Next chapter, new arc. The next three. Mostly wrap up some plot point and prepare the next part but then we'll depart for a new arc which will force the kids to reinvent their abilities and evolve.
I wanted to give you an update about schedule and reviews, if your not intrested don't hesitate to skip it.
So first I wanted to thank all of you for the reviews and apologize for the irregular updates. As a non-native speaker and someone who honestly is just embarrassingly bad at spelling (even in my own native languages sadly) prepping my chapters for publishing takes time. Additionally, I had that brilliant idea for my further uni-education to take part in a program that allows you to study three different fields at the same time, fascinating really, but also hard on my free time. It's holydays now and it will make life somewhat easier for me.
In particular, I'd like to try to be respond to your reviews more quickly and more thoroughly. It's been difficult sometimes but I really value your opinions, criticism and kind words. For one chapter for example (chapter 14,15?) a comment from one of you prompted me to rewrite the chapter entirely and I truly do think it was for the better.
Also I promised to put my worldbuilding research on a blog and you can find it on tumblr under the-blog-hidden-in-the-leaves ( on tumblr), I can't put a link in so try to add the normal beginning to a link ( : / /) then the title above then . tumblr . com but without the spaces. I will gradually add everything I have on it but it will probably remain a pretty rough form.
Part II Winter's cold wind
The morning after the attack was gray and dreary. It had rained during the night and Konoha looked strangely washed out. The trees were looking more brown than red and a biting cold had replaced the mild warmth of late fall. It rarely snowed in fire-country nor did it become truly cold but the permanent moist mist that filled the valleys and leached the heat of the country made everything look listless and dead. It was particularly fitting this one day. Crimson pools of blood had been blurred but not erased by the rain. The last Sound-nin had been caught around 3 in the morning and Suna's army had pulled back when they finally realized that they had been tricked and their Kage was probably lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Konoha had won but it barely lifted the mood. Surprisingly few Konoha civilians and ninja had been killed. Orochimaru had wanted to take over the village not destroy it but for most younger ninja and even more civilian it brought the realization that death didn't just lie outside the gates, during missions, it could also come to them, in the village. Constant battle was the price to pay for survival.
The older ones who clearly remembered the last war felt more relieved than shocked, but no one dared to feel like celebrating.
The Hokage and Jiraya had both barely been seen since the attack, the former was in hospital, the jutsu he had used had damaged his arm greatly and it was more and more clear he might lose it. The later was working down in the prisons going from Orochimaru to the Jinchuriki boy, strengthening their seals. The boy would be returned once a transitional government was formed.
The Hokage had insisted they don' t retaliate violently against Suna which had angered a good part of Konoha' s population. As far as Kakashi saw it they didn't have the luxury to launch any kind of attack right now.
His wounds had been treated quickly and he had been placed in a packed room with his teammates and several other patients. He didn't complain, for once. He didn't sleep more than an hour here and there but felt more or less rested anyway. He smiled when he looked at his three charges. Sakura was curled around Ino and both were sleeping soundly at his left. Naruto was sitting between him and Sasuke, his head had fallen on his teammate shoulder, the Ushiha had first tried to dislodge him but had given up at some point and was now sleeping. Even in sleep he had a scowl painted on his features.
In the afternoon they went into another big room that had been transformed into a big mess hall. He was given an uninspiring bowl of grey mush but ate it quickly and without protest. Sakura noticed his emptied bowl and threw him a slightly disgusted glare before eying her own portion. Naruto only bemoaned the absence of ramen for a few minutes before downing his food. Sasuke seemed to approach the issue with the same kind grim determination he usually displayed but his disgusted expression revealed his true feelings. Sasuke was a terribly picky eater Kakashi had come to discover.
He spent another few nights in the hospital with his team, on Wednesday he was informed that both him and Naruto would be discharged in the afternoon. Sasuke, Sakura and Ino had to wait another day at least, the first because of a bad puncture wound in his calf, the second because of Biju chakra burns and the third because of a messy break in her left arm.
Finally, he was left to his own devices and made his way back to his apartment. He was happy to see that it had sustained only superficial damage. Considering how close it was to the arena that was great luck. He didn't feel specially emotionally invested in the place, but he liked it well enough. Despite what Asuma said, it was acceptable in size and comfort, and it would be a hassle to find a new place. He entered and checked the traps, everything was in place.
He went out quickly again and looked for a place to start help with reconstruction. Already artisans from the regions close to Konoha had come to rebuild. Most shinobi of lower rank who hadn't been injured were helping. Kakashi was amused when he arrived in the lower parts of the village and saw several Naruto clones climbing around a building bringing tiles for the workers.
Kakahsi arrived near the administration building that had taken some heavy hits. A random worker called for him and asked him help to remove some rubble and Kakashi complied.
In the evening he sat down with other workers and shinobi and listened to the conversations. He thought of remaining here instead of heading home, but that choice was taken from his hands when an emissary arrived and told him he was summoned by the Hokage.
He saw the surprise in the worker's faces and the way they looked at him again, seeing him in a different way now. He got up and with a goodnight and headed towards the Hokage tower.
The building was bustling despite the late hour and he had to wait half an hour before an exhausted-looking chunin ushered him in.
The Hokage sat behind his desk. He looked strangely normal. Kakashi could easily overlook the heavy bandages and see a man that was tired, yes, but almost satisfied. Kakashi mused that the man had reason to. Konoha had suffered material loss yes, but comparatively few human casualties and one of their most prominent threat had been dealt with.
"Hokage." He stated as way of greeting.
"How are you Kakashi."
"Good, Hokage-sama. Why have you called me."
The Hokage hummed and looked through some files.
"Orochimaru has been captured however he was heavily tied to Oto and certainly has many other supporters and allies throughout the nations. We want to deal with them as quickly as possible now that they are still disoriented and disorganized lest they become a new threat to us."
"I understand."
"Here, look."
The Hokage gave him a file. It was a basic genin-team file. The name of their teacher was vaguely familiar but it's the genin's faces that he was drawn to. One of them had large round glasses and greyish hair in a ponytail. He recognized him as the genin he had met during the battle and who had told him that his teammate had disappeared.
The other two he had seen during the preliminary fights. The second in particular he could remember. His ability to distort his limbs had made an impression on him.
"Anything special about them."
"At first glance, no. A pretty average or even mediocre team. Their first Jonin-sensei got back into active service and was replaced by this one. He too wanted to resign as a sensei if they didn't get through this time."
"Some of their skills are interesting however."
"That's the crux of the matter. The second boy, the one with the glasses isn't special in anyway. His father is a skilled surgeon but Kabuto-kun is a very average ninja. The other two are more puzzling however. They came to Konoha seven years ago, as refugees, we took them in because we found nothing suspicious about them, we must have been careless. I asked some of our specialist to look more into it and we made a far more troubling discovery. That is why I want you to handle it. During the fight one of them was clearly seen fighting on Orochimaru's side. The other one we are not sure about.
Kakashi nodded and waited for the details.
"Yoroi Akadou has the ability to extract another's chakra and use it for himself. It's a surprising ability especially since he doesn't use any kind of known jutzu."
"A kekkei genkai?"
"Probably. I didn't know of any clan that has such a power nor did any other member of the council. Some research leads me to believe that such a thing had indeed exited, there was a clan in the land of valleys."
"Was?"
"It was annihilated seven years ago by an even more obscure character: Kakuzu is his name.
Kakashi frowned, he remembered the name from Bingo-books. Some nuke-nin from Taki. Very elusive but known in the underworld."
"You think there is a link between this man and Orochimaru since an offspring of the clan he destroyed ended up in Orochimaru's care."
The Hokage nodded.
"I may even know what that link is. Orochimaru fell entirely off the grid seven years ago. For almost two years Jiraya was unable to know what happened to him, we even thought he may be dead. Today I' m more inclined to believe that he joined an obscure organization, an organization where he met Kakuzu, maybe he was even there when that man killed the clan, or he only claimed some spoils. What is clear is that he was involved in some way. We know that Orochimaru is no longer part of that organization but he may have been at some point.
As soon as we got this information we sent someone out where that clan had lived. He should have reported once arrived in the land of rivers. He never sent a message, we are afraid he may be dead or at least captured. We cannot send a larger group of shinobi, we are undermanned as we are. We don' t know what he stumbled upon, some of Orochimaru's research or maybe something concerning this organization."
"Do we know anything more about it?"
Sandaime inclined his head gravely.
"We have been trying to keep an eye on it for quite some time. Have you ever heard the name Akatzuki before."
Kakashi shook his head.
"You may have heard from some of his members. The most well-known here in Konoha is Itachi Uchiha, you may also have heard of Sassori of the red sand or Kisame Hashigoki formely of Kiri or Deidara an offspring of the Tzushikage. Others are more mysterious. There are two individuals we suspect are from rain, another with a scythe is from the land of hot springs, there is a last member whose origin is completely unknown and then of course Kakuzu formerly of Taki."
Kakashi winced mentally. That was an impressive amount of legendary nukenin and seemed like pretty bad news. There was something else that bothered him however.
"Impressive, you are incredibly well-informed about a supposedly secret organization."
The Hokage's eyes became cold and he gazed at Kakashi sharply.
"I have my ways."
"But you don' t know for certain if Orochimaru was a member."
"That was long ago. Our information is more recent."
The Hokage was playing some kind of obscure game. Kakashi sighed. Hopefully this mission wouldn't go to fuck. Something was nagging at him; this whole matter was suspicious. But he had no right to question the Hokage. At the end of the day he was only a soldier.
"Very well."
"Your mission is to find why our shinobi disappear and handle the situation there as you see fit. Also, if you find one of Orochimaru's bases eliminate everyone affiliated to him, if there is some research, bring it back. This is a secret A-rank mission. We have not gotten an authorization to send a shinobi to the land of valleys and don't have the time to wait for one. You know what it means."
"This is an anbu mission."
"Yes, go shinobi, the estimated time-frame is fifteen days, if you aren't back at that time no back-up will be sent. You are on your own."
Kakashi nodded and was about to turn away.
"Kakashi, good luck."
Kakahsi smiled and left quickly. Instead of heading to his apartment he went to the anbu-headquarters. This time he didn't enter with the secret passageway only he knew and took the official secret passageway instead.
He was almost arrived at the storage rooms when he felt another anbu running after him. He lifted his arms and sighed.
"Anbu-san I am not an intruder I..."
"I know. What are you doing here again, sempai?"
He recognized Tenzo's tired voice.
"We have a lot to do, I swear if you were bored."
"I have a mission."
"Then what are you doing here."
"An anbu mission. Straight from the Hokage."
"And your students?"
"The mission takes precedence."
"I see. You went to retrieve new gear."
"Yes."
"Don' t bother we still have your old one somewhere near the locker room."
"You didn't throw it away?"
"We kind of knew you would come back."
"Really?"
"Yes, we hardly believed that the Hokage managed to convince you to leave, but we all knew that you would never really quit anbu."
Kakashi hummed. He had hardly believed it himself. God knew he was a lot better at killing people than teaching brats. He tried to convince himself that he didn't feel more comfortable doing the former than the later but he just may be that far gone.
"And you. You want to leave anbu one day?"
"It's hardly the right time to talk about this."
"Maybe it's just the right time."
Tenzo was uncharacteristically silent while opening a sealed cabinet and handing him his armor and mask.
"One day, I think I'd like to stop. It's ok here. I like my team, but I think I'd like to have a team of my own one day, a genin team I mean."
Kakashi thought of making fun of his friend as usual but there was something very sincere in Tenzo's tone.
"I think you would be good at it."
And he was being honest, Tenzo had that kind of inner warmth and the patience that would serve him well with kids. He felt somewhat out of his comfort zone with how emotional the conversation was getting so he threw in a more light-hearted jab.
"Just be aware that they are horrible. I swear Kiri-hunter-nin are easier to handle."
Tenzou snorted and turned back to face him.
"Then I suppose this mission will be like a vacation to you."
Kakashi nodded and quickly put on the gear again, he was already wearing the normal undershirt but had to get some new gloves. His were back at the apartment. He left his Hita-ate in a shelf in the locker-room and after a last goodbye to Tenzou left the place.
Leaving Konoha like this, in the middle of the night, the bone-white armor around his waist and torso and arms and chins felt familiar in a reassuring kind of way. He calculated that if he advanced quickly and made only three or four longer breaks he should be in the land of valleys in 4 days, one more if he wanted to circumvent rain completely, which he would do. No reason to be careless.
Anbu hound disappeared in the darkness of Konoha's thick forests.
The next days in hospital were very boring, first Kakashi and Naruto left, then Sasuke a day later and she was still not allowed to go away. She was beginning to think that the boredom would be the end of her. Everyone's mood was quickly souring.
Ino had left her first boyfriend supposedly because he hadn't brought her flowers when visiting her in the hospital. To be honest Sakura thought that one could have seen it coming. Sakura had been a lot more excited about her friends first relationship than Ino had ever been. Now that it was over her blond friend looked more relieved than upset and that couldn't be a good sign.
Ino had complained that dating wasn't all that great, and she didn't understand why she had expected anything else. What could a guy which main interest was hunting and his father's blacksmith business and a girl who was fascinated by clothes, interrogation, mind-control, make-up and flowers (in no particular order) talk about? Well not a lot apparently and when they had worn out the subject of the weather and how good the sushi were, they had nothing else left to do than kiss, so they kissed a lot and that became old at some point. They had left each other agreeing that they better keep looking for more compatible partners.
Sakura thought that sounded awfully grown up but then again, the guy had been five years older than her. Ino had been proud of that originally.
When the nurses left the packed room, they sat in a corner muttering that there was no reason to not release them already. Ino's arm would heal just as quickly at home and Sakura's chakra burns would not feel any nastier in her own bed. Then somewhere in the middle of the night, huddled under the same blanket it felt to much like one of their sleep-overs for Sakura to hold her tongue any longer. Finally, she ask if they had really, truly done "it". Ino half asleep had answered that yes, they had had sex. When Sakura all squeaky-voiced and wide-eyed had asked how it had been Ino had said it had been "ok" which seemed a little underwhelming.
Sakura thought she wasn't one to judge. Sex still seemed like that distant, adult kind of thing. She couldn't really say that she was enticed by it, it was more intriguing to her. It had probably intrigued Ino to. Where social matters were concerned, Sakura tended to advance carefully, one tiny step at the time while Ino like to jump in head-first. Ino talked to stranger and asked the questions she wanted and didn't back down when Ami dared her to kiss Kiba.
Then again it was probably fitting because Ino with her long hair and glossy lips and growing hips and absolute confidence could easily look three years older while Sakura with her straight body and big eyes, gangly limbs and buzz cut hair still passed as a fourth-year academy student.
The next day they could finally leave the hospital and head home.
Apparently Kakashi had disappeared for some mission and she found herself with more free-time than she had had since the end of the academy. She hadn't managed to find Sasuke but had eaten at Ichiraku with Naruto. Instead of arguing because Naruto was awkwardly hitting on her as it would have been a few months before, they made great plans to go train together in the next few day and Sakura found herself looking forward to it. Naruto actually encouraged her and praised her when she got something right and these days it was even honest and not just a way to try to win her over. On the other hand, Naruto appreciated it when she explained things to him and if one took the time to show him every step Naruto could be a quick learner.
Their plans were shattered however when Sakura's mother piled chores on her. She saw Sakura's impromptu holiday as the occasion to get her back for all the house chores she didn't do when she was too occupied with being a ninja. She went to the training ground anyway to tell Naruto she wouldn't be able to go train with him.
Surprisingly he didn't seem put out by it and immediately suggested to help her. Excited once more they ran back to her house. Their enthusiasm dwindled quickly though once they arrived at the house and realize the extent of their task. Their house wasn't huge but still big enough with a garden and two levels. They had to sweep and mop the floor, dust and scrub the furniture, weed the garden and put the dirty laundry into the washer.
"I don' t like cleaning." Sakura muttered, "I don' t mind cooking or airing the laundry but I hate cleaning."
"It' s not that I hate it." Naruto explained. "I' m just really bad at it."
Half an hour in Naruto got frustrated and summoned ten clones. It only hastened the process slightly and several clones actually managed to hurt themselves enough to dispel but it kind of worked. An hour later Sakura discovered that dusting while walking on the ceiling was a lot of fun.
Cleaning quickly became a competition.
At the end of the day the house still wasn't completely clean and several bookshelves had become the tragic collateral damage of their experimentation but at least they were having fun. When Sakura finally deemed the chores finished Naruto announced that he had to eat at least three bowls of ramen to regain his energy and Sakura agreed.
When Sakura's parents came back to their house it was acceptably cleaned, but there was no Sakura in sight.
responding to guest reviews:
Sunny: thank you so much, I adore character development so I try to infuse it in my story :) and I'll be carefull with Uchiha
Joe J.: Thanks, I especially liked writing that chapter, I hope you like the rest.