Made of Fail
Chapter Thirteen
Moar Plot
Fū happily returned home with Kuro. Kuro informed her family of the agreement they'd made with Taki, which started up another argument between her and Merry. Myron got involved when Merry demanded to know if he cared. It took a while, but Merry eventually cooled down when Kuro forced her to realize that she had diplomatic immunity, and that it was a small price to pay for having her baby safe and that Merry would do the same for her.
They got back to Konoha without incident. Kuro gave a copy of a seal design to Ito – the one that stores things inside in suspended animation – figuring he could use it, as kimono were known for their notoriously difficult upkeep. When she explained what it did, Ito got as still as a statue and his eyes got wide. When she couldn't get him to move, she left, figuring that his reaction was enough of a thank you.
So it was with a satisfied grin that Kuro began to walk back to her tree. She had plans to put into action.
Utakata had made it a point to continue helping Rock Lee improve his taijutsu. At the moment, they were working on the Drunken Fist Mantis style, which suited Lee to the point that he did it instinctively. It was suddenly switching styles that was a problem.
"Aikido!" After a brief pause, Lee clumsily switched his style to the little Aikido he knew. He was rapidly improving – but as he promised Kuro onē-san, continued just to pass his classes by the skin of his teeth. As it was nearing the second semester of his second year, he still had a long, hard road to follow and a very thin line to toe. He knew he was following a plan he didn't know, but for better or worse, he trusted the Family.
"Jeet Kune Do!" Lee was able to switch styles a bit more smoothly this time, as he was more familiar with JKD – it was just like the Drunken Fist, and yet intrinsically different, as although one was indirect and the other straightforward, both stressed flexibility and thinking on one's feet. JKD was so unusual that it didn't even have kata to memorize, and would therefore be extremely difficult to learn to counteract.
"Capoeira!" This was another of Lee's favorites – it was a dance: a complex, deadly dance. Although he wasn't as good at it as he was the others due to the complexity, he worked hard on it and ingrained the basics as deeply as he could into his muscle memory.
"Kuk Sool Won!" Lee switched again, this time a bit more clumsily. Kuk Sool was more focused on using lower stances and graceful movements, emphasizing joint locks and pressure points. It was more like Aikido in that way.
Utakata, noticing that Lee's muscles were beginning to strain a bit too much, called an end to the day's practice before scooping the child up into his arm. "A-ah! U-Utakata onī-san?" The quiet teenager gave Lee a rare smile. "You did very well today, Lee-kun. Rest up a little; I'll bring you home. We're having fish tonight, and Tarantu's going to be there."
Lee smiled. "A-Arigatō…" he said happily.
He wondered when the Family's odd abode had become 'home' to him.
Kuro sizzled the fish over the fire in the spider frying pan, which was an iron pan with three legs to keep it over the fire. She, like her father before her, cooked fish in soy sauce. The kids loved it. She flipped the fish over lazily to cook the other side before turning to Sara.
"You're sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"Good. You'd better be there to bail me out."
"I keep my promises." Kuro grinned and hugged her. "I know, you crazy bitch." Tarantu, sitting next to them, smiled. "I hope you know what you're doing, Kuro." Kuro snorted. "Do I ever know what I'm doing, Nēnē?"
They all laughed.
"'Kā-chan, 'Kā-chan!" A yellow blur ran down the side of a tree and landed lightly next to the trio. It was Naruto – and he was wearing nothing but a long, animal skin loincloth with flaps in the front and the back, along with another that went between his legs to preserve his decency. He held up a scroll with a crudely drawn seal painted upon it. Kuro took it from him and held it delicately, as if it was the most important thing in the world.
She immediately spotted a few mistakes, but it was surprising – for a beginner, this was amazing. Kuro smiled. "Wow, Naru," she exclaimed. "This is really very good! You remembered every part of the seal, which is very hard to do. The only thing I see wrong with it is they way you've connected all the parts, but it's very good otherwise." She beamed at him. "I'm proud of you, Naruto! You've done very well!"
Naruto blushed and smiled shyly at the praise. He loved being told he did something well, especially by 'Kā-chan. After so many years of being called a failure, being praised was the best feeling in the world.
As Kuro explained where Naruto went wrong in his three-part storage seal, Utakata landed next to them with Lee in his arms. Tarantu smiled at them. "Hey! The fish is almost done, so just sit tight and wait for a bit, okay?" Utakata nodded and set Lee down, whereupon he leaned into Tarantu's side to rest.
"What did you two work on?"
"On what did you two work?" Kuro corrected. Tarantu smacked the back of her head, making her giggle and turn back to what she was doing.
Lee outlined the work he and Utakata had done that day, from the practicing kata and different moves to sparring to switching from style to style on a dime. Tarantu beamed at him. "It sounds like you did well," she praised, rubbing his shoulder as she beamed at him. "I'm so proud of you." Lee grinned happily at the praise. He only saw Tarantu every other week, but he still adored her. She was everything he'd ever believed a mother should be, all rolled up into one package. He practically lived for her visits.
He'd admit that he got a little jealous of the fact that she had kids back in Suna who got to be with her all the time, but mostly accepted that he wasn't one of them. At least he had her some of the time, and the rest of the Family the rest of the time.
"Dinner's ready!" Kuro announced, taking the pan off the fire and putting portions of fish onto each plate. She then passed them to Tarantu, who put a generous portion of rice on the side, as well as a few stalks of asparagus. She then handed the plates off to Anko, who passed them down the circle to everyone. It was peaceful in the Forest of Death that night.
Elsewhere, it wasn't.
Burning.
It was all burning.
Flames lapped up the walls, eagerly devouring anything in their path. The inferno was too large – too large to be put out, to large to be contained, too large to do anything but sit and weep. The once proud and majestic Uchiha district was up and flames.
Sasuke screamed, tears running down his face as he attempted to run into the inferno before he was pulled back harshly. His shock turned to anger as he fought mercilessly against his attacker. "L-Let me g-go! I have to…to help!"
Two strong pairs of arms enveloped him in a tight hug, shocking the young Uchiha out of his stupor. "A-Ani…ki?" For the first time in his young life, he looked to his brother to find that he was shaking with unsuppressed sobs.
His once strong older brother, the one on whom he could always depend to be his rock, his anchor, was crying.
All the anger drained out of him, and Sasuke, too, cried.
Kuro paused suddenly in her eating and looked up, ignoring the pieces of rice on her face. Fū looked up at her. "'Kā-chan?" Kuro looked at her. "Eh, it's fine," she dismissed, licking up stray pieces of rice outside her mouth with her tongue. "Just thought I heard something for a minute." She smiled at her daughter and went back to her food.
She'd sort through her feelings of guilt later.
The next day, everyone was in an uproar. The Uchiha district had burned down, and all but two Uchiha had died. It was unknown how they'd been unable to escape or put out the flames before it was too late, and, on the flipside, everyone wondered how the two survivors had escaped.
Hiruzen, for one, was highly suspicious. With a fire, there would be at least a few survivors, and much likely few deaths. As a fire-wielding clan, they made sure to have proper precautions in place in case a fire jutsu went out of control. Someone must have neutralized all of them and made sure the Uchiha were asleep before setting the fire. He knew it wasn't Itachi's doing: Itachi had plans in place to take care of the issue with his clan in a much different way, and would never change plans without discussing them, especially on such short notice.
It didn't matter that they were all dead; Hiruzen actually breathed a sigh of relief. Now Itachi wouldn't have to kill his family and live in exile. However, what did matter was the way that they had died. Someone purposefully killed all of the Uchiha clan save Itachi and Sasuke, intentionally or unintentionally saving Itachi from having to do it himself. The two questions, therefore, at the forefront of his mind, were 'who' and 'why'.
Itachi took Sasuke from school for a bit as they came to terms with what happened. With a miniscule amount of the Uchiha fortune, the two were able to get a relatively nice apartment closer to the center of town.
The Hokage had released an official statement that detailed the cause of the fire as a jutsu that had gone out of control. The only one who knew otherwise was Itachi, as the Hokage had shared his suspicions with him. However, he was under orders not to worry about it yet: Hokage-sama forced a leave of absence upon him to recuperate and take care of his little brother for the time being.
Itachi was thankful that he couldn't do missions: Sasuke was in a state of shock, and needed care. All the two had was each other at this point, and Itachi would do the most vile things imaginable before he would ever let himself even entertain the idea of thinking of letting his brother down.
The fire couldn't have come at a better time: Itachi had been going to kill Shisui that night.
Meanwhile, Kuro got ready to put the next part of her plan into action. She'd recently finished a few seals that could be used on kage bunshin: one made all of its experiences, instead of appearing in the user's head at inconvenient times, appear on a piece of paper that the user could touch to absorb the information at a slow pace. Another forced a henge to stay in suspended animation, so it could never be disabled. Yet another allowed the clone to stay for longer periods by breaking off their connection to the user and absorbing chakra from other sources.
It was a big breakthrough, but Kuro wasn't about to make this seal public – she was going to use it for herself.
Kuro made thirty clones before having then all henge into people of all shapes and sizes, from petite with slender shoulders, long white hair and very fair skin to tall and rotund with dark skin and short hair. She then stuck the seal onto each of them, which she then combined to shape into a slender black crescent moon on their left hips. Knowing their mission, the clones all disappeared into the thick underbrush.
There were several disadvantages to the seals Kuro had made: the clones were useless in a fight, as they had the bodies and chakra control of a civilian; they weren't able to copy as many of Kuro's traits as a normal clone; they couldn't handle alcohol; they tended to be somewhat moody. Nevertheless, they would suit Kuro's needs just fine.
She grinned to herself. Things were looking up.
Tarantu leaned into her pillows as she read the letter. Anko had written to her, telling her of the Uchiha District fire, where a jutsu had gone wrong and everyone had died except for the two youngest in the clan, a boy genius named Itachi and an Academy student named Sasuke. Tarantu frowned. That hadn't happened in the original timeline – they must have been changing things more than she thought.
Anko didn't seem to be overly worried about it, expressing her annoyance of the Uchiha clan in great detail. The rest of the letter was flirtatious and very Anko-like. Tarantu blushed beet red at some of the things she'd written. With a sigh, she drafted a letter back.
Anko:
I was shocked to hear of the Uchiha-ku Fire. I feel really bad for the two children especially. Judging by your letter, however, it must've been their karma come back to bite them in the ass. Still, Itachi-san and Sasuke-san must be feeling horrible. At least they have each other.
Things are pretty well over here in Suna; Gaara's gotten much better at taijutsu and was able to beat Kankurō a couple of times, which is a huge step forward for him. He's also rapidly improving with his kyoketsu-shoge skills. His ninjutsu skills have begun to plateau, unfortunately, but this gives us an opportunity to work on his other skills as well. He's shown an interest in healing as well, so I've gotten permission to teach him basic field medicine. He doesn't have the chakra control necessary for more than beginner medical jutsu, but I'm confident he can still learn quite a bit – he's a very hardworking young man.
Temari's getting much better at identifying poisons and creating antidotes and she's eager to start making her own. I'm confident she can do it; she's got the analytical capability for chemistry. Her wind jutsu skills are slowly but steadily improving, and she's in the process of learning a new one right now. Her taijutsu skills are the best out of the three kids, and she's learned to look forward to her days off where she plays with her siblings. She even made a friend – as a merchant's daughter, she's not here all the time, but that just guarantees that she doesn't have preconceived notions about Temari.
Kankurō's foray into genjutsu is turning out terrifically! Now that he's reading a lot more, his imagination has grown and he's able to make more complex illusions. Of course his main hobby, puppetry, is still his primary focus. He'll only use genjutsu as an assisting technique. Still, he's doing a lot better. He's really getting into sealing as well, and is incorporating that into his puppet designs.
The three of them love to go outside and play whenever they can, as well as immersing themselves into their hobbies (Kankurō's learning the shamisen!). I'm so glad that they're starting to enjoy their childhood instead of training all the time.
My own training is going well, but I'm also doing shifts at the hospital now, due to an influx of injured ninja. I'm a bit worried about it: are there stronger enemies out there, or is it more that they're taking too highly ranked missions for their ranking?
Otherwise, things are going pretty well; I like to visit Chiyo obā-san a lot, since she and her brother, Ebizō ojī-san, have a lot to say. They don't really get to talk much to anyone, since they hole themselves up in their house all day, but once you get them going, it's hard to keep up!
Yashamaru's still on his mission, but he'll be back soon.
Anyway, I'd better go; it's time to start making dinner, and we're having fish tonight, which is a real treat!
All my love,
Tarantu
The next day held another hospital shift for Tarantu: a very stressful hospital shift.
"There's another one, Tarantu-dono!" Tarantu wiped the sweat from her face. Jesus, whose friggin' idea was it to make her a medic-nin, anyway? She couldn't save people's lives! She rushed over to the next patient, quickly washing her hands and putting on gloves and a mask along the way. Her patient this time was a dark-haired nin who'd apparently been poisoned.
Tarantu took a scalpel and made an incision – she knew this guy's file pretty well, and for some reason, poison stuck to him a bit more than most people. Therefore, she had to cut him up a bit to make sure she got most of the poison out.
She began the jutsu and, slowly but surely, sucked up all the poison she could before dropping it into a sterilized container and handing it to a nurse to analyze. Tarantu healed the man's incision and relaxed as his vitals steadied.
She was so sure she was going to mess that up… Sighing, Tarantu began to wash her hands once more before she was called again. "Tarantu-dono, come quickly! A team just came in, and they're in a bad way!"
Her heart racing again, Tarantu pulled her surgical gloves back on and raced towards the next room, her scrubs billowing about her. "What's their status?" The words came easily to her mouth, her body moving on autopilot. This wasn't the normal Tarantu anymore. A different persona had come out: a Tarantu who easily took charge, who had been created the moment she'd been forced to leave her family and leave behind weakness.
"One has a puncture to the lung and heavy internal hemorrhaging due to a burst superior mesenteric artery; another has crushed legs; the third has an unknown amount of damage to the lower spine and severe burns up the left arm."
"Show me to the hemorrhaging one." The nurse led Tarantu through the doors of the operating room. Due to her hurry, she didn't even check the identity of the person she was healing. "Anesthetize him," she ordered. The patient was put under, with an oxygen mask over his face. She ordered immediate blood transfusions (blood type AB) and got to work, making an incision on the patient's lower abdomen.
Blood.
There was blood everywhere. With every heartbeat, more blood squirted out and all over Tarantu's scrubs. It wasn't too surprising; that particular artery branched off the aorta, which was connected directly to the heart. Mentally cursing, Tarantu quickly placed a suction pipe into the wound, which took care of most of the blood. Then she began another jutsu to heal the artery. As soon as that was fixed, Tarantu moved her hand up to the chest (where she thankfully didn't have to make an incision) and took care of that.
By the time she was done, Tarantu was panting heavily, sweat pouring off her face. A nurse helped her into a chair, letting her watch as other medics tended to the other members of the ANBU team.
As soon as she got her bearings, Tarantu left the OR and took off her bloody scrubs, washing up thoroughly. She'd finish up her paperwork tomorrow: right now, her bed was calling.
Fū was super excited. Ever since she'd been hidden away in Pépère and Mémère's house, neither she nor her team had been on any missions. Now, Gai-sensei was going to be taking them on their very first C-rank.
The team entered the mission office (which Iruka-sensei was staffing that day), Fū so eager her insects were humming – one, her large rhinoceros beetle which she used to communicate with the other jinchūriki, was perched upon her head. "Iruka-sensei!" she greeted happily. "We're here for a mission!"
Iruka-sensei smiled at them. "Yes, that's why most people come here. What kind of mission would you like?" Gai-sensei grinned. "Yosh! My Youthful Students and I have Agreed that, to Fan our Flames of Youth even Higher, we would Like to Try a C-Ranked Mission!"
It was a testament to Iruka-sensei's composure that he didn't do more than twitch at the overly-enthusiastic jōnin's display. "Well, what kind would you like? We have bodyguard duty, a wild animal running loose, and weeding a garden."
"Weeding a garden?" Fū asked curiously. "That sounds more like a D-rank. What makes it a C-rank?" Iruka-sensei smiled. "Ah, I'm not surprised you caught that, Fū-chan. Actually, this garden is quite close to a city of bandits and rogues. They don't usually come close to the customer's town, but it's enough to boost the mission ranking."
"Ooh!" Gai-sensei exclaimed. "That Sounds Promising! What do you think, my Cute Students?" The trio looked at each other. It sounded acceptable, with just enough of a thrill to it to make it interesting. Who knew? With their luck, they'd probably have a run-in or two with some overenthusiastic bandits, and if not, then it would be a good starting C-rank.
Fū grinned at Gai-sensei, giving permission to proceed.
They would take the mission.
Tarantu woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. It was a nice day out, with a rare drizzle (she never thought she'd think of rain as a miracle; but then, she'd never lived in the desert). She smiled and got up, got ready for the day, and went downstairs for breakfast.
"Oha –," she began before stopping. The Kazekage was sitting at the breakfast table (a truly rare occurrence), along with the three children, all of whom seemed to be in shock about something. "Kazekage-sama," she said with a low bow.
"Tarantu," he greeted. "I have come with an important message." There was a pause as he gestured towards a chair. "Sit," he ordered. Tarantu did so, feeling ill at ease. Something very big was happening, and she wasn't sure she was going to like it.
"Yesterday, Yashamaru and his team came back from their mission in very bad condition."
Oh.
"Yashamaru had heavy internal bleeding and a punctured lung."
Oh no.
"While he was healed well, his heart failed sometime during the night."
Oh gods, no.
"Unfortunately, no one on duty thought to check up on him, and he passed away. The will reading is scheduled for next week." The shock was too much for Tarantu; heedless of being before her boss and children, she began to sob.
Kuro was thrilled and terrified to hear that Fū, Kimimaro, and Haku were all going on a C-ranked mission. She kept her fussing over the three to a bare minimum, but she was sure her nervousness shone through.
Either way, que sera, sera; whatever will be, will be. "Just remember," she simply said, "that none of you are ever allowed to die." Fū laughed and waved it off, but Kimimaro simply nodded.
Jūgo seemed quite concerned as well, and stuck by Fū and Kimimaro's side more tightly than usual. It was easy to feel the waves of concern come off the empathic boy. He still seemed to understand that there was nothing for it, however, and kept quiet about his worries.
Kuro calmed herself by rationalizing that all three of them lived safely in the Forest of fuckin' Death, and they hadn't died yet – plus they were with Konoha's number one taijutsu specialist and elite jōnin, Maito Gai. They were at least at chūnin level at this point, and worked together seamlessly.
They'd be fine.
And yet she was still worried for them.
In one way, it was a blessing: the fact that her empathy had begun to return was heartening, to say the least. Before, she'd had such strong empathy that she'd had to suppress it, causing her emotions to be suppressed as well. Being able to feel her emotions again was a big step forward.
So Kuro rejoiced in her worry for the children, and yet refused to allow it to show.
The team set off early the next day, Fū eagerly heading out. "In which direction are we headed, Gai-sensei?" she asked with a wide grin, her orange eyes dancing merrily. He answered in his usual flamboyant way, which, when cut down into something recognizable by the normal human, said, "Northwest".
It was a beautiful day, with picturesque clouds streaked across the sky. The forest animals were happily going about their business (which was readily apparent to the trained ear), and the sun shone just brightly enough behind the clouds.
"Yosh!" Gai-sensei exclaimed happily, pumping his fist. "Let us See how Quickly we can Get there!" Fū grinned. "Yeah!" she yelled. "Kimi-nī, Haku-nī, let's go!"
It was obvious that, despite everything, Gai-sensei still underestimated them a bit. It wasn't a bad thing: in fact, it showed how sensitive he was to his students and their potential failings. However, that never dampened the satisfaction the trio felt at the look of utter shock on his face as they whizzed past him.
A small, pale woman, barely on the cusp of adulthood, sat on a park bench. She had long white hair that reached her waist, looking so soft and fluffy that it practically begged to have fingers run through it. Her eyes were large, with the right one a clear, watery blue and the other a light, bright amber. She had a very slight frame, and yet had lean muscles.
"Nēnē!" a young, childish voice called, the pitter-patter of little feet hurrying towards her. This young girl also had pale skin (though not as pale as the first), with orange hair which was cropped short in a fluffy pixie-cut. Her large eyes were a striking gold and almost seemed to be outlined in kohl. "Did you choose yet, Nēnē?"
The older woman smiled at the child. "Yes; my first name will be Koyuki, and my second name, of course, is Victoria. My third name will be Kiyoye. Have you chosen?" The young child nodded happily. "First is Hinata, second is, obviously, Jemima, and third is Mitsuki."
The young woman – Koyuki – smiled. "Aah, it fits you, Hinata-chan," she said. "Do you know about the others yet?" Hinata shook her head. "I know as much as you do, Nēnē. Are you going to sign up for a class?"
"I need to get a job first, Hinata-chan," Koyuki reminded her. "I need to get into acting. I know the Water Country daimyo is into modern productions – especially musicals – while the Earth Country daimyo is into dramas. If I can prove my worth and rise up, we can go places."
"But won't I be in higher demand?" Hinata argued back. "I'm adorable, and I can act as well as you can. People would be lining up to get to me." It was true – Hinata would be in high demand, and the money would be rolling in if she got out there.
Koyuki smiled. "Yes, that would work, wouldn't it?" Hinata grinned. "So we'll do it?" she asked happily. Koyuki sighed. "Yes, yes, you win again, Hinata-chan."
Tarantu wouldn't do anything, really. For the past two days, she'd been barely more than a zombie. She hadn't done much more than go through her daily routine in a daze, answering her children's questions and concerns noncommittally and staring off into space quite a bit. She spoke to her family through her interdimensional communications device (a mirror Sara had given her) and they gave her plenty of moral support, which kept her grounded for a bit.
Then it came time for Kuro to come over to Suna for their weekly meeting.
"'Ran nē-chan!" she called, waving happily at her sister figure. "I've got a story to…" Kuro trailed off as she looked at Tarantu. "Hey, you okay?" She didn't look to well, at least emotionally. There were dried tear tracks running down her face.
Given that she wasn't paying Kuro any attention, Kuro decided to ask one of the kids what the hell was happening.
It was Kankurō who'd explained. With each word, her face lost more of its expression, but when he'd finished, she smiled at them. With their visits, she'd grown a soft spot in her heart for the trio, and was almost an aunt figure.
She ruffled his hair. "'Kay, guys, I'm going to go talk to your mom for a minute. Please ignore the violent noises and screams of pain." Then she skipped up the stares, ignoring the children's long-suffering looks due to overexposure to Kuro.
Kuro then opened the door to Tarantu's room and slugged her in the jaw. Tarantu looked up at Kuro angrily. "Goddammit, Kuro, what the –"
"You're a fool." This was surprising enough to make Tarantu shut up in a way that went completely against human nature and only happened in manga and badly-written stories.
Kuro looked down upon her friend, a stony look on her face. "Do you have any idea what you're doing? It's okay to grieve, and I would totally – fuck, I mean you've got family, 'Ran. They're grieving, too. Why the hell are you holed up in your fucking room all day when they've lost their uncle and might as well not have a mother anymore?
"You've got to be the strong one here, Tarantu. Right now, they're getting through this alone. D'you think their 'father' would help them get through it? NO! Right now you're being useless. If you're going to grieve, which I totally approve of doing, by the way, then do it with your kids at least. If something like this makes you ignore them, then you deserve to be their mommy about as much as the Kazekage. They've come to depend on you, and you're doing a crappy job of it. At least the Kazekage doesn't raise their hopes only to leave them hanging."
Tarantu obviously felt horrible at this, as she started crying again. "Jesus, 'Ran, get a hold of yourself!" Kuro exclaimed in embarrassment. "They'll forgive you; you just need to get a move on, ask for their forgiveness, and get through it together."
Tarantu calmed down quite quickly and looked up at Kuro with a watery smile. "Thanks," she said softly, accepting the handkerchief Kuro handed her. Kuro blushed and looked away. "Yeah, yeah, just remember that you've got to snap me out of temporary foolishness as well."
Team Gai had finally reached the point where it was dangerous simply to continue running through the woods at top speed, so they slowed to a walk and allowed Fū's insects to scout the area. All but Gai were breathing more heavily than normal due to their kilometers-long run, so they conserved their energy by walking in silence. Even Gai was quiet, but he had a big grin on his face, presumably due to his pride that he had Such Youthful Students.
Fū smiled suddenly and ran up to her sensei. "Gai-sensei!" she said, waving her hands about wildly. "Is there any kind of manga you like? I brought some along with me – the new issue just came out yesterday!" Gai stared at her in utter shock. It wasn't that she'd said anything out of the ordinary, no – it was that she'd used perfect Konoha jōnin hand signaling to relay another message: enemy surrounding; don't look; plan?
Gai quickly grinned and answered her earlier question. "Yes, I happen to like…" and he answered back using the hand signals.
No engagement until enemy attack; capture, no kill unless necessary.
Fū gestured in the affirmative while grinning and continuing the conversation. Gai looked back towards Kimimaro and Haku, seeing their affirmative gestures as well.
Well, this was probably something he should mention to the Hokage. How on earth had they learned that?
He wasn't able to question it much longer, however, as they were suddenly converged upon by a large group of bandits. He glanced to his students, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as none of them showed any fear: Haku was simply continuing to smile gently; Kimimaro had his usual blank/bored look on his face, Fū… Fū was grinning dangerously.
"Excuse me, did you need something?" Haku asked with his usual polite formalness. One of them (an obvious fool if he didn't see all the signs pointing to the fact that they were ninja, i.e. the hitai-ate) spoke with a grin. "Yeah; yer on air terr'try neah." Before they could question what the fuck he meant by that obvious butchering of the standard language, he began to draw his sword.
Unfortunately for him, Kimimaro was faster and drew out a small rib (one of the lower ones), sharpened it, toughened it, and cut the man's blade off at the hilt. He then used the momentum from his swing to continue spinning and doing a reverse-roundhouse heel-to-the-face, probably breaking the man's jaw and sending him flying. Haku did a few hand signs and froze his hands and feet together, making him howl in pain at the burning feeling of ice sticking to him.
All this was accomplished within three or four seconds, at the most.
The bandits all froze, finally seeming to realize that they were up against professionals. The three genin looked to their sensei for further guidance.
Gai-sensei glared at the bandits. "You should leave if you value your lives," he said firmly. And with that, the bandits ran.
Kuro's visit had helped bring Tarantu back to reality and brought into light just how much she depended on her. And yet Yashamaru's death had really hit her deeply; he'd become like a brother to her, and had always been there for her. He'd helped her raise the children and learn their needs and hidden selves; taught her to fight and overcome (some) her fear of hurting others; and so much more.
She idolized him.
And yet Kuro was right; she had a right to grieve, but she was being negligent in ignoring her children. Gaara seemed to be taking it the hardest, since he'd always been more emotive than his siblings, while Kankurō and Temari tried to hide their grief, which wasn't healthy.
While Gaara was by her side the entire day and even slept in her bed, the other two seemed to be even more closed off, nearly undoing all the work Tarantu had put into them to get them more in tune with their emotions.
Tarantu made breakfast the next morning, pointing out the different aspects of making waffles to Gaara, who was clutched to her apron, whenever she could get out a few whispered words without her voice cracking. She touched him a lot, making sure he knew she was there for him, and stood mostly in silence. Tsubasa was perched on Tarantu's shoulder, grooming a few pieces of hair he'd pulled from her ponytail.
When the waffles were finally done and they all sat at the table eating their breakfast, Tarantu had finally had enough. "Kids," she said softly. "It's okay to be sad for…" her voice cracked and she tried a different tactic. "Bottling it up is unhealthy. It'll build up and explode at bad times."
Suddenly finding a good argument, she followed that train of thought. "See… Like when you're on a mission and you've had a really bad week; you get mad and become sloppy, which can lose you the mission. If you go through your feelings and deal with them, then that won't happen."
There was a moment of silence in which Tarantu hoped she'd said the right thing. Then Kankurō opened his mouth. "Well…" he said softly, "I guess…if it can put the mission at risk, I can do that."
"Yeah," Temari agreed. "If we don't deal with it, it'll break our peace of mind. So I guess we can do that." Tarantu smiled in relief. Now they had an excuse to cry.
And they could finally start to heal.
Kimimaro and Haku had finished up setting camp for the night, while Fū had made a nice campfire and was cooking rabbit and squirrel. Their captive was tied up with strong ninja wire in a very complex knot courtesy of Gai-sensei.
Speaking of Gai-sensei, they knew they were in for an interrogation. Knowing the jōnin hand signals was a breach of security, and for a genin team to know it was curious, if not suspicious. Fortunately, they couldn't be questioned at the time because they had a captive who could hear what they were saying. Unfortunately, it didn't stop them from worrying about what would happen once they were alone.
Haku fed their captive some squirrel meat and berries for his dinner, and despite his incoherent protests, he acquiesced.
"Gai-sensei," Kimimaro whispered in their tent that night, "what are we going to do with the captive?"
"We let him go in the morning; he's just a grunt, so he doesn't know anything. He'll be of no use to us." Gai-sensei glanced at Kimimaro, his arms crossed. "Tell me where you learned it."
"Sara onē-san gave us some scrolls. She got them from Hokage-sama – they're old friends – and we figured we could use the information. I don't think Hokage-sama would consider it a breach of security because he trusts Sara onē-san's intuition; he might be upset at her for a bit, but he knows she knows what she's doing."
Gai-sensei gave him a stern look. "Let's leave that up to Hokage-sama."
Kuro walked into the room, lifting a hand in greeting to Hiruzen and nodding to the others who had arrived. She was dressed in her normal sweatpants and boys' t-shirt combo with her hair up in a ponytail at the base of her neck.
As usual, she dressed like a boy.
Seating herself in a chair next to Aburame Shibi, she smiled at him and put her chin on the table, gazing at Hiruzen.
He cleared his throat. "Everyone has heard," he began, "of the terrible tragedy of the Uchiha clan."
'No, I live under a rock. Or in a tree. Yeah, that last one.'
"Due to this tragedy, I'd like to add some preventative measures to at least the clan compounds to minimize the risk of fire." Kuro raised her hand about as high as her face. "Yes, Kuro?"
"You mean to tell me that we live in the Land of Fire, in the Village Hidden by the Leaves, meaning surrounded by trees, where nearly everything is made of wood, and no one's taken fire safety into concern? What the hell kind of logic is this? Do we live in a manga or something? This sounds like a bad plot twist."
Behind Hiruzen, Sara snorted.
Hiruzen nearly banged his head on the table. Overlooking something like this was pathetic. They were lucky the Uchiha were the only victims – or perhaps it wasn't luck, but instead something planned in advance…
"Apparently so," he said morosely. "Kuro, I'm especially worried about you." Kuro looked up quizzically, and Hiruzen hastened to explain. "You don't even have a clan compound. You live with ten people inside a tree, which is highly flammable."
Everyone did a double take. "You live in what?" Tsume asked in disbelief. Kuro grinned and sat up. "I live inside a tree in the Forest of Death," she said proudly. "I hollowed out an area and live inside."
Sara refused to hold it in any longer and laughed aloud. "You sound so proud, Ro." Kuro snickered. "You know me!" she exclaimed before turning to Hiruzen. "Well, I don't think it's that big a deal," she said more seriously. "All we need is an anti-inflammatory seal."
"Those exist?"
"No. Well, not yet, anyway." She grinned. "I'll just need to figure out the logistics and we can paste them anywhere we need it. It shouldn't be too hard; I've already figured out how it'll need to work." Hiruzen nodded happily. "Will you be willing to share the seal with everyone?"
Kuro gave him an odd look. "Why wouldn't I be?" she countered. "As far as I'm concerned, keeping things like this from each other only separates us; Konoha is one entity, not a bunch of different parts that happen to live together."
There was a pause.
"You know you hate them all, Ro."
"Of course. I hate you all and your pathetic human race. You will all be annihilated." She snorted and laid her head on the table again. Shikaku then spoke. "Wait, how come the fire spread so quickly?"
"Because they were all a bunch of assholes full of hot air." Kuro cracked up at this. "Wait! That doesn't make any sense! There are a lot of assholes around here coughHyūgacough, but they're not being punished for karmic imbalance."
"Maybe the gods are saving up for something big."
"Or there's a more sinister reason – why the Uchiha? Why now? Heck, we don't even want the 'why', we want the 'how'. The fire shouldn't have spread that quickly, jutsu accident or not. Even the timing is suspicious. All the Uchiha were there at the time except two, and they were close enough to witness it without being caught up or able to help. Unless some higher deity is messing with us or it's a big coincidence, then I don't trust the circumstances."
Hiruzen sighed and lit his pipe. "All right – this doesn't leave this room." He gave Kuro an amused, yet weary look. "I can never get anything by you, can I, Kuro?" Kuro blushed. "Sorry…" He waved off her apology. "It's fine; the true story, however, is that we don't know how the fire started. I do suspect foul play, and we are on the lookout for the perpetrator. Unfortunately, we won't know anything more until the forensics team finds something."
He suddenly glared at them all. Kuro looked on in interest, yet still keeping her body language as unthreatening as possible. This was the feared Hokage of Konohagakure, the Professor, one of the most powerful men in the world.
This was a predator greater than Kuro, and someone to whom she must submit to keep her life.
"If I hear anything of this outside this room, then nothing on Earth can save you from my wrath."
A/N: Okay, there'll be more coming soon; my muse is making up for the time she was away, and she's giving me information for things further ahead than Naruto's Chūnin Exams! Graargh, it's so good but I can't use it yet!