Drip. Drip. Drip.

The lantern light flickered in the depths of the cavern.

"You got him?"

"We're running a bidding war. I've already contacted the Hidden Mist client; they've offered me four hundred fifty thousand for him, payable on delivery."

Kūkyo's brow furrowed. "Maybe I'll take my business elsewhere next time I get a contract."

"I can make a similar deal for the option of increased contracts. Five hundred thousand minimum, though."

"Ah! Is that really it?" Kūkyo laughed loudly, her expression suddenly amused.

Kakushiro blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I'd set aside eight hundred thousand minimum, knowing how you like to haggle. I guess I didn't need to, though. I'll get the money ready and send it with those two."

Kakushiro blinked. "How the hell—"

"To be totally honest, five hundred thousand is a steal for a jinchūriki like this guy." Kūkyo grinned. "He's the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, isn't he? As such, the pricing on him could only be expected to go up from what it originally was."

Kakushiro's brow furrowed. "That sly bitch!" she declared under her breath.

Kūkyo's smile grew distinctly nastier. "But, to be honest, I wouldn't go above five hundred thousand, no matter what your other client said. There should be a membership discount for Akatsuki members. Particularly in regards to this kid." She paused. "Anyway, as always, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Kakushiro-san."

Kakushiro nodded. "The same to you," she replied in a voice so truculent that it could not deceive an elderly grandmother.

The lantern light flickered out.

"Well, looks like you're out some money," Naruto commented in a slightly cruel voice.

Kakushiro's eyes narrowed. "Hah. I actually would have settled for four hundred seventy-five thousand, so she actually increased the remuneration beyond my estimates." Her green eyes narrowed. "Well, I wouldn't expect you to fully understand the nature of this. People who let feelings get in the way become easily coerced and manipulated by what they want to achieve. Money owns them, not the other way around."

Naruto's eyes widened. Seriously? How long is this stuff going to keep falling your way?

"Anyway, that's none of your concern. You're going to be dead soon enough, or accompanied by that person, so I won't concern myself too much with your future or the results of your endeavors." Kakushiro turned her gaze back to the darkness. "Farewell."

Naruto twisted upright. A gasp of pain escaped his lips as he stared at the figures before him. "I can't win because I've been placed in a bad situation? I'd sooner fight to the death," he remarked, his hand tightening on the rocks.

"You'll die." Kakushiro lifted her hands, her expression distant and hidden in the darkness. "Particularly given your condition."

"Yeah, maybe." Naruto shrugged. "But it's better than getting sealed up by that ritual."

"We're not performing it." Kakushiro leaned back against the cavern wall. "As I understand it, you're going to be delivered to Kūkyo, who, from my recollection, doesn't much care one way or another."

Naruto frowned. "But if it was the case? If I was going to die because you turned me over to her?"

"I don't give a fuck." Kakushiro's eyes narrowed. "It's not my business what happens to someone after I get the money. I get paid."

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Naruto frowned. "What happened?"

Kakushiro blinked.

"To you."

"You're trying my patience, kid. I've killed people I was turning in for bounty because they angered me."

"I can't believe you just turned bad like that."

Kakushiro shrugged her shoulders. "Believe it."

Shadows gathered across the floor.

Naruto frowned.

Kakushiro shrugged her shoulders. "That's all there is to me. You're talking to the wrong person for sympathy. You're not like me; you probably will never be. So don't try finding something redeemable in me. It just isn't there."

"I'll hear you out."

"Hear me out?" Kakushiro's eyes narrowed. "Then, I hope you'll change your tune to begin with. The factors of this situation allow you to understand the truth—that the shinobi nations are murderous, cruel, and dark. Like an inferno—an inferno that you constantly dive downward into. You haven't gotten burned yet because you are fortunate. But this world is filled with cruelties currently beyond your imagination."

"Come on. I'll hear you out to the end—every last detail. Isn't that worth your consideration?"

Kakushiro smirked. "In short, no."

Naruto leaned back against the rock. Water dripped from the ceiling, regularly striking his forehead. He frowned. Damn. As usual, I really can't get a grasp on these people.

Kakushiro remained silent for a long moment. She stared into the water. As I thought, he's very much like Seishin. Her hand dipped into the water, scooping up some and letting it fall back in. As I thought, this world is entirely in the grasp of some cruel higher force—no. I wouldn't go that far, but at the least there is a cruel sense of irony in fate. Money at least is honest. Money doesn't deceive.

"At least let me see what's under your mask. That's not too much to ask, right?" Naruto questioned.

"You want to see what's under my mask?" Kakushiro asked, pausing in surprise. She turned her gaze from the rippling waters.

"Sure. I kind of thought your face had to be pretty beautiful."

"Why would you think a fool thing like that?" Kakushiro questioned, her brow furrowing as she studied Naruto's face.

"I—just a feeling I had. You know." Naruto glanced downward. He scratched his chin. "I'm sorry if I'm wrong."

"My face certainly is not a thing I take pride in any longer. But—" Kakushiro's eyes narrowed. "You're certain you wish to see that image? I won't be too talkative if you are unable to respond to it."

Naruto nodded. "How bad could it be?"

Kakushiro looked into the water again, her masked face reflected in her green eyes. Her expression grew unreadable.

"I mean, if you don't want to it's fine. I just thought—"

"It's fine." Kakushiro reached upward. She removed her mask, tearing the cloth away from her face. "What do you think?" she questioned in the same rasping voice.

The cavern became momentarily silent.

Kakushiro raised an eyebrow again. "You seem surprised."

Naruto remained wordless, stunned by the face before him. He had been right and wrong at the same time.

Green irises, bright green, surrounded by an ocean of red filled Kakushiro's eye sockets. Ebony hair, curling like a tree's roots, encircled the face. Tanned skin that had seen many and sundry battles shone from the light of the cavern. Perfect, unaltered complexion let these features stand out. Gentle lips. Gentle lips pulled up in a perpetual grimace by stitches. The nose hung together with string tied by hasty movements and uneven stitches. A brow held up only by black stitches lifted in the skin. Stitches surrounded the entirety of the heart-shaped face.

Kakushiro was once beyond beautiful, beyond even celestial in appearance. Her face once approached Haku's in sheer attractiveness. But, marred by the stitches made by the past battles she had fought, the face now lacked some essential humanity. It looked dark, angry, and violent.

Naruto finally whispered, "You are amazing."

Kakushiro shook her head, her eyes menacing. "Don't attempt to patronize me, brat. I've known too many of your kind. Money's the only thing that's honest."

"How'd you become this way?" Naruto wondered, his eyes wide. He pointed at the stitches.

Kakushiro sighed. "You really don't shut up, do you?" she queried, retrieving her mask from within the shallower waters.

Naruto caught Kakushiro's hand, preventing the return of the mask.

Kakushiro stared at Naruto for a long moment. Finally, she released the mask, turning her gaze back toward Naruto. "Heh, kind of surprising, I suppose. You really are pure of heart." She wrested her arm away from the hand and then walked over and sat down by the door, her eyes calculating. "Hmph. So you want to hear my story, huh? I suppose we have a little time to talk before Kūkyo collects you." She rested her hand against the rock. "Fine. It's an acceptable way to handle this matter, I imagine." She turned her gaze to the door again. "I came from the Village Hidden in Hot Springs. It's a small village; you most likely wouldn't have heard of it."

Naruto nodded. "Village Hidden in Hot Springs," he repeated, testing the name out on his tongue. "Wait. Yeah, I know someone from there. Fū-san."

Kakushiro smirked. "Amusing. I knew another jinchūriki of the Seven Tails, but that is neither here nor there. When I was younger, I imagine I was like any medic-nin, idealistic, hopeful, trusting in the village to take care of me and my fellows. I was assigned to the third team of the village's first graduating class. In that team there was me, a ninjutsu expert jōnin, the resident genius, and a pure-hearted fool. Well. We completed many missions for the village. But after a great deal of time had passed, we finally discovered a secret that the village elders couldn't allow us to know about. It revealed an alliance between the village heads and several high-class missing-nin."

Naruto blinked in shock. That kind of secret.

"And we would have kept it. That was the worst about what they sent us to do next—we would have kept the truth that they feared so much." Kakushiro's voice tightened on those words. "They sent us to kill the First Hokage."

Naruto gulped. "That kind of mission. You were that highly regarded even at that time?" he suggested hopefully.

"No. They sent us to die." Kakushiro's fist clenched. He reminds me even more of Seishin-kun. "They knew no team, not even one as good as we were, could hope to take on a Hokage alone. And that man was worse. It was a fool's errand. The entire team except for me died. Some techniques provide a sort of longevity." Kakushiro paused. She turned her head back to face Naruto, her head clicking around. "But I'll get to that later. Some patience."

Naruto gulped.

"The entire team except me died. I alone survived, and returned to the village to report my failure. I was summarily stripped of my rank and anything thereof. I became the village's scapegoat. But it didn't end there." Kakushiro closed her green eyes a moment, her hand touching her heart. "Oh, would that it had."

Naruto listened in silence. That's. I've never heard of anyone with such a cruel life. I'm beginning to understand.

"I was ostracized. No one sold me anything. I walked on through the streets of the village alone. I thought I had failed and deserved it." Kakushiro stopped speaking, her voice filling with venom. "Then I learned the truth."

Naruto blinked, feeling the sudden hatred in Kakushiro's body.

"Three chūnin were sent after me. Those three were instructed to kill me. I found a note on their bodies after I beat them. Even if they failed, their mission would be done. By killing them, I proved myself disloyal, insane, and finally unworthy of remaining a part of my village. I was labeled a missing-nin. They were unable to remove me from the village, though, so I took my severance pay." Kakushiro's hand clenched tightly. Blood trickled down from between the nail and the skin. "I recovered the Jiongu from the vaults. It was originally a medical ninjutsu, intended to facilitate healing, including heart transplants. I developed my present body's structure. And I stole the hearts of the village elders. These hearts prolonged my life beyond its natural limits. Ten, twenty, a hundred years."

Naruto stared in shock at Kakushiro. His eyes narrowed after a moment.

Kakushiro ceased talking. She looked back at Naruto. "Do you still hate me?" she asked Naruto, her eyes quiet. "I am only as I have been made."

"I don't hate you." Naruto scowled. He looked down. "But I can't approve of you either."

Kakushiro nodded. "I thought as much," she stated quietly.

"But—there is something else to you. I don't think the village was right in doing what they did, but we have genuinely changed. And the other villages have too. Besides Hidden Stone, we've changed our own natures." Naruto cleared his throat.

"The other villages you can't speak to from experience, but put that aside for now. Let's look merely at Hidden Leaf. You still have that man there, don't you?"

Naruto's brow furrowed.

"Danzō." Kakushiro paused. "As long as he exists, the shinobi system will always be shrouded in darkness. How much do you know of what that man has done?"

"Not too much, but he doesn't run the village. Tsunade's in charge, so even if Root is taking actions in secret—"

"Danzō has authority in ways you can't even imagine at the moment." Kakushiro hesitated. "He's not a Pillar of Shinobi, but he's supported them or opposed them. When Hanzō first took power it was with the backing of that man. And because of that—"

"Danzō controls the flow of power in other countries." Naruto's head tilted to one side. "Is that what you're saying?"

"More or less." Kakushiro sighed. "You can't imagine. Not even from what I've just said, you can't imagine his influence."

Naruto fell silent. He tapped his chin. "So… That incident five years ago, where Hanzō got kicked out of office. What would you qualify that as?"

"I'd state that it's nothing more than a reflection of Danzō's base of support. Hidden Leaf, Hidden Frost, and Hidden Cloud were all called in against us."

"See, I think it's the first sign of a crack in Danzō's power. He lost, didn't he?"

Kakushiro fell silent.

"That's a big deal to a shinobi who's always been concerned with results. This Pein guy, a man from a country once considered powerless, won instead." Naruto smiled faintly. "I'd call that a win for the little guy."

Kakushiro leaned back silently.

"Anyway." Naruto exhaled. "So I'm not okay with getting transferred."

"I figured you might say that." Kakushiro rose to her feet. "But chances are that there's no way out for you—"

The cavern mouth filled suddenly with a figure.

Kakushiro sighed. "What is it now?"

"We got trouble!" Hidan shouted, his eyes wide. "Couple of Hakubo members outside!"

Kakushiro's brow furrowed. "The hell? What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything! Swear to Jashin-sama!" Hidan shouted, his eyes wide with fear. "That medic might actually be able to kill me, so this time I'm stayin' back!"

"Fire Style: Efurito." Kakushiro's hands clapped together. A small portion of her flesh split off from the main body. "You, stay here. Time we took care of business." She exhaled. "At least they haven't found the cavern yet." She hurried out of the room.

The clone remained, staring intently at Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth. I have to hope Team Seven's around here somewhere. They'll find the cave, and when they do I'll shout.

A/N: This is undoubtedly a weird set of circumstances. Both Christmas and New Year's, coincidentally enough, fall on Fridays, and I have family in town for once. After some debate, I've decided to declare a break over the next two weeks, separate from my usual work. As always, thanks for reading, and hopefully the holidays are as enjoyable for you as they are for me.