Chapter 115 - Fortunate Accident

The news of Orochimaru and the Riverman's breakout reached Naruto and Sakura at about the same time, though through different means.

It reached Naruto through chuunin in the usual way.

It reached Sakura through his victims, civilian and ninja alike, assaulted with wind and water and pale hands.

Sakura, however, was able to deal with her problems more simply and immediately. There were hurt people, and that was all she needed to know. She positioned herself at the front lines of the emergency room, healing deeper wounds and letting the interns and residents handle the rest.

Naruto, however, had a table of very important guests with him, and panicked chuunin that felt the issue at hand was more important than discretion.

"Sir! There's been an attack in the north-eastern district!"

Rotsuki had been caught mid-sentence, in his discussion on school reform, and he blinked a few times at the interruption. "Excuse me?"

Naruto stood. "An attack? What sort of attack?"

"A terrorist attack?" Gaara was quick to ask.

The pair of chuunin, flushed with haste, glanced amongst themselves, breathing heavily. "The, uh. The two prisoners, sir, from underground. They've escaped and are—they're attacking civilians, sir," one of them said.

"A prison break…?" Gaara said. "And only two? Who are these people?"

Naruto, however, had his eyes closed tightly in frustration and thought. "Gaara, please." He opened his eyes. "They're attacking civilians? How many have been hurt?"

"Well… it's mostly the larger one; the child's kept to his back. And there have been forty to fifty injuries so far, sir, counting the ANBU that were on guard duty. But no casualties," the other chuunin said, having caught her breath. "Chuunin and jounin have secured the attacked areas and are transporting the victims to the hospital…"

"…but we have no idea where the two of them are, presently, and we need to know what to do, sir," her partner continued.

"Naruto," Gaara said, remaining seated, but leaning forward concernedly, "who are these prisoners?"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kohriza added. Her plastic bracelets clacked together as she folded her hands on the table.

And Naruto took a deep breath, closing his eyes again.

"This is the Riverman we're talking about?" he asked the chuunin. "And Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru?" Gaara said loudly. "Naruto, what-"

"Yes, sir, the two of them," one of the chuunin said.

"Right, okay," Naruto said. "Well, okay, so here's the situation." He turned to face the rest of the Kages, who were wearing varied expressions of shock. "Earlier the other day, one of Orochimaru's followers… infiltrated our city, along with Orochimaru himself. He found a means of resurrecting himself an' he's taken the body of a kid as his hostage, y'know."

"Wait, wait, hold on, you mean he's back?" Kohriza said.

"S'far as we know, yes," Naruto said. "We dunno how, but it's definitely him. Anyways, we captured 'em and had 'em detained, but obviously that's…. not worked out, y'know…"

"And why didn't you tell us this was going on when the infiltration was first discovered?" Mei had crossed her arms.

"Because this is Konoha business, Mei-san, and they hadn't attacked anyone up until now, y'know," Naruto replied. Mei just continued to frown.

"Well, there's no reason why we can't help," Gaara said. He shifted his eyes. "I imagine that these two—Orochimaru and whoever he's with—are proving a handful for even jounin?"

"Oh! Um, yes, they took out an entire squadron of ANBU, Kazekage-sama," one of the chuunin said, jumping slightly from the sudden address.

"Then we could dispatch some jinchuuriki to take care of them, re-capture them."

"Absolutely not," Mei said. "I absolutely will not allow the use of my jinchuuriki."

"…Mei-san, I would never subject Kurunari-kun to anything like that," Naruto said, somewhat softly. "If anything, he can supplement a guard for Yuu-kun; he's too young to fight."

"As he should," Mei said.

"I'm still dispatching Morizuru and Kankuro," Gaara said, raising his voice. "And I'll go out myself, if that's what it takes."

"Gaara…" Naruto said.

"Naruto," Gaara replied, "this is a serious threat, and it'd be absolutely heartless of me to not offer my best help, so that this ends without any more bloodshed. Jinchuuriki can handle something of this level easily. I can handle it."

Naruto's face folded into itself with anxiety.

"Hey, the same goes for me!" Kohriza piped in. "Kakeru-kun and Kemuri-san would volunteer in an instant to help, I know it."

"And I'm certain that, no matter what I said, if Bee and Sachiko got word of this, they'd be jumping in whether I ordered them to or not," Rotsuki added. "So I might as well."

Mei stayed silent, firm in her resolution.

"…guys, I really don't want to see any of you hurt, y'know," Naruto finally said, quietly. "This is our business."

Gaara, now standing, put a hand on his shoulder. "It's better us than innocent civilians. I told you, we can take it."

Naruto smiled, slightly, unable to hold back. "…all right, Gaara, you tell me what to do, then."

"Right." Gaara straightened himself, addressing the chuunin again. "You two, have word passed around that we've got it under control. In the meantime, keep the civilian neighborhoods guarded."

"Actually, put the city on lockdown, y'know," Naruto said, taking a step forward with his words. "Get the sirens going. I don't want anyone on the streets. It'll make our jobs easier an' keep people safe."

"Good idea," Gaara said.

There was a moment of tense, awkward silence.

"Well, you heard my order, go get it taken care of, y'know!" Naruto said, waving an arm. The two chuunin immediately scampered off. "Okay, Gaara, now what should we do?"

"We'll handle this in groups," Gaara said. He turned to the table, to make sure everyone heard. "Per Mei-san's request, we won't be using Kurunari or Yuu—they'll stay where they are in the Mist embassy. Mei-san, you can go to them if you feel you're not safe enough here."

"I'm staying here, thank you," Mei said.

Gaara nodded tersely in reply. "Tonbo's too young, too, so she'll stay with her handlers. Kohriza-san, Kakeru and Kemuri can work together in a patrol unit, making sure that people are kept off the streets and engaging the targets if they're encountered. Sachiko can join them if she wants, Rotsuki-san," he added.

Kohriza nodded. "I'll go with them for a while, but if it's okay with either of you, I'm going to find and guard Naruto-san's syndicate guests. I dunno how well their bodyguards will be able to handle this." Her bottom lip was sucked in, apprehensively, as she finished her sentence.

"Absolutely, Kohriza-san, thank you for taking care of that, y'know," Naruto said; his stomach twisted with the realization that they'd completely slipped his mind, and his mind began to spin, trying to remember who else needed protecting.

"The other teams will be made up of Bee and BB, Kankuro and Morizuru, and myself and Naruto."

Hinata could defend herself, and Andou, and she had the rest of the clan behind her…

"In addition to keeping the streets clear and securing areas…"

And the hospital was heavily-fortified, Sakura had more than enough strength there…

"…we'll be taking a more direct approach against the targets…"

There were guards protecting Sasuke and his family, and they were strong enough, certainly, though Sasuke might need to be told what was going on…

"…and actively seeking them out."

Who else needed protection…?

"Naruto, we'll be relying on you to track them down, if you can."

His thoughts shattered. "Huh? Oh, yeah, absolutely, we can use radios to keep in touch."

"I'll just stick here with Mei-san, then, if Naruto-san's gonna be out in the field," Rotsuki said, raising his hand. "I'll be sure to help if anything comes near the Manor, though."

"Thanks, Rotsuki-san," Gaara said, when Naruto didn't. "Right, let's go get those orders out."

But before any of them could move, Naruto said, loudly, "Wait, before you go!" Every eye snapped to him. "Please, please order your guys to be as gentle with the kid as possible. We want him captured alive and unhurt, 'cos we might be able to get Orochimaru out of his body, in the end. It's not his fault he got possessed, y'know…"

"…you heard him, guys. The orders are to separate and incapacitate," Gaara said. "Get your jinchuuriki back here at the Manor as quickly as possible so we can get into our groups and set out."

The only reply was Kohriza, nodding, saying, "Right."

Everyone left but Mei, who remained in the meeting room, looking out the window at the placid scene of destruction below her.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, promise," Gaara said, before he left Naruto. "Try tracking the targets down in the meantime, to give us an idea of where to go."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto said, and Gaara departed.

In his absence, the sirens began to go off.

Naruto went to the roof, and he turned his flesh into flames, to access the sea of stars around him.

He thought of what he needed to look for: contradictions, black slime, fear. And he closed his eyes, searching for them.

But his mind was wandering elsewhere, wrapped around the constant drone of the siren, a foreign and uncomfortable sound.

He knew he was forgetting something, something he didn't want harmed.

And in the shimmering fabric of souls laid out before him, his heart snagged over another contradiction, purple-and-orange, stuck within a cluster of agonized stars.

Yomena.

He knew that Gaara and the rest of the jinchuuriki would be waiting for him when he returned, puzzled and concerned and scared, or perhaps they would move on without him, out of urgency. He was fine with any possibility.

But he was not fine with the idea of abandoning Yomena again, no matter how she thought of him.

He could at least do this.

He flew.

The city zipped below him in a ragged tapestry of browns and greens and grays, framed by the ever-constant whine of the siren. He knew the area he had to reach: that residential district, with the tree under which Yomena was sitting, meditating, tracking, or whatever it was she'd said she was doing. Was that what she had been up to when the attack had happened?

Her chakra didn't feel weak, or terribly harmed. He hoped for the best.

Soon enough, he had found her. She was kneeling with a huddle of injured people lined up against a building, and attending to one of them, her hands glowing with faint violet-blue chakra—when had she learned healing jutsu? There was a fresh, wide scratch on her cheek, and the sleeves of her robes were torn, apparently forming the makeshift purple bandages on a few of the people around her.

"Yomena!"

Her head snapped up at his voice. "Hokage-sama?"

He doused the flames on his body, bending down to her level. "Yomena, what are you doing here?"

"I'm healing the injured, of course," she replied. She sounded slightly out of breath. "It's the least I can do."

"No, no, I mean, why aren't you evacuating? We're under lockdown, y'know!"

"I understand that, Hokage-sama," she said, "and I was asked to leave by your chuunin after the attack, but I volunteered to stay and heal. There are too many people for them to handle."

There was a pinched, frustrated feeling of—was it pride or annoyance or familiarity?—that he felt with her words. But whatever it was, it gave Naruto a headache. "Yomena, that's not your decision to make, you have to stay safe."

"I can handle myself, of course. Thank you." Yomena's expression grew narrow, and she returned to healing. Her red hair was coming loose, falling into her face.

"No, listen to me," Naruto said. He carefully picked his way around the people in her care. "I'm glad you're helping, but I can't let you get hurt."

"My country won't care if I get a few scrapes in assisting with damage control," she replied, still not looking at him.

"I don't care about what your country thinks," Naruto said, "this is for my peace of mind. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you, y'know."

"Please stop," Yomena said.

"Yomena," Naruto said, leaning closer, "please. I don't have much time, and I don't care if you ignore me for the rest of your life, just listen to me here, okay?"

She didn't say anything.

"I know we don't know each other very well, but I ain't got much in terms of blood family and, I mean, I never have, so I dunno how much it counts, y'know, comin' from me…" He could feel his breath increasing, his mouth growing clumsier with each further word. "But you're my only kid, Yomena. Even if you don't think of me as your dad an' I never really treat you like a daughter or whatever, that's somethin' I gotta protect, y'know. That's somethin' that's as important to me as my country—my country is my family, Yomena. And so are you."

The glow around her hands began to fade.

"So… so, even if you think what I said is total BS, I want you to keep that in mind, 'cos when I say I really don't want you to get hurt, hey, I mean it. Okay?" He exhaled for a good long while. "Like I said, I'm really glad you want to help, but I want you to be safe. So if you wanna keep doin' good—and, uh, not wreck your clothes—you can go to the hospital and help with the healing there. It's safe there, and you'll probably be able to do more help, y'know."

She finally looked up. There was nothing in her eyes.

(But there was a small, cool, liquid sensation nestled in her chest that wasn't there before.)

"If that's what you believe will do the most good, then I'll make my way there immediately, of course," she replied.

He grinned. "Yomena, thank you so much."

She raised a hand. "Please. Leave me to my duty, and I'll leave you to yours."

He nodded, standing, and checked in with the chuunin on duty in the area about their efforts, if the Riverman and Orochimaru had been seen recently—hey, he might as well—before springing back into the air and onto the rooftops, and towards the Hokage Manor.

Gaara was waiting for him on the roof. "Where were you?"

"Making sure that a… loved one was okay," Naruto replied, as lightly as possible.

"Ah. I see." Gaara handed him a small radio and an earpiece. "The rest of the teams have all moved out, I got it set to the correct frequency for you."

"Awesome, thanks," Naruto replied, fiddling with the earpiece to get it secure.

"So, any idea of where the targets are?"

"Ah… no, I was a bit preoccupied, y'know…" Naruto said. "But I'll get right on that and radio in once I got an idea so we can surround 'em."

"Excellent."

But before Naruto could search again, there was a burst of static from the radio.

"Yo, anyone there? We got a situation!" It was Bee.

"Bee? What's going on?" Naruto said, pressing on his ear to activate the microphone.

"Oh, Naruto, yo! You finally got back!" Bee replied.

"Not a moment too soon," BB added, with a minor crackle.

"What's the situation, Bee?" Gaara said.

"I think we found us our targets," Bee said.

"What, already?" Naruto said.

"Big pale guy, and a creepy kid with snake eyes?" BB said.

"That's them!" Naruto shouted. "What are you doing, are you observing?"

"That's the problem," BB said. "We found 'em wailin' on some guy in the street an' they ran off soon as we showed up. Pops tried to chase 'em down but they did some sorta weird thing where they dove into the earth an' got outta range. We're takin' the guy they beat up to the hospital right now."

"Aw, crap," Naruto said, wincing. "Hope he isn't hurt too bad."

There was a thin and sharp silence.

"I ain't so sure the guy's gon' make it, actually," BB said. Her voice barely cut through the radio hiss.

"…then hurry an' make sure Sakura gets to him," Naruto said.

"Who?" Bee said.

"Nevermind, I'll meet you at the hospital an' help from there, y'know," Naruto said. "Regroup. You guys okay, otherwise?"

"Fine as wine," Bee replied. "See you in a few."

"You want the rest of us to meet up at the hospital?" That was Sachiko.

"No, you and the rest stay in your positions, and radio in if there are any changes," Gaara said.

"Gotcha, sir!"

"Take care, all of you," Gaara said. He exchanged a worried look with Naruto, before nodding, and leaping off with him for the hospital.

They arrived before Bee and BB did, luckily. And in seeking out Sakura through the mess that was the Emergency Room, Naruto caught a glimpse of Yomena escorting a messy-haired father and son—wasn't he one of Sasuke's students?—toward a bed to be healed, and winked at her when their eyes met. She waved in return, hastily, and went back to her work.

Sakura, he found, was discussing strategy with Karin. "Karin-san? What are you doing here?"

"Huh, Naruto? I noticed there was some commotion with the staff and more agitation than usual in the Emergency Wing, so I thought I'd come up and see what I could do to help," she replied.

"But your health, and-"

"She can handle it," Sakura said, firmly. "I tried to convince her otherwise, anyways, and she wouldn't have it."

"I know my limits, okay," Karin added.

"What are you doing here, anyways, Naruto?" Sakura continued.

"Bee and BB are on their way with an attack victim," Naruto said. He looked over his shoulder toward the wide entrance of the ward, where Gaara was waiting with his arms folded. "Me an' Gaara and the other jinchuuriki have been tracking down Orochimaru and that Riverman guy, and they almost caught 'em, but they got away."

"Oh, you set up a team?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, me an' some other jinchuuriki, like I said. You know us, we can take a few knocks," Naruto said, managing a smile. "Anyways, I wanted to make sure the guy got taken care of when he arrived, y'know."

"I'll make sure of that," Karin said, stepping forward.

"Karin…"

"Hey, you have your hands full, okay," Karin replied, gesturing a hand at Sakura. "Will you worry less about me if I'm just working on one patient?"

"…I suppose," Sakura said.

"Naruto, Bee's here!" Gaara's voice threw itself over the chaos, immediately attracting the attention of the Hokage and the doctors. The three of them cut through it to meet up with them.

The young man in Bee's arms seemed very small, both on account of Bee's size and his injuries. His head was flopped forward unnaturally, resting on his chest, and the arm that dangled out of Bee's grasp looked twisted into an excruciating position.

"He's bleedin', bad," Bee said, crouching down some so that they could get a better look at him. "An' I dunno if he's breathing any more."

"Get me a cart!" Sakura yelled, turning around, facing whatever she had at her disposal. "Top priority, NOW!"

Karin, in the meantime, drew closer, her eyes narrowed in concern and appraisal. "What did he do to this boy…?" she said.

Sakura's tone was well-interpreted, and a spare roller bed was snatched from somewhere and brought toward the entrance by an intern. Bee gently laid the boy down. There was a moaning gurgle; blood oozed from his mouth in sick, crimson bubbles.

Karin did not waste any time. "Internal bleeding, multiple limb fractures… did he break his back, too? Sakura, this boy needs surgery now."

But Sakura, instead of agreeing or arguing, gasped as she got a better look at the boy's swollen face.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto said.

"…that boy, that's… that's Takeru," she replied.

Takeru had not been where he was supposed to.

He had, of course, been outside the house, since morning. He needed his space, and his privacy, and he knew he could get it. Not that he was doing much of anything during this time, he just wanted away from the rest of his miserable excuse for a family.

When the sirens began, he paused his walk, head tilted. He'd never heard sirens before.

"Young man! Get inside, get inside!"

A chuunin was approaching, running. He wore thick, grandfatherly glasses with a chain on them, but couldn't have been much older than him. Calling him "young man?" Please.

"What's going on?" Takeru asked him, instead.

"The city's on lockdown, and—wait, you're an Uchiha, aren't you?"

The words burned like acid.

"Of course I'm an Uchiha," Takeru said, through his teeth. "What, it isn't obvious?"

"Of course not, just—you need to come with me."

"Why."

"Hokage's orders, young man, the Uchiha clan is to be under special protection until further notice."

Takeru rolled his eyes, sighing deeply. "I already know about that order, you fool. Do you think I'd be out here on my own if I didn't think I could handle myself? I'm a jounin, anyway."

"Young man-!"

But Takeru disappeared, leaving the fool behind him.

Still, he considered going home.

Well, "home." To his grandfather's borrowed house. Though he'd wound by his true home on more than one occasion, he still feared his father's reaction, and did not dare go in.

…well, "father."

Though he doubted even that. Of course he was an Uchiha. He took to every clan skill with ease, like he'd been born to do it, because he had been born to do it. He was an Uchiha, there was no doubting this. And even though he didn't have a Sharingan, none of his other siblings did. This was nothing to be ashamed of.

(Even Nadeshiko the freak didn't have it.)

That Nara Shikamaru was his father was just a lie that his mother had cooked up to try and win a stupid argument. A shrewish, low blow. Uchiha Sasuke, that was the only man that could be his father. Talented and strong, like him.

He was an Uchiha. Anyone could see that. That was his blood, his birthright.

He was an Uchiha.

"Uchiha…!"

There was someone behind him.

On instinct, his hand reached for a knife from the pouch on his hip, and he slowly began to turn around.

"An Uchiha, Master I, found one, finally…!"

The speaker, his voice jubilant and deranged, was very pale, and his features seemed distorted, like a parody of a person. He screamed untrustworthy, unhinged. Takeru's hand tightened around his knife.

But then a face popped up over the matted fur collar of the pale man's clothing.

And Takeru knew that face.

"…Takeru? My goodness, what a delight."

But there was something wrong with that face.

"…Yakata-kun?"

The pale man crouched down, and the boy disembarked. His eyes, as he approached Takeru, were half-closed, sleepy or pleased; the irises had turned a brilliant yellow, the pupils tightened to thin slits.

"Hello, Takeru," Yakata replied, too smoothly.

Takeru strengthened his stance. "What are you—doing here?" he said.

But Yakata did not answer, only walking, slowly, closer to him, smiling. The man behind him twitched, his eyes locked on the boy.

"There's, uh." Takeru, to his shame, had to swallow. "There's a lockdown, Yakata-kun, you should get to safety. My father wouldn't—want anything happening to you, you know."

Yakata giggled.

The sound sent Takeru's stomach plummeting into his knees.

"Oh, Takeru, you just can't help yourself, can you?" Yakata said, once he was finished. "You're just so full of lies that they come spilling right out of you every time you open your mouth, hm?"

Takeru wanted, badly, to take the knife in his right hand and throw it at the child—squarely between those eyes on that wretched face, or into his heart. But something held him—the fact that this was Yakata, or those eyes, or the unsettling man behind them both—and he kept still.

"And the lies you told this poor child… I should consider myself lucky that I came across you first," Yakata continued, drawing closer. He was barely three feet away from Takeru, now; Takeru could see the scratches on his knees, the blood on his feet.

"I don't—Yakata-kun, what are you saying—what's the matter with you?" Takeru sputtered. His hands, shaking—what, no, he couldn't be scared now!—were struggling to hold onto his knife.

"You really do take after your father, you know," Yakata said. "Born to betray."

And Yakata took a step back, tilting his head, smiling with his mouth, but not his eyes.

"Riverman, my darling? Kill him."

Takeru threw his knife at the man, but it wobbled in the air and bounced, seemingly harmlessly, against his left shoulder.

And the man smiled, too, but there was a lust for meat in his mouth. His teeth seemed too large and too sharp to be human.

Even if Takeru's aim had been true, his hands steady and without fear, no amount of knives or fire or skill could have protected him from what followed.

(And Orochimaru just watched, savoring, enjoying every moment, as the boy was broken.)