Chapter 18

The next few days were uneventful, aside from a visit to Mafumi and a referral to a psychiatrist, who prescribed Yondaime some medicine. There were three; one of them was for sleeping. Another was a short dose, fast-acting quick start that was only supposed to last a week and a half until the long-term medication was set to kick in.

Kankuro was worried that his father might object or forget to take the medication, but his father dutifully followed the new regiment.

Thursday morning, Kankuro woke up knowing this was the day he would face the impending disaster: He had to stop the war. His father had failed to talk the Council out of it. His father would wait for the inevitable to come. They couldn't afford denial and inaction. That would only result in tragedy.

Kankuro had had enough of tragedy in his life.

This time, things would be different.

As he went through his morning routine with his family, Kankuro was plotting. Outwardly, he was calm, answering questions normally and eating his breakfast the way he usually would. Inwardly, he was calculating strategies.

All of his analyzing led back to one thing: information. To form a plan sufficient to topple the war machine, he needed information. That was any good ninja's first step, and he didn't have enough information to make any decisions yet.

For instance, he needed to know who was behind the plan to start a war. Which man in the Council was the seed of the idea? Who were his supporters? If he and his supporters' concerns could be addressed effectively, if their minds could be changed, there would be no war.

Alternately, if they refused to be persuaded, their deaths would cause the movement to lose energy. If their deaths came about in the right way.

By the time Kankuro reached the Kazekage office with the rest of his family, he'd concluded that he needed access to the Council or to the Council meetings.

There was no way around it; Kankuro needed to be a jonin to get access to the Council. And he wasn't. So he needed someone he could trust who was a jonin, someone his father trusted, too, or else his father would take his head off for involving someone in the secret that there was going to be a war.

That person was set to arrive in about five minutes to take them on their mission for the day.

xXx

Their mission for the day was to clean up garbage in the pass through the canyons. The trash wasn't left there by visitors; it was their own sentry who kept carelessly throwing their packaging away. It was a bad habit that administrators were trying to crack down on, but in the meantime, litter collection was a typical genin team mission.

Kankuro waited until he was far behind with Baki. He stabbed his litter collection stick through a soda can and tossed it expertly into the basket on his back.

"We need to do something about the Council," Kankuro said. He scored the insulating paper sleeve from a portable tea cup.

"Why?" Baki asked in amusement. "What've they done now?"

"Declared war."

"Oh." Baki didn't look surprised, though he didn't look amused anymore. "It's about time. Iwa's been getting on my nerves lately. Everyone else's, too. Their ass is primed for kicking." He glanced at Temari and Gaara; they were far ahead in the pass, using their jutsu to sweep up any litter lodged in the rocky outcroppings on either side of the pass.

"Not Iwa," Kankuro said.

Baki froze. "What?"

"We're not going to war with Iwa," Kankuro said quietly. "We're going to war with Konoha."

"That's insane!" Baki exclaimed, barely managing to keep his voice down. He looked at Kankuro with shock. "If we attack Konoha, how can we take down Iwa? We need them. Konoha's not doing anything to piss us off. If we go to war with Iwa, then Konoha would have to join in. They hate Iwa as much as we do."

"I don't know why they've chosen Konoha," Kankuro said in a low voice. "Dad hasn't told me that part. All he's said is that the Council believes war will improve the economy." He glumly continued walking, stabbing a used napkin as he went.

"Well, yeah," Baki said. "A war with the right people would improve the economy. Like a war with our combined forces of Leaf and Sand against an enemy we could actually take down. Remind people we're real ninjas, not delivery men. War is good for our reputations. The big jobs are all about killing people, and we haven't done those since the war ended. Pretty much."

He sighed softly. "I can think of a few, but those have been scattered across the years, and only the best ninjas in the village get them. That's not enough to sustain an economy. Bloodthirsty lords are the best tippers, unfortunately."

"So does Konoha get more assassination missions than us? Is that it?" Kankuro asked. He glanced at Baki with concern, and absently collected an empty plastic bento box.

"No, I think they're spread pretty thin right now," Baki said. "Most of the really bloody missions go to Kiri and Iwa." He sighed. "That's why it doesn't make sense. Konoha has been our ally. The Leaf are the most like us in terms of philosophies and government. Most of us even have relatives in the Fire country. Did you know a long time ago the Fire country and the Wind country were the same country?"

Kankuro shook his head. He paused; this was too interesting for him to concentrate on work.

Baki gestured. "Well, think about it in terms of nature release."

Kankuro frowned. Nature release. They'd covered that during a short unit at school, but since they'd been told not to mess with their nature releases as pre-genin or genin due to the high chakra consumption, Kankuro wasn't sure he remembered how the nature transformation chart went.

He had to shake his head. "I'm not sure I follow. Nature releases are too advanced for us, remember?"

Baki blinked. "Oh. Sorry. I forgot that they changed that. It used to be a lesson taught to last year students. They really pushed the curriculum back in some cases, didn't they?" He gazed into the distance, frowning thoughtfully. "The five elements of the world – known also as the nature releases – interact with each other in specific ways. This has led to the Nature Transformation Chart taught in schools across the Five Great Nations. Basically, it's a circular diagram that denotes each element's strength and weakness."

Kankuro nodded. "I remember seeing something like that, but we only covered it in a day, and we weren't allowed to practice with our releases. In fact, they wouldn't even tell us what they were, in order to avoid temptation."

"Sad," Baki said. He shook his head. "Alright, I guess I'll explain."

"Please," Kankuro said.

Baki nodded. He pressed his lips together for a moment, thinking, and then said, "This chart came about because of the way elements interact with each other. However, there is more to an element than its strength and its weakness. The chart's flaw is that it doesn't explain magnification, and it doesn't explain stalemates."

"Magnification and stalemates," Kankuro said slowly.

Baki gave him a small smile. "For instance: Fire is listed as Wind's weakness. But this isn't exactly true. Wind is Fire's magnification. Against an enemy, this might mean defeat, but with an ally, it means victory. Do you see? Wind amplifies Fire. Our countries were once one, and our peoples were once one." He gestured. "Because we were always meant to work together."

"That's beautiful," Kankuro whispered. He was overwhelmed by the layers of history the Council was willing to throw away. It's like we're attacking our own people.

"The two most common nature releases in both countries are the same." Baki held up two fingers. "Wind release and Fire release. You'll always find ninjas in the Land of Fire with Wind release, and ninjas in the Land of Wind with Fire release."

"If we're that inextricably bound, why would the Council want to attack them?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't know," Baki said. "Something definitely sounds strange, here."

"Could you try to find out what?" Kankuro asked.

Baki looked at him in surprise.

"You're a jonin, and I'm not," Kankuro said quickly, gesturing. "You're older, and wiser, and more respected. And you have to be a jonin just to get in to see the Council. You can sit in on the Council any time you want to, right? So you can go see what the matter is with them."

"Your father…does he know about this request?" Baki asked.

Kankuro grimaced. "No…" He hung his head. Then his head snapped up. "But – But he doesn't understand how you feel about him."

Baki raised an eyebrow.

"He doesn't think you remember him from the old days, or care very much," Kankuro said. "When you told me you care a lot. So…he doesn't think he can ask you to do something dangerous for him. But he doesn't want the war to happen, either. He tried to prevent it. The Council won't listen to him. He's not the one that declares wars, after all. The Council does. Shodaime Kazekage gave up that right because he felt it was too much power, and not befitting a democracy, if he had the right to declare war all on his own."

"You've done your research," Baki said.

"Yes." Kankuro nodded, and then hesitated. "Will you help?"

Baki was silent for a few moments. "I think I can do better than find out the source of the problem," he said.

"Why is that?" Kankuro asked.

"I think I have someone I can inform about the Council's intentions," Baki said. "So that the word travels back to Konoha. That way, just in case we don't defuse this thing, they're ready."

Wow… "You'd do that?" Kankuro asked.

"I have family in the Land of Fire," Baki said. "Cousins." He paused. "Second cousins, to be exact. But they're still family, and we communicate on holidays. Our grandparents were brothers. That makes us still closely related."

So, you would do that. Because you'd be saving the lives of your family. Kankuro nodded. "So there's someone you can tell? Like a double agent?"

"More like an information gatherer," Baki said. "He's not loyal to anyone but Konoha…yet he spends most of his time posing as someone who's retired after the Third Shinobi World War. He'd served his time, definitely, but I don't think he's retired. I think he's merely gained the freedom to roam where he pleases."

That sounds like a pretty cool life. For a moment, Kankuro wondered what all he could accomplish if he were allowed to wander where he pleased. Then he forced himself to rejoin reality. "So you could get the attention of someone like that?"

Baki nodded. "Since Konoha is an ally, we were given a way to signal this person."

That was the crux of the whole thing, wasn't it? Konoha was an ally. Konoha was unsuspecting. Konoha had cooperated with them fully since the last war ended, which was years and years ago. The year before Temari had even been born. Kankuro knew that his parents hadn't dared to have children until the war was over. None of the people in Kankuro's generation had grown up in a world of war. They couldn't imagine being at war. Much less at war with Konoha. It was preposterous. A farce.

"Can you do it without anyone knowing?" Kankuro asked.

Baki hesitated. "We'd have to be on a long range mission. If we were out of the village, out of the village's reach, say, in Tanigakure, we would be able to signal this man without any problem."

"We'll do it, then," Kankuro said. He decided then and there: He'd do what he had to. "Tell my father that we're ready for a long range mission. That we won't screw up or get hurt this time."

"I will," Baki said.

"I don't think we should tell him about this," Kankuro said. "He's under enough stress already. He doesn't need to have to pretend to the Council that he's not allowing treason."

Baki looked troubled. "I don't know. I think we should tell Yondaime, Kankuro. He wouldn't like us to risk ourselves secretly. Not the sensei I knew. And I suspect, not the father you know, either. We need to include him."

"But what if he says no?" Kankuro whispered. He was terrified of that option; if his father actively told him no, then he wouldn't be able to try this plan in good conscience. But he couldn't just stand aside and let a war happen.

"If he says no, then we'll think of some other option," Baki said. "Between the three of us, it shouldn't be hard. I'll risk my life if necessary. Yondaime knows that."

"I don't want you to risk your life," Kankuro pointed out.

"But I do it every day." Baki gave him a gently teasing smile.

Kankuro frowned. That was technically true. They all did. But if something was really dangerous… "We should all stick together. As a team."

Baki squeezed his shoulder. "I agree."

Kankuro felt a little better.

They picked up their pace to catch up to Temari and Gaara.

xXx

They didn't get done cleaning the pass until well after five o'clock. Litter collection was slow going. Under normal circumstances, the pass took an hour to traverse at a steady walking pace. They had to go to the end and back, which normally would have taken two hours by itself. But for the mission, they had creep along from one end to the other, and then come back, going just as slowly as before to make sure they didn't miss anything. The mission was funded by the Wildlife Preservation Society.

Once they got back to the village, they were all hungry, sweaty, and tired. Kankuro wanted to go home and collapse. But he knew he couldn't do that; he and Baki had to talk to his father first.

After Yondaime dismissed them from the mission debriefing, Baki and Kankuro stayed behind.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" Baki asked. "I would like to update you about the progress of your children."

"Certainly." Yondaime nodded. He stood up and gestured. "Would you like to come back to my home? We could talk in the study."

Baki nodded. "That would be most agreeable."

Yondaime smiled at his son. "You would like to shower, of course."

"Yes," Kankuro said fervently.

His father chuckled. "You may, by all means, go and shower, son."

"But I'll come back to the study after I'm done," Kankuro said. "I have something to tell you."

"Alright, son." Yondaime looked curious. "You're welcome to join myself and Baki. I'm sure the progress report is not a secret. Is it?" He glanced at Baki.

Baki bowed. "No, Yondaime."

"Very well, then." Yondaime gestured. "While you're at it, you can stay for dinner."

Baki flushed, surprised. "I couldn't intrude."

"You're not intruding," Yondaime said.

A smile spread across Baki's face. "Very well, then. I would be honored to join you."

"Thank you," Yondaime said. "The honor is all mine."

Maybe the medication is kicking in, Kankuro thought hopefully. Dad seems happier, and he's even invited Baki over for dinner. Maybe we can have Baki over for dinner all the time. It'd be nice to have the company.

They all went to the other side of the Kazekage Complex together. Kankuro let his father and Baki in the study, while he went upstairs to shower and change. He washed as quickly as possible; when he wanted to, he could get out of the shower in less than five minutes. It was just that normally, he wanted to take his time and enjoy it.

He went downstairs dressed in a fresh black uniform, wanting to appear business-like. His hair, still damp from the shower, had an auburn gleam to it. For some reason, the auburn in his hair only shone through when his hair was wet. He found that frustrating, to say the least.

Kankuro stopped in front of the door to his father's study and knocked.

"Come in," his father called.

Kankuro entered with a bow and closed the door. His father's study was all dark wood and leather furniture; it was cool, quiet, and solemn. His father stood in the middle of the room, between the desk and the leather sofa, Baki standing beside him. Apparently neither man had wanted to sit down.

"I have a topic to bring up for discussion, Otousan," Kankuro said.

"There is no need to be so formal," his father said, amused.

"There is, actually," Kankuro said. He glanced at Baki.

Baki inclined his head.

Kankuro guessed from that gesture that Baki hadn't told his father yet. Baki had waited for him.

"Dad, I asked Baki for help," Kankuro said.

"What for?" Yondaime asked.

"Kankuro told me about the war." Baki bowed.

Yondaime deflated. "Are you…very disappointed in me, Baki?"

Baki looked surprised. "Why should I be disappointed? I'm not disappointed at all, Sensei."

"I failed in the most basic way a human being can fail," Yondaime said.

"I disagree," Baki said gently. "Please, allow me to help. Kankuro suggests that we warn the Leaf through an informant. I think this is a smart idea. Our warning will be completely anonymous. You're aware of espionage on both sides during the war. This will be like that. No one will say where the information comes from; it will merely be taken as true because of the secret source. The Leaf has a traveling informant. We know how to signal him. You remember."

Yondaime swallowed, wide-eyed and still, like a rabbit. Kankuro could see his father was thinking very hard.

"We could do that," Yondaime allowed.

Kankuro wanted to collapse, and alternately jump up and down with relief.

"But we should be careful," Yondaime said.

Kankuro nodded quickly. "Baki says that if we go to Rivers, then we should be clear."

Yondaime rubbed his chin. "I think so."

"Then you'll send us there?" Kankuro asked.

"Well, it will have to be a real mission," Yondaime said.

"But there are some missions to the Land of Rivers in the next week, aren't there?" Baki said.

"They're all S-Class missions," Yondaime said. "Or A-Class. I'm not sure I feel comfortable…"

"Give us a chance," Kankuro pleaded quietly. "We'll make it through this time."

Baki said, "Their teamwork has improved. Gaara is now willing to shield the rest of us in a battle. Temari's control is better, and Kankuro has learned how to use the rest of us as distractions to successfully erect a genjutsu in the heat of the moment that won't collapse."

Those were, in a nutshell, the problems they'd encountered on their first S-Class mission. Gaara, whether by instinct or deliberation, had only shielded himself. Temari's ability to aim around objects in her way hadn't been good enough to get around the enemy's defenses. Kankuro's own ability to make a genjutsu in a pinch had turned out to be insufficient; his illusions had wavered and disappeared under the strain.

Baki had been run ragged getting them out of that situation.

"S-Class item retrieval," Yondaime said finally. "That's my only offer. Take it or leave it."

"We'll take it," Baki said with a nod.

Kankuro nodded as well. "Yeah, Dad. You can count on us."