Haruhi thanked whatever God that was listening that the genin had enough scrolls to get through.
They had tumbled into the tower, scrolls in hand and screaming for medical help. Ino's face was still bleeding, and there was a red stain in between her crotch.
Some of the female staff along with Sakura and Hinata had to carefully change her. Haruhi had to look away. Kakashi was busy in some super-secret meeting, probably about Gaara. Now that Gaara has proven that he is extremely unstable and can't control his Biju, They will want to go over the security risks that he poses.
For a moment, Haruhi wondered what this meant for the future of Naruto. Sand and Sounds ace in the hole was revealed way before the original invasion, alerting Konoha right away that something was up. It is extremely risky for sand to send someone like Gaara to the exams when he is so unstable, and Konoha and Suna both knew it. That meant Gaara was sent here on purpose, for a reason, and now Konoha knew that too.
It wouldn't be long before Konoha figured out the rest of Orochimaru's plan, and then what? Would Orochimaru delay the invasion? Would he hasten it? Would he abandon it all together? Would the Exams be canceled?
There were just to many unknowns. This world had changed too much for Haruhi's future information to be reliable anymore. That meant her backup plans would be pretty much useless. If she thought this world was dangerous before, with its state-sanctioned genocide, child soldiers, and lack of childcare, it just got even worse.
Everyone was hurting.
The others were all suffering various sand burns on their arms, lacerations and chakra exhaustion.
Physically, Ino was the worst.
But mentally and emotionally? All the kids were doing terrible.
She had talked to some of the medics she knew because of Sakura, and from what she learned, there was no mental health care besides what the Yamankan provided, which wasn't much, considering that their clan techniques were centered on tearing the mind down and extracting information more than anything. It make disturbing sense.
Like Zabuza had said, ninja were tools. Or at the very least, considered to be tools. And tools might need physical maintenance, but tools don't have emotions or thoughts and feelings, so what was the need for therapy? Talk circles? Mental health care? Tools, after all, didn't have minds or hearts.
Konoha wasn't exempt from that ideology either.
In fact, being the very first ninja village, it was the definition of that. She heard other kids on missions being criticised for not wanting to be ninja. Naruto and Sasuke just couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to be one. Retired ninja that didn't have any severe physical wounds like Sakura's dad, Kizashi, were criticized-despite their mental health problems. Hell, even Kakashi had PTSD, but he refused to retire and take a break, because it was drilled into him since he was a child that he had to serve his village. His own mental health meant nothing to him in comparison to that.
Hell, shinobi who were forced to retire with missing limbs, had huge trouble adjusting to civilian life, because they never learned practical skills for everyday living. They wore easily washable clothes-uniforms, so they never learned sewing, shopping, or how to clean clothes. They ate rations bars, or they ate out, so cooking wasn't picked up either. So a crippled, retired nin was SOL. They had no choice but to stay in the business forever.
Konoha's whole huge obsession with it's military and its will of fire reminded her of America's own rampant nationalism, and its own american dream.
Just thinking of Konoha's military structure made her head spin. It was like 1984. She remembered in a short clip of the original anime, she saw a huge secret control room with cameras trained on every corner of the village. It was insane.
That kind of technology could be making a lot of lives better, but instead it was being withheld from the public due to ninja paranoia of controlling everything.
This village was founded by Hashirama and Madara with the best intentions to protect kids, but looking down at the Konoha eleven, hurt and traumatized, she couldn't help but feel they failed.
Because really, they had.
Haruhi sighed, leaning over from her place sitting on one of the support beams. She looked down at the kids sleeping off their injuries on sterile white cots below her. Sakura was curled up on her side, Hinata was clutching her bruised stomach, and Naruto was twitching in his sleep, in the throes of another night terror.
She kicked a pebble the size of her head down, and it bounced off Naruto's nose. He woke up sharply, breaking the nightmare, before turning back on his side and going back to sleep.
Sasuke still hadn't said anything, staring blankly at the wall, hands clasped tightly. As she looked closer, she noticed his leg muscles tense and untense in a rhythmic motion. He stood up stiffly and left the room.
Neji, Shino, and Kiba were being treated for the lesions Gaara's sand left on them. Karin was still unconscious, Lee was also asleep, and TenTen went to get food for the rest of them.
Haruhi stood up to her full height of 5 inches, then flinched as a weird spaz went through her. Must have been from sitting for so long.
She carefully walked down the side of the beam, brow furrowed in concentration as she focused chakra to the bottoms of her feet. It was never an easy thing for her to do, but somehow, it was harder now.
She checked in with all of them before running after Sasuke.
She went largely unnoticed, her white blouse and cream pants blending in well with the tile floors and beige walls of the tower. She weaved in and out from between the shoes of walking chunin and medics, following the blue of Sasuke's shirt that she could see sharply turning corners.
She breathed heavily as she jogged, thighs chafing a bit as she chased Sasuke. She turned the corner and ran right into his socked heel, falling onto her butt.
She grumbled, annoyed, before freezing when she realized why Sasuke stopped.
Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara stood in the middle of the hallway, evidently having just entered the building. Every single one of them, even Gaara-especially Gaara-looked terrible. Their clothes were torn, and dried blood was encrusted onto Gaara's skin where Tenten had landed hits. But the thing that stuck out the most from him was the look on his face. It was a confused look, the look of someone reavulating their entire life.
Haruhi was all too familiar with that look.
Haruhi hated them. She knew they were kids, used as weapons in a world too cruel to care that what they were doing was wrong, but as she remembered them covering up Ino's mangled face, and the other's wounds as well, she couldn't find it within herself to squash those juvenial emotions.
She scowled, and used the ledges in the wall to jump onto Sasuke's shoulder, still scowling. She realized that Sasuke's teeth were bared, partly in fear, and partly in anger.
"We don't want any trouble. Only to go to our rooms." It was Temari, who sounded exhausted to the point where she could feel nothing else, not even fear.
Sasuke stiffened, before stepping aside.
They shuffled past, Temari leading her little brothers to their room. But before they turned the corner, Gaara abruptly stopped, leading Sasuke to grab his Kunai and for Temari and Kankuro to reach for their puppets and battle fan.
"Why did I lose?" Gaara asked, and he sounded so honestly confused that Haruhi's brow unfurrowed just the slightest bit.
The hallway was silent until Sasuke spoke up.
"You lost because you fight just for the thrill of it. You have nothing motivating you to fight except for your own selfish desires. We had friends and family to protect. You better believe we weren't going to lose."
Gaara clenched his fists. His teeth grinded together in an audible sound that filled the hallway.
"Long ago I renounced the idea of love, when the man who I thought loved me tried to kill me. When my father turned me into a weapon, and I killed my mother before I was born. Love has never done anything for me. Love brought nothing but pain and sorrow."
"And yet it was the care between us that allowed us to beat you." Sasuke pointed out. His voice was still hard, but had softened. He was looking at Gaara in a new light.
Gaar said nothing, but he didn't move either. He was still chewing on something. Sasuke sighed deeply, tilting his head so that he was looking up at the ceiling.
"I know what it is like to hate, Gaara. For someone you...loved, trusted, to turn on you. To hurt you."
Gaara was now looking at Sasuke with a desperate sort of hope, like he believed Sasuke could tell him everything he needed to hear. Haruhi leaned against his neck, patting his cheek to let Sasuke know she was here.
"Have you heard of the Uchiha massacre?"
Gaara nodded slowly.
Sasuke took in a deep breath, before continuing to speak.
"My brother was the one I looked up to. Whenever I had a question, he had an answer. Whenever I needed help, he was there to help me. Whenever I scraped my knee, he had a band-aid. To me, he was above everyone, even the Hokage."
Gaara was still watching, absorbing everything.
"The Uchiha weren't very popular in Konoha, and whenever I went to the academy, I was either treated as an outcast, or put on a pedestal. And being one of the youngest Uchiha, my clan didn't have time for me. It really felt like me and him against the world." Sasuke whispered.
"Yes." Gaara whispered.
"And then he turned. He stabbed me in the back, and everyone else too. I...Don't know why he did it, but it hurt. Suddenly I had no one, and I convinced myself that it was better this way. I pushed everyone away, family friends who weren't Uchiha, medics, and friends from school who just wanted to help."
Haruhi was holding her breath.
"I did this because I was-"
Sasuke cut himself off, obviously struggling.
"...I did that because I was afraid. I had loved, and it had gotten me hurt. The worst pain I had ever felt before...or since."
Gaara nodded again, at first slowly, before picking up speed.
"You understand." He whispered. " If you understand how it hurts, they why do you still love?"
Sasuke flinched at the L-word, but quickly composed himself.
"I don't have an answer for you, Gaara, it is different for everyone." Sasuke breathed out, thinking hard. "But I realized that I was only hurting myself by pushing others away. People can hurt each other Gaara, but they can help too. I'm stronger now than I would ever have been on my own. They saved me, and I saved them."
Haruhi found herself nodding as well, remembering how Sakura took that hit for Sasuke on the bridge, and how Sasuke helped Sakura onto the rabbit summon.
"But most of all, I wasn't going to let that, that fucker, ruin me! He told me to hate, so now I'll do the opposite. I won't let him control me. I won't let him make my life even more miserable by depriving myself. He gave up the right to tell me what to do when he left." Sasuke barked, panting harshly.
Gaara stood in the hallway silently, eyes aimed at Sasuke and her, but seeing something else in the distance. His siblings were in the background, standing nervously, eyes darting around them.
"Your siblings saved you in the forest, Gaara, when the sand demon was defeated. You fell, and could have died. But they caught you, despite their fear. Think about that."
And with that conversation stopping line, Sasuke turned and left, rounding the corner out of sight from the sand siblings.
Haruhi patted Sasuke's cheek.
"I'm proud of you. I couldn't have said it better myself."
Sasuke said nothing, not even a grunt. Haruhi let it slide. Sasuke just had a very emotional day, after all. And also, used up his weekly word quota.
They kept walking before Haruhi stood up, and jumped into one of the many cracks in the wall.
"Wait here."
Before Sasuke could stop her, Haruhi slid into the inner workings of the building. Past spider webs, rat traps, wires, and concrete, she followed the light from various other cracks until she had caught up with the sand siblings, standing right above them.
"Watch out." She spoke loudly and gruffly, changing her voice.
They jumped, and whipped their heads around.
"Who said that?" Temari spat, hackles raised.
"The Kazekage is not the Kazekage. He's an imposter."
Haruhi turned and ran back towards Sasuke, hearing Temari gasp and break into a run. She cursed as her foot kicked a spiders egg sack like a soccer ball, not sticking around long enough to see if the mama spider was there too.
And yes, what she just did was impulsive, but fuck Orochimaru. And fuck canon too, while she was at it.
She reached the crack and jump back out into Sasuke's cupped hands.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing." She said.
That was enough for Sasuke, who put her back onto his shoulder and kept walking. They kept walking until Haruhi realized they were entering the intensive care unit of the tower.
Ino.
They stopped in front of the door, both of them suppressing their chakra. From inside, they heard the muffled sound of sobbing.
They exchanged a glance, before Sasuke cracked open the door.
At first, they couldn't see much, blinking the light from their eyes, but in the reflection of the window, they could see Ino, laying in a white hospital bed, almost as pale as the sheets. Her skin was almost completely covered in bandages, only a small part of her arm and a quarter of her face, including her left eye, was spared. Her head was shaved bald.
Haruhi cupped her mouth in horror. Sasuke had frozen beside her.
With her one good hand she was trying to unwrap her face, single blue eye staring at the mirror in her lap propped up by pillows. They watched, transfixed in horror as more bandages loosened and fell onto the pillow and to the floor. Ino's breath quickened with every wrap around as more bloodied bandaged exposed themselves.
A pale hand gently reached out and stopped her from unwrapping the last layer.
Ino shook as she tried to contain herself. She tugged fruitlessly against Haku's gentle hold, eye watering over as it roved over the bandages.
"Ino, you need to heal." Haku said carefully, gently, sorrowfully. From this angle, Haruhi could tell her mask was still on, hiding a badly burnt face and choppy frayed hair.
"Ah neid to see." Ino corrected him, desperation leaking into her slightly muffled voice.
Haku moved to remove the mirror from her lap and Ino cried out in alarm, her hand wrapping around her wrist. Haku remained still, taking in the sight of Ino's shaking hand as it slid down her arm to wrap around her hand.
Ino gasped as Haku ran her thumb over the back of Ino's hand.
"Es it b-bad?" Ino asked.
Haku's thumb stilled, which prompted Ino to take a shaky, determined breath.
"Please, Haku. Ah need to know."
"..."
"I-I, need tah know."
Haku slowly raised her hands, and gently unwrapped the last of the bandages.
For a few moments, nothing happened.
There was no reaction, from anybody, no sound, no one making a move. They held their breaths.
They watched as Ino traced what remained of her face in the mirror. The missing eye, the exposed bone in her cheek, the destroyed nose and ear cartilage. Ino seemed to be hypnotized, as if in a spell or a nightmare, unable to look, but unable to look away. She focused on the exposed facial muscles under her missing eye, pausing her finger over them. Her face was raw meat in a package, waiting to be sold at the supermarket.
It was clear, the moment when the spell broke, because she started hyperventilating. It stretched the exposed muscles in her face, which only make Ino worse. Haku grabbed the mirror and threw it away, and held Ino as she collapsed into her arms.
"Oh my gawhd, oh my gawhd, oh my gawhd-" Ino wheezed out, the air stolen from her along with her beautiful face.
She repeated those three words over and over again, until they didn't even sound like anything any more. Her syllables reached hellish levels, sounding demented and twisted like silverware in a tornado.
She could only repeat those words like a broken record, sounding garbled and just wrong, because of her damaged jaw. It was like a child just learning to speak, and pronouncing things wrong because they didn't know better.
But Ino, Ino knew better, and she was breaking down.
"Oh my gawhd, oh my gawhd, oh my gawhd-"
Haruhi noted that the missing eye shed no tears.
They watched as Ino continue to break down, garbled sobs ringing throughout the room. They couldn't move, frozen as if Haku used an ice jutsu on them.
"Ahm a monster!" She wailed.
Haku said nothing, only holding her tighter.
Ino broke out of her hold, and used her good hand to cup her damaged face. Except that there was so much to cover that her healthy hand only contrased the injuries.
"Dou dink ahm hideous now!" She choked.
Haku, seemingly unable to speak, shook her head in denial, ferociously. Haruhi had no doubt, that if Haku's head was uncovered, her hair would had been lashing back and forth.
"No." Haku finally spit out, sounding horrified of the idea.
"Yesh!"
"No, I-I could never be disgusted by you."
Ino seemed to be having trouble accepting that, her one good eye scrunching up in disbelief, tears leaking over the side.
"You don' get it, why woul' you nat?" Ino asked, voice a low whisper.
Haku's shoulders shook as she leaned backwards, resting her weight against Ino's thighs from where they were resting on the bed. She slowly reached up and removed the mask Kakashi had given her, the rustling of fabris the only noise to be heard.
She felt Sasuke inhale sharply.
Haku's charred face was revealed to Ino. Burn scars stretched across her cheek, chin, nose, and forehead, creating a shiny and bumpy texture. Her ear was burned to a twisted stub, and her nose was shriveled from the fire. Haku tenderly took Ino's hand into her own, brushing the fingertips across her face in the same motions that Ino had done before with her own face in the mirror.
"Do I disgust you?" Haku spoke softly.
Ino's fingertips traced every scar, every pockmark, every waxy burnt area with a reverence that left Haruhi breathless. Her thumbed rested on Haku's twisted ear.
Slowly, Ino shook her head no, lips trembling.
Haku let out a wavering breath at Ino's reassurance, gripping Ino's hands in hers with a desperation of someone trying to stay afloat. The ice-user leaned forward, one arm wrapping around Ino's head so that their foreheads were touching. Her other hand brought Ino's hand to her chest.
"Trust me Ino," Haku said, voice thick with emotion, "You're beautiful."