At first, Haruhi couldn't comprehend what was going on. While the water and the food the mysterious person had given her had helped clear away most of the fogginess, her head still felt stuffed up, and she had to consciously keep herself upright on the getaway snake.
When they had crash landed at the gates of Konoha, and the snake had poofed into a cloud from the damage it had sustained, Haruhi fell right on to her ass, Sasuke landing on her stomach and Naruto on her legs. She was trying to get up when someone grabbed her roughly by the bicep. She recognized the squeaking of Konoha issued ANBU gloves from Kakashi.
"What are you doing?" Haruhi croaked in alarm.
The said nothing, only grabbing hard enough to leave a bruise, dragging her along.
She yelped, the borrowed shoes being shorn off by the hard packed ground.
"Stop, that hurts!"
They didn't listen to her. Haruhi's eyes widened in fear as she realized something. Last she heard from Orochimaru's boasting down in the dungeon, The third Hokage had sustained near fatal wounds.
And even though she hated The third for all the shit he pulled, especially with the Uchiha, he was preferable over mother fucking Danzo.
She looked over at the root agent dragging her through the gates and began to struggle.
He jerked her forward and she fell heavily to her knees, moaning in pain. Behind her, haruhi heard the struggles of what sounded like Sakura, Tenten, and Karin.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she realized they were dragging the civilian born and clanless kids away and leaving the rest.
"You bastard, let them go!" She screamed shrilly, kicking out at the root member.
She kept screaming as he swept her legs out from under, her tossing her over his shoulder and then jumping so fast the air was snatched from Haruhi's throat.
In a journey that could have been a few seconds or a few minutes, They arrived at some shady dank cellblock. She was tossed unceremoniously into one of the cells and before she could blink, the bars slid shut.
Haruhi jumped as she heard the sounds of fighting and she struggled to her feet as she saw more root members throw the three girls into their cells.
The flames flickered briefly in the torch before the Root members were gone, as quickly as they came.
Karin was crying, and Sakura was clutching a spot where a Root agent deadened the nerve to keep her from struggling. Tenten sat up from where she was thrown, teeth grinding together in anger.
Taking a few minutes to catch her breath, Haruhi allowed a bitter smirk to curl over her face as she digested the irony of escaping a cell only to end up in another one.
"Why are we here?" Sakura asked Tenten. Haruhi noticed how the two of them has formed a mentor student relationship. It warmed her heart to see the two of them finding common ground and helping each other.
Tenten turned from reassuring Karin who was in the cell next to hers, frowning.
"I don't know.".
"But why are we here and no one else is-oh." Sakura cut herself as she realized why, bewildered expressing twisting into a scowl.
"Yeah. Oh."
They sat in silence, Karin wiping her face and sending a meek smile in response to Haruhi's hopefully reassuring one.
"Thank you guys for coming for me and Sasuke."
Sakura blinked, before grinning despite the current conditions.
"Of course."
Karin nodded in agreement, and it could have just been Haruhi's imagination, but she could have sworn for a second Sakura was glaring at her. Why was there tension between the two of them? Tenten seemed fine with Karin. Haruhi's brow furrowed as she considered it. That was something they would talk about later.
"So what's been happening while I was gone?"
Sakura immediately launched into an explanation, relieved to be talking about something, anything, to ignore the elephant in the room. Or the prison block in this case.
Haruhi became more and more horrified as Sakura talked.
"-Well, they had us hunting stray creatures from the forest of death that had gotten loose when Orochimaru escaped-"
Konoha sent genin after those creatures?! She knew Konoha was short staffed after the downfall of the Uchiha, the third war, and Orochimaru's rampage but holy hell. Most of those creatures would give jounin a hard time! Genin were never supposed to interact with them for more than the second part of the exams!
"-We were also sent on patrols and things like that because with the wreckage the crime rate has gone up to being ever higher that before, so we were supposed to be pseudo-police, since they never got around to reinstating the force."
"What do you mean by higher than before?" Haruhi frowned.
Sakura and Tenten exchanged meaningful glances. Karin and Haruhi exchanged confused ones.
"You remember how Sasuke talked about the Uchiha being the police force? And the ninetails attack?"
Haruhi nodded.
After the ninetails and the economic slump from the end of the third war-since Konoha wasn't getting significant funds from the daimyo anymore-A lot of people were left homeless and starving. There was also a huge wave of immigrants to Konoha to seek refuge from the third war and this led to a huge crime rate because nobody wanted to give them jobs."
Haruhi listened intently.
"The Uchiha kept it in check, but then they were...well.."
'Killed in a genocide by the corrupt government after the decades of oppression and discrimination became too much' Haruhi finished in her mind.
"After that, things just got worse. The crime rate spiked and the ANBU couldn't do much about it because it wasn't what they were meant for. And the mission intake slowled to a halt. After all, if Konoha's strongest clan got slaughtered in one night, what did that mean about the rest of us?"
Haruhi nodded absentmindedly, mind whirling.
From what she had seen Konoha's economy had never been great, and with Sakura's infodump this made a ton of sense.
Sakura continued.
"And then because of the lack of police, a lot of merchants and tourists didn't feel comfortable coming here. I remember my mom talking about it because it was bad for business. So we took massive hits that we were only just recovering from. Now, with the damages from the exams to pay for and the fact that one of our most famous missing nin attacked and incapacitated the hokage in the heart of fire country has made us look incredibly weak. It's gonna be bad for awhile. "
So Konoha murdered the Uchiha to benefit Konoha but it sounded like it just caused more problems. But then again, it was never really about the village. It was more about Danzo serving his own selfish needs. Protecting Konoha was just a thin blanket to cover his thirsting for power and an excuse to justify the following genocide.
Haruhi had to admit, the village did a great job of fucking itself over. Orochimaru would be proud.
Hell, all he had to do was stand back and watch the carnage.
"What about Kakashi?" Haruhi suddenly blurted.
Sakura gave her a soft and knowing look, and Haruhi kept her chin high, refusing to acknowledge the warmth on her face.
"He's been...busy."
What, to busy to rescue her? Was something else more important? What happened to the never leave your friends behind shtick?
Haruhi blinked in shock. She hadn't known she felt like that until those thoughts had crossed her mind.
"What do you mean by busy?"
"Kakashi-sensei is one of the most recognizable ninja in the elemental nations, and one of Konoha's strongest. They want him in public as much as possible to boost morale, and because they need him here in case of another attack."
That...made sense. Some of Haruhi's hurt was soothed as she rationalizes Kakashi's absence.
Kakashi would also want to stay to keep and eye on Danzo, to make sure he didn't do anything to the apparently catatonic Third Hokage. He had tried to assassinate him before after all. And if he left against orders, he could very well likely be accused of treason, which was punishable by death.
Now that she thought about it, Danzo was probably looking for an excuse to get rid of kakashi, one of the only people in the village who posed a threat to him. Leaving would give Danzo the very excuse he needed to eliminate Kakashi, just like the Uchiha.
Shifting on her knees, Haruhi twitched as she felt a weird shiver pass over her.
"Did you guys feel that?" She asked.
"What?" Tenten said sharply.
Karin said nothing, looking around for an invisible assailant.
"Sakura?"
She was obviously deep in thought.
"Pig!?" Sakura whispered in shock.
Haruhi, knowing it was Sakura's pet name for Ino, looked up sharply.
She felt it again, like someone was brushing against her mind, and then;
"You guys are alright!"
Haruhi was too surprised to respond. Logically, she knew Ino could do this, but knowing and experiencing were two different things.
"Ino! What's going on out there?"
"We didn't get much of an explanation after we were thrown in here." Tenten added.
We really didn't. Is Sasuke alright?" Karin asked.
"Yeah, he's fine, everyone else is too, they're being treated right now-"
Haruhi pointedly looked at the four of them in their states of various injures and quirked her eyebrows.
"But really! You should be worried about yourselves!"
"Why?"
Ino paused and Haruhi felt her anxiety spike.
"Y-you really don't know...O-okay, okay."
"What?"
"I don't know how serious you guys are taking this, but there has been a lot of talk about you. Danzo-sama is acting as temporary Hokage and he wants to make the village look strong. To make an example out of someone, and those someone's are you."
"What does that mean?" Karin mentally wailed.
"You four have been accused of treason, and the minute those cell doors open, you're all going on trial!"
The cell doors grinded open, four ominous Root members shrouded in darkness, and Haruhi began to pray.
Konoha just keeps on getting better and better.
Question of the chapter: How do you feel about Konoha now that you've read this far?