Sasuke scooped her up and quietly padded away, closing the hospital door silently behind them. Haruhi felt dirty, like she witnessed something she shouldn't have. Because she did.

She twirled her hair, brow furrowed.

Just what kind of a world was this, where children like Ino and Haku could be mutilated and crippled, children like Sasuke and Itachi could be used and manipulated, and kids like Gaara and Naruto, and Fuu, could be taken and have a monster forced into their bodies against their will. It smashed the idea of basic consent and bodily anatomy.

Now Haruhi wasn't Naive. Being born from an african-american mother and a white father, and liking girls as well as boys clued her in on the shit-show that was america very early on. It's history of genocide, oppression, racism, sexism, denial, homophobia, and xenophobia were laid bare to her.

So make no mistake, Haruhi knew the world she came from wasn't a sparkling jewel. Humans were human, no matter what dimension they were in. Shit went down in america too, and the rest of the real world. Haruhi wouldn't pretend like it didn't.

But in the real world, ideals like democracy, therapy, mental health, education past 12 years, and child soldiers being bad existed.

The was the biggest difference Haruhi could see between the real world and the ninja one. While the real world had trouble acting upon those ideals she mentioned, they were at the very least aware they existed, and should be worked for.

Meanwhile the ninja society could give fuck-all about things like mental health. Kakashi himself, a child in ANBU with suicidal thoughts and PTSD, was a prime example. Kakashi was as much as a victim of the ninja way as the rest of the Konoha eleven. Speaking of which, child soldiers were tolerated-hell, encouraged, in this world and no one seemed to see a problem with that except Haruhi!

It was frustrating, and made her want to rip her hair out!

She felt like she was the only sane person in a world where teaching 6 year olds how to be professional hired killers for blood money was acceptable!

Naruto, Sasuke, hell, even Sakura knew so little about the world and how it was supposed to work! Things like basic economics and things like other forms of government besides a dictatorship were foreign to them. Well, on average, the three of them went to the academy from seven to twelve. That's five years, tops. No way in hell you can fit a decent education in that time frame. The average Jounin knew less about how the world worked than the average civilian, and that was sad. Over months of interacting with this world, it was something she could say for sure.

Because while Konoha needed smart ninja, like Kakashi. Independent thinkers, skilled workers, like Kakashi, they didn't want anyone questioning the power and authority of Konoha. Properly educated ninja would get in the way of that, so they cut that education short. Konoha made many mistakes, and instead of accepting criticism gracefully, Konoha would rather cover it up.

After all, just where did you think the Uchiha went?

At that thought, she looked over at Sasuke. Poor kid. He didn't deserve any of this, he was born into it, but unlike Haruhi, he couldn't just go into another dimension to escape.

Well, actually, neither could she at the moment, but she would be able to soon enough.

For some reason, that thought didn't make her happy like it once did.

She wondered why. Probably because of the emotional attachments she formed. All the kids had grown on her. And Kakashi. At first, she would have thought it impossible, due to how much she didn't like and pre-judged them. But she was wrong about them.

Just like so many other things, it seemed.

And then there was something else…

The fact that Haruhi knew exactly what was going on.

No, not in the sense where she had every plot point and character memorized by heart, but where Haruhi knew exactly what kind of a shit show the ninja were running here. She wasn't blind to konoha's propaganda, the toxic ninja ideology of enduring when the solution to the problems were within reach. She saw straight through Danzo's and the rest of the Konoha higher ups bullshit.

She saw straight through the bullshit cover story for the Uchiha genocide. They said is was necessary for the village, that there would be war, and that the Uchiha would weaken the village if their coup was successful. But isn't getting rid of Konoha's most powerful clan, the villages protectors, also weakening the village?

Like…?!

It was clear that the logic behind the massacre was extremely fucked up, but that was assuming there was any coherent thought to begin with.

The Uchiha were discriminated against, oppressed, denied certain missions so they lost money, blamed for the economic slump that followed the third war, due to them being former front-liners, using them as scapegoats.

As an mixed-race woman, Haruhi got it. As a bisexual, she understood what it was like to be discriminated against. She emphasized with the Uchiha so hard it was painful.

Most would assume, with Haruhi being a woman, that she would like, or understand Sakura the most out of the rest of team seven. And that was true, to a degree. Being a civilian born in a world that prized ninja's, Haruhi related to her. Haruhi knew what it felt like to be insecure, and 'diet' to feel better.

But she related to Sasuke the most. For all the reason listed above, and more.

She looked over at said boy. He had placed her and himself on one of the window sills in the tower overlooking the forest of death. From this angle sitting on the protruding stone, she could see countless trees, the head of a particularly large bear, and a genin team leaping in the branches towards the tower. The sky sparkled with stars, in a way they never did back home due to light pollution.

She watched as Sasuke's eyes traced the bear.

"Haruhi-sensei?"

She snapped to attention. Sasuke was still watching the bear, a distant look in his eyes, like he was somewhere else.

"Yes?"

"What's gonna happen now?"

Her eyes widened, and suddenly, it was hard to breath. It was hard to swallow, saliva hot in her mouth. Her heart beat erratically, and her palms trembled as she wiped them against her shirt. Those three words were enough to blow her over. Everything went darker as her vision tunneled to the three genin out in the forest fighting for their lives against an unseen assailant.

She blinked, stunned as she realized what was going on.

The last time she had a panic attack was years ago, in high school. But she supposed it was fitting, given the circumstances.

She swallowed, and then swallowed again, took deep breaths through her nose, and brought her knees up to her chest. She rocked back and forth minutely. Sasuke was giving her a worried look now, but as Haruhi caught sight of the bags under his eyes, she doubled her effort to calm down.

It wasn't easy.

After exhaling shakily, she spoke.

"I'm n-not sure."

Sasuke bit his lip.

"But you know what I am sure about?"

Sasuke shook his head no, curiosity replacing the fear.

"I know for a fact that team seven will do everything they can to help you. They are your friends, teammates, and they care for you. They can and have helped you. Whatever happens, you'll go through it together."

Haruhi felt the ball in her chest unclench as she continued to speak. Everything would work out okay.

"What about you?"

She felt like throwing up again.

What about her? Would she go back at the first chance possible? A month, hell, a week ago, the answer would have been a resounding yes. But now?

She frowned.

She was aware of the bullshit of the world. She could teach others to actually look underneath the underneath, not this Konoha bullshit where it doesn't apply to them. And the fact that just as she became attached to team seven, they now were attached to her. Haruhi was an unknown variable, and removing herself may not go as smoothly as she likes.

It could make everything worse in fact. And while she could say that the rest of the ninja world wasn't her problem, she was definitely responsible for what her actions had already caused in this world, and what her removal could do too.

But while she would love to help fix Konoha's problems, and the hypocrisy of the ninja world, she had her own world.

It sounded callous, and it was. Wasn't it her moral obligation to try to correct something when it was clearly wrong? Was she assuming too much of herself?

If she stood by and did nothing, would nothing change?

No, that was a stupid thought. Too much had already changed. No use in holding herself back.

Haruhi could change the world for the better, and so she must.

"I can, so I must." She whispered under her breath.

One tiny woman by herself may not have been able to achieve much, but she was one of the Sensei's of team seven! It was her job to teach them about the world, and how to correct it.

Her mind was made up. She would stay until she felt team seven knew how to move about the world the right way, and then she'd leave.

"Maa, I guess I'll be there too." She smiled.

Sasuke nodded back. He started to cry. Alarmed, Haruhi stood up, hair standing in end. She had never seen him cry before.

"I did that." He whispered miserably.

"You did what, Sasuke?"

"H-Haku. Her face."

Oh.

The scar tissue on Haku's face had long since healed over, but it would leave nasty permanent marks for the rest of her life. And it looked like Haku came out to Sasuke sometime in the forest too.

"I thought she, I-I didn't know-" He stuttered, composure shattering like glass.

"I know, we know." She crooned, desperately trying to calm him down. She ran over and hugged his knee.

He hand reached up to wipe away his tears.

"Haruhi-sensei, I don't want too."

"Okay, Sasuke, you don't have to."

"But I do! I can't quit being a ninja! I don't want to, I-I don't want to fight other people, and tell them their teammates are dead. I don't want to hurt more people like Haku."

He took a shaky breath.

"I used to think of the world in black and white. Good and bad. But people like Haku, Karin, Sakura, and Gaara made me realize nothing is inherently evil, or good. It's complicated."

"It is." Haruhi agreed, letting Sasuke vent.

"But as long as I am a ninja, I will continue to have to fight against people who may have been my friends, if the circumstances were different. I wanted to be a police officer, a detective, when I was younger so I could protect. So I could prevent violent crimes against innocents. But I've seen more violence against what could be considered innocents by being a ninja since the Massacre!"

Haruhi had nothing to say to that.

"The ninja world is drenched in blood. Unnecessary violence. I've had enough of that with the massacre. But I've found myself, on village orders, hurting people like Haku. I became a ninja to kill that man, so he could never hurt anyone again. But in order to become a ninja, you need to attack and potentially kill other genin. I saw two kids my age dead in the forest. Karin was the only survivor. So in order to become a ninja, unnecessary violence is not only tolerated, its accepted, encouraged!"

Haruhi nodded, proud of Sasuke's reasoning.

"That's wrong! I would need to do the very things I wanted to avoid in order to achieve my goals. I would need to commit unnecessary violence to avoid unnecessary violence."

"That is pretty messed up. Is there no other way you could achieve your goals without violating your ideals?" Haruhi said.

Sasuke looked pensive.

"I will do things my own way. I won't listen to that man. Unlike him, I don't need to kill others in order to prove myself. Or gain strength."

"A lot of people would call you naive." Haruhi cautioned.

"And I would call them jaded." he fired back.

"Touche. It takes a critical thinker to realize what you just realize. Shinobi often have a simplistic world view. Village=good, anything against the village=bad." She smirked, proud of him.

This was why she related to Sasuke the most. He thought like her. He saw how the world worked. Out of all of team seven, she knew he understood how to the world worked. She couldn't believe she ever thought so badly of him.

"But Sasuke, if someone heard you say that, they could report you to the higher ups, and you could get in trouble. Be careful."

Sasuke nodded.

"..."

"...You know how I couldn't understand why those civilian kids didn't want to be ninja? I think I get it now."

The turned to look over the forest, deep in thought.

Haruhi was watching vultures circling around presumidly dead genin when the screaming started.

"What now!?" She snapped.

A giant snake, scales glinting in the moonlight as it winded around the tower and squeezed, was her answer.

"Orochimaru! Sasuke, we need to get to Kakashi! RIGHT NOW!"

Startled at her raised voice, Sasuke scooped her up again and began to run. He slipped a little in his socked feet, and any other time, Haruhi would have thought that to be cute, but right now, she was too sick with worry to feel anything else.

Oh god, this was her fault. Her impulsiveness strikes again! Could it be, by telling The sound siblings about the Kazekage being an imposter, that Orochimaru was exposed way sooner than before? Haruhi didn't think that they go to the Kages right away!

The guilt threatened to consume her.

Sasuke her her close to her chest as he rounded corners with dizzying speeds, sliding into one of the walls before running again. The booms and shouts continued around them.

She didn't know he was in the building!

Sasuke took another corner, and before he could stop, a gloved hand reached out and punched him in the head.

Haruhi screamed in horror.

Sasuke crashed into the sidewall, clearly unconscious. His hands flopped limply by his side. She went flying, the wind knocked out of her when the same man caught her, and squeezed.

"Well, looks like our cover is blown." The man mused. He sounded amused, but Haruhi could hear the frustration simmering underneath.

Haruhi couldn't say anything, too busy struggling for air.

"So a doll, huh?" He said, bringing her up to steel grey eyes. She trembled.

The man walked over and threw Sasuke over his shoulder. He ran to the nearest window and jumped out.

Kabuto. It was him this entire time.

One last squeeze, and Haruhi lost consciousness.

So, it finally happened.

Many of you have already guessed that it was Kabuto who was the kidnapper, but to those of you who didn't, surprise!

And yeah, Haruhi and Sasuke are busy deconstruction the lies that is the will of fire, bonding over that fact that everything is bullshit and that they are some of the only ones who realize how far it goes.

And Haruhi had a panic attack, but what else did you expect?

Haruhi is also having a moral dilemma, of whether she should stay or go. She's extremely conflicted, not just because of her emotional connections, but also because of her moral code. Shes questioning the ethics of leaving when she knows somethings wrong and can do something about it, but also the ethics of herself keeping so much information close to her chest in order to correct those wrongs.

Isn't she just like them if she also withholds the truth?

And is it ethical to put herself through such ordeals? Such trauma?

Struggles aren't just physical, people.

Question of the chapter: What do you think Haruhi should do?