Author's Note

Double update this week on account of this chapter being so exposition-y. I figured you guys deserved it!

Enjoy, and review if you like!

- Rii

Chapter 121 - True Story

"So, uh, d'you wanna talk to Murasaki-chan?" Naruto and Sakura were re-entering the ebbing chaos of the Emergency Room. "Get some kinda story from out of her? 'Cos I think I'm gonna go talk to Senrintsu-san…"

"Oh, yeah. But I'll, uh, go check on Sasuke first, okay?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, please, totally do that," Naruto said, and watched her go.

Hashiki was waiting by the entrance of the ER, much like Gaara had been not long before. "Hey there. So you said you wanted to talk?" Naruto said, raising a hand in greeting.

"Oh, hello there! Yes," she said, stepping away from the entrance wall. "Though, is the Uchiha family all right, first off?"

"…well, they're all bein' cared for, right now, so they're safe at least, y'know," Naruto replied.

"Oh, that's fine for now," Hashiki replied, sighing. "If they're being healed and taken care of, then they're in far more capable hands than mine."

"Yeah, about that…" Naruto said. "You mind if we talk for a bit 'bout your involvement in this little rescue mission that just happened?"

"Gladly," Hashiki replied. "Though it may take a while… Shall we go outside? There are some lovely trees planted outside the hospital we could sit under…"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."

Under the tree, her calf-length hair coiled around her crossed legs like a dragon, Hashiki seemed remarkably at ease, leaning against the bark of the trunk and taking a few deep breaths—not out of nervousness, but enjoyment.

(And Naruto could feel this—though her inner emotions were as soothingly brown and green as the tree and her smile.)

"Well, I s'ppose this all started at work this morning. When the sirens went off," she began. "The girls and I all heard it, so we stayed inside and wondered what was going on. And then we heard that announcement you made over the speakers, about Orochimaru and his clone and all that—well that just got us talking more, and it got me actually worried because… well, I knew Orochimaru, you see. I knew what he was capable of."

"You knew Orochimaru?" Naruto said.

She nodded. "A long time ago; I'll explain later if I can, all right?" Naruto nodded. "Hearing that he was involved and causing trouble in the city had me considering involvement from the beginning. I didn't want another Day of Crushed Leaves to happen, though I trusted you had the situation under control, Naruto-san. But then Murasaki-san—though she was calling herself Itachi at that time—showed up, and she got me going."

"So what'd Murasaki actually say to you? An' why did she go to you in the first place?"

"That was what I was wondering at first, m'self," Hashiki replied. "She just ran into the shop, calling me 'my lady' and going on about how the Uchiha clan needed my help, how the Will of Fire had brought her to me through this woman's body. I tried to talk to her, but the girls at the shop were more concerned with… well, they were pretty convinced she was crazy, and trying to figure out what to do. Shoo her off, or take her in, or what have you."

"Uh-huh." Naruto, just imagining the encounter, felt uncomfortable and apologetic.

"I was on the edge of going up to calm her down, but then she told me that I rescued her… well, his son in the Forest of Death. And that… well, nobody else could have known about that, and that got me to at least listen to her, see what she was trying to say."

"Her son, huh?" Naruto said. "Wait, I mean—Itachi-san's son… wait, Yakata-kun, you mean? He said you rescued him?"

"That boy, Yakata? Well, I did…"

"When?"

"A few weeks ago? Poor dear was stuck in the Forest of Death; I sensed him wandering around in there through my trees and excused myself from work to go investigate, and there he was. So I intervened."

Naruto could feel his eyebrows rising. "You mean you got Yakata-kun out of there?"

"Mm. Though I tried not to make it obvious that it was me…"

"I, well… huh. Guess that's something else to talk about." Naruto crossed his arms under the tree, closing his eyes in thought.

"Oh, if you want to, I'd be glad to," Hashiki said.

"Sure, sure," Naruto replied. "So… somehow, Itachi-san saw that you did that, and used that to try and get you to believe him, even though he was… using Murasaki's body, y'know."

"That seems to be the case, yes," Hashiki replied. "Though the girls were making things difficult, and Itachi-san got frustrated and left. I went and followed, saying I wanted to make sure the poor girl didn't get hurt, though I really wanted to see where she was going, and what the situation was with the Uchiha clan. You understand, I haven't exactly… been open about my identity or my abilities, so I was unsure about intervening in front of people, rather than in my forest, or in secret… But then I saw…"

And her face grew hard, almost wooden.

"…well, I saw him. My other. And I knew that, if the world knew about him, they could stand to know about me. So I took care of things from there, and once things were… settled, I brought the Uchiha clan to the hospital, and that's where we are now."

"By him you mean that Riverman guy, right?" Naruto said.

Hashiki shrugged. "One of the Uchiha girls brought up that name, so I suppose that's what they've chosen to call him."

"Right… So he's your other? What's that mean?"

Hashiki sighed for a long while. "This is where things get complicated, I suppose. But he and I… are two halves of one whole, horrible past. In one sense, he's my brother, while in another he's merely another victim of Orochimaru's experiments."

"Orochimaru made you?"

"Accidentally, I suppose. He never intended for us to exist, I imagine. But we were created, anyways, when he attempted to summon two Hokages and ended up losing them. He gained us, though."

"The two Hokages—wait, you mean the Edo Tensei?" Hashiki nodded. "Okay, so… how'd that happen, then?"

Hashiki sighed again. "It's complicated, like I said. It took me a long time to even guess at where I came from. The best I can do is just try and… pick through Kin's memories, since Hashirama's memories have almost nothing to do with things…"

"Wha-? Who are-"

Hashiki laughed, interrupting him. "I'm sorry, I'll explain. My old memories aren't the most coherent things, and I really try my best to sort them into either Kin's memories or Hashirama's memories—from two different lifetimes, you see. Hashirama's memories—those are Senju Hashirama's, the man that was brought down to earth from the summon. And Kin—she's not me any more, but she's who I was before the summon happened." She paused, appraising Naruto's expression. "I'm sorry, did that make any sense?"

"…just keep goin', I'll figure it out eventually, y'know," Naruto said, waving a hand, his face still creased with concentration.

"Okay, all right. So, about… thirty years ago, one part of me was a Sound ninja named Tsuchi Kin. Orochimaru sent me out as part of a three-man squad, to… more or less stalk Uchiha Sasuke. And I do remember running into you and your teammates at that time—I apologize for that, by the way, Kin wasn't the kindest girl…"

Naruto struggled to remember. "Sound ninja, stalking Sasuke… Yeah, I guess I remember," he said, though he was truly too preoccupied with her story to fully retrieve the gray-and-brown memories.

Hashiki smiled in return. "We were also asked to participate in the chuunin exams, to the best of our ability, but I didn't make it past the preliminaries, and neither did another of my teammates, Abumi Zaku. We had to return to Sound after that, for our failure—Zaku lost his arms, and needed surgery—but instead, Orochimaru decided to use us as summoning fodder. And when he came to us to perform the ritual, he said it was under the pretext of giving us a mission to… redeem ourselves." The wooden coldness returned to her face. "By the time I realized what he was really trying to do to us, it was too late; but poor Zaku went to him like an underfed dog, loyal to the end. He never really understood that we were just raw materials to Orochimaru, especially since we'd failed in our mission.

"The next thing I remember—and this is my first real memory, the first memory that's really mine—I'm waking up on the roof of a building I don't know, covered in ashes and paper, and my body doesn't want to move like I want it to. But I see Zaku by me, looking in worse shape than me, and I manage to drag him away so I can figure out what's going on. And when he wakes up he's spouting nonsense—his hair's turned white, he has his arms back, he's calling me 'Brother' and saying we need to get back to Orochimaru, to complete our missions. And I'm doing all I can to try and comprehend things—and some part of me is responding to his blabbering, thinking it's true, but another part is trying to shake some sense into him. But I began getting upset and… well, I lost control of myself, and my gifts."

"Gifts?"

Hashiki placed a hand on the earth, and raised from it a swaying narcissus flower. "My Wood Release." She kept her eyes on the flower for a while, as she talked. "I suppose when Orochimaru's summons failed, for whatever reason, part of Kin's soul stayed in the summoned body, and part of Hashirama's stayed as well. And early on… I suppose they fought to be in control, which made the Wood Release very difficult to handle. Even now, if I want to use it excessively, I have to let Hashirama's half come through a bit more strongly, so I can work with it best. It makes me a bit… mannish, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Really! Huh," Naruto said. "But—well, you're in control of these parts of you now, right?"

"Oh, yes, though through no small effort…" Hashiki replied. "What happened that first day was that my Wood Release completely overtook my body, and I slept in a tree, or as a tree, for I don't know how long. I suppose that gave me some time to balance out a bit, so when my tree was felled later—there was a great explosion of some sort, everything was leveled—I felt like more or less one person. Though it took me a while to gain back my humanity, after that…" She chuckled, embarrassedly. "The first thing I did after I woke up was to grow a new forest to live and sleep in. And from my behavior in the years that passed, I might as well have been an animal. But that's, blessedly, in the past."

"So I can assume this never happened with the other guy," Naruto said.

"Zaku? No, it seems not…" She sighed. "I don't know where he went after I went to sleep, but from what I saw in him today, it seems like he was only able to gain some semblance of balance between his two halves. He never found a middle identity like I did, I suppose. Just wandering, not sure if he's Zaku or Tobirama at any given time. I can't imagine how tortured he must have been, having to live like that…"

"Yeah… So, what's this middle identity thing?" Naruto said.

"A person I decided to be, not quite Hashirama or Kin, but someone in the middle. And that turned out to be The Woman of the Woods, first—when people caught sight of me in my Forest I'd hear that name, and I sort of started… cultivating an image for that. Actively letting myself be seen in bits and pieces so that more people would believe, almost like it would make my identity stronger as a result." She chuckled. "My life as Senritsu Hashiki came later. And it's certainly thanks to my dear Go'on; he brought out the most humanity in me, and I'm so grateful that he's in my life."

"How's that?" Naruto said, suddenly seeming to remember that, yes, the strange, fast child Go'on was her son. This seemed to answer a series of invisible questions at the back of his mind, though the answers weren't quite comprehended.

"Well… before he came into my life, I lived alone in my Forest, watching over the things that lived in there, and helping whatever humans that wandered in, especially around the chuunin exam—some part of me, probably Hashirama, felt compelled to assist anyone in need. But one night, I felt something just outside the forest, very small and weak and alone, so I went to investigate. Someone had abandoned a baby near the fence—a newborn, with the umbilical cord still attached. I was immediately stuck on what to do. Did I take it in? Leave it somewhere in the city? Leave it alone to die? The last thing I just couldn't do, so I took the child in.

"I nurtured him on my chakra for a while, but I knew I couldn't just keep on like this, so I decided after a couple of weeks to see if I could leave him at an orphanage without drawing attention to myself. For a few days I'd sneak out to do a little investigating—I'd leave the child with animals that I trusted—and see what steps I could take to ensure his safety. But the more I searched, the more I didn't want to be parted with the child. And eventually I made the decision to begin a second life. I'd still guard over my forest, but I'd take on a name and a job in town, so that the child would be able to get an education and proper care and be able to make a life for himself as he grew up. It was basically learning to be human again," she added, with a laugh. "All for the sake of my Go'on. But it was worth it, I think."

"That is… very interesting," Naruto said, his face frozen into something that was fascinated, yet trying to stay serious.

"It's certainly not the most conventional upbringing," Hashiki replied, shrugging good-naturedly. "And despite my best intentions, Go'on ended up spending more time in my forest with me than in the outside world, like I wanted for him. But he just loved it in there; almost more at home with the trees and animals than our apartment and human neighbors. And when he began school, I'd call him in sick so he could stay with me in the Forest for the chuunin exams—it's very difficult to get in and out of there with all the guards posted around the fence, that time of year, and I couldn't bear to not be present with so many children in danger. It was quite interesting for him to be on the other side of the action, this year…"

"Man, I bet," Naruto replied. "Dang, this is all… ridiculous. But really interesting, y'know. I'm amazed you've managed to live so quietly s'far, Hashiki-san."

She smiled, warmly, back. "Just means I've done a good job, I bet. And besides, after living through two lifetimes of violence, I'd dreamed so much of having a quiet life that it was almost easy to step into one, once I was given the opportunity."

Naruto laughed. "Sure, I got that. So, um," he said, suddenly seeming to remember, "you said you settled things with that Riverman guy. Y'mind, uh, elaborating? Did you use a sealing technique on him?"

"Oh, no, I used a tree," she replied. "He'll sleep in there for as long as I want him to. He won't be hurting anyone any more. Not as long as I can help it."

"Oh, cool," Naruto replied, the logistics of using a tree to seal away something floating oil-like over the surface of his thoughts.

"So, if you could answer a question of mine?" Hashiki said, almost meekly, after a short pause had passed.

"Sure, shoot!"

"This Murasaki-san, who requested my services on behalf of Itachi-san—is she a priestess of some sort? Since the channeling she seems to be capable of doesn't seem like an ordinary ninja technique."

"Murasaki is… special," Naruto replied, stretching his mouth into a half-grimace as he thought. "In all honesty, this is the first time she's done this where I've actually believed her. She's done it before, but… well, not like this, y'know. Maybe it's 'cos Itachi was with her this time. He's a guy I trust."

"Goodness. Should we get back to her, then?" Hashiki said. "She was a bit roughed up when I left her with the Uchiha family."

"Yeah, let's do that. And, later, can you take me to that tree where you sealed up that Riverman?" Naruto said, as he got to his feet. "I wanna check it out for myself, y'know."

"Absolutely," Hashiki replied. As she left, the narcissus she had summoned sank back into the ground, as if it had never existed.

"Oh, by the way."

"Yes?"

"Would you care if I shared your story to Sakura later? Or would you rather do it?" Naruto said.

"I don't mind taking care of it myself, but… who is that, exactly?" Hashiki said, with a politely befuddled smile.

"Oh, she's the chief of medicine at the hospital, an' my teammate. Pink hair. She's been really involved with this whole Riverman business, and the Uchihas, y'know."

"Oh, by all means! I expect the news of my existence will be sort of spreading around in the next few days, so it's probably for the best that someone who knows what they're doing gets the straight story first," she replied. Her face suddenly got very serious, and she stopped walking. "However, should the rest of your council find out about me similarly, let them know that I refuse to be used for any sort of warfare in the future. You understand? I'm through with that."

Naruto, of all things, beamed in reply. "I wouldn't even dream of that, y'know. C'mon, let's keep going."

Hashiki's smile, in return, was as warm as the sun.

They returned to the Emergency Room to find Sakura with a strange, shocked expression on her face. She was standing in between Murasaki and Inou, the latter of which had his hands in the diamond-sign. They seemed to be excitedly exchanging words between each other, and judging from the pauses, they were seemingly in a conversation with an invisible third party.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Naruto said.

Sakura grabbed the front of his jacket. "Naruto. Are you hearing this?"

"Hearing what?"

"This!" And she shoved him forward. "I mean, either Murasaki's hallucinations are so strong that others can hear them now, or—look, just listen, okay?!"

"Uh… okay? Karai-chan, you mind explaining…?" Naruto said, nudging the girl, who was sitting next to her brother.

"Inou and Murasaki-san are talking with someone named Shusuke. Sakura-sensei was just listening in; you wanna hear too?" She tapped her head.

"…Shusuke?" Naruto's voice had gotten a note quieter.

"Yeah, I only sorta know who he is… But he mentioned you, so, I figured you knew each other," Karai continued.

"…well, yeah, sure, how does it work, y'know?" Naruto said.

"Here, lean in so I can put my hand on your head," Karai replied. Hashiki stepped back so that he could do this, standing next to Sakura, who seemed to be growing increasingly excited. Karai put her other hand near Inou's temple, and closed her eyes.

Seriously, I can't believe this, Saki-chan, this is SO great.

It sounded like a voice from a television with the sound turned down low.

But he still knew it, and he began grinning.

"Shusuke? Is that you?"

Whoa, Naruto-sensei?! Sensei?! It's me! It's me, it's me! I'm here! I've been here all along and—Saki-chan, Sensei can hear me now, too!

"Calm down, Shusuke, he knows." Murasaki was laughing, and her face almost seemed to glow. It was the happiest that Naruto had ever seen her.

(And Masao, sitting nearby, wore a weak, pale expression, as if his happy shock had drained the life from him.)

Naruto wiped a hot leak of tears coming out of his eyes with his forearm.

Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I just—man, after all these years, who'd have thought! Hi, Sensei!

"Hi to you too, Shusuke." Naruto had to laugh to keep from choking up too much. "It's good to hear that you're okay."

"Seriously, can you believe this?" Sakura, hearing all this from nearby, was jumping in again. "Either we're all going crazy or—this is a breakthrough."

Naruto pulled himself away from Karai's hand, wiping his eyes again. "Yep."

He figured he'd have time to talk about Hashiki with Sakura later.

He had a student to talk to.