A/N: I meant to only skip a week for this chapter because it's technically two chapters combined into one. Then OCTOBER happened (yes, it deserves all caps because it's been that much of a pain) and I got behind, so I'm sorry for the delay.
Quick public apology to Duesal Bladesinger, because I dropped off the face of the earth before I finished doing what I said I would. I'm sorry and I'll get back to that ASAP.
I kind of wish I could give you guys the second half of this chapter without you having to read the first half, but then you'd just be confused and we wouldn't have proper build-up, and blah, blah, blah, you know the excuses. I had to do a lot of rewrites so if some of it sounds forced, it probably is.
On with the chapter.
What chapter number are we even on, seven?
When Kiba finally managed to right himself and resist rolling with the momentum of the wave, it still took him an uncomfortably long time to find the surface. It felt like he was trying to swim through oatmeal there was so much mud and he couldn't see. Only some instinctual sense of gravity allowed him to find air again.
He broke the surface, immediately taking a deep gasp of air, and shook himself like Akamaru did after his baths. There was a series of groans around him then and Kiba wiped his eyes to see Shikamaru and Sakura in front of him, equally covered in muck. When he turned, Hinata and Shino were at his back.
"Kiba," Sakura snapped, scraping uselessly at her clothes in an attempt to find them under the swamp mud, "Do you have to?"
Kiba ignored the kunoichi. Looking about frantically, he tried to locate –
There was a small explosion of earth and water right next to Sakura's left foot and out of the marsh popped Akamaru. Sakura groaned again, putting her arms over her head as Akamaru did an excellent impression of his master by barking and shaking his entire body.
"Hey buddy!" Kiba yelled, splattering mud again, as he ran to his partner, "You okay?"
Shino, having been the victim of the latest splatter, grumbled at Kiba's back, "How did I ever think talking was your most annoying trait?"
"Bite me, bug boy," Kiba retorted, checking over Akamaru and simultaneously realizing –
"Hheeeyyyy," Kiba said slowly causing Shino to groan, "My mouth is back!" he threw his arms in the air in victory and Akamaru barked with him.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Hinata just smiled. Sakura just looked like she wanted to punch something.
"If we do find Naruto on the ridiculous island," Sakura declared, "I am gonna smack him so hard, he'll land back in Konoha."
"Here's hoping you get your chance," Shikamaru said but turned to the others, "Anybody see where the others went?"
Hinata was the one to answer, wringing out her long hair, "They got, erm, washed in the opposite direction from us. But I couldn't see much after the wave hit us."
"Understatement," Kiba mumbled, still testing out his tongue. The roof of his mouth was still numb, but he could talk finally and keep the spit in his mouth, so overall it was a plus. Maybe Agilis was neutralized by dirty swamp water. Ew.
Shikamaru sighed and looked to Shino, "Do you think you could get our bearings for us, Shino?"
"Of course," the Aburame replied confidently and raised his arms. His insects swarmed out, almost happily in the marshy environment and separated into all directions, "They'll alert me if they find anything," Shino said and lowered his arms.
"I hope they find a hot shower," Sakura sighed but sat down on an exposed tree root, one of the only dry spots, and started digging through her bag, checking to see which supplies had survived the deluge.
Hinata joined her shortly and they all settled for a brief rest.
Shikamaru sat down by Kiba and Akamaru, asking, "You think there's any chance you two will be able to find the trail again?" Kiba knew he meant the one they'd been following before the crocodile had surprised them.
Kiba sighed and Akamaru lowered his head with a small keen, "Maybe. If we could find where we last were. But with all that water . . ." Kiba shrugged. It didn't look good.
Shikamaru nodded as if he was expecting that answer, opening his mouth to speak. He was cut off by Akamaru's head shooting up. The ninkin was staring out into the trees, sniffing lightly at the air, a deep growl erupting from his throat. Kiba immediately went on alert as well, the girls turning to look.
Shino held up a hand in the same instant, a few of his insects landing on it, "Something's coming this way," he said certainly, "Quickly."
Shikamaru stood, as did Kiba and the others.
"Hinata," Shikamaru said and the Hyuuga followed Akamaru's gaze with her own all-seeing eyes.
"Three," Hinata said after a moment, "They have chakra signatures, but . . . They're not human."
"In the trees, then. I don't want another incident like that crocodile," Shikamaru said decisively and in the next second the Leaf Shinobi were clinging to the scraggly swamp canopy, hiding as best they could.
A few minutes passed in silence before Hinata spoke again, Kiba having to read her lips she was so quiet, "There. Three dogs." She pointed and out of the brush came three shadows.
Kiba noticed Akamaru's sniffing had gone from urgent to simply curious and he peered more closely at the three partially hidden forms.
The shadows quickly morphed into the familiar shape of dogs, although Kiba saw a more feral light in their eyes, despite their similarities to his own ninkin.
They moved quietly, the only sound maybe coming from the rustle of the bandanas tied round their necks. On each of the bandanas was drawn the same symbol.
Somehow, someway even Kiba could not guess at, the little symbol triggered something Kiba honestly thought he had forgotten. Something he probably should have forgotten given the amount of time that had passed since he had last heard it.
"No way . . ." he whispered in awe, only barely audible, but causing Hinata to glance his way.
The dogs gave no indication that they had found the Leaf ninja until they were right underneath them.
Then the black one on point looked up and locked eyes with the ninja as if it had know all along where they were. It probably did if it was what Kiba thought it was.
The Inuzuka smiled and leapt, landing right in front of the black, Akamaru at his side.
"What - ?" Kiba heard Shikamaru sputtering above him, "Damnit, Kiba, what do you think you're doing?" There was more rustling from above and the Inuzuka imagined the rest of his team shifting into defensive stances. The strange dogs shifted uncomfortably and Kiba imagined a myriad of metal above him as well.
"It's okay," Kiba said, speaking partly to the dogs and partly to his teammates, "They won't hurt us." I don't think . . . Well, if he didn't run into few situations half-cocked people would start to worry.
The three dogs in front of him were each easily as big Akamaru, one solid black, another white, and the third almost invisible in the swamp with its dark brown coat. They looked vicious and wolf-like if Kiba was honest, but if that symbol meant what he believed it did . . .
None of them made a move, threatening or otherwise. Just watching him with those almost human eyes, warily curious. The black in the lead stepped forward, head down and body tense.
Kiba tuned out the other's protests as he reached out a hand, palm up, allowing the large wolf-dog to come to him.
"It's okay," Kiba said again as the dog approached.
The black's nose touched the tips of Kiba's fingers and it sniffed his hand.
Kiba smiled when the dog gave his hand a little nudge, saying almost to himself, "Okuri-okami."
The dog paused in its sniffing and looked up at Kiba, eyes gleaming in recognition at the name.
"Thought you guys were just a legend," Kiba said to it and it bared its teeth in a doggy grin.
The girl herself was not threatening, Kakashi thought, aside from the chakra she emitted in waves. Mainly because:
a) She couldn't have been but a few years older than a freshly graduated Genin, and she was still about as small as one.
b) Yamato was a damn good shot but even a Genin should have been able to dodge his kunai without loosing even a single hair, so she must not have much fighting experience, if any.
c) And this was the ringer – she was blind.
This last part was obvious by both of her eyes covered by bandages and her white hair falling carelessly over her face.
At least that explains the chakra, Kakashi thought. It was rare, but not unheard of for a Shinobi to use chakra in place of their eyes. Kakashi had seen it in the ninja ranks. The thing was, there was just no way this kid was a ninja, so who taught her that trick?
Having made that much of an assessment in the seconds the girl had stepped out and tucking his questions away for later, Kakashi was confident that he, Yamato, and Iruka could easily handle the situation.
The large, growling wolf-dog that stepped out right behind the blind girl was a little more of an issue. As were its two buddies that stepped out behind the Leaf nin, each of them big enough to give Bull a run for his kibble and neither looking any happier to see them.
All three wore a bandana around their necks with a symbol Kakashi did not recognize immediately, and did not care to linger on at the moment.
"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said quietly, signaling needlessly for the teacher to get off the ground, "You don't happen to have any of those meatballs left, do you?"
Iruka was already stumbling to his feet, eyes locked on the mousey-brown canine in front of him. Yamato had pulled another kunai and put his back to Kakashi's in a practiced formation, backing away from the larger, red wolf-dog starring the ANBU down.
Kakashi chanced a look at the girl again when she said quietly, "I'm sorry," not sounding sorry in the least, "But you are trespassing."
"Kakashi-san," Iruka whispered suddenly, but Kakashi signaled for him to be silent as he gripped his own weapon.
"Listen kid, call off your dogs," Kakashi commanded in his best the-Genins-are-being-brats-again voice, "We're not here to –"
He was interrupted by the gray wolf-dog's snarl, louder now and much closer.
"Kakashi-san," Iruka whispered again more urgently, but the dogs were getting closer and the one in front of Yamato was beginning to pace back and forth irritably.
"You should really put your weapons away," The girl said evenly, and Kakashi decided she must have been missing more than a bit of hair from that head of hers.
The gray in front of Kakashi was also looking impatient, and the Copy-nin got the impression the wolves were waiting for something.
Like a signal to attack.
Not wanting to give them that chance, Kakashi adjusted his kunai and aimed for the gray. Not a kill-shot but enough make it back off.
He was about to let the weapon fly, when Iruka all but yelled, "No, wait!" and grabbed his throwing arm, stumbling, pulling them both off balance.
Kakashi felt himself falling along with Iruka and twisted his body on reflex, catching his own weight and staying upright, but simultaneously shoving Iruka away and to the ground in the process. Like he would with any attacker. His kunai flew at the same time but only stabbed into the ground in front of the intended target, Iruka having thrown it off course.
It lodged into the ground at the gray wolf-dog's feet with a thud and the animal pounced at Kakashi, barely giving the Copy-nin a split second to watch Iruka roll a few feet away. The brown wolf also took the opening and leapt at the teacher, jaws open, aiming for Iruka's throat, but Kakashi couldn't tell what happened next as the gray's weight flew into his stomach. He felt teeth wrap around his throwing arm just as he got another kunai in his hand.
Kakashi hit the ground, landing on his back. Instantly, he was pinned by the gray dog. He also heard Tenzou in the distance shout and vicious snarling followed.
He couldn't see the others at all, his vision obscured by writhing gray fur as he scrabbled under his back for his weapons pouch with the arm not being used as a chew toy. However, the dog was heavy and making it too difficult to move or get his arm under his back to reach his weapons pouch.
Changing tactics, Kakashi reached up and punched the gray in the eye. It let out a sharp yelp and rolled away from the blow, releasing Kakashi's arm on the way. The Copy-nin rolled, too, coming up on all fours, kunai in hand. Panting, he glanced down at his arm briefly, expecting to see blood where the wolf-dog had clamped down. It was not until then that Kakashi realized there was no pain in the limb.
The wolf's teeth had not even torn his shirtsleeve.
He looked up at the gray in confusion as it got up and shook itself. It was glaring daggers at Kakashi, but it did not advance again, seeming content to keep its distance now.
Nevertheless, Kakashi didn't take his eyes off the gray even as he heard Iruka behind him and Yamato to his side, both in their own scuffle. Tenzou was holding his own but Iruka was . . .
Giggling?
Iruka was . . .
But Kakashi was distracted yet again by a voice he would recognize in his sleep.
"Oi, my head," Pakkun griped, the little pug's head popping up over the collar of the girl's oversized cloak, "Musta' passed out. Hey, kid, you hear a whistle?"
"Care to share with the class, Kiba?" Shikamaru asked behind him, stepping cautiously out of the tree, the others close behind, although ready to bolt like rabbits at any second.
"Didn't any of you listen to campfire stories when we were little?" Kiba asked, sitting cross-legged on the tree roots now as he watched Akamaru circle the other wolf-dogs individually, all sniffing curiously, "Okuri-okami. The Sending Wolves."
Sakura still looked confused but a gleam of recognition dawned in the eyes of Shikamaru, Hinata, and Shino. All clan kids, Kiba noted.
"But that's just an old ghost story," Hinata said, but watched the dogs with new interest. The brown one took a few tentative steps in her direction, head low as the black's was.
"Maybe to everyone else," Kiba said, chest puffing out a bit in pride, "But the Inuzuka's know better."
"Know what?" Sakura asked, backing away as the black that had sniffed Kiba took interest in her. Kiba knew Sakura's parents were civilians so she probably had not heard the legend of one of the oldest nin-dog packs in history.
"Hold still," Kiba told her and Sakura glared at him. Kiba resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her, instead telling the story his sister loved to scare him with (leaving out the parts about 'horrid little brothers and their stupid pranks'), "Legend says that they know if a person is good or evil. They are especially known for finding lost travelers deep in the forest. If the person is good, they help them home like a blessing. But if they decide you're evil, well . . ."
Kiba trailed off and snapped his teeth together wickedly, pointy canines shining.
The white dog made a wheezing sound that Kiba knew was a laugh.
"And in reality?" Shikamaru deadpanned, unimpressed, his eyes not leaving the white dog sniffing calmly at his feet. The dogs hadn't so much as barked at them yet, just calmly moving from one Leaf nin to the next, inspecting them with their keen noses. Kiba took that as a good sign.
Kiba gave Shikamaru a pout but said simply, "They're rare specialized nin-dogs with a nose for chakra. They can sense when a person is a threat or even if you're lying sometimes," there was a lot more technical stuff Kiba didn't remember from when his mother had told him the real historical facts but the part he did remember was, "But they will eat you if you pose a threat."
"Which it looks like we don't," Shino said as the dogs moved back without any carnage.
"Too bad," A deep vice said from behind them, "I was kind of hoping someone would get mauled that time."
Kakashi and Tenzou stared.
Iruka was alternately feeding leftover (and slightly soggy) meatball treats to the three wolf-dogs and petting them like they were a bunch of rowdy pups instead of the large, threatening beasts they'd been only minutes before. The blind girl stood over the teacher as well, smiling pleasantly now, chakra wrapped around the whole scene with interest.
"So," Yamato said slowly, "Okuri-okami . . ."
"Yep," Kakashi replied.
"Dogs that can smell good or bad," Yamato clarified.
"Mm-hm," Kakashi nodded.
"And a blind girl – "
"I agree that it's weird Yamato, let's just move on."
" . . . Okay."
"I keep forgetting you two didn't have normal childhoods," Iruka spoke up from his dog-pile, "It's one of the kids' favorite scary stories. Granted it has some historical basis to it and they really like to embellish."
"I didn't know the story either," the girl said quietly, taking a tentative seat next to the teacher.
Iruka gave the girl a critical look, despite the fact she could not see it, "You could have warned us, young lady, instead of being all mysterious. You would've saved poor Kakashi and Yamato a bit of trouble," he admonished in his best teacher-voice.
The girl had the decency to blush, head hanging, the definition of a caught student.
"Aw, give the little lady a break, Sensei," Pakkun said from where he rested in Kakashi's arms.
"'Little lady,'" Kakashi grumbled, "She's a brat."
"You're just mad 'cause she double checked you," Pakkun laughed tiredly.
Kakashi did not argue, because he wanted his ninkin to rest, but when he thought back on that little conversation he felt his good eye twitch.
Kakashi would have leapt at the girl when Pakkun had made himself known, but the gray wolf-dog had still been in front of him and had given Kakashi a little warning growl that the Copy-nin would have been a fool to ignore.
In the midst of Yamato being pinned and inspected, and Iruka's cries of "Stopitthattickles!" (apparently he'd found a friend in the mousey-brown dog Kakashi thought attacked him. It also liked to lick Chunin Academy teachers' faces), the girl had looked down at Pakkun and murmured, "Is this them, Pakkun?"
Pakkun had dazedly taken in the whole scene and sighed tiredly, "Yeah, kid that's them. Hey, Boss." The dog gave Kakashi an assessing glance, asking if he was okay without really asking.
"Hey," Kakashi replied, again resisting the urge to jutsu unsuspecting blind girls, "You find a friend?"
"No, we found him," The girl had answered instead, "He hit his head and got washed away. You should really watch your dog better." She wrapped her arms tighter around Pakkun protectively.
Kakashi's eye twitched. Iruka looked a bit guilty.
Pakkun, the little imp, just laughed, "Easy, kid. Kakashi takes real good care of me," the pug had patted her arm kindly with his paw, "C'mon put me down, now."
Kakashi was about to throw in his two-cents as well (possibly with something sharp and pointy to go with it) when she did the oddest thing yet. She walked right up to Kakashi, leaned forward, her face almost buried in Kakashi's flak jacket, and sniffed.
Double checking. The gray wolf-dog had grumbled as if somewhat insulted.
On a certain level, Kakashi understood that. On another, much more prominent level, he really just wanted his damn dog back.
Still disappointed but seemingly satisfied, the girl held Pakkun out as if she was handing him off to a butcher, "Just take care of him this time."
Pakkun had snorted as Kakashi took him and the Copy-nin glared at the girl, not caring that she could not see it, "I can kill you, you know."
"Yeah," she sighed, bending down to pat each of her own dogs, "But you won't." She sounded incredibly saddened by that.
Kakashi's eye twitched again at the memory.
Now, Iruka just shook his head a smile tugging at his lips as one of the dogs, the gray, let out a wheeze that could have been a laugh.
"I'm Iruka, by the way," Iruka said in a lighter tone. Something in the girl's chakra spiked when he introduced himself, but nothing about her betrayed it.
The girl latched onto Iruka's tone immediately, "I'm Scout. I guard the gates." She smiled proudly and Iruka let his own smile spread on his face, "And she's Inu," she pointed to the gray wolf-dog at her side, "And Nezumi and Tora," the brown then the red.
Iruka nodded, murmuring greetings to the dogs. Then he asked, "Gates to where?" like he read Kakashi's mind.
The girl, Scout as it were, tilted her head slightly, "The gates to camp, of course."
Iruka blinked at her bemusedly but shook his head, deciding to change the subject, "We had others with us – "
"They're coming," Scout interrupted, "If they're good, they're coming." Then Iruka blinked and had to pull back as Scout's hand was unexpectedly stuck in his face, "Pakkun-sama said you were from Konohagakure. Can I . . . ?"
Kakashi didn't know what she meant by that, but Iruka seemed to understand after a moment.
"Sure," Iruka smiled and leaned forward again.
Haltingly, Scout's fingers brushed the Chunin's cheek. Iruka blinked but did not flinch away as the girl's hand located his nose, ran over the long scar there a few times. Then the fingers slid further up, nails clicking lightly against his hitai-ate where they paused, hovering.
Her chakra was reaching out again, and this time Kakashi knew he was not the only one who could feel it. Slowly, Scout slid the pads of her fingers over the metal plate of Iruka's headband, tracing the outline of the Leaf symbol with a strange sort of reverence. The pack had gone still, intelligent, almost human eyes all turned toward their master.
"You know of Konoha?" Yamato was the first to speak up, breaking the silence.
Scout's hand stopped and after a brief pause, retracted to rest on Inu's flank, "That's where Naruto is from."
The Leaf ninja froze.
"But that's why you're here, isn't it?"
When the tradesman had told them about the 'beautiful woman' that had initiated business between Wave and Whirlpool, Shikamaru had honestly assumed she had been a gen-jutsu cast by a skilled ninja aiming to make the man forget said ninja's real identity.
He had never really expected the woman to walk out of a swamp behind a rather threatening looking Sand Shinobi, accompanied by dogs that could apparently tell if a person was a threat based solely on the scent of their chakra.
But the life of a Shinobi was one of many twists and turns.
"You're drooling, Nara," Sakura had grumbled to him after she had smacked Kiba in the head and Hinata had to shake Shino so hard his glasses nearly fell off.
The man had stepped out first to express his disappointment with the lack of mauling and the first thing the Nara had noted was the Sand hitai-ate wrapped around his large bicep. Had the woman not stepped out immediately after him with the admonishment, "Honestly, Eizo, must you antagonize everyone?" Shikamaru would not have thought the man so forgettable. He was about the same age as Shikaku and his tall, broad stature seemed to fill the space.
Nevertheless, the woman had stepped out and the Nara found himself a bit shell-shocked, firstly because she was real and secondly because he suddenly understood the tradesman's awe. While her green eyes, black lacquer hair, and generally delicate, attractive features were beautiful, it was like there was something else. Something that made Shikamaru just want to look and be near her.
Kekkei genkai, his mind supplied and Shikamaru tried harder to focus. The two had to be refugees, then.
The Sand ninja, the dark-haired man that the woman had called Eizo, simply laughed at the boys' expressions, "Yeah, Mae here has that effect. You'll get used to it. Well, if you're still around to get used to it."
Shikamaru gave himself a harsh mental shake and cleared his throat, hoping his voice wasn't about to come out sounding too prepubescent, "Um, our apologies for trespassing but – "
"But you were gonna do it anyway," Eizo interrupted, deep voice amused and irritated at once.
The woman, Mae, swatted the man lightly on the arm, "Ignore him, he's generally unpleasant." Shikamaru noted that her accent had a very high-class lilt to it, the kind only nobility seemed to cultivate.
"If they'd had a guide, I wouldn't have to be unpleasant," Eizo griped.
"What guide?" Kiba asked, eyes still trained unblinkingly on Mae's face, sounding like the very definition of dazed and confused.
Mae stepped forward, not nearly as steady walking on the water as her companion or the Leaf nin (If she's from a higher class family, she wouldn't have much Ninja training, if any at all, Shikamaru thought), as she nodded, "I take it you found out we are housing a refugee camp on this island?"
"Only on rumor," Shino said, also appearing to come out of his own daze, "Until we got to Wave."
Mae nodded again, wide green eyes studying them, "Normally we send people out to meet new refugees, but it's been a while since anyone new came, so we've been doing so less frequently. If you'd had one of us as a guide you wouldn't have run into the crocodile."
"Maybe," Eizo mumbled.
"But you came alone, so you are not refugees," Mae ignored him and continued her assessment, "And you aren't with the Daimyo, the dogs would have sensed that." She almost seemed to be speaking to herself as she finished and her eyes found Eizo's, uncertainty blooming there, "And they are from the Leaf." She made it sound like a question. Eizo's dark eyes slid to the symbol on their hitai-ate's and he nodded.
Shikamaru felt someone brush past him and blinked as Hinata stepped forward, a rare bravado in the set of her shoulders as she said, "Yes, we are from the Leaf. We came all this way because we were told th-that," she stuttered and almost halted as both Mae's and Eizo's eyes landed on her, but she soldiered on determinedly, "We came to find Uzumaki Naruto. Is he here?" Her final question not really needed in Shikamaru's opinion.
Shikamaru knew for certain that they had their answer when the two refugees exchanged a brief but unsurprised glance.
Before he could comment though, the two seemed to come to an agreement, Mae nodding as Eizo spoke.
"Stay here, don't move," he growled to the Leaf ninja and stalked off into the trees with Mae close behind. Eizo signaled for the dogs to stay, which the canines were more than happy to obey, as they seemed to have taken a liking to Kiba and Akamaru. Then the two strangers walked briskly out of earshot but still in sight, keeping half an eye on the Leaf ninja.
Shikamaru waited a second before saying quietly, without turning his head, "Kiba, listen in."
He didn't hear movement until Sakura sighed and smacked the Inuzuka out of his daze once more.
"Oh, right," Kiba whispered and flew through a few hand signs, closing his eyes and listening.
Naruto had a headache.
It was the same one that had started that morning when Mae had walked in unexpectedly with her report and it had only been building since then.
Naruto suddenly had a new respect for the way Iruka-sensei would pinch the bridge of his nose to stave off such headaches, a posture saved especially for Naruto's more stubborn moments.
Thinking of Iruka-sensei only made the pain in his head spike, so he shoved the thought away almost savagely, attempting to focus on his current problem.
Specifically, the fight he was trying to negotiate and that he had only managed to bring down from violent to violently stupid . . . even by his standards.
"I demand that this Neanderthal be removed from the project," Matsuko was demanding haughtily, still holding an ice pack to his jaw where Tosonhad finally snapped about half an hour ago and punched the smaller man.
"He can't remove me from the project, you arrogant ass!" Toson hollered back, "I'm the only person here with any experience with constructing a bridge. You're just supposed to provide the material —"
"I am not a glorified pack-mule!" Matsuko yelled back shrilly waving his ice pack in Toson's face, "If I am to contribute to this project I will have my say in the final product —"
And so they went on as Naruto tried to tune them out and turned to Matsuko's father, Kobayashi Moriyo, whom he'd brought all the way out here just to have someone on his side, "Is there anything you can do?" he asked pleadingly.
The elder Kobayashi grimaced, a look that somehow looked wrong on his normally smiling face, and tapped his cane on the ground, "I see what you mean," Moriyo murmured, "I'll talk Matsuko down, you take Toson. Divide and conquer as they say." He patted Naruto on the shoulder reassuringly, a smile coming back to the older man's face with years of practice, and it helped the blonde's frayed nerves.
Moriyo was good like that, a steady hand. He watched as father pulled son across the construction zone, similar honey-blonde hair and green robes disappearing behind a support beam.
Thinking about it, Naruto rarely remembered ever having frayed nerves before.
First time for everything. I'd get used to it with this bunch.
Naruto shook his head and grabbed Toson's tanned arm, cutting the bearded brunette off from yet another jibe, "Toson-san, why don't you show me those plans again. Maybe we can work something out."
Despite managing to quiet the two men down for the moment, Naruto's head pounded steadily. When Matsuko came back out, tongue only slightly more civil, Naruto suddenly felt something stir inside, like something in there was sitting up and noticing something.
Naruto had to ignore it as Toson began pointing something out to him and Matsuko protested yet again. When the feeling continued to niggle at his mind, he shoved it down further.
That was probably his first real mistake of the day.
Kiba had to frantically adjust his hearing when he activated his jutsu. Quickly tuning out the sounds of bugs and other creatures skittering around, the wolf-dogs' fur rustling in the breeze, his friends breathing . . .
There. Kiba tuned into the sound of distant whispering, the elegant lilt of Mae's accent, the low drawl of Eizo's deep timbre.
". . . not taking them back just because they say –" Eizo's voice became clear first, but Mae interrupted.
"They are telling the truth. How could they not be, Scout's pack has never led us wrong before."
"First time for everything," Eizo hissed, "I am not putting this camp in danger like this, just send them away like usual. We'll work it out with the others first."
"So they can just come back?" Mae asked incredulously, "I can only make them forget so much, and we have no idea how long they've known about us. And they're trained Shinobi, I'm not skilled enough to –"
"Okay, okay," Eizo cut her off, "I get it. But that doesn't mean –"
"What about Naruto?"
Kiba's ears twitched at Mae's question, but he kept his focus on the whispering refugees.
"They already know he's here," Mae continued, "You saw that girl and the rest, they came all this way, they will come back."
Mae paused as Eizo seemed to consider this.
He still made no comment when Mae went on in a softer voice, "And I think . . . I think Naruto . . . needs to see them," she paused again, unsure, but finished with, "You've seen it, too. We all have. He's . . . he's so different lately . . . you know?"
Eizo finally broke his silence with a gusty sigh, "Yeah," he said tiredly, "Yeah, I know." Kiba heard a sound like Eizo was running a hand through his hair, "We'll have to meet up with Scout and make sure she's not having trouble with the others. We can be back at camp in an hour –"
He had not even finished the sentence when Mae let out a happy gasp and clapped her hands.
She was already clumsily rushing back through the brush when Eizo called after her, "But we're keeping a close eye on 'em. One wrong move! That's all I need!"
This forced Kiba to end his justu or blow his own eardrums out.
The smile that he sent the rest of his team almost split his face.
When Scout had dropped her little bomb there was a rather indecisive moment of silence.
Then, Iruka-sensei filled it in and then some with a round of questions that would've startled the most hardened T&I professionals.
"So, he's here? Living here? I mean we figured, but we couldn't be certain, is he okay? Is he in one piece? Is he eating right, he's an idiot when it comes to food, I swear . . ."
At Kakashi's side, Tenzou began to laugh, whether at Iruka or in relief at finally having a straight answer, Kakashi didn't know. The Copy-nin was happy for his mask in that moment because he, too, was fighting a stupid grin.
To her credit, Scout just sat there and allowed Iruka to ramble. Kakashi didn't even think she was hearing what the man was saying, her head tilted curiously to one side, each of her three wolf-dogs mimicking the gesture.
Only Pakkun seemed put out, grumbling into Kakashi's vest, "I told you already that I scented him."
The little pug cuddled into Kakashi's flak jacket, which was worrisome simply because Pakkun was not a cuddler unless the temperature was below zero. Considering there was nothing more than a chill in the air, it could only mean that the nin-dog was in more pain than he let on.
However, someone up there had apparently decided to look out for him because just as Kakashi was starting to wonder where Sakura and her bag of healing goodies were his pink-haired student's gentle voice came screeching through their little clearing. Scout hopped up immediately, startled, her dogs instantly on high alert. The one she'd called Inu was instantly in front of her little master.
Kakashi could not quite make out what was being yelled but it had something to do with Kiba and if he did not stop being a total tool, Sakura would shove enough Agilis down his throat to paralyze a horse. Or something like that.
"At least we know they're alive," Yamato murmured.
Iruka stood as well, saying to Scout, "It's okay, they're with us."
Just then three more of the wolf-dogs popped out of the brush and trotted right up to Scout. Iruka stepped back in surprise.
"It's okay," Scout said cheerfully, "They're with me." She couldn't see it but Iruka smirked at her.
Shikamaru followed the dogs, looking about as bedraggled and disgusting as Kakashi felt and waved lazily at the other three leaf ninja, despite his assessing gaze. Kakashi nodded back, watching the Nara hold a tree limb out of the way for Hinata to walk under, Shino following just behind her. It seemed everyone was all right so far.
The person who followed them put Kakashi on edge, for no other reason than it had been trained into him since infancy that he need be wary of foreign Shinobi. The Sand hitai-ate marked the man as a possible ally, though, considering the current Kazekage's fondness for the Leaf. A subtle nod from Shikamaru kept Kakashi standing where he was.
For his part, the man also seemed to take pause at the older Konoha Shinobi, studying them with the same wariness. When his eyes lit on Kakashi, recognition dawned and he knew this Sand nin was familiar with the Bingo book at the very least.
A smile ticked at the corner of the man's mouth and he seemed to gain a new sort of respect for the intruders.
Then he turned away from Kakashi to check on Scout, "You alright, you little weirdo?"
Scout's chakra reached for him and the rest of the new group coming in and she smiled, "I'm fine, Eizo. Did Mae fall down a lot?" Hinata was staring at Scout with her Byakugan activated, looking unsure what to think of such obvious chakra use.
Eizo laughed, "Managed to hold her own this time."
Kakashi didn't know what most of that conversation meant, but he was distracted by Sakura coming through the opening Shikamaru had made.
"Sakura," Kakashi murmured, catching her attention.
She gave him a once over, saw Pakkun in his arms, and was immediately at his side, "Head injury?" Sakura inspected the lump on the pug's head as Pakkun let out little whine.
"Knocked him out," Kakashi said as he watched Kiba grab the branch Shikamaru had been holding and pushing the Nara away. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and came to stand by Yamato's side, briefing him quickly on what had happened to them after they got away from the crocodile.
Sakura was rummaging through her bag mumbling about painkillers when Kakashi saw the woman walk under the limb and give Kiba a somewhat bemused smile that was something right out of Jiraiya's fantastical fiction.
"Finally, solid ground," the woman said in relief, wide eyes traveling over Kakashi, Yamato, and Iruka inquisitively before she walked over to her comrades.
Kakashi had to blink a few times.
"Oh, not you, too," Sakura groaned when she saw Kakashi shake himself, "Just don't start offering to carry her through the swamp so she doesn't get her precious feet muddy or I will go on a murdering rampage." She paused as she held out a small pill for Pakkun to chew and gave Yamato a pointed glare, "That goes for you, too."
Yamato dragged his eyes off the woman that must have been the one Scout called Mae and had the decency to look apologetic. Iruka laughed as he made his way back over to them.
Shino and Hinata dragged Kiba over, as well, the Inuzuka pouting at his teammates.
Sakura finished with Pakkun's bandages and said reassuringly, "He'll be fine. He just needs to rest for a few days."
"Thanks, Sakura," Kakashi replied quietly and the pinkette smiled understandingly, stepping back. He set Pakkun on the ground, crouching in front of him, and saying gently, "Alright, Pakkun, go home and get some sleep."
"Sure thing, Boss," Pakkun gave him a tired little salute with his paw but paused to glance over his shoulder at the refugees. Leaning in conspiratorially, the little ninkin murmured to Kakashi, "And if you get the chance, maybe you could just slip it to Inu that I'm available –"
"Go home," Kakashi cut him off.
"Can't blame a dog for trying," Pakkun chuckled and was gone in a puff of chakra smoke. Kakashi supposed he should take it as a good sign that he was in good humor. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"They said they would take us to Naruto," Hinata whispered, also glancing back at the refugees.
"Hm," Kakashi stood from his crouch slowly, following her gaze.
Eizo had broken off from the other two by then and walked up to the group of Konoha Shinobi, stopping halfway. A universal sign of negotiation.
Kakashi threw a glance at Yamato, who nodded his support and back up. Nodding back, Kakashi made his way to Eizo, respectfully keeping his hands by his sides in plain sight, the Sand ninja doing the same.
Kakashi heard Mae mumbled under her breath to Scout, "What, are they going to showdown at high noon?"
To which Scout answered, "No, it's already one in the afternoon."
Eizo sighed in front of Kakashi and said loud enough for his companions to hear, "Forgive them, Hatake-san, they're both complete novices." The last aimed directly over his shoulder at his fellow refugees. Mae just scoffed and rolled her eyes. Scout just looked confused.
"Anyway," Eizo sighed, turning back to Kakashi, "We've already agreed to take you lot back to camp to see Naruto. I just need to know that there won't be any trouble. This is a peaceful place and we've worked hard to keep it that way."
Kakashi held his hands up in a placating gesture, "We're only here to see Naruto and talk to him. Those are our mission parameters."
The older ninja nodded but his chin dipped to give Kakashi a questioning look. Eizo was slightly taller than Kakashi which was kind of an accomplishment considering Kakashi's own height (not counting the hair), "What happens if he doesn't want to go back with you? What are your mission parameters then?"
Well, then I knock him out, drag him back to Ibiki, and get his head examined. Either way the little idiot is coming back.
Out loud, Kakashi said, "Won't know until we talk to him."
"The reason I ask," Eizo said lowly, taking one step closer to Kakashi, "Is because it's never been any secret that the Kazekage considers Naruto a great friend. A hero even. If I ever get to go back to my home country, I want to be able to look Gaara-sama in the eye and tell him that I did what I could to help his friend, and kept him safe," the Sand-nin's eyes travelled over Kakashi's shoulder to the rest of the Leaf ninja. When they made their way back to Kakashi's they were hard, "What I'm trying to say is, if you do anything to harm Naruto in any way, famous Copy-ninja or not, I will personally feed you, piece by piece, to that croc back there."
Kakashi was not worried.
About anything.
How could he be? It was too nice a day even by his standards.
Kakashi sat in a tree high up on a hill, overlooking Konoha, the newest issue of Icha Icha in hand. His tree shaded him from the sun but not enough to black out all of its warmth. The sun soaked through his clothes, deep enough to make him a little sleepy. Beneath him, his pack alternated between sunning themselves and play fighting in the grass.
Just under his tree sat Sakura and Hinata, talking between themselves, laughing. One of them was humming something that sounded like a lullaby. He didn't know either of them had such a lovely singing voice.
When he looked out further Kakashi could see Shikamaru laying on his back in his typical pose for cloud watching. Shino sat nearby, studiously watching a line of ants march by.
Kakashi's eye found Kiba racing Akamaru around the little grassy hill, laughing uproariously as was his way. Tenzou watched from a sun-warmed rock.
Kakashi heard a rustle in his tree and turned his head to see Iruka sitting on the branch next to him. Kakashi sent the teacher an eye-smile but Iruka did not return it. Instead, he looked rather troubled.
Somehow, that seemed incredibly wrong. No one should be troubled on such a nice day.
Iruka's brow furrowed in concentration, almost as if he was pained by something.
"Do you . . . hear that?" the Chunin asked carefully.
Kakashi froze at the words. Not because the words themselves were unusual in any way but because they didn't sound right, although Kakashi heard and understood just fine. It was as if Iruka had spoken from somewhere far away or from underwater.
The Chunin was still waiting for an answer so Kakashi listened.
He almost balked at the sudden sense of apprehension that assaulted him.
Like any good ninja, this only meant Kakashi listened harder.
Nevertheless, all he heard was the wind blowing softly through the trees, the distant laughter of the younger Shinobi, one of the kunoichi below humming that little lullaby . . .
"Wait," Kakashi opened the eye he had not realized he had closed. His voice must have carried, because those playing in the clearing stopped everything they were doing, looking around in confusion.
Tenzou looked up at him next, "This is wrong," the ANBU Captain said simply, and again his voice had a strange, watery quality to it. Kakashi also realized he should not have been able to hear him from this distance but Yamato's voice had been as clear as if he'd been standing next to him.
Kakashi had to fight not to ignore those words. It was like the foreboding nagging at his mind was insisting he stop, forget, just stop looking, stop listening, forget, just sit, be still, it's okay –
"It's not okay," Iruka whispered beside him, face contorted in confusion, almost fear.
"No," Kakashi said, looking back down at the younger Shinobi below, keen eye finding Sakura and Hinata, now looking right up at him. The lullaby continued.
Neither of them were singing.
"Genjutsu," Tenzou's voice warbled over the grassy hill toward him.
Kakashi only nodded once before closing his eyes, holding up his hand, and reaching for his own chakra, disrupting it . . .
The lullaby ended in a scream and the world broke.
When Kakashi next blinked his eyes open he half expected to be lying on the ground in pain or perhaps locked up somewhere also possibly in pain . . . he just knew from experience that pain was a typical outcome of waking from a genjutsu.
Instead, he was standing, completely unharmed, on a well-worn dirt path amongst the rest of the Konoha search team. It would have been a welcome surprise if he could remember how he'd gotten from following three refugees out of the swamp to staring at said refugees in from of him, one of which was on the ground holding her head.
The woman, Mae, the obvious user of the genjutsu, had apparently collapsed. Eizo knelt next to her, helping her sit up. Scout was there as well, chakra agitated and causing Inu to fidget by her side. The rest of the pack was no longer in sight.
Kakashi's fellow Leaf ninja were healthy enough though, if bit confused and disoriented. He saw Tenzou lowering his hands from his chest and realized the other Jounin had made to break the jutsu at the same time Kakashi had. They must have overloaded Mae and caused her collapse.
"Is she okay?" Iruka asked, rubbing his head but taking a few steps toward the three refugees in concern. Sakura also moved her pack from her back to her front.
Eizo sighed, "She'll be fine. She just held it too long."
"Held what exactly?" Shino asked, rubbing his head under his hood.
"Her song," Scout murmured in answer, "She sang too long, and you interrupted."
"You mean she cast a genjutsu?" Kakashi clarified, but he knew it didn't sound like a question, "I'm guessing one that has to do with her voice." At least, Kakashi thought, that would account for the lullaby-like tune he'd heard throughout the illusion.
"Yes," Mae said weakly, but she waved Eizo off her and stood, albeit shakily. She continued almost to herself, "Shinobi call it a Kekkei genkai. It runs in my family."
Kakashi stepped forward, Eizo moving to stand between the Copy-ninja and Mae, as the Leaf nin asked, "And why did you cast it?" After his initial threat of feeding them to an overgrown reptile, Eizo and the other refugees had seemed mostly at peace with leading them back to the camp. Understandably watchful, but not hostile in the slightest.
This justu came out of the blue and Kakashi would admit (under extreme torture, of course) that he was a little unsettled that Mae had been able to sneak up on him like that. Especially given her lack of any real ninja training if what Eizo said had any truth to it. In fact, when he thought back hard enough he distinctly remembered Mae humming absently ahead of Kakashi on the path. When Kiba had commented dopily that she must have a beautiful singing voice she had laughed almost too hard, like they were missing a joke, and asked sweetly if he cared to hear a song. Sneaky.
"Calm down," Eizo growled in front of Kakashi now, "It's practically standard procedure around here. She only made you forget the path here while you were following us, so we can keep the location of the camp a secret. At least till we know we can trust you."
It was a reasonable enough explanation. Practical even. As a connoisseur of all things paranoid, Kakashi could even approve. That didn't mean he had to like it, though.
"Best blood limit I know of," Kiba laughed, but stopped at the look Shikamaru threw him, "What? It was nice in there." Akamaru even barked his approval.
"It's why you're a refugee," Hinata said to Mae, touching her own temple, no doubt thinking of her eyes.
Mae nodded, looking tired, "I would never hurt anyone with it," she said, sounding distressed, "It's only so you won't remember."
"Like you did with the tradesman," Shikamaru said.
Mae nodded again as Sakura brushed past Kakashi and Eizo, med-bag in hand.
"Here," the pinkette said, and Mae blinked as Sakura handed her a food-pill, "You just cast a jutsu on a pretty big group of people and had it broken by two powerful Jounin. Your chakra is probably depleted and your system got a shock, that's why your head hurts and you're tired," Sakura dropped the food-pill into Mae's hand and pushed it at her, "Eat it, it'll help."
The three refugees looked rather surprised and Scout even leaned in and sniffed the little pill.
Sakura laughed, "It's safe. If you want, I can make Kiba check it for poison."
"I would do so voluntarily," Kiba called, holding his hand up.
Mae glanced up at Eizo in confusion, and then said to Sakura, "I expected you to be angry."
Kakashi shrugged grudgingly, "No one's hurt, and we can't blame you for protecting yourselves after everything that's happened."
Mae starred at the Leaf ninja and then looked down at the little food-pill Sakura had given her. Smiling, she popped it in her mouth.
Eizo watched her for a moment before turning back to Kakashi saying, "Camp is just up ahead. Another ten minutes."
"Well, what're we waitin' for?" Kiba practically hollered, "We got a moron to see."
They had only gone a short way when Scout suddenly laughed and broke from the group. She ran ahead, Inu on her heels the five other dogs racing her as well. The other two refugees did not change pace though, the Leaf Shinobi staying behind them.
"What is she doing?" Iruka asked, smiling after the girl.
Eizo snorted, "She always gets excited when we bring in new people. Don't know why."
"She just likes showing it off," Mae said, smiling knowingly, "She's been with Naruto the longest out of all us refugees, after all. Scout had a lot to do with getting us here."
"Finding us, you mean," Eizo corrected.
Kakashi was starring hard at the path in front of them, trying to make out the camp Scout was so excited about as Iruka made conversation with the other two. So far, all he could see was Scout's white hair flying out after her, oversized cloak flapping, running through a clearing toward a large clump of trees that obscured everything behind them. Maybe the trees acted like a barrier for their camp, like the wall around Konoha.
"I meant to ask," Iruka was saying, "I was wondering how you got here, Eizo-san. Do you also have a blood limit?"
Eizo laughed, "Me? No, I'm nothing special. Retired, actually."
Yamato spoke up then with his own inquiry, "You were special enough to become a refugee because of the Daimyo's order. And we were also under the impression that the Kazekage wasn't cooperating with the Daimyo."
Eizo's smile went a bit fixed as he explained, tapping his hitai-ate lightly with one finger, "Yeah, I was trained in Suna. But my family is from a much smaller civilian village . . . outside of the Kazekage's jurisdiction," he sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the Leaf ninja, "When I retired I went back there and found out they were having trouble with the local lord and his taxes. I was a little too loud about it for his tastes. I actually started making headway in getting things changed but when the Daimyo's men came . . ."
"You became a Jinchuuriki," Kakashi finished when the Sand nin trailed off.
Eizo nodded, smiling without any humor, "Frankly, you all are about to walk into a camp slam full of Jinchuuriki."
He and Mae shared a short laugh at this, as if it were some inside joke.
They were following a rapidly moving Scout through the clearing when Sakura suddenly stopped and looked around, green eyes widening as she took in her surroundings.
"Sakura?" Yamato said and stopped as well looking back at the kunoichi.
"Agilis," was Sakura's answer as she walked to the side of the path and knelt to look at the little purple tipped plants growing on either side of it.
Kakashi looked up and realized that the clearing was actually a cultivated field for growing crops. Specifically the Agilis that grew all the way up to the edge of the clump of trees Scout was still running toward, heedless of their stopping. The field stretched into a wide circle around the camp, the little herbs stopping only when the rest of the forest became too thick.
"Oh, you know of it?" Mae asked, surprised.
"She's a healer. It's a healing herb," Eizo said as if it were obvious and Mae blushed a bit.
"I thought it was only something the Kobayashi clan knew about," the woman defended herself, "They're the ones that grow it, after all."
"Kobayashi clan?" Shikamaru asked.
Eizo nodded, "Their entire clan was exiled from their village. Apparently because of a secret technique that allows the family to excel at growing," Eizo shook his head, "It's crazy because they're not even a ninja clan even though they make use of chakra. They're farmers and follow a code of peace of some kind, vegetarians even. Not one of them would hurt a fly, wouldn't even know how."
"This is amazing," Sakura was saying, reaching out and lightly touching one of the plants, "To grow so much of it – "
"Uhm, Sakura," Hinata said and pointed when Sakura looked up, out into the field.
Kakashi and the rest of the Konoha shinobi had seen it, too. There was a man with a clipboard running toward them, waving his arms and shouting something unintelligible. His green robes flapped over his dirty gardening clothes and honey-blonde hair was in disarray as he hurried over.
"Oh, there's Takeko now," Mae said as though the man didn't look like he was about to have coronary.
As he got closer they could hear that he was shouting, "Don't touch!" repeatedly. Sakura realized he was aiming this at her and she jumped back from the plants as if they had burned her.
The blonde man, Tokeko apparently, puffed to a stop in front of them, leaning over to rest his hands on his knees, panting, "Apologies (huff) the plants, you see (wheeze) are very sensitive (cough) in their first stages . . ." he trailed off as Eizo whacked him on the back.
"You have got to work out more," Eizo mumbled.
"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized, slightly stricken, "I didn't realize."
Tokeko got his breath and waved a hand, "It's alright," he said, still breathing deeply, "I didn't know you were new."
"We were just taking them to Naruto," Mae said quickly and waited a moment for Tokeko to look again at Sakura and the others and see the Leaf hitai-ates. His brow scrunched when he did and he looked back at Mae sharply. She gave him a significant look that Kakashi did not miss but only asked, "Do you know where he is right now?"
The blonde man's jaw worked for a second but he answered with a shrug, "Sorry, I've been out here all day."
"Never mind then," Mae said, and Kakashi got the impression that also meant, I'll explain more later, "We'll find him."
Tokeko let out a small snort, "Okay, sure."
Mae rolled her eyes, "He's not that bad."
"We have to send Scout out at least three times a day just to track him down," Tokeko said in incredulously.
"He just worries," Mae defended sharply.
"I never said that was a bad thing," he replied soothingly, "If you do find him tell I'll have Sanjiro's raw shipment ready but mother needs another week to mix the rest."
Mae assured him she would and they started walking again, Tokeko wishing the Leaf-nin welcome to camp as he headed back to the field. Sakura stared after him as if she had more questions she wanted to ask but held her tongue in favor of their real objective. They were closer to Naruto than ever now.
Eizo's ten-minute walk had turned into twenty with the interruption but soon the clump of trees ahead became clearer.
"Hey," Sakura piped up suddenly, pointing to a certain spot within the trees, "I can see it. Up there." She too started jogging after Scout, who was already out of sight, passing Eizo and Mae on the path.
"Sakura, I think we should wait –" Iruka's worrying was cut off by Kiba rushing past him, not to be outdone, and quickly over taking Sakura, laughing all the way, "Wait, Kiba!"
"It's alright," Mae said kindly, a mischievous gleam in her pretty eyes, "Iruka-sensei." And then she was off as well, her musical laughter left in her wake. Eizo groaned but ran after her, keeping pace easily despite the years he had on the younger woman.
Iruka blinked after her and turned to Yamato and Kakashi, "I never introduced myself as a teacher . . ."
"No," Kakashi said slowly, "You didn't."
With a glance at Shikamaru, Hinata, and Shino, Kakashi and the rest of the Leaf nin ran the rest of the way as well.
As they got closer, Kakashi saw that Scout had stopped to wait, sitting on the base of something that the Copy-nin thought was a statue of a dog settled in front of an opening in the clump of trees. Now that Kakashi was closer, he could see that the trees here really were a barrier. They grew so close together, old roots tangling together, branches mingling, casting what he assumed was the entrance to the camp in such deep shadow it was hard to make it out even close up. If Kakashi hadn't known to look for it he might have missed the opening in the tree trunks completely.
Sakura and Kiba had already stopped in front of the statue as well and were staring at it in a way that made Kakashi look at the thing again.
When he and the rest of the Konoha Shinobi slowed in front of the statue, they all stopped. Kakashi heard Hinata gasp and small Oh from Iruka.
What Kakashi had thought was a dog turned out to be a fox. A fox with nine tails.
It was made completely of wood and stood on a cylindrical base.
It was nothing like the howling, terrifying nightmare that had etched itself forever into Kakashi's memory. He could recall those tails lashing out and bringing down buildings in one sweep. He'd seen that thing's bloody maw snatch up fellow Shinobi, large teeth smeared red, ripping through flesh and bone. Those red eyes that had been so filled with hate, that had only sought to bring destruction, that had burned once again in the face of a little blonde Genin . . .
Yet here it sat in this form. The fox was sitting calmly, nine tails fanned out behind it, no more dangerous than a woman's hand-fan, almost looking like they would sway gently in the breeze. Its long face was serene and noble, no hint of malice, only welcome.
This was a guardian.
"Naruto," Hinata whispered.
"Well," Mae said cheerfully, "He is technically the founder. And the only real Jinchuuriki here." She and Eizo didn't even stop walking just moved right past the statue, an everyday occurrence for them.
Scout smiled at the Leaf nin and hopped down from her perch on the statue's base, saying, "You can sign, too, if you want."
Kakashi didn't understand until they started walking again and he passed closer to the base of the statue. The wood there was carved in several places, names, initials, and dates.
"Everyone who's passed through the gates," Eizo said as he brushed a finger over his own name that sat close to another's as if they'd signed together.
"If Naruto didn't have a big head before," Iruka tried to joke weakly.
Mae chuckled, "He thought we were silly for it. But we like it so who cares what he says."
From here, Kakashi could hear sounds of people. Laughter, shouting, sounds of life simply carrying on. He could even smell something cooking over an open fire.
When they went through the opening that made the 'gates' to the camp Kakashi saw several jaws drop.
"This is camp?" Kiba's voice went up a few octaves as he starred at the small settlement they'd walked into.
Except, instead of tents or even roughly built houses Kakashi had been expecting it was . . .
"Tree houses," Iruka said suddenly and Kakashi figured that was the best way to sum it up.
Not 'tree house' in the sense that it was little house built into a tree for the amusement of small children. No, 'tree houses' in that someone had apparently figured out how make a house inside a tree. Like the things were grown specifically to have windows and doors.
And it was not difficult to distinguish which trees were 'houses' and which were simply a part of the forest surrounding them. The tree houses were huge, the largest sitting in the middle of them with an unfamiliar family crest that Kakashi didn't know, but suspected it was that of whoever built, er, grew the structures.
"The Kobayashi family?" Yamato asked under his breath.
It was weird enough that Kakashi almost missed the fact that, amongst the tree houses, were people. Refugees that had been displaced and escaped to Whirlpool because of the Daimyo's order all milled about like it was another day in any regular village. Chores were being carried out, a makeshift market had been set up in the center of the tree houses where some were trading and socializing and somewhere in the distance, someone started shouting at a bunch of kids running in between the legs of adults.
Women went by carrying baskets of produce and a few men could be seen with construction materials and heading off down another trail into the woods. There was a splash somewhere and Kakashi turned to see a boy filling a bucket with water from a pump that had been set up, probably carrying water from underground.
"Yeah," Eizo said, looking out at it all contemplatively, "We should probably stop calling it 'camp' per say."
The Leaf nin were frozen in the arch of the gates.
"You did all this," Shikamaru said, rubbing his temple, "In less than six months?"
"You should have seen it before we got indoor plumbing," Mae stage whispered with a shudder, "Uncivilized."
Shikamaru didn't get to comment because just then a group of kids, the same ones that had just been yelled at probably, came barreling towards the gates, cackling joyfully as only children can, and sequentially running head-first into the Leaf nin. Literally, in Shikamaru's case, as he was almost taken out by the lead boy.
The kids stopped when they saw that their path was blocked, the oldest of them, a boy with unruly brown hair that had run into Shikamaru, looking up to see what had interrupted their fun, "Hey, what're you doing blocking the gates!" The other children, five in all including the little leader, crowded around, realizing they were looking at unfamiliar faces, momentarily forgetting that they were running for their lives a second ago.
"Careful, now," Mae said to the kids, for some reason grinning like a fat cat, "You don't want to make a bad first impression. These are Naruto's friends."
Eizo chuckled as the children's eyes widened and Kakashi got the impression they were missing something. Scout and Inu had disappeared completely.
Shikamaru looked down at the children in front of him quizzically, "Uh, yeah, hey –"
"No way!" The oldest boy exclaimed, pointing at the hitai-ate on Shikamaru's arm, "They're from the Leaf. Same as Naruto!"
The rest of the kids gasped and Kakashi suddenly got the urge to back away as well.
One little girl with curly red hair piped up, practically bouncing, looking up at Sakura in wonder, "Are you the same Sakura from the stories?"
Sakura blinked, "I – "
"Of course she is, dummy," The only other girl sneered, "Look at her hair."
The others joined in until all Kakashi could hear was a barrage of:
"And that's Kiba, he's got the tattoos. And his puppy, Akamaru –"
"Hinata, the one with the cool eyes –"
"I thought Akamaru was the shadow guy –"
"That's Shikamaru, stupid. He's there, the ponytail."
"Which one has the bugs?"
"If that's Shikamaru, where's Ino and Choji?"
"That's Kakashi-sensei! Can I see your other eye?"
"Captain Yamato, he can grow houses, too!"
"What about your mask? Do you really never take it off?"
It finally ended when a shrill whistle rent the air and Kakashi took a moment to thank every deity he'd ever even heard of that he decided to bring Iruka along on this mission. He could hear Eizo choking back laughter somewhere and a quiet admonishment from Mae.
Kiba had covered his sensitive ears, Akamaru mimicking him. Scout had run off somewhere without being noticed.
Meanwhile, Iruka had gotten the kids under control with a firm but slightly bewildered, "It's not very polite to greet guests with an interrogation, you know."
The oldest boy, still looking rather awed, whispered, "That's gotta be Iruka-sensei." He drew his finger over his nose, mimicking the teacher's scar. The rest of the kids oohed.
"Er, yes," Iruka said, glancing at Mae accusingly. The woman shrugged shamelessly.
"Did I mention Naruto's talked about you?" She asked.
"The hell did he tell you?" Yamato asked, shifting uncomfortably as a boy with the same honey-blonde as Tokeko stared at him with something close to hero worship in his eyes.
"Let's just say you're more of a legend around here than Scout's dogs," Eizo said, then looked over his shoulder at the approach of footsteps.
"Get back here you little rats!" A woman's voice rent across the camp toward them, and the children froze, smiles dropping from their faces.
A young woman with a light brown ponytail over one shoulder and a measuring tape around her neck came storming up, practically breathing fire.
"Oharu," Mae greeted but was mostly ignored.
"Give me my button stash back, brats, or so help me – "
"Look, Oharu-san!" the little leader of the group cut her off before she could get going, pointing up at the bemused Leaf nin in an effort to distract her, no doubt, "We have new people!"
Kakashi watched the woman get closer and give them a cursory glance before continuing in her rage, "I don't care if it's the freakin' Daimyo, stop stealing m-my – ," her voice strangled to a halt when her eyes found the Leaf symbol and the number of people wearing it.
" . . . Oh, my." The anger left her eyes and her cheeks instead colored from embarrassment. The children took their chance to escape, the boy leading them wisely leaving a jar labeled Buttons on the ground near the distracted woman's foot.
"Oharu," Eizo said, smiling the softest smile Kakashi had seen on his face yet, "These are Shinobi of Konoha. Shinobi of Konoha, my daughter." He walked up and put a hand on the young lady's shoulder proudly. Eizo towered over her, but their dark eyes were the same. She wore no forehead protector like her father, though, so she must not have followed his example as a Shinobi.
There was a chorus of bemused greetings from Kakashi's group.
"I don't normally scream at small children," Oharu blurted when they finished.
"We were not offended," Kakashi replied, silently thanking her for running them off. It got him a half-hearted glare from Iruka, though.
"It's alright, dear," Mae said dismissively, and quickly began to explain everything that had transpired since the Leaf nin had shown up on the island and why they were there. Oharu listened eyes widening until they looked almost completely round.
"So, we really need to find Naruto," Mae finished, "Do you know where he is?"
A few women waking by within hearing distance all laughed good-naturedly and one called jokingly, "Best of luck there!"
Mae waved her hand in a shooing motion and the women moved on, but not without curious looks at the new arrivals and whispers behind their hands.
Oharu blinked at the group of Leaf nin for a second before looking up at Eizo, asking a silent question. Eizo nodded as if to say it was okay.
"Yeah,"Oharu answered, tugging at her measuring tape, "He's at the bridge, actually."
"Still?" Mae said in disbelief, "I sent him up there this morning."
"Oh, he hasn't been up there the whole time," Oharu replied, mouth twitching into a smirk, "He came back once a few hours ago to get Moriyo and he hasn't come back yet either. Then Naruto came back a second time to get an ice pack and a med kit – "
"Oh, no," Eizo interrupted, "Don't tell me I missed an actual fight between those two."
Oharu rolled her eyes at her father but finished with, "But he hasn't come back since then."
"Wow," Mae said, turning to the Leaf ninja, "Well, we could take you there now or if you want to rest we can wait here until –"
She started as several of the Konoha ninja spoke up all expressing various degrees of, "If it is all the same to you, kind woman, we would be more than happy to accompany you to see our friend at your earliest convenience. Thank you," but loudly and with a flare Kakashi suspected only Kiba could add to any given conversation. So, basically there was a commotion similar to that of a bag of cats being dropped into a tub of water until Kakashi held up his hand in the signal for field silence.
Everyone went quiet, Hinata having the decency to blush even though Kakashi never even heard her speak.
"What we meant," Kakashi said calmly, lowering his hand and looking at the startled refugees (amused, in Eizo's case), "Is that we would love to go see him at this bridge. Lead the way. Now. Please."
Mae just blinked for a moment, her hand splayed delicately over her chest as if to fend off the shock.
"You heard the man, Mae," Eizo patted her shoulder, jolting her out of her daze, "Let's go."
"Oh, yes, of course," Mae shook herself and looked up into one of the trees bordering the camp, "Scout, you can come down now, the kids are gone." Scout's head peaked out from the lower branches of the tree as she began to climb down, mumbling something about 'ear-pullers and tail-grabbers'. Inu emerged from her own shadow as well. Kakashi was briefly curious as to where all the other dogs ran off to when he couldn't see them.
"Oh, not yet," Oharu said quickly, suddenly remembering something, "Wait here." As she took off Kakashi felt a few in his group shift impatiently. He was also eager to get moving, but they were at the mercy of these people to some degree unless they wanted to go traipsing round the island alone again.
Since that had worked out so well before Kakashi tried to be patient as Oharu ran back into the camp. They watched as she stopped next to another man behind one of the produce stands. The little market seemed fuller now and almost every person there was craning to see the Konoha Shinobi, probably assuming they were just more refugees. If there were any other ninja mixed in with the refugees then Eizo was the only one advertising his status with his Sand hitai-ate.
The children from before weaved in and out of the small crowd, though, and were obviously in the process of sharing what they happened to know of the strangers. Eyes widened as adults leaned down to hear what the kids had to say, disbelief showing in a few faces, stares increasing. Kakashi would be glad when they headed away from the attention.
By the produce stand, Oharu and the man exchanged a few words and the man glanced over her shoulder at the new arrivals curiously. She said something else and he nodded, smiling a bit, reaching under his stand and handing her a box. Oharu smiled back and began to run back to them, thanking the man over her shoulder.
"Take this with you," she said, handing the box to her father, "I don't know if he's eaten today. You know how he gets."
Eizo hummed low in his throat as he said disapprovingly, "Yeah, kid never eats."
Kakashi thought Iruka might faint if the strangled noise he made was any indication. Yamato gave the teacher a comforting pat on the shoulder, though he looked a little dazed himself. Hinata looked like someone had slapped her.
"Are they still talking about Naruto?" Shikamaru mumbled to Kiba.
"If they are we're the wrong island," Kiba said in utter disbelief.
"If they're talking about Naruto we're in the wrong dimension," Sakura quipped and Shino nodded with her.
Kakashi knew Mae overheard them as her lovely face tightened into a suppressed frown.
"This way," Scout piped up, already heading for the path that the men with the tools had gone down, Inu and two of the other dogs leading the way.
Mae waved them to follow silently as Eizo said some parting words to Oharu, tucking the box lunch into an inside pocket of his cloak. As the Leaf nin walked through the camp Kakashi felt eyes on them more than ever, the curiosity practically palpable. He knew gossip would break out as soon as they disappeared down the path and he almost laughed at the thought.
As they followed Scout down the wooded path, this one much more trampled than the one to the swamp, he happened to glance at Iruka. He could almost see the gears turning in the Chunin's head, the look on the teacher's face one of deep thought.
"Hey," Kakashi whispered and Iruka looked up, "Stop worrying. He probably just doesn't want to eat his vegetables or something. You saw that ramen order." The Copy-nin gave him an eye-smile, but Iruka shook his head.
"That's not what I was thinking about," Iruka whispered back, "Well, I'm worried but . . . I was just thinking . . . Naruto did all this."
When Kakashi just tilted his head Iruka explained, "All that back there," he pointed behind them vaguely where the camp lay hidden in the forest, "All those people, that . . . community. Our Naruto is responsible for that."
And Kakashi understood what Iruka meant.
"Makes you kinda proud, doesn't it, Sensei?" Kakashi asked playfully.
Iruka smiled and chuckled but the quiet, "Yes," was sincere.
The pounding in Naruto's head had escalated to a full-blown migraine. He had never had a migraine before, but he was pretty certain this is what it felt like. It wasn't only in his head now but his stomach felt like it wanted to escape by any means possible.
It didn't help that Toson had finally seen fit to start working again even though Matsuko was still yelling at him, Toson hammering away. He must have been trying to drown the younger man out with his hammering because Toson just hammered harder the louder Matsuko shouted and all Naruto wanted to do was crawl into a hole to get away from it.
This was their most ridiculous fight yet and Naruto was very close to screaming like a child for them to just shut the hell up . . .
"Naruto," he heard someone whisper and opened eyes he didn't remember closing to see Moriyo in front of him, "Are you all right, child?"
Naruto made a valiant attempt at smiling but knew it looked like the grimace it was, "Fine. Headache."
Moriyo gave him a look that was far too assessing and said, "You can go back to camp if you want. They have to tire themselves out eventually."
Naruto shook his head, then stopped because it hurt, "I'm fine," he repeated, "I'm not leaving you alone with this mess." He chuckled weakly and knew Moriyo could see through his bluff.
The older man was going to say something else when a particularly vicious expletive came from Toson and Moriyo turned to see what it was. Naruto looked too and saw that Toson had hit his own hand with the hammer. At least it wasn't Matsuko, who was laughing and trying badly to hide it as Moriyo sighed in exasperation.
"Hang on," Naruto called to Toson as steadily as he could, "I've still got the med kit over here." Maybe while he was going through it he could grab some painkillers for his head, too. Hopefully, he wouldn't throw them up.
He walked across the partially built bridge to the stack of boxes where he had left the med kit. He could see the path to camp from here, but not very far as it curved almost immediately and the trees hid the rest from view.
This bridge fiasco was being built in the place of an old one that had collapsed from age and disuse. It had been the original path to the bay where Sanjiro's boat came and went, and a much faster and safer route than the one through the swamp. The bridge went over a small quarry with a river running through it and at first Naruto hadn't thought it really necessary to rebuild it. The path through the swamp was treacherous, yes, but t provided a little more of a deterrent to intruders not invited to the island, helping hide them as well.
The bridge was much more obvious, but Moriyo had pointed out that as the camp grew there would be that many more people responsible for its safety. That and it was more than a little difficult for those without the same training as Naruto to traverse the marsh, much less be expected to do so every time a boat came in. Thankfully, Toson had come along and volunteered for the job. However, if Naruto had known Toson and Matsuko would get along this well he would have scrapped the project at ground zero.
Sighing, Naruto knelt in front of the med kit and opened it, rummaging for bandages and painkillers when his headache spiked so bad he nearly doubled over.
He gasped at the flare of panic that came with it, sudden, intense, and inexplicable. Naruto stood, wanting to be on his feet right then because he knew something was about to happen, but he didn't know what.
Naruto looked around wildly, seeing Moriyo nudging Matsuko to the side as he inspected Toson's hand, some of the other workers milling about slowly, waiting for instruction. Everywhere else was just empty forest and quarry and the path back to camp . . .
When his eyes landed on the path Naruto froze, realizing he was still holding a roll of bandages, but unable to remember why. Behind him, someone called his name, but went unnoticed.
All of his instincts were telling him to run. Run away from whatever or whoever was coming down that path. How he knew there was anything coming, he didn't know.
Naruto fought it, though, half of him wondering what in the world had gotten into him. If it was a threat he would have to address it for the sake of the camp, he shouldn't be afraid of that. His head suddenly throbbed worse for a second.
Someone called to him again and Naruto turned is head to the side, glancing at Moriyo's concerned face as the older man walked over to him, cane tapping lightly on the wood of the bridge.
Naruto watched him for a moment before turning back, feeling like his head had been turned by another's hand on his chin, coaxing him to look at the real danger. When he next laid eyes on the path he saw movement.
Going against everything in his head and stomach telling him to turn and run, Naruto took a step forward, trying to see better.
He didn't understand immediately.
It was just Mae, Eizo, and Scout with her dog, Inu, coming down the path. Wanting to give their report probably, nothing to get worked up –
Then Mae turned and said something excitedly over her shoulder. Scout was waving to him but Naruto didn't even register it as more people appeared.
People Naruto never thought he'd have to see again.
The roll of bandages fell from his hand, unravelling across the ground as it rolled away.
Sakura was the first to spot him and she smiled widely, her eyes lighting up as she let out a happy laugh and sped up her pace. She broke out in front of the group, Kiba close behind her.
Naruto felt himself take a single step back.
Sakura saw this and slowed, her bright smile fading to confusion.
When Kiba just kept coming, Naruto felt that strange spike of panic and fear again, but this time tinged with something so much more basic Naruto couldn't put a name to it.
It overwhelmed him, that base instinct.
Run.
Naruto ran.
A/N: *Hides in closet because cannot handle judgment of OC reveals*
No, really, this chapter was such a pain, guys. I had it almost completely written, hated everything, and changed almost every bit of in the end. Criticism (constructive or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated and to the benefit of future chapters.
Naruhinakiralacus, I swear Naruto's gonna stop running eventually.
Just a few things that are not terribly important:
1. The legend of the Sending Wolves is actually a thing. I got the idea from this article (remove spaces or look up Okuri-okami) and took a lot of artistic license after that.
wiki . samurai-archives index . php?title = Okami_ (folklore)
And, yes, I did watch Princess Monanoke before I wrote this chapter. I don't know if it helped. Great movie, though.
2. Only a few of the OCs names were chosen with any special consideration, the rest were thrown by a random name generator, which is more fun than it should be.
3. Kobayashi is a relatively common Japanese family name apparently and means "little forest" which I thought was appropriate. The Kobayashi clan is also inspired in part by the Air Nomads from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
And that's it, please review!