'Team' Hiroo
In the middle of the clear night a little dark-haired girl no older than twelve dressed in mist-ninja fatigues materialized out of nowhere, kicked down the door to the Yotsu gang's dockside safe-house then spun away as her partner flung a carefully-calculated quantity of flash and concussion bombs in through the opening, shredding the dark Wave Country tranquility with jazz-rhythm-thunderclaps and angry paparazzi glare.
In blurs of movement too fast to follow both Utako and Daigo leaped clear as exploding notes detonated simultaneously on the underwater supports, dumping the whole place into the channel where Chizuzu's water-clones were already waiting beneath the waves.
Less than a minute later, all three genin along with a full squad of their combined clones dragged the building's half-drowned occupants tied-up, gasping, cursing and subdued to shore. Though some were rogue ninja and others well-trained in other martial disciplines, none of them had stood a chance.
Each of the young Kiri-ninja, only a few months graduated from the Mist's Martial School, celebrated the successful assault in their own ways: Utako with quiet satisfaction; Daigo with bravado, and Chizuzu with a happy, piping cheer. But they did at least manage one communal high-five before their unassuming pack-leader showed up, coalescing quietly from the black.
Hiroo Okame, a strangely peaceful and androgynous boy even in uniform, checked his stopwatch.
"Well done," the teenager's cool, feminine voice issued distantly. "Your teamwork is much improved. Lady Orimi will, I'm sure, be pleased with your progress. Now please, conduct these prisoners to their cells."
A flicker of uncertainty crossed between the teammates.
"Um, sure, Pack-Leader Okame," offered Chizuzu at last as she slicked salt-water from her face.
Although those were the Magistrate's standing orders, to enforce the laws of Wave Country, the notion of actually taking enemies alive still seemed somehow…a little strange.
It came as a relief to some; a disappointment to others.
Once the captured Yotsu soldiers were secured, the three genin approached their senior who hadn't even bothered to accompany them in but instead waited outside on the prison steps, brooding under the lamplight.
Chizuzu, hazel-eyed and light-haired, stared at him, gripped with concern, while her more thickly-built teammate, Utako, only shrugged. Daigo, the lone male genin, lean and so wide at the shoulders that he looked something like the letter 'T' from the front, crossed his arms and scowled.
"Pack-Leader," he snapped, "if there's something wrong, just spill it."
Hiroo shot the younger shinobi an annoyed look. "There is nothing wrong, Mr. Tenge. In fact, I believe you have all progressed enormously. It will be duly noted."
"I meant with YOU," the boy clarified with curt insolence, "Sir."
The normally-unflappable teenager seemed taken-aback at being so confronted, and the delicate features of his half-shadowed face settled into a cold frown before he turned away, saying: "It's none of your concern."
"With respect, Pack-Leader Okame," his junior insisted, "you've been in a FOG ever since Inoue's ship left. We've ALL noticed. Chizuzu won't say anything 'cause she 'LIKES' you --." The girl beside him gaped, hot with outrage, then gave Daigo's arm a hard swat but the boy persisted: "Utako takes things as they come but it just flat bugs the SH-T out of me…Sir!
"Look," the twelve year-old continued in his typically coarse fashion, "the Lady Magistrate made you our pack-leader so if you're not at a hundred-per-cent then that puts US at risk. The least you can do is say why."
The slender constable rose then leveled a look at Daigo that made him shut up then back up. It was something none of them had ever seen in the ninja before – a chilling gaze that reminded Orimi's guards that despite his angelic face and usual serenity, Hiroo Okame was a veteran with vastly more experience than all of them put together.
After a few moments the chunin's expression turned calm once again. "I really don't know what MY sensei would have done had I said something like that to him," he mused at last, pointedly, "but I doubt it would have been very nice."
Hiroo paused to give them all a thorough, appraising look.
"Very well then," he relented and sat back down on the steps, motioning for the three to gather around; "since you're so concerned. As you've deduced, there is rather a lot on my mind just now."
Beneath the broad, blue band of her Kiri-ninja's hitai-ate, Chizuzu's light eyes widened. "OH! I'll bet I know what it is!" she blurted eagerly, tender-looking hands clutched under her chin as all eyes turned doubtfully toward her. "Lady Inoue – she gave you a mission, didn't she, Mr. Okame? A BIG one!"
Hiroo's face screwed awkwardly while Daigo's baseline-stern expression went blank.
"Is…is that true, Sir?" the genin squeaked, his attitude transformed from confrontational to humble. "Did the councilwoman really assign you a mission personally?"
Chizuzu whirled on her teammate, gesturing forcefully. "Well DUH, what else could it be?! Hiroo-sensei went to the LEAF Village last time – the freakin' HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE by himself like it was no big deal! THIS time it's gotta be something really, really HUGE if it's bothering him this much!"
"Well," said the constable, "it's…it's a mission anyway, but it didn't come from her." Flustered, the Pack-Leader shook his head then brushed his long hair back. "It's all a bit complicated and I dare not tell you the whole truth." He frowned. "If I did, you wouldn't like it much…and me even less."
Hiroo's thin lips pressed together direly as he thought. "If I have seemed aloof all this time it is not because of anything you've done or any unfavorable judgments I've rendered against you. I have my reasons; that's all."
The constable paused then looked over his younger charges in turn. "Chizuzu, you've always given me the benefit of a doubt…but for the wrong reasons.
"Daigo, you've disliked me from the start, also for the wrong reasons.
"Utako, you rarely react at all one way or the other. I honestly don't know you well enough to know if that's from a stoic acceptance of the way things are and humility before the things you cannot change, which are virtues, or out of apathy…which is not.
"I will tell you that I am leaving soon – for a short while if things go well." Hiroo grimaced slightly as he added: "forever if they do not. Whatever your opinions, if you trust me enough to help, there're many things I need to do in preparation that will require my absence during the days when I'm scheduled to make my rounds. So I will ask – I say ask, for in this case I have no right to order – you to cover for me as best you can and act in my stead."
The Pack-Leader's calm, grey eyes roved from face to face, watching as each of the young ninjas negotiated uncertain emotions until they settled at last in resolution.
They were with him – all three.
Gennosuke
"Come ON already!" the white-haired Kaguya girl chimed, giddy with anticipation.
The younger boy sat up straighter on his bed, gave her a sheepish grin then closed his eyes and tried to concentrate which was really, really hard with Sakiko sitting so close to him.
Gennosuke rolled his bony shoulders and took a deep breath. Closing his reddish, rust-colored eyes then, the Serizawa scion called upon the powers of his kekkei-genkai and projected his awareness towards Wave Country -- the place Tohma-sensei had found Haku.
"Well?!" urged Sakiko after a few minutes.
The lavender-haired boy's lips parted in surprise then wriggled a moment before his eyes popped wide open and he burst out laughing. "Heh…he --," he choked, "he looks – he LOOKS LIKE A GIRL!"
"What?!" Sakiko's expectant expression turned stormy as she shot to her feet. "You little liar!" she cursed bitterly, turned on a heel then paced angrily from the room.
"But he DOES!" the boy cried out in shrill, useless protest. "Sakiko, wait! Sakiko!?"
Haku
Out of habit long held, Haku bowed his head as he entered Zabuza's Wave Country hideout – a tree-house of sorts, but a far more elegant and expansive structure than the image that description normally evoked. This place, secreted amidst the forests, had been Haku's home for a while and it had been over nine months since he'd been back. A lot had happened since.
The tree-house had, in that time, not fallen into ruin but remained eerily intact – seemingly suspended in time. Everything was just as it had been when the two shinobi had set out, with Zabuza confident and eager for a rematch against Sharingan Kakashi, and Haku uneasy.
Looking around again at the warm, wood floors, out the sloped windows into the green-leaved treetops beyond, soaking in the vague but at the same time heart-wrenchingly familiar sights, sounds and smells, the young ninja could almost see himself as he'd been back then: wearing his jade-colored robes, brushing his longer, black hair or putting on some nail polish (his favorite blue), with not the faintest clue about what was going to happen.
As the teenager floated in a sea of memories, Haku found his dead master's presence here palpable…almost overpowering. Would it really be that much of a surprise, he proposed, if the man himself suddenly materialized in one of the doorways then roused his apprentice with that demanding tone of his as if most of the last year had been nothing more than a dream?
It took a little while combined with an effort of will for Haku to shake himself loose from the idea. It would be far too easy to get lost in those days as Zabuza's disciple, when his master made all the decisions and he'd found true joy in simple obedience.
What WOULD happen if Zabuza came back? the teenager wondered.
What would they see in each other after all this time? Would they meet as colleagues, with respect and understanding…or recoil in mutual disappointment?
Frowning, Haku realized that he shouldn't linger here. This was a place of ghosts and if he fell to their enticements he might never leave.
The constable made his way to his old room and was shocked at how small and spare it seemed. He paused there long enough to peruse his few belongings: a keepsake here and there, his familiar accoutrements and a wardrobe of dresses and feminine-styled kimonos. Though they raised a smile, none of that was what he'd come for.
To be honest, Haku wanted to tell himself he'd come for sentimental reasons or to reclaim some meaningful possession but what he'd really come for, other than some spare quivers of senbon and stolen ANBU masks, was the gold. If he was really going where he was planning to, he would have need of it. And even if he didn't, the Tezukas still had debts to pay and it could be put to good use.
The fact that he hadn't even thought about it until just yesterday, the boy chalked up as just another example of how deeply, deeply strange he was in so many ways and how much he had yet to learn about what passed for 'normal' life. No one in his adoptive family, or anyone else he knew for that matter, would just forget they had access to a cache. Of course (he couldn't help but amend in his defense) returning here back when the ANBU were on his trail would have been monumentally stupid.
Feeling like a thief though in his own house, Haku found the hidden compartment. As he coaxed it open then looked down at the neat stacks of hundred-ryo bars, a tremor of revulsion filled him; this was Gato's gold after all – blood money to murder Tazuna.
What am I doing?! Haku asked himself for the hundredth time, feeling volition drain from his limbs.
After Zabuza's death, he'd managed to recover from Kakashi's chidori, overcome countless enemies and build a new life in Wave Country. He had friends now (kind of), students, an actual girlfriend, a job where he got to use his hard-earned skills to help people. Was he really going to throw it all away now? For what exactly?
The young shinobi straightened, staring off into space.
The way Haku had figured it, there wasn't much time left. Lord Tsujita, clearly, did not have long to live, and Kiri's Ascension ceremonies were scheduled to begin in just a few days. All mist-shinobi not on active missions or assignments would be on hand for that, making it the perfect time to strike.
Every hidden village has enemies who want to destroy it, the constable again told himself. Why should HE get involved? And wasn't he just being a little egotistical to think it was up to HIM to stop them anyway?
'Quiet, Haku!' issued a memory of Zabuza's fierce hiss. 'If you've already made up your mind what you're going to do then do it. Follow it through with everything you are. Second-guessing will only insure failure.'
"Huh…right," Haku answered aloud with grim humor, his lilting contralto voice echoing hollowly in the empty hideaway. "Sure…easy for you to say, Master Zabuza." When he looked up, the constable could almost see his departed sensei standing there with his enormous sword slung casually over a shoulder. "YOU don't have to tell Mari."
With that, the young ninja wrapped up his reclaimed treasure, secured it in his pack then left, abandoning his old home to whatever fate might befall it.
Naruto
A long, long, LONG line of Narutos stretched from the bulk receiving room at the back of the Hokage's Tower, up through an enclosed stairwell, along winding corridors to a wide but windowless interior room.
While Izumo and Kotetsu looked on, Naruto #1 hefted one of several-hundred file boxes and passed it down the line, moving smoothly from one blond shadow-clone's hands to the next's in 'bucket-brigade' fashion. In practically no time at all, the young leaf-ninja had moved the lot.
"Thanks, Naruto," offered Izumo as the chunin checked that all the boxes were properly placed along a series of long tables and arranged according to how they were labeled, "that would have taken us awhile."
Kotetsu nodded. "Definitely. Your multi-shadow-clone technique sure comes in handy."
Naruto grinned up at them. "Aw, it was nothing. Good thing for you I was here anyway."
"To bug ME, no doubt!" added the Hokage as she strode into the room with a train of a dozen or so other officious-looking ninjas and civilian operatives filing in behind.
The genin braced his hands on his hips. "Well now that you mention it, Granny Tsunade, when are you finally gonna give me REAL mission; a true test of my SKILLS!?"
The statuesque, sandy-haired woman scowled down at the boy for a moment, looked at all the boxes then allowed a sly grin to cross her face. "This must be your lucky day, Naruto, 'cause I know just the thing."
"What, REALLY?!"
"Oh, absolutely!" Tsunade assured him. "In fact, your timing is perfect because it's a follow-up to your second Wave County mission. See all these boxes? They're full of contracts, bills of sale, working drawings, specifications, submittals, requests for information, correspondence, transmittals-between and transcripts-of-interviews with all the hundreds of different contractors, vendors, engineers, architects and designers supplying services and products for all the construction going on there."
The broad, Cheshire-cat smile slid off the diminutive young ninja's eager, whisker-marked face as he started to get the gist.
"All YOU need to do," explained the Hokage, who jacked her thumb at the clerical-types behind her, "is help these ninja accountants and legal experts go through the files and drawings looking for patterns, irregularities, you know – anything out of the ordinary; basic intelligence work."
Naruto looked up at her then blinked -- a blue-eyed deer caught in the headlights.
"It'll be fun!" Tsunade brayed like an overly-enthusiastic kindergarten teacher then raised her forefinger instructively, "not to mention a good break from what you're used to. I think this will really help round out your skills." The woman raised an eyebrow. "You DO want to be well-rounded, don't you?"
"Um," the genin muttered dolefully, "did you say 'ninja accountants'?"
A man wearing both a pressed, white button-down shirt with slacks AND a Leaf Village hitai-ate leaned toward him. "That's right, kid! We crunch numbers as well as bones!"
"But," Tsunade allowed in an abstract tone, "if you've already committed to go off and train somewhere else, then I suppose --."
Naruto was gone before she'd even finished her sentence, whereupon the Fifth Hokage gave out a relieved sigh.
"Let me know what you find out," she said to the room. "And when you're through," her amber eyes narrowed seriously, "make sure Naruto doesn't know."
Haku
The second of Haku's errands lead the ninja back yet again to his own grave – the little clearing on the high ground overlooking Wave Country, the city, the Great Naruto Bridge and the channel it spanned.
All in all, it struck him as very odd that far more people had visited him dead then ever had alive. And though some thief had taken Zabuza's sword, there were still supplicants there. This time it was a middle-aged man with two daughters. They startled a little at the constable's arrival, but Haku reassured them with a passing, disarming smile and wave that he had no business with them.
Haku searched the grounds then for a particular item and paused grimly once he'd found it – the blood, snot and fluid-crusted handkerchief that Lord Noriyasu Tsujita had discarded during his paroxysm. Kneeling down carefully, Haku put on gloves, poked it with a senbon then levered the disgusting (and possibly dangerous) item into an evidence bag which he quickly sealed then placed into a hard-shelled, air-tight case.
Arriving home some time later at the Tezukas' house, still plagued by doubts and ceaseless ruminations, Haku was not completely surprised to find an all-out brawl underway. There in the front-room Jimon, Ryuunosuke and Chuuya lashed each other with angry blows in the kind of roiling, screaming, red-faced fury that would eclipse anything but a pro-wrestling battle-royal.
As the young ninja glowered at the scene in disapprobation, Jimon, the oldest and biggest of the Tezuka brothers rained down hammering blows on little Chuuya's huddled back. Chuuya bent under the onslaught then threw himself at Jimon's shin, wrapping arms and legs around it like an octopus before sinking sharp incisors through his brother's denim pant-leg into the tendon right behind the knee. Jimon howled a curse, arms flailing, as both crashed to the threadbare carpeting.
Such sights pained Haku, but he'd already learned the hard way that his interference in matters like these was a trespass. He was 'kind of' one of the family but then again 'kind of' not, and so, sucking-up his misgivings, the ninja sidled past the scene and went into the kitchen as the tumult raged on.
After a bit of rummaging, the constable discovered a clean glass and then another, went to the refrigerator and filled both with milk. Going then through the pantry, he found the cookie tin and stacked several on a plate just as a horrific BANG! CRASH! erupted from the battlefield after which everything went dreadfully quiet.
As a chorus of shrill and hostile new recriminations arose from the front-room, the black-haired teenager let out a breath then shook his head before heading downstairs to his room where he sat at his table, dipped a cookie and slowly munched away.
Minutes later, a flush-faced and teary-eyed Chuuya stamped grumpily down the stair then flopped down on his butt in a huff on the bottom tread.
"You're SO lucky you're an orphan, sensei!" he declared thoughtlessly with blazing, furnace-hot intensity. "Having a family SUCKS!"
Haku shrugged and smiled wearily. "I'm not really surprised you'd say that just now," he offered in a lazy tone then tilted his head toward the plate and the other glass. "Want some?"
The boy looked up, made a pretense of consideration then took the glass and a couple of cookies before heading back to his seat on the stairs.
"So what were you fighting about this time?"
Chuuya drew a breath then began: "I just came in from taking out the trash 'cause dad said he wanted me to before he got back so I DID this time and I came in and Jimon he just SHOVES me out of the way y'know he just SHOVES ME so I SHOVED him and he hit me on top of the head and I HATE it when does that so I PUNCH him and he punched me back and we go into the living room and Ryunnosuke's doing this puzzle it's a jigsaw puzzle of sailboats and we ruin it by accident it's not like we MEANT to or anything but then HE gets all mad and starts punching BOTH of us so Jimon's punching both of us too and I'm punching back 'cause they're punching ME!"
When, after that, Chuuya fell silent and dwelled, Haku favored him with a sagacious nod, resting his cheek on a palm. "I see."
The boy startled suddenly in alarm. "But I didn't use any ninja stuff on 'em, Haku-sensei, I swear!"
"I know," the teenager assured him, raising a hand, "I saw for myself when I came in."
The boy's dark eyes narrowed fiercely. "But how COME I can't?! ALL my brothers are bigger than me and Jimon's WAY bigger AND stronger!"
"You already know 'how come', Chuuya. What you, Jimon and Ryuunosuke were fighting about just now was stupid and senseless. After so many years in each others' company I'd have thought you would have found ways to better accommodate each other but maybe that's just my orphan's conceit. In any case, many of the things I've taught you can inflict serious injury."
The ninja paused, his eyebrows lifting, before he went on: "Maybe that's just what you feel like doing, now, while you're mad, but afterwards, after your anger is gone your brothers would still be hurt. Emotions are fleeting," lectured Haku, acutely aware of how he was coming off but just as aware that some things had to be said, "but the effects of your actions can last forever. Do you see?
"Besides," Haku added craftily in an attempt to lighten the mood, "it's not as if you don't hold your own already even without ninjutsu."
"I guess," the black-haired boy grumbled before countering: "But stupid Jimon's always pickin' on me and pushing me around and stuff."
Haku nodded. "I know," he had to concede. "It's a disgrace. At eighteen years old, he is not a child anymore by any standard, and should know better."
"And the stuff he STILL says about YOU…when you could CRUSH him like an egg!"
"I'm very well aware."
"But he knows better! He knows you're a constable; that you're my sensei. He knows you're going out with Mari even if he doesn't like it, and about the second battle at the bridge and how you saved Wave Country!"
Haku shook his head. "Jimon has had it firmly in his mind for some time that I'm a criminal and a deviant. Like many people, once they've made a decision about someone it's not easy to change."
"Well how come you let him get away with it – calling you all those names and stuff?"
The shinobi grinned and leaned back. "I hope, one day, that he will be impressed by my restraint."
Chuuya shot the older boy an incredulous, 'oh-come-ON' look.
"Alright, maybe not," Haku admitted in good humor then explained: "But what if I did 'crush him'? Could you ever look at me the same way again, knowing I hurt your brother just because he did or said something I didn't like?"
The ten-year old's expression wavered just a little.
"I already know you wouldn't, Chuuya. You have a good heart. And you understand from all those years under Gato the terrible effects violence has on people, which is why I feel confident that anything I teach you will not be misused.
"As for Jimon," Haku continued with a thoughtful, embarrassed look, "I know I should do something about how he acts but…I'm afraid I don't know what…or how. For most of my life there was only, really, Master Zabuza. I didn't have family, friends, brothers or classmates to learn from so I'm often at a loss when it comes to even the most basic kinds of relationships." He grinned with forced cheer. "I guess you could say I'm learning as I go.
"You know, Chuuya, although your older brother and I don't get along and I see him as terribly flawed, I recognize that he is not altogether a bad person. You know better than I how hard he works to help support your family, as your mother and father do.
"I know you remember too all the things he's done for you over the years like how he saved you from drowning when you were seven, and how he almost broke his arm climbing a steep, rain-slicked roof to get your ball back after you'd gotten it stuck behind the chimney."
Chuuya snorted and shut his eyes but still nodded, though begrudgingly.
"And when was the last time anyone picked on you?"
The aspiring ninja's eyes bugged. "Just NOW, Sensei!"
"Besides your brothers and sister."
"Um…don't know. Never, I guess."
"Don't you think that, maybe, having four older brothers, especially one with a disposition like Jimon's might have something to do with that?" Haku couldn't help but smile at his student's reaction. Maybe he never really HAD thought about it before!
"I can see that having siblings isn't always easy, Chuuya," the ninja went on, "and not all brothers and sisters share a sense of responsibility toward each other. But by contrast, your friend and partner, Inari, being an only-child, didn't enjoy the benefits you did and was bullied and alone for a long time until he discovered his confidence."
The boy worried his lip, his temper fading.
"By tomorrow, today's fight won't even be a memory but," said Haku with dire emphasis, "your mom and dad's reaction to whatever it was you three broke just might be." Before Chuuya could get too deep into worrying about that, his sensei added: "What I'd really like you to consider is that even though it's impossible to look past the difficulties in your life and the all things you would change about it and the people in it, it is much more healthful spiritually to be grateful for what you have."
After a short while, a time shared in companionable silence, Chuuya brightened a little. "And what are you grateful for, Sensei?"
"You mean, besides milk and cookies?" Haku quipped as he flipped one dexterously between his fingers, dropped it but was quick to snatch it before it reached the ground. "I'm grateful for a lot of things – to still be alive, for one! To have had Master Zabuza as my sensei, Mari, of course…and to have you and Inari as my students." The ninja gave Chuuya a benign look but felt a pang when the boy seemed a touch surprised.
Thinking more about it, the past they'd shared and of the dangerous journey on which he was about to embark, the young constable continued: "I guess I've never told you this, Chuuya, but I really am very proud of you…as I am," he stumbled over the guarded, heartfelt words, "as I am fond of you."
The boy lifted his head and stared for a moment then went to the teenager and threw his arms around the ninja's lean waist at which Haku, warmed and reassured by the affection, cradled his arms around his student's round, black-haired head.
In parting, Chuuya gave the former Demon's Apprentice an awkward grin then paced back upstairs a great deal more lighthearted than when he'd come down.
"Oh, Chuuya?" said Haku, meaning to tell his student right then about his intent to stop Lords Nikai and Tsujita from destroying the Mist Village but thought better of it, not wanting to spoil the moment. Instead, he asked on a whim a question that had been in the back of his mind for a little while now: "Why DID you head-butt Naruto?"
Chuuya stopped and thought for a moment then shrugged. "Mm-nn-mm," he hummed, supremely content in the completeness of his answer, as he continued on his way.
Haku watched the boy go then flopped down on his bed, his slender shoulders shaking with laughter.
Orimi
In the comforts of the study of her Magistrate's mansion, a very well-appointed townhouse to be sure, Orimi Hirai sat deep in thought. Something was going on and a lot of it involved Haku.
"Sh-t," she cursed aloud, her fingers tapping her armchairs push upholstery. Covering for Haku in his new identity as 'Constable Okame' had seemed like a good idea six months ago – the kind of unorthodox move her sensei might have made, turning an enemy into an ally. Kirigakure no Sato had seemed far away and, judging by the misfits and green genin they'd dispatched to serve in her garrison, pretty-much uninterested in Wave Country.
Toru, she thought again in a sentimental sort of fury, blaming HIM for her indiscretion. Some example you set for me, Sensei.
The first in a series of recent 'oh sh-t' moments had come with Councilor Chinami Inoue's unexpected visit. The second: when Haku told Orimi about his time aboard The Sophae. The last: Haku's sudden request for a long stretch of personal leave; he wouldn't say what for.
The woman sighed and rubbed her forehead.
I shoulda killed him, the Magistrate speculated. Of course, back then, it was just as likely that he would have killed her.
Little f-cker with his senbon, kekkei-genkai and heaven-knows-what tricks Zabuza taught him.
I should have HAD him killed, she tried again.
That was better but still not without its problems as Haku had turned out to be the only sensible ninja in her entire command. The rest were either hard-core killers or children – NOT the kinds of shinobi you assign nuanced peace-keeping, law-and-order kinds of missions to. Gentle, stable, reliable, girly and non-threatening-looking Constable Okame had turned into the go-to guy -- a keystone of the operation and pretty-much the only mist-ninja any Wave Country civilian dared trust.
Also, with his absence, the surprisingly tenacious Yotsu gang that'd been trying to assassinate Orimi since day-one undoubtedly would have succeeded.
"Well, I could always kill him now," the kunoichi muttered distantly, but they were lazy, idle words. The moment when that would have made any sense had long past.
Haku had been right to doubt her former teammate Yukimasa's story that he alone had falsified Inoue's records…and for his reason.
Orimi's round face puckered. "Yeah, right," she scoffed cynically, "he did it for love."
As much as she might like to think that she possessed the kinds of womanly charms that would inspire such an impulse, Orimi doubted that was the case. In any event, 'Masa' was far from being the romantic type anyway.
So 'Masa knows Haku is alive, she considered, not daring to hazard a guess at the ANBU's true motives. I wonder who else. Heaven and Earth, what a mess.
Orimi was starting to realize just how tethered her fate was to Haku now as he and she made their way up an increasingly dangerous slope; tethered by her own impulsive and poorly-reasoned attempt at cleverness.
Haku realized this too.
So yes, Magistrate Orimi Hirai had approved 'Constable Okame's' request for personal leave, hoping somehow that Zabuza's disciple would either find a way to fix things…or maybe that he'd just leave and never come back.
Tsunade
Wave Country, thought the woman to herself from her office high in the Hokage's Tower. There's an awful, awful lot happening over there but is it really anything to worry about?
Leaning back in her chair, her mind brimming with a thousand more immediate concerns, Lady Tsunade's amber eyes canted upwards.
There doesn't seem to be. At the end of the day, it's probably just a big real estate development, nothing more than that.
That's what her analysts had reported thus far anyway. Of course there was SOME corruption going on, bribery, financial manipulation and even outright theft, but where contractors were involved all that was pretty much normal.
And the thing is too, she proposed, trying to set herself at ease, for an enterprise THAT big, if something was going on we'd know about it by now. Somebody would have talked. There're just too many people involved to keep anything really juicy a secret. It's human nature!
Still, Tsunade frowned. So why do I feel like we're missing something obvious.
After Naruto's return from Wave Country with, surprisingly enough, a wealth of useful information, Tsunade had unleashed the hounds to follow up. Her ninjas had produced volumes of documents and hours of interviews, but nothing to suggest that there was anything untoward or dangerous going on, and certainly nothing that would imperil Konoha or Fire Country.
"Danzo," she suggested recklessly out of the blue and quickly regretted it.
Just the wily old, one-eyed bastard's name was enough to make her scowl in disgust. Even so, this was one of those times when she wished she could simply ask the man what he thought and get a straight answer.
That was impossible of course. The councilor pursued his own agenda to the exclusion of all else so she could never trust anything he told her. In his eyes, just asking would be an admission of uncertainty or even incompetence – more fuel for his ideological fire.
That Danzo and his cohorts in Root had supported and kept secret the Sand and Sound's infiltration cell was almost certain. Those enemy shinobi were going to be held in reserve; a card to be played at just the right moment.
Like to take the blame for my assassination, Tsunade considered, jaw tightening.
The Hokage waved the thought away. That kind of speculation was over the top…not because she thought Danzo above such a thing morally, but because it was impolitic, not to mention sloppy and desperate – two things the man was not.
But it would be nice to have another pair of eyes look at this, someone with experience who might see the things I'm blind to.
Wasn't she telling someone just the other day how asking for help when you needed it was a sign of maturity?
Kiba, Tsunade remembered, that's who it was, Kiba Inuzuka. I'd assigned him to guard Haku.
"And Haku is from Wave Country."
The woman chuckled a little at her frustration. Now her own thoughts were taking her in circles!
Maybe I'll ask Shikamaru…
Haku
The old factory complex lay broken and twisted, canted at strange angles half-submerged into the earth.
Visiting this battlefield again, Haku hoped, would put him in the right mind-set for the training he needed. It was hard to manage just now because Mari was upset with him. She had not taken the news well.
Did I really think she would? the young shinobi asked himself. 'Hi, Mari, I just need to go back to the Hidden Mist Village for a bit; long enough to stop some insane ninjas with strange powers from killing everyone in the city.'
He hadn't put it quite like that, but he might as well have. So: no, didn't go well.
Mari hadn't offered any argument Haku hadn't already had with himself but she'd surely exposed how feeble his plan really was and how few solid reasons he had for going.
To Kirigakure no Sato itself, an institution that had hunted Haku relentlessly after his master's coup, that killed innocents as naturally and thoughtlessly as most people breathed and excreted, and that had a long, long list of evils to answer for, he owed not a thing.
But its citizens were just people, fellow human beings like him, who only wanted to pursue their lives. To them he owed (or FELT he owed) at least an effort to save them. Not even trying, that would be like...that would be like…
The ninja sighed, failing to finish the thought.
And Tohma and Tsujita?
Haku frowned. It would be such a simple matter to inform Orimi Hirai of their plans. One word to her great-great-grandfather Kisshomaru or the Mizukage and all the forces of the Hidden Mist Village would descend upon the pair and all the rest of the clan survivors like Hell's own wrath.
So no, he couldn't do that either.
Even if the patriarchs had lost their minds to revenge and were willing to forfeit their lives, undoubtedly they hadn't figured on what would happen to those in their care should they fail. Haku owed them an effort too.
As he summed it up, it seemed weak – a moral exercise that had him snared in its peculiar logic.
To Mari it had been much, much worse than that -- pure selfishness, or stupidity, or some mindless, testosterone-fueled ninja bullsh-t. And she wasn't really totally wrong, was she? Either way, shocking her like that, disappointing and angering her like that left Haku feeling scant, hollow and generally worthless. For someone who'd once set his path toward protecting those who were precious to him, now it seemed that he was going to abandon them to come to the defense of…total strangers.
Haku let out a breath.
There was no way she could have seen that coming, he thought guiltily as he bit self-consciously at his thin lips, no way could she have been prepared.
Almost always since they'd known each other the ninja had been more than happy to accede to Mari's wishes, finding surprising happiness in hers.
"But not this time," he muttered to the ruins.
The memory of the girl's dark eyes swimming in tears; her freckled face constricted with the anguish he'd caused were not things he could easily set aside.
His students, Inari and Chuuya had, by contrast, been relatively easy to tell – almost TOO easy. Maybe it was because they were boys raised on a steady diet of adventure novels, action movies and manga that the idea of Haku playing the 'hero' and going alone to Kirigakure to prevent a catastrophe didn't seem like the sheer insanity it was. That or, being their sensei, they had an inflated opinion of his powers. In any event, they'd seemed to accept his reasons for going and understood that he could very well not come back.
The one thing Haku had avoided explaining was that he was going to have to kill Nikai and Tsujita. This was not a rescue mission but an assassination, pure and simple. Though he'd soft-peddled that part, saying he wanted to 'stop' the patriarchs, intercept them, or talk them out of it somehow, in every scenario he'd run in his mind the only way he ever succeeded or even survived was by striking first – unleashing the full power of his kekkei-genkai and flash-freezing the two solid, them and their microscopic arsenals, as Haku had almost done to Tensai Kaguya.
'Assassination,' the word hounded him. The very idea was a betrayal of his new-found nindo. But if anything was becoming clear, it was that what this mission called for was not soft-hearted Constable Okame…but The Demon's Apprentice.
Inari
In a small forest clearing the two boys, Chuuya and Inari sparred – a light back-and-forth exercise that focused on movement more than power. The larger, heavier Chuuya still preferred linear, aggressive techniques but he no longer charged or overcommitted himself in his attacks. Inari tended to favor a more elusive style, retaliating with counters; but there was foundation in his posture now and aiki in his movements, so he not so easy to steamroll anymore.
After an especially long and fluid back-and-forth series of exchanges the two broke apart, struck theatrical poses that seemed particularly ninja-esque then couldn't help but smile at their progress. Almost as one though, their expressions turned bittersweet – weighed by the shared knowledge that their sensei, Haku, was going to have to leave soon.
The fact hung over them like a pall but they had to accept it. That IS what ninjas did, wasn't it – go on dangerous missions, face certain death in service to their lords or, in Haku and Naruto's case, a broader ideal?
Both had come far in their training over such a sort time, but one thing that proved they still had a long way to go was that neither had noticed they were being watched, and that they had been for some time.
Chuuya startled, almost squealing as he jumped, which made Inari startle.
"MAN!" stormed Chuuya petulantly with fists balled at his sides. "Don't DO that, Mari."
Inari turned his ebon eyes toward his partner's older sister who sat atop a rock just upslope from them. Mari's dark-eyed gaze drifted down at Chuuya's rough greeting and her distant expression lifted into a ragged smile.
"So what's up?" the youngest Tezuka continued. "I thought you hated ninja stuff."
Mari canted her head with a forced and awkward-looking nonchalance. "'Just came to watch 'cause I know you practice here sometimes," she said in a subdued tone. "You guys actually look pretty good. Y'know…like you know what you're doing."
Chuuya glanced toward Inari who only shrugged at this strange turn.
"So…you guys are, like, real ninjas now."
Inari, flushed and sweating from sparring practice, smiled keenly. "You bet!" He stepped up with a playful swagger. "No one can take us –."
"No, Mari," Chuuya interrupted with an uncharacteristic forthcoming that let Inari know there was a lot more being said here than any family outsider could ever follow from just the words. "We only each know one jutsu…and we got a ton of stuff to learn before we can even be genin." Inari saw the seriousness work its way over his partner's pudgy face as the older boy asked: "Why?"
Mari's eyes pinched shut like she was going to cry, but then she reached over her head and took off the necklace Haku had given her, the single jade ring inscribed with characters that he'd picked up in Konoha, and held it out to them.
"Because I think," she began in a voice strained with emotion, "maybe, it's time for a mission…a real one."
Thanks for reading!
--Jonohex'
