An Invincible Summer by ShanaStoryteller

by CopyOthers

When Naruto was 5 he creates a ninjutsu, which he labels Oiroke no Jutsu. 3 days later, a civilian attacks and mortally wounds the boy after hearing that he was to begin his education as a ninja. When the ANBU arrive, there's so much blood that the status of the young boy is undeniable. 3 days later the body disappears. 6 months later Natsu Nami applies to enter the Academy.

5. Chapter 5

One Thousand Two Hundred and Eight Days Later

"Otokage-sama."

Orochimaru doesn't dare look away from his experiment, because there's a slight chance that if he does everything will explode. But everyone in his village knows that interrupting him in his lab tends to end in explosions, so it's probably important.

Oddly, nearly four years of sanity has only made him more inclined to experiment with explosive substances.

"Hmm?"

"We've received important information on your former allies, the Akatsuki." Kimimaro is loyal, but he's also smart, so he hasn't done more than lean into the doorway. Ha, as if that would save him. If this thing goes south the whole building will go down. "We have info on their movement, and we believe Konohagakure is in danger."

Konoha. It's not his village anymore, not his home, but it's still the place he grew up, the place he met his first two friends. It's where Kabuto and Anko live, and if for no other reason than that it must be protected. He sighs, and with a powerful chakra strike dissolves the bubbling mass from the flask and douses the flame. Such a waste. He turns to one of his most loyal shinobi, and Kimimaro dips into a slight bow. "Tell me everything."

---

Sasuke's hand squeezes her hip and he mutters into her hair, "I wish you'd worn more of a disguise."

"You didn't," Naruto points out. She hasn't even bothered to hide her whisker marks, but she's not worried. Rumors are whispered about the scarred, blue eyed blond man that helped bring Kiri to its knees, and people rarely take the time to look past her gender.

Besides, no one's looking at her face in this dress. Long, tight, and shimmering in the bright light of the Water Daiymo's ballroom, and low cut enough that at least four women have given her scandalized looks and pulled their husbands away. Gaara had picked it out, pointing out that he was the only completely straight man in their group. They'd all side eyed Jiraiya, but he'd only sniffed and turned up his nose at them.

Naruto grabs a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and downs it all in one go. "You did get the sleeping tonic in his drink?"

He glares.

"Just checking," she hands him the empty glass and winks, "Guess it's my turn."

"Have fun," he mutters, glancing at the Daiymo. If the world was fair, he'd be just as ugly outside as he is on the inside. Instead he's quite attractive, too strong jawed to be called beautiful but lithe and fair enough for handsome. His wife is on his left, his consort on his right, and his sister far behind him.

Naruto slips away, glancing at the girl that they're balancing all their hopes on. Masuyo is twenty years old and unwilling to meet anyone's eyes. She's pretty – jiggling stomach, thick wrists, and all, but she doesn't look like anyone Naruto would put in charge of a country. Too bad they don't have a choice.

Getting past the guard is almost pathetically easy, she just has to push her cleavage together and imply she's a gift from one of the nobles. Once she's in his bedroom it's just a waiting game until the tonic takes and he gets tired enough excuse himself to his bedroom – then it begins.

It hasn't been nearly enough time when the door creeks open, and Naruto whirls around. The daiymo's consort, Tatsu Suo, stands there glaring at her. She's wrapped in expensive silk, and beautiful in a way Naruto never will be. She's the perfect combination of petite and curvy, with thick curly hair and eyes so perfectly green it looks like some someone cut jade to size and set them in her face. Naruto lowers her eyes and curtsies demurely, "Miss Suo." They were planning to kill the woman, but not yet.

"Why are you in my lord's chambers?" she demands.

"I am a gift," she says softly.

Tatsu stalks forward and jerks Naruto's face up to hers. "You are a liar. This is a ball for my lord's most trusted and staunch supporters – they know better to send some untrained child to my lord's bed." She squeezes Naruto's jaw, "Who's the traitor among them? Who sent you here to slit his throat in his sleep?"

"Miss, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Naruto cries, pretending to struggle against the woman's grip. Shit shit shit. "I'm only meant to pleasure the daimyo!"

"Child, I'm no ordinary courtesan," she hisses, "I'm koi trained, and I suggest you stop lying to me before I become impatient and snap your neck. I threw out the concoction your partner gave my lord, so you might as well tell me who you are. Your plan is destroyed."

Naruto almost wants to laugh. Destroyed? Not nearly. Although they'd underestimated Tatsu, and Naruto should have known better, being taught by a Madame Koi herself. This all does mean there's no reason for subtly, so she has Tatsu on her knees and a kunai to her throat in between one breath and the next. "Funny story," she says calmly, "I'm koi trained too."

"You're with those fools who took Kiri aren't you?" Tatsu spits, seemingly unperturbed about the blade against her skin. "The people will never let you take all of Water Country! The royal family leads by divine right, we will follow no other!"

There's something off about the way Tatsu's talking about this, and Naruto's just curious enough not to kill her long enough to figure it out. "How kind of you, to include all of the royal family in your defense. I would think you'd only care for your murderous lord."

"The daimyo is a sadistic, pathetic fuck," she says, and Naruto has to bite her lip to keep from laughing. "I know that, you know that, everyone knows that. But he's heirless, and if you kill the royal family off then those morons in Kiri won't be able to hold that village, never mind the nation."

Okay, this is a surprise. Clearly everyone had been missing a very important piece of intel. "You want me to leave the sister alive?" Naruto asks, "She's useless."

Tatsu tenses, but she forces herself to relax. "She's perfect," the consort counters, "you leave her alive, and the people won't revolt against you. She's more useful as a political hostage than she is dead."

Zabuza and Sasuke are going to kill her for changing the plan like this, but she's curious. She lets got of Tatsu, and the woman steps away and turns to look at her, face pale and just pinched enough to hide how desperate she is. "Okay," Naruto flips the kunai and hold it out to Tatsu handle first. "I'll make you a deal. If you kill the daimyo yourself, in front of all those people, we'll leave Masuyo alive."

"We?" she repeats, and that intelligence in the woman's gorgeous eyes isn't enough to hide her fear. "How many of you are there?"

Naruto smiles, all teeth, "Enough."

Tatsu swallows, "Do you swear on your honor, on your loyalty, and on the Madame Koi who inked you that Masuyo will live if I do this?"

She's smart enough to cover all the bases. Naruto's almost impressed. "I do swear."

The older woman nods once, takes a deep breath, then grabs the kunai and tucks it up under her sleeve before marching out of the room. Naruto gives her a thirty second head start before creeping out to follow her.

---

"Down!" Sakura snaps, standing on Paru's back as he runs towards the enemy ninja. Ino, Kiba, and Shikamaru all hit the ground. She unhooks her oversized shuriken from her back and flings it in a perfect arc.

It cuts off the heads of two of their enemies, which leaves five still standing. There'd been ten originally, so Sakura isn't too concerned. "Since when do we get attacks at the border?" Ino demands. Shikamaru catches one of them with his shadows, and Ino gracefully leaps at the paralyzed woman and snaps her neck, just barely ducking out of the way of an enemy sword.

"This isn't the border," Kiba reminds, running counterpoint Akamaru to cage in another one of them. He uses a blinding jutsu that Sakura had taught him, so the man doesn't even see Akamaru coming before the dog rips out his throat. "Technically."

"It's closer to my village than I like," Shikamaru mutters. Sakura darts past, yanks him up by his collar, and throws him at one of their eerily silent enemies. He lands precisely where she intended, in a patch of shadow. He uses it to immobilize two more of them, then sends her an aggrieved look. She shrugs and flips off of Paru to stab another of them in the spine, then tosses the knife to Ino. The other girl snatches it out of midair and does an impressive low spin that ends with the knife in the back and through the chest of another unmarked shinobi.

They surround the last shinobi standing. She's got a kunai in each hand, poised to defend herself. "You're joking, right?" Sakura snorts. She pats Paru on the flank, "Go." The spirit dog knocks the woman to the ground and in one smooth motion bites her head off. She doesn't even have time to scream. Paru trots back over to Sakura, tail wagging, and drops the severed head at her feet. She beams and rubs him behind the ears, "Who's a good boy? Is it you? Is it you? I think it is!"

Ino blinks. "That's messed up."

"Bite me," Sakura says cheerfully.

Shikamaru sighs and rubs the back of his neck. "We need to search the bodies for village affiliation. It's probably one that speaks with a heavy accent, since they wouldn't talk."

"My money's on Kumo," Kiba says, already patting down a corpse.

Ino scoffs, bending down to flip a body over. "Please, it's probably Iwa. Kumo accents sound like ours."

"You willing to put your money where your mouth is?" Sakura says immediately.

Shikamaru's about to tell them to knock it off and focus when there's a shift in the air. The dead ninja Ino had been checking apparently isn't so dead, and she's not paying attention. She's not moving away, not fast enough, and Ino's his sister in every way that matters so Shikamaru doesn't hesitate to dart forward and plunge a kunai into the enemy ninja's throat. The blood is hot and thick as it spills over his fingers, and he wrenches the blade out with enough strength that he takes out part of the neck so it hangs out as well. He's watched his teammates do this a thousand times, so he swallows the bile rising at the back of the throat. "You should pay closer attention," he says with all the calm that he doesn't feel.

"Shika," Ino says, pale. She takes a step towards him, hand outstretched, but he turns on his heel and walks away before she can touch him.

"Clean this up," he says over his shoulder, not able to look at any of them.

"What's his problem?" Kiba asks, and Shikamaru can feel the other boy's glare on his skin.

He body flickers away after that, if only so he doesn't have to hear Ino tell them that this was his first real kill, the first one he'd done up close with his bare hands. He's killed before, of course he has, he's a jounin. But that had been the first time it'd been so – personal.

There's blood drying under his fingernails, and he doesn't want to face either his mother or his teammates, so he goes the opposite way of the clan compounds, and keeps walking.

---

Zabuza was going to kill the brat. "This wasn't the plan," he says to Sasuke after beheading three nobles in one blow. That has been fun, at least.

The younger man rolls his eyes, "Well, it's the three of us heading into a plan more specific than 'fuck shit up' so I don't know what you were expecting." He reaches out and stabs through two nobles that had been attempting to run away.

With the Last Uchiha and the Demon of the Mist running around killing nobles, it doesn't even take another five minutes until every party guest is dead on the marble floor. Except for two.

Tatsu is covered in the blood of the Daimyo, his body cooling at her feet. She's crouched protectively in front Masuyo, kunai gripped tight and what impresses Zabuza is that the girl is, rightly, fucking terrified and she's still holding her ground. Battle hardened shinobi have fled from him, but she doesn't. Nice.

"You said you'd let her live," Tatsu says, voice shaking. "You swore."

"Obviously," he sighs. "Naruto, what the fuck?"

The woman laughs, and pushes herself off from the doorway to walk over to them, daintily stepping around the blood and bodies. "I wanted to see what she would do."

"Thanks for the help," he adds pointedly.

"As if I was going to ruin this dress with blood. Besides, like you two really needed my help to slaughter some civilians," she stops next to them, beaming. "I'm impressed that you actually did it, Tatsu. I'm even more impressed that you managed to kill the guards that came for you too. Although, you are koi trained. I should know better."

Masuyo steps forward, pale and nauseous at all the carnage. "Please," she says softly, eyes the clearest pale blue that marks the Daimyo's family line. "Let Tatsu go. I won't resist, I promise."

"No!" Tatsu doesn't take her eyes off of them, but reaches back towards the younger girl. "No, you said you'd let her live. She's more useful alive, you have to know that!"

Masuyo grabs her hand and squeezes, coming to stand next to Tatsu. She uses her other hand to push Tatsu's arm down and take the kunai from her. It clatters to the floor, too loud in the cavernous ballroom. "I'm smart enough to know when I'm beaten," she offers them a watery smile, "I hear you've done good things in Kiri, and I hope you will try to do good things with the rest of Water Country. Please, spare Tatsu. Her loyalty shouldn't spell her death."

"My loyalty is why I demand to die!" she spits, curling her fingers through Masuyo's. "If you have no honor and go back on your word, then I demand to die too! In fact, I demand to be killed first!"

"Tatsu!" Masuyo snaps, "Stop this!"

The courtesan finally looks away from the shinobi to Masuyo, eyes sparking. "I refuse to live in this world without you in it! I have endured hunger, pain, the dangerous path of a koi, your murderous brother's hands on me, the hands of every vile man he thought worthy of his favor, and I now stand with my lord's blood soaking me. But I will not endure a life alone!"

"Tatsu," Masuyo says, stepping closer until she can cup the older woman's face.

"You are my only salvation," she whispers, "I could not have survived at court without you."

Zabuza can't watch this anymore. It's starting to remind him too much of Haku, and his lover is back holding his seat in Kiri. It's the longest they've been apart since they've met. "Don't you think you two are getting a bit ahead of yourselves?" he asks.

Masuyo turns to him, and she's more beautiful than her brother ever could be, her double chin and stubby fingers are nothing to the well of kindness behind her eyes. "I don't understand."

He heaves the sword off his back and swings it down. Masuyo shoves herself in front of Tatsu to take a blow that will never fall. Instead he's plunged the blade into the floor, the marble cracking outward. He falls to bended knee before the women. Naruto and Sasuke stay standing behind him, but he doesn't expect anything else. Water Country isn't their country, after all. "Masuyo of the Royal Line," he intones, "Second child and first daughter of the late Daiymo Kyo, I am a loyal shinobi of the Mist, and a loyal citizen of Water Country. I would never raise my blade against a worthy ruler of my nation."

Tatsu's face is lit in delighted realization, but Masuyo's is blank. "I don't understand," she repeats.

"With your brother gone, you're the next in line," he says, cracking a grin. "His staunchest supporters lay dead at your feet, my lady. As I would have any who would stand against you."

She's shaking her head, eyes wide. "No, you don't – I can't!"

"I have taken Kiri, and I can hold Kiri," he says seriously, "But a ninja village cannot repair the wounds of a nation. That burden rests on the leader of our nation – on you, Lady Masuyo. You love your people, don't you? Care for them?"

She looks away. "I – yes, of course I do."

"They tell takes of your kindness," Naruto adds. "Of the people you've pardoned and those you've spared the Daiymo's wrath."

"It wasn't enough!" She glares, "It was never enough, I should do more. I want to do more, I just, my brother." Her cheeks flush with shame.

"Your brother was a monster," Sasuke says, "and now he's dead. You finally have the opportunity to do more, to make the changed you've wanted to make."

She's even paler than when she thought they were here to kill her. "You will not be alone," he says, "Allow Kiri to be what it was meant to – the shadow at your back. Point us to your enemies, your dissenters, your trouble makers. We will cut them down, and allow you to forge a clear path to peace."

"But you don't understand," she says urgently, "The only reason my brother never killed me was because he never considered me a threat – never considered me capable of leading. I was never meant to be Daimyo!"

Zabuza holds out his hand to her. She doesn't hesitate to place her hand in his, even though he's killed dozens of people in front of her, even though she knows he's easily capable of killing her with his hands alone. He thinks he could grow to love this Masuyo in a way he had never loved his Mizukage or Daimyo. "Perhaps, my lady," he says with all the gentleness that Haku has taught him, "who you are meant to be is less important than who you choose to be."

He presses his forehead to the top of her hand, and to get the leader his people need he's not above begging. Thankfully, she doesn't make him. "Okay," she says softly, "I'll do it. I'll – okay. Okay."

When he looks up again he's grinning, "Thank you, Daimyo Masuyo."

She smiles then looks behind her, "Tatsu –"

"I will be what I've always been," she says, grabbing for Masuyo's other hand. "The beloved consort of the daimyo."

When Tatsu sweeps Masuyo into a kiss, none of them are surprised.

"So should we start cleaning up all the corpses, or what?" Sasuke asks.

Naruto raises an eyebrow, "What part of I'm not ruining this dress with blood did you not understand?"

Zabuza rubs at his temple. It's times like this that he really misses Haku.

---

Haku is, of course, eternally grateful for the Saanins' aid in taking Kiri. That said, he's also incredibly grateful to see them leave. "Be careful," he warns them at the village's border, "The Akatsuki are not foes to be trifled with."

"Neither are we," Tsunade says and thumps him on the back. He doesn't stumble under the force of it, but only barely. "Don't let your significant other mess it up."

Jiraiya squints at the skyline, "Think we should go drag Orochimaru with us? He's the one who gave us the information, it seems rude to exclude him."

Haku stares. "The last time you went to Otogakure and dragged him away from his post into a battle he threatened to castrate you, since he's a kage and can't exactly abandon his duties whenever you have need of his aid."

"So you're saying we should definitely stop by Oto and kidnap him?" Tsunade asks, smirking.

He's so happy to see them leave his village. "Just – don't get killed. Tell Orochimaru that we'll set up the trade routes as soon as the Daimyo gives us her blessing, as per our treaty."

"Will do!" Jiraiya glances at his teammate, "Race you there?" She doesn't answer, but in the next moment she's cackling on top of a giant slug that's going much faster than one would expect. "Cheater!" he howls, and a moment later he's bouncing after her atop a huge toad.

"Stay strong and stay safe," he says, amused in spite of himself. So, so grateful to see them leave.

---

"I hope you're planning to pay for those, young man."

Shikamaru blinks and looks up. He must have cleaned his hands at some point, and he's in front of Kisa's stall, two squished plums in his fists. He doesn't even remember walking into the market. "Since when do you sell plums?"

"They're good for marinating, if you're patient and want something different," she says. Shikamaru's been coming to this stall since before he could stretch past his mother's knees, so Kisa's more concerned than irritated. "Are you well, Master Nara?"

"I don't have any money on me," he says instead of answering. "I can send it with the maid tomorrow."

"Here," a woman who'd been picking through the beef hands Kisa a few coins, far more than two plums could possibly cost. She's beautiful, but in way that's so typical she almost looks plain. Her dark hair falls down her back, and she's wearing an orange kimono.

"Thank you, Miss," Kisa says, though she looks like she's ready to continue interrogating him regardless.

Another young woman in a white and orange spotted dress waves her hands, "Oh, Mistress Kisa, could you help me pick out a filet? I'm so bad at this!"

Kisa sighs before grudgingly going over to help her. "Thanks," Shikamaru says to the woman.

She reaches out and plucks the plums from his hands, tossing one into the trash and casually taking a bite out of the other. "They're my favorite," she says, wiping the plum juice from her chin. "You should walk me home, it's getting dark and a woman such as myself shouldn't be on the dangerous streets of Konoha alone."

He raises an eyebrow. It's barely dusk, the streets of Konoha are hardly dangerous, and a woman such as herself has little to worry about. He recognizes her kimono. "Sure," he says, because anything is better than going home and having to face his mother.

"Excellent," she stares at him expectantly, and after a moment the manners that someone – probably Ino – had drilled into him kick in and he offers her his arm. She delicately places her hand in the crook of his elbow and leads him away from the market. "So tell me, was today your first kill, your first fuck, or both?"

He stumbles, but she doesn't, tugging him along with her down the street. "Excuse me?"

"My first time was when I was fourteen," she continues as if he hadn't said anything, "It wasn't pleasant. The bandits who killed my father thought I was more useful alive than dead. I'm grateful for that now. I wasn't then." Shikamaru doesn't know what to say to that, because exactly once someone hadn't felt like taking Ino's no for an answer, and she'd left him unable to walk. He forgets sometimes that not all women have the privilege of a shinobi's upbringing. "My first kill wasn't until much later, I was nineteen. I was a whore in the service of what some people might consider a Madame, and there was this girl – we weren't friends, you didn't really have friends in that house, but she smiled at me and helped me repair my kimonos when customers got too rough. I'm no good with needlework, you understand. And I could hear her screaming, begging someone to help her, yelling her safe word."

Shikamaru's staring at her, eyes wide, but she's looking straight ahead and not at him as she continues her story, as relaxed as if she was telling him what she had for dinner.

"No one was doing anything, of course," she continues, "He was a valued customer and she was just another washed up whore, easy to replace and not someone anyone would miss."

"You would have missed her," he says.

She almost smiles, but still doesn't look at him. "Perhaps. I like to think so. I went to the kitchen, got a paring knife of all things, and walked into her room. He was so intent on her that he didn't notice I was there until I'd slit his throat."

"Then what?" he asks, only able to bear half of minute of her silence.

"Well, we ran," she says, "It's not impossible to work outside of a Madame, but it's difficult. Not that that woman was anything close to a true Madame – none worth their obi would allow their girls to be abused in such a way. It's bad for business, means the clients won't respect you. It all worked out in the end – I was running my own brothel for a few years before I came to Konoha."

It's past dusk now, and in the light of the last remnants of the setting sun she's striking. "Why are you telling me this?" he asks.

She finally looks at him and smiles. "To remind you that ninja are not the only people who bear your burdens, and make your choices. Your past does not define your future – what happened to me when I was fourteen was terrible, but it has nothing to do with who I am now. You're not alone Shikamaru, even in this."

They've stopped walking at some point, and he swallows, looking down at the older woman. "How do you know my name?"

"The son of Jounin Commander Shikaku, and the next to lead the Nara Clan," she says wryly, "There are not many in this village who do not know you."

"Then you have me at a disadvantage," he takes a hesitant step closer, ready to back away if he's read her wrong.

She matches him, and now there's barely a half foot of space between them. "Ren," she says, and deliberately looks him up and down. The glowing red lanterns around them tells them he's in Flower District, and he hesitates.

Ren doesn't. She pushes herself up to kiss him, and there's the sweet-tart taste of plums between them. He can feel the whipcord strength of her body in his arms, and he's been terrified of breaking every civilian woman he's touched. There's something comforting in the knowledge that she's probably being just as gentle with him as he is with her. They move apart, but Shikamaru tips his forehead down to rest against hers. "I don't have any money on me," he echoes, and she might hit him for that but he wants to be sure.

She rolls her eyes and kisses him again, "If a chef can cook for his own pleasure, then I can fuck for mine."

He's sure there's a snarky comment to that, but she's leading him upstairs and he's not thinking of ripping out a man's jugular when he's focused on the curve of her hip beneath his hand.

---

Hanabi can't help but think that as Neji grows older he becomes more and more the spitting image of their fathers. "Again," she says, face impassive as four dozen of her kin perfectly execute the katas she was taught as a little girl, but that their lines haven't practiced in generations. Neji stands front and center, apart from the rest. He does each move with a power and grace that even her father can't match, and one she won't ever will.

Hinata stands at her shoulder, slightly behind her. Her sister dips her head closer and says quietly, "We have a meeting in five minutes. Should I stall Sensei?"

"Hmm," her eyes flicker over them, pausing over the ones that struggle with the move or falls a beat behind the others. They need more practice, but she can only supervise them in secret for so long. "Neji."

He pauses and dips into a low bow, "Hanabi-hime?"

"Continue the drills. Report back to me on their progress tomorrow." It's not the first time she's demonstrated her trust in her cousin, but it's not normally in front of so many of their family. His eyes crinkle around the corners just slightly, and she inclines her head to him before body flickering away.

She's not the strongest, or the oldest, or even the wisest. If she's to command any respect from her clan and lead them, she can't afford to show weakness or indecision.

Hinata looks from her to Shino and huffs before throwing her arms around them both, eyes sparkling. "We're away from prying eyes, you can smile you know?" She flicks Shino's glasses so they slide down to the end of his nose. He raises an eyebrow. "Oh come on!" The eldest Hyuuga sister reaches out and pokes Shino's lips into a terrifying facsimile of a grin.

Hanabi's the first to break. First it's just a snort, but when she sneaks a glance and Hinata's still pulling their teammate's face into increasingly unlikely positions. She starts giggling and can't make herself stop even when Kurenai walks into the clearing.

"You are seventeen years old," she reminds them, more amused than exasperated.

"Hanabi is fourteen," Shino corrects tonelessly. Hinata is in the process of pushing his eyebrows as high on his forehead as they'll go.

Kurenai rolls her eyes and tosses a mission scroll at them. Shino catches it. "Assassination, Water Country. Get in, get out, and don't get caught. But bring the head back."

"How do you subtly cut off someone's head?" Hinata asks, but their sensei is already walking away.

"You know who would know the answer to that question?" Hanabi grabs the scroll from Shino, lips still twitching as she scans the mission information. "Sakura."

"Medic-nin are terrifying," Shino mutters. As one, Team Eight shunsins away.

---

Inoichi looks down into his glass, chin resting on his hand. There's the scrape of chairs being pulled out, and Shikaku and Chouza fall down on either side of him. "What could possibly be wrong now?" Shikaku asks.

Inoichi squints at him, "Are you having me stalked? It's really the only reasonable explanation as to how you always know I'm here."

"Please," Chouza waves down the bartender, "You have a mini emotional break down once a week. You're overdue for one, to be honest."

"Our children are threatening to break even our records," the Jounin Commander says, "there's no clan issues, Hana and Kabuto are disgustingly happy and successful together, as you well know since you had dinner with them last week."

Inoichi scowls. "Kabuto literally dragged me away in the middle of an interrogation! They took me to get dango, ate more than their combined weight in fried food, and then made me pay for it!"

"That's what I said," Shikaku says with a straight face.

"Seriously," Chouza gratefully accepts his glass from the bartender, "What's wrong? Things are going fine."

"That's just it, things are going fine. Sasuke is still out of the village," Inoichi carefully doesn't mention the other absence, "Kiri is barely stable, and the Land of Water could fall into a civil war at any second. Half this village is running around lying to the hokage and clan heads, and my daughter is dating that – that-"

"Clan head?" Shikaku asks, "Highly respected jounin? The last active ninja of a great family that founded this very village?"

"Brat," Inoichi spits. "He's a brat and I'll have him killed! I will!"

Chouza says, "A certain student of yours would be very upset with you. As would Ino."

He looks remorsefully into his nearly empty drink, "I regret every agreeing to take on a genin team."

Shikaku knocks their shoulders together, a smirk curling around the edge of his lips. "Liar."

Inoichi lets his head smack onto the bar top. His teammates sigh and clink their glasses over his prostrate form.

Some things never change.

---

Chouji doesn't think this is helping anyone. No one's listening to him, of course, never mind that this is his house.

"Anybody could have made that mistake," Sakura insists, trying to push the shot closer to Ino.

She shakes her head and takes another mournful bite of her the cake in front of her. It's her third piece. Considering he made it, Chouji would be flattered if he didn't know that she's a stress eater. "It was stupid! I made a mistake, I was stupid –"

"Hey," Sai says reproachfully. To anyone else his face probably looks blank, but Chouji can tell he's concerned by the tension in his neck. "It's reasonable to assume that when an enemy is speared through the heart that they are dead. There was no stupidity in your assumption."

Ino almost smiles, and Sai isn't his favorite person, but for how happy he makes Ino alone Chouji could learn to love him. "Don't beat yourself up over it," Kiba adds, "he had to do it sometime. Near the village walls with his friends is a lot nicer than most of us did our first up close and personal kills."

Ino shrugs, and her eyes find his. Chouji has crushed a dozen men beneath his body and treated it like a particularly bloody version of bowling. Ino is especially fond of tearing the still beating heart out of their enemies' chests when they've pissed her off, but Shikamaru isn't like that. He's never been like that. There's an edge to all of them, a sharp point in them that civilians don't have. Sakura does, even as a kid there was that same something about her that the other kids in their class lacked. It's not maliciousness, more of a mix of determination and dissociation that makes it easy for them to shrug off the blood on their hands.

Shikamaru doesn't have that. He never has. He'll do his duty, protect his village with his life, but there's no part of him that enjoys what he does. That doesn't make the older boy any less of a loyal ninja. From all accounts, Itachi was the same way and he'd slaughtered his clan on orders.

"I guess," Ino says softly, but Chouji knows that she's thinking the same thing he is.

There's a loud knock at his front door, then a moment later Team Eight body flickers inside.

"Hey, Sakura," Hanabi says, "What's the best way to rip someone's head off without blood getting everywhere?"

"Is that cake?" Hinata asks while Sakura blinks. "Can I have a piece?"

Chouji hands the girl a piece of cake then offers one to Shino, who takes it with a nod of thanks.

"Killing them first is your best bet," she says, "There'll be less blood. If you can cauterize both ends fast enough you can probably get away almost clean, but there will be some odor if you do that."

"We can just set something else on fire to cover it," Hinata says around her cake.

Hanabi shrugs in agreement. "On that note, we're leaving the village on a mission. We should be back in a week."

"We'll keep an eye on your secret army," Kiba says. "Have fun cutting people's heads off."

Hanabi tilts her head at an arrogant angle, "We always do."

A moment later they're gone just as quickly as they'd came. Hinata and Shino had taken their pieces of cake with them.

"Do you ever think Hanabi will get bored one day and just take out Sarutobi for the hokage position?" Sakura asks.

Sai shakes his head, "Never. She hates bureaucracy. Hinata writes all their mission reports."

Ino snorts, and it's close enough to a laugh that everyone's shoulders relax. "Here," Sakura gives up on subtly and shoves the shot next to Ino's plate.

She shakes her head, "No, it's okay. I don't like drinking when I'm upset."

The remnants of Team Seven and Sai stare at her. Chouji bites his lip to keep from laughing. "Are you really sure you're Inoichi's kid?" Kiba asks.

Ino flings a glob of chocolate at him. He bounces up to catch it in his mouth instead of on his forehead, and Sakura and Sai applaud.

Ino actually does smile at that point, and Chouji can almost breath easily again.

---

Kakashi is not hiding from Iruka in the tree outside the apartment. Hiding would imply that Iruka didn't know he was there, and the chunin knew perfectly well where his boyfriend was. That said, considering the medium sized fire and missing wall that had resulted from Kakashi trying to cook lunch, he wasn't going to attempt going back inside until Iruka gave him very explicit instructions.

"Hello dear rival!" Gai booms, suddenly right next to him and yelling in his ear.

Ever since he unlocked his final gate even Kakashi hadn't been able to sense his chakra. "Gai," he manfully resists the urge to check if the green menace had ruptured an eardrum. "Aren't you supposed to be on patrol?"

"About that," he grins, sly, and Kakashi snaps his ever present orange book shut. "I'm off to tell the hokage after this, but I thought you should be the first to know. The Water Country's Daiymo and his most loyal supporters have been massacred. His sister survived, and rumors are she'll be taking the throne."

The relief is so complete and overwhelming that Kakashi has to grab onto one of the branches to keep form swaying. "So that means –"

"I'm sure they'll stick around a while to make sure everything's stable," Gai clasps his shoulder, "but our kids are coming home."

"You talking like that is why people still think we're dating," he points out, but he's far too giddy to even pretend to be irritated about it.

Gai shrugs before body flickering out of the tree. Kakashi follows him a second later, cautiously edging towards his kitchen. Maybe if he blurts out the good news fast enough, Iruka won't drop kick him out of the house again.

---

"Are they gone yet?" Mei Terumi asks, reading through yet another terribly written patrol log. They really need to focus more on spelling and grammar in the Academy, and just a little less on the three hundred ways to kill someone with damp seaweed.

Haku collapses into the chair across from her desk. Gaara raises an eyebrow and surrenders the cup of tea he'd been drinking to him. "Yes, although it looks like they'll be making a pit stop at Oto to drag Orochimaru along with them."

"Whatever gets them out of our village works for me," Mei says, digging into her precariously stacked tower of reports before tugging one out from the middle and handing it to him. "Look at this. Also, I could really use an assistant."

"You're the Jounin Commander," Haku says absently, scanning the file. "Take your pick."

"From what?" She throws her hands up and knock over a slightly smaller stack of files. Gaara's sand catches it and puts it back in its place before it can fall everywhere. "All of our qualified jounins are stretched thin enough as it is with patrols and missions. I could take a chunin on and bump their clearance level, but we've put every halfway intelligent one at the Academy. This is the biggest class Kiri has had in years, and considering we don't make them slaughter most of their classmates to get promoted anymore it'll certainly help. The kids and the teachers are doing their best, training them up as fast as they can, but skill takes time! We have a few near-geniuses buried in there, but it'll be another couple years until most are ready to even be called genin! And when that happens, we'll need to recall nearly half our jounin to act as senseis, which means we'll barely have enough for patrols, never mind missions –"

Haku abandons the report and settles his hands on Mei's shoulders, "Stop. Breathe."

She glares at him, "Haku, I'm serious! We fought the war, we won, but it wasn't without cost! Half of Kiri's ninja believed in our cause, were willing to fight and die and swear loyalty to Zabuza. But the other half we killed. It's a fucking miracle the rivers aren't still running red."

Haku's mouth tightens, but it's Gaara that offers up, "Don't worry about taking too many missions right now. Masuyo will likely agree to increase funding to Kiri until your numbers stabilize. It's only sensible, since Zabuza and your village are not only the ones that put her on that throne but are also the ones that will keep her there unharmed."

She slumps under Haku's hands. "We don't even have someone to head Torture and Investigation," she says quietly, "We need people, Haku. Loyal, strong shinobi."

Haku blinks, face relaxing. He pushes the neck of her robe over her shoulder and lightly traces the orange and white fish tattooed on her back. "How many girls from your old brothel would be interested in a change of career?"

He feels like an idiot he didn't think of this earlier. Mei pauses, mouth parting in surprise for a moment before she pulls herself together. She warns, "Some, but they'll need training. Most will only be at the level of genin or chunin, and Koi aren't taught jutsu. That they will need to learn from scratch."

"Recruit girls who aren't Koi," Gaara adds urgently, "Train them up enough so they don't get themselves killed, then send them out on infiltration and information gathering missions. Once you get someone to head Torture and Investigation, they'll already have agents out working for them."

"Brilliant!" Mei grins and leaps up to give Gaara a noogie and a kiss on the forehead. "I knew there was reason I kept you around!"

Gaara turns the same shade as his hair, and Haku doesn't even attempt to hide that he's laughing at him.

---

The drills for the day are done, and his fellow branch members are slowly heading back to the Hyuuga compound, leaving in batches as not to arise suspicion. He could return, could catch up with Isamu and his family, or any of the branch families would welcome his company. But the compound doesn't feel like home without Hanabi inside of it, so he turns around and heads in the opposite direction.

He doesn't bother to knock before entering Lee and Tenten's apartment. His teammates are in the middle of cooking dinner, bickering about Lee's latest failed attempt to incorporate weapons into his taijutsu style. As he shuts the door they both turn to face him. "My eternal rival!" Lee greets with a blinding grin, "How fortuitous your arrival is! If you could please tell our sweet, gentle teammate how completely and totally wrong she is –"

Tenten smacks him with a spatula, but she's bright and warm when she turns to face Neji. "Hey! How did the drills go? I heard Team Eight was sent out of the village on a mission."

"Very well," he answers, and it must be nearly time for her to do her laundry because she's wearing one of her old pink tunics, and it fits her far differently at eighteen than it did at thirteen. He is eternally grateful that, unlike Hinata, he's not prone to blushing. "They are the equal or superior to the main family shinobi. Hanabi is very much pleased with our progress."

"Good," she says, a personal sort of pride about her. She was the one that painstakingly removed the Curse Marks off of every one of them after all, the one that allowed his family to claim the strength and power that is their birthright.

Neji ducks his head and goes to cabinets containing the plates so he can start setting the table. Lee snorts in laughter, which he quickly turns into a cough.

Next time they spar, Neji is going to destroy him.

---

"For the record," Orochimaru says, flipping out of the way of Deidara's attack, "when I return, I'm going to tell my patrolmen from now on that they should attempt to kill you on sight."

"What did your patrolmen ever do to you?" Tsunade asks before sending a burst of chakra to disrupt Nagato's jutsu. "It'd be a shame when we had to kill them just to have a friendly chat."

Jiraiya laughs, booming and idiotic just like when they were genin. God, there was a reason Orochimaru spent a significant part their childhood beating him up. "I'm a kage!" he reminds them, something he's repeated at least two dozen times. "Take care of your own messes."

"What the hell do you two want," Deidara snarls, obviously rattled that he and Nagato hadn't been able to land a hit, and Orochimaru has to smirk. Maybe these kids would be a problem if they were facing one of them alone, but together?

There's no enemy the Saanin haven't been able to defeat together.

"Information," Tsunade cracks her knuckles, and both he and Jiraiya edge away from her. Danzo's slavery seal provoked break in sanity aside, Tsunade was definitely the sadistic one of their team. He'd always blamed it on being a medic-nin, personally.

"You won't get anything out of us," Nagato says proudly.

Jiraiya and Orochimaru look at each other and grin.

Sounds a like a challenge, and they do so love challenges.

---

Masuyo looks in the mirror, smoothing out her ceremonial dress once again. The royal seamstress had worked tirelessly this past week to have it ready in time for the ceremony, and it truly was a thing of beauty. The dark blue of the ocean's deep, with gorgeous stitching in a wave pattern in a delicate thread the same light blue as her eyes. The empire waist dress was much more flattering than the tight, uncomfortable robes her brother had always forced her to wear, and her hair was free and flowing down her back, two side pieces pulled together in the back to ensure it stayed out of her face.

She almost looked like their mother, and it hits her again that she's the last of Water Country's Royal Line. Her brother was a monster, but he was still her brother, and she thinks she would break down crying all over again if it wouldn't ruin her makeup.

There's two quick knock at her door. "Enter!" she calls out, and Tatsu steps inside.

She's wearing the traditional robs of the daiymo's consort, but they're different than the ones she'd worn by Masuyo's brother's side. In addition to her own dress, she'd ordered new robes for her lover as well.

Tatsu had worn the royal blue as a sign of her status as property. Masuyo could do nothing against the traditionally revealing nature of a consort's official dress, but she'd ordered the new robes made in a vibrant green with small koi fish swimming in the obi, as if through seaweed. She was the royal consort, and a Koi, but Masuyo wanted it to be clear that Tatsu belonged to herself first, and to Masuyo second. In the subtle, sharp eyed court the robes would make that point as clear as if she'd screamed it.

"My lady," Tatsu murmurs, skipping the traditional bow and instead bringing Masuyo's hand to her mouth and lightly pressing her lips to each knuckle.

Masuyo really doesn't want to mess up her makeup, but she also really wants to kiss Tatsu. She settles for gently cupping the older woman's face and saying softly, "You look beautiful."

"As do you," she smiles. "The first of your inauguration gifts have arrived. It's from the Land of Wave, which according to Zabuza is where this whole plan was hatched. The bridge builder Tazuna sends his regards on behalf of his village." Tatsu reaches inside her sleeve and pulls out a necklace before stepping behind her lover to clasp it around her neck.

Masuyo's mouth parts in surprise, "How did a bridge builder from Wave afford this?" An unpolished emerald hangs from a string of saltwater pearls, and it lies perfectly center above her sternum.

"It's been in his family for generations, apparently," Tatsu trails her fingers over the pearls, "He sends it with his best wishes and hopes that you will return prosperity and peace to the land."

"It will say something," Masuyo leans back into Tatsu, "that instead of the royal jewels I wear a bridge builder's gift."

"Yes," Tatsu says, dragging her lips down Masuyo's ear and feeling her shiver in her arms, "It will say that you are of the people, and for the people. That you will not be bribed, that your people's wellbeing comes before a noble's fortune."

She tilts head so Tatsu can trail kisses down her neck, "They might start a riot right there."

"Your Mizukage and his allies will be there," Tatsu murmurs, biting at her pounding pulse point, "let them."

Masuyo ends up having to reapply her makeup for the ceremony but it is so, so worth it.

---

Sasuke has to admit, he's impressed by the Water royal palace. Fire's is all dark, gleaming wood and precious metals. It's beautiful, but something inside of him is soothed by all the cool, smooth marble with towering columns.

That said, it's also a maze. So it takes him while to find his way back to the room Masuyo has allowed them to use. Naruto is standing in the middle of the room and the buttons down the back of her dress only half undone, hungrily reading the paper clenched in her hands. "When did you have time to visit the brothel?" he asks, shutting the door behind him and cautiously walking over. He sweeps her hair to the side and presses a light kiss to her neck, deftly undoing the rest of her buttons so the dress fall to her feet.

"Tatsu went for me," she says, "There are letters for you too, from your teammates and Sai. Kabuto said to tell you that they're still maintaining the border patrol around the Uchiha compound."

He slides his hand down her side and over her stomach. He's got scars littered all over his body, but Naruto doesn't have any thanks to the Kyuubi. Just soft, tan skin. "You know," he mutters, dragging his lips up the shell of her ear in the way he know she likes – and sure enough, the letter falls to the side, "we've been waging war for over three years now."

"I know," she answers, pushing Sasuke's hand lower. Her body count went to impressive to beyond her ability to count. She helped wipe out half a village, killed whole armies of mercenaries with her own two hands. She's been hungry and hurt and spent more than one night sick with worry, not sure if one of their companions would make it through the night. Spent more than one of those nights by Sasuke's side. Those were always the worst of all.

He smiles and leaves open mouthed kisses along her neck. "It's over. We won."

Naruto freezes in his arms, and it's not until Sasuke does that thing she loves with his fingers that she shivers in his arms and says, breathless, "We can go home." She beams and turns around to shove Sasuke on the bed, wasting no time on climbing on top of him. "Sasuke, we're going home!"

He grins and lifts his hips so she can pull down his pants, "Yes, we are."

---

Kabuto is a world class medic-nin, interim head of Konohagakure's hospital, the student of Otokage Orochimaru and Inoichi Yamanaka, and a Snake Summons contract holder. People should really know better than trying to keep secrets from him by now.

He knocks on Hana's office, and she's in the middle treating a genin's broken arm. "What's up?" she asks, knowing he's there without looking.

"Something's happening," he says, "Don't bother filling out the paperwork for the kid, we have to go."

Hana nods, the green chakra fading from her hands. "This one is a freebie," she says sternly, "be more careful. If you get hurt training again, next time I'll make the healing hurt more than the wound."

The kid swallows and looks to Kabuto. He shifts his head just right so the light reflects menacingly off his glasses and gives a grin to match. The genin has barely ran around the corner before he starts laughing. Hana throws a roll of bandages at him. "Sorry," he snorts, tossing the bandages back.

"What's so important?" she asks, shuffling him out of her office so she can lock the door behind them.

"Sensei and the other adults are meeting without us," he says, holding out his hand. "You'd think they'd know better by now."

Hana bypasses his hand and instead throws her arms around his neck, "When do you think we'll stop counting as the kids?"

"Probably never," he admits before kissing her. They disappear in a near soundless wave of leaves and chakra.

Because he's kind of an asshole, he makes sure they appear directly in front of their sensei, still kissing.

"Gah!" Inoichi scrambles back and trips on his own feet, falling backwards. The couple bursts out laughing, and Kabuto glances around the room to see who's there. Inoichi, Shikaku, Chouza, Tsume, Kakashi, Iruka, Gai, and Anko. He winks at Anko, who returns the gesture with a smirk. She's the one who tipped him off.

"Hi Mom!" Hana says cheerfully. Tsume raises an eyebrow.

Shikaku sighs and rubs at his nose, "If you know we're meeting, can I assume my son does as well?"

"I just tend to assume that Shikamaru knows everything," he says, "It's safer that way."

"They're not here," Anko says, "You'd think that if they knew we were meeting they'd also crash."

"Or," Inoichi bites out, "they figure that someone who will fill them in on everything is already here."

Kabuto shrugs, "Until Hana makes an honest man out of me, I'm living on Uchiha property rent free. It would be very rude of me not to answer the acting Uchiha head's questions honestly."

"I'm going to kill that kid," he mutters dangerously, "I really will."

"I think him and Ino are kind of cute actually," Anko offers, "They're a step away from wearing matching crop tops." Kakashi shoves his book in front of his face to hide his smile and Iruka starts coughing in an attempt to mask his laughter.

Shikaku rubs at his forehead, "If we could please focus." Hana and Kabuto squish themselves in on either side of their sensei, beaming. Inoichi huffs, but seems to relax when Hana loops her arm through his and Kabuto knocks their knees together. Shikaku pointedly ignores all of them. "Danzo is making a move."

"Well that's ominous and incredibly vague," Tsume says.

Chouza shrugs, "So's most of our information. About ninety eight percent of Root's missions happen out of village, so at any given time over half of Root is out of village as well. Over the past couple weeks their missions have decreased to the point that about eighty percent of them are currently in village."

"Additionally," Shikaku continues, "Danzo has been nearly silent at the past four council meetings. They've been pretty pointless ever since he failed to get the Uchiha seat, since neither he nor the Hokage can get any motions passed, but he always gone to the effort to make his opinions heard."

"You don't think he'd attack Konoha do you?" Iruka frowns, "Danzo has always somehow justified his actions to himself, from Orochimaru to the Uchiha Massacre. He believed all these things were for the good of Konoha, but it's hard to believe he could justify a full frontal assault against the village."

"When exactly did the Root members start getting called back?" Hana asks, fingers tapping on nervous beat on her thigh.

"Six weeks," Inoichi answers, "why?"

Kabuto's eyebrows raise to his forehead. "Six weeks ago the Kiri Civil War ended. Zabuza won, and he and his supporters executed the dissenters."

"That doesn't make any sense," Anko dismisses, "The Kiri war had nothing to do with Konoha when it was happening, and it definitely won't affect us now that it's over. Well, we'll have to draw up a new treaty, but considering who, exactly, Zabuza's supporters were it shouldn't be an issue."

"With the war over, Naruto and Sasuke are going to be coming home," Kabuto says suddenly, pale. "What if that's what Danzo is waiting for? He already tried to wipe out the Uchiha once."

"Sai is still alive," Kakashi points out, "Besides, it's not like anyone actually knows that the Saanin, Naruto, and Sasuke are involved in the war. It'd be a breach of treaty."

Iruka blinks, "No it wouldn't."

Everyone in the room turns to look at him, and he flushes. "What do you mean?" Gai asks.

"Well, I mean – Sasuke and Orochimaru are missing-nin, even if Sasuke only has a C-rank. Jiraiya and Tsunade aren't active ninja, technically. Which – I mean they're not civilians, obviously, but legally speaking they're not ninja either. And Naruto Uzumaki never even attended the Academy. Our treaties never address non-ninja. They guide and prohibit the actions of shinobi. The civilians, even the ones in our village, are usually only addressed in the treaties made by Daiymos. Which, of course, never mention ninja." Iruka puts his hands on his hips, "This is definitely covered in the general history course at the Academy. Didn't any of you pay attention?"

Everyone looks anywhere but the Academy teacher. Tsume's the first to break the silence to say, "So obviously if it gets out it's bad, because then they'll be unable return until a treaty is worked out between our villages, but it's not treason? It won't affect Konoha?"

"Of course not!" Iruka throws his hands up, "That's the whole reason Naruto and Sasuke did it this way in the first place. It was the only way to ensure Konoha didn't get any backlash from their actions." He glares at them all, "At least they paid attention to their lessons."

"Itachi was always really into that sort of technical legality," Inoichi sighs, "he almost certainly covered it more than once in his tutoring sessions. Naruto definitely would have known what she was doing."

"Then why?" Kabuto asks, "That's the only significant event that's happened, it has to be something related."

"Maybe we're missing something," Anko says, but it's clear she doesn't think that's the case.

Kabuto rolls his eyes and lists off on his fingers, "Next in line to the Hokage position," Kakashi glares and makes a threatening hand motion, "the Hokage's assistant in all but name, Jounin Commander, Head of Torture and Investigation, the village's taijutsu specialist, four clan heads, the Inuzuka heir, the interim head of the hospital, and two of Orochimaru's students," he finishes in exasperation, "if we are missing something, that's pathetic."

Kakashi sighs, "I suppose that's fair."

"Two of Orochimaru's students?" Inoichi asks, "Anko's one, who's the other?"

There's a moment of really awkward silence. "How are you the head of Torture and Investigation?" Shikaku moans. Evan Chouza's looking at Inoichi like he's an idiot.

"I'm pretty sure I mentioned it," Kabuto says hesitantly, looking to Hana.

She shrugs, "Well, you definitely told me."

"Told you what?" Inoichi demands. There's another beat of awkward silence before his eyes widen and his mouth drops open.

"The thing is," Chouza says desperately, "that he really is very good at – at piecing things together and figuring them out when it doesn't come to people he actually knows."

"I honestly don't know if that makes me feel better," Iruka says.

Inoichi twists so he can grab Kabuto by the shoulders and shake him, "YOU WERE OROCHIMARU'S SPY?"

"Ow," he says, wincing, "Sensei, I'm pretty sure I told you that. Right after I told Hana. Three years ago."

"He did mention it," Shikaku sighs, "Although now that I think of it, we were at the bar –"

"We did drink more than usual that night," Chouza allows.

Inoichi gapes before whirling around to face Hana. "What about you? Natsu was Naruto, Kabuto was a spy, what are you hiding?"

She opens her mouth, closes it, then shrugs. "Uh – I'm lactose intolerant?"

Tsume smacks her fist against the wall, and they all look toward her. "Back to the issue at hand," she says dryly. "Why would Danzo care about Sasuke and Natsu returning to the village?"

"Not Natsu," Iruka says eagerly, jumping up so he can pace. "It's not about Natsu. Natsu is dead!"

"I mean Naruto," Tsume says, "Sorry, I still mix that up. In my defense, she did go by that name for eight years."

Iruka shakes his head, "No, that's not what I'm saying. Danzo doesn't know that Naruto and Natsu are the same person. He hasn't figured that out yet! All he knows is that Naruto was almost killed, missing for eight years, and then resurfaces to help Zabuza of the Seven Swordsman wage war against the Mist! Zabuza, who's already well known for taking in Haku as an orphaned, shunned child –"

"He thinks Zabuza did the same with Naruto," Gai breathes, "He thinks that Naruto is another of Zabuza's tools, a mindless weapon."

"A killer demon who's only reason to return to Konoha is to destroy it," Kakashi finishes. "This isn't good. Naruto can mask his chakra signature, but not if Danzo already has a lock on it. The second Naruto steps foot back in this village, even if he's under Oiroke, Danzo will know and he'll attack. For the good of Konoha."

"This man," Tsume growls, "becomes more of a pain in my ass every day."

Anko flips a kunai over and under her hand, thinking. "This might be a good thing."

"How?" Iruka demands.

"Most of Root will be in one place," Anko points out, "Taking out Danzo was always a dangerous play because of his pet assassins. We've never has the manpower, stealth, and time to not only quietly take out Danzo, but to track down and eliminate his Root members. But if they're going to group themselves together all nice like this –"

"We might as well take advantage of it," Hana finishes, grinning.

Their triumphant silence is broken by Inoichi saying, "I still can't believe you didn't tell me you were taught by Orochimaru."

"I did!" Kabuto protests, but Inoichi obviously isn't listening. Unbelievable.

---

It doesn't occur to Ren that this might be a mistake that first night they spend together. Not when he buys her breakfast the next morning, or she pays for dinner that night. Not when he shows up at her door in the grey light of dawn when her last client is long gone, and then does so for the next three days in a row. It's not even the day after that, when they end up on the clan compound fucking in his bed for once.

It's a little more than a week after the first time they've slept together. She slides out his bed, pulling on her kimono and looking around for her obi. "Here," Shikamaru says, pulling himself up to sit on the edge of the bed and tying the strip of silk around her. After, he settles his hands on her hips and leans his forehead against her back.

"Shika?" she asks, and wishes she could see him.

"Do you have to go?" he asks, voice small in a way she's never heard it before.

"I have to go to work," she reminds him, "A girl's got to make a living." She can feel him nod against her, but he still doesn't move to release her. She rolls her eyes, and it's times like these she's reminded that there's seven years between them, but she quickly shoves that thought away. Whenever she remembers she's sleeping with a teenager she wonders if she's lost her mind.

Shikamaru sighs and turns her so she's facing him, arms now loose around her waist. His hair's a mess out its bun, and she pushes it out the way of his eyes so she can smile down at him. "My team and I are being sent on a mission tomorrow. I don't know how long it'll take, and I'd like to see you before I go."

Her stomach flip flops and her smiles freezes, and it's then that she realizes this has gone too far. She should refuse, should walk out that door and never speak to Shikamaru Nara again. It's the right thing to do – the smart thing to do, and she didn't make it this far by being an idiot.

"I'll come by after my last client leaves," she says, cupping his face. "It will be early, though. Are you sure you wouldn't rather get some sleep before your mission?"

"We don't have to have sex," he says, nuzzling her palm. "Just – wake me up when you get here, and we can sleep for a bit. I'll buy you breakfast."

She kisses him because she's terrified about what he'll be able to see on her face. "Okay," she whispers against his lips, and she's such a fucking idiot.

---

"The infinite what?" Mei asks, leaning over Haku to read over his shoulder.

He glares at her, but she makes no move to give him any personal space. Typical. "Tsukuyomi. From what they got from the Akatsuki members before they killed them, this Tobi person has been muttering about it for months. They thought it was some sort of game plan for the end of the world."

"And the Saanin don't?" Gaara asks. He's polite enough to not lean over his shoulder to read, but Haku doesn't know if the floating sand eye next to his head is any better.

"Tsunade claims to have heard of it before, although she remembers it as some sort of technique," he passes the scroll to Mei. "I don't like it. The Akatsuki have been tolerable enough thus far, but I think it's time we did something about them."

"How?" Mei glares, "We can barely keep this village running! We just won a war, and now you want to start another?"

"War's a pretty strong word, considering their organization consists of only nine members," he says dryly.

She glances back at the letter and admits, "Well, now it's seven. Shit, but the Saanin are scary when they're all in the same place."

"Six, really," Gaara adds, "Considering." The boys meet each other's eyes and don't look toward Mei. They haven't shared Itachi's innocence with her, if only because the less people know the truth the safer Itachi is.

"Six," she repeats flatly, but doesn't push it. "Fine. So we'll leave Kiri unprotected and go attempt to assassinate six S-ranked missing-nin. Brilliant."

"Who said we're doing anything?" Haku walks over to the mizukage's desk, opening the top drawer with a burst of chakra and pulling out a scroll of heavy cream paper. It's already soaked in Zabuza's chakra, and he wastes no time in scribbling his boyfriend's name along the bottom. He seals it with the mizukage's official seal, and holds it out to Gaara. "Your treaty, with very favorable trade terms. Go home."

Gaara doesn't move. "It was agreed I would leave after Zabuza returned."

"Mei and I can hold Kiri," Haku says patiently. "Go home, and give your kazekage the treaty that you've spent three years killing and bleeding for. Then impress upon her of the importance of taking out the Akatsuki."

"He's right," Mei adds grudgingly. "Go home, talk to your sister. Get her to help us – if this Tsukuyomi is as bad as Tsunade seems to think it is, we can't let village barriers get in the way of stopping it. The Akatsuki can't be allowed to continue existing."

Gaara rubs at the tattoo on his forehead, irritable, before seemingly giving in. He nods at Mei, then takes the treaty. He grabs Haku's wrist, solemn, and says, "Stay strong, and stay safe," before disappearing in a gust of sand.

"Zabuza's going to be pissed," Mei pointes out in the ensuing silence.

Haku shrugs, "He left me in charge. If he doesn't like the calls I make, he should hurry up and come home."

She laughs, bright and without that desperate edge she'd had during the war, and Haku has to smile. "Come on," she giggles, "help me go through the reports. Then we can go down to the training ground and remind the chunins that pretty and terrifying aren't mutually exclusive."

---

Sasuke leans against the doorframe, arms crossed. Naruto is balancing his entire weight on a single finger, and for most ninja it's something that's extremely difficult and requires intense concentration. Naruto's been able to do it since he was six, so Sasuke feels no guilt when he tosses a kunai in his boyfriend's direction.

"Hey!" Naruto easily flips out of the way. The kunai embeds itself hallway into the floorboards. "What was that for?"

"I've been looking for you," he says, holding out a scroll. "News from Haku. There's been a complication."

Naruto grabs the scroll and skims it, "Didn't we just win a war? Now he wants to start a new one?"

"That's what Mei said, apparently," Sasuke reaches out and tugs Naruto closer by his shirt, "But hey, if we make a detour to attack the Akatsuki then you can avoid making a decision for a little longer."

Naruto flinches and tries to step away, but Sasuke doesn't let him, "I don't know what you mean."

"We could have left right after the crowning ceremony," he places his fingers under Naruto's chin, but doesn't make him look at him just yet. "I understand why Zabuza stuck around, but even he's leaving tomorrow. We could be back in Konoha by now, be home, but we're not. We're here."

"Well I'm not stopping you," Naruto snaps, "Leave if you want to."

He tries to storm away, and Sasuke really doesn't want start a fight in the Daiymo's palace. Masuyo won't be mad if they break something, but both Tatsu and Zabuza will be pissed. So when Naruto shifts into an opening stance, Sasuke flips them and shoves Naruto against the wall to kiss him. Naruto makes an irritated noise against his mouth, but kisses back none the less. Naruto relaxes by degrees underneath his hands, and Sasuke only breaks the kiss when it seems like Naruto isn't about to run away again. He tilts their foreheads together, and makes sure to smile when Naruto finally looks up at him from under his lashes. "You're a seal master, a war hero, a revolutionary," Sasuke murmurs, "you've fought alongside missing nins and saanin and a demon container, you were taught by the Yamanaka clan head, and are the beloved sister of Kakashi Hatake. What are you so afraid of?"

Naruto swallows, "I – I'm not though. Natsu Nami is the chunin and seal master of Konoha, Inoichi's student, Kakashi's sister. And Natsu is dead."

Sasuke stares. Of all the – "Come here," he pulls him over to the window, and it's dark enough that they can see their reflection into the glass. "Be a girl."

"What?" He's never asked Naruto to change genders before, so he doesn't begrudge him the surprise.

"Please," he squeezes his hand, "just for a moment. Trust me." Naruto sighs, and with a gust of chakra he becomes a woman. She winces, because the pants that she's taken to wearing don't stretch like her leggings, and they dig into her hips when she's a girl. "Who's arms held me the night of the massacre?"

Sasuke almost never talks about that night, and Naruto's so surprised that she answers without questioning him, "I did. Mine."

He runs his hands down her arms and says into her ear, "Who did I break into Danzo's office with?"

"Me," she answers, clearly without a clue of where he's going with this. Good.

"Who made a deal with Zabuza to start a war? Who did I become a missing nin for, all so I could follow you into a battlefield?"

"Me," she repeats, and she's pouting now. "I never asked you to do that."

He ignores the last part and wraps an arm around her waist, "Who was my first kiss? Who's the only person I've ever touched as a lover?"

"Sasuke," she sighs, "What are you saying?"

"Look like you did when you were hiding," he says, "Like when I first met you."

She glares at him, but does as he says, and a moment later she's got ash pale hair and dark eyes. "So I'm Natsu again," she says, "What's your point?"

"Naruto," he presses a kiss to her cheek, "Natsu, what does it matter? You were the one that told me that. You're still you – who cares what you look like or what name you go by. You're still you."

Naruto softens and turns in his arms to face him. "I did say that, didn't I? But Sasuke, I'm serious – how can I go home? Naruto Uzumaki died twelve years ago, Natsu Nami died four years ago, and now what? Do I put on a new face and a new name, start all over again?"

"If you want," Sasuke says easily, "Or you go home as Natsu, explain to the hokage and be welcomed back from your deep undercover mission. Or you go home as Naruto, say that you ran away as a kid and now you're back. It doesn't matter."

"Sasuke!" she glares, "How can you say that?"

"Because everyone who loves you knows the truth," he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "We know who you are and who you were, and whatever you choose no one will care. Because all anybody wants, all Kakashi and your sensei and your teammates and your friends want is for you to come home."

"Us to come home," she corrects, but that heavy weight that had been behind her eyes is gone, "Thank you."

He kisses her instead of answering, and doesn't even pause when she turns back into a man halfway through. "We have to delay it a bit more now," he says dryly, "Since apparently Haku has decided that it's time to fight the Akatsuki."

Naruto lights up, "Actually, I have a plan for that. And it means someone else will finally be able to come home too."

It only takes a second for Sasuke to catch on, and when he does his smile threatens to breaks his face in half.

It's long past time for Itachi to come home.

And – the idea of him and his brother home again does make him happy. It's all he's wanted for so long, but.

But his beloved brother is his still clan's murderer. And it's been over ten years. Sasuke is so different from the little boy he used to be, and he likes the man he's become, but he has to wonder.

How much more different must Itachi be, from the brother that Sasuke remembers?

---

It's not the humidity that gets to her, it's all the puddles. In Water Country it rains all the time, and the ground is almost always at least damp to the touch. Hanabi steps into yet another mud pit, and she is never taking another mission in Water again. She ignores her discomfort to elbow Shino in the side, "You've been quiet." Both Shino and her sister give her incredulous looks, and she rolls her eyes. "More so than usual, if that's possible."

"Something about this mission seems off," he says reluctantly, "I don't like it."

Shino's been right about this kind of thing too often for her to dismiss him, but she has no idea where this is coming from. "Why?"

Shino adjusts the straps of his pack, and that tiny movement is more than enough to tell her that he's more stressed than he's letting on, and she almost turns them around right then. "Missions to Water Country have decreased seventy three percent since the war started, and most of those remaining have been to gather information, like the one we went on last year. And it would be one thing, to send us in to assassinate some noble in the middle of a war between ninja villages. But Water Country has a new Daiymo, one who our Daiymo hasn't made a treaty with yet. It's not illegal, per se, to send ninja into each other's countries with a treaty between countries un-negotiated. But it is – unwise. It can be considered an act of war. And obviously we know that Daiymo Masuyo has a vested interest in making friends with Fire, considering who exactly aided in her taking the position. But the Fire Daiymo doesn't know that and the Sandaime doesn't know that."

They've stopped walking now, and Hinata looks stricken. "This isn't right," the older girl says, and Shino's lips thin but he nods.

"We're going back," Hanabi declares. "Screw the mission."

"That's dereliction of duty!" Shino says, "The mission, however ill given, was signed off on by the hokage. We can't just not complete it."

"I'm team leader," Hanabi says, "I'll take the blame. This is my call, and I'll take responsibility for it. We're turning back to Konoha immediately."

She has her doubts, but the reluctant relief sweeping over Shino's face is enough for her to push them aside. Shino has unquestioningly obeyed some truly moronic commands she's given in the past. If he's this uncomfortable with the mission she'll gladly take her punishment for terminating it.

"Hanabi," her sister says, hushed, and she and Shino are instantly on alert, "do you feel that?"

Her chakra sensitivity has never been as good as Hinata's, and she shakes her head. "What –"

Hinata activates the Byakugan and whirls into a defensive attack, seamlessly stopping a dozen kunai that been heading straight for them. Hanabi activates hers as well, and Shino slides into an opening stance. What she sees causes her heart to leap to her throat. At least six chakra signatures surround them, strong enough that they have to be jounin. They fade out of the trees, and they're all decked out in head to toe black. Even their faces are totally covered – Hanabi can't even see their eyes.

"Smart kid," one of them says, and the voice is familiar. "Too bad, if you'd just done your duty as ninja we wouldn't have to kill you."

"What does that mean?" Hanabi snaps, and these men are fast. Which isn't a problem for her and Hinata, but puts Shino and his bugs at a disadvantage. But if they can slow them down then Shino can kill them, and with a quick glance to her teammates it's clear they've all come to the same conclusion. Good. "Who are you?"

"Don't worry about it," another one says, and then they're attacking. "You're going to be dead soon anyway."

They're good, and fast enough that even with the Byakugan she's struggling to land any hits. It's infuriating, because a few touches to their chakra points and they'll be incapacitated enough to kill, but until then they're forced onto the defensive, standing back to back. They're not using any jutsu, which is suspicious enough all on it's own, never mind that they're being attacked by unidentified ninja in the middle of nowhere.

"Too slow," the first man who'd spoken says, and she knows that voice. She's crossed blades with enough foreign ninja that it's probably not important, but it's bothering her. Of course, then there's a kunai jabbing itself through her shoulder, so she has more important thing to worry about.

She surges forward, lets the kunai sink in deeper and snarls, "Fuck you," right before she reaches out and snaps his neck. He dies instantly and falls to the ground. The kunai that's buried in her shoulder was worth it to kill him, but its hindering her movements. Almost half the Hyuuga stances require arm movements, so that's a good chunk of her arsenal gone unless she wants to make her injuries even worse.

Hinata takes out two more of them with a Dragon's Leap that's so fast Hanabi barely catches the movement. It's not a move that Hanabi could pull off even with full use of her arms, and even as she punches another of them in the face and pinches a nerve in their neck to slow them down she feels a dark pride in how deadly her sister has become. A swarm of Shino's kikai join the fray, and provide enough of a distraction to the enemy ninja that Hanabi's fingers manage to glance the spine of another ninja, and with a brief flare of chakra the woman's brain explodes inside her skull. Hanabi stumbles, because something about that felt – familiar, and she's performed that move dozens of times, but it's never felt quite like that.

Her moment of distraction costs her. Another of their silent enemies comes after her, a dense ball of destructive chakra held in his grasp. Hanabi tries to dodge, and she has only a second to understand that this will kill her, and fury at her failure and pointless death burns under her skin. But then there's a tugging at her skin, and a chakra not her own wraps around her.

She only realizes it's a replacement jutsu when she's blinking at Shino's side and sees Hinata take the blow meant for her, the jutsu releasing a dozen razor sharp chakra-knives that tear her sister's torso apart.

"NO!" she howls, and losing her own life is bad enough, dying here in the Water Country was one thing when it was her, but they've dared touch her clan. No one harms her clan and lives. She shouldn't do this, it tears at her chakra system, burns her out and leaves her useless for days afterward, but she doesn't care. They've taken her sister from her, and their lives are forfeit. She gathers her chakra around her. "Jump," she tells Shino, and he must know what she's going to do because he hesitates. But he knows better than to argue with her now, so he scoops Hinata's body into his arms and pushes chakra to his feet to run through the treetops. She steps back, trying to judge the perfect radius because she's only going to get one shot at this, when she nearly trips on the body of the first man she'd killed. She looks down, and the man's mask has shifted enough so she can see the bottom half of his face, just his jaw and his lips.

It's enough.

She snarls and whips her arms around her. There are two more left, and this will kill them if she does it right, but now she needs one alive. Making this powerful enough to incapacitate but not kill is going to be so annoying. She breathes in deeply, and when the ninja jump forward to attack her, she breathes out. Her chakra booms outwards, bright and strong enough that she levels all the trees in a twelve foot radius. One of them is dead, impaled through the chest on a tree branch. The last one is limp and unresponsive, but there's still a chakra signature so Hanabi knows she's alive. She doesn't have the energy for chakra restraints, so she flips the unconscious woman over and breaks both of her legs without flinching. She takes out two kunai and stabs one through each of her hands, and isn't surprised when the woman doesn't bleed. The others hadn't bled either. She should have figured it out sooner.

Shino jumps down and lands besides her, her sister still in his arms. "Is she dead?" she asks.

"Not yet," he gently lays Hinata on the ground, hands trembling. "Hanabi, I can't – she's going to die."

Probably. But people aren't dead until they're dead, so she snaps, "Spider webs." Shino stares at her, eyes so wide she can almost see them behind his glasses. Hinata has gashes like claw marks from shoulder to hip, and Shino can be described as terrible at healing at best. The bandages are almost entirely soaked through. "Some of your kikai are spiders aren't they? Wrap her wounds in spider silk. It's better than bandages."

He swallows, and now the rest of him is shaking as well. Spiders crawl out of him to swarm over her sister, so she'll deal with that later. Hinata is dying, and Hanabi feels like she's dying right along with her but this is important. She pulls the mask off of the still mostly alive ninja and Shino whispers, "Dear god," behind her.

The woman's hair is a dark brown and on her forehead is the Curse Mark. She rests a hand on above it, and with a burst of chakra the woman's eyes snap open. They're the pale white of the Hyuuga. "Are you dead?" Hanabi snaps.

Shino is staring at her now. "Hanabi," he says softly, "are you –"

"She's not breathing," she doesn't take her eyes off of the Hyuuga woman, "Answer me."

"Clever girl," she says, a dark hatred twisting her once beautiful face, "What gave it away?"

"Hizashi Hyuuga was killed in-village, and then his body was taken to Kumo," she presses a kunai to the woman's throat, for all the good it will do. "My father witnessed the proceedings himself. Yet Hizashi Hyuuga's body lies just over there, dead for a second time by my own hand. How?"

"Do you know who took his body away?" the woman asks bitterly, "Who took all our bodies away, in the end. The very man who enslaved us, who placed these seals on our bodies."

She presses the kunai deeper, and the skin cuts but the woman wont bleed, "My father would never," she hisses, because her farther is far from perfect but not even he would turn a human being into this abomination.

The woman sneers, "Hiashi is as much a pawn as we all were. It wasn't he who designed these seal after all."

"Danzo?" she asks, and the woman's face flickers in surprise. "Danzo did this to you? How?"

"Clever girl," she repeats, something almost like respect in her face, "By activating the Curse Mark, of course."

"Activating the Curse Mark kills the person, it doesn't bring them back to – life, for lack of a better term," she's been close to the woman long enough that the scent of decomposition and formaldehyde clogs her nose, and she just knows she's going to have nightmares about this.

The woman shakes her head, unconcerned when the kunai bites even deeper into her skin. "When a main house Hyuuga activates the Curse Mark, the person dies. When the seal master who designed it activates it, we become this," she nods to her hands. Black liquid has slowly begun to ooze from her cuts. "We must obey him. We have no choice."

"Danzo is no seal master," Hanabi says, Natsu at the front of her mind. "I'll make him pay for this, I swear."

"You don't understand," she says, "He has dozens of Hyuuga bodies piled in his labs, preserved and ready to fight. We don't need to be dead, child, for him to activate the seal. He just didn't want to attract attention to himself. He's making his move, and when he does he'll activate the Curse Marks of all the living Hyuuga branch members. Konoha will be caught unaware when their most respected clan family turns on them."

Hanabi blinks, then a grin breaks out across her face. "There are no living Hyuuga that bear the Curse Mark," she says smugly. "Let Danzo try. There are none left to answer his call."

The woman goes blank. "None left," she repeats, then her face twists and she surges up, trying to get at Hanabi, but she can't rise up more than a couple inches off the ground. "WHAT DID YOU DO? WHERE'S MY SON?" It's clear she isn't capable of crying anymore, but her face scrunches up like she wants to, "What did you do to my son?!"

"Who's your son?" Hanabi asks calmly. This woman, under Danzo's control or not, has killed her sister. Let her suffer a few moments more.

"You don't recognize your own aunt, girl?" she hisses, "What did you do to Neji? If you've killed him I'll kill you, I swear!"

"You're in no position to do anything, Aunt Hako," she breathes. Hako had died when Neji was still a baby, long before Hanabi had been born. She pushes Hako back to the ground, "Neji is my beloved cousin, and I would never allow any harm to come to him. Three years ago, I had every branch member's Curse Mark removed in secret. That's why Danzo's plan won't work."

"You what?" Hako stares into Hanabi's eyes, and she does her best to smile.

"I love my family. I couldn't stand by and let them be hurt anymore," her hand hovers over a slice in Hako's arm that's leaking black pus. "If we bandage these, could you make it back to Konoha? You could see Neji."

She laughs and it turns into a cough, "So he could talk to the corpse of the mother he doesn't even remember?" She shakes her head, "Once the – whatever this is, leaks out I've only got so much time. It's how you defeated the others." Hanabi looks at the other bodies, and they've all got pools of the tar-like liquid under them. "Tell him we love him," she says, and Hanabi looks back down at her. Some of the black liquid leaks out of the side of her mouth. "Hizashi and I, we loved him so much. Things were hard, but those few months we had together were the happiest I've ever been."

Hanabi gently runs her hands through Hako's hair, detangling it so it lies smooth over her shoulders. "I'm sorry I killed you and Hizashi."

Hako turns her face into Hanabi's hand, and her skin is cold and almost rubbery to the touch, probably due to the formaldehyde. "Don't be silly, clever girl. We're already dead." Hako pulls her hand up, letting the kunai slice through it. She tugs the kunai from the ground and plunges it into her own heart.

Hanabi scrambles back, and the black liquid oozes from the wound. Hako's face is slack, and whatever had granted her a facsimile of life is gone. "Hanabi," Shino says, and she allows herself the moment it takes to close Hako's eyes to pull herself together. She turns back to her teammates, and Shino is nearly as pale as Hinata. Her sister's torso is wrapped in silvery spider silk, and her breaths are labored and short.

"She's still alive," he says, "But her heartbeat is slowing. She's lost so much blood, and the cuts were so deep, there has to be organ damage. I can't – I don't know how to fix this."

"You can't," she forces herself up to sit beside Shino. She takes her sister's hand, and its cold with blood loss, "Hinata is going to die. We can't save her." Shino's shoulders hunch up to around his ears, and Hanabi holds out her other hand so he can crush her hand in his. "It's not your fault, you did everything you could. I'm proud of you."

"If I had said something sooner this wouldn't have happened," he says.

Hanabi shakes her head, "They were following us this whole time. Either the mission was a trap and they would have killed us when we arrived at the palace, or there was something even more unpleasant waiting for us. You were smart, and made the right call. I'm proud of you."

Shino nods, but doesn't look like he completely believes her. That's fine. She'll spend the rest of her life repeating it if she has to. She refuses to let Hinata's death become Shino's burden to carry.

She's team leader. The responsibility falls on her, and her alone.

They sit like that, waiting in vigil for Hinata to take her last breath. There's no approaching chakra pattern, nothing to warn them for when another ninja body flickers into the clearing. Hanabi jumps to her feat, sliding into a defensive stance in front of her teammates.

When the wind dies down, Naruto Uzumaki stands there, kunai extended. "Hanabi?" he pockets the kunai and takes a look around the clearing and the half dozen Hyuuga bodies. "What the hell happened here? Was that chakra surge earlier yours? I thought it felt familiar."

"How did you find us?" she asks, arms falling down at her sides. Her shoulder still hurts like a bitch.

He rolls his eyes, casually stepping over a body of a fallen Hyuuga to stand by her. "You're only about ten miles from the palace, and whatever move you pulled is at least A rank. Of course I came to investigate." He finally catches sight of Hinata, and his smile slips from his face, "Shit, what happened?"

"She's dying," Hinata says, because who cares how it happened, her sister is dying. "She doesn't have long."

Naruto squats down next to her sister, frowning. She hasn't seen him since he left Konoha, and he looks more adult then even Neji does, something tempered and strong inside of him that wasn't there before. She's not surprised, exactly – it would be naïve to think he could spend three years waging war and return unchanged. He lightly runs a hand over Hinata's stomach, "Bullshit."

Shino and Hanabi share a startled glance, "Naruto?"

"I'm not much of a medic-nin," he admits easily, and his chakra is moving differently, shifting the direction of circulation, which should be impossible. "But a foxy friend of mine is pretty great at healing."

At that his chakra spikes and forms around him like cloak. His eyes slit, his nails lengthen into claws, and his chakra instead of the calm deep blue that Hanabi has known all her life is a roiling mass of barely tamed orange. The chakra spreads from where he's touching Hinata's stomach to all around her, becomes so thick and high that it almost looks like her sister is on fire.

"Her heartbeat is stabilizing," Shino reports, a smile curling around the edge of his mouth, "He's healing her."

All the blood rushes to her head. She almost misses it when Naruto tosses a scroll at her. "What is this?" she croaks, unrolling it.

Naruto's voice comes out low and rough in this form, "Portal seal. Draw it around us. As soon as I'm done, I'm sending you three home."

"The bodies too," she says, because the least she can do is bring these Hyuuga home and give them a proper burial. Neji's parents can finally be put to rest on Hyuuga land, together.

Naruto's eyebrows raise to his forehead, but he's not thrown enough by it to look away from Hinata. "Okay," he says agreeably, "the bodies too."

Hanabi lets out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Good. Fine. She can handle this.

She has to handle this.

---

"And where do you think you're going?"

Ren whirls around. Everyone should already be in bed after a long night of work, but Madam Koi sits prim and proper on one of the couches in the middle of the living room. "I'm meeting someone," she says, "My last guest is already gone."

Madame Koi raises an eyebrow and sips at her tea, "It's five in the morning. Who could you possibly be meeting?"

Ren's cheeks flush and she looks at the ground, "No one." The older woman stands and walks over to her. Ren still can't make herself meet her eyes. Madame Koi smooths the lines of Ren's kimono and flicks invisible dust off of her shoulder. "Madame?"

"Be careful, dear," she murmurs.

"He won't hurt me," she says. Shikamaru certainly could hurt her. She's koi, but he's a jounin, and a talented one that. But he wouldn't. "He's a good man."

She smiles at her, and she is every inch the woman Naruto had described her to be. "The Naras are good people," she confirms, Ren doesn't even question how the Madame knows who she's been meeting. "But they are a shinobi clan – being the wife of a ninja is hard enough. But there are few men who can handle being the husband of a whore." There's something personal in that, and Madame Koi is old and wise and the most deadly and talented and beautiful woman Ren has ever met. She seems as if she was born into the life and this role, as opposed to Ren who clumsily stumbled into it before deciding to make it her own.

"We're just sleeping together," she says, but her voice sounds hollow to her own ears.

Madame Koi raises an eyebrow, "You are one of my most sought after Koi. When I was working the hours you worked, serving the number of clients you serve, you could not have pried me from my bed if there were enemy ninja at my doorstep. Certainly not across town to sneak into some boy's bed just to do it all again."

"Shikamaru is different," she protests. The people she has sex with in this house while the red lantern glows on her windowsill are her job, and sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's gross, but in between diplomats she has to tease secrets out of it's mostly boring. Shikamaru's not boring. He's her – they're – well, he's not her nine to five, at least.

Madame Koi's face has almost gone wistful, "I suppose he is." She pats Ren on the shoulder before heading up the stairs, leaving her tea to cool on the table.

Ren pulls her kimono around herself and pretends that her sudden chill is from the early morning air.

---

They have a diplomatic mission to Suna, and they agreed to meet at Shikamaru's house. Ino has never once knocked or needed permission to enter or go anywhere on either the Nara or Akimichi properties, just like Shikamaru and Chouji have never needed an invitation to the Yamanaka compound. So she's having a hard time justifying to herself why she's sitting on the ground next to Shikamaru's front door instead of bursting inside and dragging him out of bed. She rests her chin on her knees, and convinces herself she's just going to wait another minute before storming inside.

"Ino?" Chouji squats down in front of her, and she forces a smile for him. It must look as painful as it feels, because his eyebrows dip together in concern. "Why are you sitting out here?"

"No reason." Chouji raises an eyebrow, and this time when she smiles it doesn't hurt as much. Shikamaru only caught her in her lies about half the time, but she's never been able to fool Chouji. Not that it's exactly hard to figure out that she's not hiding from her teammate for no reason. She curls a lock of hair around her finger and admits, "I think Shikamaru is still mad at me."

"Why would he be mad at you?"

"Because of the whole," she mimes slashing her throat, "He doesn't like that stuff, and my dumb mistake meant he had to. And I thought he'd get over it and everything would go back to normal, but I've barely seen him since it happened! Every time we invite him to go somewhere or do something he says no."

"Not every time," Chouji denies, but now even he looks concerned.

"And when he's with us, he's not really with us, his mind is someplace else, and," her eyes are stinging and she scrubs her arm across them. "I just – I get it, if he's mad. But I hate it when you guys are upset with me, it's awful." She sniffs and hopes that her eyes aren't red, "You and Shikamaru are my best friends, my teammates, my brothers. I don't know what I'd do without you, and if you were to hate me –"

"No one hates you," Chouji says firmly. He pulls Ino into his arms, and Chouji always gives the best hugs, Shikamaru is too bony. "We love you, Ino. Something's going on with Shika, but he doesn't hate you, okay?"

Ino nods into Chouji's shoulder, but she isn't so sure. Before she can voice her doubts, Shikaku opens the door. "Hey kids," he scratches the back of his head, "You weren't waiting to be let in were you? You know that you're always welcome here."

"Thanks," Chouji grins, "I don't suppose Shikamaru is ready yet? We have a mission."

Shikaku rubs a hand over his face, "No, he's still in bed. I'll go get him." He disappears up the stairs, and Ino closes the door behind them. Chouji sits down on the edge of the couch, but Ino can't help but pace. It's just a diplomatic run, but she hates the thought of going on a mission with things strained between them. Teams have been killed by less than that, and if Shikamaru or Chouji were to get hurt just because she'd messed up a totally different mission –

"Here he is," Shikaku comes down the stairs, dragging his son behind him by the neck of his shirt.

Shikamaru stumbles to a stop in front of her, yawning. She clenches her fists at her sides and blurts, "I'm sorry!"

He blinks at her, "Why? I'm the one who's running late," the second part comes out a bit muffled, since he's got his hair tie in his mouth while he pulls his hair up into a ponytail. There's a pressure behind her eyes, and she can just tell she's going to start crying any second now, and she hates crying. Her face gets all splotchy. "Hey," Shikamaru strides over to grab her shoulders, "what's wrong? Are you hurt?" His face goes thunderous, "Is it Sai? I'll fucking kill that kid."

He lets go of her to storm away, apparently intent on killing her boyfriend, and she snags his arm before he can get too far. "It's not Sai," she says, rubbing at her eyes, "I just – I'm really sorry, okay? I know it was a dumb mistake, I let my guard down and I didn't mean to, and you had to clean up after me. I didn't mean to make you go through that, at the border, and it's my fault so you totally have the right to be upset and angry and everything. But, but you're not going to hate me forever, right?"

She stands there, a fucking mess in the Nara's living room, because she's a jounin and beautiful and deadly, but without her teammates she's nothing. Shikamaru's face is carefully blank when he asks, "Why would you think that I hate you?"

Ino wraps her arms around herself, "Because the thing at the border happened, and you had to kill that woman with your hands, and you hate doing that. And then you wouldn't hang out with me, or talk to me, and – and that's okay, really, just – you will again, right?" She's definitely crying now, oh god, she's totally getting her badass card revoked.

Shikamaru isn't a tactile person, he usually just kind of stands there while Ino and Chouji drape themselves all over him, so she's really not expecting it when he cups her face in his hands and raises it to meet her eyes. "You're my teammate, my best friend, and my sister," he says seriously, "I would rip out the throats of a thousand people with my bare hands if that's what it took to keep you safe. Ino, you've had my back and saved my ass on more occasions than I can count – there will never be a time when I don't gladly return the favor."

She stares at him a moment more, just to make sure he means it, and then she throws her arms around his neck and holds on tight. The way he holds onto her just as tightly shows he's sorry more than any apology ever could. "But then what was with all the," she flaps her hands around behind his back, knowing that he'll know what she means.

He sighs and pulls back, taking a moment to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "REN!" he calls, "Can you come down here?"

Shikaku had ducked away into the kitchen at the first hint of tears, but at that he pokes his head back out. "Who?"

A woman in a wrinkled white and orange kimono comes down the stairs, and Ino knows her, she's gotten drinks with her. "Hi Ino," she waves.

Ino smacks Shikamaru in the shoulder, and it's clear he's pulled between being irritated and relieved that at least she's not crying anymore. "Naruto's Ren?" she demands, "Really?"

"Nice," Chouji holds up his hand, and Shikamaru sighs but high fives him anyway.

"You two know each other?" he asks.

"Naruto stayed at her brothel in Water Country when he first left," Ino rubs at her forehead, "We go out sometimes."

"How are Sakura and Hinata?" Ren asks, and Shikamaru gets this look on his face like he's not sure whether to be pleased by this development or terrified. "We haven't all gotten together in a while."

"Something that clearly needs to change," she mutters, "Shikamaru? Really? Did you hit your head recently?"

Shikamaru makes an offended noise at the back of his throat. Ren smirks, "He's got one very … big thing on his side."

Shikaku chooses this point to retreat back to the kitchen.

Ino rolls her eyes, because she grew up with Shikamaru, she knows that's a slight exaggeration. Ren grins and adds, "It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean."

Ino snorts, and both Shikamaru and Chouji's heads resemble tomatoes. "Please stop," he begs them, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hid things from Ino, I'm a terrible person, but please stop talking. I'll do anything."

Ren sashays over to Shikamaru and grins, "Anything, really? Well, I do believe I was promised breakfast."

He bites his lip. They really should have left over an hour ago. But Ino likes Ren, and any sign that Shikamaru's moved on from his crush on Kiba is something she wants to encourage. "We'll make up the time later," she says authoritatively, "let's go get breakfast."

Shikamaru doesn't quite smile at her, but his eyes go soft and his lips almost turn up at the corners, so she beams back.

---

Orochimaru knocks twice before opening her door, "Mind if I come in?"

She's slumped at her desk, a bottle of sake in her fist and her notes spread in front of her. She turns in her chair and sighs, "Did Shizune get you?" He shuts the door and walks over, glancing at her scattered notes before pushing himself up to sit on the edge of her desk. It's strange to have a place and belongings to call her own, especially when she takes into account that it's a room in the Otokage's house. She'd gotten so used to not owning anything she couldn't carry on her back, and now she and Jiraiya have their own rooms in Orochimaru's home.

"Shizune?" he plucks the sake bottle from her grasp and drinks what's left of it in one long pull. He wipes his mouth and places the empty bottle on top of a pile of her incomprehensible scribbles. "Why on earth would your assistant and dear friend feel the need to drag me from my very busy and important kage duties? It's not like you're in the middle of drinking yourself to death, or anything."

Tsunade snorts and slumps down until her head is resting on his thigh. He undoes her pigtails and runs his hand through her hair, a gentle soothing motion. It's not long until she can feel her eyelids beginning to close against her will. "I need to figure this out," she yawns, "It's important, this Infinite Tsukuyomi thing. I know I've heard of it before, I just can't remember where."

"Well if you die of alcohol poisoning you'll never figure it out," he murmurs, sliding to his feet. Tsunade whines at the loss of her pillow and attempts to curl up on the top of her desk instead. "Princess," he sighs, "what am I going to do with you?"

She mumbles something rude back, and Orochimaru laughs, soft and kind and how she hasn't heard him laugh in a very long time. She's not expecting it when he bends at the knee and picks her up bridal style, but she's tired enough that she just curls into the solid heat of his chest. "I missed you," she whispers into his shoulder.

He pulls back the covers and places her in her bed, but before he can stand up she puts her arms around his neck and refuses to let go. He sighs as if he finds her very tiresome, but presses a kiss to her cheek and says, "And I you, Princess."

She smiles and lets him go after that. She feels him pulling the blanket up around her shoulders right as she drifts off to sleep.

---

Sakura, Kiba, and Hana are running through drills with their ninken when Kabuto body flickers right in the middle of it, nearly getting run over by Paru. "Be careful!" Sakura snaps. Paru's bark echoes her sentiments.

He ignores her and grabs Hana's hand. "The sensors for Natsu's apartment just went off," he informs them before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

She and Kiba share a grin before following them. When they appear it's not to Naruto and Sasuke like they'd expected, but a weary and bloody Hanabi and Shino. That would be one thing, but the six bodies stacked on Natsu's living room floor are another entirely. Hinata's laid out her couch, and Sakura's heart jumps to her throat. "Is she – "

"Alive," Kabuto reports, grim. "But her chakra's low, like she recently went through an intense healing."

"Naruto," Hanabi says, and Sakura doesn't know what could have happened to put that look on her face. Whenever her blank mask slips for a moment the girl looks destroyed. "He found us and used demon chakra to heal her, then sent us through using the portal seal."

"What happened?" Hana demands, face pale. Shino puts his hand on Hanabi's shoulder, and the fact that she doesn't immediately brush it off tells them she's even more rattled than she looks.

By the time Hanabi finishes, her voice is hoarse and they're all horrified. "Naruto didn't want to seal the bodies away, just in case something went wrong when I tried to unseal them, considering they're not – purely organic matter."

"That's terrible," Kiba whispers.

Kabuto and Hana share a grim look. "Hanabi, you should really let us run a couple experiments on the bodies before you put them to rest. Figuring out what Danzo did to them is important."

She puffs up to protest, but reconsiders it halfway through and her shoulders slump. "Could you," she swallows, "could you not, not – do anything, to Neji's parents? Please."

"Oh, Neji," Sakura breathes, and this is all terrible enough without the added bonus of having to tell Neji what Hizashi and Hako had endured after their death.

"Okay, yes," Hana agrees instantly. Sakura knows that from a medical and scientific standpoint not examining a third of available specimens is a bad call, but she can't honestly say that she'd make a different one.

Hanabi nods her thanks, then takes a steadying breath. "Shino, I want you to stay with Hinata. Come get me when she wakes up." The boy nods. "Kabuto, Hana, if you could store all the bodies until I can – figure something out."

"I'll keep them in one of the empty Uchiha houses," Kabuto says, "A few of the larger ones have walk in freezers."

"Okay," Hanabi says, and she never talks this much and doesn't explain herself and every inch of Sakura knows that the medically right thing to do is to force Hanabi to get some sleep and some food and surround her with her living family, but Sakura also knows that as the next clan head and the only high ranking Hyuuga that knows about this Hanabi doesn't get that luxury. "I'm going to go get Neji."

She shunshins away before anybody can say anything to that. Shino locks his hands together behind his back, then release them to cross his arms, and this is too much. This is it, the last straw, the absolute last thing that Sakura can take.

She knows that the adults have some sort of grand, complicated plan in play, but they've had their whole lives to take care of this problem. Instead they just keep waiting, and in the meantime her friends keep getting more and more hurt. Enough is enough.

Danzo has to die, and she's going to kill him herself.

---

Masuyo has approximately one thousand things that require her immediate attention, considering her sudden and violent ascension as the Daiymo of Water Country. Tatsu is currently working on tracking down every terribly treaty and shady deal her brother made so they can undo them, and Masuyo should be helping her, or going over rice distribution to the poverty stricken villages in her domain, or – well, the point is that she has a lot to do. But that doesn't mean she can't make time for one of her foreign saviors.

"Sasuke," she says, stepping out into the garden. Sasuke is standing, cross armed, looking into the koi pond. It's a very nice koi pond. Masuyo had it specially made when she was fifteen, feigning a sudden interest in fish and gardening. It was actually a gift for Tatsu, a place for them to meet from her brother's prying eyes. But however pretty the fish are, she doubts that's what he's staring at so intently. "Is everything alright?"

He slides his gaze over to her, and his mouth tugs down at the corners. It's a very pretty mouth, and although men are not her preference, she has no problem admitting the shinobi is a fine one. "Yes, thank you," he says shortly. He is not a very fine liar. She almost leaves him to his solitude, but – this is her garden, her palace. Her country. She may go wherever she pleases, whenever she pleases. She walks over and lowers herself to the edge of the koi pond, seated so she's looking up at him while she skims the tips of her fingers over the water's surface.

It is tradition that she not put herself lower than anyone. She's not much for tradition.

He huffs out an irritated breath and won't look at her. She's content to wait, and she won't follow him if he walks away, but he doesn't. "Your brother," he says, shoulders too straight to be comfortable. "He was a terrible man."

"Yes," she says immediately, because he was. Greedy and cruel, violent not in his actions but in the way his inaction allowed violence to spread across their land.

"Did you love him?"

She doesn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. "Yes," she says, because it's the truth. He spilled blood for her, and he's earned her honesty. He doesn't ask her to explain, but she does anyway. "I am the last of the royal line. My brother had no children. He was manipulative and terrible and made me hate myself – but he did still raise me. He didn't kill me, which doesn't sound like much, but – I know his advisors told him to. My very existence is a threat – a not unfounded fear, apparently. But he didn't. He hurt me and tore me down, but he didn't kill me. There was something, some part of him, that did love me. He did give me things I desired – this koi pond, a larger library, food for the orphans I visited." She's struggling, because her relationship with her brother was contradictory and complicated and unhealthy. He hurt her but he loved her, and she was under no obligation to love him in return, knew that Tatsu did not love him nor think him worthy of it, and he wasn't – but not all love had to be earned. Sometimes love is a gift, given to people who don't deserve it. That is how she loved her brother, in a way he could not have loved her – completely, unselfishly, in spite of everything he had become. But she doesn't know how to articulate that, how to say that his death was both a relief and a tragedy.

"My brother killed my clan," he says, and Masuyo's mouth parts in surprise. He's looking at her now, eyes liquid dark like a still river at midnight. "He did it on orders. He spared my life. He was trying to keep me safe. But my life came at such a high cost. Sometimes, I wish he hadn't done it, had risked my life and tried to save our clan instead."

Oh, and she thought her relationship with her brother was a complicated thing. "I think," she says slowly, "that it's okay to wish that. You do not have to forgive him for what he did to you. But – my brother didn't hurt me to keep my safe. He hurt me to keep himself safe. What did your brother gain by his actions?"

"Nothing," he says, "He had to hide. He was sent into a deep undercover mission with our enemies. I haven't seen him since."

Masuyo taps a pattern into the water's surface, and the koi come up to nibble at her fingers. "Then it sounds like, however terrible his actions, however ill-thought out they might have been, he did it at least in part for you. Intent can matter more than the outcome, if you want it to." She repeats herself, "You do not have to forgive him for what he did to you. But you can."

The tension leaves Sasuke's shoulders by degrees, and he bends down so they're eye to eye, not smiling but looking like he could. "I think you're going to make a great Daiymo, Masuyo."

She hopes so.

Her people are depending on her.

---

Tatsu should be going blind trying to decipher stupidly complicated treaties. That's what she'd told her lover she'd be doing. But a servant finds her and tells her to go the ballroom. She's expecting more blood, nobles turned against her lady, nothing short of a full scale disaster.

Instead there's Naruto standing in the center, looking perfectly, pointedly relaxed. Her shoulders are low and there's a determined easiness to the cant of her hips.

Tatsu has to wonder how often she's been this close to breaking if the palace's servants can read the koi's moods so easily on so little.

She steps into the ballroom. Naruto doesn't look at her, but she knows that the other women knows she's there. "I am afraid," she says, and Tatsu winces. She can't imagine Naruto's Madame Koi was any more lax about admitting uncertainty than her own was.

Tatsu is well trained in the art of conversation, but none of the tricks she knows will work on Naruto. They were taught he same ones, after all. So instead she slides her shoes from her feet and pulls a kunai from her sleeve. She doesn't insult Naruto by giving her any warning, and instead the next moment the two of them are fighting, clashing steel against steel.

Tatsu is under no illusions. Naruto could defeat her within three moves. But the point of this isn't to win, and so they come together and break apart in a deadly, beautiful dance that all koi know the steps to.

---

Neji hadn't been angry with her. He'd been upset, of course, furious and hurt and a deep well of sadness and grief. But none of that had been directed at her. She'd been prepared for it. Neji was a far better shinobi than she ever would be, but she'd already decided that when he attacked she wasn't going to fight back, letting him land a few good hits was the least she could do. But he'd thanked her. Already dead or not, she'd taken his parents away from him a second time. He should hate her, but instead he'd thanked her and squeezed her hands and told her that he was honored that she held his loyalty.

Now she's on a training field, a log splintering under her fists. Neji was stuck mourning his parents all over again and Hinata had avoided a painful death only by the mercy of Naruto's presence. Every time the wood bit deeper into her skin and left her knuckled bloody she felt that much more anchored.

"Hey." Hanabi whirls around, chest heaving. Lee stands there in an opening stance, and she can tell by the look in his eyes that he's spoken to Neji and that her cousin had told him everything. Good. That means that Tenten is probably with him, and she doesn't want Neji to be alone right now

"What do you want?" She glares. Lee is Neji's best friend, he should be with him too.

He jerks his chin over at the log, "I bet I'll give you a better work out than that thing. Come on."

"Why?" she snaps, "What do you care?"

A normal person would snap right back at her, but Lee only smiles and says, "I care, Hanabi. Isn't that enough?"

Oh god, he needs to stop talking right now. She swings into an offensive move that's even taken Hinata down a time or two, but Lee easily dances out of the way. Chakra or no chakra, Lee has spent six years of his life training against Neji, the most talented ninja since Itachi Uchiha. If there's anyone she can go all out on without worrying about accidentally maiming them, it's Lee.

Hanabi attacks again, and he jumps around it, this time getting close enough that he nearly succeeds in kicking her in the ribs.

She will never be able to bring herself to thank him for this. The worst part is that she knows he doesn't expect her to.