Chapter 17
Katiya (two months later, approximate time: 12:30 AM)
Katiya arrived in the Land of Rice Paddies with Kabuto. They had taken a few detours to run errands for Oto, keep up with Kabuto's appearances for Konoha, and replenish their supplies. But they made it there in one piece. What's more, all of her Storage Scrolls were now refilled. Full of water, nondescript spare clothes replacing what was torn over the course of her running, and herbs for later use to form food pills.
What was left was to enter Otogakure.
...
"Sound-Hidden Village", if one were to translate the full village name of "Otogakure no Sato", was far from the phrase she would have used to describe the underground bunker she encountered, standing outside. For one, the "village" was no village.
"Is this it?" Katiya asked her travel companion.
Kabuto gave her a side glance of dark amusement. "It doesn't look like much, but there's a series of bunkers and caves just like these dotted across the Land of Rice Paddies, forming the rest of Oto. It's more than it looks."
She looked to the roof of the underground entrance, which was at ground level as so not to protrude. Two snakes were carved and then painted into a stone roof. The entire entrance to the bunker was cloaked in shadow. She swung her gaze around the area.
"How many shinobi are in this village? I never did ask."
"At the moment, a little over 5,000."
Katiya raised a brow. It was just barely a "little over" a fourth of Suna's shinobi population. "I suppose all the more room for growth."
Katiya took one last glance at the forest behind her. Silently bidding farewell to fresh air and her old life, the pair descended the steps leading into the cave.
Author's Note
You're going to have to forgive the excessive travel times before this chapter... I was... not considering the fact that Temari managed to get to Suna from Konoha in three days... so expect travel times to change... But do note that Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro all have genin experience right now... so they're going to be slow during missions until they build up to it (plus I always see Naruto and Co. walking during their missions so I think their decreased travel speed is warranted during those times).
Kankuro (one week later, approximate time: 3:10 PM)
Kankuro stood proudly with his year mates for the graduation photo. Dressed wearing his puppeteer blacks, his war paint drawn in a new pattern signifying the beginning of a new chapter of his life, and his hitai-ate proudly attached to the cat-like puppeteer hood he wore, the smirking grin he had on his face belied the sorrow he felt that day.
He lost many of his classmates during that night. Many of them stood there, posthumously in the form of their parents clutching framed portraits. They were granted the Academy graduation Suna hitai-ate, but like that did any good for them.
All the titles and all the condolences in the world wouldn't bring them back. Their portraits were to be given a special alcove in the school, a small area where no one would disturb them, but still it hurt.
"You're shipping out soon, aren't you?"
Kankuro whirled to look behind himself. It was his old academy teacher. "Yeah," Kankuro replied.
The elder shinobi nodded, sorrow playing his face as well, "We can use all the men we can out there."
Kankuro simply nodded, turning back to examine the portraits of classmates that would never be assigned a permanent sensei and never walk out of Suna on a mission. Shinobi did not cry, and so they stood. Silent. He brushed his hand up to touch his war paint. War paint reserved for puppeteers, drawn on by the ones ready to do battle for Suna. The design he took was more jagged than the ones some of the senior puppeteers did—signifying both youth, anger... and a desire for revenge.
He supposed it was as close to the message he wanted displayed as he could go. Because he intended to avenge the Academy students that were lost.
"Be careful out there," the elder continued after a moment, "It'd be a shame if we lost you too."
"Don't worry," Kankuro replied softly with just the barest hint of his usual arrogance, "I don't intend to die."
Temari (one month later, approximate time: 6:30 AM)
Temari awoke early to pick out her clothes. Because this day was a very special day. She came out of the shower—a proper water shower for a full twenty minutes rather than the Suna-mandated five—to open her closet. Sun shone through the curtains of her glass windows, illuminating her room with a blissful yellow hue.
Clothed in only her bathrobe and a towel over her hair, she ran her hand through the fabrics and pulled out what was already her favorite dress despite only wearing it once. One whose color she loved despite it being still too large for her. It was an off-the shoulder lavender dress that she had picked out for daily wear for when she was older. But still, even after all that time since she bought it, it was still too big for her to wear on missions or even around the village. With a sigh, she placed it back onto its rack to look for something else.
Guess I'll just have to wait until I grow into it, then.
She placed a hand on her worn-out black lace-up tops, which she had been wearing for years in the Academy.
Today is a special day. What would I be doing, wearing something like that?
She pulled out a blackberry short sleeved tunic that went to her elbows and mid-thighs, respectively. Thinking the tunic too dreary a color for this special day of hers, she threw the tunic onto her bed and moved to her dresser—where she kept her more armor-type clothing. She fished her hand about until she found what she was looking for: a stiff light purple kimono-style vest, woven tight like a gi.
That'll work for sure.
She tossed them on—first the black tunic, and then the vest and then black shinobi-style pants that went to the upper shin. She pulled on a bright red obi for her fan and added her tan shuriken pouch to her leg. Then, at last, she pulled a tube of mesh armor up the shin that was injured by Baki-sensei's kunai that day at practice. The skin, though healed, was still soft and slightly stiff.
She looked at herself in the mirror, finally stopping to tie her hair up into four bunches. The single shin-guard of mesh armor made her look lopsided, but she liked how it and her bright red obi made her… stand out, if ever so slightly. Something she wanted—no—needed to do to keep herself sane—to prove to herself that she was still there.
That her mom, a diamond in the desert, was still a part of her.
She tilted her chin up at her reflection in the mirror proudly, smirking.
Today is a special day, she told herself. Own it.
And indeed it was. The eighth month of the year, the twenty-third day. It was not only Temari's birthday, but also the day she was going to ship out of Suna for her first mission.
Her first mission with a brother that would like nothing more than to kill her and everyone else in the five Elemental Nations and beyond. If she didn't own the day, he would. And Temari would be damned if that'd happen.
Katiya (approximate time: 6:30 AM)
Orochimaru had not been in Oto the day she arrived, two months ago. But it would have been too much to ask if she were able to avoid him for the entirety of her stay in Oto, and she knew that.
She walked a respectful distance behind Kabuto, who was leading her to one of the many cavernous meeting rooms in the underground base. Damp dribbled down the molding walls and torchlight flickered down the length of the hallway. She knew her standing as Kabuto's current lab assistant could quickly change to lab rat based on the outcome of this meeting. She was riding on what Kabuto described as Orochimaru's tendency to respect personal choice to her advantage in that regard.
"We're here."
Katiya paused a moment, outside the door Kabuto pointed out. "Anything I should know before I pop in and say 'hi'?"
Kabuto gave her a smile that didn't meet the eye but said nothing. Katiya bit back a scowl as she pushed open the door and entered, her mind in a quiet calm akin to one before a storm. The torches on the walls spluttered at the shift in air current. She took in the room with a sweep of her gaze. Specimens in glass jars caught her eye—as did the tunnel that appeared to lead to further private living quarters behind the stone throne where a certain snake bastard sat.
Katiya walked into the chamber quietly, her legs tensed up in what would have been interpreted as confidence or preparation for movement. Her eyes averted, she knelt on one knee, following Kabuto rather than doing the customary bow universally accepted across the other nations. She breathed, calming the anxiety she felt upon entering as best she could. Ambient killing intent thickened the atmosphere despite the sensation of… amusement Katiya felt Orochimaru had at the moment.
She counted the seconds until Orochimaru nodded—her cue to rise.
Whereas Gaara's killing intent was jagged and sharp—as erratic as the shifting sand, Orochimaru's was lithe and as serpentine as the man emitting it. Whereas Gaara's—Shukaku's—fizzed and popped with erratic energy as it filled the room, Orochimaru's crept and writhed as it trained itself with laser-like focus on your being. Under his gaze, you were a specimen under a scalpel, a thing already dead.
He sat almost lazily in his throne, knowing as a fact that he was the most powerful man in the room. A thin strand of inky black hair fell in front of a gaunt paper-white face, standing in front of cold yellow eyes with slit-like pupils. Light purple clan markings that accentuated said eyes stretched down the sides of his narrow nose, seemingly amplifying the serpentine-like killing intent they generated.
"Katsu, was it?" he asked, his voice an aspirated hiss, though surprisingly less snakelike than Katiya expected.
"Only since getting chased out of Suna, sir," she said, taking a measured "risk". She knew it was only a matter of time before Kabuto dug up something and told it to Orochimaru. She calculated it was likely better to gain a stance of "blunt honesty, hidden details" like Kabuto did than have all her secrets spilled later by outright lying.
Orochimaru looked at her appraisingly. She met his gaze now, sensing it.
"Interesting," he hummed, "Tell me, Katsu, do you know who I am?"
"Only what I heard in passing, sir," she replied, maintaining the neutral tone of voice she had when she met Kabuto. It could have also been a question of how much she heard about him from her mother, although there was little, if any, family resemblance to invoke such a question. The dark hair she had, commonplace, and both her mother and father lacking any clan-markings to pass to their child. But either way, her response was the same.
"Interesting," Orochimaru repeated.
Kankuro (approximate time: 7:00 AM)
Temari was the last one to arrive at the entrance of the wall leading out of Suna. That was, if you didn't count Gaara, who was missing. Kankuro, decked out in puppeteer blacks and his war paint noted Temari's change in outfit.
He greeted her with a smirk. "Heh, you're late."
Temari put a hand on her hip. "Shut up, I'm still five minutes early, and it's not like you're not late to every other training session."
Kankuro grinned.
That's the Temari I'm used to seeing. Getting out of Suna'll do us some good… As long as I can put up with that little…
He turned to Baki. "... So… now we just need to wait for Gaara now, huh."
Baki looked to the sun to check the time. "No. We're leaving without him."
Temari and Kankuro exchanged glances.
"What, so sticking him on a team with us was just for show?" Kankuro asked a tad hopefully.
Baki started moving out through the only civilian entrance into Suna—a gap in a kilometer thick rock wall. "Come on, I'll explain on the way."
Gaara (approximate time: 7:15 AM)
Gaara left the Kazekage's office, tailing his siblings and his… master… a quarter of a kilometer away. The Kazekage gave him the privilege of another lecture, and Gaara was not keen on seeing himself die. He walked slowly behind them. Them, seemingly oblivious to his silent watching. His longing. To kill them all.
He would let them walk, let them stay far, far away in the false security the distance provided them.
WhErE'S YoUR SenSE of ADvENtURe, LiTtLe GaaRA? YoUr FaTHeR IsN'T HeRE RigHt nOw.
Gaara sucked in a breath.
It doesn't matter—Baki is strong enough to kill me. Father made sure of it.
CuRse hiM—CurSe FaTHeR foR This WrEtCheD CurSe—WhY ShoULd BaKi be exEmPT fROm aN EarLy DeATh?
Shukaku laughed, cackling at their joint thought. Gaara put a hand on his head, his skin beginning to itch as if sand were attempting to rub it off.
"I've sent Baki-sensei along with… your siblings ahead of you. And I've given him my permission to kill you should you get any closer than twenty-five meters to them, or give them any reason to question their security. Make no mistake, Gaara. My sending you on missions is not to give you free rein and per my instruction, Baki can and will kill you," the Kazekage had said to him.
Gaara trudged on, slightly behind his siblings as they made their way to the Land of Claws where they had to pick up an artifact to escort to the Land of Rain.
Gaara's purpose was to be a weapon. Baki, despite sending several glances over his shoulder every few minutes, made no move to exterminate him, and so Gaara would allow his presence to continue. Gaara's purpose was to be a weapon and wipe clean the earth of the human filth. Anything that stood in the way of that purpose—who could take his place as humanity's destroyer had to die. But Baki-sensei so far made no move to do so—he didn't even have the eyes for it. Weak.
So Gaara didn't mind him. He could always kill him later.
LATeR?! KiLL hiM—kiLL HiM NoW!
Gaara narrowed his eyes and continued walking forwards, actively restraining Shukaku, a part of himself he didn't mind embracing. Wanted to embrace.
Shut up, he whispered to Shukaku.
Shukaku banged his shoulder up against the bars of his seal as a response.
Silently, he wished for those stupid humans who threw things at him when he was young to magically appear before him—to give him an excuse, maybe—provoke this "Baki-sensei" into fighting him or at least ease the urge to kill both he and Shukaku had. So he could test—test whose will to live was stronger—whose purpose for clinging onto that cursed life of theirs was stronger: his or those cattle in the meat grinder.
Gaara growled. Sand shifted across the desert.
Kankuro (approximate time: 7:20 AM)
"So, what, we're just going let him stay behind us, where we can't see him?" Temari asked incredulously with yet another glance over her shoulder.
Kankuro snorted, "Long as he's not trying to kill us, what's the big deal?"
Temari turned her incredulous stare onto her brother. "We have a team member that can snap and kill us at any moment—'what's the big deal'?!"
"Hey, Father stuck us with him, nothing we can do about it, so we might as well just try to live with it and hope he doesn't kill us in our sleep, right?" Kankuro replied jokingly.
Baki glanced over his shoulder at his two students, leading to Temari and Kankuro glancing over their shoulders to see the young red-head glowering at them from the distance. Doing so was almost a reflex now.
I don't know what's worse—being out here with him or being back in Suna with Father and him.
Kankuro turned back to face north, the direction they were heading towards.
It's just one little runt—better I just deal with him alone rather than the both of them together. Micromanaging, useless piece of a father "Lord Kazekage" is.
"If anything, it's better like this. We can't do anything that might set him off from over here, and we've got that much more reaction time with the extra distance, yeah?" Kankuro rationalized aloud after a length.
Temari frowned.
Damn it, why the hell did he have to go off and put us on a team with him? Kankuro mentally (and rhetorically) wondered. And I thought Temari finally cheered up from this… mess.
"Come on, I'm sure Baki's strong enough to kill the bastard if anything happens, right Baki-sensei?" Kankuro asked his sensei.
Baki-sensei stiffened. "Yes. Of course," he said a tad too quickly, "The Lord Kazekage has also given me the... permission... to kill Gaara, if necessary."
Both Kankuro and Temari exchanged glances at that thought.
Gee, I don't suppose you can kill him now and save us the trouble, now can you?
As if hearing the thought, Baki cleared his throat and continued, "The distance between us and… Gaara is also a safety measure to ensure we don't suffer any injury from the ANBU being sent to kill Gaara, or Gaara himself."
"You're joking, right?" Kankuro asked, genuinely surprised.
Baki did not reply.
So, what then, us being on a team with Gaara is…
Temari (approximate time: 7:20 AM)
… a plan B?
Temari swung her gaze around. And once again, she was greeted by Gaara staring intently into her. With a suppressed shiver, she faced forwards again.
Lord Kazekage—Father assigned us with him because we're the only genin team that could take him, probably—that could handle him. Suna—Suna's—Gaara's been killing too many people in Suna—
Temari's memory flicked to the roof that nearly killed her and the cyclone of sand—intense, infinite sand—all of it attempting to destroy everything in sight—destroy her.
So that's why Father wants him gone. We've lost too many people now. Too many troops, Temari thought, her mind calming. We're the plan B—to make sure Gaara doesn't kill any potential clients… if assassination fails.
So at least, one way or another, Suna keeps getting paid. And that's all that matters.