Shifting Sands Chapter 17

The following weeks on the way back home were blurred together in pain and unconsciousness. Hina didn't feel well rested, even as Orochimaru carried her the entire way back. He stole her an oversized hoodie from who knows where to get her through the increasing cold. They found an empty cabin for travellers to hunker down in on their second week travelling back to a base, when Hina felt semi aware enough to address her own injuries. The blizzard outside meant Orochimaru didn't have much to do either. Somehow, they ended up having to do something as unusual as cuddling to share body warmth. As it turned out, a snake didn't thermoregulate as well as a human could, and the line between human and snake had always been blurry when it came to her sensei. So Hina's persisting fever had actually been a boon to the man. Though never let it be said that Orochimaru was a comfortable cuddler.

"Hmm storm's not letting out," he said, with a growing restlessness.

Hina shuffled in the awkward position next to him and the dozens of blankets they had thrown over themselves. She had to agree with him. If she had to sit next to an irritated Sannin for another day, she'd probably go insane enough to weather the blizzard outside and risk death. Of course, if she needed even a chance to do that, she needed to fix her legs. So she'd been slowly healing herself up for a short while now.

"Did you take your chakra pill?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes," she said, not commenting on the fact that this was the third time he'd asked. She really needed to get him to do something productive before he kept repeating questions. Of course she didn't say that out loud and risk angering the man. He was prideful after all. She also understood him on some level. This whole situation was more awkward for him than it was for her, and for some reason he was trying (and somehow succeeding) on emotionally connecting with her and helping her through the ordeal she just went through. Hina couldn't exactly hide waking up with night terrors when she was stuck to Orochimaru like a joey in his pouch. It embarrassed her to no end that he had to wake her up from a nightmare like she was a child.

"Sensei, could you teach me a jutsu?" she asked.

Her fever didn't help with keeping focus on anything, but she needed to keep him busy, and also keep her mind from lingering to the feel of someone choking her, or breaking her legs, or holding her down…

"I was going to wait until later to teach you this, but I do suppose there's nothing better to do. Let's get you to sign the summoning contract."

"Huh?!

Hina swivelled around and gave him a wide berth. She'd of course been expecting this day since they started. The ability to summon ninken was priceless. Not only were they free aid in missions, but they could also be messengers and provide advice. Of course, the ideal summon would be something furry and cute like Kakashi's pack of dogs, but at this stage she'd take almost anything. Snakes were kind of gross, but also pretty cool, and Hina knew how to handle them… well she knew how to kill them. But she was sure she'd learn how to handle them soon enough.

"Really? Let's get down to it then," she said.

"Seems like you forgot you had a fever," he said, quirking a brow.

"I've always wanted a summon. How did you get yours?" she asked.

"It was passed down from my clan," he said.

That was a bit of a surprise. Hina knew Orochimaru was an orphan. Hiruzen had been his father figure pretty much his entire life after his parents died at a young age. Tsunade didn't go by Senju much either, but her last name was pretty known. And Jiraiya probably hailed from a mixture of clans from here and there. She was pretty sure he was part Hatake in there somewhere. But Orochimaru's pedigree had been kind of a mystery.

"Your clan… I haven't heard of them," she said.

"No you wouldn't have. The Mizuchi were a small clan from Rice Country. They died in a battle, and as a sole survivor I was taken to Konoha by Hiruzen," he explained.

It would have been insensitive to ask if Hiruzen was the one who killed them, but she wouldn't put it past Orochimaru to have the most messed up origins. She decided to focus on the summons again.

"I'm not from your Clan though. Is this, okay?" she asked.

"Most techniques are passed down from master to student, without need for blood relation. I don't see why not," he said.

"I'd love to sign… but I don't have much chakra right now," she admitted.

"I'll get you to sign the contract and learn the hand signs. You're going to have to work it out yourself later," he said.

Hina nodded, eager to continue. And so Orochimaru unfurled a large scroll from his sealed bag. Hina excitedly bit her thumb, drawing blood, and then he instructed her on registering herself on the snake contract. The whole process was done without much fanfare or time.

"So why do the summons let us use them anyway?" Hina asked eventually.

Orochimaru took on an amused expression at the question. "They need us for status."

"Status?" Hina asked in question.

"Yes, though it is rare in the Summons world for wars to break out, there have been cases of it happening. Mostly between the Toads and the Snakes. However, having human intermediaries of power have changed the political landscape there. The stronger the summoner, the more bragging rights they have amongst each other," Orochimaru explained.

"And they're what… just casually in another realm from ours?" Hina asked, quirking a brow.

"Yes."

Well, she thought a little overwhelmed, it would take someone from another world to see just how fantastical this entire situation was. To Orochimaru it was just a fact of life, that he could summon a talking animal from another dimension. Hina was not numb to this novelty just yet. Then again, she was clearly in her own mind having a conversation with her not-mother in a not-dream. It felt too real to be a dream, so she concluded it was the mindscape. She tried not to think too much about her past life now that she knew more details about it. She desperately wanted to know everything, but the encounter with her late mother had opened a can of worms that involved future research into whether or not chakra worked the same way it did here as it did in her old life. Back then it had just been an esoteric concept, a whole bunch of pseudoscience her mother had jabbered on about that made her feel better about her slow death. Hina had always rejected the concept of God for someone who had been born as the child of two very religious people from two very different religions. But now… she figured she might reconsider her atheist status.

Stop thinking about it.

She needed to stop spiralling into an existential crisis every time she had a stray thought. It was difficult to do when all she could do was sit silently next to a sensei who wasn't a conversationalist. Hina sighed. She supposed she'd just have to weather out her questions.

They travelled through an untrekked forest path once the weather cleared up. It was the longer way back to Rice, but the local Shinobi and people had been alerted of them and they needed to keep a low profile. Hina was grateful that Orochimaru was not keeping the pace he did when they were with the other ROOT members. He periodically let her rest, and Hina spent that time strengthening her bones. Iryo-jutsu was useful, but it wasn't an instant cure-all. Things like broken bones and serious injuries took time to heal. Plus, she was good, but definitely not on the level of someone like Tsunade who'd have probably fixed this up in a day or two.

But she healed up on their second week in this frozen landscape. Hina was getting very tired of seeing snow. She couldn't wait to get back to the heat of Konoha. It didn't help that she'd lost her supplies and winter outfits when she was captured and stripped. Orochimaru could only lend her some of his gear because of how ill-fitting it was on an eight-year-old.

The only scare she'd received was being charged by an angry bear, which Orochimaru promptly killed, and they cooked. The creature provided them quite a lot of meat, which her sensei had sealed away to keep fresh. While bear was rough and not at all tender, it was a welcome reprieve from hunting for root vegetables every so often to beat the monotony of their dwindling ration bars.

Eventually though the mountains, turned into a frozen tundra, and then the tundra turned into hilly grasslands. The frozen and numbing chill of Frost turned into the more tolerable winter of Rice. Hina nearly cried when she saw green grass again. Though it didn't spell the end of their troubles. They had to travel back to an outpost in Fire before they could truly consider themselves relatively safe. But Hina was tired of camping outside, and her already long green hair was now past her hips. It was a tangled ugly mess and she needed a proper hot bath for once in her life. So they entered a small village in Rice, risking an attack to recuperate.

"Boarding for two," Orochimaru said.

The innkeeper eyed their Konoha headbands warily, but otherwise nodded. Rice was the closest thing to an ally, although that word was stretching it. They were more like an annexed puppet state of Konoha's. Hina ran let the Sannin take a bath first, mostly because she wanted to spend more than a couple hours in there. After she spent an ungodly amount of time cleaning up, she finally got out and made her way down to the diner, where she saw Orochimaru eating a bowl of ramen. She shivered in horror as he slurped down the noodles.

"Slow down sensei, or you could die," she warned.

He sent her an insulted look, or the closest thing to one he could ever emote. Hina didn't think he understood how seriously dangerous eating ramen was. Sure he was going slow, but he could go slower.

"It's okay I know how to help a choking victim. So it should be fine," she said holding her heart in pain as he ignored her and continued eating.

"Your worries are unnecessary," he sighed.

"So, what's the plan from here?" she asked, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Outpost, home, then paperwork," Orochimaru listed.

"That's it? What about the rest of the team? Shouldn't we wait for them?" she asked.

"They're not our problem anymore. We will know soon enough which targets were successful and which weren't. We did our job, which is all that matters," he shrugged.

Hina's thoughts wandered to Fan… most of all she hoped she'd get to get another seasoned meal with her.

It took another 2 weeks of travel to reach an outpost, and another week after to get back home. The sight of Konoha should have been welcoming, but all Hina could think of was Danzo was beyond there. For some reason the man asked for her to be on an A-Rank mission, even though she'd only be a liability. He wanted her dead. Shikaku knew this. The Hokage knew this. Somehow neither of them had managed to stop it from happening anyway. Hina wondered who was wearing the Hokage hat in this situation. Certainly not Hiruzen.

"We need to report before we can go back home," Orochimaru said.

Hina nodded despondently. All she wanted to do was sleep in her own bed and spend a day without walking places with her eyes constantly searching for danger. It was tiring. So she wanted to get this done as soon as possible. She followed Orochimaru straight to the Chunin Administration building, where he was promptly profiled as a Sannin and given approval to go to the Hokage's tower. Of course not before detailing a mission report in a private room.

"I've never done one before," Hina said curiously.

"Genin usually don't have to. It's their Jounin-sensei's job. It won't take more than an hour or two. We have to detail only the important aspects of the mission and give a brief timeline of events. A more detailed briefing will be taken if the mission is considered important to be filed… which this will be. Though usually that won't be happening for the next week or so," Orochimaru explained.

Hina drunk in the explanation, sitting next to him, and observing his report structure, and how he was formatting the events. Shinobi jargon was touched upon in the Academy, but honestly, she had forgotten it. Now she figured she'd have to go back and re-learn the process.

After the report they made their way to the Hokage's personal office to report. Orochimaru instructed her on the proper procedures to get an audience, and what would be considered important to report directly to the Hokage, and what was more likely just going to be filed at the Chunin Administrations desk. Even some A-Ranks weren't important enough to report back apparently. Most direct to Hokage reports were done if the job wasn't successfully completed or if there was an unforeseen change in the mission parameters. This mission landed somewhere in the category of 'vital to the war' and 'unforeseen change in mission parameters'.

An ANBU member jumped down, sporting an animal mask instead of the blank ones she saw on the ROOT members.

"You are invited in," he said simply before allowing them into the Hokage's office.

Hina had personally never been inside. She had expected something a little grander than the wide-open space and simple desk. The room was spacious enough for multiple people to stand or in their case kneel, but it didn't look expensively furnished. Not cheap either, but there was none of the grandiose artworks, and statement pieces she was used to seeing from the shareholders and CEO's in her past life.

"At ease," Hiruzen said.

Orochimaru stood up and Hina followed not a moment later. She eyed the people in the room cautiously. Shikaku was standing next to the Hokage's table, his eyes firmly looking her over with relief. On the other end were the Hokage's council consisting of two elderly men, and an elderly woman. She knew them of course. Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Shimura Danzo. She let her gaze linger on Danzo for a little too long as Orochimaru began his briefing. She realised she was barely listening anymore when he met her stare with his own. She had to bite down the urge to show him just how upset she was by his actions. It wouldn't serve any purpose but displaying an animosity against someone she couldn't yet stand up against.

"Two other teams were successful," Hiruzen said. "The final team has not made it back. We will give them another month, but if there is no contact from one of our posts, or messenger hawks, they will be considered MIA."

The idea that one of those people would be Fan, sent her stomach rolling uncomfortably. Hina went to ask but found she couldn't quite speak in a room full of important people when she didn't even know what proper etiquette was in these situations. She supposed she could get away with it because she was eight, but Danzo was here, and she didn't trust herself not to mess up in front of him.

"Suzuki Hina," Danzo said, catching her attention and that of the room's. "It was her first A-Rank, however she kept a level head, leveraged an enemy captive, and didn't give up any village secrets despite being captured herself. She also planted the seeds to destroy the dock and managed to do so with minimal help. She has proven herself to be capable enough for a promotion."

"She's nine," Shikaku said, looking physically in pain at having to point that out.

Hina paused for a moment and then realised that yes, she was in fact nine now. Somewhere along the way she'd missed her birthday.

"Hatake Kakashi was promoted Chunin when he was six," Danzo countered.

Now that was something Hina decided was too horrifying to really put into words. But despite his promotion, she was aware he was still apprenticed to Minato, and he was still given guidance and the time to train. The title of Chunin was simply afforded to him so he could pull rank in their kamikaze missions. She wasn't so sure Danzo intended for her to remain under Orochimaru's side if she got promoted. Though she supposed it would get her out from under ROOT's thumb. On the other hand she still needed quite a few more years of guidance. She wasn't at all ready to be Chunin. She could probably win in a head on battle with a Chunin with some luck and some preparation, but there were aspects of Shinobi life outside of battle Jounin sensei's needed to help with. Like learning how to write reports, how guard duty worked, how to maintain weapons, and other specialities like swordplay, genjutsu and other techniques that a normal Chunin would find hard to get help with.

"I would not recommend promotion," Orochimaru said.

Hina looked up at him both confused and conflicted with his choice. He technically had a right to turn down her promotions as a Jounin-sensei, but she didn't know why. This was the perfect opportunity for him to off-load her onto someone else. This was also the perfect opportunity for her to disassociate herself with ROOT and go back to the normal Shinobi forces.

"Why so?" Danzo asked, a tone of challenge in his voice.

"She still lacks foundational and procedural knowledge. I also wish to part more combat and sabotage skills. She's shown prospect as a future Jounin level infiltrator and saboteur. It would be a waste not to nurture those skills under someone with a similar background," Orochimaru said.

Hina never thought she'd hear that much praise from her sensei. Hiruzen looked surprised too, even mildly joyful at the revelation. Hina wanted to punt the man for keeping silent this entire time. He was the Hokage, and it felt more like Danzo was calling the shots.

"I agree with my student," Hiruzen said, letting out a drag of his smoke. "Suzuki-san has showcased rational thinking befitting a Chunin, however she still needs time to expand her skills. A few more years under direct tutelage of a Jounin would do her well."

She wanted to tear out her hair. She wondered why the old fart couldn't just take her from Orochimaru's care and put her with literally any other Jounin. An Inuzuka would be epic. Heck she'd even take an Uchiha, or a stuck up Hyuuga at this stage. Orochimaru was beginning to grow on her, but that was the issue. He was still an amoral scientist who would experiment on children. More importantly he was getting her involved in ROOT issues by default. Hina really wanted none of it. She was a kid touching the stove and Hiruzen was lighting the burner.

"I feel like she would be much better suited using her skills in intel. She's shown an aptitude for complex ciphers," Shikaku interjected.

Hina wanted to kiss the man. Yes! Put her in Intel. Unfortunately as it turned out no one else in the room felt that way, and after a few back and forths, they collectively agreed to keep her with Orochimaru.

"Why don't we ask Hina, what she wants," Shikaku said.

Then suddenly all eyes were trained on her, and Hina coughed to get rid of her awkwardness. She hated being put on the spot like this. Orochimaru was looking at her with the wide-eyed look of a psychopath that was about ready to rip her to pieces if she said something wrong. Danzo was smirking like a little shit. Hiruzen was simply curious. And Shikaku was stone faced.

"Um…"

Fuck what should I say?

"I want that promotion."

Because she didn't have the full context of what would happen if she didn't have Orochimaru's protection versus if she did. So far, he did not renege on their deal. He kept her alive. Hina knew about ROOT and leaving Orochimaru's side did not promise safety from Danzo. She wasn't entirely sure what the right answer was anymore. But distancing herself from everything seemed the safer option, not just for her but for her family.

In the end she left the room still a Genin.

Apparently, her wishes didn't hold as much weight as Shikaku hoped. Hina followed after her sensei, making sure he didn't run back to his lab before she could talk to him. He seemed to notice her following behind him and stopped a distance away from the Hokage tower so they could talk in private.

"Sensei, I'm going to be straight with you. Being your student has put me in unnecessary danger. Frankly, if you cared about my continued existence, you should have let me go. If I left, I wouldn't be involved with Danzo anymore," she said, holding back as much frustration as she could.

"You're already involved," he said shaking his head.

"I would be in intel, surrounded by influential Clan heads like Yamanaka Inoichi, and Nara Shikaku who could keep him away from me," she pressed.

He tilted his head. "You're young and haven't tasted the Shinobi life fully yet. Let me tell you what would have happened if you left my care."

The way he spoke sent a shiver down Hina's spine. Orochimaru leant forward, his yellow eyes glinting in the dark alley.

"It would have gone well at first. You would have gotten work at Intel, a cozy desk job you would do well in, but give or take a few years you'd be noticing some… accidents. A co-worker spreading rumours about you, a classified document you signed off making its way to an inappropriate audience, maybe your baby brother falls of the swing and cracks his neck."

Hina took a step back, confused, and alarmed. "W-what?"

"I know him more than he would like. I know that glint in his eyes when he sees potential in a young pawn to mould. Danzo is a patient man. He'll wait until your reputation is ruined, your family is destroyed, and once he's broken down your entire support system, he'll ask you to join ROOT, and you'll accept because you'll realise even though he's taken everything you desire from you, there's still more yet to lose."

Orochimaru spoke with a cold calculatedness, like someone reciting events he'd already witnessed. Hina wondered if that's what Danzo had done to him. He seemed to catch onto her expression and chuckled darkly.

"Oh, he didn't do that to me. Though your concern is cute. I joined willingly, because he provides resources, I find useful for my own research. And you could say, I have shed my exploitable weaknesses by now."

Hina grimaced. "But if I stay with you… Danzo will keep sending you on dangerous missions. I won't get a D-Rank or a C-Rank to build up my skills. Is there no other alternative?"

Orochimaru shook his head. "I won't let you die. There's potential in you that's hardly noted in other Shinobi your age. The only way you can get what you want is power. Become important politically and publicly within Konoha and shed your weaknesses. You'll be going on some of the most dangerous and classified missions with me, but a skilled sabotage specialist is rare. What's even more rare is an all-rounder and a medic combined. You're making yourself invaluable, and by definition ill-fitting to be a ROOT Shinobi. They are as disposable as they come."

He was making sense… but Hina still found it hard to swallow. It would probably take a while for Hiruzen to disband ROOT. But if she was a public enough figure then at least after it was disbanded, she could continue in peace. Even Kakashi had joined up in the future yet to pass, and he'd managed to get out. But she was just one person, a fresh Genin. She didn't think she could bring down a group as well established as ROOT. So she was going to be stuck playing with fire for a long time it seemed.

"Go take some rest. Remember to leverage your allies," he said.

"And you?" Hina asked curiously. "What do you get out of this?"

"An investment," he said cryptically, before disappearing in a body flicker.

Hina sighed as she decided to go home, though her feet took her to the Nara Compound instead of the Suzuki's house. One thing she was sure of, she'd need to make some contingencies of her own.

At the end of the day she still found she couldn't trust anyone but herself.

A/N

Thanks everyone for your reviews and comments! I have been so busy recently that double posting to two sites has taken it out of me. I decided to continue posting both here and on AO3, but AO3 is my primary posting site, so if you want more consistent updates please head over there. I also try to reply to all the comments posted there, which I find is difficult to do on Fanfic. Anyway, I'm ahead on the chapters there, so I'll be dumping a few here so the stories catch up. Enjoy!