Obito-Sensei Chapter 37
Erosion
By the end of the first month, Team Seven's time in Amegakure was beginning to feel real. That was about how long it took for the verisimilitude of their old lives to fade.
A big part of it was that for Naruto and Sakura, their lives had not changed that much. Both of them had been mostly independent before leaving Konoha: they had spent time with their parents, but never entirely relied on them, and knew how to account for themselves in everything from managing their money to cleaning up their rooms. It took Naruto a week to remember that the floor wouldn't automatically eat his garbage, but he adapted relatively quickly after that.
Sasuke had a harder time of it. He missed his clan and sometimes late at night, though he would never admit it, his mother. He wondered how she was doing, whether she had been executed. He slept without blankets because of the way the fear made his body burn.
As they learned from each other, all of Team 7 had similar apartments spread out across the city. Single room suites with an attached bathroom, all with a balcony, though Sasuke's had by far the best view. They all wondered why that was, but eventually decided it was down to random chance. Sasuke wasn't given unique treatment in any other way, and a nice view was too petty a concession if that was the actual goal.
By the end of the second month, Team Seven was beginning to internalize that they didn't know when they would be going home. Before then it had been something they understood, because it was obvious, but had not felt in their heart. They had another meeting with Orochimaru of the Sannin in that time, another meeting they did not remember: when they discussed it, they all agreed they had the sensation of having linked up with Konoha's agent within the Nation, but none of the details. Whoever it was was watching and guiding them, they decided, but was keeping them from knowing the truth. Why, they had no idea.
Like all children who travel to a new place, they began to make new friends after an initial period of friction and resistance. Sakura was already on good terms with Haku and Nonō thanks to the success of her first mission, but she quickly grew more familiar with the other members of their cadre. They took missions together, none so dramatic as the first, and got to know one another.
Zabuza Momochi was much as Naruto and Sasuke had described him: a huge and gruff man who approached everything with a passive animosity, like he expected even simple conversations to end with violence. Haku told Sakura after their second mission together that Zabuza had grown up in the Bloody Mist, and that he had slaughtered his entire graduating class to prove himself worthy of becoming a ninja. After that, Sakura had been somewhat scared of the man; what kind of person could kill that many people just to become a ninja?
She couldn't help but feel that it further opened her eyes. Konoha and Rain were standouts among the other villages, she thought. Mist was a slaughterhouse just a generation ago, Stone was Konoha's perennial rival, Sand was led by a Kazekage who turned his own son into a murderer and thought nothing of it, and she was sure the Hidden Cloud was no better. Only the villages led by the men who'd followed Jiraiya's vision were doing anything to justify their existence.
It was an extreme thought, but Sakura didn't question it. She had to be trusted to succeed, and Rain was a nation of extremists. She could and would fit right in.
The other members of the cadre did not inspire the same thoughts in her, with one exception. Kabuto was friendly and passive, Suigetsu harsh and bold. They were good fits for Naruto and Sasuke; Kabuto had the patience to handle Naruto's energy and Suigetsu the confidence to challenge Sasuke's casual superiority. Sakura had interest in them as teammates, but found that she couldn't spend too much time with them without chafing.
Kabuto was too friendly, to the point where she never felt she could trust him. The older boy always paid for meals, always held the door, always defused any potentially offensive joke with a light laugh. He wasn't like his mother Nonō, who Sakura had to admire for her constant confidence. It was like he had been trained to always hedge his bets and make friends everywhere he went, and Sakura couldn't reciprocate that sincere insincerity.
Suigetsu was just the opposite, naturally. He was rude, which did not play well with Sakura's newfound temper since she had let it speak more and more honestly since defecting. The first time she obliterated his head with a punch and shook out her wet fist, Sakura had realized that she could work with the boy made of water, but didn't want to spend time with him. Sasuke got along with him, and that was just fine: the boys made a habit of puncturing each other's egos, a natural kinship that Sakura didn't understand and also didn't need to. It was good for Sasuke to have another friend besides Naruto, even if it was a weird boy friendship that looked more like violent competition.
He needed a reason to stay here. They all did.
Past all that, Karin was the odd one out.
The first time Naruto had met her, he'd done a double-take, and Sakura couldn't blame him. Karin was short and meek, with red-rimmed glasses that further drew out her eyes and hair. They were deep red, almost the same color as Kushina's.
She was an Uzumaki, it eventually came out. Like Nagato, though Sakura couldn't remember exactly how she knew that. She was one of the many refugees who had come to the Nation of Rain over the years, though no one was sure when or how. In some way, she was distantly related to Naruto through his mother.
That had been all Naruto needed, apparently. She'd been a friend within the week and a sister within the month. He'd brought Karin out of her shell with his earnestness, and as usual without even trying.
The same way he'd done for her, Sakura sometimes thought, feeling a sting of what might be jealousy. But Naruto had defected for her: Karin was just a member of his mother's scattered clan. It wasn't a rational feeling.
Which didn't stop her from having it.
They went on missions over those two months, almost always in different team compositions of three, though Team Seven couldn't help but notice that it was never just the three of them. That was just common sense, even if they were trusted. Another detail that could not be overlooked was that of the dozen missions they were sent on, none of them involved the Hidden Leaf in any capacity.
Rain and the Amekage did not want them to make some grand statement of their loyalty, Sasuke said one night as they had teriyaki at a new restaurant Sakura had discovered in the basement of a ninja-tools shop, and Naruto had nodded in agreement with a mouth full of food. Them defecting had been more than enough: forcing them to work in opposition to the Leaf would just be stupid and pushing their luck.
That was how it went, day by day and week by week. Team Seven made new friends, found new places, created new habits. It's not that much different from Konoha, they said to each other, except that it was a lot damper. Sakura discovered a taste for fried fish that she hadn't appreciated back in Konoha, Sasuke improved his ninjutsu with competition after competition, and Naruto eventually gathered the courage to approach both Yakushi's about their spectacular medical jutsu.
He didn't want his friends getting hurt, he said, and if they did he wanted to be able to fix them.
They all missed their homes, their families, their friends, and their sensei. That couldn't be avoided. But it could definitely be worse.
###
Sakura sat back and chewed thoughtfully as Naruto gave her a pleading look. "It's really that hard?" she asked, and he nodded. She was trying out a new salmon strip, and it was fantastic: the good food made Naruto's despair a little more amusing.
"You know I've never been crazy with chakra control, Sakura. That's your thing," he whined. On Sakura's other side, Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"You mastered the Rasengan, didn't you?" he said. Naruto huffed. They were having dinner at Sakanaya, the restaurant that Sakura had grown to adore: the wooden floor was always shiny and spotless, the seats were wide and comfortable, and there was a counter where you could sit and eat as you watched the chef, an older woman named Miyo, prepare the meals. That's where they were, shoulder to shoulder as they gulped down their food.
"That was different. It's like… it's like being able to pat your belly and rub your head at the same time," he said, demonstrating on himself. Sakura giggled. "Like it's hard at first but eventually it's just muscle memory, so you forget how to, like, not do it. But this kinda stuff-"
"Will be the exact same," Sakura said. Naruto gave her a doubtful look. "How long were you working on the Rasengan anyway Naruto? A couple months?"
"Uhh…" Naruto started counting on his fingers. "Like five months? Almost six, I guess." He blinked. "Jeez, yeah. Dad gave me my first balloon after Obito's bell test."
"Bell test?" Sakura shifted, looking past Naruto, and Karin blinked back at her. The other Uzumaki had joined them for dinner, but hadn't ordered much beyond soup. Sakura didn't really get the appeal of fish soup: wouldn't you miss out on all the textures then? "What was that?"
"Oh!" Naruto turned back towards her, chopsticks almost going flying. "That was the test we did to see if we'd make genin after we graduated. It was an old thing apparently: my dad went through the same one, and he put Obito through it too, and then he did it for us." He laughed. "But he changed the rules up. The way I heard it, the original test was about taking the bells from your teacher. You know, to prove you could work together against someone stronger than you."
Karin was nodding along with a serious expression; Sakura just picked at her food. It felt weird for them to share personal details of Konoha's history like that, she thought, and it was without a doubt Konoha's history. But if they'd abandoned the village, why would they treat it with any special consideration? Naruto was even better at being a defector than her, maybe because he didn't spend so much time thinking about it.
"But Obito reversed it: he gave each of us a bell to protect from him, and then kicked our asses." Sasuke let out a chuckle, and Sakura couldn't help but echo him. "Actually, Sasuke and I both totally lost." Naruto turned back to her with a smile, and as ever, Sakura's heart jumped. "We only won 'cause of Sakura."
"You beat Mangekyo no Obito?" Karin asked, eyes wide behind her glasses, and Sakura snorted.
"Hell no," she said. "I was scared out of my mind, so I did the only thing I could think of." She took another bite of salmon to illustrate the point. "I ate it."
"You ate it?" Karin blinked.
"She ate it," Sasuke confirmed. "What was he going to do, rip her guts out? Obito isn't that sort of guy." Karin grimaced.
"It's weird, the way you guys talk about him," she said. "From what I've heard of him, he seems like the kind of person who definitely would do that. But you three, he was your teacher, and you make him sound like… a normal guy. And a good teacher." She glanced between the three of them. "A great one, actually."
"He is. Was," Naruto said.
"Then why'd you leave him?" Karin asked, and Sakura cocked her head at the suddenly precise question. The girl didn't look devious, just curious. "I'm sure you all had your own reasons, but if you had someone like that in Konoha… I guess I just can't understand leaving someone like that behind."
She had never had someone like that, Sakura immediately realized. Karin had been a refugee and an orphan all her life. What, was she stupid? Why hadn't she seen that right away?
Sasuke spoke first. "Obito's a great guy," he said carefully. "But because of his reputation, and how important he is to the village, he had a lot of responsibilities. Things he couldn't do, no matter what. And that made it so he couldn't…" He frowned. "Couldn't give us what we needed, I guess."
"I'm sorry," Karin said. "I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine." Naruto waved her off. "He was a great sensei, like Sasuke said. It wasn't his fault things turned out like they did."
"Did you think about asking him to come with you?" Karin asked, and Sakura shook her head.
"Never," she said, and Karin pursed her lips. "Obito-sensei never tried to make us… not question the village, I guess, but he also wasn't the kind of ninja who would. The Hidden Leaf gave him everything; he couldn't afford to challenge it."
"Hmm." Karin went quiet, and they all ate the rest of their meal in silence.
"Don't think we forgot about your whining," Sakura said when she was finished with her strips, catching Naruto with a mouthful of rice. "Why'd you bother asking Kabuto about medical ninjutsu if you didn't think you could do it?"
"Cause I thought I could do it," Naruto said with a cocky grin, and Sakura grinned back. "Whining is part of my process, you know?"
"Well, careful about it," Sakura said slyly. "Nonō might test you with something freaky: she seems like the kind of person to do that."
"It'll be fine." Naruto shrugged. "Kabuto's just got me trying to separate water and milk now. Like, to get a sense for that sort of control."
"Gross. Seems like a waste of milk."
"Well, I get to drink it if I separate it out!" Naruto stuck out his tongue. "So it tastes like shit when I mess up," he said with a laugh.
"At least you'll be able to fix us up when you're finished," Sasuke said, before giving a mean smile. "If you finish."
"Hey, what're you-?" Naruto started to jibe back, and then he paused. Sakura noticed it too: the idle chatter of the other customers in the building had gone silent. She twisted her head and looked over her shoulder towards the entrance, trying to see what had drawn their attention.
It was immediately obvious: there was a man standing in the doorway, tall and pale, covered in a thin red and black Akatsuki cloak. He had long white hair, all the way past his shoulders, and two red dots on his brow, almost like a second pair of eyes. He was scanning the restaurant, and when Sakura turned his unerring gaze settled on her without a change in expression.
He stepped forward, and conversation uncertainty resumed as he silently made his way across the wood. The staff did not shout their welcome: it seemed they were just as unsettled as everyone else.
"Hey," Naruto said, elbowing Karin as the man walked towards them. "Who's that?"
"Kimimaro Kaguya," she whispered, like saying his name out loud would be profane. "One of the Akatsuki's commanders."
A commander? Sakura knew the Akatsuki was outside of the normal chain of command in the Nation, but nothing about its internal makeup. Just one more piece of information important enough to note, but not important enough to have sought out. She spun around in her chair as Kimimaro drew up before them, his eerie gaze sweeping across all four of them.
"Sakura Haruno," he said, and she straightened up. Everyone was looking at her now, even her teammates. "Your presence is requested."
Requested, not required, but Sakura didn't care to question why. She glanced at Sasuke. "You want me to-?"
He gestured easily. "I'll pay. Go on; seems important."
She nodded in thanks and hopped off her stool, giving her jacket a perfunctory dusting. "Of course," she said with a slight bow, and Kimimaro inclined his head back. "Lead the way."
He turned, every movement precise and mechanical, and strode out of the building with the clear expectation she'd follow. Sakura had to scramble to keep up with him, leaving her friends behind and pulling her hood up as she moved out into the thick wet air of Amegakure. It was a very wet evening: the clouds were very angry today, as some of the locals would say.
Kimimaro set a fast pace, moving from a quick walk to a jog to an outright run as they drew away from the restaurant, leading Sakura through several alleys, past a thoroughfare, and then straight up a building. She drew alongside him, putting in some effort but trying not to show it, and flinched as a particularly thick raindrop hit her right in the eye.
"Who's requested me, sir?" she asked.
"Who else?" he didn't even glance back. "The Amekage wish to speak to you."
'What for? Kicking you out already?'
Sakura stomped down on her fear. It had been more than two months now, and she'd been nothing but a model shinobi. She was just being stupid.
"Do you know what for?" she asked. Kimimaro shook his head once.
"I do not." He looked back at her, his eyes still flat. They were near the top of the first building but he was changing his trajectory a little, and a moment later they leapt across the gap from one to another, landing on a leering demon's face and continuing upwards. They were drawing close to the center of the village, Sakura was pretty sure. "Are you concerned?"
"I'm nervous," Sakura admitted freely, and the man nodded. How old was he anyway? He had a face like he was forty, but Sakura was starting to suspect he was less than half that, only a couple years older than her.
"That's good," he said. "It means you're not a fool, after all."
Sakura didn't know how to respond to that so she didn't, and they cut a path through the rain for another couple minutes. It was as she had suspected: they were heading for the Amekage's tower at the center of the village, a towering obelisk of black metal that they'd inherited from Hanzo the Salamander. That story was common enough that she'd heard it twenty times over.
Kimimaro came to a stop on a balcony about halfway up the tower, and courteously opened the wide door there for her, bringing them both in from the rain. When Sakura thanked him, he didn't respond; just regarded her with those flat teal eyes.
He strode ahead, down a hall and up some stairs. Another flight, a third, and down another hall. The whole tower was a three-dimensional maze, and Sakura quickly lost track of her original direction. The walls of the halls were covered in tapestries and designs of the elements, legends, angels and gods. It was dizzying to look at, to consider all the work that had gone into creating art that was meant to be walked by.
"Here," Kimimaro eventually said, gesturing to another grand double door made of a dark wood. He soundlessly pushed it open, revealing a smaller room on the other side.
Sakura stepped in, and he spoke. "Sakura Haruno, as requested," was all he said, and then the door closed behind her with a muffled 'click.'
The room was small, maybe the size of Sakura's apartment, with a thick purple carpet and wood-panel walls perfect for absorbing noise. There were circular black chairs lining the walls and a short table made of stainless steel in the center, upon which was set a Go board. Sakura didn't need to be an expert to see that it was a masterfully hand-crafted board, the kind that probably cost thousands of Ryo.
There were three people in the room, and they turned to watch her as she entered. All were seated, two on either side of the board and one on one of the chairs circling the room. In the chair was Konan, dressed in a casual black dress that revealed her shoulders and the edge of her navel. Small red clouds were worked into it, dappling her skirt. She was leaning forward, engrossed in the game, but her face twitched into a smile when she saw Sakura walk in.
Yahiko was there as well, one half of the game. With tan pants and a black t-shirt, he looked like a shinobi on his day off, which he may well have been. He was frowning, hand on his chin as he surveyed the board. Sakura didn't know much about Go besides the very basics of the rules, but she was pretty sure he was playing black, and that he was losing.
It wasn't Nagato on the other side of the board. It was Jiraiya, and Sakura flinched as he looked up at her from the game, lone eye narrowed.
"So," he said, "you really did run away, huh?"
She wasn't ready for this. She felt her heart speed up in an instant.
"Sakura," Konan said before she could respond. "Take a seat, will you?"
Not knowing what else to do, Sakura did, trudging over to one of the chairs a quarter of the room away from Konan, at Yahiko's back: she wasn't bold enough to sit right next to the Amekage.
"Oh, not there," Konan said, patting the chair at her side, and Sakura swallowed. Konan was centered between the two men at the room's side. A neutral position that also put her in both their peripheral vision.
She slid into the chair feeling an intruder, and as she sat down Yahiko threw his arms up.
"Well, I'm screwed," he said, and Jiraiya smirked. "Another?"
"Sure," the older man said, resetting his side of the board. The whole thing was left clean. Sakura knew how to play Shogi, but all she knew about Go was that it was an entirely different beast. As Yahiko and Jiraiya both began moving, she understood why. Go started with a blank slate: as they placed their stones, black and white, strategic positions took place, the two men forming the kind of battlefield Shogi was fought across with their own placements. "While we're at it, you can tell me what you were hoping to accomplish bringing her here."
"It wasn't to throw you off," Yahiko said. His moves were quick but deliberate: clack clack clack. His teacher was slower, placing stones ponderously, but Sakura could see he was focused on defense and offense in equal measure: Go was a game where you had to beat your opponent decisively, but Jiraiya's approach was passive and patient. "I thought you might want to meet her. I'm sure you know that her teammates are here as well."
"Minato was furious," Jiraiya said, sweeping up one of Yahiko's strongholds. Sakura blinked; she hadn't even seen how Jiraiya had set up such a strong offense, and apparently neither had Yahiko. "Not that I can blame him. It was certainly rude of his son to up and abandon the Leaf like that."
"And perhaps indicative of a deeper problem?" Yahiko asked innocently. Jiraiya snorted.
"That's cute," he said. "But I wouldn't take the actions of teenagers as an unquestionable truth. Besides, Sakura left to spy on you guys, right? Naruto was just dragged along."
Sakura stiffened, and Konan nodded at her side. "So she admitted. But you of all people should know that she came for her own reasons as well, sensei."
"Oh?" Jiraiya said. Clack, clack, clack. He turned towards Sakura, fixing her with his single dark eye. "Well? Is that the case, Sakura?"
Sakura wet her lips, trying to think of what to do and defaulting to honesty for lack of a better option. "After Waterfall, when you were talking to us about Ninshu," she said, and Konan raised an eyebrow, "you said that the Akatsuki you killed Danzo for was gone. But after what Haku had told me about the Akatsuki, what it stood for… I wanted to see if that was true."
"Hmm," Jiriaya said, and Sakura noticed Yahiko was pressing in on him: there seemed to be more black than white. "Well, that was fair of you, I suppose."
"It was?" Sakura couldn't keep the surprise out of her tone, and Jiraiya rolled his eye.
"I am a bitter old man with many enemies and many regrets," he said dramatically. "You'd be stupid to trust me without reservation, wouldn't you?"
"You told them about Ninshu, huh?" Yahiko said. "That explains their attitude: it felt like they already knew a little something about the world."
"They could fake that easily," Jiraiya said dismissively.
"Then I'm sure you also told her that you think the Nation has become just another village," Yahiko said, and Jiraiya nodded, clearly bored. Sakura could tell this was an old topic between the two men.
"Well, do you think that's true, Sakura?" Konan asked. She glanced at the woman, pursing her lips.
"Oh, don't interrogate her," Jiraiya griped. "She's already in an impossible situation. It wouldn't be fair."
"Well, that is part of why we invited her here," Yahiko said. Jiraiya shook his head.
"An invitation can be refused. I doubt she felt like that was a possibility. You sent one of your Akatsuki for her, right? She probably felt it was critical." He sighed. "I don't mind you forcing us together, Yahiko, but please don't act like she had a choice in the matter." He gestured, arms wide. "This whole village is like that now, cloaked in false choices. It's why I come for these meetings, even if we never agree during them."
"Hmm." Yahiko frowned, and Sakura couldn't tell if it was anger or remorse on his face. "My apologies, sensei."
"That's alright," Jiraiya said. He was dominating the board again. "So, what were you intending?"
"Sakura is a wonderful ninja," Konan said. Sakura felt like a bug under a microscope, but Konan smiled warmly at her. "She's already done Rain enormous service, even if she's only been here for a couple months. Waterfall has agreed to a defensive alliance thanks to her. We thought there could be some value in the two of you meeting."
"Oh? Still wrapping up those minor villages?" Jiraiya shifted. "I was wondering if that was what Waterfall was about." His face hardened. "You put that whole thing together, huh?"
"Not in the way you're thinking," Yahiko said, his smile fading. "But…"
"But you can't tell me more because the uncertainty of the other villages is critical to you now," Jiraiya said, his tone cruel. "This is what I mean, Yahiko." He sat back, abandoning a game he was about to win. "The Nation you've created is no different from any other Hidden Village."
"The Nation isn't in service to anyone," Yahiko said, crossing his arms. "That independence is key to-"
"You don't have any independence!" Jiraiya laughed. Sakura fidgeted, feeling very much out of place. "None that matters."
"That's ridiculous," Yahiko said, growing a little colder. Konan leaned back, watching both men patiently, and Sakura tried to take some comfort from her calm. She could feel the furnace in her heart heating up. "We are our own masters here in Rain: no Daimyo to answer to, no government encouraging war with our neighbors for land or resources." He raised three fingers. "You told us yourself many times, money, fear, and hatred are the things that perpetuated the world wars. All those things are driven by the government."
"And you've become the government. You've said it yourself." Jiraiya shook his head in obvious disgust. "The problem is not an outsider creating those circumstances, Yahiko. Any human will manage it just fine all by themselves! You can say the Nation is independent, but it is still a part of the system of shinobi and villages, and by participating, it spreads those triggers!" He patted the carpet. "Look around at what you've made: Rain is full of wealth, which inspires both ambition and jealousy. It's amassing the loyalty of minor villages, with Waterfall only being the latest. And it is taking brilliant young boys and girls like Sakura here," he pointed at Sakura, who blushed, "for its own, away from their families and homes, so that they can pursue its goals. That creates hatred. The Nation is exactly what you created it to surpass."
"It's a work in progress," Konan said, cutting off Yahiko before he could continue. His face was going red. Jiraiya gave her a contemptuous look, and she returned an unimpressed one. "Sensei, it's the problem of ninjutsu that you first espoused to us. When one group masters ninjutsu, it becomes necessary for others to take it up as well, lest they have no defense against it. You can call it evolutionary pressure, or gravity, or some other fundamental force if you want, but any new nation that has been created in the last fifty years has taken the form of a Hidden Village, because they are the most stable structures."
"Not-" Jiraiya said. Konan shook her head, speaking quickly.
"Not stable, you're right. Successful," she corrected herself. "Systems upheld by shinobi have been proven the most successful. If Rain hadn't been, it would just have been overrun… as it nearly was, before you saved us."
"That, I'm more sympathetic to," Jiraiya said, leaving Yahiko to stew. "But then the question becomes, how do you plan to have Rain evolve beyond yet another Hidden Village?"
"By coalition," Sakura blurted out. All the adults in the room looked at her, and she fought the urge to shrink into herself. "Right? That's why you're making alliances with minor villages like Waterfall."
"That could be part of it." She felt a thrill as she realized that Jiriaya was addressing her directly. "But plenty of Hidden Villages have alliances with one another. They've never paved the way to peace before; the Hidden Sand and Leaf are allies at the moment, but I doubt you think of them that way, Sakura."
"No," she had to concede. To tell the truth, she was more frightened of Sand, and Gaara, than any other village. "But there could be other parts of it, right? Like…" She stopped, suddenly unsure if she even had a place to speak here, but Jiraiya made an obvious 'get on with it' motion with his hand. "The Nation is filled with shinobi from other villages. Me, and Naruto, and Sasuke of course, but there are ninja here from every major village, from every country." She looked over to Konan. "Which I don't think has ever been done."
"No," Konan said with a smile. "That is unique to Rain."
"But that diversity is considered proof of Rain's treachery," Jiraiya pointed out. "Some of whom you call refugees, other countries and villages call criminals or traitors." He paused. "That said, I see where you're coming from, Sakura. If Rain can become a melting pot of other nations, it can also have a unique advantage in bringing them together."
"Sure," Sakura said, trying to pretend that was definitely what she'd been thinking.
"I've said that…" Yahiko grumbled, and Jiraiya shushed him.
"You've said it in a stupid way," he said, and Konan giggled. "You always were a kid with an eye for world domination, Yahiko: it flavors everything you say."
"Hey, it's a peaceful sort of domination," Yahiko said guilelessly. "Violence and hatred just don't work for that kind of thing," he continued with a laugh. "Even if Rain did conquer the world, we'd eventually just get conquered in turn, and then everything would be even more fucked up than before." He sobered up. "You know me, sensei. You know all of us. We don't want a war. Everything we're doing, we're doing to keep one from happening."
"Like nabbing a Bijuu?" Jiraiya said shortly. Yahiko's face went flat.
Sakura held her breath. She wouldn't have been sent if Jiraiya could just ask that question and get away with it, and Yahiko proved her right a moment later.
"If we did that," he said quietly, "it would be pretty unacceptable." He glanced up at Jiraiya, his head low, and moved one of his pieces into a weak position in the corner of the board, still unclaimed. "We can only hope the Nanabi shows up again soon, to settle this one way or another."
"Hmph." Jiraya seized his stones, and the game was over in his favor within forty seconds. "Have you considered the principle of Ko?"
"What?" Yahiko asked as he cleared his side of the board. "Did I mess that up again? I was trying not to do it."
"Not in the game," Jiraiya said, sounding tired. "In your nation."
"Ko?" Sakura quietly asked Konan as the men continued, and she bent in, her hair brushing Sakura's shoulder.
"A rule in Go," she said. "You can't reoccupy a space that was just captured: it's to prevent repeated moves." She made a little motion with both her index fingers, one finger trapping the other and then getting trapped in turn over and over, and Sakura understood. With Go having so many angles of play, there had to be a rule to keep the same space from being traded back and forth forever.
"The Villages don't have a concept of Ko," Jiriaya said, and Yahiko tilted his head. "That's why this story keeps getting repeated: no one knows how to let something lie."
"No one should," Yahiko said with a quizzical look. "It's fine to accept your loss in a game, but in reality? If you can try to fix your mistake…"
"But it never ends up being that," Jiraiya said. "It ends up being about revenge, about inflicting as much loss as you suffered. That's why this country was pounded into mud, Yahiko."
"And we're fixing that now." Yahiko waved his arms. "If the villages had Ko, then Rain would just have stayed empty and broken. It's not a good metaphor, sensei."
"Probably not," Jiraiya sighed. "There aren't any good metaphors for something like this. I'm trying to say that if you did take the Nanabi, then you're making the same mistake of assuming Rain needs to have the strengths of the other Villages to succeed. And if you didn't…" He turned over one of the white stones in his hand, delicately slipping it between his fingers. "Then a truly deranged man has a Bijuu all to himself, and tried to pin the blame all on you." He placed the stone in a silk bag at the table's side. "Because he knew he'd be believed: because Rain has made itself appear desperate for any kind of power."
"It's an honest desperation," Konan said, sitting up straight. "Even if you don't agree with us, Jiraiya-sensei, I think you won't regret training us."
"I never regret training you," Jiraiya said. He stood up, and everyone, including Sakura, followed him to their feet. "You've all become incredible ninja. It was clearly something you were born to do." He paused. "How is Nagato doing?"
"Well. Busy, as ever," Yahiko said, and Jiraiya grinned.
"I'm sure. He's always had a lot on his plate." He glanced at Sakura. "Does she know how important he is?"
"I don't know," Yahiko mused. "Do you know how important Nagato is, Sakura?"
She took a deep breath. "I know he has the Rinnegan. The Hokage told me about it before I left." She shrugged. "But aside from that, I don't really know much about it, or him. Or any of you," she said. "I don't know why I'm here. I don't think I know enough to really contribute to the conversation."
"It's not a conversation you need to know everything about to be a part of," Konan said. Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "There's no set answer, not yet. Even what you said today is a building block of what will help us build towards a solution."
"Hmm." Sakura gave them all a doubtful look, a distant conversation sparking her memory. "The Hokage told me that the last person who had the Rinnegan decided the course of the world. Do you all think Nagato will be the same?"
"Absolutely," Yahiko and Jiraiya said at the same time, and Konan smirked. Yahiko gracefully ceded the floor with a deferential wave of his hands, and Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "When you all talk about the Nation changing the game, stopping the system of shinobi that's caused all this suffering, Nagato is always going to be the lynchpin of that, whether he wants to or not." He gave Sakura a serious look. "The Sage of the Six Paths that I told you about, Sakura, the man who invented Ninshu, he was the first and last human to possess the Rinnegan, until now. Do you understand what I mean?"
The revelation shot through her like lightning. The Rinnegan had belonged to the person who had created the circumstances that led to the shinobi system millenia ago, and now it had reappeared within a group of people who were determined to end it. Sakura suppressed a shiver and nodded, and Jiraiya smiled.
"Well, if you get that, you'll probably go far here," he said, looking around. "Though I'll make a hypocrite of myself, I think."
"What do you mean, sir?" she asked, and he shrugged.
"Now that you've left one village for another, you'll have a more unique perspective on this question," Jiraiya said. "I've tried to get a straight answer out of both my teammates, but they haven't been helpful."
"What's the question?" Sakura asked, and she saw Yahiko roll his eyes.
"I think I have an idea," he muttered. Jiraiya laughed.
"You'd say loyalty is important, right?" he asked.
Was he implying something? Sakura took a minute to look like she was considering the question, furrowing her brow, but she was more concerned with whatever Jiraiya was implying. She didn't want to lose his respect, she realized, if she'd ever had it in the first place. She was overthinking it.
"Of course," she eventually said. "You can't have any sort of organization without loyalty in it. If people don't trust each other, they can't work together to do anything."
"Naturally," Jiraiya said. "But when you say 'loyalty in it…' notice that phrasing? What exactly does that mean?"
"Well, it depends what it is," Sakura said, answering from her gut this time. "Like if it's a society, or a village, you're loyal to that in that you obey it and don't undermine it. If it's a person, you have their back and support them. If it's a religion, you follow its tenets… and you have to be loyal to the other people that are a part of whatever it is you're loyal to as well, cause they all represent a piece of it."
"Close, but you're not going deeper," Jiraiya said. Sakura paused and glanced at Konan, and the older woman shrugged. She was either ignorant or good at feigning it. "What I'm curious about, Sakura, is whether you think you should be loyal to ideals, or to reality."
Sakura paused, blinked. The room was still, but not stifling: the Amekage were leaning in, waiting for her answer as well. She couldn't understand how she'd become the center of attention. "Because I came here," she said. Jiraiya grinned and nodded.
"Because you came here," he repeated. "You said that it was to find out for yourself if the Akatsuki that Haku had told you about was real. That tells me that you agree with that message: that conflict is a waste, and that shinobi should be humans, not tools of a larger entity. And naturally, that means you had some discontent with Konoha, which decided to use you as a tool. You felt you might not be able to be loyal to a village like that."
He crossed his arms. "But if you're loyal to ideals and reality doesn't meet them, where will you go next, huh?"
Sakura swallowed her fear and said something stupid. "I'd have to make them real," she said. Jiriaya cocked an eyebrow. "If the world let me down, if the Akatsuki let me down, I would just have to make it what it should be." The sound of her heart beating was deafening, with a Sannin and two of the village's leaders staring at her. "Maybe I should have done that in Konoha, but I didn't think I could. I wasn't brave enough to. I think the Akatsuki is closer to my ideals, or the ideals I want to have, and that's why I chose them."
Jiraiya didn't speak for a moment; no one did. Eventually, Yahiko broke the silence.
"Damn!" he laughed, and the other adults laughed with him. Sakura started, afraid she'd gone too far. "She got you, old man."
"Shut up," Jiraiya grumbled good-naturedly. "Most of the people you have around here are just mooks, you know."
"Some of them, yes," Konan said with gentle humor. "But Sakura is not someone who came here because she had no other choice. She could have become an elite shinobi in Konoha under Mangekyo no Obito: she left because she was a believer, even if she was given permission to." She gave Sakura a warm smile, and Sakura shyly returned it. "And she's right to say what she did: after all, it's people like her who will change the world."
"Uh uh." Jiraiya didn't sound too sure about that. He stood up from the table with a dismissive wave. "We should continue this another time, I think. I'll stay a little longer, if that's alright with you two."
"You're always welcome here, sensei," Konan said. "The Nation is Rain is your home as much as it is ours, even if you don't approve of it. It appreciates you more than the Hidden Leaf, that's for sure."
"Heh." Sakura couldn't tell what was held in Jiraiya's quiet laugh. "I guess so." He made his way to the door, and then turned back. "Thanks for the answer, Sakura."
"What did your teammates say?" she asked suddenly, and Jiraiya paused, his hand on the doorframe. "You meant Orochimaru and Tsunade of the Sannin, right? What was their answer?"
Jiraiya sighed. "They both left Konoha as well," he said. Sakura had never heard him sound so sorrowful. "Maybe we were all fated to, one way or another. That might just be how it is." He turned back to Sakura. "Tsunade is out there, wandering from town to town and country to country, wasting her life away at the bottom of a bottle. She told me that an institution or ideal can never deserve loyalty. They'll inevitably betray you. It's a fool's errand; only people deserve your loyalty, and only until they betray themselves."
"That's cynical," Sakura muttered, and Jiraiya shrugged.
"She lost everyone important to her. From her perspective, it's correct. Orochimaru…" he laughed, and Yahiko chuckled as well. "He's here, in the Nation of Rain, up to who knows what. Do you two even keep tabs on him?"
"Occasionally," Yahiko admitted. "We pop in and make sure he hasn't done anything unforgivable. But he's been very well behaved."
Orochimaru. For some reason, the name conjured up a smirking pale face in Sakura's memory, though she was sure she'd never even seen the man before. Weird.
"He doesn't believe in loyalty," Jiraiya said. "Not to the Rain, not to the Leaf, not to anyone or anything. He'd call it 'tolerance,' I guess. To that guy, it's all about what someone will let him get away with. How useful they can be. That's the only thing he'll ever regard the world with."
"What about you?" Sakura asked. Jiraiya cocked his head, still frozen by the door.
"What do you think?" he asked. Sakura shrugged.
"I read your book," she said. "Tales of a Gutsy Shinobi." Jiraiya and Konan both raised an eyebrow; Yahiko gave a little grin. "I think you'd be similar to Tsunade. That you'd be loyal to people, not to the things they build."
"How'd you get your hands on that?" Jiraiya mused. "It's been out of print for years." When Sakura stayed silent, he chuckled and kept speaking.
"You're close. I don't believe in loyalty to an institution either," he said. Sakura smiled, feeling a surge of confidence. "I'm loyal to my students, for trying to uphold their vision. I'm loyal to my friends, for the help they've given me. I'm loyal to my publisher, for making me rich." He smirked. "I don't have a deeper answer. I'm not a philosopher. That kind of loyalty is enough for me."
Before she could respond, he stepped past the door and closed it behind it. Sakura was left with just as many questions as when she'd arrived.
"Man," Yahiko said with a quiet laugh. "He's always so scary to talk to." He stood up, leaving the board on the floor. "Always feels like he's picking you apart."
"Did you really bring me here to talk to him?" Sakura asked, and Konan nodded.
"Of course. It's important that we see how you handle yourself, Sakura," she said. "On a mission or in a conversation with a man like him, it doesn't matter." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, black dress flowing. "You have enormous potential: it's vital to the Nation that you manifest it."
"Thank you. I think," Sakura said. Was everything in this village a test? Would she ever be able to drop her guard? She'd stopped thinking about it when talking with her peers, like Karin, but now she was more aware than ever that there were extra eyes on her.
"We are sorry for springing that on you," Yahiko said. He raised his hands. "In my defense, it was Konan's idea."
"Because I was confident she could handle it," Konan said. She smiled. "Which she did. Beautifully, considering the circumstances." Her smile faded. "However, we did want to discuss something else with you, Sakura."
"Oh." Sakura took a seat again, trying to maintain eye contact with the both of them. Naturally, it was impossible. "Okay."
"You've performed fantastically on missions, Sakura," Yahiko said, picking a hair off his shirt. "Nonō and Zabuza have had nothing but praise for you, Naruto, and Sasuke. According to them, you're all more than exceptional."
Sakura felt a smile creep across her face but didn't dare speak. She'd already talked too much.
"I'm sure you've noticed that so far, we've kept your missions confined to Rain and the minor countries," Konan continued. Sakura nodded. "We did not want to push you out of your comfort zone, but something has come up, and we believe your team would be an ideal fit for it."
"Something?" Sakura asked. Konan shrugged.
"The Land of Lightning and the Village Hidden in the Clouds have been growing more insular with every year," she said. Yahiko laughed.
"More paranoid, more like," he said, and Konan nodded in agreement. "Their Daimyo fears the Nation more than anything, and he's infected Cloud with that fear. They barely let anyone in nowadays until they're two-hundred percent sure that they're not one of our spies."
"Do you send a lot? Of spies, I mean," Sakura couldn't help but ask. Yahiko grinned.
"Oh yeah," he said with a wink. "But none have made it very far in." He held up a hand. "Now don't get me wrong, we're not asking you to be a spy. Not sure you're really in the right mental space for that. But we want you and your cadre to meet up with someone who is inserting into Cloud. It would be in the Land of Frost. You'll be helping them sneak in."
"How?" Sakura asked. "And who?"
Konan grinned. "By chasing them in. They're an… unusual shinobi. Someone who's not a member of any village."
Sakura considered. "Why are you telling me this? You'll be giving this mission to Zabuza and Nonō, if you haven't already."
"Because you'll be passing through the Land of Fire for this mission," Yahiko said, suddenly serious. "We want to send a larger contingent of your Cadre than usual: you, Naruto, Haku, Kabuto, Nonō, and Karin. You all have skills that will be critical, and we have another assignment for Suigetsu, Sasuke, and Zabuza besides. We're asking you first, Sakura, because we want to know if you and Naruto will be able to handle it."
"You may encounter shinobi from the Leaf," Konan continued, "even if it's unlikely. That's not something we want to subject you to without your consent. Confronting your former comrades can be incredibly painful." Her eyes had a sad cast. "We know that more than anyone."
Sakura did not and could not afford to hesitate. "Yes," she said, and Konan's eyebrow went up at her forthrightness. "If we're not ready by now, we never will be."
"You're making the decision for them," Yahiko said, and Sakura's doubt reared up from within like a snake. "That's good enough for me." He straightened up. "We'll do something official later, but that's just for the ceremony. People love that stuff."
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked.
"Sakura, you were denied a promotion, despite having obviously earned it, because you humiliated an ally of your village," Yahiko said. Sakura blinked. "As of right this second, you're a Chunin. Got it? You'll be the second in command for this mission."
"What?" Sakura said, and then tried to catch herself. "What?"
"Well, since Haku is a member of the Akatsuki he technically won't have to take your orders," Yahiko mused. "But I bet he would. You made an impression on him."
"Don't I need to do like… paperwork?" Sakura asked, her head spinning. She was a Chunin? Just like that? Shouldn't she have… done something? Yahiko snorted.
"Oh yeah, a lot of it. That's why we kept all the Daimyo's bureaucrats around. But you can worry about that later." He gestured towards the door. "Go share the good news, and tell Naruto to get ready. You guys will be heading out late tomorrow."
Sakura stayed seated for a moment, not sure if she was really being dismissed.
"You good?" Yahiko asked, and she shot to her feet.
"Yeah!" she said, surprised at herself. Was she really that happy to get a promotion? Her heart was singing; wasn't that a little shallow? Or was that the song of validation? "My apologies! Thank you!" She walked to the door so fast it was almost a run, and heard Konan chuckle behind her.
"Do the Nation proud," the Amekage said, and then the door closed behind her.
Sakura breathed out, her whole body shuddering, and found she couldn't contain it. She leapt into the air, letting out a silent yell and throwing out both her hands in pure exultation. She'd done it! Even if it had taken a couple months, she'd been promoted for fighting Gaara. All the doubt and fear that had festered inside her since she'd woken up in the hospital afterwards shot out of her in a single heavy exhalation, and she suddenly felt like she could kick down a building or jump past the clouds.
"Ahem." She froze as she landed and looked over to find Kimimaro standing farther down the hall. Had he been there the whole time?! Sakura felt her face boil. "Do you need an escort back?"
"Um… nope!" she said. Her voice came out at an embarrassing pitch. "I'm good! Thank you!"
She fled past him, down the twisting halls and to the high balcony and hurled herself off of it into the rain, sliding down a nearby building and into the city. She had to find Naruto and Sasuke, she thought, her hands tracing the wet steel of the building as she slid down it, chakra sticking her to it like a fly on a wall.
She had to let them know about the mission, and to let them know the good news.
She'd made Chunin before them. Sakura's cackle echoed through the stormy night.