I do not own nart or sauce, I only own the bullshit


Time was not a luxury shinobi had. Punctuality was a pipe-dream. Perfectly executed plans were a fantasy. They were moved like pieces on a Shogi board at the will of those above them, and in Shogi, it's about who wins. Not how long it took.

It took too long to find her apprentice. Gear torn and face a mask of pain, Aruna wasted no time kneeling beside the child she had taught for the last 9 years.

'Kankurō…' his face had small welts, what looked like many bug bites. She turned to see another boy, nearly about to fall off his own branch. 'Where the hell is Python? I told him to find the other children. Scorpion, grab the leaf genin. It's clear now the siblings are together. We must reach Temari-sama before Gaara-sama reaches a full transformati—'

She was interrupted by a large BOOM, which seemed to come from the main village. Then, Aruna watched as the large head of a snake loomed over the tops of the trees, followed by a glimpse of two others.

'Tch!' Aruna grit her teeth, turning to Baki. 'Baki, I leave the children to you. Kankurō is only exhausted. I will take the leaf genin to a safer area.'

'That wasn't the plan…'

'Plans change, Baki. Scorpion, try to find Python, but your main priority is Gaara-sama. Oni,' she addressed her partner. 'Decide now if you'll follow me into battle or stay with Kankurō.'

'Maa, you know I hate making tough decisions. Might as well watch you kick ass.'

Aruna left her apprentice with a quick pat on the cheek and a silent vow to return. With the small leaf genin in her arms, her and Oni sped toward the commotion.

'I only hope some of our own are already helping,' Aruna said under her breath, skipping over a felled tree. Oni kept pace, but was uncharacteristically quiet. She didn't comment on it.

'Shishou, why do you always have that puppet following you?' A young Kankurō peeked behind Aruna, looking straight at Oni.

'This is my partner, Oni. It helps me when I am most in need.'

'Like…Like a sister?' Kankurō whispered, looking over to where Temari stood, training with Baki.

'A little,' Aruna conceded, 'But it's more like…a friend. Who will always watch my back.'

'But…how do you know it will? It can't talk or nothin', can it?'

'Or nothin',' Oni teased, gaining a squawk of surprise from Kankurō.

'Oni.'

'Mm?' it hummed, almost as if it were distracted.

'You've never had to follow me, fight with me. You could walk away, right now. Why do you stay by my side?'

'Mmm…maybe it's because that damn maker of mine decided his experiments were more important than staying with you. Maybe it's because his memory whispers to me at night to protect you. But it's probably more because…we're friends.'

'Friends, huh?' Jomei, Yashamaru, Maki, Rasa, Kaz… Faces sped by in her mind, and she would not pretend she hadn't seen the flash of red hair and cavernous brown eyes. 'I've always thought of you…as a partner and confidant, Oni. I can't think of a more fitting situation to tell you this, my friend.'

'You humans are so dramatic,' It snarked, pushing off from a branch with one last large burst. 'Let's just get this over with and go home.'

Aruna huffed a laugh behind her veil, smiling. She flung herself from the trees, landing before a leaf jōnin that had just taken down two Oto-nin. The jōnin had red eyes and wore a tight dress, but it was the fury on her face when she spotted the child in her arms that was beautiful.

'I found him in the forest. I believe his friends were trying to catch up to our jinchūriki, and acted bravely to stop my very own apprentice,' Aruna supplied. 'I apologize for his involvement, but I have come to help. And rest assured,' she added after handing the boy to the jōnin. 'I do believe this young man kicked my apprentice's ass.'

The woman only watched, a little dumbstruck, as Aruna jumped away, speeding toward the core of the battle. Aruna did a mental inventory of her partners. Only Cerberus had been damaged in her fight with Orochimaru, but she was not sure her three others would be very effective at all. She had a fifth puppet, one she never used normally. But this wasn't much of a normal circumstance, was it?

Aruna grabbed the larger scroll from her back. It was ornamental in nature, the paper of the scroll almost pearlescent. Oni made a sound of surprise from beside her, but ignored it.

'Oni, you may need to stay back.'

'Oh, no way. You're taking me with you. I can't skip out on that view.'

'Very well,' Aruna's hands flew through her family's special hand signs, activating the summoning scroll. 'Let's go, shall we?'

'This just got even more exciting.'

There was a boom. Nothing like the crumbling of buildings, or the tremor of an earthquake. More like the single beat of a drum. Like the rolling of thunder. For one moment, all nin, of the Leaf, Sand and Sound, stopped. Above their heads, cloaked briefly in a cloud of dust, was the large form of a wolf, nearly sparking with energy. Raijū stood over 9 meters tall, it's wooden, steel-enforced paws the size of a small onsen. Raijū had taken Aruna nearly five years to complete, the intricacies of its inner working gears and parts, alone, taking up half of that time.

And so, standing high above her fellow shinobi, high above the warriors of her sister village, and even above the villainous Oto-nin that threatened them both, Aruna let loose her ten chakra ropes. Thick, braided chakra strings attached themselves to the Ten Spots on the Raijū, bringing to life the huge false deity. Aruna's forehead crinkled with effort, her previously mortal wound still tender, and her chakra steadily running out.

'Oni, this will have to be taken care of quickly.'

'I'm not surprised. Nothing is ever so easy.'

Unlike if a real rope had been tied to each of her fingers, she deftly controls her chakra ropes with the slightest movements. So, with the ascension of her index fingers, she launches toward the large serpentine summons. Aruna knows these snakes do not have her same qualms with smashing the buildings of the Leaf Village. With the flick of her thumb and middle digit, the mighty jaws of Raijū unhinge, it's man-sized teeth wrapping around the thick body of one of summons. Pushing against the ground, Aruna's puppet leapt up, shoving the snake back across the Walls of Konoha. It would not be good for any more damage to be done in what looked like a civilian area.

'White Secret Technique: Raijū Grapple,' from out Raijū's colossal shoulders, four cables shot out. The weighted hooks on the end of each rope allowed for the snake to be held down, and from the openings in Raijū's upper structure, electricity raced down the length of the cable.

The unholy snake's body convulsed from the shock, alerting the two-other summons with a dreadful hiss. The one closest to the downed snake drew back its head, before lunging at Raijū. Not having moved quick enough, Aruna grunted as the snake crashed its mouth down on Raijū's left hip joint. Fortunately, due to the nature of a snake's jaw, it was not able to get a good enough grip to rip out the joint, and instead only did minimal damage to the body. However, it seemed reluctant to release its hold, and as Aruna steadied Raijū, the third summon struck.

'Oni Original Jutsu: Solid Defense,' Aruna heard from behind her, and turned to see Oni, who had unleashed its multiple arms, stretching all six to form a wall. The snake's cranium bashed into the arms of her partner, sending Oni flying back. Aruna clicked her tongue in anger, yanking her whole left hand back, fingers in a clawed position. Raijū's body flipped, the gyroscopic head switching to the other side of the body, and with a quick quirk of her fingers, she got her puppet's jaws around the snake that held on to Raijū's leg.

Finding purchase at the base of the snake's head, Aruna nearly screamed with effort, wrenching both hands to not only pull the snake off, but swing it into the other offending serpent. The summon she had shocked still laid, dazed, on the forest floor, trees crushed beneath its tremendous weight.

Retracting her cables was impossible in a fight like this, so she flared chakra through the bottom of her feet, and the ropes detached. Closing their deployment flaps, Aruna focused the rest of her waning energy on ensuring a way these snakes wouldn't make it past the walls of Konoha again.

Before she could attack again, she heard a booming cackle, and turned to see, further in the village, the silhouette of the Ichibi.

'No…' suddenly one of the snakes buffeted the side of Raijū, almost making Aruna lose her grip on its back. Aruna held back a growl. Oni was down and she had only so much chakra left. Then, to her pleasure, two of her Mirages appeared atop Raijū.

'Taichō!'

'Team Coyote,' she greeted, not taking her eyes off the summons. 'I've surmised the best plan of action is to delay these beasts until they are unsummoned, or choose to leave. I want all sand-users out here. We need to create an air-tight defense if they manage to get past me and try to break into the village again. I will be deploying Raijū's Divine Defense. I suggest you keep away from this area.'

'Hai!'

'One last thing…' The two operatives gave her their whole attention, and for a moment, all they could hear was her harsh breathing. 'If I am unable to return to Sunagakure, hand this to my apprentice. Do not open it. Do you understand?'

The shorter of the two reached out, getting ahold of the small scroll Aruna thrust toward them.

'This battle, this invasion, falls partly on the shoulders of us and our kin. Kankurō will not understand at first how everything got so twisted in the end. Keep the Kazekage's children safe…and redeem Suna,' she finished. She finally turned all the way to look at the two men, the two boys. 'It's been an honor, being your superior officer.'

'Taichō-!'

'No more dramatics. Dismissed.' And they would never be able to tell she had a smile on her face.


'Shishou! Shishou!'

'Yes?' Aruna asked, not looking up from her work station.

'Why do you always, uhh, tinker away at Oni-baka?' Kankurō asked, pulling himself up to watch what she was doing.

It had been a month since the Kazekage's middle child was pushed onto Aruna, much like a puppy whose owners were leaving on a vacation. Except Aruna suspected she would not be giving this particular puppy back any time soon.

'Puppets need constant cleaning and attention, or else they will fail to do their job. Unlike us, they cannot heal on their own.'

Kankurō's face puckered in intense thought, a facial expression that had Aruna holding back her laughter. 'Why don'tcha jus' make a bunch of puppets, so when one breaks, you jus' use another?'

Aruna stilled her hands, wondering how she could explain this to someone that obviously didn't understand much.

'Think of it this way. When a partner on your team is hurt, you don't replace them. You help them. Because if you replaced a teammate every time one got hurt, you would have to get used to so many new people, you would never succeed on a mission. Does that help?'

'Hmmm…so, it's like, if your sister got hurt, you wouldn't replace her, because you don't want a new sister?'

'What is it with you and sisters…But yes, that's essentially it.'

'What does e-sen-chi-lee mean?'

'…It means you were right.' Aruna watched as Kankurō hit his fist against his open palm.

'I see.' He had heard Aruna say "I see" each time a cloaked man gave her a message, and he had begun saying it, too. 'So, puppets really are like sisters, and you have to treat them right so they help you fight.'

He seemed supremely pleased with his rhyme. Aruna's left eyebrow twitched. Oni pretended to sleep so as to not laugh at it's friend's situation.


Aruna quietly sat beside Kankurō, choosing not to initiate a conversation, but instead act as a comforting presence. She had never had to deal much with children after she herself had stopped being one, yet even then, the academy was quite different back then.

It was getting close to supper time, and the sun was already low in the sky. Sunsets in the desert were beautiful, if cold, and they always had a certain pull on Aruna.

She quickly found that Kankurō was not going to start, and so with a quick look upwards for help from a higher power, Aruna placed her hand gently on his shoulder.

'Kankurō, would you like to tell me what's the matter? I cannot help if you stay quiet.' It was stilted at best, but he turned finally to look up at her, and that was progress on both their parts.

'You…You'll make fun of me!' he said quickly, turning away again.

Aruna closed her eyes, wondering why? What had she done to deserve this? How was she supposed to console this little boy?

'I won't. When have you ever known me to poke fun at people?'

'I guess…' he hesitated. His arms uncrossed finally, and his shoulders hunched in on himself. 'Nēchan is really good at everything…all the elders think she's really great- And she is! But then also Ga- my brother… they say he's so powerful and dangerous…' he tapered off. Aruna gave him time to gather his thoughts.

'When they said I would have the right control for puppets I was so ready to be good at something,' he whispered.

Aruna remembered that Kankurō had not been born into a family of puppeteers. He had not been surrounded by other people that started off making the same mistakes. He was the middle child of the Kazekage. Not the eldest, not the strongest, and not the one with a beast sealed in his belly.

'…When I was your age, I had already mastered controlling chakra strings,' she said, ignoring the flinch Kankurō gave. 'I was half-way through creating my first puppet. I was one year away from making Genin.'

'How is this supposed to help me?' he grumbled.

'Kankurō, you have the potential to be even better than me,' she added, a little amused to see his head whip around so fast to look at her. 'Everything I learned was pushed upon me, forced into my very muscles and chakra coils. I was born to be what I am to this day. But, you have something I never even dreamed of.'

'W-What? What do I have?'

Aruna's eyes crinkled, and she felt a soft smile dawn over her face. She carefully moved her hand to rest on his head. 'You have the choice to get better at anything you wish to do. It took a long time for me to find joy in what I do, but you have the chance to choose. I can see already your chakra control improving, and soon, you will accomplish your first chakra strings. But you cannot succeed if you only wish to become a puppeteer because you'll be good at it. Our traditional jutsu is an art…but you really must love it to become great.'

'So…Because I have a choice…'

'Because you have a choice, you can choose to be anything. And when you do, you will become a powerful shinobi, Kankurō.'

Aruna grunted in surprise when his little arms wrapped around her waist. She patted his head, chuckling the littlest bit.


'Shishou!' Aruna turned, watching her eight-year-old apprentice run over to her. What she saw was surprising to say the least.

'Kankurō,' she greeted slowly, roaming her eyes over the young boy's face. It was covered in purple paint, so much so, that his face was more paint than skin.

'I was trying to do the stripes like you, but they kept being uneven, and each time I fixed one, the other was wrong, and then my face was completely purple! You've gotta help me, I don't know how to take it off and it's starting to itch!'

Aruna was unfortunately struck speechless, and left her protégé hanging.

'Come,' she finally said, turning to walk back to her residence. 'I will lend you a bottle of the paint-remover I use.'

'Thanks, Shishou!'

'You're a pest.'

'What!? Shishou, you're so mean!'

She only wished Yashamaru could see her apprentice's adorable rendition of her war-paint.

'Heh, and you said I wouldn't pass,' Kankurō grinned, watching smugly as Aruna helped him stitch his hitai-ate into his head-dress. Her hands stopped, and she looked at him, her face dry as the sand around them.

'I do not have to continue stitching this. I can stop.'

'No, no! I'm sorry! Please!' Aruna started from where she left off, and soon it was finished.

'I never said you wouldn't pass. I only stated my disbelief in you ever actually passing a test at all.'

'That's the same thing!'


'We're losing her!' The medic cried, his hands pressed firmly against Aruna's abdomen. Her eyes are open, and her breath leaves her in stuttering gasps, but they all know she isn't truly conscious. Her body convulses under the weight of two jōnin, holding the shoulders of the woman they looked up to most.

'The blade nicked the side of her liver and went straight through her right kidney. Internal bleeding. Another millimeter, and it would have gone through the renal artery,' a man declares calmly over the hubbub.

The door opens and they see the old woman they all heard stories about before heading off to bed. Chiyo-baasama is short and grouchy and not in the least likable, but the moment they see her they know Chikamatsu Aruna will make it through the night.

Chiyo wastes no time, barking out to hear the situation. A kidney. The liver. Child's play. With energy reserved for those under the age of 30, the honorable Chiyo-baasama saves the girl who would love to see her burn.

Through it all, Chiyo remembers a small brown-haired boy, asking her to teach him. She told him no, that she would never take on another apprentice again. Because after all the years of her life, she never regretted anything more than creating the jutsu that would bring the ANBU Director's notorious wooden partner to life. That would bring the end of Chikamatsu Aruna's best friend.

Years later, she's seen the same boy, with ridiculous purple paint and uncharacteristic punctuality, and knows that she is saving this woman for more than one reason. More than her worth to the village, and Chiyo's own selfish guilt. But for the boy she knows means more to Aruna than anyone else in Sunagakure.


'I-I did it!' Kankurō turned to look at Aruna, a smile almost splitting his face clean in half. His eyes had gotten glossy, and he was trembling with happiness.

Aruna took a moment to just smile at her apprentice. He wiggled his index finger, a thin, almost invisible string of chakra attached to the tip. Aruna crouched to eye-level, setting a hand on his head.

'I knew that you could. I'm proud of you,' she said, a genuine smile lighting up her eyes.

Maybe having an apprentice wouldn't be so bad after all…


From outside the village walls, Konoha is quiet. Aruna doesn't think she's experienced this kind of silence in her life. It feels fragile, like a ruse or a trick. But the large serpentine summons are gone and Aruna stands, back still unbreakably straight, atop the monstrous creation of her own design, and she sighs.

The chakra ropes unravel, leaving her arms tingling and her fingers burning. No matter, she thinks, doing the required hand signs to seal Raijū back into the large heirloom hanging from her shoulders. She lands with a stumble, but stays upright, and rushes to where Oni's cracked body lays. Gently turning it over, she gives it two, half-hearted twists, and she knows it's relief that bubbles in her chest when it sits up.

'I was dreaming, y'know?' it says irritably, but Aruna does not care.

'You've saved my life twice in the last 29 hours,' her voice is soft, and she reaches up to rip off the tattered face veil. 'I am forever in your debt, my friend.' She helps Oni up, and it dejectedly detaches the broken arms hanging from it's torso. Aruna takes the arms into her seal, meaning to repair them as soon as they return to Suna.

'I may be wrong on this, but I don't think that's how friends work, Runa,' Aruna frowns. 'I can't believe me of all things has to spell this out. Friends don't owe friends. Now let's go home, I'm tired of all these trees.'

And that was all they said about that.

Konoha was as devastated as one would expect after an invasion of that caliber. Aruna walked slowly down a demolished road, rounding up her men and women as she went. They fell in line with her, status reports on their tongues and a relief in their statures when they are joined by yet another one of their kin. There are casualties. Aruna would have been surprised if there weren't.

'The Hokage is dead,' Scorpion reports from her left side, Oni to the right of her and Viper favoring his left leg behind them. 'No one was able to break through Otogakure's barrier in time.'

'I see,' she responds, and for a moment her heart truly goes out for Konohagakure. But she snatches it back just as quick, and continues walking to where she feels the strong chakra of Suna's jinchūriki, and hopes to any God that Kankurō is with him.

'Chika-taichō, I've compiled a list of our troops that aided the invasion.' That made her stop, and she turned to the woman that spoke. One of the few active female Mirages, Operative Oasis was perhaps the most loyal kunoichi she had the pleasure of knowing, second only to herself and Maki.

'Oh?' Oni snickered, and Aruna herself saw Scorpion and Viper stiffen at her tone. Aruna raised her hand, awaiting the list. Once in hand, she peered down at it, memorizing the information. 'Mmm. This is appreciated Oasis. Thank you for your diligence as always.' Oasis bowed in return.

Aruna quickly tucked the list away, feeling a steady anger burn within her. The list is small. But small isn't good enough.

Her planning was cut short by a shout of, 'Shishou!' Turning quickly, she spotted Kankurō, standing beside Temari, who held onto a slumped Gaara. She sent her Mirages away, some to find those on the list, others to help, and the rest to regroup Suna's forces. With as much poise and dignity, Aruna rushed over to her apprentice.

In a moment of weakness, she swept the young teen into her arms, letting her arms rest over his shoulders for a heartbeat before letting go.

'You three,' she breathed, her eyes narrowing. 'Have given me no less than five headaches, in the past three hours. When we return to Sunagakure, I am not letting you out of my sight,' she mumbled the last part.

'Is it true?' Temari said brusquely, her face clearly showing her fatigue. 'Is Father dead?'

'Yes,' she had never pulled punches with Temari in the past, and the teenage girl would not wish for her to do so now.

'Who is Kazekage now?' Kankuro demanded. She sent him a stern look, but answered nonetheless.

'It is now up to the council to select an interim Kage, since your father did not choose a successor. Then, they will find a permanent replacement.'

'Is it going to be you?'

'Do not ask thoughtless questions. Now, do any of you need medical attention?' Aruna swept them all toward the nearest medic. The village was in shambles, but with Aruna's help, the summons had not caused irreparable damage to the civilian district. With her interference, Leaf Shinobi were able to fully evacuate and rescue all villagers in that area. They did not thank her out right, and she did not expect them to. It was after five hours had passed that Aruna finally sat down for the first time.

'I do believe I won't be able to get back up,' she murmured to Maki, who sat beside her. The younger woman gave a small laugh in return, and placed a light hand on Aruna's shoulder.

'I think our people will find it in themselves to forgive you.'

'Ah, precious clemencies.'


AN: This chapter is a little shorter, but I thought it wrapped up this bit of the story well. So the invasion went by sorta fast, but I didn't want that to be a big part of the actual action. Mostly because we already see that shit in the actual Naruto. I want to focus more o the invasion, and Suna's side of things. The next few chapters will have much more politics and more on the rebel groups and Aruna being even busier, the poor thing.

As for all the flashbacks in this chapter, I thought they fit with the drama, because Aruna was not really sure she would make it, which is why she's remembering her time with Kankuro ;-; so sweet, so sad

I just wanted to thank OstaraNight and Shil0h, again, for writing reviews, they both made my year lol :') If there is any aspect of Suna you're interested in, I would love feedback, and maybe I could include it in the story

Thanks for reading! the next chapter will most likely be a week and a half from now until I can set a good pace, sorry in advance

-Werd