A/N: As promised, the first of two updates this week. Also, while I applaud every effort to remove SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, and their nefarious ilk from Congress's docket, I am rather confused as to why someone would put that information in a review. Wouldn't other social media platforms receive more attention than one review on a not-particularly-famous fanfiction story?

A white tapestry of swordsmen hung on the wall. The iron castle grew darker. A throne rested in the center of the room. The massive throne glimmered in the center of the castle room.

Porous stone comprised the walls.

"I barely escaped with my life! You bastards promised me protection, not this!" Gatō shouted.

"Shut the hell up, you reckless, brainless moron." A red-haired girl with bright blue eyes glared at Gatō. Her thin, narrow body leaned closer, tensed. A long, light sword rested at her side. "Did you even think before you walked in there? You had one job. One incredibly simple job. And you went and screwed up ALL the work we put into it! We created the opportunity for a new country. But no matter how much money you have, you can't recreate that opportunity. Your incompetence destroyed the perfect plan we made."

Gatō's eyes widened. "Mei! Discipline your niece!"

Mei smiled. "Shut up… She's technically correct in her statements. Asahi-san, please continue."

"Thanks." Asahi glared at Gatō. "One incredibly simple job."

"There were two jōnin! You can't possibly expect me to—"

"'There were two jōnin!' There's a reason shinobi aren't typically hired to perform protection missions. Know why? Because we suck at it! Next question. With all your resources, why the hell did you fail?" Asahi asked, her eyes narrowing and her scowl growing more furious. Her deep blue dress grew tighter across the body as her muscles tensed.

Gatō's eyes widened. The Terumi family really is hot tempered… Perhaps I shouldn't have come here in person. "We were unlucky. We—" he started, taking a step backward.

"Those sound like excuses to me. They sound like excuses to you, Aunt Mei?" Asahi questioned, glancing in Mei's direction. She took a menacing step forward, ignoring Gatō's retreat.

Mei inclined her head.

"Knew it. Definitely excuses. Matter of fact, I'd say we got pretty lucky. Kuroi Unmei didn't take a personal interest in the mission. If he had, things wouldn't have turned out so well. We just had a bad agent." Asahi accelerated her pace, stepping within range of a sword strike. Her hand grasped the sword at her side."Now. Question number three. Do you know what it is that separates a feudal lord like you and a ruler of a country like the Mizukage?"

Gatō's eyes widened. "That seems pretty irrelevant—"

"Wrong answer, super dumbass!" Asahi slammed her palm against the table. "The correct answer is, the Mizukage can make you disappear without money!" Her hand drew the sword rapidly.

Gatō gasped. He ducked his head downward.

Asahi chopped through the neck in one clean slice. Blood sprayed across the table. The head rolled onto the ground. Asahi knelt. Drawing up the head, she lifted the head with glasses wearily, the blood staining the hair. "You know, it always gets stupid after the initial bloodlust. When you realize that you have a head and body to dispose of…"

"You always act prematurely," Mei remarked gently, her eyebrow rising as she stepped over the spreading pool of blood.

Blood soaked through the pores and into the surface of the white stone. The porous surface grew darker, crimson and solid shadow.

"We bring the head as proof that we weren't compliant with this guy. No war happens. Everybody's happy." Asahi wrapped up the head in white cloth. She reached downward. Drawing out a clean golden cloth, she sanitized the length of the long, thin sword. "Well, everybody except Hidden Rain, but who cares? Not like they're going to file a petition."

Mei smiled. "You have your father's wit about you as well… Ah, yes. I nearly forgot. Aren't the chūnin exams coming up?"

"Yeah." Asahi briefly grinned. Her sharp teeth glistened in the light. "I'm really looking forward to it."

"Well, don't kill anyone." Mei sighed. "Realistically speaking, you won't be forgiven... in the worst case, you'll be tried as a criminal and killed, or sent to Blood Prison."

"But there are so many evil people in the world…" Asahi sighed. She bit her lip. Crimson blood flowed freely from the mark of the white, sharpened teeeth.

"I know how you feel about justice, dear. But these are the kind of feelings that must be locked away to live in polite society." Mei sighed. "You know how I am about my age." She ran her hand through her hair. "I feel almost as though I'm getting grey hairs already..."

Asahi ran her fingers across her chin, wiping away some of the blood. "Heh. Fuck that." She looked up at the ceiling. "You're never gonna get old, Mei-oba-san. Even if you get old, you're still gonna be Mizukage."

"I'm charmed by your faith in me." Mei smiled broader. "I'll dispose of the body. In the meantime, take good care of his head." Mei cleared her throat. "We know some methods for disposing of these things. Suffice it to say it'll be done..."

"That's fine…" Asahi smiled. "This exam ought to be interesting." She turned, sharply, and called out, stepping outside the ancient castle. "Oi! Suigetsu! Kiai! Where the hell are you two?!"

Price

The house creaked. The smell of the sea, salty tang and bitter wind, filled the small storage room. Yellow sunlight descended from the window, marking the brown whorls a deeper brown. White clouds, puffy and beautiful, drifted by the window.

Sasuke folded her fingers across each other. She cleared her throat. "...So what happened to Miyama-san?"

Nōtō scowled. "That woman comes and goes as she pleases. Now that the mission's done, she's seen fit to vanish again." He rubbed his chin. "Granted, that's the case with most Frost ninja."

"...So we won?"

"Winning and losing aren't necessarily connected with success. In this case, the mission was a success, and we won. Sometimes things don't turn out so pretty. Even in a case like this..." Nōtō glanced toward Kōju. "Are you all right?" he asked in a concerned tone of voice.

Kōju nodded. She glanced downward. "I...just need some time to think about things. That's all it is."

A pause followed.

"Who wants to tell him?" Nōtō questioned quietly.

Sasuke glanced at Kōju.

Neither of the pair raised their hands.

"Someone has to do it!" Nōtō stated in a firmer, louder voice.

Sasuke sighed. She stared out the window. To be honest, I'd prefer just not to tell him it exists at all. In point of fact, I'd like to forget it ever happened.

"The power of Yako isn't simply something we can let him not know about."

Kōju winced. How overbearing. Well, that's Nōtō-san for you, all right... Can't we just leave things be?

"NŌTŌ-SENSEI?!" Naruto shouted down the stairs.

Nōtō rubbed his temples. "Pardon us. Naruto-san just needs a word of explanation." Rising to his feet, he entered the room, glancing briefly toward the form on the bed. Patting Naruto on the shoulder, he escorted Naruto into the main room of the small house.

"What's with her—him?" Naruto glanced up the stairs, shuddering. "It," he finally decided.

Haku covered her shoulder with the blanket, her expression distant.

A small child hid behind the banister of the stairs.

"Apparently you let the demon fox out for playtime," Sasuke remarked. She leaned lightly against the wall. "Haku wasn't a boy. She acted like one to convince the dad and Zabuza. But…" Her eyes narrowed. "She's a girl."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "When you say playtime, it…"

"Rewrote all her memories in order to make her your obsessive… wife-like-matrimonial-thing."

"Not the most romantic in the world," Kōju conceded quietly.

"I… but—" Naruto stammered, swallowing tightly.

"We're not blaming you. You were out as much as I was after the first part of the fight." Sasuke glanced toward the white-haired girl in the corner distantly.

"But we need to make things better. It's not right leaving her like this." Nōtō sighed. "From what I've gathered or put together on my own, the fox used the power of Yaka, an illusion without peer, to rewrite her memories. She's therefore alive, where if she had failed her most important person, she probably would have died and rather quickly at that."

"What do you suggest? Renovating our apartment and making a bedroom for her?" Naruto suggested sarcastically.

"In reality…" Nōtō nodded slowly. He rubbed his chin. "It's been a long time since I did a good deed of that level. In addition, it is necessary for me to make some amends to Zabuza-san's spirit for what we did."

"Wait. You're serious." Naruto swallowed.

"I could see it," Sasuke agreed quietly.

Kōju nodded. "Well, we already share the house, right? We just add another area!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "You're serious? What am I going to do about her sneaking in? I mean, you saw her eyes up there!"

Sasuke sighed. As usual, blockhead, you're an idiot. We didn't see anything like that... Well, there's probably not much danger involved.

"Don't worry. If it's that, I'll watch you carefully." Kōju tapped her chin. "Only if it's kissing and maybe some light necking, though. If it's more than that, I'll stop her."

"Well…" Naruto exhaled. He rubbed his head. "I guess that's all right. Are we going home?"

"Not yet." Nōtō's face grew stern. "Well, eat breakfast. Then we head out."

Naruto nodded, subdued by his teacher's unusual firmness.

The light fell through the window. The table, dressed in white doily, shimmered under the light of day and summer-bright heat.

The eggs tasted of salt and sea beauty. A fish accompanying the meal tasted well as well.

"Come along, Haku." Naruto patted Haku's shoulder. "Get dressed first," he added as an afterthought.

Haku frowned. "I don't have any clothes," she stated reluctantly.

Nōtō cleared his throat. He reached into his pack, throwing an enormous jacket toward the form.

Haku smiled. It's the first gift I've received from someone besides Naruto-sama!

Price

The clouds passed overhead. White snow covered the grave. The sky darkened. Rain clouds gathered over the grave. A single colossus of white stone drove up out of the ground. Sticks of incense lined the surface of the white stone. The grass darkened with dew.

"Zabuza-san." Haku bowed her head. She clapped her hands together.

Naruto's eyes widened.

Kōju bowed her head. Her green eyes flickered as she studied the stone. She ran her finger along the edge of the white stone. When she retracted her finger, a black mark appeared on the stone.

Nōtō clapped his hands together. His body bent at the waist. The head scraped the edge of the shrine, a little blood falling from the scraped skin.

Naruto swallowed.

Tears ran down Sasuke's cheeks.

"Are you… are you crying?!" Naruto's eyes widened.

"Shut up!" Sasuke rubbed tears out of her eyes. "It's… it's not like I'm crying for his noble sacrifice or anything!" She cleared her throat, tightly looking downward.

"Are we shinobi only tools?"

The rainclouds darkened.

Haku prostrated herself before the shrine, completely ignoring the question asked.

Nōtō blinked.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

Naruto scratched his head. "Huh?"

"Someone I fought said that," Kōju stated quietly. She pressed her fingers together, looking downward. "Was she right? Are we shinobi only tools, to be used and disposed of at will?"

"Tools…" Nōtō looked downward. "You can answer that yourself. To the Hokage… your role is indeed that of a tool. But everyone is a tool in their profession. Someone who does things, changes things. What that person is, who they are beneath that surface, that can be an entirely different answer."