A/N: Many thanks to apooooop, Halberdier, HoratioVonBecker, Meneldur, and Paneki for beta reading help.
-o-
The next few days were miserable for Naruto. There was a doomsday clock ticking in the background, and giving Hinata space meant Naruto had no way to guess whether it was counting down to "Hinata finishes processing and comes over to discuss the revelations" or "Hinata concludes that this is way more than she signed up for, and also Naruto is apparently really, really bad at something, so she breaks up with him". (He'd spent a sleepless night pondering what the something might be, but there was no way to test any of his dozen theories.) Worse, he had no way to influence the process without disrespecting her wishes and making things even worse.
On top of that, he also had to stay out of the way of the Hinata Protection Squad in case they saw Hinata upset and unfairly leapt to the right conclusions (sooner or later, there would need to be a final showdown with Hinata's various self-appointed champions, but not while Naruto had the moral low ground).And he had to avoid Tenten while not doing anything that could make her feel like he was avoiding her. A second date(?) right now was apocalyptically out of the question, but he could also easily envision a scenario where he told Tenten he'd be too busy to spend any time with her for the foreseeable future, Tenten sought advice from someone like Gai-sensei, and Gai-sensei reasonably explained that this was what someone said when they hated your guts and never wanted to see you again, but were too nice to say so (Sakura had experimented withmany different rejection strategies before settling on her final approach of blunt hostility, backed by the threat of brute force).
With all that constantly on his mind and the shine steadily wearing off the once-exciting variety of reconstruction missions, he was practically thrilledwhen Kakashi-sensei finally freed himself from his highly-classified post-invasion work long enough to summon Team Seven to a meeting at the training grounds at an egregiously early hour.
The sun was low in the sky, as if expressing its desire to sleep in a little longer–an attitude with which Naruto could fully empathise. The grass glistened with morning dew in such light as there was. The training grounds were eerily silent in a way they never were in the daylight, with no distant taijutsu yells or intriguing noises of a hundred different ninjutsu being inflicted on the long-suffering natural environment. Naruto's teammates were silent too, Sakura having run out of complaints while Sasuke was busy being performatively stoic (or sleeping with his eyes open; sometimes, it was hard to tell).
"Good morning, you three."
At this point, none of them so much as flinched when Kakashi-sensei appeared next to them from behind a tree there was no possible way he could have reached unseen (and yes, a bored Naruto had swept the area for Substitution targets in case the jōnin was planning one of his spontaneous tests). Sooner or later, even unpredictability became predictable. However, despite Kakashi-sensei's casual entrance, they were all immediately alert. Matters had to be serious if he was only half an hour late.
"You may not have heard me over the other night's gluttony," Kakashi-sensei said, "and I'm not convinced Naruto was listening to begin with, so before we get down to business, I should congratulate you again on your performance during the invasion. The three of you made a significant contribution to Leaf's success, and more importantly, you survived. Keep up the good work."
Naruto grinned. Sasuke gave an indulgent nod as if the praise was only natural, even though Naruto's masterwork of persuasion had left him completely irrelevant.
Sakura, however, just stared at the grass at her feet.
"But in the end, I didn't do anything," she protested. "It's nice that you're trying to make me feel better, but… can you not? Coming from you, it just sounds sarcastic."
Kakashi-sensei sighed.
"Sakura, I'm not denying that Naruto, Sasuke, and the others went well beyond the call of duty against Gaara, and succeeded where some of our finest jōnin failed. But you can't let that blind you to the fact that while they were off implementing their insane plan, you were the one who did youractual duty, which was to report the situation to the people qualified to make decisions on how to handle it.
"Don't think I missed the fact that you stayed to help when that duty was done either. Your job at that point was to go back to your assigned task, not prepare traps and reinforce defences. The courage to do that, in the knowledge that if they were needed, it meant Superteam Storm had failed and you'd be fighting against overwhelming odds… to my mind, at least, it's as worthy of respect as anything Naruto and the others managed to accomplish."
He paused.
"In the rush to get stronger, I think you may all have started to forget what it means to be a ninja. Defeating the enemy in front of you is just one facet of it. Yes, the fact that you managed to repel Gaara is extraordinary. From the perspective of lives saved, you deserve all the acclaim you've received from the village at large. But if even a single part of your plan had gone wrong, we'd have lost two clan heirs, Leaf's only demon host, its last Uchiha, and its most promising young weapons specialist for nothing, as well as risking a diplomatic incident with Hidden Grass at a time when Leaf can't afford new enemies. No leader worthy of the role would have authorised such a mission. From a strategic perspective, Sakura is the only one who acted appropriately, and from the perspective of what Leaf needs from its ninja in wartime, I'd say she's currently closer to chūnin promotion than either of you two."
Sakura stared at him, lost for words.
"Based on what you've told meso far, I strongly suspect I can follow your thought processes," Kakashi-sensei said. "At the very least, I'm prepared to trust that you had your reasons for deciding to act independently, and didn't just rush off after deciding that you were the only heroes capable of saving the day, as many of the genin who rest in the Leaf shinobi cemetery once did. But I need to know that you understand what therightthing to do under those circumstances was, and that next time, you'll do it. Your success and the resulting public acclaim may have led Command to turn a blind eye to your insubordination this time, but make a habit of it and you'll have a very short career–one way or the other."
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances.
"We should have reported the intel to a senior officer and let them take charge," Naruto admitted. "But there was no time, and if they didn't believe us–"
Kakashi-sensei held up a hand. "This isn't the Academy. I won't lie to you and claim that the officer in charge always knows what they're doing. I've completed more missions than you can imagine–certainly more than you saw in my public record–and a fair few of them went south because of a poor call at the top. I've made one or two poor calls myself.
"Even so," he said seriously, "those who don't obey the rules are trash. The entire chain of command is built on the assumption that people get promoted because they've proved their skill and judgement, and there are mechanisms in place to make sure that the few bad apples don't go unnoticed for long."
"What about Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto protested.
"Don't make the mistake of conflating competence and loyalty," Kakashi-sensei said curtly. "Some of Leaf's worst enemies were once its best shinobi."
Next to Naruto, Sasuke gave a nod of understanding.
"Yes," Kakashi-sensei went on, "good shinobi have died because they got a worse commander than they deserved. Many,manymore have died because they didn't trust their commander and did what they thought was right instead of what the mission needed. Often, they brought the entire team down with them."
He gave a long pause so the genin could absorb this.
"In case you're wondering," he added, "this is also why merely winning the Finals doesn't guarantee a chūnin promotion, while losing them doesn't prevent one. The judgement you displayed at every stage was just as crucial to your final evaluation as your academic ability, your adaptability, your survival skills, and your combat performance."
"It wasn't just me," Sakura said reluctantly. "Sure, I suggested it, but it wasn't like I could just run off and leave these two lummoxes to their own devices before I was sure they knew what they were doing. It was a team decision."
"The best kind of decision," Kakashi-sensei said, with a touch of pensiveness. "Never forget that."
For a moment, he looked away from them, into the distance.
"I didn't summon you here to lecture you," he continued. "I don't think I need to belabour the point of how much safer, easier, and more likely to succeed Operation Storm the Beach would have been if it had been carried out by experienced jōnin who'd analysed the intel you gave them and identified additional weaknesses and opportunities with their decades of experience and extensive arsenals. You can, and should, ponder that at your leisure.
"For now, we have a mission."
Naruto's steadily sinking mood, already deep in the subterranean thanks to his shaky love life, shot up immediately.
"If you're the one briefing us, that means it's something more exciting than reconstruction work, right, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Those rodents of unusual size not exciting enough for you?" Sasuke asked snidely. "I still remember you screaming like a little girl when that mutant nutria–"
"Let's not get distracted," Naruto said hurriedly. "What's the mission, sir?"
"I'll brief you on the way," Kakashi-sensei said. "We've got a fair journey ahead of us, so let's not waste any daylight. You've got one hour to grab your gear, then meet me at the northern gates. It's a C-rank with upgrade potential, so don't skimp on the weapons and ninja tools, and be sure to pack some plain"–his gaze stopped on Naruto–"plain civilian clothing. We may have to infiltrate hostile territory."
Naruto gulped. The obvious implication of being told to pack civilian clothing was that the Transformation Technique wouldn't be good enough–in other words, they'd be forced to fight in situations where they couldn't risk losing their disguises, or at minimum to bluff their way past opponents trained to check for infiltrating ninja. And while upgradestoC-rank weren't uncommon with unreliable clients, their last upgradefromC-rank had sent them into battle against Zabuza.
Next to him, Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he obviously saw the same implication. Sakura, despite being a clanless ninja whose off-duty outfitswere civilian clothing, had the distant look of someone trying to recall the teachings of Tasogare-sensei, the infiltration instructor, word for word. (Tasogare-sensei was an instructor with perpetually poor health, which led to other instructors regularly having to cover his classes–even if they happened to be teaching their own classes at the other end of the building at the same time. Knowing what he knew now, Naruto wondered why they didn't use the Shadow Clone Technique more often; maybe he'd underestimated how bad the chakra cost was for ordinary people.)
"Dismissed."
A mission outside Leaf, away from his romantic concerns, was exactly what Naruto needed right now. If Hinata wanted time to think in peace, she'd get it (and he could only pray that she'd come to the right conclusions). Meanwhile, he'd be well out of the way of any complicating factors, as well as having plenty of time to decide on his answer to Shimura's invitation. Hopefully, there'd be plenty of combat too, because he needed stress relief, and pranking Sasuke was getting harder as his Sharingan powers of perception improved.
[center]-o-/center]
The gate area was nearly empty at this awful hour of the morning: there were just a few merchants with their carts, seeking to get one over on the competition by hitting the road first, with the biggest cart accompanied by a bleary-eyed genin team escort. Naruto nodded to them, but they didn't seem awake enough to respond.
The great gates were wide open, as they always were during the day, the word "peace" written across them now bitterly ironic. Their safety and solidity meant nothing anymore, no matter whether they had been too slow to close in the face of a sudden assault or the traitor's help had allowed the invaders to bypass them altogether. (Put more inspiringly, Leaf had been protected not by its high walls but by the strength of its shinobi and the brilliance of its leadership, or so the Shimura propaganda machine would have Leaf remember.)
As for Team Seven, Kakashi-sensei had just finished handing out some packages of mission-specific equipment (notably, disguise kits), which was a second break with protocol–ordinarily, each of them would have been forced to queue up to requisition their own from the quartermaster's office, and Kakashi-sensei taking the trouble to do so in advance spoke to the mission's urgency almost as much as his increased punctuality.
"So," Naruto asked Kakashi-sensei as the four of them stood by the guard station preparing to sign out, "now can you tell us where we're going? I appreciate some well-crafted suspense as much as the next man, but if you're planning to spring a trek through the Wind Country desert on us, it would really help to know before we leave civilisation."
"Be patient," Kakashi-sensei said. "The team hasn't assembled yet."
"Huh?" Naruto counted Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, and also himself in case he'd accidentally mastered the art of astral projection and his real body was still sleeping at home. "What are you talking about?"
"In anticipation of changing circumstances," Kakashi-sensei explained, "I've borrowed a tracking specialist from another team. This will be your first time working with a different team composition, but the ability to make this kind of adjustment according to the needs of the mission, sometimes without reliable intel to support your judgement, is a common skill you will all need to develop if you aspire to one day lead your own squads as chūnin."
Naruto began to get a terrible feeling. "Kakashi-sensei, this tracking specialist wouldn't happen to be from–"
Sakura, looking over Naruto's shoulder, gave a friendly wave.
"Hi, Hinata!"
Never mind. It was going to be the mission from hell.
At a nudge from Sakura, Sasuke looked down from the clouds long enough to give Hinata a nod of acknowledgement.
Naruto turned to face her, but hesitated, not knowing what to say.
"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei. Hi, Sakura. Good morning, Sasuke. Hi… Naruto."
"Hi."
The silence was beyond awkward. It plumbed abyssal depths of tension Naruto hadn't even known existed, where scientists would soon be discovering new and fascinating thought-forms that could only exist under enormous emotional pressure. Next to him, Sakura was now giving him a piercing stare, though Naruto doubted she'd guessed what was going on when he himself didn't have a clue. It was hard to tell what Sasuke was thinking, and of course Kakashi-sensei's expression was completely inscrutable.
"Everyone reacquainted?" Kakashi-sensei asked briskly as if nothing was wrong. "Good. Finish signing out and let's get moving. Sakura, Hinata, I want you to scout ahead. Follow the Great Western Road until the second milestone. Naruto, Sasuke, you're the core of the formation. Keep scanning the sides, and be ready to move in if the scout team calls for backup. I'll cover the rear. Don't hesitate to call me if anything seems off."
"Uh, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked, "why are we using Travel Formation D when we're still in Leaf-controlled territory?"
"Because danger can strike anywhere, at any time," Kakashi-sensei said. "I hope you haven't forgotten that less than a fortnight ago, this village was invaded by a force capable of slipping past Leaf's outer defences undetected. Another attack, at worst a second invasion, could occur at any moment. It might not even be Sand that takes advantage of Leaf's moment of weakness."
[center]-o-/center]
The journey was conducted in a tense silence. The others periodically checked in only long enough to confirm each other's safety and exchange updates, and a couple of times they were stopped by Leaf patrols to exchange codes and confirm that the surrounding area was secure (though this didn't seem to take the edge off Kakashi-sensei's alertness). Sasuke either hadn't noticed or didn't care about the Hinata situation, and either way seemed to be too on guard to chat, while Naruto was busy kicking himself for his lack of proper shinobi paranoia earlier, and being super mega ultra alert now in order to make up for it. He didn't know what was going on with the other half of the team, but he thought he'd caught Sakura saying something as they headed off, and Hinata shaking her head.
Only after half a day's travel did Kakashi-sensei call a break at a convenient set of tree stumps well off the main road. Hinata kept a careful distance from Naruto while chatting with Sakura to the extent that her own tense mood allowed, while Naruto (who hadn't had time for breakfast because nobody in this country could make an alarm clock worth a damn) fell on his rations like a starving wolf.
Kakashi-sensei, for all his flaws, did at least respect the sacredness of mealtimes, and waited until everyone was done before finally deigning to brief them on the mission.
"Pay attention, Team 7.3. Our objective is to travel to the town of Shady Springs and locate Jiraiya-sensei, a retired Leaf shinobi who has failed to report to the village shortly after the invasion as he was expected to. If he isn't there, the scope of the mission includes tracking him down.
"Hinata, in the absence of a Hokage qualified to make the judgement, I am exercising my discretionary authority to share mission-critical intelligence with you. Naruto is the host to the Nine-Brained Demon Fox, and his seal appears to be malfunctioning and in need of professional examination. Act surprised."
Hinata gave a neutral nod. "I see. Um, thank you for this new information, Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto was pretty sure not a single person on the planet would react like that to hearing his secret for real. He loved Hinata (he'd said it now, and there was no going back), but he wasn't sure a girl so painfully bad at lying was an ideal pick for a mission that might require undercover infiltration.
(Also, there were the eyes. Nobody could look at Hinata and see anything other than a bearer of an old shinobi bloodline, even if they'd never heard of the Hyūga. Why hadn't Kakashi-sensei invited Tenten to be the infiltration's designated smooth-talker while he was at it?)
"Jiraiya-sensei is one of the world's greatest sealing masters," Kakashi-sensei added. "With the Third's passing, he is the only man left with both the clearance and the expertise to do the job. This is ourtrue, classifiedobjective."
"Hold up," Naruto said. "If that's all, why couldn't I have gone on my own days ago? It's not like I don't know the way."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Did you miss the part about potential enemy ninja in the area, you imbecile? I'm sure they'dlove to find a single genin strolling around the wilderness waiting to be picked off."
"Bite me, greaseball," Naruto said on general principles, but it was a fair point and it was alarming that it hadn't occurred to him way before the mission. Even with his longing to recover the Shadow Clone Technique maybe clouding his judgement a little, since when had he gotten so bad at always expecting the worst?
Sasuke's attention quickly returned to Kakashi-sensei.
"You're still not telling us something," Sasuke said accusingly. "There's no reason you couldn't have givenus the objective when you first saw us. You could do it in a sentence."
"Good," Kakashi-sensei said. "If you want to survive as a ninja, always question anything that doesn't add up.
"The reason I didn't want to tell you our objective in the village, where it could be overheard, is that Jiraiya-sensei is currently in a sensitive position with regard to Leaf. By virtue of involving Naruto's secret, this mission is classified enough to be safe from cursory inspection of the logs, but there are forces that would be inclined to obstruct us if they became aware of it."
Hinata shifted uneasily on her tree stump. "Why is he in a sensitive position, sir?"
"He's a person of influence," Kakashi-sensei said. "He's been away from Leaf long enough that his reputation has diminished, and in fact he is now known for his literary genius more than his valour in battle. However, he is still the village's greatest living hero, and if he involved himself in Leaf politics right now, it could have a significant destabilising effect."
The pieces began to fall together in Naruto's mind.
"He's a viable Hokage candidate," Naruto realised. "You kept this mission secret in case Shimura Danzō sent Root to stop us, because he'd want to keep him isolated from Leaf until it was too late."
"Verygood." Kakashi-sensei (probably) smiled. "Excessive paranoia is an occupational hazard that can leave you unfit for duty, so as a rule, you should leave treating your Leaf comrades as potential threats to specialists like Morino Ibiki. However, in my experience, rules have a way of being broken when true power is at stake."
He gave Naruto a meaningful look so brief Naruto nearly missed it, as if to remind him of two very important facts. First, Shimura was extremely evil, and the man who was willing to throw away his own subordinates' lives in pursuit of his ambitions was hardly likely to hold back now, with the ultimate prize within reach. Indeed, Naruto couldn't be sure that Shimura's desire to recruit him would outweigh his resolve to eliminate any obstacles standing between him and the title of Fifth Hokage.
Second, the rest of the team didn't know any of this, and neither Kakashi-sensei nor Naruto could tell them. For all its questionable legality, the secret tribunalhad been a secret tribunal. Naruto in particular was on extremely thin ice after invading it without authorisation, and sharing the classified proceedings with third parties would be a great way to get court-martialed and put the rest of the team on a collision course with the law as well (it wasn't a matter of trust; the Yamanaka existed). Last time, he'd dodged the consequences by the skin of his teeth thanks to Old Man Hokage's own skill at bending the law (and likely Shimura's keenness to have the whole thing forgotten as fast as possible once he'd lost)... but Old Man Hokage was gone forever.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata hesitantly raised a hand.
"Yes, Hinata?"
"It seems like you and Naruto both think this Shimura is dangerous to you, and maybe to the rest of us too, even though we're all loyal Leaf ninja."
Neither Naruto nor Kakashi-sensei said anything. Sakura, who hadn't been one of Naruto's confidants for the Root visit, was staring at them in concerned confusion, while Sasuke was totally alert.
"And Shimura thinks that if we go to talk to Jiraiya," Hinata continued, "it might make him challenge Shimura for Hokage."
Kakashi-sensei gave a slight nod.
"Kakashi-sensei, arewe going to see Jiraiya in order topersuade him to challenge Shimura so that you don't get a Hokage you can't trust?"
"Hinata," Kakashi-sensei said disapprovingly, "it would be both unethical and illegal for a Leaf shinobi to arrange a mission for themselves for the sake of pursuing their private political agenda. Our formal mission objective is purely to assist in recovering Leaf's military capacity by locating Jiraiya-sensei and having him examine Naruto's demon seal, with a view to preventing further Demon Fox incidents and restoring Naruto's ability to safely use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique."
"Oh." Hinata looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I'll be quiet now."
"That said," Kakashi-sensei added, "if youwere correct, it would be a flawless example of seeing the hidden side of the hidden side, a crucial skill for anyone who hopes to ever make it to jōnin. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, I hope you're taking notes."
The genin were all dead silent.
They were on a mission to determine the next Hokage and change the course of history. It was crazy. It was ridiculous. It was the kind of mission Naruto had been waiting for since the start of his career.
It also complicated things enormously when they were already making Naruto's head spin. If the Perverted One became Hokage instead of Shimura, it would upset all of Naruto's existing calculations on joining Root.
Besides, would joining Root even be an option if Naruto was complicit in foiling Shimura's political ambitions? But if not, who was going to reform the organisation? And what about the rapid advancement, forbidden ninjutsu, and classified secrets of the past?
On the other hand, what was Naruto supposed to do? Sabotage the mission? Was that even within his power? And if it was, was that a line he was prepared to cross? Joining the winning team was one thing. Being the reason that Shimura, who probably hadn't gotten any less evil in the months since the tribunal, became Hokage instead of a morally superior alternative was something very different.
But then again, while Naruto reluctantly conceded that the Perverted One had his moments as a mentor, he didn't come across as one of nature's politicians. Naruto might not trust Shimura, but the man who'd narrowly failed in his bid for the hat last time must have spent years or decades figuring out how he wanted to rule Leaf, and the priorities he'd presented to Naruto made perfect sense. Naruto's personal concerns aside, would a blatantly evil ruler who was also competent and genuinely wanted what was best for Leaf (as long as he was in charge) be better or worse than a self-proclaimed sage who spent all his time writing dubious novels and flirting with women?
"Would this Jiraiya guy have a chance, though?" Sasuke asked as Naruto's mind whirred. "Shimura's so popular because he proved his worth during the invasion. For all that you call him a hero, Jiraiya wasn't even there to protect his village."
Kakashi-sensei nodded. "It's a valid concern. As it happens, Jiraiya-sensei had good reasons for being absent. As you must have deduced by now, Leaf was aware that Orochimaru was planning an attack. We were able to prepare extensively and turn it around on him, but if he'd known or suspected that Jiraiya-sensei and the Third, Leaf's two strongest shinobi, were in the village together, he might have called it off, and then struck at some future time when it would take us completely by surprise. However, that's not something that can be explained to the general public. Given the scale of the preparations, it's impossible to completely cover up the facts, but that's a very different thing from coming out andadmitting that the government permitted all the casualties and destruction to take place, even for strategic reasons. Populations have rioted over less.
"Nevertheless, Jiraiya-sensei would be a compelling challenger. His power to protect Leaf is recorded in shinobi legend, and he has the overflowing charisma needed to win the hearts and minds of the people even with a starting handicap."
"Wait, why should he care about the people?" Sasuke asked. "I thought it was the senior ninja who chose the Hokage."
"Actually," Sakura said, "it's supposed to be more complicated than that. The senior ninja, who know better than anyone else what it takes to run Leaf on both civil and military levels, vet the candidates and draw up the final list. If the previous Hokage's chosen successor is on that list, then it ends there, with no election. That's always how it's gone in Leaf"–apparently, Sakura's books glossed over the turmoil that happened after the Night of Tragedy–"but in other, less stable villages, there have been cases where a supermajority of senior ninja weren't convinced by the previous Kage's choice, or, like now, there was no successor in the first place. When that happens, assuming there are multiple candidates who all have what it takes to be Hokage, the tiebreaker is which of them has the most popular approval. I remember reading that it's because our laws were laid down by the First Hokage, whobecame the First Hokage by winning a popular election in the first place–though only between ninja, because back then, Leaf's civilian population was too small to matter and there was still a lot of disagreement about its rights."
"And that's why Shimura being a hero is so important," Hinata concluded. "He isn't just concerned with proving he has Hokage potential; he's creating a situation where it's pointless to run against him unless you're already very popular."
"In a word, yes," Kakashi-sensei said. "The invasion was anincredible blessing for Shimura. Not only did he seize the opportunity to prove himself to the village, but many of the jōnin who could challenge him either died in battle or can't campaign because they've been hospitalised–or even if they could campaign, they'd be in no state to lead the villagenow,when a strong, vigorous leader is urgently needed.
"That said, acomplete lack of competition is unnatural. Opportunities for anyone to become Kage, without needing the incumbent's exclusive favour, are vanishingly rare."
"Have you thought about running?" Sasuke asked.
"A particularly resourceful and unscrupulous candidate might see his way to thinning the competition with traditional shinobi tools such as bribery, intimidation, and blackmail," Kakashi-sensei said, "but then we would be seeing candidates unexpectedly dropping out, not failing to stand in the first place–unless they were targetedimmediatelyin the aftermath of the invasion, by someone who'd had time to prepare."
"You're not saying…"
"I'm educating you in principles of shinobi politics that you may find useful during your career," Kakashi-sensei said. "The conclusions you draw from them are your own responsibility."
"Just whois this man?" Sakura asked. "I'd never heard of him before, but suddenly it seems like everything is about him and what he's trying to do."
"Shimura Danzō," Kakashi-sensei said, "is the head of Root, a Leaf security agency with a broad, ill-defined remit. I could try to explain what that means, but you'd need an entire history lesson, and for reasons you now understand, I'd like to get back on the road as quickly as possible."
"Please, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata said. "If Shimura is a threat to Naruto and to you, that's reason enough to stop him, but I'd rather understand as much as possible about what I'm doing and why."
Kakashi-sensei gave her a long, measuring look.
"Then I will summarise as briefly as I can. All of you have heard of the Assassination and Battle Tactics Special Unit or ANBU, the village's anonymous masked elite. ANBU shinobi are among the strongest in the village, but what makes them ANBU isn't their strength–it's the fact that they've earned absolute trust from the state. They report directly to the Hokage and no one else, and regularly handle resources and missions that require clearances other ninja don't even know exist–or so rumour says.
"Root was founded to create a place for shinobi who had been judged unsuitable for ANBU for whatever reason, yet were still determined to serve the village as ANBU does, which is to say carrying out the most demanding, dangerous missions with no hope of glory or even personal recognition. In return for their selfless devotion, they came to enjoy a different kind of trust. For example, if there were missions out there of which the Hokage needed to be able to disavow all knowledge–say, assassination of Leaf-hostile politicians in allied villages–it is Root that would be entrusted with them. There is also a certain division of labour between Root and ANBU in areas such as counterintelligence, where trustworthiness is important, but so is the simple matter of having enough hands to get everything done.
"But however it was founded, the Root of today is a secretive organisation whose membership, internal structure, and activities function on an extremely strict need-to-know basis. To an extent, this is valuable, because it makes it difficult for Leaf's enemies to predict and counter, and virtually impossible to subvert or infiltrate. But it also means Root functions with very little oversight. Any agency that functions with insufficient oversight is in constant danger of corruption, and when you combine that with shinobi who see inadmissible dirty work accomplished at any cost as their purpose in life…"
…then even treason would be no obstacle as long as the objective was fulfilled. Naruto didn't know whether Shimura had created the system or the system had created Shimura, but it all fit together… and if the lack of oversight was by design, that meant Root couldonly be fixed from inside.
Hinata was looking at Naruto questioningly. There had been no opening in that horrific mess of an evening to tell her what Root wanted from him, even if he'd been ready to do so. He certainly couldn't tell anyone now–not until he figured out what to do.
"Shimura himself is as much of a mystery as his organisation," Kakashi-sensei said. "He is a second-generation Leaf shinobi, trained by the Second Hokage himself, only to be inexplicably passed over when it came time for the Second to choose a successor. Since then, he has existed in the shadows of Hidden Leaf, his influence invisible except in retrospect. What I can tell you is that he is cunning, ruthless, and fanatically loyal, treating his subordinates as nothing more than tools for ensuring Leaf's safety–and he is charismatic enough, when he wants to be, that they embrace such treatment willingly.
"I am not generally one for elaborate metaphors, but I have heard the Third's Leaf described as a garden, its carefully-tended plants poisonous or medicinal depending on their use. If so, Shimura's Leaf might be a forge–a place where tool after tool is shaped with fire and hammer according to the craftsman's purpose. Only you can decide if that's a village you want to live in."
[center]-o-/center]
The rest of the journey was exhausting, as Kakashi-sensei kept up a demanding pace. To the best of Naruto's understanding, he was afraid less of assassination–even tired, he was still a jōnin, and he seemed confident in the rest of the team as long as they didn't get split up–and more of being tracked by Root elites who would then leap ahead and remove the Perverted One from play before Team 7.3 could find him (say, with a fake order to go spy in the Wind Country), leaving the mission impossible to complete.
For that reason, there was no rest for the occasionally wicked, even once they reached Shady Springs. Instead, Naruto took point as the resident Perverted One expert while the rest of the team kept an eye out for potential enemies. Unfortunately, the dissolute old man's dodgy hangouts were many and varied–but, thinking about it, if he'd failed to report for duty (or whatever retired ninja had instead), then odds were that he'd got caught up in something troublesome rather than just lazing around, and that changed the calculation considerably.
This was why Kakashi-sensei, Transformed into a spry-looking old man of the kind you always saw at hot springs, was now knocking on the white door of the Torimi Café, ignoring the "Closed" sign hanging over the glass window in the middle.
"I hope you're confident about this," he said softly. "Now that we've led any potential pursuers here, we could be in a race against time."
"Trust me," Naruto said at the same volume. "The two of us seldom went to the same inn or café twice, because the Perverted One wanted maximum coverage of different girls. I'm not going back to the hot springs unless we run out of options"–at least, not while the Second Coming of Sakura might still be there–"but this is the one place where the Perverted One has anally. If he's trusted anyone with his business, it'll be the superfan who runs the town's fanciest café."
Kakashi-sensei seemed to relax. "You should have said so before. Any true fan of Jiraiya-sensei's books is a person we can trust.
"Also," he added, "I told you to stop calling him that."
Naruto was spared the need to make a scathing retort (the Perverted One washismaster to give rude nicknames to, while Kakashi-sensei was two lineage steps down) when the door finally opened.
The owner of the Torimi Café was a kindly-looking middle-aged man with a shaved head and a neatly-groomed grey beard. He was wearing a simple, crisp bartender's uniform, but even Naruto could it tell was an order of magnitude more expensive than you'd expect to find in an ordinary tourist town (and he was wearing it even though these were apparently his off hours).
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. I believe I can hazard a guess as to why you're here," he said, "though you are not quite the party I expected."
It was a test, likely the first of several.
"Did you think there would be only four of us?" Kakashi-sensei asked. "Then more fool you, for it is this innocent-looking maid"–he gestured at Hinata–"who will be your death!"
"S-Sir?" Hinata stammered.
"More fool me?" the owner demanded. "Come, daughter, reveal your true colours and cut the rebel's throat while he stands defenceless!"
Hinata looked back and forth between the pair with an expression of utter alarm.
Kakashi-sensei and the owner exchanged approving looks. The latter stepped back with a warm smile.
"Always a pleasure to meet a fellow aficionado. Please come in. Would you like to order anything?"
The interior of the café, too, was a cut above the restaurants the Perverted One had taken him to under the pretext of celebrating new milestones in his training. The lacquered floor was so clean you could eat off it, while the mahogany furniture looked expensive enough that a bar brawl would have Naruto's great-grandchildren still paying off the damage. But what really got Naruto's attention was the white wall panels. They were carved with recognisable scenes from the adventures of the Sage of Six Paths that every child knew, from his defeat of the six-armed asura queen in a wrestling match in her own bedroom, to his epic escape from the gaki horde aboard a ship made of the indigestible toenails of the dead, to him bargaining for humanity's survival with the King of Hell, and tricking the godlike being into granting humanity ten thousand years of life in exchange for marrying its nine daughters (with how the Sage tricked his way out ofthatarrangement being another great story). Naturally, his training of his first disciples in the neighbouring Shugenja Forest was carved as a recurring framing device, implying that these were all didactic fables for those wise enough to perceive their meaning. (If so, Naruto was not among them.)
"Naruto! Naruto, are you listening?"
Naruto snapped out of his awed trance, at first feeling a burst of annoyance at Sakura for failing basic OPSEC, but then remembering that their success here hinged on the owner acknowledging him as the Perverted One's trustworthy apprentice.
"Yeah, sorry, what were you saying?"
The owner cleared his throat.
"I do apologise for the inconvenience, but Jiraiya-sensei gave me very specific instructions. To quote, 'Before anything else, you give those troublemakers a taste of the thwacking stick for trying to waste my time'."
Oh, duh.
"There's no need for that," Kakashi-sensei sensei said, dispelling his old man disguise.
The owner was completely unfazed, which Naruto supposed made sense–a hardcore fan of a famous trickster ninja not knowing about the Transformation Technique would be like a genin graduating without knowing what chakra was.
At a gesture from Kakashi-sensei, the rest of them dispelled their various tourist forms.
"I wish I could agree," the owner said in a contrite voice, "but the instructions are quite unambiguous."
He fished out a rod the length of his forearm from behind the counter. Not being suicidal, he approached them only slowly, clearly telegraphing each motion before striking them one by one.
"Ow!"
The blow was firm but slow, and with the force spread out across Naruto's side–in other words, the kind that hurt but didn't leave bruises. (Under Old Man Hokage, the Academy didn't practice corporal punishment, but accidents happened during training, especially to Naruto.) Whoever this man was, he hadn'talwaysbeen a mild-mannered café owner.
"Ow! Can't you be gentler with a lady?" Sakura demanded.
"I do apologise."
Sasuke just winced silently, and Sakura looked sheepish at failing to live up to his standard.
Kakashi-sensei gave no indication that he even felt it.
Hinata stiffened, then forced herself to relax before the blow came. She kept her face blank.
"Now that that unpleasant business is out of the way, I do have a message, but I've been strictly instructed only to give it to the correct recipients."
The owner looked at them closely, starting with Naruto.
"The message is for 'the blond kid with negative fashion sense who made so much trouble for me a while ago'…"
"It's called avant-garde," Naruto lied.
"...a black-haired boy with–do excuse me–a stick up his ass the size of a laundry pole…"
Sasuke and Sakura glared, while Naruto snerked and Hinata looked uncomfortable.
"...a pink-haired cutie who looks like she could grow up into a real bombshell in a few years' time…"
"He hasn't even met me!" Sakura protested. "And what does he mean, 'could'?"
"Jiraiya-sensei is a world expert on women," Kakashi-sensei said. "Anything he tells you, you can take as absolute truth."
The owner gave a proud nod.
"A world expert on sexual harassment is what he is," Sakura muttered.
Naruto opened his mouth indignantly to defend his master, only to close it again when he realised he couldn't think of an objection.
"...and finally, the most ninja-looking fellow you'll ever see in your life."
The owner gave Kakashi-sensei an up-and-down look, taking in the sticky-up white hair on a man in his thirties, the Leaf forehead protector worn as an improvised eyepatch, the half-mask, the chūnin jacket with mini-summoning scrolls peeking out of dedicated pockets, and the kunai holster on his right thigh.
"Message for you, sirs, madam." He gave Hinata an apologetic smile, then offered Kakashi-sensei a sealed envelope.
Kakashi-sensei flicked the envelope open without delay, presumably figuring that if the owner had intended to steal the information inside, there were plenty of ways for him to have done so before they ever arrived.
Naruto couldn't begin to guess what was on that piece of paper, but for a second, it seemed like Kakashi-sensei's visible eye had narrowed in… pleasure. No, it was probably just Naruto's imagination. Not only did it make no sense in context, but pleasure was one of the emotions Kakashi-sensei showed least. (Even with all the perceptiveness of Uzumaki Naruto himself, it was impossible to tell in what proportions the jōnin was naturally unexpressive versus deliberately unexpressive versus low-key depressed).
"Thank you for your assistance," Kakashi-sensei told the owner, slipping the message into a pocket. "I will commend you to Jiraiya-sensei in the highest terms when the opportunity arises."
"Not at all," the owner said. "Would you like to order anything while you're here?"
"We've already intruded on your rest enough," Kakashi-sensei said, "and our journey just became much longer than planned. Thank you for your time. Team 7.3, move out."
[center]-o-/center]
It was only after they had travelled several kilometres from Shady Springs that Kakashi-sensei led them behind a dense copse of trees away from the main road and finally showed them the message.
To my loser apprentice,
You wouldn't believe the hotness of the twins I recently managed to meet. Better yet, they couldn't believe their luck in meeting me. Hikari and Kaori may be young, but they sure know where it's at.
I've decided to disappear with my new lovers. If you're thinking of going after me, then kindly go jump in a lake.
This is my final word.
Love,
Jiraiya
"What are your impressions?" Kakashi-sensei asked the team after passing it around.
"It must be a code," Hinata said with a painfully adorable frown of contemplation.
"Your reasoning?"
"He claims he's dating twins," Hinata said. "But he's supposed to be a mature adult with a great deal of romantic experience, so he wouldn't really do that to people he cared about. Imagine how much it would hurt if he suddenly decided he loved one of them more."
"No, I can see it," Sakura disagreed. "I think it's clear by now that Jiraiya is an enemy of women. Naruto, didn't you say he invited you to peep at the hot springs?"
"And I honourably refused."
It was impossible to spend a whole month around the Perverted One without picking a few things up whether you liked it or not, including some idea of why Sakura would kill Naruto if she thought he hadn't learned his lesson from the public baths incident.
"But being a rampaging pervert doesn't mean he can't be a good boyfriend," Naruto added. "Whycan'the love them both the same amount and make both of them happy?"
"Because that's not something you can promise, Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed in a sudden outburst that made everyone look at her. "Even telling somebody you'll love them forever is only a statement of intent! People's feelings change. Sometimes they fall out of love and there's nothing anybody can do about it. How can he promise them that his feelings won't change, and he won't decide that the better one, the more compatible one, isreallyworth loving, while the other one's… just there?"
"Because that's not how people work!" Naruto objected, throwing up his hands in frustration. "People are different! He can love one person for the things that make themthem,and another person for the different things that makethem them, and that doesn't mean anybody is in competition! No, in fact, even if he loves some of the same things about both of them, that just means it's twice the same good thing! What you're saying is like saying this cake has a bit more chocolate in it than this other cake, so clearly I should throw away the second cake when I could just eat both and be twice as happy!"
The rest of the team were starting to look between them with varying expressions of confusion, suspicion, and jōnin inscrutability.
"That's a beautiful ideal," Hinata said. "I'm sure it works in manga all the time. But can you promise it would work the same way in real life? Because if you're wrong, it's not just an experiment. Somebody's heart is going to get broken. Maybe everybody's hearts. Isn't it unfair to decide something like thatbeforetalking to all the people your decisions might hurt?"
Naruto looked away. He couldn't refute that. He'd gone the whole length of their relationship without telling Hinata that she was maybe sharing his heart with Haku, much less brainstorming what he would do if he saw Haku again while dating Hinata and those feelings were still there. Hehad intended to tell her about Tenten, and he couldn't be blamed for temporarily forgetting about it amidst much more important topics. But telling Hinata that their relationship and her feelings about it were low-priority next tohis issues was unlikely to make her feel better. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have used the word "date" at all, and just trusted Hinata to assume the best of him until they had a chance to–
He was jerked abruptly out of his thoughts by a spike of familiar killing intent.
"Naruto," Sakura asked in a voice colder than a glacier that had given up on humanity, "did you cheat on Hinata?"
Hinata said, "I wasn't talking about Naruto!" at the exact same time as Naruto said, "I didn't mean to!"
Ah, crap.
Sakura's fist zoomed towards Naruto's face, somehow faster and more precise than ever before. He wasn't going to react in time–
Hinata caught Sakura's wrist, moments before the punch reached his nose.
Hinata's grip was gentle, but she didn't let go, leaving Sakura leaning forward in a vulnerable, overextended position. Then, slowly, she pulled Sakura further forwards until they were face to face.
"Sakura," she said evenly, "thank you very much for worrying about our relationship. But please don't act in my place. Naruto didn't do anything wrong, or if he did, that's something for the two of us to sort out on our own. If I need your help, I promise I'll ask for it."
With both hands, she guided a stunned Sakura back into a stable upright stance.
"Look," Naruto followed up, "I know you don't always have the best opinion of me, but do youactuallythink I'd deliberately go around breaking the heart of the best thing ever to happen to me? Am I that kind of scumbag in your eyes?"
Sakura adjusted her hair unnecessarily as she gathered herself. "I guess when you put it that way… dumbass, yes, scumbag, no. Fine, consider yourself on probation until Hinata decides what to do with you."
"I'll take it," Naruto said wearily.
The silence that followed felt like the aftermath of a negotiation that had barely prevented a bloody war: part relief, part uncertainty, all exhaustion. For now, at least, the conclusion was almost less important than the fact that they'd managed to reach it without any casualties.
"Hinata's right, though."
Three people stared at Sasuke in utter disbelief (and one in jōnin inscrutability).
"It's a code," Sasuke elaborated. "Am I the only one who remembers that we're on a mission?"
The other genin looked sheepishly anywhere but at each other.
"The 'final word' part is telling us to take the last word of every sentence," Sasuke said. "Apprentice, meet me at Lover's Lake."
"Lover's Lake is a resort that's very popular with… couples," Hinata said. "It's supposed to be the best place in the Fire Country to… to confess your love for somebody."
"Oh, I saw that in a magazine the other day," Sakura said with what was either callous or merciful casualness. "It's near the east coast, so the opposite way from Leaf to where we are now. Thatisgoing to be a long journey."
The irony hurt, especially coming on the heels of the worst accidental love confession in the history of the universe. Naruto carefully didn't look at Hinata, and he was pretty sure she was carefully not looking at him.
But then again, when Naruto thought about it some more…
"I dunno," he said. "Doesn't it seem a bit on the nose? I mean, the Perverted Oneisa veteran ninja, not that you'd know it to look at him, and I can tell you he's not the type to make things easy. If he was going to give us a message in code, would he really make it one even Sasuke could crack without pen and paper?"
"Obviously, it was meant for you, his apprentice," Sasuke said, "so it had to be a code even an imbecile could figure out."
"It's good to see that you haven't forgotten the bare basics of cryptography that you were taught at the Academy," Kakashi-sensei sensei said while Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other, "but in this case I may as well put you out of your misery. In fact, this code was meant for me."
Naruto gave him a sceptical look. "Kakashi-sensei, why would the Perverted One thinkyou're an idiot?"
Kakashi-sensei didn't dignify this with an answer.
"It's a triple-layer code," he said. "Sasuke, you correctly recognised the first layer, which is that 'final word' is the key. Naruto, you correctly recognised the second layer, which is that the apparent message is a red herring, meant to send a third party who intercepts it to an irrelevant, distant location. Thethird layer is keyword-based. Any true fan of Jiraiya-sensei's work would recognise the names 'Hikari' and 'Kaori' together as an allusion toMakeout Paradise XI: A Dance of Light and Perfume, after which the keyword 'lake' narrows down the content to the so-called 'lakeside duet' from the novel's climatic scene.
"In other words, this choice of code is proof that Jiraiya-sensei has acknowledged me as a true fan." Kakashi-sensei (almost certainly) smiled. "And while I obviously wouldn't dream of carrying my signed first edition volume in the field, he has correctly assumed that I would have the best parts memorised."
"That's the most ridiculous encryption method I've ever heard of, and I was the one who helped Kiba invent thesmellogram," Naruto complained. "So supposing you're right and the Perverted One's ego really is that big, what's the deal with the book?"
Kakashi-sensei looked into the distance. "Hikaru is a young noble who has challenged the corrupt ministers of the daimyo's court, while Kaoru is an infamous assassin they've hired to take his life. Both men are also in love with the same tea ceremony mistress, who neither of them can have. At the climax of the story, Kaoru finally catches up with Hikaru on the roof of a castle overlooking a frozen lake, and they battle in the middle of a thunderstorm. Right as their blades clash, a flash of lightning illuminates their faces–revealing that they were twin brothers all along."
Huh. That actually sounded pretty awesome. Naruto'd had no idea the Perverted One had it in him.
"Ever since they convinced me you were but a dream, my every dream has been impenetrable black," Kakashi-sensei muttered to himself. "To think it was a lie that drove me to learn the arts of death in those forbidden wetlands…"
After a little more muttering (which Naruto ignored for spoiler reasons, on thetiny off-chance he might want to read the book someday), Kakashi-sensei returned his attention to the team. "An underrated masterpiece. But what it means is that, just as I feared, matters have become very complicated. Even with Hinata's help, this may be the most dangerous mission any of you have been on yet."
Naruto braced himself. "So what's the message?"
"Black Wetlands Demilitarised Zone," Kakashi-sensei said. "To find her, find the rook."
"Hold on," Naruto said after a few seconds. "That message is in the book, and the key is just 'final word'? Not 'take this letter from this line, then this letter from this line' or whatever?"
"You're right," Sakura said. "That doesn't make sense. Assuming it's a real place and not word salad, 'Black Wetlands Demilitarised Zone' is not a combination that could ever come together by coincidence. He'd have had to put that message in there all the way back when he was writing the book to begin with. And that would've been…"
"Eight years ago," Kakashi-sensei said. "That was how long ago Jiraiya-sensei foresaw the possibility of this mission."
"What are you saying he foresaw, exactly?" Naruto asked, as his understanding of the Perverted One's entire writing career began to rotate ninety degrees.
"That somebody would need to urgently track down Tsunade, the world-famous medic-nin who disappeared without a trace eleven years ago."
Mission sabotage was suddenly off the table, at least until they found out where she was. Narutoneeded to find Tsunade, and not because, if the Perverted One's foresight really was all that, then the message was him refusing to run for Hokage and offering her as a better option. Thanks to Jiraiya, Naruto knew the unforgivable sin Tsunade had committed eleven years ago. Now he needed her to tell himwhy–and if her answer wasn't good enough, there was still room for a third name on the nemesis list.
"Who's Tsunade?" Sasuke asked obliviously. "What makes her important?"
"Tsunade–Senju Tsunade, though she usually dropped the clan name–was one of the legendary shinobi team known as the Leaf Three," Kakashi-sensei said, "together with Jiraiya-sensei and a man named Orochimaru."
"The same Orochimaru who attacked the village?" Hinata asked in confused disbelief.
Naruto finally made the connections. Orochimaru was Jiraiya's former beloved teammate. Orochimaru was the sealing expert Jiraiya trusted to help Naruto, but only as the last of last resorts. Orochimaru was a missing-nin and the kind of traitor who'd sign up to attack his old village and slaughter the comrades he'd once served with. It still didn't quite click–how could Jiraiya simultaneously trust the man with unfathomable power and be the one mortal threat whose presence would keep him at bay?–but at the very least, Naruto was beginning to see how such a close-knit team could have fallen apart as irreversibly as it had.
"The same man," Kakashi-sensei confirmed. "That's one of several reasons why you won't have heard about the Three at the Academy. Tsunade was the greatest medic-nin in recorded history, as well as an extraordinary taijutsu mistress. She was also the sole heir of the Senju Clan, a war hero, and a noted philanthropist whose work continues to save countless shinobi and civilian lives alike. If she is still alive as Jiraiya-sensei believes, and if she can overcome the disadvantages of her long absence, she would indeed be the worst possible opponent for Shimura: a founding clan noble against a commoner, a hero from a legendary team against a mysterious shadowy figure, a healer who founded hospitals against the head of a sinister espionage agency, the beloved Third's personal apprentice against the respected Second's, and a womaninfamously immune to trickery and manipulation against… well, Shimura Danzō.
"There is, of course, a catch," Kakashi-sensei concluded.
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"In order to find her, we will have to infiltrate the forbidden city where village ninja are killed on sight."