Pre-word: I'm on a slight roll with these updates lately, although even I'm unsure why. I don't exactly have more time than before, but I guess the motivation is just there? This is of course partially thanks to y'all and the lovely feedback that you continually leave for me.
Speaking of which, I appreciate everyone that answered my question from the last chapter about English vs Japanese for proper nouns and such. I got a pretty good idea on what I should do for that going forward. So I'll probably keep with the Japanese names for really common/popular Jutsu, places, and other proper nouns such as titles, but will use some kind of combination of English with the Japanese for things I think a majority of readers won't necessarily grasp right away. Thanks again, as everyone's input helped me reach this decision.
So with that out of the way, onto the chapter which is actually of some decent length this time.
Heart Under Shadow
Allegiance
By the time Naruto had finished explaining his truncated version of events to the gathered group, night had already fallen over the forest and they had set-up a campfire.
Which meant it looked like it would be a day longer still before he finally got to Takigakure. Despite finally being so close that he could practically hear the titualar waterfall that was no doubt the entrance to the village.
When he first arrived, introductions had to be made. Gai had been true to his word and his only companions were three Genin that he had been in charge of as their Jonin-sensei. What's more, they had been Genin for about a year now, making them just slightly older than Naruto. Which might have meant potential friends, but Naruto didn't dare dream for something like that yet at this stage.
Far too much could potentially go wrong and he had no idea if he was going to be forced to kill them or worse yet, watch Kaguya make that choice for him again. She had been quiet in his shadow up until now and he had evaded any kind of reference to her so far.
In fact, what he had told them about could be summarized down into a very short list of facts. Everything started when Sasuke and Hinata went missing. Uchiha Itachi supposedly returned to the village shortly after and then destroyed it, turning it into the orb that now floated in the sky. Hatake Kakashi was also killed by him during these events.
Naruto, by pure luck, had managed to escape the carnage and stumbled across Kakuzu on the way. He then paid to secure Kakuzu's services in guiding him to Takigakure, where he hoped to join their village. On the way, they were attacked by Anbu sent by Danzo who was trying to kill all defectors.
Mostly lies, of course. Yet there was enough of the truth mixed in that it meant the story was easy enough for even the young blond to keep straight. He didn't even have to really use any emotions to sell it, because by itself the tale sounded so unbelievable you would think he was making it up anyways.
Yet Gai nor his team could deny that the things Naruto had told them more or less lined up with the rumors they had been hearing. Rumors they all hoped had been embellished to the point of lunacy, but there was no hiding behind such wishful denials any longer.
Konoha was gone. Naruto was here. And so were they. These were the three most undeniable facts. Anything else was hardly relevant, at least not for the time being. The question now was: What would they do with this information?
"Gai-sensei! What now?" Which seemed to be exactly what Gai's miniature clone, Rock Lee, was also wondering.
"Lee! Slow down for a minute, gosh." The only female on their team, Tenten, seemed to have a calmer head on her shoulders as she fiddled with the handle of kunai. It made Naruto a little nervous, as if she might throw it at him any moment. As he watched her though, he realized it was more of a nervous tick, and she didn't even seem to realize she was holding it. "You said your name was… Naruto, right?"
"Ah… yeah." Naruto nodded in quick succession. Aside from quick greetings, he hadn't actually spoken with these three directly yet except to tell them the "facts" as it were. Which was less of a dialogue and more just him weaving a tale for them to listen to. Up until now they hadn't asked any questions, but it would appear the time for cross-examination had finally come.
"Look… this is a lot to take in. Okay?" Tenten paused, seemingly unsure of how to continue. "Lee and I are orphans, so we didn't have any family in Konoha or anything, but to just know everything is… gone? That's insane. You didn't even look for other survivors? You just trusted this Nuke-nin?" She gestured to Kakuzu as if his very presence made her skin crawl.
It was hard to say, but Naruto had become accustomed to reading the man's expressions behind his mask. And he was almost definitely smirking at Tenten, as if threatening her to come at him.
"There is something we need to be asking before that." The final and most complicated member of their little gathering finally voiced himself. Hyuga Neji. As his name would apply, he also had the Byakugan, just like Kaguya. Suddenly asking her to show herself with him around made things far more complicated than originally planned. "How is it that you survived in the first place?" On top of that, he seemed to already be finding doubts in Naruto's story and was quick to voice them.
It was a fair question. How is it that Naruto, a fresh Genin, survived when so many thousands of others didn't? Among them the legendary Copy Ninja, no less. It was just inconceivable. Naruto could lie and say he had been on the edge of the village, Kakashi sacrificing himself to push his student outside the boundary of the Jutsu. But would they actually buy something so flimsy? Even he didn't believe it.
The next most obvious lie was that Kakuzu had been the one to save him, but if anything that just created more questions and would require making too many lies to actually keep their own story straight. In other words, it was a sure-fire way to unravel the small amount of trust they had only just managed to establish.
It was only a split moment's hesitation that took for these thoughts and possibilities to run across Naruto's mind, but that hesitation cost him. "What's the matter?" Neji pressed his offensive, leaning forward making direct eye-contact with Naruto. "You're thinking of lying to us. I can tell by the fact you're not willing to meet our eyes when we ask questions and you're starting to perspire. So what is it that happened that you would not want to tell us the truth?"
"Neji…" Tenten was again the one to chide her teammate. Ordinarily you think such a responsibility would fall to their teacher, but he was standing off behind them and leaning on a tree. The light of the campfire barely reached him, illuminating only his lower half and making his expression completely unreadable to Naruto. Was he mourning? Or listening closely and gauging? There was no way to know, and the unknown was far too dangerous right now.
One crisis at a time, however.
First was Neji, who Tenten was still in the middle of chastising. "Look, he's clearly pretty shaken up. We didn't see it, but it sounds like Konoha got turned into a small moon. Can you even imagine that? I can't and even just trying to picture it is freaking me out. Think about how he feels for a minute."
"Tenten, be quiet." Neji snapped back at his teammate, not even so much as glancing sideways at her. "It's exactly because I can't imagine it, that we have to be absolutely positive he isn't lying to us. If he's deceiving us, all our lives are going to be in danger. He admitted to fighting Anbu acting directly under the Hokage's order already. Who is to say he won't do the same to us?"
"...In regards to the Anbu," Gai finally said something from his post just outside the campfire. His voice was heavy and tired, making him sound far older than what he should be. "I think it's best we consider them and Shimura Danzo our enemy. Kakashi, my rival, didn't trust him up until the end and if Itachi truly was the one to destroy the village…" Gai paused as if unsure how to continue. "Let's just say there were a lot of rumors and inconsistencies about his actions, but if he was doing this to somehow get back at Danzo, many things begin to make sense. In other words, this was a result of bad decisions by the Hokage and we should consider ourselves better to cut ties with him."
"Gai-sensei…" Lee also appeared concerned for his teacher. Whether or not this heavy attitude was uncharacteristic of him or not, Naruto didn't know any of them well enough to say, but going by the reactions given by all three of his students- this was far from the norm.
For even Neji closed his eyes temporarily to let out a sigh. "Okay, but even if we assume those parts of the story to be true, just because we are also not to trust the Hokage does not mean we should automatically trust this Naruto and everything he said." He returned his prying gaze once more to the blond. "If you want our trust- tell us how you escaped."
So it all came back around to that in the end. And Naruto was still no closer to having come up with an acceptable sounding lie. Even more so now that Neji seemed to be basing his whole judgement of Naruto's character off this one particular answer. Fortunately for him, a second later and he didn't need to think of anything.
"Perhaps we shall take over the explanations from here?" Because at that moment, Kaguya slowly emerged from his shadow, popping up behind him and just out of their view.
"What!?" All three Genin jumped to their feet. Lee and Neji settled into Taijutsu stances while Tenten held the kunai she had just been playing with in front of herself. Gai was the only one not to react, not so much as even battle pressure coming from his person. Either he had somehow been aware of Kaguya already, or he seemed to realize she wasn't a threat. Regardless, the experience gap between him and his students clearly showed with that alone.
"Humans are always such easily startled creatures." Kaguya slowly walked around the side, manipulating Naruto's Shadow so she could walk into the light of the fire. As her Byakugan eyes came into view, the Genins' tensions redoubled, growing more unsure by the minute how to handle this latest development.
"You're a Hyuga?" Neji practically spat, as if his own last name was a curse. "One from the main family." His hatred seemed to stem from that line itself. Naruto had thought it odd he didn't react at all to Hinata's "kidnapping" but he was starting to realize that maybe there was some complicated bad blood there. At the very least, it explained why he didn't seem bothered by the sudden loss of his clan.
"We are not a Hyuga." Kaguya corrected him, flicking her long braided hair and frowning at Neji as if he had offered her insult. "We are a moon rabbit. Bound in contract to Uzumaki Naruto and as such bound in our Aruji's shadow. While it is true we too possess the Byakugan, as the Hyuga do, it would be more accurate to say that you humans merely acquired it from us. Be grateful in the face of the one that has bestowed upon thou such power."
"...Grateful?" Neji spat. "If what you're saying is true, then isn't it your fault that I had to be branded as a branch member and cursed to have my eyes sealed upon my death?" At his words, Kaguya activated her own Byakugan and silently studied the curse seal placed upon his forehead. It was something she had heard vaguely about before now, but this was her first time actually seeing one.
"So that is how it is." Kaguya spoke to herself. "Thou are one of the Branch family… and it would appear this seal is to keep thy eyes from being stolen." She would admit that at least the humans had come to regard these Byakugan eyes as the treasures that they should. They were not something to be so freely given out, after all.
"Enough about it." Neji seethed, as it would appear she hit a nerve. "How is it that he has a contract with you and how is that relevant to how you escaped?" This was what Naruto had been afraid of; giving an answer that only created more questions. Thankfully it was Kaguya who had taken over from here, because she seemed to have some kind of plan for how to handle this. At least, he hoped so.
"We already said it, did we not?" Kaguya appeared perfectly calm in the face of Neji's barely concealed rage. "We exist inside our Aruji's shadow. It was mere child's play to keep him anchored to earth amid a gravitational anomaly. That is all." She said it like it was simple, but there was no way anyone could understand what it was she meant by such an ambiguous ability as that.
Which in a way was the brilliant part of her lie. It was so outside the realm of reason to everyone, that all they could do was accept that it worked as she said it did. There weren't exactly gravitational anomalies just popping up for them to test whether or not she was lying either. That was Neji's second question answered, but the first-
"The stipulation for the contract?" Gai walked forward, stepping into the light. He rested a hand on Lee's shoulder as if telling his students to all relax. They all took comfort in his proximity and returned to their seats in front of the campfire. He continued to loom over them, the fire casting his own shadow largely onto the trees behind him.
It would appear he had finally decided to make his move. Depending on Kaguya's next answer, they were going to either have made allies or enemies. However, if the latter ended up being the case, it was unlikely they would be around much longer.
This was just fine for Kaguya. She had been waiting for such an opportunity to finally test if she could make this lie. It wouldn't have any effect on the younger students, but someone of Gai's generation should understand her implications.
She pointed up the moon, which in another couple days would be full. Gai and everyone else followed her finger and once she was sure they could see it, she wove her story. "Thou are no doubt aware that the Uzumaki clan is not originally from Konoha?" She asked, not bothering to wait for a response. "Only three of their clan have ever resided there and this was for the sole purpose of becoming the Kyubi Jinchuriki."
"The what?" Lee and Tenten interrupted and while he didn't say anything, even Neji looked shocked by this new piece of trivia.
"I'll explain after." Gai immediately silenced his students, before then holding out a hand to Kaguya. "Sorry about that, continue." It would appear she had his interest, at least.
"This is because the Uzumaki clan are capable of contracting with us. However, the price we demand in payment is steep. In return for binding ourselves to our Aruji's shadow, we had to swap places with the Kyubi that now resides there." She emphasised the moon once again. "Think of it as a last resort. Our Aruji made the payment in order to save himself from the destruction of Konoha. That is how he survived and why we are now in his contract."
There was silence following her explanation. Lee, Tenten, and Neji understood almost nothing of her explanation. In the first place, they didn't even know where to begin in asking questions. There were just so many things about what they just heard that they couldn't grasp. The Uzumaki clan, Kyubi, Jinchuriki, the moon, contracts; it was all too much and all at once.
Even Gai had a hard time appearing to wrap his head around it all. Which is exactly what Kaguya wanted. Her will had done quite a bit of research on the Jinchuriki over time and that had benefited her more than she thought it ever would. While she didn't know much about the Uzumaki, she also understood that most natives of Konoha didn't either, aside from the fact that they lived long lives and made ideal Jinchuriki hosts.
Now she just had to wait for Gai's reaction to this story. If all went well, this would solve two big problems for her and her master. Firstly, she needed them to believe she actually was some kind of moon rabbit and not a goddess from another reality. Which, while that wouldn't be bad, it was harder to explain away why she was here. The second was that it allowed them to explain why Naruto was no longer the Kyubi Jinchuriki when he by all rights should be.
"...The moon, huh?" Gai asked, craning his neck and staring at the orb in the sky so hard you would think he was trying to shoot lasers at it. "As unbelievable as everything you said sounds, I've also heard that the Rikudo Sennin created the moon. Maybe that's not so crazy after all?" He laughed, loudly and boisterously. It was not a reaction Kaguya or anyone had been prepared for, even his own students giving a start at his sudden outburst.
He then looked down at Kaguya and beamed at them with a huge smile that reflected the moon's light and made his teeth sparkle. "Honestly, for all I know you might be lying, but as far as I can tell you would be doing so with the best of intentions. For whatever reason, you really seem to want us to trust you. So it might not be wise, but my gut is telling me to give you a chance!" He let out another loud laugh.
In the face of such laughter, Kaguya was at a loss for how to react. She had never met a human such as this. Should she call him idiodict… or was this some kind of genius that couldn't be classified? Regardless of what she called it, this was beneficial for them. Perhaps too much so? She could feel doubt worming its way into the back of her mind, but for now she couldn't act on such doubts.
In the past she might have, just opting to turn this man to dust in this moment rather than risk him betraying them later. However, he was talking about giving them the benefit of doubt and offering them trust when he had no reason too. Even more so considering he was right and they were mostly lying to him. So while it was also against her own instincts, she decided to give him this same consideration. Nevermind she was trying to better herself for her master's sake on top of it all.
"If Gai-sensei says it is okay then I agree with him!" Lee jumped back to his feet, pumping his fists and yelling exaggeratedly. The display was loud enough to send all the rodents and birds near their vicinity scrambling to other parts of the forest.
"...Unbelievable." Tenten let out a long sigh, hanging her head in the process. "Hey, what does this even mean for us? Are we seriously going to join Takigakure? That means betraying Konoha, you know? What's left of it, anyways."
"So there is someone reasonable on this team, after all." Kakuzu muttered darkly from behind Naruto and Kaguya. He had only been silently watching as the two of them spewed their lies, growing increasingly more shocked as the team in front of him seemed to buy into their story. He was almost starting to wonder how Konoha had survived all this time, if people like this had been there. He was reminded of Hashirama, which he rather wouldn't be.
Neji let out his own sigh loud enough to draw Tenten's attention. "Whether or not we trust these two is another matter, but Gai-sensei already made a point that trusting the Hokage and the Anbu poses more danger for us than safety. When we consider our options, going back to Takigakure and telling them we accept their offer would be in all of our best interests."
This was new information to Kaguya. "Thou have already been approached by the Shinobi of that village?" She asked, eager to finally be the ones receiving something out of all of this.
Neji and Tenten glanced at one another. It would appear Gai and Lee weren't even paying attention so it was up to one of them to pass on what they knew. Something neither of them seemed comfortable doing. Tenten seemed to trust them more than Neji did, so she was the one that ended up breaking first and facing them again.
"It was the leader of Takigakure that we were escorting for our mission. Well… the son of the leader. Things got kind of complicated and his father was killed, placing him in charge now. As we were packing up to leave, the information about Konoha came in. The leader offered to make us Takigakure Ninja in exchange for having helped him defeat his father's murderers, but we couldn't be sure everything they said was true or not. So we were waiting here, holding out hope."
"We see now." Kaguya nodded, lifting a hand to her chin as she considered the implications of this. It would seem it had been the right choice and good chance to place their trust in this group for the time being. If this Might Gai- as strange as he was- vouched for them, it was very likely they could also gain Taki's good graces. All without having to go through all this rigmarole and lies again.
Certainly, introductions would have to be made and they would still need to give some version of their tale, but with Gai's assistance, it would probably just be confirming the information the village spies had already collected. All in all, getting into the village just got much simpler than it would have been thanks to this chance encounter.
"Don't think this means we trust you." Neji spat, glaring at Kaguya specifically. "Just because Gai-sensei is quick to trust, doesn't mean we can so easily be won over." That was only if they made sure the whole team was on their side, however. Kaguya realized that Neji was a potential complication… and she wasn't about to allow any complications now that she was so close.
Takigakure was right in front of them. A safe haven where they could make themselves a new kingdom. She wasn't about to lose it for one single human.
Smirking, she approached Neji. "That reminds us, thou were indeed just a branch member of the Hyuga clan. A clan which no longer has any main clansmen left. So what does that make thou now?"
Neji's blood boiled and red closed in around his vision. Before he even knew it he was standing on his feet and glaring down dangerously at the short woman before him. Yet the pale little girl did not shirk from his glare. If anything, his reaction seemed to only please her more.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Neji seethed down at her. Yes, he hated the main family and the politics of the Hyuga family. But more than that, he hated this mark on his forehead. It was this thing that bound him to his fate. As long as that was there, he could never be anything more than a branch family member. A branch without a tree was nothing more than a stick. So if anything, he was even less than before.
"Do we not?" Kaguya challenged him. As if mocking him, she looked up at him with her Byakugan and unmarked forehead. For a split second, he almost thought he saw a flash of red in the middle of her forehead, but it just seemed to be a trick of his already maddened gaze. "...Then why do thou not enlighten us?"
That was it. Neji felt the last strands of his reason snap. Despite usually being so calm and level-headed, something about this girl set off every bit of his past anger and resentment. Maybe it was because she reminded him of Hinata when she was young? From a time when she had become the reason for his branding in the first place. He didn't know and he wasn't in a rational enough frame of mind to try and understand.
Instead he simply lashed out. His Byakugan activated without any need of seals, triggering simply from his raging emotions alone. He didn't even take a stance, lunging at her with an open palm. A Jyuken strike that didn't seek to damage her on the surface, but instead attack her organs directly. Nevermind that he didn't know what kind of organs a "moon rabbit" had to begin with.
His attack never landed. For in the same motion that he struck, she raised a single finger. Pointing at him with her hand in the shape of a gun, a single gray bone poked past her flesh. It shot from her finger like a bullet, striking him in the gut.
He stopped short, not capable of finishing his strike. It wasn't for any great pain or powerful force. No, the bullet hitting him felt more akin to a small pinch. Yet from the origin of that small, barely negligible force like a tickle in his gut began a terrible chain reaction. His body began to crumble, turning to ash and falling apart.
In a matter of moments, the small bullet sized wound turned into a big gaping hole that consumed his whole stomach. Yet it didn't end there, racing until it covered ever part of his body. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. For he no longer had a mouth. His vision cracked and distorted, as if he was looking at a broken mirror.
Then there was nothing.
"Neji!"
At least, there should have been nothing. Tenten's shout pulled him back to reality. He gasped for breath, shooting up into an upright sitting position. His hands felt at his stomach, but there was nothing unusual. No bullet, no gaping hole. He was complete and unharmed. Tenten was leaning over him, tears falling from her brown eyes. "...What? What happened?" He could barely talk, voice coming out in a hoarse whisper.
"We thought you died!" Tenten dropped to her knees, wrapping Neji in a hug. From over her shoulder, he could see that Gai and Lee had jumped in front of them, both standing in combat stances. Kakuzu had also moved, getting in between Kaguya and the two green beasts that looked ready to strike her down.
"Neji, are you alright!?" Gai glanced backwards at his student, his battle aura not dimming in the slightest. Despite having just proclaimed his trust, it would seem whatever happened when he had seen that vision- or whatever you called it- had ramped tensions up.
"I- I'm fine." Neji pushed Tenten off him and stumbled to his feet. "I'm just a little light-headed. One second I was turning to dust… and the next-" He didn't know how to finish that sentence.
"Genjutsu." Kaguya answered. "As we said, he shall be fine. Now please, let us all cease with this foolishness."
"His heart stopped!" Lee shouted. "Genjutsu can not cause your heart to stop! ...Can it?" He looked to their Sensei for confirmation.
"...If it was convincing enough, I suppose it might." Gai's battle aura flickered and he slowly lowered his stance. His eyes widened in realization and a moment later he dashed in front of his student. "Neji! Your eyes? They're okay?"
"What?" Neji attempted to recoil, but Gai gripped him tightly by his upper arms, not letting him go as he inspected his Byakugan from close range. "As you can see, I'm fine. Now get off." He shook himself loose from his teacher and nearly stumbled. It would appear he was still a little woozy from that supposed near-death experience.
"Of course his eyes are fine." Kaguya sighed as if disappointed. "What do thou take us for? We were careful to show him a death where his eyes were no longer a cause for concern. Thus the seal had no reason to activate."
"Wait, wait, wait." Neji interrupted, looking down at her in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" She couldn't possibly mean- The smirk she gave him was all the answer he needed.
Before he even knew what he was doing, his hands hastily removed his hitai-ate and spun it around, using the metal as a mirror to look at his own exposed forehead.
"...Gone." He whispered. The hitai-ate slipped from his fingers, falling to the ground at his feet. With it no longer obstructing his view, Kaguya came back into focus. She continued to smirk at him as always. Vain and triumphant, but now it felt like he could understand where this unshakable confidence came from. "The Hyuga curse mark… is gone."
"What!?" His entire team gathered around to verify with their own eyes, but no matter how they looked at it, the fact that it was indeed no longer there was the only truth to be found. "How is this possible?" Gai was even at a loss for how to explain this, something his student's rarely saw.
"Thou said it thyself." Kaguya strolled forward and past Kakuzu who had still been standing protectively in front of her. "If the illusion is strong enough, it can even affect the real body. All we did was trick the seal into activating, but because the seal could not sense any chakra from the Byakugan within the illusion, it simply disappeared. That is the basis of Genjutsu, after all. Manipulating your opponent's chakra to get the desired effect."
All the strength in Neji's legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees. His team shouted for him, but he could no longer hear them. He pushed their legs out of the way, clearing an easy visual path to Kaguya. "You… You just changed my destiny. I'm no longer a bird in a cage." It didn't even feel like he was the one saying those words, but rather someone else using his voice to speak for him.
Kaguya held up a gentle hand, placing it over his forehead. Her gaze felt kind now, almost motherly even. "Thou are now Hyuga Neji, the heir to the main branch of the clan. Perhaps the only surviving member, but it is possible to rebuild the clan from within Takigakure."
"Me… the heir." This emotion welling up inside of him was indescribable. No, it was merely too many things bubbling up all at once. Yet from within all these emotions, he recognized one very plainly.
He took the hand that Kaguya had placed over his head in both of his and held it as if handling a porcelain doll. He then inclined his head, bowing to her in fealty. "You… have just changed my life. For all my doubts before, I'm sorry. No matter what it is you need, either you or Naruto-" He looked up, meeting the blond's blue eyes to make sure he also understood the depth of his gratitude. "I will without fail make sure to come to your aid. On my life, I promise this."
Lee and Tenten grinned merrily down at their teammate. His happiness was also their own, after all. Because they were a family. The only family they had left. Even Gai could only offer small words of gratitude repeatedly, happy tears streaming down his cheeks. If they had doubts about Kaguya's claimed feats before, those were gone now.
She had just bought this team's trust and more importantly, their devotion. As easily as that, her hastily plotted plan fell into place. It wouldn't have been possible without her newly awakened Mangekyou, and it would appear she had cast the visual Genjutsu quickly enough that none of them even noticed her third eye. So she hadn't even lost that advantage.
Now in response to Neji, she smirked in satisfaction at a job well done and offered a single word to her newest devotee. No, not her's, but her master's. For everything she did now was for him.
"Good."
Chapter End
Post-word: So real talk, did I actually trick anyone into thinking I just offed Neji for a second there?
I know this fic has been fairly kill-happy with characters in the past, so I kind of tried to play with that expectation a little bit here, but I also hope there were enough hints going around that I'm not going down that same rabbit hole with this current group of characters. In the first place, I did end up sparing Team Gai for a couple reasons. A: because they're my favorite team, and B: because I do need at least somewhat of an expanded cast and Takigakure doesn't exactly have a ton of known characters. Anyways, point I'm making is you can probably expect them to stick around for a while.
One other thing worth noting, but the Protect the Waterfall Village OVA just finished happening in this universe, but with Team Gai as the protagonists of it. Which is why they were outside of Konoha when everything went down. I kind of tried to reference that in the content of the story itself, but I'm not sure how obvious or not it was so I figured best to include it here too.
There's actually one other "group" from Konoha I'm planning to bring in, but I think that will take a few chapters to get around to yet.
Next chapter should finally have the group arriving at Takigakure. I really didn't intend to make it take this many chapters/words to get there, but it felt like there was a lot of little things that had to be checked off a list on this journey before I could move things there. Now that I've finally hit all my prerequisites, we're ready to go.
So look forward to that next time!
