Chapter 17: Idate and The Land of Tea
"I would like to make it known that I am not happy about this. I will carry out the mission, but I am very dissatisfied," Sakura said.
"Dissatisfaction noted," Sasuke replied.
She nodded, as if she'd just completed a mission report.
"Do you think we'll have to fight any enemy shinobi?" Naruto asked, standing on his toes to see over Sakura's head and glance toward the ocean. Idate and the other runner were lined up in front of the boats, stretching. "I really want to test my fan."
"Fan?"
"Like Temari's. She recommended a crafter to me."
"Ah. That will come in handy for anyone attempting to derail our boat," Sakura said cheerfully.
"Just be careful not to overturn us with that thing," Sasuke said with a poke to Naruto's bicep. The blond gave him a wide grin.
"Don't trust me, Sasuke?"
"Not when you have a new toy."
"They're starting the countdown," Sakura interrupted, lapsing into a running pose. Her teammates followed her lead, while the ghosts simply stood there; they didn't have energy to run out of, nor did they get muscle cramps.
"Three," the announcer called out, making the crowd go tense. "Two. One! Go!"
Idate and Fukusuke took off simultaneously, rocketing towards the ocean line like speeding bullets.
"Impressive for someone who hasn't had shinobi training," Sasuke said, just before Idate took a hard left and dashed away down the shore. "What the hell."
"I thought he was supposed to take the boat to the island?" Hashirama asked, a sweatdrop sliding down his face.
"He was," Naruto replied.
"Do you think he's fleeing?" Sakura tsked with a frown.
"No. He feels too indebted to Jirocho. He must have some sort of plan."
"We better keep up with him," Sasuke ordered, launching into a quicker pace.
"You're under a genjutsu," Naruto said, appearing at Idate's side and startling him as he ran along a cliff edge.
"Gah! You damned-"
"Yes, yes, me, a damned shinobi. You're gonna fall off the cliff."
"Cliff? We're in a forest!"
"Like I said, genjutsu."
"I just broke the genjutsu, you moron!"
"This boy is irritatingly stubborn," Tobirama said from Naruto's other side. Hashirama had stayed with Sasuke and Sakura as they ran along further up the mountainside.
Naruto reached over and tapped Idate's forehead. "You could say that again."
"Say what agai- gah!" Idate came to a screeching halt, sending pebbles flying over the edge with inches to spare. "What the hell! Why didn't you stop me earlier?"
Naruto and Tobirama wore matching dull expressions. "Yes," Naruto said. "Why didn't I."
Scowling, Idate took off again. "Just don't get in my way," he called over his shoulder.
"Does that mean let you fall off next time?" Naruto yelled after him.
"Screw you!" Idate shouted.
Naruto sprinted after the boy, keeping an eye on his senses to detect any incoming chakra signals. "Tell you what," he said, popping up at Idate's side and making his scowl grow deeper, "let's agree to disagree and agree that you would've died if it weren't for me, so you really shouldn't scorn my help so easily. You do know there are probably people trying to kill you, right?"
"I don't need your help, shinobi," Idate said with a glare.
"I have a name, you know."
"I'm not interested in learning it."
"Okay, Swanky."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, is that not your name?"
Idate glowered. Naruto let a small smirk grace his expression, falling behind a few feet so he could follow Idate wherever he was heading.
"Ah," Sakura said as soon as she'd caught up with him, watching Idate speak with the old man who lived in the residence on the beach. He'd made an earlier agreement to use the man's boat, apparently. "So he wanted to avoid the storm."
"Smart," Sasuke admitted grudgingly. Shading his eyes, he checked the progress of the storm in the distance. "We should make it before the ocean becomes too cranky."
The three boarded the ship, Sasuke taking command of the tiller. Naruto adjusted the sails before taking his fan out of a storage unit on his arm. "All right, let's get us some momentum!" he yelled.
"Uh, Naruto, wai-" Sakura sweatdropped.
He leapt onto the railing and swung the fan wide. Wind gusted forth, rocketing them from the shore and towards the horizon; the boat didn't come near tipping, but rocked suddenly enough that Idate tripped and fell onto his face and Sakura nearly followed suit with a yell of surprise. Sasuke rolled his eyes from the back, unaffected.
"Dammit, give me some warning next time," Sakura grumbled. She smoothed out her jacket, which Sasuke noted looked much more like Tsunade's than her old one; it was the same shade of green and a similar style, though a tad less loose and more form-fitting, as well as being made out of a tougher material. Still, she could have been hiding countless weapons under the sleeves.
He supposed it was fitting. She and Tsunade got along splendidly; the last time he'd seen them doing something together, he hadn't actually seen them…just seen Jiraiya go flying out of the bathhouse and a mad cackling directly after.
Idate had a much worse reaction. "Would you cut that crap out, you idiot?" he screamed, getting to his feet and pointing in Naruto's face.
Naruto eyed him distastefully. "You do know this is a race, right?"
"I don't need your help, you-"
"I know, I know." Naruto held up one hand dramatically, holding his forehead. "I'm a shinobi. Damned fate. Whatever will I do?"
"Don't mock me," Idate growled. His fists were shaking, and Sasuke wondered whether or not he had a problem with shinobi in particular or not.
Naruto snorted. "Why would I bother? There's no use insulting a dead horse."
"What?"
Sasuke sighed. "He means you aren't even intelligent enough to understand the insult and you most likely never will be…which you just proved anyway. Can we move on now?"
Sakura smothered a snicker as Idate's cheek started to twitch.
"I can see Madara's been rubbing off on you now," Hashirama said with a sweatdrop from his place on the railing beside Naruto.
"Probably," Naruto replied. Idate gave him a twitchy stare, as if he were a crazy person. "I think making fun of people is a hobby of his; he just won't admit it."
"Who. Are. You. Talking. To?" Idate hissed out through clenched teeth.
Tobirama sighed from his other side. "He's giving me a headache," he said in unison with Naruto as the boy pinched his nose and grumbled "You're giving me a headache." Immediately after, he glanced up at the Nidaime with squinted eyes, the tiny ray of light that glinted off his forehead protector shining into Idate's eyes and making him wince. "Can ghosts even get headaches?"
"Apparently, child."
"Hey Naruto," Sasuke called out, "here's a chance to really test that new fan of yours."
Naruto perked up immediately. He took one bounding leap and landed in a crouch on the railing near the back, right beside Sasuke as he sent an amused glance towards the ship following them. "Is that that team from the chuunin exams?" Naruto asked, incredulous and restraining laughter.
"Either they think they're strong enough to fight us now or they have really, really bad luck," Sakura chortled.
"What team?" Hashirama asked, floating into the air high enough he was eye-level with the Uzumaki now readying his fan again.
"Before Orochimaru and his lackeys decided to harass us, we met this team in the forest who tried to take our scrolls," Naruto replied, lowering a pair of binoculars no one had seen him take out.
"He left them strung up in a tree just in time for hunting hour with the giant tigers," Sasuke smirked, assuming he was explaining to the ghostly members of the group.
"Well, all right then, Naruto," Sakura smiled, clearly amused, "show us what that fan of yours can do."
"Oh my god," Sakura said, staring at the wreckage floating a ways behind them with a blank expression.
Idate stared in mute horror, while Sasuke kept a steady eye on the island, unaffected.
"Where did you even learn how to do that?" Sakura asked, tilting her head with a frown.
"I have a great teacher," Naruto responded cheerfully. In truth, he'd been practicing with the fan- adequately, for a beginner- when Madara had appeared, twitching, saying he was doing everything 'all wrong' and he couldn't take the eyesore anymore.
"Come on, brother. Don't you at least want to go see everything? You helped create this! The Monument is gargantuan-"
"Just what I need, to see the idiot Senju duo's faces looming over me every day."
Izuna pouted. "You could at least leave the compound."
Madara gave him an irritated look. He turned away, back to 'meditating', sitting cross-legged on the tatami mats of one of the house's outer rooms. Although Sakura insisted on having a 'front door' more like the newer architecture, the outer sections of the house were still open to the outside through sliding doors. Izuna could see how Madara preferred an environment that was so much more similar to their own homes, when they'd been alive.
Izuna grew concerned when Madara wasn't looking. It was true, reuniting with his brother had restored a life to Madara's eyes Izuna had not seen there before- but there were still so many years passed since Izuna had last seen him, carrying him off the battlefield after Tobirama's fatal strike. Then, Izuna had implored him not to trust the Senju- to never work with them. He regretted those words now; for decades he'd been watching the village- the village his brother had helped create- grow and flourish into a place children didn't have to die.
"You could at least be more polite to Naruto," Izuna sighed. Madara tended to ignore everyone but his brother.
"Hn."
Madara refused to acknowledge the conflict rattling around in his non-existent chest. Even if he had been still dead-set on carrying out his plan, Izuna wouldn't have let him- and that was just it. He wasn't dead-set on it anymore. The dogged self-assurance he'd had was dwindling, and it wasn't as if he'd taken a completely one-eighty in the span of a few weeks…
He just wasn't sure anymore.
And Izuna's constant, stubborn rebuttals to his arguments made him sound just like Hashirama.
Would he still be able to enact his plan if it was Izuna on the other side of the battlefield opposing him, and not the numerous modern shinobi he had no connection with?
Izuna enjoyed the village so much. He always attempted to get Madara to go out with him, but the elder remained unmoving. At one point, Madara had been stalking the compound's perimeter, and seen his brother following the whiskered boy and the last Uchiha back to their home.
The last Uchiha. Even if in the end whether his clan existed or not would be irrelevant, part of Madara's conscience recoiled at the thought.
Izuna had been laughing, head thrown back and shoulders shaking as Sasuke demanded of Naruto what was so funny. He'd shaken Madara's resolve; obviously happy where he was even though he was dead of all things.
Part of him wanted to simply give in to his brother and follow him around like a lost dog, seeping up his attention like a sponge.
But this wasn't his village. This was Hashirama's village. He was a criminal in their textbooks; they hadn't wanted him in his own time, and Madara had buried memories of affection. They didn't even know it was him who had given them their name. They'd probably want to abandon the "Village Hidden in the Leaves" if they knew Uchiha Madara had branded them with it.
"You're entitled to see it too."
"How do you figure?" Madara asked, barely restraining a sneer.
"It's your village," Izuna said with frustration growing in his voice. "You may have left it, but you helped create it, so why not take this one thing? You're entitled to seeing it. You're dead, and there's nothing you can do to right the wrongs of the past."
"It's the Senju's village, Izuna. Just look at what happened to our clan."
"They were planning a coup," Izuna replied wryly. "Besides, it's not like the Senju are thriving these days, either."
"They weren't massacred."
Izuna sighed. "You just feel like you have no place in it."
Madara raised an eyebrow at him. "I hardly did before."
"You could have, if you hadn't left," Izuna snapped.
Madara's eyes narrowed into a glare. "You were dead, Izuna," he said, making the man flinch. "I had no one. Most were suspicious enough of me as it was, but even those within our own clan thought I was unfit to lead. My eyes were gained through using yours. Some called me barbaric. Some thought I stole them. They said I was too filled with hate to lead. They scorned the effort I made."
With another sigh, Izuna slumped against the wall, wearing a sour expression. "Fine. I won't argue about that. But we're literally dead, so the least you could do is let go now. Not for them. For you. Naruto-kun understands you; he's been gracious enough to keep this a secret."
"Hn. What could he possibly understand about me?"
Izuna opened his mouth, paused, and sighed again.
The door came slamming open, making him jump. Naruto stomped in with Toka behind him, scowling. He'd just returned from four consecutive D-ranks; and although he usually ran into little if any trouble, it seemed he was having an unlucky day.
The first mission was to paint a civilian's fence; as soon as he arrived, they retreated into their house and glared at him the whole time. The second mission was delivering a new projector to the threatre, upon which the ushers kicked him out before he could finish. The third was weeding gardens; in a twist of fate, he'd gotten his good old neighbor Haruna. She was still convinced he was a witch, and, accuracy of her suspicion aside, it was irritating having someone throw holy water and salt at you while you were trying to manage their garden.
She'd convinced her neighbors he was no good, and there weren't any witnesses to corroborate the fact she refused to pay him.
The fourth mission wasn't so much annoying as it was tedious. Another cat had gotten loose, and amazingly enough, it had evaded him for a full two hours. The owner had snatched it out of his hands and wept about how foxes ate cats and how dangerous it had been.
"The hell do people get off?" he asked, kicking his shoes off. "Is there no one in this village who isn't so suspicious they think I practice voodoo? Literally? The hell right do they have to call me a monster? And who the crap filed a complaint against me?" Toka merely shook her head. "I have more of a right to be clan head than some random shinobi who's not even from the clan. Do they thinkthey can do a better job? Nothing's good enough. They spit on every single effort I make." He paused to wave at Izuna. "Oh. Hey. How's cranky?"
Madara twitched.
Madara stared at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. Naruto pretended not to notice Madara staring at him out of the corner of his eye.
Izuna was usually their mediator; but he was out, probably arguing with Toka somewhere. Naruto was fiddling with his new fan in the yard, alternating between threading chakra through it and testing its balance.
'Sometimes I wish I couldn't see ghosts,' Naruto thought, staring at the red moons on his fan as he tried to ignore the feeling of being stared at. 'I might get the illusion of privacy that way.'
Madara frowned, turning his attention to stare at a tree.
They both pretended to ignore the other.
Naruto had never treated Madara with any particular wariness; he was just another ghost who had done bad things and been good at one point. Naruto didn't judge ghosts. They were dead, and often regretted their living moments; Naruto thought that if someonedidn't forgive them, the cycle of hatred would never truly stop.
He liked to subtly taunt him by calling him variants of grumpy and cranky, but didn't outright ridicule him.
Madara thought he looked a bit like Hashirama's brother, so it was a tad surreal of a thing.
Damn Izuna. His brother was stubborn to no end. Madara was itching to go find him, but a small voice in the back of his head was goading him on, telling him to go see what the ambitions of two children in the era of war had wrought.
Naruto was an odd thing. "Why do you look at me without fear, boy?" Madara had asked him the week before.
"Because I'm not afraid of you. Do you think this room would look better with beige or eggshell paint?" Naruto had returned, holding up two paint samples.
Should that have insulted him, that someone would treat him so nonchalantly as to ask him about paint?
Probably. But it had confused him enough Madara had simply stared in confusion until Naruto had nodded, said "You're right, beige," and walked off.
When the village had first been created, Hashirama had taken him to meet the first class of students the Academy would be teaching.
One of the girls had fallen down and promptly shrieked at the sight of his face when he'd run over to help her. The children had naturally gravitated towards Hashirama, drawn in by the sunshine Madara was convinced he exuded from his eye sockets. Although he enjoyed being around them, he felt awkward in their classroom.
A hand had tugged at his hakama, drawing his attention to the little girl at his feet. She was smaller than the others, wearing a set of plain brown robes. "Are you, um," she paused with a frown, "Madarara?"
Unable to restrain a small smirk, he'd knelt down, ruffling her hair. "Madara."
"Madara-sama," she corrected herself with a wide grin, before holding up the paper in her hands. Her fingers were covered in paint, having been creating the crude rendition of the outer grounds on the page. "Should this be, um," she paused with a frown. "Brown or eggs?"
She was referring to the Academy itself- it had been unpainted at the time, but then again her sunflowers were bright purple, so she hadn't been going for accuracy.
He arched one slender eyebrow. "Eggs?" She pointed to the paints on her desk. "Isn't that just white?"
"No, it's EGGS, Madarara-sama!" she whined.
"All right, all right, it's eggs." He eyed the brown, which was frankly more of a tan. "Use brown. It's a stronger color. It camouflages better."
"Okay!"
"You're doing that all wrong," Madara snapped, appearing with one eyebrow twitching next to Naruto.
Naruto turned and gave him an insulted look. "Well, it's not like I have an instruction booklet."
Madara hned in usual Uchiha fashion. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Where are the flow points?" he asked imperiously, arms crossed and chin tilted up.
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"The points on the fan that are designed to direct the chakra you channel."
"Oh." Naruto glanced at the base of his weapon before pointing to three separate spots. "Three moons, three points."
"You're not putting enough chakra into it. It's not going to break."
Naruto's other eyebrow rose to greet the first.
"I used a fan when I was alive, idiot." Madara rubbed his forehead.
"Ah. And you're helping me why?"
"It was a travesty. I couldn't stand to be subjected to the eyesore any longer."
"Psh. Right."
Izuna concentrated hard, both hands held in front of him as he entered the Uchiha compound. A small bag of instant ramen hovered in front of him- he'd been dead for decades, and with no small amount of concentration and effort, could painstakingly hover small objects.
He stopped short. The bag clattered to the ground, spilling ramen noodles packages out until one thumped against the porch. "The hell?"
"You can't use it to bludgeon people," Madara hissed.
"Hypocrite."
"Mine was of a completely different style. I was fully able to bludgeon someone to death with it. Now, if you…"
Every single tree surrounding the Uchiha home had been cut in half. Their upper parts were strewn about, fortunately having missed any of the buildings. A few buckets and shovels lay around the yard, no doubt from the open maintenance shack some distance away.
"Madara," Izuna said in a calm tone, "just what are you teaching that boy?"
Madara startled, glancing up as if he were a child whose parent had just come home only to find he had done something bad. "How to rip through people's bodies!" Naruto chimed in happily.
Izuna's cheek spasmed.
"It's harder than plant life," Naruto continued, still as cheerful, as he pointed to a few demolished practice dummies.
Madara crossed his arms, schooling his expression into a carefully stoic mask. Izuna sweatdropped, wondering what had made his brother start to warm up to Naruto after the weeks he'd been out of the cave. At least they were starting to get along…
'But still,' he thought, surveying the damage and thinking of Sasuke's reaction with a mild snicker, 'if Madara starts teaching him Naruto's going to be even more destructive.'
Now that he thought about it, it was slightly horrifying to think of what the two could get up to if they had truly hit it off.
"At least I'll be able to return the old man's boat safely," Idate grumbled as they stepped ashore.
"You're welcome," Sakura said.
"I wasn't thanking you." Idate glared at the three of them.
"Impetuous," Hashirama muttered as he passed through him to float towards the path, obviously sulking.
"Aren't you two bored?" Naruto asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Of course not! I like spending time with my nephew!" Naruto had stopped correcting him on the technical aspect of their relation a long time ago.
"Better than watching Tsunade-chan avoid stacks of paperwork," Tobirama muttered.
"What, this is boring for them now?" Idate asked with a scowl, thinking he had meant Sasuke and Sakura.
Naruto sighed. "You're really starting to drag me down, you know that?"
"Me drag you down? Oh, I'm so sorry for inconveniencing you…"
The sky had darkened to an ash grey, storm clouds rolling in from the south. "We should change to our rain coats," he said, taking out a storage scroll. The rocks around them were already damp, and a few drops splattered onto his nose.
Naruto simply pressed a seal on his wrist, exchanging his usual jacket for a slicker in a puff of smoke. During the brief moment in between, however, Sasuke noted a new article of clothing- Naruto always wore layers, so he had never seen it before; "Naruto."
"Yes?"
"…are you wearing a replica of Jiraiya-sama's haori?"
Naruto froze. "…no," he said at length.
Sakura leaned over and pulled back one flap of his slicker before he could stop her. "Aww!" she gushed. "You are!"
Naruto twitched. Sure enough, he wore a red haori with a yellow dot on each side, invisible because it was as short as a jacket and therefore able to stay hidden beneath one. He quickly zipped the slicker up, pulling up the hood and giving them both a glare. "Don't tell him," he hissed, while his teammates grew evil smiles and Hashirama struggled to contain his amusement.
"Can we get going? I could care less about your fashion choices," Idate said, irritation laced in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sakura responded with a huff.
"It's couldn't care less," Naruto corrected, making Idate's whole face start spasming.
"We'll make it to the shrine in no time." Sasuke adjusted his gloves and paused when he felt a new chakra signature move in.
"I'm afraid you won't," a new voice called out. The three chuunin glanced up as one, unimpressed, while Idate gasped in dismay.
"You!" he exclaimed.
"Hello there, Idate-kun," Aoi smirked. He was perched on a boulder a small distance away, umbrella propped against his shoulder. Sasuke instantly got creeper vibes off him similar to the ones he felt around Orochimaru, and narrowed his eyes in distaste. "It's nice to see you again."
Idate took several steps back. Naruto was about to retort, but Tobirama interrupted him.
"Naruto-kun," he said, eyeing Aoi with the beginnings of a disapproving look, "would you care to tell me why a foreign ninja wears my sword on his hip?"