A large tree toppled over in the forest, burning to the ground.

Koju gasped in shock.

Soyokaze, a blond-haired, blue-eyed young lady with smooth hair and darkish skin, reached upward. She shoved several stones to the sides.

"You're—OH MY EMPEROR, you're so cute!" Small hearts appeared in Kōju's eyes.

Soyokaze's brow furrowed. "In this situation, that is what you focus on?"

Kōju shrugged. "Hopeless romantic. But—what's with the stones, anyway?"

"The Sō Clan is a group of ascetics." Soyokaze remained motionless, her eyes flicking around the flaming space. "At age one; we carry a kilogram of stones on our bodies. This increases to two kilograms at age two, and so on, doubling until we reach age ten." She gestured to the wrappings. "At that point we then only add one hundred kilograms every year until the age of thirteen, at which point it changes to fifty kilos a year. In short, we wear them in all situations, whether sleeping, fighting, eating, or swimming. This allows our muscles to gradually but efficiently become used to the pressure. My body is therefore like iron." Her palms fell to her sides. Blue eyes flickered in the heat of the flames.

"And that's why you couldn't remove your robes, either?"

"Yes. They're woven from a mesh that's somewhat similar."

Kōju nodded. "Okay, that helps. So you're going to overwhelm her mainly with strength?"

"I'll be using other means than that." Soyokaze's hands clapped together. "Fire Style: Horus!" A falcon-shaped flame rose around her body.

Kōju raised an eyebrow. "What is this technique?"

"Well, to explain it—" Soyokaze paused. "It's the armor of righteousness. Basically—"

"You focus your energy into the form of a release type." Hakka paused. "It's an old, traditional monk method. Ascetic trainees use it as a defense method."

"Like Gaara?"

"Gaara compensates for concentration with mass. In truth, it's possible to be much more effective than he had been." Hakka's eyes narrowed. "Well, you taking this out now is quite problematic for me. So—" Her hands clapped together in a seal. She flashed forward, her hands rising.

Soyokaze blinked in shock.

The multiple blades spun in a circle, slashing across Kōju's chest and cutting away pieces of flesh.

Kōju gasped. "Oh—oh!" She tumbled backward, the breath escaping her lungs as the blood poured downward.

Hakka studied Kōju's face intently.

Kōju's chest ceased to rise and fall.

"I have no use for being interrupted again." Hakka turned away again.

"You—" Soyokaze's face twisted in rage. "You utterly inhuman woman! I'm appalled to say you trained me!"

"Incapacitation is necessary before I can say I'm secure. Even I can't heal deathly wounds." Hakka's eyes narrowed. "So against you I can go all out then?"

"I have no intention of doing anything but!" Bright orange flames coursed over Soyokaze's body.

Hakka's blades shot rapidly through the air.

Soyokaze raised one arm. She exhaled heavily. A gust of flames shot toward Hakka's body.

Hakka snorted faintly. "How very impressive. You mean to burn me to death?" She leapt upward. Her feet balanced on the tree branch. "I believe you'll find me harder to impact than that. Now—" The arm shot downward, the blade cutting toward Soyokaze's body.

Soyokaze's eye widened as the blade pierced through it.

Hakka snorted. "It's done—" Her eyes widened.

Soyokaze's image faded with the haze of the flames.

"You managed to speed past me?" Hakka demanded, her eyes wide.

"Correct, master." Soyokaze's fist drove into the base of the tree.

Flames raced up the trunk rapidly.

Hakka's eyes narrowed. "Kh. As expected of my student, you really know how to annoy me." She slashed down the tree branch. Tensing, she leapt atop the log. I can't count on close range for once—she has the advantage of speed and weight. If I try it, I'll be the one who ends up getting cut in half—burned alive, rather. So what are my options? She grinned after a brief pause. Of course, that works too. Generally speaking, it's less precise than my usual techniques, but it can work at this range. She spun her arms through the air.

Chakra blades shot through the air. One pierced through Soyokaze's arm.

"Got you, it seems."

Soyokaze's expression remained distant. She briefly touched the injury. Smoke rose from the mark.

Hakka blinked. Welll, I suppose that's one way to handle it.

Soyokaze looked upward. "For as long as I live, teacher—I probably won't be able to soothe this burning grudge I feel against you." She exhaled heavily. "What do you believe we are? Why do you believe we exist? It isn't for you to decide how we live and how we die!" She drew in a shaking breath. "You've grown used to holding the power of god over people, and jumped from that to believing you had the right! That you were the arbiter, sole and complete, of our existences!"

"You're attempting to anger me, child. Unfortunately, for you, I hold a certain amount of respect still." Hakka glanced at the wound. I suppose that would be one way to resolve the problem, though it escapes me as to why she's using it. Boredom, or merely fear?

"Why are you here, anyway?! I thought you'd been arrested for something important—rescuing children or some such. Yet it seems to me you're no different from any other villain!"

A brief, cold smile crept across Hakka's face. "I met him."

Soyokaze blinked.

"Child, you would not speak so arrogantly had you come to understand his vision. I said before that no one should die without a dream. His is a dream good enough to live for."

Well, it seems there's some deep, unresolved issue here. Kōju grasped her ankle tightly. Her face grew drawn and white. Blood splattered her chest. Oh, heaven, it hurts. But we're getting information on Hakubo. Keep her talking, Soyokaze-san! Even if I don't make it, take this back to Hidden Leaf, or Hidden Sand!

"As I thought, I can't accept this," Soyokaze responded. She drew in a tight breath. "Master, I've listened to you for a long time, and most of the time I feel you're wise. But what good could possibly come from capturing jinchūriki and killing them?! Can you truly not see how far you have fallen?!" She lunged upward, her fist shooting rapidly through the air.

Hakka stepped to one side. Her eyes narrowed. Your anger is blinding you. Whatever virtues of speed you possess, they are all quite useless in the face of blind rage. She punched sideways, the blade shooting toward Soyokaze's leg.

Soyokaze gritted her teeth. The blade punctured her thigh, but seemingly missed the tendon. She rolled backward.

Just a bit more time. Come on! We can delay! Kōju breathed heavily, her pain sending small thrills of agony through her.

Hakka approached. Her feet pressed into the flames.

Soyokaze retreated rapidly. She hurried into the flames, the sky darkening.

"Clever." Hakka paused. She studied the trees. "Perhaps there's another means of reaching you." Walking over to an undamaged tree, she slashed through the trunk rapidly.

The tree tumbled over. The far edge touched the distant edge of the place, permitting a walkway.

Seemingly unconcerned, Hakka hurried forward. True, her chakra will eventually run out, but there's a faint chance of her plotting a sneak-attack or surprise. If she did do such a thing there might be trouble. She walked to where Soyokaze had been standing.

Soyokaze lunged from the other side of the fallen tree. Flames wreathed her body.

Seemingly unsurprised, Hakka slashed upward. The blade just barely cut along the side of Soyokaze's arm, skinning away a large portion of the flesh.

Soyokaze sucked in a tight breath. She fell backward into the flames.

"I was the one who taught you to take your opponent as much by surprise as possible, was I not?" Hakka questioned. "It seems that even at the last you were too angry to make yourself effective. Your body, thrown at the place, demonstrated nothing more than a desire to kill. It was weak, that effort."

"That's true, but I wasn't aiming to defeat you." Soyokaze smiled.

Hakka's eyes widened.

The massive sword plunged through Hakka's back.

Hakka turned around slowly.

Kōju lowered her hand. "Sorry." She sighed. Her fingers lowered. "It seems that I worked out a method that would work for healing myself, so I used that. But of course it had bad side effects for you."

"No, it was a good plan…" Hakka stared downward at the white blade. "Playing dead. You caused me to subconsciously rule you out as a possible threat. It was my underestimation, and my loss." She frowned. "I suppose there are worse ways to die. I won." Her lips curved upward.

"What are you talking about? Hakubo didn't get its hands on Naruto," Kōju interjected.

"There's always tomorrow. Listen to me for a moment." Hakka exhaled. Her hand touched her chest briefly. "We're talking about a great world—a better world. A world that isn't the same way as this world. I'm a medic; I wouldn't have cooperated if I didn't think it was a good plan." She exhaled after a long pause. "So—even if it's not with Hakubo—make a world that is genuinely good. No more lies. No more illusions. You two can accomplish that much."

Kōju bit her lip. She stared downward intently. "How is she still talking?" she whispered to Soyokaze.

"At a guess?" Soyokaze shrugged. "Presumably she's healing herself temporarily. Not much else to do."

"How do you feel? I know she's your—"

A massive gout of flame sparked from Soyokaze's hand.

Hakka vanished in the flames, turning to a small pile of ash.

Soyokaze lowered her hand.

"Why?!" Kōju hissed, temporarily possessed by shock.

Soyokaze shrugged. "Two reasons. First, I know it's in her nature to play tricks. It wouldn't be out of the question that she'd preserved herself solely for the case of damaging us. I wish I could believe otherwise, but just in those few minutes, I could see how much she's changed." She paused. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead. "She was a humanitarian, a forward thinker, someone concerned with fixing everyone's plight. She spent three years in a place infested with rot lung, trying to heal the workers there, no concern to her own health. It was part of that that landed her in Blood Prison to begin with. What little was left of her—" She sucked in a breath. "I'm not convinced it would be enough to save our lives." She looked downward. "That's reason one."

The smoke rose above the treeline.

"Reason two." Soyokaze looked briefly at the pile of ashes. "I didn't want to remember her like this. I remember my hero, not the shell that came out of that place."

Kōju shrugged. "I suppose I understand that," she remarked after a long pause. "Here, sit down. I need to heal your leg and your arm properly."

The pair walked back to the clearing. The fire died down, consumed the most of the foliage nearby.

"You remind me a lot of what she used to be."

"That's good. She seems like a nice person—before, I mean—"

"I wasn't talking about that. Not completely, at least." Soyokaze's eyes narrowed as she stared into Kōju's eyes. "I mean, there's something—" Her voice trailed off. "I guess I'd have to call it the spark of genius," she remarked after a long moment. "A medic-nin, even with a chakra scalpel, finds it difficult to cut through to heal something like her injuries. Usually you'd have to cut open the patient and expose the damage, then regenerate it that way. Even then there's not much of a chance of success."

Kōju smiled.

"And also, there's something else I've been meaning to ask. You mastered all five of the elemental releases, didn't you?"

Kōju nodded. "Well, basically. I don't know most techniques from them, or even a few. One or two from each, and a number from earth," she confided softly.

Soyokaze nodded. "You, and these others—you were born with a star above your heads," she stated after a long pause.

Kōju blinked. "Eh?"

"I mean that you were chosen with the intention of a future. You were selected."

"I don't think so. At the least, mother didn't mention anything of the kind."

Soyokaze shook her head briefly from side to side. "You think it's a coincidence that you're caught up in such great effects? The world is changing beneath your feet."

"Yes, I do. I mean, just because we've been associated with two Tailed Beast missions, one of which was only a partial success— If I'm being entirely frank, it's coincidence. Random chance. The only one among us who's 'destined' to anything, in my opinion, is Naruto-kun, and the reason for that is the Tailed Beast."

Soyokaze shook her head. "No, no. I'm used to interpreting signs of greatness. It was my role to some degree in Hidden Sand. So bearing that in mind I can say it clearly—you were born with fortunate stars over your birth, and your friends likewise."

Kōju scowled. "You say that, but we still have to save Naruto, and that's complicated. Come on."

Soyokaze nodded.

"That reminds me. Why were you so sure you had to plan out some strategy to fix up the problem? What made you sure you had to come with us?"

Soyokaze smiled. "That was my heart. I just—" She covered her cheek, blushing faintly. "That young woman, and Naruto both, and… well, you. I felt that I had to stay with you because that was the route to—" She cleared her throat, glancing away. "Never mind."

Kōju hurried down the path toward the cavern.