Sorry it's taken me so long!
Shikamaru
Lord Tohma Nikai whirled angrily from the guardrail with eyes blazing, sputtering and stomping in frustration like a child on the verge of a full-fledged tantrum, his face frothing like a madman's in a paroxysm of boiling emotions.
A feeling of dread settled leaden in Shikamaru's stomach for this 'child', this 'madman', had at his command enough firepower to reduce Kirigakure and everyone in it to cinders. All it would take was a single word to his undead crew who wouldn't hesitate to obey. Mei Terumi, having just abandoned negotiations, leaving them unsettled to deal with another, more spectacular threat to her Mist Village along with Naruto and Haku had only made things that much more precarious. The young leaf-chunin watched and waited uneasily as the shaggy-haired man's temper slowly cooled then slumped with relief when, at last, Lord Nikai gathered himself then settled again at the rail of his ship to brood. Though technically the fate of the Mist Village wasn't Shikamaru's problem, being here, right now in the middle of it, he couldn't help but feel the weight of all the countless lives that hung in the balance, to say nothing of Naruto and Haku's, press hard and unwelcome on his usually unburdened conscience. Though he wasn't much in the great scheme of things - a shinobi just thirteen-year old - at this moment with matters teetering so delicately, he was all but overcome by the sense that even a migrating dust mote could shift the balance between deliverance and ruin.
Stupid Naruto, Shikamaru thought glumly, again cursing the little blond-headed maniac who'd gotten him into this. Allowing himself the indulgence of passing the blame made the teenager feel a bit better.
Shikamaru had always known he was clever, at least when it came to devising winning strategies at games where there was nothing at stake, where flesh and blood, victory and defeat were only abstract concepts represented in icons of wood and stone. He'd only lately discovered that the translation between games and warfare was not as clear as he'd once thought. Only providence and the prudent precautions of Lady Tsunade had saved Shikamaru and his team from the disaster of the first mission he'd lead. There would be no such miraculous rescue this time. That much was clear.
Shikamaru's ebon-eyed gaze travelled over the familiar faces of his friends and teammates – Chouji, Sakura, Kiba and Akamaru, moved then to the lifeless, blank visages of Lord Nikai's zombies, to the banks of rocket launchers that stretched down the decks of the ship, the four more just like it trailing behind like ghosts in the mist and, lastly, to the grim profile of his host. The ninja-lord frowned as he stared at the next chunk of Mist Village cityscape to twist free of the earth and rise inexplicably skyward there in the distance. The sheer strangeness of the sight made it hard to look at or even think of anything else.
Drawing a calming breath, Shikamaru waited for what seemed like an opportune moment and ventured disarmingly: "Thank you for letting us stay aboard your ship, Lord Nikai. It seems a lot safer here." It was a clumsy entry but time was critical. If he waited too long he'd miss the moment. If he waited too long he might lose Sakura and Kiba. Though those two were as disciplined as any ninja when it came to most things, Naruto and Haku had gone to fight; their friends wouldn't stand for waiting here much longer with them in danger. Shikamaru could see that Sakura was on a slow simmer while Kiba paced, tossed his head, flexed his arms and occasionally shot him a dire, accusing glare. They'd waited this long only because they trusted him and he knew he shouldn't push it.
The Patriarch Nikai, this vagrant king of the Mist's dispossessed, blood-gifted clans, raised an ashen eyebrow, eyes still fixed on the beleaguered Mist Village as he waved the teenager's gratitude away, grumbling: "What Terumi said applies to us as well - the last thing we need is trouble with the Leaf."
"Even so, we appreciate it."
As engrossed with other matters as he obviously was, Tohma Nikai glowered at the spellbinding sight as an entire block of the Mist Village floated away in flagrant defiance of gravity. Shikamaru already knew from what Haku and the crippled mist-jonin Okino had told him who the author of this latest catastrophe was. It hadn't surprised him much. Having grown up as Shikaku Nara's son he'd learned more than he ever should have or cared to from listening in on his father's conversations with his drinking buddies or the jonin's occasionally frantic, late-night visitors. The most dangerous enemies were within the walls almost always.
A stiff silence fell until Lord Nikai offered a bit too readily, "You have an opinion on all this, I expect, don't you leaf-ninja?"
The chunin shrugged and feigned indifference. It wouldn't do to appear too keen. "I can't help but hold a certain professional interest. It's troublesome either way."
"Son," Tohma snorted bluntly with a touch of forced patience and didn't bother to spare him a look, "you've a head full of gears. I could hear them turning since the moment my students brought you onboard. And I can see that bottled-up look clear on your face. So stop playing coy. If you have something to say, go on, say it and be done with it."
The teenager's lips pursed. It was the hardest thing in the world to sell to someone who wasn't in a buying mood and in all the games he knew you didn't have to convince the opposing side that you'd won. Checkmate was checkmate.
"The way I see it you have three choices," the black-haired boy proceeded doggedly. "You can destroy the Mist Village and gain what I take would be for you an immense sense of personal satisfaction but then you and your clans would have to deal with considerable consequences. You would still be fugitives - highly dangerous fugitives possessing forbidden weapons that the other villages would see as a clear threat if not to them directly then to the delicate order that they've gone through a lot of trouble to set up. Then too, you wouldn't -." Shikamaru halted, now knowing how far into the weedy truth he wanted to take this man just now.
"Wouldn't what?" Nikai pressed in annoyance.
"You wouldn't really have destroyed Kirigakure," Shikamaru supplied, having calculated his move in an instant. Maybe this would be the shock needed to break open Lord Nikai's thinking. "A powerful faction stands ready to reconstitute the Mist Village in Wave Country when this one falls. In fact they're counting on it. There's a small but significant army of mist-shinobi there already."
"What?!" Lord Nikai shot him a caustic look; his lip curled into a sneer. "That's impossible. Just the idea is ridiculous."
"Difficult yes, unprecedented but not impossible," the chunin endeavored to explain without sounding pedantic or worse - condescending. "You've been to Wave Country, Lord Nikai, seen all the new construction. The Mist Village's been struck by plague even though your Lord Tsujita never delivered it. It's all part of a plan. You're being used, maybe even manipulated. Doubtless, the new Mizukage and her Councilors won't want you or any remnants of your outcast clans around to mess things up once you've outlived your usefulness as scapegoats. At the same time, anything left of the old regime will want to kill you just as badly out of revenge."
Right or wrong, Shikamaru took Lord Nikai's stony silence as leave to continue. "Your second option is that you could make a deal with Mei. With your leverage you could ask for anything you want and get it but who knows how long Kiri would honor the terms once they were no longer in danger. Even if you assume that Lady Terumi means to deal in good faith she's not the Mizukage or even a Councilor. The only reason she's in charge now is because the Mizukage's dead and there's no one else here who's higher ranking. Any deal she makes will hinge on a complicated resolution of leadership and who knows how that might play out.
"Third," he added, looking off toward the open sea hidden somewhere out there in the grey, mist-cloaked expanses, "you could call the whole thing off and just sail away…but somebody would come after you on principle if nothing else."
Tohma's chest rose and fell. The ninja-lord gave the teenager a quirky, skeptical smirk. "You do make things sound rather dire. Go on then," he goaded, prickly with sarcasm, "lead me unto salvation."
"There is a fourth way where you and your people could be fairly sure of peace and a place to live for a time but it would mean forgoing destroying Kirigakure and it's a bit of a gamble."
"A gamble is it? How big a gamble?"
Shikamaru winced despite his every effort. Salesmanship was not his 'thing'. All he had left was honesty and, in this case, honesty was not his friend. "If you had a ton of bricks and flung them into the air," he answered, shaping a picture with his hands, "there's a chance that they would land to form a perfect arch. Still, a slim chance is better than none."
Tohma stared at him, eyes wide with surprise and disbelief. "That's it?" he chortled, and Shikamaru knew from the tone that he'd failed. "That's your pitch?" He waved an arm toward the besieged, plague-ridden city. "I'm on the cusp of laying down my long-awaited revenge upon the village that destroyed my clan, using some of the very weapons they used to do it with, oh, but this 'gamble' of yours is supposed to convince me otherwise?"
"It's the best I can do on short notice." The chunin weighed his options but quickly realized that he had none - none that would make a bit of difference anyway.
Nikai laughed, not unkindly but the sound was like crackling flame. "So says our esteemed ambassador from the Leaf," he offered with mocking jocularity. "Yes, I'm sure it would be more convenient for everyone if I withheld justice, kept my blades sheathed and unbloodied rather than upset things. Forgiveness is so easy for those who've lost nothing." He pointed in accusation toward the shores of the distressed city. "And I couldn't care less if my plans feed another's designs. If that's the way it is then so be it. Kirigakure no Sato destroyed my clan, whether any of them living there today know it or not, were a part of it or not, condoned it or not they are still all a part of it and will share its punishment. Anyone who allows a crime to go unacknowledged gives it their blessing. It is as if they were accomplices to the act. If a man kills another it is not enough to merely sever the hand that held the blade.
"Leaf-ninja," he expounded, passion rising in his face, "if the Mist destroyed one of your clans, if they destroyed YOUR clan would you not wage war? The question answers itself: of course you would and to hell with the consequences." Lord Nikai gripped the guardrail of his ship, the tendons of his hand flexing white. "The trial has already been held," he announced, "the evidence is burned into my memory. All that remains if for the sentence to be carried out and I've waited far too long already."
Haku
The teenager's cloud-colored eyes popped wide open; he sat up suddenly, muscles coiled reflexively to spring. He darted looks all around but there was nothing but empty, ruined cityscape to threaten him – cobblestones and broken bricks hard and sharp under his back; blank, grey facades all around; shuttered or cracked windows and empty doorways - nothing to spring away from but that was far from setting him at ease. His body trembled from recent exertion, sweat sheened his skin, chakra flowed mending damage where it could, there was blood on his clothes, shapes of bodies all around, the life having been torn from them. Memories of enemies, shadowy and indistinct, all the more terrifying for their vagueness flashed through his mind. There was a pitched battle going on that he was a part of!
Haku put a hand to his thudding head then drew it back in surprise at finding himself without his zodiac mask. My clothes, he realized dizzily, puzzled over them. They were a stranger's.
Zabuza?
This was Kirigakure, there was no doubt about that.
The rebellion? Where am I? Where is everyone?
The shinobi blinked and looked up. Chakra energies some visible, some invisible but palpable burst and pulsed from all around within just a few blocks. There was something disquieting about them, unfamiliar, unsettling. The fighting had moved on having apparently abandoned him in its wake but its attendant sounds came and went, speaking to him of lives lost and blood spilled.
Haku worried his lip, greatly concerned about how cross Master Zabuza would be if he had tasked him with something and he'd failed to accomplish it. Being concussed was hardly an excuse. Why couldn't he remember? This wasn't right; none of this was right. The rebellion had already happened and failed…hadn't it? So what was he doing back here?
The body nearest him moaned and stirred to life, startling Haku and prompting him to reach for his senbon which, thankfully, were in quivers under his shirt the way he usually wore them. That at least was reassuring. The Demon's Apprentice stared for a moment at the recovering mist-ninja thinking that this one looked a bit odd, too young, fresh from Martial School maybe…that and that he'd never seen one with yellow hair before. Or had he?
Do I…know him?
It seemed improbable but Haku was struck at how familiar he was and the shinobi reeled with the profound sense of dislocation. Weariness and confusion pulled at him and he hunched forward, nauseas, wincing, fingers pressing against his forehead. Though the echoes of combat were receding, experience warned him that he shouldn't remain here long.
"H-Haku?" the ninja beside him rasped.
Haku shot the boy a wary look before sliding to his feet. "Yes, I'm here," he answered guardedly and was a bit surprised when the groggy genin, ragged from his own fresh injuries, offered his hand. Haku took it and found himself helping him up as the memories started to trickle back. He did know him! he marveled. They'd eaten together, played games, explored the new city in Wave Country. They'd fought as enemies and friends, beside each other and against.
"Are you alright?" asked the shorter ninja.
Haku blinked as his head started to clear. His ears rang a little and his jaw clicked. "I'm a bit shaken but otherwise yes. And you?" he managed to answer cogently but parts of his mind were still coming back from elsewhere.
"Those guys," growled Naruto, "just what the hell ARE they?!"
Haku had regained a sense of things now – Naruto, Mei and her quickly devised, cunningly-conceived but ultimately ruinous counterattack on these, he still didn't know quite how to describe them, these new invaders. There were two-dozen in all, in drab robes, their faces and hands swathed in bandages. 'Lepers' or 'Mummies,' Mei's mist-ninja had taken to calling them. Beyond that their aspects were hard to discern, hidden behind whorls of crackling chakra energies. Strange even for shinobi, if that's what they were, that they didn't bother with stealth, speed or to mask their intent. Spread throughout the city they went, slowly, methodically, along the natural energy meridians that underlay Kirigakure, using jutsu to swell those energies enough to break loose huge chunks of it then, in a display of unworldly power, sever them from the ties of Earth. It didn't take much imagination to see that there would be no more Mist Village left before long.
Attacking them the way they had, it was a miracle he and Naruto had survived. He looked over at his companion and fought back a wave of relief. Now was not the time for drippy sentiment.
"Living weapons, even more so than we are," Haku replied then bit his lip, remembering their sheer presences, the projections of their chakras not unlike the kind Naruto had when harnessing the Kyuubi's power, but these twisted and writhed and changed, taking on forms, faces, images, streaming whirlpools of color, light and darkness. Zabuza had spoken of such shinobi once or twice on those rare occasions when the mood struck him to relate some of the rumors and whispers that elite jonin are sometimes rewarded with – Mist Village legends, forbidden weapons and jutsu developed in secret, laboratories where scientists and surgeons experimented on volunteers or the condemned, the kind of laboratories that had spawned Kisame and the many others like him, Kurage and very probably Okami, in a quest to harness and comprehend the powers of nature. Lady Chinami Inoue, Councilor of Kirigakure, would have such resources. Very probably these ninja were the same as those that had guarded her flagship.
The teenager dipped his chin, sighed then smiled at Naruto. "Inoue's. Obviously, she's not convinced that the village's destruction is keeping apace. This is her back-up plan," Haku clarified, musing absently aloud. "And to think she seemed so nice."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah," he agreed in a subdued snarl, "but just 'cause she was nice to you doesn't mean she's nice."
Haku hummed in agreement. Kind acts, like kind faces, didn't always accompany kind hearts. Naruto, like him, had learned the hard way.
"How could she DO this?!" cried Naruto, suddenly enraged, his young voice echoing shrilly through the empty street. "She's a Counselor. She's supposed to protect her people!"
It took a moment for the taller ninja to realize that the question wasn't' wholly rhetorical; his friend really did want some sort of answer. "It's the same reason as always: the ends justify the means. Some people can take that to astonishing lengths."
Okami, Haku thought while Naruto fumed. For all the mist-jonin's other-worldly abilities, his supposed gift for prophesy, the legless man had strangely neglected to mention any of this. Or maybe he didn't see it. There was a dismaying idea. The whole plan hinged on the crippled mist-shinobi's insight. If that isn't reliable -.
The ground lurched suddenly, tilted one way then the other, then wrenched. All around where the two ninja huddled buildings cracked, already broken windows shed more of their glass, sending shards crashing into the street in a cacophony of dissonant chimes. A shimmering curtain of chakra flashed and the street that had run straight for blocks was now choked with rubble; a building, sheared clean through to show its interior skeleton of walls and floors, slid slowly across it like a stage set being moved between acts.
"What's happening?!" Naruto squawked and Haku looked at him in a moment of odd lucidity.
His eyes went wide. "We have to get out of here."
The reason why was apparent almost immediately – the downward pressure, the slow crawl of the city around them moving against the backdrop of buildings farther distant. The whole section of the city around them was rising…and them with it. The pair shared a quick glance then flung themselves down what was left of the street, hurtling over cracks and mountains of debris until they came skidding to a stop at an edge of broken, brittle pavement. A view into perilous space greeted them. Between the two and the rest of the Mist Village below lay an ever widening gulf, above – only an expanse of endless, comfortless grey.
"W-what now?" Naruto demanded but the quaver in his voice suggested that he already knew. So far none of the chunks of Kirigakure that Inoue's ninja had sent skyward had come crashing down but that was scant comfort.
Haku gave him a shaky grin. Somewhere in the back of his mind the words the spirits of his grandmother and uncle had told him while transported to a quasi-divine state by Lord Hirai's Candlelight Gate Jutsu lingered still – that air and water would never abandon him. He'd relied on that before but could only hope it would remain true and that the elements' sentiment would carry over to whoever was with him. Haku seized Naruto by the arm and they flung themselves out into space, jumping far to get well clear of the slowly spinning island.
Though trained from his earliest days under Zabuza's charge to dismiss his fear, the teenager couldn't help but gulp, his eyes widening at the moment when that last bit of energy from their leap ended and gravity took over, pulling them faster and faster back toward the wounded earth. Down below, a ruined landscape awaited – the maze-like warp and weft of Kirigakure pitted with yawning cavities hundreds of yards across, their expanses being madly devoured by an in-rushing, mud-stained sea.
The vapor-laden wind rushed cold against Haku's skin, rippled through his hair and clothes. His ears popped but then he could feel that wind take hold of him, buoy him and his yellow-haired companion, slowing their passage. Mastery of air and water – this is what his forbearers desired when they'd first contrived to hone their clan's kekkei-genkai, risking death, risking irredeemable failure. Feeling the fruits of their success flow now through every particle of him, allowing him something akin to flight, the teenager was flooded with a sense of wonder and gratitude for all they had done.
When the pair touched ground at last, they landed light as feathers.
Naruto straightened, grinning with exhilaration, then laughed despite everything. "Wow," he offered, truly impressed, "I didn't know you could do that!"
"Me either," admitted Haku with restrained pride.
"Wait, what?!"
A chunk of wet earth the size of horse-cart crashed down just behind them, showering them with splatter, ending the discussion and reminding them to get a little more distance from underneath the floating mountain of Mist Village they'd just escaped.
A few blocks away, Naruto looked up then back at Haku. "We got to stop those guys," he hissed then gave a fierce look, smacking fist into palm. "But how?!"
Inoue's weapons had smashed aside their combined assault before, Mei, Naruto, Haku together with a host of what was left of the Mist Village's best, retaliating with great waves of annihilation while remaining well-cocooned behind storms of impenetrable chakra. If there was a way to stop them or even slow them, he surely didn't know what it was. "I don't know," the Demon's Apprentice answered in a measured tone, "but I'm quite flattered that you thought I might."
And still the question nagged at him – why didn't Okino tell us?
Everything else so far had gone as he, Shikamaru and Haku had planned but surely if the old jonin could foresee anything, he would have foreseen this! Haku frowned as he thought. If there was ever a time he needed a little direction it was now. The Manatee's quip about spontaneity and improvisation was hardly reassuring.
"Wait," Haku began hesitantly as his understanding crystalized, his expression drifting into a faraway look.
"Huh? What is it?" Naruto prodded and leaned close.
"Okino didn't warn us about Inoue's attack because there was no reason to." Focus returned to his gaze. "We're not supposed to do anything."
"What?!" The leaf-ninja's blue eyes goggled. "How can that be? These guys are ripping Kirigakure apart piece by piece! You're saying we're just supposed to sit around and wait?!"
The destruction all around made it hard to argue. The taller teenager paused, not knowing how to answer and fearing, though it was probably silly, that Naruto would only question his courage. "I…I know what it sounds like."
Naruto's expression pained, his voice ached with doubt, "How do you know, Haku?"
"I don't," Haku admitted. "I don't, but it's the only thing that makes sense."
It didn't take much for Zabuza's former student to read how the inadequacy of his explanation was playing out. Doing nothing – there was nothing more contrary to Naruto's nature than that! The younger leaf-ninja gave him a frustrated, sidelong glance then looked away. "Listen, Naruto," Haku started afresh. "I told you before about the plan Okino, Shikamaru and I came up with. I should tell you all of it while we have a moment." He frowned a little guiltily then quipped: "If you'd have known how stupid it sounds then maybe you'd have stayed on Lord Nikai's ship with the others." Haku knew very well that that wasn't true but loyalty like his, a friendship like his was a treasure not to be taken for granted for however long it lasted. Naruto had chosen to come with him into the fire, deserved to know the whole story and make up his own mind. Whether he stayed should be his choice too.
After Haku had finished, he looked at Naruto's amazed face prepared for a deluge of the same sort of questions he'd had and all the new ones that had sprung up since. Instead, the leaf-genin looked back and simply nodded.
Shikamaru
Shikamaru's expression went slack as the full scope of his latest failure descended upon him as sure and all-encompassing as the night. His ears filled with the imagined nightmare screeches of several-thousand rockets streaking into the sky, his skin prickled at the premonition of searing heat when the decks of all five of Nikai's warships smoked up with their exhaust, and then the bright flares of explosions as both sides of the Unagi Canal erupted with fire and light.
It was Sakura's mild, measured voice that broke the gloom, "And will you sentence your own students too?"
Tohma looked at her, puzzled and annoyed. "Just what do you mean by that?" He turned his head, eyes searching the deck of his ship but there was no trace of Sakiko, Gennosuke or Tensai. "Wh-where did they go?"
"They bailed a few minutes back," Kiba supplied testily.
Shikamaru blinked. He hadn't noticed them leave either…strange how the mind works when it's totally focused on something, it ignores everything else. Then again, all three were ninja-trained and he seemed to remember that the little one, Gennosuke had some sort of gift…
Sakura folded her arms, adding: "Probably to help Haku and Naruto, like we should be doing. That should tell you where their hearts are, Lord Nikai…and ours."
The Patriarch blinked, bewildered and aghast.
"So what will you do, destroy them along with our friends and teammates? Or maybe you'll wait and see if any of them make it back alive before you fire your missiles and get them in another war or have them live as fugitives and criminals as they have their entire lives." Until now her tone had been distant. The pink-haired girl turned now and looked at him squarely. Her green eyes flashed. "What do you think that makes you? Oh, and I don't care if you think I sound childish or selfish or like someone who doesn't understand what you've lost. As far as I'm concerned you're the one who's selfish because what you decide to do will change the world but it's US who'll have to live the longest in whatever you change it into." Sakura finished with a grim look, clearly with much more to say but leaving it at that.
The ninja-lord's eyes roved between all those young faces ranged around him not in defiance but as simple, unflinching witnesses to whatever the man would carry forth. The moment hung tensely until at last he gave a bitter, defeated scowl, hung his head and with a thousand curses trembling his lips said instead to Shikamaru: "Tell me more about this 'arch' of yours, leaf-ninja."
Inoue
The seas off Kirigakure were calm. Its soft waves lapped against the sleek, steel hull of the kunoichi's command ship, The Sophae, creating an air of tranquility that stood in stark contrast to the devastation unfolding even now in the doomed city not too far away. She had seen with her own eyes through the powerful telescopes mounted on the top decks the dissected portions of the Mist Village floating away like so many vast balloons. Even at this distance and through the prevalent mists they were too big to miss. In the few hours that had passed since Inoue had unleashed her Nephilim, she'd paced and rubbed her hands, wandered, drank chamomile tea, made idle conversation with her staff and crew, went to the galley for a small snack, paced again, worried, worried and worried. There was nothing for it. Waiting was always the worst part.
At last, the old Councilor ran out of things to distract herself with above decks and resolved to retire to the deeper solitude of her stateroom below where there were always books to read, plans to finalize and correspondence to catch up with. Inoue made her way through the narrow hallways, passed the guards, opened the door and was surprised at first to find the lights already lit but perhaps she'd left them on in her preoccupation. Even the wiliest of shinobi could become forgetful sometimes in their old age. But whatever relief that idea brought vanished immediately as she looked up into that too-familiar face of the man seated there behind her own drawing table.
"It's been too long since we talked, you and I," said Lord Kissohamaru Hirai, Patriarch of the Hirai Clan and fellow Councilor of Kirigakure. The centenarian gave her a tight, urbane smile. "Won't you join me?"
