The sky darkened. Wooden slats glimmered over the hut. A small fire rose in the center of the Kage's hut.
"So we have no way of finding that target?" Tsunade questioned. She leaned back at the desk, touching her finger to her temples. "It's good, regarding the prisoner. I just wish we had more good news."
"Strictly speaking, that's not true." Kōju smiled. Her hand extended. "See, back then, I tagged Mizuki. I caught hold of his shoulder. It was just for a second, but I managed to put my chakra on him. Now we can follow that."
Tsunade's eyes widened. Hoh. So between killing Mizuki and saving the mission, she made a clear decision.
"Kōju-san!" Naruto shouted, throwing his hand up in the air. He grinned broadly.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. I should've known she hadn't lost that instinct. Among us she's probably the best shinobi. She folded her hands together, her expression calm.
Tayuya exhaled quietly. Her brown eyes narrowed. "So you got the necessary location. Do you know how close we are to it?"
"Pretty close. Hidden Grass, actually." Kōju smiled. "I got lucky in that regard. The range I can sense it isn't great."
Tayuya's eyes widened. She tilted her head to one side.
"So, Orochimaru has likely located new members of the Sound Five?" Tsunade questioned shortly.
Tayuya nodded. "That seems about right." Her eyes narrowed. "It's very strange," she remarked suddenly.
Tsunade frowned.
"Orochimaru's Sound Five are backup bodies. In the event that he doesn't have any other bodies available, he uses that option and that option alone. Quite simply put, it's a matter of necessity. He's a cautious as hell bastard, but we knew that much already."
"Your point?" Tsunade questioned. She gestured in a circle.
"Mizuki's no longer viable as a possession target. He's dead. Well, a death god, but you get my point. A living human won't work. It's out of the question. Well, thinking like that, his cold dead ass ain't going to do shit for Orochimaru's long life problem. He needs live subjects. So why would Sound Five be comprised of one dead guy? It's unrealistic to assume that. Well, no. Even before that, if he did go back to Orochimaru, Orochimaru'd kill him straight out." Tayuya scowled. "So, no. Mizuki's not a member of Sound Five. He'd be part of something else."
Tsunade nodded. "I see. Well, that's a reasonable assumption."
"Anyway, there's no question that he's in Hidden Grass. If we assume that's the case, it makes more trouble for our current analyses." Tayuya leaned forward, sipping the glass of juice at the table. She kicked up her heels.
Kōju's eyebrows furrowed. "But besides that, we just have to get Gaara back, right?"
"Calculating out the odds and probabilities, we've got shit chance at getting a really good hand here. Because if we're dealing with Orochimaru and those two it's going to be one hell of a hassle actually winning. We have a pretty well-thought-out plan of attack. So we'll need to go undercover. That'd be the best response, but at the moment it's not possible. Kōju's stunt a while back makes it impossible for us to fake going undercover. Plus, Orochimaru wants me dead, if he knows I'm still alive, and those two for some reason did. That assumes that they don't have some info on the current situation, which, given that they've probably got an ally inside Leaf, indicates that we'd have one hell of a time. What's the strategy?"
"We'll be employing a member of Akatsuki." Tsunade paused.
Tayuya's eyebrows furrowed.
"Specifically, Sasori, Orochimaru's former partner. There's some useful data in there that we can use. Ways into Hidden Sound you might not have known. That kind of thing. Their former partnership is worthy of use." Tsunade folded her fingers together.
"We're hiring Akatsuki, even on something this important?" Tayuya questioned.
"I'm inclined to agree." Sasuke frowned, leaning forward at the table. "Trusting Akatsuki is more than a little foolish. There's a reason they're criminals."
"Agreed." Tsunade sighed heavily.
"Then why would you take this deal?" Sasuke questioned.
"It will probably work. That's pretty useful information, all things told. The luxury of a choice would certainly be nice, but we don't have that kind of option at this point. It's unrealistic to calculate based on maybes. At the moment, we only have a probably. We don't have any maybes. Just this. Only this way in for certain."
Sasuke exhaled. "Okay. At least it's not that man." Her crimson eyes narrowed.
Tsunade sighed. "At least there's that, yes." She cleared her throat. "Also. On a slightly related detail. Would you two mind not looking—no, it's all of you, isn't it? You can do that on your own time, can't you?"
Kōju pressed her fingers together.
Slightly embarrassed, Sasuke cleared her throat. "Hem. Sorry. Yes. We'll 'erm. Yes." She glanced away from Naruto's face, her eyes distant.
Naruto scowled.
Tayuya smirked. "That ain't got shit to do with you, does it?"
A silence fell over the hut.
"Moving on. This brings me to a secondary point." Tsunade cleared her throat. "By this point, the majority of your report has been transferred to the other shinobi nations. Of course I left out the details about a traitor, as well as the single remaining prisoner. The only major details I sent regarded a mass breakout, Mizuki's involvement, and the loss of Mui. Even so, it's enough to cause a fairly large diplomatic incident."
Naruto's eyes widened. "What the hell? Why are we beholden to them?"
"Under ordinary circumstances it wouldn't be necessary." Tsunade sighed. "We simply had bad luck, in that at least one of our forces was the trigger that ignited the fuse. If I didn't send even the slightest of reports, they would be up in arms against us physically, not merely with words."
Naruto scowled, falling silent.
"As a consequence, they've requested their own observer. Well, one of the nations has." Tsunade glanced toward the window.
Sasuke frowned. "That's a bit risky, isn't it?"
Tsunade blinked.
"As of right now, we work pretty well as a team. That kind of thing isn't something you can just substitute in at the last minute. That Tayuya-san worked well with us isn't something anyone could predict. It's random luck, and pretty lucky at that." Sasuke paused. Frowning, she leaned back at the table. "On the other hand, we've got no guarantee of that from this person."
Tayuya nodded. She leaned against the door.
"In this case, the person is from Sand."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"They're acting to reclaim Gaara from those who stole him away." Tsunade frowned. "It seems that they've gathered together enough support to pardon Gaara, if they can find him. From the elders and the Kage as well as some of the villagers, for some reason." She paused. "Well, besides that, they have every right to deal with him under these circumstances in whatever way they see fit."
Kōju scowled. She sighed after a moment. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. Will this person be joining us when we visit Hidden Grass?"
"This person is already here." Tsunade snapped her fingers.
A white-robed figure stepped forward. Bowing their head, they looked upward. Their body was slender, but short, almost the same height as Naruto. "It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Soyokaze."
Tayuya blinked.
Naruto's eyes widened.
Blue eyes peered out from beneath the hood. "Let's get along well." The white robe trailed the ground. "Though I have hardly known any of you, I hope that we can work together to save Gaara's life and continue against the force of what has preceded us."
Tayuya's eyes narrowed. This guy is pretty interesting, it seems.
Naruto frowned. I don't like having to work with more people again. Even Tayuya was pretty irritating.
Kōju grinned. I wonder what they look like under those robes!
Sasuke scowled. As long as she can pull her own weight, she's fine by me. Her hand adjusted on the table.
A brief silence followed.
"Welcome aboard," Naruto remarked. He extended his hand to the white-robed figure.
"Under the circumstances, I'm gonna assume we don't get a refractory period," Tayuya remarked in a deadpan tone.
"Though that's not how I'd put it, you are correct. We've arranged for transportation into Hidden Grass. Hurry in there and locate Gaara. What happens to him is up to you." Tsunade leaned back in her chair, folding her hands together. She paused. "Probably the technique won't take less time than around nine days, even if you had an organization twice the size of Akatsuki. The chakra costs are too excessive." She looked down at the table. "From here to Hidden Grass will take somewhere between a day and three days, depending on your pace. Thus, you have a little time to gather supplies and prepare."
"Team Seven, move out!" Naruto hollered, throwing his fist in the air.
"We can't do that just yet." Tsunade raised her hand.
Naruto scowled.
Tayuya sighed. Her brown eyes narrowed. "What's the hold-up?"
"You need to return those waders." Tsunade's eyes glinted. "Also, there's the matter of sticking me with the bill."
"I, um—" Naruto gulped.
"You prepared for your punishment, brat?!" Tsunade demanded fiercely, her fist clenched.
Naruto turned and ran out of the door to the offices.
A loud bang echoed through the office. The cabinet exploded.
"Get back here, you damn brat! I will kill you if you don't get back here!" Tsunade's vein throbbed with rage, her face turning bright red.
"Not inclined to it!"
Tsunade's fist rose in the air. That damn brat. I'm gonna kill him whether he comes back or not! The fist swung through the air.
The wooden door exploded.
Naruto vanished in a flash of orange light.
Tsunade ran through the door, her fist clenched.
Soyokaze's robe briefly bent, the head twisting to one side.
Tayuya inclined her head. "Shoot."
"Is this normal?" Soyokaze asked in a soft, whispering voice.
"Perfectly. The Kage and Naruto get along about as well as I do with him," Sasuke remarked in a distant voice. She stared toward the broken wooden slats. "Though usually she doesn't break the door down."
Opening to War
The iron cell walls glimmered. Shadows filled the bars, casting darkness along the edges of the cell doorway.
The ripple-filled eyes glimmered in the light. Ryūzetsu stared toward the door, her expression blank. Her hands clasped around her knees.
"Is that normal?" one of the guards asked. "She hasn't made a sound in days."
Ibiki scowled. "Normally, no. But then, she's not ordinary." He glanced briefly toward the light eyes.
Ryūzetsu remained motionless. Her fingers tightened around her knees.
"Well, to put things more clearly, those eyes of hers aren't exactly common. In the event that she tries to escape, let her go." Ibiki scowled. He stared briefly toward the cell. "It's less hassle than trying to kill a Tenkugan user. And you'd be alive."
"Tenkugan?!" The guard gasped in shock. "Sir, that's supposed to be incredibly rare. Even back in the days of Madara and Hashirama, only ten people had it!"
"Twenty or so." Ibiki turned his gaze back toward the cell.
Ryūzetsu looked upward briefly. A small smile crossed her face.
"And they're all dead now. Maybe her appearance is a sign of interesting times." Ibiki sighed heavily. "Things here are definitely changing."
A/N: Thus ends the first part of the arc. Have a good weekend, everyone!