speaking to an examiner, Inari learned that unidentified victims from other emergency infirmaries had been consolidated here. Quite a number of them had been identified, claimed by friends or family, and moved to the hospital a few at a time. After Inari gave his description of Menma, the examiner appeared relieved to say, "Thankfully…we don't have anyone that age, of that physical description here."

"Are you sure?" Inari pressed.

The man nodded, "I've checked all of the victims and had my assistant verify all 24 of our unclaimed. No one blonde, teenaged, etcetera is here, I assure you…though…" He lifted a microphone piece on an old radio atop a table, calling over to another area, "Mimi? Hi, it's Seidai at the central barracks. We've got a party here looking for blonde-haired, fair skinned victim, aged 15 or 16, approximately 61kg and 177cm tall."

The radio crackled an answered, We have several deceased kids and teenagers on the mainland. Some are fair colored, young…all unidentified. Why don't you send the identifying party over? We need help with IDs.

All color drained out of Inari's face and he toddled out of the nearest exit flap of the tent. Matsuri asked the examiner where to go, learning they would have to cross the Great Naruto Bridge and travel a few minutes south along the coast to the tourist town Noto, the hamlet nearest to the Land of Waves. She thanked the examiner and exited the tent, discovering Inari hurling his guts out into a garbage can. Her insides twisted at the sight. 'Keep it together. Keep it together.' She patted Inari's back as he stood upright and spat to clear his mouth, apologizing again.

"It's alright, Inari. I think you need a break." Matsuri suggested as they carried on through the camp, "You've been working for over three days now."

The boy stopped at the closest bench to sit down, a film still visible in his eyes. "I was the last person with him, Matsuri. If I'd known the right thing to say, he wouldn't have gone to fight." Inari's imagination had veered toward the hypothetical.

"He never liked quitting." Matsuri reminded him.

"Yeah…and well, it cost him." Some resentment crept into his voice, tears slicking down his cheeks, "Why'd he leave? Idiot." Inari got comfortable and spread out on the bench to lay down, relaxing. He asked Matsuri to come back as soon as she could.

With that, she was off— out of the barracks like a bullet and running over the bridge, recalling the directions she'd been given. Along the way, makeshift signs had also been propped up along the path to direct people to Noto. Matsuri arrived with speed, and was surprised to find not a pitched tent, but a real facility. She entered the clinic to find even more chaos, with many injured patients alive and fussing in the overcrowded space. Matsuri squeezed through and tried to find her way around.

A medic-supervisor in a white coat stopped her before she left the lobby, "Hold it! Are you injured?"

"N-No. I'm looking for someone." She scurried up to the very tall, burly woman who'd called to her.

"For an ID? Seidai must've sent you over. Deceased or living?"

"I don't know."

"Start in the east ward here. We have all no-names, coma patients, critical injuries, and mortuary." The woman named Mimi pointed out a whiteboard on the wall, "We have some details up there you can refer to. If you—"

A raucous erupted behind them, with several medics responding to a heart-failure patient coding on a gurney. Mimi forgot all about Matsuri to help guide the shouting gaggle to a treatment room. The kunoichi turned around and struggled to breathe, her eyes scanning over the chart on the wall. The only details of consequence, since most physical descriptions were unhelpful or incomplete, was "age 16." Knees knocking, Matsuri ventured down a corridor with fewer occupants, glancing around as she passed rooms toward her destination. At room 33, she poked her face through a door into a darkened room. A white sheet had been cast aside, with only empty beds, unlit monitors and drawn curtains.

Right then, her chest clenched so tight that she retreated from the abandoned room, her back pressing to a white cinderblock wall, then she slid down to the floor to sit.

What a quick result.

There was nothing— no one, where someone was supposed to be. To the left, a few more paces down the hallway, were double doors with signs posted to direct identifiers toward bodies. 'I can't take it…I just need to…' If she could have only a moment of peace to not have to think about how Menma had died and been carted away with other unknowns, she would've traded years off her own life for that. Matsuri bowed her head onto her folded knees, trembling tearlessly. The rattle inside of her was so terrible that there was hardly any evidence of anguish on her face. Shock gripped her for a full minute.

This was the fate that so commonly befell ninja. It was a well-known fact. Her parents had been no exception. So too would her boyfriend, and mentors, and good friends perish, if they kept to the path of a shinobi. Bogged down by morbid thoughts and drained of her energy, Matsuri raised her head and took a breath. She tried to place a strange sound: pipes and water. If she had not imagined it, a toilet had flushed.

Bounding to her feet, Matsuri launched herself into the dark room and hooked around the corner to an unassuming, attached lavatory where the door opened…and both the startled occupant and she screamed when they came face-to-face. The person trying to hobble out of the bathroom slipped and fell backwards. Matsuri staggered but maintained quick thought processes, identifying that, yes, it was Menma. Though crumpled on the floor and wrapped up like a mummy, she felt in her bones who she'd scared the hell out of.

It looked as though it would take him an age to slowly and painfully stand up again. He was obviously injured. Menma stared up at her in the faint light with his good eye, watching as Matsuri crouched down to help him.

"Menma, I'm sorry!" Nervous laughter was woven in her words, "I was looking— I thought you were dead."

He couldn't talk he was so flustered, though his face betrayed a feeling of relief that superseded the aches keeping him floor-bound.

"Can you stand up?"

"…I don't think so…" He admitted, "It took all my strength…just to get in here without assistance. Nurses have been busy—" Menma took her hand and looped his arm over her shoulder to rise up with her. He was glasslike; feeble in her hands. Menma didn't utter a word of protest when Matsuri scooped him up in her arms like a maiden to return him to bed.

After being laid out, Menma held fast to her hand. It was then she got a thorough look at him— his head bandaged and left eye covered with gauze. Through the thin, parted material of a hospital shirt, his chest and stomach were also bound up where his injuries were worst. Matsuri sat down at the edge of the cot and gently touched his face. He exhaled wearily while trying to make sure she was not a figment of his imagination. When her fingertips strayed towards the covering on his eye, Menma flinched.

"That hurts?" She supposed.

"…everything…" He had a hard time speaking.

"Is it hard to breathe, wrapped up like that?" Matsuri gathered, "Your ribs."

Menma nodded.

The ghost of a wane smile graced her mouth, "You fought hard…"

Giving up, he shut his eyes and had a little faith that she wouldn't disappear. Just being conscious was exhausting as he endured jolts of agony that sparked from many wounds.

She was irked by the clinic's scatterbrained handling of patients, "They shouldn't just leave you in here unattended! The info board outside has no information on you. I had no idea where to look. I should talk to the supervisor to get you something for the pain, and a bed pan, maybe something to eat or drink…"

He shook his head tiredly, smiling.

"Something for the pain at least. Look at you, Menma-!" Matsuri had lightened up a little, "Inari was so worried about you he threw up."

Menma strained not to laugh because it hurt his fractured ribs.

"I'll tell him you're okay. Tazuna-san and Kankuro-sama will want to know too." She warmed his hand between both of hers, adding, "Try not to worry about Utakata. There are tracking teams hunting the Akatsuki right now, and Hidden Sand is helping. We'll find him."

His eyes cracked open, concern stilling him, "Utakata-? He was…"

"Yeah. The village will be alright, though. Kankuro-sama said he saved everyone."

"What about…Obito?" Menma asked.

She frowned in confusion, "Who's that?"

"The spy. He was helping us."

"No one mentioned that person." Matsuri said as she began to stand, slipping her hand free, "But I can find out for you, if you want to know. Let me go find a nurse, okay?"

Reluctantly, Menma withdrew his hand and watched as she swiftly exited the recovery room.

Matsuri hustled back to the lobby and made an honest attempt to get the attention of anyone who looked official, or of some medical persuasion. Her chirps for assistance and taps on shoulders were brushed off. 'No wonder so many people haven't been identified or helped! They're not listening!' Fed up, Matsuri scaled the check-in desk, her head nearly brushing the ceiling as she stood and shouted indignantly for someone to pay attention.

"I have a patient to identify AND he needs treatment!" Her fuming did not go unnoticed. Several startled people in the clinic stopped to stare at her tantrum, "Something for pain! Update his records! Don't you realize he fought that Akatsuki member head-to-head and lived? You should all be thanking him-!"

"Eh-hem." A voice interrupted below her.

Matsuri glanced down at a pretty woman who had her arms folded, clearly tousled and dirtied from helping other patients. The woman motioned for Matsuri to get down from the desk, which she did.

"Okay angry kunoichi, pipe down." The woman sniffed, "Don't do what I did and make a scene. They sedated me with a needle when I freaked out earlier. Then I had to tell them to keep their hands off me because I'm pregnant, and well…" She sighed, "I'm Hotaru." She shook Matsuri's hand before the girl could bow in traditional greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Hotaru-san."

"Just Hotaru is fine." The woman was crossing the lobby toward the No-ID patient board, "And you are?"

"Matsuri."

"I've heard of you. You're rather popular in Shiogakure." Hotaru's expression was somber, although she put up a sociable front, "Let me help you…since I'm under surveillance and not allowed to go beyond Noto to help look for Utakata. What patient ID do you have?"

"Um…Shin Menma." Matsuri pointed to the empty box on the white board's chart.

"Menma's here?" Hotaru was surprised, "Thank goodness." She scribbled notes on the board and checked off the 'guardian' box in the column, adding Matsuri's name. "So you said he needs something for pain? I'll have a nurse come by with us to check him, then bring a schedule III or schedule II medication."

"It hurts so much that he can barely talk." The girl's eyes were watery, "Thank you for your help."

"It's fine. I just have to keep my mind—" Hotaru gave her head a shake, "Here. For the people who need us…Utakata would want me to." She ushered Matsuri along towards a drug storage room.

"Miss Hotaru, is there a radio somewhere around here that I can use?" Matsuri wondered.

"Yes, but what for?"

"I need to tell some friends that Menma is alright. They'll want to know. And also…" She remembered Menma's other request, "I need to ask about someone else who helped the Tide Village. Someone named Obito."

---

Obito had left the Tide Village a day prior to the Sand team's arrival. That was not to say he had made great progress traveling north on the mainland, struggling up a route that straddled the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire. Though most of his injuries had been adequately mended, chakra exhaustion was not something he could shrug off. The average senior citizen could outpace him up the winding dirt path, he estimated. He was slow and half-delirious.

'I'm not sure how I am going to get home like this…but I couldn't ask anyone to escort me, with Shiogakure in need of so much aid.' He considered, 'And heaven help me if any Akatsuki members are out here…I can barely swat a fly right now, never mind fight…'

As evening drew near, while trudging through the foothill forests, he felt his energy leave him for good. It was impossible to take another step forward. Obito stooped down to the ground and curled up on his side on a bed of pine needles, "Just a short rest." He had to hold still and hope some strength returned to him. Even searching for food and water was out of the question. He shut his eyes and sleep immediately took him.

Sometime in the middle of the next day, he woke with a start. He was still groggy and sore. Obito blinked, noticing a box turtle crawling by on the forest floor. With his head pressed to the ground so, he had an impeccable close-up view of the wild creature. He watched it journey by and resolved that even if he was as slow as that animal, doggone it, he would get home eventually. His family must have been worried sick, 'I've never spent this much time away from Rin and Yuma. What are they thinking? Are they scared or angry?'

Since he lacked the strength to move, and finding water would become a priority in the near future, Obito shut his eyes again. He would steal a bit more sleep and expect that no one hostile would come across him in the random expanse of wilderness. He had to take the chance. If he'd been more patient, he would still be recovering on a cot in Shiogakure's main infirmary. That would've been the practical way to rest before trekking home. But instead he'd faked resilience, bade his new comrades farewell, and rushed out before realizing what an idiotic task he had undertaken.

Night in the valley was cloudless, the sky clear and starry. Obito woke again as something tickled his face. At first, his senses urged him to react to a threat— whatever had found him was big…but he recognized the slobbery licks were that of a dog's greeting. His dog, rather. Obito squawked in delighted shock, then wrapped his arms around the huge hound's neck, "…whoa! Sesshu! …you found me?"

"It's what I do." The ninken laid down beside him, content in the man's hold.

"Thank you, thank you." He breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm so tired. I thought I could make the trip back to Shincha…but I sort of collapsed."

"I can see that." Sesshu was sniffing him curiously, putting together puzzle pieces of scent, "A battle?"

"Yeah." Obito petted the great oaf's head and rubbed his ears, "If you don't mind waiting until morning…I think I can get back on my feet."

"There's no need to wait." The dog said off-handedly, peering out into the dark of the woods as if waiting for something.

Obito didn't get it. He stared dumbly at the dog who offered no explanation, but the soft crunch of footsteps in the scrub and pine litter alerted him to another presence. In moments, a second visitor had arrived— human this time. With that realization crashing over him, Obito found the strength to sit up and lean into the tight embrace of Rin as she kneeled down. An errant sob escaped him.

For her part, she was far less emotionally raw and physically worn. She made soft sounds while patting the back of his head, her hands covertly searching him for injuries, "Obito…"

"What're…you-" He hiccupped, "Doing here-?"

"I came to find you. I got your message, and I had a feeling you would need help." Rin told him matter-of-factly, continuing to check him, "—my god. You've got almost no chakra. What have you been doing?"

"I…" Obito changed the subject, "If you're here with me, who's looking after Yuma?"

"I left him with Yoshige and Nozomi back in town. I told them something was wrong and I had to go out for a few days, although Yuma just thinks I'm away on a house call." Rin filled him in, "Come on, sit up a bit more. Your wrist is broken."

"It is?" He hardly felt it.

"Yes. It's hard to tell out here in the dark. Two kilometers north of here there's a hot spring inn. Let's go there and I'll see what I can do with you." The woman heaved him to his unhappy feet, then draped him over her giant dog, "Sesshu, will you carry him for now? I'll take over later."

"I can—" Obito's protest was cut off.

"Shush. You're injured. I need you to stay awake to tell me what happened." Rin braced her hands on his shoulder to steady him, and her ninken strode forward with his cargo aboard.

The walk through the dark was strange, and Obito guessed some of the details of his discovery and subsequent rush to Shiogakure were garbled, sometimes out of chronological order. He spun the tale as best he could, filling in gaps in the story when Rin addressed them, "So the jinchuriki was formerly of the Mist Village, but settled in the Tide Village. Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant to say."

"Got it. It makes sense now. Continue." They carried on.

He spoke of the Tide ninja and their varied backgrounds. The beautiful seaside city. The Great Naruto Bridge. The Sand ninja who were close allies of the new hidden village, and had risked so much to defend it. He also discussed Pein and his incarnations, although it was very uncomfortable to revisit those memories. Luckily, they arrived at the inn and he took a break from rendering the Akatsuki's assault. Rin helped him stand and hobble through the entrance of the inn. The door chime woke a middle-aged attendant dozing behind the check-in desk. He was astonished to see two strangers appear in the middle of the night.

"Could we please…" Rin secured her arm around her husband's waist to support him, asking the innkeeper, "Have a room for tonight? We're worn out."

"Is that dog with you?" He pointed to the giant, golden beast behind Rin, "No pets."

"I'm not a pet." Sesshu corrected him.

The man stared.

"Sesshu is not a pet." Rin willed herself to be pleasant, because she believed the honey, not vinegar adage, "Yes, he'll stay with us too. He's worked hard and I don't want him sleeping outside. I promise he won't make a mess."

"Uh…" The innkeeper nodded slowly, "Alright. One futon? We're almost completely vacant so you've got prime pickin's."

She nodded, "That'll do. How much?"

"400 Ryo. Another 100 Ryo for breakfast in the morning. I'll throw in a soak in the onsen for free, if you want." He tried to be generous after realizing he was most likely speaking to shinobi.

Rin patted down the pocket of her husband's unusual (she just realized) pants, "Got any money on you?"

"I spent it all." He admitted quietly.

"On what?"

"This outfit."

"Are you kidding me?" Rin hissed.

Obito just chuckled and tried not to fall over.

Since she had nowhere to put him, Rin set Obito down on the floor for a moment and riffled through her satchel for money notes. The innkeeper watched, mystified, as she presented him with payment, accepted a room key, and then schlepped who he supposed was her spouse down the corridor. The dog followed behind them.

Somehow, she maneuvered through the door, flipped the lights on, and settled in. Rin lowered Obito into a cushy armchair and then drew the curtains of the room, to block out the blackness of night beyond the window. She crossed back to him and held out her hand, "Show me your arm again. Let's get you fixed."

For twenty minutes, she worked without a word, mending bones, strains, and cuts. Obito fell asleep for some of it, and woke again when Rin tried to remove the orange goggles still slung around his neck. He helped her lift them free, amused when she muttered, "Isn't this a blast from the past? Goggles..."

"I thought that too."

"Of course you did. This is a nice sweatshirt, though. It's a shame it got ripped up…" Rin began tugging the rest of his clothing off, "Do you have any energy to take a bath? You stink."

"No, but I should try to wash up anyway."

"Where are your other clothes? The dark ones?"

"In my travel bag…which is lost somewhere in Shiogakure."

Rin grumbled. Across the room, Sesshu's ears flicked as he dreamed, curled up in a ball to sleep.

Obito apologized to her, "Sorry. Nothing important was in there, if that helps."

He limped towards the attached washroom with her help, not commenting as he stripped down and watched her do the same. When Obito tried to sit down on a bathing stool, he nearly missed it. Rin caught him during his descent to course-correct him into a safe seated position. She sat on her knees near the spigot and turned the showerhead on, glancing her husband over, "Your arm and leg look different…"

"I needed to get them repaired after fighting."

"Here." She made him hold the showerhead to hose himself down with warm water, getting behind him with soap, "So you said you fought many of Pein's incarnations?"

"I did. With help."

"And…he saw your face."

"…yeah."

"You don't think he recognized you as Tobi, do you?" Rin asked the critical question, "What if it's not safe for you to go back to Akatsuki meetings?"

"I don't think he knows I am Tobi. I had my mask put away in a Tool Scroll, and he's never seen my jutsu before…but he knows I'm a problem. Pein noticed my Sharingan." Obito admitted, "And he tried very hard to kill me."

She was silent as she listened, going over his back with a sudsy cloth.

"He was angry. I used a jutsu that…" Obito trailed off, wanting to wait before relaying his theory about Kakashi, "I nearly defeated the incarnation he uses most often. Then he trapped me under a crushed building. It was like…that day, all over again…"

Rin stilled in her scrubbing, immediately aware of what he was referring to.

"I was so sure I would die. Must've sounded…so undignified screaming for help like I did…" He balanced the hose over his leg to soap up his hands and wash his face, "I kept thinking about…never doing enough for you and Yuma…everyone…"

"Well, you're alive." Rin pointed out archly, resuming the clean-up process, "God may have heard my wishes when I ran all the way down here."

"If that's so, then I was made to save myself. I can…do something kind of weird now." Obito told her.

"Something weird?" She was scrubbing herself while sharing the warm water.

"I can't show you yet. It takes a lot of chakra." He explained, slowly rising to stand, "But I'll definitely show you. It saved my life."

Rin waved it off and concluded rinsing herself down, then they toweled dry. Neither bothered with getting redressed. They made a bee-line for the room's futon, slipping beneath the covers, and did not so much as utter goodnight before they fell asleep.

Sesshu woke them late the next morning, as they would have slept through the breakfast they paid for. Equally groggy, the couple sat down in complimentary robes to eat the spread on the table of a tea room. When the innkeeper greeted them sunnily to ask how they were enjoying their stay, Rin and Obito looked at him morosely from between slitted eyes. The poor innkeeper backed out of the room. It was quiet for a while.

"Maybe…" Rin said between spoonfuls of soup, "You should quit."

"Being a spy?" Obito wanted to verify context.

"Yeah. I mean, this is all just…it's crazy. It happened so suddenly. You had no time to rally for adequate help or contact Jiraiya— or me. If you can't quit, because this has become a major threat to state security, well, it makes sense to reorganize. It'd be different if—" She took a fortifying breath and suggested, "It'd be different if we had the Leaf Village backing us up. You could call the cavalry when something like this happens. Respond effectively."

Obito raised his eyebrows at her. Whenever discussion of the Leaf Village was on the table, Rin was never the one to bring it up. She hardly ever entertained the idea.

"You have a point." He said before sipping his tea.

"But I'd rather if you quit." She was honest.

"I know. I think I would too…but I don't know if putting our selfish wants ahead of the lives of everyone the Akatsuki threatens is possible. Jiraiya-sama must have thought about this at some point as well…whether or not to back down…" Obito sighed, "If they dismantle everything in the world that we love and value, just because they've amassed unbeatable military might…then there's no point in us living our solitary lives in Shincha. It'd go to shit."

"That's not the world he deserves." Rin acknowledged Yuma's future.

"It's not what anyone deserves. We've got to take a bit of responsibility. I bet that's what Minato-sensei would say." He waggled a bite of baked fish in his chopsticks, "We might pay with our lives, but fighting the organization means others will have the chance too. To stop the Akatsuki."

"The thing that worries me most…" She professed softly, "Is if this struggle drags on…if someday…Yuma would have to—"

"He won't." Obito's voice was sharp, "This isn't his war. It's ours, so we'll finish it. Us. The Leaf Village. All of the great villages— we're not going to leave it to our kids."

Rin nodded, fully aligned with his declaration.

"So this conversation gives me the impression you're more open-minded about Hidden Leaf now?" He ventured carefully.

"I don't want to dive in without any warning, I mean, everyone still believes you're dead." Rin reminded him, "Your clan might not take it the way we want them to…your sisters…"

"Eh, they'll probably just keep on ignoring me like they always did."

"The Hokage would need some reassurance from Jiraiya-sama, about the good work you've done. Tsunade-sama will just see us as slackers, most likely." Rin speculated, "And Kakashi…"

"He'll be the least of our problems." Obito was optimistic about that reunion, "It's Yuma who'll have to bear with the biggest changes."

"Right." Rin cupped her forehead in her palm, "We've taught him quite a lot, so he'll need advanced placement in the Academy. Now that's some paperwork to look forward to. He'll need to learn about getting around Konoha and making friends…and I'd like for him to finish out this semester of school in Shincha, so it's less jarring for him."

"It might be hard to time this switch to the ebb and flow of our son's schoolyear, Rin."

"Can we just try?" She gruffed, "In the meantime, I'll write to Tsume. I think it'll be easier settling in with my family for the transition. We can't really sell our house in Shincha— no one would buy it. Once we get to Konoha, we can start working…save money and look for a new home. And if you try to reach out to the Uchiha clan, they might find your reappearance suspicious. At best."

"Yeah, I'm not expecting open arms. Your family is a safer bet."

"Okay. But then, after all of that…" Rin brightened, "We'll just go with the flow."

"It might be more of a raging current than a flow, just sayin'."

Ah, did her husband have a way with words… They finished eating, presented leftovers to Sesshu, got dressed, and checked out of the hotel. Obito could only travel at slightly more than a snail's pace, and so it was decided Sesshu would carry him as far as possible. That arrangement lasted until they reached the northeastern forests bordering on territory near Kusagakure. The great dog wearily came to a stop in a mushroom ring, then dumped Obito to the ground. The two groaned in unison.

"Looks like we should take a rest…" Rin glanced around as the sun set, "We have another day of travel into the Land of Earth. You two pick some of those mushrooms, and I'll find something else to eat."

Sesshu was no good for picking much of anything, and so he laid there, forcing Obito to work around him. When Rin returned with river trout to cook over a fire, she found her husband asleep again, using their dog for a pillow. She examined the small pile of edible mushrooms, set up a campfire, and roasted their spoils. Her companions woke briefly to eat, but were snoozing shortly after their meal. For practicality's sake, Rin stayed awake to keep watch during the night.

The journey north resumed in the morning, with Obito lasting for a greater portion of the route through a mountain range before relying on Sesshu. The dog hauled him dutifully through one of the secluded valleys in the Land of Earth, and then up the familiar, wooded slopes toward Shincha. Cresting the peak and passing the town by to reach their forest home, Rin made due and half-dragged Obito up the footpath. She asked her ninken, "Sesshu, go into town and pick up Yuma from Yoshige and Nozomi's house. Make sure he doesn't leave his school bag behind. I want to make sure he's been doing homework…"

"I'm so tired, Rin…" The dog whimpered.

"I know, so take your time if you want. Just make sure you bring my kid home." She teased, "I'll see you later?"

Sesshu turned around to trudge down the hill towards the town proper. Obito gave their loyal dog a wave of farewell, taking weak steps as Rin draped his arm over her shoulders. As the view of their quaint house grew ever closer, Obito tittered punch-drunk reflections, "This is like one of those nights we'd go out drinking, then slog home up the mountain…"

"Except that neither of us are drunk, and in fact you nearly died." She mused.

"Yeah."

"You're a little bit stronger today."

He even made it up the front steps onto the porch, nodding as Rin unlocked the door, "'Lil bit."

"Maybe when you're recovered, you'll show me that jutsu you talked about?" She wondered, "If it saved your life, I was thinking maybe it could help others?"

"I guess it could." He really didn't know enough about it. They did an awkward dance in the genkan to remove their shoes.

The pair toddled through the house, down the hall, and into the bedroom, where Rin rolled him onto a mattress and slid a blanket up. In seconds, Obito was out like a light. She stood back and collected herself. There. She'd done it. She had retrieved her wayward husband and brought him home.

It had been a close call. Rin left the room to wander numbly through the house lit with high-noon light filtering through windows. In the living room, she sank down onto the sofa and pondered the wall in silence, tears slowly slipping down her cheeks.

When she had set out on this rescue operation, after receiving Obito's message from Shiogakure, she was only half sure that she would succeed. Part of her had assumed the worst, like always. Each time he set out to do business with the Akatsuki, or sometimes report to Orochimaru, a lingering fear in Rin's gut intensified. Every day that passed while Obito was gone felt like the stroke of a hand-saw, scraping back and forth over her nerves. For him to have been absent for nearly a month had been hell.

'I won't always be able…to save him.' She thought as she leaned back in her seat, inhaling deeply, 'Next time, I'll have no idea where he is. Or what happened. If I don't know anything, then there's no way to help him.' Rin squeezed her eyes shut, 'He talked about…super powerful ninja. Proxies. Destruction. The Rinnegan. Whatever that is…I wish he'd just give all of this up.'

Based on their conversation at the inn, she doubted that was an option. Too much was at stake. Knowing that his line of work would continue, and that help from Hidden Leaf was critical, Rin was still digesting the inevitable change that would come. They would leave this comfortable life and the friends they'd made behind, 'I have no idea what's waiting in Leaf. For all I know, my family's disowned me. Everyone might react badly…and what if Yuma struggles?'

And yet it had to be done. So she would see it done, no matter the pains it caused. She pushed up from the couch and wiped her slick cheeks. When she had left to find Obito, she had thrown out all perishable items in her pantry. The search had lasted a few days, as she expected. Restocking food was a necessity for a functioning household. She changed clothes, splashed her face with cold water at the sink, slung a canvas tote on her shoulder, and then set out. Waxwings in the yard's berry bushes sang and squabbled. They'd fly further south to the Land of Fire when winter came, Rin thought. Like her family would.

She hiked through the woods and down the slope toward the garden, glad that a few plants were still yielding vegetables. Rin was swift up two rows, plucking okra, daikon, and peppers. When she passed by the tomato plant she stopped to give it a second-glance. A linen, drawstring bag that would fit in the palm of her hand was snug against the base of the plant. 'Did Yuma put this here?' Rin bent down to scoop it up, peeking inside the purse. Within she found 50 Ryo. She tugged it shut and dropped it in her tote with the vegetables she had collected.

On her way out of the garden, it occurred to Rin, 'Yuma doesn't handle money…' She looked back at the plant, noting all of the tomatoes had been picked. Her eyes widened, 'Someone…took them?' And paid for them…while she had been gone. Her stomach flipped in fright, 'I know that Char's told me villagers are too scared to come up here, in case shinobi from Iwagakure are patrolling…' So she concluded it must have been someone else, as she bounded up the forest hill.

The idea tickled the back of her mind. She remembered the visitor Obito had spoken to her about.

Nothing in the yard or around the house seemed or smelled out of place. Rin hopped up the porch, dumped her tote of vegetables on a table beside the genkan, and reached up to a tall shelf for a bag of hunting gear, 'I want to stay close in case Obito needs me. I can't go into town to buy meat.' Thus, she planned to catch a meal instead. Since she had settled in Shincha long ago, she'd become a hunting wiz. Rin hiked up a northern trail, keeping her ears pricked for bird calls or a possible tomato-stealing intruder. When curkling noises in the underbrush caught her attention, she leapt into the branches of a tree and surveyed the ground.

A gaggle of grouses toddled by, turning up fallen leaves for insects and seeds. Rin waited without a sound, deciding on the fattest-looking birds before pitching a weighted net down. Though she captured one of her chosen targets, she also netted a smaller specimen. The rest scattered in a splay of feathers and escaped. She worked quickly— pulling in her catch, crouching down to snap their necks with a soft-spoken prayer of thanks. Rin unwound her net to replace it in a satchel, making haste back towards the house.

In the rear yard, she peaked into the bedroom window. 'Yup. He's still asleep.' Obito hadn't moved an inch. Rin crossed over to a waste barrel by the shed to begin de-feathering the birds. She tested their fragile beaks, confirming that they were juveniles, 'Young grouse are the juiciest…' It took time to pluck them bare. She sat on an old, wooden bench while carving off the limbs and heads with a knife, removing innards. The viscera went to her compost pile, the rest was for cooking.

No sooner had she seasoned the meat and put it into an oven for roasting, Rin heard the front door slam open, followed by quick stomps and shouting. When she rushed to meet Yuma in the sitting room, it was mainly to hush him up when they collided in a hug.

"Ma—!"

"Not so loud, Yuma, please. Your Dad is asleep—"

"DAD'S HOME-?"

Rin sealed his lips with the pad of her thumb, frowning, "You're being loud. Shush."

Awareness colored the boy's expression as he looked up at his mother, instantly tamer as he kept his thin arms lassoed around her middle. With a library-approved volume, Yuma inquired, "Where did you go?"

She plopped down onto an ottoman and Yuma scooched to sit beside her. "I wasn't on a house call…" Rin informed him with a sigh, "I went to find your Dad. He was in trouble."

Since that only skimmed the surface of why his mother had been gone for three days, Yuma listened without comment, expecting that she would tell him more.

"He was fighting an organization of dangerous shinobi…hoping he could protect a small village from them. He succeeded for the most part, but he was injured." Rin could not help a slight back-and-forth rock as Yuma kept hugging her, "I knew where he was, so I went to find him. He wasn't able to get home on his own."

"…everything's fine now?" The boy wondered.

"Yes." She kissed the top of his head.

He nestled into the hug and relaxed. Rin relished the contact for a while, not saying anything.

"Good thing you found him, Mama." He gestured for a high-five to commend her achievement, which she accepted with parental bemusement. Yuma stood up and retrieved his tossed school bag from the floor, "Did my homework…" He crooned proudly.

"All of it?"

"I even read that dumb book." Yuma confirmed, "It would've been better if I read it with Dad."

Rin ventured to the kitchen, "He can read the next assigned book with you. Where's Sesshu?"

"Outside. Said he had to go." He made a face that indicated potty-business, "I'll let him in soon."

And so the afternoon faded, Sesshu came inside and slept on his favorite rug, while Yuma respectfully kept his distance as his father convalesced in the bedroom. He was entrusted with cutting up some vegetables at the table, recounting his stay with Yoshige and Nozomi, school, and how he'd spent his free time.

"Yeah, Yoshige-san showed me how to trim the hedges. We made a good team." Yuma gathered chopped peppers into a pile, "Then after that there was nothing left to do around their house, so I went to Char-san's shop to make those truffle candies, you know— the fancy stuff in the case? He let me eat some of the messed up ones. And then…" He smiled gleefully, "I made a friend."

Rin stilled at the stove, hopeful to hear such news, "You did?"

"Yeah!"

"Is Fumitake spending time with you?" She nearly added the word finally, because that little scamp from the Hirano family was an indifferent butthead towards her son. Sometimes miracles happened, though.

"Nah. His name is Kirin. He was sitting under those umbrella-picnic tables outside. I finished my snack out there and he talked to me." Yuma explained.

"Oh. Did he and his family just move here? How old is he?"

"I dunno…he was alone and didn't say anything about moving." Yuma snuck a pepper piece to chew, "He's, like, not as old as Tonushi...but kinda close."

Rin looked over her shoulder, "Tonushi is a grown up now."

He kept chewing, unconcerned.

"Then, you mean a teenager?"

"I think so."

"It's not always good when teenagers talk to younger kids. Sometimes they're up to trouble." Rin advised.

There was something about the expression on her son's face that proved he understood. Young as he was, Yuma was starting to grasp the nuances of social interaction— that it was not always benevolent.

"He stole." Yuma announced flatly.

"He stole?"

"He told me he did, but then I said: That garden belongs to my family, and we work hard for it! So he said sorry and that he'd pay for the tomatoes."

"Ahh." She nodded and dribbled oil into a stovetop pan, feeling fire in her chest.

"I told him thanks, and that no one was home, so the tomatoes would've gone rotten after a few days anyway. He should eat them! Kirin had some in his bag and we shared one. It tasted weird after having candy…" Yuma's story prattled on, "He wanted to know if I knew jutsu, and why you weren't around, Mama."

"How much did you tell him?" Rin kept her cool as she slid diced vegetables into the pan off of a cutting board.

"I know you wouldn't…want me to tell." He wiggled in his chair, half-guilty, "I said I couldn't show him jutsu or anything. And you go out to help patients, so I said that…"

Rin turned around and braced her hands on the table, meeting eyes with the boy, "Is Kirin a ninja?"

"…yeah."

"Did he tell you where he's from?"

"No."

"Yuma." An edge of impatience crept into her tone, "We've told you it's dangerous to talk to people you don't know, especially shinobi. If you know better, why would you disobey me?"

"Because he didn't say much, and he was nice to me! All the kids here don't let me play…or they get bored of me."

"None of those are good reasons." Rin said with an icy look.

"He wasn't going to do anything, Ma—"

She pounded a fist on the table, "What do you know about the intentions of real ninja? You're a kid! The fact that you didn't get hurt or stolen is not something we take for granted— you're smart enough to know-!"

Tears welled in his eyes, "I know."

"You have to listen to me!"

"I…do." Yuma squeaked.

"You didn't this time." Rin paced a little, haphazardly stirring the contents in the pan, "I ought to punish you for a week! You'll till the whole garden, deliver medicine, read a stack of books and then I'm telling your Dad."

The child crumpled over the table, burying his face in his folded arms to cry. Rin did not crack her hard-line display to comfort him. If only to instill the gravity of the situation in her son, she'd have to let him suffer a bit. At least among her family, reprimands and consequences were indispensable when it came to parenting. Now that she and Obito had discussed saving the world while juggling child-rearing duties, she was in no mood to sugarcoat anything.

Sesshu plodded out from the main room in an automatic good-dog response, ready to lay his head on Yuma's knee and solicit pets. Rin made a clipped noise and sent her hound away.

"Mama…" Yuma sat up and wiped his face, "I'm sorry."

"I know you are."

"Kirin told me we've got to be careful too. So I know you…mean it. Pay attention and be careful." He muttered.

Rin frowned, "He told you to be careful?"

"Yeah. 'Cuz the bad ninja from the music place come snooping sometimes. He makes them go away."

"Music?" She had to interpret the message, "Are those Sound ninja?"

"They look for Dad." Yuma reached to pluck a tissue from a box.

"Oh."

He was blowing his nose and calming down.

"So…Kirin stops them?"

"He said he has jobs and travels, but he makes sure they don't get close to the mountain. He's got…" Yuma motioned with his hands around his head, "Genjutsu."

She gave the contents of the pan a chef-like toss, then shut the heat off shortly after. Rin prepared the rice cooker in silence, feeling her child's eyes glued to her back as she worked. With that done, she crossed over to him and kneeled down, resting her hands on his shoulders, "Thank you for telling me, Yuma. You're still in trouble."

He nodded.

"Can I talk to Kirin?" Rin asked, "Will he come back?"

"Uh…" Yuma considered the possibility and came up with, "Probably! I said the picnic tables are a good spot."

"They are."

"He stays away when Sesshu's around."

She rose up to set the table, "That would explain a lot."

Yuma assisted her with the task before being sent to the utility room to stuff his dirty laundry in the washing machine. As a reward, Rin let him peek into the bedroom to check on his father, on the condition he did not wake Obito up. Yuma managed that too.

They ate dinner without Obito, since Rin suspected he'd prefer to eat in the morning. After cleaning up, Rin found she had a bit of strength to play in the yard. She snuck some tracking lessons and self-defense routines in, hoping they would stick in Yuma's brain. By the time night fell, household bath time was complete, Sesshu was fed, and Yuma went to sleep without a fuss.

In the dark, Rin locked the house up, 'This feels sort of pointless now. I know that someone is still watching us. He could get in if he wanted…' It took her bottled anxieties and shook them, set to blow from carbonated pressure, 'Why? Why is someone interfering with Sound ninja? Orochimaru might want to know what's going on here, he's not that dense…but who is Kirin?'

She drew the shades of every window. Sitting innocuously beside her potted Clivia plants was the small bag of money that Kirin had left. She twitched her nose at it, then departed for her bedroom. 'I'll have Sesshu memorize the scent on that purse. No one is going to play games with me…'

Smells of the wilds and travel still lingered on Obito, who had not changed out of the tattered clothes he wore. Rin caught a whiff of it when she stepped into the pitch dark room. She bumbled around and undressed, trying not to make too much noise, and then leaned on the edge of the bed to peer down at her husband. Even as she tugged his touristy sweatshirt off, clumsily slipping his arms free, undershirt and pants following; Obito's head lolled as she removed the offensive clothing…his slumber undisturbed. 'That…is impressive.' She balled up the garments and tossed them in a hamper. Exhausted, Rin slipped beneath the blanket and mashed her face into her pillow.

On the days when she thought merely being a parent was a lot to handle, Rin would wonder how she managed the other half of her life— the toils of shinobi affairs. Topping it off with medical responsibilities in Shincha and neighboring towns did not simplify things either. Her brain raced with intersecting thoughts, even as her eyes shut and breathing slowed. Muscles in her back and arms hesitated to relax. Rin was poised to spring up and fight at a moment's notice, more alert than she could afford to be.

Then, the sunshine of late morning was the next thing she was aware of. Though the start of her sleep cycle had been rough, eventually it all went dark and quiet. She woke up and tasted how parched her mouth was. Rin cracked an eye open. She was too comfortable to abandon the conforming indent of the mattress to fetch a glass of water. She laid there and reveled in the silence of her snoozing household. 'Before long…Yuma and Sesshu will both be up. There's no school today…' Grumbling, she rolled over to get an eyeful of her husband.

Obito slept on his side with his back facing her. She examined the new, crescent-shaped scar on the triceps of his left arm. He mentioned he'd been impaled there by a jagged piece of metal during a building's collapse. 'How did he make it out of that…? I'm still not sure.' Rin traced her fingertips on the mended site of the injury. Her touch traveled to reacquaint herself with the skin of a man who had been away from home for too long.

There was something about him so intangibly captivating, something not quite explained, that rooted Obito to her thoughts and nerves. Rin supposed it had to do with her relationship being born from true friendship and equality, or perhaps it was his virtue, principles, and general brightness that were so attractive. Even when he got things wrong or struggled, she longed for him. It didn't feel anything like the yearnings she knew in her youth. Here in this moment, she could ponder without interruption this rare, super-magnetic quality. She wanted to appreciate him.

Snuggling closer, Rin pressed against his back and sighed. There was no use in imagining what things would have been like if she had been more cognizant or receptive to Obito's feelings when they'd been kids. She thought about it at times, but acknowledged it had little bearing on the present. She walked her fingers down the ladder of his ribs; felt the rise and fall of his breathing. He shifted slightly under the touches without waking. She snuck butterfly-light kisses up each knobby vertebra between his shoulders. While she had him, she had to have him and know him. Before long he'd be gone again: watching, fighting, or risking himself.

The morning sun landed a direct hit on Obito as a consequence of his proximity to the window. It warmed his skin up, to the point where he ought to be clammy or tossing the blanket off. He did not. He snored softly while Rin adventured down the incline of his side and hip. While her hand investigated the lovely, imperfect body beside her, Rin's thoughts soared to faraway places again. 'Since I finally conceded on moving us back to the Leaf Village…I didn't really think about other logistics until now. Such as taking time to get new accreditations to work in Leaf's Medical Corps…or if our marriage is legally recognized.' She imagined Obito and Yuma tearfully trying to reason with obstinate, unsympathetic Uchiha clan members who rejected Rin's presence as a family member. Or even better, those among her clan who objected to her unsanctioned union.

'Yikes. I really need to write to my sister and confess some things in advance. At least then Tsume will be able to give me the heads up about what problem areas we might run into…' Her elder sister would probably get naysayers in line for her.

"Hmm…" Obito stirred unexpectedly, "…mornin'."

"Good morning." Rin cheerily echoed.

"Hey, Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you giving me a handy while I can barely move?"

It was about then she noticed what she had unconsciously been doing.

"Oh. I uh…you know. I missed you. I'm being indulgent."

His chuckle was throaty, "Indulgent."

"Yes. There's no need for your participation. You can just enjoy it and not concern yourself with reciprocating and all that." She assured him, amused with herself.

He accepted the terms with a soft murmur. Lately, he had gotten used to waking up by himself in strange, dangerous places. Today was a marked departure from that routine. His eyes slid shut and he inched closer to Rin, savoring the sensation of her smooth body grinding into him from behind. What bold salutations this was, Obito thought for the single moment he could think. Though she was sweetness incarnate, time and again Rin would pounce on him at home. He couldn't complain. She was voracious and crafty. Her fingertips played over receding skin that firmed and charged every nerve.

It was not surprising to Obito when she eventually rolled him onto his back, climbing over him to fit her lips to his while her hand worked. Touching her was always a half-satisfying act, since his right side lacked feeling. For that reason he let his left hand be twice as greedy, roaming down the rounds of her breasts and her silken stomach. Morning light colored Rin in sharp contrasts— so bright. He could see flecks of bedroom dust floating in the corona around her, her shadow stretched over him. She had a body that could be the subject of divine paintings. Oh no, no. It wasn't enough. To just see her and surrender to her.

He had to plead in-between kisses, "Rin. Why don't…we-?"

"Shh. Just hold still."

"There's no way I'm doin' that—" He attempted to wriggle out from beneath her.

"Oh, what?" Rin was contented with dominance, "Want to flip me over? Remember? Like before you left—"

"Yeah, and we can do that all day…"

"We definitely can't."

Obito had to grit his teeth and tip his head back, on the edge of a delicious limit, "—okay. We're short on time. I need to be in you."

She smiled like a thief, "How will you survive otherwise?"

"-really— how will I-?" He tried to muffle a loud groan, helpless.

"Maybe you're doomed." Rin continued her sly work.

All that was left as his hands roamed over her, his breath hitching and hissing, was the on-the-brink feeling. It had not been for him to decide, Obito knew, not even if he'd had all of his strength. He was very much a 'what the wife says, goes' kind of man. He kept his eyes shut for an existential second of pleasure, then the feeling flared when Rin slid down on him, her knees bracketing his hips. She watched him with a sovereign gaze as she won and took what she wanted. The soft wail that escaped him might've woken up other occupants of the house, but no matter. Being alive was all about this. The kisses she stole from him afterward dripped with euphoria. Yes, it was good to be home, but this was even better.

Rin gracefully spread out beside him to rest, pleased.

"I promise I'll get you back when I've built up some stamina." Obito was compelled to compensate her.

"I know you will. I don't concern myself with what I get back when I do these things for you." She poked her pinky finger at his belly-button to tease him.

He batted at her hands but she was quicker, trapping his fingers in her own. He sighed contently.

"So…" Rin said, "If you're feeling up to it, can you show me the jutsu you talked about? We can get dressed and go outside."

"Uh. Actually…I think here works fine." Obito sat up and looked around the room, gathering his wits. He was feeling a heck of a lot better.

"In here?" She was not sold on that suggestion.

"Yeah, it's not exactly a big production or destructive sort of jutsu…it's weird. Come on, sit up and I'll show you." He yanked Rin upright again, ignoring her chuff of annoyance. She arched a brow at him as he cleared his throat and stretched his arms.

Tilting his head at her, Obito suggested, "Hold up your hand."

"Why?"

"Just for a second." He raised his own hand in invitation, and after a moment hers rested flush against it. Rin appraised Obito's face during the innocuous exercise, waiting for some kind of result. Then she saw it.

"…there's definitely something up with your eye." Rin reported in a pitchy voice.

"The Sharingan?"

She leaned in close to stare, "It changed shape."

"I think that's because it sucks up way more chakra. Wait 'til you see this…"

"See wha-?" Rin stopped speaking when her hand fell through her husband's as if it were transparent and untouchable. Of course at that point, she only had minimal morning faculties to work with, so she panicked with a small scream, lurched forward, and fell through the rest of him in a terrified somersault. She rolled off the edge of the bed and landed on the floor, hyperventilating.

Contritely, Obito tried to reassure Rin as she scuttled around the edge of the bed, google-eyed, "Rin! It's okay! You can touch me now, it was just for a second. It's like I can, uh, manipulate local matter and its tangibility— I guess?" He reached out to pat her arm comfortingly, "That's how I describe it."

Her voice was small, "Oh."

"Told ya it was weird. It saved me from some major injuries."

"You did say that." She confirmed as she wobbled to her feet.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know what I think."

"I'm still not exactly sure what it is…or why my Sharingan changed." Obito admitted.

Exhaling deeply to relax, Rin stood in the buff and crossed her arms, grappling with the new information, "If it…takes a lot of chakra…don't use it too often."

"I already figured that one out."

"Maybe we should test it a little more later?" Rin suggested, "Just in case you overlooked any other harmful drawbacks."

He nodded in agreement, "Good idea."

"Alright. I am going to digest what just happened and get over it." She announced as if she had to convince herself.

Brisk rapping sounded at the door, and the two naked parents froze as they heard it.

"Mama? Dad?"

"Wait just a moment, Yuma!" Rin wrenched open a dresser drawer, seized a pair of pants, then threw them at Obito— they collided with his face. She quickly fetched her favorite floral robe off of a closet hanger and pulled it on. Only after Obito recovered and was also adequately dressed, she opened the door for the bouncing boy on the other side.

"Good morning, Mama!" Yuma hugged Rin around her middle and she bent to kiss the top of his head in greeting.

Cross-legged on the bed, Obito reached and was ecstatic when his son raced over to him, folding into his arms. It was a fiercely happy embrace that made Rin tear up slightly when she saw it.

The child gazed up at his father, aware that he had been through much, "You okay, Dad?"

"Much better now. Thinking about you got me through it, Yuma." Obito tucked the boy against him as they hugged, "Mom and I have some things to talk about with you, later…about some changes. They'll be good changes, though we expect you to take them seriously."

Yuma pursed his mouth, emulating what he thought was a serious expression, "Got it, Dad."

"Good."

He then turned to his mother, "Hey Mama, should I pick vegetables for-?"

"Yes, please, since you're so full of energy— go find us things we can have with breakfast. I'll get it started." Rin grinned down at him, "Take Sesshu with you and come back fast."

With a bound, Yuma was off the bed and down the hall, "Fast like Kirin!" He shouted at the giant ninken on the living room rug to wake up and get a move on.

That comment was out of left field for Obito, who turned to Rin expectantly, "Who's Kirin?"

"That's what I want to know." She countered, "Yuma told me about some things we should investigate."

"Not the lurker who watches us and sometimes steals food?"

"That one." Rin confirmed.

"Great— now he's talking to our kid?"

"I think…and I know this will sound ludicrous…he might be looking out for us." The subject was broached carefully as Rin went on to add, "Don't hold me to that, but I get that impression based on what Yuma said."

"Huh. Let's cook and then try figure out what the hell that guy is up to."

"Let's."

---

When evening came and darkened the land, considerable cloud cover obscured the rosy sunset over the Leaf Village.

Asuma made sure he found a comfortable spot to wait beside an old teahouse in Konoha's central ward. He was on time for patrol duty, but it was guaranteed that his patrol partner would not be. The man sighed and watched the village's foot traffic dwindle; string lanterns and neon signs illuminating the square. Across the street was the restaurant that his father visited most frequently in life. 'Hm. Maybe I should eat there some time…'

Remarkably, Kakashi was only twenty minutes late.

"You sick or somethin'?" Asuma couldn't help an impish smirk.

"What, do I look sick?"

"No. Prompt."

Kakashi noted, "You're speaking in relative terms."

"With you, I have to." Asuma pushed off the wall, starting off on a northbound street, "How many checkpoints on this patrol?"

"All of them."

"We have enough people to man all twelve posts?" He could scarcely believe it, "I thought Tsunade said she sent four teams to the Tide Village and three into the Rice Country."

"That, on top of all the standard forces' assignments." Kakashi estimated, "Even if tonight's patrol posts are on high alert, we're still very short-staffed for now."

"Yeesh. When are those kids getting promoted to Jounin? We need all the help we can get."

"When Tsunade approves it." Kakashi flitted up to a rooftop, and 30 meters to the left was one of the initial posts manned by a near-retirement age tokobetsu Jounin. Their gazes met briefly in acknowledgement, confirming no news was good news at the start of the night. Kakashi led the way with practiced ease, winding through darkened alleys and 'sensitive areas,' so termed by shinobi charged with village security.

Time marched on as they made their rounds at several checkpoints, making small talk.

"Did you buy that new place yet?" Kakashi wondered.

"Our offer was accepted, but the closing isn't until next week." Asuma was mildly annoyed, "And the lease ended on our shithole place, so Kurenai and I have had to crash at my brother's until we can move into the house."

"What are brothers for?" A merry chuckle.

"Pretty much that."

Dry leaves rattled on tree branches as the breeze blew through Konoha's north-central cemetery. It was then Kakashi slowed their pace somewhat, sweeping his gaze back and forth across the stone dais where memorials were held. Somewhat distracted with his father's grand headstone, Asuma paid little attention to the quiet graveyard.

"This post's shift changes every four hours." Kakashi spoke the fact aloud.

"Yep." Asuma agreed.

"Chunin stationed here are never late." His eyes darted around, "Where are the guards?"

"Maybe the cemetery's southside?"

"No. There's another post there."

"Then let's check with those guards and see what the deal is." Asuma suggested.

There were no explanations for lateness nor guards on the opposite end of the cemetery either. No shinobi to be found anywhere in the vicinity, which Kakashi declared alarming.

"Alright…" A tense growl escaped Asuma as he tapped on the bottom of a cigarette carton, "Never seen this before in my life."

Kakashi was prowling between rows of headstones, moving east with his companion, "These posts are never abandoned."

"Fuh…and I'm supposed to stick to a limit of three per day…" Asuma lamented as he perched a smoke on his lip, "Here's number four."

"Now, now…don't throw your health goals out the window just because we may have stumbled onto something." His friend chided him, "We'll look around, and if nothing turns up we rat on delinquent sentries at the standby station."

"Are you telling me this doesn't look suspicious to you?" Asuma grunted.

"I'm trying to be optimistic. This is textbook suspicious."

They explored the grounds in silence, sleuthing for any clues or lurkers. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Kakashi passed beyond the hedge line and down an acute, grassy slope at the property's edge. Asuma trudged down the small knoll after him, and stopped to stare in wonder at a perfectly symmetrical, excavated doorway in the hillside. He exhaled a long line of smoke and inquired, "That looks new, right?"

"Right."

"Wanna go in there?"

"No, but that's what we're about to do." Kakashi informed him.

"Just figure I'd check that we're not doing any surprise emergency drills tonight, are we?" Asuma verified.

"Who has time for drills when there's an emergency every other week, these days?" Kakashi kneeled down and concluded hand signs, summoning his faithful hounds in a semi-circle when the smoke cleared, "Pakkun, we may have happened upon an intruder. Two patrol posts are missing."

"You don't say?" The pug yawned and stretched, "Good thing I just finished my beauty nap."

"I want Tenzo notified. He'll be picking up his next shift right about now, so head towards ANBU headquarters. Tell him and any others there to report to the cemetery for a search." Kakashi commanded, "Take Biscuit and Guruko with you, in case you're followed."

Pakkun glanced over his shoulder at the human-sized, dark hole in graveyard soil, "Sure…eh…you're not going in there, are you, Kakashi?"

Asuma continued puffing away while Kakashi nodded in confirmation.

"Watch yourself, then." The dog warned, and with his two small ninken companions, Pakkun raced off with his orders.

Kakashi added to the remainder of the dog pack, "Bull, Urushi…wait here to direct any reinforcements that arrive. If someone tries to escape from this hole to avoid us…make them heel."

A soft bark in the affirmative answered him.

"The rest of you," Kakashi regarded Shiba, Akino, and Ūhei, "Are coming with me. Get in there and find me a scent."

And so the party of dogs dispersed accordingly, with three ninken leading the way into the dark as Asuma flicked his lighter on, following the underground tunnel. Kakashi riffled around a supply pouch as he walked.

"Based on what Netsuke said about my dad confronting Orochimaru…the snake's done plenty of grave-robbing in his time." Asuma tried to pin down the rationale of mischief in a cemetery, "Though I think we have an alert that goes up with the Sealing Corps whenever Orochimaru's chakra is detected."

"We would've known a while ago if he was here." Kakashi confirmed.

"So what's up with…?" The man stopped in his tracks, noticing disturbed earth along the tunnel's edge. Several extension paths had been dug beneath the graveyard, towards plots where bodies had been laid to rest. Asuma held his lighter beside a tributary hole, "Shiba…wanna look in there and see if a body was taken?" The dog trotted in fearlessly.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had drawn out five chemiluminescence sticks, snapping the tubes to produce a soft light. He fastened two to the collars of his present dogs, one to himself, and handed another to Asuma. Shiba returned and kicked his back paws at the extension tunnel, indicating there was no body remaining at the other end. Kakashi affixed a glow stick to Shiba's bandana as well.

"Bodies were definitely stolen…although most buried here were interred ten years ago or more." Kakashi observed, "So that begs the question why anyone wants bodies that are in such a late stage of decay..."

"Pretty fucked up." Asuma agreed. He patted his hand against the soil wall, "See how this was dug? Not by hand. It's too smooth…like it was automated. Not sure what kind of jutsu…"

"Me neither." Kakashi noticed that strange detail as well, due to most Earth Jutsu being rather untidy in excavation projects. That, or someone with skill in that chakra nature had dropped by to thieve in the night.

They carried on into the narrow tunnel, following behind the ninken that pressed their noses to the ground. Abruptly, the dogs gained momentum, excited by a smell. Kakashi and Asuma kept up. The underground path extended on and on, which Kakashi estimated to be nearly a kilometer, to his shock. Silence and damp earth pressured the tunnel's occupants from all directions, venturing further into uncertain pitch. Akino slowed, as did Shiba and Ūhei when the constricting earth tunnel ended in a perpendicular cross-section with a much larger, recognizable shaft.

The dogs burst out in the wide, spacious underground, circling and sniffing. Kakashi lifted a glow stick to get a look around, "You know where this is, right?"

"We went so far…I have no idea where we ended up." Asuma stamped out his spent cigarette.

"This is one of the Jounin passages used for exams and drills…" Kakashi reminded him, "Beneath the Forest of Death."

Fiddling with the carton of cigarettes he had with him, Asuma groaned in frustration and then stuffed the box in a hip pouch, "Who the fuck is using these tunnels without our patrols noticing? They dug all the way the hell up to the central cemetery!"

"I have theories." As Kakashi dawdled about the space alongside his ninken, he glanced around for markers, "I think this is sub-passage A. It has three exits. Might as well check them and see what the boys can smell…"

When Ūhei broke away suddenly in one direction, Akino and Shiba yipped, then took off in the opposite direction. Flummoxed, Asuma and Kakashi exchanged a who to follow? look before mutually deciding to split, darting after the dogs. Asuma did not have to go far. In about 15 meters, he and Ūhei discovered the dead body of a Chunin guard crumpled in the dark. Upon feeling the victim's skin, Asuma found he was ever-so-slightly warm to the touch. Freshly killed.

"Kakashi!" He chanced a shout in the unknown space, "See any dead guards down there?"

A call back, "Three. You?"

"One. Looks like we found 'em. This is Bekkō, actually. Just saw him at a meeting the other day…" He stood up and muttered curses, motioning for Ūhei to lead him toward Kakashi.

They reunited further down the tunnel, identifying the three other Chunin guards who had been killed. Thankfully, none of their students were among the victims. It was still a damn shame that veteran Chunin had been lured into a trap, throats slit in the dark. Asuma briefly wondered if it was "an inside job."

"Possibly. Only Jounin and proctors know about these underground passages." Kakashi said as the ninken pack led him south, on the trail of the mystery scent.

"No, that's not true." Asuma corrected him, "Students know about it too. From the last Exam."

Kakashi halted.

"What?" Asuma nudged him.

The peril they had wandered into dawned on Kakashi, "We need to get out of the dark."

Asuma did not grasp the urgent need for escape right away, not even when they arrived at a hollow tree-trunk exit at the tunnel's end…but then a patterned ring of pictograms lit up beneath their feet. The patch of floor they set foot on had triggered a trap. A latent Tao Art belched hellfire into the enclosed space, and though the dogs had made it outside, Asuma and Kakashi were a tick behind. Somehow, some way, the burst of bone-scorching flame was pinched off, allowing the two shinobi just enough space to tumble out of the exit into the Forest of Death.

They rolled for a while to put their clothes out, and the dogs rolled with them in the dirt out of solidarity. The entryway to the tunnel was charred, wafting smoke up into the above-ground world.

Asuma asked in-between hacking, "How the- -? Heh-!" He sat up and rubbed embers out of his beard, "How did we get out of that?"

Panting, Kakashi heaved himself onto his knees, pointing to his exposed Sharingan, "Thank Obito, if you want."

"—what?"

"The Mangekyō Sharingan," Kakashi clarified for him, "I've learned how to transport matter and energy with it, for lack of a better term. If it's within my line of sight, I can target it. Even fire, turns out."

"Oh. Brilliant." Asuma was thrilled, "Thanks for saving my ass, Kakashi. And thanks too to Obito, I guess."

The pair hobbled to their feet and dusted themselves, watching bits of their burnt fatigues flake off. Kakashi then examined his ninken, all unscathed, and then glanced back at Asuma, "That was a Tao Art."

Asuma followed the line of thinking, "Do you think that was set by Huo?"

"I don't know. He's familiar with this area, unfortunately. Since he escaped…anyone in Bi's rogue group might know how to navigate this sector now."

"So how'd they get in?" Asuma folded his arms, hounds sniffing circles around him, "The Sealing Corps has a barrier up. We'd know."

"There are some underground bypass routes into the village…and those are monitored by Root Black Ops."

"Root?"

"Well, I don't know if they're monitoring in earnest or lying dead somewhere." Kakashi supposed as they followed the pack into foliage and bramble, "It wouldn't surprise me if village entry routes were given as a tip to Dintei Bi in exchange for something."

"I thought Root's main function is to covertly negotiate the security of our village." Asuma grunted, "Not undermine it."

"Most of the time, the Foundation's definition and pursuit of security does not align with the consensus reached by the standard forces." He ascended into tree tops and his ninken followed.

When Asuma landed on the branch beside Kakashi, he kept his voice low, "This seems like a punishable fuck up to me, if Root really did share the location of a bypass."

"There will be nothing to punish unless we find who did this," Kakashi added sunnily, "And get out of here alive to report it."

With no sky visible through the dense cover of the canopy, Asuma reaffirmed their course with a compass. They decided against marking their path through the forest, in the event an intruder caught onto their trail and staged an ambush. It seemed as though the scent had gone stale— the ninken pack drifted between tree tops and the ground, trying to detect what was lost. The night felt heavy and unbearable, as wild creatures in the woods peered from thickets and perches as the Leaf shinobi fluttered past in silence.

They maintained as straight a course as they could, arriving at the outer reaches of the preserve. The dogs went tense. Instinct goaded them to dash into the brush, but training compelled the ninken pack to stay when Kakashi made a soft sound. Shiba and Akino's ears lay flat against their heads, teeth bared, while Ūhei made his body rigid to point in the direction of the trespasser. With a hand signal, Kakashi and Asuma moved in toward the edge of an open glade ringed with giant trunks and roots. The dogs crept after them without so much as a whimper.

And there in the dimness, with only shreds of moonlight piercing through canopy cover, were two rows of stolen coffins stacked two boxes high, about a dozen across. Crouched beside the pilfered caskets was a figure in violet, Han-style clothing— vaguely slim and youthful in the dark. His palms were pressed together in concentration as a Tao Art ring extended beneath the contraband.

"Try not to jump on me." The man warned as he worked, not bothering to turn around and confront the lurking Leaf ninja, "You have no idea how long it took to organize them neatly."

"You get one warning— quit what you're doing and back away." Asuma raised a trench knife as he and Kakashi inched forward.

The man stood slowly and kept his hands facing out, where they were visible, "Are you sure I can't Shadow Step? What good is your warning if I can move anywhere in this forest?"

"He can't." Kakashi assured his partner, "This one's in the bingo book— Bi's subordinate, Shimofuri Koinyu. You're not like the rest of them."

Koinyu stole a look at them over his shoulder, "The Copy Ninja comes informed, I see. I may lack some talents, but I got all the way over here, no?" He smiled, "And you just barely managed that."

The Tao Art at his feet glowed and condensed, gradually swallowing the stacked coffins to transport them to an unknown exit point. Koinyu was pleased with his timing, "I can't Shadow Step, no. It's true. But my master can lend me Shadow Gates from time to time. For now, we part—"

Quick as wind, Ūhei leapt and sank his teeth into the man's leg, pulling him off balance. Akino and Shiba charged half a moment later as Koinyu stumbled, driving a kunai down through the top of the attacking dog's head.

In the confusion of it all, Kakashi dove in for an offensive counter while Asuma blasted a few caskets free of the shadow gate with a Wind Nature strike. The coffins smashed against the ground, rattling the bodies within, and Asuma spun 'round to whirl another cutting strike at Koinyu as he gained his feet and slipped between Kakashi and his ninken. All were forced to duck under Asuma's attack. It was then Koinyu substituted himself and made a break for it, only to be tackled again by Akino and Shiba.

With Ūhei lying dead behind him, Kakashi could not help a furious cry as his two other ninken were stuck full of knives after the shrewish ninja used a Magnet Release jutsu. Koinyu's squeals of laughter incensed the Copy Ninja, and Kakashi hurled a barrage of projectiles that were captured in a magnetic field, stopping short of Koinyu to hover around him as an expansion of his own arsenal. He slipped away from the fallen dogs to disappear into tree tops. Asuma flanked Kakashi as they tore after the slaughterer.

"Kakashi, don't—!" He caught up to his friend, "That gate's going to swallow the rest of those bodies if we chase him—"

"It will anyway. We can't stop Tao Arts." Kakashi reasoned, "But I can stop him."

They moved fast, almost blindly, having close shaves with magnet-propelled kunai and shuriken fired from the shadows as Koinyu noisily avoided them. Twigs and branches snapped, roosting birds scattered.

Asuma wanted to apologize for the loss, yet he knew Kakashi was not going to respond to sympathy. Killing intent radiated off his friend, who otherwise looked as normal and collected as he always did. Ahead, a Shadow Clone of Kakashi's that had been lying in wait handily surprised Koinyu, hurling him down several stories with mighty Taijutsu.

Below, Kakashi and Asuma closed in on the projected point Koinyu would fall. With little verbal direction, Asuma readied a Wind Release attack as Kakashi's Chidori flared, and allowed his Lightning Nature to be absorbed into Asuma's cutting whirlwind. Their synchronized chakra leveled 50 meters of forest— chopping apart ancient trees and toppling all obstacles before them. No scream came from their target when he met the ground. Instead, Koinyu stood in shock, genuinely cowed by the tremendous combined jutsu that destroyed his Tao Barrier defense in one hit. It was the first and only time he would go unscathed. He was a naked target without a place to hide, locked in the sights of two veteran Leaf ninja.

They charged, and Koinyu reacted in pure fear, lacking rationality or strategy. He fired every last floating weapon at his disposal; a wall of metal sailed for the incoming ninja. Asuma's Wind Release tore the volley apart as they bore down on the shrieking intruder. Koinyu had been quick with a follow up: a Fire Nature Tao Art latched onto the lingering Wind Release Asuma had pitched forward. Kakashi and Asuma descended upon the shrew as a wheel of empowered fire enveloped them all.

Heat unlike anything Asuma had ever felt blistered every bit of skin on his body. He was not sure if his clothes and hair had burned off. The experience only lasted a second: Kakashi had been able to contain the tornado of flames with his Sharingan's transdimensional ability.

Then, Kakashi dropped to his knees. Skidding in embers and dirt, Asuma rushed over to his partner to deflect another small volley of projectiles that Koinyu pitched, covering his retreat.

"You okay, Kakashi?" He could see the man folding in exhaustion.

"That just about…leveled the last of my chakra." Kakashi admitted in a wheeze, "Go. Follow him and be careful with Wind Release…I'll be right behind you when I catch my breath."

Suggesting such a naïve plan galled Asuma, "You're probably not catching your breath for the next few days. The Sharingan—"

"Go." Insistent, Kakashi wanted some justice for the beloved ones he lost.

It was a solid order, so Asuma took off. He vanished into the dark as Kakashi crumpled on the ground, ringing with the hollow, pervasive hurt of chakra exhaustion. It squashed his lungs, tightening and slowing every bodily process. He had known that liberal use of his Sharingan's new technique was risky. Now, he'd have to have some insane luck in order to stay conscious and somehow get out of the Forest of Death on his own. Following Asuma to assist in the hunt seemed the least likely goal of all. He said a brief prayer in his head, hoping that his friend would be unharmed.

He stretched onto his back and tried to focus on breathing. His vision was washed out. Kakashi spread his arms wide and felt tears sting the corners of his eyes. He had raised those ninken from when they were pups. He'd been introduced to them as a serious, know-it-all kid. His dogs were a connection to his father. And for his father, so too they had connected to Sakumo's mother, their family's most talented dog-trainer. With a trembling hand, he pulled down the mask from his face to suck in a breath of cool air. The pain was worsening. In heart and body.

When next he batted open his eyes, Kakashi could see his vision had slipped again. It was not an alarming, life-or-death struggle he was witnessing, this time. Though only for a few heartbeats, he could see the interior of a home he did not know. He saw Rin's face lit with surprise that soon melded into stern interest. She was learning something. She was looking right at him.

'I knew you were alive. You've stayed away from me because I hurt you.' The thought was a confession he had avoided for years, finally dislodged from the dam of emotions he'd built up, 'I need your help. Rin.'

Shortly after that, he saw no more. Salt slipped down his cheeks. The quiet of the forest made Kakashi wonder if Asuma had been successful, or if he was struggling on his own.

Swift footsteps crunched over debris and nettle, and a comrade suddenly kneeled down beside him, "Kakashi?" His hand was plucked up and squeezed, the newcomer leaning down to confirm if he was responsive, "I brought your pack with me. They're waiting beside the…" The voice trailed off, referring to the unfortunate trio of dogs found in a nearby glade.

The touch was familiar. When his foggy sight cleared up, Kakashi could see Tenzo staring down at him, owl-eyed with concern.

"Ah." His speech rumbled in a phlegmy throat, "Glad you could drop by…"

Pakkun must've broken away from the rest of the pack. He was vigorously licking Kakashi's face.

"I'm alright…I'm alright." Kakashi tiredly assured them, "My Sharingan wore me out. Asuma went ahead. We have an A-Rank intruder from Dintei Bi's group stealing bodies from our shinobi cemetery. He took most of what he dug up, I think."

"I sent Sai and three of my subordinates to convene. They'll find him." He pulled Kakashi into a sitting position, "When I saw Ūhei and the others…I thought you might be dead too."

Pakkun whimpered in agreement, "Yeah…"

"I'm a bit of a cockroach. Takes quite a lot to stomp me out." Kakashi joked before adding, "But I want him dead. No one touches my kids."

"We'll get to it." Tenzo supposed, "Can you stand?"

"No."

The younger man smiled, "Alright, then." Tenzo shuffled to scoop his long-time friend onto his back to be carried, "Let's retrace our route and mark the site where those caskets were transported. There's evidence of an expired Tao Art there…and some damaged caskets as well. I'll get you to the hospital and then look after the dogs."

"I want them to stay with me."

"They're stressed. So are you. I think a vet-nin needs to check them."

"I want you to stay with me too."

Tenzo paused before noting, "It's been a while since you told me that."

"I'm sorry."

"For avoiding me?"

"For all of the pretext. I'm not…" Sad laughter dampened his admission, "Not really that aloof. I do care."

"I always knew you did. Don't worry about it." Tenzo did not need the apology.

Kakashi kept his arms secure around Tenzo's shoulders with what little strength remained, "You know…I might be going crazy. Just slightly."

"That wouldn't surprise me, given the circumstances. You need a head scan—"

"I mean I've been seeing things for months. With my Sharingan." Secrets were of no use to Kakashi at that juncture, "I might need to tell the Hokage…that I can see the Akatsuki. And I just saw Rin."

"You can see them?" Tenzo was doubtful, "Or is it a hallucination?"

"Debatable, at this point. I think it's real. I could be wrong…but I've got a very strong feeling it's real."

No further convincing was needed for Tenzo to buy it, "I believe you."

"I don't know what to do."

"To start: rest." Tenzo recommended as they arrived at the initial forest clearing. He formed hand signs to produce two Wood Clones molded from the ground, rising to stand and collect Ūhei, Shiba, and Akino. The remainder of the pack was antsy, restlessly pacing beside Akino.

Pakkun reunited with his ninken brothers and raised the alarm, "Akino's breathing!" He ran in a pug-ish circle, clamoring with the pack.

Though it was only a tiny sliver of hope, Tenzo shrugged Kakashi on his shoulders, his expression lightening, "Kakashi, I think we can…save him." His passenger was unconscious.

Undaunted, the ANBU veteran organized the group and mobilized to exit the forest, "Let's go, boys. I'll get you home."

---

Note: Themes in this chapter include: lifting up the people who need you...and good doggos.

So my pondering of Kishimoto's treatment of the dead in Naruto canon, and what shenanigans can be conducted with said deceased shinobi, has led me to believe that the literary decision to have intact bodies buried underground was deliberate. In Japan, cremation is (most often) the first step prior to burial, though this cultural norm was disposed with in the Naruto manga on account of, well, most every villainous plotline. As much as I can, I try to fold authentic cultural traditions and ideologies into this fic. That's why I got to thinking about it. I suppose somewhere out there there's an interview with Kishimoto speaking on this subject.

Thoughts on this chapter? Whip 'em right into the thought collection box below.

Many blessings to you, good reader, as we approach the end of this year!

Chapter 50- Knife and Toad