Thirty: Reveal

"So everything we've done so far has led up to this, huh?" Mitsuo murmured, lightly enough that Sakura wasn't sure if he intended to be heard or not.

The five friends were standing side by side in a line with the other recruits, in strict formation as they waited for the leaders to arrive. Everyone was on their best behavior, and only minor whispering could be heard throughout their ranks.

Her old commander had offered to let Sakura stand with the other leaders—seeing as she was the head medic—but she politely declined, acting as if she were too scared or embarrassed, but really it was to preserve her plan.

After she'd gotten back from talking with Kakashi, she'd run into Akira, who told her one of Kenji Mizushima's messengers had arrived while she was gone. Apparently, they were on schedule to arrive late in the afternoon of the next day.

Good, that gives me some time to prepare, she thought.

"Have you heard anything else?" she'd asked.

Akira shook his head, but it wasn't long before they'd run into the rest of their group, and Isamu seemed to have more information than they did.

He told the group that everyone would stand in formation to await the leaders' arrival, and from there, the leaders would have a short meeting in the commander's tent before heading over to the assembly they would all be required to attend.

That was all interesting information, but Sakura still hadn't formed a complete plan until Mitsuo added another important detail.

"Apparently this assembly is so important that they've even pulled the guards off-duty. If someone wanted to attack us, now would be the time."

"Yeah," Akio scoffed, "except that we've got Kenji-freaking-Mizushima here and he'd slaughter them all. Even Kaiya wouldn't be able to fix up the people he got his hands on, right Kaiya?"

"Yeah," she nodded absentmindedly, idea after idea running through her head.

"I don't know," Isamu said. "Kaiya's pretty good at fixing things up."

"Yeah, but it's Kenji Mizushima!"

"I think Akio's got a man crush," his cousin teased, and it all went downhill from there.

Sakura, busy thinking up ways to take advantage of the fact that many of the guards would be pulled off duty that night, wasn't paying attention to them anymore. The wheels in her head were spinning faster and faster, and it was all she could do to keep up with the hundreds of possible ideas that she'd come up with.

What would Kakashi say? Slow down. Only concentrate on what's essential to the mission. Focus on the details.

She relaxed, a detailed plan already taking shape in her mind. Strategy had never been one of her strong suits. Someone like Shikamaru or Kakashi was more suited for that. But she had still come up with her fair share of solutions for getting out of tight situations, and Kami knows she was better at strategizing than Naruto.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hm?" Sakura asked, a bit alarmed to find that Mitsuo had been studying her carefully without her realizing it. "Me? Nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing."

Sakura sighed, wondering why she'd had the rotten luck of actually making good friends who cared about her on this mission. Normally she would've been thrilled to meet people like them, and it wouldn't have been a problem, if she weren't about to betray them and their cause by giving top-secret information to the other side.

"I'm just worried. I'm a medic, so I don't like war, and with the commanders all gathering, it seems like it could be any day now."

That wasn't entirely a lie. Sakura really didn't like war, but she knew sometimes it was unavoidable—like the last Ninja War. Although, everyone had worked together so well during the war that she felt reasonably optimistic that she wouldn't see another between the shinobi villages in her lifetime.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's inevitable at this point, and there are going to be casualties no matter what, but you're a good medic, and I don't doubt that if a patient can be saved, you'll save him."

Sakura smiled, her first genuine one in days. Strangely enough, even though he had no way of knowing it, Mitsuo had made her feel better about her own experiences in the last war. True, she hadn't been able to save everyone, but she'd done the best she could—and a whole lot better than most.

"Yeah, thanks Mitsuo."

A hush fell over the crowd as soon as figures in the distance came into sight. Sakura wasn't sure if everyone actually felt like behaving, or if they were really just that in awe of the commanders. She wouldn't have been surprised either way.

Despite the fact they were her enemy on this particular mission, she was intrigued by them—especially the mystery leader whose identity she was about to become the first outsider to learn. She wondered who he was that made him feel the need to keep his identity so secret, even among his own men. She'd gotten them impression that even Kaoru—a captain in the army—didn't know who he was.

She also wanted to see who this Kenji Mizushima was. She guessed he was probably around Kakashi's age, but she couldn't be sure. She'd only heard about him from word of mouth. His skills were another unknown factor she wished she could analyze. People liked to talk him up, but she knew how rumors went. Most of the time they weren't even remotely true. Still, Kakashi had seemed to think he was a valid opponent, so Sakura assumed there had to be at least some truth behind the rumors.

"Can you see anything?" Akio hissed, only to be silenced by a glare from one of their supervisors.

"I was just asking," he muttered, this time careful to make sure his friends were the only ones who heard.

"They're almost here," Isamu whispered, "but I don't recognize anyone yet."

The next five minutes seemed agonizingly long, even to Sakura, as they waited for the group to arrive. Even the senior soldiers seemed to be growing impatient, and the more nervous ones were starting to fidget. Sakura's group, however, thankfully stayed calm.

"Halt!" she heard, and knew that the group had reached the entrance to their camp. Sakura wished she were taller; she couldn't see a thing from where she was standing.

Whispers started near the front lines, and Sakura realized they must have recognized the mystery leader. Even their superiors were whispering amongst themselves, so she knew his identity must be some sort of shock.

Next to her, Mitsuo inhaled sharply. He glanced quickly over to Isamu—the only other member of their group tall enough to see—and gave his friend a questioning glance. Isamu nodded, a frown on his face, before turning back to the parade of officers that were slowly making their way down through the ranks.

"What?" Akira asked, picking up on the two's interaction, but Isamu just shook his head.

A man with long red hair passed, followed by a shorter man with dark hair. The redhead was built a lot like Kakashi—tall, with defined, lean muscle—so Sakura assumed he was Kenji Mizushima. Then that meant the stockier man walking slightly behind him was probably Jin Takahashi, the one who had been in charge of the recruits. The recruits at her camp had never met him, but between his profile in the Bingo Book and Kakashi's information, she felt fairly confident in her assessment of him. It was the others she was more worried about.

Inhales could be heard all around her as the third member of their party walked by, looking casually at the recruits and officers around him. So this was the mystery leader behind everything that had been going on the Land of Silver so far.

Sakura frowned, realizing she recognized him—and not from the Bingo Book.

"Is that Shinji Juba?" she asked, turning to Akio beside her.

He slowly. "Yeah."

"The merchant?" Akira asked, but no one had a chance to answer because their supervisor suddenly appeared before them, dismissing them for the time being and telling them to get some food.

"Be back here in one hour for the introductory assembly. Dismissed!"

"Come on," Isamu said, steering their group away. "I'll explain who he is after we get some food."

"Fine," Akira nodded, and the five made their way into the dining tent.

They got their food—which was much better looking than the slop they normally got—and went outside to find a quiet place to eat and talk.

"Looks like they even brought out the good cooks to impress the bosses," Akira grumbled.

"Are you really going to complain?" his cousin asked. "We still benefitted from it."

"For once I'm going to have to agree with Akio," Mitsuo teased, and Sakura found herself laughing along with the others, despite her growing nerves. Every minute was bringing her closer to the most dangerous part of her plan, but when she was around her new friends she couldn't seem to care. She didn't have much longer with them, and she wanted to enjoy every minute. Her betrayal still weighed slightly on her soul, and she knew she'd bear some guilt if any of the boys were killed in action, but she'd learn to live with it.

"Yeah, whatever. So are you going to tell us the story behind Shinji Juba? I didn't know the guy had a military background," Akira said.

Sakura nodded her agreement. Even she knew who Shinji Juba was—a wealthy merchant from the Land of Silver, with a reputation of being a bit ruthless when it came to his business, but overall not a shady guy. She never would have guessed that he was the master behind the rebel activity.

He wouldn't have even been on her radar, and that was what made it so brilliant.

"He doesn't have a military background," Isamu said, shaking his head. "He doesn't need one. He's got money, and money buys loyalty—or at least, in this case, buys someone like Kenji Mizushima, who's more than capable of leading a small army."

Sakura frowned. It made sense. Someone like Kenji Mizushima probably wouldn't have joined up with the rag-tag group of rebels on his own. He wasn't the sort that fought for ideals. If he had, he wouldn't have gotten the reputation he had.

"It makes sense if you think about it," Mitsuo said, looking over at the younger boy. "Someone like Kenji Mizushima has no interest in trying to gain power. He's a shinobi, he's not going to want to rule a village or a country."

"So what's he after then?" Akio asked.

"Money," Sakura said. "Juba wants the power, but he doesn't have the military experience necessary to rebel against the Sasakis, but he does have the money to fund it. Mizushima has the experience Juba needs, and Juba has the money Mizushima wants. It's a perfect deal, really."

"He'll probably get a nice position in the new government too, so he can live comfortably without having to work," Isamu said. "It's really a good deal for both sides, although I can't say I'm sure Shinji Juba will be any better at leading the entire country than Sasaki would."

Sakura turned to the tall man. "But I thought Sasaki was just the leader of Silverton."

"Well yeah, but he's not satisfied with just having control of the capitol. He wants the entire country," Isamu said, like it was common knowledge.

Mitsuo frowned. "Didn't you know that, Kaiya?"

"Oh, oh yeah, I did. I guess I just forgot," Sakura said quickly, cursing the fact that this little tidbit of information had never come up in conversation. It seemed pretty important to her. "All these names sort of run together, huh?"

Akira and Akio laughed it off easily, but Mitsuo was giving her a strange look, like he couldn't believe she had forgotten something so important. Sakura was glad she'd already gained their trust, or she would've had to worry about blowing her cover again. Fortunately for her, she seemed to have the boys wrapped around her finger.

Too soon, the sound of their superior officers yelling at them to head over to the assembly was heard. Sakura sighed. She had hardly touched her food, although she honestly wasn't that hungry.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mitsuo asked. "You didn't eat very much. Are you nervous?"

"Yeah, I guess," Sakura said, even though the blonde boy had no idea what she was nervous for.

"You're a great medic. You don't have anything to worry about. Come on, let's head back over the assembly."

Mitsuo turned to go, but Sakura hesitated for a moment, realizing this was probably the last time she was going to see all of them together. A deeper part of her knew it was probably the last time she was going to see them ever. They might not all make it out of the impending conflict alive, and even if they did, they weren't going to want anything to do with her once they realized she betrayed them.

"Mitsuo, wait!" she called, annoyed to find that her voice had cracked.

"Kaiya? Is something wrong?"

"N-no. It's just, I was told I should stand with some of the senior officials during the assembly."

"So you're a hot shot too now, huh?" Akio asked. The rest of the group had turned back when they saw Mitsuo and Sakura weren't following.

Sakura grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am. Well, I guess this is goodbye."

She said the words as a joke, but none of the boys knew that she really meant it. She just hoped that when the truth about her came out, they would remember this, and hopefully they would know that it wasn't personal. She was just doing her job, like a good soldier. She hoped they would understand that, at least.

"Yeah, see you later!" Akio said with a wave, walking off, followed by Akira and Isamu. Mitsuo hesitated a second, like he could sense that something was off, but he too smiled and said his goodbye, turning to follow his friends.

Sakura watched them walk away sadly, angry at herself for getting so close to people she should only have been using to further her mission. She was ANBU now, and that meant she had to get better control over her feelings. The medic inside her who wanted to befriend and help everyone needed to be silenced, at least until the mission was over.

The one silver lining in all of this was that she would get to see Kakashi again, and then they could finally go home. Not that she minded staying out on missions longer, as long as Kakashi was with her. But it would be nice to see everyone again—her team, Ino, even her parents.

She sighed, walking toward the assembly. She would find an inconspicuous place to stand and wait for the ceremony to start before she made her move. She couldn't wait too long, though, or she'd risk running into people as she made her escape.

~A/N: I completely forgot to post yesterday. :( But, good news! I was able to make some headway on this, and this chapter ended up being really long, so I split it into two. So there's a good chance you'll get multiple chapters either this week or next week. I'm going to be gone all weekend, so it may be next week, but this little "arc" is almost over. But before it is, because it's me, there's going to be some action! Until next time!