Chapter 13. Legacy.

"I think I know where we are," Gaara said, after an indeterminable length of time trudging through the desert.

Before they left Shikamaru had unceremoniously been strapped to Kakashi's back and thus spent most of the grueling walk half-conscious and wishing the pain away. His injured leg pressed uncomfortably against the stiff material of Kakashi's flak vest, the wound throbbing with every beat of his heart.

He craned his head to look at Gaara, planting his chin on Kakashi's shoulder for support. "Where would that be, then?" He asked, and hoped he didn't sound as painfully relieved as he felt.

"We call it the Land of the Elders," Gaara said, and shifted Ebizou higher up onto his back. The old man had been unconscious for several hours already. Or, well, asleep, which sounded at least a little bit less ominous. Shikamaru could do with a little bit less.

"Well, at least it's not 'Land of the Bones', or 'Land of the Soon-to-be-Dead'," Kakashi muttered, his voice a dark rumble in his chest. "This is where people used to live before the shinobi villages were founded, right?"

"It goes back even further than that. Our ancestors lived here thousands of years ago, before the land dried up." Gaara pointed to a strangely shaped dune to their right. "Sand now covers what's left of their settlements. It washes everything away. Our ancestors migrated to the East to find a new place to exist."

"So we'll want to go east as well," Shikamaru guessed. "How the hell did it take us here? I get that you messed with the coordinates, but why this place of all places?"

Kakashi shrugged, sending Shikamaru's chin up with him. "Maybe there's just a range limit to the seal. Or maybe we got lucky. Either way, we should really be focusing on how to get away from here. Gaara, any ideas?"

Gaara paused in his tracks. He stared up at the sky, still so painfully blue. "I do. But there's a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Kakashi asked, as he stopped beside Gaara.

"Razor's Edge. An area notorious for its lethal sandstorms," Gaara said simply.

"Ah. There we go, finally a properly ominous place name. Such a shame it happens to be directly in our way."

Shikamaru sighed. What he wouldn't give to have Temari with him... "I don't suppose there's a way around? No, don't answer that – we have to go straight through, don't we?" He drawled.

"It does seem to be one of those days," Kakashi agreed. "How lethal is lethal?"

"Of the 'your skin is stripped off as you choke' variety," Gaara said dryly.

"I had a feeling you might say that," Kakashi said, far too cheerful.

Shikamaru sighed. "Okay, so we should figure out our options. Since it's a natural phenomenon, not a jutsu, it's not like the sandstorms are trying to kill us. Meaning we can prepare and stock up," he said, already thinking about solutions.

"We need a tent," Gaara said, "but we don't have the material. Barring that, a large, dead animal might serve as shelter, but the snake is too far behind us and too big for us to carry, so that's not an option."

"Should have brought that skull after all," Kakashi muttered, more to himself than anything else. "Alright, our biggest issue is going to be breathing and protecting our soft tissues, right?"

Gaara nodded. "That, and dehydration, but we already knew that. On the upside, we should be encountering more water sources from here on out as we go further east. The vulture we saw earlier is a good sign."

"Told you he was family-friendly," Kakashi smiled. "So, we make our clothing as protective as we can. We can cut up our backpacks if we must. Shikamaru and I have flak vests, we can take of the layer of fabric with knives. I've already got a mask so I'm set, but we'll need something similar for you guys."

"I hate to say it, but Ebizou-sama is wearing a lot of fabric. More than he needs," Shikamaru said reluctantly. To his relief, the others nodded.

"But I'm worried about his condition," Kakashi said. "His lungs aren't getting any better without help. He's running a fever. He's already dehydrated. I pinched his skin earlier and it took way too long for it to resettle. It's not looking good." Out of the three of them, he had the most medical expertise, gained through osmosis from Sakura and many other former teammates with medical knowledge. Shikamaru would trust his judgment over his own, anyway.

"I know," a raspy voice said behind them. Ebizou was awake again, propped up on one arm, his breath short and his face drawn and pale. "But we have no choice but to keep going," he said. "I'm an old man. My best days are behind me anyway, Gaara-sama. Out of all of us, I am the most expendable one."

The silence that followed made Shikamaru's chest felt tight and painful. Ebizou was right of course, and they all knew it. Between two Kage and Shikamaru, a twenty-year-old master strategist, the life of one sick old man, no matter how remarkable, blanched in comparison.

Kakashi's head dropped a little. His shoulders felt tense under Shikamaru's arms. "I don't like leaving people behind," he said slowly, and right, that was his thing, wasn't it? Leave no man behind. Surprisingly sentimental, for a former ANBU. Dangerous, in a Hokage. But, Shikamaru thought, also the reason why so many people would follow him to hell and back.

Kakashi was like Naruto, in that sense. He was a man of conviction, even in the face of all adversity.

"You might not have a choice," Ebizou said softly.

Kakashi's jaw clenched. "We'll see about that."

Shikamaru caught Gaara looking at them with a quizzical expression. Obviously, he hadn't heard about the Hatake-Kakashi-School-of-Zero-Abandonment. The corner of Shikamaru's mouth tilted up. Better get used to it, pal. That's Konoha's way of doing things.

Their trek took them further and further through the desert, exhaustion clawing at their limbs and parching their throats. Shikamaru's head was pounding, and even Kakashi stumbled occasionally. Still, they kept going, their progress entirely dependent on Gaara and Kakashi's dogged determination. It felt a little like despair to not be able to help in some way, but Shikamaru's head still felt light with blood loss and pain. All he could do was think, and hope his weight wouldn't become too much for Kakashi's already taxed body.

"I smell water," Kakashi said, after another endless hour. He stopped moving, readjusting his grip on Shikamaru's legs before nodding to the right. "Couple of miles to the south. Smells like quite a lot."

"You can smell it from here?" Shikamaru croaked, because that had to mean…

"Yup. My chakra is returning."

Shikamaru grinned. Ahead of them, Gaara frowned and raised a hand. Concentration flickered over his face, and then sand came swirling up from the ground and wrapped around his fingers. It only held for a moment before falling back down, but his eyes burned brightly. "Mine, too."

Shikamaru's own chakra curled up, somewhere deep inside him, when he tried to harness it. Unresponsive, but at least he could feel it. "I'm making progress," he said, to answer their unasked question.

Ebizou's forehead had rolled onto Gaara's shoulder and his hands had gone limp at his sides. Gaara heaved him further up onto his back. "He needs water. Soon."

Kakashi nodded. "Let's go, then."

The last few miles to the oasis seemed to last forever in Shikamaru's mind. Somehow, knowing there was water on the end of it made it harder to focus on anything other than his physical discomfort and how badly he wanted to feel better, how he longed for water rushing down his throat, over his head… He almost groaned out loud he finally saw it.

The oasis wasn't huge by any means, but there was actual, real shrubbery, and a palm tree, and something other than the colors blue and sandy yellow for the first time in days. And there, at the center, lovely clear water pooled underneath the tree. Enough to keep them all going for days, if need be.

Kakashi made a sound somewhere in between a sigh and a laugh. He glanced at Shikamaru from the corner of his eye, a hidden smile crinkling the skin. "I'm going to put you down at the water's edge, okay? I need to check there aren't any dead animals in the water, but it smells clean. I think we're good."

He walked on and then there was shadow, blessed shadows falling over them and protecting them from the heat. Finally some relief for Shikamaru's scorched skin. He itched to call up his chakra and wrap the shadows around his body and not let go. Or, throw himself headfirst into water. Either option worked.

"I'm going to put you down now," Kakashi said, and held onto Shikamaru's arm to balance him. Pain lanced through his leg the moment he put weight on it. Shikamaru hissed and would have fallen over if not for Kakashi, who caught him under his arm.

"Easy there," the older man said. "I'll lower you down. You need water."

When Shikamaru was seated on the bank, Kakashi took one of the bottles they had almost finished and handed it to him. "Drink all of it, then I'll fill it for you. Gaara, how clean is this water?"

"Clean enough," Gaara said, from where he was bracing Ebizou next to the water's edge. "The minerals in the sand keep it clean. We can boil it for later to be sure, but I think it's fine." He demonstrated it by cupping his hands together and filling them with water before bringing them to Ebizou's mouth to drink.

Shikamaru finished the bottle. Kakashi took it and filled it before handing it back, a smile in his eyes. "Taste good?" He asked.

Shikamaru nodded. "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

Kakashi nodded. Another man might have stripped off his clothes and gone for a swim, but all Kakashi did was wade in a few feet until his back was towards them, pull down his mask and dunk his head in. Shikamaru snorted and watched as Kakashi washed his face and hair and threw water into his neck to cool down. He stood there for a moment, back still towards them, and suddenly Shikamaru could picture him as a younger man, traveling the world all by himself on his way to his next target.

Shikamaru grimaced at his own leg. Best not to get the bandages wet. He smiled weakly, pulled off his shirt, and emptied the bottle's contents over his head. He would take what he could get.

Unbeknownst to Shikamaru, Kakashi probably would have stripped of all of his clothing and gone for a swim if it wasn't for the whole propriety thing. Okay, no, the others probably wouldn't mind even if he decided to streak if it meant he wouldn't overheat. Maybe it was more of a personal thing. Maybe. Okay, definitely. It was one thing to walk around mask-less as Sukea, when he could pretend to be someone else, but to refuel himself, well, as himself? The thought alone made him feel uncomfortable as hell. He would preserve that dubious privilege to close and trusted friends and, err, more intimate acquaintances and leave it at that. Admittedly both of those categories were in somewhat short supply, but hey – he was trying.

Drinking as much as he liked was heavenly after rationing water for so long. He did eventually give in enough to wash himself a little. Getting some of the sand out of places where they really shouldn't be felt great, even though it was obviously a temporary measure. By the time he waded out of the pool, his stomach felt a little bloated from all the water he had drunk. He grimaced. They would need fresh food soon. The beef jerky was doing nothing for his digestive system.

He sat down next to Gaara at the edge of the pool, took off his boots and put his tired feet in the water.

"Nice," Gaara said dryly. He had his water bottle in his hand as if he'd been about to fill it before Kakashi put his feet in it.

Kakashi wiggled his toes. "No foot fungus, I promise," he said lightly. He looked past Gaara at Ebizou, only in the shadow of the trees drinking from his own water bottle. "Any improvement?"

Gaara shook his head. "He needs medicine and proper rest. As good as this is, it won't be enough."

Kakashi nodded slowly, unsurprised. "Nearest sign of civilization?"

"The prison camp," Gaara said wryly. "We should probably head there anyway, but it won't save Ebizou-sama."

"Right. Does he know?"

"I'd be more surprised if he didn't."

Kakashi looked down at his feet. The water rippled gently around them, distorting the scarring across the arch of his left foot. He'd gotten it caught in a snare as a boy. One of the first injuries he'd ever had. Most shinobi never got to live as long as Ebizou. That's why he hadn't objected earlier, but suggested they leave him behind. Kakashi would probably do the same thing, in his place. That didn't mean he had to like it, though. "We have to try."

He could feel Gaara's eyes on him. "I'm not objecting, but I will leave him if it means alerting the villages sooner," Gaara said slowly. "He will understand."

Something old and angry inside Kakashi stood up and took notice. "It always comes down to the same choice, doesn't it?" He said.

"What choice?"

"Never mind. I'm going to see how he's doing." Kakashi winced as he got up, his muscles protesting. Earlier, when he had washed himself, he'd been able to take inventory of his injuries. His jaw wasn't broken, but the bruising was pretty spectacular and probably would be for a while. The bite wound from the snake mutant thing looked clean enough, and if he'd been poisoned would have noticed by now. All in all, he was probably strong enough to make the trip so long as they could get some food soon. Speaking of which…

He took a ration bar from his bag and broke it in half on his way to Ebizou. He slumped down next to the old man and offered him one of the halves. "You should at least try to eat something," he said, and hoped it didn't sound as awkward as he felt. There last proper conversation had been… Uncomfortable, to say the least.

Ebizou chuckled. "You are kind to me. Kinder than I deserve, perhaps." He took the bar anyway, but only nibbled on it. "I've been meaning to apologize to you."

"Mahh. You wouldn't be the first to dislike me on account of who my father was. Maybe it would be easier if I didn't look so much like him."

"Ahh. Probably. Even so. I don't want to confuse my anger at him with anger at you. Sometimes, it can be hard to let go of the past." Ebizou looked at the bar's wrapper. The words KONOHA CALORY KILLER shone back at him in bright green lettering. "The world has rather turned upside down since my youth," he added dryly.

Kakashi snorted. "At least you didn't try to murder me on sight."

Ebizou chuckled. "My sister always had a temper."

Kakashi returned his smile. "She was a good woman, though. Perhaps in a different life, my father and her..."

"Yes. Perhaps. War ruined us all." Ebizou began to cough again.

Kakashi waited until the other man had regained his breath. "Yamada said my father was a prisoner of yours. I saw the cell. I – when – I've never heard of him being captured."

Ebizou snorted. "How typical of a man like Yamada to brag about such a thing. Your father wasn't there for long. In fact, most of us were sure he'd allowed himself to be captured. He was strong, you know. Even our Kazekage would have struggled against him. Anyone who believed we'd captured him fair and square was naïve."

Kakashi blinked. He hadn't wanted to say it, but this seemed more true to what he remembered than anything else he had heard so far. But why would he have allowed himself to be captured?

"I'm told it was because of a woman," Ebizou said quietly, and oh, either Kakashi was getting transparent or he'd spoken out loud.

"A woman?"

"There were rumors. All of this happened a long time ago, though. You are... What, early thirties? It must've been at least thirty years ago that he was here. We closed the prison shortly after." Ebizou held a hand up as he fell into another coughing fit. He was white as ash. He'd sleep again, soon.

Thirty years ago. Thirty – a woman? Kakashi's breathing felt tight. "Thirty years exactly?" He asked.

Ebizou frowned. "Yes – I'm fairly sure."

Kakashi nodded to himself. Thirty years. Well. That added up.

His mother had died, thirty years ago.

The people of Suna were blissfully unaware that their beloved leader had vanished in a puff of smoke a mere two days ago, but that didn't stop them from gawking openly when Temari led in a ragtag group of ill refugees and Konoha shinobi. Kankuro's reinforcements had brought stretchers, so they'd been able to set a pretty good speed back to the village. Which, Sakura was pleased to note, hadn't been razed to the ground by Orochimaru and his pals.

She exchanged a look with Sasuke. He was almost unrecognizable underneath the white hood and scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face. Fashion had never been one of his strong suits, but in this particular case Sakura had to acknowledge the wisdom of not walking the streets as Uchiha Sasuke, former Akatsuki and general villain. Despite Team 7's best attempts, there were some reputations that you couldn't change overnight.

Underneath the hood, Sasuke's eyes glowed purple and red. He was scanning village, she realized – checking it for threats, or memorizing the street plan perhaps. She tried not to think about what he might be saving such information for for too long. In a way, perhaps it made him a truer shinobi than her. It also made him hopelessly outdated in a world where trust finally meant something.

Temari was a better example of the modern shinobi; she led them unerringly towards the T&I department, no questions asked. Those refugees who needed medical attention were sent to the hospital wing, the others came with them. Sakura didn't like it much. The refugees had been through so much, and now they would be subjected to interrogation as well. The soft, civilian friendly category of interrogation, but still.

She caught the eye of the boy with the enhanced hearing. What would become of him? Would he just be recruited by the village? Forced into a life he might not want? He had been stripped of his agency before. Now, Sakura realized, he might never get it back.

Which probably wasn't a very charitable way to think of Temari and her siblings, but Sakura wasn't in the mood for charity. Her mentor was missing, her best friends were far away and Tsunade wasn't here to advise her.

"Prisoners first," Temari said coldly. That, Sakura could live with.

The twins with the chakra chains were the leaders of the Sound shinobi, and proud of it too. Fool. It took Sasuke exactly twenty seconds to get them under the influence of the Sharingan, after which they sang like a bird.

"How many people were on the seal?" One of the sisters rasped. "When your Kages up and vanished."

"Four. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Four and two make six," the prisoner glanced at her sister. She grinned suddenly. "Splash."

The other kunoichi grinned back. "Splash," she repeated. "All over the pretty floors."

Sakura grabbed the first sister by the front of her tunic. "Stop speaking in riddles and explain already," she hissed, glaring into the other woman's crazed eyes.

"Two of ours were in the circle, waiting. Two plus four make six. The seal can only take five," the sister said, drawing out for words as if she was speaking to a child. "Splash."

Two Sound shinobi had waited in the circle to ambush Kakashi and the others, Sakura translated, although she wasn't sure how on earth anyone could have done as much. She hadn't sensed anything, nor had the others. She decided to ignore the logic and go with it for the sake of argument. The seal only takes five...

"The seal… Should have taken them somewhere," she said slowly, turning the thought around in her head.

"Home," the second sister grinned. "A treat for our master. Even better if they're sliced up."

The seal had been meant to teleport them to the Sound Village… Then that meant Kakashi-sensei and the others could be with Orochimaru at this exact moment? The thought sent shivers down her spine. But wait… The seal had been broken; her knowledge of seals wasn't as extensive as she would have liked, but she knew enough to know a broken seal would not function as intended. She frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Owl cut her off with a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.

"You sent two Kage into the center of your village," Owl said. "Orochimaru may be strong, but it seems to me you've left him with a bit of a problem, not a treat."

Didn't she realize the seal hadn't worked properly? Why was she… Oh! To tell the two Sound sisters their plan had failed was probably not the best of ideas. Owl was keeping the truth from them on purpose.

The first sister shrugged. "Spur of the moment plan. But their power won't be a problem. Seal leaves people weak. Powerless," she said in her strange, halting speech.

"Spur of the moment? So this abduction wasn't your original plan?" Owl was saying, but Sakura's mind got stuck on weak. The refugees from before, the first nomads… They had felt weak as well.

The first sister grinned. "You guys surprised us. We improvised."

Sakura shook her. "What do you mean, weak? And where is Orochimaru's current base?"

"The seal," the first sister rasped, "was designed by Orochimaru-sama himself. He used old Uzumaki manuscripts he found after the war, when people weren't paying attention to his comings and goings. He wanted to use it to go around unnoticed, but there were side effects."

"The strange numbness. The seal affects chakra, doesn't it?" Sakura asked.

"Blocks it off for forty-eight hours, if you are teleported. A little bit less, if you were standing right next to it," the second sister says. Her blue eyes were glazed over and empty under the Sharingan's hold.

"Quite the weakness," Sasuke said.

" Yeah, sure, but it can take you anywhere, unnoticed. Think of the potential," the first sister grins. "Think of what we might have done, if Orochimaru-sama wasn't so fixated –"

The second sister hisses and kicks her twin. "Don't speak ill of him! He has a plan, he does, he must have."

"He is fixated," her sister argued. "The war has changed him." There was a note of derision in her voice, disappointment, almost. Isn't that a change from the blind obedience most of Orochimaru's men ascribe to?

"What does he want? Why did he go after the refugees?" Temari asked.

"He wanted –"the first sister flinched, her jaw clenching like she wanted to bite her tongue, it Sasuke's hold on her was stronger. "He wants a legacy. That is all I know."

"Fresh bodies," Sasuke said. "It's how he's survived for so long. When his body grows old or weak, he replaces it with a new one. Preferably one with a bloodline limit."

Sakura's gorge rose. That would've happened to Sasuke, if he had let it. If he hadn't been so blindly, obstinately, beautifully, stubborn. Legacy. The word seemed so ugly in this context. But wait, a legacy didn't mean wanting to exist forever, it meant leaving something behind –

She never got to finish her thought. The door of the prison block slammed open and a harried looking Baki came marching in. "Temari, I'm sorry – we couldn't stop him –"

They didn't have to wonder who this him was for very long. Sasuke perked up, and then Sakura felt it herself; that golden heat, burning like the sun itself, hazy enough that it was probably a clone of the original, but still –

"Naruto," she breathed, as one of her best friends in the world came barging in, Sai on his heels, looking breathless and excited both.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto's clone said, "we've figured it out. Orochimaru wants a kid, and possibly he wants to destroy the village, but really we should be talking about how he's not allowed to have kids, ever, and Kakashi – sensei is still in trouble, so I came to help."

A brief silence followed his whirlwind of a statement. Then, Sasuke said, "Idiot. What took you so long?"

AN:

So uhh... Sorry about the long wait. I really want to finish the story for you guys, but the muse is at least 80% dead. Yeah. Uhh. Awkward. Thing is, I'm not really sure when and if inspiration will return. My interest in Naruto has been waning for a couple of weeks now and the low response to Regeneration kinda finished it off. No one is really to blame, it's just a combination of different factors.

The good news is that I know exactly how I want this story to end, and that I don't want to leave you guys hanging. I've put a lot of time and thought into this little universe, and I've grown so fond of these versions of the characters. In short, I'm determined to finish it one way or another.

Unfortunately, that might mean scrapping a story line or two so I can abbreviate the story a little. I'd planned this whole thing with Yuugao, Anko and Baki, but, well… Frankly, I think it's better if I focus on the main storyline instead to keep my momentum going.

So, yeah. I'll do my best. Comments are love!