Haruhi adjusted her shirt one last time, before taking a deep breath and knocking on Sasuke's apartment door. It had taken a lot of energy to convince Kakashi she was fine going by herself, and even now he was probably tailing her. She shifted from side to side, jumping when the door finally opened and Sasuke emerged. Haruhi had gotten to know Sasuke better at this point, and knew that look on his face.

He was planning something.

Choosing not to bring it up, Haruhi ruffled his hair, and they wordlessly began walking towards the meeting. She was vibrating with anticipation. She wanted to hear what these 'real' history lessons were like and how exactly they hadn't mysteriously disappeared yet.

Haruhi hummed uncomfortably as they walked past former scenes of destruction. At this point, even the civilian houses had been repaired. But it still make her shift uneasily at the wanton destruction. More houses were destroyed from Konoha shinobi taking down the escaped creatures than from the actual creatures instead. Jutsu flames had burned down houses, businesses, and communities. The Will of Fire at work.

While Haruhi knew these animals meant business, Haruhi was sure there was some way to take down the hostiles and minimize casualties.

They walked past buildings and Haruhi realized the path she was taking was very familiar. They veered off the main road and to the back

When Sasuke knocked on the door and a woman answered, Haruhi gasped.

"Kasumi?!"

The woman was looking even better than last time, when she had dropped the earnings off to Haruhi at the stand. It was such a difference from the tired woman Haruhi had first seen in the toy shop. She looked invorgated, with a new purpose.

"Haruhi! You're even more beautiful up close! Come in, we have much to discuss."

Haruhi stepped in, making sure to take of her shoes. She noticed the other pairs by the door, counting 5 not including hers and Sasukes.

"How did you meet her?" Haruhi asked Sasuke.

"When she dropped off the money. I got curious and followed her."

Kasumi led them to a bunch of couches and armchairs around a table filled with snacks and paper.

"Hey Sasuke! Hey Haruhi!"

It was Mebuki.

Haruhi gasped and hugged her. The last time Haruhi had seen her was a brief glimpse outside the courtroom, and that felt like ages ago.

"It's so good to see you again." Mebuki gushed, tears in her eyes. Haruhi felt fondness well up inside her as she hugged back.

"How's Sakura?"

"Oh, she doing great! Still going to the hospital and studying."

Haruhi smiled.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Shinko Inari. She's a waitress at the local diner." Mebuki said.

A woman with mousy gray-brown hair waved, with obviously scarred hands. When she said hello, there was a faint but clear accent in her voice. Haruhi wondered what trouble she faced for being a foreigner. There was a strange look on Inari's face when she looked at Sasuke, before it flitted away. Almost like she was seeing a ghost of a reminder.

"This is Nohara Kiki." An elderly woman with purple lines under her cheekbones smiled warmly at Haruhi. Something twinkled in her eyes. Haruhi recognized that last name from somewhere.

"Sasuke has said a lot about you." She spoke warmly.

Sasuke blushed.

"Ayame." She giggled and waved. Her restaurant uniform was under a jacket.

"Do you still like ramen Haruhi?"

Haruhi grinned.

"Sure do."

"And this is Tsubaki. She's a sensei at the academy."

Immediately Haruhi was alarmed. Would she report them?

"No, no! I'm not here to spy." Tsubaki quickly reassured. "I started coming to these meetings because, um, I wanted answers, and no one else could give them to me. And after Mizuki…"

Wait. That Mizuki?

Tsubaki flushed at Haruhi's incredulous face.

"What Mizuki did was wrong, teaming up with Orochimaru. But...I can't stop thinking about what he said. About the way they always treated us as less because we were civilian born. So I came here."

Haruhi flushes at her snap judgement, and nods in understanding.

"Officially we're a group if silly, mostly civilian women who gossip over tea every week. So Konoha leaves us alone." Kasumi explains.

Huh.

Sasuke leads her to a spot on the sofa with a knitted pink blanket. Haruhi lifts it around her shoulders.

Kasumi sits in the middle armchair like the queen she is and clears her throat.

"Alright everybody, It's time for the meeting to commence. To begin, we would all like to say how incredibly grateful we are that Sasuke and Haruhi arrived back safe and sound."

The group chorused their agreement. Inari patted Sasuke's shoulder and Mebuki nudged Haruhi's foot with hers.

"Second, today's topic will be Tobirama. Specifically his ideology and policies and how they contributed to Konoha's isolationism and the idea of ninja's being tools of the state."

The ladies booed. Sasuke 'hned' in agreement. Haruhi got the feeling the second hokage wasn't too popular around these parts and she was excited to find out why.

Kasumi's mouth twitched upwards in agreement before pressing into a thin serious line.

"Now, would anyone like to begin about the history of this ideology?"

Kiki cleared her throat.

"It began after the death of the first hokage, which profoundly affected his brother, the second. Now the hokage, his extreme ideology, not tempered any more by his brother, grew exponentially."

"That's true!" Inari said, "It also exploded during the second ninja war. The propaganda machine known as the Konoha gazette pumped out all these articles about how shark-like Kiri nin were, and the strength of the will of fire. How its flames forged weapons out of people to strike down Konoha's enemies." Her lips twisted into something that was intended to be a smile, but turned into a scowl instead.

"Excellent points, Ladies. Can we shift focus onto the published works on the tool ideology? And how it affected citizens?"

Mebuki spoke.

"Yes. They wrote entire books about how it was more honorable to die for Konoha than to live another day." Her jaw was clenched tight. Clearly, this was personal. "As you all know, my husband retired early. He just couldn't do it anymore. They would send him these books to tell him to kill himself. I threw them all away of course, but I still think he saw them in the trash..."

"..."

"...I had to retire as well." Inari said softly. "Something happened." She shot a quick glance at Sasuke. "We were to escort the Daimyo on one of his visits to Konoha. We were chosen because we had a particularly talented teammate. But we were ambushed." Her hands run over her scars.

Haruhi sighs internally.

So many scars.

"Our teammate died. The talented one advanced. And I was forgotten. I suppose that makes me the lucky one, then. After what happened to the talented teammate."

She pointedly did not look anywhere near Sasuke. Haruhi narrowed her eyes, knowing there was more to it but not being able to put a face to the name.

Kiki spoke.

"I knew a man. A neighbor of mine, who always said hello and never looked down on the Nohora for being a civilian line. His son and my granddaughter were on the same team. He disagreed with the 'Tool' notion as well. He saved his 'disposable' teammates over the mission and was shamed for it. He was ostracised, and then committed suicide in order to regain honor. He left behind a child.

Mebuki whimpered at that, buried her face in her hands.

"I-I keep thinking, w-what if that was Kizashi? What if he left me and Sakura?"

Kiki Patted Mebuki shoulder, and Haruhi's eyes widened.

Kiki was talking about Kakashi.

Oh my god, Nohara Kiki! Those purple lines on her face like Rin's in the picture! Haruhi gazed at Kiki intently, but the elderly woman didn't react. There was a deep sadness in her face. Rounded cheeks that looked so much like Rin's in the picture. Was she thinking about Rin right now?

Kiki bit her trembling lip.

"A-and I just kept thinking, what honor? What honor!? Where is it? Ninja's are not samurai. Ninja's murder for money. Lie, cheat, steal, send children out on sex work missions. They send civilian children out as cannon fodder for the privileged clan kids. Like how they sent out m-my R-"

Mebuki sniffled. Held Kiki's hand.

"That what we thought when we signed up Sakura. But Sakura is a young, pretty girl. It's dangerous to be that. And after the Police force was wiped out-" everyone shot Sasuke a careful look, "-We were scared for her. Men attacked me at work-ninja's, and hurt me very badly. It would have been much worse If Anko had not scared them away. We agreed to send Sakura to the academy, so a-at least she could defend herself when it happened to her."

When.

Not if, but when. And after that shit show with the treason hearing, Haruhi couldn't even fault Mebuki and Kizashi for their views. They were right.

"It's funny, how that tool notion, while it applies to everyone, especially applies to civilian borns." Tsubaki whispered.

Kasumi passed her the tissues, Haruhi snagging one along the way.

"What were Tobirama's views on the Uchiha?"

The room stilled. They all exchanged glances.

"While not very often spoken about, it was clear that Tobirama had...hang-ups, when it came to the Uchiha clan. It was very evident that he held discriminatory views towards them." Kasumi said carefully. This was treading dangerous waters, even for their group.

Sasuke clenched his fists, the desperation for answers clearly in his eyes, but Kasumi did not know the full details, and if she did, knew well enough like Haruhi that it was too dangerous even for them to tell him outright. If he wanted answers he would have to get them himself.

Sasuke realized this too, and after a minute, unclenched his hands.

Tsubaki glanced at the clock.

"We still got some time left. I know a few things about the policies he enacted, if you guys would like to hear?"

They did.

The rest of that afternoon was a surprisingly amusing lecture from Tsubaki about Konoha history, completed with her hengeing into Tobirama and walking around like a crab.

And despite the heavy topic material, Haruhi was sad when the meeting ended.

"Okay Gals-and guy, see you next week! Remember to look up topics for discussion, and that you can visit some of the other cells if need be."

After Haruhi put on her shoes, Mebuki pulled her to the side.

"You know Haruhi, My husband holds group meetings once every two weeks. It's officially a cooking club, but what they do between sauteing is talk about the trauma they suffered. Feel free to stop by if you want."

Haruhi told Mebuki she'd think about it.

And with that, they were off.

Haruhi dropped Sasuke off at his apartment and frowned. She could have sworn to see a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye…

She bumbled on over to Karin's apartment, mind whirling. She learned much from that lesson, but what she gathered most is that she hated Tobirama.

Bitch.

Haruhi rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles, Knocking on Naruto's, Haku's, and Karin's shared apartment.

The day, after all, was young.

So this group talk, how do y'all feel about it?

Oh, and can anyone guess who Inari is? Kiki is an oc.

And question of the chapter: What are the implications about the supposed purities in Konoha discussed here?