Opening - Love Deterrence by Nana Mizuki

X

"Stupid fuckin' ice!"

Standing on the frozen surface of a lake in the Land of Fire, a boy wrapped in a set of stolen grey blankets and sheets threw a violent tantrum on the ice, kicked and punched it in a futile attempt to get at the chilled water beneath. He stopped and rubbed his now-bruised knuckles, then pointed a finger gun at the ice. He shot three drops of water from his hand at about the speed of sound, hesitated and then fired a fourth for good measure.

"Fuck!"

He turned and shuffled back to the rocky shore, spotted a suitable boulder that weighed as much as he did, then dissolved into water and splashed toward it. He reformed as a single blob of clear liquid hefting the boulder as high as his head would've been, and slithered with it back onto the ice.

He drew back the boulder and whipped it with as much force as he could into the ice, cracking a few chunks off but not enough to expose the water. "Gaahhhh!" He drew up the rock and brought it down another five times, but on the fifth failed try he splashed apart and lay in a puddle on the ice, grumbling loudly.

He sluggishly reassembled his body after a few seconds since he didn't want to freeze into the surface of the lake, turned back to the shore in search of some other way to smash his way into the water, then stopped and blinked dumbly at the two figures standing on the rocks. "Here," Karin called and tossed a plastic water bottle to him. He caught it and immediately twisted off the cap to chug the contents in a matter of seconds. "You look like shit, ya know. Did you steal that stuff?"

"I had to." Suigetsu pulled open the makeshift cloak to reveal the clothes he'd been wearing during Pain's attack. "I would've frozen to death out here without a few more layers. Listen, I just got turned into steam, blown halfway across the country, I fell out of the damn sky and had to reassemble my whole body out of like a million raindrops, that took me hours by the way. And now I'm freezing and thirsty as hell, so if you wanna chew me out for stealing some old lady's spare blankets, just know that I'm really not in the mood for it."

He stopped and frowned. "Wait... how did you guys even find me?"

"We had to track the weather and look for a storm somewhere downwind of Konoha," Sasuke answered. "There was no guarantee that you'd turn up there; we didn't even know for sure if you survived, but it seemed a good place to start."

"Then I had to narrow it down by sensing your chakra," Karin added. "You left a few traces back there when you reformed. And of course you'd hike back in this direction, toward Konoha. We've been following you all day."

A puff of chakra smoke went off under Sasuke's cloak and he raised his arm from under it, suddenly holding Samehada. He threw the weapon to Suigetsu who reflexively caught it with one hand. As expected, the eldritch weapon purred as it met his grip and began tugging at his chakra immediately. What surprised Suigetsu far more were the metallic teeth that burst through the skin of his wrist and hand with an unpleasant itching sensation, making his arm appear one with Samehada up to the elbow.

If you ever drop me again, this offer of power will be withdrawn permanently.

Then the blades were gone and Suigetsu had his arm back. He blinked, tried to make sense of what had just happened, and eventually decided that it could wait until he was no longer freezing to death. He looked back up toward Karin and Sasuke and immediately contradicted his decision to not bother asking questions. "I'm guessing you didn't tag along all this way just to return this," he hefted the weapon over his shoulder.

"Hn," Sasuke commented, stopped as if he thought that was enough of an explanation, then changed his mind. "No, I came out here to test the range of my new space-time jutsu." he turned and glanced over his shoulder, his eyes spinning and unfolding from black to Sharingan to Eternal Mangekyou. "Now's as good a time as ever."

A thin black line drew itself from left to right in the open air behind Sasuke, and at the same time a few drops of blood traced matching lines down his cheeks. "Yomotsu Hirasaka!" The blackness grew outward to create a rectangular void large enough to let its caster pass. Thin strips of black splintered out from the portal and warped its edges from a perfect rectangle into a jumbled mass of smaller overlapping ones. "Hn. I expected that to be harder."

"Your eyes are gushing blood," Karin deadpanned.

"Yeah, but no more than usual," he answered. "I just opened a wormhole reaching halfway across the continent and it hardly cost me any more chakra than it did when I first jumped behind Pain."

"...You mean, that goes somewhere," Suigetsu pointed at the void.

"Hn," came the reply.

"How come we can't see where it goes?"

Sasuke blinked.

"You can't see the other end of the portal until you pass the event horizon," Karin spoke up. "At least that's how people think a wormhole would work if it was made naturally, without chakra. You have to go inside to see the other end, ya know?"

"That's definitely how this one works," Sasuke replied, "But how did you know that?"

"You met me in a library," she answered flatly. "When I heard about your new jutsu I looked through a few articles on wormholes, just to see if I could find anything useful." She paused, watched Sasuke shrug and step toward Yomotsu Hirasaka, then spoke up again. "Um, I should probably at least mention that the kind of wormhole this looks like is supposed to be impossible to cross..." Sasuke passed into the void and vanished. "...and if you try then you just get crushed halfway through by a singularity..."

Suigetsu hesitated for one moment, waited a few more in case Samehada voiced an objection, then sprinted headfirst into the void. True to Karin's word, the moment he passed through the portal it switched appearances into a dim black tunnel with a snow-crusted stone surface visible at the far end, just a few feet away from Suigetsu. "Sasuke, get back!"

"Hn?" The Uchiha peered over his shoulder, already standing at the far end of the wormhole. "What's the problem?"

Suigetsu reddened a bit. "False alarm," he admitted sheepishly. He dipped his head out through his own end of the wormhole to call Karin. "There's no singularity, damn you, I thought I was gonna die!"

Sasuke emerged from the other end of the portal and heard no more of their bickering. He waited a few seconds for them to follow, then deactivated his eyes and Yomotsu Hirasaka with them.

"What," said Suigetsu eloquently.

Along with Sasuke and Karin, he found himself standing in a snowstorm peering off the edge of a stone wall whose size couldn't aptly be described by any single word. A long string of particularly fancy ones bundled together into some uncommonly purple prose might do the trick, but Suigetsu didn't even know half of the words he'd need to explain what he was seeing to anyone who hadn't been there.

"...This isn't Konoha," he noted. "Did... did we take a wrong turn somewhere? Are we in the right dimension, or...?"

"No, this is it," said Sasuke. "We have three of these, by the way."

"T-Three?" Suigetsu choked.

"Hn. They run across the entire Land of Frost from one shore to the other. Akatsuki could try sailing around if they have ships, which they might thanks to the Wood Release... but we already have Kiri's navy waiting for them. They'll never reach Kumo."

Suigetsu turned around and expected to see the back of the wall not far from where he stood, only to be struck dumb again. The depth of the wall was more than enough for Konoha's Genin Academy to span comfortably across the top with room left over. He stared into the distance and thought at first that he couldn't see the next wall, but then he noticed that there was a thick dark line making up the horizon that didn't look like a natural formation.

"Let's get inside." Karin pushed up her glasses and turned toward what looked to be a single room with a single door that rose up out of the otherwise perfectly flat stone. Suigetsu realized after a moment that that didn't seem quite right; there was something off about it. How could there be only one little hut all the way up here, if this place crosses the entire land bridge? He glanced around again and this time saw more square rooms aligned periodically across the wall.

He stopped thinking of them as isolated little rooms then, as the next logical step made itself apparent. This entire wall is... He looked down while still following Karin and Sasuke to the door. "This is nuts." He rushed ahead to catch up with Karin and Sasuke just as she opened the door, and a rush of warm wind blew past them as they stepped inside.

Suigetsu sighed and relaxed immediately; he pushed open the blankets wrapped around his shoulders to let the warm air in. Behind the door was only the landing of a set of stairs, confirming Suigetsu's guess immediately. After a few moments of walking he cast a glance back in the general direction of the door and frowned. "Wait a second. How come we don't use that Seal Summoning thing to get in and out of the building?"

"Because not everyone knows it," said Karin. "It's one thing to give the Five Kage and a few people they choose access to the jutsu, but we'd have a huge security risk if everyone and their dog knows how to access a network of teleporting seals across the whole continent. All it takes is one Iwa Jounin who decides to start shit with Kiri, send a few dozen explosive tags to one of their seal platforms..."

"Okay, now I get it." he frowned again. "But then, the Tsuchikage could just write a few scrolls with instructions to cast the jutsu, pass 'em around Iwa and we have that problem anyway. The same goes for anyone else in the world who knows this jutsu. The only thing stopping 'em is common sense, right?"

"Hn," Sasuke agreed. "The Five Kage have been talking about making the network more secure after the war; the go-to plan seems to be giving each village a unique summoning marker so any trip between villages takes multiple steps, probably through checkpoints from both the sending and receiving villages."

Although the stairs went much further down into the wall, Sasuke led the group to turn off at the third landing into a wide hallway lit with dim but warm orange light from fixtures on the walls. They were meant to resemble torches, although they were made of only stone and the flames were kept alight with chakra rather than oil.

"So how long have I been gone?" he asked and glanced around the hall. "It was kinda hard to keep track of time as a cloud."

"Almost two weeks," Sasuke answered, "but the Alliance has been building these walls since the Kage Summit, if that's what you're wondering." He slowed and turned toward a door on the left side of the hall, made of porous volcanic rock which would be easy to push open and shut. "We're here; make yourself at home."

Immediately upon stepping into the room, the one thing that dominated Suigetsu's attention was the gigantic orange-haired boy lunging toward him with an unhinged laugh. Before he could even think of dissolving into water, Juugo had him in a bear hug hoisted entirely off his feet. "Hell yeah! Fishboy the Invincible, back from the dead again!"

Karin started laughing at the frozen and terrified boy in Juugo's grip just as he realized that he wasn't about to be crushed to death. Sasuke raised his eyebrows and took a short step back, then repeated flatly, "Fishboy the Invincible."

"H-Holy shit, Juugo! Do you know how terrifying that is!?"

The taller boy hastily released the smaller one and hopped back, still beaming. "Sorry, I couldn't help it this time." With a pause and a bit of effort, his expression and his gold-on-black eyes reverted to normal."But you're alive! That's still worth some enthusiasm, right? Welcome back!"

Suigetsu nodded and looked past Juugo; the rest of Taka hadn't tried to tackle him off his feet but they'd all rushed up from their seats to greet him at the door. "Thanks, man. It's good to be back..." he hesitated, "...well technically I've never been here before, but 'back' is still the way to say it."

He took a step into the room and picked a place to sit. He first noted that the room was lit with only with the Fire Release since there were no windows to let in sunlight. Then he looked around at what passed for furniture in the barracks; it was all constructed out of the same rock as the entire wall. Taka had seen fit to lay out whatever cloth they had available, cloaks and tents and sleeping bags, to make the accomodations more comfortable.

"Jeez, even the couch is made of rocks," he sighed, tugged the blankets and sheets from his shoulders to lay them across his chosen seat, then slumped into it. "Well at least it's warm in here... but seriously, what gives?"

"We decided to make everything we could out of stone when the wall was built, even things like furniture," Kimimaro replied. "That way there would be less we'd need to bring from the villages; supplies like food and water had to take priority. We should be getting cots and cushions sometime later this week if Akatsuki doesn't hit us before then; that should make the place more comfortable."

"Hn." Sasuke laid his cloak over the second of the two stone couches in the room and took a seat next to Sakura. Kimimaro, Juugo and Suigetsu sat on the other couch, leaving two cold and solid chairs free. Karin chose the one next to Kimimaro's couch, leaving another in the corner for Taka's remaining member.

"Itachi's coming this way," she announced. "I just started sensing him now, so he must've arrived through a Seal Summoning."

"News from Konoha," Sakura mused. "This should be good."

"Hn." It didn't take long for Itachi to arrive, but as they waited Sasuke considered speeding things up by grabbing him with Yomotsu Hirasaka. But such use of his doujutsu was a bit too casual, and he wasn't really in that much of a hurry. Itachi stepped into the room through a more mundane door, and when he did all eyes were on him immediately.

"How'd it go?" Suigetsu asked as if he hadn't been presumed dead until a few minutes ago.

"Well enough," said Itachi, similarly unfazed. "The village is a bit of a mess right now, but I was able to find her."

"Her?" the room echoed as one.

"Sachi Hyuuga."

Sakura recognized the name, but Taka remained confused. "I'm guessing there's a story here," Sasuke noted.

"Hn." Itachi took his seat before saying anything further. "A year ago, certain members of the Hyuuga Clan defected and attempted to take control of the village by assassinating the Hokage and the head of the clan, both rather new to their positions."

"Naruto and Hinata."

"You know that much already," Itachi went on, "but you weren't there so you don't know the details. The coup was led by four elders of the clan, two of which were defeated as soon as it started. The other two, Kouga and Himiko escaped the village and happened to run into Kabuto."

The younger Uchiha leaned forward in his seat. "Kabuto got the Byakugan from one of them," he realized. "But you're talking like he didn't kill them, so..."

"In exchange for the Byakugan, he used the Living Corpse Resurrection on both the elders. They chose to take bodies from two younger Hyuuga who had also fled the village. Kouga and his vessel died in battle, but Himiko was taken alive because her host fought against her control."

It took them a moment to realize the implications. "...So this girl Sachi," said Suigetsu, "she was able to break out of the jutsu?"

"For a moment, yes. Then Tenten paralyzed both of them with a fuinjutsu. It took her most of this past year, but she was able to properly separate Himiko and Sachi not long before the incident with the Three-Tails. Without a body to inhabit, Himiko's soul passed on. Sachi is the only person in the known world to have survived the Living Corpse Reincarnation... aside from Orochimaru himself."

"So you talked to her to find out how the jutsu works, and how she broke free," said Sasuke. "You're thinking it might help us beat Orochimaru."

"Actually, I'm thinking could use it to help Orochimaru."

"...Hn?" said Sasuke, voicing the thoughts of Taka as a whole. "You might want to explain that a bit."

"The Cursed Seal Kabuto uses to keep Orochimaru under his thumb," Itachi began. "It's actually a mark on the neck of his host, and unlike Himiko, Orochimaru's soul has a body to survive with if the host, say... forces him out."

"Is that even possible?" asked Sakura. "Sachi wasn't able to do that to Himiko; she just took control of her body back for a second."

"Which is why I went to talk to her myself. It might not be possible, but Sachi believes there's a chance. It would take an incredible force of will from the host, and Orochimaru would have to be weakened physically and mentally as Himiko was. Even then it might not work, but we should try it just in case."

"Should we?" said Suigetsu incredulously. "This is Orochimaru we're talking about! If we pull this off and get his host to force him out, then what!?"

"He helps us kill Kabuto," Karin realized. "That's what you're thinking. There's no one in the world Orochimaru hates more than Kabuto, so he'll turn on him before anyone else in the room."

"Hn." Itachi turned to Kimimaro next; Orochimaru's former disciple had stayed quiet until now. "You know Orochimaru better than anyone else here; do you think a plan like that could work in our favor?"

The knight sighed. "Actually, I don't know him that well at all. He had me brainwashed into worshiping the ground he stood on, and I don't even know how much of the personality he showed me was fake. That said... I think if I were Orochimaru; the one I knew anyway, I'd probably just turn and run from the battle entirely. I'd want to kill Kabuto of course, but I'd be expecting an attack from the Alliance shinobi as well. Outnumbered and with my soul exposed... I'd definitely want to run."

"Maybe," said Itachi, "but that's still a good outcome for us. And for what it's worth, I think Orochimaru will stay and fight with us. I've fought him; felt his killing intent and his fear. I know which of the two is stronger, and I think he'll want to kill Kabuto badly enough that he'll risk getting hit in his soul form."

"But there's one more thing," he added. "This decision will probably be ours to make. Hokage-sama tells me a team of powerful ninja will be sent to Kabuto's hideout as soon as we pinpoint it; it's likely somewhere in the Land of Frost where he can comfortably control the Edo Tensei he sends out to battle. We're the first choice for that team since we've all encountered and fought Kabuto and Orochimaru."

"Well it's at least worth thinking about," said Sasuke. "Personally I think it'll work out in our favor... but we have time to think. They say you should hold off on proposing solutions whenever possible, and look at the problem itself as much as you can before then. We'll try thinking outside the box, looking for a third option."

"I got one," Karin raised her hand.

Sasuke blinked and turned to her. "That was fast."

"If we can free Orochimaru, then the best thing to do next is isolate him with Kabuto. Let them fight each other alone; that way Orochimaru doesn't have anyone to run from. Do you think maybe you could use Yomotsu Hirasaka to pull both of them into a wormhole, then close both ends?"

Suigetsu paled. "That's just evil."

"It wouldn't work," Sasuke admitted. "I tried closing a portal on a shadow clone once; I can't deactivate the jutsu if anyone's inside."

"Damn." she slumped. "Well what about if we use the Seal Summoning to get out of Kabuto's hideout?"

"...If one of us sets off the jutsu while Kabuto is up close and attacking us, he could get pulled through too. The same goes for Orochimaru; we'd all need to be at a distance from both of them. It'd be tricky and risky, but..." he shook his head. "Let's not focus on just one angle of attack. Keep thinking, everyone."

X

For the third time in a year, Konoha's outer walls had completely failed to stop an invader. This time a hole had been torn straight through the First Hokage's wooden structure by the beak of a demented, abominous bird summon. Ninja and civilian alike, the population within what remained of the walls generally agreed that repairing them should sit rather low on their list of things to do.

The ground within those broken walls sloped uniformly downward toward the proper middle of the village, a huge and barren crater. When spring came and brought rain with it, the middle of that crater would fill and become a lake that would probably remain for centuries, a permanent mark on the shape of the village. Every single building that had stood on that ground two weeks ago was wiped off the map to make room for the lake.

And yet there was a recognizable village there, as cosmically improbable as that seemed. There was a perfectly circular void among the buildings to accomodate the lake a good four months before it would fill with water, and from there the construction sites steadily radiated out toward the much-abused walls Hashirama Senju had laid down.

Even more improbably, this miracle wasn't the work of thousands of coordinated builders working overtime to outpace the quickly approaching snowstorms. A grand total of three people had accomplished it all, a single oddly paired but effective team of shinobi.

Every wall of every building was built of wood, and Tenzou had picked the exact species with all due care. Lignum vitae, extraordinary in its density, strength and rarity, was a plant that grew rather slowly in nature. The Wood Release dismissed that problem entirely and left Konoha with a building material with strength to rival metal that could be mass-produced from nothing.

In addition, Konoha didn't have to worry about a major problem annoying the Shinobi Alliance across the continent. Cotton and linen were both made of plant matter, and so the work of Tenzou's team included filling the walls with insulation and the rooms with furniture.

Of course there was no plumbing to or from any of these homes as of yet, and no electricity running to them either. There was no way to make windows of plant matter so the frames that would later be fitted with glass were boarded up for now. If the world didn't end at some point this week, the citizens of Konoha would still be in for an uncomfortable start to their winter.

Tenzou considered his work a form of art in its own odd way, and took a bit of extra time to create a home that pleased the eye rather than boxes with roofs and doors. Danzou had frowned slightly when he first grew a blooming tree out of the roof of a three-story home, its trunk unfolding down past the walls to send its roots deep into the chilled earth, but in all fairness the man frowned at everything. Nawaki, by contrast, had enthusiastically approved. With only three opinions to draw from, two of those in favor of the design, Tenzou continued to add living plants to most of his structures.

It was the Village Hidden in the Leaves, after all.

Of the three, Nawaki specialized in growing living creatures with his Wood Release. Danzou wielded it similarly to the First Hokage, creating plants in their natural forms. Tenzou excelled most at building plainly manmade structures with his kekkei genkai, which meant he was most responsible for the design of each building. Danzou and Nawaki provided raw material for him to shape so he didn't spend as much chakra, didn't tire before they did.

They'd made good progress this way; the village was steadily growing back into its full capacity. There were thousands of homes ready to accomodate the civilians currently passing time under the Hokage monument; they were safe from the elements there but it was hardly a comfortable place to stay. The inside of the bunker was dim, chilly, cramped. Every last citizen of Konoha, the civilians and the lower-ranked ninja who hadn't left for the battlefield were all understandably eager to have their homes back.

Unfortunately they would now be kept waiting a bit longer, as Tsunade had just arrived to punch Danzou in the face. The old man's head shot backward and dragged the rest of his body along for the ride; it met a freshly raised wooden wall and left a remarkable dent in the lignum vitae planks. It was yet more remarkable that the front and back of Danzou's head hadn't cracked like an egg on each impact, but he did at least slump against the wall in a daze.

Tsunade was on him again instantly; her hand was locked around his throat and ready to squeeze before his vision even cleared. A wave of horrifying killing intent washed over him, brought back unwelcome memories of the Nine-Tails rampaging on this very ground sixteen years ago. He thought of activating Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan to escape, but that option was gone forever now. Naruto had ordered the eye removed, and Itachi had set it on fire less than an hour after he returned from his years of hiding.

"What the hell have you been doing to my little brother?"

Danzou spared a glance in the direction of the fifty-year-old boy, saw the shock and confusion on his face completely disappear at that question. He turned his eye back on Tsunade, a harsh glare coming from an otherwise patient expression. "I taught him taijutsu and Wood Release ninjutsu. That's all, as per the terms we agreed upon."

Tsunade's grip tightened, not enough to crush his throat but enough that breathing became slightly uncomfortable. "He's telling the truth, neechan," Nawaki spoke up and took a step forward. "Tenzou-sensei will tell you the same thing!"

"Tenzou," she turned and snarled, "Is a former ROOT agent himself. I made a mistake trusting him with you." the youngest Senju's eyes widened. "You're coming with me back to the Alliance, Tenzou and Danzou are staying here to finish this, and when the war is over I'll break them."

Nawaki blinked, his expression went blank and he stepped forward. "The three of us," he began coolly, "are the last wielders of the Wood Release. Executing two of the three for a crime they didn't commit-" Nawaki stumbled forward from the sudden cuff to the back of the head from Tenzou, painless but unexpected. "Gah!"

"Your big sister thinks you've been turned into a ROOT asset," said Tenzou, "and your reaction is to try to act like a ROOT asset? Tsunade-sama, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding; I've been training him." The former Hokage let go of Danzou to stand upright and loom toward Tenzou instead. "I've taught him how a ROOT agent would present himself to an opponent, and he's learned to fake the same mannerisms."

She stopped. "...Fake," she repeated in a dead tone.

"ROOT shinobi lack emotions," Danzou commented and rubbed his throat. "Nawaki has simply learned to hide his. It's a glorified poker face," he grumbled.

"Better than the real thing," Tenzou nodded. "ROOT was an affront to humanity and it produced dysfunctional killing machines, not shinobi." Danzou bristled but held his tongue. "On the other hand, Nawaki here is completely sane and stable. You can have any Yamanaka you pick verify that, or talk to Hokage-sama about trying ninshuu instead. You'll see it's true."

Tsunade hesitated, looked back and forth between the three while weighing her options. "...Fine. Let's go then, all three of you." Nawaki blinked up at her and took a moment to realize what she was thinking. "If you're lying, if you brainwashed my little brother... I want you to be right next to me so I don't have to wait before I kill you."

As she turned away from the three, she let off another spike of killing intent that made Tenzou and Danzou both wince. But in the absence of any better options, they fell into step behind her and Nawaki.

X

There were other shinobi making use of the Wood Release elsewhere in the world, as evidenced by a forest in the Land of Frost that hadn't been there yesterday. The trees were tall and mighty, resembling Konoha's Forest of Death with every last leaf stripped away by the cold; the snow and wind of a mounting blizzard reached through to the very heart of the grove with no delay.

But at the deepest point of the sprawling woodland was a particularly huge tree, matching the others in height but standing ten times as broad. It was hollow with a doorway into the trunk resting between two of its colossal roots. The unmistakable glow of firelight was visible through the entry, and somewhere among the upper branches emerged a trail of natural grey smoke reaching up into the clouds.

Kabuto had lit an overly large bonfire inside a hideout made entirely of wood. It was the sort of thing one would only do if they had control of the elements and the power to casually violate the laws of thermodynamics and conservation of energy. Shinobi didn't really pay much attention to those.

There was one room inside the hideout that dominated it entirely, the trunk was hollowed out from its roots to its lowest limbs to accomodate Kabuto and his minions. The walls were lined with Edo Tensei coffins, evenly spaced and latched to the walls of the room by vines and roots wrapped around them several times. Oddly, the floor was lined with cool, light sand rather than wood, stone or rougher dirt.

A shinobi clad all in white came through the entrance at speed, landing in a crouch just inside the room, her entire body except for her hands and her Byakugan eyes covered by cloth or metal. She wore a Konoha forehead protector painted white to match the old-fashioned ninja mask covering the rest of her head.

There was a white scarf wrapped around her shoulders, and under it was a long white coat that covered her entire body down to her knees. A pair of bandoliers crossed over her chest, loaded with an array of senbon glistening even though they too were colored white to blend with the snow. Affixed to the back of her coat at the waist were a pair of ANBU-styled long kunai sheathed horizontally with the blades overlapping each other. At each of her hips sat spools of gleaming ninja wire, the only weapon she carried that hadn't been painted.

The pants she wore under the coat were loose-fitting, heavy white cloth paired with warm fur-lined boots; a great deal of thought and work had gone into their design to keep the wearer's steps as agile as ever. The outer shell was soft and flexed easily while still holding out the snow and frigid air.

"Mariko." Kabuto's own Byakugan glinted with firelight, and he grinned without turning away from the flame to face her. "How does it look out there?"

She brought up her right hand to pull down the bottom half of her mask, displaying the Cursed Seal of Heaven that sat on her palm. "Everything's in place. I drilled the Zetsu clones twice on every strategy, and approached the base from six different angles with my Byakugan off to see the traps as the enemy will. We're ready to face an army out there."

"Are we ready to face Naruto?"

She spared a glance over her shoulder. "I haven't seen his healing ability up close; I stayed out of the fight that day in Konoha... but I think if he runs with a Pulse Step through a web of ninja wire, that might kill him."

"I doubt we could kill the Hokage so easily," he mused. "I also doubt it'll be Naruto who comes here... but it was worth hearing your thoughts. In all honesty, it'll likely be Sasuke and Itachi along with their followers. They're the ones who have met us and fought us before."

"A doujutsu user would see the Zetsu clones even through the snow and camouflage. They'll see the explosive tags and genjutsu as well, and a Sharingan user might even be able to see ninja wire before they run into it."

Kabuto nodded. "Well, it was a good effort anyway. Even if those traps can't kill Sasuke, they might take out one or two of his teammates." he stood and turned to face her with a sizable grin. "So tell me, Mariko... what are you doing here? Is it still to avenge Kouga, maybe?"

"...No," she admitted. "Kouga-sama of all people would understand that I'm in this life for myself. I'm here helping you because I'm betting on Akatsuki to win this war. If I fight on your side until we win, maybe that'll earn me a better spot in that 'new world' we're supposed to create."

"Ah..." again the nod, again the wicked grin and glinting eyes. "How shrewd of you."

"So what about you?" she countered, a bit curious now. "You say it like you've considered ditching Akatsuki."

"I prefer to think that I'm keeping my options open," said Kabuto. "I can't exactly ally myself with the Five Kage, and they're losing at this point anyway. Leaving the battlefield entirely is an option; I could just return to Oto and wait for the end of the world... but then what happens to me when the Infinite Tsukuyomi is cast?"

She nodded thoughtfully, but he only paused for a moment before going on. "I think I might be able to see through it, actually. With my Sage Mode, the Byakugan's ability to see chakra and the snake eyelids I have to block out genjutsu... maybe I won't be fooled, and then I have options. I could break free in a week or two, kill Madara and Obito in their sleep, break the jutsu over the entire world and suddenly I'm a hero. Maybe I'll try it, or maybe not. I'll decide when the time comes."

"Hm," Mariko shrugged and turned to Orochimaru next, seated across the fire from Kabuto and further back toward the wall. "And you?"

"...My goal has always been to learn every ninjutsu there is. Perhaps the Infinite Tsukuyomi could put me in a library stocked with every jutsu scroll ever written. But where would a genjutsu gather all that knowledge? Would it let me simply fantasize that I've already learned them all? Or maybe it would copy the jutsu from the minds of the shinobi all around the world who know them... Well I suppose it doesn't matter now, and I hardly have any better options than this." He lifted his chin to show the Cursed Seal binding his throat, and said no more.

"This has been a fun chat," Kabuto stood, "But there's hardly any more to say. Let's move on to something else interesting."

He reached for one of the coffins tethered to the wall, and the root holding it there extended and gently set it down in front of him. "You," he said to the lid as he cracked open its seal, "are by far the greatest threat to me in this room. I want you out of it as quickly as possible."

"Ah..." Orochimaru grinned as the firelight hit the undead man within. "I wondered if you would really go through with it... the First Hokage..."

"Even with all the improvements I've made to the Edo Tensei, summoning Hashirama Senju at full power would get me killed within minutes. He could easily overpower any of my seals." He set aside the lid and activated the summon; its eyes opened already colored gold with senjutsu chakra but also dead and blank. "But at two-thirds of his full power, unconscious and under my direct control, it should work. I'll more or less be fighting in the First Hokage's body."

He brought down two more coffins and opened them to reveal a red-haired young woman and white-haired man as well. "I'll fire the big guns right away; no holding back."

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