Chapter 13: The Golden Years

"Kakashi had no right!" yelled Kiba, so loudly they were all sure he could be heard throughout the village. They were all there, all fourteen of them, even Neji, plus Usagi and Mizu. Usagi was not at all happy that Neji was in the house, but after being reminded for the third time that it was now technically his house too she had resigned herself to sitting next to her mother, as far away from him as possible, and pouting.

"The reality of it is that Kakashi told a secret," Shikamaru piped up from his position in one of the large armchairs, his son in his lap and Temari sitting on the arm of the chair, "It's out, Usagi knows now. There's nothing we can do about it."

"We can beat the stuffing out of the old rat!" Kiba suggested savagely.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "And what will that accomplish exactly?"

"Nothing," Kiba snarled, "but it will make me feel better!"

"Kiba, calm down," Shino droned. Kiba ignored him, until Hinata put a hand on his arm. He looked down into her concerned face for a moment, then collapsed on the sofa beside her, heavily deflated.

"Well now that I do know, would someone please explain to me what this all means!" Usagi piped up angrily from where she was tucked under her mother's arm. The novelty of being on a first name basis with every single member of the legendary Golden Army had worn off remarkably quickly, and now Usagi was anxious to find out just what the hell was going on.

"It's complicated, Usagi-chan," Tenten muttered, reaching over the back of the sofa to pet her hair affectionately.

"You sound like Kakashi," Usagi grumbled. It was strange to think that her very own Aunt Tenten was in fact the famous weapons mistress of the Golden Army. That didn't stop her from sounding like a broken record. 'It's complicated' seemed to be all she'd heard on the subject since she'd gotten home.

"I suppose this is really for the best," Sasuke interjected lazily from where he was leaning against the wall, "we needed to have this meeting anyway, considering what's been going on lately. We really should have had it last night, but it would have been in poor taste, I suppose. We can't ignore the situation any longer, however. We ought to discuss reforming the Army."

"We are not reforming the Army!" Sakura said flatly, as though that settled the matter.

"I agree with Sakura-san, we should not be rash!" Lee proclaimed.

"We can't ignore what's been going on, Sakura-san," Gaara told her quietly from where he was seated in the armchair across from Shikamaru. Kankuro was leaning against the back of the chair, and Mizu was seated on the floor by Gaara's feet.

"And what exactly has been going on!" Usagi practically screamed, struggling in vain against her mother's protective hold to try and stand up.

"That's what I'd like to know," Ino chimed in, glaring from Sasuke to Gaara, "You two know something you haven't been telling the rest of us, now out with it!"

Sasuke and Gaara looked at each other. Suddenly Sasuke glanced left and right, as though looking for something, then suddenly a look of mild confusion crossed his face, and he looked at the floor, signaling Gaara to explain. That had been the first time he'd cast around for Naruto, only to find that his dead friend wasn't there. It was rather unsettling.

"We've been receiving some rather disturbing reports," Gaara rasped, staring calmly ahead and pretending not to notice that Mizu had edge a little closer to him as though in fear. "Strange creatures have been sighted throughout the Region of Wind and the Region of Rice Paddies. I doubt you've seen any in Fire yet, or all of you would have heard about them."

"Strange creatures?" Lee asked, a flash of recognition on his face.

"Darks," Sasuke croaked in clarification, still looking at the floor.

"They seem to be slithering around everywhere," Gaara continued, nodding to Sasuke, "that, in fact, was how the General died."

"What!" Usagi demanded, again trying to struggle to her feet. Hinata just wrapped her other arm around the child, pulling her daughter onto her lap and stroking her hair almost roughly. Usagi had the distinct feeling that this was more to make her mother feel better, as Hinata's hand jerked through her windswept hair.

"We went to one of the old temples to see if there had been any activity lately." Gaara informed the congregation, ignoring Usagi's outburst.

"And?" Choji asked hesitantly.

Gaara looked from one face to the other as they all awaited his reply with bated breath. "There had."

"We found a sacrifice," Sasuke picked up the story. "The place was crawling with Harbingers too. We fought, and unfortunately . . ."

"Unfortunately what!" Tenten demanded suddenly. They all turned to stare at her as she paced back and forth behind the couch, glaring almost angrily around the room. "Naruto's face, what, thousands of Harbingers before? How the hell did he die fighting just a few of them!"

"One got in a lucky shot," Sasuke shook his head resignedly, "I suppose we'll never really know exactly what . . ."

"Bullshit!" Tenten screamed, "Harbingers don't get lucky shots! We get lucky shots! We're the good guys! That's how it works! They have all the power and we have all the luck!"

"Not all the power," Choji piped up, "we have the Nine-tails."

"Had, the Nine-tails," Kiba corrected dejectedly, "Naruto's dead, remember."

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ino slapped the back of his head sharply.

"Hey!" Kiba snarled, turning around in his seat to glare at her.

"QUIET!" yelled Sasuke. The whole congregation, even the children, all turned to look at him as he glared out over the room. He fixed each one with a hard stare, then spoke.

"Has any one of you bothered to consider the rather obvious problem here?"

"We have a bunch of Darks and Harbingers running around we thought we were done with almost a decade ago?" Ino ventured sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Sasuke from her position next to Choji, who had pulled in a chair from the dining room.

"We have no Golden General," Sasuke said quietly.

If the whole room had not been silent before, it was now. All the members of the Golden Army stared blankly off into space, realization dawning on one after the other. Naruto was dead. The Golden General was dead. The Golden Army had no General. They had no leader.

"Sasuke-san," Shikamaru piped up after a very long silence, "you were always Naruto's second in command."

"He named Neji Second Golden Hokage," Tenten piped up, though there was no real conviction in her voice and she continued to stare at the bottom of the sofa.

"Only because Sasuke is the Kage of another village," Choji pointed out reasonably.

"No, Shikamaru's right, Tenten-chan," Neji told her quietly, not looking at her but shaking his head, still with a blank look on his face, "Sasuke should be the new Golden General. Naruto would want it that way."

Usagi looked from one dejected looking family member to another. "Now will someone please tell me what's going on?"

Shikamaru closed his eyes and rubbed his temples for a moment. Handing his son to Temari he leaned forward, propping himself up with forearms on his thighs and looking fixedly at Usagi. "Sure kid," he sighed, "I know this must be a bit much for you to take in. Wha'cha wanna know?"

"First off," Usagi started, finally escaping her mother's hold and copying Shikamaru's stance, "what's a dark and what's a Harbinger?"

Shikamaru chuckled. "Those are the easy questions," he told her, "Darks are creatures of pure darkness. They're made of shadows, animated by fear, hate and other negative human emotions, as well as a healthy dose of chakra from a highly forbidden jutsu."

"And Harbingers?" Usagi pressed, apparently unphased.

"Reanimated corpses," Shikamaru continued, never breaking eye contact with the child, "risen from the grave to serve the Nightmare."

"What's the nightmare?" Usagi asked coolly.

Shikamaru's lips twitched. "Your worst nightmare," he told her, "literally. Its a kind of demon created from the nightmares of humans. Its also animated darkness, and the Darks are the ones who create it by bringing it nightmares they take from the humans who's negative emotions animate them. The Nightmare has immense power, but that's because it draws its chakra from the earth, like a sage. That's only after its fed off enough of the nightmares the Darks bring it though."

"So who, or what, animates the Darks?" Usagi asked.

"Well thats the million dollar question, isn't it?" Kiba snorted.

Usagi looked around, taking her attention off Shikamaru for the first time since their conversation began. "You mean you don't know?" she asked incredulously.

"Last time it was invaders from outside the continent," Kankuro explained, "They came in and tried to defeat us from the inside out. But this time we know its not another outside attack, because we've been keeping a close eye on the border."

"So then who would do this?" Ino asked, frowning.

"Who could do this?" Kiba added.

"Yeah its not like a lot of people have the power," Choji mused, his brow furrowed.

"Do we even know where their base is located?" Lee inquired.

"It wouldn't be hard to find," Sasuke pointed out, "all we'd have to do is follow the Darks, and they're bound to start popping up everywhere."

"Why bother finding them?" Shikamaru asked, "when we already know where they're going to attack?"

They all turned to look at him, and he stared from one to the other. "We were the last ones to defeat the Nightmare. Who ever's summoned it this time, they'll be coming after us."

"But they have no idea who or where we are," Kiba pointed out, "we made sure to keep ourselves a secret. One I wish we hadn't told out teachers," he added bitterly, "but still, no one else knows where or who we are. How would they come after us?"

"Think!" Shikamaru snapped, "what's the one place everyone in Japan everyone associates with the Golden Army!"

Usagi suddenly leaped up, staring into space in horror. "The Golden Academy!" she cried, her mouth falling open and her eyes bugging out, "It, they, are going to the Golden Academy!"

Silence reigned for a moment as each person there took in the truth of Usagi's words. The school named after their family. The pride of the great nation they'd helped to build. The symbol of peace and cooperation that had been inspired by their own teamwork. The Golden Academy . . . in terrible, terrible danger.

"I need some air," Usagi announced suddenly. Every head turned a few hands reached out to her as she fled the room. It was too much, too much too soon too fast, and she couldn't take it. She had to get out. Darting to her bedroom and crawling out the window, she clambered up onto the roof and collapsed, sobbing, on the hard, cold surface.

Back in the living room, everyone stared at each other.

"I'll go and talk to her," Neji said, standing up.

"No offense, Neji-san, but I think you're the last person she wants to talk to," Hinata piped up.

Suddenly Gaara stood up, looking down at the child still hiding behind his leg. Mizu looked up at him and nodded. Gaara faced the congregation again. "Mizu will speak with her," Gaara said flatly. No one challenged him.

It was a bit more difficult for the younger child to get up on the roof, but when he did he found his sister, still sitting with her legs drawn up against her chest, crying into her knees. He sat down next to her, and for a while neither of them spoke.

"Dad would be proud of you, you know," Mizu said quietly, after a moment.

Usagi glanced over at him. "Thanks," she said.