Obito-Sensei Chapter 25
The Toad Sage
Three days later, Sakura could walk without the assistance of crutches. She spent all of those days with her team, training to rebuild what strength she'd lost from her time in the hospital. A lot of that training was with the principles of the Rasengan. Obito had told her it would be a good place to start: she already had the basics in her Flowing Water Blade.
She took to it quickly. After three days, Sakura had already burst a water balloon with just her chakra. Being able to walk like a normal person, albeit with some pain, was the perfect accompaniment to that breakthrough.
The day after that, Team 7 received a new mission.
"This will be your first B-Rank." Sakura didn't know the man who was assigning them the mission. He was short and pale, with shaggy brown hair concealed under a bandana and a persistent cough. There was a sword slung over his back as well, and from that alone Sakura felt an irrational kinship with him. Maybe Tenten had been getting to her more than she'd given credit for.
"Other ninja?" Sasuke asked, all business, and the man, Hayato, shook his head.
"Not necessarily," he said, giving their sensei a surreptitious glance. "B-Rank only indicates the possibility of enemy shinobi." Sakura wondered what that meant. When it came to ninja, it ironically was unmistakable if they were involved or not. Then again, B-Ranks weren't uncommon. They probably covered a wide range of possible scenarios, like-
"Yeah yeah yeah." Naruto snatched the scroll out of the man's hand, and Sakura's train of thought with it, and the older ninja blew out a frustrated breath. "Everything we need to know here, right?"
"Yeah." Hayato gave a disgusted wave. "Yeah, everything you need. Get out of here."
When Team Seven left the building, Obito took them aside.
"We've been specially selected for this mission," he said, and Sasuke snorted.
"You've been specially selected for this mission," he said, and Sakura had to laugh at the honesty of it. "We're the tagalongs."
"Hey now, don't be so negative," their sensei said with a grin. "You guys have all more than proven yourself ready for a B-Rank like this."
"Course we have!" Naruto said. Always so confident, and Sakura adored that about him. "So, what're the details?" He unrolled the scroll, and scrunched up his nose at what was inside. The writing was jagged but organized, Sakura thought. "Hey, this is-"
"Sensei's handwriting," Obito confirmed. The Hokage's handwriting, Sakura thought. It fit him. Strange that she could think that about Naruto's father, but she tried not to overthink it. Naruto was her friend: of course she was familiar with his father.
"This mission's from my dad?" Naruto asked.
"Technically, he was given it by someone else," their sensei said wryly. "You were there when it happened."
"What, the Toads?" Naruto asked, and Obito nodded.
"Yup."
"Then… we're going looking for Jiraiya of the Sannin?" Sakura said, and Obito gave her a thumbs up.
"Perceptive as ever, Sakura. This is a tracking mission. Well, something between that and a VIP escort." Obito gestured, and Naruto handed the scroll over. He cleared his throat and read from it in an overly formal tone. "Your mission is to ascertain the whereabouts of and make contact with Jiraiya of the Sannin, and should he blah blah blah." He trailed off, handing the scroll back to Naruto, who tucked it in his pants. "You get it. Our mission is to locate a legendary ninja and, if able, bring him back to Konoha."
"And that's… B-Rank?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke snorted.
"This is gonna end up just like that first C-Rank," he said, and Obito scoffed. "A Sannin? That invites all sorts of trouble."
"There's only so many rogue ninja to go around you know, Sasuke," Obito said in good humor. "Even you can't be that unlucky."
Sasuke smirked. "When are we leaving?"
"Two hours," Obito said. "This could be a long term mission; it's at least a day's journey to the first destination, and tracking missions always run longer than expected, so pack appropriately. Grab all your stuff, meet at the front gate. Familiar, right?"
Weirdly familiar. Sakura said her goodbyes and went home, mostly anonymous in the streets once more. She still got the occasional glance, but the whispers were gone. She was thankful for that. She couldn't imagine how it would feel to have people whisper about you wherever you went.
When she was almost home, she bumped into Team Eight coming out of a restaurant. Just finishing brunch, probably. Hinata waved, and Sakura's eyes were drawn to her missing finger.
"Sakura!" she called, and from Kiba's side Akamaru barked. He was getting bigger, Sakura noted, almost up to the boy's knees now. "How are you?" Kiba lazily waved as well; Shino, like usual, was still and silent, regarding Sakura with an unreadable expression from behind his opaque glasses.
"Hey!" Sakura called, slowing down just a little as she passed them. "We've got a new mission: I'm going home for some stuff."
"Mind if we walk with you?" Kiba asked, and Sakura didn't have any reason to say no. She went on her way, with three new companions. It felt nice to walk with someone at her side. "What kind of mission is it?"
"B-Rank VIP," Sakura said, and Kiba whistled.
"Wow, you guys are pricey nowadays," he said, and Sakura laughed. He flashed his teeth, sharing in the humor. "Though I guess with your flashy stuff during the exam, that's no surprise."
"It's well deserved," Shino said quietly, and like usual Sakura almost jumped at how sudden and soft his voice was. "Team Seven preformed admirably. Higher ranked missions are the natural consequence of that performance."
"...thanks, Shino," Sakura said, deciding to accept the strangely neutral compliment, and the odd boy gave her a slight nod.
"We said it in the hospital, Sakura," Hinata said, and Sakura smiled at her. "But we really… really wanted to thank you. For fighting Gaara. It helped our…"
"Our pride!" Kiba said indignantly. "We all owe you for giving that crapsack the beating you did. You ever need anything, Team Eight is gonna be one-hundred percent behind you!"
I didn't fight him for you, Sakura thought, even as she smiled and humbly accepted the promise. I fought him for myself. I got so angry for all your sakes, but in the end I didn't remember any of that. I just wanted to hurt him for myself.
She felt two-faced, and her stomach churned. Before any of them knew it, they'd reached her house.
"Guess this is it," Sakura said, trying to squash the queasy feeling. "Hope we see you guys after the mission."
"Hey!" Kiba said, nudging Hinata, and the girl blushed and shied away. "Aren't you gonna-?"
"KIba," Shino said, and the boy gave him a perplexed look.
"What? At this rate she's never gonna give it up!" Sakura watched with amusement as Team Eight descended into bickering. Eventually, Hinata stomped her feet, red in the face.
"Stop it!" she said, and Kiba over at her, almost nose to nose with Shino. The Aburame had refused to flinch. Somehow, she got even redder. "I'll… I'll do it."
She reached into her jacket, and drew out a small container. There was a piece of paper, folded many times, taped to the top of it. Hinata gingerly extended her hand out towards Sakura, and she took it with a bemused feeling.
"What's this?" she asked. "For me?" She didn't think it would be possible, but Hinata was only getting more flustered. She looked like she was going to explode out of embarrassment.
"N-no," the girl said, tripping over the word. "That's for, uh…"
"One of my teammates?" Sakura asked, and Hinata nodded. She'd never seen the other girl get so worked up. "Naruto, or Sasuke?"
Hinata choked, unable to speak, and held up two of her four fingers. Sakura smiled, hoping the girl wouldn't collapse on her.
"Alright," she said, and Hinata deflated like one of the balloon's Sakura had spent the last couple days destroying. "I'll get it to him."
"Thank you!" Hinata said, and just about ran away. Kiba chased after her with a laugh, but Shino stayed for a moment.
"I appreciate it," he said, and Sakura nodded, not sure what to say. "Hinata appreciates it too, even if she doesn't have the words for it." Then he turned and left too, and Sakura was left alone at her home.
She shrugged, pocketed the container, and went inside.
Her home was quiet. The spark of life that is usually contained was gone.
"Sakura?" her father called, and Sakura went upstairs without a word. She slipped into her own room, looking around. It was still getting colder: they'd be traveling a long distance. She silently opened her closet, a ghost in her own home. She had a couple different jackets. One of them was red and had some cute pink frills around the waist, the same color as her hair. Sakura had never worn it before. She'd thought it looked silly.
No, that was a lie. She'd thought that other people might think it looked silly.
'You wanna leave the village looking like that?' Sakura reached out and tried the jacket on. It was thick and warm, and like all clothes made with ninja in mind, very easy to move in. It even rested comfortably over the sheath of her sword, concealing the hilt.
It was like Kushina had said, she thought. She'd stabbed a Jinchuriki. Who cared if someone thought her jacket looked silly? She liked it.
"Sakura?" She turned and found her father in the doorway. "Hey, you're wearing… it looks good."
"I've got a mission," she said, getting back to gathering her things. This felt familiar, she thought. Like her first C-Rank. But everything was wrong. She didn't feel any warmth and excitement. Just resentment.
"I heard," Kizashi said, and Sakura wondered who had told him. Probably her sensei, right? "You're up for it?"
Her arm and leg still ached, but she didn't want her father to know that, so she shrugged. "I'm up for it."
"Okay." What had happened to them? Sakura felt an itch in her chest. Talking to her father had never been like this. It had always been natural and warm. It felt like they were two puppets going through a half-hearted play. She hated it. "Well…"
Her father hesitated. "Sakura, your mother and I, we're both really…"
Sakura should have felt a breath of relief, but instead something burned in her heart. She felt her nose twitch into a sneer. That was the best they could do?
"Sorry?" she asked, and her father closed his mouth, stricken. "You're both sorry?"
"Hey now," her father said, a little stricter. Not nearly enough to dissuade her. "I'm being honest. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings. We were so worried about you-"
"You shouldn't have been," Sakura said, turning her back on him and organizing her backpack. "I was fine."
"He broke your arm and leg," Kizashi said quietly. Sakura flinched at his tone. "You would have died if it weren't for the Kage. I know you're not that stupid, that you'd say 'I was fine' and mean it."
Sakura didn't say anything, stubbornly packing her bag in silence. After a minute, her father blew out a breath.
"I don't want it to be like this, honey," he said, and Sakura grit her teeth. "We just want to talk to you. It's like you're not even here any more. We're proud of you. We're incredibly proud of you. You're becoming an amazing ninja. We don't want that to mean you can't be our daughter anymore."
Sakura didn't know what to say, so she stayed quiet, the silence growing more and more oppressive until the room was so thick with it that neither of them could breathe.
"Okay." Her father gave up, and Sakura felt something crack inside her at the defeat in his voice.
'Why don't you say something?'
"Stay safe on your mission, okay?" he said, and then he left.
'You're just going to let him leave?'
She did.
Sakura listened to her father walk down the stairs, trembling. He was letting his footsteps make noise, letting her know he really was going. She stood there trying to control her shaking. Why hadn't she said something? Why wasn't she saying something? Just because she didn't know what to say? Surely something would be better than nothing, right?
But she stayed mute, and it was only when her father settled down in the living room that she resumed packing. When Sakura left about ten minutes later, wearing her jacket, her sword, and her pack, her father didn't rise to send her off. She stopped at the door, struggling to say something.
"Sorry," she eventually whispered, and then she left.
###
Just like that first C-Rank, Sakura met her team at the front gate. But this time, they didn't set out immediately. Someone else was there besides the normal passerbys, who were staring as she and Obito had a passionate conversation.
"How stupid are you?" Rin Nohara asked, and Obito rubbed the back of his head with a look in between embarrassment and anger. Naruto and Sasuke were both behind him, snickering at his reaction. "You thought you could take one of my patients out of the village without me knowing?" She was dressed in combat gear; Sakura had never seen her like that before. She had a flak vest on, and the same kind of protective arm-bands that Obito wore. They were almost a matching pair, but Rin had fewer scars.
And, Sakura noticed with some amusement, almost an inch on him. It was especially obvious with him face to face with her, the both of them red.
"She hasn't been your patient for like, two weeks!" Obito declared. They both looked over at Sakura as she arrived, and she blushed when she realized she was the subject of their conversation. "She's perfectly fine!"
"Oh, I must have missed you taking my job Obito!" Rin laughed, walking over to Sakura. She watched her come with apprehension, and the older woman grinned at her. "Hey Sakura. How you doing?"
"Good?" Sakura said cautiously, and Naruto laughed.
"She's good, Rin-sensei!" he said, and Rin grinned at the appellation. "There's nothing to worry about?"
"That's great, but it's my job to worry," Rin said with a smile. She removed a letter from her jacket. "That's why I got special orders right here."
"Gimme that." Obito tried to snatch the paper from Rin's hand and she danced around him with an unfading smile. "You seriously went to sensei?"
"I got asked to," Rin said, her smile dropping. "And I took it seriously. That's why I'm going to be tagging along with you guys."
That was weird, Sakura immediately thought. Even if Rin wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she was healing fine, she was still a jonin. Her coming along was anything but normal. Right away, the mission was strange.
"The more the merrier," Sasuke said dryly. He gestured to the open gate. "What's the point in arguing about it, sensei? Let's get going. We've got a long trip ahead of us."
Obito grumbled. "It would be nice to have someone else along," he muttered. "Just wish you hadn't gone behind my back."
"I didn't," Rin said with a sweet smile. "I just couldn't find you, so I figured I'd ask sensei first."
Obito snorted. "Forgiveness or permission, huh?" He laughed. "C'mon then." They both started heading for the gate, and Sakura followed, trying to understand what she'd just seen. There was another conversation here that was invisible to her, and it was sparking an old curiosity in her, the one that had first appeared when she'd first seen Rin a hundred years ago.
"Hey!" Naruto fell in at her side, and before they were even out the gate they'd formed a rough formation with Sasuke at the front, the adults in the center, and Sakura and Naruto bringing up the rear. It really was incredible, Sakura thought, that something like that happened without any of them thinking about it. It was just trained into their bones. "Is that jacket new? It's cool!"
"Not that new." Sakura smiled. "Just hadn't worn it before." Naruto nodded, and she tilted her head towards Obito and Rin. "What's up with them?"
"Oh," Naruto scoffed. "Obito's acting annoyed, but he's happy. Rin showed up and said my dad told her to come with us to keep an eye on you, cause you're still healing and all." He laughed. "As if. You're fine, right?"
"Yeah," Sakura said, trying to believe it as her arm ached again. "You don't think that's the real reason?"
Naruto waggled his eyebrows, and Sakura noticed their sensei glancing back at them. She smiled at him, and he grinned, before Rin nudged him in the shoulder and they were drawn back into their muttered conversation.
"Remember what I told you, way back? When we were fixing up that bridge?" he said, and Sakura nodded. "Rin's not just a crazy good medic ninja; when she goes on missions, they're really important."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Then why send us, if it's that important? We're still just genin. Why make it a B-Rank?"
"Yeah…" Naruto said, looking thoughtful. "I dunno. But something's definitely weird, right?"
"Yeah," Sakura said, looking back at her sensei's back and wondering what he was thinking. She rested her hand on her sword's hilt, and felt calm creeping up her arm as she felt the non-weight of the chakra saturated blade. She sighed.
"Definitely."
###
Obito stayed at the front of his team's formation for the duration of the first leg of their journey, making small talk with Rin and keeping an eye on his kids. For him, it was an incredible feeling. He often led a lonely life, but the last month and some had been extreme even for him. He'd spent almost every day with Sakura and Asuma, agonizing over her training.
Sakura hadn't seen it, and neither had Asuma, but every day had been torture for him. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in the last month. Every waking moment was spent coaching Sakura, and when he slept, he dreamt of her death.
He looked back at her, marveling at her vitality, the fact that she was alive and kicking. It had been so easy to see Kakashi in her place, hear his last gasp every time she spoke. Too easy, if he was being honest with himself.
His sensei was right, as usual. His only issue was confidence. Gaara had been frightening, but at heart he'd just been a homicidal bully. He hadn't had near as much to lose as Sakura had, and that was why she'd humiliated him. He hadn't put enough faith in his own student, even after working with her every day for a month.
"Hey, what're you getting all morose about?" Rin asked, and Obito shook his head, trying to dispel his mood with a smile. He looked over at her, trying to appear carefree.
"Just glad you're here," he said, and Rin snorted. They were pretty far outside the village now, traversing the hidden paths through the forests that only Leaf shinobi were supposed to know. It was peaceful out here, with nothing but the creatures and trees for company.
"You always were a crappy liar," she said, and Obito rolled his eyes.
"I'm not lying," he said, and Rin gave him a grin. "I am glad you're here." He looked back at Sakura again, and this time she caught his eye. Nice jacket, he noted. Far too many pockets, but what shinobi would complain about that? "I'm still wondering why."
"For Sakura," Rin said, already knowing the words were perfunctory, and Obito gave her an unimpressed look. She laughed. "Okay, as bait? How else are you going to draw the old man out?"
"Gross," Obito grimaced, and Rin laughed again. "Plus, that's not how sensei thinks." He got a little more serious. "I think he thinks I'll need some backup."
"Pfft." Rin made it clear how unlikely she thought that was. "Sensei's always had just about infinite faith in you, Obito. There's no way."
"Sure," Obito said. "How about this: what'd he tell you the reason was?"
Their game was coming to an end, and Rin could feel it. She sobered up. "He told me to watch out for you guys," she said, and Obito frowned, crossing his arms. "He didn't tell me why, or what I was watching for."
"That doesn't make any sense," Obito said, and Rin shook her head.
"The only explanation is that he was worried about being too specific," she said, and Obito stiffened, a sudden understanding crashing down on him. "Who might overhear."
Obito slowed down as he processed what Rin had just said. Behind him, Naruto and Sakura noticed. They started catching up with him and Rin, and Naruto called out.
"Something up?" he asked, and Obito picked up the pace again, drawing back into the center of their triangular formation.
"All good!" he called back, and Naruto gave him a curious look and a nod. Sakura was just peering at him. They both knew something was up, Obito was sure, but Sakura was growing more and more frightening in her perceptive ability.
Why were they here, he thought, if sensei was worried about that? He fell silent, digesting everything Rin had told him.
'A shinobi is one who sacrifices.'
That wasn't something to consider, he thought. No matter how kind he was, sensei wouldn't hesitate to put his own son, or his son's teammates, in danger. Not if he thought the potential payoff would be worth it for the village.
Bait. A B-Rank. Jiraiya. Overhearing.
"Are we being followed?" he asked, and Rin shook her head.
"If we are, I couldn't tell," she said, and Obito grunted. That didn't mean anything by itself. There were plenty of means to pursue them without him or Rin noticing, no matter how careful they were. After all, a mouse rarely realized that a snake was after it.
If his suspicions were right, a headless snake would soon be after them all.
Obito's hands curled into fists.
"This really isn't what I wanted for a B-Rank," he said, and Rin shrugged.
"It's what sensei wanted," she said. Obito sighed and nodded. "And besides, maybe he's just overreacting. This could all go according to plan."
Obito laughed. "When's the last time sensei overreacted?" he asked. Rin pursed her lips, considering the question honestly.
"Been, uh…" she said, pausing. "Well, never."
"Yeah," Obito said, a little glum. "Never. If things get messy, you watch Sakura. I'll get Naruto."
"What about Sasuke?" Rin asked, looking forward at their vanguard, and Obito chuckled.
"He learned on our first C-Rank that sometimes you should just run away," he said, and Rin raised an eyebrow. "I hope he'll remember that lesson."
"He won't," Rin said. "He's too much like you."
"Yeah…" Obito shook his head. "Crap."
"Cheer up!" Rin demanded. "It's been forever since we went on a mission together. You're not allowed to be grumpy the whole time!" She looked so sincere; Obito felt his heart speed up a little. The way her smile tugged at the tattoos on her cheeks...
Obito suppressed the feeling and laughed, and they resumed their journey away from the village. But the silence just allowed his thoughts to creep back in.
Sensei trusted you with his son, and more, he thought.
You better not let him down.
They traveled for another hour and some before, to his surprise, Sakura drew closer to the both of them, contracting the triangle, and struck up a conversation with Rin. Eventually, Naruto joined them.
Before long, the conversation turned to him.
"How long have you known Obito, Rin-sensei?" Sakura asked. Obito gave her a inquisitive look at the question. She was the picture of innocence… and she clearly knew it, which meant she was anything but. Obito had never seen a sneaky side to Sakura before. She'd always been sincere and honest, painfully so. She'd even immediately told Naruto about the offer from Haku and the Akatsuki.
He wondered what could have possibly brought out that slyness in her.
"Oh, since we were kids," Rin said, and Obito felt a surge of horror when he realized she was wearing the same sly look. "He used to follow me around all the time, you know."
"Really?" Naruto asked, and Obito coughed. "That's really creepy, sensei," he said frankly, and the cough transformed into a gag.
"It wasn't like that!" Obito declared. Naruto laughed, clearly not believing him. "We were teammates, you know!"
"It wasn't like that," Rin confirmed, and Obito let out an internal sigh of relief. "He was just watching out for me. We had to watch out for each other, really. We were both chunin by the time we were your age."
"That's lucky," Naruto grumbled, but Sakura shook her head.
"It's not," she said, and once more Obito wondered just how much she knew that she didn't let on. "They had to fight in the Third War, remember?"
"Even genin fought in that war," Rin said, her tone even. "But because we were chunin, we were given more dangerous missions. That's true enough."
"Which one of you was the team leader?" Naruto asked a question he'd never raised before, and Obito gave Rin a look. Her shoulders slumped. Her smile shrunk.
"Kakashi Hatake," Obito said, and Naruto's smile faded as well. "Our teammate. He was a jonin before we even made chunin, and our team leader on missions."
"Oh." Naruto clearly didn't know what to say. "I didn't know." He thought it over. "I'm sorry."
"It's not something you should be sorry for, Naruto," Rin said. Sasuke had dropped back, Obito noticed; he was obviously eavesdropping on them. He gave his younger cousin a look.
'Care to join us?'
Sasuke shot back an amused look that carried just as obvious an answer. Obito shrugged.
'Suit yourself.'
"What was Kakashi like?" Sakura asked, and Rin cocked her head. "He was your guy's teammate, right? You must miss him."
"He was a genius," Obito said, surprised at how easy it was to say. "He could have whooped all you guys when he was ten years old."
"No way," Naruto said. "You're exaggerating."
"He's not," Rin said. "Kakashi was a once in a generation kind of guy. He made chunin when he was six, when we had all just graduated, and then jonin when he was your age. He invented his own elemental jutsu: the Chidori."
"Wait, you guys graduated when you were six?" Naruto asked, and Rin laughed, shaking her head.
"We were seven," she said, patting Obito's shoulder. He ignored the jolt that shot down his spine. "Kakashi was a year younger than us."
"Seven? That's still crazy," Naruto said.
"It was just before the war," Obito explained. He'd never considered this, but Naruto had no conception of what that time had been like. "They were pushing as many genin out as they could, especially promising ones. Both Rin and I showed aptitude in ninjutsu, so we were allowed to graduate early."
"Still nuts," Naruto said. "And he had his own jutsu? What was the Chidori? It sounds cool."
"It was a little like the Rasengan, actually," Obito said, drifting back to the past. Not a better time, if he was at all honest. "He probably took inspiration. It was a sheath of lightning around his hand. He used it like a spear: it could pierce through just about anything." Was he feeling nostalgia, or yearning for something that had never been? "He developed it to punch through all the hardcore defensive Earth jutsu that Stone had under its belt."
"Yeah," Rin laughed. "It was a great idea. Just one problem though."
Obito chuckled. "God, I'd almost forgotten."
"What?" Sakura asked, and Rin turned to her, still chuckling. "Was it too exhausting for him or something?"
"Not quite. I dunno exactly how it worked, but the lightning chakra sped him up," she said. "So he had a jutsu that could cut through anything…" She broke down laughing, not quite able to finish the sentence.
"But he couldn't see where he was going," Obito sniggered, on the edge of open laughter too. The bittersweet memory overwhelmed him. "He'd take off like a damn lightning bolt, his hand screaming with all the chakra, and not have a damn idea where his target was. He'd just destroy everything in the way until he landed a hit."
"He only needed the one though," Rin said. "That was a hell of one-hit kill."
"That sounds like an awesome jutsu!" Naruto's enthusiasm was infectious, as usual. "But… he didn't pass it on to anyone?"
"Maybe your dad, but I doubt it," Obito said. Rin nodded.
"Kakashi was a private kid," she said. "He was quiet, and didn't share anything. I doubt he gave anyone that jutsu." She scoffed. "He didn't even let anyone see his face."
"His face?" Sakura asked, and Obito brought his hand up, covering everything below his nose.
"He wore a mask, like this, all the time." He glanced at Rin. "Even when he was sleeping, or bathing. We checked."
"...why?" Naruto asked. Obito shrugged.
"Why'd we check, or…?"
Naruto laughed. "Why the mask?"
"Dunno," Obito said. "But the way he went about it, he probably would have worn that mask till the day he died." He paused, feeling a jab of pain in his chest. "Well… I guess he did."
Naruto went quiet, but Sakura seemed possessed of an insatiable curiosity. "What happened to him?" she asked, and then realized exactly what she said after a moment. "Sorry. I-"
"That's alright," Obito said, glancing at Rin for confirmation. Light coming through the canopy played across her face, and for a moment he couldn't breathe. "He saved us."
"I got grabbed by some ninja from Stone when we were on a mission near their borders," Rin said. "They interrogated me, but Obito and Kakashi showed up and saved me." She gave the boy a sour smile. "But the Iwa-nin was a sore loser: he dropped a whole cave on top of us before we could escape. Obito saved Kakashi, and got his arm broken for his trouble… and then Kakashi saved him, and got crushed."
Neither Naruto nor Sakura had anything to say to that. Instead, Sasuke spoke up from in front of them.
"You have his sword," he said, as calm as a shinobi should be. "The White Fang." Perceptive punk, Obito thought.
"He gave it to me as he was dying," Obito said. "Told me to kill as many ninja from Stone as I could." He narrowed his eyes. "So I did."
"That was the day he became Mangekyo no Obito," Rin said. "We didn't realize it till afterwards, but his Sharingan evolved when Kakashi died. That was the only reason either of us survived." She was looking oddly wistful now, and Obit marveled at how that day had completely changed both their lives. "There were at least twenty Stone ninja outside, and Obito killed every single one of them. I was in shock; I couldn't do anything." Obito remembered the feeling of his fingers shattering, a sword in his teeth. He didn't have any regrets.
Rin smiled at him. "But he was always like that. Before that day, and since then… he's always been a reliable guy."
Obito smiled back, the compliment washing over him like a warm wind, and noticed Sakura giving Rin an odd look.
"Twenty guys? For real?" Naruto asked, a little subdued. "That's…"
"It was them or us," Obito said. "I couldn't hesitate." He looked down at his student. "If someone killed Sasuke, would you?"
"No one's gonna kill Sasuke," Naruto said, and Obito left him with the thought, not wanting to pursue it further. Kakashi had been everything Sasuke was and more, and he'd died under a rock like anyone else. He was sure Naruto knew that too. "Anyway… are we almost there? What'd you call the place?"
"Tanzaku Gai," Obito said, pivoting off the subject with a gratifying amount of grace. "Jiraiya is supposed to maintain several dead drops throughout the Land of Fire, and the one there is the nearest; he's always outside of the village, so that's the Hokage's way of keeping tabs on him."
"Why's he always out of Konoha?" Sakura asked, and Obito pondered how to approach the question.
"He has a lot of responsibilities." He decided to go with most of the truth. "And he prefers to work alone."
"He's one of the Sannin, but he prefers to work alone?" Sasuke asked, and Obito frowned.
"They were a legendary group, but they don't get along anymore," he said.
"Why's that?"
"That's their business," Rin said, and Naruto scoffed. "Anyway, we're going to check that drop first. If we're lucky, it'll set us on the right path."
"And if it doesn't?" Sakura asked.
"Then we check the next one," Obito grinned. "We'll either find him eventually, or the mission will fail."
"Don't want to fail a mission," Naruto grumbled.
"Then you better hope he's given us some indication of where to go!" Obito said cheerfully. "If Jiraiya wanted to go totally off the grid, he's gonna be gone, and we won't be able to do anything about it."
Naruto groaned but didn't contribute anything more, and they continued on through the forest. Obito tried to identify where the happiness in him was bubbling up from, but he couldn't quite manage.
Maybe, he thought, it was just as simple as being with his team, and with Rin. It had been a while since they'd taken a mission together. It was like Rin had said. It was best not to question the feeling.
Best to enjoy it while he could.
###
When they arrived at Tanzaku Gai, the sun was painting the horizon red. Team Seven and Rin slipped into the town like most shinobi did, completely innocuous in the flood of tourists, travelers, gamblers, and locals. The town was large, jumbled with buildings and streets that couldn't decide if they wanted to go straight, and surrounded by a tall wall that did nothing to keep anyone out.
"Whoa, they have a castle?" Naruto asked, pointing to the huge fortified citadel that stood at the center of the town, casting its shadow over everything inside the walls. He looked it up and down and let out an exaggerated whistle. "No wonder people come to see it, that's crazy."
"It's old," Obito said, and Sasuke snorted.
"Really?" he asked. Sakura couldn't help but grin at his tone. "You think?"
"It's from back during the Era of Warring Clans, you know." Obito gave them an unimpressed look. "Castles like this were the centers of power for local governments back then. They needed something that couldn't be knocked over by a wandering clan of shinobi, you know."
"But they don't build castles anymore," Sakura said, staring up at the huge stone edifice. It really was impressive; had the builders hired people who could manipulate chakra, or had they just used tools themselves? She could barely conceive of it. The castle had layers of walls and towers, like a multilayered origami folded out and pressed flat to reveal all its myriad complexities. It would be challenging to assault even with the ability to walk on walls.
"No." Obito gave her an amused look. "Nowadays it takes a lot more than a single clan to overthrow a government."
Sakura mused on that as Rin gave an exaggerated stretch, her arms twisting over her head. "So, we stopping here for the night?" she asked, looking around the crowded streets. "Seems like a nice enough place."
"Let's check the drop first," Obito said. "There probably won't be anything there; we'll find a place to stay after that." They wandered through the streets, and Sakura marveled at the atmosphere of the town. Everywhere she looked something interesting was happening; someone juggling flames, a card trick, some strange food she hadn't seen before. Tanzaku Gai wasn't like any other town she'd visited, neither small nor huge nor carefully curated. It was full of the dregs of every nation mingling with rich tourists and clever gamblers, and it created a kind of place she'd never imagined before.
"Naruto, don't." Sasuke grabbed his friend, keeping him from wandering off to try a card game. "It's rigged."
"Course it's rigged!" Naruto grinned. "I'm gonna rig it back."
"No rigging any games," Rin said. Obito gave her a thankful look. "Shinobi are already unpopular enough in places like this; no need to piss off the locals."
"Unpopular?" Naruto asked, but Sakura could see the truth of it. They drew stares everywhere they went in their obvious five-man formation; that, and their headbands. Tanzaku Gai was in the Land of Fire, and ninjas from Konoha were no doubt a common sight, but people still regarded them cautiously.
What had Obito said on their first C-Rank, so long ago? Ninjas were a sign of trouble? This town had clearly learned that lesson.
For some reason, that reminded her of the little container in her jacket. Sakura dug into one of her pockets, feeling around for it. Naruto gave her a curious look as she drew it out.
"Wassat?" he asked, tilting his head to get a better look, and Sakura told him the truth.
"I don't have a clue," she said, picking up her pace a little to draw up alongside Sasuke. She raised up the container, and he tilted his head, plucking it out of her hand. "It's from Hinata."
"Eh?" Naruto tried to pull up alongside Sasuke as well, and the other boy sped up, rapidly unwrapping the little note on top of the container. "Hey, what is it?!" Their speed kept increasing until Sasuke escalated, leaping up onto a nearby roof. Naruto followed him, the both of them approaching a full run. "Sasuke, c'mon!"
Sasuke fully unwrapped the note and Sakura saw his eyes flash red. Then, there was another flash: the paper crumbled to ash, and Sasuke came to a stop, Naruto almost slamming into his back.
"Really?" Naruto demanded, and Sasuke smirked. His Sharingan was active. "That's cheating!"
"You don't even know what it was," Sasuke pointed out, and Sakura leapt up as well to join them.
"It was a letter or something!" Naruto declared. Sasuke shrugged.
"Maybe it was just some paper," he said. Sakura raised an eyebrow, and he rolled his eyes. "Regardless, it's none of your business."
"What's in the box?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke flipped the container open to reveal some sort of cream.
"It's a balm," he said. "That's all."
"That's it?" Naruto asked, grabbing the box out of Sasuke's hand. He stuck an experimental finger into the cream, and then stuck the same finger in his mouth with a thoughtful expression. "Man, she always was a weirdo."
Sakura looked at the cream, and then up at Sasuke. It had definitely been a note, and he'd memorized it with his Sharingan before destroying it.
The pieces clicked in her mind immediately, and she smirked.
Maybe it was because of what she'd realized, or because Sakura didn't smirk very often, but she was able to see some of the color drain out of Sasuke's face in real time.
"Sasuke…" she said sweetly. Naruto gave her a confused look. "Do you have something to tell us?"
"Uh, Sakura-" Sasuke started to speak, but Obito called up at them from the street below before he could get beyond her name.
"Stop messing around!" their sensei said. "You're making a scene!" People were staring, it was true. But here, outside the village, Sakura found that she didn't care nearly as much what some random tourists thought of her.
Sasuke took the excuse in an instant, leaping back down to the street and falling in alongside Obito as if nothing had happened. Sakura lingered with Naruto on the roof for another moment.
"What?" Naruto asked, and Sakura giggled. "You don't think-?"
"Who knows?" Sakura asked, feeling some delightfully childish glee. "We'll just have to keep pestering him." They jumped down to join their comrades, and continued deeper into Tanzaku Gai while doing just that.
Their destination ended up being a dumpy motel close to the castle, the kind of place that could offer substandard service because of its prime location. Sasuke gave the cracked walls and faded paint a justifiably suspicious look as their sensei came to a stop. He put his hands on his hips.
"Yup, this is the place!" he declared, pushing through the front door. Its rusted hinges shrieked, and Sakura winced.
"This?" she asked, not sure what she'd been expecting.
"Hoping for something glamorous?" Rin asked with a laugh. "Believe it or not, this kind of place was always the Toad Sage's natural habitat."
Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Then he's got shitty taste, huh?"
"Hey, being a legendary ninja's got nothing to do with your taste," Rin pointed out, following Obito in. "But yeah, you're right about that." There was the tinny ring of a bell, and the shinobi went inside.
They found Obito at the front desk, waiting as his fingers drummed on the cheap and scarred wood. The bell he'd rung hardly looked better, the metal dinged in places. They waited for twenty seconds, with no one appearing.
"Crappy service too," Sasuke observed, and then someone appeared from the door behind the counter; a tall, fat man, with black hair and an unattractive smirk. His outfit was the best looking thing about the entire motel.
"Welcome, shinobi!" he said in a reedy voice. "Looking for a room?" He glanced around, taking in their composition, and smiled widely. "Or perhaps several?"
"Yeah, we're not really interested in that," Obito said, and the man's smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
"Figures," he grunted. "You ninja love to waste people's time. Well, what-?"
"Mostly, we're curious if the hot springs are cold this time of year," Obito said, and Sakura blinked as the nonsense sentence flipped an invisible switch in the fat man's demeanor. He straightened up; the fat instantly became muscle, the smirk calculating and critical. He almost looked like a different person, such was the change in posture and attitude.
"You've come at a good time, Lord Uchiha," he said, and this time Sakura could feel her whole team take a collective blink. Even the man's voice had changed to something deeper and more respectful. He nodded towards the door he'd come from. "If you would?"
Obito inclined his head and followed after the men, and Team Seven had no choice but to follow. The room beyond the front desk was much the same, dumpy and filled with old paper and older furniture. The man approached one of the corners and bent down, fiddling with a mechanism that Sakura couldn't see. A second later, a section of the floor smoothly swung up on invisible hinges, and the man grandly gestured.
"Everything you'll need is down there," he said with a slight bow. "The room is sealed; feel free to speak as you will."
"We appreciate it," Obito said, and he took a roll of nearly ten thousand Ryo from one of his pockets as casually as he would a knife. He tossed the cash to the man, who bowed once more and retreated back to the front of the motel.
"Bwuh?" Naruto asked, and Obito shook his head.
"Inside," he said, and they made their way down a narrow set of dark wooden stairs to the hidden room below. The room was nice, far nicer than the motel above. It was barely fifteen feet from wall to wall, and unerringly square. The walls were dominated by countless shelves and bookcases, and there was a neat steel desk in the center of the room, upon which were spread dozens of scrolls, pieces of paper, and books with broken spines. There were no electric lights: candles were placed everywhere, providing faint omnipresent illumination.
"What is this place?" Sasuke asked, and the door closed behind them.
"Jiraiya-sensei is the Sage of Toads," Obito-sensei said, approaching the desk. "But even now, he is Konoha's foremost spy master. There's probably hundreds of places just like this all across the Nations."
"Then that guy upstairs is one of his spies?" Sakura asked, and Obito shrugged.
"Well, if he was his spy you'd hope he'd pay him," he said with a laugh. "When it comes to spying on shinobi and nations, you can't be that direct. Think of them more as gossiping acquaintances. He'll probably be telling someone else that we came by soon enough, after all."
"This seems a little much for some gossip," Rin said, raising an eyebrow, and Obito grinned and waved her off.
"Anyway," he said. "Let's see when the old man last dropped by." He started rummaging through the scrolls on the desk by some order only he could divine.
"Huh," he said, and started clearing the paper with some urgency. Sakura jogged over, trying to help her sensei. "What are the chances?"
There was a paper stuck to the desk, Sakura realized after a moment. There was a date on it, scrawled in a thick and heavy hand with ink that fit both descriptions: 2]10]60.
"Barely a week ago," Obito explained, but Sakura was more curious about the characters beneath the date. The others crowded around, including Rin, to get a look at the message.
W4 - T10 - II320613.
"Eh?" Sasuke asked rather intelligently. Sakura turned to her sensei, expecting him to say something, but he was totally silent, staring at the code.
"Sensei?" she asked, and Obito shook his head a little, resetting himself. He was frowning furiously. "What's wrong?"
"It's a code," he said.
"Duh," Naruto said. "What's it mean?"
"That, we need to do some research for," Obito said. He took his pack off and reached into it, coming out with a couple books.
"Oh!" Rin said with an evil grin. "I didn't know you were into those kinds of things, Obito." Sakura leaned over, getting a better look at the books. She couldn't help but blink at the titles. Icha Icha Violence, Innocence, Island Paradise, Desert Palm…
"They're not mine!" Obito protested. "This code's pretty simple, but it's also just an excuse for that guy to sell more of his damn books!" Behind him, Naruto and Sasuke were laughing. "Look, that thing means…" He rummaged through the books, putting the rest back in the pack and leaving one out. "Book three, Icha Icha Innocence."
"How'd you know that's book three?" Sasuke asked innocently, and Obito groaned.
"For the code!" he insisted. "It's an easy code if you understand it. Book three, page two-oh-six, line thirteen. If he was keeping it that easy, he must have been in a hurry; he would have wanted anyone who found this to be able to read it."
"Yeah," Naruto snickered, "anyone carrying around a library of dirty books."
"But what do the other things mean then?" Sakura asked as her sensei flipped through the little green book, searching for his page. "The letters and numbers?"
"I can answer that one," Rin said, and Team Seven shifted their attention to her and left their blushing sensei to himself. "Those are both intelligence codes for Konoha, just as simple. This whole thing was done in a rush… but I can see why." She crossed her arms, looking as serious as Sakura had ever seen her. "T10, that's Takigakure, the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls. It's a minor village to the north."
It was strange, Sakura thought, that all the minor villages she knew of shared their name with their nations. Takigakure was in the Land of Waterfalls, which bordered the Fire, Earth, and the Nation of Rain. It was about a day away, maybe less if they pushed themselves. Why did the Land of Waterfalls have a Hidden Village named after it, while Fire had the Leaf, Lightning Cloud, and so on? Just because they'd come first?
"And W4?" Sasuke asked, and Rin shifted, glancing at Obito. Their sensei looked up, his mouth set in a line, and nodded.
"That's Weasel," Rin said, and Sasuke cocked his head. "Another code, referring to Konoha's most infamous rogue ninja."
Sasuke's eyes went wide, and Rin nodded. "Yeah. Itachi Uchiha."
Sakura felt her chest collapse as she remembered the cold red eyes of Sasuke's brother. She could see her teammate trembling; Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, trying to keep him steady.
"What's the sentence, Obito?" Rin asked, and Obito snapped the book shut, tapping his finger on the spine anxiously.
"'She's hunting a real beast,'" he quoted, and Rin choked. Sakura looked back and forth between the two adults, not understanding their reaction.
"What?" she asked, and Naruto echoed her. Sasuke was too absorbed in his own world to say anything. "What's that mean?"
"It means we've got to go," Obito said. "We're not walking; we're using the Kamui. C'mon, link up."
"Seriously, at least tell us why we're in a hurry," Sasuke said, and Obito gave him a cold look.
"I'm taking you guys home," he said, and Naruto snarled. "Then, Rin and I are going to stop that bastard."
"Like hell!" Naruto declared, and Obito shook his head.
"It's not debatable," he said, the dim light of the candles reflecting off his Sharingan with an eerie red glow. "This is gonna be too dangerous for you guys."
"Itachi's not going to kill me," Sasuke said quietly. "That's not what he's interested in."
"Doesn't matter," Obito said, and Sakura felt something like the anger that had driven her to attack Gaara welling up inside her. She stepped forward, her heart thrumming.
"Sensei," she said. "The only way we can grow is missions like this." Obito gave her an uncomprehending look, and Sakura steeled her resolve. "I would never have been able to fight Gaara if we hadn't gone on that C-Rank. I might not even have been able to be a ninja. I didn't trust myself." She slammed her fist into her open palm. "But this time, we know what's coming. Itachi didn't hurt us too bad last time; he was obsessed with Sasuke. All of us together, we could definitely take him."
"Ha!" Rin laughed. "Well, she's right about something. Obito, if you're trying to draw Itachi out, Sasuke will be the perfect bait. You can't deny that."
Obito looked at all of them one by one, and Sakura saw a gradual change come over him. To her horror, she recognized it. She'd gone through it herself.
Her sensei was terrified, she thought. He'd been terrified all the time. For them, for himself? She couldn't tell. But as Sakura watched, as he stood there with his hand extended, Sharingan whirling, her sensei discarded his fear. He straightened up; his whole existence sharpened, like a knife too dangerous to touch.
"Okay," he said, locking eyes with Sasuke. Her teammate nodded. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure," Sasuke said, taking Obito's hand. Naruto did next, and then Rin, and finally Sakura. They stood there in a circle, and Sakura felt an unbelievable amount of chakra coursing through her sensei's hand, and so much and so heavy that it seemed for a second like they would all sink into the floor.
"'She's hunting a real beast,'" Rin said, looking around at all of them as the world distorted. "Guess you guys don't take any half-hearted missions, huh?"
"Takigakure is the only minor village to possess a Tailed Beast," Obito said, and Sakura sucked in a breath as the Kamui devoured them. "Itachi's after the Nanabi."
Then they left the candle-lit room behind, with nothing to mark their passage but some scattered scrolls.