Hi, and thanks for coming back! -- Jonohex


Haku

Konohagakure's great, jade-colored gates soon came into view along with its walls of towering, weathered concrete which stood high over the lush treetops. Never would Haku have guessed he'd ever see them. Only when the traveler drew closer did the shinobi notice the portions that were scarred or crumbled, under repair and covered in scaffolding, having been breached by the Sand and Sound's assault.

What creatures conjured by ninja magic battled here? he wondered; his imagination, coupled with memories from his own experiences, taking hold. What terrible jutsu must have traded over these walls?

Anko, silent since their last unpleasant exchange, guided Haku through the open portals, past the guards and onto the Hidden Leaf Village's quaint streets where the young ninja couldn't help but gawk goggle-eyed like some tourist at the sprawling expanses of odd-shaped buildings aproned with orange or blue-colored wood and metal awnings strung haphazardly with power conduits and downspouts, the verdant parks, throngs of relaxed citizens and, most of all, the stone visages of four Hokages that gazed down with grand, paternal vigilance from the northern cliff faces beyond.

Every so often the black-haired teenager's keen eyes fell toward those parts of the small city where workmen toiled, rebuilding or replacing structures that had been destroyed months before, and reminding the ninja of his own brief stint as a construction laborer in the recovering Land of Waves.

"Was it bad?" murmured Haku, who spoke without meaning to.

"Pretty bad," Anko admitted coolly but honestly. "But it could have been worse. This village has seen worse and come through just fine." The statuesque and dark-haired kunoichi gave her village an appraising, approving look then returned her hands into the pockets of her tan trench-coat. "We'll get through this too…as we always have."

The architecture made more sense now. Konoha had probably been destroyed and rebuilt several times over its history so no one expected anything to last very long. That's why its buildings seemed so thrown-together. In that way it was the opposite of the Hidden Mist Village – a place built long ago. It's out of the way location made Kirigakure easy to defend and inconvenient to invade but that still had not saved the place from upheavals.

"Look, we had nothing to do with it!" blurted Anko with sudden passion, disrupting the slow stream of the newcomer's thoughts.

"Huh?" Haku glanced at her, nonplussed.

"Those canisters!" she clarified and cast a look down at the satchel Haku carried, clutched close by his side. "It was all a stupid mistake. We got taken in by a…a snake-tongued bastard selling easy solutions. You need to understand --."

"Please," Haku interrupted, his voice rasping desperately. "I didn't come here to pass judgment on anyone and I'm hardly fit for that task anyway. Miss Anko, I'm just a delivery boy. My opinion means nothing, and all I want to do is drop off what I'm supposed to and go home."

Anko, looking as if she'd been somehow defeated, retreated back into silence and guided Haku toward the Hokage's tower – a thick-walled, vermillion-colored citadel that rose up in a tapering, cylindrical mound over a maze of smaller, typical, wood-sided buildings with overhanging roofs of tile or standing-seam.

Once there, the visiting ninja found himself escorted past incredulous guards who all gave the teenager stares of naked disbelief, with some gasping aloud in amazement at the sight of a uniformed mist-ninja treading these hallways.

The leaf-jonin conducted Haku down corridors and up stairways, with whispers following in their wake the whole way, until they finally reached the Hokage's lofty offices.

"Wait here a sec'," ordered Anko, who left Haku just outside.

When she reappeared from the Hokage's door a few minutes later, the kunoichi gestured for him to come in.

Zabuza's former apprentice sighed, straightened his appearance and did his best to get ready. He'd never met an actual Kage before…well, once, kind-of, but you could hardly call THAT a 'meeting'. Haku then crossed the threshold almost with relief at seeing the end of his mission so close at hand.


The Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, Lady Tsunade, turned out to be a confident and formidable-looking woman, quite a bit younger and much, MUCH more fully-figured than Haku had expected, with long, sandy hair gathered into sweeping, twin pony-tails, and a curious gemstone at the center of her forehead. As she rose from behind a 'U'-shaped desk piled with files and paperwork, Haku noticed that her attire, far from being ornate like Lady Orimi's magisterial raiment, consisted of a long, plain, cloud-grey tunic worn with a sash under a pale jade robe hemmed in bright green.

To the Hokage's right stood two more of her jonin -- a striking woman with bright red eyes and a luxurious mane of wavy black hair; and a more militant-looking man with a trimmed, dark beard and an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. To Tsunade's left stood a younger woman with short, black hair and calm, dark eyes who Haku gathered was Tsunade's adjutant.

And is that…is that a little pig in a vest, wearing pearls she's carrying? the guest marveled at the sight, assuming there was some good explanation for that.

But as Haku slowly took in the rest of the surprisingly sparsely-furnished office he suddenly felt faint. The ninja froze and the breath stopped in his chest because there in the corner leaning against the wall with unconcerned nonchalance, with most of his face masked in midnight-blue and a tall brush of silver hair flaring over the top of his leaf-ninja's hitai-ate, stood the very man who'd once killed him.

The room and all the important people in it vanished before Haku's eyes as they froze on Kakashi Hatake's unforgettable form and face – a face branded forever into the young shinobi's memory along with the copy-ninja's swirling sharingan and the terrible power of his chidori: a blinding white and blue flash of visible, electric chakra that had blazed at the center of the leaf-ninja's palm…shattering Haku's walls of protective ice, burning effortlessly through clothing, layers of senbon quivers and the armor beneath, then onward into his chest with a gush of searing pain and a fantail splatter of blood.

It took a massive effort of will for Haku to pull himself back from that moment all the while resisting a nearly-overpowering urge to recoil. His heart raced; heat prickled along his hairline beneath the ninja's hitai-ate as he tried to remember that Kakashi had not been trying to kill him, but his master. And even if the leaf-ninja's attack had been deliberate, Kakashi would still have been well within his rights -- defending both the Leaf Village's client and his own team of genin.

Zabuza and I, Haku pained at having to admit, though nothing succeeded in making the tall jonin's presence any more tolerable, were nothing more than assassins…trying to kill a brave and good man, Tazuna.

"Mr. Okame, is it?" offered Tsunade uncertainly, having doubtlessly taken notice of her guest's reaction.

"Uh…," Haku gulped, breathless and unnerved, then remembered belatedly to bow. Just the sight of Kakashi again seemed to strip him of all eight years of Zabuza's pitiless training and left him only a child – a child with some promising talents maybe, but with frailties no jutsu would ever overcome.

Lady Hirai had been wrong to send him.

"Y-yes, Lady Hokage…Hiroo Okame," the young ninja managed his alias at last. It was almost impossible for him not to stare at Kakashi, but not looking only seemed to reinforce the fact that he was deliberately averting his gaze. "I'm a constable with the Wave Country Garrison commanded by the Lady Magistrate, Orimi Hirai, who sends her respects."

The woman's authoritative brow beetled as she sat back down. "A garrison?" she repeated curiously, then turned to the woman beside her. "Shizune, did we know that?"

The dark-haired kunoichi next to her cupped her hand and whispered discreetly in the woman's ear.

"What?" the Hokage blurted.

Shizune sighed, gave Haku an awkward glance, then repeated aloud: "Kirigakure no Sato has a force stationed in Wave Country, responding, so they maintain, to security concerns. It's about a quarter of the way down in that stack of reports you never, um, haven't read yet, Lady Tsunade."

Haku's eyes widened a little as he half-expected Tsunade to go off on her assistant for the slip (if it WAS a slip), yet the Fifth Hokage took it in stride.

"Why should I read it at all since you saved me the trouble?" she advanced wryly then returned to the subject at hand. "But now, Constable, Miss Anko tells me you've come all this way to return some stolen property of ours. Shall we have a look?"

Haku responded eagerly to the prompt and slung the satchel off his shoulder, opened it then set the two canisters, one white and one black, on the Hokage's desk.

A pall of silence fell. Postures straightened and glances flickered amongst her senior ninja.

"Hmm," offered Tsunade dispassionately, then turned to the two jonin at her right. "Kurenai…Asuma," she intoned, at which the pair looked up alertly, "take these down and have the medical corps examine their contents. Report the results back to me the instant they're done. Don't let them out of your sight for any reason. Don't speak to anyone, even if it's me, unless it's within this room. Understood?"

The two nodded dutifully, took the canisters then left at once.

The woman then fixed Haku with amber eyes. "I suppose I should just say 'thanks' and leave it at that, but I'm curious now…why did your Magistrate Hirai want us to have those canisters back? Isn't the rule 'finders-keepers'?"

The young ninja wriggled a little before her gaze. Remaining calm under pressure had always been one of his greatest strengths. But standing here in front of the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village while in the same room as the man who'd come so very close to killing him and had all but destroyed his beloved master, Zabuza, and especially considering what he'd just handed over to them, was taxing much more than just the limits of his normally placid demeanor. How could he be expected to remain calm with practically every particle of his being rebelling?!

"There are some in this world," Haku replied, letting little of his turmoil surface, "with wisdom enough to let Pandora's Box remain shut."

Tsunade's expression rose at the implication. "Unlike us, you mean," she deciphered cleverly. "Still, am I to assume that you're doing this out of the 'goodness of your hearts'?"

Haku, fighting dizziness, blinked and shook his head. He wanted to excuse himself and go; maybe even go without excusing himself and just run off – flee this place back to Wave Country where matters were infinitely more simple.

Saying what he'd said had been foolish.

"Your predecessor, Lord Sarutobi, showed our garrison admirable restraint when Lady Hirai ordered mist-ninja into Fire Country to reclaim money and property stolen from the Land of Waves by the late plutocrat, Gato," the shinobi began in a forced monotone. "The Magistrate has not forgotten that and was inclined to order this return of your property as a gesture of acknowledgement."

Tsunade looked toward Shizune who affirmed a portion of the young ninja's account. "Do you mean," she advanced skeptically, "that the Mizukage knows nothing of this?"

"He knows," Haku clarified. "My Lady has already sent her report."

"Somehow I'm getting the idea that the version he gets will read just a little differently from what you've told me," the Hokage ventured then cocked an eyebrow. "It's quite a dangerous game your Lady Magistrate's playing…and you too, Constable."

"We didn't exactly have much of a choice, now did we?" Haku half-snapped, realizing he'd messed up the instant the words left his mouth.

The room fell dreadfully quiet.

"Anko, Kakashi, Shizune," said the Hokage after a thoughtful pause. "Why don't you give us a minute alone?"

Shizune looked at her worriedly, then at Haku, then back at her. "Lady Tsunade…are you sure?" Their visitor was, after all, in full uniform and undoubtedly had at his fingertips a variety of weapons which included the jutte worn plainly on his belt.

"I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself," replied Tsunade unabashedly. "Besides, Mr. Okame here is no assassin, are you?"

"No," stated Haku. "I am not."

Anko bowed then paced out followed by a still-concerned Shizune. Her small pig oinked in a mournful tone. Kakashi, lastly, roused himself from the corner, took one last, long and undecipherable look at Haku, bowed to Tsunade then left the Hokage's office, closing the door behind him.

Tsunade frowned, straightening as she watched the copy-ninja go.

"That was weird," the woman remarked to herself then stroked a stray strand of sandy hair from her face. "I don't think Kakashi's ever been that quiet. Usually I don't like what he has to say so maybe I shouldn't complain, but it is a little unnerving." She turned back to Haku and asked, "Have you met before?"

"Yes."

The Hokage frowned. "How'd that go?"

"I think he made more of an impression on me than I did upon him."

Tsunade shrugged. "I can only assume from your various statements and the plain fact that you're standing here in my office, that the Yotsu middlemen we've been tracking ran afoul of the law in Wave Country and that's how you came to possess those canisters." The Fifth Hokage laughed lightly as she leaned back in her seat. "They must have told you quite a story. I can only imagine."

Haku stared blankly, astonished at the woman's nerve. Not that he'd known quite what to expect from her when confronted by such serious accusations, veiled so far, but he hadn't expected petty deceit. "Do --," the ninja began with disbelief, his grey eyes narrowing to slits, "do you deny it?"

"I don't know," offered Lady Tsunade in a teasing, carefree voice. "What did they say?"

The ninja's breath quickened. This was too much. What did she expect anyone to believe was inside a pair of hermetically-sealed, high-tech containers from The Land of Snow? It sure as hell wasn't pickles and preserves!

Haku stood before Tsunade and tried to distance himself, knowing she was deliberately baiting him. The young constable looked away as he bit his lip. He knew the best thing he could possibly say was: 'nothing, Lady Hokage, the Yotsus didn't know themselves what they had,' because that would be the end of it and he could go; he could go and never again have to think about the Village Hidden in the Leaves with its inexplicable dichotomy of outgoing and idiosyncratic genin…and secrets that were abominable beyond belief. Better still, Haku could smile and nod and not say a word. If he could only just suck it up and do this one simple little thing...

And really, what satisfaction did he imagine he would he get from confronting the Hokage? What good would it do? What would it change and what would it matter? For that matter what did he expect from Tsunade: guilt, some breathtaking explanation?

No, that wasn't it.

Maybe being a constable had sunk in too deeply with him. Maybe it was Haku's conversations with the Mist ninja-lord, Kissohamaru Hirai, or his disciple, Juri, that lead him at that moment to conclude that even if being powerful afforded many luxuries, to have ones' iniquities go unchallenged and unrecognized should never be one of them. Besides, this one of all possible crimes was intensely personal for him. Letting it pass without comment would imply his consent and THAT, he could not allow.

"You want to know what they said?" replied Haku with cold, defiant anger, "they said you were experimenting in human eugenics. And that those canisters hold genetic materials, eggs and semen, extracted undoubtedly without their knowledge from members of your own Village's Uchiha clan. The rest is easy enough to figure out: combined with forbidden jutsu and technologies imported from Yukigakure you could raise possibly an entire army of ninja fighters, all possessing the clan's kekkei-genkai, in a single generation."

Tsunade blinked lazily but gave no other reaction and leaned forward on her desk, resting her cheek on a palm. "What a fascinating idea," she remarked abstractly, "although it seems a bit, I don't know, hap-hazard to me."

"Not all the products of such a program would manifest a functional sharingan," Haku prosecuted icily, pacing in agitation, "but I'm sure anyone willing to mass-produce human life for such a specific purpose would not be above 'culling the rejects'.

"Of course, I can't imagine that the Uchihas themselves would have ever tolerated living duplicates taken from their own genetic stock so it's kind of convenient that they were all massacred...by one of their own, or so the story goes." The young shinobi paused to let all the dire implications sink in. "The only remaining practical matter I can think of is how you were planning to train --." Haku stopped himself short as his eyes tracked the path to the door that Kakashi Hatake had taken mere moments ago. "Ah," he realized and trembled, "of course, how…how stupid of me."

The teenager's voice failed then for everything he'd said up until that point he'd said with the intent to hurt Tsunade, to expose her crimes and demand some sort of answer for them, but that last assertion had hurt him instead. What he'd just said about Kakashi had hit too close to home and one of the defining moments of Haku's young life. Until this moment he really hadn't suspected the copy-ninja's involvement which seemed so obvious now. But really, how else could anyone not born an Uchiha come to possess one of their legendary eyes?

And if this village WAS capable of violating every concept of human decency with something as loathsome as a mass in-vitro fertilization program, growing soldiers like crops, what did that imply about its other defenders?

What did that say about Naruto's hidden power…as dark and supernatural a force as Haku had ever encountered. Who knows what sort of explanation there could be for that. Maybe Naruto too was just some sort of Leaf-Village experiment as unspeakable as the one now revealed.

Haku tried to drive the notions from his thoughts or at least settle them into some sort of order he could accept, but they wouldn't go. The rule was that when presented with many different explanations, the simplest one almost always prevailed. The shinobi stood in mute silence with eyes fixed and frozen, fingers clenching and unclenching.

"I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade," Zabuza's student forced himself to say, as laid-bare as he'd even been. "I just came here to return what was stolen from you. It's not my place to criticize your 'policies', whatever they might be."

Tsunade looked up, having absorbed everything Haku had said with calm acceptance. Rising then, she turned away and went to the long expanse of windows behind her.

"Come here, would you, Constable," she beckoned in a muted voice.

Haku, empty of will, obeyed.

When he reached the Hokage's side the woman continued, "What do you see?"

The ninja looked out over the rooftops, down at the streets stirring with people, then toward the high walls beyond. "The Hidden Leaf Village," he answered glumly, eyes rolling at having been nudged into answering a rhetorical question.

"As Hokage, I am charged with protecting it," she informed him. "Those people down there trust me to insure that they won't all be horribly killed under my watch. As you might imagine, it's a responsibility I take very seriously." Tsunade crossed her arms as her face fell. "It should be fairly obvious to you that there are a lot of people who would like, more than anything, to make a memory of us…and that they are capable. "Yes," she intoned gravely, her speech slow and deliberate, "they are certainly capable."

Haku nodded. That much he understood.

"So the question comes up from time to time – faced with getting wiped out, what are we willing to do to keep that from happening?"

The young shinobi glanced up at the Hokage's stoic profile but said nothing.

"Don't think I'm disagreeing with you," offered Lady Tsunade as if privy to his thoughts. "One of our answers to that question was inexcusable – a eugenics program exactly like you said."

Haku gaped and staggered back a step; startled that she would admit it plainly now after being so cagey before.

Without missing a beat the woman continued: "The decision to create that program was made before my tenure as Hokage, and without the knowledge of any of my predecessors. Actually, the originator's real purpose was driven NOT by concern for the Leaf Village but by, let's just say," her eyes lifted in thought, "personal peculiarities and ambitions.

"But," Tsunade went on to explain, "I can certainly understand the broader appeal of wanting to have an invincible army of sharingan soldiers on hand to protect us. In fact, there are still people of great influence around here who support this program at least as far as keeping it as an option – better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it; if you follow me. As far as THAT goes, it makes perfect sense."

The Fifth Hokage's eyes narrowed as she rested her hands on the window sill. "If you're wondering if I have regrets about this program, that I just found out a few days ago I'd inherited, I do, deeply, for the danger it puts us in and what it says about our Village. There's little doubt we'd be attacked immediately if the other ninja villages had evidence that we'd violated our treaties with them had the basic components for a program like this, especially now." Tsunade sighed and her expression changed. "And then too, I always liked to think that we had higher standards than our enemies and rivals but…I guess we're all the same when it comes right down to it."

The woman fell silent, and for a time both ninja stood and gazed out the window at the sunlit village down below – a collage of striking shapes, bright, bold colors and movement beneath a cerulean sky.

Haku, discomfited, felt compelled to speak. "I am not a leaf-ninja," he said, "but I don't think…I could be wrong but I don't think that's the kind of place your ninja pledge themselves to and risk their lives for. Would you really make fools of them?"

Haku's biting question drew a wince from the Hokage who conceded the point. "Not if I could help it," she replied then again fell quiet.

The young shinobi could tell now that this was an uncomfortable subject for her, and found in that an odd sense of reassurance.

"I'd love to promise that we'd never do anything like this again, Constable, but I can't. I don't know what the future will bring." The admission, reluctantly given, seemed to pain the woman who gave her visitor from Wave Country a sideways glance. "I can tell you that we'll try; I'll try. I'll tell you that what's in those canisters represents the worst in us – a people reduced by fear to being less than animals, willing to claw, bite and kill, toss aside everything they hold dear for anything they think might protect them."

"I suppose it was quite stupid of me then," proposed Haku, "not delivering those canisters to Kirigakure."

The Lady Hokage shrugged absently at the remark. "Is that what you think? Not that I would blame you."

"I don't know," the teenager answered with plaintive sincerity, his thin brow knitting. "But I do know that the Mizukage is not a wise man, and fear what he would have done if suddenly presented with the Uchiha Clan's stolen heritage." Looking up at the woman, Haku added: "I don't know you though, Lady Tsunade. I only heard your name for the first time about an hour ago. But I still figured with you there was at least a chance this won't all end in disaster…like the last time Kirigakure attempted a program like yours."

Tsunade suppressed shock, quickly composed herself then looked back at her visitor, studying his serious, youthful and feminine face afresh. "You sure are different from any other mist-ninja I've met. And I'm starting to doubt that you're just some 'delivery boy'," she noted in a way that was half tough, half playful. "Since you and Lady Hirai obviously put a lot on the line personally for this mission I might as well be honest. I think I owe you that much." The Lady Hokage turned her gaze back toward the window. "And that way you'll be able to tell if you made the right choice by giving us those canisters back…or if you just screwed up royally."

Haku's grey eyes lifted a little at what she'd said, then the ninja canted his head as he settled in to listen.

"I've lost a lot of people who were dear to me," Tsunade began, "friends, a lover, a brother, all for the sake of this Village. I hate the idea of losing anyone else to these…ridiculous games we play with the other Hidden Villages, daimyo, criminals, lunatics, fools and countless other 'bad actors'.

"My grandfather was the very first Hokage, did you know that? He co-founded this whole place; helped carve it from the wilderness. He managed to bring together clans who otherwise pretty-much wanted nothing more than to kill each other off." The woman gestured at the panorama her wide window afforded. "Looking out at the results of his work, I can't help but feel that I would do anything to keep it from falling to ruin."

Haku waited, watching the Hokage's veiled reflection in the window pane while her heartfelt words tested themselves against his doubts.

"I know a lot more of our history than I'd like to, Constable Okame," Tsunade continued. "It's not all pretty. But just so you know," she announced sharply, voice rising as she turned to him suddenly and forcefully with forefinger upraised, "Kakashi Hatake had NOTHING to do with any of this and did NOT get his sharingan so that he could train our hypothetical army of vat-grown Uchihas!" Having gotten that off her ample chest, the Lady Hokage turned back toward the window then added in a quieter tone: "Nor was their clan destroyed in order to pave the way.

"An ARMY of Uchihas," the Fifth Hokage mused aloud, pressed a palm to her forehead and shivered, "heaven and earth! What a clusterf-ck THAT would be. Just a few were trouble enough and just one – never mind. I don't know how much of our dirty laundry anyone can stand to hear in one sitting but I'm getting a little off-track now, aren't I?

"For my part let me just say that I think desperate times are not the times to say 'screw it' to everything you stand for," Tsunade put forth. "And the fact that our Village has lasted this long has to be about more than just strength and luck. With all the times we've been attacked and all the people who've been killed and all the dangers we've faced there has to be a reason why we keep coming back; why we don't just give up. It's because this place is much more than a cluster of buildings hidden in the forest. It's because the people here are united by a common belief in the value of human life, self-determination and a sense of basic decency. Those ideas live in our hearts even if some of us betray the others, and even though the best of us often fall short and sometimes, well…way, WAY off."

The woman laughed with self-depreciation before continuing solemnly: "What we really need is more confidence. When we doubt and get all worked up about the latest threat to our existence, and there's ALWAYS some kind of threat to our existence, we've got a bad habit of making monsters of ourselves."

As Haku folded his arms, moved by what the Lady Hokage had related to him, he couldn't help but guard his distrust. Something Zabuza had always said came back to him: 'Through your actions, your spirit speaks.' And it was true. Words were wonderful for any number of things, but in the end it was what you DID that really mattered.

So maybe this project to grow living weapons wasn't Tsunade's fault. Haku could accept that, but ok, what was she willing to DO about it?

"Like I said before," Tsunade confided, this time with greater cheer, "I don't know what the future will bring. But since you were nice enough to give us a second chance; give us those canisters back and not turn them over to someone who'd want to grow their own Uchihas, or sell them on the black market for several million ryo, or tell anyone who might want to use them as an excuse to attack us again, I'll swear to you that as long as I'm Hokage, The Village Hidden in the Leaves WILL be a place governed by hope…and not fear." She raised an eyebrow and looked down at the young shinobi. "So what do you think?"

Haku returned a level glance. "I think I want to know what you're going to do with those containers, and whatever others you might have stashed away."

The woman blinked then nodded slowly. "I should have them all destroyed," she answered plainly then scowled as she shook her head. "Ah, there's going to be all kinds of hell to pay for that."

"No," stated Haku, "you're wrong. Hell is what you were talking about before, with your friends and the people you love dying, having them there one moment and gone the next – that's real hell. What you're talking about now is at best an argument or a fight. I doubt either of those things are new experiences to you." The ninja regrouped then asserted: "I think the people of this village want more from you then to just make sure they don't get killed. They want you to stand for something because you stand for them too, and to keep them safe without making monsters of them."

Haku, satisfied that he'd expressed what he meant as best as he was able to, squinted then at the Hokage's unfazed expression and frowned. "Since you obviously already knew that, I'm afraid I don't understand why you needed me to tell you."

Tsunade turned, stared at the young ninja then couldn't help but laugh. "Who ARE you?"

Haku shrugged and shook his head lightly. "That, Lady Hokage, depends on who you ask."

"I'm sure," said Tsunade with a smirk. "But to answer you: to actually DO what you know you have to is often not that easy. Sometimes a little push is helpful." The woman straightened then headed off her guest's next question. "Our Uchiha program will be destroyed…no matter what anyone has to say about it. And," she added righteously after a pause, "if anyone bitches too much, I'll give 'em my hat and tell them to have at it. Let them be Hokage if they think they're up to it."

Haku smiled first then frowned as he realized he wanted to trust her. Well, if nothing else, at least she'd been willing to hear him out. That in itself was much more, probably, than any other Kage would have done.

"Maybe," the wayward ninja from Wave Country began, taking reluctantly the woman's admonition to favor hope over fear, "Lady Hirai and I did the right thing after all."

Tsunade buoyed the black-haired shinobi with a sly grin. "Even a blind hog gets an acorn every once in awhile, Constable," she quipped then changed tack completely, "Say, why you don't stay around here awhile; rest up a bit before the journey home?"

Haku looked up at her, surprised by the offer. "I appreciate that but I really --. Oh," he recovered late, only now discerning her intentions, "you mean I ought to make myself available long enough for your laboratories to verify what was in those canisters."

"If it's peanut-butter and jelly," said the Hokage, "you're gonna have some SERIOUS explaining to do."

She gestured expressively then opened one of her desk drawers. "Here," Tsunade offered then handed Haku a necklace – a simple cord threaded through a small jade ring that was carved with cryptic characters, "take this. It means you're a visiting V.I.P. and nobody should kill you. Although you still might want to take off that hitai-ate just to be on the safe side. We don't get many visitors from your neck of the woods."

"That's probably wise," Haku agreed, put on the necklace then pocketed his hitai-ate.

"Enjoy your visit," declared Tsunade with arms wide as if she was from the greater Konoha chamber of commerce, "and for giving those canisters back, just between you and me…thanks a bunch."


Haku left Lady Tsunade's office slightly bewildered by the quick wrap-up, closed the door and found himself alone in the corridor just outside. The ninja looked high and low for any sign of any guide or guard then couldn't help but chuckle that a mist-ninja (by appearances anyway) would ever be left alone here in the Hokage's tower, the seat of power in one of the strongest of the Hidden Villages, free to wander completely unsupervised.

"Oh, no, please," he told the air, "I'll find my own way out, thanks."

The newly-come teenager followed his way back along the path Anko had lead him. True to Tsunade's word, the necklace she'd given him really did seem to answer any questions about who he was and what business he had wandering the halls. Only when the faux mist-ninja reached the lobby was he stopped, but even then the guards only questioned him in a relaxed, conversational sort-of way.

Across the street from the Hokage's tower sat one of Konoha's many parks. Haku made his way toward it, sat down on the curb and rested his head in his hands. Although relieved that his mission was finally over, it seemed…somehow anticlimactic, and he still wasn't completely sure if he'd done the right thing.

The Hidden Leaf Village, though far and away a more enlightened place than the Hidden Mist, was not its antithesis. And as things were now the vision of himself making a last, desperate stand alongside an older Chuuya and an older Inari on the storied pavement of the Great Naruto Bridge, defending Wave Country against an oncoming army of artificially-conceived Uchihas came a lot easier to the ninja's mind than he would have liked.

Haku expressed a sigh. On a more personal note, he'd given up thinking that Tsunade's leaving him alone had been an astonishing lapse of security for one of the great Hidden Villages. It was much more likely that she'd simply sized him up and concluded over the course of their short meeting that he wasn't a threat.

So much for my scary 'Demon's Apprentice' reputation, the ninja considered ruefully.

It really was strange how differently different people saw him.

Ah, Haku brightened as he suddenly felt eyes upon him – the unmistakable sense of being watched from somewhere in the trees just behind him and also, yes, there it was, from the rooftops a few blocks away.

Well, that's some better, Zabuza's student consoled himself sardonically. I'd much rather be spied on then taken for granted.

And of course, this helped explain why the leaf security detail in the lobby had found him so interesting all of a sudden. They'd only been delaying him to give his 'tails' a chance to pick him up.

"Hi," a voice greeted Haku with a sanguine yet somehow serious air. Although it was not nearly as memorable as the man's face, Haku still remembered it.

The young shinobi's downcast eyes drifted over a short stretch of pavement to a pair of standard-issue toeless boots, and ankles wrapped in white. They traveled up familiar midnight-blue, leaf-ninja fatigues worn under a grey, high-collared armored vest covered with pockets and pouches, until they fell upon that face again – a self-assured, handsome face though completely masked below the eyes, only the right of which was visible because the silver-haired jonin's slanting hitai-ate covered the left one.

Thankfully, this time the young ninja's reaction was a bit less acute. Haku blinked then replied, "Hello again, Master Kakashi."


Kiba

"This sucks," brooded Kiba Inuzuka from his overlook low in the trees close to the Hokage's tower.

Akamaru, his white-furred, grey-eared, grey-lipped ninja-hound and close companion, sensed his master's sour mood, made an understanding noise then stretched himself out to lie on Kiba's leg.

"Of all the stupid assignments," the boy grumbled morosely as he stared harder at the guy he was supposed to keep track of – a thin, kinda girly-looking mist-ninja no older than him, who'd just left a meeting with the Hokage then all-but-collapsed on the curb just outside.

Mist-ninja were supposed to be especially nasty pieces of work, but this clown sure didn't seem like much.

Rolling his eyes with boredom and exasperation, a part of Kiba felt that he deserved this. After all, his mission success ratios were not that good. They were better when he was with his regular partners in Team 8, Shino and Hinata, but without them, they kinda sucked. Of course lately he'd been paired up with Naruto and THAT guy was a freaking disaster! But even keeping all that in mind, Kiba couldn't help but think that his personal stats were trying to tell him something about his leaf-ninja abilities…something unpleasant.

Worse by far than all of that though lingered a disgrace so biting that even his mother and sister never spoke of it – that he'd spent the entire Sand and Sound invasion, the most important battle in recent history, face down on the concrete…ASLEEP!

Unconscious! he quickly clarified, made that way by that mangy traitor, Kabuto.

Despite how reasonable the circumstances seemed it still sounded in his mind like an excuse. And Kiba hated excuses.

A lot of ninja had fought: Chouji's dad, Ino's and Shikamaru's, Hana, his own older sister and Tsume, his mother. They'd all fought. Guy, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Sakura…even Naruto.

Even Sasuke! he yelped inwardly, even that whining, overrated little bitch got involved before he flipped out, ran away and nearly got us all killed trying to get him back.

The memory seemed bitter now. Although Kiba had been SO proud of how well he'd handled himself against Orochimaru's pet ninja, Sakon and Ukon, with all their disgusting powers, there was no kidding himself that he and Akamaru would've been killed if it wasn't for Kankuro (of ALL people) jumping in to save him. And after all of that they still failed to retrieve the Uchiha.

Kiba's heart sank at the idea that he'd run out of chances. Usually, when he screwed up, Mom and big sister would ride him and ride him about it relentlessly until he vowed never again to do whatever it was he'd done. Lately though, they'd been quiet – way too quiet, like they'd given up on him. And Lady Tsunade's completely NOT-subtle asides seemed to crop up harder and more often too, like threatening to send him back to the academy with all the smelly, whiny, runny-nosed little kids unless his performance shaped up.

Only minutes ago, the crazy woman had summoned him to her office. 'Keep an eye on this visitor. He's a mist-ninja constable from Wave Country named Hiroo Okame.'

Kiba remembered nodding that he understood, even though as a mission it seemed like a waste of time, then let Akamaru sniff the satchel Okame had brought with him which now carried his scent. The Hokage had then leaned forward with her expression darkening gravely, and Kiba felt the sudden pressure drop as he'd sensed the dark stratocumuli start to swirl over his future. 'If anything, ANY-THING, happens to him, Mr. Inuzuka,' Tsunade intoned direly over the flashes of lightning and distant booms of thunder, 'and you'll be pushing a broom.'

'—pushing a broom,' the Fifth Hokage's harsh words echoed discordantly in the young ninja's head, 'pushing a broom, PUSHING A BROOM!'

Kiba shuddered at the idea then was assailed by a distant vision – Naruto Uzumaki becoming Hokage just like he always boasted, married to Hinata Hyuga with a litter of nine absurdly-beautiful kids together, and poor Kiba sweeping up after the yellow-haired little weirdo's inauguration.

Akamaru felt the sudden ripple of tension and looked up quizzically.

"You'll tear my throat out before that happens, won't you, boy?" begged Kiba.

The little white puppy yawned then gave him a nuanced expression. 'I'm only sensitive to how you feel, dog-boy,' it read. 'I'm NOT freakin' telepathic.'

"Riiiiiiight," Kiba replied, then almost fell out of the tree as he saw Team 7's aloof and slightly mysterious sensei, Kakashi Hatake, stroll up to the fair-faced stranger and start talking to him.


And to think I wanted this to be a SHORT chapter! I guess 7,200 words IS short for me. Well, I hope you liked it ;D. As always, all comments, questions, encouragement and criticisms are welcome. Chapter 1 benefited a lot after I edited it with your suggestions in mind.

Thanks!

--Jono'